Chongzhen looked at the words on the agreement, but it felt like sharp daggers were piercing his heart.
He is a dignified person, the son of heaven, and the co-lord of the world, but now he sees the villain being rampant and rebellious, and yet he still wants to make peace.
Such humiliation really made him want to vomit blood.
"Is this how you do things? I trust you and respect you, but you betray your country and seek glory, deceive you and ignore your superiors. The true crime deserves death!"
Gao Qiqian was trembling, his face full of despair.
When Lu Xiangsheng talked with Chongzhen for the first time, he really couldn't accept the emperor's character, so he stood up very calmly.
"Your Majesty, when I negotiated with the traitor, I received a gift from the traitor of a peerless magic weapon. The reason why the traitor is so rampant is because of the help of these magic weapon. Today, I present it to the emperor, and I beg your Majesty's wise judgment to make a decision."
At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but feel happy.
Fortunately, he had the musket as a gift from Zuo Fu, otherwise the emperor would have given away his huge country to others out of his own will.
The musket was placed in front of Chongzhen. Its stunning shape and flawless craftsmanship immediately attracted his attention, and his anger subsided unconsciously.
"This is Zuo Ni's firearm?"
Lu Xiangsheng explained it personally and introduced the characteristics of the flash hat grab.
"Your Majesty, the power of this blunderbuss is infinite, far beyond the comparison of our Ming Dynasty. It is difficult to defeat it in a battlefield duel."
Gao Qiqian has more say.
"On the day of the Guangping Battle, Shandong Zuo Niyuan could use this musket to kill our army when he was only 300 paces away. However, our army's fire musket could only hurt the enemy within 30 paces. Zuo Niyuan could hit us, and we would fight
Without them, we will be defeated."
After hearing this, Chongzhen frowned and became depressed.
"Call Wang Chuan, um... let him bring a few craftsmen over."
Wang Chuan is the general manager of the Inner Court Staff Bureau, and now the Daming Firearms Manufacturing Staff Bureau far surpasses the Ministry of Industry.
After learning that Shandong's firearms were so powerful, Chongzhen couldn't help but feel worried and went directly to the Imperial Garden, intending to see it for himself.
In the imperial garden, Wang Chuan arrived with two gray-haired craftsmen.
Chongzhen couldn't wait for a moment and ordered: "Lu Qing, demonstrate this gun."
Lu Xiangsheng was busy performing again.
Wang Chuan and the craftsmen were dumbfounded when they saw the vase fifty steps away shattering.
"Slave dog, can you look carefully? Can you make this cannon stick?"
Wang Chuan was sweating coldly, feeling that he was not going to die soon.
"Your Majesty, can I take a closer look?"
Seeing his panicked look, Chongzhen had a premonition that the future was not good.
"This matter is important and you cannot neglect it."
Wang Chuan agreed and led two craftsmen to get in front of the flash cap gun.
One of the craftsmen did not look at the gun, but picked up the loaded cartridge case. He only took a look at it and couldn't help but be surprised.
Lu Xiangsheng asked hurriedly: "It's just a small thing, what's wrong with it?"
The old craftsman threw him down quickly and told the truth.
"Sir, this thing is so ingenious, I really don't know who made it?"
Lu Xiangsheng was quite anxious and asked: "Is it possible for you to do it?"
Wang Chuan and the others did not answer, but their heads shook like rattles.
Neither Chongzhen nor Lu Xiangsheng expected that the musket was still intact, but a loaded cartridge case stumped the best craftsmen in the imperial court.
Chongzhen picked it up personally and looked at it inside and out for a long time, but couldn't see anything interesting about it.
"What's so difficult about this thing?"
When the craftsman saw the emperor for the first time, he was extremely nervous and stammered when speaking.
"Long live...Tian...Long live the Tong, this is the first time that ordinary people have seen wrought iron made so light and thin. This kind of craftsmanship is something that ordinary people have not seen before, even if they have heard of it."
Chongzhen couldn't help but shake a few times and almost wanted to vomit blood.
How did he know that although the bullet casings cast by the New Army could not be compared with the metal bullet casings of later generations, there were two major differences: first, the material, and second, the inability to make them more round.
As for the lightness and thinness of the materials, they are almost the same as those of later generations.
This is forged with large machinery and is far beyond the capabilities of manpower.
Guwu
But the craftsmen still have a way.
"Long live my lord, although we can't make it as sophisticated as this, if it's used to hold medicine, it doesn't matter if it's rough."
These words made Lu Xiangsheng very happy.
"Yes, yes, it's just a gun filled with medicine. It can be used. Let's see if this gun can also be cast."
However, the craftsmen were all dumbfounded after seeing it.
"Sir, I can handle this small pot of medicine, but this gun is really powerless!"
Wang Chuan knew where the difficulty lay.
"Your Majesty, I don't know how to carve the rifling in this blunderbuss barrel? I have been in charge of the Staff Bureau for several years and have never seen such heavenly craftsmanship. And this projectile, if it is made like this, it will be wasteful and destructive.
…”
"This medicine is wrong!"
Before Chongzhen could think about it, the craftsman who was still holding the bullet case roared loudly, attracting everyone's attention.
It turned out that he had poured out the gunpowder from the cartridge case and placed it on his palm. And his expression was as if he had seen a ghost.
Wang Chuan and another craftsman came over and looked at it, both stunned.
Lu Xiangsheng was going crazy.
He originally thought that after getting the New Army's musket, he could do more research after getting it back. Not to mention imitating it, at least he could know himself and the enemy.
Who would have thought that just such a musket would be used to solve problems that the court did not understand.
“What’s wrong with this medicine?”
Without saying a word, the craftsman picked up some foam and threw it into his mouth.
This scene made Chongzhen and others tremble with fear.
"Long live my lord, sir, this medicine has different ingredients from the medicine we use, and its appearance is also very different."
Only when Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng got closer could they see the difference.
Although the gunpowder in the hands of the craftsman is also black, it is not in the shape of a face. Instead, it is a very small but uniform particle.
As for the different ingredients mentioned by the craftsmen, they couldn't tell.
The craftsman was very excited and asked for instructions: "Long live the Lord, the common people want to demonstrate it."
Chongzhen also became curious and nodded in agreement.
The craftsman poured out another pinch of gunpowder from his pocket, the same amount.
He placed two piles of gunpowder on the stone platform, and then lit the fire.
First came the gunpowder he brought with him.
When gunpowder meets an open flame, it burns quickly. Amidst the constant buzzing sound, thick yellowish smoke evaporates.
This intense burning lasted for about ten breaths before the gunpowder gradually extinguished.
Just when Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng were confused, the craftsman added the granulated gunpowder to the fire.
Bang...
The burning sensation that was obviously different suddenly exploded into a huge cloud of white smoke, which quickly dissipated in the air. The flame that flashed out was also a dazzling silvery white.
Almost in the blink of an eye, all the granulated gunpowder burned away. The stone platform was very clean, and there was not much residue.
This very obvious difference made Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng know that there must be a lot of knowledge in it.
The craftsman was indeed very experienced, and he immediately pointed out the difference.
He pointed at the granulated gunpowder and brought them one by one.
"The projectiles in the gunpowder rely entirely on gunpowder to hurt people. The stronger the gunpowder, the farther the projectiles can hit and the more they can penetrate armor. This kind of gunpowder is far more powerful than the ones made by our Staff Bureau.
If they are all equipped with this kind of gunpowder, it will not be a problem to injure the enemy at fifty paces."
Chongzhen completely understood
"According to what you said, there is nothing you can do about these firearms?"
Wang Chuan was so frightened that he immediately fell to his knees.
"This slave is incompetent and has failed His Majesty."
Chongzhen was already disheartened and waved his hand and asked Wang Chuan to go down with the two craftsmen.
Although I don’t know why Chongzhen didn’t bring down the wrath of thunder, I was lucky enough to have escaped.