Zhao Yanxun left the martial arts hall, but he was not in a hurry to return to the palace. Instead, he took a carriage and headed outside the city.
After finally getting out of the palace, he naturally wanted to see more outside.
The first place to go is the Ministry of Works workshop outside the city, where explosives and artillery are being manufactured.
He visited that place in mid-June, and gunpowder was being produced normally, but the development speed of artillery was too slow.
There was originally some good news, but during the actual testing, everything went wrong.
Either the barrel exploded, or "dumb bombs" were fired, or the shells fired were extremely weak and had a very short range.
So now, the Ministry of Industry has recently reported that the artillery can guarantee that it will not explode, so Zhao Yanxun wanted to take a look.
Nowadays, the output of gunpowder is stable, and all the explosive packages produced are sent to the northwest front line. Zhao Yanxun uses the power of science and technology to strengthen the northwest defense.
About twenty minutes later, Zhao Yanxun's carriage arrived outside the workshop.
This is a heavily guarded building complex, surrounded by a high wall and guarded by soldiers patrolling back and forth.
When the emperor's carriage arrived, all the officials in the workshop came out to greet him. The first person was Zhang Junru, a former Taoist priest who now holds the title of chief officer in the Ministry of Works.
After some greetings, Zhao Yanxun was welcomed into the workshop, and then he went directly to the testing site.
The so-called artillery now looks very crude. The body of the cannon is simply cast from molten iron, and its appearance is roughly the same as what Zhao Yanxun saw in his previous life.
Walking closer, Zhao Yanxun easily discovered that the gun body had been additionally reinforced, so he no longer had to worry about exploding the barrel.
"How far can we hit this time?" Zhao Yanxun asked.
"About a hundred steps..." Zhang Junru was very embarrassed.
A hundred steps away is not as far as a bow and arrow, so he really felt embarrassed.
"How many can explode?"
There is no guarantee that all the shells fired will explode, so Zhao Yanxun asked this question.
"About 30%..."
These two problems alone show how unreliable this artillery is today, but even so it still needs to be developed. After all, science and technology are the primary productive forces.
"Your Majesty, do you want to test-fire?"
This question is completely redundant. After all, Zhao Yanxun came here specially to see the test firing situation.
Sitting back on the dragon chair, Zhao Yanxun said calmly: "Try it!"
Zhang Junru immediately went to make arrangements, while the guards beside Zhao Yanxun were ready to cover their ears. After all, they had suffered losses before.
With a wave of Zhang Junru's hand, the fuse of the cannon in the distance was ignited by the sergeant, followed by a deafening sound.
Then... there was no more, it was a dud.
Zhang Junru was particularly embarrassed, but fortunately Zhao Yanxun didn't say anything more, which made him feel a little better.
Then came the second shot, the third shot...
It wasn't until the fifth shot that the shell exploded in the distance, but the power was really hard to compliment.
This test firing result is really touching, but fortunately there was no explosion, which can be considered an improvement.
"Go to the gunpowder workshop!" Zhao Yanxun stood up.
If he continued reading, he was afraid that he would not be able to resist cursing.
Judging from the past few situations, artillery still has a long way to go before it can achieve combat effectiveness, and it is not expected for the time being.
How about simply modifying the catapult and using it to project explosive packets, which seems to be more reliable.
With this idea in mind, Zhao Yanxun went to the gunpowder workshop.
…………
In the palace, it was already dark, and the concubines were leaving the palace one after another. After going to Changchun Palace together, they would be led by the queen to Yanshou Palace to pay their respects.
Gulu
The concubines gathered together and were talking a lot at the moment, and Tiya was undoubtedly the loudest one.
Now that the relationship between the Jin Dynasty and the Xiongnu has been repaired, the attitude of the people in the harem towards Tiya has changed, and it has returned to what it used to be.
After this incident, Tia grew up a lot and saw clearly the true colors of many people in the harem.
Of course, she also made her best friend, Concubine Rong, who she was having a lively chat with at the moment.
In essence, the two of them are actually very similar. They both have the same superficial thoughts and do not hide things, so they can naturally talk to each other freely.
At this moment, Tiya was introducing the scenery on the grassland. When she was talking enthusiastically, she saw Zhang Fengxiu coming in a hurry and almost bumped into the pregnant Hou Shiyun.
Zhang Fengxiu was deeply in the heart of the Queen Mother. Although she was only a concubine, she had a transcendent status and naturally ran rampant in the harem.
Hou Shiyun had been extremely cautious in the harem after his entire clan was dead. Naturally, he remained silent at this moment, and then moved to another side.
But Tiya couldn't stand the scene just now, so she turned to Zhang Fengxiu and shouted: "Hui concubine, come here!"
Just as he was greeting his good sisters, Zhang Fengxiu only glanced at Tiya and then ignored him at all.
"Do you understand the rules? How dare you not respond to my orders?" Tiya scolded angrily.
"How come you, Concubine He, are you trying to act like a concubine in front of me?" Zhang Fengxiu sneered.
Several low-level concubines surrounding her all started laughing at this moment, which sounded a bit mean.
"You almost hit Concubine Yu just now!"
Yubi is Hou Shiyun's title. If she can give birth to a prince, the title will be raised one level as usual.
"It's not like I didn't hit him. What do you want?" Zhang Fengxiu was very annoyed and thought Tiya was being nosy.
"Apologise to Yubi!" Tiya took two steps forward, now she had clenched her fists.
Ti doesn't have the ability to hit a man, but among this group of women, she is undoubtedly the little bully.
Not to mention, just seeing her take two steps forward forced Zhang Fengxiu to retreat unconsciously, secretly cursing Tiya as a Huns barbarian.
As a good friend, Huang Rongrong would never want to see Tia make a mistake. At this moment, she took two steps forward and said, "Hui concubine, you did something wrong. What's the big deal about apologizing?"
"Concubine Yu is an old man in the palace. If the emperor knows that you are bullying others, I will see how you will end up!"
Here in Tiya, Huang Rongrong likes to show protectiveness, so much so that she can display it beyond normal and speak politely and politely.
Who is Huang Rongrong? She was the fierce person who once slapped Zhang Fengxiu in public. Her words were naturally extremely lethal.
For a moment, Zhang Fengxiuli was at a loss for words and was really frightened by Huang Rongrong.
"Sister Yubi, I was reckless just now, don't blame me!" Zhang Fengxiu said reluctantly.
Hou Shiyun didn't want to stir up trouble at all. At this moment, Zhang Fengxiu chose to apologize. She just hoped that the matter would pass as soon as possible.
"It doesn't matter, it's my fault for not paying more attention!"
In the past, Hou Shiyun had various ideas, but now she just wants to give birth to the emperor's heir with peace of mind, and then concentrate on raising the child.
Seeing Zhang Fengxiu's submission, Tiya and Huang Rongrong looked at each other and smiled. This successful cooperation made them very happy.
There was intrigue outside, but in the side hall of Changchun Palace, Xue Baojun was discussing matters with Lin Jingyu.
Xue Baojun needed to clean up all the pests in the various government offices of the inner court, and she was very busy during this period.
So much so that when she got so busy, she had to find someone for help, and in this harem she could only ask for Lin Jingyu.
The two of them consulted together to make the verdict, which took more than half a month. A total of 35 people in various offices of the inner court were executed with the cane, 124 were sent to prison and exiled, and another 357 people received the cane.
Things in the harem were superficially glamorous, but upon investigation, many incidents came out, which was an eye-opener for Xue Baoyun.
What made her most angry was that as a queen, she only had four dishes and one soup for each meal, while the eunuchs and female officials below only ate delicacies from all over the world, making the frugality of the concubines a joke.
"These things are settled like this!"
Picking up the tea cup, Lin Jingyu smiled and said: "It all depends on the Queen!"
