More than a month later, Zhu Gaoxu returned to Beijing, and it was the turn of the spring and summer of the sixth year of Wude.

He had just settled down when he first returned to the palace, and he was busier than when he was out on the road. In addition to reuniting with his wife, concubines, and children, there are also many people waiting to see him, and everything is cumbersome. During Zhu Gaoxu's absence from Beijing, although the government affairs files of the imperial court were often sent, some specific matters could not be so painstaking. For example, the prince's teacher, Xiao Shizhong, wants to sue, but he can only wait until Zhu Gaoxu returns to Beijing.

Zhu Gaoxu did not go to court for a few days, and the officials could not see him, so they simply wrote a recital. And he was busy with Miao Jin and the others, and he almost didn't ask about the new music.

However, in that pile of concerts, Qian Xun's concerts still attracted Zhu Gaoxu's attention. In it, the progress of the flint gun is mentioned.

The next day, Zhu Gaoxu put on the clothes of the Imperial Court, went to the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, and summoned Qian Xun to ask what happened.

Qian Xun walked through the door, bowed, and handed over a roll of paper. Qian Xun said: "The minister didn't dare to bring weapons into the harem, so he brought a few patterns and asked the saint to take a look." ”

Zhu Gaoxu opened the drawing, looked through it for a while, and looked at the structure of the mechanism outlined with a brush on it. After a while, he asked directly, "Can you ignite the priming medicine?" ”

Qian Xun said: "Back to the saint, the Southern Department sent someone to inspect the school field, and the ten shots were fired together, but there were still two or three shots that could not be sounded." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said in his heart that if Qian Xun was not exaggerating, such a fire rate would be considered good. Because the flintlock pistol does not use open flames, it is possible to organize denser queues, and a part of the dumb fire can also ensure firepower.

"Who improved the mechanism?" Zhu Gaoxu asked again.

Qian Xun replied: "Back to the saint, this person's name is Ma Xingguang, and he is a small people. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "I know that as long as there are many people and over time, there will always be talents. Is Ma Xingguang a craftsman? ”

Qian Xun's expression was slightly embarrassed, and he arched his hand and said: "Back to the saint, Ma Xingguang used to be a barefoot Langzhong, that is, a splint Langzhong, and it is said that he is good at treating bone injuries. ”

This person's identity is indeed a bit peculiar, and Zhu Gaoxu was also stunned.

Qian Xun's voice said: "This person is not good-looking, has a perverse temperament, and officials and craftsmen don't like it. At that time, the iron factory tried to produce new guns fired by flints, and there was no progress for a long time, and it happened that Ma Xingguang had a distant relative who was a petty official in the Southern Bureau Iron Works, so he recommended him to make new guns. Mao Kaishan, who was in charge of the iron factory, looked at the face of his colleagues and promised to let Ma Xingguang enter Beijing to receive a salary. Unexpectedly, this person lived in a small house in the iron factory for more than a year, and actually improved the mechanism. ”

Zhu Gaoxu listened and said, "I want to see him." ”

Qian Xun said: "Ma Xingguang is vulgar and has a sparse number of etiquette, and the saint can wait for the ministers to teach and study for a few days, and then lead him into the palace to face the saint." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "We attach importance to him because he is talented, and it has nothing to do with his appearance and etiquette. He thought for a moment and said, "I went to see him at the ironworks to see for myself how the new guns were made. Wang Gui, you go and prepare for the car. ”

Wang Gui, the eunuch standing beside him, bowed and said, "The slave and maid obey the order." ”

After a short time, Zhu Gaoxu got into the car, accompanied by Wenchen Qian Xun, the captain of the Jinyi Guard, the general of the Han Dynasty, the eunuchs in the palace and other entourage, all the way out of the palace and walked through the Zhengyang Gate

。 The Nandi Iron Works is in the outer city of Jingshi, and it will not take long to walk.

Zhu Gaoxu did not go to the smoky and noisy workshop for the time being. The ironworks had a courtyard by the river for entertainers, so they went there first and asked the officials of the ironworks to bring Ma Xingguang to meet them.

Sure enough, as Qian Xun said, Ma Xingguang is indeed not good. The man kneeling in front of Zhu Gaoxu had hair like withered grass, his face was pale with black gas, his eyes were small but not focused, his eyes were blank, and his face was expressionless, as if people would feel that life was boring when they saw his complexion. He must have been a little nervous, and he didn't say anything when he knelt down, just lay there silent.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at him, similar to the villagers he saw in the village on his way to the north.

Ma Xingguang was accompanied by officials of the iron factory, as well as Mao Kaishan and others. Everyone couldn't help but look at Ma Xingguang sideways, hoping that he could say something to compliment the emperor, but he didn't say a word from beginning to end.

The ironworks official had no choice but to present a new gun and take the initiative to speak to resolve the trouble. The official explained that the mechanism at the end of the fire hammer roughly uses a reed to make the flint on the hammer hit the cutting board underneath, and the principle is the same as before, but the structure of the mechanism is different.

"Shengshang Mingjian, Ma Xingguang also improved the lead shot loading." The official helped Ma Xingguang say good things. There are no officials who pay attention to etiquette here, so naturally no one impeached Ma Xingguang; Everyone knows that he is going to make a fortune, and they all try to be merciful. The emperor came to see him in person, can he not make a fortune?

The official continued: "Originally, it was very laborious to press the lead shot into the gun pipe with a stick, and the sergeants often made the iron tongs for making the lead shot smaller in order to save trouble, which affected the power. At Ma Xingguang's suggestion, the ministers soaked oil in small pieces of silk, wrapped the lead pellet and filled it, so that the projectile entered the gun more smoothly, and the range of the fire gun was improved after minor changes. ”

Zhu Gaoxu pondered the fire gun in his hand for a while, but he didn't understand its ingenuity. He put down his things, glanced at Ma Xingguang below, and simply said, "Find some artisan sergeants and try them by the river." ”

Mao Kaishan, a scholar from the "Fake Academy", replied: "The ministers are in order." ”

Everyone was busy for a while, hugging Zhu Gaoxu out of the house. Outside the courtyard by the river, some people brought chairs and set up seats. However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't sit down, he asked for a fire gun and tried to fill it under the guidance of Mao Kaishan. In addition, a dozen or so sergeants also began to reload with fire and lead pills.

Zhu Gaoxu tried it and felt that the preparation of the flintlock pistol did save time compared to the arquebus. There is no need to light the fire rope without tinder, and there is no need to worry about the fire in the primer pot being run away by the wind or accidentally ignited. After loading the ammunition, Zhu Gaoxu handed it to a sergeant next to him.

There was no open flame, and a platoon of sergeants had raised their guns and aimed them at a target in the distance. Someone shouted, and suddenly there was a "crackling" sound, a row of white smoke rose up, and only a fire gun did not sound.

After the sound of the gun, Zhu Gaoxu immediately showed a satisfied smile on his face. He turned his head to find Ma Xingguang, and his attitude was completely different from when he first met.

He took the initiative to speak: "Ma Xingguang, you are now a hundred household officials, and you have entered the Fake Thing Academy as a bachelor, and you can consult all the classic files in the Fake Thing Academy. Wang Gui, after returning to the palace, went to the inner mansion to receive 100,000 new money, and rewarded Ma Xingguang as a settlement fee. In the future, the more you make this new gun, the more you will be paid. He paused, and then said, "The new gun is called 'Xingguang Gong'." ”

The surroundings immediately became lively, everyone congratulated Ma Xingguang, and even the civil officials cast envious glances, the emperor personally gave a name to a weapon, and this man was going to leave a name in history. When Ma Xingguang knelt down, he finally held back a sentence: "The grass people thank the saint for his great kindness." ”

"You deserve it." Zhu Gaoxu said. When he looked at Ma Xingguang again, he still felt that this person's appearance was very bad. If it weren't for the witness of Qian Xunmao Kaishan and others, Zhu Gaoxu would even be a little skeptical, how could the person who made a breakthrough in technology be like this?

However, Zhu Gaoxu reminded himself that people should not be good-looking, and only talents should be acted, so they don't need to care about other aspects. He added: "When I patrol the army in the future, as long as it is appropriate, you and Mao Kaishan will come with you as my military advisor...... It's a suggestion from the side. ”

Ma Xingguang said: "Yes." ”

Everyone returned to the iron factory, and Zhu Gaoxu went to inspect the various workshops along the way. He was curious for a while, and temporarily wanted to see the place where Ma Xingguang was doing the experiment.

Of course, the emperor did whatever he wanted. So the group surrounded him and came to a room in a workshop.

A trivial and complicated scene in front of him made Zhu Gaoxu stunned for a moment. He had never seen so many complicated things in a big room, and the smell here was very bad, and the variety of things made people feel lifeless.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at it casually for a while, and there were all kinds of things, but most of them had nothing to do with iron. There are many skeleton models made of small wood, toys made of bamboo and wood, horse-drawn carriages, wooden boats, and other things, as well as drills made of wood and rope, and instruments that Zhu Gaoxu could not see. Not far away is a bellows, a stove that has been extinguished, a cutting board, and pieces of iron of various shapes.

These things seem to have one thing in common, there is no whole carved model at all, they are all made of various small pieces. In addition, the house was quite large, but there was not a single living thing inside or out, not even a single weed.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at it for a while, and asked casually: "At the turn of early summer, the grass and trees are luxuriant, has the grass in the yard just been hoeed?" ”

Ma Xingguang bent down and said, "The saint's eyes are like torches. The grass people pulled it up every day, and there were originally two plum trees, and they were also dug up. The grass people looked at the things that were uncomfortable, and they loved the immovable things. Perhaps because Zhu Gaoxu was very generous to him just now, he also had more words at this time, "These small pieces made of wood and iron, as long as they are properly shaped, they will definitely be riveted together, and there will be no change." ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement. He couldn't feel the feeling that Ma Xingguang was talking about, but he vaguely understood that everyone's preferences were different.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's reaction, Ma Xingguang seemed to be encouraged. His voice added: "The grass people don't like to be officials, they don't like to deal with people, and the original business of splints is not good. Now I'm satisfied to be able to fiddle with these things......" he said, gesturing as if trying to convey something more subtle, but at last he hung his head in frustration, unable to speak.

There were many people around him, and Zhu Gaoxu was inconvenient to comment on it, so he just said: "What you need and how long you want to stay, it's no problem." ”

Ma Xingguang bent down again to thank him.

After talking for a while, Zhu Gaoxu left here. He walked out of the workshop and saw the scene of birds singing and flowers and all things alive outside, and suddenly felt the inexplicable stuffiness in his chest suddenly relaxed.