Originally, there were only two departments in the Ordnance Supervisor, namely the Jiafang Department and the Crossbow Workshop Bureau, and after Zheng Peng used firearms to exert great power in Tubo, Li Longji set up a new firearms department, and Zheng Peng, as the newly appointed secretary of the Ordnance Supervisor, was mainly responsible for the firearms department in Chang'an.

The day after receiving the decree, Zheng Peng went to the Firearms Department to take up his post, and when Zheng Peng saw this newly established department for the first time, he couldn't help but nod secretly.

The Firearms Department is located next to the Forbidden Garden, which is the back garden of the Imperial Palace, which has always been heavily guarded, and the Firearms Department is heavily armed, the outside is protected by the Yulin Army, and the inside is guarded by the Flying Dragon Army under the command of Gao Lishi, which can be said to be airtight; Next to it is the liquid pool, even if there is a fire, it is also convenient to get water to fight the fire, and it can be seen that a lot of thought has been put into the site selection.

Zheng Peng walked to the door of the firearms department after passing through the second line of defense, at this time there were already two craftsmen dressed as people waiting at the door, looking very familiar, see a little clearly, these two people are craftsmen who make gunpowder and firearms for themselves in the barracks of the Fourth Army of the West Gate, one is called Jin Mingyu, the other is called Chen Jiu, before Zheng Peng left the fourth camp of the West Gate, all the craftsmen who secretly made firearms were secretly transferred away by the envoys sent by Li Longji, and it seems that they were all transferred here.

The inspection was so strict that even Zheng Peng's personal guard, the Cardinal, could not enter, so he could only wait outside the Firearms Department.

"The little one has seen the general." When Jin Mingyu and Chen Jiu saw Zheng Peng, they immediately saluted respectfully.

Yesterday I heard that Zheng Peng, the new secretary of ordnance, had taken office today, and the two did not dare to slack off and waited outside the office in the morning.

After entering the Firearms Department, it is strictly forbidden to enter and exit, otherwise the two will go to the Zuoyintai Gate to greet Zheng Peng.

"No courtesy, get up" Zheng Peng said with a pleasant face: "I didn't expect to meet again, you two are blessed." ”

When Jin Mingyu and Chen Jiu were in the mountains behind the barracks of the Fourth Army in Ximen, due to the tight time and heavy tasks, the two of them got up early and worked in the dark, they were very thin, especially Chen Jiu, who was as thin as a monkey, but I didn't expect that after the two entered the Firearms Department, Jin Mingyu's face was ruddy, and he had a double chin when he smiled.

Chen Jiu smiled a little embarrassedly: "It's all thanks to the general, if there is no general's support, the little one will still work hard to pick up the sledgehammer in the barracks." ”

"The general is our nobleman, now eat and sleep well, and I also met the emperor, the emperor said, as long as you work hard, your family can not only get rid of the craftsman's status, but also enter the yamen to eat official dinner, it is simply the ancestral tomb smoke, and now I wake up with a smile in my dreams." Jin Mingyu said with a satisfied face.

Zheng Peng just smiled when he heard this, and said, "Let's go, take a look inside." ”

The requirements of these craftsmen are too low, they have no freedom, and they have no wages, so they will be satisfied if they eat and drink well, and then promise that their families will also get benefits if they do well, and they will immediately be grateful to Dade and let them not care about anything.

Seeing them, Zheng Peng suddenly remembered Ah Jun and Zheng Fu, why didn't he give them the same promise, Ah Jun died heroically on the battlefield, and Zheng Fu was old and Long Zhong was still guarding the house for himself, they were all lovely people.

"I've seen the general."

"Congratulations to General Zheng on his promotion to the rank of knight."

"The general is really the god of war, and he has destroyed the invincible Tubo dog, and the little one can do things under the general, and his face is also bright."

Zheng Peng has an easy-going personality and has always been courteous to craftsmen, most of the craftsmen in the Firearms Department are people who secretly make firearms in the camp of the Fourth Army of Ximen, they know Zheng Peng, and when they see Zheng Peng coming to inspect, they greet and salute Zheng Peng.

After a rough patrol, Zheng Peng quickly came to a conclusion in his heart: the so-called Firearms Department is actually a copy of the secret firearms workshop of the Fourth Army of Ximen, dividing the production process into different steps, and different people are responsible for it, not only separating it from the space, but also distinguishing it with clothes of different colors, people with different colors of clothes must not communicate, and violators will be punished most severely.

After talking, Jin Mingyu and Chen Jiu are the leaders of the Firearms Department, one is the leader of the assembly team, and the other is the head of the research and development team.

After the two just greeted Zheng Peng at the door, Jin Mingyu accompanied Zheng Peng to see the gunpowder making workshop, while Chen Jiu smiled and said that he was waiting for Zheng Peng in the R&D department.

"General, the process here is the same as in the camp of the Fourth Army of the West Gate, except that the place is a little bigger and there are more people." Jin Mingyu introduced.

Zheng Peng nodded: "The environment is also much better, the conditions in Chang'an are good, what you want, just like those tools, it is obviously much more complete than when you were in the barracks of the Fourth Army in Ximen, and it is also very exquisite." ”

"The emperor's grace is vast, everyone cherishes this opportunity, and they all do their best."

"Let's get down to business," Zheng Peng asked directly, "Has there been any progress on gunpowder?" ”

Zheng Peng made the original black powder, and the power could only be so-so, and he always wanted to improve it, but the conditions were limited at that time, and I don't know if Jin Mingyu and they had studied it for so long, and whether there was any improvement.

Jin Mingyu said with some embarrassment: "Back to the general's words, everyone has been working hard, but it is too difficult and dangerous, and there is no progress for the time being." ”

"Huh?" Zheng Peng caught the point at once: "Danger? Has anyone been hurt? ”

"When Sun Dayan made gunpowder, it suddenly exploded for some reason, and he lost a hand on the spot." When he spoke, Jin Mingyu still had a scared expression.

Zheng Peng, who was patrolling, suddenly stopped, Jin Mingyu, who was following behind, didn't notice for a while, and almost bumped into Zheng Peng, and was about to ask Zheng Peng why he stopped, when he saw Sun Dayan who was doing chores with one hand on the side, Jin Mingyu said with some displeasure: "Sun Dayan, you are blind, didn't you see the general coming, quickly give way." ”

Sun Dayan was startled, and hurriedly retreated to the side, not daring to raise his head, and said a little resignedly: "The little one has eyes and no beads, blocking the way of the general, please forgive the general." ”

Zheng Peng lightly touched the scarred half of Sun Dayan's hand with a heavy heart, and asked, "Sun Dayan, does your hand hurt?" ”

"General Xie cares, the villain's cheap life is very hard, and he can't die."

Zheng Peng was on the casual table next to him, raised his hand to Sun Dayan and said, "Come, sit down and talk." ”

Sun Dayan is very familiar with this person Zheng Peng, when he was in the camp of the Fourth Army of Ximen, he was famous for his courage and carefulness, and others were masters who taught him how to do it, and he always wondered if he could do it faster and better, and when making gunpowder, he was also the fastest to get started, Zheng Peng was very impressed by him.

In fact, Sun Dayan's name is not called Big Eye, but Sun Shigen, his eyes are very big, and his eyeballs are rolling like cow's eyes, so everyone calls him Sun Dayan.

The environment can change people, in the past, Sun Dayan was very active, his eyes were very spiritual, even if he was a low-status craftsman, he also gave people a very energetic feeling, but now Sun Dayan, pale, his eyes were godless, and his eyes that were once smart had no aura, like dead fish eyes, similar to the walking dead, it can be seen that the loss of a hand has caused great psychological trauma to him.

"Will... General, just stand and talk. Sun Dayan didn't expect that the high-ranking General Zheng and Champion Hou would invite him to sit down and talk, paused for a moment, and quickly responded with sincere fear.

Without his right hand, he is a wasted person, General Zheng may also be kind, or he may be acting in front of so many craftsmen, no matter what, Sun Dayan has received Zheng Peng's love.

At least he treats himself as a human being, unlike some craftsmen, who sneer and even deliberately make things difficult after their accidents.

"General, it's a little noisy here, it's better to go to the small office to talk, the little one has already made a good pot of tea." Jin Mingyu said to Zheng Peng flatteringly.

Jin Mingyu was a little unimpressed with Sun Daming, his hands were gone, what did he do in front of General Zheng, did he sympathize? didn't look at it, preventing himself from reporting to General Zheng.

Zheng Peng waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, you go and prepare the materials first, I want to see what you have been busy with recently." ”

"Yes, General." Jin Mingyu glanced at Sun Da with some dissatisfaction, and then retreated first.

Jin Mingyu was a little unhappy in his heart, feeling that Sun Dayan had robbed him of the opportunity to perform, and he was also afraid that he would talk nonsense, which would make General Zheng feel that it would be bad for him to have no way to manage.

At this time, the craftsmen of the Assembly Department of the Firearms Department also noticed the situation here, and many people whispered:

"You see, General Zheng is really approachable, and he has said so much to Sun Dayan."

"Be quiet, what is General Zheng's identity, the ordnance supervisor is doing it at the same time, he is the high-ranking general Yunlu, the majestic champion, it is estimated that he is afraid of the fox dying and the rabbit is sad, and he is acting in front of us."

"The big officials like to do this the most, we are small people, just take a look."

"It's not like that, it's not easy for other big officials to say, General Zheng really has nothing to say, good to his subordinates, good to us craftsmen, no one in the army is dissatisfied with him, I heard that when he was a little Bolu, General Zheng valued Sun Dayan very much."

"Whether it's true or fake, Sun Dayan just likes to toss too much, and always wants to be in the limelight, now it's a big game, and he can't even play with his hands, otherwise this team won't be able to talk about Jin Mingyu."

"Yes, I don't want to do this for merit, but for no fault, maybe one day it's our turn, I don't want to eat with only one hand."

"It makes sense, if something happens, you have to burn incense and worship the Buddha if you pick up a small life, if the little life is gone, you will not be blessed and have a life."

Just when everyone was whispering, Sun couldn't resist Zheng Peng, and sat opposite Zheng Peng carefully, in order to show respect for Zheng Peng, he sat down diagonally, and most of his buttocks were exposed outside the chair.

There is a difference between respect and inferiority, Zheng Peng can be at will, but Sun Dayan does not dare to go beyond it.

"Relax, don't be so inhibited, just talk like you used to." Zheng Peng saw Sun Da's eyes tense, and couldn't help but comfort him.

"Like before" Sun Dayan was a little distracted for a moment, and soon said with a wry smile: "Can it still be like before?" No, it's scrapped. ”

In the past, he was fast, nimble, and did a good job, no matter who saw it, he said yes, but now, without his right hand, he has become a waste, and now he is also suspected of doing some chores, if it weren't for the fact that the Firearms Department is a top-secret department, no one is allowed to communicate with the outside, and Sun Dayan can definitely kick himself out a long time ago.

Now it's better to die than to live, and every day you live counts as a day.

Zheng Peng looked at Sun Dayan's half-broken hand, which looked a little shocking, and said with concern: "As long as people live, there is hope, Big Eye, what's going on with your hand?" ”

A person likes to toss, restless, in fact, he is active in thinking, confident in himself, the more he likes to toss people, but the more he can do big things, the best example is children, those who listen to obedient words, even if they are shrewd, most of them grow up to be mediocre, and those who like to toss and mischievous children, but easy to become famous, in the words of experts, children like to toss, in fact, he has a kind of self-confidence in his heart: he is in trouble, but also has the ability to survive, since childhood has self-confidence, and those who listen to obedient words, A lot of things haven't been done yet, I'm afraid of this and that, I haven't had an adventurous spirit since I was a child, and I grew up to be a step-by-step order, I was a good child when I was a child, and I grew up to be a good adult.

Of course, there are two kinds of toss, one is a brainless blind toss, and the other is a spiritual toss that is not satisfied with the status quo, and Sun Dayan is the latter.

Sun Dayan smiled bitterly, and said with a look of regret: "The general encourages us to use our brains more often, and the villain wonders if we can make gunpowder more powerful, just like lightning, it looks like a light, as if there is nothing, but it can open mountains and split stones." ”

"Yes, go on." Zheng Peng smiled and encouraged.

Sun Dayan responded, and continued: "The little one inadvertently remembered one thing, when repairing weapons in the army, didn't the exhaust box be used, the same is so much charcoal, when there is no exhaust fan, it takes a lot of effort to burn the iron red, burn through, after using the exhaust bellows, pull the bellows for a while and burn it red, thinking about whether the gunpowder will be like firewood, let it ignite quietly, the effect is not great, if you add some material to it, just like the exhaust box used for striking iron, it will increase its power all of a sudden, so add something to the gunpowder, Anyway, I added whatever I wanted, but I didn't expect that once I couldn't concentrate, the amount of gunpowder was also amplified, so this hand was gone. ”

Speaking of the back, Sun Dayan's eyes were full of chagrin, if he didn't like to toss, he wouldn't have to live a hard life, the worst thing was to look at other people's faces, but Zheng Peng on the side was more energetic the more he listened, and when Sun Dayan finished speaking, Zheng Peng immediately asked: "Sun Dayan, think about it, is it a large amount, or is the power of gunpowder enhanced?" ”

A word woke up the person in the dream, and after listening to Sun Dayan's words, Zheng Peng suddenly remembered that the power of gunpowder in later generations is getting bigger and bigger, that is, adding some metal powder that can quickly support combustion in gunpowder, and in a limited space, the greater the energy of the instantaneous explosion, the stronger the destructive power, Sun Dayan's theory is actually correct.

"Got more power?" Sun Da's eyes lit up, and the whole person was shocked, and his eyes, which were originally lifeless, suddenly had a glow.

"That's right" Zheng Peng said with a serious face: "Think about it, what went wrong, maybe, you have already touched the door." ”

The look in Sun Dayan's eyes quickly dimmed, he looked at his severed hand, shook his head and said, "It's a pity, it's late." ”

"What is one hand, think about Sun Bin during the Spring and Autumn War, just without legs, is it not the same as becoming a general?" Zheng Peng said with a smile: "Sun Dayan, you don't have your right hand, but your left hand is still there, your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are still there, what are you afraid of, besides, I'm still here." ”