If it was in the past, Yang Zhen wanted to face the saint, even with his current status, it would be impossible to see the Son of Heaven in the morning, no matter what, he would have to wait until after noon. Because of the existence of the early dynasty, the emperor had to attend the court meeting after dawn, which was two or three hours long, one or two hours shorter, and when it was over, it was noon.

But now, things have changed. Although many things have been different from those in history, Wanli's character has not changed, and after a few years as emperor, he felt a little tired and tired, especially after he began to be dissatisfied with the daily formalism of the early dynasty, he deliberately reduced the number of court meetings.

At the beginning, he only dropped out of the court a few times occasionally, and was also advised by the courtiers. In this regard, Wanli did not pay too much attention to it, but tasted the sweetness because of it. So, since last year, he has become bolder, and then he clearly revealed his meaning, and in the future, he will be as early as three days!

This decision of the Son of Heaven was naturally resisted by countless courtiers, you must know that for those officials who did not have much real power in their hands, the early dynasty was the only thing that could show their existence and status, and now the emperor wanted to reduce the number of court meetings not to hurt their faces.

It's a pity that Wanli has shown far more persistence than usual in this matter, he has indeed been fed up with getting up early and meaningless busyness day after day, and finally insisted on going his own way, and turned the daily morning dynasty into a three-day day.

At the beginning, the ministers were still quite dissatisfied, and there were always many people who spoke up, hoping that His Majesty would change his mind. But in this regard, Wanli didn't even pay attention to them, and most of those notes were sent elsewhere and burned. In this case, the ministers can only accept the facts.

It was thanks to this decision of the Son of Heaven that Yang Zhen was able to enter the palace in the morning. The only thing that was a little troublesome was that the musket he carried with him was a weapon after all, and it was really not suitable to bring it into the palace. Fortunately, Yang Zhen's identity was placed there, and people passed the word in, saying that this was the weapon he was going to sacrifice to the Son of Heaven, and only then did the word come out inside, allowing Yang Zhen to see the Son of Heaven with a musket.

Therefore, after meeting the Son of Heaven, Wanli stared at Yang Zhen, who had just gotten up from the ground, with some interest: "Yang Qing, what is the difference between the musket you want to offer me?" ”

Yang Zhen glanced at the attendants around him, and then said respectfully: "The minister is guilty, and I hope Your Majesty will forgive him." ”

"Huh? What are you talking about, and why are you guilty? Seeing that he didn't reply to his words, but instead asked for guilt, it made Wanli a little confused.

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister has been hiding something from you, so he has to ask for guilt."

"Do you have something to hide from me? But what is it? Wanli was stunned for a moment, and then thought of the problem again: "But it has something to do with the musket you are going to sacrifice today?" ”

"Exactly, Your Majesty is wise." Yang Zhen nodded and admitted: "In fact, as early as seven or eight years ago, the minister had built a craftsman's workshop in Jinyiwei, which was responsible for secretly developing firearms, but he had never told His Majesty. ”

"Is this the case?" Wanli's eyes narrowed, and he thought of something: "At that time, someone once accused Yang Qing of plotting against you and suspected of making firearms privately, didn't that wronged you?" ”

I didn't expect the Son of Heaven to have such a good memory, Yang Zhen obviously looked a little stunned, but soon, he still admitted truthfully: "Back to Your Majesty, it is true that the minister made firearms in private, but he has never had any ill intentions, and I hope that Your Majesty will know it." ”

"You are loyal to me, I naturally understand, but what is the situation with this firearm?"

"Your Majesty Rongchen said slowly......" Yang Zhen took a deep breath before continuing: "As early as a few years ago, when the minister went to Shanxi to quell the chaos there, he fought with the Mongols, and he knew that their cavalry was so powerful that it was beyond the strength of my Ming officers and troops to resist. So, the minister thought about how to use his strengths and avoid weaknesses to deal with the Tartars. ”

"That's why you came up with firearms?" Wanli suddenly understood.

"Exactly. Although the lethality of our Ming musket artillery is limited, it is obviously able to resist the existence of the Tartar cavalry. It's a pity that because the reload is too cumbersome, it can't be used continuously in a short time, so it can't play a decisive role in the battle against the Tartars. At that time, the minister was thinking, can we improve the firearms in my Ming army?

So after returning from Shanxi, the minister began to ask someone to redevelop firearms. Unexpectedly, he was noticed as soon as he started. And because there was still Zhang Juzheng in the court at that time, the minister could only use some means to hide it, and only deduced that it was the development of firecrackers......"

"Wow, you Yang Zhen really deceived me, and I really believed your words at that time." After he said this, Wanli also remembered more details at the beginning, and snorted a little dissatisfied.

"The minister is guilty, and I hope His Majesty will punish him."

"That's it, it's all over, I will spare you for the sake of your many contributions to the court over the years." Wanli waved his hand and said, "You came to offer a gun today, obviously you have made some progress, right?" ”

"Exactly." Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, raised the musket in his hand, and let the Son of Heaven understand it: "This is the new type of musket made by those craftsmen after several years of hard experimentation, and please take a look at it." ”

Under Wanli's nod, the chamberlain on the side stepped forward to take the musket and handed it into his hand.

Wanli carried this musket, which was not too flashy in appearance, and carefully studied it for a long time before saying: "I have also seen some muskets, and your gun has not improved anything other than it seems to have a slender muzzle." ”

"The difference between this can only be seen after a trial." Yang Zhen hurriedly explained.

"Oh? Then try to let me see. After all, the Son of Heaven was young, and his interest in novelties was already great, and the natural attraction of firearms to men suddenly made him more interested.

Yang Zhen hurriedly agreed, and said: "However, this hall is not suitable for displaying the efficacy of this gun, and I ask Your Majesty to move outside to take a look." ”

"Then let's go out and have a look." Wanli nodded approvingly, handed the gun back to Yang Zhen, and slowly walked out of the side hall.

The palace occupies an extremely wide area, even if it is only a side hall, the outside space is not small, just enough to test the gun. Yang Zhen didn't shirk either, and immediately opened the loading hole of the musket in front of the Son of Heaven and those chamberlains, and skillfully pushed a paper shell bullet that he carried with him.

Then, he raised his musket and aimed at a large tree in front of him.

The trigger was pulled, and with a bang, there was a flurry of sawdust on the trunk of the big tree. This movement immediately attracted a group of palace guards who were like facing a great enemy, and it was not until the Son of Heaven waved their hands to let them retreat that everyone dispersed with some lingering fears.

And Wanli, at this time, his eyes were already shining on the musket that was still smoking in Yang Zhen's hand: "If I remember correctly, it is really a bit laborious to load the musket in my forbidden army with gunpowder and projectiles now." Yang Qing, is your musket so simple? "He was a man of knowledge, and he saw at once the mystery of this improved musket.

Yang Zhen nodded: "Exactly." The musket only needs to be loaded with specially made bullets for it to fire quickly. And because of the particularity of the bullets used, its range and accuracy are also higher than those used in the army today. ”

"Quick, let me see it again." Wanli was even more moved, and quickly stretched out his hand to pass the musket, and then carefully looked up and down at this very different musket, but after all, he was a layman in this area, and he couldn't see the reason no matter how he looked closely, so he could only say: "Yang Qing, I also want to shoot a shot." ”

Yang Zhen wanted this effect, so he quickly took out a bullet, walked to the Son of Heaven, and instructed him to pour out the cartridge casing in the original magazine and replace it with a new bullet.

Seeing that the Son of Heaven was about to get such a murder weapon, the attendants around him were a little panicked. Yang Zhen had bluffed them with a gun just now, and now even the emperor himself has to come like this, what if something happens? So he immediately knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, please think twice......"

"Hey, with Yang Qing here, what danger can there be?" Wanli was very unimpressed by this, and with a big wave of his hand, he had already picked up the gun and aimed forward.

Another gunshot rang out, and the hapless tree was shaken again, and sawdust was scattered everywhere. And when the Son of Heaven saw this scene, he was overjoyed: "Good! This shot is really powerful! ”

He had seen those soldiers of the Beijing camp use muskets during military exercises. At that time, the momentum of dozens or hundreds of muskets was very strong, but the accuracy was very poor, and the distance was not as far as that of his side, but the hit rate was less than 30%, and the target was much larger than the big tree in front of him.

What's more, after putting the first round of muskets, it takes a long time to reload the gunpowder projectile before the second shot can be fired, which is as easy as this one?

"Yang Qing, you have indeed made great achievements for my court again this time! If this gun can really be promoted in the army, what kind of Tartar is my Ming army afraid of? Wanli said excitedly.

Yang Zhen hurriedly humbled twice, and then said: "But this gun also has its drawbacks, that is, it is not easy to manufacture, and now my craftsman studio has only made these two or three guns." ”

"Hey, that's because your brocade clothes can only be built in private, as long as I let the Ministry of Industry and let the craftsmen under the Shenji Battalion learn to build it, this will no longer be a problem." The Emperor waved his hand disappreciatively.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Yang Zhen was overjoyed when he heard this, this was indeed his true intention of coming to offer muskets to Wanli this time. Although he had the means and ability to make a gun, if he really wanted this gun to become the standard weapon of the Ming army, it obviously required the consent of the Son of Heaven, and large-scale production was also something that could only be done by the imperial court. Now it seems that he has been quite successful in doing so.