If anyone has a pair of see-through eyes that can penetrate the bluestone slabs paved by the Zhulin Temple, penetrate the soil that is several meters thick, and penetrate the rock formations that make up the mountain, then his vision will suddenly open up, presenting a world completely different from the ground.

This is a huge grotto, or more appropriately called the underground hall, it is more than 60 zhang around, the top of the cave is more than 10 zhang high, three thick stone pillars rise from the ground, supporting the high roof of the cave, and the ancient stone wall of the dome and the dome, there are still traces of ancient excavation - such a ghostly grotto, who is digging underground?

On the ground sits the ancient temple with light wind and light Sanskrit sounds, but the ground is a hot foundry, I don't know how many craftsmen are hidden in the grottoes, they are sweating like rain, they are only wearing a pair of close-fitting pants, the upper body is naked, some people are pulling the bellows back and forth in front of the smelting furnace, some people are turning the sand casting mold, and some people are carrying charcoal, gray lead and cast copper coins back and forth...... Because of the smelting of copper, the temperature inside the grotto was much higher than outside, and despite the fresh air brought by the vents, the exhaust gases were discharged through the tunnels to the bottom of the Qujiang River, and the craftsmen were still sweating hot.

The thin and tall White Lotus Sect's holy left envoy "Flying Centipede King" Gao Tianlong stood on a raised stone platform with his hands in his hands, and at his feet, the workers were pouring red-hot copper juice into a huge cylindrical pottery fan, and the heat wave was rolling in, making the frenzy in his eyes more and more intense.

"High left makes a good means!" Hu Yunpeng smiled and gave a thumbs up, "Even if the Qin Demon scratches his head, he can't think of these grottoes underground!" ”

Elder Xiong and Elder Yang also said playfully: "Training soldiers, hoarding food, and building blades in the grotto, the gods don't know it, and when the time comes, let's uncover the rod and take the puppet against the enemy by surprise!" Haha, where is the credit of Gao Zuo's envoy in this grotto? It was clearly given to the Holy Sect by the childless old mother! ”

There was a little more smile on Gao Tianlong's compassionate face, and the praise of Elder Xiong and Elder Yang was tickling, saying that it was not his credit, but the grotto was given by the lifeless old mother by his hand, wouldn't it be more high-sounding?

There is not more than one grotto, on the mountain where the Zhulin Zen Temple is located, there are more than 20 large and small grottoes, the largest one can accommodate thousands of people, the top of the cave is more than ten zhang high, the small one also has twenty or thirty zhang around, six or seven zhang high cave top.

In some grottoes, dozens of blacksmiths are clanging to build blades, some grottoes are hoarding military rations for uprisings, some grottoes are used as barracks, and the largest one has become a workshop for private copper coins.

This was discovered by a disciple under the command of Gao Tianlong, and after reporting to him, he spent great efforts to clean up the stagnant water and silt in the cave, and used it as the secret stronghold of the White Lotus Sect in Longyou.

Gao Tianlong also guessed the origin of these grottoes, secretly inquired, and even tied up a few old scholars who studied the scriptures and history to check, and the conclusions were different: some people said that it was the mausoleum of King Yan of Zhou Tianzi in the Western Zhou Dynasty, some people said that it was the place where King Goujian of Yue secretly stationed troops and grain in the Spring and Autumn Period, and some people said that it was a reserve warehouse built by Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty...... Yes, he couldn't even figure out the age, the more Gao Tianlong listened, the more confused he became, so he simply invited these brick families to eat bandao noodles and threw them into Qujiang to feed Wang Ba.

Who is the original owner of the Longyou Grottoes, there is no way to investigate, no matter what the origin, this unknown underground grotto group in Longyou territory, for the White Lotus Sect that always thinks of rebellion, there is no doubt that it is a godsend, with this foundation, it is invincible in western Zhejiang, and the high heavenly dragon who has made great contributions has become more and more prestige in the sect, almost close to the White Lotus Sect Master.

Moreover, the base of the grotto was discovered by him, and many of his cronies were also installed up and down here.

Hu Yunpeng saw that Gao Tianlong was in a good mood, and said with a smile: "Gao Zuo is far-sighted, it is not surprising to find this grotto, come up with Li Daitao's plan, and cast a sharp weapon to deal with the imperial court officials and soldiers here, that is a great strategy!" ”

As if to make a footnote to this sentence, the craftsmen below shouted one after another: "It's done, it's done!" ”

If it weren't for the depths of the earth, it would have been heard for miles!

The craftsmen knocked open the mud-sealed pottery fan, and the yellow and clear light was revealed inside, and as the pottery fan was knocked open piece by piece, the thing completely revealed its true face: the cylindrical shape made of copper, the head is slightly thin and the tail is slightly thicker, more than eight feet long, the thickness of the sea bowl, and the muzzle of the black hole is a finely cast copper cannon!

The use of the grotto is just luck, and the secret cannon casting is the real trick of Gao Tianlong.

Compared with the bird guns or arquebuses from the West, the technology of casting cannons has a long history in China, as the inventors of gunpowder, the Chinese will cast cannons during the Yuan Dynasty.

Cast cannons, or use iron, or use copper, because the smelting quality of iron and casting technology are relatively poor, for a long time the surname of iron cannons is far inferior to copper cannons (cat note: Europe until the Napoleonic period, bronze cannons are still better than iron cannons), but the price of copper is too high, in order to balance the surname price ratio, the imperial court also made copper and iron cannons.

The war in Zhu Yuanzhang's era has been "the front of the gods, the back of the horse team", during the Wanli period, the important surname of firearms is even more prominent, the White Lotus Sect wants to oppose the imperial court, and I am afraid that it will not succeed in a hundred years by relying on preaching and divine skills alone, so from the explosion of the gunpowder depot of the Zhejiang soldiers in Nanjing and the disappearance of Li Huowang, a gunsmith, the White Lotus Sect has tried to master hot weapons.

Because Qin Lin cracked the case of Li Huowang's disappearance, the White Lotus Sect's efforts to obtain the shotgun suffered a setback, and they further discovered that this weapon was almost the same when used alone or on a small scale, and it was more useful to use the cannon in a large-scale battle battle, so they turned their minds to casting cannons.

A large amount of copper is required to cast cannons, but copper can be used to cast cannons and money, and there is still a shortage in China, and large-scale transactions are monitored by the imperial court.

Gao Tianlong's clever plan is to smelt the real money with high copper content in the imperial court, add materials such as lead and tin, and 5,000 real Wanli Tongbao can be turned into 10,000 fake Wanli Tongbao - of course, only 5,000 pieces were reproduced in the actual work, and they were re-put into the market so as not to be noticed by the imperial court, and the other 5,000 pieces of copper were deducted and used to cast cannons!

Just like Qin Lin's analysis before, if it is just a private copper coin, it is actually unprofitable, what the White Lotus Sect really wants is to deduct the copper material to cast a cannon!

Because private coinage has never been banned, the fake Wanli Tongbao on the market has really not attracted the attention of the government.

Gao Tianlong's conspiracy succeeded for most of the time, looking at the yellow and clear cannon body, imagining that the cannon had blown the imperial court officials to pieces, his smile was particularly hideous and terrifying under the reflection of the fire of the smelting furnace.

"Qin Lin, you'd better stay in Longyou and don't leave! When the Holy Sect uprising swept through western Zhejiang, I will use this holy general cannon to send you back to the yin! Gao Tianlong sneered.

"It's not good, Gao Zuo, it's not good!" A gray-clothed monk hurriedly rushed from the corridor into the grotto, his expression at a loss.

Gao Tianlong stared at him coldly, his vicious eyes were like maggots attached to the bones, which immediately made the gray-clothed monk frightened, and the spirit spirit shuddered.

The gray-clothed monk reluctantly settled down, lowered his voice and said: "Foolish Zhu called his subordinates to know the high left envoy, that Qin Demon has a gun and a stick in his words, which is very difficult to deal with, and he seems to have discovered that there is a strange ...... underground."

What the? Gao Tianlong's pupils shrank sharply, and the cold light from his eyes forced the gray-clothed monk to take a step back.

Hu Yunpeng, Elder Yang and Elder Xiong were all full of disbelief, the underground grotto was left by the ancients, not the newly excavated White Lotus Sect, I don't know if no one has found it here for hundreds or thousands of years, how can Qin Lin see the Tao as soon as he came? Could it be that this man really has eyes like lightning and can see into the depths of the earth?

"Could it be that he found the vent?" Gao Tianlong asked anxiously, it's impossible to think about it, the setting of the vent is also extremely hidden, very difficult to detect.

The gray-clothed monk didn't dare to slack off, and told the situation in three sentences or two, how did the abbot of Yuzhu miss half a sentence, and how Qin Lin noticed the abnormality from the blooming jasmine.

"Demon Qin is so powerful!" Elder Yang and Elder Xiong looked at each other, unexpectedly that there were such people in the world who knew so much, they were simply wise and close to demons.

Hu Yunpeng gritted his teeth: "I pretended to be a monk to assassinate him, it's a big deal to give up this life and share the worries for Gao Zuo!" ”

"Wait, Devil Qin must be on guard, you can't kill him," Gao Tianlong stopped Hu Yunpeng, and after pondering for a long time, he glanced at him, pretended to be eager, and said loudly: "Devil Qin has found a clue, it is not appropriate to stay here for a long time, go and inform the Holy Sect Master!" ”

Hu Yunpeng was stunned, and saw a strange look on Gao Tianlong's face, and suddenly realized...... In the Bamboo Forest Temple on the ground, Qin Lin had already enjoyed the refreshments offered by Yuzhu in the fine room, Lu Yuanzhi also glanced at him meaning don't be in a hurry to eat, Luo Dongyan also looked hesitant, but Qin Lin put the dim sum into his mouth piece by piece, and said with a smile: "Master Yuzhu's good intentions, why doesn't Luo Zhixian want to enjoy it?" These snacks are fragrant, sweet, and not poisonous......"

It's good to be poisonous, poison you court eagle dog! The old monk of Yuzhu hated it so much, but he was helpless, he himself was here, the Holy Sect Master and the two envoys and the three hall masters and ten elders were all here, it was not difficult to poison Qin Lin, the question was how to escape? Before receiving a clear order from the Holy Sect Master or Gao Zuo's envoy, he could only respectfully offer Qin Lin up.

"Ahh Qin Lin suddenly covered his stomach, his face turned pale, and his temples jumped.

Is it really poisonous? Luo Dongyan was so frightened that he was holding a piece of dim sum and putting it in his mouth, but his hand shook off the ground.

Qin Lin suddenly smiled: "I'm sorry, I bought three bowls of pork rice noodles on the street yesterday to eat, it was too greasy and my stomach couldn't stand it, and I lost my company." ”

He covered his stomach and rushed out of the door, leaving behind the crying and laughing foolish bamboo and Luo Dongyan, who made two turns under the guidance of the Jinyi Official Academy, and Niu Dali was rubbing his hands and waiting there.

(To be continued)