As soon as a glimmer of light appeared outside the window, a low cry came: "Young master—young master—"

Liu Yin sleeps very lightly, any little wind and grass can wake him up, when the shouts outside the window sounded, Liu Yin woke up as soon as possible, and he could hear that it was Ah Jian's voice. Generally speaking, unless there is a special urgency, Ah Jian will not bother him during this time.

Liu Yin glanced at Wei Xuewu, she was sleeping soundly, Liu Yin carefully pulled out her arm, put a thin jacket on her body, got dressed, opened the door, Ah Jian was already waiting outside the door, Liu Yin said in a deep voice: "What's the urgency?" ”

Ah Jian's face was solemn, and he said to Liu Yin: "Young master, there is an accident in the gunpowder workshop. ”

When he heard about the gunpowder workshop, Liu Yin was shocked. After arriving in Longxi last year, the gunpowder workshop was placed in Tianshui, and after the capture of Chang'an, Liu Yin decided to move the gunpowder workshop to Baling to facilitate management.

It is really difficult to prevent others from copying and imitating low-tech inventions such as the Takahashi saddle bilateral stirrup, after all, those things are placed there, and people may imitate them at a glance, because it is impossible not to be discovered and imitated by opponents when they want to be put into actual combat.

But gunpowder is different, if you don't know the formula and production process, even if you get the gunpowder in kind, it's in vain, since the use of gunpowder to blow up the city wall of Chang'an, the Shu army has gunpowder weapons is no longer a secret, and gunpowder weapons to the world, far more than shock, Liu Yin believes that now Sima Zhao wants to do everything possible is the formula and production process of gunpowder, and once the gunpowder weapons are mastered by Wei, the advantage occupied by the Shu army will be gone.

So. Liu Yin attaches great importance to the safety and security of the gunpowder workshop. Whether it's on the march. Or set up a workshop in Tianshui, the security is extremely strict, and it will not leave any chance for the Wei spies at all, but I never expected that the gunpowder workshop had just moved to Baling, and something happened.

"What's wrong?" Liu Yin asked in a deep voice.

Ah Jian said: "Last night, my subordinates suddenly received a report from Ding Hu, who was in charge of guarding the gunpowder workshop, saying that a craftsman had been lost in the gunpowder workshop. The subordinates immediately rushed to the workshop and found out that the lost craftsman was named Xu Hong, and the workshop number was No. 36, and he was in charge of the batching process. Xu Hong is an old craftsman, he has joined the gunpowder workshop at the beginning of its establishment, and his family is now in Nanzhong, and it is estimated that it is unlikely that he will defect, but it is not ruled out that he may be lured away by the demagoguery of Wei Guozuo, and it may also be that he was held hostage. The subordinates immediately led people to launch a search. and mobilized the troops stationed in Baling, blocking all roads to the outside world. Luckily, they didn't get too far away. The subordinates led people to intercept them at the place of Qilipu in the south of the city, and there were three Wei State Ministers who assisted Xu Hong in escaping, two of whom were killed on the spot, and one was captured, but Xu Hong had been killed by them. ”

There are only three ways for Wei spies to obtain gunpowder technology, the first is to steal the formula and process drawings of gunpowder. It is the most direct and effective method, once Wei masters the formula and production process of gunpowder, it can imitate gunpowder of the same quality in a very short time. However, the formula and process drawings of gunpowder are the highest top secrets, that is, except for Liu Yin and the senior managers of individual gunpowder workshops, ordinary people cannot access this core secret. This also determines that it is extremely difficult for Wei spies to start.

The second is to obtain the actual gunpowder. Since after the gunpowder is produced, it must be equipped with the troops, so the difficulty of prevention is greatly increased, and compared with stealing the drawings, the Wei spies can start from the production, transportation and equipment links, and such a chance will undoubtedly be great. However, Liu Yin is not too worried about Wei obtaining gunpowder, limited by the current level of science and technology, even if the gunpowder is really placed in front of the Wei people, I am afraid they will not be able to imitate gunpowder according to the gourd painting scoop, only strict formula ratio and process flow can make powerful gunpowder, making gunpowder is far from being as simple as one sulfur, two nitrate and three charcoal, not to mention, Wei people are not able to distinguish the compatibility of several raw materials in gunpowder.

Then the last way to obtain gunpowder technology is to kidnap the artisans who produce gunpowder. Because gunpowder is an assembly line production operation, the craftsman of each process can only master the technology of the process, in order to prevent leakage, the various processes are not connected with each other, the internal regulations of the gunpowder workshop, any craftsman can only be limited to the scope of the process, it is strictly forbidden to peep and steal other techniques, once found, depending on the seriousness of the situation, all will be severely punished, the light will be flogged, and the heavy will be killed. Under the strict management of the workshop, each craftsman can only master one process skillfully, and know nothing about the others, so as to ensure that even if a certain craftsman falls into the hands of a Wei spy, the entire process will not be leaked, unless a Wei spy can capture the craftsman on each production line.

And this is almost impossible, the control of the craftsmen in the gunpowder workshop is even stricter than that of the prisoners in the prison, and all the craftsmen are completely deprived of their freedom except for the better living treatment and high wages they can enjoy than the prisoners, and they have no contact with anyone except the craftsmen in the same process.

The exodus of craftsmen was a complete accident, because the entire gunpowder workshop had just been relocated, and it was inevitable that there would be some negligence in management, so that it was infiltrated by Wei spies. Fortunately, Ah Jian's timely remedy, although it eventually led to the death of the fugitive craftsman, did not let him fall into the hands of Wei, which was already a lucky thing.

Although it is impossible for a single craftsman to cause the leakage of gunpowder recipes and a full set of processes, if this craftsman falls into the hands of Wei, it will inevitably allow Wei to master some of the core technologies, and there are countless skilled craftsmen in Wei, although there may not be another genius like Ma Jun, but there are many people, so it is not surprising that they draw inferences from one another, and finally make gunpowder.

This incident undoubtedly put forward a severe test to the defense system of the gunpowder workshop, and it is inevitable that there will be a mistake in the hundred secrets, but often this omission is fatal, and how to better improve the safety and security of the gunpowder workshop is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, and it is urgent.

"Let's go and see this captive craftsman." Liu Yin said. (To be continued.) )