After the meeting, John Tong and his fellow priests were confined in the area of the firearms workshop, which had been completely cordoned off, and all foreigners were strictly forbidden to leave the area except for Louis and the old Mai.

However, this kind of life under house arrest is not hard, the food and lodging are quite good, and the environment is also very clean, but what makes John Tang and others not very accustomed is that they have to be questioned every day, asking about the situation in Europe, asking them about their knowledge, and asking them what they know.

In the course of this dry question-and-answer session, it was evident that the clergy were often impatient when they said they knew astronomy and mathematics, but that the other side was often interested in firearms and mechanics.

One of the things that made the clergy most uncomfortable was that Louis, who came from Europe and shared the same faith, did not have the slightest consciousness as a fellow believer, and participated in the inquiry many times, and his tone was more severe than that of the Han people in Xuzhou, and he did not show any mercy.

Liu Wei, the guide who came here with them from Macau, did not play a big role, according to his words, the current Xuzhou does not look like the world, it is not the Xuzhou in his memory and rumors, maybe the Ming officials from the capital can know more, but they have not seen it since they came to Xuzhou.

Were these officials expelled? Or is it under house arrest? The clergy speculated privately about it, but they avoided thinking about the worst.

Unbeknownst to John Tang and the accompanying priests, and to the officials and others who were captured with them, after they left Qingjiangpu, several boats capsized on the section of the canal north of Qingjiangpu, somewhere between Qinghe and Taoyuan counties.

This section of the canal is also the end of the winter transport to the north, because after the Siyang side, the canal has been frozen, the river at this time is not deep, but the people on the boat are more unlucky, all drowned in the river.

The Cao Ding troops on the ship may be afraid of guilt, and they have disappeared before the shipwreck is discovered, God knows where to run, the north side of the South Zhili River is the base camp of the Cao Dings, they cover each other, don't think about finding someone, offending Cao Shang is a big trouble.

In the case of the canal, the yamen of Qinghe and Taoyuan counties, which have oil and water, are all scrambling, and those who have no oil and water are passing the buck to each other.

A floating corpse was salvaged, and the cannon sunk in the river was also salvaged.

The center of gravity of the boat is high, during this time the wind is blowing in the north of the south and the river, it is likely that the wind is blowing, and the boat is shaking, because the thousands of pounds of artillery are on the ship, once the shaking is too big, there is no way to stop, and then the momentum is too fierce, the people on the boat have no time to react, and the appearance of these people on the ship is probably not water-based, and it would be good for the Caogong sailors to escape.

As for why several other ships also capsized, nine times out of ten it was because of the strong wind and waves, and the ships collided, resulting in this tragedy, which is really unbearable.

After the boat was turned over, it was moored on the shore, and the two cannons were also dragged to the shore, and a shed was set up on the spot, which was guarded by the local people.

As for this corpse, it is even more sensational in the two counties, there are actually people from abroad, those people with high noses and deep eyes who look similar to ghosts, although the corpse has been swollen in the water, but it can still be distinguished, these people don't believe in their own immortals? I didn't let people worship their ancestors or anything like that, and this time they were retributed.

It is said that the winter is cold, and the corpse can be stored for a long time, waiting for the punishment of the boss Yamen or something like that, but there is another rare incident, the people who guard the corpse do not say that the corpses of these people have changed, and the other people who have been drowned also look strange.

As soon as the news spread out, Qinghe County and Taoyuan County suddenly made a commotion, have a good New Year, how can you let this foreign ghost be unlucky, not to mention that once the corpse changes, these dozens of demons and monsters will make trouble, and the local area will suffer a catastrophe, this recent mage also has to go to Xuzhou Yunshan Temple to invite, far water can not quench the thirst, the best way is to burn these corpses, and there is no way to do anything after turning them into ashes.

Involved in the people, it is said that there are still people wearing official robes among the Ming people who have been scooped up, this case is not trivial, not to mention the Fengyang Governor's side, the Nanjing Criminal Department will come if it is not good, but the local crowd is angry, who can stop this momentum?

Besides, they are all villagers, and this corpse mutation and the like are involved in their own land, and the fast catchers are all half-hearted, and even secretly help.

In this way, the mortuary shed was piled up with firewood and grass, lit a fire and burned it clean, and in order to completely burn the demons, they even poured grease, and the raging fire burned everything to ashes.

The local authorities did not hide this, and the ins and outs were clearly explained in the official documents, whether it was the Huai'an Mansion, the Fengyang Governor, or the Nanjing Criminal Department, or even the Yousi of the Jingshi who came to investigate, it was the case, the corpses and clothes and luggage had been turned to ashes, and the ships and artillery were still there.

After the news went south and north, the Beijing division finally confirmed that this was a team sent to Macao to buy artillery, and the officials sent to the eunuchs were all dead, which is really a bit strange, but there are too many strange things in the place, and there is no way to trace it too deep after it is burned to ashes, and then again, the cao boat is still there, it can be ascertained that this team was hired in Hangzhou, the artillery is still there, and the cannon is not worried about being soaked in water, and after being transported to the Beijing division, it can be imitated and put into actual combat.

Whether it is on official documents or in the eyes of the officials who came to inspect them, these two cannons are cannons, but no one can notice that the two cannons present are twelve-pounder guns, and they are flawed.

Since the artillery is still there, then it will continue to be transported to the Beijing Division, and it is said that many people in the internal supervision and military department are quite regretful, if the artillery also disappears, everyone can buy it again, and there is another chance to make money.

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"These foreign monks know a lot of things that we don't know, but there are nothing amazing and terrifying, some tricks, some insights, some improvements, but Louis They said that these foreign monks know how to calculate, which will be of great benefit to our workshop in the future, and can teach our students." Regarding the arrival of Tang Ruowang, Xu Housheng didn't feel anything.

"Those two eighteen-pound cannons are really useful, knowing the size regulations, we can make clay molds ourselves, and cast them according to this style, this is of great use! I heard these monks say that there are bigger guns on the sea ships of their country, and we can also think of ways to build them. For the two captured eighteen-pounder cannons, Xu Housheng spoke very highly.

Hearing Xu Housheng talk about this, several people in the room had smiles on their faces, Zhao Jin nodded, Meng Zhiqi, the deputy of the firearms brigade at the head, grinned widely, and Ji Xiang and Zhang Hubin were also smiling.

The only one who didn't laugh was Wang Zhaojing, he pondered for a moment and said: "Now the demand for copper in the firearms workshop is too great, and now all over the south and north of the Yangtze River, one or two silver can only be exchanged for more than six hundred copper coins, and the price has been bought by us. That's a lot of savings. ”

Although Wang Zhaojing is the general manager, he used to be involved in all aspects of Yunshan and Grange, and he has a deep understanding of the way of economy.

The Xu family in Jingshan is a large quantity of coal and iron, but it does not produce copper, but the more large-caliber the artillery, the more it needs to be cast with brass, a cannon is thousands of catties, and the consumption can be imagined.

Moreover, Zhao Ziying's firearms workshop is different from other places, in addition to production, there is also a large number of trial production, which costs more brass.

Although there is no brass produced here, the material is easy to find, and it is good to collect the copper coins that are commonly used in the market and smelt them, and you can collect a lot of them with a slight increase in price, especially in the place where the goods are gathered in Qingjiangpu.

However, now the amount of Zhao Ziying is too large, and the Ming Dynasty itself is not enough to mint money, and this copper coin must also circulate in the market.

Hearing Wang Zhaojing's words, Xu Housheng laughed dryly, and continued: "Third brother, don't worry, the Zhao family furnace has already begun to be produced, our own master and those foreigners have seen the iron material, and said that it is a good material, and you can use this cast cannon, and the cannon under six pounds can use this." ”

Wang Zhaojing shook his head and said solemnly: "The cannon is a heavy weapon of the military state, and the manufacturing cannot be delayed, I just said that we should consider the matter of copper materials, and now the people on the boat know that it is already a good business to bring copper coins to our Qingjiang Pu to exchange huàn silver, and it is difficult to buy copper materials in large quantities everywhere in Daming, so we can only collect copper coins and copper utensils, and those copper mountains are in the hands of the government, so we are not easy to deal with." ”

"This is a big deal, arrange it to deal with the outside everywhere, let everyone find it, and you can ignore the price if it is more expensive." Zhao Jin said solemnly, Wang Zhaojing agreed over there, and quickly wrote it down on the paper.

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