Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 248

Chapter 248 Emperor’s Reward
Time passed very quickly. In a flash, a month passed.

Li Ke had been gone for so long, but he had never returned, and there was no news from the capital. Considering the distance, half a month should be enough for Li Ke to travel to and from the capital on a light horse.

Qin Mubai was somewhat worried. First, there was no news from Li Ke. Second, the capital was too quiet. Logically speaking, the reappearance of the Imperial Jade Seal and the excavation of Yang Guang’s real mausoleum were world-shaking events. But now, everything was abnormally quiet, and Qin Mubai couldn’t help but feel a little drummed in his heart.

Within a month, Qin Mubai spent most of his time in the Prefecture to take care of the people’s livelihood affairs left behind by Li Ke. Sometimes he would go back to the barracks as an inspection. With Pang Fei and the rest of the Baiji seated there, everything was normal. Occasionally, he would visit the mausoleum guarded by Yuwen Hongtai.

At three o’clock, the days passed quickly and busily.

On this day, Qin Mubai was in the study room dealing with official business. A yamen attendant reported that three “strange old beggars” had come to the front door of the secretariat’s mansion and wanted to see General Qin by name.

Qin Mubai couldn’t help but laugh, “Of course, it’s my acquaintances who can come to the Prefecture to find General Qin. Let them in!”

The yamen attendant brought the three “strange old beggars” in. As expected, they were Niu Wuzhi’s three disciples, Big Lightning, Second Lightning, and Third Lightning.

“Three old masters, why are you looking for me today? Didn’t I send you servants and handymen? Just let them run for a while, okay?” Qin Mubai asked.

Actually, Qin Mubai knew that if it weren’t for the fact that there was something important, why would the three of them have come to the secretariat office to look for Qin Mubai? This was the first time.

“General, the matter you gave me earlier is almost settled now. It’s only because of the importance of the matter that I dare to personally invite the general to take a look.” Great Thunder said.

Qin Mubai couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised, “What, so fast? Impossible!”

“Not only does the general not believe it, but this lowly one also does not believe it.” The three old men muttered, “After the general told us to come down, I and the brothers on the iron ore field worked hard day and night. They worked day and night for half a month, crippled many times, and injured several brothers. Today, we finally managed to produce a hairy embryo, and we can barely give it a try.” “I just don’t know if that thing is what the general wants, so I came to ask the general to go check it out.”

“Alright, I’ll go immediately.” Qin Mubai nodded happily and said to them, “You three old masters, it’s really hard on you. From now on, you don’t have to work too hard. If you can rest, rest. You don’t have to rush. Take care of yourself!”

“Thank you, General Qin, for your concern. This old man and the others have been busy with their master for most of their lives, and they are already used to it. General, let’s quickly leave!”

“Alright, let’s go!”

Qin Mubai called for carriages and horses. He rode his own horse and brought the three old men to the iron ore field in the countryside. Not long after, the mining area arrived. Several craftsmen were already waiting.

“General Qin, please!” The craftsmen didn’t say much and directly led Qin Mubai and the three old men to an extremely remote corner of the mine.

“Good fellow, I really let you guys bring it out!” Qin Mubai couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.

Cannon!

A cannon!

The cannon in front of him looked a little rough. Just as the three old men had said, it was only a “hairy embryo”. But it is essentially the same as the Red Barbarian Cannon that was introduced into China at the end of the Ming Dynasty. (People in the Qing Dynasty disliked the “red barbarians” for being indecent, and because the cannons were often covered with red cloth, they called them “red-robed cannons”)!

The real red-clothed cannon was an ancient cannon with a slippery-bore flamethrower in the front. The barrel was long and the wall was very thick, and it gradually thickened from the muzzle to the stern, which was consistent with the principle that the bore pressure increased from high to the end when gunpowder was burned; On both sides of the barycenter of the cannon body are cylindrical cannon ears, and the cannon can adjust the firing angle and change the firing range with the dosage of gunpowder; With a starlight and a shining gate, the trajectory can be calculated according to the parabola with high accuracy.

At this moment, the gun barrel that was enough to be known as the “Old Ancestor of the Red Cannons” and weighed more than 1,000 jin was mounted on a sturdy car and tied up. The black muzzle of the cannon was facing a desolate mountain in the distance. It was rather rough because it had not yet been decorated and polished. However, its enormous size and natural thickness gave it a layer of tyrannical and tyrannical colors.

“General, according to the blueprints and repeated warnings you left behind, we used the Fan casting method to cast six cannon barrels. Previously, we tried to bomb a few times. Two of them exploded and even injured our own people. After repeated modifications and tests by these experts, it should not be so easy to explode now.” Da Lei said to Qin Mubai.

“Where are the cannonballs? Let me see.” Qin Mubai said.

“Yes.” Big Thunder waved his hand, and two strong men brought over a small box. They carefully opened it, revealing a large pitch-black spherical cannonball.

“Cannonballs are mostly made of iron and lead stones. They vary in size, shape, and weight. They can be successfully launched.” Great Thunder said, “General, do you want to try it out on the spot?”

“Alright, I really want to know if this cannon really succeeded.” Qin Mubai took a deep breath and said, “If that’s the case, then you people are really going to change history.”

“Change … history?” Everyone looked at each other in confusion. They didn’t seem to understand and prepared to fill the cannons and debug.

“General, just in case, we should retreat a little and leave behind a long lead. If we explode, it would be a matter of life and death!” Everyone said.

Qin Mubai also felt a chill in his heart. Although he had full confidence in his theoretical knowledge and design, he really couldn’t believe what these “common inventors” were doing.

“Then retreat a bit. Everyone must be careful, and you must ensure that no one will be hurt in front of you.” Qin Mubai said.

“General, don’t worry. There is a barren mountain ahead. It has been used for experiments for several days. It has long been sealed off, and strangers will not go up.”

“That’s good.” Qin Mubai said, “Let’s begin!”

Everyone retreated to Xu Yuan. A brave man held a torch and carefully dragged an extremely long lead to light it. Then, he shouted loudly and ran back, throwing himself into a grassy pit.

Everyone covered their ears and held their breath as they stared at the sizzling fuse. Seeing that it was about to burn onto the cannon, everyone squatted down nervously. Even Qin Mubai felt his heartbeat quicken.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, with a loud explosion, the sky in front of him seemed to have collapsed!

In an instant, Qin Mubai fell to the ground almost instinctively. The others cried out in panic and fell to the ground without getting up.

Obviously, this was an explosion!

Fortunately, everyone was far away, and there were no casualties this time.

“What a pity!” Qin Mubai loosened his ears and sighed. The three old men and the other craftsmen also sighed and pleaded with Qin Mubai.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t blame you. If it’s so easy to succeed, then it’s not our turn to ponder.” Qin Mubai said this with some regret in his heart. After all, it was something that surpassed the times. He didn’t have the corresponding tools and didn’t have the practical ability to make a move. It was as if nothing could be done except to design and provide theoretical support.

It seemed that invention and creation were not that easy. Compared to high-end technology and advanced weapons, things like the red cannon were old-fashioned. However, it was really difficult to actually create it without the corresponding equipment and technology. Metaphors of mold casting techniques, the purity and high temperature resistance of steel, the amount and purity of gunpowder, and so on, these tiny links could not be missed in the slightest.

“General, this lowly one has a suggestion. I wonder if I should say it or not.” A craftsman said.

“Oh, I remember you. You are the oldest Fan Zhu Master in the Xiangzhou Iron Mine, right? Tell me, I really want to hear your advice.” Qin Mubai said.

Master Zhou smiled bitterly guiltily and shook his head, “I’m not afraid of the general laughing. In fact, this lowly person is just an inferior Fan Zhu Master. He’s not very good at casting bronze and cast iron, and Fan Zhu doesn’t know anything about gold and silver.” Otherwise, why would he stay on this small iron ore mine and grind it for decades? “This lowly one’s suggestion is that if you want to make such an extraordinary artifact, you must hire a true expert, Fan Zhu Shi!”

Qin Mubai knitted his brows. “You mean to say that the general who sent me to the Imperial Court will be the supervisor?”

“Exactly. Most of the skilled craftsmen in the world, Master Fan Zhu, will be gathered in the Imperial Court to serve as supervisors. No matter how hard we try, we will probably not be able to produce the divine cannons that the general wants.” Master Zhou said, “If you don’t believe me, you can go back and take a look at your own family weapon. It will be the Tiger Head Golden Spear forged by the Military Supervision Department. If you have the skill of Fan Zhuye, why not create the divine cannon that the general wants?”

Qin Mubai’s eyes lit up when he reminded him, “That makes sense! Isn’t it worth a try to say that?”

“General, please forgive me. This lowly person and the others are truly powerless. Perhaps, the experts who will serve as prison guards will be able to help the general fulfill his wish!”

All the craftsmen thanked him happily, “Alright, no matter what. Thank you very much, General! Don’t worry, General. We are all people who know what’s good for us.”

Qin Mubai left the mine, feeling somewhat disappointed, but a glimmer of hope rose in his heart. When I return to Chang’an one day, I can ask the supervisor to help me build the cannons! At that time, even if he couldn’t create a divine martial artillery cannon that could destroy the dead, he should still be able to create two barrels of guns, right? When Edison lit the first light bulb, he had never expected that the light of the spaceship would shine in the vast galaxy of space.

As long as I study and invent the first gun, the first cannon, with the radical, inclusive and creative national temperament of the Great Tang, there will definitely be more capable people, wise men, and craftsmen, who will continue to optimize this invention and create more outstanding advanced products. I’m acting like Edison lit the first cannons.

In other dynasties, especially in the Qing Dynasty, if I were to change to these so-called inventions, I might even be labeled as a “monster who deceives the crowd, a marvelous artist who uses fornication to disrupt the country” …

Along the way, Qin Mubai returned to the secretariat’s mansion. Counting the time, he actually left for more than half a day, wasting a lot of time. There were still a lot of business to deal with today.

They had just arrived at the entrance of the yamen. There were only a few very eye-catching soldiers standing there. There were also unfamiliar carriages and horses in the courtyard.

“Heh, the Imperial Guards? Could it be that Li Ke has returned?” Qin Mubai recognized the soldiers’ armor and couldn’t help but feel delighted as he stepped inside.

“Greetings, General Qin!” A person who looked like a small school clearly recognized Qin Mubai, so he hurriedly greeted him and bowed, “We have been ordered to come specially to hand over an item to General Qin.”

“What?” Qin Mubai glanced up and down his little school and said, “Aren’t you the Thousand Bull Guard in the palace? Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor sent you here?”

“Replying to General Qin, that’s right.” “Actually, this was originally a reward given to the general by His Majesty the Emperor. However, His Majesty had said it first. No imperial edict, no reward. It was only a personal gift. General Qin would accept it, and there was no need for him to kneel down to receive gratitude.”

“Oh, so complicated?” Qin Mubai couldn’t help but laugh, “Alright, then this lowly official will obey the divine order and neither kneel to welcome nor thank you-what is it? Bring it over!”

The little school waved his hand and a Thousand Bull Guard soldier walked over with a serious expression. He held a crimson paint box in his hand and handed it to Qin Mubai.

“Since the general has received the treasure, we will immediately return to the capital to deliver a decree. Goodbye!” After Xiao Xiao finished speaking, he brought the group of Thousand Bull Guards onto the carriage and crossed the horse. In the blink of an eye, they left again.

“What the hell is going on? Is it mysterious?” Qin Mubai was puzzled and returned to the study to open the box. He couldn’t help but laugh.

It turned out to be an Analu!

Analu is one of the Buddhist utensils introduced from India. Its handle is shaped like a heart and is often made of bamboo, bone, copper and jade. During the sermon, mages often held one of Analux’s handles in their hands and wrote down the scriptures in case they were forgotten. Afterwards, with the popularity of Buddhism in the Great Tang Dynasty, this Buddhist utensil began to spread, and its shape gradually changed. Until now, the Tang court often used jade to make this “Ana Law”, and the front end was made into a hand shape-specifically to tickle the back.

As a result, Analu had another nickname, “Not Seeking”, also known as–Yu Ruyi!

“This thing looks too familiar to me. Isn’t this Li Shimin’s Jade Ruyi? When he is free, he often tickles the back of his neck with this thing.” Qin Mubai couldn’t help but laugh secretly. “Now that he has given me his’not pleading ‘and’jade ruyi’, does it mean that I have handled the matter of Xiang Zhou to his liking?”

Looks like it’s a good omen!