A huge pit nearly ten meters deep is connected in sequence by seven sections of "outer fan", shaped like a seven-level pagoda.【】

The production of the "inner model" of the big bell took the longest time. First, the most famous calligrapher in the world was asked to copy all the sutras and the bell preface written by Zhu Di himself on paper, as well as the twelve great wishes.

The craftsmen then designed the scraper mold according to the radius and thickness of the different sections of the bell body, evenly coated it with fine mud, and pasted the rice paper on which the sutras were written onto the fine mud layer, forming a nearly 230,000-word sutra one by one.

Carve the character Yin character by character, and then heat the mold to make a pottery mold.

The "outer frame" of the big bell is so huge that the clay mold is divided into seven sections. After molding, it is dried at low temperature, baked into pottery, and then spliced. The entire splicing process must be seamless, even if there is only a tiny gap.

If it is poor, it will cause "fire" and lead to casting failure.

The entire cave wall around the "outer fan" was compacted layer by layer with plant ash and Sanhe soil. Otherwise, it would not be able to withstand the strong pressure generated by the process of casting such a giant bell.

Today is the trial casting. First, cast a bell that is exactly the same as the Yongle Bell. The only difference is that there will be no sutras on the inner wall of this bell, because the one that is fully engraved with sutras takes the longest time and takes the most effort to make.

"Nei Fan" will be destroyed once the casting fails, so it will not be used during trial casting.

There are four casting spouts in total on the giant pit, and the four long clay troughs extend all the way to the heights, connecting dozens of furnaces together. The fire is raging, and the heat waves rising from the furnaces cause the sky above the bell foundry to rise.

The air in the sky is distorted, and when you look up at the clouds in the sky, you will feel like they are rippling like water reflections.

Under the furnace, countless craftsmen are adding coal to the furnace, and others are blowing air into the furnace desperately to ensure that the temperature of the furnace is always maintained at the highest level. The craftsmen are running around nervously, working in a hurry.

Final preparations before starting the furnace.

Dozens of furnaces are led to four casting troughs respectively. The contents of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, silicon, magnesium and other metal components added are exactly the same. The original weighing was accurate.

The standard of "money" is a giant bell weighing 46 tons. The metal composition in each furnace is actually accurate to one pound, one tael, and one penny.

The emperor, his relatives, and military officials stood on the tower of Deshengmen in the distance, watching the rising heat and the countless crowds working nervously around dozens of blast furnaces.

Although today is a trial casting, everyone is very nervous. This is an unprecedented giant bell. There is no ready-made experience to follow in all aspects of smelting and casting. If this trial casting fails, we must carefully study the defects of each link and start from scratch.

If the trial casting is successful, the real Yongle bell can naturally come out at any time.

"The furnace is on!"

A loud shout suddenly rang out on the busy but unusually quiet construction site. A large flag from a high place came down with a clang. Dozens of furnaces were turned on at the same time. A heat wave swept through the night, the fire flowed gold, and the iron juice boiled. Zhu Di couldn't help but

He took a few quick steps forward and stood holding on to the wall, holding his breath.

Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Zhanji, Xia Xun, Ji Gang and others also rushed forward at the same time. Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, tensed his face and rushed towards the deep pit without blinking an eye.

The fire was pure green, the flames soared to the sky, gold flowers splashed, copper juice surged, and floods of metal rushed in from the melting furnaces. Injecting the long horizontal lines of clay, I saw four shocking red torrents rolling towards the deep pit...

…

The molds inside and outside the pit have been preheated at high temperatures at the same time. When the tens of millions of dendrobium gold soup filled with the furnace rushed forward and poured into the pit, this huge bell was cast in one go. The estimation of the gold liquid was very accurate.

It was filled with mud, and the gold liquid overflowed slightly, and there was no more gold liquid flowing out of dozens of melting furnaces.

On the city wall, many court officials couldn't help cheering, but the dark face of Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, was still bluffing, staring nervously ahead, showing no sign of joy. Soon, others noticed Song Li's appearance

, we will know whether the casting is successful. It is too early to say at this time, and I can’t help but become nervous.

In the first step of casting, there was no explosion or misfire, which is certainly a great success. However, it is too early to say whether a large bell has been cast. The subsequent cooling process is also a critical step.

Now there is a ball of unextinguished ground fire and flames in the mud chamber. The cooling rate must be strictly controlled to prevent the bell body from exploding. The world-famous Russian bell cast in the 18th century became a problem because of a problem with the cooling process.

A dumb bell that can only be struck but cannot be struck.

Reply to Huangmen Neipin At this time, the pit where the Yongle Bell was born was still a completely natural automatic cooling system, which was technically more difficult. Craftsmen must always pay attention to the cooling process of the bell and take some measures at any time to slow down the cooling of the bell.

Cooling speed or increase the cooling speed of the big clock.

This process was very long, and all the craftsmen were busy nervously. Song Li watched nervously for a long time, until a craftsman came to him and whispered something, then he took a long breath and walked to Zhu Di.

Next to him, he cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please go to the tower to drink tea and rest for a while. There should be no problem with the big bell cooling down. Now, we just have to wait for the bell body to cool down completely and test its sound!"

Zhu Di nodded, suppressed his nervousness, and returned to the tower.

All the ministers were given seats, and tea and snacks were served. Everyone ate, talked about random topics, and waited for the big clock to cool down. Everyone's nervousness eased a little, but the results of the last step of testing the sound were not yet known. Everyone's

My heart is still hanging on.

If it is an ordinary bell and the chime is deviated, it does not matter as long as it is not too outrageous. You can completely tune it by polishing and scraping after the bell is cast. However, this giant bell is filled with sutras, and polishing and scraping will inevitably destroy it.

It has a long history, so it must be formed at one time. In this case, if the tone is not beautiful enough and the bell is not loud enough, it will not be able to be adjusted later, and it will only become a useless bell.

After a long time, the craftsman rushed in again to report that the bell body had completely cooled down.

The emperor and the ministers walked out of the tower one after another. Huge brackets had been erected around the huge pit. Eight giant pillars supported a trapezoidal frame. Dozens of iron ropes hung from the rack, tying the bell.

There were more than a dozen horses tied to each iron chain. Seeing the emperor appear at the top of the city, someone whipped and shouted, more than a hundred horses rushed out at the same time, and the huge bell with the clay mold removed jumped into the sky with a loud bang.

rise.

The giant bell slowly rose from the bottom of the pit. The giant bell, which had taken off its clay mold, had a dignified sheen of metal all over its body. It was thick and simple, and even its slight shaking seemed to have a huge force.

Song Li swallowed nervously and turned to look at Zhu Di. Zhu Di stared at the huge bell steadily for a long time, then waved his hand heavily for a long time and said decisively: "Strike the bell!"

"when"

There was a roar, and the melodious bells suddenly spread to the heaven and earth.

Suddenly, all the sounds stopped, and everyone held their breath to listen to the bell. The deep buzzing sound carried a solemn and sacred atmosphere for a long time.

The sound of the bell flew into the sky and poured into the nine cities, shaking everyone's heart. Gradually, everyone's face was filled with smiles.

Xia Xun secretly calculated that after this collision, the bell continued to ring for three minutes.

The sound of the bell gradually weakened, and Zhu Di suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter became louder and louder. All the military officials bowed down and said in unison: "God bless the Ming Dynasty, congratulations to the emperor!"

Zhu Di laughed loudly, waved his big hand, and said happily: "Reward! All those who participated in the bell casting will be greatly rewarded!"

At this moment, Mu En climbed up the city wall like a groundhog awakened by the sound of a bell, and looked here...

※※※※※※※

Zhu Di became more and more angry as he started working on the bell, because the joy brought by the success of casting the bell had been swept away.

Investigation at the East Jisi Factory: When Ji Gang's confidant Ji Younan was appointed as the Fusi of Nanzhen, he was ordered by Ji Gang to intercept a large number of new-style firecrackers and weapons and armor, and hid them in Ji Gangsi's house.

Attached is the record of obtaining weapons and armor from the Ordnance Bureau and the list of witnesses.

Dongjishi Factory checked: Lianghuai Salt Field, Anfeng Salt Field, Shangji Salt Field and other places filed a complaint against salt merchants: Party members of the Discipline and Complaints were too heavy-handed, and they took salt from the salt field with the Discipline and Complaints and corrected the edict.

, Pan Qinian and others from the Lianghuai Salt Farm are attached as witnesses, as well as a copy of the Discipline and Correctional Edict.

Dongji Shichang's investigation: In regular years, Ji Gang took advantage of his power to requisition water transport ships without authorization to transport goods for him, and the income was put into his pocket. Chen Xuan, the governor of water transport in the Ming Dynasty, attached personal and physical evidence.

Dongji Shichang's investigation: Ji Gang Ji was used to picket hundreds of officials and investigate rebellion, frame up, and extort hundreds of wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan. As for raiding private merchants and seizing people's property, there are countless cases. Huang Zhen, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, verified that it was true, and the victims were also included.

Personal and physical evidence of wealthy businessmen.

According to the Dongji Shichang: Governor Xue Lu took a concubine. When Ji Gang saw that the woman was beautiful and could not take her away from him, he became very angry. He met Xue Lu by chance in the palace and actually beat him, causing Governor Xue to suffer from a split brain and almost died. He has still suffered from hidden diseases.

.The governor Xue Lu, whose official position was above Ji Gang, was the hero of Jingnan, but he was afraid of Ji Gang's authority, so he had to swallow his anger. There were many people in the court who were insulted and oppressed by Ji Gang, many like Xue Lu, who dared to get angry but dared not speak out.

According to the Dong Ji Shi Factory investigation: Ji Gang was in charge of the imperial palace's talent show, and Si intercepted the girls from the talent show, and brought them into Si's house for her enjoyment. She is now Ji Gang's concubine.

The Dong Ji Shi Factory checked and compiled: Ji Gang castrated more than a hundred children from good families and moved them into the back house to serve as relatives, performing the same rituals as the emperor, overstepping their bounds, and being disrespectful!

Checked by Dongjishi Factory:...

Zhu Di couldn't help but tremble with his hands, his face became tighter and tighter, and his face became greener and greener, like the color of gold and iron emitted by the trial-cast bell.

Falsely conveying imperial edicts, keeping eunuchs, intercepting beautiful women, oppressing ministers... Why? Why? I trust him so much, why can he... be so lawless! In his eyes, who am I?

One by one, each one was like a slap on Zhu Di's face!

Zhu Di never expected that the person he had always trusted and protected could be so lawless, but he was unaware of it and always regarded Ji Gang as a minister who could be infinitely trusted.

At this moment, what was in his heart was only anger and pain, but also the concealed shame and endless annoyance!

For a long time, in Zhu Dixin, Ji Gang may have been a little too keen on utilitarianism, but how can there be perfect people in the world?

In his mind, Ji Gang has always been the most well-behaved, obedient and considerate of his courtiers. Although Ji Gang is not as good as Xie Jin's academic talent, not as good as Yang Rong's political ability, not as good as Zhang Fu's military exploits, not as good as Xia Xun's talent and strategy, but

He is the best at understanding the will of God and obeys orders completely!

Unexpectedly, what I thought was a loyal family dog ​​turned out to be an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf!

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Zhu Di laughed sadly and indignantly, and then hit the imperial case hard like a heavy iron fist: "Bang!"

Zhu Di's eyes were red and he roared sternly: "Ji Gang, you thief, how dare you bully me like this!"

※※※※

Xia Xun argued hard with Emperor Yongle and demanded severe punishment for Ji Gang. Ji Gang knew about it the next day.

At that time, he was in the Tianjin Guards. It was spring, and the construction of the Jinyiwei Yamen had begun. He had to be present and could not stay by the emperor's side all day long. However, when he was with the emperor, he had already paid a lot of money to bribe some guards.

Very few things can be hidden from him.

After hearing the news, Ji Gang was filled with hatred. However, the emperor's obvious protection made him put his mind at ease. As long as the emperor had no intention of punishing him, who else could do anything to him?

Although he had put his mind at ease, his hatred for Xia Xun increased. Ji Gang was a master who was determined to retaliate, and he gritted his teeth and immediately wanted to retaliate.

But it was not easy for Xia Xun to bring him down, and it was even more difficult for him to bring him down. He had used tricks many times before, but they all failed. Now that Xia Xun is more favored than before, how to cure him?

After thinking about it, Ji Gang felt that only by focusing on the king's taboos could he possibly bring down Xia Xun.
To be continued...