Chapter 177: The trapped beast wants to fight

In the next few days, Li Weizheng disappeared like a shadow, and his Goryeo War debate was also blown away by a sudden gust of wind. This gust of wind was the silence of the East Palace dispute that had been calming for nearly two months. The situation in the East Palace became increasingly clear. Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not officially declare that the future heir to the throne was Zhu Yunwen, he still used different methods on different occasions to clearly express his decision. Everyone's eyes were focused on the young prince, and his words and deeds became the focus of the discussion of the Ming Dynasty and the opposition. When most people cheered for the emperor's final choice of a kind and kind heir, the other part fell into extreme dissatisfaction and jealousy.

The strongest reaction was the King of Qin Zhu Qiang. His mood at this time could no longer be described as dissatisfaction and jealousy, but rather anger and anger. It turns out that the father valued the order of elders and young people, but he was not his eldest son, but his eldest grandson. If he was the eldest son because of Zhu Biao's death, then why didn't Zhu Yunwen become the eldest grandson because of Zhu Xiongying's death? If he was not the legitimate son of Empress Ma, then wasn't Zhu Yunwen the son of the crown princess? If he had made some inappropriate actions in the past

, but he has changed, and Zhu Chuang is already thirty-seven years old, while Zhu Yunwen is only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he has not had the chance to be a slutty person in the future. How can he know that he will not be a foolish person in the future? Just because he is the son of the eldest son, he can be appointed as the crown prince. How unfair is this to him? Zhu Chuang was deeply hurt by his father's affection. He did not make a big fuss like before, and he no longer beat and scolded his subordinates to vent his anger. He was silent. He locked himself in a house, and for three days, without saying a word to anyone.

The Qin Palace has been very quiet these days. Everyone is silent and does things. His heart is so nervous that he raises his throat. The silence of the Qin King made everyone feel a silence before the storm. Once his anger erupts, I don’t know how many people will die, but only one person is secretly happy about it. He is Zhu Chuang’s aide Shao Wenda. He has been silent since he had secretly contacted Yao Guangxiao two months ago and has been waiting for the order of the King of Yan. Yesterday, the King of Yan finally sent someone to hand him a note quietly, and he knew that the time was ripe.

At noon, Shao Wenda carried his hands behind his back and slowly came to the close room of Qin King. The two guards saluted him together. Shao Wenda waved his hand and told them not to speak. He looked inside through the crack of the door, and then asked in a low voice: "Have your highness eaten?"

The two guards shook their heads and said, "I didn't even move breakfast. I only ate some dry food in the past three days and didn't even drink much water."

Shao Wenda nodded, very well, Zhu Ceng's current state is the best time he is waiting for. He has deep hatred but his reason has not yet recovered. Shao Wenda really knows Zhu Ceng very well. He is not a person who does big things. He is greedy for pleasure, is petty about small things, is ambitious but has no vision or mind. But these are not fatal injuries. Zhu Ceng's fatal injuries are that he can take on big things but cannot let go, and does not know how to advance or retreat. This kind of personality often causes him to do extreme things, and this is a prerequisite for completing the order of the King of Yan.

Shao Wenda knocked on the door and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, it's me!"

The room was still quiet. After a long time, I heard Zhu Ren's low and hoarse voice coming, "Come in!"

‘This sound?’ Shao Wenda was a little doubted about his ears. Is this the voice of the King of Qin? Why did the arrogant and sharp voice usually become so low? It was because he didn’t eat much for three days. Shao Wenda understood in his heart that in three days, the King of Qin’s mood changed. He did not think about it carefully and pushed the door and went in directly.

The room was very dark and there was a faint smell of mold. No wonder this house was originally the temple of Princess Qin. In order to seek spiritual liberation in front of the Buddha, there was no window and only one door. The damp air was not smooth, making the room full of the smell of a basement. Did the King of Qin also want to seek liberation in front of the Buddha? Shao Wenda shook his head. The King of Qin was not the one who easily accepted the situation.

At this time, the King of Qin sat on a cushion, facing the Buddha statue, staring blankly at the corner of the wall, and was stunned. For three days, he had cried bitterly, and the tears had dried up. He wanted to ask for an answer in front of the Buddha, but the Buddha also repaid him silently. He was unable to escape. On the contrary, the hatred in his heart became even stronger. He began to hate his emperor father, which was a deep hatred. He wanted to kill his father with one knife.

It is no wonder that Zhu Ceng almost devoted all his savings to this battle in the Eastern Palace. Not only his savings, but also his all his efforts and hopes. When the prince died, the position of the Eastern Palace must be his second son. Yes, Zhu Ceng thought things too simple. In the past few months, he talked to people about how he governs the country in the future. If he had opened up the territory of the Ming Dynasty under his rule, he was too confident. He thought that the position of the Eastern Palace was his own. However, just when he was about to consider whether the Empress of the Palace in the future could establish his Mongolian princess, a bolt from the blue broke out on his head. The Emperor was preparing to establish the crown prince, which made Zhu Ceng fall from the highest peak into the bottomless abyss. The bottomless abyss is the Avici Hell. In the past three days, he not only did not get liberated in front of the Buddha, but his heart became a demon.

"I'm going to kill you!"

The moment Shao Wenda entered the door, he heard Zhu Lin's vicious roaring words very clearly. This sentence was like the bitter wind in the severe winter, which made Shao Wenda shudder. Who would he kill? When his thoughts changed, he suddenly understood something. Zhu Lin had not been silent for the past three days, but his voice was very low and he could not hear it outside.

"Shao Wenda, please see Your Highness!" Shao Wenda knelt down and bowed respectfully.

Zhu Chuang didn't look at him, but he was still staring straight at the corner of the wall. The room was very quiet. Shao Wenda was about to speak, but Zhu Chuang spoke, "I'll ask you, do I have a chance?"

"Yes!" Shao Wenda said this word calmly.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Ren rushed up like a wild beast, pinching his neck, staring at his blood-red eyes and said, "Speak quickly! Otherwise I will strangle you to death."

Zhu Lu was fat, and in desperation, he was unable to use force and did not measure his strength. Shao Wenda rolled his eyes when he was pinching him. It took him a lot of effort to break his neck away from Zhu Lu's hand. He took a step back and pressed his neck and gasped, saying, "Don't be anxious, listen to me slowly."

"Tell me!" Zhu Qing thrust his waist, and the dark aura that had been in the past three days suddenly disappeared, and he restored his fighting spirit when he fought for the Eastern Palace.

Shao Wenda nodded secretly. He was sure now. Zhu Ceng did not accept the facts at all. He still wanted to regain his position in the East Palace. Understanding this, he felt relieved. Zhu Ceng did not change and was still as stupid as before. Shao Wenda's somewhat stiff mind began to become flexible. The plan he had thought of earlier came out of his mouth without any haste: "If your Highness really wants to enter the East Palace, there is no way. The key is to take a dangerous step. It depends on whether your Highness has the courage."

"Don't talk too much, just say it!" Zhu Chuang said impatiently.

Shao Wenda smiled gloomyly and lowered his voice: "Your Highness think about it, if the emperor's eldest grandson suddenly dies, then..."

Shao Wenda's meaning has been clearly expressed. Without further ado, Zhu Ren took a breath. Although he was stupid, he was not an idiot. Of course he knew the consequences of this kind of thing. In fact, he had thought of killing Zhu Yunwen in anger these two days, but that was just his idea to vent his anger, not to turn the world around. Now that this plan was said from Shao Wenda's mouth, the meaning was extraordinary. At least Shao Wenda had considered the feasibility.

"Can you tell me in detail?"

Seeing that he did not object immediately, Shao Wenda knew that he was already moved, he smiled and said, "The key is that if Zhu Yunwen died, the emperor would first doubt who he would be the contender in the Eastern Palace. This is not the only one of His Highness, King Qi, King Jin, King Yan, and King Zhou, but who are these people? These are his biological sons. Will he really kill them all? If that is the case, the Ming Dynasty would be over. Assassination in the royal family has been common since ancient times, but how many recognitions are there in the Records of the Grand Historian? They are all sudden deaths, so I dare to assert that if Zhu Yunwen was really killed, the matter would be left unresolved in the end. At that time, the emperor should also realize the serious consequences of using a grandson to replace his son, and also realize the difficulty of reconciliation of disorderly old and young. In the end, the emperor will definitely establish His Highness to eliminate everyone's thoughts."

Zhu Ren lowered his head and didn't say anything. In fact, he was already very moved. Of course, he knew that the tragic siblings in the royal family have been tradition since ancient times. He did not care about killing Zhu Yunwen, but was thinking about not exposing himself. If this matter was exposed, then the two crimes were concurrent with his previous smuggling in Guangdong, and he would definitely die. Although the throne is important, his life is even more important.

Shao Wenda really knew Zhu Xi and knew that he would definitely not be able to let go of the Eastern Palace. Seeing that Zhu Xi had taken the bait, he pretended to sigh: "If Your Highness doesn't want to, then pretend that I have said nothing."

Zhu Ren still said nothing, but only pinched his fist and clattered. After a long time, he finally gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! Draw a detailed plan for me."

Since Li Weizheng talked with Zhu Yuanzhang, he has never been to the capital again. Instead, he stayed in his manor every day, reading books, fishing by the river, or taking his two daughters to catch grasshoppers on the grass, weaving garlands, or studying new muskets with Yang Ertian. Yang Ertian came to his manor a month ago. With Luo Guangcai's careful arrangement, he had already got sick and died and officially eliminated his craftsmanship at Baoyuan Bureau.

That afternoon, Li Weizheng and Yang Ertian were staying in the gun room to study new muskets. Li Weizheng's gun room was located at the end of the manor and was with the stables. The gun room was made of large bluestone, with no windows around it, and only a narrow and thick iron door. He had done an experiment and shot in the gun room. Only slight sound could be heard within thirty steps. If you get a little further, you can hear nothing. The sound insulation effect is very good.

Li Weizheng's goal was to make a flintlock rifle, but it was not so easy to make it. There was no sample, and everything could only be imagined. Before making a flintlock rifle, they made a flintlock rifle first. Li Wei had seen the real thing. He had seen a shotgun from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty in the Forbidden City in Nanjing. It was a flintlock rifle. However, the gun was very large and bulky, and it seemed very primitive. The structure was also very simple. It was to pull the trigger, slowly bend a hook with a flint to ignite the gun powder in the medicine pool, and the gunpowder advanced along the barrel, detonated the explosives in the barrel, and shot bullets with the momentum.

Although the principle of the mesh gun was simple, they worked for a whole month but they still didn't even see the shadow of the gun. In fact, they spent all their time on the light gun body design and the barrel production in this month. The appearance of the gun itself was a completely revolutionary. The original musket was a straight cylinder about one foot long and equipped with a straight grip handle behind it. Li Weizheng designed the gun, which must have a slender barrel, then a wooden gun body and stock, and a set of triggers were designed on the gun body.

Yang Ertian is worthy of being the best musketsmith in Baoyuan Bureau. His excellence lies in his ability to independently create a complete musket system. He can make gunpowder, make gun bodies, and make handles. During this period, he was both a chemical engineer, a metal processing engineer, and a carpenter with superb skills. Although Yang Ertian was very capable, he was doing something that he had never done before. It was easy to have a wooden gun body and butt stock, and there was no effort in trigger parts. China was able to make a crossbow with very complex craftsmanship as early as the Qin Dynasty. The key was the barrel. It was very difficult to make a long tube about three feet long and even and smooth pipe diameter.

Muskets are different from cannons. In the early Ming Dynasty, the cannons were 110 mm, 119 mm and 210 mm, and the caliber was relatively large. However, the musket was held in the hand, so it was impossible to use such heavy large-diameter bullets. Therefore, they were all shotguns, filled with iron filings and steel balls, so the technology requirements for the gun body were not high, but the requirements for the gun were different. The inner chamber should be very uniform and smooth. If it cannot be done, at least the caliber must be qualified, the caliber is 19.8 mm, and there should be no error from beginning to end. Otherwise, gas leakage is likely to occur during shooting and affect the range.

Yang Ertian failed countless times and still couldn't make a qualified barrel. For this reason, Li Weizheng paid a high price to ask him to go to the best blacksmith shop in the capital to learn from his skills. He studied at the blacksmith shop during the day and came back at night to explore by himself. After a whole month, he finally made a barely qualified barrel with copper yesterday.

Today, Li Weizheng was testing this gun barrel. The test method was very simple. Li Weizheng took out a standard nineteen-four mm lead bullet. The lead bullet was round. He put the lead bullet into the copper tube. Although Yang Ertian had tested it countless times, his heart was still hanging at this moment.

Li Weizheng looked at him, smiled slightly, and then put the lead bullet into the barrel. The lead bullet was not hindered at all and rolled out very smoothly from the other end, which showed that there were no burrs in the barrel. Yang Ertian's heart fell down. It took him three days to polish the inner chamber of the barrel. Moreover, it was a copper tube, and the material was softer. According to Li Weizheng's requirements, steel tubes were used, which was even more difficult to do. But when he saw Li Weizheng walking towards the basin, his heart that had just been relieved was suspended again.

"Good job!" Li Weizheng praised, and then he was about to conduct an inner diameter test. This is the key to the success or failure of this barrel. The method to detect the inner diameter of the barrel is also very simple. Li Wei was walking to the water basin. He first inserted a thin iron wire into the copper tube, and then put a lead bullet on the other end. The lead bullet was pressed by the wire and could not fall, so it was hung about five inches from the mouth of the barrel. He took a thin bottle full of water and carefully added a water to the barrel.

If the water leaks, it means that the inner diameter of the pipe is inconsistent, and the water flows away from the gaps around the lead bullet. Fortunately, the five-inch-high water column is only slightly concave, which means that the inner diameter in the pipe is completely consistent. Li Wei was gently pulling the wire outward while constantly adding water. The lead bullet sinks little by little, but there is no water flowing out from the bottom of the pipe, which means that the pipe made by Yang Ertian is very fine.

Although there was no water flowing out of the pipe, Yang Ertian's forehead was already full of sweat. He stared at the lower pipe mouth tightly, so nervous that he was so angry that he couldn't breathe. When the lead bullet fell about halfway through the barrel, the bottom of the pipe finally became wet. As the lead bullet slowly fell, the lower pipe mouth became wetter and finally gathered into a crystal clear water droplet.

‘Tick!’ The water dripping fell into the basin, making a crisp sound, ‘Tick!’ Another sound, and then the third drop of water was formed again. Yang Ertian’s face turned pale and water dripping seeped out, which meant that he had failed.

But Li Weizheng did not give up. He was still slowly pulling the wire and pouring water into the pipe. Finally, he stopped. The lead bullet had reached the bottom. He also added a full filling of water into the pipe. But when he reached the pipe mouth, the water did not flow anymore. He focused on the water surface of the pipe mouth. After about a cup of tea, he pulled the wire and the lead bullet rolled out of the pipe mouth. The water in the pipe flowed into the water basin with a "wow!"

Li Wei glanced at Yang Ertian and smiled slightly, "A total of six drops of water were seeping out, all in the middle of the barrel."

"Then I'll do it again, and make a new barrel again." Yang Ertian murmured with his lips trembling.

Li Wei suddenly laughed. He patted Yang Ertian on the shoulder and praised sincerely: "You did it very well. Who can make pipes that do not leak water? I will make five thousand or ten thousand muskets in the future. If each barrel has to be made for four or five days, wouldn't it be until the year of the Monkey and Horse Month?"

Li Weizheng was telling the truth. The handmade gun barrel only leaked six drops of water. What a craftsmanship level, I'm afraid that later generations may not be able to do it. After breaking through the most critical level, his heart was settled.

At this moment, a family member came from outside the door: "Master, Luo Qianhu is here and said there is something important to come to you."

"I get it, go now."

Li Wei responded and said to Yang Ertian: "Master Yang, you will continue to make a coercine. The most important thing for us now is not to make a flintlock gun, but to find a set of gun making standards, such as the impact of the barrel inner diameter on range, and then set a minimum inner diameter difference, and then find the best dose to add gunpowder. We will make gunpowder spoons based on this. In short, a lot of experiments are needed. I will find you a few capable apprentices in two days and cooperate with you to test together. Money is not a problem. Even if you purchase materials, we will strive to find a complete gun making standard within half a year."

Yang Ertian understood what Li Weizheng meant, so he nodded silently, and squatted down to study his wooden gun body.
Chapter completed!