Yes, if the fourth child really owns half of the country, then there really is no difference at all whether he rebels or not.
Even if what Zhu Di did was not known to everyone, it would be even more terrifying and troublesome.
Han Du stared at Zhu Biao closely, waiting for his decision.
Zhu Biao nodded and ordered sternly: "Send the order to summon Zhu Di back to the capital. No matter what the reason is, he must return to the capital. Even if he is kidnapped, he must be kidnapped by me!"
"In addition, Geng Bingwen is being told to speed up and he must arrive in the capital within three days!"
After issuing two orders in succession, Zhu Biao raised his head and glanced at Han Du.
"Go to the Ordnance Bureau and see how many divine thunder guns, revolvers, thunderbolts, cannons, and bullets there are. Prepare for war! In addition, call the guardsmen to the Beijing camp to intensify training."
"My lord, I obey your order."
...
Han Du walked out of the palace gate and turned left directly to the Arms Bureau.
"Master, why do you have time to come here today?" Lin Mo heard that Duke Zhen Guo was coming and hurriedly came to greet him.
Han Du glanced at him. Although Lin Mo was wearing official uniform, his sleeves and wrists had holes in them.
Lin Mo looked down and hurriedly explained: "Master, sometimes I am so busy that I forget to take off my official uniform, and it is easy to get burned by sparks when doing things. , it became like this.”
Han Du nodded slightly and sighed with admiration: "You still do everything yourself as always. Why haven't you ever thought of letting others do it for you?"
"This is what Xiaguan does. If you don't do it yourself, how can you know whether there is too much or too little of that material?" Lin Mo walked with Han Du and said, "If Xiaguan doesn't know it himself, how can he teach it to the subordinates?" How do the craftsmen do it? Isn’t that just a blind command?”
The two of them walked inside as they talked.
Lin Mopei smiled and talked about his situation, and then asked curiously: "My father-in-law is here today, do you have anything important to do?"
Duke Zhen Guo has not been to the Arms Bureau for a long time, and his sudden arrival will definitely not be an ordinary thing.
"It's just because I haven't been here for a long time. Firstly, I want to see you, and secondly, I want to see how the ordnance production is going." Han Du found a reason at random and did not tell the reason.
Lin Mo didn't think of going anywhere else, and quickly smiled and nodded in response: "Thank you for your concern, sir. Everything in the Ordnance Bureau is on track. Now, whether it's the divine thunder gun or other things, everything is fine."
"How about asking me to take my uncle to have a look?"
"good!"
Lin Mo's words were in line with Han Du's wishes, and there was certainly no reason to refuse.
Under the leadership of Lin Mo, Han Du turned around and found that everything was the same as in his memory. All the craftsmen were doing their work in an orderly manner.
Han Du waved his hand to stop the official next to him who wanted to remind the craftsmen loudly, and just walked through the countless craftsmen quietly.
After looking at the place where the ordnance was stored, Han Du finally nodded with satisfaction.
"How many craftsmen are there in the Ordnance Bureau now?"
"There are 4,612 craftsmen doing the work." Lin Mo blurted out without even thinking.
Han Du asked again: "If you were asked to double your daily output, would you have enough manpower?"
"Enough." Lin Mo nodded, "If there are enough raw materials, there is no problem for these people to increase output now. But if more is needed, then more craftsmen will need to be recruited."
"Okay, don't worry about the raw materials. After I go back, I will allocate another one million yuan to you and give you three days to double the production. Can you do it?" Han Du pointed at Lin Mo and asked .
Lin Mo knew Han Du's temper, so he quickly cheered up and replied loudly: "Please don't worry, sir, there is absolutely no problem."
When Han Du left the gate of the Arms Bureau, he suddenly thought of Tao Chengdao's Wanjiazhuang.
Since Tao Chengdao's death, Han Du has never been to Wanjiazhuang. I don't know how his apprentices are doing in their research on fire dragon water.
"Go to Wanjiazhuang."
Han Du got into the carriage and gave a faint instruction.
After squinting for a while, Han Du suddenly felt the carriage stop.
"Master, Wanjiazhuang has arrived."
"Yes." Han Du stood up and got out of the carriage, looked up at Wanjiazhuang, which was even more deserted than before, and walked up the stone steps.
When the disciple guarding the door saw Han Du coming, he quickly stepped forward and bowed his hands: "The Duke of Zhenguo is here, and the flowers of Wanjiazhuang are shining brightly. Sir, please come!"
"Where are the others?" Han Du asked as he stepped into the door.
"Elder brother and other brothers are in the backyard preparing to try the fire dragon out of the water again." The disciple replied quickly.
"Elder brother?" Han Du was confused.
The disciple quickly explained: "Senior Brother Tao Qian, my father-in-law must have met him before."
"Oh!" I must have seen it before, but I couldn't remember it at all. Then he thought about what his disciple said with a laugh: "It seems that I am very lucky. I saw what I wanted to see as soon as I came here."
"Master, please!"
Han Du followed his disciples to the backyard and saw dozens of disciples surrounding the fire dragon on a wooden frame, carefully inspecting something.
"Huh?" Han Du glanced at it and couldn't help but uttered in surprise.
I saw the fire dragon standing quietly on the wooden stand. It was completely dark, and the whole body was round and shiny. The most important thing is that there are two groups of eight small leaves inlaid one behind the other.
Tao Qian saw the Duke of Zhen Guo coming and hurriedly came over to greet him: "Tao Qian pays homage to the Duke."
Han Du frowned, his face full of confusion: "Are you Tao Qian?"
I have indeed seen this person next to Tao Chengdao, but if I remember correctly, his surname is not Tao!
Tao Qian seemed to have guessed the Duke of Zhen's doubts, and quickly explained with a smile: "My family does not believe in Tao, but my mentor was very kind to me and passed it on to me. Anyway, I don't know where my biological parents are." , I might as well take my mentor’s surname.”
That's it... Han Du nodded slightly and said with a smile: "You are really thoughtful."
Then he looked at the fire dragon Izuku on the wooden stand and couldn't help but ask, "How is this thing?"
Tao Qian immediately smiled: "Thanks to the Lord's blessing, it should be done!"
"oh?"
Thinking that Duke Zhen didn't believe it, Tao Qian quickly pointed at it and explained: "I have tried the small one several times, and now it can fly straight for six or seven miles, far beyond the range of a cannon."
The improved cannon of the Ming army weighed more than three hundred kilograms and could shoot up to four miles.
"Oh? Really?" Han Du's eyes lit up. If the range of this thing can really reach seven miles, it would be really a sharp weapon. Moreover, this thing has not been released before, and it is very likely to achieve the effect of taking people by surprise.
"What about the explosion? Can it be controlled? How powerful is it?"
Tao Qian couldn't help but show excitement on his face. He pointed at the top and torso of the fire dragon and explained: "In the small one, separate the exploded part in the front and the back, and connect them together with a lead in the middle, so that the length of the lead can be used." To control the timing of the explosion."
"After trying many times, I finally got the appropriate length of lead."
Han Du touched his palms excitedly, understanding Tao Qian's behavior very well. When there is no way to digitize the fuse burning speed, trying again and again is the best way.
As long as the appropriate length data of the lead is obtained, no matter how many are made in the future, the effect will not deviate too much.
"Then are you ready? If you are, try it quickly. I want to see the effect." Han Du urged.
"We're ready. We'll light the fire when the master gives the order." Tao Qian waved his hand and signaled the juniors gathered around the wooden frame to leave.
"Okay, then light a fire and let me have a good experience."
"yes."
Tao Qian personally held the fire folder forward, pulled out the fuse as thick as his little finger, and lit it!
呲呲呲……
for a while
Green-white smoke came out with flames. After just a breath, a flame the size of a fist suddenly appeared. The fire dragon was pushed by a huge force and instantly flew from the wooden frame towards the sky.
"Someone, bring the horse over!"
Han Du immediately got on his horse and chased the fire dragon in the direction where Izuku disappeared.
Naturally, Tao Qian and others immediately rode up to catch up.
Just as he rode out of Wanjiazhuang, Han Du saw the fire dragon Chu Shui falling to the ground in the distance. I could clearly see that it had not yet fallen to the ground. In an instant, a ball of light flashed past and turned into a cloud of smoke and dust.
After waiting for several breaths, I heard a roar reaching my ears.
Han Du rushed forward and saw a huge pile of wooden piles, scarecrows and other objects erected in the valley.
When Tao Qian came here, he didn't care about Han Du at all. Instead, he was looking for something. After he found it, he started to calculate again, and finally said: "It deviates from the plan by about ten feet, but it still deviates by this much..."
"What? You still think it's too much?"
It flew more than seven miles before deviating ten feet, which in Han Du's opinion was already very impressive.
Tao Qian shook his head in frustration: "I have tried every means, but I still can't be more accurate. Even if I miss the mark once in a while, I can't do it the next time."
As soon as Han Du looked at Tao Qian, he knew that he was too whimsical. Although this thing had achieved the ultimate in Ming technology, it was still extremely crude in Han Du's opinion.
It is already very lucky to have an error of only ten feet.
Looking at the board that was riddled with holes, Han Du dismounted and took a look. The three-finger-thick wooden board was easily penetrated. If this power hit a person, even if they were wearing iron armor, they would not be able to stop it. As long as you are hit, you will either die or be injured!
"Did you prepare these?"
"Yes." Tao Qian nodded blankly.
Han Du patted Tao Qian's shoulder affectionately: "You have done a good job, there is no need to blame yourself."
"But if you can't hit it accurately, what's the use of this fire dragon's water?" The killing range of the fire dragon's water is less than ten feet, which means that this thing is almost impossible to hit the target.
In Tao Qian's opinion, it was completely useless.
But in Han Du's view, a fire dragon shooting out of the water is of course not of much use, but what if hundreds or thousands of them are launched at a time?
It doesn't matter if it's not accurate, this thing can explode and is extremely lethal.
Compared with the cannon's explosive shells, not only does it have a longer range, but it is also more powerful. This thing is invincible now!
"Give this thing to the court, and I will ask for credit in front of the emperor for you!"
"Yeah!" Tao Qian didn't mind at all. Anyway, many of the firearms made by his mentor were all taken away by the court for free.
"Let's go into the palace with me!"
Without Tao Qian's explanation, Han Du pulled him onto his horse and headed towards the capital.
