Watanabe looked at the clothes on himself and his subordinates with an unnatural expression, and hurriedly raised his hand to take off the long gown that covered the outside.
Upon seeing this, several of Watanabe's subordinates immediately took off their clothes, with a touch of embarrassment on their faces.
These clothes were the clothes they bought at the first Dalong City they encountered after landing a few months ago, when the weather was still slightly cool.
This time, I didn't buy new clothes because I was anxious about what His Highness had to tell me.
Unexpectedly, an ordinary Dalong blacksmith would suddenly see the loopholes of himself and others.
Watanabe threw the gown to one of his men and smiled angrily at the blacksmith boss: "The boss has really good eyesight."
The boss waved his hand casually, picked up the tea on the side and took a sip: "What's wrong with you? The North is famous for being cold. I don't know how cold it is, after all, I haven't been there either.
You may have just come to the Inner Palace and haven't gotten used to it yet, but you will get used to it in the future.
You should be the guards of the caravan, right? "
"Yes, we are escorts following the caravan, so we hope to build a good weapon to protect ourselves and ourselves."
The boss nodded casually and did not continue to ask: "Let's not talk about this anymore, are you sure you want to use hundreds of smelting iron to make weapons? The weapons made of hundreds of smelting iron are very expensive."
"How much money is this...?"
"Eight thousand copper coins, and seven taels and five cents of silver will be enough!"
"So expensive? I heard that the Imperial Military Department doesn't need so much money, right?"
"An ordinary high-quality weapon costs 3,500 yen, but you don't want it because you don't want it!
Besides, can our livelihood be compared with that of the imperial court?
The people in the imperial court are all skilled craftsmen. With more people, the weapons and equipment built will naturally be cheaper.
They are receiving salary from the imperial court and we are supporting our own families. How can that be the same?
You can ask around in Xing'anfang. The prices for hundreds of smelting irons are the same, and some are even ten taels of silver. "
"Is there any better embryo than Bailian Iron?"
"Yes, martial arts families and famous sects can create weapons that are several times more powerful than the hundred-smelted iron.
But that is their unique secret skill and will not be passed on to anyone else. Moreover, even if they want to create a magical weapon, it depends on chance.
Do you think that magic weapons are kitchen knives and hoes from the street?
Are you going to fight or not? Don't interrupt someone's busy work! "
"Fight, of course we will fight! Let's get five long knives according to our physiques. If the quality of the swords is of high quality and we are satisfied, we will make... all the guards at your place!"
The boss, who was just about to add fuel to the fire, his eyes lit up and he looked at Watanabe with a smile.
"Then you have found the right person. The thirty shops from here to the east are all owned by a certain family. How many do you need?"
"Ten thousand!"
The boss almost lost his breath, and his voice suddenly became louder: "How much?"
"Ten thousand! Can't you do that?"
"Okay, that's okay. One family can probably share a portion with others, but it may take a little longer. I wonder if you can wait."
"As long as it can be built, time is not a problem, but I still hope you can build it as soon as possible."
"No problem. Bring me the official documents from the Ministry of War wholesale, and ask someone from a certain company to check them."
Watanabe looked blankly at the big hand stretched out by the strong boss: "Ah? Official document? What official document?"
The boss’s excited expression darkened: “Guest, you’re not making fun of someone, are you?
Without the official wholesale documents from the Ministry of War, a certain company would lose their head if they privately crafted more than thirty weapons at a time.
Don’t you know that if private craftsmen make more than thirty weapons at a time, they have to report it to the government? "
Seeing the confused look on Watanabe's face, the boss felt as if cold water had been poured on him.
"Guest, since you have made five weapons, I won't care about your joke. Come pick it up tomorrow.
The deposit is five taels of silver. "
Watanabe reacted, took out an ingot of five taels of silver from his arms and put it in the boss's hand.
"Okay...Okay, let's come back tomorrow."
With complicated thoughts, Watanabe turned around and walked towards the outside of Xing'anfang. After leaving Xing'anfang, he kicked the left courtyard wall hard.
"Why does Dalong still have such rules? He still has to find official documents from the Ministry of War to make weapons!"
"Chief Watanabe, Dalong seems to have such a rule. The head of the family once said that the four thousand weapons he brought back were made by many blacksmiths."
Watanabe turned to look at one of his subordinates and nodded helplessly.
"Let's go back and report to His Highness first. If there is no other way, we can only do what the head of the family did back then. Add up a little and make a lot!"
"yes!"
Watanabe and his party rushed towards Honglu Temple again.
At the same time, Sakai Ga walked out of the Ministry of War with a happy face, obviously having received some favorable promise.
Matsumoto, who was guarding outside the Ministry of War office, hurriedly greeted him: "Your Highness, how are you?"
Sakai He looked around, nodded to Matsumoto, and whispered: "It counts, it doesn't matter.
The worst result is that if Emperor Dalong is unable to reward us with the military equipment we requested in the end, we can purchase a large amount of high-quality military equipment from the Ministry of War.
If we fail to do so, Song Yu, Minister of the Ministry of War, will secretly give us the sword made by the General of the Ministry of War to test its power and quality.
But Dalong officials are really evil-hearted.
Mr. Wang gave us three hundred taels of silver notes, but Song Yu, the Minister of War, actually took more than one thousand taels of silver notes before he agreed to our request.
With more than a thousand taels of silver notes, how many precious specialties of Dalong can be purchased? "
"Oh, the world is as dark as crows. The officials on the Emperor's side are also very dark-hearted. In order to win them over in the country, the gold nuggets spent were so despicable that I couldn't sleep."
"Be careful that Fujino's eyes and ears are watching us. Leave a few people to monitor the yamen of the Ministry of War. Let's talk about it after we go back."
"Yes, please, Your Highness."
After Sakai He left, Fujino Ninghe and others rushed to the Ministry of War to ask for a meeting with Song Yu, the Minister of War, but Song Yu refused because he was busy with official duties.
This scene happened to be seen by the eyeliner left by Sakai He.
One person was assigned to report the good news to Sakai He, while the remaining people continued to monitor the situation at the Ministry of War office.
After being turned away, Fujino Ninghe cursed a few times and quietly rushed to the Ministry of Works office with his entourage. This time, he was not turned away and was warmly received by Yang Tao, Minister of Works.
And Sakai He received the report from his subordinates, and learned the news that Fujino Ninghe had encountered a wall at the Ministry of War Yamen. Combined with the news that Watanabe brought back from Xing'anfang, he immediately became happy.
One is the old fox Fujino, who is hampered by the constraints in building a military preparation committee among the people, and the other is himself who has been promised by the Minister of War of the Dalong Court.
Whoever rushes back to the homeland with troops and equipment first, the result is clear at a glance.
The 28th day of the fifth month of the third year of Dalong's reign of peace.
Liu Mingzhi refused the request of the two Japanese envoys to reward troops and equipment in their credentials on the grounds of the opposition between the Minister of Household Affairs and the Manchu civil and military affairs, and instead rewarded the Japanese envoys with other valuable treasures to take back to the homeland to show the favor of the heaven.
Annan, Siam... the envoys of several countries all received similar rewards.
In addition to being rejected the request to marry the princess of the Celestial Dynasty, Goguryeo also received a large number of rewards from Liu Dashao.
Helpless, Jin Tae-eun could only agree and silently accepted Young Master Liu's reward.
It was June 15th, the third year of Taiping.
Envoys from various countries, all well-laden, left Beijing one after another and returned to their home countries.
Especially the two Japanese envoys, Sakai He and Fujino Ning, had extremely complicated thoughts.
Although they completed the mission entrusted to each other by their masters and brought back a large number of sophisticated military equipment, these weapons were not gifts from Emperor Dalong, but were purchased with officials from the Ministry of War and Ministry of Industry of the Imperial Court at a huge cost. of.
After the silver for military equipment was delivered, the remaining gold and silver treasures that could be purchased for Dalong specialties were very few compared to the number previously expected.
Fortunately, although he did not receive the reward of the Great Dragon Emperor's military equipment, he did receive countless great dragon treasures that he and others could not understand, but at a glance they were 'of extraordinary value'.
A few days later, Ga Sakai and Ning Fujino, who had their own ulterior motives, led their envoys to thank Mr. Liu and then bid farewell to him.
I left Dalongjing City with a full load.
On the east wall of the capital, Liu Mingzhi and a group of officials silently looked at Fujino Ning and the Japanese delegation who were gradually retreating.
Sakai Ga had already set off on his journey three days ago, and Fujino Ninghe was the last of the envoys from various countries to leave Beijing.
When there was no trace of the convoy anymore, Song Yu looked at the calm-looking Young Master Liu with a smile.
"Your Majesty, I have a question. I wonder whether I should answer it or not?"
"Say it!"
"With so many missions to North Korea, why are you so prejudiced against the Japanese missions?
The old minister vaguely remembered that many years ago, they were also a mission from Japan. They seemed to be a brother and sister named Sakai Kazuko.
His Majesty was also very wary of the Japanese mission, which was mainly composed of brothers and sisters.
Is there something special about this Japanese country that His Majesty keeps secret? "
After hearing Song Yu's question, the other officials also looked at Liu Mingzhi.
They were also puzzled, why did His Majesty target this Japanese mission so much?
Liu Mingzhi chuckled lightly.
"Japanese pirates are barbarians. They are fearful of power but not moral, and they will definitely be a big trouble."
Although several people did not know the meaning of Liu Mingzhi's words, they nodded in agreement and turned their thoughts to their own interests.
"Your Majesty, do you think about this commission?"
"That's right, Jun Wuxi, we can't go back on our word!"
"Old minister seconded the proposal!"
"Seconded."
Naturally, these people were extremely concerned about the private money of themselves and others.
Young Master Liu nodded with a half-smile, turned around and walked towards the bottom of the city wall.
"You have nothing to say, so naturally I will not regret it.
I have already sent someone to deliver the commission checks to your house. It should be too late to rush back now! "
The smiling faces of the four people suddenly fell down, and the corners of their mouths twitched as they looked at Young Master Liu's back as if they were mourning for an heir.
"Your Majesty, this is not the case!"
"What a sin."
"Not a human... not a wise king!"
"What else are you talking about? Hurry up and borrow a horse from the Forbidden Army to drive back. If it gets to Madam, all your hard work will be in vain!"
