"Gong Lu, His Majesty calls you in! Humph!"
When Li Yuanji went out, he glanced at Hou Junji and said, Bah, what the hell!
Because he was inside just now, he knew that Hou Junji was here to complain today.
When the new school was established, the old man Yu Shinan came out to oppose it. Hou Junji from the Ministry of War was a member who supported him.
Then due to the construction of the new school, Duan Lun from the Ministry of Industry sent a lot of craftsmen to repay Tang Ping's favor, and postponed the renovation of the Ministry of War.
After Hou Junji came over today to talk about the business, he started to complain.
After all, in his opinion, a new academy was ranked in front of their military department. Was their military department shameless?
How could the Ministry of Industry transfer all the craftsmen to build a new school first? My own house in the Ministry of War started to leak!
It's just that King Zhao was nice when he went in, but why does he feel so bad about him when he comes out?
Hou Junji shook his head and stopped thinking about it. After all, King Zhao was just an idle prince, and he was the Minister of War!
Even if he was dissatisfied with himself, it wouldn't have much impact.
Entering the Xiande Hall, Hou Junji's sharp eyes saw that there was an extra knife on Li Shimin's table that Zhao Wang Li Yuanji had just brought in.
It's a little inappropriate to call it a knife, but it's just a piece of steel, without a handle, and it doesn't look like the blade is open.
However, he didn't care about his own business, so he quickly asked his Majesty to talk to the Ministry of Works and transfer people to him to repair the yamen of the Ministry of War.
"His Majesty……"
As soon as Hou Junji started speaking, he was interrupted by Li Shimin.
"I understand, it's just to repair the Ministry of War Yamen! Junji, how much does it cost to repair the Ministry of War Yamen once?"
"It only costs fifty or sixty guan to return to Your Majesty, and our Ministry of War has the money, so we don't need to pay from the court!"
"Fifty or sixty swords..." Li Shimin pondered for a moment, and then did not say whether it was good or bad. Instead, he gave the semi-finished product that Li Yuanji just brought to Hou Junji: "Take a look, how does this knife look like?"
Hou Junji took the knife and silently took three steps back before looking at it carefully.
Although I don't know why King Zhao Li Yuanji brought such a knife in just now, but now His Majesty asked himself to see it, which means that something must have happened that he didn't know about.
The edge has not been opened completely, so I don't know how sharp it is, but if you bend it hard and then loosen it, you can tell that the steel is extremely flexible.
Weighing the weight, it is quite light, indicating that the quality is good.
Put it in front of you and take a closer look. The fine lines are almost undetectable.
There was also a metal wrench finger in his hand. When he scratched the surface of the blade, there was only a shallow mark that was basically invisible. It disappeared after wiping it with his hand, indicating that the hardness of the steel was extremely high.
After making two chopping movements, Hou Junji raised his hand and said, "Your Majesty, this is good steel. If it is polished well, it will be a sharp weapon!"
It has to be said that although Hou Junji is arrogant, he is still very thoughtful. Just a few small tests can tell the performance of a knife.
"I want to use such a knife to equip a vanguard army of ten thousand people for charging into battle. What do you think?"
"This..." Hou Junji hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, there are no forging marks on this steel, but it is not easy to forge. Not to mention the cost, just the steel bars of these ten thousand knives, How long will it take for it to be ready?"
"Hahaha, don't worry about it, they have it in stock right now! Ten thousand pieces, just waiting for us to give you the money!"
"Available now?" Hou Junji was shocked. You must know that such a large-scale production of weapons must be controlled. It is unlikely that it is coming from abroad. No country will let such a large batch go. The material of high-quality sabers leaks out.
This thing was originally under the jurisdiction of their Ministry of War. In other words, someone created ten thousand sabers of steel under their own noses?
This is impossible. You must know that such steel must be time-consuming and laborious. If you make ten thousand pieces, you can't do it on a small scale. If you don't find it on a large scale, you would be derelict in your duty.
For a moment, Hou Junji didn't know what to say.
Li Shimin didn't notice his little thoughts. He was becoming more and more satisfied with Tang Ping. This nephew sent by God was really a lucky star.
My own lucky star is also the lucky star of Datang!
"How about it? Junji, how much is your Ministry of War willing to spend on these 10,000 knives?"
Hou Junji secretly looked at Li Shimin and found that he was indeed not angry, and was really very happy. It seemed that he would not blame himself for the sudden appearance of such a batch of knife-making steel under his rule.
"The Ministry of Husbandry has just approved 200,000 guan to the Ministry of War. This year, all armies in the Tang Dynasty will purchase additional repair equipment. I can allocate half of it. If there is more, I will have to ask the Ministry of Husbandry for approval again!"
As the Minister of the Ministry of War, he still had a clear understanding of the situation in the Ministry of War, so he answered Li Shimin's question immediately.
Of course, he also knew that one hundred thousand guan was probably not enough, so he left a tail in his words. Anyway, our Ministry of War only has so much money. If Your Majesty really wants to buy it, you have to help us ask for the money.
Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty is short of money everywhere, and Li Shimin himself is short of money. How can he not understand the meaning of Hou Junji's words.
If the materials for this batch of steel knives were sold by someone else, he would probably have a headache, but who would let his good nephew give it to him?
Yes, it’s a gift!
Forty taels of gold, ten thousand handfuls, what else is it if it’s not a gift?
"Jun Ji, if I use the money from the inner treasury to buy these knives and give them to the Ministry of War, can the Ministry of War hold off a few people until the new school is repaired?"
"Your Majesty!" Hou Junji was shocked. When did the emperor's inner treasury become so rich?
You must know that it is said that the whole world is not the king's land, but the emperor's money is actually separate from the national finance.
Their main income still comes from Huangzhuang and some other industries.
The Ministry of War can't even come up with such a large sum of money, but His Majesty's inner treasury can actually come up with it?
Of course, Hou Junji would not miss such an advantage. He would be a bastard if he did not take advantage.
He said directly and categorically: "If your Majesty uses the money from the inner treasury to buy it and give it to the Ministry of War, let alone postpone the repair of the Ministry of War, it will be no problem even if you take the entire Ministry of War to help build a new academy!"
Just kidding, how much is the combined annual salary of all the officials at the Ministry of War and Yamen?
As long as this money can be saved, the 200,000 yuan can still be used in the originally planned place, and I can still have the oil and water I should have!
But he never thought that as soon as he finished speaking, Li Shimin said: "No joke before you, this batch of materials was sold by Tang Ping, the son of Wannian County. Since Jun Ji is interested, he will go to the new academy with me tomorrow to help! "
