"oh?"
Zhu Di immediately looked at Guo An with curiosity on his face, "I wonder what kind of firearm it is?"
Guo An replied: "Your Highness, it should be a kind of burning gunpowder made from stone powder. I still need to discuss with the craftsmen how to make it."
Zhu Di thought thoughtfully, "Is it dangerous?"
Guo An said seriously, "Your Highness, anything related to gunpowder is very dangerous. Therefore, Wei Chen implores Your Highness, if Your Highness becomes interested and wants to visit the gunpowder workshop, you must bring Wei Chen with you." go.
In addition, for the safety and confidentiality of the gunpowder workshop, you must ask His Highness to arrange for confidants..."
With that said, Guo An subconsciously looked around, walked up to Zhu Di, and whispered: "Gunpowder is extremely powerful. If used by bad people, it can endanger the safety of His Highness and even the capital.
Therefore, I advise Your Highness that the gunpowder workshop must at least guard against the Jin Yiwei! "
Zhu Di was a little startled, looked at Guo An with some surprise, and asked: "Is it so serious?"
Guo An looked solemn, "We can't guarantee that it has not been developed. However, if it is developed, Weichen can guarantee that not to mention mere Japanese pirates, even if His Highness leads the three guards of Yanshan to attack the Japanese country, they can easily defeat it." !”
Now, Zhu Di was even more suspicious, "Is Guo Qing trying to trick us?"
Guo An said helplessly: "Your Highness clearly knows that I have never deceived Your Highness once!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly, "That's true."
Although he often dislikes Guo An, Zhu Di's trust in Guo An is similar to that of Zhu Fu, or even more than Zhu Fu.
After all, no matter what he did, Guo An never deceived him.
In fact, whatever Guo An said he wanted to do, he could do it in the end.
Thinking about it, Zhu Di said: "Don't worry, Guo Qing, we will send Qiu Fu to defend the gunpowder workshop."
"Your Highness is wise!"
Qiu Fu is a simple and honest man, stubborn in character, and very brave. The most important thing is that Fengyang people are loyal to Zhu Di and ask Qiu Fu to defend the gunpowder workshop. Guo An is also relieved.
After resigning to Zhu Di, Guo An happily found Xu Yun and Zhuang Guang, the two chief officials of the Gongzheng Institute.
Instruct the two of them to go to the firearms workshop at the work center to separate a small courtyard and set up a gunpowder workshop.
He wants to develop new gunpowder and make it impossible for the Japanese bandits to come back.
When they heard that they were dealing with Japanese pirates, Xu Yun and Zhuang Guang were very happy to kill twenty guards of the Yan Palace, but the whole Yan Palace was gnashing their teeth against the Japanese pirates.
So, Xu Yun and Zhuang Guang did whatever Guo An said.
A few days later.
Xu Xiang took eight large ships, as well as ten shuttle ships and eagle ships, and set out to sea again.
On the boat, there was also a bowl-mouth gun that was only one foot and one inch long and weighed only more than a hundred kilograms. As for the range, it was only a hundred meters.
Moreover, there is no sight on it, so hitting the target depends entirely on experience.
But the power of the shells fired is extremely powerful. As long as it hits the ship, it can blow a big hole in the wooden ship.
Obviously, they went specifically to deal with those Japanese pirate ships.
After looking at this mini artillery, Guo An's eyes widened. With this kind of artillery, why should he worry about the Japanese pirates coming again?
Seeing this, Zhu Di told Guo An another thing. From the 10th year of Yuan Zhizheng to the current 19th year of Hongwu, Japanese pirates would plunder Goryeo every year.
Every time Goryeo was plundered, it was a large-scale robbery involving more than fifty ships. If they could win, they would attack the city and plunder. If they couldn't, they would escape and change places, or plunder villages!
Therefore, all Japanese people are invaders!
Kou's instinct has penetrated deep into their bones.
Nowadays, there is a Li Chenggui in Goryeo who can repel those Japanese bandits.
However, the Japanese pirates could not plunder Goryeo, so they could only come to the Ming Dynasty...
Guo An's expression was solemn. He understood Zhu Di's worries. The six hundred Japanese pirates were probably only a small part of them.
As a result, the development of gunpowder was stepped up.
As the fishing fleet led by Xu Xiang went to sea, a month later, the Japanese pirates came again.
Fortunately, the fleet was fully prepared this time. Even if the number of Japanese pirates doubled this time, they were repelled again and more than five hundred were killed.
As for the guards on the fleet, twelve of them died.
Regarding this, Zhu Di was happy but also a little distressed.
"Guo Qing, these Japanese pirates are really a scourge. Not only will we get nothing if we catch a sea fish, but we will also injure more than ten soldiers, and then we will give out tens of thousands of taels of silver in rewards and pensions."
"Your Highness, within this month, the amount of money sold from the sea fish caught by the fishing fleet has been close to 20,000 taels of silver, hasn't it?"
Guo An said with relief: "Therefore, Your Highness did not lose any money. However, it is a pity to lose these soldiers."
Zhu Di felt better, then changed the topic and asked through gritted teeth: "Guo Qing, when will the gunpowder you developed be successful?
These Japanese pirates dare to come to our fishing boats again and again to cause trouble. We really want to lead the Yanshan Guards to ambush in the sea and kill all the Japanese pirates in one fell swoop! "
"Your Highness, please forgive me, it will take some time!"
Guo An replied with a straight face.
A trace of regret flashed across Zhu Di's face.
At this time, Li Wang came in from outside and reported to Zhu Di with a happy face: "I am reporting to His Highness King Yan that there is a man from Tao Yiping, and there is also Yang Ting, who claims to be a descendant of Tao Wanhu, and wants to I want to meet Guo Changshi!"
"Tao Wanhu?"
Hearing this, Zhu Di and Guo An looked happy, "Invite him in quickly!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Li Wang responded and walked out quickly.
Zhu Di said to Guo An: "Tao Wanhu's name is Tao Chengdao. He is the head of the Tao Academy in Wucheng, Zhejiang. He is a man of great talent and learning.
However, this Tao Wanhu likes to study alchemy techniques, just like Guo Qing likes to study various strange objects.
Later, on the way to making alchemy, he discovered firearms and began to study them.
After his father led troops to attack Wuzhou, Tao Wanhu led a group of disciples to present their firearms skills to his father while staying in the army to serve.
Tao Wanhu's skill in firearms gave his father an even greater advantage in future wars, and he repeatedly performed extraordinary feats.
Later, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, his father was impressed by Tao Wanhu's achievements, so he named Tao Chengdao and awarded Wanhu...
This person was very favored by his father, who was also very tolerant of his descendants. "
"Wanhu!"
Hearing this, Guo An's mind was shaken, and he drooled with envy.
With Lao Zhu's reward, Tao Wanhu's tens of thousands of households naturally have no water.
If Lao Guo's family could have food for thousands of households, then why would he work so hard? He could just go home and farm.
Zhu Di looked at Guo An with a strange look on his face, "Why is Guo Qing looking like this?"
Guo An came to his senses and said quickly: "Your Highness, please forgive me. I was just thinking about how rich the Tao family must be when there are only over 10,000 households in Wanping County."
Zhu Di was stunned for a moment.
At this time, Li Wang also led two young men in.
"Tao Yiping, a common man, met His Highness King Yan and met Guo Changshi!"
"Caomin Yang Ting met His Highness King Yan and met Guo Changshi!"
"You are exempt from the courtesy."
Zhu Di smiled gently, and after Tao Yiping and Yang Ting stood up, he said to Tao Yiping, "Speaking of which, when we were young, we played with Wanhu behind Wanhu's buttocks. We haven't seen each other for many years, and we don't know Wanhu's body. Are you still okay?"
Tao Yiping quickly replied with a grateful look on his face: "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. My father is still very strong. Now, I can still lead my brother and other senior brothers to study firearms day and night."
"This will make us feel at ease!" Zhu Di nodded with relief.
Perhaps it was the first time that they faced the Prince of Ming Dynasty directly. Tao Yiping and Yang Ting sat in their respective seats, feeling uncomfortable all over.
Seeing this, Zhu Di smiled softly again and said, "We heard that you two came here specifically to visit Guo Qing. I wonder what the reason is?"
At this time, Tao Yiping finally remembered the business and quickly replied: "His Royal Highness King Yan is wise. In the capital, my father saw that the transparent glass calcined by Guo Changshi could be used as a window, and it actually made the house much brighter. I admire Guo Changshi's talent very much.
Later, I heard that transparent glass can also be used to grow vegetables in the cold winter. My father bluntly said that Guo Changshi was the real sage of craftsmen in the world. The things he studied were all for the livelihood of thousands of people, and he was far behind.
Then, not long ago, I saw a stone wall built with cement calcined by Guo Changshi, and found that neither the fire system nor the general's cannon could blow up an inch of it.
Then, a house made of cement is the safest house for people in the world. It will not collapse in strong winds or heavy snow. My father is even more ashamed.
It is said that Guo Changshi was afraid that the people would suffer from wars and natural disasters, and also provided shelter for the people. He was a model for craftsmen in the world.
Therefore, two grassroots people were specially sent here to learn the true craftsmanship from Guo Changshi..."
On the throne, Zhu Di looked strange.
As for Guo An on one side, he was even more stunned.
In his mind, the face of a simple and honest old man appeared inexplicably, but behind it was a cunning and cunning look.
Guo An asked: "Can you two develop firearms?"
Hearing this, Tao Yiping and Yang Ting could not help but show a hint of pride on their faces.
"Going back to Guo Changshi, the two Caomin people have been following their father and brothers and sisters since they were children, developing firearms and gunpowder. For the two Caomin people, firearms and gunpowder are as simple as eating!"
"Very good!"
Guo An's face lit up, "In recent days, Prince Yan's fishing boats have been fishing on the Bohai Sea, and they are often attacked by Japanese pirates. I wonder if you two can defeat the Japanese pirates?"
"this……"
Tao Yiping and Yang Ting were stunned for a while. They were just craftsmen, how could they fight?
However, facing Guo An's test, Tao Yiping frowned and thought hard for a while, then said slowly: "The common people heard that Guo Changshi once installed huge fishing nets on sea ships to catch marine fish in the sea.
The grassroots thought that they could also weave some one-foot-long fishing nets. When the Japanese pirate ships approached, only two soldiers could work together to cover the Japanese pirate ships with this net.
After more than a dozen fishing nets were put down, the Japanese pirates became turtles in a urn. They could not climb on the boat or shoot arrows, and were allowed to be shot by our soldiers.
Then, carry some more bowl-mouth blunderbuss on the boat. When the Japanese pirate ship approaches, you can directly use the bowl-mouth gun and fire caltrops to blow it up, and the Japanese pirates will be blown to pieces. "
Zhu Di was full of excitement when he heard this, "You are indeed worthy of being the son of ten thousand households. We will send someone to the capital headquarters tomorrow to ask Duke Song for some fire caltrops!"
As for the fishing nets used to cover the Japanese pirate ships, it would be troublesome for the two of them. "
Tao Yiping and Yang Ting were overjoyed and quickly saluted, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your trust."
"Very good……"
Zhu Di nodded with a happy face, chatted for a while, and then asked Ma He to take the two of them down to rest first.
(End of chapter)
