A knife in love

Chapter 1629

Li Qiufeng and Qi Jiu stood behind Murong Danyan, seeing that the owner of the Wang Zhuang was all right, and then walked back to the stern, and saw only a dozen figures left on the platform from a distance, but Liu Shengzongyan and Duguxue Not among them.Qi Jiu whispered to Li Qiufeng: "It seems that the old thief Liu Sheng is in a hurry to open the iron box, and he doesn't care about chasing and killing us. But even if he gets the things in the iron box, I'm afraid it won't be a big deal, but it will be a disaster. Big mold."

Li Qiufeng was startled, turned his head to look at Qi Jiu, and said in a deep voice, "I would like to hear more about it."

Qi Jiu looked to the left and right, except for the two boatmen who were steering the boat at the stern, most of the other people gathered near the cabin, and no one heard them talking.Only then did he feel relieved, and lowered his voice and said to Li Qiufeng: "Brother Li, although I don't know what was written in the document in the iron box, I can only guess that there must be a method for making a three-eyed gun inside... ..."

Before Qi Jiu finished speaking, Li Qiufeng was taken aback, and said in a trembling voice: "How is this possible? The three-eyed gun is the most powerful firearm in the Shenji Camp. I heard from a head of the Ministry of War that the Ministry of War strictly ordered the Shenji Camp If the commander and generals are defeated in battle, they must destroy all the three-eyed guns before they can retreat. If a three-eyed gun falls into the enemy's hands, it will be a serious crime for the family and family to be exterminated. It is precisely because the punishment is so severe that in the past ten years, it has never been heard that the Tartars and Japanese pirates got the three-eyed blunderbuss."

Qi Jiu looked solemn, shook his head, and said: "Brother Li, you have been in the center for a long time, and many things are not clear. I was a servant in Dengzhou guards, but I know many things that cannot be put on the table. The three-eyed gun has three barrels. , looks very majestic, but in the final analysis, it is still a Huomen gun. The power of the firearm is that it can kill and injure the enemy at a distance of more than a hundred steps. Adding two more barrels to the Huomen gun creates a three-eyed gun. It is indeed a good idea. It’s just that with the addition of two barrels, the fire door gun has become much heavier. When adding gunpowder and projectiles, it cannot be as full of medicine as a single barrel fire door gun. In this way Come on, the shooting distance of the three-eyed gun is smaller than that of the Huomen gun. It is still useful in melee combat, but if the enemy is far away, the power of the three-eyed gun will be greatly reduced."

When Qi Jiu said this, he paused for a while, and then said: "The firearms used by the Ming Dynasty at the beginning of the founding of the Taizu were really powerful. Emperor Chengzu made six expeditions to the north, sweeping the caves in Liting, beating the Tartars and fleeing in all directions. There are many ways for firearms to help. But to be disrespectful, since Emperor Chengzu, our Ming’s firearms have not only failed to improve, on the contrary, the situation has deteriorated, causing countless deaths and injuries to Ming’s officers and soldiers, endangering the national destiny..."

Hearing this, Li Qiufeng disapproved, and said, "Brother Qi, is there any basis for this statement?"

Qi Jiudao: "Brother Li saw the officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion holding three-eyed guns in the capital, so he naturally didn't know the dirty things behind it. Five years ago, I was only a teenager, and I saw it in the military camp. The three-eyed blunderbuss, the result makes people laugh and cry. Not to mention that it is far inferior to the bird blunderbuss used by Japanese pirates, even compared with some decades-old firecrackers stored in Dengzhou Guard, it is still far behind. Say no If it sounds good, the three-eyed blunderbuss is still useful if used in close combat within twenty or thirty steps. If the distance is more than forty steps, this thing is not as good as a firestick."

Li Qiufeng frowned, and said word by word: "Brother Qi, this matter is not a joke. If the three-eyed gun is really so bad, why does Shenjiying spend a huge amount of money every year to repair the old three-eyed gun? , create a new three-eyed gun?"

Qi Jiu sighed, and said in his mouth: "It's not the money that is doing the trick! To build a three-eyed gun, the money spent is equivalent to five fire guns. In this way, there are many opportunities for manipulation. In the past, Cheng Zu The emperor and Emperor Renzong put the Firearms Bureau under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and did not include it in the various divisions of the Ministry of War. They were worried that the officials in charge of the Ministry of War and the officials of the Firearms Bureau would work together to embezzle money. They thought that the separation of the Firearms Bureau from the Ministry of War would stop those dirty officials. They don’t know how to embezzle money. But they don’t know that the officials of the Ministry of War and the Firearms Bureau will still be corrupt, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry will also get a share of it, and the money used to make firearms will be even less.”

The more Li Qiufeng listened, the more confused he became, not knowing what Qi Jiu meant.Seeing Li Qiufeng's puzzled expression, Qi Jiu knew that he didn't know the joints, so he continued: "According to the rules set by the imperial court, the Ministry of War will list all the firearms needed and hand them over to the cabinet. After the Cabinet Scholars discuss, if there is no objection, the paper will be sent to the Supervisor of Rituals, and the emperor will review it, and Gan Gang will make the decision. If the emperor does not agree to the request of the Ministry of War, the paper will not be issued. If the emperor approves The report of the Ministry of War will be sent to the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Industry will handle the matter together with the Firearms Bureau. After the firearm is built, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War will send officials in charge to jointly inspect it. The last two officials will sign and sign the firearm before it can be delivered. The Shenji Battalion was handed over to the sergeants.

"This chain is intertwined, and it looks extremely meticulous. It is not easy for anyone to tamper with it. However, no matter how thorough the court's rules are, it cannot prevent those dirty officials from stretching their hands too long. The Ministry of War Before the book was handed over to the cabinet, the Ministry of Industry had already greeted it. Therefore, the book was written after discussions between the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. The reason for the rejection. Besides, the cabinet received the paper and saw that it was handed over by the Ministry of War, so it naturally understood that it was written after discussions between the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. Difficult. They just took a look at it, and then sent it to the Chief of Rites as it is. The eunuch Bingbi of the Chief of Rituals had benefited a long time ago, so naturally he would not be a hindrance. The emperor saw that the cabinet had no objections, and the eunuch Bingbi said a lot of good things. For such important military and state affairs, we will never leave the middle school undistributed. When the banknote arrives at the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households will allocate money to the Firearms Bureau. It is natural for the Firearms Bureau, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War to negotiate with each other. As for how much money is in it It is really used to make firearms, maybe only God knows."

When Qi Jiu said this, he paused for a while, and then continued: "When I was in Dengzhou Wei, I heard that the commander said in private that when the household department allocates money, at least three out of ten taels of silver must be withheld. Two. For the remaining seven taels of silver, the cabinet and the supervisor of ceremonies will divide three taels of silver, and the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War will divide another two taels of silver. In the end, the Firearms Bureau only got two taels of silver.”

Li Qiufeng has worked in Jinyiwei for five years, so he naturally knows a lot about the dirty methods of officials.It's just that [-]% of the silver was embezzled by officials for such a major matter as the manufacture of firearms, which is related to the safety of the court, it was beyond his expectation.It's just that he knows that Qi Jiu has been in the army for many years, and naturally knows all kinds of abuses in the court and the army.Thinking of this, Li Qiufeng sighed, and said in his mouth: "The imperial court issued ten taels of silver, but only two taels of silver were actually used. It really makes people feel aggrieved. The corruption of the officials has reached such a level, and the big bosses of the imperial court cannot excuse themselves." blame."

(End of this chapter)