Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

After failing to ignite the fire with his mind twice, Lu Chen decided not to try again for the time being.

He didn't even have the inclination to re-tie the match and fire the shot.

But don't waste the ammunition already loaded into the chamber; at least try to clear the chamber with your telekinesis.

At this point, at the very bottom of the barrel was black powder that had been ground into powder, followed by a small piece of silk pad, and then the lead bullet that had been shaped into a long strip.

Lu Chen used his telekinesis to grab the silk pad and pull it towards the muzzle of the gun, preparing to pull it out of the muzzle along with the bullet.

boom!

With a loud bang, a plume of smoke billowed from the muzzle of the gun.

Because he hadn't expected the gun to go off, Lu Chen was completely unprepared. He didn't use his mental power to stabilize the gun, and he didn't even use much force in his hand.

The butt of the gun slammed heavily against his shoulder, causing Lu Chen to stumble.

"Boss!"

Qin Fang immediately dropped his matchlock gun, rushed forward, and supported Lu Chen from behind.

"I'm fine, it was just an accidental discharge."

Lu Chen steadied himself and rubbed his shoulder.

"This musket has quite a bit of recoil."

"How could this gun have accidentally discharged?"

The Portuguese merchant, who had been standing by watching Lu Chen and Qin Fang test the gun, stepped forward and picked up the matchlock gun.

"The fire door wasn't even opened, and the matchlock wasn't even clamped."

"There's something wrong with this musket."

Although Director Xu Quan did not understand Portuguese, he could roughly guess what the Portuguese person was saying.

At this moment, a "translator" employed by a Portuguese merchant also stepped forward to translate for both sides.

"It's alright, firearms in the Ming Dynasty also frequently misfire."

Lu Chen realized that he had gone a bit too far in getting angry just now to test his mental power.

Although accidental discharges of firearms were commonplace at this time, they were usually caused by misoperation or accidental contact with a source of fire, as the match cord itself was a dangerous source of fire.

Black powder is very stable and extremely difficult to spontaneously combust in the absence of any ignition source.

However, today I am the buyer, and this matchlock gun belongs to the Portuguese merchant. If there is a problem, it is the Portuguese gun that is faulty, and it has nothing to do with me.

It was just an accident. Now the gunpowder and silk pads in the gun barrel have turned to ashes, and the lead bullets have flown off somewhere.

Even if the Portuguese dismantled the matchlock gun into eight pieces, they still wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on.

We'll have to wait until we get back to Linqing to try and figure out how the gunpowder was ignited.

"Ask your boss how much stock they have on hand."

Lu Chen turned to look at the "tongue man".

"I want all of these muskets."

. . .

A few days later, in Zhoushan.

"Brother Xu, what are your plans for the future?"

At Cengang Wharf, Lu Chen asked Xu Quan a question.

At this moment, the Imperial Guards under Lu Chen's command were supervising the porters as they carried seventeen wooden crates containing silver onto the Zheyang ship.

Each of these wooden boxes weighs nearly forty kilograms and contains one thousand taels of silver.

In addition, there were twenty Portuguese matchlock guns purchased from Portuguese merchants, as well as some other overseas goods, including several Western clocks and a batch of fine Japanese swords.

The purchase of these items cost nearly three thousand taels of silver.

After all the goods were transferred to the Zheyang ship, the Fujian ship would be given to Xu Quan as a reward, as agreed.

"To be honest, Mr. Lu, I originally made an agreement with a few fellow Huizhou acquaintances to run a small business for two more years to save up enough capital, and then go to Fujian or Guangdong to order ships, form a merchant guild together, and run maritime trade as ship owners."

Xu Quan cupped his hands to Lu Chen and said,

"I am deeply grateful for the generous gift of the ship from the owner of the Lu ship."

After we part today, I plan to visit my nephew at Hupao Temple in Hangzhou. My elder brother died young, leaving behind only this son.

I am often away from home and cannot take a young child with me, so I took him to Hupao Temple, donated some money to the temple, and let him become a novice monk there.

Several years have passed, and he is now twelve or thirteen years old.

I am unmarried and have no children. The only blood relative I can truly trust is this nephew.

Sending him to Hupao Temple back then was just a temporary measure. If he didn't want to be a monk anymore, I would let him return to secular life and come with me to do maritime trade.

After picking up my nephew, I'll go back to Huizhou to chat with my fellow townsmen and friends. Now that we have this Fujian boat, we don't have to wait two years anymore.

"Then I wish Brother Xu a safe and successful trip."

Lu Chen nodded.

"Six months from now, Manager Qin will bring another ship of goods to Shuangyu Port. I hope Brother Xu will take good care of him."

"The ship owner can rest assured."

Xu Quan quickly expressed his opinion.

"I am grateful to Captain Lu for gifting me the ship. If Manager Qin encounters any trouble in the future, I, Xu, will do my best to help him."

. . .

Simen in Yuyao, Feidun Garden.

"Second brother, take a look at this Western-style glass cup?"

Xie Gen entered the study and placed a crystal-clear glass in front of Xie Pi.

Xie Qian, who became the top scholar in the imperial examination in the eleventh year of the Chenghua reign, entered the cabinet as prime minister in the eighth year of the Hongzhi reign, and was known as one of the "Three Worthy Prime Ministers of the World" along with Li Dongyang and Liu Jian. He assisted in the "Hongzhi Restoration". Xie Qian, a veteran of the four reigns of Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde and Jiajing, passed away in the tenth year of the Jiajing reign.

At this time, the true head of the Xie family in Yuyao was Xie Qian's second son, Xie Pi.

This Xie Pi was also quite remarkable; he was the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination of the eighteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, at the age of only twenty-three.

Last year, Xie Qian's wife passed away. Xie Pi, who had already risen to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, returned to Yuyao to observe mourning for his mother. At this time, he was living in seclusion in Feidun Garden, which he had built with his father Xie Qian in his early years.

Xie Gen was originally Xie Qian's youngest son, but he was adopted by Xie Qian's elder brother, Xie Di, as his heir in his early years.

Although he was Xie Pi's younger brother, from a patriarchal perspective, he was Xie Pi's cousin.

Unlike his father and brothers, who were both top scholars in the imperial examinations, Xie Geng couldn't even pass the county-level examination. He managed to get a student status at the Nanjing Imperial Academy through his father and brothers' connections.

This person had no baggage as a member of the "pure stream" faction and was also a core member of the Xie family, so it was only natural that he became the actual person in charge of the Xie family's secret involvement in maritime trade.

"We've seen plenty of Western glassware in Hengzhong, but we've never seen anything so crystal clear."

Xie Pi picked up the crystal glass and examined it carefully.

"Even the tributes used by His Majesty in the palace are far inferior to this."

Where did you find such a fine piece?

"A group of people came to visit us, claiming to be maritime merchants, and wanted to sell us a batch of Western crystal and glassware."

Xie Gen laughed.

"This crystal glass is the gift they gave us when we first met."

Such a fine piece, naturally I must first present it to my second brother for his enjoyment.

"Not those 'Macau owners' from Shuangyu, but some maritime merchants who have never dealt with my Xie family before?"

Xie Pi put down the crystal glass, frowned,

"This is rather strange. Westerners can't land directly. Besides Shuangyu, who else could get their hands on these Western crystal and glass artifacts?"

Hengzhong, you've had quite a few dealings with these maritime merchants, so you should be very familiar with their ways.

Did you notice anything strange about this group of people?