In the next few days, everything was calm in Yangxia County.
After the Shang Shui Army lost the county's military arsenal, they did not suppress the hidden thieves and ranger forces in the city. The major forces of the hidden thieves also mistakenly thought that Zhao Hongrun had the ability to compromise with him.
exercised restraint under the circumstances.
On the other side, Zongwei Zhu Gui and He Miao had already acquired a ship from Shangshui County to Daliang, the royal capital, and arrived at Xiangfu Port on February 15th.
After arriving at Xiangfu Port, Zhu Gui and He Miao went their separate ways. The former hurried to the temporary station of the nearly 16,000 merchant navy led by Wu Ji on the outskirts of Daliang City.
The craftsmen knew that during this period, the imperial court had given post-war rewards to the Shangshui Army, and Wu Ji was planning to lead his army back to Shangshui County in the near future.
Sima An's Dangshan Army had already set off back to Dangshan, Dang County one day ago.
Therefore, Zhu Gui wanted to convey Zhao Hongrun's latest troop deployment order to Wu Ji before Wu Ji ordered to break camp and set off.
He Miao, on the other hand, entered the royal capital of Daliang with three other letters.
He first came to the main office of the Ministry of Household Affairs and handed one of the letters to Li Liang, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Shangshu Li Liang was surprised and confused after seeing the letter written by Zhao Hongrun, and he was a little confused about Zhao Hongrun's intention.
It's no wonder, after all, how could the Minister of Household Affairs, who was far away in Daliang, know that Zhao Hongrun had been assassinated one after another in the past few days.
"This matter is easy to hear... I will immediately go to the warehouse to arrange a ship."
Despite his doubts, Li Liang still assured He Miao, and did not mention the cost of requisitioning Cangbe's transport ship.
Logically speaking, Zhao Hongrun's conquest of the ships of the User Department will naturally cause the Department of Revenue to suffer some losses. Therefore, it is natural to put these losses on Zhao Hongrun. However, because the Department of Revenue made money from the Sanchuan trade,
The benefits were so great that Li Liang was embarrassed to ask Zhao Hongrun for the money.
If you think about it, the 16,000 main merchant navy transporting Wuji would at most delay the normal transportation of the Ministry of Revenue for about half a month. Although the losses are not small, they can be compared with the stable income obtained from the Sanchuan trade.
It's simply negligible.
After agreeing with Li Liang on the date for transporting the merchant navy, He Miao said goodbye to Li Liang and rushed to the Smelting Bureau without stopping.
As the department headed by Zhao Hongrun, the Smelting Bureau naturally followed the orders of His Highness Prince Su.
After receiving the drawings of "Sleeve Arrows" drawn by Zhao Hongrun, Wang Fu, the Chief of the Metallurgical Bureau, immediately summoned Ding Jun, the head craftsman in the department.
Ding Jun was originally an ordinary craftsman in the Smelting Bureau, but since he first shined in Zhao Hongrun's casting of mass-produced candle molds, his status has steadily risen, and now he has become one of the top ten craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau.
One of several craftsmen.
If you want to get ahead in a place like the Ministry of Industry and the Metallurgical Bureau, which relies almost entirely on seniority, to stand out in your thirties and become a top craftsman among craftsmen, you can imagine Ding Jun's ability.
"Wang Jucheng, have you changed your mind?"
Following a question that came into the house, Ding Jun walked in from outside the house, with a look of joy on his face for some unknown reason.
This made He Miao look baffled.
However, He Miao didn't understand what Ding Jun was saying, but that didn't mean Wang Fu didn't know either. He said angrily: "Ding Jun, I have told you several times that your idea has already been rejected by His Highness Prince Su.
Already."
After hearing this, Ding Jun hurriedly said: "Wang Jucheng, could you please talk to His Highness Prince Su again? I think it's a good thing, and there may be room for improvement..." After saying that, he noticed that he was standing next to someone.
Zongwei He Miao on the side couldn't help but be stunned.
As the Zongwei beside Zhao Hongrun, He Miao was a familiar face in the Smelting Bureau. Ding Jun naturally recognized He Miao. He was just wondering why this person still stayed in Daliang. Didn't he follow King Su south?
"Dingtou."
"Lord Zongwei."
He Miao and Ding Jun greeted each other, and then the former asked curiously: "What is that thing that Ding Tou said?"
Before Ding Jun could speak, he heard Wang Fu say angrily: "It's the crossbow box of Lu that this guy has been tinkering with... This guy is not determined to give up, and always wants to persuade His Highness King Su to continue to improve the crossbow box of Lu.
.”
He Miao suddenly realized what he said.
Regarding the crossbow box, he also knew about it: he did not know whether it was his predecessor, or the former chief of the Smelting Bureau, who through some unknown channel bought a crossbow box from the Lu State, and wanted to secretly learn the craftsmanship of the Lu State.
, Unexpectedly, the Lu people had already been on guard. Before discarding the crossbow box, they dismantled all the parts inside, leaving only an empty wooden box.
However, even if it is an empty box, Wei craftsmen still learned the "mortise and tenon structural technique" and abandoned the wooden nails used in the past to make wooden tools.
I remember that when Zhao Hongrun first took charge of the Smelting Bureau, he asked Wang Fu to take out the dusty crossbow box from the warehouse because he was very interested in Lu's craftsmanship.
At first glance, Zhao Hongrun was disappointed.
Although Zhao Hongrun had already thought that the operation of this crossbow box relied on wooden gears, he ultimately did not restore the crossbow box.
After all, even if the crossbow box is restored, it is just the craftsmanship of the Lu country for more than ten or twenty years. What is the use?
Not to mention that this crossbow box is still full of various defects.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun gave up on restoring the crossbow box and chose another war weapon, namely the repeating crossbow, or repeating machine heavy crossbow, that shined in the Battle of Sanchuan.
Nowadays, further improving the continuous crossbow has become a regular research task within the Smelting Bureau. As for the crossbow box of the Lu State, it is unknown where it has been forgotten.
However, Ding Jun was very interested in this complicated and defective Lu crossbow box. He actually restored the Lu crossbow box without Zhao Hongrun's participation, which surprised even Zhao Hongrun.
Unfortunately, the restored crossbow box was still useless, because the range of the repeating crossbow was more than twice that of the crossbow box. This made the craftsmen who were originally curious discovered to their disappointment that if the crossbow box was in front of their repeating crossbow,
It won't have any effect at all, and will be directly shot into the receiver by the repeating crossbow.
As a result, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau became indifferent to the crossbow box again, but Ding Jun was still studying this thing. Still unwilling to give up, he tried several times to persuade Zhao Hongrun through Wang Fu, hoping to pass the crossbow box proposal.
"I see."
He Miao was amused in his heart, and interrupted the argument between Wang Fu and Ding Jun, saying: "Dingtou, the matter of the crossbow box will be put aside for the time being. His Highness Prince Su hopes that the Smelting Bureau will make this thing as soon as possible."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Fu handed the drawing he got from He Miao to Ding Jun and said, "Ding Jun, take a look at this."
Ding Jun took the drawing in confusion, looked at it carefully, and murmured: "Sleeve arrows?" After saying that, he turned to look at He Miao and asked in confusion: "Master Zongwei, His Highness Prince Su wants this.
do what?"
It’s no wonder, because in his opinion, the power and range of the Xiu Arrow are not as great as the hand crossbow. Apart from the advantage of being easy to carry, the rest are simply useless, and their role on the battlefield is minimal. It is difficult for him to imagine that Zhao Hongrun will
To design such a useless weapon.
Seeing this, He Miao briefly explained the situation in Yangxia to Ding Jun and told the latter that this was a lightweight weapon designed by Zhao Hongrun to deal with the hidden thieves in Yangxia.
Ding Jun suddenly understood, nodded and said: "I understand, I understand... Let me create a real thing first and study it."
Upon hearing this, He Miao couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and quickly said: "Please make it as soon as possible."
"Measurement?" Ding Jun was stunned for a moment, and then he frowned and said in embarrassment: "Master Zongwei, although this thing is simple, there are a lot of inconveniences if you want to measure it. Look, these small objects are smaller than the size of your little finger."
Even smaller, it is quite difficult to make a mold. If you want to mass-produce it, it will take at least one or two months..."
"A month or two?" He Miao heard this and said to himself, Yangxia has finished fighting in a month or two, what else is there to do with this thing?
Ding Jun noticed He Miao's ugly face, but he was also very helpless. After all, although the drawings drawn by Zhao Hongrun had a simple structure, the problem was that the parts for making sleeve arrows were generally very small and almost impossible to make. They could only be polished by hand.
.
As for manual polishing, how can it be mass-produced?
Suddenly, he had an idea and turned to He Miao and said, "Master Zongwei, how about you try the crossbow box?"
While the Chief of Staff Wang Fu rolled his eyes and looked speechless, Ding Jun's eyes shone and he recommended the crossbow box to He Miao with foaming at the mouth, saying how good it was.
He Miao was not good at crafts to begin with, and was stunned by Ding Jun's words. When he left the Smelting Bureau, he realized that he had actually agreed to Ding Jun's suggestion.
It was clear that His Highness wanted the Metallurgical Bureau to build a batch of sleeve arrows, but in the end, he brought a batch of crossbow boxes. Standing in front of the door of the Metallurgical Bureau, He Miao scratched his head, not knowing how to explain it to His Highness.
Fortunately, Ding Jun spoke very beautifully when recommending the crossbow box to He Miao, which made He Miao full of confidence in this thing.
"There is nothing we can do about it. How can Your Highness wait for a month or two?"
He Miao comforted herself secretly.
After leaving the Smelting Bureau, He Miao went straight to Prince Yi's Mansion owned by Zhao Hongrun and his uncle Zhao Yuanli.
Unfortunately, he did not see Zhao Yuanli on this trip, because Zhao Yuanli had already left the city with Princess Yulong for fun.
He Miao is also aware of this matter.
"What can I do?"
Holding the letter written by Zhao Hongrun to Zhao Yuanli in his hand, He Miao couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Leave it to the servants in Prince Yi's palace?
What if I lose it?
After much deliberation, He Miao finally returned to Prince Su's Mansion and handed the letter written by Zhao Hongrun to Zhao Yuanli to Prince Su's guards who stayed behind in Prince Su's Mansion, asking them to deliver it to the latter when Zhao Yuanli returned to the capital of Daliang.
in hand.
After arranging everything, He Miao and Zhu Gui met.
Because it was an urgent troop deployment, Li Liang, the Minister of Household Affairs, urgently mobilized a dozen ships and let some of the merchant navy board the ships first and headed for Yangxia.
In the afternoon of that day, Wu Ji led the main force of nearly 16,000 Shang Shui troops to Xiangfu Port. He first mobilized about 3,000 Shang Shui soldiers as the first batch of reinforcements to sail to Yangxia for support.