With a dark face, Hua Xiong sent Ma Jun out of the house.
Ma Jun led the thin horse, said goodbye to Hua Xiong with a smile, and left here. He waved and vaguely heard the jingle of copper coins. He did not stop and walked straight towards the palace. When he arrived at the palace gate
When he was walking in front, the guards in front of the palace gate had already rushed up and surrounded him. His clothes really made people wonder what he was doing when he stopped at the gate of the palace in such shabby clothes.
?
What's more, these guards are all elite and sharp-eyed. They can see what the shape of the package on the back of the thin horse looks like. Seeing that these guards are about to rush over, Ma Jun panics and gets out of his arms this time.
He took out the imperial examination certificate from the servant. When they saw this thing, many soldiers were stunned. They knew what it was. With this thing, they could visit the emperor at will, which was equivalent to a pass to the imperial palace.
Why is it that a man who looks like someone who has settled down in Luoyang can be worshiped as a servant?
They carefully checked everything on Ma Jun, and then hurriedly went to report to the yellow gate in the palace. Finally, Han Men walked out of the palace and came to the gate. They saw Ma Jun surrounded by the guards.
Men didn't recognize it for the first time, but he looked at it carefully for a long time, and then exclaimed: "The person here is Ma Yilang???"
Ma Jun looked at the eunuch in front of him, but did not remember his name. He just nodded and smiled awkwardly. However, Han Men laughed enthusiastically and stepped forward to hold Ma Jun's hand without caring at all.
The clothes on his body took him by the hand and walked towards the palace. As he walked, he said: "Mr. Ma is here. The country has missed him for a long time and often misses him. I will definitely be happy to see Mr. Ma today..."
While talking, the two entered the palace.
Outside the palace, the guards looked at each other and could only shake their heads and sigh. There are more and more weirdos these days.
Of course, others went in, but Shouma had no choice but to stay. After Ma Jun entered the palace, he remembered and said quickly: "Husband, there is another crossbow in my package, which I want to show to His Majesty.
..Can I bring it in???”
Han Men was startled and said: "This powerful crossbow cannot be brought into the palace..."
“What should we do??”
"No problem, wait for the emperor to say something, and someone will naturally go and get it..."
"That's fine!"
The two of them arrived in front of the Houde Hall all the way. Ma Jun heard the emperor's exclamation from afar, "But my Zhang Liang is here???", and saw the emperor running out of the Houde Hall, still in the same state.
Ma Jun, who looked fat and smiling, was about to bow to the emperor. The big fat man ran all the way and hugged Ma Jun in front of him. He completely ignored the etiquette of monarchs and ministers. He quickly let go and looked at the people in front of him.
Ma Jun, who was a head shorter than himself, said with a smile: "Meng Ping, why are you so much shorter?"
"Hahaha, Your Majesty has grown a lot taller..."
The two of them chatted and walked into the Hall of Houde together. They sat facing each other. The big fat man sighed and said, "You are finally back. You have been staying in Ningzhou all these years. I asked you to come back.
How about not coming back? How are you doing?"
Ma Jun nodded with a smile and said: "Your Majesty, you don't know that although Ningzhou is remote and considered a wild land in everyone's eyes, it is close to the sea, has a river, and the surrounding land is very fertile. Previously, it was just a wasteland.
It was abandoned in the hands of those Goguryeo people. This time I went to Sushen, Fuyu, and even Dingling. They all needed charcoal and were willing to exchange it with cattle and sheep. I exchanged it with them. They were all very fond of the big Han.
Respect also means sending envoys to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty..."
"This time, Ningzhou has also set up a foreign trade base. Merchants can trade with them. This is actually a good thing. I am afraid that Ningzhou will surpass You and Ji within fifty years and become the best in Hebei!"
Ma Jun talked about some things about Ningzhou, and the emperor couldn't help but nodded. Ma Jun said: "There were soldiers from the North before. It is said that the remains of thousands of soldiers were brought from the northwest, and they were all buried in Dongli.
..."
The emperor nodded without saying anything.
"Well, I just went to see the road again... If I knew his condition, I would definitely come back earlier and see him..." Ma Jun said, and the emperor also said with some sadness: "I never thought that
Damn it, the highway died so early... We are not young either..."
The two of them remembered Yuan Shu for a moment. Ma Jun saw that the emperor looked lonely, and then talked about the incident in Luoyang. Ma Jun said: "I haven't been back for several years, and I never thought that there would be such changes in Luoyang.
This city is more than five times bigger. As soon as you walk in from Ningzhou, it is suddenly different. There are roads and inns everywhere. There are no deserted areas on the roads. They are all in vast tracts.
of arable land....A prosperous age, an unprecedented prosperous age!"
"The current household registration, the cultivated land, and the scene are all far better than those in Jianning years!"
Ma Jun said this. The big fat man smiled and was particularly happy. However, after a moment, he shook his head again, with a complicated expression on his face. He said: "You can't speak like this. If it weren't for the foundation of Jianning, the supplies would have piled up like mountains."
How did the treasury come to such a prosperous age... What I have done is not enough... far from enough..." Hearing the emperor's words, Ma Jun smiled when he saw the big fat man's face was a little unwilling and a little sad.
laugh.
"Your Majesty, how can you say this? How can you say that the remnants of the sixth generation of Qin Fen, as for the First Emperor, destroyed all the countries and returned them to Qin? How can you say that the First Emperor is incompetent? It all depends on the inheritance of the ancestors? And I, the Han Dynasty, rely on the inheritance of Taizu.
It was only under the rule of Emperor Taizong that Shizong prospered. During the reign of Emperor Shizong, the Xiongnu were destroyed, and no one in the Qing Dynasty refused to follow him. How can you say that Shizong is unbearable, all because of the inheritance of his ancestors??" Ma Jun asked in return, and the big fat man raised his eyebrows
He raised his head and said with a smile: "But I can't."
Ma Jun then chuckled and said nothing more.
The big fat man felt a lot better, and said with a smile: "You used to be dull and taciturn, but today you have become articulate and eloquent. It seems that Ningzhou is a good place!"
The two chatted for a long time, but felt that they had endless words to say. Only then did Ma Jun remember his purpose and said quickly: "By the way, Your Majesty, I also brought a crossbow. This thing is a military weapon I made."
The sharp weapon is called a repeating crossbow. This object can fire continuously to make up for the shortcomings of the crossbow..." Before Ma Jun had finished speaking, the emperor stood up in surprise, widened his eyes and asked: "Can you compete with the crossbow?
A normal continuous shot from a bow???"
"That's right. If this thing is changed into a bed crossbow, yellow crossbow, etc..."
"Hahahaha!!! Okay, okay!! Where is the repeating crossbow?!?"
"I wanted to bring him in, but the guards didn't allow it. I'll stay with the guards at the palace gate..."
The emperor quickly called Han Men in and couldn't wait to ask Han Men to bring the things. Han Men went out quickly. The emperor was a little excited and kept asking Ma Jun. Ma Jun could only answer one by one.
When the crossbow was taken and placed in front of the emperor, the emperor picked up the repeating crossbow and played with it seriously, with sparks in his eyes. After looking at it for a long time, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Meng Ping, you are a great talent in this world!"
No one can match it!!”
Ma Jun shook his head and said quickly: "Your Majesty, in the pre-Qin period, there were three-shot repeating crossbows. I just improved the repeating crossbow. This is an eight-shot repeating crossbow. It may be improved in the future. However, although this thing is
It has huge destructive power and is a military weapon, but it also has shortcomings. The crossbow arrow needs to be made very sophisticated and cannot be reused, so it consumes a lot of money. In addition, this object is easily damaged when it is shot by a mechanism, and it is not suitable to use it in rainy weather.
use..."
Ma Jun talked about the shortcomings of the Liannu, but the emperor didn't care. He waved his hand and said: "It's okay. I rely on your wisdom. I'm afraid it will be more perfect and outstanding in the future. Small flaws are of no use!"
"
The emperor played with it for a long time and then asked: "Is this crossbow famous?"
When the emperor asked this, Ma Jun felt confident and shook his head.
The emperor asked again: "How about I come and give you a name?"
Ma Jun nodded, but he already knew the name of this thing in his heart.
"Let's call it Xiping Liannu!!" the emperor said excitedly.
Sure enough, Ma Jun was not surprised at all. He nodded and said with appreciation: "What a name!"
After putting down the repeated crossbow, the emperor was still talking about how he wanted to give this item to Taiwei Sun Jian to distribute it to the Northern and Southern armies. In addition, he also asked Ma Junduo to recruit craftsmen to make this sharp weapon, but he could not let the manufacturing method go.
Ma Jun naturally knew that it had been passed down from generation to generation, and he immediately agreed. After reading this, the emperor was in a really good mood. He pulled Ma Jun and was even more cordial. He said with some excitement: "Over the years, I have been busy with state affairs, but...
I neglected Hongdu School..."
"From now on, I will vigorously support Hongdu Sect. You can recruit craftsmen by yourself and study within Hongdu Sect..." After saying this, the emperor's face became a little solemn. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said:
"If I act like this, I'm afraid that many scholars in the Hongdu School will object, and some people in the court will come to bother me. This won't work..." The emperor said to himself, and suddenly, he raised his head
He started, looked at Ma Jun, and said:
"Meng Ping, I want to worship you as a great craftsman. I will compare two thousand stones. Tomorrow, you will go to see Sikong Yuan Shao... In this way, things like recruiting craftsmen, building the palace, Luoyang City, and building Chidao will all be done by
You can do it. You can recruit craftsmen by yourself. In addition, no one can tell you how many things you make in the general house. This is your responsibility. As for the specific construction, you can leave it to the craftsmen under your command to complete it.
The main thing is to make more important weapons of the country, okay??"
The emperor asked seriously, and Ma Jun was a little confused. He didn't know why he had just been in Luoyang for one day and became a general with a weight of two thousand stones. The so-called general was actually Sikong. In Qin, Sikong was responsible for construction.
Many things were abolished during the reign of Emperor Sejong, and he was called the great craftsman of Jiang Zuo. However, when it came to Jianning, Sikong raised his head again. Like Wang Fu, a money slave who did not want to be named directly hollowed out Jiang Zuo.
Because he felt that the construction would cost too much money and they did not know how to build it correctly.
Therefore, he took all these things on himself, and the great craftsman was left alone, existing in name only.
Now, the emperor wants to appoint generals as ministers again. However, it is obvious that he does not want to abolish Sikong and compare two thousand stones. He wants to serve as an official under Sikong to bear part of the pressure for Sikong. Ma Jun did not dare to refuse and quickly stood up.
Thank you, the emperor was overjoyed and asked him to sit down. The emperor wanted to become a great craftsman, not to restrict Sikong, but because he wanted Ma Jun to gather craftsmen and make more such heavy weapons!!
After seeing the Lian Nu, he once again felt the powerful effect of these novel things. Some of them can be used in farming, textiles, and military affairs. So why should he listen to the nonsense of those idiots in the temple instead of
To support these craftsmen???
"Meng Ping, you're going to have to pay two thousand dan for now... You need to change your clothes..."
Ma Jun smiled bitterly, lowered his head, looked at the clothes on his body, and said with a smile: "My mentor died young, and the only thing left behind is this clothes. Over the years, I have mended it, and I dare not throw it away. I wear this..."
The clothes and the body are as if the master is by my side and I can still listen to his teachings... What's more, I don't have much financial resources... to be able to afford new clothes..." Ma Jun couldn't help but raise his head as he spoke.