“This servant did not avenge her personally. Princess, you came to save this servant. This servant knows she was wrong. My master raised and educated me. I have failed my master’s expectations and failed to protect the princess. Su Xiu is unfilial.”
Thinking of the rumored five-year-old Yue family son who had survived, Su Xiu burst into tears. Rumors are just rumors, not true. "Those rumors are all false. I was the only one from the Yue family who survived. My master found me and took me as his disciple. Before he died, my master told me to protect the princess. Princess, I have made many mistakes, but I was too eager for revenge. Please, for the sake of my master, don't send me away."
"Have all three thousand musketeers been wiped out?" Zhao Shu changed the subject.
Su Xiu was delighted; the princess had changed the subject. Did that mean she wouldn't pursue the matter further?
Wiping away her tears, she replied, "They've been wiped out. The fire muskets were all bought from overseas. His Highness the Crown Prince said that these three thousand fire muskets are worth one hundred thousand taels of gold."
"Advanced things are naturally valuable. Go get one and let me see it."
She had some difficulty moving around, but she still walked away overjoyed, limping. Xiao Guozi and the others were still kneeling outside. Zhao Shu said, "Get up."
They had feelings for Su Xiu, and Su Xiu was clever and quick-witted. With just a few words of encouragement, they went to the island. Zhao Shu didn't want to make a big deal out of it, saying, "I'll punish you guys when we get back to the capital."
"Thank you, Princess." The group kowtowed in gratitude. Now that they thought about it, weren't they the ones who had interfered? By personally going to the island to capture the person, they had disrupted Huo Baichuan's plans and led to his death.
"Go down, everyone. Don't bother me." She didn't want to see anyone right now. She picked up her pen and wrote a reply to Wei Tingsi, then handed it to Xiao Guozi. "Take this with you."
After Su Xiu took the fire spear, Zhao Shu didn't let her stay any longer.
"The allure of technology is unparalleled." Gently stroking the musket on the table, Zhao Shu picked up a pen and drew a picture of the musket.
When the Crown Prince and Physician Peng learned that she had woken up, they insisted on coming to see her in person. Zhao Shu had no choice but to let them in.
"Ah Jun, is anything bothering you?" She reached out and touched Zhao Shu's forehead. Her temperature was normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "You, what can I say about you? You believe a soldier's words? He's a spy, deliberately trying to make you anxious. Although we haven't found Minister Huo yet, we haven't found his body either. Don't worry."
He knew Zhao Shu was worried but wouldn't ask, so he blurted everything out. The old imperial physician Peng next to him was displeased. "Your Highness, you've said everything you should and shouldn't have said. What am I supposed to say? Now we're doomed. We can't appease the princess. She won't tell me the prescription."
His extremely aggrieved expression made Zhao Shu grin.
"Brother Crown Prince, look at this." She handed him the map. "Three thousand muskets are worth 100,000 gold coins. What about three thousand muskets?"
The prince, being a discerning man, was immediately captivated. "Ah Jun, is this possible?" The fire lance was already a major breakthrough; if a fire lance could be made, who in the world would be its match?
"As long as there's silver, what can't be done?" Besides, she also had technical talent. "Brother Crown Prince, haven't the gold mines been almost completely depleted over the years?"
"I don't know. I handed it over to my father, the Empress, and then I never cared about it again. You know he doesn't allow anyone to interfere." The Crown Prince was somewhat embarrassed.
Zhao Shu understood; if it were her, she wouldn't let anyone interfere either—it was a gold mine.
"Do you remember the location?"
The crown prince's eyes flickered as he looked at her. "Could it be that you intend to?"
“Yes, that’s what I think too. Anyway, it’ll be yours in the future, so why not use it now? As long as we raise 10,000 musketeers and dozens of cannons, who are we afraid of?” Zhao Shu used to think that we shouldn’t build these firearms, because they would make the world more chaotic and make killing easier. But now it’s different. Everyone else can use fire muskets, so why shouldn’t she use firearms?
They spend all day brandishing spears, shouting and killing, and then they fight battles using human lives to fill the gaps, just to see who has the most men. What's the point of all that?
"It's just that skilled craftsmen are hard to find." It all comes down to the problem of talent. "The fire lance was originally invented by a soldier in the previous dynasty. Later, the Yuan emperor of the previous dynasty felt that it was too dangerous, so he issued a ban. All those who knew the technology were killed. Later, someone took the technology overseas and improved it. Its power increased dramatically. Therefore, in Dayong, it is hard to find craftsmen who know how to make fire lances."
“Talented people are easy to find if you want to. If you can produce 100,000 taels of gold, I will give you 10,000 muskets and 50 cannons. How about that?”
This is too tempting. The Crown Prince admitted that he could not resist such temptation. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, 100,000 taels of gold. I'll figure something out."
Old Physician Peng really wanted to cover his ears. He didn't want to hear it. He glared at Zhao Shu and the Crown Prince. Those two were too wicked. They deliberately let him hear it and then made this old man risk his life. Was there no justice in the world?
"Old Peng," Zhao Shu called out deliberately.
"I can't hear you, I can't hear anything. You can discuss yourselves as you please. I need to see a few patients and need to rest." With that, he turned and tried to run away.
Zhao Shu watched him leave, then said unhurriedly, "Sigh, such a thick medical book, I don't know who it's for. Maybe we should burn it, it's just in the way anyway."
"Grandma, please have mercy! What do you want? Just tell me!" He turned around, his face contorted with grief, his beard bristling and eyes wide with anger.
Zhao Shu and the Crown Prince exchanged glances and burst into laughter. "Elder Peng, my people are definitely being monitored. You are the Imperial Physician, so no one will pay special attention to you. I would like to ask you to find someone." With that, Zhao Shu wrote down a name and handed it to him. "He made a purple-gold crown for my father back then, and his craftsmanship was superb. Later, I sent him out of the capital, and I still don't know where he is. He may have changed his name. I will have Xiao Zhu send you some information later. In addition to finding him, I also need a group of craftsmen. I hope Elder Peng can find them for me."
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