Chapter 194: Frustrated Fire Gun
King Jin knew, "Don't ask."
The princess said "oh", probably understanding what was going on. She sighed and changed the subject, "Lan'er, you are about to reach the age of 20, and marriage should be put on the agenda. When you were not at home, your father and I looked at a few families and thought the girls were pretty good. Now that you are back, I will organize a lotus party. You can take the opportunity to take a look. If you are satisfied, you can settle down."
"Mother, didn't I tell you that I would consider marriage after I come of age next year?"
"Your child is only one year apart, what's the big deal?" The princess said anxiously, "Besides, if we wait until next year to see each other, you will be 21 or 22 even if we rush to get married. Others your age already have children running around everywhere."
King Jin glanced at his youngest son, who looked tired. "A-Tong, Lan'er just came back from the south. Let him rest for a while."
Zhao Lan stood up and said, "Father, Mother, I will go back and rest first."
"You didn't eat much. Is the food not to your liking?" The princess stood up and said, "I'll ask someone to cook more."
"Mother, please stop busying yourself. I will have an appetite after I rest for a while."
There was no way out. Since her son didn’t want to eat, Princess Jin had to let him go back and rest.
Zhao Lan returned to the yard and saw a beautiful portable woven basket on the table. His eyes lit up and he walked straight to the table without waiting for Shuangrui to speak.
Shuang Rui quickly opened the lid of the basket, and a beautiful square celadon plate was filled with brown and transparent things that looked like cakes. He said as he took them out, "Sir, this is what Madam Su Er asked Mangzhong to send over. It's the delicacy made from the dried grass we brought back. Try it."
When the Grain in Ear rice was served, we put ice cubes on the top and bottom of the plate to prevent the grass jelly from being affected by heat and affecting its taste. We also put the accompanying rock sugar and red beans on a separate plate so that they would be mixed together when eating.
Shuangrui mixed the food as instructed by Mangzhong. Zhao Lan took it and scooped a mouthful into his mouth. It was icy, chewy and refreshing, so delicious that he couldn't stop eating it. After a while, the small bowl was finished.
Shuangrui scooped another bowl for the little master.
Zhao Lan sat down at the table and finished his meal in no time.
Shuangrui: ...Seeing the young lady staring at the square plate, I had no choice but to scoop another small bowl.
I haven't seen the young lady for a year and a half. It's not that Zhao Lan has been in South Vietnam for so long, but that he has been tracking the spies of Liaoxia Kingdom who were targeting South Vietnam's cast iron technology for the whole last year. He was either preparing for a business trip or on a business trip. This year, he has been in South Vietnam for nearly half a year.
Logically speaking, Zhao Lan had been to Beijing many times in the past year, so he could have taken some time to visit his teacher's home. However, the eighteen-year-old Zhao Lan gradually discovered that he didn't seem to want to take his teacher's daughter back as his own daughter. It seemed that...
At the age of eighteen, Zhao Lan slowly understood what love between men and women was, but his wife was still very young, so he had to wait patiently for her to grow up.
In the past six months, whenever he encountered life-threatening situations in South Vietnam, when he wanted to leave his last words or felt any regrets in his life, the first person who appeared in his mind was always Su Ruojin. So as soon as things were over, he rushed back at an accelerated speed of 600 miles. After seeing the young lady, he found that she was as grateful and distant to him as ever, and his mood was very complicated.
What should he do if the young lady only feels grateful to him and has no other thoughts about him?
After returning from his aunt's place, Zhao Lan, who was originally planning to deliver the hay and gifts personally, stopped all actions.
Shuang Rui saw that the young master finally put down the bowl and his expression became calm, so he moved the food basket to the side and said, "Master, why don't you go wash up?"
Zhao Lan raised his eyes and asked, "Nothing else to report during Mangzhong?"
Shuangrui subconsciously shrank his head.
He didn't dare say it.
Zhao Lan, who was soothed by the fairy grass jelly, narrowed his eyes and became fierce in an instant.
Shuang Rui was so scared that he quickly replied: "Someone came to the house to act as a matchmaker for the young lady."
"Whose family?"
"The eldest son of Wen Siye from the Imperial College." In the middle of summer, the young master was freezing cold, but Shuangrui had to report the matter clearly, "I heard that Dr. Su and his wife are quite satisfied with the Wen family."
"satisfy?"
"Yes... yes." Shuang Rui wiped the sweat from his cheek and continued to reply, "Mang Zhong said that the young lady said that if Wen Dalang has no problem with his character and the Wen family is easy to get along with, she will agree."
Just agree.
Zhao Lan sneered at himself. Didn't the book say childhood sweethearts? Why didn't it work for him? He stood up irritably, took off his outer robe and threw it on the ground, then went inside to wash up.
Shuangrui quickly asked the servant to pick up the clothes and he trotted after him.
"Don't follow me, don't bother me."
Shuangrui stopped in his tracks, patted his chest, turned to look at Santai, and spread his hands helplessly.
Almost everyone around the young prince knew what he was thinking, but no one dared to say much. First, the princess would never let the young master marry the daughter of a minor official in the capital. Second, Madam Su was also clear-headed. It was good that the young prince protected the Su family, but the meat grinder, sausage stuffer, musket, etc. donated by the young lady, especially the musket, were much more lethal than arrows. In Nanyue, it not only shot and killed spies from the Liaoxia Kingdom at a long distance, but also protected the young master at the critical moment of life and death. It was simply a protective artifact, and this alone was enough to fully justify the young master's protection.
After returning to the capital again, Hua Ping hid in the secret courtyard of the Investigation Department and slept for a long time. He slept from the time he came back until the next morning, when he finally caught up on his sleep and woke up fully refreshed.
Mr. Shen saw him come in and said, "Let's go to the little prince's morning tea shop for morning tea."
Hua Ping shook his head, "No."
"Well?"
"I'm going to Su Kee Breakfast Shop."
Mr. Shen frowned. "Okay, I'll go with you." He said, "I haven't seen Su Erniang for a long time. I wonder if she is in the shop."
Hua Ping stretched lazily, "Today is the day she checks the accounts, she must be here."
"So will you still live in Su Ji in the future?"
"Stop, why not?"
Mr. Shen was about to go out, and his long-time attendant called for help. Soon a carriage arrived at the door, and the two of them got on the carriage to go to Su Ji Breakfast for breakfast.
By then, it was already late in the morning (9 a.m.) and not many people were around. Ershi was packing up to close the stall, and when he saw Hua Ping, he shouted in surprise, "Brother Hua, you're back!"
Hua Ping smiled and nodded, "Two bowls of wontons, with four fried dough sticks, a basket of soup dumplings, a basket of shrimp dumplings, and a cup of mint tea."
"Okay." Erping happily prepared the meal for them and served it on the table.
Mr. Shen stood with his hands behind his back, watching Hua Ping order food with a smile on his face. After he entered the room, he looked towards the steward's room and saw maids coming in and out at the door. He knew that the young lady had arrived and was extremely happy.
The two grown men didn’t order enough, so they ordered two bowls of tofu pudding to finally enjoy their meal.
Hua Ping went to the counter to pay and chatted with Old Man Huang.
Mr. Shen walked to the door of the steward's room and knocked on the door, "Madam Su Er, can I come in?"
Su Ruojin had just finished calculating the accounts and was looking at the ending balance when she heard the voice. She looked up and said, "It's Mr. Chen. Please come in, please come in quickly—" and asked Qiuyue to move all the account books at hand.
"I hope I didn't bother you."
Su Ruojin shook her head, "No, sir, please sit down."
Mr. Shen then pulled up a chair and sat across from the young lady’s table, glancing at the tabletop, “Second Lady’s business is booming!”
"No, no!" Su Ruojin smiled modestly, "Sir, have you had breakfast?"
"Yeah." He nodded, turned his head and looked around, as if he was quite interested in the furnishings in the steward's office.
Su Ruojin didn't think Zhao Lan's chief secretary would be in the mood to look around, so she asked with a smile, "Sir, is there anything?"
"Oh." Mr. Shen seemed to remember that he had something to ask, "I really have something to ask you, Madam. Your musket?"
"I have given this miscellaneous book I saw to the young prince. Didn't you see it, sir?"
"We saw it, but we asked someone to make another one according to the blueprint. For some reason, it's not as good as the musket you made."
Su Ruojin spread his hands and said, "I asked Lord Xue to have the Ministry of Works make the fire shell, and I asked three blacksmiths to make the bullets and chambers. I've told you everything. If they still can't make it, then I can't do anything. Maybe my one was just a blind cat catching a dead mouse."
The fire gun was invented in the Yuan Dynasty. It fired stone bullets, arrows, lead bullets and iron bullets with gunpowder. It was developed on the basis of various firearms that had been used for a long time in the Southern Song Dynasty. After the advent of the fire gun in the Yuan Dynasty, it developed rapidly and played an important role in the war in which Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty regime at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of fire guns were manufactured to strengthen the border defense, coastal defense and city defense facilities. During the Yongle period, the Shenjiying, which was dedicated to firearms, was established.
The gun is the first generation of metal tube-shaped shooting firearms in ancient China. Its appearance brought the development of thermal weapons into a new stage and also opened a new chapter for the subsequent development of warfare forms and military technology.
The miscellaneous books that Su Ruojin presented to Zhao Lan were genuine ones that were available in the Dayin Dynasty. She went to small bookstores and pawnshops to find them. She went to these places mainly to collect delicacies and labor-saving tools for daily life. She accidentally found a simple diagram of a musket.
To be honest, as a woman, Su Ruojin is currently in the catering business, so she doesn't know anything about guns. It was because there was a young waiter in the store who was fascinated by guns and bought a book on the history of guns and placed it in the lounge. Once, when she was patrolling the store, she saw it and flipped through a few pages. Unexpectedly, the young man saw it and thought she was interested, so he stood in front of her and explained it for a long time.
He also understood the general development history of firearms, from the matchlock gun to the arquebus, and later the wheel-spring gun and so on. Su Ruojin only remembered the most important thing, which is the most important things in a pistol - the reed and the trigger.
This is much more advanced and convenient than using anything like a fuse.
The blueprint was from ancient times. The musket she gave to Zhao Lan actually skipped the development process of the gun and went straight to using the reed and trigger. These two things were secretly made by Zhang, the carpenter who cooperated with her in the walker.
There is no need to open the powder tank cover and wind up the spring like with a matchlock gun, or go through the trouble of other guns. You just need to open the dog machine and then pull the trigger. It is really a hot weapon, much more powerful than a sword or a machete.
Su Ruojin didn't understand this either, so she told Carpenter Zhang what she knew. Unexpectedly, Carpenter Zhang was a genius in handicrafts and made three knives in one go, but only one was successful, which was the one given to Zhao Lan. The other two failed.
Later, Carpenter Zhang also tried to make it, but always failed. So what Su Ruojin said was right. It was indeed like a blind cat catching a dead mouse. Somehow he managed to make it. Could it be because of the halo of time travel?
Anyway, it's quite weird.
Mr. Shen was a little disappointed that he didn't get what he wanted, but he didn't believe that the young lady couldn't do it.
Su Ruojin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I assure Mr. Shen that I'm not omnipotent. I just wanted to be lazy, so I made a meat grinder and a sausage stuffer. You can go find the person who drew the picture of the musket. Maybe he can make it. I really can't. The person who drew the picture and helped me assemble it, I'll tell you, it's Carpenter Zhang who I work with. He tried again later, but couldn't make it. It was just a coincidence that he made one. But if you take Carpenter Zhang and give him enough materials, maybe he can succeed."
He said, the young lady must not be telling the truth. Finally, he found out the young lady's bottom line. Mr. Shen was satisfied and nodded, "Thank you, Madam Su Er."
Su Ruojin: “…”
The experienced one was indeed very cunning. She had unknowingly mentioned Carpenter Zhang. Well, she had said it all.
Hua Ping came in, looked at Mr. Shen who left with satisfaction, and asked, "Have you told him everything?"
Su Ruojin glanced at the spies doing secret work with dissatisfaction, "How can I be a match for this old fox."
Hua Ping smiled and sat sideways on the chair as soon as he came in. "Are we going to check the accounts at the Wenshan Street morning tea shop tomorrow?"
"If you want to see Shopkeeper Ye, just go, put on nice clothes, buy the best gifts, I don't believe Shopkeeper Ye won't be touched."
Su Ruojin laughed at him, "Don't use my account checking to meet people, it's not manly."
Hua Ping was confused by Su Ruojin's words, "Don't make fun of me. She will never get married in this life unless the enemy who caused her father to commit suicide is found."
"Then you can help her find it out."
“It’s not that simple.”
Su Ruojin hissed twice and shook her head. "If even professionals like you can't figure it out, then it's even more impossible for ordinary people."
Hua Ping was dejected, "It seems that I am destined to be a bachelor in this life."
Su Ruojin frowned, "I will not marry anyone other than you?"
"I don't have any family pressure from my parents. I'm alone and I just want to find someone I like and I won't marry anyone else."
Su Ruojin gave a thumbs up and said, "Then try your best to help Sister Ye find the murderer of her father, help her to avenge her father, and let her marry you."
The sad and upset Hua Ping burst out laughing at what the young lady said, "Why is it just like in a storybook?"
Su Ruojin chuckled, "I've had nothing to do recently, so I actually read a few books about talented scholars and beautiful women."
Hua Ping raised his eyebrows, "Doctor Su doesn't care about you?"
"My father believes in my character."
Hua Ping sneered and confirmed again: "Are you going to Dongshan tomorrow?"
"Go, go. For Uncle Hua's lifelong happiness, you have to go even if you don't want to."
Hua Ping was satisfied and walked out happily.
Su Ruojin asked, "Where are you going?"
"Didn't you say to wear nice clothes and buy the best gifts?"
Su Ruojin was stunned. How could a Confucian scholar be teachable?
She shook her head and laughed.
Carpenter Zhang was at home working on the blueprints given by Su Erniang. He failed again and was so angry that he was about to throw everything away. His son ran in and said, "Dad, someone is looking for you."
(End of this chapter)
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