Ever since the news about the train was reported in the official gazette, the Scientific Research Department has attracted huge attention.

In particular, envoys from other countries and many big businessmen all came up with the idea of ​​​​trains.

Because this thing is so useful and very important to every country.

The reason why those sea merchants were also so excited was that if they got the secret recipe of the train, they could definitely sell it for a huge price.

For many countries, in addition to wealth, they are even willing to exchange it for high positions, generous salaries, and hereditary aristocrats.

Therefore, many people started to think about taking the train.

In the palace.

Song Zhong is reporting.

"Your Highness, since the train was published in the official newspaper, many spies have begun to plan to attack the Scientific Research Department. Twenty-seven spies have been arrested this month alone, twenty of whom are from other countries and seven are from our Ming Dynasty. They have now been detained in the Tianlao for interrogation."

"According to their confession, four of them didn't know who the contact person was. They just did it for the money. Someone was willing to pay 500,000 in banknotes in exchange for the secret formula for the train. This caused a huge shock to the entire underworld and the black market. Many people were eager to try it."

"There are three other officials from my Ming Dynasty Ministry of Works. They work for the Northern Yuan Dynasty."

Zhu Ying heard this and said with a smile: "You really look down on the Research Department. You just took out 500,000 treasure notes."

"The imperial court allocates funds to the Scientific Research Department every month, which is rarely less than 10 million. This 500,000 is not enough for even two days."

"There are still some bad apples among the civil and military officials in the court. They eat the official food of our Ming Dynasty and still think about the Mongols. These people must be severely punished and their crimes must be aggravated."

Song Zhong said quickly: "I understand. This treacherous villain is really not worthy of being a son of man. He does not think of the grace of the emperor and is loyal to the foreign race. He is a shame to the Han people."

Zhu Ying nodded, and then said with a half-smile, "You did a good job with the Jinyiwei, but I heard that someone impeached you for personal revenge and arrested some of your enemies."

"This impeachment letter is about to be placed on Grandpa's desk."

Song Zhong was shocked and knelt down immediately, saying, "Please look carefully, my Highness. I have never used my power to seek revenge for personal gain. Every person arrested by the Jinyiwei should be arrested."

Zhu Ying said, "Executing first and reporting later is indeed a special permission granted by the emperor. I heard rumors outside that our Jinyiwei do not need evidence to arrest people. Is this true?"

Song Zhong's back was covered with cold sweat. After a slight hesitation, he said, "Your Highness, this is indeed the case. It is because of my negligence and poor discipline that some of my subordinates have been talking nonsense. Please punish me."

Zhu Ying said calmly: "In the future, Jinyiwei will still need to have some evidence when arresting people. It is not a good thing to act recklessly without evidence."

"The reputation of the Imperial Guard is already bad. If you continue to do this, the officials will react strongly and you will be the ones who suffer."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is a knife, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying are the men holding the knife.

You still have to knock the knife occasionally, otherwise it will deviate from the will of the person holding it.

"I will follow the instructions of the Crown Prince." Song Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

For the Jinyiwei, especially the pacification envoys like Song Zhong, they had tremendous power, but all their power came from the imperial authorization.

No matter whether it is His Majesty or the Crown Prince, all it takes is a word, or if he is displeased with them one day, he can easily take away everything they have.

The reputation of the Jinyiwei is hated by both humans and gods. If the imperial power does not protect them, they will be like a dog that has lost its home.

However, it is also because of this mechanism and situation that no matter how arrogant and domineering the Jinyiwei are, they are loyal to the imperial power.

"I have a task for you. I need someone I trust to do this," said Zhu Ying.

Song Zhong kowtowed and said, "Please give your orders, Grandson."

Zhu Ying said: "The Research Department has produced a batch of new muskets. These muskets are completely different from ordinary matchlock muskets. They are flintlock muskets."

"The information from Tubo has not come yet, but according to the current situation in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Duke Wei must be in a difficult situation."

"We borrowed 100,000 cavalry from the Northern Yuan Dynasty before, but now they have become our enemy. If the situation changes, Duke Wei will be in danger."

"A few days ago, I issued an order to the nine borders to dispatch 20,000 cavalry to the Western Regions to encircle and suppress the Timurid cavalry that were looting there."

"I need you to take the latest flintlock rifles developed by the Research Department and secretly go to the Western Regions to hand them over to the Han cavalry of the Nine Frontiers."

Upon hearing this, Song Zhong said without any hesitation: "I will definitely complete the task assigned by Your Highness."

Zhu Ying looked at Song Zhong's fearless look and said with a smile, "It's not that exaggerated. I have already passed the message to the post station. You just need to move forward secretly."

After hearing this, Song Zhong realized that it was not His Highness who wanted to punish him, but that there was something important going on.

If the request was for an expedited journey of 800 miles, Song Zhong would have lost half his life on this trip.

After all, he didn't have the ability to sleep on horseback like the Mongols.

Song Zhong immediately kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace."

Zhu Ying nodded: "Go ahead, we'll set off early tomorrow morning."

"I will obey your order."

The current Scientific Research Department has made considerable progress in many aspects.

This is thanks to Huang Guan, who used the name of Zhan Shi but was actually working for the Ministry of Works.

You must know that the main responsibility of the Zhanshi Mansion is to help the crown prince with planning.

But Zhu Ying doesn't need these now. He seldom interferes too much in government affairs. Except for the general direction, government affairs are basically left to the ministers of each ministry to handle on their own. He will only be held accountable if something goes wrong.

This makes the ministers feel helpless. Such decentralization of power is really rare in all dynasties.

Generally, only a tyrant would do this.

But now the Ming Dynasty is so rich and powerful, who can say anything?

Zhu Ying has always wanted to make a real flintlock rifle. If he could make it, it would be a real weapon on the battlefield.

The current difficulty lies in the spring steel and the fulminate of mercury in the primer.

However, the quality of steel today, after being forged by a steam hammer, has reached a very high level.

Zhu Ying couldn't tell the exact degree. The Research Department called it Thousand Forged Steel, and it could not be forged by manpower without a steam hammer.

However, with everyone's brainstorming, they actually created the breech-loading flintlock rifle.

The problem of chamber pressure is not that big, Qianduan steel can withstand it.

The solution to airtightness is to use spiral closure and twist the spiral.

At first glance, it looks as if the breech-loading flintlock rifle came straight out of the box.

But it's actually pretty bad.

Because this type of flintlock is roughly the same as the flintlock that Zhu Ying imagined.

There has been a significant improvement in accuracy, range, and strength.

The most important thing is that loading and shooting become more convenient.

The only problem was that after about a dozen rounds, or at most twenty rounds, the breech-loading flintlock would become useless.

Without fulminate of mercury, only gunpowder can be used for ignition. The residue left by the gunpowder can easily cause the spiral patterns on the steel to get stuck.

Therefore, it is necessary to clean up after about three or five rounds.

After firing a dozen rounds, the threads will be deformed due to the chamber pressure.

This means that the breech-loading flintlock rifle is obsolete.

It must be reprocessed and repaired before it can be used.

After seeing this situation, Zhu Ying ordered the Scientific Research Department to secretly manufacture 5,000 of these almost disposable breech-loading flintlock rifles.

Once an order is issued, no matter how absurd it is, we have to follow it.

This time, Zhu Ying wanted Song Zhong to transport these 5,000 breech-loading flintlock rifles.

In the eyes of others, these breech-loading flintlock rifles are expensive to make because they require a large amount of thousand-forged steel.

The cost of one or two thousand pieces of forged steel is equivalent to more than one tael of gold.

This is no different from making it with gold, and perhaps the cost would be even lower if gold were really used.

Who wouldn't shake their head at such extravagance and waste?

Five thousand breech-loading flintlock rifles can only fight one war, and it can basically be said that these guns are useless after the war.

Even if it is recycled and repaired, the trip and reforging will cost a lot of money.

To put it simply, if you use these breech-loading flintlock rifles to fight a war, regardless of whether you win or lose, the starting discount is about 800,000 strings of treasure notes.

Equivalent to 80,000 taels of gold.

Who can afford this?

The cavalryman's pension is higher than this breech-loading flintlock.

However, only Zhu Ying knew that the power of the breech-loading flintlock rifle could only be demonstrated on the battlefield. It was already extremely close to later firearms. No matter how many shortcomings it had, they could not cover up its own advantages.

Sometimes, the importance of a battle is far beyond the comparison of hundreds of thousands or even millions of treasures.

…

The envoys from the Northern Yuan Dynasty came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, but they couldn't even see Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying.

They came to protest, but this matter was obviously not negotiable, so Zhu Ying didn't bother to meet them.

"I hope you will still be like this when our warriors arrive at the gates of Nanjing on galloping horses."

The Northern Yuan envoy roared in anger and helplessness.

He seemed to have lost his mind, but in fact he was using provocation to get a chance to meet the Emperor of Ming Dynasty or the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, they succeeded in angering the Ministry of Rites.

"How dare you, a barbarian tribe that drinks hair and eats blood, be so rampant and bully the Ming Dynasty?"

"This is the Ming Tianjie Temple, not a place for you to run wild."

"Since you dare to disrespect the Ming Dynasty, you will suffer."

"Hit them, beat them hard, teach them a lesson and tell them to mind their mouths."

The person who spoke was Zhang Jian, Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites.

He is Zhang Wenjie's father who once had his eyes on the sisters.

Although he was frightened for a while afterwards, Zhu Ying did not punish him.

The Ministry of Rites' Department of Guests and Officials was equivalent to the direct-management office of the Tianjie Temple, and the monks of the Tianjie Temple were equivalent to its subordinates.

It can be said that all foreign envoys are under their jurisdiction.

Zhang Jian was able to hold the position of Yuanwailang, which was equivalent to the top position of Tianjie Temple. Naturally, he was quite capable in handling affairs.

The Ming Dynasty is strong, and both Your Majesty and the Crown Prince are extremely strong in their external relations.

Therefore, as a representative of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Jian knew very well how he should react when faced with such a situation.

Scolding first means standing on the moral high ground.

Then he went straight to the police station.

"Isn't your Ming Dynasty known as a country of etiquette? How can you be so rude?" The envoy of the Northern Yuan Dynasty saw the officer coming with a killing stick and it didn't look like he was joking, so he got angry all of a sudden.

"As for the barbarians who refuse to obey the king, I have to beat them up so that you can learn what etiquette is."

"What are you still standing there for? Hit me."

At Zhang Jian's scolding, the eight officers rushed forward, swung their sticks and started beating.

The envoys from the Northern Yuan Dynasty fled in panic, as the place was so small.

That blow of the stick really tore his skin and flesh apart.

The officers knew that beating them to death directly would not work, but they had a lot of experience in killing the Wei Gang and knew exactly where to hit them that would not kill them but would still be very painful.

The wails of the Northern Yuan envoys were heard from Tianjie Temple.

Upon hearing the news, envoys from other countries came to watch the fun, and they felt uneasy.

This is a real fight.

"Your screaming is so annoying. I am a kind-hearted officer and cannot bear to hear such a miserable sound." Zhang Jian snorted coldly and said.

The leading officer immediately understood what he meant and hit him directly on the mouth with a stick.

The force was so clever that several teeth flew out, but the man was not knocked unconscious. The Northern Yuan envoy who was screaming the loudest suddenly changed his howling into whimpering.

When the other Northern Yuan envoys saw this, their mouths, which had been wide open, immediately closed.

In fact, they didn't have to shout so loudly. They deliberately wanted to take this opportunity to lure envoys from other countries so that they could make things worse.

Unfortunately, this little trick could not be hidden from a veteran like Zhang Jian.

The human relationships and social skills in the Ming Dynasty officialdom are not comparable to such tricks. Then how could Zhang Jian get the position of Yuanwailang?

This move kills the chicken and scare the monkey.

Afterwards, the envoy of the Northern Yuan Dynasty immediately sent a letter to the Northern Yuan Dynasty, which was of course exaggerated.

What’s interesting is that the letters sent to the Northern Yuan Dynasty still went through the Ming Dynasty Post Station.

The letter was placed on Zhu Ying's desk on the day it was sent.

"Let them send it. This matter can't be kept secret. I want to see how they are going to attack the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Ying said after taking a look.

Naturally, this letter could not be sent by express delivery at the post station, so it could only be sent in the ordinary way.

It has been at least a month since I arrived in Beiyuan.

Song Zhong had already set off with his breech-loading musket.

The Northern Yuan Dynasty received this letter only after the Han cavalry in the Nine Frontiers obtained the breech-loading flintlock rifles and fought a battle.

At that time, facing the powerful threat of breech-loading flintlock rifles, what should the Northern Yuan Dynasty do?

Only the armored heavy cavalry, the Iron Pagoda, can resist this kind of breech-loading flintlock rifle.

However, the Iron Pagoda army has long disappeared in the long river of history.

Of course, the construction of the railway leading to the Nine Borders cannot be stopped, and the war with the Northern Yuan Dynasty is obviously unavoidable.

This time, there is a high possibility that an all-out war on the grassland will be triggered.

The construction of the railway may be completed and open to traffic by the end of the year. Both the local government and the people are actively cooperating on this line.

When the interests concern oneself, this is more positive than corvee labor.

It's like the difference between contracting and piecework in later generations.

Once the road is opened, Zhu Ying believes that it will be time to completely resolve the Northern Yuan Dynasty.