The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The next day, after leaving the government office, Zhao Shizhen followed Min Xi to the Yun family. He had just learned to ride a bike yesterday, and he was very excited and wanted to enjoy it, after all, he personally participated in making it.

Min Xi gave him the bicycle to ride, and when he saw that he had almost finished riding, he called him and said, "Chang Ji, come in and have a cup of tea. I want to show you something."

Zhao Shizhen stopped and parked the car. He followed Min Xi into the study. Min Xi said, "Please sit down and have some tea."

There was already some tea poured on the coffee table. Zhao Shizhen sat down, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Zhao Shizhen noticed that while he was drinking tea, Min Xi dragged a stool to a bookshelf, stepped on it, and took down a long wooden box from the top of the bookshelf. After taking it down, he wiped the dust off and put it on the desk: "Chang Ji, take a look at this."

Zhao Shizhen put down his teacup, walked to the desk, looked at the things in the box, and was extremely surprised: "Is this a musket?"

"Yes! My seventh brother and I brought back two muskets, one long and one short, from Fulanji." After they came back, the two muskets were of no use and were put aside.

"Can I take a look?" Zhao Shizhen was extremely excited. This was the second time he touched a musket. The last time was when he was young and followed his father to visit a captain. He saw the captain's musket and the captain saw that he liked it, so he let him touch it but didn't let him fire it. He dreamed of firing a gun himself.

"Of course." Min Xi said.

Zhao Shizhen picked it up and played with it for a while, then asked, "Can this gun still be used now?"

"Yes, but I don't know if the gunpowder can still be used. It has been too long and I'm afraid it has become damp. There are not many bullets left." Min Xi said.

Zhao Shizhen was eager to try: "Let me try."

"Sure." Min Xi asked Zhao Shizhen to make a bicycle just to test the waters. What he really wanted to do was to make a steam engine and modify the musket.

Zhao Shizhen hesitated again: "Isn't it difficult to try in the yard?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's try it somewhere where no one is around." Min Xi closed the wooden box and took it to Yun Ji's training ground. Usually, no one came here except the brothers Yun Ji and Yun Lin, and they were not at home at this time.

In addition to the training ground, there are also plum blossom piles, targets, etc., which are perfect for shooting.

Min Xi took out his hunting rifle and said to Zhao Shizhen, "Try this first. The bullets and gunpowder are here."

Zhao Shizhen studied it for a while, and without asking Min Xi to help, he loaded the bullets and gunpowder on himself, and then asked Min Xi: "Don't you need to ignite it?"

Min Xi said: "This hunting rifle does not need to be ignited. It is a flintlock rifle. You only need to pull the trigger to hit the flint to produce sparks, ignite the gunpowder, and fire the bullet."

Zhao Shizhen was surprised and said: "The Fulangji's musket is so magical! I remember that the musket of the Ming Dynasty needed to ignite the fuse."

"Yes, this is the advanced feature of European muskets. I brought some muskets back from Europe and presented them to the Ming Navy. I wonder if the Ming craftsmen have solved the manufacturing problem." Min Xi said.

Zhao Shizhen looked at Min Xi and asked, "Brother Quanzhen, what is your intention in showing me the flintlock rifle?"

Min Xi said, "I have seen the model you made and it seems that you are also interested in the musket, so I will show it to you to see if you can improve it a little bit."

Zhao Shizhen picked up the hunting rifle, and Min Xi adjusted his way of using the gun: "Try and see if you can shoot."

Zhao Shizhen pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't respond. Min Xi said, "Try a few more times."

Zhao Shizhen pulled the trigger several times in succession. Finally, after seven or eight pulls, he heard a "bang". The gun finally fired and the bullet shot out from the muzzle. However, due to Zhao Shizhen's poor shooting skills, the bullet did not hit the target.

But Zhao Shizhen was still so happy that he danced with joy: "Oh my God, oh my God! I actually fired a gun!"

Min Xi asked: "How did you feel just now?"

"It's unbelievable! I can shoot without even lighting the gun." Zhao Shizhen reached out and touched his shoulder blade. It was a little painful from the impact of the butt of the gun just now, but he didn't pay attention to the location.

"What do you think of this gun?" Min Xi asked.

"It's pretty good, but the ignition is too slow. If it were on the battlefield, after so many times of not being able to fire, the enemy's bullets might have already been fired." Zhao Shizhen expressed his true feelings. He was a little anxious because he had not been able to ignite the gun so many times.

"Yes, this is indeed a big problem and we have to find a way to solve it. Let's take the gun apart and see what it is made of," said Min Xi.

Zhao Shizhen was surprised and asked, "You want to dismantle this gun?"

"Yes, in the current situation, we have no use for this shotgun. We might as well take it apart to see how it is made so that we can improve it." Min Xi said.

Zhao Shizhen asked: "Who do you want to improve this gun for?"

Min Xi said: "Of course they are from the Shenjiying."

"This is considered a private modification, right? How can we give it to the Shenjiying? Do you have a plan?" Zhao Shizhen asked.

Min Xi thought of Zhang Juzheng and said, "I think so."

"Since Brother Quanzhen knows the trick, why don't you get two more muskets from the Shenji Camp and make them according to the situation, combining the advantages of our Ming muskets with the advantages of the Fulangji muskets." Zhao Shizhen said.

When Min Xi heard this, he thought it made a lot of sense: "You are right! I should go get two muskets. Then you should study these two guns first today, and don't take them apart. Wait until I get the muskets, and then we can take them apart together."

To get a fire gun, he would have to find someone from the Ministry of War or the Shenjiying, but he didn't know anyone in either of these two places, so he asked Yun Ji: "It's best to get it privately. After all, we're not sure if we can improve it successfully."

Yun Ji said, "If you want it, you can actually buy it privately on the black market. But this is imperial military equipment after all, and it's illegal. It will be difficult for you to report it to the Ministry of War. It's better to go through formal channels. If it's done, you can hand it over to the Ministry of War openly. If it's not done, you can return it in its original state. You just dismantled it, so it should be possible to restore it, right?"

"It's almost there. It should be able to recover." Min Xi nodded.

Yun Ji said, "Then I'll go find Feng Hao. Feng Hao's father is the vanguard commander of the Fifth Army Camp. Although he's not from the Shenji Camp, he should be able to get one or two muskets."

"it is good!"

Yun Ji was quite efficient. The next day, he went to find Feng Hao. When Feng Hao saw him, he said happily, "Why did you think of looking for me? I was just about to find you. Did you get a strange car recently?"

"Yes, it's called a bicycle."

"You can run without fodder?"

"Yes, just walk on it yourself."

"That's really interesting. I'm going to visit your house later. By the way, Mingjie has returned to Beijing to report on her work. She just got back to the capital and wants us all to get together."

"Really? That's great." Yun Ji was overjoyed. Qiao Zhilian had been the county magistrate of Mizhi for five years, and now he had finally made it. "When?"

Feng Hao said, "The time has not been determined yet. I'll ask Mingjie later. He just came back and hasn't packed yet."

"I'll host the party at Yunxiang Restaurant. Let me know when you've decided on the time," said Yun Ji.

"No problem. By the way, why did you come to see me?" Feng Hao asked.