The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Give them some new iron cannons? Is this possible?"

Upon hearing Wei Guangde's words, Wu Dong's eyes widened suddenly, but his expression seemed to be thinking.

Wei Guangde's unintentional words were heard by both Wu Dong and Wei Wencai.

Soon, two people were talking quietly to one side, but Wei Guangde couldn't care less.

After the banquet, Wei Guangde sat aside and waited for his father and uncle to finish their conversation and go home. However, it seemed that the time would have to wait, because his eldest brother and cousin both came over, wondering what they were discussing.

After waiting for a long time, there seemed to be results there, and Wei Guangde's family said goodbye to his uncle's family, went out, and walked back directly.

Although the two families were not far apart, they still boarded the carriage and went back.

Without him, it was too cold. There was a brazier on the carriage, so it wasn't too cold.

The two carriages soon arrived at the Wei family's yard. Everyone got off the car and walked into the house. A coachman drove the carriage into the house through the small door at the corner of the yard.

When the Wei family and the Wu family arrived in Jiujiang Prefecture, they customized two carriages. One was usually used by the father, and the other was used by the family at home.

Well, the Wei family is really developed now.

But Wei Guangde was still not very happy because his usury loan had not been released in a year.

Nowadays, businessmen are shrinking. In the past, everyone was rushing to open a weaving field in Susong, but now no one goes there.

Just kidding, Shanghai County has just been set on fire by Japanese pirates, and Songjiang Prefecture has suffered heavy losses from the Japanese pirates this year.

This year has passed, what about next year?

He didn't even take away the ten thousand taels of silver from Wei Guangde's account, and he really couldn't find any place to use it.

Now he has hundreds of taels of silver left over from the Zhang family, but Father Wei didn't ask for it and asked him to keep it for himself.

When he got home, Wei Guangde asked his eldest brother in a low voice what they were talking about earlier, which seemed mysterious.

"You didn't guess?"

The eldest brother gave him a very strange look.

"What did I guess?"

Wei Guangde was baffled.

Wei Wencai pulled Wei Guangde outside and whispered: "What you said, about exchanging iron cannons for copper cannons, my uncle said he can do it during the inspection."

Wei Guangde's eyes widened immediately when he heard this. You guys really dare to think that they really have room to manipulate what I just said casually.

Wei Guangde didn't know what to say. Iron is expensive these days, but copper is even more expensive.

"Are you going to sell it directly or make money yourself?"

Did Wei Guangde know that some of his classmates had said privately that if they got copper materials at home, they would use them to cast some copper coins themselves?

In this era, the proliferation of private money is not something you just talk about. Most people do this in their homes. However, copper is relatively rare and controlled by the court.

There is no problem with a small amount, but it is troublesome with a large amount.

Logically speaking, this kind of thing should be hidden, but now that everyone does it, there is nothing to worry about.

"Don't worry about it."

Wei Wencai smiled and didn't say much, letting Wei Guangde guess.

The eldest brother and sister-in-law lived with their parents in the main courtyard. Wei Guangde saw that nothing happened, so he said something and returned to his courtyard.

After entering the room, I started to think about it. These officials in the Ming Dynasty really did everything for money.

Too dark, too corrupt.

However, it seems that there is nothing wrong with doing this, at least the combat effectiveness of the guard has not dropped much.

Well, let’s not count the technological progress caused by corruption.

If the method spreads, other guards will follow suit and replace the copper cannons with crudely made iron cannons.

Wei Guangde had seen Peng Ze's bowl-mouth guns, most of which were made during the Hongwu period.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it.

The next day, Wei Guangde slept in. After getting up and washing up, he didn't know whether he would have breakfast or lunch next.

As the new year is approaching, the government school has been shut down. Wei Guangde's New Year's exam papers were handed over directly to the professor, and he had nothing to do.

During lunch, the eldest brother said to Wei Guangde: "Follow me and go out this afternoon to see if the cannon is what you think it is."

"Um."

Wei Guangde chewed the food in his mouth and just answered vaguely.

"Little brother, eat more and grow stronger."

At this moment, sister-in-law Liu Yunhui used serving chopsticks to pick up food for Wei Guangde again, very enthusiastically.

To be honest, my sister-in-law is a nice person and treats Wei Guangde very well, but she is too enthusiastic. At the dinner table, she is either serving food to my mother or to my brother-in-law.

Mother Wei looked at them happily, quite satisfied.

In the afternoon, leaving his sister-in-law to nap in the house with his mother, Wei Guangde followed his elder brother in a carriage to his uncle's house.

Soon, Wu Dong also came out, and the three of them squeezed into a car and headed towards Jiujiang Pier.

"Uncle and dad are probably setting off too."

Wei Wencai said on the bumpy carriage.

"Cousin, do you have any plans for tonight? How about I serve as a host and invite you two to go out for a meal and a drink?"

Wei Guangde laughed on the side.

"Forget it tonight, I still have to go to grandpa's place."

Wu Dong shook his head. He arrived at Jiujiang Mansion yesterday, and he must be going to his grandpa today.

While the three of them were chatting, the carriage left the Jiujiang City Gate and arrived at the pier.

After finding Peng Ze's clipper, he called a few servants who came with him on board. Soon, Wei Guangde saw them carrying two two-foot-long iron pipes out of the cabin.

Well, this is what they call iron cannon.

Two cannons were placed on the ground, and two wheelbarrows were pushed out from the ship.

The unicycles of this era were made of wood, not the iron ones with rubber tires of later generations.

However, unicycles were still very popular at this time. After all, they were really convenient and labor-saving, could carry people and goods, and could also cross mountains and ridges.

"What's this car for?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"The craftsman meant that two people could carry this thing, but the distance was too long, so they added this thing."

Wu Dong said, "After a while, the cannon was placed on one side, and the ammunition was placed on the other side. One person pushed it away, and then moved it down and set it up when it reached the ground."

Wei Guangde nodded. If operated in this way, it would be much easier to transport it over long distances. Think about it, two or three people can complete the entire operation with one gun.

After a while, three more carriages came from the direction of the city gate. Wei Guangde recognized two of them. They belonged to the Wei and Wu families. There was another carriage that he was not familiar with, but he knew from the mark that it belonged to the Zhang family. He was afraid it was his father and the others. Zhang Shigui was also called.

Think about it, the Zhang family has been operating in Jiujiang Wei for many years and has a solid foundation. Don't try to avoid their family for anything.

Everyone gets the benefits and gets rich together.

If enough people are involved to share the benefits, even if someone uncovers it in the future, no one will dare to look inside. It will involve too much.

Perhaps, this is the way for middle- and lower-level officials to serve as officials in this era.

Sure enough, when the carriage approached, it was Zhang Shigui who got off.

"Is this what it is?"

After the three people came forward to see the ceremony, Zhang Shigui looked at the iron cannon that had been set up on the wheelbarrow and asked.