The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

boom! boom! boom!
After three loud noises, a hole appeared in the center of the three targets ten feet away.

Zhao Yao was very satisfied with the result of hitting the bullseye and whistled proudly.

When Shen Sen and the others saw this, they hurriedly raised the muskets in their hands and pulled the trigger at the bullseye three feet away.

After several loud noises, Chu Huan and the others did hit the target, but they missed the bullseye.

After Zhao Yao saw it, he shook his head gently: "You are no good. You can't hit the bull's-eye even once."

Chu Huan was unconvinced. He was very accurate when shooting arrows, but he didn't expect that the accuracy of shooting was so bad.

"Boss, we're just practicing, so of course it's not accurate." Shen Sen defended his accuracy, "Give us some time, and we will definitely be able to hit it."

"That's right, as long as we practice diligently, we will definitely be able to hit it." Zhang He said unyieldingly.

Song Jicai said: "Give me a few days, I will definitely hit the target."

Chu Huan didn't say anything, he raised the gun and continued shooting.

Seeing the unconvinced looks of the four younger brothers, Zhao Yao smiled and said: "Okay, then I will give you a month to practice. After one month, whoever of you hits the most targets, I will hand over the Shenji Camp to him. "Zhao Yao plans to set up a firecracker army and name it "Shenji Camp". Of course, this name comes from Emperor Yongle’s Divine Machine Camp in the history of Zhao Yao’s world in his dream.

Hearing Zhao Yao's words, the expressions of Chu Huan and the four of them instantly became very excited.

"Boss, are you serious?"

"Boss, don't lie to us."

"Boss, I want to be the leader of the Shenji Battalion."

"Boss, keep your word."

"What did I lie to you for?" Zhao Yao said seriously, "In a month, I will hold a shooting competition for you. Whoever among the four of you can win the championship in the competition, I will hand over the Shenji Camp to him."

Chu Huan and the four of them looked at each other, and then they all saw competition in their friends' eyes. Although they are brothers, there are no brothers on the playing field. A month later, he won the shooting competition.

"By the way, I will also select five hundred soldiers. Starting tomorrow, these five hundred soldiers will also start practicing shooting. They will practice for a month like you. After one month, I will select the best from the five hundred people. Two hundred people, let them become the first batch of soldiers of the Shenji Battalion."

"Boss, is it too few to choose two hundred out of five hundred people?" Shen Sen felt that as the ace army of the Shenji Battalion, only 200 people were too few.

"Boss, two hundred people are too few." Zhang He agreed with Shen Sen's statement, "The Shenji Battalion is a Wang Zha army, and it must have at least 2 people."

Song Jicai said: "Twenty thousand people are less, at least 2 people are needed."

"Boss, there must be at least a few thousand people in the Shenji camp." Chu Huan felt that tens of thousands or 10 people were unlikely, but there should be several thousand people.

After Zhao Yao heard what the four younger brothers said, he gave them a big look.

He said angrily: "Do you think I don't want a Shenji camp with tens of thousands of people? Where can you find tens of thousands, or even 10 for me?"

Zhang He said very innocently: "It's not easy to find tens of thousands of people. The Lingnan Camp next door has tens of millions of people."

"Why didn't I know that I was so capable that I could order soldiers from the Lingnan Camp at will?" Zhao Yao did not tell the four younger brothers that he had the tiger talisman of the Lingnan Camp. He didn't even tell He Lianfang. "Even if I can get tens of thousands or 10 people, do you want the court to think that I am going to rebel?"

After hearing Zhao Yao's last words, Shen Sen and the others remembered that the prince could only have a maximum of 5000 escorts. If there are more than 5000 people, they will be considered to have rebellion.

Song Jicai kindly reminded Zhao Yao: "Boss, have you forgotten that the army you gave us four to manage has 2 people, which completely exceeds the prince's 5000-man escort standard."

"That's right, boss, your private army has already exceeded five thousand."

"You just said tens of thousands, or even 10 people." Zhao Yao glared at Song Jicai and the four of them, "If the court found out that I have a private army of 10 people, I wouldn't be able to wash it off even if I jumped into the Yellow River. I want to be charged with rebellion.”

Shen Sen and the others wanted to say something else, but were interrupted by Zhao Yao.

"Do you think fire guns are just cabbage? Tens of thousands or even 10 people can have one in each hand." Zhao Yao raised the fire gun in his hand and said fiercely to Chu Huan and the four of them, "You know how to make a fire gun?" How much does it cost? Do you know how difficult it is to make a firecracker? The firecracker you are holding in your hands now was made by Zheng Cheng and I after repeated experiments and improvements. You know what we are doing During the experiment, I was injured several times and almost died several times." If he hadn't been rich, he really wouldn't have been able to make a firecracker.

"Not to mention the fire gun, let's talk about the bullets required for the fire gun. It is not easy to make it." Zhao Yao took out a bullet from the small cloth bag he carried with him. "Just this small bullet is very expensive." The money and the spent bullets you just spent shooting can feed and drink ordinary people for half a month, or maybe a month."

Chu Huan and the others had no idea about money, but when they heard Zhao Yao's last words, they gasped in shock.

They really didn't expect that a few small bullets would be so expensive!

In fact, the materials for making bullets are not too expensive, but they are time-consuming and laborious.

"You four really don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are, so you just asked for tens of thousands or one hundred thousand fire guns." Zhao Yao said sadly, "Have you ever thought about how many bullets are needed for tens of thousands or one hundred thousand fire guns? "

Shen Sen and the others shook their heads in unison, and said in unison: "I don't know." "Not to mention the iron ore and copper mines in Marsh Mansion, even the iron ore and copper mines in Lingnan are not enough to make tens of thousands or one hundred thousand guns." The bullets needed for firecrackers." Of course, Zhao Yao was exaggerating when he said this.

"Hiss..." Chu Huan and the four of them were frightened again.

"No, you use wooden bullets when you practice. There are not enough real bullets for you to make." At present, the craftsmen have only made a few hundred bullets, so they must use them sparingly and not squander them randomly. "With your level, if you use real bullets, it's really a waste of real bullets."

Chu Huan and the four of them said: "..." Boss, are you laughing at us?
"There are not many soldiers in the Shenji Camp." Zhao Yao brought the topic back, "Currently, the Shenji Camp can only afford two hundred soldiers." Zhao Yao did not tell the truth. The Shenji camp could afford it, but he didn't think it was necessary to recruit so many people at the beginning. His plan was to first carefully train two hundred people and train them into first-class gunners. Then, let them teach new people. By the way, one or two snipers must be trained among the two hundred people.

After hearing what Zhao Yao said, Chu Huan and the four of them discovered that there were quite a few Shenji battalions of two hundred people.

"You four don't lose to two hundred soldiers in a month."

"how is this possible?"

"How can we, the generals of the Shenji Battalion, lose to the soldiers?"

"Boss, you underestimate us too much."

"Boss, your method of provoking a general is a bit clumsy, but I am willing to be fooled."

Zhao Yao was very satisfied when he saw the blazing fire of war in the eyes of the four younger brothers.

"I hope you won't let me down in a month."

"Boss, we will never let you down."

Zhao Yao encouraged Chu Huan and the four of them a few more words, and then went to find Zheng Cheng. These days, the success rate of guns, grenades, and hand grenades is becoming more and more consistent. Zhao Yao and Zheng Cheng began to study how to make cannons. However, cannons are not as easy to make as firecrackers and grenades.

The two of them studied for several days, but made no progress, but Zhao Yao was not in a hurry.

After staying in the Beishan Cave Laboratory for a while, Zhao Yao turned around and went to a place not far from the Beishan Cave Laboratory. This is the place where the gold and silver mountains brought back from Japan were "buried".

Placing the "treasury" near the laboratory is also for the safety of the "treasury". If something happens to the "treasury", the laboratory will know it immediately and handle it in time.

The "treasury" has temporarily been dug into ten floors. Each floor is very large and equipped with numerous mechanisms. If someone wants to come to the vault to steal gold or silver, they may not be able to get in or out.

After inspecting Beishan, Zhao Yao turned around and went to Nanshan to inspect the terraces.

A few days ago, it rained in Marsh Mansion. After the terraces were wetted by rain, the soil became much softer. Zhao Yao asked people to use the improved curved shaft plow to plow the land, and the plowing was very good. After that, he asked people to fertilize the terraces.

After fertilizing for a period of time, Zhao Yao asked people to scatter some flower seeds randomly on the terraces. He heard that the seeds had sprouted, so he came over to take a look.

Old Chen, who was responsible for taking care of the terraces, saw Zhao Yao coming and told him excitedly about the changes in the terraces these days.

Zhao Yao squatted beside the terraces, and his eyes were full of joy when he saw the small patch of green buds in the terraces.

"It appears to have succeeded."

Old Chen nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Highness, this is a great success."

"I have also been very successful in getting new fertilizer." Without the power of the new fertilizer, the terraces would not have become fertile. "Continue to fertilize this terraced field, and don't plant anything for the time being. When it's time to plow in the spring, we'll sow rice seeds."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You continue to dig terraced fields." Zhao Yao does not plan to let people dig terraced fields for the time being. He will wait until this year's autumn harvest is over before promoting terraced fields. If you want people to cultivate terraced fields willingly, you must first let them see the results of terraced fields. They are not willing to take the risk of digging terraces without letting them see that terraces can really grow crops and the harvests are not bad.

"Yes, Your Highness." Seeing that the terraced fields can really grow crops, Lao Chen and the others were very motivated and wished they could cultivate hundreds or thousands of acres of terraced fields right away.

Zhao Yao pointed to the terraces in front of him and told Lao Chen: "In the past two days, arrange for someone to dig a small reservoir nearby so that the terraces can be irrigated in the future." The Ministry of Industry has not built a waterwheel yet, and they don't know about spring plowing. Can it be done before? Fortunately, there is plenty of rain in the spring in Marsh Mansion, so there is no need to worry about drought for the time being. "By the way, how about the silkworms?"

"Back to Your Highness, everything is normal now and it will be hatched next month."

"You have to pay more attention." The silkworms raised in Nanshan Farm were all obtained by him from Jiangnan with great pains. These silkworms also experienced nine deaths before surviving in the Marsh Mansion, but they could not be allowed to die again.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, your subordinates will take good care of you."

"By the way, how is the sugar made?" There is a kind of sugar cane in Lingnan called Dizhu, which is specially used to make sugar.

"It's done." Old Chen said respectfully, "My subordinates are preparing to report this matter to you."

As soon as he heard that the sugar was made, Zhao Yao said with a bright face: "Take me to see it."