Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 331: Who will become the crown prince?

East Palace, Jia Cong's courtyard.

In midsummer, the sun rises very early. Just after 2:15 a.m., it is already bright outside the house.

Fortunately, the sun has not yet become blazing, and it shines into the house, giving people a soft and bright feeling. I have a cool and sweet dream all night, and the charming red sleeves leave a lingering fragrance.

Qingwen was on duty last night. She rolled over at dawn and was much more alert than usual, even half a minute earlier than Jia Cong, who was used to getting up early.

When she put on her dress, she didn't have time to tie her hair up. Her long black hair was just casually tied into a bun, and it looked a little loose, unlike the usual delicate and beautiful Qingwen.

Because she got up in a hurry, she had no outer clothes on. She only wore a scarlet silk front-collared jacket and scarlet silk trousers. She looked as gorgeous as fire.

Qingwen is the same age as Jia Cong, but girls grow faster than they actually are. Plus, they are active by nature, so after growing taller in the past two years, her figure has become more graceful and more pleasing to the eye.

She helped Jia Cong comb his hair and yawned in the mirror.

Jia Cong laughed and said, "You stayed up too late yesterday making that undergarment. I knew you would be sleepy this morning. I asked Wu'er to change but you refused. Look, you can't even open your eyes."

Qingwen pouted her lips and said, "I should do the night duty by myself, why should I let Wu'er do it? I knew that the Third Master would meet the Emperor today, so I didn't dare to sleep peacefully yesterday."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "It's not really an audience with the emperor. I just went to the firearms workshop to watch the cannons test-fire."

"Third Master, what is a cannon test firing..."

Qingwen helped Jia Cong put on his official uniform. She felt a little dazed, probably because she stayed up late and slept lightly the night before, so she was too sleep-deprived. Jia Cong pushed her to bed to catch up on her sleep.

When we arrived at the main hall, Wu'er and Xiu Ju were setting up breakfast.

Ever since Yingchun moved to the East Palace, a new custom has been formed in the mansion. The brother and sister must have breakfast together in the main hall every day. Jia Cong used a new term to call it "family atmosphere."

There were two tables in the main hall, one for Jia Cong and Yingchun, and the other for Wu'er and Qingwen.

This way of dividing the tables is considered to take Yingchun's feelings into consideration so as not to make her feel too "deviant".

In the past, Jia Cong always ate at the same table with the girls and servants in Qingzhizhai. He was unconventional and had no scruples.

This was a very new thing for Yingchun, and even a little "inappropriate".

Yingchun did not have such a habit when she was in Rongguo Mansion. Rongguo Mansion was the residence of a duke, and there were strict rules for daily life.

Except during festivals or when entertaining guests, the family never sits together for meals on weekdays.

As for breakfast time, not to mention eating breakfast with elders like Lady Jia, even my sisters don’t have the habit of eating breakfast together.

The maids would bring breakfast from the kitchen to their own boudoirs.

But now there are only two of them, brother and sister, in the East Mansion, so there is no need to worry about anything. Since Jia Cong likes it this way, she, as the elder sister, naturally has no objection.

She only felt that since arriving in the East Palace, every day had become novel and fulfilling, and her heart felt more secure and stable than before.

After breakfast, Jia Cong hurried out and headed for the northern suburbs.

……

In the northern suburbs of Shenjing, there is the Firearms Workshop.

Early that morning, two thousand palace guards were stationed within a half-mile radius around the Firearms Workshop, guarding the entire Firearms Workshop tightly.

Before Jia Cong went to Liaodong on official business, he drew two sketches of red cannons based on his later observations and memories, and gave them to Liu Shizhen, deputy director of the Firearms Bureau, asking him to organize the research, development and construction.

In his previous life, Jia Cong worked as a museum professional. In a place like the Provincial Museum, there were all kinds of strange and bizarre things in the huge warehouse, including several prototype iron cannons.

One of the drawings is equivalent to the Red Cannon of later generations, while the other drawing is an improved version of the Red Cannon.

Because the red cannon of later generations was just a muzzle-loading cannon that loaded gunpowder and projectiles from the muzzle. Although its large barrel could unleash tremendous firepower, it was better than the ordinary falconet.

However, its gunpowder loading operation method is much backward compared to the breech-loading falconet cannon, and its firing speed is far inferior to the latter. The second red cannon drawing drawn by Jia Cong is a hybrid of the advantages of the two cannons.

It might be more accurate to call it an improved large falconet.

In addition to lengthening and thickening the gun barrel and body, the most important thing is to improve the accuracy between the sub-gun and the barrel belly, reduce the tolerance of the gap between the two, reduce gunpowder gas leakage, and increase the range and power of the cannon.

This work of improving the mold joining accuracy can only be perfectly achieved by high-precision machine tools of later generations.

In this day and age, only countless attempts at manual forging can achieve relatively good results, and this result is still somewhat far from true high precision.

Based on the first drawing provided by Jia Cong, Liu Shizhen quickly forged the original version of the muzzle-loading red cannon.

However, it took half a year, countless mold forging tests, and countless trial firings and adjustments to build an improved red cannon.

What Jia Cong valued most was this improved red cannon.

In the battle of Yafu Pass in Liaodong, he witnessed with his own eyes the tremendous power brought by the fast loading and high firing rate of the Portuguese cannon, but it also had shortcomings in range and firepower.

This improved red cannon can inherit the advantages of the falconet to the greatest extent, while making up for the shortcomings of range and firepower to the greatest extent.

……

Since the war in Liaodong, whether it was the Battle of Yafu Pass or the victory of Qingyuanji, the firearms developed and launched by the Firearms Bureau have demonstrated tremendous battlefield power.

Nowadays, from the emperor to the Ministry of War, the Five Military Commissioners' Office, and even the local garrisons and border troops, everyone has great concern and enthusiasm for firearms.

The day before yesterday, Jia Cong reported to the emperor that the Firearms Workshop had successfully developed a new type of cannon, which made Emperor Jia Zhao very happy. He wanted to visit the workshop in person to watch the cannon's test firing results.

As soon as the emperor issued an order from the palace, half of the government offices in the capital began to operate.

Thousands of palace guards and soldiers from the five military camps were deployed in advance to clear the streets along the way and guard the important roads.

When Zhen'an Prefecture and Qinian Prefecture heard that the emperor was going on a tour, they showed great diligence and the prefects of the two prefectures personally went to the streets.

Hundreds of yamen runners were brought with them to the twelve markets along the way to the north of the city to carry out a round of elimination of the thieves, robbers, brutal and powerful people on the streets.

It’s not that I’m worried that these small fry have the guts to assassinate the emperor, but most of them are people who have accumulated deep resentment among the people.

If something like stopping a carriage to complain happens and it gets noticed by the saint, something unpredictable will happen. Clearing them out in advance can be considered a precaution.

A few years ago, the incident involving Zhang Shouan, the prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture, was of great importance to the officials of both prefectures.

In addition to Jia Cong, the person in charge, accompanying Emperor Jiazhao to watch the test firing of the new artillery, there were also important ministers such as Peng Runan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and Shi Ding, Marquis of Zhongjing.

And the Minister of War Gu Yankui, who had just returned from an inspection tour of the nine borders.

Among these people, Jia Cong also found a young man with an unfamiliar face who had been serving Emperor Jia Zhao.

The man was about twenty years old, with a handsome appearance and outstanding bravery. He wore a Yishan crown on his head and a red robe with a round collar and narrow sleeves and a gold-woven dragon pattern. He had a majestic demeanor and attracted everyone's attention.

He looks somewhat similar to Ning Wang Li Chongrui, but his demeanor is more striking and even more stunning than Ning Wang.

This person was wearing a golden dragon robe and looked similar to Prince Ning. Jia Cong guessed that this person must be the prince.

The newly-made firearms were important military secrets. Those who were able to watch the test firing of the new cannon with Emperor Jiazhao were all the emperor's close and trusted ministers.

Even Prince Ning Li Chongrui was not among the invited guests, but this prince was able to serve the emperor. It can be seen that the emperor valued him even more than Prince Ning.

Jia Cong could roughly guess who this person was.

The current eldest prince is Prince Zhao Li Chongmao.

(End of this chapter)