Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 432 The whole audience was shocked
The simple city wall was in ruins and the straw men on it were torn into pieces. If it had been defended by real people, the result would have been predictable.

There was silence.

At such a long distance, with such a high city wall, the enemy was hit hard with just one shot, and almost lost all its combat effectiveness. Such a dramatic effect is enough to make people stunned.

Liu Jian was unlucky. Chen Ce had reminded him that it would be better to lean back and cover his ears, but Liu Jian refused to listen and wanted to show off even at his old age.

The explosion at such a close distance caused Liu Jian to have a brief tinnitus. His entire ears were filled with a buzzing sound, and he stared blankly at the top of the city wall.

Ma Wensheng looked at this scene, his whole face trembling violently, and besides shock, he felt more horrified and regretful.

How could this be?

Previously, Ma Wensheng had stated with certainty that the Ming Dynasty would no longer have any siege weapons, and even asserted that such weapons would never appear again in the entire dynasty.

But now, reality slapped him hard in the face.

Liu Jian advised him that he had every chance to snatch this difficult task from the Ministry of Industry. If his Ministry of War was responsible for the research, development and construction of the red cannon, wouldn't he, Ma Wensheng, have made a tremendous contribution?
Just participating in the manufacturing is a huge achievement!
Unfortunately, when a great achievement was placed in front of him, he did not cherish it. Now he regrets it after missing it. If God could give him another chance... Forget it, there is no chance anymore.

Ma Wensheng regretted it so much.

Liu Jian only saw people talking, but he couldn't hear them and didn't know what they were saying.

Zhu Houzhao said to Chen Ce excitedly: "Little brother! This, this..."

He was so excited that he didn't know what to say.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Chen Ce with complicated eyes. This kid could really give him huge surprises every time.

Didn’t the imperial court hold a meeting to announce that there were difficulties in advancing on the front line of the Japanese island?

Isn’t the root cause of the Japanese War the difficulty of attacking the city?
Okay, now Chen Ce will help you solve the problem. Can you pull this red cannon over? If not, ask the Ministry of Industry to build a second, third, or even tenth cannon.

The continuous bombardment of ten cannons should be able to clear away all obstacles, right?
The high-ranking officials from the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Censorate, and the Five Military Governor's Offices were all staring at Chen Ce meaningfully, not knowing what to say.

Chen Ce bowed to Emperor Hongzhi and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works already has the blueprints. If one of the weapons is not powerful enough, then let the Ministry of Works continue to make it. If everything else is fine, I will go back and rest."

Emperor Hongzhi uttered a dull "oh" and seemed to have thought of something, then said to Zhu Houzhao, "Go and get a carriage to take him back."

Zhu Houzhao didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and said with a smile: "Okay!"

The officials were all looking at this scene in amazement, thinking, Your Majesty, this is a bit unethical, isn't it? You want the Crown Prince to send a minister? He is not even a minister yet, but just a commoner?
But they naturally had no time to pursue these trivial matters. Even the Censorate, which usually loved to find fault, now turned a blind eye to such disrespectful things.

After a burst of gasps, Ma Wensheng immediately said: "Your Majesty, my Ministry of War is willing to work tirelessly to manufacture this kind of weapon and transport it to the battlefield on the Japanese island. The conquest of the Japanese slaves is just around the corner!"

Xu Guan was not happy and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, please do not bother Minister Ma. Once our Ministry of Works has finished manufacturing, we will naturally hand it over to the Ministry of War."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, and naturally did not hand the task back to the Ministry of War. Ma Wensheng could not help but look disappointed.

Xu Guan added: "Your Majesty, Chen Ce has made tremendous contributions. I ask for your reward."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded. Of course he wanted to reward him, but he couldn't make such a hasty decision on how to reward him.

Xu Guan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, my Ministry of Works and Ministry of Engineering have been working non-stop this year. We have not been able to spend the New Year with our families because of the production of this weapon. I dare to ask for credit for them as well."

Emperor Hongzhi smiled and said, "This is as it should be. All the officers who participated in the manufacture of weapons will be promoted one level, and all the craftsmen who participated in the manufacture will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver!"

This was already a huge reward. After all, this matter actually had little to do with them. It was mainly because of Chen Ce. If Chen Ce hadn't sent the drawings, how could they be qualified to participate in the manufacturing and get the reward?
Xu Guan said excitedly: "Thank you, Your Majesty."...

The lights on the Lantern Festival are as bright as day, and the lights outside the city are also very bright. All the top leaders of the Ming Dynasty are sleepless tonight.

After the Lantern Festival, Minister Xu came to the Ministry of Works early in the morning.

Yubu Si Yamen.

Qi Min, the Right Deputy Minister, also arrived at the duty station early to take up his post. He had hardly had any rest during this period, not even during the New Year. The people under him were all complaining, so they simply gave him three days off during the Lantern Festival.

All of Qi Min's colleagues in the Yubu Division felt that he was unlucky. There was nothing they could do about it, since his official position was one level lower than that of the Left Yuanwailang Tian Youzhi.

Therefore, when faced with such an unequal and difficult task, he was the only one who could take it over. With just one word from above, these low-level officials would have to run themselves ragged.

Who doesn’t want to take it a step further?

"Morning, Master Qi."

Tian Youzhi, the Left Deputy Director, walked into the duty room with a smile and greeted Qi Min.

"The new weapons made by Lord Qi have been delivered to the Ministry of War now, right?"

Qi Min nodded: "Yeah."

Tian Youzhi smiled and said, "Okay, okay. I believe that after the delivery of these weapons, the higher-ups will definitely see Mr. Qi's contribution and may even give him a promotion."

"Maybe because of this opportunity, I will have to swap positions with you, hehe."

Qi Min's mouth twitched slightly. Although he knew that the other party was joking, he could only greet him with a smile: "Master Tian is talking nonsense."

"I don't expect any merit, I just hope I can get through this year's imperial examination safely."

Tian Youzhi laughed and said perfunctorily: "Yes, yes."

He is not afraid. Although he has not made any outstanding contributions over the years, he has not made any mistakes and has not engaged in corruption.

The people below him were also very convinced of him, and even though the imperial examination was launched this year, it would not have much impact on him.

Just as the two were chatting, Xu Guan came over with his hands behind his back.

Seeing the Minister of Works coming in person, the two officials were a little surprised. At their level, they didn't get to see their boss often, and they hurriedly saluted Xu Guan.

Xu Guan nodded and said in a deep voice: "Who is responsible for the manufacture of this weapon?"

After the task was assigned, Xu Guan didn't care who would take it, because he had assistant ministers under him, and under them were doctors, and finally deputy ministers.

Therefore, Xu Guan was not clear about and did not understand the struggle involved.

Tian Youzhi hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, it is Master Qi Minqi who is in charge."

I'm afraid there's a problem with the manufacturing of the weapons this time... He said that this is simply a thankless task and whoever takes this task is an idiot.

(End of this chapter)