The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 320: Searching for the Lost Guns [(1)]

Hardwood gun stock, typical flint firing machine, semi-enclosed rear compartment, front-loading, and a gun body length of about 1.3 meters. With a 20-centimeter-long bayonet, the total length was about 1.5 meters, and the overall weight was around 4.5 kilograms.

The bullets were still lead shot type but have been improved to paper shell packaging, and the amount of excitation and firing powder has been allocated in advance, greatly improving the loading speed.

Ordinary soldiers could approximately fire twice per minute, while skilled musketeers could increase to three or even four shots.

The effective killing range exceeded 250 meters, and the precise scope was about 80 meters.

If left at the beginning of the 18th century, this could only be said to be a standard smoothbore gun, and nothing was surprising about it.

But now it was the beginning of the 15th century!

So without a doubt, this was a powerful weapon that exceeded the times!

Looking at more than 200 Flintlock mechanisms in the warehouse, Sun Shaozong felt like he had opened the door to a new world. When the large-scale assembly was completed, there was no doubt that the military strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty would reach another level!

At that time, not to mention conquering the world, there would always be no problem subduing the four barbarians too.

Carefully putting the rifle back on the shelf, Sun Shaozong suddenly turned around and said straightforwardly, "Tell me about the situation before and after the crime, as well as your speculation about this case. As long as it is related to this case, tell me everything.

Under the scorching gaze of Sun Shaozong, Zhu Shan, the Supervisor of the Gunpowder Bureau, and Lv Yuan, the thousand households Inspector in the Shenji Camp, both felt somewhat puzzled. This Inspector Sun looked cold and stern; how could he suddenly become fanatical after taking a few glances at the new type of firearm?

But how would they know that Sun Shaozong, as a passerby, saw the Flintlock mechanism at the beginning of the 18th century and mass-produced it in the land of China at the beginning of the 15th century, filled with excitement and ecstasy?

This kind of national treasure must not be left to wander!

If Sun Shaozong had only driven ducks onto a perch before, he was now full of power and would love to immediately retrieve those two muskets!

Although Zhu Shan and Lv Yuan were a bit puzzled, since the Imperial Envoy had already spoken, the two of them could only pour beans out of a bamboo tube and tell the whole story once.

After the successful imitation of this new type of firearm, Emperor Guangde was greatly satisfied, personally named it Megatron, and greatly favored the Gunpowder Bureau.

The Emperor attached such importance; how would others dare be careless?

Therefore, after the small-scale mass production of the Megatron Gun, it has been stored in the most heavily guarded warehouse, and in this warehouse, from top to bottom of the entire Gunpowder Bureau, only four people could enter and exit at will.

The three of them were naturally Zhu Shan, Lv Yuan, and Luo Jing, who were blocked outside the door.

And the fourth person was Du Ning, the deputy supervisor of the Gunpowder Bureau, who has always been responsible for the storage and inspection of the warehouse.

This Deputy Supervisor Du, to ensure that everything was safe, went to the warehouse every morning, noon, and evening to conduct a careful inventory check, no matter how windy or rainy it was.

Yesterday evening, Du Ning went to the warehouse as usual to make an inventory check, but this time it was surprisingly long, and he didn't come out of the warehouse until 9:00 pm.

The officers and soldiers guarding the warehouse felt strange but didnt dare enter and exit the warehouse at will, so they reported this matter to Lv Yuan.

After hearing about it, Lv Yuan naturally didn't dare to slack off and hurried to the warehouse to investigate. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he found Du Ning lying in a pool of blood with a bayonet in his heart, and two Megatron-style muskets on the shelf had also disappeared!

It was such a big matter that several high-level officials of the Gunpowder Bureau naturally didnt dare to conceal it. After simple discussions, they sent people to the Capital overnight to report, which was why today's matter has come into being.

After listening to the general process, Sun Shaozong asked several questions in a row, "Is there any other place to enter and exit the warehouse? When Deputy Du came in, was there anyone else following? Are the officers and soldiers guarding the warehouse reliable?

Zhu Shan hurriedly said, "The warehouse has always been a place for storing important items; in case of emergency, a ground listening has been specially set up to prevent anyone from digging into the tunnel, so there will be no other entrance or exit.

The so-called ground listening meant burying a water tank underground to hear the sound of digging a tunnel. It was usually used in city defense battles to prevent sudden attacks.

Since the warehouse of this day still used ground listening, it was clearly well protected.

Lv Yuan followed closely and said, "Due to regulatory limitations, Deputy Du always goes in alone to conduct inventory checks, and in recent years, there has been no exception.

After a pause, he said with a hint of uncertainty, "As for the soldiers guarding the warehouse, I am really really uncertain about their innocence.

Uncertain?

Sun Shaozong's face immediately darkened and he questioned with dissatisfaction, "As the highest ranking military officer in this place, these soldiers on duty and patrolling the night were all appointed by you. How dare you say uncertain?

This... This... This

Lv Yuan's body trembled a few times before finally stomping his foot and saying, "Now that this matter is over, it's no longer easy to cover up. Let's just say it straight. In fact, after this incident, the most suspicious among us in private are the remaining parties of Prince Yizhong.

The remaining parties of Prince Yizhong?

Why was this related to Prince Yizhong again?

Seeing Sun Shaozong's face in doubt, Lv Yuan hurriedly said, "You may not know something. From the previous Emperor's first expedition to Korea to the summer of Guangde three years ago, the weapons supervisor has been under Prince Yizhong."

And this gunpowder situation is also due to the strong efforts of Prince Yizhong, which led to the current situation.

At that time, Prince Yizhong was skilled in being socially active, which captured a group of confidants.

However, it turned out that in the initial campaign against Korea, apart from being ambushed by the enemy, the quality of military equipment was worrying, even far inferior to what the Koreans used, which was also one of the reasons for the defeat.

Therefore, at that time, Prince Yizhong, who had the identity of a prince, voluntarily recommended himself to be in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau and carried out drastic reforms.

In the following eight years, he not only led the improvement of many manufacturing processes and the unified refinement of measurement units but also invented assembly line operations, causing a qualitative transformation of the entire military supervision during his control period.

The spring steel used in modern firearms today is one of the essential achievements obtained through the use of new processes and smelting at that time.

It is precisely because of this kind of achievement that Prince Yizhong's prestige in the military academy was unparalleled, and he had secretly gathered many confidants.

Although he was imprisoned two years ago and had his entire arsenal cleaned up, to ensure the normal operation of the arsenal, it was not easy to catch them all in one fell swoop, so there must be some missing fish.

Lv Yuan finally said helplessly, "Due to the close ties between the Shenji Camp and the Gunpowder Bureau, there are also quite a few people who are deceived by it. Therefore, it is impossible to guarantee their innocence.

Tch!

This Prince Yizhong has indeed done a lot of great things. No wonder he had been imprisoned for over a year, and there were still so many martyrs who were obsessed and wanted to rescue him.

Compared to himself, as a transmigrator, it seemed a bit

After shaking his head slightly and putting the inexplicable sense of shame behind him, Sun Shaozong asked again, "Are there any officials in this Gunpowder Bureau who were promoted by Prince Yizhong when he was in power?

There should be no more?

Zhu Shan and Lv Yuan shook their heads at the same time, and Zhu Shan further added, "Actually, since the summer of the third year of Guangde, the officials in this Gunpowder Bureau have gradually been replaced. After Prince Yizhong was imprisoned, the old people were almost uprooted.

But some lower-level officials have stayed behind. However, the changes in the craftsmen are not significant, and they cant be near the warehouse.

Sun Shaozong repeatedly asked a few questions and felt that there was not much information available, which led Lv Yuan to invite Du Ning's body out and tried to restore it to its original appearance to conduct a more detailed investigation of the scene.