Pei Shaoqing was still very happy to expand territory for the Tang Dynasty.

This is not only out of the vanity of creating a more vast Tang Dynasty, but also to make money.

Because a broader territory means more population, more population means a larger market, and a larger market means a continuous stream of wealth.

Moreover, war itself is also a wealth-making machine!

There is an old saying that the cannon is ten thousand taels of gold.

Yes, war is a gold-eating beast, but it is also a wealth-making machine.

The Shanxi merchants rose and grew stronger by the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty.

By the late Qing Dynasty, merchants and war were closely linked. Hu Xueyan and Zuo Zongtang restored Xinjiang, Sheng Xuanhuai and Li Hongzhang founded Beiyang, perfectly explaining the symbiotic relationship between war and wealth.

As a time traveler, no one knows better than Pei Shaoqing what kind of business in the world is the most profitable.

There is no doubt that the most profitable business in the world is the arms business, and the most profitable business is the military contractor. In his previous life, he had seen how military contractors from beautiful countries make a lot of money.

So in this life, Pei Shaoqing's greatest ambition is to be a military contractor.

As long as the court pays, he can not only provide weapons and equipment, but also provide well-trained armed personnel in batches. Otherwise, wouldn’t he be the guard and the captain for nothing?

"Lao Lu, where is Lao Lu? Where is Lao Lu?"

Pei Shaoqing rode directly into the backyard and asked.

"Si Cheng, Xiao Lao is here." Lu Shisan came out of a pavilion.

At this time, Lu Shisan had washed his face, and the smoke had been washed away, but there were a lot of blisters.

Seeing Lu Shisan's face blisters, Pei Shaoqing said with concern: "Lao Lu, are you okay?"

"It's okay, it's just a little burn." Lu Shisan waved his hand and said excitedly, "Si Cheng, Xiao Lao has already prepared the best formula for gunpowder you mentioned."

"Is that true?" Pei Shaoqing asked anxiously, "What proportion is it?"

Lu Shisan did not answer immediately, but instead signaled his disciples who were serving around him with a look.

More than a dozen apprentices immediately crossed their hands and bowed respectfully. Lu Shisan said excitedly: "Si Cheng, you remember correctly the ratio of one stop, two stops, three stops."

"But you remembered the specific raw material wrongly."

"The real best formula should be one stop saltpeter, two stop sulfur, and three stop charcoal!"

"Is that true?" Pei Shaoqing was stunned, but he clearly remembered that it was 1-sulfur, 2-nitrogen, 3-3 charcoal, how could it be 1-nitrogen, 2-sulfur, 3-3 charcoal? Fortunately, Lu Shisan finally found the correct formula.

"Si Cheng, please wait a moment." After Lu Shisan said that, he turned around and returned to the direct room.

When they came out again, Lu Shisan had already held a dustpan in each of his hands.

Then pour the gunpowder from the two dustpans onto the bluestone slabs and then said, "Si Cheng, the gunpowder on the left is prepared according to the formula you mentioned, and the gunpowder on the right is prepared by the new formula."

"Now, Xiao Lao ignites them and you can see the effect."

"Oh yes, please retreat a little further so as not to burn."

When Pei Shaoqing retreated to a safe distance, Lu Shisan himself took a few steps back.

Then two incenses were lit and thrown over. There was only a "squeak" sound, and the two piles of gunpowder exploded at the same time, but the fire and smoke produced were incomparable.

The new formula gunpowder produces significantly more fire and smoke.

When the smoke of gunpowder dissipates, the new formula gunpowder does not even leave any residue.

The gunpowder prepared according to the old formula has mostly left behind.

"Very good!" Pei Shaoqing nodded happily, turned around and said to Qingxuan, "Qingxuan, immediately withdraw a thousand guan from the account and distributed it to the craftsmen of the Gunpowder Bureau."

"I will give Lao Lu a 500-stop service alone!"

Lu Shisan hurriedly said, "Si Cheng, how can this be done?"

"Make!" Pei Shaoqing said, "This is a bonus."

"If things are done, there must be corresponding rewards."

"So, thank you Si Cheng." Lu Shisan no longer pretentious.

"I dare to ask Si Cheng, what should we do next?"

Because of his excellent work and a generous reward, Lu Shisan's enthusiasm is unprecedentedly high, and he wishes he could have endless things to do every day.

"Thank you for your hard work during this period."

Pei Shaoqing said: "And it's hot now, so let's take a break first."

"No!" Lu Shisan said hurriedly, "Si Cheng, we don't need to rest. As for the hot weather, when isn't this the year? We craftsmen have long been used to it."

Seeing that Lu Shisan didn't seem to be polite,

Pei Shaoqing said, "Okay, wait for someone first."

Lu Shisan said oh, and did not ask any more questions.

In a moment, a strong man in a half-arm robe hurried into the backyard.

"Old Zhang?" Seeing the strong man coming in, Lu Shisan's heart moved slightly.

The strong man who came in was Zhang Jiu. Like Yang Qi and Lu Shisan, he was originally a craftsman in Shaofu Supervisor, but Lu Shisan was the craftsman of a wood carving maker, and Zhang Jiu was the craftsman of a blacksmith.

On the day of the princess’ wedding, it was the iron flower that Zhang Jiu led his apprentice to beat.

It was also after the fight that Zhang Jiu and his disciples transferred to the guard and capture department.

Pei Feishu, the cheap brother, was really nice to Pei Shaoqing. He had already sent many craftsmen to the guard and capture department, and they were all the best among the craftsmen.

"The old man has met Si Cheng."

Zhang Jiu saluted Pei Shaoqing with his hands crossed.

He greeted Lu Shisan again.

"Lao Zhang and Lao Lu, now I will talk about the next stage of work."

Pei Shaoqing said this and said, "However, there is one thing I have to explain to you in advance that the work done at this stage must be strictly confidential."

"And the level of confidentiality is much higher than movable type printing and ironwork!"

“In short, no one is allowed to know the existence of this thing you are doing!”

"Once you participate in this project, you are not allowed to go out for at least three years, so you'd better ask your apprentices. If you quit at this time, you can choose to go back to Shaofujian."

"Here." Lu Shisan and Zhang Jiu crossed their hands and responded, "When I turned around, I asked them, stay with them if I wanted to stay, and send them back to Shaofujian if I didn't want to."

Zhang Jiu said again: "But Xiao Lao believes they will be happy to stay."

"Yes." Lu Shisan nodded, "unless they are all fools."

For Zhang Jiu, Lu Shisan and others, this is not a multiple-choice question.

Because the treatment provided by Shaofu Prison cannot be compared with the guard and capture department.

As for not being able to go out for three years, what is it? It’s okay for ten years.

"You two follow me."

Seeing that the two of them had made up their minds, Pei Shaoqing took them into the backyard to the upper room.

After entering the room, Qingxuan asked him to bring paper and pen and draw it.

Pei Shaoqing drew more than a dozen pieces of paper, each piece of paper was a weapon.

Then he said to Lu Shisan and the others: "Look, this is called Yi Wanfeng, which is a square piece of wood with many small holes chiseled in the middle, about the thickness of a thumb."

"A rocket is implanted in each hole."

"The so-called Rockets refer to this."

"It's just a conventional arrow tied to a gunpowder tube."

"The gunpowder tube can push the arrow forward."

"Also, if you look at this again, this is called fire thunder."

"The shell of the fire thunder is cast with iron and has crisscrossing grooves on the surface."

"In addition to gunpowder, it is best to put some iron nails, caltrops and porcelain pieces in the shell of the fire thunder."

"There is also this, this is called a cannon. It is cast and formed in one piece. The inner wall must be straight and smooth as well. It needs to be polished with special tools."

"This is a shell."

"There are two types of shells."

"A solid bullet is actually a sudden bump."

"The other type is called flowering bullet, which is difficult to solve and requires repeated experiments."

"But you must be careful during the experiment. Don't be like this time, Lao Lu, remember."

"Here!" Lu Shisan bowed his hands and said respectfully, "Don't worry, Si Cheng, Xiao Lao doesn't want to die early."

"There is also this, called a flintlock rifle, which is actually a small iron cannon. I guess it will be difficult to process this. You can try it as much as possible, and it doesn't matter if you can't do it."
To be continued...