The Prosperous Era of Longwan

In the evening, Wei Guangde followed his father back home.

"You go and rest, you have to go to school tomorrow."

Father Wei burped and said to Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde just turned around slightly and turned back, as if he had something to say.

"Is there anything else?"

"Dad, will Weili send troops to Zhejiang again next year?"

Because of Zhang Hongfu's words, Wei Guangde thought he knew something in advance and couldn't help but ask.

"Who told you this?"

Father Wei frowned slightly.

Wei Li did not receive an order to mobilize troops again to participate in the suppression of Japanese invaders, but because of the results last time, the current Minister of War, Zhang Jingdao, had always wanted Jiujiang Wei to dispatch troops again.

"Don't listen to these rumors, it won't happen."

Father Wei simply denied the rumors of sending troops, so that Wei Guangde would not worry about affecting his studies.

Father Wei also heard about Wei Guangde's tears in Nanchang.

Although it was only spread among scholars at first, it would eventually spread out of the circle sooner or later.

After Father Wei found out, he was even more unwilling to let Wei Guangde worry about him. Now the focus of the family is still Wei Guangde's career.

As for your official position, don't think about getting promoted in the short term.

Now there is only one way in front of Wei Meng, that is, there are thousands of households vacant.

"It's fine if you don't."

Wei Guangde nodded, and then whispered: "From what Hongfu said today, he wants to go to the coast to fight against Japanese pirates."

"Ha ha."

After hearing what his son said, Father Wei didn't say anything. He just laughed twice casually and said, "You are tired today, so you should go back and rest early."

Time flies so fast, and the New Year is here in a blink of an eye.

In recent years, the climate in various parts of the Ming Dynasty has been relatively cold. When scholars like Wei Guangde and others gathered together, it was inevitable not to mention a few words.

I have to say that scholars are still well-informed. Those who can afford to study these days must have rich families.

Among the classmates around Wei Guangde, in addition to the families of gentry and officials, many of their families had people traveling around, and naturally they brought back a lot of information.

Wei Guangde was stomping his feet and standing on the pier by the river. There was a small house here, which was where the garrisoned flag officer rested. Although there was a brazier in front of him and the charcoal fire was still burning inside, it could not withstand the fire coming from the wall. The cold wind comes in through the cracks.

"It's time for some repairs here."

Wei Guangde said to the general who was nodding and bowing next to him, this is his room, but it doesn't belong to him for the time being.

According to the news sent before, today his eldest brother Wei Wencai will bring his new sister-in-law to Jiujiang Mansion to celebrate the New Year, and his cousin and his wife will also come together.

Two carriages were waiting outside the door, and the carriage drivers could only stamp their feet beside them. It was really too cold.

I remembered that when I was at Fu Xue two days ago, I heard my classmates talking about this year's weather. In previous years, the temperature dropped pretty well, but this year's weather, according to some well-informed students, has almost caught up with the temperature in Beijing.

The funniest thing is that a classmate actually said that he had heard from his family earlier that it snowed in Qiongzhou in the south, but he couldn’t remember the specific year.

Qiongzhou, that's Hainan Island, okay, it's snowing there, I'm afraid Dou E is complaining.

Wei Guangde took it as a joke when he heard it. In his later days, how many northerners flew to Hainan in winter, wasn't it just to escape the severe cold in the north?

Thinking of the weather in February these past two years, I thought that if I was admitted to the Juren Examination in the future, I would have to go to the capital to take the exam. It was so refreshing.

I don't know how long it took, but the soldiers outside the door came in and said to him: "Sir, Peng Ze's clipper has arrived and is about to dock."

"Okay, let's go there."

After hearing this, Wei Guangde stood up and said to Zhang Ji beside him, then smiled at the general flag and said, "Thank you very much for today."

As he spoke, Wei Guangde took out a silver ingot from his arms and threw it to the general flag, then took Zhang Ji out and walked to the dock.

When he was blown by the cold wind when he went out, Wei Guangde couldn't help but pull his cloak tightly. Although he was not exposed to the wind, he still felt cold.

Soon, Wei Guangde saw a speedboat docking at the pier. The soldiers next to him got on the pedal. His cousin and eldest brother also left the cabin with their two sisters-in-law.

Wei Guangde was smiling now, standing on the pier and cupping his hands toward the other side.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Wei Guangde felt a biting chill when his warm hands that had just been exposed from his sleeves were blown by the wind.

Without staying at the pier, Wei Guangde picked up his two brothers and sister-in-law and let them get on the carriage.

The entourage loaded up several boxes of luggage and stacked them behind the carriage, and they could only follow them all the way into the city.

Wei Guangde first sent his cousin Wu Dong to his uncle's house. The two were so close that there was no need to take a long way, and then he took his eldest brother to visit his mother at home.

Although it is approaching the end of the year, the Commander-in-Chief has not closed the office yet, and according to the rules, there are still a few days, so Dad is not at home at the moment.

In the evening, Wei Guangde and his family went to his uncle's house for dinner. They also received gifts and then sat down to eat.

Wei Guangde has long been used to it. For people in this era, it is really cumbersome to salute when meeting. It is like in later generations, just say hello and nod when meeting.

"By the way, as for what you were talking about last time, Wencai and I later hired craftsmen from the guards to try out two cannons, and the effect was pretty good."

After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, cousin Wu Dong suddenly said to Wei Guangde.

"What gun?"

Wei Guangde can still drink a little wine now and then, but his family doesn't allow him to drink too much. Wei Guangde didn't react to Wu Dong's words for a while.

"The one you mentioned does not need the bowl mouth of the blunderbuss. The craftsman said that yours is a miniature general cannon, but the general cannon wants to shoot far. Yours does not need the range, it just needs more shotguns. So if the muzzle is thicker, you can put more iron bullets."

Wu Dong said, smelling of alcohol.

"Have you brought anything here?"

Wei Guangde asked casually. Wei Guangde still had an impression of what he said at the time, but he just said it casually and he didn't remember it.

This time when his cousin reminded him, he remembered what it was.

"It's on the ship. Let's ask people to move it down tomorrow and find a place nearby to try. Dad and uncle, you should go and have a look too."

Wu Dong said this, then turned to Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng.

The two of them were chatting about things in the guardhouse. They didn't pay attention to what their son said. They just said perfunctorily: "We'll talk about it then." ’

"Is that gun also made of brass?"

Knowing that his father and uncle were not sad, Wei Guangde asked again.

Copper is very valuable these days. If it were made of copper like a bowl-mouth blunderbuss, to be honest, the cost would be too high.

"No, it's made of wrought iron."

Wu Dong shook his head and said: "The craftsman said, just wrap it with wrought iron and add a few iron hoops to fix it. If you use copper, where can you find it?"

"Just melt those bowl mouth guns and you'll have it."

Wei Guangde replied casually.

"It's easy to think about it. The gun is gone. What should I do during the next inspection?"

The eldest brother Wei Wencai interrupted at this moment.

"Give them some new iron cannons."

Wei Guangde said casually.