Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

When Zhao Asan saw the person coming, he immediately knelt on the ground again: "Master Qin."

Qin An's face changed, and he hurriedly took two steps forward to help him up and said, "What are you doing!"

Zhao Asan laughed dryly twice out of guilt and stepped aside.

Qin An cursed him inwardly, saying "idiot", took a long breath, and then stepped forward with a smile: "Your humble servant, Qin An, is the military supervisor of Sheye. I am honored to meet you, sir, and the general. I didn't know you were coming, and I am sorry for not welcoming you. I hope you will forgive me."

Chen Shao looked her up and down and said, "Since you are here, take us around."

Qin An agreed.

He led everyone into the mountain, and after attentively introducing the daily production situation of the Nufang Office, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "In fact, this time the iron mine collapsed, we were not greatly affected except for the workers who were still in shock."

"The iron mine collapsed, burying nearly 300 people," Chen Shao followed his words and said slowly, "Didn't you arrange people to help with the rescue?"

"Of course it was arranged," Qin An replied respectfully, "but we don't know the mine tunnels as well as the miners do. After we helped for half a day, they thought we were in the way and asked us to go back."

Chen Shao did not comment and said, "How many years have you been in Mengshe Smelting Prison?"

Qin An bowed to Gu Feiyan and said gratefully, "I was promoted to the position of General Supervisor by the General of the Auxiliary State. It has been almost twenty years since I was promoted."

Chen Shao followed him and looked at Gu Feiyan, then continued to ask: "So, you are very good at casting arrowheads and calibrating crossbows."

Qin An smiled proudly and said, "General Fuguo promoted me because of my ability to cast arrowheads and calibrate crossbows."

Chen Shao seemed quite interested and asked, "Tell me, what are the tricks for casting arrowheads and calibrating crossbows?"

"It's simple to say," Qin An said contentedly. "As long as you control the mold quality, material purity and temperature when casting arrowheads, the arrowheads will be good. Calibration of crossbow triggers focuses on the fit of parts, uniform force and detailed calibration. As long as these three standards are met, the resulting crossbow trigger can save half the effort of the soldiers. Of course, no matter how much you say, when it comes to the specific steps, it still requires accumulated experience."

Gu Feiyan took out the two crossbow arrows that had just had their feathers glued on and asked calmly, "When were the regulations for these crossbow arrows changed?"

Qin An looked at the crossbow in her hand. The moment he saw her face clearly, his heart sank: This is the arrowhead and shaft of the Shenbi crossbow!

Qin An took a quick look at Zhao Asan and felt angry and panicked. He had clearly had someone hide these arrowheads and arrow shafts in a corner, so why did they appear in her hands!

"Look at what you have done!" Qin An half-seriously scolded Zhao Asan, and then hurriedly explained to Gu Feiyan, "This is a new crossbow arrow that I developed on a whim at the end of last year. I originally planned to present it to the general after it was mature to repay his promotion. However, I changed it back and forth several times, and the results were not ideal. In the past two months, after my hard thinking, I made a slight correction to the arrowhead. Now there is no big problem with the crossbow arrow, but the crossbow mechanism used in conjunction is still not ideal."

"Where's the crossbow?" Gu Feiyan ordered without further ado, "Go get one for me to try."

"This..." Qin An looked at the wound on her body and said anxiously, "I am still improving the crossbow machine. It should take another half a month to put it into production. General, you may as well wait a little longer..."

"No need!" Gu Feiyan interrupted him forcefully, "Just bring it here and let me try it."

Qin An wanted to persuade her again, but Gu Feiyan gave him a cold look. Qin An dared not say anything and said hastily, "I will go get it right away!"

Gu Feiyan signaled to Fu Jiu: "Go with Master Qin and pick out the good ones for me!"

Fu Jiu followed him happily.

After they walked away, Gu Feiyan gave Chen Shao a look without saying a word.

Chen Shao nodded in understanding, took the crossbow in her hand, and carefully examined it twice. She did not find any difference from the crossbow in the iron house, but from Qin An's reaction, she was not aimless. Thinking back to the panic that flashed across Qin An's face when he saw the crossbow in her hand, she calmed down and asked Zhao Asan with feigned curiosity, "How is the new crossbow developed by Mr. Qin better than the previous crossbows? Why can't I see it?"

Zhao Asan stammered, "I don't know what my strengths are, it seems that every part is a little longer than before, and the range is also slightly longer."

Chen Shao expressed doubt: "Really?"

Zhao Asan said in panic: "I am not sure either. I just heard what they said."

Chen Shao asked casually: "Who are they?"

Zhao Asan had no doubts: "It's Lord Qin, Lord Luo, and Lord He."

Chen Shao followed his words and asked in a guiding way: "I know that Lord Qin is the military supervisor. Who are Lord Luo and Lord He, and what are they specifically responsible for?"

"Lord Luo is the furnace officer for smelting, and Lord He is the grinding officer for processing and assembly." Zhao Asan was afraid that his answer was not enough, so he secretly glanced at the door and came over to whisper, "These crossbow arrows and crossbow mechanisms were made by them together. I heard that in Shan State, such a crossbow mechanism sells for six taels of silver, and a crossbow arrow sells for seventy coins."

After Chen Shao and Gu Feiyan exchanged a glance, Chen Shao said in surprise: "Didn't Lord Qin say that the crossbow machine has not yet been fully developed?"

Zhao Asan glanced at the door again and said with a chuckle, "It was developed at the beginning of the year."

Chen Shao looked him up and down twice, and said in disbelief: "If it is true as you said, reselling military weapons is a serious crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the family. Lord Qin and his men must have kept it secret. How did you know?"

Zhao Asan said hesitantly: "If I tell you, you can't punish me."

Chen Shao snorted: "Then let's see if what you said is true or not!"

"I swear, every word I said is absolutely true. If you don't believe me, you can..." Hearing Qin An's voice coming from outside, Zhao Asan didn't bother to make any more promises and said quickly, "I heard it under the bed of Liu Yinniang, Qin's lover, in Zuixinglou."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin An walked in with a crossbow.

After taking a look at Zhao Asan, Chen Shao and the others calmly and making sure that there was nothing wrong with their faces, Qin An quickly put on a smile, trotted over, and respectfully handed the crossbow to Gu Feiyan: "This is the crossbow produced last month. It is slightly more perfect than the previous one. If there is anything wrong, please advise me, General."

Gu Feiyan took the crossbow, put an arrow on it, tried to pull the bowstring, and then aimed at the haystacks at the end of the mountain: "What's the range?"

Qin An considered and said, "It should be about three hundred steps."

"Three hundred steps?" Gu Feiyan narrowed her eyes, signaled the elite soldiers to move the chairs back a little, and then aimed at the haystacks at the end of the mountain again.

Draw the bow.

Shoot the arrow.

Seeing the direction from which the crossbow arrow came, the smile on Qin An's face suddenly disappeared, and then his face turned pale in an instant.

No matter how much he planned, he didn't expect that she would change the direction of the crossbow arrow at the last moment!

And that direction...

The crossbow arrow hit the distribution map of various departments hanging on the wall and penetrated two feet into the wall.

Looking at the trembling arrow feathers, Qin An was extremely nervous.

After a long time, seeing that no accident happened, Qin An was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Gu Feiyan draw the bowstring again.