Firearms Museum

After gathering the equipment, the group headed from underground to the Firearms Research Institute.

This Firearms Research Institute had quite a history, being one of the first projects Fang Zheng started after establishing his position.

Initially it was for researching gunpowder, and only after gunpowder was successfully developed did it shift to researching firearms.

When the group arrived at the Firearms Research Institute, they found the main door wide open with hardly anyone working inside.

Looking in from outside, there were only about a dozen people, playing cards in small groups, some with faces covered in paper slips.

Seeing strangers approaching, those playing cards hurriedly came forward!

"Rare visitors! Rare visitors indeed! Oh, isn't this Mr. Xie? Did the Master send you? "

Xie Xian looked at the greeter and couldn't help feeling speechless.

The young man before him was named Mo Xiaohu, a classmate of Zhao Lie's, and one of the worst students.

In his memory, Mo Xiaohu spent class time either drawing or playing with ink sticks, never listening.

He barely managed to teach him to write before letting him graduate. Who would have thought he'd be entrusted with important responsibilities here!

Seeing Mo Xiaohu's hopeful gaze, Xie Xian nodded: "Yes, I've come to get some items."

"Get items? Isn't the Master sending you to allocate funds?" Mo Xiaohu's expression visibly fell in disappointment.

"Funds? What funds? I never heard about that." Xie Xian was puzzled.

Zhao Lie laughed and explained: "After the Master went to the capital, he stopped funding the Firearms Research Institute. Now there's no more gunpowder, and they don't have money to make firearms, so they can only draw designs on paper."

Mo Xiaohu wore a dejected face: "That's right. Not giving us money is one thing! But he also reassigned more than half the institute's staff!"

"Mr. Xie, please help me beg the Master for some money for the Firearms Institute, otherwise we'll all be wasted!"

Xie Xian sighed.

What's going on here? He didn't understand this talk about funding.

Could they not do research without money? Ridiculous. Wasn't brush, ink, paper, and inkstone enough?

I've spent half my life researching the classics, and didn't I just use brush, ink, paper, and inkstone? When there are results, the Master will surely fund large-scale firearms production. What else could they need money for? Incomprehensible.

"Xiaohu... if you're short on people, I can ask the Master to get you some help."

"Whether you have funding or not isn't important. Do you need more brush, ink, and paper? I'll send some over later." Xie Xian said consolingly.

Seeing he still didn't understand, Mo Xiaohu instantly became agitated!

Stamping his foot, he exclaimed: "Money! Without money, nothing can be done... gun barrels... making one suitable gun barrel requires scrapping over a hundred!"

"Skilled blacksmiths also cost money... we need good steel... and..."

"We can't use ordinary people either. How much time would it take to teach them from scratch?"

"Now more than half our institute's people have been reassigned to the newly established Steam Institute, with an annual budget of 200,000 taels! Those fools use it to boil water!"

"Last month, those bastards from the Steam Institute came to mock us and brought us a pot, saying it stews meat quickly. Two people from our institute using that broken pot to stew meat ended up in the medical hall from an explosion! And the Master didn't even care!"

"Our institute gets just 2,000 taels annually. Our brothers don't even have enough to visit Xueyue Tower! Is that fair?!"

Xie Xian and Zhao Lie exchanged glances.

The physical condition of the Firearms Institute's staff was truly impressive...

"I thought you were talking about research funds? If you're using research money to visit prostitutes instead of doing research, no wonder the Master won't give you money. I can't help with that!" Xie Xian said helplessly.

Mo Xiaohu frowned: "What's wrong with us spending some of the research money? All other research institutes in the county do the same! We're under a lot of pressure and lack inspiration. Isn't it reasonable to use research funds to find inspiration?"

Seems somewhat logical... Xie Xian stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then uttered: "Reasonable!"

"Very reasonable!" Zhao Lie added.

Using research funds for personal matters, wasn't that all for finding inspiration? This couldn't be more reasonable!

"Ahem... ah, I see. I'll mention it to the Master in the future, but first I need to see if you have anything valuable here."

Mo Xiaohu's face immediately lit up with joy: "We do, we do! Come inside!"

"I have treasures even the Master hasn't seen! You'll definitely be satisfied!"

With that, he pulled them both inside.

Entering the Firearms Institute, Xie Xian couldn't help but gape at the various oddly-shaped tubes hanging on the walls.

Though he couldn't understand what they were, the objects on the wall clearly had a special aesthetic.

He had never experienced such a strange feeling from other objects before.

So he turned to ask Mo Xiaohu: "Were all these things on the wall made by the Firearms Institute?"

Mo Xiaohu shook his head and looked at the wall: "These things are what the Master saw in his dreams. He said he was afraid of forgetting, so he had us make models."

"They're actually just iron shells."

Then Mo Xiaohu pointed at the items on the wall: "This is called Taoyuan Eagle, this is Method 47, this is Fang Zheng's Assault Rifle..."

"This is my favorite!"

"The Master said this thing is called Salvation for All Beings. It can fire a thousand projectiles in the blink of an eye. One person with this equals an army of a hundred thousand!"

"The Master also said if I make it, he'll reward me with a million taels of silver...."

Mo Xiaohu looked at the Gatling gun model, his eyes full of brilliance.

Seeing his expression, Xie Xian was completely speechless.

One dares to say it, another dares to believe it!

"Sigh... but it's just a dream! No one in the Firearms Institute takes these things seriously. We know what we can make! The Master is just having wild fantasies, haha."

Mo Xiaohu laughed: "Come! Let me show you the real treasures!" With that, he took down a plain-looking long gun from the bottom row of the wall.

"This gun is called a matchlock! Put a paper-wrapped iron ball into the barrel, use a match rope to ignite the gunpowder, and it can shoot the projectile to kill enemies."

"Its power is immense! Its display impressive! It's like thunder in sound, lightning in force! If used in battle formations...."

Zhao Lie's eyes showed a hint of disdain: "Stop boasting. That thing injured our brothers and has a range of at most seventy paces, plus it's wildly inaccurate, far inferior to bows and arrows."

"I came this time because we have an important mission to protect Mr. Xie. Bring out your repeating hand cannon!"

Mo Xiaohu's face flashed with shame as he defended himself: "But Mr. Xie just arrived! I need to introduce things step by step. Next we have the second-generation flintlock..."

"Your second generation also injured our brothers. Hurry up!" Zhao Lie pressed.

Xie Xian looked at the two with uncertainty, moving closer to Zhao Lie and whispering: "Maybe... we should just go back? I think I'd be quite safe with just you all!"

From the looks of things, they weren't bringing him protective gear but trying to blow him up!

"Ah~ Mr. Xie! Since we're already here!" Zhao Lie insisted.