“Ning Chen, Quan Sheng was acting for this emperor’s safety. He hurt you in the heat of the moment. Don’t hold a grudge over it!”
“Here’s what we’ll do. This emperor knows you have wanted to leave the Ning estate for a long time. When you come back from the border, this emperor will grant you a house, a hundred acres of good land and ten thousand taels of gold. How would that be?”
Ning Chen felt a surge of excitement.
He understood perfectly well that Quan Sheng had been with His Majesty a long time, and that the scolding just now had been staged for his benefit.
Still, if there’s something solid to be scraped out of it, that’s not nothing. Better than walking away empty-handed.
“Your Majesty. And if your subject should happen to die at the border?”
The Xuan Emperor: …?
“What kind of worthless talk is that? Who curses his own life?”
Ning Chen said, entirely serious, “Blades and swords have no eyes. What if? So your subject has an unreasonable request to make.”
The Xuan Emperor said, “Speak!”
“Your Majesty, if by some misfortune your subject doesn’t come back… your subject asks that Your Majesty grant Miss Yudie of the courtesans’ quarter her freedom. The house and the land Your Majesty has promised your subject, give them all to her… and the gold to your subject’s colleagues. Let them divide it up.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened with annoyance. “You’re very good at thinking of other people, aren’t you?”
“Ning Chen. This emperor will not agree to it… On the contrary. If you do not come crawling back alive to see this emperor, then since you care so much about this Miss Yudie, this emperor will send her down to keep you company. The word of a sovereign is not a joke!”
Ning Chen was struck stupid.
“Ning Chen. Remember it. The word of a sovereign is not a joke.”
The Xuan Emperor said it a second time.
Ning Chen’s face screwed itself into a knot, and he said pitifully, “Your Majesty, if you’re going to paint me a pancake, at least give me a sip of water so I can choke the thing down… I’m a poor wretch.”
The Xuan Emperor had no idea what any of that meant, but it sounded impressive. “What are you muttering about?”
“Nothing. Your subject will make every effort to come back alive and see Your Majesty!”
Only then did a smile appear on the Xuan Emperor’s face.
Then his eyes dropped to the musket in Ning Chen’s hands. “Ning Chen. Is this musket easy to make?”
Ning Chen said, “Easy for those who know how. Hard for those who don’t.”
“Speak properly!”
Ning Chen grunted and said, “For your subject it’s very simple… but for anyone else, without understanding the principle, they may forge the parts and still have nothing, because they won’t know how to put them together.”
The Xuan Emperor thought about it. “What would you say to issuing this musket to the soldiers of the Great Xuan?”
“It can absolutely be done… Your Majesty could draw off a portion of the troops, issue every man a musket, and form them into a firearms battalion. That would make them easier to manage as well.”
Ning Chen paused, then went on. “In battle, a firearms battalion has a very strong suppressing effect on cavalry… Cavalry are generally lightly equipped and fast, and defense is their weak point. One volley into them and their order is certain to fall apart. Then our own cavalry charge in and cut them down. Twice the result for half the effort.”
The Xuan Emperor listened with his eyes shining.
Ning Chen bowed over his clasped hands. “Your Majesty, your subject would like to have three thousand muskets made and take them to the border, and try them on the Tuoluo Kingdom’s cavalry.”
The Xuan Emperor narrowed his eyes at Ning Chen. “You cobbled this musket together with the Tuoluo cavalry in mind from the start, didn’t you?”
Ning Chen nodded. “Yes!”
“Good. This emperor grants it!”
Ning Chen was overjoyed. “Thank you, Your Majesty!”
But the Xuan Emperor’s expression turned serious. “Ning Chen. Have you considered… that once this thing gets out, the enemy will make them too, or one falls into their hands, and it becomes a weapon to be used against us.”
“Your subject has already thought of that. Your Majesty, look here!”
Ning Chen took out the drawing.
“Your Majesty, these are all the parts a musket requires…” As he spoke, Ning Chen tore the drawing into several pieces, and went on:
“Your Majesty can take the master craftsmen of the Ministry of War and split them into several teams, each team led by a man Your Majesty trusts, and each team allowed to forge one kind of part only.”
“When all the parts are made, another group of master craftsmen assembles them. If Your Majesty prefers, the assembly crews can also be split into several teams, each responsible for putting together one section of the musket.”
“That way, even if one of the drawings gets out, it doesn’t matter.”
“In fact it wouldn’t matter if the whole thing got out… Give your subject a little time and your subject can build a firearm that hits harder still.”
The Xuan Emperor looked at Ning Chen with his eyes full of approval and satisfaction.
“Ning Chen. Let this emperor have a look at how that little head of yours is put together. So young, and brimming with talent, and full of resource — truly accomplished in letters and arms both… This emperor is very glad you were born in the Great Xuan. Born in an enemy country, you would likely have been the most frightening enemy the Great Xuan ever had.”
Ning Chen turned utterly serious all at once. “Your Majesty is mistaken in that!”
“Oh? Where is this emperor mistaken?”
Ning Chen spoke with great conviction.
“Your Majesty says your subject is accomplished in letters and arms. In truth Your Majesty is the most formidable man under heaven.”
“Your subject is not flattering… The Great Xuan is a land of brilliant people, and men of extraordinary ability are past counting here… but not every one of them is as fortunate as your subject, to be recognized by Your Majesty.”
“If your subject had never met Your Majesty, he would still be poor and beaten down today, would certainly never have made anything of himself, and would have died with his heart full of things unsaid… So the world does not lack for talent. What it lacks is an enlightened sovereign like Your Majesty, with the eyes to see it.”
“As the saying goes — a man will die for the one who truly knows him, and a woman makes herself beautiful for the one who delights in her… Your Majesty has the eyes to see, and found me, and gave me a stage to show what I am… Your subject is grateful to the bone and will carry it in his heart. For Your Majesty your subject would climb a mountain of blades and go down into a sea of fire, would walk through fire and boiling water, and ten thousand deaths would not stop him!”
The smile at the corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth spread by degrees.
He meant to hold it back, but Ning Chen’s flattery had made him feel so thoroughly comfortable that he couldn’t stop himself. He laughed out loud, greatly pleased.
Geng Jing was astonished. It was the first time he had ever seen the Xuan Emperor let his feelings run like that, with no attempt at all to hide his delight.
This boy Ning Chen. Accomplished in letters and arms, and his flattery is on another level entirely.
Eunuch Quan watched Ning Chen out of the corner of his eye, and a sense of danger rose in him. I’m about to lose my place.
In excellent spirits, the Xuan Emperor walked to the dragon throne and sat down. “Ning Chen. This emperor will have the parts made… When it comes to assembly, you’ll have to instruct them.”
Ning Chen said quickly, “Your subject obeys!”
“Ning Chen. Who forged the parts of this musket?”
Ning Chen was about to answer when something struck him as wrong.
To make sure the drawings never get out, His Majesty may well kill the man to close his mouth.
Ning Chen said, “Assembling this musket was no easy business… Your subject went around every blacksmith’s shop in the capital, and for fear the drawings would leak, let each shop forge only one part. Then your subject collected them all and assembled it himself.”
The Xuan Emperor grunted and said, “Very well. You two may withdraw.”
“Your subject withdraws!”
Geng Jing made his bow and was preparing to go when Ning Chen shot a glance at Eunuch Quan and said, “Your Majesty. This musket has one more advantage.”
“Oh? What advantage?”
Ning Chen said, entirely serious, “The advantage is that it hits exactly where you point it… Your Majesty, have Eunuch Quan balance a grape on his head. At a hundred feet, your subject can blow the grape apart with one shot and not harm a hair of Eunuch Quan. Allow your subject to demonstrate for Your Majesty.”
The color went out of Eunuch Quan’s face. Blow the grape apart with one shot? I think what you want to blow apart with one shot is my head.
The corner of Geng Jing’s mouth twitched. This fellow really does hold a grudge. He means to have Eunuch Quan’s life.
Ning Chen looked at Eunuch Quan with a face full of smiles. “Much obliged to you, sir… You may pick a smaller grape. Don’t worry, I have great confidence in my shooting.”
I have great confidence I can blow that dog head of yours apart with one shot, Ning Chen added quietly, to himself.
(End of Chapter 87)