Jin Feng stared intently at the Ninth Princess. She did not react with the shyness most women would show, but met his gaze calmly, her eyes steady and unruffled.
She was as composed as if Jin Feng had merely asked whether the meat soup tasted good, not whether she had orchestrated the ambush of the Tubo envoy.
After a moment, the Ninth Princess spoke softly. “Master is indeed formidable. You saw through Wuyang’s little trick at a glance.”
“No, Your Highness is the formidable one!”
Jin Feng suppressed the shock in his heart and gave her a thumbs-up. “To provoke war between two nations yet remain so calm and collected!”
“Master, do you believe there was any other choice?”
The Ninth Princess leaned back, her face full of bitterness. “Tubo has made it clear they want annual tribute. The court nobles and ministers all have their own calculations, and my imperial father is soft-hearted. There is every chance he would agree.
The tribute to Xixia and Khitan alone is already crushing the common people. Adding tribute to Tubo would make life utterly unbearable for them!”
“So Your Highness simply arranged for the Tubo envoy to be ambushed, deliberately triggering war?” Jin Feng said. “Your Highness, you are gambling with Great Kang’s very fate!”
“What else could be done?”
The Ninth Princess said helplessly. “Your earlier prediction was correct, Master. Ever since the court decided to raise taxes and collect the autumn levy, three peasant rebellions have already broken out in Lu and Yu provinces these past few months.
We must gamble. A gamble at least offers a chance to turn defeat into victory. If we do nothing, Tubo will certainly become the final straw that breaks the camel’s back. Great Kang will truly be finished!”
Jin Feng nodded slightly. He had to admit the princess was right, and she was being completely sincere.
By telling him all this, she was truly opening her heart.
“What does Your Highness plan to do next?” Jin Feng asked.
“Strike first while Tubo is still unprepared!”
The Ninth Princess said coldly. “Otherwise the situation will remain entirely within Tubo’s calculations, and Great Kang will only sink deeper into the abyss step by step!”
“Striking first to disrupt Tubo’s plans, Your Highness is right to do so.”
Jin Feng nodded slightly and asked, “Do you have any confidence of victory?”
“As you said, Master, I have already staked Great Kang’s fate. We must fight even without certainty!”
The Ninth Princess continued, “Of course, if Master were willing to help, our chances would be far greater.”
“Your Highness flatters me too much!” Jin Feng quickly waved his hand.
He had joined battles before only to earn a title. Now that he had his barony, if it were not necessary, he truly did not wish to wade into these murky waters.
It was not fear of Tubo, but rather that the princess was currently concealing everything from the court and privately starting a war between two nations.
Even if they won, afterwards the court could very well hold her accountable.
At worst, heads would roll.
“Wuyang speaks from the heart!”
The Ninth Princess said, “I heard that at the Jinchuan ferry crossing, Master once used a weapon called a fire-gun to kill an assassin. If Master would provide Wuyang with sufficient fire-guns, Wuyang is confident we can win this war!”
“So that is what you were waiting for?”
Jin Feng suddenly understood and glanced up at Qing Mulan.
He felt no blame towards her.
Too many people had seen him use the fire-gun that day. It could not be kept secret. Even if Qing Mulan had said nothing, the princess would still have found out.
Jin Feng unfastened the fire-gun from his waist and placed it on the table.
“Is this the fire-gun?”
The Ninth Princess looked up at Qing Mulan.
“Yes,” Qing Mulan nodded. “That day Master used this very weapon to kill the Xixia spy.”
“Master, how powerful is the fire-gun?”
“Once loaded with iron shot, within a hundred paces there is no avoiding it,” Jin Feng said confidently.
“May Master demonstrate?”
“The fire-gun is far too loud. One shot and the entire village would come running to see what happened.”
Jin Feng shook his head. “Besides, there is little point. I do not yet have the ability to mass-produce fire-guns. More than half the parts in this one I ground and polished myself bit by bit. It took far too long.”
Hearing this, disappointment appeared on the Ninth Princess’s face.
No matter how powerful, if it could not be produced, what use was it?
“Master, what do you need to achieve mass production? Name anything!”
The Ninth Princess said stubbornly. “This palace will rob if necessary to obtain whatever Master requires!”
“Too many things are needed!”
Jin Feng said helplessly. “Most of all, I need time!”
Although he had been working hard to improve smelting techniques, everything had to be started from scratch. The amount of work was enormous.
Rome was not built in a day. Every task required time.
The fire-gun on the table was what would later be called a flintlock.
Its mechanism involved fixing a piece of flint at the base of the barrel. Gunpowder and projectiles such as iron shot or steel balls were loaded in sequence.
When the trigger was pulled, the flint struck and ignited the powder, the explosion propelling the shot out of the barrel.
This type of fire-gun was simple to make, cheap, and had a wide killing radius. In his previous life, right up until Jin Feng could remember, village hunters still used flintlock shotguns for hunting.
But Great Kang’s metallurgy was too primitive. Just solving the problem of barrels bursting had cost Jin Feng considerable effort.
To reach mass-production standard, both smelting and lathe technology needed to advance another level.
All of that required time.
Even if he did nothing else and spent twenty-four hours a day in the workshop, Jin Feng could not possibly mass-produce them in such a short period.
In the history of firearms, before the flintlock there had been the matchlock.
Matchlocks were even simpler to manufacture, but they ignited slowly and became useless in rain. Their power was inferior to crossbows.
Therefore Jin Feng had decided to skip matchlocks entirely and work directly on flintlocks.
“If Master needs time, then this palace shall buy time for Master!”
The Ninth Princess stood. “Even if this palace dies on the battlefield, I will defeat Tubo and ensure they dare not covet the Central Plains again for at least ten years!”
“Your Highness intends to take the field personally?” Jin Feng was shocked.
“Great Kang’s soldiers are demoralised at present. If this palace hides behind the lines, victory will be even less likely!”
The Ninth Princess declared, “Wuyang has no path of retreat, nor does Great Kang. In Master’s words: this battle must succeed, or we fight to the death!”
It must be said, Jin Feng was stirred by the princess’s resolve.
He rose and said, “I will immediately inform Mancang to hand over the newest heavy crossbows and trebuchets to Your Highness!”
If possible, he too wished for the princess to win this campaign.
“Wuyang needs not only heavy crossbows and trebuchets. I also wish to invite Master to come out of retirement!”
The Ninth Princess bowed deeply once more. “Wuyang wishes to appoint Master temporarily as commander of my personal guard. I earnestly hope Master will agree!”
“Commander of the personal guard?” Jin Feng’s heart stirred.
According to Great Kang law, imperial princes and princesses within the capital could maintain only one hundred personal guards.
But when a prince was sent out to his fief, he could establish three battalions, each up to one thousand strong.
Princesses, though granted fewer privileges, could still form one battalion to help govern their territory.
Escort agencies, though also armed organisations, faced many restrictions.
For example, they were not permitted to wear armour.
Strictly speaking, by law they were not even allowed to carry weapons inside city walls.
The garrison troops around Guangyuan had simply turned a blind eye out of respect for the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
In the capital itself, escort agents would be thoroughly searched and forced to leave weapons outside the city.
If he became commander of the princess’s guard, Jin Feng could equip his men however he wished.
Even without firearms for now, just the armour hidden on the back hill, plus a batch of warhorses purchased from the north, combined with escort agents who had trained for over half a year, he could quickly form a formidable force!
Yet once he accepted, he would be completely tied to the princess’s war chariot. There would be no getting off midway.
Jin Feng did not agree immediately. Instead he slowly sat back down again, lost in thought.
