"Siu'er, be good, call him dad! Dad~ Dad~" Yuan Xinei, Ning Ze hugged Liu Xiu, and it was rare to relax.

The one-year-old child has learned to speak. The fleshy Liu Xiu was held in his father's arms and giggled. He followed the vagueness and only learned one word: "Dad~"

However, Ning Ze was also very satisfied. At least he would call him father. He hugged his son and felt the blood connection. Looking at his cute appearance, it seemed that everything else was left behind.

Liu Yuanxiang sat next to her, looking at Ning Ze's appearance, and a warm smile appeared on her face.

"Dad cannot be partial, he must also hug Man'er and Zheng'er!" Chu Meiren, Mi Yan came over with her children in her arms.

"Not biased, no biased!" Ning Ze laughed loudly, handed Liu Xiu carefully to Liu Yuanxiang, and turned to Ning Man and Ning Zheng.

Xiaodie, who was quietly staying in the corner, couldn't help but show an envious expression when she saw this scene. She reached out to touch her lower abdomen and sighed slightly.

When Liu Yuanxiang saw her little movement, she hugged Liu Xiu and gently touched her arm to comfort her with her eyes.

It is rare for a family to take a break from their busy schedules and enjoy family happiness.

A palace maid walked in quickly and knelt down on the ground and saluted respectfully: "Report to the prince, the craftsman, Mao Xi, asked for a visit."

"I know, go there right away!" Ning Ze heard this and reluctantly handed Ning Man and Ning Zheng back to Chu Meiren and Mi Yan respectively. "Mao Xi's request for a meeting must be a matter of the research institute. I will go and take a look first!"

"Let's go together!" Liu Yuanxiang was idle and called her wet nurse and entrust her children to them.

Ning Ze didn't care, so he took his wives to the front hall.

Mao Xi was serious in his work and loyal in others. He was promoted from the Arsenal Order to the Craftsman, and was an auxiliary official who directly belonged to Ning Ze, the "Taiwei".

On the surface, he was in charge of the work of Huajun Arsenal and secretly handled the affairs of the secret research institute for Ningze.

Mao Xi followed several low-ranking officials. When he saw Ning Ze and his wife appear, he quickly bowed and saluted: "I will pay homage to Your Majesty!"

"No!" Liu Yuanxiang nodded.

"Greetings to the prince! Meetings to Taichang, General Wei!"

"No gift!" Ning Ze answered instead, sat down with his wives one after another, looked at Mao Xi and asked, "What's the point of coming here this time?"

"Report to your request, the latest batch of parts will be released. Please check it yourself!" Mao Xi waved his hand, and several low-level officials behind him presented different types of metal parts one after another.

Ning Ze stood up and picked up these parts of different shapes to check carefully. He looked at one and shook his head without any satisfaction.

After reading it all, I rubbed my temples with some headaches.

No need to ask, just look at his expression and know that the requirements have not been met.

Mao Xi quickly bowed and apologized: "I am not good at doing things, please punish me!"

"Please punish me!" The low-ranking officials behind him also bent down to the extreme and lowered their heads to apologize.

"I have been studying these parts for a long time, right?" Ning Ze frowned.

"Report to the prince, you told me to conduct research two years ago. It was because I was incompetent and disappointed my expectations!"

"Forget it!" Ning Ze sighed, "It is indeed difficult to fully meet Gu's requirements with current technology. Not only these, but also musket accessories are stuck at key points, and they are still far from passing the exam! There is no way, no experience is needed to start researching from scratch, Gu himself is only a full score in theory. It seems that he will have to study for a long time and accumulate experience slowly."

"Prince! I think the lack of good craftsmen is the main reason." Mao Xi said, "We are mostly craftsmen who have become monks halfway through the road or have poor craftsmanship, and their abilities are insufficient. So far, we have not recruited a real master of craftsmanship. We have insufficient skills and cannot be compensated by experience alone."

"So I asked you to recruit famous craftsmen at any cost, but there is no movement yet?"

"I am not doing well in my work, please punish me!"

"Hey~ It's not easy to be in a chaotic world!" Ning Ze sighed, "especially the status of craftsmen is not high, and many people live in seclusion to avoid war disasters. Not to mention that the queen of our country is the one who set up in China, it's not your fault. No matter what, we will continue to find ways to improve and strengthen technology in our own research institute. At the same time, we will increase our efforts to search for famous craftsmen."

"Here!"

“Have the Institute’s progress report ever brought?”

"Report to the prince, I have prepared all the things!"

"Report to me."

"Here!"

...

Mao Xi reported to Ning Ze in detail the progress of various researches at the Secret Research Institute, including some solved problems, emerging troubles, and projects that were successfully completed.

Overall, most research has been stuck, the key is that the manufacturing of important parts and accessories does not meet the requirements and the technology is too backward.

Now I can’t do anything, so I can only increase my investment and continue research, and at the same time try to search and recruit real craftsmen to improve the manufacturing level of the Secret Research Institute.

A shortage of people is a very headache problem. It is not just civil officials and military officials, but also in this aspect of development and research.

Ning Ze's head contains a lot of technology, including physics classes, chemistry classes, and knowledge learned from computer networks. As his intelligence improves and reaches its limit, these memories become clearer.

However, in theory, his own hands-on ability is limited. He can only use a secret laboratory to allow craftsmen to conduct research according to his own ideas.

However, the craftsman's skills are not strong enough to meet most requirements, and most of the technologies cannot be realized, which is very distressing.

A famous craftsman! Where is it?

In the vast country, we can’t find a contemporary craftsman with excellent skills?

But it’s useless to be anxious, take your time!

Mao Xi and others retreated, Ning Ze and his wife were quiet for a while, and Liang Wu hurried over: "Chengzhou urgently reported secretly to Your Majesty!"

"Emergency secret report?" Liu Yuanxiang waved his hand, and Xiaodie immediately stepped forward to take the official document from Liang Wu and delivered it to her.

After removing the fire paint and opening the secret letter, Liu Yuanxiang showed a strange expression after reading it, and her eyes fell on Ning Ze.

"What?" Ning Ze asked in confusion when he saw her eyes strange.

"You can see it yourself!" Liu Yuanxiang handed over the secret letter.

Ning Ze took the letter, and the beautiful Chu, Mi Yan came to her side and looked around curiously.

"Officials in the twenty-six counties of Dageng County received the order of King Danyang to impose taxes and exploit the people. The people complained and felt miserable..." Ning Ze was very surprised when he saw the content.

This is a letter of love from a private person, sent by the magistrate of Yi'an County, Dageng County, Chengzhou, to express his love to the Queen Liu Yuanxiang, hoping to cancel the additional tax and relieve the pressure on the local people.

Seeing Liu Yuanxiang and Chu Beauty, Mi Yan looked at her in confusion. Ning Ze frowned and said, "I have never given such a ridiculous order!"

"That's right," Chu Meiren thought carefully, "My husband has always attached importance to people's livelihood and focuses on policies that benefit the people. How could he destroy his own policies and order the people to exploit them?"

"The question is why the twenty-six counties of Dageng County levy taxes at the same time, and this secret letter indicates that it was the husband's order!" Liu Yuanxiang frowned.

"There must be something strange about this matter!" Ning Ze said, "If it is not resolved in time, the hearts of the people of Dageng County will be severely damaged."

"I immediately ordered to send someone to Chengzhou."

"Wait!" Ning Ze waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, let Fei Ge pass the letter to Da Geng County, and let me know the specific situation first."

So he ordered people to secretly contact the prefect of Dageng County in the name of Liu Yuanxiang to learn about the whole story.

A few days later, he received a reply saying that Ning Ze, the king of Danyang, arrived in Dageng County a few days ago, and thoroughly investigated the violations of local officials' discipline. At the same time, on the grounds of preparing military funds, officials from all counties were required to pay huge amounts of funds. The officials of each county had not much silver in stock, so in order to meet the requirements, they could only add taxes to the people.

Ning Ze and his wife looked confused. Dagen County said that he was still a guest at the prefect's office and was waiting for the funds to be raised. However, Ning Ze did not leave Hua County at all and stayed at home. How could he appear in Chengzhou?

This matter is so strange that it is simply inconceivable.

"Husband, what's going on?" Liu Yuanxiang asked curiously.

Ning Ze closed his eyes and thought of a possibility: "Can someone pretend to be an orphan and do such an amazing thing?"

"But the prefect of Dageng County once went to Hua County and met his husband in person." Chu Meiren said, "He must have recognized his husband, so how could he be deceived by fakes?"

"Yes! So this matter is very strange." Ning Ze couldn't figure it out either.

"If someone pretends to be his husband and does such a thing, if he does not deal with it in time, he will definitely ruin his reputation!" Liu Yuanxiang said.

Ning Ze said: "The reputation of the Lord is not good, so it doesn't matter. But such a strange thing may affect the hearts of the people of Dageng County and even cause unimaginable bad consequences. We must deal with it quickly before it gets bigger!"

"What do you think of husband?" Liu Yuanxiang asked.

"First of all, this matter cannot be made public." Ning Ze said after careful consideration, "There are only a few of us who know about it now. If the ministers in the court find out, the faction that supports you is likely to use this as an excuse to cause trouble for the orphans. If the enemy country knows it carefully, it will definitely fan the flames and create chaos. The people are ignorant and their emotions are out of control, and it will easily be incited, which will become a more troublesome scene of civil strife. Therefore, the news must be suppressed and not leaked, and the matter must be handled secretly."

"Who did I send?"

Ning Ze thought carefully and said to her: "It's better to go there personally! If someone goes there, a negligence may lead to unimaginable consequences. Furthermore, if someone pretends to be an orphan, it is extraordinary that he can deceive officials from Dageng County. However, it must be kept confidential. Gu will secretly leave the city and go to Dageng County. In addition to relevant people, any non-essential person, even the confidant, must be concealed."

"Then you bring more people!" Liu Yuanxiang said quickly, "If you encounter danger along the way..."

"No!" Ning Ze shook his head, "There are many people you bring, and it is easy to be exposed. Gu wants to secretly go to Dageng County to find out the truth in secret. If he reveals his legs in the middle, he will break the plan! Don't worry about Gu's safety. With Gu's martial arts and a body of magic, who dares to make a rash?"

"You have to take personal help and protect your husband at the same time!"

"I'll go?" Mi Yan stood up.

"Zheng'er is learning to speak now. My father is not here and my mother is not here, so it's not suitable!" Ning Ze touched Ning Zheng's head, "Let's do it! Let Er Niang accompany her, she has martial arts skills, which is not inferior to Yan'er."

"Okay!" Liu Yuanxiang nodded, "Xiaodie, come find Ernie."

"Here!"
Chapter completed!