Zhao Shizhen was greatly surprised by Ji Xiang's words: "So you were introduced by Celestial Master Zhang. Please come in, sir. My humble abode is simple and will be inadequate in hosting you."

"It's no matter."

He invited Ji Xiang in, and the foreign bearded man retreated to the side. Zhao Shizhen hurriedly introduced, "This is Dusi Ma, the envoy of the Rum Country, a friend of mine who resides in Shuntian."

The foreign bearded man also saluted Ji Xiang, explaining that he should have been paying respects to the Wanli Emperor, but there had been too many affairs in Shuntian recently. Not only foreign envoys like himself but also officials of the country were subject to certain travel restrictions, so he was temporarily unable to see the Wanli Emperor and could only stay at home with Zhao Shizhen to study firearms.

Rum Country was Turkey.

Ji Xiang explained his intentions to Zhao Shizhen, saying that he wanted to see Zhao Shizhen's firearm research results. Zhao Shizhen wanted to say that firearms were forbidden to be held by anyone outside the Ministry of War, but seeing Ji Xiang covered in ordnance, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you, not to steal your achievements."

"Your Excellency misunderstands me, I didn't mean that at all."

Zhao Shizhen wiped his sweat and invited Ji Xiang into the house. There were many dangerous items placed in the room, and as soon as he entered, Ji Xiang saw a "gun" placed on the work desk.

In terms of appearance, it had completely broken away from the category of hand cannons. The gun barrel was very slender.

"This is called the Rumi Gun, weighing eight pounds and seven feet long. The firing mechanism is inside the breech. It drops with a pinch, the fire reignites, and there is a steel blade at the end of the breech, which can be used as a horse-chopping sword if enemies approach."

Zhao Shizhen explained to Ji Xiang and told him that among bird guns, the Rumi Gun was the farthest and most deadly.

"Matchlock!"

Seeing this musket, Ji Xiang really couldn't put it down. Compared with the pile of Fire-Gate series weapons he was equipped with, he only had a Five Thunder Divine Engine matchlock, and the Five Thunder Divine Engine was not as advanced as this real matchlock.

Zhao Shizhen told Ji Xiang that he was writing a memorial suggesting that the Wanli Emperor manufacture this foreign bird gun. He also showed Ji Xiang a draft of his *Manual of Divine Arms*, which was not yet complete but already recorded many types of firearms, including the oldest "Gatling gun" – the Swift Thunder Cannon.

However, these things were still in the conceptual stage and had not been manufactured.

As soon as these drafts entered Ji Xiang's hands, Ji Xiang immediately felt a strong sense of desire. Under the influence of these desires, the firearms he was wearing actually reacted.

This surprised Ji Xiang a bit. According to Elder Lei Xuan's statement to Liu Mengyin, apart from books about gods and ghosts, ordinary books, even if they had desires, were not strong, and normal books generally did not have desires at all.

The formation of this situation is still unclear, but Zhao Shizhen's un-bound manuscript actually has such a strong desire?

Moreover, this book has not been widely circulated, has not been blessed by the desires of the people, and has no help from Western methods. Where did the desires in this book come from?

Perhaps there are exceptions to everything?

Ji Xiang grabbed this part of the desire, drew out a wisp, and then directly and familiarly devoured it.

The desire entered his body and was immediately eaten by the blank divine tablet.

As for the explanation of the result, it came out quickly.

[Desire of Divine Arms: Firearms are the best tools of military preparation, and their use is the most wonderful, and their power the most divine! Firearms have the advantages of destroying the strong and breaking through the sharp, and the use of restraining and controlling the sudden charge. All the so-called five weapons of ancient times bow down before them, so the weapon is divinized to express its esteem and difference!]

[Yin and Yang Qiankun conjure up divine objects. Gunpowder is a masterpiece of alchemy. Firearms can kill and destroy countries, subdue demons and slay ghosts. They are divine weapons of supreme Yang, supreme strength, supreme power, and supreme ferocity. This manuscript writes about firearms, resonating with all the firearms used in the Ming Dynasty. When the book is completed, all the desires (desires of the people) of those who have used firearms in the Ming Dynasty will bless this book.]

[The desire of divine arms born from the desires of the people will bless three kinds of power.]

[Divine Might Qian Fire: When using firearms, reciting "Zhu Rong is in command, Taiyi is about to lead; Thunder booms the whale, lightning sweeps the sky wolf!", you can use the desire of divine arms to bless, draw the desires of the people, double the power of the firearm you are holding, and objects of the Yin category cannot defend!]

[Fear of the Five Weapons: When firearms confront cold weapons, and the opponent has no firearms, the power of our firearms is increased three times.]

[Thunder Moves the Wind: Thunder moves the wind, arriving first after starting later, separating and combining, changing unpredictably! When the ammunition of the firearm is exhausted, there is no need for ammunition, consume incense, yuan qi, Five Thunder Talismans, etc. as ammunition, and you can continue to fight!]

[After this book is completed, the power of all firearms used by the Ming Dynasty will be generally improved.]

Is this a strengthening-type desire?

Ji Xiang was amazed in his heart, and did not expect that there would be such a situation. The Ming Dynasty valued firearms, so it gathered a large number of desires about firearms, which would bless the person who wrote the book of firearms?

So, this book actually has the desires of the people? It turns out that the way it changes is the same as the book of gods and ghosts.

"Hmm, what's that noise?"

Zhao Shizhen found that there seemed to be some slight creaking, but he couldn't find the source for a while. He looked strangely at the roof beams, muttering that the house wouldn't be about to collapse.

He looked around, while Ji Xiang checked the structure of the musket. Dusi Ma on the side explained, after all, this gun was brought from their country to be given to the Ming Emperor as a tribute.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were many strange weapons. The Ming Dynasty's firearm technology tree was also very chaotic, with two clicks on the east side and three clicks on the west side, without reaching the end.

There were also flintlock-type devices, but the Ming Dynasty put this tech point on landmines.....

The multiple-barreled cannon called "Exterminate the Barbarians Cannon", the Shenhuo Wanquan Iron Surround Tube similar to the original rocket launcher, and the "Mixing Dragon" of the flint and steel friction ignition mine series.

There was also the most bizarre Taiping vehicle, which was made of strong wood into a crescent-shaped cabinet, with the bottom open and stones suspended, two wheels installed on the left and right of the cabinet, and five holes opened in the front, installing five large cannon tubes...... The nature of this thing was a wooden tank.....

All kinds of messy black technologies were available, but they were many and not refined. Ordinary firearms basically stopped at the Fire-Gate series, and being able to reach the Matchlock series was considered advanced. This was the state of firearms in the Ming Dynasty.

Ji Xiang put down the Rumi Gun in his hand, then took paper and put forward a little "small suggestion" for Zhao Shizhen.

Under Ji Xiang's pen, the principle and structure of the flintlock gun were simply written out.

Zhao Shizhen looked at it and shook his head repeatedly: "This won't work, sir. Your breech-loading iron ball musket is just a small imitation of the Franco cannon. This won't work. It can't lock the air and will leak."

The Ming Dynasty had already tested this kind of breech-loading firearm, but it could not progress due to air leakage and still remained at the level of the Franco cannon.

But he looked again and found that Ji Xiang was still writing. In addition to this breech-loading diagram, there was another firearm that he was relatively familiar with but somewhat unfamiliar with. He stared at it, and finally after a while, Ji Xiang handed the finished drawing to Zhao Shizhen, who fell into deep thought.

Dusi Ma was also watching from the side. He tugged at his beard, somewhat surprised.

Breech-loading at this time was not airtight, so the Franco cannon was not as good as the Rumi Gun, but..... Of course, there was also a type of musket before the improvement on the side of this drawing. Compared with the previous wonderful breech-loading firearm, the prototype firearm before the modification in front of him made the two firearm experts exclaim incredible.

"Perhaps, it is feasible! This blueprint is very precious!"

After Ji Xiang put down his pen, he exhaled and said:

"What the Yi barbarians fear most in China is firearms!"