Chapter 98: It Ended Before It Even Began

After all, in everyone's mind, the Three-Eyed Gun was the most advanced firearm.

Whether fighting against the previous dynasty or engaging in battle with Guo Zixing or Chen Youliang, this Three-Eyed Gun had performed miraculous feats.

It could be said that in their view, the Three-Eyed Gun had been tested by the fires of war.

Now that Zhu Gaoxu had come up with something called the Daming Gun, although the name sounded good, none of these people were optimistic about its effectiveness.

This was not just the sentiment of the many ministers; even the reason Hu Weiyong had such great confidence was precisely because of this.

After all, he was not a prime minister from a time of peace; no matter what, he had followed Lao Zhu and fought his way out from the side of the Red Turban Army.

Hu Weiyong fancied himself as knowing the power of the Three-Eyed Gun, so he felt not the slightest bit of trepidation when facing Zhu Gaoxu.

And Zhu Gaoxu likely knew what these people were thinking; today, he was holding a small knife and aiming it at the backsides of this crowd of ministers—he had to make a cut to open their eyes.

Thinking this, Zhu Gaoxu said directly to Lao Zhu: "This place is only twenty paces from that target; the distance is too close, and the power of the Daming Gun cannot be seen at all, so this grandson requests that Imperial Grandfather issue an order to move that Daming Gun to two hundred paces!"

Never mind what Lao Zhu said upon hearing these words, the ministers were all shocked in their hearts when they heard this from Zhu Gaoxu.

How could he dare!

Actually, one cannot blame these ministers for not believing; if it were anyone else who had not seen the advanced technology of later generations, no one would have thought of it.

After all, in their impression, the Three-Eyed Gun was the best firearm.

And while the Three-Eyed Gun was said to have a shooting range of thirty paces, its effective shooting range was only about twenty paces.

Beyond thirty paces, who knew where the lead pellets inside would drift off to.

By seventy or eighty paces, it had no power at all.

If the enemy wore heavy armor, the effect would be even more discounted.

Yet Zhu Gaoxu started by increasing the distance to two hundred paces, which was ten times the distance of the Three-Eyed Gun in one go.

And it was not even calculated like that.

With this thing called a firearm, adding even one pace was extremely difficult; the further the distance, the more difficult it became.

One had to ensure not only the power but also its accuracy.

The difficulty of this could be imagined!

Some ministers even felt at this moment that if Zhu Gaoxu's Daming Gun really hit the target at two hundred paces and the power was also decent, then there would be no need to compete in the remaining events.

At this time, Hu Weiyong's hands were tightly clenched, and without realizing it, his palms had already broken out in sweat.

It must be said that in recent years, nothing had happened that could make him, as the Prime Minister, so nervous.

Facing this request from Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally had no reason not to grant it, so he immediately waved his hand, and Eunuch Li behind him understood Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning at once.

Subsequently, he began to order people to move the target.

This move brought misery to the old soldier who was supposed to fire the Three-Eyed Gun.

At this moment, he did not know whether to fire or not to fire.

If he fired, he knew it was impossible to hit the target; if he did not fire, with so many ministers and the Emperor watching, standing there like a fool was truly unjustifiable.

But Zhu Gaoxu did not care about that.

Seeing that the people had set the target, Zhu Gaoxu did not say a word, raised the gun, and fired.

Then he did not stop, continued to load ammunition, and fired three shots in succession before his time was up.

And by this time, everyone present no longer had the energy to pay attention to that old soldier.

Everyone was staring silently at the target Zhu Gaoxu had hit.

Some impatient military officers even urged for the target report, looking as if they wished they could run over and see for themselves.

And the little eunuch reporting the target was also under unprecedented pressure; under the gaze and urging of the crowd of ministers and Lao Zhu, he ran quickly toward Zhu Gaoxu's target.

When he had run to within four or five paces of the target, the eunuch began to shout loudly: "Three shots hit the target, three shots pierced the target."

While speaking, the eunuch ran to the side of the target, then lifted the target up and ran back toward the crowd.

As he ran, he shouted: "Three shots hit the target, three shots pierced the target."

At first, the crowd did not hear it very clearly.

Some ministers were still harboring hopes.

But as the eunuch got closer and closer, the sound became clearer and clearer.

Finally, the eunuch's voice was clear enough for everyone present to hear.

At this moment, Hu Weiyong's body swayed, and he almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, there were ministers nearby looking after him, who grabbed Hu Weiyong and held him steady, which prevented Hu Weiyong from making a fool of himself.

And at this time, everyone no longer had the energy to pay attention to Hu Weiyong.

Everyone's mind was filled with disbelief.

One must know that the back of this target was specially wrapped with the leather used to make leather armor.

And since this Daming Gun could pierce this target, it meant that piercing leather armor was not a problem.

And if the distance were closer, breaking through heavy armor would also not be a problem.

For a time, the ministers had different thoughts, and the scene fell silent for a moment.

And that old soldier also heard the eunuch's voice, so he put back the Three-Eyed Gun he had just picked up.

It was clear he intended to give up.

How could one compete with this?

Compared to Zhu Gaoxu's Daming Gun, this Three-Eyed Gun was clearly just a lump of iron.

And Zhu Yuanzhang clearly heard the eunuch's shouting at this time, so he immediately bowed his head and called out the word "Good" three times in a row.

And at this time, the crowd of ministers also reacted and hurriedly knelt down to begin flattering Lao Zhu.