"Zhao checked, has the gold thief retreated?"
Zhao Huan's voice was a little hoarse when he asked. These days, he is really worried about the country and the people. His body bones are almost broken by worry, his eyes are sunken, his cheekbones are protruding, and his face is pale and has no color at all. , it looks like he has not slept for days and nights, working overtime to worry about the country and the people.
Moreover, he seemed a little confused, and he actually called Zhao Mingcheng "Zhao Kaifeng." But Zhao Mingcheng didn't understand it yet, so he heard it as "Zhao Jianjian"... Who is this "Zhao Jianjian"? Why did the officials admit the wrong person?
Thinking of this, Zhao Mingcheng smiled and said: "In the official family, the minister is not Zhao Jianjian, the minister is Zhao Mingcheng."
Still denying it... Zhao Huan laughed a few times: "I admitted my mistake... Yes, Zhao Qing, I ask you, did the gold thief retreat?"
"Retreat, retreat!" Zhao Mingcheng said with a smile, "We can't tolerate Wanyan Wushu not retreating! The naval artillery fleet led by Li Youshu personally arrived at Mopankou on the 28th of the first lunar month... There are a hundred warships equipped with cannons, and 50,000 explosive pots are prepared! Starting from the 29th, Li Youshu's cannon ships began to use explosive pots to blast the fortress guarded by the gold thieves! Mopankou is Even if it's made of iron, it can be blown flat!
Once Mopankou is lost, the fleet of Wushu, the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom, will not be able to return to Surabaya! "
"Fifty thousand fried pots..." Zhao Huan took a breath, "How much did it cost?"
"No more, no more," Zhao Mingcheng shook his head, "A bombing pot costs less than two guan, and 50,000 frying kettles only cost 100,000 guan... It is much cheaper than using human life to fill the mouth of the mill plate. ”
Frying a kettle costs less than you think... Such is the power of craftsmanship!
The largest handicraft industry in the Song Dynasty was actually coining money. The production scale of Qianjian in the Song Dynasty was not comparable to industries such as iron salting, salt boiling, porcelain making, and silk weaving. The concentration of money supervisors is extremely high. There are more than a dozen supervisors across the country, with an annual output of several million copper coins...that is, billions of coins!
In the 12th century, there was no larger handicraft workshop than this!
After the Privy Council of the Southern Song Dynasty learned the secret of the fried pot, they immediately ordered the Shengzhou Qianjian in Jinling to switch to the production of fried pots. There was no need for the Shengzhoujian to produce beautiful pots. It didn't matter if they were crudely made, as long as they didn't leak. It doesn't matter if it leaks, just melt a little tin and you can fix it.
Therefore, the craftsmen of Shengzhou Prison divided the frying pot into more than a dozen parts, cast them in batches, and then used lead soldering and tin soldering to weld these parts together.
In order to pursue progress, Shengzhou Supervisor also outsourced part of the welding business to craftsmen in Jinling, Suzhou, Jiangdu and other places, so within a few months 100,000 copper pots were produced!
However, the gunpowder produced by the ordnance supervisors of the Southern Song Dynasty was not very satisfactory... The purity of the fire salt produced by the blacksmiths of the Southern Song Dynasty varied from high to low, and the gunpowder makers did not know the correct formula, let alone Talking about granulated black powder. Therefore, the gunpowder they produced was very erratic. Sometimes it was very powerful, and sometimes it failed to explode.
It is not possible to use this kind of gunpowder as propellant - the amount of propellant must be precise. Adding too little will reduce the effective range, and adding too much will explode the chamber! But filling the inside of the frying kettle is not a big problem...the big problem is to add a little more, so that you can guarantee that it will explode!
And this kind of crudely made explosive pot was really the best weapon for the Southern Song Dynasty who had the ability to make money! It is such a pity that it was not invented in history... Now, the officials and civil servants of the Southern Song Dynasty who have figured out the secret of "gunpowder becomes violent when it meets copper" and trained 100,000 elite armored soldiers are a little bloated. !
Zhao Jiandian and Zhao Mingcheng were one of them. After reporting the price of the fried pot, he turned the topic to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. "The officials, General Manager Zhang, Xue Chengzhi and Li Youshu all submitted memorials, suggesting that the imperial court send heavenly troops to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. !”
"This, is it about the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains?" Zhao Huan looked gloomy and said to himself: In the past, Huan Wen and Liu Yu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty used the Northern Expedition to gain popularity, and then did disobedient things! Do you, Zhao Jiandian, also want to learn from Huan Wen and Liu Yu?
"Yes!" Zhao Mingcheng nodded and said, "Now is a good opportunity for the Northern Expedition... The gold thieves' army confronted the imperial court and the emperor's brother's army along the Hebei, Hedong, Jingdong and Huaihe Rivers, and along the coasts of Liaodong and Shandong The area must be empty.
The imperial army could march northward by sea, or go via Goryeo, or go directly to the coastal areas of Denglai and Denglai... They did not seek to win in one battle, but only sought to wear out the enemy after a long battle. As long as the gold thief's men and horses can be moved back and forth between Hedong, Hebei, Jingdong, Huaibei, Denglai, and Liaodong without any rest or respite, they will naturally be dragged into a tired army over time. When that time comes, it will be easy for me to lead 200,000 elite troops to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and regain the lands of Hebei and Jingdong! "
Easy? Zhao Huanxin said: When you regain the land of Jingdong and return to court, pretend to sleep outside Jinling City. When you wake up, you will have an extra piece of yellow clothes on your body... It will be easy!
Although Zhao Huan was full of suspicion, he did not dare to show his suspicion on his face. He had to keep his face low and figure it out slowly...
Zhao Mingcheng saw that Zhao Huan was silent, but his brows were frowning more and more tightly, and there was still a murderous look on his pale face that was not very scary, so he knew that he was worried about the emperor's brother again.
So Zhao Mingcheng said to Zhao Huan: "In the official family, the confrontation between the north and the south since ancient times has always been that the north is better than the south, and the Central Plains is better than the south of the Yangtze River. If the imperial court wants to defeat the emperor's brother, it must at least capture the younger brother of Jingdong, so as to avoid sitting in the east of the river. What a danger!”
There is another Zhao Kai!
Zhao Huan is a little desperate...there are too many rebellious officials and traitors!
He thought for a while and said: "We should wait until King Su and Yu Wenxuzhong return from Luoyang to talk about the Northern Expedition... The top priority now is to restore the lost territory in Huainan first, and then strengthen various dangerous locations. But We can’t let the golden thief cross the river again!”
"No more." Zhao Mingcheng said with a smile, "The officials can rest assured... We have the advantage of exploding pots, and the fortresses on both sides of the Huaihe River will be foolproof. If we can use sea boats to pass through Korea again, we can attack Liaodong." , patrolling Denglai, the gold thieves will be like a thorn on the back, where is the remaining strength to cross the Huaihe River and go south?"
Zhao Huan laughed a few times: "That's good! It's been some time since I arrived in Jiangdu. When all the land in Huainan is restored, it's time for me to return to Jinling. You guys can make arrangements."
"I accept the decree."
...
When Zhao Huan was preparing to return to Jinling, Zhao Kai was quietly leaving Luoyang under the cover of night.
Although he left the 10,000-man Selected Front Army led by Dong Jingan to guard Luoyang, he still had to hide his whereabouts as much as possible to prevent Yanjing's Wanyan Wu Qimai from suddenly launching an attack after getting the news.
At the north gate of Luoyang Imperial City (Luoyang Imperial City is at the northwest corner of Luoyang City, and you exit the city through the north gate of the Imperial City), Zhao Kai said to Lu Yihao, Zong Ze, He Guan, Wang Yuan and others who came to see him off: " Today, there is a stalemate between the three kingdoms in the world. Similar situations also occurred in the Three Kingdoms of the Later Han Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties... The stalemate is not easy to break, and it is often beneficial to defense but not offensive.
Fortunately, I still have some sharp weapons in my hand that were not available in previous generations, such as clay pot cannons and black powder... But now it still takes time to form an army, and then I can defeat the barbarians in one fell swoop and regain the lost territory. Before this, I will not fight on the frontal battlefield, but I will find ways to disrupt the enemy's rear. And you must stabilize the rear for me and don't get into chaos yourself! At this time, the competition is not only about strength, but also about endurance... Whoever can endure it will be able to dominate the world! "
One has golden fingers, one has the ability to make money, and the other has barbarians who are very capable of fighting...and there are a lot of them, so it is very fast to dominate the world within five to ten years!
"I understand that I must guard the rear for Your Majesty!"
"Don't worry, officials. With us here in Luoyang, everything will be safe!"
"I am waiting for you in Luoyang, so your Majesty can rest assured..."
"Your Majesty, I will do my best to ensure that nothing happens..."
Lu Yihao, Zong Ze, He Guan, and Wang Yuan all pledged their support to Zhao Kai. Zhao Kai nodded with satisfaction, then took the reins and disappeared into the night, escorted by hundreds of Yulin cavalry and twenty or thirty female squadrons!
On the same night, Wushu, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, and Wulimei, the fifteenth prince of the Jin Dynasty, led the army and walked slowly along the Surabaya River... Their southern expedition had "ended victoriously".
Although many people died, a lot of property was also stolen. It cannot be said that nothing was gained. But the strength displayed by the Southern Song Dynasty's army in this battle still made the two of them very worried.
What Jin Wushu is worried about is that it will be harder and harder to grab things in the future... and there is also the possibility of being counter-robbed! Wulimei, on the other hand, is worried about the "death of the big counselor".
The "Real Song Dynasty" that has been cowarded for more than 160 years is gone now! There are only two countries left that carry the banner of the Song Dynasty, but practice the methods of the Han and Tang Dynasties to tyrannize the Qin... If things go on like this, the chaos of the Five Dynasties will probably come to the world again.
And what should he do about another thing that gives Wuli Mei a headache? Obviously he cannot be the king of the Song Dynasty, but is there really a place for him in the Jin Kingdom?
Just thinking about it makes me anxious!
"Wuli sister!" Jin Wushu suddenly spoke and broke the silence at this time, "You can't become the Lord of Jiangdong... But you are still the king of the Zhao family after all, and there are tens of thousands of people willing to follow you. , you might as well lead them to attack Songzhou. If you can capture Songzhou, then a certain family will ask the emperor for a decree and make you the king of Songzhou, with Songzhou, Xuzhou, Shanzhou, Suzhou, Bozhou, Haizhou, Huaiyang Army, Lianshui Army, a total of six states and two armies!"
The matter proposed by Jin Wushu was actually discussed long ago... If Wu Limei cannot win the position of the crown prince of the Song Dynasty, then let him be the king of the Song Dynasty. Then seal him the land on Jingdong Road bordering the Southern Song Dynasty and Northern Song Dynasty - this land has been ravaged by the Yellow River and there is really not much money to scrape, so just let Wuli Mei take over!
"In addition," Jin Wushu said again, "I will act as a matchmaker for you and the Seventh Princess. From now on, you will be both the Han people's King of Song and my golden sword consort!"
