Da Wei Chun

Chapter 691 Plan ahead
After setting up Li Shixian's whereabouts, Li Chengzhi pondered again: "It has been nearly three months since more than ten thousand people were sent to Qilian Mountain and Heli Mountain in early April. I don't know how much stone and sulfur the Jincao (Arsenal) reserves?"

As soon as he mentioned sulfur, Li Shiliang suddenly became energetic: "As of yesterday, there were more than 1 catties of rough ore transported to the city. After being handed over to Li Liang (Jin Cao's chief), [-]% of them have been refined into medicine. Four thousand catties, the remaining nearly four thousand catties of raw ore, and more than a thousand catties of medicine..."

After such a calculation, wouldn't there be more than [-] catties of patented medicine?
All of a sudden, Li Chengzhi's spirit was revived, and he was quite inconceivable: "Why are there so many? I asked my uncle last month, and he said that the rough ore was less than [-] catties, and the finished medicine was only more than [-] catties. How many times?"

Li Shiliang said suspiciously: "In the first ten days, I submitted the memorial alone. Chengxian (son of Li Shiliang) found a large mine in Linsong, and he could mine a thousand catties of rough ore a day. Did the Duke not notice?"

Present?

Li Chengzhi glanced at the almost mountain of paperwork on the desk, let out a long sigh, and patted his forehead again.

Gunpowder is the secret of Xihai's secrets, and the only ones who know the inside story are Li Chengzhi, Li Liang, and Li Shiliang.Even Li Shiliang was ignorant. He only knew that gunpowder was formulated with fire nitrate, sulfur, willow charcoal, etc., but he didn't know the specific formula.

Afraid of being coveted by someone with a heart, Li Chengzhi lied that he was preparing wound medicine, whether it was making nitrate or mining sulfur, and carried it into and out of the warehouse.

Even when it was given to Li Chengzhi, it was also mixed with civil submissions or face-to-face performances.

Li Chengzhi is busy with all kinds of affairs, and he is too busy to touch the ground. In addition, now is the time when the war is stalemate, he naturally puts more emphasis on military affairs than civil affairs, so it is true as Li Shiliang said, and he has never paid attention to it.

He rummaged through it for a while, and found a memorandum half a month ago. When he opened it, it was exactly as Li Shiliang said: Li Chengxian found a large mine in Linsong, and he could mine more than [-] catties a day.

However, there were only a few words, neither marked in red nor secretly marked, and Li Chengzhi didn't read them carefully at all.

After a little calculation, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Among the gunpowder, the amount of sulfur is the least, accounting for only [-]%, but it is the most rare. Based on the existing conditions, the raw ore can only be mined from the mountains, and then refined and purified.

Like fire nitrate, as long as there are livestock, as long as there are people, energy can be continuously extracted from urine, and charcoal is even more readily available.

But now that there are [-] catties of sulfur medicine, at least [-] catties of gunpowder can be prepared.

It sounds like a lot, but it's actually less than one-tenth of what I've consumed in the past few months.

In the two battles between Nanmen Pass and Shanshan Town, Huangfu Rang consumed 30 catties of gunpowder, Li Liangyu Po Tianzhu of Salt Lake, and Li Fengyu Daqi defeated Rouran's army, each consumed nearly [-] catties.

Only in this way can the army of the West Sea be as powerful as a broken bamboo, invincible and victorious in successive battles.

If the [-] catties of gunpowder were made into blooming bombs, at three catties per bomb, it would only be seven or eight thousand pieces, and the remaining half of the gunpowder would be reserved as a primer for firing shells.

But only under the command of Huangfu and Li Liang, the Suppressing Barbarian Cannon is enough to have a thousand squats, which can be converted into seven or eight rounds for each squat.If it is a big battle like Nanmenguan and Shanshan Town, it will be used up in less than half an hour.

Fortunately, the current imperial court has been frightened into a frightened bird. Moreover, Li Chengzhi has no intention of breaking through the Longshan Mountains, let alone invading Guanzhong. few.

If the imperial court counterattacks, Xihai has a strong city to rely on, and it only needs to stand on the city and squat small cannons to retreat from the enemy.

Although the shot is fired, the range is not far, only more than a hundred steps, but the power is more than a little stronger than the bow and arrow, and it is enough to defend the city.

A tiger squatting cannon only needs three to four taels of base powder, and [-] catties of gunpowder is enough to fire [-] cannons, but even if it is not enough, it can also save a moment of emergency...

Li Chengzhi secretly calculated, hesitated for a long time, and finally suppressed the idea of ​​handing over the gunpowder formula to Li Shixian and letting him supervise the production of gunpowder.

It's not that he can't trust Li Shixian, but Li Chengzhi always feels subconsciously that his father is not very good, and he is not as reliable as Li Liang.

Making gunpowder is not like forging knives and casting guns. At worst, you will be cut and bleed.If this thing is not careful, the group will be destroyed, and there will be no bones left.

"Urgently order Li Feng to withdraw his troops immediately from the date of receiving the order, and the whole army will withdraw to Lingzhou (Bogulu). After Li Feng enters the city, order Huangfu to rush to Qingshui as soon as possible to take over Li Liangyi's military affairs..."

This is to transfer Li Liang back to Zhenyi to prepare gunpowder?
It can be seen that in Li Chengzhi's heart, there is no second person who can match Li Liang and make him feel at ease...

Li Shiliang murmured: "Is it too urgent? If Li Feng returns to Lingzhou, there will be no troops stationed north of the six towns and west of Hequsi. What should we do if Daqi attacks our northern wing of the West Sea?"

"It's because I'm anxious that it's like this!"

Li Chengzhi sighed sadly, "Yuan Yao and Xi Kangsheng's subordinates are all newly attached soldiers of the six towns. Although they are all soldiers who are good at fighting, the imperial court treats the six towns like a tiger. The people of the six towns are gradually losing the morale of the town army. Naturally, they cannot be compared with the past. Yuan Yao and Xi Kangsheng are well aware of this, so they have ten times as many troops as Li Feng, but they hide in the Guancheng, and they can't get out of the city.

But now the imperial court is at a time when it is difficult to make plans. It is only to stabilize the six towns so that the town army and townspeople can survive this winter. I am afraid that the Queen Mother and the princes will have to tighten their belts and cut down on food and clothing. How can there be a large army? Traveling two or three thousand miles, the money, silk, food and grass for my expedition to the West Sea?

Furthermore, Li Zhang's training of the new army has been quite effective. If Yuan Yao really dares to put all his eggs in one basket, it will be two or three months before he leads the army to our West Sea.At that time, if we can’t say it, let him taste the taste of flowering bombs and tiger crouching guns... 20 catties of gunpowder, [-] will be refunded to him. One has no fighting spirit, two has no morale, and three lacks food and clothing. The rabble is enough..."

The more Li Chengzhi talked, the more confident Li Shiliang became: If Yuan Yao came to attack from the great moraine, thousands of miles would be grassland instead of desert, so why use such heavy weapons as suppressing barbarians and explosive bombs?

As long as Chen Hu squats in the artillery formation to the north of Juyan Lake, no matter whether the enemy comes on foot or on horseback, he is just like the wind blowing strong grass, and he will fold as much as he comes.

Li Shiliang was a little puzzled: since you don't worry about Yuan Yao and Xi Kangsheng, you don't need to worry about Xing Luan who is confronting Huangfu Rang across the river.

One is that Xing Luan's tent is also the new army of the Gao family, and the other is that Li Feng withdrew to the south, with nearly [-] troops in Yuanzhou.

So what else should Li Chengzhi worry about?
Li Chengzhi frowned slightly: "The only one I worry about is Cui Yanbo. This man is utterly courageous and unparalleled in strategy. (Emperor Xiaowen Yuanhong) is deeply dependent on him, and he is the permanent commander.

During the ten years of Xiaowen's personal administration, he defeated Nanliang in the south and retreated in Rouran in the north. There were more than a hundred battles, big and small, without a single defeat.Although Gao Zhao lost to Dingzhou when he conspired against him, it was not a crime of war...

In the end, Yu Shanshan was completely defeated and defeated.What's more, he was defeated by two unknown pawns?No matter who it is, I'm afraid they will be brooding and engraved in their hearts.

Shibo (Li Shao) even stated in his letter that Cui Yanbo has never submitted half a letter of guilt to the court since the great defeat.

Now I am thinking of advancing as retreating, forcing the court to divide the territory and divide the land, how dare Gao Ying agree?Although she is a woman and has little knowledge, but if it is ruthless, she will never lose to a man. It is really ruthless, and it is not impossible to break the jar... And this is just one of them!

The second is: the Yang family is ambitious and wants to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, causing both Xihai and the imperial court to lose. .

If my predictions are correct, if Mrs. Yang knows that the imperial court has been forced to retreat, there is a high probability that she will deceive Cui Yanbo, or the imperial court will fight with my back in Xihai.If it is not good, it may be paid by the court.Whenever Gao Ying gets hot-headed, there might be another war...Of course, it may not be as I expected, maybe Gao Ying dared to risk the world's disgrace, and he really did what I asked..."

The more he talked, the darker Li Shiliang's face became: "If she dares to respond, she will be a sinner of the Yuan family through the ages. She is really the Yuan family. Can the Xianbei eight surnames be clay figurines? Therefore, there will be a big war. However, there are many mountains and rivers in Longxi. It's complicated, just enough to restrain my Xihai iron cavalry. If there is no firearm to rely on, Li Liang will be in danger..."

"That's why I ordered Li Feng to withdraw to the south and join Huangfu's soldiers. If anything happens, after all, Yuanzhou is only a thousand miles away from Longxi. If cavalry rush to help, it will take as short as three days, and as long as five days. Of course, if It must be enough to transport all the [-] catties of gunpowder to Longxi and stick to the three states until winter...

However, my uncle also knows that although it is not difficult to prepare gunpowder, a little carelessness can be a disaster. How can I rest assured if I appoint others out of urgency?Since the beginning of Xihai's firearms production, Li Liang has been in charge, so he can only be summoned as soon as possible...

I also know that this is by no means a long-term solution, so after Li Liang returned, I called my cousin (Li Chengxian) back to Zhenyi and asked him to help Li Liang with my elder brother (Li Chenghong).If Li Liang is not around in the future, someone will be in charge of this task..."

After a short pause, Li Chengzhi sighed again: "My cousin is just like my elder brother. They are both honest and kind-hearted people, and they are much more reliable than my father..."

Hearing the previous sentence, Li Shiliang was still secretly moved, thinking that although Li Chengzhi has many checks and balances on his brothers and retainers, in the final analysis, his own family is more credible.

But when he heard the latter sentence, he couldn't laugh or cry at first, and then he was taken aback.

As for Li Shixian who takes advantage of Zhang's uninhibited temper, there are nine out of ten times that he will cause a big disaster.

"It's absolutely impossible..."

Li Shiliang said anxiously, "In the future, you will not let Erlang touch any firearms..."

Look, it's not that his son thinks his father is unreliable, even his own brother thinks so...

Slandering in his heart, Li Chengzhi smiled warmly and said, "Just follow what uncle said!"

Li Shiliang responded, hesitated for a while, and then asked in a low voice: "Tomorrow dawn, Liu Siqing will leave for the capital, so how should Yuan Cheng and Gao Zhao be dealt with?"

If he didn't mention it, Li Chengzhi still couldn't remember these two people.

He pondered for a while: "Just like when Cui Shangshu first came to my West Sea, he found two other courtyards and sent more servants to serve him..."

Means house arrest?
Li Shiliang couldn't help but shuddered in his heart.

That's all for Yuan Cheng, as a clan, and even a minister who is in charge of Gu, he naturally has to devote all his energy and energy to the world of the Yuan and Wei Dynasties.

Moreover, Li Chengzhi had bad intentions in the first place, it would not be an exaggeration for Yuan Cheng to deceive him and guard against him, even if he did everything he could.

But like Gao Zhao, he was a generation of treacherous officials, a villain who harmed the country and the people.If it wasn't for him, why would Yuan Wei be as precarious and precarious as it is now?

Yu Gong and Gao Zhao secretly committed treacherous schemes and killed people with a knife, thus murdering Yuan Ke and inducing Li Chengzhi and the Queen Mother to separate from each other.

Later, Gao Zhao sent troops to the north again, treating the people as worthless, and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people for fuel oil.

In private, Gao Zhao murdered Li Chengzhi many times, if not for Li Chengzhi's fate, he would have died long ago.

That is, if he only talks about the public, and with the righteousness of the former emperor and ministers, Li Chengzhi should kill Gao Zhao with a single knife.

Could it be that Gao Wenjun and his eldest son Li Yuan are jealous, so they want to keep Gao Zhao alive?
Thinking in my heart, I heard Li Chengzhi sigh: "Uncle, don't worry, I have always hated evil like an enemy, and there is even a reputation in the public that I will be punished, and I will be punished. How can I be so magnanimous and let go of my enemy who has repeatedly tried to put me to death?
Even Wenjun, uncle needn't worry too much.She is blue-hearted, beautiful and intelligent, and acts decisively. If she is decisive, she is not too shy compared to me. Naturally, she knows what is more important...

The reason why I spared his life is that killing him at this time is not justified, and the words are not right.Wait a little longer, whether it is Gao Ying who dares to divide the West Sea, or whether he dares to burn everything together, Gao Zhao will be able to start and end well..."

Go!
He even forgot that so far, Xihai still hasn't erected an anti-flag, and hasn't formally raised troops?
But now it seems that the imperial court will not sit still, and it is inevitable to raise troops.At that time, Gao Zhao's sacrificial flag will be chopped off in the name of "Qing Emperor's side", and Xihai will have an excuse to rebel.

With a move in his heart, Li Shiliang gritted his teeth fiercely: "Wen Jun grew up under Gao Zhao's knees since he was a child, and Princess Pingyang regards it as his own. Compared with her deep feelings, how can she not miss the old love. She knows she can't persuade you, but if What should I do if I find another way to visit Gao Zhao with Li Yuan from time to time?
If I, Xihai, stop fighting for one year, Gao Zhao will be close to Li Yuan for one year. If I stop fighting for three years, he will make it easy for Li Yuan to stay close for three years... After three years, Yuan'er has already remembered, how will you be able to do it then? "

Li Chengzhi's heart sank.

If it wasn't for his close relatives, if it wasn't for Li's long-term plan, how could Li Shiliang dare to speak so earnestly and sincerely?

These remarks are by no means alarmist. No matter how bad Li Chengzhi's memory is, he at least remembers the lesson learned by Xiaowen's eldest son Yuan Xun.

The nobles of Xianbei did not want to be sinicized, so they and the Mu family (one of the eight surnames of Xianbei) instigated the prince to rebel, and finally forced Yuan Hong to kill each other, causing father and son to kill each other.

If not, it would not be Yuan Ke's turn to sit on the throne.

However, no matter how rational Gao Wenjun is, he is only a girl, so it is impossible to guarantee that he will not try to save Gao Zhao's life as Li Shiliang said...

(End of this chapter)