Lonely non-good minister

Chapter 413 The Power of Firearms

After flipping through the official documents in his hand several times, Song Yuan turned his attention to Cheng Hui: "Although it is the Northwest Finance Department who paid the money, in the end the money was taken out of the hands of you and the county governor. Firearms in the Army Although manufacturing is important, at the end of the year, we can't let the Yamen default on its debts for the New Year. In this case, you can discuss with the county governor and go to the quartermaster to get an account."

"Want to pay?" This matter stumped Cheng Hui: "Sir, the army has stated that there is no money to transfer money, so the Yamen was asked to pay it first."

Song Yuan waved his hand: "I can't make up for it. The money I got the day before yesterday must be used to finance the government's finances, build water conservancy and transport grain to Jiuquan Xihai, as well as the tax money owed to the national treasury. These have not yet been paid." As for settling the money, the 10,000+ taels of silver in the treasury are not enough for us to make arrangements for ourselves. Where can we have the spare money to put it in advance? Since the firearms are almost ready to be delivered after they are completed, let the military use them first. The military supply is the responsibility of the imperial court. Is it possible? How dare they withhold things without giving them money?"

Cheng Hui remained silent, as if his mind couldn't turn around.

Song Yuan just stared at him quietly. Pretending to be stupid didn't work for her. Song Fu didn't want to temporarily let the Yamen advance money. He wanted to use this opportunity to get 30 taels of silver from the imperial court to make firearms. He was jealous and wanted to make more, but the court was determined not to give him another 30 taels of silver.

What should I do if I don’t give it?To borrow money, he asked the Northwest Finance Department to borrow money, and when the treasury was tight and couldn't come up with the money, he wrote an IOU and put pressure on the Northwest Finance Department to advance the money. In this way, he opened his mouth and asked for 20 taels of silver. He used it first and paid it later, urging the Northwest Finance Department to give him money. He paid for it, and if the imperial court didn't want Northwest's finances to collapse, it had to quickly give him money to make up for the shortfall.

Once the money was in his hands, he walked around to the northwest finance warehouse, and then lent it out, tricking the warehouse into adding tens of thousands of taels of silver. Even if he spent millions of taels of silver a year, the treasury would have to give it to him. To fill the hole, he relied on firearms to increase his combat power, and all the debts were passed on to others.

Therefore, Song Yuan did not want to be taken advantage of at all.

"You go and discuss it. It's not that I don't approve it, but that I really don't have any money. The money for water conservancy projects and food delivery to Jiuquan Xihai was all advanced by merchants. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, so we have to settle the accounts with others, right? We It takes only a few months of planting in the first year of the year to achieve this kind of harvest, which cannot be compared with the army." Song Yuan pretended to sell badly.

After Cheng Hui thought about it for a while, he nodded with an embarrassed expression: "I'll go and try it first."

Song Fu was very picky, and the group of quartermasters were reincarnations of iron roosters one by one. If he could get the money back, the county governor would have brought the money back with the officials in charge of finance.

After sending Cheng Hui away, Song Yuan was no longer in the mood to read. With the experience of the previous year and the strict investigation by the Tingwei Mansion, officials from all over the northwest were extremely motivated and attentive to their work. Although there were still some nastiness like last year It happened, but it didn't bother her, which also saved her a lot of effort.

It just saves effort, but there are not a lot of things to worry about. Cheng Hui most likely won't get the money back, so Song Yuan still kept 5 taels of silver as a backup.

On New Year's Eve, Song Fu left a message to Song Yuan, inviting her to visit the Zhangye border.

Since the young man was captured alive, the Hun soldiers and horses who came have been stranded at the border and have not retreated. During this period, they sent people to negotiate many times, but the conditions offered did not make Song Fu excited. For this reason, the two sides have not reached an agreement. consistent.

The snow was almost up to his waist, and it was difficult to move on horseback. He finally followed Song Fu to the perfect position to watch the battle. Song Yuan was so tired that he could not straighten his waist. Compared to Song Fu, who was wearing a heavy armor but still breathing calmly, Song Yuan felt that he All these years of martial arts training were in vain.

Seeing that she wanted to lie down on the ground and rest, Song Fu just glanced at her lightly and said: "You have spent a lot of money in the past few months, and today it is time for you to see the power of firearms."

"Look, I don't have the money to approve it. Please show mercy to Fifth Brother." Song Fu remained silent and ignored her words. He stared at the Xiongnu camp in the distance. There were not many Xiongnu gathered at the border. There were thousands of people, so the camp was not big. It was snowing heavily, and except for the patrolling sentries, almost no one else could be seen.

After the deputy general Sima next to him asked for military orders, a group of sneaky men and horses immediately moved toward the Huns camp by hiding in the ravine. Each of them had a small bamboo basket hanging around their waist. They took off their armor and wore gray clothes. He tried his best to cover his whereabouts.

Song Yuan stared with wide eyes, and saw them stopping in front of the Xiongnu camp. The patrolling sentry passed by them without noticing them. When the patrolling sentry walked away, a row of crossbows were spread out, and the crossbows were fired. After neatly getting rid of the sentries patrolling outside, they moved forward some distance, and seven or eight of them went directly into the opponent's camp.

Song Yuan was stunned and quickly looked at Song Fu next to her. Even though she was far away, she couldn't help but feel guilty and lowered her voice: "Will you not be discovered?"

"There is an internal response." Song Fu looked calm and answered simply.

Oh, there is an insider. "No, wouldn't it be enough if there is an inside agent to directly poison them? Why bother so much?" Song Yuan didn't understand.

Song Fu lowered his eyes and looked at her, his lips tightened slightly and he thought for a while before speaking: "Look at the power of firearms."

Oh oh oh, yes, yes, his purpose was to see the power of the firearm, not to kill these people.

Song Yuan was quiet.

The people who entered the camp quickly dispersed. They had a clear division of labor. They held a fire stick in one hand and a small bamboo tube in the other. They lit the fuse on the bamboo tube and threw it into the tent. In the silent snow field, "boom" sounds were heard one after another, and the sound waves echoed. Some distance away, the horse behind them was also frightened, and it took a lot of effort for the soldiers to hold it back.

Song Yuan's heart was trembling. He looked at those powerful bamboo tubes and couldn't believe that these were the things that Yan Yan casually threw on the ground.

"Master Yan has improved it many times, and I think its current power is pretty good." Song Fu looked at the chaotic Xiongnu camp with a satisfied expression.

Song Yuan remained silent. She knew that Yan Yan would improve what he showed initially, but she didn't expect that it would be so powerful.

The Xiongnu camp suddenly became chaotic. Even if someone rushed out of the tent, his body was covered in blood and flesh. Before he could see clearly what happened, his neck was cut with a knife.

The people in the camp shouted loudly, and soon all the Hun soldiers behind them came out of the tents. After knowing that there were only seven or eight people attacking the camp, they rushed over fearlessly, and those who entered the camp did not panic. Not busy, he threw a dozen bamboo tubes into the crowd one after another.

The loud "boom" sound was endless. When the bamboo tube exploded, the iron sand inside was simply a murderous weapon, which could smash a person's face to pieces. Suddenly, there was a wail in the Huns camp.

(End of this chapter)