Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 570 Jiangning Jiancheng
Auspicious clouds cover the wind tower, and auspicious mist covers the dragon tower.

The palace city in Bianliang is not as simple and grand as Luoyang and Chang'an, but after the successive constructions of the Later Liang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties, the entire Forbidden Palace does look impressive.

Because of water transportation, Bianliang was more prosperous than Chang'an and Luoyang, which was what Zhao Pu particularly liked.

Walking slowly along the palace corridor, listening to the faint shouting from outside the palace wall, Zhao Pu suddenly remembered the expression of King Jin when he saw the edict that belonged to him.

First confused, then angry, and finally dejected.

Oh, from now on I can no longer be called King of Jin, I need to be called Master Kongjiong.

Thinking of all this, Zhao Pu suddenly felt happy and even wanted to hum a little tune.

From King Guangyi of Jin to Master Kongjiong, it is foreseeable that for other courtiers, this is the clear and unmistakable stance of today's officials on the matter of establishing princes and heirs.

With the internal troubles gone, we can then work together in one place to quell the external troubles and unify them, move the north and south into the Western Region, and revive the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

We can even go one step further and use the black earth treasure land to secure Liaodong, and use the shipping and trading routes to stabilize Nanyang, creating a new foundation that will serve as a reference for those who come after China.

He still remembered the Nanhai No. 1 he saw in the light curtain, which was salvaged with great force in later generations. This ship can be said to be an excellent model that can be copied at present.

When he woke up from his enjoyment, Zhao Pu touched his cheek and found that the corners of his mouth had curled up at some point, so he smiled helplessly.

“If you want to achieve new achievements, you need to restore old ones.”

This old achievement is naturally the cause of unification, but if it falls in front of us, it is the matter of conquering the Southern Tang Dynasty.

In the tenth month of the previous year, Cao Bin first defeated Chizhou, and then Chen's army attacked Shiji. After defeating the Southern Tang Army here, he successfully crossed the river by erecting a pontoon bridge.

After the Southern Tang lost the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, anyone with an eye could see that it was only a matter of time before the Song Dynasty abolished the Southern Tang name.

Therefore, in November, the officials once again ordered three groups to attack the Southern Tang army together. According to the battle reports sent back from Cao Bin in the past three months, the Song army successively attacked Xinzhai, Ezhou, Changzhou, Lichengzhai, Fan Shanzhai, Lishui and other places defeated the Southern Tang Army in succession.

In the good news, Cao Bin praised the official's judgment very much, saying that Zhu Lingyun, whom Li Yu relied on, was really incompetent.

However, after losing consecutive battles, the Southern Tang Army has now learned its lesson and almost no longer attacks the Song Army. Instead, it chooses to hold on to the city in order not to lose.

In this case, what the West Route Army needed to face was Jiangning City (today's Nanjing), a strong city in the south of the Yangtze River.

Ever since Sun Quan, King of Wu, built a stone city at the mouth of the Qinhuai River, the city has been divided into two layers of walls. In the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the city walls were continuously added while retaining the old site. The three layers of palace walls are eight miles in circumference, making it the first in the south of the Yangtze River. Fortified city.

From the fall of the Tang Dynasty to the present, Jiangning Mansion has experienced the two kingdoms of Yang, Wu, and the Southern Tang Dynasty. They experienced little war and many expansions of Jiangning City during troubled times. It can be said that the city is high and the pond is deep. It is no exaggeration to describe it.

Zhao Pu and Zhao Kuangyin didn't know how the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty in later history, but now it seems that the only way is to encircle them.

Borrowing money and food from Qiantang, gathering the Forbidden Army to strengthen its troops, and besieging it for a year and a half, the people in the city were shattered and waiting for the situation to change. This was the most feasible strategy that the two of them had thought about.

But today was different. Zhao Pu carefully remembered Zhuge Wuhou's description before and accelerated his pace.

The palace corridor reached a fork in the road and turned left. After passing through a palace gate, officials ordered the reorganization. The Ministry of Industry, where the prince Zhao Dezhao was posted, had already appeared in front of Zhao Pu.

And Zhao Pu even saw Zhao Dezhao practicing boxing in the yard of the Ministry of Industry at a glance.

"Your Highness." Zhao Dezhao wiped the sweat from his forehead with his fists and feet, and said with an embarrassed smile:
"Now that Yuanzheng is here, it's boring to stay around, so I came here to practice boxing and kicking."

"Did Mr. Zhao come to the Ministry of Industry to look for ordnance books or to urge armaments?"

In Zhao Dezhao's opinion, this was the only reason why the Prime Minister could come here during non-working hours.

Zhao Pu shook his head and said straight to the point:

"I came here specifically to find His Highness because I asked about His Highness's whereabouts from the official family."

Zhao Dezhao led him into the main hall and sat down respectively. At this moment, he suddenly became curious after hearing this. He thought about it secretly and shook his head and said:
"I have gone to look for all the famous bell makers in Bianliang City, and I have also found many Taoist priests who are good at alchemy."

"The gunpowder thing that dad mentioned has been refined by those Taoists, but it is still under investigation."

"I am here today thinking about the slow progress of artillery and being unable to help dad, so I feel depressed."

The annoyance on Zhao Dezhao's face when he talked about this matter was real. After all, his father could notice the sudden increase in his expectations for him. However, the new responsibilities of the Ministry of Works were not very clear. He only said that he would wait until he was made. Let’s talk about artillery.

But during this time, after Zhao Dezhao personally participated in it and had detailed discussions with the craftsmen, he also understood that the investigation of this object was not that simple.

Now all we have about the artillery is Dad's description. There is no real thing to imitate, and no theory to elaborate on. The creation of the cannon is almost like a blind man touching an elephant.

And this thing is easy to say, but some details always make Zhao Dezhao tired. For example, in the twelfth lunar month, a Taoist priest had a whim. He didn't know what he wanted to refine by using the prepared gunpowder as a trigger and refining gunpowder. Anyway, the result was Zhao Dezhao was almost caught in a fire, which left Zhao Dezhao with lingering fears. of
Now here, I might as well consider taking care of this place so that no more water can enter it.

Zhao Pu nodded and immediately explained his purpose:
"I came here because I have obtained another thing that needs to be produced by the Ministry of Industry to aid Jiangning."

"If successful, it may help our Song Dynasty destroy the Li family in Jiangnan within three months."

Zhao Dezhao suddenly had a bitter look on his face:
"Mr. Sir, two months have passed and the artillery has not been fully understood. Now you want to make a new one?"

"I don't know if it can be made in three months, so how can I help the army to destroy the enemy?"

Zhao Pu laughed:
"Your Highness is overly concerned. What you made this time is a hundred times easier than that cannon."

As he spoke, he simply took the tea cup, dipped his finger in some tea, and started making gestures on the table.

"This object is modified from a cannon cart. It still has a long tip, but this object has a short arm with a weight of four to five hundred kilograms. The long arm is broken and tied with a hemp rope, and a huge stone of a hundred kilograms is hung at the end."

"The sword and ax hand cuts the rope, and the four to five hundred kilograms of heavy stones suddenly fall down. The long tip is used to make the hundred kilograms of stones fly as arrows and trigger hundreds of steps, and the attack is invincible."

After carefully looking at the images drawn by Zhao Pu, Zhao Dezhao had to admit:

"It seems that it is not difficult to make...Do you want to use this thing to destroy Jiangning City?"

Because his father promised to take him with him when he conquered the Northern Han Dynasty after conquering the Southern Tang Dynasty, Zhao Dezhao is still very concerned about the battle of the Southern Tang Dynasty and has heard about Jiangning Jiancheng.

Seeing Zhao Pu nodding, Zhao Dezhao no longer hesitated and agreed, but in the end he did not forget to ask:
"This thing can fire hundreds of pounds of stone bullets. It is really a sharp weapon. Who made it?"

Zhao Pu hesitated for a moment and said truthfully: "Marquis Zhuge Wu."

(End of this chapter)