Jiuxi

Chapter 1015 [Knowing the Heart]

Late November, Dingzhou.

The ancient county and new city are full of vitality, and even the cold wind cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of the people here.

Towards the end of the year, a number of achievements have been released by the Academy of Agriculture, the Bureau of Military Affairs, the Bureau of Medical Affairs, the Academy of Classics and the Bureau of Commerce. Based on the fact that we have spent a whole year making unremitting efforts to clean up the bureaucracy and make the words "new policy" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, these achievements can be successfully promoted next year.

Although today's agriculture, medical system, commerce and industry are not even in their infancy, Lu Chen firmly believes that as long as we take the first step bravely and solve problems when they arise, we will be able to gradually improve the productivity of the entire society.

Of course, what surprised him most was the Firearms Bureau.

Over the past year and a half, Liao Jichang, with hundreds of skilled craftsmen and thousands of auxiliary workers, finally developed the flintlock rifle that Lu Chen needed through continuous improvements. Although it was still a muzzle-loading rifle, it had made a qualitative leap compared to the matchlock rifle, and its range, power and stability were greatly improved.

There has also been great progress in artillery. In addition to the Pojun Cannon, which was the earliest product based on the concept of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, the Firearms Bureau successfully made a more powerful cannon based on the idea proposed by Lu Chen in his previous life's Red Cannon. It was named the General Cannon by Lu Chen.

There was even more flourishing development in the field of fire mines. A master craftsman named Yan Ming even developed a box-type mine that could be placed in water.

At first he thought Lu Chen would blame him for wasting raw materials. After all, the Jing army didn’t even have a navy, so what use would mines be?
Unexpectedly, Lu Chen was quite appreciative of him. As long as they did not delay the tasks assigned by the Grand Council, he allowed these craftsmen to give full play to their subjective initiative.

After looking at the various results, Lu Chen immediately issued an order, requiring the Firearms Bureau to temporarily stop researching new weapons and focus on perfecting the craftsmanship of flintlock rifles, general cannons, army-breaking cannons, and various existing fire mines. Then, they would start production with all their strength, striving to complete the needs of the first batch of four border armies, totaling more than 10,000 firearms soldiers, by the autumn of next year, and to fully re-equip all ten main armies before the autumn of the year after.

With an army of 200,000 main forces, including 30,000 firearms soldiers, Lu Chen is fully confident that he can sweep across the entire Jing Kingdom.

"I can see that you are in a really good mood."

On the observation tower south of the shooting range, Lin Jie stood with his hands behind his back, smiling.

Lu Chen put his hands on the wall and said with emotion: "It feels like a dream."

"A dream?"

"The reason why I joined the army was because the Lu family business was involved in a conspiracy woven by the pseudo-Yan Inspection Office. Although I didn't suffer in the Weaving Bureau, it was really bad to have my fate controlled by others, so I wanted to do something. My father-in-law knew that I was not cut out for studying, and the Jingyan army raided Guangling, so I naturally joined the army. So at the beginning, I didn't have those grand ambitions and ideals. I simply wanted to earn an identity and not let others control my life and death at will."

"It's all because your father-in-law has been hiding it from you. If you had known his true identity and the connections he has, would you have been content to be a rich kid?"

"Well...it's hard to say."

Lu Chen smiled faintly, his eyes deep.

Lin Jie said leisurely: "You are not the type to be content with being ordinary. Your father-in-law can't suppress you for too long. Even if there was no incident, you would have created a world of your own sooner or later. After this trip to the three northern states and seeing the thriving scene here, you should have enough confidence, right?"

His change of topic was a bit abrupt, but Lu Chen obviously didn't care. Although some things could only be done but not said, there were always a few people with whom he could be honest, and Lin Jie was one of them.

"Before leaving Beijing, I had not made up my mind and was still in a hesitant stage. After all, this is not a matter of having a meal or drinking wine. Once it is put into action, at best, thousands of people will die, and at worst, internal divisions and disasters will occur frequently. Moreover, even if I succeed, I don't know what the outcome will be. At that time, I thought that maybe it would be good to maintain the current state. After all, I am still young and can wait for another five or ten years. There will always be a day when everything will come to fruition."

Lu Chen analyzed himself calmly. If he said that he had never thought about that matter, he would be deceiving himself.

Lin Jie asked with interest: "What made you make the decision?"

"Because I think life is short, just a few decades, and it would be a shame to waste your limited life on meaningless internal friction."

Lu Chen lowered his head, then laughed at himself and said, "Will my father-in-law think I'm hypocritical?"

"Whether you are hypocritical or not depends on what you have done."

Lin Jie did not flatter you deliberately, and said calmly: "Although I basically stay in Gu County, I am still familiar with the actions of the court in the past two years. At least from what I can see now, you really want to do something practical for the people, so it is not hypocritical for you to want to end those disputes as soon as possible."

Lu Chen exhaled slowly.

"Sometimes it's not a good thing to care too much about what others think. There is no perfect choice in this world. If you want to have power, you can no longer expect a perfect reputation."

Lin Jie raised his hand and patted Lu Chen's shoulder, smiling and said, "Maybe I am just talking nonsense, but I hope you understand that this is not just your problem, or even the Lu family's problem. Too many people rely on you to survive and realize the meaning of their lives."

"I understand all these reasons, so I gave them a chance this time. It would be best if they can live in peace. I will not kill them all. If -"

Lu Chen paused for a moment and said softly, "Let's use their heads to pave this road."

Lin Jie was silent for a moment, then asked, "Shall I go back to Beijing with you?"

This time Lu Chen did not refuse. After all, he had a lot of people to protect, and if Lin Jie could return to Beijing, it would naturally greatly increase the safety factor.

At this moment, a figure quickly approached the observation tower, and the guards scattered around did not stop him. The person who came was Jiang Sheng.

"Your Majesty, a secret report from the capital."

"speak."

"First, since returning to the capital, Marquis Linjiang has visited the Marquis Yongding's residence three times, and he did not deliberately hide his whereabouts."

Lu Chen remained silent upon hearing this, tapping lightly on the wall with his fingers.

On the other side, Lin Jie asked with a puzzled look: "Since Chen Lanyu will not betray the royal family, why don't you continue to keep him in Qingzhou? Letting him return to the capital will inevitably cause some trouble."

Lu Chen said calmly: "I thought so at first, but after careful consideration, I think it is better to let him return to Beijing, because I have high hopes for the four armies currently stationed on the border, and I will rely on them to fight the battle to destroy Jing in the future. Rather than letting Chen Lanyu affect the border troops, it is better to let him return to Beijing and join the Military Affairs Office."

Lin Jie reminded: "Don't underestimate him and Zhang Xu. Although these two people do not have military power on the surface, they must have a certain influence in the army."

"Don't worry, father-in-law. I understand."

Lu Chen nodded, then looked at Jiang Sheng and asked, "Anything else?"

Jiang Sheng immediately replied, "The second thing is that after entering November, some officials in the court have been colluding with each other frequently. We have already obtained a list of seven people, namely Qian Rang, the editor of the Imperial Academy, Sun Qi, the deputy minister of the Dali Temple, Zuo Hao, the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, You Wenhao and Song Xin, the lecturers of the Imperial Academy, Shen Si, the assistant censor of the Imperial Censorate, and Qu Cheng, the director of the Military Affairs Department."

Lu Chen asked expressionlessly: "Do you think there is anything wrong with this list?"

Jiang Sheng was slightly stunned, and then replied: "Your Majesty, I don't know."

He was not responsible for gathering information in the capital area, and he did not have a deep understanding of the officialdom in the capital. In the past two years, he had focused his energy on the three northern states, so he naturally could not see the strangeness of this list.

Lin Jie also looked at Lu Chen in confusion.

"Although these people are considered to be the more outstanding among the young officials, and most of them have good backgrounds, their level is still too low. Except for Zuo Hao who barely has some real power, the others have no ability to influence the overall situation."

Lu Chen explained briefly, then looked at Lin Jie and said, "Father-in-law, don't you find it strange? The two prime ministers, Qin Tiju and Shen Yulai, the commander of the imperial guards, did not make any moves. The heads of the various ministries and yamen also seemed to accept the current situation calmly. Instead, these low-level officials secretly colluded with each other."

Lin Jie suddenly realized and nodded, "This is indeed unusual."

After a brief thought, Lu Chen said, "There are only a few possibilities. Either these important officials really don't want to do anything, but this possibility is the lowest. There must be people who don't want civil strife, such as Prime Minister Xu, but I don't believe that all important officials think this way. Or they hid it very well and didn't reveal any flaws from beginning to end. Apart from public exchanges in government affairs, they almost didn't communicate privately. I think this possibility is not high either."

Lin Jie had already heard the hidden meaning in his words and couldn't help but frowned.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "There is one last possibility. Someone is helping them cover up their tracks, so that I can't make an accurate judgment."

Hearing this, Jiang Sheng was shocked.

People outside certainly cannot do this. Only those who are within the Qin Dynasty and have a certain status can do it.

The word "traitor" jumped into Jiang Sheng's mind, followed by anger.

Lin Jie said in a deep voice: "It can't be Qi Lianfu, but I don't mind you asking someone to check him out."

"It shouldn't be him."

Lu Chen shook his head and said calmly, "To be a traitor, one either seeks wealth or a career. No one can offer better conditions than me at the moment. Or one is controlled by others, and has to obey orders. Although we cannot rule out the existence of such people, it is difficult for them to rise to a high position by my side if they are so easily manipulated. Apart from these two types, the only other option is to serve me with a purpose from the beginning."

Two names came to his mind.

Is it him or him?
Many past events came to mind, but Lu Chen's expression did not change significantly. He instructed Jiang Sheng, "Reply to the capital, I have received the secret report, and continue to strengthen the surveillance of various forces. In addition, I will leave for the capital on the third day of December and arrive on the eighth day."

Jiang Sheng suppressed his chaotic thoughts. He knew that the prince had his own plans, so he bowed his head and said, "I will obey your orders."

Lu Chen looked up at the clear sky, his eyes becoming increasingly solemn.

Lin Jie said, "Throughout history, this kind of thing has happened all the time. Not everyone will stay with you until the end, not to mention that some people come to you for various reasons. Be more open-minded, but don't be soft-hearted."

Lu Chen was silent for a while, and said softly: "At this point, I have no right to be soft-hearted. After all, it's just... our own lives."

(End of this chapter)