Thief Emperor

Chapter 404 Self-Defense Weapon
Attacking Luzhou was not a particularly difficult task. After all, the Three Kingdoms period had not yet begun, and the location of Luzhou was not particularly important.

The last time, several thousand rebels captured Luzhou, and it was Li Yun who personally led the troops to wipe out the rebels and take Luzhou back.

However, at that time, he really had no right to stay in Luzhou. In addition, Li Yun's military strength was not enough to support him to send troops to garrison Luzhou, and even garrisoning Xuanzhou was difficult. So after gathering the defeated troops, he slowly withdrew from Luzhou.

Later, the imperial court naturally went to Luzhou to fill the vacancy according to the usual practice. However, all in all, it has only been about a year since the last time Luzhou’s government system was completely destroyed. In addition, it takes time for the imperial court to send people over. It is hard to say whether Luzhou at this time can be considered a normal prefecture.

The geographical location of Luzhou is very important to Li Yun. If Luzhou is in the hands of someone else, he needs to take Luzhou first if he wants to send troops from Jiangdong.

If he controls Luzhou, when he wants to leave Jiangdong one day in the future, he can move freely without being controlled by others.

This task was not too difficult for Su Sheng. It was even more like an opportunity for him to train new recruits.

Just as Su Sheng led his troops to leave Qiantang County and march to Luzhou, Li Yun in Jinling City was busy establishing the Jinling Workshop.

At this moment, Li Yun's power in Jiangdong became increasingly stable, so he could finally start to do some work to lay a solid foundation.

For Li Yun at the moment, the Jinling Workshop is the most important project besides the recruit barracks.

As early as when Li Yun just occupied Jinling, this workshop actually already had three or four hundred craftsmen. However, at that time, because Li Yun had to invest all resources in the military, the workshop was nominally called a workshop, but in fact it was an arsenal.

Now, after several months of renovation by Li Yun, the scale of the Jinling workshop has been further expanded, and the number of craftsmen alone has exceeded a thousand.

In times of turmoil, the most important task of this workshop is naturally to produce military products such as weapons, armor, bows and crossbows. After all, even if Li Yun copied simple industrial products such as glass, soap, perfume, etc., it would be difficult to sell them at a high price in such a world.

Even if they were sold in Jiangdong, Jiangdong currently did not have too many surplus means of production to consume these non-essentials.

Over the past few months, there have been only two projects that have made real progress: glass and gunpowder.

Needless to say, as for glass, once things like telescopes are made and used on the battlefield, the scouts' survivability and exploration capabilities will achieve a leap forward.

As for gunpowder... Li Yun was personally involved and has completed several formula upgrades.

In this era when gunpowder weapons were not used on the battlefield and gunpowder was not even widely known, it would be a waste of resources not to develop and use this thing.

But even so, Li Yun also clearly realized that this thing... for now, it can only be used as a means for himself, and it is impossible to use it as a winning factor on the battlefield.

In another world, firearms have been widely used on the battlefield since the Song Dynasty, but until the end of the Qing Dynasty, cold weapons have not disappeared from the battlefield.

In nearly a thousand years, gunpowder has not evolved to the point of destroying the world. Without the support of mature modern industry, there is only black powder.

It is impossible to have one trick to conquer all situations.

Time passed day by day, and as the New Year approached, a heavy snow fell, dyeing the entire Jinling Prefecture white.

Li Yun, dressed in cloth, walked out of the workshop, washed the black dust off his face with a wooden basin, and changed his clothes. Before he could leave the workshop, he saw Du Qian hurriedly coming over. He smiled bitterly and said, "Why do you keep coming to this workshop recently? I went to Li Garden to look for you, but I couldn't find you."

Li Yun scratched his head, patted out some medicine ash, and said with a smile: "There is no other way. We need to study some self-defense methods."

Du Qian was confused, so he pulled Li Yun's sleeve and whispered, "The capital has been recovered. The three Jiedushis of Hedong, Fanyang and Shuofang have occupied Guanzhong. They are now stationed near the capital. They have jointly written a letter to welcome the court back to the capital."

He looked at Li Yun and said in a deep voice: "By now, the documents of the three Jiedushi have probably been delivered to the court."

Li Yun looked around at the snow everywhere and said with a smile, "There are only ten days left until the end of the year. I think even if the court receives the news, it is unlikely to set off this year. If it waits until after the New Year, it will be April or May next year when the court returns to Guanzhong, or even later."

Du Qian hummed, rather annoyed: "If the Shuofang Army was willing to contribute, the situation would not be like this. Now that these three families have occupied Guanzhong, it is easier to invite the gods than to send them away. I am afraid it will be extremely difficult to send them back to their respective vassal states."

He looked at Li Yun and continued, "Your Majesty, you may not dare to go back to Guanzhong directly. After all, the imperial guards around the court are only about 50,000, or even less. Going back to Guanzhong at this time..."

At this time, Zhou Bi brought Li Yun another basin of clean water. Li Yun bent over to wash off the black ash on his face. After wiping his face, he said, "The court must go back. If it doesn't go back, it will lose its legitimacy. We can't move the capital to Xichuan, right?"

"If the capital is really moved to Xichuan."

Li Yun said with his hands behind his back: "I am afraid that the court will downgrade me to the governor of Jiannan. Without this natural status, it will be even more difficult for me to fight against those governors with Xichuan."

Du Qian also nodded. "If the new emperor still has a little bit of spirit, he will not stay in Xichuan. It depends on when he will leave Xichuan and return to the court."

While Li Yun and Du Qian were talking, they had already walked out of the workshop and arrived in Jinling City. Li Yun looked at Du Qian and suddenly remembered something. He said, "Otherwise, let your father bring his family to Jiangdong and work as an official in the court. When he returns to the capital, he will probably have to endure the wrath of those military governors."

"If you can't stand this anger at that time."

Li Yun shook his head and said, "Then there is a risk of life."

Du Qian was stunned when he heard this, then shook his head and sighed: "With my father's temper, he will never leave the court. Even if he resigns, he will stay in the capital."

"He wants to be a minister of Zhou."

A noble family, in addition to resources and talents, also needs a reputation. A bad reputation will seriously affect the development of the family.

This is the case with the Du family.

The Minister Du could allow his son to go out and find a new "master" to plant the seeds of the Du family, and he could even support him behind the scenes, but as the Minister of Rites of the imperial court, he could even be said to be the "grand master" among the scholars of the world. Even for the sake of reputation, he would never do anything to betray the Great Zhou.

He would definitely live and die with the court. If necessary, he would even curse a few military governors. If he could die at the hands of those military governors, he would immediately go down in history.

The Du family also remains famous.

At this time, Du Qian had already clearly seen the fate of his old father. The head of the Jingzhao Du family would definitely do his utmost to remain loyal to the Great Zhou.

This also means that, these two father and son, will probably never see each other again in this life.

Li Yun noticed that Du Qian seemed to be in a low mood. He looked at Du Qian, thought for a moment, and then said, "Brother Du, if anyone from the Jingzhao Du family wants to seek refuge, they can be arranged to come to Jiangdong. Although I may not be able to give them official positions, I can guarantee that I will protect them."

Mr. Li was very confident at this moment. He smiled and said, "After the New Year, when all our new recruits in Jiangdong are trained, I am confident that I can hold on to Jiangdong."

After this round of military expansion, and with some new gadgets in his hands, Li Yun is now much more confident.

Even though the fight for the world is still very difficult, but defending Jiangdong and being a Jiangdong rat is more than enough.

He is at least Sun Ce now.

Du Qian was very moved when he heard this, and he bowed his head and said quickly, "The Du family of Jingzhao would like to thank you, Your Excellency."

Li Yun waved his hand and shook his head, saying, "Brother Shouyi is too polite."

"It's almost the end of the year. I'll finish the things I have these few days and then go find Brother Shouyi. Let's make a list of what we're going to do next year."

Du Qian smiled and nodded: "I will go to Li Garden to look for the envoy in a few days."

The two parted at the gate of the governor's mansion. Du Qian entered the mansion, while Li Yun turned around and went into Li Garden. He first took a hot bath with Dong'er's help, changed into clean clothes, and then went into the bedroom.

In the bedroom, Xue Yun'er was leaning on the bed reading a book, her belly bulging.

Li Yun came forward, sat beside the bed, and smiled softly, "Madam, how do you feel today?"

Xue Yun'er put down the book, glanced at him, and said softly, "The midwife came to see me today and said it would happen around the end of the year."

"Where did my husband go today?"

Li Yun looked up at Xue Yun'er and said softly.

"I'm busy making a self-defense weapon for our family."

His eyes turned to Xue Yun'er's belly, and his tone was gentle.

"To protect my wife and our... unborn child."

(End of this chapter)