Thief Emperor

Chapter 498 Chaos Again
All matters in Jiangdong are progressing steadily.

The official system and the expansion of the army are relatively routine things. Li Yun can do it, and so can other Jiedushi and other forces.

Therefore, if Li Yun wants to gain an advantage in future fights, he needs to do something that others cannot do or do not know how to do.

Otherwise, he would be no different from the natives of this world. At best, he could only be considered a native with more open-minded ideas and more charismatic personality.

This is not to say that we look down on the natives of this world. There are indeed many people in this world who are better than Li Yun in many aspects, such as Du Qian. Li Yun is not as good as him in many aspects.

But since Li Yun has special advantages that no one else in this world has, there is no reason not to use them.

In fact, Jinling Workshop was the earliest established institution in Jiangdong, which is enough to show that Li Yun attaches great importance to this aspect.

Gunpowder has been produced by the Jinling Workshop for almost two years. During these two years, Li Yun has been trying to weaponize this thing.

However, until the Battle of Jiangbei last year, this thing had not been actually weaponized and could only be used as a novelty on the battlefield to achieve an unexpected effect.

The actual lethality is...quite limited.

After the Battle of Jiangbei, Li Yun ushered in a fairly long period of stability, so he began to build the official system of Jiangdong, but Li Yun never gave up on the development of equipment.

As the territory expanded, his economic capabilities improved a lot. From the second half of last year to now, the scale of Jinling Workshop has been expanding again and again.

Now, there are nearly 800 craftsmen in the entire Jinling workshop. Li Yun has selected more than 100 people from various categories to specialize in the development of firearms.

During this period, Li Yun often came to the workshop to study with these one hundred people and provided them with some ideas for progress.

By now, this weaponization has finally made a big step forward.

When he was in another world, Li Yun had seen some basic gunpowder weapons, mainly those from the Song Dynasty, which were relatively easy to understand and imitate.

At present, Li Yun has ordered two types of imitation firearms.

One of them was to stuff gunpowder into an iron can to get money, light it and throw it into the enemy's formation. As the gunpowder exploded, iron pieces flew everywhere.

This kind of thing had a very famous name in the Song Dynasty of another world, called Thunder of the Sky.

Another type of firearm is a relatively close combat firearm, called the pear blossom spear.

The so-called pear blossom spear is a relatively normal gun barrel with one or two bamboo tubes tied to it. The bamboo tubes are filled with gunpowder, iron filings, or even arsenic. After being ignited, the two bamboo tubes will fly out, releasing poisonous smoke, and sometimes causing ignition damage to the enemy.

Therefore, this thing is also called flying fire gun.

The pear blossom spear is not difficult to make. There are already many "prototype samples" in the Jinling workshop, and they can even be put into military use at any time. However, it is hard to say how useful this pear blossom spear is.

What Li Yun wanted to make more was the "Sky-shaking Bomb" that he had seen in a book.

However, there are many difficulties in actual operation.

The clay pot version of the thunder bomb is easy to make, but its destructive power is smaller.

However, the iron sheet version is more difficult to make. There was no roller pressing equipment in that era. If one wanted the iron sheet to be thin enough, craftsmen had to hammer it out bit by bit manually. Not only was it time-consuming and labor-intensive, the output could not be too high.

Li Yun held the tin can, pondered it for a long time, and frowned.

"No, no."

Mr. Li muttered quietly, "For this thing to be passed down to later generations, there must be a lot of them. It must not have been made this way."

He thought about it, waved his hand and called the craftsman in charge of the thunderbolt. The craftsman was a middle-aged man in his forties. After being called by Li Yun, he lowered his head and said, "Master."

Li Yun looked at him and said, "Master Wei, you said last time that the cast was too thick and couldn't be blasted, right?"

"Yes."

Master Wei lowered his head and said, "We have tried many times. The cast wall is too thick. Only this kind of wrought iron can be hammered into pieces before it can explode."

"Well, you use pig iron."

Li Yun thought for a moment and continued, "How thin can it be cast? How thin can it be cast? Cast one hundred iron bottles. I want the kind with a small mouth and a large bottom. Then fill it with gunpowder, connect the fuse, and seal the mouth of the bottle."

“One experiment at a time.”

Li whispered, "If it still doesn't explode, change the gunpowder recipe, adjust the proportions little by little."

Pig iron is stronger than wrought iron, but also more brittle.

Using pig iron might work wonders, but if that doesn't work, then the gunpowder ratio is incorrect.

If all else fails, Li Yun will have no choice but to give up the Thunder Bomb project.

Master Wei nodded and said, "Yes, Master."

He paused and asked, "Master, most of my craftsmen have stayed in the workshop since the New Year. Some of them want to go home and take a look... What do you think..."

Mr. Li frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "Then go back in a few days. When everyone is gathered, close the door of your courtyard and get what I want. Remember what I said before."

"What's cast iron is cast iron, what's prepared is prepared medicine."

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "Except for a few master chefs, no one else is allowed to touch the entire process."

"besides…"

Mr. Li whispered, "Master Wei, you should announce it. Do not contact people from outside, and do not take money that appears out of thin air. What happened in the workshop must not be disclosed after you leave, and you cannot tell your family members."

"If something goes wrong and I catch you..."

Li Yun looked at him and sighed, "I'm going to kill someone." He said this lightly, but Master Wei shuddered and quickly lowered his head and said, "Don't worry, our family members are all living in the workshop. We won't go out without your order."

"As for the others, I will also warn them not to go out and talk nonsense."

Li Yun said "hmm" and smiled at him: "When this thing is ready, the brothers under Master Wei will get an extra 1 guan per month."

Master Wei was extremely terrified. He bowed his head to express his gratitude, then went back to work with his men.

After he left, Zhou Liang, who had been silent, looked at Li Yun and asked curiously, "Master, is this thing really that useful? I see that the pottery jar seems to have mediocre power."

"The clay pots are big enough to explode and injure people."

Li Yun looked back at him and said with a smile: "If the iron one is made, it will definitely be a great weapon on the battlefield. At least it is equivalent to me getting 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers out of thin air."

"correct."

Li Yun looked at Zhou Liang and asked with a smile, "Uncle San came to see me. What's the matter? Has the recruit camp been built?"

"almost."

Zhou Liang smiled and said, "Deng Yang is in charge of the new recruit camp during this period. The Duke of Fu also said that he will take over my job as general in the future."

"I came to see the Lord because I wanted to tell him that the Audit Department that he asked me to build has almost been completed."

He looked at Li Yun, paused, and continued: "Only the Lord can confirm the detailed military regulations and disciplines again, and then I can set up corresponding inspection departments in each army."

"Help the Lord to inspect military discipline."

Li Yun was startled when he heard this, and then he remembered this. He touched his chin and asked, "Uncle San wants to step down from the position of General Jinling?"

When Li Yun and Zhou Liang first talked about establishing a military inspection system, their troops were far smaller than they are now. However, at this time, Jiangdong should indeed have a military discipline inspection agency, otherwise in a few years, it would not be much different from the Pinglu Army.

What Li Yun said at the beginning was that five out of every hundred men in each army should be selected to establish an Inspection Department. Each Inspection Department would not be responsible to the generals in the army but to the previous Inspection Department.

Zhou Liang was responsible for setting up this inspection department.

When he began to be in charge of this organization, he naturally could no longer serve as a general below, and he needed to be independent from the various armies.

This was an unpleasant job. In the early days of the army, someone with high enough prestige was needed to do it. Zhou Liang, who had followed Li Yun from the beginning and whose status was only second to Li Yun during the anti-theft team, was just right for this job.

Zhou Liang nodded and said, "Deng Yang is almost there."

"He has been with the Lord for a long time, before General Zhao and General Su. He has worked diligently in the past few years and has not made any mistakes. In addition, the main task of the Jinling Army now is to help train new soldiers."

"I think there is nothing wrong with Deng Yang."

"Then let him take over as General Jinling for a while and give it a try."

"As for the matter of the Inspection Department."

Li Yun made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "I will start drafting detailed regulations tomorrow. Once the regulations are finalized, they will be distributed to each army and officially implemented to enforce strict military discipline."

Zhou Liang bowed his head deeply, clasped his fists and said, "I obey your command."

After saying this, he paused and whispered, "Master, there is one more thing I want to tell you. I don't know if I should tell you..."

Li Yun smiled and said, "We are family. Uncle San has nothing to say. There is no need to hide it. Just say it directly."

"It's not a big deal, it's just that Zhou Bi..."

Li Yun smiled and asked, "Uncle San wants Zhou Bi to work with you?"

Zhou Liang quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, it's Zhou Bi. He is also old. I heard that Madam is familiar with many families. If there is a suitable one, can you give it to Zhou Bi as well..."

“Also introduce a…”

Hearing this, Li Yun laughed out loud: "Uncle San is worried about seeing the skinny monkey getting married."

"Okay, I'll make a note of this."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I'll look for someone for him myself later."

Zhou Liang then smiled and bowed his head to express his gratitude.

The two chatted for a while before leaving the Jinling workshop together. However, Zhou Liang did not enter the city, but went back to the military camp.

Li Yun walked all the way into the city. Before he entered Li Garden, he saw Du Qian, who was already waiting at the entrance of Li Garden. Seeing him coming back, Du Qian hurriedly went to greet him, a little anxious: "Why did you come back so late?"

Li Yun saw his expression and knew that something must be wrong, so he asked with a smile: "What is it that makes Brother Shouyi so anxious?"

"Li Tong has left the capital."

Du Qian whispered, "It is said that Xiao Xian will also be leaving soon."

Du looked at Li Yun and whispered, "It took a lot of effort for Guanzhong to be stable for more than half a year. The three Jiedushi stayed in the capital. Although they were suspected of controlling the government, the three of them checked each other, and the whole Guanzhong was barely stable."

"Now that two of the military governors have left, the situation in Guanzhong will change immediately. With Wei Quanzhong's personality, if he really stays in the capital alone, I don't know what kind of trouble he will cause."

Hearing this, Li Yun touched his chin and lowered his head to think for a moment, then looked up at Du Qian and said slowly: "If this is true, I'm afraid it won't be long before..."

"There will be another war."

(End of this chapter)