Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 264
Li Buqi believed that Pang Ji was still very capable in handling political affairs, and another person might not be able to do a better job than Pang Ji.Moreover, as long as Pang Ji is still in the position of prime minister, he must find a way to set aside his merits. Even if he does not deal with Li Buqi, he dare not easily stumble, but it is hard to say how the new prime minister will go.Therefore, the first item in the list is to suggest that the emperor maintain the stability of the court and not change the prime minister for the time being.Then he asked for the two original transfer envoys in Guangnan to take their crimes and make meritorious deeds in their original positions.

As far as he knows, these two people are actually of a certain level, and they are local snakes. Let them be grateful, and things in Guangnan will be much easier in the future.

Li Buqi saw that the emperor was about to lose his mind, so he put forward several more conditions than before, such as setting up a gunpowder workshop in Guangzhou, recruiting troops on the spot to form a Xiang army, and the agencies stationed in Guangnan by the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Department and the Police Department. Abandoning jurisdiction, Li Buqi organized a navy in Guangzhou to prevent Jiaozhi.

Now that Guangnan is in such a mess, Zhao Zhen doesn't care much, and Li Buqi's reason is very legitimate, so Zhao Zhen agrees.Only about the gunpowder workshop, Zhao Zhen still hesitated.Because since last year, with the cooperation of Li Buqi, the Royal Proving Ground, the Military Weapons Supervisor and Qingyuan Academy, the power of gunpowder has become more and more powerful, and it is said that it can destroy cities and villages.What Zhao officials are most afraid of is that the rebels have such a big killer in their hands. How can they rest assured that remote Guangzhou can make such terrible things?

Zhao Zhen frowned: "Don't give up, gunpowder, such a military weapon, is better manufactured in the capital and shipped to Guangnan. If a workshop is set up in Guangzhou, I'm afraid that the method of making gunpowder will be disseminated into the hands of people with evil intentions."

Li Buqi said firmly: "Your Majesty only knows that gunpowder is very powerful as a weapon, but he doesn't know that it can save a lot of manpower if it is used to build roads and fields. Guangnan is mountainous but manpower is scarce. I want to build bridges and pave road camps there." Tian, ​​the amount of gunpowder needed is a huge amount. Perhaps Your Majesty doesn’t even know that gunpowder is powerful, but it also has many shortcomings. First, it is easy to get wet, and it is useless if it gets wet. And Guangnan is extremely humid, so it must be prepared and used immediately. Second, the power of gunpowder will be greatly reduced after the long-distance transportation is bumpy. The gunpowder supervised by the Beijing Normal University was transported to Guangnan, and it was bumpy and damp, and it would be useless when it arrived in Guangnan. Now this gunpowder recipe is indeed obtained from a sea merchant, it is not original by the military inspector, even if it is kept secret by the court, it is not very useful."

The gunpowder at this time is just a simple mixture of three kinds of powders: sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal. Due to its large surface area, it is easy to absorb moisture. After absorbing moisture, the effect will be seriously affected, and it will even become a hard lump and completely fail.Sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal have different specific gravity. Once shaken for a long time, the heavy powder will sink, resulting in uneven mixing and affecting the use effect.Although Li Buqi knew the way to solve the problem, but in order to give people in Song Dynasty a chance to study, he didn't tell the way, which is what it is now.

"Oh? There's another matter?" Zhao Zhen really didn't know that there was such a thing.Zhang Yonghe, who was in the hall, immediately reported: "Report to the officials, the current gunpowder prescription is indeed obtained from a sea merchant, and it does have these two problems. A while ago, Li Zhongzheng and others were busy looking for it. There is a solution. And although the recipe for making gunpowder is simple, it needs to make the sulfur and saltpeter pure, so that the power of gunpowder is great. And the saltpeter must be refined, otherwise the gunpowder will often explode at the slightest touch. Sulfur Refining with saltpeter in the capital, even if some thieves got the gunpowder recipe, they would not be able to make gunpowder as powerful as the Military Weapons Supervisor.”

Zhao Zhen thought that since this gunpowder recipe is not unique in the first place, and Li Buqi needs to build roads and fields to develop production and pay off millions of dollars in debt, Li Buqi is one of the people who knows the best way to make gunpowder, so beware of him. It was meaningless, so he repeatedly asked Li Buqi to prevent the leakage of the gunpowder manufacturing method and agreed to Li Buqi's request.

At this moment, Pang Ji suddenly asked: "Zhongzheng's Chen Zhong only wrote about recruiting young and strong people on the spot to replenish the Xiang army, but he didn't say how many forbidden troops will be used. I don't know how many troops will be sent to Guangnan?"

Li Buqi looked surprised: "Didn't Deputy Shu already lead an army of 20 to go south? As long as the strategy is right, this 20 army is enough."

The emperor didn't understand, but Pang Ji, who had led troops in Shaanxi and Hedong, knew that the so-called "20" was just a so-called name. After removing all kinds of water, there were only 6 people in total, plus those under Di Qing's command at that time. The troops in Jinghu, Guangnan and other places are about 5 people.If the Jiaozhi people really sent 2 troops, plus Nong Zhigao's [-] troops, in his opinion, Di Qing and Li Buqi couldn't handle it at all, not to mention that the northern soldiers were still unacceptable in the south.With an attitude of being responsible to Song Dynasty, Pang Ji said: "Just now Zhongzheng said that the enemy will be lenient. If the Jiaozhi people intend to attack aggressively, I'm afraid..."

Wang Deyong also said: "Zhongzheng should not be careless."

Li Buqi smiled wryly and said, "According to my calculations, it would be good if the two dilapidated Guangnan roads can support Di Fushu's army to fight. Therefore, we can only take a step-by-step strategy and plan to take two to three years to pacify Guangdong and Guangxi. In this way, there will be more logistical pressure if there are more people. But Pu She and Qi Guogong don’t have to worry. Most of the people of the Song Dynasty are loyal to His Majesty. The military effect is small."

The emperor was even more happy to see that Li Buqi didn't need to increase his troops, because as the troops were sent out, the money and food in the treasury would flow out like water. Now he is really devastated because of financial difficulties.Ouyang Xiu and others are clamoring every day that the people are unbearable to be exploited. Although the police department and the local government are suppressing them, more and more people are scattered as robbers. Even the surrounding area of ​​Gyeonggi is not stable. The emperor is really worried that he will continue to search for officials and force the people to rebel .

Therefore, seeing that Pang Ji and the others had no intention of objecting to the statement, he asked, "Don't give up. If I order your governor to be the transshipment envoy of Guangdong and Guangxi, how many days can you leave?"

Li Buqi said: "Now the military situation is urgent, and I can go to Guangzhou in three days."

"Three days?" Not only the emperor was taken aback, but Pang Ji also stared at him-it is true that some measures in Li Buqi's statement, such as the issuance of national debt, have never been done by even the people from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and they don't know what to do. How to play.So he had to say: "Is this too hasty? For example, for the issuance of national bonds, a regulation must be made first anyway."

But Li Buqi said: "The military situation is on fire. Where can I have time to sit down and discuss slowly? This issuance of national debt can be operated by Mao Hanlin, who is now in charge of special funds for the internal treasury. The recruitment of officials is voluntary. For an official document, I will entrust Qingyuan Academy to come up with some questions for the applicants to take the exam, and it is not difficult. With money and people, other things are easy to handle, and you can do it well on the road."

In this way, Zhao Zhen felt relieved about Li Buqi.Because in this way, the recruitment of officials is still a matter for the emperor and the officials, and Li Buqi does not handle it, so there is no suspicion of pulling out a group of people to rebel.In a good mood, he immediately said: "So, without delay, immediately appoint Buqi as the transshipment envoy for the east and west routes of Guangnan, and implement the strategy suggested by Buqi. Pang Qing, what do you think?"

Pang Ji did not doubt that the emperor directly ignored the opinions of the privy envoy Gao Ruona.

In this way, the emperor ordered Zhigao to draw up an edict, ordering Li Buqi to be the transshipment envoy of the East and West Roads in Guangnan, and he was allowed to act cheaply, leaving for the post three days later. Due to the tension of the war, all three provinces and six ministries had to cooperate with Li Buqi.After Li Buqi received the edict, he went out of the palace to summon Mao Zhichun and others to arrange various matters.As soon as he walked out of Xuande Gate, the sergeant guarding the gate chased after him and shouted: "Mr. Li, please stay."

Li Buqi looked back and saw Wang Zhongzheng chasing after him out of breath, he said out of breath, "Li Yunshi, there is an urgent military situation, Your Majesty asks you to see him immediately."

What happened to the effort of farting?Li Buqi followed Wang Zhongzheng back to the Chongzheng Hall in a hurry, Wang Zhongzheng stopped ten steps outside the hall gate and turned to go out, only letting him in.When Li Buqi went in, he saw that apart from the left and right servants and the privy envoys, Li Zhang and Lian Guangzhi were also there, and the faces of the emperor and others were as if they had died.

What's happening here?
When Zhao Zhen saw Li Buqi, it was as if he had seen a savior, and he hurriedly said to Li Zhang, "Tell Buqi the information."

As soon as Li Zhang shared the secret report from the Liao Kingdom, Li Buqi felt that the world was not normal at that time: "Nani? Is the Liao Kingdom really going to play with the Navy? The Liao Emperor's head is really convulsed?"

(End of this chapter)