big song poppi

Chapter 291 0288 [One shot first! 】

"A letter from the Korean thief?"

Song Huizong was confused at first, then thought of something, and a trace of panic suddenly flashed in his eyes.

When he took it and took a look, his expression changed drastically.

Sure enough, the matter was exposed, and the Han thief came to hold him accountable.

The Korean thief lion opened his mouth and demanded compensation of 50 shi of food, otherwise he would start fighting again!
But where does he still have 50 stones of food now...

There is indeed a lot of grain and grass stored in the granaries around Tokyo, but these grains and grass are treasures and should not be touched unless absolutely necessary.

In order to end the war through peace talks, 250 million shi had been reluctantly allocated.

Moreover, both Jinghu and Shuzhong are now using troops, and the land of Yanyun still has 10,000+ troops, not to mention the Western Army stationed in Xixia, which needs food everywhere.

Seeing the sudden change in Song Huizong's expression, Bai Shizhong couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, what happened?"

"Cai Jing mistook me!"

Song Huizong looked up to the sky and sighed, wishing he could strangle Cai Jing to death.

"This……"

After taking the letter and reading it, Bai Shizhong didn't know what to say.

You said you were going to dispatch detailed work, at least find some professionals.

What's the use of sending a few half-grown little girls?

Cai Jingdu is over 80 years old, his eyesight is dim and he may wet the bed at night. What good ideas can he come up with?

The key is that one really dares to say it, and the other really dares to believe it.

Is Han Zhen easy to get along with?
Now it's fine, the matter has been exposed, and people will be held accountable.

Song Huizong was in a state of chaos and ordered: "Pass on Li Bangyan and Cai You."

Not long after, Li Bangyan and Cai You arrived.

The three giants of the entire Zhao Song Civil Service Group were all present.

In terms of official positions, Li Bangyan was the highest. After Wang Fu was demoted, he is now the minister Zuocheng. He also has great achievements in presiding over the peace talks, and he is in the limelight for a while.

Followed by Bai Shizhong, Dazai and Zhongshu's sect, worshiped Shangshu Youcheng.

But his actual status in the court is lower than Cai You.

After stabbing his own father and younger brother in the back, the remaining Cai Party members in the DPRK chose to rely on Cai You.

Cai Jing has served as prime minister several times and has accumulated considerable political resources.

Song Huizong ordered: "You two should also take a look."

Li Bangyan and Cai You took the letter with puzzled faces. After reading it, Li Bangyan's eyes twitched.

In this matter, Han Zhen cannot be accused of breaking the peace treaty agreement. They were wrong in the first place.

Cai You muttered: "Your Majesty, don't panic. After a great battle, the Korean thieves have very few firearms left. Now the saltpeter is stuck again. Even if there is a secret recipe for firearms, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw. Besides, Zhongshi Dao led 10,000+ The army has surrounded Shandong, how can the Korean thieves dare to use swordsmanship? They must be intimidating Your Majesty and want to gain some benefits."

Song Huizong still felt uneasy and worried: "But if the Korean thieves really come, how should we deal with it?"

Although the Korean thief has no firearms, he doesn't dare to gamble now. If he loses, he can't afford the price.

Li Bangyan suggested: "How about this? Send the families of the three women first, and then send tens of thousands of dan of grain to show your sincerity. If you drag the remaining grain, it will be said that there is a shortage of food and it needs to be transported from other areas. Drag one A year and a half later, let’s wait and see what happens.”

Song Huizong was overjoyed: "What Ai Qing said makes sense, so let's do it."

……

……

Under Han Zhen's governance, the land of Shandong, which had been plagued by disasters for several years and experienced wars, began to glow with life like the sky in March.

Groups of fleeing households were persuaded to come down from the mountains.

As long as you are willing to go down the mountain, you will be given money and paper clothes, allocate fields, and rent seeds and farm tools without any interest.

Farmers are encouraged to open up wasteland, and the reclaimed wasteland will be tax-free for three years.

If you really don’t want to farm, that’s no problem. You can bring him to work in the city.

Now Han Zhen encourages businessmen to open workshops, and business taxes are halved for three years. There are also a series of preferential policies. If the money is not enough, the local government can even provide low-interest loans.

As a result, the wealthy businessmen who were initially fearful suddenly became bolder.

Workshops have sprung up one after another.

March [-].

The hall-locked examination that countless supplementary officers have been waiting for has finally begun.

The scale of this lock-down trial was many times larger than the last time.

After all, there were only 100 supplementary officers who took part in the lock-down examination last time, and this time the number of references was as high as 800.

The person in charge of the examination was the new Minister of Civil Affairs, Xie Ding.

After all, the name of the Xie family in Fuyang was very useful. After he became the Minister of Rites, many scholars in Shandong who were still hesitant applied for replacement positions.

This is the rule set by Han Zhen. No matter who he is, if he wants to be an official, he must start by filling the official position.

The advantage is that the new officials have experience at the grassroots level, can get started quickly, and understand the real needs of the people.

"The auspicious time has come, open the dragon gate!"

Following Xie Ding's loud shout, the gate of the Gongyuan behind him slowly opened.

More than 800 supplementary officers lined up in several long lines, were interrogated in an orderly manner, and entered the examination room.

Qi Meng took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement and anxiety in his heart, stepped forward, and allowed the Zaoban police officers to search his whole body.

He knew in his heart that after this lock-down examination, there should be no more imperial examinations in the next one or two years.

Therefore, he must seize this opportunity.

After the interrogation was over, Qi Meng packed up his pen, ink, paper and inkstone and bowed to Xie Ding who was standing aside.

Just as he was about to enter the examination room, he unexpectedly saw Xie Ding speaking: "Are you Qi Meng?"

"Xie Shangshu, do you think you are humble?"

Qi Meng was surprised. He didn't expect Xie Ding to recognize him, and he felt flattered for a moment.

He is a scholar, so he doesn't know the name of the Xie family in Fuyang.

He also read the crusade written by Xie Ding and admired his literary talent.

Xie Ding chuckled and said: "I often hear praises from my colleagues. I hope that this time I will not be disappointed during the lock-down examination." "I will do my best even though I am humble."

Qi Meng bowed again and walked firmly into the Gongyuan examination room.

When the rear officers saw him, they all cast envious glances.

Xie Ding is the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the examiner of this lock-down examination. With his favor, if he can get into high school, he will surely rise to prominence in the future.

As a famous supplementary official entered the Gongyuan, Xie Ding ordered: "Close the Dragon Gate and burn incense!"

creak!

With a sound of sore teeth, the two vermilion doors slowly closed.

The people watching knew that when this door was opened again, dozens of new officials would be born.

Han Zhen didn't come today, he had more important things to do.

in the military camp.

Han Zhen looked at the three giant cannons in front of him with anticipation on his face.

These three giant cannons are two meters long, as thick as a bucket, and the main body is a whole piece of wood.

Yes, it's wood.

Today's iron smelting technology is not up to par, and there are large and small bubbles in the cannon body poured with molten iron.

These bubbles will cause the chamber to explode.

And making it out of pure copper is too extravagant. Copper is money now, and a cannon made entirely of copper is too bulky.

Finally, Han Zhen thought of wooden cannons.

Wooden cannons have been used in ancient and modern times at home and abroad. There was even a show called "MythBusters" in later generations, which even conducted special tests to confirm the feasibility of wooden cannons.

In addition to wooden cannons, there are also Swedish leather cannons whose barrels are made of leather and iron.

However, the leather cannon has a disadvantage. Due to the strength of the barrel, it can only be made into a small field cannon and cannot be made into a huge cannon for siege.

After careful consideration, Han Zhen finally chose the wooden cannon.

The three wooden cannons in front of me are all made of ironwood purchased from Guangdong and Guangxi. They are five times harder than ordinary trees and will sink when exposed to water.

The middle is hollowed out and inlaid with a copper core. The outer layer is tightly wrapped by iron hoops and placed flat on the gun mount.

These three cannons alone took hundreds of craftsmen in the ordnance workshop and nearly a month.

Of course, it was mainly the first time to make it, so the process was unskilled, and the molds also took a lot of effort.

If mass production occurs in the future, it will be much faster.

Liu Qi looked at the three giant cannons with great interest and said with some doubts: "County Magistrate, are these iron lumps really as powerful as you said?"

"Although I don't know its power, it looks very powerful and domineering."

Huang Kai touched his chin and gave him a silent slap on the back.

"Try it and you'll know."

Han Zhen was unsure and ordered: "One shot first!"

Hearing this, several craftsmen looked at each other.

Craftsman Yuan looked confused: "County magistrate, I don't know how to use this."

"Get out of the way, I'll come!"

Han Zhen asked the craftsmen to disperse and stepped forward in person.

Open the wooden box, pour the black powder into the barrel, then pick up a wooden plug and compact the gunpowder.

Finally, he picked up a stone ball the size of an adult's fist and stuffed it into the barrel.

Three hundred steps ahead, a section of the city wall stood.

This section of the city wall is only three meters high and five meters long. It is completely modeled after the county wall and is specially used to test the power of artillery.

Inserting a piece of fuse into the hole behind the barrel, Han Zhen poured some gunpowder around the hole, leaving no gaps.

After doing this, he turned around and ordered: "Everyone, take twenty steps back."

To be honest, he didn't know whether this thing would explode, so he didn't dare to put too much gunpowder just now.

But even so, be careful.

Hearing this, Craftsman Yuan and other craftsmen ran into the distance with a clatter.

Liu Qi was a little reluctant, but after being glared at by Han Zhen, he had no choice but to retreat honestly.

He took out a fire stick and lit it, causing Han Zhen to run away.

After retreating twenty steps away, he stopped and stared at the cannon with Liu Qi and Huang Kai without blinking.

Chi Chi Chi!
The fuse soon burned to the end, emitting bursts of black smoke.

boom!
With a loud noise, the stone ball shot out and accurately hit the city wall three hundred steps away.

"Let's go and see how powerful it is!"

Han Zhen said hello, mounted his horse and ran towards the city wall.

All the way to the city wall, I saw the marble cannonball of the city wall, smashing through the outermost layer of blue bricks and sinking only three inches deep into the rammed earth layer.

The green bricks around the hole also shattered.

This kind of power is not as powerful as a three-bow bed crossbow for a city wall that is often several meters thick, or even more than ten meters thick.

"County Magistrate, the power of this giant cannon is not very good."

Liu Qi looked strange. He had been looking forward to it for so long, but this was the result?

The range was okay, but he couldn't accept the power.

"What's the rush?"

Han Zhen glanced at him sideways, without explaining, and turned back to the three cannons.

After checking the cannon, he found that after firing once, the entire cannon was intact. He couldn't help but feel relieved.

From the current point of view, the solidity of this wooden iron cannon is no problem.

Covering the wooden pole with burlap and briefly cleaning the barrel, Han Zhen started his second experiment.

This time, Han Zhen increased the amount of gunpowder, which was twice as much as before.

(End of this chapter)