The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 360

Kublai Khan said: "Aiqing, please tell me."

"Khan, at the beginning of this year, I had a dispute with General Ali Hague about artillery. I thought that the greatest inventor in the history of artillery should be Mr. Ma Jun of Wei State in the Three Kingdoms period, but Ali Hague thought that although Ma Jun's artillery was powerful , but it is outdated, and the most powerful artillery experts today are those from the Western Regions,"

"Ma Jun, Ben Khan knows him. It is said that on the basis of the continuous crossbow invented by Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han Dynasty, he made a wheel-type stone throwing machine, called a 'wheel cannon', which can throw stones continuously and reduce the firing time. The interval time has greatly improved the lethality and destructive power of the original artillery. As for the Western Regions, there are also master gunmakers, but Ben Khan has never heard of it."

"Khan, my court has always been heavy cavalry, so I don't pay much attention to auxiliary equipment such as artillery. That day, my minister was in a verbal battle with General Ali Hague, and I didn't go into it. Now I see that the Southern Dynasty is studying guns and artillery. I just thought about it. up,"

"Shi Aiqing, who are the people from the Western Regions mentioned by Ali Hague?"

"Great Khan, according to Ali Hague, people in the Western Regions call cannons "returning cannons". There are two best makers. One of them is an elderly man named Alao Wading, who is from Mufali in the Western Regions. A man named Yisi Mayin, a native of Xulie from the Western Regions, both of them are Muslims (Islamic) from the Western Regions (to the west of Yumen Pass today), and belong to the master-student relationship. Because the Huihui Pao was obtained from the Western Regions, they are also called Western Region Pao. The return cannon can fire stones weighing tens of catties continuously, and it can also shoot boulders weighing 150 catties (equivalent to the current eight or ninety catties) at a time,"

"More than 100 catties," Kublai Khan said in surprise, "If what Ali Haiya said is true, dozens of return cannons are fired at the same time, and it only takes a few rounds to destroy the opponent's city."

Kublai Khan suddenly felt his eyes brighten. The siege plan that he had been thinking about recently could be regarded as a solution. In the field battle, Kublai Khan certainly believed in the invincibility of the Mongolian cavalry, but he was quite helpless about the strength of the city in the Southern Dynasty. However, most of the defense system of the Southern Dynasty was obtained from Meng Gong. If the Southern Dynasty army blindly huddled in the city, it would be difficult to break through. Even if they won, they would have to pay a considerable price.

Shi Tianze said: "What the Great Khan said is very true. Boulders weighing more than 100 jins falling on the city walls of the Southern Dynasty in turn will indeed cause great damage. It will be of great help to the siege."

"Well, isn't the Southern Dynasty relying on the city's solidity? I equipped the army with this kind of artillery, so I won't be good at siege warfare,,,,,,, haha, come here."

Xue Jun, who was on duty outside the door, hurried in and said, "Khan!"

"Quickly pass on Ali Hague, and enter the palace immediately,"

According to historical records, in the first month of the tenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1273), the Mongols attacked Fancheng with Huihui artillery and succeeded in one fell swoop. Then, the Yuan army moved the artillery to Xiangyang. A huge cannon was placed, "the machine fired, and the sound shook the world, and all the hits were destroyed, and it penetrated seven feet into the ground." As a result, one cannon shot at Qiaolou in Xiangyang, "the sound was like thunder, shaking the city, and the city was raging. "Song general Lu Wenhuan knew that he was invincible, so he took the city and surrendered to the Yuan army. The battle of Xiangfan, which lasted for five or six years, came to an end with the roar of the returning artillery.

After Kublai Khan knew that I was experimenting with artillery, he also advanced the use of the return cannon. Of course, Kublai Khan did not expect that I used artillery instead of stone-throwing artillery.

Ali Hague's residence was not far from Kublai Khan's palace, and about half an hour later, Ali Hague came to Kublai Khan's tent.

"See the Great Khan,"

"Well, Ali Hague, Ben Khan asks you, is there any craftsman who is good at making guns in the Western Regions?"

"Hui Da Khan, that's true. I didn't talk nonsense. At the beginning of last year, I passed by the Western Regions and met Yisi Mayin. He said that his teacher, Alao Wading, had already developed a projectile that could throw 250 to [-] kilograms of weight. the cannon,

Shi Tianze doubted: "More than 200 kilograms, General Ali Haiya, this time the cannon can support such a heavy stone,"

"Master Shi, I heard what Naisimain said. To be honest, Master Shi, I was also very surprised at that time. I don't understand the secret of it. I only know that the material of the return gun is made of a lot of metal. Material,"

Kublai Khan didn't know much about this, so he thought for a while and said, "Shi Tianze, Ali Haiya,"

"The minister is here,"

"Tomorrow morning, I will ask Zhongshu Sheng to issue an edict, and hurry up to [-] li, and tell that Alao Wading and Yisi Mayin will come to see Ben Khan as soon as possible,"

"Yes, Great Khan, ministers and others obey the order,"

On July [-]th of the second year of Xianchun, after several days of assessment by the Ministry of Officials and the Government Administration Council, Cai Chang entered the Daqing Hall in the palace for the first time during the court meeting.

Ma Tingluan, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, first came out and said: "Your Majesty, Cai Chang of Ryukyu Province has passed the examination of the Ministry of Officials and is waiting for an order outside the gate of the palace."

"Well, Xuan,"

Xiao Qi said loudly: "Xuan Cai entered the palace smoothly,"

When Ma Tingluan saw Cai Chang entered the palace, he said to him, "Cai Chang, Mr. Cai, according to the etiquette system of our dynasty, the first thing to do is to see the emperor."

Cai Chang hastily saluted and knelt down and said: "My minister, Cai Chang, sees the emperor, long live the emperor, long live, long live, long live, long live the emperor,"

"Cai Aiqing, don't be polite,"

"Thank you, Your Majesty,"

Ma Tingluan continued: "Your Majesty, please bestow the title,"

I nodded and said with a smile: "Cai Aiqing, I am very pleased that you passed the examination by the Ministry of Officials, and I am even more glad that you and your people can return to our court. Before granting the title, I will first talk about the importance of Ryukyu. It is the first province established by our dynasty overseas. Although the Ryukyu Islands are short of resources and the current economic situation is far behind that of our dynasty, its strategic position is very important. From Ryukyu to the north, you can reach Japan. If you go south, you can go straight down to the Southeast Asia, and if you go east, you can reach another continent on the earth, the American continent. Therefore, I plan to establish my first naval base outside the mainland in Ryukyu Province to prepare for the future. The plan is formulated by the Military Affairs Council, Lu Xiufu and Li Beiyang, you two are in charge of this matter."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I obey the order,"

"Cai Aiqing,"

"The minister is here,"

"I have appointed you as the first envoy of the Ryukyu Province. You are temporarily in charge of all the government affairs of the Ryukyu Province. The other officials of the Ryukyu Province will be submitted to the Government Council and the Ministry of Officials for joint review. The specific affairs of the various ministries of the Ryukyu Province will be handled by you According to the arrangements of the Government Affairs Council, you will go to the Government Affairs Council after the court meeting is over, follow the arrangement of Wen Tianxiang, the head of the Council of Government Affairs, and strive to understand all the government affairs procedures of our court within ten days."

"Yes, Your Majesty, my minister Cai Chang obeys the order,"

"Cai Aiqing, I'm here to warn you that it's not an easy job to be an official in my dynasty,"

"Please make it clear, Your Majesty,"

"I have a lot of rules and regulations. Cai Aiqing. To be an official in this dynasty, you must be mentally prepared. First of all, you must be honest. If you dream of getting rich and relying on power for power, it will definitely not work. You are an official. When the ministry is being assessed, you should know the "Code of Conduct for Officials" in my dynasty. There are many rules and regulations on it, and they all need to be implemented without compromise, so this is the first step, you have to become an honest official,"

"Don't worry, your majesty, I will definitely do this,"

"Well, the second thing is to be a good official for the country and the people. Serving the country and the people is my definition of a good official. I said when I took the throne that I will definitely lead me to ZTE, that is, to let The country is rich and the people are strong, so as the chief executive of the region, his duty is to lead the region to become prosperous and strong under my leadership. Therefore, you will not lose your courage when you go back. Ryukyu Province is different from other provinces. In addition to developing the economy and making the people on the island live a better life, you also need to make the original islanders belong to our court in their hearts, and let them be proud of the Ryukyu people, and even more proud of the Song people. During these ten days, The Government Affairs Council will arrange for you to go to the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Households and other departments to receive training from various ministries, and I will talk to you in detail when you leave."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will live up to your Majesty's entrustment, and must become a good official as the Emperor said,"

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, next I will talk about the ICAC memorial a few days ago," I said with a serious face, "I have signed the ICAC memorial, that is to say, the officials who have reached the death penalty , all of them will be sentenced to capital punishment according to the law, and more than 20 officials will be sentenced to death at one time. This is rare in the history of our dynasty. In the future, I will spend ten times the price, and maybe I won't be able to achieve today's results."

"The only thing that makes me feel lucky is that there are no people in the hall among these officials. I also hope that you will keep yourselves clean and don't follow in the footsteps of these people. Anti-corruption is a long-term national policy and will not stop. People What is the most precious thing? I think life is of course. Is it worth it to use your life to fight for things that you can't spend in a lifetime? As the saying goes, people die for money, but when people are dead, what do you need money for? , people, you have to live first, and you will have hope if you live. I remember a monarch said before his death that he had fought countless battles in his life and gained territories beyond his predecessors, but when he died, he was not the same as anyone else. , can only occupy one bed, "

The last sentence, I can't remember whether it was on TV or in the novel, I saw Genghis Khan say this before he died.

"Dear dears, what I just said just now means that a person risked the death penalty and acquired countless wealth while he was alive, so what's the use in the end?"

"Yeah, what's the use of money and things when people are gone," the officials in the hall thought one after another, and even Jia Sidao asked himself.

"I think gold, silver and treasures are enough. The salaries of the officials in my court are not low. Before, most of the officials have received a lot, either openly or secretly. I know it all. Of course, I said let the past go, everyone dear Qing, think about it carefully, is it worthwhile to do what those 22 officials did?"

With the help of Chen Wenlong's memorial, I educated the officials again, casually telling Cai Chang to be a good official for the country and the people,