Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 175: Military Equipment Innovation, Arrangements for Wang Xuance's Return

Li Yuanji opened the exchange system and looked at the crop exchange. As he looked at it, his heart sank.

It's not for any other reason, but just because he can't afford to exchange the few things he saw. No matter whether it's potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn or hybrid rice, none of them can be exchanged for less than 10,000 contribution points.

Li Yuanji was tired, very tired. He thought that five thousand contribution points were already a lot. However, when he took them out to exchange, he found that these five thousand contribution points were not too much at all, but pitifully too little.

Li Yuanji was helpless and could only look around to see if there was anything else he could exchange. Soon, Li Yuanji chose tomatoes, if for no other reason than that these tomatoes could be eaten raw, were nutritious, and could be cooked in a variety of ways to meet many needs.

As for other vegetables, there are actually quite a few of them nowadays, such as cabbage, which is now called turnip, and was renamed cabbage during the Song Dynasty. There are also winter melon, peas, and cucumbers, but they are called cucumbers. There are quite a few edible vegetables.

However, although there are many, the quantity is not large, especially the cabbage, which ordinary people cannot eat. It is only grown by wealthy families. The most common food for the common people is almost all sunflower vegetables. There are some other vegetables depending on the season, but most of them are wild vegetables.

In fact, Li Yuanji also wanted to exchange for some other things, but he already had many of them. He couldn't afford peppers, but he had cabbage and eggplant. And now it is not called eggplant, but has a very elegant name, called Luosu. Then there is the alternative food for the Tang Dynasty army in the future: turnip, which is now kohlrabi.

Without thinking about it anymore, as Li Yuanji exchanged the points, only one thousand contribution points were left. Li Yuanji was in tears. The only consolation was that he had an extra serving of good food.

Time passed and Xie Shufang hurried in.

"My king, good news! My king, the craftsmen have used the forging method you gave them to create new weapons. Please go and check them out."

Li Yuanji immediately became interested.

"Come on, hurry up and take a look."

Li Yuanji was also curious about what the weapons made with this new forging method would look like, and he really wanted to see them.

When we arrived at the forge, the people inside were already prepared.

"Your Majesty, please look at this. This is our newly made armor and sword. We have tested it and the results are very good."

Li Yuanji picked up the sword and armor and looked at them, feeling the weight. He was a little surprised because the weight of this armor was much lighter than before.

After a while, Li Yuanji looked at the craftsman.

"Now show me how to do it."

Soon the newly made armor was tied to the wooden stake, and at the same time, an old set of armor was also tied to the stake. Then the old sword was taken out, and two soldiers were called in, one holding the newly made sword and the other holding the old sword.

The two men stood still. The man holding the sword stretched out his long knife and remained motionless. The other man also held a long knife and then chopped down hard. The previous sword broke immediately and Li Yuanji's pupils shrank.

He thought the quality would be very good, but he didn't expect it to be so good. He then took the newly made long sword in his hand and saw that the blade was intact, without even a crack. Li Yuanji's eyes were a little hot.

"good very good!"

Xie Shufang's eyes were equally fiery on the side. If the army were equipped with such weapons, wouldn't it be as easy as chopping melons and vegetables when encountering enemies on the battlefield in the future?

After a while, a new test began. The strong man took the newly made long sword and chopped at the new armor. Some marks appeared on the armor, but it had no effect and could still be used normally. Then he chopped at the previous armor. With one cut, there was an obvious dent on the armor. With another cut, the armor was cut open. With another cut, a wound was cut on the wooden stake.

Li Yuanji and Xie Shufang checked it out together, and Xie Shufang became even more excited.

"Your Majesty, these newly made weapons and armor must be equipped to the army. I suggest that all of the army's weapons be replaced with these new weapons!

The previous armor can be broken in three hits with this new weapon. When used on the battlefield, the enemy's armor will be as good as not being worn. This is still the best armor of the Tang Dynasty. If it is from other small countries, even if they are wearing armor, it can be broken in one hit.

My king, please equip the army. With these new equipment, the army will be more powerful!"

After Xie Shufang was shocked, the first thought in his mind was to equip the entire army with new equipment. With such armor and weapons, he didn't know how such a large army would lose on the battlefield. Others couldn't break their defense, but they could break the armor of others with just a few hits. There was absolutely no comparison.

Li Yuanji was equally excited. He already knew that these were only possible because of the improvement in the quality of steel.

Then Li Yuanji suddenly laughed, and he was very happy. With such weapons, he now had more confidence.

"Shu Fang, don't be impatient. The army must be equipped with new weapons! However, it takes time to build weapons, so don't be impatient."

After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he looked around again and went back, and immediately called Cen Wenben.

"Jingren, I just visited the forge. The newly made weapons are very good. Today's weapons and armor cannot compare with the new ones. You should immediately expand the forge, add more people, and work hard to produce what the army needs as soon as possible.

From now on, our army will have to replace this new type of weapons. With this kind of weapons, our army will surely be invincible in the future!"

Li Yuanji was really starting to get excited. With such a large army, he was not afraid even of the Tang Dynasty. This was the benefit brought by equipment crushing.

Although the Tang Dynasty's smelting technology will catch up later, the gap is too big now. Even if the distance is shortened, he will still be the leader.

Upon hearing this, Cen Wenben immediately agreed.

"I understand, but my king, if the army is equipped with new weapons, what should be done with the previous weapons? If all of them are recycled, the damage will be very great, and I am afraid that the gain will not outweigh the loss."

Li Yuanji suddenly felt a headache when he heard this. He had finally equipped his entire army with armor, and almost everyone was wearing armor. If he replaced the equipment with new ones, he would feel bad about throwing away the old ones, and the loss of recycling them would be too great. He felt really bad about it.

After thinking for a while, Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it.

"Don't worry about this in advance. It will take time to change the army's equipment. I will find a way to do this. The army's weapons must be replaced, that's for sure!"

Li Yuanji spoke in a decisive tone. In his eyes, even if the previous weapons were just left to rot in the warehouse, they had to be equipped with new weapons.

Cen Wenben didn't say anything else. Since Li Yuanji had made preparations, he went down to start making preparations. In his eyes, these new weapons and equipment must be equipped to the army, but his heart bleeds when he thought of the previous weapons.

"Okay, I will go down and arrange the expansion matters and re-equip the army as soon as possible." After Cen Wenben went down, Li Yuanji began to think about what to do with the previous weapons. After all, they were all good things. The equipment of the Tang army now was not bad and was very sophisticated.

Li Yuanji thought for a while but still had no clue, so he simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, he didn't need to think about this matter for the time being and could deal with it later.

A few days later, Li Yuanji completed the day's task and his contribution points reached one thousand and thirty. Now, Li Yuanji had no expectations for the five contribution points that increased every day. They were really too little and could only be said to be better than nothing.

Not long after I lay down, Xie Shufang walked in.

"Your Majesty, Xuan Ce and Ding Fang are back. The fleet has arrived at the port, and Xuan Ce and Ding Fang are heading towards the city."

Li Yuanji was immediately delighted after hearing this. Since Wang Xuance and Su Dingfang were back, the supplies they brought with them must have arrived as well. With the food and supplies Wang Xuance brought back this time, it seemed that this place could hold out for a while.

"Have someone prepare a banquet, and we will go out to welcome them together. Invite Jingren as well."

Li Yuanji immediately got up and took Xie Shufang and Cen Wenben to the outside of the city. After a while, Wang Xuance and Su Dingfang arrived.

This time, Wang Xuance and Su Dingfang were also shocked. Compared with when they went to Chang'an, there have been huge changes here, especially the concrete roads on the ground, the expanded wharf, and the people coming and going, all of which told them that the development here has made much more progress than before.

"See you, Your Majesty."

The two men came before Li Yuanji and saluted, and Li Yuanji helped them up.

"Hurry up, it's been such a long time since we went to Chang'an this time, thank you for your hard work."

Li Yuanji was also feeling emotional. Cen Wenben and others, who set out later than Wang Xuance and Su Dingfang, as well as Wei Gui, had all arrived, but these two people only arrived now, which showed how difficult the journey was.

Later, Li Yuanji introduced Cen Wenben to the two of them. Wang Xuance then learned that Lingnan had been changed by Li Yuanji into five prefectures for development, and Ning Chun had gone to Guangzhou. He was a little surprised for a moment, but did not ask much.

The group returned to the palace and gathered together again after the banquet. Su Dingfang and Xie Shufang were still competing in drinking when Li Yuanji brought Cen Wenben and Wang Xuance inside.

"Your Majesty, the supplies we brought back from Chang'an this time were really too much. We didn't bring enough people with us, and we were delayed on the road for a long time, so we arrived so late."

Afterwards, Wang Xuance handed the list of supplies to Li Yuanji. After Li Yuanji opened it, he was also surprised. It was indeed that Li Yuan's generosity this time was really not small, especially since Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin both sent a large amount of money, food and supplies. He was really surprised.

Especially when he saw the 10,000 sets of military equipment given by Li Yuan, Li Yuanji was puzzled. He was eliminating the old military equipment, but then another 10,000 sets arrived.

After reading it, Li Yuanji could only say that it was because Wang Xuance left Chang'an early, otherwise these supplies would definitely be discounted. After a series of events that happened afterwards, he didn't believe that these people would be so generous.

After a while, Li Yuanji spoke slowly.

"Jingren, Xuan Ce, the two of you should coordinate and store the money, grain and other supplies, and then take Xuan Ce to understand the changes here.

Xuan Ce, you should rest first. After you have rested, you must understand the current situation here clearly. After you understand it clearly, come to me again."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xuance immediately agreed. He really needed to rest and get to know this place better. Even though he had started from here before, he now suddenly felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The two men went down immediately, and five days passed. After Wang Xuance had a good rest and understood the situation clearly, he came to Li Yuanji.

"Your Majesty, I understand everything. I have great respect for you. Your Majesty is truly not an ordinary person like us. I could never have imagined this."

Wang Xuance was really sighing. He really doubted whether Li Yuanji was a human being. He really didn't know how Li Yuanji came up with such novel and extremely practical things. You have to know that Li Yuanji was the King of Qi.

Li Yuanji also laughed after hearing this.

"Haha, the changes here now are indeed greater than before. Now that you understand everything clearly, I will start to talk about business. The development of Lingnan now starts with the five prefectures as the center. One person is responsible for one place, and the pressure and responsibility are very great.

Now the army is attacking Linyi. You should also know that it is inevitable that Linyi will be conquered. However, after Linyi is conquered, it must be managed. Its territory will also be my fiefdom, and I must govern it.

But if Linyi was incorporated into Jiaozhou Prefecture, the north-south depth of Jiaozhou Prefecture would be too large, and Wei Ye might not be able to take care of it there. In addition, Jiaozhou had just started to develop, so it was not appropriate to put Linyi into Jiaozhou Prefecture.

Apart from Jiaozhou Prefecture, there is only Nanzhou Prefecture, but Nanzhou Prefecture is also far away from Linyi. Although there are sailing ships now, it is still not suitable.

So I plan to re-establish a prefecture in Linyi, Yuezhou Prefecture. Linyi is too long from north to south, but the span between east and west is not enough. Setting up a prefecture will be just the right way to support its development.

I want to let you go to Yuezhou Prefecture to govern and develop Yuezhou, but don't worry, Xuan Ce, the governance there now is only temporary. Once development occurs, I will transfer you back later. I won't keep you there forever.

You are well aware of the development model here, and Yuezhou Prefecture is newly established, and I can only feel at ease if you go, is Xuan Ce willing?"

Li Yuanji had asked Wang Xuance to be prepared before because of this idea. Now he has too few talented people and has no choice but to use them. It would be an obvious waste of talent if he kept them all around him.

Linyi, no, it's Yuezhou Prefecture now. He attaches great importance to that place. If he controls Linyi, he will have influence in Southeast Asia, and the fleets sailing far away will also benefit from it. The route he took was that when Zhu Di sent Zheng He to the West, he would use Annan at that time, now Yuezhou Prefecture, as a support.

In addition, his current base is in Lingnan, so he must invest in, develop and govern Yuezhou Prefecture. This is his determination.

Now that Wang Xuance had just returned and he had no one else to use, Li Yuanji had no choice but to make this arrangement.

Wang Xuance spoke without hesitation.

"Your Majesty, I know, I will definitely develop Yuezhou Prefecture!"

When Wang Xuance learned about the situation, he already had a premonition, which was why he did not hesitate or be surprised. Moreover, he also wanted to demonstrate his abilities when he went out to govern and develop an area.

(End of this chapter)