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

Duan Shilin looked at the new technology given by Li Yuanji. At first glance, Duan Shilin was just curious. He had an obvious interest in the electricity mentioned in it, but it was just interest.

Because in Duan Shilin's mind, these things were still unknown. After taking a rough look for the first time, he couldn't see the core of them at all.

"Your Majesty, I will immediately organize a special team to start studying, and then start research and development!"

Yes, you have to learn first before you can carry out research and development. The progress of learning and the ability to learn will directly affect the progress of research and development.

“You can arrange these by yourself. I have only one request, that you make every effort to tackle this technology without delaying the application and development of the steam engine and the improvements mentioned above.

Even if I tell you about this technology now, you may not understand it yet. But I can give you one thing: through this technology, you can create electricity like lightning.

It can also transmit sound and messages thousands of miles away, and it can be done in a moment.

Therefore, your research institute must pay attention to this technology and solve the problem as soon as possible."

Li Yuanji couldn't say too much to Duan Shilin. Now Duan Shilin didn't understand at all, so it was useless for him to say more.

The purpose of this statement is to let Duan Shilin and others be interested subjectively. Although he can force the arrangement, subjective interest is more important in learning technology, breaking through technology, and doing research and development.

Doing something passively and doing something actively are two different concepts.

When Duan Shilin heard this, he did become interested. It was mainly because what Li Yuanji described shocked Duan Shilin, but he also wanted to realize it extremely.

Duan Shilin never doubted the truth of what Li Yuanji said. In their eyes, everything Li Yuanji said was true. There were already too many examples. Even if they couldn't do it, it wasn't that Li Yuanji was wrong, but that they did something wrong.

After leaving the research institute, Li Yuanji went straight back to the palace.

In Chang'an, in the magnificent hall, Li Shimin summoned Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others to discuss important matters.

"Your Majesty, there is a serious food shortage in various places now. Most of the food has been bought by people arranged by the King of Qi. Now we have money but a shortage of food.

Originally, some was purchased from the King of Qi at a high price, but since the King of Qi came back, it was impossible to buy a grain of food from the King of Qi's fiefdom.

The grain merchants from all over the country, as well as most of the noble families, had previously hoarded silver coins, but in the end they were deceived by the King of Qi and suffered huge losses.

Now, in order to recover their losses, they put the remaining grain in the grain shop to sell, reaching 130 coins per bucket, and the price is still rising. "

Listening to Fang Xuanling's worried words, Li Er felt heavy in his heart. He had been warned about the food shortage, but he was still too late.

As for hoarding silver coins, Li Er himself had a deep understanding of this. He had been tricked before and had given Li Yuanji a lot of silver for nothing. He could understand and yet not understand why other people had been tricked.

He just couldn't figure it out, are those people all pigs?

It would have been enough to hoard a little, but he hoarded so much without verifying it first, and ended up giving Li Yuanji so much money in vain.

As a result, these people lost money at the hands of Li Yuanji, and they have no way to ask Li Yuanji to get it back. Now they are trying to make the money back by raising the price of grain in the Tang Dynasty, right?
Li Er was really disappointed with these people.

However, thinking about the problem Fang Xuanling raised, Li Er felt a headache. He was convinced by Li Yuanji, this stupid guy. Now a large amount of grain in the Tang Dynasty was bought by Li Yuanji. The Tang Dynasty had money, but where would the grain come from?
There is still a lot of time to hold on until the autumn harvest of the following year. If they want to buy grain from overseas, the sea is all Li Yuanji's territory. As long as they go out to sea, they will be stopped by Li Yuanji's navy.

At this moment, Li Er realized that those small countries that he had looked down upon before were now connected together, and Li Yuanji directly blockaded his entire Tang Dynasty from the sea.

His navy has only built a few warships and even fewer artillery. If he wants to fight Li Yuanji's navy, he still has a long way to go.

After thinking for a while, Li Er looked at Fang Xuanling.

“We also got a lot of grain from the Western Expedition to Tuyuhun and other countries this time, and we will gradually ship it back later. As for the remaining grain, we can directly go to those aristocratic grain merchants to get it.

Tell them that if I fail, they won’t have a good life with the King of Qi. Let them take a good look at the people under the King of Qi and see how much they can get.

And the King of Qi is now promoting the academy in an all-round way, let's see if they can accept this news."

Li Er sneered. The academy that Li Yuanji was now vigorously running could be said to have indirectly helped him.

Because Li Er knew very well that those people would never allow the leakage of knowledge. This was the foundation of those aristocratic families and the root of their survival. It was also an important reason why no matter who became the emperor, they could not do without them.

Because there is no one in the world who can replace them, and there are not so many people who can replace them.

Because of this, Li Er was not afraid that these people would not give him money and food. After all, only if he won could those people continue to live their previous lives. If Li Yuanji won, these families would inevitably be suppressed.

Li Yuanji's development model is completely different from that of the Tang Dynasty. By then, they will probably find it difficult to preserve not only knowledge but also land.

Fang Xuanling and his companions did not object when they heard this. They did not have any other choice now. There was only so much food. They knew better that even the grain merchants and wealthy families probably did not have much food left.

Since Li Yuanji wanted to deprive them of food, and these people had so much food in their hands, they thought that Li Yuanji would never let them go.

Nowadays it is very difficult for them to buy from outside. They can only purchase through other countries. They cannot go out because the sea is full of Li Yuanji’s navy.

However, Li Yuanji had conquered all the surrounding small countries. Now very few people can come in, and without Li Yuanji's consent, they cannot come in. In the eyes of those small countries, they would rather offend the Tang Dynasty than offend Li Yuanji.

After all, if the Tang Dynasty wanted to attack them, it had to get through Li Yuanji first, and for Li Yuanji, it was really easy for him to attack those small countries.

Li Er's voice came again.

“All local government coffers should also be opened to start rescue operations and bring down the price of grain.

The Tang Dynasty is so rich and vast that no matter how much the King of Qi buys, he can't possibly buy up all the grain in the Tang Dynasty. He should save some and wait until the autumn harvest next year, when things will get better."

Li Er had no other choice but to do this for the time being.

The matter was resolved roughly, and Li Er immediately asked Du Ruhui.

"There is news from the King of Qi that his army is now expanding across the board, and the King of Qi has also begun to increase troops in Guangzhou and Liuzhou.

The rest of the army was moving to the west, and supplies were also being transported westward. This time, the King of Qi should be preparing to use military force against the Harsha Dynasty.

This is an opportunity. As long as his army marches west to attack the Jie Ri Dynasty, Lingnan will be empty. What do you think, should I send troops?"

As soon as Li Er finished speaking, Du Ruhui stood up.

"Your Majesty, I suggest that we should not send out troops. Our army's firearms have not yet been fully equipped. The most important thing now is to expand the production of firearms. At the same time, as your majesty said, the firearms of the King of Qi have made new breakthroughs. Their performance on the battlefield is too excellent, and the impact on the war situation is very great.

Then we also need to research the corresponding firearms now, otherwise we will not be able to compete with the King of Qi’s army in the future.

Your Majesty also said that the King of Qi has increased its troops in Guangzhou and Liuzhou, which shows that the King of Qi has taken precautions against Your Majesty's military deployment.

If we send out troops now, mobilize the army, prepare supplies, and then launch an attack, it will take time, and our focus now should not be on this.

Now we must focus on firearms and not let the King of Qi have a monopoly on the advantage.

In addition, the threat from the Xueyantuo in the north must be resolved as a priority, and the threat from the Western Turks must also be resolved in a timely manner.

Once we go to war with the King of Qi, we will have to commit all our military forces. If there are any changes between the Xueyantuo and the Western Turks, we will not be able to take care of them.

The King of Qi probably went west to attack the Harsha Dynasty in order to resolve his own border problems in case the Harsha Dynasty would send troops when he went to war with Your Majesty.

I think Your Majesty can learn from this.”

Li Er was reluctant after hearing this. He was eager for this opportunity to send troops, but as Du Ruhui said, his army was still too little equipped with firearms. Although he had the technology, the production capacity could not be expanded. This was a pain in his heart.

More importantly, his navy was still no match for Li Yuanji. He had to build more ships and firearms before he could barely compete with Li Yuanji.

If the navy fails in the battle with Li Yuanji, then it would be a fantasy for him to destroy Li Yuanji.

What’s more important is the new firearms that Li Yuanji has demonstrated. This threat is too great for Li Er.

"Keming, I know what you mean, but I don't want to miss it like this.

I intend to divide my troops into two groups. One group will be led by Li Ji to threaten the King of Qi's Guangzhou and Quanzhou Prefectures.

Along the way, Cheng Yaojin and Hou Junji led the troops to threaten the Liuzhou Prefecture in Lingnan!"

Du Ruhui and the others were shocked when they heard this. Just as they were about to speak out in objection, Li Er's voice was heard again.

"I know what you mean. I am not really going to send troops to Lingnan. I am just gathering a large army in this way.

Since we have to fight in the end, the initiative must be in my hands!
This time we are gathering a large army just to scare the King of Qi. If there is an opportunity, we will fight. If there is no opportunity, we will just gather a large army normally."

Li Er sneered. He wanted to see what Li Yuanji would do when faced with his large army gathering.

It would be even better if Li Yuanji could be detained.

Du Ruhui and his companions also breathed a sigh of relief. They were really afraid that Li Er would start a war right now, and they were not well prepared at the moment.

"Your Majesty, if you want to do this, you can wait until the King of Qi's army sets out on the Western Expedition, and then do it. That way, no matter what, you won't easily start a war."

"Don't worry about this. I know that if I gather the army like this now, the King of Qi will probably abandon the Harsha Dynasty and concentrate all his troops to attack the Tang Dynasty."

Today, the Tang army is still mainly in the north and has not yet moved south. Li Er does not want to fight with Li Yuanji too early.

This is not only because he is not ready, but also because he does not want to give neighboring countries an opportunity.

He would not feel at ease about the war with Li Yuanji unless he pacified the surrounding countries and completely resolved the border problems.

"As for Xueyantuo, there is no need to discuss it. Just send troops and destroy them.

Let Li Simo do it, and send a few generals to command it, and don't send any more troops.

After Li Simo won, he integrated the forces of the remaining tribes on the grassland and the Xueyantuo tribe and immediately marched south.

Also send people to Western Turkestan to tell them that they can either send 100,000 troops to enter the Tang Dynasty and be led by the Tang Dynasty, or I will send troops to destroy Western Turkestan!

At the same time, immediately transfer the original troops from Tuyuhun, Dangxiang and other places to the Tang Dynasty and prepare to march south! "

Li Er's eyes flashed. This time, the battle between him and Li Yuanji could not be fought only by the people of the Tang Dynasty. He had to pull in all the original armies of these small countries. In this way, even if he concentrated the main forces in the south, these small countries would not be able to jump around.

Li Er didn't know whether Li Yuanji would do this, but it didn't stop him from doing so. Not only did it eliminate the border problem, but it also increased the army by hundreds of thousands, killing two birds with one stone.

As for whether these people would cause trouble after coming to the Tang Dynasty, Li Er had no worries at all. If these people dared to cause trouble, he would kill them first. Then he would have a legitimate reason.

Fang Xuanling and others were also very happy. In their eyes, using these people to consume Li Yuanji's army and solve the northern border problem after the main force of the Tang Dynasty moved south was killing two birds with one stone.

"Your Majesty, I agree."

It is imperative to deal with the Xueyantuo and Western Turks, and they must be dealt with before Li Yuanji deals with the Harsha Dynasty so that they can take the initiative.

Then Li Er looked at the few people and spoke again.

“Having this decided in advance, the most important thing next is to comprehensively expand the scale of firearms production.

There is still a big gap between us and Lingnan in terms of firearms. The army of King Qi has almost all been equipped with firearms, but we have not been able to do so.

Look at Lingnan, which has massively expanded the scale of firearms production to achieve its current production capacity. We must also keep up.

In addition to scale, the research and development of new firearms must be carried out as soon as possible.

I have already conferred the title of nobility upon two people before. Now I am notifying everyone that whoever can develop a new type of firearm will be conferred the title of duke!
And from this moment on, all resources will be given priority to the production of firearms. The production of firearms must be guaranteed!"

Li Er was extremely determined regarding firearms. In the battle against Tubo, Li Yuanji fully demonstrated what firearms were. He felt heavy and yearning every time he heard about it.

"In addition to firearms, the construction of warships must also be scaled up. We must provide whatever is needed. We must meet the warship needs of at least 100,000 naval forces as soon as possible!"

Firearms and warships are the pain in Li Er's heart. If he is not prepared for these two things, Li Yuanji will be completely invincible, especially the warships.

Look at Li Yuanji's current territory. If the navy fails, there is no way to deal with Li Yuanji. (End of this chapter)