Country and Beauty

The corner of Li Huang's mouth raised into a faint smile, and said indifferently: "Even if you didn't say a word, I already know what you're thinking inside your heart. Wouldn't it be nice to open the gates and surrender? At the very least, now that the Duke of Qin has obtained Chengdu, you will be the first official to accomplish great things.

Fan Changsheng slowly said, "The Duke of Qin governs the people personally, and governs the citizens as if they were living in heaven. Although it is also my place of appreciation, but relative to him, the Duke of Qin is too militaristic. He first attacked the teacher country, then destroyed Wu Zhe, and he went on a long journey to attack Da Wen, Wu Sun, and even the Northern Huns, causing millions of people to be annihilated. Furthermore, the Duke of Qin is extremely intolerant, often slaughtering people who refuse to submit to him. "It really makes me feel cold."

Fan Changsheng's voice was still echoing in the air when a huge boulder suddenly flew towards the city gate tower unscrupulously. Seeing that, Li Huang and Fan Changsheng anxiously ran out of the city gate tower, just as they were about to leave, the big boulder on their back smashed onto the door frame, with a loud cracking sound, the door frame behind them crumbled, leaving behind a few soldiers who did not manage to escape.

"You son of a bitch, your methods are really evil." Li Huang scolded loudly. Before she could even shout out the words she wanted to say, she saw ten big rocks flying towards the city gate tower. He anxiously ran towards the bottom of the city gate tower and shouted out loud: "Quickly retreat, quickly retreat to the Spirit Orchid City."

Although Li Huang was determined to die, he didn't want to die right now. Dying under a boulder was simply worthless, so he also ran towards Weng Cheng desperately. Amidst the chaos and chaos, he no longer cared about her identity as Sikong. Even though Fan Changsheng was the Prime Minister, he did not have the grace a Prime Minister should have to join the fleeing army.

As soon as Cheng Jun and his army descended from the top of the city gate tower, large rocks continuously fell on the city wall, destroying the entire north gate. Outside the city, Beigong Chun, who was in charge of commanding the throwing stone chariots, saw that Cheng Cheng City's city gate tower had been destroyed, and a smile emerged on his face. Originally, he wanted the catapult to smash into one direction as per Xie Fei's orders, but when he saw the heads of the other sections of the city walls surging, especially the buildings that were erected on the other parts of the city walls, he was displeased and sent out an order to smash into the city walls.

The ancient catapults were equivalent to modern cannons. Although they were not as powerful as cannons, the principles were the same, and they were the weapons required for city siege. They were known throughout the Age of Cold Weapons. The principle behind the catapult is very simple. It is to use the arm of the catapult to throw the huge rock, and use the huge rock to smash the soldiers or destroy the city walls. Thus, the one guarding the city often suffers losses and has no other choice but to bring troops out of the city to destroy the enemy's catapult. The army retreated into the city, leaving an empty north gate undefended. Under Beigong Chun's command, Qin Army's catapult started to smash on the city walls without restraint. In any case, Xie Fei had already ordered the people of Cheng Cheng City to do what they wanted, because if they were to do it, it would only mean that they would be able to train again. Xie Fei's true intention was to show off his power, so that the military and civilians of the city would no longer have the will to resist him.

However, now was not the time. As long as the Qin Army's reinforcements arrived, then the reinforcements would bring over a hundred cannons and over ten thousand cannons. Although the Fu Lang Machine and the red-clothed cannonball were not powerful, it was still enough to blast Chengdu City into pieces.

Xie Fei was still standing on the watchtower and looking, and saw the troops at the North gate …

The soldiers all retreated back to the city and ordered immediately: "Send orders to Beigong Chun, order the troops to occupy the north wall. Then, move the catapult onto the wall and continue to attack the city walls.

was a modern man, the lives of soldiers were priceless in his eyes.

The messenger quickly gave Xie Fei's orders using the flag language. Beigong Chun immediately rushed out of the car, with blade and shield guards protecting him on both sides. At the same time, he also asked the throwing machine troops to come out before they started. The soldiers in charge of the catapults sat on the ground to rest and panted heavily. However, as soon as they gave the order, they leapt over the moat and moved towards the city wall, as if they had been injected with stimulants.

As soon as the car arrived, they immediately started to collide with the city gate. The soldiers who were controlling the car all knocked on the city gate together. Every time they knocked, they would shout out a signal to cooperate with each other.

Fan Changsheng and Li Huang had already boarded Weng City, and after hearing the Qin Army outside the north gate stop their attacks, what they got in return was the muffled sound of a car smashing onto the city gate, causing their hearts to become filled with panic.

"Not good, the enemy is about to smash the city gate. Quick, quick, retreat and defend!" Fan Changsheng called out nervously.

Li Huang was afraid of the enemy's catapult, so she said loudly: "What are you panicking for? Weng City is extremely strong, even if the north gate is broken, it does not matter, as long as the enemy troops dare to enter, they will definitely be taught how to die by arrows. "

Fan Changsheng said: "But once the north gate is breached, the Qin Army will be able to occupy the north gate without restraint …"

"Don't worry, the north gate is already broken beyond repair, there's no need to defend anymore, as long as we stick to the wall of the city." Li Huang said.

Ma Hun followed the carriage and arrived at the city gate. From the cracks, he could see the troops that were stationed at the top of the Weng City. Ma Hun thought for a while and said: "As long as I show my head, the arrows over there will come flying over. With such a dense number of arrows, even if you wanted to dodge, you wouldn't be able to. If not, then let's report this to the Duke of Qin and ask for His Highness' decision! "

In fact, without Ma Hun reporting, Xie Fei saw that the north gate was broken through by the Qin Army, so he guessed that the enemy had set up a strong defense in the Spirit Orchid City, and shouted to the scouts: "Ming Jin, withdraw your troops!"

Chengdu City, Cheng Country Imperial Palace. Li Xiong sat on the dragon throne listlessly, his entire person looking gloomy. In less than a day, his Empire had lost close to two thousand people, which was something he could accept. However, what made him so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood, was that Qin Army actually had a fighting record of 2000: 0. The enemy did not engage in close combat. They just used a catapult. The effective range of the catapult was from three hundred to five steps, far exceeding the effective range of the crossbows equipped by the armies of the other countries. What was even more terrifying was that all the outer perimeter of the four city gates had been lost.

"Your Majesty..." Fan Changsheng walked in from outside the hall, and seeing Li Xiong frown, he shouted tentatively.

Li Xiong was thinking about something, he did not hear Fan Changsheng's words, and he did not even know that Fan Changsheng had entered. Both of his eyes stared blankly at the ground, his fists were clenched tightly, and his upper lips were tightly clenched. Why is the heavens so unfair! "

Fan Changsheng could tell what was going on from Li Xiong's words. He sighed, shook his head, and slowly walked to Li Xiong's side. Initially, you still believed in Yang Xiaochuan's words and thought that the Qin State was empty, and that it was a great time to destroy the Qin State. Initially, you had wanted to destroy the Qin State, but in the end, you yourself would be killed. Yet now, she actually started to complain. Was this what the emperor should do? Even if it was wrong, they had to go all the way south. Xie Fei was not a good person, even if he did not attack the Qin State back then, as long as the Qin State managed to digest the Western Regions, the Qin Army would probably lead the troops south, invading countries.

But at this time, Fan Changsheng did not dare to provoke Li Xiong, there was a saying that goes, accompanied by a king like tiger, Fan Changsheng said: "This humble subject is truly ashamed of Your Majesty, the enemy has already encircled the four gates, and is unable to come out. This humble subject is the Prime Minister of the army, but is unable to think of a way to retreat, it is simply too shameful."

Li Xiong reacted at this time, he heard Fan Changsheng's words and said: "Prime Minister, no need to worry, if it wasn't for Prime Minister supporting us at that time, and if we did not enjoy the glory of our House Li, maybe our Li Clan would have already died, there are still eight thousand soldiers and horses in Cheng City, and the food supply would have been sufficient for two months. If we did not fight, we might have been able to wear down the enemy troops … Besides, the defenders should have received news of the siege of Chengdu by now. At noon tomorrow at the latest, the Zalantong reinforcements would arrive in Chengdu, and the reinforcements from the later days would arrive as well. At most, the warriors from the Miao Clan in Jinzhou would also arrive in Chengdu. Although many of the Cheng Kingdom oppose me, but relative to me, most of them support me. "

Fan Changsheng opened his mouth, but in the end he did not say a single word, he was afraid that the battle with Qin Army he had gathered all of his power would end with the death of Qin Wang.

The Qin Empire was on the rise. Zhuge Mingyue wore a golden phoenix robe, looked at her almost perfect face in the mirror, and felt the majesty of a motherly body. Zhuge Mingyue muttered: "Not good, but good. Mingyue was not useless, although she could not do so, but she could still make my Zhuge Family shine. To make the Qin State an unprecedented and future super empire.

"The queen has arrived!" The eunuch's voice rang out, and the righteous hall immediately quieted down. The officials and generals all took their positions, kneeling on the ground, looking straight ahead, extremely respectful.

Zhuge Mingyue sat on the dragon throne that was made entirely out of gold, looking down at the civil and military officials kneeling on the ground, she could only feel a majestic aura gathering around them, all of these civil and military ministers were either virtuous, capable, talented, or capable officials, and all of them had a heavy destiny.

"My dear sirs, please rise," Zhuge Mingyue said, his voice was not loud, but powerful and vigorous, spreading throughout the entire hall, causing the entire hall to be filled with his echoes. The officials all felt their bodies tremble slightly, all their doubts and distractions were dispelled by the voice, and they all started to feel nervous, like a tiger accompanying its companion, Jun Wu Yi.

Zhuge Mingyue looked all around him, her gaze seeming to have seen through everything, before finally returning to the Prime Minister Wang Meng, and asked: "Prime Minister Wang, in the past few months, the Duke of Qin has not been in the palace. Even I, the Palace, am about to go out and fight. I wonder how Qin State is doing recently, can Prime Minister please explain it to me! "

Wang Meng replied, "Reporting to the Queen, in these eight months, my Qin State has been diligently conducting governance, carrying out new policies, and developing steadily. Regardless of whether it is in terms of population registration, farming, water conservancy, the national treasury, livelihood, or the way of doing business, we have all made progress and development. This subject will report all of these to the King of Han from the above!"

When my Qin Army entered the Qin Province, she brought a total of 130,000 troops, with a total of 60,000 family members and 300,000 people. After half a year, she had settled down the people who had fled here, the refugees, and absorbed the merchants and nobles of the various countries. At this moment, my Qin Province has a total of more than 1.5 million people, of which 1,300,000 are Han, with a population of over one million and three hundred thousand. Currently, our Qin State's Qin Province and Western Region have a total population of over three million people. As for the household registration and census work, it is still under detailed verification.

Zhuge Mingyue nodded her head, the people were the foundation of the country, without the people as a foundation, the country's prosperity were just empty words, because all the materials needed to be developed and improved by the working people, the citizens were the productive forces! According to what was said before, the Qin State could now support three hundred thousand soldiers. Three hundred thousand soldiers, not to mention the Northwest, were huge figures even in the entire world.

After Wang Meng reported the population, he continued, "After the implementation of the New Deal, all kinds of Qin rule policies were effectively implemented. Deforestation, water conservancy, reclamation and intensive farming were carried out, which promoted agriculture and exhibition, and according to the climate and soil interests of all parts of Qin State, different crops were selected according to local conditions for cultivation, control of disease, application of the planting method, proper seeding, ventilation, drainage, and control of the agricultural season. During the annual harvest, an acre of land could produce two or three buckets of stones (about three hundred and a half kilograms of people), with an average of five stones per person per year, and a family of nine acres of stones per year, usually enough for a family of ten and a half acres of grain production per year."

Wang Meng continued to say, "And the treasury is currently at a stage where it is unable to make ends meet, appeasing the citizens, building water conservancy projects, building villages, cities, palaces, borders and defense etc. It costs a lot of money, and on the side of taxation, it has only just started, so it is unable to meet the expenses. In terms of the treasury, it is still at a stage where expenditures are higher than the total.

Zhuge Mingyue's expression became slightly cold, "What's going on?"

Wang Meng replied, "To reply to the Queen, every month, the army stationed at the border and the armies defending the cities together amount to one hundred thousand men. In addition to the fifty thousand manoeuvres stationed in the Western Region, the fifty thousand elite troops of the Qin Army led by the Duke of Qin and the newly recruited generals of the eastern region, we now have two hundred and forty thousand men of the regular army, which costs thirty thousand gold and one hundred and fifty thousand silver taels per month. The salary of the officials of the Imperial Court is one hundred and twenty thousand silver taels. However, the revenue was only four thousand taels of gold and one hundred thousand taels of silver per month. The gap is huge. "

Zhuge Mingyue understood the gist of it and understood the monthly expenses and income. These were all the city defense construction, army salary expenses, as well as the purchase of armor and war horses that the country had to face, this was also a top priority. If there were no good equipment, then their battle strength would be greatly affected.

Wang Meng said, "But because the Duke of Qin obtained it through secret channels, he still has 1.5 million taels of gold in his treasury, 7 million taels of silver. It shouldn't be a problem to sustain it until the harvest ends."

Zhuge Mingyue said: "Those who dare invade my Qin State, slaughter my people, destroy my city, and offend the might of the heavens, even if they are from afar, they will be killed! Right now, the Minister of War, Lord Du, was supposed to lead a hundred thousand reinforcements to attack Cheng Guo. Now, he had to use all of Qin State's power to defeat Cheng Guo and merge Han Chuan and Ba Shu into the Qin State. However, the imperial government must not let this matter go unchecked. After the matter has been put on hold, the prime minister shall gather the civil officials to discuss on how to raise the revenue of the treasury, and after formulating a plan, he shall report it to me for consultation. "

Wang Meng crossed his hands and said, "Yes!"

When the court officials retreated, Zhuge Mingyue only left the Minister of Rites, Pei Xian. Zhuge Mingyue bluntly said, "How many students are currently allowed to study in the Great Qin Academy?"

Pei Xian said: "Currently, there are more than five thousand students in the Great Qin Academy. There are eight academies: the Arts Academy, the Technology Academy, the Science Academy, the Agricultural Academy, the Military Academy, the Medical Academy, the Business School, the Music Academy, and the Eight Academies. After the preliminary assessment, there are only a hundred or so people who can attend! "

Zhuge Mingyue was in a bit of a dilemma. County guards, taiwai s, s, long history. Civil officials were still too lacking. Zhuge Mingyue said: "We will let these hundred over scholars who have graduated with the status quo to pack their belongings and apply for a new position in Ba Shu."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pei Xian was dumbstruck and did not know what to say. This was too powerful!