61-70

Chapter 61 Alas! Some people say that the old emperor is destined to be a beggar!

The Dali Temple Secretary and the Ministry of Justice Doctor started fighting!

This may not be easy to understand, so let's translate it into something easier to understand:

【Wow!】

[Map Cannon: All Fuzhou people are insidious and cunning. The Dali Temple Secretary and the Ministry of Justice Doctor, who are originally from Fuzhou, are fighting each other?! ]

Xu Yanmiao peeked through the door frame.

[We just left the government office! Why don't you wait a little longer? At least wait until the old emperor is far away! ]

The other officials were speechless and looked at Xiao Bai Ze: "..."

If your eyes weren't so bright, you might be more convincing.

[Kicked the crotch!!!]

What!

where!!!

The ministers turned their heads quickly. Several people gasped.

What a kick!

The Royal Guards came over and separated the two.

The old emperor said with a dark face: "Look! Look! Do you still look like officials appointed by the imperial court? Fighting each other in front of the government gate, what's the difference between you and street thugs!"

The Dali Temple Secretary burst into tears.

——I'm not exaggerating, I really cried.

The old emperor was startled: "Why are you crying?"

The Dali Temple Secretary cried even harder: "Your Majesty! He stole my hair!"

Isn't it just a few words about Fuzhou people? Is that so serious?

The ruler and his ministers of Daxia looked carefully and saw the doctor of the Ministry of Justice standing there awkwardly, holding a wig in his hand. The Mediterranean hair of the Dali Temple Secretary was very conspicuous, swaying in front of everyone, and even reflecting the sunlight.

The doctor of the Ministry of Justice coughed and said, "Your Majesty, I did not pull it off intentionally... Uh, I accidentally knocked it off when we were fighting."

[The old emperor laughed! The old emperor definitely laughed! ]

[...Huh? Why is Dali Temple Secretary crying even louder? ]

Xu Yanmiao was at a loss. After a moment, the old emperor, who was either silent or trying to hold back his laughter, reached out his hand, took the wig from the doctor of the Ministry of Justice, and looked at the Dali Temple Secretary: "Why did they fight?"

Dali Temple Secretary: "..."

[Because he was so mean before, hahahaha! He made a fuss about the whole of Fuzhou. The doctor of the Ministry of Justice is also from Fuzhou. He has remembered this incident for a long time. I don't know where he got the news that the Dali Temple Secretary was alopecia. Today, he directly attacked him! The Dali Temple Secretary was definitely not going to do his job after being ridiculed, so the two of them started fighting.]

[While fighting, the wig fell off! 】

The Dali Temple Secretary's silence was deafening.

The criminal department doctor described what had happened before and bowed his head: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong and I accept the punishment."

The Dali Temple Secretary looked at the old emperor's hand eagerly and said, "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong, and I accept the punishment."

The old emperor nodded: "Then each of them will be punished with ten strokes of the cane."

Dali Temple Secretary: "Your Majesty, I..."

The old emperor: "...would I be greedy for your hair?"

He threw the wig towards the Dali Temple Secretary, who caught it in a panic, and then put it back on his head with great care.

The old emperor looked around and said, "Bring some good riders and archers. I want to go to the suburbs for some horse riding..."

[Still racing?] Xu ​​Yanmiao's conditioned reflex: [Last time, we were chased by the barbarians outside the pass. Will it happen again?]

The Minister of Revenue couldn't bear to see His Majesty's current expression, so he silently raised his sleeves to cover his eyes.

Xu Lang was still adding fuel to the fire, constantly muttering to himself: [God bless you, don't pick me, please don't pick me! ]

Old Emperor:)

"Xu, Yan, Miao."

Xu Yanmiao shuddered visibly. But when he came out, he performed a proper and flawless salute, and his voice sounded normal: "Your Majesty."

The old emperor stared at him and said, "I heard you are good at riding and shooting."

【ah???】

"You should come along this time."

Xu Yanmiao could only say: "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty, but I don't know where this rumor came from. I don't know how to ride or shoot."

"No problem."

——Seeing that you have a headache, I am happy.

Besides, even if you can't ride or shoot, at least you can get on a horse, right?

The old emperor smiled again, and he pointed to a few ministers to accompany him: "Let's go."

...

The old emperor: "...You really don't know anything at all?"

Xu Yanmiao tried to climb onto the horse for a long time but failed. He could only bow and say, "I am sorry for delaying Your Majesty."

Xu Yanmiao's eyes were particularly innocent, but her inner voice was full of energy and she was confident: [I told you I can't ride a horse! Who would go to learn horse riding when there are cars to ride? I'm not from Mongolia! ]

The old emperor gritted his teeth and said: "I must take you with me today!"

The Minister of Revenue looked at His Majesty, then looked at Princess Fangling beside him, and his eyes wandered for a moment.

——It does look alike.

The Minister of Personnel coughed and said, "Your Majesty, if someone who has never learned to ride a horse forces himself to mount one, he may fall off."

It's okay for others, but Xiao Baize is made of porcelain, he can't fall!

The old emperor fell into deep thought.

The old emperor's eyes lit up.

＊

【Wuhu——】

A strange sight appeared in the suburbs.

Several fast horses were galloping ahead, through the scorching afternoon sun, with the sleeves and hems of their red embroidered shirts fluttering. The heart-protecting mirror hanging on their chests was very bright, but no matter how bright it was, it was not as attractive as the bamboo cart behind them.

Bamboo is very light, and anything made of it will never be heavy, not to mention being pulled by several fast horses. The bamboo cart almost slid across the flat ground, and an indescribable warm glow enveloped the young man on the cart.

Xu Yanmiao sat on the bamboo cart, looking calm on the surface, but actually...

【Wuhu!!!】

【Faster! 】

【It's flying! 】

[Go——]

Of course, the emperor and his officials would not do such a thing as towing a car, so the omnipotent Jinyiwei came into play again.

The emperor and his men also rode horses, and they ran much faster than Xu Yanmiao.

The eagle flew over everyone's head. The old emperor clamped his legs against the horse's belly and loosened the reins with both hands. The bow and arrow on the horse's side instantly reached his hand. The horse stopped suddenly, raised its front hooves high, and in the smoke and dust, the horse neighed long and loudly. An arrow shot out of the dust and pierced through the eagle's wings and nailed it hard.

The eagle fell with a mournful wail, and the ministers gathered around the old emperor and flattered him: "Your Majesty, you are a great archer!"

The old emperor narrowed his eyes and said, "I am getting old. Before, I aimed at the neck, but now..."

[Eh? What is that? ]

The old emperor subconsciously turned his head and followed Xu Yanmiao's gaze, and saw a academy standing in the mountains in the distance.

And Xu Yanmiao obviously didn't notice his heroic figure in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, as his attention was attracted by the academy.

"..." The old emperor waved his sleeves and said, "What's so special about shooting? You look like you have never seen the world! It's just an eagle!" He ordered the Jinyiwei, "Pick it up and take it with you."

Then he pulled the reins of his horse, turned around and walked towards Xu Yanmiao. The ministers who were left behind looked at each other in bewilderment.

The deputy commander of the Central Army smacked his lips and said, "Your Majesty's temper is really getting weirder and weirder."

Is this the legendary saying that serving the king is like serving a tiger?

Tiger strolled over to Bai Ze, bent his finger and gently touched the bamboo cart: "What's over there?"

Xu Yanmiao searched the system.

【Oh! An acquaintance! When Ji Sui took office, that virtuous lady happened to be under his jurisdiction. She had been targeted for the past few months, so she ran away, ran far away, ran to Fuzhou, and stayed here to raise her family.】

[He was quite successful. People here thought he was a hermit, a great scholar, and they posted many invitations to him to attend literary banquets and garden parties. He declined many of them and only appeared in front of people once or twice a month. He was very expert.]

[This time I was invited by the academy to give lectures to the students. Wow, there are many great scholars here. Wow! Great scholar Tong is here too! Master Quan heard about this before and is also in the academy now! ]

Even though he knew so much, Xu Yanmiao kept his mouth shut and said to the old emperor: "I don't know either. Does it look like a college?"

The old emperor glanced at him and whipped his horse whip: "Go and have a look!"

The horses galloped all the way to the outside of the academy.

The name of the academy is very nice, it is called "Youyu Academy".

"More than enough?" The Minister of War chewed on the two words and smiled: "It is quite charming."

Everyone walked in leisurely, no one came out to stop them. A crowd gathered in the academy, looking at the clothes. Most of them were students of the academy, and a small number were people from outside. All together there were about a few hundred people.

When they arrived at a yard, everyone found a seat and sat down. In the middle was a locust tree.

The old emperor also found a place to sit, and other officials took their seats one after another.

"Let's see what Gu Xin has to say." said the old emperor.

——Gu Xian is the name of a virtuous female gentleman.

A student nearby interrupted: "Who are you? How can you address Master Gu by his name?"

The old emperor and his entourage all looked at him. They were all first-class people with great momentum. Although they did not deliberately intimidate him, the student still trembled nervously and stuttered a little: "What do you want to do?"

The Minister of Personnel felt the old emperor's hint and smiled at the student, "Don't be afraid, my dear. We are just from other places. We are a little curious when we see so many people entering this academy. It's really our fault that we offended Master Gu just now."

The Minister of Personnel had kind eyes, was white and plump, and had large earlobes, looking very much like the Maitreya Buddha in the temple. The student felt relieved and replied with a smile: "Your words are too serious, Ignorance is not a crime."

The Minister of Personnel then asked him who this "Master Gu" was.

When it comes to this, the students become enthusiastic.

"Master Gu is a great scholar who has lived in seclusion. In my opinion, his knowledge is comparable to that of Ji, Quan, and Tong."

Ji is Ji Sui, Quan is Quan Yingzhang, and Tong is Tongxin. One is the leader of the modern literature school, one is the leader of the ancient literature school, and the other is a heretic who is called a demon scholar.

The Minister of Personnel said "Oh?" and asked sincerely, "Does this Master Gu have any theory?"

"Yes!" The student was so excited that his cheeks were hot. "Confucius said: Only the wisest and the stupidest are immutable. Master Gu told us that destiny is fixed. The wisest are the wisest and the stupidest are the stupidest. Change means change. In the universe, the superior and the inferior are eternal and immutable. The noble are destined to be noble, and the inferior are destined to be inferior. No matter how hard the inferior try, if they don't have that destiny, they can't become the superior."

The old emperor's mind moved, but before he could think carefully about what he was doing, Xu Yanmiao's confused voice rang out -

[Let's not talk about this for now. Is this what it means that only the wisest and the stupidest are unchangeable? Then what does Gu Xian mean is... the old emperor is destined to be a beggar? Even if he wins the world, he will die in one or two generations? ]

Several Shangshu: "???"

Wait, is that what it means? Shouldn't it be interpreted as Your Majesty is destined to be noble?

The old emperor was led astray by Xu Yanmiao and became furious.

Great! Gu Xian! So this is what you mean! Wait for me!!!

The author has something to say:

The officials of the imperial court fought each other, referring to the fights in the palace:

The pardon was in the Ministry of Works, Li Youzhi, the Minister of Works, Li Yong, the Right Vice Minister, and Jiang Tao, the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture. He accused Youzhi and Yong. When he retreated to the Zuoye Gate, he talked to Tao and asked him to do something. Tao refused to do it, and Yong scolded him angrily. As a result, they quarreled and quarreled, and were impeached by the Imperial Censor. The emperor pardoned them all.

——"Ming Shilu Yingzong Shilu"

＊

Only the wisest and the most foolish are unchangeable

——The Analects of Confucius

【Confucius' words are not what is meant in the text, Gu Xian deliberately misinterpreted them. 】

＊

Chapter 62: Tsk! If Confucius knew about this, he would beat your head off!

The moment Gu Xin walked into the academy, he suddenly felt his scalp tingling for some reason.

Is it because I'm too nervous?

Gu Xian thought that was it. After all, this was no longer a small fight. After a period of building up his reputation, he successfully invited (tricked) the great scholar Tong Xintong to come to his lecture, and the great scholar Quan Yingzhang also came after hearing the news.

If he gave a good lecture this time, he could tell others that the two great scholars were impressed by him! If he gave a bad lecture, he could tell others that the two great scholars did not like his theory.

No matter which one it is, he makes money!

Success or failure depends on this one move!

Gu Xian straightened his clothes, walked in with a confident smile, and rolled his eyes to the center of the field: "!!!"

His Majesty?!

Gu Xin saw the familiar face in the crowd at a glance, was stunned for a moment, and then was ecstatic.

In this lecture, in addition to the two great scholars, he also needs the support of His Majesty! As long as these three treat him differently, a mere few years will be of no use!

Almost immediately, Gu Xian changed his previous plan -

I had originally planned to start the lecture right away, but now it seems that it is more important to start with something elegant and refined so that these three great men will have a favorable impression of me.

Coincidentally, he had previously obtained the score of a lost piano piece.

"Although I'm not proficient yet, it's enough to fool around. Anyway, the two great scholars have never heard the original tune of this song, and the emperor is a peasant, so he must just listen to the whole tune without thinking."

＊

"Before this lecture, I will play a piece for you."

The virtuous lady sat under the acacia flowers holding her zither and nodded slightly to everyone present. She was very polite.

His hand touched the strings, and the sound of the piano poured out from his fingertips. The warm sunlight on him, the curve of his lips, and the softness of his eyelashes all seemed so perfect.

Everyone present was mesmerized by the sound of the piano. Even the old emperor, who hated the female virtuous gentleman, had to admit that the other party did have some real skills.

Quan Yingzhang sat cross-legged in the front, his eyes closed, his fingers tapping the melody lightly on his thighs.

The young scholar beside him nodded slightly, his mind also immersed in the music.

There is no other sound here except people's breathing, the plucking of strings, and the rustling of trees.

Xu Yanmiao turned on the system and prepared to kill time by playing the piano.

It just so happened that the virtuous lady was playing the piano there to show her presence, so Xu Yanmiao took the opportunity to take a look at his gossip.

The first and most conspicuous one is——

[Eh? Did I play it wrong?]

He suddenly pulled Quan Yingzhang back from his intoxicated state.

【Ah! I played it wrong again! 】

[This is also a wrong note! ]

[And here! I can't play it, can I fill it in with another tune? ]

As the notes were played wrong one after another, Quan Yingzhang felt that the beautiful piano sound suddenly became dry. Moreover, he could play the piano and his skills were not bad, but he had never heard this piece before. In addition, Gu Xian's own piano skills were not low, so naturally he could not tell the mistakes. But after Xu Yanmiao reminded him, he could hear the wrong tune and the subtle astringency when he listened again.

Quan Yingzhang: "..."

Great, fool him, right?

...

Gu Xian kept playing the piano. He raised his eyes slightly with a gentle smile on his lips.

Come, let him see how these people are fascinated by him...

Gu Xian saw Quan Yingzhang looking at him with a frown.

My heart skipped a beat.

"Pah—" The sound of the piano made a crisp sound. It was completely disconnected from the quiet tune of the water flow before, rather than a change of tune.

Gu Xian saw that Tongxin Daru also had a strange expression on his face.

Gu Xian quickly adjusted his state of mind and simply played the passionate music along the same tune, as if what happened just now was not a mistake, but a stream rushing out of the valley, breaking free from its restraints, and splashing into a huge waterfall.

Seeing the slightly puzzled look on the young scholar's face, Gu Xin breathed a sigh of relief and jumped down with gritted teeth.

——From here on, it's really hard-coded and I can't get back to the original frequency.

And Quan Yingzhang... was listening to Xu Yanmiao's thoughts and trying hard to appear serious so as not to laugh.

[Hey! Exciting music! I can do it too! ]

Xu Yanmiao immediately began to entertain herself.

Clear your throat and start the microphone——

[The great river! Flow eastward! The stars in the sky! Gather like the Big Dipper!]

The kind that sounds like ghosts howling in KTV.

The ruler and his ministers of Daxia were suddenly shocked.

What the hell is this?!

but......

The old emperor cheered up.

In fact, he could probably tell that the piano sounded nice, but it just wasn't quite to his taste - he was just forcing himself to stay awake and not fall asleep.

Now Xu Yanmiao is saying this! He loves to hear it!

How heroic! How exciting!

The other generals who followed nodded vigorously in their hearts.

...

After playing for a while, Gu Xian couldn't help but sneak a peek at Quan Yingzhang's expression.

"?!"

Why are you so serious?!

Could it be that he could tell that he was just playing the music randomly?

In his restlessness, he accidentally played a wrong note. This time, Gu Xian did not notice the slight frown on the young scholar's brow. In his panic, he made a wrong decision -

[Eh? It's changed again. This time it feels a bit like a love song.]

[Love songs... I can sing them too! ]

Xu Yanmiao pinched her throat.

[Ah~ah~ah~]

[Quietly ask the holy monk∽]

[Daughter——Is she beautiful?]

[My daughter is beautiful or not——]

The sudden change in female voice almost made the group of rough guys twist their waists.

The civil servants' eyes lit up.

In addition to those dignified and elegant singing, they also like this kind of tender and affectionate singing. It is better to say that the talented man and the beautiful woman just tickle their itch.

——Although this talented man is bald. Although they have never heard of his singing style and arrangement, the charm is still there.

The civil servants collectively felt that listening to Xiao Bai Ze singing was much better than listening to the one above who always played the wrong notes.

Gu Xin went to see Quan Yingzhang again, and this time his defense was even more broken.

Quan Yingzhang was actually trying to hold back his laughter!

Did his actions actually make Mr. Quan laugh?

The sound of his piano became more and more chaotic. Even many students could tell something was wrong and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Hmph!" The scholar with a young heart could no longer endure it. He stood up and was about to leave in anger.

Turning around, he saw Quan Yingzhang listening with great interest. He was stunned: "Xiangpu?"

——This is Quan Yingzhang's nickname.

Tong Xin paused, still unable to control his suspicion: "You're not leaving?"

When did this person become so good-tempered?!

Quan Yingzhang waved his hand, not even facing him: "I'll sit for a while."

Xu Yanmiao had already started singing another song.

[You carry the load! I lead the horse! Welcome the sunrise! Say goodbye to the sunset~]

The voice is passionate and full of emotion.

This is more interesting than doing other things.

The childish mind was puzzled and greatly shocked.

Xiangpu wouldn't really think that thing under the tree sounds nice, right?

【Eh?】

Xu Yanmiao seemed to notice something was wrong in front of her, and her thoughts suddenly stopped.

Based on past experience, what will happen next will probably be something else.

——In other words, there are no more songs to listen to.

Quan Yingzhang stood up, as if nothing had happened, and looked at Gu Xian: "Boy, let me tell you something."

Gu Xian began to stutter: "W-what?"

Quan Yingzhang tapped the ground twice with his cane.

He did not get angry because of the other party's deception. This great scholar who was known to many people for his hot temper was very calm at this moment: "When scholars deceive others in terms of knowledge, they are deceiving themselves. Think about it carefully."

In the academy, some students were obviously lost in thought.

Quan Yingzhang smiled with satisfaction after seeing this. The leader of the literary world nodded to another great scholar and said, "Let's go."

The old emperor tilted his head slightly to glance at Gu Xin, and found that the other party was obviously dissatisfied and impatient, and he couldn't help but sneered.

He turned his head and saw Xu Yanmiao's puzzled expression, which was almost like "What is the old emperor laughing at?", and his sneer turned back to amusement. He did not intend to explain Xu Yanmiao's doubts, but only said to the ministers: "Go back, there is nothing interesting in this academy."

After returning to Fuzhou, the old emperor dismissed all the ministers and called the prince's four concubines and several of his own grandchildren. The old emperor described what happened today and asked them, "Do you know why Lord Quan is not furious?"

Someone answered: "It's just what people say. Mr. Quan may not be the hot-tempered person that people say he is."

Someone answered: "Kwon is kind-hearted and leaves room for maneuvers."

Someone answered: "Maybe they knew Grandpa was there and did it for him to see."

The youngest child looked around at his brothers, and in the glaring sunlight, he held his head high and said, "It's because he is the leader in the literary world!"

——Quan Yingzhang would bang the table and quarrel because of academic disputes, and would get furious because he felt offended. However, as a leader in the literary world, when he saw students going astray, he would want to enlighten them more than get angry.

The old emperor laughed loudly and took his grandson into his arms: "This is my Qilin son!"

Then he asked him seriously, "Then tell me, will Gu Pifu change?"

Little grandson: "..."

I don't know if I can correctly infer whether he will change, but I can see that you hate him, Grandpa.

＊

the next day.

"Huh? Confucius' reincarnation?!"

Xu Yanmiao's eyes were wide open with a hint of bewilderment. He asked again, "Confucius? Reincarnation?"

The nosy official invited Xu Yanmiao to dinner. At the table, he couldn't wait to tell her about this: "Yes. It was Gu Xin, the one we listened to yesterday. He heard that today was his child's full moon banquet, so he brought the child out to show the guests. Suddenly, a man dressed as a Taoist priest came and laughed and asked Gu Xin to give the child to him, saying that he wanted the child to return to his old ways."

Xu Yanmiao was even more shocked.

[Gu Xian? Didn't he lose all face yesterday after what Master Quan said, and left the academy quickly with his face covered? Why is he still in the mood to do this today? ]

【Will anyone really buy it? 】

The nosy official lowered his head and ate a mouthful of food, seemingly not hearing the inner voice, and continued: "Of course Gu Xian wanted to kick the man out, but the one-month-old child smiled at him and shook his head, so the Taoist sighed and said: Since you chose a new life, we only have this moment in this life."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

【Baby? Shaking head?】

[...A ghost story?]

The nosy official almost choked on the piece of spicy fish meat he picked up, and quickly took a sip of warm water from the cup, saying, "Gu Xian asked what happened, and the Taoist didn't say anything at first, but later he was forced to tell him that Gu's son was the reincarnation of Confucius."

As the official spoke, he secretly observed Xu Yanmiao's expression.

——There is a reincarnation of Bai Ze, what if this is true?

The real purpose was revealed and the test began.

"I don't know if it's true."

"I heard that quite a few people believed it."

This indeed aroused Xu Yanmiao's curiosity. While he was verbally dealing with the official, he opened the system.

[It can't be a real reincarnation, right?! ]

[I was scared to death. It turned out that he was not the one. Gu Xian had hired that Taoist priest at a high price. Tsk tsk, he lost face in the literary world yesterday. His reputation was ruined. He wanted to do something stupid like this.]

[Don't say it's not Confucius. If it was really Confucius, would you dare to raise him? Just because you tampered with the true meaning of someone's words yesterday, when you grow up, Confucius will beat you up if he knows about this. ]

The nosy official burped with joy.

He knew he could find out! It turned out to be Gu Xian's doing!

"Xu Lang! I just remembered that I have something to do! I'm leaving now!"

"okay."

Xu Yanmiao looked at the man's departing back and blinked in confusion.

[Walking so fast...]

[Could it be that the hemorrhoids recurred after eating the spicy fish just now? ]

The busybody official staggered.

He heard a lot of laughter from his colleagues. They all came to hear if Xu Yanmiao had any relevant news, but no one took the initiative to come forward.

One of his colleagues hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to help him and pointed him in the face: "Guess why everyone only goes to him when they have urgent matters? For rumors like Confucius' reincarnation, no one took the initiative to induce Xu Yanmiao to find out the news? They are all waiting here, waiting for Xu Yanmiao to look it up himself when he is interested?"

The nosy official was stunned and his face turned pale.

"because......"

The colleague took over the conversation and patted his shoulder sympathetically: "Because Xiao Bai Ze is not an instrument that you can use at will."

——If you don't respect him, you will be punished.

Just like...

After using up all his remaining conscience, his colleague finally couldn't hold it in any longer and moved his eyes downwards to look at the official's butt.

This person actually has hemorrhoids!

——Within less than half a day, all the civil and military officials in the court knew that a certain official had hemorrhoids.

The author has something to say:

Big river! Flowing eastward! Stars in the sky! Gather like the Big Dipper!

——"Hero Song"

＊

Quietly ask the holy monk, is my daughter beautiful? Is my daughter beautiful?

——《Daughter's Love》

＊

You carry the load and I lead the horse; we welcome the sunrise and see off the sunset.

--"where is the road"

＊

Touching the ancients, reference from:

Wei Gao, the former governor of Jiannan, Taiwei and the Minister of the Central Secretariat, was one month old when his family invited all the monks to a feast. There was a Hu monk who was very ugly and came without being invited. The children of Wei's family were all angry with him and sat in the courtyard with a shabby mat. After the feast, Wei ordered the wet nurse to take out the baby and invited all the monks to wish him a happy birthday. The Hu monk went up the stairs and said to the baby, "How are you after a long time?" The baby looked happy. Everyone was surprised. Wei's ancestor said, "This child is only one month old, why did my teacher say that he was gone for a long time!" The Hu monk said, "This is not something that donors know." Wei insisted on asking, and the Hu monk said, "This child is the reincarnation of Zhuge Wuhou. Wuhou was the prime minister of Shu at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the people of Shu have benefited from his blessings for a long time. Now he is born into the world and will be the commander of Shumen and will receive blessings from the people of Shu. I was on good terms with this child in Jianmen last year. Now I heard that he surrendered to Wei, so I came all the way." Wei was surprised by his words and gave him the name Wuhou. Later, Wei was in charge of Jiannan Army since Shao Jinwu, and was promoted to Taiwei and Zhongshu Ling. He stayed in Shu for 18 years, and it was indeed the same as what the Hu monk said.

——"Xuanshi Zhi"

[Translation: My son Wei Gao is the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang.]

＊

Chapter 63 Back to Beijing!

Social death.

Now it is very socially dead.

——Although the busybody official doesn't know the term "social death", he is in almost the same mood now.

On the way, I met a colleague, who greeted me with a smile: "Brother, is your hemorrhoids better?"

While fishing by the water, he met his colleague No. 2, who was particularly concerned about him: "Brother, you have hemorrhoids, you can't sit for long."

Even His Majesty heard about this and sent a royal physician to see if he could be cured.

At this moment, the good official couldn't help but shed tears of sadness.

It hurts! It hurts so much! He will never do this again.

If he joins in the fun again, he will -

"Eh? Have you heard? The family that claimed their son was the reincarnation of Confucius has been visited by the Kong family!"

"Which Kong family?! Could it be..."

"Of course it's the Kong family in Qufu!"

"They received the news so quickly?"

"That's not the case. It just so happened that a dozen members of the Kong family came to Liaodong together. When they heard the news, they drew their swords and came to the door."

"Go, go, go! Go quickly! If you go too late, your house might be demolished!"

The ambition of the good officials to take the oath suddenly came to a halt.

this......

Eyeballs swiveling left and right.

Should I go or not? Or just go for the last fun! He swore! I won't go after this fun!

＊

The Gu Mansion is very lively.

All dynasties have attached great importance to the Confucius Temple and Confucius Cemetery, thus creating the thousand-year-old Kong family in Qufu.

The Kong family was undoubtedly the descendants of sages. When they heard that someone was using their ancestor's name to defraud people, they almost choked on the meatballs they were eating. After a burst of awkward coughing, they picked up their swords and rushed to the door.

"Gu Xian, right?" The Kong family laughed coldly, "I heard that you told everyone that your son is the reincarnation of my ancestor? Then should we also kneel down, call you ancestor, and burn three incense sticks for you?"

Gu Xian's face changed when he heard this.

He originally thought that the Kong family was far away in Qufu and out of reach. By the time the news got back, they would send people to investigate. By the time they came back and forth, he would have gained enough fame and escaped.

[This man not only said Confucius was his son! He also openly tampered with the meaning of Confucius' words! ]

Xu Yanmiao was afraid that the world would be in chaos, but he was very cautious and steady. The nosy officials could only hear people's voices, and looking left and right, they couldn't find anyone hiding where to watch the fun.

The official looked strange. He struggled for two or three breaths, but still couldn't control his desire to watch the fun. He dove into the crowd, pinched his nose and shouted, "Gu Xian once publicly declared in a college that 'Only the wisest and the stupidest are unchangeable' means 'The noble are destined to be noble, and the lowly are destined to be lowly'!"

Gu Xian's heart suddenly "thumped" and jumped hard, like a fish out of water on the shore, making its last panicked leap.

The next moment, he felt the cold gaze of the Kong family - no longer the anger of the previous dispute, but a kind of cold and solidified murderous intent that burst out after their own interests were violated. Gu Xian's throat seemed to be strangled by a cold and hard iron hand, and he almost couldn't breathe.

If one makes fun of Confucius, it is only an offense to the ancestor who lived thousands of years ago. However, if one privately tamperes with the meaning of Confucius' words, it will infringe upon the most fundamental and practical interests of the Kong family.

——Nowadays, most students in the world take the Kong family's annotations as their own. The Kong family is the authority in Confucianism. The exclusive right to the Confucian annotations is equivalent to their forbidden food, a money-making tree, and the cornerstone of their fame. Anyone who wants to touch it can do so.

Gu Xian didn't have a sword on him. He retreated suddenly with a look of vigilance: "A descendant of a saint, are you trying to use your fame to bully me? Are you using the Kong family to bully a little scholar like me?"

The Kong family smiled and said, "How could that be?"

The smile of "everything is under control" on Gu Xian's face had not yet fully blossomed, but the corners of his mouth froze as the Kong family turned around, saluted in a certain direction, and shouted "Your Majesty, please make the decision."

The crowd dispersed to both sides, and the old emperor walked out with a swift and steady voice, asking, "What do I decide?"

The Kong family members briefly recounted Gu Xian's words and deeds. Observing the old emperor's pensive look, the Kong family members had no expression on their faces, but felt a little relieved in their hearts.

They are not stupid. The Kong family is the descendant of saints, not the descendants of saints and fools. Why not rely on the court if they can? The great saint has no army. The pen cannot beat the gun. They should just be honest and serve as ministers to others, and don't act like a thousand-year-old family.

——In front of muskets and cannons, a thousand-year-old family is nothing.

The old emperor just pretended to ponder.

After all, he still remembered the phrase "the second generation will be dead" and had been looking for an opportunity to completely crush this virtuous lady. Now it was really... a pillow was sent to him when he was about to fall asleep.

After two or three breaths, he frowned in a pretentious manner: "Gu Xian, you first insulted Confucius, and then insulted Confucius' words. You are really unworthy of being a scholar..."

But what kind of punishment should be used to vent one's anger?

[Take off his clothes! Let him farm on his own!] Xu Yanmiao's voice was filled with eagerness to try, [Doesn't he think that inferior people are lowly? Then don't use the silkworms raised by inferior people to weave clothes! And don't eat the rice grown by inferior people!]

The old emperor's eyes lit up, and he immediately said, "Come here! Take this man away and lock him up!"

The anticipation in Gu Xian's expectant eyes grew even stronger.

Instead, the Kong family frowned in confusion.

Just...lock him up? That's too light.

Before the Jinyiwei was about to take the man away, the old emperor smiled and said, "However, since Master Gu is very confident in his own words, why not just follow his own words?"

"What...?" Before Gu Xin had time to think about it, he felt a breath of cold air rushing from his chest to the top of his head, and his brain was dizzy again and again.

Then, the old emperor's face darkened and he said sternly: "Take off his clothes! If you look down on the lower class, then don't wear clothes made by the lower class!"

In the crowd, Xu Yanmiao replayed the old emperor's words in shock, and touched his head in shock.

[Wow! I was able to guess the emperor's thoughts by coincidence! I'm so awesome!]

Gu Xian's thoughts were nothing compared to the words "stripping clothes". He was completely stunned and could only struggle while shouting, "Your Majesty! This is insulting! This is really insulting!"

The old emperor smiled wryly: "I am an emperor who climbed up from a beggar. I don't know how to be polite."

Gu Xin suddenly reacted and shuddered noticeably, as if he wanted to explain something. For example, his words were not directed at the emperor's origin, but he wanted to express that the emperor was the chosen one by heaven and was blessed by heaven, a true son of heaven.

All his words were for the sake of Your Majesty's rule!

"I...I..." Every word he said revealed fear. Because Gu Xian found out that he didn't know who had made the emperor have a preconceived notion, so no matter what he said at this moment, it would be just a sophistry for the emperor.

The old emperor's voice did become even colder: "Sinner Gu Xian! From today on, if you want clothes, you must buy them yourself; if you want to eat, you must cultivate your own land; if you want to use pottery bowls and porcelain plates, you must make them yourself! The same goes for everything else!"

Even the Kong family members who were displeased with Gu Xin were so shocked that they stood there in shock.

This... this is too miserable!

[Hiss——Okay, I thought I could think the same as the emperor, but now it seems that I am still no match for him.]

[This is simply making people worse than ordinary people, directly degenerating into cavemen, right?! ]

While the old emperor was angry, he couldn't help but devote some of his attention to curiosity: What are the cavemen?

The surrounding people were greatly shocked and applauded after the shock.

Three or five voices shouted, "That's how it should be!"

People say they can only be inferiors all their lives, and that they are lowly, but they are not made of clay and they don't have a temper!

Gu Xin was stripped naked in public. The old emperor really didn't give him any face at all. Gu Xin held his head and said, "How could this happen! Why did it turn out like this!" He was dragged away by the Jinyiwei in a daze.

The Kong family members looked at each other and bowed in unison: "Thank you, Your Majesty." However, the distance between them was kept as far as possible within etiquette.

It took the old emperor ten breaths before he realized that these people were warning him.

Old Emperor: "..."

Never mind. Some reverence is better than no reverence, right, Xu?

＊

Lightning flashed across the sky, thunder roared across the dark sky, and heavy rain poured down.

In the blink of an eye, it was November.

At this time, Marquis Yongchang was standing on a large ship, leading the navy to Japan.

The idea of ​​attacking Japan left many naval officers puzzled.

It's such a barren place. It's said that there are evil winds and earth dragons turning over from time to time. It's far away and poor. It poses no threat to Daxia. What's the point of attacking it?

Is Daxia so poor that it wants to snatch even a penny from a beggar?

Yongchang Hou did not tell these navy officers that there were gold and silver mines on the island. First, there were too many people and too many eyes. Second, if they knew about it, if they rushed forward rashly, it would be the strength of Daxia that would be lost.

Fifty thousand Great Xia naval forces and two hundred warships arrived at the coast of Japan, which directly frightened the Japanese.

They had not encountered a war for a long time. Usually they would take a small boat to Daxia to seek shelter, rob some small fishermen on shore, and then run away. They had never seen such a scene.

The city on the edge of the Japanese island was in chaos, and Japanese was heard everywhere.

"what is going on!"

"Are those Daxia's soldiers?"

"Why did Daxia suddenly use troops against us? We didn't do anything!"

As for the Japanese pirates, they just killed some fishermen! Is that so serious?

"boom--"

A Japanese was confused: "What's that sound..."

It was like a sudden thunderclap out of nowhere. He looked up in doubt and confusion. In the dark sky, one shell after another hit the city, growing larger in his pupils.

The fear on his face became more and more obvious.

"Boom boom boom—"

Thunder rumbles.

The shells crashed, creating smoke and dust. After a brief scream from people and animals, they all turned into piles of corpses in the city, and the air was filled with a thick smell of blood.

The war has begun.

On the other side, the old emperor ordered the army to change direction.

After a year of inspection, it's time to return to Beijing.

The eyes of the county magistrates and prefectural officials who were fortunate enough not to be inspected suddenly lit up, and they all cried bitterly in private.

it's over!

it is finally over!

You no longer have to worry about being targeted by His Majesty because of something you do not do well!

The author has something to say:

There are good and bad things about the Kong family, so we can't generalize.

For example, there are the Kong family members who were the first to shave their heads:

[Together with the hereditary magistrate of Qufu County Kong Yinchun, the hereditary doctors of the Five Classics of the Hanlin Academy Kong Yinyu, Yan Shaoxu, Zeng Wenda, and Zhong Zibei, the acting professor of the Four Schools Wang Shilu, the academic recorder Kong Wenran, the academic recorder of Nishan Academy Kong Xingrong, and the academic recorder of Zhusi Academy Kong Shangcheng, they also ordered the subordinate officials Guan Gou Tianshen, the music director Chen Yongan, the classics officer Gui Cunzheng, the scribe Tian Shiwang, the memorial envoy Chen Yeyuan, the seal holder Zhang Yingdeng, the accompanying official Yang Yuanzhao, the temple householder Chen Sanyou, and the tenant Yang Yuanxiang, etc., to obey the imperial edict and shave their heads.

——"The Draft of the Memorial on the Shaving of the Head"]

＊

There were also members of the Kong family who desperately sought the abolition of the order to shave their heads:

After the order was issued, Kong Wenpiao, the governor of Shaanxi, reported: "My eldest son, Kong Yunzhi, the Duke of Yansheng, has led his four generations of descendants to inform the ancestral temple, and they have all obeyed the order. But remember that the sages are the ancestors of rituals, and the three great sages Yan, Zeng, and Meng all rose up to support them. The most important thing in the rituals is the hat and clothing. The sages' Zhangfu sewn on the waist, and their descendants have kept it for generations. Therefore, from the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, although the system has been improved and lost, the clothing system of my family has not changed for three thousand years. If it is changed now, I am afraid that the tradition of respecting Confucianism and Taoism will not be fully fulfilled. Should we keep it and restore the clothing of our ancestors?"

The emperor received the imperial decree: "The decree is strict, and those who violate it will not be pardoned. Kong Wenpiu's petition for a retainer has violated the unpardonable rule, but I will spare his life for the sake of his sagely descendants. Moreover, Confucius was a sage, and such a violation of the decree has tarnished the teachings of his ancestors, so he should be dismissed from his post and never employed again."

——History of Hair

＊

Chapter 64 Please! Deceive the King!

【What???】

[I am not allowed to rest. I just came back in the afternoon and I have to attend the evening court.]

[Is the old emperor okay? ]

The imperial court had just stopped in the capital, and when the old emperor announced that everyone should not go home, but to hold a court meeting first to make a work summary, the whole court was silent, with only one voice, which was very... abrupt.

The old emperor, who was originally feeling complacent and thinking that his surprise inspection was very perfect, suddenly turned pale.

He stared at the ministers below, and said in a gloomy tone: "After thinking about it, I realized that you were all exhausted from the journey. I really shouldn't have let you have a good rest. Why don't we just forget about the evening court?"

【Great!!!!】

Cold sweat instantly dripped down the faces of the Beijing officials.

The old emperor smiled with a fake smile: "What do you think, my dear ministers?"

Prime Minister Dou did not go with them and had no say. The crown prince was lazy. The Minister of Personnel, the leader of the six ministries, stepped out and said, "Your Majesty is right. The world has been settled for more than 30 years. The emperor has been patrolling and suppressing the evil spirits. Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot. How can you ignore the people for your own selfishness?"

Look! What a nice thing to say!

Xu Yanmiao was shocked.

[Is this the reason why others can be ministers, but I can only be a steward? ]

【Roll! Just roll hard! 】

[You didn't leave work after the team building, you held a meeting overnight, right? ]

The Minister of Personnel lowered his head slightly, raised the tablet in his hand, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

Who doesn't want to have a good rest at home, but... the emperor is the greatest.

The old emperor pretended: "This... is not good. You are also very tired."

[You know it's not good, but you still bring it up - Ouch! ]

The clerk of the Ministry of War stepped on Xu Yanmiao's foot.

Xu Yanmiao looked at his best friend in shock.

The clerk of the Ministry of War whispered, "Don't be distracted. I think I saw the censor looking over here."

Xu Yanmiao suddenly realized what was going on, and quickly focused his attention, pretending to listen carefully. As soon as he turned his head away, the military clerk breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, the military clerk also saw many people secretly giving him a thumbs-up.

Taking advantage of the fact that Xu Yanmiao didn't see him, the clerk of the Ministry of War bowed in return.

Colleagues, you're welcome. It's what I should do.

Several ministers stood up and expressed their feelings as representatives. The main idea was: We are not tired! Your Majesty, we are really not tired! We are especially willing to work overtime! We sincerely contribute to Daxia and Your Majesty!

Xu Yanmiao said angrily: [Labor scab! ]

The old emperor ignored him and said with a smile: "Since you are so kind, let's start..."

[What are you starting? You don't even know that other countries have come to your house to slap you in the face. 】

"???"

——After listening to the inner voices for so long, they also know what it means to be slapped in the face.

The ruler and his ministers of Daxia were not angry; they were simply astonished.

Is there any country that dares to provoke Daxia? Is it because they went to war with Japan and thought they had an opportunity?

Who is it! So stupid!

The military officers were very excited and looked at the old emperor eagerly. Especially the dukes - it was their contribution to their promotion to the dukedom!

They originally thought that there would be no place to earn military merit after the founding of the country, but the military order from Marquis Yongchang to attack Japan and the order from the general to go to sea made them very greedy, but unfortunately they could not get them.

but now......

Your Majesty! Fight, fight!

This is simply pie in the mouth!

The old emperor had a sullen face.

Why fight? Just fight if you know what the situation is. It is better to make a summary of your trip to Kyushu first.

This is what he thought, and this is what he said: "I am traveling to the nine provinces this time. What do you think of the situation in each place? I will give each of you a Zhang Zhi brush, a stack of Zuo Bo paper, a few balls of pine soot ink, and a Tao stone inkstone. You can sit down and write your scrolls."

This is a temporary test.

Those who answer well will be rewarded and promoted, and those who answer averagely will not be punished, but if the answers are particularly outrageous, you will be doomed.

When the clerk of the Ministry of War got the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, his hands trembled violently.

Xu Yanmiao poked his head over mysteriously: "Why, are you afraid of the exam?"

The clerk of the Ministry of War spoke almost happily, although his voice was still very low: "You came late, you don't know, usually after the test of this kind of lineup, you can take the pens, ink, paper and inkstone back! These are all good paper and ink!"

Anyway, he couldn't come up with any particularly outstanding ideas, so just write something decent. The more ink and paper saved, the better!

The Royal Guard coughed and said, "Don't whisper to each other."

Xu Yanmiao quickly jumped back into her seat and started to have a headache.

[What suggestions can I write? I can't just copy some future policies, right? ]

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: "!!!"

A policy that even a lazy person like Xu Yanmiao can remember! It is definitely a policy that can stand the test of history!

Copy it!!!

【Forget it.】

Daxia monarch and ministers: Don't—

[My mind doesn't match the policy. If I ask a few questions, I'll be exposed. Isn't that deceiving the emperor? And I don't know how to describe the details...]

Veins bulged on the old emperor's forehead, and he felt extremely uncomfortable.

I almost screamed in my heart: Deceive the emperor! I beg you to deceive the emperor! I don't mind, I really don't mind!

The ministers counted their teeth with their tongues, trying very hard not to blurt out their words, but were anxious in their hearts: What does it matter if there are no details! The court has basically included most of the smart people in the country, so just say whatever you want, if you don't say it, how can we know the details can't be done!

[Forget it, forget it, let's think about how to take the exam. ]

Xu Yanmiao's thoughts turned to the slap in the face again——

[The envoy from the Mengman tribe was really brave. After arriving in the capital, he had nothing to do, so he took the remaining members of the Ministry of Rites to the suburbs to ride horses and shoot arrows. The members of the Ministry of Rites suffered from backaches every day, and they all avoided him! ]

[Tsk tsk, I can't find anyone today, and I'm going crazy everywhere, saying that the archery of Daxia is nothing special, and I'm really invincible in the world. How crazy.]

[It's a pity that the old emperor probably doesn't know about this yet, otherwise he would have slapped me in the face and let me watch the fun.]

Xu Yanmiao's voice was filled with regret.

The generals also felt sorry.

That's it. We can't take this opportunity to destroy the country.

One or two burly men were crowded in front of the small table, holding a brush in one hand and scratching their heads with the other.

How to write this summary?

[Well, Mengman is good at riding and shooting. I heard that he learned to ride a horse before he learned to walk. ]

The old emperor silently judged in his heart: Bullshit!

[Then let me borrow the nightmare of infantry and cavalry from World War I, and say that I saw it in an ancient book.]

The old emperor took a breath and stared at Xu Yanmiao with burning eyes.

As expected, he is Xiao Baize!

What on earth could be called a nightmare?

[Thanks to this thing, tanks were born. ]

What is a tank?

The rulers and ministers of Daxia were completely confused.

However, Xu Yanmiao did not intend to satisfy their curiosity. He was concentrating on answering the questions.

...

Xiao Bai Ze finally handed in his paper.

Xu Yanmiao felt that many people seemed to take a breath when she handed in the paper.

【？ 】

[Are there so many poor students? ]

Xu Yanmiao felt that he had handed in his paper late enough, but those who took a breath obviously hadn't handed in their papers yet, and when they saw someone else handing in their paper, they got nervous!

The old emperor obviously felt that he had stayed long enough and didn't want to wait any longer. The next moment, Xu Yanmiao heard the old emperor say, "Stop the exam."

The examination room was suddenly filled with grief. Many people had not yet finished writing and their faces were pale.

The old emperor said calmly: "The prime minister and the six ministers will examine the papers first. The remaining unfinished papers will be checked by the Jinyiwei in turn. If there is too much content, the time limit can be extended. If it is just the beginning, or only a dozen lines have been written, then..."

The old emperor thought of Meng Man's provocation and suddenly came up with an idea: "Go outside and do horse stance. For those above the third rank, it takes half an hour; for those below the fourth rank, it takes three quarters of an hour; for those below the ninth rank, it takes a quarter of an hour."

Many officials walked out dejectedly, including some who were of the second rank.

"What are you looking at!" The deputy commander of the left army clenched his fists and waved his arms.

I've never seen a general who failed in cultural subjects!

The officials did not dare to offend this unruly and rough man, and quickly avoided their sight. The deputy commander of the left army snorted loudly and walked out with a swagger... squatting in horse stance.

The six ministers quickly began to review the tour summary, but the one about Xu Yanmiao was directly presented to the emperor. In order to avoid his suspicion, there were dozens of other documents, as if it was just an ordinary one sandwiched among them.

The old emperor endured several mediocre summaries, glanced over the mediocre opinions in them, and his hands moved quickly, and finally he got the one from Xu Yanmiao.

At the same time, Xu Yanmiao, who was staring at this side, said in his heart: [Finally it's my turn. Damn it, why is it the emperor who made the changes? If it was the Shangshu of our department who made the changes, maybe the requirements would be relaxed? ]

The Minister of Personnel was very puzzled.

Has the fact that he is easy to talk to reached the ears of the minor officials? Or is it only known to Xu Yanmiao?

While wondering, he glanced at the summary under his hand, then quickly gave it a C and put it in the approved side.

If it were in modern times, I'm afraid I would have to mark a line of words next to it: The handwriting is okay, so add ten points; the number of words is quite a bit, and although the content is nothing special, I can give it 30 points; the writing format is correct, so give it ten points; after looking at the paper and finding no signs of erasure, I give it five points as well, and another five points, which is enough - for a paper with 55 points, I generously gave it 60 points.

While correcting the papers, the Minister of Personnel pricked up his ears to see if he could hear Xu Yanmiao revealing the contents of his paper.

[I don't know if it was given before...I should have given it, right? After all, that trick was extremely useful. Not to mention World War I, there were tanks in World War II, and this thing was also used on the battlefield, but it was not as brilliant as World War I, and the effect was not as great.]

All the officials... especially the military generals, felt hot and excited.

So what is it! What is the best weapon to deal with cavalry?

"Xu Yanmiao." The emperor called someone.

After being informed by the Jinyiwei, Xu Yanmiao quickly stood up and trotted to the front: "Your Majesty, I am here."

The old emperor shook the paper in his hand and said, "It's still not detailed enough. Can you tell me what these fence-type barbed wire and accordion-type barbed wire are specifically?"

The author has something to say:

There are some who give a thumbs up, but the dynasty is relatively recent:

When Deng Jiugong heard this, he couldn't help but pick up the cup, drank it all, and gave a thumbs up, saying, "Great!"

——The Heroes of the Children of the Family was created during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty

＊

Try this, referenced from:

When the emperor was in power, a foreign envoy came and said he was good at drinking. The officials recommended someone who could drink with him, and they gave him a military officer, but he was afraid that he could not drink well. The emperor ordered the court officials to recommend themselves, and the top scholar Zeng Qi asked to go. The emperor asked him how much he could drink? He replied: It doesn't matter how much, just keep drinking better than this foreign envoy. When they went, the three of them drank silently all day. The foreign envoy was drunk, the military officer was also drunk, but Zeng Qi was refreshed and reported back. The emperor laughed and said: Regardless of the writing, this drinking capacity is not the top scholar of the Ming Dynasty? He was given a lot of wine.

——"A Brief History of the Ming Dynasty"

[Not an official history, "A Brief History of the Ming Dynasty" in 18 volumes, written by Lü Bi of the Ming Dynasty. Lü Bi, courtesy name Zhenjiu, was a native of Taicang and a scholar. The book is divided into the periods of Hongwu, Yongle, Tianqi, Chongzhen, and Hongguang. It records the events of each dynasty, with titles and events related to the titles. Some chapters in the book are similar to novels and contain many non-essential words. However, the "Central Plains Edict" of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty is not recorded in the History of the Ming Dynasty. The money and grain of various prefectures and states, the customs of various foreign countries in the Chongzhen Chronicle, and the "Nanzhong Fushu" in the Hongguang Chronicle can be used as a reference for historical research. The author's historical knowledge is not high, and there is not much editing, but it is based on hearsay, but the historical events of the time are also preserved. This book was completed in the early years of the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (from Baidu Encyclopedia)]

＊

The punishment of "Zamabu" is based on the Ming Dynasty ministers who did not attend court and were punished to carry lime:

On the Yimao day, the anniversary of Emperor Taizong Wen's death, the Fengxian Palace held a sacrifice ceremony and sent the son-in-law Duwei Cai Zhen to offer sacrifices to Changling. The emperor ordered the Jinyiwei and the Honglu Temple to check the door register because there were not enough court officials. There were 1,118 civil and military officials who did not attend. The emperor reported this to the emperor, who said: These people do not fear the etiquette and are lazy to attend the court. They should be punished, but the punishment will be lenient. Those above the third rank will be charged with 5,000 catties of ash; those below the fourth rank will be charged with 3,000 catties; those below the ninth rank will be charged with 1,500 catties; those who are sick will be examined and reported to the emperor.

Only Duke Ying, Zhang Mao, pleaded guilty and was exempted from punishment. Later, the Jinyiwei and the Honglu Temple reported the names of those who were sick, recovered, or healthy. The emperor thought that most of the names of those who were sick were false, so he pardoned them temporarily. Those who were recovered or healthy were all transported to ashes as usual.

——"Ming Shilu Xianzong Shilu"

【Translation: More than a thousand people did not come to court, and were punished to carry ashes. Those above the third rank were punished to carry 5,000 kilograms, those below the fourth rank were punished to carry 3,000 kilograms, and those below the ninth rank were punished to carry 1,500 kilograms.】

＊

Since we have already moved the dust, wouldn't it be reasonable to do a horse stance? （）

＊

Chapter 65 Is morality such an inconvenient thing?

Xu Yanmiao thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, it may not be clear enough just by talking. Can you let me command a group of infantry and then a group of cavalry to attack?"

Daxia can make iron wire, and the army has steel wire chain mail in its equipment.

So, soon, the Ministry of Industry delivered the barbed wire that Xu Yanmiao needed.

——Mobile concertina wire fence.

As the name suggests, it is a wire mesh that is rolled up and looks like a bellows or a cylinder. This type of wire mesh does not require stakes and is very maneuverable.

The old emperor walked over to take a look and raised his eyebrows: "There are still thorns?"

Xu Yanmiao nodded.

The old emperor hesitated to speak.

Xu Yanmiao asked politely: "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

The old emperor tried to tell the military rookie tactfully: "The cavalry are not rabbits that will run into trees. When they see the barbed wire from a distance, they will run away or take a detour."

Even if your barbs can scrape off someone's skin, that only works if the other person can get close to you.

Xu Yanmiao politely replied, "Your Majesty is right."

[Like the French Maginot Line? That's right, the so-called "impassable Maginot Line" was still attacked by the Germans. On the contrary, the French army, due to the extremely wide depth and long span of the Maginot Line, relaxed and was attacked. ]

[Fortunately, this is just barbed wire. It doesn't look like an iron wall. No army would rely on it to the point of relaxing their defense.]

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: "?"

So you knew it could be circumvented?

They became even more curious.

Since Xu Yanmiao understood this, why would he still pin his hopes on the barbs on the barbed wire?

Xu Yanmiao: "Your Majesty, the cavalry here cannot be deployed, why not go to the suburbs?"

It is spacious and more suitable for cavalry to operate.

The old emperor nodded: "Yes."

The Mongolian and Manchu envoys also came, and the old emperor tacitly allowed them to watch from the sidelines.

When the cavalry started running, the leaves of the big trees around the delegation were shaking slightly. In the distance, the sound of muffled thunder came closer and closer, and the Great Xia cavalry was like a black torrent, rushing towards them.

The Mongolian envoys were shocked.

Among the envoys, the man who had often challenged officials from the Ministry of Rites to archery and horse riding was even more shocked. After being shocked, he felt the vibration of the ground and the sandstorm from the cavalry galloping over, and he suddenly felt embarrassed and didn't know what to do.

"turn out to be......"

It turns out that the real cavalry of Daxia have such good riding skills!

After he went crazy, he was scolded by the other members of the delegation. Although he promised not to make trouble again, he still looked down on Daxia's horseback archery. Although he didn't see the "archery" now, in terms of "riding"... he suddenly realized that the riders who came to compete with him in those days were not the top riders in Daxia.

He is ignorant and has a narrow view of the world.

The old emperor noticed that the atmosphere on the delegation side was not right. After taking a glance, he suddenly felt much happier.

"I didn't expect it..." Below, Prime Minister Dou also noticed the changes in the delegation, and said to the Crown Prince beside him, "It has such a miraculous effect."

The prince's response was a gasp.

"!!!"

Prime Minister Dou turned around immediately.

＊

In the distance, the cavalry was a black mass. When the infantry faced them, they were like a small boat in the waves, which could be smashed at any time.

They held the Five Thunder God Machines and Thunder Guns in their hands. Although they looked resolute and did not seem to be afraid of the cavalry's charge, it still made the onlookers worried.

One general was puzzled: "Why haven't you put up the barbed wire yet? The cavalry is about to make their final charge, right?"

The cavalry did not rush directly to the enemy's flank to harass them. They usually began to trot when they were 200 steps away from the enemy, and then sprinted for the last 20 steps.

Two hundred steps is just "a moment (one minute)" for light cavalry.

"It's okay." Xu Yanmiao encouraged them: "Follow my instructions——"

Xu Yanmiao stared at the cavalry, estimated the distance, and then: "Fire!!!"

In an instant, our infantry threw out the prepared accordion-shaped barbed wire around them with a "whoosh".

Three pieces of barbed wire were stacked into a "品" shape, quickly blocking the passage, like a real giant snake, blocking the enemy's cavalry.

The dust raised by the horses' hooves blinded the cavalrymen's eyes. By the time they noticed something strange in front of them, it was too late.

"Raise your guns--" the young man calmly raised the command flag.

The infantrymen held the Wu Lei Shen Ji and Xun Lei Gun. The former was said to be "the earliest revolver in the world", and the latter was boasted to be "the predecessor of Gatling".

——No matter whether this is just bragging or not, their range is indeed over a hundred steps.

The guns were fake, to prevent the real guns from accidentally firing and killing their own people. Although no cavalrymen were shot dead in the performance - they were sprinting, it was inconvenient. But the people present could almost imagine the scene of dense firepower.

The Five Thunder God Machine and the Thunder Gun are the weapons of the Northern Army of the Xia Dynasty. Their characteristics are "quick killing", "quick firing" and "wide strike area". For this reason, they abandoned "strong power" and took the route of using firepower coverage to make up for the power.

In other words, the Northern Army's guns were used to kill the cavalry outside the Great Wall.

There were still many cavalrymen who rushed out of the fire coverage.

Then the horse's hooves dug into the barbed wire.

A murderous atmosphere suddenly arose.

The barbed wire rolled up like a giant snake, and the hooks pierced into the flesh and rotated in the same direction, splashing blood. The horses wailed and fell to the ground. The cavalrymen rolled off their horses in a panic and were immediately shot by the Five Thunder Divine Machine and the Thunder Gun.

The guns were fake, but the barbed wire was not fake. The horses' legs were useless.

If the Minister of Revenue had a look of distress on his face, then the Mengman envoys were truly frightened.

They suddenly stood up, staring at the barbed wire and the bloody horse hooves. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood. A sense of crisis arose.

I don't know who brought a plate of cakes to the old emperor. He sat there, weighing the small plum cakes, and ate a few pieces himself. He was so sick of this dessert for the rich that he frowned for a moment. Then he asked the eunuch to give it to the Mongolian envoys.

"Messengers." The old emperor asked with a playful smile, "What's the matter? Why did you stand up suddenly? Are you hungry? Here is a plate of plum blossom cake, which is sweet and delicious..."

How could the Mengman envoys eat any more? The food was raised to their throats and then dropped back into their chests. In an instant, the coldness seeped out from the cracks between their bones. The expression on their faces was no longer awe, but fear.

The envoys looked at each other and lowered their proud heads. One of them saluted Emperor Tiantong: "Respected Great Khan of the Great Xia..."

——The Great Khan was the title of the supreme leader of the barbarians outside the Great Wall. Some of these barbarians defected to Daxia, and they offered the title of Great Khan to the old emperor to show their submission.

"The Meng Man begs the Great Khan to make the decision."

These people are finally going to mention the purpose of this mission.

The emperor's eyes flickered slightly: "Oh? What do you want me to do?"

The Mongolian envoys heard this and looked extremely sad: "Great Khan! The Jin Man are really too much! They always send troops to attack our small tribes. Once they find that the war is beginning to fail, they negotiate peace. When our warriors go to report, they start to rebel again. In this way, they have swallowed up many of our tribes."

The sad thing is, unless they intend to wipe out the Jin barbarians in one fell swoop, they can only accept it with a pinch of their nose. Otherwise, do they have to change the policy to allow border guards to decide for themselves whether to accept the surrender of enemy tribes?

【Eh?】

The old emperor was about to speak, but when he heard Xu Yanmiao's voice, he subconsciously looked up.

The little bastard is back?

[Jin Man? Aren't they the group of barbarians who were chasing the old emperor at Shanhaiguan? ]

[But it was really thanks to them, otherwise the old emperor would not have had the opportunity to establish a relationship with the officers and soldiers of the previous dynasty. ]

Old Emperor: "..."

As expected, he is a little bastard, stabbing a knife into people's hearts as soon as he comes back. This fate is given to you, do you want it?

But...it turned out that it was Jin Man who did it?

When the old emperor thought of the bizarre experience of being forced to impersonate the emperor of the previous dynasty, his face suddenly darkened: "How do you want me to help you?"

The Mengman envoys misunderstood the reason for the emperor's gloomy face and became more cautious. As for the bold words they had said before coming, trying to control the barbarians by asking Daxia to stop trading with the barbarians outside the Great Wall and only trade with the Mengman, their thoughts were directly pressed into the depths of their consciousness.

"Respected Great Khan of Daxia." The Mengman envoys tried to smile and spoke in a cautious tone, so as not to be perceived as greedy. "We would like to ask if Daxia can open trade with Mengman in advance. Most of the tea we brought in through trade was snatched away by the Jinman. Many people in the tribe can't even eat meat now."

Tea is basically the same as salt to the barbarians. Without tea, they will lack vitamins and then suffer from muscle weakness. For nomadic people, the consequence of muscle weakness and inability to bend the bow and shoot arrows is very terrible.

The old emperor looked at them.

It's not impossible. We can just support the Meng Man - verbal support, no physical support, if we really want supplies, then we can only support them through trade - to fight the Jin Man, let them fight each other, and when both the Meng Man and the Jin Man are defeated, Daxia can easily conquer the two tribes.

When the Mongolian envoys saw that Emperor Daxia had not spoken for a long time, their hopeful eyes gradually turned into dejection and their faces turned pale.

One of them was desperate and suddenly knelt down next to Xu Yanmiao: "Shangguan! Please say something good!"

Xu Yanmiao was so shocked that she jumped to the side: "Don't kneel to me!"

I'm just a small official, how can I help you?

Meng Man, who came to Xu Yanmiao for help, insisted on his decision. In his opinion, no matter what the young man in front of him had done in the past, since he had proposed a policy that would benefit the country, promotion was inevitable.

Moreover, he had discovered before that the Great Khan of the Xia Dynasty would pay attention to the young man in front of him from time to time!

This person must be extraordinary!

Maybe it's some prince!

Maybe it's the prince! It's always a good idea to ask!

Xu Yanmiao looked at the Minister of Personnel, who gave him a helpless look.

Xu Yanmiao looked at Prime Minister Dou. Prime Minister Dou was very sympathetic but he wouldn't look Xu Yanmiao in the eye.

Xu Yanmiao looked at the Minister of War, who was just short of writing "I would rather die than have my friend die" on his dark face, which hadn't been washed in several days.

Xu Yanmiao looked at it, and subconsciously went over the description of that face in his mind. After thinking about it, he looked up.

...Why does the Minister of War look even darker?

Xu Yanmiao was very confused.

[Strange, did I offend the Minister of War? No? ]

【Why is his face so dark? 】

Xu Yanmiao pondered for a moment.

[Could it be that the news that his son had been forcibly abducted by the wife of a barbarian chieftain for seven days and seven nights finally reached his ears? ]

[You are so well-informed! I just found out about this too! ]

Minister of War: "?"

I just found out about this too!!!

He quickly went over it in his mind. His eldest son was in the capital, so it couldn't be him. His second son had gone to his father-in-law's house and hadn't come back yet, so it couldn't be him either. Only his youngest son, who was beautiful and had skin as white as jade, seemed to have... indeed... gone to the border to play, and had sent him two poems some time ago!

Could it be——

The Minister of War's pupils trembled.

[...Is this also considered a marriage alliance?] Xu ​​Yanmiao's inner voice floated over hesitantly.

[After all, the chief's wife said in public: If you sleep with me for a few days, I will sign an alliance with Daxia—although the chief of that tribe is still alive, the wife is still in charge.]

The Minister of War's hands were shaking.

It's nothing!

"Loyalty——" The old emperor slapped his thigh, looking excited.

Loyal minister! Naked loyal minister!

I don't know if other nobles have good-looking sons or nephews. Of the eighteen barbarians outside the Great Wall, only ten surrendered. If... actually... it's not impossible...

The ministers, feeling the burning gaze of His Majesty, were immediately terrified.

No no no!

No! There is no beautiful boy in our family!

【Loyal to what? 】

Only Xu Yanmiao was at a loss.

The old emperor was silent for two breaths, then slapped his thigh again and said, "Right! I think so! Mengman, right? Regarding the trade, I think so, but this matter still needs to be discussed with the ministers. You can leave first, and I will inform you tomorrow."

The Mongolian envoys were overjoyed and expressed their gratitude immediately.

Xu Yanmiao was alone there when she suddenly realized: [Oh! It's not Zhong, it's Zhong! ]

【but......】

[Is the old emperor originally from Henan? Why does he still speak Henan dialect? ]

The author has something to say:

Small theater: Old Emperor: I can be.

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About Concertina Wire Fence:

There are two types of fortification obstacles used to block infantry movements: fixed and mobile. When there is plenty of time, less concern about enemy fire, easy to plant stakes, and the terrain is shaded, more fixed fortification obstacles should be built. Fixed fortification obstacles are mainly various barbed wires, tree barricades, and bamboo stakes. In emergency situations, under direct threat of enemy fire, or when the ground is hard and difficult to plant stakes, mobile fortification obstacles have to be set up.

Mobile fortification obstacles are mainly concertina wire, chevaux de frise and spikes, etc. These mobile fortification obstacles are also often used to block passages, block trenches, traffic trenches and repair damaged obstacles.

...

There is a type of wire mesh that looks like a crawling snake and can be moved and set up, called an accordion wire mesh. This type of obstacle is usually made in a shaded area and then transported to the location where it is set up, arranged in one, two, three or a "品" shape. According to tests, more than three accordion wire meshes arranged in a "品" shape can entangle the driving wheels of a tank that is rolling over it, paralyzing the tank and making it unable to move.

In order to improve the barrier power of barbed wire, sometimes some mines are set inside or some hot weapons such as grenades are hung inside. Once the enemy touches the barbed wire, it will explode. This not only has the effect of blocking, but also can kill the living force and give the enemy a mental threat. Some people also set alarms on the barbed wire, which will send out a signal when the enemy approaches, thus playing a warning role.

——《Field Battle and Fortification》

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About iron wire:

The steel wire chain mail was made by the ancient Western Qiang people. It was similar in shape to today's large iron wire rings, as big as the holes in coins, with chains like strings, and a shirt-like collar. It was put on from top to bottom, making it extremely difficult for guns and arrows to penetrate it.

——"Military History"

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Iron die drawing technology:

To make a needle, first hammer the iron into a thin strip. Use an iron ruler to make a thread eye, pull the iron strip through to make a thread, and then cut it into needles inch by inch.

——"The Exploitation of the Works of Nature"

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Iron production refers to the early Ming Dynasty:

Iron courses everywhere

At the beginning of the country, it was decided that the iron smelting in various places would produce 18,475,260 kilograms of iron.

Huguang 6,752,927 jin

Guangdong 1,896,641 kg

Peking 351,241 kg

Jiangxi 3.26 million jin

Shaanxi 12,666 catties

Shandong 3,152,187 catties

Sichuan 468,089 catties

Henan 718,336 catties

Zhejiang 591,686 catties

Shanxi 1,146,917 catties

Fujian 124,336 catties

——"Ming Hui Dian"

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Iron consumption by country:

The official from the Ministry of Works said: Smelting has been going on in various places for three years now, and the treasury has stored more than 37,430,000 kilograms of iron.

As there was already a lot of iron stored in the warehouses, the emperor ordered the closure of all iron smelting sites, allowing the people to mine and refine the iron themselves, and taking two out of every thirty points of the annual tax.

——"Ming Shilu Taizu Shilu"

[In three years, more than 37,430,000 catties of iron were stored, which is 37,430,000. Every year, about 12,476,667 catties can be stored. In other words, the annual consumption of ironware is about 5,998,359 catties.]

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Scout Usage:

Xu Dong said: "Those who are good at using troops have everything they need for action. Select 24 light and brave men in advance, three on each side, one mile apart, use flags during the day and drums at night (when passing through winding mountains and rivers and dense jungles, drums should also be sounded during the day, in case the flags are not seen). The first rider raises a flag when he sees the enemy during the day, the second rider does the same, and the third rider rushes to report. Use drums at night, just as you do during the day (in case the enemy hears the drums and rushes to report).

——"Tiger Seal Sutra"

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I haven't found the charge of domestic cavalry yet, so I use the foreign one:

When the first bugle sounded, the first line, second line and reserve troops began to march at a slow pace. When the second bugle sounded, the whole army doubled its speed and changed to a fast pace... With the third bugle, it accelerated to three times... When the enemy was 150-200 steps away, the first line began to use a trot. When the enemy was 70 steps or at most 80 steps away, the bugler blew a loud and rapid bugle call, and the first line of cavalry rode their horses forward at a big trot, but they still had to control the reins... When the enemy was about 20 steps away, they completely let go of the reins and charged with all their strength.

——"Cavalry Review"

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The three-eyed gun, the five-thunder gun, the thunder gun, and the falconet were all weapons of the Northern Army of the Ming Dynasty. Their characteristics were "quick killing", "quick firing", and "wide striking area". For this reason, they abandoned "strong power" and took the route of making up for the power with firepower coverage.

Specially used to deal with the Mongols.

[The article only mentions the Five Thunder God Machine and Thunder Gun because their range makes them more convenient to use on the battlefield with barbed wire]

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Three-barreled gun: can penetrate armor at 50 to 60 steps. (The wind and sand in the north are strong and it is not suitable to use bird guns. This thing is used in the south, so the north uses three-barreled guns.)

[It is best used within a hundred steps. It can penetrate armor after walking fifty to sixty steps, and can hit the target after riding twenty to thirty steps.

——"Artifact List"】

【The north is cold and windy, so the bird's beak must be hit by hand, which is often laborious. Once the firing port is opened, the wind is very strong and the powder has already been blown away; if the powder is rolled, the firing port is easy to break. After firing, the enemy cavalry will come like the wind, and it is not convenient to use this as a tool to resist the enemy. Recently, there are bamboo bird-beak guns and self-closing fire-port bird guns, which are also a wonder for a while, but it is ultimately troublesome. Only the three-barreled gun has three guns on one rod, and each gun can be loaded with two or three lead bullets. Wait for the enemy to be within 30 or 40 steps, and fire at the true side; one shot three times, the sound is continuous, and there is no miss. When the enemy's horse rushes in, hold this gun instead of a club. Even if the enemy has an iron helmet and iron armor, even if the sharp blade cannot penetrate, only this gun can hit it.

——"Military Records"】

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Wu Lei Shen Ji: The range is about 120 steps. There is a saying that it may be the earliest revolver in the world.

[The barrels are made of iron, each 1.5 feet long and weighing 5 pounds, arranged around the handle, with a front sight, 2 cents of powder and a lead bullet in the barrel, sharing a firing port, the barrel can rotate, and after ignition and shooting, it moves to the next firing port, and can reach 120 steps in a horizontal shot

——"Ming Wu Zhi"】

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Thunder Gun: A tubular firearm. Effective range 200 meters (125 steps), can penetrate heavy armor.

【There are five types of guns, each about two feet long, weighing more than ten pounds in total. There are sights and star sights on the barrel, and a wooden stick is placed in the middle. The gun is always operated by a machine gun, which is placed in the box and rotated in turn. It is an axe handle with a fork at the end, inserted upside down into the ground, and then set up to shoot. After shooting, if the enemy is close, remove the shield and hold it upside down, with five-pronged hand guard, and move forward as if it were a short gun.

——"Artifact List"】

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Regarding "The Great Khan of the Xia Emperor", it is a reference to "The Great Sui Sage Moyuan Khan" of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. This title is more rigorous and formal.

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Regarding the rape of civilians, please refer to:

During the reign of Emperor Longqing, the northern barbarians surrendered and each town negotiated for a horse market. The barbarian chieftain, Altan, sent horses as tribute to Xuanfu. His wife, Sanniangzi, was in charge of the affairs of the barbarians. At that time, Cai Jian'an (Kexian) was the envoy of the imperial court, preparing troops for Yanghe. He was having a banquet with the governor's office on the city wall. Cai passed the imperial examination when he was young. He was as handsome and fair as a fairy. Sanniangzi admired him and asked the governor's office at the foot of the city wall, saying, "I wish to have the military governor Cai come to my camp to renew the oath and establish a lasting friendship." Cai went out of the city and arrived at his camp. He was offering milk and cheese as a birthday gift. Suddenly, dozens of elite cavalrymen escorted Cai to the north to the border. He was terrified and wanted to chase him, but all the forts were safe and secure, so he did not dare to discuss the suppression. A few days later, he sent Cai back to the city. The barbarian woman had slept in the fur tent for several nights. Since then, there has been no alarm at the border, and the western frontier has been silent for several years.

——"Wanli Yewai Bian"

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Chapter 66 How could funding be such an inconvenient thing?

The old emperor gave a signal, and an official from the Ministry of Rites stepped forward and led the Mengman delegation away with a smile: "Messengers, please come this way. Let's discuss the trade."

The Mongolian envoys understood.

The emperor of Daxia said that he wanted to negotiate with the ministers, but in fact he thought their sincerity was not enough. Although the trade could be exchanged for cattle and horses on the grassland, it was far from enough to make Daxia stand on their side just because of this.

Moreover, it was they who begged Daxia to sell them tea, not Daxia begging them to give them horses.

The official from the Ministry of Rites was walking a little ahead, chatting and laughing with the Mengman who was a little ahead of him.

At the back of the team, two Mengman who were obviously of higher status than the others were talking quietly in Mongolian.

"What should I do, Miss Kun? I'm afraid I can't complete the Khan's instructions."

Xiangkun, which means general in Mongolian, frowned and said, "I didn't expect Xia Ting to be so strong and have new weapons to deal with cavalry."

General Mengman still felt a chill when he thought of the barbed wire.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement while experts watch the details. That thing is much more terrifying than tripwires or chevaux de frise.

Its biggest advantage is——

quick!

too fast!

And it's easy to carry!

It was a pity that when they saw this thing before, they felt that its use was similar to that of iron thorns or chevaux de frise, and did not pay much attention to it. However, after watching the Daxia officials demonstrate it, they immediately discovered the incomparable advantages of this thing!

Cheaper than it, but not as convenient as it! Sharper than it, but not as good as it, like a fence, to block the advantage of a horse charging!

The infantry could simply lie behind the barbed wire and use firearms to turn the cavalry into a hornet's nest.

Can a tripwire have this effect?

"Or..." The Meng Man who spoke earlier said with some difficulty: "According to what the Khan said before we came here, if we can't reach an agreement and the Xia Court is unwilling to only provide us with trade, we will cooperate with the Jin Man. As for tea...if we don't allow trade, we can just rob it. Or we can unite with other barbarians and force the Xia Court to open trade."

"No!!!"

General Meng Man suddenly raised his voice, and when he noticed the officials from the Ministry of Rites looking at him in confusion, he quickly lowered his voice, but his voice contained a warning: "Didn't you see the barbed wire? Why do you think Xia Ting allowed us to watch him test the new weapon?"

Do you really think that the Emperor of Daxia has a mental problem and doesn't know what secrets are?

That is a warning. If you don't be careful, this weapon will be used on you first.

Along the way, the scene of barbed wire strangling horse hooves kept flashing in General Meng Man's mind.

...

the other side.

"Where are the scouts?" After sending the Meng Man group away, the old emperor strode out and faced the cavalry commander with a very stiff tone: "Didn't I say before? Follow the normal battlefield deduction. Where are your scouts?"

The cavalry commander was helpless: "The scouts found their tracks about a mile away, and from such a distance, there was no way to tell whether there was any barbed wire. After I got the news, I immediately ordered the light cavalry to harass them, and the heavy cavalry to follow. Your Majesty, everything that happened next is in front of you."

——The barbed wire was put up so quickly that the cavalry had no way to turn around and avoid it.

Moreover, if it was a normal battlefield, the other side would also send out their own scouts, and it is possible that their scouts would be defeated, and they would not be able to receive any information at that time.

The old emperor was not angry but delighted: "Really? Great! That's great!"

The test is whether this thing can cause damage to cavalry in a real war!

Otherwise, do we have to try it on the battlefield?

The barbed wire is like a small, portable checkpoint. The suburbs can be compared to a plain, so an accordion-type barbed wire is used.

"And there's barbed wire fencing."

The Ministry of Works brought it up. The enemy didn't need to demonstrate this. Xu Yanmiao had people drive piles on the spot and then put up barbed wire to form something like a low wall.

"It has a different use from concertina wire."

The old emperor nodded: "It's not as flexible as the concertina wire."

You can tell at a glance that these two weapons are used differently.

There were probably three or four layers of barbed wire fences, and Xu Yanmiao directed the troops to dig trenches behind the fences.

"You can dig as many tunnels as you want, but don't dig more than fifty steps apart."

"This is..." The Minister of War was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes were filled with excitement: "I understand!"

Not all officials knew about military affairs, so the Minister of Rites asked with a smile, "What did the Minister understand?"

Minister of War: "Look at these three or four layers of barbed wire. Isn't it very thick? It will take the enemy some time to destroy it, right?"

The Minister of Rites nodded hesitantly.

The Minister of War added: "There are also these trenches. They are only dug fifty steps because there are more than a hundred steps left to allow for the fire guns to attack."

He looked at Xu Yanmiao: "But is this the case, Xu Lang?"

Xu Yanmiao glanced at the Minister of War and nodded, not surprised.

He never underestimates the intelligence of the ancients. Just because they haven't seen some things doesn't mean they can't draw inferences from them.

The Minister of War hit the essence of the fence-type barbed wire.

During World War I, this thing was usually set up in several layers, just to be demolished. It would take time for the enemy to demolish it, and the machine guns on our side would have enough time to fire in the trenches. Behind the machine guns, there would be a large number of artillery, which would also bombard the area in front of the barbed wire.

Even if the enemy dismantled the barbed wire, they could only open a hole for one person to get in and out. Then, the enemy's machine guns would shoot at the hole, and anyone who wanted to get out would have to pay with their lives.

Of course, in many battles this may not be possible because of artillery fire, making it difficult for infantry to reach the barbed wire.

Cavalry is also difficult. Who would be willing to let the cavalry charge into the rain of guns and bullets?

"Very good!" After Xu Yanmiao's second explanation, the old emperor stared at the fence-like barbed wire for a long time, his eyes burning: "It is a veritable cavalry nemesis! Even if the infantry wants to break through, they have to brave the musket attack and take the trouble to destroy the barbed wire."

The most important thing is that the barbed wire has holes, so you can see the environment clearly and there is no need to worry about it becoming a shield for the enemy.

He turned his head and looked at the ambassador from the Iron Smelting Institute.

The ambassador understood the meaning of the song and hurried forward to report in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the national iron production, including the iron tax collected from government-owned enterprises and private enterprises, is 18,475,260 catties. Our annual iron consumption is about 6 million catties."

The remaining output is more than enough for making barbed wire.

This thing obviously does not need to be erected on the border for a long time, and can be taken out and used when needed. There is no need to worry about the enemy stealing the iron.

The old emperor nodded calmly. "Then we will start production... The Ministry of Personnel will first send officials to the north to observe the terrain and see which places are suitable for installing fence-type barbed wire. Then we will evaluate how many sheets of accordion-type barbed wire should be produced first. By the way, we will also see if there are any officials who are derelict in their duties. If there are any, they will be replaced. Border guards are the top priority and must not be slack."

The Minister of Personnel received the order and began to think about how to implement this matter. His eyes became empty and he was obviously absent-minded.

Until he heard the emperor pick up the papers in front of him with a smile and said, "Let me see, what is your family's policy of qualification..."

The Minister of Personnel raised his head in a hurry, almost twisting his neck: "Your Majesty! Wait——"

The smile on His Majesty's face disappeared.

His Majesty's hand holding the paper was trembling slightly.

His Majesty took a deep breath and called out the name: "Yang Yu!"

The fifth-rank general Wude immediately stepped out and shouted, "Your Majesty! I am here!"

The old emperor said: "Tell me, what do you mean by musketeer's hand-to-hand combat skills are too poor?"

Yang Yu said confidently: "Your Majesty! It's just that their hand-to-hand combat ability is too poor! If the enemy army breaks through the ammunition blockade and rushes in front of them, they can't use bird guns to hit them!"

Old Emperor: "???"

The old emperor's facial muscles twitched a few times: "They are musketeers! The musketeers are for long-range attacks! There is no need to consider what to do if the enemy breaks through the ammunition blockade!"

What they need to consider is how to increase the ammunition blockade!

Yang Yu said with full energy: "Your Majesty! So I have thought of a solution!"

"Your solution is to equip the bird gun with a dagger?! When the ammunition is low, take out the dagger and insert it into the front of the gun barrel, and then use it as a spear?!"

Yang Yu laughed loudly: "Your Majesty, there is no need to praise me! This is just a little clever idea of ​​mine!"

The old emperor couldn't imagine how strong his willpower was in order not to throw the paper in Yang Yu's face.

He picked up another paper: "Wang Bin!"

The second-rank cavalry general's voice trembled slightly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I..."

The old emperor said: "You said that the iron shell mine is too expensive to make. There is a way to solve it. That is to hollow out the stone, fill it with explosives, and then install a fuse?"

Wang Bin said cautiously: "No, no?"

The old emperor spoke each word with great gentleness and sincerity: "Yes, of course. Have you ever tried it?"

"No, no..." Wang Bin swallowed.

He thought about it and thought that this seemed feasible, so he wrote it down.

The old emperor continued very gently and earnestly, almost gritting his teeth, saying: "Then, when you have tested it, propose to me to mass-produce it. Before that, you should report to the Ministry of Industry."

Wang Bin was dejected, as if he had lost his parents.

"Marquis Yangwu!!!" The old emperor slammed the table and said, "Forget about the first two. There is still a chance that they can be done. Look at what you wrote!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Wuhou stood up and gestured with his hands and feet: "Your Majesty! This is an idea that has never been seen before and will never be repeated! Look, if we put a few rockets into the belly of an object, twist the cords together, and then put two rocket launchers at the bottom of the head of this object, and two rocket launchers at the bottom of the tail, and twist the cords of the four tubes together! Then, ignite the four tubes of cords-"

Yang Wuhou felt great: "Your Majesty! Then the four rocket launchers will propel that thing to fly, towards the enemy! When it reaches the enemy, the four rocket launchers will be used up. At this time, the magic rocket inside the thing will fly out and burn the enemy!"

"Your Majesty..." Yang Wuhou looked at the old emperor eagerly: "I think the Ministry of Industry can try to develop this thing!"

The old emperor pinched the bridge of his nose.

Yang Wuhou continued to look eagerly: "Your Majesty——"

Funding!

The old emperor pinched his nose... The old emperor's gnashing of teeth turned into a grim smile: "Come here, tie up Yang Wuhou with the divine rocket and shoot him out!"

The author has something to say:

small theater:

Old Emperor: I'm tired. Let's destroy it.

＊

(Iron production is mentioned in the previous chapter)

＊

Regarding whether controlling tea can control nomadic peoples, please refer to:

The enemy entered the fortress, the gates of the capital were not opened, and the emperor was sitting in the West Palace, worried about it, and didn't know where to go. The enemy captured our nobles, and wrote a letter to them, saying: "Give us money and tribute, and we will be relieved. Otherwise, we will be shaved and sent to the city every year." At that time, Huating Gong (Xu Jie) was the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and he asked all the ministers to assist him in the court. The emperor sent his letter to the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and asked the civil and military officials to discuss: "Whether to give tribute or not, which is better?"

——Epitaph of Qingxia Shen Gong, the Former Jinyiwei Experiencer and Posthumous Title to the Imperial Court Official and Junior Official of the Guanglu Temple in the Ming Dynasty

[Translation: The Mongolian army captured a eunuch and asked him to take a message to the Ming court: The Ming court must trade with Mongolia, otherwise they will attack your city. (The entire Ming court felt humiliated, but in the end the Ming Dynasty still opened the trade)]

(So, if you want to control the outside world by tea, you must be able to defeat the opponent. Otherwise, why wouldn't the opponent fight for it?)

＊

(Your solution is to equip the bird gun with a dagger?! When the ammunition is insufficient, take out the dagger and insert it into the front of the gun barrel, and use it as a spear?!)

This thing is a submachine gun:

The iron tube of the mother-and-child bird gun has the same size of eye hole and dragon head wooden box as the bird gun. The bird gun must have a long tube to hit the target without missing anything, but the long tube is not fast to load the powder, so it is changed to a child gun. However, the back of the tube is not screwed, and an iron groove is made in imitation of the Portuguese gun, which is called the mother gun. From the back of the groove to the end of the tube, it is four feet and two inches long, and weighs six pounds. The child gun is placed in the groove and an iron bolt is added at the back. There are four child guns, each weighing only one pound, like the wolf gun child gun, and it is seven inches long. There is a small iron plate on it as a crossbowman, with a small hole in the middle to illuminate the star in front, which is comparable to the mother gun.

——"Military Records"

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Iron Mine:

Shao Shoude of Danyang said that he used cast iron to make a solid powder bucket with a wooden anvil and a hollow charge line inside the bottom anvil. He chose a place where the thief must pass through and dug a pit. He buried dozens of mines in the pit and used a small bamboo tube to pass the charge line. He covered the pit with soil as before. The machine was hidden in the fire thief's room. He didn't know and stepped on it. The mine would shake from the bottom and flames would rise in the sky. The iron block would be like a locust flying in the sky. Anyone who was hit would die. This was Kong Ming's secret weapon.

——Compilation of the Chart of the Sea

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[Dig out the stone and fill it with explosives]

Stone Cannon:

This cannon was invented by Liu Gong, the former governor and current military official. The stones are of different sizes, some are one foot in diameter, and some are six or seven inches in diameter. Holes are drilled in them, explosives are put in, and the walls are covered with soil. A reed tube with wire wrapped around it must be placed at the parapet of the side wall. When the enemy reaches the bottom of the wall, the wire is burned into the tube and pushed down by hand. The enemy only sees a stone and thinks that I missed it, so they will no longer be on guard. The explosives burn and the stones break. Some are close but not injured, while others are hit by several dozen feet. The enemy cannot predict where to go, so everyone is in danger.

——"True Records of Military Training"

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Fire dragon emerges from water:

Use five feet of cat bamboo, remove the nodes and scrape it thin with an iron knife, carve a dragon head in front with wood, and carve a dragon tail in the back, with the mouth facing upward. Put several rockets in the dragon's belly, leave an eye for the dragon head, and gather the rockets' cords together... Use two rocket launchers on both sides of the dragon's tail, tie them up in the same way, and twist the cords of the four rocket launchers together. In a naval battle, you can light a fire three or four feet above the water, and fly two or three miles above the water. If a fire dragon appears on the river, the cords will run out, and the rockets in the belly will fly out, burning people and boats. It can be used on land and water.

——"Military History"

[According to many current statements, this thing is just a conjecture, an inference, and there is no real object]

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Chapter 67: Shock! Taking a bath can have this benefit even if you don't like bathing!

"Your Majesty! Spare my life, Your Majesty!"

Several Jinyiwei carried Yang Wuhou out, and there was a young eunuch holding a magic rocket next to him. There were four of them! It was convenient to tie one to each hand and foot!

Yang Wuhou kicked his legs, twisted his neck backwards, and shouted—

"But Your Majesty! Give me money! I will definitely see results in five years... no, three years!"

It's just like in later generations, people would skillfully draw a pie in the sky in order to defraud funds.

[What Yang Wuhou said is indeed useless. It can easily cause the object with the rocket launcher to spin in place, and it may also deviate...]

——The main reason is that the industrial base is not yet sufficient.

The old emperor glanced straight at Yang Wuhou, feeling quite proud.

Yang Wuhou suddenly became weak and his whole body wilted like a green plant that has been without water for a long time.

[But you can try to research it, maybe you can make a rocket? Then, with a few "whoosh whoosh whoosh" shots, you can make the gunpowder fly over and blow people up!]

The old emperor remained silent.

Yang Wuhou started to tremble again: "Your Majesty! Please think about it, Your Majesty! I have already chosen a name! This thing is called Fire Dragon Emerging from Water! With it, our Great Xia will be invincible! Even if we can't research this, we can still make similar weapons! Let's do it step by step!"

[What a pity! The idea is good! But there is no money! ]

There was also a "pa--" sound in Xu Yanmiao's voice, which symbolized the accompaniment of breaking up.

Old Emperor:)

Thanks, that's totally unfunny.

How could he not know that these fantastic ideas might be feasible? But he had no money, and if he wanted to study these things, which one would not take up time and money?

Who knows when the results will be available?

Three to five years is okay, but what I'm afraid of is my lifetime!

Also, there are other things to consider besides money.

A dagger mounted on a bird gun? Good idea, but a dagger is not something you can just glue on.

Does the bird gun need to be improved? How long should the dagger be so that it does not affect the shooting of the bird gun before disassembly? The blade of the dagger must be sharp enough, otherwise it will be useless even if it is installed.

Hollow out a stone and stuff it with explosives? Good idea, but the size and thickness of the stone need to be carefully selected and tested to find the best stone that will not affect the power of the explosives? Also, does the ratio of gunpowder need to be changed?

All of these require manpower to research, material resources to support, and time to ferment.

[However, as for money, I wonder if Yongchang Hou can find the gold and silver mines there when he attacks Japan? ]

Yang Wuhou had been silenced by the word "no money", but when he heard about the gold and silver mines, his heart skipped a beat and he stood up straight. He struggled to break free from the Jinyiwei and stared at the old emperor with pitiful eyes: "Your Majesty..."

General Wude and General Huqi, who also proposed the idea of ​​improving weapons, were not to be outdone: "Your Majesty——"

The three people's voices were synchronized here:

If I had to pick a weapon to develop first, I'd pick mine!!!

The Minister of Revenue was unhappy, and he immediately started to protect his food: "Your Majesty! Warmongering is not a good idea!"

[Here it comes! Classic rhetoric. If you want to get the boss's support, first put a hat on the other party! ]

Xu Yanmiao's thoughts, which were scattered and obviously divergent, suddenly focused on the Minister of Revenue, and his eyes sparkled: [Can we see another quarrel in the court? ]

After traveling through time, he realized that when ministers in the court had different political views, they would argue very fiercely.

They will also pull and step on others!

They will also paint big pictures for the emperor!

The Minister of Revenue had a calm expression, except for his eyes, which showed a hint of complacency.

For such a trivial matter, is it necessary to quarrel to decide who gets the money? Xu Yanmiao is still too young.

"It's been more than 30 years since the founding of the country. It's time to improve people's livelihood! The iron should be used to repair farms! The money should be used to manage water conservancy projects!"

The Minister of Revenue weighed his words carefully.

Xu Yanmiao tugged at the sleeve of the clerk of the Ministry of War and whispered, "I bet that the Minister of Revenue will seek cooperation from the Minister of Works next. And the Minister of Works will definitely agree!"

The military secretary asked curiously, "How do you know?"

Xu Yanmiao looked mysterious: "You don't understand..."

In front, the Minister of Revenue, who had not heard the conversation, turned his head to look at the Minister of Works: "Really?"

The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of agricultural affairs, while water conservancy requires the help of the Ministry of Works.

——Although the Ministry of Industry is also responsible for the manufacture of firearms, the country is based on agriculture, and the voice here is definitely not as great as that obtained by supporting water conservancy.

The Minister of Industry quickly took sides: "Your Majesty! I think now is the time to recuperate and rest..."

[Oh, it feels terrible to have a big piece of melon in my mouth but not be able to share it. ]

Xu Yanmiao's voice sounded very regretful.

[I really want to tell Lian Hang that the Minister of Industry will of course agree. His daughter likes and admires the Minister of Revenue. She sighs every day: "You were born before I was born, and I was born when you were old..."]

The Minister of Works stopped talking abruptly and turned his head to look at the Minister of Revenue. If looks could kill, the Minister of Revenue would have been cut into pieces long ago.

The Minister of Revenue was terrified. He was afraid that Xu Yanmiao would hear him, so he lowered his voice and said, "I... I have never seen my niece."

The Minister of Industry sneered: "Sometimes you don't even need to see it. You are too old and shameless."

Just wait for me!

Minister of Revenue: "..."

It's over, the alliance is gone.

The Minister of War quickly added insult to injury, seizing the opportunity to hint: "If we don't fight, how can we have a chance to recuperate? Don't forget, the reason you can discuss recuperation is because the Marquis of Yongchang is fighting Japan."

This was mainly said to the emperor.

Your Majesty! Now we can discuss how to spend the gold and silver mines because we have fought and taken them back! You can't just give us what we need when we need it and kick it away when we don't need it, right?

The old emperor was just about to think...

[Oops! I misread it. Sorry.]

Although no one would hear it, Xu Yanmiao still apologized out of habit.

Then the emperor's attention was instantly drawn away.

What did you see wrong?

[It's not the Minister of Revenue, it's the Minister of War. ]

Minister of War: "What?!"

Why is it my business?

As soon as I finished speaking, my right eyelid started twitching.

Turning his head, he found that the Minister of Works, this daughter-loving man, had indeed directed his murderous gaze at him.

If he hadn't had a weapon at hand, there would probably be bloodshed today.

"..."

The Minister of War began to feel the situation was difficult, and tried to comfort him: "... Yongnian, calm down. What if, what if it was a misunderstanding? Look at me... I'm not young anymore, she might have recognized the wrong person."

——The Minister of Works, Jin Jingchang, with the courtesy name Yongnian.

The Minister of Industry forced himself to write to him: "You are right, maybe..."

[Let me see how this connection came about... Oh, the Minister of War wrote a lot of border defense strategies. The daughter of the Minister of Industry has loved wielding swords and guns since she was a child. Later, she came into contact with the Minister of War's strategies and was shocked by the spiritual energy in them, so she couldn't help herself.]

Click——

The Minister of Works broke the gold and jade belt around his waist with one hand.

[Ah! But...]

The Minister of War took two steps back: "Calm down...Calm down..."

Next to him, the Minister of Revenue had never felt more like he had escaped death than he did now.

Other ministers rushed forward, some holding hands, some hugging waists.

"Brother Jin! Don't be impulsive. We should think about this matter carefully!"

"Brother Jin! In fact, it is not necessarily a young girl's love, it may just be her admiration for talent! Doesn't my niece like swordplay? Let's find 17 or 18 handsome men with strong martial arts skills to show them in front of her! My niece will definitely-"

The Minister of Industry glared at him with red eyes: "My daughter is still young! She won't like anyone else!"

The Shangshu who was holding him choked and quickly changed his words: "Yes, yes, yes. She won't like it! My niece just likes to challenge young talents one by one when she sees them. When she is busy, she will not bother to care about a Shangshu who she hasn't seen for 800 years."

The Minister of Works began to think about the feasibility of this method.

But before that—

"Get out of the way!!!"

He wants to beat that shameless old man who still exudes charm despite his age into a pig's head!

[Eh? What happened? What happened?] Xu ​​Yanmiao poked his head in, extremely excited: [Uneven distribution of benefits, a fight broke out?!]

When Xu Yanmiao saw clearly that it was the Minister of Works who wanted to unilaterally beat the Minister of War, he blinked.

【......Eh?】

[This... He was so angry even though he didn't know his daughter was crying for the Minister of War. What would happen if he knew? ]

"I--"

The Minister of Justice, who was holding the Minister of Works by the waist, almost uttered a curse word. He took two steps back, covered his waist, and grinned: "Jin Yongnian, this guy..."

They just knocked him away! These three ministers couldn't control him!

The Minister of War swallowed his saliva, watching the Minister of Works raise his arm, the beautiful lines of his forearm muscles as the sleeves of his official uniform slid down, and only one sentence echoed in his mind -

My life is over!

In the critical moment, Xu Yanmiao's voice finally came out——

[However, maybe the Minister of Industry would not be so angry if he knew that his daughter no longer liked the Minister of War? ]

The Minister of War immediately seized the opportunity and took advantage of the Minister of Works's stunned moment to run behind Xu Yanmiao, who was neither tall nor strong. Xu Yanmiao was so shocked that he lost his voice and turned around to look at him with wide eyes.

The Minister of War coughed and said hesitantly, "Xiao...Xu, let me hide for a while. I owe you one."

You used to say that I was embarrassed. I will write it off!

Xu Yanmiao whispered, "Minister, it's not that I don't want to help you, but you... you might as well hide behind Yang Wuhou. How can I stop Minister Jin?"

"We can stop it! We can stop it!" The Minister of War blurted out. Seeing Xu Yanmiao seemed a little confused, he quickly patched it up: "He is a man who always cares about his reputation. He will never lose his manners in front of a small official like you. And don't worry, he won't settle accounts with you afterwards. He cares about his reputation and will feel ashamed to argue with you."

[Ah? Is that so? ]

The Minister of War nodded vigorously, as if he was just emphasizing his words: "He is very proud!"

Anyway, no matter whether Jin Yongnian really cares about his reputation or not, the other party will admit it - would he dare to dance with his belt in front of Xiao Bai Ze?

Xu Yanmiao nodded half-believingly.

After taking a look at the gloomy face of the Minister of War, his mind began to wander.

[I wonder how the Minister of War would feel if he knew that he broke a little girl's heart because he didn't take a shower and was too dirty.]

【Mrs. Jin finally got his father to tell her where he would go after get off work. She hid by the roadside and saw a big coal ball getting off the carriage. Her heart was broken. She threw herself into the arms of the maid next to her and cried: "I thought he was so talented, I wouldn't mind if he got older, but I didn't expect him to be so untidy. I still only like his policy papers." 】

Minister of War: "!!!"

He was simply overjoyed.

I never thought that taking a bath can have such benefits even if you don't like bathing!!!

I was planning to go back and wash it today, or... two days later?

The Minister of Works was also overjoyed. He straightened his sleeves, put the belt around his waist, and tried to tie it back on.

And I secretly made up my mind: I will never impeach the Minister of War for not liking cleanliness again! Not liking cleanliness is good! It's really great!

[Speaking of which, I wonder if the Minister of Industry knows this, but his daughter heard a few days ago that there was a child prodigy who could compose poems at the age of seven. She was amazed by his talent and kept repeating "I was born before you, and you were born when I was old"... Hey, why does this sentence sound so familiar? ]

Xu Yanmiao pondered for a moment and opened the gossip about the lady. Then, he saw a whole series of similar words, all directed at different people.

[Oh, more than just people. When I was sixteen, I took my cousin's pack of tall and mighty hounds to destroy a bandit den. I couldn't forget those hounds. When I went home, I kept saying: Dogs, how come you are just a dog? ]

[So... maybe she is just talking? ]

The Minister of Works was so happy that he cried.

At this moment, he just felt that as long as his girl didn't like old men, she could do whatever she wanted.

Didn't she want to join the army before? There are even female top scorers! What's wrong with his daughter disguising herself as a man to join the army?

He donated an officer position to her! This way she wouldn't have to worry about sleeping in the same tent with the soldiers and exposing her identity!

——Anyway, most second-generation officials do this! But it's not possible to climb higher, you have to rely on military merit to climb higher.

As for His Majesty...

The Minister of Works took one look at the old emperor and made up his mind.

When he returns to the palace, he will risk his reputation to ask for His Majesty's grace! This way he won't have to worry about deceiving the emperor!

The author has something to say:

You were born before I was born, I was born when you were old

--"untitled"

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Chapter 68 Shit brick!

The old emperor suddenly felt a chill on his back.

I searched everywhere but couldn't find anything strange.

"Strange?" Am I overthinking?

At this moment, the Minister of Revenue walked over, trying to take advantage of the fact that the Minister of War was preoccupied with his own affairs and the attention of other generals was diverted, to cut off the fire from the bottom of the pot.

——Most of the officials have no conscience. Anyway, the Minister of Revenue pretended not to understand the implication of the Minister of War.

It costs money to buy seeds! It costs money to raise cattle and horses! It costs money to make and repair farm tools! It costs money to build water conservancy projects! It costs money to repair roads! If he doesn't work hard to get more money for the Ministry of Revenue, where will he get the money to do things!

The Minister of Finance muttered: "Your Majesty! We already have enough firearms now. We can put the development of new weapons aside until we have more money..."

Suddenly, another muttering voice came: "Your Majesty, there is more than one Treasure Island in the world. If you find a treasure land, but the firearms are not sharp enough...it will be too late to research and develop it. Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, Your Majesty!"

Minister of Revenue:!!!

When I turned around, I saw that the villain, the Minister of War, was actually talking to Your Majesty!

Shameless! Obscene!

Minister of Revenue: "Your Majesty..."

However, the old emperor had already tasted the sweetness of Treasure Island, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and now he had a special interest in expanding territory and searching for treasures. After listening to the analysis of the Minister of War, he finally made the decision: "Okay! We must develop agriculture and water conservancy, and we must also study firearms!"

The sound was loud enough for everyone else to hear it.

The Minister of War and the generals responded quickly: "Your Majesty is wise!!!"

The Minister of Finance had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty is right. I was not thoughtful enough."

As for the Minister of Works, he was still thinking about his daughter.

The imperial physician who had been standing by for a long time took advantage of this opportunity to speak up and said, "Your Majesty, none of the soldiers who fell off their horses died. Some were injured, but the injuries were not irreparable and can be cured."

"Hmm..." The old emperor murmured, "All the soldiers have worked hard. Give them some wine and meat."

Then he said, "Give generous gifts of money and silk to those injured soldiers."

When the soldiers heard about the rewards, their shouts of "Thank God for His Grace" almost resounded through the sky. At the same time, hundreds of soldiers turned their heads, their eyes like searchlights, enviously shining on the first row of soldiers who received the money.

Some soldiers in the first row scratched their ears and laughed, some looked calm but their eyes were full of joy, and some stood there awkwardly, tugging at their clothes... But no one was unhappy about being injured. One or two proudly boasted to their brothers: "Luckily I got the front row! I can get money just by falling!"

The brother hit the speaker hard on an uninjured part of his body and said sourly, "That's enough! If you say that again, I'll make a scene!"

The soldiers shut up, but their smiles never faded.

A guard counted the horses with broken legs and reported to the old emperor: "Your Majesty, ten horses have broken legs."

The old emperor was not surprised.

According to the barbarian horse formation, the first row is ten horses, and when charging, these ten horses are the first to be injured. Once the horse's legs are injured, the horse will die - this is why there are so many offensive and defensive equipment for horse legs on the battlefield.

"Pick ten more good horses to fill the vacancy of the deputy horse."

The guard saluted and turned to do the job.

After the old emperor made the decision, he quickly said, "If the Meng and Man people want to ask for trade, we should exchange more cattle and horses with them."

The Minister of Rites bowed and said, "Yes."

The old emperor added: "If the Meng Man asks us to send troops to attack the Jin Man, we will implicitly refuse. But we will make it clear that we will support them in attacking the Jin Man."

"only."

"If they want to buy firearms, sell them to them. Sell all the eighteen barbarians outside the Great Wall."

——Anyway, the government doesn't sell this stuff, but many merchants take the risk and sell it privately to people outside the Great Wall. It's hard to stop despite repeated bans. And if they are all sold, every tribe will have one, which is equivalent to no tribe having one. Once the firearms are in hand, those tribes will inevitably fight endlessly.

"only!"

Liang Rui, the head of the Ministry of Justice, stepped forward and said calmly in a clear voice: "Your Majesty, I think that we can sell firearms according to the degree of intimacy. The barbarians who are on good terms with Daxia will always be the first to purchase our firearms. Other barbarians can only wait for the second or third batch, and the price will be higher. If any tribe is disrespectful to Daxia, we will refuse to trade with them."

In this way, the eighteen barbarians outside the Great Wall will fight among themselves, and as long as there is no heroic leader to unify them, they will never be able to achieve anything.

As for what to do if a powerful ruler emerges? We can only say that we should do our best and leave the rest to fate. The first generation cannot always protect the next generation from wind and rain. If the next generation is motivated, they can raise the national strength again and again when there is chaos outside the Great Wall, to the point where the barbarians will not dare to resist even if they unify the country in the future.

Liang Rui had a stern image and was not a gentle person to begin with. His words of advice at this moment could really stop a child from crying at night.

But the old emperor couldn't help but smile: "One plan to defeat the Japanese, one plan to defeat the barbarians, my dear minister is really wise and has many plans, and is a pillar of the country."

Liang Rui bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I just..."

The old emperor knew that the next thing he was going to say was to be modest. He was impatient to listen to this and waved his hand to interrupt the person. He glanced at the barbed wire and thought that Xu Yanmiao might have more than one good idea in his mind. He couldn't help but reach out his hand: "Xu Yanmiao, do you have any other brilliant ideas?"

Xu Yanmiao: "...Ah?"

The old emperor was thinking: We have a plan for the cavalry, so what about the infantry? Is it not too much? As for the barbarians, we can come up with a plan for a few years according to local conditions. Is it not too much? We have land, so we can propose a naval warfare method for the ocean, and the direction in which ships can be improved, and where there is a treasure island. Is it not too much?

[Damn it, I should have kept it to myself earlier. ]

The old emperor's smile froze.

do not!!!

The old emperor urgently tried to make amends: "It doesn't matter if there is none, I just said it casually..."

[As expected, I will be asked this question. Who has time to pay attention to these things when we are busy eating, drinking and having fun... Got it!!!]

The old emperor immediately shut up and refused to mention any "casual remarks" again.

The other ministers, especially the military generals, breathed a sigh of relief without showing any emotion.

It's good to have one! They are not picky!

[But is it too damaging? ]

The ruler and his ministers of Daxia quickly responded in their hearts: No harm, no harm! Besides, war is like this... Isn't there a saying that 'the art of war is all about deception'? It's fine as long as it works! We really don't...

[Wrap the feces in a pack of explosives. If the skin is broken, there is a high probability of infection... and there is a high probability that the person will not survive. ]

The thoughts of the Great Xia ruler and his ministers paused as they all stared at Xu Yanmiao.

You kid, you look so clean...

[Eh? What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me? ]

Xu Yanmiao thought that they might be waiting for her to speak, so she tentatively said, "I do have an idea, inspired by the 'Golden Juice'..."

The golden juice is a weapon that often appears in the battle of defending the city - boiling dung juice. When a bucket of it is poured down, the person who is splashed will be burned directly, and then the bacteria in the dung will enter the wound, and once infected, it will be fatal.

Xu Yanmiao told the method he had thought of in his mind - of course, he called the dynamite pack a fire brick, which was a kind of thing similar to a dynamite pack in this era. It looked like a brick with gunpowder stuffed inside, which was ignited and thrown out.

He smiled awkwardly and said, "I only have these little tricks, which cannot compare with the big ideas of Liang Zhushi..."

"No! This method is very good! Better than mine!" Liang Rui said immediately: "Mr. Xu has decided the victory of a war." He turned around and bowed to the old emperor again: "Your Majesty! I ask Your Majesty to quickly send someone to tell Yongchang Hou that this kind of fire brick must be used in the battlefield to destroy the Japanese. This should speed up the process. There is no need to lock the island and slowly fight a war of attrition with the enemy."

The old emperor's brain, which was filled with excitement about the barbed wire, clicked at this moment, as if it could finally function. He reacted and was very excited: "Great! We can use it on the battlefield against Japan! Lock up the island, don't let them go in or out, and then throw fire..."

[...Shit bricks, huh?]

The old emperor muttered: "Shit bricks."

Old Emperor: "..."

Liang Rui: "..."

Xu Yanmiao found the organization right away: [Eh? The old emperor also thinks this name is more suitable! Great minds think alike! ]

No way!

The old emperor was annoyed: "Isn't this name vulgar? Of course we can't call it that! But calling it fire bricks is not appropriate either..."

Liang Rui immediately responded, in case Xu Yanmiao said something that might mislead them: "How about gold bricks? Bricks made of gold juice."

"Okay! Let's call it Gold Brick!" The old emperor made the decision quickly, and then: "Dismiss the meeting! Go home and rest!" It seemed as if there was something terrible chasing him from behind.

The old emperor: "Oh, right. Xu Yanmiao."

Xu Yanmiao pretended to listen.

The old emperor showed a subtle smile: "Take a good look at it when you get home. I have prepared a surprise for you."

Xu Yanmiao opened her eyes slightly.

＊

"Surprise? What?"

Xu Yanmiao walked into the neighborhood where he lived in confusion and looked around. Apart from the fact that the residents seemed a little enthusiastic and there were at least seven or eight people who came in and greeted him along the way, he felt that nothing had changed.

The residential area is still as lively as ever.

Many adults were sitting on stools on the street or under trees chatting, the aroma of food was in the air, and children were chasing and playing.

"Daddy! Play tricks, play tricks!"

"okay!"

A little girl's clear voice rang out, and a sturdy man who should be doing farm work did several somersaults with a smile on his face. The little girl clapped her hands vigorously, turned her head and saw Xu Yanmiao looking at her. Her face turned red, and she hid behind the man, hugged his thighs, half of her body was exposed, and she shyly smiled at Xu Yanmiao.

Xu Yanmiao couldn't help but smile.

【Go home——】

The young man stretched, walked to the door of his house, took out his key and was about to open the door, but when he looked down, he saw a box covered with red cloth at the door.

Xu Yanmiao was stunned for a moment, picked it up, and gently lifted it up, and it opened.

There was a piece of paper inside.

Before he could complain about how simple the people here were, and how they dared to leave the box unlocked at the door, he picked up the paper and took a look...

"...Land deed?"

It was the title deed of this small courtyard. His name was clearly written on the title deed.

The author has something to say:

About Vice Horse:

Taizu ordered Xun to ask the commanders of various tribes whether they would have enough food for three days if they killed their deputy horses.

——Book of Wei

＊

Also, as to whether the warhorse must have died on the battlefield, I can only say...

In previous years, the government troops had not been able to gain anything in the Northern Expedition, but they had suffered no losses. At that time, there were 300,000 troops and horses, and less than 8,000 were killed or wounded on the way.

——Book of Wei

【Translation: During the Northern Expedition, there were 300,000 war horses, but less than 8,000 died of exhaustion on the march.】

(Some people die of exhaustion.)

(This does not mean tired from carrying the loads, there are special packhorses responsible for carrying the loads)

(Once on a long march, especially a forced march, a march day and night, the war horses cannot get enough fodder, clean water and rest. Horses also have a strong competitive mentality. The parallel horses always go faster and faster, and no one is willing to fall behind. Even if they are out of strength, sweating and panting, they are still unwilling to slow down, let alone stop. In this case, if you still whip them, they will easily fall dead. In the process of long-distance forced marches and rapid transmission of information, the number of war horses lost in this way is countless.

——《Cavalry construction promotes the development of horse breeding industry - analysis of the origin of war horses》)

＊

About Firebrick:

The fire bricks are about three or four inches wide and will burn when they touch a person.

——"Jiangyin City Defense Record"

The method of setting off fire bricks, cannons, and fireballs is to wait until the line of fire is about to enter before throwing them down. Otherwise, if they are thrown and extinguished, they will not be extinguished, and the thieves can turn around and be killed when they are about to be fired.

——"New Book of Jixiao"

[It is said that it might be like this: cardboard or thin wood board is used as the outer shell, gunpowder is filled inside, and a fuse is left outside, and then it is ignited and thrown into the enemy camp. ]

＊

By the way, it is said that the Mongols are good at making fecal bombs ()

In addition, the arrowheads would be inserted into cow dung and wait until it dried, and the tip of the arrow would be covered with dung.

＊

Chapter 69 Business Success Case - How to sell diapers to a second-rank official!

"house?!"

I have a house?!

The old emperor was so generous that he gave him a house in Kyoto just because he provided two ways to use barbed wire?!

Xu Yanmiao took a deep breath and looked at the deed again and again. After confirming that it was not a fake and that there was a message from the emperor in the box, clearly it was given to him, Xu Yanmiao's face turned red with excitement at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The next day, he got up at three o'clock as usual to attend court. However, this time Xu Yanmiao had no intention of complaining at all. He ran to the court room with full energy, with a sesame seed bun in his arms as usual - this morning, in addition to the sesame seed bun, he also generously bought a cup of hot soy milk!

No need to pay rent! How arrogant!

"Xu Yanmiao."

"Huh?" Xu Yanmiao was startled by a sudden shout from behind. She subconsciously took a step forward before turning back, still biting a pancake in her mouth, with her cheeks bulging.

He quickly swallowed the pancake and asked cautiously, "Master Liang... is there something wrong?"

He is from the Ministry of Personnel, and it seems that he has no connection with the head of the Ministry of Justice?

The official in charge of the Ministry of Justice, whose surname was Liang Rui, seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then said: "It is best not to eat any soup before going to court..." After that, he bowed, turned around and left.

"Eh?" Xu Yanmiao looked down at the hot soy milk in her hand. Although she didn't understand what was going on, she subconsciously raised her voice and said, "Thank you!"

Then he started to browse the system while eating a sesame cake.

Then--

【hiss--】

I almost spit out the pancake.

Xu Yanmiao, who was concentrating on the system, didn't notice that as he screamed in his heart, many officials around him quietly moved two steps towards him. Their ears were perked up.

Those officials who were also rushing to eat breakfast immediately put it down.

Eat, eat, eat! Eat whatever you want! Listening to gossip is more important!

[It's okay, it's okay. Fortunately, I didn't drink too much. 】

[In the previous dynasty, there was indeed someone who couldn't hold it in and urinated during court, and was directly demoted from the central government to a local government. ]

[I finally climbed up to become the Criminal Affairs Department, a seventh-rank official! But I was directly demoted to the position of Chief Clerk of a certain county—not even a county magistrate.]

In the court room, some officials who had not thought too much and had just drunk water and eaten soup before going to court suddenly stood up, and the jade scepters they had prepared in their hands fell to the ground with a snap.

These officials quickly picked up the jade tablets and rushed to the nearest toilet before the court session.

Whether or not you get demoted is not that important anymore. The main thing is... you still have to save your face!

If I can't hold it back during court, I'll be laughed at for the rest of my life!

In the corner, the historian in charge of compiling the history of the previous dynasty quickly took out a pen and bamboo slips - paper was not convenient to use at this time. He subconsciously sat up straight and stared at Xu Yanmiao with burning eyes, waiting for the other party to reveal which official of the previous dynasty it was so that he could make a note of it.

Liang Rui next to him: "..."

I don't know why, but I suddenly felt like I had good intentions but ended up doing something bad. Even though Xu Yanmiao wasn't the one who got hurt.

[Liang Zhushi is a really good man. Otherwise, I would be like that criminal department official—it's really tragic. This Zhang Jing seemed to be the first in the provincial examination in Tianbo in the eighth year, but his future was ruined just because of a pee.]

When he heard Xu Yanmiao's voice, he felt both relieved and regretful.

The historian next to him had eyes that shone like two balls of light, and he buried his head in writing furiously.

Liang Rui: "..."

Forget it. Anyway, that's what historians do, and they didn't make it up, so it shouldn't be a big problem...right?

[Actually...] Xu Yanmiao hesitated for a long time in her heart, and it was obvious that she was also struggling: [How about trying a diaper? But can the embroiderers in the clothing store make this thing? Describe it to them, it should be able to hold the buttocks, and it won't leak out when you urinate... It should be no problem, right? ]

Officials: "?!"

This this this——

"How disgraceful!" an imperial censor cursed in a low voice.

Wearing something like this is really...really...

Another official vowed: "I can go without food and drink before going to court, and I will never wear such a thing - what a shame!"

For a moment, there was a constant stream of officials responding in low voices.

Xu Yanmiao had no idea what was going on.

He would go through the daily court meetings as usual, report to the yamen after the court session, handle his official duties for the day, and wait for the yamen to be locked before going home from get off work.

"Oh, I can't go back today. I have a new house and I need to buy some things..." Xu Yanmiao walked into the East Market muttering to herself: "New Year is coming soon, I need to buy some new clothes first... eh?"

From a distance, Xu Yanmiao saw a colleague sneaking around. He looked left and right three or four times before entering the clothing store. After a while, he walked out relaxed as if he had solved a major life issue.

Xu Yanmiao: "?"

After a while, another colleague came up stealthily and repeated the steps of the previous person.

Xu Yanmiao: "???"

After a while, he also saw the Minister of Works.

The other party also saw him and was about to step out of the clothing store. It was obvious that they had already agreed on something.

The two of them stood staring at each other for a while, Xu Yanmiao: "Shang..."

The air froze.

The Minister of Industry quickly jumped out, pulled Xu Yanmiao and dragged her into the alley next to him. After he stood up straight, he asked directly, "Why are you here?"

"Buy new clothes for the New Year."

"Oh, I thought..." Under Xu Yanmiao's puzzled gaze, the Minister of Industry closed his mouth and changed the subject: "What do you think of today's government affairs?"

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

He tried very hard not to give a weird look.

You're asking the copyist about today's government affairs? Seriously?

Of course, it's not that he couldn't ask, as talent is not determined by status. But Xu Yanmiao thought that he didn't show any talent - oh, except for the barbed wire, but that had nothing to do with politics.

The Minister of Works suddenly realized that he had asked nonsense and quickly changed the subject: "Xu Lang, can you walk with me?" Then he sighed softly, obviously looking like he was worried about something.

Xu Yanmiao thought about it and realized that there was still a long time before the East Market was locked, so he nodded and asked kindly, "My Lord, is there anything difficult for you?"

"when......"

[Could it be that he knew that his daughter had fallen in love with a man a few days ago, and the old father was so distressed that he had no place to vent? ]

Minister of Industry: "..."

In fact, he just wanted to transfer the person away, so that when he went in, he would not casually ask the embroiderer and find out that the Minister of Works was secretly making urinals. Instead of tomorrow, when he went back tonight, he would say a few words in his mind, and all the officials in the South Thirty-Six Wards would know about it.

but now......

The Minister of Industry nearly bit his teeth and said, "Of course! My daughter was kidnapped by a stinky boy!"

[Sure enough, it was because of this!] Xu Yanmiao suddenly realized: [It seems that these two people are still strolling by the Luo River, flirting, sending flowers, and are as happy as two butterflies!]

I'll beat that bastard into a butterfly right now!

The Minister of Industry smiled with a fake smile, and before Xu Yanmiao could reply, he said, "I have already investigated, and she is relaxing with that man by the Luo River."

——Daxia did not pay much attention to the separation between men and women. The Spring Outing Banquet and the Sacrifice Festival were actually blind date banquets for men and women. Normally, if someone was attracted to someone in advance, there would be no problem in making an appointment to go out for an outing or something like that.

But for the Minister of Works, the problem was serious.

"Xu Yanmiao, tell me, why did she not even inform me, her father, about such a big thing?" Originally he was furious, but as he spoke, the Minister of Industry became a little sad: "If she really likes him, can I still break up the couple - is it possible?!"

The Minister of Industry's pupils trembled: "She found someone I can't accept?"

For example, sixty or seventy years old? For example, sixty or seven years old? For example... Oh, there is no need for examples. From Xu Yanmiao's inner voice, it can be heard that the person he was meeting secretly was indeed a person.

Xu Yanmiao spoke carefully: "This... Jin Niangzi's vision is excellent. She may just be... a shy girl."

However, the Minister of Industry heard clearly—

[Hmm... maybe? After all, you guys don't usually care about your daughter and only give her money...]

The Minister of Works' pupils trembled even more.

Isn't giving money enough to show care? Should I give her land? That's right, the 500 acres of land under her name is indeed a little too little.

Was it because the rosewood furniture he used when preparing the manor for her was not what his daughter liked? Did she like other woods? Thinking about it this way, he really didn't know what kind of wood his daughter liked. He only wanted to use the most expensive one. He really didn't deserve to be a father.

He was usually busy with official duties, and since she was a daughter, he couldn't be as close to her as he was to his son. He could only give her more maids and servants, and give her more head ornaments and jewelry... Alas, he really neglected his daughter.

[She was hardly accompanied, and was often alone with her maid in the large house.]

The Minister of Works was very ashamed.

Indeed, he was busy with government affairs, his wife was busy with business, his son had grown up and was sent out to serve as an official, but he loved his daughter, and she was always...

[So, a scholar personally cooked a bowl of porridge for her, and she was very touched. She gave the scholar a large house with hot springs and a Yuan fox fur. ]

Since his wife was engaged in business - of course, officials' family members were not allowed to do business - she must have been represented to the outside world in the name of a distant relative.

In short, the family had enough money to spend, and the gifts given away would not make the Minister of Works heartbroken, but the intention behind them made him hate them deeply.

Where did this wild boy come from? He coaxed my daughter into caring about whether he had a place to live and whether he was warmly dressed with just a bowl of white porridge!

"Xu Yanmiao! Accompany me to the Luo River!" The Minister of Industry picked up a thick wooden stick in the corner and said, "Today I will let him know how difficult it is to marry a minister's daughter!"

As Xu Yanmiao ran after the man, she complained in her heart: [Didn't you just say that you wouldn't break up a couple? His mind changes too quickly. Is this the legendary man's heart, a needle in the sea? ]

＊

By the bank of the Luo River, there was indeed a woman and a scholar walking side by side.

The scholar's eyes were slightly dark blue, and his figure was very thin. At this moment, he looked at the woman affectionately: "Mrs. Jin, I will never let you down. When I pass the imperial examination, I will come to your house to propose marriage."

The woman also looked at him affectionately and said with her red lips: "As you live, so do I..."

"What are you doing?" an angry roar was heard.

The two turned around in surprise and saw a sturdy man coming towards them aggressively, holding a long stick as thick as a bowl in his hand.

The woman walked up to him in two or three steps and said, "Dad, why are you here?"

The Minister of Industry was full of vigor: "Separate! You must separate! I absolutely do not agree to you being together, otherwise I will--"

Before she finished speaking, Miss Jin said, "Okay."

"I will cut off your money - what?" The Minister of Works was stunned.

Miss Jin then said again: "Okay, Dad, don't you want me to separate from him?"

The Minister of Industry was suspicious: "Are you serious? You are not deceiving me just to save that kid?"

Miss Jin nodded: "Of course it's true."

The scholar was stunned: "Jin Niang! Why..."

Miss Jin turned around, looking confused: "My family doesn't allow me to do that, so of course I listen to them."

The scholar was dumbfounded: "But...but we love each other...when I pass the imperial examination, I will come to marry you! Can't you even wait for a few years?"

Xu Yanmiao couldn't help but complain: [Who knows when you can pass the exam? At thirty, you are already a Mingjing scholar, and at fifty, you are not even a Jinshi scholar. Although there is no Mingjing exam now. ]

The Minister of Works nodded vigorously in his heart.

"If you can't pass the exam even when you're fifty or sixty, do you want my daughter to wait for you until you're fifty or sixty?"

A trace of pride appeared on the scholar's face: "That's wrong! How could I waste so many years with my talent and knowledge?"

Xu Yanmiao: [So confident? Oh... So he was hoping to get Little Jin to help him get a backdoor.]

Minister of Industry: "?!" He turned cold and cursed, "You are so arrogant. There are so many students in the world, how dare you say you are better than others?"

The scholar said calmly, "I am not talented, but all my teachers have praised me for my intelligence."

Minister of Works: "Oh?" Could he really be a capable person?

Xu Yanmiao: [Huh? I didn't see anyone saying he was smart...] After flipping through the pages carefully, [Shit, hahahahahahahaha, the teacher actually said "You are very talented, but unfortunately you are lazy and like to take shortcuts. If you study hard, you will definitely achieve something" hahahahahahaha...]

[Isn't this the classic scam of teachers - "You are very smart but you just don't study"? Nine out of ten poor students have heard this. They can also use this to praise themselves. Ah, this, this, Lao Jin is well-informed and should not be fooled! ]

I wonder if there is any Minister of Works who is well-informed but was almost fooled: "..." Thank you, Xu Yanmiao.

The Minister of Industry said expressionlessly: "Our son-in-law doesn't need to be too smart."

On the other side, Miss Jin also said seriously: "It's not that I can't wait for a few years, it's my family that doesn't allow us to be together, I will listen to them."

The scholar glanced at the Minister of Industry, then quickly turned his gaze back to Miss Jin: "Miss Jin, you said your family members obey you in everything..."

Xu Yanmiao couldn't help but complain again: [That's all? He doesn't even try to deal with the girl's family, but only wants to deal with the girl and let the girl deal with her family. How irresponsible.]

The Minister of Works almost clapped his hands in approval.

Yes, that's right! Fortunately, his daughter is not confused.

After hearing his daughter's rebuttal, his suspicion turned into joy. He wanted to tell his daughter not to talk to this kind of person anymore and to go home directly. If anyone dared to pester her, he would break his legs!

Miss Jin looked at the scholar and said clearly, "Yes, my family used to obey me in everything, but you heard that my father cut off my money when I was with you. This is the first time! It means my father is very angry and the matter is serious."

The scholar was disappointed: "Just a few dollars..."

Miss Jin was confused: "The house you live in was given to me by my family, and the fox fur you wear is given to me by my family, but these are a drop in the bucket compared to the money at home. You can't resist a nice house and nice clothes, so why should I live a hard life with you?"

The scholar was choked and his face turned red.

Then he asked: "Then... why did you..."

Miss Jin thought for a moment and said, "It was raining heavily at that time. You invited me into your home and cooked porridge for me. I was really touched. I just wanted to spend some time with you..."

She had only said half of her words when Miss Jin saw Xu Yanmiao's face and was stunned for a moment.

The scholar was still listening attentively to what was to come, when he saw the woman who had been affectionate to him before, turn around and quickly walk up to the young man, saying affectionately: "Mr. Jun..."

"Snapped--"

The Minister of Works covered his daughter's mouth with his hand.

The author has something to say:

About not being able to hold back during the morning court:

Zeng Xuan, a member of the Criminal Department, was demoted to the position of Chief Clerk of Lianjiang County, Fujian. He drowned in the palace early in the morning, and the court said he should be redeemed and returned to his post. The emperor specially ordered the Ministry of Personnel to demote him.

——"Ming Shilu Yingzong Shilu"

＊

A man of thirty is a Mingjing, a man of fifty is a Jinshi

--proverb

＊

Chapter 70 Hiss! Disaster relief does not involve food but money!

When the Minister of Works saw his daughter's behavior, he was shocked.

No, no! Only this one won't work!

"Xiao... Ahem, Xiao Xu!" The Minister of Works laughed awkwardly, "You should go back first. You have worked hard before. I heard that His Majesty bought the house you rented and gave it to you. What kind of furniture do you want to make? Just tell me. I have the wood and the craftsmen. Don't be polite to me. If you hadn't accompanied me today, I wouldn't have been able to rush over in one go. Maybe I would still be worried. If you are polite to me, I can only give you money to show my gratitude."

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Xu Yanmiao could only bow his hands and thank him, then quickly said: "I will take my leave now."

[Hurry up, hurry up, what if the Minister of Industry suddenly changes his mind and wants to recruit me as his son-in-law? I don't want to start a family with someone so soon! I haven't had enough fun yet! ]

The Minister of Works also breathed a sigh of relief.

It's fine if Xu Yanmiao doesn't have this idea. Not to mention that this is Bai Ze, they must not raise him privately, otherwise the emperor will definitely keep a close eye on their family.

They just said they were a family, but after Xiao Bai Ze went to court, he casually thought about things at home. He thought he was just daydreaming, but in fact, he turned the house upside down. Who could stand that!

After everyone left, the Minister of Industry released his hand that was covering his daughter's mouth and said seriously, "My dear daughter, remember, everyone else can do it. Even if you want to enter the palace, although your father does not agree, if you threaten to die, your father will have no choice but to compromise and risk his reputation to beg His Majesty for you."

Miss Jin: "???"

Am I that willful?

"But Xu Yanmiao..." The Minister of Works rarely showed an embarrassed look towards his beloved daughter.

After a pause, the embarrassment turned into solemnity: "He can't do it. Only him, absolutely not. Unless he takes a fancy to you, otherwise, you must never take the initiative to provoke him. Otherwise, it will bring disaster to our family."

Miss Jin covered her chest with her hands, her heart almost jumping out of her chest with fear. Seeing that her father didn't seem to be joking, she realized the seriousness of the problem and nodded quickly: "Don't worry, Dad, I will turn around and leave when I see him next time."

"No need, there's no need to do anything deliberately, just get along normally." The Minister of Industry patted his daughter's head and said with a smile: "Also, I have a surprise for you. Dad went to see His Majesty and asked for a job for you."

Miss Jin's eyes lit up and her breathing became rapid: "Errand?!"

Is that what she meant?

"You have come at a good time. In the past, even if Dad had made great contributions, he would not have been able to do this."

The Minister of Works spoke with emotion.

From this perspective, we really need to thank Xu Yanmiao.

"Go home and I'll explain everything to you. This matter requires your force..."

"Uh-huh!"

What white porridge, what scholar, Miss Jin had long forgotten about it, and followed her father away. But she forgot, but the Minister of Industry did not forget, and took a deep look at the scholar while his daughter was not paying attention.

His family is indeed not short of money, but he schemed against his daughter like this, and still wanted to live a carefree life with the house and the fox fur? Dream on!

＊

There was a scholar in the capital who lost his house and was shivering on the street in thin clothes in the cold weather. His incident was not as important as a stone. Compared to him, there were many more poor people waiting for the court's attention.

This year has not been a peaceful one.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, heavy snow hit Nancheng County, killing eighty people from starvation and freezing.

On the ninth day of June, frost fell like falling stars, destroying all the summer crops in Yanshan County.

At the end of September, severe floods occurred in Taiping, Ningguo and Anqing, and more than 20,000 people drowned.

While these three places were flooded, another place - Fujian, was experiencing drought.

From summer to winter now, there has been no rainfall in Fujian for three seasons, and all the wells and ponds have dried up.

It was not a punishment from heaven. Natural disasters in every dynasty were similar. In such a large country, there would always be one or two places affected by disasters. The reason why the Minister of Finance of Daxia was so stingy was partly because he wanted to set aside disaster relief funds for the victims.

"Wulang, are you asking Huachun to provide disaster relief during this drought?"

Empress Dou never imagined that her husband, who always flipped through the "Instructions for Women", would actually let Princess Wanshou be in charge of disaster relief - he was not biased at all, and he arranged for Princess Wanshou the same way as other male officials had done in the past, appointing her as the Right Censor-in-Chief, sending her to the disaster relief area, and also arranged people to protect her safety.

The old emperor said in a relaxed tone, "Didn't we plan to remove her from office after the New Year? But then I went on a tour of the nine provinces and couldn't take care of her for a while. Now it's the end of the year again, and she is indeed useful. We will see her ability during this disaster relief. If she can prove herself, we will let her continue to serve in the Ministry of Revenue - once she has accumulated enough experience and merits, she will be promoted as usual."

As he was talking, the old emperor became indignant: "Sister, you don't know, everyone else has their own thoughts, only we think about our own family. Wanshou is in charge of the money in the Ministry of Revenue, at least he won't be greedy for our family's money!"

Empress Dou was silent for a moment: "Minister Yuan has been managing the Ministry of Revenue for you wholeheartedly and has never been corrupt..."

The old emperor coughed and said, "I know. But he won't be able to do this for long. We should always prepare for a rainy day."

After a pause, he continued, "I also plan to send Xu Yanmiao out this time. He has made many contributions, but there is no way to record them publicly. Let him go for a formality this time, and then I will take the opportunity to promote him when he comes back."

The boss tried his best, but unfortunately he encountered a useless person.

If Xu Yanmiao knew the truth, he would actually like to say: Why don't you convert it into money for me? The higher your rank, the more work you have to do. It's more comfortable to be a clerk.

"The Lian...Lian Hang, the military clerk who is on good terms with him, should also go. This way, they can continue to be together during the morning court session, and they won't be separated because of their different ranks."

"Although Wanshou is the chief officer this time, I will assign her two experienced adjutants. If she is incompetent, her own adjutants will take over the matter and no disaster will occur."

These words fully demonstrate the emperor's meticulous and comprehensive considerations.

The next day, Xu Yanmiao received the order.

Princess Wanshou was in the lead, with Shen Guifang, the Minister of Justice, Liang Rui, the Director of the Ministry of Justice, as assistants, as well as Xu Yanmiao, the Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, and Lian Hang, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, to provide disaster relief in Fujian.

In addition, a number of Jinyiwei were assigned to this disaster relief team, and female guards who were skilled in martial arts were specially arranged to guard Princess Wanshou - including Miss Jin.

The capital is nearly three thousand miles away from Fujian. Since Xu Yanmiao and others need to carry supplies, it will take at least more than a month on the road to reach Fujian.

On the third or fourth day, Princess Wanshou could still bear it, but on the seventh or eighth day, she was extremely anxious and asked two experienced officials, "If we travel so long, won't the local victims suffer?"

But there is nothing they can do, they can't just grow wings and fly over.

The Minister of Justice had a worried look on his face during this period, but when he heard Princess Wanshou's question, he patiently explained, "Your Highness, you don't know, this is how disaster relief works. If it's close to the capital, the censors will naturally be able to get there on horseback, but if it's far away, it all depends on the ability of the local officials. But no matter what, censors are necessary. Many officials will do their best to provide disaster relief only when they know that there are censors inspecting."

In other words, if the journey is long, we cannot expect you, the officials from Beijing, to arrive in a few days and take charge of the local situation. You can just go there to clean up the mess and observe whether the local officials have done their best to deal with the disaster.

Princess Wanshou asked again: "What if there are no capable officials in the local area..."

The Minister of Justice did not speak.

After a dozen or so moments of silence, Princess Wanshou understood. If she really encountered a stupid local official, or a local official who took advantage of the disaster to make money, there would be nothing she could do but execute him afterwards.

So Princess Wanshou also fell silent.

Xu Yanmiao sat on the carriage, reading news from Fujian, with a thick layer of snow on his shoulders. His brows furrowed more and more, and then he leaned over to the clerk of the Ministry of War next to him and said, "Lian Lang, I have something to ask you."

The clerk of the Ministry of War was about to answer when he saw Xu Yanmiao suddenly jump off the carriage and said, "Wait a minute, I have to ask the Minister about this!"

＊

Xu Yanmiao asked the Minister of Justice a question: "Since the founding of the country, has the amount of Daxia treasure notes that can be exchanged for copper coins decreased?"

Daxia Baochao is the paper money of the Xia Dynasty. The previous dynasty began to use paper money, and the Xia Dynasty inherited the Zhou system, and the paper money was also inherited.

In the early years of Tiantong, one string of treasure notes could be exchanged for one thousand copper coins.

The previous dynasty used paper money as official salaries, and the old emperor didn't know why he didn't follow this practice. So Xu Yanmiao didn't pay attention to whether the Daxia treasure notes had depreciated.

The Minister of Justice knew this: "Nowadays, one string of treasure notes can be exchanged for one hundred copper coins."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

[Wow, it has been devalued to one tenth. How many ingots of treasure notes has the imperial court printed in the past thirty years?]

[It's all over. The stupid disaster relief plan proposed by the Fujian governor will probably be passed. ]

Although the people present were doing local business, they still held official positions in Beijing and could hear Xu Yanmiao's thoughts.

The Minister of Justice frowned even more tightly: "Why did Xu Lang suddenly ask about this? Is he afraid that Your Majesty will use the treasure banknotes to relieve the disaster?"

[The old emperor may not be able to think of it for a while, but he can't help but have a very smart suggestion! ]

[How did the Fujian governor become the governor? He actually said: Minting more than one million ingots of banknotes is equivalent to 500 million copper coins, which can be used to exchange for food? He also asked Ji Jiaodi to submit this memorial to the old emperor. Isn't this just causing trouble! Even if I don't understand economics, I know that so many banknotes cannot be printed into the market at once! ]

[Calm down, maybe the ministers in the court have knowledge of economics, and the old emperor will listen to their advice! ]

[Besides, since the old emperor did not use treasure notes as salaries for officials, does that prove that he should still understand some economics? ]

After thinking about it for a long time, Xu Yanmiao said vaguely, "I have this concern."

At the side, Liang Rui thought about the scene of more than one million ingots of banknotes appearing in the market at once, and his scalp went numb with horror. He quickly said, "Maybe it will be true. Xu Lang, you come back with me! His Highness, the Minister, and the stewards will continue to Fujian!"

"Ah? Okay!" Xu Yanmiao had a headache: "But I can't ride a horse."

Liang Rui said calmly: "I have prepared a bamboo cart for you."

...

It snowed heavily today, so this court meeting was held inside the palace.

In the hall, the person sent by the Fujian governor to deliver the memorial spoke eloquently: "Your Majesty! That's it! Fujian is suffering from a severe drought, the victims are short of food, and the court is short of money. Why not print more than a million ingots of banknotes and go to other prefectures to buy food to help the people tide over the difficulties."

The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had actually been worrying about the treasury these days. At this moment, his bloodshot eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly walked out: "Your Majesty! I think this is indeed a good policy for governing the country..."

The old emperor was also moved: "So..."

A familiar voice sounded with shock——

[No way! The old emperor actually believed this nonsense?! ]

The old emperor felt a familiar throbbing pain in his temple. He suddenly focused his eyes and saw Xu Yanmiao appear outside the palace. He couldn't see her expression, but from her inner voice -

[You believe it, the Minister of Revenue? You are the Minister of Revenue, the one who manages the money for the court! ]

It can be guessed that the other party's expression must be very shocked, as if he had seen a ghost.

Old Emperor: "..."

The Minister of Revenue: "..."

Suddenly I felt like I was labeled a fool.

The author has something to say:

Baochao refers to Ming Baochao:

In the eighth year of Hongwu, one guan of Baochao could be exchanged for 1,000 wen.

In the 23rd year of Hongwu, one guan of Baochao could be exchanged for 350 wen.

In the 28th year of Hongwu, one guan of Baochao could only be exchanged for 100 wen.

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Regarding whether someone would propose this, and whether the court would agree with this method, please refer to:

There were those who wanted to issue banknotes but could not do so. During the Chongzhen period, Jiang Chen, a student from Tongcheng, said that the banknote system was feasible. He said that 30 million strings of coins could be produced each year, and one string was worth one gold coin, which would bring in 30 million taels of gold each year. Wang Aoyong, the Minister of Revenue and Works, supported this view and said that 30 million strings of coins could be produced in the early years, which would bring in 50 million taels of gold. Since the revenue was so high, the price of gold would be the same as that of earth. The emperor specially set up the Internal Treasure Banknote Bureau to supervise the production day and night and solicit merchants to sell them, but no one was willing to respond. Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing said that exchanging one gold coin for one piece of paper was something that only a fool would do. The emperor made it difficult for the emperor to issue banknotes. Dejing said, "The emperor seemed to have established a religion for the gods, but he only gave rewards and reduced salaries, and he never used it for military pay."

——"Waiting for the Visit of Mingyi"

[Translation: Chongzhen was short of money, and a Confucian scholar named Jiang Chen proposed: make 30 million coins of paper money every year, one coin is worth one gold, and 30 million taels of copper coins can be obtained every year.

Wang Bieyong, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, agreed and said that if 50 million strings of paper money were minted in the first year, 50 million taels of copper coins could be obtained. If more copper coins were collected, the value of the copper coins would be equal to the value of the land.

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Regarding the use of treasure notes for disaster relief, please refer to:

The Minister of Justice Tang Duo was sent to transport more than one million ingots of banknotes to Shandong to provide relief to the famine-stricken people in Deng and Lai prefectures.

——"Ming Shilu Taizu Shilu"

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