Chapter 223 New Firearms
"What, Xiliang surrendered to Beidi!"
In the study room of the palace, Zhao Xu was shocked after hearing the news from Yanguan.
According to Mo Yu, the Beidi envoys arrived at Yanguan, and Beidi once again invaded.
Liu Fu happened to be there, and he looked embarrassed, "It is said that Beidi has been conquering Xiliang, and the two sides have won and lost. In Jinzhou, they have also fought back and forth with the imperial army and the Ma family. How come they suddenly surrendered to Beidi?"
Zhao Xu frowned and looked at the map on the wall, his eyes wandering over the positions of Dasong, Beidi, and Xiliang.
"A tall building cannot be collapsed in one day. It must have been rotten inside. If you think about it carefully, there are some clues. It stands to reason that Xiliang has occupied half of Jinzhou's territory for ten years, but Dasong has become increasingly weak in the past ten years, while Xiliang has not made any progress. It can be seen that the long-term war has made Xiliang strong on the outside but weak on the inside."
Liu Fu nodded gently, Dasong, Beidi, Xiliang, among which Xiliang is the weakest.
When Jinzhou was fighting with Dasong, it was attacked by Beidi, so it was naturally unable to hold on.
Moreover, Xiliang was irreconcilable with Dasong because of the founding war.
When attacked by Beidi, it never thought of forming an alliance with Dasong.
Between the two, Beidi would naturally be chosen.
However, in the east, Beidi already had a vassal state of Goryeo, and now Xiliang has also become a vassal state of Beidi, and its strength has further expanded.
"But in this way, Beidi will get help again, and its strength will increase greatly. I am afraid that its ambition to go south will continue to grow." Liu Fu's eyes were almost full of worry.
The King of Yan had just taken control of the four northern counties and was about to stabilize and develop, but he didn't expect such bad news.
I am afraid that the situation in the northern border will become more severe in the future.
After all, the soldiers of Xiliang are also brave and good at fighting, and half of Jinzhou occupied by Xiliang fell into the hands of Beidi.
This means that the territory of Beidi extends to the territory of Dasong.
"Did they say what they were doing in Jinling?"
It was a fact that Xiliang had surrendered to Beidi, and it was useless to be too angry.
What should be paid attention to now was the purpose of the Beidi envoys.
"They only said that they had important matters to discuss with the emperor, and they didn't want to say anything else." The soldier said.
Zhao Xu snorted and said, "Tell Mo Yu to let them go."
As the King of Yan, he did not have the power to refuse the envoys of the enemy country, so he could only let them go.
"Yes, Your Highness." The soldier replied yes and turned away.
When the soldier disappeared, Zhao Xu fell into deep thought.
Now that the two traditional enemies of Dasong suddenly merged into one, the threat from the north increased greatly.
And now Liang had mastered the forging method of the matchlock gun.
Naturally, he could not fall behind.
In addition to artillery, he also had to make a flintlock gun that was more advanced than the matchlock gun.
Just like artillery, he would not follow the rules and walk the path of the development of these firearms again.
There was no need for this.
Because the path of the development of these firearms had many detours.
With ready-made experience in mind, he naturally wanted to do it in one step.
With his existing technical capabilities, he could make what he could make at the moment.
For example, he could skip the matchlock and go straight to the flintlock.
After all, the two firearms just have different ignition methods.
The matchlock is to equip soldiers with a long rope, which is like a mosquito coil and can burn slowly after being ignited.
When fighting, just use the ignited matchlock to ignite the gunpowder.
The flintlock uses flint, which is similar to the principle of a lighter, using the sparks generated by the impact of flint to ignite the gunpowder.
However, the difficulty lies in the firing device of the ignition.
This thing is one material, and the other is craftsmanship, which may take some time.
But this is also faster than equipping the matchlock first and then making the flintlock.
Thinking of this, he shook his wrist and took a piece of paper to draw.
...
Jinling.
Zhao Heng was walking in the imperial garden, and beside him was Concubine Mi.
After the chaos in Yanzhou, he was still worried about the Yuan family.
Zhao Xu stabilized Yanzhou and repelled the northern barbarians, which made him feel relieved.
Compared with the Yuan family, he was more confident in his own King Yan, so he decided to hand over the most important Yanguan to Zhao Xu, and wait until Zhao Xu's new recruits were trained, and then withdraw the imperial guards from Yanguan.
In this way, he could dispatch more imperial guards to guard against powerful families.
However, he still remembered what his father said to him when he was dying.
As a king, the only thing he could believe in was the power in his hands, and no one else could be trusted, including relatives.
Even so, it was a fact that Zhao Xu greatly increased the prestige of the royal family and made the Zhao clan proud in the capital.
Therefore, he still had to show the emperor's grace and show his favor to him, so that the King of Yan would honestly guard the northern border.
After all, defense is defense, and favor is favor. For an emperor, this is not contradictory.
And this favor of Zhao Xu, in the palace, fell on Concubine Mi.
Recently, Zhao Heng often took time to accompany Concubine Mi.
As the two were walking together, an eunuch came over and handed a letter to Liang Cheng.
Liang Cheng presented it to Zhao Heng.
"It's Xu'er's letter." Zhao Heng showed it to Concubine Mi.
Upon hearing this, Concubine Mi immediately missed Zhao Xu, restrained her smile, and looked unhappy.
Zhao Heng saw it and said, "My beloved concubine misses Xu'er."
"Speaking of which, Xu'er has been in Yanzhou for almost a year." Concubine Mi said, "These days, many noble ministers have come to see me, and they all want to marry their daughters to Xu'er. Speaking of which, Xu'er will be seventeen after the New Year, and he is not young anymore. Maybe I should choose a princess for him from among them."
Zhao Heng nodded and said, "At present, the chaos in Yanzhou has just been quelled. Xu'er must be busy with many things. After a few days, when Yanzhou is pacified, I will let him come back to visit his parents."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Concubine Mi smiled immediately.
Zhao Heng then read the memorials. He frowned when he saw Zhao Xu mentioned that Yanjun Merchants would be granted the status of imperial merchants. He frowned even more when he saw the right to trade with the sea and the establishment of the Yanzhou Navy.
But later, when he saw him say that he would send a batch of artillery to him, his brows relaxed immediately.
From the information he got, a large part of the reason why the King of Yan was able to repel the enemy at Yanguan was because of artillery.
So, he didn't say it, but he had been thinking about it in his heart.
He even wanted the King of Yan to hand over the casting method of the artillery.
But he later thought about it carefully and gave up the idea.
The reason is simple. The court is full of people from powerful families.
If he asked the King of Yan for the artillery casting technology, wouldn't it be equivalent to handing it over to the powerful families?
In this way, wouldn't he be giving the powerful families a bargain? The good things should naturally be given to his imperial guards first.
So after some deep thought, he didn't want the casting technique.
But the King of Yan must supply artillery to the imperial guards.
Now that the King of Yan is so sensible, he seems to be unable to refuse the King of Yan's face.
After all, the King of Yan's request is not excessive.
It's easy to talk about the status of the imperial merchant, but I'm afraid the powerful families will not give up the right to trade at sea.