Chapter 406 Liu Xie: I Want to Move the Capital Back to Chang'an!

Zhen's mansion, lobby.

"Master, we searched the ruins of the entire post station inside and out, and only found a few charred bodies. We moved them all here."

A Zhen clan member said respectfully.

Behind him were several bodies, all of which had been burned beyond recognition. Not to mention identifying their identities, even the bodies were not complete, and could only barely be seen as a person.

In the lobby, all the elders of the Zhen clan were present.

Zhen Yi sat in the main seat in the hall. Hearing this, he did not say much, but waved his hand to signal the clan members to leave, and then looked at the bodies in silence.

The elders exchanged glances, and finally the elder from the third branch said, "Master, I'm afraid that the censor Fa has died in the fire."

"But this fire was an accident. No one could have expected such a thing to happen. The most urgent thing is to report this to the court as soon as possible."

"The imperial envoy is dead. This is a big deal."

The tone of the elder from the third branch was full of worry. He sighed and looked worried.

But Zhen Yi seemed to have heard nothing and still said nothing.

So the elder from the second branch also said, "Master, you should make a decision quickly. What should we do next..."

"I make the decision?"

Before the elder from the second branch finished speaking, Zhen Yi, who had been silent all the time, suddenly interrupted him with a cold face.

He looked at the second elder and said expressionlessly: "You dared to set fire to the post house, what else do you want me to do?"

"Don't call me the head of the family, I am not the head of the family, you are the head of my Zhen family!"

Hearing Zhen Yi's angry words.

All the elders fell silent.

At this time, Zhen Yi was furious, with veins on his forehead, and gritted his teeth and said: "Burning the imperial envoy, where on earth did you get the courage to do this!"

"Do you know that this is a slap in the face of the court and the face of His Majesty!"

"Are you all a bunch of pig brains!"

Zhen Yi slammed the table, pointed at the elders and scolded them, scolding them bloody.

He was not a fool. Yesterday he just said that he would confess his crime, and the post house caught fire at night. How could such a coincidence happen in the world!

Even if he used his toes to figure it out, it was these elders in the family who did it!

"Master, this matter has nothing to do with me. I am not involved in it. They did it!"

The elder of the fourth house saw Zhen Yi getting angry and quickly spoke to distance himself from the matter.

The other elders glared at him when they heard this.

But they also knew that Zhen Yi would know about this sooner or later, so they were not panicked.

The elder of the second house said: "Master, if you take the initiative to hand over the handle of my Zhen family and return the financial power to His Majesty, how can we sit back and watch?"

"My Zhen family can have the power today entirely by holding the financial power. Once it is handed over, the status will plummet."

"As members of the Zhen family, we naturally cannot remain indifferent."

Zhen Yi laughed when he heard this and said: "So you dare to burn the imperial envoy?"

"Or do you think the court and His Majesty are all fools and don't know that it was my Zhen family who did it?"

"You can't even hide it from me, and you want to hide it from His Majesty. How do you think His Majesty destroyed Yuan Shao in just a few years!"

" Don't you know His Majesty's methods? "

The second elder was silent for a moment, then said: "It has been done. If we admit it now, what awaits us will be the annihilation of the clan."

"In this fire, all the accounts of my Zhen family have been burned. I will find someone to bear the blame for this fire."

"As long as we survive, my Zhen family can continue to hold the financial power. At most, we will give more benefits to the court in the future, but in any case, the financial power cannot be lost."

"The head of the family can now report our crimes to His Majesty, but can the head of the family bear the consequences of doing so?"

The second elder had prepared this set of rhetoric long ago.

It has been done. Now there are only two paths before Zhen Yi - either go all the way with him and take a big gamble; or admit the crime and bring disaster to the Zhen family.

"Good, good, good!"

"Very good!"

Zhen Yi seemed to be smiling, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from his teeth.

He swept all the elders with a cold look, then stood up and left the hall.

Seeing him leave, the elder of the third house asked anxiously, "He won't really confess to His Majesty, will he?"

The elder of the second house sneered, "He doesn't have the guts. He doesn't dare to bet the lives of the entire Zhen family on His Majesty's mercy. He has no choice but to cooperate in covering up the death of the imperial envoy."

The elders breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this.

...

The backyard of the Zhen Mansion.

"Is what you said... all true?"

Zhen Mi's face turned pale. She looked at Fa Zheng in front of her and asked with a slightly trembling voice.

Fa Zheng sighed and said respectfully, "This is absolutely true. The fire in the posthouse last night was caused by the Zhen family."

"If it weren't for my good luck, I'm afraid I would have died in the sea of ​​fire."

Zhen Mi's face turned even paler when she heard this.

She never expected that her family members would be so crazy and do such a treasonous thing!

Assassinating the imperial envoy is equivalent to treason!

Fa Zheng continued: "Now the Zhen family thinks that I am dead. If they knew that I was still alive, I am afraid they would kill me."

"Wuji County is far away from Yecheng. I can't go back alone, so I came to ask for help."

"I hope you can help me."

Fazheng said, bowing deeply to Zhen Mi.

With the help of Qingzhu, he sneaked into Zhen's mansion, came to meet Zhen Mi, revealed his identity and explained the truth, in order to ask her for help.

Now the only person who can help him return to Yecheng is this noble man.

Hearing this, Zhen Mi looked at Fazheng, pursed her lips and asked: "The Zhen family is my family, why does Fa Zheng dare to come to me for help? Aren't you afraid that I will protect the family, or that I planned to burn down the inn? ?”

Fazheng heard the words and said seriously: "Your Majesty often says that a noble person is a rare and virtuous wife who is reasonable and reasonable. In the early years, it was only through the help of noble people that we could secretly develop and accumulate strength."

"As a noble person, you must never do such a thing as assassinating an imperial envoy."

"As for covering up the family... Your Majesty has been with you for a long time, so you should know very well that your Majesty will pursue this matter to the end, whether he is dead or alive."

"But if the official can get help from noble people to survive, that would be much better than if the official died."

The reason why Fazheng dared to ask Zhen Mi for help.

The confidence lies in the emperor.

It is impossible for this noble nobleman to not understand the emperor's character, so it is absolutely impossible for him to assassinate him.

What's more, now that I'm pregnant with a dragon heir, I don't dare to act carelessly, otherwise it will directly cut off the possibility of the dragon heir in my belly inheriting the throne in the future.

On the contrary, if Zhen Mi takes the initiative to help him return to Yecheng alive, then this matter can be completely removed.

After listening to Fazheng's words, Zhen Mi had a complicated expression and sighed quietly: "Fa Yushi is right, I really don't know anything about this matter, otherwise I would stop them from doing this kind of thing no matter what."

"Don't worry, Fa Yushi, I will not protect the family, and I will help you return to Yecheng, but there is only one thing you can ask for..."

Fa Zheng anticipated what she was going to say, shook his head and said: "I will report everything to Your Majesty truthfully. As for Your Majesty's decision, I cannot interfere."

When Zhen Mi heard this, her eyes suddenly dimmed, and the last hope in her heart was shattered.

"I understand. I will ask to return to Yecheng in a few days. At that time, Fa Yushi will follow me in the motorcade and go back with me."

Fazheng was surprised when he heard this and said: "How can you travel a long distance now that your noble lord is pregnant? If..."

"Been here long enough."

A look of exhaustion flashed across Zhen Mi's face, and she whispered: "I don't want to embarrass Your Majesty, let alone see my clan members die."

If she continues to stay in Wuji County, Liu Xie will consider her to some extent and will not dare to send troops here at will.

The error-free version is being read! 6=9+Book_Bar debuts this novel.

But she believed that with Liu Xie's character, he would eventually send troops, so she might as well go back early, so as not to embarrass Liu Xie and not see Zhen's bloodshed.

Fazheng was in awe of Zhen Mi in his heart and said with admiration: "The noble man really understands the righteousness, and the lower officials admire him."

Zhen Mi sighed and raised her eyes to the sky.

She doesn't understand why the family has reached this point.

Maybe this is all God's will.

…

Jizhou, Yecheng.

With Liu Xie's strong support, the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau officially announced its establishment, and began to slowly take over the ordnance manufacturing responsibilities that were originally supposed to be the responsibility of the Zhen family.

Hundreds of craftsmen are forging weapons there, and the sound of clanging iron can be heard all the time, making it a lively scene.

Today Liu Xie specially came to the bureau for inspection.

"Your Majesty, these are the swords that I have made using the Xin clan's smelting method, and some improvements have been made on the original basis to increase the toughness of the weapons."

Meng Yang had someone bring out a batch of swords.

Liu Xie picked up a sword and weighed it. He saw that the blade of the sword in his hand was sharp and shone with a cold light. It was almost the same as the one made by Zhen's craftsmen before.

He nodded slightly, then threw it to Gao Lan aside and said, "General Gao, come and try."

"promise!"

Gao Lan took the sword and walked to the straw man standing aside for testing.

The straw man's body was covered with thick leather.

Gao Lan swung his knife and chopped it down. After a flash of light, the scarecrow was cut off directly, and the incision was extremely neat!

Then Gao Lan took a sword currently equipped by the Han army to test, and slashed hard at the sword with the sword.

With just one strike, the active combat knife was cut off!

And the sword in his hand, made by Mohist craftsmen, only has a slightly curled blade. It only needs to be polished to restore it, and it can still be used to kill enemies!

"Your Majesty, this sword is much stronger and more durable than the swords currently equipped by our sergeants. It's quite good."

Gao Lan put down his sword and reported to Liu Xie.

Liu Xie smiled with satisfaction when he heard this and said to Meng Yang: "The Mohist disciples are proficient in the art of smelting, and they are indeed well-deserved."

Meng Yang was very humble when he heard Liu Xie's praise.

"Your Majesty is so complimentary. I have only made some improvements and enhancements to the original smelting technique. It can only be regarded as the icing on the cake."

The smelting method originally mastered by the imperial court was far superior to that of the Mohists. After some research, they were all amazed by it.

They were even more shocked when they heard that this smelting method was originally taught by Emperor Gaozu in the emperor's dream.

"It is very rare to be able to master the art of smelting and improve it in such a short period of time. I have read you right."

Liu Xie was not stingy in his praise.

It took several months for the Zhen family craftsmen to study and master these technologies, but this group of Mohist disciples mastered and improved them in a short time, which shows that they are indeed excellent technical talents.

"But there are still some shortcomings. I can give you some suggestions. For example, for the production of war swords, you can directly make molds and cast them into blades with molten iron, and then let the craftsmen further process them."

"The same is true for the production of armor. You can cast some iron parts with molds and finally unify them into finished armor."

"Such division of labor and cooperation can not only unify the standards of all equipment to the greatest extent, but also save a lot of time."

The concept of assembly line production and standardization must be there.

"I understand."

Meng Yang nodded in agreement. This is the emperor's suggestion, and these methods can indeed greatly improve efficiency.

"But in addition to these, I think you can also find some old soldiers in the army and let them serve as testers of these equipment."

"They are all from the battlefield. You can follow their suggestions to improve weapons and equipment, which will surely be more useful."

Liu Xie raised another very important point.

The old soldiers are experienced. They are the users of these equipment and know them best.

They know how to make the handle of the knife so that it is most comfortable to hold and the force is most fluent; where the armor needs to be strengthened and where the weight can be reduced.

They are the ones who have the most say.

Don't underestimate these seemingly insignificant suggestions. They may be the key to saving the soldiers from death on the battlefield.

"I accept your order!"

Meng Yang agreed to all the suggestions made by Liu Xie.

Just as Liu Xie was about to continue to inspect the situation of the Metallurgical Bureau, a guard hurried over and reported excitedly: "Your Majesty, Chang'an has won a great victory!"

"General Zhang and Lord Wen broke through Tongguan and took Chang'an City directly. Ma Chao was defeated and led the remaining soldiers to flee. At present, Sizhou has been recovered by the imperial army!"

After the guard's voice fell, everyone present was shocked and extremely surprised.

Ma Chao claimed to have 100,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry, dominating Chang'an City. Now it has been less than two months since the Western Expedition, and the opponent has been killed and defeated?

Even Liu Xie was surprised to hear the news. After he came to his senses, he immediately asked, "Where is the battle report?"

"Here is the battle report. Please read it, Your Majesty!"

The guard handed over the battle report with both hands.

Liu Xie snatched it, unfolded it and read it carefully.

This battle report was written by Sima Yi. When he saw the words "Pang De surrendered" and "internal and external cooperation", he could no longer hide the joy on his face.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Quickly announce this news to all officials and the people of Yecheng, and celebrate the victory of this battle together!"

After Liu Xie finished speaking, he walked quickly outside the Metallurgical Bureau. At the moment, he was in no mood to continue the inspection. He had to go back to the palace to summon Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu and others to discuss matters.

Because Chang'an City was breached, his previous plan to move the capital to Luoyang had to be changed to move the capital back to Chang'an!