Thundering, Fifth Qi's body trembled after being shaken, and his ears were buzzing, but at this time, he couldn't care about the discomfort of his body, because he had just witnessed a terrifying scene that he had never seen in his life. Dozens of solid projectiles were wrapped in the heat wave and made a burst of sound, and after the first landing, they quickly bounced forward, splashing dirt and gravel in all directions, and a courtyard wall outside was smashed and collapsed.

Fifth Qi had been a frontier army Sima and had also seen the situation of the battle before the battle, and asked himself if these seventy artillery pieces were in front of an army formation composed of flesh and blood, the lethality caused by them was unimaginable. Regardless of the power, the deafening sound of artillery that was comparable to the thunder of the explosion alone was enough to scare the hearts of a large crowd of people.

However, Zheng Xianli's face did not have the pride that Fifth Qi expected, on the contrary, his face was very grim, as if he was very sorry and very depressed.

"The general successfully tested the artillery, why is he sad?"

Zheng Xianli pointed to the artillery array not far away and sighed.

'Fifth Prime Minister, please see, five of the guns in the artillery array have been blown up due to poor maintenance, and they are unusable!'

Fifth Qi looked at Zheng Xianli's fingers, and sure enough, several guns had become unrecognizable after the test firing, which was shocking, and the originally heavy cast copper barrel was broken and exploded from the cannon body, and the broken brass stubble shone with a sharp light, which made people shudder. He was secretly speechless, he couldn't imagine that the power of the artillery was so huge, that even the cast bronze that was very capricious could be exploded.

"Could it be that this thing called * has the power to destroy gold and iron?"

Zheng Xianli nodded silently, the loss of five cannons made him feel distressed, and he had long lost the interest in chatting at this time. However, there were still many questions in the fifth Qi's heart that could not be solved, so he threw out one question after another.

"* The power is so amazing, why not equip the army on a large scale?"

"If you equip an army, is it possible that you will be learned by the enemy?"

"What do you need to make the ......?"

Zheng Xianli sorted out his thoughts and replied indifferently:

"Doctor Qin said that the combat effectiveness of an army is not only what weapons are used, the key is to have firm beliefs and steel-like discipline. Although firearms are good, the technology is too simple, and the enemy country only needs to study it over time, and it can be made within three or five years, so ah, the foundation of a strong army is still in people!"

The fifth Qi was a little confused by this reasoning, could it be that those ordinary soldiers should also have a firm faith? So, what is this belief? As for the so-called iron discipline, it is very easy to understand, and it is already a well-known secret that the Shenwu Army is famous for its strict military discipline.

Thinking about it, Fifth Qi's hand inadvertently stroked the broken cannon body, and the sharp stubble cut a finger-wide wound in the palm of his hand, and the red blood gushed out, and the pain made him retract his arm violently.

Fifth Qi looked at the artillery array on the warehouse, and continued to calculate in his heart, he still didn't know the cost of *, but he had roughly estimated the brass cost of seventy cannons, and if all of them were cast into copper coins, it would be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan.

At the same time, he felt that it was worth spending such a huge amount.

"I really want to see the scene when the artillery array destroys the enemy, I must be very happy!"

Fifth Qi was tasked with reversing the financial deficit, so he had no chance to leave Chang'an, let alone Lingwu to watch the battle.

Zheng Xianli said:

"In a short period of time, the artillery array has not yet been able to form the expected combat effectiveness. ”

Fifth Qi asked:

"Why is that?"

"The Fifth Prime Minister should have noticed that the artillerymen here are all craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor, and they are all equipped with unique skills, and it is impossible to go into battle to kill the enemy, so it is necessary to train the artillery separately, and the training of the artillery to skillfully control a cannon is not something that can be achieved overnight in three or two days. ”

Fifth Qi was a bit of a disappointment.

"Could it be that when attacking Lingwu, these cannons will be useless?"

"Not really, artillery can still be fired, but efficiency and many tactical moves can't be done completely!"

Suddenly, Zheng Xianli's words changed.

"Doctor Qin said,* In addition to being used on the copper cannon, it can also be used on a kind of "cannon" with a thinner barrel, which is roughly equivalent to the wooden pole of a halberd......"

Fifth Qi felt strange, the artillery caused the thickness of the halberd wooden pole, could it be used to fight mosquitoes?

Immediately afterwards, Zheng Xianli gave the answer.

"Once this kind of firearm came out, it could be replaced by bows and arrows, and in the past, it took at least one year to train archers, and it took three or two years to build a longbow, and archers had to select strong soldiers in front of them, especially soldiers with excellent strength, which greatly limited the size of archers. Once you have this kind of thin-barreled artillery, the situation is very different, not only can you build it in a few days, but it only takes three or five days to train, and at the same time, there are no physical restrictions, even women and children can easily operate it......"

In fact, when Zheng Xianli said these words, it was difficult for him to understand how this kind of thin-barreled artillery could be carried and operated by individual soldiers, and as for large-scale production and manufacturing, with the current level of the craftsmen of the ordnance supervision, it was far from meeting the requirements.

If Zheng Xianli felt that it was a bit fantastical, let alone Fifth Qi, he felt that Zheng Xianli was trapped in blind worship of Qin Jin in public, so that whatever Qin Jin said would be unconditionally accepted as the truth.

In the opinion of the Fifth Qi, it is enough to have these artillery, even if the enemy country can imitate it, it will be three or five years, or even seven or eight years later.

For such a long time, the Tang Dynasty had already cleared the rebellion, and it was not impossible to continue to expand its territory.

Zheng Xianli raised his head, looked at the red sun that had gradually disappeared into the sky, and said:

"Don't talk about this, seeing that it's dark, it's time for curfew, and you can't ride your horse for any reason, but you have to be punished, yesterday the subordinate violated the ban because he just returned to the city and didn't know the public security regulations, and today a military judge served the official document of punishment, and twenty lashes can't be avoided!"

Fifth Qi immediately said:

"If you don't know, don't blame it, the public security regulations can add this ......"

Zheng Xianli knew that Qin Jin would never add this article, he had always formulated military law based on conciseness, and would never come up with some miscellaneous rules and regulations to interpret every law, which would only reduce the efficiency of the implementation of military law, thus delaying serious matters.

He remembered Li Kaifang, who reported himself, who reported that he violated the regulations, and his style was still the same, but it was a bit too appalling to say that he had collected 300,000 yuan in his tenure as a member of the military department.

"I don't know if the fifth minister has heard of it, Li Kaifang was raided because of his wealth, and his subordinates have had a lot of official contact with him, this person has good ability, and he is extremely self-cultivation, he shouldn't sit down like this, maybe there is another hidden secret in it......"

Rory said a lot of words, and Fifth Qi finally understood, it turned out that Zheng Xianli was planning to intercede for Li Kaifang, who reported him.

However, the affairs of the government are not a showman, and the person was accused of being guilty one day and acquitted the next day? Obviously, this kind of behavior is extremely unreliable!

"The trial of Dali Temple has been concluded, and the evidence is conclusive, is there a problem with Zhou Wenzheng, the secretary of Dali Temple?"

As for Zhou Wenzheng, no one dares to say for sure, but few of his subordinates are fuel-efficient lamps

Fifth Qi immediately woke up from the regret of wasting his efforts, this Zheng Xianli seems to be a square person, and Li Kaifang in this person's mouth seems to be very square, is it really Dali Temple forcibly planted the blame? He is very aware of the various rules in the officialdom, if Zhou Wenzheng plans to slap himself up, even if Li Kaifang has no problem, it is very likely that he will fabricate a problem.

He didn't do it himself, otherwise there would be no room for manoeuvre.

"Okay, I've made a note, and when I return to the political hall, I will ask someone to investigate this matter thoroughly, if Li Kaifang is really wronged, he will be allowed to return his innocence!"

After this conversation, Zheng Xianli's impression in the heart of the fifth Qi is much deeper, this person can deal with things impartially regardless of previous suspicions, if in the Kaiyuan Tianbao and even the Zhide years, I am afraid that he will not survive in Chang'an for two years, he will have to be deposed from Beijing because of the height of his eyebrows, and it is not uncommon for him to die even if he dies.

Of course, except for the clear stream from the big family, officials like them who were born in turbidity, what else can they do except be left and right?

Fifth Qi knew very well that he was able to enter the political hall as the prime minister from the household servant, and it was not because he fell in love with Xia Yuanji? And Xia Yuanji was dying of old age, eating and waiting for death in the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, if it wasn't for Qin Jin's attention, how could he be the head of the prime minister?

As for Zheng Xianli, he became more and more incomprehensible, the first capable people in Qin and Jin abounded, and there were even more nobles from families, why did he have a preference for Zheng Xianli's straight nature?

After all, a belly slander is a belly slander, and he will never hang it on his lips or write it on his face. I saw Zheng Xianli bow solemnly and thank:

"The subordinate thanked the fifth minister for his colleagues!"

Fifth Qi smiled:

"I really don't understand General Zheng's actions, Li Kaifang reported you regardless of the friendship of his colleagues, but you didn't care about his previous suspicions, I really didn't understand ......"

Zheng Xianli smiled heartily.

"Judging by things, if Zheng holds a grudge against his colleagues because of some trivial things, wouldn't he be the same as those women with small bellies?"

The fifth Qi who said this is really feverish and red on his face, and his principle of doing things is that people don't offend me, I don't offend people, and if people offend me, they will be punished. All in all, even if it is a little bit of sesame grain, he has to figure it out and make the people who target him pay the corresponding price. Only in this way will those who have bad intentions think twice before they want to harm him!