The crowd rented a small boat and roamed over the West Lake. After rowing the boat to the middle of the West Lake, Zhao Dong returned to the cabin and let the boat drift in the wind.

The three little girls sat on the bow of the boat and played hip-hop, while Lu Yuan, Zhao Dong and Lan Liuyi chatted in the cabin.

After chatting some gossip, Zhao Dong gradually let go, and said with a smile: "Brother Mu, sometimes I really envy you, if you can make me the king of Wu for a day, I am willing to die immediately." ”

"Then you died too unjustly." Lu Yuan said with a smile.

"Why is that?"

Lan Liuyi said softly: "Zhao Gongzi, there are two sides to any matter, don't look at Brother Lu on the surface, in fact, there are a lot of troubles behind it that you can't understand." ”

"What troubles will Brother Mu have?" Zhao Dong disagreed.

He felt that Lu Yuan's troubles might be a good thing for him.

Lan Liuyi muttered: "When you are alone, you only need to think about your own affairs, but if you become the head of a country, you need to consider all aspects of the country, and this pressure is very great." ”

Lu Yuan nodded secretly, Lan Liuyi deserved to be a saint of the White Lotus Sect, and he could quite understand his feelings in this regard.

For him now, what needs to be considered is the people, the country, and the nation.

He wants to build a country where the people can live and work in peace and contentment, but if the northern Khitans come over, then the homeland will be destroyed and everything will be in vain.

That's the biggest pressure on him.

Before dark, everyone parted on the riverbank, and Lu Yuan returned to the palace with Lu Yutong.

Back at Wendejeon, he quickly threw himself into government affairs.

Recently, the entire Wuyue country has fallen into great chaos, many states have fallen into war, and various qi ng reports have come every day.

Of the three states north of Hangzhou, Huzhou had been occupied by the Jiang Y army of the Tang State, and then the Jiang Y Army won successive victories in the process of attacking Xiuzhou, and if it were not for the assistance of the Zhongwu army in Suzhou, Xiuzhou might also fall into the hands of the Tang State.

The situation in the south was more complicated, Tang sent troops from Xinzhou to attack Quzhou, and at first it was also overwhelming, connecting seven cities, but later after the reinforcements of the Zhendong Army, Wu Yueguo recaptured the four cities, and the two sides were in a stalemate.

Yuezhou and Mingzhou to the north of Quzhou are being attacked by their own side, and Chuzhou to the south of Quzhou is also attacked by the Qingyuan army, and half of them have fallen into the hands of Qingyuan, but after Tang Bian led the army to reinforce Chuzhou, the situation has gradually stabilized.

Wenzhou, which borders Fuzhou, was guarded by Qian Hongyu himself, and the Qingyuan army had recently been defeated by Tang Bian in Wenzhou, and was unable to attack Wenzhou again for a while.

Taizhou and Wuzhou, north of Wenzhou, were the only ones that were not affected by the war.

As for the situation in the north, although Emperor Guo Wei of Zhou is dead, Chai Rong has succeeded to the throne, and under his leadership, the Zhou State is rapidly restoring stability, and although the Liao State is eyeing it, it has not yet moved.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Yuan decided to develop his military strength as soon as possible.

First of all, he decided to expand the army as soon as possible, and the number of each of the five armies in Hui'an was increased to 30,000, and the total strength reached 150,000.

Secondly, to increase the speed of research on firearms.

Since the capture of Hangzhou, Lu Yuan has thought about firearms the most, and if he wants to study firearms, he must not blindly study them, but should develop them for xi NG.

Gunpowder is the foundation of all firearms, and the priority is the highest, Lu Yuan has invited a group of famous alchemists to Hangzhou, and when they come, they can set up a gunpowder department and let them do research for themselves.

While gunpowder is being studied, firearms can also be synchronized.

Lu Yuan's original intention in developing firearms was to fight against the powerful cavalry of the Khitans, and for this purpose, he planned to give priority to the research of the most powerful and effective firearms against the cavalry - artillery.

This is the most effective weapon to disrupt the cavalry formation, and it can greatly enhance the strength of your own naval army.

This is followed by grenades. The Engineer Academy has already developed the Divine Fire Mine, and as long as it continues to explore and improve, it will be able to develop a powerful grenade, which can be used in both city defense and field battles at that time.

And finally, the muskets. However, the musket is the most difficult to study, with the technology of this era, it is not difficult to study the assault musket, but the effect of this musket is not good, it needs to be held in one hand and ignited with the other, in Lu Yuan's opinion, there is no need to study at all.

He was ready to skip the assault rifle and go straight to the arquebus.

The entire history of the development of muskets is actually the continuous improvement of ignition methods.

The first assault rifles were lit by hand, then the arquebuses, which were lit with arquebuses, and then the flintlock pistols, which were lit with flint.

In this regard, Lu Yuan can use the knowledge of later generations to increase the research speed of muskets as soon as possible.

However, at the moment, it is still artillery that has the highest priority, and only a barrel and iron ball are needed to use gunpowder to produce huge destructive power.

Now I am waiting for Qi Guangzi's first cannon barrel, Lu Yuan doesn't know much about these smelting techniques, and he can't help much, so he can only entrust them all to the craftsmen of this era.

As long as there is artillery, the naval army will inevitably produce changes that will overturn the heavens and the earth, and as long as the entire coastline is controlled, it may be possible to drive the warship to the sixteen states of Yanyun!

Thinking of this beautiful vision, Lu Yuan was a little excited, stood up and paced in the study.

At this moment, the guard Xiaowu entered the study, handed over a round bamboo tube and said, "Your Excellency, there is a Southern Army." ”

Open the bamboo tube and take out the letter paper inside.

Lu Yuan smiled slightly, the military report was sent by Qin Quan, Yuezhou has been defeated, according to Qin Quan, there is no garrison in Mingzhou, and it is just around the corner to fight down.

In this way, Lu Yuan's subordinates will have the land of five states.

……

Xiuzhou, Jiaxing.

In Jiedu Mansion, a grand banquet is being held, which is organized by the Cai family brothers to thank Song Xuan, the envoy of the Zhongwu Army.

On the banquet, Cai Xing and Song Xuan sat in the first two positions, Cai Gao sat in the lower seat, and Cai Shu's seat was also arranged behind Cai Rong.

Since coming to Xiuzhou, because the military power of the town navy is in the hands of Cai Xing, and Cai Gao's political resources are completely useless in Xiuzhou, the status of the Cai brothers has changed.

In this regard, Cai Gao is very familiar with current affairs, and he consciously accepts his new status, no matter how big or small, he is looking forward to his younger brother, which makes Cai Xing very satisfied.

After three rounds of drinking, Cai Gao, who was at the bottom, glanced at Changyang, Changyang nodded and quietly withdrew from the hall, Cai Gao continued to drink with a smile, his eyes flashing with a fine light.

It didn't take long for the wine in the hall to run out, and several people from outside the door came in with wine.

Cai Gao's eyes were even brighter, and when he was drinking, he quietly took a small pill, looked up, and saw Cai Xing talking and laughing with Song Xuan, and Song Xuan nodded to him when Cai Xing was not paying attention.

Cai Gao made up his mind and waited silently.

After a pillar of incense, one of the people who were drinking the feast began to feel unwell and lay on the table.

"Poison in wine!" One of them shouted and fell to the table.

At the same time, the sound of sword clashing and shouting could be heard outside the door.

Cai Xing, who was sitting at the top, touched his forehead, and his body shook a little.

"Bastard, who poisoned it? What's going on outside? Steward Lee, Steward Li! He said loudly.

"You don't have to shout, he's not coming in anymore." Cai Gao stood up leisurely.

"It's you!" Cai Xing glared at his brother.

"It's me." Cai Gao's eyes were cold.

"Uncle, why are you doing this?" Cai Rong asked in a hissed voice.

Cai Shu sneered, stood up and said, "Why are you still asking?" Ever since my father fell out of power, how have you treated my father and son, have you forgotten? ”

"You took the initiative to back down!" Cai Rong shouted.

"If we don't take the initiative to back down, can we still live today?"

Cai Xing was silent for a long time and said, "Big brother, are you going to kill me?" ”

"Second brother, don't blame me, in the future, on the death day of you and Rong'er, I will burn more paper money for you." Cai Gao said slowly.

"Don't forget, it's all my people out there!" Cai Xing said coldly.

"Of course I do, but your people should be dying by now." Cai Gao said with a short beard.

Looking at Song Hong, seeing that he was smiling and not participating in the conversation between the two, Cai Gao faintly felt that something was wrong in his heart.

Cai Xing sighed and said, "Big brother, your reliance should be Brother Song." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Cai Gao's face changed drastically.

At this moment, more than a dozen black-clothed people rushed into the hall under the leadership of Lian Ze, but everyone was injured, and even Lian Ze was hit by two arrows.

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