At the beginning of May, the imperial court issued an edict, appointing Meng Yifan as the deputy envoy of Dongchuan Jiedu, and at the same time crowning Meng Zhixiang as the inspector of the school.

"The imperial court wants the town marshal to return to Jinyang." Zhao Jiliang said after seeing this edict.

"It's too dangerous in the court, don't go! I didn't expect that the prince, who looked weak back then, actually had the posture of a generation of heroes, and he was blinded at the beginning. Meng Zhixiang sighed, "Fortunately, Yi Fan and Yi Yong were stranded in Fengxiang when they returned to the teacher with the prince, and then they went to Jinyang, so they can finally remember a little brotherhood." ”

"Now that the Son of Heaven is mighty, far better than Zhuang Zong back then, in this whole world, who really dares to beat his edge?" Zhao Jiliang said, "The general trend of the world is prosperous." ”

"You don't have to persuade me, I can tell which is more important." Meng Zhixiang felt a burst of boredom in his heart for no reason, the power of the imperial court infiltrated from the north little by little, seemingly invisible, but it made him feel uncomfortable.

……

Meng Yiyong took a boat from Xingzhou and got off the ship in Guangyuan, and returned to Chengdu via Jiange.

After meeting his father, he went directly to Meng Yifan's mansion near Qingyang Palace.

Meng Yifan is less than forty, he has been in the government for a long time, and he has a shelf on his body, not like his second brother Meng Yiyong, who is full of businessman oil.

"The old man seems to be quite strong, why did the secret spy department ask me to bring a message to you to pay attention to your own safety and vigilance, and strengthen your control over the city?" After Meng Yiyong saw his eldest brother, he didn't make a detour and directly explained his intentions.

"Or maybe it's just a reminder." Meng Yifan thought for a while and said, "The Son of Heaven doesn't seem to care much about the current situation of Liangchuan, but in fact, he can be very dissatisfied with the old man. Now he is unwilling to take drastic measures, because he does not want to waste too much energy in Shudi. Longyou's expansion is inseparable from the support of Shu, including manpower and material resources. ”

"Is there something wrong with Renzan?" Meng Yiyong asked, the four of them are still wary of the half-brother who is deeply favored by their father.

Meng Fengfan shook his head: "He is still a child, without the support of the old man, he can't become a climate." However, Li Renhan has a large number of soldiers and horses in his hands, plus his nephew Zhang Ye, if he wants to make trouble, it will be difficult to clean up. ”

"There are three risks in sailing, but now that the imperial court is suppressing it, it is estimated that they will not dare to move lightly." Meng Yiyong said, "Shuzhong is rich in products and business opportunities everywhere, but unfortunately it is not mobilized at all now." ”

Meng Yifan stood up and said irritably: "There are a lot of big clans in Shuzhong, even if you get it in your hands, it is easy to govern without saying it, but it is not as convenient as when you were in Shanbei and Yunzhou." ”

Meng Yiyong said: "You don't have to worry so much about this, the imperial court naturally has a new strategy, but I know that the rumor of the division of Sichuan may become a reality." ”

"It's just a means of cutting the feudal domain, it's not surprising, and slowly there will be no moderation." Meng Yifan said, "When this happens, I still have to find a way to transfer back to the court, and I can't make anything out of the Ming Hall here." ”

"Hehe, you should be a chicken rib, and the old man should be a treasure." Meng Yiyong smiled, "This year's harvest of the tea mountains is okay, right?" ”

"It's not good, this weather is very dry, I'm afraid it will be a disaster this summer." Meng Yifan said, "I have long mentioned the construction of water conservancy, and the old man is doing everything possible to shirk it, and he feels good now." ”

This year, since the beginning of spring, there has been a lack of rain in the entire Chengdu Prefecture, which should not be a good year.

……

Queen Wang Qiang was disappointed when she gave birth to a baby girl in May.

Li Qi was so happy that he treated his daughter as a treasure, and every day after dealing with the government, he returned to the harem to coax the children for fun.

After the successful development of muskets, Li Qi assigned all the workshops of the Fenhe Dam built at the bend of the Fen River in Yangqu to the Ordnance Superintendent, and began to produce muskets in full force.

Immediately afterwards, a musket unit of 3,000 men was formed in Yangqu County.

This is the only formed firearms unit in the Tang Dynasty is also Li Qi's treasure, and the officers above the rank of officer are all from his lineage, except for the children of Xun Gui who are from the Zhuang families of the imperial villages, and the ordinary soldiers are also from the royal estates and the children of the Jinyang Forbidden Army. Although the training and management are very strict on weekdays, the treatment in peacetime is better than that of the forbidden army, and of course their loyalty is also the highest.

These people were of course trained by Li Qi as officers of the future musket unit.

Artillery and muskets will be a kind of mass killing weapon that completely surpasses this era, and Li Qi naturally will not easily hand over his command to others.

"Ready, put!" The officer leading the team waved his saber in his hand and shouted out the order.

Phew!

Bang! ……

The shooting range was filled with gunsmoke and the sound of gunfire was deafening.

At a distance of 100 meters, the wooden humanoid target was flying with sawdust.

The musketeers of the first battalion of musketeers who were in the exercise lined up in five rows of squares standing in the wrong line, and took turns firing. In this way, after five rounds of alternating firing, the first team of personnel who completed the shooting stepped back to complete the reload and stood in the front row, so that they could output fire without interruption.

After two rounds of salvos, Li Qi and Yuan Xingqin, who came from Jinyang and stood on the sidelines to watch the exercise, were quite satisfied with the performance of these musketeers.

Yuan Xingqin looked at the smoke and said to Li Qi: "This musket Weichen has also been tested a few times, and it is indeed powerful, and there is no problem in penetrating heavy armor from a hundred meters away." It's just that the defense is a little weak, and if it is ambushed and raided by cavalry, the ability to protect itself is much worse. ”

Li Qi smiled: "What troops were rushed into the formation by the cavalry, and there is no good way now." Therefore, this kind of army is best used to defend the city, and if it is a field battle, it is indeed necessary to protect the flanks by cavalry. ”

Yuan Xingqin arched his hand: "Attacking fortifications is an excellent weapon, and the minister estimates that those armored horses can't withstand it, but it's a pity that the number is too small." ”

"Let's take our time, the production of muskets is very complicated, so the production is very limited, so we can only slowly increase the workshop to increase the production." Li Qi said that the arsenal of nearly 1,000 people can only produce three or four hundred muskets per month, and this efficiency is also a headache for him.

Due to the lack of sufficient metalworking machinery, many parts can only be processed by hand, which naturally limits the production efficiency.

He planned to trouble the Khitans again next year when the number of musket troops reached more than 6,000 people, so that they could taste the power of another new weapon.

Half of this Youzhou land is in the hands of the Khitans, and there is no natural danger to defend at all, and it is completely flat from Lulong to Hebei. This feeling is like a section of the courtyard wall at home has collapsed, and there is a possibility of being run into the backyard at any time.

All the Khitans must be driven out of Yuguan (Shanhaiguan......

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