The steppe people drove their cattle and sheep into the summer pastures deep in the mountains in the summer, and they didn't have time to come out to plunder, in fact, the Khitan cavalry that wandered over must have been deliberately sent out by the leader of the other party to test it. It doesn't have to be an order from the Khitan court, but it could also be the leader of a large tribe.

It was only under these big chiefs that there were special cavalry units.

Robbery and war are always the main theme on the grassland, and when there is no food to eat, the first reaction in their consciousness is to rob others of food.

The grassland people like to rob the people who farm in the hinterland, first, because they encounter little resistance, and the other is that the peasants who cultivate the land seem to have more savings than the poor herdsmen, especially those who are rich in their families. Sometimes, pulling out the cavalry to scare them, the landlords who were desperately scavenging and cultivating their fields would offer food, even women.

The attitude of those landlords towards the steppe cavalry was really very friendly......

When there is plenty of food to rob, the steppe people are very hospitable, even if it is a stranger, and after entering the shepherd's tent, they will definitely let you eat and drink to your heart's content, and then leave satisfied.

As soon as they are mobilized and formed into an army, it is very cruel......

……

Meng Yifan returned to Jinyang from Shudi.

"What's the matter, did your father agree to send troops together to clean up Zhang Yun?" This cousin Li Qi met in Gujiaoye.

"My father said that it was not good to turn his face directly with Li Siyuan." Meng Yifan said.

Li Qi sneered: "What else can't he and Li Siyuan's traitor tear their faces?" ”

Meng Yifan said: "After all, didn't Li Siyuan only serve as a prisoner and did not usurp the throne." ”

Li Qi said angrily: "Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, he wouldn't know it, right?" ”

Meng Yifan shook his head: "This time in Chengdu, it is obvious that my father and I are a little estranged, and now Meng Chang is being favored, and I have no choice." ”

Li Qi sighed, Meng Zhixiang's ambition has finally been born in the past few years, and it seems that it will be difficult to turn back: "Okay, I will solve the matter in Hanzhong by myself!" ”

He needs to open up the silk tea trade road with the south, and it is unlikely that the east is temporarily impossible, so he can only find Zhang Yun who is soft persimmon first. Meng Zhixiang didn't agree, so he could only fight hard from Chencang Road to the south, and he also needed to discuss it with Li Jiyan, the envoy of Fengxiang Jiedu.

Li Qizheng was talking to Meng Yifan, but he saw that the guard Shi dared to come in to report, and Zhang Shu, the supervising army, sent someone from Jinyang to send an express report. Li Qi took the urgent report from Shi Kang's hand, and couldn't help but be overjoyed after reading it, and immediately ordered to return to Jinyang.

After returning to the palace, Li Qi immediately summoned Ren Yuan, Zhang Xian, Yuan Xingqin, and Lu Yan to the Wenhua Hall for discussion.

After these people arrived, Li Qi opened his mouth and said: "After Shuo Fang stayed, Han Cheng sent people to ask the imperial court for help, saying that Li Bin of the military academy was in rebellion according to Yanzhou and Dingbian Army, and it was no longer able to control it. Moreover, the Lingzhou army was unstable, and asked the imperial court to send a new envoy to stabilize Shuofang. This is a God-given opportunity, and you don't need to make a big move, you can take Lingzhou lightly. ”

Ren Yuan said: "What Your Majesty said is that if you don't take it, you will be blamed for it." It's just that this Han clan has been based in Lingzhou for decades, how could it cause such a big mess? ”

Li Qi said with a smile: "The year before last, Shuo Fang Jiedu made Han Zhu sick and died, and his son Han Pu succeeded him. It's just that Han Pu is only fifteen years old, and this Han Cheng bullied his nephew at a young age, and he actually wanted to learn from the king and stand on his own behalf of his nephew. It's a pity that he encouraged his subordinates to make trouble and killed Han Pu's family, although he stood on his own as the queen. But the matter is not confidential, this news leaked out, it turned out that some of Han Zhu's subordinates did not do it, judging from the news I obtained, Lingzhou is now on the verge of rebellion, if it is not dealt with in time, there will definitely be a big mess out. This Han Cheng may also have sensed that something was wrong, and he was willing to sacrifice his land to protect his whole family. ”

Yuan Xingqin said: "I knew this was the case, why bother in the first place, I don't know who Your Majesty wants to send?" ”

Li Qi said: "The veteran An Jinquan is ready to send a letter to the officer, hand over the Zhenwu army to the envoy, and the An family has to push up another one." An Xianhui has been the assassin of Ulzhou for many years, so he led 10,000 soldiers and horses to Lingzhou to replace Han Zhu as the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu to stabilize the place. As for Han Cheng, he was temporarily transferred to the Yanmen Festival envoy. ”

The armies around the Xin Dynasty have been changed to garrisons, and the Yanmen Jiedu envoy is an empty shelf, with no military power in his hands, just a name. After An Jin Quan Zhishi, Li Qi prepared to also empty the military power in the hands of the Zhenwu Jiedu envoys, and the command of the army was transferred to the hands of the defense envoys of the states.

It has been more than 40 years since the Han clan seized Shuofang during the pacification of Huangchao, and Li Qi has long wanted to intervene in Lingzhou, but now his hand has not been stretched out, but the other party automatically sent it to the door, which is an unexpected surprise. After mastering Shuofang, he will be able to connect to Hexi, and his own forces will be able to begin to infiltrate the Qilian Mountains.

After issuing an edict ordering An Xianhui to return to Jinyang, he immediately ordered Yuan Xingqin to mobilize troops and horses, and ordered his original general Kang Jiu to lead 3,000 Yunzhou horsemen to Lingzhou to help Han Cheng stabilize the situation.

Since the other party has taken refuge in himself, he must ensure that there will be no more accidents.

After more than two years of testing, the process of manufacturing sulfuric acid by the lead chamber method has gradually matured.

The saltpeter is added to the calciner for thermal decomposition, and the sulfuric acid raw gas can be obtained, and then the sulfur dioxide gas of 300~500 °C enters the denitrification tower filled with filler, and is in countercurrent contact with the sprinkled nitrate-containing sulfuric acid. Due to the increase in acid temperature, the nitrogen oxides in the nitrate-containing sulfuric acid are fully removed. A mixture of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, oxygen and water vapor drawn from the top of the tower passes through several lead chambers. In the lead chamber, sulfur dioxide is fully oxidized to sulfuric acid. Finally, through two series of packed nitrification towers, the cooled denitrification sulfuric acid is sprinkled in the tower to absorb nitrogen oxides, and the resulting nitrate-containing sulfuric acid is sent to the denitrification tower.

The six series of simple lead chambers built in Gujiao Iron Mill plus two denitrification towers have been able to start mass production of concentrated sulfuric acid. This is a good start, although the concentrated sulfuric acid produced in this way contains more impurities, and the scope of application is greatly limited, but it is enough to produce hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and caustic soda.

Nitric acid is the most important substance in the transition from the era of cold weapons to the age of hot weapons, and without such things, the preparation of smokeless gunpowder and explosives is simply impossible.

Now the production of black powder is becoming more and more refined, and its power has basically reached the standards of later generations.

The problem is that with the current metallurgical level, neither the Li family's iron mill nor the government-run iron mill under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu Prison can produce a gun chamber and barrel of sufficient strength. The craftsmen of the Li family have been trying to make muskets, and there is still a long way to go before they succeed, and the muskets developed are easy to explode, firstly, the strength of the steel is not enough, and secondly, the steel pipes that are rolled out are easy to burst.

Compared with black powder, as a traverser, Li Qi hopes to be able to mine the nitrate ore around Lop Nur in later generations. With enough nitrate resources, combined with glycerin extracted from the residue of soap production, nitrification of glycerin with nitric acid is the kind of thing that Nobel invented.

To be able to make explosives, and then stupidly hold on to the black powder with very limited power, is simply to get water in your brain. In addition, nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose are mixed and then pressed into pellets and cut into granules, which is smokeless gunpowder, and it is not particularly difficult to drum these things out.

This is a bit too far to go, and at least in five or six years, this goal will not be achieved......