Zhao Xingde also told Chen Dong and the others to move, and was about to get up, but was pulled by Zhang Bing beside him.

"Yuan Zhi, if you are short of money, if you say a word, Hugh will borrow from that merchant again. If the most important name of the scholar is spread, I am afraid it will not be good for you. Zhang Bing knew that Zhao Xingde's family was in the middle of the road, and he was often a little short of money, thinking that he was going to borrow money from the shopkeeper, the Zhang family was an official eunuch living in Bianliang, and he had a lot of savings.

Zhao Xingde was pulled by him, gratefully arched his hand at him, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang has a heart," he showed an embarrassed look on his face, and said in a low voice, "I can't hide it, I have a brother in Bianliang, who is addicted to gambling and owes a lot of money. Zhang Bing's face showed a sudden expression, and he let go of Zhao Xingde's arm with an "oh" sound. There is a way that the rivers and lakes do not help the poor, especially if you are involved in the bottomless pit of gambling ghosts, you can't borrow a penny.

"Brother Zhang cares about what he does, come, drink." Wu Zilong saw that Zhao Xingde declined Zhang Bing's kindness, picked up the wine glass, and said with a hint of meaning, "I think Yuan Zhi is everything else, but there is a trace of arrogance on his body, which makes people uncomfortable." ”

Zhao Xingde's father Zhao Tixin is listed in the Yuanyou Party Monument of the first servant system Zhao Tixin, when the prime minister Cai Jing was quite reused by the official family, in the middle of the court for a while, the old Prime Minister Sima Guang and a total of 309 people all slandered as friends, the party not only degraded the official exile, but also the so-called crime engraved monument as a memory, standing outside the Duanli Gate, called the party monument. Since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, Dr. Yourongshi boasted that he had never sinned against others. The party members repelled by Cai Jing were all over the government and the opposition, and almost resented the world. Most of the people listed on the party monument are honest people with official reputations, and the scholars are proud to be listed in the party. Although Zhao Tixin and his wife died of illness in exile, and the Zhao family was in the middle of the road, many pretentious prisoners were still secretly envious and jealous of Zhao Xingde's background after the Yuanyou party.

"It's not arrogance, it's arrogance." Zhang Bing pointedly corrected Wu Zilong's language disease, and watched Zhao Xingde's back disappear into the account room.

The shopkeeper smiled all over his face, rubbed his hands and said to Zhao Xingde: "You can be regarded as looking forward to it, if you don't renew the manuscript, three days later, our 'Fuhai Chaowen' will be interrupted." ”

Zhao Xingde's main words "Xianyuan Starry Sky" in Fuhai Commercial Bank after the back of the tabloid, the sales of the tabloid rose by eighty percent, although the tabloid for Fuhai Bank did not make much money, but it can greatly expand the influence of the firm in the market, for this flower shopkeeper is also very popular with the praise of the Kangda shopkeeper of Fuhai Xing Bianliang, and then asked Zhao Xingde to make another Xianxia, "Snow Shadow Fairy Record" came out, it was even more popular, but unfortunately Zhao Xingde asked to hide his identity as a student of Taixue, only used the pen name of "Bald Pen Weng", It makes the flower shopkeeper less of a lot of opportunities for hype.

In this era, the way to write a book and song is inferior after all, and it can only be used for a momentary emergency, but it must not be used to become famous. Among Taixue's classmates, there is only Chen Dong, who knows that Zhao Xingde is writing a novel, and he is the only one who will break this matter due to fate. Zhao Xingde didn't want to end up like the Liu Sanbian in history. However, it is strange to say that the Liu family in this world followed the Southern Tang Li Yu, who should have been poisoned by Zhao Guangyi, a hundred years ago, and voted for the Xia Kingdom that occupied Guanzhong, and the Liu family became a famous family in the Xia Kingdom for generations.

After handing over the manuscript to the flower shopkeeper, Zhao Xingde took the silver dollar with twenty round square holes, the inscription on the front of the silver dollar is "one or two of the silver pattern" four Chinese characters, and the back is coiled with a dragon with teeth and claws, and the inconspicuous part of the dragon's body is inscribed with the year and place of the silver dollar minting. This is the Xia Guo silver coin that runs through the eastern and western trade routes unimpeded, because it contains good silver fineness, sufficient weight, and exquisite casting, and is extremely popular everywhere. The Song court strictly forbade the flow of gold, silver, copper, iron and other metals out of the country, but did not prohibit the inflow of metal products. In fact, Fuhaixing can also pay for a more portable and more convenient registered bill, but Zhao Xingde refused because he was frightened by the financial turmoil and inflation in later generations. At this time, sixteen taels are a catty, and twenty silver dollars are more than a catty, and there is a heavy sense of solidity in the arms, if one or two silver is consistent money, twenty yuan is the food and clothing of the poor for most of the year, and the expenses of the well-paid forbidden army soldiers for a year are only fifty yuan.

The shopkeeper and Zhao Xingde have two clear money and goods, both of them are happy, Xingde is about to leave, and the shopkeeper of the flower is about to leave, and the shopkeeper of the flower is smiling again: "There is one more thing to congratulate Yuan Zhi, Fuhai Xing's bookstore in Chang'an intends to print out the two books of "Xianyuan Starry Sky" and "Xueyin Immortal Record" for sale, according to the publishing decree of Xia Guo, thirty percent of the book price will be handed over to the government as royalties, and the book number and number of copies will be obtained. The royalties are split between the government and the author, and when the book is printed and distributed for marketing, you will have money again. ”

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, he knew that according to the system of the Xia State, the author's consent was not required for book publishing, but the author could register a royalty amount from zero to ninety percent of the book price with the government. After this solid family became literate, there were also many people who liked to write for pastime. Therefore, in the right place of Guanzhong Longyou, the publishing industry is also extremely prosperous, and many people in the Song Kingdom have also benefited a lot from this, and they don't want to benefit themselves.

If he got a windfall, Zhao Xingde arched his hand and said with a smile: "Then there is the trouble of the shopkeeper." The shopkeeper waved his hand and said with a smile: "Everyone is rich, you don't have to be polite." ”

Carrying a heavy silver dollar, Zhao Xingde returned to the seat of the student. After a while, a few classmates and friends began to talk loudly about current affairs again.

If the Tai students and others are future officials of the empire, it is also appropriate to discuss current affairs. As the so-called Shinong businessmen and businessmen are in their own places, and the grass people have to take risks when discussing current affairs, so the businessmen and other idle people at the table next to them only eat their own food, and do not mix with these young scholars in Taixue.

"There is nothing more misleading than firecrackers! Flower Stone! Chen Dong was surrounded by seven or eight acquaintances in the middle, and he was impassionedly shouting, "Flowers and stones are quarried in Lingnan, and thousands of people go deep into the wilderness, digging through the valley, and they don't see the light of day all year round. Lingnan is close to the toe, the people were originally fierce, and the people have changed repeatedly, and this flower stone gang has made great efforts. Flower stone carved in Jiangdong, a stone and a pillar of the formation, must go through years of work, stone into the south of the Yangtze River people's strength. Flower stone is used in Bianliang, there is a good on the top, and it will be even worse under it, the dignitaries and eunuchs and rich businessmen and giants compete to follow suit, for this good thing, the hunger can not eat, the cold can not be clothed, and the wealth of the world is exhausted! ”

Contrary to what Zhao Xingde originally knew, there was a much more powerful Xia state than the Western Xia of the party in this era that occupied a vast area west of Hangu Pass, and the tentacles of the Xia state even extended beyond the Green Mountains to Central Asia, where many Persian craftsmen and architects were obtained. They introduced to the Central Plains the architectural style made of huge stones, which is very magnificent. In the past two generations, the outside of the imperial palace of the Song Kingdom began to use a large number of marble columns and relief decorations, which drove the entire Bianliang to become a city with extensive use of marble buildings. Looking from afar, the capital of white marble, the roof is covered with gold dust, like a fairyland. The officials of the Great Song Dynasty and the high-ranking officials of the entire imperial court spared no effort to excavate, polish, carve, and transport marble from all over the country to Bianliang, which is what Chen Dong called the "Huashi Gang".

"Brother Shaoyang's words are reasonable," Deng Su echoed, "The flower stone and the fire gun are all things from the Xia country, and it is annoying that the flower stone depletes my people's power and national use, but it is even more hateful that the fire gun makes the armies have no combat power." It could not reach far, nor did it have any head, and it was even more useless when it was raining and wet. The forbidden army made the bow and crossbow face the enemy, and could fire at least three arrows, but after switching to a firearm, it could only be fired once. The only advantage of switching to firearms is just to save effort. But that's what happened to the stabbing soldiers who voted for the abandoned martial arts, and since the first emperor, many forbidden army crossbowmen who switched to using firearms can no longer pull their bows and shoot arrows. ”

"Exactly!" Chen Dong applauded, "The extravagance of flowers and stones has made our country have no usable wealth, and the fire is so great that our country has no usable soldiers." At this moment, all the students who had gathered in the fast applauded. At this time, the concept of opposing the change of firearms in Taixue was very popular, but Zhao Xingde, who knew the power of firearms in later generations, did not think so, he was unwilling to do senseless arguments with his classmates, but the corners of his mouth showed a hint of a nonchalant smile, unfortunately Chen Dong glimpsed, his face turned pale, and said: "Yuan Zhi seems to have other insights, and he still wants to give advice?" ”

Hearing Chen Ran attack on himself, Zhao Xingde hurriedly restrained his smile, and said: "Although this fire gun is unbearable to use, the word 'labor-saving' mentioned by the first brother is the benefit of it. ”

All the classmates looked at each other, and Deng Su was even more angry, and said in his heart: "Yuan Zhi, do you want to humiliate me?" Chen Dong immediately reprimanded: "To be virtuous, you must be sincere in discussing state affairs, but you can't do such child's play." Chen Dong and Deng Su are both students who have studied from the lower house to the upper house, they are nearly thirty years old, and their generosity is still no less than the juniors in their twenties.

Compared with more than 20,000 redundant officials living in Bianliang, the young Tai bachelor's attitude towards the Great Song Dynasty's national fortune is extremely intense and eager, seeing that many of his classmates are looking at him, Zhao Xingde only felt that his scalp was numb, and he had to cough, and asked rhetorically: "Our country has always emphasized literature and light martial arts, and adhered to the policy of guarding the internal void and the outside, accumulating heavy and difficult to return. ”

Although the Song State claimed to have 800,000 elite forbidden troops, it could not have an advantage over the Liao or Xia people. Seeing that all his classmates hung their heads and were silent, Zhao Xingde continued: "Although the bow and crossbow are good, but those with strong strength cannot open the bow, although the fire gun is not good, but a person with ordinary strength can also fire it with a little practice." Compared with my country, whether it is the Khitan or the Xia State, the military strength is quite strong, and the advantage of our Great Song Dynasty is that there are many household registrations, and the civil power is almost twice that of the sum of Liaoxia. Compared with these two countries, the people's power of the Great Song Dynasty is inexhaustible, as long as the fire gun is constantly reformed, so that its power is better than the bow and crossbow, even if it is the Youyan Iron Cavalry of the Liao State and the elite of the forbidden army of the Xia State, it cannot be lightly invaded against our country. ”

The classmates originally only saw that the strength of the forbidden army was reduced by the use of firearms, but Zhao Xingde changed his perspective and saw that the requirements for the users of the firecrackers were reduced, so that the rich civilian power of the Great Song Dynasty could be converted into more military resources. Some of the students had unconvinced looks on their faces, while others were amazed.

Deng Su immediately said: "Improving the fire gun to make it more powerful than the bow and crossbow, you said it simply, but in fact, how difficult it is." The fire gun was passed on from the Xia State, and so far in addition to the artillery, the Xia State army still only uses the divine arm crossbow and the repeating crossbow, and only the regimental training and the city guards use the fire gun, if the power of the fire gun can easily beat the bow and crossbow, how can it be so? ”

Zhao Xingde didn't answer, but he heard a loud voice say: "What Yuan Zhi said is not unreasonable," it was Zhang Bing who spoke, he saw everyone looking over, and continued: "Mr. Zhoushan once said, the race in the world fights, the way of fighting and the way of daily work and rest are similar to the one wins, the way of fighting and the way of daily work and rest is contrary to the way of life and the way of life is defeated, the Khitan people are good at horseback and are accustomed to hunting, if they blindly compete with them with a bow and crossbow, they will inevitably attack the enemy's strength with their own shortcomings." The method of manufacturing and operating this firearm is quite cumbersome, and the Khitan people may not have this ability, but it is suitable for the meticulous temperament cultivated by our country and our people all year round. ”

Zhang Bing's so-called gentleman, surnamed Huang Mingjian, the word Baishi, Mr. Zhoushan, the champion and the first in the Shengzong Yuanfu period, the current official residence is too often Shaoqing, can be regarded as an important minister with considerable opinions between the old and new parties in the court, in the court and in the opposition, he has written books and said for decades, and there are countless disciples and his reputation is grand.

At this time, Zhang Bing quoted the old gentleman's words, but no one refuted them for a while.

Zhao Xingde also nodded, and said: "There is another advantage of the fire in my Great Song Dynasty, that is, it is deeply in line with the internal and external guards under the system of Emperor Taizu, and will be the way of the middle emperor." As long as the consumption and replenishment of gunpowder in the border armies of each town are tightly controlled, if there is no ammunition supply, the guns of the border armies will be like scrap metal. The students thought about it, and the imperial court was desperate to replace the bow and crossbow, and this last point mentioned by Zhao Xingde was the key.

Chen Dong also came back to his senses at this time, and said with a smile: "Hu Lu is stupid and careless, he will not be good at such delicate things as firearms, after replacing the bow and crossbow with firearms, the imperial court has controlled the gunpowder, and is not afraid of the backlash of the feudal towns, and the troops of the Zhuxing battalions in Hebei and Hedong can also be doubled and enriched, so that the recovery of Yanyun is just around the corner." ”

The person at the next table snorted and said, "The scholar is talking." The burning stick actually relied on like a treasure, and the fire stick could only be sounded once when facing the enemy. Charge the formation with cavalry, just let the elite of the striker cover two layers of iron armor, and use the heavy cavalry of the dead to charge the fire array, just wait for the firearm to sound, the rest of the cavalry on all sides, swords, spears and sticks to fight indiscriminately, will be able to break these chickens and dogs. ”

Zhao Xingde and the others didn't expect someone to talk, and turned their heads to look at it together, only to see that it was one of the people wearing a dogskin hat, with a square face, both cheeks and chin were beards, and the face was extremely rough, but they couldn't see the specific age, and they were wearing a cotton robe commonly used in the Central Plains in winter.

All the prisoners are all Zhao Kuo who talks on paper, and he can't see the origin of this group of people, listening to the man who said that he wants to use heavy armor and iron horses to rush the fire gun formation, I don't know if it's true or not, and casually agreeing to it will inevitably make people laugh, so he can't say it, some of them originally questioned the fire gun, but also the heart of the iron horse bow and crossbow is the way to win, and the face showed a look that I knew was like this.

Everyone looked at each other, but Zhao Xingde smiled and said: "The cost of one horse is enough for five foot soldiers, if there are five thousand foot soldiers, only two thousand heavy armor sword and shield spearmen need to form a formation to block the enemy in front, and the other three thousand fire gunners are divided into three teams, one team is to send guns, one team is waiting for the enemy, one team is charged, and three teams are bombarded in the loop, even if there are 1,000 iron cavalry to attack, it is enough to deal with it." The students said yes.

But Zhao Xingde said this because he was a trick. With only 2,000 elite heavily armored infantry soldiers waiting for the enemy, even if a thousand iron cavalry attacked, they were not afraid, not to mention that there were 3,000 firearms bombarding in the back loop, which was almost a sure victory. Although the Privy Council has a saying that the cost of a horse is five steps, the cavalry will never charge five times the elite foot soldiers of their own. The power of the Liaoren's iron cavalry is that it is in front of it, and it is suddenly behind, drifting back and forth, which makes people tired and unprepared. The man didn't want him to be so tricky, but he had proposed the method of charging the formation with iron cavalry before, and he couldn't help but feel a little red-faced, and looked at Zhao Xingde with a pair of eyes wide, and the blue tendons on his face burst out, as if he was about to jump up.

Zhao Xingde was about to give up, but he saw that a person at the same table with the rough man seemed to whisper something, the man had a happy face, and said loudly: "The great enemy of the Song State is the Khitan, and there are as many bows and hunting clans in the Liao Kingdom, and there are no less than 400,000 cavalry available in the country. ”

At this time, the Great Song Dynasty forbidden army claimed to have 800,000 people, plus the box army, the number of soldiers in the country exceeded one million, the cost of redundant soldiers has made the imperial court anxious, and it is impossible to train two million forbidden troops. At the same time, he couldn't help but look down on the rough man, and he could jump from the simple battle between the two armies to the financial and economic aspects of the imperial court, which shows that he is not a general person who only knows how to fight bravely.

Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, arched his hand to him, and said in a deep voice: "I went around in a circle, and returned to the front, I have already made it clear that the fire gun saves effort, and the fire gun hand is not as durable and practiced as the bow and crossbow, if it is the Song Liao army, you only need to recruit the village warriors, and with a little training, you can use it as a fire gunner, replacing the use of the crossbowman, I think my big Song household account is tens of millions, and I can recruit more than 20 million strong men, if it really comes to that time, why is it difficult to train a million firecrackers?" ”

The rough man was stunned for a moment, recalling that Zhao Xingde had indeed said that the fire hammer hand was easy to train, and he didn't know how to refute it, and subconsciously glanced to the side, but saw the person next to him writing a word on the table with chopsticks dipped in water, and couldn't help but soften his face, patted his head, and said with a smile: "I was almost surrounded by scholars, and I only need one thing to beat your foot soldiers." He held back his words, bought a pass, and looked proudly at the scholar of the Song Kingdom opposite.

Zhao Xingde looked at the companion next to the rough man, and saw that the man had an ordinary face, just lowered his head and drank tea, and didn't look at his side, as if he was out of the way, but obviously he gave guidance to his companion twice. Zhao Xingde pondered slightly, his fingers swiped slightly on the table, and he raised his head and said to the rough man and his companions: "There are advantages and disadvantages, although the thing you rely on is a sharp weapon to break the infantry formation, it is just a little cumbersome, and the cavalry moves with it, binding hands and feet, and it is a mixed pros and cons." If the two armies clash, it is not yet known who will kill the deer! ”

The man didn't expect Zhao Xingde to guess what he said, and looked at him in disbelief, the two of them were playing dumb riddles, but they suffocated the Taixue supervisor next to him, Chen Dong said in a low voice: "What kind of ordnance is it, so powerful." Leaning over to see Zhao Xingde in front of him, the words written on the table with wine were a cannon word, and unlike the cannon word next to the stone character usually used at this time, the left side was next to the fire word, which made people know that it was an artillery at a glance.

The man sitting next to the rough man pondered Zhao Xingde's words carefully, sighed in a low voice, stretched out his hand to erase the word on the table, it was also a cannon word, but it was just a cannon next to the stone character that was commonly used at this time for writing. Although she was a little dissatisfied with the noise of these prisoners in the inn, she did not want to cause trouble, and just reminded her that this genus around her was only occasional, and seeing that there were also capable people among the prisoners of Song Guo, she no longer entangled herself, and only lowered her head to drink tea and eat. When the rough man saw that the lord no longer spoke, nor did he make a sound, a dozen people ate and drank, and after a short time got up and left the inn.