Yang Wu led his group to watch the artillery drill on the shooting range, and in a short period of time, more than ten rounds were fired in a row, but there was not a single explosion.

The artillery of this exercise, according to the division of later generations, should be regarded as smoothbore cannons, and the weight of the shells is about six catties, which can only be regarded as a small cannon in later generations, but in this era, its power is extremely strong.

If compared with the Suzhou gun, the range of this six-pound gun is at least twice that of the Suzhou gun, and because it is a direct aim, its hit rate is much higher than that of the Suzhou gun.

In terms of firing speed, this kind of gun can fire one round in about five minutes, which is slightly faster than that of the Suzhou gun.

As for the destructive power caused by hitting the target, although the stone projectiles fired by the Suzhou cannon are heavier, because of the low initial velocity, its destructive power is not stronger than that of the artillery.

As for the weight and the number of soldiers needed, the artillery also had a slight advantage over the Suzhou gun; As for the volume, the advantage of artillery is not even more than a half.

There are advantages in so many aspects, plus the problem of easy exploding is basically solved, so the superiority of the artillery is quickly manifested.

This time, there was no need for Yang Wu to say more, and the generals in those armies nodded and said: "Your Majesty, this thing is a siege weapon, and it is more convenient than the Suzhou cannon; And if you can carry it in a horse-drawn cart, won't you be able to use it in the field? ”

Li Chengding, who deliberately rushed back from Huaizhou, had a bright eye when he heard this, but then shook his head again: "The casting speed of this kind of artillery is still too slow, if it is a cavalry, it only takes the time to fire one shell at most, and the enemy has already rushed over." So the significance of being used in field warfare is not great. ”

However, the cavalry governor Chai Kehong said: "It also depends on where it is, if it is used on flat ground, the enemy cavalry will naturally be able to rush over quickly; But if you fight in the mountains, with artillery on the slopes of the hills and infantry below, wouldn't it be possible to bombard the enemy continuously? ”

Yang Wu said with a smile: "Yes, the emergence of new weapons will definitely bring new tactics, and as a general in the army, you must also think more about how to use artillery." ”

Then, he looked at He Jingzhu, Sima Fu and the others, the governors of the navy: "Not only on land, if your navy warships can be equipped with this artillery, it will definitely be more powerful." At that time, you don't even need to engage in hand-to-hand combat, you can sink enemy ships directly with artillery! ”

He Jingzhu and the others were also thinking about this question just now, and after Yang Wu broke it, they suddenly said excitedly: "Your Majesty, if each ship can be loaded with a few cannons, our navy will be invincible!" ”

"How many doors are loaded?" Yang Wu smiled when he heard this: "No, a few artillery pieces are too few. In the future, we must build a big ship, a big ship is equipped with hundreds of cannons, dozens of big ships are lined up, and thousands of cannons bombard the enemy, that is the real big scene, and that can really be invincible! ”

"Count, thousands?" He Jingzhu and the others were dumbfounded when they heard this.

In their hearts, like when they attacked Hangzhou, the Wu army used hundreds of Suzhou cannons, which was already a rare big scene; Unexpectedly, Yang Wu's idea was to bombard the enemy with thousands of artillery, but he really had too little knowledge?

But then they became excited, if the navy can really bombard the enemy with thousands of cannons one day as Yang Wu said, then how strong will Wu's navy be?

Of course, they also know that there may be such a day, but it is by no means achievable in the short term; And at present, the Wu army has not encountered a strong enough enemy, even if it builds such a powerful fleet, there is no suitable opponent, it is a complete waste.

You must know that today's artillery is cast with bronze materials, and now the currency of Wu also uses copper, which can be said to be completely using money to cast cannons, and the price is frighteningly expensive.

……

The appearance of artillery is of great significance to the Wu army, and with this thing, the Wu army will have great convenience in the future, whether it is defending or attacking the city.

Especially in terms of siege, the siege means of this era are relatively weak, even if there are Suzhou cannons, it is still difficult to capture some fortified cities, because the stone projectiles fired by Suzhou cannons are parabolic and have a low hit rate on the city walls.

However, the artillery can directly aim at the city wall for continuous bombardment, and the difficulty of attacking the city will undoubtedly be much reduced.

In addition, Yang Wu also specially ordered craftsmen to start casting larger artillery, such as heavy artillery weighing tens of thousands of catties and capable of firing twenty catties of cannonballs.

With the gradual popularization of artillery, Yang Wu soon added the subject of artillery to Luoyang's martial arts, and asked each army to send enough soldiers to learn how to operate artillery.

……

Yecheng.

In the palace, a big drama had just ended, and many servants slowly withdrew.

Jing Jin, who was favored by Li Cunqing, stepped forward and asked with a smile on his face, "Your Majesty, do you want to do it again?" ”

Li Cunmiao hesitated a little when he heard this, and then shook his head and said: "Forget it, Zhang Juhan's guys are going to meet before, let them wait for so long, if they are allowed to wait any longer, I am afraid that they will be dissatisfied." ”

Jing Jin said with a smile: "Your Majesty is joking, Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and Zhang Juhan and the others are just your courtiers, so let the courtiers wait for the Son of Heaven, isn't it a matter of course?" If they were truly loyalists, there would be no discontent; If they harbor resentment in their hearts, they are disloyal to His Majesty. ”

Li Cunmiao waved his hand when he heard this, signaled him not to say any more, and turned to the attendant: "Let Zhang Juhan and the others come in!" ”

As in history, Li Cunmiao still likes to watch operas, and is extremely fond of those good singers who sing operas, and listens to a few plays almost every day, and sometimes he even sings in person, and takes his stage name "Li Tianxia".

Once, Li Cunqiao frolicked with all the servants, looking around and shouting: "Li Tianxia, where is Li Tianxia?" ”

The servant Jing Xinmo stepped forward and slapped him with a raised hand.

Li Cunmiao was suddenly stunned, and the servants were also shocked.

Jing Xinmo smiled unhurriedly: "There is only one emperor in the world, who are you shouting about?" The servants all laughed.

After hearing this, Li Cunmiao was not only angry, but rewarded Jing Xinmo.

It can be seen from this that Li Cunmiao's favor for the servants has reached an absurd level.

However, this time and space is different from the original history after all, after Li Cunqiao destroyed the Houliang in the original history, there is no rival in the world, and it is inevitable that he will be proud of his achievements.

And now Li Cunmiao has experienced a fiasco in Pingyin, although his will is a little depressed, but after all, he is not confused, and he knows that military affairs cannot be ignored, so although he favors the servants, he still keeps it within the normal range and does not make too much trouble.

After a while, Zhang Juhan, Zhang Xian, Ren Yuan and others came in, and when they saw Li Cunmiao, they hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the climate in Hebei this year is very different from previous years, with a continuous drought in spring and summer, and no crops have been harvested; After that, from June to some time ago, there was a continuous heavy rain, and it never stopped. ”

"Now there is a flood in various places, and there are many homeless people; I beg Your Majesty to immediately allocate money and food to help the victims! ”

Li Cunmiao was immediately displeased when he heard this: "Didn't I already give an order to let the tenant envoy immediately provide relief to the victims, could it be that the tenant envoy regarded my edict as a child's play?" ”

Zhang Juhan smiled bitterly when he heard this: "Your Majesty, of course the tenant does not dare to ignore His Majesty's edict, but the treasury has long been empty, how can he help the victims?" ”

Li Cunqiao was silent and asked, "Then what is Aiqing's good plan?" ”

"The minister thinks that His Majesty should open the inner treasury and use the money and grain from the inner treasury for disaster relief!"

Li Cunmiao heard this and said angrily: "The treasury of the central government is short of money, isn't there a shortage of my inner treasury?" ”

"Your Majesty, if the disaster is rampant today, and there are many displaced people, if you don't provide disaster relief, I'm afraid it will cause a big change!" On the side, Zhang Xian hurriedly persuaded him.

Li Cunqiao waved his hand when he heard this, and said, "Some disaster victims, what kind of chaos will they make?" If I dare to rebel, is my army just an ornament? ”

Ren Yuan said: "Your Majesty, if it is just the people who are in turmoil, there will naturally be no big problem, but what if the soldiers are also in turmoil?" ”

Li Cunmiao's eyes froze, and he said in a deep voice: "What does Aiqing mean?" ”

"Your Majesty, there have been floods in various places, and many of the families of the soldiers have also suffered disasters, if the court ignores the disaster, I am afraid that the soldiers will be dissatisfied in their hearts!"

Li Cunqiao was silent.

Ren Yuan continued: "And this year's catastrophe, there are many arrears of rents in various places, and now there is no money in the treasury, and even the salaries of hundreds of officials will not be able to be paid soon, and the military rations of the soldiers will also be affected; If this continues, not only will the officials be separated from His Majesty, but I am afraid that the soldiers from all over the country will also be dissatisfied. ”

Li Cunmiao stretched out his hand to touch his forehead, only to feel a headache.

He was not good at managing domestic affairs in the first place, and now he encountered such a severe financial situation, and he suddenly did not know how to deal with it.

In fact, the financial crisis of the Later Tang Dynasty has existed for a long time, and during the confrontation with the Later Liang Jiahe River, there were problems with the logistics supply of the Jin State, and they could not afford to fight the kind of long-term war of attrition; Later, he was defeated in a war with the state of Wu, which further dragged down the finances of the state of Jin.

But at that time, after all, it was wartime, and the Jin State was united, and everyone could work hard to eliminate the Later Liang or attack the Wu State, even if there was some internal dissatisfaction, it would be covered by external contradictions; Now, with the suspension of foreign wars, internal contradictions have suddenly become prominent.

Especially this year, it happened that Hebei encountered another catastrophe, and many places had no harvest, which suddenly caused the financial collapse of the Later Tang Dynasty.

If it was just ordinary people who were affected, Li Cunqiao wouldn't care too much; But now that even the soldiers are involved, Li Cunqiao has to pay attention to it.

At this time, Zhang Xian said again: "Your Majesty, it is better to help the people with the money and grain from the inner treasury first, and when the disaster year passes, the tax revenue of the coming year will naturally return to normal, and then you will be able to make up for the loss of the inner treasury." ”

Li Cunmiao nodded after hearing this and said, "Okay, since that's the case, then follow what you Aiqing said!" ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" Zhang Juhan and the others hurriedly said.

After Zhang Juhan and the others retreated, Li Cunqiao returned to the harem and told Empress Liu about it.

Empress Liu was immediately displeased and said: "Your Majesty reigns over the world, although it is by force, but it is also the destiny of heaven. The Mandate of Heaven is in the hands of Heaven, so what can those ordinary mortals do to His Majesty? Zhang Juhan and the others are just exaggerating and deliberately scaring His Majesty, so that all the money from the inner treasury can be used to subsidize the outer treasury! ”

Li Cunmiao was originally a little reluctant to take the money and grain from the inner treasury to disaster relief, but at this time, he became even more hesitant after listening to Empress Liu's words.

Empress Liu said again: "Your Majesty, we don't have much money and food in the treasury, and Your Majesty likes to listen to dramas, if you take all the money and food to disaster relief, I'm afraid that Your Majesty won't be able to listen to dramas if you want to." ”

Listening to the servants singing, this can be said to be Li Cunmiao's favorite thing besides personally leading the troops to fight, especially after becoming emperor, he became more addicted to listening to operas, even to the point that he couldn't leave for a moment.

At this time, hearing Empress Liu say this, he was even more reluctant in his heart.

But after all, he is the Son of Heaven, and he just promised Zhang Juhan and others, if he turns his face in a blink of an eye, it is not good after all.

So he asked, "Now that I have promised Zhang Juhan and the others, what can I do?" ”

Empress Liu smiled slightly, "What's so difficult about this?" His Majesty summoned Zhang Juhan and others and said that he would renegotiate the matter. The remaining concubines will help His Majesty to send them away. ”

……

After a while, Zhang Juhan and the others, who had just left, returned to the palace, and Li Cunqiao met them in a side hall, and behind a screen, Empress Liu was listening with her ears pricked up at this time.

After a while, when Zhang Juhan and others mentioned again that they would use the money and grain from the inner treasury to help the victims, Empress Liu took out her usual dressing utensils, three silver basins, and Li Cunqiao's three young sons.

Seeing Zhang Juhan and the others, Empress Liu sneered and said sharply: "The world says that there are many savings in the palace, but in fact, it is just wrong, and the finances of the envoys of the assassins and festivals in various places have actually been rewarded a long time ago; Now that's all you have left in the Inner Treasury, and if you want to use the money and food in the Inner Treasury to support the army, then take these things and sell them! ”

Zhang Juhan and the others were shocked and annoyed by Empress Liu's rogue methods, but even if they were given ten guts, they would not dare to sell the queen's dressing utensils, not to mention that there were three princes among them.

Li Cunmiao pretended to be displeased and said, "What does the queen mean by this?" Although there isn't much money in the palace, it's not so poor, right? ”

Empress Liu cried: "Your Majesty is busy dealing with military affairs on weekdays, and the palace is taken care of by concubines; Therefore, His Majesty does not know the situation in the palace, and he has really reached a situation where he can barely maintain it. If His Majesty insists on using the inner treasury money to help the victims, then the concubine will have to weave it herself and sell it for some money to maintain it! ”

Li Cunmiao sighed when he heard this, and turned his head to look at Zhang Juhan and the others: "You Aiqing have also seen it, it's not that I don't want to use the money in the inner treasury for disaster relief, it's really that the inner treasury doesn't have any money!" ”

Zhang Juhan and the others were shocked and angry, but the matter had come to this point, and they didn't dare to say any more, so they had to say goodbye and leave.