After Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi stayed in Tianjin for more than a month, because although the large-scale high-temperature forging furnace concentrated the most elite talents in the empire, they could not make any breakthroughs in a short period of time, so they could only set off to return to Chang'an first. After all, this kind of equipment is not familiar with Qiaoxi, and if he stays here, he is afraid that it will put more pressure on these people, so he hurriedly handed over this matter to Qin Yao and Mu Chen to preside over and left. According to Li Xuanqing's estimate, even if it can't break through, it's actually not a big problem for the time being, but the tonnage of the hull can't be greatly increased.

"Your Majesty, you're finally back." Before Li Xuanqing returned to Chang'an, he was blocked by Zhang Jianzhong and Murong Hanhai at the entrance of the Qianqiu Palace.

"I said, how much trouble do you two have to get to the door of my dormitory?" Li Xuanqing was a little surprised and said: "I remember that now our Datang should be regarded as entering a period of rapid development, and there can be a period of stability in the northwest, what other big things can be?" ”

"Not only the prime minister and the third brother Murong, but also the fourth brother, they are also here." Before Li Xuanqing's words fell, he heard Qiaoxi walk out of the hall and said with a smile: "Big brother, look, the fourth brother walks with vague steps, and the pace is fast, it seems that something good has happened." ”

"Haha, it's still the third sister-in-law's subtle observation, it seems that my hard work has been wasted a lot in the past few years." Hu Xiaosi pulled Chen Fan, who was in charge of military production and logistics, and behind him, Xu Tianxiang and Wang Houchun looked at Hu Xiaosi with a wry smile.

"Forget it, let's go to Jicui Pavilion, Qiaoxi, let Ziyan take out the bauhinia tea, it just happens that there are more people, and we will each share a little." Li Xuanqing led everyone to the Jicui Pavilion next to the Qianqiu Hall leading to the Qujiang River and sat down, and then Ziyan had already placed cups for everyone, while Qiaoxi sat next to him and began to boil water and sencha.

"Tell me, what is it that makes you military and political dignitaries come and block my dormitory?" Li Xuanqing said with a smile: "If you can't say it, then I'm embarrassed, I'll punish you for inviting me and Qiaoxi to dinner, and you have to go to the best restaurant in Chang'an City." ”

"The emperor laughed, we are here because a major event has happened in the past month or so." A few people, you look at me, I look at you, and finally Zhang Jianzhong pushed Murong Hanhai beside him, and the latter smiled bitterly: "Let's talk about it, the trade volume in the northwest has increased significantly in the past month, and it has exceeded nearly forty percent in March, and the provisions of the commissioner of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Xihai County have also mentioned that the amount of food, clothes and arms sent to the Great Food Empire by them has nearly doubled compared with previous years." In addition to the natural growth, I am afraid that it is artificially increased by the Great Food Empire. ”

"So much?" Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi glanced at each other and nodded, "Does Xuanyingwei have the latest information?" Could it be that the Great Cannibals and the Great Qin people are fighting? Not if you extrapolate it in time, right? And have you received the latest military alert from the Western Expeditionary Army? ”

"Forget it, the emperor or I'll talk about it, what they say is basically one aspect." Hu Xiaosi scratched his head and smiled: "There is no news of the war from Taixi's side for the time being, but after the continuous war between Daqin and the Gauls, the Gauls have basically been suppressed in the area called the Gaul Plain, and the Roman Peninsula in the south has also been occupied by the Daqin Navy." And the Great Cannibals also gained a foothold in the Iberian Peninsula. Therefore, I guess that the two major groups are coincidentally ordering strategic materials such as arms and food from our Datang in large quantities at this moment, presumably in preparation for an arms race. ”

"I also agree with Commander Hu's opinion, but what makes us uncertain is that the amount of arms in this trade is too large." Zhang Jianzhong said with a smile: "Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce and the border customs show that the Great Qin and the Great Cannibals have ordered a total of nearly 200,000 guns from the empire, nearly 500 artillery pieces, and millions of shells and more bullets. Although the military trade has always been a violent business, the two empires ordered so many arms at once, and they also required us to complete the order by the end of August. ”

"In August." Li Xuanqing nodded thoughtfully, glanced at Hu Xiaosi, and when he saw that the other party was also nodding, he suddenly smiled and said: "Murong, after you go back, you will immediately sum up with Gao Chongmin, arrange the maximum productivity and capacity, and go all out to ensure that these orders are all completed, and if there is more, all of them will be sold." By the way, Murong, didn't your family get the production license for breech guns before? A new production line was set up immediately, and production was carried out at full capacity. Li Xuanqing's words surprised Zhang Jianzhong, who was present, and said: "Your Majesty, we have sold so many arms, once the other party divides the victory and defeat, such a huge weapon turns the gun and aims at my Datang, wouldn't it be lifting a stone to shoot yourself in the foot?" ”

"You guys don't mean the same thing, do you?" Li Xuanqing looked at Xu Tianxiang and the others, and when they saw that the other party had the same look on their faces, he immediately laughed and said: "The prime minister is not in the military, so I don't know how big the gap between the breech gun and our active breech gun is, and you don't know either?" Do you think that the gun array from the breech gun can deal with my Datang soldiers? ”

"The emperor misunderstood, we are not worried about this, even if they have a million breech guns, it is not of much use. Instead, news came back from the dark guards one after another, and Da Shi and Da Qin were concentrating on skilled craftsmen to imitate our gunpowder and guns. Although they don't have a good solution for rifling and bolting for the time being, they have already copied the gunpowder, and we are worried that they will be able to imitate our current medium and formal rifles sooner or later. Chen Fan interjected in a rare way at this time. Over the years, he has either plunged into the army to preside over the daily affairs of the army or stared at military production, so he said with a wry smile at this time: "I originally planned to let the Flying Eagle Brigade kill all these people, but considering the delicate relationship between our three empires at present, I can only give up, lest these two countries turn around and deal with us first." ”

"Chen Fan, what you said in the last few words is not bad, but the previous ones are not right." Li Xuanqing was also really helpless about Chen Fan's character of seeking stability in everything, and shook his head and said: "The gunpowder they configured belongs to the first generation of gunpowder, and it can't be compared with the chemical explosives we use today, and our white explosives are not something that their strength can imitate." So going to black powder doesn't have much effect on us. ”

Li Xuanqing ignored the thoughts of these guys, but Qiaoxi next to him saw Hu Xiaosi winking at him and immediately took over the conversation and said: "Big brother means, let's not be afraid of the spread and progress of technology. If we Datang want to maintain our technological superiority over Daqin and Dashi, it is not to stifle their own normal technological improvement, but to turn over and urge ourselves while understanding the progress of the other party, so that we can always maintain the technological lead over the other party, and we must always have the technology and methods to choke the opponent's life, and only in this way can we always maintain the advantage, so that the empire will always let the enemy bow down at the technical level. If this can't be done, even if the fourth brother orders to strangle the other party's technicians, but one day these technologies will appear again, this is the best reason of heaven. ”

Qiaoxi's words made everyone suddenly startled, and Li Xuanqing immediately continued: "I have already gathered people in Tianjin to start researching the high-temperature forging furnace, once successful, our shipbuilding technology and level will be on a higher level." All I have to do is learn to drive while others are still toddlers in Handan. Do you understand what that means? ”

"That's why the big brother thinks it's a great opportunity for us to make money. The arms trade has always been a huge profit among the windfall profits, and we want to take advantage of the opportunity of the other side's arms race to drain the blood of the two empires, Great Qin and Great Food, so as to ensure that the empire's economy provides sufficient sources of funds for further economic development. Qiaoxi poured tea for everyone and said: "Big brother has a lot of grand blueprints in the future, which need endless money and wealth to support. And the empire's industry needs a market large enough and a sufficient population base to absorb more and more industrial products in the future. So don't care about the other party's progress, as long as you always keep in mind what the big brother just said, when the other party is still a toddler in Handan, what we have to do is to learn to drive, always faster than the other party, always maintain the technical lead of the other party, and have the technology and method to choke the other party's life. ”

"What the emperor and the third sister-in-law mean is that they don't care whether the other party imitates our gunpowder or not, but pay attention to their own technological innovation, right?" Before Xu Tianxiang's words were finished, he heard Hu Xiaosi continue: "We still have to take care of it, and we can all see at a glance what the other party does." ”

"Well, it seems that Weichen is not determined enough, and he was a little panicked when he first encountered a major event." Zhang Jianzhong shook his head and smiled a little self-defeatingly.

"Actually, the prime minister is right, and the first time he took charge of the cabinet, he inevitably wanted not to make mistakes. But Brother Jianzhong, do you know? Today's Youzhou is the wind direction of the empire's industrial development. What Brother Jianzhong has to do is to let this wind blow to all parts of Datang, and to ensure that the wind direction is always continuous, and only by continuing can we ensure that industrial development can move forward bravely. Li Xuanqing waved his hand to signal Zhang Jianzhong not to be presumptuous.

"Your Majesty, we will arrange it immediately and mobilize the maximum capacity and productivity to complete the order." Zhang Jianzhong and Murong Hanhai glanced at each other and said with a smile: "This year, our cotton planting and cotton weaving have made great progress, and the grain output has surprised everyone, and our Tang Empire has the ability to help the two empires fight a big war at the same time. ”

"If we can't do this after so long in industry, then we have failed too much?" Li Xuanqing smiled slightly: "Inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact Daqin and Da Cannibal, and tell them that Datang has relaxed the restrictions on the amount of all export licensed goods, and as long as they have the money to pay for the goods, we will sell as much as they want." Li Xuanqing's words undoubtedly told everyone to take advantage of the opportunity of the other party's arms race to grab money, so Murong Hanhai couldn't sit still for a moment, and immediately pulled Zhang Jianzhong and hurried away, he wanted to adjust the internal potential as much as possible to dig out more money from Daqin and Da Shi, and send the other party's national disaster wealth At this time, the two of them were not taboo at all.

However, Zhang Jianzhong and Murong Hanhai left, but the others still didn't mean to get up at all, Li Xuanqing scolded with a smile: "If you don't leave, are you planning to come to me to eat?" Tell you, Qiaoxi and I just came back and have nothing, you come to eat and do it yourself. ”

"How can it, isn't there something that the emperor didn't order?" Xu Tianxiang smiled bitterly: "What the cabinet has decided is to grab money, so what are you going to do with the Western Expeditionary Army?" Do you want to remind the senior brother to prepare in advance? ”

"Senior brother is more detailed on the front line than we have, let him make his own decision, that is, the General Staff will transfer the reserve troops to Hexi and other places in advance." Li Xuanqing shook his head and smiled, "I guess what you guys are going to do here?" Wouldn't it be that the Navy was going to look for a second way? Tell you, not now, not only do our naval ships not have this ability for the time being, but also now is not the time. At least not until they go to war. Li Xuanqing ignored the thoughts of these guys, but turned around and smiled: "As for the matter on the navy's side, does Guo Chongtao plan to send Shandong-class battleships to remind the big cannibals?" Let him not act rashly for the time being. ”

"So I plan to let the secret guards go to the front line of the two armies and wait, and if there is an accident in the arms race between the two countries, we will provoke them to take action." Hu Xiaosi said with a smile: "And the dark guard has found a suitable place and a suitable candidate." ”

"Who?" Li Xuanqing didn't stop Hu Xiaosi's method of fearing that the world would not be chaotic, but he was very curious about the candidate he chose, so after turning his head, he only heard Hu Xiaosi say: "It is the crusader that the Gauls jointly organized before." ”

"It's a crusader, and that's a good choice. It seems that the brains of the Gauls are not bad, at least better than those of the Great Qin. Qiaoxi nodded thoughtfully: "Letting the Holy See make a move can not attract attention, and it can also bury a lead to facilitate future actions." But fourth brother, why do you think so long-term? Anyway, that doesn't seem to be your style? ”

"Third sister-in-law, don't look down on people, I'm also an imperial general, I still have this deep thought." Hu Xiaosi smiled slightly, but everyone present understood what the other party was doing at this moment.

"I said that a few of you have been staring at Zuo Tiancheng recently, and let the logistics department spare part of the transportation capacity to assist Murong and them, and ship all the goods we produced as soon as possible." Before Li Xuanqing's words were finished, Wang Houchun smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Lao Zuo hasn't made any progress in the past few years, but his ability to make money has increased a lot, and he is about to catch up with Murong Hanhai and them." On the one hand, the logistics department will go all out to assist the plan of the Ministry of Commerce, and on the other hand, the logistics department will also seize the time to transport military supplies to the Western Expeditionary Army, so as to prevent a big gap in the military needs of our Western Expeditionary Army in the event of an accident in the northwest. ”