Li Buqi believes that Pang Ji is still very talented in handling political affairs, and changing someone to be the prime minister may not be able to do a better job than Pang Ji. And as long as the current Pang Ji is still in the position of prime minister, he must find a way to break the credit, even if he does not give up with him, he will not dare to stumble easily, but it is difficult to say how the new prime minister will drive. Therefore, the first article in the article is to suggest that the emperor maintain the stability of the court and not change the prime minister for the time being. Then he asked for the two original envoys of Quang Nam to be allowed to make meritorious contributions in their original positions.

As far as he knew, these two people actually had some level, and they were the head snakes of the land, so that they would be grateful to Dade, and things would be much easier to do in Quang Nam in the future.

Li Buqi saw that the emperor was now about to have no master, so he put forward several more conditions than before, such as setting up a gunpowder workshop in Guangzhou, conscripting troops on the spot to form a box army, and the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau and the police department stationed in Guangnan need to obey Li Buqi's jurisdiction, and Li Buqi will organize a naval army in Guangzhou to prevent Jiaozhi.

Now that Guangnan is in chaos to this point, Zhao Zhen can't take care of it, and Li doesn't give up the reason is very legitimate, Zhao Zhen agreed. Only on the issue of the gunpowder workshop, Zhao Zhen was still very hesitant. Because since last year, with the cooperation of Li Buqi, the Royal Test Ground, the Ordnance Supervisor and the Qingyuan Academy, the power of gunpowder has become more and more powerful, and it is said that it can destroy the city and uproot. What the Zhao Guanjia is most afraid of is that the rebels have such a big killing weapon in their hands, how can they rest assured that remote Guangzhou can create such a terrifying thing?

Zhao Zhen frowned: "Don't give it up, it's better to ship gunpowder and other heavy weapons to Guangnan after they are made in the capital." If a workshop is set up in Guangzhou, I am afraid that the method of making gunpowder will be scattered into the hands of people with bad intentions. ”

Li Buqi said firmly: "Your Majesty only knows that gunpowder is very powerful as a weapon, but he doesn't know that if you use it to build roads and fields, you can save a lot of manpower. Quang Nam was mountainous but lacked manpower, so the ministers had to build bridges and pave roads and camp fields there, and the amount of gunpowder needed was a huge amount. Probably Your Majesty didn't know that although gunpowder was powerful, it also had many shortcomings. First of all, one is susceptible to moisture, and it is useless when wet. Quang Nam is extremely humid, so it must be used on the spot and cannot be stored for a long time. Second, after the bumpy long-distance transportation, the power of gunpowder was greatly reduced. The gunpowder manufactured by the Jingshi Ordnance Supervision was transported to Quang Nam, but it was bumpy and damp, and it was useless when it arrived in Quang Nam. In the end, what is needed is that the current gunpowder recipe is indeed obtained from the maritime merchants, and it is not original to the ordnance supervisor, and it is not of great use to keep it secret from the imperial court. ”

At this time, gunpowder was only a simple mixture of sulfur, potassium nitrate and charcoal, due to the large surface area, it was easy to absorb moisture, and after moisture absorption, it would seriously affect the effect, and even directly become a hard lump and completely fail. The specific gravity of sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal is different, once it is vibrated for a long time, the powder with a large proportion will sink, resulting in uneven mixing and affecting the use effect. Although Li Buqi knew the way to solve the problem, in order to give the people of the Great Song Dynasty a chance to study, he did not say the method, which is what it is now.

"Oh? And what else is there? Zhao Zhen really didn't know that there was such a thing. Zhang Yonghe, who was in the palace, immediately reported: "Qiqi official, the current gunpowder recipe is indeed obtained from the maritime merchants, and there are indeed these two problems. A while ago, Li Zhongzheng was busy with others looking for a solution. Moreover, although the method of making gunpowder is simple, it needs to make sulfur and saltpeter pure, so that gunpowder is powerful. And saltpeter must be refined, otherwise the gunpowder will often explode at the slightest touch. Sulfur and saltpeter were refined in the capital, and even if a thief obtained gunpowder, he could not make gunpowder with such power as the ordnance superintendent. ”

Zhao Zhen thought that since this gunpowder recipe was not unique, and Li Buqi needed to build roads and fields to develop production, and repay millions of debts, Li Buqi was one of the people who knew the gunpowder manufacturing method best, and it was not interesting to beware of him, so he repeatedly instructed Li Buqi to prevent the leakage of the gunpowder manufacturing method and agreed to Li Buqi's request.

At this time, Pang Ji suddenly asked: "Zhongzheng, this Chen Zhong, only wrote that the light and strong people were recruited on the spot to enrich the Xiang army, but did not say how many forbidden troops would be used. I don't know how many troops will be transferred to Quang Nam? ”

Li Buqi looked surprised: "Didn't Vice President Di already lead an army of 200,000 to the south?" With the right strategy, these 200,000 troops are enough. ”

The emperor didn't understand, but Pang Ji, who had led troops in Shaanxi and Hedong, knew that the so-called "200,000" was just a claim, and after removing all kinds of water, there were only 50,000 or 60,000 people in total, plus the troops in Jinghu and Guangnan under the command of Di Qing at that time, that is, about 100,000 people. If the Jiaozhi people really sent 50,000 troops, plus Nong Zhigao's 20,000 troops, in his opinion, Di Qing and Li Buqi would not be able to cope with it at all, not to mention that the northern soldiers were still unaccustomed to the soil and water in the south. In line with the attitude of being responsible for the Great Song Dynasty, Pang Ji said: "Zhongzheng just said that the enemy is lenient, and if the Jiaozhi people intend to attack on a large scale, they are only afraid of ......."

Wang Deyong also said: "Zhongzheng should not be careless. ”

Li Buqi said with a wry smile: "According to my calculations, it would be good if the dilapidated Guangnan two roads could support the army led by Vice Pivot Di to fight. Therefore, we can only adopt a step-by-step strategy, and prepare to use two to three years to pacify the two Guangzhou. In this way, there are more people and more logistical pressure. However, there is no need to worry about the servants and the Duke of Qi Guo, most of the people of the Great Song Dynasty are loyal to His Majesty, as long as His Majesty has an order, King Qin will definitely be indispensable in the future. These people are familiar with the local water and soil, and as long as they are properly organized, they may not play a smaller role than the original officers and soldiers. ”

The emperor was even more happy when he saw that Li Buqi did not need to increase his troops, because as the troops were sent out, the money and grain in the treasury would also flow out, and he was really anxious now because of financial difficulties. Ouyang Xiu and others are shouting every day that the people are unbearable, although there is a police department and the local government to suppress it, more and more people are scattered into thieves, and even the area around Gyeonggi is not stable, and the emperor is really worried about continuing to loot the officials and force the people to rebel.

So seeing that Pang Ji and the others had no objection to Tiao Chen, he asked: "If you don't give up, if I order your governor to be the transfer envoy of the two capitals, how many days can you set off?" ”

Li Buqi said: "Now that the military situation is urgent, the minister can go to Guangzhou in three days." ”

"Three days?" Not only was the emperor startled, but Pang Ji was also stunned - it was really Li Bu that some of the measures in the article Chen, such as this issuance of treasury bonds, even the people in the household department had never done it, and they didn't know how to play it. So he had to say, "Isn't this too hasty?" For example, in the case of the issuance of treasury bonds, it is necessary to set a charter first. ”

Li Buqi said: "The military situation is like fire, where can I have time to sit down and discuss slowly?" This issuance of treasury bonds can be operated by Mao Hanlin, who is now in charge of the special funds of the inner treasury. The matter of recruiting officials is voluntary, as long as the officials issue an official document, I will entrust Qingyuan Academy to come up with some questions to take the exams for the candidates, and it is not difficult. With money and people, everything else is easy to do, and it can be done well on the road. ”

In this way, Zhao Zhen was relieved that Li would not give up. Because in this way, the requisition of officials is still the matter of the emperor and the ministry, and Li Buqi does not handle it, so there is no suspicion of pulling out a vote to rebel. In a good mood, he immediately said: "In this case, without further ado, I will immediately appoint the envoy who will not abandon the east and west roads of Quang Nam, and implement the strategy of not abandoning the proposal." Pang Qing, what do you think? ”

Pang Ji undoubtedly discussed, and the emperor directly ignored the opinion of the privy envoy Gao Rune.

In this way, the emperor ordered the edict of the palace to be prepared, and ordered Li Buqi to serve as the transfer envoy of the east and west roads of Guangnan, and Xu acted cheaply, and set off for his post three days later. Li Buqi accepted the edict, so he went out of the palace to summon Mao Zhichun and others to arrange various matters. As soon as he walked out of the Xuande Gate, the sergeant guarding the door caught up and shouted: "Li Daguan stays." ”

Li Buqi looked back, but saw that Wang Zhongzheng was running out of breath and chased after him, and said breathlessly: "Li Yunzhi, there is an urgent military situation, Your Majesty asks you to meet immediately." ”

What happened to the fart effort? Li Buqi hurriedly returned to the Chongzheng Hall with Wang Zhongzheng, who stopped ten steps outside the palace gate and turned out, only letting him go in by himself. After Li Buqi entered, he saw that in addition to the left and right servants and privy envoys, Li Zhang and Lian Guangzhi were also there, and the faces of the emperor and others were like dead Lao Tzu Niang.

What's going on?

When Zhao Zhen saw Li Buqi, it was like seeing a savior, and he hurriedly said to Li Zhang: "Quickly tell me about that information." ”

As soon as Li Zhang told the secret report from the Liao State, Li Buqi felt that the world was not normal at that time: "Nani? Is Liao really going to play with the sailor? Emperor Liao's head is really convulsive? ”