The emperor is still too tender, and values the talents and learning of Zhou and Wen, but he doesn't want the close relationship between the first assistant and the second assistant, and indulges the two to fight each other from the beginning, which eventually leads to the resurgence of the party struggle between the DPRK and China, and then he himself can't sit still, first drive the troublesome Min Hongxue back to his hometown, and then pull the ministers back to reality from the dispute between the gentleman and the villain - Liaoxi will not care about it for now, the rebellion of the hungry people in the northwest and the mutiny of the officials and troops in Shandong, as well as the snow disaster in Fengzhou to ask for relief, how to do these things?

The courtiers couldn't come up with a decent idea, so they could only suggest that the emperor strictly order the local governors of the northwest and Shandong to calm down the incident as soon as possible, as for the matter of Fengzhou, it should still be pacified as much as possible, and the general army of Tuntian went to the territory of the Outer Mongolians in eastern Liaodong to save the Daling River, so he gave him some benefits, and was promoted to the governor of Tongzhi, and gave him a few deputy generals and generals. The cabinet also made it clear that the official system in Fengzhou was a mess, and it was not in line with the Ming Dynasty system at all, and the official positions of the imperial court could not be given to them casually. And the imperial court is nervous, it is good not to collect the seeds from them, and they are embarrassed to reach out to the imperial court to ask for relief, isn't the governor of Shanxi asking for Fengzhou iron cavalry to suppress thieves, just let them go to Shanxi to earn food.

The emperor's opinion on the cabinet, except for giving Li Yu a first-class official title, and giving a few deputy generals and staff generals blank positions, there is no other benefit, and there is no mention of the establishment of a guard station and the appointment of officials in Fengzhou. When the proclamation official arrived in Datong, he didn't dare to go anymore, he was afraid that he would be beaten by Yi people and thieves when he went to Fengzhou, so he threw the edict to Jin Sheng and returned to Beijing, Jin Sheng had to run by himself, Liu Wenzhong was idle, and he heard that Jin Sheng was going to Fengzhou, and he also came with him.

The two of them are old acquaintances of Fengzhou, and they didn't say hello in advance, they looked at the snow all the way, swayed to the Barbarian Mountain, and suddenly heard a continuous gunpowder explosion near the Ordnance Division, which hooked Jin Sheng's addiction to playing with firearms, and stuffed the edict into Liu Wenzhong's hand, and called a sentry to lead the way to the Ordnance Bureau, Liu Wenzhong also played while walking, Li Yu arrived at the gate of the camp and saw that he was having a snowball fight with a group of children.

"Li Si'er, Ma Bao, stop quickly, don't beat the bad guys." Li Yu recognized that the children led by him were Li Dingguo and Ma Bao, and immediately became a little angry, "You guys are skipping school again, go back to school for me immediately." ”

"Don't run, uncle hasn't had enough fun," Liu Wenzhong shouted at the children who were running away, he and several of his entourage were beaten all over with snow, but they were still unsatisfied, and threw the edict into Li Yu's arms with a smile, "The edict of the imperial court, take it and read it yourself, you are more fun than Datong here!" ”

Fengzhou did not kneel and bow, let people kneel to receive the edict to pull the skin first, Jin Sheng, Liu Wenzhong came more times, and also learned to follow the customs of the country, out of the customs regardless of the court etiquette, Li Yu will not care about it, just take it and watch it.

"It's useless to give me a few broken official positions, and I have to pay for it myself, why don't you mention money and food, the court doesn't take us seriously!" Li Yu complained after reading it.

"I said earlier that those Wenchen are not things, and you still expect them to give money? Forget it, the emperor is still considerate of us, this is not the emperor deliberately took out fifty taels of silver from the inner treasury and rewarded you with subsidies for your family, our family brought it to you, Li Shuai, the emperor is not thin on you! Liu Wenzhong smiled and took out a silver ingot and put it in Li Yu's hand.

"The emperor is really good to me, Gonggong Liu, when you leave, bring me a few sheep, please try it too." Li Yu smiled faintly, this emperor can't help with big things, but he likes to give some small favors, is he an emperor or a family?

Liu Wenzhong agreed, and then asked in a low voice, "Li Shuai, the edict told you to send troops to suppress thieves, you won't refuse, right?" ”

"It's okay to send troops, is there a military pay?"

"Yes! Liu Yunzhong's father-in-law, who is monitoring Shanxi Town, is a good brother of our family in Qianqing Palace, and our family will not be able to treat your soldiers badly. ”

"I'll go if I give the money, we are also officials and soldiers, and we listen to the emperor's words the most."

Liu Wenzhong likes Li Yu more and more, Li Shuai is very easy to deal with, the courtiers feel embarrassed, he can do it as soon as he comes out, and this person is also cheerful and generous, the last time he sent the army back to give him a hundred heads, what a big favor is this, send it to the house of several internal officials in charge of the Beijing Division, and feel that there is face on his face - who is good at mixing is short of money, what is lacking is military merit, the first level is military merit, he doesn't need it, brothers, sons and nephews can count on this promotion to make a fortune.

"Li Shuai go get busy, just send someone to walk around with me, you are good here, I feel comfortable taking a breath, our family is annoyed to see those faces in Datong, play here for a few days," Liu Wenzhong felt relaxed after finishing his work, and said another thing, "Datong people said that the Urji Lama of Fengzhou Beach is proficient in Buddhism, noble in virtue, and the scriptures are very good, and our family is also a person who believes in Buddhism, and I would like to hear his old man's lectures, can Li Shuai help introduce him." ”

"This is easy to do, his old man is as close to me as a family, and it is naturally not difficult to introduce him, but he went back to Meidai a few days ago, a little far from here, and he has to run for more than a day on horseback, and the road is not easy to walk, next time his old man comes, I must inform my father-in-law in advance." Li Yu replied.

Liu Wenzhong said very seriously: "Let's go to Meidaizhao to visit his old man's house, it doesn't hurt to be a little farther and harder, so it seems that he is pious." ”

Li Yu was moved by this devout believer, and thought for a moment - Baoketu had been controlled by himself, and the Chahar people had already withdrawn from that area, as long as he was careful, nothing should happen to Meidaizhao.

"You two take a team of Flying Tiger Riders to escort Gonggong Liu, walk slowly on the road, and bring the camp tent and the cart." Li Yu pointed to Chen Erzhu and Liu Shishi and said.

Jin Sheng and Liu Wenzhong didn't even enter the door of the Great Commander's Mansion, so they went to do their own private affairs, Li Yu walked back with his hands behind his back, still muttering in his heart, how can the officials of the Ming Kingdom be like this, as long as they get involved with Fengzhou, they haven't done anything yet, and they have learned the lawlessness and non-discipline of Fengzhou first.

When he returned to the Commander's Palace, the civil and military officials were waiting at the door to greet the guests, Li Yu waved his hand to signal everyone to go back to discuss matters, and after sitting down in the lobby, he casually threw the edict on the table, and the officials did not politely open it and look at it.

"It turned out to be an official for the Grand Commander, something big happened to me, but it scared me." Shen Shoulian wiped a handful of sweat and said.

"The empty title has a fart use, but the official title given by the imperial court should not be in vain, I just thought about it, Bai Xianzhi and Liu Xingzuo have the rank of deputy general, Zhao Ji has a loose official rank, and Zhang Chuanjie also has the title of general, this time simply promote the praise paintings in the praise painting office to deputy generals, and the battalion officers are also promoted to generals. Li Yu opened his mouth and said nonsense, and everyone felt that it was quite fair after listening to it.

"I don't have an opinion on sending troops to Shanxi, it costs too much money to raise soldiers, and the imperial court pays us the best salary, and we can't let Shanxi be chaotic." Li Huai asked, and the officials immediately agreed that stabilizing Shanxi is Fengzhou's established strategy, and if the imperial court does not speak, Fengzhou will also cut its head and drill into Shanxi.

"Business, and our business, don't just think about thieves, the Shanxi military businessmen who Fan Erxi drummed up made their business bigger without paying attention, and our private salt, livestock and weapons can be sold at a good price when they enter Shanxi, and we must bring more people and goods to the customs this time." Li Fugui hurriedly reminded everyone.

Bai Xianzhi squeezed in front of Li Yu and said: "Great Commander, even the old horse has gone out in the praise painting office, and I have been idle at home, this time it should be my turn, right?" ”

Li Yu glanced at Zhao Ji, Ma Guangyuan and Terrige, none of them objected, it was indeed Lao Bai's turn. Bai Xianzhi was happy, and added: "It's already the end of the year, it's best to send troops after the fifteenth day of the first month, many old bachelors in our army are married, just let them do the happy event by the way for the New Year, and you have to leave a seed first when you go out to fight." ”

Fengzhou Wenwu laughed, and Ma Guangyuan took the opportunity to say: "Great commander, it's a good thing for a single person to marry a wife, but everyone's money is too tight, and there are always people who come to the camp to borrow money, this is not a thing, can the public pay to help everyone do the happy event?" ”

"This is fifty taels of silver given by the emperor, and I will pay this amount," Li Yu put the ingot of silver on the table that was not yet hot, and then turned his face to look at Li Fugui.

"The Grand Commander's Mansion just has that little money, I can't afford to give it more, and I can't afford to do it if I have less," Li Fugui scratched his head and thought for a while, his eyes lit up and said, "Old Ma, you tell them, how about a happy event together?" It costs less, and I will cover all the wine and meat. ”

"This is the best, there is still joy in the New Year, how to decide!" Zhao Ji immediately agreed.

"Just want to save money, are people happy? Let's ask clearly. Li Huai shook his head and said.

"If you don't pay for it, you will pick up a daughter-in-law for nothing, these guys must be happy, and they don't pay attention to being a soldier, so leave this matter to me." Ma Guangyuan is happy to do this favor.

Li Yu smiled and waved his hand, pulling everyone back to the main topic of sending troops to Shanxi - in fact, Fengzhou had already had a plan, and the combat direction of the four battalions of infantry was Shanxi, Li Yu planned to send four infantry battalions plus the right battalion of Zhang Ding and Ma Jinzhong to enter the customs, and each battalion out of the customs should be supplemented with 500 reserve soldiers, so that each battalion would increase to 1,000 people, and the number of troops entering the customs would reach an unprecedented 5,000 people - Li Fugui believed that this could not only train troops in actual combat, but also reduce the food burden in Fengzhou, and by the way, give some people more opportunities to earn money. There is no shortage of labor in Fengzhou now, and without these young people, they can still do a good job of spring ploughing. Li Yu wanted to lead the troops in person, but was resolutely opposed by Shen Shoulian - the issue of silver banknotes and silver coins was too big, and he must not let Li Yu have the slightest accident, so their money might be wasted, so Bai Xianzhi became the coach, and the two deputy commanders were Zhang Chuanjie and Zhang Ding.

After making up his mind, Li Huai immediately wrote a letter to inform Song Tongyin, the governor of Shanxi, and the Zanhua Office also sent people to contact Bai'an, Hu Dawei, and Mengruhu in Shanxi, and at the same time notified all battalions to prepare and send troops to the pass after the fifteenth day of the first month. Li Yu finally said that during this time, the old bachelors will have a holiday to prepare for marriage, and everyone can help as much as possible, and he himself should do his best for the old brothers, go into the mountains to play for a few days, no, go into the mountains to get some game for the wedding banquet.

It was getting late, everyone had just finished discussing and dispersed, and Li Yu also wanted to go to the Ordnance Department to have a look-Jin Sheng was probably addicted to playing, and he hadn't shown up yet, and when he was about to go out of the gate, Li Huai stopped him.

"Yuzi, Du Shuai has a letter, he wants to come to Fengzhou, I'm afraid that you will be too careful, let me say hello to you first." Li Huai whispered.

"I have a lot of heart, call him here, he can do things if he wants to do things here, and he can do things for the elderly if he doesn't want to." Li Yu waved his hand and replied, Du Wenhuan was impeached by Wu Niu, the Shaanxi Governor last year, and the imperial court remembered that he used to go to Liaodong to avoid going to Liaodong without authorization, and went out to make trouble without authorization to attract the Mongolian tribes to plunder the old account, and dismissed him from his post on two charges of provoking border affairs and killing good people and taking merit, and finally decided to send him to a border town, which was actually to drive him back to Yulin's home to care for the elderly.

"It's good if you think like this, I'll reply to Du Shuai right away," Li Huai nodded, and then sighed, "This time let your two sisters-in-law and nephews also come together, if you don't want to come, you can't do it, the thirty acres of land at home are gone, this year's heavy snow and hunger people have risen again, Ganquan has fallen, Zhang Yundeng was killed in politics, our hometown in Yulin has been completely destroyed, Lord Hong Chengchou is from Fujian, and he doesn't understand the character of the Northwest people at all, unless he can kill all the Northwest people, otherwise this battle will go on." ”

Li Yu has nothing to say about this, Hong Chengchou is definitely not a tyrannical person in his opinion, but now he is killing people everywhere with a knife, but can this really solve the problem? He really couldn't figure it out, Li Huai sighed and left, Li Yu patted his head and ran to the Ordnance Division.

Li Yu arrived at the official room of the Ordnance Division, and before he entered the door, he smelled a smell of meat, and there were quite a lot of people inside, eating around an iron pot on the fire, Ma Guangyuan arrived first, and was pouring wine into Jin Sheng's bowl, Ding Qiming, Jin Guoding, the chief and deputy sentry chief of the cannon post, Wang Tianxiang, the ordnance envoy, and Liu Jiping, the director of the iron factory, were also eating with oil in their mouths - several major firearms masters in Fengzhou got together today.

In Fengzhou, the recognized infantry boss is Bai Xianzhi, the cavalry boss is Zhao Ji, Ma Guangyuan can only be the boss in the Wuxuan Battalion and the Ordnance Division, and the descendants in his hands only have poor guns and artillery posts, he is the most anxious to strengthen the team, I heard that Lord Tuntian Dao went to the Ordnance Bureau, and immediately thought of pulling a supporter for his army expansion, and he came as soon as the deliberations of the Grand Commander's Mansion were over.

"Commander, sit down and eat, I killed a sheep today, as well as yam eggs, radishes, and stinky tofu." When Ma Guangyuan saw Li Yu coming in, he handed over a bowl, and Ding Qiming and Jin Guoding also immediately got up and pulled Mo Rige and Wu Xian behind Li Yu to sit down.

"Hermes-Epitek, it's delicious! The mutton is blanched in a hot pan, and then dipped in stinky tofu or vinegar to eat, it has a unique flavor, and I just said that this way of eating is the most appropriate way to call hot pot. Jin Sheng said to Li Yu with a red face.

Li Yu sat down happily, picked up a piece of meat and scalded it in the pot, Wang Tianxiang poured a bowl of mare's milk wine for Li Yu, and a group of people ate around the steaming hot pot, the scalded mutton, yam eggs and radish were dipped in stinky tofu, and then accompanied by cool mare's milk wine, Jin Sheng was full of praise, and said that next time he must bring more spices, so that he would eat more enjoyable. There were still snowflakes floating outside the house, and the food inside the house was steaming hot - Li Yu felt that Jin Sheng seemed to be a different person, he had never seen him eat and drink so recklessly in Guannei, let alone eat with a group of martial artists and craftsmen, how did Master Jin become as cheesy as us?

Jin Sheng was happy and talked a lot, pointed to Ma Guangyuan and the others and said to Li Yu: "Han Min, Lao Ma, they are all talents, today I tried the bird guns and mines they made, which are no worse than the work of the Beijing Division Ordnance Bureau and the War Bureau, and the kind of thunder thrown is even more shocking, these are all good things, firearms are the sharp weapons of soldiers, and the imperial court also vigorously advocates that they want to build a gun battalion is a great thing, you don't have to give up the money, it can come in handy in the future." ”

Ma Guangyuan also said: "Great commander, we also know that Fengzhou is living a tight life, that kind of Hongyi cannon cannons dare not think, we plan to improve the Franc machine, reduce the weight to five hundred catties, can beat one and a half catties of iron to two thousand steps, and then equipped with a gun carriage equipped with wheels, with a few more mules and horses to pull, should be able to keep up with the march, this kind of small cannon is light in weight, fast rate of fire, the most effective against cavalry and infantry in the field, we call it a camp cannon, Lao Wang, Lao Liu has already pondered, as long as the Grand Commander's Mansion gives money, we will definitely be able to build it." ”

Wang Tianxiang added: "When I used to cast a cannon in Yongping, I tried to make a cannon barrel with a copper iron core, which saved materials and light weight, and was not easy to blow up. The Franc machine is not far away, and the sub-gun, the gun chamber is not well coordinated with the air leakage has a lot to do with it, Han Juren from Shanxi built a small water wheel for us, before leaving, persuaded us to build a dam to store water to build a big water wheel, if you use that guy to polish the gun breech, the gun is tightly matched, and the air leakage can be increased to increase the range of the artillery, we also want to try it. ”

"Great Commander, we also have a method of smelting iron, the craftsmen of Zhaoqing Town use charcoal to smelt iron to make firearms, it is not easy to blow up, the iron factory in Zezhou, Shanxi Province has realized a method from this, bury the coal and burn it, they call it 'deodorization', and the iron smelted from the 'deodorant' white coal is as good as that," Liu Jiping also interjected.

"There are also bird guns, we will make up a gun battalion of 500 people, with five camp guns, 400 bird guns, plus thunder and mines, and in the future, if our gun battalion sees who kills whom, our Fengzhou army will be majestic." Ding Qiming shouted.

The experts surrounded Li Yu and gossiped, Li Yu was annoyed, put down the dishes and chopsticks and said: "What you said is reasonable, but I should take care of my stomach or take care of you first, it is easy to build a gun battalion, smelting iron, making water wheels, building guns, buying copper, saltpeter It costs a lot of money, Fengzhou's family can't afford to play, we can't learn from the Ming army, and fighting a war is ultimately a matter of hand-to-hand combat." ”

Jin Sheng was angry: "You stinky boy is so stubborn, you don't **** to do it, in the future, all the money I want from the customs will be used on the cannon camp, and I won't give you a penny of silver." ”

Everyone was so angry that Li Yu reluctantly gave in: "You guys should find people first, you can build more birds, thunders, and mines, and we will talk about artillery after next autumn." ”