"Huang Lao's suggestion, I'm afraid His Majesty will not be able to adopt it, and the Manchu Dynasty will not agree to it!"

Huang Lao spread his hands and said, "So, if you say something old, it's useless!" ”

"But in any case, the Northern Expedition is not appropriate now!" Wang Shicheng sighed.

"General Wang is completely right!" Huang Lao solemnly said to Wang Shicheng: "Your Majesty's ambition to recover the Central Plains, the old man can fully understand, if you want to achieve a great cause, it is not an overnight thing!" If you are in a hurry, I am afraid that it will be half the effort! ”

"But now the Manchu Dynasty is civil and military, and most of them support the Northern Expedition! Your Majesty is already excited! Once the army goes north, it is good that it can successfully take Xiangguo, but if it is half a point difference, the situation in the north will be completely different! At that point, the initiative will be out of our hands! ”

"Although Your Majesty has not decided to go on the Northern Expedition on the surface, in fact, he has already made up his mind in his heart! General, in the opinion of the old man, I am afraid that this matter is a foregone conclusion, and it is futile for us to say anything. ”

"This ......"

"The old man persuaded the general, don't say that discouraged words in front of Your Majesty! What Your Majesty needs now is unity, and he will never like the general's words. ”

"Since you are a courtier, you don't correct your mistakes, what's going on?"

At this moment, a servant came to report: "My lord, someone has come to visit! ”

"Who?" Huang Lao asked.

"The old servant doesn't know him, looking at his clothes, it seems that he is the same as the adult, he is an official."

"Let him in!" Huang Lao asked.

"Yes......"

"General, who do you think is coming?" Huang Lao asked.

Wang Shicheng said: "It must be Mr. Qin!" ”

"Those who know me, the general!" Qin Huaishan's voice came from the door.

When the two of them heard the prestige, Qin Huaishan stood at the door, saluted the two and said, "If you don't come in person, Huang Lao will forgive you." ”

Huang Lao got up and returned the salute and said, "Mr. is polite, please!" ”

Qin Huaishan entered the door, the three of them sat down, and the old servant hurriedly served tea. Qin Huaishan asked, "Are you two talking about the Northern Expedition?" ”

Wang Shicheng did not shy away from it, and said: "Exactly! What advice can you give you? ”

"What advice can you give you? I just wanted to hear your thoughts! We are officials in the same dynasty, and we can exchange our own opinions! ”

"Sir, Wang Mou has always believed that among all people, the calmest person should be you, a few days ago in front of Your Majesty, you were the same as below, against the Northern Expedition, why did you suddenly change your words today and favor the Northern Expedition?"

"I just said what my majesty wanted, and even if I didn't say it, my majesty still wanted the Northern Expedition."

"Mr. Qin, according to the old man, you didn't say what your majesty wanted, but your own, right?" Huang Lao said.

Qin Huaishan was a little embarrassed and asked, "What does Elder Huang mean?" ”

"Mr. is an old man of the beggar army, bent on avenging the ancestors, and now although the Great Wei has barely gained a foothold in the Central Plains, the time is not ripe for the Northern Expedition. Your words in front of Your Majesty today have already made Your Majesty make up your mind to go on the Northern Expedition! ”

"Huang Lao is also a Han Chinese, isn't it enough for the people of the Central Plains to be poisoned by the Hu people? If it is according to what Huang Lao said, we will take the land of Guanzhong, and I will ask, where should the millions of people in the Central Plains go? What awaits them, apart from death? ”

Wang Shicheng didn't speak, looking at the two, Huang Lao said again: "To achieve a great cause, there must be sacrifices, and the old strategy may have to pay a lot of price, but from a long-term perspective, it is worth doing!" ”

Qin Huaishan shook his head and said: "This is against the original intention of the beggar army, and it is also against the original intention of Your Majesty, Your Majesty will never watch so many innocent people die at the hands of the Hu people!" ”

"Mr. Qin, don't forget, today's Great Wei is not the beggar army of the past! We have kings and ministers, and we have courts! It's not a rogue! ”

Qin Huaishan was a little displeased, and asked rhetorically: "What does Elder Huang mean is that the beggar army is like a rogue?" ”

Huang Lao knew that he was speechless, and hurriedly said: "That's not what old decay means!" ”

Wang Shicheng saw that the situation was not right, and hurriedly said: "Two, we are just talking about things, not fighting words!" Politics is politics, don't mix personal emotions! ”

Qin Huaishan didn't entangle with Huang Lao anymore, and Wang Shicheng said again: "Huang Lao's idea also has a little truth, but there is one thing that I agree with, that is, we must not go on the Northern Expedition!" ”

"The Northern Expedition is the will of the people! The old man also knows what kind of situation our Great Wei will fall into once the Northern Expedition fails, and His Majesty is not without consideration for this. At the time of today's deliberations, His Majesty said that he would send someone to inquire about the movements of the Xianbei people and see what the situation in Xiangguo was now. Therefore, as long as all the conditions are met, the Northern Expedition should be able to win the battle, and the territory of the Great Wei can be directly doubled! ”

Huang Lao sighed and said, "The words have come to this, it's useless to say more!" Let's just wait and see, two of you, please! ”

Huang Lao's words were obviously chasing away guests, Wang Shicheng and Qin Huaishan were a little angry in their hearts, but it was inconvenient to say anything, so they got up and left stupidly.

"Play the piano to the cow!" Huang Lao secretly muttered to himself.

Huang Lao's servant walked in and asked cautiously, "My lord, why did you drive these two people away?" ”

"You can't talk about it together, what's the point of going on?" Huang Lao stood up, flicked his sleeves, and instructed the old servant: "I have been closed for the past few days, and no one has been seen!" ”

"Yes......"

......

Early in the morning of the second day, Ran Min led a group of civil and military ministers to the outside of the city to observe the drills of his soldiers attacking the city.

Li Chang, dressed in military uniform, stood beside Ran Min, pointed to the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in front of him, and said to Ran Min: "Your Majesty, look, how are these soldiers?" ”

Ran Min looked at it, and within the range of his eyes, the soldiers were all bright-eyed, full of energy, and looked high-spirited. Ran Min couldn't help nodding slightly, and praised: "Second Uncle really has a set of training soldiers and horses, these people were mostly pounced people who had never held a sword not long ago, and now they are already a group of tigers and wolves." ”

"When the soldiers heard that they were going to go on a northern expedition, they were all gearing up, and they couldn't wait to go north now and chop those Hu people into pulp!"

Ran Min smiled and said, "Only with such a heart of victory can you go into battle to kill the enemy!" ”

"Didn't you say earlier that we lacked siege equipment? Check it all out! Here are a batch of siege equipment that has just been built recently! ”

Li Chang pointed to several trebuchets, trains, ladders, flying ladders, etc. not far away, and many soldiers were dumbfounded, and even Ran Min was a little surprised.

"Second uncle, you didn't seem to be proficient in these things before, did you? How did you make these things in such a short period of time? ”

"These are not my credits, after the order to kill Hu was issued, a large number of Han people came to attach, among them there are many craftsmen, these siege equipment, these craftsmen are made!"

Ran Min was quite satisfied, and instructed everyone: "Let's go, let's go and see how powerful these things are?" ”

Ran Min led everyone to the catapult, dozens of soldiers were ready, Li Chang said: "This catapult, it takes at least sixty people to operate, projecting dozens of catties of stones, can throw a distance of 300 steps!" ”

"Ordinary bows and arrows are a hundred paces away, but a strong crossbow is only within two hundred steps, how can this catapult have such a great ability?" Ran Min asked.

Li Chang smiled proudly and said, "That's nature!" ”

After speaking, Li Chang instructed the soldiers: "Come! Demonstrate it to Your Majesty! ”

"Yes!"

At the sound of the order, dozens of people immediately got busy, two people brought a stone weighing dozens of catties and placed it in the frame at one end of the catapult, and at the other end, dozens of people were ready, dragging more than a dozen ropes, waiting for Li Chang's order.

"Pull!" Li Chang ordered.

At the sound of an order, dozens of people shouted, exerted their strength together, and suddenly pulled the rope, and the wooden arm of the catapult "whew", and the stones in the frame flew out.

Everyone watched the stone fly into the sky, and counted it several times in their hearts before it smashed into the distance with a "bang".

"Someone! How far did this catapult go? Ran Min commanded his subordinates.

Vice Admiral Gou glanced at his subordinates, and the man immediately stood still, strode towards the stone, and after a while, ran back to report: "Your Majesty, roughly estimated, this stone thrown by this trebuchet is almost three hundred and ten steps away!" ”

"So far?" Quite a few people exclaimed.

Ran Min was quite satisfied and said, "Second uncle, you have made a great contribution!" This catapult is a good one! If you can throw heavier rocks and throw farther, that's even better! ”

"Understood! Later, I'll let the craftsmen improve it a little more! Li Chang responded.