Long live Wu Zhou in the first year of Tongtian (696), April.

Wu Zetian was very annoyed, and he had a bad start to this year.

On the first day of the first month of March, Wang Xiaojie of Luantai Sanpin of Fengge, Lou Shide, the doctor of Zuosutai, and Tubo Lunqinling Zanpo fought in Surohan Mountain, and the Tang army was defeated; Wu Zetian was furious and dismissed Wang Xiaojie as a civilian, and Lou Shide was demoted to the former state member Wai Sima.

The original Ming Hall, a splendid building of the Great Zhou Dynasty--- was burned down by the monk Na Xue, and the new Ming Hall has been completed under the auspices of Nayan Yao Xuan. On March 16, the new Ming Hall was completed, with a height of 294 feet and a width of 300 feet, because the treasury was empty, the scale of the new Ming Hall was much smaller than the Ming Hall that was burned.

On it, a gold-coated iron phoenix is placed, two zhang high; The two-foot-large copper fire beads, held by the five-zhang long group of dragons, are extremely majestic.

Wu Zetian named it Tongtian Palace. At the same time, the imperial court granted amnesty to sinners in the world and changed the year name to the first year of Long Live Tongtian.

She felt that the two prime ministers were not enough, so she appointed Sun Yuanheng, the summer official of the school, as the Tongping Zhangshi.

……

Wu Yanzhi and April 21 returned to Luoyang. He went around Mingzhou, Huzhou and other three states, and found no evidence of assassination and rebellion, but punished several rumor-mongering judges and county orders.

Later, I learned that it was Wu Zetian who asked the assassin to strictly evaluate the subordinate officials at all levels, and some people were not satisfied, so they spread rumors and slandered several assassins.

Gu Zhiwen had already obtained the Zhongming Economic Department, and he would have to wait a few years before he was released, so Wu Yanzhi asked him to serve as his own inspector and handle the affairs of copper and iron. He still lacks four or five inspectors under his command, after all, the area of the country is so large, and there are too few people to keep busy.

He also bought a very large mansion in Sigongfang, which is close to Beishi in the capital, with more than 50 rooms and a garden of more than three acres, which is very good, and the price is only 3,000 yuan.

It turned out that the courtyard was given to Gu Zhiwen, and when he was in the most difficult time, he got the help of several hundred Wen, but he repaid it 10,000 times.

Of the more than 30 guards, more than ten of them continued to serve as Xu officials, and the rest were not easy to arrange, so they all became Wu Yan's guards.

You must know that they have also killed people with real knives and guns in Shaozhou, and everyone has a title.

Yao Kuan, Yu Fei and several Xu officials who made gunpowder were all awarded the rank of loose officials from Jiupin, and they were also civilians. Of course, they still follow Wu Yanzhi on errands, serve as Confucian officials, and enjoy the treatment of Liunei officials.

brought that Li Linfu back, and Wu Yanping had a good relationship with him. The two of them went to study together in the country.

His two nephews, Wu Shoude and Wu Shouming, have been awarded the title of county baron, and they have served as captains of the flying cavalry battalions of the left and right Yulin Army. Following the study of military affairs is also a common practice in the personnel arrangement of the imperial family, and it is also an effective measure to protect the emperor.

……

In the morning, Hanyuan Hall.

In front of Yao Xuan, Yang Zaisi, Li Yuanyuan, and Sun Yuanheng, Wu Yanzhi reported his harvest of going south to handle copper affairs in the past few months. When envoys leave Beijing and return to Beijing, they must report to the emperor in person.

"Your Majesty! Wechen has been going south for a few months, and has already established all the bile water copper fields in Tanzhou, Raozhou, Shaozhou and other places. Last year, a total of more than 812,000 catties of bile copper were added, which was about 40% of the copper output of the Great Zhou Dynasty the year before last!

This year, it is expected that the annual copper output will reach 600 to 7 million catties. Wechen also plans to send one inspector each to supervise copper affairs in Shanzhou and Yaozhou for a period of three years. If those places are produced normally, it is not a problem for the annual copper output to reach 15 million catties. ”

"Excellent! I'm still worried that this military budget has not been settled, but it is Yanzhi who has helped a lot. Yanzhi, how did you use only 2,000 people to capture Feiyun Village, which is known as the 'first village in Lingnan'? Wu Zetian asked.

Although she got the recital, it only talked about winning the battle, and she didn't know the specific details of the attack, so she wanted to know it for herself.

"This ...... Weichen reports to Your Majesty! Wei Chen began to use the strategy of exhausting the enemy to let him relax his vigilance...... "Wu Yanzhi will tell how to capture Feiyun Village.

When several prime ministers heard this, they nodded again and again, and they were very approving.

"Not bad! Your tactics have made the enemy relax their vigilance, and then use your gunpowder to blow up the city walls and achieve a great victory! You are so young and so resourceful, are you a natural general? Wu Zetian asked.

"Where does Weichen dare to be a general? It's just the stupidity of the enemy! In front of Wu Zetian, he was modest.

"Wu Lang won the battle, but he is much stronger than Wang Xiaojie, who lost tens of thousands of teachers!" Yang Zaisi boasted.

Listen to one of Wu Yan, you blow a yarn! The first general of Tubo against ---- Qinling! His opponent is just a powerful bandit in Lingnan, how can he be compared?

Yao Xuan also shook his head, thinking to himself, Wu Yanzhi is also powerful, but I'm afraid it's not good to compare with General Wang, right?

Wu Zetian nodded slightly: "In short, winning the battle is a good thing!" What's the deal with that gunpowder of yours? ”

"This is one of the most powerful weapons invented by Wechen. This thing is very useful for bombing the city and defending the city! The 500 catties of gunpowder produced in the early stage have been basically used up, and it is still a test product invested by a businessman.

Wechen came to see His Majesty this time in person, just to ask His Majesty to allow Shang Fangjian to set up a firearms bureau and allow Wechen to develop firearms.

If this firearm is produced in large quantities, not to mention defeating the Qinling Tomb, it will be easy to capture some cities in Tuboya! Wu Yanzhi said lightly.

Yes? Capture some of the cities of Tibet? The crowd was amazed!

Wu Zetian was overjoyed and said: "Really? What a gift you gave me! When can I and a few prime ministers take a look at the gunpowder first? ”

"Your Majesty! If the weather is sunny tomorrow, you can try it in Shendu Yuan, and leave this matter to Weichen! ”

"Good!"

"Also, you are in Lingnan, it only took two months to build the seventy-mile mountain road of Dayu Mountain, but you have also made great contributions!" Wu Zetian said approvingly.

"That's just a little thing that Wechen should do! By the way, Your Majesty, the one who built the road was Li Shang, the supervisor of the smelting prison selected by Weichenxing, who had been in Lingnan for more than ten years. He was also very loyal to the Great Zhou, and Weichen dared to ask him to be transferred back to the Central Plains. Wu Yanzhi pleaded.

"This Li Shang is about the same as Li Qianli, and he is indeed loyal, so it's up to you! However, don't be careless with them! Wu Zetian reminded.

"Wechen must remember!"

……

On the second day, Shendu Garden.

The flag is unfurled, and the noise is abnormal.

Emperor Wu Zetian personally came to inspect Wu Yanzhi's gunpowder test. Of course, the most critical musket technique, he doesn't want to show it yet. When the emperor saw that thing, he was afraid that he would be afraid and suspicious!

As always, it was a large stone that had been prepared and a hole had been drilled.

In the distance, Zhang Cheng had prepared all the procedures for blasting.

Here, the emperor and many ministers are hidden in a house.

"Your Majesty, you can begin!" Wu Yanzhi said to Wu Zetian.

"Good!"

Wu Yanzhi saw Wu Zetian nodding in agreement, and waved the small red flag in his hand towards the window.

When Zhang Cheng saw the little red flag, he lowered his head and lit the fire fold in his hand.

Everyone only saw a puff of black smoke rising rapidly, and then, an earth-shattering cannon rang out, followed by another mushroom cloud rising up!

Na Wu Zetian was also taken aback by the sound of the cannon, and it took a while to wake up.

"Like thunder!" Wu Zetian Dao.

"Yes! Your Majesty, this is still Wei Chen's control of the amount of gunpowder, and the five-foot-old stone has already turned into powder!" Wu Yanzhi replied.

"Let's go, let's see!"

"Yes!"