"Mo Zhai."

In the palace of Wen County, Zhao Wuxian looked at this young man with a simple face and rough hands and feet, and said angrily: "The Central Plains ban on abolishing Heavenly Taoism and not allowing believers to preach, do you know?" “

Mo Zhai replied in a clear voice: "The contemptible person is no longer a Heavenly Daoist Sect. “

Five years ago, the Southern Party rebelled, Nanzi was given to death, Zishang was exiled to Fusang, life and death are unknown, and the Tiandao Sect, which has always been regarded as a hidden danger by Zhao Wuxian, was also abolished, and the Song Dynasty was razed into a county. Among them, although some craftsmen who believed in Ming ghosts and Shangtong did not join Nanzi in rebellion, they were also affected by the pond fish and fled south to the Chu State. In the past two years, these groups of artisans no longer call themselves Tiandao disciples, but call themselves "Mojia", and their leaders are giants.

And the one who led this group of people to change was Mo Zhai in front of him, he was called Mozi, after this school faded its religious coat, it had a lot of influence in Chu Yue, and even fed back to the Central Plains.

In such an environment, Mo Zhai also produced concepts such as "love" and "non-attack" that were not originally found in Tiandaoism.

Lu Ban, who introduced Mozi to see Zhao Wuxian, coughed lightly and talked about the reason.

"The minister previously built ships and various equipment for His Majesty in Shudi, and planned to use it to attack Chu and Yue after causing it, and the whole world knows about it. When Mozi heard about it, he got up from the state of Chu and walked for ten days and ten nights to meet me. “

At that time, Mozi asked Lu Ban as soon as he saw his face: "There is an enemy in the north who has bullied the villain, and I hope to kill him with the help of the power of the loser!" I am willing to give you ten Yi gold! “

"Zhao Law stipulates that you can't fight for revenge privately, let alone take revenge." Lu Ban said proudly: "I will uphold righteousness and never kill anyone!" “

He is in a high position, if it weren't for the fact that Mo Zhai's father is an old man, he would not have met him, and he would not have been moved by a little gold.

Unexpectedly, this conversation fell into Mo Zhai's language trap.

According to this logic, Chu Yue has been farming with peace of mind for more than 20 years, and has not offended the Central Plains, there is indeed no good reason to crusade, Lu Ban pursues righteousness, does not kill a person, but creates a sharp weapon to kill many people, it cannot be called a Ming ......

Lu Ban has always been quick to talk and quick to act, where can he say that this sharp-toothed guy used the emperor's bent desire to destroy Chu Yue as a prevarication, who expected Mo Zhai to take the opportunity to ask to meet Zhao Wuxian.

"When Your Majesty heard of Mo Zhai's name, he once asked his subordinates about his deeds, so the ministers brought him."

"Oh?" Zhao Wuxian was a little interested, he was high, and asked Mo Zhai: "Love, non-attack, this is your proposition, right?" Do you want to stop Chu Yue from destroying Chu Yue with this? Okay, you can try it, I want to know what kind of eloquence Mozi, who is famous in the south, can shake my determination. “

Mo Zhai smiled, he didn't even dare to say it, but he had a plan to give it a try, and he said to Zhao Wuxian: "Now there is a person here, who has a car next to him, and wants to steal it; Abandon its splendor, neighbor has a short brown, and want to steal it; If you give up your meat, you will have chaff next to you, and you want to steal it. Dare to ask Your Majesty, what kind of person is this? ”

Zhao Wuxian didn't answer, just smiled at the young man's performance, and finally Mo Zhai could only add to himself: "This person must be suffering from theft." ”

Wuxian continued: "Good, do you want to say that the place directly ruled by the Hao Dynasty is within a radius of 10,000 miles, and the place where the Chu State is Yue Guo is within a radius of 3,000 miles, which is like Wenxuan compared to the car." The cities of the Hao Dynasty are all over the place, the countryside is facing each other, and the people in Lilu are prosperous, and the land of Chu Yue is vast and sparsely populated, and the miasma is born, just like the splendid and short brown comparison. The Hao Dynasty is rich in the world, with Jizhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yongzhou, Liangzhou's anointed land, and Chuyue has Yunmengze, three rivers and five lakes, although Chu Yue has the fish and turtles flourishing, three rivers and five lakes, but compared with the Hao Dynasty, it is like comparing sorghum meat with dregs. Is that so? “

Mo Zhai, who was able to speak well, was a little stunned, and only responded after half a sound: "It turns out that Your Majesty is well aware of this truth, but also, judging from these three things, I think that Your Majesty's attack on Chu Yue is the same as a person with a thief's disease." The two countries of Chu and Yue in the south are vassals of His Majesty, and they have always been respectful, and they dare not slack off when they meet the tributaries, and keep in mind Your Majesty's last wishes, and carry out education, so that Baipu Qunyue also began to follow the example of the Central Plains Zhangfu. However, now His Majesty first pulled out Bashu, opened the plank road, repaired the boat, and wanted the shipowner to go out to crusade against the two countries, and the two countries trembled and feared, and they didn't know what the crime was......"

"The river is wide, although Chu Yue is a small country, but there are also 100,000 soldiers and armor, and nearly 1,000 sailors.

"Mo Zhai, Mo Zhai, haven't you heard such a sentence? Within Liuhe, the land of the emperor; Wherever people go, there are no subordinates. Since Chu Yue is my vassal princes, their land should naturally belong to the Son of Heaven, and they should have accepted the land into the court, but they have not come for a long time, isn't this dissent? So I decided to take back the land of Jingzhou and Yangzhou, and let Kyushu go with the wind, why not? This is my reason, even if I don't have this reason, if there is a land and water equipment made for me by the Gong, Chu Yue will be taken! ”

Mo Zhai smiled and didn't speak, but Lu Ban said to Zhao Wuxian a little embarrassed: "The minister is incompetent, when Mozi came to see me, the two of us have already practiced the art of attack and defense, and the minister has set up water warfare and siege equipment nine times, Mozi has resisted my attack nine times, and the minister's offensive means have been exhausted, and Mozi's defense methods are still more than enough." ”

This is an amazing thing, you know, Lu Ban is known as a siege master, and he is also very accomplished in the manufacture of water warfare equipment, but today he met his opponent?

Zhao Wuxian asked, "The technique you studied with me can't be against him?" ”

Lu Ban's old face was slightly red: "No, trebuchets, ballistas, etc., have all been offset by him by trying to counteract, and now Chu and Yue have learned the production and defense methods of these artifacts......"

This is strange, this Mozi is really a craftsman who can compare to or even surpass Lu Ban......

Zhao Wuxian suddenly gave birth to a trace of love, but Lu Ban walked in front of Zhao Wuxian, and suddenly lowered his voice and said: "Your Majesty, if Chu Yue has this son, I am afraid that it will not be easy to attack, and the minister has a way to solve this problem......

"You want to kill him? Why bother. “

Zhao Wuxian ignored it and asked, "You didn't leak those two things, did you?" ”

"The secrets of the country, how dare the ministers leak them!"

Zhao Wuxian bowed his head and said bluntly to Mozi: "In that case, Mo Zhai, then I will tell you that the reason why I must destroy Chuyue is not only because of my ambition to unify Kyushu, but also because there is no place for my children and grandchildren in the Central Plains. ”

"I heard that you have been advocating a truce in Chu Yue, and you love non-attack, but do you know why the wars between countries and states in this world started?"

Mozi arched his hand: "In the past, the annexation of princes was nothing more than for land and population. However, the population of the counties under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains has exceeded 20 million, and thousands of towns can be seen everywhere. And even if Chu Yue has opened up the Jiangnan and Fujian lands, together, it is less than four million, regardless of the land population, there is no shortage in the Central Plains, so why bother to conquer? “

Zhao Wuxian said: "The conquest is not because the population is too small, but because in some places, the population is already a little too large...... At this rate, the population will continue to grow, and sooner or later the land will not be able to accommodate so many people......"

……

Mo Zhai was stunned, but heard Zhao Wuxian say:

"In the Central Plains, there is an old saying, if you don't take a hundred acres of land, a few families can be hungry."

In an agrarian society, the main direction of employment for young people as adults is farming, and everyone's ideal is to have a piece of their own land, and their wives and children are hot on the kang, and they live an idyllic life.

This is ideal for a small country with a small population, however, population growth is exponential and theoretically has no limit. In the early days of Zhao Wuxian's founding, the total population of the Central Plains was only about 15 million, with a lot of land and a small population. However, with the increase in the total population, in recent years, the population has reached about 25 million, including hidden households. For example, in Hedong, Yecheng, Hanoi and other places, there is a situation where there are more monks and less porridge in land supply.

Now, he can also alleviate the crisis by opening up places such as Huaibei, Huainan, and Bashu, and through the government's forced resettlement of the population. But if it continues to develop, in another 100 years, when the population of the Central Plains exceeds 50 million, problems will ensue.

In China, there seems to be a ceiling in the population of all dynasties, and beyond this ceiling, various wars will break out, resulting in a sharp decline in the population, followed by a slow prosperity and the beginning of another cycle.

The increase in this ceiling also depends on the introduction of high-yield crops, but once the climate changes drastically and the Xiaoice period arrives, the ceiling will fall back again.

Generally speaking, the population cycle evolves in such a way: in the first stage, dynasties rise, the population is sparse, and the ratio of people to land is very low; In the second stage, after the war, the per capita income quickly exceeded the subsistence level, and the population reproduction accelerated; In the third stage, with the sharp increase in the proportion of people and land, the Malthusian trap is highlighted, the per capita income is reduced, and the level of dynastic governance is reduced, which often easily leads to the extremely low per capita income level being pushed below the survival line; Subsequently, the fourth stage of society collapsed, and the world was in chaos.

The Hao Dynasty is now in the second stage, and Zhao Wuxian estimates that he will live for more than ten years, and when he reaches his grandchildren, he will progress to the third stage......

In this way, a cycle of reincarnation begins, the so-called "cycle of chaos".

The biggest enemy in front of Zhao Wuxian is not the Southern Party five years ago, nor Chu Yue, who is still separating the south, but the dead knot of this cycle of chaos.

There are two ways to solve the problem, one is to continue to open up territory, find more arable land, and disperse the population through colonial means, and modern Europe relied on colonization of the Americas to alleviate a general crisis in the 17th century.

The second is to develop science and technology so that the land can produce more food, so that the land can be cultivated in places that could not be cultivated in the past.

Zhao Wuxian plans to grasp both hands, he is ready to solve Chu Yue while he is still alive, to avoid future troubles for his descendants, and at the same time to develop the south in advance, and when the population of the Central Plains reaches an upper limit in a hundred years, the population can pour into the vast Jiangnan unimpeded......

"People who have no long-term worries must have near-term worries, Mo Zhai, you have always wanted to stop the war, but as everyone knows, if you stop today's slaughter, you can't stop tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, but it will be even more tragic!"

Seeing that Mo Zhai was thoughtful, but still hesitant, Zhao Wuxian knew that he would not empathize with him who could not see the dead end of the Chinese history cycle two years ago in the future, so he said: "It seems that the method of relying on the royal road will not be able to convince you, then, just take the military road." “

"Luban! Go down and prepare, and show those two sharp weapons to Mo Zhai. ”

Lu Ban was a little flustered, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this is an important weapon of the country, how can it be easily shown?" ”

The old Zhao Wuxian glanced at him, and Lu Ban hurriedly silenced him and went down to prepare.

Mo Zhai felt a faint uneasiness in his heart, but he didn't know why, Zhao Wuxian asked him to sit together in the palace by the water in Wenxian County, and said to him: "You advocate treating the country of people, if you regard it as a country; Regard the home of a person, as if it were his home; Regard the body of a man as if he were his body. Is this love? “

"However, if everyone loves each other and benefits each other, then even if the princes are juxtaposed, the world can still be united, otherwise, even if it is forcibly unified by domineering, the world, between people, will still enmity each other, and there will be turmoil......" He raised his head and glanced at Zhao Wuxian, and said softly: "It's like what happened in the Song Kingdom five years ago." “

That was a scar in Zhao Wuxian's heart, and it was also a pain in Mozi's heart, the rebellion of the Southern Party, the Tiandao Sect was suppressed one after another, and that chaos killed many people, many of whom were still Mo Zhai's fellow villagers and friends.

"If you love much, you will spend a lot, and if you hide much, you will die. You can't love all people, you want to save everything, but you can only lose more in the end, sometimes, you have to endure short pain, so as to avoid long pain......"

As an old man, not as an emperor, he told Mozi: "Don't be delusional about perfection in everything!" “

……

While speaking, Lu Ban had already been ordered by Zhao Wuxian to prepare the things that should be prepared.

"Come, Mo Zhai, come and see, these two things, do you have a way to come up with a defense strategy?"

Mo Zhai and Zhao Wuxian stood on the waterfront platform, facing the mighty river, he saw several sailing boats on the river, among which the big boat in the middle was empty, while the other small boats were fully armed, with sailors standing on them, they were quickly approaching the target ship, as if they were going to carry out a battle show......

What happened in the next moment made Mo Zhai stunned.

He saw, without warning, a viscous flame erupting from the small boat, and some of these flames fell directly onto the big boat, burning on the spot. Some fell into the water, but strangely enough, instead of being drowned, they pounced on the ship even more fiercely.

In the blink of an eye, the besieged ship was set on fire and slowly sank into the river......

"This is ......" Mozi is good at defending the city and fighting boats, and he already has a lot of experience in how to defend against rocket smoke and arrows, but he is a little helpless in the face of this mysterious green flame.

"This is called 'wildfire', and it is the artifact that Jiangnan Boat Master is about to equip, and it burns everywhere. Do you think that although the people of Chu Yue are good at water warfare, what will happen if they encounter this kind of weapon? ”

Thinking of the kind of green flame that was like a ghost and could not be extinguished with water, Mozi palpitated for a while, and thought: "If I were on the boat, all I could do was to kneel down and pray for the salvation of Haotian and the ghosts and gods......

Seeing that he was silent, Zhao Wuxian smiled, and asked Mo Zhai to take a ride and go to the outskirts of Wen County with him to have a look.

Halfway through the road, Mozi heard an earth-shattering noise, followed by a slight tremor on the surface, and the horses neighed in panic.

"What is this?" He knew where his uneasiness came from, and Lu Ban had indeed hidden the true artifact.

After getting out of the carriage, he found himself being taken under a dusty hill by Zhao Wuxian and Lu Ban.

……

There was a heavily guarded barracks that required heavy checks to enter, even if the Emperor was there in person. After entering the inside, I saw all kinds of people walking around busily, or carrying boxes of things, I don't know what they were, but Mozi could smell a strange and pungent smell in the air, which seemed to be carbon and sulfur? But it's not quite like that.

There were even some people who used horse-drawn carts and ox-carts to pull heavy black balls, and when the emperor passed by, he also motioned for Mozi to touch them.

"It's an iron ball...... Mozi became more and more puzzled in his heart, but he also vaguely guessed the possibility: Could it be that the loud noise just now was to use iron bullets instead of stone bullets, and then use a larger trebuchet or ballista to shoot out?

Zhao Wuxian didn't answer, but just let Lu Ban open the way in front, and the group arrived at a spacious school field.

Here are several huge bronze statues......

It is like a horizontal Zun, and it seems to be a large bottle, one end of the oblique tilt is empty, the other end seems to be closed, the diameter is three inches, the weight should be about seven or eight hundred catties, the dark and deep metal color, it looks deep and introverted, and it looks mysterious.

One of them had been erected on a wooden platform, and in front of it was a newly built wall.

As you saw on the river, this is also a theater venue.

Mozi's heart jumped suddenly, he didn't know what he would see, but he saw Zhao Wuxian say "Let's start" to Lu Ban, and then he watched with satisfaction as Lu Ban and the craftsmen and soldiers fiddled with the bronze giant weapon.

Mo Zhai saw that some stern-faced craftsmen took out the black powdery object from the mysterious wooden box, took the amount they wanted to use with the vessel, put it into the tail of the bronze vessel, and led a thick thread out......

When the soldiers put a ten-pound iron bullet into the bronze, another group of craftsmen took a ruler and a ruler to measure the distance and angle, measured it for a while, nodded, and the soldier behind the bronze raised a torch and lit the thick line......

The lead made a sizzling sound, and it disappeared into the cannon chamber in an instant, and before Mo Zhai could react, he heard a loud noise like thunder!

"Boom!"

Mo Zhai was so shocked that his toes toes, and his whole person was more than two inches taller, and his ears, head, and even his open mouth were all trembling in the sound.

Zhao Wuxian and Lu Ban were used to this meeting, and they both blocked their ears with cork, but Mo Zhai was stunned in place, and only after a long time did he sigh and look forward......

He saw that the beginning of the bronze was shrouded in a puff of white smoke, and he knew that the iron bullet was no longer in it.

So where is it?

Looking at it, Mo Zhai was dumbfounded.

But I saw that the wall more than 300 steps ahead had been smashed open with a huge gap, a big hole......

The iron bullet flew, three hundred steps, no, more than that, according to his eyes, it was three hundred and fifty steps!

It's equivalent to a mile away, and even the most powerful Shaoliang artillery and ballista cannons can't shoot so far, right? Moreover, the volume of this artifact is only one-tenth of the Shaoliang cannons imitated by Mo Zhai......

"This is ......" The buzzing in his ears still hadn't subsided, and Mo Zhai needed to open his mouth wide to alleviate the symptoms.

"It's artillery, it's artillery, it's artillery, it's not artillery. Moreover, this is a relatively early version, and in the future, it will be farther and farther away, and the power will become more and more powerful! “

Zhao Wuxian stroked the bronze cannon with some pride, as if this was his favorite son and grandson.

"I used to think that I was the king who could be the supreme and supreme of the three, but later, I realized that I myself was also a mortal, and I was also flesh and blood, and I would make mistakes, I would be merciful, and I would die......"

"I used to think, in a hundred years, what can I leave to posterity?"

"Infamy, fame, know me and sin me. Praise me for a day, slander me for not being able to stabilize the harem and lead to human tragedy, all this, who knows? ”

"What I want to leave behind are some sharp weapons that can break the law of historical cycles, which can be used to equip weapons and expand territory, which is a hegemonic military approach. Of course, you can also blow up the mountain and open the way and lead China into a new era, which is the royal approach. ”

Gunpowder, Greek fire, bronze cannons, these are the magic weapons that Lu Ban and the craftsmen of the Academy Palace spent twenty years making for him!

This is also the biggest reliance for him to drive Western Qin, Chen's Korea, and even Chu Yue to develop the four realms, but he is not worried that they will be able to fight back.

Zhao Wuxian smiled and said to Mo Zhai: "Back then, Guan Yiwu was in Zhaoling, pointing to the alliance of princes and saying to the Chu people, who can resist it in this battle!" Attack the city with this, what is the city and not conquer! ”

"Today, I will repeat this sentence, Thou, can you resist it? Chu Yue, can it be an enemy? ”

"I can't." Mo Zhai is an expert in defending the city, and there are many ways to prepare the city gate, but today, in the face of this weapon called "artillery", there is nothing to be done.

"Since you can't, then after you go back, you can tell the Chu people and Yue people. Either surrender or migrate and leave Kyushu. ”

"If the Chu people are not willing to be my people, they should follow their ancestors, follow the blue wisps of the road, open the mountains and forests, and go to the Lingnan land in the south of Cangwu, or go to the west such as Dianchi Lake, and find the Western Chu established by Bai Sheng to take refuge, and develop the unknown land in the south and west of Lishui. If you don't want to be my people, you should leave Wu and Huiji, take their boat, and go overseas to explore new areas, perhaps, one rich island after another, waiting for them...... As for you, Mo Zhai, if you are willing to put aside your prejudices, return to the Central Plains, use your ingenuity, and use the new artifacts researched by the Academy Palace over the years to create a better future for the world, this is the real world! “

People are going to die, dynasties are going to die, only history rolls forward, and the deceased are like Sifu, reluctant to give up day and night.

And he is just one of the waves, although this wave has changed the direction of the whole river, the original twists and turns, now, may be able to run all the way unimpeded, rushing into the sea......

This is his Zhao Wuxian's life, and this is the end of this story......

(End of the full text, thank you for your company, subscription, reward, and recommendation vote.) I have a lot to say, but these days I really run out of oil and can't write. There are also some extras, which are basically Qin Chu's affairs, and I can't deduce it in the Central Plains anyway, I'm so tired that I'm going to die, so I'll rest for a day first, and then update an extras every other day. Finally, the new book opened in early April, and it is still the theme of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, called "The Bright Moon of the Warring States", the book was built, but it can't be searched until April 1st, this should be a pure cool text, and July is here with a life guarantee, hahaha. ）