Although the artillery is still in the development stage, after many experiments and Li Shan's knowledge reserves, Li Shan is already confident that he can create a usable cannon.

But the cannon naturally couldn't come out so quickly, and Li Shan was still counting on the audition document to find Long Xueling. It has been more than a month since the audition document was sent, and Long Xueling still has no news, which makes Li Shan very anxious. There were a lot of skilled craftsmen, and Li Shan found that there were many craftsmen who had a natural sensitivity to structure.

Originally, there were many geniuses among the people, but they were all buried in ancient times, and many exquisite pavilions in ancient times were built with pure wooden structures, and these craftsmen had a lot of ideas about the design of the structure. For example, steam engines, cylinders, and so on.

The industrial revolution can often change human beings, and Li Shan is now a little afraid of what the changes he brings will change the world. It has to be said that drastic changes often lead to war, which is what Li Shan wants to avoid, and before he can control the situation himself, he decided to let things like the Industrial Revolution come later.

The first batch of firearms has been made, and the emperor naturally wants to inspect it himself.

In the forbidden army academy, thousands of Niu guards were already in full array, and the school yard was full of all kinds of weapons, all of which had never been seen before.

Tang Xuanzong came to the school with important ministers of the court above three grades, and Song Jing and Li Zhengfang also prepared to review the matter early. The specific command and operation were naturally handed over to Li Shan.

Although Li Shan had already taught the operation method to his soldiers, Li Shan still had to handle this important occasion himself.

After the emperor sat down, Li Shan stepped forward to report: "Your Majesty, the weapons used in this review include rockets, trebuchets, and thunder. This time, the weapons have been carefully improved to be more powerful and more practical. ”

Tang Xuanzong looked at the ministers on the left and right and said, "Everyone, Aiqing, today will be a memorable day since the founding of our dynasty." This new type of weapon was invincible on the battlefield of Liangzhou, which terrified Tibet. Let's take a look at its power today. ”

These ministers had heard of the power of firearms for a long time, but they had not seen it with their own eyes, so they did not have much of an idea. This drill was a warm-up for the upcoming envoys of various countries, and the reaction of the foreign envoys will be evident from the reactions of the ministers when they arrive in the near future.

Li Shan raised his hand and motioned to the soldier to push the rocket up: "This improved rocket no longer needs the soldier to pull the bowstring to launch, the entire arrow body is filled with gunpowder, and the rocket is launched with the power of gunpowder, and the top of the rocket is tied with a small thunderbolt, and the explosion power is amazing." And the range has also increased. Can shoot up to three hundred meters. ”

The soldier aimed the rocket at the distant target, lit the fuse, and dozens of rockets were fired continuously, and the distant target was instantly ignited and blown apart.

The ministers present, including the generals, let out a burst of exclamation. Tang Xuanzong himself was shocked, he didn't expect this rocket to have such great power. Such a rocket car can completely destroy a team of cavalry in an instant, and if dozens of rocket cars are launched together, even a cavalry charge of 10,000 people will be destroyed in an instant.

And all it needs is some iron tools, gunpowder. As for manpower. A few hundred people are enough.

"Congratulations to the emperor, God really helped me Datang, with such a weapon, the frontier can be determined, and the Turks can be broken. It can also be destroyed in Tibet. Zhang said that he came up first to congratulate.

The other ministers also recovered from their shock and chimed in.

The various drills that followed also had the expected effect, and all the ministers were surprisingly unanimous. They all believe that the foreign invasions of Tibet and Turks are no longer to be feared.

"Okay, Li Aiqing is really a genius. In such a short period of time, firearms can be developed so successfully. Li Aiqing said that the power of artillery is even greater, and I am really looking forward to it more and more. Tang Xuanzong said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, the development of firearms depends on the emperor's heavenly might. As well as the joint efforts of many skilled craftsmen, the minister did not dare to claim credit. As for artillery, there has not been much progress so far, please forgive the emperor and give him more time. ”

Tang Xuanzong was already very satisfied with Li Shan's results, and it didn't matter if he couldn't study artillery, anyway, such a weapon was enough to sweep through the Tibetans and Turks.

"Li Aiqing doesn't have to be too humble, without you, there would be no firearm, you should be the first to take the lead. As for the artillery, I am not in a hurry to see it, I now order that the artillery workshop will be separated from the Ministry of Industry from now on, and it will be renamed the Arms Department. All firearms matters will be handled by Li Shan with full authority, and will be reviewed by Shangshu Province and submitted directly to me. ”

This edict surprised all the ministers present. In all dynasties, there were six provinces and six ministries, and now they have expanded one separately, and Li Shan was directly promoted from a major general of the fourth rank to the secretary of the arms department.

You must know that the previous major general of the Ministry of Industry was actually just a small mistake, and the Ministry of Industry did not have much power, and the general was a major general, that is, a major general, that is, a weaponmaker, to put it bluntly, a blacksmith.

But Shangshu is different, Shangshu is a positive three grades, you must know that in the Tang Dynasty, the official positions above the three grades were all fictitious. The prime minister is just a positive third product, and Li Shan can be said to have soared into the sky.

It's just that a twenty-year-old hairy boy can be on an equal footing with a group of forty or fifty-year-old officialdom old men.

But no one dared to say nothing, because Li Shan's achievements were too outstanding. Even if the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are combined, they may not all be able to solve the great troubles of Tibet and the Turks, but Li Shan's simple invention solves it.

Knowledge is power, that's true.

"Minister, thank you, Lord Longen." Li Shan also didn't expect Tang Xuanzong to be promoted to his official, and he was promoted so high. However, no one will think that he is a big official, especially Li Shan has just realized the importance of power.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that although gunpowder alone can make the military power of my dynasty extremely strong, military power is not only reflected in weapons. The minister thought that if he wanted to deal with the Tibetans and the Turks, he knew that the other side could win all battles. Not only the Turks, but also Daeshi, Silla, and even Dongying across the sea will be our potential strategic targets in the future. ”

Li Shan's morale became even higher when he was made an official, so he simply said his combat thoughts.

Tang Xuanzong was very interested and asked, "What does Li Aiqing think?" Let's hear it. ”

"I think that the most important thing in war is intelligence. Predicting the enemy's strategic deployment, marching routes, food and grass supplies, and other useful information in advance will be of vital help to our battles. Just imagine, if the Tibetans sent troops to attack us, and we had already received the news and prepared before they sent their troops, and we could even preemptively attack and ambush them on the way to the march, the effect would be very obvious. ”

This was discussed by Li Shan and Gao Xianzhi and others before, but Li Shan did not say the detailed implementation method, after the battle of Liangzhou, Li Shan also had some understanding of the ways and means of ancient warfare. In ancient wars, due to the underdeveloped transportation and inconvenient information transmission, many things were decided on the spot, so the anti-intermediary scheme, the discordant scheme and so on will be tried and tested repeatedly.

In contrast, if information is not obtained so quickly, intelligence loses its value. However, Li Shan has gradually found an effective method, so he will put forward this opinion.

"Oh, Li Aiqing's proposal is very insightful, but there is a specific way to implement it? Let's hear it. Tang Xuanzong was very interested in Li Shan's endless opinions, especially this constructive view.

"The measure is to train a group of spies, penetrate the enemy's interior, and steal their information from the inside."

Li Zhengfang said: "Oh, although Lord Li won a battle in Liangzhou, he mainly relied on new weapons. It is also understandable that they are not familiar with things in the military. We look different from the Tibetans and Turks, and we don't understand the language, so it's impossible to send our soldiers into the place. ”

The other generals also nodded, "Besides, even if we get the news, it will be difficult to reach our army in time, so this spy theory will not work." ”

Li Shan naturally thought about these questions a long time ago, and said with a smile: "General Li's words are wrong, the so-called spy does not necessarily refer to soldiers. And to penetrate the enemy's interior, it is not necessarily in the army. Spies tend to be the most inconspicuous of the people, and may be children, old people, servants, or even prostitutes in Fireworks Willow Alley. And these people often have access to information that we don't expect. And these people often have status and status, and they don't care about the so-called national righteousness, as long as they are tempted to benefit, they can get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Zhang said that he was a Confucian minister, who knew the law and kept etiquette, so naturally he couldn't hear Li Shan say these words, so he stepped forward and retorted: "Lord Li, my Tang Dynasty has always been a state of etiquette, how can I do this kind of stealing chickens and dogs?" Confucius said that only women and villains are difficult to raise, and Lord Li expects these people to work for our dynasty? This is ridiculous. ”

Li Shan wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Tang Xuanzong: "Everyone, Aiqing, today's weapon review has been completed, and it has been all hard, so don't discuss this matter anymore." Lux, go back to the palace. ”

Gao Lishi nodded and shouted, "Swing and go back to the palace." ”

Seeing that the emperor was gone, the ministers didn't bother to argue with Li Shan, and they also dispersed.

Li Shan shook his head, although Confucianism has created the reputation of the country of Chinese etiquette, but it has also imprisoned people's minds. In particular, Confucianism was used by the regime in later generations, and Confucius had some dialectical ideas to meet Lao Tzu, but they were also ruthlessly abandoned, so that thousands of students who followed Confucianism and Taoism were self-contained and difficult to forge ahead.

When Li Shan was sighing, a little eunuch quietly slipped over: "Lord Li, Lord Li." ”

"What's the matter with this father-in-law?"

"Lord Li, the emperor ordered you to enter the palace immediately, and there must be no mistake." (To be continued.) )