readx; Zhang Zhihe hurriedly stepped forward, bowed and saluted: "See the general!" ”

Zhang Zhihe came to Anxi last year, has been involved in the relocation of Hermes-Epitek, in the actual affairs of the evaluation of the upper evaluation, and won the second place in the official examination at the beginning of the year, so the official Cao Si in the appointment of the position of the general newcomer from the main book to start the convention, directly appointed him as the first county magistrate of Chuhe County, he has served as the county magistrate for nearly half a year, although young, some lack of experience, but he has made great efforts, the achievements are also obvious to all, in the supervision interview envoy assessment of him, his popularity score is the highest, When it comes to Zhang County's order in Chuhe County, no one does not praise him, and because of this, Li Qingan did not look down on him because he was Li Mi's nephew, but on a case-by-case basis and admitted his political achievements. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Li Qingan returned the salute with a smile: "We are just passing by Chuhe County and disturbing the Zhang County Order." ”

"Where, the general passed by Chuhe County, and he should come to see him."

Zhang Zhihe said, glancing at the old man Wei and the others, looking a little nervous, after all, he is a county order, a county parent official, how do the county citizens below say themselves in front of the Anxi Jiedu envoy, he is still a little worried, this is also human nature, Li Qingan saw his worry, so he patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Your reputation is very good, I have come all the way, I have met many people, and they all praise you for serving the people and doing a good job!" As long as you are evaluated for three consecutive years, I will promote you to the state taishou and make you the youngest state official in Datang. ”

Zhang Zhihe was overjoyed, and he bowed deeply and said: "Thank you for the trust of the general, I will do my best to make the general's expectations come true." ”

"Come on! Sit down and talk. ”

Li Qingan asked Zhang Zhihe to sit down, and said with a smile: "Tell me about your usual difficulties, it just so happens that I am here, maybe we can negotiate to solve the problem." ”

Old Man Wei and a few other peasants hurriedly wanted to walk away, but Li Qing'an stopped them, "Let's listen together, you are all pragmatic people, maybe there is a better way than me." ”

Zhang Zhihe was more nervous, to a certain extent, this was actually an exam given to him by Li Qingan, and the local people were allowed to observe, which made it more difficult for him, he pondered for a moment, and then said: "I do have an idea for the general's reference." ”

"You say!"

Zhang Zhihe glanced at the old farmer next to him and said: "I think that the taxes of the people of Anxi are a bit low, which is not conducive to long-term development. ”

Several peasants looked at each other, their county lord actually thought that the tax was too low, how could this be, the old man Wei wanted to open his mouth to object, but it can be seen that Li Qing'an's expression was serious, so he had to swallow the words of opposition back to his stomach.

Li Qingan didn't expect that he would think that the tax was too low, so he asked curiously: "Tell me, what is the reason for this?" ”

"General, although Anxi is rich in gold and silver, grain can also be obtained from other places, and there is no need for the people to pay taxes, but in this way, the people lack pressure, and people slowly become lazy, especially the farmers, anyway, the taxes are very low, and the grain is cheap, so they don't have to work so hard to grow grain, they have nothing to do in the city to do odd jobs, and the wages are also a lot, and then buy some grain to pay taxes, as for how much grain can be collected in the grain field, it doesn't matter, it could have been able to produce 500 catties per mu, but in the end only 300 catties, and so on, Not to mention that the fertility of the land has deteriorated, people have become lazy, as the saying goes, be prepared for danger in times of peace, but now it is time to be idle in peace, the general, and think that although this matter is small, if it is not controlled early, it will accumulate sooner or later. ”

Li Qing'an fell into deep thought, and at this time, Old Man Wei finally couldn't help but say, "General, Xiaomin also has something to say. ”

"Say it!"

Old man Wei first gave a salute to Zhang Zhihe, and then said: "Zhang County Order said that because of the low tax makes people lazy, unwilling to farm, Xiaomin does not think so, take Xiaomin himself, Xiaomin's family was allocated 150 acres of land, and in the past two years, more than 200 acres of wasteland have been reclaimed, because the government has regulations, open up wasteland and farm for ten years, and the land can belong to themselves, so my eldest son and I get up early and are greedy for darkness, never a day of laziness, in order to increase food production, I also installed a waterwheel, yes, the tax is very low, but this is by no means a reason for us to be lazy, Because we have had enough of the hardships of not having land, because the land is ours, so I want to make it the best, maybe there are people like Zhang Xianling said, but I believe that it is a minority, and the vast majority of people will not become lazy. ”

"My husband said the opposite, there are a few people like you who work diligently to farm the land, and the vast majority of people are drilling to find cracks to make money, because growing food is not profitable at all, who wants to waste time and energy on growing food."

Zhang Zhihe took out a book of accounts from the package he was carrying, turned two pages and said to Li Qing'an: "General, I have this year's statistics here, last year each household in Chuhe County reclaimed about 80 acres of wasteland, and in the first ten months of this year, each household reclaimed an average of only five acres of wasteland, and there is almost no new land, why, because most of the young people have gone to the city to work, or to plant tea and mulberry, that is, no one is willing to grow grain anymore, like this, in a few years, I am afraid that Anxi will have no food of its own." ”

Li Qing'an heard the name of the name, this Zhang Zhihe was ostensibly saying that the tax was low, but in fact he was criticizing Anxi for valuing industry and commerce and ignoring agriculture, at this time, Liu Yan next to him also smiled and said: "General, although Zhang County is young, but his knowledge is very old, I agree with his thinking, if the general is willing to listen, I can tell a story." ”

"The two of you, one knocking on the side, the other on the side, say it! I listened. ”

Liu Yan smiled, and said slowly: "In the past, Guan Zhong forced the people of Qi to grow grain, and at the same time bought silk from neighboring countries at a high price, and then sold the grain to neighboring countries at a low price, as a result, the neighbors saw that it was profitable, and it was useless to grow grain, so they destroyed the fields and planted mulberry, raised silkworms and spinned silk, and made a lot of money from Qi State. ”

Zhang Zhihe nodded and said: "General, that's exactly what I mean, the current grain comes from Xinde, once we develop a dependence on Xinde's food, we all go to work to make money, or destroy the fields to plant mulberry, if there is no food in Xinde in a few years, then there will be a food shortage in Anxike." ”

Of course Li Qingan understands this truth, so he said: "I understand what you mean, but young people really want to work to earn money, and the workshops that have been opened are not easy to close, so what do you say?"

Liu Yan said with a smile: "In fact, the solution is very simple, that is, to increase the price of grain in the Anxi market, or to subsidize the grain growers, so that the income of growing grain is not lower than that of the workshop, so that the goods of the workshop can be sold to the big food or Byzantium to make a lot of money, and part of the money earned will be used to subsidize the grain growers, don't think that there is too much grain, grain will always be a strategic material, we just need to build more warehouses, and when the big food has a food shortage, we will sell it to them at a high price." ”

"Wait!"

The expression on Li Qingan's face became extremely shocked, and he hurriedly said, "What did you just say, say it again." ”

"I mean that food will always be a strategic material, and we just need to build more warehouses."

"It's not this one, it's the latter."

"The last sentence?"

Liu Yan thought for a while and said, "When there is a food shortage in the big food, we will sell it to them at a high price." ”

It was this sentence, and a thought flashed through Li Qing'an's mind like lightning, the Great Cannibal has relied on Xinde's food for decades, and now that the big granary of Xinde is occupied by himself, will there be a famine in Dashi?

Although the Nile Delta is also a fertile land, according to Pei Yu, it is mainly about growing cotton, not food, and the key is that the two river basins have received a lot of grain from Sindh for many years, so how many people are still willing to grow grain.

Thinking of this, Li Qingan suddenly realized that if there was really a food crisis in the Great Cannibal, then the Great Cannibal would not delay the war in half a year, and perhaps the war would be advanced.

Realizing this, Li Qing'an found that he had made an empirical mistake, always deducing the preparation time of the Great Eclipse according to common sense, and if there was a special situation in the Great Eclipse, such as a food crisis, then they would definitely start a war immediately to solve it.

He was a little anxious in his heart, so he said to Liu Yan: "It will take half a month for the upper reaches of the Chu River to come and go, and I will miss the right thing, so I won't go, Liu Zhizhi can go to inspect it on my behalf, and I will entrust it to you." ”

"Are you going to go back to Broken Leaves?"

"Nope! I'm going to take a trip to Takuchi Castle. ”

．．．．．．． From the broken leaves to the west, through the city of Ashibulai, Julan City, you can reach the territory of Shiguo, and then turn to the south, six days later, Li Qing'an led his troops to arrive at the capital of Shiguo Tuozhi City.

According to the results of the Battle of Talas, the status of the Shi State is different from that of the Hezhong States, which belongs to the co-subordinate state of the Tang Army and has made military achievements, so it is not reduced to the occupation of the Tang Army like the TransoChina States, and it has a little autonomy.

The king is still Hassan, and the administrative power of Shiguo is still in his hands, but the military power is gone, and Shiguo only retains 5,000 troops, which are used to maintain law and order in peacetime, and the nearly 30,000 troops stationed in Shiguo are under the control of the governor of Dawandu, of which 6,000 are stationed in Talas, 2,000 are stationed in Baishui City, and 20,000 are stationed in Tuozhi City.

The current governor of Dawan is the general Tian Zhen, and the original governor Li Siye has been transferred to Hezhong when Li Qing'an attacked Xinde, and served as the military envoy of Hezhong.

The grassland around Tuozhi City is vast, rich in Dawan good horses, it is an important base for the Tang Army to train the new army, after receiving the last nearly seven months of cavalry training here, the recruits officially began to serve, and the soldiers and horses were assigned to various places, and a new batch of soldiers were sent, and the cycle was repeated, and the scale of 20,000 people was always maintained.

Li Qing'an did not come to Tuozhi City to inspect the recruits, but to inspect the Tuozhi City's Weapons Department, Tuozhi City is also one of the most important weapons manufacturing bases of the Tang Army, especially large siege equipment, such as ladders, battering rams, chariots, trebuchets, bed crossbows and other heavy weapons, are developed here, mainly because the trees near Tuozhi City are hard and abnormal, suitable for making heavy weapons, and there are many skilled craftsmen in Shiguo, and there are enough human resources.

About twenty miles outside Tuozhi City, there is also a secret weapon test site, which is the Tang Army's gunpowder test base, located in a valley, which is heavily guarded, with 2,000 guards, no one is allowed to enter, the vast majority of Shiguo people don't know what is going on there, and even King Hassan doesn't know that it is the Tang Army's Tianlei manufacturing base.

In the evening, Li Qing'an came to the Tianlei Valley under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, this is a huge valley, as if a mountain was split in half, in fact, this was originally the valley of the Dawan River, after the Dawan River was diverted, it gradually dried up here, forming a canyon, about ten miles long, five miles at the widest point, only a dozen zhang at the narrowest point, high mountains and cliffs on both sides, overgrown with dense vegetation, the valley is very dry, suitable for storing gunpowder.

The valley has become a forbidden place, and the people who can enter this valley are no more than two hundred, and the sulfur transported from Qianquan Mountain and the saltpeter transported by the Bahanna country are configured here as the sharpest weapon of the Tang Dynasty: gunpowder.

Li Qing'an led twenty personal guards into the valley, and the leader of the officers in the valley was also Li Qing'an's personal soldiers, named Zheng Guoliang, who was responsible for making cannon battles on Longju Island, and now he is in charge of the entire gunpowder production, and has been living here since the Battle of Talas, and nearly four years have passed.

"The last general will see the general!" Zheng Guoliang knelt down on one knee and gave Li Qingan a salute.

Li Qingan hurriedly helped him up and said with a smile: "You don't have to be so formal, get up!" ”

"Report to the general, I received an order from the general two months ago, and I am leading the brothers to speed up the process of manufacturing firearms, and ask the general to inspect them."

Li Qingan nodded, and asked him as he walked: "I heard that the earth-shaking thunder has been made, is it reliable?" ”

The earth-shaking thunder is the iron-shelled gunpowder bag, which is the most powerful of the original gunpowder weapons, invented in the Song Dynasty, when the power is the greatest, it can collapse the entire city wall, and the people and stones are powdered, this is what Li Qingan has always wanted to create, he just has a concept, everything depends on the craftsman to repeatedly explore and experiment, a few months ago, Zheng Guoliang wrote a letter to report, the earth-shaking thunder has been created.

But Li Qing'an is concerned about the stability surname, if this kind of fierce surname weapon is unstable, if it explodes in his own army, the consequences are unimaginable, so many times, he would rather not use gunpowder, but also to ensure stability.

Zheng Guoliang said with a smile: "Don't worry, General, we have tested it hundreds of times, and it is very stable, and now more than fifty have been made, I will take the General to take a look." ”

He led Li Qing'an into the valley, there are several white buildings in the valley, where the craftsmen's dormitories and raw material warehouses are located, and the dispensing workshop is in the cave, and there are more than 20 caves of all sizes on both sides of the valley, all of which are granite, dry and strong, and become their natural various workshops and gunpowder storage places.

Li Qing'an followed him into a huge cave, more than ten zhang high, several miles deep, a long row of tables were placed at the entrance of the cave, more than a dozen craftsmen were making gunpowder arrows, Zheng Guoliang picked up a gunpowder arrow and introduced to Li Qing'an: "This kind of arrow itself is a big arrow fired by a bed crossbow, and a gunpowder cartridge is tied to the arrow, and after the gunpowder is burned, it will increase the impact force, so that the big arrow can be fired farther, we have done experiments, and the range can reach two miles." ”

Li Qingan was very interested in this kind of gunpowder arrow, he picked up a slightly smaller arrow, turned around and said, "Take my bow!" ”

The soldiers immediately handed him his black dragon bow, and Li Qing'an collected more than a dozen good bows, and this bow was his war bow, and it was also a seven-stone hard bow, which took two years to make by the first archer in Anxi, and the whole body was pitch black and shiny, and it was extremely easy to use.

Li Qing'an strode to the outside of the cave, put the gunpowder arrow on the bow, slowly pulled the bow like a full moon, aimed at the end of the valley, there is a test ground, there is no one for the time being, the arrow shaft is very long, enough to ensure that the gunpowder cartridge is still outside the bow after the bow, at this time, a craftsman carefully ignited the lead with a fire fold, the lead burned very evenly, when it was halfway burned, the arrow came out of the string, drew an arc, and shot straight into the open distance, about one hundred and fifteen hundred steps later, the arrow suddenly accelerated, thick white smoke rose, the arrow disappeared, a moment, A soldier ran back with an arrow and shouted, "General, shoot four hundred and fifty paces." ”

This arrow shot four hundred and fifty steps, which made Li Qingan couldn't help but be amazed, Zheng Guoliang smiled a little proudly: "There are actually two kinds of gunpowder arrows, one is to accelerate, and the other is to fix a small gunpowder bag with a cross, which is filled with quenched fine iron nails, which are used to deal with the opponent's war horse, which is very effective, and we have developed this gunpowder arrow alone for nearly a year." ”

"Why?" Li Qingan was a little incomprehensible.

"Actually, it's not the gunpowder arrow itself, it's mainly gunpowder, has the general found that this gunpowder is different from the gunpowder of Longju Island in the past?"

Li Qingan thought for a while and said, "It seems to burn at a very uniform speed, and it seems that it can control time with a lead." ”

"The general is right, we spent a year studying if the gunpowder particles are grinded, and finally the gunpowder is solidified with egg white and sulfur, and then finely grinded, the size of the gunpowder particles is very uniform, and the good particles are also polished with graphite, so that it is more resistant to moisture, and the uniform particle size can control the combustion rate, and we are also considering making a lead reel to let the gunpowder burn slowly, and then explode after a quarter of an hour, so that the enemy is more defenseless."

"Not bad! Very good! ”

Li Qingan sighed twice, and then asked, "What about the earth-shaking thunder?" ”

"General, please come with me."

Zheng Guoliang took Li Qing'an into the depths of the big cave, where the light was already relatively dim, but no matter how dim it was, it must not light a torch, at this time Li Qing'an found that there were many caves on both sides, and there seemed to be something in them.

"The cave is shady and dry, which is perfect for storing gunpowder."

He dragged a wooden box out of a cavern, about a foot square, and he pried open the lid, revealing a swarthy fellow, flat and round, much like a hot water pot made of copper.

"General, please look, this is the Heaven-Shaking Thunder! Must be fired with a large trebuchet. ”

Li Qingan picked up this oblate iron guy weighing about twenty pounds, patted its stomach, and asked with a curious smile: "How powerful is it?" ”

"We built a three-zhang high fort with huge stones, and when the earth-shattering thunder exploded inside, the explosion sound spread ten miles away, and the entire fort was blown flat."

(To be continued)