Li Shengjie frowned in embarrassment, looked at Qiu Yizhi again, and saw that he also pursed his lips and nodded slightly, so he beckoned several gunners lined up in the ranks, pointed to a reef looming more than a hundred and ten steps away from the river, and ordered: "Three artillery salvos, bombard that reef for me." ”

The reef was so large that it was the size of a scalper, and although it was a hundred paces away from the ship, the target was still very large.

These gunners on Li Shengjie's ship have all been trained by Westerners, and they have used artillery in actual combat many times, and when they heard Li Shengjie's order, they hurriedly fiddled for a while, and then replied: "Young shipowner, you have already taken aim, and you are going to open fire?" ”

Li Shengjie looked at Emperor Zheng Rong, and then at his brother Qiu Yizhi, and finally waved his hand and shouted: "Open the cannon!" ”

The gunners were given the order and shouted in unison: "Fire!" Fire! Fire! He lit the fuse on the cannon with a torch.

I saw that the fuse burned shorter and shorter, and finally there was a loud bang, and the three guns were activated in unison, which shook the whole deck.

The generals standing on the deck could still maintain their composure, and those civilian officials who had never seen the world were all frightened to the point that their faces were discolored, and some even exclaimed in a low voice: "My mother, I'm scared to death!" ”

Then I heard three loud bangs of "bang, bang, bang" in the distance, and the reef pointed out by Li Shengjie was already surrounded by a black, gray, and white smoke.

Emperor Zheng Rong had seen such a scene several times in the "Battle of Rebellion", all of which were caused by the detonation of explosives after planting explosives in advance, but today, the artillery on Li Shengjie's ship, a hundred steps away, can cause such a powerful explosion.

Zheng Rong is also an emperor who led troops to fight, and of course he knew the military value, and when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but get up from the throne, take a few steps forward, and hold on to the railing on the side of the ship and look into the distance.

At this moment, the smoke and dust on the reef have been blown away by the river wind, and the reef that was originally exposed to the river surface more than three feet high has been cut off by half after these three shellings, leaving only a stone platform two or three inches high in the river water from time to time, ups and downs.

Zheng Rong was quite shocked when he saw it, and involuntarily stood up from the dragon chair, but he still put on the emperor's majesty, and shouted loudly: "Okay, it's really a sharp weapon!" In the future, I will put down the rebellion of the Lingnan army, and there will definitely be a place for it. ”

When all the civil and military officials saw the emperor, they all stood up and applauded, and of course they all echoed and cheered.

Although Zheng Rong knew it in his heart, he didn't want to dwell on the artillery matter any more, so he deflected the words and said: "It's not too early today, I will stay on your ship today, Li Shengjie, is it convenient?" ”

Li Shengjie didn't know how to answer, so Qiu Yizhi stepped forward and said: "Weichen has instructed Li Shengjie to get ready, and he has sorted out his own cabin bedroom, or the emperor may want to, he can live here." However, the ship is not as cramped as the land, and the cabins are very cramped; Although the ship was anchored on the river, it was still very shaky, which frightened the saint. The minister still advises the saint to get off the boat and stay in the middle of the line......"

Zheng Rong heard Qiu Yizhi say this, and then he knew that the accommodation conditions on the ship were not good, but as soon as he said this, if he got off the ship like this, it would inevitably seem that the emperor's words did not count, so he said: "I see that no matter how hard it is here, can I still suffer more than when I led the army to attack the Turks in the north?" I'm spending the night here tonight, so be careful. ”

When Zhong Li Kuang heard this, he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "The emperor stays on the ship, although it is a big thing and a small matter, although it is a small matter, it cannot be taken lightly. In this way, the two princes were invited to guard the border on the ship with the ministers, and the rest of the adults camped under the ship to prepare for the summons. The sailors on Li Shengjie's ship, in addition to the necessary manpower, must also disembark and be stationed to make room for the emperor's guards to live. This is a little foolish opinion of Wei Chen, and he asked the emperor to decide. ”

Zheng Rong nodded while listening, and when Zhong Li Kuang finished speaking, he immediately agreed: "Mr. Zhong Li's opinion is very agreeable, so please do it." ”

Li Shengjie is full of reluctance: It's not bad that my ship will stay for you to stay overnight, but you still have to occupy the magpie's nest and drive my sailors under the ship, this is never the truth, and it will be rumored in the future, what kind of face does my old Li family have at sea to command the heroes?

He raised his eyes to look at Zhong Likuang, the shriveled old man who had come up with an idea, and just collided with his gaze, only to feel that the gaze shot out of the triangular eyes with drooping eyelids was firm and sharp, as if he could see through people's hearts, and finally did not dare to speak.

Qiu Yizhi had already guessed the thoughts of this young and arrogant righteous brother, and hurriedly interjected: "What an honor it is for the emperor to stay on the Li family's ship, why don't you hurry up and thank you?" ”

When Li Shengjie heard Qiu Yizhi's words, he could only kneel down and kowtow, which was regarded as thanking.

Zhong Likuang was really meticulous in his work, and personally led people to check Li Shengjie's ship up and down several times, leaving only ten sailors on duty on the ship, and the rest of the sailors were invited to disembark, and another ten taels of silver were rewarded, and these people received the reward and finally happily got off the ship. He also asked Zhang Long to lead 5,000 elite soldiers, and they lined up and camped beside the ship, just in case.

In this tense atmosphere, the "five-clawed golden dragon" flag was raised high above the mast of the Li family's "beluga whale flag", and the entire giant ship was filled with a tense atmosphere of loosening on the outside and tightening on the inside.

As night fell, according to Zhong Likuang's instructions, the guards lit countless torches to disperse the darkness on the deck, as if it were day.

The room vacated by Li Shengjie was also brightly lit, only to hear Qiu Yizhi bow down and reply: "As far as Weichen knows, the artillery is a weapon that was transmitted to the Wa Kingdom from the West. Originally, it was quite inconvenient to use, and the angle direction could only be fixed, and the range was determined by the amount of charge. Li Shengjie spent a lot of money and specially hired craftsmen to install the gun on a movable chassis, so that the gun could move left and right, up and down, and aim freely...... Oh, the reason why the Lingnan prince was able to fall into the hands of Weichen was also because of Li Shengjie's artillery, which was able to turn the tide of the battle in an instant......"

Zheng Rong listened and pondered, and suddenly interjected: "Is this artillery really so powerful?" ”

Qiu Yizhi told the truth: "That's true. At that time, Weichen had been compressed next to Yanziji by the heavy troops of the Lingnan prince, and was thinking about whether to burn the jade with the enemy army, or commit suicide by throwing himself into the river. But as soon as Li Shengjie's artillery rang out, the Lingnan army was killed or wounded, and the advantage was suddenly gone. However......"

"And yet what?" Emperor Zheng Rong answered, "If you have something to say, you don't have to shy away from it." ”

Qiu Yizhi arched his hand and replied, "The artillery is very sophisticated. Weichen has fought with the Lingnan Palace, the Turks, the Lingnan barbarians, the Japanese Kou, the Tianzun cult, etc., and no one has ever used this thing, even the artillery owned by Li Shengjie is only these ten guns on this ship. ”

Zheng Rong muttered: "That's okay, it didn't go out, otherwise in this world's strong city, which one else can hold on?" ”

"The emperor is shengming, there is one more thing ......" the way of Qiuyi.

Zheng Rong said: "You go on. ”

Qiu Yizhi replied: "There is also the use of artillery, which is extremely costly. What the emperor sees today is a trigger bomb, which will explode when it encounters a hard object after being fired. Although the power of the trigger bomb is great, the price is also extremely high, each one is worth one hundred taels of silver, just now Li Shengjie demonstrated the firepower, three hundred taels of silver, and it was launched like this......"

Everyone gasped when they heard this: the expenses of a medium-sized family in Dahan are only twenty or thirty taels of silver a year, and this cannonball can consume two or three families, which can be described as extremely expensive; And this Li Shengjie was able to fire three cannonballs while talking and laughing, and spent the three hundred taels of silver at once, which shows how rich the Li family is.

Everyone was surprised, but they heard Zheng Rong ask coldly: "Yizhi, Fang Cai's words, did Li Shengjie tell you to listen?" Is it really reliable? ”

Qiu Yizhi replied: "Reliable, although Li Shengjie is the so-called 'young ship owner' of the Li family, he is also a downright person, and he has not experienced the world, but he is a child, and his words should not be false." ”

Zheng Rong nodded, and the outline said: "I just said, if there is this thing, then there will be no strong city in this world to hold. Fortunately, this thing is still only owned by Li Shengjie's family, and it is not something that anyone can use. For the sake of today's plan, the use of these cannons must first be strictly controlled, even when quelling the rebellion of the Lingnan Palace, it cannot be used lightly, so as not to covet the small people. Secondly, it is necessary to strictly prevent this logistics from spreading out, which can neither be spread to the ears of domestic lawbreakers, nor can it be spread to the Japanese country and the West, otherwise there will be endless troubles. In the end, I will give Li Shengjie another official position, slowly separate him from my own fleet, and then let the imperial court control these huge ship artillery, and then I will have the capital to make a name for myself all over the world. ”

The people present, in addition to the emperor and Qiu Yizhi, were only Zhong Likuang, Zheng Xin, and Zheng Sen. After hearing that the emperor had such a countermeasure decision in the blink of an eye, they all admired it and praised it one after another: "The emperor (father) has a high opinion, but the ministers are not very respectful." ”

Qiu Yizhi was a little chilled when he heard this: the emperor met Li Shengjie only in an afternoon--he was introduced to him by himself-so he was thinking about robbing him of his ship and weapon, although it was for the sake of long-term peace and stability in the world, but it was too ruthless......

However, this matter is indeed very important, standing in the position of the emperor, it can only be handled in this way, Qiu Yizhi couldn't think of the slightest reason to advise after thinking about it, so he had to bow his head and arch his hand: "The emperor is far-sighted, and the ministers are far from it." Among them, if it is necessary to communicate with the decree, the minister is willing to contact in the middle. ”

Zheng Rong was happy when he saw that everyone had no objections, so he smiled and said, "Okay, I am also staying on the ship for the first time." Zheng Xin, Zheng Sen, and Yizhi are all my sons, and it is only natural that they should serve me personally. It's hard to hurt Mr. Zhongli......"

Qiu Yizhi heard that the emperor was comparing him with the two princes again, and his heart was so excited that he didn't even hear what Zhong Likuang said......

Zheng Rong has been working on the ship since he requisitioned Li Shengjie's ship as a royal boat.

This big ship is moored on the shore, and it is extremely conspicuous, and anyone who wants to face the saint can see it at a glance without any effort. On the boat, you must climb through a soft ladder or tow it in a basket, which directly eliminates the possibility of idlers and other people approaching the emperor without authorization. Therefore, working on the ship is both strict and convenient, and Zheng Rong is also quite proud.

In the past few days, Zheng Rong personally took the lead, and had already gathered all the more than 300,000 troops who were preparing to cross the river to the south, and set up camp by the river according to the regulations, just waiting for the emperor's order, they could cross the river to quell the rebellion.

The emperor also sent Li Shengjie and asked him to send a fleet to the south coast of the Yangtze River to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. The Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai fleets that the Lingnan Army Zheng Yu had relied on had all been defeated by Li Shengjie, and now they no longer had the slightest water power, so they could only watch Li Shengjie's ships come and go calmly, and the military defense of the Lingnan Army was even more in full view, and it was continuously conveyed to the emperor's ears.