The Liao State went to Beijing, and the Liao State had been arguing within the Liao State for nearly ten days on whether to send troops to support the Western Xia, and the supporters believed that the Liao Xia had a cold lip and a cold tooth, and once the Western Xia was destroyed, the Song Dynasty would have no worries, and would inevitably go all out to deal with the Liao State, and should support the Western Xia, so that the Western Xia would always be able to contain the Great Song Dynasty from the west.

The opposition represented by Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie believed that the Liao State had just ended the war with the Song army, the financial resources were exhausted, the national strength was weak, and the imperial court was simply unable to support the army to send troops to Western Xia.

"Bang!"

Yelu Hongji slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said: "Damn Song people, dare to humiliate Da Liao like this, I must kill Bianliang and slaughter these despicable Song dogs!" ”

Just today, he got two pieces of news, on the island near the Yalu River, the Song army actually stationed tens of thousands of soldiers, less than 100 miles away from the Liao seaside, another news is that the Jurchens actually used iron fire and thunder to blow up the city of Atuxian, Huaihua Army Jiedu made Gao Yuanji was killed on the spot, the Jurchens killed in the city, the Liao army suffered nearly 3,000 casualties, looted the Liao war horses 10,000 horses, 10,000 pairs of armor, of course the Jurchens will not have any iron and thunder, it is clear that the Song Dynasty used the hands of the Jurchens to demonstrate to the Liao State.

These two news made Yelu Hongji angry like thunder, in the room, a group of important ministers were silent, and Xiao Tao Su said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, at least we understand a little bit now, the reason why the Jurchen and Kereh tribes have been repeatedly destroyed is because they have the support of the Great Song Dynasty behind them, if we don't destroy these two tribes as soon as possible, with the support of the Song army, they will sooner or later become a big problem for the Liao State." ”

Yelu Ruinu, the prime minister of Nanfu, also said: "The iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty only appeared once, which shows that the Song Dynasty did not really give this firearm to the Jurchens, and the Song Dynasty was just warning us not to interfere in the Western Xia." ”

Yelu Yixin, the prime minister of the Northern Courtyard, understood Yelu Hongji's worries very well, and he reassured Yelu Hongji and said: "We have not found the Song army base outside the mouth of the Yalu River, and their sudden appearance is of course a warning to us by the Song army, but it is also a good thing, at least we know that the Song army still hides a threat there." ”

Yelu Hongji finally calmed down, he slowly leaned back in his chair, felt the warmth brought by the tiger skin, and said for a while: "A few days ago, the Song army warship appeared near Juehua Island, which is also an intention!" ”

Everyone replied in silence, and Yelu Hongji sighed, "When did the Song Dynasty, which has always been cowardly, become so tough, has it anything to do with their newly enthroned Son of Heaven?" ”

Zhang Xiaojie said in a low voice: "Your Majesty is right, their new emperor is only in his twenties, and he is bent on doing great things, coupled with the internal chaos of Western Xia itself, he was seized by the Song army. ”

"So what should I do? was so frightened by the Song army that he didn't dare to send troops to aid Xia? ”

Yelu Hongji has already eliminated the idea of supporting Western Xia, he just can't let go of face now, and a few threats from the Song Dynasty made him quit his army, who does he think of Yelu Hongji?

Yelu Yixin rolled his eyes and stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, although we can't send troops to support the Western Xia, we can persuade peace and send envoys to Bianliang, on the one hand, to mediate the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, and on the other hand, to ask the Song Dynasty not to support the Jurchens and the Kereh tribe anymore. ”

Yelu Yixin's plan was very good, openly reconciled the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, and the Liao State had a step, and at the same time secretly negotiated with the Song Dynasty, asking the Song Dynasty to no longer support the Jurchens and the Kereh, and everyone agreed.

Yelu Hongji immediately appointed Yelu Ruinu, the prime minister of Nanfu, as a special envoy to the Great Song Dynasty.

Everyone retreated, and Yelu Hongji only felt upset for a while, got up and said, "Swing!" I'm going to the Armory. ”

After a short time, Yelu Yixin accompanied the Son of Heaven Yelu Hongji to the Liao State Armory Institute, which is a specialized institution for the study of armor and weapons in the Liao State.

The Armory Institute located in Shangjing is the General Courtyard, which is divided into four branches: the First Courtyard, the Knife Academy, the Bow Courtyard and the Firearms Academy, among which the Arsenal is the only place in Liao to study firearms.

The firearms of the Liao State are much more backward than those of the Great Song Dynasty, basically they are studying how to imitate the various firearms of the Great Song Dynasty, they have created rockets, fire harriers, paper fire mines and porcelain bottle fire mines, but to study more advanced iron-shell fire mines, with their existing technology can not do it, they are only good at imitation, so the Liao State did everything possible to get the iron fire thunder from the Great Song Dynasty.

Last year, Bianliang's spies worked hard to get an old-fashioned iron fire mine, and if the Liao State got a treasure, he immediately sent it all the way to the Shangjing Armory Academy, and the firearms craftsmen of the Armory Institute studied it for a month before they began to cut through the iron fire thunder and began to study the structure and gunpowder formula inside.

But from last year to now, the Armory Academy has never been able to imitate the iron fire thunder, which makes Yelu Hongji both annoyed and depressed.

Today he is the third time to inspect the firearms institute, it is the news that the Jurchens used the iron fire thunder to stimulate him, although he knows that it is the hand of the fake Jurchens of the Song Dynasty, but Yelu Hongji is still anxious, the iron fire thunder can not be developed for a long time, it has become a problem in his heart.

Yelu Hongji came to the Arsenal, and more than a dozen officials in charge of the Arsenal greeted him, and Yelu Hongji waved his hand, "Go to the Arsenal!" ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven's face was ugly, the officials didn't dare to say anything, and hurriedly led Yelu Hongji and Yelu Yixin to the firearms courtyard.

The Liaoguo Firearms Institute covers an area of about 20 acres, half of which is used to make gunpowder, and the other half is used to make various firearms, with more than 30 gunpowder craftsmen, more than 50 firearms craftsmen, and about half of them are Han Chinese.

The chief steward of the firearms courtyard is called Xiao Jiannu, he tremblingly stepped forward and kowtowed, Yelu Hongji snorted heavily: "I said last time, I will give you another half a year to create an iron fire thunder, now that the deadline has passed, where is the iron fire thunder?" Show it to me. ”

Xiao Jiannu trembled with fright and stammered, "Your Majesty, we have indeed created an iron fire thunder, but we have not yet succeeded in experimenting. ”

"What didn't succeed?"

"That's it..... It just didn't blow up the iron shell, only a puff of green smoke, and it was over. ”

"Doesn't that mean it wasn't made?"

"Your Majesty, it is difficult for the iron-shelled fire mine to succeed, as far as the villain knows, the Song State Firearms Bureau began to study forty years ago, their technology is higher than ours, and it took decades, how can we do it in just half a year."

Yelu Hongji said angrily: "You are not studying, you are copying, can't you even learn imitation? ”

Yelu Yixin hurriedly persuaded: "Your Majesty, first look at the real thing, find out what the problem is, and then find a way to solve it." ”

Yelu Hongji snorted and walked into the firearms courtyard, the guards had already set up tables and chairs in the courtyard, Yelu Hongji sat down, and the chief steward Xiao Jiannu carefully brought a few iron fire thunders with his subordinates, one of which was a real thing obtained from the Song Dynasty, but it was cut open, and the structure inside was unobstructed.

Xiao Jiannu put another cut iron fire thunder in front of Yelu Hongji, "Your Majesty, this is the iron fire thunder we made, please compare the iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty." ”

Yelu Hongji looked closely, and the two iron fire thunders were exactly the same, and even the thickness of the iron shells was exactly the same.

"What's the problem?" Yeluhongji asked.

Xiao Jiannu cautiously asked, "The villain wants to know, is the iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty real?" ”

Yelu Hongji suddenly said angrily: "You can't make it yourself, so you want to pass the blame on others!" ”

"The villain doesn't mean that, the villain is saying that if the iron fire thunder itself is fake, there is no point in us imitating it, it will only waste Your Majesty's time."

Yelu Hongji glanced back at Yelu Yixin, and Yelu Yixin said without hesitation: "The iron fire thunder must be real, it is engraved with a number, and the Song Dynasty is also tracking down the whereabouts of this iron fire thunder and arresting many people, which is not easy to question." ”

Xiao Jianu nodded, "Since the Iron Fire Thunder is real, then the problem lies in the gunpowder formula, one may be that the gunpowder formula is different, and the other may be that other important items have been added to it." ”

"What did you find?

"We found that there was a black particle in it that could burn, and the smoke smelled bad, but we didn't know what this powder was?"

Xiao Jiannu presented a small box, Yelu Hongji took the box and looked at it, there were indeed some gray-black fine particles inside, each one was about the size of a sesame seed, he frowned and said: "Just add this thing, the iron fire thunder will explode?" ”

"Your Majesty! The Song Dynasty thought that this was a failed iron fire mine, but its gunpowder did not fail, so we suspect that this black particle failed, it accounted for one percent of the entire gunpowder, and it should be a very important explosive material, but we really don't know what it is? Never seen before. ”

Yelu Yixin also said: "I heard that the iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty must be made in Kunzhou, and this powder is very likely to be only available in Kunzhou, we must know what this powder is?" ”

"What about the gunpowder formula?"

"We did experiments, and the gunpowder formula hasn't changed, it's the same as the formula of paper fire mines."

Yelu Hongji immediately said to Yelu Yixin: "Do whatever it takes to find out the secret of this black powder!" ”

It is no wonder that the gunpowder craftsmen of the Liao State do not know that there is such a thing as natural rubber, I am afraid they have never even heard of it.

。 m.