Chapter Ninety-Seven: Sima Yi's Grand Ambition

According to the normal situation, as soon as Cao Pi ordered this conscription, countless craftsmen would gather in Beijing to form a huge production team to produce firearms for the emperor. However, this time it was destined to disappoint the whole Wei state, because Liu Hou had already sent a wide range of people a few years ago to find all kinds of talents and craftsmen all over the world, and to draw them to the "Ministry of Industry".

Therefore, there are only a few copper and blacksmiths left in Wei and Wu, and most of the remaining ones are relatively low-tech, and Shu is not eye-catching. Therefore, it is foreseeable that although Cao Pi can gather some people in this recruitment of craftsmen, it will definitely be far from achieving their expected results.

However, at this time, neither Cao Pi nor Guo Dajiang knew about this situation, they never cared about the state of the private handicraft industry, and never thought that the handicraftsmen would have much influence on the country.

Seeing that the emperor was so determined, Guo Dajiang continued to complain: "Your Majesty is wise, thank you for your support, and now there will be no problem with manpower." However, there is still a big problem that has not been solved when it comes to mass production of firearms. ”

When Cao Pi heard this, he said unhappily: "What's the problem?" If you have a question, don't talk about it. ”

When Guo Dajiang heard that the emperor was a little unhappy, the cold sweat on his forehead suddenly became a layer of thickening, he stiffened his head, and said with Ai Ai: "Your Majesty, you have also seen that this firearm is made of refined copper, so the cost is very expensive. ”

Guo Dajiang's worries are not unreasonable, copper at that time was very expensive, copper can cause copper coins to be used as coins, that is to say, copper and money are equivalent, a gun costs more than ten catties of copper, that is, more than a dozen catties of money, the cost is so expensive guns, large-scale manufacturing, how can the imperial court afford it?

"Hmph, what's so hard about that? If you go and ask for money from Zhisu Neishi, I will tell him that he will fully support you in building the artifact. Cao Pi said.

Zhisu Neishi is an official in charge of finance, one of the nine secretaries in the system of three princes and nine secretaries, equivalent to the minister of finance.

"Your Majesty, it's just ......" Guo Dajiang also wanted to find some reason to dispel the emperor's idea of making guns on a large scale, so he heard Cao Pi say impatiently:

"Okay, okay, don't have a lot of excuses, now that the manpower and property have been given to you, if you still refuse, you are deliberately making excuses. If you have any difficulties, go to Youji to solve them, I have made the manufacture of artifacts the top priority of the imperial court, and they will never dare to embarrass you. You can do it well, and you don't have to think about anything else. When things are done, I will naturally be rewarded. ”

Originally, I was going to say that the raw materials for the manufacture of fire # medicine are difficult to find, and the new craftsmen will have to go through a long time of training to be competent, etc., but when he heard the emperor's tone, Guo Dajiang immediately swallowed the words he was ready to say back into his stomach, and did not dare to say more.

Of course, what he didn't know was that Shu had already formulated a special and targeted plan, and all sulfur, saltpeter, and copper and iron ore would be accused in the hands of Shu, and those that could not be controlled would be destroyed. It will be very difficult for them to obtain the raw materials to make firearms in the future.

No matter how this pair of monarchs and ministers argued, at this time in Hanzhong, in the boundless Wei military camp, Sima Yi was frowning and looking at a piece of information. This information was sent from the Wei State in Chengdu, which described in detail that Liu Hou led his troops back to Chengdu, seized power in a very short period of time, and entered the palace of Shu at a very small cost.

For a long time, Sima Yi sighed unwillingly, he led a large army to attack Shu, and was dragged by Zhang Fei and Pang Tong's army in Hanzhong.

Pang Tong is a strategist at the same level as him, Zhang Fei is a fierce general of the three armies, the Wei army and the Shu army have been stalemate, and they are helpless against each other.

However, a tie was actually a loss for the Wei army, because for the Shu army, it was to buy time for their new emperor Liu Chan to regain the throne and take back power.

Now that Liu Hou has successfully regained the throne, and the Wei army is still tug-of-war on the Shu border, the war has been won and lost, and there is no need to fight again.

Sima Yi thought that Xu Jing and Wu Yi were not Liu Chan's opponents, but he didn't expect that they would be defeated so quickly. This Liu Chan almost pushed over with the momentum of pushing and decaying along the way.

Not long ago, he also received the news that Liu Chan's army was blocked in the White Emperor City and had to take a detour into Shu, but he didn't expect that in just a few days, he received the information that Liu Chan had recovered Chengdu and entered the palace of Shu, how could he not be depressed.

"Alas, God doesn't bless me Dawei." Sima Yi sighed, summoned the generals of all departments, and ordered the withdrawal of the army. This time, he worked hard and tried his best to set up such a big game, originally planning that in addition to obtaining the secret of Shu's firearms, he could also take advantage of the chaos of Shu to attack its hinterland, even if he couldn't destroy Shu, at least he could occupy a large area of land in Shu.

According to his plan, at least he had to snatch Hanzhong back, in order to get Hanzhong back, he also planned a big conspiracy, he was very confident, he could pit Zhang Fei and Pang Tongyi, but Xu Jing and Wu Yi were defeated too quickly, and before he could implement his plan, the pace was disrupted, he knew that he had lost the opportunity, and if he didn't leave, he would not be able to leave when the reinforcements from Chengdu arrived, so he resolutely ordered the withdrawal of the army.

Fortunately, this big action was not for nothing, this time I finally got the secret of the firearms of the Shu army, Xu Jing, that nerd, was so stupid as to give away the magic weapon of Shu to win, it can be seen that although this person is known as a celebrity, he is actually stupid. Sima Yi thought about it, he had already flown to Xuchang in his heart, and he was looking forward to it now, how much surprise those firearms would bring him.

He has even planned the future national policy of Wei in his heart, and from now on, Wei will first shrink its forces, shift from an offensive posture to an all-round defense, and no longer start the war lightly.

Even, it is possible to use some foreign policy appropriately to avoid fighting with the other two countries as much as possible. Especially the Shu Kingdom, if you can reach an understanding with them and temporarily cease the war, it doesn't matter if you send them some benefits.

In a word, the Wei State will first hibernate from now on, and the purpose is to gain time for development and precious time for the development of firearms troops. He is not as optimistic as Cao Pi, he can imagine that such a sharp firearm must be difficult to manufacture, and it is impossible to produce it in large quantities overnight.

He hoped to convince the emperor that a period of peace would give Wei time to produce a sufficient number of firearms. As long as they are given enough time, the gap between them and the two countries will become wider and wider, and the advantages of Wei will gradually be reflected, and the final victory will definitely be Wei.

Sima Yi even prepared for Wei to lie dormant for ten or even twenty years, and for the sake of the final victory, he had enough patience to endure for ten or twenty years. He was thinking about the future with a thousand twists and turns, but he didn't know that his emperor had begun to rush for quick success, and he didn't know that Liu Hou didn't plan to give him so much time at all.

At this time, although Liu Hou, who was far away in Chengdu, was riddled with miscellaneous matters, he never stopped reorganizing and training the troops. Preparations for war never stopped, and Sima Yi thought of gaining time to develop firearms troops, and he also thought long ago that he could not give time to Wei and Wu to make firearms.

After Zhuge Liang, Buqi and others returned to Chengdu, Liu Hou was immediately freed from complicated political affairs, and he could finally do what he wanted to do.

After returning to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang naturally still did his prime minister, as for Buqi, Liu Houfeng made him the prime minister for a long time, this official position is equivalent to the secretary general of the prime minister, is to assist the prime minister, supervise the officials, deal with various government affairs, and rank more than a thousand stones.

This position is a bit low compared to his original position in Lingnan, but it is a place to train people, and everyone can see that the emperor wants him to familiarize himself with the government affairs of Shu in this position, and there will definitely be heavy responsibilities after training.

After they returned to Chengdu, they quickly used a group of officials who had been belittled by Xu Jing, Wu Yi and others, and dealt with those officials who were attached to Xu Jing and Wu Yi's group, not only giving them appropriate punishments, but also continuing to leave them to serve the imperial court, so as not to implicate too much and make the government turbulent.

Zhuge Liang came back with Zhang Xingcai, Guan Yinzhuan and Zuo Ci. After Guan Gong received Liu Hou's letter, he followed the plan, he personally broke into Concubine Wu's residence and snatched his daughter back.

Guan Gong's prestige shocked the world, who would dare to stop him? Even Concubine Wu didn't dare to speak ill of each other in front of this second uncle, so she could only watch Guan Gong snatch Guan Yinhua away with blank eyes.

Guan Gong not only snatched Guan Yinhua away, but also angrily reprimanded Concubine Wu, and took out the set of rhetoric that Liu Hou taught him in the letter, saying that there was a major marriage matter, the words of the matchmaker of the parents' order, and his daughter did not get the order of her parents, so her marriage with Liu Li was not legal, since it was not legal, she would officially dissolve this relationship now, and they would marry each other in the future, and they would not want to do anything to each other.

Concubine Wu was so angry that she almost didn't catch it in one breath, but she couldn't say Guan Gong, in terms of reasoning, Guan Gong was indeed reasonable, and in terms of having a big voice, how could she be a female saint with a big voice?

As a result, after she was yelled at by Guan Gong for a few words, her face turned red and she fainted directly, so Guan Gong took Guan Yinhua very smoothly.

The next day, Guan Gong wrote a marriage letter and asked Zhuge Liang to be a matchmaker and marry his daughter to Liu Hou. So, Zhuge Liang returned to Chengdu this time, not only won the battle and returned to the court, but also returned to Chengdu to re-serve as prime minister, and by the way, he became a matchmaker to send his relatives. Of course, after Guan Yinhua returned to Chengdu, he couldn't marry Liu Hou immediately, because Liu Bei hadn't been buried yet.

The ancients generally had to keep filial piety for three years when their parents died, and during the three years, they could not go out to be an official or entertain, nor could they live at home, but they had to build a small shed in front of their parents' graves, "Xiaofu pillow bricks", that is, sleeping on straw mats, pillow bricks, coarse tea and light rice, not drinking, not having sex with wives and concubines, not listening to silk string music, not bathing, not shaving, and not changing clothes.

However, the emperor always has privileges, the country can not be without this monarch for a day, the old emperor died, the new emperor can immediately ascend the throne and succeed to the throne, and the period of filial piety has been shortened from three years to three months. Liu Hou was busy with state affairs, so it was naturally impossible to live in front of Liu Bei's mausoleum, and Liu Bei's mausoleum was not built.

However, he often went to the construction site of Liu Bei's mausoleum to inspect the progress of the project, which can be regarded as a filial piety. Three months later, Liu Bei's mausoleum was finally built, and Liu Hou recruited the imperial feng shui master and asked him to choose an auspicious day to prepare for Liu Bei's burial.