Side.

When Wu Mingkong heard this, his eyes widened and his face was incredulous.

Although she had never been to the beach, she also knew that a hundred ships were extremely large, even for the Yan Kingdom that dominated the ocean a hundred years ago!

If these hundred ships were all warships, it would be even more terrifying!

"A hundred warships?"

Fang Xiu's brows furrowed slightly, he looked at Shangguan Haitang and asked.

Shangguan Haitang nodded with a heavy face.

Fang Xiu pondered for a few seconds and said slowly, "If the battleship is large enough, such a fleet is enough to accommodate two to thirty thousand people.

At sea, no one in the countries could fight against them, but after landing, the army of Yan was able to crush them. ”

When Wu Mingkong heard this, he looked at Fang Xiu, his eyes showed a look of doubt, and said, "Then what are the Euro people sending so many warships over, just to do business with the Yan people?" ”

Even if she has never been on the battlefield, she knows that the Euro people are so prosperous, and they definitely have great plans!

If nothing else, he is rushing to capture the territory of Yan Kingdom!

Fang Xiu and the Little Empress had the same idea, and said, "Half a year ago, there was no plague spreading in the territory of Yan Kingdom, and 20,000 Euros and 100 warships did not pose any threat to the Yan Kingdom that imposed a sea ban.

However, the plague spread, the situation is different, although Jizhou is a plain, but there is a mountain range between it and the capital of Yan, if the Euro people have the advantage of weapons, after capturing Jizhou, it is not difficult to gain a firm foothold.

As long as they gain a firm foothold, with developed shipping, it will not be so easy for the Yan people to recapture Jizhou. ”

Wu Mingkong heard Fang Xiu's analysis, his face showed a thoughtful look, and he was silent.

And Fang Xiu looked at Shangguan Haitang and said, "How is the plague in the Yan Kingdom?" ”

Shangguan Haitang said in a deep voice: "The poets of Yan Kingdom have poetry clouds, they don't see anything when they go out, the plains are covered by white bones, there are hungry women on the road, they abandon the grass with their children, they hear the sound of crying, and they don't return it." ”

It looks like that's pretty much what you expected.

Fang Xiu sighed in his heart and commanded:

"Withdraw some of the men of the Zhou State and send them to Jizhou of the Yan State.

Then send some people to the medical school, tell Bian Shi, Ben Xiang will allocate another 50,000 taels of silver to him, and give him enough manpower, so that he can send people to Yan Kingdom to study the diseases and insects that cause the spread of smallpox, and according to the method in the book, research a vaccine as soon as possible. ”

Shangguan Haitang bowed and responded: "Yes!" ”

Wu Mingkong looked at Fang Xiu and said puzzledly: "No matter how powerful this group of Euro people is, they are only at sea, even if they take advantage of the plague in Yan Country to attack Yan Country, at most they will only occupy a piece of land in the eastern part of Yan Country, and they should not pose a threat to my big cadres, why are you so anxious all of a sudden?" ”

Fang Xiu looked at Wu Mingkong and said lightly, "Just in case." ”

Wu Mingkong looked puzzled and asked, "What if?" ”

Fang Xiu was silent for a few seconds, and said in a deep voice: "In case the Euro people are one step ahead of me in the study of firearms. ”

Wu Mingkong frowned and said, "I've never heard that the Euro people still have firearms, besides, didn't you develop this firearm?" ”

When Fang Xiu heard this, he opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

When the words came to his lips, he felt meaningless, but said, "Just in case." ”

Seeing him say this, Wu Mingkong was no longer entangled, and said: "The Euro people are still far away from our Daqian, and it should be a good thing for us to send a fleet to attack Yan State, don't think about it so much first, and wait for Haitang to have more information before considering these things." ”

When Fang Xiu heard this, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "What Your Majesty said is reasonable, but the minister is a little worried. ”

Wu Mingkong felt that there was nothing to care about because the countries of Middle-earth have always been the absolute kings of this land, and the surrounding barbarians have always been in a weak position.

And Fang Xiu cared because of the sudden appearance of the Euros, which reminded him of Columbus's discovery of the New World.

In particular, the behavior of the Euro people spreading smallpox in Yan Country made him feel familiar.

But after calming down and thinking about it carefully, if the Euro people had the strength to crush the Yan Kingdom, they would have done it a long time ago, so why wait until now?

After all, they had been in contact with the Middle-earth kingdoms two or three hundred years ago, and had trade with the coastal kingdoms of Yan, Wu, and Yue.

The reason why he chose to attack Yan is most likely related to the sea ban imposed by Yan for one or two hundred years.

Of course, Fang Xiu didn't know much about this, so he couldn't analyze more content.

After thinking about it for a while, he put this matter aside for the time being, and followed the little empress back to the Heart Cultivation Palace.

Night.

The moon stars are scarce.

Candlelight flickering.

Sleepless nights.

Meanwhile.

There is also the prefect of Jizhou City, Shen Lian, who has not slept all night.

At this moment, he was so disturbed by a bunch of worries that even if he was lying in bed, he couldn't sleep.

The Imperial Court had just sent a messenger to investigate the source of the plague.

Before he could receive him properly, the fleet of the Euros suddenly appeared outside the port.

There were more than 100 battleships loaded with artillery, lined up, and the momentum was huge.

Standing on the port, you can see it.

The wolf's ambition is obvious!

In the early morning, the sky was just dawning.

A servant hurriedly knocked on the door.

"Master, Lord Qincha has arrived at the Yamen, and he is waiting for you."

When Shen Lian heard this, his face was irritated, and he didn't want to speak at all.

"Sir?"

The voice of the servant came again.

Shen Lian waved his hand impatiently and said, "I know, tell Lord Qincha, this official will go over!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The servant saluted and turned to leave.

Shen Lian paced in place for a while, and said in his heart: It's a blessing or a curse, and it can't be avoided.

Gritted his teeth, changed into official robes, and strode out of the door.

After two pillars of incense.

He came to the yamen of the government office, looked at the Sipin Qincha who had been waiting for a long time, and hurriedly greeted him.

"Master Sun, wait a long time, please sit down quickly."

When Qin Chasun Tong heard the voice, he turned his head to look at Shen Lian, his expression was neither happy nor sad, he arched his hand, and then sat down on the main seat.

Although they are both four grades.

But Sun Tong was appointed by the imperial court, almost equivalent to the emperor's incarnation in this place.

Therefore, the status is still a lot higher than Shen Lian.

Of course, only during the period when he was a chincha.

"This official has been visiting the city for the past few days, and I have heard some rumors, I wonder if Lord Shen is interested?"

Sun Tong sat on the Taishi chair, looked at Shen Lian expressionlessly, and said slowly.

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Lord Qincha might as well say it and listen to it." ”

Sun Tong said with a straight face, word by word: "Many people say that Lord Shen and many officials of the Yamen regard the laws of the imperial court as nothing, connive at the merchants and the Euro people, and even personally participate in it to seek benefits, and this time the plague was deliberately brought by the Euro people under the guise of trade!" ”

When Shen Lian heard this, cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and although his face tried his best to maintain indifference, his heart had sunk to the bottom.

The worst came out of nowhere.

If Sun Tong's conclusion is confirmed, he will not be dismissed, even if he is full of property!

"This is malicious slander!"

Shen Lian took a deep breath, stood up suddenly, and said with an angry face: "This official admits that there are merchants and Euro people who do business, and there are some fishermen who cover each other and go out to sea to fish, these are all inevitable things, after all, the total number of servants under this official is less than a hundred, and there are only one or two thousand soldiers who can be sent by this official!" ”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Sun Tong: "One or two thousand people are not enough for you!" ”

Shen Lian said loudly: "If you just maintain order in the city, one or twenty people are enough, but if you want to strictly implement the imperial court's sea ban, one or two thousand people may not be enough!"

If Lord Chincha doesn't believe it, this official can now ride a horse and take Lord Chincha around the coast to see how long this coast is, and how difficult it is to keep an eye on the merchants and fishermen all the time! ”

It is obviously unrealistic to deny that no one has broken the sea ban.

Shen Lian now only hopes to clear the charge of doing business with the Euro people, in this way, at most, he will end up with a dismissal that is not conducive to doing things, and he will not be beheaded all over the house.

When Sun Tong heard this, he opened his mouth and wanted to say something.

Shen Lian didn't give him a chance to speak at all, raised his voice, and continued: "There are merchants and Euros who do business, and there are fishermen who go out to sea to fish, and these officials recognize it.

However, it is said that these officials will not recognize the laws of the imperial court as nothing, and personally participate in them and seek benefits! Because the official has never done any of these things from beginning to end! ”

"You"

Sun Tong stretched out his hand and pointed at Shen Lian, wanting to refute.

Before he could speak, he was interrupted by Shen Lian:

"This official is from a Jinshi, even if his ability is not enough to be promoted to the position of Jizhou prefect, but his dedication to His Majesty and his loyalty to serve the court is something to learn from heaven and earth!

Even if Master Sun doesn't believe in the enthusiasm of this official, he should also believe in the brain of this official who was the first in the imperial examination, as the prefect of Jizhou, it is already a big crime to connive at the merchants and the European people to do business, and it is even more a capital crime to participate in it personally!

Risking the risk of being cut down all over the house to trade with the Euros, and how much silver can be earned from it, this official can't do such a stupid thing! ”

Shen Lian's expression was extremely angry, his tone was extremely passionate, and he even slapped the table in the middle of speaking.

Side.

When several officials of the Jizhou Yamen saw this scene, they looked at each other, and their hearts invariably rose with admiration.

How else can I say that people can be prefects!

With this kind of acting skills, they can't practice it for 800 lifetimes!

When Qin Chasun Tong saw this scene, he had no expression on his face, but he sneered in his heart.

As the imperial history of the Imperial Inspectorate, he has seen too many similar scenes.

There are people who are angrier than him, more impassioned than him.

No matter how good his reasons were at this time, in the end, in the face of ironclad evidence, it was still irrefutable.

Therefore.

At this moment, he just watched Shen Lian's performance quietly, too lazy to speak.

Shen Lian talked about several reasons why he could not commit such a crime, and then the conversation changed and said with an anxious face:

"The official knows, no matter what the official says, Master Sun has already decided that the official is an unforgivable person.

Now the official doesn't want to argue about this matter anymore, he only hopes that Lord Sun can take some of the energy out of the investigation and go to the coast to take a look at the fleet of the Euros!

There are more than 100 warships, and each warship has a cannon similar to that of the Qianren in battle! The wolf's ambition is obvious!

These Euros may launch an attack on our Jizhou at any time, and with the strength of 2,000 in Jizhou, in the face of such a huge fleet of the Euros, it is simply a mantis arm!

This official has already written a recital and submitted it to His Majesty, asking His Majesty to send reinforcements as soon as possible, and I hope that Lord Sun can also write a recital to Your Majesty."

"Not necessarily!"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Sun Tong.

Sun Tong seized this rare gap, looked at Shen Lian, and said coldly: "Three days ago, Your Majesty has sent my Dayan Iron Cavalry to Jizhou to prepare to face the Euro people.

The affairs of the Euro fleet are in charge of the commander of the Great Yan Iron Cavalry, and Ben Chin only needs to find out what is going on between the Euro people, the plague and you! ”

When Shen Lian heard this, his heart sank to the bottom.

He clearly realized that he was most likely running out of excuses.

"The Euro people are eyeing each other, as the prefect of Jizhou, this official should sit in the government office, if the official has an accident, who should deal with the affairs of Jizhou."

Shen Lian was still dying.

Sun Tong sneered and said, "Naturally, it will be handled by Ben Qincha. ”

When Shen Lian heard this, he opened his mouth, and wanted to say something.

Before he could speak, he suddenly heard a muffled sound from outside the palace.

"What's going on?"

Shen Lian turned his head to look at the door, frowned, and asked loudly.

The officers at the door looked at each other, all of them at a loss.

"What do I ask you? What's going on! ”

Seeing this, Shen Lian looked annoyed, raised his voice, and repeated.

An errand officer hesitated: "I don't know if I am lowly, but I should hear the sound from the east!" ”

Movement from the east?

When Shen Lian and Sun Tong heard this, they both thought of some possibility and frowned.

It was at this time.

The muffled sound sounded again.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Compared to before.

This time, the sound is clearer.

"It can't be the Euros, right?"

Shen Lian and Sun Tong had never seen artillery, so they didn't know what kind of movement was generated when the artillery attacked.

But who hasn't eaten pork and hasn't seen a pig run.

Relying on artillery, in less than half a year, the cadres defeated the Tiger Ben army, which was on a par with the Great Yan Iron Cavalry, and forced Zhou Huangchan to give up the throne.

No matter how much His Majesty despises the artillery and muskets of the dry people.

In their spare time, the military department and officials at all levels will still study the firearms of the Qianguo.

At this moment.

There was a muffled noise outside.

It is very similar to the sound of the cannon mentioned in the newspaper!

If nothing else, it's artillery!

"How can the Euros have the same artillery as the Qianguo! Could it be that the Euro people invaded my Dayan, and they were bewitched by the people of the Qianguo?! ”

Sun Tong listened to the voice coming from outside, and couldn't help but have such a conjecture in his mind, and gritted his teeth.

When Shen Lian heard this, he echoed loudly: "In my opinion, this is the case! ”

The voice fell.

The muffled sound is heard again!

This time, it's closer!