"Ballista ready!"

Seeing that ordinary arrows had no effect, Xuan Jianshan's face turned cold, and he waved his hand and ordered.

The four large bed crossbows installed on the city wall had been on standby for a long time, and when they heard Xuanjian Mountain's order, the soldiers operating the bed crossbows were busy smashing the crossbow machines.

There was a sharp "Boom! Shout! After the sound sounded, I saw eight bronze spears on the head of the city shoot towards the gibbon ape like lightning, and before the gibbon apes moved, several giant apes were pierced by the spears, and the giant apes who couldn't react also ran forward twice, before they fell to the ground with a "bang".

Seeing the crossbow on the bed, Xuanjian Mountain's face was overjoyed, and he ordered repeatedly: "The crossbow is ready, put it!"

I only heard the sound of "Xiu Xiu" firing again, and eight bronze spears shot out, and although those giant apes had already been prepared, the speed of the spears was too fast, and they couldn't dodge at all, but instinctively raised the giant axe like a door panel to block.

Hearing a loud "poof" sound, the spear actually shot the giant axe through and pierced into the body of the giant ape, causing the giant ape to fall to the ground with a miserable howl.

Such a huge lethality not only scared the giant apes stupid, but even Xuanjian Mountain and the others on the city tower were dumbfounded.

"It's... This... The bed crossbow made by the Celestial Empire is so powerful! Xuan Jian Shan muttered with a shocked expression.

"General, we only have eight green spears left!" The sergeant operating the bed crossbow shouted to him.

"What?!" Xuanjian Mountain was shocked when he heard this, and the soldiers guarding the city wall were also pale.

There was a soft sound of "bang", and I didn't know that it was the soldier's weapon that fell to the ground, which made Xuanjian Mountain come back to his senses, and he didn't care about scolding the sergeant, so he hurriedly looked out of the city.

The lion-headed man standing on a hillside in the distance saw that the gibbon was shot by the defenders on the city wall one after another, and his face suddenly turned pale, and he picked up the iron whistle hanging on his chest and blew it vigorously.

The sharp whistle made the gibbons who were a little overwhelmed look relieved, and they glanced at the city tower with big scarlet eyes and hatred, then turned around and ran behind them, making Xuanjian Mountain and the others on the city tower stunned.

When the remaining gibbons returned to the lion-headed man's side, the lion-headed man glanced at the gibbon apes who were missing a small half, and his heart couldn't help but drop some blood, he didn't expect that this small human country would have such a killing weapon, so that he lost more than 20 gibbon soldiers in vain, how could he explain when he went back!

You must know that it is in the Inviting Moon Dynasty, and the Giant Ape is also a very precious and powerful army, thinking of this, he stared at Qixia City with some resentment, and his eyes flashed with bloodthirsty light.

"Hmph, when my Inviting Moon Army arrives, this envoy will let you know what fear is!" stared at Qixia City for a while, and snorted coldly.

"Let's go!" After speaking, he led the remaining gibbon soldiers to run in the direction of Endless Mang Mountain.

"General, they're retreating!" The general standing next to Xuanjian Mountain shouted with a look of surprise.

"Shh The soldiers on the city tower couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, the situation just now was really terrifying, when had they seen so many ferocious beasts.

Xuan Jianshan didn't say a word, staring at the huge figure that was leaving quickly, his expression was extremely solemn, and his face was also gloomy, he didn't think that the matter would pass like this.

Although he didn't know much about the Inviting Moon Dynasty, judging from the words of the people who accidentally crossed over from the Southern Regions to the Eastern Regions, the Inviting Moon Dynasty was brutal and bloodthirsty, warlike, and also notorious in the Southern Regions.

The main thing is that it is extremely unfriendly to human beings, treating them like food for livestock.

Thinking of this, Xuanjian Mountain's mood was a little heavy, since the army of the Inviting Moon Dynasty appeared here, then the army that crossed the Endless Mangshan Mountain would definitely not be just like this.

It seems that she can only report to Her Majesty as soon as possible, let her have an idea, thinking of that wise and wise Her Majesty, most of the doubts in Xuan Jianshan's heart suddenly dissipated, presumably Her Majesty will definitely think of a solution.

After all, this Great Zhou standard military crossbow is Her Majesty's strength to override public opinion, send the Great Zhou, and buy it back with a lot of money, I didn't expect it to have such great power, this is just the most common ordnance in the Great Zhou, if you can let Her Majesty from the Great Zhou...

Of course, it's just to think about it, this thing is too valuable, it cost 180,000 taels of silver for Jialanguo to buy back eighteen bed crossbows, this is only the bed crossbow itself, the special crossbow arrows, Da Zhou dared to offer a price of 1,000 taels of silver, 1,000 taels of silver, can buy 2,000 stone of rice, can make 2,000 people full for three months, it's really dark!

But this bed crossbow is really a good thing, it makes people salivate, Xuanjian Mountain stared at the bed crossbow, his eyes were about to glow...

……

August of the fourth year of the Great Zhou Shenwu.

Taiji Palace Manna Hall

Ma Jin was on the dragon chair, looked at the palace and asked lightly, "Do you have something to do?"

As soon as the words fell, the eldest grandson Wuji came out and said to Ma Jin: "Your Majesty, the total amount of salt and silver obtained from the auction of Yangzhou Salt Field is 34.85 million taels, and it has been transported to Shendu by the right dragon Wuwei General Gao Chong and 5,000 ironclad troops!"

"Excellent! Chun Yuyan really lived up to my expectations! After he returns to the Divine Capital, I will be rewarded! Ma Jin already knew the news last night, and he was excited to fall asleep very late, so the eldest grandson Wuji said it with a smile.

"Eldest grandson Aiqing, since the silver has arrived, hurry up and use it, don't let it lie in the warehouse and get moldy, all ministries and hospitals have the silver they need, and allocate it in place as soon as possible!" Ma Jin instructed.

"Command!" The eldest grandson Wuji was also excited, during this time, the imperial court had suffered enough from having no money, and he was holding back from doing anything.

"Di Aiqing!"

"Wechen is here!" Hearing Ma Jin's call, Di Renjie hurriedly walked out of the class.

"How's the fish scale yellow book made, it's been more than half a year, right?"

"Back to Your Majesty, except for Shuntianfu and Yuzhou, the rest of the states are not ideal! Both the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Governor's Yamen reported that the local people did not cooperate with the government's re-registration at all, either making false reports and concealing them, or running away and not being able to find a trace, which can be described as a lot of obstacles! Di Renjie said with a solemn face

"How can this be, what does the local government do to eat?" Di Renjie's report made Ma Jin's face change, and he asked coldly.

"Back to Your Majesty, the officials sent by the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the local area reported that some people were spreading rumors in the local area, saying that the imperial court was re-making the register to collect a poll tax and levy forced labor, which made the local people panic and did not dare to contact the officials in the countryside!" Di Renjie said angrily.

"Lu Bing!" Ma Jin listened to Di Renjie's words, and did not rush to say anything, but turned his head to look at Lu Bing.

"Back to Your Majesty, what Elder Di Ge said is true, the local government has indeed not slackened, nor has it violated the yin and yang!"

"Yes!" Ma Jin nodded, it wasn't that he didn't believe Di Renjie, but he couldn't trust the gang of officials outside, so he asked Lu Bing again.

"In my opinion, there are many obstacles in the matter of the fish scale yellow book, which is caused by the fact that the tentacles of the imperial court and the local government cannot extend below the county seat!" Ma Jin said coldly.

In Ma Jin's view, the problem lies in the current system of the Great Zhou, and in the final analysis, the imperial court has insufficient control over the lowest townships, or no control at all.

Just because the lowest level of the yamen in the Great Zhou is only set up at the county level, and there is no more. That is to say, the Great Zhou court can only govern the county level now, and the towns and villages below the county level are a land outside the law.

Besides, how many officials can a county government have? How many servants can there be? There are only dozens of them at the top, but they have to govern more than a dozen towns and hundreds of villages below, how can they manage it?

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this is indeed the case, because the imperial court can only affect the county level, not the township.

In this way, the places below the county level are controlled by the gentry and clans, so that the countryside regards the patriarchal law as greater than the national law, and fears the gentry and the elders more than the local government, and the news in the countryside is closed, once someone instigates, it is very likely that turmoil will occur! Di Renjie also said.

Ma Jin said coldly when he heard this: "Where are the clans and gentry, in my opinion, these people just think that my knife is dull and cannot kill anyone!" ”

"Eldest grandson Wuji!"

"Wechen is here!" The eldest grandson Wuji was busy out of the class.

"I order your cabinet to discuss with the household department and the ministry of officials, and I want to let the yamen of the imperial court be set up directly at the village level!"

"I want to see who will dare to obstruct the affairs of the imperial court at that time!"