After Cai Jing was demoted to Lingnan, the Xiang family also took care of themselves in order to find Xiang Huaiyu, without Cai Jing's hindrance and Xiang Jia's interference, Wu Zhi's pressure plummeted, and he obviously felt a lot more relaxed.

The world is full of fragrant flowers in April, and the peach blossoms in the mountain temple are in full bloom. At the beginning of April, the staff of the staff was finally fully in place.

All the staff officers selected from the Northwest Forbidden Army have already rushed to the Huaxia Army to report for duty, and Guo Cheng, Zhi Keshi, and Wei Zhao have also rushed from the northwest to take up their posts. Hearing the news that everyone was coming, Wu Zhi took Zhang Ji and warmly received them together.

Everyone was also very happy and in awe when they saw the old handsome Zhang Qi and Wu Zhi, and they were respectful. Although they still don't understand what the staff has to do and what they can do, they still have gratitude and trust in Wu Zhi, the new commander-in-chief. It was precisely because of Wu Zhi's support that they were entrusted with important tasks by the imperial court.

Seeing everyone, Wu Zhi and Zhang Qi first inquired about the situation of the Northwest Forbidden Army's advance into Western Xia, and when they learned that the surrounding territories such as Tiandu Mountain, Wuyan Gorge, and Yanzi Mountain were slowly being encroached upon by the Song army, and the Hehuang area was being slowly pacified and annexed by Wang Zhan and Wang Hou's troops, the progress was relatively smooth, and Wu Zhi and Zhang Qi were quite satisfied. Guo Cheng, Zhi Keshi and Wei Zhao were transferred back to the capital, and the positions of the three were taken over by Zhi Kexing, Yang Weizhong and Seed Master Dao, respectively.

In front of Zhang Ji, Wu Zhi explained in detail the responsibilities of the General Staff to Guo Cheng, Zhi Keshi, Wei Zhao and others, that is, intelligence spying and military aircraft planning. Wu Zhi asked them to do three things well at this stage: first, first, to get to know the officers above the middle platoon level of the Huaxia Army as soon as possible; The second is to collect maps of the whole country as soon as possible, especially the military layout and topographic maps of the Northern Song and Xia borders in the Western and Northern Song Dynasty, the Song-Liao border in the northeast, and the south-Song and Tutu borders in the northeast, so as to find out the distribution of the number of soldiers and civilians in the borders; The third is to make a military sand table to mark the military layout and mountains and rivers in the northwest, northeast, and southwest as much as possible.

When everyone and Zhang Qi heard this, they knew that Wu Zhi was thinking far away and planning was very big, and they couldn't help but be moved and enthusiastic.

Dozens of days later, under the careful preparation and unremitting efforts of the people, the General Staff Department has collected the maps of most parts of the country, and in the huge exhibition hall of the General Staff, a huge military sand table has been built, the sand table has begun to take shape, the ravines are scattered, and the military topography and situation of the southwest, northwest, north and northeast have been clearly marked, and the entire sand table can be completed after some details are finalized. The momentum is magnificent, and it is very spectacular.

Wu Zhi saw that the work of the staff was going well, so he was able to take a break and be busy with other things.

The preparatory work for the establishment of the Firearms Bureau has been basically completed, and the craftsmen in various positions are basically in place, but when everyone made a batch of bamboo grenades according to the bamboo grenade samples provided by Wu Zhi for testing, they found that the effect of the explosion was very unsatisfactory, only similar to the enlarged version of the firecrackers, and there was no lethality at all, which was far from the bamboo grenades provided by Wu Zhi. With nothing to do, Shen Chong, the supervisor, had no choice but to find Wu Zhi and ask about the method of production.

The core raw material of the new gunpowder is almost pure potassium nitrate, which is a core secret and must not be leaked to the outside world. And he can't take this technology for himself, otherwise it will be easy to attract the emperor's suspicion.

Therefore, Wu Zhi thought about it again and again, and decided to manage the process of making new gunpowder in stages, that is, the entire process of potassium nitrate purification and gunpowder blending was divided into six processes: mixing, soaking and filtering, boiling nitrate rough purification, fine purification, frying nitrate, and blending gunpowder: mixing, that is, mixing saltpeter and plant ash in a ratio of seven to one by weight, grinding and sifting, and then sending it to the next process for hot water soaking and filtration. After the immersion water is filtered, it is sent to the next process for crude nitrate purification, and the coarse salt (primary nitrate) obtained by crystallization is sent to the next process for fine purification. The high-purity potassium nitrate (refined nitrate) obtained by refined extraction is ground into powder and then sent to the nitrate frying process. Add an appropriate amount of fine fir wood powder for nitrate, and the finished potassium nitrate product (nitrate) prepared after nitrate is fried, and finally sent to the gunpowder blending process. The gunpowder is evenly mixed according to the ratio of 74.5 percent refined nitrate, 12 percent fine sulfur, and 13.5 percent fine charcoal and fir powder, mixed into a paste with alcoholic wine, and then dried through a wet mill and sieve to obtain a new type of granular gunpowder. The new gunpowder produced in this way was inspected and qualified by the special laboratory department of Wuzhi, and then sealed in the jar and sent to the warehouse for storage. After the warehouse allocation and then separated

Send it to the Lead Workshop to make the Lead and Grenade Workshop for reloading. The final assembled grenade also needs to be inspected by the laboratory before it can be put into use. In order to maintain confidentiality, Wu Zhi directly uses "primary nitrate", "refined nitrate" and "nitrate" to replace the title of potassium nitrate in each process.

Wu Zhi demanded that the Firearms Bureau build at least nine independent workshops and several warehouses. Each workshop completes a process, and the craftsmen of each process must be trained separately, perform their own duties, and complete their own work independently, and must not change their posts. As for the training work, Wu Zhi can only do it himself, and it is difficult to do it reluctantly, who calls the process of purifying and producing high-purity potassium nitrate only in his own hands!

After rebuilding the workshop, after more than half a month of on-site training, Wu Zhi completed the training task after seeing that the craftsmen in each process had been able to complete each operation process independently, and the final gunpowder reached the explosion standard.

After the training, he repeatedly stressed that the entire Gunpowder Bureau must pay attention to safety, especially when stirring nitrate, mixing gunpowder, and filling gunpowder with grenades, fireworks must be strictly prohibited! The warehouse should pay attention to safety, strictly prohibit fireworks, and send additional personnel to take care of it!

As for how to use new gunpowder and how to fill gunpowder, with his bamboo grenade as a sample, Wu Zhi believes that the Firearms Bureau should be able to make it, and improve it on this basis to create a more powerful grenade, and it would be even better if it could be used in guns!

Leave these jobs to more professional craftsmen to study, and he, a layman, will not interfere, so he will not go to the class to get an axe. After more than half a month of training, Wu Zhi was tired enough, and he needed to take a good rest.

Sanchuan Su Yuji, April evening flowers.

In late April, early in the morning, before dawn, two fast horses passed through the city from the West Water Gate, and the good news from the northwest was sent urgently for 800 miles.

At the right moment, Wu Zhi, who was on duty in front of the palace, was hurriedly summoned into the vertical arch hall by the eunuch Gao Qian sent by Zhao Xu, Zhang Chun, Zhang Qi, An Tao, Zeng Bu, Zhang Shangying, Lin Xi, Xingshu, Xu Jiang, An Chun, Huang Lu and other civil and military ministers from the third rank or more were already waiting in the vertical arch hall, discussing and exchanging in a whisper.

The vacancy left by Cai Jing and Cai Bian brothers after being demoted out of the capital, Zhao Xu has not yet filled it, and he has not found a suitable candidate for a while, although Zhang Chun and Zeng Bu are fighting for the head, but Zhao Xu is obviously not satisfied with the candidates proposed by the two of them, so it has been vacant, and the leadership of the household department is temporarily replaced by Wu Juhou, the head of Zuo Cao, and the leadership function of Kaifeng Mansion is temporarily replaced by Lu Jiawen, the general judge.

Seeing Wu Zhi coming in, everyone looked sideways. Every time they faced Wu Zhi, a too young member of the second-rank court, everyone couldn't help but feel related, no matter how they looked at it, they felt very awkward and uncomfortable.

Entering the hall, Wu Zhi was busy greeting everyone. In the face of Zeng Bu, An Chun, Xingshu and others, he didn't care, should he say hello or say hello, Zeng Bu, An Chun, Xingshu and others could only respond to him with a smile.

A moment later, Zhao Xu, who was wearing a dragon robe, was in front, and Hao followed behind, and walked over from the side hall. Zhao Xu was holding a Tang newspaper in his hand, and he was proud of the spring breeze and overjoyed. He strode to the throne, glanced at everyone, sat down, and everyone hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Excuse me! Read this good news to everyone!" Zhao Xu's tone was cheerful, and it could be seen that he was in a very good mood.

Hao Sui took the Tang newspaper in his hand, took a step forward, and read it word by word.

It turned out that this was good news from the Northwest Forbidden Army!

When Hao Sui finished reading it, the audience was in an uproar. Except for Wu Zhi, everyone was shocked by the content of the good news, and even Zhang Ji was no exception.

The good news claimed that after the arduous struggle of the Eighth Route Army in the northwest, the areas around Yanzi Mountain, Wuyan Gorge and Tiandu Mountain have been fully entered into our hands, and the Hehuang area has also been conquered and pacified by Wang Zhan and Wang Hou's army. Now the territory of the Great Song Dynasty has expanded to the northwest for more than 200 miles, and nearly 100,000 square kilometers of land have been completely recovered! Lu Huiqing and Sun Lu were also decisive when they saw that the Sixth Route Army commanded by Zhang Qi was constantly encroaching on the border line of Western Xia

Dispatch troops to follow up and cooperate with the operation. The glory of this operation has not been seen in a century!

This good news calmed everyone except Wu Zhi and was dumbfounded. Even Zhao Xu, everyone never expected that Wu Zhi and Zhang Qi's seemingly whimsical measures would work, and they really conquered a large area of Western Xia! This unexpected surprise is a bit big!

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!" "Congratulations, Your Majesty!" After everyone exclaimed, they smiled happily and hurriedly congratulated Zhao Xu on the back. When Zhao Xu heard this, he was very happy, and his heart was extremely useful.

For Wu Zhi, this was expected, so he was very calm and not as ecstatic as everyone imagined.

At this time, Zhang Qi was pleasantly surprised and happy, he didn't expect things to be done so smoothly, fortunately, he could command the actions of the Northwest Army according to Wu Zhi's plan, otherwise he would have really missed this great opportunity for meritorious service!

Everyone looked at Wu Zhi, who was happy but not frivolous and calm, and the awe and envy in their hearts were really indescribable, with mixed tastes: this son is as strategic as a demon, and his luck is bursting, comparable to the reincarnation of Ganluo!

Even Zhang Qi has also attracted everyone's attention, and it is a great honor.

Zhao Xu was even happier in his heart, and he was also glad that he had Bole's vision and fell in love with Wu Zhi, a thousand-mile horse, this Wu Zhi was really his destined lucky general! The military exploits sent by Wu Zhi and Zhang Qi made Zhao Xu's martial arts overshadow the ancestors of this dynasty at once, and his reputation was close to that of Song Taizu of the National Dynasty.

"Come, the proposed purpose: Wu Zhi has made meritorious contributions, the fine has been cancelled, and he has been specially awarded to the scholar of the Guanwen Palace, the advanced doctor of Yinqing Guanglu, the general of the Fengzhen Army, the founding county prince of Qinghe County, the Zhuguo, promoted to the signing of the Privy Council and the commander of the front secretary of the palace, 2,800 households of food, and 800 households of food; Zhang Kai's command was meritorious, the penalty was cancelled, he was promoted to the doctor of Jin Ziguanglu, the general of the auxiliary country, the Shangzhu country, the founding county of Jian'an County, and was promoted to the Privy Council, with 3,400 households and 1,000 households. and the rest of the people, and raise up the reward as appropriate."

Zhao Xu was overjoyed and couldn't wait to announce the rewards for Wu Zhi and Zhang Qi. Hearing Zhao Xu's decree, all the civil and military officials could only be envious and jealous after hearing it.

Wu Zhi's official titles and titles have gone one step further, the military attache is from the second rank, and the civil official is also from the second rank, and he is on an equal footing with the scholars. Zhang Qi has truly achieved the ultimate of the second-rank military attaché, not only the title and honor have been promoted by one level, but also the civilian position has been promoted by one level, and the second-rank knowledge of the Privy Council has made him truly enter the ranks of the first level second only to the prime minister in the court!

Among them, Wang En, Lu Huiqing, Sun Lu, Wang Zhan, Wang Hou, Chong Pu, Liu Zhongwu, Zhong Fu, Miao Lu, Yang Weizhong, Chong Shidao and other Northwest generals were all promoted to two levels, and other officers and soldiers were also rewarded according to the rules, and the rewards were innumerable, and all the officers and soldiers of the Northwest Forbidden Army were very happy.

The good news of the great victory in the northwest quickly spread throughout the capital within half a day. The whole city was in an uproar, and the people in the city were completely in a carnival.

For more than 100 years, the Great Song Dynasty has not had such a glorious great achievement of opening up the frontier and expanding the territory, and the territory of nearly 100,000 square kilometers was recovered in one day, which is worth celebrating in a big book. The tea shops in the various restaurants were filled up instantly, and the literati and the gentry and guests talked loudly during the banquet, constantly talking and praising Wu Zhi, Zhang Qi and the generals of the Northwest, and at the same time did not forget to show off their poetry and knowledge.

The champion building was full of guests and friends, and the champion series of wine was sold out for a while!