In the past few days, the news that Ouyang Xuan likes the eldest lady of the Yang family has not gone away, and some good people have even discussed in private that Brother Xuan has decided to marry the Yang family. When Lu Dezhi and Li Shuang mentioned this matter with a smile, it made Ouyang Xuan blush, but he neither admitted nor denied it, he just muttered to himself, repeating the sentence "The Huns are not destroyed, why should they be at home". Therefore, at the joint military-political meeting, when Ouyang Xuan proposed to trade firearms with Banzhou Yang, the participants all agreed in unison, and no one expressed any objection, let alone any objection. Everyone thinks that since it is a lifelong event for Brother Xuan, it is natural to vigorously support it. Looking at everyone's ambiguous smiles, especially the gossip on Cao Ergou's face, Ouyang Xuan knew that everyone had misunderstood him. He cleared his throat and explained why he had agreed to sell the firearms to Banshu.

Banshu Yang has a history of nearly 400 years. Far away in the late Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao wars were frequent, and Nanzhao repeatedly invaded Banzhou, and Yang Duan, a native of Taiyuan, responded to the call of the imperial court and brought his people to Banzhou to resist Nanzhao. After Yang Duan arrived in Banzhou, he and his people built a city and a fortress against the local natives, and slowly expanded their territory. After the Anshi Rebellion, the imperial court was too busy dealing with the feudal towns to take care of itself, so it acquiesced to Yang Duan's expansion, and later Yang Duan expanded step by step and became the de facto ruler of Banzhou.

After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yang family returned to the Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty still exercised restraint rule over the southwest, and the Yang family continued to be the grass head king of Banzhou. During the reign of Song Renzong, Yang Chongguang, the son of Yang Yanzhao, inspected Banzhou, and Yang Zhao, the head of the Yang family in Banzhou, held a banquet to entertain them. Yang Zhao had no children at this time, and there was no one to inherit the Shuo family's business, and there was a way that fat water did not flow into the fields of outsiders, so Yang Chongguang moved his son Yang Gui to the other party. In this way, the famous Yang family moved their descendant Yang Gui to become the successor of the Banzhou Yang family.

Ouyang Xuan's decision to sell firearms to Banzhou was not a hot head, but after a long period of careful consideration. The Banzhou Yang clan is famous in history and has a significant influence in the southwest region, which is why Ouyang Xuan ordered a caravan to Banzhou shortly after the Thunderbolt army descended. The first consideration of this decision is that the Yang family is not only loyal to the country, but also the family has always been loyal to the country, once the country has a war, the Yang Tusi will inevitably send his elite to help the country survey the rebellion. During the reign of Song Renzong, the Southern Barbarian Nong Zhigao rebelled, and the Yang clan of Banzhou was obliged to send elite soldiers and strong generals to fight with General Di Qing, and achieved outstanding achievements.

The second consideration is its staunch anti-Mongolian attitude. As early as when Yu Jue was in charge of Sichuan, the Mongol army tried to enter Kou Sichuan from the direction of Jieyan and Liangzhou. Yu Xing, who was the prefect of Jiading at the time, was ordered to go to the Tibetan region to intercept the Mongol army, and Yang Wen, the leader of Banzhou, also led 5,000 soldiers to accompany him. Under the vast snow-capped mountains, the Song army and the Mongolian army launched a fierce fight. The Mongol army was defeated, and Yang Wen was also promoted to the rank of general of the Left Guard by the imperial court.

Since the Mongol destruction of Dali in 1252, the door of the southwestern hinterland of Sichuan has been opened, and Banzhou has repeatedly thwarted the attempts of the Mongol army to enter Sichuan from Dali. In the second year of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty (1255), the Mongol army took the soldiers of Dali as the forerunner to attack Xuanhua in Sichuan, and Yang Wen sent his younger brother Yang Dasheng to ride 5,000 to the enemy, and won nine battles and nine victories, and captured the enemy general Ali and others. At that moment, Meng Ge attacked Diaoyu City, and the defender Wang Jian asked Banzhou for help, and Yang Wen immediately sent troops to support.

The third consideration is military mutual assistance. The Banshu soldiers mainly used bows and crossbows and poisoned arrows, and were best at fighting in the mountains and forests, and were good at defense. If the Mongol army is invincible in the steppes and plains, then the Banzhou soldiers are the kings of kings in the mountains. In order to show their loyalty to the Southern Song Dynasty, they all tattooed the word "loyalty and bravery" on the tiger's mouth on their right hand, so they were also called "pinched hand army" and "hand number soldier", and were specially named "Imperial Majestic Army" by Song Lizong, which has become the main force to resist the Mongolian army. The alliance between the Perak Army and each other's Austrian aid will greatly increase the strength of the resistance against the Mongol army.

The fourth consideration is the economic benefits. Although the arms trade is a huge profit, the trading volume is not too large, and Ouyang Xuan is more interested in the trade profits with Banzhou and the surrounding Miaojiang. The area controlled by the Yang clan is not only Banzhou, but also has a say in Zhenzhou and Sizhou, and also has considerable influence on the Luo Ghost Kingdom and Luodian Ghost Country in the south and the border bordering Dali State. This area is very large and rich in products, not only strategic minerals such as fire, copper, silver, iron, coal, but also mountain ponies and buffaloes, which are urgently needed by the Perak army. Ponies are particularly well suited to work in the mountains or mines, while buffaloes are particularly well suited to farming in western Sichuan. At present, the Thunderbolt Army's various undertakings are developing rapidly, and the problem of population shortage has become prominent. However, population growth cannot be solved in the short term, and replacing human power with animal power has become the only option at present.

The fifth consideration relates to the strategic direction of the development of the Perak Army. In Ouyang Xuan's plan, the Mongol army must be expelled from Sichuan. But he also thinks about how to do it from time to time, and has also discussed it privately with Li Shuang, Cao Ergou and others many times. In the end, after repeated weighing, the strategic direction he planned in his heart was to take the Dali Kingdom, and then use Banzhou as a springboard, through the Luo Ghost Country and the Luodian Ghost Country, to develop in the direction of Hezhou, Liuzhou, and Qinzhou on Guangnan West Road, and reach the sea. These places were nominally subordinate to the imperial court, but they were only confined areas and were not taken seriously. In order for the Thunderbolts to develop by leaps and bounds, they must obtain more strategic resources from overseas, such as corn, sweet potatoes, gold and silver, and even oil and rubber. Banshu is at the heart of this strategy.

The reason why Ouyang Xuan leaned towards the southern coastal development strategy was because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with harsh climate was to the west, and he would not consider it at all. The humid, hot and mountainous geographical climate in the south was not conducive to the Mongol army but to the Thunderbolt army. Advancing northwards would inevitably lead to a strong Mongol cavalry corps on the plains, which the Thunderbolts would not have had such strength for the foreseeable years. The difficulty of Shu Road not only means that it is difficult to enter Shu, but also means that it is difficult to get out of Shu, as evidenced by the fact that Zhuge Liang led the army to the Northern Expedition many times and was blocked. Developing eastward would inevitably clash with the Southern Song court, which meant fratricidal warfare. Although the Zhao regime was corrupt and cowardly, Ouyang Xuan had no intention of overthrowing it, after all, there were still large areas of unclaimed land overseas waiting for the Thunderbolt Army to explore.

In the process of Ouyang Xuan slowly stating his considerations, the high-level Thunderbolt Army leaders present at the meeting were silent. On the one hand, I am ashamed that I misunderstood him. originally thought that Brother Xuan was also a hero and was sad about the beauty pass, and he was carried away by love before he made the decision to sell arms. On the other hand, they were also impressed by Ouyang Xuan's lofty pattern and broad vision, Brother Xuan really knew astronomy and geography, and even knew what products were far overseas.

After Ouyang Xuan's explanation, the joint meeting successfully passed a detailed firearms sales plan. According to the plan, the firearms sold by the Perak Army to Banju include all models of old grenades and artillery and mines, as well as new muskets and some models of light artillery. The sale of new naval guns, field guns and warheads of self-detonating ships is prohibited. The purchase method is to pay for the order in Banshu first, and then deliver it after the production of the Perak Military Arsenal. In terms of payment, the Perak Army could accept some gold and silver, but not Jiaozi and other currencies, and Banju would still have to pay for the goods with fire, copper, ponies and buffaloes.