The envoy sent by the Thunderbolt Army to Diaoyu City was Xia Xiaogen, who brought a letter from Ouyang Xuan in his own handwriting. In the letter, Ouyang Xuan told Zhang Jue that the Chongqing Mansion could issue an official document to prove that Diaoyu City was used to purchase firearms for the part of the Hezhou military expenditure account that was liquidated by the plan to be liquidated by the law. After the artillery made great contributions in the defense of Diaoyu City, Zhang Jue sent people to buy a batch of firearms from the Perak Army, which made the defense of Diaoyu City stronger, and easily repelled the attacks of Qitai Buhua and Yang Dayuan. It's just that although this firearm is sharp, the shortcomings are also very obvious - that is, it is too expensive, not only the artillery is expensive, but also the ammunition is expensive, so Zhang Jue also slandered Ouyang Xuan's merchant habits in his heart, and he made too much money to make money.

The Thunderbolt Army sells too expensive, so why not copy it yourself? So Zhang Jue also gathered a large number of skilled craftsmen to imitate the purchased firearms according to the gourd painting scoop. It's just that it's hard to draw the skin and paint the bones, and the shape of the cannon imitated by Diaoyu City is almost the same, but it is not the same when used, not only the range is short, the power is weak, and the accuracy is also much worse, and after using it a few times, there are large cracks in the gun chamber, and even the chamber is blown up and injured people. Imitation grenades and mines have weak explosive power and a very high dud rate. Even if it explodes, it often only blows up the thunder shell into several pieces, and the lethality is naturally not high. The Thunderbolt grenades will split into dozens of fragments, and the mines will split into hundreds of fragments, large and small. As for the imitation musket, it is even more useless, but the sound and white smoke are loud, and they are frequently exploded, and if they are used on the battlefield, it is estimated that they will injure more of their own people than the enemy.

After many failures, the craftsmen of Diaoyu City once told Zhang Jue that the quality of the steel and gunpowder of the Perak Army was far ahead, and the mechanical parts were extremely well made, and they could not be imitated. Zhang Jue had no choice but to ask for a reduction in the selling price in the follow-up procurement. In this regard, Li Shuang told him that the firearms and supporting ammunition sold by the Thunderbolt Army to Diaoyu City were the lowest prices. For this reply, Zhang Jue was half skeptical, so he sent someone to inquire secretly. After many inquiries, his mood calmed down. According to what was informed, the price of the old-fashioned grenades sent by the Thunderbolt Army to the Sichuan Manufacturing Division was five times the price of the new grenades purchased in Diaoyu City, although the Manufacturing and Procurement Division did not pay for it. If the price of the firearms sent by the Perak Army to the Department of Preparation was inaccurate, then the price at which it was sold to Banshu was real - the same as that of the Diaoyu Castle. You must know that Banzhou Yang Wen and Ouyang Xuan are Weng sons-in-law. Regarding Luzhou Liu Quan's request for purchase, Thunderbolt Army did not sell it at all, citing insufficient production capacity.

After inquiring about the situation, Zhang Jue realized that the Thunderbolt Army was really not thin on Diaoyu City, and since then he has no second heart in his relationship with the Thunderbolt Army, and his good impression of Ouyang Xuan has become deeper and deeper, and he regards him as a true friend. At that moment, Ouyang Xuan sent an envoy to solve this problem of military shortfall, and he couldn't help but feel grateful. Although the military settlement of Diaoyu City by the Lin'an and Sichuan Preparation and Construction Divisions has not yet ended, Zhang Jue already knows about how much it has been lost. Diaoyu Cheng reported that the number of regular soldiers in the imperial court was 7,000, but the actual number was less than 4,000, and more than 3,000 people were paid empty salaries, which is really not a small amount. If it is found out, Zhang Jue must fill in the hole, otherwise it is inevitable to be exempted from official office and imprisoned.

As a general who crawled out of the pile of dead, Zhang Jue is actually not afraid of going to prison, he is afraid of affecting his family. After Xiang Shibi was imprisoned, Jia Rudao ordered people to recover his family wealth, and even sold his wife and children to the Qinglou to offset the deficit, which is also the most feared place by the border teachers and generals. On the one hand, Zhang Jue only ate empty salaries, but did not deduct the soldiers' salaries, while other border commanders and colonels ate both empty salaries and drank soldiers' blood, and on the other hand, Zhang Jue did not take over Diaoyu City for a long time. Before, as Wang Jian's lieutenant general, although he was aware, he was not the decision-maker. In fact, it was common for the Song army to eat empty salaries, and he and Wang Jian did not put all the empty salaries into their own pockets, but used them to support their own soldiers, give gifts to their superiors during the New Year's holidays, and send them to the ..... in the officialdom, of course, the biggest expenditure was to bribe important officials of the imperial court to keep their official positions or promotions.

After reading Ouyang Xuan's letter, Zhang Jue's frowning brows stretched out after many days, and a smile appeared on his face. Seeing this, Xia Xiaogen wanted to discuss the details of filling the deficit with him. Zhang Jue thought that this half-grown son was just a scholar next to Ouyang Xuan, and now he wanted to discuss matters with him, and he couldn't help but be taken aback. It's just that he is also a person with rich experience, thinking that Ouyang Xuan sent him as an envoy, he must have something extraordinary, so he listened to him patiently at the moment. It is said that Xia Xiaogen is extremely smart, and he follows Ouyang Xuan as a confidential staff officer, and he is also a person who has seen strong winds and waves, and his vision is even far beyond that of many Thunderbolt Army officials, his speech is orderly, and the level is clear and logical. This made Zhang Jue sigh with emotion, lamenting that there are many talents in the Thunderbolt Army, and on the other hand, he sighs that "heroes have come out of teenagers since ancient times"

Xia Xiaogen's suggestion was to use an official letter issued by the Thunderbolt Army to prove that the Diaoyu defenders had spent a lot of money on firearms, and the amount of which could be deducted from the military salary of 1,000 people. The salary of 1,000 men is only about 30,000 taels of silver, and according to the normal price of firearms in the Perak Army, this is only the price of a dozen cannons plus hundreds of grenades, mines, and more than 100 muskets, and the number of firearms equipped in Diaoyu City has exceeded this number. The remaining 2,000 people were paid less than 100,000 taels of silver, and although the Thunderbolt Army did not have so much cash at the moment, there were many military supplies such as pig iron and cloth. Zhang Jue can say that those military salaries have already bought military supplies, and they only need to send a boat to Chongqing Mansion to transport them back to Diaoyu City. Of course, this is also because Yu Xing prohibits the passage of Perak ships through the waters of Chongqing, otherwise the Perak Army can deliver goods to the door.

Strictly speaking, military salaries can only be earmarked. Zhang Jue responded according to this method, but he still violated the regulations of the Song Army's management, after all, the Ministry of War clearly stipulated that it was not allowed to use the money to raise soldiers to buy military supplies. It's just that in the current Song army, greedy for military spending abounds, and it is really necessary to investigate it according to the regulations, I am afraid that everyone in the Song army is a criminal, and then there will be no need for the Mongols to go south, and the world of the Zhao family will be gone. Jia seems to be in power but not mediocre, and Yu Xing is greedy but not stupid. According to Ouyang Xuan's judgment, even if Zhang Jue is punished, it is estimated that he will only be punished lightly such as fines or demotion, and will not be dismissed or imprisoned. Xia Xiaogen also told Zhang Jue that Ouyang Xuan had ordered people to operate in Lin'an, and it was necessary to keep Zhang Jue's position as the governor of Hezhou. Diaoyu City is too important to the war situation in Sichuan, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is related to the success or failure of Sichuan's anti-Mongolian cause, and the Thunderbolt Army will never be allowed to fall into the hands of mediocre people.

After discussing properly, Xia Xiaogen did not stop in Diaoyu City for long, but hurriedly embarked on the return journey. Zhang Jue and Wang Li sent it to the naval dock, and before parting, Zhang Jue took Xia Xiaogen's hand and asked him to apologize to Ouyang Xuan with guilt: "This time the Mongolian army attacked western Sichuan, Diaoyu City did not support, one is that the road is far away, and the other is that Yu Shuai has already strictly ordered all armies to stick to their jurisdictions and not go out without authorization, so as not to take advantage of the gap to attack." Yu Shuai in Zhang Jue's mouth is Yu Xing.