In the first month of the first month of the Shengyuan Dynasty in 640, King Xian did not have a big banquet for the first time, and he did not give a reward for inheriting last year's practice, but only set up a family banquet in the harem to entertain the concubines and heirs, and all the relatives and cabinet ministers should not be invited.

However, there are also additional subsidies, such as the King of Xian, who rewarded fine wine, meal coupons for the Xuan Pavilion and luxury goods in the department store, etc., to put it bluntly, they are all real things.

In Bailiyan's view, this conveys three meanings to the outside world.

The second is to use this as an excuse to inherit last year's New Year's holiday, thus forming a custom and tradition, without additional rewards, or in the dark, gradually weakening the strength of the powerful and powerful in the four counties of Beihai, Dongyuan, Jiangdong and Suidang.

For example, Li Xu has not been idle since May, this person is very smart, he did not choose to start in the capital, but went to various places to inspect, starting from the locality, first at the village and county level, and then from the bottom up to the county government level, first cutting the tentacles and then doing behind the scenes, so as to avoid the edge of interest groups, first easy and then difficult.

Third, after the crown prince assisted the government, the prince came forward to communicate for King Xian during the New Year's holidays, and the state banquet was canceled, which also means that the prince will not be able to exercise the right to communicate on behalf of the royal family this year, but this motive is not obvious, and it is difficult to figure out the true intentions of King Xian without in-depth scrutiny.

Bailifang, Bailixiang, and Bailixuan's eight daughters are growing up day by day, and the New Year's event on the morning of the second day of the first month of the first month opens his mouth to a father, which really makes Bailiyan's scalp numb.

In this world, I am afraid that I will never find a more unlucky father than him Bailiyan, who gave birth to eight children in a row and is a daughter, Qiao Fu'er is unwilling to die, and she wasted her strength to conceive another child, but after checking the pulse, she found that it seemed to be another daughter.

During the first month, Yongxing City rested people, non-military logistics workshops rotated three shifts, Xicheng successively rolled off the assembly line more than a dozen artillery, in order to solve the problem of mining and transportation efficiency in underground mining areas, reduce mining costs, Bailiyan began to develop a minecart track winch system, which is more efficient than simply using manpower to transport ore out of the ground with bamboo baskets.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, without any warning in advance, Chen Yunfeng suddenly came, in the name of Jiang Qian's wife, Su Yi was pregnant, and Jiang Min sent Chen Yunfeng to thank Bailiyan for prescribing a medicine.

But what makes people wonder is that this matter could have been brought by sending a letter to the family, but it had to be rushed in the first year, which inevitably makes people doubt its motives.

The tea pavilion in the backyard of the Hou Mansion is a three-storey small building, located on the edge of the lotus pond, and it is the place where Xiao Chunyu, Chunrou, Chunfang and other women chant the wind and make the moon on weekdays, and Bailiyan will occasionally drink tea and chat here to watch the scenery and stretch the mood.

Bailiyan set up a tea bureau, just refreshments, enjoying the scenery in the distance, talking to Chen Yunfeng, Jiang Rong added water from time to time on the side, and asked his mother He the most:

"Mr. Chen, how is your mother doing?"

"The old lady has been fine recently, but she misses the county lord, so she plans to come to visit the county lord and the little lord in the county after the first lunar month."

"It's really bitter, mother, ......" Jiang Rong was overshadowed by the words.

Bailiyan, as a feudal official, a member of the imperial court, combines power and countless glory, but the family can only stay in the capital like a hostage, and cannot leave the capital at will.

Therefore, most of the marquis's relatives, themselves, their eldest sons and the wife of the main family have settled in the capital, and the family cannot leave without special circumstances, even if they are provincial relatives, they need to report to the monarch for permission to return to their hometowns.

Seeing Jiang Rong gloomy and sad, Bai Liyan deliberately diverted the topic and asked tentatively:

"Mr. Chen is here, can my father-in-law still tell him something?"

"Yes, there is, after the lord and Mr. Luo discussed, they decided to reduce the military strength, and at the same time, they will implement a new policy of granting land under the rule of the lord to support the people."

"Oh...... How much are you going to cut it? ”

"Cut 60,000 to 20,000."

"So much!"

Bailiyan was surprised, 80,000 people were reduced to 60,000, if the territory remained unchanged, it meant that the army would be diluted by the land. After a little thought, Bai Liyan continued:

"The 60,000 people who were laid off won't be so simple, I think, my father-in-law must use these 60,000 people to follow the example of the imperial court and train the battalion to open up the wasteland under the rule of the Guangxin Army, but is this the case?"

Chen Yunfeng nodded, not surprised, even expected:

"Exactly, at present, the west of Beihai County is controlled by the Xian army, the Jin army and the Changsun army are using troops in the Changsun country, the crisis in Beihai County has been resolved, and Guangxin continues to maintain an army of nearly 80,000 people It is worth the loss."

Luo Songting looked far away, completely exterminated the Black Turban Army for as little as two years, as much as three or four years, the sooner Guangxin was freed from the heavy military spending, the sooner he could recover his vitality and continue to fight with Chenling, and Jiang Qian had an heir, whether it was a man or a woman, Guangxin would have incense in the first line, and there would be a chance to turn the tables in the future.

Thinking of this, Bai Liyan said:

"Although the main force of the Northern Army of the Jin Army has gone to Changsun to fight, it still has 50,000 people stationed in Beihai, and it will inevitably return to Beihai in the future, Guangxin has reduced its troops to 20,000, how are you going to deal with it in the future?"

Xu asked the key, Chen Yunfeng was silent for a moment, his eyes first fell to Jiang Rong, and then said:

"The lord ordered me to come this time, in fact, to ask my uncle for a cannon."

"Ask the cannon?" Bai Liyan frowned, and her expression was immediately serious: "What, my father-in-law wants a cannon!" ”

"Otherwise, how can we suppress the 300,000 Jin troops in the future."

"Mr. Chen, you should know that artillery is now a prohibited weapon, which is directly subordinate to the king and the great Sima, even if it is an elite soldier and horse, it is not worthy of artillery. And at present, affected by the price of iron, artillery is still very expensive, it is difficult to attach a large number of armies in a short period of time, and it will only be used by the imperial court.

If the father-in-law wants to reduce the number of troops in exchange for the king's accommodation, I am afraid that this road will be difficult to pass. ”

"Then there is no room for negotiation?" Chen Yunfeng pleaded.

"It's not that I don't want to help, in the long run, Guangxin not only needs artillery, but it is necessary to strengthen the city wall at the north gate of Guangxin to resist future invasions from the sea. However, the king was very wary of his father-in-law, and there was no possibility that he would be worthy of firearms. ”

Guangxin and Chenling are almost on a meridian line, more than 800 miles away, the infantry army is only ten days and half a month on foot, if the strong enemy lands from the North Sea, it will be killed in one month, and it will not even take a month.

As the north gate of the Lingling, Bailiyan is planning that in the future, the Lingling will not only be equipped with artillery, but also heavy artillery, build fortress artillery batteries, and strengthen the north gate city wall to resist bombardment from the sea.

At present, affected by the price of iron, the price of Yongxing steel cannon is still expensive, after the new cannon steel is smelted in the future, even if the price of iron falls, the price will probably not be cheap, and the money invested in it is more than hundreds of thousands, and the smelting process is very complex, and the cost is only high. Without the support of strong economic and industrial strength, it is not enough to equip in small quantities.

With Guangxin's financial resources, it disarmed 60,000 people, and the military rations saved in a year could not be bought at internal cost prices. And gunpowder is a consumable, affected by the price of sulfur, the price remains high, and it is simply impractical for Guangxin to seek artillery in the short term.

Jiang Rong knew Bailiyan's intentions, and she was about to leave at this time, and Bailiyan kept her:

"Don't go, you also sit beside you, so as not to say that your husband has no conscience in the future."

"Look at what you said, am I a careful-eyed person? Knowing that you are in trouble, if I continue to stay here, will it not be difficult for you? ”

"Nothing difficult to do, some things are open and well said." When the words fell, Bai Liyan's gaze turned to Chen Yunfeng and continued:

"Mr. Chen, let me make it clear, my father-in-law and brother-in-law are now a drop in the bucket whether they are raising soldiers or buying artillery. It is better to seize the time to recuperate and expand the trade between Guangxin Nongsang and Guangxin Port.

In the future, Beihai needs to prepare for the construction of a new naval army, and also build forts and fortifications to resist attacks from the sea. At present, the king will not agree, and Yongxing City will not have the spare time to produce the artillery needed by Guangxin.

At present, Yongxing City is making every effort to produce the two batches of artillery required by Zhiguo and Xianjun, and it will not be delivered until the summer harvest this year at the earliest, and the Yuke side has already breathed through the wind, and also wants artillery, and there will be more orders in the future, at least within three to five years, there is no time to produce artillery in Guangxin.

Moreover, at present, the artillery is still not of great use, there are more than seven or eight guns, and it is difficult to have a great effect, at most it is to bluff people, and the defense of the city can only shoot far and not close, at least more than 20 guns, and it is good to prepare for the establishment of an artillery team, dozens or even hundreds of guns at the same time. At the current price, it is very difficult for Guangxin not to say that it is difficult to buy 20 doors, even 10 doors.

In addition, Guangxin also do not think about their own cannon, very dangerous, a little careless, will cause a tragedy, Guangxin only two or three hundred pounds of refining furnace, simply not enough to cast cannons, even if it is a copper cannon, is also very difficult, so within three or five years, Guangxin security is the greatest interest. ”

"Alas......" Chen Yunfeng sighed for a long time, very depressed: "It seems that Senior Luo is right to worry about it, my uncle is looking at the overall situation in his eyes, and Guangxin is no longer a place for my uncle's nostalgia." ”

"Mr. Chen doesn't have to be so discouraged, it's better to buy early than late, five or six years later, Yongxing artillery will be even more powerful than now, whoever buys it first will suffer first, and at that time, there may be a turnaround."

Bai Liyan was very clear at this time, don't look at Chen Yunfeng sighing, he knew very well how much hypocrisy there was.

Jiang Min did not only obtain artillery from Yongxing, but also had a lot of secret collusion with Zhiguo in his early years, which was confirmed by Gongliangxiu.

King Zhi secretly instructed his vassals to facilitate Jiang Min's trade in the territory of Zhi and provide iron tools and coal for iron smelting, so as to increase Jiang Min's economic and military strength and finance future rebellions.

The pattern has changed greatly in recent years, and now King Zhi does not dare to blatantly provide convenience for Jiang Min, and at the same time, King Xian must have sent someone to envoy Zhiguo, what is the secret agreement with King Zhi, otherwise Guangxin's financial resources will not decline so badly in the past ten years.

If King Ruozhi has evil thoughts again, it cannot be ruled out that he secretly contacted Jiang Min again and funded his future rebellion, so as to plunge Xianguo into internal and external troubles. Chen Yunfeng is here, buying guns should be just one of them, and inquiring about the price is the real intention.

Obviously, this is obvious, it is absolutely impossible for King Xian to award sharp weapons to opponents, and it is nonsense to buy guns, so there is only one possibility, and the domestic miscellaneous guns that Zhiwang has eliminated one after another need to have a home, and Guangxin is undoubtedly the best choice. In other words, in the future, Zhiguo will buy more guns and secretly transfer some.

If this is the case, in order not to suffer losses, it is necessary to find out the reserve price.