A few people sat down, and after a toast, Su Jin spoke: "Two commanders, I want to ask you for a favor." ”

Zhao Dehai hurriedly got up and pretended to blame: "Master Su, what are these words, the lowly rank is to follow the two of you on an errand, what do you mean by asking us to help, but the order is to come down." ”

Fang Chengzhong also hurriedly expressed his position, saying that everything was as ordered.

Su Jin was not hypocritical, and said with a smile: "In this case, we will do our business according to our official affairs, and we are still brothers in private." ”

"As it should be." Zhao Fang and the others said with a smile.

"How many Ma Jun brothers did the two commanders have under their command?"

"Although the two of us are deputy commanders, there are only three people who can actually use them, a total of six or seven hundred people." Zhao Dehai replied honestly.

Su Jin nodded and said, "There are quite a few people, what are the configurations of your horse army?" Can you tell us? ”

Zhao Dehai said: "One person, one horse, two sets of armor, the blade...... A submachine spear, a short bow, a short blade, or a knife or sword is indefinite. ”

Su Jin frowned and said, "Do you have firearms?" ”

Zhao Dehai blinked and said, "What firearms?" ”

Su Jin gestured for a long time, but Fang Chengzhong understood quickly, and asked, "What Lord Su said was a rocket?" The kind that is fired by filling the ignition? ”

Su Jin shook his head and said, "It's not a rocket, it seems to be called a fire gun; Is there such a thing? ”

Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong shook their heads like rattles and said, "Fire gun? I haven't heard of it, there is a Shenshui battalion in the military department, but there are some thistles, assault guns and other things, but they are all useless, the price is also expensive, and the lethality is not as good as bows and arrows, and no one uses them. ”

Su Jin was surprised, he had the impression that the Song Dynasty had already had firearms, how could it be that even the most elite forbidden army didn't know the power of firearms until now, no wonder he was also experienced in several battles, and he hadn't even seen a firearm.

"My lord, what are you talking about?" Zhao Dehai asked curiously.

Su Jin thought for a while, dipped his hand in wine and drew an impression of the fire gun on the table, and explained: "The cast pipe is filled with gunpowder and compacted, and then filled with iron sand, and there is a fuse on the side, after ignition, the gunpowder flies out with iron sand, and the man is penetrating within a radius of ten steps within fifty or sixty steps, and the ordinary thin armor can't stop it." ”

Fang Chengzhong frowned and said: "Lord Su, it's not a humble duty to ruin your interest, I've seen the Shenshui Camp also make things similar to what you said, it cost a lot, but in the end, you can't even wear through the ordinary clothes thirty steps away; For this reason, the commander of the Shenshui Battalion Qin was also fined for one year, and the Privy Council punished him for being whimsical. ”

Su Jin was surprised: "How is it possible? Can't wear ordinary clothes 30 steps away? ”

Fang Chengzhong swore to the sky that he had seen it with his own eyes, and now the pile of bamboo pipes was still piled up in the corner of the warehouse and no one cared about it.

Su Jin was surprised: "Bamboo pipe? ”

Fang Chengzhong said: "Yes, they are all made of thorn bamboo tubes with good toughness, aren't you talking about bamboo pipes?" ”

Su Jin scratched his head and said: "I'm talking about cast pipes, specially cast cast iron pipes. ”

Everyone on the seat shook their heads blankly and said, "No, how much silver does it cost, I've never seen this thing." ”

Su Jin sweated on his forehead, thought for a while, and said, "The Shenshui Camp must only be filled with a little gunpowder, otherwise how can the bamboo pipe withstand it?" ”

Fang Chengzhong said: "Yes, it's just a few spoons, and it has burst like this, injuring a few soldiers." ”

Su Jin took a breath and said: "That's the crux of the matter, how can the bamboo pipe withstand the strength of gunpowder, it's strange if it doesn't burst, there is less gunpowder, and the iron sand that is hit out is naturally powerless, not to mention the thirty steps away, it is already very good to be able to hit thirty steps away." ”

Zhao Dehai said: "Then what is the use of this thing?" Could it be that you want to spend a lot of money to cast iron pipes? That would cost a lot of money, and the use of iron ore casting required the Ministry of Industry to report to the Third Division, and the emperor could only act with permission, and it was still unknown whether that thing could be cast and used. ”

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "I don't have that idle mind, and I will use it tomorrow, and I don't have time to prepare." ”

The second monk was puzzled, and looked at Su Jin one by one.

Su Jin said with a smile: "That's the case, tomorrow I plan to take the Liao envoy with Lord Fu to visit the training of my Great Song Forbidden Army, and we have to come up with some scary things to frustrate their spirit, so I remembered firearms." ”

Zhao Dehai shook his head and said: "Hey, this thing is not Liwei, it's just a shame, and it doesn't have to make the Liao people laugh to death." ”

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "There is still a way, but it takes hard work for the two of you to do it, the two of you go to the Shenshui Camp to borrow the bamboo tube, all of them are painted with black paint, and the outside is wrapped with straw rope and other things, so as not to let people see the material; Tomorrow, we will stand up with a bamboo tube. ”

Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong stared at each other and said, "Then how can you stand up?" What is fake is fake, but how can you make the Liao envoy afraid if it sprays some smoke and is not lethal? ”

Su Jin smiled and said, "The mountain people have their own clever plans, come with their ears." ”

Zhao Fang and the two stretched their necks to put their ears together, Su Jin chattered for a long time, straightened the eyes of the two bosses who said and opened their mouths, and finally looked at Su Jin's gaze and couldn't tell whether they were disdain or admiration.

"It's going to be set up tomorrow afternoon, but is it difficult?" Su Jin smiled.

"If you can't do this little thing, do you still come out to mess around? It's just that I can't guarantee how effective this will be. ”

"That's what I'm worried about, you just have to do it, time is pressing, it's all up to the two of you, we'll see you tomorrow in the West School." Su Jin unceremoniously gave the order to evict the guest.

Zhao Fang and the others hurriedly poured the wine in front of them into their stomachs, and one of them grabbed a goose leg and hurried downstairs.

Fu Bi looked at the backs of the two and said, "Brother, your hand is really amazing, I'm afraid that people will see the flaws." ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "I can't see it, don't scare them into peeing their pants, they still have to talk about the army on the border, if we want to do a good job, we can only continue to dampen their spirit, when they think that my Da Song is actually not afraid of fighting at all, that's when our errand is completed." ”

"However, sooner or later, this matter will be exposed, and then there will be another tongue."

"They won't say it, they can only eat dumb losses, next time I'm looking for an opportunity to make trouble, as long as I take this breath, which one are I afraid of Xia Liao? Until this year's summer grain is on the market, the imperial treasury is solid, and there is no need to care about anything. ”

"That's right! The virtuous brother is really a natural talent, and the foolish brother is ashamed of himself. ”

"Don't put a high hat on me, I don't know how to explain to the emperor about the morning, I guess the emperor will punish me and others, and ask your brother to step forward to block it, you are bigger than me in front of the emperor."

Fu Bi rolled his eyes and said: No matter how big it is, it can't be you, the kid is not authentic, if there is something, I will take responsibility, take responsibility, who called us grasshoppers tied together.

In the evening, Su Jin and Fu Bi entered the palace to meet Zhao Zhen and explained the morning's events one by one; Zhao Zhen actually knew about this for a long time.

In half a day, the entire Bianliang City was rumored to be boiling against Yingtian, saying that the envoys of the Song and Liao countries sent their warriors to compete in the pavilion, and they also gambled huge sums of money; In the end, the two envoys of the Great Song Dynasty won the Liao envoy and almost took off their pants.

There are more people who wear chisels and attach to the meeting, saying that the two adults of Fubi and Su Jin are full of poetry and books throughout history, skillfully use the strategy of Tian Ji horse racing, and are good at deploying troops.

The people naturally talked about it, but when it came to the court, it was a different reaction; Radicals naturally see it as a boost, but most of the serious ones don't think so.

First of all, the envoys of the two countries gambled on the street, which was not a decent thing in itself, and secondly, the ministers all thought that the guest was a guest, and did not treat the guest like this, and it was a foolish act to lose the guest cleanly, because the guest was not an ordinary guest, and the guest was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of hungry wolves; Originally, the negotiation was to ease the situation, but Fu Bi and Su Jin made such a fuss, which made the situation worse.

In the afternoon, the courtiers who got the news entered the palace one after another, and after taking a nap in the afternoon, they suddenly had a little mood, and Zhao Zhen, who was making a lot of fun with his favorite concubine Zhang Guifei, was depressed to death.

However, Zhao Zhen did not draw conclusions prematurely, Su Jin's promise to himself in the morning is still vivid, it is impossible to do things in a daze without thinking, Zhao Zhen just wants to hear Su Jin and others explain themselves.

After Su Jinyu reported, he explained the reason for this.

"Your Majesty, Weichen just wants to frustrate their spirit, they are coming violently, if we add fuel to their arrogance, then there is no way to extinguish this fire; All the minister did was to pour a scoop of cold water, and let the Liao people know that my Great Song Dynasty was not to let them do whatever they wanted. Besides, the Liao people were too arrogant, and they wounded a few of the soldiers in our pavilion, and this was also a little punishment. ”

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "That's the reason, but you gamble on the street, and the impact is very bad; Where did you get all this money? As soon as you make a move, it will be 100,000 taels, and you are richer than my internal affairs office. ”

Su Jin pointed to the sky and swore an oath: "This is all the hard-earned money of the minister Su Ji, this time I ordered someone to bring the family to the capital is to prepare it as the preparatory principal of the silver village, for the sake of the face of the Great Song Dynasty, I am considered to be out of the way." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Then I want to praise you?" ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "There is no need to praise it, the Liao envoy gave face, lost 20,000 cash silver to the minister, and owed the minister more than 10,000 taels, this favor minister is counted on the emperor." ”

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but smile: "You are proud, I told you clearly, all these silver are returned, and my Great Song is not short of these tens of thousands of taels of silver; Besides, if the two countries are at war and have not yet come to Taiwan, will it be absolutely beneficial to the negotiations if the Liao envoys are not allowed to come to Taiwan this time? Not really! The purpose of negotiation is to be neither humble nor arrogant, polite and courteous, if you make people unhappy, how can people get along with you? ”

Su Jin and Fu Bi had to say yes again and again, and Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "It's okay, it's okay to punish a little, but it's enough; The money shall be repaid, and you shall be able to use it as a bargaining chip, but do not persecute it too much; In this negotiation, I only hope that I will be satisfied without losing the big festival, and I do not take your promises seriously; You don't have to stress yourself up and do something unthinkable. ”

Su Jin was secretly depressed: Is this a hint that we can make concessions? The dignified Song Dynasty forbears and seeks perfection in advance, no wonder those humiliating treaties were made in front of them, and it is no wonder that Western Xia and Liao don't take us seriously.

Su Jin secretly made up his mind, this time he must not follow this path, and he will be infamous for eternity, and he will not be able to see it, as long as he endures it, those old guys in the court who are waiting to find fault will attack them in groups, just for personal gain, and they can't do what Zhao Zhen wants.