Gao Xianzhi frowned and thought for a while, "I seem to be able to understand a little, but I don't seem to understand it very well. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Today, General Li Mi passed away, and I am not in a good mood. I'll have some time with you another day. The brothers will not understand this truth, you go to comfort and comfort them, and then convince them from a purely military point of view that the current chances of winning the army are not very good, and they should be able to understand this truth. ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said, "Indeed, the odds of winning now are really not good. We need time to wait for the replenishment of the Tiger Squat Cannon and *, two things that are the guarantee of the victory of my Divine Army, and we are now exhausted. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said: "Yes, the Twelfth Niang came to Ningzhou and brought the six hundred newly made * to be consumed, I estimate that Zhang Zhengyi is afraid that he will jump to his feet and scold his mother." It will take at least half a year before we have the capital to fight. Even recruiting new recruits takes months of training. It's going to take time. So now I hope that Li Mao will give an explanation casually, if he comes to attack desperately, it will be a troublesome matter. As long as he gives me a reason, I will accept it, so that we will have time to prepare. ”

Gao Xianzhi frowned and said, "I understand, but have you thought about it, Brother Xian, if the time drags on, the number of soldiers and horses in the imperial court will also increase greatly." Within a few months, the number of soldiers and horses in the imperial court increased by 50,000 or 60,000. Wait another half a year, that amount will be unimaginable. Wouldn't it be even more difficult then? ”

"yes, that's where the tangle lies. I need time, and in fact, Li Mao needs time too. I'm ready, and so is Li Mao. But I'd rather wait half a year for him to send troops against me, and then I have no scruples. I have faith in the Divine Army, and I don't care about the enemy who is several times larger, all I care about is to kill more. The newly recruited soldiers of the imperial court are just ordinary people. ”

Gao Xianzhi said: "That's no way, when you live or die, you won't be able to control so much." So, what are Jiro's plans for his next move? What can you do as a brother? Jiro said. ”

Wang Yuan said: "The Shence Army also needs to recruit soldiers and horses, at least tens of thousands of troops need to be recruited to fill the lost soldiers and horses, and the recruitment and training of new recruits can only be entrusted to my brother, and my brother can only rest assured." We have to be fully prepared, we can't dodge, and my energy should be focused on the acceleration of the manufacture of the Tiger Squat Cannon and *. The sooner the preparations are completed, the sooner the matter will be completely concluded. ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded slowly, and the two sat for a long time, each going back to his residence to rest.

After resting in Ningzhou for a day, in the early morning of July 27, Wang Yuan and Gao Xianzhi led the cavalry of the personal guard battalion and others to embark on the return journey back to Chengdu. There were also thousands of wounded soldiers with them, and they had to return to Chengdu to recuperate, so the march was very slow. When he arrived in Longzhou two days later, the imperial decree was delivered. As Wang Yuan expected, Li Mao explained in the holy decree that the reason why Li Guangbi led the army to attack Qingning Erzhou was to encircle and suppress the rebellious soldiers and horses of Li Hui and others, so it caused a misunderstanding.

Li Mao's holy decree said that he had severely reprimanded Li Guangbi on this matter and demoted Li Guangbi's title. And with the holy decree brought a letter of apology from Lee Kwang-pil.

The holy decree also praised Wang Yuan Gao Xianzhi for sending troops to defeat the Hui people. He was awarded the post of Captain Wang Yuan, and the important generals in the Shence Army were also commended. If you don't know the inside story, you really think that Li Mao is ecstatic about the defeat of the Hui people by the Shence army. But Wang Yuan and Gao Xianzhi naturally knew that this was Li Mao's delaying tactic. Li Mao obviously wants to buy time to expand the troops and horses, and then settle accounts after the autumn. Fortunately, Wang Yuan also had such an idea, and the two sides found a strange balance at this point in time, and tacitly maintained a harmonious atmosphere. Wang Yuan even wrote a note to thank him, and presented a lot of precious trophies of war horses and weapons to Li Mao. The two parties were harmonious on the surface, and they began to sharpen their knives behind their backs.

Traveling and traveling, Wang Yuan was warmly welcomed by the people and officials along the way. Midsummer is about to pass, and along the way, I saw thousands of miles of fertile fields, abundant rice in the fields, and a prosperous and stable scene of living and working in peace and contentment, which somewhat sent Wang Yuan's worries about Li Mi's death and the current situation to gradually relax. In addition, along the way, there were many wives and concubines who slowly returned, and the chirping and singing of warblers along the way, it was like taking the wives and concubines to play in the mountains and rivers, and the mood gradually became happy.

There is something that was quietly finalized on the road, and that is the marriage of Cui Ruoyu and Wang Yuan. Li Xin'er already knows a lot about the Cui family, and she is very sympathetic to Cui Ruoyu's experience. Moreover, the change in the Cui family was somewhat due to Wang Yuan, and Wang Yuan had a marriage contract with the Cui family when he was in Yangzhou, so this matter is logical. Li Xin'er happily decided to arrange the marriage after arriving in Chengdu and let Cui Ruoyu enter the door. Cui Ruoyu was so excited that she cried a few times in the quilt several nights. is not only sad about the pain of the destruction of the family, but also happy to have a lifelong support, and it is no longer like a rootless Ping.

On the second day of August, everyone arrived in Chengdu. The officials and people in the city welcomed Wang Yuan in triumph. When entering the city, some of the people had already publicly bowed down and shouted long live, but they were quickly stopped by Wang Yuan.

The day coincided with Li Mi's first seventh, because of the hot weather, Li Mi's coffin arrived in Chengdu and was buried the next day, on the Baisong Ridge in the south of the city. Wang Yuan led the civil and military officials to sweep the tomb to worship, personally wrote a sacrificial text, and ordered the stonemason to engrave it on the blue tablet of Zhang Xu Gao, expressing his respect.

After that, he proposed a marriage contract to Li Zhenyuan in accordance with the rules, and officially set the baby kiss of the second son Wang Yi and Li Zhenyuan's eldest daughter Qiaozhu. and granted the Li brothers official positions, which can be regarded as a formal promise to Li Mi, allowing Li Mi to smile Jiuquan.

Gao Xianzhi and others began to recruit soldiers and horses, and the people of Shu were prosperous, and the Shence Army had not recruited soldiers and horses for a long time. As soon as the news came out, it immediately flocked to it. The prestige of the Shence Army has been envied by everyone, and in the minds of the people of Shudi, the Shence Army is a god-like existence. Young men from all over the country have signed up to join the army. even asked for a recommendation through the back door, which caused a lot of uproar.

Gao Xianzhi is selfless, adhering to his selection criteria, strict control, and fine selection. In 12 days, 50,000 new recruits were strengthened, and rigorous training began. During this time, Wang Yuan has been staring at the arsenal, personally supervising the production of tiger squat cannons and *. Because of the urgency of time, the arsenal also made every effort to expand its staff, adding ten more workshops to speed up production.

In order to ensure the supply of raw materials, especially to limit the output of yellow phosphorus for manufacturing*, the site for boiling yellow phosphorus in the west of the city has been fully opened. The strange scene that Wang Yuan had imagined in his mind had become a reality. But I saw the valley west of the city under the scorching sun, thousands of cauldrons were on the ground, and the urine inside was boiling and gurgling. It's all about boiling the much-needed yellow phosphorus raw material. The air is raging for more than ten miles, and the stench is far away. The birds in the air are forbidden, and the underground beasts are nowhere to be found, and it is simply a forbidden place of death. Those who worked in it also had to be issued gas masks to ensure that they would not suffocate in such places.

Wang Yuan doesn't care about environmental protection, now is not the time to say that, all military preparations must be put first, and the rest can't be controlled.

After returning to Chengdu, Wang Yuan also got a good news from Zhang Zhengyi. More than a month ago, in Huaiyuan City, Zhang Zhengyi asked Li Mi, who was transporting grain, to bring a letter to Wang Yuan, saying that he had made a major discovery. After returning to Chengdu, Wang Yuan finally knew what this momentous discovery was.

It turned out that Zhang Zhengyi had found a way to make the Tiger Squat Cannon more powerful, and he changed the shape of the cannonball fired by the Tiger Squat Cannon, making one end of the round iron cannonball spindle-shaped. A charge chamber was designed at the tip. In this way, the force of the gunpowder explosion in the chamber of the cannon is exerted at the bottom of the spindle-shaped shell, and does not detonate the gunpowder in the tip of the shell. Because the chamber at the tip is made of pottery, the heat of the gunpowder does not spread to the powder in the chamber instantaneously to cause an explosion, but the chamber is hit and explodes after the shell hits the ground, causing greater damage.

This is basically a combination of the solid iron bullet of the Tiger Squat Cannon and the Thunder Bullet of the Shenwei Cannon, the solid iron bullet of the Tiger Squat Cannon ensures the range and weight, and the charge of the Thunder Bullet causes an explosion after landing, which increases the power even more. The difficulty of such shells lies in the casting and thermal insulation of the shells. It is necessary to ensure that the spindle-shaped shell can be fired smoothly, and to ensure that the gunpowder in the ammunition chamber of the warhead is not ignited by the heat during firing. How to firmly fix the bond between iron and pottery is also a huge difficulty.

However, Zhang Zhengyi cleverly set up a few small iron ears in the warhead part, and also burned a few small ears on the pottery medicine room, and then tied them by artificial means to create the most primitive and unique combined new type of shells.

The disadvantage was that the manufacture of such shells was relatively slow, and the raised lugs on the shells affected the firing range and accuracy. But the advantage is obvious, it is already the prototype of a modern shell, but the shape is a little weird and ugly.

Wang Yuan was greatly amazed by this. Zhang Zhengyi is really a treasure, although this old guy is sloppy and sloppy, his kung fu is not ordinarily strong. And it seems to be unintentional, but in fact, it is as careful as a hair. Wang Yuan once muttered that solid bullets could not land and explode, and the power was limited, which was very regrettable. He was silent, but he remembered it. I was busy thinking and researching, and then I made progress.

Wang Yuan and Zhang Zhengyi immersed themselves in joint research for seven or eight days, improved some irrationalities, ensured that the flight of the shells was more stable, and some aerodynamic shapes, and basically decided on a new shell shape. Wang Yuan named it 'Little Fat Man' because the cannonball was shaped like a chubby little boy. After 100 experiments, Wang Yuan decided to put it into production. The invention of this cannonball is absolutely epoch-making, and it can buy Wang Yuan several months. Originally, Wang Yuan hoped to have 200 tiger squat cannons to equip the army, so as to ensure the next battle. But with this kind of shell, even if it is equipped with more than 100 shells, its lethal effect is doubled. And it is as effective as attacking a city or bombarding enemy formations. With the little fat man, Wang Yuan's heart is even more stable.

Busy during the day and busier at night. After returning to Chengdu, his wife and concubine were waiting to be fed. The news of A Luo's pregnancy, Wang Yuan, learned from Li Xin'er in Ningzhou. Soon after Wang Yuanbing left Fengzhou, Ah Luo had vomiting symptoms. As soon as she was diagnosed, she was already pregnant. Ah Luo was very happy, so when Li Xin'er and Qingyun'er Ziyun'er went to Ningzhou to support, Ah Luo didn't go with them. Originally, this kind of thing was indispensable to Ah Luo.

After returning to Chengdu, Ah Luo proudly held her belly that had not yet shown mountain dew, looking cowardly. Wang Yuan naturally doted on her and took care of her in every way. Ah Luo told Wang Yuan that she had sent someone to inform Brother Luo Feng of the news. Ge Luofeng wrote back that he was very happy and would soon come to visit him. Wang Yuan laughed at her for being too anxious, the child was already full of wind and rain before the child was born.

After Wang Yuan returned to Chengdu, Gao Moyan pestered Wang Yuan to get pregnant, saying that Wang Yuan was eccentric, everyone had children, but he didn't. Wang Yuan smiled bitterly and was speechless, how could this kind of thing be a matter of partiality, he didn't work Gao Moyan, and the rain and dew were sown at all, but if the seeds were not harvested, there was no way. But Gao Moyan didn't care, pestering and making trouble, Wang Yuan could only accompany her more at night, hoping to satisfy her wishes.

There are also two sisters, Yang Yuhuan, the wife of Qin Guo, who live in the apricot orchard, and they naturally have to take good care of them when they reunite after a long absence. So every night, in the dead of night, I saw Wang Yuan shuttling around the back house like a ghost in disheveled clothes. Although he enjoys the blessings of all people, he is inevitably suffering from running at night, which can be regarded as a kind of retribution for greed and lust.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the marriage with Cui Ruoying was put on the agenda. More than ten days ago, Li Xin'er had already finished the investigation. On the auspicious day of August 18, Wang Yuan officially married Cui Ruoyu. That night, the red candle was shining, and the two of them pushed me, lingering and compassionate, and finally became one. When she was moaning heartily by the red waves, Cui Ruoyu burst into tears. Although he experienced the destruction of his family, he finally had a lifelong support and a way to take revenge.

……

August 20. Just when everyone was busy, a secret letter was suddenly delivered to Wang Yuan. Wang Yuan was discussing the improvement of gunpowder with Zhang Zhengyi in the arsenal, and after getting the secret letter, Wang Yuan immediately withdrew and went home, and quickly ordered people to invite Gao Xianzhi, Liu Jun, Song Jiangong, Liu Dehai and other core figures to come and hold a meeting in the second study.

After everyone arrived, Wang Yuan took out the letter and handed it to everyone to circulate. After everyone read it quickly, they all showed extremely shocked expressions.

The source of that letter was actually Lishan Palace in the southeast of Chang'an, and the person who wrote the letter was actually Zhang Dequan, Xuanzong's personal attendant. The story described in the letter was terrifying, and Zhang Dequan described the massacre of Li Mao in the Huaqing Hall of Lishan Palace on the night of July 15. It is said that Li Mao not only killed Li Heng, Li Pu, and Li Jian with his own hands, but also ordered the guards to kill the emperor's relatives, relatives, and civil and military ministers who followed Xuanzong and Li Hui and others. On that night, a total of 371 people, including Li Heng, Li Pu, and Li Xuan, were killed, regardless of age, children, men and women.

Zhang Dequan's letter also said that Xuanzong now has only more than a dozen chamberlains and palace maids left to serve. Li Mao ordered people to give coarse grains and light rice, and the share was limited, which was not enough to eat. forced everyone to look for wild fruits and vegetables in Lishan Palace to satisfy their hunger. It is said that Xuanzong was bedridden after that night, and the whole person was demented and demented, and he screamed in nightmares every night, suffering and being frightened. I am afraid that he will die soon.

Zhang Dequan desperately bought off a guard of Lishan Palace, asking him to send this letter to Wang Yuan, asking Wang Yuan to rescue Xuanzong, otherwise, Xuanzong would not be killed by Li Mao soon, and he would be tortured to death in terror.

Everyone's feelings after reading this letter, the first is terrifying, and the second is full of doubt. The atmosphere in the study suddenly froze like ice.

After a long time, Gao Xianzhi slowly spoke: "Brother Xian, regardless of whether what is said in the letter is true or not. Let's first find out whether this letter was written by Zhang Dequan. Who was the messenger? Brother Xian interrogated him if he didn't. ”

Wang Yuan said in a deep voice: "Of course I asked, this person is a businessman from my Chengdu." He originally went to the villages and towns around Chang'an to sell salt from my salt lake. I met a man in a town south of Chang'an, who paid a lot of money to bring the letter back to Chengdu and present it to me. The merchant was unwilling, but the man gave him a lot of money and goods, and he was greedy for his money, so he agreed to deliver the message. Tan Ping has found out the identity of the businessman, he is my local businessman in Chengdu, his family background is innocent, and there is nothing to doubt. His identity as a salt merchant was also from the beginning of the imperial court rebellion, our lake salt sales could not be carried out, so he took the means of encouraging merchants to sell privately to the mainland, and for more than two years, he sold lake salt from Chengdu to the vicinity of Chang'an, Jinzhou, there is no doubt about this. Liu Xunzhi had the names of all the merchants who distributed the lake salt, and he was among them. ”

Gao Xianzhi groaned when he heard this: "From this point of view, this letter is indeed from Chang'an. The salt merchant probably didn't know who the person who asked him to deliver the letter was, did he? ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "The salt merchant naturally doesn't know the identity of that person. All he said was that the man was dressed ordinarily and looked flustered. The salt merchant asked him who he was, but he wouldn't say. ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said: "If it is true that Zhang Dequan buys off the guard, this guard is also taking a big risk, and naturally he does not dare to reveal his identity easily." That's understandable. But the clue ends here, that is, we can't infer whether the letter was written by Zhang Dequan or not. ”

Wang Yuan turned around with a smile, took out a piece of yellow cloth from a thick book on the bookcase, handed the yellow cloth to Gao Xianzhi, and said with a smile: "Brother, look at what this is?" ”

Gao Xianzhi took this piece of yellow cloth full of doubts, took it in his hand and looked at it a few times, and suddenly changed color and said: "Silk double-sided, sixty-four warp and weft, this ornament looks like ...... It's like ......"

"That's right, brother, you can see it, this is a dragon robe. The pattern on it is a dragon's eye. If I'm not mistaken, it must be a piece of fabric on the chest of the dragon robe. Not to mention anything else, just the process of double-sided silk is only done by dragon robes. Wang Yuan said in a low voice.

"You mean, this piece of fabric was cut from a dragon robe? Where did this thing come from? ”

It's caught in the middle of this letter. I think Zhang Dequan may be worried that we don't believe in the authenticity of this letter, so he sandwiched the material of this dragon robe in the letter to tell us that this is really a letter written by him. Because of his identity, it is possible to cut a piece of the emperor's robe. Wang Yuan said in a deep voice.

It dawned on everyone that this was a good way to identify themselves.

"Dashuai, he can prove it with a thing around the emperor, such as a jade pendant or something, a piece of this dragon robe, in fact, it may not be able to prove that this letter was written by him." Song Jiangong objected.

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "Your idea is a little taken for granted, if the Emperor Tai's jade pendant is used as proof or something, I'm afraid these things won't reach us at all." The Praetorian guards only took risks for the sake of their possessions, and how could they not keep their valuables for themselves? But this light piece of clothing, caught in the letterhead, is not noticeable at all. When I received this letter, I didn't even notice the fabric inside, and I only found it when I opened it. ”

"That's just as well." Song Jiangong agreed with this explanation.

Gao Xianzhi said: "Even if you have this cloth, it doesn't completely prove that this letter was written by Zhang Dequan. We don't know what Zhang Dequan's writing looks like, and we can't identify the authenticity. This piece of fabric did add a few percent to the credibility of the letter, but only a few percent. But what else is there to prove the truth? ”

Wang Yuan spread his hands and said, "It's gone, it's this letter and this yellow cloth." ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said, "Then I still can't know the authenticity of this letter." This doubt is put aside for the time being, and let's talk about whether the content of this letter is true. The letter said...... Is it credible that Li Mao slaughtered Li Hui, Li Pu, Li Jian, and hundreds of imperial ministers in the Lishan Palace on the night of July 15? This happened on July 15, more than a month ago, why is there not the slightest rumor? Our meticulous work in the capital also doesn't seem to have any reports in this regard. This seems a bit strange. ”

Wang Yuan pursed his lips and nodded: "It's indeed a little strange. But for such a thing, it is not difficult for Li Mao to block the news. Most of our detailed work in Chang'an is to inquire about the news between the fang cities, and if Li Mao can block this news, I am afraid it will not be difficult. After all, what happened in Lishan Palace is unknown to the outside world. After the fact, it is enough to strictly ban the people involved in the matter. I believe that the people involved in this matter that night must have been Li Mao's confidants. It's easy to block messages for long periods of time. ”

"I agree with what Brother Xian said. It is not difficult to block the news, and it is not difficult to guess Li Mao's thoughts. He must not want the world to know about this, because his foundation is not stable, so he is so aggressive, for fear of arousing a lot of dissatisfaction. But I don't know about Li Mao slaughtering so many people in one go, does Brother Xian think it's strange? ”

Wang Yuan smiled and said, "What I believe most in the whole letter is this matter. Others may not kill people indiscriminately, but I am not surprised that Li Mao did this. Slowly, Li Hui and others still raised troops to seize his throne, even if they didn't have troops, Li Mao might not be able to tolerate him. Because Li Mao's throne was not obtained properly, he must be unstable in his heart, Li Heng's existence is his biggest threat, and his character is gloomy and cruel, so sooner or later he will still do it. ”

Gao Xianzhi smiled and nodded, this point Wang Yuan said was consistent with his own thoughts. In fact, Gao Xianzhi understood that Wang Yuan's purpose of supporting Li Hui and others to raise troops was exactly what he expected Li Mao to do. It can be said that if this matter is true, Wang Yuan's plan will be completed one step further.