Kim Yi smiled for the first time in days.

He bowed to the generous and righteous Great Song monarch and stood up again, and then bowed down and walked out of the palace with his deputy.

Faced with a mission that might be life-threatening, Jin Yi resolutely accepted it, and even asked to set off today and rush back to Goryeo to get in touch with the forces that were still resisting the Liao.

At the same time, he recommended Ganghwa Island to the imperial court.

Han Gang claimed that the officers and troops were coming from afar, and they had to have a safe place to stay. Jin Yi didn't doubt that he had him, or maybe he thought of it but wished that Da Song could get involved, so he recommended this one, according to himself, a unique and excellent station.

Ganghwa Island is not far from Kaegyeong, at the mouth of the Alisu [Han River]. The location is perfect. The island also has mountain peaks, treacherous terrain and a harbor for mooring ships. When merchant ships enter Alishui, they also have to cross Ganghwa Island. Looking at the west coast of Goryeo, there is no place like Ganghwa Island.

Hearing Jin Yi say this, the kings and ministers in the palace felt that it was indeed a good position. As long as the strait adjacent to the land can be effectively blocked, Ganghwa Island will be a strategic point for the Great Song Dynasty to control and strangle the whole of Goryeo. Moreover, according to Jin Yi and Liu Hong, there is at least one county on Ganghwa Island, which is not small enough to garrison the army. And since the island is located at the mouth of the river, there must also be alluvial land, which can grow a little food more or less.

It's just that such a good place will not be let go unless the kings of Goryeo are informed that they are blind. On the temple of the arch, who is not a person who understands except those who are sitting? After asking a few more questions, Jin Yi also said honestly, Jianghua Island was the first line of defense against the enemy from the west, and there was already a walled city built on the island, and there was also a soldier and horse, and even the palace was located.

Speaking of which, the Zaifu people all understood that when the warships of the imperial court drove over, they were afraid that they would bump into a group of officials who had escaped from Kaesong, and perhaps a few royal families and clans, and might even meet the king and the prince of the world.

Goryeo is so big that it can't escape far if it goes south, so it can only hope that the sea will block the pace of the Liao army. Moreover, escaping from Kaijing to Ali Water and taking a boat and going straight to Ganghwa Island is faster and safer than crossing the water to the south.

Comparing their hearts to their hearts, Cai Qu, Zhang Dang, and Han Gang all felt that if they opened Beijing by themselves, the possibility of running to Ganghwa Island was very high. It's really not good, if you run away from the Great Song Dynasty, you can also mix with the prince of Anle to do it.

Mixing with the small Goryeo court that fled from Beijing was a trouble, big and small. However, the purpose of sending warships was only to control the Goryeo Sea Frontier, not to compete with the Koreans for control of Goryeo. Some exchanges, don't worry about the Koreans don't do it. As long as it is well arranged, it is not difficult for the dove to occupy the magpie's nest.

It's just that for Kim Yi's proposal, the Zaifu will not fully believe it, and they still decided to let the generals who led the army go to the battle, and when they arrived in Goryeo, they looked at the actual situation of Ganghwa Island and said that if it was not suitable, it would not be too late to change places.

Jin Yi's words are always not honest enough, but he still gives high praise to his parallelism.

"He is a loyal man." Coming out of the hall, Han Jiang couldn't help but sigh.

Zhang Qi also echoed: "This person has a great ancient style, like a minister of the Spring and Autumn Period. ”

"Goryeo learned everything from China, calling itself Little China, just looking at this one courtier who knows loyalty, it can't be regarded as boasting." Zeng Bu also applauded.

Only Han Gang disagreed, and said: "The righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period lies in respecting the king. The virtue of Qi Huan is the whole of China, the barbarian. Although Goryeo calls itself China, it only refuses to accept the article of Wang Hua, so it is still a barbarian. ”

Zhang Dian smiled and said: "Yukun, you treat Siyi, how harsh. ”

"If you don't surrender to China for a day, you will be a barbarian for a day. Barbarian and cunning summer, this point must be guarded against after all. ”

"Forget it, let's not argue about it." Zhang Dian shook his head, no one could shake Han Gang's principle of Huayi's distinction, and he was lazy to fight, "Although things are a little less during this time, it is not too idle to panic. ”

"Jin Yi said this Ganghwa Island so well, I don't know if Goryeo is willing to cede it."

"The islands of the Great Song Dynasty are also overseas in Goryeo. Useless place. In exchange for the support of the Great Song Dynasty, Wang Hui and Wang Xun should be able to calculate this account. ”

"I just don't know what their situation is now, whether they have 'already' fled to Ganghwa Island."

"Under the nest, how can there be eggs?" Han Gang shook his head, "If you open the capital and break the city, you have to figure out whether it is to surrender by yourself, or whether the defenders inside will sacrifice the city." Whether or not they have time to flee is also a matter of luck. ”

Cai Qu frowned: "Can the Liao Kingdom really attack the city?" ”

Han Gang said: "If the people are in turmoil inside, there will be no city that cannot be attacked. ”

Cai Qu sighed, "I'm afraid that the Liao State will succeed in attacking from the outside." ”

In any case, opening Kyoto is the capital of a country, and if the Liao State can break through it in one go, most of the cities other than the Great Song Dynasty and the Four Capitals will be able to do this. As Prime Minister...... One of them, Cai did not want to see the Liao State become so powerful.

But now I can only see the ability of the generals and colonels. In the end, can the set goals be achieved under the interference of Liao and Goryeo.

The work of selecting and transferring the generals of the naval army has been completed by the Privy Council.

The requirements for generals are not so high, as long as they dare to go to sea. In the Great Song Army, there are still one or two such people.

The current one was transferred from Guangzhou, and as early as the Southern Expedition, he was thrown into the Zhang's men, and he made a lot of efforts for the Zhang family's business in the past two years. I'm used to the waterways in the south, and I don't know if I can get used to the waters in the north. As for whether it can fight or not, it depends on the situation.

"Xianggong, are you free today?"

When the Zai Fu and the others went their separate ways, Han Gang called Cai Qu.

"Yukun, but what's the matter?" Cai asked back.

"Han Gang wants to go to the Ordnance Supervisor to take a look at the Iron Bone Ship. By the way, take a look at a new type of artillery. ”

Han Gang invited Cai Qu to go to the Ordnance Prison, mainly to see the iron bone ship. Who made him have nothing to do with the ordnance supervisor now, and Cai Qu is indeed in charge of the ordnance supervisor below, and other important ministers are going to go, so they have to say hello to Cai Qu.

"I wish you could go, Yukun. As long as you can point me aside. Cai is very happy, in fact, he has not visited it himself, and now that he has the opportunity, he will stop by to take a look. I don't know where the money went to? Cai is indeed always afraid that the world will not be chaotic.

The position of the ordnance supervisor in the capital is very correct, and it does not take much time to pass from the imperial city.

The two Zaifu arrived soon, and only said a few words to Zang Zhang, the weapons supervisor who had rushed up to greet him, and Cai Qu and Han Gang achieved their goal.

The iron-boned boat is only slightly larger than the lotus-picking boat floating in the pond in the Imperial Garden.

The skeleton made of steel, with two layers of planks nailed to the outside, and an angle of attack in front of it, which is also made of iron, seems to show how strong the boat is and can be used as a punch.

The boat is not a flat-bottomed boat, the bottom of the boat is concave, and if the bottom plate is nailed on, it can hold a lot of things underneath

"This ship is worthy of being iron-clad, probably because the center of gravity has shifted downward, and the whole person is still steady, walking steadily, and sitting steadily."

"Isn't that the most stable iron ship?" Cai asked quelled.

"There are actually iron ships, but the safety of them is another story."

Zang Zhang laughed with him, while still preparing. The craftsman below was found and pushed all the way from the warehouse along the track.

It was indeed an iron ship, from the keel to the ribs and the planks, all of which were iron. The gaps in it are filled with tin. But the size is only half the size of a lotus-picking boat. In some places in the south of the Yangtze River, girls enter the market and sit in the bathtub to pick lotus, which is about the same size.

"Why didn't you take it out at the beginning, and you still hide it." Cai was indeed a little unhappy and asked.

"I don't know." Zang Zhang replied with a wry smile, pointing to the iron boat with one hand, "This boat can only float on the water at most, and it can't carry people." It's just too heavy. ”

"Oh? Yukun, what did you say back then? Cai Qu asked Han Gang again.

"Wood can float, but iron can't. If it's small, it either won't float or it won't be able to carry people. It must be built in the big way. ”

In later generations, there were also cement boats. It's really made of cement. The skeleton is barbed wire, with cement on the outside, and travels in some small streams. Larger rivers will not go, and they have no ability to resist impact and breakage

But whether such a ship can withstand the test of wind and waves, Han Gang is not sure at all.

Wood has a high degree of toughness, so don't worry. Cast iron, which needs to be of most concern now, is still very fragile and needs to have higher toughness in order to be worthy of people's praise.

It's just that with the existing steel varieties, it can't meet the actual needs at all.

The development of steel requires both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Whether it's steelmaking, ironmaking, or ironware, you need to come up with a well-established process that you can follow and learn, rather than relying solely on experience.

Han Gang is very close in this regard, and he needs the craftsmen below to summarize together and help each other. Even after leaving the Ordnance Prison, it was the same.

Cai Qu looked at the iron ship carefully for a while, inquired about the questions in it, and got a lot from the craftsmen.

"I wish I could see the iron warship sooner. Presumably, at sea, there is no ship to fight against. ”

The thought of being able to crush the enemy country's ships as eggshells and smash them to smithereens, Cai Qu's heart was uncontrollable, this was the luck that Zaifu didn't have before, in addition to dividing a large piece of Han Gang, he Cai Qu himself could control the remaining sixty percent or seventy percent.

However, it is not so easy to make an iron ship in the true sense.

Cai was indeed prepared for setbacks, and no experiment could always be high, but with Han Gang involved, he would soon have a long-awaited result.

"Yukun, didn't you say there are still firearms?" Cai did remember the previous words, "Where is the real thing?" ”