"Xianggong, they didn't beat us up about the idea of Wutang firearms?"

Zhou Yuting knew that Li Yuntian did not bother with the household department because of the overall situation of the Western Expedition, but the household department would definitely not take advantage of the martial arts hall in vain, because Li Yuntian would definitely get the field back in the future, which made her heart suddenly balance a lot, and then thought of something and asked.

The sharpest weapons of the Xiaowu army and the sailor division are naturally the firearms developed by the lecture martial arts, whether it is the battle between the Xiaowu army and the Northern Yuan cavalry in Liaodong, or the naval battle of the navy division at sea, firearms have played a vital role.

It is precisely because the power of firearms is too huge, so Emperor Xuande strictly controlled it, and in addition to the Xiaowu army in the army of the Ming Dynasty, only the Shenji Battalion, known as the three major battalions of the Beijing Division, is equipped with firearms.

It is worth mentioning that the Shenji Battalion has already been assigned to Li Yuntian by Emperor Xuande, which means that Li Yuntian has the most powerful weapon of the Ming Dynasty in his hands.

This time, the imperial court organized an army of 500,000 to march westward, and it would definitely not let go of the firearms of the martial arts, which would greatly increase the probability of victory in the war.

The nobles of the Ming Dynasty will not forget that when the decisive battle between Liaodong and the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was fought that year, Li Yuntian used the artillery battalion and musket battalion of the Xiaowu Army to defeat the Northern Yuan cavalry.

Now that they have encountered the joint forces of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, which also have powerful cavalry troops, the weapons of the martial arts hall will inevitably come in handy, so how could those nobles of the Ming Dynasty waste such powerful weapons in vain?

"The Shenji Battalion is the emperor's guard, and the Western Expeditionary Army cannot transfer it away, while the firearms battalion of the Xiaowu Army does not have so many restrictions, so the Western Expeditionary Army hopes to mobilize the firearms battalion of the Xiaowu Army to fight in the Western Regions."

Hearing Zhou Yuting ask about firearms, a wry smile flashed at the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth, he didn't think that the Western Expeditionary Army could use the firearms of the Xiaowu Army well, although the firearms force was huge, it also had a lot of drawbacks, and it was greatly affected by the weather and terrain.

Of particular importance was the fact that the mobility of the firearms units was very poor, and if the position was attacked by the cavalry of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan coalition army, which had strong cavalry units, it would bring a disaster.

Therefore, Li Yuntian actually did not approve of the Western Expeditionary Army's use of the Xiaowu Army's firearms troops, the Huoqi Army's seemingly prominent scenery was actually limited by too many factors, but he really couldn't open his mouth to stop it, and it couldn't be said that the generals of the Western Expeditionary Army could not use the Xiaowu Army's firearms troops.

In this way, not only offended those nobles, but also gave the outside world the excuse that Li Yuntian monopolized the martial arts, in the final analysis, those firearms troops were the army of the Ming Dynasty, not Li Yuntian's private army.

"Will the Empress Dowager agree to do this?" Zhou Yuting felt the worry in Li Yuntian's tone, the firearms battalion of the Xiaowu Army has long been coveted by the nobles, and now they naturally will not give up such a good opportunity, but it is not easy for them to call the firearms battalion, because according to the military system, this requires the emperor's nod, and now it is natural to obtain the consent of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

"The Western Expeditionary Army is defending against foreign enemies this time, and the Empress Dowager has no reason to refuse, otherwise it will inevitably dampen the morale of the army." Li Yuntian looked at Zhou Yuting with a wry smile, "The Empress Dowager acts steadily, and will never transfer all the firearms battalions to the Western Expeditionary Army, if the Prime Minister is not mistaken, the Empress Dowager will assign half of the firearms battalion to the command of the Western Expeditionary Army." ”

"Xianggong, since you are so worried about the firearms battalion, why don't you send an old and serious person to go west with the firearms battalion, so that if something happens, you can have a response." Zhou Yuting bowed slightly when she heard this, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family was in the eyes of the interests of the entire Ming Dynasty, and this Western Expedition was particularly important, so she would definitely not refuse the request of the Western Expeditionary Army to call in firearms troops, and she was also worried that the firearms troops would be ruined by the generals of the Western Expeditionary Army, so she made a suggestion to Li Yuntian.

"What do you think of Li Zixi?" Li Yuntian also had this intention, he had to let a trustworthy person look at the firearms troops of the Western Expedition for him, and after pondering for a while, he thought of someone.

"Zixi has been by your side for several years, from the initial sharpness to the current deification and introverted, cautious, thoughtful, and indeed the best candidate to follow the firearms army to the west." Zhou Yuting nodded immediately when she heard this, and gave Li Zixi a high evaluation, she knew that Li Yuntian had been deliberately cultivating Li Zixi and a group of young and promising martial arts attachés.

"Ting'er, the marriage of the Queen Mother ......" Li Yuntian was not stingy to give a chance to a young military attache like Li Zixi, as for whether they can seize it, it depends on their luck and creation, and then his face became a little embarrassed, and he wanted to explain Narsa's matter to Zhou Yuting.

"Xianggong, I have already heard Lin Xin say the ins and outs of this matter, and Narsa's veil slipped off by herself, not by you."

After Li Yuntian finished speaking, Zhou Yuting immediately interrupted him with a smile, "Since the Empress Dowager wants to marry Dongchagatai with this, then this is a great joy for our Zhongwu Palace, and the concubine has already asked the second sister to clean up a courtyard for Narsha in the back house." ”

"If you have a wife, what more can a husband ask for!" Li Yuntian suddenly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart when he heard this, smiled and stretched out his hand to pull Zhou Yuting into his arms, and the maids in the house immediately left with a smile, and gently closed the door when they left.

Li Yuntian had promised that the concubine must be approved by Zhou Yuting, but the Empress Dowager's marriage was a force majeure factor, and he was afraid that Zhou Yuting would not be happy, but now it seems that Zhou Yuting is much more generous than he imagined.

On the morning of the next day, the Empress Dowager Zhang summoned the civil and military officials of the imperial court to the Qianqing Palace, and the orthodox emperor had already stamped his seal on the recital of the court meeting, indicating that he agreed with the outcome of the court meeting.

However, the Empress Dowager Zhang did not fully agree to the request of the generals of the Western Expeditionary Army to call the firearms battalion of the Xiaowu Army, as Li Yuntian expected, and only decided that the Western Expeditionary Army would use half of the firearms battalion of the Xiaowu Army, and the other half should be used to guard the Beijing Division, and the Empress Dowager of the Zhang Family, a big killing weapon like the firearms battalion, would not lose control of it.

According to the results of the court discussion, the Western Expeditionary Army was composed of the Gyeonggi Governor's Office, the Shanbei Military Region, the Liaodong Military Region, the Henan Prefecture, the Shanxi Prefecture, the Sichuan Prefecture, the Shaanxi Metropolitan Division, and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

Among them, the Gyeonggi Metropolitan Government dispatched 150,000 troops, the Shanbei Military Region 80,000 troops, the Liaodong Military Region 70,000 troops, the Henan, Shanxi, and Sichuan Metropolitan Divisions 100,000 troops, and the Shaanxi Metropolitan Division and the Shaanxi Xingdu Division 100,000 troops.

Of course, the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army was 300,000 troops from the Gyeonggi Prefecture, the Shanbei Military Region, and the Liaodong Military Region, followed by 100,000 troops from the Shaanxi Metropolitan Division and the Shanxi Xingdu Division, and finally the 100,000 troops from the Henan Metropolitan Division, the Shanxi Metropolitan Division, and the Sichuan Metropolitan Division.

The guards of the Gyeonggi Governor's Office, the Shanbei Military Region and the Liaodong Military Region can be said to be the units with the highest combat effectiveness among the Daming Guards.

The Gyeonggi Governor's Mansion had a total of 200,000 guards, 100,000 in the Northern Shaanxi Military Region, and 100,000 in the Liaodong Military Region.

Somewhat different from the previous expedition of the Ming Dynasty, the logistics supply of the Western Expeditionary Army was completely responsible for the lecture martial arts, and the grain and grass were also provided by the lecture martial arts.

In recent years, the cost of poor and barren places such as Jiaozhi, Guangxi, Shanbei, Mongolia and Liaodong has been provided by Jiangwutang, coupled with Li Yuntian's vigorous promotion of tax reform, which has benefited the household department a lot, and the treasury has gradually been filled.

Therefore, the household department only took out one million taels of silver this time, which made everyone feel that his behavior was too excessive, after all, this western expedition was the top priority of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, he also deeply admired Li Yuntian, who took care of the overall situation.

Otherwise, if you change to someone else, you will definitely argue with the household department, in the final analysis, the household department is in charge of the world's money, and it is the protagonist who undertakes the army.

However, the household department also has the difficulties of the household department, and there is already a fixed amount of money and grain expenditure every year, and if it is left in the past, the household department will definitely try to raise grain and grass for the Western Expeditionary Army.

But now it's different, Li Yuntian's lecture martial arts hall makes money like flowing water, and the household department naturally has the idea of speaking martial arts, but unfortunately the people in the household department don't know that the cost of the martial arts hall is also huge, Li Yuntian only leaves a certain amount of reserve funds on hand every year, and the rest of the money is invested for development.

In addition, Li Yuntian has also made a lot of money for the inner treasury in the palace over the years, and now the Empress Dowager Zhang has at least twenty or thirty million taels of funds to call.

Therefore, Liu Zhongfu, the secretary of the household department, cried poverty to Li Yuntian in public at the court meeting, and with his understanding of Li Yuntian, Li Yuntian would never bother with him in such a major matter, so that the money of the household department would be saved.

Besides, the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family will definitely not sit idly by and watch the Wutang alone bear the cost of the Western Expeditionary Army, and will definitely take out a part of it from the inner treasury in the palace.

In fact, it is precisely like this, in the recital of the orthodox emperor's reply to the court, it is clearly not stated that the royal treasury will take out five million taels of silver as the military expenses of the Western Expeditionary Army, and it will be placed under the jurisdiction of the Jiangwutang.

This made many officials in the household department secretly feel envious and jealous of this, it was five million taels of silver, as long as they made a little money from it, they could make a lot of money, but it was a pity that they were so cheap to lecture on martial arts.

But then again, if the grain and grass of the Western Expeditionary Army were in charge of the household department, the Empress Dowager Zhang would definitely not come up with so much silver, at most only two million taels of silver.

Compared with the household department, the Empress Dowager Zhang is more at ease with the people of the lecture martial arts, the lecture martial arts not only has a strict financial system and process, but also a systematic supervision system, plus the officials of the lecture martial arts hall have been trained by the academy to which the lecture martial arts belong and have very high quality, so she is very relieved to hand over the money to the lecture martial arts, and Li Yuntian will definitely use the money on the blade.

This huge appropriation from the Empress Dowager Zhang made Li Yuntian breathe a sigh of relief, and he no longer had to rush to mobilize funds from the subordinate industries of Jiangwutang, and he could calmly arrange the grain and grass of the Western Expeditionary Army.

In fact, in the mind of the Empress Dowager Zhang, the best candidate for the Western Expedition was neither Zhang Fu, nor Zhou Zheng, nor Zhang Hao, but the young Li Yuntian.

Although Li Yuntian is young, he has already shown amazing military talent on the battlefield, and he is one of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty who attaches the most importance to the Western Regions, so that he has worked tirelessly to set up a large camp of the Xiaowu Army in Guanxi.

The Empress Dowager Zhang had not expected that the situation in the Western Regions would be so critical, and in her opinion, Li Yuntian, who was flexible and energetic, was more suitable for commanding the Western Expeditionary Army.

However, there are some things that even the Empress Dowager Zhang can't control, just like this western expedition, she must take care of the emotions and face of the nobles in the court, and at the same time, it is also the dignity of the guards.

Therefore, all the Empress Dowager Zhang can do now is to pray secretly in her heart, praying that the Western Expeditionary Army can return with a great victory this time and sweep away the border troubles in the Western Regions of the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop.

If the Western Expeditionary Army is defeated this time, then Da Ming will be in a desperate predicament, and she will not be able to imagine how to deal with the aftermath after losing 500,000 main forces of the Da Ming Wei Army.