Every year in July and August, it is the autumn hunting season of Oghuz.

This year's autumn hunt was set in the middle of July, because of the victory in the war against Yan Zhou, the emperor announced that this year's autumn hunt would march west of the Tara River, stop at Ukol Mountain, and camp in the southwest of the valley, across the big river to the west - formerly the boundary river - that was the Dongping Prefecture before Yan Zhou, and now, the territory of Oghuz. The emperor's golden tent is located in the center of the camp, surrounded by the guards' pro-army tents, the ministers' tents and the forbidden army tents, and then the lords' tents and the legion's tents.

The golden tent is supported by thirty-six lacquered gold pillars, and the various halls are separated by a wooden chamber with mortar and gravel concrete walls, and the top of the tent is made of white rock and soft metal, which is strong and tough, and can also penetrate the light when there is daylight, so that each hall is bright and open. It was almost dusk at this time, the sky was dimming, and the small hall in the southeast was lit with a light stone lamp, and His Majesty the Emperor was summoning four ministers to discuss the matter.

Oghuz's "hunting" was not only hunting, but also the emperor's political activities to inspect the territory, meet with local lords and nobles, and discuss state affairs with his ministers. An important purpose of the four-season hunting campaign is to strengthen the central government's rule over the localities. In order to gain the support of various tribes, Oghuz adopted the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty when the state was founded, and the local lords were equivalent to local princes and had great autonomy. Therefore, the emperor's four-hour inspection is very necessary. And hunting can also maintain the "wildness" of Oghuz, and the demise of Yan Zhou has to be said to be the pursuit of civilization and the loss of wildness - at least that's what Oghuz thinks. So this year's autumn hunt was particularly intense, not only the nobles hunted fiercely, but also the martial arts competitions of the various legions were also fierce, and even the quarrels of the ministers' deliberations became intense.

The four ministers in the small hall are swords and swords, sparks are flying, if the few cases are not specially refined Qinggang stone, they would have been cracked by the four ministers' vigorous efforts.

Louqiu was wearing a one-color suit for autumn hunting, embroidered with a divine steed, with golden feathers and thorns, fierce eyes, and sharp claws that pounced downward, as if to tear the tiger below. But this ferocious momentum was completely suppressed by the momentum of His Majesty the Emperor, and the two black and shiny military boots stretched out under the imperial case overlapped at will, with leisure, and the upper body sat lazily on the royal chair covered with a whole tiger skin, allowing the four ministers below to quarrel fiercely.

“…… We want artillery! Artillery!! The Minister of War sat cross-legged on the leopard skin cushion and patted a few cases with one hand, "Your Ministry of Mining and the Ministry of Science and Technology are short-sighted, and there will be energy mines in the future, and there will be no missed opportunity to change guns!" ”

The Minister of Armaments glared and shouted, "That's right! First of all, artillery! The energy mine will be changed later. ”

The Minister of Mines glared back fiercely, "Your military department is short-sighted!" That's an energy mine! Energy Mine! "The Tang people are guarding the energy mine like an iron rooster, Oghuz proposed the ore transaction before, and the Tang people all bite and say no, "Don't take advantage of the current exchange of mines for mines, and the Tang people can still loosen their mouths in the future?" ”

The islands of Dadongzhou and Nanyangzhou have rich and unknown mineral deposits, and the "reclamation group" sent by the Tang Empire in overseas regions is constantly advancing, and it is not sure when the high-grade energy mines of Yanzhou will be mined.

The Minister of Science and Technology is an elegant man, but his expression is cold, "The list of exchanging energy ores from the Tang Kingdom is not proposed by our Ministry of Science and Technology or the Ministry of Mining, and we have always imported non-energy ores from the Tang Kingdom. ”

All of Oghuz's energy mines were supplied to the temple, which was the prerogative of the temple - an agreement signed between the Founding Khan and the high priest of the temple, which was to be observed by future generations and not to be violated.

The Minister of Science and Technology had a cold face.

You're going to squeeze out the energy ore with artillery and talk to the young priest?

The Minister of Mines heard the meaning of his words, and his fierce glaring expression suddenly changed to hehe.

The faces of the Minister of War and the Minister of Armaments are black - consult with the young priest? …… Hehe.

The Minister of War turned his head decisively, got up and gave a military salute to Liaolouqiu, and said with an impassioned expression: "Your Majesty! The new weapons of the Don Army are important to us. Based on 40 years of military experience and war vision, the minister concluded that the new weapons of the Tang Army were likely to be the direction of future war weapons! Although we were not able to obtain the actual object, the experience and quality of the war observers were reliable, as was the live observations made through the curved telescope. Your Majesty, please make a clear decision! ”

Before the autumn hunt, the Minister of War entered the palace for an audience and presented a recital to the mound of the building.

The recital was an observation report by an outpost observer of the Army Intelligence Department on the new weapons dropped by the Tang Army on the battlefield of Yanzhou.

"Outpost watch", which is the countries . The military tacitly sends professional military probes into the field of operations to observe the military capabilities of the belligerents, including the use of new weapons and tactics. Of course, if an observer dies from a "stray arrow" or something, the sending country will have to acquiesce. However, this time Oghuz and Datang belong to the alliance relationship, and the observers on both sides can sneak into places that are relatively close to the other party's battlefield, of course, they can't go too far, otherwise they will die in vain.

So Oghuz's observers discovered a new weapon of the Don army.

In the report, it is called "iron pipe artillery", which is very different from the previous catapult guns and projectile guns, and is divided into two types according to the size and firing method of the cannons: seated firing cannons and individual hand firing cannons.

Artillery countries. The army has it, the earliest cannon is the ballista of the ancient Greeks 1,500 years ago, with a lever crossbow arm woven pocket to catapult stones and stone projectiles, and then in a thousand years, the countries of the Eastern and Western continents developed a variety of stone cannons, which are written as "cannons" in the Tang Dynasty, because they are all stone bullets. In the Oghuz army, there are more than a dozen kinds of whirlwind cannons, tiger squat cannons, etc. After receiving the observation report submitted by the Intelligence Department, the army chief called this new type of artillery of the Tang Army "artillery" because the shells exploded with fire and smoke.

There is also a strong smell of sulfur saltpeter.

A few years ago, in the assassination of the princess of Qin in the southern bay of the Tang Empire, the sea surface of the collapsed island was filled with the smell of sulfur saltpeter, and so many rescuers could not block the news at all - Oghuz also had spies operating in the Tang Dynasty, and immediately sent back this important information to the country.

After receiving the report, the Army Intelligence Division couldn't help but be shocked: what can make a stone island collapse in an instant?

In the end, the temple pointed out that it could be an explosive, and that sulfur saltpeter could be exploded together.

The War Department was even more appalled: what kind of explosives can produce such power?

Therefore, the Armaments Division received the task of studying this "explosive weapon", carried out various experiments on the ratio of sulfur and saltpeter, and added other raw materials, although no great results were achieved in the past three years, but it did prepare a kind of powder that ignited, which can make □□, but the flame power is still too small...... Far from the explosive effect.

On the battlefield of Yanzhou, the Tang Army's new war cannon suddenly appeared, firing large iron balls and small iron bullets, some of the big iron balls will explode after they land, and the smell emitted from the fire smoke and dust is actually the smell of sulfur saltpeter! This has to make the War Department think: was the assassination of the princess of Qin in Nanwan related to the explosives in this iron bullet? - Was that an assassination within the Don people? Or is it the work of other countries?

If it is the latter, it will make the War Department even more vigilant, which means that in addition to the Tang Empire, there are other countries that have long mastered high-power explosive weapons, and Oghuz is at least two countries behind in this weapon.

Therefore, after receiving the report from the outpost, the Minister of War immediately sent a letter, hoping that His Majesty the Emperor would come forward and negotiate with the crown prince of the Tang Empire to obtain this weapon and technology.

The two countries are now "allies" in the conquest of the world, and their relationship is closer than ever before - and it is also within the scope of cooperation to propose some military and technical exchanges to the allies.

Of course, it is impossible for the Tang Empire to agree to give the technology of new weapons, and it will not do anything if it is replaced by Oghus, but the Minister of War hopes that His Majesty the Emperor can agree, and through this negotiation between the two countries on the division of Yanzhou resources, on the condition of agreeing to the Tang Empire's mining of Yanzhou energy mines, the physical objects and part of the technology of the Tang Army's artillery will be obtained, and the Armaments Department will have a reference material for research and a starting basis for imitation manufacturing.

The Minister of the Armaments Department also got up and gave a military salute to the emperor, "Please make your Majesty clear!" ”

"Your Majesty, please make a clear decision!" The Minister of Mines and the Minister of Science and Technology also stood up.

than momentum, who is afraid of whom.

Lou Qiu raised his chin, "What are you doing so excited?" Sitting upright, his gaze swept over the four ministers, his deep-contoured face also had a sun-like dazzling temperament under the lamp, but his light gray eyes were cold, not because of indifference, but because of absolute reason unaffected by emotions, which made ministers often trust her decisions and obey her rulings, not only because she was the emperor.

"Sit down and talk."

All four ministers sat down.

"What you're saying makes sense, it's all important. Artillery and energy ores, Oghuz needs, and they all need to be obtained. Louqiu waved his hand, "We Oghuz also have a lot of unique skills, which is what the Tang people want." ”

"Technology", she uses the Tungusic language, meaning a combination of technology and magic.

"In the past, we didn't want to give these unique technologies."

Or it can't be given.

"Now that the situation between the two countries has changed, the situation in the world will also change, and the cooperation between our two countries will certainly be broadened and deepened for the sake of the common goal. Techniques, techniques, military affairs, and economics must all be exchanged. This is an opportunity for us to develop quickly in Oghuz, and for this, it is worth paying some expensive price. ”

The four ministers were shocked and comprehended.

Lou Qiu's eyes narrowed slightly, very similar to the cunning expression of the Arctic Blue Fox.

"This is a good time to use all your means, whether it is spilling and rolling or kraft candy entanglement, or crying poor and backward, in short, to scrape a lot of oil from the 'great, central empire'."

"Hahaha!"

The four ministers all laughed.

The full name of the Tang Empire is translated as "the great and central Tang Empire".

The monarchs and ministers of other countries all feel that they have a toothache, and even if they are great, what is the intention of claiming to be the center? …… There are many enemy countries around the Tang Empire, and I have to say that I also did it myself.

His Majesty means that since it is the "Central Empire", it is the responsibility of the Central Empire to bring together the "bitter cold, poor and backward" partners.

His Majesty the Emperor did not feel ashamed at all when his cheeks became thicker.

The four ministers said in their hearts: The interests are real, and the cheeks are nothing.

If it can be exchanged for the strength of the empire and the family, it is okay to throw them on the ground.

……

After the four ministers left, the chief court magician suddenly appeared in front of His Majesty the Emperor.

Black hair is curly, thick eyebrows are sharp.

If Xiao Yan was here, he would definitely be very surprised.

This was the temple magician she knew.

He once led the temple gods and magicians to protect her and Murong Jue in the Arctic Ice Field.

The status in the temple should be high.

But the main question is, how could the temple magician become the head of the court magicians?

All the sorcerers of Oghuz came from the shamanic state religion of the sorcerers' academy, but not all sorcerers were eligible to enter the temple or branch temple, and some sorcerers chose to serve the court and sign a contract with the emperor for the length of their service, as long as the emperor's orders did not violate their belief in the gods of nature and did not endanger shamanism, they swore loyalty to the emperor. - But the magicians of the temple have only one object of loyalty, and that is the temple, and it is impossible to enter the palace to be loyal to the emperor.

Then there is only one possibility, this is the messenger of the temple. Lanling Merry