This is a very great honor. All four lords have arrived in the capital, but the emperor only summoned Fang Xiaoyu alone. This shows that the emperor attaches great importance to Fang Xiaoyu.
Following the eunuch, Fang Xiaoyu came to the Imperial Garden again with familiarity. Xia Houying was sitting on a stone bench in the Imperial Garden, sipping wine. Fang Xiaoyu hurried forward to pay homage. Xia Houying said with a smile: "Fang Aiqing has been fighting in the north and south this year.
Thank you for your hard work, just sit down and talk."
Fang Xiaoyu declined and sat down at the bottom. Xia Houying said: "I wanted to help when the Chinese Territory and the Cossack Empire were fighting, but the ministers in the DPRK and the Central Government objected, saying that your power is weak and you will definitely lose. It is better for the court to stay out of the matter.
, if you lose, you can still mediate."
Fang Xiaoyu sneered in his heart after listening to Xia Houying's words. The emperor was actually afraid of him and planned to use the Cossack Empire to attack him. Now that he failed, he said such high-sounding words to appease himself. He really took himself seriously.
He is a child, and in any case, he already has a grudge against the emperor.
Since the emperor wants to plot against him, if he wants to overthrow the rule of the Xiahou family and establish a new regime in the future, he will not have any psychological burden. Although he thought so in his heart, he could not show it on his face. Fang Xiaoyu quickly stood up pretending to be frightened.
He saluted and put on an expression of gratitude.
Xia Houying was very satisfied with Fang Xiaoyu's performance, thinking that children always want to lie. This time, he was confused and listened to Cheng Yuhuan's one-sided words. Fortunately, he got the lie back, thinking that Fang Xiaoyu could actually defeat the weak this time.
After completely defeating the Cossack Empire, he felt a little apprehensive in his heart.
Looking at Fang Xiaoyu, who was still frightened, Xia Houying couldn't help but ask: "I heard that Aiqing defeated the Cossack Empire's 300,000-strong army with a hundred thousand soldiers. I don't know what Aiqing has to rely on."
Fang Xiaoyu secretly smiled and said, "Come here, the emperor wants to see his trump card, just in time to get some benefits." Fang Xiaoyu pretended to be frightened and said: "I can defeat the Cossack army this time thanks to two magic weapons. I am going to offer it to the emperor to strengthen it."
The strength of our Lanfang Empire."
"Oh?" Xia Houying was interested when he heard it. He was very surprised by the lever-action rifle last time. Fang Xiaoyu had just delivered all the goods in the past two months, and he didn't expect him to bring another good thing. "Hurry up and tell me.
Let me listen." Xia Houying said in surprise.
Fang Xiaoyu explained: "These two things are called trains and machine guns."
Fang Xiaoyu explained in detail: "The use of this train requires the construction of a train route in advance, and the train travels on the route. This train can travel hundreds of miles a day and carry thousands of tons of cargo. Our army relies on trains to travel thousands of miles.
Quickly mobilized troops and supplies and defeated the Cossack army."
Xia Houying nodded and said: "This is indeed a sharp weapon. I don't know if Aiqing will sell it for my use." Fang Xiaoyu said: "The laying of this train route requires professional craftsmen. If the emperor wants it, I will send someone to lay it. I own the train."
It was built in my own workshop, and I will start building it as soon as the emperor agrees."
Xia Houying said in surprise: "This is great. I want to overhaul the railway in the empire. Let's build one from the northwest through the Central Plains to the counties in the East China Sea."
Fang Xiaoyu was shocked when he heard Xia Houying's words. He hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, building such a long railway is thousands of kilometers long. It will take at least three to five years to build, and it will cost a lot of money."
Xia Houying didn't understand the cost issue at all. Hearing that it would cost a lot, he asked directly: "Calculate how much it will cost." Fang Xiaoyu made a rough calculation and said: "It should be at least 100 million."
"So expensive?" Xia Houying was shocked when he heard this. Now, due to the rise of Fang Xiaoyu's industry, the country's business has prospered. The country's tax revenue is much more than before, but it is only 280 million per year.
Even this kind of tax is still the result of high imperial taxation. Otherwise, given the Lanfang Empire's annual gross national product of 2.5 billion (excluding the four major territories, and the industries of the great nobles have a tradition of concealing profits and evading taxes), how could it be possible?
There may be so much money.
Xia Houying thought about it secretly and said: "Otherwise, we can make it shorter and connect the capital with the northwest counties first." Fang Xiaoyu shook his head secretly after hearing this. The emperor only wanted to strengthen border construction and defend against the west and north.
powerful enemy.
If Fang Xiaoyu were to choose the train route, he would definitely connect the coastal counties first. After all, only when the economy develops can the country be strong. Fang Xiaoyu said: "This is fine, and it takes several years to build the railway. The money can be invested in years, not every year."
It would be too much.”
Xia Houying nodded: "That's it. I have to pay more attention to this matter."
"The humble minister will definitely fulfill his mission." Fang Xiaoyu said that he would fulfill his mission, and in his heart he was already thinking about how much money he would have to kill the emperor to make up for the trauma to his young heart.
The train matter was settled like this. Xia Houying asked again: "What is your other magic weapon called a machine gun?" Fang Xiaoyu said with a smile: "This is another new gun. I asked the guards to bring one with them.
Waiting outside the palace gate."
Xia Houying hesitated and said: "My dear, I just spent a huge sum of money to replace a batch of firearms. It's better not to look at these new guns." Fang Xiaoyu knew that this was Xia Houying's heartache because of the huge cost of replacing guns last time.
Fang Xiaoyu started: "Your Majesty, this time is different from last time. The weapons this time are support weapons, not individual weapons. They do not need to be equipped for every soldier. It is enough for an army to be equipped with a hundred weapons."
After listening to Fang Xiaoyu's words, Xia Houying was very interested: "In that case, let's take a look." Soon the heavy machine gun was moved into the Imperial Garden. Xia Houying pointed to a target opposite and said: "Aiqing, let's test fire."
How about a moment?"
Fang Xiaoyu shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, that target is too small to test the power of this gun."
"Oh?" Xia Houying was a little surprised: "What kind of target should I use?" Fang Xiaoyu said: "Just use sandbags to build a wall." Xia Houying became interested after hearing such a strange shooting experiment, and he immediately asked
People used sandbags to build a sandbag wall that was three meters long, two meters high, and three meters thick.
Fang Xiaoyu personally tested the gun for the emperor this time. He walked up to the heavy machine gun, squatted down, held the grip with both hands, pointed the sight at the sandbag wall and pressed the trigger hard.
The rapid and continuous shooting sound startled the guards all over the yard. The muzzle of the gun was continuously spraying out blazing flames, and the shooting sound kept coming and going without stopping.
The ammunition chain made of canvas twitched rapidly, filling the bullets into the chamber of the gun and ejecting the cartridge cases from the lower part of the gun body. In just half a minute, the three hundred rounds of ammunition chain were consumed, and the bullet cases were already in the gun.
A thick layer accumulated under the machine gun's tripod.