The moon was like a flower, and the prince sighed at it. He picked up the golden cup and took a sip of the wine, looking a little melancholy. The golden crown and jade belt made him stand out.
Opposite him, Liu Wenjing sat on her knees, bowed, and folded her hands together.
"So, King Chu still feels resentful?"
Li Jiancheng smiled "ha", bent his knees, put one arm on his knees, and gently shook the golden cup.
"It's not surprising. After all, the Yunyang army was taken away by Gu Gao without informing Zhiyun. After all, they were Jinyang's direct troops who followed Zhiyun. Whoever they replaced would be
It will be like this in my heart.”
Liu Wenjing said silently: "I made a miscalculation this time, and I apologize to His Highness." He bowed and bowed.
Li Jiancheng shook his head, "You actually did nothing wrong. We thought things were too simple. Likewise, we thought Li Yuan was too smart."
They thought that if King Changping was defeated, they could let Li Yuan garrison Shangzhou. But King Changping was indeed defeated, but he was trapped in Nanyang.
Where is Li Yuan?
He did nothing, he was incompetent, could not save King Changping, and even more incompetent could not defeat Zhu Can.
Various reasons are tangled together to become what it is now.
"Then King Chu..."
"Let's leave it like this for the time being. In my opinion, there is no chance of redress." Thinking of Li Zhiyun's attitude, Li Jiancheng felt a glimmer of hope in his heart.
At the very least, Li Zhiyun didn't directly say: Brother, you are so smart, you actually stole my people!
As long as there is no quarrel, there is still a chance to make amends. After this incident, Li Jiancheng understood that the army could find a way to intervene, but it could not do it too hastily. If someone like Li Yuan were to be the coach next time, he would consider the old man
It's useless to seize the two soldiers and horses.
Chu Palace.
After Li Zhiyun came back, he did not chat with Princess Chu. After briefly explaining the matter to her, Princess Chu accompanied Li Zhiyun to dinner, and then went back to prepare a change of clothes for Li Zhiyun. Li Zhiyun went to the side courtyard to discuss the dispatch of troops with the counselors.
As for the pregnant Lady Yin, Li Zhiyun made a special trip to visit her. After all, she was about to give birth, so she still had to give her some comfort.
However, during this expedition, Li Zhiyun could not determine the return date, so he could only tell her with regret that he might not see the baby born.
Thinking about it carefully, Li Zhiyun found that he and his second brother were pretty much the same. The second sister-in-law in Prince Qin's palace was about to give birth, and he was afraid that his second brother would not be able to see his child born.
"Your Highness, the imperial edict has been sent to all the prefectures in the pass. In about five days, the troops and horses will be gathered." Du Ruhui said.
Naturally, Lao Li would not hand over the garrison troops and horses guarding Chang'an in the capital to him. The 50,000 troops and horses that were about to follow Li Zhiyun to Shangzhou were all Zhechong Prefecture soldiers from within the pass.
Li Zhiyun felt very bad when he looked at the various information on military resources compiled by Du Ruhui.
"Fifty thousand people, less than 5,000 war horses, 3,000 of which are still old horses, and nearly 20,000 people without armor or weapons, what the heck!"
This is the necessary reason why Li Zhiyun must take back the Yunyang Army. Each of his 20,000 Yunyang Army has his investment in it. For soldiers with excellent riding skills, Li Zhiyun subsidizes their horse breeding. As for infantry,
They try their best to be armed, and they can't wear iron armor, but basically everyone can wear cloth armor and a long sword at their waist.
But now?
It would be good if only half of the 50,000 people could be armed, not to mention the elite cavalry, which was even rarer.
Du Ruhui consoled him: "Your Highness, please be patient. Although it is difficult for these people to have all the weapons and equipment for a while, they are soldiers from Zhechong Mansion after all, and they still have basic combat capabilities. The difficulty now is nothing more than the weapons and what my subordinates want to do."
Yes, Your Highness can go to the Ministry of War and see if you can get some more ordnance back."
Ministry of War?
Li Zhiyun touched his chin and thought for a while, then nodded and said, "It's time to go."
War is no joke, only by being fully prepared can you increase your chances of victory.
Du Ruhui continued: "In addition to armor and war horses, His Highness also needs to ask for crossbows, arrows, kerosene and other items from the Ministry of War."
"Please make a list of the things you lack. I will visit Minister Zhao tomorrow."
"As commanded."
The person currently calling the shots in the Ministry of War is Zhao Cijing, the Minister of War and the Prince Consort.
Yao Junsu was captured alive by Li Zhiyun and handed over to Lao Li to have his head chopped off. Therefore, Zhao Cijing naturally did not lead his army to Hedong to crusade. Naturally, he did not die either. He is still Lao Li's favorite son-in-law.
Zhao Cijing is handsome and is known as the beauty of the military department. He usually treats people very well and manages the military department in an orderly manner.
He has a good relationship with Li Zhiyun and they often interact with each other.
After hearing about Li Zhiyun's intention, he mused: "Currently, the war horses are mainly supplied to the King of Qin. There are still 3,000 war horses that can be taken out from the horse farm in the pass. There is some surplus in the armor, which can be delivered to you. Just bows, crossbows, arrows,
Kerosene is a bit troublesome."
"Brother-in-law, you might as well elaborate."
Zhao Cijing nodded and explained: "Crossbows have always been in short supply. Due to the complicated skills, the output per month is not much. The Ministry of War currently only has 2,000 ordinary crossbows. As for the repeating crossbow you want, the yellow crossbow.
It’s even rarer.”
The work of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry is intertwined, and their performance in ordnance is relatively outstanding. When it comes to ordnance, both sides usually have records. Therefore, it is not surprising that Zhao Cijing knows this.
"What about the arrows?" Li Zhiyun put down the tea cup and frowned.
Who doesn't love suppressive fire?
If you are poor, you can use the human sea tactic; if you are good, you can suppress it with firepower.
"There are some arrows, but they are all cheap bamboo arrows. The cost of wooden arrows is higher. They cost 45 cents each now. Judging from the current financial resources of the imperial court, they are not enough to make them on a large scale. As for kerosene
..." Speaking of this, Zhao Cijing smiled bitterly, "Although this substance is extremely lethal, it is inconvenient to mine, and the Ministry of Industry has never been able to learn the purification method you gave them, so the progress is very slow. Currently, there is only
About three thousand barrels.”
Hearing this, Li Zhiyun secretly cursed the Ministry of Industry's animals as a bunch of waste, and they deserved to die from poverty. He had written down the manufacturing methods of filters and purifiers in such detail, but these idiots hadn't even understood it thoroughly.
Really incompetent.
But after thinking about it, he was relieved again, because at the current industrial level, making filters and simple purifiers is quite labor-intensive. Without his step-by-step guidance, how could the Ministry of Industry make rapid progress?
"Brother-in-law, how many arrows can you bring out now?"
"There are about 100,000 bamboo arrows and 30,000 wooden arrows."
"So few?" Li Zhiyun was dissatisfied.
Zhao Cijing smiled bitterly and said: "Your Highness, you must know that the imperial court currently has to provide three armies for King Qin, King Qi, and King Huai'an. It is not easy to provide these."
In fact, Zhao Cijing did not mention the usual training arrows.
In short, fighting a war means getting money and food. Everything requires money.
"I want them all."
As soon as he heard that he wanted all the money, Zhao Cijing said hurriedly: "This is not possible, I can only give you 70%, and the rest will be given to King Qin in batches. He has been urging me. If there is less, I will not give you the sage."
Easy to explain."
Hearing what he said, Li Zhiyun had no choice but to agree.
His Weihe workshop has now begun to develop hydraulic machinery and can initially use water power for forging.
However, Li Zhiyun did not engage in the manufacturing of ordnance and armor. Although doing so could indeed reduce manufacturing costs, he did not dare.
Because forging weapons and armor privately is tantamount to treason.