Zhao Xingde also told Chen Dong and others to move. When he was about to get up, he was pulled by Zhang Bing beside him.

"Yuan Zhi, if you are short of money, just say a word and don't borrow money from that merchant again. Scholar-bureaucrats attach great importance to reputation. If it spreads out, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to your career." Zhang Bing knew that Zhao Xingde's family was in decline and he was often short of money, so he thought he was in trouble again. I wanted to borrow money from the shopkeeper. The Zhang family was an official who had lived in Bianliang for a long time and had accumulated a lot of savings. Zhang Bing also had an ancient and warm-hearted temperament, so he was willing to help.

Zhao Xingde was pulled by him, and he held his hands gratefully towards him, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang is interested," he said in a low voice with an embarrassed look on his face, "To be honest, I have a brother in Bianliang who is infected with the disease. I'm addicted to gambling and owe a lot of money. I'm just looking for this shopkeeper to help him make a fortune, not a loan." Zhang Bing had a look of surprise on his face and said "Oh" before letting go of Zhao Xingde's arm. Yes. The truth is that the rivers and lakes help the urgent but not the poor, especially if you fall into a bottomless pit like a gambler, you cannot borrow a penny.

"Brother Zhang, what do you want to do? Come on, let's drink." Seeing that Zhao Xingde declined Zhang Bing's kindness, Wu Zilong picked up the wine glass and said with a hint of meaning, "I think Yuan Zhi is good at everything else, but there is something about him that seems to be nothing." A trace of arrogance makes people uncomfortable."

The father of Zhao Xingde, Zhao Tixin, was the first Zhao Tixin who was listed on the Yuanyou Party Monument. At that time, the Prime Minister Cai Jing was highly regarded by the officials and became extremely powerful in the court. All the people were slandered as cronies. The party members not only demoted their officials and were exiled, but also carved monuments to commemorate their alleged crimes and erected them outside Duanli Gate, called party member monuments. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty has prided itself on being a kind scholar-bureaucrat, and has never accused anyone of crimes. As soon as this case started, the world was in a fierce debate. The party members Cai Jing dismissed were spread all over the government and the public, and they almost had resentments all over the world. Most of the people listed on the party members' monuments were upright people with good official reputations. All scholar-bureaucrats were proud to be listed as party members. Although Zhao Tixin and his wife died of illness in exile and the Zhao family fell into decline, many self-proclaimed prison students were secretly envious and jealous of Zhao Xingde's background as a member of the Yuanyou Party.

"It's not arrogance, it's pride." Zhang Bingruo corrected Wu Zilong's language problem pointedly, and watched Zhao Xingde disappear into the accounting room.

With a smile on his face, Shopkeeper Hua rubbed his hands and said to Zhao Xingde: "I've been waiting for you. If I don't renew the manuscript, our 'Fu Hai Chao Wen' page will be discontinued in three days."

After the storybook "Xianyuan Xingkong" written by Zhao Xingde was serialized on the back of Fuhai Trading Company's tabloid, the sales volume of the tabloid increased by 80%. Although this tabloid did not make much money for Fuhai Bank, it could greatly expand the influence of the trading company in the market. The shopkeeper of this flower was also highly praised by the shopkeeper of Kangda in Bianliang, Fuhai. After that, he asked Zhao Xingde to write another fairy tale. After the "Snow Shadow Fairy Trail" came out, it became even more popular. Unfortunately, Zhao Xingde requested that his identity as a eunuch eunuch be concealed and he only used the pen name "Bald Biweng", which saved Shopkeeper Hua many opportunities for publicity.

In this era, writing story-telling songs was a low priority after all. It could only help a temporary need, but it must not be used to become famous. Among the Taixue classmates who knew that Zhao Xingde was writing story-telling novels, it was only by chance that they came across this situation. Chen Dong is the only one responsible for the matter. Zhao Xingde does not want to end up "writing lyrics on orders" like Liu Sanbian in history. But strangely enough, the Liu family in this world followed the man who was supposed to be Zhao Guangyi a hundred years ago. Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who was poisoned to death, defected to the Xia Kingdom, which occupied Guanzhong, and the Liu family became a prominent family in the Xia Kingdom for generations.

After handing the manuscript to Shopkeeper Hua, Zhao Xingde took over twenty silver coins with round square holes. The inscription on the front of the silver coin was the four Chinese characters for "One Liang of Grain Silver", and on the back was a dragon with teeth and claws. An inconspicuous part of the dragon's body was inscribed with

The year and place where the silver coin was minted. This is the Xia State silver coin that has unimpeded access to the east-west trade routes. Because the silver contained in it is of good color, heavy and beautifully cast, it is extremely popular everywhere. The Song Dynasty court strictly prohibited gold, silver, copper and iron, etc.

Metals flowed out of the country, but the inflow of metal products was not prohibited. Xia State silver coins were easier to carry than cumbersome copper coins, and they were also popular among merchants in the Central Plains. In fact, Fuhaixing could also pay registered drafts, which were easier to carry and easier to carry. This was recognized by the financial crisis of later generations.

Zhao Xingde was frightened by the epidemic and inflation and refused. At this time, sixteen taels were equivalent to one catty, and twenty silver dollars were more than one catty. He felt a heavy sense of wealth in his arms. If one tael of silver was the same amount of money, twenty

Guanqian is enough to feed the poor for most of the year, and the well-paid Imperial Guard soldiers only spend fifty Guanqian a year.

Shopkeeper Hua and Zhao Xingde cleared their money and goods. Both of them looked happy.

The two story books "Starry Sky" and "Xueyinxianlu" were printed and sold. According to the publishing laws of the Xia Kingdom, 30% of the book price was handed over to the government as royalties, and the book number and number of copies were obtained. This royalties were shared by the government and the author.

Split the profit half and half, and when the books are printed and distributed for marketing, you will have money again."

Zhao Xingde was stunned. He knew that according to the Xia Kingdom's system, the author's consent was not required for book publishing, but the author could register with the government a royalty amount ranging from zero to 90% of the book price. For foreign authors, the Xia Kingdom government directly set the amount.

Thirty percent of the royalties were paid because the Xia State forced the people to be literate and vigorously developed the copper movable type plate making and printing technology, which greatly lowered the threshold for literacy and the cost of printing. After these wealthy people became literate, there were also many people who liked writing for entertainment. So Guanzhong Longyou

In this land, the publishing industry was also extremely prosperous, and many poets and poets in the Song Dynasty benefited a lot from it, and they did not want to benefit themselves.

If he got a windfall for nothing, Zhao Xingde cupped his hand and said with a smile: "Then it's time for the shopkeeper to worry about it." Shopkeeper Hua waved his hand and said with a smile: "Everyone is getting rich, so there is no need to be polite."

After walking out of the accounting room with a heavy amount of silver coins in his arms, Zhao Xingde returned to the student's seat. After a while, several classmates and friends began to discuss current affairs loudly.

If the imperial students and others are the future officials of the empire, it is also their duty to discuss current affairs. As the saying goes, scholars, peasants, industry and merchants each have their own place, and ordinary people take risks when discussing current affairs. Therefore, the merchants at the table next to them are just waiting for others, and they just eat their own meals.

They are not mixed with these young scholars in Taixue.

"Nothing can harm the country more than firecrackers! Flowers and stones!" Chen Dong, surrounded by seven or eight familiar classmates, was shouting impassionedly, "The flowers and stones were collected in Lingnan. Thousands of people went deep into the wilderness and dug through the valleys.

The sun has not been seen all year round, and the people of Lingnan have exhausted their strength. The land of Lingnan is close to Jiaozhi. The folk customs were originally strong, and civil uprisings occurred frequently. This flower-stone outline was made with great efforts. The flower-stones were carved in Jiangdong, one stone and one pillar.

, it must take years and months of hard work, the stone will be completed, and the people of Jiangnan will be exhausted. The flowers and stones are used in Bianliang, and if they are good at the top, they will be even better at the bottom. High-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen, and wealthy merchants all rush to imitate them. For this reason, they are so good that they cannot eat them if they are hungry.

, the cold has no clothes, and all the wealth in the world is gone!"

Different from what Zhao Xingde originally knew, in this era there was a Xia Kingdom that was much more powerful than Dangxiang Xixia, occupying a vast area west of Hangu Pass. The Xia Kingdom's tentacles even crossed Congling and extended to Central Asia, where they obtained

Many Persian craftsmen and architects introduced the architectural style of huge stones to the Central Plains, which was very magnificent. In the past two generations, the exteriors of the imperial palaces of the Song Dynasty began to use a large number of marble columns and relief decorations, which led to the entire Bianliang becoming

A city where marble is widely used in buildings. From a distance, the white marble capital with its roofs covered with gold powder looks like a fairyland. The officials of the Song Dynasty and the entire imperial court spared no effort to quarry, polish, carve, and transport marble from all over the country to Bian.

Liang is what Chen Dong calls "Hua Shi Gang".

"Brother Shaoyang's words are reasonable," Deng Su agreed. "Flowers, stones and fire blunderbuss are both items from the Xia Kingdom. It is annoying that the flowers and stones deplete our people and national supplies, but the fire blunderbuss makes all the troops lose their combat power.

It's hateful. This fire blunderbuss can't reach far, and it's totally inaccurate. It's even more useless when it rains and is wet. The Imperial Army used their crossbows to fire at least three arrows, but after switching to the fire blunderbuss, they could only fire one.

It's just a sound. The only advantage of switching to fire muskets is that it saves labor. But that's why it's so good to join that group of spear-faced garrison soldiers with useless martial arts. Since the late emperor, many Imperial Army crossbowmen have switched to fire muskets.

I can no longer draw a bow and shoot an arrow."

"That's right!" Chen Dong slapped the table and applauded. "The extravagance of flowers and stones has left our country with no usable wealth, and the proliferation of fire and blunderbuss has left our country with no usable soldiers." At this moment, all the students who had gathered in the studio applauded.

At this time, the idea of ​​objecting to switching to firearms was very popular in Taixue, but Zhao Xingde, who knew that later generations of firearms were powerful, disagreed. He was unwilling to have a meaningless argument with his classmates, but there was a faint smile on his lips, and he was accidentally caught by Chen Dong.

When he caught a glimpse, his face became stern and he said, "Yuan Zhi seems to have a different insight. Would you like to give me some advice?"

Hearing Chen Dong's sudden attack on him, Zhao Xingde quickly suppressed his smile and said seriously: "Although this fire blunderbuss cannot be used, the word 'effort-saving' mentioned by brother Shou Yi is exactly its benefit."

All the classmates looked at each other, and Deng Su was even more angry, thinking: "Does Yuan Zhi want to humiliate me?" Chen Dong immediately scolded: "To be virtuous, you must be sincere when discussing state affairs, but you cannot make such ridiculous remarks.

"Chen Dong and Deng Su are both Tai students who studied from the lower house to the upper house. They are nearly thirty years old, and they are still as generous as the juniors in their twenties. At this moment, all the Tai students are showing off their airs as senior students.

Zhao Xingde was teaching Zhao Xingde a lesson, and he was completely different from when he had just humbled himself and asked him to borrow the manuscript. Zhao Xingde couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this guy was really a born politician.

Compared with the more than 20,000 redundant officials living in Bianliang, the young Taixue scholars were extremely passionate and eager to pay attention to the national destiny of the Song Dynasty. Seeing many classmates looking at him, Zhao Xingde felt his scalp numb and had to

He coughed and asked: "Our country has always valued culture over military affairs, and also adhered to the policy of guarding the interior but not the exterior. It is difficult to return after accumulating heavy resources. Compared with the arrogant Liao and the martial Xia, can the Song Dynasty defeat it?"

Although the Song Dynasty claimed to have 800,000 elite soldiers in the Forbidden Army, they could not gain an advantage against the Liao or Xia people. Seeing all his classmates bowing their heads in silence, Zhao Xingde continued: "Although the crossbows are good, they must be strong physically."

It cannot fire a bow, and although the fire blunderbuss has various disadvantages, a person with ordinary physical strength can still fire it with a little practice. Compared with our country, both the Khitan and Xia Kingdoms have quite strong military strength, and our Song Dynasty

The advantage is that there are many household registrations, and the people's power is almost twice that of Liao and Xia combined. Compared with these two countries, the people of the Song Dynasty are inexhaustible. As long as they continue to modify the fire blunderbuss to make it more powerful than bows and crossbows, even if

They are the Youyan cavalry of the Liao Kingdom and the elite of the Xia Kingdom's forbidden army. They cannot invade our country lightly."

All the students originally only saw that the use of firecrackers reduced the strength of the Forbidden Army, but Zhao Xingde changed his perspective and saw that the use of firecrackers reduced the requirements for users of weapons, thus allowing the Song Dynasty's abundant civilian power to be transformed more

It is a military resource. Some of the Taipei students had unconvincing looks on their faces, while others were in awe.

Deng Su immediately said: "Improve the fire blunderbuss to make it more powerful than the bow and crossbow. You may say it is simple, but in fact it is very difficult. The fire blunderbuss was introduced from the Xia State. To this day, in addition to artillery, the Xia State army still only uses divine arm crossbows."

Only regiments and city guards use fire blunderbuss. If the power of fire blunderbuss can easily surpass that of bows and crossbows, how can it be so?"

Before Zhao Xingde could answer, he heard a loud voice saying: "What Yuan Zhi said is not unreasonable." It was Zhang Bing who spoke. Seeing everyone looking over, he continued: "Mr. Zhoushan once said, in the world

When races fight, the one whose fighting style is similar to their daily routine wins, and the one whose fighting style is inconsistent with their daily routine loses. The Khitan people are good at horseback riding and are accustomed to hunting. If you blindly compete with them in riding bows and crossbows, you will be at your own disadvantage.

He is good at attacking enemies. The method of making and operating the fire blunderbuss is quite complicated. The Khitan people may not have this ability, but it is suitable for the meticulous nature of our people cultivated through years of farming."

The gentleman Zhang Bing refers to has a surname of Huang Mingjian, a courtesy name of Baishi, and a nickname of Mr. Zhoushan. He was the number one scholar in the Yuanfu reign of Emperor Shengzong, and now resides in Taichang Shaoqing. He can be regarded as a very insightful person between the old and new parties in the court.

He was an important minister, both in government and in opposition. He wrote books and established theories for decades, had numerous disciples, and gained a great reputation.

At this time, Zhang Bing quoted the old gentleman's words, but no one refuted him for a while.

Zhao Xingde also nodded and said: "The fire gun has another advantage in our Song Dynasty, that is, it is closely integrated with the method of guarding the inside and using the outside, and controlling the inside under the rule of Emperor Taizu. Saltpeter and sulfur are used to make gunpowder.

They are all things that the imperial officials sold and bought. As long as the consumption and replenishment of gunpowder by the border troops in each town are strictly controlled, without ammunition supply, the firearms of the border troops will be like scrap metal." After thinking about it, the imperial students thought that the imperial court was desperate.

The last point mentioned by Zhao Xingde is the key.

Chen Dong also came back to his senses at this time, slapped the table and said with a smile: "Hulu are stupid and careless, and they must not be good at such fine things as fire guns. After replacing bows and crossbows with fire guns, the imperial court controlled gunpowder and was not afraid of backlash from the feudal town. Hebei,

The military strength of the various camps in Hedong can also be doubled. In this way, the recovery of Yanyun will be just around the corner."

But the people at the next table snorted and muttered: "The scholar is talking nonsense. The fire stick is relied on like a treasure. The fire gun can only be fired once when facing the enemy. When using cavalry to charge into the formation, you only need to let the elite forwards cover it with two layers.

With iron armor and heavy cavalry of dead soldiers, they charge into the fire and gun array. After the firearms are fired, the remaining cavalrymen attack from all sides and beat them with swords, spears and clubs, and they will be able to defeat these chickens and dogs."

Zhao Xingde and others did not expect someone to talk to them, so they turned around to look around, and saw that it was one of the people wearing a dog-skin hat. He had a square face, beards on both cheeks and chin, and his face was extremely rough, but he couldn't see it.

He was of a certain age, and was wearing a cotton robe that was commonly used in the winter in the Central Plains. At this moment, he had lifted up the hem and tied it around his waist for the convenience of rushing on the road. He was wearing a pair of cowhide boots from a barbarian, and he glared at these scholars with a pair of eyes.

All the supervisors were Zhao Kuo, who was an armchair strategist, and he couldn't figure out the origin of this group. Hearing that man say that he wanted to use heavy armored cavalry to charge into the fire mortar array, I didn't know whether it was true or not, so he agreed casually without making people laugh, so he

Some were speechless and unable to answer, and some who had doubted the popularity of fire guns in the first place even believed that cavalry and crossbows were the only way to win, with a look on their faces that said, "I knew this was the case."

Everyone looked at each other in shock, but Zhao Xingde smiled and said: "The cost of one ride is enough for five infantry. If there are five thousand infantry, only two thousand heavy armor, swords, shields and spearmen will form in front to stop the enemy, and another three thousand firemen will do it."

The musketeers are divided into three teams. One team fires the muskets, one team waits for the enemy, one team charges the powder, and the third team circles around and bombards. Even if a thousand cavalry attack, it is enough to deal with it." All the Tai students agreed.

However, what Zhao Xingde said was a trick. With only two thousand elite heavy-armored infantry waiting for the enemy, they would not be afraid even if a thousand cavalry came to attack. What's more, there were three thousand fire guns behind them to circle around and bombard. It was almost inevitable.

Victory. Although the Privy Council said that the cost of cavalry is five steps, the cavalry will never rush into the elite infantry formation that is five times their size. The great thing about the Liao people's cavalry is that they can look ahead and suddenly

Yan was behind, coming and going erratically, making people exhausted and unprepared. The man didn't expect him to be so cunning, but he had previously proposed the method of cavalry charging into the formation. He couldn't help but blush, and looked at Zhao Xingde with wide eyes, with blue veins on his face.

It rose violently, as if about to jump.

Zhao Xingde was about to give up when he saw someone at the same table with the rough man seemed to whisper something. The man looked happy and said loudly: "The great enemy of the Song Kingdom is the Khitan, and there are many crooks in the Liao Kingdom."

The bow-shooting and hunting clan has no less than 400,000 cavalry for the whole country. If we use the scholar’s ​​method of using five steps as one cavalry, the Song Dynasty will have to train two million forbidden troops. Haha, hahaha, it’s really awesome!”

At this time, the imperial army of the Song Dynasty claimed to have 800,000 soldiers. Including the Xiang army, the number of soldiers in the country exceeded one million. The cost of redundant troops had already made the court exhausted. It was absolutely impossible to train two million forbidden troops. The supervisors saw this

The rough man was reminded by his companion, and he followed Zhao Xingde's words and pointed directly at the big knot and loophole between Song Dynasty and Song Dynasty's military and finance. His heart sank. At the same time, he couldn't help but look down at the rough man.

Being able to jump from a simple confrontation between two armies to the finance and economy of the imperial court shows that he is not an ordinary person who only knows how to fight bravely.

Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, cupped his hands to him, and said in a deep voice: "After going around in a circle, I returned to the previous step. I have already made it clear that fire blunderbuss saves effort. Fire blunderbuss players are not like those who have to maintain and practice for many years like a crossbow.

If the Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty fought, they only need to recruit local warriors, and with a little training, they can serve as gunmen and replace the crossbowmen. I think I have a household registration of tens of millions in the Song Dynasty, and I can recruit more than 20 million strong men.

At that time, how difficult would it be to train millions of gunmen?"

The rough man was stunned for a moment. He recalled that Zhao Xingde had indeed said that fire gunners were easy to train. He didn't know how to refute it. He glanced aside subconsciously and saw the person next to him dipping his chopsticks in water and writing something on the table.

He couldn't help but soften his face, pat his head, and said with a smile: "I almost got caught by the scholar. I only need one thing to defeat your formation of infantry." He stopped talking and bought it.

After passing the test, he looked proudly at the Song scholar opposite.

Zhao Xingde paid close attention to the companion next to the rough man. He saw that the man had an ordinary face. He just lowered his head and drank tea without looking at him, as if he was not involved. However, it was clearly him who gave guidance to his companion both times.

Zhao Xingde pondered for a moment, moved his fingers slightly on the table, raised his head and said to the rough man and his companions: "There are advantages and disadvantages. Although the thing you rely on is a sharp weapon to break the foot formation, it is just a bit bulky. The cavalry army

Taking it into action, with hands and feet tied, has both advantages and disadvantages. If the two armies clash, it is still unclear who will win!"

Unexpectedly, the man guessed what he was talking about and looked at him in disbelief. The two of them were playing riddles, but they stupefied the eunuch next to him. Chen Dong whispered: "What kind of weapon is this?" Awesome." Leaning forward to look in front of Zhao Xingde, he saw that the character he had just written on the table with a drink of wine was actually the word "Pao", and it was different from the character "Pao" next to the stone character usually used at this time. On the left side was the character "Fire", which was surprising. You can tell it's an artillery piece at a glance.
Chapter completed!