Chapter 117 It's Too Late

In May, midsummer, everything grows.

During this month, the exiled Song Dynasty court did many things in succession with an efficiency that would have been absolutely jaw-dropping in Tokyo in previous years:

First of all, of course, there were several temporary palace examinations for selecting talents… No matter how many unqualified people there were, through the palace examinations held in batches, the small court of Nanyang finally selected and appointed a large number of officials to fill the central government;

Secondly, the fact that the Military Equipment Bureau successfully produced iron under the supervision of the emperor personally going to the south bank of the Han River was actually not important, because Emperor Zhao did not realize until then that although local iron production was of strategic significance, it was possible to obtain ready-made iron ingots from official smelters in various parts of Jiangnan through the Yangtze River. The key was still the craftsmen;

Of course, there is also the establishment of a gunpowder workshop... The government attaches great importance to this, but others think it is insignificant, because gunpowder is not really a secret weapon for the Song Dynasty. It seems that it was specially raised to this level for the government's personal likes and dislikes.

In addition, Nanyang and Fangcheng were also repaired and reinforced under the guidance and inspection of the new Minister of War Chen Gui. In the distance, with Yancheng of Yingchang Prefecture as the core, plus Linying, Changsha, Xiangcheng, Wuyang, Xiping, and Yexian, a total of seven cities, a large amount of military supplies and fodder as well as civilians collected from refugees were sent there, as if to build a solid defense line on the large gap in the northeast of Nanyang.

Overall, Emperor Zhao's statement that everything is for the war of resistance and the war of resistance is everything seems to have been put into practice.

Besides this, throughout the month of May, outside of Nanyang, apart from the death of Prime Minister Zhang Que, there seemed to be many good news.

First, in mid-May, Han Shizhong successfully fulfilled his promise. He joined forces with Da Zhai, Xiao Zhai, and Lu Xing to block Yang Jin in the Mangshan area and beheaded him for public display. Then he made a special trip to the now devastated Luoyang City, and finally, under the banner of successfully recovering Xijing, he returned to Huaixi for rest and recuperation.

Shortly after this incident, several documents were delivered to Li Gang, the Prime Minister of Yangzhou, stating that several rebel groups in the areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian had been pacified or suppressed. He also proposed a series of financial allocation plans for the Southeast, Nanyang, Lianghuai and Jingdong, and demanded the expansion of the rear army of the imperial camp to strengthen the defense of Lianghuai.

As for the official's private letter, Prime Minister Li did not mention it at all, as if he had not received it at all.

In short, since the emperor entered Nanyang, the situation in the entire Song Dynasty has been generally improving so far, even better than everyone expected.

By June, the Jingyuan Road commander Qu Duan first killed Liu Xiliang, a commander of the same rank, on the charge of desertion, and then, together with his subordinate Wu Jie, took advantage of the battle between a righteous army and a rebel army in Chang'an to launch separate surprise attacks, annex the two armies and recapture Chang'an, and the unrest in Guanzhong gradually subsided.

At this time, there was a student named Wanqi Xie who had successfully passed the palace examination and was appointed to the Privy Council. He could not wait to come up with the slogan of Nanyang Restoration and openly compared Emperor Zhao with Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu!

It is said that because of his outstanding performance in the palace examination, Wanqi Xie was circled several times by Emperor Zhao in front of several ministers. Only then was he allowed to be appointed as an editor of the eighth rank of the Privy Council together with Hu Hongxiu, who was number one in military strategy, and to assist in military affairs as an official of the Privy Council.

And it is precisely because of this special treatment that Wanqi Xie cares so much about the official's reputation.

However, Wanqi Xie's seductive glance was destined to be thrown at a blind man. Not only did Emperor Zhao turn a deaf ear to him, he rarely even went to the palace recently. He just left his notes every day and then accepted the notes every few days. Most of his time was spent in the military camp, gunpowder factory, and city defense projects... There was nothing he could do about it, because in June, with the end of the talent selection, the rebellions in various places gradually subsided, and the core work of the central government suddenly became a financial issue. It was not until this time that Emperor Zhao suddenly discovered something that caught him off guard, that is, the development and severity of the Song Dynasty's finances far exceeded his imagination.

As for the issue of the Song Dynasty's finances, Zhao Jiu had an even harder time than he did with the official system of the Song Dynasty before... He could still force changes to the official system as an official, and he could still roughly understand it, except that he would make jokes occasionally, but he really didn't understand economics and finance.

Therefore, these matters were basically discussed by the central government with the capital province (the name after the four provinces were merged) as the core, and then he listened to the final opinions and vaguely agreed with the majority.

"Last year, Chen Qing made a tubular firearm called a musket, and used it in the army?"

In the gunpowder workshop, Emperor Zhao looked at his new 'treasure minister' Chen Gui and was a little panicked for a moment... How could he not be panicked when he had pirated the original in front of the founder?

"Yes." Chen Gui, who was dressed in purple robes and was already 58 years old this year, twirled his beard and answered calmly. "Use a solid thin bamboo tube as a tube, wrap it with iron wire, and then stuff gunpowder into the tail. When the enemy is about to rush to the front, ignite the tail, and the gunpowder will spray out from the front, and can shoot several feet away. Then, a spear head is tied to the bamboo tube in advance, and the soldiers can use the bamboo tube as a spear to charge while the enemy is in a panic... I used this method to defeat a wave of chaotic soldiers."

It's a rear-loading gun and comes with a bayonet?

After listening to the story, Emperor Zhao was silent for a long time before he asked tentatively with a smile, "Mr. Chen, have you ever thought about using an iron tube instead of a bamboo tube? You see, if it is made of iron, the powder chamber and the ignition place can be separated at the rear where the powder is loaded, and bullets and arrows can be stuffed into the front. Even if it is the iron tube itself plus the spearhead, isn't it also a proper spear?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!