As the system's voice faded, Mu Zian's heart began to pound faster.
"Ding! Summoning successful!"
"First place: Fa Zheng, the famous minister of Shu Han and Minister of the Imperial Secretariat."
The Three Kingdoms period was a time of great brilliance in Chinese history.
The list goes on to include Zhuge Liang (the Crouching Dragon), Pang Tong (the Young Phoenix), Jiang Wei (the Young Unicorn), Sima Yi (the Tomb Tiger), Zhou Yu, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and many more.
However, one strategist among them is often overlooked, and that person is Fa Zheng.
It can be said that it was precisely because of Fazheng's existence that Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Qun were able to divide the world into three.
Fa Zheng originally served under Liu Zhang, the governor of Yi Province, but was not given important positions. With Cao Cao's great defeat at the Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Zhang was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Later, Liu Zhang sent Fa Zheng as an envoy to Liu Bei. Fa Zheng was moved by Liu Bei's enthusiasm and took the initiative to express his willingness to cooperate with Liu Bei to seize Yizhou.
Ultimately, it was with Fa Zheng's cooperation that Liu Bei's strategic plan to successfully enter Yizhou was realized.
Subsequently, under Fa Zheng's planning, Liu Bei successively captured Hanzhong, defeated Xiahou Yuan, and completely took control of the situation. Finally, under the "urging" of his ministers, he was promoted to King of Hanzhong.
Fa Zheng not only possesses superb military strategy, but is also extremely decisive and adept at understanding human nature.
Even Zhuge Liang held Fa Zheng in high regard.
It was precisely because of Fa Zheng's wholehearted assistance that Liu Bei was able to rise to prominence in the chaotic world and ultimately become a protagonist in the Three Kingdoms period.
Before Mu Zian could even appreciate the brilliance of the Three Kingdoms period, the system's voice rang out again.
"Second place: Kou Zhun, the backbone prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty."
Mu Zian perked up, realizing that another heavyweight had arrived.
When it comes to the history of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kou Zhun's name is an insurmountable mountain.
He passed the imperial examination at the age of nineteen, rose to a high position in the central government at the age of thirty, served as prime minister three times and was demoted three times. He eventually died with resentment in the malaria-ridden Lingnan region.
Kou Zhun's most famous achievement was leading the emperor on a personal expedition to repel the Liao Dynasty's attack and facilitating the Treaty of Chanyuan.
The Treaty of Chanyuan may seem like a humiliation for the Northern Song Dynasty, but that is not the case.
In the Treaty of Chanyuan, the Northern Song Dynasty was required to pay the Liao Dynasty 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. It seemed like the Liao Dynasty was making a profit, but in reality, for the Northern Song Dynasty, which lacked nothing but money, this amount of money was just a drop in the ocean.
The annual tribute paid under the Treaty of Chanyuan was nothing more than the annual income of any random prefecture or county in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The Northern Song Dynasty easily earned back these funds through border trade, and its military expenditures were significantly reduced after the agreement was signed.
It is important to know that, according to later research, the Northern Song Dynasty's annual military expenditure during the Liao-Song Wars reached an astonishing 50 million taels of silver.
In the century following the Treaty of Chanyuan, the Northern Song Dynasty paid a total of 19.52 million taels of silver and silk to the Liao Dynasty, a paltry sum compared to its military expenditures.
Turning to the biography of Kou Zhun in the History of Song, one can feel the sighs for him between the lines.
Kou Zhun was like a gleaming sword; though he could cleave through the Liao cavalry, he could not cut through the slander and false accusations of treacherous officials in the court.
They can uphold their integrity, but they can't fathom the wickedness of people's hearts.
Ultimately, this upright prime minister, who served two dynasties, died in a thatched cottage in Lingnan. When his coffin was returned north, it had to be temporarily placed in Luoyang because the funds allocated by the court were insufficient.
It wasn't until ten years later that Emperor Renzong of Song exonerated him. Wherever the procession carrying the relocated grave passed, the local people all bowed before the coffin.
As the saying goes: Loyalty shines through history, and tragic songs move through the ages.
Just as Mu Zian was admiring Kou Zhun's integrity, the system announced the last person.
"Third: Zhao Shizhen, a Ming Dynasty firearms expert and secretary in the Imperial Secretariat."
Upon hearing the word "firearms," Mu Zian's eyes immediately lit up.
Firearms experts—this is something more precious than gold!
The firearms of the Ming Dynasty were definitely the most advanced in the world, and the three-eyed musket was the most frequently seen among them.
The three-eyed musket was highly effective in the hands of the Ming Dynasty's Guan Ning cavalry, repeatedly defeating the Later Jin army.
Although Zhao Shizhen was not the inventor of the three-barreled musket, it was he who made improvements to it.
The barrel was lengthened from 32 centimeters to 41 centimeters, giving the three-barreled musket a higher muzzle velocity and range.
Moreover, Zhao Shizhen's conception of the matchlock gun predates that of the rest of the world.
In the 25th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, Zhao Shizhen presented the emperor with a report entitled "Eight Harms of Military Use" and suggested that arquebuses be manufactured as soon as possible.
Zhao Shizhen was not just a boastful person.
He not only drew detailed diagrams, but also wrote articles explaining its structure, manufacturing method, and firing stance, compiling them into a book called "The Manual of Divine Weapons," making him arguably the world's foremost expert on firearms at the time.
Later, adhering to the principle of striving for perfection, Zhao Shizhen continuously improved firearms. Five years later, he transformed the Xunlei Gun, which could originally only fire five shots in succession, into one that could fire eighteen shots in a row during intense battle. It could be called the Gatling gun of the Wanli era.
Moreover, Zhao Shizhen also invented the "rocket rocket," which can be called a milestone in the development of rockets in Chinese history.
The "Thunderbolt Cannon," "Lightning Cannon," "Rocket Cannon," "Lumi Cannon," and "Eagle Soaring Cannon" invented by Zhao Shizhen played a powerful role and had a huge impact in the anti-Japanese war at that time.
Unfortunately, Zhao Shizhen was later implicated in the "Demon Book Case" during the Wanli era, which exhausted him both physically and mentally. He eventually became mentally unstable, fell ill, and died of depression.
If Zhao Shizhen hadn't died, Mu Zian couldn't have imagined how advanced firearms would have become in the Ming Dynasty.
"Ding! The system has finished summoning! Please select one person to remove! The system will randomly summon one of the remaining two."
Looking at the three people in front of him, Mu Zian was truly caught in a dilemma.
Of the three—Fa Zheng, Kou Zhun, and Zhao Shizhen—Kou Zhun is undoubtedly the most famous.
Kou Zhun was a true prime minister, but! Kou Zhun's personality was too strong.
For Mu Zi'an at present, Kou Zhun's involvement may have side effects.
So after careful consideration, Mu Zian decided to reluctantly remove Kou Zhun from the list.
Mu Zian inwardly apologized to this pillar of the Northern Song Dynasty, but outwardly he spoke without hesitation.
"Remove Kou Zhun."
To be honest, it's true that there are fewer and fewer people with the talent of a prime minister like this, and Mu Zi'an's heart is still bleeding.
"Ding-dong! Kou Zhun, the backbone prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, has been removed!"
"System is summoning, please wait!"
"Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully summoning: Zhao Shizhen, a Ming Dynasty firearms expert and secretary in the Imperial Secretariat!"
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