Chapter 1028 Gunpowder
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, after worshipping the moon, Lin Yuesha leaned against Qi Heng, and the couple drank tea and admired the moon.
Within the full moon, there is a ring of light and shadow, which looks as if a beautiful woman, Chang'e, is holding a jade rabbit.
The moon is just as round in modern times, and if you're lucky, you might even catch a supermoon day. However, Lin Yuesha was always busy and had no time to appreciate the scenery.
A cool night breeze carried the refreshing fragrance of flowers. Lin Yuesha closed her eyes, feeling the cool breeze, and her heart calmed down once again.
"My lord."
Not far away, a man in black knelt on one knee, reporting the intelligence he had received.
Miaoyin's plan was successfully completed. Enraged, Yuwen Kun wiped out the Bai family, leaving no one alive except Bai Youran, who had already left the Bai family in the Northwest.
The Bai family was ambitious and scheming, yet they died so suddenly.
The lords of the other cities have not yet received the news, but if they do, they will surely take action against Sishui City.
Our side is interfering, and the barbarians have started to fall into chaos.
"Prefect Bai once promised to send gold and silver to several cities, only letting those city lords taste a little sweetness. Now that Yuwen Kun has killed the entire Bai family, it will inevitably cause misunderstandings."
The city lords believed that Yuwen Kun had embezzled the Bai family's money and gathered to demand an explanation from him.
"Where is the Bai family's wealth?"
Lin Yuesha was more concerned about the hidden gold and silver than about the fate of the Bai family.
Prefect Bai embezzled at least tens of thousands of taels of silver intended for repairing the city walls.
When Lin Yuesha found out, she couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement. How bold!
Moreover, Prefect Bai had been keeping a large number of private soldiers in the north, and had long planned to rebel.
"The silver was hidden very well, and no one has found it."
Perhaps there is one, or perhaps it's just an empty promise. However, Qi Heng knows a bit about the Bai family, and the Bai family must have kept some cards up their sleeve.
The lords of the other barbarian cities had long been dissatisfied with Yuwen Kun, and if they all launched an attack now, it would be enough to give Yuwen Kun a headache.
Qi Heng used the wondrous sound to temporarily resolve the problem, buying time for the northern regions to recuperate.
The Wei family was no longer a threat, so Qi Heng focused his energy on defense and the shipyard.
We must devote all our efforts to building a large ship as soon as possible and opening up the seas at an early date.
Lin Yuesha thought that the war was a bloody battle between the two sides, but she never expected that there was a loophole to exploit.
"All warfare is based on deception. If we rely on our soldiers to fight, how can the Qi army's physical strength match that of the barbarians?"
No matter how much the soldiers trained, the soldiers of the Great Qi still had shortcomings in physical strength, so they relied on their intellect and weapons.
Qi Heng has already sent people to conduct experiments in the deep mountains, mixing saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal in a certain proportion to create powerful gunpowder.
If they had gunpowder, both the people of Sishui City and the foreign tribes would have to behave themselves.
Qi Heng has no immediate plans to expand his territory; instead, he prioritizes road construction.
The official road of the Great Qi Dynasty has been under construction for decades, but it is still very narrow and blocked by mountains. To pass through a city, one has to cross mountains and valleys, making it extremely inconvenient for traveling merchants.
If we could blast the mountaintops to level the road and build a straight highway, shortening the distance from north to south, it would be a great benefit to the people.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, news came from Sishui City that Yuwen Kun had wiped out the Bai family in a fit of rage. The other city lords led their men straight to Sishui City to demand an explanation. Now Yuwen Kun was in a state of utter chaos and had no time to deal with his own problems.
Following Li Ruoshuang's advice, Miaoyin played hard to get and engaged in a cold war with Yuwen Kun, which actually brought the two closer than before.
The day before Lin Yuesha was to depart for Yingcheng, Qi Heng received news from his subordinates that they had prepared a certain proportion of powerful gunpowder and blasted open a small hill.
Traveling south from the north, there is a mountain pass that can only accommodate two horse-drawn carriages. If heavy snow in winter closes the mountain pass, this road is often impassable.
Merchants had to wait in the surrounding area for anywhere from a few days to more than ten days, all depending on the government sending people to clear the snow.
If the rocks were blasted open to build a road, travel between the two cities would become much easier.
"My wife, would you like to see a gunpowder test?"
Qi Heng is a man of great things, and he does things quietly. He has already sent people to prepare enough gunpowder to blast open the rocks in multiple stages.
If an auspicious day is chosen, construction can begin at an opportune time.
"I want to see it."
Lin Yuesha was somewhat incredulous. Qi Heng had mentioned it on Mid-Autumn Festival night, and she thought it was just the beginning. She didn't expect that the proportions would be so quickly. The movements were too fast.
However, since this is the first time blasting a mountain to open a road, it's best to be cautious.
Lin Yuesha remembers that there was a small village called Kaoshan Village near the mountains. When she passed through on her way to Beijing, she met villagers selling steamed buns and other items to passersby.
The villagers live on the mountainside. If rocks roll down the mountain, their houses will be damaged and most likely become uninhabitable.
Before blasting the mountain, the villagers must be evacuated to a safe area.
"That's where the problem lies."
Qi Heng sent his men to the village to negotiate, offering generous compensation to any villagers willing to move out of the village early.
As a result, when his subordinates went to the village to report the incident, they were met with a collective boycott from the villagers. Not only that, but they were also thrown out of the village by the angry villagers.
These were all unarmed people whose ancestors had lived on the edge of the mountains for generations. Qi Heng understood their deep attachment to their homeland.
However, while he understood, he still had to carve out the rocks here so that the Northwest army could pass smoothly when they came to the North to relieve the troops.
Qi Heng saw the village's location as promising and wanted to build a post station there.
"In other words, it has to be demolished."
Lin Yuesha said with difficulty, "If someone wants to bomb the mountain in Chenjia Village, the villagers are unwilling to leave. It's not something that can be appeased with money."
Our ancestors lived in the village, and the ancestral hall and ancestral graves are still there. Blasting the mountain and breaking rocks would disturb the peace of our ancestors. Moreover, the graves would have to be relocated before the villagers moved away.
The people of Daqi value feng shui highly, no wonder the villagers threw out the person who came to persuade them.
Imagine this: your side is not only going to blast the mountain, but also the graves of the villagers. The villagers are being very lenient by not risking their lives but simply throwing people out.
"Does my wife have a good idea?"
Qi Heng gave them enough money to buy a nice house in the city for each household, and he felt that he had not treated the villagers unfairly.
Clearly, the villagers didn't think that way.
"Husband, we should go and take a look first."
There are no unsolvable problems; it's just a matter of whether you can use the right method.
The people sent didn't understand the villagers' needs and started talking about money right away, which is unacceptable.
Lin Yuesha meant that she would go there, interact with the villagers, and listen to what they thought.
Qi Heng had important business to attend to and couldn't leave, but Xu Da and Wu Ya insisted on going with him after hearing that.
The three of them traveled in two horse-drawn carriages, heading straight for Kaoshan Village.
The carriage traveled all day until the sun began to set, when the group finally arrived at their destination.
"There is a gap between the two mountains, no wonder the young general wanted to blow up the mountain."
Xu Da hadn't noticed when they arrived, but now, as evening approached, a caravan from the north was traveling in a grand procession along a narrow path through the rocks. After a fifteen-minute delay, they were finally able to travel together smoothly.
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