Unparalleled Concubine

General Li turned his head and said slowly: "Since the Ningzhou Army has been damaged, you should give priority to the selection of those surrendered soldiers captured by you these days. Sit down with Muying and break it down."

Li Shuo looked up at Li Xin with joy, and said in a deep voice, "Thank you, brother."

Military power sometimes does not mean the right to speak in peacetime, but in the Southwest now, military power means absolute right to speak, and it also represents Li Shuo's future status in the Southwest Group. This is not just Li Shuo alone. The interests are also the overall interests of the Ningzhou Army, and even the remnants of the Pingnan Army. Li Shuo has no reason not to be happy.

"You fought this battle very well and beautifully. You won the important city of Xiangyang City within three days. After it spread to the capital and the ears of the world, everyone will look at us highly. Our big event It's a little easier."

Li Xin patted cheap brother on the shoulder, said with a smile: "I will write down this credit for you."

If the Southwest Group enters the capital, there will definitely be a process of dividing the cake. The knife for cutting the cake is in the hands of Li Xin, who is the final divider of interests.

With Li Xin's words, Li Shuo's position in the Southwest Group will once again climb a small level in the future.

Li Shuo is a smart man, he immediately understood the meaning of Li Xin's words, he bowed his head and said, "Ningzhou Army, I swear to die for the General!"

While the two brothers were talking, Mu Ying in black armor also went up the tower. He walked up to Li Xin, lowered his head and cupped his fists and said, "General, our old friend doesn't seem to want to meet us. After leaving the city You run so fast, you can't catch up right now."

"He wants to go, just let him go."

Li Xin stretched his waist, and said lightly: "It's probably a good thing for us to have such an uncle in the capital and in the center."

Mu Ying's face was a little ugly, he said in a deep voice: "Before Xie Jing left, someone sent something to the general."

Li Xin asked in surprise, "What?"

Mu Ying beckoned, and a soldier held a somewhat incomplete iron pipe and handed it to Li Xin.

The overall iron pipe has been somewhat deformed, but it can still be seen at a glance what it is.

It's... a firecracker.

Now, whether it was Li Xin or Li Shuo, their complexions were not so good.

Chapter 1052

Xie Jing was able to send a firecracker to Li Xin, which meant that he definitely had more than one. In other words, he was already on his way back to the capital with the firecracker.

The structure of the firecracker is not complicated, as long as there are samples brought back, those old blacksmiths in the capital can easily imitate them, and the most critical gunpowder is also being developed in the capital, so Li Xin and the other three saw this. Things, the complexion is a bit unsightly.

Li Shuo immediately half-kneeled on the ground and said, "General. In the past few days, the five hundred gunfire soldiers of the Ningzhou Army have suffered more than 20 casualties, and three of them are missing. Get them all back..."

Li Xin felt a little helpless.

The two sides fought hand-to-hand in the city, and the firecracker is not a panacea. It is normal to be shot by the enemy's crossbow, and it is inevitable to lose the firecracker. After a while, he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Xie Jing is willing to leave half of the Hanzhong army in Xiangyang City, probably for this reason, no wonder you, you get up and talk."

Li Shuo got up from the ground, bowed his head to Li Xin, and said in a deep voice, "General, you will be using firecrackers for the last few days. The advantage of this kind of firecracker is that it is easy to use, even for teenagers." Children can also be used to hurt people, but in terms of lethality, they are still inferior to bows and crossbows, and the general thought that even if the imperial court made firecrackers, it would not have a particularly big impact..."

Li Xin frowned slightly, and said in a muffled voice: "The question now is how the imperial court's gunpowder is doing. The samples I left for them last year are only about half as powerful as our own gunpowder. If they just imitate it At that level, even with firecrackers, it is basically not lethal."

Having said that, General Li let out a breath slowly.

"I just don't know if those skilled craftsmen in the capital can improve the gunpowder to the point where it is southwestern gunpowder."

Mu Ying lowered her head and frowned and said, "General, do you want to take someone out to chase after it? It's best to get this thing back. I have few people in the Southwest, and the lives of soldiers are precious. We can't just make firecrackers for the people of the court. .”

"I'm afraid it's not easy to chase..."

Li Xin shook his head helplessly: "The Hanzhong army is not the same as the mob who attacked Hanzhou back then. Although they were defeated in Xiangyang City, they are not without combat effectiveness. You lead people to catch up and don't give them a way out. The Hanzhong army has become a mourner, and it may not be enough to be killed by them."

"Don't worry, the general, the general will not chase after him deeply, but just go out and give it a try."

Li Xin hesitated for a while, nodded and said: "Then you go out of the city to chase after it, remember one thing, don't fight hard with them, if you can take advantage, you will take advantage of it, if you can't take advantage, you will come to Xiangyang, and then you will go to Xiangyang. There are many things that I need to discuss with you."

Mu Ying bowed her head readily, strode away, and then led [-] Southwest Army elites to chase after him from the east side of Xiangyang City.

After Mu Ying left, Li Xin still stood on the gate tower and glanced back at Li Shuo.

"For Xie Jing to make such a fuss, your contribution to the Ningzhou Army will be discounted."

Now that the two brothers are outsiders from the Meizu, Li Shuo gave a wry smile, bowed his head and said, "It's because the younger brother didn't think carefully and broke the elder brother's business."

"It's not a bad thing, as you said, the firecracker can't change anything, at most it can be regarded as icing on the cake, Huzi is still making new things, if it can be successfully produced, the firecracker or something is irrelevant thing."

It can be said that Li Xin's formula for gunpowder was kept secret to the extreme. From the first time he made gunpowder in Yongzhou to the following ten years, the formula of gunpowder has been firmly held in his hands. However, after he handed over the samples of gunpowder to Emperor Yuanzhao last year, the secrecy work is not as important as before.

Because as long as there is gunpowder, these things will be produced sooner or later. What Li Xin has to do now is to break into the capital and control the situation before the court has time to get out the things that should be produced.

Having said that, Li Xin said in a deep voice, "How many cavalry are there in your Ningzhou Army?"

Li Shuo bowed his head respectfully: "Brother Hui, the Ningzhou army has been successively recruited in the past few years, and there are about [-] cavalry in total."

"Being able to support [-] cavalrymen means that you have lived well these years."

Li Xin said quietly: "From today onwards, you will draw 1000 cavalry from the Ningzhou Army, and 1000 from Mu Ying's cavalry. Let me command these two thousand cavalry. Is there any problem?"

"No."

Li Shuo bowed his head respectfully: "Tomorrow, my brother will send 1000 people to report here."

Li Xin squinted his eyes, looked at Mu Ying who was leading troops to chase after the city, and said slowly: "This matter is not urgent, we will do it together after Mu Ying comes back, you help me send some people to rush back to Jincheng, Brother Youan invited you to Xiangyang and said that I have important matters to discuss with him."

"Yes, my younger brother will do it himself."

........................

The Southwest Army's victory in Xiangyang is naturally something worth celebrating, but for the imperial court, this is a defeat, a huge defeat!

The defenders of the city were superior in strength, but the Southwest Army, which was weak in strength, broke the city within three days!

No one can explain this matter, even Xie Jing, who is the uncle of the country, can't afford it.

Therefore, after the Hanzhong army withdrew from Xiangyang, Xie Jing left the Hanzhong army early, and rushed back to the capital alone with a firecracker.

In order to explain to the emperor, Xie Jing traveled very fast along the way. When he returned to the capital, the military report of the defeat in the Southwest War had just been sent back to the capital.

In Weiyang Palace, the still young emperor looked at the military newspaper he had just brought back from the southwest, and then at his own uncle kneeling in front of him, with no expression on his face.

"General Xie means that the Hanzhong Army lost Xiangyang within three days because of the iron pipe in your hand?"

"It's not just this iron pipe."

Xie Jing knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, the main reason is that there are thunders that can be thrown by catapults in the southwest, making the city walls of Xiangyang city useless. After this kind of iron pipe is ignited with fire, it can shoot hidden weapons, which are powerful in the capital. , it can even penetrate armor within twenty steps, which is very powerful."

"Twenty steps?"

Emperor Yuanzhao said coldly: "General Xie randomly picks one of my three guards to test the arrow, and at least he can shoot fifty steps. What's the use of twenty steps?"