I'm playing tricks in Daqin

"Each person rewards 50 taels of silver!"

Li Wei was in a good mood. In front of his fingers, there were craftsmen with nervous expressions.

"Ah...thank you sir..."

The money that suddenly fell from the sky stunned all the craftsmen. If it wasn't for Little Six's coughing lightly, they would still be so dazed that they thought they were dreaming.

The craftsmen reacted one by one, and all of them knelt down in gratitude.

"Everyone, please."

As Li Wei, it is impossible to lift these craftsmen up personally. He stretched out his hand to caress, which is the most respectful etiquette that moved these craftsmen to tears.

"You don't have to be restrained. You can speak freely. It doesn't matter if you are wrong. Anyway, there is no tax."

Li Wei sat down on the stand of the thunderbolt chariot, "I will reward you for any constructive questions."

All the craftsmen roared with laughter. It was rare for this young official to be so polite and easy-going. The restraint in his heart suddenly eased a bit, and they all began to speak freely, discussing the accuracy of the Thunderbolt chariot.

Oral discussions alone could not solve the problem. In the end, someone suggested that we test-fire a few bombs first.

The back camp was very spacious and there were a lot of people. A large open space was quickly cleared. A wooden box was placed at one end as a target, and a thunderbolt chariot was set up at the other end. It hit the target and smashed the wooden box.

A senior official inspected the supply camp, and the chief officer in charge of the rear camp came to receive him earlier. Many auxiliary soldiers, craftsmen and carpenters also came to watch the excitement after hearing the news. Everyone was envious of that senior official's reward.

Li Wei and a group of craftsmen stood beside the target box, watching the impact points of the 15 grinding stones, and were silent for a while.

The impact point of each boulder is different, it doesn't matter, Li Wei knows that the impact point of the same cannon in later generations will not fall on the same point, but the problem is that the difference between each impact point is too big, the largest difference is as high as twenty. Li Wei was speechless with such precision at a distance of tens or thirty steps.

Chapter 3 The making of stone bullets

When bombarding a huge target like a city with a thunderbolt chariot, it is easy to ignore the accuracy problem, but when using a thunderbolt chariot for the experiment, the problem immediately emerged, and it was not usually serious.

So, how to solve this problem?

Li Wei scratched his head, anxiously, he seemed to feel something, but vaguely, as if it was within reach, but he almost missed it.

Fork, what the hell is it?

He stomped his feet resentfully, watching dozens of soldiers working together to move away the huge grinding stones scattered on the ground, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind.

Fork, in fact, the problem is very simple, it is my own horns that complicate the problem.

After solving the problem, Li Wei was in a good mood. He asked the soldiers to pick out several stone bullets of similar size, and re-tested them with the Thunderbolt chariot. The difference in the impact points was not too big, and the largest one was only seven or eight steps away.

Those craftsmen understood at once, and all of them were overjoyed, flattering him, my lord is the most intelligent person in the ages.

He knew it was flattery, but it made people feel comfortable, and Li Wei accepted it calmly.

The problem of accuracy is solved, but there is still a key problem, how to fiddle with a large number of stone bombs with similar size and weight?

It is absolutely impossible to cut and chisel manually, it is slow and expensive, and it is not cost-effective at all.

He quickly thought of a solution to this problem. Find a river with fast-flowing water, build a large number of giant waterwheels by the river, and use the natural water power to polish the stones.

As soon as he gave an order, the auxiliary logistics soldiers of the entire rear battalion were immediately busy, logging, processing, and transporting, everyone was very busy.

The Nu River is fast-flowing, but it is impossible for him to build the water tanker on the edge of the Nu River. This is also a military secret, and if he can keep it secret for a day, he will have an advantage for a day.

Fortunately, there are many fast-flowing rivers. There are several eligible rivers in Ningyuan Road alone. Li Wei immediately got on his horse and went to find them himself.

Xiao Xiaoxiao and the others were used to the turmoil when he had a sudden whim, and the guards of the brigade stayed by his side, closely guarding him.

Li Wei and his party rode out of the north city gate on horses and turned to the east avenue. He remembered that there seemed to be a waterfall with a rather large drop on the Huaihe River in the east of Guanning County.

After running for more than [-] miles, he realized that even if he was rushing non-stop, it would take dark at the earliest to reach the Huaihe River, what a feverish brain.

After calming down, Li Wei asked the guards to find a nearby village, stay overnight, and leave early tomorrow morning.

The big gentry in the village didn't dare to neglect in the slightest, they entertained them with all their heart, and satisfied Li Wei with their food and lodging.

Early the next morning, Li Wei and his party set off for the Huaihe River. They forgot to bring a map when they went out. After asking the local people for the exact location of the waterfall, they drove upstream for more than ten miles along the riverside path, and finally came to the waterfall.

The waterfalls flow down from the streams of Tianmen Mountain and flow into a river. This is also the source of the Huaihe River, and the water flows rapidly all year round.

The terrain in this area is relatively flat, which is convenient for transportation, and there are a lot of stone mountains nearby for mining. It is a very good stone bomb production field. He plans to build a large fort here and send a school of soldiers to garrison it. The school officer must be trustworthy Only your confidant will do.

As long as a large number of stone bullets with the same size and weight are produced, the accuracy will be improved. When the two armies confront each other, the thunderbolt chariot of the own side can rely on these stone bullets to destroy the enemy's thunderbolt chariot. It is the artillery suppression tactics of later generations. He has also implemented it on the battlefield, but due to the accuracy, the effect is not satisfactory.

In short, the stone bombs produced are also one of the killer features. Therefore, the production method is listed as the highest level of military secrets.

Everyone said a word from an official, exhausting the common people, Li Wei's words, the officials in the entire Guanning County immediately became busy, a large number of young and strong people were recruited, and soon started to build a large fortress according to Li Wei's idea .

While Li Wei was busy with these things, he also kept an eye on the changes in the war. Because the Jin Empire shrank its defenses and garrisoned Jiankang City with heavy troops. It is very tenacious and difficult to overcome in a short period of time. The tragic offensive and defensive battle caused heavy losses to both sides.

The frontier fortresses of the Jin Empire were also attacked by the armies of the empires. Although they were not conquered, they also put the Jin Empire under great pressure. Groups of young and strong were recruited to form new troops to reinforce the borders of various places. fortress.

Of course, Li Wei hopes that this battle of the century will last as long as possible. The best result is that both sides will suffer heavy casualties and vital energy, and it will be difficult to recover within five or six years.

He knew that the probability of this possibility was very small, but he didn't break the law in his heart.

When looking at a problem, one has to consider both the good and the bad. Li Wei and his think tanks desperately considered all possibilities. Therefore, the naval fleet led by Ding Tai, commander of the Jiayue Navy, watched Li Jiadu on the Shaoguan River. However, an army of [-] to [-] was assembled in the pass. If the Jin army was defeated and the coalition forces counterattacked aggressively, he would tear up the agreement, capture Lijiadu, and transport the army across the river.

He was also trying his best to search for Tang Su'e and Feng Ling'er, but unfortunately they seemed to have evaporated from the world.

At the same time, he did not forget to exchange letters with Mingzhu, who sat in Fuhuguan and resisted the siege of the Jin Empire army. In order to write these love letters that are not love letters, he racked his brains and racked his brains. Everything is written in, what you are the wind and I am the sand, you are the honey and I am the melon, and occasionally a wicked doggerel, or a serious, amazing Tang poetry and Song Ci, for Picking up girls, he has all kinds of tricks, and he doesn't need to have integrity, so what's the point of plagiarizing the poems of the ancients?

It seems that in the blink of an eye, the weather is getting colder, autumn has come unknowingly, and the battle in Jiankang City has finally come to an end.

Although the Jin army shrunk the line of defense and guarded Jiankang City with heavy troops, with continuous reinforcements and sufficient food and grass, they couldn't hold back the coalition forces. Nearly a thousand Thunderbolt chariots bombarded them one after another. The thick and solid city walls were bombarded in many places. Entering the city, Jiankang City was recovered.

The Jin army was defeated and retreated, and the coalition forces took the vigor of the victory and regained the five counties under the jurisdiction of Jiankang County in one go. The Jin army was completely expelled from the territory of the Zhou Empire, and heavily guarded the borders of Shangluo and Shuzhou.

Both sides are taking a short rest. The tragic offensive and defensive battles have caused heavy losses to both sides. The soldiers are exhausted. Coupled with problems such as the consumption of supplies, the commanders of the coalition forces have to postpone the attack.

Li Wei received the news that the coalition forces had regained Jiankang, and immediately set off for Shaoguan, preparing to fish in troubled waters again.

However, the prefect of Jiayue who had just arrived at Jiayue Prefecture, and his second brother-in-law Tang Tianhe handed over the urgent mail for Feige from Ningyuan border gate.

Li Wei took it, glanced at it hastily, and couldn't help cursing, "I crossed your grandma's leg..."

Chapter 3 Rebels

To put it bluntly, Tang Wang Jili cannot be regarded as a faint king. He is more diligent than his father, the old Tang Wang, and has great ambitions to expand the territory, but he is suspicious by nature and eager for quick success. He can only be classified as a middle-of-the-road at best.

On the surface, Tang Wangjili’s government did not have too many major mistakes, but he has never been out of the palace, and his understanding of the people’s conditions is limited to the Tang newspapers of the prefects in various places. Judging from the data reported from various places, the empire is prosperous and the people are safe. It was the mighty empire of the past.

The ministers under him only have their own interests in their eyes, and they don't care about the life and death of the people at all. From top to bottom, from the inside to the outside, the entire government has gradually decayed and collapsed. The poor people under the tyrannical government have already developed strong dissatisfaction with the court.

In the past few years, the Tang Empire sent troops to invade the Qin Empire twice, and experienced a battle of the century in the middle. Both ended in disastrous defeats. The increasingly powerful Qin Empire took the initiative to provoke a war and regained the important gateway town of Pingtang.

The tragic offensive and defensive battle caused heavy losses to both sides. A large number of young and strong were conscripted into the army, and the fields were abandoned. At this time, the Jin Empire, the most powerful country in the mainland, suddenly invaded the Zhou Empire, triggering the war of the century again. The Tang Empire is next to the Zhou Empire. The Zhou Empire was wiped out, and the next target of the Jin Empire must be the Tang Empire. His lips were dead and his teeth were cold. Tang Wang Jili had to mobilize the whole country, recruit young and strong again, form a new army, and reinforce the Zhou Empire.

Li Wei also focused on carrying out two currency wars against the Tang Empire. A large amount of bad money flowed into the Tang Dynasty and stagnated the market, causing the currency to depreciate, and the price of goods soared.

Although the war with the Qin Empire has been suspended, there are still 20 troops besieging Pingyong, and the daily consumption of supplies is an astonishing amount.

The collection of grain and grass and other military supplies has caused the rich landlords and gentry to complain, not to mention the common people.

It can be said that the people of the Tang Empire have been driven to a dead end, and what is lacking is only an incident or a leader that can detonate public anger.

Li Wei's so-called "Thunder Action" was also conceived. It was personally planned by Jijiu Wuyou, a military officer of the right army, and sent a small number of elite veterans to sneak into the Tang Empire, pretending to be kind-hearted people who were cornered by the tyrannical government and turned into bandits.

After gaining a firm foothold, slowly encourage and win over the poor people of the Zhou Empire who have experienced the same experience, slowly accumulate strength, and when the time is right, raise the banner of rebellion.

A single spark can start a prairie fire. I believe that as long as someone takes the lead, the people of the Tang Empire who are driven to nowhere under the tyrannical government will definitely respond. At that time, there will be banners of rebels everywhere in the Tang Empire. He just fishes in troubled waters. If it goes on, it will definitely hurt the muscles and bones, and the national strength will be weakened again and again, and one will fade away. At that time, the king of Tang will have problems in self-protection, not to mention trying to regain the dangerous pass of Pingtang.

Li Wei hoped that the battle of the century would last as long as possible, and the purpose was to consume more national power of the empires. Therefore, he sincerely prayed that the Zhou Empire would be stable for the time being, and that nothing would happen, so that King Tang could feel at ease He dispatched various armies to support the Zhou Empire.

His wishful thinking was in full swing, but unfortunately, the sky was not as he wished, and the people of the Tang Empire who were driven to a dead end could not bear the oppression, and finally someone raised the banner of rebellion.

It was not the common people who caused the riots, but officers and soldiers.

The terrain of the Wulong Mountains is dangerous, and it is a natural barrier in the east of the Tang Empire. There is a Wulonggang on the mountainside, and a fortress is built on the hill, with two thousand troops stationed. This is not counting the reinforcement of the 5000+ army in the two counties of Baimo and Changchuan.

Although the military officers were mighty, they couldn't compare with the civilian officials when it came to earning money. Except when they took the opportunity to harm the people of one side during the war, they usually had nothing to do with their pay. Officers at all levels deducted the soldiers' pay.

When the imperial court allocated sufficient military salaries, although the officers withheld the soldiers’ military salaries, they only delayed the salaries for two or three months. This time the situation is a bit special, the treasury has already been empty, and the little salaries obtained by Tang Wangjili’s efforts can only be given priority Allocate it to the army that fought the war. If there is no war, it will be owed first, and it will be issued when the court has money.

Originally, a soldier’s monthly salary was three slings, but after being deducted by officers at all levels, he only got one and a half sacks. At the previous prices, he would not be hungry if he saved money, but now the price of food has skyrocketed by a few cents Ten to a hundred times, how much money can't buy a bucket of rice, how to support the family?

This situation has been going on for several months, and the poor people are so miserable that they sell their sons and daughters, gnaw tree bark, and even cannibalize human flesh.

The soldiers’ dissatisfaction has reached the verge of eruption. Hundreds of local soldiers clamored for the half-year’s salary owed by the officers, but they were suppressed, killing and injuring dozens of people, and finally aroused the soldiers The monstrous rage, the group attacked and killed the officer.

Wang Tang is from Wulong Town, he was born in a poor family, and his official position in the army is a small school. He was promoted step by step by virtue of his military exploits. Because of his background, he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and never underestimated the pity of the soldiers. The military pay, thus won the respect of the soldiers.

He was one of the leading brothers who led the soldiers to ask for their pay. The officer's bad attitude made the soldiers angry, and the strong suppression caused more than a dozen soldiers to be injured or injured. In the end, a mutiny was triggered. The angry soldiers killed those officers who usually deducted their pay. He and the county magistrate smashed and robbed the official warehouse.

Wang Tang just wanted to ask for pay, but he didn't expect things to turn out like this. He originally wanted to flee with a dozen good brothers in the army, but thousands of soldiers were willing to follow him. Taking refuge, the team suddenly grew to tens of thousands of people.

Wang Tang couldn't bear to abandon these thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of people, and knew that they would retreat at this time, and what was waiting for them would be to cut off their heads. As a last resort, he led these people into Ba County, killed the county magistrate, and ransacked the big households in the city. The granary was opened and the arsenal was opened at the same time, the army was armed, and the banner of rebellion was officially raised.

In just a few days, Wang Tang led his troops to capture five or six county towns, and his troops reached a frightening 20 people, and there was even a cavalry force of nearly 5000 people.

Wang Tang's rebellion shocked the government and the people of the Tang Empire, and it was like sparks sparking a prairie fire. In just ten days, more than a dozen incidents of killing officials and rebelling broke out across the country, and there were more than a dozen rebels.

The entire empire was in turmoil. At this time, King Jili of Tang panicked, and hurriedly ordered the 20 troops who were resting in Jiankang City of the Zhou Empire to return to the country immediately to suppress the rebellion.

At this time, the coalition forces were gathering in Jiankang City to rest and reorganize. The siege battle was extremely tragic, and the coalition forces suffered heavy losses. Coupled with the continuous fighting, the soldiers were exhausted and needed to rest, and the supply of military supplies was also tight.

The 20 Tang troops were ordered to evacuate, and winter was about to enter in two months. It would be difficult to capture Shangluo City or Shuzhou City, the frontiers of the Jin Empire. , it is better to withdraw troops.

The Jin Empire is now surrounded by flames of war. In addition, it has lost many battles and suffered heavy losses. The consumption of various materials is also so great that the King of Jin is struggling. It is the best policy to stick to the border. How dare he order an attack.

At this point, the battle of the century, which lasted for several months, came to an end.

3 chapter nine chaos

The Battle of the Century ended like this, and Li Wei's carefully deployed preparations were all in vain. In desperation, he had no choice but to order the army assembled in Shaoguan to disband.

The daily consumption of nearly [-] troops is too staggering, even local tyrants can't bear it.

"Master, did Tian Yu activate it now?"

Jijiu Wuyou, the right army teacher, asked softly. Although the war of the century is over, the rebels are everywhere in the Tang Empire. It is a good time to fish in troubled waters. Even if the rebels are finally suppressed, the vitality of the Tang Empire will be severely damaged, and the national strength will be further weakened.

He believed that after this turmoil, the national strength of the Qin Empire had steadily surpassed that of the Tang Empire. The Tang King might no longer be able to seize the dangerous pass of Pingtang in his lifetime, and it was the turn of the Qin Empire to bully the Tang Empire.

Things have come to this point, Li Wei can only follow the trend, let Wu You inform Tian Yu to rebel, and turn Tang Wang Jili against him.

"Old witch, think of a few more tricks to add more obstacles to Geely."

Li Wei lay on the table and stared at the map. He was a little hesitant now. There were five groups of Jinglei teams, each occupying five mountains, and they secretly developed their own forces. After the incident, would they be integrated?Or scattered, each doing his own thing?

When the five forces are integrated, they will become very powerful and have the strength to capture the county, but they must also become the first target of the Tang army to destroy.

Scattered, the target is small, but the strength is also weak, so they can only make small troubles. It is estimated that no matter how noisy they are, the old guy Tang Wang will not feel heartache, which is not in line with his purpose.

"Master, you can decide according to the situation and act according to circumstances."

Wu You said in a low voice, but she was muttering in her heart, what's the matter with the young master recently?

"cross."

Li Wei couldn't help being rude, he couldn't understand such a simple question, and he seemed to be on the edge of his horn again.

Depending on the situation and acting according to circumstances, Tian Yu is to be cautious, depending on the situation, if possible, unite, boldly make a vote, if not, then disperse, in short, completely delegate power to him.

"Master, we can send some more people over there."

Wu You's small eyes rolled around, and soon he had an idea.

Since the young master wanted to put all his efforts into blocking King Tang's auspiciousness and didn't want to send troops, he could only secretly give some support to the rebels from all walks of life.

Currently the most powerful is the rebel army commanded by Wang Tang, with a strength of up to 20 people, and it is said that there are [-] cavalry, which is not generally strong.

If you only look at the superficial data, it is really scary. Except for the most powerful Jin Empire, the standing armies of all empires do not have this number.

In fact, according to the information sent back by secret agents who infiltrated the rebel army, most of Wang Tang's 20 troops were women, children, and the elderly, and only 5 were young and strong. There were indeed [-] cavalry, but they had not received much training. The whole mob.

However, he had nearly [-] soldiers who followed him as the basis for starting a business, and he still had a certain combat power. What he lacked was weapons and equipment.

The Qin and Tang empires are still feuding, commerce and trade are cut off, and the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce cannot enter the Tang territory. It is unrealistic to support the rebels with weapons and equipment. Apart from supporting a certain amount of funds, they can only support people.

To be precise, it is supporting talents.

We must try our best to add obstacles to King Tang's auspiciousness, so that the rebel army cannot be easily wiped out by the official army. Therefore, the people sent should not only teach the rebel army how to fight, but also try to make the rebel army survive as much as possible. The longer the time, the longer the rebel army survived, the longer the civil war in the Tang Empire, the more turbulent the situation, the greater the internal friction of the national power, and the further weakening of the strength.

At the same time, in order to cooperate with the rebel army and put pressure on the Tang army in Baimo Changchuan, they can increase the troops of Gucheng and Jincheng with great fanfare. Of course, the increase of troops is too much, and the consumption is also high. The two counties only need to increase their troops by 6 each. With some tricks, [-] soldiers are enough to create a momentum of [-] or [-] people.

Li Wei patted Wu You's shoulder appreciatively, this move was vicious enough, worthy of the title of poisoner.