Siheyuan: I'm not happy, don't even think about having a good life

After Wei Zhongxian left, Hong Guan quietly held the armrest of the dragon throne. A pair of small hands appeared, placed on Hong Guan's shoulders, kneading them gently, and then placed them on his temples.

Hong Guan leaned his head back, soft and considerate. The person who gave Hong Guan a massage was Zhang Yan. She had been well-behaved since childhood, and she felt that Hong Guan had a fatal attraction that made her unable to resist getting closer.

"You haven't been to the sisters' chambers for a long time. It's time to go see them. Otherwise, many people will have ideas, which will be detrimental to the stability of the harem."

Hong Guan rubbed his brows and opened his eyes. "Will my flaws be discovered?"

"You don't know anything about the palace. Xiao Ge'er didn't meet them much before, and they don't know him either. It's okay!"

Hong Guan patted Zhang Yan's hand and said, "Then leave it to you to arrange. I can do anything."

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and Hong Guan was a little reluctant to leave. For this, Zhang Yan often rolled her eyes, and she looked unhappy at first.

Hong Guan was also helpless. He really couldn't bear it. The women in the harem understood too well.

When they arrived at the imperial study, Zhang Yan was reviewing memorials on the side. Wei Zhongxian was standing in front, with Lu Wenzhao, Ding Baiying and others standing behind him. When they saw Hong Guan coming out, Ding Baiying and the others' pupils shrank, unable to tell whether it was real or fake!

"Banban, you go and do your work first. Don't delay the things I have assigned to you. There are also horses. The new soldiers need three horses for each person, two for transfer and one for carrying equipment. They must be top-quality war horses!"

"Yes, I understand!"

After hearing Hong Guan's voice change, Ding Baiying and the others became even more confused. Their muscles tensed and they were ready to take action at any time.

After Wei Zhongxian left, Hong Guanping dismissed his attendants, leaving only Zhang Yan behind. "What? Why are you so reserved? Relax a little, we are all family!"

Hearing Hong Guanben's voice, Ding Baiying and others were a little bit unbelievable, only Ding Xiu asked carelessly, "Brother Guan, how did you do this?"

Hong Guan walked towards the few people. Before he took a step, his joints made crackling sounds. Soon his height changed to 1.85 meters again. His originally loose dragon robe became tight!

"Remember the fake hand I asked you to find? This is his method, not bad, isn't it?"

The others were surprised, but Lu Wenzhao was horrified. Oh my god, the emperor was being replaced by someone else! He took three steps back and was about to fall, but was stopped by Ding Xiu.

"Uncle Master, you are too timid. Even if I give you a chance, you are useless!"

Lu Wenzhao stood up with difficulty and asked in a suspicious tone, "Are you Hong Guan?"

"Who else could it be? You didn't think the assassination attempt that day really failed, did you? You want to change your way of life, so now is your chance, right?"

"You are committing treason and plotting to usurp the throne!"

Hong Guan couldn't help laughing and said, "That doesn't count. After all, the future of the world still belongs to the Zhu family. I'm just helping to make the Ming Dynasty prosperous again and create a peaceful and prosperous era.

Did you hear the new army I mentioned to Wei Zhongxian just now? It will be a brand new army, with brand new equipment built by me, and the best troops selected from other troops.

Use the traitors in the Ming Dynasty to train troops. To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. Eliminate all unstable factors. Go out and destroy the Tartars. After that, it’s the surrounding areas of the Ming Dynasty. I want those restless barbarians to submit to me!”

Ding Baiying said hesitantly, "Won't this be too time-consuming and costly? Wouldn't the people suffer even more?"

Hong Guan laughed loudly, and those who laughed were confused. They thought that after Hong Guan replaced Zhu Youxiao, he didn't know who he was!

"Why should we let the people suffer? Do you know how much silver Wei Zhongxian got me some time ago? One hundred million taels, and tens of millions of taels of gold. The treasury of my Ming Dynasty will never be short of money again.

Even if we are short of money, there are still so many Donglin Party members and big businessmen who are in collusion with them. When the time comes, you can bring the new army to raid them. Will we still be short of money?"

Lu Wenzhao couldn't help but speak up, "Hong Guan, isn't this too reckless? Aren't you afraid that the people will say you are a tyrant, which will backfire?"

Hong Guan shook his finger nonchalantly. "What do the people care about? They want to have enough to eat, warm clothes, land to farm, and houses to live in. Once I kill these people, I will let the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang publish the evidence of their crimes.

At the same time, they sold their good farmland to the people at a low price, and distributed the extra money and books to the people, including the grain in their granaries. If you were a commoner, would you still care who died? "

Lu Wenzhao looked at Hong Guan. Although he felt that his idea was dangerous, he really couldn't find any words to refute it!

"So what do you want us to do?"

Hong Guan picked up a book from the imperial desk and threw it to Lu Wenzhao. It was the new book on Jixiao that had been revised in later generations. Hong Guan asked Zhang Yan to copy a copy by hand.

"This is the new book on military achievements left by General Qi Jiguang. From now on, the new army will belong to you, and you will be responsible for the training. I want to see a new army that can sweep the world within half a year!"

Lu Wenzhao was holding Ji Xiao's new book, and he was excited but hesitant to speak. Seeing his thoughts, he smiled nonchalantly and said, "You think I'm talking nonsense, right? Come with me, I'll show you!"

Zhang Yan stood up and, together with Hong Guan, brought the five people to the garden behind the imperial study. There were many wooden bows and crossbows placed there. Hong Guan picked up a crossbow and shot an arrow at a target in the distance.

The crossbow arrow hit the center of the bull's eye, and then his hand kept shaking the handle, shooting arrows continuously, and he didn't stop until he had shot ten times in a row.

“This crossbow is the smallest one, and it’s lethal within a range of a hundred steps!

Hong Guan also demonstrated three other specifications of crossbows, including crossbows with a range of 200 steps, 400 steps, and 1,000 steps. Most importantly, the first three types can fire ten times in a row. Even for the crossbow, the arrow loading speed is five times faster than before, and it is easier to operate.

"In the future, these will be made of iron, which will be more durable, and the range may be improved. With them, can we sweep the world?"

Not to mention a few people, even Zhang Yan, who had only read some military books, was so excited that her face turned red.

"Hong Guan, don't worry. As long as I have these equipments, I can fight the Tartars even if I have only 5,000, not to mention 10,000 new soldiers. I will beat them so hard that they dare not leave the city."

Hong Guan played with the crossbow arrow. "It's not enough that they dare not leave the city. I want to make them destroy their country and their race, and let them feel the pain they brought to the people of the Ming Dynasty!"

"But these bows and crossbows are more suitable for field battles. If we want to attack a city, I'm afraid they are not powerful enough!"

Hong Guan walked forward and they followed him automatically. When they came to a corner, they saw something covered with black cloth. With a little force, the black cloth was thrown up, revealing a ferocious giant crossbow inside.

“This thing is called a city-breaking crossbow. It requires hundreds of people to operate it, but the crossbow arrows are incredibly powerful. One arrow can leave a hole in the city gate, and the parts can be disassembled.

If we hit the bolt inside, we can break through the gate with one arrow!"

Lu Wenzhao and his men breathed rapidly. With this terrifying giant crossbow, they might be able to lead 10,000 new troops and completely destroy the Tartars!

Hong Guan was laughing, "Haha, don't worry, there are still good things, follow me and I'll show you!"

Several people came to a small room next to the garden. Hong Guan took out a wooden light armor made from materials from the Elf Forest at a tailor shop. It could protect the main torso and its defense was not inferior to iron armor!

"Ding Xiu, come and put it on!"

Ding Xiu put it on after hearing that. Hong Guan asked him to step back, and Ding Xiu felt something was wrong. When he stepped back, he felt a little panicked for no reason. "Brother Guan, you are not going to cheat me, are you?"

Hong Guan laughed, took out the smallest crossbow, and fired ten shots at Ding Xiu. He watched him jump up and down, but was still hit by four arrows. Ding Xiu screamed strangely, but found that he was not injured.

"This is the light armor I prepared for you. Although it is made of wood, I used my own secret method to refine it. Its defense is almost the same as that of heavy armor. It can defend against ordinary arrows without any problem."

Lu Wenzhao and Ding Baiying picked up the light armor and touched it. "Could this be the rattan armor that was said to be invulnerable to swords and spears during the Three Kingdoms period?"

Hong Guan smiled and nodded, "Almost, but the light armor I made is not afraid of fire. Unless it is kept under fire, it will not burn!"

Several people nodded in surprise. A light cavalry unit with the same defense as heavy cavalry and powerful weapons like city-breaking crossbows would be ridiculous if it still couldn't defeat the Tatars!

"Hong Guan, if everyone can have such equipment, I, Lu Wenzhao, guarantee that the Tartars will be destroyed!"

"Haha, don't be so cruel. Women and children can be allowed to enter the country. In ten or twenty years, they will be no different from other ethnic groups living in the Central Plains!"

Lu Wenzhao nodded and felt relieved. If his country was really going to be destroyed, even if he won, his reputation would be ruined!

After looking at the equipment of the new army, Hong Guan took out the weapons made for them. Each person had a two-meter-long Miao sword, a Qi family sword, and two short swords like the ones used by Ding Xian.

In the movie, in order to make the characters vivid, everyone has his own weapon. In fact, in reality, they all use these weapons. The Miao Dao is the first choice for horse battles, the Qi Family Dao is the infantry weapon, and the short sword is a guard-type weapon.

When the few people got their new stuff, they couldn't let it go and kept touching it, especially Ding Xiu. Even if he was the most beautiful girl in the brothel, he wouldn't show such an expression.

Lu Wenzhao's hand stopped and said, "Hong Guan, do you want to transfer Shen Lian to the new army? There is another person named Lin Pingzhi beside him, who is also good at martial arts."

Hong Guan shook his head and said, "I have other arrangements for these two people. They will be of great use to me if they stay in Jinyiwei. But soon, I will promote Shen Lian to be the governor of pacification. There are more important things for him to do.

Also, you are the only ones who know what happened here today, and Shen Lian cannot tell anyone, understand?"

Knowing that Hong Guan had not forgotten Shen Lian, Lu Wenzhao nodded with satisfaction. Today's matter was finally settled.

Before leaving, Hong Guan took out a gold medal and threw it to Lu Wenzhao, "The new army is directly under my command. If any problems arise, you can report them at any time with the gold medal. If anyone else obstructs the establishment of the new army, you can find Wei Zhongxian and I will report to him!"

After everyone said goodbye, Hong Guan called Wei Zhongxian back and had dinner with him. He told him about the things that the new army should pay attention to, and Wei Zhongxian was flattered.

When asking about the craftsmen, I learned that because the wages were high, they had recruited about 3,000 people from Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other places.

“Very good, the workshop can start now. I will give you the blueprints later and ask the craftsmen to produce different parts according to their proficiency.

Different parts must be separated, and no one is allowed to communicate with each other, otherwise they will be beheaded. If anyone dares to take the wages of the craftsmen, no matter who they are, they will be executed by slow slicing! "

Wei Zhongxian paused while picking up the food, then immediately stood up and bowed to agree!

Hong Guan asked him to sit down again. "Banban, you don't have to be like this. This is all the business of the people below. It has nothing to do with you. Just pass on the message. If there is any problem, I won't blame you. They are asking for death. Just don't be heartless when the time comes!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I know that whoever dares to make a small move will be made to cease to be a human being!"

"Well, that's good! We need to produce more parts, at least 30,000 of each. I've already marked the parts that are prone to breakage. We need to at least double the number of these parts and produce 60,000 of them. Do you understand?"

"I understand, but the consumption of ore is huge. I'm afraid our current reserves are insufficient!"

"Haha, then go buy some. When a batch of bows and crossbows come out, send out the new army and arrest those people. None of them will be innocent. Then you can arrange for obedient people to take over. As long as the price is fair, I won't bother you!"

Wei Zhongxian showed his delight. Just thinking about the wealth of those coal bosses in later generations, he knew how terrifying the profits were. This was much faster than the corruption that he had to worry about, and he didn't even have to worry about losing his head!