These years of being the queen mother!

Because there was another disaster in the Yansui area, the Empress Dowager Yang ordered Wei Xing's daughter Wei Ning to be the princess of Wei Changning, which did not cause much repercussions. After all, the old man Wei Zhongxian strongly agreed with it, isn't it? Conferring a princess with a different surname is not conferring a king with a different surname, so the officials are too lazy to speak out to persuade them, so as not to ask for trouble.

Xiong Wanyou and the freshly released Princess Changning hovered in Beijing for several days, and after the Lantern Festival, finally, under the reluctance of Zhu Shuxie, Zhu Shuwei, and Wei Zhongxian who hadn't had enough of her great-granddaughter, they brought a generous salute, mighty Back to Liaodong.

Soon after Xiong Wanyou and Princess Changning left, Empress Dowager Yang summoned Sun Yuanhua and the cabinet assistant Xu Guangqi alone, and asked emphatically whether a more powerful cannon could be made on the basis of the red cannon.

"I don't know if your majesty and your majesty want to hear the truth or lies!" As an outstanding artillery expert in the late Ming Dynasty, Sun Yuanhua's talent was no worse than Xu Guangqi's.Is it just about politics? It’s not as good as Old Xu, so I understand Western learning. Comrade Old Xu has already served as Minister of Rites and entered the cabinet, while he is still serving as Fang Lang.

Empress Dowager Yang did not want to answer this somewhat pretentious question.Just when she was about to let Sun Yuanhua speak directly, she saw the little emperor Zhu Cilin's eyes shining brightly and asked:

"What is the truth and what is the lie?"

"The lie is that I will do my best to create a cannon that is as powerful as the Hongyi cannon within three to five years, but the truth... what I said above is a lie, and I will not be able to create a cannon within three to five years. A cannon that is as powerful as the Hongyi cannon came out..."

Empress Dowager Yang nodded, she was not angry about it, but asked kindly: "Then Yi Aiqing means..."

"The empress dowager asked me to go to Liaodong immediately, and serve as Lord Wei's deputy, fully responsible for the maintenance and manufacture of artillery. I will do my best to assist Lord Wei, so that the Tartar bandits can experience the power of firearms."

Sun Yuanhua lowered his head, and said respectfully and politely: "It's just that I can't use it at the same time. I really don't have the confidence to create a cannon with greater performance than the Hongyi cannon in a short time..."

"What Chuyang (Sun Yuanhua's word) said is very true. Since ancient times, weapons (referring to artillery) have not been surpassed. It is most convenient to use them to defend the city. It's just that the casting method of Western cannons has been lost. Now the officials of the Ministry of Industry can only To imitate the anti-red barbarian cannon that has almost the same firepower as the red barbarian cannon. If you want to get a more powerful cannon, you can only buy it through the hands of barbarians for the time being. Therefore, I boldly proposed to ask your mother and Your Majesty to agree to recruit Western soldiers. , for technical guidance!"

Are you recruiting Western soldiers?

Xu Guangqi, you still came up with this idea just like in history!Of course, you are luckier than Xu Guangqi in history. Now I, Yang Lingyue, are in charge of the house, not the mean, ungrateful, suspicious and fickle Emperor Chongzhen, so even if there are many worries, the Ai family will not object too much!

But, do you really want to buy firearms from the Portuguese and recruit Western soldiers?

Thinking of the occupied Macau, Empress Dowager Yang felt uncomfortable for a while. It is true that Macau is not called Macau but Haojingao. It is not prosperous, it is just a small fishing village near the sea.But it still belongs to Daming's land, so it was seized just like that...

Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Yang wished she could immediately send troops to drive them all back to Europe, but no... at least not for now...

Empress Dowager Yang took a deep breath, suppressed the overflowing anger, looked at Xu Guangqi and said seriously: "According to Xu Qing's intention, you are responsible for the recruitment of Western soldiers, and the money spent will be from Ai's family and the emperor's private treasury." out……"

Zhu Cilin's eyes widened on the spot when he heard that his prodigal mother was going to take money out of the private treasury again. "Mother, can't you leave the treasury?"

Empress Dowager Yang rolled her eyes at Zhu Cilin, who was so distressed that her eyes were red, and said unhappily: "As long as you are not afraid of the censors who will write to the sky and say that you are not doing business, you can draw expenses from the treasury."

This guy Zhu Cilin's attitude towards the officials is the same as his emperor's father who died early. He avoids them when he can, and closes his ears if he can't.Now, hearing Empress Dowager Yang say that spending from the national treasury will cause the officials to jump up and down, chattering and reasoning, Zhu Cilin's face collapsed, and at the same time secretly cursing that the officials are too disgusting, he just accepted his fate sigh.

"Okay, let's open a private treasury. But Xu Qing, you have to understand that this money is not easy to come by. I saved it from the nails. You can't waste it. You have to spend it all wisely." !"

What Zhu Cilin said was good, but there was only one truth, and that was regret that he hadn't covered the warm money in his pocket.Empress Dowager Yang understood this point, but this money-loving brat crawled out of her stomach anyway, so Empress Dowager Yang didn't have the intention to tear things down, but was in line with the Tao.

"The emperor is right. Since the Western soldiers are recruited, the money has to be spent, but it should not be spent indiscriminately. You must know that the Yansui area has suffered another disaster, and we must prepare food and grass for relief."

Spring begins every four years in Taichang, and there is still a long drought and no rain in the Yansui area. Even if there are large windmills and deep wells, the riverbed has shrunk, and the well water alone is still only enough for humans and animals, so it is an inevitable result to open food for disaster relief...

Shi Fenglai, who had been in the position of chief assistant for four years, handled the disaster relief with ease. Therefore, Empress Dowager Yang only gave Shi Fenglai a few words, and left Shi Fenglai alone to deal with it.

The reason why Empress Dowager Yang said this now is just to let Xu Guangqi understand that money is hard-won and needs to be handled carefully and not to be extravagant and wasteful, rather than worrying about disaster relief. After all, since the promotion of high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, people now have The food surplus during the holidays is not like worrying about where to get the food for disaster relief in previous years!

Empress Dowager Yang paused, and after Xu Guangqi said that he would do his best to complete the recruitment of Western soldiers, he said again. "Xu Qing is at ease in doing things. As for Sun Qing, even if he can't develop a cannon that is better than the Hongyi cannon in a short time, then don't delay in the capital. He needs to rush to Liaodong as soon as possible to assist Wei Qing in defending the border. yes!"

"I respect the holy words!"

Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua bowed their hands at the same time and withdrew from the Hall of Mental Cultivation.After the two well-known experts of western studies in later generations left, Empress Dowager Yang looked at Zhu Cilin. She wanted to ask him about his homework, but found that the little emperor Zhu Cilin looked deep in thought, and asked curiously: "What's wrong!"

"Mother, is it expensive to buy firearms like a barbarian!"

Empress Dowager Yang nodded and replied, "It's really expensive. Some European countries have become rich by selling arms."

"In this case, can we sell weapons?" The little emperor Zhu Cilin's eyes suddenly lit up as if he saw mountains of gold and silver. "Those barbarians can enrich the country by selling arms, why can't my majestic Ming Dynasty also enrich the country by selling arms!"

"Of course. It's just the emperor. There is a premise in this, that is, the latest and strongest ones are always in your hands, and the sales are nothing more than inferior products! It's like the twenty doors that Xu Qing once bought from Portugal. The Red Barbarian Cannon, the Red Barbarians say it is the latest technology, and most European navies also use this to defend against the enemy, but do you believe it, Huanger..."

Zhu Cilin shook his head: "I don't believe it, not only I don't believe it, even the wolf dog I raised with my own hands probably won't believe it!"

This is saying...

Don't even believe in dogs...

Empress Dowager Yang chuckled, and spared Zhu Cilin's face with her fingernails painted red Danko, and when he pouted in dissatisfaction, she just smiled and said: "It's okay to make money by selling firearms, but not now."

"Then when is the right time to see Yimu?" Zhu Cilin asked curiously with her eyes widened.

"At least we have to wait until the Tartars are completely dealt with! Even if they are inferior products, Aijia doesn't want to fall into the hands of the Tartars, and let the Tartars turn around and use them to beat us."

"What the queen mother said is very true." Zhu Cilin nodded seriously, but then brought up the matter of counter-intrigue again. "I don't know what the Tartars are thinking, but they actually set their minds on uncle. It's really..."

"Isn't it good?" Empress Dowager Yang asked with a smile: "Look at them, they have been busy, but in the end they didn't catch anything, but exposed the spy who had been lurking all along. What is this called? Just wait and see, Houjin will become even more lively than it is now. The Ai family is stingy, and the Tatar Chief has come up with a trick, and the Ai family will always have to pay back something to relieve their anger."

Huang Taiji and Fan Wenchen sang an indirect plan. Empress Dowager Yang felt that she could not treat one more favorably than another, so she asked the able-bodied members of the factory guard to go on a secret business trip to Shengjing to give Huang Taiji a bloody gift.

Yang Lingyue, who is familiar with history, knows that in history, Huang Taiji cast the red cannon in Taichang (Chongzhen?) for four years.Hou Jinyuan had no firearms, and the casting of cannons began from then on.In this time and space, because Mingda, who is based in Liaodong, did not propose "offensive foreign relations" like Yuan Chonghuan did in history, he generously borrowed food to win over the Mongolian ministries. Mongolian tribes.

Later, the soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Golden Banners looted Goryeo and also robbed a large amount of food and grass, but it seemed like a drop in the bucket to give a small amount to the tribes of Mongolia.In addition, there was a lack of manpower for gold and iron smelting was backward. Even if there were a large number of Chinese craftsmen who plundered, they could not cast red cannons and farm tools at the same time, so they had to give up half.

In order to stabilize the people's livelihood under his rule, Huang Taiji could only develop agriculture first and postpone casting red cannons.And this happened to give Yang Lingyue, a time-traveling woman who is familiar with the process of history, a chance...

Yang Lingyue didn't want Houjin to have firearms, at least when the Ming army didn't have higher-level artillery.So Yang Lingyue seized this opportunity and sent a large number of skilled factory guards to sneak into Houjin and kill all the craftsmen who worked for the Houjin regime.It is true that a large part of them worked for Houjin just to survive, but the cruel Yang Lingyue gave this cold order in order to kill and delay Houjin's possession of firearms.And this is why Empress Dowager Yang expected that Shengjing would become more lively than it is now.

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