Become a feudal king from today

After signing the contract at the palace, Han Qi decided to return to Qizhou.

King Yan invited him to a banquet, but he lost his mood and declined.

Two million and four hundred thousand taels of silver were given to King Yan.

And if you don’t see the artillery, you have to give 1.2 million taels of silver first.

This is a money grab.

His heart ached.

"The craftsmen in Qizhou are all rubbish. It's better to kill them. The artillery made according to the Liang family's method is too rubbish." Sitting on the horse, Han Qi muttered angrily.

If the craftsmen could imitate the cannon, why would the Han family be so humble in front of King Yan?

But thinking of the huge power of the artillery, he suddenly felt relieved.

The money seems to be well spent.

…

The palace.

Zhao Xu handed the contract to Feng'er for safekeeping and went to the War Department directly.

The Han family came first.

He believed that other powerful clans would definitely be unable to bear it next.

The eight powerful families have always been united in dealing with the royal family.

But they value their own interests.

There is also intrigue inside, trying to overpower each other.

Therefore, they will not let the Han family go ahead of them.

"Divide and transform." On the way to the Bingzhan Division, Zhao Xu suddenly thought of this word.

When dealing with the Zhang family, he used the strategy of division.

This will prevent them from focusing on themselves.

Secondly, it makes them fear each other and drags down their energy.

Nowadays, the Xie family, one of the eight powerful families, has always wanted to win over him to support the deposed prince.

This may be an opportunity.

As far as he knew, Zhao Heng did not depose the prince willingly.

It was just due to pressure from powerful officials.

In fact, I have always wanted to restore the deposed prince.

Therefore, if you choose to support the prince, you will not only gain the trust of the Xie family and create a gap between the Xie family and other powerful families, but also satisfy Zhao Heng.

At the same time, he also expressed an attitude to everyone that he, King Yan, had no intention of becoming the heir apparent, thereby reducing the ill will from the capital.

After all, accumulating food widely, becoming king slowly, and building walls high are his way of survival.

Arrive at the Bingzhan Division.

Zhao Xu immediately participated in the development of the drilling machine with Wang Ying.

In the next three days, he gave lectures in the Three Great Halls in the morning and spent time in the Military Department in the afternoon.

At noon on the fourth day, an urgent order from the court arrived.

Also arriving at almost the same time was the information sent back from the capital by Yanwei.

Zhao Xu immediately called Chang Wei and Liu Fu over.

"The emperor ordered me and Ma Chong, the new head of the Ma family, to send troops to Jinzhou and recapture Jincheng. What do you think?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Ma Chong? How is this person?" Liu Fu asked.

"According to the information I have received, this Ma Chong is not his legitimate son, but he is the eldest son of Ma. He is greedy and cruel and has made no achievements in the Imperial College. It is also said that he has close contacts with Dou Wei's eldest son, Dou Kuang."

"The Dou family." Liu Fu rolled his eyes, "Your Highness, why do you think this matter is too strange? The generals of Jincheng rebelled, and then the Ma family father and son died tragically. This is too coincidental, as if someone deliberately disturbed Da Song. Chaos in the Northwest.”

Chang Wei didn't think it was anything at first, but when Liu Fu said this, he immediately became suspicious and narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't matter whether it's a coincidence or not. Now it's a fait accompli. Someone has to settle the troubles in the northwest." Zhao Xu said.

He knew that Liu Fu was doubting the Dou family, and he believed that someone in the court was also doubting the Dou family.

But no one can conclude that the Dou family did this just based on the close relationship between the Dou family and Ma Chong.

And even if the Ma family's affairs can be said to be suspicious of the Dou family.

But the rebel generals in Jincheng could not find any connection with the Dou family.

So the clever thing about this matter is that he and many others are suspicious, and there is no way to do anything about it.

What's more, after Ma Chong inherits the Ma family, he may get closer to the Dou family.

In this way, the Dou family will undoubtedly become the largest force in Dasong.

Zhao Heng is probably very worried now.

"But if this is really the case, I think this is obviously aimed at His Highness." Liu Fu looked worried, "It's just that His Highness has never provoked the Dou family."

Chang Wei's face turned red, and Liu Fuyue said he was angry, "Even if His Highness provoked him, how could he just watch the 80,000 forbidden troops in Jincheng die for his own selfish interests!"

Liu Fu frowned and glanced at Chang Wei, "Childish! What does the life and death of the Forbidden Army have to do with his Dou family? These powerful people want the Forbidden Army to die and let their own troops control the capital."

"If this is really the case, this Dou Wei really should be cut into pieces with a thousand cuts!" Chang Wei's fist clenched loudly.

Zhao Xu paced back and forth.

When Rima's family came to question him that day, he felt a strong sense of conspiracy spreading in the northwest of Dasong.

While someone wants to deal with the Ma family, they also create trouble for themselves.

"If it is really the Dou family, he must have a very deep conspiracy." Zhao Xu said slowly.

And regarding the Ma family, perhaps it was originally a deeply buried chess game.

But in order to deal with him, it was activated in advance.

But this also made the Dou family suspicious.

Perhaps Dou Wei weighed the pros and cons, and in the end he felt it was more important to deal with himself.

As long as there is no evidence, what does it matter if others are suspicious?

Of course, this assumes that their guess is correct.

Liu Fu and Chang Wei looked at each other after hearing this.

After pondering for a while, Liu Fu said: "As His Highness said, the powerful family and the royal family are incompatible with each other. Dou Wei can do such crazy things. Your Highness should always be vigilant in the future. If..."

Speaking of this, Liu Fu remained silent.

Chang Wei listened and saw that Liu Fu was no longer talking. He spoke frankly and said: "If the world is in chaos, your highness should be prepared."

Zhao Xu nodded.

In his opinion, there will definitely be a bloody storm between the powerful clan and the royal family in the future. Either the east wind will prevail over the west wind, or the west wind will prevail over the east wind.

But not before they kill themselves.

They don't have the guts to break up with the royal family yet.

And if they wanted to kill him, he wouldn't give them this chance.

"Let's put this matter aside for now and let's talk about Jinzhou. Even if there is no decree, allowing Jinzhou to be occupied by Xiliang will be a threat to Yanzhou." Zhao Xu said.

In his opinion, this battle must be fought, even for the sake of Jinzhou's population and coal resources.

"We will definitely fight, but the Ma family is unreliable like this, so the general thought that His Highness should ask the Emperor to delay for three months and give Yanzhou three months to train new soldiers." Chang Wei said.

Liu Fudao: "General Chang is right. We must not rush to accept the battle this time. Otherwise, if Beidi takes the opportunity to come, Yanzhou will be in danger."

Zhao Xu nodded.

He agreed with both of them.

But besides training new recruits, he had an idea.

That is to try to make a batch of flintlock guns within these three months.

In this way, he will be more confident after the battle in Jinzhou.

After discussing the matter, he immediately wrote a note and asked Zhao Heng to allow him to send troops to Jinzhou in three months.