Tibet

Prince Li Heng was very excited tonight. He simply called his sons to the East Palace, saying that he was considering safety. In fact, Li Heng wanted to talk to his eldest son. He accidentally heard the name Li Ye, and it seemed that Li Ye was suppressing the rebellion. played a key role.

He had a vague intuition that his eldest son Li Chu knew about this.

In the room, Li Heng asked his eldest son Li Chudao: "Regarding tonight's mutiny, are you still hiding something from me?"

Li Chu knew that his father was going to ask him, so he quickly saluted and said: "My child dare not hide it, there is something going on. My child was planning to tell his father tonight, but halfway through, my child heard the news of the mutiny. I didn't expect it to happen so quickly." .”

"Just tell me what happened!" Li Heng said a little anxiously.

"Last night when the boy returned home, he met Li Ye on the way. He said that he could solve the current crisis for his father, but he had conditions."

"condition?"

Li Heng snorted dissatisfiedly, "His father Li Dai will never negotiate any terms with me?"

Although Li Dai didn't know how to make conditions, he couldn't do many things, but Li Chu didn't dare to say this, so he bowed his head and stopped talking.

Li Heng looked at him and said, "Tell me what conditions he wants."

"He wants the west of Congling!" Li Chu whispered.

Li Heng raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"He actually wants to serve as the economic envoy of Datang River for life, and he will be hereditary."

"He wants to support his own army? He actually wants to be hereditary?" Li Heng suddenly became dissatisfied.

Li Chu said helplessly: "Father, considering our situation yesterday, this condition is actually not high. After all, the west of Congling does not really belong to the Tang Dynasty."

"Hmph! I'm not saying he made any conditions, he simply took advantage of others' danger."

Li Heng said angrily: "He clearly knows what will happen today, but he still dares to offer such conditions. What else can he do instead of taking advantage of others' danger?"

"Father, we do owe him a big favor!"

"I know he made great contributions tonight and helped us a lot, but these are two different things. He made great contributions, and I will compensate him in other ways in the future."

Li Chu immediately said anxiously: "Father, the child is already gone."

"No buts!"

Li Heng interrupted his son's words and said with great dissatisfaction: "He is a minister, and he only does what a minister should do. As for how to commend and how to compensate, it is not his turn to make conditions for me in the future because of the considerations of the superior." He is also the superior, you must keep this in mind.”

"Yes! I remember it, kid." Li Chu was really helpless. His father didn't recognize the agreement he had reached with Li Ye, and he didn't know how to explain it to Li Ye.

Early the next morning, word spread in the court that the mutiny launched by King Rong failed last night. It was said that Feilong, who had been resurrected from the dead, also participated in the mutiny. Li Ye arrived in time to save the emperor and the imperial concubine.

At dawn, General Zhao Lin of the Longwu Army led three thousand Longwu Army to surround Xuanduguan, arrested hundreds of Feilong's disciples, and seized all Feilong's belongings.

In a secret warehouse in Xuanduguan, soldiers seized nearly one million copper coins and a large amount of other materials, all of which were transported to the emperor's inner treasury.

The inner warehouse of the Emperor is located in the southwest of Taiye Pool. It is composed of five large bluestone warehouses connected together. They look like five petals and are surrounded by tall walls and guarded by soldiers.

The inner reservoir area is connected to the Cao River and Taiye Pool. More than twenty large ships are moored on the Cao River. Hundreds of soldiers moved large boxes down one by one and sent them into the inner reservoir.

Yuan Siyi is the general manager of the palace, and the inner treasury is also under his jurisdiction. He and a dozen eunuchs are inspecting the properties that have just been moved into the palace. These are Feilong's properties, and more than a dozen eunuchs are registering them one by one.

"Is there a black powder?"

Yuan Siyi asked a eunuch, "It seems to be called gunpowder!"

This is what An Lushan specially sent to Yuan Siyi to find a way to steal the gunpowder made by Feilong and the second volume of "Treasure Book". They will pay a high price.

The eunuch pointed to the northwest corner and said, "General Manager, go and have a look over there. There seems to be black powder there!"

Yuan Siyi came to a eunuch in the northwest corner again and saw that he was checking a wooden barrel. There was a kind of black powder in the barrel. Yuan Siyi guessed that this was what An Lushan wanted. When he smelled it, there was a strange smell. the smell.

"What is this?" Yuan Siyi asked quietly.

"I don't even know if I'm a humble official. There's gunpowder written on the lid. It's probably a Taoist priest's alchemy item."

At this time, another eunuch next to him said: "I think I saw it in a book just now. There is a record. It seems to be a kind of military material."

Yuan Siyi was overjoyed. It turned out to be gunpowder. The book the eunuch mentioned should be a treasure book. He quickly ordered: "Which book is it? Find it for me quickly."

The eunuch searched for a while and found a large brocade box with two large characters written on it, "Treasure Book".

There were two scrolls with words on them, a civilian scroll and a military scroll. Yuan Siyi unfolded the military scroll on the table. Inside were the making methods of various military equipment, including large siege weapons, and the making of various weapons. At the end, he saw, "Gunpowder burns when exposed to fire, and is a good product for igniting fire. If a barrel of medicine is sealed and explodes, the house collapses, and all the people and horses are reduced to powder. It is incredibly powerful and is a sharp weapon in war. Here are the recipes and details." Production Method. ’

Yuan Siyi's heart pounded, this is it, this is an opportunity to make a fortune!

He put away the treasure book as if nothing had happened, handed it to his men, and then ordered: "These things are not wealth, they are fire starters. It is not safe to put them here. Send them all to the medicinal material warehouse for storage."

As for the other civilian volume, he was not interested.

In the afternoon, Liu Luogu hurried to Yuan Siyi's house. Yuan Siyi invited him to sit in the inner hall. Liu Luogu asked anxiously: "Did Mr. Yuan find the gunpowder?"

"Exactly!"

Yuan Siyi smiled and said: "Does Commander Liu know its function?"

"Our emperor has told me repeatedly, but I have never seen it, let alone its function!"

Yuan Siyi waved, and two strong men brought up a small copper tripod, which was filled with black powder. Yuan Siyi winked, and the strong men threw a fire stick into the copper tripod. With a "Boom!", red flames soared into the sky. , filled with thick smoke.

Liu Luogu was startled, stood up and took two steps back. When the smoke dissipated, he slowly sat down and asked with lingering fear: "Mr. Yuan, is this gunpowder?"

Yuan Siyi smiled and said: "This is the gunpowder your emperor has always wanted. I took it from Feilong's secret room. There are fifty barrels in total. I guess he found it when he was refining alchemy. It is used in the military to ignite fire. It is more powerful than sulfur and hay." too much."

Liu Luogu was a man who knew the goods. He could see at a glance that this kind of gunpowder had a wide range of military uses and was very easy to carry.

"How much of this gunpowder is there?"

"Fifty barrels, each barrel weighs twenty kilograms, which is about a thousand kilograms. There is also the second volume of the "Treasure Book" that you want. The raw materials, formulas and production methods of gunpowder are recorded in it, as well as other siege weapons. We don’t even need more gunpowder and treasure books to make them, and the fixed price is 50,000 guan.”

Yuan Siyi asked someone to bring the treasure book and handed it to Liu Luogu. Liu Luogu opened it and looked at it. He was not very interested in making various weapons and siege equipment in front of him. These weapons supervisors had them and they had already obtained them. , the key is the last gunpowder, he looked at it carefully and suddenly felt like he had found a treasure.

"It's a deal, 50,000 yuan, I'll transport the things away today."

Although Feilong was born in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, he was only a third-rate Taoist priest in a small place after all. He knew nothing about the military knowledge of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The gunpowder formula and production were learned when they were making alchemy, so the contents in his treasure book The content is actually the technology of the Tang Dynasty, which is of course a treasure for small countries in the Western Regions or large food countries, but for An Lushan, it is not anything profound, and they can easily obtain these military technical materials.

The only bright spot is gunpowder. This is what An Lushan asked for by name. Yuan Siyi also knows it well. He knows that this is the only thing he can sell for money.

Liu Luogu took out a 50,000-guan Baoji counter note and a jade pendant, and Yuan Siyi accepted them with satisfaction.

That night, Liu Luogu sent someone to go north with fifty barrels of gunpowder and treasure books, and crossed the Yellow River through Yanzhou to Hebei.