Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Goryeo sent envoys by sea and landed in Dengzhou, and the performance was sent to Tokyo first.

Guo Shao observed that it was written in neat Chinese characters. First of all, they claim that Goryeo's rites, music, and clothes all respect Tang style, which is the same as that of Central Plains. Hearing that the emperor of the Central Plains was very happy to defeat Liao, he expressed his congratulations. Then he scolded the Liao Kingdom for a long time, and Guo Shao was most impressed by the phrase "the country of beasts".

If these curse words spread to the Khitan royal family, I don't know how Xiao Siwen and others would feel.

In the early stage, the imperial court took the initiative to send people to contact Goryeo, originally trying to get Goryo to flank the Liao Kingdom. However, the efficiency at this time was too slow. After Zhou Jun had captured Youyun, Gao Li had just successfully made friends with Da Zhou.

Because the envoys from Goryeo landed, officials from the DPRK and China prepared the emperor to ask about the affairs of Goryeo, and many people talked about Goryeo for a while.

Gossip does not distinguish between ancient and modern times, and the most interesting thing to talk about is not a series of national policies and strategies of Goryeo, or local customs... The first gossip Guo Shao heard was a gossip: the queen of the king of Goryeo, Wang Zhao, was his own sister.

The father of the king and the queen is Wang Jian, the patriarch of Goryeo. The queen is a princess, who follows her mother's surname Huangbo, and is a half-sibling. this is okay too?

Guo Shao was very curious when he heard that, not to mention that in this era, it is not acceptable even for brothers and sisters to marry in modern times. However, he quickly thought of a TV series from a certain country in the later generations, and suddenly realized it.

... At the end of the third year of Xuanren, the envoys from Goryeo came to court and presented a rare sword as a tribute.

The eunuch moved the sword to the Hall of Yangde, and was very careful because it was a rare thing. At that time, Lu Duoxun, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, had just received the Korean envoys and came to see him.

Unexpectedly, Guo Shao had no interest in the sword, he was playing with a matchlock just sent by the military supervisor, but he didn't even glance at the sword.

This firecracker is very finely crafted, with good wood inlays above the butt, and gilt auspicious cloud patterns carved on it; the barrel is straight and smooth, with butter spread on it, carefully polished inside and out, and smoothed inside with an awl.

The fire rope made of plant ash, the mechanism and reed of the firing device are forged with brass, which is still very delicate and ingenious.

Because this object was given to the emperor, it pays more attention to decoration, just like a work of art. However, the firecrackers produced in batches must not be so delicate, otherwise the cost would be too high.

Guo Shao couldn't put it down when he saw this thing. What kind of sword can no longer arouse his interest. Even if that kind of sword can cut iron like mud, it is still just a knife, and it is only a rare thing that cannot be copied in large quantities.

He noticed the threaded connection used at the bottom of the firecracker...probably made by carving the threads out of wood, then making a sand-cast iron core, and then forging the tail. This construction allows for easy removal of the barrel and cleaning of debris.

There is still a stack of files of the Jiangning Mansion's report on the table. The new sea ships have been roughly completed, and there are three ships in total. Guo Shao has ordered Jiangning Shipyard to transfer the sea-going ships to Dengzhou (Shandong) after the sea trials. It also ordered the Ministry of Industry to send people to Dengzhou to build a new port.

Lu Duosun glanced at the Goryeo sword placed on the table, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Goryeo seems to be rich in swords."

Guo Shao raised his head and said, "Oh? I've never heard of it."

Lu Duoxun said: "They once paid tribute to the Liao Kingdom, and they also gave swords."

After hearing this, Guo Shao knew that Lu Duoxun had something to say, and wanted to borrow something to play. He put down the matchlock gun and listened with interest.

Lu Duosun continued: "However, after the Liao Kingdom destroyed the Balhae Kingdom, the relationship between Koryo and the Liao State deteriorated. This is because the Koryo Kingdom has been plotting the Balhae Kingdom for a long time, and migrated its population to manage Xijing (Pyong | Yang). Unexpectedly, the Liao Kingdom attacked first and swallowed up the land of the Balhae Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom is strong, and it is more difficult for Goryeo to obtain the old land of the Balhae Kingdom, so it is resentful for Khitan."

Guo Shao nodded and said, "I see."

At this time, the Liao Kingdom was defeated in Youzhou and lost a large area of ​​​​Youyun, but its strength was still great; it was also beneficial to have Koryo at its back and back.

Lu Duosun said: "This time, Koryo sent envoys to ask us to send troops to recover Yingzhou and jointly attack Khitan. In my opinion, Koryo still has ambitions after seeing the defeat of the Liao army and looking for the old land of Bohai Sea again."

When Guo Shao heard about ambition, he played with the firearm in his hand again, glanced at the file of sea-going ships on the table, and not only showed a smile: "All countries seek self-improvement, and there is nothing wrong with being enterprising.

However, the imperial court has no intention of raising troops to fight the Liao Kingdom recently. Lu Shilang can reply to the envoys of the Koryo Kingdom, and this matter will be discussed later. "

Lu Duoxun clasped his fists and said, "I obey the order."

Guo Shao turned around and looked at a large sketchy picture hanging on the wall. Recently, due to the visit of Koryo envoys to Beijing, he also has some personal understanding of the situation in Koryo.

This place had more space in the early ancient times, and the situation will get worse as it goes later.

At the turn of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Goguryeo was a relatively powerful country. It must have been because of the threat to the border of the Sui and Tang Dynasties that the Sui and Tang dynasties would not hesitate to mobilize the army several times to crusade.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, Khitan rose to the northeast, and the grassland forces that had been threatening the northern part of the Central Plains also moved in winter. It not only threatens the Central Plains, but also compresses the space of Korea. From now on, they will not only face the Central Plains dynasty, but the nomads will also become an important factor threatening their survival.

(In the future, the threat of the herders and hunters will continue to the east, and there will be another Japanese|Japanese maritime threat in Goryeo. It can be said that they are caught in the middle by various forces, and they are also very tenacious people who can carry it all the time.)

Guo Shaodao: "In the past, our court really wanted to regain Youyun, so we wanted to use Koryo to contain it; now Koryo wants to occupy the old land of Balhae, and wants us to send troops to Liaodong. All countries are planning for themselves."

There are only one official and a few court ladies in the Yangde Hall, Guo Shaojun and his ministers. Guo Shao then asked openly: "Koryo seems to have established itself after the destruction of Silla and Baekje. Does it have internal enemies?"

Lu Duoxun said: "After the Wang family established the country, they implemented the policy of graciousness and gentleness internally. I heard that the country is stable."

Guo Shao nodded thoughtfully.

...Recovering the Land of Nether Clouds will have a great impact. However, the speed of news transmission at this time was limited, and no changes could be felt when the victory was first won, but as time went by, the influence of Zhou and Liao gradually became prominent.

Until the beginning of the fourth year of Xuanren, the emperor's envoy of Fusang Kingdom Ping'anjing sent the letter of credence and paid tribute to congratulate him. The Tokyo Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Hakka wrote a letter to give generous rebates in order to create the political achievements of "all nations come to court". The tributary system is really a disadvantage for the Central Plains dynasty in terms of wealth, but if it is not like this, other countries will not have the motivation to take the initiative to pay tribute.

Guo Shao issued a decree to discuss with the envoys of Fusang State the establishment of trade between the two countries (in the past, the Central Plains was in war, but private maritime trade and commerce had never been cut off), and he secretly ordered the Privy Council soldier Cao Division to send espionage to the caravan to Fusang State to learn about the situation in the distance.

Although diplomatic relations are a major event, Guo Shao's attention is not on it, and he just handles it conveniently. He has been conceiving military power reform.

Matchlock guns were also manufactured in batches. Guo Shao not only read the reports, but also went to the school field to observe them himself.

More than a hundred people from the "Shenhuo Capital" of the Huben Army officially tested the firearms. This small group of people has not been able to expand in the Huben Army because it has no record.

The people in Shenhuo Capital have been using bronze guns for two years, and they are already very proficient at this time. Matchlock guns and bronze blunderbuss are completely different things, but the mechanisms and usage steps are the same. The current firearms are mainly improved on the basis of bronze blunderbuss barrels.

The soldiers took off the small bamboo tube from their belts, bit the plug with their teeth, poured the weighed gunpowder into the muzzle of the gun, and forced the soft lead pellets into it with a cleaning rod.

There was a "cracking" sound on the school ground, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and the targets in the distance were full of holes. Firearms do work! After all, when gunpowder burns and pressurizes in a closed space, lead bullets will be shot out. Everything is an objective law, and there will be no exceptions.

The new firearm has an effective range of 50 steps, and within 30 steps, it can wear most chain armor and scale armor. As for the accuracy... Anyway, the direction will not drift wrong, and it is much more accurate than the bronze gun with a larger hole.

Because Shenhuo requires three rows to shoot in turn, and the organizational system is different from the ordinary army, which has four teams and a team of more than 20 people, Shenhuo has only three teams. The organizational system of the army is formulated according to tactics, and the organizational system changes only when the weapon tactics change; perhaps the military system will also gradually change.

The shooting range of this thing is much closer than that of step bows and crossbows. For example, Guo Shao's level of magic arm can shoot a hundred steps with a step bow and still have accuracy! And the operation is complicated, and the rate of fire is very slow... But compared to the combat effectiveness of the step bow, the close-range armor-piercing ability is stronger than the bow|crossbow.

As for the shooting range, it exceeds that of riding and shooting.

After several months of improvement experiments, Zan Jurun, the supervisor of military weapons, stated in the memorandum that: the distance is between walking and riding a bow and arrow. Armor-piercing is the strongest at close range, which is long; when shooting in front of battle is slow and complicated, the aim is uncertain, and it is not as flexible as riding and shooting, so it is short.

However, Guo Shao has a different view. The biggest advantage of this thing is that after a group of farmers understand the formation and military discipline, they can immediately have strong combat effectiveness.

They may not be able to win the elite soldiers of all battles, but the price of Da Zhou's possession of more than 100,000 elite infantry of the Imperial Army is that it took decades to make the whole world fight to a pulp.

Guo Shao watched the performance of Shenhuodu and felt very comfortable. When he returned to Beiyuan, he picked up a stone briskly by a lake and threw it on the lake for fun. The stone danced briskly on the water surface, causing several ripples.

The accompanying ministers were all very happy, but they might feel that Guo Shao's behavior was a bit frivolous at this time.

At this moment, Guo Shao pointed to the surface of the water and said, "Once our artillery hits a hole, we can actually try other methods."

Zan Jurun said: "The shell of the stone cannon is too heavy, if the angle is too small, it will fall to the ground in front of you."

Guo Shao said: "Then think of a way. The direction of the 'explosive ammunition' we made is wrong, I'm afraid it will be useless (unless we make a howitzer)."

Several people could not answer.

Guo Shao ignored it, and looked at the ripples on the lake for a long time, just like his current mood, brisk and not calm. \u003c