In the early morning of the next day, the new wind blew hard, and snowflakes finally fell in the sky that had been colder day by day. A large group of civil and military officials gathered in twos and threes in front of the imperial city gate and waited to go to court. Looking at the weather, the military boss Yu Wenshu He frowned a little, and couldn't help but whispered to Lai Hu'er, Chen Yingliang and others beside him: "It's not good, it happens to be snowing today, and His Majesty the Emperor may not be in a good mood today."
"Your Majesty doesn't like snow?" Chen Yinghao asked curiously.
"Your Majesty is afraid of the cold, so he likes Qionghua in the south, not snowflakes." Yu Wenshu, who was familiar with Emperor Sui Yang's temperament, explained in a low voice, and reminded: "Nephew Yingliang, you have to be careful what you say today. If His Majesty wants to get out of the hot blanket and face the court on a cold day, his temper will definitely not be very good."
Chen Yingliang agreed very carefully, firmly remembering Yu Wenshu's advice—this is the experience and lessons that Yu Wenshu, the number one favorite of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, finally summed up. This matter involves the overall interests of the military and Yu Wenshu's private interests. How could Yu Wenshu be willing to pass it on to outsiders? Since there is such a precious opportunity, Chen Sangliang must of course study hard.
At this time, the civil and military officials who participated in the early court had basically arrived, and Xiao Guoshu, big and small, also sneaked into the crowd, and saw that the thorn in Chen Yingliang did not stand with his backer Wenxi Pei, but with Yu Wenshu and Lai Hu The fight was fierce, and Uncle Xiao, big and small, inevitably had some doubts. In the end, it was Uncle Xiao, who remembered the reward from the court the day before yesterday, and then understood the reason why several senior military generals suddenly joined forces. Uncle Xiao Guo laughed in a low voice: "It's a good show. If there are no accidents, the Sixteenth Guards Mansion has to make it clear to His Majesty about the reward today."
Xiao Huaijing grinned happily, and also said in a low voice: "Brother, since Your Majesty has made up his mind to reduce the rewards, today we simply do what He likes and try our best to persuade His Majesty to reduce more rewards and give less rewards for military exploits. Your Majesty has been framed and imprisoned by the little thief Chen Yingliang and Master Yin, even if His Majesty does not give the army a reward, he has nothing to do with Duke Tang, and the only ones who will be unlucky are the little thief Chen Yingliang and the others."
"A wonderful plan!" Uncle Da Xiao Guo immediately nodded his head in agreement when he heard that he was overjoyed, but said in a low voice worriedly: "But don't make it too explicit, this matter involves Yu Wenshu and Lai Huer, so we must prevent them from being given to the child." We have offended everyone, so we can only point our fingers at the little thief Chen Yingliang, anyway, this little thief was the coach of King Qin at the time, and this time the reward discussion will definitely be indispensable, so we can just hold him tight."
Uncle Xiao Guo was overjoyed when he heard that, and quickly agreed. While everyone was waiting for their own ghosts, Mao Shi had arrived before they knew it. The gates of the imperial city slowly opened, and all the civil and military officials held their wats and marched slowly in two teams. It was still General Yu Wenshu of Zuo Yiwei, and the order of the queue basically remained the same, but Chen Sangliang, who didn't even have a full hair, walked in the front of the line with Yuhu in his arms. It made a group of grey-bearded generals and military officers in the back grit their teeth a little bit-God is too short-sighted to let such a yellow-haired boy climb to the front.
All the way into the Daye Hall where the early court was held, all the officials had just stood still, and the eunuch chief shouted by His Majesty had already sounded in the hall. , still shouted angrily: "Everyone loves you, stay flat."
As expected by Yu Wenshu, Emperor Sui Yang's temper was really not very good. Pei Ju had already carefully selected good news to play, but Emperor Sui Yang still had a bad look on his face, he groaned and refused to smile, which scared Pei Ju Hastily concealed a lot of political affairs, and was very pleased with Xiao Guoshu's brows, knowing that as long as the reward is mentioned today, the Sixteen Guards' Mansion will definitely have no good fruit to eat. But what puzzled Uncle Xiao and Xiao was that during the court meeting, the military officer remained silent, no one stood up and said nothing, and it seemed that they didn't plan to speak at all today.
The military officer didn't speak, so it didn't bother the big and small Xiao Guojiu. After the big Xiao Guojiu winked at the clan brother, Xiao Huaijing, who had an agreement with the clan brother beforehand, understood, and came out to play: " I would like to report to Your Majesty that the kings of all walks of life gathered in the Eastern Capital and set up camps outside the city. The expenditure of money and food was huge, and it also brought a lot of inconvenience to the soldiers and civilians of the Eastern Capital to travel and cultivate. As the year is approaching, Your Majesty also asks you to dismiss all the troops and send them back to their places of residence for the convenience of farming. , and also reduce expenditure for the imperial court."
"What Xiao Qing said is true." Emperor Yang of Sui, who was worrying about money and food, was very appetizing when he heard it. After nodding, he immediately turned to Yu Wenshu and asked, "Yu Wenqing, have you reconsidered the reward? Have you agreed? If so, reward them quickly and let them withdraw to their respective stations."
"Your Majesty forgives the crime. The military affairs are complicated and have not yet been agreed. Please wait for two days."
Yu Wenshu answered tremblingly. This answer certainly puzzled Uncle Xiao and Xiao Guo, and made Emperor Sui Yang quite dissatisfied. He shouted in a bad tone: "Why hasn't such a small matter been agreed? Hurry up, the day after tomorrow morning." , must come up with a new reward for me!"
Yu Wenshu's frightened promise, and because of Emperor Sui Yang's bad temper, he hesitated whether he should act today, and in the end it was Lai Huer who came behind who pushed him quietly, and Yu Wenshu made up his mind, and asked Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty said: "Your Majesty, I have one more thing to say. In this battle of King Qin, Chen Yingliang and Chen Xiongqu (the name of Youwuwei) suddenly used a new type of weapon that had never been seen before. Firearms, fire-breathing projectiles, made a loud noise like thunder, and they were so powerful that they killed the Turkic barbarians by surprise. Out of curiosity, I once watched it with my own eyes on the way home. I thought it was very novel and interesting. I wonder if Your Majesty Interested in observing?"
"Firearms?" Emperor Sui Yang really became a little interested and asked, "Yu Wenqing, are the firearms you mentioned really so novel and interesting?"
"Exactly." Yu Wenshu nodded, and explained: "Chen Xiongqu captured the traitor Yang Xuangan alive before, but this time he captured the Sibi thief chief brother alive, all relying on the power of firearms. Such a sharp weapon, I think it will be a pity if your Majesty misses it." Therefore, I have the courage to order Chen Yingliang to make preparations in advance and wait for His Majesty to observe the power of firearms at any time."
"Not good!" Little Xiao Guojiu Xiao Huaijing's heart shuddered, knowing that once the ghost firearm was favored by Emperor Sui Yang, the thorn in the flesh and the thorn in Chen Sangliang would definitely be favored by Emperor Sui Yang even more, so Xiao Huaijing did not hesitate, and immediately He held up the wat and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate. I have seen firearms on the battlefield. They are so powerful that they often make people run. If you are frightened, your majesty's dragon body, golden branches and jade leaves. Even if the ministers die ten thousand times, they will not be able to atone for their crimes."
Little Uncle Xiao Guo soon realized that he had done a stupid thing. Just after he had finished speaking these dissuading words, he immediately attracted Yu Wenshu's vicious gaze like a poisonous snake, staring at Little Uncle Xiao Guo terrifiedly, sweating profusely— Even though Little Uncle Xiao Guo could barely be regarded as a relative of the emperor, if he really fought with a super powerful official like Yu Wenshu, Yu Wenshu could crush Little Uncle Xiao Guo into powder with a single little finger.
Fortunately, Xiao Huaijing's persuasion did not have any effect, so the conflict with Yu Wenshu did not expand. Sui Yang Emperor only thought for a while, and quickly said: "Well, since Yu Wenqing invited me, then I Just go and have a look, pass the decree, drive out of the city, and go to the school outside the city to review Chen Aiqing's use of firearms. Chen Aiqing, immediately take your firearms to the big school, and I will go there to inspect."
Chen Yingliang agreed to leave the palace first, hurried out of the city to mobilize the firearms team to accept the inspection, and left the big and small uncles Xiao Guo staring at each other in the Jinluan Palace, all ignorant of the real purpose of Yu Wenshu and Chen Sangliang's move. Emperor Yang ordered all the officials to accompany them to inspect the firearms together, so that the two Uncle Xiao Guo didn't even know what Chen Yingliang was doing.
The firearms team had been prepared a long time ago. As soon as Chen Sangliang gave an order, the firearms team led by San Gouzi rushed to the big school field outside the city with the few ammunition left. The school grounds lined up to wait for the inspection. When the sky was clear, Emperor Sui Yang's Luanjia finally appeared on the sidelines of the school grounds. Then, surrounded by civil and military officials, Emperor Sui Yang climbed onto the general platform. There were only two regiments. Qiao Peng's firearms also shouted in unison, "Ten thousand years for the Son of Heaven!"
After going through a lot of red tape, the drill of the firearms team officially began. First, they lined up to shoot straw men, then they practiced gunpowder bottle throwing. Finally, Chen Yingliang personally used the gun to shoot the Mingguang armor twenty steps away with the bronze gun. The gun shot a small hole in the Mingguang Armor, which is hard to penetrate even with strong bows and hard crossbows, which made Chen Sangliang, who has low force, very proud, and also made the old neighbor San Gouzi couldn't help but praise, "Big Good luck today, General."
The primitive firearms of this era are of course intimidating and intimidating, but this is enough. When you see the copper muskets ejecting flames and smoke, smashing the straw man to pieces, smoking and igniting, and seeing the gunpowder bottle emitting flames There was a deafening thunderous noise from the firelight, and the Emperor Sui Yang, who was always overjoyed, suddenly became more interested—bringing these things to the guard of honor was much more majestic than ordinary swords, guns, swords and halberds. Then when he saw Chen Yingliang shoot through the Mingguang armor with a gun in person, Emperor Sui Yang, who knew how much Chen Sangliang was good at in martial arts, simply went off the stage in person, went to check the armor of the Mingguang armor on the spot, and accepted it personally. I picked up Chen Yingliang's musket, looked at it over and over again, and couldn't put it down.
Of course, it is not all praise. After asking about the range and rate of fire of the original musket, General Feng An of Zuo Wuwei, who is also known as Xiong Qu with Chen Sangliang, raised a question, saying: "General Chen, this musket seems to be somewhat Flashy? In addition to being able to breathe fire and make loud noises, the speed and range of fire are not as good as ordinary bows and arrows. Once the enemy gets used to the loud noise of fire, wouldn't they immediately become inferior to bows and arrows?"
"What Senior Feng said is true." Chen Yingliang said respectfully: "Except for the short-range armor-piercing power, the fire rate and range of this kind of musket are indeed not as good as bows and arrows, but this kind of musket has one of the biggest advantages, that is, a Ordinary soldiers only need to practice for a few days to be able to operate proficiently, and they are not affected by the wind and frost seasons, and then ask Senior Feng to think about it, how much time does it take to train a soldier to be proficient in operating bows and arrows?"
"It's better to use a crossbow."
Feng An still didn't think so, and Chen Yingliang couldn't explain to him the huge difference in muzzle velocity between muskets and crossbows, let alone explain to him the great prospects of gunpowder. After discussing the last gunpowder bottle for fun, he said to Chen Yingliang: "Aiqing, since such weapons are so effective in scaring the enemy on the battlefield, why don't you make more and create more chaos for the enemy?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the cost is too expensive." Chen Yingliang waited for these words, and said with a wry smile, "I'm not afraid of your Majesty's jokes. When I was in Qiao County, in order to let Xu Minlian and Xu Taishou spend money and food to make these gunpowder weapons, I sent him I was forced to cry twice, and the second time I made Governor Xu cry, Governor Xu even threatened that if I ask him for money to ask my mother to make such a weapon, he will hang himself and show him."
"Chen Xiongqu, is it too disrespectful to say such things in front of His Majesty?" Xiao Yu immediately dragged his voice out.
"It's okay, Chen Aiqing already said it was just a joke." Emperor Sui Yang, who was in a better mood, waved his hand with a smile, and asked Chen Sangliang about the cost of various firearms. Chen Sangliang was not polite, and doubled the price After reporting it, Emperor Sui Yang couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when he heard it, and said regretfully, "Is it so expensive? Now the national treasury is very tight. It seems that it is difficult for me to equip the army on a large scale."
As he wished, Emperor Sui Yang brought up the financial issue on his own initiative. Chen Yingliang asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, forgive me for asking, is the treasury's money and food really so tight right now?"
"Chen Xiongqu, isn't it too much?" Xiao Yu dragged his voice again, and said viciously: "You are not an official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, can you interfere with the treasury's money and food?"
"Doctor Xiao, everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world." Chen Sangliang said unceremoniously: "As a court official, I care about the state of the treasury. The money and food are used where His Majesty needs more urgently. Do you want to be like you, who only care about enjoying the high-ranking officials and rich salary bestowed by His Majesty, and don't care about sharing His Majesty's worries and solving problems for the court at all?"
"You? You are talking nonsense!" Uncle Xiao Guo, who was contradicted by Chen Sangliang for the first time, suddenly became furious.
"Doctor Xiao, is what Chen Xiongqu said wrong?" Lai Huer on the other side spoke up, and said viciously: "The reward of eating the king, the matter of being loyal to the king, sharing worries for your majesty, and solving problems for the court, how can it be considered nonsense? Do you want us court officials to be like you, only caring about personal enjoyment and not thinking about court affairs at all?"
"Your Majesty, I also think that Dr. Xiao's remarks are inappropriate." For his own sake, Yu Wenshu also said: "Chen Xiongqu has already stated that his intention is to share the worries of His Majesty, solve problems for the court, and fulfill the duty of a minister. Dr. Xiao still accuses Chen Xiongqu of talking nonsense, and my humble minister is ignorant, I really don't understand where Chen Xiongqu's devotion and loyalty are wrong."
Emperor Sui Yang's vicious eyes turned to Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu was sweating profusely, so he had to change his words and said: "My minister made a mistake, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"You can't control your mouth, just shut up!" Emperor Sui Yang reprimanded angrily, and then turned to Chen Yingliang and said, "What Aiqing said is true, the current state treasury is really tight, otherwise, I will How could you accept Su Aiqing's advice and ask you to reconsider the reward?"
When the critical moment came, both Yu Wenshu and Lai Hu'er turned their eyes to Chen Yingliang. Behind them, Yun Dingxing, Qu Tutong and other generals all held their breaths, but Chen Sangliang showed a look of great disappointment, and said Shockingly said: "It's such a pity. Originally, I wanted to ask His Majesty to build a palace in Danyang so that His Majesty can use it when he tours the south of the Yangtze River. Since the national treasury is tight, I dare not say this."
Hearing this, Yu Wenshu and Lai Hu'er both wanted to strangle Chen Sangliang to death, while Pei Ju, Su Wei and the others on the civil servant's side also looked at each other in blank dismay, wondering what medicine Chen Sangliang had taken wrongly, How dare you speak out to persuade Sui Yang Emperor to build a new palace at this critical moment? Only Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty smiled when he heard that his appetite was right, and asked: "Chen Aiqing, why did you suddenly think of asking His Majesty to build the Danyang Palace?"
"Your Majesty, it's like this." Chen Yingliang said eloquently: "When I was bathed in the grace of heaven and was entrusted with the general guard of Qiaojun, there was also a residence for His Majesty in Yongcheng. Out of curiosity, I got to know about His Majesty. As a result, I accidentally discovered that although your majesty has more than forty palaces, all of them are located in the north of the Yangtze River, and there is still no imperial palace in the south of the Yangtze River."
"Of course, I also know that your majesty did not build a palace in the south of the Yangtze River. Maybe you have special considerations." Chen Yingliang added brazenly: "But I still feel sorry for the people in the south of the Yangtze River. They are also the people of the Sui Dynasty. Why? Only the people north of the Yangtze River can be comforted by the emperor's presence? Why can't the people of the Sui Dynasty south of the Yangtze River be able to see Long Yan, see the majesty of the holy car with their own eyes, and bathe in His Majesty's great grace?"
"As for why I ask His Majesty to build a palace in Danyang instead of other cities in the south of the Yangtze River?" Chen Yingliang said even more flatteringly: "Because everyone knows that although Your Majesty has many martial arts and martial arts and great achievements for thousands of years, the late emperor is still alive. At that time, His Majesty's first battle achievement was to lead the humble minister's uncle Han Qinhu and other generals to break through Danyang City, the capital of the Chen Dynasty, and capture Chen Shubao alive, saving all the people in the south of the Yangtze River, and rebuilding the thirty-two counties in the south of the Yangtze River. , is of great significance to His Majesty, so I secretly think that Danyang, the place where His Majesty dives into dragons and abysses, should have a palace for His Majesty!"
"This guy is even better at flattering than me!" Yu Wenshu, Pei Ju, Yu Wenshu, Pei Yun and other famous traitors were all dumbfounded, and Yun Dingxing was still screaming in his heart, "This kid, why is he worse than me?" Face?"
"Aiqing really knows my heart!"
At the same time that a large group of treacherous villains were dumbfounded, Emperor Sui Yang laughed loudly, and slapped Chen Yingliang on the shoulder heavily, and said with a smile: "What Aiqing said is very true, it fits my heart, and Danyang is my hidden secret." In the place where the dragon rises from the abyss, there should be a palace for me to commemorate my literary, political and martial arts, and my great achievements for thousands of years, and it will be convenient for me to comfort the people in the south of the Yangtze River when I come to the south of the Yangtze River!"