Within a few days, Minister Zuo proposed to return home.
Yu Fu was rather surprised, they came all the way to Beili, why are they leaving so soon
"I didn't go back to the country right away, but I saw that the shipbuilding craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry were serious about their studies. I wanted to take them to the harbor where we parked the ship to survey the ships on the spot. It would be much faster than studying the blueprints."
Minister Zuo explained it this way, and Yu Fu also felt that the progress of the Ministry of Industry's research on the ship was too slow. It is a good thing that the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom have such thoughts.
Yu Fu said politely: "It's just that, won't it delay your studies?"
Minister Zuo smiled and said: "No delay, no delay. In fact, I also want to go to a few towns along the coast to see how the people of Beili handle all kinds of fish in the sea. To tell you the truth, in our country we only eat raw That's all."
Raw? !
The ministers in the palace couldn't help but panic when they heard the words, and they ate fish raw, what's the difference between this and drinking blood like a slut
Yu Fu coughed in embarrassment, not wanting the courtiers to show contempt, and said: "Then please feel free to envoys, the gift I prepared for your country will be handed over to you by the Ministry of Rites later. Be prepared to escort the responsible officials and craftsmen to the port along with the envoys."
"yes."
"The minister obeys the order."
The two ministers went out to take orders, and after a few days of handling, the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom left the capital.
After the envoy left, Chen Jingxing's subordinates came back to secretly report, "My lord, we searched everywhere, but we couldn't find anyone who could speak the Sangyi language. The Sangyi country has not communicated with us for hundreds of years. How could anyone know?" What about their words?"
The subordinates only felt that Chen Jingxing's request was unreasonable, but they didn't know that Chen Jingxing was also conflicted in various ways.
"Why don't I know that such a person is hard to find? But I always feel that these envoys from the Sangyi Kingdom are a bit weird, but I can't tell what is weird."
The subordinate comforted: "You don't have to worry about it, haven't they already left now? Even if there is something weird, it can't cause any trouble."
yeah, already gone...
Chen Jingxing suddenly said: "No, the officials of the Ministry of Industry and those shipbuilders are still with them! Prepare the carriage immediately, I will go to the Ministry of Industry!"
Ever since Yufu confessed that he learned shipbuilding technology from the craftsmen of Sangyi Kingdom, Chen Jingxing had been in frequent contact with the Ministry of Industry, and the people of the Ministry of Industry were surprised to see him again today.
The envoys have already left, what else is he here for
"Where are you Master Shangshu?"
When he entered the door, he was in a hurry, and the doorman hurriedly said: "Yes, it is inside!"
Chen Jingxing walked in without waiting for the notification. Fortunately, he and the Minister of the Ministry of Industry were officials at the same level, and no one dared to say anything about him even if he was rude. for surprise.
"Master Chen, why are you free today?"
Chen Jingxing said: "Master Shangshu, I suddenly thought of an important matter and wanted to ask you. People from your ministry have been learning shipbuilding from the Sangyi envoys for a long time. Has there been any progress?"
When it comes to learning shipbuilding technology, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry has a bad face.
Compared with Chen Jingxing when he first came to look for the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, his face was not as ugly as it is now.
He frowned suddenly, "What's wrong?"
Minister of the Ministry of Industry sighed, "Oh, it's a trivial thing to say, but after all, it will hurt the face of the Ministry of Industry, Mr. Chen, please don't say it. As for the shipbuilders of the Ministry of Industry, they have always been shrewd and capable. I am very proud of the manpower! I don’t know if the ships of the Sangyi Kingdom are too exquisite or why, they have studied for so long and have not found the way, or they are just showing off.”
Chen Jingxing's heart skipped a beat, thinking it was bad.
The Minister of the Ministry of Industry is still complaining, "It's also possible that my proud subordinates are too stupid, alas. But fortunately, these people from the Sangyi Kingdom know their kindness and take them to the port to watch the ship. No matter how stupid they are, go and see for yourself You can always learn, don’t you think?”
Chen Jingxing was no longer in the mood to listen to what he had to say, so he left in a hurry and rushed to the palace.
At the same time, in the palace.
Yufu and Gu Shubai eat dim sum at the Hall of Eternal Life. She likes crab cakes, and her taste has not changed over the years. The two chatted while eating.
Yu Fu was holding a piece of Crab Flour Cake, and there was no missing corner for a long time.
Gu Shubai couldn't help laughing, "Put it down when you're full, what are you doing with it?"
"No, I was thinking about something."
Yu Fu took a bite hard, her little face was swollen from eating, and she was still thinking about something with her chin resting on her hand. Gu Shubai handed her the teacup, and she swallowed the pastry smoothly.
"I still feel that the envoys of the Sanyi Kingdom are weird."
Yu Fu said: "Look, at the beginning we found out that their ships are huge, they have a large number of people, and they have brought a lot of gifts. It doesn't look like an extremely barren small country. Then, when the left minister spoke, he always Intentionally or unintentionally, he emphasized that the Sangyi country is poor and weak, that the household registration system cannot be implemented, that the fish is eaten raw, why did he expose his shortcomings in front of us?"
"That's all, maybe it can be explained by the different customs. The strangest thing is that this time, they left in a hurry, as if something happened. It took so much energy and money to come across the ocean, isn't it To study? To leave so soon, wouldn’t that weak country waste a lot of money, can their king agree?”
To put it bluntly, this thing is a bit weird.
The ministers of the DPRK and China didn't notice it, because everyone had scorned the Sangyi Kingdom and the envoys, so they didn't care about these things.
Gu Shubai thought for a moment and said: "When you say this, I think of one thing. The questions raised by the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom in the Golden Palace back then were said to be difficult for Sangyi to solve in a century. Although those questions Difficult, but thinking about it now, it is not so exaggerated that it will be difficult to solve in a hundred years."
Yu Fu frowned, "It's obviously not a problem but you want to ask us as a problem. Is this a novel way to please us? If it's not to please, then there is only one possibility—"
Yufu put down the pastry in his hand, the two looked at each other, and immediately had an answer.
"If it's not flattery, it's paralysis."
Suddenly hurried footsteps came from outside the hall, "Your Majesty, Chen Jingxing, Mr. Chen has something urgent to see His Majesty!"
"Quick announcement."
Yu Fu vaguely realized that Chen Jingxing's hasty arrival might have something to do with the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom.
Chen Jingxing hastily entered the palace to salute, and then said: "Your Majesty, I have something that has been on my mind for several days, and I have to come and report to Your Majesty. Does Your Majesty think that those envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom are a little weird?"
Yu Fu subconsciously glanced at Gu Shubai, "What happened?"
Chen Jingxing shook his head, "It's because nothing happened that I feel weird. Your Majesty, do you remember the last time you asked me to ask someone from the Ministry of Industry to ask for advice on building a ship? At that time, Minister Zuo's expression was very subtle, and the envoys behind him He showed even more displeasure. Although I suddenly asked, Minister Zuo gave a perfect reason, saying that it was because the tea caused homesickness. Based on my many years of experience in dealing with envoys from various countries, I feel that they seem unwilling to teach us how to build ships. surgical."
Chen Jingxing was the person present at the time, and he knew the expressions of Minister Zuo and others best.
Yu Fu knew him very well, and knew that he was exceptionally talented in foreign affairs, since he felt that those envoys had an unwilling attitude, it was probably not groundless.
"Go on."
Chen Jingxing breathed a sigh of relief, and said again: "I originally planned to send spies around them to probe into their thoughts. But they usually use the language of the Sangyi Kingdom in private conversations, and I ordered people to visit all over the country. I couldn’t find anyone who could speak the language of the Sangyi country, so I had to give up. Fang Caichen went to the Ministry of Industry and asked Lord Shangshu. Guess what happened, His Majesty? It’s just a superficial learning!”
If you say this to others, you may not think much of it.
But Yufu understood immediately after hearing that, those old craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry have been working in the court, if they are so incompetent, they can't always sit still in their positions.
The biggest possibility is that the craftsmen of the Sangyi Kingdom did something wrong and refused to teach them the real technology.
Gu Shubai frowned suddenly, "If it's just that they refuse to teach our craftsmen their skills, it's not a big problem. What I'm worried about now is..."
"What?"
Gu Shubai pursed his lips, and looked at Yufu worriedly, "If they don't want to teach our craftsmen shipbuilding techniques, then it's an excuse to take them to the port for on-the-spot investigation."
Yu Fu was startled, he already understood...
The imperial court sent troops to travel day and night, following the footsteps of the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom all the way to the east.
On the way, they turned back to the capital, and came back with them, as well as officials and craftsmen in charge of shipbuilding from the Ministry of Industry, but they were all corpses.
Those corpses were all cut open with a saber, and died of excessive blood loss. The most shocking thing is that the shape of the knife cut open the abdomen is a cross.
That is to say, someone first cut their stomachs horizontally, and then cut them vertically, so that almost all the internal organs in their stomachs were cut into pieces. Not only was there no possibility of survival, but they were also extremely painful before death.
This perverted method of massacre instantly aroused the resentment of Bei Li Chaozhong.
"Your Majesty, these people from the Ministry of Industry set off with the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom. Now they have died in a miserable state, but the envoys have not responded. They must be arrested and questioned carefully!"
"There is no need to cross-examine."
Yu Fu's face was cold, "I'm afraid they have already escaped on the giant ship, how can we have a chance to catch them?"
"Your Majesty means...the people in the Ministry of Industry were killed by those envoys?!"
Those envoys are so good, why did they kill them to silence them
Gu Shubai came out and said: "Last night, Your Majesty and I looked through the ancient books and found out that the people of the Sangyi Kingdom have a special tradition, that is, they like to use a cross knife to kill people by cutting their stomachs. This kind of killing method is unheard of in Beili. No one was sent back to report, so it can be seen that they did it."
The ministers were very surprised. Thinking of the respectful appearance of the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom in the capital, they could not imagine that these people would kill people to silence them.
Above, Yu Fu's voice came heavily.
"When the letter of credence came from the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom, I always felt that something was wrong. I sent someone to secretly investigate the whereabouts of the envoys. Now I understand that these envoys did not come to Beili to study at all, but to spy on them. False. Before their giant ship came to Beili, they sent a subsidiary boat to Dongling, and I only got the news yesterday."
They didn't come to Beili, which is the most powerful in the mainland of Kyushu, but went to Dongling first. It can be seen that the study is fake and the conspiracy is real.
Yu Fu sneered and said, "Sang Yi Kingdom must have conspired with Dong Ling to do something that is not good for me, Bei Li, so I want to divide the state and send envoys to send gifts to Emperor Ning, so that Minister Zuo and the others think that I already know about it. Their conspiracy is why they fled in such a hurry. The key right now is not to try to capture these envoys back, they fled to the sea, and our ship technology is far inferior to them. The most important thing now is—”
She almost gritted her teeth, and said word by word: "Build the frontier defense of the first coastal city in the east of Beili, and always guard against the surprise attack by the army led by the Sangyi Kingdom!"
"His Majesty!"
Minister of the Ministry of War took the lead, "I have never had any city defenses on the east coast of Beili. I have always only built city defenses at the borders with Xikun, Dongling and other countries. Not only my country, but also a large area near the sea to the east of Dongling. They never set up city defenses!"
How easy is it to build up a place that has never been fortified at once
Ouyang Qi said: "Yes, Your Majesty, what are you worried about? Are you still afraid that the envoys of the Sangyi Kingdom will go back and lead troops to attack us? Although their ship technology is good, their population and strength are insufficient, and their weapons are not as advanced as ours. Bringing a large army across the ocean, how much combat power do you have?"
Yu Fu sighed softly, frowned and looked at Ouyang Qi.
Tian Yun broke out and said: "General Ouyang's words are wrong. Since we know that the Sangyi Kingdom has wolf ambitions, we should know that what they told us may not be true. They said that their country is small and weak. Are they really that weak? Said that their weapons and armaments are not perfect, is it really not perfect? Now that I think about it, those words are just used to paralyze us, they must have reached some kind of deal with Emperor Ning, and they will not be good for me, Bei Li."
Ouyang Qi is a warrior, and he is good at leading troops in battle, so it is a bit difficult to analyze the situation in the court.
After hearing Tian Yunpo's words, he realized that the Sangyi envoy was ambitious and had bad intentions from the beginning.
All the ministers whispered to each other and cursed the Sangyi people one after another.
Yu Fu's hand tapped on the imperial case, and the hall was filled with awe, she said seriously: "Now is not the time to blame others, and it is not the time for Zhuqing to underestimate the enemy. Just now you said that Beili has never deployed defenses along the coast since ancient times. The same goes for Dong Ling. Have you guys forgotten about the straw letter?"
When the rebel army attacked Dongling two years ago, Gu Xiang once used straw to send a message, throwing a large amount of straw with hidden characters into the sea and drifting along the ocean current to the coast of Dongling.
At that time, the people along the coast of Dongling got the letter and knew about Beili's generous national policy, and they all came here with their families.
The ministers couldn't help being silent when they heard the words.
Bei Li once used a ship on the sea to throw a straw letter, which changed the situation of Dongling's battle, so why not the Sangyi Kingdom
Their ships are obviously more advanced and bigger.
Gu Shubai came out and said: "Beili's eastern coastal line, counting the territory of Dongling that has been assigned to us, there are a total of 25 cities. I propose that these 25 cities be classified in batches, not only require the local Officials and garrison generals build a line of defense, and more generals must be dispatched to lead the troops. One is to replenish troops, and the other is to facilitate management and observation of the enemy’s situation.”
Yu Fu nodded, "There is also Dong Ling's side. Although Emperor Ning is weak, he still has national power. If the Sangyi people have used some tricks to trick Emperor Ning into sending troops, we must also pay attention to it. Twenty-five cities One is divided into five, and five generals are sent to go, plus Dongling, a total of six generals are needed."
The generals in the palace were eager to try, Yu Fu hurriedly said: "Generals, don't be in a hurry to ask for orders. In my opinion, the generals sent to the coastal line to build the city defense must be familiar with the sea situation and have experience in water warfare. And the soldiers brought along, If they are all landlubbers who dare not even swim, what is the use of going there?"
In this way, many generals who were eager to try retreated back.
As far as land battles are concerned, whether it is mountain warfare, desert warfare, or water marsh warfare, there are proficient fighters.
But sea battles... are too unfamiliar to them.
When the ministers were thinking about the candidates, they also wondered whether the so-called naval battle was because His Majesty was too concerned and imagined the Sangyi Kingdom too much
Even if they intentionally showed their clumsiness and concealed their true strength, could their national strength still surpass Bei Li