Zong Wang continued: "Hebule is very ambitious. I will inform your majesty and let you lead the troops westward to atone for your sins."

Wu Shu said: "I will not let my second brother down!"

Zong Wang sighed again and said: "Lou Shi died of illness."

"I heard that too."

Zong Wang suddenly asked seriously: "What will happen if the older generation of founders leads the way and then withers away, but the internal system of Dajin has not yet been established?"

"There will be civil strife. We don't need the Song Dynasty to send troops. We will be in chaos first."

"As long as you understand, being strong but not prosperous can only show temporary power. Ama led the people to resist the Qian Liao in the past, and it is not just a temporary power."

Wu Shu was thoughtful, and then said after a moment: "I heard that Shangjing sent envoys to the Song Dynasty?"

"Already gone back."

"How did the conversation go?"

"No need to talk."

Wu Shu said: "The Emperor of Song Dynasty is unwilling to negotiate peace?"

"It's because he doesn't want to be a vassal and pay tribute."

"Then what next?"

Zong Wang took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "Waiting for the arrangements for going to Beijing."

Wu Shu did not stay in Yanjing and left soon.

Jin Guo has a headache now, but Zhao Ning actually has an even worse headache.

Regarding negotiating peace, let’s see who can endure it.

Don't even talk about calling yourself a vassal and paying tribute.

Xixia was scolded by Zhao Ning, and the pressure was put on the Kingdom of Jin.

In short, the three countries are now at odds with each other.

This is a good show where all parties take the opportunity to gain leverage before a new balance comes.

However, if Wanyan Wu Qimai knew that Zhao Ning's finances were about to collapse, maybe he would not have sent someone to negotiate a peace.

Why are you so angry with that dog emperor?

Immediately devote all the efforts of the whole country to go south again!

What?

Zhao Ning's finances are about to collapse?

That’s right!

Almost collapsed!

Even the money copied from the clan will be used up.

The cash income from various places is used by the transshipment agencies in various places to issue salaries.

Even the salary is not enough. If it were not for the execution of several batches of officials and the confiscation of several batches of homes in the past few months, Zhao Ning's pocket might be even tighter.

Moreover, fortunately, Wang Zonglio went out to sell soap and made a lot of money.

You must know that in the Song Dynasty, official salaries were paid out as much as 16.5 million yuan every year.

On December 28, Mei Zhili submitted a memorial.

The salaries of officials have been increased, the salaries of officials in various states have also been paid, and military pay has also been given.

Finally, there was a sum of money left over for our Zhao Guan family.

Ten thousand guan!

To give out lucky money during the Chinese New Year, Zhao Guan's family would have to hide at home and deduct all the money before they dared to give it out.

The direct reasons for the current situation are also very clear:

1. Officials are bloated and salary expenditures are too high.

If everyone is willing to work, it would be easy to offer high salaries, but now some officials not only refuse to work, but also obstruct the New Deal.

Second, military spending is high.

This is understandable. After all, it was a war period, and construction on the Northern Front continued.

Third, this summer's tax revenue is too low, and various parties use this as an excuse to put pressure on the court to implement new policies.

Regarding financial matters, Zhao Ning did not immediately lift the table. After all, it was the Chinese New Year and everyone was having a decent New Year.

Uncle Zhao also wants to have a stable year.

In the blink of an eye, it has been the fourth year of Jingkang. During the New Year period, officials were on holiday. Zhao Ning's ears were relatively clean, and the affairs in Huaixi had temporarily eased.

Zhao Ning speculated that Jin Guo would take a stand soon.

He also wrote a secret letter to Ma Kuo of the Military Intelligence Department, asking him to step up his efforts to infiltrate the Kingdom of Jin and inquire about the intelligence of the Kingdom of Jin at any time.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, there was light snow.

Zhao Ning's carriage stopped in front of Gewuyuan. After getting off the carriage, Chen Gui hurriedly walked over: "Guan's family."

"Let's go in and talk."

The recently established Gewuyuan was heavily surrounded by the imperial guards. No one could enter without the emperor's permission.

In the Gewuyuan, in addition to technical talents like Chen Gui, some young and motivated officials were transferred from the Ministry of Works. In addition, foremen with many years of experience were also transferred from the Ordnance Supervision.

"Guan, please come this way."

Zhao Ning followed Chen Gui and walked inside.

There is a large, spacious room inside. There are all kinds of things in the room, which looks a bit messy.

"Your Majesty, according to what you said, I ordered people to refine a variety of saltpeter and prepare it here."

In the box in front, there is a white powdery object.

That is saltpeter powder, an important material for making gunpowder.

Generally called fire saltpeter.

There are several main sources of nitrate:

1. There will be saltpeter near the toilet, but not much.

Second, directly mine saltpeter and refine it.

There are many saltpeter mines in northwest China.

The ancients have long mastered the method of identifying saltpeter.

For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tao Hongjing proposed a method for identifying saltpeter, which was quite scientific.

He said: "When you burn it with fire, purple and green smoke rises, it turns out that it is real saltpeter. It can be found in all the salty soil places in the mountains north of Dangchang (Gansu) today."

That is to say, if you put real saltpeter on a flame and burn it, it will make the flame purple, which is different from Glauber's salt.

From this point of view, ancient China was the world's largest producer of saltpeter. It is no wonder that gunpowder was born in China.

Putting the saltpeter powder in front of him, Zhao Ning said: "Let's get started."

The craftsmen began to make proportions and mix different powders together.

Then take it very far.

There are imperial guards surrounding Zhao Ning.

After the craftsmen completed the matching, they began to do some operations.

The main method is to store them in iron balls and pull them with a match rope.

These are the thunder and fire caltrops.

Zhao Ning watched this scene with excitement.

There are ten groups in total, placed near the wooden figures.

After a while, there was an explosion.

Following the explosion, some fragments were picked up on the wooden figure and even stuck in the wood.

Chen Gui was a little surprised. The power of this thunder was a little greater than the previous one.

This recipe is an improvement made by Zhao Guanjia.

But Zhao Ning is obviously still not very satisfied.

For a modern person like him, the power of the Sky Thunder is too small. At most it is similar to the "Thunder King" firecrackers played during the New Year, and sometimes it is not even as powerful as that one.

Not to mention actual grenades.

Moreover, the thunderbolt has no fuse. There is no need to pull the wire and throw it out. You can only light the match and wait for the explosion.
To be continued...