Chapter 398: Valley Forbidden Land

Zhang Zhihe hurried forward, bowed and said, "I am not good at ease, see the general!"

Zhang Zhihe came to Anxi last year and has been involved in the relocation of Han people. He received high praise in the actual affairs assessment and won second place in the official examination at the beginning of the year. Therefore, when the official Cao Si was assigned a position, he broke the practice of starting from the chief clerk and directly appointed him as the first county magistrate of Chuhe County. He has been serving as the county magistrate for nearly half a year. Although he was young and lacked some experience, he made great efforts and his achievements are obvious to all. In the assessment of the supervision and interview, his people's expectations were the highest. When it comes to the Zhang County magistrate of Chuhe County, no one would praise him. It is precisely because of this that Li Qingan did not look down on him just because he was Li Mi's nephew, but instead discussed the matter and recognized his political achievements.

Li Qingan bowed and replied with a smile: "We are just passing by Chuhe County and disturbing the magistrate Zhang."

"Where is the general who passed by Chuhe County, and I will come to see you."

Zhang Zhihe said, glanced at Mr. Wei and others, and seemed a little nervous. After all, he was a county magistrate, a county parent official. The county people below were more or less worried about him when they talked about him in front of the Anxi Jiedushi. This is also a common sense. Li Qing'an saw his concern and patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Your reputation is very good. I have come here and met many people, and they all praised you for your dedication to the people and work hard! As long as you have been awarded for the examination for three consecutive years, I will promote you to the prefect of the state and make you the youngest state official in the Tang Dynasty. There is no seniority here, but only your talents."

Zhang Zhihe was overjoyed, and he bowed deeply: "Thank you for your trust in the general. I will do my best to make the general's expectations a reality."

"Come on! Sit down and talk."

Li Qing'an asked Zhang Zhihe to sit down and said with a smile: "Tell me about your usual difficulties. I am here, maybe we can negotiate to solve the problem."

Old Master Wei and several farmers were about to walk away in a hurry, and Li Qing'an called them, "Let's listen together. You are all pragmatic people, maybe there is a better way than me."

Zhang Zhihe was quite nervous. To a certain extent, this was actually a test by Li Qing'an for him, and he also asked the local people to listen to him, which made it even more difficult for him. He pondered for a moment and said, "I really have an idea, and I will give you a reference to the general."

"you say!"

Zhang Zhihe glanced at the old farmer next to him and said, "I think the taxes of the people in Anxi are a bit low, which is not conducive to long-term development."

Several farmers looked at each other. Their county master actually thought the tax was too low. How could this be possible? Old Master Wei wanted to object, but it was obvious that Li Qing'an had to swallow the objection back to his stomach.

Li Qingan didn't expect that he would think the tax was too low, so he asked curiously: "Tell me, what's the reason?"

"General, although Anxi produces a lot of gold and silver, grain can also be obtained from other places, and does not require taxes paid by the people, but in this way, the people lack pressure, and people gradually become lazy, especially farmers. The tax is very low and the food is cheap, so they don't have to work so hard to grow grain. They go to the city to do odd jobs and pay taxes if they have nothing to do. As for how much grain can be collected in the grain field, it doesn't matter. It could have produced 500 kilograms per mu, but in the end it only produces 300 kilograms. In the long run, the land fertility becomes worse, and people become lazy. As the saying goes, be prepared for danger in times of peace, but now they are in times of peace. The general, the low-level position, thinks that although this matter is small, if it is not controlled early, it will accumulate sooner or later."

Li Qing'an fell into deep thought, and at this time, the old man Wei finally couldn't help but say: "General, the little people have something to say."

"Tell me!"

The old man Wei gave a gift to Zhang Zhihe first, and then said: "Zhang County Magistrate said that because of low taxes, people become lazy and unwilling to farm. The small people don't think so. Take Xiaomin himself as an example. Xiaomin's family has allocated 150 acres of land. In the past two years, more than 200 acres of barren land have been reclaimed. Because the government has regulations that ten years of land are used, the land can belong to him, so my eldest son and I got up early and worked late, and never were lazy for a day. In order to increase the grain output, I also installed a water truck. Yes, the tax is very low, but this is definitely not the reason for us to be lazy, because we have suffered enough of the hardship of no land. Because the land belongs to ours, I thought to make it the best. Perhaps there are people like the ones Zhang County Magistrate said, but I believe that is a minority, and most people will not become lazy."

"The father-in-law said it was the opposite. There are a few people who work diligently like you. Most of them go to find a hole to get money because growing food is not profitable at all. Who is willing to waste time and energy on growing food?"

Zhang Zhihe took out a account from the package he carried with him and turned two pages to Li Qing'an: "General, I have statistics for this year. Last year, each household in Chuhe County reclaimed about 80 acres of wasteland, while each household reclaimed on average was only five acres of wasteland in the first ten months of this year, and there were almost no new land reclamation. Why? Because most young people went to the city to work, or plant tea and mulberry trees, but no one was willing to grow grain. If this continues, in a few years, Anxi will probably have no food of its own."

Only then did Li Qing'an hear the name. Zhang Zhihe was saying on the surface that the tax was low, but in fact he was criticizing Anxi for focusing on industry and commerce and neglecting agriculture. At this time, Liu Yan next to him also smiled and said, "General, although Zhang County is young, his knowledge is very sophisticated. I agree with his ideas. If the general is willing to listen, I can tell a story."

"You two, one is indirect and the other is indirect. Tell me! I'll listen."

Liu Yan smiled and said slowly: "In the past, Guan Zhong forced the people of Qi to grow grain, and at the same time bought silk from neighboring countries at high prices, and then sold grain to neighboring countries at low prices. As a result, the people of neighboring countries saw that it was profitable and growing grain was useless, so they destroyed the fields and planted mulberry trees, raised silkworms and spinned silk, and made a lot of money from Qi. Later, when the time was coming, Guan Zhong suddenly raised the grain sold to neighboring countries to sky-high prices, and at the same time banned the import of silk. The neighboring countries had famine and could not continue, so they had to raise their hands to surrender to Qi. The money they earned over the past few years returned to the Qi treasury."

Zhang Zhihe nodded and said, "General, this is exactly what I mean. The current food comes from faith. Once we develop a grain dependence on faith, we all go to work and make money, or destroy the fields and plant mulberry trees. If there is no food for faith in the next few years, then there will be a shortage of food in Anxi."

Food is the most important thing for the people. Of course, Li Qing'an understood this principle and said, "I understand what you mean, but young people really want to work and earn money. The workshops that have been opened are not easy to close. What do you think?

Liu Yan smiled and said, "In fact, the method is very simple. It is to increase the grain prices in the Anxi market, or the grain growers provide subsidies, so that the income of grain growing should not be lower than that of the workshop. In this way, the workshop goods will be sold to Dashi or Byzantium to make big money, and use a part of the money earned to subsidize grain growers. Don't think that there is too much food. Grain is always a strategic material. We just need to build more warehouses. When a grain shortage occurs in Dashi, we will sell them at a high price."

"Wait a minute!"

Li Qing'an's expression turned into extremely shocked, and he said anxiously: "What did you say just now, say it again."

"I mean food is always strategic materials, we just need to build more warehouses."

"It's not this sentence, it's the next sentence."

"The last sentence?"

Liu Yan thought for a while and said, "When a food shortage occurs in Dashi, we will sell it to them at a high price."

It was this sentence that a thought flashed through Li Qing'an's mind. The great cannibals have been relying on the food of faith for decades. Now that the big granary of faith is occupied by himself, will there be a famine in the big food?

Although the Nile Delta is also a fertile place, according to Pei Yu, it mainly grows cotton instead of grain. The key is that the Mesopotamian Basin has obtained a large amount of grain from Xinde for many years. So how many people are willing to grow grain now?

Thinking of this, Li Qingan suddenly realized that if the food crisis really occurred in the Dashi, the cannibal would not delay the war until half a year later, and perhaps the war would be ahead of schedule.

Realizing this, Li Qing'an found that he had made an empiricist mistake and always inferred the preparation time of Dashi's preparation according to common sense. If Dashi has a special situation, such as a food crisis, then they will definitely start a war immediately to resolve it.

He became a little anxious and said to Liu Yan: "It will take half a month to go upstream of the Chu River. If you miss the matter, I will not go. Liu Shuling will go on inspection on my behalf, and I will entrust you with all my power."

"Is the general going back to the Broken Leaf?"

"No! I'll go to Tuozhi City."

From Saiye to the west, passing through Ashibulai City and Julan City, you can reach the territory of Shiguo, and then go south. Six days later, Li Qing'an led his troops to Tuozhi City, the capital of Shiguo.

According to the results of the Battle of Talas, the status of the Shi Kingdom was different from that of the Hezhong Kingdom. The Shi Kingdom belonged to the Xiecong Kingdom of the Tang Army and made military achievements. Therefore, it did not become the occupied land of the Tang Army like the Hezhong Kingdom. It has some autonomy.

The king was still Hassan, and the administrative power of the Shi Kingdom was still under his control, but the military power was gone. The Shi Kingdom only retained 5,000 troops, which were used to maintain public order at this time. The nearly 30,000 troops stationed in Shi Kingdom were under the jurisdiction of the Dayuan Governor, of which 6,000 were stationed in Talas, 2,000 were stationed in Baishui City, and 20,000 were stationed in Tuozhi City.

The current governor of Dayuan is the general Tian Zhen. The former governor Li Siye was transferred to Hezhong when Li Qing'an attacked Xinde and served as the commander of the Hezhong Army.

The grasslands in Tuozhicheng are vast and rich in Dayuan horses. They are an important base for the Tang army to train the new army. After receiving the last nearly seven months of cavalry training, the new soldiers officially began to serve and were assigned to the soldiers and horse envoys from all over the place. A new group of soldiers were sent, and they continued to continue and remained at a scale of 20,000 people.

Li Qing'an came to Tuozhi City not to inspect the new recruits, but to inspect the weapons department of Tuozhi City. Tuozhi City is also one of the most important weapons manufacturing bases of the Tang army, especially large siege equipment, such as ladders, siege rams, chariots, catapults, crossbows and other heavy weapons, which are all developed here. The main reason is that the trees near Tuozhi City are extremely hard and suitable for making heavy weapons. Moreover, there are many skilled craftsmen in the Shi Kingdom and have sufficient human resources.

About twenty miles outside Tuozhi City, there is also a secret weapon test site, which is the Tang Army's gunpowder test base. It is located in a valley. It is very guarded and has two thousand guards. No one is allowed to enter. Most people in the Shi Kingdom don't know what they are doing there, and even King Hassan doesn't know that it is the Tang Army's Tianlei Manufacturing Base.

In the evening, Li Qingan, under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, came to Tianlei Valley. This was a huge valley, as if a mountain was split in half. In fact, it turned out to be the valley of the Dayuan River. After the Dayuan River was diverted, it gradually dried up, forming a canyon, about ten miles long, five miles wide at the widest point, and only ten feet narrowest at the narrowest point. The high mountain cliffs on both sides were covered with dense vegetation. The valley was very dry and suitable for storing gunpowder.

The valley has become a forbidden area. There are no more than two hundred people who can enter this valley. The sulfur transported by Qianquan Mountain and the saltpeter transported by Bahanna are here configured as the most sharp weapon of the Tang Dynasty: gunpowder.

Li Qing'an led twenty personal guards into the valley. The officer leader of the valley was also Li Qing'an's personal soldiers, named Zheng Guoliang. He was responsible for making firecrackers on Longju Island. Now he is the person in charge of his entire gunpowder production. He has been living here since the Battle of Talas, and has been around for nearly four years.

"The last general is to meet the general!" Zheng Guoliang knelt down on one knee and saluted Li Qing'an.

Li Qingan quickly helped him up and smiled, "No need to be so polite, get up!"

"Report to the General, two months ago, I received the order from the General, and Bei Zhizheng led his brothers to speed up the progress to make firearms. Please inspect the General."

Li Qingan nodded and asked him as he walked, "I heard that the thunder of the sky was created, is it reliable?"

The thunder of the sky is an iron-shelled gunpowder pack, which is the most powerful of the original gunpowder weapons. It was invented in the Song Dynasty that when it is most powerful, it can collapse the entire city wall, and both people and stones will turn into powder. This is something Li Qingan has always wanted to create. He just has a concept that everything depends on craftsmen to repeatedly explore and experiment. A few months ago, Zheng Guoliang wrote a letter to report that the thunder of the sky has been created.

But Li Qingan is concerned about stability. If this fierce weapon is unstable, the consequences of explosion in his own army will be unimaginable, so many times, he would rather not use gunpowder than ensure stability.

Zheng Guoliang smiled and said, "Don't worry, General. We have tried it hundreds of times and it is very stable. Now we have created more than fifty. I will take the general to take a look."

He led Li Qing'an into the valley. There were several white buildings in the valley, which were the dormitories and raw material warehouses for craftsmen. The dispensing workshop was in the cave. There were more than 20 caves of all sizes on both sides of the valley, all of which were granite, dry and strong, and became their natural workshops and gunpowder storage.

Li Qing'an followed him into a huge cave, which was more than ten feet high and several miles deep. There were a long row of tables at the entrance of the cave. More than a dozen craftsmen were making gunpowder arrows. Zheng Guoliang picked up a gunpowder arrow and introduced to Li Qing'an: "This kind of arrow itself is a large arrow fired by a bed crossbow. A gunpowder cartridge is tied to the arrow. After the gunpowder burns, it will increase the impact force and make the arrow fire further. We have conducted tests and the range can reach two miles."

Li Qingan was very interested in this kind of gunpowder arrow. He picked up a smaller arrow and turned around and said, "Get my bow!"

The personal soldiers immediately handed him his black dragon bow. Li Qing'an collected more than a dozen good bows, and this bow was his battle bow. He was also a seven-stone hard bow. It took two years for the first bow craftsman in Anxi to make it. It was pitch black and shiny all over, and it was very easy to use.

Li Qing'an strode out of the cave, put the gunpowder arrow on the bow, slowly pulled the bow like a full moon, aiming at the end of the valley, and the test site was there. There was no one for the time being. The shaft was very long, enough to ensure that the gunpowder cartridge was still outside the bow after the full bow. At this time, a craftsman carefully lit the lead with a fire fold. The lead was burning very evenly. When it was halfway through, the arrow broke out and drew an arc, and shot straight into the empty distance. After about 1500 steps, the arrow suddenly accelerated, and thick white smoke came out, and the arrow disappeared. After a moment, a soldier ran back with the arrow and shouted, "General, shot four hundred and fifty steps."

The arrow shot out 450 steps, which made Li Qing'an amazed. Zheng Guoliang smiled proudly and said, "There are actually two types of gunpowder arrows. One is to accelerate, and the other is to fix a small gunpowder bag with a cross. The bag contains a fine iron nail that has been tempered with poison. It is very effective to deal with the opponent's war horse. It has been developed by this gunpowder arrow alone for nearly a year."

"Why?" Li Qingan was a little confused.

"In fact, it's not the gunpowder itself, it's mainly gunpowder. Did the General discover that this gunpowder is different from the gunpowder on Dragon Koon Island in the past?"

Li Qingan thought for a while and said, "It seems that it burns very uniformly, and it seems that the leads can be used to control the time."

"The General is right. We spent a year studying the fact that if we grind the gunpowder particles, and finally use egg white and sulfur to solidify the gunpowder, and then grind it carefully, the size of the gunpowder particles will be very uniform. The particles must be polished with graphite, so that they will be more resistant to moisture and evenly size the particles can control the combustion speed. We also consider making a lead plate to allow the gunpowder to burn slowly and explode after a quarter of an hour, so that the enemy will be more unpredictable."

"Not bad! Very good!"

Li Qingan exclaimed twice and asked again: "Where is the thunder in the sky?"

"Great General, please come with me."

Zheng Guoliang took Li Qing'an into the depths of the cave. The light here was dimmed, but no matter how dimmed it was, you must not ignite the turret. At this time, Li Qing'an discovered that there were many caves on both sides, and there seemed to be something in it.

“This cave is cool and dry, perfect for storing gunpowder.”

He dragged out a wooden box from a cave, about one foot square. He pried open the lid and there was a dark guy inside, flat and round, very much like a hot water pot made of copper.

"Please look at the general, this is the thunder of the sky! It must be launched with a large trencher."

Li Qingan picked up the iron guy weighing about twenty pounds, and patted his belly, and asked curiously, "How powerful is it?"
Chapter completed!