Chapter 571: Cracking the Secret

Qizhou is one of the top ten great prefectures in the world, so the prefect Cui Ning of Qizhou is quite high, with a third rank. Cui Ning also has the title of Yinqing Guanglu Dafu. In addition, he has a very high reputation and strong qualifications. He is a star in the political arena of the Tang Dynasty. If he had not been from the famous Cui family, he would have entered the court as a prime minister.

The prefecture of Qizhou is located in Yong County, but in order to accommodate 5,000 Hebei immigrants these days, Cui Ning has been living in Guo County. Early that morning, Cui Ning rushed to the north of Shengyuan Canal before dawn. Cui Ning was originally named Cui Qi, about 40 years old, tall and thin, and looked very smart and capable.

These days, the resettlement of immigrants has exhausted him, but if he does not do this, he will never give up. This is his character. If he does it, he must do it perfectly.

Today he would first look at the excavation progress of the ditches. The fog in the morning made him not notice that there were troops ahead. It was not until he was less than a hundred steps away from Li Qing'an that he suddenly found that there were cavalry in front of him blocking the way.

"Is the one who comes here? " Someone asked.

Cui Ning hurriedly stopped the horse, looked at the team of cavalry in front of him in surprise, and asked sternly: "I am the prefect of Qizhou. Where are your troops? How could you be here?"

He didn't know that Li Qing'an was now in Qizhou, and a captain stepped forward to salute him and said calmly: "Enzun Cui, my general asks you to go and talk to me."

'General?' Cui Ning was stunned for a moment. He suddenly realized that it was Li Qing'an who came. He hurriedly turned over and got off the horse and said, "Where is Your Highness?"

"Please follow me."

Several personal soldiers brought Cui Ning to Li Qing'an, and Cui Ning bowed and said, "I am humble to serve Cui Ning, the prefect of Qizhou, to meet His Highness King Zhao!"

"Envoy Cui doesn't have to be too polite."

Li Qingan smiled and bowed to him. At this moment, he suddenly felt something was strange around him. When he turned around, he saw all the villagers kneeling all over the ground. Gao Fugui was so scared that his lips were trembling. He couldn't say a word. This general was actually King Zhao. He was really confused. He was so immigrants in Hebei, who else could anyone raise the problem except him? He was confused!

Li Qing'an quickly gave a wink to his personal soldiers and asked them to appease the frightened farmers. He smiled at Cui Ning and said, "Eunuch Cui, let's go!"

Cui Ning was a little hesitant, but he nodded. The two of them walked slowly along the path on the ridge of the field, and several personal soldiers followed far behind.

"Eunuch Cui, why do each household have to be divided into forty acres of land?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

Cui Ning was a little cold on his back, and he also knew what the consequences were? Once the Censorate was impeached, the charge of land distribution without authorization could not be escaped. Especially when Li Qing'an asked him about this, it had a deeper intention. He quickly explained: "I also know that it is inappropriate to divide 40 acres of land, but according to the imperial court's land distribution order, local farmers can get fifty acres of land for Yongye land, while Hebei immigrants only have thirty acres of land, and the difference between the two sides is 20 acres. There may be no problem now, but a few years later, when Hebei immigrants are fully integrated into the local area, the gap between the twenty acres of land may very likely lead to the root cause of intensification of conflicts between the two sides. So in order to avoid future conflicts, I raised the standard of land distribution for immigrants to forty acres. In addition, after the cattle in Hexi arrives next spring, each family will divide one more head, so that both sides basically have nothing to say."

Li Qing'an nodded, "You have no mistake in thinking deeply, but you should not make a decision without authorization. You should report to the Zhengshi Hall and let the Zhengshi Hall decide, and then you will execute it again. You are also an old minister. You should not make such a low-level mistake of directly resisting the order. Once someone reports it, the Censorate can directly impeach you, Cui Envoy, this is more unfavorable to you than the charge of affair with the Southern Tang!"

Cui Ning wiped the sweat from her forehead and whispered: "This is a humble position for a while."

However, Cui Ning also secretly felt a sensation in his heart. Li Qing'an told him what to do about this matter. This should be his best chance to defeat him!

Li Qingan glanced at him and smiled faintly, "Do you feel strange? Why don't I seize the opportunity to impeach you? Instead, I'm reminding you, right!"

"I dare not do it for a humble position."

"This is nothing. I came to Qizhou this time to come to ask you for guilt. It is actually very easy for me to ask you for your crime. I just need to order you to send 100,000 stones of food to Hanzhong within three days. If you can't do it, I will jail you for the crime of delaying military aircraft, or even killing you. Do you believe it?"

Cui Ning felt a chill on his back. Only then did he realize that Li Qing'an's real intention of asking Qizhou to support Hanzhong's logistics was to deal with him for delaying military aircraft. He could not escape at all. Once he was imprisoned or executed, the Cui family clan would be in chaos. At that time, Cui Ping took over the Cui family, and Li Qing'an completed his control over the Cui family.

He felt a little frightened, lowered his head and said silently, Li Qingan said again: "This is indeed my plan, but now I have changed my mind. Do you know why?"

"I don't know the humble position!"

"It's very simple. It's really easy to overthrow a head of the Cui family, but it's not easy to get a good minister."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan sighed slightly, "Envoy Cui, sometimes I really hope you are a mediocre and a greedy minister."

Cui Ning choked his nose suddenly, and a bitter sensation made his tears almost flow out. His heart was filled with the feeling of a soldier dying for his confidant. After a while, he whispered: "Your Highness, the Cui family has no intention of opposing you."

Li Qing'an walked slowly with his hands behind his back. He didn't say anything. He was waiting for Cui Ning to continue talking. Cui Ning said again: "We also know Pei Zunqing's aggressiveness, but the Cui family believes that his attitude does not represent the Pei family. Pei Zunqing can be arrogant, but the Cui family cannot. If Cui Ping had a power fight with Pei Zunqing, the Cui family would not object, but would not support it. By the same token, Cui Ping did not represent the Cui family."

Cui Ning said it very implicitly, and the unexpected intention was to tell Li Qing'an that Pei Zunqing's arrogant provocation was not the original intention of the Pei family. As a family that had been around for hundreds of years, the Pei family would not do such shallow things. It was just Pei Zunqing's own arrogance. As long as Li Qing'an continued to do Pei Zunqing, the Pei family would return to normal. At the same time, he also expressed the Cui family's attitude towards Cui Ping, and Cui Ping could not represent the Cui family.

Li Qing'an nodded and smiled, "I understand. Actually, I have always wanted to talk to Cui Huan openly, but I have never found a chance. I am very grateful for your confession to me. I also hope that the Cui family can continue to maintain his character and become a family of five hundred years."

Cui Ning was grateful in his heart. He understood what Li Qing'an meant, and that was why he let the Cui family go.

"Thank you for your kindness. I hope your highness knows that the Cui family firmly supports His Highness ascends the throne. This is the Cui family's promise to His Highness."

Li Qing'an looked at him, and after a long time, he nodded and said, "I remember your words. I remember the promises of the head of the Cui family to me, but you must also remember what consequences will the Cui family encounter if your family betrays the promises to me."

Cui Ning said solemnly: "I understand this."

The two continued to walk forward for a while, and Li Qing'an smiled and said, "Eunuch Cui, have you ever thought that one day you will be the prime minister of the Political Affairs Hall?"

Cui Ning smiled, "It is a scholar in the morning and the emperor's hall in the evening. This is the wish of every scholar. How could I not want to become a prince?"

"Um!"

Li Qing'an continued to move forward again, thinking about something, he stopped and stared at Cui Ning and slowly said, "I just had to use conspiracy and tricks. I just used it for a while, and could not make it for a lifetime. Although Cui Ping was my confidant, he was mediocre and had losses in moral integrity. It was not the appearance of Zhongxing that I expected. What I, Li Qing'an, thoughts, were not just my personal desire for power. I hope the Tang Dynasty could move from my hands to Zhongxing. I hope to be the leader of Zhongxing, but I also hoped that Zhongxing would assist me. I have been looking for it. Today I met the envoy and met the envoy, a prefect who was willing to give up ten acres of land from the official field to ordinary people. With this, I knew that you were the appearance of Zhongxing that I was looking for."

After saying that, he reached out to Cui Ning, with sincerity and expectation in his eyes. Cui Ning nodded silently and held it tightly with him. Although the Tang Dynasty did not have a handshake gift, the handshake between the two men always represents a kind of trust and a kind of loyalty.

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In the golden October, not only Guanzhong achieved a bumper harvest, but Hebei Road also ushered in a bumper harvest of spring wheat. The golden waves in the wheat fields fluctuated with the wind, and wheat was piled up in the granary. The bumper harvest in Hebei undoubtedly brought great excitement to An Lushan. The bumper harvest of grain was only one aspect, and what made An Lushan even more ecstatic was that he finally discovered the secret of the thunder of the Anxi army.

In a valley outside Youzhou City, the terrain is flat, surrounded by ridges, covering an area of ​​100 acres. Ten thousand Yan troops were closely guarding three miles away, while three thousand personal guards surrounded An Lushan and stood in front of the entrance of the valley.

An Lushan was covered with armor, and his eyes were full of anticipation and excitement. Hundreds of steps away, more than a dozen Taoist priests were busy making the final placement. They placed a dark paper tube-like item on a wooden rack two meters high. The paper tube-like item was a replica of Li Qing'an's first big firecracker on Longju Island. It was exactly the same, five feet high and one foot in diameter. It was wrapped in layers of paper, and the lead was five or six meters long.

Next to An Lushan, there was an old Taoist priest in his fifties. While peeking at An Lushan's face, he introduced: "Since An Shuai offered a reward of the thunder two years ago, I have been thinking about what this thunder is? Two months ago, when we were refining elixirs, the elixir room exploded and the roof was overturned. Afterwards, we found that it was the gunpowder formula of Ge Hong's ancestor. Because the amount of saltpeter was too large, it exploded. I suddenly thought, is the Anxi Army's sky thunder just gunpowder?"

An Lushan frowned and said, "But we have tried gunpowder, it is not so powerful at all. It just like a fart, and there is nothing left with a bang."

"Master, the key is the recipe!"

The old Taoist smiled flatteringly and said, "We used to refine gunpowder, but it didn't work. At most, it made the fire a little faster. But two months ago, we made a mistake in material use and the explosion overturned the alchemy room. At that time, I realized that the effect of nitrogen in gunpowder was extraordinary. This time I used Sun Simiao's sulfur fire method to make gunpowder, which increased the saltpeter content in the gunpowder, which would definitely satisfy the Grand Marshal."

"Then let's take a look!"

An Lushan was still a little disbelief. He suddenly remembered something and asked him again: "How much reward did you want last time?"

"Not much! Not much!"

The old Taoist stretched out a finger, squinted his eyes and said, "We have a reward of ten thousand yuan."

"Ten thousand guan!"

An Lushan snorted heavily, "Isn't this much?"

The old Taoist was about to speak again, but An Lushan waved his hand to stop him, "Let's take a look at the experiment first? If I'm not satisfied, you can't even get a penny!"

The old Taoist dared not speak anymore, and he held his heart tightly. He looked at his disciples. It was logical that they had been repeatedly tested for two months, so there should be no big problem, but they were afraid that if they failed, what if they failed? He prayed silently in his heart, "Wuliang Tianzun, bless the disciples to succeed. If you get the money, you will definitely reshape your golden body."

At this time, more than a dozen young Taoist priests were ready, and they also prepared the leads, but they were very rough. The Taoist priests ran away from a distance, leaving only one person. He trembled with a torch to ignite the five-meter-long lead, turned around and ran away. "Huh!" The leads burned nearly three meters, extremely fast, but suddenly slowed down again, as if they were extinguished, with only a slight headache for the Taoist priests. The fire speed of gunpowder was always uncontrollable, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Once the burning speed was too fast, a Taoist priest was killed.

The lead slowly crawled forward like a snail, and An Lushan's brows frowned. What kind of thing is this? At this time, the lead gradually accelerated again, the smoke became thicker and thicker, and climbed onto the wooden frame. At this time, all the Taoist priests' hearts rose, and some even closed their eyes and clasped their hands to pray that their wealth in the rest of their lives would be here.

Although An Lushan looked down on the old Taoist very much, he was full of expectations for this experiment. His personal guard was ordered to go to the old Taoist temple to actually inspect it once. According to his personal guard, it was indeed powerful.

This made An Lushan feel full of expectations. At this time, seeing that the flames were about to burn the paper tube, An Lushan couldn't help but open his mouth and tiptoe. Suddenly, he heard a "boom!" sound, and the sound was like thunder, and a stream of black smoke rose into the air. Everyone present was shocked. Many people couldn't help but hold down their hearts. When the smoke dissipated, they saw that more than half of the two-meter-high wooden frame was blown away, and debris flew everywhere, and a piece of wood chip was hitting An Lushan's head.

An Lushan was stunned. After a while, he suddenly burst into laughter, "Okay! OK! This is the thunder. I, An Lushan, have thunder. From now on, why should I be afraid of the Anxi Army?"

He grabbed the old Taoist's stingy arm and said excitedly: "You teach my army to make thunder, and I will reward you with 50,000 ounces of money!"
Chapter completed!