Several people sat down, and after toasting and serving dishes, Su Jin said: "Two commanders, I would like to ask you a favor."
Zhao Dehai hurriedly stood up and pretended to blame: "Master Su, what are you talking about? I am just following you two on errands in a low-level position. What do you mean by asking us for help? But just give the order."
Fang Chengzhong also quickly expressed his position, saying that everything depends on orders.
Su Jin was not pretentious and said with a smile: "In that case, we will handle official business as usual, but privately we are still brothers."
"It should be like this." Zhao Fang and Zhao Fang laughed.
"How many cavalry brothers are under the control of these two commanders?"
"Although I and I are deputy commanders, the actual number of people we can use is only one person and three people, a total of six to seven hundred people." Zhao Dehai answered honestly.
Su Jin nodded and said: "There are quite a few people. What is the configuration of your cavalry army? Can you tell me?"
Zhao Dehai said: "Two sets of armor for one person and one horse, and weapons...a charge spear, a short bow, a short blade, or a knife or a sword."
Su Jin frowned and said, "Do you have firearms?"
Zhao Dehai blinked and said, "What kind of firearm?"
Su Jin gesticulated for a long time, but Fang Chengzhong understood quickly and asked: "Master Su, are you talking about rockets? The kind that are filled with powder and ignited to fire?"
Su Jin shook his head and said: "It's not a rocket, it seems to be a fire gun. Is there such a thing?"
Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong shook their heads like rattles and said: "Fire gun? Never heard of it. The Ministry of War has a Shenshui camp. There are some fire caltrops, muskets and the like, but they are all good and useless. The price
They are also expensive, and their lethality is not as good as bows and arrows, so no one uses them."
Su Jin was greatly surprised. He had the impression that firearms had already existed in the Song Dynasty. How come even the most elite Imperial Guards did not know the power of firearms until now? No wonder he had experienced many battles and had not seen even a single firearm.
"Sir, what kind of firecracker are you talking about?" Zhao Dehai asked curiously.
Su Jin thought for a while, dipped his hand in wine and drew an impression of a firecracker on the table, and explained: "The cast tube is filled with gunpowder and compacted, and then filled with iron sand. There is a fuse on the side, and it is lit.
Afterwards, the gunpowder flew out with iron sand, and within fifty or sixty steps, the force of fire could penetrate ten steps in a radius, and ordinary thin armor could not stop it."
Fang Chengzhong frowned and said: "Mr. Su, it's not that my humble position is spoiling your interest. I have seen something similar to what you said made by Shenshuiying. It cost a lot of money, but in the end it was even possible to wear ordinary clothes thirty steps away.
For this reason, Commander Qin of the Shenshui Camp was fined for one year, and the Privy Council punished him for his whims."
Su Jin was surprised and said: "How is it possible? Ordinary clothes cannot be worn thirty steps away?"
Fang Chengzhong swore to God that he saw with his own eyes that the pile of bamboo pipes was still piled in the corner of the warehouse and no one cared about it.
Su Jin was surprised and said: "Bamboo tube?"
Fang Chengzhong said: "Yes, they are all made of tough and tough thorny bamboo tubes. Isn't that what you are talking about bamboo tubes?"
Su Jin scratched his head and said, "I'm talking about cast pipes, specially made cast iron pipes."
Everyone at the table shook their heads in confusion and said: "No, how much money will it cost? I have never seen such a thing."
Su Jin sweated on his forehead and thought for a moment, "The Shenshui Camp must only be filled with a small amount of gunpowder, otherwise how can the bamboo tube withstand it?"
Fang Chengzhong said: "Yes, it only takes a few spoons. It has exploded and injured several soldiers."
Su Jin took a breath and said: "That's the crux of the matter. How can the bamboo tube withstand the power of gunpowder? It would be weird if it doesn't explode. If there is less gunpowder, the iron sand shot out will naturally be useless. Let alone penetrate it thirty steps away."
If you can hit an object thirty steps away, it’s pretty good.”
Zhao Dehai said: "Then Mr. Su asked what is the use of this thing? Could it be that he wants to spend huge sums of money to cast iron pipes? That will cost a lot of money, and the use of iron ore casting requires the Ministry of Labor to report to the Third Division, Your Majesty's Grace
You can do it only if it is accurate. Besides, it is still unknown whether the thing can be cast and used."
Su Jin waved his hand and said, "I don't have that much time to spare. Besides, it will be used tomorrow and I don't have time to prepare."
Everyone, Monk Zhang Er, was confused and looked at Su Jin eagerly.
Su Jin smiled and said: "That's right. Tomorrow I plan to take the Liao envoys with Mr. Fu to visit the training of our Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty. We are going to come up with some scary things to dampen their spirits, so I thought of firearms."
Zhao Dehai shook his head and said: "Hey, taking this thing out is not to establish prestige, but to make people look embarrassed. It doesn't make the Liao people laugh to death."
Su Jin thought for a while and said: "There is still a way, but it requires the two of you to do it. You two go to Shenshui Camp to borrow the bamboo tubes, paint them all with black paint, and wrap them with straw ropes or something like that.
Toy, don’t let anyone see the material; tomorrow we will use the bamboo tube to show our authority."
Zhao Dehai and Fang Chengzhong stared with big eyes and said, "Then how can we establish authority? If it is fake, it is fake. It just sprays some smoke. It has no lethality. How can we scare the Liao envoy?"
Su Jin chuckled and said: "The mountain man has his own clever plan, so come here."
Zhao Fang and Zhao Fang stretched their necks and raised their ears, and Su Jin chattered for a long time, which made the two bosses stare blankly and opened their mouths. Finally, when they looked at Su Jin, they couldn't tell whether they looked at him with contempt or admiration.
"It needs to be arranged tomorrow afternoon, will it be difficult?" Su Jin said with a smile.
"Why do you still come out to hang out if you can't do this in a humble position? It's just that I can't guarantee how effective it will be."
"That's what I'm worried about. Just do what you do. Time is tight and everything depends on you two. We'll see you tomorrow at the West Campus." Su Jin gave the eviction order unceremoniously.
Zhao Fang and the other two quickly downed the wine in front of them, each grabbed a goose leg and hurried downstairs.
Fu Bi looked at the two people's backs and said, "Brother, your skills are really amazing. I'm afraid that others will see your flaws."
Su Jin smiled and said: "You can't see it. If you don't scare them into peeing their pants, they will still make trouble for the army on the border. If we want to do our job well, we can only continue to dampen their spirit. When they think I am big
When Song is actually not afraid of fighting at all, that’s when our job is done.”
"However, this matter will be exposed sooner or later, and then there will be a lot of talk."
"They won't say anything if they reveal their secrets. They will only suffer the consequences of being dumb. They will just look for opportunities to cause trouble next time. As long as I, the Song Dynasty, can take a breath, who are they afraid of in Xia and Liao? Until this year's summer grain is on the market and the court's warehouses are strong.
Don’t worry about anything anymore.”
"That's right! Brother Xian is really a natural talent for ruling, and Brother Yu is ashamed of himself."
"Don't put your hat on me. I still don't know how to explain to the emperor what happened in the morning. I guess the emperor will punish me and wait, and ask you to step forward to block it. You are more dignified than me in front of the emperor."
Fu Bi rolled his eyes and said: No matter how big you are, you are not bigger than you. You are not honest. If something happens, ask me to take responsibility. If you take responsibility, I will take responsibility. Why are we like grasshoppers tied together?
In the evening, Su Jin and Fu Bi went to the palace to see Zhao Zhen and explain everything that happened in the morning; Zhao Zhen actually knew about it a long time ago.
For half a day, the whole Bianliang City was in an uproar. It was said that the envoys of the Song and Liao Dynasties sent their warriors to compete in the post, and gambled huge sums of money. In the end, the two special envoys of the Song Dynasty won the Liao envoy with a superior move and almost escaped.
Pants.
There are even more cunning people who add fuel to the fire, saying that Fu Bi and Su Jin have read poetry and history thoroughly, skillfully used Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, and are good at mobilizing troops and forming formations.
The king's superior horse and the other's middle horse, the king's middle horse and the other's lower horse, with both wisdom and courage, finally won the battle, causing the Liao people to lose face and surrender.
The common people were naturally talking about this matter, but when it came to the court, they had a different reaction; the radicals naturally thought it was a morale-boosting move, but most serious people did not take it seriously.
First of all, it is not a decent thing for the envoys of the two countries to bet on the street. Secondly, the ministers all thought that the visitor was a guest and did not treat the guest in this way. It was a stupid act to lose the guest because the guest could
They were no ordinary guests. Behind them were hundreds of thousands of hungry wolves. Originally, the negotiation was to ease the situation, but Fu Bi and Su Jin made the situation worse.
In the afternoon, several ministers who had received the news entered the palace one after another. After taking a nap in the afternoon, they suddenly became a little romantic. Zhao Zhen, who was enjoying himself with his beloved concubine Zhang Guifei, was depressed to death.
However, Zhao Zhen did not jump to conclusions prematurely. Su Jin's promise to him in the morning was still fresh in his mind. It was impossible to do things in a muddle without thinking. Zhao Zhen just wanted to hear Su Jin and others' own explanations.
After Su Jin reported it, he explained the reason for doing so.
"Your Majesty, I just want to dampen their arrogance. They are coming with a fierce momentum. If we add fuel to their arrogance, there will be no way to put out the fire. All I did was pour a ladle.
It's just cold water. I want the Liao people to know that I, the Song Dynasty, will not let them do whatever they want. Besides, the Liao people were too arrogant and injured several of the soldiers in our post. This is also a slight punishment.
"
Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "That's the truth, but you gamble in the street, and the impact is extremely bad. Where did you get so much money? One hundred thousand taels in one move, you are more powerful than my Ministry of Internal Affairs
rich."
Su Jin pointed to the sky and swore: "This is all the hard-earned money of my minister Su Ji. This time I ordered people to bring my family assets to the capital to prepare the capital for the bank. For the sake of the face of the Song Dynasty, I have risked my life."
Zhao Zhen said: "Then I want to praise you, don't you?"
Su Jin said with a smile: "Praise is not necessary. The Liao envoy gave me 20,000 cash as capital for his face. In addition, he still owes me more than 10,000 taels. This favor belongs to the emperor."
Zhao Zhen couldn't help laughing and said: "You are very proud. I tell you clearly that all the silver will be returned every cent. We, the Song Dynasty, are not short of these tens of thousands of taels of silver. Furthermore, the two countries are at war and have not killed the envoys. This time
Is it absolutely beneficial to the negotiation if the Liao envoy cannot come to Taiwan? I don't think so! The key to negotiation is to be neither humble nor arrogant, polite and courteous. If you make people unhappy, how can they get along well with you?"
Su Jin and Fu Bi had no choice but to say yes again and again, and Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "Well, a little punishment is okay, but it's enough; the money has to be paid back, and you can use it as a bargaining chip, but you can't force it too much; this time
I just hope that I will be satisfied without losing any major points in the negotiation, and I don’t take your promise seriously; you don’t have to put too much pressure on me and do something unthinkable.”
Su Jin was secretly depressed: Is this a hint that we can give in? The mighty Song Dynasty tolerated and asked for mercy beforehand. No wonder they signed those humiliating treaties before, and no wonder Xixia and Liao didn't take us seriously.
Su Jin secretly made up his mind that he must not follow this path this time. He would be infamy for eternity and could not see it. As long as he tolerated it, the old guys in the court who were waiting to find trouble would start to criticize them for personal gain.