Qin Hui has regained Zhao Gou's favor and once again firmly sat in the position of left prime minister. In his daily life, in addition to reviewing documents from various states and counties that were flying in like snowflakes, he also secretly ordered Lan Jue of the Imperial City Department to keep an eye on the news coming from the Kingdom of Jin and the Kingdom of Daxia, so that the five armies could come to Kaifeng City to fight against the rebellion. . During this time, Qin Hui's mansion was always brightly lit and full of people. Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan, two flatterers who took advantage of the situation, were like Qin Hui's shadow, never leaving his side. They always gave just the right words of praise, making Qin Hui even more complacent in the whirlpool of power. "Prime Minister Qin, if you can successfully annihilate Zhao Yingluo this time, you will definitely make an unparalleled contribution and be famous in history!" Huang Qianshan said with a flattering look on his face, blinking his eyes. Qin Hui smiled slightly, but he was secretly happy in his heart. Of course he knew what it meant to eliminate Zhao Yingluo - it was not only the consolidation of power, but also the doubling of wealth. Zhao Yingluo holds millions of acres of fertile land in her hands. If she can take it back as her own and return one million acres of it to her father-in-law, her concubine will not be talking about him not helping her every day beside his pillow. Father, aren’t you going to be soft-spoken and gentle by then? ...He couldn't help but start to daydream about the good days.
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye it is the spring of the fourth year of Jianyan. In late February in Kaifeng, peach blossoms and pear blossoms are blooming, and the atmosphere is full of spring. The entire city of Kaifeng seems to be soaked in a sea of flowers, overflowing with fragrance. In the fields, green wheat seedlings grow happily under the warm sunshine, while the weeping willows on the river bank also quietly reveal a touch of new green, seeming to announce the arrival of spring to people. However, in this spring-filled city of Kaifeng, there is one person who cannot enjoy this tranquility and beauty. That is Zhao Yingluo. Although her five million acres of fertile land are managed by Jiang Laosi and a technical team of thousands of people, she does not need to worry too much, but she is not in the mood to appreciate the spring scenery at the moment. Her only concern was the foundry's capacity. If the news from Han Shizhong is true and the Five Route Army will launch a fierce attack in March, then she will have less than a month to prepare. This is undoubtedly a race against time for Zhao Yingluo. Amidst the roar of the foundry, Zhao Yingluo came to the scene to inspect the newly cast artillery. While she carefully looked at these artillery pieces that were about to become lethal weapons on the battlefield, she asked Feng Jing about the production situation. "Feng Jing, how many cannons have been cast?" Zhao Yingluo's voice echoed in the foundry. Feng Jing hurriedly stepped forward and replied: "Reporting to your highness, nearly 800 artillery pieces and 7,000 fire blunderbuss have been cast so far. With less than half a month left, I am confident that I can complete the construction of 1,000 artillery pieces and 10,000 fire blunderbuss." Target." Zhao Yingluo nodded with satisfaction after hearing this. She knew that these artillery and muskets would become powerful weapons against foreign enemies. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, she immediately ordered: "Feng Jing listens to the order! You immediately arrange to transport 500 artillery pieces and 5000 fire blunderbuss to Xingzhou and hand them over to General Yue Fei who is stationed there. Tell him to be vigilant and beware of the Jin Kingdom. and Xixia launched a surprise attack on Xingzhou." "The villain will make arrangements tomorrow." After Zhao Yingluo thought for a while, she continued, "When the other five hundred cannons are cast, you need to hand over half of them to King Xin who is stationed in Zhengzhou, and the other half to Wei County and give them to General Wang Zaixing who is stationed there. .” After hearing this, Feng Jing frowned slightly and showed a puzzled look. He couldn't help but ask: "Princess, hasn't General Han Shizhong already expressed his allegiance to Your Highness? Why do you still need to allocate artillery to Wei County? In my opinion, Those who really need artillery support should be the two veteran generals Zongze and Li Gang who are stationed in the south of Kaifeng City, right? The strength of the imperial army they face cannot be underestimated."
Zhao Yingluo smiled slightly, and there was a hint of cunning and deep meaning in her smile: "You must know that 'you must not have the intention to harm others, and you must have the intention to guard against others'. Before General Han Shizhong publicly surrendered to me, we had to act carefully. After all, people’s hearts are so far apart, who can guarantee that he won’t change his mind at the last minute?” She paused and continued: "As for the two veteran generals Zongze and Li Gang, don't worry. I know the combat power of the imperial army. Although they are large in number, in terms of actual combat capabilities, they are not They are far inferior to our elite divisions. It is a waste to use artillery, a powerful weapon, on them. You only need to give them two thousand more muskets each, which will be enough for them to deal with the imperial army." After hearing this, Feng Jing still had doubts in his heart, but he believed in Her Highness the Princess's judgment, so he nodded and said, "What Your Highness said is absolutely true. I will make arrangements right now." …… Since Yue Fei returned from the snow last winter and returned to Xingzhou, there are only two things left in his life: one is to step up the training of the army, and the other is to recruit more young men to join the army. In this troubled world, only a strong military can protect the peace of the country and the people. In just three months, Yue Fei's army expanded from 100,000 to 150,000, and with Zhao Yingluo's strong support, their equipment was also greatly improved. Today, Yue Fei has as many as 800 artillery pieces and more than 6,000 muskets. Such military strength gave him enough confidence to face any challenge. On the first day of March, Yue Fei stood on the city wall of Xingzhou, looking into the distance. Suddenly, he saw smoke rising from the official road outside the city wall. It was his eldest son Yue Yun who had returned from inquiring about the news, so he hurriedly ordered the city defender to open the door to greet him. Yue Yun walked into the city gate with a body full of dust and fatigue. After climbing onto the city wall, he shouted loudly, "Father, I'm back!" Yue Fei looked at his son, his eyes full of joy and pride. He patted Yue Yun on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Good boy, thank you for your hard work! Tell me, what news did you get?" Yue Yun took a deep breath and told him everything he had heard, "Father, I led hundreds of scouts to explore north along the mountain road, and found the Kingdom of Jin and the Kingdom of Dajin a hundred miles away from Xingzhou City. Xia's coalition forces. Their strength is very large, and the total strength is expected to reach 300,000." After hearing this, Yue Fei frowned and said in a deep voice: "Three hundred thousand troops? This is not a small number! It seems that this time the Golden Thief and Daxia Kingdom are determined to join forces to deal with us." Yue Yun nodded in agreement: "Yes, father. The enemy's strength this time is far beyond our previous expectations, so we must be fully prepared." Yue Fei was silent for a moment, then raised his head and looked into the distance, his eyes seemed to be burning with fire, "No matter how many troops the enemy has, as long as they dare to invade Xingzhou, we will make them pay a heavy price! Pass the order and let them The whole army is ready for battle!"