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Volume 1: A Noble Family Chapter 289: The Lion Opens His Mouth

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    The test flight of the Kongming Lantern was successful. Everyone in the "Craftsman Camp" admired the Lord and even offered incense and worshiped him.  Seeing that the effect was so ideal, Yuan Mai smiled from ear to ear and ordered the people in the craftsman camp to prepare more than a hundred carriages, so that the craftsmen could sleep in the carriages during the day and rush to make Kongming lanterns when they set up camp at night.  Before the troops arrived in Yecheng, at least five hundred qualified Kongming lanterns had to be produced.  The army meandered eastward, its banners covering the sky and the sun.  Wang Shuang and Guo Huai led 8,000 cavalry in the front to lead the way. Yuan Mai, Zhao Yun, Zhang He, Xu Shu and others led an army of more than 30,000 people in the center. Zhang Xun and Yuan Yao led 10,000 people in the rear to escort the grain and grass. They left Changshan Kingdom and headed towards  Wei Jun advanced.  While riding his horse, Yuan Mai considered how to maximize the power of the Kongming Lantern?  After all, this era was dominated by cold weapons, and air strikes were far from the power of later generations.  And the range of bows and arrows is also poor. If they fly high, they cannot hit people on the ground. If they fly low, they can easily be shot by soldiers on the ground.  After all, the arrows fired by soldiers in the air are far less violent than the rain of arrows on the ground. They can only play the role of surprise soldiers, but are far from decisive.  As the army was marching quickly, several monks wearing Taoist robes passed by on the roadside, which suddenly brought inspiration to Yuan Mai.  "Black gunpowder! Why not develop black gunpowder?" Yuan Mai murmured to himself, his eyes shining with excitement. If black gunpowder comes out, he will have a cutting-edge weapon that will transcend the times.  The principle of black powder is not difficult, it is basically junior high school knowledge.  By memory.  Yuan Mai vaguely remembered that black gunpowder was made by mixing several raw materials such as sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. After a little processing, black gunpowder could be produced.  Charcoal and sulfur are relatively easy to find, and are available in the military. Most of them are used to make rockets, and they are readily available.  However, things like saltpeter were created through chemical processing by later generations, and they certainly did not exist in this era.  It seems that it can be replaced by a raw material called Glauber's salt, but this is not something that ordinary people can study. It must be studied by alchemists in alchemy to have hope.  Made up one's mind.  Yuan Mai immediately summoned a soldier to come to the horse.  Let him rush to Jinyang quickly and order Zhen Yao to find some alchemists for him to make alchemy. He has an important task entrusted to him.  The soldiers immediately took the order and left.  It is only 240 to 50 miles from Changshan State to Wei County, and the army marches at a distance of 80 miles every day.  Three days later, the troops arrived along the Zhang River.  It is only seventeen or eighty miles away from Yecheng.  On the march.  The craftsmen in the craftsman camp followed Yuan Mai's instructions, sleeping on the carriage during the day and making large Kongming lanterns at night.  No matter what you do.  There is a step-by-step process from raw to mature.  The craftsmen who make Kongming lanterns are no exception. On the first night, more than 400 craftsmen made seventy-eight. After testing, fifty were qualified, and the rest needed to be improved.  The next night, the craftsmen were much more familiar with it. After a busy night, they produced one hundred and thirty pieces, and only five were unqualified.  On the third night, the efficiency increased by half again. One hundred and ninety were produced in one night, and only one failed.  After three busy nights, the masters of the craftsman camp produced a total of 364 Kongming lanterns, which was more than 100 short of Yuan Mai's requirements.  But it doesn't matter, there is still time, after all, the time to attack the city has not yet been decided.  "Set up camp!" The team walked along the Zhang River for more than ten miles. When they were only three miles away from Yecheng, Yuan Mai sent an order to set up camp.  The military orders were passed down one after another, and all the nearly 50,000 troops stopped advancing. They looked for open areas on the bank of the Zhang River, began to dig trenches, erect fences, and pitch tents. They spent the night on the bank of the Zhang River.  Surrounded by all the staff, Yuan Mai looked at Ye City not far away and saw that the city gate was indeed closed, the suspension bridge was raised high, and there were many flags on the top of the city, which was heavily guarded.  Yuan Mai also understood that he came under the guise of helping Yuan Shang attack Yuan Tan, and his target should be Pingyuan.  It¡¯s not dark yet. According to common sense, we can push at least another ten miles to the east. However, we suddenly set up camp under the city. It¡¯s strange that it doesn¡¯t arouse the vigilance of the judge!  "How can we reduce the vigilance of the examiner and minimize his doubts?" Yuan Mai convened all the civil and military officials in the commander's tent to discuss, and in a short time they came up with a plan, which was still proposed by Xu Shu.  ;After all, among all civil and military personnel, his IQ is the highest.  But Yuan Mai felt that he was the exception.  In fact, Yuan Mai was thinking the same thing, but Xu Shu took advantage of him before he could say it. As the lord, he naturally could not compete with his subordinates for the credit, so he had to give the credit to Xu Yuanzhi.  Zhuge Jin got the order and led 300 knights in Wangshuang.Under the protection, he beat the horse and raised dust, and after a while he came to Yecheng.  "Seniors on the city, listen, I am Zhuge Jin, a meritorious officer under the command of Lord Yuan Xianyong, the shepherd of Bingzhou. I have something to invite your Lord Judge to speak to. Please let me know!" Zhuge Jin urged his horse to march out towards the city.  The defender at the head shouted loudly.  The king stood guard with a sword in both hands, guarding against sudden cold arrows from the city.  After hearing what Zhuge Jin said, the military academy guarding the city immediately flew to report for review.  Since the men and horses from Bingzhou camped under the city yesterday afternoon, Shenpei has had trouble sleeping and eating. He can't figure out what Yuan Mai means. Is he really here to help the battle, or is he pretending to destroy Guo with the intention of Yecheng?  We had no choice but to order more defense forces at the top of the city, close the four gates, pull up the suspension bridge to prevent anyone from entering or exiting, and use the "drag" tactic to see what Yuan Mai's plan was.  Hearing that Zhuge Jin was shouting at the city, he took his nephew Shen Rong, general Meng Han and others up to the city wall to meet Zhuge Jin.  "Mr. Ziyu, you are well. You are so polite to Shen Pei!" As an important staff officer and diplomat of Bingzhou, Zhuge Jin was already well-known, and Shen Pei had heard about it a little. In order to show respect, he deliberately used euphemisms in his speech.  Zhuge Jin raised his hands on horseback and returned the salute: "Jin, you are polite. I came here for no other reason. My lord has raised a large army to help in the battle. He is short of food and grass, so he came to ask Shen Bieji for some food and grass!" After hearing Zhuge Jin's intention,  Shen Pei's hanging heart just dropped.  He frowned slightly and said to himself: "So that's it. Yuan Laosi is holding his troops in the city. It turns out that he is trying to extort food and grass. Let me just say, this guy will never agree to help the war unconditionally!" However, there are two phases.  In comparison, this is a good result. After all, it is much better to want money than to want territory; if Yuan Mai came for Yecheng and attacked from both sides with Yuan Tan, the situation in Jizhou would be precarious.  Shen Pei knew in his heart that Bingzhou's military strength had now surpassed that of Jizhou. Not to mention, Bingzhou had more than 20,000 cavalry alone, plus Xu Sheng's 10,000 navy, this was incomparable to Jizhou.  After the Battle of Guandu, Jizhou's military strength was reduced by nearly half. Under the circumstances, not to mention the alliance between Qingzhou and Bingzhou, even if Jizhou and Bingzhou competed alone, they may not be able to gain the upper hand.  "It's easy to say, it's easy to say The Fourth Young Master has come to help in the battle. I and the Third Young Master are very grateful. The army has come from a long way, and it is tiring to travel and travel. It is appropriate to provide some food, grass and baggage. I just don't know how many gaps your army has?" Shen Pei smiled.  , without leaving any trace, he tested Yuan Mai's intention with Zhuge Jin. How big is this guy's appetite?  Fifty thousand horses consume about 1,200 shi of grain every day. Including the fodder for the horses, the amount of grain consumed in a month is about 50,000 shi.  In Shen Pei¡¯s mind, the highest limit he can bear is one hundred thousand stones.  If Yuan Mai is sincere enough, Shen Pei is willing to send 100,000 stones of food and grass to establish a good relationship with the Bingzhou Army.  After all, people come from far away to help in the war, and as a host, it is only natural for them to take care of the food.  Zhuge Jin smiled and stretched out five fingers to Shenpei: "Can these be done?" Shenpei saw it, and felt happy and said with a smile: "Fifty thousand stones? Yes!" "Haha Shenbiejia is really joking,  Fifty thousand stones to defeat the bandits?" Zhuge Jin said with a smile, "According to my master's wishes, this battle cannot be fought without half a million stones!" "What?" "  After hearing this, Pei almost fell off the city wall. He was so angry that he secretly gnashed his teeth and cursed: "This little thief is really disgusting. He opened his mouth like a lion and asked for 500,000 stones. He was clearly taking advantage of others."  "Danger, extortion, really hateful!" "However, there has not been a falling out yet, and Shen Pei does not want to offend Yuan Mai. After all, the Bingzhou army is here to help the war; if he offends Yuan Mai, he will forcefully attack the city regardless of Zheng's life or death.  And when Yuan Shang is entangled by Yuan Tan, Yecheng will be in a dangerous situation.  After all, Zheng is not Yuan Mai's biological mother, and she is just a little unkind. No one can guarantee how much weight she has in Yuan Mai's heart.  Holding back his anger, he held up his hands and defended: "There really is not so much food and grass in Yecheng. Half a year ago, Cao's thieves burned Wuchao and turned nearly 500,000 stones into ashes. There are only 300,000 stones in Hecheng. There is still more to be left."  Some are for our army to eat; the most they can provide is 80,000 shi of food and grass! " "What are you kidding, Shen Biejia? The 80,000 shi of food and grass can only last for more than a month. Yuan Tan has come with a large army and is bound to win this battle!  It is not impossible to say less than three to five months, but more than a year and a half. Why don't we let our Bingzhou army drink from the northwest wind?" Zhuge Jin rode on his horse and bargained with the judge on the city wall according to the pre-discussed words.  .  Shen Pei suppressed his anger and gave in again: "Please, Ziyu, please go back and report to the Fourth Young Master, just sayThe city is short of food and grass, and can only provide one hundred thousand stones of food and grass at most. It is impossible to add another bucket of food and grass. If you are willing, it can be sent to the army in one or two days. If you are not willing there is nothing you can do!  Zhuge Jin looked helpless: "In this case, Jin doesn't dare to make his own decision. He will wait until I repay his lord before making a decision."  Farewell!  " After saying that, he turned his horse back and took Wang Shuang and his entourage to turn around and return to the military camp. Only Shen Pei was left gritting his teeth on the top of the city and cursing Yuan Mai for being greedy. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature for better updates of the novel.  Faster!
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