Chapter 489 What to Do if You Have No Money

It is said that once an envoy from Xixia came to Song Dynasty and said that the soldiers of Dabai Gao State were elite, and his words were quite threatening. The swords were broken one after another, and in the end a famous minister took out his own sword and won the game, but unfortunately his was the Japanese sword, which made Da Song very embarrassed.

It can be seen from this that the iron smelting technology of the Song Dynasty still needs to be developed. It may not be possible to produce the iron material that can be used to make the barrel of the firecracker immediately.

"But I'm afraid it's not easy to choose the right person?" Wang Shao hesitated. Rather than building weapons, he wanted to personally lead the army to manage Hehuang, and Wang Yu was in charge of high-yield crops such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Planting, I'm afraid I don't have the time. As for my son Wang Hou, maybe he can, but if one of the Wang family leads the army outside and the other is responsible for building ordnance inside, the court may not be relieved.

"There are many talents in the Great Song Dynasty. It is not difficult to find someone who is capable of taking charge of this matter. Shen Cunzhong of Qiantang and Su Zirong of Quanzhou all have this ability." If you are interested, Shen Kuo and Su Song are the best of them.

Needless to say, Shen Kuo can be called an all-around talent and will enjoy a high reputation in the future; Su Song has also made remarkable achievements in astronomy, machinery, medicine, mathematics, etc. It would be a good idea for one of them to be in charge of this matter. suitable.

Others include mathematicians Jia Xian and Wei Pu, architect Li Jie, medical scientist Qian Yi, and today's famous ministers Zeng Gongliang and Cai Xiang who have also made outstanding contributions in the fields of tea science, water conservancy, and military affairs.

"Shen Kuo?" Wang Yu recalled what Shen Long had said at the beginning. Those who can be famous in history must not be simple people. Since the envoy to Liao has not returned, perhaps it would be better for Shen Cunzhong to handle this matter."

"Shen Cunzhong's qualifications are slightly insufficient, and this matter cannot be decided overnight. By then, Su Zirong should have returned." Shen Long said, Shen Kuo's ability is fine, but unfortunately his old mother died of illness in August this year. Today's habit, Shen Kuo has to go home to Ding You to keep his filial piety for a period of time, and if he wants to let Shen Kuo do things, he can only wait for Ding You to come back.

"Then when Su Zirong returns to Beijing, I will visit you." Wang Yu didn't know why Shen Long didn't choose Shen Kuo, but he thought that since he said so, he must have his reasons. I didn't have time to study the history books given by Shen Long, so I naturally didn't know about Shen Kuo and Ding You.

I heard that Wang Xueshi’s family’s yamen eyes are higher than the top, and now they are so respectful to this Daoist Shen. It’s not like in the legend. Wang Shao was a little surprised, but when he thought about Shen Long’s commotion in the ravine just now, he couldn’t help it. I figured it out, no matter how arrogant a person is, he will become like Wang Yu after seeing this scene, right?

Back at Wang Anshi's home, Wang Anshi has already returned,

Hearing that Wang Shao came to visit, Wang Anshi was very happy. After reading those history books, he wanted to meet this military right-hand man earlier, and today he finally got his wish.

Several people had dinner together and came to Wang's study to talk. Wang Shao first briefly talked about his travels in the Northwest and his plan to pacify Xixia, and then he couldn't wait to talk about Shen Long's actions today with Wang Yu.

"There is such a magical weapon?" Wang Anshi couldn't sit still when he heard it. The Song Dynasty has always attached great importance to long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows. The proportion of crossbowmen in the army is extremely high. Hands are not easy to practice, and it takes a lot to train an archer, and it takes too much effort to string the bow with the god arm. The defense of the city may not have much impact, but it is a bit difficult to go out of the city to fight in the field.

Now Shen Long has come up with firecrackers that are more powerful than bows and arrows, easier to use, and more convenient to fill than divine arm bows. If the Song army can equip this weapon on a large scale, its combat effectiveness will definitely increase greatly.

Shen Long took out the matchlock gun again, and introduced the structure and use of this early musket to Wang Anshi. Wang Shao and Wang Yu looked at each other and told me about the process of their test shooting, "Father, have you heard about it?" With this thing, Xixia's warts can also be pierced with a single shot, and it is no problem to put down the party and recover the soul."

Wart armor is armor made by Xixia with cold forging technology. When making it, it is customary to leave a chopstick head-sized piece at the end of each piece of armor without forging, which vaguely looks like a wart growing on the skin, so it is called wart armor; wart armor defense The power is excellent. Once an arrow shot through the small hole in the wart armor plate through which the belt was worn. As a result, the arrow was drilled and scraped, and the iron was rolled back, but the armor plate was not injured at all. It was a legend for a while.

If the distance is a little farther, the bows and arrows of the Song Dynasty will not be able to shoot through, only the bow of the god arm can penetrate, and the northwestern frontier army of the Song Dynasty has not suffered from this disadvantage.

"Daoist Shen has promised to pass on the skill of making firecrackers to Da Song, and recommended Su Zirong to be in charge of this matter." Wang Yu continued.

"Su Zirong has always liked to study things mechanically. If he sees this thing, he will definitely like it." Wang Anshi and Su Song are about the same age difference, and they both passed the same subject in the second year of Qingli, so they know him very well. To be in charge of building ordnance, would you either feel that you can fill your own pockets by getting a fat job, or feel that you are humiliated to do such rough work? This is not the case for Su Song, he will definitely be responsible for this matter.

"Then when Su Zirong returns to Beijing, my son will visit the door." Wang Yu said.

"Well, please come over and discuss it with Zirong when the time comes." Wang Anshi frowned suddenly, "Dare to ask Daoist Shen, if you want to build this kind of firecracker, I'm afraid it will cost a lot, right?"

"It's the same as Sword God Arm Bow. At the beginning, the price of each piece must not be low, but later on, the more you make, the cheaper it will be." Shen Long replied, "If you want to build a firearms factory, It’s too scary to be hundreds of thousands.”

This is conservative, for fear of scaring Wang Anshi, "Of course, these hundreds of thousands of guan were not taken out all at once."

"Even so, I'm afraid the first payment will cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of guan, right? Iron materials, houses, manpower, oh, and gunpowder, bullets, all of which cost money!" Wang Anshi began to feel dizzy. In the Song Dynasty, there were too many officials and soldiers, and there was not much savings in the treasury. It was not easy to take out this money.

Moreover, it will cost a lot of money to popularize high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes. The things that Daoist Shen brought out are all good things, but Dao Song can't spend so much money to take care of these things! But what to do?