Hearing something in Cao Hui's words, Xian Bisong's face showed a look of surprise.

"So, can we build artillery?"

Cao Hui nodded: "It was barely built, but one of them weighs ten thousand pounds. It is still possible to defend the city. It is impossible to fight in a field."

"It's enough to be able to defend the city." Xian Bisong was overjoyed: "Commander, come back to Beijing to talk to me about Xiang. I am facing the absolute main force of the Ming people. Wu Ling has been operating in his Wuling War Zone for many years, and it is not comparable to Kunling County. Let me get dozens of doors first."

"How many do you want?" Cao Hui said, "General, your appetite is really big. To be honest, even with such a bulky cannon, we have only built less than twenty cannons in total. Chang'an and Luoyang have to be arranged. How many can we get here?"

"Since you can cast it, your skills will naturally become more and more skilled, and of course you will cast more and more in the future. I think you should first meet the needs of the front line. Commander Cao, if you say something inappropriately, Chang'an and Luoyang are in the hinterland. How could the Ming army fight there in a while? Instead of placing it on the top of the city, it is better to heat up and shine."

"I can't afford it." Cao Hui said in a silence.

"Can't you afford it?" Xian Bisong couldn't believe his ears. "The Ming people built so many of them. There were dozens or hundreds of doors installed on one of their warships. Our Daqi is not poorer than them, so why can't we afford it?"

"We are really poorer than the Ming people." Cao Hui sighed: "The Ming people made cannons, which were made of iron, but we could only use bronze. The general did not notice that in the past six months, the price of copper has soared, and has the copper coins issued become worse and worse?"

Fresh green pine was slightly stunned.

"I really didn't pay attention to what you said."

"Because there is no copper in these coins, it is completely iron and lead." Cao Hui said helplessly: "All the copper that can be collected is used to cast cannons. The Ministry of Industry has collected a large number of civilians to mine copper mines. All the bronzes in the people, officials, gentry and merchants are required to be handed over. Anyone who dares to store or resell copper ware and other items will be killed without mercy."

"Why can the Ming people use iron, but we need copper?" Xian Bisong asked in confusion: "Didn't it mean that our iron smelting and steelmaking skills have passed the test?"

"These are two concepts." Cao Hui said: "We cast iron cannons with too many trachomas. When used, they are very easy to explode, and are far less effective than copper cannons. Of course, we are also thinking of other ways now, that is, to use more manual digging of the cannon chamber."

Xian Bisong took a breath, "Article digging?"

Cao Hui nodded bitterly: "The Ming people used machine tools driven by steam engines. But we didn't have them, and could only use hard methods, dead methods, stupid methods, General, outside Chang'an City. In just half a year, the craftsman camp has expanded several times, and more than 100,000 people work inside, most of them are used to do these. Every month, the money consumed is astronomical. To be honest, our finances are almost dragged down. Now we are fishing in the dry pond."

"As long as you can win," Xian Bisong murmured: "As long as you can win, everything will be worth it, and everything will be rewarded."

The two looked at each other speechlessly.

No one had ever thought that the situation would deteriorate in just a few years.

The Daqi family declined, Cao Yun came to power and vigorously promoted land reform and developed business. In the first few years, everything in Daqi seemed energetic and prosperous. The thriving scene made everyone full of longing for the future, but it seemed that the situation reversed overnight.

In Qi State, farmers went bankrupt on a large scale, and a large number of people were willing to abandon their land and become refugees, rather than staying at home to farm.

The taxes that can be collected are getting lower and lower every year, and a large number of refugees need to be resettled, comforted, or suppressed. Now the national policy of the Great Qi has changed compared to when Cao Yun first came to power. Under the ubiquitous pressure of the Ming Dynasty, Qi began to implement a typical military policy, and everything was tilted towards the military. Except for a few places in the country, it can be described as a person's life in miserable life.

Once you encounter a big defeat on the front battlefield, you are afraid that the conflicts in the country will be forced to suppress now will erupt. Cao Hui dare not imagine how to deal with the situation when internal and external troubles are concentrated?

When people are not full of food and are about to starve to death, can you still count on their loyalty?

People want to live.

Now Cao Yun has completely shifted his focus to the military and threw the people's livelihood economy to Tian Fen. Cao Hui witnessed his father-in-law's body completely exhausted in a short period of time. Not only did his hair turn white, but he even fell off a large amount of it.

Tian Fen is now like a papermaker. If there are loopholes there, he will tear down the east wall and repair the west wall, trying his best to maintain the operation of this huge empire. While appeaseing the place, he must also satisfy the almost endless requests of the military.

When he came to Changning County, Tian Fen, who was almost exhausted, even told Cao Hui about an incredible plan he was planning now.

The whole country has entered the military control period.

All officials will serve the army, and all the people will no longer own any private property. What they eat and drink every day will be provided by the court. All resources will be distributed uniformly by the court.

Cao Hui could only think that his father-in-law was about to be driven crazy by His Majesty. If such a plan was implemented seriously, I am afraid that the Ming army would rebel first before it came over?

But, His Majesty the Emperor actually admires this plan very much.

Chang'an City, Changning County, Luzhou, Cangzhou and other places are pilot projects, and this strategy will be first to be implemented.

Cao Hui warned his father-in-law that if this plan was implemented seriously, he would be infamous for thousands of years and would be recorded in history and scolded by people from generation to generation.

But the old Tian Fen blocked Cao Hui back with one sentence.

"Will a chief minister who has lost his country be scolded for generations?"

Cao Hui was speechless.

He almost escaped from Chang'an City. He completely disagreed with this strategy, but the fierce resistance he would face would make Chang'an bloody, and dealing with such a thing is probably the ghost under his command.

Cao Hui could not refuse the emperor's orders, so he took another way to express his dissatisfaction with this policy and left Beijing to the forefront.

"What I can help you is to bring two people, one can cast cannons and the other can prepare gunpowder, but the raw materials required include copper and nitrate, you need to find them yourself." Cao Hui said: "The number of cannons allocated to you by the imperial court is extremely limited."

Xian Bisong stood up and bowed deeply to Cao Hui: "I am so grateful. Even if I scrape three feet into the ground, I will build a few more cannons."

For Xian Bisong, in Changning County, he implemented the one that Tian Fen was preparing to do, and the resistance was much smaller, because for many years, Changning County was located on the front line and had been under military control. Whether it was the people or other gentry, everyone was used to various high-pressure policies.

"What will the General be prepared to deal with the Gao family who was caught yesterday who attempted to escape with his family?" Cao Hui asked.

Gao family is a wealthy businessman in Changning County. Years of business have made their family rich. Especially after opening the border with the Ming people in recent years, they have made a lot of money. They naturally hate everything that Changning County has implemented to return to the public. This represents his years of struggle, which has disappeared in an instant under a government order from the court.

"Can this person collude with the Ming people? Did the Ming people spy detective plan this time to escape?" asked Xian Bisong.

Cao Hui shook his head, "I have tried it and did not collude with the Ming people. He just simply wanted to escape to the Ming people. They saved a huge amount of money from the Ming people, and after they escaped, they could live a good life."

"Then don't behead you. All the clans are punished to do hard labor. Now the border areas of Changning County have been building defense lines. The more labor you need, the better." Xian Bisong thought for a while and said, "He must have someone on the Mingren's side. Let him go and tell his family to take the money back to redeem them. When the money comes, I will let them go, otherwise, I will be exhausted to death on the construction site!"

"This is a good idea. Killing them is actually not very useful. If you can get a lot of money, it would be better. But General, I am really worried that cases like Gao's family will happen from time to time in the future." Cao Hui said with a wry smile.

Xian Bisong gritted his teeth and said, "If they could all take out money that satisfies me to buy a life, I wouldn't mind letting them get out of here. These people stay in the county will be a disaster. They cannot carry their shoulders and hands, and they will live a pampering life. After they really go to war with the Ming army, we have to be distracted and worried that they will become internal supporters."

Cao Hui knew that Xian Bisong was forced to do so. There was no doubt that doing so would shake the morale of the military, but Xian Bisong, who was short of money, had no choice. The money of these rich people was basically in the banks of the Ming Dynasty. Even if they were to search the house, they would have limited income. Instead, they would be better off making a fortune like this. Now they are worried that Mingren would give money.

"I will quietly speak out, and give them a way for those who want to be, but take it slowly one by one to minimize the impact." Cao Hui said lightly: "The general can also choose one or two to kill in public to block the mouth of the leisurely mouth, and at the same time show our determination to fight to the end."
Chapter completed!