The Liao Kingdom went to Beijing and had been debated within Liao for nearly ten days on whether to send troops to support Xixia. The supporters believed that Liaoxia had lost its lips and teeth. Once Xixia was destroyed, the Song Dynasty would have no worries and would have made every effort to deal with Liao. It should support Xixia so that Xixia could always restrain the Song Dynasty from the west.

The opposition, represented by Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie, believed that the Liao Kingdom had just ended the war with the Song army, the wealth was exhausted, the national strength was weak, and the court was unable to support the army to send troops to Xixia. At this time, we should lie down on firewood and taste gall to restore our national strength. Although support for the troops had gained the upper hand, the news from the border made the Liao Kingdom's government and the opposition suddenly awakened a lot.

"Bang!"

Yelu Hongji punched the table with a heavy punch and gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Song people, dare to humiliate the Liao Dynasty so much. I must kill into Bianliang and slaughter all these despicable Song dogs!"

Just today, he got two news in a row. On the island near the Yalu River, the Song army stationed tens of thousands of troops, less than a hundred miles away from the seaside of the Liao Kingdom. Another news was that the Jurchens actually used iron fire thunder to collapse Attuxian City. Gao Yuanji, the governor of Huaihua Army, was killed on the spot. The Jurchens rushed into the city. Nearly 3,000 Liao troops were killed and killed, and they plundered tens of thousands of war horses in Liao Kingdom and had tens of thousands of soldiers. Of course, the Jurchens would not have any iron fire thunder. It was clearly the Song Dynasty used the Jurchens to demonstrate to the Liao Kingdom.

These two news made Yelu Hongji furious. In the room, a group of important officials were silent. Xiao Taosuou, the governor of the Five Kingdoms, said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, at least we understand one thing now. The reason why the Jurchen tribe and the Kelie tribe cannot be destroyed repeatedly is because the Song Dynasty is supported by them. If we do not destroy these two tribes as soon as possible, they will sooner or later become a major concern for the Liao Kingdom with the support of the Song army."

Yelu Ruinu, the prime minister of the Southern Prefecture, also said: "The iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty only appeared once, which shows that the Song Dynasty did not really hand over this firearm to the Jurchens. The Song Dynasty was just warning us not to interfere in the Western Xia."

Yelu Yixin, the Prime Minister of the North Court, knew Yelu Hongji's concerns very well. He comforted Yelu Hongji and said: "We have never noticed the Song army bases outside the mouth of the Yalu River. They suddenly appeared, and it was certainly the Song army warning us, but it was also a good thing. At least we know that the Song army still hid threats there."

Yelu Hongji finally calmed down. He slowly leaned on the back of the chair, feeling the warmth brought by the tiger skin, and said for a while: "The Song army warship appeared near Juehua Island a few days ago, which is also an intention!"

Everyone answered with silence, and Yelu Hongji sighed, "When did the Song Dynasty, which has always been cowardly, become so tough? Is it related to their newly ascended emperor?"

Zhang Xiaojie whispered: "Your Majesty is right. Their new emperor is only over 20 years old and he is determined to do big things. In addition to the internal chaos of Xixia, the Song army seized the opportunity."

"What should I do? I was frightened by the Song army and dared not send troops to aid Xia?"

Yelu Hongji had already eliminated the idea of ​​supporting Western Xia. He was just unable to let go of his face now. The Song Dynasty threatened him to stop his troops and treat him Yelu Hongji as who did he?

Yelu Yixin's eyes rolled and stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, although we cannot send troops to support Xixia, we can persuade peace and send envoys to Bianliang. On the one hand, we mediate the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, and on the other hand, we ask the Song Dynasty not to support the Jurchens and the Kelie tribe anymore. The weak minister's intention is to stop sending troops to Xixia in exchange for the Song Dynasty to stop supporting the Jurchens and the Kelie tribe."

Yelu Yixin's plan was very good. He publicly reconciled the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, and the Liao Kingdom had a step forward. At the same time, he secretly negotiated with the Song Dynasty, demanding that the Song Dynasty no longer support the Jurchens and the Kelie tribe, and everyone agreed.

Yelu Hongji immediately appointed Yelu Ruinu, the Prime Minister of the Southern Prefecture, as his special envoy, to serve as an envoy to the Song Dynasty.

Everyone retreated, and Yelu Hongji felt upset for a moment and stood up and said, "Show up! I'm going to the Weapon Academy."

Soon, Yelu Yixin accompanied the emperor Yelu Hongji to the Liao Kingdom Weapon Academy. The Liao Kingdom Weapon Academy is a specialized institution for the Liao Kingdom to study armor and weapons. In addition to going to Beijing, it has a branch in Nanjing and Tokyo.

The Arms Academy located in Shangjing is the General Academy, which is divided into four branches: A Academy, Knife, Bow Academy and Firearm Academy. Among them, the Firearm Academy is the only place for the Liao Dynasty to study firearms.

The firearms of the Liao Kingdom were much behind the Song Dynasty. They basically studied how to imitate various firearms of the Song Dynasty. They made rockets, fire kites, paper fire thunders and porcelain bottle fire thunders, but they had to study more advanced iron shell fire thunders. With their existing technology, they were only good at imitating them. Therefore, the Liao Kingdom tried every means to get the physical iron fire thunders from the Song Dynasty.

Last year, the spies in Bianliang tried their best to get an old-fashioned iron fire thunder. The Liao Kingdom was as if they had a treasure and immediately sent it to the Shangjing Weapon Academy. The firearm craftsmen at the Weapon Academy studied for a month before they started to cut the iron fire thunder and began to study the structure and gunpowder formula inside.

But from last year to now, the Weapon Academy has never been able to imitate iron fire thunder, which makes Yelu Hongji both angry and depressed.

Today is his third inspection of the Firearms Academy. It is the Jurchens who stimulated him with the news of the Iron Fire Thunder. Although he knew it was the hands of the fake Jurchens of the Song Dynasty, Yelu Hongji was still anxious. The Iron Fire Thunder was not developed for a long time, which has become a problem in his heart.

Yelu Hongji came to the Weapon Academy, and more than a dozen officials in charge of the Weapon Academy greeted him. Yelu Hongji waved his hand and said, "Go to the Firearms Academy!"

Seeing that the emperor looked ugly, the officials did not dare to say anything more, so they hurriedly led Yelu Hongji and Yelu Yixin to the Firearms Court.

The Liao Kingdom Fire Artifact Academy covers an area of ​​about 20 acres, half of which are used to make gunpowder, and the other half are used to make various firearms. There are more than 30 gunpowder craftsmen, more than 50 firearm craftsmen, and about half are Han people.

The general manager of the Fire Equipment Academy was named Xiao Shinu. He came forward and kowtowed to greet him tremblingly. Yelu Hongji snorted heavily and said, "I said last time that I will give you another half a year to create iron fire thunder. Now the deadline has passed. Where is the iron fire thunder? Show it to me."

Xiao Shinu was so scared that he trembled all over and said stutteringly: "Your Majesty, we did create iron fire thunder, but we have not yet successfully tested it."

"What did not succeed in the trial?"

"It just didn't blow up the iron shell, and just a stream of blue smoke came out, and it was over."

"Doesn't that mean it's not made?"

"Your Majesty, it is difficult to succeed in the iron shell fire thunder. As far as the villain knows, the Song State Firearms Bureau began researching forty years ago. Their skills are higher than ours and it took decades. How could we do it in just half a year?"

Yelu Hongji said angrily: "You are not studying, you are imitating, can't you even learn imitation?"

Yelu Yixin hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, first look at the real thing, find out the problem, and then find a way to solve it."

Yelu Hongji snorted and walked into the firearm yard. The guards had already set up tables and chairs in the yard. Yelu Hongji sat down. The great manager Xiao Shinu and his subordinates carefully brought a few iron fire thunders. One of them was a physical object obtained from the Song Dynasty, but it was cut open and the structure inside was clearly visible.

Xiao Shinu placed another cut iron fire thunder in front of Yelu Hongji, "Your Majesty, this is the iron fire thunder we made. Please compare the iron fire thunder in the Song Dynasty."

Yelu Hongji looked closely and saw that the two iron fire thunders were exactly the same, and even the thickness of the iron shell was exactly the same.

"Where is the problem?" Yelu Hongji asked.

Xiao Tunu asked carefully: "The villain wants to know, is the iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty real?"

Yelu Hongji immediately said angrily: "You can't create it yourself, so you want to put the blame on others!"

"The villain has no meaning. The villain means that if the iron fire thunder itself is fake, it will be meaningless for us to imitate it. It will only waste His Majesty's time."

Yelu Hongji looked back at Yelu Yixin, and Yelu Yixin said without hesitation: "The iron fire thunder must be true, with numbers engraved on it, and the Song Dynasty was also tracing the whereabouts of the iron fire thunder and arresting many people. This is not easy to question."

Xiao Shinu nodded, "Since the Iron Fire Thunder is real, the problem lies in the gunpowder formula. One may be that the gunpowder formula is different, and the other may be that other important items are added to it."

“What did you find?

"We found that there was a kind of black particles inside that could burn, and the smoke had a odor, but I wonder what this powder was?"

Xiao Shinu presented a small box. Yelu Hongji took the box and looked at it. There were indeed some fine gray-black particles inside, each about the size of a sesame seed. He frowned and said, "It is only when this thing is added that the iron fire thunder explodes?"

"Your Majesty! The Song Dynasty believed that this was an invalid iron fire thunder, but its gunpowder did not fail. We suspected that this black particle had failed. It accounts for 10% of the entire gunpowder and should be a very important ignition material, but we really don't know what it is? We have never seen it."

Yelu Yixin also said: "I heard that the iron fire thunder of the Song Dynasty must be made in Kunzhou. This kind of powder is most likely only available in Kunzhou. We must know what this powder is?"

"Where is the gunpowder formula?"

"We did the experiment and the gunpowder formula did not change, just like the paper fire thunder's formula."

Yelu Hongji immediately said to Yelu Yixin: "Do you have to find out the secret of this black powder at all costs!"
Chapter completed!