Chapter 878: Li Chuyuan's despair

Lin'an, the Palace of the King of Chu.
Li Chuyuan's face was ashen as he threw the report on the ground.
"It's been half a month. Six thousand people died but not even a single Wu County was shot down. This Jiang Ying is really a waste. If so, I don't know if it is the Year of the Ox and the Moon in the capture of Suzhou City."
Li Chuyuan looked very irritable when he spoke.
He can’t help but rush now. In order to purchase flintlocks and ammunition, Chu State spent 12 million taels of silver this year, and he was also forced to ask for the silver taels to be exchanged for the Great Yuguo Dragon coins, which is not equal. The exchange of proportions has been exploited for the second layer.
He didn't understand when he was the prince of Chu, but now he understands that tea, rice, oil and salt are expensive.
Although Jiangnan is rich in the world, and Chu is rich in Jiangnan, so much money is enough to make him feel bad, but as long as he can defeat the merchant council and pay this price, it doesn't matter.
But the current situation of the war clearly makes him unsatisfied.
Sima Hao sat under the head of Li Chuyuan. After the Cao family fled to Suzhou, he immediately united with the great family of the Chu Kingdom to send Li Chuyuan to the throne. A few days later, the imperial decree of the court arrived. At this time, Li Chuyuan Both in the court and the Chu State are justified.
Lightly stroked his beard, Sima Hao looked indifferent, he said: "His Royal Highness, don't worry, war is a matter of overnight, this Jiang Yingnai was born in the family of famous generals, it is outstanding compared to other generals, as far as I know, the Parliament The army was very cunning. They dug a lot of trenches and built a lot of earth walls in Wu County. It was through the trenches and earth walls that they were able to stop Jiang Ying's attack. In the opinion of the officials, they must find a way to conquer the trenches.
"Hey, it took only a few days for the masters of the Saints to the Northern Expedition to conquer Pingzhou, and Jinzhou within a few days. Why is it our turn to fight so hard." Li Kaiyuan sighed deeply.
Sima Hao gently shook his head, "This is actually very simple, because the firearms that the emperor sold to us were eliminated by the royal army."
"This king knows, but even so, this eliminated weapon is more advanced than the merchant council. After all, in addition to the smoothbore flintlock, we also bought the rifled flintlock. No, the problem is not the gun, but the artillery. We The artillery used was left by the father, and the artillery used by the merchant council was sold to them by the French." Li Chuyuan suddenly realized.
Sima Hao pondered for a moment, and he said: "It seems that this is the truth. Jiang Ying's battle report said that our artillery range is not as good as the merchant council."
Li Chuyuan suddenly stood up when he heard this. He said: "The old father bought the earliest artillery in Qingzhou. These artillery could sweep the kings at the time, but now they are of little use. Now we must buy from Qingzhou for a longer range and power. Bigger artillery."
"His Royal Highness, these 80,000 muskets cost so much. If you buy more artillery, I am afraid that most of the money in the treasury will be consumed. This is equivalent to the Chu Kingdom giving it to the royal family in one day." Sima Hao felt a little painful.
Although Chu is rich, the treasury is not inexhaustible, and most of the wealth in Jiangnan is in the hands of the rich.
Li Chuyuan suddenly smirked when he heard this. He said, "Don't you want to buy some artillery for the Sima family?"
As soon as this statement came out, Sima Hao's pupils suddenly enlarged.
Now the Jiangnan chaos has become a pot of porridge. The biggest reliance for the rich is not Li Chuyuan but their trilogy, so they have been greedy for guns and artillery for a long time.
"His Royal Highness is going to lift the ban on firearms?" Sima Hao said in shock. When King Chu was still alive, he had ordered the powerful tribe to strictly prohibit firearms.
Li Chuyuan nodded affirmatively, "The Merchant Council relies on the giant merchants and the wealthy, and the non-governmental groups practice against the king. Why can't the king rely on the tribe of the rich family to deal with them?
Sima Hao's eyes rolled. Since the death of the old king of Chu, the Sima family has no respect for the Li family. The reason why Li Chuyuan is appointed the king of Chu is the current helpless move.
After all, there are still some wealthy people in the Chu Kingdom who support Li Chuyuan. If not, the Sima clan would have already replaced him, so why succumb to others.
With a light cough, he said: "His Royal Highness is a general, such a strategy is really admired by the lower officials."
"Uncle's praise is absurd, this is just a helpless move by this king." Li Chuyuan's smile was a little complicated.
Sima Hao was a little excited. He said: "If this is the case, Sima is willing to bear a hundred old artillery for His Royal Highness, but these old cannons are lacking in range and power. Your Royal Highness can't sell us at the price they once purchased."
Li Chuyuan nodded. He said: "In the past, when my father bought these artillery pieces, it cost almost tens of thousands of silver. Now I can always sell 5,021 pieces. After all, these artillery pieces have insufficient range. A few hundred meters is still enough. Generally speaking, artillery shoots best in this range."
Sima Hao's heart was clear. He had been salivating about firearms a long time ago, so he said, "Well~EbookFREE.me~520,000 pairs of Sima’s family is not a big number, but it’s obviously not enough to have artillery. Alright, can Your Highness buy a gun from Qingzhou after waiting for me?"
"Uncle's business is my king's business, of course you can." Li Chuyuan laughed.
Sima Hao agreed and laughed. He couldn't wait, "Then you will go back to prepare for the money when you are under the authority."
After that, Sima Hao saluted Li Chuyuan and turned to leave.
Watching Sima Hao disappear into the main hall, Li Chuyuan slammed a punch on the table in front of him.
"Asshole, do you really think Ben Wang is a fool!" Li Chuyuan's eyes were filled with despair.
He was only testing Sima Hao just now, but the results he got made him see the reality clearly. Almost everything he did this year would be frustrated, and he knew who was behind it.
After living in Qingzhou for two years and coming back again, he lost all his foundation. He finally understood why Xiao Ming would ask him what he said in the Imperial Study Room.
It turned out that even if he came back, he couldn't get back to heaven. He could only become a puppet of Sima.
"You forced me to do this." Li Chuyuan murmured. Maybe he had a chance to restore Chu Kingdom, but now he just wants to fight for himself a rich and honorable second half of his life. After all, he already has it. Wife and children.
This time he lifted the ban on firearms to test Sima Hao and also to show his good to Xiao Ming. Before Chu was broken, through the arms trade, Chu’s wealth would be transferred to Qingzhou. With his knowledge of the emperor, he was sure Will be very happy.
However, he was not without conditions. After the larger firearms trade began, he would let Xiao Ming leave a way for himself to escape.
Thinking of this, he immediately drafted an excerpt and asked Xiao Ming to send officials to Lin'an to negotiate.
Four days later, Zhezi arrived in Qingzhou.