Gui Yuan

Chapter 32 Undercurrent

Nanman Chongyang, the royal palace, inside the Xuanwu Hall.

Nanman King Sunyin heard the reply from the military official Xie Chuxuan, and sneered: "It's impossible again, my orphan's ears are getting calloused. What's the use of raising you people? You only know how to enjoy yourself, and you can't do anything well. It's just Raise [-] troops from the people, and dare to ask for an extension when the three-month period has passed?"

Xie Chuxuan knelt in the hall and didn't dare to say a word: "It's because the ministers are not strict, and I ask the king to forgive me."

Sun Yin glanced at him with piercing eyes, and snorted coldly, Xie Chuxuan let go only when his panic reached the extreme: "Gu will give you a month to gather the remaining [-] troops, if this delays Gu's big plan , the twelve officials of the military department raised their heads to see him."

"Yes!" Xie Chuxuan escaped, kowtowed and knelt down to thank.

After leaving the Xuanwu Hall, Qin Li, Xie Chuxuan's subordinate hurriedly came to pick him up: "Master Xie, why are you sweating so much on your forehead?"

Xie Chuxuan's expression was stern, he laughed, and passed him as if he hadn't seen anyone, Qin Li hurriedly followed.

"You still have the guts to say it? If it weren't for me, your heads would have fallen to the ground! You know how to flatter your superiors all day long, and you can't do any errands well. You are extremely incompetent."

Being scolded is already commonplace for them, Qin Li lowered his posture and apologized with a smile: "What Mr. Xie said is that the subordinates made things difficult for you, it's just..."

"Just what?" Xie Chuxuan glanced at him fiercely, already annoyed by these people making excuses every day.

"We are useless, but there is something that the subordinates feel should be told to you."

"Just talk when you have something to say, what are you talking about?"

Qin Li immediately looked around, leaned close to his ear, covered his mouth and said, "A strange thing happened a few days ago. The 'camp' in Yunchu Town was set up, the supervisors were stunned, and more than 1000 people died. Ran."

Xie Chuxuan couldn't believe it: "Really?"

"Yes, my subordinates were worried that rumors would affect the conscripts, so they detained all the supervisors and did not dare to leak any information." Although Qin Li was asking for credit, his attitude was modest, and he was not annoying.

Xie Chuxuan's complexion finally softened: "You are still smart."

Qin Li said with a smile: "Your Excellency, I want to ask you how to deal with it?"

Walking out of the palace, Xie Chuxuan went straight into the sedan chair. Just as he was wondering, the sedan chair curtain was lifted, Xie Chuxuan beckoned him to pass, Qin Li hurriedly bent over to obey.

"I will leave this matter to you to investigate. The group of trash will deal with it after they have finished asking. The most important thing is to recruit the army. If there is another moth this time, I will not be able to protect you."

Qin Li was grateful for this, and bowed his head in salute: "Thank you, my lord, I will definitely do my best."

The curtain of the sedan chair fell silently, and with a loud "lift the sedan chair", the sedan chair gradually drifted away.

-

Beidi Palace, the sun is shining brightly.

Buna was sitting in the archery range, pinching a grape with his fingers bored and putting it into his mouth. This year’s sunshine is long, and the grapes produced are sweeter than in previous years. He put a few more grapes into his mouth. Late.

When Bach saw him, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and regretfully said: "My son is late, please forgive my father."

Tao Ji pursed his lips, saluted and stood beside him, quietly, without saying a word from the beginning to the end, hoping that others would not see him so as to make room for his second brother.

Bu Na saw it, but didn't speak. It should be said that he never did anything for it, maybe he was too lazy to get involved in the open and secret fights between the princes, maybe he really favored one side, or he did it on purpose.So much so that after the death of the eldest prince, the dispute between Ba Qi and Tao Ji became more and more fierce. Even the maids who sweep the floor in the palace and the servants who have nothing to do will use them as talking points, but he has always turned a blind eye to it and never heard of it.

Bu Na pointed to the longbows lined up in the distance, with a faint smile on his face, and said: "A while ago, the lonely man made some bows, and I just asked you to try your hands today. Pick one you like."

In this kind of matter, Bucky naturally did his part. He took the first step and weighed each one in his hand. He carefully checked the texture and pattern, and picked out a favorite one. Tao Ji didn't pay much attention to it. After he picked it up, he took a handful.

Bu Na looked at the bows they picked, and said with satisfaction: "Okay, you don't have to be restrained, try to shoot a few bows each."

Although Bu Na just said that casually, Bach couldn't let go of the prestige of being compared to Tao Ji in front of his father. He went to the arrow basket and took out three arrows. With the slightest mistake, he put down his bow with certainty of winning, and waited for the field official over there to read the number of rings.

The field official checked the target and said loudly: "The second prince hits the target!"

"Okay." All the servants around Butch jumped with joy.

Bucky waved his hand pretending to be subtle: "What's there to be happy about? Isn't this what I usually do? You should also get used to it."

Bu Na smiled and said nothing, looked at Tao Ji, and beckoned him to try it out, so Tao Ji had no choice but to step forward, took one from the arrow basket, and let go of his hand after aiming at the target slightly. There were three arrows in total. Report: "The third prince hits the ninth ring!"

Bach sneered, seeing that his father was still not good enough, he quickly changed his face, and said with a smile: "It seems that the third brother's archery still needs to be practiced more, and the father's riding and archery skills are hard to find in the world. , although you and I are not as good as the father, but we can't be too bad to lose the face of the father."

Tao Ji glanced at him, cupped his hands and said, "What the second brother said is true, please forgive me."

Bu Na's eyes couldn't hide the deep meaning, he smiled slightly, got up and patted him on the shoulder, and said in relief: "It's nothing, just practice more."

"These bows are just gadgets. I have something else I want to show you today." Bu Na waved his hand and ordered, "Bring it up."

Tao Ji looked towards the door, and several guards carried several wooden cannons in in groups of two, and placed them on the ground one step apart, five in total.These artillery are small in size and have a strange appearance. The barrel is very long and the muzzle is relatively small.

Bach looked at these cannons in amazement, and asked in confusion, "Father, what are these cannons?"

"It's made by the Lonely Armament Supervisor, and it's lighter than those big guys in the past." Buna patted the cannon, "The barrel of the gun is narrow and long, so the range can be longer. Although the muzzle is smaller, the Lonely Man added saltpeter in the shell Quantity, the power will only increase."

Such a thing is a rare object in that way, Bach is still fascinated, and Tao Ji also looks at it a few more times.

"It's useless to just say it, I'll let you see its power with your own eyes." After Buna finished speaking, the guards took out a torch from the brazier in an orderly manner, stood behind each cannon, and Buna sat back on the chair and said :"fire."

The guards ignited the guide ropes together, and the sparks burst out quickly, moving forward at a speed that was beyond the reach of the eyes, and burned to the end in a moment.After a moment of silence, a bang resounded through the sky, and the five cannons fired at the target in unison. The ground was trembling slightly, and after a while, they hit the opposite side, raising layers of loess, which spread rapidly, and instantly drowned them in the dust , surrounded by the smell of mud, Bach couldn't avoid it, and coughed violently a few times due to choking.

After a long while, the vision finally recovered, and only then did the situation on the opposite side come into everyone's eyes.The targets that were originally pressed on the loess wall were blown to pieces and scattered everywhere, and five identical deep pits appeared on the loess wall, with the same size and distance.

Bach regained his thoughts from the shock, hurried to Buna and said, "Father, with this amazing weapon, Beidi will be invincible. I wonder if I can let my son go to the Department of Armaments to observe and learn in his free time."

Bu Na smiled and said, "It's so easy to dominate the world. This cannon has just been made, and there will be some changes in the future. You can go there after it's improved."

Butch was obviously not very happy, and the words of frustration were clearly displayed on his face, and he said helplessly, "My son, listen to my father."

"Okay, it's getting late, you go back first, Tao Ji, you stay."

Hearing this, Bach reluctantly saluted and retreated. When he passed by Tao Ji, he blew his beard and stared softly, and was still aggrieved when he left the archery range. It's embarrassing, His Majesty Xu left him to reprimand him."

As long as he thought that Tao Ji was not as good as him, he would feel happy physically and mentally, and finally returned to his palace with a mighty group of people.

In the archery range, Bu Na asked Tao Ji to sit down and asked, "You look calm from the beginning to the end, and you don't seem to be shocked by this new artillery. Do you have any thoughts?"

"Don't dare, my son was shocked when he saw the power of this artillery..." Tao Ji slowly raised his head, looked at him, and said after careful consideration, "It's just like my father said, after all, it was just made, and some The problem has not yet emerged, and it will take time to adjust slowly, and it will not come in handy in a short time."

Buna looked at him without saying a word, wondering what he was thinking.He stared straight at people like this, as if he wanted to spy on everyone's thoughts one by one, making people feel frightened from the bottom of their hearts.After a while, Bu Na broke the silence, the corners of his eyes, which looked cold but always smiling, were bent, and the smile seemed to be absent, which was unpredictable.

"You and Gu think of one place, and Gu also thinks so. You can tell if it's good or not after you try it."

Tao Ji looked at him, but couldn't figure out what he meant. The two of them were in a stalemate for a long time. Tao Ji was about to bow and retreat first, but Buna suddenly said: "Tao Ji, I am a strong person, and your mother is even more ruthless. , but you are different from us."

A stone stirred up thousands of waves, these words were like an ice thorn, piercing into Tao Ji's spine, causing waves of chills to rush to his heart from the back, he looked at his father, Bu Na, in some puzzlement. But he smiled and said, "That's fine. Go down."

"Yes."

It wasn't until Tao Ji had been out of the archery range for a long time that Buna put down his face.The guard presented a dilapidated target in front of him. He glanced at it, and saw that the three arrows were inserted in the same place without any mistakes, so the arrow hole was enlarged normally.

Buna sighed: "These two lonely sons, one is not greedy enough to swallow elephants, and the other is used to pretending to be pigs and eating tigers. It really makes Gu worry so much."