Changning County, General's Mansion.

Xian Bisong was worried and picked up the thick file in front of him from time to time and read it again. Jia Fangzhou, who was sitting opposite him, looked haggard. After receiving the information, he almost never sleeps along the way and runs wildly for more than ten days on the way from Chang'an to Changning County.

“Is the intelligence accurate?”

"No doubt," Jia Fangzhou said firmly: "And this is not a single clue, but after multiple intelligence summary and verification, they all pointed to this goal."

"It is hard to imagine that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty would actually put his only son in the front line." Xian Bisong said: "The fierce fighting of new recruits in the Xiangxi area is not high, but casualties are common. Isn't Qin Feng afraid that his son will have a few shortcomings?"

"This is Qin Feng's style. This person started from a small soldier and fought to his current position. What he thought in his mind was different from ordinary people. Secondly, according to what we found out, Qin Wu had two personal guards beside him, in addition to the twenty soldiers of the Fire Death Camp. More importantly, Hu Bugui was also secretly protecting him. With such a lineup, do you think they would take the tricks of new recruits like Xiangxi?" Jia Fangzhou said.

Xian Bisong sighed slightly: "No matter what, Qin Feng's courage is amazing. In order to prevent his successor from becoming a flower growing in the deep palace, he threw him into such a place. If Qin Wu grows up, he is afraid he will be another wise king."

Jia Fangzhou smiled and said, "If this is not the case, where will we get the opportunity? General Xian, you don't know that even after His Majesty the Emperor learned about this information, he would be surprised."

Fresh pine disagreed.

"His Majesty the Emperor is open and honest, and he has always conquered others with his power. He will care about such a ghostly trick?"

Jia Fangzhou's face became solemn, "General Xian doesn't know anything. His Majesty the Emperor is extremely anxious now and he almost can't sleep at night. The confrontation between Ming and Qi is not as good as it seems on the surface."

"How to say it? Over the past year, I have intuitively felt the changes in our Da Qi. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as a booming rise?" Xian Bisong said: "In the past, the food and fodder supplied to the army would not be delayed, and there would be mixed grain mixed with the soldiers' salaries. The soldiers' salaries were often arrears, armor, weapons, and various equipment of various colors, but since this year, this situation has almost been invisible. In particular, the quality of our weapons and equipment can be said to have greatly improved several levels. Through military reform, although the number of soldiers is small, the combat effectiveness has risen sharply. Everything shows that our Da Qi is gradually returning to its peak state. Why is His Majesty so anxious?"

"We are getting better, but Ming Dynasty is improving faster than us." Jia Fangzhou sighed and said, "We have mastered a lot of situations and have not announced them to the outside world. Because once they are known to the world, the court will worry about changes in people's hearts."

Xian Bisong was immediately surprised.

"You should know about the steam engine, right?"

"I know." Xian Bisong said: "During this period, my ears were almost filled with news about this thing, but a machine can make Ming Guo grow wings and fly?"

"You can almost say that!" Xian Bisong said: "We have received accurate information. The Mingren has indeed successfully used steam engines on warships. What does this mean? This means that their warships are no longer driven by manpower and wind. They have escaped the restrictions given to the navy by the weather and the sea as much as possible. We have worked together to develop the navy for several years. Now it seems that they are left behind by the other party again."

"A navy can only control the sea surface after all, and the great powers will win the decisive battle, and in the end they will fight with one sword and one shot on land." Xian Bisong didn't care much about the situation of the navy, and this is exactly the voice of most generals of Qi now.

"General Xian, Qianli Haigang, can you imagine the scene of enemy infiltration everywhere without defense?" Jia Fangzhou shook his head and said to Xian Bisong in disapproval: "Authentic, the final decisive victory still depends on the army, but if the sea loses, how can we judge where the enemy's main attack direction is? Can you confirm that it is in Taoyuan and Changning County? Why can't Bozhou be? "

"From the current signs, the main battlefield for the two armies to fight in the future will definitely be in Taoyuan and Changning front line."

"The Ming people's strategic deception is perfect, and no one can say until the last moment." Jia Fangzhou did not agree with this. "Military is not enough to make His Majesty the Emperor so anxious. What makes His Majesty even more sad is that the Ming people have used steam engines to their various industries, and their work efficiency has been greatly improved. General Xian, do you know the speed of their mining now? Do you know the speed of their digging of the West Canal now? Do you know the efficiency of their spinning sand and weaving cloth now?"

Xian Bisong is a pure soldier. His focus is more on the combat effectiveness of the army. If there is no one, he asks for it. If there is no money, he will ask for it. As for where people come from and where money comes from, he always feels that this is not what he should care about.

"The Ming people used these machines to save a lot of manpower and could do more with only a few people. In this way, our Daqi's advantage in population disappeared. More importantly, they used these machines to make the cost and price of many goods in Ming Dynasty plummet, and then used these cheap goods to directly impact our Daqi market. Not long ago, the prices of cloth and silk in Daqi fell sharply, which was thanks to the Ming people."

"I don't understand the economy."

"I don't understand either." Jia Fangzhou said: "But I can see that our textile industry is losing the market. The cloth and silk that the people have worked hard to weave can't be sold at home and become money. Many people are on the road to bankruptcy because of this. All of this is just because the Ming people have just begun to promote these things. Can you imagine what kind of situation will be in the future?"

“We can’t buy theirs or put the tariffs high.”

"Is it useful?" Jia Fangzhou smiled bitterly: "Businessmen are seeking profit. If the court really wants to do this, those people dare to take risks to smuggle. Even in the years when the Ming and Qi wars, smuggling has never stopped. What's more, the two countries are nominally in peacetime, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely strongly support such behavior. If we do this, we can't even collect taxes."

"So, either start the war immediately or get these techniques and catch up?" Xian Bisong guessed this meaning from Jia Fangzhou's words.

"Yes, these two choices. But starting a war is unrealistic for Daqi now. Military reform has only been completed most of the time, and the people's livelihood economy has just improved. Daqi is slowly withdrawing from the quagmire of the past. Once the war begins, the previous efforts will disappear. But if we continue like this, even if we are recovering, our pace is still too slow compared to Ming people. We are walking with difficulty, but they are taking big steps."

“So?”

“So, we have no choice.”

"Can't we even study that steam engine ourselves? The emperor has been generous to those craftsmen in the past two years, asking for officials and money."

Jia Fangzhou shook his head regretfully: "Xu Lai from the Daming Tiangong Engineering Department once spoke wildly. Even if he put a whole set of drawings in front of us, we could not make them. And what we described after the spies saw the real objects of the steam engine in Ming Dynasty, our masters were as if they had heard the heavenly book."

Xian Bisong was extremely frustrated when she heard this.

"So, this opportunity suddenly comes before us, we must seize it. This is a precious gift from God to us. If we can really capture the Prince of Ming Kingdom in one fell swoop, haha, the Ming people will let us ask for it next? We used some ordinary Ming Kingdom spies back then, and exchanged them for cement manufacturing technology and steel cement structure construction technology from Ming Kingdom. General Xian, your current city, road, and bridge are all benefited from this. Once this time, we will not only need a steam engine, but also a complete set of manufacturing technology and skilled manufacturing craftsmen." Jia Fangzhou said: "Since we cannot develop it ourselves, it can be used to steal it."

"Is this the same opinion for Commander Cao Hui and Commander Cao?"

"General Cao went to Jiangnan." Jia Fangzhou was not angry because of Xian Bisong's rather rude words, but explained: "The Ming people promoted steam engines to replace human labor in the south. The commander went there personally. First, he wanted to promote this matter and cause a bigger storm. It was best to set off a wave of opposition to the Ming people in Chu. Second, he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to get some steam engines back. This plan was formulated earlier, and more people were mobilized, and the navy also participated, so General Cao could not separate. We are a two-pronged approach, but His Majesty is more optimistic about our side because we can go all out once and for all."

"What do you think of?" Xian Bisong said: "It is impossible for a large army to mobilize. Once the army moves, the other party will know."

"Where is the need for a large army?" Jia Fangzhou chuckled and said, "The Ming people dispatched only more than 200 new recruits this time, including some veterans from the suicide camp. The most important thing is that the one who guards Qin Wu is a master, Hu Bugui."

Xian Bisong nodded and said, "I understand. We will replace the recruits who were originally going to fight with elites, and then lead the team by the Grandmaster."

Xian Bisong took out a few pieces of paper from his arms and placed it in front of Xian Bisong: "This is the entire plan formulated by the ghost. This matter needs to be done step by step. You must not scare the other party away."
Chapter completed!