Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 413: Hearing the Truth in the Morning, I Can Die in the Evening
"Oh? You said that Wuzhou Road Wanhu Tao Guangyi wants to surrender? But I haven't even fought him yet. Is he a little too anxious? Can you tell me why? He is so proactive that it's hard for me not to doubt his intentions. Is he trying to feign surrender to lure me to send troops and then ambush me?"

In the central hall of the second entrance of the Marshal's Mansion, Lu Jin sat at the top. Fan Qiuchan, who was wearing a short silk skirt with the hem of her long skirt dragging on the ground, served tea to the two of them, then stepped aside. Listening to Lu Jin's pretended surprised questions, she couldn't help but sneered secretly. Obviously, she had interacted with Lu Jin a lot, and she could tell that he was deliberately making things difficult for the person in front of him.

"." Tao Qixian was speechless for a while, and even offered to surrender, which the other party did not believe.
So he could only explain, "Of course I was inspired by the Marshal's Eastern Expedition Manifesto. The court was incompetent and the Yuan Dynasty was about to fall. Now the righteous armies are rising up all over the country. The Marshal has obeyed the will of heaven and the people and raised his army in Luzhou. Since the righteous army attacked the Yuan Dynasty, it has been unstoppable and has not suffered a single defeat. The Marshal has already recovered Jianghuai and Liangzhe, and restored thousands of miles of territory to our Han family. He has the potential to conquer the world.

"This is destiny, and it cannot be defeated by human power. We, the Tao family of Wuzhou, are descendants of the Han Dynasty. The commander-in-chief has driven out the Tartars and supported the Han Dynasty. How dare we, the Tao family of Wuzhou, raise an army to fight against the commander-in-chief? We must surrender to a wise leader as soon as possible, so that the people of Wuzhou can be protected from the calamity of war."

Hearing this, Lu Jin took a sip of tea and said expressionlessly, "If I were at the gates of the city now, I might believe you, but what is the situation now? Even if it depends on a proclamation, it still needs to be issued first, right? But Tao Guangyi wants to surrender before my proclamation has even reached Wuzhou Road. There must be a reason. I don't believe he will surrender for no reason. How can I believe you if you don't tell the truth?"

Tao Qixian then looked Lu Jin in the face. It was obvious that Lu Jin was not the arrogant and conceited person who would be overjoyed to hear that someone else had taken the initiative to surrender. On the contrary, he was very calm, even a little suspicious. Lu Jin always suspected that this person who came to surrender for no reason had some special purpose.

Seeing that these polite words could not convince the other party, Tao Qixian considered for a while before speaking.

"General, please understand. Actually, the reason why the Tao family is willing to surrender is because my nephew feels that he can't resist your offensive. Since he is destined to lose Wuzhou, why bother to hold on? If he fights hard, not only will he fail to defend the city, but he will also cause more innocent casualties.

"Besides, Yuan Zuo is indeed going to perish, and the Marshal is favored by God. The Tao family is a descendant of the Han Dynasty, and they don't want to be buried with the barbarians."

"Oh? Tao Guangyi thinks he can't withstand my attack? What do you mean?" Lu Jin became interested upon hearing this.

Tao Qixian then explained in detail, "To be honest, Marshal, my nephew has loved learning a lot since he was young. When he was young, he had a wild idea and learned to make elixirs, but ended up blowing up his elixir furnace. After that, he dabbled in various firearms. Although I can't say that he is the best in the world in firearms, he is definitely outstanding.

“But ever since the Marshal’s expedition to the east, my nephew has studied the Marshal’s siege guns and cannons, and has racked his brains to come up with no way to break them.

"Last month, some people in Pujiang County under the Marshal's jurisdiction who were dissatisfied with the new policy rebelled and fled to Wuzhou. They not only informed the Marshal of the new policy, but also brought news that the Yuan court had dismissed the prime minister and disbanded the Huaibei army.

"All the high officials in Wuzhou Road were indignant about this matter. They felt that the imperial court was so incompetent that even if they tried their best to resist in Wuzhou, they could not stop the treacherous officials in the court from disrupting the government. Therefore, they became disillusioned with the Yuan court and became complacent.

"Privy Councilor Ning Anqing was even more indignant, and even said that day, 'The treacherous people in the court framed the ministers, causing the prime minister to be dismissed in the middle of a battle. From then on, our country's military power was weakened, money and grain were wasted, thieves were rampant, and the people suffered. If the prime minister had not been dismissed, how could the world be in such chaos today!'"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately revealed a sarcastic smile and complained in his heart, "That sounds really nice, as if the current situation in the Yuan court was all caused by the treacherous minister Hama. Could it be that Tuotuo is a perfect person who has never done anything wrong?"
Jianghuai and Henan were flooded for several years when Tuotuo was in power. Why didn't he care at that time? He had to wait until the victims were everywhere before he thought of controlling the floods. He controlled the floods, but he not only rushed the construction period, but also withheld the wages of the workers who worked on the river control, causing the bodies of the workers who died of exhaustion to be scattered all over the ground. He also issued new banknotes to plunder the people's wealth, causing the financial collapse of the Yuan Dynasty. The Red Turban Army could cause such a big fuss, wasn't it Tuotuo's fault?
The fact that Ning Anqing could say this shows that he is a person who cannot distinguish right from wrong.

Tao Qixian continued, "Since then, Ning Qianshi, who was supposed to be in charge of the military training, no longer went to the training. Instead, he spent the whole day drinking and getting drunk.

"Just at this time, my nephew discovered the spies that the Marshal had arranged in Wuzhou. Now Wuzhou has spies inside and the Marshal's righteous army outside. With internal and external troubles, officials and generals have lost confidence and morale. It is even more difficult to resist the Marshal's army relying only on the soldiers of Wuzhou. In this case, why don't the Tao family surrender to a wise leader as soon as possible? It is better than being buried with the Yuan invaders."

When Lu Jin heard that Tao Guangyi had discovered his spy in Wuzhou Road, he immediately became alert, but he did not show it on his face. After Tao Qixian finished speaking, he smiled and asked, "Oh? Tao Wanhu also discovered my spy in Wuzhou? How do you know? Is he so sure that it must be my man?"

Tao Qixian did not say anything either, but untied the bag beside him and took out a book from it. It was the Gongshuzi that Tao Guangyi found from Zhu Danxi. Then he handed it to Fan Qiuchan, and then passed it to Lu Jin and said.

"This book was found by my nephew from Zhu Zhenheng and Zhu Danxi. And who else could be the Gongshu clan in this world except the great commander?"

Lu Jin took the book and read it, and suddenly felt relieved. He thought that the intelligence station in Wuzhou was exposed, but it turned out that only Zhu Danxi was exposed. The situation was not that bad.

The Wuzhou Intelligence Station and Zhu Danxi did not even have a single-line connection, but a one-way connection. The intelligence station could find Zhu Danxi, but Zhu Danxi did not know the organizational structure and location of the intelligence station. In other words, even if Zhu Danxi was exposed and wanted to help the Yuan court dig out the intelligence station, he would hardly be able to do it.

Zhu Danxi himself had such a huge influence, and he was already very old and was about to die. Lu Jin really didn't believe that the Tao family could do anything to him.

So he clapped the book in his hand and said, "This book is indeed a gift from me to Mr. Danxi. I have long heard of Mr. Danxi's great name as a contemporary miracle doctor. Last year I sent someone to recruit him, hoping that he would serve in the Marshal's Office and make some contributions to the medical cause of the people of the world. However, the old man refused to take up the post on the pretext of being too old, and I couldn't force him.

"That's all Mr. Danxi and I have. If you say the old man is my spy, that would be a bit unfair to him."

Tao Qixian was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that Lu Jin and Zhu Danxi had such a relationship. However, he didn't worry about it too much. Anyway, Lu Jin must have spies in Wuzhou Road. The only difference was who the spies were. Since he had already decided to surrender, there was no need to worry about it now.

"So that's how it is. My nephew guessed wrong. Fortunately, he didn't do anything to Mr. Danxi, otherwise he would have regretted it." Tao Qixian also acted nicely at this time and told him that the Tao family didn't do anything to Zhu Danxi.

Lu Jin nodded without comment and then spoke.

"Now I believe that Tao Wanhu really wants to negotiate a surrender. Tell me about it. Since he is so enthusiastic, he must have some demands. Mr. Tao, why don't you just speak frankly?"

Tao Qixian then said, "If the Tao family offers the six cities of Yiwu, Dongyang, Yongkang, Wuyi, Jinhua, and Lanxi in Wuzhou Road, as well as all the troops in Wuzhou Road, I wonder if the Marshal can make an exception and allow the Tao family to keep all the land and houses under their name?"

Lu Jin had a blank expression on his face, staring at him with his eyes piercing. After a while, he said, "Mr. Tao, do you think it's possible? Besides, when did I seize someone else's land and property? If the Tao family takes the initiative to divide the family property, then won't the land and property still remain in the hands of the Tao family?"

Tao Qixian was about to say something when Lu Jin raised his hand to interrupt him.

"My master once told me that if you can't get it on the battlefield, you can't get it at the negotiation table.

"Even without the help of the Tao family, even if the Tao family resists with all their might, I can still take down the six cities in Wuzhou Road. Not only Wuzhou, I can also wipe out the entire Tao family. Do you believe it, Mr. Tao?
"So the six cities of Wuzhou Road cannot be used as bargaining chips for the Tao family. You are not qualified to use those six cities to ask for benefits from me!"

Tao Qixian's face turned pale at Lu Jin's tough words, especially the threat of Lu Jin to wipe out the Tao family. He paused for a long time before speaking.

"But there are six cities after all. If you forcefully capture them, there will be bloodshed. Besides, it's not what Tao wants. Once your new policy spreads, it will inevitably be opposed by the gentry all over the world. Why would you do this?"

Before he could finish, Lu Jin interrupted again, "So what? Even if there are mountains of corpses and seas of blood ahead, I can crush them step by step!"

Lu Jin suddenly stood up, paced back and forth with his hands behind his back and said.

"Since the Qin Dynasty unified China, the fall of the second emperor of Qin was disregarded. The Han Dynasty fell due to aristocratic families, eunuchs and foreign relatives. The Tang Dynasty fell due to the aristocratic families of the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats. The early Song Dynasty was born with bad qualities and overcorrected due to the harm of the Five Dynasties' guards. It used civil officials to control military power and fell due to foreign enemies. The Yuan Dynasty fell due to the oppression of the majority ethnic group by a minority of foreigners.

“But all of these dynasties, no matter what the reasons for their demise, were inevitably harmed by land annexation. Some people say that this is destiny and that the 300-year dynasty cycle theory is a curse on China, but I don’t think so. I think this is clearly caused by human greed.

"If the aristocratic families annex land, the court will have fewer households that pay taxes, and the common people will lose the land they use to support their families. They will be in dire straits and there will be refugees everywhere. A natural disaster will be enough to cause the people to rise up in rebellion, and the country will always perish.

"I heard that Mr. Tao is the headmaster of the academy, so please help me. Doesn't Confucianism say that gentlemen are concerned with righteousness, while villains are concerned with profit? Are all the gentry in the world villains? Or are they hypocrites? Otherwise, why are they so obsessed with annexing land? Even if their country is destroyed and their families are ruined, and they become dogs and horses of foreign races, they will do everything they can to disobey the imperial decree, just for that insignificant bit of land profit?"

Tao Qixian was speechless, but couldn't say anything.

Lu Jin turned around and stared at him and asked, "So, please tell me, Mr. Tao, the land annexation that led to the destruction of the country and the destruction of the people is destiny or a man-made disaster?"

Tao Qixian thought for a moment before saying, "Human nature is destiny." Hearing this, Lu Jin said, "Therefore, Mencius also said that people should restrain their greed, and ministers often advise the emperor to be frugal and not to build large-scale palaces, but they themselves annexed land, connected fields, wore gorgeous clothes and beautiful houses, and robbed the land of the common people. Is this right? According to Mencius's meaning, it seems that land annexation is still a man-made disaster, not destiny.

"Since it is a man-made disaster, humans can cure it! It is said that a dog will always eat shit, so put the dog on a chain of progressive taxation. I don't believe that we can't restrain this vicious dog of land annexation!"

Tao Qixian was stunned. He didn't expect that a rebel leader was so well-versed in classics and history. Also, was this how Mencius explained "moving the heart and forbearing the nature"? He couldn't even win the debate with a rebel.
However, Neo-Confucianism has not yet officially become the mainstream. Since there is no mainstream, the Six Classics explain me, and I explain the Six Classics. Lu Jin can explain it however he wants, and he can't do anything about Lu Jin.

Seeing that Lu Jin had made up his mind, and looking at the art troupes and internal security forces he saw on the way here, Tao Qixian knew that there was no hope of asking for the land, so he spoke.

"I also know the harm of annexation, but the land of the Tao family is the ancestral property, not acquired through annexation."

Lu Jin immediately raised his hand to interrupt, "Which gentry in the world doesn't say that? Didn't the Tao family lend money at high interest rates? Didn't they sell grain at high prices?"

Tao Qixian was speechless, and hurriedly said, "That's not what I meant. What I want to say is that since the Marshal wants to force the new policy, the Tao family is willing to cooperate. However, I still want to say that the Marshal is determined to do it for the sake of the people and the country, but the implementation of this policy will inevitably encounter great resistance. We must know that human nature is like that."

Lu Jin frowned and said, "Of course I know there will be great resistance, but I don't understand why the gentry only focus on land when there are so many ways to make money? I am not an unkind person, and I have left them other ways. As long as they don't touch the ban on land and don't do anything illegal, and use other methods to get rich under the permission of the government, I will support it."

Tao Qixian was stunned when he heard this. Could there be some other turning point that he had not seen on the way here? So he immediately asked tentatively, "What does the Marshal mean?"

"Who says being a saint means being poor? Among Confucius' disciples there were wealthy businessmen like Zigong. Take Jinhua for example. I've heard that Jinhua's ham is famous all over the country. Even if the Tao family doesn't rely on land and focuses on raising pigs, raising tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pigs, they can still become rich by selling ham. Why should they fight for the land that the common people rely on for survival?"

Tao Qixian was speechless. He didn't expect that the way to get rich that Lu Jin was talking about was raising pigs.
"Or running an industry and commerce, engaging in production, not only enriches the material resources, but also benefits the country and the people. Which one is not more profitable than annexing land? In my opinion, getting rich by growing crops is almost the slowest way."

Well, Tao Qixian really didn't understand this before. It turns out that Lu Jin strictly abides by the land ban and guides the gentry to engage in business and production. This is not impossible. It seems that the person in front of him is not just tough, but also knows how to adapt.

Then he said, "I already know the Marshal's intention. After Tao and Wuzhou Road surrender, they are also willing to cooperate with the Marshal to implement the new policy. I just don't know when the Marshal will do it."

"Sir, you may as well speak frankly about what Tao wants."

"Can Tao still lead the original team?"

Lu Jin asked, "Since they have all surrendered, why does Tao still keep his private soldiers? Are they waiting for a good price, ready to rebel and surrender to the second master at any time?"

Tao Qixian's eyelids jumped, and he quickly said, "That is not my intention at all. Then I wonder what official position the Marshal is going to give to Tao?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, "The Thousand Character Classic says that those who excel in learning will become officials. If the children of the Tao family have real talent and knowledge, they will not have to worry about not passing the imperial examination. Why do they have to come to me now?

"As for Tao Guangyi, since he is willing to raise troops to surrender and has research on firearms, I do have a vacant position waiting for him. The Military Academy Armament Department is still in need of a minister who is both proficient in military strategy and understands the manufacture of military equipment. I just don't know if he is capable of doing the job."

Tao Qixian was a little surprised when he heard this. He still didn't quite understand Lu Jin's management. When he heard about the Military Academy's Armament Department and the word "Shangshu", he asked again in confusion.

"Excuse me, Marshal, aren't there only six Shangshu departments? What does this Shangshu of the Martial Academy mean?"

Lu Jin then explained, "Oh, you can think of this Military Academy as the Privy Council. My headquarters is divided into military and political affairs. Civil officials are not in charge of military affairs, and military officials are not in charge of civil affairs. The Privy Council consists of five departments: Military Affairs, Military Order, Armaments, Military Education, and Logistics. The heads of the five departments are all ranked as high as Shangshu. Four of the five departments have candidates, but the Armament Department has not been able to find a suitable head, so there is a vacancy."

Tao Qixian opened his mouth. He didn't expect that Lu Jin's system was so strange. He asked curiously, "If the Privy Council has five ministries, then what about the Ministry of War among the six ministries of the Shangshu Province?"

"In the future, there will be no Ministry of War. Since we have had the Privy Council since the Song Dynasty, it is quite redundant to set up a Ministry of War. Moreover, retaining the Ministry of War will only allow those Confucian scholars who know nothing about military strategies to intervene in the war. The end of using civil power to control military power was a lesson for us in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, there is no need to retain the Ministry of War, and in the future, the officials of the Privy Council will not be selected from the imperial examinations." Lu Jin explained immediately.

Tao Qixian then nodded. From this perspective, being a martial arts minister doesn't seem to be a bad idea?
He then said, "My nephew may not be qualified for other official positions, but if he is in charge of the manufacture of military weapons and firearms, he will definitely be able to relieve the Marshal's worries. This is a letter that my nephew asked me to pass on to the Marshal. He has always admired and respected the guns and cannons made by the Marshal, so he wrote down his recent research and hoped to get the Marshal's correction."

As Tao Qixian spoke, he took out a thick letter from his bag and handed it to Lu Jin.

Lu Jin took the letter and read it. In the letter, Tao Guangyi first talked about his analysis of the Shengwu Army's guns and artillery, especially the artillery. He believed that the range advantage of artillery was too great and ordinary firearms could not match it at all. He could not find a way to restrain the artillery. He knew that he was no match for Lu Jin, and he did not want to be blindly loyal to the Yuan army, so he wanted to surrender.

There are also a large number of manuscripts attached at the end, including his speculations about the artillery of the Shengwu Army, sketches drawn based on descriptions of public intelligence, and his speculations on the principle of why the artillery has such a long range. It must be because they used closed-mouth shells to improve the air tightness of the gun barrel. Only in this way can the power of gunpowder be fully exerted.

Including some of his own ideas on how to restrain artillery, such as the Divine Arrow and Divine Fire Flying Crow he made, for which he also drew sketches and noted the range of his experiments. These things could only shoot at a maximum of about four hundred steps, which was far from being able to compete with artillery. This was why he felt he was no match for Lu Jin.

Finally, he said that he had learned alchemy and had a collection of Mohist Scriptures at home. He also often studied the art of flying, but he could never get the hang of it. That day, he got this book Gongshuzi and saw that it said Gongshu Ban could carry people into the air. He was shocked and wanted to find Lu Jin to verify whether it was true. Then he added a note: "If I hear the truth in the morning, I can die in the evening."

Lu Jin found it a little funny after reading it. He felt that this was not a letter but a research paper. At the same time, he also found that Tao Guangyi had the potential of an engineering student. He was obsessed with technology and liked to delve into it. He was indeed suitable for studying armament development.

So he said, "The sketch that Tao Wanhu drew based on hearsay is already 70% similar to the cannon, but it still lacks some key details.

"He speculated that the reason my artillery could fire three or four miles was because of the airtightness of the shells. That was true, but if he wanted to achieve the same range as our artillery, it would not be enough to rely on that alone. He still lacked some manufacturing technology.

"The reason why my artillery can fire so far is that the gap between each shell and the barrel is no more than the thickness of two sheets of rice paper. If you add one more sheet of paper, the shell will not fit in. Only by achieving such a high level of precision can we use the least amount of gunpowder to fire the longest distance."

Lu Jin spoke out the secret of the artillery range without hesitation, but it was useless even if someone heard it. Others did not have boring machines and ball-coating machines. They could neither make precise gun barrel calibers nor grind out tightly fitting shells. If either of these two things was missing, the range of the artillery would be greatly reduced. An accuracy of 0.6 mm could not be achieved by just knowing the principle.

Tao Qixian suddenly seemed to understand something, "So that's how it is. I didn't expect the commander-in-chief to be so proficient in firearms manufacturing and his skills are so superb. No wonder the rebels' firearms are unmatched."

Lu Jin looked up at Fan Qiuchan who was standing beside him and said, "Help me get the pen."

"it is good."

After a while, Fan Qiuchan brought a pen, and Lu Jin immediately wrote comments and reviews on the letter, just like a teacher marking homework for students. He said that Tao Guangyi's guess about the principle of artillery range was correct, but he could not make artillery of the same technology by himself.

He also said that the current artillery range was not its limit, and that he had a way to increase the range of the artillery to dozens or hundreds of miles, but it was too troublesome, and he did not have the time now, and even if he built it, it would not be something that ordinary soldiers could operate.

Then he commented on the Magic Arrow and the Magic Fire Flying Crow invented by Tao Guangyi. In his eyes, they were just child's play. If he were asked to make them, he could at least make a rocket-like weapon with a range of more than ten miles.

Finally, he asked Lu Jin whether Gongshu had really created something that could carry people and fly. The answer Lu Jin gave was also very interesting.

'When humans look up to the sky, they are destined to grow wings of steel!'

(End of this chapter)