Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 331 Holding hands with Wu Zetian while shopping! [Seeking monthly votes]

When Zhao Xu announced his personal expedition in the imperial court, the officials were stunned. Ever since Emperor Zhenzong personally led an expedition to sign the Treaty of Chanyuan with the Liao Dynasty, there had never been another instance of an emperor personally leading an expedition.

Unexpectedly, the current emperor has brought up this idea again. Some veteran officials have begun to advise His Majesty, hoping that he will rescind his order and not take the risk.

Of course, they were also afraid of taking risks. After all, the emperor was leading the expedition, and officials from all departments would have to go with him. If something happened to them, they would be stuck on the northwestern frontier.

Zhao Xu, too lazy to engage in verbal sparring, immediately announced:
"This is an opportunity that our Great Song Dynasty has not seen in a hundred years. How can we throw the baby out with the bathwater? Everyone, please stop trying to persuade us. I will arrange for personnel to remain in Tokyo. Officials of all departments must perform their duties. If there is a great victory, everyone will be rewarded!"

After speaking, Zhao Xu picked up the list of those to be left behind and began to announce that Cai Jing, Li Gefei, and the heads of all departments would remain in Tokyo and Kaifeng; Zhang Dun and Zeng Bu would accompany the emperor on his personal campaign.

With Cai Jing and Li Gefei both possessing the Black Iron Token, and Li Qingzhao holding the Fine Steel Token, there would be no problems in Kaifeng.

To prevent trouble in the harem, Zhao Xu planned to appoint Li Qingzhao as a palace attendant before his departure, so that Li Qingzhao could freely enter and leave the harem and directly strike down anyone she disliked with lightning.

Cai Jing never expected to receive such treatment. He immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and stammered words of loyalty.

Zhao Xu made another round of personnel adjustments, hoping that in the near future, all departments in Kaifeng could operate smoothly and that various strategic materials could be continuously transported to the front lines.

As for essential supplies, such as weapons and explosives, they can be transferred directly through Hunyuan Palace.

Li Qingzhao transported various weapons from the Military Equipment Bureau to Hunyuan Palace, and Zhao Xu took them directly to the front line. This saved them from the twists and turns of transportation along the way and also prevented the weapons from being damaged during the bumpy journey.

As the chief technical officer, Zhao Ji also had to go along, not only to test the performance of various cannons, but also to take some time out of his busy schedule to study oil.

During the Song Dynasty, black petroleum could often be seen gushing out in the Yanzhou and Mizhi areas. When Shen Kuo passed by, he judged that this substance would be of great use to future generations. In fact, the term "petroleum" was given by Shen Kuo and has been used in modern society ever since.

There was little oil refining technology at that time, but distilling some gasoline and diesel was not a big problem.

Gasoline can be used to make petrol bombs and incendiary bombs, while diesel can be used to light torches or to operate some simple diesel machinery, such as two-stroke pile drivers, which are suitable for low-quality diesel with high impurity content.

In order to study it thoroughly, Emperor Huizong wrote a letter to the Book of Changes in his slender gold calligraphy style, in which he wrote at length about the difficulties in refining petroleum and hoped that the Book of Changes could help him get a two-stroke pile driver.

He had seen the name "pile driver" in a book, but he didn't know what it looked like. However, in Zhao Ji's mind, since it was a pile driver, it must be a powerful tool for building bridges.

While Zhao Xu was arranging matters for the imperial expedition in the court, everyone was cleared out of the royal gardens outside Kaifeng. Zhao Ji and the Director of the Military Equipment Bureau set up the mortars, preparing to test the performance of the shells.

Li Qingzhao stood three zhang away on her electric scooter, holding the All Things Hibernate Talisman in her hand. If an accident occurred, she would ride her electric scooter to the scene and prevent the explosion.

With everything prepared, Zhao Ji took out the 60mm mortar shells that he had made by hand.

The shell casing was made by forging thin iron sheets using hydraulic forging equipment, then bending them, and finally welding them into the shape of a shell. The explosive used was Zhou's explosive, which was developed during the War of Resistance against Japan, and the propellant was nitrocellulose loaded at the tail.

The principle of a mortar is very simple: the shell is loaded into the breech from the front, and the firing pin at the bottom ignites the primer of the shell, generating a huge thrust, and then the shell is launched out.

In principle, this thing is a mortar that existed in the Song Dynasty, but in terms of portability and explosive effect, the mortar is far ahead of its time.

In particular, the high parabolic trajectory of the mortars enabled them to attack the reverse slopes and inside the city walls, resulting in devastating damage.

Before testing the cannon, Zhao Ji used a drone to check the area and confirmed that there was no one within ten miles ahead. Only then did he pick up the cannonball, place it in the muzzle, and load it in.

The primer at the bottom of the shell was quickly sparked by the firing pin, which ignited the surrounding nitrocellulose. Under this enormous thrust, the shell was immediately expelled by the air pressure inside the chamber and flew into the sky with a "whoosh".

A few seconds later, an explosion was heard ahead. Li Qingzhao rode her electric scooter ahead and searched for a long time before finally finding the crater about two miles away.

The ground within a radius of ten feet was overturned, and a deep crater appeared near the center of the explosion. The surrounding flowers, plants and trees were blown beyond recognition, and shrapnel and iron filings mixed in with the shells were scattered everywhere, many of which directly pierced into the trees, causing considerable casualties.

Emperor Huizong rode over on horseback, estimated the area of ​​the explosion, and said:
"If a single shell hits the enemy's battle formation, it can kill or wound at least dozens of people, which can then trigger strong ripple effects, such as riots, mutinies, etc. A single shell can directly affect thousands of people, and the indirect impact is immeasurable."

The fleeing soldiers would transmit the power of the shells to the rear, causing unwarranted panic among those behind, which would affect the battle... Overall, the appearance of mortars was an absolute game-changer for the Western Xia.

Li Qingzhao asked:
"Any progress with the other artillery pieces?"

Zhao Ji shook his head:

"There hasn't been much progress. Right now, in order to cooperate with my brother's personal expedition, we've been working on mortar shells and haven't had time to research other artillery."

We'll talk about cannons and howitzers later. For now, let's build more mortars. They're easy to operate and the perfect choice for conquering territory.

Next, Zhao Ji adjusted the trajectory and tested the distance.

This time, however, he didn't use artillery shells. Instead, he used empty shell casings filled with sand to make them the same weight as artillery shells, in order to test the elevation angle and the distance of the projectile.

Explosives are precious; they can't all be wasted on experiments.

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace.

Wu Zetian marked the date Chen Tang would come to Hunyuan Palace on the calendar. Yesterday, when Brother Tang left, they agreed that it would start at 8:00 AM sharp, and he would bring the Zhao sisters, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui, to Hunyuan Palace. Zhou Yi would burn incense at the Sanqing Hall beforehand to try and increase the probability of success.

After dealing with these matters, Wu Meiniang looked at Zhou Yi and asked:

"Master, I would like to take a stroll in the city. Would you like to come with me?"

Zhou Yi, still thinking about the money in the membership card the blind man had given him, nodded and said:
"Okay, let's go to the city and have a meal at the Sky Guest Restaurant while we're there... We can't just keep thinking about saving the world, we need to relax too."

The two changed into matching casual clothes, put on couple-style baseball caps, and drove straight into the city.

It was still a bit early for dinner, so Zhou Yi drove to the vicinity of the Yiyang County Government Office scenic area. He had seen the advertisements for the county government office every day but had never been inside. Today, he decided to take a tour with Her Majesty the Empress.

The two walked through the bustling streets, bought tickets and entered the scenic area. It was a county government office from the Ming Dynasty. It was not large, but it had all kinds of functions, including a prison.

Upon entering the gate, the two first stood in front of the floor plan and looked at the panoramic view.

Just then, a tour group walked in from outside, bustling about. As soon as they entered, they started looking for photo spots. Zhou Yi was afraid of crowding Wu Meiniang, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, intending to avoid the tour group, otherwise they wouldn't be able to see anything.

Upon holding hands, Her Majesty the Empress's heart fluttered. She leaned close to Zhou Yi, their fingers intertwined, as if afraid that Zhou Yi would separate from her.

Mr. Zhou was somewhat confused:
"What's wrong? Are you cold?"

Wu Zetian nodded:
"I should have brought a jacket."

Zhou Yi put his arm around her waist, afraid she would catch a cold.
"How about I buy you some clothes first, and we can go shopping later?"

Wu Zetian savored this sweet moment and whispered:

"I have plenty of clothes, no need to buy more, this is fine."

The two strolled around together, exploring the entire county government office, and even bought a bag of fish food to feed the koi in the backyard.

After leaving the county government office, Zhou Yi was about to drive to Tian Shang Ke Restaurant when Wu Meiniang wanted to try some street food:

"These food stalls look incredibly tempting. How about we have lunch here?"

Since Her Majesty is interested, let's eat there. There are many snack stalls nearby, and some of them have pretty good reviews. We can try them all.

The two found a stall selling canned dumplings, and each ordered a serving. Wu Meiniang also bought wolf tooth potatoes and squid skewers from next door, typical street food.

After buying it, she sat down next to Zhou Yi, picked up a piece of potato with a bamboo skewer and fed it to him, subtly inquiring about it:

"You learned various Taoist arts from your grandfather since you were a child. When you were in school, many people must have asked you to read their palms, right?"

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"I don't know much about palm reading, and my grandfather taught me from a young age that I won't do a fortune telling unless I get paid. Although some people have asked me to tell their fortunes, it was all in jest, and no one took it seriously."

Wu Zetian ate a piece of potato, her bright eyes gazing at Zhou Yi:

Are there any women?

Zhou Yi took a squid skewer from her hand and said while eating:

"No, don't ask me anything... Wait, I asked you to be the housekeeper, how come you're starting to exercise control over my body?"

Wu Zetian smiled sweetly and whispered to Zhou Yi:

"I know I was wrong, please punish me, Immortal Master."

Zhou Yi thought about it and actually assigned her a task:
"Okay, go back and print out the entire 'Huainanzi' on the computer. If you slack off, I won't take you out to play next time; I'll only take the three of them."

Wu Zetian: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
I want you to punish me, not give me summer homework... Luckily this isn't the Tang Dynasty, otherwise I'd definitely teach you a lesson!
She was worried that talking about this would upset Zhou Yi, so she took the initiative to bring up palm reading:

"If you wish to learn palmistry, you can practice on my hands."

Zhou Yi grasped Her Majesty the Empress's hand, looked at it, and shook his head, saying:

"Your hands are so beautiful, they're distracting me."

Wu Zetian: "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

With such flirting skills, how come she was single in school? No way, I have to keep testing the waters!
(End of this chapter)