Lin'an, the Palace of King Chu.

Li Chuyuan's face turned pale and threw the battle report he had passed on to the ground.

"It's been half a month, and six thousand people died but not even a single Wu County was captured. Jiang Ying is really a waste. If this is the case, it would be unknown whether it would be the Year of the Ox and Horse Month to capture Suzhou City."

Li Chuyuan seemed very irritable when he spoke.

He had to worry now. In order to buy flintlock rifles and ammunition, Chu spent 12 million taels of silver this year, and he was forced to exchange the silver for the Dragon Coin of the Great Yu Kingdom. The unequal proportional exchange made him exploit the second layer again.

He didn't understand when he was the prince of the King of Chu. Now that he has become the King of Chu, he understands that this tea, rice, oil and salt are expensive.

Although Jiangnan was richest in the world, and Chu State was richest in the south, so much money was enough to make him feel distressed, but it didn't matter if he could defeat the merchant council and pay this price.

But the current situation of the war obviously made him unsatisfied.

Sima Hao sat at the head of Li Chuyuan. After the Cao family fled to Suzhou, he immediately joined forces with the powerful families of Chu to send Li Chuyuan to the throne. After a few days, the imperial edict from the court also arrived. At this time, both Li Chuyuan was legitimate in the court and Chu.

Stroking his beard gently, Sima Hao looked calm, and he said, "Your Highness, you don't have to worry. War is not a matter of one day or another. Jiang Ying was born in a family of famous generals and was still very outstanding compared to other generals. As far as I know, the parliamentary army was very cunning. They dug a lot of trenches and built a lot of earthen walls in Wu County. It is precisely through the trenches and earthen walls that they can stop Jiang Ying's attack. The following officials' opinions must find a way to conquer the trenches."

"Hey, the Northern Expedition Army of the Emperor has conquered Pingzhou in just a few days, and Jinzhou has only been a few more days. Why is it our turn to fight so hard? "Li Kaiyuan sighed deeply.

Sima Hao shook his head gently, "This matter is actually very simple, because the firearms sold to us by the emperor are all eliminated by the royal army."

"This book is clear that even so, the eliminated weapons are more advanced than those of the Merchant Council. After all, in addition to the smoothbore flintlock gun, we also purchased the bore flintlock gun. No, the problem is not the musket, but the cannon. The cannon we used was left by the father, and the cannon used by the Frenchman's 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 reason. Jiang Ying's battle report said that our artillery range is not as good as that of the Merchant Council."

Li Chuyuan suddenly stood up when he heard this. He said, "In the past, my father bought the earliest artillery in Qingzhou. These artillery could sweep the kings at that time, but now they are not very useful. Now we must buy artillery with a longer range and greater power from Qingzhou."

"Your Highness, these 80,000 muskets are still costing so much. If you buy artillery again, I'm afraid that the treasury will consume most of the money. This means that the Chu State has accumulated over a hundred years to give it to the royal family in one day. "Sima Hao felt a little painful.

Although the State of Chu was rich, the treasury was inexhaustible, not to mention that most of the wealth in Jiangnan was in the hands of the rich.

Li Chuyuan immediately smirked when he heard this, and he said, "Don't my uncle want to buy some artillery for the Sima family's troops?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Sima Hao's pupils suddenly magnified.

Now that Jiangnan is in chaos, the biggest reliance for the rich is not Li Chuyuan but their troops, so they have been envious of muskets and cannons for a long time.

"Your Highness is preparing to lift the ban on firearms?" Sima Hao said in shock. When the King of Chu was alive, he ordered the ban on the possession of firearms by the noble tribes.

Li Chuyuan nodded affirmatively, "The merchant council relies on the wealthy businessmen and wealthy businessmen, and the civil union training will fight against me. Why can't I rely on the wealthy tribe to deal with them?"

Sima Hao's eyes turned. Since the death of the old King of Chu, the Sima family has no fear of the Li family. The reason why they regard Li Chuyuan as King of Chu is actually a helpless move at present.

After all, there are still some wealthy families in the Chu State who support Li Chuyuan. If this were not the case, the Sima family had already replaced it, so why bother to surrender again?

He coughed gently and said, "Your Highness is a talented and stubborn, and such a plan really makes the officials admire you very much."

"Uncle praised it, this is just my helpless move." Li Chuyuan's smile was a little complicated.

Sima Hao was a little excited, and he said, "If so, the Sima family is willing to bear a hundred old-style cannons for His Highness, but these old cannons lack range and power. His Highness cannot sell them to us at the price he once bought."

Li Chuyuan nodded and said, "In the past, when my father bought these cannons, it cost almost tens of thousands of taels of silver. Now, 5,000 taels per cannon can always be sold. After all, although these cannons are not in sufficient range, they are still enough within a few hundred meters. Generally speaking, the cannons are best fired in this range."

Sima Hao was so shiny in his heart that he had already salivated at firearms, so he said, "Well, 500,000 is not a big deal for the Sima family, but having cannons is obviously not enough. If there are muskets, it would be even better. Can Your Highness buy muskets from Qingzhou from us?"

"My uncle's business is my king's business, of course it's okay." Li Chuyuan laughed.

Sima Hao echoed and laughed. He couldn't wait anymore, "Then the official will go back and prepare for the money."

After saying that, Sima Hao bowed to Li Chuyuan and turned around and left.

Watching Sima Hao disappear into the main hall, Li Chuyuan punched the table in front of him with a fierce punch.

"Bastard, do you really think I am a fool!" Li Chuyuan's eyes were filled with a hint of despair.

Just now, he was just testing Sima Hao, but the results he got made him see the reality clearly. Almost everything he did over the past year was hindered, and he knew who was behind him.

After living in Qingzhou for two years and returning again, he lost all his foundation. He finally understood why Xiao Ming asked him what he said in the imperial study room.

It turned out that even if he came back, he was powerless to turn things around and could only become a puppet of the Sima family.

"You are all forcing me." Li Chuyuan murmured. Maybe he had been lucky enough to restore the State of Chu, but now he just wants to fight for the second half of his life for himself. After all, he already has a wife and children.

This time, he lifted the fire ban to test Sima Hao and also to show his kindness to Xiao Ming. Before Chu was destroyed, through arms transactions, Chu's wealth would be transferred to Qingzhou. With his understanding of this emperor, he would definitely be very happy.

But he is not without conditions. After the larger firearm trade begins, he will let Xiao Ming leave a way out for himself.

Thinking of this, he immediately drafted a memorial and asked Xiao Ming to send officials to Lin'an for negotiations.
Chapter completed!