The county magistrate then reported the matter to Wu Qiu and Wei Zhao.
Adhering to the restriction that firearms could not be circulated outside the country, Wei Zhao sent someone to retrieve the firearms, and then discovered that the firearms were somewhat similar to the one described by the marshal. Finally, they were sent to Lanzhang Palace, where Xie Lanzhi confirmed that they were sniper rifles.
Wei Zhao was very happy.
When Xie Lanzhi said that a scope was missing, Wei Zhao immediately ordered Gou Dan's father to hand over the scope.
Dog Egg's dad came home, clutching his backside, and saw his son holding a strange-looking object. His son even excitedly rushed over to hug him. After being hugged tightly by his son, he realized that his son was the one who had caused the beating, and a chill ran down his spine.
So the filial son, Gou Dan, was punished by his kind father. That very night, he sent the scope to the authorities.
This time, the county magistrate suddenly changed his attitude, treating Gou Dan's father with great courtesy. He also presented him with a thousand taels of silver, saying it was a reward from the imperial court.
Dog Egg's father had never seen so much money in his life. He had only ever handled a thousand taels of silver before, and the weight of the silver made him fall over.
The next day, the village and town where he was, Peach Blossom Town, became the focus of attention throughout Tianjing because of his fame.
Thanks to this fortune, Dog Egg's father and his family moved out of the village and opened a tofu pudding shop in Peach Blossom Town. His story is another classic example of turning misfortune into blessing, following the tale of the old man who lost his horse.
When Xie Lanzhi found the sniper rifle, she tried it out herself and found that its firing mechanism and smoothbore were perfectly compatible with weapons from World War II.
It can be said that it is at least 300 years ahead of its time.
With sniper scopes, it's no wonder that the Seagulls were able to kill so many people when they attacked. The Seagulls' decapitation strikes alone left the entire army leaderless.
Moreover, both the Yue Kingdom and the Shi Kingdom have traditional armies.
Xie Lanzhi immediately contacted the Southern Region to inquire whether they had rescued the Shi Kingdom and killed the remaining sea monster.
News came from the Grand Master's side that on the third day of the Delta War, the sea monsters of the Stone Kingdom had hidden a batch of gold and silver treasures and fled to the four Southeast Asian countries.
There were more than 800 people in total. They were out of touch with the outside world and did not know about the trade protection agreement between the four countries of Southeast Asia and the Western Jin Dynasty.
That very night, the pirates were slaughtered by Durant's men using Type 94 cannons as soon as they landed. In reality, this was orchestrated by Gongsun Feng. As his wife, she was aware of Shi Yang's predicament, but instead of taking action, she entrusted the matter to the imperial court.
Shi Yang has now basically restored his kingdom. However, the Shi Kingdom suffered too many casualties and has very few troops left.
The soldiers all fled. Only a thousand remained. With only a thousand men left in the vast Shi Kingdom, it was naturally impossible to control the people.
There are now faint signs that the Shi State Prefecture is being governed by local gentry.
At this time, Shi Yang sent a letter requesting the emperor to annex the Shi Kingdom.
Xie Lanzhi was very surprised and found it hard to believe. He submitted so easily?
In fact, this was at the behest of Gongsun Feng. Shi Yang had no objections, but simply said that he wanted to be incorporated into the future Western Jin Dynasty.
Xie Lanzhi felt that Gongsun Feng had considerable ambitions, having already monopolized the four Southeast Asian countries. Of course, Gongsun Feng was now a legitimate businessman, and she had no reason to suppress her.
After all, Gongsun Feng conducts business in accordance with commercial law. However, the fact that he can constantly teeter on the edge of the law is enough to prove that capital possesses an extremely inflated desire for profit and a predatory nature.
Xie Lanzhi relayed this to Xiao Fenghuang. She then sent the sniper rifle to the Ministry of Works, where Wei Gong personally disassembled it, drew up the blueprints, and then Aza, the genius of imitation, was tasked with mass production.
Si Xitong had actually received Gongsun Feng's request to merge into the Shi Kingdom's mansion long ago.
She naturally couldn't mistreat her trusted confidants, but now that the country was newly established, she wanted to avoid leaving any hidden dangers in her generation.
Si Xitong planned to merge into the Shi Kingdom, but nominally bestowed upon Shi Yang a title: King of a Hundred Boats.
The Shi State was allowed to have its own 5,000 soldiers. The Western Jin Dynasty still operated on a merit-based military system. Its military virtue was abundant, but from the time of the retired emperor onwards, it became a temporary figurehead.
After Shi Yang was granted the title of King of Hundred Boats, the Central Alliance had two remaining small states, along with the State of Lu, and eight other small states awaiting investiture.
Si Xitong bestowed upon them all titles named after their previous kingdoms, but unlike the Shi Kingdom, the small kingdoms of the Central Alliance would be guarded by the Imperial Guard.
As for the Kingdom of Huayin, Si Xitong planned to return it to Anyi as promised after some time. The Kingdom of Lu was officially established as Luzhou Prefecture, and the Duke was appointed King of Lu.
The Delta region was basically now under the control of the Imperial Guards. Xie Bing was staying in Luerqu for the time being because Xie Ji was recuperating from his injuries.
To express his gratitude to Wu Yuejun, Si Xitong specially sent him 10,000 shi of grain to relieve his urgent need.
Wu Yuejun was very grateful, and then entrusted someone to deliver a letter to Xie Lanzhi.
Si Xitong wanted to open it and take a look, but after thinking about it, she decided against it and handed the letter to Xie Lanzhi instead.
Xie Lanzhi did not know Wu Yuejun and felt that she should have no connection with him.
When she opened the envelope, it still had a line of large characters written on it: "I lost, and I admit defeat wholeheartedly."
Xie Lanzhi quickly took back the letter and burned it.
"What did Wu Yuejun say to you?" Si Xitong asked, somewhat surprised by her actions, "When did you two meet?"
Xie Lanzhi cleared her throat and coughed lightly: "It's nothing, I just wanted to ask for your opinion on the Northern Region."
Si Xitong didn't believe it, but she didn't ask.
Seeing that she had no reaction, Xie Lanzhi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that her little phoenix had completely forgotten about Wu Shang. But that was a good thing; who would bother thinking about a complete scumbag?
Besides, he lost the bet to himself, so they had no further contact.
Now that Mu Ye has been captured and the sniper rifle has been obtained, all that's left is to wait for the leader of the Mo family's reply and see if he's willing to come to Tianjing. If he is, she will definitely fight to the death with Xiwei to bring him back to Tianjing.
Si Xitong was aware of this matter. However, she did not bring it up herself, but instead said, "Lanzhi, I did not want to waste the country's strength on repeated wars."
"But the Northern Hu and Xiongnu have already become wary of us, and may have already united to be vigilant against us."
“The Northern Hu and Xiongnu themselves have the capability to develop firearms, and I fear they will once again follow the path laid out by Aqina.”
Xie Lanzhi said, "So you want to conquer the Northern Hu and Xiongnu immediately?"
Si Xitong nodded.
Both of them knew that fighting the Shenyas pirate crew had nearly depleted their supplies. The remaining supplies were still being mass-produced, and fighting the Northern Hunnics again in less than a month would be detrimental to their development.
But now is the best time.
Xie Lanzhi suddenly said, "We still have 50,000 surrendered soldiers at our disposal."
“If the Northern Hu and Xiongnu have this idea, they will definitely want back these soldiers who were once forgotten.”
To be honest, Xie Lanzhi was speechless at the disheartening actions of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu. Just imagine, a bunch of soldiers who risked their lives for you were abandoned by their motherland after losing a battle.
They were abandoned in a foreign land for almost four months, eating enemy rations and repairing enemy canals and roads.
Anyone with a modicum of self-respect would be so angry they couldn't sleep just thinking about it. Let alone the 50,000 surrendered soldiers, who, from their initial escape attempts being repeatedly captured by the imperial guards, to running out of money to return home, and repeatedly drowning after pleading for help, would be disillusioned with such a country. Let alone remaining loyal.
Finally, Xie Lanzhi came up with a solution: "How about this, we do it this way."
Si Xitong leaned closer and listened to someone's plan. Her eyes lit up immediately: "As expected of Lanzhi, you always have ingenious ideas."
Xie Lanzhi was a little embarrassed by her wife's praise: "Don't praise me like that, I'm just repeating what others have said."
Soon, an order was issued to the State of Lu. Gongfu Ling was still celebrating becoming the King of Lu, and the court even sent him a lot of grain and cattle and sheep. In an instant, Lu became the wealthiest state in twenty years.
Gong Fuling believed he was destined to be the luckiest and most powerful ruler in the history of the State of Lu.
Although the State of Lu no longer exists, its history remains. The Western Jin emperor was very tolerant of the State of Lu, so it is believed that the history of Lu will not be completely erased.
Upon receiving the order, the official command immediately instructed the general in charge to carry it out.
That means releasing 50,000 surrendered soldiers for free, and even giving them some travel expenses.
However, when General Zhang of Luzhou Prefecture distributed travel expenses, he embellished the story a bit, first mentioning that Panaro received the travel expenses.
Zhang Mian threw a bag of money at Banaro's feet and mocked, "Take it away, take it away! Don't stay in our Lu State, Lu Prefecture, eating nothing but scraps."
“We have no more roads to build for you foreigners.”
"The remaining roads still need to be repaired by the people, repaired, and so on. In Tianjing, what's it called again?"
The young officer next to him chimed in, "It's called employment. It's a term that originated from the time His Majesty of the Western Jin Dynasty established the Chamber of Commerce."
"Now that roads are being built everywhere, every household can earn an ounce or two a month. If someone in the family knows a handicraft, regardless of gender, they can enter the five major government offices and receive a government salary."
"How can such a livelihood be given to a group of defeated generals?"
Banaro was disdainful of this; he picked up the money and left. But when the other Huns came with change, Zhang Mian's attitude changed.
He began to press the Xiongnu soldiers: "If you are willing to stay, you will be provided with enough food. If you become a soldier in my Luzhou Prefecture, you can also receive three months' salary in advance."
The Hunnic soldiers hesitated for a moment, then were stopped by Banaro. The Huns sheepishly took the money and retreated.
Zhang Mian stopped trying to dissuade them. Distributing travel expenses to 50,000 people was a considerable sum, but most of them actually received their share.
When many Xiongnu soldiers were driven out of the border of Lu, many still looked somewhat bewildered. Although they were surrendered soldiers, the people of the Central Plains had provided them with ample food during the four months they had spent repairing roads. They even managed to eat refined rice a few times a month.
This is different in the Northern Xiongnu. Although their homeland has a high grain yield, they mainly eat coarse rice mixed with beans. Some don't even bother to remove all the husks, for fear of not having enough to eat.
In the State of Lu, the worst they could eat was sweet potatoes. Sometimes, if the work exceeded the allotted quota, the people of the Central Plains would even receive two eggs and a large pot of chicken soup per person.
Many people not only didn't become pale and thin, but their complexions actually became much healthier. Those who caught a cold were also given some basic herbal remedies.
Many Xiongnu soldiers had mixed feelings when they stepped across the border of Lu.
Seeing that they seemed unmoved by life in Lu, Banaro immediately grabbed a bamboo stick from his waist and began to beat several Hun soldiers, warning them as he did so, "Don't forget your place!"
"You are Huns, not Central Plains people! Don't be bribed by the Central Plains people. They've always been cunning; this time they're using a psychological tactic!"
"Don't be fooled! If anyone still has any lingering attachment to Lu while I'm leading you all back to our motherland, I will kill them without mercy."
Banaro's roar sent a shiver down the spines of many Hun soldiers. Although they all wanted to be alert and didn't show it on their faces, they were all thinking the same thing.
In just four months, the morale of most people was shaken. This is something that makes Banaro think very hard.
It wasn't that he hadn't experienced a good life and didn't yearn for the Central Plains, but his subordinates were different. In their homeland, the social hierarchy was rigid, and the lower one's rank, the less food they received. Many had never experienced the ease of having food simply by repairing roads, as was the case in Lu. And they didn't have to tighten their belts to eat.
Logically, a single meal wouldn't be enough to win over the Xiongnu soldiers. What truly appealed to them was their familiarity with the low-cost lifestyle, stable prices, and convenient transportation of the people of the Central Plains.
It's hard to imagine that in the Central Plains, even ordinary people could enjoy such conveniences as only nobles could enjoy these privileges if they paid a certain amount of money.
In particular, the increased grain production driven by Tianjing freed some farmers from farming, allowing them to cultivate the land for the imperial court.
After the imperial court cultivates the land, it distributes the profits to the farmers according to a certain ratio. After deducting some grain that should be handed over to the government, the rest is returned.
If a merchant cheats someone, they can simply report it to the authorities, who will immediately investigate and verify the facts. If the merchant breaks the law, they will be fined immediately. Who wouldn't yearn for such an orderly, fair, stable, and prosperous court and society?
The Hun soldiers were moved by these experiences. Many of them were passionately devoted to their motherland and worked tirelessly for its strength.
Yet, amidst their busy lives, they are so ordinary and unremarkable, unlike the dazzling families of Banaro who fight only for honor.
Most of them are ordinary people, easily moved by the ordinary people of the Central Plains. They then unconsciously project their own simple, well-fed, and happy lives onto them.
Because this is the life they've always longed for!
Nevertheless, the 50,000 men obediently followed Banaro back.
Just then, the Western Jin envoy returned to Tianjing. No sooner had he returned than a letter arrived from Tianjing informing Liu Zi and the Lord of Anshan that they had released the 50,000 surrendered soldiers back to the Northern Xiongnu. Each soldier had also been given some travel expenses.