Northeast of Hanjing, three thousand miles away.

The first fortress at the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula, Beisha City.

Li Chao and Zhang Zhongjian walked hand in hand, and the horse's horse took a light step, and the horse's hair was dancing and flying in the wind. Li Chao was wearing an iron armor and covered with a brocade suit. He hung a jade sword on his waist and pressed the hilt with one hand.

The jade-clad scabbard hit the saddle from time to time, making clanging sounds.

Zhang Zhongjian was straight, but his iconic curly beard covered with half of his face.

They walked on Dahei Mountain. The mountain road was not wide, and they were circling up, and the trees on the roadside were green. This was a fortress that built all the mountains into castles, but even the most solid castles were still broken. When the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, Lai Huer once captured this city.

Now, after twenty years, the army from the Central Plains has once again captured this city.

The fierce battle has ended, and there are still many places in the mountain city filled with fireworks. On the road, lying corpses can be seen everywhere. There are 5,000 defenders in Guancheng, and thousands of soldiers and families and people in the city. However, in just three days, Li Chao captured the fortress fortress.

With the cannon, Li Chao rushed over all the way, and no one could stop him.

"I spent tens of thousands of kilograms of cannonballs, this mountain city is really strong." Li Chao said with a chuckling. "But no matter how strong the city is, it cannot be stopped under this artillery fire."

Zhang Zhongjian is still thinking about the sound of thunder in his mind.

"I really didn't expect that there would be such a powerful weapon to attack the city. Not to mention the Goguryeo people, even me was shocked. And you even loaded such a powerful weapon on the ship. Now I really believe what you said before can easily conquer Nanyue. It's really unstoppable!"

Li Chao glanced at Zhang Zhongjian and smiled carelessly, "Since ancient times, attack and defense have been constantly developing like spears and shields. With sharper spears, there will be stronger shields. Although artillery is fierce, it is just because it is used for new castings, and most people do not understand its characteristics. In fact, artillery still has many shortcomings, such as high casting costs, long time, inconvenient transportation, high consumption, and special artillery, etc.."

"But you still pulled the cannon under Beisha City and bombed two or three thousand shells, right?"

"Yes, but I tell you that our cannons are made of iron. Although the cost has been reduced several times, the life of the cannons with bronze cannons can be 1,000 rounds, but they can be made of iron, but their lifespan is only about 600 rounds. It takes countless costs to cast such a big guy, but it ends up with only 600 rounds of life."

The bearded guest was shocked.

"Only six hundred shots? Isn't it possible?"

"What's impossible? This thing is reduced once every time you use it. Six hundred times. This is the data obtained from the experiment. After six hundred times, it will almost never be used. It's better to explode."

"How many shots can the musket be shot?" Zhang Zhongjian didn't expect that the seemingly sharp firearm had so many shortcomings.

"Must guns are even worse than cannons, and they will have a lifespan of about a hundred shots."

"Only one hundred people have sent it?"

After almost the same use, I had to go back to the furnace and recast it.

Zhang Zhongjian shook his head, "When I say this, I think this musket is also very ordinary. It is slow, close, and cannot be shot accurately. It is not available in strong winds and rainy days, and the cost is quite high. It is far worse than bows and crossbows!"

Li Chao did not refute that before mass production of flintlock muskets, the musketeers were indeed a relatively useless military, and they were incomparable to archers who were also long-range soldiers. Of course, musketeers also have their own uses. He does not need much training, nor does he have any requirements for physical fitness. It is useful for quickly forming and combat.

After all, the musketeers rely on the violent rain of bullets.

The cycle of training an archer is long. The production of crossbows is actually a little more troublesome than muskets.

The disadvantage of muskets is that they are now costly.

"But this cannon is really powerful. Even if it only has a lifespan of five or six hundred rounds, with high cost and inconvenience in transportation, it is still an amazing invention. No matter how heavy it is, it is better than a catapult. It is much more powerful. Especially if it can be loaded on the ship, it would not be able to break the Beisha City in three days, not to mention it can be broken in thirty days. When I came to Hu'er to seize Beisha City, tens of thousands of people siege it, and it took a long time to take it, with heavy casualties."

It took Li Chao only three days to capture Beisha City, but there were no major casualties.

After blasting the walls of the mountain city, they rushed in all the way, and the defenders inside could not withstand the Tang army at all.

In fact, Li Chao also had a lot of soldiers. After the Lantern Festival in Hanjing, Li Chao left the capital. He brought three thousand soldiers and three hundred non-commissioned officers and the army arrived in Dengzhou by boat from Hanjing to Hanjing.

After landing, Li Chao raised the original aristocratic privateer unit, but this time there were more ships, because after half a year, the shipyard delivered many new ships.

A large number of crew members who have undergone short-term rapid assault training were also hired by the nobles.

The 5,000-person Marine Corps received rich rewards after participating in the kingship, but now most people are still doing their own business.

During the six months when Li Chao was away, they were not idle. From the mouth of Liaohe River to the mouth of Yalu River, they landed everywhere, and they were robbed.

When Li Chao arrived in Dengzhou, he called out, so he joined forces to gather, and the Marines from various families gathered again.

The United Fleet lost many old faces, and many nobles were cleaned last year, but there were many new faces. With this huge fleet, Li Chao rushed to Liaodong directly.

In three days, Beisha City was captured.

The Goguryeo people in the north did not refuse to save them, but this time the Tang army was moving too fast. As soon as their messenger left, the Tang army took down the city.

"Will the Goguryeo people come to take back the city of Beisha?"

"I think I will definitely come. No matter what, despicableness is also an important town. But I believe that after the Goguryeo people touched their heads under the city, they would give up." Li Chao said with a smile, "In fact, for the Thousand Mile Great Wall that the Goguryeo people are building, the Beisha City is not important. The important thing about the Thousand Mile Great Wall is to defend the front line of the Liaohe River and block the Central Plains army that advanced from east to west of Liao. The Beisha City is already at the southern end of the peninsula, so it is not very important."

"How could it not matter? If you take down this Beisha City by Wenyuan, then they will never think of retaking it back. If you control this city, the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula will become your base camp for harassing the Goguryeo coast, and it is even a forward base for the imperial court to attack. The navigation from Dengzhou to southern Liaoning is safe and smooth. The imperial court can transport troops continuously and then launch an attack from the peninsula."

Zhang Zhongjian has a good vision and is of great importance to southern Liaoning.

"But the Goguryeo people did not have powerful navy, and they did not have the right to control the sea, so the southern Liaoning could only see us occupying. The location of Beisha City is very important, just to control the tip of the southern end of the peninsula, and one man should be the gate of tens of thousands of men. Now this city is in our hands. Even if the Goguryeo people send tens of thousands of troops, they will never take it back."

Riding into the city.

Li Chao was a little disappointed.

Beisha City is tall and dangerous, but in this huge mountain city, it is actually not a city, but it is more like a huge city surrounded by a circle. There is a small inner castle on the mountain, and the hillside and valleys are everywhere, with villages and even many fields inside.

In terms of prosperity and excitement, it is far less than Shimajin Port, Qingniwa Port and Shiren Wang Port.

Zhang Zhongjian smiled and said, "This place can be self-sufficient in closed doors. Whether it is growing grain or raising sheep, it is good. The place is big enough."

"It's really big enough, surrounded by gables, with a circumference of ten miles." Li Chao also smiled.

"In the future, this place will be used as a garrison, and add a turret tower to prevent the Goguryeo people from going south." Li Chao looked at this simple city and immediately made arrangements. It is impossible to build Beisha City into a prosperous city. It is better to focus on developing Lushun and Dalian. There are excellent ports there. Relying on ports, it is very good to develop trade, industry and commerce, and even fishery.

"Congratulations to King Yue, I finally got the fief of southern Liaoning." Zhang Zhongjian smiled. This place is much stronger than his fief of Vietnam. The fief of the marquis of Vietnam is an island. Although the island is also very large, it is far away from the Central Plains. It has been almost a year since I traveled back and forth.

"Well, after taking down Beisha City, I have completed my concern. I can almost prepare for the southward journey."

Official troops will soon be stationed in Beisha City, and the imperial navy will also enter Lushun Port.

Liaonan was the fiefdom that Li Shimin had promised to Li Chao's son, but this fief was not an independent kingdom. The powers of garrison, administration, justice, taxation, etc. were all in the court, and the lords and nobles enjoyed the right to economic gains. The better the territory was developed, the more land was reclaimed and the more prosperous industry and commerce was prosperous, the more taxes they could draw.

As for the rest, that was the matter of the court.

"Letter from King Yue, Hanjing." A guard delivered a letter.

Li Chao took it, checked the seal, and it was intact. He opened it, and the letter was sent by Chengqian. Since last time he heard Li Chao talk about the canal in the capital, the prince has been devoted to it. He connected the Xianghan Caohe, Jinghan Caohe, and Xiangtan Caohe drawn by Li Chao, and gave a very awesome project name, the Grand Canal of the Tang Dynasty.

It is parallel to the Grand Canal of Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty.

Originally, this name was indeed good, but it was precisely because he named the Grand Canal of the Tang Dynasty, which was similar to that of the Sui Dynasty, that as soon as he took it out, it attracted countless people's opposition. In the hearts of many people, the Sui Dynasty canal was a project of national destruction.

In fact, Li Chao's original intention was to take it slowly, build one Caohe one by one, separate each Caohe, and each Caohe is only more than a hundred miles long. One after another, it would be great.

But Chengqian is too young after all, so he just needs to make big news.

As a result, many people opposed the name of the Grand Canal of the Tang Dynasty. Some people took a few more glances, but when they saw that the canal was to cross the Fangcheng Pass north to connect to the Caishui Bian Canal of Shahe and the Han River and the Yangtze River in the south, they immediately felt that it was unreliable.

Build a canal Funiu Mountain?

Connect the Yangtze River, Han River, Canal, and Yellow River? How can it be unreliable?

So everyone opposed it, saying that this was a project that was not reliable to waste money and money.

The prince is now extremely wronged. He obviously wants to do a good thing, but so many people oppose it. Many ministers even tactfully advise the prince to study more and not do their job properly.

Chengqian was extremely distressed and wrote to ask the master how to solve this problem.

The canal was built in the early Tang Dynasty, and the canal did sound very unreliable, so it was normal for someone to object.

Picking up the pen, Li Chao began to reply to Chengqian.
Chapter completed!