Chapter 460: Wei Arsenal, Spy War! [Subscribe]

“How many finished products have been produced?”

"three item."

Cao Cao waved his hand and the eunuch retreated again.

The last time he saw Shu brocade, he found it unusually thin, comfortable and soft, so he asked someone to make several things out of it. It was probably because the requirements were too special and the weavers had never made it.

They did not dare to be careless in following the emperor's order, and studied it repeatedly for a long time before they made something that met the requirements.

When the eunuch says it's ready, it means it's a finished product and can be delivered at any time.

Cao Cao thought the quantity was too small and difficult to distribute.

He was not in a hurry to use it and asked the eunuch to leave.

He walked leisurely back to the inner house.

It snowed heavily for many days.

The mountains are covered with white, and winter is coming.

While Cao Cao was dealing with state affairs, he welcomed another Spring Festival.

After the festival this year, he came to the preparation camp on the outskirts of the city.

Zhang Fei is here too.

He held a snake spear in his hand and danced it like an angry dragon.

There was a dull sound like thunder in the void.

The snake spear was newly forged.

His previous Zhangba Snake Spear was broken when he was captured in Cao's camp. After that, he forged a new spear, but he always felt that it was not suitable for his use.

But Zhang Fei liked the newly forged sword in front of him very much.

"Your Majesty." Zhang Fei walked over with a spear in hand.

Cao Cao nodded, came closer and looked at the row of weapon racks that Zhang Fei was trying out.

There are many weapons hanging on the shelf, including a piece of fine armor.

One of the long swords caught Cao Cao's attention.

He walked forward, picked it up and looked at it. The sword was forged with cold-forged steel technology with layers of embossed patterns, and had a wide spine and thick back.

Its length exceeds five feet.

Compared with ordinary weapons, the toughness and sharpness of this steel knife are far superior to those of bronze materials without engravings.

It is difficult to make an ordinary bronze sword so long and maintain its toughness.

Cao Cao waved his hand casually, and the cold light was like lightning.

The void seemed to be cut open, leaving a trail of blade light that lasted for a long time.

A piece of iron not far away, three or four inches thick, was cut off with a knife.

Not far from the ordnance camp, there is a row of forging furnaces that are smelting cast iron for making armor.

War is a comprehensive contest of national strength.

Preparation ability is one of the most important parts.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu was able to expand the territory to thousands of miles and defeat the Xiongnu at its peak. One of the main reasons was his manufacturing capabilities, which resulted in overwhelming equipment.

At that time, the central army of the Han Dynasty was as high as 300,000. All the soldiers were uniformly equipped with weapons, with more than 40% of them wearing armor. Each soldier was equipped with a bow and crossbow, and a long spear or a short weapon.

So there was a saying at that time that the Han Dynasty could resist the Five Barbarians.

At the peak of the Xiongnu, Maodun once gathered nearly 400,000 cavalry.

That was the time when there were the largest cavalry in the entire history of cold weapons.

This led to the Siege of Bai Ma at the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, in which Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang almost lost his life.

It can be seen that the defeat of the Huns by Emperor Wu at their peak was truly the most remarkable cold weapon duel in ancient and modern times.

Today, the Xianbei have inherited the Xiongnu and dominate the grasslands.

Although Cao Cao established strategic advantages through several wars.

But it would never be easy to completely defeat the Xianbei.

He came to the military camp on the outskirts of the city to check the preparation of weapons and armor.

The commonly used smelting method at present is block smelting or carburizing.

Only a few countries can initially produce steel.

Such as the Kushan Empire, the Parthian Empire, and the Roman Empire.

However, during the Han Dynasty, China had begun to use blowers and entered the initial stage of blast furnace steelmaking, and possessed relatively advanced smelting technology.

Caoying's current iron-making method inherits the blast furnace iron-making method.

They also added an inner wall to the furnace, and tried to use coal to burn the furnace to increase the carbon content, thereby improving the toughness of the weapon preparation.

Cao Cao walked around the armament camp, checking and inquiring about the preparation status and inventory of various weapons.

The entry also pushes out related messages:

[Da Wei Armory: A collection of armors stored and equipped by the Central Imperial Army and Border Army, totaling 114,237 sets;
91,427 helmets;
shields, seventy-six thousand;

95,000 crossbows;

78,244 bows, more than 1.2 million arrows...】

This is the arsenal list of the Great Wei.

The stockpile of military equipment is at an unprecedented level of abundance.

But Cao Cao was not satisfied.

He had read some records handed down from the Western Han Dynasty. There were also bamboo slips of documents on military equipment in Emperor Wu's tomb, which showed off his achievements during his lifetime.

Cao Wei's current weapons reserves are at most one-third of those at the height of the Western Han Dynasty.

When he came out of the ordnance camp, he looked to the north.

These weapons are being transported to the northern front one after another.

Spring is coming soon.

In early February, Cao Cao signed an order to mobilize troops to the north.

The northern front has entered a state of preparation for battle.

……

Xu You has been traveling recently and has not returned to Yecheng.

He is the emperor's buddy, known to everyone. Now he is in charge of the central government. When officials from Beijing go on tour, officials from all over the country receive him warmly.

Xu You simply used the excuse of an external tour to organize county chronicles in various places and rarely returned to Yecheng.

A few days ago, someone sent him gold and silver again, which made Xu You quite alert.

He established new connections with a force in the dark whose origins were unknown and which provided him with gold and silver in exchange for information.

But Xu You was cautious.

He passed on some news about Wei to the other party, but adjusted and deleted some of the content, and all the news he passed on was false news. In this way, even if the plan failed, he would have an explanation to Cao Cao.

Although the news Xu You passed on was false, it was tampered with based on the truth, so he was not afraid that the other party would find out for a while.

The money was taken, and the news was false. Xu You felt that he had done his best and his methods were skillful.

It's getting late.

He returned to the official inn where he was staying.

He lived in an independent courtyard with two soldiers guarding the gate.

Just as he returned to the room, Xu You was suddenly startled.

"Who?"

In the shadow behind the bedroom door, a person was standing quietly.

After Xu You closed the door, he saw the person coming and was startled.

The other person stood two feet away, silent.

His face seemed to be covered with a layer of black fog, making it impossible to see his features clearly, and he looked eerie and spooky.

"Xu Shuling, you used true and false information to cheat us out of a large amount of gold and silver."

The other party's voice sounded like a woman's, and was a little sharp:
"You are quite clever. We asked other people to verify it and found that the news was untrue."

"Are you the one who sent me the gold and silver?"

Xu You was secretly shocked. How could the truth be revealed so quickly? "Who are you?"

The other party remained silent, then suddenly took a step forward and faced Xu You.

The next moment, Xu You felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

The other party inserted a needle-like object into his shoulder, penetrating deep into the bone.

Xu You's face was distorted with pain, but he forced himself not to call out to the soldiers outside to avoid further angering them.

"What do you want? Stop it! If I die, you won't get anything."

The other party exerted force with his hands, and Xu You's face and body were instantly covered with cold sweat.

"I have something important with me. I'll give it to you. It's enough to pay for all the gold and silver."

Xu You coveted the other party's gold and silver, and also thought about retreating in advance.

He considered how to save his life if the current situation occurred and the false information was exposed.

The other party slowly withdrew his hand.

Xu You ignored the pain in his shoulder, tore open the lining of his clothes, and took out a piece of sewn silk cloth from inside:

"This is the record of the Great Wei's horse equipment, mineral transportation routes, and other information. It is also the most valuable thing I can get my hands on."

"You take it, and we'll be even from now on."

The other party took the silk cloth.

Their fingers touched for a moment, and Xu You couldn't help but shiver again.

The other person's hands were as cold as ice, without any human body temperature.

However, Xu You smelled a faint fragrance from the other person, like orchid or musk.

"I will go back and verify whether the message on this silk cloth is true or false. If it is false, you should know the consequences."

The other party suddenly asked in a hoarse voice:

"You might have come into contact with the Lord of Wei?"

Xu You was shocked and said, “You want to attack him, but it’s impossible.

He doesn't trust me at all, and even if I could meet him, there would be no chance."

The other party hesitated for a moment and said, "I want information about the deployment of the northern gate of the Wei Dynasty and the distribution of troops."

Xu You: "I can't get in touch with things of this level."

"You can't reach him, but there are people who can, below the Lord of Cao Wei, there are Xun Yu, Xun You, and Guo Jia!"

Xun Yu was the chief among the ministers, so of course he could have access to him.

Xun You was the chief strategist, and Guo Jia was the military advisor. The two often discussed the deployment of defenses directly with Cao Cao.

It is normal for them to have access to the distribution of troops in Beiguan.

The other party threw a porcelain bottle to Xu You:
"Guo Jia often concealed his identity and went to the brothels in Yecheng to drink and have fun.

If you pretend to meet him in a brothel and invite him to drink with you, he will not refuse.

You pour the contents of the bottle into his wine, and don’t worry about the rest.”

As the other party finished speaking, his figure suddenly disappeared:

"The needle I just gave you will make you feel numb and itchy all night. In half a month, you will die of abscesses all over your body. It will be a horrible sight!
Do what I tell you to do and you will live, if you don’t do it well you will die.”

The other party used the needle just now to inject the poison into his own body...Xu You was horrified.

In the darkness, the figure left Xu You's room and drifted away like smoke.

But in the darkness of the night, there were two people lurking not far away, watching the figure go away.

They are Cao Wei's spies.

The two gestured to each other.

One of them followed the dark shadow coming out of Xu You's room.

The next day.

Xu You set out to return to Yecheng.

After he returned to Yecheng, he waited patiently for several days, and sure enough, he saw Guo Jia, who was hiding in Nulu and wanted to have some fun.

"Guo Jijiu."

Guo Jia dressed up so well that he could not recognize himself, for he was afraid that Cao Cao would know he had been to a brothel and he would be scolded when he returned.

But as soon as he entered the brothel, someone called him.

Shit, I covered my face and changed my appearance, but who had such a sharp eye to recognize me?

Is it so difficult to visit a brothel these days?

Guo Jia looked back and saw that it was Xu You who came.

Bronze Sparrow Palace.

Cao Cao received the news at the same time and thought to himself: "The fun has begun. Feng Xiao is a bastard, it would be good to teach him a lesson."

He turned to ask Jia Xu: "Wenhe, your spy replaced the medicine with the Yin-Yang Suspension Decoction made by Zhongjing?"

Jia Xu nodded, deeply worried:

"Your Majesty, if Fengxiao takes that medicine, he will be desperate. Please don't say that my people replaced it for him."

Cao Cao laughed silently and said nothing.

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(End of this chapter)