Chapter Eighty: Three Strategies (Part Two)

  Li Mu smiled and said, "Why not?"

  Ning Qi said seriously: "If the general enters the palace to see the king, it is no different from entering a dangerous place, and he will inevitably fall into a desperate situation."

  Li Mu said: "I am now a subject of Zhao, and I have not betrayed Zhao, so no matter what, I should go see the great king, explain the facts, I think the great king will not necessarily be unfavorable to me."

  Ning Qi shook his head and said, "If it were a wise ruler, he would not be unfavorable to the great general, but the king has always been muddle-headed and dissipated, and with treacherous ministers like Guo Kai by his side. If the great general enters the palace, he will undoubtedly die."

  Li Mu sank into thought for a moment before saying: "I would rather be wronged by the Zhao state than wrong the Zhao state, so tomorrow I must enter the palace to see the great king."

  Li Yinghong also became anxious and said, "Father, Ning Shu's words are not wrong. You absolutely cannot enter the palace tomorrow, and I will not let you go either." Turning to Gao Yuan, she said, "You also help me persuade Father."

  At this time, Gao Yuan also said: "If General wants to enter the palace, he must agree with us on one thing."

  "What's going on?"

  Gao Yuan said in a low voice, "We will bring 20,000 soldiers to escort the general into the palace. Of course, the general can enter the palace alone, but the army must be stationed outside the palace gate and surround the palace. If the king wants to harm the general, we will kill our way into the palace, kill Zhao Wang, Guo Kai and others, and avenge the general. Moreover, even if the general opposes it, it is useless. As long as the general leaves, we will deploy troops into the city."

  Li Yinghong also said: "Right, only if Father agrees to our demands can we let him enter the palace."

  Zhao Xuan also said: "General, this time I agree with their opinion."

  Li Mu also sighed and said: "Alright, if you insist on doing this, I won't stop you either."

  Finally, the matter was settled, and Gao Yuan also let out a sigh of relief. He then bid farewell to Li Mu. Li Xuanhong escorted him out of the mansion, and all along the way, Li Xuanhong's heart felt heavy, so he didn't say a word.

  Gao Yuan was escorted all the way to the entrance of the mansion before Li Yinghong spoke up, "Gao Yuan, do you think Father will raise an army in rebellion against Zhao and declare himself king?"

  Gao Yuan shook his head and said: "Absolutely not, if it really comes to an irretrievable situation, I think the general will retreat to Dai Prefecture to establish himself independently, this is currently the best choice."

  Becoming king is obviously not feasible. Ning Qi's suggestion to kill Guo Kuo, isolate King Zhao, and control the government would be a good strategy at any other time. Li Mu has great prestige in Zhao and controls the military, so killing Guo Kuo would be easy. Since Guo Kuo is widely recognized as a treacherous minister, Li Mu could use the pretext of "clearing away evil" to kill him without arousing suspicion, and his reputation would only increase. It would also be natural for him to take control of Zhao's government. Although it's unlikely that Li Mu would become king himself, if he were to manage things for several decades, it's not impossible that his descendants could achieve what the three families did in Jin or the Tian family did in Qi.

  As a result, Li Mu had to stay in Handan for a long time, cultivating his own private forces loyal to him within the Zhao state government, firmly grasping control of the court. This process would take at least four or five years. However, the current situation does not allow Li Mu this much time, as Qin is likely to attack Zhao at any moment, and currently only Li Mu has the ability to resist the Qin army's advance. If Li Mu leaves Handan, no one will be able to control the situation, and the consequences are difficult to predict.

  Therefore, what was originally a superior plan, due to the different environment at this time, can only be considered a middle strategy. The best plan is to leave Handan and retreat to Dai Prefecture. Li Mu has been stationed in Dai Prefecture for many years, deeply gaining the hearts of the local people, with a very deep foundation in Dai Prefecture, fully possessing the conditions for independence, but still maintaining the name of being a vassal of Zhao State, also avoiding various political divisions in Handan, and not losing as a superior strategy.

  After listening to Gao Yuan's analysis, Li Yinghong also felt slightly relieved. Although he would have fully supported his foster father if Li Mu had really rebelled, he still felt a bit uneasy in his heart. If Li Mu were to leave Handan and retreat to Dai Prefecture to establish himself independently, Li Yinghong's heart would be much more at ease. He nodded and said, "Thank you, Gao Yuan."

  Gao Yuan Road: "Then I'll leave, you stay and accompany General for a while, he's probably not feeling well in his heart either."

  After leaving Li Mu's mansion, Gao Yuan returned to his own mansion. As soon as he entered the door, Geng Zhong came forward and said: "Sir, the head of the Lei Zhuang workshop, Lei Bo Ping, has arrived. He said that the things you want to build have all been built, please inspect them."

  Gao Yuan listened and immediately said: "Good, bring him to see me." As he spoke, he also hastily changed his clothes and came to the main hall.

  At this time, Li Bo Ping had already brought several disciples here to wait, and the various weapons that Gao Yuan wanted to forge were all placed on the ground.

  Jian Gaoyuan arrived, Li Bo Ping immediately paid his respects to Gaoyuan and said: "I've seen the adults, the several kinds of weapons that the adults need to forge have all been forged, please take a look." As he spoke, he picked up a knife from the ground, scabbard and all, and handed it over to Gaoyuan. He said: "Of these ten knives, four have undergone fivefold tempering, six have undergone fourfold tempering."

  Kougen nodded and said, "Very good." He took the sword and drew it out to take a look. The blade shone brightly with a faint cloud-like pattern on its surface, which was a characteristic of repeatedly forged weapons. The size and weight were almost identical to his own model, feeling quite suitable in his hand. Kougen swung the sword a few times, creating some beautiful arcs, and felt it was very comfortable to wield.

  At this point, Li Bo Ping said: "Please, sir, try the knife." As he spoke, he took out a wooden stick about two inches in diameter and placed it in front of Gao Yuan.

  Gao Yuan swung his knife and cut the wooden stick into two segments. He was also very satisfied, saying: "Not bad, worthy of being Zhao's best craftsman."

  Then the highland looked at the other nine knives one by one, and then looked at the double-bladed axe and flying knife that were forged. They were basically the same as his own design, so the highland nodded repeatedly and said, "Very good, I'm very satisfied with these weapons."

  Lei Bo Ping was also very happy and said: "As long as you are satisfied, sir."

  Gao Yuan said, "I'll let people give you all the remaining money." After a pause, he continued, "However, I need to cast these weapons in large quantities, mainly knives and double-edged axes. Each type needs at least 1,000 pieces. If your workshop works at full capacity, how much time will it take?"

  Li Bo Ping said, "It's easy to make a double-edged axe, it can be cast in three or four months at most. But if you want to forge a thousand knives, even if the small workshops work hard to rush production, it will take at least a year."

  Gaoyuan Dao: "Does it need to take so long? I remember that a sword can be forged within ten days at most."

  "Sir, you don't know that iron-cast weapons take longer to make than bronze ones. Especially for iron-cast weapons that need repeated forging and tempering. I think this knife is mainly used for chopping and slashing, so the hardness of the blade must be stronger than a sword, otherwise it will break easily. Therefore, at least three times of tempering are needed, and four or five times would be better. To cast such a knife, it takes at least two months, plus the previous iron smelting, later grinding, handle making and other craftsmanship, almost three months are needed. Although there are many craftsmen in my workshop, but only over 200 master craftsmen can make high-quality castings. It's impossible to make one thousand knives within a year."

  Gao Yuan nodded, thought for a moment, and then said: "Alright, you can go back now. First, quickly make 1,000 double-edged axes, and then cast knives, one hundred at a time, in batches."

  Li Bo Ping hastily said: "Alright, sir, please be at ease. Within three months, I will definitely deliver one thousand double-bladed axes and the first batch of knives to you."

  Gao Yuan immediately ordered Geng Zhong to bring over 100 taels of gold and hand it over to Li Bo Ping, making up for the price of the previous batch of weapons while also paying a deposit for the next batch. Although Gao Yuan had given all the gold he won to Li Mu to use in the army, he still kept over 200 taels for himself, after all, Gao Yuan was now considered a wealthy and influential person, with daily expenses that were not insignificant. However, this time he used up nearly half of it. But from now on, the expenses should be deducted from the military expenditures.

  After Li Bo Ping left, Gao Yuan also invited Zhong Sun Qi, Wu Zhan Peng, Du Yi, Wang Hu and Wang Bao, giving each of them a knife. Since only ten were made this time, it was impossible to distribute them to the soldiers for use, so Gao Yuan decided to give the first batch of ten war knives to the crowd. Although these five people are now all cavalrymen, the knife is also suitable for cavalry warfare and can also allow them to seize the opportunity to adapt to using a war knife.

  The remaining five knives, Gaoyuan also had a goal, of course, he wanted to keep one for himself and give one to Lǐ Mù, while Lǐ Yīnghóng and Wǔ Hónglíng each got one. The last knife, Gaoyuan decided to give to Wǔ Liè, which was also a way to show his goodwill towards him.

  Zhong Sun Qi, Wu Zhan Peng and others were also very excited after receiving their war knives. They had all seen the high plains' knife before, and for infantry training, the high plains had made many wooden knives. In their spare time during training, everyone would try out the wooden knives, feeling that knives were more handy than swords when it came to chopping and slashing, and also much more powerful. Now that they could get a real war knife, they all couldn't wait to go try it out, test the power of a real knife, and see how to use it on horseback. So they immediately went to the martial arts training ground.

  After they left, Gao Yuan also started practicing the new weapon he had created. Of course, he didn't need to practice with a knife, as it had always been his main weapon and he was already very skilled with it. Mainly, he practiced throwing knives.

  Although the style and size of these newly forged hundred flying knives are almost the same as those used by Gao Yuan in the past, there is a certain difference in weight. The weight of the flying knife is different, and the force of throwing it out is also different. Within twenty meters, the impact may not be great, but at distances over thirty meters, there is still a big difference. Therefore, Gao Yuan must also re-adapt to the force of throwing out, in order to make the flying knives he throws out reach the same level as before.