Impeachment will make me stronger, and I will be invincible on the road to death.

Chapter 77 The layout of this palace is really small.

One cannonball costs 100 taels of silver?

The palace maids next to them all covered their mouths, wanting to laugh.

Wu Zetian was keenly aware of their thoughts, and suddenly became a little discouraged: "I heard that your cannonballs are made of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. From this point of view, the cost of each one is one tael of silver at most. Well, each one sells for 100 taels. It’s indeed a bit unrealistic. But, ten taels of silver a piece is no problem, right?”

But Yang Yanzhang couldn't help laughing. Hearing that she was going to sell a cannonball for ten taels of silver, he couldn't help laughing.

"Why, is it so funny? Is ten taels of silver too exaggerated?" Wu Zetian was stunned, "How about another [-]% off?"

Yang Yanzhang waved his hands and felt his stomach hurt from laughing: "Queen Mother, please stop talking! I mean, the price you set is too low!"

Wu Zetian was relieved: "I didn't tell you earlier! I thought it was too high! Listen to what you mean, a cannonball can be sold more expensively? Could it be that it can be sold for hundreds of taels of silver?"

Yang Yanzhang still shook his head: "It's not a few hundred taels, it's 1 taels a piece!"

Wu Zetian and the maids suddenly gasped, and they all covered their mouths in shock, fearing that everything would become a sweet dream if they screamed.

"A cannonball can actually be sold for 1 taels of silver! It is indeed a sacred weapon for the country! If you sell two or three hundred of them, it will soon be worth the revenue of the national treasury for a year?"

Wu Zetian was overjoyed and felt that she had found a new way to get rich.

Yang Yanzhang shook his head again: "No, Queen Mother, you misunderstood! The 1 taels Wei Chen said were not 1 taels of silver."

"Could it be 1 taels of copper coins?" Wu Zetian was stunned. Although no one had ever measured copper coins in jin taels, she still didn't think about anything else at all.

"Queen Mother, it's not copper coins, it's not silver, it's gold!" Yang Yanzhang looked helpless and gave Wu Zetian so many opportunities to guess, but it was a pity that she never grasped it.

When Wu Zetian heard this, he was stunned for a moment and then smiled: "Gold? One cannonball 1 taels of gold? Yang Yanzhang, do you think I am stupid, or do you think the Tubo people are stupid? No matter how precious the cannonball is, no matter how precious it is, It’s an important weapon for the country, but it can’t be sold for so much money!”

Yang Yanzhang smiled bitterly: "This is the truth. How dare I deceive the Queen Mother?"

Wu Zetian trembled: "Really?"

"Exactly!"

Wu Zetian stood up and was about to walk towards Yang Yanzhang, but suddenly felt dizzy and sat down again.

"Queen Mother, what's wrong with you?" The surrounding palace maids ignored their surprise and immediately surrounded her with concern.

Wu Zetian pushed them away, his face full of excitement: "I'm fine, I'm just a little excited, a little excited, a little happy, and a little uncontrollable!!"

"A cannonball costs 1 taels of gold. What I earn from the treasury throughout the year is only a few 10 taels of gold! Doesn't this mean that if we sell dozens of cannonballs, it will be equal to the imperial court's annual income?" Yang Yanzhang laughed. Laughing: "Theoretically, that's the case."

"Theoretically? What about reality?" Wu Zetian heard the implication.

"Actually, Tubo is a small and barren land. How much money can you afford, and how many cannonballs can you afford?"

Wu Zetian blinked and then calmed down: "That's right! The Tang Dynasty is so vast and rich in resources, so I have such a little income. With the family background in Tubo, I really can't help spending so much! It seems that I don't want to make a fortune every year. Too realistic."

At this point, Wu Zetian's thoughts returned to normal, and another question came to mind: "By the way, I heard from the eunuch that yesterday's cannonball was extremely powerful. If such a powerful thing was sold to Tibet, then they would backhand us, wouldn't we? Want to suffer a big loss? At that time, the whole country will scold you and me!"

"The Queen Mother is worrying too much. I have already thought about this problem! I made a powerful bomb just to show it to the Tibetan envoy to make him willing to pay for it! But what was actually delivered to him were the shells I made before."

Wu Zetian immediately covered his mouth and laughed: "I know that you have always been a thief. It seems that it is true! But even the cannonballs from the past, if they are in large quantities, will cause us big trouble. I don't know about this problem. What do you think? Have you passed?"

Yang Yanzhang was speechless: "Didn't everyone know that I made new artillery shells? We have more powerful artillery shells. Tubo took the old artillery shells and saw us like a son meeting his grandfather. How much of a threat can it pose to our army? If the cannon goes down, I'm afraid it will blow them up and they will run away!"

After a pause, Yang Yanzhang smiled again and said: "Besides, this thing won't work if it's kept for a long time. After a year or two, when they find that they can't imitate it and can't afford to buy anymore, they will send troops to attack. By then, less than [-]% of the cannonballs may be usable, so there’s nothing to worry about!”

Wu Zetian was completely relieved and admired Yang Yanzhang even more: "Yang Yanzhang, you are indeed a thoughtful person! Not only did you make money from the Tubo people, but you also made them waste their efforts! However, the imperial court received so much money from the Tibetans, but sold fake If I give them the goods, what should I do if they say afterwards that Datang is not trustworthy?"

"Didn't I say that? The cannonballs won't work if they're left open for a long time. If they make a fuss, just say they didn't preserve it well. They're like rice and noodles that have deteriorated and become inedible when soaked in water, or like iron cavalry bronzes that become rusty and unusable. This The truth is so simple and easy to understand that the Tubo people cannot refute it."

Wu Zetian laughed out loud when she heard this: "Yang Yanzhang, you are such a bad person! Fortunately you were born in the Tang Dynasty! If you were in Tubo, I am afraid that I would be deceived by you and be confused!"

When a female officer next to her saw how treacherous Yang Yanzhang was, she instinctively wanted to find fault, so she muttered in a low voice: "What if someone comes to confront me with unusable cannonballs? Then I won't have to be embarrassed!"

Wu Zetian thought so, so she looked at Yang Yanzhang again.

"Isn't this simple?" Yang Yanzhang sneered, "So what if he comes? His shells have deteriorated. It's because they didn't store it properly. It's just their stupidity. What can we do? If the Tubo people don't believe it, just get a new one. Show him the cannonball!”

Wu Zetian giggled and clapped her hands repeatedly in praise. All the palace ladies also laughed silently and lamented that Yang Yanzhang was really a master of deceiving people.

Thinking about all her previous worries, Wu Zetian couldn't help but sigh with sincerity: "It seems that the layout of this palace is too small! I thought a cannonball was sold for ten taels of silver, but I didn't expect it to be 1 taels of gold! I thought this cannonball was sold Going there will pose a threat to our country, the Tang Dynasty, but I didn’t expect you to have cared about it for a long time and actually came up with a harmful trick of shoddy goods! Yang Yanzhang, you are really my lucky star!"

"Then the Queen Mother's previous promise..."

"When the money from the Tubo people comes in, I will keep my promise and never mention your marriage to Taiping again! I dare to swear to God!"

Wu Zetian vowed, and Yang Yanzhang finally felt relieved.

(End of this chapter)