Dressed as the prince's substitute? I took the throne

Zhou Chuxuan and all the soldiers looked at a man in the corner with a broken left arm and a blind eye.

"Old Tian, ​​stop talking nonsense. The Crown Prince's word is law. How could he not pay us our military pay?"

Lao Yang frowned and scolded, fearing that Lao Tian would make Zhou Chuxuan angry.

"Don't worry, I understand your concerns! I will pay you your military pay now!"

Zhou Chuxuan smiled and distributed the banknotes. Hundreds of soldiers knelt on the ground and said, "We swear to be loyal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince until death!"

"Everyone, please get up!"

Zhou Chuxuan waved his hand, looked at the spears in their hands, and said with a smile: "From now on, I will equip you with new weapons!"

"Your Highness, may I ask what the crossbow is?"

Emperor Wu had previously given the repeating crossbow to the craftsmen, and a batch of them had already been imitated and deployed to the Imperial Guards. Unfortunately, they were all logistics support soldiers and had no chance to come into contact with them.

"Yes! I will provide each of you with two repeating crossbows, one big and one small!" Zhou Chuxuan smiled and took out the musket from his waist.

"What I want to tell you today is this. This thing is called a fire gun!"

As he spoke, Zhou Chuxuan raised his musket and pulled the trigger at the flagpole a hundred steps away.

Bang!

With a dull thud, the flagpole fell down, and the wall behind it was blown into a lot of holes and charred.

"hiss!"

Everyone gasped in unison and looked at Zhou Chuxuan in shock: "Your Highness, this fire gun is so powerful? Why have we never heard of it before?"

"This fire gun was invented by me not long ago. It's one of my most powerful weapons!"

"The power of this fire gun is incomparable to ordinary crossbows!"

Zhou Chuxuan explained the use of muskets to the soldiers, and then asked a soldier to take off his armor and put it far away.

"Do you think my musket can penetrate that armor?" Zhou Chuxuan held the musket and aimed at the armor in the distance.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid that's impossible. I've added three layers of soft armor inside this armor. In the past, on the battlefield, it withstood enemy arrows without being penetrated!"

The veteran patted his chest and said confidently: "Even the powerful bows and crossbows of the current Wu Dynasty cannot penetrate it!"

"Your Highness, you can't bluff us!"

"Yes, Your Highness, this armor is no match for a flagpole! Although the Wu Dynasty's military strength is weakened, its weapons manufacturing has always been unrivaled in the world!"

Seeing that the soldiers didn't believe him, Zhou Chuxuan smiled and said, "Okay, since you don't believe me, I'll demonstrate it to you!"

With a dull bang, the armor in the distance was pierced directly from the middle, exploding into a pile of scrap metal scattered in the distance.

"This...how is this possible?"

The old soldier ran over quickly and stared at the shattered armor on the ground, stunned. After a while, he turned to Zhou Chuxuan and said, "Your Highness, you are simply a god!"

"Everyone! With such a powerful weapon, are you still afraid of the danger from Liang?" Zhou Chuxuan handed the musket to Lao Yang: "This is yours!"

"Your Highness, are you really going to give this to me?" Old Yang took it tremblingly and held it in his hands as if it were a treasure.

"Of course!"

Zhou Chuxuan patted Lao Yang's shoulder and said, "From now on, you will be my personal bodyguard, how about that?"

Lao Yang was shocked, and a hint of disbelief flashed in his cloudy eyes: "Your Highness, are you telling the truth?"

"I am an old man, but I am old and frail. I am afraid I cannot take on such a big responsibility!"

"Old Sheep, I know you. When you were young, you climbed the city walls five times and achieved great success! You're an exceptional martial artist, but you just don't like to bribe your superiors, which is why you've never been promoted!"

Zhou Chuxuan smiled gently: "Equipping you with such a magical weapon to protect me is not a small matter, right?"

Old Yang's lips trembled slightly, and after a while, he actually knelt down in front of Zhou Chuxuan: "Old Yang is here to thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"From now on, I will follow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's lead and go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"Alright, alright, old sheep, get up quickly!"

Zhou Chuxuan quickly helped Lao Yang up and said, "From today on, I will find craftsmen to mass-produce firearms and repeating crossbows. You should also become proficient in them as soon as possible!"

"We will be leaving for Liang Country within two months! During this time, there may be some things that require your help!"

"At the command of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" All the soldiers saluted in unison.

"Your Highness, someone is coming over there!" Erhu whispered at the corner.

"Okay! I'll be right there!"

Zhou Chuxuan agreed and returned to the bedroom. He saw an old man sitting by the fire and warming himself, and Xu Hanyan was standing beside him with a nervous look on his face.

"Prime Minister, are you all right?"

Zhou Chuxuan's words left Xu Hanyan stunned: "He...he is the Prime Minister?"

"Hehehe!" The old man let out a low, hoarse laugh that made people's hair stand on end. "You're quite clever!"

"I told you, I only deal with smart people!"

Zhou Chuxuan closed the door and sat opposite Li Nian, watching him tear off a mask from his face and throw it into the fire.

"Is it that my human skin mask has a flaw, or have you thought of something?" Li Nian didn't mind his identity being seen through, and he didn't put on an attitude of a superior.

"The Prime Minister is a smart man. The best way is to go alone. After all, with the Prime Minister's layout and strategy, it is impossible to let others speak your mind on your behalf!"

Zhou Chuxuan handed a cup of tea to Li Nian, but he waved it away. "It's hard to imagine that you have such a meticulous mind, and you were found by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and became his substitute!"

"You, have been planning since then, right?"

Looking at Li Nian's cloudy yet extremely deep eyes, although Zhou Chuxuan smiled calmly on the surface, he was secretly complaining in his heart.

I didn't plan anything! I hadn't even come here at that time!

"It's not easy, young man!" Li Nian shook his head. "It's no big deal for me to cooperate with you. Getting rid of the real Crown Prince won't be difficult either!"

"The key is, are you really sincere in cooperating with me?"

"Your Excellency has always been a man of few words, never employing those he doubts, and trusting those he employs. This is how he can maintain his position as Prime Minister. Why is he being so indecisive now?"

"Haha, there's nothing we can do. It's almost time to close the net, so of course we still have to be cautious!"

Li Nian sighed slightly and said, "Don't test me anymore. If my plan succeeds in the future, you will definitely be an important official in the Wu Dynasty!"

"The position below one man and above ten thousand men is yours!"

Zhou Chuxuan looked at Li Nian with a cunning look and said softly, "No, you won't!"

Li Nian's tone suddenly became sharp: "What did you say?"