Zhang Shun has returned to Xiangyang. He originally didn't want to come back so soon, but Guo Fu is about to have a baby, which makes Zhang Shun no longer interested in continuing to wander around, so he hurried back to Xiangyang, and indeed caught up with Guo Fu's giving birth.

On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, Guo Fu gave birth to a daughter for Zhang Shun. The mother and daughter were safe and happy. The court was also very happy about this. After all, as long as Zhang Shun had no son, it means that he did not have the necessity to usurp the throne. So they immediately added a title to Zhang Shun's daughter, and promoted Guo Fu and Huang Rong to first-class maids. Zhang Shun and his subordinates all promoted the titles. Zhang Shun has now become a first-class duke, and he will be crowned kings. However, the throne now has no significance. After all, no matter what position it is, it will be the same. As long as Zhang Shun wants it, the result will be the same.

Zhang Shun's subordinates all felt a little regretful, but fortunately, Zhang Shun and Guo Fu were still young, so they could still give birth to sons. However, Zhang Shun's indifference to taking concubines made them feel a little strange. Even if Zhang Gui wrote a letter to Zhang Shun to consider this issue, Zhang Shun was just perfunctory and didn't say much. This puts some pressure on Guo Jing and his wife, but what do you say about these things? So he had to secretly tell his daughter. He thought that Guo Fu must have interfered with it, but Guo Fu denied it and even said that he had long thought of taking concubines for Zhang Shun, but Zhang Shun was unwilling to do so, so he gave up.

Zhang Shun has nothing to do with these things, and it’s not that he has no interest in women. It’s just that because it’s easy to be harmonious with women, he cut off this idea. Anyway, it’s just that, and everyone knows it. Zhang Shun’s ideas may not be true, but the facts are that way, and he can’t change this situation.

After returning to Xiangyang, he accompanied Guo Fu and teased his daughter every day, while devoted himself to research. Finally, he solved Zhang Shijie's problem. He can now focus on a farther place. Although his navy army has begun to want to expand overseas, this path is even more difficult and it cannot be solved overnight. Zhang Shun knows this more clearly than anyone else, but he still does this because he thinks that the time has come and he can start to take this most important step. The Yuan people have a simpler idea, that is, let them gather their own army for a decisive battle.

Only by carrying out a decisive battle can the war end as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if they follow their steps little by little, when will it be the end? What's more, the Yuan people didn't know how to produce wealth. They only know how to rob but rarely create it. This means that they have to lose money when fighting with them. Although Zhang Shun cannot bear it, it is impossible for the Song Dynasty to bear it. He can only do his best to push the time further and make the process shorter. This is also the reason why such a negotiation occurs.

He would not participate in these negotiations. What he has to do now is to develop more fierce weapons to deal with a larger-scale decisive battle. The use of firearms has been put on the agenda. Now Zhang Shun's army has also begun to change clothes, which is of historical value. The front hall muskets can now be produced in large quantities, and at least fifty ones can be produced every day, but Zhang Shun still thinks it is too slow. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of this gun is actually not that easy to use, but the back hall gun cannot be produced at all. There are too many problems here. It is definitely not a good thing to make one. It requires everyone to make the best efforts to research it. Now his Academy of Sciences is still too bad.

At this time, the weapons used by Zhang Shun's army were relatively complicated. Among the cold weapons, there were Zhang Dao, Wolf Xian, two types of shields, axes and tiger spears, and there were even more hot weapons. Not to mention those muskets, there were as many as six or seven types of cannons. Not to mention the various bows and arrows and crossbows in their hands, the pressure on logistics was too great. This was not the future era, and the logistics capabilities were extremely powerful. Now they could only rely on the most primitive tools to transport them. This was just the most primitive army of hot weapons. If they wanted to go further, the logistics could collapse at any time. This was not the result that Zhang Shun wanted.

So they are not only going to develop new weapons, but more importantly, they are starting to streamline these weapons. Zhang Shun's idea was to first remove the various cold weapons in the Mandarin Duck Formation. Zhang Dao has lost his value of existence because bayonets can be added to them, which can completely replace Zhang Dao. Lang Xian has no great value. Now the enemy can also make grenades. How many people can be injured with this weapon? There is no need for two types of shields. The use of heavy shields is no longer obvious. Just leave a light shield. The thick shield should not continue to be used at this time. After losing these weapons, his troops will obviously need to be trained again.

Fortunately, during this period, Xu Ning achieved great results in the rectification of the south. He has recruited 100,000 troops and began to implement the reserve policy. The reserve soldiers have exceeded 500,000. Zhang Shun's army is still enough. Moreover, since these people are all new recruits, their training can also start over, otherwise Zhang Shun will have a headache.

The artillery Zhang Shun has decided to eliminate all the bulky original artillery. He needs lighter artillery. Although the firepower does not seem to be very sufficient, in fact, the firepower of those artillery is good, but the range is relatively close, and elimination is nothing. Compared with these weapons, the reform of cavalry seems to be even more problematic.

They have already changed their clothes. Now the mace and the thorn gun have become their best weapons, but Zhang Shun still feels that it would be very unhappy if they don't have hot weapons in their hands. He needs a team with more powerful power, so the carbine has become the first thing to be studied, but this is not that easy.

To put it bluntly, these things take time, and time is what Zhang Shun needs the most. Under such circumstances, Boyan's negotiating team came to Xiangyang, and a negotiation with each ulterior motive began.
Chapter completed!