Zhou Jianliang didn't come alone, he brought the Shuo Fang army brother of the regiment that protected Zhang Qian last year, and in addition, he also brought the brigade rate of the entire twenty Shuo Fang army. And among the twenty brigades, there is not a single surname Zhang!

In the letter presented by Zhou Jianliang to Zhang Qian in person, Zhang Renyuan, the commander of the Shuofang Army, said very clearly. The brothers of that regiment came to get acquainted with each other in advance, so as not to cooperate with each other smoothly when the Anxi army and the Shuofang army joined forces to conquer the Turks in the autumn. And the twenty brigade leaders are all first-class good men in the Shuofang army. Zhang Ren is willing that there are too many talents on his side and can't arrange them for the time being, so I hope that Zhang Qian can give them a chance according to their abilities, so that they can get ahead as soon as possible!

This gift is heavy. Zhang Qian was so moved that his heart was hot, after reading the letter, it took half a column of incense to calm his emotions before he bowed his hand to Zhou Jianliang with red eyes, "The old general has charcoal in the snow, and Zhang swears not to forget." When the matter is in front of you, Zhang will inevitably lead the army in person, rush to Mobei with you, and wait for General Zhang's dispatch! ”

"Don't be so polite with Zhao, if you want to say that you want to send charcoal in the snow, you give us Shuo Fangjun, and you send it more than once!" Zhou Jianliang was still as frank as he was more than a year ago, and waved his hand at Zhang Qian with a smile, "My family is handsome, and I have always been worried about how to give you back." If you want to send some more military merits, you have already killed Suo Ge yourself. I want to give you some money, but I can't take it out if I have more, and I guess you won't be able to look at it if it's less. It wasn't until I heard that you had become the guard of Broken Leaf Town that the handsome finally stopped worrying and directly asked me and my brothers to pack up and rush over in the starry night. ”

After a pause, he shook his head regretfully, "Just didn't expect it?" Mobei is so far away from broken leaves. Hurry up, everyone? It's still half a step late. ”

"Brother Zhou is not too late at all!" Since Zhou Jianliang has said this part, Zhang Qian will continue to be polite? It's hypocritical. Smiled? Waving his hand slightly, "There's a big battle to be fought right now." I don't have a leader around me? There is also a lack of people who are familiar with the battle array to help strategize. You and your brothers are here, just in time to solve my urgent needs. ”

"You're going to fight over Green Ridge?" Zhou Jianliang is new to here? Don't have time to take a closer look at the situation on Shattered Leaf's side? Hearing Zhang Qian say that he was going to fight a big battle, he immediately frowned and asked.

"If I don't fight, I won't be able to solve my worries, and I won't be able to feel at ease when I send troops in the fall!" Zhang Qian put away his smile? Solemnly nodding? "In addition, someone owes me tens of millions of taels of gold and refuses to pay it back, so I have to go to the door to collect the debt."

"How many soldiers do you have?" Zhou Jianliang was very "professional", and did not use any nonsense to interfere with Zhang Qian's decision-making, but directly asked about the specific strength of the Broken Leaf Army.

"Two thousand veterans? Three thousand recruits trained for four months. In addition, I also ordered the nearest Turgish tribe to send young men to help in the battle? It is estimated that it will be able to reach more than 5,000 people one after another. "Zhang Qian knows his side very well, don't even want to think about it? A series of clear numbers were reported. "As for the extent of the fight, it depends on the specific situation."

"The last time you defeated the soldiers and horses of the Stone Kingdom? How many people against how many people? What are the casualties on both sides? Zhou Jianliang nodded? Continue to ask in a low voice.

"The last time I defeated the soldiers and horses of the Shi Kingdom, I took a trick, I'm afraid the result is difficult to refer to." Zhang Qian pondered the language for a moment and said calmly, "The soldiers and horses of the Shi Kingdom should have been about 12,000 at that time, including about 8,000 soldiers and more than 4,000 auxiliary soldiers. Our army, in total, dispatched five thousand people. But before the two sides could make official contact, the soldiers and horses of the Shi Kingdom had already collapsed. So, in total, our army lost seventeen killed and one hundred and sixty-two wounded. As for Shi Jun......"

After thinking about it again, he shook his head with a wry smile, "The stone army is almost completely wiped out. About 800 were killed on the spot, more than 6,000 escaped, and more than 4,000 remained, and after being besieged by our army, 1,000 were let go and 3,002 were captured! ”

"Ahh

With 5,000 to 12,000, this kind of victory was very common for the Tang army. But their own casualties were not more than 100, and the battle in which the enemy army was completely annihilated was a miracle they had never seen in their lives.

So, either Zhang Qian is bragging, or Shi Jun is a group of farmers armed with sticks and pitchforks. Other than that, you can't think of a third explanation. However, in the interaction between Zhang Qianqian and Shuo Fangjun, he said that one is one, and two is two, and there has never been a time to blow nonsense. If the Shi Army was just a group of farmers, it would be impossible for them to have the courage to cross the border and go straight to the city of Broken Leaves!

"I've used a new weapon, ten times more powerful than the Dragoncar, and it sounds like a thunderbolt!" He had long expected that Zhou Jianliang would not be able to believe this result, Zhang Qian thought about it and explained in a low voice, "Especially when used to deal with cavalry, if the war horse does not go through a long period of special training, as soon as this thing comes out, it will immediately be frightened and lose control, and the enemy army will naturally collapse without a fight." ”

"I know, I heard someone say it on the road, then you invited Thor to the Nether, and I thought it was a rumor! Unexpectedly, you really have the ability to make thunder on the ground! Zhou Jianliang suddenly realized, and then, he was overjoyed, "Yongzhao, is this thing difficult to make?" If it is used on the Turks in autumn......"

"It's not difficult, in the autumn, our army will definitely carry a large number of these things to join the Shuofang army." Zhang Qian knew what he wanted to say, and immediately agreed with a smile.

"Then fight!" Zhou Jianliang got what he wanted, waved his arms decisively, and said loudly, "With such an artifact, no matter how disparity there is between the number of enemy and enemy troops, it will not be a problem." Let's solve your worries first, and then talk about the autumn. ”

"So you're here at the right time. There are more than just new weapons, and Captain Zhou happened to bring his brothers under his command to familiarize themselves with how to use them. Zhang Qian smiled and added very frankly, "These weapons are very powerful, and I don't want any of them to be spread outside until my own people are familiar with them." On the side of the imperial court, because the road is too far away, only a small number of samples can be sent back for the time being. As for mass manufacturing, we have to wait for the Western Regions to settle down, and then I will transfer skilled craftsmen from the ordnance superintendent, and I will teach them by hand. ”

"As it should be. The greater the power, the more important it is to beware of falling into the wrong hands. There is no need to use a hammer to ring the drum, Zhou Jianliang immediately understood Zhang Qian's worries, and nodded with a smile.

"I had agreed with Yihu that I could let him go, but within twelve days, he needed to send a ransom to Ashibulaiburg. Today is the ninth day, and I have to wait for him for three more days, so as not to fall into the notoriety of not being trustworthy. Zhang Qian didn't continue to waste his lips and tongue on keeping secrets, thought about it, and added with a smile, "So, in the past three days, Brother Jianliang has been wronged, and the twenty brigade leaders brought by you have temporarily entered my shogunate, familiarized themselves with the situation of the two armies, and made suggestions for me." Captain Zhou led his brothers to familiarize themselves with the new weapons together with the teaching group on my side. Three days later......"

was about to explain to Zhou Jianliang and others that he attacked Shi Guo this time, and the strategic purpose was to make Shi Guo succumb and pay a large amount of compensation, and he did not intend to destroy the garrison after Shi Guo. Outside the council hall, there was a sudden burst of people shouting and neighing. Immediately after, Zhang Guixing rushed in and bowed down to report: "The town guard envoy, it's here, and the people from the Six Gods Firm have also arrived." The team was led by Wang Yuanbao and Wang Maobo, as well as more than a dozen scholars, who also came with them. ”

"Reader?" Zhang Qian was stunned, and blurted out the words of questioning.

Wang Yuanbao and Wang Maobo arrived with the Six Gods Caravan, and he didn't feel strange at all. As early as more than four months ago, Ren Cong and Guo Nu jointly wrote a letter to him, mentioning this matter.

According to his plan, in recent years, the Liushen Firm will follow the layout of the Silk Road and quietly promote its gold and silver coins through the Firm, so Broken Leaves, Xingumo, Qiuzi, Puchanghai (Lop Nur) and Shazhou all need to open new semicolons.

For such an important matter, there must be a trustworthy and shrewd enough to lead the team. Wang Yuanbao, who once advanced and retreated with the three brothers and was one of the major shareholders of the commercial bank, was the most suitable candidate.

As for Wang Maobo, Zhang Qian transferred him to his side, just because he really liked this person's blacksmith skills. At the beginning of the year, Zhang Qian basically explored the key technology of flintlock pistol manufacturing. What is missing is a craftsman who can be trusted and can complete a complete set of manufacturing processes without compromise. Wang Maobo meets this requirement from any angle.

In addition, Zhang Qian also had a luxury in his heart, that is, to change the barrel of the flintlock pistol from bronze to iron. If successful, the cost of the flintlock pistol will be greatly reduced. And the durability of iron is far from being comparable to bronze.

Wang Maobo's profound heritage and extraordinary talent in ironware manufacturing made Zhang Qian very confident in this goal. At the same time, there are so many new workshops in Broken Leaf City, Zhang Qian can't always stare at it by himself, and the arrival of Wang Maobo can just let him breathe a sigh of relief.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhang Qian dared to make a large-scale appearance of mines and grenades. With the flintlock pistol, Zhang Qian has one more killer feature. Even if the imperial court knew about the existence of black powder, and even let political enemies get black powder, when he encountered danger, Zhang Qian would not be restrained.

And hiding black powder all the time is not a good way in the long run. After all, Zhang Qian is a Tang man, and his roots are in the Tang Dynasty. As long as he doesn't want to rebel, the person who sits on the throne has the reason and qualifications to let him hand over the secret recipe of black powder.

At present, neither Li Xian nor him mentioned this matter, which can only be regarded as a tacit understanding between the monarch and the minister. If Li Xian is not there one day, this tacit understanding will inevitably be broken, and it is not something that Zhang Qian can change by his personal will.

"It is the reader who was jointly recommended by He Shu and the owner of Dazhangjiazhuang Zhangzhuang." I didn't notice that after Zhang Qian asked him, he began to wander. Zhang Gui arched his hand and quickly responded, "There are a few of them, they should be colleagues of the town guard." The subordinates are on the Zhuangzi and have seen them before. ”

"I see, please, invite them in!" Zhang Qian quickly came back to his senses, and then he was overjoyed again. "Brother Zhou, all the people who came were acquaintances, everyone just had a few drinks together today, and it can be regarded as Zhang Mou's picking up the wind and washing the dust together!"

"Yes!" Zhang Gui agreed, turned around and went out to pick up people. Zhou Jianliang smiled and bowed his hand. Not long after, Wang Yuanbao and Wang Maobo entered together, followed by seven or eight familiar faces.

The two who take the lead, not Wei Dao and Mu Nanfeng, which one can it be? Later, there are Fu Sheng, Zhu Maolin, Fan Wuhen, Qiu Ruofeng, Huang Jingyu and other young leaders who have participated in the Chongyang Chrysanthemum Banquet.

To Zhang Qian's surprise, Zhang Xu actually followed the team at the end, and he still looked heroic, but this time he was not accompanied by a confidant. But I don't know how this person was ruthless, and he actually left everyone in Chang'an, and ran to Broken Leaf alone to make a contribution.

Zhang Qian knew that the scholars were high-spirited, so he didn't put on any scare swaggers, and took the initiative to welcome him down from behind the handsome case, and met everyone with the courtesy of his peers. In an instant, "Brother Zhao!" "Brother Tsunajing!" "Brother Bogao!" The title of Wen Crepe and other words sounded in the Chinese military tent. For Ashbrosburg, which is located in the westernmost part of the Tang Dynasty and has few literate people, it is also a rare scenery for a thousand years!

These scholars are willing to give up the dream of posting questionnaires in Chang'an and rising to the top, and they have worked tirelessly to break the leaves and give it a go, of course, all of them are people with tenacity of mind. And those who can be looked at by He Zhizhang and Zhang Ruoxu, there will definitely be no problems with their conduct. Therefore, their arrival immediately alleviated the situation that there were no civilian officials available in Shattered Leaf City. And let Zhang Qian's shogunate become full in an instant, no longer encountering any problems, only he and Luo Huaizu discussed.

Taking advantage of the fact that he had not yet killed outside the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Qianqian quickly adjusted the deployment after picking up the wind and washing the dust for everyone. The first order was to give Wang Yuanbao, who he was most familiar with, to rush to Xingumo City, replace Wang Han as the county commander, and preside over the repair of the city and the construction of workshops. As for repairing the city and building workshops, Wang Yuanbao will do some private work for the Liushen Commercial Bank, and naturally no one will care.

Immediately, Zhang Qian immediately issued a second general order to transfer Wang Han back to Shattered Leaf City to sit in town. lest during his absence, the surrounding Turkish nobles have some crooked thoughts and copy their lair.

The third order was given to Wang Maobo. This person was transferred to the Broken Leaf Town to guard the embassy, and served as a priest to join the army, in charge of all ordnance manufacturing and civil engineering works inside and outside Broken Leaf City, and supervised all private workshops, so as to prevent the leakage of craftsmanship, the theft of technology, and the sale of the country's important weapons without permission. (Note: Si Shi joined the army, a magistrate in the Tang Dynasty, and his duties corresponded to the Ministry of Industry of the imperial court.) ）

The third order was given to Mu Nanfeng, to drive the ducks to the shelves, and let this person go to Frozen City to be the county order. He presided over the work of local tuntian reclamation, tax collection, judicial trial, etc. And is responsible for educating the people of all ethnic groups around the frozen city, so that they can learn Tang dialect as soon as possible, wear Tang clothes, obey the laws of the Tang Dynasty, and then leave their hometown and become a real Tang person.

Fourth Command......

Fifth Command......

Although most of the officials who have just gone to take up their posts, they are not familiar with their posts in a short period of time. For the time being, all work must be commanded remotely by the shogunate. However, at least the official shelf of Broken Leaf Town has finally been reluctantly erected, and it is no longer in vain.

Zhang Qian didn't have so much time, waiting for everyone to familiarize themselves with their respective positions, and even, there was no time to wait for everyone to arrive at their posts. Just after the date of accepting the compensation agreed with Yihu, it was confirmed that the other party did not send a penny to Ashbulaiburg. He immediately ordered a declaration of war to be written in Chinese and Sogdian, and handed it to the scouts to be posted everywhere. Immediately, he personally led the army, crossed the Qianquan Mountain, and went straight to the Julan City located on the border between Shiguo and the Tang Dynasty.

Along the way, the Sogdian tribes and local tycoons located on the border had long learned from the mouths of the prisoners who had been released about the horror of the landmines and the scandal of Yihu abandoning most of the soldiers to care only for their own lives. Some smart people even took the initiative to provide grain, cattle and sheep to the Tang army, just begging the Tang army to be wronged and have a debtor, and not to attack their own settlements and fortresses.

Zhang Qian originally didn't intend to harm the ordinary people of Shiguo, so he smiled at the cattle and sheep materials sent by local heroes and tribes. Then let Zhang Xu personally write a large number of "Welcome to the King" banners, and handed them to the elders of various tribes and clans who came to the army, so that after they took it back, as long as they embroidered it on the flag, and then hung the flag on the high place of the fortress or settlement, the Tang army would ensure that the autumn did not commit any crimes.

The surname Zhaowu Jiu was still a child of the Tang Dynasty more than 20 years ago, and the previous lord of the Shi Kingdom also received the title of the governor of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the local heroes and tribal elders did not feel any grievances in the slightest by hanging the words "Greeting the king". After leaving the gift, he thanked him and left.

Local magnates and tribal chiefs can greet the king. The city lord of Kulan City broke the gap, but he didn't have this qualification. He is Yihu's hardcore confidant, and his parents, wife and children all live in Talas. If he dared to surrender without a fight, Yihu might not be able to defeat Zhang Qian, but there was definitely a way to destroy his entire clan before he could abandon Talus and flee. Therefore, he could only order the city gate to be closed and fight to the death.

There were already scouts from the Tang Army, and they relayed the reaction of breaking the gap to Zhang Qian. When the latter heard this, he was not surprised, and waved his army to the city of Kulan. First, the brothers were allowed to rest for half an hour to regain their strength. Immediately, in accordance with the strategy agreed in advance with Zhou Jianliang, Luo Huaizu, Wei Dao and others, he set up a large army and besieged the city of Julan.

Thirty percent of the Shiguo soldiers in the city were released by the Tang army. Seeing this posture, he immediately wanted to abandon the city and flee. However, Na Po Huo led his own soldiers and went on a killing spree. The soldiers who took the lead in shouting to abandon the city killed more than 20 people one after another, and frightened everyone else into silence, so that they could barely stabilize the morale of the army and not collapse before fighting.

Just when he was using all his strength to stabilize the army's heart, Datang Jian'er was ready to attack the city outside the city. With Zhang Qian's order, the brothers of the teaching group pushed twenty-one simple catapults and forty fire dragon carts, and slowly approached the east gate of Julan City. The 300 Shuofang Army brothers led by Zhou Quji and the 300 veterans of the Broken Leaf Army led by Shi Jin were ordered to hold weapons and serve as escorts on foot on both wings of the teaching regiment. The remaining more than 5,000 brothers and the more than 1,000 Tuqi warriors who had just arrived all dismounted and watched the battle with their mounts in hand, and it was obvious that the defenders did not take the poor combat effectiveness of the defenders into account.

Feeling humiliated, Po Huo roared and ordered the arrows to be released. For a while, the white feathers were overwhelming, shooting at the Tang Army Teaching Regiment outside the city, and it looked like it was also huge. It's a pity that the Tang Army Teaching Group has already done targeted training, and with Luo Huaizu's order, the brothers who walked in the front row quickly opened the carriage board of the fire dragon car, like huge wings, blocking everyone in front of them, and most of the feather arrows were separated from a safe distance.

After all, taking advantage of the condescending advantage, there were sporadic feathered arrows shot into the car board of the fire dragon car. However, from a distance of hundreds of paces, the feather arrows could not help the iron helmet on Tang Jun's head and the iron vest on his body, and only splashed a piercing jingle in vain.

Luo Huaizu wore dazzling star armor and a unicorn helmet on his head, and walked in the center of the teaching group on foot. Visually seeing that everyone was less than eighty steps away from the city gate, he decisively raised the measuring ruler in his hand, "All of them are there, stop!" ”

"Stop!" "Stop!" "Stop!" The soldiers on the left and right tore their throats and repeated, and in the blink of an eye, his command reached the ears of three hundred brethren.

Forty dragon carts came to a steady stop, followed by the carriage boards interlocking with each other through mechanisms, turning from individual wings into an iron wall glowing with cold light.

"The dragon car is on guard! The Shuofang Regiment and the 7th Regiment of the Broken Leaf Battalion are ready to meet the enemy forces at any time! The teaching group, ten steps away from the dragon cart, lined up the catapults, and dug the soil according to the markings on the bamboo baskets to add counterweights. Luo Huaizu looked around, full of pride. Immediately, a series of commands came out of him.

The brothers of the teaching group agreed to push the catapult ten paces behind the dragon cart. Fix the body first, relax the rocker arm, and put down the bamboo basket for counterweight. Immediately afterward, according to the compulsory subjects mastered in the new training camp, the catapult was methodically excavated, weighed, and loaded the catapult with different amounts of counterweights according to the marks on the bamboo baskets.

After a short time, the counterweight was loaded, Luo Huaizu looked at the enemy again, and found that the other party was still casting feather arrows in vain, without the slightest sign of attack, pouted, and sneered and ordered, "Pull up the counterweight, put on the trigger, and load the gunpowder bullet!" ”

"Yes!" All around, the responses were uniform. The brothers of the teaching group skillfully turned the rocking oar, pulled the throwing arm of the catapult down with ropes and pulleys, and lifted the counterweight basket into the air. Immediately, he loaded the gunpowder bullets, lit the moxa, and waited for further instructions from Luo Huaizu. Although the expressions on everyone's faces were tense, the movements did not stop.

Shuofang Military Captain Zhou Qujian couldn't help but take a few steps closer to the teaching group, and asked the nearest group commander, "This brother, what year did you become a soldier?" How long have you been using a catapult and you look so skilled? Zhou has been operating this thing since last spring, and in terms of speed, it may not be able to reach half of you and your brothers! ”

"If you go back to the captain, I was a soldier in December last year." The guy he asked was Lu Dechuan. The latter, knowing that he had no ill intentions, arched his hand and responded honestly, "This time, this is the second time to use a catapult on the battlefield. However, I have done hundreds of training sessions in the new training camp before! ”

"Hundreds of times?" Zhou Qujian couldn't believe his ears, and blurted out questioning words.

As far as he knew, the Shuofang Army was a first-class strong army in the Tang Dynasty, and it could only be practiced once every three days. And the little guy in front of him, who has only been in the Leaf Shattering Army for more than five months, has operated hundreds of catapults. Isn't the frequency and intensity of his training several times that of Shuofang's army?

And training soldiers cannot just require soldiers to be willing to endure hardships. If the generals cannot provide enough food or meat for the soldiers, and the high-intensity training will only train the brothers to become wastes, and they will never gain an elite army.

was pondering how to ask, so as not to be polite and to solve the confusion in his heart, but there was a broken cry in his ears, "One brigade, one team, seven chariots in a volley." Ready—"

No one could pay any attention to him, and Lu Dechuan and the brothers of the first brigade and one team of the teaching regiment all stood behind the catapult, pricking up their ears and waiting for the order to arrive.

"Put!" Luo Huaizu waved the scale, full of pride.

Seven gunpowder bullets weighing four pounds rose into the air, dragging red sparks and green smoke, and smashed into the wall of the enemy tower ninety paces away, the speed was not fast at all, and the trail of smoke left behind was extremely clear in mid-air.

"Boom!" A loud bang erupted in the enemy tower, shaking the ground.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" ......, six more explosions followed beneath the city gates, resounding like thunderbolts on the walls and inside the city.

Look at Najulan City again, thick smoke billowed out, broken wood and clods of earth flew sideways, soldiers fled with their heads in their hands, and the enemy towers on the city gates were crumbling!