"The last general, Wang Ping, has seen the prince."

Wang Ping's official position has changed in recent years, and he is much more confident. At least when I met Feng Yong for the first time, I no longer had the sense of haste that the rich man from the countryside had entered the city.

At the same time, it is also a lot smoother, which can be seen from his "prince". Only mentioning Feng Yong's title and not mentioning the position avoided embarrassment.

"General Wang is here!"

Feng Yong saw Wang Ping, his eyes lit up, whether the Northern Expedition could get credit or not, this was an important help.

So Feng Junhou walked down enthusiastically, personally ushered Wang Ping into his seat, and then took out a letter from his arms, "This is Zishi's letter to General Wang." He was far away in Yueshan, and he could not come in person this time, so he asked me to bring a letter to General Wang. ”

Wang Ping hurriedly stretched out his hands to take it, and a surprised smile appeared on his face, "There is Lao Junhou." ”

Wang Ping and Wang Xun are very interesting to this father and son.

Wang Ping was illiterate, and in order to allow Wang Xun to follow Feng Yong to read and write, he almost emptied all the floating wealth in his family.

Later, Wang Xun followed Feng Yongdong to run around, and he didn't dare to fall behind for a day of literacy and reading. Every time there is news to be passed to Wang Ping, in addition to letting people pass on a message, they also have to write a letter to the past.

Wang Ping became the Taishou of Zhu Ti, and he learned to set up an ancestral hall. According to Wang Xun, all the letters he wrote to the adults were placed on the offering table in the ancestral hall, and I don't know whether they are true or not.

Now seeing that Wang Ping hid the precious place in his arms, Feng Yong felt that this was true nine times out of ten.

Returning to his seat and sitting down, Feng Yong explained to Wang Ping, "Yue Wei is busy, and I need Zishi to be there to help watch, so I couldn't let General Wang's father and son meet this time, and I hope General Wang is not strange." ”

"The prince's move is for the sake of the dog, is it a person who doesn't know what to do? Speaking of which, I have to thank the prince and the marquis. ”

Wang Ping hurriedly said.

Now that the Wang family is not as good as before, there is no need for father and son to go to the battlefield at the same time to fight hard, Feng Yong's approach is for their Wang family, how could Wang Ping not know?

"Zishi is my brother, we are two families, and if you say thank you, you will be divided. Speaking of which, I should have called you Uncle in private. ”

Feng Yong waved his hand.

If Zhao Guang was the first person to be bound to Feng Yong, then the Wang family was the first to be bound to the Feng family.

Before Wang Ping became the leader of the army, Feng Yong was the biggest help of the Wang family.

Even after Wang Ping became the head of the army, as long as he failed to reach Feng Yong's height, the Wang family would still be Feng Yong's loyal allies.

"How dare Ping An do that?"

Wang Ping was so frightened that he hurriedly stood up.

"Uncle, please sit down."

Feng Yong sighed, "At this time, if it's not a military discussion, why do you need to be so formal?" When Wen Xuan was in Nanzhong, he called you uncle, didn't Governor Li let him go? ”

After Wang Ping sat down, his expression was a little anxious and uneasy, and the rich man who had entered the city for the first time appeared again.

"The three thousand people that my uncle brought this time can all be soldiers?"

As soon as Wang Ping heard Feng Yong mention the matter, he hurriedly replied, "I got the order of the prime minister, drew strength from the five lieutenants, formed a flying army, and got the help of the virtuous nephew, and there was no shortage of money and food needed for military training." ”

"These 3,000 people are a carefully selected elite, and everyone can be a soldier."

A smile appeared on Feng Yong's face, and he clapped his hands excitedly, "Great! ”

Wang Ping's face was a little hesitant, "It's just that the five commanders have just built the flying army, and the prime minister only gave two thousand soldiers, and the remaining 1,000 are considered auxiliary soldiers. ”

From here, it can be seen that Zhuge Liang does have a lot of power over Feng Yong.

is also the head of a county, Wang Ping can only have 2,000 soldiers in his hands, but Feng Yong's hands are several times the number of soldiers in Wang Ping's hands.

"It's okay, when you come to me, I'm not afraid that there are no weapons, but I'm afraid that there are too few elite soldiers."

Feng Yong said with his fists rubbed his hands.

After pacifying Nanzhong, Zhuge Lao Demon built five lieutenants, and led the wealthy clans in Nanzhong to pay money to try to recruit barbarians to form an army, but now most of them can only be regarded as local armies.

The Flying Army in Wang Ping's hands is the first recognized Yiren professional mercenary, who can receive food and salary every month, and have a pension for the death of the war, because they are good at walking mountain roads and walking like flying, so they are called the Flying Army.

Wang Ping was born in a man, and the barbarians did not have much rejection of him, and he could share weal and woe with the soldiers, he was strict in nature and harsh in training, so he could be said to be the best general candidate for this army.

But Wang Ping is not Feng Yong, he doesn't have such a big face in front of the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, and this army can only be regarded as an attempt in the eyes of Zhuge Old Demon at present, so there are only 3,000 people, and only 2,000 people are allocated standard weapons in the army.

Three days later, Zhang Wei led the rear army to arrive, Feng Yong ordered him and Jufu to guard the camp, and he took Li Yi, Huang Chong, Wang Ping and others to ride to Nanxiang.

Hanzhong cut off the Yi market with the outside two months ago, and also blocked all intersections in Hanzhong.

Nanxiang, on the other hand, entered a state of martial law a month ago, and the pastures, workshops, and mines in the mountains have all canceled their rest, and personnel must be in place at any time.

At the same time, outsiders are not allowed to enter the inner city of Nanxiang.

Without the support of consumption in the inner city and the absence of foreign caravans, all the shops outside were suddenly depressed, and many shops even closed their doors directly.

The tense atmosphere in Hanzhong made everyone realize one thing: there was going to be a war.

On a certain day, a thick and distant bell rang in the inner city of Nanxiang,

There are many people in the outer city who are a little strange, and this month, the inner city has always been ringing bells from time to time, and I don't know what happened.

Li Mu, who was bowing his head and settling accounts, raised his head and sat there fixedly, listening intently.

Soon, there was a "bang", and the second sound came after three breaths.

Then the third sound......

As the number of bells became more and more, Li Mu's heart also beat faster and faster.

Nine tones! Nine sounds!

The bell in Nango has never rang so many times!

Li Mu threw down the pen in his hand, stood up suddenly, and shouted, "Someone! ”

The assistant hurriedly ran in and was about to salute, but Li Mu immediately ordered directly, "Immediately order the workshop, all the stewards will come and gather, not one less!" ”

With that, she pulled out her chair, rushed to the bookshelf next to her, pulled out a stack of papers, and hurried to the door.

The terrible whistle soon sounded in the workshop, and Li Mu's assistants ran through the various workshops, "Mu Niangzi has an order, all the stewards assemble quickly!" ”

The stewards of each workshop rushed out and hurriedly ran to the place where Li Mu was sitting.

After a while, they ran back to the workshop, each holding a piece of paper in their hands, and shouted to the female workers, "Everyone, assemble outside!" ”

In the past few years, the female workers have rehearsed this situation many times, and they silently stopped their work at the moment, trotted out, and soon finished the procession.

"Those who will read their names will stay, and those who do not read them will be sent home immediately after disbandment, and they must not go out at will, they must be on call, and if they do not obey the order, they will be expelled!"

The steward shouted, "Remember, it's expulsion!" Into hard labor! ”

When all the female workers heard this, everyone's expressions were nervous, and at the same time, many of them were still a little relaxed: Is it finally coming?

I saw that they couldn't help but close their mouths tightly, their faces were solemn, and they even tried to control the sound of their breathing, and their eyes were firmly fixed on the steward, for fear of missing a word.

"This is a critical time, and we all need to work together to get through this together! In the past few years, Feng Langjun has given me a stable family, enough food and clothing, and my children can read and write, and there is nowhere else in the world except Nanxiang! ”

The steward waved his arms and said impassionedly, "Feng Langjun is our reborn parents, if there is no him, there will be no me today." Now he needs our help, but whatever he asks, we will do it desperately! ”

"No!"

Although it was a woman's voice, it was shouted in unison, but it was also extremely sonorous and powerful, and the fighting spirit rose to the sky.

The state of emergency in the inner city soon spread outside, and the black-hatted and black-clad patrolmen whistled and ran down the streets, waving their arms to get the pedestrians back to their houses as quickly as possible.

At the same time, teams of nurses rushed out of the inner city to clear all the corners of the streets.

The rangers, who have been warned a long time ago, must rush back to the Loyal and Righteous Temple as soon as possible, otherwise they will be treated as wrongdoers and killed on the spot after the time limit.

The sound of horses' hooves came from far and near, and a group of knights galloped like a gust of wind, crossing the Zhongyi Temple at the intersection of the road, and rushing up the deserted street unscrupulously.

The person looking through the crack in the door sighed in amazement, "Who are those people?" Can you make everyone in Nanxiang make way for them? ”

"I heard that Prime Minister Zhuge is in Nanzheng, could it be that he is here?"

"Definitely not. Look at the leader, he is not very old, and he estimates which powerful family it is. And those entourage, who seem to be rare elite soldiers, should be a soldier. ”

"Then it should be Zhao Erlang who is stationed in Fu County."

"Zhao Jiaerlang is here, Nanxiang County must be cleaned streets? I don't see it. ”

"That's just as well. Little lady Zhang doesn't have such treatment......"

Speaking of Zhang Xiaoniang, I have to mention one person.

So someone cautiously asked, "Could it be him?" ”

"Nine times out of ten."

"What's nine out of ten? I think so! ”

Someone slapped his thigh, "Ah! is actually my confidant of "Chivalrous Journey"! I've admired it for a long time, but I didn't expect to miss it in person! ”

"I heard that he is a son of a master, so he may not be able to look down on me and ......"

"You know a donkey's egg! Before the Qin and Han dynasties, how many of those masters were born as rangers? That Guo Jing, that Zhang Wuji, which one is not a hero? ”

Someone yelled.

"That's it. I can't say that his master is a hero! Otherwise, why would he write the article "Chivalrous Journey" specifically for the rangers? ”

"That's it!"

……

Feng Yong led people directly to the county yamen, and then grabbed the horse's head.

"Xi Yuyu!"

The tall horse neighed, and his hooves stomped heavily on the ground.

"Brother!"

Li Qiu didn't wait for the horse to stop, so he greeted him and shouted excitedly.

Feng Yong turned over and dismounted, and hurriedly stepped forward, "Xinhou! ”

When the brothers met, they had some emotion.

"I've seen my brother."

Li Mu then stepped forward and bowed.

"Okay, I've worked hard for you in the past few years."

Feng Yong's head.

"Whatever my brother said, I'll sit in Nanxiang, what's the hard work. It's my brother, who traveled north and south, or went to the miasma place in Nanzhong, which is hard. ”

Li Mu dressed up carefully, not wearing the usual tight clothes and narrow sleeves, wearing formal clothes, wearing a bright moon, and a ring, only her eyes flashed, staring at Feng Yong, and said softly.

"Don't talk about that, we all have a role to play."

Feng Yong waved his hand, and then asked Li Qiu, "What about Supervisor Huo?" ”

"I'm waiting for my brother in Hanzhongye's workshop."

"Time is pressing, Mu Niangzi, you go back immediately to arrange the woolen cloth workshop, and I will go to the workshop of Hanzhong Metallurgical first."

Li Mu nodded, "Concubine understands." ”

Most people from outside have the illusion that the inner city is the core of Nanxiang, but this is actually wrong.

The real heart of Nanxiang is the textile workshop and the Hanzhong metallurgical workshop behind the inner city, as well as the kilns that are constantly emitting black smoke.

Of course, on a large scale, it should also include the pastures at the foot of Bashan Mountain, and the mines in the mountains.

They are the real pillars of Nanxiang.

Feng Yong took everyone to the Hanzhong Metallurgical Workshop, where Huo Yi was already waiting, "I've seen the prince." ”

"No need to be polite, Huo Jian Ling, what I want, are you ready?"

"Back to the prince, the lower officials have prepared 30,000 iron bars, and 300 craftsmen, just wait for the horses to arrive, and they can be installed on the spot."

Huo Yi welcomed Feng Yong in and said, "These craftsmen, each of them gave Nanxiang Ranch and Ma An of Dongfeng Express to horseshoe, and their craftsmanship is not unfamiliar. ”

With the continuous increase of Dongfeng Express's business, the utilization rate of horses is also getting higher and higher, and the number of horse losses caused by excessive wear and tear of horse hooves has gradually increased.

Since Feng Yongping crossed the ridge and built a pasture, he had the real source of horses, and only then did he begin to install horseshoes on the horses used by Dongfeng Express, which was a small-scale attempt.

This Northern Expedition required a large number of horses to help transport grain, and Feng Yong brought over 5,000 horses from Yueshan in one go, all of which needed to be nailed to the horseshoe within ten days.

"That's good." Feng Yong nodded, "What about the others?" ”

"The prince, please come with the lower officials."

Huo Yi took Feng Yong to an open place, where a few tables were set up, and there were a few strange-looking things on the table, but it could still be seen that they were generally crossbows, and there were a few soldiers waiting there.

"General Wang, the weapons you need are here."

Feng Yong walked to the table, picked up a crossbow, and handed it over.

"Is this a pedal crossbow?"

Wang Ping took it and felt that this crossbow was really a little strange.

"It's indeed a foot-mounted crossbow, but it's more convenient than an ordinary foot-mounted crossbow, and ordinary soldiers can also use it."

Pedal crossbow, as the name suggests, is a kind of strong crossbow that puts the crossbow arm on the foot, with the help of the power on the leg, straightens the waist and kicks the leg with both hands to pull the string, with a long range and great power.

Even if it is a light crossbow that is wound only with arm strength, the winding speed is much slower than that of a bow, and this kind of foot crossbow is slower than slower, and it requires more strength from the user.

However, the foot crossbow in Wang Ping's hand was added by Feng Yong with a lever that could be pulled back and forth, which could use the principle of leverage to achieve the effect of winding with less force, and at the same time increase the winding speed.

In front of the crossbow, a ring is specially added, similar to a horse pedal, which is convenient to step on when winding.

Feng Yong signaled, and soon a soldier stepped forward to demonstrate, stretching the string, putting on the arrow, aiming, buckling the hanging knife, and the straw man two hundred steps away shook it, and there was an extra crossbow arrow on it.

Excluding those marksmen and the theoretical maximum range, the effective killing range of ordinary archers in the army is generally about 100 paces, and the optimal killing range is 60 steps.

But training an archer is expensive and difficult, not only to be talented, but also to train for a long time without interruption.

Moreover, for crossbows, the aiming time of bows and arrows is short, and they cannot be charged for a long time, and they have high requirements for arm strength.

The crossbow is different, its use is very simple, no special skills are required, and crossbowmen can be quickly trained in the army.

What's more, because the crossbow uses arm strength, waist strength, and leg strength to wind up, the range is from far to near, from 200 steps to 20 steps are within the killing range of the crossbow.

It can also charge power, hopefully mountains and other aids in aiming, improving accuracy.

The crossbows in the army are basically pedal crossbows, and the range is farther than that of ordinary bows and arrows, and the effective killing range is about 200 steps, and 150 steps is the best distance.

The disadvantage is that it is difficult to wind.

Therefore, the reason why the imperial court forbade crossbows and forbidden bows is because the crossbow is powerful, but the use method is simple, and normal people can exert their power.

Feng Yong's improved pedal crossbow, while maintaining its power and range, added a collar, which made it easier to wind, and with a lever, it was easier to wind, and the rate of fire was much faster than that of an ordinary crossbow.

"Good stuff!"

Wang Ping's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward to grab it, and he couldn't put it down.

"This kind of crossbow, compared to the crossbow in the army, can be fired at least once more than one crossbow arrow against the horse army at a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, and if there are skilled people, it can be fired twice."

"One time is enough!" Wang Ping praised, "Three thousand people have one more shot, as long as they dare to rush over, there will be two or three hundred more casualties." If it is an infantry army, it can be fired three or four more times, and at least one or two thousand people will fall. ”

"What's more important is to save effort, one more strength than the other party, one point greater the chance of survival, and one point greater the chance of winning."

This kind of pedal crossbow is not much different from the crossbow used in the army today, and ordinary crossbowmen can almost use it when they have it in their hands.

The reason why Feng Yong reacted so much to Jiang Bin's disruption of Hanzhongye's production order was that he wanted to use the convenience of Yueshan Taishoufu to have autonomy and ask Hanzhongye to build him new weapons for the Northern Expedition.

Of course, this was after Jiang Bin's inferior treasure knife incident, Feng Yongcai remembered to fight for the prime minister of the Han Dynasty first, so as not to let someone make trouble for him again.

Zhuge Liang wanted to bring Feng Yong with him on this Northern Expedition, originally so that he could have a long experience and gain some experience at the same time, so he did not object to his plan to test new weapons in the Yue Xian soldiers.

It is only that the number of new weapons is limited, and the number of people is less than 5,000.

At the same time, the imperial court only contributed half of the money and grain, and the remaining half had to be paid for by itself.

As for the luxury of the purple electric treasure knife, when the prime minister of the Han Dynasty knew the cost, he directly said, you can do it yourself, the court has no money, and there is no food!

In the past two years, Feng Yong has built infrastructure in Yueshan and let Hanzhong Metallurgical develop new weapons, and the money and grain that he continued to throw out directly hollowed out all the Feng Mansion, including the dowry of his mother-in-law.

At the same time, he also hollowed out the Wang family, Zhao Guang's wife, and Li Yi's private money......

It can be said that this Northern Expedition was a big gamble for Feng Yong, and losing it was almost bankrupt.

Just as Feng Yong was preparing to test the new weapons of the Northern Expedition, a rumbling sound sounded again at the intersection of Nanxiang, and the endless herd of horses on the road was rushing towards this side.

At the same time, the seals on the doors of all the warehouses in Nanxiang Workshop began to be torn off, and then the doors were pushed open and the materials inside were counted.

Wooden boxes of different sizes, different sizes, but nailed to the ground were brought out, which may be woolen cloth, arrows, crossbows, and swords......

The various stewards took the account books, checked their numbers, and then waved their hands, and the people below began to move to the designated place.

All the warehouses in Nanxiang, men and women, like hard-working worker ants, go in and out, busy.