As the contradictions between the two sides deepen, armed conflict is an inevitable result for the sake of their respective interests. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Militarily speaking, the salt lord armed forces are mainly infantry troops, and the form of combat also tends to stick to the danger, so as to give the enemy the opportunity to slowly deploy troops, and the end is often defeated and killed. However, with the deepening of the intervention of the DPRK, especially the increase in the number of military personnel dispatched, the combat effectiveness has increased, and the tactics have also changed.

For the militia groups in the countryside and the local officials in the county, the salt lord armed forces naturally no longer paid attention to it, and the competition also turned from secret to open, and the township directors, Li Zheng and Semu people sent by the Yuan government were not opponents at all, and they were powerless to resist, and they were either killed or fled, and they quickly took over the power in the countryside and filled the power vacuum at the grassroots level.

Large-scale rural unrest will naturally cause a counterattack by the Mengyuan government, and they will send troops to crusade. The salt barons, on the other hand, were no longer passively defensive, they took advantage of the high mountains and dense forests, the vertical and horizontal water network, and the advantage of being familiar with the geography, completely abandoned the previous practice, and sold smuggled salt for lucrative profits, so that they were equipped with a large number of ships and pack animals, which could be used to quickly transform into a mobile combat force.

In the water net area, fishing boats, sampans, and even floating basins are used to maneuver, and by the time the enemy pursues them, they have already moved to the opposite shore or are down the river, breaking away from their pursuit. In relatively flat areas, the salt barons took advantage of the fact that they had more pack animals in their ranks, whether they were horses, mules, or donkeys, they made full use of them, and all of them were equipped with cattle to move, and when there was a shortage of horses, one horse or even two people rode together to achieve mobile combat.

The Salt Barons were originally engaged in stealthy business, not only to avoid the bayonet, but also to avoid the inspection team, so there is no one more familiar with the local geography than them, and it can be said that every path and every river is familiar by heart. It also has a large number of potential supporters in the countryside, constantly providing them with intelligence and logistical support. In this way, they can run hundreds of miles a day, and when they find that the enemy army is tired or scattered due to pursuit, the Salt Barons will concentrate another blow to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.

Mengyuan Jiangxi Xuanfu envoy has personally led a team of 10,000 people to suppress, its leading soldiers chased the salt barons in three months, the journey reached thousands of miles, during which hundreds of people died of exhaustion and disease, the Mongolian cavalry sometimes galloped hundreds of miles a day, often could not eat a meal all day, and he himself often lasted more than ten days without dismounting, so tired that he could not raise his hands, and needed to tie his shoulders to the reins with cloth straps in order to advance. When you need to rest, you don't look for a bed, but get off the horse and find a place to drink soju to slow down and continue to catch up.

But even so, the Mongol cavalry was desperate to find that the enemy was always in front. And when the opponent takes the initiative to stop and wait for them, he is often already recuperating, and he is ready to fight after the formation is completed. Those familiar with history are well aware that this is very similar to the tactics of the steppe nomads when they were at a disadvantage to the armies of the Central Plains. Ironically, in the face of this kind of tactics that are very similar to their ancestors, they can't come up with any way.

The fact that the finisher can sit in the position of the consolation envoy shows that he is definitely not a fool, and he has many advantages such as being experienced in a hundred battles, fighting bravely, and often taking the lead, but he still can't destroy the salt lord army, but he will return with a loss of soldiers. In fact, the dilemma he encountered was a problem that has plagued all regular armies throughout the ages: guerrilla warfare.

The military victory made the territory controlled by the Yanfang armed forces bigger and bigger, and Zhao Yu sent military and political officials to integrate them in a timely manner, and even sent troops to directly support them in the battle many times, so as to turn the various forces into the armed forces of the imperial court through recruitment, training, and filtering, and establish a base area. Through this successful model, five armies have now been formed: Huai'en, Weisheng, Huaide, Xiongsheng, and Huaiyong, with the strength of each army variing in strength, ranging from 70,000 to 80,000 at the top and 20,000 to 30,000 at the minimum.

After repeated failures in conquest and suppression, the Mengyuan official army also gradually adopted a defensive position, concentrating its forces around the state capital, and the remote areas of the countryside could no longer be effectively managed. While the Song army was consolidating its base areas, the armies also developed to the periphery, forming a large gray area, and those grassroots officials who managed the countryside no longer dared to act recklessly. On the one hand, they are always afraid that Master Wang will come back to pull the list, so when doing things, most of them will leave some way back. On the other hand, they and the local people are also considered villagers, so they also have a bit of a spectrum in doing things.

More importantly, under the collective pressure of the common people, they will also bargain appropriately with the Tartars. And the reasons are also ready-made, and they are also a handful; And the Tartar had to nod yes too. All in all, we all want to help the Great Khan build a happy land. The problem is that you have to show some image of a king who hangs the people and saves the people from fire and water. All in all, in order for us to serve you better, we should also put some gold on our faces. Otherwise, we will become dog traitors that everyone shouts and beats, and how will we mix in the road in the future? How else to serve the Dajin Kingdom?

Besides, the imperial court has to collect taxes every year, and if you go back and forth to fight and turn this place into ruins, and make people bent on resisting to the end, not to mention collecting a large amount of taxes every year in the future, you may also need to invest endless stability maintenance fees and military expenses. This account is all understood by people, and it can always be calculated clearly, right? In general, the Tartars are also politically minded people, especially those in the upper echelons, who are more politically minded, and it is not good for them to make things too big. Therefore, they will naturally respect the relevant demands put forward by the traitors, so that all parties also tacitly reach a delicate balance.

In addition to allocating a large amount of salt every year to solve the expenses of each base area, Zhao Yu also supported a large number of weapons and armor battles. However, most of them were cold weapons that had been reequipped by various armies and weapons that had been captured by the Mongolian army, and the firearms were only small weapons such as medium and light ballistas and thunderbolts, and the number was not large, which was also because he was worried that once a full-scale counteroffensive was launched, their frontal combat capability would be insufficient, which would cause unnecessary losses.

Of course, it's not that Zhao Yu doesn't want to change the armed clothes in these places, but he really has more than enough strength and is not enough. Due to the continuous expansion of the size of the army, the replacement of firearms, and the disadvantage of insufficient resources in Qiongzhou, it is already very difficult to maintain these basic divisions in Qiongzhou. In order to save steel, only the cavalry were now issued with iron armor, while the infantry could only be equipped with half-body armor and iron helmets. Even so, however, the armor is not made of iron, but a very modern 'ceramic' ceramic deck......

Zhao Yu knew that after the popularization of muskets, due to the great penetration of firearms, the iron armor became a burden that affected the movement, and could not play a protective role at all, so it was gradually eliminated. At the moment, only they are equipped with muskets, and the enemy does not have them, so the armor still has a protective effect.

The use of ceramic as bulletproof armor is very popular in modern times, its hardness is much higher than that of metal, and the strength is enough to block bullets. Moreover, the ceramic can also absorb a large amount of energy while being subjected to impact and breakage, and can still play a role in alleviating the impact force. The density of ceramics is only about half of that of metal, or even lower, so it is relatively light in weight and not easy to deform; However, ceramics also have the congenital defect of 'brittleness', once the force of the impact is higher than the limit that the ceramic piece can bear, it will not be deformed like a metal material, but will be directly shattered, in short, it is a disposable consumable.

However, Zhao's choice of advanced ceramic armor is more of a reluctant choice in the face of resource shortages, and his 'designed' cuirass is similar to a modern high-necked bulletproof vest, which can effectively protect the neck, torso and crotch. The exterior is wrapped in thick linen cloth and divided into a dozen pouches for inserting ceramic plates, which makes it easy to replace damaged armor pieces without affecting the soldier's mobility. The inner side is made of silk wool as a cushioning layer to further reduce the impact on the body. It is fastened with a belt under the armpit to form a stack to protect the lower side of the torso, making it easy for the soldier to complete the dressing alone.

Zhao Yu thought that the shabby armor he 'invented' would be rejected by the army, but he didn't expect that after the trial, it was liked by the majority of officers and soldiers. First of all, this new armor is lightweight, only about seven catties, of course, it is not light, but it is ten times lighter than the previous step armor weighing more than 60 catties, but the protection is not worse than the iron armor, enough to resist the direct fire of the strong bow and the slashing of knives and guns, which greatly reduces the weight of individual soldiers.

In addition, the new armor is easy to maintain, and the armor piece is damaged, so it can be reused after a simple replacement. Iron armor is different, it needs to be wiped and oiled frequently, otherwise it will rust, especially in the humid and high-salt environment of the south, it must be maintained frequently, and if it is damaged, it can only be repaired by a special craftsman. And it is very cumbersome to wear, anyway, Zhao Yu himself has not been able to do it alone so far, and he still needs the assistance of others to tighten all kinds of straps.

In addition, the biggest advantage is low cost and simple processing. The production of ceramics in the Song Dynasty has long been an ordinary industry, although the industrial production has not been completed, but the output is also huge, the manufacture of ceramic pieces does not have much technical content, and it can be produced in large quantities. However, iron armor needs to wear hundreds, or even thousands of armor pieces, and it takes several months to produce a pair of armor, and it can save a lot of money and manpower by replacing it with new armor......

"Lu Xiang and all Aiqing, I agree to mobilize anti-Yuan forces from all over the country and gather the power of the Xing Dynasty to recover Jiangdong!" Zhao Yu pondered for a long time and nodded.

"Obey the Divine Commandment!" Lu Xiufu immediately saluted when he heard this.

"Your Ministers obey!" Wen Tianxiang, Zhang Shijie and others also saluted together.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this battle is not only related to the dignity of my Great Song Dynasty, but also related to the great cause of restoring the country, I hope that all the monarchs will work together to help me achieve my wishes!" Zhao Yu left his seat and helped everyone and said firmly.

"Your Majesty, the ministers will live up to expectations!" Several people saluted again.

"Well, this battle is very important, I want to conquer Jiangdong in person!" Zhao Yu waved his hand and asked everyone to sit down without courtesy.

"How can Your Majesty be in danger, the minister is willing to lead the army to the battle, and if he does not succeed, he will be punished!" Zhang Shijie just sat down, and immediately jumped up as if he had a spring.

"Your Majesty is a daughter, how can you be in danger? The ministers are willing to go on behalf of Your Majesty! Lu Xiufu also stood up and dissuaded.

"Your Majesty is the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty, if there is something wrong, how can the ministers explain to the people of the Great Song Dynasty!" Wen Tianxiang stood up and bowed deeply, he had realized since the Battle of Yashan that the little emperor was the hope of revival, and only he could bring all forces together. Therefore, this defeat is still in the hope of a comeback, but if it loses, there is no chance of a comeback.

"Don't persuade Aiqing, this battle involves a wide area, and someone needs to be in command, and you can't be lazy!" Zhao Hao smiled.

"Yes, Your Majesty has been to Qiongzhou since the second year of Jingyan, Taoguang has accumulated strength, trained hard to train elite soldiers, and is waiting for the day when the battle for the restoration of the country is launched. At this time, Ying Jieyan echoed the words of the little emperor.

"What the governor said is true, we have all witnessed how much effort Your Majesty has put in and how many hardships we have gone through to have the grand occasion of today's dynasty and usher in the battle to return to our homeland......" Just when everyone was stunned, Liu Huang also stood up and spoke. After speaking, his eyes were full of tears, his lips trembled, his voice choked, and he couldn't help himself with excitement.

And everyone immediately fell silent, thinking that the little emperor was only six years old when he went to Qiong, and he was still a naughty boy, but he not only gained a firm foothold here, but also gave them a place to live when the dynasty was in crisis. After that, with his perseverance and bravery, he overcame a crisis, not only turned the barren Qiongzhou into a rich land, but also established an elite division with 200,000 troops, and finally ushered in the opportunity for change. Its contribution not only continued the national lineage of the Great Song Dynasty, but also created a new era.

"Your Majesty, the ministers are willing to follow the hu, and please give permission!" Lu Xiufu suddenly turned around and played again.

"Prime Minister Lu is in power, and he wants to mobilize forces from all parties to coordinate the military and government, how can he leave lightly, or I will follow His Majesty Hu to conquer in person!" Wen Tianxiang saw that he was preempted by Lu Xiufu, and immediately stopped him.

"The words of the minister are wrong, the first few expeditions were all led by you, but I have not made an inch, this time we must not miss it again!" Lu Xiufu shook his head like a rattle and refused.

"Hehe, whoever you two can go, anyway, the Sprinkle family must not be missed!" Zhang Shijie saw that the two prime ministers were blushing, and he said with a smile.

"It's not right for the cardinal to say that, can't we let the two old men stay?" Liu Di listened to the dissatisfaction.

"Don't fight, Aiqing, whoever goes and who stays will discuss it later, let's get a charter first!" Zhao Hao looked at their arguing appearance, only to find that these righteous gentlemen were all sullen......