Just when the Hu people were preparing to defend Xinjing and actively prepare for war, the Northwest Army outside the city was naturally not idle.

With the cooperation of many soldiers and civilians, the horse rejection array, composed of a large number of horse rejections, was being set up outside each city gate one by one.

And in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the rejection of horses is not one, but two.

These two layers of horseback formations centered on the city gate, which surrounded the entire city gate in a semicircle beyond the range of the bow and arrow.

The two sections near one end of the wall were the most dangerous, completely exposed to the bows and arrows of the city.

But because of the full cover of the musket array, and the fact that the soldiers were carrying shields to block the arrows, the two most dangerous sections were closed with almost zero casualties.

At this time, on the side of the south gate, looking at the gradually forming horse rejection array, as well as a large number of civilians who were busy doing all kinds of miscellaneous work such as carrying, pulling carts, and unloading goods around, Ning Zhiyuan couldn't help but praise: "Ah Zhen, I can't imagine that the Freemason Society you developed at the beginning is quite effective.

There are so many ready-made strong laborers, we don't even have to bring the people here, which really saves time and effort.

How many people are there in this Freemason today? ”

Chi Fei replied: "The entire provinces and regions of Jiangnan add up to about 200,000 people, and if you count your family members, the number is even greater. ”

"When you started this Freemasonry, did you already think about using them as wartime people?"

"Yes, father-in-law, this is indeed my highest priority use.

The northwest is too far away from the south of the Yangtze River, and if a large number of people are transferred from the northwest, this person will consume a lot of money along the way to eat and feed the horses.

If you can recruit young people from the local area, you will save a lot of money.

But compared to the puppet dynasty, our Northwest Army is an outsider after all, and it is difficult for the locals to accept our recruitment, so I want to develop an underground organization that is willing to obey our command, which is the origin of Freemasonry.

It's just that what I didn't expect was that Freemasonry had grown to this scale in just one year, which was really beyond my expectations.

It can be seen that in a rich place like Jiangnan, there are also a large number of disaster victims, otherwise it would be impossible for a non-governmental secret organization to develop so rapidly.

In addition, the great plague that occurred in Jiangnan was also one of the main reasons for this result.

The reason why many people join Freemasonry is to get the medicine to immunize and dispel sores, and secondly, to have food for the whole family.

Now that Freemasonry has grown to such a size, not only do we have a large number of people to be sent in peacetime, but we can also have them serve as wartime citizens in wartime, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

This is the advantage of vigorously developing underground parties, that is, secret organizations of the people, in the enemy's territory. ”

Ning Zhiyuan praised: "Your method of engaging in an underground party here in Jiangnan is indeed very good, just the fact that you can save a large number of people and grain and grass for the expedition to Jiangnan is already worth the money."

It's just that this secret civil organization is a double-edged sword, and once it is not handled well, it may be counterattacked, so you have to deal with it carefully. ”

"My father-in-law is right, this secret civil organization is indeed a double-edged sword.

After the pacification of Jiangnan, this Freemason Society should be dissolved as soon as possible, and it cannot be left behind.

Otherwise, once the supervision is not good in the future, it is easy to be used by people with bad intentions and cause chaos everywhere. ”

"Okay, you can figure it out, and I won't have to worry about it."

Chi Fei understood his father-in-law's concerns, whether it was a secret civil organization or a folk religion that was good at inciting people, it was a taboo for any imperial court.

As long as the situation is certain in the future, this underground organization "Freemasonry" that he single-handedly supported must be disbanded to avoid endless troubles in the future.

Hearing the answer between Weng and his son-in-law, Mr. Zhang Wenxuan, who was standing on the side, showed a smile full of appreciation on his face.

When it comes to prudence, Mr. Su is indeed the most cautious person he has ever met, and many things have already been thought through very clearly.

……………………

After several hours of non-stop construction, the horse rejection array of the four city gates was finally erected.

At this time, the east, west, and north gates had been tightly sealed by a double-layered horse rejection array, and it was impossible for cavalry to pass through, and they could only climb by hand to climb over this obstacle with difficulty.

But under the close surveillance of the 100,000 Northwest Army and the musket array, it was impossible to give the Hu people a chance to do so.

At this time, only the east, west, and north gates were completely sealed by the horse rejection array, but the south gate, which was the main battlefield, was not completely sealed. Instead, they set up a horse rejection array on both sides of the city gate, and the passage in the middle can still pass through people.

Hearing from the herald that the other three city gates had been sealed, Ning Zhiyuan smiled with satisfaction.

Now there is no need to worry that the Hu people will escape through the other city gates.

He deliberately set up this "closed door and beat the dog" game, just to eliminate the main force of the Hu people, so that they would not flee in all directions and cause trouble to the Central Plains.

An Guogong Xie Mingshun, who had been sitting in the prison car and watching coldly, finally couldn't help but sarcastically say: "Ning Zhiyuan, this is the method you used to deal with the Hu people?" Do you want to wear them down by locking them down? ”

Ning Zhiyuan turned his head to look at him and said proudly: "Xie Laogou, don't think that everyone is like you, and you will only use this kind of indiscriminate means to fight."

Today I will let you see clearly how our Northwest Army fights.

Meng Ping, pass my order to gather all the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion. ”

"Yes, Marshal."

The commander of the Shenji Battalion, Meng Ping, immediately ordered someone to blow the horn, two long and one short, repeated three times.

Soon, the same horn sounded from the east, west, and north directions.

Then, after only half a pillar of incense, a troop of 8,000 men rushed from the east gate.

After seeing the weapons in the hands of these soldiers, the eyes of the four members of the Xie family sitting in the prisoner car suddenly widened.

The soldiers were armed not with conventional weapons such as spears or knives, but with muskets of the same type.

The Ning family actually has more than 16,000 firearms?!

But soon they found out that they were wrong, and the Ning family had far more firearms than that.

After the musketeers from the West Gate and the North Gate arrived, the four members of the Xie family finally found in despair that the Ning family had more than 32,000 firearms, ten times as many as them.

It took four years and a lot of manpower and material resources to finally force the Ministry of Industry to build more than 3,000 firecrackers, and An Guogong, who could hardly believe his eyes.

He couldn't believe that the more than 32,000 Northwest soldiers in front of him were holding firearms that could kill people in a hundred steps.

How on earth did the Ning family build so many firecrackers in just a few years?!

The contrast was too great, and the intense frustration made An Guogong cough violently, and these coughs were extremely harsh on the quiet battlefield.

The big battle was imminent, and the commander of the Shenji Battalion, Meng Ping, did not have the time to care about the noise made by An Guogong.

As soon as everyone arrived, he ordered all the musketeers to begin checking their muskets and ammunition.

If you need to replace the flint, you should replace it in time, and if you need to clean the barrel, you should also clean it as soon as possible. Those who do not have enough ammunition on their bodies should also replenish them in time.

These are all things that the musketeers of the Shenji Battalion have to do every day, and they must not neglect these basic maintenance steps before the big war.