"Hundreds of thousands of people in the whole army were either burned alive or died under the arrows of the Hu people, and this battle can be regarded as the worst record since the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty.

Old thief Xie really lost a lot this time, not only did he die so many henchmen, but even his eldest son got in, it can really be said that stealing chickens and rice is not a loss.

But the most pity is that those local recruits and local people gave their lives in vain, and they are all young and strong.

There must have been many orphans and widows in various places, and life is sad. Ning Zhiyuan put down the battle report in his hand with some emotion.

Mr. Zhang Wenxuan frowned and said, "Lord, the Wei army lost too much in this battle.

It is not surprising that the Hu people set up an ambush at the exit of Wudaoting, but it is strange how the Hu army, outflanked from the rear, avoided the numerous guard outposts and formed a siege against the Wei army.

The subordinates believe that the leakage of the Dawei Bufang map is really happening, not chasing the wind.

If this is the case, then we must also make arrangements in advance, so as not to follow in the footsteps of the Wei army. ”

"I think so too, that's why Old Thief Xie wants to conduct a thorough investigation of the military department.

Lao Zhang on our side, don't worry, due to the long-term war with the Hu people in the northwest, although the location of the guards in various places cannot be changed at will, the outposts are changed every three months or half a year.

As for the northeast side, I have already written to Li Dingbei to change all the outposts again, and stipulate that in the future, the northeast will be the same as the northwest, and it will be changed every three months or six months, so that no one will take advantage of the loopholes. ”

"The lord is wise, and his subordinates admire."

"Okay, we're all so acquainted, you don't have to pat me on the back. What do you think of this "Truth-seeking Newspaper"? Ning Zhiyuan asked, pointing to the tabloid on the table.

"The subordinates can now basically determine that ninety percent of this "Seeking Truth" is the work of the spies planted by the Hu people in the Wei realm.

Otherwise, how could a tabloid who doesn't even know who the owner is, know so much inside information.

And every time "Seeking Truth" appears, it will expose some news that the puppet dynasty does not want outsiders to know, which is clearly stirring up the situation.

Since it is not the arrangement of the lord, then only the Hu people will do this. ”

"You have a point, it's just that I didn't expect the Hu people to play this kind of conspiracy, which is completely different from their previous style of doing things."

"The subordinates think that there is a master behind the Hu people, and this master is likely to be a person who is extremely familiar with the puppet dynasty."

"Oh, what do you mean by that?"

"Let's talk about the first thing first, two years ago, the Hu people used the clothes worn by the sore-scattering patients to spread the plague in the northwest, the lord should still remember this matter, right?"

"Of course, I remember that if Ah Zhen hadn't come up with a method of vaccination to prevent and treat sores at that time, I wouldn't dare to think about what would have become of the northwest now.

Do you suspect that this has something to do with that master? ”

"The subordinates think that this matter is likely to be planned by that master, otherwise Hu Ren should not be able to think of such a shady method that is impossible to prevent."

"It makes sense, the Hu people have always only rampaged, burned, killed and looted, and it really doesn't seem like they can come up with such a method."

"This is one of them, and the second is that the Hu people have had a feud with the Tianlu people living in the southwest plateau for many years, which can be described as incompatible.

This time, the two sides were able to put aside their enmity over the years and join forces to invade the southwest, which is obviously the result of some people lobbing around.

The subordinates believed that even if it was not all the credit of the master, at least that person must have done a lot of effort to persuade the Hu royal family to accept this proposal, which led to the alliance between the Hu and Lu clans.

Third, it is about the leakage of the southern defense map.

Military defense drawings have always been stored in the Ministry of War and strictly guarded, and only a very small number of people have the right to read them.

How did Hu Ren get such a confidential drawing, and his subordinates still haven't figured it out.

But in any case, if you can do this, it must be possible for someone who is extremely familiar with the inside of the imperial court.

Even if that person is not the master himself, at least he is his subordinate.

Fourth, it is about the various deployments of this Huhan battle.

The key to this battle was whether the Hu people could succeed in blocking the Wei army in the Wudao Pavilion.

If the first to leave Wudaoting was the main force composed of the Southwest Army and the Five Army Battalions, even if the Hu people set up an ambush in front, the Wei army would have the strength to fight because of the large number of people, and it would not be defeated.

But it's a pity that the first to walk out of Wudao Pavilion are the recruits who have hardly really fought, and these recruits were frightened by the Hu people, and they actually ran back and blocked the road, which gave the Hu people the opportunity to completely block the front and rear exits.

Hu Ren seemed to have expected from the beginning that the Xie family would not let the main force of his henchmen go ahead, so he laid this big trap.

If it weren't for someone who was extremely familiar with the Xie family, who led the army, it would be difficult to make such an accurate judgment.

Or maybe it's just one person, maybe it's a group of people.

Whether it is a person or a group of people, it can at least be seen that those people are not only familiar with the various systems within the imperial court, but also know the Xie family well.

The subordinates even suspected that those people might be Han Chinese who had been officials in the puppet dynasty. ”

Ning Zhiyuan thought for a while before nodding and said, "It's really possible, otherwise it would be difficult to explain all this."

If there really is such a master who commands behind the Hu people, then we must be extra careful when dealing with the Hu people in the future, and we can no longer treat them as the previous Hu people, so as not to be careless for a while.

Lao Zhang, I feel that the situation in the south may change greatly in the near future, and I intend to start a large conscription now to prepare in advance. ”

"My lord is wise, now is a good time to conscript.

Although the Northwest Army is brave and good at fighting, after all, the number of soldiers is limited, and now it has to divide half of the northeast to defend the northeast, which is indeed a bit stretched.

Since the lord has no intention of going south for the time being, it is better to start large-scale military training now in case of future needs. ”

"That's what I thought about before I decided to conscript. For this conscription, I plan to carry out both the northwest and northeast at the same time, with 150,000 recruits in the northwest and 100,000 in the northeast, for a total of 250,000 recruits.

It's just that it is easy to recruit soldiers and difficult to raise soldiers, and with so many people being recruited at once, it will definitely be difficult to make difficulties in terms of grain and grass in the past few years. Ning Zhiyuan couldn't help but sigh.

Zhang Wenxuan also felt that this was indeed a headache.

Once these 200,000 young men enlist in the army, it is equivalent to the loss of more than 200,000 strong laborers who can cultivate among the people of the two places.

Especially since these are all recruits, and in order to develop their combat power, it takes more time to train. In this way, it is difficult to be half-trained and half-cultivated like a veteran.

Without a stable and sufficient source of food, it is really difficult to feed so many recruits.

Although there is such a move as buying grain from overseas, if those small neighboring countries refuse to sell grain because of the poor harvest of the year or other reasons, do they really have to mobilize troops to take a boat to rob it? This is not a long-term solution.

Now the only way is to hope that the terraced fields that Mr. Su built in the northeast can produce grain smoothly.

If it is feasible, then this method can be promoted in more places, and even some people in the northwest can be moved to the northeast to farm.

Although the soil quality in the northeast is not as fertile as in places like Jiangnan or Jiangdong, it is certainly much better than in the northwest.

In fact, at this time, large-scale spring sowing is taking place in the northwest and northeast.

Since spring sowing is related to the harvest of the whole year, all farmers attach great importance to it and dare not ignore it.

Compared with other places, the governments of Zhangzhou and Linqi are more tense.

Because this is the first spring sowing of the terraces, whether it will succeed depends on the result.

The local government knew that the harvest of these terraced fields was very important, so they naturally did not dare to be careless, and sent people to inspect almost every few days to ensure that the spring sowing could go smoothly.

As the person in charge of the terrace project, Chi Fei should have visited the site to inspect the spring sowing matters.

But firstly, he did not know how to farm, and even when he was on the scene, he was of limited use, and secondly, he had a more important thing to do, which was to form the first musket squad.

In the past few months, the craftsmen of the workshop have gradually mastered the process they are responsible for after continuous practice and running-in, and the parts manufactured have basically met the requirements, and the scrap rate has dropped significantly.

To make such a big progress, the newly added maintenance department and the piecework reward method have indeed played a great role.

In particular, the effect of the piecework reward method is most obvious, and every craftsman now works hard to produce qualified parts to earn bonuses.

The craftsman with the highest prize money can even reach more than twenty taels a month.

In the northwest, it may take a year to work for this amount, but now there is such an income in just one month, and those craftsmen are naturally working as hard as chickens.

Due to the division of labor and the way of processing and assembly, as long as the yield rate goes up, its amazing work efficiency will naturally be reflected.

In just three months, the workshop had already produced more than 100 passable muskets, and countless more ammunition.

This efficiency is a world of difference compared to the past.

With these more than 100 muskets, Chi Fei felt that it was time to form a musket squad for long-term training.

As long as this hundred-man musket squad grows, it will be able to teach more recruits.

In the future, when more and more muskets are made, there is a great hope that the goal of forming a musket army composed of thousands or even tens of thousands of people will be achieved.

For this reason, Chi Fei deliberately went to find his eldest brother Ning Yabai and asked him to arrange candidates to join the musket team.

Ning Yabai was not polite to her brother-in-law, and directly transferred more than 100 henchmen to participate in the training and became a member of the first musket squad.

For the sake of secrecy, Ning Yabai also deliberately built a training ground on the outskirts, built a high wall around it like a salt pan, and then let the soldiers train in it day and night.

Ning Zhiyuan, who was far away in the northwest, learned about this from the letter, and he smiled so much that he couldn't see his teeth, and he was happier than picking up gold.

The little son-in-law really did not disappoint him, and the musket really began to be mass-produced.

This news made him extremely excited, and he immediately ordered the simultaneous conscription of troops from the northwest and northeast, each with 50,000 for a total of 100,000 young men.

Because the problem of grain and grass has not been completely solved, Ning Zhiyuan did not dare to levy 250,000 people in one go according to the original plan, so he could only levy some of them first.

At this juncture, both the Northwest and the Great Wei began to recruit a large number of soldiers.

In this atmosphere of conscription and preparation for war, even the common people felt a strong sense of unease, not to mention the nervous businessmen and wealthy people, who began to make all kinds of preparations for fleeing.

For a while, rumors spread and people were panicked.

Almost everyone sensed that troubled times were coming.