The school review table had already been set up, and Chen Dong looked down from the stage, only to see rows of soldiers in very orderly formation, and the soldiers stood still. The entire martial arts arena was silent, and if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would almost have thought that the people standing below were not alive, but the puppet clay sculptures used by the military department to make soldiers. It was the first time he had come to the school to review the Henghai Xiang Army, and he was inevitably standing in front with some novelty.

With the sound of military orders, the Xiang army began to smoothly practice various formations. In addition to carrying weapons such as guns and guns, each army also carried dozens of pounds of bags. During the drill formation, there was actually a group of more than 40 heavy armored horse troops rushing back and forth in the infantry formation. The horses galloped past the edges of the spears of the infantry, raising a lot of dust. After the drill formation, the Xiang army showed Chen Dong the actions of shooting with a five-stage gun, as well as stabbing defense and attack with a gun. No matter what the situation, there is no confusion. Chen Dong once participated in watching the review of the front division of the palace, but in terms of the formation exercise, if the changes are discussed, the Henghai Xiang army is not as good as the Beijing camp in front of the palace, but if it is neat and consistent, it is still better than the Beijing army.

Different from the Beijing Division, the martial arts arena of the Henghai Xiang Army was not a flat land, with wide trenches, raised soil slopes, antler stakes, and even straw stacks and trees. The marches marched through the chaotic terrain, sometimes through the trenches, sometimes up the hillside, sometimes around the trees, all in an orderly manner. From time to time, cavalry pretended to be the enemy to raid, and the marching army in the middle of the march had to urgently form a circle formation to defend against the enemy, and after ascertaining the enemy's situation, it changed from a circular formation to a five-column firing formation, and the soldiers loaded ammunition according to the order and fired in turn. In order to save ammunition, during normal drills, not real ammunition is put into the firecracker, but grass and wood ash wrapped in cloth. Today's review is different, the guns of the Xiang army are loaded with real ammunition, and they really shoot at the target of the cow leather straw mat in the distance. Chen Dong stood on the school reading platform, only to see the firelight flashing in rows and strands of gunsmoke. After stopping shooting, the soldiers carried the targets to the school review table for Chen Dong to inspect, and there were seven or eight bullet holes in each target.

Chen Dong beckoned the soldiers to bring the target over and tried it himself. The pierced cowhide is very tough enough to make ordinary leather armor, but the firebolt projectile can penetrate several layers of cowhide and make a deep pit in the innermost stake. The power of iron projectiles can be imagined. I'm afraid that even if you step into the iron armor, you can't stand it.

Chen Dong sighed: "I didn't expect the sharpness of the fire gun to be like this!" ”

Yue Fei's face was always cold when he was reviewing his subordinates, and he made an exception and said, "Thank you Lord Chen for your guidance." ”

When Chen Dong heard this, he shook his head slightly, just stroking the targets that had been beaten to pieces, and sighed. Yue Fei was born as a cavalry general, although when Wang Yan's command was deployed in the southeast camp, each army had a battalion of firearms and spears, and it was not necessarily very powerful. Therefore, when Yue Fei came out of the Henghai Xiang Army, he didn't plan how to expand the gunners. On the contrary, out of trust in Zhao Xingde, Chen Dong insisted that the Xiang army should be the main force with firearms and gunners. At first, Yue Fei didn't think so, but when Chen Dong took out the training regulations for musketeers originally drafted by Zhao Xingde, as well as the tactical regulations for the musket battalion, and explained them to Yue Fei one by one, Yue Fei changed his attitude, and then after trying out the two battalions of musketeers, he turned to become a strong supporter of muskets. Under the joint efforts of Chen Yue and the others, among the 7,000 Henghai Xiang troops that had been trained, there were 5,000 musketeers.

Just when Chen Dong sighed at the power of the fire shot, the battalions were under the command of the head of the capital and the team, and the soldiers inserted their guns and formed a phalanx. Rushing forward, he encountered a scarecrow who was tied up as an enemy soldier along the way, and knocked him down with a spear. The phalanxes quickly crossed the ditches, hills, bushes and other obstacles, marched from a distance to the front of the school review platform, and formed a neat infantry formation. Dozens of heavily armored cavalry lined up a cavalry formation next to the phalanx. After the soldiers finished the formation, they shouted in unison such as "swear to kill the enemy and serve the country with all their hearts", and the whole team left the school parade ground.

The martial arts arena quieted down again, and Chen Dong sighed: "General Yue has trained a strong army, and now the imperial court is using troops in the north, and in time, it will be able to raise the prestige of the country outside the territory." The civil officials and scribes of the state capital and the city who followed him to watch the review praised each other, these people had already known the strength of the Henghai Xiang Army in sweeping overseas vassals, but they had never really seen the Xiang Army drill. Now that the prefect opened his mouth, the scribes below were suddenly full of words. However, the commander of the Henghai Xiang Army made Yue Fei neither winn, nor humble, but just stood there with a sinking face, as if all these flatteries and praises had nothing to do with him.

Chen Dong said secretly: "What a sinking person. Regardless of the gap between the two, he became more and more polite.

Outside the martial arts arena, when the soldiers of the Henghai Xiang Army dispersed, the entire prison camp seemed quieter. Many ordinary outcasts looked at these silent soldiers because of military discipline with fear. Since dozens of scoundrels were killed at the gate of the martial arts arena, and then these families were moved to Liusha Island by the Guangzhou City Bosi, no one dared to provoke the soldiers of the Xiang Army in the prison camp.

Yang Zaixing stood in front of a fruit stall, pointed to a basket of oranges and asked, "Brother, how much is this?" ”

"Fifteen Wen," the man who bought oranges looked up and saw that it was a soldier of the Xiang Army, and said with a smile: "The military master likes it, as long as it is ten yuan." "This ten dollars is a loss for him. Seeing this, Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "My family's Yue Shuai military order, those who take a penny from the people will be beheaded." Do you want to buy Yang's head with five cents? After saying that, he counted fifteen pennies, threw them at the hawker's stall, took the oranges and left.

The orange seller muttered in his mouth: "Bodhisattva bless, this military master has a long life and many sons." When he picked up the fifteen copper coins, he looked at the back of the military man, and his heart was full of mixed feelings, and he secretly said, how can there be such a good person in the world?

............

In Guannan, Suzhou, under the gorgeous sunshine, a sea ship slowly pulled up the anchor chain. Zhao Xingde will leave Liaodong on this ship and return to Xia by detouring to the Song realm, and the accompanying sergeants Du Fujiao, Liu Zhijian, Gao Su, and Zhou Yu will also stand on the side of the ship, waving goodbye to those who see them off. Li Ruoxue stood beside Zhao Xingde, seemed to be a little absent-minded, suddenly her eyes lit up, she pulled down Zhao Xingde's clothes, and said in a low voice: "She's here!" ”

I saw Han Ningshuang wearing a long skirt with a cyan coat on the outside, and when the generals of the Han army came to the dock, many Han soldiers who saw them off moved to both sides, letting Han Ningshuang stand in the front. Looking at the people on the side of the boat waving at her, Han Ningshuang's eyes were a little complicated, and she also raised her right hand, with narrow sleeves and short sleeves, showing that her wrist was wearing a jade bracelet, which looked particularly dazzling in the sun.

Zhao Xingde's heart moved, but Li Ruoxue said happily: "Miss Han is wearing a jasper bracelet I gave her." ”

............

The boat raised its white sails and slowly sailed away from the dock, and the figures on the side of the ship gradually blurred, as if something in his heart was being pulled away little by little, and Han Ningshuang only felt uncomfortable. It wasn't until the ship gradually turned into a small spot in the distance that she turned around gloomily and left the dock with the Han generals.

After the Xia Guohai ship left, the salvage of the sunken Xia Guo's ship carrying artillery was immediately put on the agenda of the Han Army Marshal's Mansion. On the night of the attack on the Liao army's Guannan camp, the Xia gunboat, which sank because the hull was not strong enough, was loaded with 46 guns, and some of the artillery pieces were trapped in the mud and sand on the seabed because the hull was broken. Previously, because the owner had been in Suzhou, it was inconvenient for the Han army to salvage, but now the generals discussed, but found that it was not so easy to fish up these heavy guys weighing hundreds of catties and thousands of catties. No matter how good a sailor is, he can't lift such a heavy copper cannon underwater, and it is not easy to install winches and other lifting equipment on a seagoing ship.

When the generals were at a loss, Tong Yunjie, the guard general of Nanshan City, hesitated: "Before General Zhao left, he told the last general a way to fish for iron oxen, but I don't know if I can do it?" The look on his face was quite strange, when Zhao Xingde suddenly asked him to tell him this story, Tong Yunjie felt strange, and now in retrospect, it seems to be specifically instructing the Han army on how to get iron cannons.

"Oh?" Wang Xuansu was also very interested, "Let's hear it." ”

Like Wang Xuansu, after experiencing the battles of Nanshan and Suzhou, the generals of the Han Army had more inexplicable confidence in Zhao De. Even if it is such a thing as submarine salvage, everyone said in their hearts: "Presumably he has a way." ”

It turned out that about 50 years ago, because of the flooding of the Yellow River, the eight 10,000 catties of iron oxen used to bolt the pontoon bridge in the Song Dynasty were washed into the Yellow River by the flood, and tens of thousands of catties of iron cattle fell into the river sand. In desperation, Hezhong Mansion had to post a list to seek talent, and later a monk named Huai Bing unveiled the list. He used an ingenious and simple method to scoop up the iron ox weighing 10,000 catties from the mud and sand of the Yellow River.

Tong Yunjie paused slightly and took a sip of water. Speaking of this, Han Ningshuang already knew it in her heart. The story of this iron ox fishing was widely rumored in the Southern Dynasties, and Han Ningshuang had also heard of the method used by the monk Huaibing. It's just that if it weren't for Zhao Xingde's reminder, I really wouldn't have thought that I could learn from the wisdom of my predecessors here. Thinking of this, Han Ningshuang's cheeks were a little hot, and he said secretly: "Is he helping me secretly when he instructs Tong Laosi?" ”

"What kind of method," Zhang Liuge shouted: "Don't sell Guanzi, Tong Laosi, say it quickly." ”

Tong Yunjie then continued, it turned out that the monk Huaibing filled the wooden boat with sediment, rowed the boat to the place where the iron ox sank, and asked people to dive under the water with a rope to tie the iron ox, and the other end of the rope was firmly tied to the wooden frame on the boat, after tightening the rope, he asked the boatman to shovel the sediment on the boat into the river, with the reduction of sediment, the hull of the boat slowly floated upward, with the power of the floating, the iron bull was pulled out little by little, until the iron bull was completely suspended in the water, you can row the boat to the shore, and the iron bull was fished up. The salvage copper cannon is a little bit of lifting power at the beginning, and it really has to be dragged into the sea, and small sea ships can be easily towed. If we refer to this method of reducing the weight of sediment, there is no need for special winches and other equipment, and the sea ship and the sunken copper cannon are tightly connected with ropes at low tide. When the tide rises, the sediment in the ship is unloaded at the same time, which naturally produces a huge pulling force, which salvages the sunken copper cannon and easily drags it back to the shore.

"I see, it's so simple!" When the generals of the Han Army sighed, Han Ningshuang didn't speak, she looked out the window, her mood was like this ebb and flow, and the corners of her mouth showed a slight smile.