Before the eighth battalion of Chengying officially became an army, Zhao Xingde ushered in an acquaintance, Ma Rui, the centurion of the former iron bone army hussar battalion, finally couldn't bear the loneliness and asked to be transferred to the Chengying army.

Ma Rui quickly turned his attention to the ten guns. "Do we have to take these bulky guys with us in the fight?" He pushed a gun cart with his hand, feeling not as heavy as he imagined, so he smiled and said, "Can the bucket cannon also follow the army?" ”

Zhao Xingde smiled and nodded: "When it comes to fighting, the bulky guy will also take care of the infantry cavalry." ”

Ma Rui smiled and nodded, he was not interested in artillery, his eyes wandered around, and suddenly he saw more than a dozen horses were very tall, at least more than two thousand catties, which stood out in the artillery camp. He exclaimed and exclaimed, "Why don't you give us cavalry this kind of big horse." ”

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "This kind of horsepower is big, but the short-distance sprint is very slow, and it can't catch up with the Khitans, do you want to shoot into a sieve?" "The various horses in the camp have a specific purpose. Wusun pulls horses that don't pick up forage, a horse can move nearly 1,000 catties of baggage carts, can walk 80 miles of flat roads every day, and the endurance of long-distance marches is also good. The Dawan horse is more delicate, but it is the best companion of the cavalry on the battlefield, agile and flexible, fast sprinting, and good endurance. This two-thousand-pound giant horse is specially used for heavy work.

With a puzzled expression on his face, Ma Rui stepped forward to observe that the rider had a special sense of the horse. found that it is indeed as Zhao Xingde said, this Malaysia has a kind temperament, but the reaction is slow. It's like a strong man who has been doing hard labor all year round, and his strength is great, but if he wants to go to the battlefield, he can't beat a sergeant with agility.

The front gunner hundred-man team is doing transition training. Gun wagons, ammunition wagons, and baggage wagons have all been put on horseback. According to the orderly arrangement of the artillery group, accompanied by the officer's command, the gunner gently waved the whip, and the four Wusun horses worked together, and the nearly two-thousand-pound gun carriage was easily dragged up. In order to improve the mobility of the artillery, the Ordnance Division made rubber wheels specifically for the gun carriages, and also used bearings that were rare in this era.

Behind the gun carriage were two ammunition trucks, and further behind were the baggage trucks. Zhao Xingde's ten artillery pieces were divided into two artillery hundred-man teams, in addition to ten artillery trucks, there were also twenty ammunition trucks, thirty three sets of baggage vehicles, a total of more than 200 military horses dragged these big guys, one after another to join the marching column.

Centurion Gao Su turned out to be the cavalry centurion of the Tiger Wing Army, because he had been trained in observation and positioning and calculating angle planes by the Marching Division, and was transferred to the gunner battalion by Zhao Xingde. As his name suggests, his face is as cold as an iron plate, and the fifty gunners under his command were all originally from the infantry cavalry, and under the strict and rigid training, in addition to the aim needs to be strengthened, the speed of loading ammunition is not inferior to that of the old gunners.

The marching column resembled a cyan dragon, and the smooth surface of the cannon body reflected the April afternoon sun, and Gao Su felt full of strength. The gunners on the three sets of baggage carts looked relatively relaxed, while the gunners sitting in the position of the guards in front of the gun carts and ammunition carts had a nervous expression, they rarely drove four horse-drawn carts in the past, and Zhao Xingde had very strict requirements for the marching columns, and did not allow any of the carts to have problems and delay the march. The march remained silent, with the occasional short, powerful command, or the short neighing and snorting of the horses.

After a week of circumnavigation of the artillery vehicle column, they returned to the firing position from which they had set out, and at the order of the officer, the artillery was pushed into the fort, the ammunition trucks and baggage trucks were parked behind the positions, and the horses were brought to a safe position further behind. In a short time, the gunners were already standing in their positions with various tools in their hands.

Then, with the officer's instructions, the gunners began to practice disassembling the guns for transport. Previously, Ma Rui saw that the big horse was carrying more than 700 catties of gun bodies, gun carriages and wheels, and other parts, while the ammunition boxes were placed on the backs of other horses, and the gunners led the horses on foot. This simulates a situation when the road is rough and vehicles cannot pass.

"Four-inch guns are far more powerful than three-inch guns, and if the guns are not too heavy to be carried on horseback, I would rather have all four-inch guns." After the training, Zhao Xingde said with regret that the four-inch cannon alone was nearly 1,500 catties, and there was no one that could be carried among the existing military horses.

Gao Su wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "According to what the general can see, a smaller light cannon should be added, which is not only easy to carry, but also can be pushed to the front of the battle for use." "He was born in cavalry, and although he was transferred to the artillery team, he has always been worried about speeding up the movement, which is very similar to Ma Rui and Wang Tongdeng.

"That's it," Ma Rui said to the side, "the speed of the artillery team needs to be increased to keep up with our cavalry!" ”

Gao Su added: "It would be nice to reduce the weight of the artillery so that ordinary horses can carry it, and accompany the cavalry to raid the enemy's lair, which can destroy the city without affecting the speed." It's like the whirlwind cannon used in the old days. ”

Listening to the two of them pointing and discussing here, Zhao Xingde interjected: "It is not easy to reduce the weight of the artillery, and the Ordnance Department can only spend a gold reward." ”

Wang Tongdeng and Ma Rui glanced at him and said in unison: "If you can make the artillery team keep up with the cavalry, what does it matter if you have gold?" ”

After a short break, two infantry hundred-man squads and one cavalry hundred-man squad also came to the artillery range, this time for a coordinated maneuver. First the artillery shook the enemy formation, then the cavalry flanked the enemy from both flanks, and finally the infantry launched a frontal charge.

The training of each team continued until dusk, when the sky was full of red clouds, and Wang Tong Deng, Ma Rui and other unmarried officers returned to the barracks with their sergeants. Zhao Xingde and other officers whose families were in Dunhuang went home to rest. Zhou Zhongyuan often sighed that because of the training near the capital, the eighth battalion suffered the least in the history of the Chengying Army. Having said that, in the past, the battalions did not have Zhao Xingde to implement the queue regulations and internal affairs regulations so strictly, and Zhang Shanfu, who came to review it once, even joked to Zhou Zhongyuan, it is better to transfer Zhao De to teach the Rong army, and the newly recruited sergeants will be trained by him in the future.

Standing outside the courtyard, Zhao Xingde smelled a strong smell of stewed chicken. Aunt Liu heard the knock on the door, opened the door and said with a smile: "Zhao Junenvoy is back, and Madame is already waiting for you." ”

Because Li Ruoxue was pregnant and her body was getting heavier, Zhao Xingde hired her to help with housework such as fetching water, sweeping the floor, buying vegetables, and cooking. This aunt is in her forties, has three children of her own, and knows how to take care of pregnant women. Although Xingde is not at home all the year round, and can only be explained by Li Ruoxue and the like, the Liu family has never encountered any trouble that the sergeant himself has come forward to solve, so he has never planned to change to another family, and it has been more than three years now.

The men of the Liu family died early, and in addition to cultivating and teaching their own fields, they also worked as helpers everywhere. She earns about 150 wen a day, and she should have paid 45 wen to the sergeant who sheltered her. Li Ruoxue is kind-hearted, not only did she not take a penny, but also paid five yuan to the camp on her behalf every year. This situation is also common in the Xia Kingdom, some sergeants have no shortage of money at home, and some sergeants are sheltering relatives and friends, and they can exempt themselves from the income handed in by the shadow households. A small number of wealthy and kind-hearted sergeants would also hand over to the battalion the equivalent of nine cents of income on behalf of the poor households. The battalion then handed over three points to the military government and three points to the imperial court.

The Prime Minister's Office encouraged this kind of good deed, and every year he commended a group of scholars who sheltered the poor. The family of the founding princes of the rich side of the country, hundreds of poor people in the shadow, paid taxes for them, although the cost was not much, but won an excellent reputation in the local area, and also relieved a lot of pressure on the imperial court.

Zhao Xingde saw that the courtyard was tidy and the food in the kitchen was fragrant, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Aunt Liu." At this time, Li Ruoxue heard the voice in the courtyard, and also came out with a smile, and said to Aunt Liu: "You should also go back to see your children early." ”

Liu said with a smile: "The three of our family don't have to watch it anymore, I wish I would go back later." Having said this, she quickly cleaned up the last bit of housework, and finally advised, "The chicken soup in the clay pot will simmer for a while." The vegetable porridge is in a crockpot, and the big steamed buns are in the steaming drawer. And then he left.

Zhao Xingde tied the horse, removed the saddle, and put the water and forage in the trough, with the smell of horse dung and hay, and took Li Ruoxue in his arms. This Chengying Battalion is bound to go on an expedition, and after Li Ruoxue heard about the devastation of life in Liaodong, she persuaded Zhao Xingde not to shirk. The two have not been together for too long, and they are about to separate again.

When she came to the study, Li Ruoxue took out a letter and said, "This is from Mr. Chunyu." ”

"Oh?" Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "I don't know if it's for ironmaking or bearings." "He has never hidden anything from Li Ruoxue about business.

Since he returned to Guanzhong with Chun Yuzhen, the two of them have often exchanged messages by letter. During the marching training, Zhao Xingde felt that the gun carriage was not walking smoothly enough, and it made an unpleasant creaking sound. He carefully investigated and found that the reason was that although the roller bearings used in the gun carriage were similar in structure to later generations, they were not precise enough, and this kind of bearing is now mostly used on the shaft of the mill, and it is somewhat unsatisfactory for the use of vehicles. So he drew a diagram of the structure of the ball bearing and sent it to Chun Yuzhen, and pointed out the properties of the steel used in each part of the bearing, and proposed that the iron factory should start trial production of this kind of artifact that would inevitably be greatly popularized from now on. If successful, simply equipping the four-wheeled carriage of the baggage division with new bearings would be enough to make a lot of money in the ironworks.

Zhao Xingde casually unfolded the letter, looked at it for a while, and frowned slightly. Chun Yuzhen's letter was neither about the problem of iron smelting nor about the trial production of bearings, but reported to him the shortage of workers in Guanzhong.

In the past two months, under the persuasion and arrangement of Lu Cao, almost all the new displaced people in the Kanto region have chosen to go to the west of Shishan to receive the land grants, and all the workshops in Guanzhong have fallen into a situation of shortage of apprentices. Although Chunyu Iron Works paid twice the market price, the new homeless people did not believe in such good things, but thought that Chunyu Iron Works was the liar's workshop described by the road officials. In desperation, Chun Yuzhen could only consider recruiting some Guanzhong people as apprentices, these people were all registered as Yin Hu, and they were easily unwilling to change to business registration. Chun Yuzhen mentioned that the workshops in Guanzhong are now using their own tricks, some forcibly detaining the workers whose contracts have expired, some raising wages and food to stimulate the workers to speed up their work, and some hiding the displaced people who have not passed through the road Cao screening.

Because he was worried that Chun Yu was sick and rushed to the doctor, and was committing a taboo in the imperial court, Zhao Xingde immediately replied to him with a letter, telling him to rather reduce the scale of the iron factory or hire reliable Guanzhong people, and never do things that violate the law such as concealing workers.