Chapter 572: The Chosen One
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Chapter 572: The Chosen One
If it hadn't been arranged a long time ago, the good terrain of Vermilion Bird Mountain would not necessarily fall into Fang Jie's hands. Suzaku Mountain, which stretches for hundreds of miles, divides Huangyang Road in two, and a large area in the west is blocked by the semicircular Suzaku Mountain, and in the west is the Wolf Milk Mountain Range that runs north-south, almost encircled. Although it is a thousand miles of fertile wilderness, it can be too isolated, so the aborigines have basically moved out, and it is also the only place in the Great Sui that has not cultivated official roads.
During the Taiping period, this place seemed to be a little remote, there were many tourists in the mountains and beautiful mountains, but no one wanted to live for a long time, and when the world was in turmoil, it became the most suitable place for the soldiers. There is Suzaku Mountain in front of it, which is a natural barrier, and although the wasteland behind the mountain has not been cultivated for many years, it is fertile land as long as it is opened.
Before Fang Xie went south, Wu Yiyi had already arranged for people to recruit troops in Huangyang Road, and about seven or eight thousand people were building cottages, and they were in full swing.
The branch of the Huangniu River passes through the foot of the Suzaku Mountain, although the river narrows, but the big boats can barely pass, and the first big move after Fang Xie arrived here is to widen the river channel connected to the branch of the Huangniu River with a radius of dozens of miles, and tens of thousands of people are busy with this matter in the next two months. After the river channel is widened for six or seven miles, the big boat can enter the lake to stay, and the branch of the Ox River is feasible but can not turn around, after opening up the small lake, the lake will become a water village, and the big boat dispatch will be much more convenient.
After the widening of the river, a new channel was opened on the other side of the lake, so that the flow of water formed a loop, like a roundabout of a modern highway, with the fleet entering the lake from the far entrance and the exit taking another waterway, so as to avoid the danger of congestion in the river.
If the waterway is open, it will be as if the door of convenience is always open for the Black Flag Army. With the ability to travel through the world, the necessary housing materials can be continuously delivered from the waterway.
Artisan recruits are building cottages on Suzaku Mountain, and soldiers of the Black Flag Army are opening rivers.
In the first three months, Fang Xie had no plans to enter the army. And at this point, there is no need to hide anymore, and the recruitment of new soldiers can also be done on the surface. The people of Huangyang Road hated Luo Yao's left avant-garde, so there were not many people who came to take refuge, and the principle of recruiting troops was to choose the best to stay, and the young and old people were all given five catties of grain and fifty copper coins and then let them go home. Of course, in this way, there are many people who sign up for the money and food, but Fang Xie does not let people break it, as long as it is not a duplicate receive, it will be distributed.
For such an approach, Wu Yiyi and others were full of praise in private.
Now that the foundation is not stable, it is indeed a major matter to grasp the hearts and minds of the people. As Fang Xie said during the discussion, don't let the people think that the Black Flag Army's Suzaku Mountain camp is inhabited by a group of bandits and robbers, but an army that loves the people and protects the people. Only when the local people recognize it can it really be regarded as a stable foundation.
During this period of time, Fang Xie has been staring at the river, and the soldiers are very energetic, so the progress is very fast, and after the preparations such as diversion in the early stage are in place, the speed of widening the river is relatively much faster.
Standing on the high embankment, Fang Xie looked at the soldiers working in full swing below with clairvoyance and smiled: "After the river is widened, you can build a water village in the lake, General Duan, this is what you are best at, and I will leave it to you." ”
Duan Zheng smiled and said, "General, in my opinion, this is not a long-term place, right...... Moreover, there are more than 200 warships in our fleet, most of which are merchant ships, so we build more trestle bridges in the lake to load and unload goods immediately, and as for the water village, it is not necessary to build too large and strong. ”
Fang Xie nodded: "That's right, this is just a temporary place to live. However, this place can be attacked, retreated, defended, and cannot be abandoned. You have the final say on how to build the water village, you just need to ask for money and food from Hou Ye. ”
Wu Yiyi said on the side: "I have almost done enough of the business that only enters and does not leave." ”
Fang Xie laughed, and suddenly saw a tall figure in the distance walking along the river with his head down, as if he was pondering something. Fang Xie pointed to the man and instructed his own soldiers: "Go and invite Andrew, how did this guy come out so far." ”
This Andrew came from a place called the Principality of Rus, to the east of the sea, and was a firearms craftsman invited by the merchants of Eastern Chu who was commissioned by Wu Yi. This person was a criminal in the Principality of Rus, because he was framed and his family business was robbed, he killed someone in a fit of anger and was arrested and put in prison, and the merchants of Eastern Chu bought him with a hundred taels of silver and a Da Sui porcelain, and then asked him to recruit a few craftsmen who made firearms, all of whom were low-level people living in poverty, and sent them to the Great Sui.
He had the typical curly blond hair and blue eyes of a foreigner, he was very strong, but he could not fight at all, and he had the experience of having his nose broken in a tavern, and his opponent was a sixty-year-old man.
The soldiers hurriedly went over and invited Andrew over, and Andrew heard that it was General Fang who was looking for him to trot over here. After he arrived in the Great Sui, he was fascinated by the culture of this country, and in his understanding, Fang was the equivalent of a duke in the Duchy of Rus.
"Your Excellency, what do you have to tell me about it?"
Andrew bent down and saluted with the understanding of the Rus, barely able to express himself clearly in Chinese.
"How did you get all the way out?"
Fang Xie pointed in the direction of the cottage.
Andrew replied with some sadness, "I miss my family, my lord, if you have a way, can you bring my family here?" I am a criminal, and I will be recaptured and executed as soon as I return to the Duchy of Rus, but I have a younger sister and a younger brother who need my care, and I am not with them, and their lives must be very hard. That pervert of old Enge has long had bad intentions towards my sisters, and I'm worried about them. ”
"Oh?"
Fang Xie glanced back at Wu Yiyi and said, "Master Hou, if you can, you can ask the merchants of Dongchu to bring Andrew's family, as well as the families of several other craftsmen, so that they can do things with peace of mind." ”
Wu Yiyi snorted: "I have already sent someone to do it, but it is not easy to bring out dozens of people from the Rus Country." ”
Fang Xie nodded: "No matter how difficult it is, it has to be done...... Andrew"
Fang Xie said to Andrew: "Don't worry, I will definitely bring your family here." Also, I have something to ask you. ”
Fang Xie thought for a while and said, "Now the things we make long guns are all bought from the merchants of Eastern Chu at a great price, such as gun barrels, these things cannot be made by the Great Sui now. Do you think there is a way to get all the machinery and equipment you need from the Principality of Rus'? ”
"My Honorable Lord!"
Andrew exclaimed, "It's too hard...... It's military-controlled stuff, and it's too hard to get out. If it weren't for the greed of the guys who managed the storeroom, they wouldn't have been able to buy these parts. ”
"There's always a way."
Fang Xie patted him on the shoulder and said, "As long as you can find a way to transport the machine from the Principality of Rus, I will fulfill your one more request." You know, I have the ability. ”
Andrew glanced back at the scene of tens of thousands of soldiers working on the river, and was convinced of Fang Jie's words: "I know you have this ability...... All right! I tried my best to figure it out, but ...... Can you really grant me one wish? ”
Fang Xie nodded: "Unless you want to be the emperor." ”
Andrew hurriedly shook his head: "No, no, no, I don't want to be an emperor, I just want to ...... Just want to ...... Let Miss Yinyu be my wife, she is simply an angel, and I am already deeply fascinated by her. If I could make her my wife, I would give everything I had in exchange! ”
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and the wine-colored wealth who followed behind really couldn't hold back their laughter. The muscles on Wu Yiyi's face couldn't help but twitch a few times, and then looked at Fang Jie.
Fang Xie was obviously stunned for a moment, he was silent for a while, stretched out his hand to put his arm around Andrew's shoulder, and asked very seriously: "Andrew, in your hometown, if two men like a girl at the same time, then how to solve it?" ”
Andrew replied: "Duel! ”
Fang Xie snorted, stopped and looked at Andrew and said more seriously: "How is the relationship between the medical officer in the cottage and you?" “
"Good, that's a good guy! We often drink together, and always he invites me to drink your Da Sui's burning knife, that wine is too spicy, and I still like the beer of our Rus principality, it tastes great. I would like to invite you to have a drink with sausages, which is a delicacy in the world. I also told the doctor that I would give him a barrel of beer in the future! ”
Andrew Road.
Fang Xie said very seriously: "He may have to take care of you for a while......
……
……
Fang Xie naturally wouldn't really beat Andrew, and of course he wouldn't mind doing so if Andrew challenged. Wu Yiyi was not joking when he said that he wanted to marry Wu Yinyu to Fang Jie, if it wasn't for Fang Xie half-jokingly pulling Andrew aside, it was really possible for Sanjin Hou to throw this stupid big man into the mud at the bottom of the river.
"This one is really hard!"
In the Workshop lab, Andrew couldn't understand the whimsical nature of the solution: "I've now simplified the reloading of the long-gun as much as possible, so that the speed of firing and reloading is at least a third faster than before. My esteemed lord, although the continuous hair you mentioned is a genius idea, I really can't do it, and with my current ability, I don't think it's just me, no one can do it. ”
Fang Xie nodded, knowing that the repeating firearms were indeed a little too advanced for this era, and the muskets of the Principality of Rus were not as lethal as the repeaters. Even with an army, if the enemy has an arrow array of tens of thousands, the musket has no advantage. The range is not longer than that of a hard bow, and the power of lead bullet is also small. From the perspective of this thing now, it can only be regarded as a sharp weapon for medium-distance combat, and it needs a lot of equipment.
And the reason why Fang Xie let Andrew keep studying is because he firmly believes that the times are advancing, science and technology are also advancing, although the current firearms are still very weak, but in the future generations in the battle between cold weapons and ***, how heavy the losses are Fang Xie will not forget. In his previous life, the motherland suffered too much in this regard, and he will not forget it.
"Let's put this one first."
Fang Xie asked: "What about the artillery, is it possible to make it in Dasui?" ”
Andrew shook his head again: "Impossible, there are only a few of us and those apprentices, and it is impossible to cast artillery without a factory." ”
Fang Xie couldn't help but sigh, although he had already known the answer, he was still a little disappointed. There is no mature casting process in the Great Sui, and if you want to make artillery, you can only think about it.
"If ......"
Fang Xie gestured and said, "If the artillery can be installed on the warship, then our fleet can easily control the living river." ”
Andrew looked at Fang Xie like a monster: "I really can't believe that you haven't left this country. Your mind is completely different from that of other people, who see these things with amazement and suspicion, while you seem to know many, many things, and it is not surprising at all. ”
Fang Xie smiled and was about to speak, when he suddenly heard someone outside say in a cold tone: "Because he is the Chosen One, the Chosen One has known many things that others don't know since he was born, that is innate knowledge, not acquired knowledge." ”
Fang Xie was shocked in his heart, and when he turned around, he saw that he didn't know when Sang Sasa, the great master of Mengyuan, appeared at the door.