When he finished asking about the battle routine, Di Qing naturally asked questions about daily maintenance, but the answers he got were very few.

After thinking about it for a while, he also understood that the tactics of the fortress had reached the point where he felt amazing, not that these group exercises were really strong, they were at best a gourd.

It's just that Dinghaihou cultivated them a lot at that time, and trained them from beginning to end.

Specific maintenance, construction and vigilance, which need to be summarized over a long period of time, this law, I don't know whether it has not been summarized, or it has been omitted, but this is not a problem.

In the records of the Privy Council, there are all the methods of construction of the fortress, from the Privy Council and the Ministry of Works, to the craftsmen in the northwest, who also brought first-hand information on the construction of the fortress, as long as the importance of the fortress is determined, there is no problem in reproducing it, but among them, a key material is needed, cement.

That's right, it's cement, the name sounds very strange, mud made of water, or mud made of hydration, I felt before, maybe it's a kind of loess, rural families, soil cultivation houses, is using loess as a binder.

At that time, he missed this material, and now, when he saw the fortress of Miaojiazhuang in Baozhou, he realized that he underestimated this material, and until now, the Northern Song Dynasty has no way to solve it, and it still relies on the import of the Ding Navy.

But come to think of it, this thing will not be too expensive, after all, even a finished product of the fortress, plus other costs including labor, add up, only more than 2,000, which is not a small number for a family, or even a businessman, but for a country, especially the military, it is a very small number.

The bulk of military spending is always the cost of equipment and military maintenance.

The government military system of the Tang Dynasty, why did you choose such a system, it is because to raise a soldier full-time, the money required is too much.

Take the Northern Song Dynasty Forbidden Army as an example, a set of equipment of the forbidden army, between 100 and 120 guan, the annual salary alone, more than 25 guan, this is only a small part of the soldier's expenditure, training, weapon replacement, military food and other aspects, conservative estimates, a soldier's annual expenditure, will also exceed 100 guan.

That is to say, 2000 guan is only equivalent to the cost of 20 soldiers for a year, but what it brings is unparalleled defense strength, even if it can be used to reduce the number of border garrisons by about 3 percent, it is an astronomical amount for the savings of military spending, not to mention, it is now clear that it is more than 3 percent.

In order to guard against the Liao State, the annual garrison in Hebei almost exceeds 300,000, which simply refers to the forbidden army, the box army, the civilian service, the border army, these various titles, and even some private soldiers, all together, the entire Liao and Song Dynasty border, the garrison is more than one million, now, if it is calculated according to 200 fortresses, at most 200,000 is enough, which is equivalent to a reduction of 8 percent.

Di Qing even had some resentment, why, this fortress didn't appear in front of him earlier, if it had been earlier, maybe many of his subordinates would not have died in the northwest.

That's right, Di Qing started from the northwest, and his prestige also comes from the northwest, as a general who has no background and has not passed the imperial examination and martial arts, Di Qing's success, that is the glory of the soldiers, almost killed from the sea of blood, can live to this day, it is also a luck.

However, Di Qing's luck was accompanied by countless robes, sacrifices and deaths, and without the help of some of his subordinates, he might have died on the battlefield long ago.

The viciousness of Western Xia, the terrible of Western Xia, this is what Di Qing remembers in his heart, and he has wanted to take Western Xia countless times but cannot, he even carefully studied the tactics of Western Xia, to put it bluntly, the pig is just a wolf running.

With the help of the cavalry's higher mobility, wanton activities and infiltration, once a weak point is found, it immediately breaks into it, and after achieving results in a short time, it will flee away, and the special environment of Western Xia, as well as a large number of cavalry, has become the basis of this tactic.

To crack this tactic, in fact, it is not difficult, one is in terms of mobility, higher than that of Western Xia, similar to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's approach to the Turks.

Under the premise of the superiority of national strength, it took huge effort to arm a real elite cavalry, this cavalry was not weaker than the Huns in all aspects such as war horses and soldiers, coupled with the elite equipment of the Central Plains, this became the root cause of Huo Qu's illness and wolf Juxu.

This point, in the Northern Song Dynasty, first of all, it is impossible, there have been no horses for many years, and even such a terrible heavy cavalry as the Jingsai Army has been removed in the army sequence of the Northern Song Dynasty, not to mention the re-establishment of Yulinwei, perhaps during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the entire financial revenue cannot be compared with the current Northern Song Dynasty, but the Liao State is not comparable to the Xiongnu, and an army of tens of thousands of people is almost impossible to produce good results.

The second is to reduce their mobility as much as possible, limiting them to a certain extent.

In fact, this is what the Northern Song Dynasty has been doing, but unfortunately, the investment is too huge, and even at some critical moments, some important nodes are uprooted, and everything is over.

The appearance of the fortress has changed all this, as long as it is in the right place and distance, there is no need to look for the mountains, there is no need to look for the main road, as long as the location is suitable, it can be built anywhere, which will form an evenly distributed situation, in the face of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Western Xia has no choice.

It's a pity that this fortress appeared a little late, in the battle of Song and Xia, before it was shown, Western Xia perished, and Han Qi pushed a force in it, but he relied more on the power of explosives.

Di Qing's resentment, in fact, is also the sorrow of the Central Plains civilization, as an ancient and long-standing civilization, as a nation that as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it cast a huge Great Wall to resist the attacks of nomads, but it was not the first to discover the fortress.

If it weren't for Zhao Xin crossing over, let alone now, even if it was another 500 years, there would be no terrible fortifications like a fortress.

The reason is simple, cement.

Fire, this is the easiest way to achieve a reaction in chemistry, a fire in nature, accidentally mixed into the cave fire of the substance, this will become the inspiration of primitive man.

Among many human beings, pottery has almost become a standard equipment, not the source of these civilizations is the same, but that is, it is naturally generated, the temperature of several hundred degrees, even in primitive societies, is not difficult to achieve, and clay is a very widely distributed mineral.

But after the pottery, there was a branch, the descendants of Yan and Huang obtained ceramics, all kinds of beautiful ceramics, even until the 19th century, it was a secret, up to 2000 years, ceramics were luxury goods from the East, and they were more expensive than gold.

Although there is no ceramics in the West, it has cement, as early as ancient Rome, and even in ancient Greece, cement appeared, which is a mixture of lime and volcanic ash, it is far inferior to modern cement, but it is also better than Chinese adhesives, so in ancient Rome, ancient Greece, magnificent historical buildings, for example, the Colosseum, for example, the Greek Temple, these buildings that have gone through thousands of years, are still immortal, and have become symbols of Rome and Greece.

Ceramics have gained great benefits for China, but they have lost a more terrible defense, and their tortoise shells have been made a little tighter.

The emergence of Zhao Xin has taken it a step further, and the cement in the modern sense, coupled with the superior and closer to concrete, the characteristics of cement can perfectly integrate steel, bricks, and mortar, forming a structure similar to stone.

Such a low-priced, but outstanding, easy-to-process city defense is simply a sacred object prepared for the Northern Song Dynasty.

Everyone knows that a rock-solid fortress is not easy to break, and a completely strong fortress is not nothing, but the investment is too huge.

For example, Tokyo Bianliang, a city with a population of one million, has also built terrible defenses, but this is only the dignity that a national capital should have, and the others, even the daimyo's mansions, have not built enough defenses.

There is a data that can be clearly reflected, the city wall of the Northern Song Dynasty Daimyo's Mansion is only 3,600 meters, that is, 3.6 kilometers, the average to the square, the side length is only 900 meters, that is, as the Northern Song Dynasty Sijing Daimyo's Mansion, only less than 1 square kilometer area.

Under the premise that there are few buildings with more than 3 floors in the Northern Song Dynasty and the structure of the houses is relatively large, how many people are there in this city.

In this way, the construction of the Daimyo's Mansion has invested a huge amount of money, if it weren't for the Daimyo's Mansion is the throat of the north, and it is also a wharf for water and land transportation, so as to be able to support a city of this scale, it would have been impossible to change to another place.

For example, Henan Mansion, which is also classified as the four capitals, is Luoyang, which was once the ancient capital of several dynasties and a place full of imperial spirit, in the Northern Song Dynasty, there are only ruins left for people to visit.

In fact, Di Qing had already overestimated the defensive power of the fortress enough, but when this fortress appeared in front of them, Di Qing knew that this fortress was so terrible, this was an epoch-making defensive weapon prepared by God for the Northern Song Dynasty.

From a strategic point of view, this fortress is even more terrifying than the longbow, if there is a simple longbow, at most, it will increase the attack power, so that when the Northern Song Dynasty faces the nomadic soldiers and horses, it will not be passively beaten, and it also has the ability to counterattack.

However, the fortress is a foundation, a foundation that makes the people of Guotai love, and even the Central Plains civilization will no longer be harassed by nomads.

For the farming nation, as long as the alien race can be kept out of the country, for the farming nation, it is a victory.

The advanced farming lies in the fact that he can raise more people with less manpower and less land, and may encounter another crisis because of the expansion of the population, but as long as it is not disturbed by external forces, it will also quickly move from chaos to great governance and start again.

From the Qin, Han, Tang and Song dynasties, the context has always been relatively clear, and there may have been twists and turns, but there has been no large-scale regression, civilization and science and technology have been slow and steady development, and they have always stood at the top of the world.

However, after the Song Dynasty, there were two regressions, one was the Yuan Dynasty and the other was the Qing Dynasty.

The slaughter policy of the Yuan Dynasty made the entire Yuan Dynasty only occupy the Central Plains for more than 100 years, and then had to retreat to Mobei and return to the grassland where they started.

But in the Qing Dynasty, under the history of 300 years, China finally sank, the Opium War in 1840, aside from the battleships and artillery, the British army in the era of platoon shooting, the range of their muskets was about 100 meters to 150 meters, and it was definitely not beyond the scope of bows and arrows.

Not to mention the big killer weapons such as the Divine Arm Bow and the Bed Crossbow, even if it is an ordinary strong bow, if it is used flexibly, it will not be at an absolute disadvantage in terms of range, let alone a musket.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were dozens of kinds of muskets, and there were even more accurate fire systems and continuous fire systems, which by the end of the Qing Dynasty, all became cumbersome arquebuses and bird systems.

One slow one can only fire one shot, and then go up with a knife, and the other can only hit birds.

The fault line of civilization is a sad for the era of civilization, compared with the relatively peaceful development of farming civilization, nomads, who are in the constant fighting, gradually grow up, they are relatively robust, and at the same time experienced, as long as there is a winner, it will have a huge threat to the Central Plains.

When a male lord emerges in the Central Plains, he will fight against their palms and make them decline, but when the Central Plains is at a low point, it will be a catastrophe.

However, the effective tactics of the nomads, in the face of the bastion, their advantage will no longer exist.

Not to mention the fortress, the one-to-many exchange, even if it is a one-to-one ratio, the agricultural civilization can also consume the nomads to death, and it is said that the fortress may use 1,000 people against 100,000 people, if 100,000 people, regardless of the cost of attacking, maybe, 1,000 people, and even 100,000 people can kill three or four percent of 100,000 people.

This kind of exchange is no longer one-to-one, it is 1-to-ten, this is simply a weapon to change the nomads and farming peoples, he may not be as great as the Great Wall, but the investment is less, and there are more nodes for defense, and the defense is more stable.

The Great Wall for the farming people, is a protection, but also a restriction, with the Great Wall, to guard against the attack of the nomads, but also to imprison the expansion of the Central Plains, the Great Wall for both inside and outside, is an obstacle, but the fortress is different, he does not rely on the geographical advantage, can be used flexibly, defense can, hidden forces to attack and counterattack, the same can.

In Chinese history, there have always been all kinds of nomadic people in the Koubian, they are the victors who survived the battle, some people were born on horseback, fighting for decades, only to provoke anger to the Central Plains, physical bravery, and even the spirit of sacrifice, are the best choice, as long as it is a young and strong man in the clan, almost everyone can be a soldier, pull out and stay to become an army.

They have such and such strong places, but they have one of the biggest weaknesses, that is, without exception, the population is small.

The environment of the grassland, even if it is a larger area of land, cannot afford more population, the population of Western Xia is only a few million, and the Liao State is about the same, if it does not occupy the sixteen states of Yanyun, it is almost impossible to get close to ten million.

Genghis Khan, who later rose up and fought all over the world, occupied even a steppe larger and larger than the current land of the Liao State when he unified the Mongolian tribes, and it was only divided into 95 thousand households, that is, 90,000 Wu thousand households.

On the grassland, it is not easy to feed a child, the average household is three or four people, at most only six or seven people, and even because of the war, there are many losses, even if the average household is 5 people, the population is around five million, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is even less, and the core satisfaction is two or three hundred thousand people, which is also the Manchu Qing Dynasty has always admired the Mongol Manchu family, if there is no this as the cornerstone, the Manchu Qing people are too few.

can be consumed one-to-one, these nomads are not the opponents of farming peoples at all, as long as it is not a continuous war, the dynasties of the Central Plains are in the tens of millions of people.

However, the facts have proved that the city wall and the city can not solve this problem, which involves the population and the number of troops, just like the Ming Dynasty's method of dealing with the Manchu Qing Pingliao, which is a continuous casting of cities, if the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty is as healthy as the Northern Song Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was besieged early in the morning.

The Ming Dynasty was not so rich, coupled with corruption from top to bottom, 30 million Pingliao fees, maybe out of the capital, it will be less than thirty percent, plus layers of exploitation in the middle, the Liaodong that can really be used, there is no one in ten, and the fortress built up by the seams and patches will be besieged by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, when the ammunition is exhausted, what awaits them is a disaster.

There is also a historical pity, if at that time, the Spaniards did not introduce the red-coated cannons, but the fortresses, perhaps, history will also change, but it is a pity that history does not if, and even unceremoniously said that the red-coated cannons, the Spanish phalanx and the bastions are all likely to enter China, and the courtiers who are so happy with their achievements prefer the red-coated cannons, plus the cement is such a thing, and there is a lack of volcanic ash originating in the Mediterranean, how do they make it.

The fortress is different, there is less stationing, less investment, 700 soldiers, the annual investment may not exceed 10,000, and under 200, it is only 2 million, for the Northern Song Dynasty, it is not a problem at all, and it also includes the military expenses that should be spent on itself.

With a comprehensive understanding of the fortress, Di Qing has been mentally prepared for the next war, as long as in the process of replacing the forbidden army, at least 150 various fortresses will be built in the border passes of Hebei Province, and then 100,000 people will be stationed in these places.

A very terrible defense line, 100,000 people can put the defense line guarded by hundreds of thousands of people in the north, and the defense is impregnable, and then he can draw out enough troops to carry out military operations, an operation that has been entrusted by the Northern Song Dynasty for many years, to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.