As we entered November, the situation in Henan began to become chaotic. Not only in some areas, but almost the entire Henan province has begun to take action. Even Fengqiu, which is separated from Kaifeng by a river, also caused bandits, and Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, had to lead his troops to encircle and suppress them.

The reason for this situation is that the grain harvest in various places is poor, and even the thieves do not make it until spring. They are bandits just to live, and naturally they will not let themselves starve to death or freeze to death, so they will naturally go out and loot everywhere.

And the remnants of the dragon split from the wandering dragon of Guide Mansion also began to act. Among them, the largest share is the head of the camp of "time migration".

After the death of a dragon, a dragon's troops were divided, some followed Yuan Laoshan, and most of them fought on their own, and each leader went to be the boss by himself. And "Shi Qian" is the strongest one in this, so when Chen Yongfu surrounded and suppressed them, there were also two leaders who defected to "Shi Qian". After more than two months of hibernation, they finally came out again to loot for survival.

The team sent by Li Yan to escort Su Jing had already withdrawn, and Su Jing originally wanted to promote a figure like Li Yan in Guide Mansion to organize troops and stabilize the place. However, the generals who could fight all died with Gao Yuanheng, or they lost their courage after the defeat, and the remaining generals only dared to retreat in the city, not daring to go out of the city for half a step, and did not listen to Su Jing's dispatch at all.

Su Jing went to visit the families of the Guide Mansion, but these families all took the route of the imperial examination, even if there were officers of the guard in their ancestors, but in contemporary times, they are all civil ministers. Even if there are children and nephews in the army, they can only guard the family house and the county seat, and there is nothing they can do outside the city.

They had no choice but to write to the court and ask for troops to be sent to help.

Henan is the heart of the world, the north and the south must rush, and it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times. In view of the importance of Henan, and the fact that Henan is indeed a serious bandit, there is no way to exterminate it with Henan's own troops, so it sent two eunuchs, Lu Jiude and Liu Yuanbin, to Henan with Beijing to assist in the suppression. And Liu Yuanbin is responsible for the assistance of the Guide Mansion. Of course, they're still on the road.

Li Yan is still developing at his pace, and the displaced people from Guide are placed at the junction of Suizhou and Qixian, and they are still moving towards the county seat of Suizhou.

By this time, his soldiers had reached three thousand two hundred, and of course, only about two thousand had completed their training and were about to complete it. The rest are still entering the north and south camps in batches to receive rigorous training.

Feng Cheng, who had an outstanding performance in the last battle with Chen Yongfu, got the opportunity to be promoted first, and now he is the head of Bai. And those brave soldiers in battle were also promoted, and they went to serve as captains among the recruits. After the training of those recruits is completed, they will be mixed with the veterans to form a new team, and all the veterans of the army will be kept at more than 50% to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Li Yan came to the coppersmith's workshop again, and at this time, the clay mold of the cannon had been made and was being dried indoors. The cannon clay mold is very fine, much smaller than the actual caliber of the gun. That's because after the gun is ready, it is necessary to smooth the inside of the barrel with a rotary knife, so there is enough space. And the rotor knife cleaning the barrel is not done at one time, but with different sizes of rotor knives, from small to large, to expand the barrel one by one, so as not to cause damage to the barrel, but also to reduce the wear of the rotator.

Li Yan pointed to the straw rope next to the clay mold cannon and asked, "What is this for?" ”

Master Mu explained: "This is something that makes the clay mold and the barrel have some gaps. Wrap the straw ropes around the barrel of the gun, and after the copper liquid flows down, the straw ropes are burned, leaving behind fine ash, which is separated from the barrel. In the future, it will also save more effort when taking clay molds. If you don't get it, the barrel and the clay mold are closely connected, and the barrel is so deep that it will be difficult to get the heart of the gun out. ”

Li Yan nodded, feeling that the craftsmen were still smart, and all kinds of difficulties had been thought of, and there were solutions.

He asked suspiciously, "What about the clay mold on the outside of the barrel?" How to deal with this situation. ”

"Don't deal with it." Master Mu explained with a smile: "After the cannon is cast, the clay mold outside will be knocked off directly, and there will be no sticking problems. ”

Li Yan only remembered at this time that this was the reason why the clay mold could only be used once. However, he thought that since the use of straw rope can prevent sticking, can the use of iron molds also be considered from this direction? He kept this idea in his heart, and when Master Mu and the others were free, he would come and let them study it.

He went to see the smelting furnace built on the casting turret, and the furnace was connected to the notch where the casting fort was used to place the gun mold, and the melted copper could flow directly into the gun mold.

Li Yan asked, "How much copper can this furnace melt at most?" ”

Master Mu replied: "At that time, according to the general's orders, we should build as large as possible, so we can melt more than 8,000 catties at most." In the future, if the artillery is settled, seven or eight can be made at the same time in one furnace. ”

Li Yan nodded with satisfaction and praised: "Very good, we not only have to meet the needs of the present, but also leave some margin for the future, you are fortunate." ”

"Don't be praised by the son." Master Mu said humbly: "In this troubled world, it is my greatest wish to live a peaceful and stable life. If it weren't for the protection of the general, I don't know how many of us would have starved to death or been killed by thieves and bandits. But we, General Xie, are. ”

"It's a false praise, it's just what Li should do." Li Yan waved his hand and said.

At this time, a soldier followed a coppersmith in the coppersmith's workshop and came over, hugged his fist to Li Yan and said, "General, there is an urgent military situation, Mr. Li Qian, please return to the barracks as soon as possible." ”

Li Yan bowed his hand to Master Mu and said, "Master Mu, you continue, I'll go first." ”

"Congratulations to the General." Master Mu and a few of them bowed down to see them off.

Li Yan returned to the barracks and met Li Mou.

"What's wrong?" Li Yan asked as he walked inside.

Li Mu replied: "Huang Desheng came to report that there are thieves looting in Suizhou, and it is not far from our iron mine. ”

"How many of them are there?" Li Yan frowned and asked, "What is the reaction of Suizhou City?" ”

"More than five thousand." Li Mu replied: "The Suizhou guards closed the city gate, and there was not a single soldier outside. ”

They came to the back hall and looked at the map of Suizhou hanging on the wall. This map was a sketch he drew after sending someone to look at it. Although it is not accurate enough, it is barely possible to check the situation and arrange defenses.

Li Yan thought for a while and ordered: "Let Huang Desheng take the troops and miners to all withdraw to Mengzhuang and join Zhao Datong." For the time being, Huang Desheng is in charge of the command, and Zhao Datong is the deputy. You take two guns and a wing (general) of troops, and go to support. ”

"Don't want the iron ore?" Li Mu asked.

Li Yan said: "The iron mine is easy to say, just clean it up after you repel the thieves." Our fortress cannot be broken, we must give confidence to the people who defect to us, and let them know that as long as they defect to us, they can live with peace of mind. You have to find a way to beat the thief! Let them turn away when they hear our name! ”

"Yes! I'm going to prepare. Li Mu simply agreed.