Similar to the three villages of Guiyu, the new officials in more than a dozen cities and dozens of villages in the Xia Kingdom all arrived at the place where they took office a year ago, and these energetic young officials, with their own ideals and ambitions, began their new world.

With the improvement of the civil system, the power of the generals has been weakened a lot, and the civil affairs are completely in the hands of local officials.

With the liberation of the low-level military attachés from government affairs, the number of troops that Wang Lang could call on suddenly increased a lot, except for some major cities in the east that were garrisoned by about 100 troops, most of the cities only had a team of troops stationed in the local area to prevent accidents.

After receiving the message from the dragoons, the troops from all over the country hurriedly marched in the direction of Yancheng after the New Year.

Not long after the New Year, before the festive atmosphere faded, Wang Lang summoned the military department Shangshu Linhuo, the commander of the Royal Forest Army, and the general soldier Lin Shubark to the palace.

In the main hall, Wang Lang hung up a huge map, pointed at the location of the grassland west of Yancheng with a stick, and said: "I originally planned to send only 1,000 people to conquer this area, but this progress is still too difficult, I plan to mobilize 3,000 troops and 2,000 people from all over the country to gather troops from all over the country to conquer this area from six directions, and strive to include this area in my Great Xia territory within half a year."

After capturing the population, fifty miles east of Dingyuan City, find a suitable location every fifty miles to build, the size of each city is maintained below two thousand people, and the name of the new city is named after the generals of each department, do you have anything else to add. ”

Lin Shupi looked at the map and said, "Your Majesty, who will command the army in this expedition against the barbarians, and how to deploy the personnel if they attack from six directions, many of them are not my subordinates." ”

Wang Lang said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about this, I will appoint the generalissimo of the expedition to the west, and the soldiers of the strong teeth will directly obey your orders in the process of conquering the barbarians, and if there are disobedient people who take it directly, I will send a military judge to accompany the army to the west." ”

With Wang Lang's assurance, Lin Shupi patted his chest and said: "Minister, this time I will definitely let those barbarians teach me the prestige of Great Xia, educate them, and expand the land for my Great Xia, but Your Majesty, this military judge is not necessary." ”

Wang Lang smiled gently: "The military judge still has to be set up, your task is to conquer the West, just leave these trivial matters to the military judge to deal with, rest assured, this military judge will not participate in any military operations except for the implementation of military law." ”

Hearing this, Lin Shupi nodded and said, "The minister listens to His Majesty's arrangement." ”

At this time, Lin Huo said: "Your Majesty, the scale of this westward expedition is so large, and the time is a situation that we have never encountered, I am not worried about weapons, but in terms of logistics, I am worried that it will not be supplied, and the food required by 3,000 people every day is not a small amount!" ”

Wang Lang nodded and said: "What you said is right, this is also the point I am most worried about, the west is a very strange environment for us, there are no roads, it is a great challenge for transportation, this time your military department must coordinate the Ministry of Engineering and the Ministry of Households, use all the vehicles that can be used, and use all the idle giant deer, so as to ensure that the soldiers in front of the front are fed as much as possible." ”

After taking on such a difficult task, Lin Huo frowned, this matter is not only for their military department, but also for the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households.

"Minister! Yes, sir! Lin Huo said stiffly.

As the saying goes, when a cannon fires, there are ten thousand taels of gold, although this time there is not much chance to use weapons, but the daily consumption of so many people is an astronomical amount, and they have not felt the pressure when they were scattered in various cities before.

But as soon as the army moves, that pressure immediately becomes apparent.

"It's hard for you this time, and I don't want to be in such a hurry, but I'm afraid those dinosaur people won't give us much time! We can only compete with them for time and gather humanity as quickly as possible. Wang Lang said slowly.

When the two of them heard this, their hearts froze, and Lin Huo hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, since this is the case, we should be able to defend the Shenzhou Continent!" ”

Wang Lang shook his head with a wry smile and said: "I don't know, we can only do the best we can now, even if we lose to those monsters in the end, we must let them see the courage of human beings, even if they die to the gods, I believe that the gods will not blame us." ”

"Your Majesty, it's been almost four years since the dinosaur man's stranded ship appeared on the beach, is the continent outside so far away from us? There hasn't been another dinosaur for so long. Lin Huo asked suspiciously.

Wang Lang said in a deep voice: "No matter what the reason is for them not to come, we just need to do our own thing." ”

After the first lunar month, as reinforcements from all over the country gathered, the western expedition officially began.

After sufficient preparations, more than 3,000 soldiers and more than 2,000 people divided into six routes and marched to the west.

Fifty dragoons, in teams of two, spread their wings in the sky, taking the lead and reconnoitring the situation ahead from the air.

With the addition of air power, every move on the ground can be said to be under the control of the Xia army.

The army advanced very quickly, starting from Yancheng, marching more than 20 miles a day, and the army in the middle arrived at the residential area of the five parts of the original grassland after ten days.

From time to time, the dragoons sent news from the front, but they did not find any trace of the savages.

Lin Shupi ordered to set up camp by a small stream, and Wang He, who was only nine years old, went out with the army, but for the sake of safety, Lin Shupi left him by his side and learned some knowledge about marching and fighting with him.

This time, in addition to capturing the population and expanding the territory, it is more important to draw a map along the way, and only by fully understanding the territory you rule can you use the terrain advantage to deal with the enemy in future wars.

Now most of the army of the Xia Kingdom has been sent out, from the northern jungle to the central grassland, the footprints of the Great Xia army are all over the place, except for the jungle in the south, most of the areas on the Shenzhou continent have appeared in the figure of the Great Xia soldiers.

At the same time as the Xia army was fully expanding, the craftsmen of the Yancheng Gunpowder Secret Test Base carefully placed a bamboo tube on a table and fixed it, and the mouth of the bamboo tube in the black hole was aimed at the target in front.

Wang Lang also came to watch the test himself, this gunpowder weapon was completed with his participation, if this test can be successful, it will show that muskets and artillery will no longer be a dream.

Craftsmen fill the bamboo tube with gravel and light the fuse, which burns out.

A dull sound erupted from the bamboo tube, and after a puff of white smoke, the target more than ten meters in front of it had been beaten into a honeycomb, and the small stones were stuck on the wooden board, so powerful that everyone was taken aback.

Wang Lang hurriedly walked to the bamboo tube to check the situation, the shot just now had completely scrapped the bamboo tube, the wall of the bamboo tube had cracked, and the copper sheet wrapped in it even broke two, which showed how powerful it was.

"Looks like this thing still can't replace bronze!" Wang Lang shook his head.

Mu Feng walked up to Wang Lang and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, are you not satisfied with such power?" ”

Wang Lang said: "You look at things can only be used once, it can't be used, ten meters away from even the wooden board can't be broken, this can only be used as a sample, in the future you will follow this principle, try to use bronze to make artillery, I want the artillery is able to hit ten pounds of iron balls, at least one thousand meters, so that it can have practical value." ”

"A thousand meters? Your Majesty, how can this be done! Mu Feng exclaimed.

Wang Lang smiled: "I think it should be possible, you see that such a small thing can beat the stone out so far, and the air tightness of this thing is very poor, if it is replaced with bronze, it will be made larger, and the problem of air tightness will be solved, and it is not difficult to hit a thousand meters." ”

Mu Feng looked at the scrapped bamboo tube, muttered for a while and said, "Nachen will give it a try, if you can really make a cannon of that power, this blow can smash a dinosaur." ”

Wang Lang nodded and said: "You should study this matter as soon as possible, and if the materials are insufficient, find the household department to deploy it, and I will do my best to assist you." ”

Hearing this, Mu Feng hurriedly bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty." ”

"I heard that your Ministry of Industry recently made a good thing, which is very convenient for grinding noodles, take me to see it." Wang Lang shifted the subject.

"Your Majesty, the thing that came out is called a windmill, I observed the windmill that children usually play with and felt it, and researched this thing, but this windmill is of little use here in Yancheng, and the effect is not as good as that of an animal-powered mill." Mu Feng said slowly.

"Oh, why is that, is it because the wind isn't strong enough here?" Wang Lang asked.

Mu Feng said respectfully: "Your Majesty Shengming, the wind in this inland grassland is very weak, and the windmills are turning very slowly, and the minister recently plans to build some windmills in the harbor and the northern city to try, if the effect is good, this thing can make up for the lack of our ceratosaurus." ”

Wang Lang nodded and said, "You can take care of this matter, take me to see what that windmill looks like." ”

"Yes!"

Mu Feng gave a salute, took Wang Lang out of the gunpowder experimental base, out of Yancheng and walked south for more than half an hour, Wang Lang saw that on the empty grassland, erected this huge object seven or eight meters high, the blades slowly rotated under the action of the breeze, and the building made of bricks below made creaking sounds from time to time.

"Your Majesty, this is the windmill." Mu Feng pointed to the tall building in front of him.

The windmill in front of him is very different from the Dutch windmill in Wang Lang's impression, the blades of the Dutch windmill in his impression are vertical, rotating up and down, while the one in front of him is rotating horizontally around the wooden pole erected in the middle, which looks very weird.

But since it can use the wind, Wang Lang doesn't care what it looks like, as long as it can stand the test of practice, it is a useful thing.

Walking into the building below the windmill, I saw that in the empty room, there was only one stone mill driven by the connecting rod, slowly rotating on the grinding plate, the speed was so slow, Wang Lang couldn't wait to go up and push it to rotate quickly.

"Your Majesty, you have also seen that this thing turns so slowly, it is useless here." Mu Feng said slowly.

Wang Lang nodded and said: "It's really useless here, but I can see that this thing will be of great use as long as there is wind, with the wind power of the sea and the north, it is not a problem to use this thing to drive the four stone mills to rotate, this is a good thing!" ”

Mu Feng smiled a little smugly when he heard this: "The minister thinks the same, if this thing can really play an effect in the north, as long as we build enough, the production of flour will be expanded many times, and the people of the country will be able to eat cheap flour." ”

Looking at the slowly rotating stone mill, Wang Lang sighed in his heart, he couldn't imagine that this group of barbaric natives who had not had much contact with scientific knowledge could actually develop machinery to this point, which shows that the intelligence level of these people is on par with modern people, but they lack a lot of knowledge.

"It's just a waste of flour." Wang Lang shook his head and said.

Mu Feng was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly: "Your Majesty, what else can this thing do besides grinding flour?" ”

Wang Lang pointed to the connecting rod structure and said: "Since the Ministry of Industry can do this, have you ever thought of using the power of water flow to improve this thing, not only grinding flour, but also combining it with animal power forging hammers, or combining with looms, using the principle of this connecting rod to let the power of nature replace human and animal power." ”

Mu Feng pinched his beard and thought carefully, his eyes slowly became extremely excited, and his breathing couldn't help but be a little short.

"Your Majesty is really smart, and the minister thinks that the second thing is feasible."

Wang Lang listened to Mu Feng's praise and couldn't help laughing: "Since you think it's feasible, you go back and write a piece of music, write out your plan in detail, after I read it, if it's okay, how many manpower and money and food are needed, make a statistic." ”

"Obey the order!" Mu Feng said excitedly.

Looking at Mu Feng, whose mind was no longer here, Wang Lang chuckled: "Let's go back!" ”

Escorted by the guards, Wang Lang returned to Yancheng with the officials of the Ministry of Industry.

Food is the day, many diners gathered around, listening attentively to the narration of a soldier.

"What you say is true, is that really that amazing thing, can it make people extremely strong with just one bite?" One diner asked.

The soldier smiled hesitantly: "What is really fake, let me tell you, as long as you eat that thing, I can beat you four or five without weapons alone, you say it's not powerful." What's even more amazing is that if you don't eat it, you will feel uncomfortable, and if you take a bite, it feels more comfortable, as if it is floating, more comfortable than doing that with a woman! ”