However, it is precisely for this reason that the composition of the army under Liu Futong's command suddenly became extremely complicated. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Therefore, in order to be able to command this incomparably large army higher, Liu Futong had no choice but to use the classification method of old battalions and foreign battalions in his own army, so as to distinguish those troops who were loyal to him and had strong combat effectiveness and those newly recruited troops.

Although this method caused a strong centrifugal force in the outer army, and further reduced their loyalty, and caused great contradictions between the old battalion and the outer battalion. But I have to say that this method is indeed the most effective and scientific way to distribute the money, food, and weapons in Liu Futong's hands.

So with this method, the patchwork army in Liu Futong's hands also showed quite good combat power. Although this kind of combat power may seem so ridiculous in the eyes of later generations, it is just right to use it to deal with enemies who are even more corrupt than them.

Anyway, in these days of fighting, they were indeed pressed and beaten by Liu Futong.

Therefore, it is precisely because of this that Tai Buhua, who fought on the Western Front, was so eager to start a decisive battle with Zhang Shihua after getting the artillery. Because he knew that he was not Liu Futong's opponent at all, if he couldn't solve Zhang Shihua as soon as possible, then it might be a big rout of the main force on the Eastern Front.

However, what Ling Taibuhua didn't expect was that the combat power of the black-clothed army was far beyond his imagination, so it was the Western Front where he was located that was defeated first. Therefore, after the defeat, he also had to hurriedly lead his troops north to return to the Wei clan, in order to stabilize the situation on the eastern front.

But everyone also knows that the number of troops that are too small to spend is too small. Therefore, after he returned to the Wei family, he did not dare to act rashly at all, so judging from the current situation, Liu Futong's side is still comprehensively suppressed against the first side.

Because of this, Liu Futong at this time is really complacent.

After all, except for Xu Shouhui, who claimed to be emperor in the south and fought everywhere, it was obvious that there was no rebel army north of the Huai River that could surpass him in strength.

And this is not the most important thing, more importantly, he Liu Futong will be able to capture Kaifeng Mansion in the near future. Think about it, what kind of place is Kaifeng Mansion, which is the capital of the former Northern Song Dynasty.

And when they rebelled back then, didn't Han Shantong claim that he was the eighth grandson of Song Huizong? Although everyone who has a little brains knows that this excuse is false, if Liu Futong really photovoltains the old capital of the former dynasty, it will still be a sky-breaking prestige feat.

And with this prestige, he Liu Futong can also use this to get rid of this damn marshal title. Although Liu Futong did not have the idea of being the emperor at this time, Liu Futong still had the idea of being called the king and the prince.

Therefore, after knowing that Zhang Shihua defeated Tai Buhua first and won a big victory on the Western Front, Liu Futong, who thought he was in control, ordered Zhang Shihua to continue to join him in the north, and at the same time, he couldn't help but frantically attack the officers and soldiers of Yexian, and even Han Yan'er's side didn't care about the envoy who hadn't come for a month.

……

Three days later, outside Xuzhou City, Zhang Shihua, who had solved many problems such as rewards and pensions, couldn't help but put all his energy into the sixteen intact artillery pieces captured by Guo Yu after he was a little idle.

No, on the afternoon of this day, taking advantage of the good weather, Zhang Shihua couldn't help but take a group of generals under his command to a vacant lot not far from the camp outside Xuzhou City, and let the skilled craftsmen under his command fiddle with the captured artillery.

"Master Shen, have you figured out this artillery these days?" Looking at Shen Shi, a military craftsman, who had been fiddling with the artillery with his head down, after fiddling with it for nearly a quarter of an hour, Zhang Shihua, who couldn't hold back the curiosity in his heart, couldn't help but ask him like this.

Hearing Zhang Shihua's words, Shen Shi, who had been fiddling with his head down, first showed a sincere smile to Zhang Shihua, and then couldn't help but smile at Zhang Shihua: "Back to the general's words, these days, this artillery can be regarded as a figure for his subordinates." ”

"In the eyes of his subordinates, this thing is actually similar to a large Sky Monkey, which is driven by the strength of gunpowder. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to use this artillery, knowing how much gunpowder is put in the test at a time, and it should be able to be used on the battlefield if it is controlled so that it does not explode. ”

However, when Zhang Shihua himself heard this, he waved his hand and said: "I naturally know this, Ah Yu has captured a lot of Tartar artillery for me, and it is not a problem to use control artillery." I mean, can we produce a bronze cannon like this? ”

"What, General, you want to build artillery!" Hearing Zhang Shihua's words, Shen Shi couldn't help but exclaim.

However, after exclaiming, he immediately came back to his senses, and he couldn't help but slap his mouth in front of Zhang Shihua, and bowed his head to Zhang Shihua to apologize: "The subordinates are unreasonable, the general forgives the sin, the general forgives the sin." ”

In this regard, Zhang Shihua waved his hand indifferently, and asked Shen Shi: "You mean we can't make such a bronze cannon?" ”

However, hearing Zhang Shihua's words, Shen Shi frowned, and after being silent for a moment, he said, "This...... To tell the general, no craftsman in our army has ever made artillery. Therefore, it is difficult for subordinates to say whether they can imitate bronze artillery. ”

"But if you need it, your subordinates will do your best, and you should be able to imitate it, General. But that's the price...... But it's too big. After all, the material used in this cannon is bronze, and if something goes wrong in one place, it is equivalent to burning money. ”

Having said this, Shen Shi's meaning is obvious. "That is, let these people make artillery now, not only is it not too sure, but it is also a thing that outweighs the loss." So judging from Shen Shi's tone, he hoped that Zhang Shihua could dispel this idea.

However, who is called Zhang Shihua is a time-traveler from the later generations, who is extremely obsessed with gunpowder weapons, and has always dreamed of opening the golden finger and then sweeping the world, how could he give up making artillery because of Shen Shi's two sentences.

So after being silent for a moment, Zhang Shihua looked at Shen Shi and couldn't help asking: "Master Shen, let me ask you, if everything goes well, how many silver taels will be needed to make such a cannon and equip it with three or five shells." ”

"This ...... Back to the words of the General. This bronze cannon is extremely heavy, and it takes hundreds of catties of materials to make such a cannon with bronze alone. In addition to this material, if we add a series of costs such as fire consumption and labor cost, with the strength of our army, the cost of manufacturing such an artillery is 800 guan at a small level, and about 1,000 guan at a large level. Hearing Zhang Shihua's question, after silently calculating, Shen Shi couldn't help but report such a number to Zhang Shihua.

And after hearing such a number, there was a sudden inhalation sound all around. Obviously, all the black-clothed soldiers around were frightened by this number. After all, their group of fighting men cutting off a man's head on the battlefield is just a reward of money, and this cannon alone costs thousands of yuan. Comparing the two by two, they can't help but be surprised!

Not even talking about them, in fact, even Zhang Shihua himself couldn't help but change his face after hearing this number.

After all, for Zhang Shihua and them, this number is indeed a bit beyond their bearing. You have to know how much a plate armor is, and this artillery is more than a hundred times more than plate armor.

That's right, although Zhang Shihua received more than 30,000 taels of funding after attacking Xuzhou City. But this does not mean that Zhang Shihua can take out all these 30,000 taels at once to make artillery.

Don't forget, Zhang Shihua still has so many soldiers under his hands. This group of people's military salaries, rewards, food and clothing, pensions, farmlands, subsidies, weapons, which one is not a large sum of silver, under such expenditure, the little money extorted by Zhang Shihua is not enough at all.

And this means that at this moment, unless Zhang Shihua throws 100,000 taels from the sky, Zhang Shihua will not be able to take out the money for making the cannon at all.

Therefore, after realizing his financial embarrassment, Zhang Shihua sighed lightly, and couldn't help but say: "In this case, let's put the matter of making artillery first." However, these sixteen guns are good things, and they have a great effect on us now, so we must make use of them. ”

Saying this, Zhang Shihua also said to a subordinate dressed as a scribe behind him: "Geng Tao, I remember that all the prisoners are registered with you." In this way, you quickly find out the gunners who Ah Yu captured from the Tartar artillery team. Give me good food and drink to feed them, let them be our artillery team guides, and I will give them the treatment of platoon commanders. When we train our own gunners, we will save our sixteen guns, which can only be used as decorations. Do you understand? ”

"Don't worry, General, your subordinates understand." Hearing Zhang Shihua's words, Geng Tao, a middle-aged scribe who had a long life, couldn't help but reply so respectfully.

Hearing his answer, Zhang Shihua nodded silently, and then couldn't help but look at his cousin Zhang Shihui, and said to him: "Shihui, you performed very well in that decisive battle with Taibuhua. So I'll hand over all these sixteen artillery pieces to you, and when your men learn how to operate them and set up our artillery team, you must use this artillery team for me well, understand? ”

"Big brother, don't worry, I won't let these cannons be dusted!" Hearing that his brother had decided to hand over this only precious artillery unit to his command, Zhang Shihui was extremely excited, and at the same time, he couldn't help but say in such a loud voice.

Seeing this, Zhang Shihua nodded with a smile, and then couldn't help waving his hand and said, "Okay, let's do this artillery first." Come on, you all follow me to run and run together, and in the past few days when you came to Xuzhou City, I haven't had a good taste of the style around the Xudu of the Three Kingdoms. ”

Saying this, Zhang Shihua got up from his seat and led the generals behind him to the front and back of their respective horses in three steps and two steps. And the rest of the generals saw Zhang Shihua like this, and they were also busy patting their horses to keep up. Therefore, in this way, the wild run of more than 100 horsemen outside Xuzhou City couldn't help but kick up the dust in the sky.

……

Maybe it's because the days have been too tiring and depressing, so when Zhang Shihua rode the horse and felt the freedom and relaxed pleasure brought by the galloping horse, Zhang Shihua's horse speed couldn't help but become faster and faster. And those people behind may also know that Zhang Shihua wants to relax, so they don't follow Zhang Shihua closely.

So in the end, Zhang Shihua, who took the lead, couldn't help but throw his subordinates behind him far away.

"Phew! ~~~" After running a long way in one breath, Zhang Shihua, who shook off the boredom in his heart, couldn't help but stop his war horse on a high earth platform more than ten miles north of the city.

"Haha, it's really happy!" On the unknown high clay platform, Zhang Shihua, who was riding a horse, looked up at the blue sky above his head, and couldn't help but smile.

After laughing, Zhang Shihua, who was relaxed, couldn't help but subconsciously visit the surrounding scenery.

"Well, it's strange that there are deer here." Just when he was relaxing alone to explore the scenery, a small movement came from the grass next to him, but he couldn't help but notice it. So after noticing the source of the movement, Zhang Shihua, who was riding a horse, couldn't help but be so surprised.

However, this surprise is just fleeting, after all, this time is different from the future, the shadow of industry has not yet appeared, and the environmental protection is very good. So don't say it's a fawn, even encountering tigers and wolves in the wild is not uncommon.

So after being surprised, Zhang Shihua couldn't help but carefully take off the hard bow on the horse, bend the bow and arrow, and have the idea of hunting.

"Hey" softly let the war horse under his crotch get closer lightly, Zhang Shihua snorted in a nasal voice, and couldn't help but pull the one-stone hard bow in his hand into a full moon.

Although it is said that since the uprising, Zhang Shihua, as the commander-in-chief, has not personally killed the enemy for a long time, but Zhang Shihua has not let go of the martial arts he has practiced for a long time, of course, it is certain that he has regressed slightly compared with the past. After all, he is also a man, not a god.

But no matter what, Zhang Shihua's archery skills are still among the best. No, an arrow sounded, and the sharp arrow shot by Zhang Shihua couldn't help but hit the deer's neck with a 'lightning speed'.

(To be continued............ ）