Cui Yang handed over the book of registering the number of animals and the breeder to Liu Jiwu. Then he followed Li Yanzhi's instructions, changed his armor, put on a coarse cloth shirt, and walked out of the county government, went to the camp to lead the horse, and galloped out of the county seat and headed in the direction of Guzang Wuxing.

Li Yanzhi's concern is nothing more than the recent construction of ordnance, and the amount of iron required is huge. If there is credible information that Wuxing County has begun to mine iron ore, then he should think of exchanging these iron materials with Wuxing in terms of assets or grain. If Wuxing has not mined these iron ores so far, Li Yanzhi's plan is to communicate with Wuxing Taishou through Xin Fujun, and Guangwu County will fund and send people to mine Wuxing's iron ore. And the iron material produced, of course, was also distributed by this Wuxing Taishou under the condition of Guangwu County's priority.

Although such an allocation method is likely to suffer some dark losses. But for now, there is no choice, who let such a small place in the county not produce iron ore? This natural unfavorable condition is likely to restrict the future development of Guangwu County and Lingju County. However, it is also the right thing to use all available connections and means to alleviate this disadvantage.

Li Liang finished transforming the first iron armor he had created and sent it to the county government. Li Yanzhi took Tao Heng and two soldiers to move this iron armor to the army. Now Zhou Xing is in charge of almost all the new arms. And Zhou Xing, who didn't know anything about this, only felt extremely frightened about the heavy responsibility he undertook.

Li Yanzhi asked Li Liang to create an iron mask, and then took it and placed it with the newly made iron armor. In this way, the protection of this armor has reached the peak of perfection. Now except for the binocular protection, the rest of the parts can be described as indestructible. Neither the bow nor the sword can be slashed. The fear is nothing more than an axe or a spear. However, if it really goes to the battlefield, this kind of strong protection is bound to give the enemy a big headache.

Li Yanzhi put this iron armor on the school ground, and personally tested it with a bow, shooting ten arrows in a row. Except for one of the arrows that entered from the shoulder socket of the armor where there was no armor leaf protection, the other nine arrows were either bounced off or shot between the two armor leaves, and when turned over, the arrow could only penetrate less than half an inch into the armor. At this depth, it basically does not threaten the safety of armor-piercing.

After shooting the arrow, Li Yanzhi pulled out the ring head knife again, and stepped forward to slash at the iron armor more than a dozen times. For a while, sparks flew everywhere. However, when I stopped to take a closer look, I saw that there were more than a dozen shallow knife marks in the place where he had just chopped, and one or two places had partially fallen off because of the cutting of the string connecting the nail leaves, but other than that, the entire armor was still intact.

Looking back at the ring-headed knife in Li Yanzhi's hand, there were already gaps in many places. Overall, it's no longer usable. The soldiers and generals who watched this scene around the school were amazed. Li Yanzhi threw away the ring knife in his hand, and then beckoned to Zhou Xing on the side, and Zhou Xing came to Li Yanzhi with a long knife with all blades. Li Yanzhi took the long knife, held it with both hands, and then rushed forward two steps with force, stabbing the knife in his hand towards the iron armor on the shelf.

With the sound of a clanging sound, the bladed long knife in Li Yanzhi's hand had already broken a hole in the sturdy iron armor, and the blade stabbed into the iron armor for a few feet. The shelves with the iron armor also fell in response. This change made the soldiers in the field surprised again. Li Yanzhi pulled the knife out of the iron armor, and then looked at the iron armor that had fallen to the ground. Where the stab was just made, several pieces of the nail leaf had been pierced and recessed inward. He took a step forward, handed the knife back to Zhou Xing, and then picked up the iron armor with both hands.

Although he was pierced by the bladed long knives, the generals still affirmed the protective ability of this iron armor. If you want to change to the cuff armor or crotch armor commonly used at this time, the light protection area will be thrown out by the iron armor in front of you, and the number and distribution density of the armor leaves are even worse.

Zhou Xing summoned two soldiers and ordered them to carry the iron armor back to the workshop, and asked Li Liang to repair it. And Li Yanzhi was already beckoning, calling Zhou Xing aside.

"I weighed it before, and this armor weighs one hundred and thirty pounds." Li Yanzhi frowned and said to Zhou Xing: "Can the soldiers selected today adapt to this kind of weight?" ”

On the battlefield, heavy infantry is actually the most physically demanding. Wearing heavy armor, he also has to complete a series of tactical actions such as running, assassinating, slashing, and sometimes even fighting all day in this outfit. Therefore, the selection of heavy infantry is the strictest, and the soldiers who can be the heavy infantry are also the most elite.

When Zhou Xing heard this, he said with a difficult face: "Sima, the sleeve armor is only forty-five catties, and even if it is a crotch, it is only eighty or ninety catties." With such a heavy armor, let alone fighting on the battle array, I am afraid that a march of more than ten miles will exhaust the soldiers. In this case, how to play against the enemy? ”

Li Yanzhi sighed and said, "Who told you that you were going to march in clothes?" This armor is escorted by a baggage when marching, and the soldiers march with leather armor, a sword, or a halberd. If the reconnaissance cavalry in front sends back the enemy's situation, it is necessary to order these soldiers to carry their armor and swords when they are in battle, and prepare to engage the enemy. ”

After a pause, Li Yanzhi said again: "Now when practicing, let the soldiers wear their sleeves or crotch first, and hang sandbags on their bodies to make up for the weight of one hundred and thirty catties. Every day, he wears a knife and travels 30 miles out of the county town around the mountain road. Draped at night, travel ten miles around the school field. ”

When Zhou Xing heard this, he suddenly felt that one head and two were big. He knew everything about his men. With such a large amount of practice, half of them can't complete it. So when he said to Li Yanzhi: "Sima, this matter ...... I'm afraid these soldiers won't be up to the task......"

Li Yanzhi looked back at Zhou Xing, his eyes were like torches: "After breakfast early in the morning, put on a knife and go to run the mountain road!" If you can't finish the thirty-mile mountain road, you don't have to go back to the camp for lunch! When to finish the run, when to come back for dinner! ”

Zhou Xing faced Li Yanzhi's sharp eyes, and he was at a loss for a while, so he had to hang his head and obey.

"You're with them." Li Yanji said again: "Later, I will go to the military Chinese officer and ask him to inform the guys, and in the future, I will give special treatment to the hundreds of people you lead." Add half a pound of meat per person per meal. In addition, each person is paid a monthly salary of 100 yuan and two buckets of rice. Supplied by the prefectural government. ”

"If there is no objection, go down, and later gather these soldiers and ask them if there is anyone who will not practice in this way. If so, then find another soldier to replace them. I think there are people who are willing to replace such generous treatment. The law of practice will be implemented tomorrow, and everything will be at your own discretion. If something goes wrong, I'll take you for it! ”

Zhou Xing faced Li Yanzhi's aggressive words, so he had to hang his head and retreat silently.

After returning to the camp, Zhou Xing summoned more than 100 soldiers according to his words and explained Li Yanzhi's words to them. He also said that if someone does not want to quit now, he will find someone to replace him. These more than 100 soldiers heard that the method of training was so harsh. For a while, I felt that my head was big. However, when I heard that there were such generous additional benefits, I was a little hesitant for a while.

"It's too late to quit!" Zhou Xing looked at everyone with hesitant expressions, and he already knew a little in his heart. He said, "If you pass today, you must not quit." If you want to retreat, you will use military law! ”

As soon as these harsh words came out, a dozen or so soldiers stood up. Zhou Xing waved his hand at them and said, "If you don't want to practice, go back to the camp, and I will find someone to replace you later." Seeing the dozen or so people go away, Zhou Xing raised his head again and said to everyone: "You wait, but you don't regret it anymore?" ”

"I am willing to follow the hundred generals!" Hearing Zhou Xing's question, a soldier in the front row spoke. With the words of this soldier, the remaining ninety or so people also roared one after another, and the sound shook the sky.

"I am willing to follow the hundred generals!"

"Good!" A smile appeared on Zhou Xing's face: "The drill will start tomorrow!" Today they will each go back to the camp, so that they can rest for their lives, and tomorrow they will obey my orders! ”

The soldiers dispersed, and Zhou Xing also returned to his residence, looking at the backs of the soldiers returning to each other, but his heart was a little heavy. After returning, he asked his own soldiers to summon Wei Xu and Zhao Da, and asked them to select more than a dozen soldiers and organize them into this team of 100 people led by himself. In addition, he ordered the two of them to lead the rest of the soldiers, carrying more than 200 cloth bags, to the outside of the camp to load sand.

The next morning, Zhou Xing personally led the hundred or so people, rested for a while after breakfast, and then ordered the treasurer to open the arsenal in the camp and take out the hundred collar iron armor. Most of these iron armors are mainly sleeves, and the crotch is no more than a dozen collars. However, Zhou Xing, who had no choice, had no choice but to do so. After draping, the soldiers began to weigh the sandbags under the supervision of a chief, and then tied them to their bodies to make them heavier.

After everything was ready, Zhou Xing personally led more than 100 people out of the camp and ran towards the outside of the county. The weight of more than 100 catties made these soldiers run out of the county seat, and many of them were already out of breath and looked powerless.

Zhou Xing had already sent a few sentry riders to circle the distance he needed to run outside the city. At this time, seeing the dejected appearance of these subordinates, I was also anxious in my heart. As he ran, he summoned several of his chiefs, telling them to break off in the rear, urging them to follow if they were left behind. Several of the chiefs took their own whips and ran to the back of the line.

Li Yanzhi climbed the city tower early in the morning, and at this time, he saw these soldiers led by Zhou Xing panting and going out of the city, and it was a little difficult to continue after only a few miles out of the city, and he was not surprised in his heart. These things he made by himself were already a bit ahead of their time, and it was not surprising that the soldiers of this period were not adaptable.

The team led by Zhou Xing ran from the end of the morning to the end of noon and noon, and then returned to the county seat in a sparse manner. When he came back, he didn't say that those ordinary soldiers, even the few commanders who stayed behind, had already fallen behind. When Zhou Xing followed the twenty or thirty people in the lead to the gate of the county seat, he felt as if a fire was burning in his lungs. Even the twenty or thirty people who returned first supported each other when they arrived at the city gate, and after a few steps, they collapsed on the ground one after another, extremely embarrassed.

Li Yanjiong, who was on the city tower, watched everything in front of him with his own eyes. Knowing the importance of forging the body to an army, he didn't say anything, just quietly walked down the city tower, and then rushed to the camp before Zhou Xing and the others returned, and ordered the gang to add two taels of dried meat to them at noon.

Under such extremely high-intensity exercises, if the food and nutrition cannot keep up, it is easy for these soldiers to collapse. This kind of exercise is inherently overdrawing their physical potential. If the food is not good, no matter how strict the training is, this thug cannot be trained.

Li Yanzhi observed the drills of these soldiers on the city tower for several days. To his heart's relief, the drills of these soldiers were getting better every day. On the seventh day, nearly half of the soldiers under Zhou Xing's lead line returned to the county seat. Although this number is still far from Li Yanzhi's expectations, the good thing is that they are always improving. Meals should be eaten one bite at a time, and training a strong army is by no means an overnight thing. Although he was more anxious, he also understood that for him to wait for this matter.

On the morning of the eighth day, Li Yanzhi was still waiting for the soldiers to return from practice on the city tower as before, but the soldiers led by Zhou Xing had not yet appeared, but a horse had already appeared in the distance, and they were rushing towards the city gate in dust.

Li Yanzhi sat on the stool and stretched his head out of the battlement to look in the direction where the rider was coming. As the ride got closer and closer, he could clearly see that the rider who came was none other than Cui Yang.

Knowing how important the situation to be reported when Cui Yang returned, Li Yanzhi immediately got up and left the city tower, and then hurried towards the city in three steps and two steps. He arrived outside the city gate, and after waiting for a little more than half a moment, Cui Yang was already approaching. Seeing him greet him outside the city gate in person, a flash of surprise flashed on his face, and then he immediately turned over and dismounted.

"How?" Li Yanzhi greeted him and asked. He was too eager for the news that Cui Yang brought. The lack of iron meant that the soldiers were now training and had to hang sandbags. Although the soldiers did not show any obvious resentment about this. However, as the main general, he always felt that his face was a little unbearable.

Cui Yang panted and led the horse for a few steps, and then said to Li Yanzhi: "Back to Sima, I went to Wuxing County to investigate, and there is no sign of iron ore mining in the places marked on the map, and there are no rumors of iron ore mining in the market. It's the tools that the blacksmiths sell, and the price is the same as before......"

"What? Not mined? Li Yanzhi chuckled in his heart, he had also expected this worst-case scenario earlier, but who knew that this worst-case scenario would come mercilessly.

"Okay, I got it." Li Yanzhi said: "You go back to the county government with me to rest for a while." I'll fix another book later, but I still ask you to send it to the county government and submit it to the government for review. ”

Cui Yang was stunned, and then said with a bitter face: "I still have to run ......"

Before the words fell, Li Yanzhi had already turned his head sideways: "Liu Jiwu and Tao Heng trained the cavalry, and they couldn't pull away, and Qin Dayong took the rest of the people to do the clerk's business. It's not a bad thing to let these big guys know more Braille. Go and deliver the letter, and I will allow you to go home and visit your relatives. However, within four days, you must return to the county seat. ”

Hearing that he could go home to visit his relatives, Cui Yang's previous dissatisfaction had been swept away, and he hurriedly clenched his fists to receive his life. Then he happily went to the camp to lead the horse, and went out of the county seat to the county government......