In fact, in Li Yanzhi's imagination, it is better for this mountain army to use bows and arrows as projectiles. It's just that with the previous war, the elite soldiers in the county soldiers died one after another, and the soldiers who were good at shooting in the Jianrui battalion also went to six or seven. And to train a skilled hand with a bow and arrow, it is not necessary to work for a year or two.

Under such circumstances, Li Yanzhi also had to set his sights on the crossbow that was easy to operate and had great power. The reason why Li Ling of the first Han Dynasty was able to lead 5,000 foot soldiers out of the desert and thwart the repeated attacks of the Xiongnu alone by tens of thousands of iron cavalry was also due to the power of strong crossbows. In the end, when the repeatedly frustrated Xiongnu Shan had the intention of retreating, because of the betrayal of the traitors of the Han army, he learned that Li Ling's army had no crossbow arrows, so he gathered a large army to deploy an attack again, and only then did he defeat the Han army and capture Li Ling.

The power of the crossbow can be seen from this. And it is better than the bow in the hands of the Hun cavalry, one is the range, and the other is the power. Since the firing of the bow requires holding the bow with one hand and leading the string with the other. Therefore, it is basically necessary to rely on the traction of one hand to open the string. Crossbows are different, because of the advent of the pedals, the crossbow can be fixed with a foot pedal, and the archer can use both hands to open the string, and the strength is naturally far from being comparable to that of a bow.

In addition to the kick-opening crossbow with his feet open, Li Yanzhi has also seen a more terrifying crossbow in the movie before-the waist crossbow. As the name suggests, this type of crossbow consists of the archer lying on his back, stepping on the bow arm of the crossbow with both feet, and then pulling the string with both hands, concentrating the strength of the whole body on the waist and pulling it apart.

The reason why this more powerful weapon is not considered at this time is that the crossbow is huge, inconvenient to carry, complicated in process, and not conducive to maintenance. Li Yanzhi really didn't know which battalion in the army to use this crossbow hair. The battle battalion is dressed in iron armor, and their tasks are mainly hand-to-hand combat such as resisting the line and countering the opposing cavalry. The Jianrui battalion is about to be used as a pilot for mountain infantry, in the mountain environment, even in the face of the enemy, there is basically a high probability of encountering light armored troops, firstly, the waist crossbow can not fully play its advantage of crossbow power, and secondly, it is so cumbersome, it is really not suitable for distribution to a mountain army to use.

Under these concerns, Li Yanzhi finally decided to use the crossbow to assemble the crossbowmen in the Jianrui battalion to improve his own firepower, especially if he entered Longxi, there would inevitably be a lot of field battles and siege battles. And if you can't suppress the cavalry firepower of the Hun cavalry, even if you can win in the end, you will pay a lot of extremely unnecessary costs. These losses in vital strength are precisely what Li Yanzhi, who is now on the rise, cannot tolerate.

Li Yanzhi also took the Jianrui battalion and the new Diqiang warriors to train in the mountains for several days, and these generals and soldiers were basically practicing rock climbing. Thanks to Li Yanzhi's emphasis on safety, every time people who are familiar with this road climb first, and then use the previous lasso as a safety rope, so far, there has not been any safety accidents.

After a few days of hands-on operation, Li Liang handed over a new crossbow to Li Yanzhi. This crossbow is made of iron, but the bow on the front is an old bow taken from the arsenal. This bow is claimed to require three stone pulls, but Li Yanzhi tried it and felt that the bow force was not too large. He took Li Liang, Wei Xu, Liu Jiwu and others to the school grounds, tied a bunch of embellished iron armor leaves to the straw man used as a practice target, measured twenty steps, opened the crossbow, aimed at the iron armor on the straw man and released an arrow.

The crossbow bolts on this crossbow used for testing were also polished by Li Liang himself. At the tip of the crossbow is a sharp, three-edged arrowhead. Li Yanzhi held the crossbow flat, adjusted Wangshan to a position of twenty steps, took a deep breath, then aimed for a moment, held his breath, and gently pulled the crossbow machine.

This crossbow has been installed with a wooden tray at the rear end by Li Liang according to Li Yanzhi's requirements, so compared with the general crossbow in the army, the comfort has been improved a lot. Li Yanzhi only felt that after deducting the crossbow machine, the iron teeth of the hook string descended, releasing the bowstring, and at the same time, there was a slight forward shaking from the crossbow arm, and the crossbow bolt in the crossbow groove flew straight forward under the gaze of his right eye.

In less than a breath, there was already a "sonorous" sound on the straw man who was used as a target for the arrow. The crossbow bolt that flew straight away in Li Yanzhi's eyes flashed away, and when he looked at it again, the armor leaf on the straw man seemed to be safe and sound.

Liu Jiwu and Li Liang ran towards the arrow target from one side, and in a blink of an eye, they looked for Fang Cai's crossbow arrow around the arrow target, and after a long time, Liu Jiwu found the crossbow arrow from the grass on the side.

When Li Yanzhi saw the crossbow bolt again, he saw that the sharp three-edged arrow had been deformed. And from the position he was in, the iron armor leaf on the dummy was still unharmed.

Li Yanzhi took another crossbow bolt from the side, then pulled the crossbow string, placed the crossbow bolt in the crossbow groove, held the crossbow machine flat, aimed at the place covered by iron armor on the dummy, and shot another arrow. However, there was still a sonorous sound at the front end, and when I looked at it again, I saw that the straw man was still safe and sound.

Li Yanzhi hung up the crossbow string again and shot several arrows repeatedly. The armor leaf fell with a clattering string of armor leaves with the last shot. Li Yanzhi put down the crossbow, took Liu Jiwu, Li Liang, and Wei Xu to the straw man, and checked the nail leaves on the drafter. It was Li Yanzhi's several shots that cut off the lines that bound the nail leaves, so those nail leaves fell off the line. He crouched down and picked up a crossbow arrow from the ground, and saw that it was nailing a leaf of armor. However, the arrow only penetrated the armor leaf a little, and if it was on the battlefield, this level of damage was almost negligible for the opponent.

Li Liang looked at the arrow in Li Yanzhi's hand that only passed through the armor leaf, and was silent. Li Yanzhi held the arrow and said to Li Liang: "Craftsman Li, please go back and bother, make a batch of hard bows, and prepare for future use." ”

When Li Liang heard this, he lowered his head and said, "I don't know what the strength of Sima's intended bow and crossbow is?" ”

Li Yanzhi thought about it carefully and said, "A bow of four to five stones, I don't know if the craftsman can do it?" If you need to use money, you can tell me in detail. ”

Li Liang frowned: "Such a hard bow." I don't know how much I want to put in the long history? ”

Li Yanzhi pondered for a moment and said: "Two stone bows are thousand, four to five stone bows are ready to make crossbows, and the craftsman will prepare two thousand." ”

Li Liang arched his hand: "Do your best, if something is wrong, I hope that Changshi will forgive me at that time." ”

Li Yanzhi smiled: "Just do it." As much as you do, you will do as much as you can. He paused, and then said, "Although I don't feel any problems with this iron crossbow machine now, it's better to do less. Later, I sent the crossbow and bow to the workshop in batches from the general, and I hope that the craftsman will personally inquire and supervise the transformation. Whoever has a hard bow shall put it on the crossbow. The existing crossbows are all added to the wooden support. ”

Li Liang bowed down to receive the order. Immediately, Li Yanzhi, Liu Jiwu, Wang Cheng and others packed up the straw crossbow, bow and arrow, etc., and returned to the city with Li Liang. After Wei Xu returned to the camp, he collected the bows and crossbows in the hands of the battalion sergeants according to Li Yanzhi's words, and then sent them to the workshop. There are 318 two-stone step bows, 170 crossbows with arms, and 55 crossbows with kicks.

Li Liang looked at the crossbows piled up like a hill in front of him, and couldn't help but smile bitterly, when Li Yanzhi asked how long it would take to complete the transformation of these crossbows, Li Liang thought for a long time, and then said with some uncertainty: "Maybe it's a moon and a half." In addition, Changshi previously transferred more than 500 bows from the arsenal, roughly around March, which can be transformed into crossbows......"

Hearing Li Liang's report, Li Yanzhi was a little hesitant. Now that it was early spring, he still remembered that in the winter of last year, the middle-aged man of unknown origin warned him, so that Jun wanted to send troops to recruit Longxi in the spring, and he couldn't help but feel more anxious.

Li Liang saw Li Yanzhi's hesitation, and he was also a little hesitant. If the heart is like making a bow and crossbow in the workshop, it will inevitably affect the manufacture of the rest of the utensils, and I don't know whether to talk to Li Yanzhi about it, but Li Yanzhi seems to see his hesitation, and asked: "If you have any doubts in the heart of Li Jiangtou, you might as well say it clearly." ”

Li Liang lowered his head, thought for a moment, and said, "Now there is a limited number of people in the workshop. If you go all out to remake bows, crossbows, swords, guns, armor and other things, it will inevitably produce more slowly, and I don't know how Changshi will arrange it......"

"Since this is the case, I will leave 300 foot bows, and the rest will be reformed into crossbow bows." Li Yanzhi raised his hands and gave Li Liang a deep look: "There is labor, and Li Liang is worried about hard work." Nowadays, internal and external affairs are complicated, and we can only do our best. Whether it is done or not, it can only be left to fate......"

After experiencing many things before, including that the little lady was also taken hostage by unknown forces, Li Yanzhi undoubtedly feels a deep fatigue now. It also understands that many things in the world are not something that can be done through hard work. There will always be many invisible ditches and bumps ahead, waiting for those who are struggling to move forward. No one knows how far they can go, and all they can do is do their best and obey the destiny of heaven.

It's like Li Yanzhi was thinking about it before, but there will always be unexpected constraints and fetters. And these constraints and fetters are hurdles that cannot be bypassed.

He knew in his heart that he had crossed these hurdles, and he might have to face the ditches that came to him. And once you can't cross it. It is a situation where the bones are broken and there is no return. Ma Ping's previous experience also made him understand more intuitively that in this era, if you want to do something, you are far from being able to achieve it. I really need to endure what ordinary people can't tolerate, and do what ordinary people can't do. If you are not careful, you can only turn into powder.

As a result of the intensive training, the non-commissioned officers of the battalion have basically mastered the knack of climbing over the cliffs. Now a team of four or five hundred people can climb over the mountain beam that he used as a demonstration in about two and a half hours.

Rao is like this, but Li Yanzhi still can't be satisfied. After all, the intention of forming this mountain infantry was to allow it to cross the general sense of danger from a military point of view. And it can quickly intersperse in the mountain beams, in order to achieve a kind of surprise effect against the enemy.

And now, this cliff, which is no more than three feet high, has delayed these soldiers for two and a half hours, which are enough to do a lot in wartime. It may even make or break the outcome of the battle. In this regard, Li Yanzhi did not dare to slack off, nor did he have a quick fix, so he could only urge the soldiers of the Jianrui battalion to practice diligently.

At the moment, the most outstanding performance in the camp is actually those Qianghu tribesmen. These people have lived in the mountains of Longxi for a long time, and they are all strong and healthy, and it is basically no problem to cross the mountains and mountains. This time, he learned this cliff-climbing technique again, and soon made a name for himself in this mixed team. Li Yanzhi visited Xishan several times, climbed the cliff first, and long-distance mountain cross-country, and most of the first people to arrive were Qiang tribesmen.

The headquarters led by Zhou Xing and Wang Cheng called themselves veterans before the county soldiers, and they looked down on these tribesmen. However, the excellent strength shown by the other party during the drill has become an existence that the county soldiers of the headquarters have to face squarely. The tribal warriors who are now incorporated into the army still serve as officers under the small leaders of the Qiang people. Although Li Yanzhi and a number of lieutenant generals are a little worried about it, from the current point of view, there is really no better way.

After the completion of the outer city, a group of displaced people who served as laborers built their homes one after another between the inner and outer cities. Most of the families of these Qiang warriors were also scattered and settled in the new city. Li Yanzhi and Xin Yan discussed this matter, and finally the two reached a consensus to first disperse and resettle these Qianghu people and arrange a livelihood for them. After everyone thinks about peace, they will promote sinicization through government decrees and many other means, and encourage Han people in the county to intermarry with them. The ultimate goal is to make sure that these Qianghu people gradually abandon their customs, and after a few generations, they will become part of the Han people.

At that time, even these Qianghu tribesmen themselves will no longer recognize their Qianghu identity. The benefits of adopting such a policy of assimilation are obvious. Although there are many problems, but after all, it is in the preparatory and trial stage, and if it can be implemented, the people of Guanzhong and Longxi Prefectures in the future, regardless of Hu and Han, can be used.

At dusk one day, when Li Yanzhi led the soldiers of the Jianrui battalion to complete the drill and returned from Xishan, he saw Xie Ai, the chief secretary who should have been in the barracks outside the city, waiting outside the barracks in the inner city.

"The envoy has requisitioned the elite soldiers of the state and the wealthy families of various warriors, totaling 10,000 people to concentrate on training. and requisitioned the commanders of the Western Regions, Dunhuang, Xihai, Wuxing, and Jinchang counties to raise money and grain, thinking that they would be used by the army. ”

When Li Yanzhi heard this, although he had expected it, he still couldn't help but look north with a worried expression: "After all, the envoy still sent troops in a hurry. This time, the power of the state, the money and grain of each prefecture, must not last. If you go to attack Longxi, you will be able to fight quickly. If it falls into protracted attrition, it will inevitably be defeated, and if it repeats the mistakes of Woganling, how can I wait to see Ming Gong again. ”

"If you want to fight quickly, with Ai's opinion, we will quickly take the way. Why is Dingdong like this? Xie Ai faced the huge map behind Li Yanzhi's case, and his right index finger had already pointed to where Di Dao was.

"The master book is clear, but he has an order, and he doesn't dare to be stubborn." When Li Yanzhi heard Xie Ai's words about breaking the key points of the expedition to Longxi, he couldn't help but feel a little hopeful in his life. Although the newly appointed chief secretary had never led troops before, his views were far better than those of Han Pu and others.

"Now that Dingdong has also been promoted to the subordinate officer of the Qiang Captain's Office, the county soldiers under his command can be renamed." Xie Aiping looked at Li Yanzhi and said, "The envoy has said before that there is no need to follow regional conventions in the naming of each army. ”

Li Yanzhi pondered for a while, then raised his head, looked at Xie Ai, and said, "If it is not our army, it will be called 'Wu Wei'......"