drove away the poor Gao Xiaosan, and Han Xu also showed a contemplative look on his face.

At the bottom, we have to buy a lot of food, and when the price of grain is expensive, all kinds of prices will rise, and the price of meat, vegetables, salt, oil, these daily necessities will rise, and all prices will rise.

I heard that the incense of Liaoyang Gao God Temple and City God Temple is getting better day by day, and now the dry season crops are about to be harvested, the harvest is very poor, and wheat will be planted after a while, everyone is looking forward to a good harvest this year, but Han Xu knows that this is all in vain.

In addition to people, the most important thing is horses, and it costs money to buy dry grass bundles in the future, and the important thing is that Han Xu's more than 50 horses have to be fattened for war, and there is also high-intensity training in peacetime, and other Ming troops have deliberately raised horses to death, Han Xu's horses here get an average of more than 20 taels of silver a year, and the cost is about two taels a month, raising this horse is much more expensive than raising people.

Before he can lead his troops to attack, it seems that he will have to get a sum of money first.

At this time, Gao Xiaosan came in again, and said with a helpless look on his face: "My lord, the craftsman is here." ”

"Oh, bring them here."

Han Xu asked people to find two artisan households in Liaoyang, the military households of the Ming Dynasty were the bottom of society, but just like hell has eighteen layers, the artisan household is the layer below the military household, and under the artisan household is the slave and maid pariahs.

"The villain Lu Wangcai knocked on General Han."

"The villain Li Chun knocked on the general."

One of the two craftsmen is a blacksmith and the other is a carpenter, so it is said that they should also find a leatherman, so as to put together a team that can build armor, but Han Xu has no plans to build his own armor stomach for the time being, and the two households in front of him should be enough.

Han Xu helped these two craftsmen up, the artisan household and the military household are hereditary family heirlooms, and they are not allowed to change their careers, these two people are the heads of households, each family has a few children who are about to become adults, and the two artisan households are enough.

Han Xu said with a pleasant face: "This official needs to build a batch of long guns, the casing does not have to be long, and the muzzle does not need to be shaped into a duck's beak, just use a sharp head, and the head of the gun should be longer." ”

Lu Wangcai, who was a blacksmith, knelt down and replied, "This is easy to do, the small one will set up the stove and start to build it as the adults say." ”

"How many guns can you shoot in a day?"

"I don't stop from morning to night, I'm afraid I can play five."

Han Xu said: "Time is pressing, it's best to be faster." ”

Lu Wangcai was a little scared, kowtowed, and said, "The little one must do his best." ”

This blacksmith is actually less than forty, his body can be called big and his waist is round, especially his two arms are particularly thick, but Han Xu knows that these craftsmen are overdrawing their lives, this Lu Wangcai's hair is more than half white, and most people of this age will not be like this in the future.

Han Xu looked at Li Chun again and said, "The long pole needs to be lengthened. ”

Li Chun met and said, "I don't know how many guns the general needs?" ”

"You don't have to be so restrained in your speech, this official was a small soldier a while ago, and he will never care about your etiquette...... The official wants to build a spear that is six feet long. ”

"Huh?" Li Chun was a little surprised, the standard spear of the Ming army was one zhang, and the six spears were almost more than half, and the head of such a spear was too far away from the handle, and it was easy to lose the center of gravity and not easy to use, but as soon as Han Xu said, he was taken aback, and quickly agreed to come down.

"Don't choose paulownia wood for long poles, don't choose white wax rods, choose the kind that is hard and the rod is brittle and easy to fold, and where you hold it, it's best to add a layer of wrist guards to protect your hands."

The two craftsmen were not found at random, they were both skilled craftsmen who had built weapons in Liaoyang Dusi, and their craftsmanship was considered to be superior, Rao was so, Han Xu said that at this time, the two craftsmen were puzzled, and they didn't know what the purpose of the spear he wanted to make was.

The best spear of the Ming army is to use paulownia wood, to choose long and straight, tough good wood, after a number of processes to process, can make the spear elastic is the best, the most inferior is the random choice of wood, set a spear head is a spear, that is naturally the most inferior weapon.

The cavalry is more particular about the guns, and the kind that Han Xu wants to fight is very simple, at least in terms of craftsmanship and material selection.

"Do it, the official will improve your treatment, go ahead."

"Yes, thank you, sir."

The two craftsmen took the family together to kowtow and thank him, Han Xu is very kind from the current point of view, not like other bosses who threaten and intimidate, and scold if they are beaten, but the two families have no hope of improving their treatment.

After the outsiders went out, Gao Xiaosan asked curiously: "What is the benefit of Han Tou'er's gun?" ”

Han Xu said: "When you have a sample gun and start practicing in a few days, you will know." ”

Whether it was this gun or the method of cavalry combat, Han Xu had already been thinking about it.

He is a small officer with no foundation, and the fifty people under his command are still exceptionally given to him, otherwise, these fifty elite cavalry at the level of night will at least have to be led by a thousand generals with the rank of commander, no land, military households, the so-called "farming" is far from talking about now, and Nurhachi will not give him time, Han Xu can't remember the specific time when Houjin attacked Shenyang and Shenyang, but it is expected that it will not be too long, and now he is running a turf to train a strong army to push back Houjin, Han Xu thought, but that is an impossible task.

These fifty people can be subdued within a certain period of time, and the personal martial arts and courage of these people have passed...... But that's it, compared to the Houjin Eight Banner soldiers, the elite of these Ming troops are at most at the level of ordinary horse armor soldiers, and they may be slightly inferior, whether it is weapons or horses, they are also inferior, although Han Xu wants to be as strong as possible.

If you want to win, you need to think differently.

The method of cavalry combat is either to exert one's personal martial arts to the peak, or to fight together to break the enemy.

The period of China's Northern and Southern Dynasties was the peak of heavy cavalry, and all men and horses were armoured, but unfortunately how to equip and how to fight the cavalry, there is no detailed history to say, for Han Xu, he can only learn from the stones of other mountains.

The European heavy cavalry charged with spears was a medieval tactic, and later was beaten by well-trained heavy infantry and muskets, and the knights withdrew from the stage. Not long before the time and space, Gustav II regained heavy cavalry, but the resumption of strict training, pay attention to tactical coordination and team combat of the new style of cavalry, such cavalry once again became the protagonist of the battlefield as soon as it appeared, whether it was German, French, British powers have excellent cavalry teams, group charge has become a good way for cavalry to defeat the enemy.

It was not until the advent of machine guns and trench warfare that the cavalry officially came to an end.

Han Xu's plan is to combine the specialties of the two continents, the training method of the modern army to exercise the spirit of obedience, the most abundant food and living conditions in the Ming army to make the upper and lower hearts, the Ming merit reward system and the expectation of merit to make the strong man willing to fight to the death, and finally use the cavalry of medieval European knights and the group charge of modern European cavalry to achieve victory......

"I call it a combination of good words, the sea is inclusive, and if it is ugly, it's a hodgepodge......" Han Xu thought in his heart, with a self-deprecating smile on his face.