Zhu Dadian's situation in suppressing thieves in Anhui at the end of the year was unexpectedly smooth, and after the autumn harvest, the Yingzhou regiment sent two infantry battalions and a cavalry battalion to encircle and suppress the fifth battalion of Gezuo in Dabie Mountain.

Zhu Dadian also mobilized more than 20,000 officers and troops from Fengyang and Yangzhou, with a total strength of 50,000 troops, and staged a good show of ambush on all sides.

Zhu Dadian mobilized 20,000 people to search the mountain, and the 5th Battalion of the Left had already received the information and immediately rushed out of Dabie Mountain to the west, but unfortunately ran head-on into the officers and soldiers of the Yingzhou Regiment.

Although the 5th Battalion of the Revolutionary Left knew the direction of Zhu Dadian's movement of troops and horses, it did not know the transfer of troops and horses in Yingzhou, and the result was tragic.

"Mom! It's Zhao Killing. ”

"Zhao Killer Star is here, Zhao Killer Star is here!" The thieves shouted, and they were instantly defeated.

Zhao Killing's troops have an obvious sign, that is, the firearms are sharp, and the coalition led by Gao Yingxiang fought against Zhao Killxing's soldiers and horses, but tens of thousands of people have been killed in just a few sticks of incense.

And the Fifth Battalion of the Revolution was precisely the five that were scattered from the coalition forces, and the fear of Zhao Yan really reached the point of being frightened, and it was defeated as soon as it came into contact.

The Yingzhou regiment bit to the death, the infantry could not catch up with the infantry, the cavalry pursued the cavalry, and began to pursue the 50,000-strong Gezuo Fifth Battalion. It was very troublesome to pursue, the infantry battalion of the Yingzhou regiment did not have many horses, and the thieves themselves were good at guerrilla warfare, so it was very difficult to pursue.

However, Zhu Dadian's officers and troops then joined the encirclement, and the encirclement gradually tightened, and finally surrounded more than 30,000 thieves on the bank of the Xifeishui River.

But as soon as they rushed and killed, the thieves were already on their knees and begging. And their leader, who has slipped away, is not in the encirclement.

A few days later, the cavalry battalion brought back the heads of Geli Yanhe Yilong, Zuojin Wang He Jin, and Reincarnated King Liu Xiyao, while Lao Hui Ma Shouying and Troubled King Lin Chengcheng took hundreds of horsemen to the west.

Zhu Dadian immediately called Fengyang Yushi to inspect the first level, and sent a good news to the Jingshi overnight.

After this battle, the thieves in Anhui were basically pacified, and there were only some remnants left in various places, and it was very easy to send people to clear them.

Zhu Dadian and Lu Xiangsheng all sent good news a year ago, and Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but be overjoyed, but the Yingzhou regiment was very unfamiliar to Zhu Youzhen, and he didn't know when such a soldier appeared, so he sent an order to ask Zhu Dadian, and Zhu Dadian reported that it was Zhao Yan who was captured in Fengyang last year, and he had been trained as a township soldier after being placed in Yingzhou.

It's just a village soldier!

Zhu Youzhen had no concept of military affairs, thinking that the Yingzhou regiment was just a township soldier and a second-rate official army, and at the same time mistakenly thought that this army was led by Zhu Dadian, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

At the same time, Zhu Dadian gave Anhui an extra 20,000 soldiers and horses, and Zhu Youzhen was very pleased to praise it, and Zhu Dadian received Zhu Youzhen's commendation, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

The Yingzhou Regiment is not under his command at all, let alone trained by him. It's completely Zhu Youzhen's mistake, and it's not easy for Zhu Dadian to explain, since the saint thinks it is, then it's right!

As a result, the Yingzhou regiment inexplicably became the army under Zhu Dadian's command, and the courtiers also did not know that it was Zhao Yan who really belonged to the Yingzhou regiment.

According to common sense, Zhao Yan is in Denglai, and the Yingzhou regiment is in Fengyang Mansion, and there seems to be no connection between them, and Zhao Yan can't control the Yingzhou regiment.

But in fact, this is not the case, Zhao Yan is not an ordinary martial artist, he does not rely on the imperial court salary to raise soldiers, and the Yingzhou regiment cannot raise soldiers with the imperial court's military salary.

Even if it is the second-line troops of the Denglai Army, the imperial court cannot afford to raise it, unless it picks out the Liao.

During the Chinese New Year, Lu Xiangsheng's letter was delivered to Zhao Yan, but after Zhao Yan read it, he weighed it for a long time.

There is nothing wrong with dispatching people to help Lu Xiangsheng train soldiers and horses, but the problem is in artillery, the artillery currently used is grenades, which are not solid bullets.

Zhao Yan's army used a dense formation, and if it was shot, the casualties would be great.

He doesn't know how long the relationship with Zhu Youzhen can last, and he doesn't know whether he will break with Zhu Youzhen in the future, but with his development method, it is inevitable to have a cold face with Zhu Youzhen in the future, but whether to break up is another matter.

After weighing, Zhao Yan still decided to transfer 300 cannon 75mm howitzers to Lu Xiangsheng, but not to the cannon casting craftsmen, and the shells would also be provided by Zhao Yan.

Pinching the shell, it is generally worry-free, and the artillery has a service life.

The price of the cannon is not expensive, a 75mm howitzer bronze cannon is about 100 taels of cost, weighing 260 catties, and the copper price accounts for 25 taels (eight catties are one tael of silver), and the rest are processing costs, burning money or shells.

According to the defense system, each fort is equipped with five to six heavy city defense guns and ten to fifteen 75mm howitzers, mainly depending on how many sides the fort has and which direction the enemy can attack.

Heavy city defense artillery was used to attack the enemy at a distance of 1,500 meters, and was erected mainly for the purpose of destroying enemy artillery. The howitzers are combined at each point to form an impermeable network of fire, which is used to prevent enemy personnel from approaching the bastion.

In addition, Longkou Port, Qingdao Port, and Shanghai Port all need shore defense artillery, so the casting of artillery is a little nervous. However, most of the shore defense guns have been cast, and they have been delivered to the batteries in various ports.

The Ordnance Bureau has already started work in the third year of junior high school, and there is a lot of equipment that needs to be produced this year, and the swords, guns, and armor of 100,000 second-line troops must be created one by one.

In addition, the weapons required for training in each cantonment should also be built, spears, muskets, or sabers, and now the training of young and strong people is divided into three parts: spears, muskets, and horsemanship, and longbows are no longer used as training items.

Also because of the large number of spears, the number of trees suitable for spears in Denglai has been sharply reduced, and now the guns have to be purchased from the south, although there is still suitable wood in Denglai, but they are in relatively remote places.

Nowadays, most of the swords produced by the Ordnance Bureau are first forged with a water press, and then repaired by hand, which is much faster than pure manpower.

…… In the second year of the first month, Dengzhou began to overhaul the road, 400,000 households, each tun is responsible for the road from the fort to the fort, and then work together to build the road from the fort to the main road.

The road situation in Dengzhou can be described as a terrible mess, and in many rural places, the roads can only barely be entered by board cars.

Such a road simply cannot adapt to commercial development, and agricultural products cannot be transported.

Since the second year of junior high school, Dengzhou has been full of busy scenes of bombing mountains and building roads, the road from Tundi to the fort, and the main road between the fort and the fort, all of which are low-cost plain concrete pouring.

Last year, the concrete research team of the Academy of Science and Technology has successfully studied concrete pavement, which is divided into two types: elemental concrete and reinforced concrete.

Reinforced concrete is more expensive, and it is not necessary, so choose to use plain concrete.

There are not too many precautions when building roads, as long as the road is paved, and most plasterers do it. Such a road is definitely a tofu scum project, but in this era there is no car crushing, and there is no truck with a load of dozens of tons, and the carriage is loaded with seven or eight hundred catties at most, even if it is repaired casually, such a road can be used for a long time, even if it is damaged, it is easy to repair, and it can be repaired casually.

In addition to the road to be built in Dengzhou, Laizhou will build a Jiaolai Highway that connects the Jiaozhou Bay Salt Works and Qingdao Port, but the road will be built with reinforced concrete.

After the completion of this road, the transportation volume will be relatively large, after all, there is so much salt. In order to eliminate this disadvantage, Zhao Yan decided to take the sea route.

First transport the salt from Qingdao to Songjiang, and then you can go through the Huai River, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River for trafficking, these three days the rivers are very close, which is also one of the reasons why the two Huai salt merchants can sell salt all over the world.

Zhao Yan ordered the concrete research team to send technicians to set up a construction team, which will major in the construction of the Jiaolai Highway this year, and at the same time accumulate experience in the construction of reinforced concrete roads.

In order to cope with the road construction at the beginning of the year, the gunpowder factory and the cement factory started construction on the third day of the new year, and stepped up the production of gunpowder and cement to meet the needs of road construction.

…… After the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, all departments were busy and began to complete this year's new indicators and tasks.

At the end of the year, 10 500-ton clippers were successfully launched at Longkou Shipyard, and the Shanghai, Qingdao, and Longbao have also been refitted.

There were 34 broadside guns and 1 heavy gun on the bow and tail of the Shanghai, a total of 70 guns.

The Qingdao had 30 guns on the side and 1 heavy guns on the bow and tail, a total of 62 guns.

There are 27 Longbao side-rotating artillery pieces and one heavy artillery piece, a total of 56 guns.

The speed of these three warships reached 3~8 knots per hour, which was much faster than that of the Fu ship, and the crew of the First Fleet immediately began to train the new warships in adaptation after the New Year.

The crew on each battleship is between 300~400, although this kind of battleship of Westerners is fast, but the carrying capacity is not high, although it can be squeezed, but it is very inconvenient.

However, as far as naval warfare is concerned, 300~400 sailors are distributed on one battleship, which is quite enough.

After the new warships were put into use, the Wei Qing, Meng Tian, Yue Fei, and Qi Jiguang, which were originally used, were responsible for the attack in the naval battle, and these three warships were responsible for the pursuit. At the same time, the four warships converted from Fuchuan will also be used to deliver to the Marine Corps.

After the launch of the 10 500-ton clippers, trade with China will enter a period of acceleration. The ten clippers reached 260 tons in terms of transport capacity. A total of 2,600 tons of new transport capacity has been added, and 650,000 taels worth of brass can be brought back from Yuben in one trip.

However, Zhao Yan did not intend to use all of his transportation capacity for the trade, but after the Chinese New Year, he formed the American Fleet.

The personnel of the American Fleet were drawn from the First Fleet and consisted of Qingdao, Mengtian, Yue Fei, and two 500-ton clippers numbered F001 and F002.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the two clippers F001 and F002 of the American Fleet carried a total of 700 crew members, more than 300 guns in their holds, as well as a large number of shells and supplies, and sailed towards South America.

Their mission was to open a stronghold in the former Peru, and after the stronghold was opened, the American fleet would go to Central and South America one after another.

The Institute of Science and Technology urgently needed rubber for the manufacture of steam engines, and it was very urgent to go to the Americas to find rubber.

Zhao Yan remembers that the origin of rubber is Brazil, and it is also distributed in Peru. Brazil is on the east coast, now is not the era of Drake, the Drake Strait has been heavily defended by the Spaniards, and it is obviously not so easy for Zhao Yan's ship to make people go around the east coast.

Rubber trees can also be found in Peru on the west coast, as well as cinchona trees, which are used to combat malaria.

(To be continued)