After Yang Yi accepted the post of commander of Hexi, he stayed in Beijing for a few days, and after making preparations for the expedition, Yang Yi personally went to the ordnance superintendent and handed over the two drawings of the flintlock pistol and artillery to the ordnance superintendent, so that they could organize skilled craftsmen to develop it.

Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Writings" is all-encompassing, and some techniques are not even backward in the 21st century, and this is definitely not Shen Kuo's achievement alone, most of them are the summaries he came up with after studying the various techniques of the Great Song Dynasty.

The principle of the flintlock pistol is not complicated, the key is to clamp a flint on the jaws of the hammer, set up an anvil on the side of the fire hole, when shooting, pull the trigger, under the action of the spring, the flint is hit heavily on the edge of the fire door, sparks emerge, ignition of gunpowder.

In the middle of the 16th century (that is, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty), the French were able to make flintlock pistols, and now with the drawings they provided, Yang Yi believes that the craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty could definitely produce them.

At the same time, Yang Yi also dredged the matter of the sea ship and asked Han Bier to send someone to contact Lin Ruhai.

Now that the Yang family has mastered the method of making wine, the accumulation of wealth has reached the level of great wealth, and last year, wine alone contributed 300,000 yuan of taxes to the imperial court, not to mention their own profits.

For Yang Yi, the money has become a long list of numbers, and it doesn't make much sense to keep it, so let Han Bi'er use the money to pull the maritime trade of the Great Song Dynasty, of course, the Yang family alone is far from enough, so Han Bi'er was asked to contact Lin Ruhai and others.

The wars of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, as well as the frequent floods in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, caused great damage to the commodity economy and agricultural production in the north.

Today, the wealth accumulation of wealthy merchants in Gangnam is no longer inferior to that of the Gyeonggi region. Once the sea trade reached the grand occasion of the Southern Song Dynasty, in addition to bringing a large amount of tax revenue to the imperial court, it would also play a huge role in promoting the development of the Jinghu area.

Thirteen Niang and they have not returned to the capital, there are only Han Bi'er and Aoba at home, Han Bi'er has teary eyes, sorting out his clothes for him again and again, and telling him to pay attention to his own safety over and over again.

Yang Yi gently hugged her body and said with a smile: "I am very relieved that there is Bi'er at home." I have faith in you, but doesn't Bier have faith in me? ”

Han Bi'er threw herself into his arms and kept nodding her head, crying silently.

"On the day of my triumph, I hope to hear your news Bi'er, in addition to the sea trade, there is also this ......" Yang Yi gently stroked her little belly, Han Bi'er has always wanted a child, and she is about to get sick, he has been watering it with his heart in the past few days, hoping to achieve her wish.

On February 15 of the first year of Wenchang, the willow silk on the side of the royal street had just begun to bud, and the spring cold had not yet completely receded.

Yang Yi officially led the commander of the Hexi Road march, and led Liu Wu's 5,000 men and horses from the capital to Lanzhou.

Accompanied by Liu Huaixin, the inner servant of the supervising army, and Renduo Baozhong, the deputy head of the march.

Renduo Baozhong was deliberately brought by Yang Yi, and it was also Yang Yi's intention that he was appointed as the deputy head of the march.

In fact, he, the deputy commander, has no real power, and is only equivalent to Yang Yi's staff officer, and the reason why he wears such a big title is self-evident.

Renduo Baozhong is a smart person, and naturally understands this, so he is still very conscious, unless Yang Yi asks, he usually keeps silent obediently.

Empress Dowager Liu asked Hao Sui to take the little emperor Zhao Jie to see him off in the camp. She was forced to let Yang Yi go out this time, Zhao Jie ascended the throne before he was two years old, and urgently needed a big victory to consolidate his prestige; Since the battle must be fought, it must be won, and it can only be won, not defeated! Otherwise, it will be an extremely heavy blow to her and the newly enthroned Zhao Jie.

Judging from the past results, no one is more suitable than Yang Yi!

Empress Dowager Liu asked Zhao Jie to send the soldiers to the battle, which Yang Yi appreciated very much, since you are the emperor, no matter how young you are, you must also assume your own responsibilities, and once you win in the future, this will also be of great benefit to Zhao Jie.

Yang Yi's 5,000 soldiers and horses had just passed through Luoyang, and a news came: before the ice and snow melted in the spring, Changzhidi actually united several Jurchen troops to go south, Xiao Temo led the 50,000 troops of the Khitan headquarters and Changzhidi to fight near the Jingbian City (Manchuria City) of the Liao State, Xiao Temo was defeated and died in the battle, and half of the 50,000 troops were captured.

The whole country of Liao was shaken, and 130,000 horses were re-requisitioned, led by Yelu Yanxi, the king of Yan, to the north to meet the Chang Jurisdiction.

When Yang Yi received this news, he couldn't help but sweat in his heart, is there really no one in Liaoguo? How did you send Yelu Yanxi to lead the army?

In the original history, when Wanyan Agu raised the army, there were less than 1,000 soldiers, and they wanted weapons but no weapons, and they wanted grain and grass without grain and grass, but in just a few years, they kicked the Liao State to the ground like a withering and decaying state.

And now that the army under the jurisdiction of Chang has no less than 30,000, and they are all elite soldiers in a hundred battles, will the Liao State be defeated faster? The devil knows.

This is not what Yang Yi wants to see, he doesn't want the Liao State to fall so quickly, the various reforms of the Great Song Dynasty still need time, the Western Xia has not yet been cleaned up, if he is about to face an emerging regime like the Great Jin Kingdom, it will be extremely unfavorable to the Great Song Dynasty.

Time, time, at least give Da Song another five years, so that he can calmly lay out.

Yang Yi further accelerated the speed of westward advance, and at this time, in fact, the prelude to the war in the northwest had been opened in advance, and Zhang Shiyong, the second general of Hedong River, and Zhang Cheng, the second general of Yanyanlu, each led 10,000 horsemen to Yinzhou.

The first general of Jingyuan Road, Zhi Keshi, led 10,000 troops to infested Yanxia and marched in the direction of Tiandu Mountain.

When Yang Yi arrived in Lanzhou, it was already the second day of the third month. Wang Shu, the first general of Lanzhou, with the cooperation of Qiligang's inner response, captured the city of Liangzhou in one fell swoop three days ago, so far, the connection between the Xixia Hetao and Hexi was officially cut off.

The first general of Xihe, Miao Zhu, the second general of Jingyuan, and the first general of Qin Feng, Wang Dao, gathered in Lanzhou. Together with Liu Wu brought by Yang Yi, a total of more than 30,000 cavalry from four generals gathered in Lanzhou.

At the pre-military meeting, Miao Zhu said haha, so he knew at a glance that he didn't take this war to capture Hexi too seriously; He asked: "Boss, let's not waste time here, the Xia soldiers in Hexi are panicking, just that little shrimp soldier and crab general, let's cut it down." ”

The first feeling that Miao gave Yang Yi was that he was either a human being, or a bloodthirsty wolf, and with that kind of gearing up, he must have been waiting impatiently to enter Hexi.

Yang Yi is not ambiguous, for people like Miao Zhi, the gains outweigh the losses by being strangled, since he is a wolf, let him eat meat!

Yang Yi said in a deep voice: "General Miao, I will give you 8,000 men and horses, and order you to be the vanguard, you remember for me, you don't need you to attack the city, you sweep the perimeter for me, and you will be responsible for getting enough food and grass for my Chinese army. ”

Miao Zhu was stunned, and suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed loudly: "I have long heard that Manager Yang is fighting, and he is even more heroic than us generals, and he really lives up to his reputation, and it is refreshing enough!" Manager Yang rest assured, Miao is here to give you a military warrant......"

"That's it!" Yang Yi interrupted him and said: "Lao Tzu doesn't want you to have any military orders, if you can't complete the military order, Lao Tzu will want your head!" As for how to fight the specific battle, I don't need to teach you this; But there is one thing you have to remember, after Hexi is captured, our Great Song Dynasty will take over the governance, you fucking don't make Hexi a white land for me; In addition, the composition of various ethnic groups in Hexi is complex, and the local party members, Uighurs, Tibetans, and Han people should be treated differently as much as possible. In this way, the Han people can dominate Hexi as soon as possible, but you don't kill at every turn, the imperial court needs a lot of labor to govern the Yellow River, and it's all counting on this side, and it's only right to get more prisoners of war, understand? ”

"The last general obeys!" Miao Zhu was overjoyed with such a result, and now he finally didn't have to be tied up, and he could do a big job.

Liu Laohu was a little unhappy with Yang Yi's appointment of Miao as a pioneer, but he didn't dare to show it.

Yang Yi glanced at him first, and then said to Lei Xiu, the second general of Lanzhou: "General Lei, your task is the most onerous, this commander gives you 7,000 men and horses, including 2,000 cavalry, you not only have to be responsible for logistics support, if the Xia army comes from Hetao, you are also responsible for flanking with General Wang of Liangzhouya, even if you can't eliminate it, you have to drive the Xia army back to Hetao." ”

Lei Xiu immediately stood up and clenched his fists and replied, "The last general will obey the order." ”

After the end of the military arrangement, Miao Zhi's 8,000 men and horses set off first, and Yang Yi led 20,000 horses to follow; When Wang Shu attacked Liangzhou, he dispatched 5,000 men and horses, and on the whole, the Hexi campaign just used 40,000 horses.

Among them, 34,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry.

At present, the strength of Western Xia in Hexi is actually only about 50,000, about 30,000 in Gua and Shazhou, 5,000 each in Su and Ganzhou, and the other 10,000 horses are scattered in various passes.

Yang Yi's Hexi attack this time, in fact, he only planned to use 30,000 cavalry to expedition to Yumen Pass, and the rest of the men and horses were used to meet the Xia army on the Hetao side.

The logistics supply of the 30,000 cavalry of the Western Expedition mainly relied on fighting to feed the war, which depends on whether the wolf can find enough food.

As the spring breeze blows, the grass buds on the northwest land have drilled out of the soil, and the ice and snow on the snowy mountains begin to melt, and the trickle flows into the Karo River.

Yang Yi hung a crescent-shaped Damascus sword at his waist, and led 20,000 cavalry to rush west along the Karo River.

Hua Mulan, as Yang Yi's personal captain, followed closely behind, with peach blossom horses, two stone bows, wearing light armor, and a heroic posture!

Behind them, the war horses neighed, the flags covered the sun, and the floating dust raised by the 20,000 iron streams was like a huge sandstorm, sweeping across the desert wasteland west of the river, to the west! To the west! Rush without stopping!

After two or three hundred years, the iron horse of the Han family is like a heavy drum, shaking the land of Hexi again!

(To be continued)