Early the next morning, Du Xian led the Mingguang army to enter Youzhou, and ordered Yang Meng and others to enter the city with more than 3,000 Youzhou soldiers. When the history of Youzhou was vacant, the state affairs were originally led by Wang Xianzhi, the governor of the long history, Wang Xianzhi was arrested, and the state governance has lost the center of the decree. Du Xian then ordered Youzhou to implement military management, and replaced the state government with military orders. There are two wide avenues in the city, north, south and east and west, and because more and more troops have gathered in Youzhou, in order to mobilize flexibly, these two roads have also been cleared, and the cars and horses of officials and civilians cannot travel on the main road without permission. And the most traveled on the road were the queues of infantry cavalry soldiers, so the atmosphere of war in Youzhou became stronger and stronger.

On the one hand, Du Xian ordered the four cannons placed in Hedong to be transferred to the east, and on the other hand, he mobilized regular troops from the governor's offices in Hedong and Hebei. Whenever there is a war to be waged, all work mainly depends on the strength of men and animals, and it is inevitable that the local requisition will increase day by day and the people will be exhausted.

The Lu clan of the Hebei clan and several big families contributed food and people to fund Du Xian's army to prepare for war, and actively mobilized the people, so that Du Xian and other foreign officials had much less resistance to carry out military orders, and proceeded more smoothly. So when someone accused Du Xian of colluding with Wang Xianzhi and Zhao Qu to rebel, Du Xian turned a deaf ear and suppressed the letter of informant.

In mid-June, in addition to a soldier and four cannons, an old man came from Hedong: Xue Ne. He received an official letter from Du Xian Zhongjun and was invited to Youzhou. Xue Ne is already in his sixties, at this time he is doing a long history in a place in Hedong, he is much older than Du Xian in terms of seniority, and his prestige is not low, but in recent years, the personnel of the center of Chang'an have changed many times, and Xue Ne has not participated in the struggle for power in Chang'an, so it is naturally easy to be excluded or even forgotten, and now he is really incomparable with Du Xian, the red man around the emperor. Over the past few years, the pattern of the court has changed, and even the name of the country has changed, and Xue Ne, an old minister who has gone through the Tang, Zhou, and Jin dynasties, can still do a job with a long history, which is also proof of his prestige.

Xue Ne has operated in several places in his life, but the place where he stayed the longest was Youzhou, and after 20 years of guarding the northeast border pass, he can be said to be experienced and very familiar with the local area. But when the imperial court decided to use troops in the northeast, Xue Chongxun didn't think of this person, and no one mentioned it among the ministers. On the contrary, Du Xian remembered it, so he invited him to Youzhou and succeeded Wang Xianzhi as the temporary governor of Youzhou.

Xue Chongxun and Xue Ne have the same surname, and they are both from Hedong, but they are not a family. Xue Chongxun's family is the gate valve of the Hedong Shi clan, while Xue Ne's family is a general, and the family background is different. Xue Rengui, the famous general of "Three Arrows Dingtian Mountain", is Xue Ne's father, and Xue Ne is also a military general, but since the Tang Dynasty, the officialdom has not been strict in the division of military and military families, and people who are military generals can also hold official positions such as Changshi.

Du Xian and the generals went together to inspect the cannon that had just arrived, and let Xue Ne accompany him. I saw that Xue Ne's hair and beard were almost white, but he rode on a horse with the generals and looked calm, and his body still looked tough, and the generals laughed as "Lian Po", and some people called him "the surname of the country", Xue Ne's expression was not complacent with the surname Xue, and obviously there was not much attitude towards the new monarch. When everyone saw it, they mostly sighed in their hearts, no wonder such an old qualification could not be reused.

"How does General Xue think this battle should be taken?" Du Xian turned around and asked. In fact, their military government had already drawn up a battle plan, and Du Xian did not mean to ask for advice from an outsider like Xue Ne, but just wanted to explore his military opinions.

Xue Ne said calmly: "General Manager Du intends to Yingzhou, which is nothing more than two roads in the north and south, one through Danzhou to attack Rao Le's Xi soldiers first, and then capture Yingzhou; One starts from Pingzhou and goes straight to Yingzhou through Dushan. Today, the head of Du set up his base camp in Youzhou, which is the most appropriate way to take Danzhou. ”

However, the Du Siam shogunate had already decided to take the line of Pingzhou and Dushan (Liaoning West Corridor), so he quietly asked, "Why do you want to go to Danzhou?" ”

Xue Ne said: "Yingzhou is currently controlled by the Khitans, but the officers and soldiers take the initiative to attack, and the Xi people will inevitably have a sense of sadness for the rabbit and the fox, and they will definitely join forces with the Khitans. Why don't you head north to the pastures in Rao Lok Du Hufu first? Isn't it good that the summer moon is lush and the grass is lush, and when the lambs are resting, it can be gradual without spending grain storage? ”

Du Xian was noncommittal. Later, a staff member said privately in front of him: "Although Xue Ne is a famous general after Xue Rengui, he does not have the genius of his father, and Yu Bing's knowledge is mediocre. The chief steward transferred him from Hedong, I don't know what the use is? ”

"I have the same opinion as you, if Xue Ne still has to be reused by the imperial court at this time, and the battle of Yingzhou is led by him, the result is expected before the battle. However, this person has guarded Youzhou for 20 years, and he is very familiar with the geographical figures on the northeast border, and it is beneficial to consult one or two when marching. Moreover, there is no one in charge of the Youzhou Prefecture, and Xue Ne has both connections and prestige, so that he can temporarily serve as the chief of history in name, and he can also play a role in stabilizing the situation. At this time, the first thing is to capture Yingzhou, and other things can be tolerated. ”

The staff worshipped and said: "This is also the intention of the chief manager to suppress everyone's secret report to the Lu family's gate valve, right?" ”

Du Xian nodded yes.

At this time, the group came to the armory in the north of the city, and another general came to Du Xian and said: "We were ordered to run from Hedong, and a counselor came halfway through, holding the official letter of appointment from Chang'an. The last general didn't know the origin of this person, and ordered someone to knock on the side and heard that he seemed to have something to do with the 'inner factory', and the last general came to inform the chief manager, you know it in your heart. ”

In-house? Du Xian heard this name by chance when he was in Chang'an, and it was about an institution before the Jin Dynasty's Mansion. He suddenly had a number in his heart, so he said casually: "Someone who regards him as a prison soldier is a person who is usually polite, and you don't need to ask him when doing things." ”

The officers and men guarding the camp opened the armory where the cannons were stored, and the generals went in one after another to watch. This thing is a new weapon, and only Du Xian has heard of it before, and the other generals have seen it for the first time. I saw four carts lined up inside, each with four "iron pillars" on them, nearly a battle in length. Xue Ne was surprised on the spot: "When I first heard that I came to see the cannon, I thought it was an ordnance such as a ballista, but I didn't know that it was this thing, how to use it?" ”

The group of people who came with the cannon were not military generals, but more than a dozen officials and officials who looked like civil officials, and dozens of people dressed as craftsmen. An official came over and explained: "This instrument is called a cannon, which is the name given by the emperor today, but it is actually completely different from the ballista stone cannon. Ladies and gentlemen, please see, the lower part is the carrying car, and the cannon body is just this iron pillar above. Seven feet and one inch long, the muzzle is small and the tail is large, this is changed to this after the cannon was blown up in Wugong County, and now it is relatively safe, and it will not explode by itself; The gun body is all made of fine iron casting and polishing, weighing about 2,000 catties; At the time of firing, ten to twenty pounds of ammunition were filled, ignited and exploded in the cannon, ejecting the shell out of the barrel. The function is similar to a stone cannon, but it is far better than a stone cannon, the range can reach several miles at most, and there is a power of ten thousand jun when hitting, if it encounters a wall of earth and stone, it will collapse when touched; If you encounter a crowd of foot riders, the hole will pierce and erode within a few zhang when hit, and the people and horses will be broken. It's incredibly powerful. ”

Xue Ne smiled and said: "You are boasting so much, if this is the case, the city will collapse with one shot, what are we still doing to repair the city?" For example, in Youzhou City, isn't it a smash with an iron cannon, which is equivalent to a field battle? ”

The official said solemnly: "If we use these four cannons to attack Youzhou, the four cannons will be fired at once, and the city wall will collapse in vain, and if it does not collapse in one round, it will definitely not be able to withstand the second shelling." ”

Xue Ne shook his head and expressed disbelief: "The old man has lived a long time, and he has run Youzhou for one or two decades, and he has never encountered a thing of being breached by someone in an instant. No matter which side of the centaurs wants to break through this city, there will be no casualties and tens of thousands of horses, and they will not want to step in. ”

Du Xian's opinion is different, he is a person who has used gunpowder in the war, and he has a little more knowledge, and when he hears how powerful the technical official Xuan blows, he does not believe it directly like Xue Ne. It's just that these cannons have just been transported from the workshop and have never been used in actual combat, so it's hard to say what will happen to Du Xian. So he asked, "Since you can count miles, how can you calibrate the distance?" ”

The official took out a file and said: "This thing is a cannon watch, and there is a royal approval written by Jinshang below, please check the authenticity of the chief manager." ”

The generals stepped forward to take a look, Du Xian knew Xue Chongxun's words, so he nodded and said, "It is indeed written by Jinshang himself." ”

The official added: "There is a crosshair on the cannon, and this object can be calibrated by visual inspection, and the distance is based on the muzzle height." After loading a certain amount of gunpowder, each angle marked on it has a corresponding distance from the gun table. This table was tested in the Wugong County school field, so the object has not been used in actual combat, if the cannon table is not accurate, it can also be recalculated with the following 'parabolic' formula, and the formula of the current hand is substituted for the muzzle height and other values to calculate the distance of the shell. ”

Xue Ne smiled and said: "I dare you blow the iron cannon so hard, it turns out that the left and right are made by the will of today." This iron thing weighs 2,000 catties, and it can't be transported to death all the way to death of cattle and horses? If it's not that powerful, it's really worth the loss. ”

Du Xian said: "When the time comes, the baggage will be transported together, and you will know when you try it on the battlefield." The iron cannon is cumbersome, and when the army is dispatched, it is feared that the road will be congested and the transportation of grain and grass will be affected, so you will send people to transport it to the Andong Governor's Mansion (Pingzhou) in the past two days. ”

The officers of the armory took the order. Xue Ne listened and asked, "The chief manager wants to take the road of Yuguan Dushan?" ”

"Exactly." Du Xian looked back on the left and right, and did not conceal the route of the march, because it was necessary to transfer grain and people to the east on a large scale, and there was no need to keep it secret, "The Fuzhong has already decided on the battle plan, and it will be decided to send troops after collecting the details of the water source and terrain near the left of Yingzhou." The old general is familiar with the geography of the northeastern frontier, and hopes to recommend some people to help us, so that we can be fully prepared. ”G