Although the committee approved the Ministry of Military Affairs' "Temper No. 1 Operation Jihua", the implementation of the Jihua will have to wait for some time. On the one hand, the team has to prepare all kinds of materials for the operation, including food and drink for all the personnel involved in the operation, as well as the storage of various weapons and ammunition. Since the Weapons Section has developed a modern rifle, in order to save all kinds of production materials, the production rate of flintlock ammunition has been reduced to a very low level, which is basically only enough for the Flying Dragon Battalion to train in peacetime, and the current reserves are obviously insufficient for strategic use. Although the scale of these three battles was not large, and Qian Yuanshan, Zeng Zhilin and others preferred to cultivate the soldiers' ability to fight in a white-knuckle battle, the concept of preparedness was still deeply ingrained in the minds of the traversers, so the committee would rather postpone the execution of Jihua than act hastily.

On the other hand, as we entered April, the team had several major issues to deal with, some of which were not fully resolved until the beginning of May. These events restrained the energy of several members of the committee, so they decided to postpone the "Temper No. 1 Operation Jihua" for some time.

There are three main things that affect the energy of the committee, one of which is the cooperation with the Shandong Cui family in the glass business. At the beginning, the crossing team and Cui Yongnian made an appointment, and after the New Year, the other party had to personally bring someone to pay for the goods, and negotiate in detail about opening "Jingbaoxuan" branches in the southern countries.

But in the end, not only did this Cui Da show up at all, but it was not until the beginning of the fourth month of the lunar calendar that Jia Run'an, who was also a traverser, was sent by him to arrive in Liangxiang. As for the reason why Cui Yongnian didn't come, and the people sent came a long time late, Jia Runan just said that there were some problems with Cui Yongnian's business, which made Cui Dayuan spend a lot of time to settle it, and there were still some follow-up matters that had not been dealt with until now, so it was like this.

As for what went wrong, since Jia Runan was not directly involved, he couldn't say too clearly. He just said that as far as he knew, it seemed that the Cui family's original collaborators in the Wa Kingdom had an accident, so that several of his sea ships that went to the Wa Kingdom to do business were seized by the newly rising local noble lords with their ships and people, and goods. In order to save his own people and ship - he had no hope of getting the goods back - Cui Yongnian had to send someone to sail out to sea with a heavy salute to settle relations with the new lord of the area. At the same time, Cui Yuanwai also hoped to use this to reach a new cooperation agreement with the new lord, so that his business in the Wa Kingdom could continue.

Because of the distance between the two countries, the back-and-forth took several months, and it was not until the beginning of last month that it came to an end. It was at that time that Jia Runan was sent to Liangxiang by Cui Yongnian to complete the original agreement with the crossing team for him. However, on the one hand, he was suspicious of the new collaborators of the Wa Kingdom, and for the sake of insurance, Cui Yongnian decided not to ship expensive glass products to the Wa Kingdom for the time being. On the other hand, in order to calm down this turmoil, Cui Dayuan also spent a lot of money. Therefore, the order quantity of glass products proposed by Jia Run'an to the crossing team this time is much less than Cui Yongnian's original promise, according to Jia Run'an's estimate, this amount is basically only enough for the local demand in Shandong.

Although Cui Yongnian's purchase of glass products this time has been greatly reduced, out of the need to develop the southern market and overseas markets, several members of the crossing team and the brothers of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade did not complain about this Cui Da, and still warmly received Jia Run'an and his companions as they did last time - of course, this is also related to Jia Run'an's identity as a traveler.

In addition to completing business with Jia Run'an, the committee also told a general account of the incident that he met Xu Xinsheng (Xu Shanduo) on the way to Kaifeng some time ago. When Jia Runan heard that Xu Shanduo was still alive, he not only entered the mansion of the historical celebrity Zhao Pu as a nurse, but also sighed after even changing his name. He was not only happy that this companion who had been through hardships and hardships had finally climbed a big tree and had the opportunity to get what he wanted, but also felt a little uneasy that the other party was so scheming and so utilitarian.

In his opinion, the current Xu Shanduo - or it would be more appropriate to call him Xu Xinsheng - although it is only a small nursing home, although he has promised Wang Kunjun and others that the well water will not interfere with the river water, but if history does not change significantly, if Zhao Pu successfully climbs the bigger tree of Zhao Kuangyin in the future and becomes the prime minister in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, he will definitely not treat his brother's life-saving benefactor Xu Xinsheng badly. For Xu Xinsheng, who is extremely utilitarian, once he soars, he naturally does not want to have people who know their roots, especially those who know that they have broken their oaths and abandoned their life-saving benefactors to go to ugly things. At that time, he was afraid that he would become the first target of the other party to get rid of, which could not help but make him take it seriously - although Wang Kunjun and the others knew more, but after all, their foundation was in Youzhou. If history still develops as recorded in the history books of the previous life, with his Xu Xinsheng being valued by Zhao Pu and having a great Shili, as long as Wang Kunjun and the others stay in Youzhou, he will not be able to threaten the safety of these people. At most, he risked completely tearing his face with Wang Kunjun and interfering with his development in the Northern Song Dynasty. ,

Regarding Jia Run'an's worries, Wang Kunjun and others assured him that if Xu Xinsheng wanted to be unfavorable to him, the crossing team would not sit idly by. On the one hand, he also comforted him not to worry too much, because according to the development of history in the previous life, when Zhao Pu was a very popular minister, he Jia Runan had already completed his five-year appointment with the Cui family, and he could leave the Cui family and come to Youzhou. In that case, Xu Xinsheng naturally had no ability to threaten him anymore.

Listening to the relief of Wang Kunjun and others, although Jia Run'an has some confidence in his heart, he is no longer as uneasy as he was at the beginning. But it's unlikely that he will not take it seriously at all. However, whether Jia Run'an can really let go of this matter or not, he has to rush back to Shandong as soon as possible after completing the deal with the crossing team - after all, the five-year contract must be done for him.

Therefore, after the two sides completed the exchange of money and goods in mid-April, Jia Runan politely refused the kindness of the brothers of the crossing team to stay for a few more days, and left the "Qingyuan" with his companions and goods, and embarked on the return journey.

The second incident that influenced the committee's execution of the "Temper No. 1 Operation Jihua" occurred on the same day that everyone sent Jia Run'an away.

That day was the sixteenth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and after Wang Kunjun led his brothers to send Jia Run'an away, he returned to his small courtyard. As a result, before he could play with his pair of children for a while, Zhang Weixin hurriedly broke in.

Zhang Weixin's move surprised Wang Kunjun, because since the crossing team subdued the "Five Tiger Village", Zhang Weixin has been working hard to shape him into a team leader, and it has not been a long time since he broke into his room without passing through the courtesy.

However, Wang Kunjun did not express his dissatisfaction with this, first, it has something to do with his character - he does not want so many courtesies between brothers. Second, he also judged from the anxious look on Zhang Weixin's face that the other party must have something very important to tell him, which made Zhang Weixin, who has always been steady, unable to talk about any more etiquette.

Facts have proved that Wang Kunjun's judgment is very correct. Because after he took a telegram handed over by Zhang Weixin, and after reading the contents of it, he also showed the same expression as Zhang Weixin -- considering the service life of the radio, the crossing team began to advocate sending more reports and making fewer calls since the beginning of this year.

I saw that the small telegram clearly wrote: "On the afternoon of April 16 of the lunar calendar of the third year of Xiande, Xu Shaoan was ordered to leave Kaifeng City with the divine machine and go to the front line of the southern expedition to participate in the battle. ”

Judging from the inscription, the telegram was sent jointly by Huang Hai and Zheng Zhiwei, and although the content was not long, only about 30 words, the meaning it expressed was explosive.

"The eighth went to the Huainan front line with Shenjizhi?" Wang Kunjun asked with some disbelieving.

Although Zhang Weixin knew that Wang Kunjun was just subconsciously asking, he still nodded and said: "My first reaction after receiving the telegram was also unbelievable, so I immediately had a direct call with the old twelve and the Zhiwei brothers through the radio. As a result, the answer received was yes. Just this afternoon, Lao Ba and his top boss, Shenji direct deputy Du Yu Liu Guangyi, obeyed Chai Rong's order and led all the soldiers of Shenji Zhi to leave Kaifeng City and go to the Huainan front line to help the war. Because the will came very suddenly, and the time required to leave was very urgent, the eighth child just hurried back to the station of the 'Kaifeng Detention Office' to briefly explain the matter to the old twelve and the Zhiwei brothers, and then set off with the army. ”

"How so?" Wang Kunjun was puzzled, "It's only been three months since the establishment of the Divine Machine, and it is impossible to form any combat effectiveness, Chai Rong Weishenme wants to transfer them to the front line?" ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kunjun paused slightly, looked at Zhang Weixin and asked: "Old Seven, didn't you say that although Chai Rong encountered some troubles in this southern expedition, the overall trend was still good, accounting for a lot of places in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Zuihou had to temporarily suspend the army because of the arrival of the rainy season?" Then Chai Rong Weishenme will adjust his mind and go straight, could it be that there is something major change in Huainan that is different from the history of the previous life, forcing Chai Rong to use this new army that has not yet taken shape in advance? ”

At this time, Wang Kunjun's tone of speech completely lost his usual kindness and affection, and the sentence behind him was even questioning Zhang Weixin. Because when everyone was discussing who should stay in charge of the Kaifeng Detention Office, Zhang Weixin once talked about the outcome of the Southern Expedition, saying that although there were some twists and turns in the early stage, after Chai Rong's personal expedition, the situation became more and more favorable to the Zhou army, and in the end, God helped the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the heavy rain made the Zhou army have to suspend the offensive and end the war ahead of schedule. ,

Therefore, when he heard that Chai Rong had transferred the divine machine that had not formed combat effectiveness at all to the front line, Wang Kunjun's first reaction was that Zhang Weixin might have made a mistake in the records in the history books, or he had hidden something from himself, so he asked Zhang Weixin in an unusually tone.

On the one hand, Wang Kunjun's change in tone was out of concern for Xu Shao'an's safety - after all, the sword has no eyes on the battlefield, and the identity of the traverser does not give Xu Shaoan the ability to be invulnerable, and for the traversing team, the loss of the committee members is something that everyone cannot afford.

On the other hand, this is also an additional consequence of Zhang Weixin's long-term insistence on the so-called "support" behavior. It was under the influence of this behavior that Wang Kunjun had unconsciously recognized the identity of the team leader, which he had not been interested in before, and gradually gained the majesty of a leader. It's just that he can usually control his emotions very much, and he won't show this change very obviously. At this time, he was really anxious, and he couldn't control the tone of his speech.

Zhang Weixin was indeed stunned by Wang Kunjun's questioning tone at first, but soon realized that Wang Kunjun's performance was the result of his unremitting efforts for a long time. Therefore, not only was he not dissatisfied, but replied with a natural expression: "Fifth brother, don't worry, and listen to what your brother has to say." ”

Wang Kunjun also realized that there was something wrong with his tone at this time, so he hurriedly calmed down, nodded and said, "It's my brother, I'm too impatient, you can continue." ”

"Here's the thing," Zhang Weixin explained, "According to the old twelve and the Zhiwei brothers, the news from the eighth brother shows that the reason why Chai Rong transferred the eighth and Shenji to the Huainan front line this time is not because the front line is unfavorable. On the contrary, due to the excellent performance of Li Chongjin, Zhao Kuangyin, Zhang Yongde and other generals, Chai Rong has successively captured six prefectures such as Chu, Yang, Qin, Guang, Shu, and Qi in the Southern Tang Dynasty after his personal conquest, which can be said to have gained a lot. ”

"In this case, Chai Rong has no reason to transfer the eighth child to the front line?" Wang Kunjun asked even more puzzled.

"It's a pity that our Zhou Shizong Chai Tianzi is a quick temper," Zhang Weixin continued to explain, "Although a large area of land in the Southern Tang Dynasty has been obtained, because the invincible Great Zhou Forbidden Army was deflated under the city of Shouzhou and attacked this fortified city for a long time, so he was unwilling to do so, and always wanted to 'finish his work in one battle' and completely solve the Huainan problem." However, in the history of the previous life, Liu Renzhen, the defender of Shouzhou, resisted the attack of the Later Zhou army with a lonely city when foreign aid was exhausted, so that Chai Rong has not been able to take this strategic place. In the end, because of the arrival of the rainy season and the fact that the soldiers fought for several months, the veterans of the division were tired and had to retire.

But now the situation has changed, although the previous situation between the Zhou and Tang dynasties is no different from the records in the history books, but due to our appearance, especially the black powder that we dedicated to the Later Zhou court some time ago, Chai Rong, who was originally helpless against Shouzhou City, saw a glimmer of hope to solve the city. ”

"You mean, Chai Rong plans to blow up Shouzhou City with black powder?" Wang Kunjun guessed.

"Yes," Zhang Weixin nodded, "That's exactly what Chai Rong thinks." ”

However, it is one thing for him to think, and it is another thing whether he can implement it. Does Chai Rong have so much black powder for blasting? We only gave him a few hundred catties of black powder, which was not enough to blow up the city wall," Wang Kunjun analyzed.

"Of course, it's not enough for us to send it. But the problem is that Lao Ba had previously told Zhao Kuangyin in detail about the use of firearms, which specifically mentioned that black powder can be used alone in the war to achieve an effect that cannot be achieved by various weapons now. Zhao Kuangyin later reported these gifts to Chai Rong, who had already ordered the Ordnance Superintendent to manufacture large quantities of black powder before leaving Beijing. It is precisely because of this that Chai Rong now has enough black powder to blow up the city wall," Zhang Weixin said helplessly.

I heard that it was because of Xu Shaoan's enthusiasm that Chai Rong had the conditions to use black powder to blow up the city wall, and Wang Kunjun really didn't know what to say for a while. This is really in line with the old saying - time, luck, and creation.

At this time, Wang Kunjun's mood has gradually calmed down, and he is no longer impatient when he first got the news. Coupled with knowing that Xu Shaoan was only going to command the divine machine to bomb the city wall this time, and was not taking those unskilled flintlock musketeers to fight the enemy face-to-face, the uneasiness in his heart was also alleviated a lot. ,

Therefore, after pondering for a long time, he asked, "How many of his own people did the eighth bring with him on this expedition?" ”

"Six," Zhang Weixin replied, "The brothers in the Kaifeng garrison were afraid that he would be in danger, so they let him take away half of his personal guards." Moreover, the old twelve and the Zhiwei brothers also asked if they should draw some more people from the emergency team outside the city to follow the eighth. They said that if they moved quickly, they would be able to catch up with the old eight who had already set off. ”

Wang Kunjun waved his hand when he heard this, and said, "I don't think it's necessary. First, the eighth is not going to charge into battle this time, and the danger factor is not great. Second, he took refuge in the past from the north, and the new Liupin Sanguan brought so many personal soldiers at once, others may suspect it. However, you still have to tell the old twelve to pay close attention to the movements of the imperial court in Huainan, and if there is any major change, be sure to notify us in time. ”

Zhang Weixin also understood that there was only so much that everyone could do now, so he didn't say anything more, and went to send a telegram to Huang Hai and Zheng Zhiwei after agreeing.

If it is said that Jia Run'an's arrival can only be regarded as an episode, and although Xu Shao'an's expedition to Huainan has attracted the attention of all his brothers, it has little to do with the current operation of the military group, then a new type of weapon developed by the Weapons Section after the New Year is directly related to the "Temper No. 1 Operation Jihua."

As soon as the news of Zeng Zhilin's desire to conduct an actual combat drill was transmitted back to Youzhou, all the members of the Weapons Section, under the instruction of Li Junwu, began to develop a new type of weaponry -- a mortar -- for a possible combat operation carried out by the Military Department.

In fact, the words "start development" are not appropriate, and it is more accurate to say that the trial production of real guns should begin. Because the mortar is not a complicated weapon, the weapons department has already begun to think about this thing as early as the trial production of the front-loading smoothbore gun. However, although the structure of the mortar is simple, it cannot be used to exert its power until a reliable trigger fuse is developed, so the weapons section put it aside after conducting preliminary research.

This time, the military department came up with the idea of actual combat training, and the first step was to train its hands with bandits. As a result, the rugged mountain roads that the team may face during combat made it extremely inconvenient to use the existing bulky front-loading guns, so the development and production of mortars were once again put on the agenda.

However, due to the lack of reliable triggering fuses, the mortars provided by the Weapons Section can only be solved by using the indigenous method of igniting the fuse before firing. On the launch side, there is no such trouble, and the team's existing products are sufficient for the needs. Therefore, the mortar created by the Weapons Section looks rather strange. It has a similar appearance to the mortar of the previous life (the barrel, bottom plate, and bracket are all available), and even the appearance of the shells and the way they are fired are roughly the same. At the same time, at the top of its shells there was a long lead that the mortar shells of previous lives did not have.

Although the self-produced mortar shells look a little strange, experiments have proved that they are not bad. Accordingly, on the one hand, the Committee requested the Weapons Section to intensify the production of mortars, in particular artillery shells. On the other hand, the military department was also asked to wait a few more days for the weapons section to produce a sufficient number of mortars and artillery shells before carrying out the "Temper No. 1 operation."

In this regard, Qian Yuanshan, Zeng Zhilin and others have no opinions. Although the starting point of their training is to strengthen the melee ability of the soldiers, if they encounter a situation where the other party cannot hold out, they will never let the soldiers rush to the enemy's cottage. On the one hand, this is because the number of people in the Flying Dragon Pioneer Camp is limited, and if you fight hard like this, it is not good that the three cottages have not been completed, and the Pioneer Camp has been scrapped first. On the other hand, for the heads of the military department such as Qian and Zeng, this Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion of several hundred people was cultivated by them as a seed team. If the consumption is too large, it will be very detrimental to the next step of army expansion. Therefore, they would rather postpone the operation and wait for the mortars to be produced.

It was precisely because of the various reasons mentioned above that the energy of the crossing team could not be fully focused on the upcoming "Temper No. 1 Operation Jihua", so although the Ministry of Military Affairs submitted Operation Jihua to the committee as early as the first day of the fifth lunar month and received the approval of the committee, it was not until more than half a month later that the Wyvern Pioneer Battalion actually began to implement the jihua.

However, there are pros and cons to everything. Although the operation was postponed, it also made the military department more prepared for the operation, and thus confident that the operation would be victorious.

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