A month later, the slightly dark and thin Zheng Yunming took the elated Yue'er, the vigilant Shi Wenhu, and Zheng Xian and Han Shilang, who were carrying their luggage, to stand in front of the gate of the Lao Yashan camp again.

It was a very different place from the Raven Mountain he had just left.

Huge walls have been erected around Dazhai. The wooden walls were all surrounded by logs six or seven inches thick, which were several feet deep into the ground, about a foot long, and the middle nail ribs were used to reinforce them. The wall is divided into two layers, the inner and the outer layers, and the middle is filled with repeated ramming to impregnable earth, and the earthen wall is about one zhang thick. On the inside of the big wall, there is also a more than one zhang of the daughter wall, on which bed crossbows, war tents and horse cards can be placed, standing soldiers defend, and the daughter wall is built to build a horse road to facilitate travel.

Outside the city wall was a moat, which had not yet been completed. But it can be seen that the trench is several feet wide and more than one deep, and it is not something that can be crossed casually.

Beyond the moat were two low earthen walls, an old rule handed down from the Northern Song Dynasty, where crossbowmen could inflict a wave of casualties on the enemy before they rushed under the walls. Then he fled back to the city gates with swift movements.

On the outskirts of the area is a dry trench, roughly the same width and depth as the water trench, and the bamboo and wooden thorns have been cut down underneath, and the enemy must have to go through some twists and turns if they want to pass smoothly.

The outermost part is densely packed with antlers, all of which are thick branches cut down in the mountains on the left, all of which are cut off to a length of several feet, and are inserted obliquely into the ground for more than a foot, and rush outward. Previous successes have proven to be an effective obstacle to blocking cavalry charges.

Zheng Yunming looked at the defense system all the way with great interest and walked into the gate.

The door has also changed its appearance. A large number of haphazardly erected thatched huts have been demolished, and a wide bluestone-paved avenue leads to the chief ward's yamen at the top of the mountain. Directly in front of the yamen is a wide school reading field. A number of houses have been built along both sides of the avenue, and although most of them have not yet been completed, they have already shown a regular atmosphere.

There are all kinds of facilities such as the martial arts field, the rice grain tun, the medicine bureau, the armory, the well, the Houwangtai and so on, and even next to the Yamen Office, a small but still well-planned martial arts temple is slowly taking shape.

Wang Deng, Lu Xunzhi, Ge Huai and others stood on the school field waiting for Zheng Yunming.

Zheng Yunming looked up at the flagpole hanging high on the flagpole of the school field, which was embroidered with the words "Zheng, the chief manager of the Jinghu Zhiyingtian", although he had often seen the majestic appearance of the general going out on patrol and sounding the gong to open the way, but when it was his turn, after all, he still had a different feeling.

It's called "power."

Ge Huai asked with a smile: "How about it, the manager will share with us what it feels like to be a general." ”

Zheng Yunming raised his head and reveled in intoxication: "That feeling is really wonderful. ”

"But it's just as heavy," Wang Deng said with a straight face, "This is the whole army in your hands, how much power you have in your hands, and what a great responsibility you have on your shoulders." ”

Zheng Yunming scolded with a smile: "Wang Jingsong is always like this, can't you tolerate dreaming?" ”

Ge Huai also smiled and said, "If this is not the case, how can it be Wang Jingsong of the Earth Dragon Army?" Have you had any fun going out this time? ”

Zheng Yunming said: "It's a good game, from Zaoyang to Jiangling, where you can hold in the middle, where you can ambush soldiers, where you can camp, the geography of mountains and rivers, Yunming already knows everything." ”

Ge Huai nodded approvingly: "As a general, if the geography of rivers and mountains is not hidden in the chest, how can you lead the army to the battle?" Even if you don't need to personally lead the troops, you have to personally survey the terrain, and the slight negligence in the training of one or two hundred people is far less than the losses caused by unknown geography. ”

Zheng Yunming said: "That's right, although a person who has a good place can be a thief, a general who doesn't know the location, although the number is up to 100,000, what's the use?" Later, Jing Song and Chun's father also went out to check the geography of Jingxiang and keep it in mind. ”

Yang Yu smiled and said: "You don't need to take me, where haven't the girls who have taken the Qinlou Chu Pavilion in the past few years?" There are a few rivers and a few villages in the fields of Jingxiang, which is difficult for me. ”

Wang Deng also said: "When Wang Deng was a teenager on a study tour, he had already traveled all over the mountains and rivers of Jinghu, although he could not say that he had investigated every inch in detail, I believe that it would not be a problem to lead troops to the expedition. ”

"By the way, both of them are veterans of Jinghu, but I'm still a newcomer." Zheng Yunming arched his hand and said: "If there is any mistake or omission in geography in the future, you must tell me bluntly." ”

Wang Deng stared at Zheng Yunming with a blanket and said, "If the general is negligent anywhere, Wang Deng will definitely be guilty of a straightforward admonition, so there is no need to worry about this." Let's talk about the allocation of subordinates. ”

Lu Xunzhi said: "Exactly. After a month of training, we have already achieved a good idea of the strength and weakness of the 5,000 soldiers. ”

"Five hundred brave and strong men were selected from among them to serve as the general's personal soldiers. No. do the back of the camp. ”

"Back to the back, back to the back" Zheng Yunming muttered, when reading the history books, Han Yue and the two of them charged into battle, and the description of the elite formation of the decisive Jin people couldn't help but be fascinated, and they never thought that they also had a back army today.

"The second class, select a thousand clear-minded people, train them as vermilion lacquer archers, all wearing red robes, and divide the camps. A thousand men were selected to be strong and worthy of the array, and trained as spear infantry, also wearing red robes, and the battalions were divided. ”

"Minus one level, train 500 black lacquer archers and 500 black oil wood gunners, wear black robes as supplementary soldiers, take half of the rear camp, and divide the rest."

"The rest of the long knives, regimental cards, sticks, and heavy axes are trained separately and placed in the army."

Zheng Yunming sounded a little wrong: "What about the horse team?" And where are the crossbowmen? ”

Yang Shu laughed out loud: "Xiangyang Mansion allocated twenty horses, and Zhu Sheng and I went to Jiangling Mansion to purchase them in person, and finally got ten horses that could fight, and it was not enough to use them as generals' mounts, so there was no need to bother arranging any horse army." ”

Sure enough, it is a tragic country, Zheng Yunming couldn't help but sigh in his heart, in this era when the quantity and quality of horses determine the strength of the country, the Southern Song Dynasty, which is partial to half of the mountains and rivers, has fairly good economic conditions and a large population, but it lacks the most important resource to ensure the survival of the country - war horses.

This is a great ridicule of history for the Han nation, and it has also made the loyalty, righteousness, wisdom and courage of countless people with lofty ideals come to naught. Zheng Yunming is just a small person now, and naturally there is no good way to solve it.

"As for the crossbow team," Yang Luo's voice was even more helpless: "Xiangyang Mansion has allocated a total of eighty horned crossbows that can be used, plus the one hundred and fifty that I purchased from the craftsmen, it can finally train two hundred people, and such a crossbow is only better than nothing compared to the thousands of troops and horses of the Northern Army." ”

"However, Xiangyang didn't know which tendon was wrong, so he was willing to put four eight-bull crossbows and eight bed-sitting crossbows for us. These are the treasures of the envoys. Wang Deng said with a smile.

Zheng Yunming naturally knew Zhao Fan's intentions, the horn crossbow was a sharp weapon in the field, and it was inevitable that Zheng Xiaoguan would have the idea of pulling up thousands of troops and hundreds of crossbows to go north to compete with the Mongols, so he gave less to control his ambitions. The bed crossbow was cumbersome and difficult to carry, it turned out to be just a tool for defending the city, and Zheng Yunming couldn't move it. Staying in the camp to ensure the safety of the officials.

"It doesn't matter what he means, as long as the Xiangyang Mansion gives him the tools to fight, we will ask for as many as he wants." Zheng Yunming said greedily: "Now is not the time to be picky. ”

Lu Xunzhi then said: "There is still a critical joint, I don't know how to deal with it, I will wait for the chief manager to come back and judge." “

"It's the firearm's configuration."

Zheng Yunming responded and asked, "What happened to the construction of the manufacturing bureau in Jiangling Mansion?" ”

"Everything is fine," Yang said, "The main investment is made by us, what else can those old people say?" ”

"How many shipments can I ship per month?" Zheng Yunming spoke like a shrewd businessman with an abacus: "Can you keep up with the attrition of the war?" ”

"At first, I could only produce two or three hundred cigarettes a month. Later, when the craftsmen are skilled, they can produce about four or five hundred pieces a month. ”

"That's not enough." Zheng Yunming shook his head: "When the war breaks out in the future, the consumption will definitely not be replenished by this amount." ”

"That can't be helped." Yang said: "Even if the production is expanded, the current financial resources of the Tulong Army cannot afford it. If you can have 500 sticks a month, you can finally use it. ”

Zheng Yunming muttered: "In this way, first select 200 people from the archers who can endure hardships and are willing to learn, and form a firearms team." There are also other firearms allocated by Xiangyang. ”

Yang Luo flipped through the ordnance list: "There are all of them, thunderbolt fire thistles, fire torches, and gunpowder guns are all available, but the number is less." ”

"No matter what it is," Zheng Yunming said, "if you can use it, you have to use it." As for the recipe and method of refining gunpowder, I had already handed it over to the craftsmen of the manufacturing bureau before I left. In the future, refined gunpowder will be used as much as possible, and the gunpowder in Xiangyang will not be able to be used. ”

"The gunpowder allocated by the Xiangyang Prefecture," Ge Huai said, "is all powder, and only black smoke chokes people when it is burned." Where can it be compared to the gunpowder prepared by the general manager's formula, the particles are distinct, and the golden light splashes everywhere when it burns, and it is violent and unbearable. ”

That's natural, as soon as Zheng Yunming crossed over, he found that the gunpowder of the Song Dynasty was very powerful and had many impurities, and it could really only be used as a pyrotechnic agent to smoke the enemy, even if it was barely made into a firing weapon, the power of the bullet was very small.

In order to be able to save his life, he used an unknown amount of money and his father's reputation, constantly found various materials to test various formulas, and finally made refined gunpowder nearly two hundred years later.

The only thing that Da Song can rely on is probably only this. Zheng Yunming tried this recipe to protect it like life, but what he didn't know was that the area occupied by the Mongols had higher quality and more reserves of saltpeter and sulfur than the Song Dynasty's land, and even in this only leading project, the resources of the Song State could not match the powerful enemies in the north.

(As usual, the ball red ticket rewards the ranking officials, and take some time to make some annotations on some things, some historical common sense does not look difficult for everyone)