Around the beginning of the year, the southern foot of Taihang Mountain at the turn of Jin and Lu was covered by heavy snow.

A caravan composed of more than a dozen mules and horses and more than 20 men in Geyi traveled through the Taihang Mountains with difficulty in heavy snowy weather. This is the common business travel mule and horse team at the turn of Jinnan and northern Lu, mainly skinny mules, only two led by two horsebacks, with a simple knife to prevent mountain thieves and road thieves.

Most of the men look lean, wrap their heads with cloth towels, face the cold wind like a knife, their faces are exposed, and they have the appearance of the men in the mountainous areas of southern and central Jin.

The trade route was between the inaccessible mountains and I don't know how long it took to travel, and it was getting dark, and suddenly there were a few sharp whistles, which sounded like the whistle of a big bird; The man at the head looked up, the distant mountains and snow trees reflected each other, and the shadows of birds and beasts could not be seen, and he turned around and took the goggles from the hands of the people around him, and looked at the whistling sound, and a lit torch was hanging on the peak cliff where twilight was approaching. If it weren't for the mirror, it would be difficult to see clearly from such a distance.

"This should be Yanziyu?" The man at the head asked the people around him.

The map made by Huaidong can not accurately identify every ravine and valley in the Taihang Mountains, and it is still necessary to rely on the guide from the Jinnan Mountains to recognize the road - in fact, although there are many people from the Jinnan Mountains in the Huaidong Army, they have been away from their hometowns for many years, and they can not lose their way between the mountains, and there are very few.

The agreement was to connect at Yanziyu, but the contact point of Hebi was destroyed by the enemy, and the eyeliner deployed in Hebi was captured by the enemy, and the information was transmitted before the contact point was destroyed, so that Wu Jingze and others could avoid the trap set by the enemy in Hebi.

Wu Jingze and the others could only venture around Hebi City and enter Taihang Mountain directly, but without a guide, they turned around the mountains at the southern foot of Taihang Mountain for several days, and there was still no way to accurately touch Yanziyu.

Just when everyone was uncertain about their position, there was a sound of people and horses trampling from the deep valley on the flank; The caravan immediately vigilantly protected Wu Jingze, who was the leader, but Wu Jingze relaxed: Don't look at Yanhu who has controlled the northern land for seven or eight years, but its power has not yet penetrated into the depths of Taihang Mountain, even if their whereabouts are leaked, the enemy troops who are searching for them will have to chase after them or intercept them forward, and it is impossible to string out people and horses from the cold deep valley.

After a while, more than 100 people came out of the deep valley, and the leader saw Wu Jingze and said happily: "It's General Jingze who is decisive." The point on the Hebi side was knocked out by Hu Gouzi, and the contact from Jinan to Taihang Mountain was cut off, so there was no way to confirm the specific time when General Jingze entered the mountain, Wei Tou could only send a distant whistle to the edge of the mountain to wait, but the distant whistle could not confirm that it was you, so he didn't dare to contact rashly, and he was peaceful all the way......."

"The journey was quite smooth," Wu Jingze saw that Luo Shoushan, who was headed by the Military Intelligence Department and sent to Taihang Mountain in advance, swept away the tension and fatigue of crossing the enemy territory these days, and asked, "Where is General Zhonglong?" "They were delayed on the road for several days, and some things had to be discussed with Wei Zhonglong immediately, so they were worried that Wei Zhonglong and his troops were too far away from Yanziyu. It is very difficult to transfer in the Taihang Mountains, it may be separated by 200 miles, and if you want to transfer it, you may not be able to succeed in one or two months, and you must prepare for the Northern Expedition in March, and the time is very tight.

"Wei Tou is right behind," Luo Shoushan said, "I haven't seen you come in these days, Wei Tou is anxious to take his troops out of the mountain to pick you up......"

As he spoke, he heard a rapid sound of horses' hooves, who was it not Wei Zhonglong?

"Jingze has worked hard all the way," Wei Zhonglong jumped off the horse and shook hands with Wu Jingze, who was striding up, "I have to believe that you are coming over, so I hope you can come over sooner, these days can make me sad to death......"

"Uncle Wei." A young man beside Wu Jingze came over and called.

Wei Zhonglong looked sideways, looked at the young man's face like an old man, and asked hesitantly, "Are you practicing literature or martial arts?" ”

"Uncle Wei, I'm Xingwu."

"Haha, Zhou Tong, that guy, why are you willing to come to Taihang Mountain?" When Wei Zhonglong saw the son of the deceased, he slapped Zhou Xingwu, the second son of Zhou Tong, on the body with joy, and saw that his body was not moving at all, and said, "Good boy, your body is just strong." ”

"My father said that a man should be sharpened to become a weapon," Zhou Xingwu said, "After my eldest brother graduated from the Higher Army Command Academy, he also rushed to Nanyang ...... my father."

"Zhou Tong, that guy, he treated you brothers as baby bumps at the beginning, and at this time, he kicked them all over the world." Wei Zhonglong laughed and said to Wu Jingze, "When Yannan got together, you and I were both in the prime of life, the dragon spirit and the tiger were fierce, who would have thought that ten years would pass in a short period of time, it should be the turn of the line of writing and martial arts, and they will be fierce ......" and explained to Wu Jingze the generals behind him.

During the Yannan War, Wei Zhonglong, Zhou Tong, Yang Yihang, Ma Yigong, Wu Tian, Ma Yigong was the oldest, only forty-one years old, and the other four were only in their thirties.

After the end of the Yannan War, Yang Yihang, Ma Yigong, Wu Tian and others stayed in Jinhai to form the Tianjin Navy, Zhou Tong gave up his general post and went south with Lin Bin, while Wei Zhonglong was not angry with Yanjing's disposal of the Jinzhong Army, and directly abandoned his general post and left, and entered Taihang Mountain to pull up his men and horses to make a beard.

After the fall of the northern land, the resistance forces of Jinzhong and Yan Ji were not as good as retreating south for a while, and they all retreated into Taihang Mountain to defend and insist on resisting, and there were thirteen together with Wei Zhonglong. In the past seven or eight years, Yanhu has continuously strengthened the nest of resistance forces in Taihang Mountain, and four of the thirteen forces have unfortunately been eliminated, and the remaining nine have also been united and merged to form five alliance forces, which are distributed in the deep mountains of the north, south and central sections of Taihang Mountain for more than 1,000 miles, and persist in resisting.

Although Huaidong contacted Wei Zhonglong very early, in the early years of Yongxing, Huaidong experienced continuous wars and was very short of resources. The Changhuai Army, the Qingzhou Army and the Liang family's soldiers and horses retreated south one after another, making Taihang Mountain completely isolated in the heart of the northern land controlled by Yanhu, and it was very difficult to contact and support.

It was not until after the Battle of Jiangning in the fourth year of Yongxing that although the luxury family was still in addition, Jiangxi was not down, and Jingxiang was still in chaos, the context of the entire overall situation could be seen clearly, and the Northern Expedition was not without a shadow at all.

Wei Zhonglong left angrily back then, because he was dissatisfied with the imperial court, but he was still convinced by Lin Lian. Although Wu Tian died in the battle to defend the city of Jinhai, the honor behind him was undiminished, and his heirs were also well taken care of when they entered Huaidong, and Zhou Tong, Ma Yigong, Yang Yihang and other Jinjiang military generals who went out of the Jinzhong General Gate with Wei Zhonglong were all the core generals of the Huaidong Army, and Wei Zhonglong naturally did not resist integrating into the Huaidong Army.

Over the years, almost one-third of the generals in Wei Zhonglong's department were directly dispatched by Huaidong, and many generals were also sent to Huaidong for training and then returned to serve; In addition to transporting gold and silver and other hard goods into the Taihang Mountains, Lin Jian also instructed the Military Intelligence Department to send a large number of craftsmen to enter the Taihang Mountains through the Yanhu blockade line to help Wei Zhonglong's troops to mine and smelt iron on a small scale on the spot, build armor, and improve their combat effectiveness.

Wu Jingze came over this time because he was ordered to come over and formally assist Wei Zhonglong in reorganizing his headquarters into an independent town division of Taihang Mountain under the direct jurisdiction of the military department, Wei Zhonglong served as the commander of the army, and Wu Jingze served as the deputy commander and staff officer.

When he was in Yannan, Wu Jingze and Wei Zhonglong had a short experience of fighting side by side, so they were not angry.

Wu Jingze has been in the army for a longer time, and his eldest son was also sacrificed on the battlefield, but after the war in Yuanzhou, although he took up his post in the local area, served as the commander of Yuanzhou to join the army and the general judge, although he could enjoy the wealth and wealth steadily, but after thinking about it, Wu Jingze still felt that he was suitable for the camp and the battlefield, and during his tenure in Yuanzhou, he wrote many times to request to return to the camp, and Lin Jian would transfer him through the enemy territory and sneak to Taihang Mountain.

Wu Jingze and others took off their disguises, followed Wei Zhonglong, Luo Shoushan and others to touch the dangerous mountain road, and entered the Pegasus Valley where the soldiers and horses were stationed in the front of the independent town division to rest, and the main station of the independent town division was deeper in the Taihang Mountain.

"Now it's time to make up your mind to fight a big battle," when he arrived at Pegasus, Wei Zhonglong couldn't wait to grab Wu Jingze and asked, "How does the lord plan to fight, and when do he plan to fight?" ”

"The military department is the main force that requires the independent town division of Taihang Mountain, and all of them will be transferred to the southwest mountainous area of Jixi in March to wait for fighters." Wu Jingze said, "When to fight, whether it is a gentle blow or a hard fight, this depends on the preparation of the south......

"What a heart-wrenching fist!" Wei Zhonglong patted his thigh excitedly, he was also very familiar with the soldiers, and when he heard the military order brought by Wu Jingze, he wanted his troops to move to the north, to a position that could threaten Yanjing City in the southwest corner, and naturally thought that the core strategy of the Northern Expedition was to attack Yanjing directly, rather than starting from breaking through the Shandong defense line and spreading to the two wings, "It should be fucking to beat him one at a time!" Immediately afterwards, Wei Zhonglong hesitated again and asked, "Over the years, Hu Gouzi has worked hard in Dengzhou and Liaodongjian, and built a lot of island fortresses, known as locking the sea like a city, and Haikou is as solid as a thunder pool, and the Jinghai division is sure to tear open the sea ......."

"How's the broken ash iron in the mountains doing?" Wu Jingze asked, "How much saltpeter and sulfur are prepared?" ”

"The gray iron in the section is smelted out of seven or eight thousand catties, and the saltpeter and sulfur are finally about a thousand catties," Wei Zhonglong said, "but there is no need for such a good ......iron material to build a bed crossbow and a scorpion crossbow."

"Other weapons don't need such good iron, but the cross-section ash is used to make ambush fire crossbows." Wu Jingze said with a smile.

"Fuhuo crossbow," Wei Zhonglong's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "I heard Luo Shoushan say that the Fuhuo crossbow is amazing, and if you go down, you can blast the mountain away." If it is really so powerful, it will be much easier to tear open the seamouth. ”

Wei Zhonglong's troops insisted on resisting in Taihang Mountain, but the materials in Taihang Mountain were very scarce, they could get a large amount of gold and silver from Huaidong, and they could exchange materials with the township forces outside the mountain. Although there is a town division with a total strength, the overall combat strength is far less than the current elite town division of the Huaidong Army.

"It's not so powerful, listen to his nonsense," Wu Jingze said with a smile, "If you have a solid bullet, it can be compared to a medium-sized stone-throwing crossbow, but it can be loaded with wheels, dragged by mules and horses, you can go, you can stop and fight, and you can deploy it in front of the formation, behind the formation, and in the formation at will, which is very convenient." In addition, the newly built warships in Chongzhou, one ship can be equipped with one hundred fire crossbows, eight orders......"

"Obedient," Wei Zhonglong was excited to scream, and said, "This is not terrible, Hu Gouzi can use a hundred stone-throwing crossbows to fight Nanyang; Now a warship in Huaidong has arrived at all the weapons of Hu Gouzi when he fought Nanyang, and he still screams at them? ”

Wei Zhonglong has been using the orthodox art of war since he was a child, and naturally knows how powerful it is to use a hundred stone-throwing crossbows in a siege. A battleship in Huaidong is quite equipped with 100 orders and 8 medium-sized stone-throwing crossbows, which is also exciting to think about.

"From Hebi to the south, the blockade is very tight, even if people can come over, thank God, iron, flame stone, sulfur and other materials can't be transported, so you can only prepare on the spot," Wu Jingze said, "But with the section ash, it is easy to build an ambush fire crossbow." The bitter ointment can't be made here, but Hu Gouzi can't guess that the bitter ointment is the main medicine of the Fuhuo Pill, and he thinks it's a dye. We brought 3,000 catties of bitter paste this time, and we can smuggle some in in the future, but you have to prepare the rest. ”

Bitter paste is the most critical main ingredient of Fuhuo Dan, and it is the refinement of tar kerosene, which cannot be made in Taihang Mountain. However, while strengthening the combat power of the independent town division of Taihang Mountain, Lin Jian was also worried that gunpowder and artillery technology would spread too early, so the bitter paste was still smuggled directly from Huaidong.

Before the discovery of explosiveness, the bitter paste itself was used as a raw material for blue dye, which was very similar to the traditional blue dye, and non-Huaidong craftsmen could not distinguish it, so Wu Jingze and they pretended to be dye merchants to enter Jinzhong, and they did not notice it at all.

Wu Jingze heard that seven or eight thousand catties of high-quality cross-sectional gray iron had been prepared in the mountains, and he knew that it was impossible to build a heavy fire crossbow, but four catties of light fire crossbows could make twenty crossbows, and four catties of war crossbows were also the easiest to make—even if a four-jin war crossbow fired a scattershot, it could be worth forty or fifty strong crossbows, and after the technology matured, it was easier and easier to build twenty light fire crossbows than eight hundred and one thousand strong crossbows. Moreover, the four-catty light fire crossbow is not as cumbersome as the twelve-catty and twenty-four-catty heavy crossbows, and it is most suitable for the field battles in the Jixi area of Wei Zhonglong's department, which lacks random mobility.

The combat power of the independent town division of Taihang Mountain is weak, and Yan Hu is not defenseless against the resistance forces in Taihang Mountain, if you want the independent town division of Taihang Mountain to play a big role in the Northern Expedition strategy, you must strengthen its combat weapons unexpectedly by the Yanhu people.