Yu Ban left, riding the horse sent by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei not only gave Yu Ban a good horse, but also returned the armor and weapons to him, and then personally sent him twenty miles away from the city. I don't know, I thought Liu Bei was sending a friend.

Because of this treatment, Yu Ban was very moved when he left, and he also recognized Liu Bei in his heart as a sincere gentleman.

A few days after the ban left, it was January.

It's another year and the New Year has arrived.

It's already January of the thirteenth year of Jian'an.

This year's New Year was different from usual, and the army did not take a 15-day holiday, but only five days later, the generals returned to the camp and began to prepare for war.

According to the detailed report, Cao Cao has already set off from the north, and the class teacher will return to Xudu, and it is estimated that he will be able to return to Xudu in February.

This is not good news for Liu Bei.

Everyone knows that after Cao Cao pacified the north, the next target was Jingzhou, and at this time, Liu Bei had just fought with Xiahoudun in November, and was now busy expanding his armaments.

Zhuge Liang has a lot of things recently, but he is more inclined to government affairs, after all, Liu Bei now not only has to manage Xinye, but also find a way to infiltrate and control Jiangxia, and continue to deal with the Jingzhou family, which is inseparable from Zhuge Liang's participation and planning.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang asked Xu Shu and Zhang Xi to be responsible for the affairs in the army.

After the first battle of Bowang, Zhuge Liang had already seen the effect of Zhang Xi's new law, so there was no need to modify anything, so Zhang Xi presided over the promotion of the whole army.

As for Xu Shu, he assisted Zhang Xi to do a good job in the inspection of each battalion, and prepared training materials and ordnance for each battalion.

So, Zhang Xi found Xu Shu and began to discuss.

The main thing is to discuss the issue of ordnance.

The first one is the rocket.

In the first battle of Bowang, the rocket made its debut, and the effect was almost lethal except for being scary.

The reason is also very simple, in order to ensure the range and combustionability of the rocket after it is launched, Zhang Xi just pasted a thin piece of linen cloth on the rocket, and then let the arrow shaft and linen cloth be soaked in the oil drum.

In this way, of course, the range is maintained and the rocket can be burned, but the actual burning time is very short, and the part that can really burn is the arrow shaft, and the linen cloth is too small to ignite.

The biggest effect of this rocket is to cause riots among people who have never seen a rocket, which in turn affects the enemy's offensive formation and morale.

It might be better to meet a reckless man who eats on muscles, but once he meets a calm general like Li Dian and sees through the secret of the rocket, then there is no threat at all.

Zhang Xi felt that later Hao Zhao could rely on the defenders of less than 1,000 people to repel Zhuge Liang's strategic Northern Expedition with rockets in Chencang Road, relying on this kind of scary rocket in his own hands, otherwise he would be insulting Zhuge Liang's IQ.

But what kind of rocket does Hao Zhao have?!

It can't really be like the rockets of the later Ming Dynasty, tying a powder keg to the barrel of the arrow and spraying it out to hurt people, right?!

It's really not that Zhang Xi doesn't want to engage in black powder, but this thing is not easy to do in this era.

Zhang Xi still knows the formula of black powder, after all, there is no shortage of nets in his previous life.

One nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoal.

Even if this is not an exact proportion, the power of the black powder made is enough for this era.

But the biggest problem facing Zhang Xi now is not that he can't make gunpowder, but that the raw materials are not good.

Charcoal is not difficult, it is the middle of winter, there are always charcoal burners who will come out to sell charcoal, and the technical difficulty of charcoal burning is not high, even if Zhang Xi can't, just ask someone to know.

Sulfur is a little difficult, but as a rapid fire in this era, Liu Beijun still has some inventory, this Zhang Xi when he was the "grain and grass master book", he knew that there were two large boxes of sulfur ore in the warehouse, and a lot should have been used when the Bowangpo was burned recently, but there should be a little left.

Although it is only an ore, there are a lot of impurities in it, but it can barely be used when crushed.

The only thing that is not funny is saltpeter.

There was nitrate in this era, as early as the Warring States period, nitrate was used as a medicinal material, you can't say that this thing didn't have it.

But in this era, there was too little nitrate, not to mention that it was not easy to preserve, and it was quite difficult to obtain, and of course, the most important thing was that its medicinal value could be replaced by other common medicinal materials.

It's hard to obtain, it's hard to preserve, and anyone who can replace a pharmacy won't have to worry about it.

Don't say that you can't buy it in Xinye Fancheng, you just go to Xiangyang City to find it, and there may not be any pharmacy that has it in stock.

And the soil method of taking nitrate, that is, running to the wall of the earthen house to find the natural nitrate precipitated in the soil layer, this method Zhang Xi also knows, after all, he has read online articles in his previous life.

But Zhang Xi actually searched around Xinye, but he didn't find anyone who had this kind of precipitated natural nitrate crystals in the corners of the earthen wall.

I don't know what the specific reason is, it may be that the nitrogen and potassium content in the soil layer is not high, or it may be that it is not a year, anyway, the corner of the house in Xinye has been searched all over Zhangxi, and I have never seen the so-called "frost" at all.

As for the pigsty, stables, toilets, etc., this is too embarrassing.

In these years, the people can raise a pig at home, even if they have a small asset, after all, the food is not enough for people to eat, who will feed the pigs, and where will there be a pigsty? !

Although the toilet is better, it is also a scarce commodity.

In these years, the people are on the tuba, both men and women are squatting in the field, digging a pit and burying it, and those who are not particular just don't care. It's like this even in the army, can you expect the people to know what a toilet is?!

There are toilets at home for dignitaries, but Xinye is a special place, there are no big families here, and there are very few wealthy families, and the largest group of dignitaries and nobles is the civil and military soldiers under Liu Bei.

But after Liu Bei entered Xinye, in order not to infringe on the interests of the people, he ordered all the officials under his command to act frugally, even Liu Yan, who likes extravagance, has restrained a lot.

If you don't believe it, just look at Zhang Xi, the dignified Zuo General's Mansion soldier Cao Peng, the house is rented, and there are four people in the family. The toilet monkey year can precipitate nitrate?!

Of course, if you say that you can't find it at all, it is also a lie, for example, Kou Feng sealed the corner of the toilet of his uncle's house, and Zhang Xi scraped some nitrate.

But the amount of nitrate. It's pitiful to say, not even a single carry-on purse is full, and at least half of it is useless dirt.

With this nitrate, it is enough to make gunpowder, but not to mention how powerful the gunpowder is, this amount is not enough to equip ten rockets, what is the use of it?!

The rocket matter can only be put on hold until a stable source of saltpeter can be obtained. If the output can't come up, at most it will be scary to listen to a sound, so it is better to directly tie a piece of linen cloth and burn it with oil, at least the fire and rain in the sky will fly over, and it will look much more scary than listening to two sounds.

The rocket improvement plan was put on hold for the time being, but another ordnance improvement, Zhang Xi put it on the agenda.

Wugang car.

The Wugang car was there in the pre-Qin period, and in the former Han Dynasty, it played an important role in the battle against the Xiongnu.

When fighting against the Xiongnu, due to the shortage of horses, from Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty to the early Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Wugang chariot was the most important weapon against cavalry.

However, the limitations of the Wugang car are great.

Although the Wugang chariot was relatively lightweight, Sun Wu in the Warring States period used the Wugang chariot both for the front and the rear of the palace, which can be said to be a very convenient type of chariot.

However, in the face of the cavalry, Wu Gangche could only defend and block the offensive of the cavalry charge, but he could not defeat the cavalry.

At the beginning, Wei Qing fought against the Hun cavalry, and also used Wugang vehicles to defend in a circle to attract the siege of the main force of the Huns, and then arranged thousands of cavalry to fight outside, and waited until the Huns could not attack for a long time, so they seized the opportunity to break the enemy in one fell swoop.

Although this can defeat the Huns, it will not bring too much loss to the Hun cavalry, no matter how light the Wugang car is, it is also an infantry fighting vehicle, and it cannot catch up with the Hun war horses that go up and down like the wind.

Moreover, Wugangche is only on defense, and the main force that really breaks the enemy is still the thousands of cavalry.

It is precisely because of this that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty raised horses on a large scale after laying down the Hetao, and the most effective type of cavalry to deal with is still cavalry.

This led to the later decisive battle between Feng Wolf Juxu and Mobei.

And the reason why Zhang Xi wanted to turn the Wugang car out of the pile of antiques was purely because Liu Beijun had no capital to engage in cavalry.

It costs money to raise a horse, and it is even more expensive to train a cavalryman.

As far as Liu Bei's situation is concerned, the grain and grass have to rely on Liu Biao to help, and he can get those rangers in Zhao Yun's hands, which is already the result of Mi Zhu's desperate efforts to make money.

Therefore, Liu Beijun's soldiers are basically infantry, and the Wugang car that matches the infantry is the best defensive weapon.

It's been thirteen years since Jian'an. The battle of Nagasaka Slope is not far off.

Although the current situation is much better than Zhang Xi knows, Zhuge Liang left the mountain a year earlier than before, and has already begun to plan Jiangxia as Liu Bei's back road.

But the key is that Jiangxia has just changed hands now, and the Taishou on the surface is still Liu Qi, not Liu Bei, and there is still a lot of work to be done if you want to control Jiangxia.

Zhuge Liang has been working overtime every day recently, just trying to grasp the real power of Jiangxia as soon as possible and install more of his own people.

But who knows how much Jiangxia's affairs Liu Beijun could control when Cao Cao went south, and whether he could play a role in Liu Bei's resistance to Cao's southward movement. These are all unknowns.

Therefore, Zhang Xi, an "insider", always has to think of something to take precautions and prepare the Wugang car in advance, at least he can have the ability to resist.

If it still develops according to what Zhang Xi knows, this Xinye and Fancheng can't be saved, then if Liu Beijun has the help of Wu Gangche, he may be able to escape far away and not be caught up by Cao Cao's army.

And if Cao Jun is Cao Cao personally leading the army to chase, then Zhang Xi said that he can only do his best, and he has to run.

But if Cao Jun comes, it is those thousands of tigers and leopards to ride. Hehe, Zhang Xi really has the confidence to teach the tiger and leopard to ride and behave.

Don't underestimate the mandarin duck array with the Wugang car.

When Qi Shaobao was guarding Jiliao, he relied on the Wugang car and the mandarin duck array, and the Mongols who were killed and killed were quiet for decades, and they didn't dare to attack.

Although the Mongols at that time were not the Mongols in their heyday, Zhang Xi really didn't believe that Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry was really more powerful than the Mongolian cavalry more than a thousand years later.

(End of chapter)