Fenghou

The other three are all in command, Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui, Gao Ding, Niu Gao, and Liu Qiong are all [-] members, and the other three are in special control, Guan Shigu, Cao De, and Liu Zan. But they are all civilians.

Needless to say Guan Shigu, Counselor, Chief Superintendent of the Military Department, Cao De is the inspector of the Yanwu Hall, that is, the principal of the military academy, Liu Zan has been the prefect of Jingzhao for two years, and this year he has been changed to the Secretary of the Military Department Zuo Sima, in charge of the militia And state soldiers.

Before arriving at the barracks, I heard the sound of fierce drums and shouts. This is the actual combat training of the army. Some actual combat training is very dangerous, such as the actual combat training of fire mines and kerosene. Soldiers must be highly nervous, and they will be injured if they are negligent.

Entering the gate of the Huben camp, one can see two armies fighting fiercely on the broad school field, one is cavalry and the other is infantry. Except that the weapons are blunt weapons that are not used for training, they are no different from actual combat. It often happens that soldiers are kicked and injured by horses. The soldiers know that it is training, but the horses don't know it. There are also cases where cavalrymen fall off the horses and are dragged by the horses.

In fact, no matter what kind of training, as long as it is actual combat training, soldiers will be injured or even die, but this is a very normal phenomenon, and it is absolutely impossible to stop actual combat training for fear of soldiers being injured.

The cavalry was interspersed and divided in a formation of hundreds of people, trying to cut the infantry into pieces, while the infantry was formed into a battalion of thousands of people, trying to prevent the opponent from breaking through. They back to back, shoulder to shoulder, and used skillful coordination to fight against the tall cavalry.

This is just infantry fighting against cavalry, but it is much more complicated in actual combat. For example, Jurchen cavalry and shooting. Jurchen soldiers will never stop to fight fiercely with infantry, but keep running, drawing bows and shooting arrows, and each arrow will kill the enemy. , or cut off the enemy's head while running, very fierce.

Although the Western Army defeated the Jurchen cavalry in the Battle of Xixia, it was also a special situation, and it was somewhat related to the Jurchen soldiers underestimating the enemy.

Similarly, the infantry also had many powerful weapons that were not used, such as the two-foot-long hooked spear, the powerful iron fire thunder, bed crossbow, divine arm crossbow, and fine steel throwing spear, etc.

Therefore, Chen Qing also wanted to build a strong western army, not only well-equipped and advanced weapons, but more importantly, a strong will to fight, which was the key to fighting the Jurchens.

The Jurchens are not good at fighting for a long time. If the enemy cannot be crushed in a short period of time, they will take the initiative to retreat and look for opportunities again.

The early Song army couldn't stand the fierce impact of the Jin soldiers. They were defeated in a short period of time and were massacred everywhere. The Song army was completely frightened. A disgraceful situation in which one flees in fright.

But in the later period, because the decadent military system of the Northern Song Dynasty was completely destroyed, Zhao Gou learned a lesson. Except for the Sichuan-Shanxi Army, other armies no longer used civilian officials to command the army, which made the rebuilt Song Army's combat effectiveness look completely new, and gradually adapted to the Jin army. tactics.

In addition, the early Jurchen soldiers retreated and died, and the newly joined Jurchen soldiers lost the wolfishness of their parents, and Jurchen's own population was insufficient. A large number of Donghu soldiers joined the Jinbing, which directly led to a serious decline in the combat effectiveness of the Jinbing. There is no earlier myth of "golden soldiers are less than ten thousand, and ten thousand are invincible".

Therefore, the Song army and the Jin army on the Jianghuai and Central Plains battlefields had mixed victories, especially the troops of Wu Jie, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Liu Qi, and Yang Yizhong performed well, defeating the Jin soldiers repeatedly, and the military has begun to reverse.

However, the Song Dynasty was completely defeated politically. The weak and incompetent court finally killed Yue Fei and accepted Shaoxing's peace talks.

This is the root cause of Qin Hui's stigma for thousands of years, not only because he killed Yue Fei, but also because the Song army had begun to gain the upper hand in the military. Yue Fei's army had already reached Luoyang, but the court finally accepted the peace.

As a result, the opportunity to regain Bianliang and wash away the shame of Jingkang was lost. In the end, the emperor of the Song Dynasty had to kneel down to accept the canonization of the Kingdom of Jin.

At this time, Lu Gui, Hu Yanyun, and Yan Jun, three Huben battalion commanders, heard that King Yong was coming, and hurried to see him.

Chapter 952 Plan

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Chen Qing listened to the training report of the three people. Chen Qing said with a smile: "Training is to find problems, not to show results. Talk about the problems discovered so far."

The three of them looked at each other, and Hu Yanyun bowed and said, "His Royal Highness, now we feel that we are seriously inadequate in defending the powder keg. We have only trained three times so far, which is far from the twenty times of intensive training, and there is still one Thousands of soldiers have no chance to train."

"Why?" Chen Qing frowned.

"Because there are no gunpowder kegs, we can't get them, not only us, but all the troops can't get them, saying that the stock is out."

Of course Chen Qing knew where the problem was?The key is that the production of gunpowder cannot keep up. As a result, the Firearms Bureau can only guarantee the manufacture of iron fire mines, and has to stop the production of gunpowder barrels, and the gunpowder barrels previously stocked by the Ordnance Administration have almost been dismantled to get medicine, so it is impossible to guarantee the powder barrels for training. , Iron Fire Thunder is too lethal to be used for training.

Chen Qing nodded and said: "I see, I will discuss with the Department of Military Affairs how to solve this problem later, what else?"

Lu Gui bowed and said, "Also, we all feel that the current training regulations are a bit unfair."

"Be specific!"

"We still think it's fairer to send off halfway. We can't count the white spots on our bodies to judge the winner after everything is over. We should leave the field when there are white spots on their bodies. Some soldiers are still on the battlefield after being shot seven or eight times. The other side is so unfair."

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "This question is not only raised by your family, but also by other battalions, but I will not change it. I have to tell you that you confuse training with martial arts. You are currently training, and you must ensure that all soldiers After training enough time, if a soldier is sent off after being poked with a white spot at the beginning of the battle, what is the point of his training? But in the later stage, when the martial arts contest between battalions is performed, he can be sent off halfway as you said. Understand?"

Chen Qing asked some other questions, and came to the side tent, where the Central Plains sand table was placed, and there were soldiers standing guard at the door, and no one else was allowed to enter at will.

Chen Qing walked into the big tent, but unexpectedly saw Liu Qiong and Tang Qian, he was surprised: "When did you two come here, I don't even know?"

The two hurried forward to salute, Liu Qiong said embarrassedly: "It's our turn to use the sand table today, we came here early in the morning, and we didn't leave the big tent, we didn't know His Highness was coming."

"What's your plan?"

"His Royal Highness, Beizhi and General Tang are considering the Hulao Pass plan."

Chen Qing laughed and said, "If there is only one Hulao Pass plan? It will be laughed at by others!"

Since the advent of Tiehuolei, it has not been difficult to seize the pass, and it can be done by a commander. If a commander like Liu Qiong only comes up with a plan to seize the pass, he will indeed be laughed at.

Liu Qiong blushed, and hurriedly said: "The plan of the humble officer and General Tang is a surprise soldier."

"What strange soldiers?" Chen Qingrao asked with great interest.

Liu Qiong hesitated and said: "You can say that you are humble, but please don't let others know, we have spent a lot of effort, and it is really not easy."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "Tell me! I will keep it secret for you."

Liu Qiong picked up the wooden pole and pointed to the south of Henan Prefecture, saying: "The humble soldier is Xiong'er Mountain. He entered Dengzhou and captured Dengzhou, Tangzhou and Ruzhou."

Chen Qing suddenly became interested, and asked, "Isn't Yue Fei's army in Dengzhou?"

"The humble job has confirmed that according to the armistice agreement signed by the imperial court and the Kingdom of Jin, the eastern section is bounded by the Huaihe River, and the western section is bounded by Tongbai Mountain. Yue Fei's army must retreat to the south of Dengzhou and Tangzhou. The scout Feige sent by the humble job When the letter came back, there were 2 enemy troops stationed in Dengzhou, led by our defeated general Zhang Zhongxiong, who was in charge of stationing Dengzhou and Tangzhou, while Ruzhou had no troops."

"What about your route?"

"The base is considering entering Ruzhou along the northern foot of Xiong'er Mountain, using Ruzhou as the base, and attacking Dengzhou and Tangzhou in the south."

"Is there a way through the vast mountain?" Chen Qing continued to ask.

Liu Qiong nodded, "There is a Dutou under Beizhi, he is the hunter of Xiong'er Mountain. He told Beizhi that every summer, businessmen would go through Xiong'er Mountain to Dengzhou to buy medicinal materials and furs, and then return the same way in autumn. There is a Very rough trails to walk on."

"Can the baggage cart go?"

Liu Qiong smiled wryly and shook her head, "You can only use mules and donkeys that are good at walking the mountain roads to carry food and grass, so the humble job needs [-] Hedong donkeys in the plan."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said, "It must be donkeys from the east of the river, can't we use camels?"

"Camels are not good at walking mountain roads, I'm afraid they can't."

Chen Qing nodded, "Your plan is not bad, please refine it and make it more solid, especially when fighting Zhang Zhongxiong in the later stage, all possibilities must be considered, such as how to deal with the enemy's reinforcements, and then For example, what should Yue Fei do if he sends troops, how to retreat if he fails, etc. At that time, you will not just report to me, there will be a review group, Guan Shigu, Jiang Yanxian, and Zhang Xiao will participate. They all have rich combat experience, right? It's so easy to get over it."

Liu Qiong asked a little nervously, "When will the review start?"

Chen Qing said indifferently: "I request that the deadline be at the end of this month, and then the review will start within ten days. Both you and General Tang will participate, and you will answer many questions on the spot."

Liu Qiong and Tang Qian discussed for a while, and said to Chen Qing: "We have discussed it, and temporarily give up the small task of capturing Hulao Pass, and concentrate on making the Raider Plan detailed and solid."

Chen Qing praised and said: "That's right, you're looking for refinement and not too much, Hulao Pass and your plan for Dengzhou Raiders are completely different from each other!"

……

When Chen Qing came back from Bashang, it was still dusk, they did not go back directly to the mansion, but went to their own official room, and sent people to take the military department's counselors Guan Shigu, Sima Luwei, and the Firearms Department's order Yang Carrier, the military Zhao Wenxin and four other people were invited by the Deputy Secretary of the Department.

Among the four, Guan Shigu is the top supervisor, Lu Wei is the person in charge, the Firearms Administration ordered Yang Carrier to be in charge of manufacturing, and the Deputy Department of the Military Weapons Administration ordered Zhao Wenxin to be in charge of storage.

The Firearms Department and the Firearms Bureau are not the same thing. The Firearms Bureau is only responsible for firearm design, gunpowder preparation and firearm testing, while the Firearms Bureau has a wide jurisdiction, including firearms and kerosene. Firearms range from mining, purification, grinding, Except for the most confidential part of the cast case, assembled finished products, etc., which are completed in the Firearms Bureau, all other accessories and finished products are assembled by the Firearms Bureau.

Chen Qing was concerned about the production of gunpowder. Insufficient production has always been a serious problem. Otherwise, box-type wooden fire mines with a charge of [-] catties would not be so rare. There are only five in the entire army.

Not long after, the four hurried to Chen Qing's official room.

"Thank you for everyone's hard work. I even brought the four of you over for dinner."

Guan Shigu said with a smile: "Your Highness just came back from Bashang!"

Chen Qing nodded, "I just encountered some difficult problems, so I want to discuss with you how to solve them."

Guan Shigu said solemnly: "Please speak, Your Highness!"

Chen Qing said slowly: "Although the golden soldiers do not have iron fire mines, they are equipped with a large number of powder kegs. They imitated us and filled them with poisonous nails. Therefore, we will inevitably be attacked by poisonous nails and gunpowder kegs in the battle of the Central Plains. Our only The best way to deal with it is to train soldiers to avoid powder kegs, but the problem now is that the powder kegs we train are out of stock, and it is said that the military department has no stock, is that right?"

Chen Qing looked at Lu Wei, who was in charge of the gunpowder barrel inventory.

Lu Wei nodded, "That's true. We dismantled 1 gunpowder barrels before. The double barrels and poisonous nails are all in the warehouse, but the gunpowder is gone."

Guan Shigu was a little ashamed and said: "At that time, I didn't think about the need for wood fire mines in training. I just thought about training firearms soldiers how to use iron fire mines. I completely forgot that we still need to defend against gold soldiers' wood fire mines. In the end, I made a decision. I was ill-considered in taking powder from the powder kegs in storage, and I did have a duty."

Chen Qing waved his hand, "I didn't call the four of you here to hold anyone accountable, I want the four of you to find a way to solve the problem together."

Chapter 953 Solved

Firearms Administration Department Commander Yang Bo sighed: "The main reason is that we have not found any new mines of Huo Nitrate. We are still mining the old mines. The mines in Laojun Mountain in Sichuan are almost exhausted, and the mines in Qinzhou are becoming more and more difficult to mine. The output is low, and tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder are consumed just to study the iron fire mine, and the consumption is so astonishing that even if the iron fire mine is successfully developed, our mineral resources will be exhausted."

"I remember that you started looking for new mines in Hedong last year. Has there been any progress?"

"There are three mining areas in Hedong. Both the Luzhou mine and the Jinzhou mine have been mined by Jin soldiers. The only hope is the Daizhou mine. There are still a large amount of reserves in the mine there. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of catties of ore can be mined, and then purified, probably There will be [-] to [-] catties of pure fire nitrate, and we are already recruiting manpower, making utensils, striving to mine in May, and produce the first batch of gunpowder in July."

Chen Qing shook his head, "Water far away can't quench your thirst. I need to use it for training now, and I can't wait until July."

At this time, Zhao Xiuwen, who had been silent all this time, said, "Maybe there is a way for the humble job!"

Several pairs of eyes looked at him, and said in unison: "What way?"

Zhao Xiuwen smiled and said, "We don't have enough gunpowder, but the court has enough gunpowder."

Chen Qing was stunned, "I don't remember you saying that the government and the opposition are not enough firearms."

"Your Highness, just because the imperial court is short of firearms, it doesn't mean that there is insufficient gunpowder. I have a humble job as the director of the Military Arms Supervision, and I know that the imperial court has 10,000+ catties of gunpowder in stock."

"Why don't you make firearms? Didn't I give you the soft match blueprint and exchanged the thousand-step gun blueprint with you? Isn't it okay to have soft match?"

Zhao Xiuwen shook his head, "We only made a few thousand gunpowder barrels, and then stopped making them, because a very strange thing happened, and the imperial court ordered the production of gunpowder barrels to stop."

"What weird thing?"

"We made matchlocks and gunpowder barrels according to the drawings and handed them over to the army, but the feedback was bad. They said that when the matchlocks were ignited, the powder barrels exploded in an instant, and the armies were afraid to use them again. Then the military inspectors looked for the reason, and found that the drawings were destroyed. The person has changed the package, and even if we ask His Highness to give us the original blueprint, we will not be able to find it."

Guan Shigu immediately realized, "Is there a ghost inside?"

"Yes! Someone must have stolen the original blueprints to Jin Guo, and then swapped our existing blueprints. If there is something wrong with the blueprints, the matchlock will be wrong."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "The drawing of the matchlock is not important! As long as you know the principle, the craftsman can make it after a few experiments."

"But the civil servants of the imperial court didn't think so. Zhizhengtang stopped the production of gunpowder barrels and wanted to track down the ghost. After a year of investigation, nothing was found. The matter was left alone, and two military supervisors were replaced. Ling Du was afraid of taking responsibility and refused to approve the resumption of the research and development of gunpowder barrels, and the craftsmen were transferred to make other firearms, and now that the armistice agreement has been signed, no one cares about this matter."

"and then?"

Chen Qing asked again with a smile: "You mean, we buy gunpowder from the imperial court? I feel that the imperial court will not sell it to us."

Guan Shigu shook his head and said: "It is not realistic to buy from the imperial court. It will take two or three months to come and go, and negotiations are required. Even if the imperial court agrees to sell it, it will be half a year later, and it may not necessarily agree."

Zhao Xiuwen said helplessly: "The humble job only thought of this way!"

At this time, Chen Qing rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "You reminded me, I can exchange gunpowder indirectly from the imperial court. Does Zhang Jun have a firearm in his hand?"

Zhao Xiuwen quickly said: "He has it! His army is the largest consumer of gunpowder, and his warehouse has at least 10,000+ pieces of various firearms, and tens of thousands of barrels of gunpowder."

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "Then we will exchange it with fire oil. He will naturally find an excuse for training and then ask the court for gunpowder. Anyway, he has always been very generous with things from the court."

Guan Shigu frowned, "I'm afraid that time is too late, Zhang Jun is in Luzhou, and it will take two months to come and go."

Chen Qing waved his hand, "It doesn't matter, the key is how much gunpowder do we still have in stock?"

Zhao Xiuwen hesitated and said, "There are still eight hundred barrels in the warehouse, four thousand catties!"

"More than four thousand catties!"

Firearms Administration Commander Yang Carrier hastily added: "There is still [-] catties of gunpowder in stock in the warehouse of the Firearms Workshop, ready to be used to make iron fire mines!"

"That's easy to do!"

Chen Qing immediately said: "All the gunpowder in stock now is used to restore powder kegs and give them to me for training, and then I will ask Zhou Kuan to send someone to negotiate with Zhang Jun, bring all his gunpowder back, and continue to make Iron Fire Thunder, the Iron Fire Thunder in stock should last for a while."

Lu Wei hurriedly said: "Now there are more than 3000 iron fire mines in the warehouse, which should be enough."

Unexpectedly, the most difficult problem of gunpowder shortage could be solved in one negotiation, which really made Chen Qing feel relieved. He smiled at Zhao Xiuwen: "It is better to make Zhao Shuling's suggestion, and I will credit you this time."

Zhao Xiuwen said worriedly: "The humble job is worried that Zhang Jun will not agree to the exchange. If there is no gunpowder in the future, it will be a big trouble."

Chen Qing said lightly: "That's because you don't know Zhang Jun too well!"

……

Back in the mansion, it was already dark, and Chen Qing was really exhausted, not because of physical fatigue, but because he had exhausted his mental and brain power. When he came to his study, he lay down on the soft chair and didn't want to move.

He suddenly felt a pair of small hands standing behind him lightly beating his shoulders. He slowly opened his eyes and looked back, but it was his precious daughter Chen Xue who was beating his shoulders earnestly!

Chen Qing's heart softened, he patted her little hand and asked with a smile, "Why is baby here?"

"Mother said that Daddy is very tired, and told everyone not to disturb you. I just want to give Daddy a pat on the shoulder. Is Daddy comfortable?"

"Good boy, Daddy is very comfortable, who taught you?"

"I saw Si Niang often beat daddy's shoulders and pinched his head, but I couldn't do it."

Chen Qing stretched out his hands to pinch the baby girl's face, and said with a smile, "Why did you grow up all of a sudden and stop being naughty?"

"Xue'er is very obedient!"

Chen Qing said with a happy smile: "Xue'er squeezed Daddy's shoulders, and Daddy suddenly regained his energy. Go and tell Mom, and tell Mom that Daddy is hungry and thirsty, and wants to drink tea and eat!"