Fenghou

Chapter 1534 Dunhuang
"The copper paddle is not small!"

From the gap in the side casing, Chen Qing faintly saw the copper paddles. He thought that the copper paddles of the Three Thousand Stone Ship should be small, but he did not expect that it was not small.

Yan Kuo said helplessly: "The shaft hole on the hull must be above the waterline, otherwise it will be easy for water to enter. In this way, the wheels and paddles can only be made bigger."

"It will take a lot of effort to make a copper wheel!"

"Exactly. Originally, only eight people were needed to pedal, but now 16 people are needed. The copper paddles of the Wanshi Sea Ship are bigger, and more people are needed. We can only wait for the steam engine to drive it."

"Is it because you are afraid of getting in the water that you made the paddles so big?"

Yan Kuo shook his head, "Water ingress is only one aspect. We really have no way to solve this water ingress problem. We can use tarpaulin to seal the edge of the shaft hole. Inland rivers are fine, but what to do at sea? Of course, we open the shaft hole when the ship is fully loaded. It is a little above the waterline, but what if it is an empty ship? The wheels and oars may not touch the water."

Chen Qing nodded, "Then we can only determine the size of the wheels and paddles according to the size of each ship, and find an optimal solution."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. This requires trial and error. First test the ship of three thousand stones, then five thousand stones, and finally ten thousand stones."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "We still need to find a way to find a material to plug the leak. Of course it is impossible to completely plug the leak, but it can minimize water seepage."

"You can make a cover at the shaft hole. This kind of cover should be soft enough and elastic enough, but Weichen couldn't find a suitable material for a while."

Chen Qing suddenly thought of rubber. Isn't natural rubber the best plugging material?
But obtaining natural rubber will have to wait until next year, so we can only wait until we get it.

"By making the wheels bigger, can you go faster?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, it's actually just like the single oar we row. The bigger the oar, the faster the boat. Similarly, the bigger the oar, the higher the requirements for materials."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "It doesn't have to be made of copper. Iron pear wood is also very strong for making wheels and oars."

Yan Kuo smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty does not know, the current Wanshi ship's propellers are made of iron pear wood, so they can sail on the sea. It is impossible to use ordinary wood, but the problem is that it will be worn out within three years at most. , but replaced by copper or iron, it can be used for more than ten years.”

"Try it according to your plan first! You can test the Wanshi ship on the Yangtze River."

"Reporting to Your Majesty, we do intend to test the copper paddles of the Wanshi Sea Ship on the Yangtze River and along the coast, and the time is set for two months."

"Okay! I'm just making a suggestion. How to do it is up to you to arrange it yourself. I just want the result!"

Back in the imperial study, Chen Qing immediately issued an order, ordering Tang Huai, the captain of the navy, to send another [-] sailors and [-] thousand-stone warships to Yongnan Island, and at the same time bring a large amount of food and advanced firearms.

Although Chen Qing despised Zhu Luoguo strategically, he still attached great importance to it tactically. He was worried that Cao De's troops were still a little weaker.

Time gradually arrived in late September, and the [-] troops led by Liu Qiong and Tang Qian finally arrived in Shazhou. Before them, tens of thousands of camels on Lingxia Road were sent to Dunhuang with tents and other supplies. There are thousands of big tents.

After the [-] troops arrived, the accommodation problem was solved.

When we arrived in Shazhou, in addition to the strategy that must be carried out in accordance with the deployment of the emperor, Liu Qiong had the final say on how to fight and how to march.

The [-] army also gathered famous generals. Yue Yun, Zhang Xian, Cao De's son Cao Ning, Yang Zaixing's son Yang Wenyi, Liu Cui's son Liu Jinpeng, and Hu Yantong's nephew Huyan Qingyun, these cutting-edge young generals also participated in this battle. The Western Expedition will be remembered in the annals of history, and the Anxi Protectorate will be rebuilt.

One hundred thousand troops had set up a large camp outside Dunhuang City. Inside the large tent of the Chinese army, several commanders stood in front of the map to discuss the next move. The main general was Liu Qiong, and the left and right deputy generals were Tang Qian and Li Cheng. Li Muqing, Lu Gui, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian, Hu Yanyun and Zhao Lun all ruled.

Here, Hu Yanyun is responsible for the supply and distribution of food materials, while Zhao Lun is responsible for the transportation of camels. Zhao Lun was Zhao Xiaoyi back then. Chen Qing changed his name to Zhao Lun, but when it comes to who Zhao Lun is, no one in the army knows. Camel King, known to everyone in the Western Army. He is the first general to be ruled by the capital and win the title of county duke by virtue of his merits in raising camels.

"His Royal Highness assigned us two tasks. First, to establish and rebuild the Anxi Protectorate, and to establish five military cities in Tingzhou, Yiwu, Gaochang, Yanqi, and Qiuci; second, to defeat the Xiliao army. , to force the Xiliao army on the Mobei Grassland to retreat by encircling Wei and saving Zhao; third, it is not necessary to destroy Xiliao, but it must be beaten so that it will not dare to peep at the east; fourth, to prevent Xizhou Huihe turned his face, once turned his face, we will directly destroy Xizhou Huihe.

These four tasks are sorted according to importance, not according to the order of implementation. The first thing we have to do is the second point, against the Xiliao army. "

Speaking of this, Liu Qiong said with a smile to Li Cheng: "Only Li Dudu and Xi Liao have fought against each other here, let Li Dudu tell everyone about it!"

Li Cheng blushed a little, more than half of the tent had fought against him, Yue Yun even met him on the battlefield, and almost killed him with a hammer, but the Kingdom of Jin has already been destroyed, and now he is sealed by the emperor because of his meritorious service in guarding the frontier. Jue was the Duke of Zhangye County, he served as the governor of Shazhou and the commander of the upper army, and he was a general of the third rank Yunhui.

Li Jiancheng made a great contribution. Chen Qing reached an agreement with Xizhou Huihe in those years. After Ganzhou Huihe was attacked by Xizhou Huihe, Chen Qing agreed to hand over the population of Ganzhou Huihe to Xizhou Huihe, and also agreed to Huihe owned the city of Zhangye, but the condition was that they were not allowed to garrison troops in Zhangye, and could only be ruled by culture.

Three years ago, Xizhou Huihe sent [-] troops to enter the Hexi Corridor to stay in Ganzhou for a long time, but was intercepted and defeated by Li Cheng's army. The [-] Xizhou Huihe troops suffered heavy casualties and fled back to the capital.

It was after this conflict that Li Cheng got the approval of Chen Qing to cut off the connection between Xizhou Huihe and Zhangye. Li Cheng then led [-] Xizhou troops and [-] Huihe troops to confront each other in Xingxing Gorge. Xizhou Huihe finally I had to admit that half a year later, all the Xizhou Huihe officials in Zhangye evacuated.

It can be said that it was this conflict that made Yong State completely regain the Hexi Corridor. In recognition of Li Cheng's achievements, after Chen Qing ascended the throne, he made Li the Duke of Zhangye County and was promoted to Commander of the Upper Army.

But it was also this war that made Xizhou Huihe so sad that when Chen Qing ascended the throne and established the Dayong Dynasty, Xizhou Huihe did not send envoys to congratulate him, let alone send envoys to Jingzhao.

Li Cheng coughed and said to everyone: "First of all, let me clear up a misunderstanding. The Xiliao army is not composed of Khitans. Except for the nobles who are Khitans, the army and the people of Xiliao are basically not Khitans. It has passed. After more than 20 years, the 30 Khitan soldiers who followed Yelu Dashi to the west were either old or dead. Now there are about [-] troops in Xiliao, half of which are former Heikhan soldiers and the other half are Seljuk soldiers. There are Huihe people, Ge Luolu people, Turkic people, Tocharian people, Sogdian people, etc., and the descendants of the [-] Khitan soldiers back then are all Yelu Dashi’s guards.”

Liu Qiong nodded and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter where you are from! We care more about the equipment and combat effectiveness of soldiers."

Li Cheng smiled and continued: "Most of the Xiliao soldiers are cavalry, and there are also infantry. The equipment is mainly spears and short swords. The armor is almost leather armor. Only the guards are iron armor. If they are infantry, there will be one side. Shields, they are not good at bows and arrows, and their range is only [-] steps, but they have strong impact and are very brave, but they are not good for protracted battles. I led [-] troops to defeat their [-] cavalry in Tingzhou. After an hour of fierce fighting, They suddenly collapsed and the whole army retreated. There was no reason, but the morale collapsed. In addition, Xiliao likes to take risks and likes to send out surprise soldiers to attack long distances. No lessons learned."

"How many troops are there in Xizhou Huihe?" Tang Qian asked next to him.

Li Cheng sneered and said: "They boast that they still have 20 troops, but I estimate that they are less than [-]. If there is still a little spare power, they will not send people to ask for help from the court, let alone allow us to rebuild Anxi Capital Guardian."

(End of this chapter)