That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 484

Xu Beiyou lingered in Zhongdu for several days. Accompanied by Li Yanliang, apart from the palace belonging to the royal family, he took a general look at the large inner city of Zhongdu, and even went to the military camp. Although I didn't get to see the magnificent picture of the galloping horses of the Northwest Cavalry, I did see the scene of two cavalry of more than a hundred men attacking each other with wooden spears.

Xu Beiyou recalled the unforgettable scene he saw when he first went to the ancient battlefield. The cavalry covered the ground, charging like a tidal wave, the ground trembled under the trampling of horseshoes, and the smoke and dust filled the air.Although there was no sound at the time, one could imagine the sound of horseshoes like rolling thunder.The tide of cavalry from the two lines advanced head-on with the momentum of rolling thunder, and then collided with each other with a bang, penetrating into the bones and flesh.

After that, the two armies strangled tragically, and people died and fell off their horses all the time.It even made Xu Beiyou, who was still inexperienced at the time, shaken. He felt that he was in it, like a leaf of duckweed in the torrent, so small that it would disappear without a trace.

Facing such a torrent of cavalry, even Xu Beiyou today could hardly think of blocking the way with only one sword.

Fighting for millions of miles with one body, one sword can stop millions of divisions.

There is still a huge gap between Xu Beiyou and this invincible sword fairy realm.

On the tenth day of August, Xu Beiyou left Zhongdu with the secret letter written by Zhang Wubing to Han Xuan, and headed towards Yanzhou Prefecture. He would stop at Danxia Village and Xiaofang Village on the way, and then leave the customs through Hanoi Prefecture. , to the small hills in the grassland.

The farther you go outside the pass, the less people there are. Because of the recent opening of the Qishan ancestral court, there are more and more strange people and strangers. Along the way, Xu Beiyou can be regarded as an eye-opener. There are childish young men, withered old men with half black and half white hair, graceful young women with revealing clothes, and strong men as tall as mountains. Xu Beiyou even met a strong woman who weighed at least 200 catties. An iron rod that looked like it weighed more than [-] kilograms was daunting. Here, it seemed that white hair was nothing. Xu Beiyou simply stopped wearing that big bamboo hat and walked with his sword box on his back.

This time Li Yanliang was also traveling with Xu Beiyou. He was ordered by the army to go to Yanzhou Mansion to collect a batch of ordnance. Yanzhou Mansion has always been the Northwest Army's military logistics. From the big Shenwei General Cannon to the small bow and crossbow arrows, they are all directly manufactured here. While supplying the Northwest Army, it will also take care of the Central Army and the Front Army. It can be called a military aircraft center, and idlers are not allowed to enter.

Logically speaking, Xu Beiyou, a "Bai Ding" who has no official status, is not allowed to enter this place, but since he has the title of Han Ge's adopted son and Zhang Wubing's warrant, it is unimpeded.

Along the way, Li Yanliang introduced the situation of this Yanzhou Prefecture to Xu Beiyou in detail. Just as Zhongdu City is different from Jiangdu City, Yanzhou Prefecture is also very different from ordinary prefectures. This place is not so much a city as a city. It is a military town. Apart from being heavily guarded by soldiers, most of the common people have been craftsmen for generations and worked under the name of the Military Bureau.

Among them, the relationship is even more complicated. In addition to a young supervisor of the Military War Bureau and two directors of the Ministry of Industry who are stationed here all the year round, the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion and the Left Army Governor's Mansion also sent their own people here, and Tianji Pavilion even sent a master craftsman. Zao himself sits in town.

Among them, the Bingzhan Bureau is in charge of all the craftsmen, the Ministry of Industry is responsible for coordinating the expenses, making a list and reporting them to the Ministry of Households, the Metropolitan Governor's Office is responsible for supervision and acceptance, and the Zuojun Military Governor's Office takes advantage of the convenient location to perform security duties. As for the Tianji Pavilion, it is even more important. Needless to say, all kinds of ingenious techniques come from their hands. While all parties perform their duties, they also restrain each other, and no one can cover the sky with one hand.

The reason for this arrangement is that Emperor Xiao felt that the frontier armies of the previous dynasty were so powerful that Dazheng died in the chaos of the feudal town, so after he ascended the throne, Emperor Xiao divided all the armies into five forbidden armies and the local capitals of each state. The five imperial guards directly belonged to the imperial capital, while the local capitals belonged to the Ministry of War. The duty of the forbidden army was to "defend the imperial capital and prepare for conquests", while the local capitals were to "defend where they were." , the system of upper and lower levels is absolutely inviolable, and although the abuses of the vassals and towns are corrected, the punishments are deep."

In this way, the forbidden army cannot intervene in local government affairs, and all food, ordnance, and horses must be dispatched by the imperial court, so naturally it cannot form a feudal town.

The total number of the Imperial Army is about 80. Although it is called the Imperial Army, it is very different from the Imperial Army that was in charge of guarding the Imperial Capital in the previous dynasty. It is impossible for all of them to be stationed in the Imperial Capital, except for about 23 Chinese troops stationed in the Imperial Capital and Zhili Prefecture. In addition, there are 15 Chinese troops stationed in Yanzhou, 15 left troops stationed in Shanzhou and Xiliangzhou, 12 right troops stationed in Liaozhou, Jinzhou, and Youzhou, [-] former troops stationed in Shuzhou, and The [-] rear troops were stationed in Huzhou and Jiangzhou.According to the positions where the major imperial guards are stationed, they are also given common names such as the Tianzi's pro-army, the Northwest Army, the Jiangnan Army, the Northeast Army, and the Southern Border Army.

Because of the important status of Yanzhou Prefecture, the Northwest Army dispatched a full [-] troops to guard it.

There has always been an unwritten rule in the Metropolitan Governor’s Mansion. Soldiers are divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks. For duties such as guarding the city, the superior treatment is the best, and he will be a full-time soldier in the major imperial guards.Of course, in addition to this, there are also elite troops such as Tiqi from the Dark Guard Mansion and Tiger Camp from the Tiance Mansion, and these are not included in this third class.

According to the Northwest Military System, there are about 23 soldiers, which is the so-called 23 Northwest cavalry, and the auxiliary soldiers are generally about three-tenths of the number of soldiers, which are not included in the total army. If there are insufficient auxiliary soldiers, they will be conscripted Civil husband, the number of civilian husbands is uncertain, generally depending on the situation.

Although the [-] heavy soldiers guarding Yanzhou Mansion are not cavalry, all of them are first-class soldiers. In addition to the city that the Ministry of Industry spent a lot of money to build and the countless types of ordnance in the city, even a [-] army may not be able to It was easy to capture this city, and the central government could dispatch cavalry to support it at any time, so this place can be said to be impenetrable.

According to what Li Yanliang said, one-third of the 3 people stationed in the city would be scattered within a radius of ten miles outside the city at ordinary times, forming a series of defense lines and conducting interrogation of those who came and went, because they were all members of the Northwest Army. , so I took advantage of it and would not be too difficult. If it was replaced by people from other places, it would probably take a whole day to complete this mere ten-mile journey.

After the group of people entered the territory of Yanzhou Prefecture, as Li Yanliang said, they had to go through layers of investigations. It took about two hours before the group of people finally saw the city wall of Yanzhou Prefecture.

Li Yanliang and Xu Beiyou rode side by side, and asked with a smile, "Mr. Xu, how do you feel?"

Xu Beiyou said: "Although I haven't seen what it looks like inside the city, I can see it just by seeing the situation outside the city."

Li Yanliang said: "There are five such military towns in total, and the essence of the Tianji Pavilion is all there. Except for the one in the imperial capital, which is controlled by Lan Xiang himself, the other four are each permanently built by a master craftsman, all of whom are ten immortals. The cultivation above the floor."

Xu Beiyou said softly: "A place like this should indeed be seen."

(End of this chapter)