The infinite heavens start from the red building

Chapter 207 7.23 The Elephant Soldiers Threaten the Artillery to Respond
Chapter 7

7.23 Elephant Threat, Artillery Response

Even though the army was moving very fast, limited by the reality of this era, it was already early November when they arrived at the front line in southern Xinjiang, but when they reported to Liu Tao, the king of Nan'an County, they found that the atmosphere was a bit depressing?
"The last general, Wei Xu, sees the prince!" No matter what, the procedures that should be followed still have to be followed.

"Haha, I've heard about the name of Young Master Wei for a long time. It's better to be famous than to meet, and it's better to be famous!" After all, he was one of his own.

"My lord, you're amazing!" It's better to be modest at this time, Wei Xu is not so stupid as to offend everyone, "The last general came here this time, bringing a total of more than [-] soldiers, including..."

He confidently reported the situation to the commander-in-chief of the battlefield, but he didn't notice that with his report, the atmosphere in the battle gradually became weird.

"A guard is full of troops, all here?" Liu Zhao, the prince of Nan'an County, asked very bluntly. He and other generals in southern Xinjiang could clearly see that the Jinling guards who showed up were all wearing helmets. Armored.

"Forgive me, my son. Three brothers were lost on the road. Two of them were accidentally bitten by a poisonous snake, and the other died of illness because they were not used to the climate in southern Xinjiang." No matter how careful Wei Xu was, he couldn't guarantee that everyone could go home. .

Cold field.

"Haha, it just so happened that we encountered a little trouble, and having General Wei's reinforcements made me feel at ease!" As the host, Liu Tao, the king of Nan'an County, smoothed things over, and he didn't expect that the Jinling Guard was really full.

"My lord, the last general came here for the first time and has not made any achievements. He is just about to greet you all. Why don't you tell me what the trouble is." Regarding the situation before him, Wei Xu had already prepared for it.

The Zhennan Army in southern Xinjiang has [-] elite soldiers, and it has always been known as [-] to the outside world. The imperial court also distributes food and salaries based on [-], but this does not mean that [-] troops can be sent, because the Zhennan Army will be stationed in various places.

The territory of the Zhennan Army includes all of Yunnan Province in modern society, most of Guangxi Province extending to the Beibu Gulf, Sichuan Province, and parts of Guizhou Province. 3 people.

In good conscience, the Liu family has indeed played an indelible role in the construction and development of southern Xinjiang. For example, in terms of the most basic transportation, the official roads between the major cities in southern Xinjiang have been connected.

The supply route arranged by Wei Xu happened to be able to go directly to the front line of southern Xinjiang along an official road after going ashore, which was one of the reasons why he had a good impression of the Liu family.

The development of southern Xinjiang is not bad. Although it can still be classified as "backcountry" in general, the people can generally survive from starvation. Whether it is for fame or strength, the Liu family has indeed done its best for development.

The Qianxiang Kingdom covers most of modern Myanmar and a considerable part of North Vietnam. The total force is between 20 and [-]. Although there is no specific data, the number of troops sent each time is generally no less than [-].

Normally speaking, when the strength of the troops is roughly one to two, the Zhennan Army has always been victorious. This is where the Liu family stands. Just looking at their current situation, it is obvious that something happened. Wei Xu really does not understand this Know.

"The main reason is that Qianxiang's gang of thieves dispatched elephant soldiers." Liu Zhao, the prince's son of Nan'an County, said bitterly.

"Elephant soldiers?" Wei Xu frowned, unable to fully understand, "As far as I know, Qianxiang has been promoting the invincibility of her own elephant soldiers. I think the generals should be familiar with it."

"In the past, I saw them in small numbers, and hundreds of them were considered a lot. This time, for some unknown reason, the Qianxiang army dispatched more than five hundred elephant soldiers at one time, rushing towards them like a wall, and they couldn't resist it at all.

According to our information, the total number of elephant soldiers in Qianxiang Kingdom is less than one thousand. This is almost a collection of most mobile elephant soldiers, which is really puzzling. " Liu Zhao said doubtfully.

Now Wei Xu could only frown.

"Although elephants are big, they are actually very timid." A faint female voice sounded from the big tent, "Elephants are afraid of fire. In fact, all wild animals are afraid of fire, but it is more obvious on elephants."

"Huh?" Everyone frowned and looked towards the direction of the voice, only to find that it was Dongfang Bai who was wearing a military uniform. The King of Nan'an immediately said dissatisfied, "General Wei, how can a woman enter the army camp?"

Note that he did not say that women cannot be brought into the army, but that they cannot enter the main tent. "My lord, forgive me, I believe everyone has heard of Eastern martial arts." Wei Xu first said what everyone agreed with, which made the whole room burst into laughter, and then turned to the topic, "And she is not only powerful in martial arts."

"We all know that elephant soldiers are afraid of fire. In the past, when the number was small, we usually used crossbowmen to launch rockets, and we were able to scare them away quickly. Generally, we suffered losses when the number was small.

If there is a big battle, a small number of elephant soldiers is actually very limited, but this time is different, more than [-] elephant soldiers are another matter entirely. The last time our army fought with them, they could only retreat in the end. "Liu Zhao said with a sigh.

"This time our army came here and brought a considerable amount of gunpowder." Dongfang Bai continued to explain, "The light and flames emitted by the gunpowder are not comparable to rockets. If there is another war, you might as well try it."

"My lord, what Dongfang is talking about is a special unit of our army, artillery!" Wei Xu explained with a smile, "In fact, it is a compact new type of catapult that launches gunpowder cans or large bags. If you need it, you can see it now." look."

The so-called "artillery" he mentioned is naturally not artillery in reality. The world of "Red Mansion" rejects the development of science and technology. Gunpowder can only be used for fire attack and cannot be used for propellant.

When he came this time, he specially brought the "artillery" he made, which is essentially a strengthened and greatly improved version of the catapult, the most important of which is the use of a large number of fine steel components to reduce the size.

Catapults in real history, as long as you know a little bit, know that they are huge and difficult to move, so that in actual use, they are basically built when they are used, and they are discarded immediately after they are used up, because they cannot be taken away.

When Wei Xu got the catapult, the chassis, long pole, various rotating parts, machine springs, etc. were all reinforced with fine steel products, especially the long pole also used a two-stage decomposition design, and one artillery squad can guarantee three to five minutes. Internal assembly or disassembly is complete.

"Let's go!" Nan'an County King, who had been blocked by elephant soldiers for several days, waved his hand without hesitation, and all the people in the big tent got up and went straight to Wei Xu's garrison—they had had enough.

Soon, an artillery squad was selected to be responsible for the on-site display, and then all the generals in southern Xinjiang watched helplessly as they assembled and fired the five-jin gunpowder canister three hundred steps away in less than five minutes.

"Hahaha, brother Wei's reputation has been spread among us all the time, and now it seems to be underestimated!" Liu Zhao, the prince's son of Nan'an County, said with a big smile, officially acknowledging Wei Xu's status.

This is because a fireball with a diameter of two meters exploded just moments after the gunpowder pot fell to the ground, and it took a long time to burn to completion. Hair almost solves the problem.

"Since General Wei has this artifact, you will be the vanguard in the decisive battle in three days' time, and you must deal with those Qianxiang thieves cleanly and swiftly!" Nan'an County King's qualitative words made everyone envious.

It's not that Liu Tao is really so open-minded, but that the four frontier armies headed by the four kings are all like this, that is, they will never suppress the credit of any of their generals, let alone compete with their subordinates for credit!

Because according to the practice of feudal society, any official with a foreign surname in any dynasty basically ends up as a king.

The circumstances of the Dashun Dynasty were special. Only then did they produce four county kings with different surnames, but this also meant that all their titles had come to an end. No matter how much credit they made, they would never be promoted again. The highest was a material reward.

This is useless to the four families who are already princes. Naturally, there is no need to fight for merit. Anyway, as long as they lead the army in battle, the first merit will never go outside. It is better to distribute all kinds of credit to the subordinates as much as possible. Train your own people.

This is not only the case with the Four Kings, it was also the case when the Eight Dukes were still leading the army. At most, they gave their own children a little resource preference, but they never spared no effort in cultivating "our own people". This has created a force of martial arts all over the world. .

As the saying goes, "Success is Xiao He's failure is Xiao He". It is also for this reason that the royal family has always been worried about the expansion of noble powers, and this has continued to suppress it from generation to generation, which eventually caused today's problems.

"The lord has an order, how dare the general refuse to follow his orders?" Wei Xu hurriedly bowed to thank him, because this must be the first big victory in the Southern Xinjiang war this year, and now it is in his hands, "It just so happens that the general still has a group of artillery Back up, I will send a few meeting gifts to each family."

Now everyone showed a satisfied smile.

(End of this chapter)