Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 194 Curved Arc Fears Sirius (4)

Before the [-]th Battalion of Chengying formally became an army, Zhao Xingde welcomed another acquaintance. Ma Rui, the centurion of the Hussar Battalion of the Iron Skeleton Army, finally couldn't bear the loneliness, so he invited himself to be transferred to the Chengying Army. The two reunited after a long absence. , exceptionally happy.

Ma Rui quickly turned his attention to the ten artillery pieces. "Do we still have to bring these cumbersome guys with us when we start a war?" He pushed a cannon cart with his hand, feeling that it was not as heavy as he imagined, and laughed: "Iron barrel cannons can also move with the army." Is it gone?"

Zhao Xingde nodded with a smile, "When it comes to war, the bulky guy will take care of the cavalry."

Ma Rui nodded with a smile. He was not interested in artillery, and his eyes wandered around. Suddenly, he saw a dozen or so horses that were very tall, at least weighing more than 2000 kilograms, which stood out in the artillery battalion.He exclaimed and shouted: "Why don't you give us a cavalry team with this kind of horse?"

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "This kind of horse is powerful, but it is very slow in short-distance sprints. It can't catch up with the Khitans. Do you want to 'shoot' them into a sieve?" All kinds of horses in the camp have specific purposes.Wusun's horses are not very picky about fodder, a horse can move nearly a thousand catties of baggage carts, can walk eighty miles of flat road every day, and has good endurance for long-distance marches.The Dawan horse is more delicate, but it is the best partner of the cavalry on the battlefield, agile and flexible, fast in sprinting, and good in endurance.This two-thousand-jin giant horse is specially used for heavy work.

With a puzzled expression on his face, Ma Rui stepped forward to observe it. The rider had a special feeling for the horse.It was found that, as Zhao Xingde said, this Malaysian has a gentle temperament, but the reaction is slow.It's like a strong man who has been doing hard work all year round, his strength is great, but if he wants to go to the battlefield, he can't beat the nimble sergeant.

The Gunners Centuries in front are doing field transition drills.Cannon carts, ammunition carts, and baggage carts have all been put on horses.Arranged in an orderly manner according to the artillery group, following the officer's command, the gunner lightly waved his whip, and the four Wusun horses worked together, and the artillery carriage weighing nearly [-] kilograms was easily dragged up.In order to improve the mobility of the artillery, the Ordnance Department specially manufactured rubber wheels for the artillery carriage, and also used a rare bearing device in this era.

Behind the gun cart are two ammunition carts, and behind it is a baggage cart.Under Zhao Xingde's command, there were ten cannons divided into two cannon centurions. In addition to the ten cannon carriages, there were also twenty ammunition carts, thirty three-set baggage carts, and a total of more than 200 military horses towed them. These big guys joined the marching column one after another.

Centurion Gao Su was originally a cavalry centurion of the Tiger Wing Army. Because he had received training in observation, positioning and angle calculation from the Marching Division, he was transferred to the Gunner Battalion by Zhao Xingde.As his name suggests, his face is as cold as a steel plate. The fifty gunners under his command were originally from the cavalry army. Under the strict and rigid training, apart from the aiming, the speed of loading ammunition is not inferior. Yu old gunner.

The marching column is like a blue dragon, the smooth surface of the gun body reflects the sun in the afternoon of April, Gao Su feels full of strength all over his body.The gunners on the three sets of baggage wagons seemed relatively relaxed, while the gunners sitting in the front of the gun wagons and ammunition wagons looked very nervous. The requirements are very strict, and no problem with any cart is allowed to delay the march.The whole march remained silent, with the occasional short but forceful command, or the neighing and snorting of the horses.

After the artillery vehicle column went around the field for a week, it returned to the shooting position when it set off. Under the order of the officer, the artillery was pushed into the artillery barracks, and the ammunition and ammunition vehicles were parked behind the position. was taken further back to a safe position.In a short period of time, the gunners were already standing in their respective positions with various tools in hand.

Then, following the officer's instructions, the gunners began to practice disassembling the artillery for piggyback.Earlier, Ma Rui saw that kind of big horse carrying more than 700 kilograms of gun barrels, gun mounts, wheels and other parts, and the ammunition boxes were placed on the backs of other driving horses.This is to simulate the situation when the road is rough and the vehicle is impassable.

"The power of the four-inch gun is far greater than that of the three-inch gun. If the gun body is not too heavy to be carried by a horse, I would rather have all four-inch guns." After the training, Zhao Xingde said regretfully, the four-inch gun The cannon alone weighs nearly [-] catties, and none of the existing military horses can carry it.

Gao Su wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "According to what the general sees, a smaller light cannon should be added. It is not only easy to carry, but also quick to move, and can be pushed to the front of the formation." He was born in cavalry, although Changed to the artillery team, but has been thinking about speeding up the movement, but he has the same interests as Ma Rui and Wang Tongdeng.

"That's right," Ma Rui chimed in, "The artillery team needs to speed up to keep up with our cavalry!"

Gao Su added: "It would be nice if the artillery weight was reduced enough that ordinary war horses could carry it. Accompanying the cavalry to raid the enemy's lair, it can destroy the city without affecting the speed. It is just like the whirlwind cannon used in the past. "

Hearing the two pointing and discussing here, Zhao Xingde 'interrupted' and said: "Reducing the weight of the artillery is not easy, and the Ordnance Department can only spend gold to offer a reward."

Wang Tongdeng and Ma Rui glanced at him, and said in unison: "If the artillery can keep up with the cavalry, what does mere gold matter?"

After a short rest, two infantry centurions and a cavalry centurion also came to the artillery range, this time for a coordinated combat exercise.The artillery shakes the enemy's formation first, then the cavalry flanks the enemy from both wings, and finally the infantry launches a frontal assault.

The training of each team continued until the sun was setting and the sky was full of red clouds. Wang Tongdeng, Ma Rui and other unmarried officers took the sergeants back to the barracks.Zhao Xingde and other military officers whose families were in Dunhuang went home to rest.Zhou Zhongyuan often sighed with emotion, because the Eighth Battalion suffered the least in the history of the Chengying Army because of training troops near the capital.Having said that, in the past, Zhao Xingde was not as strict as Zhao Xingde in implementing the queue and internal affairs regulations. Zhang Shanfu, who came to review once, even joked to Zhou Zhongyuan that it is better to transfer Zhao De to teach the army. He's ready to train.

Standing outside the yard, Zhao Xingde could smell a strong smell of stewed chicken.Aunt Liu, a shady household, heard the knock on the door, opened the door and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhao is back, Madam has been waiting for you."

Because Li Ruoxue was getting heavy during pregnancy, Zhao Xingde hired her to help with housework such as fetching water, sweeping the floor, shopping for vegetables, and cooking.This aunt is in her 40s, has three children of her own, and knows how to take care of pregnant women.Although Xingde is not at home all the year round, Li Ruoxue can only explain the law on his behalf, but the Liu family has never encountered any troubles that have to be solved by the sergeant himself, so he has never planned to change to another family, and it has been more than three years now .

The men in Liu's family died early, and besides farming and granting the fields themselves, they also help servants everywhere.She can earn about 150 cash per day, and she should have handed over 45 cash to the sergeant who sheltered her.Li Ruoxue was kind-hearted, not only did she not take any money, she also paid five pennies to the camp every year on her behalf.This kind of situation is also common in the Xia Kingdom. Some sergeants have no shortage of money in their families, and some sergeants shelter their relatives and friends, and they can exempt themselves from the annual income handed in by the shaded households.A small number of rich and kind-hearted sergeants will also hand over money equivalent to nine cents of their annual income to the battalion on behalf of poor families.The battalion then handed over three points to the military government and three points to the imperial court.

The Relief Cao of the Prime Minister's Office greatly encouraged this kind of charity, and commended a group of scholars who sheltered the poor every year.The wealthy family of the founding princes sheltered hundreds of poor people and paid taxes for them. Although the expenses were not much, they won an excellent reputation in the local area and relieved a lot of pressure on the court. .

Seeing that the courtyard was tidy and the food in the kitchen was delicious, Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "Thank you, Aunt Liu." At this moment, Li Ruoxue also came out with a smile when she heard the voice in the courtyard, and said to Aunt Liu, "You should go back early to see your house too." child."

Mrs. Liu said with a smile: "The three of our family don't have to watch closely anymore, I wish I would go back later." Although she said so, she cleaned up the last bit of housework swiftly, and finally said: "The pot in the clay pot The chicken soup will be simmered for a while longer. The vegetable porridge is in the earthen pot, and the steamed buns are in the steamer." Then he left.

Zhao Xingde tied up the horses, took off the saddles, put water and fodder in the trough, and still smelled of horse manure and hay, he held Li Ruoxue in his arms.The Chengying Camp is bound to go on an expedition, but after Li Ruoxue heard about the loss of life in Liaodong, she persuaded Zhao Xingde not to shirk.The two of them hadn't been together for too long, and they were about to separate again.

Coming to the study, Li Ruoxue took out a letter and said, "This is from Mr. Chunyu."

"Oh?" Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "I don't know if it's for iron making or bearings." He has never kept Li Ruoxue from doing business.

Since returning to Guanzhong with Chunyu Zhen, the two of them often communicated with each other through letters.During the marching training, Zhao Xingde felt that the cannon carriage was not moving smoothly enough, and it also made an unpleasant sound of creaking.After careful investigation, he found that the reason was that although the structure of the roller bearings used in the cannon carts was roughly similar to that of later generations, the precision was not enough. This kind of bearings are now mostly used on the shafts of mills, and it is not satisfactory for vehicles.So he drew a structural diagram of a ball bearing and sent it to Chun Yuzhen, and pointed out the performance of the steel used in each part of the bearing, and suggested that the iron factory should start trial production of this kind of utensil that will inevitably be widely promoted.If it can be successful, it will be enough for Chunyu Iron Works to earn a lot of money just by fitting the four-wheeled carriage of the baggage department with new bearings.

Zhao Xingde opened the letter casually, read it for a while, and frowned slightly.Chun Yuzhen's letter was neither about the problem of ironmaking, nor about the trial production of bearings, but reported to him the shortage of workers in Guanzhong.

In the past two months, under the persuasion and arrangement of Lu Cao, almost all the newly arrived refugees in the Guandong chose to go to the west of Shishan to receive the land grants, and all the workshops in Guanzhong were in a situation of shortage of workers and apprentices.Although Chunyu Iron Works offered wages twice the market rate, the new refugees did not believe in such a good thing. Instead, they thought that Chunyu Iron Works was a liar's workshop as described by officials Dao Cao.In desperation, Chun Yuzhen could only consider recruiting some common people in Guanzhong as apprentices. These people are all registered as shady households, and they are not willing to change to commercial hukou easily. It is really troublesome to provoke the intervention of the military government.Chun Yuzhen mentioned that the workshops in Guanzhong are now doing their own tricks. Some forcibly detain workers whose contracts have expired, some increase wages and meals to stimulate workers to work faster, and some hide refugees who have not passed the road screening. .

Because he was worried that Chunyuzhen's illness would be rushed to the doctor and he was violating the taboo of the court, Zhao Xingde immediately sent him a letter, telling him that he would rather reduce the scale of the iron factory or hire reliable people from Guanzhong, and never be a hidden worker. Such violations of the law.