Dawn of the Empire

Chapter (5:56)

A little far away from Xia Guoying, Wang Ji muttered in a low voice: "Du Dutou is usually quite human, but I didn't expect to be so rigid." The guard next to him smiled and said: "It's no wonder, he is a Kansai native after all." Everyone lowered their heads. laughed.These guards of the Han army followed Han Ningshuang to travel around the world and saw the customs and customs of various places.It is generally accepted that Kansai has a cold face and a hard heart, which is not as good as Kanto's human kindness and beauty. "It's just a small camp, it's really regarded as the inner palace." "It's not like we haven't seen Linquan Palace before."

"Our Liaodong Han'er is capable of bending and stretching, so don't argue with him." There was another burst of laughter, and Wang Ji slammed the man on the head with a blow. "Screw you a ghost!"

There was a smile on the corner of Han Ningshuang's mouth.Although Xia Guoying was good, the impression it gave to the Han people was a bit bleak.Zhao Xingde's prestige among the Liaodong Han people was higher than that of Xia Guoying itself.The guards said something to each other, although she didn't take it seriously, she didn't reprimand her.The guards surrounded her and inspected the posts of various ministries all the way. It was not until three o'clock in the five o'clock that the team returned to the camp. It was almost midnight when they returned to the central army.

The entire Guannan area of ​​Suzhou was completely silent, and the sound of clappers on the night watch spread far away in the night sky...

From the second day after arriving in Suzhou, Xia Guoying began to train gunners for the Han army.Because the number of archers was insufficient, the commander-in-chief of the Han army placed great expectations on the use of artillery to defend the city.Han Ningshuang personally selected a thousand strong Han elites, and formed two artillery battalions in one go.Tong Yunjie and Zhao Xingde, who had received training in Kaizhou earlier, were all trained as artillery commanders. After arriving in Kaizhou, each of them became ten commanders.

The Han troops who entered the artillery battalion were all veterans of the original stockade. Those in Suzhou Guannan and their qualifications had become low-ranking officers. Many people had considerable resistance to being assigned to the artillery battalion.Han Ningshuang personally explained to these veterans that there are two points in the selection of artillerymen by the commander-in-chief. The first one is to be absolutely elite.The second is absolute loyalty.The success or failure of the Han army to protect the territory and the people and attack the Liao State depends largely on whether the artillery battalion can be trained into an elite division.The salaries of artillerymen are the same as those of captains, and the minimum salaries of gunners are also equal to those of centurions.Tong Yunjie, commander of the Artillery Battalion and lieutenant of the First Battalion, is also a convincing figure. Although he is lame in one leg, he never misses every drill, even operating the artillery himself.Zhao Xingde believes that Tong Yunjie is one of the best gunners in the Han army.

The Guannan area of ​​Suzhou is small, with 10,000+ soldiers and civilians gathered, and construction is everywhere.Every time the artillery battalion conducts live ammunition firing drills, it must be dispatched to Guanbei.Han Ningshuang regards the artillery battalion as important as an eyeball. Every time the artillery battalion goes out, there are more than a thousand gunners.There are two to 3000 cavalry Han troops escorted by sex.Later, Zhao Xingde simply suggested that the cavalry of the Han army be trained in adapting to artillery.When the artillery fired at the open space, the cavalry of the Han army changed various formations in places where the artillery's shooting range was extremely close, and even charged towards the artillery positions, rehearsing to capture the iron barrel artillery positions of the Liao State.After rounds of training, the cavalry of the Han army can already proficiently control the horses on the battlefield with roaring guns and smog.

The relationship between the instructor and the Han army became extremely familiar during the drill.The Artillery Battalion became the best battalion of the Suzhou Guannan Army.After the two battalions of the Han army trained for a month, thirty Xiaguo artillery pieces and a large amount of ammunition arrived in Suzhou.The Han army specially purchased a large number of iron barrels and shotgun shells for the defense of the city. The Han blacksmiths in Liaodong imitated a batch of old-style iron barrel guns, alleviating the dilemma of too many people and few guns.The commander-in-chief has once again added a group of elite recruits. Recently, each artillery battalion has been expanded to two.

Two months passed very quickly, there was no shortage of horses in Liaodong, and the Han army also formed ten battalions of cavalry, of which there were about a thousand cavalry with heavy armor on both men and horses.Seeing that the war was imminent, it was a taboo for military strategists to defend the city, and the main force of the Han army's counterattack was the cavalry.Among the artillery purchased from Xia Guo, there are ten heavy iron barrel guns with a diameter of ten inches, ten three-inch field artillery pieces, and ten four-inch field artillery pieces.The Han army imitated ten iron barrel guns and placed them on the city defense artillery positions.

The weather is getting colder day by day.Entering November, the autumn insects gradually hibernate and disappear, and the training of the four artillery battalions has become an army.Nanshan City and the various walled cities in Guannan, Suzhou are nearing completion, and the commander-in-chief of the Han Army began to arrange ships to send the old and weak, women and children to neighboring islands for the winter.The main generals of the Han army stayed in Guannan, Suzhou. Han Ningshuang's commander-in-chief was in the Laotieshan camp, and Wang Xuansu was stationed in Nanshan City. All of them were strong and strong Han troops with sufficient food and fodder. No one was very afraid of the Liao army.

Han Ningshuang's generals of the Han army were much more worried.The Liao State has a custom of sending troops in winter. The Jin State has notified the Han army that it will take an oath to march south in December. Wanyan Ci is the commander of the internal and external armies. .Wanyan Gao and Wanyan Zongbi led a detachment to Liaoyang.

For several months, the Han army invaded and attacked Yaozhou, Chenzhou, Ningzhou, and Fuzhou in the Liao Kingdom along the coast, and even the Zhenhai Mansion was defeated without a fight.Guannan in Suzhou and Taibai Mountain in Kaizhou are connected together, and the situation in Liaodong is very good, but Han Ningshuang's worries have not diminished.The power of the Han army extended from Suzhou, and soon there was no danger to defend.The Han army garrisoned heavily in Guannan, Suzhou, seemingly infallible, but in fact it was extremely difficult to develop their forces outward. The coastal states and counties were just superficial.According to Zhao Xingde's suggestion at the beginning, if the main force of the tens of thousands of Han troops were placed in the Taibai Mountains, Yalu River, and Gunmen River, the hinterland for the expansion of forces would be almost endless.The current situation is a bit like the "heavenly prison" Jedi described in the book of war.The tens of thousands of Liao troops in Liaoyang stopped the Han army to the north, and the terrain was conducive to the Liao cavalry galloping freely.

On November [-]th, dark clouds enveloped the entire sky, as if they were about to hit the ground.The Han army in the fort chatted enthusiastically about the first snow this winter.Two thousand cavalry escorted the field artillery battalion out of the city for training.

Under the supervision of the sergeant, following short and powerful commands, the artilleryman completed the actions of loading, reloading, igniting, resetting the cannon, scrubbing the barrel, etc., because the ammunition was not enough, and completed two consecutive actions. About ten times, Zhao Xingde randomly decided to fire once with live ammunition. If a gun crew fails to fire live ammunition three times, the gunner will be dismissed on the spot, and unqualified artillerymen will be dismissed and returned to the infantry barracks. It is a great shame.

Operating artillery is extremely tiring and heavy work. The artillerymen took off their cumbersome cotton robes and only wore single clothes. Although the weather was cold, they were still sweating profusely, with white mist billowing from their heads.Everyone was concentrating on practicing, and the sergeants and gunners kept repeating the password loudly.Tong Yunjie stood upright on the artillery position with a wooden leg, his eyes scanned the various artillery groups like a falcon, picking on every movement that did not meet the requirements.

Zhao Xingde stood behind the artillery emplacement, silently watching the heated scene.Not far away, the training cavalry suddenly cheered loudly, and the voices of "Marshal!" and "Marshal!" can be vaguely heard.Zhao Xingde followed the reputation.Han Ningshuang was riding a tall black horse, wearing a white cloak, and was running along the cavalry ranks. More than 30 cavalry guards followed closely behind her, and ran to the side of the cavalry ranks At that moment, Han Ningshuang drew out her saber, and the cavalrymen in the front and back five teams all raised their swords at the same time.In the artillery positions far away, the sound of squawking was also heard very neatly.I saw Han Ningshuang pointing forward with her saber, "Charge!" "Charge!" All the cavalry of the Han army urged their horses to run.Although their formation was not as orderly as Xia Guo's cavalry army, they still carried an indomitable spirit.

Looking at the white figure, Zhao Xingde moved his mind slightly, and ordered in a deep voice: "Fire!" Not long after, ten cannons roared at the same time. The dark clouds connected, and the horses of the cavalry neighed uncomfortably, but the formation was still not chaotic. More than two thousand cavalry circled a large arc outside the range of the artillery, appeared on the flanks of the artillery position, and then Speeding up the horse, he rushed over with lightning speed, like a black tide of anger.

This kind of acting is also a common subject. The artillerymen turned their muzzles to aim at the flanks. The cavalry was within the 'shooting' range, but they didn't really fire. The loading operation was constantly carried out, while Sergeant Xia counted them, and in the middle they simulated bombarding the approaching enemy with shotguns.After the cavalry rushed away, before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, they found Marshal Han leading the guards galloping towards the artillery position. For a while, the artillery battalion of the Han army disregarded the constraints of the military order and cheered loudly together.

"The Artillery Battalion has trained so well, General Zhao has really worked hard." Han Ningshuang rode the horse and galloped for a while, with sweat on her forehead and bright red cheeks.More than [-] cavalry guards of the Han army were scattered around to guard. The lieutenant and centurion of the artillery battalion of the Han army urged the artillery crew to train quickly, so that the marshal could see that the artillery battalion was no worse than the cavalry battalion.

"It can't be compared to Marshal Han who has won the hearts of the army." Zhao Xingde subconsciously looked towards the artillery battalion, and each artillery group trained as fast as clockwork.

Han Ningshuang also looked at the ten artillery units in front of her. She was silent for a while, and then said in a low voice, "It's not polite. General Zhao spent a lot of effort in training the artillery battalion for two months. The Han army is very grateful." There was sincerity in her tone, Zhao Xingde was a little embarrassed, and replied in a low voice: "Zhao's duty is, it's his job."

"Duty is duty, heart is heart," Han Ningshuang's eyes flashed a complicated look, and she looked back at Nanshan City, which seemed to be crushed by dark clouds on the ground, "General Zhao made suggestions for the Han army, and he did his best every time. Do your best." Her tone was a little bitter, "Actually, we appreciate this kindness."