Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 377: The Murderous Vegetation Shaking (5)

The review stand had been set up long ago, and Chen Dong looked down from the stage, and saw rows of Xiang troops in very strict order, and the soldiers stood upright.The entire martial arts arena was silent. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would almost think that the people standing below were not living people, but puppets and clay sculptures used by the Ministry of War to make soldiers look like soldiers.It was his first time to review the Henghaixiang Army, so he stood in front of it with some novelty.

Following the sound of military orders, the Xiang army began to practice various formations smoothly.In addition to carrying weapons such as firecrackers and guns, each Xiang army also carried bags weighing dozens of kilograms.When the formation was being practiced, there was actually a group of more than forty heavily armored cavalry rushing back and forth in the infantry formation.The horse galloped past the edge of the infantry's spear, kicking up a lot of dust. After practicing the formation, Xiang Jun showed Chen Dong the five-stage shooting with the firecracker gun, as well as the defense and attack with the spear.No matter what the situation is, it can be done without any 'chaos'.Chen Dong once participated in the review of the Dianqian Division, but in terms of formation maneuvers, the Henghaixiang Army is not as good as the Dianqian Division's Jingying, but in terms of uniformity, it is still better than the Beijing Army.

Different from the capital inspection, the martial arts field of the Henghaixiang Army is not a flat land, with wide trenches, raised soil slopes, antler pickets, and even "chaotic" trees in haystacks.The column of the Xiang army performed in this chaotic terrain, sometimes the whole team passed through the trenches, sometimes climbed the hillside, and sometimes bypassed the bushes, all in an orderly manner.From time to time during this period, cavalry pretended to be the enemy's surprise attack, and the marching middle-box troops urgently formed a circular formation to defend against the enemy. They loaded the ammunition according to the order and took turns to shoot.In order to save ammunition, during normal drills, it is not real ammunition that is put into the firecracker, but plant ash wrapped in cloth.Today's review is different. The firearms of the Xiang army are all loaded with real ammunition, and they really shoot at the cow leather-wrapped straw mat target in the distance.Standing on the reviewing platform, Chen Dong saw the muzzle flashes of fire flashing in rows and puffs of gunpowder smoke rising.After the shooting stopped, the soldiers carried the targets to the review stand for Chen Dong to inspect. Each target had seven or eight bullet holes.

Chen Dong beckoned the soldiers to bring the target over and tried it himself.The cowhide that has been pierced is very tough enough to be made into ordinary leather armor, but the bullets of the firecracker can penetrate several layers of cowhide and make a deep hole on the innermost wooden stake.One can imagine the power of the iron bullet.I'm afraid even if you walk in iron armor, you can't stand it.

Chen Dong sighed: "I didn't expect the sharpness of the firecracker to reach this point!"

When Yue Fei was reviewing his subordinates, his face was as cold as iron, and he made an exception and said: "Thank you, Mr. Chen, for your guidance."

Hearing this, Chen Dong shook his head slightly, just stroking the battered targets, sighing endlessly.Yue Fei was born as a cavalry general. Although Wang Yan's command was deployed in the southeast camp, each army had a battalion of firearms and guns, but it did not necessarily have much power.So when Yue Fei took charge of the Haixiang Army, he didn't plan how to expand the gunners.On the contrary, out of Chen Dong's trust in Zhao Xingde, he insisted that the Xiang army should have musket gunners as the main force.At first Yue Fei didn't take it seriously, but when Chen Dong took out the training regulations for gunners and the tactical regulations of the gun battalion that were originally drawn up by Zhao Xingde, and explained them to Yue Fei one by one, Yue Fei changed his attitude and went on to try out two training sessions. After being a campfire gunner, he turned into a big supporter of the gunfire.With the joint efforts of Chen Yue and the two men, among the seven thousand Henghaixiang Army that had been trained, there were as many as five thousand gunners.

Just as Chen Dong was impressed by the power of the firecracker's shooting, the troops of each battalion were in the capital, under the command of the captain, the soldiers stabbed with spears and formed a square formation slowly.Rush forward, encounter a scarecrow bound as an enemy along the way, and knock it down with a spear.Each phalanx quickly crossed obstacles such as ditches, hills, and "chaotic" bushes, and marched from a distance to the front of the reviewing platform, forming a neat infantry formation.Dozens of heavy armored cavalry formed a cavalry formation beside the phalanx.After the soldiers lined up, they chanted "swear to kill the enemy and serve the country with all our hearts" in unison, and the whole team left the review field.

The martial arts field became quiet again, and Chen Dong sighed: "General Yue has trained a strong army. Now the imperial court is using troops in the north. Given time, it will surely spread the country's prestige outside the region." The civil officials and clerks of the department all praised them. These people had known the power of the Henghai Xiang Army to sweep up overseas vassals, but they had never really seen the Xiang Army's drill.Now that the magistrate opened his mouth, the officials below immediately flattered him like 'chao'.However, the commander of the Henghaixiang Army made Yue Fei neither showy nor humble, he just stood there with a sinking face, as if these flattery and flattery had nothing to do with him.

Chen Dong secretly said: "What a man who is addicted to owls." He didn't care about the gap between the two, and became more polite.

Outside the martial arts arena, when the soldiers of the Henghaixiang Army dispersed, the entire prison camp became quieter.Many ordinary exiles looked at these soldiers who were silent because of military discipline with fearful eyes.Ever since dozens of rogues were killed at the entrance of the Martial Arts Field, and then these families were moved to Liusha Island by the Guangzhou Municipal Shipyard, no one dared to provoke the soldiers of the Xiang army in the prison camp.

Standing in front of a fruit stand, Yang Zaixing pointed to a basket of oranges and asked, "Brother, how much is this?"

"Fifteen Wen." The man who bought the oranges looked up and saw that it was a soldier from the Xiang Army, he hurriedly laughed and said, "Mr. Jun likes it, and it only costs ten Wen." The ten Wen price was already a loss for him. .Seeing this, Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "My Yue Shuai ordered that anyone who takes a penny from the people be beheaded. Do you want to buy Yang's head for five Wen?" After finishing speaking, he counted out fifteen Wen and threw it at the hawker stall. He picked up the oranges and left.

The orange seller murmured: "Bodhisattva bless you, this military man will live a long life and have many sons." When he picked up the fifteen copper coins, he looked at the soldier's back with mixed feelings in his heart. Intersection, secretly thought, how can there be such a good person in the world?

In Guannan, Suzhou, under the bright sunshine, a sea-going ship slowly pulls up its anchor chain.Zhao Xingde will leave Liaodong on this ship and return to Xia State by detour through the Song Dynasty. The accompanying sergeants Du Chuijiao, Liu Zhijian, Gao Su, and Zhou Yu also stood on the side of the ship and waved goodbye to those who saw him off.Standing beside Zhao Xingde, Li Ruoxue seemed a little absent-minded, suddenly her eyes lit up, she pulled Zhao Xingde's skirt, and said in a low voice, "Here she is!"

I saw Han Ningshuang wearing a long skirt and a blue cloak over it. Surrounded by the generals of the Han army, they came down to the pier, and many Han soldiers who were seeing off gave way to both sides, allowing Han Ningshuang to stand at the front.Looking at the people on the ship's side waving to her, Han Ningshuang's eyes were a bit complicated. She also raised her right hand, with a narrow sleeve and short short sleeves, showing a jade bracelet on her bright wrist, which looked particularly eye-catching in the sun.

Zhao Xingde's heart moved, but Li Ruoxue said happily: "Miss Han is wearing the jasper bracelet I gave her."

The sea boat hoisted its white sails and slowly sailed away from the pier. The figure on the ship's side gradually disappeared, as if something in her heart was being pulled away bit by bit, Han Ningshuang felt empty and uncomfortable for a while.It wasn't until the ship gradually turned into a small dot in the distance that she turned around sadly and left the pier with all the generals of the Han army.

After the Xia Guohai ship left, salvage of the sunken Xia Guo ship's artillery was immediately put on the agenda of the Han Army Commander's Mansion.On the night of the attack on the Guannan camp of the Liao army, the Xiaguo gunboat, which sank because the hull was not strong enough, was loaded with 46 cannons.Previously, because the owner had been in Suzhou, it was inconvenient for the Han army to salvage. Now the generals discussed it, but found that it was not so easy to fish up these heavy things weighing hundreds of catties or thousands of catties.Even the best sailors can't lift such a heavy copper cannon underwater, and it's not easy to install winches and other lifting equipment on sea ships.

The generals were discussing a lot, and when they were at a loss, Tong Yunjie, the guard of Nanshan City, hesitated and said: "Before General Zhao left, he told the last general a way to catch iron cattle. I don't know if I can do it?" Because of the strangeness, when Zhao Xingde suddenly asked him to tell this story, Tong Yunjie thought it was strange. Looking back now, it seems that he specially instructed the Han army on how to fish for iron cannons.

"Oh?" Wang Xuansu was also very interested, "Let's hear it."

Like Wang Xuansu, after experiencing the battles of Nanshan and Suzhou, the generals of the Han army had an inexplicable confidence in Zhao De.Even if it was something like salvage from the bottom of the sea, everyone thought in their hearts: "He must have a way."

It turned out that about 50 years ago, because of the flooding of the Yellow River, the eight ten-thousand-jin iron oxen used to tie the pontoon bridge in the Song Dynasty were washed into the Yellow River by the flood, and the ten-thousand-jin iron oxen fell into the river sand. It is extremely difficult because the iron ox is heavy.In desperation, the Hezhong Mansion had no choice but to publish a list to seek talents. Later, a monk named Huai Bing published the list.He used an extremely ingenious and extremely simple method to fish up the iron ox weighing ten thousand catties from the sand of the Yellow River.

Tong Yunjie paused slightly and took a sip of water.Speaking of this, Han Ningshuang already understood.The story of fishing for iron cattle was widely heard in the Southern Dynasties, and Han Ningshuang had also heard of the method used by Monk Huaibing.However, if Zhao Xingde hadn't reminded him, he would never have imagined that he could learn from the old wisdom of his predecessors here.Thinking of this, Han Ningshuang's cheeks felt a little hot, and she said to herself, "Is he helping me secretly by pointing out Tong Lao Si?"

"What's the way?" Sixth Brother Zhang yelled, "Don't be tricky, Tong Laosi, tell me quickly."

Only then did Tong Yunjie continue. It turned out that Monk Huaibing filled a wooden boat with sand and rowed it to the place where the iron ox sank. After tightening the rope on the wooden frame of the boat, the boatman was asked to shovel the sand on the boat into the river. With the reduction of the sand, the hull slowly floated upwards. Pull it out bit by bit until the iron bull is completely suspended in the water, then the boat can be rowed to the shore and the iron bull can be fished out.When salvaging the copper cannon, the lifting force at the beginning is very strong. If it is really going to be dragged into the sea, even a small sea boat can be easily dragged.If this method of reducing the weight of the sand is used, the copper cannon can be scooped up by sea-going ships without special equipment such as winches.

"So it's so simple!" When the generals of the Han army sighed, Han Ningshuang didn't speak. She looked out the window with a smile on her lips.