Chapter 131 Chapter Wu

Chapter 131 Chapter Wu

Chapter 131 Return to the Dock
Before leaving Guangchengze, Shao Xun pointed to the east with his whip and said, "From here to the east is Xiangcheng County in Yuzhou. There are no great noble families in this county."

After that, he pointed to the south and said, "South of Guangchengze is Nanyang. There are many noble families, such as the Liu family, the Fan family, the Le family, the Zong family, etc., which should not be underestimated. If you want to settle here in the future, you must be careful about the direction of Nanyang. Once the conditions are met, several key passes must be guarded by building cities."

Nanyang is a basin. There are three post roads heading north from Nanyang, and this has been the case since the Han Dynasty.

Well, there seems to be Yin Lihua’s bathroom in the mountains beside one of the roads.

Most of the wars, big and small, took place on these three roads, and both Liu Xiu and Liu Bei left their deeds here.

If you hold on to these three roads that are not easy to walk on, you will basically be fine.

As for the side roads, they are out of our control. We have a certain number of mobile troops in the rear to extinguish the enemy at any time.

"The focus of defense is still the east." Shao Xun said, "Yingchuan is a den of thieves. They dared to steal my armor. Sooner or later, I will settle accounts with them."

"We will follow the general's orders." Everyone responded in unison.

Shao Xun nodded.

Now, his core subordinates have united their thoughts, which is very important.

Before in Xuchang, when Sima You and He Lun wanted to enter the city, Huang Biao was unable to stop them, either by civil or military means.

In terms of literature, Sima You is the special envoy of Sikong, and He Lun is the commander of the expeditionary army. Do you obey orders? If you don't obey orders, do you want to rebel?

Unless you want to rebel on the spot, you have to obey orders.

In terms of military strength, Huang Biao's thousand men could not even fill up the city wall of Xuchang.

What's more, the soldiers have different thoughts when facing the governor. Unless you gather everyone together and tell them clearly that from today on, I will raise the flag of rebellion, and eliminate those who are unwilling to rebel with you, and unify their thoughts, it will be possible for the top and the bottom to be firm and united.

Since Shao Xun himself did not publicly express his attitude at the time, don't blame the soldiers for not being able to stop He Lun.

Although he didn't say it explicitly now, his attitude was very clear. I have stolen so much armor and want to expand the army, so I have to wait for the right time to act.

Those who don't want to join can leave on their own - Li Zhong did not leave after all. After a long talk, he seemed to be able to accept Shao Xun as a powerful official. As for whether to go further, he remained silent.

This person is available now.

Whether it is suppressing the rebellion or fighting a great war with the Huns in the future, there is no doubt that Li Chong will do his best.

Even in the fight between powerful officials, he would stand on Shao Xun's side.

Talents are rare, I hope he will change his mind in the future, so that we can all have a good ending.

After seeing the scenery of Guangcheng Lake, the group headed north at lightning speed. General Tu returned to Luoyang, while Shao Xun went to Yiyang halfway.

When we got close to Yunzhongwu, we heard the sound of bells from afar.

The refugees who were working in the fields stopped working and rushed to the carriage parked on the roadside with pickaxes and shovels. They took out weapons such as spears and ring-handled swords on the spot. Some small leaders such as village heads even put on leather armor and started to string their bows.

The sound of drums gathering troops was also heard in the dock.

After a while, more than a hundred neatly-armored soldiers lined up and came out, equipped with spears, bows, swords, and armor. More than twenty people in the front row even held long-handled blunt weapons such as long axes and wooden clubs, ready to knock the knight off his horse.

Very good and well trained.

Shao Xun dismounted from his horse.

Tang Jian and fifty other knights also dismounted and surrounded Shao Xun.

"It's Master Shao, collect the equipment." The leading officer shouted.

The residents of the fortress relaxed their expressions and the guns and swords in their hands slowly dropped.

"Don't move!" Shao Xun shouted, slowly approaching the more than a hundred Silver Spear Army soldiers who were lined up and looked at them carefully.

After one or two years of training, the soldiers have become completely different from the inside out.

The team leaders stood there motionless, the flags on their backs rustling in the mountain breeze.

On the flag there is a tiger with bared fangs and claws, which seems to indicate their style, like a tiger descending from the mountain, tearing the enemy into pieces.

The soldiers formed a neat line with the team leader as the center line, even though the ground was rough.

When holding the spear in the hand, it was neither loose nor tight, just right - Shao Xun still remembered how they looked when they first joined the army, gripping the spear so tightly that their knuckles turned white.

"Leave half of the people here, and the rest disband!" Shao Xun gave the order after looking around carefully.

"Yes." The leader of the team shouted, "Draw up the team and move forward.

Disbanding and retreating also has its own rules and is also a form of training.

For example, on the battlefield, if the enemy cavalry goes around the rear of the formation and launches an attack, what should you do?
Many large infantry formations might not be able to hold on, but in the Tang Dynasty, there were strict regulations called "withdrawal of troops."

A team of fifty people has two officers. The chief officer is called "team leader", commonly known as "team leader", and the deputy is called "team deputy".

The head of the team runs to the rear, the deputy team goes to the front, and every other team is picked out, with one team facing the front and the other facing the rear, then they move forward or backward a hundred steps and stop.

Arrange swords and guns, hold bows and crossbows, and prepare for battle.

Shao Xun asked half of the people to stay and the other half to leave, deliberately to observe their training situation.

Now it seems that I am quite satisfied and have practiced well. But I don't know if I can still be so smooth when I am on the battlefield, facing the overwhelming Hu cavalry and extremely nervous. I don't think it will be possible.

Let's get a cavalry unit over to practice with us someday, to scare these people and let them get familiar with the cavalry's combat methods in advance.

"Everyone disperse, you stay." Shao Xun waved his hand and said.

"Yes." Du Bo pointed out a man and asked him to lead his troops up the mountain and return to the village, while he stayed behind.

"Your name is Hou Feihu, right?" Shao Xun asked.

The first branch of the Silver Spear Army had two commanders, one named Lu Heigou and the other named Hou Feihu.

In comparison, Black Dog is more powerful than Flying Tiger.

Moreover, Black Dog is close to Shao Xun’s hometown in Donghai, only a dozen miles away, while Feihu is from the neighboring county.

"Yes." Hou Feihu answered respectfully.

"Did you fall behind in training while I was away?" "I practiced my skills every day, did a short drill every three days, and a full drill every ten days. I never slacked off."

"After the soldiers get married, are they training diligently?"

"Master Shao, if you try to be cunning and treacherous, you will be punished with a stick."

Shao Xun laughed.

These student officers were really ruthless.

When the coolies first joined the army, they knew nothing and they looked up to the student officers who already had a solid foundation in skills.

The seeds of coercion planted from the very beginning, nurtured by long-term strict military discipline, have instilled deep-seated fear in the soldiers, and their obedience is quite good.

Being beaten with military sticks was a common occurrence for them with their thick skin and flesh.

"Practice well." Shao Xun reminded him, "Remember, you are recruited soldiers, and you are fed as soldiers. You must be ready to go to war and fight at any time."

"Yes." Hou Feihu responded loudly.

Shao Xun watched the soldiers marching away in silence.

The treatment for recruits is relatively good, and they are more suitable for all-weather combat.

During the busy farming season, they can fight.

Even in the middle of winter, we can still go out to fight.

He remembered that during the period of war between the feudal lords in the late Tang Dynasty, there was a particularly cold year. In the middle of winter, the snow was several feet deep on the ground, but the soldiers still fought bravely and pursued the defeated enemy.

When it was freezing cold, the soldiers couldn't pull their bows, and even the bowstrings broke, but they still had to fight.

The biggest advantage of recruiting soldiers is that they can endure severe cold, withstand scorching heat, are not restricted by farming seasons, and can go into battle anytime and anywhere. This all-weather combat capability is the biggest advantage of recruiting soldiers.

Of course, the recruits will start a family and some even marry and have children, because they are treated well.

During the Tang Dynasty, which started the era of large-scale conscription for the first time, the annual reward for a conscript - there was no such thing as military pay, but only clothing, food, and money, which were distributed on important festivals such as New Year's Day, Spring Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Autumn Festival, and Winter Solstice - was equivalent to more than 20 strings of cash. With such treatment, it was no problem for the whole family to eat and drink well, and it was not a problem to have multiple concubines.

The Silver Spear Army recruits soldiers to get married and have children one after another, which is no problem.

The difficulty is that if we need to transfer in the future, the cost will be increased unnecessarily, which will be quite high.

But you can't stop them from getting married, that goes against human nature.

In this matter, we can only wait and see.

After entering Yunzhongwu, Shao Xun did not rush to check the archives, but first took a look at the fortress which was under final construction.

The overall shape is rectangular, with corner towers on the four corners, two stories higher than the top of the wall, each accommodating dozens of people. Archers are usually arranged to shoot from above.

There was only a gate on the south wall, with a gatehouse on top.

There are flying bridges connecting the gate tower and the corner tower to provide mutual support.

There are also patterns of swords, spears, and halberds painted on the outside of the city wall. I don’t know where the painter was invited from. To be honest, it’s a bit wasteful, but it looks quite majestic.

Anyway, the Pei family paid for the later period, so it didn't matter. For them, building a half-finished dock was not an investment at all.

However, the Pei family did not take this little money seriously, and Shao Xun was still very grateful to them.

At least, many of the people they sent were well versed in the design and construction of the fort. They knew exactly where the warehouses were located, where the wells were arranged, how the roads for the soldiers to pass through were built, how the rooms inside were arranged, and so on.

They even requested to build a slightly shorter wall outside the courtyard wall, which was somewhat similar to a sheep and horse wall.

Outside the sheep-horse wall, trenches were dug, spikes were buried, and a suspension bridge was used for passage. Livestock were stored inside the sheep-horse wall, making the entire fortress cleaner, more sanitary, and more livable.

In short, it is very experienced and most of the suggestions put forward have been adopted.

Yunzhongwu will be almost completed before winter this year.

The entire dock is divided into three floors, with nearly two thousand rooms densely built, and a certain amount of space left for new construction.

The room is not big, but it is not a problem for a family of five to squeeze in.

The soldiers' rooms are slightly larger and have better living conditions.

The best one is of course Shao Xun’s residence, which has two entrances, front and back, and even a garden.

This……

I didn't even mention this request, but the Pei family's "designer" arranged it?

It's a bit wasteful, but it does look cool and reflects his status.

After looking at the internal structure, Shao Xun climbed up to the door again and looked down into the distance.

Yunzhongwu itself is located on a plateau, surrounded by ditches on three sides, and only the south side has a mountain path leading down.

The road up the mountain is narrow and difficult to walk on.

In Shao Xun's opinion, the biggest advantage of this fortress is not how strong it is, but that the terrain restricts the enemy and prevents them from deploying any troops.

Even if 100,000 people came, he could only send one or two thousand soldiers, and send them in batches like a refueling tactic, and the others could only watch.

The enemy can besiege us for a long time, but the cost is extremely high. It is better to negotiate than to do that.

Throughout history, the north was filled with forts. Some were breached by the enemy, while others stood safely for hundreds of years, miraculously surviving the entire Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Those who can survive for a long time either have strong combat effectiveness and military advantages, or have a strategic location that prevents the enemy from taking advantage of their military strength, or both.

Yunzhongwu, at least, occupies a strategic location. As long as the defenders dare to fight, the Huns may not be able to take it down.

Next year, the construction of Kinmenwu will start, and Tanshanwu will also begin.

The financial pressure was so great that Shao Xun even wanted to sell some weapons and armor.

But I couldn't bear to part with it, so I decided to borrow money first. If that didn't work, I could use the money I had saved for military expansion.

(End of this chapter)