"Fire?" Zhang Qi shook his head. The artillery of this era was a stone cannon, which was actually a trebuchet. How do you put the cannon on these two large iron pipes? Zhang Qi couldn't figure it out, and he didn't bother to think about it. After walking in the snow for a long time, he just wanted to find the camp as soon as possible.

After walking for a short time, I saw a fence surrounded by trees and heard the neighing of horses in the heavy snow.

Du Zhongxiao said to Zhang Qi: "There is a horse herding land in front, and there are several houses, which are lived by horse wranglers. The governor may rest there with me, and the whole army shall camp nearby. Not far from here there is a small river, which flows from the ground and does not freeze, so that water can be drawn. ”

Zhang Qi nodded, and ordered his generals to work with Chen Qin's people to survey the surrounding terrain and prepare to set up camp. There are only a few houses in the ranch, and hundreds of people in Zhang's department still have to camp outside.

Seeing two rows of thatched huts appear in front of him, which were particularly conspicuous in the wind and snow, Zhang Qi sighed. I didn't expect to come to the Volcano Army for a year, and there have been such great changes here, even a special horse grazing land has been built, and even a house has been built.

Dismounted one after another, Du Zhongxiao let Zhang Yu and his party into the hall, and instructed Shisanlang to take someone to prepare hot tea.

Looking at the back of Thirteen Lang leaving, Zhang Qi said: "What a big man, if he is in the army, he must be a fierce general." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This person is Thirteen Lang, who was originally a farmer under my rule when I was an official in Suzhou, and when I saw him brave, I took him with me." ”

Zhang Qi nodded, admiring again and again. He came from a humble background, because of his bravery, he was selected as a tooth general, and he repeatedly made meritorious contributions in the battle with the party, and was promoted all the way to the deputy envoy of protocol, and the official to the capital prison. The reason for his own experience,I have a special impression of the fierce general Miao like Thirteen Lang.。

In the decades since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, there has been no shortage of generals who have risen from small pawns to high positions, Zhang Qi is like this, and now Di Qing is also deployed in Zhendinglu, which is not uncommon in the forbidden army. This is related to the military system of the Song Dynasty, and in terms of system, the Song army paid more attention to the selection of generals based on their military exploits. The soldiers of the world, all those who are tall and brave and powerful are elected to the forbidden army, and the forbidden army is then selected, and the outstanding ones are included in the four armies. The Fourth Army was the first-class elite, and the so-called first battle used me, and I participated in a lot of battles. Among them, as long as they made meritorious contributions on the battlefield, they were promoted to petty officers, and then promoted in turn. Half of the current generals in charge of the army have been promoted from the pettisons in this way, which is a characteristic of the Song army.

Sometimes Du Zhongxiao thinks that Song Jun's selection system, according to the previous life, is very reasonable. Famous generals don't care about their background, as long as they dare to fight, they have a chance to get ahead. And there is no ceiling, in the army you can go all the way to the top. However, the biggest problem is that the forbidden army wins small battles and big losses. In the battle of one or two thousand people, most of the forbidden troops had the upper hand, whether it was against the Khitan or the party. But in the decisive battle of hundreds of thousands of people, most of the forbidden army will be defeated. For the elite forbidden army, combat effectiveness is not a problem, and the ability to organize and command is definitely a big problem. This is a fetal disease inherited from the period of the five generations of warlords, who pay too much attention to personal bravery, military exploits pay too much attention to killing the enemy in battle formations, and pay less attention to organizational and command capabilities. When the times changed, from the warlord melee to the national war of the Great Unified Dynasty, it was not suitable everywhere.

In the five generations, the warlords had to survive, the big bosses had their own elite soldiers, and the small leaders also had their own elites, all of which were carefully selected, and the leaders had absolute authority. When fighting together, as long as the upper and lower leaders are of the same mind, they will be disciplined and invincible. If there are differences of opinion, the war is often not organized at all. By the time of the Great Unification Dynasty, such small groups were restricted, and the entire organization was dissolved.

A thousand years ago, the Qin State relied on the military merit system and the merit calculation by the first rank, mixing one and six countries, which gave future generations a lot of illusions. The success of the Qin State should be attributed more to its strict discipline and strong organizational skills, followed by the soldiers who are full of fighting spirit. The middle and senior generals of the Qin army were also rarely selected from ordinary soldiers, and paid more attention to generals. The ability to organize and command, in the senior ranks, is a more important factor than personal bravery.

Even if the party is defeated, there is no shortage of fierce generals in the Song army, but there are indeed no people who can command large-scale battles and are expected. With a thousand years of knowledge, Du Zhongxiao felt unreliable in his intuition when he faced Song Jun. At present, some senior generals in charge of the army, not to mention those who have been promoted by family background, cannot go to the battle battle at all, and even those who have been promoted by virtue of military merits, many of them can only take charge of the situation on their own, and cannot coordinate the overall situation. In the words of the previous life, there is no shortage of good company commanders and good regiment commanders, but there is no good command and good commander.

Du Zhongxiao likes Shisanlang very much, but before he learns to organize the war and command the battle, it is better to be an entourage.

Sitting down in the hall, Zhang Qiqi said: "Hey, it's warm like spring here." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There is no shortage of coal here, a fire tunnel has been built in the house, and a stove is burning outside, which is naturally warm." ”

Zhang Qi was overjoyed when he heard this: "Since there is no shortage of charcoal, you can send some to the army and let the soldiers roast a fire." They came down from the snow, and the way was miserable. After the fire, boil some hot soup, and spend the night in peace. ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "I don't know that charcoal has a smell, which is used to bake fire, and if you are not careful, you will be poisoned and die." You can only light some fires outside the tent, let the soldiers roast the fire, and then enter the tent to rest when their bodies are hot. ”

Coal is everywhere on Hedong Road, and there are legends that the roasting fire may be poisoned in winter, and Zhang Qi has also heard of it, and he does not insist. Ordered the pro-soldiers, and the various military organizations were to bake fires outside the tents and take turns to be on duty. They brought food, set up tents, and buried pots for cooking.

Du Zhongxiao said: "There are sheep raised in the pasture, I will choose ten here, slaughter them and distribute them to the army." Although the mutton was not enough to eat, it was good to boil it into soup and distribute it to the soldiers. In this kind of weather, drink a bowl of hot soup and rest warmly for the night. ”

Zhang Qi had never seen this way of eating, and he said a word of trouble, but he didn't insist. Eating in the army has always been simple and fast, and there is meat that is either cooked in large pieces or grilled and eaten, where it will take a lot of effort.

Du Zhongxiao is used to careful calculations, slaughtering a sheep, that is, from fur to bones, not wasted at all. Within a few months, mutton soup had become popular in the Volcano Army, almost everywhere. Where there are more people, there are people who specialize in selling mutton soup. People who have a better family have cooked yellow rice, go outside to buy a bowl of soup, and pour it on the rice, which is both delicious and nutritious.

After warming up, Du Zhongxiao ordered the wine to be served, and said to Zhang Yu: "The Volcano Army is barren and does not produce rice and wheat. In the past few months, I have learned the method of the Central Plains, using sorghum, buckwheat and other coarse grains to make wine, and the price is much cheaper. This wine has a lot of strength, and it is suitable for drinking in this weather, so I will try it. ”

Zhang Qi picked up the bowl and tasted it, and praised again and again: "Good wine!" Wine! Using sorghum and buckwheat to make wine, why haven't you heard of this method? I have also tasted the liquor produced in the Central Plains, and it is no different from the border land. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "My family used to sell wine, and this method was originally my own secret method, and it gradually spread. Sorghum is abundant in the north, and it is really not worth it to make wine from rice and wheat, so it is not as good as this method. The area is barren, and many places can only grow sorghum corn and save rice and wheat to eat. ”

Zhang Qi was amazed when he heard it. However, he is a general, and he doesn't care about local affairs, and he doesn't bother to ask Du Zhongxiao for specific methods.

Chen Qin arranged the garrison affairs, returned to the hall, arranged for the shepherds to bring a large plate of cooked mutton, and said with forked hands: "Official, what dishes do you use at night?" There was cooked mutton, but it was cold. I just killed a sheep, and there are some snowflake mutton, and I don't know how to clean it up. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "You prepare a copper pot, and I will eat some mutton with the eunuch and talk slowly." ”