So, winter on the plateau is the laziest and most leisurely months of the year. By tomorrow and February, the whole land seems to be asleep, and except for some people who have come out to hunt in their spare time, almost no one will engage in long-distance activities during this season.

But Hong Tao was a little abnormal, and when the first snowflakes fell in Huangzhou City, he was going to go out again. This time it was not a private visit to Weifu, but a fanfare to take hundreds of soldiers to the north to inspect the border passes, and by the way, to accept the mountain roads that had been built with a lot of money and grain in the past few months.

For this handsome man's actions, basically no one in Huangzhou City will find it strange, if he doesn't often make some strange movements, everyone will feel strange. If you love to patrol, go on patrol, and it's best not to come back during the New Year, so that everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and speak louder.

However, the guards of several walled forts in the north were all frightened after receiving the official letter, and the forbidden army and the box army who built the road were even more panicked, and they had to clean the walled fort and the road two or three times a day, and they almost licked it with their tongues.

However, to everyone's surprise, Shuaisi's team did not stay in the walled fort for long, and after a hasty look, they couldn't even talk about looking at the flowers, so they set foot on the newly built mountain road with five box cars.

Moreover, it is strictly forbidden for anyone to accompany them, and the only thing that the forbidden army needs to do is to set up a card at the beginning of the mountain road in Nanzongbao to prevent all people from entering and leaving. The reason was also given, Shuai Si said that he would hold a military exercise in the valley near the Ancient Bone Dragon City, simulating the raid of the Xia people from now on.

After the exercise is completed, he will lead these more than 300 soldiers to raid the checkpoints on the mountain road at any time, and the forbidden army in charge of guarding here must always be vigilant, maybe they will come in three days, maybe ten days later.

"Why are these soldiers so weird, and what are they carrying on their backs?" After receiving this order, the forbidden army that built the road immediately became a combat unit, busy cutting down trees from the nearby hillside to make deer bars, which were about to catch up with the city walls of Nanzong Fort in size and size.

The defenders of Nanzong Fort also had to cooperate to guard the mountain road, and the two commanders who led the team got together, how to look at the distant soldiers and wondered.

These soldiers were not armoured, they were all dressed shortly, and there were no swords, guns and weapons. Instead, he carried a half-man-tall bag, which was bulging with a bed roll and a pair of oval-shaped things hanging on the outside.

"It's not just the soldiers, there are also people from the former forbidden army. I heard that it was related to Commander Qian, and he was arrested a few months ago and went to the south bank of Huangshui to cut down trees, how could he be mixed with the soldiers again. ”

The commander of the forbidden army who built the road made him more well-connected, and his eyes were more poisonous, and he recognized a few familiar faces from this team of soldiers. But the men walked in front of him without squinting, as if they hadn't seen them at all.

"Brother Li, let me say one more thing, if you want to survive until the end of the border period, don't ask Lord Shuai Si about it, as long as you and I hold this level, we will complete the task."

The guards of Nanzongbao were relatively calm, he did not participate in the Qian family's uncle and nephew's forcing the palace against the new governor, nor did he choose to stand on Hong Tao's side, but completely put himself out of the matter, taking advantage of Nanzongbao's distance from the state city, and shrunk aside to observe quietly.

So far, he's still in this attitude, and until he fully understands the new boss, his only goal is to waste time. After staying up until the end of the border period, you can leave this ruined place, which was originally barren and has now become dangerous.

In fact, among the middle and lower-level officers of the forbidden army, there are not a few who have the same idea as him. These professional soldiers are tired of fighting wars, and they don't want to be pawns between commanders, they just regard military life as a job, and they can do less if they can.

"Brother Zhang's words are extremely true, I will send someone back to Zhou City to receive double arrows, even if Xia Ren really comes, I don't want to pass in front of you and me. With this road and a four-wheeled box car, it will only take half a day to reach the Ancient Bone Dragon City. On weekdays, you only need to send half of the troops to set up cards along the way, once the road from Nanzong Fort to Huangzhou City is repaired, it can really be said that the day and night from the state city to the border pass in the future can be said to be the day and night, can it be said that Lord Shuai Si wants to rebuild the ancient bone dragon city? ”

The commander surnamed Li naturally understood the mood of his colleagues, but he was in a different position, as a forbidden army stationed in the state city, it was basically hopeless to avoid this neurotic boss, so he had to roughly figure out the future trends to feel at ease.

“…… In that case, the border of Huangzhou will no longer be the situation it is today. I heard that the Xia people on the opposite side are also building a city, plus the ancient bone dragon city ......" This speculation startled the guards of Nanzong Fort, and then the more he thought about it, the more reliable he became, and his face suddenly turned dark.

Once the two sides clash again, their peaceful days will really come to an end, and when the time comes, they will not only have to mess around under this murderous boss, but also face the attack of the Xia people.

"If I were Brother Zhang, I would quickly repair and repair the city of Nanzongbao. Once the fight breaks out in the north, Brother Tai is probably the largest garrison. Seeing that his speculation had a market, the commander surnamed Li began to show his predictions for the future again, which was very point-indicating.

"Extremely...... Extremely...... Why don't you ask Brother Li to help me plan how to strengthen this fort, there are just two yellow sheep that I just hunted yesterday in the fort, how about you and my brother chatting while drinking? ”

The defender of Nanzongbao was a calm man, but he was also a man of little ability. It's okay to follow orders step by step, but when it's his turn to make his own decisions, he has to be blind.

Just as the two guards were muttering together into the Southern Sect Fort, the special forces led by Hong Tao had already arrived in the valley on the east side of the Ancient Bone Dragon City. There are no roads, horse-drawn carriages are impassable, and all the supplies they carry have to be loaded into their backpacks.

"Be careful, don't break the tarpaulin on the outside, and don't hit it hard. Once it blows up, then we will all have to bury our bones in this vast mountain. ”

The last cart was peculiar, not packed with small bags of fried rice and barley, nor cheese, jerky, or tea, but ten large black watermelons wrapped in straw and yak hides.

Each watermelon was covered with a net made of leather ropes, and after the soldiers brought it out, they set aside several people's backpacks and loaded the large watermelons into it one by one.

The backpack is still filled with straw and fur around it, and it is more careful than carrying precious official kiln porcelain. Even so, Hong Tao still kept admonishing, for fear that someone would be careless.

What are these big watermelons? They're certainly not watermelons, not even food. If you look closely, the guati of these large watermelons is sealed with wax, and there are several circles of thin rope looming inside.

Thunderbolt, this is the name that Hong Tao gave to the big watermelon, and it is still vulgar. That's right, it's a land mine whose outer shell is cast from pig iron, which is later heat treated and turned into a more ductile gray iron. The inside of the shell is all filled with improved granular black powder, each of which is more than eight catties, and the total weight of the shell is less than twenty catties.

When you use it, you only need to break the wax seal and light the fuse that is coiled inside. If the length is not enough, there are many spare fuses, and you can connect all ten thunderbolts and light them together.

The production process of this weapon is not complicated, cast iron and post-heat treatment are not too new, and the black powder with a faster burning speed is also prepared by Hong Tao according to the projectile of the artillery, and it took a total of less than a month to basically trial produce the finished product.

The effect, except for Jiang Erlang and a few people in the special assistance force, no one has seen it. Hong Tao saw it, how to say it, it works well according to his purpose, but if it is used as a universal weapon, it is not very useful.

It is basically impossible to use mines, because they need to be ignited to explode, and it is very difficult to operate. When the grenade is used, its individual is too heavy for a person to throw away. Throwing with a catapult is also not a weapon to defend the city. The shell is too thin, and it will shatter when it hits the ground, and it happens to be a large smoke bomb when it is lit, and it is useless for fart.

That Hong Tao wasted so much effort, he wouldn't just play with it just to make a few big bombs. Of course not, he has a very clear goal.

These ten large iron balls were used to deal with the Xia people's city building, and it could reduce the city to nothing, along with the Xia people's soldiers and slaves. As long as there is not much error in the drawings drawn by the wasp, Hong Tao is sure of this.