"Training? Is the message reliable? ”

In the palace of Xijin Mansion City, Yelu Yanxi, who had lived like a year, finally learned the news that Wu Haogu was training troops south of the Jiehe River.

The war is about to start, and your soldiers have just begun to train, isn't it clear that you are going to lose the war?

"Reliable, absolutely reliable!" Ma Renwang said, "Zhang Jue, the patrol envoy of the Nanjing Provincial Police, disguised himself as a merchant, went to Jiehe Commercial Market in person, and mixed into the military camp of the Song people. I found that a large number of soldiers were new recruits, and they couldn't even use spears, bows and arrows, and they were simply a rabble. ”

The spear is not difficult to learn, it is to rush forward with a hand, and then it is to assassinate or slap according to the command. As for bows and arrows, after combining the experience of the Battle of Pingxia and the Battle of Anxi, the infantry battalions of the four infantry generals directly under the Xuanfu Division of Hebei Province all canceled the configuration of professional archers, and instead adopted a combination of two pikes, a sword and shield team and a crossbow team under the jurisdiction of one battalion.

Among them, the sword and shield team uses veterans and high-skilled recruits as much as possible, and the other three teams mainly use ordinary recruits. Because the training of bows and arrows is not low, the soldiers of Hebei do not have the same foundation as the soldiers of the Northwest Province. Therefore, the infantry of the new army was no longer equipped with bows and arrows, and the long-range, powerful, but slower-firing Jiehe crossbow was used as the main individual projectile firepower.

However, Wu Haogu's four generals and the new army infantry were not afraid to compete with the Liao people with bows and arrows, because the engineer battalions below these four generals were equipped with a ballista team, and there were 18 ballistas that could be towed to output quite terrifying firepower.

"Baoxian," Yelu Yanxi set his gaze on Xiao Baoxian, "How do you see the elite cavalry?" ”

"Your Majesty," Xiao Bao said first, "the ministers see all armored horses, and the number is only a few thousand, so they should be the so-called imperial knights...... Those imperial knights owned 1,500 acres of manor fields on the ground in Cangzhou, south of the Jiehe River, so it is said that there are 3,000 families who live in Cangzhou on weekdays. ”

The centaur said, "A knight will not have only one warrior who can be equipped with armored horses, and it should be possible to do it with 6,000 horses from 3,000 families."

In addition, Wu Haogu also has a group of officers who were trained by the so-called knight academy, which is said to be very good. There may also be thousands of veterans who have fought in the battle and fought in the party can be used as backbones. ”

"It's just more than 10,000 elite soldiers!" Yelu Yanxi said to herself, "It seems that we don't have to wait until the boundary river freezes...... Centaur Look! ”

"The minister is here!"

"How much grain and grass are stored now? How long can it be supported? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the summer grain has been collected, and it is enough to support this winter." Ma Ren said, "If you can't get food from Liaodong by next spring, the city of Xijin will be short of food...... Therefore, it is best to wait until the autumn grain from Liaodong arrives this winter, so that nothing goes wrong. ”

"It's okay," Yelu Yanxi said with a smile, "There is food for the Song people to eat, and you are afraid that the people in the city of Xijin Mansion will starve?"

And how bold can the Zhao family be? When I heard that my army had moved south into Dingzhou Road, why didn't I immediately sue for peace? When the time comes, I will raise the annual coin to 3 million a year! ”

"Your Majesty......"

Ma Renwang also wanted to persuade Yelu Yanxi to use his troops carefully, but was stopped by Yelu Yanxi with a wave of his hand. Emperor Daliao said: "Ma Qing, have the guards of Nanjing Dao gathered?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, we have already gathered."

"Good! Let them take the lead. Yelu Yanxi said to his most trusted brother-in-law, Xiao Fengxian, "Fengxian, you will bring another 10,000 iron horsemen and go with Ma Renwang to attack Baozhou in the Song Kingdom!" ”

"Command!"

Seeing that Yelu Yanxi had already made up his mind, Ma Renwang had no choice. He had to receive the holy decree with Xiao Fengxian, he thought about it, and immediately had another suggestion, so he played: "The minister suggests that Your Majesty's soldiers are on the north bank of the bordering river, and make a public presence to attract the attention of the Song army." In this way, the minister and Xiao Shumi will definitely be able to catch the Song people off guard between Baozhou and Dingzhou! ”

"Good!" Yelu Yanxi heard that this idea was good, "That's it!" Tomorrow, I will wave my army south and drink the Majie River! ”

……

When the news of the Khitan Emperor Yelu Yanxi's army leaving the city of Xijin Mansion reached Jiehe Shang City, Wu Haogu was in Jiehe Hebei City, inspecting the defense situation around the northern city.

Jiehebei City theoretically belonged to the Liao State, and in the past ten years, it has not received much development. The scale of the castle in the north city is very small, with a circumference of less than ten miles. Originally, there was only a semi-circular wall, and there was no wall on the side of the boundary river. After the relationship between Song and Liao became tense, the city wall was urgently repaired. Thus a half-moon-shaped fortress was formed.

On both sides of the fort, there are also a number of branch forts, which were originally docks, warehouses, or villas of the nobles, or houses of temporary pastures for raising livestock.

Any large building or complex that can be accessed by waterway by the boundary river, and is relatively strong. In the last few months, they have been remodeled and turned into fortresses that can be relied on for defense.

Such forts exist not only in the northern half of Jiehe Shang City, but also in the south of Jiehe, and there are hundreds of them.

Although there will be no heavy troops in each fort, there will be no heavy troops. But if the Khitans really want to fight one by one, they are afraid that they will not win if they dry their blood.

In addition, the equipment master of the Jiehe Shipyard has also designed a counterweight stone generator that can be operated with less manpower. Efforts are now underway to produce them, some of which have been placed in the city of Jiehe and several slightly larger forts on the north bank of the Jiehe River.

However, in Wu Haogu's opinion, the most reliable weapon in the garrison battle of Jiehe Shang City is still the Jiehe crossbow!

A worker in the Jiehe merchant market wearing paper armor and a leather helmet can stand on the city wall and fight as long as he has a Jiehe crossbow, and he may shoot one of the bravest Khitan warriors.

Historically, even when the Great Song Dynasty was on the verge of extinction, it was definitely a big mistake to completely arm the people with the most easy-to-master and powerful long-range shot that was the easiest to master and the most powerful crossbow.

Such a mistake would not be made by Wu Haogu. After he took charge of Jiehe Shang City, on the one hand, he encouraged the public to learn and master bows and arrows through various archery competitions with prizes; On the one hand, it also continuously improves the design of the crossbow, and relies on the handicraft system of Jiehe Shang City and Jingdong Shang City to establish a strong military industry, among which the Jiehe crossbow machine is the star product of the Jiehe military industry.

The latest generation of the Boundary River Crossbow now has not only a stock to aid aiming, a front sight, but also a tread ring to help with pedaling, and a special belt (the belt has a hook that hooks the crossbow string and uses the waist force to open the crossbow with the arm strength).

In addition, in the selection of raw materials for crossbow arms, the expensive buffalo horns and stubborn horns were also abandoned, and relatively cheap wood was adopted, and the road of cheap and mass production began to be followed.

Of course, the cavalry-equipped crossbows still took the route of small-scale and high-quality products. All of them are produced by private bow and crossbow workshops - Jiehe Commercial Market has not only large military factories such as the Xuanfu Division's armory, but also many private workshops that produce horses, riding crossbows, horned bows, swords, axes, and all kinds of blunt weapons. Because there is a lot of demand in the Jiehe trading market and its surroundings, most of them are prosperous and have many good craftsmen.

Oh, most of these good craftsmen who produced weapons came from the more than forty capital courtyards and courtyards in Hebei, and some simply came from Longyan Tieshan or Xijin Fucheng in Liao. In short, the best weapons craftsmen in Hebei are all working or starting businesses in Jiehe Commercial City!

Just when Wu Haogu climbed to the Beimen City Tower in the north city of Jiehe Shang City to observe the surrounding terrain, Zhao Zhongge took over the document transferred from the intelligence room from a military machine, and after taking a look, his face became solemn.

"Xuan Shuai, I just received the news that Yelu Yanxi has gone south!"

"Going south? Now? Wu Haogu was stunned. What does he want to do? Fight the Boundary Hebei City? ”

"It must be attacking Beicheng," Zhou Gao, the director of the Navy Room of the General Army's engine room, interjected, "There are 12 water steamers of the anti-smuggling boat regiment on the surface of the Jiehe River, as long as the Jiehe River does not freeze, the Khitans will definitely not be able to cross the river." ”

The hydro boat is a type of river boat that is driven by a pedal water wheel and a hard sail. The draft is shallow, the bottom of the ship is relatively flat, and the superstructure is tall, which cannot withstand the wind and waves at sea. However, in the Jiehe River, Juma River, Sanggan River, and Gaoliang River, these 12 water wheels and boats are like giants. The ship was also equipped with an eight-bull crossbow and a torsion stone tool introduced by Ji Yi. This intricate stone tool is not very powerful, but because it can be made relatively small, it is suitable for installation on ships, and can be used to fire gunpowder bullets or red-hot iron balls. It's definitely not a monster that the Khitan sailors can deal with.

"They won't fight in the north city." Brother Zhao Zhong also shook his head, "Do you want a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood to fight a city?" This is not the Khitan way of playing. ”

"That's a bluff!" Ma Zheng pondered.

"Want to make a noise?" Wu Haogu asked.

"Possibly!" Ma Zhengdao, "Along the border of Hebei, what is now more firmly guarded is the boundary river-Juma River. I'm afraid it's a bit hanging everywhere else! ”

"There are four or five hundred miles from the Juma River to the west to Zhendingfu Road!" Brother Zhao Zhong smiled, "How can you be reliable everywhere?" Now that the regimental training in various places has not been pulled up, how many soldiers are there in total? ”

"So what to do?" Wu Haogu thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to send cavalry?" ”

Brother Zhao Zhong smiled and asked rhetorically: "Xuan Shuai, you are really willing to smash it out with this little capital?" ”

Wuhaogu had two cavalry generals, and four other light cavalry battalions, with a total of 12,000 cavalry, excluding cavalry auxiliaries. The number of people is finally gathered, but the real usability is only six or seven thousand horses, and the rest still need to be rigorously trained.

If you take it out and fight it now, you may be able to bury a large number of cavalry officers and soldiers who have managed to get together with great difficulty.

"What then?" Wu Haogu frowned and said, "Is it difficult to see death and not save it?" ”