Yu Jin left, riding the horse sent by Liu Bei.
Liu Bei not only gave Yu Jin a good horse, but also returned his armor and weapons, and then personally sent him twenty miles away from the city. Those who didn't know better thought Liu Bei was sending him a gift.
Because of this treatment, Yu Jin was very moved when he left, and he recognized in his heart that Liu Bei was indeed a sincere gentleman.
A few days after the ban, January arrived.
It’s another new year.
It is now January of the thirteenth year of Jian'an.
This New Year is different from usual. The army did not take a fifteen-day holiday. Instead, after only five days, the generals returned to camp and began preparations for war.
According to detailed reports, Cao Cao has already set off from the north to return to Xudu. He is expected to return to Xudu in February.
This is not good news for Liu Bei.
Everyone knows that after Cao Cao pacified the north, his next target was Jingzhou. At this time, Liu Bei had just fought a battle with Xiahou Dun in November and was now busy expanding his army to prepare for war.
Zhuge Liang has been busy with a lot of things lately, but they are more focused on government affairs. After all, Liu Bei now not only has to manage Xinye, but also wants to find ways to penetrate and control Jiangxia, and continue to deal with the Jingzhou family. These are all inseparable from Zhuge Liang's participation and planning. .
Therefore, Zhuge Liang entrusted Xu Shu and Zhang Xi to take charge of military affairs.
As for military drills, after the Battle of Bowang, Zhuge Liang had already seen the effects of Zhang Xi's new method, so there was no need to modify it, so Zhang Xi took charge of promoting it throughout the army.
As for Xu Shu, he assisted Zhang Xi in inspecting each battalion and preparing training materials and ordnance for each battalion.
So, Zhang Xi found Xu Shu and started discussions.
Mainly discussing the issue of ordnance.
The first one is the rocket.
In the Battle of Bowang, the Rockets made their first appearance. Apart from being able to scare people, the effect was almost non-destructive.
The reason is also very simple. In order to ensure the range and burnability of the rocket after it is fired, Zhang Xi just put a thin piece of linen cloth on the rocket, and then soaked the arrow shaft with the linen cloth in the oil barrel.
Doing so maintains the range and allows the rocket to burn, but the actual burning time is very short. The only part that can really burn is the arrow shaft. The linen cloth is too small and can only be used to ignite the fire.
The biggest effect of this kind of rocket is to cause riots among people who have never seen a rocket, thereby affecting the enemy's offensive formation and morale.
It might be better if you meet a reckless man who relies on muscle to make a living. Once you meet a calm general like Li Dian and see through the Rockets' secrets, there will be no threat at all.
Zhang Xi felt that later Hao Zhao was able to use rockets to repel Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition at Chencang Road with less than a thousand defenders. He definitely did not rely on the scary rockets in his hand, otherwise it would be an insult to Zhuge Liang. IQ.
But what exactly are Hao Zhao’s rockets like? !
It can't really be like the rockets of the Ming Dynasty, where a gunpowder barrel is tied to the arrow shaft and sprayed out to hurt people, right? !
It's not that Zhang Xi doesn't want to use black powder, but that it's not easy to do in this era.
Zhang Xi still knew the formula of black powder. After all, he had been online a lot in his previous life.
It's mononitrate, disulfide, and charcoal.
Even if this is not an exact ratio, the black powder produced is powerful enough for this era.
But the biggest problem facing Zhang Xi now is not that he cannot make gunpowder, but that the raw materials are difficult to obtain.
It is not difficult to make charcoal. It is the mid-winter season, and there are always charcoal burners coming out to sell charcoal. Moreover, the technical difficulty of making charcoal is not high. Even if Zhang Xi doesn't know it, just ask someone.
Sulfur is a little more difficult, but as a thing that can quickly ignite fire in this era, Liu Bei's army still has some inventory. Zhang Xi knew this when he was the "Grain and Grass Master" that there were two large boxes of sulfur ore in the warehouse. Bowang was recently burned. I should have used a lot when climbing the slope, but there should be some left.
Although it is just ore, there are a lot of impurities in it, but it can barely be used after being crushed.
The only thing that is difficult to deal with is saltpeter.
There was saltpeter in this era. As early as the Warring States Period, saltpeter was used as a medicinal material. You can't say it doesn't exist.
But in this era, too little saltpeter was used, and it was difficult to preserve and obtain. Of course, the most important thing is that its medicinal value can be replaced by other common medicinal materials.
It is difficult to obtain and endless to store. It can be used as a substitute for opening a drugstore. No one will have any trouble stocking up on this stuff.
Not to mention that you can't buy it in Xinye Fancheng. Even if you go to Xiangyang City to look for it, there may not be any drug store that has it in stock.
As for the local method of collecting saltpeter, that is, running to the wall of the earthen house to find the natural saltpeter precipitated from the soil. Zhang Xi also knows this method, after all, he has read many online articles in his previous life.
But Zhang Xi actually searched around Xinye and couldn't find anyone with such natural saltpeter crystals precipitated in the corners of the earthen walls.
I don’t know the specific reason. It may be that the nitrogen and potassium content in the soil is not high, or it may be that it is young. Anyway, Zhang Xi has searched all the corners of private houses in Xinye and has never seen the so-called "ground frost" at all. This kind of thing exists.
As for pig pens, stables, and toilets, these places are too embarrassing.
For ordinary people in these days, if they could raise a pig at home, they would be considered wealthy. After all, there was not enough food for people to eat. Who would feed the pigs, and where would there be a pig pen? !
Although the toilets are better, they are also scarce.
In these days, when ordinary people went to the toilet, both men and women squatted in the field. The more sophisticated ones dug a hole and buried it, while the less sophisticated ones just left it alone. This was even the case in the army. How can you expect the common people to know what a toilet is? ? !
There are toilets in the homes of dignitaries, but Xinye is a special place. There are no aristocratic families here, and there are very few wealthy families. The largest group of dignitaries are the civil and military officers and soldiers under Liu Bei.
But since Liu Bei entered the new country, in order not to harm the interests of the people, he ordered his officials to act frugally. Even Liu Yan, who liked extravagance, restrained himself a lot.
If you don’t believe it, just look at Zhang Xi and you will know. Cao Yu, a soldier in General Zuo’s mansion, has a rented house and only four people in his family. Can saltpeter be precipitated from the toilet in the Year of the Monkey, the Horse and the Moon? !
Of course, it would also be a lie if you said you couldn't find anything at all. For example, Zhang Xi scraped some saltpeter from the corner of the toilet in his uncle's house when he was sealed off.
But the amount of saltpeter was pitiful to say the least. Not even a purse was full, and at least half of it was useless soil.
This saltpeter is enough to make gunpowder, but let’s not talk about the power of the gunpowder produced. This amount is not enough to equip ten rockets, so what is the use of it? !
The rocket issue can only be put on hold until a stable source of saltpeter can be obtained. If the production cannot increase, the noise will scare people at most. It is better to just tie a piece of linen cloth and burn it with oil. At least it will rain fire all over the sky. Flying over, looking at it is much scarier than hearing two noises.
The rocket improvement plan was put on hold for the time being, but Zhang Xi put another ordnance improvement on the agenda.
Wu Gang car.
The Wugang chariot existed in the pre-Qin period. By the early Han Dynasty, it played an important role in the battle against the Xiongnu.
When fighting against the Huns, there was a shortage of horses, so from Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty to the early days of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Wugang chariot was the most important weapon against cavalry.
However, Wugang vehicles have great limitations.
Although the Wugang chariot is relatively light, Sun Wu during the Warring States Period used the Wugang chariot as both a forward and rear chariot. It can be said to be a very flexible type of chariot.
However, facing the cavalry, the Wugang chariot can only defend and block the cavalry charge, but it cannot defeat the cavalry.
When Wei Qing fought against the Huns' cavalry, he also used Wugang chariots to defend in a circle, attracting the main force of the Huns to attack. Then he arranged for thousands of cavalry to guerrilla outside. After the Huns could not attack for a long time, they seized the opportunity to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
Although this can defeat the Huns, it will not cause too much loss to the Huns cavalry. No matter how light the Wugang chariot is, it is still an infantry chariot. It cannot catch up with the Huns horses that come and go like the wind.
Moreover, the Wugang chariot is only for defense. The main force that really defeats the enemy is the thousands of cavalry.
It was precisely because he saw this that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty raised horses on a large scale after he captured the Hetao. The most effective unit to deal with cavalry was cavalry.
This led to the later decisive battle between Fenglang Juxu and Mobei.
The reason why Zhang Xi wanted to dig out the Wu Gang chariot from the antique pile was purely because Liu Beijun had no capital to engage in cavalry.
It costs money to raise a horse, and even more money to train a cavalryman.
As for Liu Bei's situation of being trapped in Xinye, he had to rely on Liu Biao for food and grass. He was able to get those rangers in Zhao Yun's hands because Mi Zhu worked hard to make money.
Therefore, Liu Beijun's soldiers are basically infantry, and the Wugang chariots matched with the infantry are the best defensive weapons.
It is now the thirteenth year of Jian'an. The battle of Changbanpo is not far away.
Although the current situation is much better than Zhang Xi knew, Zhuge Liang left the army a year earlier than originally and has already begun to plan Jiangxia as Liu Bei's fallout.
But the key point is that Jiangxia has just changed hands. On the surface, the governor is still Liu Qi, not Liu Bei. If you want to control Jiangxia, there is still a lot of work to do.
Zhuge Liang has been working overtime every day recently to try to grasp the real power of Jiangxia as soon as possible and install more of his own people.
But who knows how much Jiangxia affairs Liu Bei's army can control when Cao Cao goes south, and whether he can play a role in Liu Bei's resistance to Cao's army going south. These are all unknown.
Therefore, Zhang Xi, an "insider", must think of something to take precautions and prepare Wugang vehicles in advance, so that he can at least have the ability to resist.
If things continue to develop as Zhang Xi knows, and Xinye and Fancheng cannot be saved, then if Liu Bei's army has the help of Wugang's chariot, he may be able to escape far away and not be caught up by Cao Cao's army.
And if Cao Cao personally led the army to pursue Cao's army, Zhang Xi said that he could only do his best, and he would have to run when he should.
But what if Cao Jun comes with those thousands of tiger and leopard cavalry? Haha, Zhang Xi really has the confidence to teach the tiger and leopard cavalry how to behave.
Don't underestimate the Yuanyang Formation and Wugang Car.
When Qi Shaobao was guarding Jiliao, he relied on Wugang chariots and mandarin duck formations to keep the Mongols who were killing each other quiet for decades and did not dare to invade.
Although the Mongols at that time were no longer the Mongols in their heyday, Zhang Xi really didn't believe that Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry were really more powerful than the Mongolian cavalry more than a thousand years later.
(End of chapter)
