Zhang Xiu prepares to form Modao Military Camp.
October 197 AD, Chang'an.
Gan Ning and Zhuge Liang made good progress northward, and soon occupied the entire Anding County. After ordering Hu Ji to guard Xiao Pass, Zhuge Liang and Gan Ning led their troops back.
Ji Ling successfully conquered Fengxiang County. Because Zhang Xiu's reputation had already been established, people were waiting for him wherever he went. Bu Zhi led an army of three thousand to stay in Feng Yi County, and Ji Ling returned with his army.
From the end of July when the troops were sent to Wuguan to the end of mid-October, it took three months for Zhang Xiu to completely occupy the Guanzhong Plain. Next he had to face the Xiongnu from the north and Ma Teng and Han Sui from Liangzhou.
They are mainly cavalry.
The 50,000 cavalrymen led by Zhang Xiu were still not enough, so he planned to develop the cavalry's nemesis: Mo Dao.
The Mo Dao is a long-handled sword. The Mo Dao of the Tang Dynasty originally evolved from the Ma Zhan Dao of the Han Dynasty, and its development origin is very different from the Ma Zhan Dao of the Han Dynasty. The Mo Dao is double-edged, more than ten feet long, and extremely powerful. In the Tang Dynasty, it had become the nemesis of the cavalry troops.
Its spine is thick, which greatly enhances the impact of the weapon's slashing. Unlike other sword-type weapons that have weak armor-piercing capabilities, Mo Dao's slashing has an excellent armor-piercing effect.
If heavy cavalry in the cold weapon era is equivalent to tanks in modern warfare, then Mo Dao is an anti-tank gun. With the blessing of this extremely powerful weapon, the Tang Dynasty's infantry defeated the Eastern and Western Turks and won the coming of all nations.
Now, Zhang Xiu is about to develop the Modao and form the Modao military camp to fight against the Huns and Liangzhou cavalry in the north. His goal is to block the Ningxia Plain in the south of the Yangtze River.
As the saying goes: Ningxia River is pointed at both ends, with the Yellow River in the east and the Helan Mountains in the west, and the Jinchuan, Yinchuan and Miliangchuan rivers. If you capture the Ningxia Plain, you can not only gain fertile land, but also natural horse farms.
The cavalry is a weapon for galloping in the Central Plains. Now his horses are all bought and surrendered. To build a real Xiliang cavalry, a natural horse farm needs to be built. I heard that there is a large horse farm in the Ningxia Plain.
There are still many difficulties in developing a Mo Dao. "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" once described: Burning pig iron finely, the collar will be heavy and soft, and after a few days, it will become steel.
It can be seen that it takes a long time to forge a high-quality Mo Dao.
With the current smelting technology, the demand for iron ore is huge for smelting into steel. So far, Zhang Xiu does not have an iron ore to supply the huge demand for iron. This is a top priority. He has 50,000 cavalry to deal with the cavalry. Teng and Han Sui could make do, but if the Xiongnu went south, it wouldn't be enough. When he didn't get a horse farm, he had to use sharp weapons to fill the gap.
He ordered people to search for iron ore in the Qinling Mountains. The book "Guan Zi Di Shu Pian" records: If there is ocher on the mountain, there will be iron below; if there is lead on the mountain, there will be silver below.
The ocher here refers to hematite. It is found that when reddish-brown hematite appears above a certain place, large iron ore will appear below;
Zhang Xiu asked them to go into the mountains to search in this way. According to the memories of later generations, there are still a lot of iron ore in the Qinling Mountains, and they should be able to find them.
In order to make these people willing and actively search, Zhang Xiu spared no effort to provide them with food, shelter and money. Their daily task was to go into the mountains to look for iron. Anyone who could find iron ore would be rewarded a hundred taels. Such a high reward The bounty greatly motivated these people who went into the mountains in search of iron ore.
At the same time, he moved the secret iron-making base in Nanyang to the mountains behind Lantian County and began to experiment with the existing iron to make Modao.
He first drew a sketch of Mo Dao, and then asked the blacksmith to start experimenting with smelting; and he has completed 200 pieces of iron armor that he secretly built. It is estimated that he will be able to complete 500 iron cavalry armors and 500 heavy infantry armors in another half a year. First.
Once the Modao Army is successfully formed, coupled with the armored cavalry and heavy armored infantry, it will definitely be able to sweep through Xiliang and Mobei.
At the suggestion of Jia Xu, Liu Ye and others, Zhang Xiu moved the military and political headquarters from Wancheng to Chang'an, and asked Deng Zhi to be the prefect of Nanyang and Qiao Rui to stay in Nanyang.
The military and political center was transferred, but the school did not follow because it was Nanyang School. Zhang Xiu also wanted to build Guanzhong School in Guanzhong so that students from Guanzhong could also study in the school.
This matter cannot be rushed. Let’s slowly digest the Guanzhong Plain first. There is a serious shortage of talents at hand. There are still many official vacancies throughout Guanzhong. Many people hold multiple positions. One must be selected in this year’s competition. A batch of outstanding talents enter the officialdom to gain experience.
Fortunately, the tycoons in Guanzhong have been almost eliminated, which saves a lot of trouble and the land distribution is relatively smooth; Zhang Xiu asked them to divide the land according to population, so that everyone has their own land, and the taxation is also calculated according to population.
Without the obstruction of the powerful nobles, Zhang Xiu began to lead his men to work vigorously to re-measure and distribute the land. Due to the cruelty of Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Guo Si to Guanzhong, a large number of people in Guanzhong were lost.
Before they wreaked havoc in Guanzhong, there were still a population of 150,000 households. However, after they launched their troops, within two years the people in Guanzhong were devastated and the population dropped sharply. After a census by Jia Xu, Zhuge Liang, and Liu Ye, It was found that there were only 100,000 households left in Guanzhong, or more than 670,000 people.
The shocking figures are before our eyes: 50,000 households lost their lives within two years.
When Jia Xu and others came up with this figure, they sighed. Hundreds of thousands of people died in troubled times. It is true that troubled times are like disasters and lives are as cheap as grass.
While conducting a population census, Zhang Xiu began to reorganize the military camp configuration.
In troubled times, promotions and titles are all in vain. Only the real powerful people are the most important. For Zhang Xiu, enough people and generals are the foundation of his life in troubled times; for generals like Wei Yan, how much Soldiers and horses are the embodiment of their value.
First, the Qinglong Cavalry Camp and the Zhuque Cavalry Camp were expanded. Each battalion increased from the original 8,000 to 15,000, and were still led by Wei Yan and Li Tong.
At the same time, a cheetah cavalry camp was added, commanded by Zhang Xian, with a number of 8,000 troops.
Under the leadership of Wei Yan, Zhang Xian's martial arts level has skyrocketed and is now at a second-tier level. He owes all his sword skills to Wei Yan and has recognized Wei Yan as his master.
The remaining 10,000 cavalry were organized into the Tenglong Cavalry Battalion, which was personally led by Zhang Xiu, and Hu Cheer was the deputy general with full authority to manage the cavalry camp.
Infantry.
On the basis of 30,000 Nanyang soldiers, recruit 30,000 new soldiers from Guanzhong; expand Feihu Military Camp and Shenniu Military Camp from 15,000 to 22,000; reorganize Yeshi Military Camp and Huofeng Military Camp Each camp has 8,000 men, and the leader is to be determined.
This time, large-scale changes were made in terms of military, people's livelihood, and education, which caused Nanyang County and Guanzhong Plain in Zhang Xiu's hands to become restless.
Everyone is very busy and exhausted.
Various problems and contradictions emerged one after another. Only at this time did Zhang Xiu truly realize that it was easier said than done.
Just because of the issue of land distribution, some people with small families always feel that they have suffered a disadvantage, and they wish that their ancestors could be dug out of their graves and counted as heads.
In the end, Zhang Xiu had to send troops and gave a stern order that the troublemakers would be killed without mercy. This was able to calm down many dissatisfaction;
Just when Zhang Xiu was taking action, an imperial edict came from Xudu.
