"Guan family, since the hot pot is so powerful, let's not wait for summer and send troops to the west immediately. This way we can conquer Lingzhou as soon as possible!"
"Yes, brother, since Lingzhou will be destroyed in three days, half of the Western thief's life will be gone!"
"It's not just Lingzhou? We should include Weizhou City, Mingsha City, Cuta Village, Shangyikou City, Jingyuan Army City, Pule City, Yaode City, Zhejianghui City, Mengjing City, Qinggangxia City, Xiato The fortresses and other fortresses have been taken! Look how arrogant the Western thieves are!"
"That's right, let's set out early and work together to capture the Xiping Mansion and the territories of the two military commanders Baotai and Jingsai. Then the Western Bandits will be finished!"
"Don't forget Shatuo and Yingjili Village on the west bank of the Yellow River... After these two places, plus Mingsha City on the east bank of the Yellow River, the main road for the western thieves to go to the west of the river is cut off. We can cross the desert and run westward!"
In the Hanyuan Hall of the Luoyang Palace, the generals who had previously had many doubts about the Western Expedition to attack Xixia were shouting to be beaten and killed in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, an impregnable Lingzhou City can no longer satisfy their appetite. With the "hot pot" as a black technology weapon, they are now planning to take over Xixia's Xiping Prefecture (Lingzhou) and the two military divisions of Baotai and Jingsai - they will really get their wish , the country of Xixia is almost over! Even if it is not finished, it still needs to be moved westward.
Xixia is a small country, with a small territory, and it is rich in grain. There are even fewer good places that can be used as a country's granary. There is only some fertile and fertile land around Xiping Prefecture, the military jurisdictions of Baotai and Jingsai, and the capital Xingqing Prefecture.
In particular, the area around Xiping Prefecture (Lingzhou) is known as the South of the Yangtze River. It has hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated land that is extremely rare in the northern region. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the granary of Xixia.
If Xiping Prefecture took all the money for the Song Dynasty, Xixia's grain output would be reduced by at least 30%!
Food is the most important thing for the people, and the Western thieves also need to eat. Without Lingzhou’s food, the Western thieves’ life would be difficult.
Mingsha City, Yingjili Village and Shatuo City controlled by the Baotai Military Division are all important crossings of the Yellow River and are also the key points leading to the Hexi Corridor from Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Xixia. If it is also captured by the Song Dynasty, there is a possibility that the territory of Xixia will be cut into two by the Song Dynasty!
By then, the Western thieves will have to hurry up if they want to move westward! Otherwise, once the Song army has established a firm foothold in Mingsha City, Yingjili Village and Shatuo City, it will not be easy for them to escape.
Zhao Kai listened to the suggestions of these generals, but just smiled and said: "What you saw today is just 'hot pot' and gunpowder that have not yet been introduced... Such 'hot pot' and gunpowder are used for test firing. It’s fine for emergency use, but it’s still not enough to take it two thousand miles away to attack the fortified city of the Western Bandits.”
"Is there a gap?" Yue Fei asked, "Brother, where is the gap? How long will it take to make up for it?"
Zhao Kai clapped his fingers and said: "First of all, the ten-pound 'hot pot' is still a little small, and it may not be able to hammer the Lingzhou City of the Western Thieves... I plan to wait until the twenty-pound 'hot pot' is built. , and then equip it with cannons, oh, it’s a pot army!"
There will be no artillery anymore...only scapegoats, which sounds like they are taking the blame!
"Second, we don't have a dedicated 'hot pot artillery' yet. I originally planned to recruit smart and capable young soldiers to form an imperial artillery force after the twenty kilograms of 'hot pot' was built in some time." ....from the 'pot' artillery team!"
When Zhao Kai talks about "hot pot", he always thinks of "Chongqing", "Chengdu", "Haidilao"... He has never had a good meal in his previous life. At that time, he was a high school student. I’m a student, and I don’t have much pocket money, so I can’t afford it! Even though he is now an official with an annual salary of six million, he is really rich and powerful. Logically speaking, he can have everything he wants, right? But when I asked the imperial chef, they actually didn’t know what chili peppers were!
Only then did Zhao Kai remember that pepper seemed to be a crop native to America!
This is really... Could it be that before the discovery of the New World, we couldn't eat spicy hot pot!
In addition to Chongqing hot pot, Zhao Kai now also wants to eat Swiss chocolate - does he have to send troops to Europe to grab chocolate like Genghis Khan in order to eat chocolate?
In addition, Zhao Kai is quite greedy for Australian lobster, Japanese Wagyu, Japanese tuna, Japanese abalone, Japanese tempura, Japanese puffer fish, etc... He has never eaten them in his previous life, just watch what those food bloggers are eating. , just looking at it makes me greedy!
Except for the Australian lobsters, which have to be sent to Australia to grab them, the others are from Japan and are relatively close. After defeating the gold thief, we can send troops to pull up the "hot pot" cannon and go to Japan to ask their emperor for some!
Thinking of this, Zhao Kai took a sip of saliva and turned his mind back to military affairs.
He continued: "Thirdly, we don't have enough fire saltpeter and sulfur on hand... We also need to let the Wu family and Pan family expand production as soon as possible. I plan to let them specialize in the production of fire saltpeter. In order to increase production as soon as possible!”
Fire saltpeter is the main raw material of gunpowder, which is in great demand and is not easy to refine. So Zhao Kai planned to let Wu Haogu and Pan Sheng'an's shops specialize in the production of fire salt.
As for the sulfur and charcoal powder, Zhao Kai planned to find someone else to do it.
As for the last key process of gunpowder production - gunpowder granulation, Zhao Kai is ready to take it into his own hands.
However, Zhao Kai did not plan to open a gunpowder factory in the palace. You don't think anyone would keep a gunpowder factory at home, right? If this burns down, there will be no place to live!
So Zhao Kai's idea is to temporarily let the soon-to-be-established Yuqian Hotpot Cannon Team be responsible for making granular gunpowder - it's not too difficult anyway. It's just a matter of wetting it and letting the gunpowder clump together, then drying it in the sun, and then sifting it through a copper sieve. In this way, the legendary granular gunpowder was born!
With granular gunpowder, we can further develop fixed propellant packs and explosive shells...
Zhao Kai said this, thought for a while, and then said: "Fourth, we have to stabilize the Western Bandits and win over Xiao Heda at the same time... He is now the head coach of the Western Bandits in Hengshan, and he has a lot of troops. . Moreover, he has his heart set on the Liao Dynasty, which is not the same as the golden thieves and the western thieves.
If he can defect to our side after I take the Ling and Wei states, I can make him the envoy of the Dingnan Army and the lord of the three states of Yin, Xia and You! "
The Dingnan Army originally had five states, namely Xia, You, Yin, Sui, and Jing. However, in the long-term struggle with the Song Dynasty, Suizhou and Jingzhou were lost successively and became the Suide Army and Mizhi Village of the Song Dynasty. So only the three states of Yin, Xia and You were left. As for the states at the northern foot of Hengshan such as Yanzhou, Shizhou, Longzhou and Hongzhou, they were all established by Xixia themselves and would not be recognized by the Song Dynasty.
"Guan family," Yelu Yujian took the initiative to ask for help without waiting for Zhao Kai to assign the task, "I can go to Xiazhou again... I will definitely persuade Xiao Heda to hold his troops while the officials send troops.
In addition, I hope that the official family can give me 100,000 pieces of Shu brocade to take to Xiazhou and give it to Xiao Heda for use. "
Rebellion costs money!
Winning over enemy generals also costs money!
However, most of this money cannot be paid out by the Ministry of Revenue... The Ministry of Revenue has rules for spending money, and there is no such thing as bribery or bribery. So Zhao Kai had to take it out from his own pile sealing warehouse!
"I'll give you 150,000!" Zhao Kai was generous and gave Yelu Yujian an additional 50,000 with a wave of his hand.
He now has an "annual salary of six million." Although not all of this money goes into his pocket, half of it goes into his sealing treasury, so it is natural to spend the money happily!
"I thanked the officials on behalf of Xiao Heda!" Yeluyu was naturally overjoyed - this silk was not a small sum! With these 150,000 horses, not only Xiao Heda will definitely switch sides, but Yu Jian himself will also be able to make a fortune...
Of course Zhao Kai doesn't care how Yu Jian makes money... Bribery is inherently corrupt, and it is impossible to fight corruption.
He went on to say: "The crusade against the Western bandits this time relies on hot pot cannons and surprise! So I don't plan to lead the army from Guangwu Mountain or Luoyang to Shaanxi, but want to temporarily raise a large army in Shaanxi. Therefore, we need Prepare in advance and make arrangements early... So we need capable people to serve as Shaanxi Yingtian Envoy and Shaanxi Comfort Envoy. Is anyone willing to volunteer?"
"Brother, my younger brother is willing to go to Shaanxi to serve as a pacifier!" The one who is willing to go to Shaanxi to supervise the army is Liu Qi.
"Brother, I can go to Shaanxi and serve as camp envoy." He Guan's eldest son He Ji also stood up.
"Very good," Zhao Kai said with a smile, "I'll leave it to you two as Shaanxi prepares for war. Prepare to take office when you get back...I will issue an edict through the two governments later!"
He brought the topic back to the hot pot team.
His eyes swept around the hall and said, "Everyone, I plan to establish a pot and artillery army as soon as possible. For the time being, I will create a general. Can you recommend me candidates for generals, deputy generals, and generals?"
"Brother," Yue Fei said, "my lieutenants Xu Qing and Tang Xian are cautious and reliable in their work. They should not be able to cause trouble."
"Brother," Han Shizhong also said, "I have Wu Lin under my command who was born in the Huanqing Army. He is quite capable, and he is also young and learns things quickly."
"Brother," Huang Wuji said, "My second brother Huang Wubing was originally a student in the government. Now he has joined the army and serves as an adjunct in the army. He usually likes to play with equipment and gunpowder. Why don't you let him follow you?"
Zhao Kai nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, Xu Qing, Tang Xian, Wu Lin, Huang Wubing... let them come to Luoyang to see me as soon as possible! In addition, each army will draw 50 more Long March soldiers. Come to Luoyang and join the cauldron army, everyone will be here within a month!"
Now Zhao Kai has more than 300,000 and almost 400,000 soldiers under his command! Some or all of these government troops (if general mobilization is implemented) will be organized in four camp field envoys, six pacification envoys, one left-behind department (Tokyo left-behind department), two garrison departments (east and west capital garrison departments), twenty-four Serving in a military division.
Zhao Kai now requires 50 people from each of the twenty-four military divisions, which means a total of 1,200 people.
In addition, he will also recruit 50 more people from the imperial army and Yu Lin's army around him, and recruit a group of coppersmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters, and charioteers to join the army, making up the establishment of 2,000 people.
