It turned out that the stuffing in the winter coat worn by the mocking soldier was made of real coarse linen and cotton wool, which was large and warm.
In this way, he will naturally not feel cold.
The fillings in the winter clothes of the other three people were actually some reed catkins, some rags, some old papers, and crushed reed poles.
Just sew a layer of cloth on the outside to make it look plump, just like a good-quality winter coat. In fact, such low-quality products cannot protect against the cold at all.
Wu Gong and the soldiers closest to him wore thick coats that he brought with him. They not only had cotton coats, but also trousers, boots, hats, and even gloves. They were fully equipped, so they did not feel the cold.
But it was different for other soldiers, especially those wearing such inferior winter clothes.
A cold wind carrying water vapor blows over, which can blow away half of their lives. It feels like they are being bitten by ants, and it hurts. If they stay in such an environment for a few hours, their entire lives will be lost. , the soul can be blown out.
Wu Gong realized the problem and immediately went to the military camp warehouse to look at the winter clothes that had not been distributed yet.
He ordered his soldiers to pick out a hundred of these winter coats, tear open the outer layer of cloth, and see what the filling was inside.
In the end, it was discovered that ninety-four of them were of poor quality and were filled with reed poles and rags that had no thermal insulation effect. Only six of them could protect against the cold and were good-quality winter coats.
Wu Gong immediately realized that he had been tricked by the bureaucrats who managed logistics at the rear.
The Privy Council usually determines the number of these military uniforms based on the number of troops, and then places an order. The government-run workshops or private textile workshops contract the work. The Privy Council then sends people to inspect the goods, and then receives the goods and stuffs them into the warehouse.
Without official connections and approval from the government, ordinary workshops would never be able to get orders to make winter coats for the army.
Don't think this is a guarantee, it's exactly that.
Wu Gong grew up in the army since he was a child, and has also participated in the management of army logistics. He knows very well how deep the water is here, how rich the oil and water is, and how many people's eyes are red staring at a piece of fat.
If you don't have any official connections or are official people, don't even think about reaching out. But if you really reach out, you will definitely make a lot of money.
The money used by the imperial court to order winter clothes for the army was bound to be exploited at all levels. Officials at all levels had to take some of it to satisfy their own desires, and then they could send it to the next level. When it finally fell into the hands of the weavers, they would also There are not many coins left.
But even the few remaining coins will definitely be stolen away.
Only the last pitiful little money is used to weave winter clothes, barely used for errands, and it is clear what kind of virtue the winter clothes produced are.
No one understands the virtues of the bureaucrats in the Southern Song Dynasty better than Wu Gong.
These bureaucrats must have taken advantage of it and squandered the money for weaving winter clothes, so they used a batch of defective products to cope with the inspection.
Of course you can't see any difference from the outside, but once you put it on, you can tell what the difference is.
Wu Gong was so angry that he brought the matter to the Lin'an Privy Council to let Shi Hao know, and asked the rear to send more warm clothes.
Don't force me to bring troops back to ask for it!
If the battle really fails because of you, none of you will be able to escape!
However, such a thing is not immediate and takes a lot of time. During this period, even if Wu Gong gave two inferior winter coats to the soldiers to wear to keep out the cold, the effect was very poor.
As the temperature continued to drop, there were more and more sick and wounded soldiers in the Song army, but medicines and ginger from the rear were delayed, so that soldiers began to die of illness.
From a few a day to dozens a day, the number of non-combat casualties is increasing.
On the other side of the city, the peasant army wore thick cotton clothes, thick hats, thick boots, and even gloves. They had ginger soup to drink every day, so there were only a few cases of illness. .
After the defeat that day, Zhao Yucheng was ready for a hard battle. While actively preparing for the battle, he asked all instructors in the army to go down to the grassroots to get along with the soldiers and do ideological work for them.
Instructors need to let soldiers know that temporary failure is not permanent failure, and they will surely win the final victory, even if it takes a long time.
And they cannot fail or retreat, otherwise, their loved ones behind them will suffer.
Song Jun is cruel and will never show mercy to their relatives. They should know this very well.
After a period of ideological mobilization, the decadent atmosphere in the army has been reduced a lot. The army has established a basic principle - for the sake of the relatives behind you, you must never retreat.
However, there are still some people in the army who believe that Nanchang City will be difficult to hold after all, and there is a large gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides. It is still necessary to assess the situation and be prepared to retreat.
After Zhao Yucheng found out, he convened a meeting of all officers and expressed his opinion. He believed that the city had enough troops and sufficient food reserves. Even if he persisted for another three months, there would be no problem. However, the Song army on the opposite side might not, so he must persist.
Even so, Zhao Yucheng also knew how much failure would damage morale, so he had been actively looking for opportunities to win the battle.
After a period of observation, Zhao Yucheng found that the frequency of the Song army's attacks on the city had been greatly reduced, and the number of soldiers and horses dispatched had also been reduced. Later, there was actually no attack on the city for three consecutive days, as if the successors were powerless. .
They... are going to hibernate on the battlefield?
Zhao Yucheng thought that everyone who fought wanted to end the battle as soon as possible, otherwise it would be a huge blow to the national economy. Considering the many failed wars launched by the Southern Song Dynasty, their logistics would never be sufficient to allow them to hibernate on the battlefield.
So, what happened to them?
Zhao Yucheng thought about it and felt something was wrong. He felt that there was something wrong here, so he decided to send troops out of the city to take the initiative to challenge and test the specific situation of the Song army.
Gao Meng has been blaming himself since he failed to win before. When he learned that Zhao Yucheng decided to give him another chance, he geared up and decided to avenge his shame.
"The Song army defeated our army. They should have pursued the victory and consolidated the results. They should have become more eager to attack the city and suppress our army, instead of stopping and giving our army a chance to breathe. I think there is something wrong inside. There may be something inside the Song army. If there is an emergency, you can take the initiative to challenge it with your troops, and I will hold the battle for you from behind."
Zhao Yucheng allocated a brigade to Gao Meng and asked him to take the initiative to challenge with an army of two thousand people, while he himself led three brigades of troops to suppress Gao Meng from behind.
A total of 8,000 troops from four brigades took the initiative to attack. After forming a formation, they marched to the direction of the Song Army's military camp to challenge.
Wu Gong was having a splitting headache over the increasing number of cases and dead soldiers. He was shocked when he suddenly learned that the peasant army had taken the initiative to attack. He thought they had already known about the large-scale injuries and illnesses in the Song army.
But when he further learned that there were only about two thousand people in the front of the peasant army, he determined that this wave of attacks by the peasant army was a test, not a formal attack.
The peasant army must have felt strange that he had not launched an attack for several days, so he came here to test them.
But it should be said that this group of people had some knowledge, skills, and some courage. They had not attacked for a few days, but they felt something was wrong and wanted to challenge him.
Good guy, if this exposes them to Song Army's internal problems, what's the point?
Wu Gong felt that they could not see through the problem no matter what, so he decided to send troops to resolutely fight back.
