This year, Xiangyang and Dengzhou had good weather, and both wheat and rice had a bumper harvest. Wang Xiaolie opened a supply and marketing cooperative and actively contacted grain merchants in other places to ensure grain prices and farmers' income was good. Now that farmers have money, business in all walks of life is good. This is a good year, and when the New Year comes, everyone is happy.
After getting help from Chen Gui, Wang Xiaolie began to make gunpowder. In an open space outside Xinye City, a test range was specially built to produce artillery. But there is only one door, which is very bulky. There are specially assigned craftsmen in the test gun range to conduct various experiments with this gun. Only when the experiments are mature can practical artillery be produced.
With gunpowder, in addition to making cannons, you can also make fireworks.
As soon as the twelfth lunar month entered, Wang Xiaolie specially arranged for people to make fireworks for the New Year. Fireworks are not uncommon. Although the Song Dynasty did not experiment with the best formula for artillery, it did create fireworks. Firecrackers are unprecedented.
On this day of the New Year, when it was completely dark, a firework suddenly appeared in the open space in front of Xinye Yamen, blooming in the sky like a goddess scattering flowers. The people in the city looked at the sky and were extremely excited.
As the fireworks exploded, many more fireworks shot into the air. Then there was a "crackling" sound, which sounded in front of the Yamen. As the breeze blows, the faint smell of gunpowder smoke floats in the air.
The people gathered in front of the Yamen watched and discussed animatedly. Firecrackers were set off during the Chinese New Year in the past, but where was this momentum? When the biggest firecracker went off, many people felt the ground shaking.
Chen Yuyi and his family had a reunion dinner and hurried into the Yamen. When he arrived at Houya, he saluted Wang Xiaolie.
Everyone drank a bowl of wine. Wang Xiaolie said to Zhang Jun: "Tomorrow morning, you will take a thousand cavalry and set off with Shao Yun. I have said everything that needs to be said. You must be careful. Also, it must be very difficult in Shaanzhou now. When you arrive, Do your best to send them food and grass. I originally wanted you to bring some corn in Guozhou, but I'm afraid that Shaanzhou doesn't even have firewood. Remember to bring some cooked food and send it to Shaanzhou city."
Zhang Jun crossed his hands and said yes. Said: "Observe and rest assured, the general will definitely fulfill his mission!"
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "Okay, okay. You have a heavy responsibility when you go to Shaanzhou. Help Li Kuan to defend Shaanzhou, so the army behind will be meaningful. If I arrive, the city of Shaanzhou will also be destroyed. This matter I can’t explain it.”
Zhang Jun nodded heavily.
Wang Xiaolie added: "Also, when you arrive, send some troops to transport food into the city, and you lead most of the troops outside the city. Once you enter the city, you will be sealed off by the Jin army. Many things cannot be done. Others Whatever happens, you adapt accordingly!"
After saying that, he looked at the sky. Wang Xiaolie said: "It's getting late, you go back and rest first. I'll see you off early tomorrow morning!"
Zhang Jun did not hesitate, bowed and said goodbye to everyone.
Looking at Zhang Jun's leaving figure, Wang Xiaolie said: "This battle is something we have never encountered before, a real war. You can't be too careful. Now the big plan has been decided. Today and tomorrow, all the generals will participate." Among the officers and soldiers on the front line, discuss with them. Let’s see what difficulties there are in going to Shaanzhou, which we have not thought of. Let’s see what the differences are between what the officers think and what we think. Take a look, What preparations have we not made? As a general, aside from strategies and plans, you must be bold and careful. This carefulness first depends on how it affects the officers and soldiers!"
Niu Gao said: "Don't worry about observing, I will do a good job!"
Wang Xiaolie hesitated for a moment, then said: "I don't want to say this, but after thinking about it, it's better to explain it clearly. No matter how carefully we prepare for the first battle, there will inevitably be mistakes in the end. All generals will do their best. Just don’t get too entangled. This war is not just about fighting the Jin Army, it is also an opportunity for us to learn. What to learn? What kind of army is the Jin Army? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How can we use our strengths and avoid weaknesses in the future? . You must learn war in war and learn how to fight against the Jin army!"
"Learn war in war?" Chen Yuyi read this sentence silently. "It's strange to observe. Twenty or thirty years ago, the Jin people were almost like savages, so how could they know how to fight? They were just brave and not afraid of death and could not be controlled for a while. What is there to learn from them?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Is he just brave and unafraid of death? If it were just like that, how unjust it would be for Daliao, which was destroyed by the Jin people for more than ten years! The hundreds of thousands of troops of this dynasty were destroyed at the hands of the Jin people. What an injustice! After losing so many battles, if you still think so, you must be stupid! You must not underestimate your enemies, otherwise you will suffer! In this battle, I asked you to choose some scholars. Have you made your choice? ?”
Chen Yuyi said: "The selection has been made, what are the instructions for observation?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "The problem with scholars is that they clearly don't know something, but they pretend to know it and make judgments. Confucius said, knowing something means knowing it, not knowing means not knowing, it means knowing. This sentence, exactly It’s just the scholars who can’t understand! This time, you take the scholars and follow me to Shaanzhou to participate in the war! I don’t need you to make suggestions, as long as you write down what you saw and experienced, and record the war process clearly. What you did on the battlefield Records are the materials for later generations to study. Don’t be like some ministers who know nothing about war but talk about the sky and earth in the court. What’s the use of their so-called strategies? They’re just making people laugh!”
Seeing that Wang Xiaolie's expression was very serious, Chen Yuyi did not dare to say anything more, but just said yes.
Looking at Chen Yuyi, Wang Xiao lied to everyone and said with sincerity: "What time is it now? The foreign enemy is pressing on the country, and seventy-eight percent of the world will be poisoned by it. Obviously everyone knows that everyone needs to stand up and fight the Jin army to the end. But no one can explain clearly how to stand up, how to organize, and how to fight against the Jin Army. I learned war during the war because I didn’t know it before. For example, how is the Jin Army organized? Just like our command, or Later generals, what did the Jin Army correspond to? How many people were there? How were generals selected? How many auxiliaries did a soldier have to bring with him when going to the battlefield? How was the Jin Army's logistical equipment collected and transported? On the battlefield , How was the Jin army organized? How was it commanded? How did they use infantry and how did they use cavalry? Was there more infantry or more cavalry? Who can tell clearly about all these things?"
Chen Yuyi was stunned for a moment. Wang Xiaolie did not mention this knowledge. Even if someone wanted to pay attention to it at this time, they would not be so detailed and systematic. But if you think about it carefully, without knowing this, war will seem blind.
Wang Xiaolie looked at the generals and said: "Learning war from war includes many contents. It not only includes understanding the enemy's army, understanding the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, which ones we should avoid, and which ones can be learned. It also includes understanding ourselves. The military understands which training is effective against the enemy, which is useless, and which is wrong. We must also learn how to use our strengths, how to use the enemy's weaknesses, and use our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. On the battlefield All aspects must be learned on the battlefield!"
For a moment, no one spoke. Compared with others, Wang Xiaolie pays special attention to education and learning. Starting from leading troops, he would learn from other armies whenever he could. After arriving in Ruzhou, it gradually stabilized and started various schools. This spirit of learning gradually began to infect his subordinates. However, few people understand the meaning of this.
As a militiaman, how can he quickly adapt to the battlefield if he lacks military knowledge and systematic training? The best way is to learn. And this is not just true for militias, it is also true for real armies. Once it loses its ability to learn, this army will be in danger.
Before the rebellion against the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty was indeed very primitive, and to some extent was still in a primitive society. However, this does not mean that the Jin Army's military thinking is backward. In many aspects, the Jin Army's military thinking was more advanced than that of the Liao Dynasty and more advanced than that of the Song Dynasty. Just by virtue of their bravery and lack of fear of death, and their strict military discipline, they were able to defeat two big countries in a row in a matter of decades. I am afraid this is not a joke!
From the time when the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms and the Han Dynasty was established, for more than a thousand years, the unified Chinese military thought has not been developing continuously. From the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains had a low chance of winning against the surrounding nomadic regimes. Not only did the nomadic regimes develop, but the Central Plains also fell behind. This backwardness is an all-round retreat from military thinking, to military systems, to combat thinking, to the quality of soldiers.
Some people always think that history develops forward, and those who come later are always more advanced. Furthermore, in terms of ideology, China pays special attention to the progressive significance of the historical stage. Feudal society was superior to slave society in every aspect, so it replaced slave society. Capitalism was better than feudal society in every aspect, so capitalism replaced feudal society. In fact, history is not that simple.
Ideology is sometimes similar to religious belief. It doesn’t matter what it actually is, it’s what I think is important. The interpretation of history often serves ideology and does not pay attention to historical reality.
Speaking only from military theory, in terms of pure organization, command, combat, etc., when analyzing the army at this time, the Jin Army was actually much better than the Song Army at this time. Rather than as some people think, the Song army failed because the generals were cowardly, the court had no determination to fight, many ministers wanted peace, and there were even traitors. If the army gains the upper hand and the front lines win consecutive battles, calls for peace will naturally disappear quickly.
It is from this perspective that we can realize how great Yue Fei was in history. Yue Fei was not only a famous general, but also directly changed the organization and command of the Song Army, gaining a positive advantage over the Jin Army.
If you want to defeat the Jin Army, you must not rest on your laurels. We must learn war in war and form new military knowledge. Revolutionize your army with new military knowledge. Only a completely reborn army can gain military advantage over the Jin Army.
