Qu Xiuwen wiped his mouth discreetly, took out a letter from his arms and handed it to King Xia Wen, "Your Majesty, this is sent by Chaoxian at great speed."
King Xia Wen opened it and took a look. After a while, he placed the letter on the torch. In an instant, the letter turned into a ball of fire and was thrown off the tower.
"Tell me, what does Zhou Qi mean this time? The prime minister asked him to send someone to supervise the army, but he didn't do anything. This is quite strange."
Xue Kang'an was surprised and said, "Why would the Prime Minister send someone here for no reason?"
"Hmph, the young master must have made a lot of noise. Since he is the supervisor, he must be trying to win over him. If he wants to suppress him, he must be another general."
"General? They have tiger charms?"
King Xia Wen sighed, "It's Jie'er. Ten years ago, I gave him a tiger talisman, but he could only command 10,000 troops. However, this supervisory army was stopped by Zhou Qi at this time."
"Your Majesty, I heard that some time ago, before the young master came to the border, Captain Zhou intended to let his daughter marry the young master, but..." Qu Xiuwen stopped talking.
"Huh? Just what?"
"I heard that Captain Zhou's daughter ran away overnight after learning the news. She has not been found yet."
King Xia Wen looked ugly, "Humph, this little girl really doesn't know what's good or bad. Zhao'er is just a bit naughty. When she grows up, her temperament will naturally stabilize. By the way, how old is she?"
"Above the jasper, below the peaches and plums."
King Xia Wen frowned, "A bit old. My son is only eight years old. After this year, he will only be nine years old. He is ten years older than my son."
Xue Kang'an and Qu Xiuwen looked at each other, feeling helpless. Who would have thought that the eight-year-old Ji Zhao was already fighting in the north and south.
"I heard from Tian Zong that the young master has fought dozens of battles, large and small, without any defeat. There were even many big battles without casualties. The young master wants to leave his name in the history books."
King Xia Wen thought carefully and said, "Well, let's send someone to find Zhou Qi's daughter. If she can marry Zhao'er, it will be good for him in the future."
Suddenly Xue Kang'an and Qu Xiuwen were shocked. This was the time to establish a legitimate son. Fortunately, the king brought two people with him this time. The two of them felt good about themselves and felt that they were the first to meet Yang Qian and left a good impression.
But what they don't know is that in Yang Qian's eyes, the three of them are the three iron fools and the three cowhide Musketeers.
Leaning on the city wall, Zhang Yumeng turned to look at the dark outside of the pass, and felt a palpitation in his heart for some unknown reason.
"Yang Gan, the cement you want has been obtained for you. Can you send me back first?"
Yang Gan squinted and said, "Afraid of pulling?"
Zhang Yumeng looked at him in surprise, "You, aren't you afraid?"
Yang Qian drank all the wine in his hand and said with a hearty smile, "Afraid? Is fear useful? Do you know? In less than a year, I have fought more than 20 battles and have never lost. Everyone compliments me. , think I am very powerful, but in fact they ignore the most critical factor."
"What?"
"In more than twenty battles, I have all used surprise attacks or sneak attacks. There has never been a frontal field battle. The Huns are good at riding and shooting, but they are not their strong point when it comes to sieges, but..."
Yang Gan touched his head stupidly and said something Zhang Yumeng didn't want to hear even to death, "I have never fought in a city defense battle."
.........
"Fuck, brother, it's imminent, you know? No, no, you have to send me back. I don't want to die so early."
Zhang Yumeng immediately jumped up and grabbed Yang Qian's collar, looking like he was going to fight him desperately.
Yang Gan's head was a little groggy. He pushed Zhang Yumeng aside casually and said impatiently, "You are so cowardly, how can you survive in such a world? Watch carefully, you may not be able to fight this battle."
At this time, the three kings of Xia Wen came over and said with a smile, "General Yang, why do you say this? There is intelligence that the Xiongnu attacked the Jie tribe quickly and fiercely, with a desperate posture, but the Jie tribe is not a fuel-efficient lamp."
"I don't know where to get a batch of weapons. The resistance is fierce and the casualties on both sides are heavy. It is estimated that the Huns will have a truce in a short time. I don't need to say more about it."
Yang Gan sneered and said, "You are very well-informed. Ordinary businessmen don't have such sources of information. Let me tell you that you three are not simple."
"General Yang, let's talk carefully. Otherwise, the three of us will not be able to sleep at night if we hear the first part but not the second part." Qu Xiuwen hurriedly came out of the square.
Yang Gan stood up and looked towards the dark place outside the pass, as if he could see through the endless fog.
"The first step is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the city, and the next step is to attack the city. The siege method is a last resort. The Huns have been fighting one after another. They have long been exhausted and their morale is low. Once they see such a pass, their morale will definitely drop."
"Actually, we are still far from the level of destroying the Xiongnu, and we are not well prepared, so we will not fight if we can. I have already made a plan. If nothing happens, victory will be if we don't fight."
"Oh? What's the explanation?" King Xia Wen became interested.
"Any battle has a purpose, and there is no other way to fight. Only when your purpose does not meet your expectations, you will resort to war. If I can make the Huns retreat, wouldn't that confirm the military expedition?" seek."
"General Yang, can you elaborate?" Xue Kang'an said excitedly.
The corner of Yang Gan's mouth raised slightly, and the breeze made his silk clothes rustle. There was actually a hint of coolness in the midsummer wind.
"Let me give you a try. I'm afraid it won't work if I tell you. If it doesn't work, let's have a fight. With the danger of our Baiyun Pass, we can't defeat it without ten times the force. Okay, I'm very happy today. Let's go to bed early."
Yang Gan stretched and walked down, while Zhang Yumeng came to Tian Zong and said excitedly, "General Tian, can you send me back to Yuntong City first?"
Tian Zong looked surprised, "You can tell General Yang directly."
"He, he refused and said I was cowardly." Zhang Yumeng said angrily.
"Hahaha, since General Yang asked you to be here, just listen to him. At least until now, General Yang has never missed anything, and he is my superior. If he doesn't let you leave, you really can't leave."
Zhang Yumeng immediately lowered his head and walked down the tower glumly.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and earth-shaking changes took place inside the military camp. With the renovation of some buildings, elite troops began to move in, while the auxiliary soldiers were still setting up tents outside.
Now the auxiliary soldiers were relaxed. There were 11,000 Xia slaves helping with miscellaneous tasks. If there was anything they were dissatisfied with, Yang Gan asked people to go down and inform these slaves until the war was over.
He can take them in or help them restore their household registration, so these people are not messing around now, but are seriously helping the soldiers.
The Sutie Dao originally designed by Yang Qian also began to be slowly built. This was no longer an iron weapon, but a steel weapon.
In this era when bronzes are rampant and irons are rampant, these artifacts are no less than artifacts. This is not just a handful, but a steady stream of them being cast.
Ou Yexia handed a Sutie Dao with a bright blade to Yang Qian, "General Yang, fortunately, the Sutie Dao was cast according to his fate."
Yang Qian held the cold Su Tiedao, his affection was beyond words, "How many times did you hit it?"
"Five hundred, the general has something to say that is not worth saying?"
Yang Qian happily looked at the Su Tiedao in his hand and said, "Say."
"General Yang, this knife is too expensive. One sword costs 3,000 to 3,500 yuan."
Ou Yexia said rather bitterly, although they are just craftsmen, they can save money if they can, and the army is not stupid.
How an excellent swordsmith and his team can save materials within a controllable range is also an important criterion.
"What, why is it so expensive?"
"Actually, the steel filling method and the iron knife you invented are very suitable for large-scale casting. Unfortunately, iron is expensive in iron ore."
"The cost of the steel filling method is low. How can it be so expensive as you said? One sword is worth five or six swords. If one hundred thousand swords are cast, wouldn't it be possible to cast five hundred thousand or sixty swords? Ten thousand?"
Ou Yexia smiled bitterly and said, "General Yang, that's not the calculation. In fact, ordinary iron ore can mine a lot of iron ore every year, but it usually doesn't happen every day."
"After excavation, the block refining method was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Now the steel filling method is effective, but it has not been widely used in large areas. The most expensive thing is the iron ore."
Yang Qian suddenly realized that it was his inertial thinking that caused the trouble. It turned out that there was not enough iron ore, and most ordinary swords were still made of bronze.
Iron knives and iron swords are those that can only be used by those who are at least at the general level, or whose family has some military merit and foundation. Only the older generation in the family will pass down one or two.
Yang Gan grabbed Ou Yexia's arm and asked, "You mean, as long as you start digging iron ore in a large area, the price can be lowered?"
"That's natural. As long as the supply of iron ore is ensured, the iron sword can be reduced to the same price as the bronze sword, or even lower."
Yang Qian rubbed his cheeks with both hands and flicked the iron sword fondly, only to hear a sound.
"Ding~~~!"
"What a great knife. Let's do this. Make as many as you can. I'll figure out the rest in the future."
Yang Gan took off the sword from his waist and inserted the Sutie Dao into his waist. Judging from the scabbard, it was impossible to tell whether it was a sword or a sword.
"Nuo~~~!" Ou Yexia handed over his hand and went back.
Yang Gan also knew his difficulty. All the iron could not be used to make the iron sword. There were many other things that needed iron, such as some powerful crossbow arrowheads. The armor-breaking ability of bronze was several times worse than that of iron.
When he went back, Yang Gan cursed all the way, "This king is too stingy. He gave us so little iron ore that he can't even equip the entire army. He is a stingy man and a stingy man."
When the three of them saw Yang Gan walking by, they originally wanted to say hello, but when they heard his muttering, they were instantly petrified.
There was someone who was so ostracizing his father behind his back. King Xia Wen's expression changed, but a complicated expression emerged in his heart.
A kind of family affection that the royal family lacked seemed to be awakening, which made him feel happy to hear and see it even though he was ashamed and annoyed.
Yang Gan came to the armory, randomly found some damaged leather armor, and stacked them thirty layers on top of each other.
