Shortly after Lonely Wynn's gang was destroyed, my father moved to Huayin County and moved into Changchun Palace to see off his second brother's army. Li Zhiyun also led the new army to Huayin County to join his second brother's conquest army. After his father asked him to train the army, he went on an expedition with his second brother. Of course he couldn't disobey orders, but he only led one regiment this time. Li Tieniu's regiment had not been trained yet, so it could not go out yet. During this period, the arsenal produced seven to eight hundred muskets and eight red cannons, which was only enough to equip one battalion. Therefore, in fact, only one battalion of this regiment is a firearms battalion, and the other three battalions are still equipped with spears and crossbows.
Before the army sets off for an expedition, a marching ceremony must be held. The expedition ceremony was held in an open field. All the expedition soldiers were arranged in a square formation. Li Zhiyun and many generals stood at the front of the square formation. Five or six feet in front of them, a three-foot-high wooden platform was built. The second brother stood on the wooden platform to preside over the ceremony. Not far from the wooden platform, there stood a huge yellow satin luogai. Abba stood under the luogai, and many accompanying officials gathered around Abba.
The first thing to be held was the sacrificial ceremony. As soon as the ceremony started, Li Zhiyun heard the cry of "baa baa baa". He turned around and saw that it was a soldier driving a carriage transporting two sheep. The carriage stopped near the wooden platform, and several soldiers stepped forward and unloaded the two fat sheep. A ferocious-looking butcher came over, holding a sharp long knife in his hand. In full view of everyone, he wanted to kill these two lovely sheep? Isn't this too cruel?
When the butcher cuts it, the sheep stops braying. After the knife was pulled out, blood splattered all over him. A soldier ran over with an empty bowl, took a bowl of sheep blood, then ran up the wooden platform and handed the bowl to the second brother. how? Is the second brother going to drink this bowl of sheep blood and make a blood alliance with his brothers? Li Zhiyun thought to himself, how dirty this sheep's blood is. There are hundreds of millions of bacteria in it. If it were served to me, I wouldn't drink it!
However, the second brother didn't drink the sheep's blood, he just held the bowl in a daze. Several soldiers each held a military flag on the wooden platform and stood in front of the second brother one by one. The second brother dipped his fingers in sheep's blood and flicked them on each military flag. It turns out that this is a sacrifice of blood to the flag. After offering sacrifices to the military flag, soldiers brought war drums, golden utensils, weapons, etc. and piled them in front of the second brother. The second brother followed the same method and sprinkled these things used on the battlefield with animal blood. This is called "provocation", which means sacrifice. gods.
Next, the soldiers loaded the two slaughtered sheep back onto the carriage. A general stood on the carriage, holding a sword in his hand and shouted: "All soldiers listen, and those who don't want to die will be killed!" The carriage began to circle the square formation. Turning in a circle, the general shouted once every distance traveled. He was warning the soldiers on the battlefield that if they were greedy for life and afraid of death on the battlefield, they would be slaughtered like these two sheep. This is called "martyrdom in battle."
After the carriage circled the phalanx, it returned to its original spot. The soldiers stepped forward and unloaded the two sheep. Next to them, soldiers set up a woodpile, and a sheep was placed on the woodpile. Could it be that this is roasting a whole lamb? It's a pity that there is only one sheep, and there are more than 30,000 people, and one person may not be able to get even a small piece of mutton.
The pyre was ignited, and the fire grew stronger and stronger, engulfing the sheep in an instant. This is not roasting the whole lamb, but roasting the whole lamb. After the fire was extinguished, the whole sheep was burned to ashes, not even the skeleton was left. Li Zhiyun understood that this was a sacrifice to the God. The sheep was burned to ashes, which meant that it had been enjoyed by God.
Needless to say, it’s time for the land lord to enjoy the other sheep. Sure enough, several soldiers were already digging holes not far away. After the hole was dug, the sheep was carried over and buried.
After these strange sacrificial ceremonies ended, the swearing-in ceremony began again. First, Abba took the stage and delivered a passionate speech, explaining the significance of this crusade against Liu Wuzhou. Then, Abba gave the second brother the festival and the ax. The knot is a bamboo pole with a white hook tied to it, and the cheng is a weapon like an axe. The attendant handed the knot and Yue to Abba, who then gave it to the second brother, indicating that he had completely handed over the command of this combat operation to the second brother. Finally, the supervisor came to the stage to read out military discipline, which was nothing more than beheading those who flinched before the battle, beheaded those who escaped from the battle, etc.
The day after the expedition ceremony was held, the army set off. A few days ago, a cold wave came to the north, the temperature dropped sharply, and the Yellow River has frozen. The army crossed the Yellow River from Longmen on the hard ice, entered southwestern Shanxi, and then continued to advance eastward. An army of more than 30,000 people formed a long snake formation and meandered along the official road. Their head was not visible in front of them and their tail was not visible behind them. It was quite spectacular. The team is divided into three armies, the front army is the vanguard, the middle army is the main force, and the rear army is the baggage and food.
Li Zhiyun's new army is located in the Chinese Army. He followed the team on horseback. After walking for a while, he saw his second brother and two guards standing on the roadside. He drove his horse forward and said, "Second brother, why aren't you leaving?" The second brother didn't answer, but looked at him. The marching team asked: "Fifth brother, is this your new army?" Li Zhiyun nodded and said: "Yes."
"What are they carrying?"
"Oh, that's a bird gun, also called a fire gun. It's a long-range weapon."
"Can this thing fight?" The second brother felt a little weird.
"Of course, it's much more powerful than a crossbow."
While the two were talking, an artillery company equipped with red cannons came over. For this expedition, Li Zhiyun specially had an artillery cart made. The barrel was mounted on the artillery cart and pulled by mules and horses, and the ammunition was also carried by carts drawn by mules. In this way, as soon as the artillery team stops, it can be loaded and fired quickly. Li Zhiyun did not wait for the second brother to ask, and took the initiative to introduce: "Second brother, that is a cannon. You will know its power later." The second brother withdrew his gaze, looked at him and said, "Fifth brother, what is that hanging around your neck?" ?”
Li Zhiyun took off the telescope hanging on his chest, handed it to his second brother and said, "This is a telescope. Use it to see distant scenery very clearly."
This is a ten-power military telescope. The whole telescope is carved from walnut wood, and the lens barrel is inlaid with concave and convex lenses. The most important material for making telescopes is, of course, glass. The manufacture of glass is actually very simple. Just like the Chinese have been firing porcelain for a long time, the Europeans have invented glass a long time ago. Moreover, the manufacturing processes of the two are similar, both are high-temperature sintering, except that the raw material used for porcelain is kaolin, while the raw material used for glass is sand.
It is said that more than 3,000 years ago, a European Phoenician merchant ship was loaded with the crystal mineral "natural soda" and sailed on the Belous River on the Mediterranean coast. Due to the low tide of the sea, the merchant ship ran aground. So, the crew members boarded the beach one after another. Some crew members carried a large pot, brought firewood, and used a few pieces of "natural soda" as a support for the large pot to cook on the beach. As the crew finished their meal, the tide began to rise. They were about to pack up and board the ship, and when they continued sailing, someone suddenly shouted: "Come and look, everyone, there are some bright and sparkling things on the beach under the pot!" The crew took these shining things with them. After careful study on the ship, we found that these shiny things had some quartz sand and melted natural soda stuck to them. It turned out that these shiny things were the natural soda they used to make pot supports when cooking. Under the action of the flame, they melted with the The crystals produced by the chemical reaction of quartz sand on the beach are the earliest glass. Later, the Phoenicians mixed quartz sand and natural soda, and then melted them in a special furnace to make glass balls, which made them a fortune.
By the fourth century AD, the Romans used purer quartz sand, added potassium carbonate in appropriate plant ash and calcium oxide calcined from limestone to create transparent glass, and then blew out large glass containers and flat plates installed on doors and windows. Glass.
Some time ago, Li Zhiyun cooperated with a wealthy businessman in Chang'an City to set up a glass company. He provided technology and the other party provided funds, and the profits were divided 50-50. This telescope was produced by the Glass Company.
After the second brother got the telescope, he didn't know how to use it. Li Zhiyun took it over, demonstrated it to him, and then handed it back to him. The second brother took it and looked into the distance for a while, nodded and said: "This thing is really good, you can see people and things in the distance very clearly!" Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "Then I will give it to you. With the telescope, you will It will be much more convenient to direct the war." When the second brother heard this, he happily said: "Fifth brother, thank you!"
After three days of march, the army came to a place called Baibi and stationed here. The wall of Baibi City has a circumference of twenty miles. There are more than 10,000 households in the city. It is neither small nor large. Of course, it is impossible for more than 30,000 people to live in the city. Therefore, most of the troops are stationed outside the city. , camps were built in open areas, and some camps were built at traffic passes and dangerous places. The second brother ordered that every camp should be built into a strong fortress. So the soldiers buried bowl-sized wooden stakes in the ground to build a village wall, set up firewood deer and horses outside, and then dug a trench two feet wide and one foot deep. There are also watchtowers, archery towers, etc. built in the camp. The defense can be said to be impregnable. It seems that the second brother plans to stay here for a long time.
