stubborn thief

Chapter 193
In July of the third year of Chongzhen, the outposts of the Lion Camp that went out to collect food gradually returned.

Today, Wei Qian'er is still in charge of the defense pond riding in Lion Bay, but Gao Yingxiang made a request for all kinds of news outside the valley.

When the posts return, tell him the news directly, but don't tell the other leaders who broke into the camp.

Liu Chengzong was still puzzled by this at first, and told Gao Yingxiang clearly: "This kind of information is not clear, I am afraid that when the sentries come back, they will scare the camp."

He knew all too well what his gang looked like.

Wearing the clothes of the frontier army, walking in the formation of the frontier army, using the tactics of the frontier army, and even being a frontier army itself.

Just one stop at that point can scare the soldiers of the leaders from all walks of life.

Unexpectedly, this is exactly what Gao Yingxiang wanted: "Yes, it is to scare them."

"My soldiers are different from yours. This is an opportunity for reorganization."

The biggest difference between Gao Yingxiang's army and Liu Shizi's is that his troops are all independent leaders.

Unlike the Lion Camp, which always absorbs defeated soldiers, the middle-level officers will not surrender to him. The surrendered soldiers have been disorganized since joining, and can easily receive reorganization and distribution.

Gao Yingxiang's Ke Tianhu and the Shanxi leaders originally had three to five hundred people each. Even if he wanted to break up and reorganize, others might not be willing.

With Gao Yingxiang's [-] headquarters alone, he could suppress the eight or nine scattered Shanxi leaders when they joined forces, but if those leaders didn't want to accept the reorganization, he really had no other choice.

Liu Chengzong thought to himself, isn't this just an excuse for the fox to fake the tiger's prestige?
Immediately agreed to Gao Yingxiang's request, as a result, Cao Yao and the others came back and frightened the barracks into panic once.

This greatly increased Gao Yingxiang's prestige.

In fact, the leaders who broke into the camp were worried at the beginning, and then Gao Yingxiang took Liu Chengzong together to propose reorganization in the camp, and everyone probably understood this kind of trick.

But there is no way to understand.

The Lion Camp was stationed next to it, and that camp was full of heroes from the frontier army. Even if those Shanxi leaders were not convinced by the reorganization, they would not dare to jump out here.

Liu Chengzong didn't expect that Gao Yingxiang would reorganize the troops so hastily.

He thought that what Gao Yingxiang talked to him was just a general idea, so the brigade level organization he said was only a general idea.

But Gao Yingxiang directly followed the troops as he said.

Shocked Liu Chengzong, what is this called?
This is the dedication spirit of being willing to be a guinea pig!
ninth grade.

Gao Yingxiang inspected the [-] Chuang troops under his command in Shiziwan, and reorganized them into Chuangzi brigade.

Set up General Gao Yingen of the Left Battalion and General Ke Tianhu of the Right Battalion. Each battalion has five sentries for combat soldiers and one sentry for luggage.

Not all of the six outposts assigned to the Lion Camp have returned. This time they have reaped a lot, and the large amount of food and grass they get is difficult to transport at one time.

Therefore, Yang Yao and Feng Ru's troops located in Ningzhou, Qingyang Prefecture were stationed on the spot, looking for a suitable place to station in Heshui and Ningzhou.

Qingyang Mansion is connected to Pingliang in the west and Yan'an in the east, which is their next step.

When Shi Cheng and I came back with Gao Yingxiang, the Lion Cannon finally fell into the hands of Liu Chengzong, but according to Shi Cheng and me, some of the 36 guns were cast by Chuangying.

To distribute the batch of cannons, Liu Chengzong called Gao Yingxiang over and asked, "Master Gao, does the Chuangzi Brigade have the ability to cast cannons now?"

"should have."

Gao Yingxiang was a little embarrassed when he said this, and said: "When master craftsman made cannons, I sent many craftsmen to learn from them, but they didn't learn well, and not a single cannon was made in Shanxi."

But he thinks the future is bright: "I brought over a hundred goldsmiths from Shanxi, and plan to set up another cannon casting site in the mountains of Lion Bay. Think about it more, maybe it's not as good as the master craftsmen."

Liu Chengzong nodded, and then said: "Since Mr. Shi said that there are batches of cannons made for Chuangying, and there are 36 cannons, I will give you twelve cannons, and eleven cannons with three hundred catties will be given to you, and I will give you one second cannon." One hundred catties, what does Master Gao think?"

so generous?

Gao Yingxiang was startled and said, "Give me all the three hundred catties?"

It made him even more embarrassed all of a sudden.

Gao Yingxiang thought for a long time, and pondered: "How about, with my money and food, what do you want?"

"Money and food are fine for me now, and I will ask you for them if I lack them in the future."

Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said very seriously: "Master Gao, I will give you twelve of this batch of cannons, but if you make cannons again, you must cast them according to the two hundred catties."

Gao Yingxiang has plans to cast cannons, especially Liu Chengzong told him that Shiziwan can boil salt and nitrate, so he even plans to cast cannons.

But he couldn't understand, it would be nice if the cannon was more powerful, why did he have to grab two hundred catties of cast iron?
Even if he didn't say it, Liu Chengzong could understand his thoughts, and said with a smile: "Master Gao, I will calculate for you, two hundred catties and three hundred catties, how much difference are they in terms of performance?"

He glanced at Shi Cheng and me, and said: "Mr. Shi said that the small lion cannon fires two catties of ammunition, and the level is 170 paces; the big lion fires three catties of ammunition, and the level is 190 paces."

"Sanzi has 160 small lions and [-] big lions, and they all take a hundred steps."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and said, "No matter whether it is two catties or three catties, the combined shells can't attack the city, and they can't break through the rammed earth that is a foot thick. The only difference is that you can shoot [-] more steps, and you can shoot [-] more Sanzi."

"The weight is half the weight. An extra mule is needed for transportation, and a hundred catties of copper is added for casting."

Liu Chengzong analyzed the pros and cons and asked, "Is it appropriate for this range advantage?"

"But it's even more ruthless!"

Gao Yingxiang said: "Two cannons can be used against three cannons, and they are more vicious."

"Then why not make three gates?"

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he raised his hand and said, "Master Gao, two hundred catties and three hundred catties are the same thing to do on the battlefield. It is lighter, and soldiers and mules have more physical strength to do other things."

"Pursue viciousness. In the future, you can completely cast cannons weighing [-] jin, or even heavy cannon weighing more than [-] jin."

After finishing speaking, he signaled Gao Yingxiang to wait in the tent for a while, got up and walked out.

Liu Gao Yingxiang and Shi Cheng and I looked at each other in the tent, both of them looked at each other very puzzled.

Liu Chengzong, who has never touched a lion cannon from the beginning to the end, how can he behave better than the two of them, who make and use cannons, and know more about lion cannons?
After a while, the sound of horseshoes came from outside the tent.

It turned out that Liu Chengzong came back riding a red flag, carrying a big package in his hand, and after putting it in the account, he put it on the ground, and it felt quite heavy.

Gao Yingxiang stretched his neck to look, and saw two cylinders wrapped in silk in the purple cloth package.

Then Liu Chengzong brought the two cylinders in front of Gao Yingxiang: "The shells of the Qianjin Hongyi Cannon are seven catties, the left is the joint ammunition, and the right is the scattered ammunition."

Gao Yingxiang looked at the two silk-wrapped pillars, then at Liu Chengzong, and then at the silk-wrapped pillars.

From top to bottom, I didn't see that these two things were shells.

In comparison, a little bit of Luo Rucai can be seen.

He could only look at me, Shicheng, for help, but I, Shicheng, didn't know what was in it.

The fabric ammunition bag was produced during the Wen'anyi battle, and I followed Gao Yingxiang to find a place to cast cannons on the Fenhe Plain in Shanxi when the division was completed, without knowing anything about it.

After Liu Chengzong opened the silk bag, Gao Yingxiang could see it at a glance.

There were gunpowder, wooden horses, and shells in the package, but they were wrapped in silk cloth.

Just listen to Liu Chengzong saying: "This thing is directly inserted into the gun barrel, and the gunpowder will leak out through the fire door, which is more convenient to fire."

"Sanzi is similar, but it's not very well done. In the future, I will make a thin iron shell, put the sanzi in it, paste the outside with paper, and wrap it with gunpowder in silk. It's also very convenient to beat."

Liu Chengzong introduced this thing to Gao Yingxiang, and then sat back and said: "If I have three kinds of guns, then I need to prepare six kinds of fixed-charge shells. Then these three guns must be responsible for different situations on the battlefield."

"For example, light artillery fires at a distance of 250 or [-] paces along with the three-eyed blunderbuss after a volley of crossbows and blunderbusses; medium artillery fires at a distance of [-] paces and can hit wooden villages and other fortifications; heavy artillery fires at a distance of [-] paces. , can fight battlements."

Liu Chengzong was talking about keeping the distance horizontally, and he raised his hand to show Gao Yingxiang: "It's like Master Gao said that the leaders of all walks of life should have a unified organization. In fact, I think not only the organization, but at least the use of firearms and artillery. Uniform specifications."

"Only talking about the guns, at least the two of us, Master Gao is a brigade, I am still a battalion, at least we use the same specifications of guns, the same specifications of the artillery carriage, your artillery carriage is broken; mine was robbed , you can use the cannon cart."

"The cannons are common, and the shells are also common. Once we have a garrison and a military bureau, the parts of the bird guns and fire guns must also be common, and they must not be common with the military equipment of the officers and soldiers."

"This...it's too far away." Gao Yingxiang looked at the silk-wrapped ammunition pillar, raised his hand and scratched the back of his neck: "In the past two years, we will be very powerful if we can make some cannons. The uniform preparation of weapons may take two or three years." Neither can."

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong raised his hand and spread his five fingers: "Five years, after five years, we should have a foothold, right?"

Gao Yingxiang nodded, disapproving.

He just had one thought: it's nice to be young.

What gives you the confidence that the leaders of all walks of life can survive for five years under the siege of the imperial court?

But this is a very beautiful fantasy: "Five years, if I'm still waiting five years later, then I should be on my feet."

During the Zhengde period, Liu Liu and Liu Qi, who had great momentum, raised troops in Bazhou, which lasted only three years.

More rebellions only came and went in a year or two. In fact, Gao Yingxiang thinks that people like them have been able to persist until now, which is already very powerful.

Gao Yingxiang sighed as he spoke, "If it's what you said, if the Guan Ning army enters the customs to attack, maybe this year will be difficult."

Guan Ningjun was like a knife hanging over his head. Ever since Gao Yingxiang received the news from Liu Chengzong, he couldn't sleep well for several days.

"Master Gao still remember Li Bei?"

Liu Chengzong said: "Li Bei's servant is the Guan Ning Army. I know their tactics the best. They fight and charge with great speed. They are indeed very powerful...but they are so powerful, why can't they achieve great things in Liaodong?"

Gao Yingxiang didn't think about it, he blinked and said, "Donglu is stronger?"

"Master Gao, no matter how powerful Donglu is, can he be so powerful that there are [-] to [-] Liu Chengzong? Don't you forget how I got my martial arts skills, how can the poor mountains and rivers in Jianzhou be raised?"

Gao Yingxiang shook his head, and said decisively: "Winners must have confidence, and the Eastern Captives have not been destroyed in so many years of fighting, so don't underestimate them."

"I didn't underestimate them, but have you ever thought about the terrain of Liaodong? It's a long and narrow corridor, and the north is covered with mountains. The eastern captives can attack from all over the place, so that the court fought well in small-scale battles, and lost in a big battle."

"My subordinate, Chief Cao, participated in Sarhu, and She'an in Sichuan also defeated 11 imperial troops at one time. Why can't She'an achieve great things? He is surrounded by various provinces. He can win one battle or two, and lose once and he will be finished."

"We don't have the same geographical advantage as Jianzhou, but the officers and soldiers must suppress us, so we can still fight Li Bei. When the Guanning army comes, we will take him away and retreat westward."

Gao Yingxiang is familiar with northern Shaanxi, but he has never known the terrain of Liaodong, so he can't think about these things. Fortunately, he has experience in resisting Li Bei's battle.

"So you mean, retreat from Yan'an Mansion to Qingyang, and fight in Ningzhou?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "No, it starts from Shanxi. Master Gao knows a lot of people. I think we can prepare a big gift for the Guan Ning army who entered the pass to suppress the rebellion."

Gao Yingxiang became interested, leaned forward and asked, "What big gift?"

"It's not that we haven't fought the frontier army of the imperial court. The strength of Guan Ning's army is only that they can eat enough, so I think the key to victory or defeat in this battle is not to let them eat enough."

"You and I don't stick to mud. Wang Jiayin and the Lvliang bandits in Shanxi. Master Gao knows everyone. The Guanning army will advance to Shanxi. When they fight chaos in Shanxi, they can use Taiyuan or even Beijing to transport grain and grass. We have no advantage. Luliang Bandits will definitely retreat into the mountains."

Gao Yingxiang nodded in agreement: "So the battlefield will be west of Yan'an Mansion?"

"Yes, to the west of Yan'an Mansion, Yan'an Mansion is very big. It's already a piece of white land, and the government can't get food for soldiers. At this time, the Lvliang bandits need to cut off the Shanshan-Shaanxi food road."

Liu Chengzong stepped on the tiger-skin blanket in the tent, waved his hands and painted a picture of a strong army after being deprived of food: "Wang Ying also wants to withdraw westward, regardless of whether he wants to withdraw from the second side wall or from Yan'an Mansion, in short We must retreat westward to Ningxia."

"I'm afraid it's not easy to withdraw."

Gao Yingxiang shook his head and said: "Wang Jiayin has occupied Fugu, look at him, he is dying and retreating eastward to Hequ in Shanxi, and will return to Fugu when he is all right, let him retreat to Ningxia...I'm afraid I can't persuade him."

"Now you can't hold the territory if you dominate it. People are in the city, and if the people are gone in the city, what is it?" Liu Chengzong raised his hand and knocked on the small kang table twice, and said: "Master Gao must persuade him to annihilate him." The officers and soldiers are the most important thing.”

"Where can't Shanxi and Shaanxi go after the official army is wiped out?"

Gao Yingxiang still didn't have much hope for this, nodded and said: "I'll try, but Wang Jiayin is in a different situation from you and me... Besides, even if we don't talk about Wang Jiayin, we still have two problems when we move west."

"First, the four border towns of Ningxia, Gansu, Lintao, and Guyuan in the west. If the imperial court joins forces, we will be the turtles in the urn."

Liu Chengzong saw the trick and said: "So I went to demolish the post station first, so as not to let the court pass the news."

Gao Yingxiang thought for a while, this is what they can do, and more clever women can't cook without rice, and said: "The second most important thing is that Guan Ningjun is not a fool, and it's not that we let them go wherever they go, they can go there." go there."

"In case someone sees through the plan and stays in Shanxi without moving, what will you do?"

"Don't move the nest? If I tell him to move, he has to move."

Liu Chengzong stood up, went to the tent door to take off his helmet, played with the helmet gun without the helmet flag, turned to look at Gao Yingxiang: "I will attack Pingliangfu City, and the soldiers will surround Hanwangfu. Do you think he will move?"

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)