The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 190 Against Shanguan
Brother Zhu walked in the front, and the wooden bridge under his feet creaked slightly, but the bridge was very stable, even if the horse he was leading stepped on the bridge heavily, it could only cause a very slight shaking.

Behind him, the soldiers of the cavalry battalion passed by the bridge one after another at a distance of one foot.

The over [-]-foot-long wooden bridge on the Futun River was built in just two days by the Dragon Guard Engineer Company led by [-] Dragon Guard soldiers.

Such an astonishing construction speed is mainly due to the many practical tools designed by Zhu Linmi for the engineering company, such as hand winches, screw jacks, gear hand drills, levels, etc.

The production of these tools does not actually require much complicated craftsmanship, and can be made with the pure manual craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty.But the ingenious mechanism contained in it is far beyond the imagination of craftsmen of this era.

For example, this screw jack will be equipped with a family car in later generations. The structure is as simple as only six or seven parts, and the price does not exceed 20 yuan.But in the seventeenth century, this thing was simply a magic weapon, and in some specific cases, this thing could even increase construction efficiency by a hundred times!
In addition, Zhu Linmei also introduced a large number of prefabricated standard parts concepts of later generations to the engineering company.A large number of complex processing brackets, connectors, etc. have been processed in advance, and the size and shape are exactly the same.During construction, it is only necessary to cut wood for the bridge deck and girders, and then use these prefabricated parts to connect them, and the construction work will be completed soon.

When connecting parts, the Dragon Guards Engineer Company also has another "big killer"-iron nails.

In the Ming Dynasty, iron nails were all made by manpower, and the price was very expensive, which was definitely a luxury.

Wooden utensils mainly rely on the mortise and tenon joint process, digging grooves in the wood, and snapping in the parts that need to be connected, which is to save iron nails.Not to mention ordinary furniture, buildings, etc., even to manufacture sea-going ships, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were reluctant to use a few nails.

But the Dragon Guards Engineer Company spent tens of thousands of iron nails on this wooden bridge in just these two days, the value of which was as high as thousands of taels of silver!The cost of this wooden bridge over Futun Creek is enough to erect seven or eight ordinary bridges.

But high investment and new technology bring high efficiency!Looking at the whole world, the efficiency of any professional bridge-building craftsman can hardly be compared with the engineer company of the Dragon Guards.

It only took more than an hour for the infantry and cavalry of the Dragon Guards and Polu Camp to cross the river, and it took less than two hours to cross the bridge for food, grass and luggage.

The most troublesome thing is the cannon.This thing weighs several thousand kilograms at every turn, and passing it directly would exceed the limit of the wooden bridge.

Therefore, the cannons were all disassembled, and the lighter carriages were first dragged away by horses, while the heavy cannon body was put on logs and dragged across the bridge bit by bit by manpower.And for the sake of safety, only one gun barrel can cross the bridge at a time.

It took a full day to drag more than 40 cannons weighing more than [-] kilograms from the Dragon Guard Army and the Polu Battalion across the river.

However, after crossing the river, all the cannons were transported by horse-drawn carts, and they caught up with the main force ahead after two days.

After crossing the Futun River, in front of the Longwei Army and the Poluying, there is a flat road leading directly to Guangze County. It is only five hundred miles along this road to Guangze.

The army headed northwest along the south bank of the Futun River, and temporarily discarded all the tents and utensils they carried, and the marching speed almost reached about [-] miles a day.

At the same time, Azig was still circling along the branch of the Jianxi River. The forward had just reached the lower reaches of the Chongyang River, and there was still [-] miles to go before reaching Shanguan.

In the second year of Longwu, June [-]th.

Zhu Linmei looked at the steep mountain in the distance with a telescope. There was a majestic pass between the mountains, which was lying on the only path that could enter the mountain pass. This is the important place of Shanguan connecting Fujian and Jiangxi. .

He pressed down the binoculars a little, and saw that just below the Shanguan Pass, there was a company for several miles, blocking the Shanguan Pass tightly, and it was the main force of Azig's tens of thousands of Jianlu.

The camp has three floors, surrounded by camps, luggage and other things, and a trench has been dug on the outermost edge, and it can be vaguely seen that there are still people digging deep.Behind the trench, there are two layers of refusal horses and a brigade of soldiers lined up on guard. There are still many artillery pieces between the lines, and the muzzles are all pointing straight out.

In the camp, there were banners of various colors, all kinds of infantry and cavalry with knives and armor running around, and various vehicles and utensils were frequently dispatched. Their aura was very different from any enemy Zhu Linmi had seen before.

"As the most powerful army in Asia in this era, the Jianlu regular army does have some strength." Zhu Linmi shook her head slightly, "I'm afraid this time it will be a tough battle..."

However, he was not worried that Jianlu would capture Shanguan immediately. According to the news sent by Shanguan yesterday, Yang Tinglin had sent Zhao Yinxuan to lead [-] Dian troops to garrison Shanguan. Nearly four thousand Ming troops.

With these [-] soldiers and horses, and relying on the dangerous terrain of Shanguan, it was difficult for Azig to quickly capture the pass.

According to the person who sent the letter, Dai Xiuyuan, who was recommended by Gu Yanwu earlier, was very strategic, he led a surprise army to the back of Guangxin's Qing army, set fire to the enemy camp, and turned the tide of Guangxin's battle.Later, in order to protect the grain road from being harassed, Liu Guangbi had to send nearly [-] people to escort him along the way.

Coupled with the low morale of the barbarian army due to the burning of the camp, Yang Tinglin and the Qing army formed a stalemate in the Baita River area, and even spared [-] soldiers to help guard Shanguan.

"My lord," Shi Lin came to Zhu Linmi's side and said, "The army has set up camp. All the generals have gathered in the central army tent as you ordered."

"Back to the camp." Zhu Linmei put away the binoculars, got on the horse, and galloped towards the Longwei Army camp.

(End of this chapter)