sjar Chapter 283 Fire support.
Chapter 283 Fire support.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "I was just kidding, to fool them, why should you take it seriously, Junior Sister? Glorifying the Mohist School is my lifelong ideal. Don't worry, I will arrange this right away."
Gongsun Erniang then smiled happily and asked, "Brother, where do you plan to arrange it?"
Ye Kun thought about it:
"I have hundreds of warriors who have been trained. They are literate, skilled in martial arts, and loyal. I plan to select a group of them and recruit them as Mohist disciples. I will then let these disciples go to various states in the world and start their own business. Then, our Mohist disciples will increase in number."
"Brother, you are not lying to me, are you?"
"If you tell a lie, God will strike you with lightning!"
"Senior brother, you are serious."
Gongsun Erniang was very touched and bowed, saying, "Master has always been optimistic about you, and it turned out to be right. Brother, don't worry, even if it means going through fire and water, I will listen to you all my life."
Ye Kun nodded and smiled, "Let's train the workers of the ventilation stoves first. Just train ten people, and then let them promote it slowly."
"As ordered!"
Gongsun Erniang bowed and said goodbye.
Ye Kun was not idle either. He took Sang Buyi and others to check the work in various places.
Back at Yuejuan's villa at night, Ye Kun discussed with everyone:
"Yuejuan, Sister Yourong said that she misses you very much and hopes to invite you over to celebrate the New Year together. I have the same idea and hope that we can be reunited during the New Year. Because after the New Year, I have to attack Hanzhong, and I am afraid that I will not have time to accompany you for a while."
Yuejuan smiled and said, "It's the New Year, we should have gone to visit mother-in-law and Sister Yourong."
Yu Lian Chun Hua also nodded.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "After the New Year, if you want to come back, you can come back."
While they were chatting and laughing, a personal soldier came to report that Shangguan Jifu's letter had arrived by carrier pigeon.
Ye Kun took the letter and read it, and couldn't help frowning.
This guy is determined to attack Jingzhou and Xiangyang and recover all the lost territories of Wei Dingshan. He will take action after the new year.
Moreover, Shangguan Jifu was full of confidence, saying that his own troops and Wei Ning could join forces to capture Jingzhou without Ye Kun's help.
Ye Kun couldn't help but sigh.
Two large-scale wars were being fought at the same time. The slightest mistake would lead to disastrous defeat.
But Shangguan Jifu had made up his mind and it was difficult to persuade him.
After thinking for a long time, Ye Kun wrote back a letter, asking Shangguan Jifu to spend the New Year with peace of mind and talk about it after the New Year.
The next morning, he received another letter from Wei Caiqin via carrier pigeon.
Wei Caiqin is still in mourning, and the letter is just a greeting, asking Ye Kun to take care of himself.
Ye Kun suddenly had an idea and wrote back to Wei Caiqin, asking her to persuade Wei Ning not to resort to war for the time being, and to wait until he captured Hanzhong before joining forces to capture Jingzhou.
But Ye Kun didn't know whether Wei Caiqin could convince Wei Ning.
Counting the time, there are less than fifteen days left until the Chinese New Year.
Ye Kun was going back to Chengdu to preside over various sacrificial activities, so he took everyone with him.
Gongsun Erniang had trained more than a dozen workers who were skilled in building ventilation stoves, and they also returned with Ye Kun.
The end of the year was very busy. Ye Kun presided over sacrifices, received officials from all over the country who reported on their work, visited veteran cadres such as Gongsun Zhang, expressed condolences to people in need, conducted financial summaries and inspections, and also held New Year celebrations.
Jiang Yourong and Xie Baochan are Ye Kun's image ambassadors. They also have to attend various activities and are very busy.
With continuous experience and learning, Jiang Yourong is now becoming more and more stable and dignified, and her image as the first lady of Yizhou has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
After the fifth day of the New Year, Ye Kun began to prepare for the war.
All 4,000 elite cavalrymen under Qin Erwu were equipped with new armor.
This time, the new equipment has replaced the breastplate with plate armor, which is a large piece of thin steel plate with vertical ridges in the middle.
This plate armor is much safer than the previous fish scale armor and is lighter. The vertical ridge in the middle changes the cutting angle, so that the spear will automatically slip when it is thrust straight.
Moreover, the edges can also cushion the impact of maces and bone clubs.
The helmet is also the latest, light and strong, with a stainless steel visor.
Elite cavalry battalion, all the war horses are equipped with horseshoes and horse face armor.
The cavalry battalion, which had been fully equipped, had the weight of light cavalry but the protection of heavily armored cavalry.
However, Ye Kun also suffered a heavy loss. Just for these 4,000 elite soldiers, how much fine steel and iron were used.
Ye Kun warned Qin Erwu: "The value of your cavalry, including their warhorses and equipment, is more than the total wealth of five civilian families. Therefore, you must love your soldiers like your own sons, and you must win every battle. Because I can't afford to lose."
Qin Erwu clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, brother. I will never let you down!"
Ye Kun nodded and arranged for the firearms battalion to test the artillery in the horse farm so that the war horses would become familiar with the sound of the artillery.
Ye Kun cast more than 300 bronze cannons of various types.
The caliber of gun barrels is uniformly divided into one inch, two inches and three inches.
Because of the availability of cement, the firearms battalion produced many cement shells, including spherical shells and pointed shells, with very standard sizes and specifications.
Cement shells are easy to make and are extremely fast. They are much easier to make than stone shells and much cheaper than iron and lead shells.
Military dry rations packaged in tin foil are being produced at a rapid pace.
In Chengdu city, five hundred pigs and sheep were slaughtered every day, as well as cattle and horses that died of old age or sickness. They were simply pickled, cut into thin strips, steamed with rice, and added with dried vegetables to supplement vitamins.
Then it is squeezed mechanically with a lever, wrapped in rice dumplings leaves, sealed with tin foil, and cooked in a pressure cooker. It can be stored for up to two months.
A portion of dry food contains rice, meat, vegetables, salt and oil, weighs two and a half kilograms, and is considered a soldier's daily ration.
Ye Kun requested that 200,000 such dry food supplies be prepared by the end of the first month of the year.
Solving the problem of military dry food will greatly reduce the pressure of transporting food and fodder.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang went to Qishan six times but failed because of the problem of food and grass. There was plenty of food and grass in the Chengdu Plain, but the transportation could not keep up!
The second day of February.
Everything is ready.
Ye Kun convened a swearing-in ceremony and ordered Qin Erwu to lead an army of 15,000, with Zhuge Feng as military advisor and Wang Da Kui as deputy general, to march out of Jiameng Pass and raid the vast plains in the east of Hanzhong. Using the cavalry's speed and equipment advantages, they fought harassment wars, raids, roundabout encirclement and cutting off, to disintegrate the military forces in the east of Hanzhong and occupy Xunyang.
Ye Kun led an army of 20,000, with Sang Buyi and Han Chun as military advisors. They assembled in Bazhong, went out of Micang Road, and attacked Nanzheng.
Guan Yafu and Ma Zhao guarded Chengdu and cooperated with Xie Tong to collect food and fodder.
Tan Bamao led 10,000 soldiers to escort the baggage, and Guan Yong led 50,000 soldiers and civilians to escort the food and fodder.
This battle was the one Ye Kun prepared most thoroughly for. Almost all of his elite troops were deployed, and in terms of military strength, they crushed Hanzhong.
Because Ye Kun knew that during the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei fought for two years in Hanzhong, which made Yizhou suffer terribly. Zhuge Liang almost collapsed while ensuring logistics in the rear, "Men should fight, women should transport", and he mobilized almost to the limit before he took Hanzhong.
As a result, Liu Bei conquered Hanzhong, but only got a piece of empty land!
Because the battle dragged on for too long, Cao Cao relocated hundreds of thousands of Hanzhong residents and burned all the houses and cities to ashes.
Until the end of the Three Kingdoms period, when the Jin Dynasty unified the Hanzhong area, production and population had not fully recovered.
Ye Kun was familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms, so he was determined to win the battle quickly and without any delay.
But on the second day after Qin Erwu set off, Ye Kun received the news.
Xiahou Chang has captured Chang'an City!
Moreover, Shangguan Jifu and Wei Ning also launched the Battle of Jingzhou.
Shangguan Jifu also sent a pigeon message, asking Ye Kun to provide fire support and a batch of cannons and thunder bombs, as well as chariot pulley crossbows.