Without waiting for the arrival of the flood season, Chihu reduced the troops and horses on the middle road and Rucai front line in advance in early February.
On the one hand, the Han troops and horses drawn from Hedong, Hebei and Bianliang will be withdrawn from their original places and returned to the countryside to recuperate and resume production. At the same time, the scale of transporting grain and fodder from the north will be greatly reduced, and the levies of various places will be reduced.
pressure and alleviate local conflicts; on the other hand, the local Han army in Heluo and west of Beijing and the main force of the town garrison also shrank back to Yiyang, Yique, Xuchang, Linying, Wanqiu and other cities.
However, the Chihu people did not give up the frontline defense fortifications. They only greatly reduced the troops and horses directly stationed at the frontline defense fortifications, gave up infiltration operations in Rucai and other places, gave up active attacks on the walled cities in Rucai and other places, and fully switched to
Offense is defense.
By the end of February, the number of soldiers and horses of the Chihu people advancing on Rucai's front line had shrunk from a peak of 2.344 million to less than one-tenth of the previous number. However, this was the force deployed by the Chihu people on the first line of defense.
In Heluo and Jingluo, the second line of defense is mainly based on the cities of Yiyang, Yique, Daguguan, Yangcheng, Yuzhou, Xuchang, and Wanqiu. The number of troops deployed is still as high as 80,000.
Jingxiang did not think about turning defense into offense and taking the opportunity to seize the enemy camps that were close to each other and only ten or twenty miles away. Instead, they chose to simultaneously reduce the size of Majianhe, Ruyang, Songxian and Zhaoling.
, the garrisons in Xiangcheng and other places seized every minute and every second to rest and recuperate.
As of the eve of the flood season, Rucaishen has set up camp in three states. In addition to deploying three to five thousand state (prefecture) troops from each state to participate in the garrison, the Tianxiong Army, as a combat force, not only has not recruited new soldiers to make up for the losses caused by the two years of confrontation.
Tens of thousands of personnel were reduced, and thousands of veterans with meritorious service were arranged to retire from active service and be placed in local areas to strengthen the township government's control over the local areas.
After two years of high-intensity confrontation in the middle road, the size of the Tianxiong Army did not further expand at this time, but was reduced to less than 40,000. Of course, the Tianxiong Army’s first to fifth towns were retained.
In addition to the original six compartments of infantry, each town also added one compartment of heavy armored infantry and one compartment of cavalry.
That is to say, when the Tianxiong Army is in need, it can quickly recruit soldiers with combat experience from various state capitals to increase its total strength to 100,000.
The Selection Front Army has also all withdrawn to Biyang and other places to rest and recuperate. In addition to the original eight-chamber light armor cavalry establishment, an additional two-chamber heavy armor infantry establishment has been added. Currently, the strength is controlled at 5,000, but when necessary
Can quickly expand to 15,000 people.
The Tianxiong Army and the Xuanfeng Army will also become the core combat capabilities of Beijing and Xiangzhou in the future.
The state army as a garrison was also greatly reduced from the original 240,000 troops to less than 40,000 troops after the war.
As a result, Beijing and Xiangzhou no longer have the ability to turn from defense to offense, but more than 400,000 young and strong laborers have been transferred to the local areas (the reduction of manpower for frontline logistics support is also huge), leaving the previously stagnant villages, roads, land reclamation, and transportation.
The construction of bridges, canals, and ponds (small reservoirs) was once again launched on a large scale.
In particular, the promotion of hydraulic equipment based on new turbines mainly relies on the construction of pit ponds in Biyang, Yunyang, Huaiyuan and other places to provide more stable hydraulic power.
Most of the pitangs built in Huaiyuan, Xinyang and other places before were located in rugged and narrow areas, which facilitated the traditional hydraulic equipment to be driven by the rapid water flow. If we want to promote new water turbines on a larger scale, new pitangs need to be built on the terrain.
In a relatively open river valley.
At the same time, higher requirements are put forward for the scale and specifications of the weirs and embankments to be built.
At the same time, Beijing and Xiangzhou also greatly increased the mining of stone. The company even developed a special hydraulic stone saw to cut the stone needed to build weirs and embankments.
Because the workshops where new hydraulic equipment is intensively used are located under the weir, the manufacturer currently does not dare to use cheap green bricks to replace the stone in the construction of key weirs.
As the key material for adhesives, glutinous rice is also imported from Jianghuai and other places in Beijing and Xiangzhou at an accelerated pace.
In early May, the entire Tongbai Mountain area began to enter the flood season. A group of carriages and horses slowly moved from east to west towards Huaiyuan City. Xu Xin'an, the commander of the Shenzhou camp, led his generals and stood on the west bank of the Baijian River, waiting quietly.
"They all said not to engage in such a thing as welcoming people and sending them off, but Xu Xin'an and the others are still disobedient!"
Xu Huai sat astride the saddle and listened to the news that Xu Xinan had led his generals out of Huaiyuan City and went to the west bank of the Baijian River to be the prime minister. He couldn't help but complain to Xu Wuqi, Pan Chenghu, Han Gui and others who were accompanying him.
"Xu Xin'an is still eager to see the envoy as soon as possible!" Han Gui said with a smile.
At present, the production department is asking for officials to be transported as lightly as possible and not to be greeted or sent off. However, Han Gui, Xu Wuqi, Shi Zhen and others still feel that Xu Huai still needs to pay attention to some sense of ceremony when traveling.
Wang Xuan held her young son Xu Zhen in her arms, and sat in a carriage with Liu Qiong'er. She opened the gauze curtain and saw the towering tower of the Baijian River Iron Bridge more clearly.
Huaiyuan was the place where Xu Huai and everyone in Chushan made their fortune. Not only was the core of the army, but also the backbone of the generals and soldiers were all born in Huaiyuan, and many people's families and children were settled in Huaiyuan.
At the same time, Huaiyuan is also the birthplace of Beijing and Xiangzhou craftsmanship. There are still a large number of workshops and workshops preserved in Huaiyuan.
Therefore, the Tongbai Mountain Road connecting Huaiyuan and Biyang and connecting Chushan and Xinyang to the east is a road system that has been repaired and renovated since the establishment of the system.
A bridge has been built over the Baijian River between Huaiyuan City and Junzhai for a long time, but in the early days it was a wooden bridge, and last winter it was rebuilt as an iron bridge.
The Baijian River Iron Bridge is currently the largest single bridge built in Beijing and Xiangzhou. The total length of the bridge is nearly 20 feet, but it is not a single-span bridge.
After all, a twenty-foot single-span iron bridge was too exaggerated based on the bridge construction standards mastered by Beijing and Xiangxiang at this time.
Three groups of stone bridge piers stand in the turbulent water, and the four-span iron bridge is like a flying rainbow rising above the turbulent water. Although it is not as difficult as the Guangcheng Majian River Iron Bridge, its momentum is more magnificent, and it can even be said to be the first in Beijing and Xiangzhou.
The most direct display of strength.
The entire iron bridge uses nearly four million kilograms of iron, which alone is jaw-dropping.
Since Xu Xin'an led his generals to the west bank of the Baijian River to meet him, Xu Huai did not go to Huaiyuan City, nor did he go directly to Chushan City where the Shenzhou Prefectural Office and the camp were located. Instead, after meeting, everyone went directly to the Jade Emperor
ridge.
Yuhuangling is the place of the Xu clan, and Xu Huai's adoptive father and adoptive mother are buried here.
After the establishment of the system, Xu Huai ordered that the family temple built in the name of burying Xu Wufu and others and transferring the property in Xu Wufu's name be changed into a cemetery for martyrs.
Xu Huai not only moved the graves of his adoptive parents to the Cemetery of Heroes, but also the Huaiyuan men who died heroically on the battlefield over the years were also buried here.
One of the purposes of Xu Huai's trip was to visit the Cemetery of the Martyrs to pay homage, and to inspect an ironworks workshop built in Yuhuangling.
After a certain period of practice, not all the old pit ponds and hydraulic workshops were finally transferred to the local government.
Even if a new type of hydraulic turbine is used, there are still some areas that require stronger driving force, which cannot be fully achieved by simply using transmission gears - in addition to the limited casting accuracy of current gears, when the new type of hydraulic turbine is cast to a large enough size, a more powerful force will also be needed.
Turbulence can drive it.
Between Yuhuang Ridge and Shituoling Ridge, stepped weirs and embankments were built in the early years. After Chushan was established as a county, it was also the first to set up an ironworks workshop here to forge armor with the help of traditional hydraulic equipment.
After the new type of water turbine came into use, the armor forging of Yuhuangling Iron Works Workshop was concentrated in Yunyang, and it was also transferred to the jurisdiction of Yuhuangling Township for a short time.
Although the Ordnance Inspector has used a new hydraulic forging hammer to successfully cold-forge a large area of fine iron armor covering the chest and abdomen. Compared with the traditional armor, it is not only more protective, but also much cheaper - low cost
The meaning is also equivalent to rapid and batch preparation.
However, the use of large-area covering armor on the battlefield is not limited to armor.
If armor can be used instead of traditional thick wooden boards for protection in war weapons, the portability and defensive power will be greatly improved. Traditional cast iron shields are also too bulky and have very limited use in the military. Most of them are covered with hot-forged wooden shields.
Made of thin iron sheet.
In the application of weapon protection and iron shields, even if a hydraulic forging hammer is used for hot forging - hot forging is to heat the iron ingot and forge it, which is easier to process than cold forging, so it saves manpower and material resources, but
The cost is still out of reach.
In particular, Xu Huai hoped to see that one day warships could be covered with iron armor, which was even more unimaginable in the world. How much would it cost to hot-forge the iron sheet needed to cover a medium-sized warship with a water-powered forging hammer?
Manpower, material resources?
With this power, it would be much more cost-effective to build three or four times more warships and recruit and train three or four times more naval forces.
Therefore, Xu Huai proposed to the Ordnance Supervisor the ability to prepare thin iron plates on a larger scale and at a lower cost, and he also clearly instilled the concept of hot rolling into Shen Lian and others.
The concept of hot rolling and even the entire process are not complicated. Zhuang Yong, Shen Lian and others gathered a group of high-level engineers and worked out several plans in a short time. However, the problem was to use the rollers to drive the heated iron bars.
The driving force required to press thin iron plates and rolls is far beyond the scope of conventional hydraulic turbines.
The Ordnance Superintendent reactivated the Yuhuangling Iron Works Workshop to manufacture two large water turbines, and also modified the weir embankment at Yuhuangling to create a more rapid flow of water to drive the water turbines.
At present, the Ordnance Supervisor has successfully pierced a thin iron plate with a thickness of two cents (0.2 inches, about 6.7 millimeters) in Yuhuangling. However, it is difficult to pierce a thinner iron plate based on the precision of craftsmen in the world.
.
"It is still difficult to make shields with such iron plates, but we have already seen hope. I believe that the Beijing-Xiang infantry armor will soon be equipped with the most sophisticated iron shields in the world," Xu Wuqi picked up the shield after visiting the Rezha workshop.
After finishing the thin iron plate made in the workshop, he thought, "However, it is still too thick to be used for armor making or to provide protection for war weapons."
Of course it is too thick to directly make armor from a thin iron plate two cents thick.
At present, the armor produced by the Ordnance Supervision Institute requires less than one minute of armor at the front, which requires higher protection. The thickest part is usually about half a minute; the side armpits and back cover only require a quarter of a minute of armor.
——In this way, the weight of the entire set of armor can be controlled within the range that human beings can bear.
It is definitely not possible to use two-cent-thick hot-rolled thin iron plates directly to make armor; to provide protection for war weapons, it can certainly not be afraid of swords and arrows, but in the end it will make the war weapons extremely bulky and of little practical value.
Of course, cold forging on the basis of hot-rolled iron plates should still greatly improve the efficiency of armor making - from this point of view, the significance of the hydraulic hot rolling mill is surprising enough.
Of course, it is unrealistic for a warship to be completely covered with hot-rolled iron plates.
There is currently no solution to the problem of water immersion and corrosion.
Considering that only the part of the warship above the water surface should be covered with armor, the engineers of the Ordnance Supervision have weighed, but currently only small and medium-sized warships can be considered, and it is not practical to use it on large warships.
First, large warships require too much hot-rolled iron plates. At the same time, warships mainly rely on row oars to drive during water battles. Large warships are covered with a layer of hot-rolled iron plates two minutes thick. In addition to being more clumsy,
At the same time, the scale of soldiers and war equipment carried will also be limited.
Another point is that large warships are wrapped in iron armor, which will further restrict the already limited water warfare attack methods in this world.
However, for small and medium-sized armored warships, the engineers of the Ordnance Supervision thought of an extremely favorable water battle scenario, which was to use them for boarding battles.
Because the attack methods of water warfare at that time were too limited, small and medium-sized armored warships were flexible and light, with sharp cones on the armor. After approaching the enemy ship, they were not afraid of enemy soldiers boarding the ship, nor were they afraid of swords, guns and arrows.
He is afraid of fire attacks and not afraid of enemy soldiers locking the ship with hooks, but his own soldiers can accurately throw fire oil cans onto the enemy ship through the portholes at close range, or pass through the narrow portholes at close range and accurately use powerful crossbows.
Accumulating and shooting enemy soldiers, these are things that traditional wooden warships do not have.
After seeing the drawings of the new armored warships drawn by the Ordnance Supervisor, Xu Huai mused: "It looks like a turtle shell, or something like a turtle-shell ship. The Ordnance Supervisor rushed to trial-produce a batch of tortoise-shell warships in order to be flexible, light and organized.
The naval forces are skilled in drills and may be able to use them soon! Of course, the iron armor needs to be thinner. If hot rolling cannot be achieved in one step, hot rolling and heat forging can be considered in the early stage to prepare a batch of ship armor!"
Hot rolling plus deep hot forging, without extremely complicated quenching and annealing processes, cannot be achieved in a short time. This requires a long period of experience and accumulation by the craftsmen. The internal performance of the armor will be damaged to a certain extent, directly
It will definitely not work if used to make armor, but it will obviously be no problem if used to cover warships.
