On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Song Yang received a report early in the morning.
The Fuxing Army scouts in Duchang received some information that a large group of troops had gathered in the direction of Xinchang in Raozhou.
The preliminary investigation found that they were the troops of two princes from Raozhou. Their combined forces totaled nearly 30,000 people.
The current trend is unknown.
The brothers Song Kuo and Song Yu were beaten up by Song Yang in Jiangzhou Fucheng. Just by looking at their eyes, you could tell they were dissatisfied.
So Song Yang also kept a secret and asked Liu Huairen to keep an eye on Raozhou's movements.
The refugees in Raozhou have never stopped fleeing to Jiangzhou, so Duchang received news of the mobilization of soldiers from Raozhou as early as three days ago.
Liu Huairen immediately stepped up his exploration efforts and discovered Raozhou soldiers and horses gathered in Xinchang.
So Liu Huairen hurriedly sent a message to Song Yang.
"It seems that these two idiots are really planning to take risks!"
Song Yang smiled disdainfully.
The detective report was circulated to Song Tong, Yu Ming, and Ma Cheng.
"I don't know whether to live or die! I am willing to lead the troops to conquer Raozhou completely!" Yu Ming said coldly.
"You can also lead the navy to attack Xinchang!" Ma Cheng also took the initiative to request the order.
From Poyang Lake to Xinchang, there is a Poshui link, and warships can sail directly to Xinchang.
Song Yang looked at Song Tong, who thought silently for a while before saying:
"Ayan. Uncle Wang feels that we should really beat them up, but... we should form a coalition to attack them together."
"Now the alliance has been established, and Raozhou has also joined the alliance."
"The alliance prohibits internal fighting. Raozhou took the initiative to stir up trouble. The alliance should take action to fight it together!"
Song Yang looked happy. Song Tong's method was very good and could establish Jiangzhou's status in the alliance.
"The alliance members are not close. Raozhou is already gathering. If they come to attack, the allies may not be able to come in time." Ma Cheng questioned.
Song Yang smiled and said: "They don't need to be really famous, just send troops in name, but actually send one or two observers."
"Good idea!" Yu Ming and Ma Cheng woke up at the same time.
Originally, the alliance army was not directed to contribute, and it was just a matter of effort to deal with Raozhou.
The so-called formation of the alliance army is actually to establish the prestige and status of Jiangzhou.
"Let's do this. In the name of Uncle Seven, we will send a letter to the alliance members and ask them to send special envoys to hold a meeting. Let's not mention the matter of Raozhou for now. It's time for the Raozhou soldiers to move when the others arrive." Song Yang looked at Comrade Song.
.
"Yeah. I'll send a quick horse to deliver the message in a moment." Song Tong responded.
"About the expedition... This is the first time the Tiger Crouching Artillery Battalion has participated in the war. I want to go and see it in person. Uncle Wang, you should also follow." Song Yang said about the candidates for the expedition.
"If Ma Cheng wants to bring the warship, he will definitely go." Song Yang looked at Ma Cheng.
"Lao Yu..." Yu Ming waited expectantly for Song Yang's order.
"You just watch at home!"
As soon as Song Yang said this, Yu Ming collapsed immediately.
There was no way, as soon as Fang Zhe left, Song Yang had to go there himself.
Then Yu Ming could only stay and look after the house.
Although he knew this, he still took it as a chance.
But Song Yang didn't give him any chance, so he had no choice but to stay honestly...
"You all get ready. The Fuxing Army can give you two thousand this time, and the navy can also give you one thousand. Let's see the actual combat effect of the Tiger Crouching Artillery Battalion with three thousand people!" Song Yang said to Ming Ma Cheng.
Jiangzhou sent 3,000 troops, but Raozhou had 30,000.
However, Song Yang is confident and there is a generational difference in weapons.
Moreover, the 30,000 people in Raozhou are also fictitious, and most of them are made up by refugees.
Half a year ago, the two brothers in Raozhou only had one or two thousand troops each. Now they have increased their strength by fifteen times. What kind of elites can they have?
Moreover, Song Yang had to wait for the Raozhou soldiers to take the initiative and fight in Duchang, where he still had a geographical advantage.
So three thousand people are enough.
After discussing the detailed troop deployment plan with Yu Ming and Ma Cheng, they immediately went to prepare.
"Uncle Wang, where do you think King Hongzhou is..." Song Yang looked at Uncle Qi and asked.
Song Tong frowned and said: "Ignore him! He is not blind when mobilizing such a large force. Even if he can't see it now, he will definitely know it as long as Xinchang's troops move."
"We'll see when the time comes. If he dares to make any changes, just..." Song Tong made a clenched fist with a sullen face, meaning to take Hongzhou directly.
Song Yang closed his eyes slightly and pondered for a long time and said: "Now that we are short of manpower, we have decided to take Raozhou. If we reach out to Hongzhou again, we will definitely be too busy."
"I think Shen Dan is pretty good, what do you think, Uncle Wang?" Song Yang suddenly mentioned Shen Dan.
Shen Dan has been studying in school recently, not in cultural classes, but in natural science classes.
In his spare time, Shen Dan followed Fang Zhe, Yu Ming and other Jiangzhou officials around.
It can be said that I have learned a lot of skills.
Moreover, Song Yang has also observed Shen Dan for a while, and he is quite an advanced young man with ideals and ambitions.
Of course, he is also Shen Xiaowan's brother.
Shen Xiaowan and Song Yang have been flirting with each other recently. Maybe they will hook up at some point, and Shen Dan will become an uncle...
"Shen Dan... is a nice person, and he can serve as a guard for a state." Song Tong thought for a moment and said.
This is tantamount to recommending Shen Dan to serve as the garrison of Hongzhou. Song Yang actually planned to do this, just to seek the advice of Uncle Qi.
Since Uncle Qi also agrees, Shen Dan's defense is basically settled.
Of course, this also depends on the performance of King Hongzhou in the subsequent war with the Raozhou brothers.
After the meeting, Wang Jinshi was notified and he worked overtime in the past few days to drive out the next batch of artillery.
Currently being produced is the third batch of artillery pieces.
When this batch of squatting tiger cannons comes out, there will be about seventy of them.
After transporting twenty-two guns to the warship, the Tiger Crouching Artillery Battalion can equip fifty guns, which is enough to cope with this battle.
The two brothers in Raozhou are still gathering troops. It will take ten or eight days to confirm the deployment of troops. Maybe they can make another batch of squatting tiger cannons.
The battle layout was almost done. Song Yang and Uncle Qi went to Wang Jinshi's place to look at the production of Crouching Tiger Cannon and the production of muskets.
Wang Jinshi can be said to be the busiest in Jiangzhou now. He has to build tiger cannons, muskets, and steam engines.
Fortunately, they were two brothers and had Liu Bao to help them, otherwise they would have been really busy.
The production of muskets has not stopped since the experiment was successful. Although Fang Zhe took away ten muskets, the second batch was also produced.
There are still nine muskets in Jiangzhou now, and four or five more can be produced within ten days.
This speed is a bit slow.
However, steam engines will be put into use soon, and the speed of steam boring machines to produce muskets can be greatly improved.
After leaving the gun range, we went to the gunpowder factory again.
Wang Dabiao has already accumulated enough gunpowder.
Explosives came in baskets one after another.
I just followed Fenfeng and took a batch to Daye yesterday, and now there are still several thousand sticks of dynamite left in the warehouse.
Hongtianlei is no longer available, it is too laborious to use.
There are five hundred Song Yang stored in the warehouse but I don't intend to use them.
As for the howitzer shells, they have not been successfully developed for use.
There is either a problem with the seal or with the material.
Song Yang knew that there were still deficiencies in technology, and he couldn't provide much help with this thing, so he could only explore slowly.
Wang Dabiao was asked to increase the production of gunpowder. Uncle and nephew Song Yang were going to have lunch when a fast ship from Yuanzhou stopped at the Xingang Pier.