Chapter 566: Money, Food, Arms and Armor

Everyone read the imperial edict one by one, and Song Ying said, "With the Marquis here to take charge of the situation, we are relieved! It's a pity that Mr. Pang was assassinated!"

He looked a little depressed, and his eyes were slightly red.

Zhang Cong was similar, looking a little sad.

They were all Pang Tang's men. When Pang Tang was still the governor of Liaoyuan, they were Pang Tang's subordinates.

Pang Tang came to Chongshan Town but was short of manpower, so he transferred them here.

For them, Pang Tang not only promoted them, but also taught them.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Pang Tang is their teacher.

Yang Zhengshan thought of Pang Tang, and his expression was a little sad, "I will go to mourn Mr. Pang later."

"Let's talk about the situation of the governor's office first!"

Song Ying said, "Everything in the governor's office is running normally, and civilians can be recruited at any time to provide food and grass for the army to go out!"

The expedition to the Wuliang Hu tribe is completely different from the expedition to the Donghai Hu tribe.

In those days, Chongshan Town only needed to cross the border to conquer the Donghai Hu tribe, and the longest distance for transporting food and grass was only a thousand miles. Chongshan Town only needed to recruit a small number of civilians to cooperate with the soldiers of the guard to ensure the logistics of the army.

Moreover, the various reinforcement camps attacked separately at that time. Except for the Zhenbiao Camp led by Liang Chu, which had a slightly greater logistics pressure, the other reinforcement camps basically had no logistics pressure.

Now, if we want to conquer the Wuliang Hu tribe, the logistics pressure will be countless times greater.

The straight-line distance from Chongshan Pass to the western border of Chongshan Town is four or five hundred miles, and the official road is farther. The official road in the south keeps winding in the mountains, and the total distance may reach a thousand miles.

The official road in the north is closer, but it also takes seven or eight hundred miles.

The official road in the north is actually the official road from Chongshan Pass to Dinghu Guard.

Dinghuwei was located at Guanshankou, where Yang Zhengshan burned 100,000 troops. In recent years, Zhou Lan has built a city there, and reclaimed the valley, and moved a group of military households to cultivate.

There are six guards under the command of the Lieutenant General of Dinghuwei in the West. In addition to Dinghuwei, the other five are distributed on the northern grassland.

These five guards are not perfect at present, and they cannot monitor all areas in the western part of Beidi. They can only monitor areas close to Dinghuwei.

There is no way around it. The western part of Beidi is a flat grassland. If you want to set up a guard there, the first thing to consider is how to prevent the invasion of the Wulianghu tribe.

What Zhou Lan can do is to gradually build forts, reclaim wasteland and horse farms suitable for farming, and eat away at that grassland bit by bit.

Although considerable results have been achieved, there is still some gap from the ideal state.

In addition to Chongshan Town, transporting food and supplies to the Wulianghu tribe is also a big problem.

The territory of the Wulianghu tribe is three thousand miles long from east to west. If the army goes deep into the territory of the Wulianghu tribe, the transportation line will be extended to two or three thousand miles.

Moreover, there is no official road in the territory of the Wulianghu tribe, and the transportation of materials is extremely difficult.

When the Wulianghu tribe goes south, they can borrow the flag land of some tribes as a transit station for grain and grass, and if Chongshan Town goes west, it needs to open a transportation line.

Not only a large number of civilians are needed to help transport grain and grass and materials, but also a large number of soldiers are needed to escort grain and grass and materials.

The longer the battle line is, the greater the logistical pressure.

And it will soon enter mid-April, which is the time for spring plowing in Chongshan Town. At this time, the conscription of a large number of civilians will inevitably affect the spring plowing.

It is impossible to let the military households and people in Chongshan Town grow less grain this year in order to conquer the Wulianghu tribe.

So Yang Zhengshan does not want to conscript civilians.

"How much money and grain does the governor's office have now?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Song Ying said: "1.23 million taels of silver and 480,000 shi of grain!"

"So much?" Yang Zhengshan asked in surprise.

Song Ying felt a little better and smiled: "In the past two years, the northern part of Chongshan Town has begun to collect land taxes. The land taxes collected by the Provincial Administration Commissioner are three times more than before. In addition, no major projects have been built in the past two years. Only some guard posts have been built and official roads have been repaired, and the money and grain consumed are much less than before!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. Chongshan Town is in the harvest period at this time. After years of hard work, it is time to see the results.

As the land area increases, the land tax doubles. As the business prospers, the commercial tax also increases.

Moreover, the governor's office does not need to support so many soldiers like the general's office, so the remaining money and grain far exceeds the general's office.

In this case, it is even more impossible to recruit civilians on a large scale, otherwise it will inevitably affect the development momentum of Chongshan Town.

Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment and looked at the commander-in-chief Ning Qinghe, "Old man, how many soldiers can the Dusi Yamen recruit?"

Ning Qinghe said calmly: "If we recruit from the central, northern and eastern routes, we can recruit about 20,000 soldiers without affecting spring plowing and city defense!"

The soldiers in the garrisons are also responsible for local defense, so it is impossible to recruit all of them. Only about a quarter can be recruited.

And the two guards on the west route of Chongshan Town are the front line, so soldiers cannot be recruited from there, so soldiers can only be recruited from the central, northern and eastern routes.

Ning Qinghe is old and prudent, and he has considered everything very carefully.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Enough."

"The Dusi Yamen will immediately recruit 20,000 soldiers, and the governor's office will provide money and food, and immediately transport the money and food to Dinghu Wei, and send an order to the Dinghu Wei Lieutenant General's Shogunate to build a granary and store food and grass."

The army and horses did not move, but the food and grass went first.

Let’s not talk about how to attack the Wulianghu tribe for now, let’s transfer the money and food to Dinghu Wei first.

When the money and food are gone, we can directly pull the army over and be ready to go to war at any time.

"Your Majesty, take your orders!" Ning Qinghe and Song Ying said.

Yang Zhengshan then looked at Zhang Cong, the Inspector-General, and ordered: "The Inspector-General will keep an eye on the transportation of military supplies. If anyone dares to be corrupt, he will be punished on the spot. I will also send people to conduct spot checks. If my people find out that the Inspector-General does not act, Or if you collude with grain transport officials, I will bring the inspector to justice!"

Zhang Cong quickly bowed and said: "I will strictly supervise the transportation of grain, and I will never let anyone embezzle military grain!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Then let's do this for now, everyone go and get busy!"

Song and Ying said goodbye and left, and Yang Zhengshan went to Pang's house to express condolences to Pang Tang.

Pang Tang has three sons. The eldest son is guarding the ancestral property in his hometown. The second son has been following Pang Tang and serving Pang Tang and his wife. The third son was the second-level Jinshi in the 29th year of Taiping and is now serving as the magistrate of Bashu.

At this time, Pang Tang's funeral was handled by his second son, Pang Shihong.

Yang Zhengshan came to Pang's house, looked at Pang Tang's coffin, sighed softly, said a few words to Pang Shihong, and left Pang's house.

Although he felt very sad about Pang Tang's death, the affairs in Chongshan Town were currently complicated, and he really didn't have much time to spend on these customs.

After returning to the General Military Mansion, Yang Zhengshan sent a message to the various generals and shogunate, revealing his identity and asking them to be ready to go to war at any time.

On the first day when he arrived in Chongshan Town, Yang Zhengshan fell into a busy schedule.

He first dealt with the accumulated official duties in the General Military Mansion, and then met with many officers and generals.

After the news of Yang Zhengshan's return to Chongshan Pass spread, everyone at Chongshan Pass felt a lot more at ease.

From the officials and generals of various ministries to the common people, they no longer felt uneasy.

The officials of the General Military Mansion have not changed much. Zhou Lan has made almost no changes to the team left by Yang Zhengshan. Lu Wenhua is still the general manager of the General Military Mansion. Although there are some adjustments in the affairs of each department and department, overall Not much has changed.

In the evening, Yang Zhengshan went to see Zhou Lan and Wang Yunqiao in person, and felt relieved when he saw that they were sleeping peacefully.

When he went, Song Li was also there, Wang Yunqiao's mother-in-law. Song Dashan was busy with military affairs. Song Hao was also in the army at this time and had no time to take care of Wang Yunqiao, so he had to let Song Li The Song family and Song Han family came to take care of Wang Yunqiao.

Song Han is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Song family. In addition to the two of them, there are also Wang Yunqiao's children.

Wang Yunqiao has two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter Song Jin is nine years old, the eldest son Song Shi is seven years old, and the second daughter Song Xiu is only four years old.

"Disciple and grandson pay homage to the master!" The three children lined up together and bowed respectfully.

Yang Zhengshan showed a kind smile, "Jin'er is getting more and more beautiful! Shi'er has also grown a lot taller. This is Xiu'er, come and let Master hold her!"

Song Jin smiled sweetly, walked to Song Xiu, and pushed Song Xiu, "This is the master, my mother's master."

Of course, Yang Zhengshan had met Song Jin. Song Jin often played in Yang's house when he was a child, and he also hugged Song Jin. However, this kid probably didn't remember Yang Zhengshan. He was only three years old when Yang Zhengshan left Chongshan Town.

Song Xiu looked at Yang Zhengshan and stepped forward timidly.

Yang Zhengshan picked her up and said with a smile: "Master, can you do a trick for you?"

"What trick?" Song Xiu asked curiously.

Yang Zhengshan stretched out his hand and waved it in front of her eyes, and the next moment, a pink peach appeared in his hand.

The little girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"Eat it!"

Yang Zhengshan handed the peach to her, and at the same time took out two more peaches for Song Jin and Song Shi.

"Master is so awesome!" Song Shi looked at Yang Zhengshan with admiration.

Yang Zhengshan rubbed his little head and said, "Practice your martial arts well. When you grow up, your master will also teach you how to practice!"

Song Shi nodded repeatedly.

The three children held the peach and began to eat it. Yang Zhengshan stepped forward to see Wang Yunqiao's condition and checked his pulse.

"It's not a big problem. Yu Du is almost gone. It's just that he lost too much blood. It will take about a month or two to fully recover!"

Wang Mingzhe nodded, "I have already prescribed a blood replenishing prescription for my sister."

Yang Zhengshan said: "Well, I brought the Golden Thorn Blood Vine and I will have someone deliver it to you later. You are responsible for taking care of them these days!"

Golden Thorn Blood Vine has the effect of replenishing qi and blood, and can also be used to refine blood qi pills, which is most suitable for nourishing the body of people who are recovering from serious injuries.

"Let Master worry!" Wang Mingzhe looked at his sister with some distress.

The eldest sister is like a mother. Although Wang Yunqiao was sometimes too harsh on him, he never complained about his sister.

Yang Zhengshan patted his shoulder, stood up and walked out of the inner room.

A night of silence.

Early the next morning, Yang Zhengshan came to the barracks outside the city to review the situation of Zhenbiao Camp.

There are five battalions in Zhenbiao, each battalion has 6,000 soldiers, but the soldiers in each battalion are divided into different types of soldiers.

The two battalions at the front and rear were all infantry, the two battalions on the left and right were all cavalry, and the middle camp was composed of 3,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

The reason for the difference is that the responsibilities of the soldiers in each battalion are different. The front and rear battalions are responsible for siege warfare, and the left and right battalions are responsible for field cavalry operations. Sometimes coordination of infantry and cavalry is required, and the soldiers of each battalion will also cooperate with each other.

The middle battalion is mainly responsible for guarding the commander, and also acts as a reserve team. If the other battalions are in serious trouble, the middle battalion will step forward to support.

At this time, only the middle camp and the rear camp were inspected by Yang Zhengshan.

When Yang Zhengshan saw the two battalions of soldiers arrayed in front, a strange look appeared on his face.

He rode to a group of cavalry, "Is this armored heavy cavalry?"

Song Dashan followed him and said, "Yes, there are 3,000 cavalry in the central camp, 2,000 of which are armored heavy cavalry! The other 1,000 are lightly armored archers!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at the cavalry that looked like tin cans, his eyes sparkling.

Armored heavy cavalry!

I didn't expect Zhou Lan to spend so much money to form an armored heavy cavalry!

Yang Zhengshan had trained armored cavalry before, but those armored cavalry were only wearing armor, and the armor was mainly mountain armor.

Armored cavalry and armored heavy cavalry don't need to wear armor. The war horses of armored heavy cavalry also need to wear armor, and the armor of cavalry is slightly different.

The weight of armored cavalry's armor is about 40 pounds, but the weight of armored heavy cavalry's armor is more than 100 pounds.

When Yang Zhengshan was in Tenglong Guard, he did consider building armored heavy cavalry, but he gave up in the end. First, the armor of heavy cavalry is scale armor, and the armor alone requires more than 1,800 pieces of armor, and if the horse armor is included, it will take almost 5,000 pieces of armor.

The iron ingots and manpower required to forge a set of scale armor are several times that of building a set of mountain armor.

Even though Tenglong Guard was already very wealthy at that time, Yang Zhengshan did not have so much financial resources to build a heavy cavalry.

Second, because of the war horses, the war horses of the armored heavy cavalry are all first-class war horses, which not only require the war horses to be tall, but also have strict requirements on the endurance of the war horses.

Although Yang Zhengshan can use spiritual spring water to improve the physique of the war horses, this improvement also takes a long time.

When Yang Zhengshan led the Tenglong Guard to fight, the war horses of the Tenglong Guard had already met the requirements of becoming armored heavy cavalry war horses, but they were war horses that he spent five years training.

Although Zhou Lan did not have spiritual spring water, she had a large grassland and hundreds of horse farms of various sizes. It was not easy to select the best from the best and train two thousand heavy cavalry in a few years.

The armored heavy cavalry not only needed armor and war horses, but also auxiliary soldiers. One armored heavy cavalry was equipped with one auxiliary soldier and three war horses.

The auxiliary soldiers were responsible for helping the armored heavy cavalry wear armor and help the heavy cavalry carry armor.

More than 100 kilograms of armor required a special war horse to carry and an auxiliary soldier to help wear it.

The cost of training an armored heavy cavalry was more than three times that of training an armored cavalry.

Yang Chengxu interrupted and said, "Although our front and rear camps do not have armored heavy cavalry, they each have two thousand heavy armored infantry!"

He pointed to the formation of the front camp in the distance, showing off his treasure.

Yang Zhengshan drove his horse over and looked at the heavy armored infantry.

Good guys, they are all iron cans.

The whole body is wrapped in iron armor, and even the face is covered with an iron mask, revealing only a pair of eyes and nose.

Moreover, these infantrymen all use golden gourd hammers, while the weapons equipped by the heavy armored cavalry just now are 10-foot-long lances and long swords.

As a blunt weapon, the biggest function of the golden gourd hammer is to break armor. With one hammer, even if the enemy is wearing iron armor, his bones will be broken.

Each of these heavy armored infantrymen holds two golden gourd hammers, which is almost like a human bunker.