...

On the first day of May, in the outskirts of Ganzhou Province, the Han army camp...

"Grandma, I'm not happy!"

Yang Wu tried hard to insert the knife in his hand into the soft soil, his face full of dissatisfaction.

Since the expedition to Henan, the war has been smoother than all of them have expected. All the places have surrendered and have not experienced a decent war since they sent troops for more than a month.

Although this situation is happy to see it for the upper class of the Han army, it is a little anxious and dissatisfied with the officers and soldiers in the middle and lower class.

Because no war means no military merit, and no military merit means no future of wealth. You should know that everyone voluntarily sign up for wealth and prosperity. Otherwise, if you travel far and go back in vain, the colleagues from other battalions would be embarrassed to say that they were just traveling for public expenses.

Until the regaining of Ganzhou, Zhang Yichao and Cui Liang's army still had not experienced a decent battle, which made the entire army feel a serious "uneasy and anxiety".

However, compared to Yang Wu, Hu Qing, who was beside him, obviously calmly held his breath, and he calmly took care of a new firearm in his hand - a medrorist gun.

This convex gun is one of the latest research results of the Science and Technology Department and military factories. Inspired by the Jiang family's Vulcan Camp and the contemplation of the Mo family's craftsmen, based on the principle of thermal expansion and contraction, after spending a lot of iron and gunpowder, it finally achieved mass production.

However, the launch of this mesh gun did not receive the attention of the elites of the old Han army camp. First of all, this mesh gun is too restricted by environmental constraints, and it is not suitable for combat in rainy and windy days.

Secondly, the loading steps are complicated, and compared with the crossbow, it is really touching. A skilled musketeer can fire at most two shots per minute. At this gap, a mature crossbow can fire more than four crossbow arrows. This is the difference during training. After two or three shots, it must be physically cooled before it can be used again.

Furthermore, the loud noise of muskets will disturb the war horses, and the thick smoke filled with black gunpowder will also blind your sight, seriously hindering the rhythm of fighting against the enemy.

Finally, it is the accuracy and range of the musket. This can basically be said to be a very painful problem. After all, it is common for a smooth-bore musket to hit the target within twenty steps.

So in summary, the soldiers of the old camp were refusing to this "cross-era" weapon. They just wanted hundreds of poles for each flag group, and then threw them in the warehouse to eat soil, swearing that they would never use such tricks.

This made the craftsmen of the Military Industry Department very embarrassed. They also knew that the muskets still need to be improved due to technical reasons, but muskets also have advantages that bendings do not have...

They have experimented with that at a distance of fifty steps, a lead bullet can penetrate iron plates nearly one millimeter thick, and this armor-breaking ability can only be achieved by crossbows with more than three stones.

But those who pulled three stones and crossbows were all elites in the army, almost all of them were Zhuo Shaoyun and Geshuhan. Even the Mu tribe, Wu tribe and the Hu army that surrendered were few able to do it.

Therefore, this musket is not undesirable. As long as it is operated properly, almost everyone has the ability to break armor. Will it be of great use to encounter tough battles in the future?

Also, although the crossbow is mature, the materials and processes required to create a pair of crossbows and the money sets spent can create seven or eight clamps. As long as the technology is updated, the cost of a crossbow can be as high as fifteen or sixteen clamps.

In order not to shelve his research results, the Science and Technology Department, the Craftsman Department, the Military Engineering Department and the officials and the heads of the Military Engineering Department blocked the road at the gate of the Military Governor's Office, begging Qin Mo, Ye Bin and the other troops to promote firearms, and even pulled Liu Ce's father-in-law Ye Xiong and Jiang Xun in.

In the end, their efforts were not in vain. Qin Mo agreed to let the muskets continue to improve and not stop production. The newly produced muskets were allocated to the B-class sergeant army.

Fortunately, the Class B Army accepted this kind of firearm. On average, 2,000 people in a battalion were equipped with at least 300 bullet guns, and quickly formulated a line-based battle array suitable for musket combat according to the plan given by Jiang Xun.

Hu Qing is the best player in the use of a melee. He can reach an amazing speed of three shots per minute during training. Even when he goes to the battlefield, he is confident that he can reach a frequency of one shot per minute or two shots.

After Hu Qing checked the gun barrel, he wiped it carefully and said casually: "If what I expected is not bad, this firearm will become the mainstream weapon on the battlefield in the future..."

Yang Wu sneered at the moment, but there was nothing wrong, so he just came to him and smiled and said, "Captain Hu, do you think this fire stick is really that powerful?"

Hu Qing nodded and said, "Yes, believe me. This is the military engineering weapon that the military governor attaches most importance to. Although it is not yet mature, in a few years, you will believe that everything I say is true."

Upon hearing this, Yang Wu looked at the dark and strong "fire burning stick" in Hu Qing's hand, and he always doubted the authenticity of the sentence.

"The whole army gathered!"

Suddenly, a rapid shout rang over the military camp. Yang Wu and Hu Qing immediately stood up and returned to their own divisions, waiting for the order to be issued.

After a while, after the two thousand people in the battalion were assembled, Zhang Yichao, the commander of the army, walked to the front of the army, glanced at the military formation, and spoke:

"After the latest information, more than 10,000 enemy traces were found forty miles ahead of our camp. This commander ordered you to prepare for a quarter of an hour.

A quarter of an hour later, immediately go to fight this enemy. Remember, this battle is the first time for you to fight against the enemy,

This commander didn't say much, and he would ask a friendly battalion to cooperate with you in action. It is necessary to win the first battle. Do you understand!"

"clear!"

Two thousand Han soldiers shouted together, and the howling sound shook the sky and the earth.

"Dissolve! A quarter of an hour later, gather outside the camp!"

After Zhang Yichao left a word, he left without looking back.

As soon as Zhang Yichao left, the two thousand soldiers immediately became busy and began to pack up their own items to go to war.

Yang Wu rushed into his tent with a rush and took the skin bag containing medicine and rations as fast as possible. Then he checked the Qi Dao and the Ring Head Knife in his hand. After confirming that there was no problem, he raised a long shield and walked out of the tent comfortably.

"Ten thousand people, we only have two thousand people. Isn't it a bit too thin?"

As soon as he left the tent, Yang Wu heard a soldier in his arms muttering anxiously.

"Sweet..." Yang Wu snorted at the soldier with disdain, "It's just a 10,000 mob, so you're afraid of being like this? If everyone participates, how much military merit can we get?

You should know that a Chu army has only a little military merit, and ten thousand people are only ten thousand. It takes ten thousand troops to join them. If there are more wolves and fewer meat, you won’t be red-eyed? If you are afraid, don’t go, stay. Don’t be sour when we exchange military merits for money and fields…”

Hearing this, the soldier immediately retorted: "Who said I was afraid? There is no reason to give up this free military merit. I wouldn't come here even if I'm afraid of death!"

Yang Wu nodded, and then went with him to find his own team to assemble.

In less than a quarter of an hour, two thousand soldiers from all over the camp were already standing outside the camp gate waiting. Hu Qing carried the musket on his shoulders and stood in the musket team with a calm expression, but his slightly trembling calf and uneven breathing betrayed his excitement at the moment.

After a while, Lin Jiangyuan, the commander of the camp flag, came to the front of the formation with a blue face. After careful examination, he put his hands on his back and nodded slightly.

The flag-tag player immediately understood and waved the blue flag in his hand high for the next moment.

“Woo~~”

The horn of the expedition sounded, and two thousand soldiers officially set out to the battlefield to welcome their first real battle since their expedition.

...

Forty miles away, Qin Zongquan led 10,000 Chu troops to Ganzhou in a mighty manner.

This time, he was still appointed as the vanguard general, and Qin Zongquan also cherished his opportunity very much.

After all, the Battle of Changhe was just over. Although Gu Qian was defeated, the Chu army suffered a lot of losses. They are currently resting in the Changhe Fortress, waiting for the arrival of Wang Chuxiao's food and grass in the rear. It is a rare opportunity to lead the vanguard into the capital.

Qin Zongquan believed that the time was rare. After all, he was familiar with the capital, and he also knew about Liu Ce's entry into the capital, and he also wanted to take advantage of this chaos to prove his value to Huang Fu and the Chu army.

Because Qin Zongquan believed that Liu Ce was an outlier nouveau riche, he would definitely have friction with the aristocratic bureaucrats in the capital, and it was an excellent opportunity to go to the army at this moment.

So he tried hard to get this place and personally led a 20,000 army to take down Ganzhou as a base. As for why there were only 10,000 people left, it was all because he was eager for success and greedy for profit and left the old and weak alone.

"General, it's almost noon. My brothers are tired and exhausted. Why not take a break first and leave after lunch!"

When he reached thirty miles from Ganzhou, his deputy general Zhao Gong suggested kindly.

Qin Zongquan looked at the state of the Chu army, looked up at the sun in the sky, and nodded and said, "Okay, after lunch, we should keep our energy and move forward quickly. We must go to Ganzhou first in one battle, and order the entire army to set up camp on the spot!"

After the order to stop and rest was conveyed, the Chu army, with more than 10,000 people, immediately stopped marching and cursing, and sat together in groups of three or five. The chefs who followed the army took the pot behind them and began to look for dry firewood and thatch to make a living.

The Chu army's marching rations were very simple. They cleaned up the brown rice that had been filtered several times and mixed with some cabbage and potatoes and threw them into the pot and cooked them.

Such food is naturally difficult to swallow, but for Chu Jun, who was short of food, it was already very good to have such a meal. On weekdays, they were sour, black steamed buns with boiled water under the belly, and even the needed seasonings were mainly vinegar cloth.

But ironically, it was such an army that fought against the three provinces of Jingchu that had no power to fight back. They even seized the Long River defense line and formed a counterattack against the capital, which also indirectly shows that the Great Zhou army was hopelessly ruined.

However, generals like Qin Zongquan have their own "small stoves". They can eat sweet potatoes, potatoes, pickled vegetables and even rice. After all, limited supplies are naturally limited to the upper-level officers...

Qin Zongquan bit off the white steamed bun in one bite, picked up a chopstick to pickle vegetables, put it in his mouth and chewed it with relish. The personal soldiers beside him drooled.

They hadn't eaten such fine grains for a long time, and they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts how good Qin Zongquan treated him...

“Comfortable…”

Qin Zongquan ignored the mood of the personal soldiers around him. After swallowing his last bite of steamed bun, he picked up the boiling water sprinkled with salt. After taking a sip, he nodded with satisfaction.
Chapter completed!