This year, Xiangyang and Dengzhou prefectures were in good weather, and wheat and rice were harvested. Wang Xiaoli opened a supply and marketing cooperative and actively contacted grain merchants from other places to ensure the price of grain, and farmers had good income. Farmers had money in their hands and business in all walks of life was good. This was a good year. When the Chinese New Year was over, everyone was happy.

After getting help from Chen Gui, Wang Xiaolie began to make gunpowder. In an open space outside Xinye City, a special gun test yard was built to make artillery. However, there was only one, which was particularly bulky. The test yard was specially equipped with craftsmen, using this gun to perform various tests. Only when the test is mature can practical artillery be truly made.

With gunpowder, in addition to making cannons, fireworks and firecrackers can also be made.

As soon as the twelfth lunar month entered, Wang Xiaoli specially arranged people to make fireworks and firecrackers for the New Year Festival. Fireworks are not uncommon. Although the Song Dynasty did not test the best formula for artillery, it made fireworks. Firecrackers were unprecedented.

On the New Year's Day, when it was dark, a firework suddenly appeared in the open space in front of Xinye Yamen, blooming in the air like a scattered flower of a goddess. People in the city looked at the sky and were extremely excited.

As the fireworks exploded, many fireworks shot into the air. Then there was a "crackling" sound that rang in front of the yamen. As the breeze blew, a faint smell of gunpowder drifted in the air.

The people surrounding the yamen watched and discussed enthusiastically. In the past, firecrackers were set off during the Chinese New Year, but where did they have such momentum? When the biggest firecrackers sounded, many people felt the ground shaking.

After having a reunion dinner with his family, Chen Yuyi hurried into the yamen. When he arrived at the yamen, he saluted Wang Xiaohu.

Everyone drank a bowl of wine. Wang Xiaoli said to Zhang Jun: "Tomorrow morning, you will take a thousand cavalry and set off with Shao Yun. I have said everything you should say, you must be careful. Also, Shanzhou must be very difficult now. When you arrive, you must do your best to send them food and grass. I originally wanted you to bring some corn in Guozhou, but I was afraid that Shanzhou would not even have firewood. Remember to bring some cooked food and deliver it to Shanzhou City."

Zhang Jun crossed his hands and said, "Don't worry, I will fulfill my mission!"

Wang Xiaoli nodded: "Okay, okay. You have a great responsibility to go to Shanzhou. Only when Li Guan defends Shanzhou will the army behind him make sense. If I arrive and the Shanzhou city is destroyed, this matter cannot be explained."

Zhang Jun focused on the key points.

Wang Xiaoli said again: "Also, after you arrive, send some soldiers to transport grain into the city. You bring most of the soldiers outside the city. Once you enter the city, you will be sealed up by the Jin army. There is no way to do many things. You can adapt to other things!"

After saying that, he looked at the sky. Wang Xiaolei said, "It's getting late, you go back and rest first. I'll see you off tomorrow morning!"

Zhang Jun was not verbose, and bowed and said goodbye to everyone.

Looking at Zhang Jun's departure, Wang Xiaolei said: "This battle is something we have never encountered before. It is a real battle. No matter how careful it is, it is not too much. Now the plan has been decided. Today and tomorrow, the generals of the army will participate in the front-line officers and soldiers and discuss with them. See what difficulties there are still in the trip to Shanzhou, which is something we have not thought of. Look at what the officers think and what we think. Let's see what preparations we have not done well. If we don't talk about those strategies and plans, we must be bold and careful. This carefulness will first look at how the officers and soldiers are!"

Niu Gao said: "Don't worry about observing, we will do it well!"

Wang Xiaolie hesitated and said, "I don't want to say this sentence, but if you think about it, it's better to make it clear. No matter how careful we prepare for the first war, there will inevitably be some mistakes. All the generals should do their best, and there are no need to be too entangled. This war is not only a battle with the Jin army, but also an opportunity for us to learn. What to learn? What kind of army is the Jin army, what are its strengths and weaknesses, and how to play to its strengths and avoid its weaknesses in the future. We must learn war in war and learn how to fight with the Jin army!"

"Learn from war?" Chen and Yi read this sentence silently. "It was so strange to observe this. Twenty or thirty years ago, the Jin people were similar to the savages, so how could they know how to fight? They were just brave and fearless, and it was difficult to control for a while. What could they learn from?"

Wang Xiaolei said: "Just just be brave and fearless? If it were just like this, the Great Liao, which was destroyed by the Jin people for more than ten years, would be so unfair! The hundreds of thousands of troops that were destroyed by the Jin people in this dynasty were so unfair! If you still think so, how stupid it would be! You must never underestimate your enemies, otherwise you will suffer! In this war, I asked you to choose some scholars, have you chosen?"

Chen Yuyi said: "I have already chosen it, I don't know what instructions do you have to observe?"

Wang Xiaolei said: "The problem of scholars is that they clearly don't know something, but they force themselves to know it, and they point fingers. Confucius said, "Knowing it means knowing it, not knowing it, but not knowing it means knowing it. This sentence is just that scholars don't understand it! This time you take scholars and go to Shanzhou to join the war! You don't need to give advice, just write down what you see and what you have experienced, and record the war process clearly. Your records on the battlefield are the materials that later generations learn. Don't be like some ministers, who clearly know nothing about war, but they are pointing to the heaven and earth in the court. What's the use of their so-called strategy? It's just laughing!"

Seeing that Wang Xiaoli's expression was very serious, Chen Yuyi didn't dare to say it anymore, but just bowed to him.

Looking at Chen Yuyi, Wang Xiao said with great thoughts: "When is now? The foreign enemy is approaching, and seven or eight out of ten of the world are poisoned by it. It is obvious that everyone knows that everyone needs to stand up and fight the Jin army to the end. But no one can explain how to stand up, how to organize, and how to fight the Jin army. Learning about war in war is because I didn't know before. For example, how the Jin army was organized? It's like our command or later generals, what is the corresponding Jin army? How many people are there? How many auxiliary soldiers are selected when a general is on the battlefield? How many auxiliary soldiers should a warrior bring? How does the Jin army collect and transport the logistics supplies of the Jin army? On the battlefield, how did the Jin army organize? How did they command? How do they use infantry and how do they use cavalry? Is there many infantry people or cavalry people? Who can explain clearly all kinds of things?"

Chen Yuyi was stunned for a moment. Wang Xiaoliu didn't say this knowledge, even if someone wanted to pay attention to it, it would not be so detailed or so systematic. But if you think about it carefully, if you don't know these, the war will appear blind.

Wang Xiaoli looked at the generals and said, "Learning war from war includes many contents. It not only includes understanding the enemy, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, what we should avoid, what we can learn. It also includes understanding our own army, which training is effective against the enemy, what is useless, and what is wrong. It also requires learning how to use our strengths, how to use the enemy's weaknesses, and use our own strengths to defeat the enemy's weaknesses. All aspects of the battlefield must be learned back on the battlefield!"

For a moment, no one spoke. Compared with others, Wang Xiaoli paid special attention to education and learning. From leading the army, he would learn from other troops as soon as he had the opportunity. When he arrived in Ruzhou, he gradually stabilized and opened various schools. This spirit of learning gradually began to infect his subordinates. However, few people understood the meaning of this.

As a militia, if you lack military knowledge and systematic training, how can you quickly adapt to the battlefield? The best way is to learn. And not only militias, but also the real army needs this. Once you don’t know how to learn, this unit will be in danger.

Before the anti-Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty was indeed very primitive and to some extent was still located in primitive society. However, this does not mean that the military thought of the Jin army was backward. In many aspects, the military thought of the Jin army was advanced than that of the Liao Dynasty and more advanced than the Song Dynasty. Just by being brave and fearless and with their strict military discipline, they could defeat two major powers in a row for decades, and I am afraid that it would be a joke!

From the Qin unified the six kingdoms and the establishment of the Han Dynasty, for more than a thousand years, the unified Chinese military thought did not continue to develop. From the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains had little chance of winning against the surrounding nomadic regimes. Not only did the nomadic regime develop, but the Central Plains also lagged behind. This backwardness was from military thought, to military system, to combat thought, to soldiers' quality, and all-round retreat.

Some people always think that history is moving forward, and later things are always more advanced. In terms of ideology, China pays special attention to the progressive significance of the historical stage. Feudal society is stronger than slave society in all aspects, so it replaces slave society. Capitalism is stronger than feudal society in all aspects, so capitalism replaces feudal society. In fact, history is not that simple.

Ideology is sometimes similar to religious beliefs. What is the reality is not important, but I think what is important. The interpretation of history is often a service to ideology and does not focus on the truth of history.

From the perspective of military theory, analyzing the army at this time by simply organizing, commanding, combating, etc., the Jin army was actually much better than the Song army at this time. Instead, as some people believe, the reason why the Song army failed was because the generals were cowardly, the court did not have the determination to fight, many ministers wanted to reconcile, and even had traitors. If the army had the upper hand and the front line won consecutive battles, the voice of seeking peace would naturally disappear quickly.

It is from this perspective that we can realize how great Yue Fei was in history. Yue Fei was not only a famous general, but also directly changed the organization and command of the Song army and gained a positive advantage over the Jin army.
Chapter completed!