Before the Eighth Battalion of Chengying was officially established, Zhao Xingde welcomed another acquaintance, Ma Rui, the centurion of the former Iron Bones Army Cavalry Camp, finally couldn't stand the loneliness and asked to transfer himself to Chengying Army. The two met again after a long separation, which was particularly joyful.

Ma Rui quickly turned his attention to the ten cannons. "When we fight, do we have to bring these bulky guys with us?" He pushed a cannon cart with his hand, feeling not as heavy as he imagined, and then smiled and said, "Can the iron barrel cannon follow the army?"

Zhao Xingde smiled and nodded and said, "When fighting, the heavy guys will also take care of the infantry and cavalry."

Ma Rui nodded with a smile. He was not interested in artillery and his eyes wandered around. Suddenly, he saw more than a dozen horses very tall, at least two thousand kilograms, which seemed particularly prominent in the artillery battalion. He exclaimed and shouted, "Why don't such a big horse be given to our cavalry team?"

Zhao Xingde smiled and said, "This kind of horse is very strong, but it is very slow in the short distance. You can't catch up with the Khitans. Do you want to shoot as a sieve?" All kinds of horses in the camp have specific uses. Wusun does not pick up fodder, and a horse can pull a nearly 1,000-pound baggage truck. It can walk 80 miles a day, and the endurance of long-distance marching is good. The Dayuan horse is relatively delicate, but it is the best companion of cavalry on the battlefield. It is agile and flexible, has fast sprinting, and has endurance. This giant horse with two thousand pounds is specially used to do heavy work.

Ma Rui walked up to observe with a puzzled expression and found that the rider had a special sense of the horse. He found that as Zhao Xingde said, the horse was harmonious in temperament, but his reaction was slow. It was like a strong man who had been working hard for many years, and his strength was great. If he wanted to go to the battlefield, he could not beat the agile sergeant.

The gunners in front were doing transition training. The cannon trucks, ammunition trucks, and supplies trucks were all put on horseback. They were arranged in an orderly manner according to the gun group. Accompanied by the officer's command, the gunner gently waved the whip, and the four Piwusun horses worked together. The nearly two thousand pounds of cannons were easily dragged. In order to improve the mobility of the artillery, the Ordnance Department specially made rubber wheels for the cannon trucks and used bearing devices that were rare in this era.

Behind the cannon cart are two ammunition chariots, and behind are the baggage chariots. Zhao Xingde's ten cannons were divided into two 100-man teams. In addition to the ten cannon carts, there were twenty ammunition chariots, thirty three sets of baggage chariots, a total of more than two hundred military horses were dragging these big guys, one after another, and joined the marching column.

Centurion Gao Su was originally a cavalry centurion of the Tiger Wing Army. Because he had received training in observation, positioning and calculation angles of the marching department, he was transferred to the gunner camp by Zhao Xingde. As his name was, his face was as cold as iron plates. The fifty gunners under his command were originally from infantry and cavalry. Under strict and rigid training, in addition to aiming, the speed of loading ammunition was no less than that of the old gunner.

The marching row was like a green dragon, and the smooth surface of the cannon body reflected the sunshine of April afternoon. Gao Su felt that his whole body was full of strength. The gunners on the three sets of baggage trucks seemed relatively relaxed, while the gunners sitting in the front of the gun cart and ammunition trucks were very nervous. They rarely drove four horses to pull the cart, and Zhao Xingde had strict requirements on the marching row and did not allow any cart to delay the marching. The whole marching was silent, with occasional brief and powerful commands, or horses' short neighing and sniffing.

After a column of artillery vehicles circled the field for a week, they returned to the shooting position when they set out. Under the command of the officer, the artillery was pushed into the artillery basement, and ammunition trucks were parked behind the position, and the horses were taken to a safe position in the rear. In a short time, the gunners were already standing in their respective positions with various tools in their hands.

Then, with the officer's instructions, the gunners began to practice dismantling the cannons for transportation. Previously, Ma Rui saw that the big horse was carrying more than 700 kilograms of gun body, gun mount and wheel, and the ammunition box was placed on the back of other horses. The gunners led the horses in a row. This simulated the situation when the road was rugged and the vehicles were unable to pass.

"The power of the four-inch cannon is far greater than that of the three-inch cannon. If the cannon body was not too heavy and could not be carried by the horse, I would rather have four-inch cannons all." After the training, Zhao Xingde said regretfully that the four-inch cannon alone was nearly 1,500 kilograms, and there was no one in the existing military horses that could carry them.

While wiping the sweat on his forehead, Gao Su said: "As far as you see, you should add a smaller light cannon. It is not only easy to carry, but also moves quickly, but also pushes it to the front of the formation." He was a cavalryman. Although he had been changed to the artillery team, he was always thinking about speeding up the movement, and he was very interested in Ma Rui and Wang Tongdeng.

"That's right," Ma Rui said, "The artillery team's speed must be accelerated before it can keep up with our cavalry!"

Gao Su added: "It's better to reduce the weight of the artillery to the point where ordinary war horses can carry it. Accompanied by cavalry raiding the enemy's nest, it can destroy cities and draw villages without affecting speed. Just like the whirlwind cannon used in the past."

Listening to the two of them here to give advice, Zhao Xingde interrupted: "It is not easy to reduce the weight of the artillery, and the Ordnance Department can only spend a gold reward."

Wang Tongdeng and Ma Rui looked at him and said in unison: "If the artillery team can keep up with the cavalry, what does it have to do with just gold?"

After a brief rest, two infantry 100 teams and one cavalry 100 team also came to the artillery range. This time it was a coordinated combat exercise. The artillery first shook the enemy's formation, and then the cavalry team attacked the enemy from both flanks, and finally the infantry launched a frontal attack.

The training of each team continued until the sun was dusk and the blazing clouds were everywhere. Wang Tongdeng and Ma Rui and other unmarried officers took the soldiers back to the barracks. Zhao Xingde and other officers in Dunhuang went home to rest. Zhou Zhongyuan often sighed that because he was training near the capital, the Eighth Battalion suffered the least suffering in the history of Chengying's military. Speaking of which, in the past, the battalions were not as strict as Zhao Xingde's squad regulations and internal affairs regulations. Zhang Shanfu, who had come to the school to review once, even joked to Zhou Zhongyuan that it would be better to transfer Zhao De to teach the military, and he would train the newly recruited soldiers in the future.

Standing outside the yard, Zhao Xingde smelled a strong smell of stewed chicken. Aunt Liu from Yinhu heard the sound of knocking on the door and opened the door and smiled: "Zhao Jun is back, my wife has been waiting for you for a long time."

Because Li Ruoxue became pregnant and his body gradually became heavier, Zhao Xingde hired her to help with housework such as fetching water, sweeping the floor, buying vegetables, cooking, etc. The aunt was in her forties and had three children, and she knew how to take care of pregnant women and mothers. Although Xingde was not at home all year round, Li Ruoxue could only explain the law on his behalf, but Liu had never encountered any trouble of having to solve the problem of the sergeant himself, so she had never planned to switch to another family. It has been more than three years now.

The men of the Liu family died early. In addition to farming and giving land, they also helped the servants everywhere. She earned about 150 cents a day, and should have paid 45 cents to the soldiers who were supposed to be sheltering her. Li Ruoxue was kind-hearted and not only did she not take any penny, but she also paid five cents of money to the camp for her every year. This situation was common in the Xia Kingdom. Some soldiers did not lack silver and money in their families, and some soldiers were able to save their relatives and friends from their relatives and friends by themselves. A few rich and kind-hearted soldiers would also hand over the silver equivalent of nine cents of money to the camp for the poor family. The camp then handed over three of the money to the military mansion and three cents to the court.

The Prime Minister's Office encouraged Cao a great act of kindness, and every year he commended a group of scholars who sheltered the poor. The rich family of founding princes and marquises sheltered hundreds of poor people, and paid taxes on their behalf. Although the fees were not large, they gained a great reputation in the local area and relieved the pressure on the court.

Seeing that the courtyard was tidy and the food in the kitchen was fragrant, Zhao Xingde smiled and said, "Thank you Aunt Liu." At this time, Li Ruoxue heard the sound in the courtyard and smiled and said to Aunt Liu, "You should go back early to see your children."

Liu smiled and said, "The three of us don't have to watch them anymore, and I'm hoping that I'll go back later." Although she said that, she quickly cleaned up the last bit of housework, and finally told her: "The chicken soup in the pottery pot will be stewed for a moment. The vegetable porridge is in the clay pot and the big steamed buns are in the steamer." Then she left.

Zhao Xingde tied the horses, took off the saddle, put the water and forage in the food trough, and carried the smell of horse manure and hay all over, so he took Li Ruoxue in his arms. The Chengying Camp was bound to be on an expedition. After Li Ruoxue heard that the people in Liaodong were suffering, he advised Zhao Xingde not to refuse. The two of them had not been together for too many days, so they were about to separate again.

When he arrived at the study, Li Ruoxue took out a letter and said, "This is from Mr. Chunyu."

"Oh?" Zhao Xingde smiled, "I don't know if it's for iron smelting or bearings." He has never kept business from Li Ruoxue.

Since he returned to Guanzhong with Chunyu Zhen, he and the two of them often communicated with each other with letters. During the march training, Zhao Xingde felt that the cannon cart was not walking smoothly enough and made an unpleasant sound. He carefully studied and found that the reason was that the roller bearing used in the cannon cart was generally similar to that of later generations, but the precision was not enough. This bearing is now mostly used on the shafts of the mill, and it was a bit unsatisfactory to use it for vehicles. So he drew a structural diagram of the ball bearing to send it to Chunyu Zhen, and pointed out the steel performance used in various parts of the bearing, and suggested that the iron plant start trial production of this kind of artifact that will inevitably be highly promoted from now on. If it can be successful, just using the four-wheeled carriage of the logistics department with a new bearing would be enough for Chunyu Iron Factory to make a fortune.

Zhao Xingde casually opened the letter, looked at it for a while, and his brows frowned slightly. Chunyu Zhen's letter was neither about the issue of ironmaking or the trial production of bearings, but reported to him the wasteland of laborers in Guanzhong.

In the past two months, under the persuasion and arrangement of Daolu Cao, almost all the new refugees from the east have chosen to go to the west of Shishan to receive land, and all the workshops in Guanzhong have fallen into a shortage of workers and disciples. Although Chunyu Iron Factory has opened a wage twice the market price, the new refugees do not believe that there is such a good thing. Instead, they think that Chunyu Iron Factory is the liar workshop described by the officials of Daolu Cao. Helplessly, Chunyu Zhen could only consider recruiting some

People in Guanzhong are all working disciples. These people have their household registration and are easily unwilling to change to business registration. For workshops, hiring households will cause interference from the military government if they are not careful. Chunyu Zhen mentioned that the workshops in Guanzhong are now taking strange tricks. Some have forced their employees and apprentices who have expired, some have increased their wages and meals to stimulate workers and apprentices to speed up their work, and some have hidden refugees who have not passed through the road.

Because he was worried that Chunyu Zhen would seek medical treatment in a hurry and violated the taboo of the court, Zhao Xingde immediately replied to him, asking him to rather reduce the size of the iron factory or hire reliable Guanzhong people than to do things that violate the law such as concealing workers and disciples.
Chapter completed!