In late May, more than 100,000 surrendered troops returned to Jiangdu Prefecture on captured Han army ships.
Zhang Yangquan expanded the camp in the north of the city and appointed generals such as Fu Youde, Chang Yuchun, Wang Da, Hou Hou, Geng San, and Liang Rong to be responsible for the training.
Although Monkey, Wang Da and others' ability to lead troops is not very good, after all, they were the two who led it single-handedly, and they understand Qin Lingjun and Zhang Yangquan's military training methods very well.
Every day at dawn, I start long-distance running exercises in the morning, followed by exercises such as stance, goose step, and formation.
This group of surrendered soldiers had never received such arduous training, and they complained at first. However, they soon discovered that the food of the Jiangdu army was much better than that of the Han army, so they tolerated it.
At the same time, the Western Expedition army advanced all the way to the west with overwhelming momentum, destroying many new kings who had just emerged.
In mid-June, Xu Baisheng led an army of 80,000 to Chenzhou Road.
Chenzhou is the westernmost prefecture and county in Huguang Province, and further west is Sichuan Province.
Because Zhang Yangquan's order was not to attack Sichuan for the time being, Xu Baisheng stationed himself there after he reached Chenzhou, issuing orders to calm the people, provide relief to the people, and crack down on bandits.
In late June, Fangyuan's 70,000-strong army reached Kuizhou Road.
Kuizhou Road actually belonged to Sichuan Province, but because it was too far away from Chongqing, Ming Yuzhen did not send heavy troops to defend it, so Fang Yuan took advantage of the situation and captured it.
In early July, Li Er's army marched all the way to Yongzhou, and further west was Quanzhou, which was occupied by King Ding Pulang of Jingjiang and was heavily defended by 30,000 troops.
Li Er then stationed his troops in Yongzhou, sent a victory report to Zhang Yangquan, and waited for new instructions.
Shanzhu also sent people to convey the news that under Chen Youding's desperate resistance, it was very difficult for him to attack Fujian. He hoped that Zhang Yangquan would send another force to attack from the north and attack Chen Youding from both sides.
At this time, almost all the land in Jiangnan, except Fujian and Jingjiang, fell into the hands of Jiangdu's army.
Ding Pulang was far less threatening than Chen Youding, so Zhang Yangquan sent an order to Li Er, asking him to change direction and attack Tingzhou from the north.
On the second day after Zhang Yangquan handed down the order, the personal guards came to report, and Lan Yu and Han Lin'er asked to see them.
Zhang Yangquan was slightly surprised and asked his guards to bring the two of them in.
As soon as they entered the study, they knelt down together.
Han Lin'er bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to ask you!"
Zhang Yangquan smiled and said: "If you have anything to do, just say it. Get up and talk."
However, Han Lin'er refused to get up and said: "Your Majesty, I want to save my brother, and I ask for your permission!"
Zhang Yangquan was stunned for a moment and said: "Are you talking about Song Emperor Han Qing'er?"
Han Lin'er nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I heard that Bianliang was surrounded by Mongolian Tatars, and I asked your Majesty's permission to let me rescue my brother and Liu Futong!"
Zhang Yangquan stared at him for a while and said: "Since you came here to tell me about this matter, you must have considered it in detail. I just ask you, do you know what the difficulty is in this matter?"
Han Lin'er hurriedly said: "I know. Bianliang is too far away from our army, and the defenders of Haozhou and Sizhou cannot move lightly now. It will take at least half a month to send troops from Jiangdu Prefecture to get there."
Zhang Yangquan said: "Then how are you going to solve it?"
Han Lin'er said: "The infantry does take more than half a month, but the cavalry only takes five or six days!"
Zhang Yangquan stared at him and said: "War horses are very valuable to our army. Do you think it is worth the risk to send a large group of cavalry to save them?"
Lan Yu interjected: "You don't need a large group of cavalry, just five hundred cavalry!"
Zhang Yangquan turned to look at him and said, "Are you going to use five hundred cavalry to rescue you?"
Lan Yu said: "There are tens of thousands of Song troops in the prefectures and counties south of Bianliang. It's a pity that Bianliang is surrounded. These Song troops are leaderless and dare not go to the rescue."
"You give us five hundred elite cavalry, and we can assemble these Song troops and go to rescue Bianliang!"
Zhang Yangquan's heart moved and he said: "Will those Song generals listen to you?"
Lan Yu raised her head and said: "We have our own means, please don't underestimate us, Your Majesty!"
Zhang Yangquan was silent for a while and said, "Does your family know about this?"
Han Lin'er lowered her head.
Lan Yu snorted and said: "They said we were out of ideas and didn't even listen to our explanation, so they rejected it outright!"
Zhang Yangquan thought for a while and said: "If I don't agree, what will you do?"
Lan Yu said anxiously: "Your Majesty, good generals are trained on the battlefield. If you don't give us a chance to hone, we won't be able to become outstanding generals. When Brother Chang and the others get old, you will have no one available.
!"
Zhang Yangquan laughed dumbly and said: "If I send all the good seedlings like you out to die, I will also have no generals to use!"
Han Lin'er said seriously: "We are not going to die. Your Majesty will understand as long as he sees our battle plan!"
He took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it over.
Zhang Yangquan didn't expect that the two of them had even written a battle plan. Out of curiosity, he took it and started reading it.
The more he looked at it, the more surprised he became. It had to be said that the two young men really dared to think about it.
"Well, although it is a bit bold, it is not without a chance of success!" He made an objective evaluation.
Lan Yu said happily: "Then you agreed?"
Zhang Yangquan thought for a while and said: "Let's do this. You and I will make an agreement, and I will promise you!"
The two asked in unison: "What agreement?"
Zhang Yangquan said: "If your battle plan succeeds and you take the tens of thousands of Song troops south of Bianliang for your own use, then I will allow you to go to Bianliang for rescue."
"But you must keep in mind that you are only rescuing. You must strictly follow your plan and never fight the enemy head-on. If the situation is unfavorable, retreat immediately without any hesitation!"
"Also, if you don't succeed, take the five hundred cavalry back to Jiangdu Mansion and don't mention this matter again!"
Lan Yu and Han Lin'er looked at each other and discussed in a low voice.
"We can promise you, but you have to promise us one more condition!" Lan Yu said with her head raised.
Zhang Yangquan smiled and said: "Now you are bargaining with me. Tell me, what else do you want?"
Lan Yu said: "You can't tell Brother Chang and General Hou about this, otherwise they will definitely not trust us and will follow us and hinder us!"
Zhang Yangquan laughed and said: "Wouldn't it be more secure if they go with you? How could they hinder you?"
Lan Yu hummed: "With them here, they must be the ones making the decisions. We will become soldiers who follow orders and can't make the decision. What else can we gain?"
Han Lin'er followed: "This plan was thought up by the two of us, and they will definitely have different opinions. If we change it again and again, the plan will be affected!"
Zhang Yangquan heard what the two said was reasonable and said: "Okay, I promise you, but you must abide by the previous agreement!"
Lan Yu said happily: "Of course, if the king doesn't believe it, we are willing to issue a military order!"
Zhang Yangquan waved his hand and said: "There is no need for a military order. You can retreat first. I will help you select your troops and then send someone to notify you."
The two looked at each other, smiled together, and left.
Next to a willow tree outside the palace, Hu Xiaobao saw the two people coming out and ran over quickly and asked: "Brother Lin'er, Boss Lan, does the king agree?"
Lan Yu rolled her nose proudly and said: "I agree, but you must keep your mouth shut. If this is leaked, I will beat you!"
Hu Xiaobao said hurriedly: "I have the strongest mouth, don't worry."
Han Lin'er glanced at him sideways.
"What the hell, I asked you to keep a secret before. Just turn around and tell your grandpa. If you say it again this time, don't follow us anymore!"
Hu Xiaobao said aggrievedly: "My grandfather won't tell others!"
Han Lin'er glared and said, "How dare you talk back?"
Hu Xiaobao whispered: "I know!"
The three of them were talking while heading towards the south of the city. There was an abandoned garden in the south of the city, which the three of them regarded as a secret base.
Lan Yu suddenly asked: "Xiaobao, have your grandfather and those Dadu craftsmen developed a new musket?"
Hu Xiaobao lowered his head and said: "Not yet. Although the problem of rifling has been solved, the problem of breech loading is still difficult to overcome."
Han Lin'er asked: "What is rifling?"
Hu Xiaobao explained: "It is to carve spiral-shaped concave and convex lines in the barrel, which can make the projectile rotate quickly when it is fired, increasing the accuracy."
Han Lin'er ignored the previous words, clapped her hands, and said, "That means the accuracy can be increased! Then wouldn't it be enough to just produce a rifled muzzle-loading gun first? It's not too late to improve it after the breech-loading problem is solved!
”
Hu Xiaobao shook his head and said: "No, if you only carve rifling on the barrel, it will increase the time for loading the projectiles. If you can't change it to the breech loading, it will not be as useful as the current bird gun!"
Han Lin'er nodded in understanding.
Lan Yu was scratching his head, as long as the topic of guns came up, he was basically listening to the Bible.
"In short, if you hurry up and figure it out, Jia Ban and Jia Lu are about to make the third generation artillery. If you keep dilly-dallying, the king will definitely replace someone with the muskets!" He shouted.
Hu Xiaobao was stunned for a moment and then lowered his head. This was also the thing he was most worried about.
Han Lin'er said: "Xiaobao, didn't you say you had a good idea last time? Did you tell your grandpa?"
Hu Xiaobao muttered: "Grandpa didn't let me speak at all. He just told me to study hard and don't worry about guns!"
Lan Yu snorted and said: "These adults all have the same moral character. They think that we are too young to do anything good! Xiaobao, I think you might as well do it yourself. If you can do it, your grandpa will be impressed by you!"<
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Hu Xiaobao is not so confident.
"Then, how can that work... Grandpa and so many masters can't do it, how can I do it?"
Han Lin'er patted him on the shoulder and said: "Boss Lan is right. You can assemble something as complicated as a musket by yourself, which shows that your brain is really flexible!"
Hu Xiaobao said in a daze: "But I don't have the parts and tools, so I can't do it even if I want to!"
Lan Yu smiled and said: "Don't you often go to the Ordnance Bureau? Just find an opportunity to steal some!"
Hu Xiaobao kept waving his little hands: "Well, how can that be done? How can a gentleman steal?"
Han Lin'er hit him on the head.
"Don't be so rigid. You stole it back to develop a better musket. As long as you come up with it, the king will praise you!"
"Really?" Hu Xiaobao's face turned slightly red, obviously he had been persuaded by the two of them.
"What's the point? When everyone sees you, they will praise you, and no one will dare to look down on you anymore!"
Hu Xiaobao trembled with excitement: "Well, let me give it a try."