Liu Chengzong looked at the silent mountains in northern Shaanxi, and the entire northern Shaanxi was shrouded in a strange silence.
After Aimu's troops were annihilated, northern Shaanxi should not be so peaceful.
There were no troops in Guanzhong heading north to suppress the bandits, and Yulin Town in the north did not respond at all.
Yulin actually fought a few battles with the Mongols who suffered from the White Disaster last year. From time to time in Yanchuan, we can meet Mongolian people who went south to seek refuge.
No matter Han or Mongolian, leaving one's hometown to seek refuge is a sad thing.
But the act of crossing the border wall from Mongolia and escaping to northern Shaanxi to seek refuge is very funny.
Last month, some people in the Lion Camp said that Lion Liu would take them outside the Great Wall to compete for territory with the Chinese tigers and rabbits.
But beyond that, it's as if Lions Camp was suddenly forgotten by the world.
Even the silver that was said to be transported via Yan'an Prefecture from the south has no news.
Liu Chengzong had been preparing for war and was always preparing to deal with Du Wenhuan, but Du Wenhuan became silent and made him very angry.
I can’t wait to write a letter to Du Wenhuan.
The Six Outpost War Auxiliary troops stationed in Yanchuan are constantly practicing, and the baggage sentry sent back and forth between Yanchuan and Xingzi River, transporting baggage and passing on intelligence.
Of course, Chengyun didn't follow him to do this. He was busy counting the people of Yanchuan and ran into the ravines all day long.
Liu Chengzong was busy working on the auxiliary armor.
In fact, not only the auxiliary soldiers, but also the armor of the combat soldiers is also a problem. Summer is here.
After deliberation throughout the battalion, the Lion Battalion's combat auxiliary soldiers finally decided to send the upper body military uniforms and cotton-padded jackets to Xingzi River in batches for modification.
The matter of military uniforms is a headache. If in ancient times when there was a large-scale guard army, summer also meant busy farming, and the official army would probably not send troops.
But at this time, summer means that the government troops will launch a surprise attack on them.
The Lion Battalion without a rear can easily be attacked by the enemy at any time. They need their horses and mules to stay with their armor, and their people to stay with their horses and mules.
On the one hand, the environment does not allow them to put their winter clothes somewhere and wait until winter to pick them up; on the other hand, there is really not enough material to make two sets of summer and winter armors.
In fact, only after a year of winter and summer can the Lion Battalion find a uniform that suits them.
So they had to remove the sleeves to make a sleeveless cotton jacket, and then use cotton cloth to make a cotton shawl for the chest, shoulders, and upper back based on the two sleeves.
The armor of the auxiliary soldiers is made of neat armor plates sewn on both sides of the chest and back of the sleeveless cotton-padded jacket. It has both armor plates and lining. With a weight of fifteen kilograms, it achieves pretty good protection.
Soldiers can choose to wear iron armbands on their shoulders.
Liu Chengzong spent two days trying out some combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, and finally discovered that when it comes to heat resistance, not only the frontier soldiers are strong, but many of the auxiliary soldiers are also excellent.
It really varies from person to person.
For example, he himself was preparing for the military examination as a soldier. He had received training in this area and was much better than ordinary soldiers.
Another example is the Sky Monkey, who was so poor for many years that he wore a worn-out cotton-padded jacket all year round. He also has a strong tolerance for cold and heat.
Poverty is also a kind of training. Those who are intolerant of heat and cold will either die of heatstroke or freeze to death.
But summer is fair, they are hot, and so are the officers and soldiers.
In northern Shaanxi, a place with thousands of ravines, the army cannot spread out, and the barren mountains and ridges lack vegetation. This almost determines the focus of the summer battle, which is to control the battlefield.
Liu Chengzong is thinking of a way to torment Du Wenhuan in the summer.
Until the new issue of Tang Bao Di News was delivered by He Yong.
The Tang newspaper said that the Ming army recovered the four cities of Yongping.
If Yang Yanchang hadn't been mentioned in the Di newspaper later, saying that he was rewarded twenty taels of silver for his merits in recruiting troops and serving in the army, Liu Chengzong would never have noticed the Battle of Luanzhou.
Because the above introduction to that battle is very simple, it only says that Shanxi Commander-in-Chief Ma Shilong, Jinzhou Commander-in-Chief Zu Dashou, Shandong Commander-in-Chief Yang Shaoji and other commanders besieged Luanzhou.
The official army annihilated the Dongbing reinforcements sent by Yongping Prefecture, bombarded Luanzhou City with Hongyi artillery, and destroyed all the city towers.
The guard general Namutai failed to fight and broke through the siege overnight and fled back to Yongping. On the way, he was chased and intercepted by Ma Shilong.
As for how the bombardment was carried out, Liu Chengzong didn't know.
In a short time, he had no way of understanding that there was a Han ginseng general named Huang Long who was born in Shenyang, and he fought a seventeenth-century infantry and artillery coordination under the city of Luanzhou.
Yang Yanchang participated in the final battle to intercept Namutai and obtained two heads.
Liu Chengzong was very pleased, feeling that the commander would be able to fight against the Eastern captives if he had not raised them in vain!
At the end of May, Chengyun finally visited the entire Yanchuan County and registered 33 villages.
The transportation office is very good at this. It only registered three villages at the beginning. Then it established a relationship with the book office of Yanchuan County and directly transferred the yellow books registered in Yanchuan County last year to Liu Shizi's camp.
The Yellow Book is a magical thing. According to law, a census must be conducted once a year and overhauled once every ten years.
But last year's situation meant that only Yanchuan County could still revise the Yellow Book.
In Fushi County, after last spring, the government clerk's office did not dare to leave the city gate.
In Ansai County, it is useless to go out of the city gate, there is no one in the four gates outside the city.
The daily job of Yanchang County officials is to go to the city to see which leaders are passing through.
Further north, it is simply a paradise for thieves and thieves from all walks of life.
As for Yanchuan, it rained last year thanks to God's blessing, and the people who were wandering around went home to farm, which gave the subordinate officials the opportunity to repair the yellow books.
According to the census ten years ago, Yanchuan County had 1,315 households and 21,217 people, with an average of 16 people per household.
As a result of last year's revision of the Yellow Register, there are still 946 households in Yanchuan County with 9,081 people, with an average of nine people per household.
Liu Chengzong thought this was too much, but he didn't expect that the actual situation was worse than this.
Because of the frost at the beginning of spring and the defeat of Wang Zuoguan and Hun Tianwang, bandits entered the Jin Dynasty in large numbers. Many people had their livelihoods ruined or fled in panic, so they had no choice but to start migrating again.
Finally, it was shipped to the boundary of Yanchuan County. Statistics showed that there were thirty-three places where people gathered, seven groups of refugees, a total of 1,675 households and 7,537 people.
Chengyun said: "You don't know it by looking at it. If you calculate it carefully, people are separated from their fathers, sons and brothers just for the hope of surviving. There are only four and a half people in each household."
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"It's true as my brother said, there is no household registration here."
The households mentioned in Chengyun refer to very wealthy families.
Among all the provinces in the world, northern Shaanxi may have the lowest requirements for a household. In this land, a family with a thousand taels can be called a household.
A thousand taels alone is a lot, but in northern Shaanxi, in normal times, each household has more than a dozen or even twenty people.
A family of more than 20 people has a thousand taels of wealth. On average, each person only has a cow, a few houses, and some fields.
Cheng Yun spoke with compassion on his face, but Liu Chengzong suddenly laughed.
He turned back and pointed to the newspaper beside the bed, and asked: "Do you know why the monkey in the sky still doesn't believe that money? The government didn't do anything about us returning to Shaanxi and beating Aimu, because Shaanxi didn't want to transport the money.
."
"Governor Liu reported that he wanted to leave money for disaster relief in northern Shaanxi. He said that there was a famine all over the country, and all the counties were saving and merging. He did not dare to ask the emperor to waive the Liao's salary. He only said that the levy would be postponed and the levy would be re-levied next year to make up for it. You
Guess what the emperor said?"
Liu Chengzong said this with a smile on his face, clapped his hands and moved his hands forward: "As governor of Guangsheng, it is also appropriate to be diligent and considerate of the people's privacy, in order to balance public and private interests."
Chengyun blinked and asked: "The emperor's words are true, but not bad. Isn't it a good word to be diligent and considerate to the people?"
"Yes, it's good to just be obedient, but what Liu Guangsheng wrote is that the remnant people in Shaanxi have already sucked the marrow out of their bones and can't pay it back. Is it okay to pay them one year later? So what does the emperor mean by this?"
Liu Chengzong smiled and snorted: "It means that you are the governor, and you solve local affairs yourself. If you can't solve it, it's your problem, and your salary will be collected immediately."
Cheng Yun's smile froze on his face, and he stood stiffly in the military tent for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said: "What a coward, if I were the governor, I wouldn't let him fuck that bastard."
"He can't do it anymore if he wants to. The emperor has already said this. Can he collect the salary?"
Liu Chengzong shook his head: "Let's wait and see, I think it's time for the governor of Shaanxi to be replaced."
A few days passed after that.
He Yong came over from the north to play and told him in an exaggerated manner: "Lion, do you know that Governor Liu Guangsheng is ill and cannot afford it? I think the governor of Shaanxi needs to be replaced."
Liu Chengzong had already expected this. He just nodded and smiled to show that he knew, and then asked: "Can you get me some gunpowder?"
He Yong took a breath, shook his head and said: "Even if I get you some gunpowder, I can't get through. You'd better find a way to prepare it yourself. Wang Zuogao was appeased and settled in Suide."
"I keep grabbing here and there all day long. I can't get anything through. I have to sneak around here."
Mentioning Wang Zuoguan, He Yong had a headache and said to Liu Chengzong: "He is treating the government as a fool by trying to appease him."
"What if?"
Liu Chengzong rolled his eyes at him.
The situation in Shaanxi is clearly a chain reaction. Natural disasters cause people to revolt, people's uprisings cause soldiers to starve, and the hungry soldiers further strengthen the people's uprising, leading to a vicious cycle.
The imperial court was obsessed with suppression, and the root cause was the drought.
He said: "Unless the imperial court transfers the recruited peasant troops to places where they can recuperate and recuperate in Huguang, Henan, and Beizhili, and allocates land, cattle, and seeds to them, otherwise recruiting them will be a fool's errand."
He Yong never thought about these things, he just smiled and let it go, but he was more concerned about another thing. He came to Liu Chengzong and asked: "You are out of gunpowder?"
Liu Chengzong looked at him and said with a smile: "Yes, but it won't be enough in the future. Who would complain about the lack of gunpowder?"
He Yong quickly said: "I'm just asking. Don't worry, I won't tell the general about this."
Liu Chengzong was telling the truth. They did still have more than 200 kilograms of gunpowder, but this was obviously not enough.
Because I sent him a letter from the commander of the Shanxi Division, explaining his ideas for two types of artillery, Tianzi and Dizi, and eight Tianzi lion cannons with a weight of 300 kilograms have been made.
There were originally supposed to be ten doors, but after testing on two of them, they were found to be leaking, so they had to be melted down and used again.
These are eight bronze cannons firing three-pound bullets, each time using one and a half kilograms of medicine; not to mention the ground-shaped lion cannon that is still under construction, even if it is smaller, it still needs one kilogram of medicine.
Twenty cannons, one salvo costs twenty-five kilograms.
When this cannon is delivered, it is inevitable that there will be insufficient gunpowder.
Originally, Lion Camp still had more than 300 kilograms of gunpowder.
But not long ago, Xingzihe sent fifty pieces of Fran mobile guns designed by Shicheng.
Now his servants are divided into two teams. The left team is led by the Han brothers, who are good at riding and shooting; the right team is led by Zhong Bao, who is good at using sabers and spears.
One hundred kilograms of gunpowder is just enough to fire the gun five thousand times.
These batches of Franco handguns were all assigned to Zhong Bao. These guys practice riding horses and shooting guns on the plateau every day. They shoot five guns every morning and five guns in the afternoon. They can kill ten kilograms of gunpowder in one day.
However, there is no shortage of sulfur in the Lion Camp. Last year, Yan'an government stopped providing work-for-relief, and as a result, my father and Yang Dingrui organized the refugees in Yuanlong Temple to open a kiln factory.
Moreover, Xingzi River is also burning green vitriol. What they are short of is nitrate, and there is no fixed place to boil the nitrate. It is difficult to replenish it in a short time. They can only wait until August 15th to organize the village to clean the houses to get some nitrate. p>
But this is a drop in the bucket after all, the more saltpeter the better, once fixed-form artillery is available, Liu Chengzong still wants to practice a lot of artillery.
It’s impossible without gunpowder.
Liu Chengzong was very confused when he thought about this. Since Yuhebao could not provide gunpowder, he could only send people to Yanshui Pass and ask the general manager who had been loyal and loyal for generations.
Fortunately, Mr. Fu was generous and sent someone there within two days before the news came. Fu Renxi came in person in two days.
Not only Fu Renxi came, but there was also a donkey cart pulling four barrels of gunpowder.
"It's a total of two hundred kilograms. Anyway, Yanshui Pass won't be needed recently. The general said he wants to practice musketry, so I'll give it to you first."
Fu Renxi said: "But your myrrh will be a big problem sooner or later. Do you know what to do?"
"Let's boil it. I can make sulfur. The charcoal is not the problem. The main problem is the lack of nitrate. There is really no way. I can only boil it with nitrate soil."
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "In the early years, I had a firecracker maker. He told the security guard that there was a lot of salt over there in An'an. I was thinking about moving my troops to that side to see."
"Don't!"
Fu Renxi opened his hand to stop him and said urgently: "You can't leave. If you leave, I will use gunpowder!"
Liu Chengzong was stunned for a moment before he realized the logic of Fu Renxi's speech.
After arguing for a long time, he said that there was no need for gunpowder because Liu Chengzong's Lion Battalion was stationed in Yanchuan, so there were no other thieves here, and it could affect Gao Yingxiang who had already entered Shanxi, so gunpowder was not needed.
As soon as Liu Chengzong leaves, there will definitely be other thieves here, and then Fu Renxi's men will not be able to spare him and will start fighting.
Liu Chengzong said: "How about you think of a way for me to buy it?"
"You don't mean to say that." Liu Shishi just said casually, but he didn't expect Fu Renxi to be serious: "I don't think I can buy it at the original price, but are you willing to pay a higher price?"
Gunpowder is cheap. According to the market price, ten thousand kilograms is only two hundred and forty taels.
Lion Camp is not short of money, it is short of connections.
Liu Chengzong said happily: "Can you buy it for me?"
"I have to think about it." Fu Renxi put his head on his hips and thought for a moment, then raised his head and said, "But let's make it clear first. If you really plan to buy it, I estimate that the price will be double at least."
Liu Chengzong opened his hand: "Double, it's nearly five taels per hundred catties. I'll pay four times. No matter how much you spend to buy it, and ship it to me, I'll give you ten taels per hundred catties, and any extra will be counted."
Yours."
"Well, General..."
Fu Renxi, who was rubbing his hands, was overjoyed and clapped his chest and said: "Actually, there are still four hundred kilograms of gunpowder in Yanshui Pass. If there is more, I will go back and find a way. Don't worry about the gunpowder. I will cover it with a box of gold!"