The war in Jiaozhou was very calm. All the four Shixie brothers gathered at the foot of Guangxin City, with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses.
But still no siege.
Shi Xie was not a hero, he was a Confucian scholar, and he could not bring himself to force his parents and clan members to death.
He doesn't want to suffer the infamy.
I was trapped in entanglement and pain every day, but I didn't dare to fight, I was unwilling to retreat, and I felt it was not the right time to surrender. In just a few days, my eyes were bloodshot, my mouth was blistered, and my hair had grown white.
Seeing the suffering parents in the city, I cried several times in private, negotiated, gave gifts, cursed, and threatened, but the other side was indifferent.
Guan Yu remained motionless in the city, not in a hurry, and completely unconcerned about the enemy's siege. After leading troops for so many years, his vision had long since broken away from the struggle for one city or one place.
Defending Guangxin is not just about defending the city, but also the beginning of conquering Jiaozhou.
It is midsummer in June, and the soldiers have just arrived. They have not yet adapted to the climate here, so it is not suitable for a war.
Even if the enemy is defeated before reinforcements arrive, the results cannot be expanded. This is not the time to start a war.
"Instruct all the ministries not to leave the city. Send people to sneak out of the city at night and send a message to the military advisor before the decisive battle."
He made up his mind to drag the enemy to death here.
The former soldiers who were a little depressed at first were calmed down by him with just one sentence, because "defending the city and going into the mountains and forests" were easy choices, and only fools would be willing to chase the monkeys all over the mountains. When they were conquering Jingnan Shanyue, they would fight every day.
Going into the mountains and forests, annoying them to death.
They unanimously decided to listen to the general and stay leisurely in the city.
Different from the leisurely life of the former army officers and soldiers, at this time Taishi Ci was worrying about opening up the sea route to Panyu. The navy soldiers were also very busy, having to take turns going to sea and vigilantly guarding the city.
The local people hate them very much. Even if the navy does not harass the people and has no evil deeds at all, they are still hated.
Hatred of the Han seems to have become a tradition among the Shan Viet and South Vietnamese people.
There were not many people willing to help them. Although the speed of exploration was improved, it could not meet Taishi Ci's requirements. He always regretted that the sea route to Panyu was not marked on the map of Jieyang County Government.
You can't lead your navy soldiers to attack the enemy's city by land, right?
Then why spend gold and silver to build warships?
I can only endure my anxiety and continue to send ships to explore the hydrology of the seaside, and expand the channel bit by bit.
However, no battle report from Jiaozhou was sent back to Chang'an. This undefeated state of procrastination led to many memorials to impeach Guan Yu and Taishi Ci. Most of them were afraid of the enemy, wasting food and grass, and supporting the invaders to respect themselves.
The Ministry of Education of China will always keep them in China but not publish them.
Liu Xiang did not pursue the officials who were impeached above. This kind of impeachment is a normal phenomenon. If he punishes the impeached people again, he will really block his voice.
In this wave of impeachments, except for a few individuals who have bad intentions, most people are not familiar with military strategy. In their minds, marching and fighting are still in the stage of fighting between two villages, which is to lead people to the place, then yell and curse for a while, fight randomly, and win.
It all depends on the number of people or luck.
There is no consideration of the factors of time and location, and there is no concept of psychological games, strategies and deception, or leading the enemy coach to make mistakes in judgment.
Not to mention taking advantage of the general trend and taking advantage of it.
They only saw Guan Yu and Taishi Ci's southern expedition to Jiaozhou, which consumed the court's property, food and grass, but they never thought about how much manpower Shi Xie used and how many resources he consumed in order to cope with the imperial southern expedition.
And if the war occurs on the land of Jiaozhou, what kind of damage will it cause there?
These impacts will weaken the local war potential.
They don't think about these issues seriously.
They don't understand war.
In the face of such people, explanations are useless. They cannot understand and will not listen. There will also be many fools among them who think they are well-educated and talented and despise the generals who lead the army.
Just ignore them.
Liu Xiang had no time to deal with these people.
He has more important things to think about now.
Instead of thinking about the situation in Jiaozhou, Guan Yu, Xu Huang, Le Jin, Tai Shici and others are all veteran generals who have led troops for many years. Their subordinates are also fierce warriors who have experienced many battles. They have high armor coverage and their hands are all made of steel.
Sharp blade.
Even if we can't win a big victory, we won't be defeated on a large scale.
As the autumn harvest is getting closer, it is time to open warehouses in various places to release grain, firstly to stabilize grain prices, and secondly to prepare for releasing old grain and stocking up on new grain.
The weather this year is good, there are no signs of drought or flood, the people's sentiment is stable, and the amount of food available to the court will increase. He is less and less afraid of competing with Jiaozhou for consumption.
When the autumn harvest in the south of the Yangtze River is completed, he will also waste the dead soldiers and soldiers. You really don't need to worry about the situation in Jiaozhou.
What bothered him were the two objects on the desk.
One was a black, brownish-red viscous liquid with a hint of green. Liu Xiang knew that as long as he set up a large pot and boiled it, he could get flammable light oil and heavy oil that could be used for lubrication.
This is stone fat found in the Western Regions, and modern people generally call it petroleum.
With this thing, the power of the incendiary crossbow will inevitably be greatly increased, and it can also be made lighter and longer, and can shoot farther.
Of course, high-purity gasoline could not be extracted in the Han Dynasty, but light oil with many impurities burned much more efficiently than vegetable oil.
Equipped with this kind of weapon, the navy will be a nightmare for the enemy.
However, when I saw a secret recipe delivered to me on the same day as the oil, the oil no longer smelled good.
This secret recipe was presented by an alchemist and is called: "The method of refining Yinjun Yanghou."
The name is very mythical, but it is actually a method of preparing and purifying nitrate and sulfur.
Now that we have a way to purify saltpeter and sulfur, who the hell is still loading crossbows on big ships?
Don’t artillery smell good?
Artillery, for hundreds of years, it was called the king of war.
The cannons and giant ships also kicked off the European colonization of the world.
Of course Liu Xiang knew the benefits of thermal weapons. But with the financial resources of the Han Dynasty, could such a leap in weapons be supported? And could it be used?
The cannon shoots iron. He improved the blast furnace steelmaking and increased the output. However, the infrastructure is not perfect. The speed of mining, crushing ore, transportation speed, and the speed of mining other materials are all restricting
Steel production.
Although it has increased more than three times compared with the heyday of the Han Dynasty, the annual output is only 16 million catties.
How many salvos of naval guns can it withstand?
Once the cannonball is fired, it cannot be retrieved.
And now the cold-forged armor and steel-clad weapons are already leading the world. Is he going to unleash the monster of thermal weapons?
If the secret is not kept, it will give other nations a way to overtake them in a roundabout way.
Do you want to take this risk yourself?
He is no longer a young man, he is now the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and he must think about issues from the perspective of the country.
Does a big man need artillery?
Is there any nation that the Han Dynasty can defeat with the help of thermal weapons?
Firearms are too sophisticated and difficult to study. Cannons must be the ones that can quickly generate power. And are clumsy cannons suitable for pulling them on expeditions?