Hot air balloons were originally made by Guo Ning to attract teenagers to study. They were later used for military communications and reconnaissance.
However, this product has always had many restrictions on the environment in which it is used. It cannot be used in the morning when it is foggy, it cannot be used in the evening when it is dark, it cannot be used in windy and rainy days, and it cannot be used when marching; and the production level is also somewhat ups and downs. If something goes wrong, it will often end in a tragic life case.
, so it has not spread to all military departments.
At the beginning of last year, the Water Transport Department under the Ministry of Housing proposed to mobilize a number of craftsmen who are familiar with the production, maintenance and use of hot-air balloons to go to Qingzhou to assist the officials of the Water Transport Department in monitoring Huichuan, Qingzhou, and sort out the dispatch of the water transport fleet.
Since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the domestic situation has been stable and overseas exchanges have been prosperous. Through Tianjin Prefecture, which was the Zhigu Village at that time, mountains and seas of goods came in and out. The amount of grain alone was more than three million shi every year.
Compared with maritime transport, the Yuhe water transport, which was originally regarded as the lifeblood of Dajin, is inevitably in decline. Even the Water Transport Department originally stationed in Tongzhou has moved south to Huichuan, Qingzhou. However, the Yuhe River still connects many famous cities in Hebei and Henan.
After the grain transportation on Fu's transportation thoroughfare was reduced, private merchant ships quickly filled the gap.
It is much more difficult for Caosi to manage these private fleets with complicated origins than it was before to just manage Cao boats. However, the mouth of Huichuan River is the end point of Hebei's complex water system, where Yuhe and Jingtuo rivers merge; the fleet ends here
To the north, facing Tianjin Prefecture, it is bound to be unable to compete with the Tianjin Prefecture Transportation Department for the right to pass the river.
As a result, for two consecutive years, the congestion of ships along the Yuhe River was severe. Officials, businessmen, the army, and the people complained repeatedly, making the Caosi Department very anxious.
Until one day, Caosi officials suddenly had a whim. They arranged hot air balloons in a narrow and difficult section of the Yuhe River, and ordered special personnel to board it to monitor the traffic conditions of the river. They were responsible for clearing the congested pipe hooks here.
Kong Mu, the minister has since gained extremely high reaction speed, and the passage of ships has been much smoother.
Caosi was overjoyed and immediately allocated money and food to expand the number and scope of use of hot-air balloons. In just one year, 24 groups of hot-air balloons were deployed up and down the Yuhe River, with a total of more than 60 hot-air balloons being used in turn.
.
Under Cao Si's promotion, special workshops were quickly established, and hot-air balloons were continuously manufactured, with quality constantly improving, and various required parts and fuels having special specifications and stable supply.
Naturally, this requires financial investment, but no matter how high the investment in hot-air balloons is, it is still much lower than building high towers and platforms every few dozen miles. Hot-air balloons can be moved and are much more flexible to use. By the beginning of this year,
, some large chambers of commerce also pooled their money to buy hot air balloons for their own use in rivers that Caosi could not take care of.
One day, the military of the Great Zhou Dynasty thought of this matter again, and suddenly discovered that several of the products they had in hand had become outdated products. If they wanted the latest and best, they had to either ask the Water Transport Department to arrange production, or pay to buy them from specialized workshops.
purchase.
This made the military feel uncomfortable. At that time, someone proposed to postpone the equipment and think of a solution. But at the same time, the Great Zhou Imperial Academy and the Left and Right Division broke the news that the telescope, which had taken several years of research, was ready.
Sold within a specified range.
After Guo Ning learned the news, he immediately rewarded the relevant officials and craftsmen, and ordered a batch to be distributed to senior officers and elite scouts of the Zhou army. As a result, many officers discovered that just returning the hot air balloons was not enough.
Paired with a telescope, the balloon immediately becomes an artifact for monitoring the battlefield!
In this case, there is no room for frugality or delay in this matter.
The Imperial Guards and the Inspection Department in front of the palace immediately invested money to restore the configuration of the hot-air balloons, and specially bought the largest and best one. In addition, under the banner of the Emperor's personal troops, they rushed to Tianjin Prefecture to grab goods.
, at a high price, the telescope that was going to be distributed to the leaders of each fleet was taken from the Shanghai Banking Group, allowing it to see the farthest distance.
At this time, the guards and the subordinate soldiers of the inspection department in front of the palace arrived on the grassland. When they were about to face the Mongols, they naturally raised the hot air balloon in their hands to monitor the distance. Because they were still far away from the Mongols, the hot air balloon was
The so-called "protective color" was specially used, so the generals were sure that there was no risk of being discovered in a short time.
Unexpectedly, Ado also had a telescope and was at the commanding heights on the grassland. After searching carefully for a long time, he finally found the location of the emperor and the imperial army.
After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the central official system was
There were slight adjustments to the system of the Jin Kingdom, but there were no major changes. In the establishment of the Forbidden Army, the Department of Guards and Envoys was omitted, and the Department of Inspection in Front of the Palace and the Department of Guards and Military Affairs were retained and transformed into parallel ones.
Architecture.
Of course, in external publicity, it is not mentioned that this move inherited the old practices of Liao and Jin Dynasties, but dates back to the Later Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, and the emperor's predecessor named Guo was used to explain the matter.
In front of the palace, the Longxiang Army under the Inspection Department has a total strength of more than 10,000; the bodyguards and soldiers number 3,000. These two units are the elite who take turns to protect the emperor when he goes out to patrol the border areas.
Since these two imperial armies were under the direct control of the emperor, inspections were conducted in front of the palace to inspect the commander of Si Zuodu and the general of the bodyguard Zuo Suzhi. The position of General Zuo Suzhi was vacant. The person who daily commanded the Longxiang Army was Xiao Du, the commander of right capital, who was transferred back from Liaodong.
Moller and his deputy Gao Xin; and the leaders of the bodyguard army are General Ni Yi and his deputy Wanyan Chen.
These four generals include Han'er, Khitan, and Jurchens. Their appointment reflects Guo Ning's determination to unite all ethnic groups in the domain and put an end to internal strife. The four generals are all outstanding and valued by Guo Ning. Of course, their subordinates are also numerous.
The most powerful of the 100,000 Zhou army.
The emperor's forbidden army will not be dispatched in full force. At this time, there are 8,000 Longxiang troops and 2,000 bodyguards who are deep in the grassland. But these 10,000 people alone are enough to defeat the main force of the Mongolian army. At least, Longxiang army
The officers and soldiers who guard the army generally think so.
In addition to this mobilization of troops, the three recruiting divisions in the north all sent people to participate.
Zhao Jue's headquarters was responsible for ensuring logistics, not to mention. Qiu Huiluo's subordinates, such as Zhang Shao stationed in Jinlianchuan, Zhao Xuan stationed in Jinshan, Tian Xiong stationed in Yehuling, and others all accompanied the army; Han Xuan's subordinates, from
Pu Suliemeng, who came from the east of the flat pine forest to help in the battle, also took the female cavalry recruited from the white mountains and black waters, and participated in the pursuit and fighting of light cavalry on the grassland for several days.
With the input of these three recruiting divisions, no matter how many troops the Golden Family has left on the grassland, they will never be a match.
However, since ancient times, when the Central Plains dynasties launched conquests on the grasslands, the problem has never been the victory or defeat of the battle. In the Han Dynasty, Wei Huo conquered the Xiongnu, in the Tang Dynasty, Li Ji conquered the Turks, and even in the Jin Dynasty, starting from Wanyan Zongbi, generations of people conquered the grasslands.
The most important thing for the Mongol tribes is how to find the base of the grassland tribes and decide the situation with a decisive battle.
If this cannot be done, the army will fall into the quagmire of thousands of miles of grassland, and no matter how strong the force is, it will be useless; in the end, it will be a good thing to be defeated, and it is not unprecedented for the entire army to be annihilated.
For Dazhou, the current grassland is such a quagmire.
Because of the absence of Genghis Khan, the Thousand-Household Tribe, which used to be like an arm and a finger, became more and more loose and independent. If the imperial court used heavy troops to attack, every punch it threw would be meaningless to hit this Thousand-Household Tribe and that Thousand-Household Tribe
On the tribe.
If you have to use soft and hard means to persuade them one by one, the army may not be able to linger on the grassland for several years.
Regardless of winning or losing, the Zhou Dynasty was rich and had plenty of money to spend, not to mention that various parts of the Central Plains had been war-torn for a long time and still needed to recuperate. Even if Guo Ning sold his blood, he would not be able to raise such a large military expenditure.
If we insist on forcing it, we will definitely make the same mistake as Daikin. As good news spreads frequently on the grasslands, people all over the Central Plains cannot bear the exorbitant taxes and have to revolt.
On the other hand, there have been frequent commercial exchanges between the grassland and the Central Plains in recent years, and the mentality of many thousands of families on the grassland could not be hidden from the Zhou court.
If the Great Zhou did not move troops, these tribes would not have the interest or courage to become enemies of the Great Zhou. They would put more energy into competing with each other and maintaining their own interests. On the contrary, the military actions of the Great Zhou would cause them to immediately
They formed a group and gathered again under the large tent of Orda in Haraholin, triggering an increasingly fierce resistance.
If the Mongols were to launch a ruthless attack and march south to plunder without hesitation, even if the Zhou Dynasty could repel them ten times, a single oversight would inevitably lead to serious consequences.
Thinking about it this way, it is actually very difficult to gain any benefit from a war with the grasslands.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Genghis Khan dared to mobilize the main force of the Mongolian army for the western expedition and put a weak grassland in front of Guo Ning. The current situation of the grassland could just isolate him from Guo Ning's military power.
Then, if the big week
Should we be content with the status quo on the border and maintain peace between the two families?
This is even more of a way to die.
Everyone knows that the grassland is the core territory of the Mongol Uluth, and it is impossible for Genghis Khan to give up here! When he unites the huge power gained from the Western Expedition, this terrible conqueror will definitely come back!
If the Zhou Dynasty cannot take measures in the grassland in advance, then it will have to watch Genghis Khan regain a rich and loyal grassland, and then re-invade the Central Plains with more powerful force!
The last time the Mongolian army invaded the Central Plains, how many people were killed and how many farmlands, water conservancy projects, villages and cities were destroyed?
Everyone still remembers it.
Almost everyone among the civil servants and generals of the Zhou Dynasty was a survivor of that tragic scene. No one could accept that scene happening again, and no one could accept that the reborn Zhou Dynasty would once again shed blood and fight a powerful enemy in its own hinterland.
.
Therefore, all civil and military officials were sure that when the opportunity came, it was inevitable to reach out to the grassland.
Where are the opportunities? How do they come?
The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Guo Ning, was an extremely bold person who was extremely good at creating opportunities from scratch. This time, he created the most suitable opportunity.
He gathered all the forces on the grassland with different ideas into a stage in the eastern part of the grassland, surrounding Usha Castle.
"All units of the Mongolian army are in formation! There are at least 50,000 cavalry!"
A military officer shouted loudly and ran past the soldiers.
This military officer is thin in stature but has a loud voice. Judging from his clothes, he is specially responsible for climbing high on the hot air balloon and looking out.
There are usually three military officials placed in the rattan basket hanging at the bottom of the hot air balloon. One person is responsible for the lifting and lowering of the hot air balloon, and the other two are responsible for the lookout and writing the information obtained from the lookout on the wooden board. Iron nails are nailed on the top of the wooden board.
The ring can fasten the rope holding the hot air balloon and throw it to the ground.
But sometimes the military situation is urgent or complicated, and writing on a wooden board is too time-consuming and unclear. Some military officers who are extremely confident in their own skills will use iron rings to fasten their belts and ropes at the same time, and climb down directly along the ropes.
Climbing down from a height of tens of feet requires extraordinary bravery. In the eyes of people on the ground, those soldiers' iron rings are not holding their own belts, but their own heads. So they are the most conceited.
The officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army could only admire these officers.
At this moment, the soldier was shouting and running, and the Forbidden Army soldiers who might be in the way moved out of the way.
The soldiers looked sideways at the soldiers running towards the central army, and then whispered to each other: "Coming, coming! The Mongols are all here! Good guys, 50,000 riders!"
