At present, there are two main water canals in Huaixi from the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River, the Yongyang Canal (Shiliang, Puyang River) and the Anfeng Canal (North and South Feishui) connecting each other. However, both rivers are flat water and have to be crossed in between.

There are two stone weirs and ship locks. There are currently a lot of boats transporting supplies from south to north, but the waterway can't speed up.

Both Jinling and Han Qian set a date for the Li family to arrive at Xia Cai to report. After crossing the river, Li Xiu and the others, in order to make time, followed the post road starting from the embankment on the east bank of Chao Lake, turned eastward via Shiquan, and arrived at Chaozhou.

The city goes further north, passes through Shoudong, and reaches the south bank of Jiaoshan Gorge.

This post road is currently the main land road running from north to south in Huainan. The main branch post roads along the way connect the flattest and richest areas in Huaixi such as Donghu, Liyang, Shiquan, Chaozhou, Feidong, Huailing, Shoudong, Shouchun and other areas.

Along the way, the post road encounters several relatively wide streams and rivers. In the past, it was mainly carried by ferries, but now there are opening and closing pontoons.

The opening and closing pontoon bridge mainly builds concrete or masonry piers in the shallow water area near the coast and sets up fixed bridges, and the deep water area in the middle is connected by a pontoon bridge.

The pontoon bridge opens and closes at a fixed time period. In this way, relatively large and medium-sized ships that cannot pass through the shallow water area can pass through the floating river during the pontoon bridge opening period, while land vehicles and horses can use the post road during the pontoon bridge opening and closing period.

.This can reduce the construction period and cost of large bridges, and at the same time, the pontoon bridge will not block the waterway of the creek.

When encountering narrow ditches, straight iron girder bridges are basically erected; the traditional arch bridge has disappeared on the main post road. Currently, it is to ensure the smooth passage of heavy-duty carriages and ensure the land transportation capacity.

This post road was not newly built. After Tangyi took over Huaixi, it spent two years mainly repairing and transforming it on the original basis. However, it left a very deep impression on Li Xiu. This fully reflects that Tangyi is stronger than other prefectures and counties.

The strength lies.

What impressed Li Xiu deeply was that the horse-drawn carriages traveling on this post road were different from those in other states and counties, as most of them were four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages.

The Jianghuai river system is developed and boats are convenient. Horse-drawn carriages are rarely used to haul goods, and four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages are also extremely rare in the Central Plains.

This is mainly because although the traditional four-wheel carriage has a large load capacity and a relatively stable body, all four wheels are fixed on the frame, the steering is extremely stiff, and the road conditions are slightly complicated or bumpy, which consumes a lot of wheels and animal power.

The four-wheeled carriages in Huaixi seem to have no such drawbacks. Judging from the cargo loaded, a heavy-duty carriage walking on a straight post road contains almost thirty stones of cargo. The load capacity can be said to be extremely amazing.

In addition, another thing that impressed Li Xiu deeply was that there were more than 40 iron beam bridges on this post road that was nearly 400 miles long.

To ensure the passage of carriages with a total weight of more than 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms, the bridge must be straight and straight without slopes, otherwise it would be impossible for a military horse to pull such a heavy carriage across the bridge. However, the bridge body is straight, considering that there may be

When three or four carriages and several pedestrians pass by, traditional wooden beams cannot bear the weight, not to mention that masonry materials can only be used in the construction of arch-type bridges.

Tangyi uses iron beams.

At that time, iron smelting and casting could be said to be quite developed, with official and private iron workshops distributed in various states and counties. However, large castings, such as four-claw iron anchors weighing more than 2,000 kilograms, were still only capable of casting in the smelting workshops in Xuzhou and Donghu.

A grooved iron beam weighing more than 1,000 kilograms seems to be much lighter than a large iron anchor, but it is three feet long and has to ensure sufficient and repeated pressure for many years. It is actually much more difficult to cast than an iron anchor.

Li Xiu thought that if he could urgently build two iron beam bridges on the two trenches between Lijia Xinzhai and Xiacaicheng, which would not be easily destroyed by the enemy, so that Lijia Xinzhai and Xiacaicheng would truly be at each other's horns,

If it is not cut for the enemy, the enemy will not be able to attack the Li family's new village without restraint, and it may be possible to defend the village.

However, Feng Xuan only gave him a team of sixty craftsmen. Even if he could recruit two to three thousand laborers from the refugees, he would not be able to build two iron beam bridges while strengthening the new village.

Seeing Li Xiu staring at the stream trough to the west, Zhou Qiaoan asked: "General Li wants to build an iron beam bridge because the pontoon bridge between Xiacai and Xinzhai is easy to be set on fire by the enemy?"

"Yeah." Li Xiuyin responded with a stern face.

"This is something Feng Shuai specifically ordered Zhou Qiaoan to assist General Li as soon as possible. Is General Li worried about the lack of manpower?" Zhou Qiaoan asked.

"What is the use of this small manpower? Is it possible that hundreds of masons can be urgently recruited from the refugees?" Li Xiu asked coldly.

"Ha, you have walked all the way from East Lake, do you think that the iron beam bridge in Huaixi is built on a stone foundation?" Cao Ba sneered.

"Isn't it made of bricks and stones?" Li Xiu asked doubtfully.

Along the way, he saw that there were many places in Huaixi that were different from other prefectures and counties, but he was so depressed and rushed on the road under the supervision of guards that he really didn't stop to see many details.

"Take our General Li and take a walk near the floating bridge to open your eyes." Cao Ba joked.

It was a matter of life and death for the five to six hundred members of the Li family. Li Xiu didn't mind Cao Ba's sarcastic attitude and took Li Chi, Li Yan and others to drive their horses to the pontoon where he had walked twice.

At this time, he calmed down and took a closer look, and then he noticed that the piles hanging giant ropes on both sides of the creek channel looked like gray-white cliff rocks at first glance, but in fact they were giant pillars that looked like rocks but not rocks, and were deeply embedded in the mud pillars.

, neither of them could encircle them.

Look at the top of the giant pillar and there are dozens of thin iron bars as thick as your thumb sticking out.

"This is not a natural stone pillar?" Li Xiu asked in shock.

"This is stone mud produced in Huaixi, mixed with river sand and gravel, and watered and solidified with iron cages. The time was too hasty before, and only the foundation piles were poured to fix the pontoon. Later, more watering will be done.

It is 10 feet high, built with iron beams, and even the iron beams and pile foundations can be poured together. It cannot be destroyed casually by the enemy!" Cao Ba said proudly, "There is no need to spend manpower digging mountains and quarrying rocks!"

Cao Ba pushed Zhou Qiao An's shoulder and said jokingly: "It seems that General Li knows very little about Huaixi. No wonder he was so miserable this time! By the way, the inspectors in the Weaving Bureau used to have shit in their eyes.

This kind of stone mud pile was first used in Huaixi when building the Huazhu Peak Plank Road, and you still don’t know anything about it yet?"

Li Ji ignored Cao Ba's cynicism and grabbed Zhou Qiao'an to confirm that he could erect the two iron beam bridges in the shortest time. He calmed down his mind a little. Seeing that there was still some time before nightfall, he asked for help first.

Cao Ba took Li Chi and dozens of generals and rushed to the camps where refugees gathered to recruit the best.

With more energy available, all things can be unfolded in sequence.

He took several generals with Zhou Qiaoan to discuss the camp reinforcement plan.

If hundreds of members of the Li family were not here, Li Xiu wouldn't mind leaving some holes in the camp. Even if the walls of the camp were thin and easy to be broken by the enemy, there would be no problem at all. On the contrary, it would be easier to capture the enemy.

The army was introduced into the stronghold to fight a battle of annihilation.

This is more

Can attack the enemy's spirit.

However, hundreds of Li family women and children were in the stronghold. Even if the reinforcements from Caicheng could ensure that the enemy did not dare to easily surround the stronghold, they did not want the stronghold to be easily torn open by the enemy's frontal attack.

Fortunately, Zhou Qiaoan and Guan Zhui are extremely capable. Li Xiu only needs to make a request, and they can formulate corresponding plans. They can even figure out matters such as manpower arrangements in a short time, without Li Xiu's need.

Work hard.

Li Xiu and his nephew Li Yan (the third son of Li Changfeng) gathered together dozens of young family soldiers in the clan, and first acted as scouts to guard the outside of Xinzhai. Not long after, Cao Ba rode on his own.

A skinny horse came over.

Li Xiu thought there was something in the way of recruiting the best refugees, so he looked over with a frown, but Cao Ba waved his hand and said disapprovingly: "Your nephew is quite capable. I'll take him on a trip to talk to you about everything."

It's a familiar face to avoid making things difficult for him. He can supervise the rest. I don't have anything to do! There are also materials needed to build bridges and strengthen the stockade. I made a special trip to Feng Liao to say hello, but they are not available.

What's the problem? Mr. Cao, my face is quite useful to Xia Cai..."

"How many villages will be built outside Xiacai City, and how many strong villagers will Xiacai City plan to recruit as supplements from the refugees?" Li Xiu asked Cao Ba with a frown.

He now needs to have an overall understanding of Tangyi's defense plan on the north bank in order to better decide how to strengthen Xinzhai and how to build future defenses, but currently this information can only be obtained from Cao Ba.

"Five stockades need to be built outside Xiacai, so as to protect the north entrance of the pontoon bridge and prevent small groups of enemy troops from entering and setting fire to the pontoon bridge - each stockade seems to be planned to house six to eight hundred able-bodied households.

This side of the family has the most; in addition, there will be three thousand households in Xiacaicheng," Cao Ba curled his lips and said, "However, you don't have to worry about whether these are available, the enemy is really going to attack the east bank of Guoshui in a large scale.

Gather together, when the time comes, we will mobilize 20,000 elite war horses from the rear. We don’t really expect your Li family, women and children to defend this village - when the time comes, there will be 80,000 Tangyi soldiers and horses in Dan County and Xia Cai.

Enough is enough, is it possible that the Weizhou rebels can still move their main force of hundreds of thousands to the southern front to fight us decisively?"

Li Xiu shook his head and said unoptimistically: "If I were Wu Su Dashi, the commander-in-chief of the southern courtyard of the Mongol people, in addition to instructing Zhu Rang, Xu Mingzhen, and Sima Tan to gather 100,000 infantry to attack Dan County, Xia Cai

, we will also mobilize another 30,000 to 40,000 elite cavalry, how will Tangyi respond then?"

"The Mongol people have not yet established a stable foothold, and now they are going to engage in a big battle with us?" Cao Ba didn't believe Li Xiu's judgment and shook his head and asked.

"The Bianjing Liang Army has less than 20,000 troops and has been almost disabled. It should no longer be the first target of the Mongol people to eliminate. Their only primary goal is to severely damage the Tangyi Army on the west bank of Guoshui River," Li

Xiu said solemnly, "Only in this way can the confidence and low morale of the Shouzhou Army and Xu Si Army be restored. Otherwise, the Mongols will forcefully push Zhu Rang, the puppet emperor, out to consolidate the forces, troops, and horses in the eastern part of the Liang Kingdom.

It is always an empty show. Not to mention that it poses no threat to Tangyi, it is also difficult to pose a substantial threat to Huaidong - this is definitely not what Wusu Dashi or Xiao Yiqing want to see."

"Listening to what you said, it makes sense. Xu Mingzhen has indeed been frightened by the Tangyi Army in recent years. The Tangyi Army did not feel any pressure at all against the Shouzhou Army." Cao Ba said, scratching the back of his head.

Li Xiu said: "The Marquis of Qianyang did not go north to supervise the battle, but stayed in Xiacai. He seemed to be free, but in fact he should have expected that this battle was inevitable. Of course, this battle was inevitable for Tangyi.

Yes, but some people are already concerned about how many casualties the generals on both sides will suffer..."

"When General Li led his men into Shangshu Province with the intention of detaining Empress Dowager Changxin and the new emperor and going to Chongwen Hall, he didn't seem to think too much about the twists and turns of right and wrong?" Zhou Qiao'an interjected at this time.

Of course, Li Xiu knew that Zhou Qiaoan, who was sent by Feng Xuan to assist him in managing the Li family's new village, was by no means an ordinary petty official in Tangyi.

, and can only bear it sadly.

Cao Ba chuckled and asked Li Xiu: "According to you, the best outcome of this battle in Tangyi is just a miserable victory?"

"Otherwise, what do you think?" Li Xiu asked back. Seeing Cao Ba being questioned by him, he sighed and said, "Of course, for the Marquis of Qianyang, even a tragic victory is a result he can accept.

…”

Hearing that Li Xiu still believed that the Li clan would be in trouble in this battle, Cao Ba stretched his waist and said: "Master Cao, I just hope to kill a few more enemy troops. I'm not as worried as you. By the way."

, Li Xiu, if you are worried about the heavy casualties among the children of your Li family, then call your children from the Li family to form a team and leave it to me to lead them - there are probably not many people who can follow me if I pick them from the refugees.

Trapped."

A troop, even if it is to defend a stronghold, must have top soldiers who can ascend or get trapped first, disrupting the enemy's offensive rhythm from time to time, but this is definitely not something that refugees who have been hastily trained for ten or twenty days can do.

In his mind, Li Xiu planned to gather half of the elite soldiers, and then select an equal number of elite refugees to form a team of elite soldiers as a reserve team.

Of course, the Li family has no shortage of qualified candidates to be the leader of the trap team, but it must be said that in the bloody battlefield, the top candidate for the leader of the trap team, there may only be three or five people in the entire Tangyi army who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Cao Ba!

Wen Bo has a reputation for being good at fighting, partly due to the fact that Cao Ba personally led an elite team and could always control the trend and rhythm of the local battlefield when necessary.

"You are so hesitant. Do you think that Mr. Cao, a little chicken, will deliberately cause the children of your Li family to die?" Seeing Li Xiu silently groaning, Cao Ba said displeasedly.

"I can use you to get into the battle, but if you don't listen to my orders, I will kill you in front of the battle. I think Wen Bo will have nothing to say when he comes back." Li Xiuyin threatened with compassion.
To be continued...