[Chapter 453] Morigen occupied Gansu Town, and the pressure behind the white-clothed army increased sharply

(0453)

【Today's third update is delivered!】

The large increase in iron materials means that both military and civilians can obtain more iron materials and iron tools. This is very important. Without sufficient amount of iron, it is impossible to have enough weapons and equipment. The nomadic people suffer because they suffer. They cannot smelve iron themselves, so they can only plunder from the Central Plains dynasty. Lin Danhan obtained 50,000 sets of iron spear cavalry equipment from the Ming army in one breath. It is impossible not to be strong!

Steel is also further refined from pig iron materials. The output of pig iron increases, and the output of steel will naturally increase. This was very obvious after Ningxia City was conquered. It turned out that the supply of pig iron raw materials in the Weizhen Baojiang Workshop has always been a bottleneck, resulting in the inability to increase the number of 10 steel. Without a sufficient number of 10 steel, there will naturally be no sufficient number of 10 moon guns. Now, three blast furnaces supply a large amount of iron materials, and the number of 10 steel steel immediately increased rapidly, and the output of 10 moon guns has also risen.

Xu Xingxia looked around the three blast furnaces and felt a little regretful. It would be great if these three blast furnaces were not iron-making, but were directly made of steel! With the progress of society, the demand for steel is much larger than pig iron. Especially in weapons and equipment, a large amount of qualified steel is needed. The efficiency of obtaining steel by making 100 steel is quite low and the cost is also high. He said: "Can you directly make steel?"

The carbon content of pig iron is too high (2.0%-4.5%), it is too brittle, and it is difficult to process into other shapes. The carbon content of wax iron is too low (less than 0.05%) and too soft. Only the carbon content of steel is the most moderate (0.05%-2.0%). Therefore, improving the yield of steel is the key. The problem is that none of the current three blast furnaces seem to be able to directly make steel. If steel is to be made, a new blast furnace must be built and more advanced refining technology must be introduced.

Liu Guangliang said: "This Zhou Qinghai Baihu has the best skills, let him answer!"

The Zhou Qinghai Baihu he introduced was definitely an old man from Rayford Castle. To be precise, he had already worked here when these three blast furnaces were just established. During the Bobai rebellion, he almost died of a misfortune. Fortunately, he was still lucky and lived to this day. As the oldest iron craftsman, his familiarity with the three blast furnaces was like his own fingers. He also knew some basic common sense about steelmaking.

According to Zhou Qinghai's introduction, the main method of steelmaking at that time was called the steel filling method. Its basic principle was actually very simple, which was to first smel out the cooked iron, then melt the pig iron and slowly penetrate into the cooked iron, thereby obtaining steel with a suitable carbon content. Since charcoal was used as a raw material, it was difficult to reach the specified temperature. After switching to Taixi coal, it contained a large amount of impurities. Therefore, Ningxia Town has never been suitable for direct steelmaking.

However, Zhou Qinghai's introduction aroused Xu Xingxia's great interest. His demand for steel was very strong. Ningxia Town was not suitable for steelmaking, which was compared to the whole country. The Ming Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, and there were indeed many places suitable for steelmaking. However, now, on his territory, only Ningxia Town can make steelmaking. There is no suitable or not, only a statement of whether it can be made. As long as it can make steel, it must be launched.

Xu Xingxia said expectantly: "What conditions are needed if steelmaking is made in Rayford Castle?"

Zhou Qinghai thought carefully and said slowly: "A special steelmaking blast furnace is needed, and a special craftsman needs to be repaired. Iron ore with high iron content is needed, coal with few impurities is needed, and craftsmen with about 500 people are needed..."

Xu Xingxia said without hesitation: "No problem, it can satisfy you!"

Zhou Qinghai said hesitantly: "But even if all the conditions are met, the quality of the steel refined may not be very good..."

Xu Xingxia turned to ask Liu Guangliang: "Is there a solution?"

Liu Guangliang whispered: "These old craftsmen have been working in Rayford Castle since childhood. They have been smelting iron all their lives. They are so experienced that they don't know how to make steel? I believe that they must have some ideas, but they just need some support! They are all old sly guys, afraid of being poor! Now they are looking for opportunities to blackmail you! You are so rich!"

Xu Xingxia smiled and understood. These craftsmen are actually skilled, but they have no motivation. No wonder, if there is no stimulation of interests, ordinary people will not have any motivation. This is human nature and there is no excessiveness. On the contrary, Xu Xingxia saw some hope. Need a little stimulation? No problem! As long as you can make a large amount of steel, there will be no stimulation! Each person can give you two grassland beauties! Xu Xingxia smiled and said, "It's okay to support it! I will give you 10,000 taels of silver first as research funds, and there will be corresponding rewards in the future!"

When all the craftsmen heard about 10,000 taels of silver, their eyes lit up. The expressions that were originally a little dull now have become fierce and powerful. I feel that some silver fell from the sky. If their movements are a little slower, the silver will be snatched away by others. However, Zhou Qinghai was obviously a little embarrassed. Liu Guangliang was right. These craftsmen really wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail Xu Xingxia. Who said Xu Xingxia is a rich man?

Zhou Qinghai actually didn't have such a thought. He was a very simple person. He had to come forward to be the villain just for the sake of the craftsmen. Now that Xu Xingxia takes action, he only costs 10,000 taels of silver, he feels uneasy. In fact, after the management committee took over the Rayford Castle, their treatment was already very good. Besides, everyone's home was also divided into his own fields. It is indeed a bit too much to continue extorting Xu Xingxia.

Xu Xingxia smiled and said bluntly: "You ask me for money, okay! I will give it to you! I can tell you frankly that I have money, and the big ones are rich! I will give it as much as you want! But the price of giving money is that you have to make the steel directly for me! If there is no steel, you can just wait to get hit! My money will definitely not be so easy to cheat! No matter who wants to pay from my pocket, you have to consider how many brains you have!"

As soon as he said this, the faces of the craftsmen changed. Only then did they remember that the person in front of them was not so gentle and friendly! What was his nickname? Old Demon Xu! That was a guy who sent thousands of Tartar heads to Ningxia City at one time! If you offend him, do you want to have a good life? It would be nice to keep your head! Zhou Qinghai's face was really wonderful, his spine was chilly and full of chill.

Xu Xingxia paused slightly, his tone slowed down a little, and said with a smile: "But my money is also very easy to make! As long as you give me good things, I will give you a lot of money! I will tell you in advance now that the daily steel output exceeds 3,000 kilograms, I will reward you fifty taels of silver! More than 10,000 kilograms, I will reward you one hundred taels of silver! The greater the steel output, the more silver you will reward! As for how to distribute it, Zhou Qinghai will be the leader!"

Zhou Qinghai suddenly felt excited and didn't know what to say. Originally, he was elected as a villain. When the preparations were wrong, he was used as a scapegoat by the craftsmen to resist Xu Xingxia's anger. Unexpectedly, Xu Xingxia was pushed by the boat and named him, which made him really the leader of all the craftsmen. With Xu Xingxia's support and white money, who dared not to listen to him? This time, it was a blessing in disguise.

No matter how honest Zhou Qinghai is, he knows how to say a few basic words. At this time, he hurriedly said: "Sir, don't worry, look at us! Within a year, we will definitely make steel directly! Three thousand pounds are absolutely no problem!"

Xu Xingxia said expectantly: "The shorter the time, the better!"

Zhou Qinghai hurriedly said loudly: "I understand, the shorter the time, the better!"

Xu Xingxia nodded with satisfaction. He roughly estimated that the daily output of 3,000 kilograms of steel can basically meet the needs of Sun and Moon guns and cannons. Perhaps, it can also be used to make some other weapons and equipment, such as sabers used by cavalry, chariot axles needed by chariot battalions, horse blocking piles needed by engineer battalions, etc. Of course, steel must be the more the more the better. No matter how many there are, there are places to use it. In fact, in addition to military use, civilian use is also a large number of needs, especially construction and bridge building.

The most important bridge at that time was a stone arch bridge, which was a stone arch bridge like Zhaozhou Bridge. As long as you don’t cut corners, the quality of the stone arch bridge was indeed good, the load-bearing capacity was good, and the cost was relatively not high. However, not all places were suitable for building stone arch bridges. It was difficult to build stone arch bridges in places with rapid water flow. At the same time, the length of the stone arch bridge was generally not very long. In some relatively wide river surfaces, the difficulty of setting up stone arch bridges was also very high. These all constituted certain obstacles by the construction of roads.

In particular, the erection of bridge piers has always been very demanding. In the era without cement, no building materials could condense underwater. After cement, solid support is needed. Combining these requirements, reinforced concrete is actually required. In fact, if there are cement steel bars, the speed of building bridges will obviously be greatly accelerated. As long as there are enough raw materials, it is not impossible to even build a bridge across the Yellow River.

The northwest of the Ming Empire has such benefits. All kinds of mineral resources are quite abundant. These resources are necessary during the industrial revolution. If you do not fully utilize these resources, it will be a failure. With the progress of the times, industrialization is the king! The era of cold weapons that dominates swords, guns, swords and halberds has gradually passed. In the future, the world will be the world of firearms and machinery.

No matter how excellent or strict the farming society is, it cannot be resisted in the face of an industrialized society. At the same time, after entering the industrialized society, the threat of nomadic people was lifted. In fact, after the emergence of Minnie guns and breech guns, the status of cavalry, as the main force of war, has been declining. After the emergence of machine guns, the era of cavalry was basically over. Without the rampage of cavalry, what way out does nomadic people have?

The future development direction of the White Army will definitely be firearming, mechanization, and elite military use of a large number of weapons and equipment from the industrial era to improve its combat effectiveness. In this direction, the Ming army is no longer an opponent, and the nomadic people will not be an opponent. The only opponent can only be the army of the European powers. They are also firearming, mechanization, and elite military. The future battle can be said to be very exciting!

...

"Sir, Yuquan Camp is to the south."

From Rayford Castle, he walked south along the east side of Helan Mountain. Xu Xingxia soon came to Yuquanying. Yuquanying is the hometown of Miss Azhu's mother. On that day, Miss Azhu once told Xu Xingxia that if he had the chance, he should come to Yuquanying for a look. As a result, he had never had time. Now, he happened to pass by here, so he arrived by the way.

It looks like Yuquan Camp has no noteworthy points. This place was originally the garrison of the soldiers, but later the soldiers withdrew and handed over to the garrison army for management. There was a garrison army of Thousand Households stationed here. After the White-Clothed Army captured Ningxia City, the military households here also revolted. Now, most of the military households have gone to the fields to work, and the entire Yuquan Camp seems very quiet, with only a few dogs strolling casually.

"Da da da da!"

Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves, and a group of people rushed towards Xu Xingxia.

This is an army that suddenly emerged from the direction of Helan Mountain. Yuquan Camp is very close to Helan Mountain, almost at the foot of Helan Mountain. With the help of the advantage of going down the mountain, this sudden army ran very fast, and in a blink of an eye, it arrived in front of Xu Xingxia and the others. The distance between the two sides was less than one hundred feet.

"Enemy attack!"

"Shoot in line!"

"Free shooting!"

Liu Chuang's face changed and he shouted hurriedly.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The soldiers hunted cavalry and fired one after another.

Minnie bullets roared away and knocked down the enemy troops who rushed up.

The invading enemy cavalry seemed to have a strange reaction. Obviously, they did not expect that their attack would be subjected to such a fierce resistance. They thought that Xu Xingxia and others should have dispersed in one go. They did not expect that the enemy's musket would be so powerful and the lethality of Minnie bombs would be so fierce. As a result, when they were fired by muskets, they obviously had some chaos.

At this time, Xu Xingxia and others gradually saw clearly. These sudden troops were not the Ming army coming to Gansu Town, but the Tartars! There were Tartars here! It was really incredible! Logically speaking, there were scattered soldiers of the Eagle Cavalry Army monitored the various passes and fortresses in Helan Mountain. How did these Tartar cavalry emerge?

"kill!"

"Kill all these bastards!"

Liu Chuang was furious and shouted fiercely.

He was actually attacked by the Tartars under his nose, which was simply slapped him in the face!

He didn't know where these Tartar cavalry came from, but if they dared to rush to Xu Xingxia, they had to die! No one could save their lives! Unless Xu Xingxia forgives them! Even guys like Lin Danhan suffered a great loss in front of Xu Xingxia. Do you dare to run up to act wildly? You really want to die by yourself!

Since Liu Chuang had such a mind, other hunting cavalry soldiers naturally had such minds. They were shooting fiercely at the fastest speed, knocking all the Tartar cavalry that rushed up to the ground. It was their incompetence to scare the Supreme Commander! These damn people, they must kill you all today!

"Oh, Liu Chuang! Wait! Catch the living!"

Xu Xingxia shouted hurriedly.

As the battle unfolded, the situation gradually became clear. In fact, there were only more than 100 Taurus cavalry coming, and there would definitely not be more than 200 people. They were all dressed in black and even their armor was black. If they had not guessed wrong, it should have been the troops of Zhuang Tulai of the Tatars. Their number was so small that it should not have been intentional to ambush Xu Xingxia here. It was impossible for the more than 100 Taurus cavalry to ambush more than 1,500 hunting cavalry.

These Tartar cavalry must have accidentally broken into the vicinity of Yuquan Camp, and happened to meet Xu Xingxia and the others. They probably didn't know Xu Xingxia or hunting cavalry. As a result, they rushed out rashly and tried to see a bargain. Speaking of which, they were also unlucky. Who would have to meet Xu Xingxia?

"Bang bang bang!"

The fierce gunfire continued.

The soldiers hunting cavalry constantly compressed the encirclement inward.

A Tatar who was caught off guard had no idea what to do in the face of the hunting cavalry's guns. Their bows and arrows were no match for the Sun and Moon guns in terms of range. There was no way, so they had to rely on the war horses as cover and hid behind the war horses, and refused to come out even if they died. Several hunting cavalry soldiers who knew how to speak loudly called out to surrender the remaining Tartars. However, no Tatars surrendered.

In the end, the battle ended with all the Tatars being killed and injured. The battlefield was counted, and there were a total of 144 Tartars. One hundred and thirty-seven were killed, and seven were alive. These seven were taken down by the officers of the hunting cavalry and interrogated the situation. From Xu Xingxia down, they all wanted to know where these Tatar cavalrymen entered Ningxia Town, what their purpose was, and whether there were more accomplices behind them.

"Sir, Gansu Town is over. Mo Rigen and his 30,000 Tartars occupied Gansu Town." Not long after, Liu Chuang returned to Xu Xingxia and reported in a low tone.

I really didn't know if I asked, but I was shocked when I asked. It turned out that the Tatars' Zhuang Tulai's troops had already moved south to Gansu Town. Taking advantage of the chaos inside Ningxia Town, they controlled all parts of Ningxia Town almost overnight. The Tatars led the team were not someone else, but Xu Xingxia's old acquaintance, the Tatars' arrow god Mo Rigen.

"Where are Li Maohui and Li Guozhen?" Xu Xingxia frowned.

He thought that these two guys had already controlled Ningxia Town! He also thought that if Mujianshe launched a rebellion in Gansu Town, he would find an excuse to send troops to suppress the rebellion in Gansu Town. Unexpectedly, it was the Tatars who controlled Ningxia Town! It was really unexpected! The arrival of Mo Rigen was a little too fast, right?

"The two of them... surrendered to the Tatars! The most traitor!" Liu Chuang said indignantly.

"Did they surrender to the Tartars?" Xu Xingxia frowned. This was another unexpected news. He thought that Li Maohui and Li Guozhen would not surrender to the Tartars even if they fell into depravity. Unexpectedly, they once again explained that there was no worst person, only worse. In order to survive, they both shamelessly became traitors!

It is indeed a bit surprising that the situation in Gansu Town is so decay! Li Maohui and Li Guozhen are both familiar with the situation in Shaanxi, especially the situation in Ningxia Town. With the two traitors leading the way, I am afraid that Ningxia Town will be in trouble in the future. Maybe these Tatars who have been wandering here came from an unknown small road in Helan Mountain with their guidance. This is not surprising at all!

"If you ask them again, what else do you know!" Xu Xingxia said calmly.

There are many paths in Helan Mountain, connecting Ningxia Town and the desert Gobi to the west. The White-Clothed Army cannot arrange troops to be on duty on all paths. There are too many troops required that such a small force is really needed. Even if only one small team is sent to garrison each path, dozens of troops will be required! The one army under the White-Clothed Army has only twenty-five squads, which cannot be consumed at all. Besides, using troops like this is a huge waste!

In fact, these mountain paths cannot pass through large troops. Therefore, if a large number of enemies want to enter Ningxia Town, they will definitely not take these paths. As long as the White Army looks at several major passes and fortresses, they can block the arrival of the Tatar *** troops. However, if small troops are sent to harass them, these mountain paths will be a headache.

After Liu Chuang went down, he brought a group of interrogation experts and tortured all the remaining seven Tartars for a long time, and finally got some valuable information. Of course, due to the low status of these Tartars, they knew that they were all big-name goods. It is estimated that Xuanying Guard should have intelligence supplements in the near future.

This time, the arrow god Mo Rigen brought a total of 30,000 Tatar cavalry. The location of Gansu Town (i.e. Zhangye in later generations) was completely controlled by the Tatars. The general of Gansu Town surrendered. Most of the other officers, except for a very small number of people who fled, surrendered. Now, all the Ming army in Gansu Town are under the command of Li Maohui and Li Guozhen.

"Aren't the two of them together?" Xu Xingxia couldn't help but wonder.

When he was in Ningxia Town, Xu Xingxia always heard that there was a big conflict between the governor and the general officer. Why did the two of them show signs of being in a relationship when they arrived in Gansu Town? It was definitely not a good thing for the White Army when they hooked up together! The sudden appearance of the Tatars caused the pressure on the White Army to bear on the back.
Chapter completed!