The 18th year of Kaihuang, winter.

After several days of snow, the dam became colder. Every household in the city had built a fire kang, bought a dual-purpose iron stove with a chimney, made new door curtains, and pasted new window paper. At the gates of various towns in Wuzhou, four-wheeled carriages were transported into the charcoal farm in the city every day. Then, the charcoal shops were located in various streets and moved the carcoal from here, and then sold them to the military and civilians who lined up to buy carcoal every day. The rich businessmen and wealthy shops were also moved.

The better-sized military officers and soldiers buy the pressed honeycomb coal in the charcoal shop, while ordinary families buy charcoal directly and process it into charcoal cakes by themselves. Some people who like frugality will invite those men who come to the border areas of Youzhou and Daizhou in the Guannei to make some money during the winter and drink on the street to make coal briquettes. Use the charcoal cores, charcoal powder, yellow mud and water bought at low prices from the charcoal factory and charcoal shop, and use a large sieve to make extremely cheap coal briquettes.

With the fire pit and charcoal, although the dam is still flying like in previous years and the cold wind is howling, the people in the city are no longer cold. Carbonite transported from the carbohydrate mine in Gaoshan Town is endless. Although the charcoal smell is a bit pungent when it is burned, the stove with a chimney will not make the house smell bad. On the contrary, with the carbohydrate and this stove and the kang, it is much more convenient to keep heating, boil water and cook, or even cook at night. No matter how cold it is, it doesn’t feel cold. The price of such convenient carbohydrate is not expensive, and it is even much cheaper than ordinary firewood charcoal. This kind of carbohydrate is affordable for everyone.

Gaoshan Military Town is located on the east side of Huaihuang. Not far from the west side of Yuyi Town, the carbide produced by the Gaoshan Carbonifer Factory in the territory now supplies the daily charcoal for the people of Huaihuang town, but also supplies the iron and steel fields of Xiwan Town to the east of Yuyi Town. The iron and steel fields of Xiwan Town are closely protected. Many people do not know the true face of this field built on high walls in the valley. Many people only think that this is a small iron factory. But in fact, this place has long been the secret military equipment of Huaihuang.

The R&D base is not a research base under the United Arsenal Firm, but a secret ordnance R&D base of Huaihuang Army. Although this ordnance R&D base has not yet developed any particularly sharp ordnance, the iron smelting and steelmaking here are progressing rapidly. The coke extracted from the Gaoshan Charcoal Factory was continuously transported here, and a large number of crude iron ingots from the Yehu Town Iron Mine were also transported here. Coke was used to further extract iron materials and even better steel.

Although several iron crafting furnaces and steel crafting furnaces are hidden in the valley, they have achieved a lot of results. The iron and steel produced in trial production are better than in the past. However, the iron and steel refined in Xiwan City are cheaper than the general iron crafting methods, and the production speed is more efficient. Several new windmill workshops have been built in Huangshan Town, south of Xiwan Town. A large number of craftsmen gather here and are studying how to use wind power to drive heavier forging hammers, and use this heavier, faster and more stable wind forging hammer to create plate armor designed by Yifeng, such as cutting sabers, cavalry knives, arrows, etc.

From Huaihuang to Yuyi, from Yehu City to Huangshan Town, from Yancheng to Dushibao, the entire Huaihuangba not only has business travel and trade prosperity, but also has been in accelerating the construction of mines, iron factories, steel mills, forging workshops, etc. in places that ordinary people cannot see. In the warehouses in each town, steel, charcoal produced everywhere, and grain for salt, wine, and sugar from merchants from all over the country. After Huaihuang had a population of hundreds of thousands, it not only did not sit in the vacancies, but became more and more stable.

Yi Feng secretly reserves various important war preparation supplies, while ordinary people are also stepping up their reserves of various winter supplies when the cold winter comes.

Every day, I push the cart to the coal shop to buy coal, go to the grain store to buy grain, go to the vegetable market to buy cabbage, and radish storage in winter.

After Yi Feng cleared the dam, even though he didn't have much food in his hands, he did not ask people to stock up on land and cultivate land and grow grain. Even after pacifying Qinshan, Yi Feng did not grow grain.

The dam is in a semi-arid area, but it is not impossible to plant grain. On the edge of rivers, lakes, and even in some flat places, as long as the canals and wells can be renovated, they can still produce good output. However, Yi Feng did not grow grain. He arranged people to reclaim the land in these areas that could be transformed into irrigated land, but in the end he planted all kinds of vegetables. Especially after autumn, most of the land was planted with cabbage and radish. Now winter has arrived, and every day, cabbage and radish are harvested in the vegetable fields outside the city and then transported in truckloads.

In the city, the people in the city received the corresponding amount of winter cabbage and radish supply with their own household registration books. Each family with a military household registration could receive 500 kilograms of cabbage, another 200 kilograms of radish and some onions. Ordinary families could also receive 400 kilograms of cabbage and 100 kilograms of radish per bite. The cabbage and radish in the fixed amount were very cheap, but if the amount exceeded, the price would be increased. The more you exceeded, the higher the price. For many people, this was something that surprised them. In the past, in addition to dried vegetables and pickles, fresh vegetables were basically not seen.

However, this year, the people who are in poverty can enjoy better treatment than those of the people in the Central Plains. They can buy enough fresh winter-storage vegetables to eat for the winter at a cheap price.

The winter in the dam is very cold and long. If calculated based on the winter temperature in the Central Plains, the winter in the dam can last up to seven months.

Many people have opposed Yifeng's cabbage planting plan, believing that it is better to grow grain than to grow cabbage and radish with local cabbage and radish. However, Yifeng insists on his plan. The place of Bashang is not suitable for growing grain. Even if the place where the vegetable grows is planted, it still cannot meet the grain needs of Bashang. Moreover, there are border cities and re-export trade, especially dam salt, dam wine, dam sugar, dam paper, dam books and other products, as well as various newly opened minerals on the Bashang, iron smelting furnaces and military yards. Bashang has broken out of the traditional self-sufficiency development model, but is similar to a special economic zone. Not to mention the grain of hundreds of thousands of people, it is twice the population. Now

It is not a problem. Since the grain problem can be solved, the problem of side-to-side vegetables must of course be solved. People cannot only eat grain. Eating staple foods alone is not only unbalanced in nutrition, but also consumes more grain. Moreover, unlike grain, it is not convenient to transport from long distances and is not suitable for long-term preservation. Nowadays, grains in Huaihuang can be transported from the distant Jianghuai region, while the newly built underground grain cellars in Huaihuang can even preserve grain for nine years. However, vegetables and foods that are needed by Huaihuang are difficult to transport from other places and are only suitable for local cultivation. Moreover, growing vegetables is not as good as growing grain. The land requirements are also lower, but the yield is not too low. Using the land of Huaihuang to grow vegetables can allow the people in Huaihuang to eat.

This can increase the happiness of the military and civilians in Huaihuang. Yi Feng once said that although the sense of happiness is a bit illusory, since growing vegetables will not affect the food problem of Huaihuang, everyone no longer insists on opposing it. Now winter is coming. On the streets of the city, the people drag their wives and children, and the whole family is in battle. The car pulls the car on the shoulders and carrys the car and even several thousand kilograms of cabbage, radish, and green onions distributed to their homes, just like squirrels preparing to spend the winter. Looking at the smiles on everyone's faces, you actually know that Yi Feng's step is actually done very well.

If the family has surplus grain, he is not panicked. Yi Feng agrees with the people who store grain and vegetables at home. As long as the people store grain under the official standard amount, he will not object. If the people have grain at home, they will feel at ease. At the same time, storing grain for the people can greatly save the official difficulty of storing grain. More granaries can be vacated in the official warehouse to store grain merchants continuously transported by the grain merchants.

This year's dam is particularly cold, but it is not bleak at all. On the contrary, the more winter comes, the more lively the dam becomes. Caravans are still coming, while young soldiers in the desert are all hurrying to hold their weddings and finish their weddings. Ordinary people are also speeding up the time to transport coal, grain and vegetables to their homes. There is a lively look everywhere, a rich and fulfilling scene.

Before the expedition, the White Tiger Platform in the center of the Wuzhou General Administration was like a huge tiger standing up, looking particularly majestic.

Now that he is only eighteen years old, some green stubborn generals, Wuzhou general manager, governor, and Changning County Gong Yifeng, holding the big sword in his hands, could not help but feel hot all over. There is no fire kang in the house, but the ground dragon is burned, and a fire channel is buried underground, connecting the walls of the air, all with all the fire channels. When the sky is cold, the fire fire will fill the fire channel, making the room warm as spring. It is more convenient and warm than just hanging the fire kang in the house.

Putting away the seven-foot-long horse-slaying sword, Yi Feng breathed a sigh of relief, and Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong stepped forward to remove their armor for Yi Feng.

This set of armor is used to match the horse-slashing sword in Yi Feng's hand. His horse-slashing sword is not the newly equipped sabre for team-level officers today. The horse-slashing sword is only five feet and five kilograms. However, the one in Yi Feng's hand is seven feet long and nine kilograms long. Compared with the horse-slashing sword of team-level officers, this big sword is a real heavy sword. This sword has another name in later generations, that is, Mo Dao. Now the long bowman is the most advantageous in the Huaihuang army, and the cavalry has stepped up training, but a large number of infantry battalions are spearmen and sword shield hands. Huaihuang's position is destined that the main enemies of the Huaihuang army will be the Hu people outside the frontier, and the Hu cavalry who are riding horses. For cavalry, the long spear formation may be an option, but the short swords of the sword and shield soldiers are difficult to fight against these Hu cavalry that are like the wind.

The weapon Modao comes from the Mars Killing Sword in the Han Dynasty, and was Modao in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, it was named Mars Killing. The shapes were often changed, but one thing is unchanged, that is, whether it is the Mars Killing Sword, Modao, or Mars Killing Sword, they are all weapons of infantry, and they are all killing weapons for infantry against cavalry. This kind of long-soldier sword has the power of breaking horses.

Now Yi Feng uses coke, coupled with some steelmaking methods from later generations, has given him an advanced steelmaking method, and has also given him good steel that can make sharp weapons and kill horse swords.

With good steel, you can have good weapons, and with good steel, you can create a sharp horse-slashing sword. Yi Feng has already planned to change some of the light shield soldiers into heavy infantry, and equip this nine-pound seven-foot two-hand horse-slashing sword to protect the formation and fight against the Hu cavalry.

Of course, with a good knife, you still have to have a good armor.

Whether it was the Mo Dao War in the Tang Dynasty or the horse-killing hands in the Song Dynasty, they were all wearing heavy armor, so that they could not be afraid of the cavalry's shooting and impact.

Huaihuang now has enough steel to make high-quality horse-slashing swords, and of course it can also make good armor. However, Yi Feng did not choose Mingguang armor, which is an iron armor. The production process is complex, but the defense performance is not strong. Yi Feng chose a plate armor, which seems to have higher craftsmanship. But it is not complicated. The key is the hand-force forging hammer and good steel. The dam is short of water, but the wind is strong. As long as it is used well, it is the same to use a windmill instead of a waterwheel to drive the forging hammer.

The set on Yi Feng now is a set of iron cans made with wind-powered hammers. The full set weighs fifty kilograms. If a chain mail is lined inside, it may weigh seventy kilograms. Such heavy infantry is equipped with a 7-foot-9 kilogram-weighted horse-knife sword, which is really invulnerable, but it is invincible.

However, Yi Feng just tried it himself, and clamped two sets of armor and 70 kilograms. He then held a nine-kilogram-weight horse-cutting sword. It was really tiring to wield it, and it was difficult to last for a long time. This kind of heavy infantry is just as sharp as a longbowman, and at the same time, it has higher requirements for soldiers. Such heavy infantry requires extremely strong soldiers.

But if you only wear one set of plate armor, it will be much easier.

Yuchi Gong and Cheng Yaojin had already taken off the full set of plate armor and put it on the wooden man and pieced it together. The wooden man with the full set of plate armor immediately looked like a guard waiting for battle at any time. He looked particularly majestic.

Yi Feng took off his armor and immediately felt a fog of white mist. He picked up the towel handed over by Cheng Mingzhen and wiped two sweat. Yi Feng was barefoot, covered with a bearskin cloak, and sat on a mahogany soft chair.

"Master, do you need to be equipped with this kind of armor in the army?" Yuchi Gong asked. He was originally a blacksmith and was amazed at this new type of plate armor. From his professional perspective, it was too difficult to create such a set of plate armor by hand, and it took a lot of time. But Yi Feng told him that Huaihuang's plate armor workshop now has the ability to mass-produce plate armor. As long as it is mass-produced, the time and cost of producing such a set of plate armor will be far lower than that of a set of Mingguang armor, even only one-third of the cost of Mingguang armor, and it takes only one-tenth of the time. However, the results obtained from its tests show that the defense performance of this plate armor is far higher than that of Mingguang armor. This is the role played by Huaihuang's current wind forging hammer, steel furnace, furnace iron furnace, and coke.

"This kind of full-body armor is still too heavy and has extremely high requirements for soldiers. However, our cavalry is not as good as the Hu people, and it is difficult to train a large number of excellent cavalry in a short time. Especially now that our longbowmen have extremely strong combat power, our tactics are generally arranged around the longbowmen, so the position protection of the longbowmen is extremely important. This is also the original intention of building the horse-slaying sword and the full-body plate armor. Everything is to protect the longbowmen so that they can output with peace of mind without interference. At present, the arrow formation is the capital for our Huaihuang Army to compete for heroes and must be protected. However, there were no heavy infantry before, so it is impossible to set too many at once and take it step by step."

During the Tang Dynasty, there were 20,000 soldiers, 6,000 auxiliary soldiers, and 14,000 soldiers. Among the war soldiers, there were 4,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry. Among the 10,000 infantry, there were 2,500 Modao soldiers, and the number of Modao soldiers was large, accounting for one-quarter of the infantry.

However, although a big sword with two-handed horse-cutting and full-body armor has been created, heavy infantry still needs to be selected and trained, and weapons and armor have to be built. For the time being, a large number of heavy infantry can not be set up immediately, so we have to go step by step.

"The organization of each battalion remains unchanged for the time being. First, select 500 strong and brave fighters from the army, form a single battalion, and directly under the command of the military headquarters. Whether a soldier and horse can achieve the expected goals must be tried first." Yi Feng said to several young men with a smile.

The army has been assembled, and a large amount of food and grass has been transported to Baiyun Town and Dushi Town in the north. In addition, Yehu Town and Yanhu Town have also prepared for war and strengthened patrols in preparation for the Turks.

Now, just wait for Zhang Jinsheng to send news from the Khitan, he immediately opened and sent troops to fight against the Ye Gu people.

"Why has General Zhang not heard back yet?" Yuchi Jingde wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered in a low voice.

"What's the hurry? Brother Zhang will definitely not delay the matter." Li Wenxiang, among the young men, spoke to Zhang Jincheng on the side. He, Cheng Mingzhen, Wu Heita and others had followed Zhang Jincheng before, so they always kept asking him to say a few good things to Yi Feng.

At this time, a report from the guard came from outside, "Zhang Jin said that the general sent someone back to see the general."

"It must be good news." Wu Heita smiled.

The messenger was brought in, covered in dust and sweat, and obviously rushed all the way. When he saw this, Yi Feng couldn't help but feel a little sank. When the messenger rushed back in such a hurry, things might have changed.

After checking the seal, Yi Feng opened the letter that Zhang Jincheng sent someone to send back, and then took a collection of poems written by Huaihuang, and slowly translated them according to the letter. Zhang Jincheng's letter was a secret letter. Not only did it have a seal on the letter, but the content of the letter also had an agreed secret word. If you don't know the decoding of the secret letter, you will not know the content even if you get the letter. If you don't have a long time, Yi Feng quickly translated the content.

Holding the translated letter, Yi Feng's face became more and more gloomy.
Chapter completed!