weaving

Chapter 1302 I have an idea

"You left without saying goodbye, so it was his fault, but I don't believe he would join forces with the government troops to attack our camp."

Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, spoke in a firm tone. He glanced at the generals in the camp with a stern look and said, "Although Rucai is a bit cunning and treacherous, he had been surrendered to the court before. When we fought our way out of Shangluo Mountain and Jingxuan was also recovering in Gucheng, he was quite hesitant in his heart. If it weren't for Zhang Jingxuan's coercion, I'm afraid he would still be stationed in Yunyang and Junzhou at this moment."

"Today, if you say that you have the intention to surrender to the imperial court, I dare not assert that; however, if you say that he wants to join forces with the government troops to attack our camp, I dare to assert that it is impossible!"

The King of Chuang seemed very patient. He continued, "Although Rucai is a little confused, he does not have much ambition. He surrendered to the court just to seek stability. He is also a man who values ​​friendship. I am sure he will never join forces with the government troops to attack our camp."

His eyes stopped at his nephew Li Guo, and he continued, "It is understandable that those small leaders in the army do not know the truth and mistakenly believe in rumors. However, you are all important generals in our army. How can you be like those small leaders and believe in rumors?"

Before Li Guo could say anything, Liu Zongmin said, "I think Cao is up to no good. He is an ungrateful fellow. He must be dissatisfied with you becoming the Grand Marshal, so he left me.

He might actually join forces with the government troops to kill our spirit of breaking into the camp, so that he can fight for the title of Grand Marshal, or even compete with us for the world."

After hearing his words, King Chuang did not immediately reject them, because he knew that Luo Rucai must be dissatisfied with him, and was afraid that his Cao camp would be swallowed up by him in the future, so he left him to develop on his own.

However, with the war imminent, the army would not tolerate any unfavorable rumors. In his opinion, no matter how much of a bastard Luo Rucai was, he would never join forces with the government forces to attack him.

Even if Luo Rucai really joins forces with the government troops to attack us, that will only happen in the future. It would not be good to cause panic among the soldiers and destroy their morale because of this groundless rumor, right?

"Jiexuan, you said that Rucai was not convinced by me in his heart, and I admit that. But if you say that he wanted to replace me, I'm afraid that's just your personal speculation."

King Chuang continued, "We all know Rucai. He was one of the thirteen families in Xingyang, but he was much more glorious than me. He followed us to destroy the imperial tombs and kill the princes. The court at that time could tolerate him, but the court today may not tolerate him, Luo Rucai. Even surrendering is difficult for the court to accept, let alone Luo Rucai joining forces with the officers and soldiers to attack our camp."

Seeing that Liu Zongmin had stopped refutation, the Prince of Chuang had no intention of continuing to dwell on this matter, so he changed the subject and said, "Although the Xuan army in the north has been divided into other places, according to intelligence reports, there are only 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers and horses, and the defensive strength of its main camp has not been weakened much.

Moreover, we have to be on guard against whether he is doing this on purpose to lure me into a fight. In short, no matter how the government troops are deployed, the Xianggong Temple is already occupied, and our army can capture it at any time. Why should we rush and cause unnecessary casualties? "

After he finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Li Yan and said, "Lin Quan, you always have extraordinary insights, why didn't you say anything today?"

Li Yan has always been a bystander, strictly adhering to the philosophy of life of being cautious in words and deeds, but he can't resist the proactive inquiries of King Chuang, which always makes it impossible for him to refuse.

"Grand Marshal, Yan believes that the most urgent task is to find out the purpose of the government troops' mobilization. Secondly, we must collect as much food and grass as possible. Our army must have at least one month's worth of food and grass in reserve. Thirdly, we must have enough artillery shells and gunpowder to cope with the current war needs."

At this time, the young general Zhang Nai said, "We do have enough gunpowder and cannonballs, but too many of the cannons in the Firearms Battalion were damaged at the critical moment. Although we have now drawn them from the various chieftains' camps, they are still not as many as they were at the beginning.

Now we are not worried about gunpowder and cannonballs, but our cannons are not as good as the government troops. I am afraid that we will be at a disadvantage if we fight against them!" Tian Jianxiu said bluntly: "Why can't our cannons... shoot as far as the Xuan army? Is it the cannons or the gunpowder and cannonballs that are lacking?"

After hearing Tian Jianxiu's question, Liu Zongmin seemed to have forgotten the disagreement he had just had, and immediately said, "That's right. Xiao Naizi, didn't we suffer this loss at the critical moment? We couldn't hit the enemy's cannons, but they could still hit us from a distance? Why is this? Do you understand it?"

Facing the continuous inquiries from the two big leaders, Zhang Nai's face was already covered with sweat. He hurriedly replied: "Master, Master Tian, ​​I have also asked those old gunners, and they all said that our current cannons are better than those of the government troops in the past, and they can shoot farther and faster than they used to.

This was demonstrated when Shuipoji fought against Zuo Liangyu, Ding Qirui and others. No matter whether it was Zuoying or Dingying, Shuipoji could not defeat us, but they were no match for Xuanda’s army.”

He went on to say, "I also specifically asked Tian Fukang, but he couldn't explain what was going on. He just guessed that the Xuanda Army's cannons might be newly made with fine iron, so they can shoot fast and far. Most of our cannons are old cannons seized from the government troops. They are not sophisticated enough, and they have been poorly maintained for a long time, so they leak a lot."

Liu Zongmin was very unconvinced and asked him: "Didn't we also make a lot of cannons ourselves?"

"The cannons we made ourselves are not much better than those captured from the government troops."

"Why is that?"

"Tian Fukang said that the iron we use is not good. The best iron is cycads, which are only produced in Jiangnan. We haven't contacted the channel yet. It takes a lot of iron to make cannons. If there is not enough, it will not be enough, and if there is too much, it will be difficult to buy."

"The Yongyi Army is different from other government troops. Many things surprised us."

Song Xiance then interjected, "Zhang Nai, have you ever considered whether there are some differences between gunpowder and cannonballs?"

Zhang Nai hesitated a little and replied, "I haven't thought about this. I'll ask Tian Fukang about gunpowder and cannonballs later."

King Chuang also spoke at this time: "Xiao Naizi, the military advisor is right on this point. The artillery of his Xuan army is stronger than ours. Maybe he has some ideas about gunpowder and artillery shells. Go find Tian Fukang and ask him about the gunpowder and artillery shells!"

"Yes. Grand Marshal."

Zhang Nai responded to the order, turned around and left the headquarters tent to find Tian Fukang to inquire about gunpowder and cannonballs.

In the camp tent, Liu Fangliang said, "Grand Marshal, I have an idea."

"Oh. Mingyuan, just tell me what you think!"