Kai Fu Han

Chapter 246
A pontoon bridge is being built on the Huangshui River to the west of the refugee resettlement site.

The pontoon bridge consists of small boats. These boats are all slender and have flat decks and are lined up side by side. The engineers are using chains to tie the pontoon boats together to form a pontoon bridge.

"Leader, this is a pontoon we built quickly based on your knowledge. The hull and the bridge deck on the ship are separate. The structure of the ship is very simple. It can be stacked together and transported on a large ship. It does not take up space. The deck Even thick wooden boards assembled together can be stacked and stored. The hull and deck carried by a two thousand stone sand ship can be constructed into a bridge deck thirty feet long and two feet wide."

Liu Xinqi looked towards the Yellow River. There were protrusions extending upward on the sides of the boats on the river. There were holes in the corresponding positions of the boat panels. The boat decks were directly embedded into the protrusions, making them very stable.Then use iron chains to tie up all these protrusions, and the bridge deck is between the iron chains on both sides.

"Is the rapid construction of this kind of pontoon inseparable from the assistance of soldiers?" Liu Xinqi asked the officer of the Logistics Department responsible for demonstrating the pontoon this time.

"Yes, the assembled ship panel weighs more than [-] kilograms. Ordinary people cannot lift it at all. Soldiers need to move it and embed it on the side of the ship." The officer of the Logistics Department replied: "But if there are no soldiers, the assembly can also be completed. However, the manpower required will increase exponentially, and the efficiency will be greatly reduced.”

Liu Xinqi understood that what he meant was that several people could lift the boat together, but they would need to work together, so the speed would naturally slow down and the pontoon bridge could not be built quickly.

"It's already very good, but we need to continue to improve. We need to brainstorm ideas, communicate more with the engineers and soldiers used, and ask for their suggestions." Liu Xinqi replied.

After standing on the shore and watching for a while, I saw the engineers on the yellow water driving the assembled pontoon bridge past several fully loaded trucks and verifying the stability of the pontoon bridge.Then began to disassemble and organize it again.

Liu Xinqi turned around and walked towards the resettlement point, and the officers of the Logistics Department quickly followed him.

"Let them continue to strengthen their training and strive to control the time of the hypothetical [-]-foot-long pontoon bridge within an hour. This way they can cross the river before the enemy reacts and avoid being hit by the half-crossed bridge."

"Yes, I will definitely urge them to train well." Ju Guan replied.

"Also, although your place is a logistics base and not on the front line of the battlefield, you cannot relax your defense. The refugees sheltered in the camp can be used to build permanent defense facilities. Now most of the cement produced in Baishiwan has been shipped. Here, it is not used on the battlefield yet, you can use it to build a high wall first."

"Yes!" replied the officer.

As Liu Xinqi walked, he gave instructions on the logistics base for the fight against the Jin-Qi coalition. Any areas that could be improved were mentioned. Even if they could not be improved for a while, they would be recorded.

This battle will be a test of the military capabilities of the Xinghan League and a training session with real weapons.

After looking at the perimeter, Liu Xinqi found the defense director and intelligence director of the logistics base to guide them in sentry, counterintelligence and other work.

"We have now entered a state of war. As the commanders of this base, you must not relax at all."

"Alliance leader, my subordinates will do their best and ensure that there will be no mistakes." Several chief officers assured.

With such full words, Liu Xinqi has noticed that the continuous victories have given rise to some "arrogant and powerful generals" in the Xinghan Alliance army, but he cannot use a defeat to warn them, so he can only remind them to be cautious and careful.As long as there are systematic constraints, they will implement their own tips and requirements.

Having said everything he could think of, Liu Xinqi got up and left the camp, intending to head south to check out the Huangshui defensive position.This Yellow River defensive position was set up where the official road from Huang County to Penglai intersects with the Yellow River. The Yellow River there is gentle and shallow. You can directly cross the river on horseback. It is about ten miles away from the refugee resettlement site.

"Leader, the latest news is that the grain and grass troops of the Jin-Qi coalition have arrived in Huang County."

A spy from the Military Intelligence Department came over on horseback. When he saw Liu Xinqi, he quickly dismounted and reported.

"When soldiers and horses are stationary, food and grass go first." In this era of war, if you are marching on your own territory, you will first prepare food and grass supplies along the way before marching.Generally, the army will eat locally, and the local chief officer will be responsible for the army's logistics and food supplies.However, the number of troops of the Jin-Qi coalition attacking the Xinghan League this time exceeded 5. It was impossible for the small Huang County to support them, and they had to transport food from other places.

After Gu Yi surrendered, he acted actively according to the plan and frequently sent letters to the puppet Qi court and Liu Yi, the person in charge of this battle. The letter mentioned some military arrangements of the Xinghan Alliance. These were all instructed by Liu Xinqi and passed on. The information can mislead Liu Yi and guide him to lead the Jin-Qi coalition to the battlefield designed by Liu Xinqi, so that the defensive fortifications built by Liu Xinqi can be effective.

In addition to revealing the military arrangements of the Xinghan League, Gu Yi also conveyed in the letter various preparations he had made in Huang County, and flattered him in various ways, as if he was fully prepared to defeat the Xinghan League in one fell swoop as soon as the army arrived. Alliance with these "traitors".

Liu Yi, who originally did not plan to set up the logistics base in Huang County, finally decided to transport half of the grain, grass and supplies to Huang County, and the remaining half was still placed in Ye County, Guofu County, Laizhou.

Huang County is too close to Penglai, less than thirty miles away. From a military perspective, logistics bases are generally not set up too close to the battlefield. If they are too close, they will easily become the target of enemy attacks.But Liu Yi was careless and overconfident. The huge disparity in the numbers of the two armies made veteran Liu Yi a little arrogant.

"Where are the front troops of the Jin-Qi coalition?" Liu Xinqi asked.

"We have passed Laizhou and are expected to arrive in Huangxian on November [-]th," the spy replied.

Today is November [-]th, which means that the day after tomorrow, we will be in contact with the puppet Qi army.

Intelligence from the past few days showed that the front army of the Jin-Qi coalition was entirely composed of Liu Yi's elite troops, including Liu Yi's only [-] cavalry and [-] infantry, which was more than twice the infantry of the Xinghan Alliance.

The Jin cavalry was in the middle of the army together with the large troops, marching slowly.According to this trend, Liu Xinqi estimated that the Jin State planned to use the cannon fodder of the Puppet Qi to eliminate the Xinghan Alliance. If the war went well, the Jin State cavalry would not be allowed to participate in the battle to avoid Jurchen casualties.

"Should we destroy their front army first?" asked Jiao Rui, who had been following Liu Xinqi.

"It has been planned before to gather together and annihilate them. If we do not use muskets, the elimination of these 1 people will definitely cause us a lot of casualties. If we use muskets, our trump card will be exposed in advance, causing the Jin-Qi Allied Forces to follow. Be prepared. So we only need to rely on defensive fortifications to defend, and wait for all the Jin-Qi coalition forces to arrive in Huang County to start implementing the combat plan." Liu Xinqi replied.

The Chinese army is only one day's journey away from the front army. If the front army reaches Huang County on November [-], as expected, the large force of the Chinese army will also arrive on November [-].

The war is close at hand.

(End of this chapter)