Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 837 Zhao Qi's Ambition

More than 700 firearms craftsmen who were sent to Lin'an from Tongchuan Road were robbed.

When this news reached Lin'an, Zhao Kai was furious.

Lou Wangchen, who was in charge of the Imperial Guards' Infantry Division, advised: "Sir, then the Lin'an Military Equipment Supervisor will be responsible for the research and development.

Didn't the Tongchuan Road General and Pacifier send the blueprints for making firearms and gunpowder to the capital before?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Even though we have the blueprints, without skilled craftsmen, it will just be a little slower."

Zhao Qi breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered: "Immediately gather all the skilled craftsmen from the military weapon stations within 300 miles of Lin'an, and have them all go to the Lin'an Military Weapon Station to develop firearms together."

The little emperor's decree was quickly promulgated.

Zhao Kai sat heavily on the imperial chair and pinched his swollen and painful brows.

When he heard the news, he immediately suspected that Yang Yuan was unwilling to see power fall into the hands of others, so he was in charge of all this.

But then Ezhou reported the details to Lin'an.

The bodies of the Jin people left at the scene are enough to prove that this was indeed the method used by the Jin people.

Damn it!
The Xixia people suffered great losses from the firearms of our Great Song Dynasty, and many cities in Shaanxi occupied by the Jin people were blasted open by the heavy artillery of our Great Song Dynasty. How could the Jin people not attach importance to firearms technology?
They will naturally get it at all costs, how could I be so careless!

Lou Wangchen glanced at Zhao Kai and said respectfully, "The news says that the Jin people disguised themselves as merchants, porters, and monks passing by on a boat. When the craftsmen boarded the official ship and prepared to sail east, they attacked the escorting officers and soldiers."

Lou Wangchen paused and said, "Your Majesty, there are so many spies from the Kingdom of Jin who have been dispatched to Ezhou at the same time. They have all kinds of identities. Li Dao, the commander of all the troops stationed in front of the emperor in Ezhou, cannot escape the blame!"

"Yes, such a big thing happened on Li Dao's territory. What does Li Dao do for a living?"

Zhao Qi's eyes became fierce, and new and old hatreds surged into his heart at the same time.

"The decree states that Li Dao failed to govern the local area effectively, which led to the rampage of Jin spies, who kidnapped many craftsmen. He was stripped of his positions as Imperial Attendant, Military Commissioner of Wusheng Army, and Commander of the Imperial Armies in Ezhou, and was appointed... Deputy General Manager of Jinghu North Road.

The deputy general manager of Jinghu North Road is higher in rank than the commander-in-chief of Ezhou Road.

However, when you are an official or a deputy, you only eat vegetables.

This is like socks becoming gloves, their position has risen but their usefulness has become smaller.

Just like he appointed Yang Yuan as the envoy of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Longyou, it was a means of promoting someone in public but demoting him in secret.

Lou Wangchen was delighted: "Sir, the position of the commander of Ezhou..."

Zhao Qie paused for a moment and said, "Let the deputy governor of Ezhou take over his duties."

Zhao Qi glanced at Lou Wangchen and said to him, "You have too little experience, and you have never led troops or fought in a war. No one will accept your sudden promotion to such a high position."

Lou Wangchen was disappointed, but he bowed his head humbly and said, "Yes, I am just anxious to strengthen the forces loyal to you. There are still too many people in the court who don't agree with you, the emperor."

"Take your time. I am not someone who doesn't know how to be patient."

Zhao Kai sneered, turned to Lou Wangchen, his expression softened a lot.

"I have sent someone to inform Xinjin that they must launch an attack on the Tatars on April 1st. I will order Ren Degong of Longyou to dispatch the Western Xia army to the north on April 1st to attack the Tatars.

Otherwise, I will cut off Xinjin's support from now on!"

Zhao Qi said: "According to the herdsmen's habits, the mares become pregnant in February, the foals are born in April, and the wool is sheared in May.

In addition, for every ten acres of grassland destroyed, feed for three calves and five lambs was burned.

In April, we will send out troops to attack the Tatars, burn their pastures, and exterminate their people. The Tatars will surely suffer heavy losses.

Under such circumstances, the Tatars would certainly have no time to help Jin fight.

When the time comes, I will send you to Shaanxi. I hope that in May, I will hear the news that you have recovered Chang'an for me."

Lou Wangchen was so excited that he knelt down immediately and said respectfully: "Your Majesty is wise. I am willing to die for you!"

……

Although those experienced craftsmen were abducted by the Jin people, the Song State had the drawings that Yang Yuan had sent to the capital before, and they summoned craftsmen in the capital area who were good at making firearms and were able to copy them.

Having seen the advantages of firearms, the Song Dynasty naturally wanted to use them.

However, not to mention the hasty manufacturing, there is a lack of skilled workers and skilled processes.

Moreover, hot weapons are far more delicate than cold weapons, so the weapons produced often malfunction.

Moreover, they had the early version of the firearm blueprints that Yang Yuan sent to the capital, but they did not have a series of operating instructions and precautions.

In this era, not many soldiers could read, and even many generals were illiterate.

The precautions and operating procedures in these manufacturing and use links need to be taught by master craftsmen through words and deeds.

However, this link is missing now.

Yang Yuan's two ace armies, the Crazy Army and the Firearm Battalion, were also treated coldly because they had too close a relationship with Yang Yuan and were his absolute confidants.

Among them, the Crazy Army was designated as the Wing Army and sent to guard the Xuzhou City.

Ganquan's firearms battalion was originally drawn from the various regiments in Tongchuan Prefecture, but now it has been disbanded and returned to the regiments.

Of course, if these people were available, the generals sent by Zhao Kai might not be so short-sighted.

If you are afraid of losing control, just replace the generals and officers. There is no need to get rid of all the soldiers.

This is how Yue Fei dealt with his soldiers.

The emperor would not worry as long as there was a major replacement of generals and officers, and the ordinary soldiers were sent to key units of the three yamen imperial guards such as the infantry, cavalry, and palace guards.

The problem is, they have no money.

In other words, they were reluctant to spend so much money to support two such elite troops that devoured money like beasts.

Anyway, the total number of the Crazy Soldiers and the Firearms Battalion is less than 6,000. A mere 6,000 people is nothing to worry about.

In fact, in the original history, after Xin Qiji returned to the Song Dynasty and took up a post in the local government, he once founded a Flying Tiger Army.

This Flying Tiger Army is very similar to the Crazy Demon Army currently built by Yang Yuan.

He also recruited a group of desperate criminals, bound them with strict military discipline, and motivated them with generous rewards, thus building an army of less than two thousand people.

According to historical records, the cost of maintaining these 2,000 soldiers was "huge," and "the strength of the people along the way was exhausted."

At that time, the imperial court could not afford to spend so much money to support the army. "When Xin Qiji came, he set up the Flying Tiger Army and wanted to support it himself. He managed the finances in many ways and took the wine tax. He then proposed to the court and let the government sell it all."

At that time, the method used by Xin Qiji was that the court allocated funds according to the normal military supply, and he filled the gap himself.

Because he would use this force to suppress lake bandits and mountain robbers and ensure local safety, he raised funds from local gentry.

He also did business with the army, opened a construction team, opened a restaurant, etc., and invested the money he earned in the construction of the army.

The effect was remarkable. This Flying Tiger Army was later active in almost half of the territory of the Southern Song Dynasty, winning nine out of ten battles.

This is a bit like the White Spear Army of the Ming Dynasty, which was responsible for putting out fires everywhere and was well-known.

Moreover, although it was only an army of less than two thousand people, they not only had great military achievements.

Some veterans of the Flying Tigers joined other armies due to promotions and transfers, and as a result, some armies were derived that inherited the Flying Tigers' combat style and capabilities.

The Flying Tiger Army thus became the "spark" that boosted the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty army.

The military expenditures of the Crazy Demon Army and the Firearm Battalion maintained by Yang Yuan, which had a total of less than 6,000 people, were equivalent to that of an ordinary army of 30,000 to 40,000 people.

The huge difference in military expenditure was previously solved by Yang Yuan on his own.

Who will be responsible for such a huge military expenditure gap now?

Even if I can afford it, wouldn't it be nice to use the money to support an army of 30,000 or 40,000?

Why only 6,000 people?

They are already being treated like this, and it won't work if you want to drastically cut military spending but still let them do the same things they did before.

Even ordinary officers and soldiers could easily incite a mutiny, not to mention that the styles of these two armies were a bit "crazy".

So the only way to solve the problem once and for all was to disband the team and transfer all the staff to other jobs.

As a result, they no longer had soldiers who were proficient in using the new firearms.

They did obtain a large number of firearms that had already been manufactured by Yang Yuan.

But they could only follow the drawings and find a group of veterans with experience in using muskets to teach the new recruits how to use them.

What they didn't know was that after the more than 2,500 firearms soldiers led by Gan Quan were dispersed to various militias in Sichuan, they were also scattered like sparks.

Yang Yuan received the ceasefire order in August last year. At that time, Shen Xuzhong had already followed the imperial edict and rushed to Tongchuan Prefecture to take over the post of the General Manager and Pacifier, making a seamless transition with Yang Yuan.

From then on, the use of new firearms began to become popular in the military.

And this is exactly what Yang Yuan had tried his best to avoid in the past.

He knew very well that firearms of this era could not replace cold weapons, and the soldiers were not just changing one weapon in their hands.

Originally you gave him a spear, and now you give him a bamboo spear. The usage method, training method, combat method and maintenance method have not changed much.

However, the transition from cold weapons to hot weapons requires adjustments to all processes and links.

This was also the reason why Yang Yuan did not mobilize the regular army, but preferred to recruit new soldiers from the militia who had a certain degree of discipline but were not yet finalized in other aspects, to use firearms.

Now..., after more than half a year of training, the generals in the army thought they had mastered the firearms technology that shone brilliantly in Yang Yuan's hands.

But... that's just what they think.

……

On April 1, the Western Xia troops followed the imperial edict and attacked the Tatars in the north to contain the Tatar troops from entering Shaanxi.

Shi Han, Guo Di, Wen Xuanchen, Lou Wangchen and other old and new faction generals followed the imperial order and led their troops out of Jianxun Ridge.

They divided their troops into four groups and attacked Deshun Prefecture, Pingliang Prefecture, Longzhou, and Fengxiang.

Half a year after the war in Shaanxi ended, the war broke out again.

The four armies won a great victory in the first battle, capturing cities and territories with unstoppable force.

The areas they attacked were all places that had been attacked by Yang Yuan's three armies before.

At that time, the three armies passed by and caused damage to the area in all aspects.

The Tatar soldiers who followed closely behind caused further damage.

Perhaps because of these reasons, the morale of the Jin army stationed there was low, so the four armies of the Song State progressed smoothly.

Except for a few tough nuts to crack such as Fengxiang, the Song army captured 19 cities in just two months.

The good news spread into Lin'an City like snowflakes, and the young emperor who had just taken power was in high spirits.

In mid-June, Jiangnan entered the plum rain season, with continuous rain for seven out of ten days.

Zhao Kai's mood was as gloomy as the rainy weather.

Because his wish to recapture Chang'an within a month had not been realized, Fengxiang still blocked the way for the Song army to attack Chang'an.

Shaanxi, which has a drier climate than the south of the Yangtze River, has also entered its rainy season.

(End of this chapter)