Chapter 1,326 Food

Su You silently complained in his heart that Zhao Xu in real history made a complete mistake in judging the strength of the frontline troops. He was so proud of his success that he ignored his body.

They sent 400,000 people to attack, but only prepared the food for half a month. In the end, the Xia army cut off the food route, and half of them were killed before they could fight.

That defeat directly led to the subsequent defeat of Yongle City. The huge blow also completely destroyed Zhao Xu's health and killed himself.

It is not a pity to die, but it is a pity that Mr. Anshi has been infamous all over the world. After his death, he was listed as a traitor. He plundered for the Song Dynasty for ten years, made the people suffer hardships, and accumulated wealth for the country.

It's a pity that the best of the Western Army has been lost for decades.

It is a pity that the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in Shaanxi Fourth Road were lost.

It is a pity that the Song Dynasty still had a chance to reverse the national destiny.

If it hadn't been for that, the Xixia issue would have been resolved in advance, and it would not have to wait until Zhezong Dynasty Zhang Kai was appointed to Shaanxi to restart.

If it hadn't been for that, it would have been possible to stagger the Fangla Uprising. After the Xixia was defeated, enough troops could be freed up to deal with Fangla calmly without being stretched.

If it hadn't been for that, there might have been an army good at fighting against the Liao and Jin people. Not to mention victory, there was at least the possibility of defeating Youyun, and maybe it could have extended the reign of the Northern Song Dynasty for decades.

Fortunately, the situation is finally different now. Today, Su You is certain that he will not be able to go to the North to herd sheep.

Su You took a long breath and handed over to the southeast: "Yes, if it weren't for His Majesty's sage wisdom and trust, as well as the telegram, which can be commanded from thousands of miles away through the military aircraft department, we would not be able to achieve such a record.

.”

Li Shunju was a eunuch with some integrity. Hearing Su Youshou praise Zhao Xu in a disgraceful way, he twitched the corner of his mouth, looked to the other side and changed the subject: "What is that?"

Su You smiled and said: "That is a gift prepared for the Liang family of Xia State. The Yellow River is not frozen, and all the ships along the Yellow River have been scuttled by Liang Lingtong. The Xia people will definitely think that it will take time for our army to prepare the ships, and they can only go up to six hundred miles."

, go to Lanzhou to cross the river."

"In fact, there is a small river-crossing tool on the Yellow River, which is made of sheepskin and is called a Huntuo."

"But the carrying capacity of that thing is too small, so Shi Yong changed it to be made of cowhide. Hundreds of cowhide pieces were strung together, and it can carry an army, no less than a giant ship."

"What's on the wall is the blueprint. We are designing and modifying it to make it more sturdy and durable. The soldiers of the Western Army are not very good at water, so this raid mainly depends on the new army."

Li Shunju knew the power of the Nanhai Navy and said, "If we can install thunder cannons, how can Xingqing Mansion be at peace?"

Su You smiled and said: "That's not possible. I'm afraid the raft will fall apart as soon as the cannon is fired."

"This kind of raft is riveted together with iron parts and small pieces of wood. Of course, its strength cannot be compared with giant ships like the Kuizhou type and Hangzhou type."

"The Fulu Cannon can be fielded, but this involves the instability of the water surface, which will cause shooting accuracy problems."

"We installed a gyroscope next to the gun emplacement on the raft, and at the same time changed the Vulu gun from firing under the weight of the shell back to firing, so that the gunner can grasp the best shooting opportunity."

"Anyway, these bits and pieces are still being refined and transformed. It will probably take a while."

Li Shunju frowned: "How long will it take?"

Su You smiled and said: "These are just small improvements, they won't take long."

Li Shunju then nodded: "That's the boat in the pond outside the door, right? Let's go and have a look."

When we came outside, there was a strange boat floating in the pond.

Su You explained: "The Huntuo raft is too crude and difficult to defeat bows and arrows, so in addition to changing its traditional shape into a streamlined shape, we also covered its entire periphery and upper part with pine boards."

"This is the third batch. Now we have enough cowhide tires to make one hundred and eighty large raft ships."

"This is 45,000 cattle. Fortunately, the climate is very cold. Now the meat supply for the hundreds of thousands of troops depends on Lanzhou. Granny Li used the goods provided by Sitong Company to exchange with the Tibetan people and became a win over the Tibetan people.

effective means."

"A cowhide tire can be stuffed with one hundred and twenty kilograms of wool. It can be carried down the river, turned into a main canal at the mouth of the gorge, and transported here. Unexpectedly, it was discovered by the Xia people."

"Wool has become an important commodity for Sitong to sell to the mainland, but they are not happy about it."

"In this round, everyone will make a profit, and half of the profit from the price difference will become these rafts, and half will become Sitong's income."

Li Shunju had just heard that there were 45,000 cattle, and his heart jumped with fright. This military expenditure was a bit scary.

But when Su You said this, it turned into a business: "Then these cowhide rafts didn't cost a penny?"

Su You smiled and said: "Actually, even the cattle in Lingzhou city are not less than this number. However, these cattle are of good quality. We will keep them as the basis for Lingzhou to resume farming. They will be of great use after the new year, so I am reluctant to kill them."

"Look, Lord Commander, haven't they all been used now?"

Today's steam engines are developing by leaps and bounds. After existing problems have been solved, a large number of mechanisms and accessories that make the machines better, more powerful, more energy-saving, and safer have begun to be invented one by one and installed on the steam engines.

One is the control valve. In the middle of the working stroke, the steam inlet valve is closed to allow the steam to expand and work to improve thermal efficiency;

The second is double-stroke, which allows the steam to do work on both sides of the piston to increase the output power.

As a result, sector-shaped balancing levers and zippers were no longer suitable, so they were generally transformed into crank-connecting rod transmission mechanisms.

After modification, steam engines have been widely used not only in drainage in the mining industry, but also in smelting, textiles, machine manufacturing and other industries.

This also led to a shortage of wool, cotton yarn and other production materials. Therefore, even before the war was over, merchants represented by Su Fu could not wait to go to Lanzhou to purchase wool.

But now this machine is too heavy and heavy, making it troublesome to transport.

But who are Su You and Shi Yong? The most important thing in science and engineering is flexibility. As long as the goal is achieved, it doesn't matter what method you use.

Therefore, oxen and horses were directly used as power, and components transported from Ningxia were assembled and built to build a wood processing workshop. The large pine wood collected by Li Xian from Lintan and Zhuoni and put down the river was processed into the required planks and columns.

.

Li Shunju personally boarded it to inspect it and found that the draft of the raft was very shallow, which meant that the load capacity was very large.

Su You said that such a large raft could carry 40,000 kilograms, and in addition to the two hundred soldiers, it could also include all their supplies.

One hundred and eighty ships are enough to transport 36,000 people. The five new armies and the cadets are not that many. The remaining carrying capacity is prepared for heavy objects such as thunderbolts and vans.

Su You said: "Actually, the most important thing now is to repair the road from Lingzhou to Weizhou. In the future, commodity transportation will be sent from Lanzhou to Lingzhou by water power, and then transferred to the land route from Ningxia City into the mainland. This can save four

Ten days’ time.”

"With this economic lifeline, we can strengthen our control over the northern part of the mountain and the southern part of the country. When the Western Region is cleared, this road will be a river flowing with gold and silver!"

Li Shunju looked at Su You's long-term planning blueprint on the military map: "Then prisoners of war and students must be used, which can be regarded as work-for-relief. We cannot let them waste food in vain!"

Su You smiled and said: "Then you have to convince Mr. Fan. Otherwise, we can use both manpower and animal power. Anyway, Ningxia City transports a lot of feed to Weizhou, and the seizures in this battle are also quite rich. Let Bi Zhongyou make good arrangements and hurry up with the construction."

"It's rare for the palace envoy to come. The aquatic products of the Yellow River are also delicious. Come on, I'll treat the palace envoy to a big carp from the Yellow River!"

The Yinchuan Yellow River carp of later generations is the best among the Yellow River carps, and there is also the pigeon fish. In addition to the Shangzhou pigeon fish, the Yinchuan pigeon fish is also top quality.

Paired with another magical specialty of the Gobi - Nostoc, plus Tan sheep and gluten, Su You was instructing the cook to prepare a quite sumptuous delicacy for Li Shunju in the winter of Lingzhou City.

Mixed cabbage, sweet and sour Yellow River carp, steamed pigeon fish, stir-fried gluten with celery and mushrooms, stir-fried lamb liver and kidneys, hand-caught lamb...

The most unforgettable thing for Li Shunju was a plate of braised waist pillars and a plate of mutton dumplings with shallots and scallions.

The method of braised waist column is to put the mutton spinal cord in a pot and cook it, take it out and let it cool, then use a knife to gently scratch the outer skin, tear off the outer skin and cut it into small pieces.
Chapter completed!