The first step that Chen Hai did was to transfer Ding Shuang from Montenegro to take charge of reorganizing the forces that remained after the Zhang family was expelled from Lucheng.
The Xuantai Zichen Halberd used by Chen Hai at this time is based on the eighth-level quenched iron material, with three hundred kilograms of Xuantao refined iron and two hundred kilograms of purple chen placer gold. The halberd weighs more than one thousand two hundred kilograms. , but it can only be regarded as the fourth grade of tempered iron.
Hexi controls the entrance to the desert from the west, and can roughly calculate the quenching iron materials imported into the desert. Calculation of the two phases can tell where the problem lies. Therefore, when the first batch of quenching iron materials was smelted in Lukaixia, Chen Hai Ge Xuanqiao and Du Linan were also specially invited to the scene to observe.
In addition to being the only remaining strong man in the Four Dao Dan Realm in the Pinglu Oasis, Kong Peng had served in the Northern Army for a long time before becoming a bandit. Not only him, but also the several major bandit leaders under him all had rich experience in military smelting. .
Ye Qinglin is also happy to accept such a redemption policy. After all, the transfer of a large amount of armor, bows, and gilded iron materials from the Jingjue Protectorate to the hands of the four surname clans will directly strengthen the Ye family's royal army without increasing the number of Ye family members. Debt to Hexi.
As well as the fields and pastures of the four surnames on both sides of the Lu River, the Jingjue Protectorate also paid for them and redeemed them.
Lukai Gorge is located more than 3,000 meters above the source of Luhe River, and the terrain is extremely dangerous.
Nearly a hundred machine-gun crossbows fired volleys, and the rain of gold-hardened arrows was as terrifying as a sky-destroying storm. Even the most elite heavy-armored cavalry could not resist its power. Kong Peng's men mainly used light-armored crossbows and lances. Naturally, He did not dare to approach Nanjian Gorge easily, but that did not mean that Kong Peng, who was supervising the battle in Yuchi City as the rebel commander, was helpless.
This kind of tower shield vehicle made of thousand-year-old solid wood is still much lighter than the precision cast iron shield with the same defensive power. However, under the strong suppression of the logistics supply line by the Jingjue Army War Bird Battalion, whether it is an iron shield vehicle or a tower shield, Kong Peng wanted to build enough cars in Yuchi City, but it couldn't be done in three to five days.
The ninth level of quenched iron material can usually be used to cast the top-level mortal iron armor; the eighth to sixth levels correspond to yellow-level low-grade to high-grade mysterious weapons, which can be refined into Taoist seals and magic circle restrictions.
Chen Hai still hopes that the real decisive battle can be postponed until next spring, or even later.
Chen Hai established twelve military villages on the west bank of the Lu River and at the east foot of the Tiele Mountains to administer the land under the original Zhang family. He included more than 5,000 households of slaves and subordinates belonging to the original Zhang family, and three villages. More than 10,000 people were incorporated into the military government, and officials were rewarded for their military merits.
Throughout the winter of Emperor Yitian's seventy-sixth year, more than 200,000 kilograms of tempered iron materials and more than 2,000 sets of armor were directly imported from Juquan Ridge to Lucheng as redemption for 7,000 slaves and their families and hundreds of thousands of fields. The capital was transferred to the children of the four surnamed clans.
"Ancestor Ge, half of the quenched iron produced here can be supplied to Hexi, but this secret may not be kept for a long time." Chen Hai said to Ge Xuanqiao.
In particular, the secret of the lake mud and sand mine hidden at the bottom of Tianxuan Lake inside Lukai Gorge will be officially revealed. All promises will become pale in the face of huge interests.
The Zhang family captured the Western Qiang King's City and established themselves as kings. With the support of the Demon Temple and the Tibetan Qiang Kingdom, they have not been able to effectively control the Pinglu Oasis in the past six months. Most of the cities have remained neutral. This means that Ye's rule Xiqiang Kingdom has been in existence for more than 400 years and still has a strong foundation in Pinglu Oasis.
On the one hand, Zhao, Yang, Zhou and Gu hoped that the Jingjue Army would become stronger and be able to cooperate more effectively with the royal army in the future and attack the rebels more effectively. On the other hand, they could not refuse such an offer.
For the slaves and subjects belonging to the four clans of Zhao, Yang and Zhougu, the Jingjue Protectorate's approach could not be so straightforward and crude. Instead, it implemented a redemption policy that was acceptable to all parties; that is, for those who belonged to the four surnames and were willing to join the Jingjue The slaves and subjects who fought in the Jue Army were all redeemed from the four surnames at the expense of the Jingjue Protectorate.
Chen Hai also recruited manpower to dig a stone staircase leading to Lukai Gorge from the source of Luhe River.
The elite army had previously recruited 12,000 elites from Heishan, 6,000 elites guarded Lucheng, and 6,000 elites cooperated with the Ye family army to guard the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge.
And a more important reason is that Chen Hai wants to take advantage of the current war pressure to forcefully promote the imperial army system in Lucheng.
Of course, these actions cannot be hidden from Hexi.
The smelting furnace was directly dismantled from Zhang's iron smelting yard; only the smelting of quenched iron materials requires extremely high temperature of the furnace flame, but for Juquan Ridge at this time, a set of high-level flame gathering talismans were secretly sent When the formation comes, it's something that people don't notice.
Although Chen Hai and Dong Ning handed over the battlefield command at the western foot of Tiele Ridge to Ye Qinglin, the elite army stationed at the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge was not something Ye Qinglin could command.
Pure Xuantai fine iron and purple chen placer gold are several times more precious than top-notch tempered iron, but a piece of Xuantai fine iron, not much larger than a broad bean, weighs nearly a hundred kilograms. Small spiritual swords and magic weapons are fine, but don't think they can be used to forge large mysterious weapons.
But Chen Hai didn't want to take the risk at this time and rushed to fight Kong Peng in Yuchi City.
In a short period of time, the average strength of the elite troops stationed at the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge will be reduced, but as long as no large-scale war breaks out before next spring, the new soldiers can quickly adapt to high-intensity training and become familiar with the battlefield; at the same time, A group of grassroots military attachés will also be trained, and these grassroots military attachés are the foundation for the implementation of the government military system.
Chen Hai also took over an iron mine and a smelting field left behind by the Zhang family after they were expelled from Lucheng, and moved half of the craftsmen and craftsmen in the craftsman camp in Heishan to Lucheng.
Tempered iron is just a general term. Even the Xuantai iron bow used by Chen Hai at this time is, strictly speaking, just quenched iron, but the content of Xuantai refined iron is relatively higher. If such an iron bow was made entirely of Xuantai fine iron, the bow body alone would weigh 20,000 to 30,000 kilograms. Who could use it
Of course, before the stone staircase was excavated, a large amount of manpower and materials were carried directly on the backs of giant eagles.
"..." Du Linan looked at the four to five thousand kilograms of red hot molten iron, which were split into molds and cooled into shape. Fifty pieces of quenched gold war halberds and war spears were quickly cast in front of his eyes. He opened his mouth and didn't know what to say. What.
Ye Qinglin and the others' considerations are reasonable. The divine chariots and machine-operated crossbows are powerful, but their numbers are still too limited. Once the iron shield chariots built by the rebels reach a large scale, they will not be able to defeat them on a battlefield with a larger number of people. With hundreds of machine-operated crossbows, the role they can play will become extremely limited.
In view of the strong penetrating power of tempered gold arrows, they used hard wood that has grown for thousands of years in Yuchi City to mass-produce double-layer or even multi-layer tall tower shields.
In addition, although the Demon Temple is unlikely to directly participate in the war again, the rebels can still recruit bird-controlling monks from the depths of the desert west of Pinglu to strengthen their war-bird battalion. They temporarily have an absolute advantage over the Tiele Mountains. will be gradually weakened.
The Jingjue Protectorate’s bid for each strong slave and his family was ten kilograms of hardened gold iron. This was an extremely high price in the slave market of Pinglu Oasis; after all, after a large-scale war, The four surname clans can also seize a large number of people from the enemy to serve as slaves.
Chen Hai did not plan to spend half a year or more training the six thousand newly recruited soldiers on his own. Instead, he sent them directly to the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge, where Wu Meng, Ran Hu, and Fan Dachun took over. proportion, directly divided into various small camps, directly expanding the strength of the Jingjue Army at the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge to 12,000 people.
Without affecting the current situation of farming and animal husbandry, this move alone will recruit an additional 6,000 strong new soldiers for the elite army.
The technical content of the counterweighted catapult is low and it is easy to imitate. Once the rebels can make the catapult in Yuchi City, their advantage in this regard will be weakened.
During this period, not only the elite army stationed in Lucheng expanded to 10,000 people.
The placer lake mud mined from the bottom of Lukaixia Lake is of higher quality than that of Juquanling. It can directly produce nearly eighth-grade quenched iron. Du Linan wonders if the Demon God Temple knows the secret of the bottom of Lukaixia Lake. My intestines are full of regret.
At that time, quenched iron was divided into nine levels based on the content of extremely precious gold and iron such as Xuantai fine iron and purple cinnabar gold.
Hundreds of elite disciples from the Demon Temple were so close to this unimaginable sect resource, and were finally frightened away by Chen Hai
In the past, Lucheng would never have thought of going to great lengths to build a city on Lukai Gorge, and naturally would not have thought of digging a stone staircase with a height difference of more than 3,000 meters. However, the disciples of the Demon Temple once approached Luhe from the mountains in the south, and Chen At this time, Hai built a fortress on Lukai Gorge, and also dismantled a defensive array in Lucheng City and deployed it to Lukai Gorge, which seemed to be justified.
"The conditions you set for the Demon Temple to allow them to separate Changle City to the west of the Pinglu Oasis are nothing more than leaving a back door for the Taiwei Sect to add a Taoist temple here," Ge Xuanqiao sighed softly, "I will stay here It makes no difference whether you are cultivating in Taiwei Mountain or in Lukai Gorge. Besides, I have watched this girl Dong Ning grow up, and I don’t want to see any accidents happen to her... "
Ye Qinglin, Ye He and other generals still hope to use their existing advantages to attack the massed troops before Kong Peng, Zhang Xiong and other thieves build enough targeted weapons in Yuchi City, Tianai Mountain, and Xiqiang King City. A devastating attack was carried out on more than 30,000 rebels in Yuchi City.
This kind of tower shield is also extremely bulky, but it is mounted on wheels and pushed forward by three or five strong Jian Rui. It can also effectively withstand the fire of mechanical crossbows.
To ensure that the Jingjue Protectorate has absolute control over Lucheng after the war, the only way is to take advantage of the tremendous war pressure and when the resistance is minimal, to forcibly promote the military system.
Although Zhao, Zhou and Yang Gu both agreed to move to the west of Tieleling after the war and rule one city each, once there is no war pressure, whether they will lead most of the clan children to withdraw from Lucheng and whether Ye Qinglin will keep his promise are all matters. Hard thing to say.
On the first day of Emperor Yitian's seventy-seventh year, the foundry in Lukaixia had successfully produced the first batch of quenching molten iron and poured it into the preformed arrow and halberd molds.
After deducting the elite troops at the west entrance of Nanjian Gorge, Ye Qinglin's army expanded to 30,000 people after recruiting the four surnames. Facing the troops led by Kong Peng, the martial master of Black Mountain, it was difficult to say that he had an advantage.
As one of the five surnames in Lucheng, although the Zhang family can only be considered an insignificant clan within the Jinyan prefectures, it owns 170,000 acres of cultivated land and several times the area of pasture between the west bank of the Lu River and Tiele Ridge. .
At this time, they had established a foothold in Tiele Ridge and were directly confronting the rebels. If time was delayed, it was actually to their advantage.