Chapter 319 Dragon Head
The drama that happened in Xunzhou did not attract Ouyang Shuo's attention.
No matter how much the Taiping Rebel Army struggled, it would not be able to reach the Lianzhou Basin in a short time. On the contrary, the expansion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is equivalent to plowing hard in Guangxi, breaking the old pattern, and it is very likely that one family will dominate in the end.
At that time, Ouyang Shuo will stand up and clean up the mess. As long as he kills the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it will be equivalent to occupying the entire territory of Guangxi. Why not do it?
In Ouyang Shuo's eyes, the Taiping Rebel Army was a living target.
It wasn't that Ouyang Shuo was arrogant and wanted to kill the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with the Lianzhou Basin alone. He had other trump cards, and when the time was right, he would implement them step by step.
Until then, whoever dares to underestimate the Lianzhou Basin will suffer a lot.
Furthermore, to the east of Xunzhou, within the territory of Wuzhou, Chiyou City still sits.
When two tigers fight, one will be injured.
Ouyang Shuo could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
As for whether things will develop as he expected, everything is unknown.
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The aftermath of the Mulan Mansion's annexation gradually dissipated, and the Shanhai Territory returned to calm.
The only thing that gave Ouyang Shuo a headache was the issue of war horses. To form the Fourth Division, you have to touch on the Qingfuma. The cavalry of the other three divisions are all equipped with green clam horses, Ouyang Shuo can't favor one over another. Therefore, it was on Ouyang Shuo's agenda to replace the green clam horses for the fourth division's cavalry.
It's a pity that the tribes of the grassland have become wary of Shanhai City under the instigation of the Tiandu tribe, and they are no longer willing to trade with Shanhai City. It is unrealistic to try to buy green clam horses through the grassland tribe.
After the severance of trade, Ouyang Shuo became even more worried about the grassland ministries.
Although the climate in the Lianzhou Basin is pleasant and there is no such thing as cold winter, large-scale grazing is not possible on the grasslands near the end of the new year, and the livelihood of the herdsmen has become a big problem.
Unable to purchase food from Shanhai City, Ouyang Shuo had reason to suspect that the grassland ministries would take the risk.
Ouyang Shuo has instructed the Military Intelligence Department to step up the collection of intelligence on the grasslands, and immediately report any disturbances. Lei Xun, the leader of the Second Military Intelligence Group in charge of intelligence work in the northern area, even issued a military order.
What puzzled Ouyang Shuo was that according to the information that Lei Xun sent one after another, the tribes in the grassland did not seem to have any intention of declaring war. So far, no tribe has issued a temporary war assembly order to recruit herdsmen to join the army.
Everything seemed very strange.
The calm grassland is more like the prelude to the storm.
Ouyang Shuo could only instruct the Military Affairs Administration to speed up the formulation of war plans, deploy war materials, and prepare for a war with the grassland at any time; on the other hand, he instructed Shanhai Mansion to speed up the construction of the city wall, giving priority to the construction of the northern city wall, making it an indestructible barrier.
With the expansion of the size of the army, if you want to launch a large-scale war, you can mobilize the army at any time and immediately enter the battlefield.
As the saying goes, before the soldiers and horses move, the food and grass go first.
For a big battle, how much food, leather, chariots and horses need to be raised, and how many arrows and weapons and equipment need to be prepared, which cannot be prepared in a short time.
The four major army workshops, plus the cave military factory, thousands of craftsmen worked day and night, and batches of weapons and equipment were transported to various departments in the army to complete the upgrading of equipment.
Especially for the newly formed Fourth Division, the equipment of the soldiers was given away by the system when they changed jobs, which was far from the equipment standard of the Shanhai City army, and basically had to be replaced.
Ge Hongliang, the director of combat readiness who had just taken office, was so busy that he didn't even have time to eat.
General Bai Qi and Director of Military Affairs Du Ruhui were busy preparing the army, while leading their personal guards, they frequently broke into the grassland to survey the topography and landforms in order to prepare for the future war.
Bai Qi's nature is that if he doesn't move, he will hit at every turn. His head will not stop for a moment, thinking about both the enemy and us. What he values most is pre-war investigation and war preparations.
Du Ruhui is also experienced, sharp-eyed, and decisive in planning things. He was born in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and his war concepts and strategies are better than those of Bai Qi in the Warring States Period.
The two complement each other, which makes Ouyang Shuo feel at ease.
With these two people in charge, Ouyang Shuo has the energy to plan other important matters.
Let's talk about the green clam horse.
At present, the only way to obtain green clam horses is the Gale Wind Valley Army Stud Farm.
A total of more than 4,000 green clam horses were sent to the Gale Valley Army Stud Farm, including 100 stallions.
The cultivation of war horses requires a long process. In a short period of time, Ouyang Shuo really didn't want to go fishing in the marsh, so he recruited the green clam horses from the Gale Wind Valley Army Stable Farm.
And in the long run, an excellent war horse like the green clam horse cannot meet the expansion needs of the territorial army. Even if the Lianzhou Basin is unified, the total number of green clam horses is limited.
In future wars, more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of troops will be dispatched at every turn. Even if all the green clam horses in the Lianzhou Basin are withdrawn, it will not be able to meet the needs of cavalry.
That's why Ouyang Shuo set up a military horse farm early to prepare for a rainy day.
Of course, the military racecourse is only an alternative plan, and it is not an emergency. The best way is to find other types of mounts and open up another source of mounts.
Regarding this matter, Ouyang Shuo already had some clues. In his previous life, he knew the origins of some excellent mounts. As long as the timing is right, the dilemma of scarcity of mounts in the army can be broken.
Currently, Ouyang Shuo is in a dilemma.
Mu Guiying, the head of the Fourth Division, understood Ouyang Shuo's difficulties, and said that the matter of replacing the horses could be postponed, anyway, the construction of the Mulan Fortress would not be a matter of overnight.
This matter is put on hold.
Another thing that worried Ouyang Shuo was the Beihai Shipyard.
When Ouyang Shuo handed over the photographed "Ming Dynasty Warship Manufacturing Technical Manual" to the shipyard, he made a request to let the shipyard build a large ship as soon as possible, and he was anxious to use it.
In Ouyang Shuo's anticipation, on January 15th, after hundreds of craftsmen from Beihai Shipyard rushed to work day and night, the first building ship in the territory was finally completed and ready to be launched.
After hearing the news, Ouyang Shuo went to Beihai City to witness this historic moment with his own eyes.
Apart from Ouyang Shuo, Sun Lao, the special adviser of the shipyard, Zheng Dahai, the factory director, and Pei Donglai, the commander of the North Sea Fleet, all rushed to the dock together to witness the launch of the ship. Bai Qi and Du Ruhui were busy with military preparations and couldn't get away for a while, otherwise they would come and take a look.
Beihai Shipyard is adjacent to Beihai Port, and has built two large docks and more than ten small and medium-sized docks.
The first building ship was assembled in one of the large docks, waiting to be launched.
The giant building ship moored in the dock is more than ten feet high, has five floors, and can carry 3,000 troops. The building boat not only has a majestic and majestic appearance, but also has spears and flags on the boat, which is heavily guarded and capable of attacking and defending, just like a water fortress. The bulkhead is equipped with iron plates, and the bow is equipped with a sharp iron point in the shape of a share, which is used to impact the plow to sink the enemy ship in water battles, which is more destructive than the angle of attack. A stern rudder is installed at the stern of the ship, so that the rudder will not yaw when pulled up.
There is no doubt that the watertight bulkhead technology used in building ships is even better.
On both sides of the building boat, there are also six clapper poles.
The clapping pole is a battle tool for smashing enemy ships. It is more than five feet long and consists of four parts: a column, a horizontal bar, a huge stone tied to the head of the pole, and a potter's wheel. The column is a support, and the crossbar is mounted on the column, which can be rotated at will. The boulder can be used to smash the enemy ship.
Such a big killer, before the artillery was born, it was simply a nightmare for enemy ships.
All of these together arm the building to the teeth, and it is chilling to think about it.
If it wasn't for the urgent time, Elder Sun would have thought about modifying the building to make it even more terrifying. The successful construction of an ancient building ship is naturally very exciting for a ship expert like Mr. Sun.
Elder Sun was very satisfied with Ouyang Shuo's efficiency. With the "Ming Dynasty Warship Manufacturing Technical Manual" as a reference, many of his ideas can be slowly put into practice.
Of course, the building boat is not perfect, it also has shortcomings.
The disadvantage of building ships is that the ships are too high, resulting in unstable center of gravity and poor ability to resist wind and waves. Therefore, building ships are generally only suitable for inland rivers or offshore operations, and are not suitable for oceangoing navigation.
Otherwise, when a storm comes down, the ship may capsize and sink.
Under the protection of Mazu, the navy of Shanhai City perfectly avoids this shortcoming. The architectural feature of the hidden building Mazu Temple [Sea God's Shelter] - the fleet's ability to withstand storms at sea is increased by 40%, so that the ships in the territory will generally have no problems as long as they do not encounter a severe storm.
Zheng Dahai, who was following Ouyang Shuo, saw that Junhou looked happy and seemed very satisfied with the built ship, so he tentatively said, "Please ask Junhou to name the building!"
Ouyang Shuo was really satisfied, and said with a smile: "The totem of the territory is the dragon, and this first building boat is called the Dragon Head, which means that the dragon soars all over the world."
"Good name!" Elder Sun interrupted suddenly, and nodded with a smile: "The meaning is also auspicious."
"My subordinate immediately ordered the boatman to engrave the name on it!" Zheng Dahai followed suit.
Ouyang Shuo nodded, Longshou will be his flagship, galloping the sea with him. "Captain Zheng, immediately improve the relevant facilities of Longshou. In a few days, Ben Hou will take Longshou to go to sea."
"No!" Zheng Dahai's heart tightened. He didn't expect that Junhou was so eager. It seems that in the past two days, craftsmen will be arranged to work overtime. To know. There are not a few ancillary facilities to be installed on a giant building ship.
Ouyang Shuo then looked at Pei Donglai, and said, "General Pei, the North Sea Fleet will also be mobilizing in the next two days, preparing to go to sea with the Marquis."
"I wonder what Junhou's destination is?" Pei Donglai was a little puzzled.
Ouyang Shuo smiled mysteriously, and said lightly, "Qiongzhou Island!"