In the second half of the first year of Zhangwu, the royal palace began to make efforts.

There is a lot of debate about the design of the new gunboat. After all, there is a gap between the perspective of craftsmen and the perspective of soldiers, and even there are differences within craftsmen.

It is mainly a dynamic divergence, which can be understood as conservatives and radicals.

Conservatives are mainly Tieniu, Guan Zhong, Zhurong and others, who believe that the new ship should retain the mature tread-wheel drive on the large ship.

The radicals were Zhao Si, Qiuer, etc., who advocated the use of steam power to build new warships.

But there is a big problem. The second-generation steam engine in the royal house has greatly improved the safety and reliability, creating many guns and cannons for the new army, but the power is very limited! The energy conversion rate is low.

So far, it can only be used for boring, and it is almost a dream to drive a big ship.

Although the third-generation steam engine has been continuously improved and tested for more than three years, the progress has not been large and the power has increased, but it is far from meeting the requirements of large ships.

Also, the current manufacturing capacity of the royal mansion may not necessarily produce the required parts as required.

Most of the proposals to bring down the military were easy to realize because their thinking was still in another era, which was completely different from the craftsmen in the royal palace. In their opinion, the southern-level ship in the royal palace was already a stunning and amazing masterpiece.

One night, he and Shiyu calculated all night.

The next morning, Li Xingzhou made a decision. He divided the craftsmen into two groups according to their differences of opinions, named "Conservative Group" and "Radical Group", and allocated 100,000 guan to the conservative group and 180,000 guan. This was the result of the approximate cost calculated according to their respective plans plus 50,000 guan.

Then they were asked to set up a sample boat before March next year, and he would go to the review himself, which group is better and which group is better.

This is the benefit of being rich and generous!

If he had never done this before, he could only choose a good plan and concentrate resources to implement it. Now that he is rich, he might as well just take a look at the actual things. Anyway, we have money!

This move also allowed the two factions to establish a reasonable competition, and both of them were eager to compete with each other.

When they were fighting fiercely, Li Xingzhou was also preparing to name two children who were about to be one year old. When they were old, they would have to entertain guests.

After thinking about it, after discussing with Ajiao and Shiyu, he planned to name Shiyu's son Li Sizheng and Ajiao's daughter Li Siyu.

...........

By early July, the Privy Council was preparing to secretly start a discussion on how to attack Xia Kingdom.

However, it only expanded between the leaders of the two governments and the three departments, and Li Xing added an additional Yelu Dashi? Because he was about to enable Yelu Dashi.

After his wedding with Yelu Yali, the concerns were much less. Besides, these few years have passed? Yelu Dashi is getting older and older? Time is not waiting for anyone.

In the office of the Privy Council, several detailed maps of the Northwest have been put on. They are all from different years. Jingguo and Xiaguo have also fought against each other several times? The first two times were Jingguo's defeats? It was not until the last battle that they turned around.

In fact, the last battle greatly damaged the vitality of Xia State. In addition, Xia State had a small population and did not dare to waste time with Jing State, so he proposed to surrender.

For the future temple calculations? The Privy Council found out all the archives and records of the previous battle with the Xia Kingdom.

After that, Li Xingzhou did not invite anyone else for the time being? Instead, he looked alone.

After reading it for three days in a row, I finally read all the records and war letters.

The result is very strange. In general, there were constant frictions between Xia Guo and Jing Guo, but there were three major battles. The first time? The second time was Jing Guo’s defeat, and it was not until the third change of coaching was changed? Forced Xia Guo to negotiate.

But the historians' records were too exaggerated, which made him a little confused.

In the First World War, 3,620 people were killed in Jing's army? The beheading was too late because it was a retreat.

In the third world, the Jing army insisted on counterattacking? Beheading 13,904? It was a great victory.

Both times were normal? The first time was when the Jing army broke through, with a total force of only more than 15,000. Death of nearly 4,000 people in battle was already a huge loss.

The third big victory was because the commander was temporarily replaced by Tomb Daoyu, and the Xia Kingdom was even more of a national army, gathering a large army to claim 200,000 to the public, but the commander Tomb Daoyu judged that it was only a little over 100,000.

This battle was first held on, and then waited for an opportunity to attack, which was a great victory. This victory scared Xia State so much that he did not dare to use force with Jing State since then, and it was reasonable to kill about 14,000 enemies.

But the records of the Second World War were quite exaggerated, and it actually said that the Jing army was killed 200,000 times! This made Li Xingzhou confused. First of all, the Jing army did not send 200,000 troops in the Second World War.

Although the information was complicated, he carefully integrated the orders and military newspapers at that time and calculated that the Jing army should have sent troops between 30,000 and 50,000 in the Second World War.

The Liao Kingdom may send 200,000 troops, because it mainly attacks Youzhou, and the road to advance is flat, making it very convenient to dispatch the army.

It is impossible to fight the Xia Kingdom with a army of 200,000. Not to mention the logistics, if you are familiar with the terrain of that area, you know that the border between Jing Kingdom and Xia Kingdom is mountainous, and the army depends on river valleys to march. Many places can only pass by a snake in one word. It is impossible to spread so many people at all. Too many people is completely useless.

Furthermore, the 200,000 deaths obviously lack military knowledge.

In such a cold weapon era, 99% of the battles are defeated wars, and it is very rare to kill and kill at a large scale unless the opponent surrenders and then kills again! It is extremely difficult to fight an annihilation war.

The reason why Bai Qi's Battle of Changping has made people talk about it for thousands of years is not only because of its large scale, but also because it is a rare battle between the two countries and the battle of national destiny in the era of cold weapons.

And now the historian actually records that 200,000 were killed in battle!

70,000 to 80,000 people in Xia Kingdom surrounded and annihilated 200,000? This historian had a water in his mind. You can still believe it if you defeat it, and you will die in battle...

In desperation, Li Xingzhou was about to meet the former general Zhong Daoyu who had really experienced this battle, who had been idle at home.

.........

After leaving the Privy Council yamen in the afternoon, he soon arrived at Zhong Daoyu's home.

The General’s Mansion of Zhong Daoyu is now much more desolate, but there are still many old subordinates to help him. Li Xingzhou also asked the royal mansion to send a lot of money here every six months.

He didn't want a veteran general who fought for his whole life to spend his second half of his life in a down-and-out situation.

So the people in the Tzuku Mansion were very enthusiastic about him. As soon as he arrived, someone came in to report and asked him to go in. Soon, Tzuku Daoyu came out.

The tall skeleton Tomb Daoyu now has a lot of flesh and his complexion is much better than before. It seems that the removal of the armor and return to the field has made him feel more comfortable.

"I have met General Chung." Li Xingzhou bowed.

"Your Highness is so serious. I am not a general now. I dare not take it as a lie. I sit in the room." Zhong Daoyu was still concise and concise.

Li Xingzhou walked and arrived: "General Chung looked good, but his health improved a lot after his spare time."

"Haha, Your Highness is wrong." As Zhong Daoyu sat down, he said: "My health does not improve because of leisure, but because of a good mood. Your Highness is fighting on the front line. Every battle makes me happy. When I feel better, my health will naturally be better."

Li Xingzhou was proud of being praised by Zhong Daoyu and smiled and said, "Let's be each other. If there were no old generals, I wouldn't have the share of fighting today." This is not an exaggeration. When he defeated Bai Yi, reversed the situation against Xia, defeated the rebels of King Wu, and attacked the Khitan in the north. Zhong Daoyu was also a real god of war. If it weren't for him, it would be a question whether Jingguo could delay it until today.

If Zhong Daoyu is an old war god, then he is a little war god. One is from the older generation and the other is from the younger generation. He suddenly feels like a vicissitudes of passing on from generation to generation and continuing the past.

Zhong Daoyu stopped talking, but just nodded slightly, his eyes were vast, probably feeling this way, the end of an era and the beginning of an era.

After a while, the servant brought tea, took a few sips of Li Xingzhou and began to talk about the war in the north with Zhong Daoyu.

As a long-time general on the battlefield, Zhong Daoyu has a lot of insights.

As he spoke, he talked about the war between Xia and Jing. Li Xingzhou also raised his doubts about the record of "200,000 killed in battle".

Unexpectedly, Zhong Daoyu smiled disdainfully.

"It made Your Highness laugh. People who use their brains like Your Highness can see the problem at a glance."

"There is indeed a trick inside?" Li Xingzhou asked.

Zhong Daoyu nodded, picked up the hot tea and took a sip, and then said: "In the battle with Xia Kingdom, at first, due to the pressure of all officials in the court, the emperor sent a civil servant to be the head coach.

The literati had read some military books and knew how to respond to the enemy. The cavalry of the Xia Kingdom was strong and there were nomadic Qiang soldiers in the north. So he proposed a way to build a city and quickly build a city on the border of the Xia Kingdom, and then used this as the rear to continue to advance."

Li Xingzhou was a little surprised when he heard this: "That's a civil servant who can fight war!"

Zhong Daoyu nodded: "Tactically, I also think he is right. The northwest is barren and there are many empty lands, so it is difficult for the army to plunder and obtain food on the spot.

To advance westward, we must be wary of the cavalry of Xia Kingdom. The best way is to build cities and garrison troops in key areas, get supplies behind the links, and cut off their contacts from various places, and then continuously compress the space of Xia people and finally annihilate them."

"Then why did he lose?" Li Xingzhou was puzzled.

Speaking of this, Zhong Daoyu was also a little regretful: "It's a pity that he had read military books but had no experience. He could only be considered a talk of war on paper. He chose the right tactics, but he had no experience or common sense. He also held his own identity as a literati and did not listen to soldiers' advice, which led to his great defeat."

"The first time he chose was a key place, which was still by the river, but it was too far away from the river bank, and it was more than a mile away. The sergeant reminded him that it might be blocked by the enemy from being too far away, and he refused to listen.

After hearing about the city building, the people of Xia were afraid, so they gathered tens of thousands of troops to attack. At that time, more than 10,000 troops were stationed in the city and had enough food. It was enough to hold on, but the people of Xia had no choice.

But soon the people of Xia quickly discovered their weakness. The city was more than a mile away from the river bank. So they sent troops to surround the city and laid the elites layer by layer on the river bank to the side of the city to prevent our soldiers from leaving the city to get water.

In the end, the city was cut off from water and there was no hope of persistence. The soldiers could only break through. Outside were the enemy troops several times more than they were, three or four thousand people died in battle and broke out. The newly built city was also destroyed by the enemy."

Li Xingzhou sighed, "Isn't that just Ma Su lost Jieting..."

Zhong Daoyu nodded, "It's almost all about talking about war on paper."

By the second time, he was much more cautious. When building the city, he dug a well in the city to ensure that it would not be cut off. However, he did not know that the groundwater level would drop during the dry season and there would be no water in the well. As a result, he could not keep it in the water again, so he could only break through desperately because there was no water.

The second loss was even heavier. Those who ran away and died in battle were considered to be about 20,000 after the war.”

"Twenty thousand? Isn't it 200,000!" Li Xingzhou was surprised.

"Hmph, those literati can be missing anything, but party struggles are indispensable!

At that time, someone wanted to stumbling on him, and when he arrived in the battle, he forced the death and 20,000 missing, to 200,000!

If a Xia Kingdom can annihilate our 200,000 troops in one day, then what else can we fight? The whole world can surrender directly to the Xia Kingdom!" Zhong Daoyu said angrily, and the more he spoke, the more angry he became.

"It was just that the emperor and some ministers who did not understand war believed it!

After taking office, I saved the war and severely defeated the main force of the Xia army. As long as I build a city step by step and fight steadily, even if I cannot destroy Xia in a few years, I can still regain the land of Hetao. At this time, the emperor and the ministers had a peace talk with Xia State!"

Li Xingzhou finally knew why the old man was angry. The literati struggled to ignore the overall situation, which led to the great opportunity to regain Hetao. How could he not be angry?

He was also very angry. The front line was fighting, and the people heard that there was a false story. As an official, you, as a court official, spread rumors in the capital that a large army was killed 200,000! What is the difference between this and selling the country? If you cut it directly in another dynasty, it would be considered a favor if you don’t implicate it.

(This is a big gift to literati. The front fights and breaks through, and is nearly 20,000 missing and dies in battle. Because of the party struggle, the army went to the capital and became a front-line army and died in battle. The people were panic, which directly affected the emperor's decision. Looking at the history of the Song Dynasty, I would be really angry to death by such a "cultural person")

If the warriors who had fought in the capital at that time had the right to speak and could stand up and refute it, then this lie could be easily exposed. Any common sense knows that if the contact war that decided the victory or defeat within one day could annihilate it instead of defeating the main force of the enemy by 200,000! Then the Xia Kingdom would have been unifying the world long ago! It was many times more powerful than the later Mongols.
To be continued...