Qin Official

After being assigned a strange-shaped "wooden cow and flowing horse", the shrike and other newly arrived slave laborers still had a few days to learn how to use it.

"There's only one wheel, so it won't tip over on the road?" Shrike muttered.

The Central Plains has had vehicles for thousands of years, but from the beginning, two-wheeled vehicles have been the mainstay, whether it is a cart pulled by oxen or a chariot pushed by people. Although the wheel distances are different, people subconsciously believe that the two wheels are the same. A wheel and a good axle will make it stable and able to bear loads.

But now, it has been more than ten years since Emperor Qin Shihuang promulgated the decree that all two-wheeled vehicles in the world have the same shape, and the track gauge has also become six feet, making them almost indistinguishable.

But now, the Northern Expeditionary Army has made a wheelbarrow?

I muttered in my heart that Shrike and the others had done nothing in the past few days and started pushing the wheelbarrow on the open ground. But surprisingly, the seemingly unstable car turned out to be stable on the road after starting to push. Leaving a curve on the top, it is not easy to grasp the direction at first, but with a little practice, you can push forward in a straight line...

What's even better is that because you can land on one wheel, you don't need to choose the width of the road surface, so you can pass through narrow roads, alleys, field ridges, and wooden bridges. It's much more flexible than bulky two-wheeled vehicles!

However, just pushing an empty cart didn't tell much. After four stones of grain were loaded onto the cart, the laborers found that the cart could still be pushed. It was a little tiring, but it was easier than a pole or a chariot.

"It is very convenient to transport grain and rice. The cattle and horses do not need water, so they can be transported day and night without interruption."

The warehouseman explained it this way, but the shrike thought: "This cart is not the size of an ox or a horse, but it is like a donkey. Why isn't it called a wooden donkey?"

In short, after the servants were able to use the wheelbarrow flexibly, Xiao Tao asked everyone to immediately push the grain to the frontline camp more than a hundred miles away!

And just on the roadside in Danyang, Shrike and the others also saw a scene they would never forget:

But they saw thousands of wheelbarrow carts, all carrying grain. Following an order, they were pushed by Qian Shou servants, one after another, and all headed west!

For a time, the Danshui River Valley and the Wuguan East Road were filled with the sound of gongs and windlasses!

…

Heifu had arrived at the front line of Wuguan at this time. Standing on the watchtower, he saw servants who looked like long snakes. They carried a straw mat and a small gourd that could be used for drinking water and eating. They were pushing wheelbarrows. Arriving at the back of the camp, the grain was piled in a towering warehouse.

Seeing this scene, Heifu couldn't help but feel very good. He praised Azhong, the inkman next to him, and said: "Azhong, I just described it with a few words, and you were able to make this thing. He also led Nanjun and Nanyang craftsmen to make tens of thousands of them." , It’s really a great achievement!”

An army without baggage will perish. Heifu attaches great importance to logistics. Although Wuguandong Road is a smooth road, it has always been narrow and muddy. In the past, large carts carrying heavy objects would often get stuck in the road, requiring dozens of people to push and pull them out.

Now that tens of thousands of wheelbarrows are used to transport supplies, the efficiency has become much higher. Using this wheelbarrow, a Nanjun servant can easily carry enough food to feed four soldiers for a month.

What was pushed away by wheelbarrows in Nanyang were bundles of iron cluster arrows and armor weapons. Although Nanyang used to be a prosperous land, it became the main battlefield between the north and the south in the past year, and Han Xin bypassed and robbed them. , the Northern Army retreated and took away a lot of grain. Now it is dry and dry, and the grain even needs to be replenished from Nanjun and Hengshan.

Therefore, the only war materials provided by Nanyang, besides manpower, were armored soldiers.

Wancheng was a famous iron smelting center as early as the Chu Kingdom. Xunzi once said that the people of Chu thought of armor as armor, as hard as gold and stone, and as heavy as iron (shi), but as miserable as bees (chài)...

After Qin captured Nanyang, it also made good use of the subway mine and moved the Kong family of Daliang's iron smelting family there. After Wang Ben's death, the Kong family was originally going to be moved to Guanzhong, but they were intercepted by Dongmen Leopards and captured all of them. They were sent back to Wancheng to renovate and start working on the iron workshop. There was thick smoke all day long and weapons were produced day and night. , especially the iron cluster feather arrows that consume huge amounts of money.

These soldiers, arrows and food are the guarantee for winning the battle to enter the pass.

As early as the Southern Expedition, Azhong, a Mohist who was engaged in military industry in Heifu's army, did not take any credit. His interest had always been in the "bicycle" that Heifu had mentioned. Making a unicycle was just a casual thing, but he did not Thinking of being able to play such a big role in this war, he said:

"It has been more than a year since the kings and princes raised their armies, and the world is in chaos. The number of self-proclaimed princes and kings is innumerable. The north and south have attacked each other and lost their troops. Innumerable people have died. The people have died from hunger, cold, cold, and death..."

"As a Mohist, Zhong only hopes that this war will end soon and less blood will be shed in the world."

"Will do."

Heifu pointed to the Yifu River that continued to flow into the frontline camp, and said with emotion:

"Wuguan is not the end. Soon, they will push their carts and advance with our army, all the way to Guanzhong, to achieve a great victory for the Northern Expeditionary Army! To promote a peaceful world for the people of the world!"

…

Everyone knows that the Battle of Wuguan will determine the ownership of Guanzhong and the survival of the north and the south. It is not just the Northern Expeditionary Army that is actively preparing for war. The Xianyang court is also busy dispatching troops and setting up defense lines.

Under Hu Hai's cry of "The old Qin Zhong can't be saved, how can there be any room to take charge of the new Qin Zhong?" Wang Li and the last 50,000 Great Wall Corps were finally dispatched south. For a time, Shuofang and Shangjun were almost empty, and there were only a few counties. The soldiers stayed behind.

For a time, the army in Guanzhong gathered, and together with the remnants of Wang Ben who had withdrawn from Nanyang, the Northern Qin Dynasty still had more than 200,000 soldiers - about one-twentieth of the total population of the counties in Guanzhong.

Fifty thousand of them are in Sanchuan, Hangu Pass, Taiyuan, Hedong, and Shangdang, under the jurisdiction of Sanchuan Guards Zhao Bi and Hedong Guards Zhao Cheng to defend against bandits from the Six Nations.

Fifty thousand Shangjun soldiers and 70,000 Wang Ben's remnant troops who had withdrawn from Nanyang County, led by Wang Li and Sima Yang, went to the front line to resist the enemy at Wuguan.

Five thousand Langzhong's army, under the personal command of Langzhong Ling Zhao Gao, defended Hu Hai in Xianyang.

Fifteen thousand guardsmen formed the second line of defense at Lantian and Aoguan, with guard Li Liang as general.

The 30,000 lieutenant troops were led by Nei Shibao and occupied the entrances of Xinzhong, Baoxie and the old road to defend Hanzhong.

In addition, there are thousands of county soldiers in Beidi and Longxi.

The laborers responsible for food for the army were served by hundreds of thousands of prisoners from Lishan and Afang in the past...

Although Guanzhong has always been said to be rich and prosperous, with cattle, fields and water supplying it with food, after so many years of consumption by many large projects and the fierce battle of supplying Nanyang, the food stored in Guanzhong is not very large. In the past, it could be replenished through Guandong Aocang, but now, But we can only rely on the local area.

When there were too many people to eat and there was not enough dispatch, Hu Hai ordered the counties to transport beetroot, millet and artemisia, and the people went to the warehouses to deliver supplies. They all ordered themselves to use the food, and no one was allowed to eat the grain within three hundred miles of Xianyang.

While levying additional land rent, they also took food rations from the people without any compensation. Although some people have proposed that this is a way to quench thirst by drinking poison, the frontline soldiers have 200,000 mouths waiting. If they collapse, the gangsters will be able to enter Guanzhong, and Hu Hai will not care about that much.

The most controversial issue in the Xianyang court now is the issue of where the Hanzhong Dao should focus on defense.

On the third day of June, it was extremely hot outside. Hu Hai rarely put down his playthings, put on the emperor's imperial robes, and listened to the meeting of the generals and ministers.

As the head of the hundred officials, Prime Minister Li Si was also present. However, the old prime minister, who is nearly eighty years old, seems to be in poor health these days and has been drowsy. However, it is okay. Everyone knows that Li Si is a civil servant. Born, he has always said very little about military affairs.

The doctor's order, Zhao Gao, was more positive and reported to Hu Hai: "Your Majesty, a scout came from Xiekou recently, saying that the rebels were using the rock holes drilled by the old plank road to repair the Baoxie Road, and sent people to move along the Baoshui River. When setting up a grain depot, we should focus on defending Yi County (Meixian County, Shaanxi Province)."

"How far is Xi County from Xianyang?" Hu Hai asked.

"It's only two hundred miles, it can be reached in a few days."

Hu Hai was now nervous and prepared to add more manpower to Xi County, the hometown of Wu'an Jun Baiqi, based on Zhao Gao's proposal.

However, Nei Shibao, who was responsible for the defense of Guanzhong, had a different view:

"In the past, Ying Hou Fan Ju spent ten years building a plank road, and thousands of people died before he could pass it. Now that the plank road has been burned down, it will take countless years to rebuild it, and it will never be successful. What's more, even if there are ready-made acupoints in the Xia River, The holes are available, and the water of Baoxiang and Er is turbulent, but it is difficult for the pillars to fall."

"So I think that this so-called repair of the plank road is just a strategy of the rebels! Its real purpose is to attract the main force of our army to stay in Xiegu, and then use another way to attack Xianyang!"

Here, Nei Shibao saw through Han Xin's plan of "clearly attacking the plank road". Although Prime Minister Li Si, who was in charge, still looked drowsy, he was shocked in his heart!

…

ps: Chapter 2 is at night.