Chapter 145 Threat
In the afterglow of the setting sun.
The scouts finished their patrols as usual and returned to Yanguan.
Patting their horses gently, they looked at the boundless grassland dyed yellow by the sunset, and the woods swaying red waves in the breeze. Everything was so quiet and beautiful.
"Swoosh!"
The sound of an arrow breaking through the air broke everything.
Piercing through the air, it hit a scout soldier's neck.
The soldier covered his neck, making a rough sound in his throat, and fell heavily from his horse.
"Enemy attack!"
The other scouts were shocked. In the woods on their left, hundreds of Beidi cavalry rushed towards them.
Arrows fell like locusts, and the scouts were hit by arrows and fell from their horses.
The Beidi cavalry soon arrived in front of them and cut off the heads of the scouts with scimitars.
In the only remaining vision, the scouts saw a black line moving slowly in the north.
...
Yanguan.
The fierce alarm bell rang in the evening.
Mo Di climbed up the city wall and looked at the Northern Di army surging like a tide, feeling heavy-hearted.
"Father." Mo Yu stood beside Mo Di, he had removed his armor and changed into a casual suit.
The order from the Ministry of War had already reached Yanguan, dismissing him on the spot.
He was about to pack up and leave Yanguan, but he didn't expect the Northern Di army to suddenly arrive.
"You should go to Yanjun immediately, you don't have to stay here." Mo Di looked at the Northern Di army under the city.
There were hundreds of thousands of Northern Di soldiers under the city.
After the battle of Ningjin Dusi, he had never seen the Northern Di people mobilize such a large battle.
"The Northern Di people are coming, it's all because of the King of Yan causing such a disaster, it's over, it's all over." A middle-aged general stood on the right side of Mo Di, the deputy general of Yanguan, Xiao Yuanshan.
At this time, his face was pale, and there were beads of sweat on his forehead.
"What does this have to do with the King of Yan?" Mo Yu said angrily.
He always hated Xiao Yuanshan. He was always rude in Yanguan, drinking and whipping soldiers at will, but when he saw the Beidi people, he was scared like a grandson, which made people despise him.
Such a waste can be in Yanguan, relying on his status as one of the eight powerful families, the Xiao family.
"The Beidi people will take revenge. The King of Yan has captured Kutu, how can they let it go." Xiao Yuanshan said angrily.
Thinking that Mo Yu had been dismissed, he said angrily: "You have been dismissed. You have no right to speak in the military affairs of Yanguan. Why don't you leave here quickly."
"Deputy General Xiao!" Mo Di shouted.
Staring at Mo Yu, he said sternly: "Why don't you leave quickly? What are you doing here!"
"I won't leave." Mo Yu looked at the Beidi army under the city, "If they attack the city, I will protect my father at the risk of my life."
His voice fell.
At this time, a Beidi cavalry suddenly came out and shot an arrow onto the city wall.
At the end of the arrow, parchment was tied.
The soldier picked up the arrow and immediately handed it to Mo Di.
"The Khan of Bei Di, Mule Hongzhen, hereby warns the Emperor of Da Song to return my Bei Di Nine King Kutu within ten days, otherwise he will break through Yanguan and flatten Yanzhou. He will never break his promise." Mo Di read.
Xiao Yuanshan heard it and wiped the sweat from his head: "Immediately rush to Jinling for 800 miles, and it must be fast!"
Mo Di chose to remain silent. He did not stop Xiao Yuanshan. Such an important matter must be reported to the court.
Mo Yu looked at his father and saw humiliation, unwillingness, and helplessness in his father's eyes.
He remembered that his father wanted to expel Bei Di and take back Ningjin Dusi.
But as the years passed, he gradually stopped mentioning this matter.
Because he knew that it was impossible to do it with the current military strength of Da Song.
This is why he was so happy when he learned that the King of Yan defeated the Bei Di people.
Because he felt that he had found someone who could realize his ambitions.
For this reason, he even set a trap for his son, using this incident to dismiss him from his post and order him to go to Yan County to assist the King of Yan.
"Father, I'm leaving." He said at this time.
The purpose of the Northern Di was obvious, and he knew that it would be useless for him to stay here.
Mo Di nodded and patted his shoulder heavily, which was a silent word.
...
"Hey, be careful, don't bump into His Highness."
Chengdefang, north of the city.
Zhao Xu looked at the busy craftsmen, and an official stood beside him, introducing something.
In the last war with the Northern Di people, he chose a civilian square to burn to create a false impression.
After the war, many buildings in this civilian square were burned to ashes.
The palace compensated the people here with a lot of silver.
Later, he felt that there were only a few intact buildings left in this civilian square, so he simply bought the entire civilian square with silver.
After explaining the matter of the iron mold casting cannon, he remembered this place, so he called the Gong Cao in the government office and asked him to clean up Chengdefang and re-plan it.
"Build two main roads here, north-south and east-west, and divide the whole residential area into four blocks. The east side is for living, and the houses on the west side are all built with blue bricks..." Zhao Xu drew a line on the ground.
Now the palace has to make allicin and wine, and now there is a perfume, which is not enough.
And the land around the palace is wasted for workshops.
So he decided to renovate the entire Chengdefang and move all the workshops here.
This way, it is also convenient for management.
"Hmm..." When Zhao Xu said this, the officials nodded frequently.
His name is Zou Rong, and he was a classmate of Liu Fu. Liu Fu arranged him in the position of Gongcao, specializing in the irrigation ditches and city wall repairs in Yan County.
"The workshop house should be built bigger and longer, and the roof should still be a traditional tiled roof." Zhao Xu said again.
Zou Rong memorized everything Zhao Xu drew on the ground.
It was the first time that the King of Yan gave him a task alone, so he dared not slack off.
"Your Highness, there is no problem with blue bricks, but the mud between the blue bricks will be washed away by rain for a long time, and the wall will become loose easily." Zou Rong reminded the King of Yan.
After taking this position, he spent a lot of time studying the science of construction.
"What mud to use, no..." Zhao Xu almost blurted out cement.
But he immediately realized that there was no cement here.
He slapped his head, "Oh, why did I forget this."
So he said to Zou Rong: "Let's go to the Armory with me and show you something good."
Zou Rong nodded. The King of Yan always had a lot of strange ideas.
This was something that all the officials in the government knew.
Hearing the King of Yan say this, he was slightly looking forward to it, wondering what the King of Yan would show him.
The two arrived at the Armory.
Zhao Xu found Wang Ying, who was making a clay cannon with the potter in the yard.
At this time, Wang Ying was covered in mud and was smoothing the body of the clay cannon with a wooden board.
"Not bad, it looks good after more than a day's work." Zhao Xu smiled.
The clay cannon in front of Wang Ying was about the same size as the drawing he gave.
The cannon body was 1.8 meters long and the muzzle was about 110 millimeters. This was a typical city defense cannon.
However, the clay cannon was still a bit rough and needed to be smoothed.
Beside Wang Ying, there were also craftsmen making smaller caliber cannons. This was a field cannon with a caliber of 75 millimeters. The cannon body was relatively short, the cannon wall was thinner, and it was lighter.
Since he was making cannons, he naturally had to make cannons suitable for different combat situations.
There was no need to rigidly follow the development path of cannons.