My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 713: Just because Liu Zhang couldn't control someone doesn't mean Zhuge Liang couldn't control him either
When Gan Ning first took office and arrived at Baidao County, Jianwei Commandery, he was basically in the dark and there were many complicated matters that needed to be investigated and coordinated.

He was not in charge of the previous preparations for the southern expedition.

At that time, Gan Ning had many other tasks to worry about, such as pacifying the forces in Shujun, Guanghan and other places that opposed Zhuge Liang's reforms, and eliminating the most reckless troublemakers among them. He also organized and reorganized most of the Han surrendered troops under Liu Zhang, dismissing the old, weak, sick and disabled among them, letting them return to farming, or reorganizing them into new reclamation and engineering troops.

These matters required a great deal of Gan Ning's time and energy. It was not until early September of that year, after the autumn crops had been harvested, that he began to directly take over the work of the Southern Expedition.

Gan Ning had known for a long time that this southern expedition against Zhu Bao of Zangke County could only mobilize 20,000 troops at most.

However, it was not until Gan Ning arrived in Baidao County that he began to slowly understand which troops Zhuge Liang had arranged to go into battle and what arrangements he had made for the troops' equipment and armaments supplies.

Before setting out, he only knew that Zhuge Liang required Liu Zhang's former troops to be the main force in order to improve the efficiency of training. But Gan Ning felt that even if he chose from Liu Zhang's former troops, there would still be many Han troops to choose from, and the reorganization of those troops would be relatively better.

But the specific orders Zhuge Liang gave him in the end surprised him again.

"What? Your Majesty wants me to use the surrendered soldiers as the main force to pacify Zangke? Even if I have to use thousands of Han soldiers as the backbone, I must select the Han soldiers from Liu Zhang's old army who are more familiar with the barbarians, so as to avoid internal conflicts among the tribes?"

Gan Ning was stunned when he heard this instruction, because he obviously felt that those barbarian soldiers were more difficult to control than the Han soldiers.

But Zhuge Liang patiently explained the reason to him: "The Han soldiers in Shu are more attached to their land than the barbarians and are unwilling to travel thousands of miles. In the future Northern Expedition, if the local Han surrendered soldiers are the main force to leave Sichuan, it will inevitably lead to more complaints from the people and instability in the region.

In contrast, the barbarian soldiers in Shu had lived in poverty since ancient times and were used to joining the army to earn food and money to support their families. This was true not only for the Qiang people of Ba County, but also for the Qing Qiang and Sou soldiers under Liu Zhang. These people were thousands of miles away from home, so they did not miss their homes too much.

After a large number of young and strong barbarian soldiers were drawn up, if there were vacant land suitable for reclamation in the counties of Nanzhong, the court would send the old and weak former subordinates of Liu Zhang who had been trained and laid off, and transform them into military settlements, and move them to the counties along the Yangtze River in Nanzhong, so that the Han and barbarian people could live together and gradually Hanize the counties of Nanzhong.

The Qing Qiang soldiers are located in the northwest mountainous area of Shu Mountain. In the future, we will use local soldiers as the main force to pacify Yuexi. The Sou people are widely distributed in Qianwei and various places south of the Yangtze River. Letting them pacify Zangke is also just right in terms of geography and climate. As for the final use of troops against Jianning County next year, the barbarian soldiers of all tribes can be used. "

When Liu Zhang ruled Yizhou, he used the high military pay to recruit barbarian soldiers from various ethnic groups for his own use. The Qiang, Sou and Qing Qiang were the three major representatives. These three types of barbarian soldiers were distributed in the northeast, northwest and south of Yizhou respectively.

In history, when Zhuge Liang later wrote "The Second Letter to the Emperor", he also mentioned that "Since I arrived in Hanzhong, it has only been a year, but I have lost Zhao Yun, Yang Qun... Tujiang, Wuqian, Qiang, Sou, Qingqiang, Sanqi, and Wuqi, more than a thousand people."

It can be seen that the three types of barbarian soldiers listed in the article were all the elite troops in Shu at that time.

Specifically speaking of the Sou people, they are not actually a single ethnic group, but are widely distributed in the five counties in the southern part of Yizhou, including Yuexi and Qianwei.

Including the Yi people, white people and even the natives in later generations, they are now collectively called Sou people.

These barbarians have good technical and tactical skills, but lack organizational discipline. They need actual combat training to practice enforcing orders.

Zhuge Liang used the troops based on their geographical distribution characteristics, either by appointing them to nearby positions or by appropriately rotating them, to prevent the barbarians from colluding with each other and refusing to fight hard. In short, it was a well-designed plan, and Gan Ning only had to execute it.

It was not Gan Ning's business to consider which tribe's soldiers should be reused. All he had to do was to fight the battle well under the given conditions.

……

"Three thousand of Liu Zhang's old subordinates, eight thousand Han surrendered soldiers, seven thousand soldiers of the Sou tribe, a total of eighteen thousand offensive troops, try to take down Zangke in one winter? Don't let it affect the spring ploughing next year?
The troops are sufficient, but the equipment and tactics used by these old soldiers are very different from those of us Han people. It is quite difficult to unite as one and cooperate to exert our combat power.

If we temporarily distribute our Han Chinese armor to them, they will definitely not be able to get used to it. If we don’t distribute it, these barbarians will lack armor and their weapons are crude, so I’m afraid there will be many unnecessary casualties in the battle.”

After Gan Ning sorted out the accounts on hand and confirmed what resources he had available, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Originally, he didn't take Zhu Bao seriously, but the current composition of the troops made him feel a little restrained and unsure.

Fortunately, when Gan Ning tried to march south, Zhuge Liang provided him with sufficient support, and Gan Ning did not need to do many things himself.

On the one hand, Zhuge Liang sent Zhang Song, who was stationed in Ba County, to follow Gan Ning and help assist in military affairs and mediate with the various barbarian forces encountered along the way.

On the other hand, Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Yi, the prefect of Qianwei County, to temporarily serve as the logistics director of Gan Ning's army, supervising all military rations, clothing, vehicles, horses, cattle and weapons.

He also told Zhang Yi that he had made outstanding achievements in the construction of gas wells for iron smelting and salt boiling in Qianwei County. If he could provide good logistics for the army's southern expedition and nothing went wrong, he could be promoted to the position of governor of Qianwei County in the future northern expedition.

Zhang Yi was just missing this last bit of merit, so he was particularly attentive this time. He also carefully designed a matching armament upgrade plan in advance according to Zhuge Liang's planned troop composition, so that Gan Ning would have the right equipment to use when he led the barbarians into battle.

Of course, this plan was definitely not something Zhang Yi came up with on his own. After he made the plan, he gave it to Zhuge Liang for review, and then he accelerated the work.

Zhuge Liang returned to Chengdu in early September, and Zhang Yi asked for instructions immediately. After Zhuge Liang made the decision, Zhang Yi worked hard throughout September and October to produce new equipment so that those surrendered former subordinates of Liu Zhang could be upgraded in time.

In the past two years, the steel production in Jianwei County has increased significantly almost every few months, and the quality of steel has been continuously improved.

Last year's steel production was mainly used for post-war reconstruction in Shu, water conservancy projects and workshops, and infrastructure construction in various places, which required a large number of steel tools. Since the second half of this year, the civilian demand for steel tools has gradually saturated, and the newly expanded steel production capacity in Qianwei County has been mainly used for military industry.

Anyway, there is enough time. The top leaders of Liu Bei's camp have already thought about it. There is also an expected two-year farming truce period. Under the condition that the progress is controllable, of course, the people should be prioritized and the military second, so as to maximize the productivity effect.

Just like players of RTS games such as "Age of Empires" in later generations all know that if you plan to enter the Castle Age before launching an attack and can ensure that the enemy will not attack you quickly, then there is no need to spend resources to build up troops in the previous Feudal Age.

With limited resources, you can first farm and upgrade your technology to create more farmers, and then increase your troops before the battle to maximize your benefits.

……

After Gan Ning arrived in Baidao, he spent several days to get a clear picture of the situation while reorganizing and familiarizing himself with the army he was going to lead.

Then he was invited by Zhang Yi to inspect the Huoqijing Steelworks in the neighboring county, and saw the new equipment provided by Zhang Yi for the Soubi troops who were about to be equipped.

Before the inspection, Gan Ning did not have much expectations, nor did he think that Zhang Yi could come up with much good things in his one and a half years in Jianwei County.

He also reminded Zhang Yi: "In the battle of Nanzhong, we don't need very sophisticated armor and weapons. Instead, we need armor that is light, easy to wear and easy to climb over mountains, and not too hot and heavy. The defense does not need to be too strong, as long as it covers a wide area to protect more area and avoid being hurt by poisonous arrows.

In terms of weapons, neither the Sou nor the Qiang are used to using long weapons, nor do they need sophisticated horse-slashing swords, and the barbarian enemies in the south do not have cavalry. It would be enough to make the traditional short weapons more sophisticated.

As for bows and crossbows, strong crossbows made of ox-tendon cannot be used too much. The south is hot and humid with a lot of rain, and the tendons and strings are easily damaged. To ensure the strength of the bows and crossbows, we can only work hard on the wood of the bow arms. "

Gan Ning's knowledge was not all something he had known before. A considerable part of it was what he had learned from all sides after he took over the first phase of the Southern Expedition. He was now putting what he had learned into practice to remind Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi had obviously done his homework on this matter for a long time, so he also noticed the problems that Gan Ning noticed.

He immediately stated that General Gan should not worry about these low-level mistakes, as he had already found ways to plug the loopholes.

The two men walked and talked in the Huoqijing Steel Factory and soon came to a forging workshop. Zhang Yi waved his hand and signaled the craftsmen to bring a few sets of new armor for Gan Ning to review.

"General Gan is worried about the hot and humid southern region. The armor is heavy and stuffy, but the protective area is not covered tightly enough. We have thought of a solution for this six months in advance. Before Zhuge Lingjun left Sichuan, we also provided several plans and asked for instructions.

Later, when you were in Jingzhou, you wrote back to give us instructions. We made some adjustments based on your instructions, and finally came up with this new armor, which may be widely used in mountain warfare in the future."

While explaining, Zhang Yi lifted up his armor and pointed out the details to Gan Ning.

Gan Ning took a quick glance and was a little surprised at first, because he clearly saw a piece of clothing made of linen or ramie, which looked ordinary.

But when Zhang Yi let him touch it, he found that there was an iron sheet inside the armor. It should be similar to lamellar armor, except that the iron sheet was sewn between several layers of cloth.

Gan Ning was an expert, and he immediately felt that this kind of armor was less reliable than lamellar armor. Because lamellar armor requires holes to be punched in the iron sheets, and then the armor plates are strung together, so that the gaps between the plates are very small, and they can even be slightly stacked.

But this piece of armor has many square pockets sewn vertically and horizontally on a large piece of cloth with stitches, and a piece of iron sheet is stuffed in each area. The gaps between the iron sheets are definitely larger than those of traditional lamellar armor.

Although the weapons of the Nanzhong barbarians were inferior and mainly relied on poison to kill, if the poison arrows hit the seams of the armor, it was still very likely to penetrate. "Aren't you afraid of being shot through with such a large gap in the armor? Why sew the iron sheet into the cloth? What's the benefit of making armor like this?" Gan Ning was puzzled.

Zhang Yi quickly explained: "General Gan, don't worry, although this gap is indeed wider than the armor, we have tried it.

The main concern for this kind of gap is the penetration of a spear. Because the spear is held by the enemy with both hands and exerts continuous force, even if it hits the armor surface, it is easy to deflect and eventually slide to the gap between the armor and penetrate.

As for the bow and arrow, there is no force after it leaves the string. After hitting the armor, the force will be lost by at least 70% to 80%. Even if it is blocked by the iron sheet and hits the seam of the armor, it will definitely not be able to penetrate several layers of thick linen.

Unless the bullet hits the seam of the armor, there is really no way to save it, but this possibility only occurs in one or two out of ten cases at most. The seams of traditional lamellar armor are slightly narrower, but if the bullet hits the seam, it will be the same.

As for the enemies in the south, they mostly use short weapons with shields and mainly fight in rugged and climbing field battles. Very few of them fight in formations with spears or halberds. As long as there is no spear or halberd battle, this kind of armor is enough.

Using cloth to sew iron plates can also make armor more mobile. If the iron plates overlap, the arms and thighs will have too large an arc, and the armor plates will have to be made very small to wrap around the arms and legs. This will be too laborious to make and will not be popularized to grassroots officers and elite soldiers. Only generals can afford it.

Now we have given up stacking the iron sheets. Although the strength of the seams has been sacrificed, we only need three long iron sheets at most to cover a section of the arm or leg. With the minimum cost, we can achieve the largest area of protection, which is very effective in restraining the poison arrows of the barbarians in the south. "

Zhang Yi spoke eloquently and explained the advantages and disadvantages of the armor design in detail and analyzed it clearly. Gan Ning finally understood the design ideas.

This is a slight sacrifice of defense in exchange for lighter weight and more comprehensive protection area. If the sacrificed defense does not have a big impact, then this design is still very successful overall.

He didn't know that this design was not entirely from Zhuge Liang's instructions. When Zhuge Liang was in Jingzhou, after receiving reports from his subordinates, he also summarized the pain points of various designs at the time and discussed them with his elder brother Zhuge Jin.

Although Zhuge Jin didn't know much about ancient weapons, after hearing about the pain points of "iron armor in the south is easy to rust, too heavy and stuffy, and the defensive coverage area is insufficient", he relied on his memories and common sense from his previous life, especially the costume dramas he had watched, and naturally thought of the "cloth armor" that was common in the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations.

In later generations, until the Song Dynasty, the official armies of the Central Plains dynasties rarely covered their armor with cloth. This was mainly to show off their military strength. Exposing the steel outside would make it more majestic and intimidate the enemy.

However, iron sheets are prone to rust when exposed to hot and humid environments, and they need to be constantly polished and maintained to remove the rust, which will also reduce the durability and defense of the armor.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, Nanzhao and Dali were never conquered, and there was no need to fight in a too humid and hot environment. However, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the southwest was completely under control, and later the land system was changed to Han system.

Cloth armor was slowly developed in a hot and humid combat environment where iron armor is prone to rust. Although it is not beautiful, its defensive capabilities are not bad.

Of course, if you use cloth armor in the north, you don't have to consider the breathability issue. But in the south, breathability must be considered.

After Zhuge Jin proposed the initial idea, Zhuge Liang verified and adjusted it in a realistic manner, and finally decided to use thick linen as the fabric to make the armor more permeable and breathable.

The armor plates themselves can be soaked with vegetable oils to form a protective layer on the outside of the steel to further prevent rust. Wrapping them tightly with linen cloth reduces the contact between air and steel, which can also further slow down rust.

As for the problem that the armor seams of the inserted cloth armor were weak points that were easily penetrated by arrows, Zhuge Jin finally thought of solving the problem by imitating the Song Dynasty people's method of giving soldiers silk linings.

The silk lining can wrap the arrowhead when it hits, making it easier to pull out the arrow and avoiding secondary damage. In addition, the barbarians in the south have simple craftsmanship and are not good at making arrowheads with barbs. With the silk lining, it is easier to pull out the arrow.

In this era, arrows were poisoned with poison, not only with the sap of the curare tree, but also mostly with bacterial poisons, hoping that the infection would spread after the wound was formed and become fatal. So even if you were stabbed, as long as you quickly pulled out the arrow and cleaned the wound, the damage of the poison could be minimized.

After taking all these details into consideration, Gan Ning finally had the new armor in front of him.

The steel sheets used for these armors are very light and thin, and because the steel smelted in the gas well is of higher purity and better toughness, it can be easily bent into an arc that fits the human body, further reducing the weight of the materials used.

Nanzhong originally produced vegetable oil. Historically, the rattan armor used by the Nanman army needed to be repeatedly soaked in vegetable oil to increase its strength. Therefore, it was easy to use it to soak steel armor plates in oil to reduce rust, and the supply of military raw materials was sufficient.

The silk production in Shu was very high, and the Shu brocade produced every year alone was sold all over the world. Now, if we took out some raw silk fabrics, which did not require any complicated embroidery or cutting, and were used as linings for soldiers, it would still be affordable.

These demands can just be met by the products from Shu and Nanzhong, and the entire supply chain runs smoothly.

The only problem with these armors is that they are troublesome when encountering fire attacks. Although they are not as flammable as the oil-soaked rattan armor, the surface of the iron sheets soaked in grease will burn for a while when encountering fire, and the thick linen surface itself will also catch fire.

But this level of problem is impossible to avoid. People have to wear clothes, and clothes made of any fabric are flammable. The barbarians in the south don't know how to use fire, so generally speaking, it's not a big problem.

……

Gan Ning carefully inspected the production of new mountain warfare armor provided by Zhang Yi for the Soubi troops, and also found out the advantages and disadvantages of the performance of these equipment.

He also gained confidence in commanding this barbarian army to win the battle.

But what Zhang Yi has tinkered with is obviously more than that.

Just as Gan Ning was feeling pleased, he took out several short weapons commonly used by barbarian soldiers and showed them to Gan Ning.

Gan Ning took a quick glance and the first thing he noticed was a battle axe. He frowned slightly, thinking it was nothing special at first glance.

Because mountain warfare barbarians prefer to use heavy short weapons, it is not new. The Shanyue people who formed the Danyang army liked to fight with maces or even short-handled maces. Although there were not as many people using hand axes as maces, it was not rare.

But as Gan Ning looked more carefully, he soon discovered some subtle differences.

The new battle axe made by Zhang Yi has a longer blade, which makes it less likely for the enemy to block it by blocking the wooden handle. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mainstream battle axes had relatively short and narrow blades due to weight and material costs.

Although a short and narrow axe can break armor, and even exert greater and more concentrated pressure, the biggest problem with a short-bladed axe is that it is easy to be blocked. If the opponent blocks the part without the blade, the axe blade will not be able to exert its combat power.

If the width of the blade is increased several times, the enemy will be blocked by the blade no matter how he tries to parry in a panic. Then, with the huge force and inertia of the battle axe, it will be easy to cut off the wooden handle that the enemy is blocking.

However, since the original battle axes were not made like this, but the batch made by Zhang Yi now has this shape, it means that Zhang Yi must have overcome some technical difficulties or been inspired by some novel design ideas.

Gan Ning knew nothing about military production or metallurgy and forging, so he could only ask the reason with an open mind.

Zhang Yi also spoke frankly and pointed out some of the difficulties and advantages after improvements.

"The battle axes made in previous years had short and narrow blades. On the one hand, this was because the steel was not strong enough. If the blade was not thick enough but was stretched out, it would break easily under a strong chopping force. On the other hand, it was also because high-quality steel was expensive, so we had to save as much material as possible when making battle axes.

However, these two difficulties have now been solved one by one. The steel forged by the Huoqijing Steel Workshop in Qianwei County is more resilient than before, and can create a battle axe with a blade several times longer without increasing the total weight much.

Moreover, the famous craftsman Mr. Pu has figured out a new method of forging battle axes this year according to your instructions. It can also be used to forge other weapons with thicker thickness. You call it the sandwich steel method.

It is to use cheap ordinary iron materials and high-quality steel, cut grooves on the back of the good steel, or stack them, and clamp the cheap and thick iron materials in the grooves. When it is slightly red hot, use a huge water hammer to forge and press it tightly together. After cooling and polishing, it can no longer be separated. The overall strength of the tomahawk is definitely enough.

With these new short-handled heavy weapons, the general will no longer have to fear ambushes from the local southern barbarians when leading the barbarians in field battles in hills and dense forests. Even if the local southern barbarians are several times more numerous, they will still be unable to resist the imperial army. "

The "steel clamping method" mentioned by Zhang Yi is also easy to think of for later generations.

Just as any ordinary person in later generations knows the truth that "good steel is used on the blade", this shows that even when making a kitchen knife in modern times, the steel used for the blade and the back of the knife are different.

However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, both the sandwich steel method and the wrap steel method were undoubtedly still in the exploratory stage, and there was even no trace of them.

Craftsmen of this era could only control the different properties of the steel on the blade and the back of the knife by quenching it to varying degrees. Those who could achieve this were considered great craftsmen.

However, this new production technique that Zhang Yi asked Pu Yuan to tinker with was just a small idea that came to Zhuge Jin's mind on the spur of the moment, as he was remotely controlling it in Jingzhou.

He only knew a few proverbs about "good steel should be used on the blade", and he could easily come up with such a cost-effective little trick for technical improvement.

Seeing that everything from armor to weapons had been strengthened to a tailor-made level, Gan Ning naturally felt more confident. He felt that he was ready for everything.

(End of this chapter)