Chapter 1: The Awakening of Shin Wang...
Zhao Ke loudly shouted, using a simple megaphone, continuing to tell the story of the Spartan warriors to his Golden Dragon Boy Scouts.
"This nation's entire population, not one of them engages in production, all they do is fight! Non-stop fighting! We should learn from their strengths, but we don't want their weaknesses! We must be strong and civilized. We need to have their combat power, but at the same time, we also need to learn from our own Great Song Dynasty's advanced culture, our own civilization, craftsmanship, and everything else. We are different from Sparta, we want it all! Everything!"
"In that place, there was once a thing that taught us a lesson." "In the west of our country, there was once a powerful nation called Persia, where we marched. The Persian army had more than 400,000 soldiers! Hehe, not many, our great Song Dynasty, in its heyday, had over a million brave warriors. But now it's no longer capable of fighting, so I want to train you all."
"The Persians attacked Sparta, but do you know how Sparta resisted? Perhaps you don't understand. At that time, the King of Sparta had no right to mobilize his army, he could only move with his personal bodyguards. What was the result? That king, perhaps a tyrant, but he was brave! He set out with just three hundred bodyguards to confront an enemy army of four million!"
"At last, the king and his men, all... died in battle!" Zhao Ke looked at the sparkling eyes of these young people and their excited expressions, knowing they were having a sense of substitution.
"Out of three hundred brave warriors, only two survived!" Zhao continued. "One died in a later war, and the other took his own life out of shame."
"But they didn't die in battle at that time, they escaped, so they weren't qualified to be among those three hundred brave warriors. The three hundred brave warriors were gloriously buried together with the king in one tomb! As for those two people, they will be despised by the world!"
"I want to tell you through this true story that our Golden Dragon Army will be the same. We won't have a single deserter. Even if we die, I'll die with you! As long as I'm by your side! We'll fight the enemy to the end together! We don't have deserters! Not one! Including me, including all of you!"
"So, you want to say that such a battle is meaningless! The 300 Spartans all died, it seems like there's no significance. Let me tell you! Because of the fight of those 300 soldiers! They caused 20,000 casualties among their enemies! And the dead were the 20,000 most elite enemy troops. Later, the Persian army was intimidated by these 300 men and lost their will to fight. Later, the 30,000 Spartans and allied soldiers from various countries joined forces to resist the powerful Persians and defeated the enemy in one battle!"
"Three hundred and twenty thousand! Do you think... it's unbelievable?" Zhao Jing looked at the dense group of young men in front of him. "No! Soldiers, follow me, I will make you even stronger, your achievements will surpass this number! You... will leave your names in history! History may not remember each and every one of your names, but history will remember the name of a powerful army! Now, history has already remembered a name - Chu Bawang's Eight Hundred Young Warriors. But from now on, history will remember you, Golden Dragon Army!"
Having heard this, the young men were stirred to enthusiasm. From their eyes filled with excitement and their faces flushed red, Zhao Xun knew that they had begun to have an ideal.
Zhao Xun smiled, stood up and said: "Attention, all rise!" More than 5,000 soldiers suddenly rose to their feet, their movements neat and uniform, forming row upon row of straight lines that dazzled the eyes. Probably in this world, there is no army that can do it like this.
"Rest!" Zhao Xun ordered, and the more than 5,000 people made another movement. The quality of these ancient people was too good, Zhao Xun deeply felt that in his own era, the young masters he trained as an instructor were inferior to these youths. With the people Zhao Xun was currently training, they could be taken out for a grand military parade, and their quality would be astonishing - with more than 5,000 people, they could already form a formation as solid as iron plating.
"This will be your weapon..." Zhao Zhuang took out a steel spear, a standard steel spear with a length of over two meters, a red tassel, a precision iron-made rod sleeve made of Song wood, and a three-edged sharp spearhead on top. Such a spear is not only less likely to break off, but also much lighter than an all-iron spear, making it easier to wield. It's also easier to pierce, with three cutting edges, even if it's iron armor, it can be pierced in one go! The deep blood groove allows for quick release of the enemy's fresh blood.
Zhao Zhuang said: "I'm telling you, this is the gun I've made for you! A spear gun, and from now on, it's your weapon. From now on, one person, one gun, you can say goodbye to your wooden sticks. But don't throw away your wooden sticks, you'll still use them during training, after all, when you're fighting each other, you need to fight for real. However, since you're facing comrades, you can't use real guns, you have to use wooden sticks with cotton balls attached. Now, one person, one gun, line up and receive your guns!" One by one, the soldiers came forward, received their guns, and returned to their original positions.
At this time, Zhao Xun took out his own steel gun, which was made of pure steel from head to toe. Zhao Xun swung the steel gun and started swinging it wildly, with the dragon's tail flying in the air.
One move, one style, left the young men stunned, it turned out that the big gun had this kind of skill. Zhao Xu let out a loud shout, raised his spear and started stabbing, the spearhead shaking like twinkling stars. Although the people watching were dizzy, he was accurate in every strike, not missing once. With one poke, he immediately retracted, swift as lightning, fierce as an eagle's talon!
After fooling around for a bit, Zhao Xun put away his gun and looked at the young boys, saying: "Practice well, you will eventually reach my level. Of course, you can't hold a gun with one hand like me now. The reason is that you are small and lack strength, so you need to use both hands. Alright! Everyone has finished, take a short rest, stand at attention! Watch my movements. One! Hold the gun up like this, two, thrust it out like this, three, pull it back, then one, two, three, understand? Zhao Xun said as he began to let these children practice their thrusts.
"One, two, three, stab! One, two, three, stab! One, two, three, stab! One, two, three, stab! One, two, three, stab! One, two, three, stab!" In the youths' slogans, they were doing uniform and monotonous actions, but in the eyes of Wang Qing and Gao Yunfei who came to find Zhao Chen, it sent chills down their spines.
"My goodness, if we were to encounter this on the battlefield, it would be unbearable!" High Cloud Flying said in a low voice, having seen fierce battles before, but never one like this. In comparison, although the Golden Army's female general was powerful, she didn't have this kind of unified and intimidating presence. Facing an army of five thousand with the same aura, you would suddenly feel isolated and helpless. The enemy would be like a solid iron plate, pressing down on you mercilessly, leaving you nowhere to run or retreat.
"This is the power of collective, and also the power that Zhao Ju gave to 5,000 people under iron discipline. "Alright, let's start running now. While running, you must look out and pay attention. The commander's order may be me, but when I'm not here, it will be the person I appoint, pay attention to everything. When I say direction, front, back, left front, right front, you must remember, cannot make mistakes. When I say tight, you must gather closely together, follow my footsteps, let's run out."
Five thousand boy scouts, led by Zhao Ke in person, ran around the playground together, chanting slogans as they ran. One two one, one two one, it's that simple, but wanting to be uniform is also very difficult.
"To the left, forward, charge! Charge, charge, and charge again!" Zhao Kuang gave out order after order. "Rise up! Song people who do not want to be slaves, let us build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood. The Song Dynasty has reached its most critical moment. We are forced to make our final roar! Rise up! Rise up! Let us advance towards the Jin army's battle array with one heart and one mind! Advance! Advance! Advance!"
Countless people moved from all over to the area ruled by Xin Wang. Now, everyone knows that the 18th son of Emperor Huizong of Song, Xin Wang, is fighting against the Jin army on the north bank of the Yellow River.
Jin army spies frequently entered the occupied area of Xin Wang to gather intelligence, and discovered many unusual things under the rule of Xin Wang Zhao. Under the policy of "more labor, more gain" advocated by Xin Wang, all the people were working non-stop. The people peeled grass and picked leaves, so that the tens of thousands of cattle, horses and sheep seized could eat. The common people cultivated and reclaimed land on a large scale, preparing for the autumn harvest.
In the occupied areas of Xinwang, houses are being built with great effort, and surprisingly, they are all made of blue bricks! At the same time, various towns and villages are also training in martial arts.
But they also have invisible, in the underground burrows, there are already many large rabbit farms. Before and after, Zhao Song sent people to catch thousands of rabbits. These rabbits will give birth to more than ten times as many little rabbits in a year, and two hundred will become thousands in the blink of an eye, and tens of thousands in another year! This is what a terrible number it is, as long as the rabbits are raised well, the military and civilians under Zhao Song's rule can have enough meat to eat, without having to consider raising more expensive pigs, cattle, sheep, etc.
It should be known that meat has always been a precious food. Even the people of the northwestern grasslands do not eat meat every day.
Apart from military equipment and developing agricultural production, Zhao Yun also actively developed smelting steel and gunpowder. In the secret valleys and caves of the Taihang Mountains, he developed a place as a gunpowder arsenal. He knew about safe proportions and more powerful firearms, and just let the craftsmen process and produce them.
Of course, the refining of raw materials and coke is easy to obtain or refine, but the construction of gunpowder firework factories and high-temperature blast furnaces takes time. So Zhao Ze temporarily handed these things over to Zhao Qing'er and the old camp's men to do.
In mid-July, Zhao Xun stopped the soldiers and looked at their flushed faces. He smiled and said, "Now you've improved, not just a dish for the enemy." This was a joke, but these kids showed an excited expression, they didn't smile, it was a kind of pride.
Now, even if Zhao Jun was strong, he had to admit that they had a few points of real elite soldiers. With these semi-finished products that were not yet complete, with these children, they could already hold their own against the Jin army on the battlefield.
In fact, like Sparta, it is indeed possible to get strong soldiers, but the probability of getting them is too low, they have too high requirements for high-quality soldiers, which ultimately leads to their extreme extinction.
Zhao Song liked the military style of Sparta, but he didn't like that kind of stupid and rigid stubbornness. All good things are blended together. So Zhao Song trained his troops, and it was enough to train ordinary special forces soldiers. The Jin army he dealt with were definitely not the opponents of these young men when they grew up to be real warriors. In modern society, Zhao Song remembered very clearly that a rural boy originally became a special forces soldier in just two years, what does this explain? For soldiers, one or two years of training is enough!
As long as soldiers learn unity, learn skills, have strong physique and combat effectiveness, they can defeat all enemies.
On the battlefield, if there are soldiers who fear death and flee, it will bring instability to this army. However, if a unit fights to the death until the last man without surrendering or fleeing, then that unit is a formidable army, a powerful force that makes any enemy tremble with fear.
The Song Dynasty was also afraid of having deserters, so their soldiers had to get tattoos on their faces to prevent them from becoming deserters. However, once they were on the battlefield, the soldiers would still run away with their backs turned. Since everyone ran, what could you do? Even the most incompetent general, if given a strong army, could still win battles.
But even if Zhao Yun had sought to recruit Yue Fei with all his heart, if the soldiers under his command were the kind who would turn and run after one battle, they would not be a match for the Jurchen-led Jin army.
Good general, it's all about training soldiers. Yue Fei is not formidable because of his bravery that can defeat thousands of enemies, but because he has elite soldiers who can win with fewer numbers. A good general also needs strong soldiers to fight battles.
But for Zhao Jun, the soldiers who dared to fight were just the beginning. The real military, the real strong army, are those that are uniform and strong. No matter how many people, commanding them is like commanding one person.
Such an army, like the Golden Dragon Army now, with five thousand uniform and well-trained warriors. Once they master solid military skills, it is a very formidable army. Don't underestimate such an army, on the battlefield, the real protagonist is actually such brave warriors. The enemy of ten thousand people is just a legend, even the bravest general can't defeat a powerful army. In war, they are the true protagonists!
Summer nights are dark, but the passage of time made the sun that was reluctant to set finally go down. The sky gradually darkened, and Zhao Song stopped the Jinlong Army soldiers who were in training.
"You've all been through a lot of training, now you have new weapons, the time for playing with wooden sticks is over. Now it's time to see real blood, I want to see blood, do you see? None of you are night-blind? Alright, light up the torches, 50 people per group, get into the mountains! You'll stay on the mountain for three days and then come down. Each group must not return empty-handed, I want to see your results, bring back at least one large wild beast, let me see your skills, go up the mountain, kill!"
Zhao Ju issued a new order. "Kill!" The boys shouted, and it was unnecessary to divide them into groups. After training, strong warriors naturally emerged as squad leaders, company commanders... all the way up to battalion commanders.
They were just considering the formation and strategy after entering the mountain, they didn't want Zhao Zhu to see that they hadn't caught any large beasts in the mountains for three days.
At this time, inside Yangzhou City, the streets and markets were desolate and cold. The lights of the shops twinkled like stars, and the pedestrians on the street were sparse and scattered. Under the dimly swaying lanterns, one could see that the townspeople wore simple clothing, and from time to time, people carrying firewood or leading oxen would slowly pass through the streets.
The entire city of Yangzhou was silent and still, everything was quiet, but there was not a hint of panic. All this was expressed silently, the city had experienced countless storms.
At this time, suddenly the sound of horseshoes landing on the ground came from the big road. A fast horse knight flew to ride under the giant blue brick wall. The knight fell off the horse and stood up again, shouting: "I am from the north..."
Two rows of armored soldiers stood solemnly in front of the gate, and the sword-wielding general at the stone gate immediately stepped forward to ask: "Are you from the Butterfly Department?" The knight dismounted his horse, stumbled and handed over the token in his hand to the general, saying: "Yes!"
The general immediately led the butterfly personnel to rush into the gate. Unexpectedly, after a few steps, the butterfly personnel fell to the ground and couldn't get up. He hoarsely waved his hand: "Quick, help me, go in."
Four guards immediately rushed up and lifted the envoy to hurry into the gate. Here is the temporary mansion of Gaozong Zhao Gou in Yangzhou.
The houses in the mansion are all made of large square bricks, and the ground is covered with a single color of bluestone slabs. There is no water surface, no flowers or grass. The only greenery is a few pine trees at the corners.
At this moment, the western study has lit up. This is a lavishly decorated study with red carpets on the floor and golden silk silver thread made of luxurious goods such as gauze window curtains all around. The most striking are three rows of antique calligraphy and painting display cabinets, filled with antiques, calligraphy and decorative items, surrounding three walls.
At this time, a person sat in front of the table, deep in thought. The person was slightly fat, wearing a yellow five-clawed golden dragon robe, with a purple gold crown on his head.
He looked at the secret letter sent by the Jin Dynasty envoy, which required him to surrender and recall the King of Xin, Zhao Xun, who had not died or been captured by the Jin army in the north. After a moment's thought, he let out a long sigh, punched the letter with his fist, and was deeply worried and angry. Surrendering would be suicidal, and he would never surrender to the Jin people. As the emperor of half of China, even if it meant being humiliated as a vassal king, he would not hesitate.
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