Chapter 1,134 Unyielding The huge meteorite required special methods to be transported to Eastern Xinjiang, so Fang mobilized and dispatched a cavalry team of 10,000 people to escort it. It is still unclear what role this thing will play on the battlefield in Eastern Xinjiang, but there is no doubt that as long as it is successfully transported, Fang Jie will not waste its power. Yan Kuang was ordered to lead the team to escort the meteorite, while Fang Jie led the others to chase the large group of people in light clothing. Wu Yiyi, Hou of Sanjin, had set out with the main force of the Black Flag Army several months ago. Calculating the distance, the vanguard army had almost converged with Nalan Dingdong. This time, not only Ye Zhuhan and Shi Wan who came out of Shiwanda Mountain were following Fang Jie on his eastward journey. There is also a large number of Jianghu guests summoned by Xiang Qingniu, of which nearly 40% are from various Taoist sects, and the rest are also Jianghu sects who participated in the Chang'an City Martial Arts Conference. Most of them are because of the blood in their bones. The Black Flag Army wants to conquer the east and destroy the bandits. These Jianghu people who still have pride in their hearts are willing to go to the battlefield and kill more enemy bandits who are harming the Han people. Of course, part of them wanted to take this opportunity to show themselves in front of Fang Jie and gain a good future. But no matter what their starting point is, they are all heroes. There were about six to seven thousand Jianghu people following Fang Jie, and they were riding on a large ship left by the navy to pick up Fang Jie. In order to demonstrate the military power of the Black Flag Army and the majesty of King Wu, the modified dragon boat began its first journey to Eastern Xinjiang. This large dragon boat was not the one built by Emperor Taizong when he was conquering Chen State in the south, but was built during the reign of Zhenzong. Compared with Taizong's dragon boat, this one is much larger. It took Zhuqueshan Shuizhai Shipyard a full three years to transform this large dragon boat into the ferocious beast on the water it is now. It's not just bigger now, it's sturdier and more aggressive than when it was first built. As the largest warship in the Black Flag Navy, the Dragon Boat has been modified to be able to install enough artillery pieces. These artillery pieces were recast and upgraded according to the artillery pieces of the Opuru Empire. I have to say that although Andrew is a person with limited knowledge, he is really a flexible and practical person. He studied the artillery of the Opuru Empire captured by Fang Jie, and then found out the shortcomings and improved them. It can be said that this ship is now considered to be the most powerful war machine that Andrew has transformed. Artillery has unparalleled advantages in long-range attacks. In order to ensure that it can attack enemies within a hundred meters, many improved crossbows are also installed on warships. These crossbows can shoot heavy crossbows tied with tough ropes. Specially made There are barbs on the heavy crossbow, which makes it difficult to remove once it is hung on the enemy's warship. When two ships are close, the big dragon boat can completely use this to invade the enemy ship. Trained naval soldiers can use the ropes shot out to attack the enemy's warships. Even if it cannot be invaded, relying on the absolute advantage of the big dragon boat in the word "big", it can completely make the enemy ship lose its combat effectiveness after hanging the rope. In order to ensure that the dragon boat can adapt to naval battles, the four-story ship building on the dragon boat was dismantled. In this way, the hull is more stable and can better adapt to the wind and waves on the sea. In order to build such a behemoth, Fang Jie spared no expense and attached a layer of iron plates to the outside of the hull. While ensuring the strength of the hull, the problem of increasing the weight of the hull took a long time to solve. It took at least two thousand craftsmen and shipbuilders three years to make this monster show its menacing appearance. Opening the way in front of the big dragon boat are twelve Huanglong Clippers that can carry two to three hundred people. Each Huanglong Clipper can carry two Centipede Clippers. Behind the big dragon boat were eighteen large five-tooth boats, and then hundreds of yellow dragons. This scale, when traveling eastward on the Yangtze River waterway, shocked many people's hearts. At the beginning, Fang Jie ordered the two navies in the northwest to work together to transport more than 100,000 men from Chen Dingnan and Chen Banshan's troops to Eastern Xinjiang. After the naval general Duan Zheng was assigned, he returned to the Zhuque Mountain Camp to mobilize this brand new naval fleet from the water village. These warships were all built by Zhuque Mountain Water Village over the years, and they have not experienced war yet. The army in the northwest at that time included hundreds of thousands of troops under Chen Dingnan and Chen Bishan. There are also about 100,000 troops led by Gao Kaitai led by Lu Fenghou, and about 100,000 infantry led by Cui Zhongzhen. Cui Zhongzhen's troops have been transferred back to Chang'an City to garrison. During this Eastern Expedition, Fang Jie ordered Lu Fenghou to bring his men and horses to join Du Dingbei, Jin Shixiong, and Xu Xiaogong at the front line of Lingmen Pass in Qinhe, and merged into the elite Black Flag Army brought out from Chang'an City by Sanjin Houwu. , forming a huge army of more than half a million people. This does not include the hundreds of thousands of people in Chen Dingnan and Chen Banshan. "Coupled with the follow-up troops led by Fang Jiefang, the total strength of the Black Flag Army this time exceeded 700,000. If we add in the troops of Nalan Dingdong who were the first to go to Eastern Xinjiang, the Black Flag ArmyMore than 800,000 people participated in the battlefield in Eastern Xinjiang, accounting for most of the total strength of the Black Flag Army. The current Black Flag Army actually has more than one million troops. However, in Yunnan Road, which was conquered just a few years ago, sufficient troops must be left to defend the southwest corner. In the various areas south of the Yangtze River, enough troops must be left to intimidate. In the northwest roads, there are still Song Zihui's troops fighting against the defeated troops of Meng and Yuan Dynasties. There is no doubt that Fang Jie made a desperate move for the war in Eastern Xinjiang. ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Xiang Qingniu stood on the bow of the boat holding his waist, holding his head and chest high. He who was so afraid of water could actually stand there in such a heroic posture. It was obvious that the stability of the big dragon boat was good enough. The hugeness of the warship destined the limitations of the dragon boat. In order to allow the ship to enter and exit the Zhuque Mountain Water Village, just widening and deepening the river connecting Xuanwu Lake and Luoshui was a major project. Fortunately, the location of Zhuqueshan Water Village is good enough. Xuanwu Lake is a large lake that was opened artificially under the order of Fang Jie. It borrowed water from the Huangniu River in the north, and then widened the river to connect it to the Luoshui River. From Xuanwu Lake to the east, you can follow the river into Luoshui, and then from Luoshui to the north past Xinyang City, you will reach the famous Sanjiangkou. From Sanjiangkou to the Yangtze River, the journey is smooth. "Fang Jie, have you ever thought about going to Dongjiang this time? What if you lose what will you do?" Xiang Qingniu suddenly asked a very serious question. Fang Jie sat aside and stared at the sky in a daze. He smiled after hearing Xiang Qingniu's question: "If we lose, as long as we don't die, we can fight again. In this world of the Central Plains, no one should stand up more than me." "If I lose, no one will stand up." "Sometimes we always ignore a lot of things. If I just think about it, if I come and lose, I will lose a lot of things, so I won't come. , then others may not come. Everyone thinks that it has nothing to do with them, and if they want to resist until it does, it will be too late. I thought the same way at the beginning, once I lead the troops and leave. Will my foundation be taken advantage of and lose what I have?" He glanced at Xiang Qingniu: "There must be people who think so, but they may not do what I just said. What I lost is what I thought I had that others didn't have To put it more grandly, it was national sentiment. To put it more simply, it meant that outsiders were not allowed to come in. " "It is undeniable that there is no shortage of people like Yang Shunhui in this world. There is no shortage of men who are willing to be scum for the enemymen who are willing to stand up and die to protect their fellow villagers!" He pointed to the soldiers: "They, they, there are so many who came with the army! Jianghu Ke, do they have anything to do with the people in Dongjiang?" Fang Jie let out a long sigh of relief: "If you say no, no, because if it weren't for this war, they might never have gone to Dongjiang. . If there is, then there is. Because we are all Han people and the masters of this land." Xiang Qingniu understood. He had never thought about it so much before. He simply thought that if anyone came knocking on my door, he would just call them back. As for national sentiments, he had never considered them. Perhaps most of the hundreds of thousands of good men who went to fight in Eastern Xinjiang were just like him, so simple. No one can bully his own people. "I might lose everything." Fang Jie said: "But I shouldn't regret it." Xiang Qingniu was so angry at Fang Jie's words that he couldn't help but roar up to the sky. "Speaking of which, I hate those people from Dongjiang. Take the people from the Penglai Sect as an example. They don't look like Jianghu people at all. Take the people from the Mu Mansion as an example. On the surface, it seems that only the honor and disgrace of their own family matters. It's important But when it came time for them to fight to the death, they didn't back down. I never thought that I would fight for someone I hate" Xiang Qingniu suddenly burst into laughter: "Master Dao, it turns out that he never backed down. I have never lost my righteousness!" He was like a man who suddenly went crazy, shouting and laughing loudly. No one knew that he thought of the mountain gate called Penglai Sect that he had once broken through. There, he used to beat the people he hated to pieces without restraint. It was also in that place that the remaining disciples of the Penglai Sect he hated, together with five thousand Mufu soldiers, fought a bloody battle for a month with an enemy far more powerful than them, and finally all died in the battle. No one would have thought that the fire in Xiang Qingniu's heart was so strong now, it was the anger of revenge. In that place where he had been, the people he hated fought bloody battles with foreigners and were killed by foreigners. Now, he wants to avenge those he hates Is it a contradiction? ? ???! There is no contradiction! Such stories have happened more than once on this land. For example, in Dongjiang, two neighbors were at odds with each other. When the male owner of one family died on the battlefield, the male owner of the other family resolutely picked up his hoe and joined the team to fight against the foreigners. At this time, what he wanted to do was to avenge the neighbor he hated. Maybe it won't be long before the graves of two people who would be jealous of each other and fight to the death will become close neighbors. Maybe no one cares about the people behind the battlefield. The women in the brothels used their savings to buy leather and send it to the military camp, just to give the soldiers an extra layer of protection. The old men and women sat in their homes day and night holding the soles of their shoes, just so that the soldiers would not have blood blisters on their soles when they marched. Dongjiang has become the place in everyone¡¯s heart. Sitting further away, Shi Wan, who was suffering from seasickness, looked at Xiang Qingniu, who was yelling, with some confusion, and asked Ye Zhuhan, who was sitting beside him and was also depressed: "Elder brother, what is that fat man yelling about?" Ye Zhuhan was silent for a while. He replied a little weakly but with a strong tone: "I'm roaring unyieldingly."