Zhao Bing suddenly felt that it was not because of an inspiration, but because he was shocked by Gaocheng's strict city defense arrangement and Dong's management at all costs. You should know that with the current attack ability of the Song army, it is no problem to have a strong city like Xiangyang, and simple cities like county towns are often defeated in one battle. Therefore, the Mongolian and Yuan army knew that they could not defend it, and often fled in a glance.

Gaocheng City is just an ordinary city, and it was destroyed in the destruction of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. With the status and sources of information of the Dong family in the Yuan court, it is not unaware of the combat effectiveness of the Song army. It should also be clear that it is difficult for a corner of Gaocheng to block the footsteps of the Song Dynasty's Northern Expedition Army. Is it too overestimated?

Zhao Bing did not doubt the status of Dong in Gaocheng. This was the place where he had been invested. He had been in business for decades. Whether it was to show kindness to the people or under pressure, he would definitely win the hearts of the people. He would inevitably have an armed force that was loyal to him and would accumulate a large amount of wealth.

Some people may have doubts about this. Didn’t the Mongolian Yuan court stifled Han generals, and hadn’t they forced the “Han Marquis” to take the initiative to cut off their titles and disband private soldiers? Zhao Bing could only sneer at this. Even under the strict control of the court, it was not difficult for the rich and wealthy families to raise some private soldiers, but the dead soldiers were actually not a problem.

Records of assassination or rebellion in history of all dynasties about raising private soldiers are endless. These dead soldiers seem to be not afraid of death and are willing to work hard for others and can do anything. The most terrifying thing is that there are still many such people in ancient times, and there are often records of hundreds or even thousands of private soldiers and dead soldiers.

Speaking of dead soldiers, many people's first impression is that they are assassins. It was once popular on the Internet that raising dead soldiers in ancient times was prone to picking orphans and training them since childhood. Then they had to brainwash and instill ideas, so that they became loyal and willing to do whatever they wanted to do with their master's order.

But in fact, raising dead soldiers in ancient times was not so complicated. There was no need to brainwash or cultivate them since childhood. Human lives were not worth much in ancient times, and it was not difficult to spend money to buy a life. In fact, the dead soldiers in ancient times were not actually a profession. Instead, as long as they were brave warriors who died, they could be called dead soldiers, they could be reckless men who had been divorced. They could be disciples or slaves.

For example, the famous Jing Ke assassinated the King of Qin. As a dead soldier raised by Prince Dan of Yan, Jing Ke was still very well paid. Prince Dan visited Jing Ke every day to contact him. He had the best tools to use the car, and the beauty to give him whatever he wanted. So when Jing Ke should die, Jing Ke knew that assassinating the King of Qin would definitely die.

Such dead men usually win over with kindness and a clear purpose, which is to assassinate noble people for me. In ancient times, natural disasters and man-made disasters, the average life span of people was not long, so many people committed suicide and died seriously, thinking that dying for those who were close friends is a thing worthy of praise. Although the other party’s purpose is to ask you to die for me, they often think that the other party is willing to spend so much money to buy my life, so that they can respect me and be proud of it.

Of course, there are also those who don’t have money, and Nie Zheng is this kind of. If we look at the current values, he would rather kill someone and then commit suicide after being self-harm after being disfigured. Such a professional killer has to be trained to brainwash since childhood. But in fact, he confiscated even the money. He was just willing to pay a hundred dollars to ask me to kill someone, and I was my confidant, so I was willing to die for him.

During the Bronze Age where productivity was low during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the four young masters of the Warring States Period often raised thousands of visitors. At that time, raising visitors was a very respectful thing and earning fame. Some of these visitors were speculators who were talented but unacceptable, some were destitute children of nobles, some were low-class vagrants who were unwilling to be poor and humble, and some wanted criminals who were wanted to seek asylum. As long as these people were willing to die, they would naturally be dead soldiers.

The disciples are openly, but after the rulers feel the threat, coupled with the changes in the times, raising private soldiers is explicitly prohibited. So how can many private soldiers not be discovered? This is a difficult thing to modern people, but it was not difficult in ancient times.

Unlike modern times, thousands of slaves in wealthy families are not rare. In "Dream of Red Mansions", there are thousands of people in the Jia family. Of course, although Dream of Red Mansions is just a novel, it also reflects the situation at that time. Of course, it is impossible for so many slaves to be kept in their own houses. You should know that the land annexation in ancient times was endless, and the land after the annexation was of course impossible for these big families to plant them in person. Farmers who were forced to go bankrupt by corvee, taxes, and usury could only sell themselves as slaves to work for these big families.

In addition, in ancient times, there were famines, plagues, wars, and countless records of the roads, and the change of children and eating. Becoming a slave to a wealthy family has a guaranteed life, and you don’t have to do labor service. It is natural to kill people for the sake of your master. In ancient times, you had to go to the household registration. If you don’t have a household registration, you would be fugitive slaves. Even if the world is so big, you don’t have a place to set up a cone. Even if you don’t want to die, you have nowhere to run away.

Therefore, people only need to be scattered in various manors, work during busy farming, close the door during slack farming, and choose strong people from among the tenants and slaves who depend on themselves to organize military training with the guests, which is a private soldier. Naturally, outsiders cannot know, and their families are controlled by the aristocratic families, so they can only fight to die for the lord in war.

This kind of thing actually exists in the feudal dynasty of China for thousands of years, and everyone has been doing it all the time. There is no difference between disciples, divisions, dead soldiers, family soldiers and slaves in essence. In fact, they can all be regarded as private soldiers, but they have changed their name. The head of the family can drive them to kill people and rebel.

Zhao Bing remembered the so-called servants of military generals in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Because "the military generals are not under military jurisdiction" and are not nominally soldiers, they are all supported by military generals themselves, so they do not have to listen to the orders of other officials. They are just servants of military generals, and only listen to the orders of military generals and only serve the generals to die. The things they do can be regarded as private soldiers.

The Chineseization of the Mongolian Yuan regime was not completely achieved, and it was still in a slave society. They plundered a large number of people in the war, called exorcism, or slaves, and were regarded as personal private property. Therefore, it is not new to those with many powerful people in the Mongolian Yuan who had tens of thousands of slaves, so it is reasonable to cast a family and raise thousands of private soldiers like the Dong family in Gaocheng.

Therefore, Zhao Bing judged that the Dong family could obtain thousands of soldiers without relying on the official army. Moreover, there was an imperial edict from the court to sign the township soldiers, so that an army could be easily established with its good reputation and wealth. Among the refugees who were taken in, young and strong can also be selected as reserve troops and husbands, so that they could mobilize tens of thousands of people to defend the city.

However, Zhao Bing believed that even if the Dong family could quickly form an army, it had a fatal flaw, that is, he could not obtain enough weapons. You should know that the Yuan court had very strict control over weapons. It was difficult for nobles like the Dong family to privately hide a large number of weapons. Even if the military ban was temporarily abolished, they would find it difficult to obtain a large amount of steel under such circumstances.

Of course they could destroy iron farm tools to build weapons, but Zhao Bing still believed that it was still difficult to meet the needs with Dong's financial resources. It is natural and simple to build weapons such as swords and guns. Build a spearhead with a wooden handle and it is a long spear, and an ordinary blacksmith can complete it. But what you need most to defend the city is a long weapon - a crossbow, which cannot be made in a short time.

The Mongolian Yuan had very strict control over bows and crossbows. Dong could not have much reserves, but it was extremely cumbersome and time-consuming to make a bow. There were only a dozen materials needed and there were a lot of processes. It often took more than a year to get a finished bow, and the cost was not low. And it was not something that could be obtained in a short period of time with money.

With a bow, arrows are also needed, which is simpler than a bow. But relatively speaking, it is not easy to get the feathers, even the seemingly simplest arrow shaft is difficult. The processing, polishing, painting, and wrapping of threads requires manpower and material resources. Although an arrow is not particularly expensive, it is not cheap.

In the past, a qualified arrow in the Song Dynasty also cost about 70 cents, and according to the current price, it is enough for several days of living expenses. In the case of inflation in the Mongolian Yuan, the treasure banknotes have to be dozens of cents, and the combined silver price is three cents. What is the concept of three cents of silver? One tael of silver is one hundred cents, and one tael of silver can buy one stone of rice, which shows that three cents of silver is equivalent to a day of food.

Thirty pieces are almost one or two silver taels, not to mention that there are not dozens of bows and arrows needed to fight. Therefore, large-scale rain of arrows that cover no matter how much money is on the battlefield actually does not appear often, because the output and price of arrows lead to the fact that every time the arrows are thrown, it is actually a "shot of the universe".

This leads to the fact that each regime will produce large amounts of weapons before the war begins, and the cost of war is also based on the regime's economy. This is why when the war starts, money burns like firewood. This is also why it is said that fighting is the mobilization ability. Even if the Dong family is rich, they cannot afford to play such a game, let alone facing the power of a country.

Therefore, Zhao Bing judged that Dong's construction of city defense at all costs was also due to the situation and economic strength. Since he could not gain an advantage in weapons, he could only gain geographical advantages by strengthening city defense, using layers of fortresses to offset the enemy's weapon advantages, and consumed a large amount of Song army's troops to defend this small land.
Chapter completed!