Although Fei Qian said that he would prepare for the march, the march could not be fully prepared in one or two days. After all, a large army still needs many things to march. Among these equipment, the most important thing is ordnance.
In Pingyang today, in addition to the large number of goods originally produced by the Hu people, two other types of goods have also rapidly emerged, and even to a certain extent have exceeded the amount of the Hu people's cattle and sheep trade.
Many people have some misunderstandings, saying that there has been a tendency to suppress merchants since ancient times. These are actually caused by a little knowledge. In fact, this is not the case, at least it was not too obvious in the Han Dynasty.
The Shang Dynasty in ancient China was actually derived from the Shang tribe. In the middle of the Xia Dynasty, the sixth generation of Qi, Sun Wanghai, gradually strengthened the power of the Shang through commercial trade. At the end of the Xia Dynasty, the power of the Shang developed from the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
In the middle reaches, it penetrated into the Xia's ruling areas. After Tang, the fourteenth generation grandson of Qi, destroyed Xia, he used "Shang" as the country's name and established the Shang Dynasty.
It can be said that the foundation of the Shang Dynasty was trade. Because of the wheel technology derived from trade, and because of communication, promotion of cultural development, etc., it was ahead of the Xia Dynasty.
Shang in bronze inscriptions and seal scripts is actually a person pushing a flat cart, with horns of cattle and sheep standing on the cart, as a symbol of trade and a spoken word for mutual communication and negotiation...
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the awareness of merchants was not very strong, or the suppression of merchants was not too strong. However, because of the Lu family and the Tian family, the princes began to be wary of and control merchants, but in fact, the exchange of goods
It is an inevitable product after society has developed to a certain stage. It cannot be suppressed. Even for a while, there is no way to control it for a lifetime. After all, even some of the rare things that the emperor wanted were obtained from businessmen when traced to their source.
of.
Starting from the Pre-Qin Dynasty, taxes on merchants have been very heavy. The vehicle and vessel tax, a classic tax that has been extended to later generations, was actually first established for merchants who required vehicle and vessel transportation for these transactions.
The control of merchants in the Han Dynasty was not as strict as that of later generations. The main reason was that these merchants were often the gentry themselves, or branches of the gentry. Suppressing these merchants was equivalent to suppressing the gentry itself. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's salt and iron monopoly
, and it didn’t last long, so I let it go.
For the sake of so-called etiquette, later generations of Confucianists began to criticize Aduwu on the surface, but secretly tried to make money from it. On the one hand, they showed their noble status, and on the other hand, they colluded with officials and businessmen.
Fei Qian knows very well that war is actually a huge drain, so business in Pingyang is largely to provide blood for Fei Qian's war system.
One is the literary system of the Academy. Nowadays, there are books with different prices from books to Qinglun, and these books are basically expensive.
The nobles in the Han Dynasty also had star-chasers, but they were chasing celebrities. These nobles were so happy about the remarks and books of famous celebrities that they would buy a copy even if they spent a lot of money. Otherwise, it would be like other people.
It was as if he could not hold his head up in front of the children of the gentry, so the sales volume of these books had always been good. If it were not for the purpose of controlling the scarcity of the market, Fei Qian would sometimes want to sell more books of this type.
Another thing that Binh Duong is gradually occupying a place is ironware, including various simple weapons. Because of the hydraulic forging machine advanced by Fei Qian in the Binh Duong workshop, the cost of high-quality steel that was refined at 20 or 30 times has been reduced a lot. Therefore,
Both quantity and quality can meet certain needs.
Originally, Fei Qian also had the idea of setting up a so-called craftsman school, but it was quickly canceled. It was not because of the identity of a craftsman or anything else, but because of the special profession of craftsman. Many people
Only those who know a craft can have a bowl of food, and although some of these crafts are relatively simple, the so-called insiders know the way and laymen see the fun. If you have not learned and done it yourself, you may not be able to understand it.
It was impossible for Fei Qian to teach large-scale equipment, such as trebuchets, ballistas, etc., while small daily necessities would starve the master to death once he taught them to his apprentices.
These things, processes, and skills, once schools are opened, will inevitably be widely taught. However, for a small peasant economy like the Han Dynasty, on the one hand, there is no awareness of the protection of intellectual property rights, and on the other hand, if these things are spread, it will
Cutting off the livelihood of craftsmen who originally relied on these for a living.
This is not to say that craftsman schools cannot be established, but when Fei Qian cannot guarantee nationwide control, the side effects of these things cannot be eliminated, and rash actions will cause many unpredictable adverse consequences.
Many things are just like the craftsman system at this stage. Although it is unreasonable, it cannot be changed as the time traveler wants. The consequences of taking it for granted are usually very bad. After all, the craftsman system at this stage has been accumulated over hundreds of years.
And how can it be changed at the drop of a hat if it is formed?
Fei Qian felt that the current craftsman apprenticeship teaching system in the Han Dynasty, coupled with the interests related to family blood and so on, was already a relatively complete structure. After all, the knowledge level of ordinary people in the Han Dynasty was not high.
How much can you learn in one class, and how much can you understand?
It is better to follow the master and teach him step by step, which is more efficient.
At the same time, although blood kinship limits the spread of craftsman skills, it also protects original technical knowledge to a certain extent. What's more, from another perspective, are the technologies that Fei Qian knows also the same as those of our ancestors?
After accumulating bit by bit, if we rashly take it out and teach it widely, wouldn’t we also be sorry for those ancestors who thought hard about it?
Therefore, Fei Qian simply gave up the idea of setting up a craftsman school in Pingyang. Even if it were to be established in the future, it would be more appropriate to build a nationwide school with certain standards than to open it randomly now. Of course, as an alternative, Fei Qian
The treatment of craftsmen has been improved, and many reward standards have been proposed to encourage craftsmen to make innovative inventions.
Anyway, in the face of extremely attractive material incentives, these craftsmen will naturally voluntarily drive technology forward and develop continuously.
Just like the gun head originally sold to Yuan Shao, although the price was cheap, the quality was indeed poor. There were some opinions, and then the craftsmen improved the process and adopted a semi-clad steel method, which is at the cutting edge.
Use better materials, and most of the rest are still wrought iron, which is not very good.
In this way, although the process has increased some complexity, it is equivalent to just adding a better steel material to the cutting edge. The cost has not increased much, so it is still very advantageous in terms of price. Yuan Shao has been doing this for a while.
I purchased a lot again...
Even Cao Cao from Yanzhou sent people to visit him. On the one hand, he talked about the old accounts he had promised to give him before, and on the other hand, he also wanted to purchase some more weapons. As for the previous promise to give Cao Cao some resources, Fei Qian was almost completely
I had forgotten about it, and now that someone came to my door, I reluctantly scraped together some gun heads and arrows of similar quality to Yuan Shao's and sent them over. As for the war horses, don't even think about them, they still won't be given to them.
, after all, war horses are strategic weapons.
Fei Qian was in the side hall reading about the output and benefits of the workshop during this period. Huang Cheng came out of the hall to ask for a meeting with a naive smile on his face.
Fei Qian looked up and saw Huang Cheng's face. He couldn't help laughing and waved Huang Cheng in.
Huang Cheng entered the hall and bowed. Just as he was about to speak, Fei Qian stopped him with a word.
"Let's talk about it first. Regarding the topic of the martial arts hall, Shuye will not come to me..."
It's not that Fei Qian has any objections to Huang Cheng, it's just that the questions given in the martial arts hall are to allow these generals to broaden their minds and gain more experience on the battlefield. Naturally, it is impossible to let Huang Cheng go. Because if Huang Cheng is
Cheng's relaxation of standards actually harmed Huang Cheng.
Huang Cheng laughed twice, swallowed the idea of asking Fei Qian for help, then waved his hands and said: "Junhou, I am not here for the homework of the martial arts hall, but... Junhou,
Look, should we recruit more soldiers in the Guards Battalion now..."
General Zhengxi, normally the commander should be more than 10,000 people, so if Fei Qian is directly commanding, then half would be more reasonable, which means there should be about 5,000 people, and now under the name of Huang Cheng, as Fei Qian's
The number of guards in the camp is only about 2,000.
"There are not many soldiers because they are good," Fei Qian said, "but it is not necessary to increase the number now. It's just that in comparison, there are not many well-trained soldiers who have experienced life and death on the battlefield. They still need to practice more..."
Although adding more soldiers can increase combat power in most cases, after a certain amount, it becomes useless.
Because on the frontal battlefield, the people you directly face are always a small number of people. It does not mean that one hundred thousand versus one hundred thousand will have a sufficiently broad battlefield to allow everyone to fight one-on-one.
.
Sometimes it is not a good thing to have too many pig teammates. Before the battle, the pig teammates will shout loudly, "Go up, go up, go up, I will support you." Then when the battle comes, when they turn around, they can only
I saw the swaying and coquettish butt of my pig teammate...
Therefore, for soldiers, Feiqian's choice is quality assurance in a certain quantity.
What's more, for the Bingbei area, the infantry seems to be permanently short by half. If possible, Fei Qian even wants to replace them all with cavalry.
Huang Cheng nodded and said nothing, but Fei Qian could see a slight hint of disagreement. It wasn't that Huang Cheng had any disobedient thoughts towards Fei Qian, but that in this era, most people were not very
Understand the concept of elite soldiers...
In other words, in most people's minds, if they are arranged from high to low in terms of martial arts level, the general's personal unit is naturally the first, then the commander's personal guard camp, and then the general veteran camp.
Ordinary recruits, and finally auxiliaries and civilians.
There is a concept of strong soldiers, or one against ten, but it is only for the general's personal unit. For ordinary recruits, they are only required to be able to go into battle and obey and execute orders when facing the enemy.
Escape is enough.
Fei Qian said: "The soldiers and horses have not moved." The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the food and grass go first. On weekdays, the soldiers have six liters of rice per day, double that in wartime. If necessary, they must also provide a certain amount of blood food. Even if it is based on the daily
Counting six liters as a contribution, if you, Uncle Ye, have 2,000 regular soldiers, you will need 3,600 shi for one month..."
Of course, this is an ideal state. Fei Qian knows that there may only be a few companies that can afford this value at this stage. However, as the war continues, the social farming structure is destroyed, and food and grass become increasingly scarce, this standard has also
It was lowered again and again. By the late Three Kingdoms period, the daily supply of two or three liters, let alone six liters, was already very impressive.
Therefore, under such conditions, we can generally guess what the physical strength and combat effectiveness of the soldiers will be. It is precisely because of this that there are battles of tens of thousands, or even battles of hundreds of thousands of people.
, and in such a battle, those who make soy sauce account for the majority.
"Um... Lord, don't blame me, I don't mean anything in particular... I just have a doubt, please give me some advice..." Huang Cheng scratched his head and said hesitantly, "If... we lower the standard, wouldn't it be okay?
To raise more soldiers? I heard that even the Imperial Guards in Kyoto are only providing four liters per day..."
Because Huang Cheng was also training at the Pingyang campus during this period, he knew how attractive the six-liter daily supply was at this stage. Recruiting soldiers was not a difficult task at all. Even if it was four-liter, there would still be a lot of people coming.
, and in this way, and then calculated, you can get half more soldiers with the same consumption.
Fei Qian put down the wooden tablet in his hand and sighed slightly. The destruction in the Guanzhong area gradually showed its power. The Forbidden Army was originally supposed to be the strongest army of the Han Dynasty, but now it is gradually becoming more powerful.
decline.
Fei Qian pondered for a while, and then said: "Shu Ye, you are right. It is true that if we lower the supply standard of food and grass, we can indeed accommodate more soldiers... But you have to consider a problem. If we are now
These soldiers don't have enough to eat, and they can't keep up with their strength, etc., and their training has been weakened accordingly... What do you think will happen if they really go to the battlefield? If nothing else, the number of battle losses will definitely be higher than it is now.
High, right?”
Huang Cheng thought for a while, then nodded silently.
"Then what?" Fei Qian said, "Veterans have suffered high battle losses, lack of training, and new recruits are not strong enough. They will be lost again on the battlefield, and then the next wave of worse soldiers will be used on the battlefield... At that time, the competition will be over.
It’s not about the combat power of the soldiers, but about the population reserve…and once the population reserve is exhausted, you will still lose even if you don’t lose…”
In the end, the Three Kingdoms are like bad money driving out good money. When all that is left is to compete with each other, there will be no winners in the market. Everything Fei Qian is doing now is not to follow this old path.
What's more, Fei Qian didn't have the foundation to follow Cao Liusun's original path. After all, the situations between them were different...
