Zhang Yue thought that putting Shen Kuo in charge of weapons supervision was the right thing to do. But in fact, there were still mistakes.
Shen Kuo studied crossbows based on ancient books and found that one stone during the Warring States Period was equal to one stone during the Qin Dynasty and one stone during the Song Dynasty. This was a very low-level mistake. At the same time, Shen Kuo was superstitious about the formations in ancient books. For example, the formations were based on various Yin and Yang magic numbers.
Go up and pretend to be cool.
Could it be that the Yang Family General’s Great Breaking Heavenly Gate Formation also has a historical basis?
Shen Kuo had many Confucian scholars' unrealistic assumptions, naive assumptions, and very imprecise self-confidence.
In fact, many places in the ancient books were very vague, so Shen Kuo used his own speculation and understanding to force it into practice.
The more I look at the chapter, the more amazing it becomes.
Moreover, Shen Kuo admired the military formation tactics of the Tang Dynasty very much and wanted to learn from them. But the question is, are the Khitans of the Tang Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom of today the same thing?
During the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan was just a loose tribal alliance, and its cavalry was mostly lightly-armed and scattered. However, the current Liao cavalry is equipped with strong armor and strong soldiers.
Zhang Yue and Shen Kuo chatted several times. Shen Kuo had the stubbornness of a man with a science degree, but Sheng would still understand that authority trumps reason when facing someone with a higher official position than him, so he would change whatever Zhang Yue said.
What. Generally speaking, Shen Kuo is still the leader among contemporary technical officials.
Shen Kuo and Zhang Yue agreed on one thing: to deal with the Liao cavalry, it was still necessary to equip them with a large number of crossbows.
Zhang Yue advocated using cavalry to control cavalry, but cavalry requires many years of effort, and in defensive battles bows and crossbows are still the most important.
Now that Xixia is suing for peace and under the threat of force from the Liao Kingdom, the Privy Council has made adjustments to the northwest.
Thanks to Zhang Yue's pacification of Guizhang in the seventh year of Xining, he surrendered Dong Fei and Mu Zheng, which greatly reduced the strategic pressure of the Song Dynasty in the direction of Qing and Tang Dynasties.
Until the Yuanfeng period, Xihe Road was still a place where hundreds of thousands of troops were constantly fighting each other. Now it has become a harmonious place. The Han and Han merchants each get what they need, and there are no big fights. Fearing the Song Dynasty and Dong Fei, Mu Zheng surrounded it.
Crossing the vast sea to attack the hinterland of Xixia, Xixia also gave up its claim to land and sued for peace with the Song Dynasty.
With capital in hand, the Song Dynasty transferred most of the troops and horses from Xihe Road, which had previously been heavily stocked with troops, to Shaanxi Fourth Road. Some of the troops from Shaanxi Fourth Road were transferred to Hedong, and some of the troops from Hedong were transferred to Hebei to achieve an all-out effort to resist the Liao Dynasty.
At the same time, the war horses bought from Xihe Road also enriched the troops and horses of various roads in Hebei. However, it was still impractical for the Song army's cavalry to engage in field battles with the Khitans. The governors unanimously decided to focus on defense and not to advance easily.
, believe in the words of the DPRK and the Central Committee that will lead to a decisive victory in the Liao Kingdom, and avoid repeating the mistakes of the Battle of Gaoliang River and the Battle of Qigou Pass.
When it comes to defense, the bow and crossbow come first. The Divine Arm Crossbow has a long range, and the effective killing distance can reach a hundred and twenty steps. In fact, it can also be a hundred and fifty steps. However, the weapons supervisor said that the receiving distance is one hundred and twenty.
step.
This is also documented in historical records.
As for penetrating iron armor at 300 steps, that's what Ji Xiaolan said, confusing the maximum range and the effective range.
This is also a common problem among scholars.
Or maybe Ji Xiaolan thought that a shot that could penetrate iron armor at a distance of three hundred steps was regarded as penetrating iron armor at a distance of three hundred steps. In fact, it is quite good to penetrate iron armor at a distance of one hundred, fifty or sixty meters.
This is rigorous data obtained by Shen Kuo from repeated exercises in the weapons inspection. In fact, the Song Army had other large crossbows that had a farther range than the Divine Arm Bow, but they were large and inconvenient to operate.
The Divine Arm Crossbow is the culmination of both.
However, the Divine Arm Crossbow is also expensive, has the disadvantage of slow shooting speed, is very afraid of moisture, requires certain maintenance, and is not suitable for use in the rainy season in the south.
After a lot of experiments, Shen Kuo wrote detailed regulations and reported them to the officials. At the same time, with the help of craftsmen and experts from the Ordnance Supervision, he improved the manufacturing process of the divine arm bow.
Shen Kuo said in his memorials that there are six virtues in bowing: one is that the bow is small but powerful, the other is harmonious and powerful, the third is that it has unyielding power over a long period of time, the fourth is that it has the same strength in cold and heat, the fifth is that the sound of the string is clear and solid, and the sixth is that it is straight with one stroke.
.The officials ordered the ordnance supervisor to produce a large number of divine arm bows and first-rate fast-shooting horse yellow crossbows to equip Hebei armies.
As a result, Shen Kuo gained the appreciation of the officials. With Zhang Yue's recommendation, he was promoted from a living room keeper to a sifengyuanwailang, and his post was added to the post of editor of Jixian Hall.
Shen Kuo was of course overjoyed because his political speculation had paid off again.
Practicality is always the rule of thumb.
Shen Kuo also knew that what the slaves of the three surnames did before was wrong, so he told everyone that all this was thanks to Vice President Zhang.
Before the officials rewarded Shen Kuo, they asked Zhang Yue. Shen Kuo kept repeating his behavior without reason, and everyone knew that Wang Anshi advised me to stay away from him in fear. Why didn't you go?
Zhang Yue's approach to officials is to employ people without losing their strengths and weaknesses. Your Majesty should follow the example of Cao Mengde in employing people based on their merit.
The official said seriously: "Thank you for your kind words."
…
Shen Kuo, who betrayed Lu Huiqing, was not only not punished but was promoted.
Many officials in the court saw that Lu Huiqing was now in doom.
Cai Wenxi is also one of them. Cai Wenxi is a fellow villager of Wang Anshi and a member of the New Party. When Lu Huiqing was gaining power, Cai Wenxi once visited Lu Shengqing's house.
After Wang Anshi resigned as prime minister, Lu Huiqing successively excluded those in the court who had different political views with him. Like Feng Jing and Zhang Yue, they all went out one after another. Even Han Jiang wanted to see his face. It can be said that he had overwhelming power in the world for a while.
At that time, not only officials from the New Party, but also many officials from the Old Party or those who supported the Chinese Communist Party also defected to Lu Huiqing.
Cai Wenxi maintained that she had an old relationship with Lu Shengqing and went to visit him at his house. Unexpectedly, Lu Shengqing became powerful but did not pay attention to Cai Wenxi, and was rejected by the boss.
Cai Wenxi was very angry because of this.
Cai Wenxi also saw the direction of the wind, and there was no doubt that Lu Huiqing would lose power.
Cai Wenxi visited Cai Que at his residence and learned from Cai Que that Wang Anshi was ill.
Cai Wenxi chatted with Cai Que, and Cai Que told Cai Wenxi that Yuan Jiang had asked Lu Huiqing to plan for the position of prime minister, but Zhang Yue had been given the upper hand, which made him deeply resent Lu Huiqing. Now that Wang Anshi has returned to the court, Yuan Jiang is standing
Wang Anshi on one side.
Cai Wenxi deliberately asked tentatively: "Zhang Duzhi, Su Ziyou returned to the dynasty one after another, and even Shen Kuo was promoted. How long can Lu Zhengzheng, who is upright and upright, stay in the temple?"
Cai Quedao: "In the past, Lu's participation in politics was nothing more than a kiss on a thatched house. But now his removal is just around the corner!"
Hearing what Cai Que said, it was in line with Cai Wenxi's judgment.
Cai Quedao said: "It is difficult for us to be admonishers and ministers at the same time. When Lu Huiqing was impeached last year, Lu Shengqing and Lu Shengqing said that as long as he stayed at home for ten days and ignored the affairs of the government, the emperor would stop all the admonishments.
"
Lu Huiqing followed Wang Anshi's consistent approach at that time. When Wang Anshi was impeached, he claimed to be ill, and the emperor had to compromise in order to retain Wang Anshi. After Lu Huiqing succeeded Wang Anshi, when he was able to dominate the government and the public, he also relied on the trust and trust of the officials in him.
rely.
Cai Wenxi said angrily: "Powerful ministers like Lu Shenzheng who control the government do not pay attention to the remonstrances of the whole court. Now that Wang Xianggong returns to the court, can he still be as proud as before? I must impeach this traitor.
No!"
Cai Que smiled when he heard this and said to himself, "How can you thank me?"
