Chapter 149: Showing off national strength [two in one]
"PS: I went back to my hometown today."
————The following text————
"Crack-"
"Crack-"
This continuous strange noise is the sound produced when the hoofs of the horses pulling the carriage hit the sleepers in the track.
During this period, the entire carriage was running at an incredible speed. The speed of the carriage shocked the envoys from various countries in the carriage.
Because they were shocked to find that the speed of these horse-drawn carriages was no less than that of a single person riding a horse. How is this possible?!
You must know that the carriage can carry six or seven people!
Could it be that there is some mystery in this that they don't know about?
After personally experiencing the speed of the rail carriage, the envoys from various countries had their own thoughts.
Bao Yuan, Han Chao, Zhao Zhuo and others from South Korea carefully looked at the overall structure of the track carriage. They were obviously planning to imitate Wei and build several track carriages after returning to China. After all, South Korea had already moved its new capital there.
In Jicheng, transportation and transportation inconvenience will inevitably become a major factor that troubles the development of Jicheng. If we can secretly learn the rail carriage from the Wei State, I believe it will play an important role in the development of Jicheng.
Compared with South Korea, Lu's young master Xing and his veteran minister Ji Shu thought about the incredible speed of the rail carriage purely from the perspective of craftsmanship, but they did not think about stealing their skills.
It’s no wonder, after all, the Lu State is just that big and is on par with the Wei State. Even if you ride a horse, you can travel from one end of the country to the other in just a few days. There is no need to bother laying any tracks and carriages - Lu State Internal
The current road conditions are sufficient for most things.
As for Weiyang Jun Ying Hua and others from Qin, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu from Chu, and Gong Ziyu from Wei, they were more surprised and envious than they had any need for this kind of rail carriage - to put it bluntly,
It's not that they don't have needs, but they know very well that laying track carriages across the country like Wei State will definitely consume a lot of manpower and material resources, and this consumption may not be affordable by Qin, Chu, and Wei.
In other words, they are more inclined to invest their financial resources in other areas.
Take the Wei State for example. This country has not even prepared a cavalry yet, so how can it be willing to use its best war horses to pull carriages? After all, the Wei State is not like the Wei State today, which holds the Three Rivers, Hexi, and Hetao.
Three natural pastures suitable for grazing war horses.
The straight-line distance between Yecheng and Xiaohuang County is about eighty miles. Normally on foot, this may be a distance that requires a day or two of rushing to reach. However, with the help of the rail carriage, they were able to reach it in just three days.
He arrived at Xiaohuang County from Yecheng in a short time.
This high speed made the envoys from various countries secretly frightened, and at the same time, the Korean general Bao Yuan finally understood the truth - recalling the "War between Wei and South Korea" two years ago, Wei and South Korea were also fighting on three battlefields
It was carried out at the same time. However, the logistics and food supplies from South Korea were always not as timely or even punctual as those from the Wei army.
At that time, Korean generals and ministers secretly speculated that the Wei State might have requisitioned a large number of civilians, thus ensuring the food and grass needs of as many as 400,000 Wei troops on several battlefields.
Only at this moment, after seeing and experiencing the convenience and speed of the rail carriage with his own eyes, did Han Jiang Baoyuan understand the reason.
For this reason, Bao Yuan was very worried.
You must know that South Korea's only confidence in resisting the Wei State is that the depth of South Korea's territory makes the Wei State take advantage of it: that is, the Wei State is not sure of destroying South Korea in a short time, for fear that if the war falls into a quagmire, the Chu State will take the opportunity to grow.
Replace the current status of Wei State.
And can the existence of this kind of rail carriage enhance Wei's offensive against South Korea?
To be fair, Wei's war pattern is slightly similar to Chu's, both of which are fierce in the early stage and weak in the later stage. However, the difference is that Chu is accustomed to using large-scale troops, which makes it difficult to support food and grass in the later stage; while Wei's
It's because the army's advancing speed far exceeds the speed at which the logistics troops can transport food and grass, especially when facing Korea and Chu with deep territory - the frontline troops are short of food, so even if the Wei soldiers are brave, it will be in vain, right?
However, this kind of rail carriage greatly increased the speed at which Wei State could transport grain and grass to the frontline troops.
Han general Bao Yuan could not help but fantasize: If Wei sent troops to attack South Korea, he would also lay track carriages on the captured Korean soil so that Wei could continuously transport grain and grass to the front line. In this case, he
How will South Korea fend off Wei?
It's almost hard to resist.
Especially after witnessing Wei's accomplishments in building war weapons, and witnessing Wei's catapults and ballistae destroying a wall no less high than the walls of Handan, Jicheng and other places in just half an hour.
After the wall collapsed, Bao Yuan became more and more fearful.
It is a very stupid idea to pin hopes on Wei State to give up conquering South Korea.
Bao Yuan naturally does not have any extravagant hopes for this. He believes that if the Wei State has enough power to annex South Korea, the young king of the Wei State will never show mercy - and vice versa.
Therefore, if they want to resist Wei's attack, the Koreans must work hard, work hard, train better soldiers, and build better war weapons.
Among these envoys from various countries, the most calm one was Wu Qi, the envoy from the Yue Kingdom.
In Wu Qi's view, although the Wei State was powerful, it did not necessarily pose any threat to his Yue State. After all, the distance between the two countries was too far, not to mention that the terrain of Wu Yue's land was complex and desolate, and the Central Plains were unfamiliar with the local environment.
If the army sets foot on that land, the outcome will be nothing more than following the Chu army that invaded the country of Yue.
Before evening that day, Zhao Hongrun and his party arrived in Xiaohuang County.
At this time, the magistrate of Xiaohuang County, "Wujie", led a large number of people and had been waiting for the arrival of Zhao Hongrun and others at the experimental field outside the city.
Obviously, these people have already heard the news.
Wujie is the cousin of Wu Guibi, the mother of Zhao Run's sixth brother, Zhao Zhao. He is about forty years old this year and has average ability, but he is self-denial and diligent. Therefore, the year before last, after the former magistrate of Xiaohuang County was transferred,
He was recommended by Wang Fu, director of the General Administration of Metallurgy, and was appointed magistrate of Xiaohuang County by the imperial court.
Although Zhao Run and his sixth brother Zhao Zhao were very unhappy some time ago due to the relationship between staying and leaving, and Wu Guifei, who used to be the link between Zhao Run and the Wushi clan, was recently taken to Qi by Zhao Zhao.
country, but these two incidents did not affect the relationship between Zhao Run and the Wushi clan in Xiaohuang County.
After all, with Zhao Run's current status, he does not need to rely on external help at all. Instead, local wealthy families like the Wushi clan hope to climb this high branch.
Originally, Zhao Hongrun decided to lead envoys from various countries to visit the experimental fields set up by the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau in Xiaohuang County today. However, due to a whim this morning, he took the envoys from various countries to visit Yecheng, so there was a slight discrepancy in the time.
By the time Zhao Hongrun and his party arrived in Xiaohuang County, it was getting late.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun decided to stay at the Wushi clan's mansion tonight and take the envoys from various countries to visit the experimental fields tomorrow.
So that night, in the ancestral home of the Wushi clan, the Wushi clan hosted a banquet in honor of Zhao Run and his party.
That night, everything was calm and nothing happened.
Come to think of it, Xiaohuang County is one of the nests of the Black Crows. There are at least hundreds of Black Crows lurking in this county. If anyone dares to come here to cause trouble, that's fine.
It is said that he is impatient with life.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Zhao Hongrun led the envoys from various countries to the experimental fields outside the county as planned.
This time, the person responsible for accompanying the explanation was Zheng Zhao, one of the chief officials of the General Administration of Metallurgy and Manufacturing.
In the process of taking envoys from various countries to visit the experimental field, Zheng Zhao first explained to these envoys the origin and function of the "experimental field".
To be fair, visiting a few shabby rice fields will naturally not arouse any interest among the envoys from various countries.
It wasn't until Zheng Zhao revealed the yield per mu of these experimental fields that the envoys from various countries showed dumbfounded expressions and looked at Zheng Zhao in disbelief. The expression seemed to be asking: Are you teasing us on purpose? Are you kidding? Why?
Is it possible to have such a high yield per mu?!
At this time, Zheng Zhao continued to introduce: "...After research by our General Administration of Metallurgical Engineering, we unanimously believe that the yield per mu of rice fields is closely related to the following points. The first is whether the rice seeds are full. It is undeniable that withered
Rice seeds can also germinate, but they are obviously not as good as well-packed seeds. The second step is irrigation...please look at that canal."
As he spoke, Zheng Zhao pointed to a canal about two feet wide in the north of the test field, and said seriously: "For these test fields, our General Administration of Metallurgical Engineering asked the Ministry of Industry to specially recruit civilians to dig a canal that leads directly to the river to divert the river water.
Here, the irrigation problem is solved once and for all.”
The envoys from various countries raised their heads. Suddenly, they discovered that there seemed to be a farmland in a low-lying land near the hills in the distance. But the strange thing was that the farmland was not like the farmland here. Nothing was planted there.
Crops, this made the envoys from various countries feel a bit strange.
Isn't that right? Mr. Lu asked Xing: "Mr. Zheng, are those fields over there also belonging to your office? Why don't you see any crops?"
Zheng Zhao raised his head and took a look, nodded and said, "Yes, those are also the fields requisitioned by our General Administration of Metallurgy and Manufacturing. The reason why we don't plant crops is because those fields are "salty soil"."
The so-called "salty soil" he refers to actually refers to "saline-alkali land". Because the soil contains too much salt and is not suitable for crop growth, it can be called the worst of bad fields.
But unfortunately, bad fields like this are not uncommon in various countries in the Central Plains. Some are naturally formed. Due to the relationship between topography and groundwater, salt accumulates in the soil in large quantities. Farmers who do not know the reason spend a lot of effort to cultivate the fields.
, but ended up with a field that could hardly grow crops; and some were artificially caused. Due to improper irrigation, the original high-quality fields gradually deteriorated into saline-alkali land.
"Is your office trying to find a way to cure this kind of salty soil?" Gao Xi, the high minister of Qi State, was moved in his heart and couldn't help but ask.
After hearing Gao Xi's words, the envoys from other countries also subconsciously turned their attention to Zheng Zhao.
Think about it, looking at all the countries in the Central Plains, which country does not have this kind of saline-alkali land that can only be seen? In fact, not only every country has it, but there are quite a lot of it.
If the Wei people had a way to cure this saline-alkali land and turn it into high-quality fertile land suitable for growing crops, it would really be a blessing to the world.
Under Gao Xi's inquiry, Zheng Zhao shook his head and explained: "Still researching... Two years ago, when officials from the Ministry of Industry of our country went to Sanchuan County to explore the soil quality, they found that "Sichuan" in the central part of Sanchuan County, and "Sichuan" in the west
There is a large amount of naturally formed salty soil in places such as "崤山" and "Hangu". In the area currently being explored, the amount of salty soil reaches hundreds of thousands of acres. Both the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of Industry hope that the General Administration of Metallurgical Engineering can find a way
Cure this salty soil."
"What effect has it achieved?" Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu of Chu State, couldn't help but ask.
You must know that the saline-alkali land in Chu State is far more than these hundreds of thousands of acres.
Speaking of which, although Chu State has a large land area, much of its land is undeveloped and inaccessible backcountry. Especially in western and central Chu, it is filled with a large number of dense primitive jungles and swamps. In fact, the huge Chu State has
There isn't much arable land.
To make matters worse, farmers in this era generally did not know how to "cultivate the land" and would often cultivate the same field for several consecutive years. After depleting the nutrients in the soil, they gave up the land and looked for good land suitable for planting;
At the same time, unscientific irrigation methods have caused the original fertile land to deteriorate into saline-alkali land.
This means that although the Chu State cultivates fields every year, the number of fertile fields has never increased much - of course, in fact, even if we look at the entire Central Plains, this is actually the case in most cases.
After listening to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's inquiry, Zheng Zhao glanced at Zhao Run's expression subconsciously, and then said vaguely: "Not yet, not yet, I don't have a clue."
"Honest man..."
Zhao Hongrun shook his head secretly.
In fact, Wei State has made considerable progress in eradicating saline-alkali land.
This was due to the fact that the Wei State had an outstanding monarch - although the officials of the Wei State were helpless about the saline-alkali land, Zhao Hongrun knew the origin of the deterioration of this kind of land and the corresponding methods to improve this inferior land.
For example, the "salt washing method" using running water.
But this secret is obviously not suitable to be revealed to envoys from various countries.
"Mr. Zheng, please take us to visit the experimental field in front of us." Zhao Hongrun calmly tried to change the subject.
Upon hearing this, the envoys from various countries knew even more clearly: Wei Guo must have figured out some way to cure the "salty soil", but he just didn't want to reveal it to them.
This made them itch with hatred, although they also understood that even if it were them, they would never tell the truth.
In view of Wei's monarch Zhao Run's "dishonesty", envoys from various countries could only collect any information about these experimental fields through their own eyes.
Not to mention, they did find some unusual things one after another.
For example, although it is still early March and there are still some days before spring planting, Wei's experimental fields have been plowed early to loosen the soil, and some things that look like plant ash and animal excrement have been mixed in, as if they are preparing for the coming future.
Prepare for sowing in spring.
In the small warehouses next to these experimental fields, envoys from various countries also found plows used for plowing the fields.
In this regard, Ji Shu, a veteran of the Lu State, carefully inspected this plow. He found that this plow was better than the ox plow currently used in the Central Plains countries and originated from his Lu State. It was obviously a craftsman from the Wei State.
Improvements were made on the basis of the ox plow of the Lu State.
Moving forward, everyone saw another workshop.
This workshop was built next to the canal, and there were several large waterwheels erected beside the canal. When he saw these waterwheels and workshops, Uncle Ji, a veteran of the State of Lu, had a word in his mind: hydraulic workshop.
After asking for Zhao Run's permission, Uncle Ji visited these workshops.
As he had guessed before, these workshops were all workshops that used water power and replaced manpower with machinery. Some were used to pound rice (husking rice), and some were used to grind flour. Looking at these unusually familiar hydraulic equipment,
Uncle Ji felt as if he had returned to the State of Lu again.
You must know that the Mohist disciples of Lu State are most keen on "contributing to the world". They often help the common people of Lu State in farming for free, and teach them how to use waterwheels and water power to irrigate, pound rice, grind flour, etc.
This resulted in the Lu State being filled with water-operated workshops, and the agricultural foundation of the entire country was quite solid.
Today's Wei State seems to be developing in the direction of Lu State-style agriculture, and has already achieved quite good results.
For example, those instruments that rely on water power. Although Uncle Ji was born in the Sanhuan nobility and had nothing to do with the Momen, as a veteran who has been responsible for the internal governance of Lu for decades, he naturally has a vicious vision.
He could tell at a glance that the hydraulic equipment of the Wei State was no less inferior to the hydraulic equipment of the Lu State.
This discovery made it difficult for him to calm down.
You must know that Lu State has been overtaken by Wei State in terms of forging technology.
The current situation is that the Wei State has the ability to imitate the weapons made by the Lu State, but the craftsmen of the Lu State are helpless because they do not know the specific design of the weapons made by the Wei State.
What surprised Uncle Ji was that it turned out that the Wei State was not only gradually catching up with the Lu State in forging war weapons, but also gradually catching up with the Lu State in terms of agricultural facilities.
"...It's not good."
Seeing Uncle Ji, an old minister of the Lu State, frowning but saying nothing, the envoys from various countries were not fools, so they couldn't help but murmur in their hearts.
Even Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu couldn't help but mutter to himself.
After all, Wei State is too powerful, and even Chu State, its current ally, will feel great pressure.
Especially people like Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu who knew the ambitions of Chu King Xiong Tuo and learned that Chu State would "work hard to rule for twenty years and then compete with Wei State for supremacy", which was their ultimate national strategy in the contemporary era.
At this time, Gao Xi, the high minister of Qi, Bao Yuan of South Korea, Gong Ziyu of Wei, etc. also didn't know what to say.
A Wei State that only has a strong military is not actually enough to scare the countries in the Central Plains. However, if it is a Wei State that not only has a strong military but also a strong national power, then it is enough to make them worried.
What's worse is that Wei's development speed in recent years has been too fast. It seems that this country will never go astray and has been developing in the right direction.
A powerful country that never makes mistakes is such a despairing thing.
In the next month, Zhao Hongrun took envoys from various countries to visit various cities in Liangjun from time to time, including Bolangsha River Port and Xiangfu Port, hitting the increasingly fragile hearts of the envoys from various countries again and again.
Even Gao Xi, a high minister from Qi, did not dare to say that Qi was richer than Wei at this time, because he found that Wei's ability to gather money was no weaker than Qi's, and in terms of overall national strength
It is said that Qi State is far behind Wei State.
In just over ten years, Wei State has grown from a second-rate country to the most powerful country in the Central Plains.
Looking at the inconspicuous leader of the Wei Kingdom in front of them, the envoys from various countries couldn't help but sigh for their loyal monarchs:
Being born in the same era as King Zhao Run of Wei is truly a great misfortune in this life!