Shen Bing's land enclosure plan was implemented after the Qin army changed their crossbows and conducted necessary training.
In fact, the Qin army did not need too much training to upgrade to new crossbows.
Crossbow soldiers are still crossbow soldiers, but instead of sitting on the ground and firing the crossbow, they now stand and fire the crossbow.
Archers are still archers, but the arrows have changed from bronze to iron with stronger penetrating power and lethality.
Everything else such as organization and tactics remains unchanged.
If there is any change, it is the addition of one three-bow bed crossbow for every 100 people.
The three-bow bed crossbow is an enhanced equipment and does not occupy the troop establishment.
This is partly because the three-bow bed crossbow does not require professionally trained soldiers to operate...soldiers are trained in combat, horseback riding, etc., but operating the bed crossbow actually only requires the strength to turn the winch.
It would obviously be a waste of force to let soldiers who can fight or even ride a horse operate it.
On the other hand, it is because each bed crossbow requires twenty people to control it.
Ten of them directly operate the crossbow: eight are responsible for turning the winch, two are responsible for installing the crossbow arrows, and the other ten are responsible for logistics and backup... Logistics refers to pushing the cart full of iron arrows, and backup is to make up for it in time in case of casualties. .
Twenty people control it, and if it occupies the original organization and equips one weapon for every hundred people, it will disrupt the original organization and tactics and possibly cause a series of chaos.
For example, in the original establishment, the village chief commanded fifty people, and the hundred generals commanded one hundred people.
Occupying the establishment will turn the original one hundred troops into eighty, and generals are accustomed to estimate the combat strength of the original one hundred when commanding operations.
The advantage of the additional establishment is that the original mechanism and combat power remain unchanged, so the combat methods and habits do not need to change. The three-bow bed crossbow is just extra combat power.
The manpower problem is not difficult to solve either.
Shen Bing's team of more than 10,000 people only needs to be equipped with a hundred bed crossbows, which means an additional 2,000 people are needed.
Some of these two thousand people are from craftsmen... Each bed crossbow must be assigned at least one craftsman. This craftsman is responsible for the use and command of the bed crossbow, and can also perform repairs when necessary.
Most of the crossbow operators were laborers transferred from the Central Plains.
The most indispensable thing for the Qin army was labor. Zhao, Wei, and Chu were destroyed, and even Yan was beaten to the north of Jicheng.
The Qin army was worried about directly using these surrendered troops, and more often than not they converted them into labor.
Shen Bing went to Yunzhong County to open up a new city to resist the Xiongnu. It was inevitable to build fortifications and walled cities, and it was not excessive to ask for thousands of laborers.
However, it is not known whether it was Li Si, Zhao Gao did it intentionally or sent it nearby. The 5,000 laborers Shen Bing received were all from Zhao.
As we all know, the State of Zhao resented the State of Qin very deeply, because its laborers were extremely difficult to control, and they either ran away or secretly sabotaged tools or even rebelled... Especially at this time, the State of Zhao was not technically destroyed, and the dynasty established by Zhao Wangjia The country was still there, so the Zhao people who rebelled were particularly fierce.
If these labors are only used for farming, building strongholds, and building roads, then it's nothing. If they are strictly guarded, the damage to tools will not be huge.
But it would be different if they were incorporated into the army to control the crossbow. If one of them rebelled during the battle, big problems would arise.
Shen Bing's solution to this problem was to let Wang Bai and Lei Hui do their ideological work.
Before that, Shen Bing brainwashed Wang Bai and Lei Hui:
"If we go to war in various countries in the Central Plains, Shen Bing will definitely not let laborers go into battle to kill the enemy."
"But this trip to Yunzhong County is to fight against the Xiongnu."
"Everyone knows the evil of the Xiongnu. If we lose Yunzhong County, we will let the Xiongnu go south into Yanmen and even Taiyuan, and those who will plunder will also be the original Zhao people."
"So I ask you two to communicate more with the laborers."
"In the face of great righteousness, we must put aside our hatred and fight against foreign enemies together."
"Shen Bing must trust the people of Qin, use them, and treat them with care!"
There is nothing wrong with this statement. In fact, it is a common trick used by modern countries: using external contradictions to deflect internal contradictions.
This trick works very well.
In particular, the Zhao people suffered terribly from the Huns for hundreds of years, and Wang Bai and Lei Hui were among them.
To the Zhao people, although the Qin army was hateful, they were still of the same race and origin, while the Xiongnu were barbarians and wild beasts... There was no way they should have helped the Xiongnu enter the pass and massacre the people of the Central Plains just because of their resentment towards the Qin army.
What's more, Shen Bing also promised to treat the former Zhao country's laborers with the same treatment as the Qin people, so there is nothing to say.
So Wang Bai and Lei Hui didn't hesitate at all, and immediately agreed:
"General, don't worry, we will restrain our labor and obey the general's orders!"
The two of them fulfilled their mission and gave a fierce speech in front of the slaves, temporarily letting go of their hatred towards the slaves.
Of course, this is only "temporary".
As the saying goes, "Three feet of ice does not freeze in a day." The hatred of Zhao and Qin has been accumulated for decades and passed through several generations until now. It cannot be let go just now.
The Qin people were also particularly wary of the Zhao people, and were particularly harsh on the Zhao people compared to the labor service of Wei, Yan, Han, Chu and other countries.
Thus a vicious cycle is formed.
But the most taboo thing about hatred is not letting go at first.
If there is a beginning and a group effect is formed, for example, the bed crossbow soldiers formed by the Zhao people obey the orders, and their bravery and skill in fighting are recognized by the Qin people, so they change their attitude towards them... and then enter a virtuous circle.
As time goes by, the hatred and other things in the past will naturally be forgotten. Sometimes when I look back, I feel that it was not a big deal.
They would even subjectively find excuses for the Qin army:
How can there be no undead people on the battlefield? The Qin army killed my family members, so why didn’t the Zhao army kill the Qin army’s family members?
Changping killed hundreds of thousands of Zhao troops?
If the Zhao people captured hundreds of thousands of Qin troops...they would be killed in a trap or in the same way based on the circumstances at that time!
So the hatred slowly dissolved.
Shen Bing's actions once again made Fusu admire him.
Because if Fusu is asked to do this, there is no doubt that he will respond with "benevolence", and then after a long period of influence, what will happen in the end...
This may be successful, but it will take a long time and pay a considerable price.
But Shen Bing just took advantage of the conflicts between the foreign tribes and used some kindness and power to do it easily in a short time.
The so-called kindness means treating people like Qin people.
The so-called prestige means that it is also bound by Qin law.
This may be said to be a Confucian thing, but in detail, no one in the Qin State at this time dared to treat the Zhao people the same way as the Qin people, especially by incorporating them into the army.
But at the same time, legalism is also used, such as using laws to restrict things.
Fusu was a little confused for a moment. Is it Legalism or Confucianism?
Or is it Shen Bing's own creation that draws on the strengths of each family?
But one thing that is certain is that Shen Bing's method is indeed effective.
Because the newly formed bed crossbowmen even worked harder than the Qin army.
The actual combat in the future once again proved that the Zhao people were indeed superior in military quality.