Chapter 996: The Old Routine of Predecessors

Although Fei Qian said that he would prepare to 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, King Hai, the sixth grandson of Qi, gradually strengthened the power of Shang through commercial trade. At the end of the Xia Dynasty, the power of Shang developed from the lower reaches of the Yellow River to the middle reaches and penetrated into the Xia's ruling areas. The tenth son of Qi The fourth generation grandson, Tang, after destroying Xia, used "Shang" as the name of his country 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. It serves as a symbol of trade and is 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, and 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, traced back to their source, many of them were obtained from businessmen. of.

Starting from the Pre-Qin Dynasty, all 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 needed 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 purview, and these books are basically expensive.

The nobles in the Han Dynasty also had star-chasers, but these people were chasing celebrities. These nobles were very happy about the remarks and books of celebrities, and 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 couldn't hold his head up in front of the noble children, so the sales of these books have always been good. If it weren't for controlling the scarcity of the market, Fei Qian would sometimes want to sell more books of this type.

Another thing that gradually occupied a place in Pingyang was iron tools, including various simple weapons. Because of the advanced hydraulic forging machine in Pingyang workshop, the cost of high-quality steel produced at 20 or 30 refines has been reduced a lot, so it can meet certain demands in terms of quantity and quality.

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 is impossible for Fei Qian to teach large-scale equipment, such as trebuchets, ballistas, etc., while small daily necessities will starve the master to death after teaching the apprentice.

These things, processes, and skills, once a school is 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 Cut off the livelihood of craftsmen who originally relied on these.

It's not that craftsmen schools can't be established, but when Fei Qian can't guarantee nationwide control, Fei Qian can't eliminate the side effects of these things, and rash actions will cause many unpredictable adverse consequences.

Many things are just like the current craftsman system. Although it is unreasonable, the time traveler cannot change it however he wants. The consequences of taking it for granted are generally very bad. After all, the current craftsman system has been accumulated over hundreds of years. And how can we change what we have formed?

Fei Qian feels that the current craftsman apprenticeship teaching system in the Han Dynasty, coupled with the interests related to family blood and so on, is already a relatively complete structure. After all, the common people in the Han Dynasty did not have a high level of knowledge. 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 you rashly take it out and teach it widely, wouldn’t you also be sorry for those ancestors who have been thinking 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, Feiqian improved the treatment of craftsmen and proposed many reward standards to encourage craftsmen to make innovative inventions.

Anyway, in the face of extremely attractive material incentives, these craftsmen will naturally voluntarily drive the 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, so there were some opinions. Then the craftsman improved the process and adopted the method of half-clad steel, which is at the cutting edge. Use better materials, and most of the rest is 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 I purchased a lot again...

Even Cao Cao from Yanzhou sent people to visit him. On the one hand, he talked about the old debt he had promised to give him, 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 had almost completely forgotten about it. Now that someone came to his door, he barely scraped together some gun heads and arrows of similar quality to Yuan Shao's. The arrow was sent over. As for the war horse, don't even think about it. It still won't be given. After all, the war horse is a strategic weapon.

Fei Qian was in the side hall looking at 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 had any objections to Huang Cheng, but the questions given in the martial arts hall were to allow these generals to broaden their minds and gain more experience on the battlefield. Naturally, it was impossible to let Huang Cheng go. Because if the standards for Huang Cheng are relaxed, it will actually harm 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 it, then half would be more reasonable, which means that there should be about 5,000 people, and now under Huang Cheng’s name, as Fei Qian’s The number of guards in the camp was 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, but 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 enhance 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 handful of people. It does not mean that one hundred thousand versus one hundred thousand people will have a sufficiently broad battlefield to allow everyone to fight one-on-one. .

Sometimes having too many pig teammates is not a good thing. Before the battle, the pig teammate will shout loudly, "Up, up, up, up, I will support you." Then when the battle begins, when you look back, you can only see the pig teammate's swaying buttocks shaking...

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 half shorter forever. 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's not that Huang Cheng has any disobedient thoughts towards Fei Qian, but that in this era, most people don't quite understand the concept of the so-called 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, but the food and grass go first. On weekdays, the daily supply of regular soldiers is six liters of rice. In wartime, this is doubled. If necessary, a certain amount of blood food must be provided. Even if it is calculated based on the daily supply of six liters, Uncle Ye, you have two thousand regular soldiers, which is enough for one month. It costs three thousand six hundred stones..."

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, a daily supply of two or three liters, let alone six liters, was already very impressive.

Therefore, under such conditions, the physical strength and combat effectiveness of the soldiers can be roughly inferred. It is precisely because of this that there are battles of tens of thousands, or even battles of hundreds of thousands. , 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 declining.

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, their strength cannot keep up, and their training has 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, "The veterans suffered high battle losses, lacked training, and the recruits were not strong enough. They were lost again on the battlefield, and then the next wave of worse soldiers entered the battlefield... At that time, the competition will be over. It’s not about the combat power of the soldiers, but about the population reserves…and once the population reserves are 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 such an 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...