Later generations often said that the Qin army was a tiger and wolf army, and they had to prepare their own dry food and weapons and equipment when going to the battlefield.
This is both true and false.
The "Heifu Family Letter" dug out from the tomb many years later wrote: "Mom, you are going to send me money, and some summer clothes by the way. If the silk cloth in Anlu, your hometown, is cheap, you can make it there.
Send me good clothes. If the cloth is expensive, just send the money and I will buy the cloth myself to make the clothes."
And his brother Jing wrote in another letter: "Mom, please send me money and clothes quickly. It's best to send me five or six hundred yuan. The cloth should not be less than two feet and five feet. I borrowed it."
Yuan Bai’s money has been spent. If he doesn’t send any more money, he will die. Hurry, hurry!”
It can be seen that the Qin army needs to bring its own clothes and shoes when going to the battlefield, but it does not need to bring its own weapons and armor, or even cannot bring its own.
Because as a battlefield killing weapon, the quality and specifications of the weapon are very important.
The Qin Army's weapon casting process adheres to the principle of standardization, and both sizes and shapes are almost the same.
"Qin Lv·Gong Lv" stipulates: "If the utensils are the same thing, their size, shortness, length, and width must also be equal."
Later generations magnified the three sides of the arrowheads unearthed from the Qin Terracotta Warriors pit 20 times and found that the error of the three sides of the same arrowhead was less than 0.15 mm, and the error of different arrowheads was less than 0.2mm. Such accuracy standards were very scary in that era.
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Every battlefield weapon is cast according to the process of "Wu Le Work Name". The inscriptions engraved on the weapon are accurate to every craftsman and every level of manager who cast it. If there is a problem with the quality of the weapon, it will take a long time.
Accountability is held layer by layer.
Not to mention that in addition to swords, there are also a large number of swords, beryllium, spears, and even the most high-end crossbows used on the battlefield. These are things that the people cannot forge and the Qin government will never allow them to circulate.
So Zhao Tuo only needed to buy enough clothes, shoes and some dry food in the market. He didn't need to worry about weapons and armor.
Zhao Tuo asked someone on the road for the way to the market, but he didn't know whether it was because the road in Xianyang was too wide, or because he was thinking about future plans in his head and didn't pay attention for a while, so he went astray.
By the time Zhao Tuo reacted, he had already entered an alley.
The alley is not big, with small doors opening on both sides. From time to time, men will enter with mysterious smiles.
At the entrance where no men were entering or exiting, stood a beautiful woman.
They are of different ages and fat or thin, but without exception they are all dressed up in gorgeous clothes.
Seeing Zhao Tuo walking into the alley, all eyes fell on his handsome face.
To be precise, it was the bulging baggage on his body.
"Gentleman, come to me."
"Young gentleman, let me come."
…
A series of tender calls sounded in Zhao Tuo's ears, and at the same time, a woman was impatient, stepped out of the door, and reached out to grab Zhao Tuo's arm.
Even though Zhao Tuo was a man of two generations, he was suddenly frightened by this scene and his face turned pale.
Without hesitation, Zhao Tuo avoided the waving white arms, turned around, and ran away.
There were sighs left in the alley.
Only when he got out of the alley did Zhao Tuo realize that he had just entered the female house by mistake.
He touched the bag full of coins on his body and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was nothing wrong.
"It's scary."
This time he was summoned by the King of Qin to Xianyang, and he brought the bounty he had received earlier with him, hoping to buy something along the way.
After all, Qin's laws were strict and ordinary people could only move around in the countryside and were not allowed to move around at will.
If you want to go shopping in the city to buy things, you have to report to Lidian. The farther you go, the higher-ranking officials you have to ask for approval. After getting approval, you will be issued the corresponding talisman before you can go out.
If Zhao Tuo doesn't take the opportunity to buy enough items when he comes to Xianyang, he will not be able to find a place to buy them even if he has money in the future.
He soon arrived at the busiest market in Xianyang.
Different from the commercial street hawking in later generations, Qin's markets had specially planned places.
In addition to the gate, the market is surrounded by a city wall, which is enclosed and has dedicated management officials.
Xianyang, where the imperial capital is located, has a very large market.
After walking past the market pavilion with officials standing guard and entering the market gate, Zhao Tuo's eyes suddenly lit up.
Stalls display various items for sale, from simple pottery bowls and pottery beans to various lacquerware with beautiful patterns. Then there are food tables, wooden tables, couches and other furniture used at home, as well as agricultural products.
Indispensable are plow, lei, 蜜, jué, chā, etc.
It is worth mentioning that these agricultural tools sold are basically made of iron.
Of course, in this huge market, the clothes and shoes that Zhao Tuo wanted to buy were indispensable.
Zhao Tuo shuttled among the bustling crowds and quickly found several stalls selling clothes.
"Gentleman, come and have a look at my place. The clothes I have here are the best."
"Gentleman, don't listen to his nonsense. My clothes are the best. Look at this cloth. It won't hurt you when you wear it."
"Gentleman, look at me, I'm such a bastard. This is made by my little jun, and it's absolutely comfortable to wear."
…
The merchants each showed their strengths and wanted to make Zhao Tuo's business.
Zhao Tuo looked at each stall and finally shook his head and left.
It's not that he is afraid of being ripped off by these traders.
"Qin Lu·Jin Bu Lu" stipulates that if something is sold in the market, as long as it is worth more than one yuan, the price must be marked on the item with a wooden tag. Similar to the price tags of later generations, the price is clearly marked, so no one can be deceived.
And the price is not randomly marked. It will not be marked with three or four digits like in later generations, often 998, 1888, and then all kinds of big sales and clearances. The discount was as fierce as a tiger, and in the end I spent 95.
The market has specially managed officials. If someone is found to be driving up prices and causing market turmoil, they will be arrested on the spot.
The main reason why Zhao Tuo didn't buy from these stalls was that these stalls were all private furnishings, and the quality of the things they sold varied, and they were not very good. He wanted to buy more expensive clothes with better thermal insulation effect.
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Zhao Tuo is very rich!
How rich?
It can be said that among the common people, Zhao Tuo is now at the level of a rich man.
He had previously accused a traitor and performed meritorious service. In addition to being awarded a third-level knighthood, he was also given a large amount of money as a reward.
Gold, ten yi.
What is this concept?
There are three levels of currency recognized by the Qin State.
Gold is the top currency and is named after yi.
Cloth is the medium currency. A piece of cloth eight feet long, two feet and five inches wide can be converted into 11 qian.
Copper coins are lower coins, and the text is called half a tael.
How to convert gold and copper coins?
One tael of gold can be converted into 576 copper coins.
One yi is equal to 24 taels.
So one yi gold is 13824 coins.
The ten pieces of gold in Zhao Tuo's hand are converted into 138,240 yuan!
This number can be converted into hundreds of sets of armor.
If it were replaced by food...
Ten yi of gold is not much.
According to "Historical Records: Biographies of Assassins", the King of Qin "gave Xia Wuji two hundred yi of gold and said: Wuji loves me."
For the ratio of gold to copper coins, please refer to "A Brief Study of the Currency Thoughts of the Qin Dynasty"
There are many ways to convert one yi into 20 taels, 24 taels, etc.
Referring to "On the Evolution of the Gold Balance System in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties", it was determined to be 24 taels.
The reason is that the custom-made Shang Yang was from the state of Wei, and the system of Wei was 24 taels, which is consistent with the 24-base system of Qin's baht taels.
The biggest reason is Qin Huang's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Shui De belongs to 6, and 24 taels are multiples of 6.