Cao Qian has been very busy recently. Not long ago, he finally met his cousin-in-law Li Zhaoshu through the introduction of his cousin.
However, things did not go very smoothly.
The relationship between Li Zhaoshu and Zu Shiheng was far from being as good as he imagined. The two were not only relatives, but also in-laws.
The relationship between the two can be described as a close relationship.
But since Zu Shiheng switched to Ding Wei's sect, the relationship between the two has taken a turn for the worse. Nowadays, apart from superficial courtesy, they no longer have any contact with each other.
Without Li Zhaoshu's introduction, Cao Qian's plan to get acquainted with Zu Shiheng would have had a few twists and turns.
The three envoys were known as the "Ji Xiang" and were in charge of the financial power of the imperial court. Even though Zu Shiheng was appointed in critical situation, his dispatches were real.
Since Zu Shiheng took over as the Third Chief Envoy, in just one day, the place has gone from a crowded place to a busy place.
The world is so hot and cold, nothing better than this.
Especially since Zu Shiheng is now supervising the tea law, it is easier. Who among the tea merchants in the capital wouldn’t want to visit Zu Shiheng in person?
Those who can't go are not because they don't want to go, but because they are not qualified enough to visit in person.
Before the matter of getting to know Zu Shiheng was settled, the officials gave the Cao family another task.
Although the former was not personally explained by the official, it was just a personal action of the Cao family, but the Cao family could not slack off on this matter.
What is a good subordinate?
Subordinates who give full play to their subjective initiative are good subordinates.
If the superior has to whip him from behind, the leader will probably not like such a subordinate.
Although there is no word "subjective initiative" at this time, the principle is universal.
Making connections in advance has only advantages and no disadvantages.
The Cao family has now completely surrendered to the official family. With the official family's support behind them, they are not too afraid of external messages.
What’s wrong with making friends with civil servants?
With the secret support of the official family, no one can slander the Cao family.
At most, it is a loss of reputation. Compared with the official favor, this small price is completely worth it.
The next day.
The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang Dynasty system, and officials took one day off every ten days, that is, one day off every ten days, that is, one day off on the 10th, 20th, and the end of each month.
This day happens to be a holiday.
In the morning, Cao Qian arrived at Li Zhaoshu's residence in a carriage. He made an appointment to meet Li Zhaoshu today.
Although it is impossible to get to know Zu Shiheng through Li Zhaoshu, it is indeed right to hang out with Li Zhaoshu more.
After all, the Li family is the family of the prime minister. Li Fang successively served as an official in the Jin Dynasty, the later Han Dynasty, several dynasties in the later Zhou Dynasty, and became the prime minister after entering the Song Dynasty.
All four of his sons became officials, among whom Li Zong'e was the most outstanding. He was educated to the point of making a imperial edict, and became a Hanlin scholar.
If Li Zong'e had not died young, with his talent and family background, he would have probably been able to become a general.
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Funing Hall.
Just when Cao Qian was visiting Li Zhaoshu, Li Jie received good news.
The research at the Institute has finally produced some staged results.
The scaled-down version of the Divine Arm Crossbow has been successfully developed!
In the battles with Xixia and Liao, the Song Dynasty lost more and won less, especially in field battles, and the results were even more disastrous.
The biggest reason is that his riding and shooting ability is too poor.
In short, not only was their mobility poor, but even though the Northern Song Dynasty had no shortage of war horses, with the same equipment, the riding and shooting abilities of the Northern Song soldiers were still outperformed by the nomads.
Riding and shooting, riding and shooting, riding is just the most basic ability, shooting is the key point.
In this regard, nomads are naturally at an advantage.
After all, people make a living on horseback, and in terms of riding skills, soldiers who come from a farming civilization can't keep up with them when it comes to horseback riding.
Of course, there are exceptions for those with outstanding talents, but those with outstanding talents are in the minority.
It takes too long to train an archer who is skilled in bow and horse. Although crossbows are not very suitable for mobile warfare, with crossbows, at least they have the capital to fight nomads in the wild.
Crossbow, also known as "nest bow" and "crossbow", is a bow equipped with an arm, which is mainly composed of a crossbow arm, a crossbow bow, a bowstring and a crossbow machine.
The bow relies on the arm to pull the bow string, and then masters the accuracy with rich experience.
This is not the case with crossbows. After loading the crossbow arrows, you do not need to draw the bow and aim in the direction at the same time. You only need to aim and then pull the trigger.
Compared with bows, crossbows are much less difficult to operate.
The crossbow presented by Zaozuo is a scaled down or castrated version developed based on the Divine Arm Crossbow.
The true God's Arm Crossbow has a bow length of three feet three feet and a string length of two feet five feet, although its maximum range is as high as more than three hundred steps.
However, such a huge size also greatly reduces the use scenarios of the God Arm Crossbow.
The original version of the divine arm crossbow needs to be made of mulberry as the body, sandalwood as the crossbow, iron as the barrel, steel as the machine, hemp rope as the tie, and silk as the string.
The staggering size and power also make loading inconvenient. Once the crossbow is fired and reloaded, a strong man must step on the crossbow with his feet and cock it immediately.
It is impossible for such a big guy to be used in cavalry battles.
Li Jie explained that the size of the crossbow produced by the manufacturer was far less exaggerated than the divine arm crossbow, but an arm-opening crossbow specially designed for mounted combat.
The so-called arm-loading crossbow refers to a crossbow that is stringed only with the arm. This type of crossbow is not as powerful as the large crossbows used for infantry combat.
But compared with the riding bow, it is not much weaker.
Because of the movement, the upper soldier on horseback cannot draw the bow at full strength.
In addition, the shooting method of arm-loaded crossbows is different from that of cavalry bows. When cavalry use bows and arrows, they usually shoot arrows while riding horses.
However, the arm-loaded crossbow uses static shooting.
That means using the mobility of the cavalry to quickly reach the predetermined position, then stop and shoot, or you can dismount and aim and shoot.
The reason why static shooting is used is also related to the difference between bows and crossbows. Bows and arrows can be thrown, but crossbows cannot and can only shoot flatly.
The crossbow can be fired against the shoulder like a musket. According to the three-point-one-line principle, the accuracy of static shooting is much higher than that of dynamic shooting.
In addition, if the mechanism of the crossbow is sophisticated enough, the range of the arm-loaded crossbow will not be much inferior to that of the mounted bow.
With the sample in hand, Li Jie just played with it for a while and put the arm-opening crossbow on the shelf in the inner hall without testing it.
He made the design himself, and the drawings were given to him. He knew the power of the mini version of the God Arm Crossbow without having to test it.
Moreover, the uterus is not suitable for test firing.
On the other side, Zhang Mao saw that the official just played with it for a while and then put down the crossbow, and doubts suddenly arose in his heart.
Are the officials dissatisfied?
Otherwise, why would the officials put it down after looking at it a few more times?
Just as Zhang Maoze was trying to figure out what he wanted to do, Li Jie's voice rang in his ears.
"Counting the time, General Cao should return to the court soon."
"Mao Ze, when General Cao returns to the capital, you send this crossbow to Cao's mansion. It will be regarded as a gift for General Cao's return to the capital."