Chapter 383: A new round of military competition (two in one)
Zhiyao now has a mentality of sitting back and watching other people's ups and downs. She doesn't want to make any unnecessary moves until she has to intervene.
How should I put it? The main reason is that Zhishi is not fat enough and has also started a very large project and another medium-sized project.
Which two projects? It is the one east of "Handan" connecting Onozawa and Dahe, and the next one is the construction of a bridge across the river.
Zhishi, who had launched those two projects, had better stop taking other actions to avoid all kinds of uncertainties caused by his actions.
To be honest, it is easy to start a war, but it is not up to one party to decide when to end the war.
When it comes to things that are most likely to cause uncontrollable accidents, war is definitely at the forefront.
Suddenly there was no need to plan for which target to attack, which actually made Zhiyao a little uncomfortable.
The current era is like that, and the busiest things are wars and sacrifices.
Zhishen is busy with the sacrifices related to the migration of the Zhi family's ancestral tombs.
Zhiyao has always been in charge of the war.
At present, Zhishi's goal is very clear. Unless something unexpected happens, there is no need to make any changes to the matters that have been carried out. How can Zhiyao be able to remain idle?
Zhiyao, who has been busy for ten or twenty years, especially in recent years, has suddenly become more leisurely, which to some extent means that his career is on the right track and all matters are progressing very smoothly.
After entering winter, Zhiyao returned to "Xintian" before the first snow began to fall.
"I heard that the Wei family wants to follow Zhao Jianzi's method." Zhishen brought a bomb to Zhiyao.
Zhao Jianzi was Zhao Yang. He did a lot of great things before he died, and after his death he left behind many plans that were planned but not implemented.
Zhiyao didn't understand for a moment and asked: "What did your Excellency mention?"
Zhishen said: "Divide the fields."
Well?
Isn't this the "law" that Zhiyao is practicing? How did it become Zhao Yang's?
Zhishen saw Zhiyao's doubts and said, "You can get fields without doing any work."
this……
Indeed, Zhao Yang made a proposal at the beginning and launched a discussion on the abolition of the "well field system", believing that ownerless land should be distributed to people without land.
Most people at that time thought that Zhao Yang was just trying to take the opportunity to expand the Zhao family's territory. Due to the strength of the Zhao family and Zhao Yang's strength, they adopted the attitude of "I heard it, but I didn't participate in the discussion."
Zhiyao was a little confused when she heard that the Wei family planned to "distribute wealth" and asked: "Can the new army be obtained, or both?"
Zhishen said with a puzzled look on his face: "Since we are a new army, if everyone can get it, how can the Wei family have so many acres of land?"
After reorganizing the information, Zhiyao understood a little bit.
After all, the Zhi family was not the first to train the new army, the Wei family was the first in Jin.
The Wei family was not only the first family in the Jin Dynasty to reform the army, but also the first family in the Xia Dynasty.
They abandoned chariots, specialized in pure infantry troops, and established a heavy infantry team.
If the Wei family wants to divide the land, it should follow the "Wei Wuzu" route, that is, conduct a selection and allocate land to the selected people. Then these selected people prepare their own armor and weapons. The land they are allocated is the early stage.
Employment fee, and rewards for meritorious service later.
While taking this route, Wei Ju directly set the number of "martial soldiers" at 150,000, and allocated eighty acres of land to each person.
These lands need to be reclaimed by "warriors" themselves, and most of them are concentrated within the Jin Kingdom.
"Isn't it? 'Wei Wuzu' showed up in advance." Zhiyao was really surprised.
The Wei family was building a new army, not a standing army like the Zhi family.
The equipment of the Zhi family's standing army is provided by the family. Unlike the Wei family's "martial soldiers" who need to prepare it themselves. At the same time, the food, drink and other things of the Zhi family's standing army are also provided by the family. The Wei family's "martial soldiers" also need to be prepared by themselves.
From this point of view, in addition to giving land to the "war soldiers", the Wei family also stipulated a three-month intensive training cycle every year. The rest is no different from the previous tax system.
Zhiyao thought to herself: "Historically, the land given to the 'war soldiers' by the Wei family seemed to be one hundred acres per person?"
The land given to "Wei Wuzu" by the Wei family can be regarded as a kind of "Yongye Field", that is, this land cannot be bought or sold, but only allows "Wei Wuzu" to have enough income to support the expenses when paying taxes.
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Zhiyao wanted to know more about Wei's new trends, so she decided not to ask Wei Ju directly, but could send people to spy.
A series of information came to Zhiyao again, and he discovered that the Wei family's selection criteria were very strict. To become a "Wei soldier", one must be over 1.75 meters tall and must be physically strong.
In addition to the rigid requirements for Wei's physical fitness, one of the selection criteria is that he can run thirty miles with a weight of fifty kilograms and then immediately go into battle.
Among them, what Zhiyao is more concerned about is that "Wei warriors" must not only be able to use long and short weapons, but the Wei family also requires to be armed with a bow worth more than two stones.
In other words, Wei wanted soldiers who could wear heavy armor, use long and short weapons, and master archery skills.
Such an army not only focuses on defense, but also takes into account running and long-range attack capabilities. Once it is trained, it will undoubtedly be a nightmare for all Wei's enemies!
"It seems..., I have to come up with a countermeasure!" Zhiyao knew that a new round of military competition had begun again.
The number of Zhi's standing army increased from 3,000 at the beginning to 5,000 at the end.
In fact, not just any family can afford to support 5,000 unemployed people, plus the need to provide military equipment and daily expenses, many countries may not be able to afford it.
The Zhi family's support of a standing army of five thousand is not considered to be the limit, but Zhi Yao believes that if the number increases further, it is really necessary to consider whether it can be afforded.
Since the number of the standing army cannot be increased and the Wei family has come up with new tricks, how should the Zhi family respond?
"Maybe my family can imitate a few things?" Zhi Xuwu said.
How to follow suit? Should we follow the example of the Wei family and conduct selection, set our own standards, and then allocate land?
In terms of heavy infantry, Zhi's conditions have more advantages than Wei's. The production speed and cost of armor stomach alone can completely crush Wei's.
After all, Zhiyao's construction of "Ye" city was not in vain. The equipment output in three days was equivalent to the Wei family's hard work in one month.
As for the quality of the equipment? Wei's adopted the leather armor route, which is different from Zhi's iron armor.
However, the above point will soon be proven wrong.
Zhiyao is relatively depressed.
Following the example of the Wei family in allocating land first, wouldn't it conflict with the reward for meritorious service? It would definitely dampen the enthusiasm for meritorious service within the Zhi family.
"What Wei did, is it a conscription system or a compulsory military system?" Zhiyao was really confused about this.
In the current era, various countries adopt a compulsory military system. That is, you serve the country for free... No, it is not free. The reason is that not everyone is qualified to become a soldier, and the taxes paid by officers or soldiers are offset by taxes.
If we had to have a name, the army in the Spring and Autumn Period should probably be called the "service system".
Not only the Zhi family will pay attention to the Wei family's actions this time, but other families will definitely also pay attention to it. What actions they will take depends on their own hard power.
For example, the Hu family wanted to imitate the Wei family. Firstly, they lacked a sufficient population, and secondly, they had a serious shortage of fiefdoms, making it impossible to imitate them.
This is also the reason why other families knew that the Zhi family had a standing army, but they did not follow suit. It was not that they did not want to imitate, but simply that their family's productivity could not support it at all.
To make a simple comparison, the Zhi family costs one to produce a set of armor stomachs. Even if other families can produce it, their cost is more than three. This is the cost problem caused by technology, not to mention that they are not as advanced as the Zhi family. smelting technology and related metal formulas.
The above points can be compared from the armor rate.
Before cloth armor was officially produced, Zhishi's armor wearing rate reached about 70%. Paper armor had the largest number of equipment, followed by iron armor. On the contrary, leather armor, wood armor, and rattan armor were almost invisible.
The Wei family, which is known for its pursuit of defensive power, actually only wears 30% of their armor. The elite wear mainly leather armor, and the rest use wood, rattan, and bamboo armor.
The Wei family only has 30% of them, and the rest such as the Han family, the Zhong family, and the Hu You family are even less.
The same is true for other countries. The armor wearing rate is not too high, and the armor-wearing soldiers are not concentrated, but are scattered among various families to serve as their absolute elite.
Under such circumstances, the Zhi family became the family least afraid of being covered by arrows.
The creation of weapons and equipment is only one of them. The other families are not as wealthy as the Zhi family, which means they are simply unable to raise a standing army.
During a banquet, Zhiyao heard Wei Ju say some incomprehensible words to her. It was probably because they had made a breakthrough in the research on iron armor, and she hoped Zhishi would not misunderstand it.
armor?
If history had not been changed by Zhiyao, the Three Jin Dynasties were indeed the first to use iron tools in large quantities in the Central Plains, and the iron tools of Zhao State were of the best quality.
Zhiyao felt that it was because of other reasons. The old Zhi family could not stop other families from researching iron tools, nor could they stop them from using iron to build armored stomachs.
Of course, other families can research and manufacture, but once they want to grab market share, it is another matter.
When it comes to competition, don't expect that there will be any fair competition environment now, let alone a third party to restrict the competition method within any framework. The applicable rules are that of the weak and the strong.
Wei Ju saw that Zhiyao had come to his senses and invited him to go outdoors.
There is a row of soldiers of the Wei family waiting outside. They are wearing breastplate-style armor and stomach. How is it different from the Zhi family? It seems to have more ripples?
There are corrugations on the iron, which are actually left during forging. If the technology is not up to standard, it is not only a problem of brittleness, but also the dents will become "thousand-layer cakes".
Zhiyao glanced at the breastplates worn by the Wei soldiers for a few times, turned to look at Wei Ju with a half-smile, and said, "It's even!"
Previously, Wei's initiative to give up control of the market meant that Zhi's could enter the market if it wanted to sell military equipment.
Now, the Wei family has imitated the Zhi family's plate armor. On the premise that it is not put into the market, the Zhi family is just returning the favor given by the Wei family. If it is not an equal, it is nothing.
In other words, Zhiyao represents the Zhi family and does not pursue the Wei family's armor stomach for copying the plate armor style.
Wei Shi had thought of this beforehand, otherwise how could Wei Ju tell him frankly?
What Wei Ju wants is for Zhiyao to comment from a professional perspective.
What should I say?
The breastplate made by Wei is about five millimeters thick. The exposed surface is polished very smooth. The inner lining is insulated with leather like Zhi's. However, it seems that the mystery of the "hollow" has not been discovered. It is tied tightly. It is tight and sticks to the torso.
I thought it looked like breast armor or plate armor. It looks a bit round because the person wearing the armor has a beer belly or is fat? No.
Let's put it this way, Zhuxia style armor is generally fit..., that is, it sticks closely to the body; the chest armor or plate armor looks swollen, and besides being difficult to fit, some "hollow" positions are deliberately designed that way of.
For example, armor is like a bulletproof vest. Even if the armor is not damaged by an external force, the affected part will actually be affected by the force and cause a hit; there are "hollow" breastplates or plate armors. They are like people hiding in tanks. If the armor is not destroyed, the hit point will not have any impact.
Regarding the need for a "hollow" design, Zhiyao would not inform Wei.
Zhiyao wanted to know the quality of Wei's breastplate, so she said, "Is it difficult to check in detail with the naked eye?"
He didn't believe that Wei didn't test it with Zhi's breastplate and Wei's own breastplate. There would definitely be various attempts to attack it.
When Wei Ju learned that Zhiyao was going to try it, he asked several soldiers to take off their armor and stomach in a relatively excited mood.
Next came various tests, including stabbing, chopping, and hammering.
Yu Rang's first hammer blow directly deformed the breastplate, and it continued to do so several times, making it impossible to even test the metal's hardness.
It's not a metal hammer, it's just a wooden mallet.
Too professional a verification method? Zhiyao wouldn’t use it anyway.
The truth is, the Zhi family is the only one who masters professional verification methods, and the other families do not have very scientific methods at all.
If Zhiyao were to use it, wouldn't he be teaching the Wei family?
Going to cut off the breastplate? In fact, even if the armor surface is not smooth, unless the thickness is too low, the defense will basically not be broken by cutting.
Yurang used Zhishi's spear to stab him, but several times the tip of the spear slid away when it touched the armor. One of them, whether due to luck or some other circumstance, it was pierced.
At that time, Zhiyao looked a little funny, obviously she had expected that that would happen.
After all, since Wei Shi imitated it, he must have figured out what the function of polishing is.
Moreover, the breastplates that Wei Ju took out to test, they really looked smoother.
"After being stabbed many times, there will definitely be dents." Zhiyao thought to herself.
From the looks of it, Wei's breastplate is a bit "soft" and will dent when repeatedly poked.
Once there is an indentation, it means that the stress point becomes larger, the hardness of the weapon is sufficient, plus the basic strength and the added force brought by the impact, it is normal to pierce it.
Zhiyao knew one thing. The hanging test was in a static state, which was different from the movement and avoidance of soldiers wearing clothes. The test was useful, but it really couldn't be regarded as an inevitable result.
It seems that Wei Ju is not too surprised. Apparently Wei's situation has already happened during the experiment?
The rest of the family could see that they were thinking while watching.
Zhiyao thought to himself: "Even if plate armor has been developed to its extreme, and there have been frequent exchanges between the East and the West, Zhu Xia still does not use plate armor. It is not that the technology is not up to standard and it cannot be made, it is purely the military pursuit of the East and West.
It’s different. Once most families in the Jin Dynasty develop breastplates, will it have an impact on the evolution history of Zhu Xiajia’s stomach?”