The army returned to Yuguan along the Western Liaoning Corridor. The coastal road in winter was still easy to walk. The Anping Army traveled at double speed and completed the entire journey in only six days.
A normal march of thirty miles a day is called Yishe, and this is what the idiom "retreat three homes" refers to.
This kind of marching speed can calmly finish the morning meal, break camp and set off, and set up camp to eat food in the evening. The soldiers still have some physical strength to deal with some emergencies.
After more than a year of fighting and training, the Anping Army has been equipped with a lot of pack horses and carriages. It has no problem moving at double speed on its own territory, but it cannot move so fast in enemy-occupied areas.
Fifty miles is the normal marching speed.
It will be easier to go after passing Yuguan. The roads connecting the five counties of Youzhou to various strategic places have been repaired.
The cement avenue is three feet and four feet wide, connecting Zhuoxian, Jixian, Luxian, Wuzhong, Tuyin, Haiyang, Linyu from Beixin City to Yuguan.
The road from Lu County to Yuyang County has been completed. The road from Tuyin to Lulongsai has only been built to Lingzhi County. Construction will continue after spring plowing next year. The road from Ji County to Juyongguan will also start construction at that time.
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The remaining branch paths will be constructed slowly.
This road took a year and a half to build, using a total of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The total journey was more than 900 miles, connecting the five counties together. The transportation of materials and the mobilization of troops became very fast, and the flow of commerce in each county
It has also become more frequent.
It is of great use to both the army and the people.
Worth celebrating.
What made him even more gratified was that through such a large project, the organizational capabilities of various townships and counties were exercised, mainly among the villagers, wanderers, and leaders of militia groups. Most of these people were illiterate, and they had to learn from actual things.
, they have grown from personal experience, and they are the main force for Liu Xiang to control the place.
The current answer sheet makes him very satisfied. The total population plus the ability to organize and mobilize is the real strength.
For example, your territory has a thousand people, but you can only mobilize ten people. My territory only has a hundred people, but I can mobilize twenty people, then I can defeat you. Generally speaking, I am not as strong as you, but
The power I show is stronger than yours.
This is the most essential function of government.
On this basis, due to different demands, various yamen were added to build the framework of the imperial court.
There were too few talents under Liu Xiang. He had to grasp the essence and make choices, so he made the tax simple and light so that the people could bear it and knew how much to pay, which saved a lot of coercion.
The manpower to collect money and suppress the people almost cut off half of the demand for officials.
Those who supervise and check and balance will naturally be reduced accordingly, especially the power of supervision. He established Tiqi and used pro-army forces to supervise the four parties. They rotated regularly and did not have permanent residents, which reduced the chance of collusion with local officials.
In the county, there are only the tax collectors, the thieves who manage public security, the warehouses who take care of supplies, the fire and plague prevention officials, the county officials or county magistrates who keep the population and material account books, and the county militiamen who keep statistics.
Wei, the magistrate in charge of the law, and the jailer who guards the prisoners.
Nothing else is needed.
Some counties don't even need county magistrates or county captains.
The Han Dynasty used counties to govern the world, or in other words, most feudal dynasties used counties as the basis for rule. The saying that imperial power did not extend to counties was widely held.
If Liu Xiang doesn't play this trick, he won't be able to play it either.
He established a militia group in the township. The existence of the militia group gave the township an independent force. They could independently resist bandits and ensure public security, and could even independently collect taxes to fight against the county. They had the power to refuse the additional assessments imposed by the county.
But they are very weak, and a team of Tiqi can handle it. There will be no such thing as a hundred miles of county town, closed doors and blocked windows, blocking information traffic.
Therefore, the county became the mouthpiece for the superiors and subordinates. Liu Xiang took a step forward and delegated power to the township unit, which brought the common people closer to him and gave corrupt officials less places to reach out.
power is more concentrated.
With the township as the basis and the county as the node, we should reduce taxes and improve people's livelihood, build regiments and train troops to serve the people.
Hold on to military power and follow the path of a military government.
In the future, when there are more talents, it will definitely be necessary to build a complete government department, but now it is the early stage of starting a business, so he can only simplify the complex and simplify it, and he will not give up the method of using the township as the basic administrative unit.
The mobilization ability of this kind of gameplay is really powerful. He dares to say now that if a foreign enemy invades, he can pull up an army of hundreds of thousands to defend his homeland in a short period of time.
These people are all soldiers who have undergone preliminary training, have a certain equipment foundation, and can fight and kill the enemy.
Shuttles equipped with spear throwers have become popular, several strategic locations have been equipped with weapons that have been eliminated by regular soldiers, and thousands of barbarian soft bows have been distributed, and more will continue to be added in the future.
Weapons workshops everywhere are continuously manufacturing weapons, and the equipment of the Anping Army is being updated. In addition to iron armor and high-quality bows and crossbows, the soldiers no longer lack combat tools, especially the ring-headed swords and spears and spurges are being phased out.
equipment.
The swords, spearheads, and blades made by the steel clamping method are much better than the original equipment. According to the judgment of the craftsmen, they are no less than the quality products that have been refined for thirty years. Liu Xiang wants to popularize them throughout the army.
At least in the five counties of Youzhou, he is not afraid of enemy invasion. The people of Youzhou are fierce and fierce, and there are some brave soldiers who are not afraid of death.
His power has been established.
The next step is to stock up on food and grass, select combat equipment, and wait for the opportunity.
Walking on the road paved with cement slabs, he felt filled with emotion and confidence.
The army marched all the way, and Liu Xiang left the team in Haiyang. He wanted to visit the blast furnaces in Hainan. Direct steelmaking has never been successful. It can only produce white iron, and it needs subsequent processing and carburizing to make steel. Although the output has increased a lot.
It's less, but it doesn't meet the requirements.
As soon as I arrived outside the city, I saw a waterwheel, turning slowly in a specially built waterway.
Liu Xiang was very interested and went over to take a closer look. The diameter of the water wheel was nearly one foot. There was no bucket. It was just a paddle-like thing installed on the outer ring of the wheel. Is this to expand the area and enhance the water power?
The engineer beside him explained: "The general ordered a trial production of water hammer, and this is the finished product."
"How's the effect?"
The engineer's face turned red.
Needless to say, it definitely didn't work.
Liu Xiang shook his head. There are always ups and downs in the development of new technologies. You must understand them.
Seeing him like this, the engineer's voice sounded like a mosquito, and he was ashamed: "I can spring rice."
It's still the same old problem, it's not strong enough to forge iron.
The solution he could think of was to increase the flow rate of the water and expand the size of the water wheel.
Building dams on rivers and raising water levels can naturally increase hydraulic power, but the productivity of the Han Dynasty was a big project, and there was no ship lock technology, which would affect navigation and cut off water transportation. Haiyang was not suitable for this kind of work.
“Can’t the size of the water wheel be increased any further?”
"I tried making a large water wheel, but it was too heavy, the wheel axle was easily damaged, and it couldn't even turn."
That's right, there was no bearing technology in the Han Dynasty. The water wheel became larger, heavier, and the friction doubled. It was not as simple as imagined.
The application of new technologies cannot be separated from the constraints of productivity, and mere imagination is not enough.
We have to find a place with abundant water power, convenient transportation, and that does not affect water transportation. At least we have something to test and a direction to solve.