Later Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty defined the elite as: strong armor, strong soldiers and sharp ears. This is an unchanging law. No matter how well trained the peasant rebels are with only kitchen knives and sticks, they cannot be an opponent of the well-trained and armed regular army.
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Qingzhou's elite soldiers are certainly due to their good training, but more importantly, Wang Yu's large investment in armaments.
In a series of battles in Luoyang, Wang Yu was always in a state of surplus.
When I first came to Guizhou, my father Wang Kuang collected a large amount of money and food in Hanoi. Not only was it enough for myself, but I could also spread it to make friends. This is how Gongsun Zan became a powerful ally.
Later in Luoyang, I made another fortune from the Ling Emperor's treasury. Not counting the set of horse-cutting swords and fish-scale armor from the Deefeng Camp, the harvest was also extraordinary. Nowadays, any officer above the rank of captain in Qingzhou, as long as the archery skills are in
Almost everyone above the level has a treasure bow, and their long and short weapons are also of extraordinary quality.
When they arrived in Nanyang, Yuan Shu provided logistical support; when Yuan Shu was about to make a small move, Wang Yu used various methods of blackmail to squeeze some money from Dong Zhuo and Liu Biao.
When it came time to return to Mount Tai, Wang Yu truly returned home in fine clothes, with money, food, armor, and treasures. Until the next spring, after conquering the Yellow Turbans and starting farming, there was still a large surplus.
But by the end of the Hebei War, not only had all the original surplus been lost, but the fortunes of the Taishan Wang family and Hu's mother's family, who were related by Wang Yu, had also been completely destroyed by Wang Yu. If he hadn't overdrawn the taxes for the next few years, he would have paid the Mi family
With a large amount of debt, it is hard to say whether Qingzhou will go bankrupt before victory.
The reason for this is because of Wang Yu's policy of elite troops.
Wang Yu did not plan to use gunpowder in large quantities, nor did he plan to build a steam engine. Therefore, Qingzhou's equipment technology was not ahead of this era.
However, whether the equipment is advanced or not is not the only basis for the quality of the equipment. Precision craftsmanship is the basis. Naturally, sufficient materials must be used, and when it is built, it must be hammered for thousands of times, rather than softened by fire and then smashed with a few hammers to take shape.
The cost of fine workmanship, materials, and labor is naturally very high. Later, Wang Yu came up with paper armor. The material cost of this kind of equipment was relatively low. But the labor cost was also high, and it was consumed quickly. After a big battle,
At least half of the paper armor will have to be scrapped.
Finally, put it all together, it is understandable that the Qingzhou Army cannot make ends meet.
Of course, the harvest is not without success. The expanded territory and population are the most valuable assets. However, it takes time to digest these spoils, a lot of time, and the way of digestion also has an impact.
Wang Yu's original plan was to achieve success in one step, so he proposed many ideas and presented them to his staff. However, he now found that haste makes waste, and his expectations for his staff were too high.
After all, some ideas are timeless. Ideas can be implemented in one step, but without the precipitation of time, the processes in between cannot be transcended at once.
"To sum up, the current problems mainly lie in three aspects: First, industrial production. The biggest problem is the lack of talents. There are no knowledgeable people at the top. People who are good at organizing are in charge of the overall situation, and there is also a shortage of craftsmen at the grassroots level..."
Tian Feng nodded in agreement: "My lord is wise."
"It should be easier for the person in charge of the overall situation to solve the problem. The lack of craftsmen is a bit troublesome." Wang Yu frowned.
Tian Feng raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile: "My lord, is it possible that there are masters of this art on your list?"
When this topic was mentioned, everyone became interested. They temporarily forgot all their worries and looked at Wang Yu to listen to his answer.
"You can say that." Wang Yu nodded noncommittally. Yes, of course there is. Isn't Huang Yueying a master in this way? The question is whether he can come. Even if he comes, he is too young.
These are of no use at all.
"Send someone to send a letter to Yuan Zhi later, asking him to try to contact the capital. Wu Xun, the master craftsman who will be the master, has a relationship with a certain person. Ask him to recommend a few people, or simply come to help himself. Won't the candidate to take charge of the overall situation be solved?"
Wang Yu clapped his hands and said relaxedly.
"Uh... That's fine." Tian Feng hesitated slightly. Xu Shu's burden was already very heavy. If he added it, he might be tired. However, when he thought of the industrial processes and manufacturing standards that Wang Yu mentioned,
, Tian Feng decided that it is better to be a poor Taoist but not a Taoist friend. It is really best to find a professional to bear this kind of burden.
"As for the lack of craftsmen, there is no other way but to increase efforts in recruiting. Qingzhou and Jizhou have been fighting for so long, so many people should have fled. When the news of the great victory spreads, some people should return one after another.
Come back. In addition, Xuzhou and even the Central Plains area are also undergoing fierce battles, so there should be opportunities to absorb them."
While Wang Yu was thinking about it, he said: "However, these methods are relatively passive. It is not enough to just rely on this. You must take the initiative to find ways. The general idea is to recruit apprentices widely to join the workshop, and within the workshop
Divide levels, improve remuneration, and encourage apprentices to study diligently; on the other hand, in addition to Taishan Academy, open a technical branch to specialize in learning and furthering various crafts and technologies."
"..." There was silence, and everyone was stunned by Wang Yu's whimsical idea.
Open an academy to teach skills? What to teach? How to teach? The biggest shortage in Qingzhou right now is blacksmiths. To make weapons, armor, and farm tools, we all need blacksmiths. How about setting up an academy to teach blacksmiths? Will there be clanging and swinging of hammers in the classroom?
"Where are you thinking?" Looking at everyone's expressions, Wang Yu knew what these people were thinking: "Forging is a practice and can be taught in the workshop. What is taught in the academy is theory, such as how to make
Invent better machinery, make full use of the waterwheel, how to increase the temperature of the furnace fire, improve the efficiency of smelting, etc."
Wang Yu does not intend to create anything that is too far ahead of the times, but he might as well popularize basic physics knowledge. Perhaps it should not be said to be popularized, but generalized.
The technological level of the Han Dynasty was no lower than that of the Tang Dynasty. Starting from the Han Dynasty, the history of China has been progressing in waves. After the Five Husties, the culture and technology of the Central Plains declined significantly.
I picked up some.
Although there were wars afterwards, foreigners were not able to enter the Central Plains. Therefore, China's culture and technology reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. Merchant ships in the Tang and Song Dynasties were able to travel to the South China Sea and go as far as Persia, which was similar to the navigation technology of Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty when he sailed to the West.
Not much different. The Han Dynasty's Dahuang Crossbow and the Song Dynasty's Divine Arm Bow are not much different in performance, and the same is true for the Horse-Zhanning Sword and Mo Dao.
Compared with later generations, the only thing that remained unchanged in the Han Dynasty was the contempt for craftsmen and the cherishment among craftsmen of each other.
Wang Yu planned to attract famous craftsmen hidden among the people in the name of writing books, and also attract those master craftsmen who had already been recruited to contribute their treasured technologies. Then, he would use teaching methods to mix in a set of basic physical theories. , thoroughly promoted.
Of course, to achieve this, patent law is necessary. The promotion of this bill requires Tian Feng to spend some time on review and distribution.
For this great idea, Wang Yu felt very good about himself, but his staff were not enthusiastic. From a common point of view, a famous craftsman is someone like Mo Xie, who can collect a few treasures to satisfy the collection of monarchs. But it doesn't help much in the big picture.
Unless it is Lu Ban, an unparalleled master like Mo Zhai can be of certain help in war and internal affairs. However, can such a master be taught by just opening an academy?
No one enthusiastically supports it, but no one opposes it. Everyone knows that their lord is not only wise and brave on the battlefield, but also very talented in side paths. This is proven by new things such as new wine and paper armor.
The next issue is what everyone is really paying attention to.
The rulers don't like merchants, mainly because merchants travel around and have a lot of wealth, which makes it difficult to manage. Ordinary merchants are not so bad, but if they are ambitious, they are very dangerous.
With the communication methods of this era, even a unified empire would be difficult to extend its rule to all counties, let alone those villages.
Because of the insufficient density of rule and unchanged communications, taxing merchants became a problem. In addition, the issue of tax collection methods raised by Mi Zhu was also troublesome.
For example, goods such as salt cannot be sold at a high price in coastal areas. They can only be sold at a high price inland. If a merchant pays taxes in Qingzhou, he must either hand over a certain proportion of salt or pay copper coins according to the salt price in Qingzhou. It is not very cost-effective for the government. When the businessmen come back and collect taxes, they will encounter similar problems. In short, it is very troublesome.
Therefore, the way taxes were collected in the past was that each locality collected what they had. Local officials could set up tax collections, and so could powerful tycoons. Although merchants suffered great losses, the government did not gain much benefit, so it did not care much about it. The most extreme one in this regard was the Ming Dynasty, which had no commercial tax.
Wang Yu had seen various reasons before, but now that he was in charge of his own business, he suddenly began to understand Zhu Yuanzhang. This talented and powerful founding emperor might have encountered a similar situation. Because he couldn't think of a way, he simply took action. I waved and canceled the business tax. I thought that if I can’t make money, I can’t let others make it.
You can go easy on fighting a war, but how about running a country... As I said, just like cooking stir-fry, you have to work carefully and be careful to make it taste delicious. Just like the result of the dean's classmate's one-size-fits-all approach, he raised a group of masters with no moral integrity. Like a scholar-official, being eager for success will only overcook the food.
"There is no way..." Wang Yu pondered for a long time, and finally found a reference from later generations: "Commercial departments can be established in various yamen to specifically verify local merchants. Merchants must be naturalized locally and keep accounts according to regulations. Well, this may be a bit difficult. You can first stipulate it as, at least it must be understandable..."
"Officials from the Department of Commerce collect taxes based on the business scale and profitability of merchants, and issue tax payment certificates. With the tax payment certificates, merchants can move around Qingzhou without any hindrance, and no taxes will be levied on the circulation. How about that?"