Chapter 32 Preparing for Military Expansion After eating and drinking, the three Li brothers followed their father in a donkey cart to the village canteen and loaded the flour, mutton, leeks and a bunch of Chinese herbal medicine that had been prepared long ago onto the cart. The canteen manager kept reminding us that the food must be prepared according to the requirements and that we must not cut corners or use any materials. Someone would conduct random checks after the food was packed. If the quality is not up to standard or other problems are found, not only will the job be cancelled and the person be blacklisted, but they will also be fined heavily, and the entire village will be punished as well. The recipe for this kind of dumplings was developed by doctors under Tian Ze after long-term experiments. A lot of Chinese medicine was added to it. Its main function is to dispel cold, nourish the body and be easy to eat. Li Mao kept nodding his head and kept the words in mind. After delivering the supplies back home, the father and his two sons reiterated to Li's mother what the steward had said several times, and then they went straight to the iron factory by the river in the village, ready to start work. Ordnance is a consumable item, and because Tian Ze's army often conducts actual combat drills, the rate of depletion during routine training is extremely fast. If a major war breaks out, basically all equipment will have to be remade after the war. As long as there is a noticeable damage to such a large suit of armor, its protective performance will be greatly reduced. After all, the enemy is not a fool and will choose to attack these damaged parts. Weapons like spears and lances require constant maintenance, while bows and crossbow arrows have a certain shelf life and must be discarded and remade if not used for a few years.
Therefore, the demand for military equipment is very large. It is not enough to just equip soldiers with a set of equipment. If there are frequent battles and training, a large amount of military equipment will be needed for replenishment and replacement. Among all kinds of military equipment, armor is the most expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive to produce. Ordinary black armor is fine because it has a relatively simple structure and has been mass-produced with the help of hydraulic forging hammer technology. The Ming Guang Armor that Tian Ze wanted to build for his elite troops was a real challenge, requiring extremely sophisticated craftsmanship. For example, the forging of armor plates that Li San and his son were responsible for, although they needed to process the rough armor plates that had been hydraulically forged and had the assistance of many tools, it still took a lot of energy. Even though Tian Ze tried his best to refine and improve the production process and manufactured a number of precision machine tools, due to factors such as flame temperature and iron impurities, it still took several people nearly three months to make one pair. This is the result after the efficiency was increased several times. Otherwise, it would take at least half a year for forty or fifty people to create it. According to the "Yanxi Shi" of the Tang Dynasty, it takes about 200 days to make a set of Ming Guang armor, and more than 40 workers are needed to complete it. Most of the young and strong men in the villages on both sides of the Daqing River work in the iron factory, while the women work in the textile factory or weave at home. Even in this cold winter, the factory is still bustling with activity. The constantly flying sparks and the red-hot iron billets make people feel the intense heat. While everyone was working hard, Tian Ze and Cheng Yu quietly walked into the factory. Although the general framework of Wen County has been established, Tian Ze is unable to think of many details because he is focusing more on the overall work arrangements. Only by walking around and observing Tian Ze more can he discover problems and propose solutions, just like when Tian Ze was conducting research in the school, he discovered that there were no blackboards or chalks. Tian Ze has inspected the iron factory many times now, but he still maintains the habit of taking time to visit it once a month. "good." Seeing everyone was full of enthusiasm, Tian Ze nodded continuously. "What is the current production of Mingguang Armor?" Cheng Yu said, "My lord, at the current speed, we will be able to make about 2,000 sets by the beginning of next spring, which is enough to support one or two major wars." Cheng Yu felt that Tian Ze's extravagant military spending was too much fun, as he had never fought such a prosperous war.
Anyway, he didn't have to worry about internal affairs. Within the scope allowed by Chen Gong, he could focus on training and military rations and equipment without any scruples. The Ming Guang Armor, which even a thousand-man general might not be able to wear, is directly used as standard equipment. This kind of thing can only happen in Tian Ze. Although this type of Ming Guang armor is generally not equipped to all soldiers for practicality and cost-effectiveness, it is not a problem to arm two or three percent of the soldiers. This is enough. When two armies are fighting, it is impossible for all the soldiers to fight together. In most cases, only a few soldiers will fight at the beginning, usually less than 30%. If the battle can be won quickly, these 30% of the soldiers will play a decisive role. For ordinary armies, once one side suffers more than 20% casualties, the morale of the troops will be weakened, which can basically determine the outcome of a battle. If the fight gets into a fierce one, it may even last for several hours. In this situation, a sword and a set of armor are definitely not enough for the soldiers at the center of the battle. No matter how good a standard knife is, it will be nicked and bent, and must be replaced, which requires much more logistical equipment. Therefore, the preparation of military equipment often needs to be several times the number of soldiers. Especially for expensive equipment like Ming Guang Armor, even if there were two thousand sets, Cheng Yu would only equip a small number of them to the elite in the army, no more than five hundred people at most. "Okay." Tian Ze smiled slightly: "The Wuhuan will definitely not accept the loss they suffered this time. There will definitely be a fierce battle next year. With these armors, a lot of casualties can be reduced." "It's a pity that this winter is too cold. The Bohai Sea has already shown signs of freezing. It is estimated that it will be impossible to transport two more batches of refugees here. We can only wait until the spring of next year to thaw." "Otherwise, if we transport more young and strong refugees from the Central Plains, the number can be increased further." Cheng Yu said with some regret. Under Tian Ze's command, he deeply understood the importance of population. Land and other things are secondary. With the soil moistening technique, even the poorest land can be turned into arable land. No matter what the terrain is, as long as there is a river, it can be developed. It is just a Liaodong County, and it is not a problem to support millions of people. In the struggle for hegemony at the end of the Han Dynasty, there were many people and little food at the beginning, and they were fighting for territory and food. As long as there was enough food, they could expand their military forces. By the Three Kingdoms period, the population had decreased by 70% to 80%, the land had become vast and sparsely populated, and the focus of the struggle became population. Tian Ze directly reduced one of the factors that restricted development and entered the stage of snatching population in one step, making his version ahead of the times. "I have ordered people to prepare a large amount of food, firewood, and clothing in Liao County, Dongmu County, and Ju County. Although this winter may be better than last year, it is still very cold, even in the Central Plains." "There will definitely be a large number of refugees rushing to these three counties to seek a way to survive, and we will just have to take over in the spring of next year. By then, we should have enough manpower." "But we can't relax this winter. Some preparations need to be made in advance," said Tian Ze. "My lord, are you planning to expand the army?" Cheng Yu heard the hidden meaning in the words. Tian Ze nodded: "Just the vassal states near Liaodong can probably mobilize several thousand Wuhuan cavalry. If the Xianbei go south, twenty or thirty thousand is not uncommon." "We only have a thousand soldiers under our command now. This is too few. We must reserve a certain number of soldiers just in case." "How much does my lord want to expand the army?" Cheng Yu couldn't help but feel excited. He had proposed expanding the army many times before, but the pressure from the recent issues such as attracting refugees was too great, so naturally he had to focus on development. "Let's expand it to three thousand first, one thousand naval forces and two thousand land forces. What do you think?" Tian Ze said. Cheng Yu smiled: "There should be nearly 10,000 people in Wen County. More than 10,000 people and 3,000 soldiers is still 'reasonable'."
Tian Ze's mouth twitched slightly. What a reasonable bullshit! If there were really only this many people under his rule, he would be thankful that he could mobilize a thousand soldiers. "Since you think so, you can go and speak to the public platform." The smile on Cheng Yu's face suddenly froze. Tian Ze smiled lightly, but his heart was filled with emotion. Easier said than done. When I watched the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in my previous life, I always felt that those princes did a lot of stupid things as lords and their abilities were average. I couldn't help but have the illusion that I could do the same. Even though they had so many good ideas under their command, they still made all kinds of wrong choices. Before Jia Xu came into being, Tian Ze had deeply felt the difficulty of leading a force. Apart from anything else, how to manage the eating, drinking, defecating and urinating of thousands of mouths under his command is a big problem, not to mention how to make them obey and work. Everyone has his or her own personality and ideas. They are not loyal machines without emotions. Moreover, their abilities are different, making them extremely difficult to control. After more than ten years of training, Tian Ze was finally able to manage more than a thousand people, but he still made occasional mistakes, while Jia Xu quickly got the hang of it. It was then that Tian Ze realized that he was far inferior to Jia Xu in terms of understanding people's hearts and appointing people to positions. These top talents who can leave their names in history are not as simple as they think. Some of the mistakes they made, which seem stupid to them, are often based on solving hundreds or thousands of mistakes. If a mediocre person like me were in their position, I might be able to avoid the mistakes they made with my foresight, but I would be more likely to fall into the hundreds of mistakes that have already been solved. After the arrival of his subordinates Chen Gong and Cheng Yu, Tian Ze had a deeper understanding of Yuan Shao and other princes who he considered to be indecisive. He had only three counselors under his command, and one of them was Jia Xu, who was only concerned about himself and did nothing every day. However, even so, he couldn't help but have a headache every day when faced with the suggestions from Chen Gong and Cheng Yu. The reason is simple, what they said makes sense. Chen Gong was in power, so he naturally hoped to avoid large-scale military expansion. The reasons are very sufficient. It is not needed for the time being and will affect development. With the Liao River as a barrier and the advantage of the Wenxian city wall, the current number of troops is enough to withstand the attack of the Wuhuan and even inflict severe damage on them. Large-scale expansion of the army will only increase losses. Moreover, Tianze's development strategy is to maintain stability and not to show off. Wen County has a small population, and expanding the army will attract attention. Although there are more resources at hand, the copper coin reserves are still relatively scarce. Not to mention other things, the price of horses is extremely high, accounting for the bulk of Wen County's expenditure. If the army is expanded again, the financial pressure will be even greater. The most important thing now is to expand the population. Attracting refugees requires a lot of money. If the army is expanded by a hundred people, thousands of refugees may be attracted less every year. It is obvious that we can develop steadily and fight defensively and counterattack, so why expand the army at the risk of being reported? As Cheng Yu was in charge of the army, he naturally hoped to expand it on a large scale. The reason is also very sufficient, just in case and in the future. What if the Xianbei and Wuhuan attacked at the same time? Moreover, war is full of accidents. If the army is defeated due to some unexpected situation or natural disaster, the number of remaining soldiers will not be enough to resist. More soldiers will increase the tolerance rate.
Being in the frontier, why not expand the army when you have the strength? A strong army can also avoid being outnumbered and reduce war losses. Besides, the lord also needs military merits to be promoted to the governor. Moreover, what the lord wants are elite soldiers, which require a long period of training to form. If we wait until the need arises to recruit soldiers temporarily, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers cannot be guaranteed at all. It is better to start preparing now. The two argued about this matter every day, neither of them was willing to give in, and they could never come to a conclusion. After encountering this incident, Tian Ze could especially understand why Yuan Shao was indecisive and why Cao Cao suffered from headaches. It is very rare for the civil servants under Cao Cao to have the same ideas and for heroes to have similar views. In most cases, as when Cao Cao asked for advice on how to deal with Liu Bei, some answered to kill him, some answered to use him, and some answered to use him first and then kill him. The most important thing is that neither option is absolutely wrong, both make sense and have their own advantages and disadvantages. If we consider the motives, factions, benefits, etc. of the person who came up with the plan, things will become even more complicated. But Tian Ze knew that he had to come up with a result as soon as possible. He must not be like Yuan Shao, who made many plans but few decisions, nor could he make random decisions. So during this period of time he began to conduct research everywhere, and brought Jia Xu, Chen Gong and Cheng Yu together to discuss and research, and now he finally made a decision. (End of this chapter)
