Chapter 32: On the Way (II)
Zhu Yuntai took the drawings and looked through them, and found that they were the drawings of three weapons, and every detail was drawn quite finely, and there were detailed explanations attached to them.
The three weapons are the Mo knife, the three-bow bed crossbow, and the return cannon. All represent the pinnacle of the cold weapon era in a way.
The first is the Mo knife, some historians have researched, and believe that this kind of long-handled heavy war knife from the Sui Dynasty and prevailed in the Tang Dynasty is the most powerful stabbing cold weapon that has appeared in human history.
Volume 16 of the "Tang Liudian" records: "Mo knife, long knife, held by infantry, Gai Gu's chopping horse, the knife weighs fifteen catties, also known as the machete, seven feet long, three feet long blade, four feet long handle, with an iron drill underneath." The horse step waterway is salty and available. Lux persists, spins and slashes with waist force, and those who block are all powder......"
1 kg in the Tang Dynasty is equivalent to 0.66 kg in modern times, and 15 kg in the Tang Dynasty is equivalent to about 10 kg now. In other words, the Tang Dynasty Mo knife is a long-handled knife with a total weight of about 10 kilograms.
How powerful is this weapon? It is said that when Li Siye, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, wielded a Mo knife, every time he swung a knife, he could make the enemy cavalry who came to attack him "shattered"! The cavalry he killed included ordinary light cavalry and heavy cavalry with men and horses in armor.
The short sword used by the Romans was just a small toy in front of the Mo knife of the Tang Dynasty. Japanese samurai swords, Nepalese scimitars, and Damascus knives cannot be compared with the Mo swords of the Tang Dynasty.
The second is the three-bow bed crossbow, which appeared in the Song Dynasty, according to research, is the strongest long-range weapon in the era of cold weapons, the chisel arrows fired by this crossbow have a range of more than 1500 meters, which is the longest range of cold weapons before the artillery is produced. The energy to fire the chisel arrow, which is provided by the three strong bows; These three bows are mounted on a pedestal called the "bed", hence the name of this weapon, the "three-bow bed crossbow".
In the battle of Song and Jin monks in 1131 AD, the Song army led by the Song general Wu Jue used a three-bow bed crossbow to deal with the ironclad cavalry of the Jin general Wushu, killing the corpses of the Jin army all over the field, and achieved a rare victory in the Song war against Jin.
The arrows fired by the three-bow bed crossbow can shoot through the heavily armored Jin army cavalry from a distance of 1,000 meters, and its power is extremely terrifying. In the battle of the Southern Han Dynasty in the early Song Dynasty, when the army led by the Song army Pan Mei confronted the Southern Han army in Shaozhou, Pan Mei's Song army also used a three-bow bed crossbow to fire giant arrows and defeated the heavy war weevils of the Southern Han Dynasty.
At that time, the Southern Han Dynasty had an elite army of war elephants, which were covered with thick armor and ordinary bows and arrows, which could not hurt this war elephant.
However, the heavy arrows fired by the Song army's three-bow bed crossbow could easily pierce the armor of the war elephant and kill the war elephant.
The third weapon is the Huihui cannon, which belongs to the invention of the Hui people of the Western Regions, Ah Lao Wading and Yi Si Mayin, which played a key role in the process of the Mongol destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty, claiming to be able to smash 150 pounds of boulders to a place 300 meters away, and is the most powerful trebuchet in the era of cold weapons.
When the Mongol army besieged Xiangyang, the cannon was deployed in the southeast corner of Xiangyang City, and the boulder it fired hit the tower on the wall of Xiangyang, "the sound was like thunder, shaking the city." The city is raging, and many generals are more than those who have fallen from the city. The Song general Lu Wenhuan, who defended Xiangyang City, knew that he was invincible, so he surrendered the city.
After having the return artillery, the Mongol army had an absolute advantage when fighting the Song army on land: the Song army, which was mainly infantry, was not the opponent of the Mongol cavalry army; The Song army could not rely on the fortified city to resist the attack of the Mongol army, because no matter how high and thick the city wall was, it was as fragile as a piece of paper in front of the return artillery.
In the later stage of the Yuan-Song War, the Song army also imitated the return artillery to counterattack, but at this time, the general trend had gone, and finally failed to save the end of the Song Dynasty's demise.
This is the killer weapon prepared by Qin Feng, as long as these three weapons appear in the army and are equipped in batches, it will make Zhao Yuanjin's army have an undoubted advantage, plus strong logistical support, it will not be too easy to conquer the city.
Due to the starship's warning, he could no longer use modern weapons such as guns at will, but this did not prevent him from finding more suitable weapons for Zhao Yuanjin to compete in the world. Anyway, in the Internet era of information explosion, it is too easy to consult relevant materials, and you can go to a large library to find all the things you can't find on the Internet.
In fact, in this era, heavy knives, bed crossbows, and large trebuchets have appeared, but the power range is not as good as the pinnacle of the above three cold weapon eras. Now that Qin Feng has completed their information, he will hand it over to Zhao Yuanjin, and it will not attract the special attention of the will of this world.
Zhu Yuntai's face became more and more solemn the more he looked at it, he already had real talent and learning, and he had served in the imperial army for a long time, so he could naturally see the horror of these three weapons.
"Childe, although this weapon is good, but it costs a lot of money, and it is not easy to make, so I can't afford to use it at all, right?" He couldn't help but question.
A Mo knife costs fifteen catties of fine steel, with the smelting technology of this era, the output of high-quality steel is quite limited, and the price will never be cheap. As for the cost of the three-bow bed crossbow and the return cannon, it is even more exaggerated, even if the current imperial court wants to manufacture and use these three sharp weapons on a large scale, the pressure on the treasury is very great.
"With me, the festival will make the adults will not lack silver, nor will they lack good steel, so all your worries are superfluous." Qin Feng said lightly.
Zhu Yuntai looked at him suspiciously, only to feel that this son was becoming more and more unfathomable in his eyes.
However, when Zhao Yuanjin was trapped in Jingnan County more than two months ago, the original city was broken only overnight, but he was inexplicably brought back to life, and later killed General Meng Luo by mysterious means, forcing the imperial army to retreat in one fell swoop.
Thinking of this period of time, Zhao Yuanjin has been victorious one after another, and every battle that is not favored can end in victory, and Feng Qingyun can't raise his head with inferior troops. All kinds of miracles seem to confirm the rumors that there are indeed masters under the command of this festival envoy.
"Well, let's just think so. But now the Great Qi court is still there, still has most of the world, sitting on hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, there are many famous ministers and fierce generals, capable people and strange people in the court, and it is not an overnight achievement to subvert and destroy it in one fell swoop. β
"Not to mention, even among the secession feudal towns in various places, there are quite a few princes with the atmosphere of the hidden dragon. Not only do they have enough soldiers and food, but they also have some masters of the hidden sect to support and assist behind the scenes, and it is not easy to defeat them one by one. Why does Gongzi think that Zhao Yuanjin will definitely be able to defeat the heroes and achieve the great cause of the emperor? Zhu Yuntai asked.
Qin Feng said calmly: "It's still the same sentence, with me, Zhao Yuanjin will not lack ordnance materials." As long as he has enough time and territory, he can easily expand his army by hundreds of thousands, or even millions. No prince could overpower him financially and materially, not even the imperial court. β
Take the StarCraft series of games as an example, as long as you have nearly unlimited resources and enough explosive speed, and there are no major problems in strategy, then no enemy can defeat you at all, unless the opponent has a more rebellious cheating than you.
If we take reality as an example, we can compare the Axis and Allied camps in World War II. Although the Axis powers, especially the Third Reich, had many outstanding senior officers, millions of elite and combative troops, and advanced technology, due to their size, their population, energy, industry, and economy were far inferior to those of the Allies.
The Axis bloc could not afford to play the strategic air force, the strategic navy, the Manhattan Project and other money-burning projects, and did not have the manpower and material resources to continue to bomb troops, so after the offensive was frustrated and the war situation entered a stalemate stage, all kinds of fatal shortcomings were exposed.
As the world's largest industrial country at that time, once the United States entered a wartime state, the powerful production capacity that erupted easily crushed the entire Axis bloc. Even aircraft carriers can be built in batches, and there is the ability to carry out such a huge project as the Manhattan Project on its own.
Therefore, even if the Third Reich defeated Moscow and Stalingrad, or Japan won the Battle of Midway, it would not be a problem, at best, it would last for a while. In the end, it will still be crushed by the United States.
In this world, Zhao Yuanjin's bargaining chips are not only limited to the army under his command, but with Qin Feng as the link, a powerful modern industrial science and technology civilization system as his strategic backing, to a certain extent, it also means almost unlimited financial and material support. What do the princes of the feudal towns and the rotten imperial court use to resist?
Zhu Yuntai looked at Qin Feng's expression and asked cautiously, "Can Gongzi reveal how much food and salary you can get for Zhao Yuanjin?" β
Qin Feng smiled slightly and stretched out five fingers.
"Fifty thousand stone grain and grass? 500,000 taels of silver? β
Zhu Yuntai said tentatively, such a huge resource is enough to lay the foundation for the rise of a prince.
Qin Feng shook his head.
"That's 500,000 stone grain and grass, 5 million taels of silver?"
Zhu Yuntai was stunned for a moment and continued. A family of great princes who are enough to rank among the hidden dragons is estimated to have all the family resources that they have.
Qin Feng still shook his head.
"This ...... Could it be five million stone grains and grass, and fifty million taels of silver? β
Zhu Yuntai's face turned pale, and he didn't dare to continue speculating.
Thirty years ago, the world of Great Qi was still stable, and the annual tax revenue of the imperial court was only more than 30 million stones of grain and more than 22 million taels of silver. If there is turmoil today, many prefectures and counties are occupied by the rebels of the feudal towns and cannot collect taxes, so now the income of the imperial court has shrunk significantly, and it is beyond its means every year.
"Sir, don't keep guessing,"
Qin Feng said with a smile: "Although the south has suffered a disaster year now, it is far from the point of no harvest, Zhao Yuanjin will have a large territory in the future, and there will naturally be enough grain production areas, so after this year, there is no need to worry about the shortage of grain and grass." β
"As for the silver? If there is no more, I can still help him get 30 million taels. β
According to the exchange agreement between him and Zhao Yuanjin, 30 million taels of silver is roughly equivalent to 1,000 tons of sterling silver in his own world, and now Huaguo's annual industrial silver output exceeds 12,000 tons, and the world's output adds up to even more. As long as you buy it in batches, you can quietly get a thousand tons of sterling silver and come over without any pressure.