During the Warring States period, China's iron-smelting technology was relatively mature, and cast iron softening technology was invented.

It was not until the eighteenth century that white-hearted malleable iron was smelted in Europe, and the black-hearted malleable iron was smelted in the nineteenth century in the United States. From this point, it can be seen that China's iron smelting industry is advanced enough to provide the army with large quantities of iron casting weapons and heavy armor.

At this time, solid carburizing technology had also begun to cast steel on the surface of cast iron, and although Zhu Xiang did not know how to make steel, he knew what steel was. After he informed the Mo family of the principle of steel, the Mo family led the craftsmen to overcome the steel forging technology.

Although there is no way to forge steel in large quantities, the technology of forging steel knives by hammering and folding the surface has been relatively mature. Although the output is low, if you save it, it is not difficult to save a team of steel knives for the elite troops.

The weapon forging technology of the Qin State has accumulated steadily, and now the Qin army in the Central Plains has not used it, because the Mo family followed Zhu Xiang, Wang Jian and Li Mu were the first to benefit.

Wang Jian once again felt how comfortable it was to fight with Zhu Xiang.

"The heavy cavalry can only save a thousand men at most, and you have to train well for this thousand people. They may be the most valuable troops in the Qin State. Zhu Xiang advised, "I have saved up for so many years to save a thousand sets of heavy armor, and I use one pair less!" ”

Wang Jian said nervously: "Don't give it to Li Mu?" Although he is also Zhu Xiang's friend, he also knows that Li Mu and Zhu Xiang have a deeper relationship. He didn't have Li Mu, and he was flattered.

Zhu Xiang said: "The mobile warfare that Li Mu is good at is more suitable for light cavalry. When I return to Wu County, I will help him build a light cavalry that is most suitable for him. ”

Having drunk that glass of moonshine, he wouldn't look ahead or back.

It's time for him to stand up completely and stand on the stage of the Warring States.

Chapter 148: Heavy Cavalry Grain and Grass

Zhu Xiang has always been thinking about how to quickly end this troubled world.

Farming is urgently needed.

Productivity determines the relations of production, and today's productivity is about the same as the level of cropping, the efficiency of grain production.

As long as he can make the Qin State produce several times the grain of other countries, the Qin State will be almost invincible.

However, this only increased the success rate, reduced some setbacks in the unification war, and did not allow the Qin to win quickly.

If Qin wants to win quickly, it needs to crush the opponent militarily.

In terms of generals, the Qin State has taken the lead. So what Zhu Xiang can do is ideology and ordnance.

Thought is to raise morale. The way to boost morale today is to reward. Lin Zhen's Xintian law made the soldiers on the battlefield have a lot less worries, knowing that after his death, the old and the young will be supported, and his wife will not be insulted, and the morale of the Qin State will definitely be higher because of the strong military merit.

In terms of weapons, Zhu Xiang once thought about whether he could have a little more technology.

Later he gave up.

Not only because the relations of production should be matched with the productive forces, but also because they are mutual.

In his previous life, there was a slavery and feudal state like a child with a sledgehammer, and the forces of social change were suppressed by the weapons of the times from above, and there was almost no hope for progress.

In addition, Zhu Xiang has a very real problem - he won't.

Although he was a professor of agronomy, he received a modern basic science education. But even if it is a professor of agriculture, let him rub a set of industrial systems by hand, it is also a fantasy.

Without scientific instruments, even if he had several sets of chemical equations in his head, how could he purify the material he wanted from natural minerals?

If he can do it, he can't do it with weapons, but absolutely no matter what kind of productive forces and production relations, first rub out the industrial production line of chemical fertilizers, let the people of the whole country eat their stomachs first, and then slowly think about other things.

Zhu Xiang knew that at the most critical time in China, our soldiers could rub the ammunition production line by hand at the country gate. But to know is to know, he himself will not.

He didn't know anything about guns, ammunition, cannons, or anything.

Why does a professor of agronomy understand machinery, and it is also a military machine.

Zhu Xiang once wanted to give it a try. It's not to help seedlings grow, but to make some modern weapons to defend themselves.

Soon, he continued to wield his greatsword to exercise his strength.

Don't embarrass my empty brain. Leave!

The cross-era ordnance couldn't be made, so Zhu Xiang racked his brains to think about what kind of feudal era killer could be made by the technology of this era.

Now the mobile forces of the war are mainly chariots, and later it will develop to be mainly cavalry.

In particular, the heavy cavalry, which was almost the "tank" of the feudal era, was invincible.

It can be said that a country is very capable of raising heavy cavalry, and how many heavy cavalry it can raise, before the invention of firearms, was almost a symbol of national strength.

Even before the invention of modern gunpowder (i.e., yellow powder), heavy cavalry was crushing black powder weapons.

The lethality of black powder weapons is not as good as that of bows and crossbows, and even light armor is difficult to break, but the difficulty of use is low, and it can cultivate more long-range troops.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the archers who were good at riding and archery were still much stronger than the musketeers, which was also the reason why Qianlong looked down on foreign firearms, not that he was really blind.

As a result, the invention of modern gunpowder swept all cold weapons into the garbage heap. Since then, the war has become a competition of modern industry, and the nomads without an industrial base have begun to be able to sing and dance.

Therefore, as long as Zhu Xiang gets the heavy cavalry out, before the advent of modern gunpowder, the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army will always be able to maintain the world's leading position.

Although Zhu Xiang didn't know how to get heavy cavalry, as the name suggests, it was a heavy armor mixed with iron and leather for horses and cavalry. He tells the artisan his idea, and the craftsman will experiment with it himself.

The heavy cavalry is equivalent to the "deterrent weapon" of the land battlefield of the feudal country, and the light cavalry is the main component of the mobile force and the main force of the battlefield in ancient and later generations.

In fact, now the cavalry on the battlefield has gradually become the main force.

After Zhu Xiang handed over the stirrups and horseshoes to Li Mu, Li Mu quickly built a light cavalry.

Because Li Mu is in the south, although the stirrup can be imitated at a glance, it has not yet been spread.

A small component that did not attract the attention of other countries.

Only when Li Mu pulls his light cavalry out to fight a battle that the people of the world will never forget, they may notice this little stirrup.

Now the six countries are almost forgetting that Li Mu is famous for being good at commanding cavalry, and they all regard Li Mu as a general of the boat division.

Zhu Xiang accompanied Wang Jian to select a thousand heavy cavalry.

Zichu tried to put on his armor, and then he was pressed so that he couldn't walk, and was mercilessly ridiculed by Zhu Xiang.

Zi Chu said angrily: "You try! I don't believe you can do it! ”

Zhu Xiang was wearing armor and could actually walk a few steps.

Zhu Xiang sneered: "I swing my hoe every day, I don't know how much stronger my body is than you, you compare with me?" Weak. ”

Li Bing hurriedly pulled Zi Chu back: "Forget it, why do you bother with him?" Now that there are so many people, how ugly it is for the prince and Changpingjun to fight. ”

Zi Chu sneered: "When I become the king of Qin, see how I clean you up!" ”

Zhu Xiangle said: "Okay, I'll wait for you to be the king of Qin, and see how you clean me up." ”

The corners of Wang Qian's mouth twitched, and his temples jumped suddenly.

Is it possible to say such a thing? Or do you say it in public?

If King Qin and King Changping turn against each other in the future, it will probably start from today?

Wang Jian was very excited when he heard the heavy cavalry, and he had a headache when he formed the heavy cavalry.

The strong men and horses who can wear armor must be carefully selected, not to mention, so that horses and people have the ability to fight and wear armor, ordinary food can't do it.

The horses consume twice as much hay as other horses and need a daily massage; Not to mention the daily increase in the amount of food of the armored warriors, they even have to eat meat, otherwise they will not be able to carry heavy armor to fight.

Thinking about the food of this thousand heavy armored cavalry, Wang Jian felt that his hair was about to develop towards Zhu Xiang.

He finally understood why Zhu Xiang said that the heavy armored cavalry could only appear now, and why he said that only the Qin State could raise this heavy armored cavalry at present.

It's not just the Qin State that can afford it, it's the Qin State that only Zhu Xiang can afford it!

Zi Chu also realized this, and his anger at Zhu Xiang deliberately laughing at him was a little less.

He stroked the armored horse and said, "I don't know how many heavy cavalry the Qin State can afford to raise after the unification of the world in the future." Ten thousand? Lakh? ”

Zhu Xiang said: "I may not even be able to raise a hundred." ”

Zi Chu was stunned: "Huh? ”

Zhu Xiang said: "Heavy cavalry is a sharp weapon for conquering cities, but after the unification of the world, war is not necessary for the time being. Compared with plundering the undeveloped land, or how to govern the land that has been obtained, the most important thing is to make the world really become the world of Qin. At that time, the Qin State did not have the money to support heavy cavalry. ”

Zi Chu said: "That can't be wasted...... he began to feel distressed.

Zhu Xiang said: "Then leave a little heavy cavalry in the north to rob the cattle and sheep of the Hu people to eat." ”

Wang Jian immediately said: "Good idea! I'll go north then! ”

What a blessing, he does not enjoy! Wouldn't it be more majestic to lead these heavy cavalry to sweep the grasslands every day!

Zhu Xiang couldn't cry or laugh. In history, you want to be a rich man in the future, why do you want to eat yellow sand on the frontier for a lifetime?

Maybe it's because Wang Jian is not old yet.

For the soldiers of the feudal era, the heavy cavalry is probably like the military fans of later generations drooling when they look at small aircraft carriers, small planes, small tanks, and small east winds, this is romance.

Zhu Xiang got up, and Wang Jian quickly understood how to train and use the heavy armored cavalry.

Zhu Xiang thought that he would be the "instructor" of Wang Jian for a period of time, but he soon had nothing to do.

He carried a bamboo cane, a straw hat, and a robe, climbed through the gate of the mountain city, and walked through the traffic arteries and small towns and villages on both sides of the Yangtze River waterway, and explored the situation in this Ba County that the Qin State could control.

Li Bing also continued to abandon the affairs of Shu County, and observed and measured on the Yangtze River channel with great interest.

Water control is a matter for the whole system, and we can't treat it with a headache. Although the water flow in Ba County has little impact on Shu County, looking at the natural danger of the Yangtze River, Li Bing's heart as a water conservancy expert can't help but pound.

He wondered, can we build a dam to stop the water of the Yangtze River and make it easier for natural hazards to become a thoroughfare?

Li Bing knew that he was delusional, but he couldn't help it.

If such a dam can be built, the Yangtze River will be unimpeded from now on, and Ba County and Shu County will benefit from it, and it will no longer be blocked.

"Even if Ba County Shaotian, guarding this waterway can feed the people of a county, right?" Li Bing said to Zhu Xiang.

He looks at the water, and Zhu Xiang looks at the ground.

Zhu Xiang listened to Li Bing's words, was silent for a while, squinted and smiled: "There will be that day." ”

Li Bing said: "Will there be such a day?" That's great. ”

Even if he knew that the Yangtze River natural danger was beyond human power, Zhu Xiang said that there would be a day, and Li Bing believed it.

Li Bing stood on the cliff of the mountain, holding a bamboo cane in both hands, looking down at the waves on the narrow waterway below the mountain.

His eyes were full of anticipation.

Zhu Xiang thought that he should write this matter down. If it can be passed down for 2,000 years, maybe after the Three Gorges Dam is built, a statue of Li Bing will be erected here, so that Li Bing can see the feat he once imagined.

"Zhu Xiang, it's time for me to go back to Shu County." Li Bing said to Zhu Xiang.