The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

One day in late January, it was still raining outside, Heifu and Feng Jing were standing outside the tall warehouse in the west of Ying County. Looking around, they saw that it was like a city within a city, with thick walls two feet high, about two hundred steps long and wide. Inside the wall, the warehouse was surrounded by five hundred county soldiers.

"Left Army Cao Shi, Feng Zu Shi, this is the Ying County Armory."

As a lieutenant, Man also belongs to the county lieutenant system. After Heifu officially started work in late January, he was transferred here to take Heifu and Feng Jing to familiarize themselves with the business. In addition to the recruitment and training of soldiers after spring plowing, the business of the left soldier is also responsible for the selection of military officers in the county, as well as military registration, weapons, and military orders. As a Baishi official clerk directly under the county lieutenant, Zu Shi also needs to understand the above operating modes, so he also goes with him.

Looking at this huge armory, Hei Fu couldn't help but sigh: "It's really much bigger than the county armory in Anlu."

He looked at Feng Jing: "Feng Zushi, is the Xianyang armory much larger than this?"

"Of course."

After Hei Fu's "prediction" of the military force used by Wang Jian that day, Feng Jing didn't dare to underestimate him anymore, and replied with a smile: "The Xianyang armory is located next to the Xianyang Palace and is guarded by the Weiwei. It is three or four times larger than the Nanjun armory, and the weapons, armors, and chariots stored there are also four or five times more!"

As he spoke, the armory official here had brought people over, saluted Hei Fu and Feng Jing, and welcomed them in.

When he got inside, Hei Fu realized that the wall here was much thicker than the outside. The bottom of the wall alone was four feet thick! Nearly ten meters!

But if you think about it carefully, you will understand that the arsenal is the most important place in a city. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes fought internally, rebelled, and the people rose up. They always took the arsenal as the primary target, first seized the arsenal and obtained weapons in order to gain equipment advantages in the battle.

In war, destroying the enemy's arsenal is also an important means to defeat the enemy. The chapter on fire attack in the volumes of "Wu Sunzi" that Li You lent to Heifu said that there are five forms of fire attack, one is to burn the enemy's soldiers and horses, the second is to burn the enemy's food and grass, the third is to burn the enemy's baggage, the fourth is to burn the enemy's warehouse arsenal, and the fifth is to burn the enemy's transportation facilities...

Under this circumstance, the Qin State set up the Xianyang arsenal in the palace area, and the arsenal in Nanjun was also heavily guarded, with a post every three steps and a sentry every five steps, so that it was under strict defense, not only to avoid being used and destroyed, but also to provide soldiers and armor at any time to quickly arm the army.

This Nanjun arsenal is divided into three parts, namely, chariots, armor, and soldiers.

The first garage that Heifu and his men entered was the largest one, which contained thousands of carriages neatly placed in each garage.

Looking along the way, the shapes and types of various vehicles were different: there were "general's chariots" used as command vehicles, battering rams used for sieges, light vehicles used to attack enemy troops, heavy vehicles used to carry military supplies such as military equipment, military rations, and clothing, drama vehicles with command flags, drum vehicles used to boost morale, "Fei Lou Xing Lin vehicles" that could be raised and lowered to detect the enemy, as well as ceremonial vehicles, and even many military musical instruments.

These vehicles were not unfamiliar to Heifu. He had seen them a lot in the military camp during the war against Chu. They lay quietly here in peacetime, and were maintained and painted by special people. Once wartime came, they could gallop on the battlefield as long as they were harnessed to the horses from Yunmengze Stables.

While Hei Fu was walking around the garage and asking questions, Feng Jing also checked the garage collection book, which registered every car in the garage. If anyone borrowed or damaged a car, they had to register and report it. If the verification was false, the storekeeper would be severely punished!

"There are 774 vehicles of all kinds."

Hei Fu also took a look and asked, "Last year there were more than a thousand vehicles, but this year there are only more than 700. Where did the other 300 vehicles go?"

The storekeeper was a little embarrassed: "Last year, 300 vehicles were sent to Nanyang County for the attack on Chu, and then they were never returned..."

It turned out that it was still the fault of the defeat. Hei Fu was a little helpless. After a defeat, in addition to the many casualties of the captains and soldiers, various military equipment, especially vehicles, were easily discarded. In the battle against Chu, the Qin army lost at least more than a thousand military vehicles. It goes without saying that most of them were captured by the Chu army and aided by the enemy.

Next, it was the armory. The most common items were leather armors for Qin soldiers. They were piled up like a mountain. The collection book recorded that there were 10,000 sets in total. In addition, there were 10,000 sets of armor, nearly 1,000 bronze helmets, 3,000 leather shields, and even 400 sets of horse armor for chariots and horses.

Finally, it was the armory. Hei Fu found that the weapons in the armory were mostly bronze weapons. Although there were iron weapons, they were not many. In addition to the ordinary swords, halberds, spears, and halberds, Hei Fu also paid special attention to the reserves of chief spears and barbarian spears.

"In the battle of Yingyang, the chief spear was the key to our army's victory."

Looking at the slender chief spears neatly stacked on the wooden rack, Hei Fu couldn't help but sigh. If there were no such weapons that day, their casualties might have been even more severe.

After a tour, Feng Jingyi sighed: "No wonder the Art of War says that if an army of 100,000 is mobilized, the cost of glue, paint, and chariots and armors is thousands of gold per day. The chariots and armors in the Nanjun arsenal can only equip more than 20,000 people. It is so huge and numerous. I really can't imagine..."

He looked at the people next to him and approached Hei Fu and said: "I really can't imagine how many chariots and armors are needed to equip 600,000 people."

"It may be enough to empty the arsenals of all the counties in Qin." Hei Fu smiled, and he was the same. Before in the army, they only picked up weapons to fight. Now that they are in the military and start to engage in organizational work, they know that it is really not easy to start a war.

No wonder there is such a theory: the organization and conduct of war is an important motivation to promote the development of human social organization in a more effective direction.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, frequent wars have caused the political power of various countries to undergo a transformation. This is the reform movement. Under Shang Yang's leadership, Qin State transformed itself into the most thorough and most adaptable to war. This country has been tempered by war after war and turned into a machine born for war. Every subject is a small screw in the machine, and Heifu is no exception.

...

That night, Heifu and Feng Jing informed Li You of the results of the inspection of the arsenal.

"I dare to tell the county lieutenant that because of the first war against Chu, many chariots and armors from Nanjun were sent to the north to equip soldiers and were lost on the battlefield. Therefore, there are gaps in every warehouse, especially weapons, which are nearly half missing!"

Li You took the thin book with Feng Jing's data, but saw that the gap in chariots was about 300, and 5,000 breastplates and thigh armors were needed each, and 2,000 shields were needed.

The biggest need is actually weapons, because the chariots are only used by the charioteers, and the soldiers in the back row can also be without armor, but weapons are indispensable to everyone. Without weapons, soldiers are like beasts without claws and teeth. They can't break wood into weapons and raise poles as flags...

"The three most commonly used models of swords, halberds, and spears need to be made into 2,000 each, and bows and crossbows also need to be made into 1,000 each. The most troublesome thing is arrows, at least 200,000!"

At this time, Hei Fu finally understood why the ancients made up the story of "borrowing arrows from straw boats". At the time of war, if the bow and crossbow officers have no arrows, even a good cook cannot cook without rice. Sometimes a siege battle will shoot out 100,000 arrows, which shows that the consumption is huge, and not every arrow can be picked up, especially when you lose the battle...

Fortunately, it is only the end of January now, and Qin State expected to start the war after autumn, so they still have half a year to prepare.

"The workshops in Nanjun will probably have to work all night." Li You was very distressed. He was ambitious before coming here, but after coming here, he found that it was not enough to just train soldiers to manage the military affairs of a county. He did not expect that a failed war against Chu would cause such a huge loss to the Nanjun arsenal.

There was no mechanized production these days, everything was purely handmade. Even if there were tens of thousands of slaves and concubines in the workshops of Nanjun, it would not be easy to replenish the missing chariots, armors and weapons in the arsenal within half a year.

Fortunately, the natural conditions of Nanjun are good, and the raw materials for making chariots, armors and weapons can basically be obtained locally.

Mozi once said that Jing has Yunmeng, which is full of rhinoceroses, rhinoceroses, elks and deer, and there are long pines, cypresses, lindens, and Yuzhang trees. All kinds of wild animals can be hunted, and their leather can be peeled off to make armor, and all kinds of wood can be used to make chariots and arrow shafts. The ducks and geese raised by ordinary people, as well as the waterfowl flying everywhere in Yunmeng Lake, are natural materials for arrow feathers.

So far, the war has affected more than the 30,000 soldiers who will be called up to the front line. The craftsmen in the workshops must work overtime, and hunters, merchants, farmers, and 150,000 households in Nanjun will all be mobilized by the government to collect military supplies or work hard to cultivate and store military rations...

"Wood and feathers are easy to deal with." Li You thought for a while and said, "What I am most worried about is copper and iron. If copper and iron are not good, even if there is half a year, the weapon arrowheads still cannot be made. If copper is transported from other places, the cost will be too high."

Thinking of this, he slapped the table and said, "Tomorrow, you two will follow me to the copper official on Jishan to have a look!"

"Yes!"

Hearing Li You worrying about the output of copper and iron, Hei Fu had an idea in his heart...