I am Da Song

Chapter 46 Military-Industrial Complex

Chengyu came out of Qishengyuan, and the military inspector was just across the road at Xingguofang.

The north and south workshops of the Military Weapons Supervision and the bow and crossbow making yard are all here.

Under the redundant official system of the Song Dynasty, although the names of the two workshops were quite different, the actual powers of the two workshops were not much different.They are responsible for all aspects of arms manufacturing.

For example, Bow and Crossbow Building, although he gave the name of Bow and Crossbow, he not only made bows and crossbows, but also made utensils such as flags, military tents, spears, blade arrowheads, armor and stirrups.

Moreover, these two organizations stand side by side with the Imperial Weapons Institute outside the city, and the three divisions, no one can control the other, each doing its own thing.

Zhao Huan and Mei Zhili walked into Xingguofang, Zhao Huan said to Mei Zhili: "The divisions of the Military Weapons Supervision are redundant and do not belong to each other. What do you think?"

Mei Zhili remonstrated: "Now that the enemy is at hand, I think it is not appropriate to move the various divisions rashly, so as not to cause chaos and affect production."

Zhao Huan said with a smile: "I know, and I don't intend to merge the divisions of the General Weapons Supervision Department. On the contrary, I plan to split these three yamen, and each yamen is completely independent."

During the conversation, the two arrived at the Gongnu Academy. The Gongnu Academy is a stretch of low houses, made of wooden structures, with a square layout and connected corridors. Only a few corners have two-story attics.

There are rows of evergreen pines planted inside the four walls, which prevent outsiders from prying eyes all year round.

Now it's freezing cold, but a group of workers are polishing bows and crossbows and moving tendons in the courtyard in full swing.During the conversation between the two, Zhao Huan saw an official inspect a batch of magic arm bows, and ordered the craftsmen to move them into the warehouse, waiting for the soldiers to pick them up.

Mei Zhili's tendency is that the Bow and Crossbow Building Institute specializes in making bows and crossbows, the North and South workshops produce armor and weapons, and the Imperial Military Weapons Institute manufactures honor guards, flags, and military tents.

So I was very surprised by Zhao Huan's arrangement, and asked: "If the three yamen do their own thing, wouldn't it be a waste of manpower and repeated useless efforts?"

Zhao Huan said with a smile: "How could it be? If there are three restaurants in Tokyo, and my husband goes to one restaurant, why don't you go to the other two?"

Mei Zhili said solemnly: "According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, officials are not allowed to go to restaurants for banquets. This is an iron rule. As long as they are impeached by the censor, they must be dismissed. So I have never been to Tokyo restaurants."

Zhao Huan laughed and said: "The laws of our ancestors are all good laws, so I ruled the Song Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty. But in actual operation, there are always various accidents. Redundant officials are commonplace, and the organization is bloated. So I plan to keep the ancestors. Under the premise of the law, some aspects reduce government jurisdiction, thereby improving production efficiency."

Before Mei Zhili could speak, the Dujian of the Bow and Crossbow Builder hurriedly came to the two of them, bowed his hands respectfully to Zhao Huan and said: "I pay my respects to the official family, and I respectfully wish the official family peace and blessings."

Zhao Huan took a look at the visitor. Unlike the dark and rough faces of craftsmen and technicians, the visitor had fair skin and no beard. He was an obvious eunuch.

"The bow and crossbow building yard is in charge of the servants?" Zhao Huan asked.

"Back to the official's house, the small ones are just supervisors, and the third group of envoys are really in charge of specific affairs."

Zhao Huan smiled, and it was the classic separation of powers style of the Song Dynasty.Is it worried that the three classes of envoys will lead a group of skilled workers to rebel?
"Tell me about your work."

The Dujian didn't dare to hide it, and immediately said in detail: "If weapons are to be produced, I will hand them over to craftsmen to make weapons according to the style prescribed by the Military Weapons Supervision; the craftsmen will receive raw materials after review."

"Calculate the number of weapons made every ten days, and use this to check, assess, and implement rewards and punishments;"

"After the weapons are made, they must be sampled and submitted to the government offices such as the Biandian for inspection, and the qualified products will be sent to the inventory;"

"Whoever leaks the design of the weapon will be punished as a violation."

Zhao Huan looked at Mei Zhili and said, "What do you think after listening to Qing?"

Mei Zhili didn't know what the officials meant, so he could only reply vaguely: "I think the military weapons supervision system is very complete."

Zhao Huan asked with a smile: "If it is really complete, then the armor is too fragile to be used as a arrow, who should be held accountable?"

The Dujian was so frightened that his face turned pale, thinking that the officials wanted to liquidate the past corruption with him.

Mei Zhili frowned slightly, aware of what the official said.The laws and regulations of the Armed Forces Supervision are very complete, but they are only governed by people, and deviations have occurred in actual operation.

The implication is that the most important thing to do is to maintain the internal laws of the military supervision and strengthen the external supervision.

Zhao Huan didn't continue to go around, saying: "I plan to separate these three divisions from the Military Weapons Supervision, and they will not be under the jurisdiction of the Military Weapons Supervision, nor will they be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and they will not even be under the jurisdiction of the internal servants. responsible for business."

"The government only proposes a catalog of military procurement needs, and the company that can provide the highest quality products and the shortest delivery time will deliver the order to that company."

What mode is this?Obviously, it copied the military-industrial complex of the later Midi to a certain extent.

This is a model that can greatly improve military technology and enhance the country's military and belligerent atmosphere.

It can change the court's weakness and add a bit of martial virtue to the court.

The current problem of the Song Dynasty is that the imperial court tends to negotiate peace in everything. Compared with investing money in armaments, ministers are more inclined to use money to buy peace.

At this time, the emergence of the military-industrial complex is very meaningful. They will use various relationships to coerce and lure ministers to increase their armaments.

Although this system is a bit extreme, it is indeed very suitable for the overly weak court of the Song Dynasty, and it happens to be a balance between the two.

Mei Zhili did not have a deep understanding of this model, and felt that this was not a system reform compared to the conscription bill.It just changed the supervision from the inside to the outside.

Then he said: "The minister will go to draft the system later, and after the official's approval, it will be made public."

The corners of Zhao Huan's mouth turned up, Da Song's openness and tolerance really made love unbearable.The ministers of the imperial court and the temple supervisors of various ministries all have a very open-minded attitude towards reform and are used to advancing with the times.

How could such an enlightened country and such a positive civilization have the heart to let her be destroyed by a barbaric tribe, and finally degenerate to the point where more than a dozen families share a kitchen knife?

Then Zhao Huan ordered: "When drafting laws and regulations, pay attention to adding supervision content. The Ministry of War submits the military procurement catalog to the Third Division, and the Third Division provides the plan. In addition to the Ministry of War and the Third Division to monitor the quality of military weapons, Taiwan's remonstrance must also be inspected regularly. .”

"If the Ministry of War checks out quality problems, the responsibility lies with the Third Division of Armaments. If Taiwan remonstrates with inspections and finds quality problems with weapons, the responsibility lies with the Ministry of War."

Mei Zhili nodded, and said: "Strictly distinguishing powers and responsibilities can make the Ministry of War and the Third Division of Armaments hostile to each other. It is difficult for the two to work together. After all, the Ministry of War will sign and pledge in the end and take full responsibility."

What are officials most worried about?Of course it's his black hat.If an organization has no meaning at all and may be abolished at any time, the officials must be worried and deliberately fight for power.

Under such circumstances, the three arms production departments will definitely work hard to improve their craftsmanship, eventually form their own superior products, and then compete for the government's share of arms procurement.For example, bow and crossbow manufacturing institutes are good at producing magic arm bows, so they will gradually increase workers and increase production capacity.East and west workshops are good at making armor, so they will build new furnaces and increase production lines.

This is much better than the government's one-size-fits-all mandatory division of the production content of each division.

Of course, in order to improve competitiveness, these three institutions will also improve technology and invent and create.

For example, the Dongxi workshop is bound to be inferior to the bow and crossbow maker's magic arm bow in the production of long-range weapons.

It is conceivable that the North-South Workshop will definitely try other technological breakthroughs, such as researching gunpowder and muskets.

The Divine Arm Bow is already the pinnacle of the cold weapon era, and it is almost impossible to surpass him in bow and crossbow.

Gunpowder has been highly valued in the Song Dynasty, and craftsmen are bound to study muskets.

(End of this chapter)