Lu Dynasty

Chapter 353 Weights and Measures

Zhang Ji was complaining to me when he heard Dian Wei yelling outside the door: "My lord! Liu Ye brought some of his subordinates to see me!"

I had no choice but to let Liu Ye and the others come in. After a closer look, the few people Liu Ye brought were all influential old craftsmen under my command.The old blacksmith who forged the Qinglong Yanyue Sword and the Zhangba Snake Spear for me back then is impressively included.I hurriedly asked some old craftsmen to sit down, especially the old blacksmith, he is almost 80 years old, we should respect the old and love the young.Depressedly, I said to Liu Ye: "Ziyang! If you have anything to say, you can just talk about it. Why invite these old people? You must know that they are all treasures of our army. If there is something good or bad on the road, your The crime would be great!"

The old blacksmith stood up and said, "My lord, don't blame Mr. Liu, we are the ones who want to come!" I hurried the old blacksmith to sit down and said, since I knew him, he has made too many magical weapons for our army.If he is not too old now, I will definitely let him be in charge of weapon manufacturing.Although the old blacksmith can no longer make weapons for me, but now the person in charge of making weapons for my troops is his son.And half of the craftsmen who make weapons under my command are his disciples and grandchildren.

I looked at the old blacksmith and said: "You are so old, and you still have such a hot temper. We have known each other for almost 20 years! If you have anything to say, let your son talk about it or send someone to invite me. Why do you keep making such a trip yourself?"

"I came here because my son couldn't figure it out!" The old blacksmith said: "My lord, my son said that the weapons of your troops are already very good now, but there is still room for improvement. It is the lack of manpower now, plus the previous They all use Qiang slaves, and there are very few skilled craftsmen now. I hope the lord can find a way to recruit some craftsmen! My son also said that the efficiency of manufacturing weapons is too low to keep up with the needs of the lord's troops. I hope the lord can suggest something. Ways to improve!" The old blacksmith gasped as he spoke, after all, he was too old and spent his whole life beside the stove, so his lung function was not very good.

Fortunately, Zhang Ji was in the private room, so I hurriedly asked him to help the old blacksmith take a look.I said helplessly: "Don't worry! I am also preparing to recruit talents! When the time comes, I will recruit craftsmen and doctors together, so you will be satisfied! As for the efficiency issue you keep talking about, I have an idea that should suit you use."

As soon as Liu Ye heard that I had a solution, he immediately asked me: "Since the lord has a way to improve efficiency, please tell me directly. I haven't figured it out for a long time, so I have to ask the lord for advice. But these old people also want to know what the lord has. There was no way to improve efficiency, so I followed along! I didn’t persuade you to go back!” Several old craftsmen nodded when they heard Liu Ye’s words, indicating that what Liu Ye said was true.

I said helplessly, "Zi Yang, you have read the secret records of the Mohist school. Do you know why Qin Shihuang wanted to unify weights and measures after unifying the whole country?" When I asked, those old craftsmen all looked at Liu Ye.The old craftsmen must not know, after all, none of the craftsmen under my command have read much.

Liu Ye looked at me and shook his head and said, "I only know that Qin Shihuang is a tyrant and his system is tyranny. I have never delved into why Qin Shihuang wanted to unify weights and measures!"

"Actually, whether it is Liu Bang, the great ancestor, or Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, their overthrow of the Qin Dynasty is a retrogression!" I said with a smile: "The world says that the Qin Dynasty was tyrannical, but the Qin Dynasty increased its national power by relying on tyranny. From the weakest vassal state to a powerful dynasty that dominates the world, do you, Liu Ye, know why?"

Guo Jia said with a smile: "My lord, don't be a fool anymore. I'm waiting impatiently. If I make something happen in a hurry, then my lord will lose a powerful helper!"

"Actually, Ziyang should have read the secret records of the Mohists. When Qin Xiaogong asked Shang Yang to reform the law, the Mohists also believed that the Qin law was a tyranny, so the Mohists wanted to assassinate Qin Xiaogong. Later, Qin Xiaogong and Baili Xi's descendants jointly I persuaded the giant of the Mo family, Qin Huali, to let the Mo family wait and see Qin Fa. It wasn’t until later that the Mo family found that Qin Fa had indeed strengthened Qin, so they changed their attitude towards Qin Fa and supported Qin’s reform!” I laughed and said: "So Qin Shihuang's unification of weights and measures should be closely related to Mohism, because Mohism was making weapons for Qin at that time!"

Liu Ye asked: "My lord, you mean that Qin Shihuang's unification of weights and measures was to improve the efficiency of weapon manufacturing? And Qin Shihuang's unification of weights and measures was probably proposed by the Mohists?"

"Yes! Maybe you don't understand what I said! Let me make an analogy!" I smiled and took out a pure steel sword made by the old blacksmith and asked the old blacksmith: "I don't know how often you use this sword. How long did it take to cast it?"

The old blacksmith replied: "Reporting to my lord, it took me a whole month for this sword from selecting iron and casting steel to carving and adding the sheath."

I laughed and said, "If you were to choose only iron, how long would it take you to find the iron material for making a sword?"

"That's not enough to blink!" The old blacksmith said with a smile, "Don't look at my age, my lord, but my eyes are still good!"

"Then you can select the materials for casting hundreds of swords in a day!" I asked again: "What if I asked you to cast iron materials into steel?"

"It will take some work!" said the old blacksmith, "Now that I am old, I can at most forge the steel needed to make ten swords a day. If I were young, I could at least forge fifty swords a day." steel!"

"In this way, I will assume that you can choose the iron materials for 41 swords in one day! You choose the materials alone, and I will send ten young and strong boys to specialize in steel casting, and then send ten to specialize in sword casting. Human carving and scabbard making, how many swords can you make in a day with [-] people? If you do it alone, how many swords can each make in a day?" I asked the old blacksmith with a smile.

The old blacksmith said: "Even if all of them have the same craftsmanship as me, they can make at most 41 swords a month, but according to the master's arrangement, wouldn't they be able to make hundreds of swords in a day! However, the swords made in this way may It doesn't match the scabbard!"

"Then we have to talk about the effect of Qin Shihuang's unified weights and measures!" I laughed and said, "It's because you all use different scales, because there is nothing in the world that is inherently the same, so we have to force them to be the same. .If you all use the same ruler to measure, there will be no deviation in the things you make. We have unified the scales in our hands, as if you are all using the same ruler, so that the sword and scabbard will not Not worthy, and you just need to make as many weapons as possible!"

(End of this chapter)