warring states careerist

Chapter 967 Comparison

All ten people got on their horses, took out the shorter muskets used by scouts from under their saddlebags, checked the flint, and rushed towards the scouts of the Qi army with a whistling sound.

The six people were in the front, and when they approached about fifty or sixty steps, they drew out their muskets and pointed them at the Qiren rider on the opposite side, and retreated quickly after one blow.

The two scouts from Qi were kicked off their horses, and the Qi people were very dissatisfied with the behavior of the scouts from the Mo family who violated the unspoken rules these days, and the rest of them chased after them.

After making two circles, the four people who circled to the flanks seized the opportunity and charged into the Qi people in a diagonal thrust. The six people who circled in front also turned their horses and went back to fight.

After rushing and killing, the Qi people lost four more, and the rest fled in a hurry.

The young officer on the side of the Mohist scout followed a Qi rider, and when the Qi rider approached the camp, he suddenly changed direction, whistled a few times, and rushed into a part of the Qi army camp that he had just noticed with his companions. corner.

The Qi army there couldn't react in time, and the three of them had already rushed in, jumping over the simple earth barrier by equestrianism.

For a while, the Qi army was in chaos. In the panic, three people hacked several people to death, seized two flags, and fled quickly.

When these scouts fled beyond the distance of the guns and arrows, the Qi army realized that their morale had been taken away, and sent more than 50 cavalry to pursue them.

The little nobleman of the Qi people who led the pursuit team was named Xuanyuan Lie. From this name alone, we can know his origin.

After the Qi-Mo War, Qi State carried out a series of reforms, moving against the times.

When all countries in the Central Plains were trying to change the well field system, Qi State took out of context the Guanzi School and strengthened the constraints of "the people do not change their jobs."

A great feature of the era of feudalism is the so-called "artisan spirit".

The more this feudal remnant is, the more obvious it is.

Just like the old men before the Mohist school, such as Gong Zao Ye, Zao Mi Qi Sui, etc., their families were scholars in the era when the people did not change their jobs.

Most of the public-made surnames were craftsmen who cast bronze wares for princes and nobles; most of the scornful surnames were weaving straw mats under the jurisdiction of Gong Yin.

Father and son inherit each other, and it will remain unchanged forever. Only in this way can the noble be forever noble, and the humble always be humble, so that it will not be easy forever.

Farmers should farm the land, scholars should be scholars, and businessmen should be businessmen, because the princes have discovered that once the people change their jobs, there are likely to be many situations that they are difficult to deal with.

For example, soldiers cannot be recruited, food cannot be received, and enough civilian workers cannot be recruited, etc.

Guan Zhong's reforms in the past years began to try to solve this problem. The way he solved it was public handicrafts. The five industrial and commercial towns did not send troops, but only taxes and armaments; the ten agricultural towns sent food, troops and people.

Once Qi Huan died, Qi State fell into the struggle of the five sons, and then the Tian clan replaced Qi. When the Tian clan's civil war ended, the Mo family had already established itself in Sishang.

At this time, Mrs. Tian looked outside again, ironware, cattle farming, new crops, the development of industry and commerce... It seems that it is no longer possible to do the same thing.

So they changed a bit, thought about who is the enemy, who is the friend, who is the reliable person and who is the unreliable person, and came up with such a wonderful reactionary change, which turned out to be very effective.

Because it was very close to Sishang, those nobles who completely dominated the fief farmers grew food, brewed wine, or mined mines to dry salt, etc., and became richer and richer.

Because the nobles were given enough benefits and a compromise was reached with each other, the nobles paid a fixed military tax and provided enough soldiers.

Because of the taxes, the money provided by some newly promoted merchants to the nobles, and the smugglers from Sishang, Qihou has a standing army in his hands.

Because of such a standing army, the troops in the aristocratic fiefdoms were simply not enough to fight against the central government, so the aristocrats became more obedient.

Because most of the officers in this standing army are nobles or noble sons, the interests of the army are the interests of the nobles, and the army and the nobles are the pillars of Qi's rule, so the interests of Qi are the interests of the nobles, which are realized by the army.

Surnames like Xuanyuan are mostly the bastard sons of the Tian family or other clan nobles, or some businessmen who have joined the Marquis of Qi exchanged money for such a surname.

This kind of aristocrats who are not genuine, or direct lineage nobles who are not genuine lineages, still retain their surnames, and basically despise these new nobles, and there is also a chain of contempt among the nobles.

Because the Tian family regarded themselves as the descendants of the Yellow Emperor, and believed that their generation of Qi was the continuation of the reincarnation of the Battle of Banquan, and the continuation of the Yellow Emperor's victory over Yan Emperor, so they came up with such a surname-in fact, neither Gongsun nor Xuanyuan could be Huangdi However, Tian pretended that the Yellow Emperor was called Gongsun Xuanyuan.

These orthodox aristocrats who are not the eldest son of the patriarchal clan form the basic pillars of Qi's standing army, and the experiences of many nobles and bastards are mostly similar.

They are not the legitimate sons of the family, so they have no inheritance rights. They have received a certain amount of education when they were young, and their military quality is acceptable.

When he grew up a little, he was recommended to go to the palace "to make up for the number of black clothes". Since he was a palace guard, he was familiar with Qihou.

They were then selected by a special organization from the black-clothed imperial guards, and sent to a special school for nobles and bastards to study, mainly to learn some new knowledge, tactics, science, etc. on Sishang.

After completing his studies, he first served as a low-level military officer, and after making military achievements, he was granted the title of Xuanyuan in some lands in Jiaodong that were originally difficult for the Lai Yi to rule effectively, and became a group of new nobles in Qi.

The aristocrats of the Xuanyuan family are court aristocrats to the greatest extent, as a restraining force used by Qi Hou to fight against other established aristocrats such as Tian, ​​Gao, Sun, and Guo.

It can't be the biggest, generally it is a low-level and mid-level officer, who starts as a company commander, and then obtains the fiefdom of about a hundred households.

These hundred or ten households are completely under the control of these new nobles, including but not limited to starting manors, digging minerals, organizing business and so on.

Not far from Qi State is Sishang. In addition, Jiaozhou Bay, Layden and other places were ceded to the Mohists as ports, and Qi State’s original industrial and commercial foundation has allowed Qi State to develop well in recent years.

For example, Xuanyuan Lie, who is leading more than 50 people to chase Mohist scouts, basically has such a life experience.

Born as a concubine, he received noble education in the family school. At the age of 12, he joined the court as a black-clothed guard. At the age of 14, as a black-clothed guard, he began to learn the knowledge of scientific warfare from Sishang.

Arrive early for the crowning ceremony and enter the standing army as Sima Commander or Company Commander.

Then he made some military exploits in some small-scale wars and the reconquest of the non-effectively ruled area of ​​Laiyi. When he was about 20 years old, he got the surname Xuanyuan.

Xuanyuanlie was confiscated in a village community of about 130 households, not far from Jiaozhou Bay.

The peasants in the village commune were completely at his disposal under the new decree of change, and he had friends such as slave children, and put the village society under their control.

The farmer's registered land in the fief was taken back, and each farmer was only given about five or six acres of land to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes to make a living, and the rest of the time he had to work on his public land.

Most of the time, some food crops are grown, because the development of industry and commerce in Sishang and the emergence of some new industrial and commercial cities require a lot of food.

Later, a winemaking workshop was built in his fief.

It can be said that the development of these village fiefdoms in Qi State has dealt a severe blow to Sishang's winemaking industry. The labor cost and taxation of Sishang's winemaking industry are much higher than those in Qi State. In addition, these things have no tariffs at all, making Sishang's winemaking industry was soon overwhelmed by Qi State after its heyday.

But apart from the brewing industry, there is no other industry in Qi that can compete with Sishang.

Every year, a large amount of grain, spirits, raw materials, cattle and sheep, etc. are transported to Sishang through Jiaozhou Bay, or such as spirits are transported to North Korea and Yan State through Leiden.

Then it was exchanged for money, textiles on Sishang, ironware, luxury goods, glass, mirrors, guns and so on.

Each enfeoffed new nobleman pays a certain amount of military tax every year according to the fiefdom, and his village needs ten people when conscription.

But it is not the same as the real enfeoffment system in the past. Under the patriarchal enfeoffment system under the Zhou rituals in the past, how many chariots and apprentices should be sent out for the size of his fiefdom and how many people, and the fiefdom nobles directly serve as the commanders of these chariots. Commander, join the army of the monarch.

Now it is the fiefdoms that send out military taxes and soldiers, and the training is assigned to special officers. After the disruption and reorganization, these Xuanyuan nobles and bastards will serve as grassroots officers instead of bringing conscripts from the fiefs to join the monarch's army.

The old nobles still have their own private soldiers, but these new nobles hardly have their own private soldiers. Such a standing army can crush the little private soldiers of the old noble families.

In addition, in the battle between Qi and Mo that year, the Mohists "shot" Gongzi Wu, which made the internal disputes of the Tian family fall to Gongzi Shan, and Gongzi Shan's reforms were somewhat effective. A certain amount of military spending.

Officers like Xuanyuan Lie are basically the cornerstone of Qi's standing army, so they opposed the war with the Mohists at first.

Because... the Mo family is difficult to fight, and if they win, they will suffer heavy losses and have no new land; the chance of losing is still so high.

But when the Mohists landed from Jiaozhou Bay and captured Zhucheng, Jimo, and Gaomi, and after the land reform was implemented in Jiaodong, new nobles like Xuanyuan Lie immediately became high-spirited. This is a sworn enemy.

The soldiers of Qi State's standing army are mainly serfs in village communities, and basically do not recruit urban citizens.

Originally, Linzi people and fighters, the pillars of Qi State, were quite bewitched by the theories of Mohist and Yang Zhu, pursuing equality, freedom, and universal love, so Qihou simply didn't use them.

Most of the [-] standing troops were recruited from the village community, and less than half of the officers were new aristocrats with the surname Xuanyuan.

Cavalry is also trained by conscripted soldiers, and their riding skills are not good, but they are also available.

Artillery is a professional arm, and the officers are basically nobles and bastards or soldiers.

In addition, after the Qi-Mo War, Qi State did not really fight a major battle with heavy losses for many years, which made Qihou 30 years ago forced by Sanjin to tie himself up and surrender, and was forced by Yue State to become a driver and serve as a guard The former Qi State has become the main force on the eastern front in the decisive battle with Sishang.

Shi didn't underestimate the state of Qi, that's why he paid so much attention to it. He insisted on eating more than half of it first, and then a smaller half.Because I feel that this kind of extremely numb village farmers are basically the best soldiers in this era except for the citizens who believe in equality and love, and only when they are extremely numb can they endure the death of comrades-in-arms and lead bullets. The cruelty of passing by but still moving on.

(End of this chapter)