Master Kong Zhongni

Chapter 173 Let me ask you if you have a big card

The cold winter wind was whistling, and on the endless plain, three chariots drove side by side.

Jae Yu stood on the car and held on to the fence, feeling his face was going numb.

Zi Gong standing next to him was not much better, he was wrapped in a layer of fox fur, and the Confucian crown he used to wear was replaced with fur.

But even so, it was still not enough, and he had to wrap another layer of silk scarf on his face before giving up.

They bid farewell to the warm quilt early in the morning and came to the field to gallop on horses. Of course they were not full.

The coldest season is about to pass, and the day of spring is not far away.

And after the arrival of spring, the work of spring plowing will also be put on the agenda.

According to the records in the library, there will be a severe drought in Lu State this year, so stabilizing grain production has become Zaiyu's top priority.

Under his arrangement, large and small ditches and ponds in Tuqiu have begun to store water in advance.

Ran Qiu is also intensively planning to dig new channels, and strive to irrigate all the arable land in Tuqiu with water.

Fortunately, Tuqiu was accompanied by Zishui. If there was no Zishui, and there was a sudden drought for several months, Zaiyu really didn't know where to find water for a while.

However, it is far from enough to guarantee the agricultural production of Tuqiu. Once a drought occurs, there will be a large number of hungry and displaced people.

In the eyes of other doctors, these hungry people may turn into mobs who burn, kill and loot at any time, so they avoid them one after another.

But in Zaiyu's view, as long as the hungry people can be fed, then these people are all good people.

If they are fed enough, and this group of people still commit crimes, it will not be too late to be punished as a mob at that time.

But in this way, contradictions arise.

First, how many victims can be fed by the grain stored in Tuqiu's warehouse?
Second, if the victims are fed and there are still people with evil intentions who want to cause turmoil, can the three melons in Zaiyu's hands beat them?
Tuqiu's current grain reserves are enough for the local people to eat in the first half of the year with quality and quantity.

The effective combat power of Zaiyu's subordinates includes 50 soldiers who are completely off-duty for military training, three chariots, and [-] young adults who occasionally train.

Although eight hundred young and strong sounds quite bluffing, it seems to be the same as the three hundred warriors of Sparta.

But in fact, the military quality of these 800 people is completely incomparable with the [-] soldiers who have been trained completely off-duty.

And the gap between their equipment is one sky and one earth.

The equipment of the Tuqiu soldiers was uniformly equipped by Zai Yu in accordance with the standards of Wei Wuzu.

Although Zai Yu couldn't make them each wear three layers of armor like Wei Wuzu did, at least they had two sets of leather armor, a crown and a sword.

In addition, each person is also equipped with a three-shot continuous crossbow produced by the Tuqiu carpenter's workshop, and carries fifty crossbow arrows with him.

After more than half a year of training by Shen Sui, these fifty soldiers were no longer the rabble that was hard to follow orders and prohibitions.

Among the fifty soldiers, the most brave ones were the eight Ju people who surrendered.

Perhaps these eight people knew that they had no way out, or perhaps they felt that Zaiyu's monthly military salary of one hundred dollars was too much.

So every time they practiced, they tried their best to prove that they were worthy of the price. Not only that, they also took the initiative to act as Jae Yu's lobbyists.

Every rest day, they would go together to visit their old boss Ji Sheng who was undergoing labor reform in a mine outside the city.

In the past six months, Ji Sheng, a sharp archer in Ju State, underwent labor reform in the Tuqiu Coal Mine in the morning and ideological reform in the Tuqiu Township School in the afternoon.

After six months of baptism, he finally repented, turned to the light, and made up his mind to start a new life.

A few days ago, Ji Sheng even published an article in "Tuqiu Monthly" entitled "Why I Became on the Road of Fighting the Rong, Di and Barbarians".

At present, Ji Sheng has changed his mind, swore allegiance to Tu Qiu, and resumed his post as an officer in the army, responsible for leading his original eight subordinates.

There was Shen Shun's command, a sharpshooter like Ji Sheng assisted, and fifty well-trained soldiers.

If Tuqiu's [-] young adults with only farm tools were really pulled to fight them in the field, I'm afraid it would only result in a one-sided massacre.

At this time, Zai Yu finally understood why there were cases in later generations where eight million people beat one hundred thousand and still won a big victory.

For something like an elite soldier, it might not be very effective if it is brought out individually, but as long as there are hundreds or thousands, the strength it exerts is enough to withstand an army of ten thousand people.

Although such elite soldiers cost money, the most important thing Zaiyu lacks now is money.

According to his estimation, in terms of the profit from selling books, he can support an armored elite army of about 300 people.

Three hundred armored soldiers, it doesn't seem to be a lot to say, but it's also worth comparing with others.

Compared with Qi Jin and other hegemonic powers, Zai Yu's 300 people are indeed not enough.

Compared with regional powers such as Lu Song, Zai Yu is not a strong man.

But if we continue to lower our psychological expectations and change the objects of comparison to Qi Kingdom and Zhu Kingdom, which are less than a hundred miles away from Tuqiu...

Zaiyu's three hundred soldiers suddenly became a little scary.

Although these two countries were also prominent in the Western Zhou Dynasty, one of them is a direct descendant of Dayu, and the other is a direct descendant of Huangdi.

The monarchs of the two countries are all dukes appointed by the emperor of Zhou. Which country would not respect society when they see them?
But society is also a thing of the past.

Since Zhuguo was sealed in Zhudi, the size of the country has basically remained the same.

It was even worse for the Qi State. They didn't belong to the Qilu area at the beginning. The ancestors of the Qi State were originally sealed in Qidi.

But the land of Qi is not in the land of Qilu, but in the fertile land of the Central Plains.

As for how they got here all the way without anyone noticing, they have to thank Song Guo, Huaiyi, Xu Guo and other forces for their lack of virtue.

There's no way, the brothers don't want to get rid of you, Xiao Qi, it's just that the land in the Central Plains is so good, the brothers can't stand the temptation!

Qi State is not only often sanctioned by iron fists from its neighbors, but also suffers a complete defeat on the diplomatic front.

The country of Qi was originally a duke country, but was demoted one after another. The marquis and earl have now become viscounts.

Both Qi State and Zhu State are small countries with hundreds of soldiers, and the number of soldiers in the country is roughly in the range of three to four hundred.

However, although they are all armored soldiers, Qi State and Zhu State obviously cannot be compared with Tuqiu armored soldiers.

After all, there was no concept of a professional army at this time. Soldiers from various countries were called out temporarily during wars. Although they usually participated in military training, they could not do full-time training like Tuqiu.

This is also an important reason why Wu Qi's Wei soldiers in later generations were able to run rampant in the world.

It's obviously an entertainment bureau for amateur players, but if a professional player is suddenly invited to compete, isn't it natural to be beaten up?

The place Zaiyu is going to visit today is Pingyang, the capital of Qi State.

However, the purpose of his trip was not violent at all, he was just going to Qi State to discuss business.

Only after the deal was concluded, could Jae Yu become violent.

Perhaps because of the history of many disasters in Qi State, Qi people have always had a strong sense of urgency.

Qizi has invited Zaiyu to Qi State as a guest many times since he knew that Zaiyu was appointed as Dr. Tuqiu, hoping to establish a good relationship with this new neighbor.

But at that time, Zaiyu didn't know that Qi State had copper mines that could be used as weapons, let alone phosphate rocks that could be used as phosphate fertilizers, so he could only politely refuse.

But now that he knew, even if the wolfberry was not invited, Zaiyu would take the initiative to bring it to his door.

Last month, he sent someone to make a report to Qufu.

According to the report, the current situation in the world is turbulent, and Qi and Jin are secretly wrestling with each other. If Lu State wants to resist Qi State, it must unite with the strength of Qi State.

I, Doctor Qiu, Zaiyu, as a small traveler from the Lu Kingdom, how can I just sit idly by and ignore it at this time of national calamity?
Zaiyu is willing to share the worries of the monarch, and go to the state of Qi to win the support of the Qi people.

Because there are people in Zaiyu's court, and the relationship with Qi has not been the diplomatic focus of Lu State.

Therefore, after deliberating on Jae Yu's report, Qufu quickly approved his proposal.

By the way, he was also granted a sum of money for the mission.

In this way, Fan Li did not travel at public expense yet, but Zai Yu first came to "spend the office's money and do his own business".

Because of the mission, Zai Yu had already sent a note to Qi State in advance.

So it was smooth sailing along the way.

And when the sun crossed the midline of the sky, Zaiyu had already seen Pingyang, the capital of Qi State, appear on the horizon.

And in front of Pingyang City, there are several groups of musicians lined up neatly.

Before Zaiyu got close, he heard the fluttering of vocal music.

Zai Yu frowned: "What are you doing?"

Zi Gong was also suspicious: "Could it be that Qi Zi came out of the city to meet him?"

　I love seeing you vote, it's so beautiful to see you vote.

　　——Excerpt from "Zaiyu's Diary"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)