My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 603 Old Friends

This marks the sixth year since Liu Rong ascended the throne and the ninth year he has held power over the Han dynasty.

During these nine years, the major events that happened to the Han Dynasty—especially the ones worth mentioning—seemed to have all occurred outside the Han territory.

The Han-Xiongnu Chaona War, the Hetao-Mayi Campaign, and the Gaoque Battle.

Internally, the reforms were mainly piecemeal, involving bureaucratic reform, official salary reform, and changes to the military merit-based accounting system.

Besides that, there doesn't seem to be anything else worth mentioning.

But unbeknownst to many, due to Liu Rong's rise to power, some changes occurred within the Han dynasty that went unnoticed—or rather, even if noticed, no one dared to pay too much attention.

For example, Zhou Yafu, the former Grand Commandant and former Chancellor who led the army to quell the Rebellion of the Seven States during the reign of the late emperor, had followed in his father's footsteps and spent time in the imperial prison after repeatedly refusing Liu Rong's offer of release.

As for the crime, it was exactly the same as the cause of death in the original history, neither too serious nor too minor: possessing armor.

The reason why this crime is described as neither too serious nor too minor is that, on a grand scale, it would be considered a conspiracy to commit treason or even an attempt to rebel!

On a smaller scale, it is a minor bad habit that is prevalent among the generals of the Han Dynasty in Gaoling today.

—In order to remain a general even underground, in the underworld, the old generals of the Han Dynasty would generally prepare a batch of weapons and armaments for burial in a way that skirted the rules and slightly overstepped their bounds when arranging their own funeral items.

The specifications of the burial weapons varied according to the person's status and position.

As a rank of Sima, leading no more than five hundred soldiers, he naturally dared not go too far—a few swords and a few bows would suffice.

A captain leading a thousand men, even if slightly more "extravagant," would only have a few more spears and halberds—light weapons that might seem like overstepping their bounds, but were still permitted to be buried with the enemy.

Once you reach the rank of Captain, things start to get a little out of control.

—A captain is usually in charge of a unit with 5,000 soldiers, making him an indisputable general!

Although he cannot compare with top generals such as Grand General or General of Chariots and Cavalry, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse—no matter how small a general is, he is still a general!

A captain commanding a thousand soldiers could at least be called a lieutenant general;

Even a platoon leader with 500 troops, if he had a little thick skin, would still keep referring to himself as "this humble general" or "this general";
Moreover, he was a captain who commanded 5,000 soldiers and whose starting rank in politics was 2,000 shi (a unit of grain).
Having such a high status in the world while alive, one should not suffer injustice even in the afterlife.

In the Han Dynasty, the basic burial items for a Commandant-level officer included a suit of armor, a sword, and a bow.

In addition, additional troops should be provided based on the type of soldiers the captain commands.

An infantry captain must be equipped with a three-sided armored large shield and three to five sets of swords and shields;
The rank of crossbow captain requires an additional heavy crossbow used by the captain, plus five standard light crossbows.

Cavalry Commandant – a position that the Han dynasty had virtually no of in the past few decades.

However, with the acquisition of the Hetao region, the Han dynasty accelerated the development of its cavalry forces, and this 'loophole' was quickly filled.

—The cavalry captain's own warhorse, a set of armor for wartime use, plus a lance!
At first glance, even expensive heavy weapons are only in single digits, which doesn't seem like a big deal.

But in fact, even these seemingly insignificant, single-digit numbers of heavy weapons represent a considerable fortune.

Take, for example, the 'several swords' and 'several bows' of the Sima level, who are the team leaders.

Nowadays, the cost price of each military-grade longsword produced and released by the Imperial Treasury ranges from eight thousand to twelve thousand coins, depending on the length and weight of the blade.

If we take an average of 10,000 coins, then several handles would amount to tens of thousands of coins.

This is still a bronze sword!

And it's still at cost price!
As for bows—if you're looking for something cheap, you can find light bows for a few hundred or a thousand coins.

However, in the Han Dynasty, where people treated death as if it were life, the bows used as burial goods obviously could not be chosen cheaply.

So, just the swords and bows buried with the rank of Sima alone would be worth tens of thousands of coins—almost a hundred thousand.

The significance of the figure of 100,000 coins is self-evident—it represents the entire fortune of a middle-class family.

In other words, the burial goods of a commander of the Sima rank alone, including military equipment, would be enough to bury the entire fortune of a middle-class family.

If the team leader Sima was some high-ranking official, then it wouldn't matter.

However, the rank of the squad leader, Sima, was only six hundred shi.

If Liu Rong hadn't increased the salaries of officials, a squad leader would have needed to work for several years without eating or drinking to earn 100,000 coins from a salary of only 600 shi (a unit of dry measure).

Moreover, for a squad leader without any background, the salary of six hundred shi (a unit of grain) might not even be enough, let alone if he saved it all up without eating or drinking—even if he spent it all on food, drink, and other expenses!

In the army, once you climb to the rank of squad leader, you have five hundred soldiers under your command. At most, you'll have three or five key men, seven or eight trusted confidants, plus a personal guard of twenty or thirty men.

Among these three or five humps, the team leader Sima not only had to support three or five people, but also their entire families, and take responsibility for all the problems of these three or five families!
When a woman gets married, a man gets married, or an elder passes away, the village head and the military commander must treat it as their own business.

As for those seven or eight trusted confidants, although they were not required to be responsible for their respective families, they still had to at least ensure social interactions during holidays and festivals, sending them wine, meat, and cloth from time to time to win their hearts.

The last twenty or thirty guards were mostly sons of prominent families, given to them by their fellow villagers.

That goes without saying—on the battlefield, we must not only give these people the opportunity to make contributions, but also do our best to avoid their casualties.

If anything were to happen to them, whether they were injured, disabled, or killed in battle, the commander would be responsible for them from beginning to end. The parents, orphans, and widows of the fallen would all be supported by the commander for the rest of their lives.

The reason why later generations say that Xiang Yu refused to cross the Yangtze River is similar.

The thousands of Jiangdong soldiers that Xiang Yu lost were all his fellow villagers and even relatives, who entrusted their lives to him one by one.

If he were to cross the Wujiang River and return to Jiangdong, the sorrowful gazes of these people alone would be enough to shame Xiang Yu to death.

All things considered, these few dozen core members alone have already consumed almost all of a squad leader's annual salary of six hundred bushels of grain.

If one does not receive military merit and rewards for a long time, and cannot afford to support his key subordinates, then retirement is not far off.

Under such circumstances, even seemingly insignificant swords and bows are not something an ordinary commander like Sima could afford to lose!

The reason is very simple.

To possess the financial resources to acquire such burial goods, the commander-in-chief would have needed to accumulate sufficient merit and rewards during his lifetime, thereby increasing his family's wealth to a certain level. However, if he had so many merits, he would no longer be a commander-in-chief—he would have long since been promoted to colonel, or even commandant.

Therefore, these seemingly insignificant swords and bows could actually cause most mid-level officers, who were stuck at the rank of Captain and unable to advance further, to lose most of their life savings.

After removing these burial items, what a squad leader could leave to his descendants and family, besides his connections in the army and his prestige in his hometown, was only some heirloom-like swords and bows.

Even the swords and bows left to their descendants as family heirlooms were the worst items left over after the burial...

If a mere squad leader like Sima has already reached such a level, then the higher-ranking officers like Colonel and Captain must be even more remarkable.

Compared to the corps commander who was buried with a few swords and bows, the captain-level corps would be buried with a few more halberds, spears, and a certain number of bows and arrows.

If conditions permit, I would like to add a few more volumes of my insights and experiences on military affairs and warfare.

A few swords and bows, worth tens of thousands, nearly a hundred thousand coins, plus a few more halberds and spears, plus his life's military experience, don't seem to add much more money.

But I'll say it again;

Military officers don't just feed themselves in the military.

As mentioned earlier, for a squad leader to command his 500 soldiers effectively, he would need at least three to five trusted lieutenants, seven or eight close confidants, and about twenty personal guards.

As the superior of the Captain, the first thing the Captain must 'support' is the two Captains under his command!
In addition, the number of key confidants who control the army and the personal guards who follow them is even greater.

Moreover, since officers at the rank of captain have already reached the threshold of becoming generals, they often begin to keep retainers, that is, private soldiers.

Although the number of people is small, usually only twenty or thirty, the captain himself is directly responsible for their food, drink, daily life, weddings, funerals, and even the weapons they use.

All things considered, even though the rank of a captain has leaped to more than two thousand shi (a unit of grain), with an annual salary of 1,440 shi, there is still not much left.

For a captain-level officer, the burial goods worth tens or hundreds of thousands of coins were also a considerable expense.

Moving up to the rank of Captain, the situation seemed to improve somewhat.

—A captain, with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain), and the title of general, are all top-ranking figures in the army!
On the battlefield, those who have the opportunity to be awarded military merits and ennobled are often high-ranking generals of this rank.

But no matter how high your income or status, it can't keep up with your high expenses.

One suit of armor, one sword, and one bow.

The armor alone that accompanied the captain on his campaigns across the land was worth tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of coins!

And a sword and bow—the equipment of a captain-level officer, could it be an ordinary item?

Even now, under Liu Rong's control, the swords issued to captains are uniformly made of wrought iron and steel!

Why is it only assigned to captains?
Because this thing is very expensive!

Moreover, its extreme scarcity means that prices simply cannot come down!

The price of wrought iron alone is three to five times that of a bronze sword of the same weight, and if calculated based on forged steel, it is more than ten times!
In addition, there is the labor involved in forging iron and steel—especially the scarcity of forging steel, a 'high-level technology,' in the Han people today.

It is no exaggeration to say that the swords worn by Han dynasty captains were worth one-tenth the weight of the sword in gold!
The Imperial Treasury could easily raise tens of thousands of coins just from the cost of materials—even if it's wrought iron. But once it hit the market, it could easily sell for two or three hundred thousand coins!
The same goes for the swords; the bows they carry are equally expensive, being rare finds on the market and even in the military, with a value generally not less than 100,000 coins.

喏；
A suit of armor, a sword, and a bow—these seemingly unremarkable three items alone are worth nearly 500,000 coins.

What does 500,000 coins mean?
According to the current price of grain in the Han Dynasty, which is around thirty coins per shi, these 500,000 coins could be exchanged for 13,000 to 14,000 shi of grain.

That's enough to feed the 5,000 soldiers under the command of the captain for more than a month!

Not to mention that in addition to these three sets, there are also more troop-enhancing sets such as the Cleric's Great Shield, Sword and Shield/Heavy Crossbow, Standard Light Crossbow/Cavalry Armor, and Cavalry Lance Set.

Giant shields and sword shields are relatively easy to obtain; they can be acquired for around 100,000 to 200,000 coins.

Heavy crossbows and light crossbows are a bit more troublesome, but it's just a matter of complicated procedures. The ones produced by the Imperial Treasury are only worth a few hundred thousand coins.

What truly astonished people were the cavalry armor and lances!
Especially the cavalry armor!
As a full suit of armor used to protect horses during wartime, a set of cavalry armor would often fetch hundreds of thousands of coins in the Han Dynasty market today!

Not to mention the lances, from the very first day Liu Rong instructed the Imperial Household Department to make them, they were made with forged steel tips and wrought iron counterweights at the ends.

If you count it on your fingers, the burial weapons of a captain-level officer would easily be worth more than a million coins.

A million dollars!
What a concept!
A family with 100,000 coins in assets would be considered a 'middle-class family' in the Han Dynasty.

The million-coin fortune was referred to in a sarcastic way by the aristocratic class as: "plain fief".

What is meant by "preserved seal"?

This refers to certain unscrupulous merchants who, through shady means, have amassed a fortune of millions.
Even a Marquis with a fief of a thousand households could only earn ten thousand shi of rent and taxes a year, valued at one million coins (at one time).

Despite not being granted a title of nobility, he possessed wealth in the millions, comparable to a marquis with a fief of a thousand households.

This is essentially granting oneself a marquisate without receiving an imperial decree. Although it lacks the title of a marquis, it has the substance of one—at least it enjoys a "precedented title" with an income comparable to that of a marquis…

From the two characters "素封" (sù fēng), it is not difficult to understand what a million coins meant in the Han Dynasty at that time.

—In the past, a million coins was the entire year's tax revenue for a marquis with a fief of a thousand households!
After Liu Rongping suppressed grain prices and established state-run grain monopolies, the grain revenue had become the entire annual tax income of a Marquis with a fief of three thousand households.

A Marquis with a fief of three thousand households is already considered to have a medium or even slightly higher fief.

Once a captain is granted the title of marquis—even if it is only a marquis within the pass with a fief of one or two hundred households—he will never be a captain before he dies.

In other words, this armor, sword, bow, and 'some' additional burial weapons represent a considerable expense for a captain, potentially amounting to a large portion of their family fortune.

These things, especially, if left to future generations as family heirlooms, can play a significant role on the battlefield.

They just buried it like that, and it wasn't even something cheap...

It's fair to say that there's a reason why the nobility of the feudal era were condemned as 'utterly evil' by later generations...

(End of this chapter)