Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 492 Chu State’s “Defects”

The origin of the name "ship" originally refers to "a ship with a wheel" and "a ship driven by a wheel".

Historically, paddle steamers existed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Because of their wheeled characteristics, they were also called "cars and boats."

In the Tang Dynasty, vehicles and ships with two or more wheels on both sides of the hull began to appear. In the Song Dynasty, there were even three-story high-rise ships that could accommodate thousands of people. They were also driven by paddle wheels. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Youliang's naval force 1 also used vehicles and ships to conduct water battles.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the earliest steamships of practical significance in Europe were driven by paddle wheels.

Later, the "propeller" was improved, a spiral propeller composed of several blades. Compared with a paddle wheel, it is more stable, will not come out of the water in bumps, is more difficult to damage, and has the advantages of lower cost. Replaced the position of the paddle wheel.

However, due to customary reasons, later generations still refer to steamships as "ships".

Of course, the current Chu State ship is neither a steam ship nor a true air ship, but... a human ship!

It is similar to the carriages and ships of the Song and Ming dynasties, mainly relying on pedals. In terms of improvements, it is the windlass, rollers, levers and other technologies of Chu State, which are unique in design and excellent in craftsmanship.

In addition, there are additional animal cages and incoming ports for infuriating energy - there is no storage equipment for large infuriating machines, but the warriors on the ship can input infusing energy into it in real time.

As for the "animal cage", it is a structure similar to a large hamster wheel. Livestock such as cattle, horses, and donkeys can walk or run in it to provide energy.

It cannot be used as the main driving force and is mostly experimental, but it is better than nothing.

After all, whether it is human power or animal power, although the efficiency is much higher than that of a paddle, in the final analysis, the "creatures" that need energy are also on board, and the improvement in efficiency is very limited - it requires the strength of one more cow. , which means you really have to bear the weight of a cow and its feed.

Only by using a Qi machine that stores a large amount of Qi as power can the efficiency be essentially improved!

However, the Chu State has also manufactured some of these types of river boats. After all, the craftsmen's craftsmanship also needs to be polished, which can be regarded as the "pre-process" of infuriating ships.

If you really need to use the river trackers, try to lay out tracks and "track bicycles" that fit in with the tracks. Track bicycles can be used for pulling fibers, that is, they can hang ropes and pull boats.

Especially in the river section where trackers need to soak their legs and even below their waists to work, try to build auxiliary bridges to pave the track.

It not only improves fiber pulling efficiency and saves the manpower that competes with water, but also improves the working environment of trackers.

In essence, it still relies on manpower, which is better than nothing +1.

In addition, Huang Yueying also designed a "water conservancy fiber drawing" structure that can build a waterwheel near the shore, and the power of the waterwheel, through gears and chains, will be used on a "moped" running on a special track. Save more effort when riding.

This further reduces the tracker's burden...

Just because it requires a large piece of flat land, and in areas with such waterfronts, most of the water will not be too strong, and naturally the role of trackers will be relatively small, so... it can only be said to be better than nothing.

All kinds of "better than nothing" add up. Without the application of the essentially innovative technology of "Zhenqi Machine", the transportation efficiency of the Three Gorges has been nearly doubled.

Although once the Qi Machine appeared, it could be improved several times to cover these "fancy" innovations, but Bai Tu still supported it.

Firstly, it encourages innovation, and secondly... it also accumulates technical experience for craftsmen!
Also in Wudang County, even though there are currently no large-scale Zhenqi machines, human-powered cranes, excavators and other tools have been made on site.

When the "Pan-Zhenqi Project" comes to harvest, Chu's productivity will improve by leaps and bounds - because the technological points in machine learning have already been selected.

And at this time, the auxiliary transportation project of the Three Gorges is more important... I don't know how serious it is!
Looking at the "trackers" riding strange two-wheeled vehicles on the shore, looking at the ships without sails, and looking at the waterwheels, Qin Mi fell into "unclear awareness".

Because the Chu army that just passed by and "protected" him would not give him a chance to stop and observe carefully, let alone answer unnecessary questions, so in Qin Mi's heart... even if he was told that the transportation efficiency had increased tenfold , he is afraid that he will believe it!

Although Qin Mi didn't know how effective these projects would be, as a qualified official, Qin Mi could at least estimate the costs of these projects.

Along the coast, there are elevated auxiliary bridges, vehicles and boats that look very complicated in workmanship, and huge waterwheels...

If he were allowed to supervise the construction and manufacturing, it would probably be a big project, and these were just to make transportation more convenient, then... the effect would definitely far exceed the construction cost!

Therefore, according to Qin Mi's speculation, the increase should be at least five to seven to eight times, which even increased the anxiety in his heart - after paying such a high price, would the Chu State easily cease the war?Is it really just for Zhang Lu’s Marquis Hanning?

And if the transportation capacity is increased several times, the pressure on logistical supply will be much reduced, right?Maybe... the reason why there is no increase in troops is just to make Yizhou relax its vigilance. In fact, the limit of Chu State is far more than 2 people!

In fact, it is not surprising that there is such a misunderstanding, because Qin Mi was referring to Yizhou's construction capabilities and Yizhou's labor costs.

Due to problems with materials and technology, Yizhou's construction capacity was far lower than that of Chu State, so in Qin Mi's mind, he took a high look at these constructions. In fact, for Chu State, construction was not that difficult.

Yizhou, on the other hand, has no workshops, relatively less wars, and the labor cost is as low as a living wage—especially when the government requisitions labor, it’s a living wage, and it’s not even enough for food!

Therefore, Qin Mi would not understand how important it was for the Chu State to save the manpower of trackers and laborers.

Nowadays, manpower in Chu State is very "expensive". For a tracker in such a bad area, one month's wages can be worth a year's harvest of a hundred acres of land!

It's not that Bai Tu spent more money, but after the rise of workshops, manpower naturally became valuable - after all, the entire Chu country only had a population of more than 200 million. After the farming efficiency improved and the workshop technology kept up, urbanization Flying up quickly.

Although the rapid change means an increase in troubles in all aspects, there are also many additional benefits that Baitu had not thought of before...

For example, the part of the population hidden by the wealthy Jingyang family has basically been found out through the census.

After all, if you are farming in the countryside, it is not easy for the court to check, and to a certain extent, they are not willing to make a renegade check. However, if you want to enter a workshop, you must have a Chu household registration!

Firstly, no matter how "trenched" aristocratic families are, they cannot withstand the skyrocketing value of human resources and still have a large number of anonymous households to work inefficiently in farming, as servants, and as coolies. Secondly, many anonymous households are also affiliated with wealthy aristocratic families. Relationship.

It's just that the imperial court, which was far away from the Emperor Tiangao, believed more in the wealthy families in the countryside. As their manpower soared, they were naturally and willing to take the initiative to leave the wealthy families and return to the position of the Chu people.

At the same time, aristocratic families who gradually regard workshops as an important source of income, or the emerging group of "workshop owners", are very keen on extraditing refugees...

The act of "catching slaves" was vigorously suppressed by the state of Chu. Banning slaves is one of the foundations of the state of Chu. There is no way to change this aspect, but... the state of Chu welcomes people from all over the world to immigrate!

On the contrary, the imperial courts in the Central Plains and other places have to suppress the circulation of people - this is completely different from the situation after the productivity has greatly developed and the population has been overflowing.

In the Chu State, as long as they abide by the laws of Chu, anyone will be welcome!

Even if Bai Tu uses trade as a bargaining chip, he can only ask the Wei State and the Han Dynasty to relax the immigration restrictions on imperial examination talents, but cannot directly threaten the other party, lift all immigration restrictions, and let the people travel south, otherwise the other party will definitely turn their backs in any minute. .

As a result, ordinary people in the Central Plains are unable to immigrate on their own, but... the wealthy families have their own channels!
Bai Tu also recently discovered why the influx of "refugees from all over the country" has been increasing and has not slowed down at all. An in-depth investigation by the Fengwei found that some Jingyang nobles were related to the Central Plains, Guanzhong, and even the north and south. The wealthy families in Liaodong were connected and steadily traded part of the population over...

Some are anonymous households and servants of wealthy families in other places, and some are ordinary people who want to move to Chu State but lack the connections!
The cost of moving these manpower to the Chu State, or the benefits of those noble families, was generally a ten-year contract signed with aristocratic families in the country.

And in order to "absorb refugees", local government offices also provide refugee subsidies and include them in the scope of official inspections. Therefore, if they can "acquire" refugees, local government offices will also support and commend them, so this can be regarded as a joint effort between the government and the people...

These aristocratic families do have their own wisdom, and Bai Tu had never thought of this before.

Baitu did not stop this, but focused on supervising the implementation of the "resettlement of refugees", implementing the distribution of land according to households and the protection of people who had become Chu citizens after moving in.

In particular, be on guard against "isolation" behavior. No matter how you come to Chu State, since you are already a Chu citizen, you will enjoy the treatment of Chu people. The legal ten-year contract is valid, but attempts to "isolate and captive" are never allowed.

No matter how much progress it makes, it is still far away from a welfare society. The advantage of Chu State is not welfare, but labor opportunities and higher labor value. Any labor force is lacking in Chu State.

As long as it is indeed in line with the ten-year contract of the "Laws of Chu" and there is no forced servitude or restriction of freedom, Bai Tu doesn't care where these people come from - if it is a headache, it is also a headache for the princes with population loss!

Even so, Chu State has always been "crying for support" in terms of manpower. Naturally, for Chu State, it is very cost-effective to build these auxiliary facilities and equipment to reduce manpower consumption by half.

Of course, the disadvantage of more expensive manpower is that the cost of the Chu court's projects has also increased sharply.

Bai Tu did not specifically pay more for the requisitioned trackers and other civilian laborers. He only rejected some officials' suggestions to reduce the official quotation for labor requisitions.

And Qin Mi still can't understand this behavior at all...

(End of this chapter)