Chapter 481 Keep it simple
Dongxiang of Ganquan, outside Baie Valley.

When Cai Zhaoji arrived here by horse-drawn carriage, she saw that the hemp fields on the slope outside the valley had been harvested and bundles of hemp stalks were being loaded onto trucks and transported to the riverside to make a hemp pond.

Next to the hemp retting pond, dozens of men worked together to hold the hemp bundles under the water with stones.

There were also some people holding long forks to turn over the hemp bundles that had sunk into the water a few days ago. Even on the road, Cai Zhaoji could smell the scent of hemp.

The carriage stopped at the gate pavilion. The pavilion chief led several pavilion guards to check the pass documents, and then invited Cai Zhaoji to change to the internal carriage.

The original vehicle used by Cai Zhaoji was not inspected. After she changed to a new vehicle, Cai Zhaoji discovered that this vehicle had a larger carriage and two pairs of wheels, so the bumps during driving were very slight.

She immediately realized that this vehicle was worth a lot of money. Based on her experience in recent years, she immediately thought that the appearance of this kind of vehicle on the battlefield would increase the shooting accuracy of the vehicle-mounted heavy crossbow.

She watched the entire Guanzhong Army take shape and take shape right before her eyes. Even during the initial expedition against the Huns, the hastily formed small teams were able to take the initiative to improve their equipment during combat.

What impressed her most was the sled. When the Guanzhong soldiers drove the sleds and fought with the Xiongnu cavalry, the Xiongnu cavalry were most afraid of being hit and chased by the sled.

Even the Hun cavalry did not dare to chase the sleds because the armored crossbows on the sleds could be used for close shooting.

Sleds are relatively stable in winter, and as long as they get close to each other, the armored crossbowmen on the sleds will dare to exchange injuries for death.

After fighting back and forth several times, the Guanzhong soldiers who had gained the upper hand preferred to shoot at close range.

This tactic spread to Hebei and became the key to Yuan Shang's counterattack and defeat of Cao's army in Liyang.

The heavy infantry led by Cao's brave general Le Jin was almost crippled. Up to now, Le Jin had not made any notable performance on the Qingzhou battlefield because too many veteran soldiers were killed and the new recruits could not keep up.

After suffering a series of losses, the Xiongnu cavalry began to fight in a perfunctory and disintegrating manner.

Now that this stable carriage has appeared on the chariot, it is very likely to replicate and repeat the advantages of the sled and heavy crossbow.

This type of vehicle has a complete carriage and may be able to carry several crossbowmen. These crossbowmen have the carriage as cover and can abandon heavy armor.

Cai Zhaoji thought about it, raised her hand and gently touched the wooden board of the carriage that was only coated with varnish, frowning slightly.

Guanzhong has no shortage of cattle and horses. If the entire army is equipped with such vehicles, will they be able to set up camp around the vehicles during expeditions and have a super-strong march that is difficult for all parties to predict?
At this moment, the forces of the Eastern Xianbei, the three counties of Wuhuan, as well as Yuan Shang, Liu Bei, and Cao Cao came to mind.

Cai Zhaoji fell silent and pondered, turning her attention to pondering the black bear's origins.

She didn't care much about whether he was a member of the royal family or not, but Black Bear attached so much importance to technological improvement and was bold in using troops.

This is actually very consistent with the Taoist origin. Since Confucianism has been the only orthodox school of thought, Confucianism has absorbed ideas and techniques from various schools, but Taoism is not bad either.

Taoist thought is more unconstrained, while Confucian scholars are restricted by moral constraints. Many of their techniques are inconvenient to study and use, and are even less suitable for public group discussions. It is impossible to gather everyone's wisdom to learn. Therefore, the freer Taoists are more efficient in learning techniques from other schools.

The reason why the Guanzhong soldiers became stronger and stronger as the battles went on was that the grassroots military officers had high arithmetic skills.

This is not a secret. She has also come into contact with some grassroots military officers. In addition to military merits, the calculation ability is also assessed to determine whether one is qualified for the position of a military officer.

In order to become an official, many rough and uncouth men can master various calculation skills after a simple training.

After the military officers who had learned arithmetic returned to the local areas and became centurions or team officers, they were able to personally lead the military and civilians in building fortresses and dividing land.

In addition, these military officers are more efficient in learning architecture and carpentry than ordinary people. As long as they are good at arithmetic, they can do the daily coordination and allocation work in their jurisdiction by themselves without relying on outsiders.

This kind of training in all aspects of life enabled military officers to master arithmetic skills in depth. Some talented military officers had already gotten rid of complicated calculations and could even do mental arithmetic and knew how to allocate things at a glance.

Arithmetic is given such importance that it is the foundation for the strength of the Guanzhong soldiers.

Cai Zhaoji became more and more certain that Black Bear was most likely a descendant of the Taiping Dao's core leader.

She had also seen Zhang Jue, and the black bear gave her a similar feeling to Zhang Jue, with a kind of grand bearing that measured the world, as well as a kind of compassion for the common people, and a kind of cynical and aloof attitude that refused to follow the crowd, which was almost the same.

She couldn't help but think of some other legends, such as the reincarnation of God.

If she calculated the time, she also believed in the reincarnation theories of Taoists and believers.

As for the pseudonym "Black Bear", the black color symbolizes water, which means to extinguish the flames of war.

Perhaps his real name is Zhang Xiong, or Liu Xiong.

She was unaware of the time passing as she was thinking. Soon the carriage stopped and a female official came to the front of the carriage: "Mr. Cai, your wife is playing Chinese ball. I hope you can forgive me for not being able to come out to greet you."

"Don't dare."

Cai Zhaoji calmed down and got off the carriage. The female official stepped sideways and gestured with her arm, then took a half step ahead and led Cai Zhaoji up the stairs.

Cai Zhaoji followed, and her two maids each carried a tray of paper manuscripts.

After walking for more than 300 steps, we came to a flat area covered with grass as dense as a felt carpet.

Dozens of women were seen surrounding Zhen Mi and Ma Yun, who were holding poles and hitting stone balls, and there was a hole in the grass.

From a distance of thirty or forty steps, Cai Zhaoji noticed at a glance that Zhen Mi, who was wearing a green and yellow robe with a white veil covering her face, and Ma Yun, who was wearing a red and yellow robe with a white veil covering her face, both looked pregnant.

What surprised her the most was the women who were accompanying her. More than a dozen of them were obviously pregnant, while the others were not clearly visible.

She was secretly horrified, and the legendary story of Tian replacing Qi unfolded in her mind.

She just looked calm and followed the female official to the pergola. Soon, Zhen Mi won the game of Go and brought Ma Yun to see her.

"I, Cai Yan, pay my respects to Madam."

Cai Zhaoji bowed to the two of them respectively, Zhen Mi just waved her hand and sat in the main seat with Ma Yun: "Mr. Cai, please take a seat."

"Thank you, Madam."

Cai Zhaoji sat down, Zhen Mi raised her hand to lift the bamboo hat under her bamboo hat, and then said: "The marriage between my husband and Cai is known to the world, and now there are many things to discuss with Cai. My husband is inspecting the north and Hexi recently, and it is not convenient for him to discuss this matter with Cai, so I am entrusted to discuss it with Cai."

Cai Zhaoji restrained her expression and said, "I wonder what the Grand Marshal means?"

"My dear, you have many concerns."

Zhen Mi spoke calmly and slowly, "First, the attendants Liu Gong and Zhong Gong both wanted to act as matchmakers. I also heard that the Yuan and Cai clans also had similar ideas."

This marriage is very important, at least it is very important in the eyes of the scholars in Yanyu.

They wanted Liu Ai and Zhong Yao to be the matchmakers, while the woman's side wanted Yuan Huan and Cai Mu to be the matchmakers.

Cai Zhaoji listened in silence, Zhen Mi continued: "First of all, you are the head of a region, and there is no elder in your family, how can you let others be the matchmaker and host the wedding? Your intention is to keep the wedding simple, and in order to encourage officials and people to keep their weddings simple and quick, the betrothal gifts and etiquette will also be simple. This will encourage the people and change the bad habit of marrying off the rich and wasting money and labor."

"This……"

Cai Zhaoji was embarrassed, and Ma Yun also said: "Etiquette changes with people, and the Cai family should not be rigid and rigid."

She looked at Cai Zhaoji, and even through the veil she raised her chin: "My lord, there is a shortage of people everywhere under your rule. Simplifying marriages will help poor people get married. This is a benevolent policy that will last for thousands of years. I am not an expert in classics, but I also know that benevolence is far more important than customs and etiquette."

(End of this chapter)