Zhang Yue thought that putting Shen Kuo in charge of weapons supervision was the right thing to do. But in fact there were still mistakes.
Shen Kuo studied crossbows based on ancient books and found that one stone in the Warring States Period was equal to one stone in the Qin Dynasty and one stone in the Song Dynasty. This was a very low-level mistake. At the same time, Shen Kuo was superstitious about the formations in ancient books. For example, the formations were based on various yin and yang magic numbers, relying on ancient times to show off.
Could it be that the Yang Family General’s Great Breaking Heavenly Gate Formation also has a historical basis?
Shen Kuo had many Confucian scholars' unrealistic assumptions, naive assumptions, and very imprecise self-confidence.
In fact, many places in ancient books were very vague, so Shen Kuo forced it to come true based on his own speculation and understanding.
The more Zhang looks at it, the more amazing it becomes.
Moreover, Shen Kuo admired the military formation tactics of the Tang Dynasty very much and wanted to learn from them in full. But the question is, are the Khitans of the Tang Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom of today the same thing?
During the Tang Dynasty, the Khitans were nothing more than a loose tribal alliance, and their cavalry were mostly lightly-armed and loose cavalry. The current Liao cavalry is equipped with strong armor and strong soldiers.
Zhang Yue and Shen Kuo chatted several times. Shen Kuo had the stubbornness of a man with a science degree, but Sheng would still understand that authority trumps reason when facing someone with a higher official position than him, so he would change whatever Zhang Yue said. What. Generally speaking, Shen Kuo is still a leader among contemporary technical officials.
Shen Kuo and Zhang Yue agreed on one thing. To deal with the Liao cavalry, it was still necessary to equip a large number of crossbows.
Zhang Yue advocated using cavalry to defeat cavalry, but cavalry requires many years of effort, and in defensive battles bows and crossbows are still the most important.
Now that Xixia is suing for peace and under the threat of force from the Liao Kingdom, the Privy Council has mobilized defenses in the northwest.
Thanks to Zhang Yue's pacification of Guizhang in the seventh year of Xining, he surrendered Dong Fei and Mu Zheng, which greatly reduced the strategic pressure of the Song Dynasty in the direction of Qing and Tang Dynasties.
Xihe Road, which used to be a place where hundreds of thousands of troops were constantly fighting each other until the Yuanfeng period, is now in harmony. Han and merchants each get what they need, and there are no major battles. Afraid of the Song Dynasty and Dong Fei, Mu Zheng bypassed the vast sea and attacked the hinterland of Xixia. Xixia also gave up its claim to land and sued for peace with the Song Dynasty.
With the capital, the Song Dynasty transferred most of the troops and horses from Xihe Road, which was originally heavily stocked with troops, to Shaanxi Fourth Road. Some troops from Shaanxi Fourth Road were transferred to Hedong, and some troops from Hedong were transferred to Hebei to achieve an all-out resistance to the Liao Dynasty.
At the same time, the war horses bought from Xihe Road also enriched the troops and horses of various roads in Hebei. However, it was still impractical for the Song Army's cavalry to engage in field battles with the Khitan. The governors unanimously decided to focus on defense and not to advance easily. They believed in the words of the DPRK and the Central Committee that they would win decisively within the Liao Kingdom and avoid repeating the mistakes of the Battle of Gaoliang River and the Battle of Qigou Pass.
When it comes to defense, bows and crossbows come first. The Divine Arm Crossbow has a long range, and the effective killing distance can reach a hundred and twenty steps. In fact, it can also be a hundred and fifty steps. However, in the armory supervisor's report, it was written that the distance of the formation was one hundred and twenty steps.
This is also documented in historical records.
As for penetrating iron armor three hundred steps away, that's what Ji Xiaolan said, confusing the maximum range and the effective range.
This is also a common problem among scholars.
Or Ji Xiaolan could shoot three hundred steps, which can penetrate the iron armor, and think that it can penetrate the iron armor three hundred steps away. In fact, it is quite good to penetrate armor from 150 to 60 meters away.
This is rigorous data derived from Shen Kuo's repeated training in the Ordnance Supervision. In fact, the Song Army's large crossbows had a farther range than the Divine Arm Bow, but they were large and inconvenient to operate.
The Divine Arm Crossbow is the culmination of both.
However, the God Arm Crossbow is also expensive, has the disadvantage of slow shooting speed, is very afraid of moisture, requires certain maintenance, and is not suitable for use in the rainy season in the south.
After a lot of experiments, Shen Kuo wrote detailed regulations and reported them to the officials. At the same time, with the help of craftsmen and experts from the Ordnance Supervision, he improved the manufacturing process of the divine arm bow.
Shen Kuo said in his memorials that there are six virtues of the bow. One is that the bow is small but powerful, the other is harmonious and powerful, the third is that it has unyielding power over a long period of time, the fourth is that it is strong in cold and heat, the fifth is that the sound of the string is clear and solid, and the sixth one is that it is straight with one stroke. . Officials ordered the Ordnance Supervisor to produce a large number of divine arm bows and first-rate fast-shooting horse yellow crossbows to equip Hebei armies.
As a result, Shen Kuo gained the appreciation of the officials. With Zhang Yue's recommendation, he was promoted from a living room keeper to a sifengyuanwailang, and his official post was added to the editorship of Jixian Hall.
Shen Kuo was of course overjoyed because his political speculation had paid off again.
Practicality is always the rule of thumb.
Shen Kuo also knew that what the slaves of the three surnames did before was wrong, so he told everyone that all this was thanks to Vice President Zhang.
Before the officials rewarded Shen Kuo, they asked Zhang Yue. Shen Kuo kept repeating his behavior without reason, and everyone knew that Wang Anshi advised me to stay away in fear. Why didn't you go?
Zhang Yue's approach to officials is to employ people without using their strengths or weaknesses. Your Majesty should follow Cao Mengde's approach in employing people based on their merit.
The official said seriously: "Thank you for your kind words."
…
Shen Kuo, who betrayed Lu Huiqing, was not only not punished but was promoted.
Many officials in the court saw that Lu Huiqing was now doomed.
Cai Wenxi is also one of them. Cai Wenxi is a fellow villager of Wang Anshi and a member of the New Party. When Lu Huiqing was gaining power, Cai Wenxi once paid a visit to Lu Shengqing's house.
After Wang Anshi resigned as prime minister, Lu Huiqing successively excluded those in the court who had political disagreements with him. Like Feng Jing and Zhang Yue, they all went out one after another. Even Han Jiang wanted to see his face. It can be said that he had overwhelming power in the world for a while.
At that time, not only officials from the New Party, but also many officials from the Old Party or those who supported the Chinese Communist Party also defected to Lu Huiqing.
Cai Wenxi maintained that she had an old relationship with Lu Shengqing and visited him at his house. Unexpectedly, Lu Shengqing gained power but did not pay attention to Cai Wenxi, and was rejected by the boss.
Cai Wenxi was very angry because of this.
Cai Wenxi also saw the direction of the trend, and there was no doubt that Lu Huiqing would lose power.
Cai Wenxi visited Cai Que at his residence and learned from Cai Que that Wang Anshi was ill.
Cai Wenxi chatted with Cai Que. Cai Que told Cai Wenxi that Yuan Jiang had previously asked Lu Huiqing to plan for the position of prime minister, but instead gave Zhang Yue the lead, which made him deeply resent Lu Huiqing. Now that Wang Anshi has returned to court, Yuan Jiang is on Wang Anshi's side.
Cai Wenxi deliberately asked tentatively: "Zhang Duzhi, Su Ziyou returned to the dynasty one after another, and even Shen Kuo was promoted. How long can Lu Shen, who is an upright person, stay in the temple?"
Cai Quedao: "In the past, Lu's participation in politics was nothing more than a kiss on a thatched house. But now his dismissal is just around the corner!"
Hearing what Cai Que said, it was in line with Cai Wenxi's judgment.
Cai Quedao said: "It is difficult for us to be admonishers and governors. When Lu Huiqing was impeached last year, Lu Shengqing and Lu Shengqing said that as long as he stayed at home for ten days and ignored the government, the emperor would stop all admonitions. "
Lu Huiqing followed Wang Anshi's consistent approach at that time. Wang Anshi claimed to be ill when he was impeached, and the emperor had to compromise in order to retain Wang Anshi. After Lu Huiqing succeeded Wang Anshi, when he was able to dominate the government and the public, he also relied on the trust and dependence of the officials on him.
Cai Wenxi said angrily: "Powerful ministers like Lu Shenzheng who control the government do not pay attention to the remonstrances of the whole court. Now that Wang Xianggong returns to the court, can he still be as proud as before? I have to go to court to impeach this thief. No!"
Cai Que smiled when he heard this and said, "How can you thank me?"
