Wu Qi lamented that the world might be changing, but he didn't know that the land under his feet was already a little different from the original history.

Originally, after the Ma Ling, which had caused Wei to decline in one fell swoop in the next few decades, it was the city of Wei from Liqiu to Jishui.

Originally, in the final battle of Qi Valu a few years ago, the Lu State was also defeated and ceded a large amount of western land, allowing the power of the Qi State to extend to Taoqiu.

However, a few years ago, in the last battle of Qi and Lu, the Mo family took the lead in sending troops to intervene, and finally defeated the Qi army in the last battle, which contributed to the Lu State to join the non-offensive alliance and defend the western territory of the Lu State, so that between the Mojia Sishang, the Song State Taoqiu and the Wei and Qi States, there were still hundreds of miles of land of the Lu State as a buffer.

Soon after passing the hill, it still belonged to the country of Lu at this time, and the style here was completely different from the north of the big river.

The atmosphere of "agriculture is not as good as work, industry is not as good as business, and embroidery is not as good as leaning on the city" in Handan is even more serious.

Further ahead is the Taoqiu known as "the middle of the world", this is one of the most prosperous cities in the Central Plains at this time, the Yellow River has not been diverted, the fertile soil plain in the southwest of Shandong is crisscrossed by rivers, the spread of iron cattle farming in the past 20 years, have made this a rich place in the world.

Taoqiu, like Yangzhou in later generations, is a city that prospered because of the canal, Tao Zhugong was once developed here, Yidun was rich here, and the business atmosphere here is the best in the world.

In the past, in order to enter the Central Plains, the husband fought for hegemony, excavated Heshui, which is a very strategic canal, relying on bones, stone tools and bronze tools to excavate the completion of the Taoqiu became the center of the world's commerce in one fell swoop.

Heshui connects Heze, which has abundant aquatic plants, beautiful fish and shrimp, Jishui, which is connected to the Yellow River through Sanjin, Surabaya, which is also going to Pengcheng, and connects with the Huai River and the Yangtze River through Hangou.

Under the advantage of water transportation, this is the center of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, as well as the Si, Ji, Huai and other plain areas, and its wealth can be known naturally.

In particular, the Mojia family took the lead in carrying out agricultural technological changes in Sishang, which made the prosperity here ten times that of 20 years ago.

Wu Qi has always heard that Taoqiu is rich, and before he reached Taoqiu, he saw a piece of elegance and couldn't help but sigh at the Mo family's ability to govern.

When you get close to Taoqiu, you can see a huge fortress like Handan, and under the tower, Wu Qi looked at this Taoqiu city with the habit of a general, thinking that if such a city did not have a lot of cannons, it would be difficult to take it.

In the past few years, a lot of news has been circulated, such as the tactics of the Mo family breaking through the trenches of Tengcheng without injury, and blowing up the city wall with gunpowder, which has already been carefully studied by the world's famous generals.

Wu Qi naturally studied it, otherwise he would not have relied on gunpowder to break the city in the battle of the mighty Great Liang that year.

It's just that after studying it, he also knows that the use of this tactic requires the besieging side to have a lot of artillery cover, otherwise there is no chance to approach the city wall. The number of cannons has begun to determine whether the siege can be won, if the bronze cannons are not enough, large cities such as Taoqiu and Handan will inevitably become purgatory for the besieging side.

After approaching Taoqiu City, Wu Qi roughly estimated that if he wanted to break through Taoqiu, he was afraid that he might not be able to concentrate the number of artillery of the Wei State.

In recent years, the cannon casting technology has become a technological innovation that all countries are competing to grasp, and the copper smelters of various countries have basically changed careers, and the Wei State has also begun to cast its own copper cannons, but the gunpowder technology has not been able to unravel, and can only be purchased from the Mo family for reasons such as "opening mines, building canals, and benefiting the people".

Fortunately, the Mo family has been surprisingly generous in recent years, and as long as they have money and good reason, they can buy it, which also makes countries have no super motivation to carefully ponder the ratio of gunpowder.

About thirty miles northwest of Taoqiu, there was also a huge military camp where the banner of the Mo family fluttered, and Wu Qi had already noticed it when he passed by.

He has been in the Wei capital for several years, in the whirlpool of political struggle within the Wei State, although he often reads Mohist books and newspapers, learns geometry and nine numbers, etc., but he does not know what Sishang looks like.

Looking at the majestic Taoqiu City, Wu Qi asked the person who was talking with the car: "Taoqiu belongs to the Song Dynasty, and the Mo family garrison is here?" I look at the military camp along Heze in the northwest, there are more than 10,000 garrisons, how many are there in the Mo family? ”

The tall man has been searching hard for the news of the Mo family in Sishang, how to say that he was also in the same door twenty years ago, and he knew the power contained in the Mo family when he was in the same door, and it was also a place where the Qin State was used to learn from the reform.

So he said: "The Gongzhi army is well-organized, and the third division of the Mo family's infantry and Taoqiu Yishi are stationed in that camp. ”

Military divisions are all military units that pass at this time, but the number of countries is different, but the base system is all five-decimal system, with five brigades as divisions.

The Zhou system had 2,500 men as divisions and 500 brigades. The Qi system has 2,000 people as a brigade, and the Qi country has no division establishment, and from the Qi Huan era, it has taken five brigades as an army, and an army of 10,000.

The Mohist brigade system is between the Qi system and the Zhou system, one brigade and five thousands. After gaining the Sishang States, the establishment of brigades alone was no longer enough, so five brigades were used as divisions, and one division had 7,500 men.

The situation in Sishang is special, and Wu Qi has also heard of it, and knows that there is a distinction between "righteous teacher" and "ink master". If the army composed of several small countries in the non-offensive alliance is trained and organized by the Mo family, it is actually no different from the Mo army, but it still belongs to each country in name and is called a righteous teacher.

The Mo Master is completely the Mo family's own army, whether in name or actual control, this is an army that only obeys the orders of the Mo family and has nothing to do with the Song, Zou and other countries.

After the tall man finished speaking, he said, "The commander of this third division is named Six Fingers. He was a suitable disciple, and he made great contributions during the first battle of the water, and he was the representative of the ink of the brigade at that time. ”

As soon as he mentioned this name, Wu Qi smiled and nodded, "I know this name." In the battle of Huangshui that day, it was the journey led by this man to break through the left flank of the Yue people, and the division of troops to pursue made the Yue people unable to assemble, and finally it was the people of that brigade who captured the Yue Wang. ”

"The battle of the most Zhulu was also instigated by the Chinese army to break the Chinese army of the Qi people, and he was indeed talented. This representative of the Mo family in the army is like the national and high school families at the time of Qi Huan? Ordered by the Son of Heaven, he went out to fight as the deputy marshal of the left division and the right division, Zuo Qi Hou, once the Qi country changed, he could obey the order of the Son of Heaven and suppress Qi Jiang? ”

The tall man thought for a moment and said, "Yes...... Neither is it. The Mohist military system cannot be learned elsewhere. The representatives of this division and brigade have the ability to lead the army, but they must also understand what it means to benefit the world, and take this as the criterion. ”

Wu Qi heard the three words "benefit the world" that his ears were calloused in these years, and he understood the meaning of the sentence "you can't learn it elsewhere", the Mo family is synonymous and let everyone know what righteousness is, everyone can judge whether it is righteous, and there are many systems, so that the handsome person can not move lightly.

He understood that this really couldn't be learned, thinking about this six-fingered person who had become famous in the past few years, and when he heard it, he was a pariah and didn't even have a surname, so he nodded and praised: "The Mo family system is already stable. Although Mo Zhai has passed away, there is no danger of being as good as Confucianism for the time being. ”

The tall person's vision is finally inferior, and he said strangely: "Why did the public say this? ”

Wu Qi said with a smile: "The poultry is the same age as Mozi, and he is old. For example, in various countries today, coups are frequent. The more there is the change of killing the father, the more the Song has the disaster of going to the king, the Zheng has the worries of Qimu, the dispute between Zhao and the son, the Qin has the nobles forcing the king to commit suicide, and the rebellion of the Qi Youtian clan on behalf of the Qi ......"

"At the time of the handover of the throne, these six fingers are not only the disciples of the sage, but also the confidants. He led the army but was not stationed in Peixian, but in Taoqiu, it can be seen that the Mo family was stable internally. Otherwise, if you can climb to a high place all these years, don't you understand these truths? ”

When the man heard this, he said in his heart that Wu Qi thought that he was greedy and lustful, and he would only lead troops to fight, govern the government and the people, change the law and seek strength, and would not do those political conspiracies. In fact, it was a big mistake, and I thought of Wu Qi's idea that he didn't resent his uncle acne a few days ago when he was belittled, and he knew in his heart that this person could climb from a scholar to the status of Megatron, but he was afraid that he was not as stupid in political fighting as people thought.

Wu Qi just said something, then stopped mentioning the matter, and asked: "The city of Taoqiu is built like this, and it will cost a lot, and who paid for it?" Taoqiu belongs to the Song Dynasty, why does Taoqiu also have a righteous teacher? ”

The tall man knew about this and replied: "The third division of the Mo family is stationed here, and that is to prepare for the unjust war of Qi, Wei and other countries. Taoqiu is rich, the world wants to take it as a fiefdom, after the battle of the Qi country, the third division of the Mo family was stationed here. ”

"This Taoqiu city was completed three years ago. Half of all the expenses were paid for by the merchants of Taoqiu, who hired local labor. ”

"This place pays a certain tax and Song every year, and the rest is considered to be autonomous. The training and organization of the righteous teacher are all contributed by the Mo family, and the cost is also provided by Taoqiu merchants. ”

Wu Qi has always had a doubt about how many soldiers Sishang can raise, and he knows the money and manpower spent to build such a city wall, and he also knows that the money spent by the Mo family righteous master to complete the armament is unimaginable in Xihe, and he can't help but be shocked.

"Merchant pays? The businessman seeks profit, and the businessman of this Taoqiu is willing to pay? Moreover, the cost is so great that it is difficult to get it even if it is a feudal king, and the wealth of this pottery mound is so much? How did it take so much manpower to build the walls and form a division? Everyone is out of production, and the logistical support is also innumerable......"

His experience in Xihe told him that to organize such a large army and build such a defensive wall, which was very different from the previous one, the cost of money and manpower was far beyond the burden of a small feudal lord.

As early as in Weidu, he often heard people say that Sishang was rich, but he didn't expect that he hadn't arrived in Sishang yet, but in Taoyi, which was enough to shock him.

This completely departed from his preconceived impression of the era of feudal serf conscription, and felt that it was simply impossible.