12dz Chapter 107 Competition
Chapter 107 Competition
"Please enlighten me, my lord," Xi Zhicai asked Chen Er.
"Zhicai, if you and your enemy were once evenly matched, and suddenly one day your enemy surpasses you, what would you do?" Chen Er asked.
"Then we must find a way to close the gap," Xi Zhicai replied without hesitation.
Chen Er nodded and continued to Xi Zhicai, "If a technique were presented to you at this moment, allowing you to close the gap or surpass an opponent who was originally evenly matched, what would you do?"
“Make use of him, develop him!” Xi Zhicai said.
Chen Er nodded: "That's right, that's why I'm not worried at all. The advantages of our autonomous region can't be surpassed in a day or two. As long as our autonomous region doesn't show too much ambition, those warlords in the south won't take action against us. Under such circumstances, they will do one thing, which is to annex others and then fight us in the end. This is the safest way. And if they want to annex others, the others will naturally not surrender and wait to die. However, at this time, neither side is confident of annihilating the other in one fell swoop, and both sides have found ways to quickly improve their combat power at the same time. So the competition begins. At this time, it's a competition of who can transform technology into actual combat power first."
"My lord, what do you mean?" Xi Zhicai somewhat understood Chen Er's meaning, but without Chen Er's past life experience, he didn't know how to describe such a relationship. At this moment, Chen Er said to Xi Zhicai, "This is called an arms race."
"My lord, what is an arms race?" Xi Zhicai asked, puzzled.
"This so-called arms race is a competition among feudal lords in terms of the quality and quantity of military equipment they use against hypothetical enemies or future targets when there is no war. In reality, it's about feudal lords strengthening their military power in preparation for a possible war. Of course, some feudal lords may only be aiming to intimidate neighboring feudal lords. But whatever the purpose, what we need to do is to sow discord among the feudal lords and spread inaccurate intelligence to them, causing them to engage in an unnecessary arms race." Chen Er said to Xi Zhicai, "If the arms race reaches a point where a feudal lord can no longer bear it, then even a small spark could ignite a war."
"My lord, do you mean to encourage the feudal lords to engage in endless wars?" Xi Zhicai asked.
"They mean roughly the same thing," Chen Er said.
Chen Er asked Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia, and Tian Feng, "I have a question for you: what is the most important factor that will ultimately determine the outcome of future wars?"
"A person?" Guo Jia replied.
Chen Er shook his head, and Tian Feng said, "The quality of the troops?"
Chen Er shook his head again.
Xi Zhicai asked, "Please enlighten me, my lord?"
"Actually, it all boils down to one word: 'money'."
"Money?" The three were puzzled at first, then suddenly realized that, indeed, if both sides' armies were equipped with firearms and cannons, both the personnel and the quality of the army would affect the course of the war. However, the side with more money, that is, the side with the best economic strength, would definitely be able to take the initiative.
"As the saying goes, when the cannons roar, gold is worth a fortune." Chen Er said, "Although it's not that exaggerated yet, we can all see that the biggest consumption of ammunition for pure firearms armies is indeed ammunition. Don't think that the consumption of a single soldier is not much, but once that number rises to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, the consumption of ammunition will become an astronomical figure."
"I understand!" Guo Jia suddenly shouted.
"Fengxiao, what do you understand?" Xi Zhicai asked from the side.
"I finally understand why our lord has been emphasizing the construction of arsenals," Guo Jia said. "I never understood why arsenals continued to expand and produce ammunition reserves after already meeting the army's needs. Now I understand that the expansion and technological innovation of arsenals can reduce the production cost of weapons and equipment, thereby reducing the military expenditure of our autonomous region's army, while ammunition reserves can ensure that our army will not face the risk of running out of food during large-scale wars."
“Fengxiao is right,” Chen Er said. “However, there is one more thing that Fengxiao did not mention. That is, only through continuous technological innovation can we keep our army at the forefront of the warlords, maintain our inherent advantages, and reduce our casualties. This is also a form of conservation.”
"So it seems that the most important factor in determining the outcome of a war is indeed money."
"That's not entirely true. This factor is based on the premise that the two sides are evenly matched. If a lord only has two or three hundred thousand people under his rule, and one or two counties, even if he is rich, he cannot defeat a lord who controls a province and has millions of people under his rule." "Yes, we understand." The three cupped their hands and said to Chao.
After today's meeting, Chen Er unified the thinking of the top leadership, and the Northern Autonomous Region entered a period of dormancy. After Li Zhong received Chen Er's order, he used a large number of spies to spread false information in the territories of various southern vassal states, exaggerating the military strength of the opposing vassal forces and igniting a fierce military competition.
The military competition among the various warlords, influenced by the broader environment, is being intensified by a hidden force, especially the power represented by Yuan Shu, which is massively expanding its army. Although no new reforms have been implemented, Yuan Shu's current army of two to three hundred thousand has made the surrounding powers of Xuzhou, Jingzhou, Yongzhou, Jiangdong, and other regions uneasy, fearing that they will become Yuan Shu's next target. Each of these powers is also building up its own army and producing more military equipment, targeting Yuan Shu as the most likely hypothetical enemy.
However, Yuan Shu's surrounding forces still had a certain advantage, namely that they had begun to replace their equipment with flintlock muskets. Yuan Shu, on the other hand, was immersed in his grand dream and ignored the rumors about flintlock muskets and the demands for reforms similar to those in the north. He spent his days indulging in pleasure with beauties in his mansion, and there were even rumors in Shouchun that Yuan Shu wanted to declare himself emperor. It is unknown whether this was true or not.
However, after this rumor spread, the warlords who bordered Yuan Shu became even more wary of him, since no one wanted another powerful figure to appear above them.
However, for Yuan Shao, although he was also adjacent to Yuan Shu, he was not worried about the threat Yuan Shu posed to him. After all, no matter what, they were still brothers. If the reputation of fighting among brothers got out, it would be a huge blow to Yuan Shu's reputation. Therefore, Yuan Shu could not take action against Yanzhou under any circumstances. Of course, if the rumors about Shouchun were true, Yuan Shao would be laughing in his dreams.