Chapter 175 New System Features (5k)
After completing the task, Su Ze finally waited for the prize drawing.
As the system refresh countdown returned to zero, the eleven commodity grids emitted colorful lights!
Three orange, five purple and three blue!
Su Ze looked over excitedly, and sure enough, a new series of followers appeared this time - [Xiliang Iron Cavalry]
The [Western Liang Iron Cavalry] that appeared this time happened to be a minimum unit of five people, two orange and three purple.
[The Xiliang Cavalry with Superb Riding Skills]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: The Xiliang Iron Cavalry with superb riding skills, the squadron (20 people) trained by this follower can speed up the march;
Comment: "Its speed is like the wind"
Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required. This unit must provide meat for three meals.
[Xiliang Iron Cavalry with Superb Spear Skills]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: Xiliang Iron Cavalry with superb spear skills. The squadron trained by this follower (20 people) increases the ability of spear combat;
Rating: "Invasion like fire"
Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required. This unit must provide meat for three meals.
These two minions, one increases marching speed and the other increases spear attack power, are both very practical orange minions.
[Ordinary Xiliang Cavalry] *3
Grade: Purple;
Effect: Heavy cavalry that is good at charging and spear fighting, with superb riding skills and can fight with a spear in both hands;
Comment: "The big horse from Liangzhou, running rampant across the world"
Price: 500 wen tai and 50 baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required. This unit must provide meat for three meals.
The Xiliang Iron Cavalry was a professional cavalry unit owned by Xiliang Ma Teng and other forces during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. However, the so-called Iron Cavalry was not the armored cavalry under Su Ze, where even the horses were armored, but the heavy cavalry where only the riders were armored.
Therefore, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry's requirements for war horses are lower than those for armored cavalry.
The Xiliang Iron Cavalry are all Qiang people who are good at riding and recruited from the northwest region. They can fight with spears with both hands on horseback, or use the spear charge tactics of lancers. They are heavy cavalry units that are more flexible than armored cavalry, but slightly less powerful.
Su Ze was very satisfied. With these five Xiliang Iron Cavalry, he could select soldiers from the 800 newly recruited Qiang people and hand them over to the two orange Xiliang Iron Cavalry for training.
There is one orange unit left, but it is a non-military unit.
[A Western Merchant with a Wise Eye for Picking Out a Pearl]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: A Western merchant with excellent vision who can pick out the most valuable goods from a pile of garbage. The profit of a medium-sized caravan (20 people) led by this merchant is increased;
Comment: "It is recommended to submit it, starting from three years."
Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required, with a camel.
This time the system was finally not so inhumane and equipped this orange Western Region merchant with a camel.
Originally, the two [Western Region Merchant] series followers were left by Su Ze to Princess Shouyang. This orange [Western Region Merchant] is obviously better, and it is exactly what Su Ze needs at the Silk Road node.
[Taoist who uses talismans and water to cure diseases]
Grade: Purple;
Effect: Ability to use talisman water to comfort believers, and the stability of the area near the Taoist temple where the Taoist is located is increased;
Comment: "The Taoist who learned the method of curing diseases from the Taoist scriptures has no doubt about the effectiveness of his talismans."
Price: 500 Wen Taihe Wuzhu coins. To exert its full effect, a small Taoist temple is required.
[Vigilant Yulin Scout]
Grade: Purple;
Effect: It is easier to spot enemy scouts, and they can be deployed in small beacon towers for alert;
Comment: "Don't play tricks on the princes with beacon fires."
Price: 500 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins. To exert its full effect, a small beacon tower is required.
The three blue minions are relatively useful, but unfortunately they all have negative attributes.
【The lazy carpenter】
Grade: blue;
Effect: None.
Comment: A carpenter, but lazy and gluttonous.
Price: 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins. The working hours cannot exceed four hours a day. You must rest four days a month. You need delicious food during the rest period. You can be placed in a small carpenter workshop.
[Corrupted Blacksmith]
Grade: blue;
Effect: None.
Comment: Blacksmith, but be careful he steals iron ingots.
Price: 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins. The corruption effect may affect surrounding units. Can be placed in a small blacksmith shop.
【The Imaginative Shipbuilder】
Grade: blue;
Effect: This shipbuilder always has all kinds of strange ideas. The quality of ships built in batches according to ordinary drawings will decline, while the quality of ships built according to new drawings will be excellent.
Comment: "I only like to do creative work."
Price: 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, can be placed in a small dock.
After looking at the store, Su Ze discovered that the system actually had a line of small text prompts hidden:
[Players have obtained a base, the system functions have been upgraded, and buildings can be arranged. ]
Su Ze couldn't help but curse, "Is your system really poisonous? Such an important upgrade prompt, but you put it in such small words, are you afraid that I will see it?"
Su Ze quickly returned to the system main menu, and sure enough, he found a new function interface in the corner - Architecture.
Su Ze couldn't wait to open the interface. After reading the tedious system instructions, he finally figured out the new function.
This function is not what Su Ze imagined, the function in real-time strategy games where you can just take a picture of a blueprint and a building will pop up. First of all, this building must exist in reality and meet the system requirements.
Simply put, Su Ze can designate a building that exists in reality as a system-recognized building, place followers in these buildings, and give full play to the functions of the buildings and followers.
Open the building list, all buildings are divided into three types: "small", "medium" and "large", but Su Ze has only unlocked "small" and "medium" types so far.
Su Ze still felt that it was too abstract to read the instructions directly, so he called the [Daxia Dragon Bird Guard] beside him to protect him as he went to the training ground in Baohan City.
According to the system's instructions, the training ground in Baohan City is a "medium-sized training ground" that can accommodate 500 people for training. Su Ze selected "medium-sized training ground" from the building blueprint, and the system popped up a prompt:
[A "medium-sized training ground" that meets the requirements is found. Should this building be deployed? ]
"deploy."
With the deployment, the parade ground in front of him did not change at all, but in Su Ze's building column in the system, there was an additional [Baohan City Medium-sized Parade Ground].
【Baohan City Medium-sized Training Ground】
Building Type: Military Building;
Level: Medium (500 people);
Purpose: Can be used for military skills training. This training ground can be used to set up instructors for [bow], [cavalry], [spear], [halberd], [sword], and [knife]. Currently, instructors are placed (0/6)
Building function:
1. Entrusted training: You can entrust followers with training functions to serve as instructors in this building to train relevant arms.
2. More sweat in peacetime means less blood on the battlefield. Soldiers who have completed a certain degree of training will have increased morale on the battlefield.
Su Ze frowned. If this is the case, it seems that this building is no different from the original one?
In the past, you could also [commission] followers with special skills to train soldiers. This is what Su Ze did when he was in Yulin. What difference does it make to add a building function? Isn't this superfluous?
Su Ze decided to give it a try. He first recruited the Xiliang Iron Cavalry with superb riding skills, then arranged him to serve as an instructor in the training ground. He also asked his confidants to select twenty people from the recruit camp and give them to this Xiliang Iron Cavalry for training.
[A squadron is training in horse riding, the training degree is 43%, the training status is serious, the specific status of the soldiers can be viewed in the drop-down menu. ]
Now Su Ze finally understood the function of this system! With this training ground building, the system has digitized the training!
Su Ze can check the results of training at any time, and he can even check the training progress of each soldier through the drop-down menu!
Sure enough, after opening the drop-down menu, each soldier's training level was different, which meant that their riding skills were different.
When the training degree reaches 100%, it means that they have met the basic riding requirements for fighting on the battlefield.
With this function, Su Ze can train his troops more efficiently!
This is just a training ground. There are other buildings in the system. What are their functions?
Su Ze looked at the building interface and roughly divided it into three categories:
Military buildings, administrative buildings and living buildings.
Currently, common military buildings include [parade ground], [barracks], [city gate], [arrow tower], [beacon tower], [arsenal], etc.
There are only two administrative buildings: [Small Military Mansion] and [Post Station].
Living buildings include [blacksmith shop], [papermaking workshop], [brewery], [armor foundry], [Taoist temple], [Buddhist temple], [market], [dock], etc.
After deployment, the buildings will appear on the system map, just like viewing followers. Click on these buildings to see the building's loadout and understand the effect the building is having.
In addition to buildings, Su Ze also discovered that the system grouping function had also been quietly upgraded.
Today, the groups are divided into [Squadron], [Squadron] and [Brigade], and the leadership ability of a follower determines the size of the team he can lead.
Purple followers can lead a [squad] of five people, and orange followers can lead a [squadron] of twenty people. The [battalion] function has not been unlocked, and we currently don’t know how to form a battalion. It seems that we can only wait for the system function to be upgraded again.
Also because of the changes in the grouping functions, Su Ze readjusted the grouping. He studied the new functions of the system all night and did not close his eyes until the next morning.
All in all, this feature is very powerful.
This function is of great help to Su Ze in better controlling Hezhou.
Take the [Beacon Tower] building function for example. It can house [Scout] series followers. Depending on the grade and attributes of the followers, each beacon tower has a different monitoring range and a certain probability of missing the enemy. But in general, these beacon towers can form a border monitoring system to report enemy situations to Su Ze at any time.
There are also living buildings such as [Taoist Temples] and [Buddhist Temples]. Su Ze can now build some small Taoist temples and Buddhist temples, and then turn them into his own buildings, and delegate followers of the [Taoist] and [Monk] series to move in.
Both types of living buildings can increase the stability of the area. If a Taoist priest who cures illnesses with talismans and water is arranged to live in a Taoist temple, this Taoist temple can also have an additional function of distributing talismanic water. This function can also provide certain therapeutic effects and reduce the incidence of illness within a certain range near the Taoist temple.
As for buildings like [Dock] and [Blacksmith Shop], followers can be arranged to go in and commission construction, and followers with skills can also teach apprentices.
In short, followers are still the key to the system, but setting up buildings can allow followers to play their role more conveniently in a larger range.
-
In the following days, Su Ze incorporated [Architecture] into the system while inspecting Baohan City and the surrounding villages and pastoral areas.
The first is the Baohan Huqiang General's Mansion, which meets the conditions of a [Small Military Mansion]. Su Ze incorporated it into the system building. The small military mansion has three follower positions, namely [Household Cao], [Military Cao], and [Workers Cao].
These three positions can be used to accommodate corresponding clerks and attendants, who will submit summary reports on time, corresponding to the civil affairs and taxation, military law and weapons logistics work of the Huqiang General's Office respectively.
It’s a pity that Su Suan, the only household clerk Su Ze got, is now lent to Li Shizhe, so these three follower positions can only remain vacant.
But Su Ze was also inspired. He found Su Cho and discussed the reform of the officials in the General's Office of Protector of the Qiang.
"General, do you want to imitate the 36 departments of the Shangshutai and set up three departments under the Huqiang General's Office to take charge of different affairs?"
Su Ze nodded and looked at Su Cho. Su Cho said, "General, this idea is really brilliant. It is enough for the three departments of the military government. If it is used for civil affairs, we need to add some more."
Su Ze asked, "What do you think is missing?"
Su Chao said: "We still need the Li Cao who is responsible for the local etiquette education, the Xing Cao who is in charge of punishment and arresting criminals, and most importantly, the Li Cao who is in charge of the assessment and reward and punishment of subordinates."
Su Ze looked at Su Chao in surprise. Isn't this the six-department system of the Sui and Tang dynasties?
Su Ze then remembered that the six-department system actually originated in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, Su Cho was the most trusted adviser of Yuwen Tai of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. He probably had the idea of simplifying the thirty-six departments and establishing six departments a long time ago.
However, these will have to wait until Su Ze establishes the system. Su Ze said, "The military office is newly established, and these three offices are enough. Ling Chuo is the chief historian of the general's office. The matter of preparing to establish the three offices and confirming the chief officers of the three offices will be handed over to you. I will go to Xiping in a while."
Su Cho crossed his hands and said yes, then took it without any hesitation.
When the group arrived at the training ground and heard the sounds of drills, Su Chao also said with emotion:
"General, your training of troops is truly amazing. You have achieved such results in just a few days."
Su Chao's praise was sincere. He had never seen anyone as good at training soldiers as Su Ze.
He can keep track of the training progress of every soldier and select the best soldiers from the ordinary daily training. Now he has trained a hundred Qiang and Han knights with superb riding skills, and they take turns training in mounted archery and spear.
Su Chao also realized that if Su Ze was given another three months, these hundred cavalrymen would be able to form combat effectiveness.
Those who were not good at riding but were skilled in archery and swordsmanship were trained by Su Ze as infantry, and they were trained quite well.
Is this God-given talent?
After inspecting the city, Su Ze climbed up the city wall. The [city builders of Tongwan City] were brushing glutinous rice paste into the cracks in the city wall. With the repairs and reinforcements over the days, the [strength] of the [city gate] in Su Ze's eyes was steadily increasing.
Su Chao looked at the busy city builders and could not help but admire them, "Master Su is really a genius in city building. He ordered people to tear down the loose earth walls, steam the earth to build the city, and even ordered people to use iron spikes to pierce the newly built walls. If they could penetrate an inch, he would tear them down and rebuild them."
“Why steam the soil?”
Most of the city walls today are made of earth, and the use of stone bricks was only introduced after the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In fact, if the earth wall is compacted, it can bear more load and can relieve the force when hit by a catapult. In fact, its defensive performance is no worse than that of bricks and stones.
Su Chao said: "Master Su said it was to kill the grass seeds in the soil to prevent them from sprouting and destroying the structure of the rammed earth."
So that’s how it is. Building a city is indeed a science.
Su Cho said: "If we can build such a city in the West Sea."
"Ling Chuo, it will be built. Our top priority is to stabilize the two cities of Baohan and Xiping first."
"Forgive me, General. I was impatient."
Su Ze looked outside the city again and asked, "How are Liang Zhao and the others? Are they still behaving?"
Su Cho smiled and said, "In fact, they already have farms outside the city, so it's not like they have no place to live. The news from the spies is that the commander of the Liang army has a lot of complaints about the general, and he often drinks the wine sent by the general and curses the general."
"Haha, as long as he doesn't rebel, it's okay to let him curse a few times."
Su Ze added: "The military rations delivered to them must be monitored by someone before they are distributed to the soldiers. They cannot be embezzled by the military leaders and commanders. As long as the soldiers can get by, they will not join them in the rebellion."
"My subordinate understands."
Su Ze also understood that these Qiang leaders were not united, and few of them could serve as good officials of the Northern Wei, and few were willing to serve as dogs for the Tuyuhun.
These days, many Qiang leaders have secretly surrendered to Su Ze. Su Ze generously forgives them, but requires them to send their sons and nephews into the city as hostages.
As long as there was no external invasion, Liang Zhao would no longer be able to launch a rebellion in Baohan, so he drank to drown his sorrows.
"When I return from Xiping, I will first build some beacon towers at the entrance of the Hehuang Valley to block the harassment of Tuyuhun in the spring. Then I can plant seeds and we will have the capital to fight next year."
Su Cho nodded. The grand strategy of building the West Sea city would only have a chance after achieving a great victory.
It is currently a more pragmatic military strategy to first build some beacon towers to prevent the invasion of Tuyuhun cavalry.
After the cold winter is over, it will be the most important spring plowing season. As long as this batch of seeds can be planted, with the natural endowment of Hehuang, we will be able to harvest enough food next autumn.
With food, there will be soldiers. With soldiers, there will be safer conditions for development, and Hezhou will be able to snowball in a positive cycle.
"Stabilize the local area and ensure spring farming" was the spring strategy proposed by Su Ze. The new troops from Ganliang who were brought to Baohan by Gao Hui were also granted land by Su Ze and settled in Hezhou.
This was also fortunate that Su Ze was in office in Hezhou, where the area was vast and sparsely populated, and there was land that could be granted for farming. If it were in Hedong, a Central Plains hinterland that had been dominated by powerful people for hundreds of years, these new Ganliang troops would have had no place to be accommodated.
There were also benefits to granting land to the new Ganliang army. Three hundred good family sons, including Li Cunzhen, volunteered to join the army, but Su Ze did not accept them all. Instead, he only selected a few to be trained as the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and arranged for the rest to become palace soldiers.
Su Ze finally finished his inspection of Baohan and was about to set off for Xiping, but he met Gao Hui who had been stranded in Baohan.
The Great Wei Pingxi General smiled at Su Ze and said, "General Su, I also want to go to Xiping City to have a look. Can you take me with you?"
(End of this chapter)