It Became a Symbol of the Bronze Age - Chapter 351



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Episode 351. Shaking my country (1)

After the tasks of the navy were decided.

Next up, the cavalry.

“Deulguljurak.”

“yes.”

“Divide the light cavalry, who are good at riding horses, camping, and survival, into groups of thirty.”

“Everyone is like that, but the plains people are more capable.”

“They’re sturdy. Then I think it would be better to use the plainsmen. A thousand people would be just the right amount. Leave the tank crews behind.”

Hanho said.

“Do not engage the enemy recklessly, and only destroy the enemy’s scouts and our country’s beacon towers.”

This is the method used in the previous Grassland War.

You could call it a scout catching a scout. This way, you can literally block the eyes and ears of your opponent.

“And Gunmu.”

“Here it is.”

“You lead 4,000 Asadal cavalry and attack the villages near Gyehyeon. Cut off the supply line.”

Hanho plans to deploy all the cavalry that are not particularly helpful in siege warfare there to cut off the enemy’s supply line and further turn them into Asadal’s allies.

In SXCraft, you just have to clear out the opposing multiplayer, but in the Civilization series, you can take over the opposing cities, right?

***

The current Asadal tactical objective is simple.

By leaving Gye-Hyeon alone, the enemy’s main force was tied up.

By shaking the will of my country until autumn, I will eliminate the possibility of conscription.

After the grand strategy was formulated like that.

Asadal’s navy separated from Bakjaegot and headed down toward Naeminbu.

“Your role is important.”

“I will definitely seal the ancestral rites and bring cloves and sugar from the inner chamber!”

After that, the light cavalry of the plains led by Deulguljurak and Oyu set out.

They are scouts, scouts who catch the enemy’s scouts.

This selection was quite accurate.

First, the plains people were better at camping than anyone else and were skilled at organizing small groups of people.

The second is to prevent any possible mistakes.

‘They are good friends of Asadal, but at the same time they are plunderers.’

There is a good chance that if you gather these together and operate them, they will suddenly turn their backs and commit looting.

If that’s the case, Asadal’s cause will be completely shattered, and Kang So-baek will condemn Asadal’s plundering and immediately conscript the people of the country in large numbers.

Rather than that, it would be better to split them up into pieces and use them as scouts who rarely go near enemy villages.

When annexing or liberating a village, it was right to use Asadal’s cavalry, which had a certain level of military discipline.

So, two months later.

It’s already early summer.

“Dig deeper, you little shits!”

“If you dig one more inch of land, one more person will live!”

“What kind of campsite takes seven hours to build?”

“that is…”

“I guess I’ll go back. And you guys are still soldiers of Asadal? What are the three most important things to soldiers of Asadal?”

“First, a shovel, second, a helmet, and third, a shield!”

“Yes! The weapon is the fourth! But, you guys can’t even do the most important thing properly, shoveling!”

The 15,000 infantrymen standing in front of Gyehyeon were digging the ground excitedly as usual.

It was the very essence of Asadal, created through Asadal’s experience in countless wars.

And in the meantime.

“Over there, enemy scouts!”

“Catch him and kick him!”

“One gold nugget for one scout?”

The most widely spread out cavalrymen of the steppe blindfolded their enemies and tied their hands and feet. The number of beacon towers they destroyed soon exceeded two digits.

and.

“Over there, I see the village!”

“What about the enemy?”

“Not much!”

The Asadal cavalry led by Geonmu are at the forefront of this cause, causing trouble by moving around the surrounding villages.

“The defense is not very good.”

Geonmu said while looking at the village.

Compared to the tribesmen of the plains, their defenses are poor.

This is quite paradoxical. The technology to build castles and fortresses is obviously superior in the Central Plains than in the steppes.

But why is the defense of the villages in the Central Plains so poor?

The reason is simple.

It is because civilization has developed.

In a clan-based society, the village’s defenses are strong. The village is their living space. They work hard to dig moats and build high fences.

However, when this becomes a tribal unit, the village’s defenses are weakened. This is because when the village is attacked, the tribal chief appears leading warriors.

Moreover, my country has already surpassed this tribal unit in the past and is at a level of power that has been established. Soldiers and farmers are separated, and soldiers are designed to come down when trouble breaks out in the village.

Of course, there is no need to be so strict with your defenses.

That is the basic premise.

Things are a little different now.

The main force of my country, the Seven Thousand Army, is isolated in Gyehyeon. There is no one to protect them. However, it is impossible for the people of the Central Plains to build a moat or a defense overnight.

“I think that one fence is all there is.”

“How high is the fence?”

“It seems to be about 6 feet (2 m) at the highest point and 3 feet (1 m) at the lowest point.”

“It’s three feet.”

Geonmu nodded.

“I’d like to use the words of Scolot. Damduk.”

“Asadal!”

“You take the lead.”

Geonmu entrusted this mission to Damdeok, and not only because he was Poongbaek’s son.

Damdeok is Hanho’s direct disciple, and is one of the top horsemen in terms of horsemanship.

Moreover, the knowledge he had created (he said that Elder Poongbaek had told him about it) about ‘building a body using beans and chicken breast’ was widely spread within the cavalry.

Even though he had a lot of money, whenever he went to a nearby village after training, Damdeok would treat him to a meal. So, many of the young martial artists followed Damdeok.

‘He’s just a great leader.’

But if there was one thing that Damdeok lacked, it was practical experience. Geonmu wanted to give him some of that.

Of course, if he were to die like this, Elder Poongbaek would probably be very angry… but the arrows wouldn’t come back to him. He knew Poongbaek well.

“Damdeok, can you do it?”

“Asadal!”

“You may answer.”

“A soldier doesn’t say whether he can or cannot do what he is ordered to do! He just does it!”

“Okay, Damdeok. Take the lead!”

So, Damdeok got off the horse he was riding and switched to Skolot’s horse. His companions who were with Damdeok were the same.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Gaemamusa headed towards the highest point of the enemy’s fence.

“Hey, the enemies are coming!”

“Stop it!”

The townspeople flocked there.

Since they were untrained, they had no concept of keeping their place. Just like neighborhood soccer, where they only chase after the ball and the position, they just chased after the enemy.

So, a gap was created in the fence.

Twenty cavalrymen led by Damduk rode Skoloth’s horse towards the empty palisade.

‘Skolot’s words.’

Asadal imported a new breed of horses from the Skoloths. These horses, commonly called ‘Western Horses’, differed in many ways from Asadal’s Gwahaha.

In the case of the hippopotamus, it is small, only 3 feet tall. It eats little. However, it has quite good endurance. It is not picky about what it eats. It even eats grass on the ground. Its personality is extremely dirty.

But the words of the Scolots are just the opposite.

It is twice as tall as a Samcheok horse. However, it has less stamina and only eats hay. This means its fuel efficiency is poor. However, its personality is good.

But if the only advantage was personality, Asadal would not have bothered to bring Skolot’s horse. This horse has one advantage that Samcheokma never has.

“Jump right over!”

“Heeeeeeeeeing!”

The damdeok, riding on the horse of the scolot, galloped. They kicked the horse’s belly with the stirrup, and the trained horses kicked the ground and ran.

Heeeeeeeeeing-!

The horse ran.

They could jump 5 feet (160 cm) while carrying a person, which was comparable to the height of an average person at that time.

And the opponent’s fence was about 3 feet (1 meter) low, so it was easy to jump over. It cannot be said that it was the opponent’s mistake or poor construction.

“You, are you over it?”

“This?”

They probably didn’t know that Asadal had a horse that could jump this high.

But when they realized it, it was already too late. Asadal’s twenty cavalrymen immediately climbed over the fence and took up position.

“Get the axe out!”

Damdeok immediately took out his axe and struck the fence. The golden bamboo fences were shattered without mercy. When the enemies ran towards him, the fences had already been mercilessly torn apart, creating a large path.

And, here, another reason why Geonmu hired Damdeok was revealed.

“Surrender!!!!!!”

Damdeok was fluent in the language of his country. Since he was young, Poongbaek had taught Damdeok several words of the Central Plains language and the major languages ​​of the archipelago.

“If you surrender, we won’t fight. If you don’t surrender, you can’t defeat us!”

The skilled Jena language burst out. At the same time, the Gaema warriors who had come running quickly rushed towards the broken part of the fence and took up positions with their bows.

“Ha, I surrender!”

like that.

A village with a population of 4,000 people was destroyed in an instant.

Their expressions were not good.

Once the village fell, the next thing that happened was looting.

“Are you the one who leads this family?”

If the territory granted by the emperor to a feudal lord is a feudal state, then a family is a fief granted by a feudal lord to a high official. The leading man nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. I am the Lord of Yanshu.”

Originally, since he was also a great-grandfather, he should have participated in the front lines by pulling a tank, but since he was old, he sent his son and stayed behind.

“Very well, Lord Yeonseo. We need some provisions now.”

At those words, not only Yeonseo Daebu but also the surrounding people closed their eyes. They sensed that there would be plunder.

The leader of them, Yeonseo Daeboo, spoke hurriedly.

“I, I would like to give some too, but I have no provisions. They took everything from my country a while ago, so now we only have enough to eat and seeds to sow this time!”

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At these words, Geonmu made a noise.

“That’s too bad.”

“…yes?”

“We wanted to buy it.”

As he said this, Geonmu searched through his belongings and took out several cans. When he opened them, they were filled with white powder.

“sugar…?”

“That’s right.”

With the recent outbreak of war, Asadal had lost much of its sugar distribution channels. So, Asadal took advantage of this opportunity to transport sugar and cloves to the military.

And this sugar is often seen in Asadal, but in the central plains it is a rare commodity.

It is similar to the Korean fish, halibut.

Although flounder is farmed and common in South Korea, it is actually a rather high-quality fish. In North Korea, where farming is not possible, only the leaders often eat it.

According to one anecdote, a defector demanded, “If South Korea is truly rich, bring me some flounder within an hour!”

When the NIS agent heard this, he immediately bought two flatfish from the fish market in front of the house, and only then did the defector admit, “He really is rich.”

Sugar is exactly like that. In Asadal, if you tell them you’ll pay them in sugar, the soldiers’ expressions will immediately turn sour, but to the people of Jungwon, it’s literally white gold.

As soon as he saw that, Yeonseo Daebu’s expression changed.

“Okay, just wait a minute!”

“Didn’t you say there weren’t any just now?”

“Here, there is! I have some grain that I buried in the ground because I didn’t want to give it to my country!”

***

During the Napoleonic Wars, the French army used conscription.

In any case, it was better than pillaging, and it allowed France to maintain its own military provisions.

But Britain, which participated in the Napoleonic Wars, was different.

They just cashed it in gold coins.

According to one anecdote.

It is said that at that time, when the British army came, European villages opened their warehouses and sold grain, and when the French army came, they hid all their grain to avoid being conscripted.

Cash grabbing is the best.

Conscription comes next.

Looting is the worst.

However, Asadal cannot do as England did at the time.

There isn’t much gold and silver. It’s already too much to distribute to the soldiers.

However.

“If you don’t like sugar, there are also cloves.”

“We’ll give you some sugar.”

Yeonseo Daebu said so, and Asadal really put down the sugar. Since the trade with Naeminbu was cut off during the war, this is how the remaining sugar is used.

When Yeonseo Daebu saw this, he was embarrassed.

‘My goodness, you buy things with money during a war? Why would someone with a sword offer money?’

The current central government simply requisitions the land when war breaks out. They say they will return it if the war is won, but it is usually for cheap.

That’s why when they come, the villagers grit their teeth and hide their grain.

What if the managers find out?

As you can see from the current Yeonseo Daeboo, the administrators are also in cahoots. In the first place, the family and the fief are half the private property of the lords and the scholars. There is no one who likes to have his things taken away.

But Asadal is different.

Buy it with money.

What happens then?

“Are you really going to buy it for me?”

“Hey, let’s dig a second hole too.”

The grain is copied.

Gunmu said.

“This is now Asadal’s land, so you can farm without worry. When the fall comes and the seeds ripen, we will buy them back.”

In that way, four houses and thirty-two towns were conquered within a month. In the last house, there was no fighting at all.

“The army is coming!”

“Is it my country’s army or Asadal’s army?”

“It’s Asadal!”

“Open it, just open it!”

They just opened the door.

“Hehehe, please give us the cloves.”

Jilgeongi is an Asadal word meaning gum.

Just like Koreans who saw American soldiers during the Korean War, they immediately reached out to the Asadal people and asked for gum.

Of course, Asadal didn’t just throw it away, but took it in exchange for grain. In that way, Geonmu was able to obtain enough grain to feed two thousand soldiers for half a year in one month and load it onto a cart.

“How do I move this?”

“Shall we save someone?”

The Asadal soldiers went back into the street and gathered people to pull the cart.

“Are you giving me cloves this time too?”

“I’ll give it to you.”

“What are you doing! Pull the cart right now!”

…even local support forces were created.

This is more than just saving the ‘pull man’.

When the war ends, they will be treated as traitors. In other words, they have no choice but to hope that Asadal wins. This is the power of money.

like that.

“…What, why are the rations increasing?”

“Besides, the number of people has increased. The number of cows has also increased…”

“I think it would be okay to fill the positions of the thousand Asadal supply troops with people from my country.”

For Asadal, it couldn’t have been anything but a pleasant experience.

***

In this way, rumors about Asadal spread.

Asadal had a lot of money and bought grains, but there was something bigger.

-This is now Asadal’s occupied territory, so you must pay tribute to Asadal.

-duty!

That’s true in terms of taxes.

The word ‘tax’ was enough to make all the people anxious.

Especially to my countrymen.

When we think of taxes from the Zhou Dynasty, the first thing that comes to mind is the Zhou dynasty tax system. This system involved dividing the field into nine parts in the shape of a well and using the center as the central field to collect taxes.

However, the true nature of the statute is questionable, and the people of the Central Plains today only know that “there was something like that in ancient times.” The early Zhou Dynasty was 400 years ago, so it is definitely “old” to them.

The current Zhou Dynasty tax system is a system of proportional quotas called the Gongjeong method. It calculates the average of the yield over several years and imposes a certain amount of tax.

Asadal is similar.

If the Central Plains method determines the quota by averaging the amount for each region for n years, Asadal surveys a certain amount of land every year and then determines the quota based on the fertility of the land.

Anyway, although there may be minor differences in the taxation method, the basic outline of the income-proportional quota system is the same for both Jungwon and Asadal.

So what matters is the ratio.

The Zhou Dynasty’s tax rate was 10% for self-employed farmers. Rome also used the same tax rate, so it was considered the universal tax rate for mankind.

This tax rate seems to have been applied quite well in relatively peaceful times, but the problem is… the Spring and Autumn Period.

As soon as the Spring and Autumn Period began, the order of the Zhou Dynasty collapsed and wars between vassal states became frequent.

And war requires money.

The tax, which used to be one-tenth, has now quietly doubled, and today’s principalities use one-fifth as their base tax.

Naturally, there are more countries like this that are waging war like crazy right now. They pay an additional poll tax on top of a fifth.

And as they thought, Asadal was also going to war. They asked with great tension.

-So, how much tax do I have to pay?

The people of my country, newly incorporated into Asadal, asked. Asadal answered.

– Self-employed farmers account for one in ten.

-Nominally, yes. But, aren’t you going to walk more?

-There is no more walking. Those who have less than 10 maji of land only get one-tenth.

-Then what about those who rent out public land?

-It’s 3/10.

-Oh, I see! You plan to take all our land and turn us all into tenant farmers!

-…I don’t know why I thought that. I swear on the new tree, your land will be respected.

***

The people of my country were dumbfounded.

The dullness soon turned into anger towards my country.

-Hey, these rotten guys!

It was worth it.

Because they were not simply outraged by Asadal’s ‘low tax burden’.

The people of Jena are not stupid either.

They also have their own ears and know that they pay more taxes than other countries. Even the country of Lu has less power than my country.

But still, they paid their taxes.

Why?

-A country that pays more taxes than us? Well, it’s trash, right?

-What? No, the country doesn’t have a poll tax yet? But, that country is weak, right? It’s trash. Rather than being attacked, it’s better to pay a lot of taxes, right?

…because there was a basis for paying taxes.

In fact, my country won every war, so it paid its fair share of taxes.

But what about now?

-While the Asadal Army is running wild like this, what is our army doing?

-Where did the army that was created with the same taxes as other countries and the additional poll tax go?

Usually the military is maintained by taxes.

This question can be rephrased as:

-Where did all my taxes go?

We paid taxes to create an army, but there is no army? This led to a reasonable question: ‘Are there too many thieves in the country?’

-Did you see that old bastard handing out grain when he bought sugar?

-You kept so much hidden by yourself…!

The evidence was also clear.

-…Even if he’s not the godfather, is Asadal strong enough to subjugate us while receiving less taxes than us?

This soon developed into a question about the effectiveness of taxes.

Here, if Asadal had committed plunder or massacre, they would have thought, ‘It’s better to pay high taxes and live than to be subjugated to those guys!’ But Asadal didn’t do anything like that.

People were wondering.

-Then why should I fight and pay taxes for my country?

The questions have been condensed again.

-Why, does it have to be my country?

…Can’t it be Asadal?

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