Chapter 11 Section 4 Guangji Ironware

Under Wu Gunai's leadership, the Wanyan Tribe's influence in the Jurchen area has become stronger and stronger, but Wu Gunai is not satisfied, and he still has a more ambitious goal to achieve in his heart.In order to achieve this goal, what measures will Ugunai take next? Wu Gunai believes that if Jurchen wants to be strong, they must have a strong armed force, and a strong armed force must have weapons, and the most important thing to have weapons is to have iron weapons.At that time, Jurchen didn't know how to smelt iron, so obtaining iron tools was the most important thing.Wu Gunai ordered that when our tribe goes to any tribe to do business in the future, the first thing we need to collect is ironware. At any cost, famous horses, handsome birds, Dongzhu, gold, as long as we can exchange for ironware, we will give them all.You have to take a long-term view. After getting the iron, our tribe will be strong. In the future, we will annex other tribes. These famous horses, handsome birds, Dongzhu, and gold will still be ours one day.Everyone must listen to my teaching and go out to find iron.So Wugunai's tribe all went out to look for ironware everywhere.As long as you can do business with neighboring tribes and neighboring countries in exchange for iron, you must transport it back to your own tribe to make farm tools and weapons at all costs.In this way, Wu Gunai could be called a rich country and a strong army—of course, there was no country at that time, it was just a tribe; there were no soldiers, and the adult men in the entire tribe were basically able to fight.

The importance of the use of iron to primitive and backward peoples cannot be overstated.The Han Dynasty fought with the Xiongnu and drove the Xiongnu to the north for more than 2,000 miles. The Huns were beaten to the north, and there was no royal court in Monan.An important reason why the Xiongnu could not defeat the Han Dynasty was that the arrowheads of the Huns' bows and arrows were made of stone and bone, which could not penetrate the chain mail of the Han army.When the cavalry of the Han army charged, it didn't matter how many arrows they got in their bodies, they could still fight as if they were pierced like hedgehogs.In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Mingguang armor with a heart mirror appeared, which belonged to sheet metal armor and was no longer chain mail.Why use sheet metal armor?Because the nomads have mastered iron, the arrows they shoot are iron arrows, no longer made of bone or stone. Iron arrows can shoot through chain mail, so Mingguang armor is used.But the sheet metal armor is very heavy, a set of armor weighs several tens of catties, not to say that ordinary infantry can wear it, both of them can't walk with support, only generals wear this kind of sheet metal armor on horseback.In this case, the widespread use of ironware made the nomads invincible in the war with the Central Plains dynasty, and Wu Gunai clearly saw this.When the neighbors were satisfied with living a good life and getting rich, Uguna took a long-term view and brought a large amount of ironware back to his tribe to make bows and arrows, knives and guns, and cast them into farm tools.

After Wugunai's hard work, the Wanyan tribe became stronger than before. The other tribes had only two choices in front of Wugunai, either surrender or perish.At this time, it can already be seen that the Wanyan Department has the potential to unify the Jurchens.