你能用一支无限弹药的机关枪征服整个罗马帝国吗？
Could you conquer the entire Roman empire with only a single machine gun with unlimited ammo?
译文简介
当然可以！不过你还需要一些东西。首先要精通官方语言和当地文化。对当权者的政治运作有深入的了解也会相当有帮助。在时间旅行之前，成为那个时代的历史专家将是非常有价值的。
正文翻译
Could you conquer the entire Roman empire with only a single machine gun with unlimited ammo?
你能用一支无限弹药的机关枪征服整个罗马帝国吗？
你能用一支无限弹药的机关枪征服整个罗马帝国吗？
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, former Nuclear Engineering and Chemical Technician at United States Navy (2000-2005)
Absolutely you could! Some things you would need. Fluency in both official language(s) and local culture(s) to start. Intimate knowledge of the political workings of those in power would also be quite helpful. Becoming an expert in the history of the era before taking your trip would be immensely valuable.
Next, you don’t try for a military victory. Instead you use your terrifyingly loud death machine to convince people you’re some sort of divine entity.
First step, go to some crappy little town with little or no defenses and tell them you’re either a god or the scion of a god. When they laugh at you, you proceed to kill them all except a sext few. This, in my opinion, is the most dangerous part. You haven’t solidified your reputation and a single stray arrow could end everything before it starts. But, if you succeed, you claim in your divine wisdom that you’ve decided to make the survivors your emissaries/clergy/whatever. Send them out to spread, “your message.” ie I’m here to save you from yourselves, your corrupt leaders, or the sinners, or some such. Whatever catches the attention of the locals. Your “message” should tie into common local problems as well as try to scapegoat the current political leaders and anyone who dissents against you.
当然可以！不过你还需要一些东西。首先要精通官方语言和当地文化。对当权者的政治运作有深入的了解也会相当有帮助。在进行时间旅行之前，成为那个时代的历史专家将是非常有价值的。
接下来，你不要试图取得军事上的胜利。而是用你那所向披靡的死亡机器，让人们相信你是某种神圣的化身。
第一步，去一些没有什么防御措施的蹩脚小城，告诉他们你是神或者神的后代。当他们嘲笑你的时候，你就杀了他们，只留少数人。在我看来，这是最危险的部分。你还没有巩固你的名声，一支离弦的箭就能在开始之前结束一切。但是，如果你成功了，你用你自己强加的神圣光芒宣称，你已经决定让幸存者成为你的使者/神职人员/什么的。派他们去传播"你的信息"，即我是来拯救你们的，从你们自己、你们腐败的领袖、罪人或类似的地方。只要能引起当地人的注意就行。你的"信息"应该和当地的普遍问题联系在一起，同时也要试着把当前的政治领袖和任何反对你的人当作替罪羊。
Once your reputation has hit a point more prominent governors have become terrifyingly familiar with your story, you show up on one’s doorstep, perhaps with an escort of loyal followers. Demand an audience, demand to be worshiped, instantly kill all who refuse. The safe bet is to always kill the overarching leaders and all their family, friends, and allies. Leave no one who might try to stage a coup and kill you in your sleep. Use your message to capture the hearts and souls of the survivors (a message of salvation could work wonders, particularly combined with a condemnation of sin). Rinse & repeat until you’re crowned the divine emperor.
If you can use your position of divine lord to actually benefit the lives of the entire populace you might even hold the position for a while. Fair warning, politics is a bitch.
几天后循着跟随你的使者到他们去过的任何村庄。要求每个人都向你跪拜，不跪拜的人立即杀掉。这时，用你的"信息"去鼓舞和俘获幸存者的心。恐惧、好奇心和迷信会成为你的武器。如果你运气够好的话，你可以在你的武器库中加入宗教狂热。
一旦你的名声达到了一个点，更多杰出的总督就会已经变得非常了解和熟悉你的故事，这时你出现在一个人的家门口，也许带上一个忠实的追随者的护卫。要求他们倾听你的发言，要求你被崇拜，然后立即杀死所有拒绝的人。安全的做法是永远杀死帝国统领和他们所有的家人、朋友和盟友。不留下任何一个可能试图发动政变、在睡梦中杀死你的人。用你的信息来牢牢抓住幸存者的心和灵魂（救赎的信息可以创造奇迹，特别是结合对罪恶的谴责）。不断冲洗和重复，直到你被加冕为神圣的皇帝。
如果你能利用你的神主地位真正造福于全体民众的生活，你甚至可以保持这个位置一段时间。温馨提示，政治是个随意被人摆弄的婊子。
There are a number of key things to consider in answering this question:
1). Roman military capabilities.
2). The size of the Empire and it’s defenses.
3). The political structure of the Empire.
1). The Roman Army was not just comprised of melee footsoldiers. Their auxiliaries, taken from the provinces, included archers, cavalry, slingers etc. The cavalry could ride down on you in force. You would pick off an impressive number of them, but as soon as you need to reload you would be trampled, especially if they attacked from multiple angles which is extremely easy given that you’re just one man.
The archers, although possessing significantly less range on their weapons than you, outnumber you. You yourself may have the range but are less accurate at longer distances. They don’t have to be because they can fill the sky with a volley of arrows in your general direction and guarantee a hit or several.
On the field, these two groups would be attacking at the same time, something a single man, no matter how well armed, would have trouble fending off.
在回答这个问题时，有几个关键的问题需要考虑。
1). 罗马的军事能力。
2). 帝国的规模和它的防御能力。
3). 帝国的政治结构。
1). 罗马军队不仅仅是由近战步兵组成的，他们的辅助部队，取自各省，包括弓箭手、骑兵、弓弩手等。骑兵可以对你实现战争冲撞。你会干掉令人印象深刻的数量，但一旦你需要重新装填子弹，你就会被践踏，特别是当他们从多个角度攻击时，鉴于你只有一个人，这是很容易发生的。
弓箭手们拥有的武器射程虽然明显比你短多了，但人数却比你多。你自己可能拥有射程，但在较远的距离上却不那么准确。他们却未必，因为他们可以对着你的大方向满天飞箭，只要保证一箭或数箭命中就行了。
在战场上，这两伙人将同时进行攻击，这时一个人无论装备多好，都难以抵挡的。
You may start off in an Imperial province (where the armies were stationed), but even in the Senatorial provinces (the Empire’s civilian heartland) you would doubtless encounter hostility. You can’t outrun a messenger on horseback who would certainly warn all surrounding towns of your approach.
When attacking the army, you’d be up against defences like these ones in South Shields
at worst, and at best many many forts and camps with wood and earth battlements. To assault any one of these would be fruitless. Once locked out, you’re not getting in. Plain and simple. If you try to climb the walls you’re left exposed for the legionaries inside to pick you off.
You’d be safer assaulting the many villas and farms, but entering any settlement of substantial size will force you into close quarters combat in the streets where your range advantage is nullified.
2). 罗马帝国最鼎盛的时候，从英格兰北部一直延伸到伊拉克。大概有4000公里的距离。整个过程中，你都在敌对的领土上。
你可能一开始就在帝国行省（军队驻扎的地方），但即使是在元老院行省（帝国的平民中心地带），你也会毫无疑问地遇到敌意。你跑不过一个骑马的信使，他肯定会警告周围所有城镇你的到来。
在进攻军队时，你会遇到像南希尔兹城这样的防线
最坏的情况下或者说在最好的情况下，有许多许多的堡垒和营地，有木制和土制的城垛。攻击其中任何一个都是没有结果的。一旦被锁在外面，你就进不去了。简单明了。如果你试图爬上城墙，你就会暴露在里面，让军团的人把你干掉。
攻击众多的别墅和农场你会更安全，但进入任何一个有相当规模的聚居地都会迫使你在街道上进行近距离战斗，你的射程优势就会丧失。
If you fight back with your gun you will lose any and all chance of remaining Emperor and you’re back to the state described in part 2). And even if your accession is not immediately reviled, you will rapidly accumulate rivals who denounce you as a murderous usurper and plot your demise.
So you will have to play the Roman political game. You must appease the people and incentivise the army to be loyal to you. You will have to install new provincial governors or risk deep-seated insubordination. You must perform a plethora of strange and unfamiliar religious rituals to maintain the ‘pax deorum’ and legitimise your rule through successful conquests or social reforms. Doubtless you will be dreadful at all of these tasks given that you don’t understand any of them, and will end up a lackey to your advisors as you pawn off your powers to them, and all this is assuming you can speak Latin. But even if by some miracle you manage to pull all these things off ……. have you really conquered the Roman Empire, or has it conquered you?
3). 但假设你能够在这种逆境状态下生存下来，在野外觅食，在森林和山林中潜行。终于，你在皇帝行进的路上拦截他，并扫射杀死他的随从。你把他的尸体拖进元老院的大门，或者登上讲台，宣布自己为皇帝。你确定他们肯定会在你的威势面前俯首称臣？不，你会遇到来自各方面的彻底抵抗。罗马人对任何肤色的暴君都恨之入骨。如果你想把不同的生活方式强加给人民... ...你就会被愤怒的暴徒攻击，被殴打致死，很可能被扔进台伯河。
如果你用枪反击，你将失去任何和所有继续做皇帝的机会，你会回到第二部分描述的状态。而且即使你的登基没有立即遭到唾弃，你也会迅速积累竞争对手，他们会谴责你是一个杀人的篡位者，并开始暗中策划你的死亡。
所以你将不得不玩罗马的政治游戏。你必须安抚人民，激励军队对你忠诚。你必须设置新的省长，否则就会有根深蒂固的不服从你的命令的风险。你必须举行大量奇怪而陌生的宗教仪式，以维持"大同"，并通过成功的征服或社会改革使你的统治合法化。毫无疑问，鉴于你对这些任务一窍不通，你在完成所有这些任务中的表现都将是可怕的，当你把你的权力典当给你的顾问时，你将最终成为他们的奴才，而这一切还都假设你会说拉丁语。但是，即使你奇迹般地把所有这些事情都搞定了.......你真的征服了罗马帝国，还是它征服了你？
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
TL;DR is basically - Yea, you can conquer the empire in some sense of the word, but not the way you think, and it has rather little to do with your magical toy and more to do with the knowledge you bring which is inherent to coming from the modern era. you can't conquer the empire with force, but if you help the empire, you can ascend to a high ranking position, but trying to kill everyone will get you killed if you aren't careful enough, and certainly won't get you on the throne.
No, you couldn’t, but you could hurt the empire and hasten the decline of the empire by a few centuries. Assuming you use guerrilla warfare tactics instead of line battles, you might take out a few entire legions before disappearing. assuming you killed off the entire group sent to kill you, it would take a good deal of time to find you, allowing you to sleep and continue your reign of terror.
总的来说，基本上是--是的，你可以在某种意义上征服帝国，但不是像你所想的那样，它与你的神奇玩具无关，更多的是与你带来的知识有关，这些知识是现代所固有的。你不能用武力征服帝国，但如果你帮助帝国，你可以登上高位，但如果你不够小心，想杀光所有人，那么你就会被杀，当然也无法让你登上皇位。
不，你不能，但你可以伤害帝国，加速帝国几百年的衰落。假设你用游击战的战术而不是直面罗马军团，你可能会在消失之前干掉整整几个军团。假设你把派来杀你的人全部杀光，那他们就会花更多时间找到你，让你得以休憩，继续你的恐怖统治。
Hey, if you did a good enough job of helping people with other sources of knowledge from the modern era like the simple yet very important knowledge that germs exist, and killing them off is as simple as regular bathing. you could lead to an industrial revolution singlehandedly by spreading the knowledge leading up to it, which could gain you enough favor in the empire to get to the upper echelons of government, possibly even becoming emperor one day.
You couldn't conquer the empire with a machine gun and infinite ammo alone, but that, as well as common knowledge of the modern era, would create enough favor and goodwill by both the military, political, and civil establishments that you could become emperor without firing a single shot.
但为什么要这么做呢？你可以在他们与萨珊人、日耳曼人以及他们当时与之作战的所有人的战争中成为对社会非常有用的人。给他们学习弹药，以及制造枪支的技术。让他们学习现代英语与你交流，你也可以学习拉丁语，你可以把枪支的技术传播给罗马人，使他们的帝国在几个世纪内成为几乎不可阻挡的主宰，甚至直到现代。
嘿，如果你做得足够好，用现代的其他知识来源来帮助人们，比如一些简单而又非常重要的知识，细菌的存在，杀死它们就是简单的定期洗澡就行了。你可以通过传播导致工业革命的知识，单枪匹马地领导一场工业革命，这可以让你在帝国获得足够的青睐，进入政府的上层，甚至有可能有一天成为皇帝。
你不可能仅凭一挺机枪和无限的弹药就能征服帝国，但这一点，以及现代的常识，会让军、政、民三界对你产生足够的好感和好感，你可以不开一枪就成为皇帝。
, Experience shooting and lots of lessons
You know, a lot of people forget the difference between “defeat” and “conquer”.
You can completely annihilate an entire enemy government, render it incapable of fighting militarily, and destroy its ability to wage war…
But, unless you have an occupying army, you’ve just destabilized a region, you haven’t conquered it. You haven’t made it clear you’re in charge, you haven’t occupied the territory and actually taken control.
Estimates suggest that for successfully occupying (AKA conquering and keeping conquered) a nation you need at least, in modern day terms (automatic weapons, aircraft, naval presence, artillery and tanks and all), 1 occupying soldier for every 40 civilians. And considering the peak of the Roman Empire, its population was 65,000,000 people, your occupation force to actually conquer it would be 1,625,000. That’s 30 DIVISIONS more than the entire modern US Army. With MODERN equipment.
你知道，很多人都忘记了"打败"和"征服"的区别。
你可以彻底消灭整个敌国政府，使其丧失战斗力，摧毁其发动战争的能力... ...
但是，除非你有一支占领军，否则你只是破坏了一个地区的稳定，你还没有征服它。你还没有明确表示你是负责人，你还没有占领领土和实际控制。
据估计，要成功地占领（也就是征服和保持被征服）一个国家，你至少需要，以现代的术语（自动武器，飞机，海军存在，大炮和坦克和所有这些东西），每40个平民就需要1个占领士兵。而考虑到罗马帝国的巅峰时期，它的人口是六千五百万人，你的占领军要真正征服它，就需要1625000人。拿整个现代美国军队比较，就是30个师。而且还是用现代的装备。
Also, you’re probably going to draw the ire of the entire Empire, seeing as you (presumably) murdered the Caesar in cold blood and shot at an entire Legion, hope you have plenty of cocaine to not fall asleep, because when you do, you’re not waking up. Someone is going to see to that. And no-one’s going to stop this from happening.
考虑到你无法通过整套工业化的、军事动员的现代国家的武装力量来完成这项任务，好了，你需要做很多的招聘工作 - 但四处走动也是很痛苦的。为什么？因为你们没有现代化的运输工具，也没有现代化的物流，甚至连现代化的车辆都没得。所以大体上，你的屁股是骑着马的，即使是以最快的速度，从爱丁堡到伦敦可能也需要一个星期的时间，更不用说从高卢北部到中东去鼓动支持，以确保你的目标完成了。哦，马匹驮着信使是那时候长途传递消息的唯一方式，所以... ...
另外，你可能会引来整个帝国的愤怒，看到你（大概）冷血地谋杀了凯撒，并射杀了整个军团，我希望你有足够的可卡因让你保持不要睡着，因为当你睡着的时候，你就醒不过来了。有人会看到这一点。但没有人能够阻止这一切的发生。
, Generalist by nature, Specialist by necessity.
No, Culturally
The Roman Empire was first and foremost a Culture Super Structure. Don’t look up that term, I just made it up. The point of it is to emphasise that Rome’s strength, from the western frontier (Scotland) to the eastern frontier (Armenia), was its self-identity and way of being. The military was a part of that, but so was the engineering, the education, the religious tolerances, the Romanising of conquered nations, the pervasive values, the government infrastructure . . . all these and more. Rome was, as we say, even greater than the sum of these parts, because “empire” was so important to its sense of “what we are”, that all elements were cohered as part of conscious or unconscious social engineering.
不行，文化上
罗马帝国首先是一个“文化超级结构”。不用去查这个名词，我随便编的。它的意思是强调罗马的力量，从西部边疆（苏格兰）到东部边疆（亚美尼亚），都是它的自我认同和存在方式。军事是其自我认同中的一部分，但工程、教育、宗教容忍度、被征服国家的罗马化、普遍的价值观、政府的基础设施......所有这些以及更多都是如此。正如我们所说，罗马甚至比这些部分的总和还要大，因为"帝国"对其"我们是什么"的意识是如此重要，以至于所有的元素都被凝聚为有意识或无意识的社会认同的一部分。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Consider Britain. It was conquered by the culture and civilised life that came as standard with the invasion. The Roman lifestyle, the wealth, the literacy, the connections with the Mediterranean, and the baths! When Rome withdrew almost 400 years later, it was the the removal of that cultural lifeline that caused Britain to all but revert to previous ways of like, including the loss of widespread literary skills.
You cannot destroy, or conquer, a Culture Super Structure like the Roman Empire with a machine gun - not even with a thousand.
我之所以称罗马帝国为文化超级结构，部分原因是它的凝聚力和团结力很大一部分来自于建立在亚历山大的希腊帝国之上。亚历山大的征服方法是在战斗中打败敌人--以对方领导人投降的速度来衡量--然后张开双臂欢迎他们进入他的王国。他让他们继续管理自己，但也给了他们希腊语言和文化，让他们团结起来。他甚至将败军之中最优秀的军队纳入自己的军队，与他并肩作战。这就是为什么罗马以拉丁语为官方语言，但希腊语在整个罗马帝国也被广泛使用。
想想英国。它被罗马入侵时的带来的标准文化和文明生活所征服。罗马人的生活方式，财富，文化程度，与地中海的联系，以及浴场！当罗马在近400年后撤走时，正是由于那条文化生命线的消失，使得英国除了恢复到入侵以前的生活方式外，还包括广泛的文学技能的丧失。
你不可能用一挺机枪摧毁、征服罗马帝国这样的文化超级结构--哪怕是用一千挺机枪也不行。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
The Roman Empire had engineering genius in its DNA. Not only that, they were problem solvers of the highest order. Furthermore, they did not handle losing very well.
I have little doubt that if faced with a hostile machine gunner, it would not be long before they devise and deploy a suitable means to counter it. An example that I consider well within reason, would be an armoured chariot, with protection offered for both horses and riders. I can’t help but think they wouldn’t be too different to some of the WWI efforts. Add to that some external elements devised to inflict damage on the shooter, and Rambo will be history. Obviously terrain, and the shooters desire to move will have influence. Of course, just setting fire to the region surrounding the shooter would do the trick too. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I’m wondering why I’m doing this.
不行，技术上
罗马帝国有出现工程天才的基因。不仅如此，他们还是最高级的问题解决者。此外，他们不会容忍常态性的失败。
我毫不怀疑，如果面对敌对的机枪手，他们很快就会设计和部署出合适的手段来对付它。我认为在合理范围内的一个例子，就是装甲战车，对马匹和骑手都提供保护。我不禁觉得他们和一战中的一些努力不会有太大的区别。再加上一些外部元素设计，以对射手造成伤害，兰博来了也会成为历史。显然地形，以及射手的移动欲望造成影响。当然，只要在射手周围的区域放火也会有效果。其实，我越想越觉得奇怪，你为什么要这么做？
All by yourself with no one helping you? No. A machine gun would be a force multiplier in the ancient world, but you have to stop and eat and sleep at times and you have to reload. Your enemies would take advantage of this.
You could be a very successful thief or assassin if you had a machine gun in the ancient world, but alone you couldn’t conquer anything.
However, if you managed to get people’s loyalty perhaps by claiming the machine gun was magic (and since you specify that it has unlimited ammo in this scenario it clearly is magic) and sent from the gods then you could conquer the Roman empire. But that’s going to take more than just force, you would need charisma and to appeal to people’s desires. For instance you could rouse an impoverished town and show them a demonstration of your power to get them confident enough to band together to take on the empire. Or you could liberate slaves and get them to join your army. It’s helpful if you can speak like a religious prophet to gain credibility and if you know how to perform magic tricks so people think you have powers.
就你自己一个人，没有人帮你？那不行，在古代世界，机枪会是一种大杀器，但你有时必须停下来吃饭睡觉，你必须重新装填子弹。而你的敌人会利用这一点。
如果你在古代世界拥有一把机枪，你可以成为一个非常成功的盗贼或刺客，但独自一人你无法征服任何东西。
然而，如果你设法获得人们的忠诚，也许通过声称机枪是魔法（既然你在这个例子中指定它有无限的弹药，它显然是魔法），并由神派来，那么你可以征服罗马帝国。但这需要的不仅仅是武力，你还需要魅力和吸引人们的欲望。比如你可以唤醒一个贫困的小镇，向他们展示你的力量，让他们有足够的信心联合起来对抗帝国。或者你可以解放奴隶，让他们加入你的军队。如果你能像宗教预言家一样说话，以获得可信度，如果你知道如何表演魔术，让人们认为你有能力，这都是很有帮助的。
EDIT: Another option is to take power not by challenging the Roman establishment but by joining it. You could impress the Caesar, Senators, and high status patricians and pretend to be some sort of wizard. You could be granted a post as general and lead your own army, and then if you did well enough there eventually seize the position of Caesar with the support of the Roman ruling class.
如果你知道机枪是如何工作的，冶金是如何工作的，并且能弄清楚在哪里可以得到这些资源，那么你就会有更大的机会，因为你可以武装和训练一支军队。但是你最好奖励你的支持者，否则你可能会面临背叛，然后敌人也有机枪了。即使是一场失败的战役，也可能意味着当他们突袭战场时，技术会落入敌人手中。如果有足够聪明的人看了一眼，那就意味着你要篡夺的对象也可以自己制造，用机枪武装自己的军队了。
总而言之：另一个选择是，不是通过挑战罗马建制，而是通过加入罗马建制来夺取权力。你可以给凯撒、元老院和地位高的贵族留下深刻印象，并假装成某种巫师。你可以被授予一个将军的职位，领导自己的军队，然后如果你在那里做得足够好，就会最终在罗马统治阶级的支持下夺取凯撒的位置。