Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 352 Popularity
Outside the wharf of Huile County in Lingzhou, camels and horses gathered, and people crowded.

People from Huizhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Liangzhou, and Lanzhou all gathered here.

The first ones to arrive were the Tutuan soldiers in Huizhou who took a tank boat from Huining Pass.

They were responsible for escorting grain, grass, millet and wheat to Lingzhou, and completed the delivery with Zhu Liang, the deputy envoy of the Yinshan camp who rushed here.

But not yet.

Although materials can flow down the big river without the need for a large team of civilians to transfer them thousands of miles away, people still need people to unload and carry them on the front line.It is better for these people to be local folks from various states and counties, rather than ordinary people.

Wang Quan sat on a dead tree, panting heavily.

In Huizhou Township, they are still big and small people, but when they arrive in Lingzhou, they don't even count as farts.

A small team leader of the Jinglue Army dared to shout and shout at them, the local regiment soldiers, which made Wang Quan feel old-fashioned.

Wang Jiao calibrated his bow carefully.

The once young boy has grown into a brave man in the famous village.Galloping and shooting, hitting four or five out of ten, stepping and throwing spears, extremely accurate, combined with his proficient swordsmanship, compared with the old soldiers in the Xinquan army, it is not inferior, or even surpassed.

The Wang family has an hectare of land in Huizhou Township, and Wang Quan has received many rewards successively. The family can be said to be rich.But in order to hone martial arts for this cheap son, I don't know how much it has cost over the years.

Raising a warrior is really not easy.

This is not a lowly sergeant who has been pulled from the field, has a long gun, and has been trained roughly for several months.Instead, he has really honed his martial arts skills since he was a child, he can ride horses and shoot arrows, he can fight in close combat, and he is an experienced fighter.

If you put it in ancient times, it is estimated that everyone can be the leader of the team.

However, the barbarians in ancient times were far from being as strong as they are now, at least with far less equipment and knowledge.If you don't raise such warriors, you won't be able to deal with the barbarians who have become stronger and stronger for hundreds of years.

"Da Lang, do you remember everything I told you?" Wang Quan asked after resting for a while, took out the mustache, and roasted it on the fire.

"Don't worry, Grandpa, it's not the first time to go to battle." Wang Jiao put down his bow and replied.

"You want to go to battle that much?" Wang Quan laughed angrily, and said, "The Economic and Strategic Army didn't even have a chance to go to battle. How could it be your turn? Even if you wanted to, the commander would not dare to use our Tutuan peasant Ah. The rebel army shoots a few rounds of arrows, and most people will panic. If the rebel cavalry charge again, the custodian will turn around and run away."

Wang Jiao was at a loss.

He has indeed experienced fighting in battle, more than once, but it was all small-scale fighting with the Tubo people.Grandpa has experienced big scenes. Tens of thousands of people gathered on the battlefield, the left did not hear the right, the right did not hear the left, the front did not know the back, and the back could not see the front.A little gossip on the battlefield can cause an extremely nervous person to collapse.

It really takes an old hand.Newcomers, it's too easy to scare yourself.

Another transport team passed by on the post road.Judging from the banner, it should be from Feng'an County in the south, and a lot of grain and beans have been transported.

There are not enough ships!
A tank boat can transport 1500 hu of grain, and various materials such as grain, beans, fodder, tents, raincloths, ropes, wood, charcoal, equipment, and clothing are shipped every day.Nearly 45 ships, if they only transport food, can transport [-] hu at a time, which is enough to consume [-] infantry for five months.

However, there are still a large number of draft animals, riding horses, and war horses in the army. The appetites of these animals are amazing, at least three times that of humans.It's war time, we can't just eat grass, we have to feed miscellaneous grains.Take the Flying Bear Army as an example, with a total of 1.2 soldiers, 5.4 auxiliary soldiers, and [-] horses, they will consume [-] dendrobium rice noodles, [-] dendrobium beans, and more than [-] bunches of high-nutrition grass in a month.

There are soldiers who cherish their horses, and they also bring some things that horses usually like to eat, such as turnips, fruits, etc., and give them to acquainted auxiliary soldiers, so that they can help feed them at night, so that their beloved horses can be fatter. Fat and strong—if chickens were not suitable for long-distance transshipment, it is estimated that some people would bring this stuff.

The sergeants are not poor, and they are willing to spend their money on war equipment and horses.Some people feel that the standard equipment issued by the army is not convenient, so they simply go to a blacksmith to make one by themselves. War horses are also a kind of "war equipment", and they are more delicate, so naturally they need to be taken care of.

Most of the logistics transportation volume of the Flying Bear Army is prepared for horses.

If you change to a large cart to transport 25 dendrobium, one hundred days round trip, one trip needs to transport at least four months of grain and grass, then you need to collect more than 1 horse-drawn carts and mobilize more than [-] masters.This is only for the service of [-] cavalry. If there are [-] cavalry, all the strong men and healthy women in Lingzhou will have to go to battle. They are the legendary "big fat households", and farming will inevitably be delayed.

If you fight once, no matter whether you win or lose, you will be seriously injured.

Of course, this is also related to the high standards of the Flying Bear Army.

The high-speed maneuvering unit has spare horses, and the Leopard Cavalry even has three horses per man.The princes of the Kanto could not do this.Zhu Quanzhong's cavalry usually lead their horses on foot.They only have war horses, no pack horses, and no riding horses for transportation, so the cost will be much lower.But correspondingly, the mobility decreased.

Cavalry without mobility can only look for opportunities to charge infantry, which is of little use.Marshal Shao's early cavalry was like this, but now he is tired of it, and specially set up "separate and reconciled soldiers" with assault cavalry, back scorpions, and silver spears, all of which are used to attack the enemy's rear for hundreds of miles, and he spared no expense for this.

This kind of soldier has great destructive power and is also a hindrance to reputation.After all, we are deep behind enemy lines, and if we want to obtain supplies, we must loot the people, and it is not easy to restrain them from killing indiscriminately. In fact, "grain requisition" is acquiesced.

"Dalang, our native soldiers don't go into battle. Most of them are responsible for transporting grain and grass. This job is easy to do, but it's not easy to do. If the enemy has the intention, they will definitely attack the grain road. If you really encounter this kind of situation, don't panic. They There will not be too many people, and they will travel lightly, and there will be insufficient equipment. As long as you stand firmly, they will not be hard to chew." Wang Quan said: "We only need to withstand the number one of the bandit army. Exit. There are so many cavaliers in the commander-in-chief, and he will definitely guard the food road closely. The bandit army is flustered, and it will be good if they can display [-] to [-]% of their combat power. If you panic, they will panic too!"

"Grandpa, who will you fight with during this northern tour?" Wang Jiao asked suddenly.

Since the Northern Dynasties, "West Tour" and "Northern Hunting" have almost become synonymous with war.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty led 50 people on a "west tour", and finally wiped out Tuyuhun. No one believed that this was just a fucking tour, not even Wang Jiao.

"Who is worth fighting?" Wang Quan asked after taking a bite of the mustache.

Wang Jiao thought for a while and said, "Datong Army? Hedong Army?"

Datong is a neighboring town, and Hedong is more famous, Wang Jiao only thinks of these two.

"It's probably in the east of the river." Wang Quan said, "Datong Town, how can we spend so much effort, even the local regiment soldiers from our Huizhou are conscripted. This must be a big scene."

Wang Jiao nodded, and also took out a mustard cake, and set it on fire to bake.

In fact, there are some candied fruit in the package.Before leaving, my mother prepared it, but now I'd better eat the vinegar cake given by Lingzhou.

"Are you worried?" Wang Quan asked, looking at his own Dalang.

"Don't be afraid." Fighting with the Tubo people several times, except for the fact that he was a little immature at the beginning and encountered two dangers, later on he became more and more handy, and gradually he was able to display the level of skill that he had honed every day.

Hedong Army?Haven't seen it before, is it amazing?

Wang Quan smiled with satisfaction.

He couldn't read, he didn't learn how to fight, and he didn't know how to teach children. He just passed on what he had learned from the dead in the past half his life.

This cheap son does have the talent to kill men.Wang Quan never praised him, but only blindly corrected his mistakes, strictly supervised him, and devoted himself to cultivating him.

Wang Jiao's skill level, Wang Quan believes that he has surpassed himself back then, but his experience is still a lot worse.

Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, so they must not be suppressed.On the battlefield, it depends on a wave of courage.Enough courage, sometimes you can't believe you've made it this far.

"When encountering the enemy, if the bandits have horses, they must not run away..."

"The thieves came with spears, first throwing spears to harass the enemy, and then fighting..."

"The thieves are highly skilled, don't be afraid, the more you are afraid, the sooner you will die. There are not many people like you, who play horseback archery and temper the skills of swords and spears. Calm down and think about how to deal with the Tubo people..."

"You don't have to worry about food and clothing at home, don't stand out when you don't have to..."

"If the thieves charge forward, and the comrades are not stable, they should make a move. Sometimes it takes only a breath or two to kill one or two of the most aggressive thieves, and the position will be stabilized..."

Wang Quan tirelessly repeated what he had said many times, and Wang Jiao listened quietly without any sign of impatience.

After talking for a while, Wang Quan was also tired, so he took out a cowhide water bag and took two mouthfuls.

People kept passing by the post road, and the pier not far away was even more crowded.

The wooden rafts flowing down the river from Lanzhou almost filled the pier to the brim.Tents were set up on the rafts, and after people got out of them, they began to unload the rice, dried meat, and cheese loaded on the rafts, and loaded them on to the large tank boats.

The wooden rafts will continue to be used and will go down the river until they are dismantled in the Zhenwujun City area and used as camping timber to avoid cutting down the local forest.

In addition to wooden rafts, there are also leather rafts.

This item was made in Lanzhou.Remove the head from the whole cow, strip it from the neck, dig out the flesh and bones without damaging the skin.After soaking in water for several days, after the cortex becomes smelly, it is taken out of the water to dry.The cow hair is scraped off, brushed and cleaned, the hoof holes are tied tightly, soaked in salt and oil, rubbed thoroughly, and dried to form a leather bag, which can be waterproof and antiseptic.

These skins are tied together to form a raft.Small rafts can sail directly down from Qingtang City, and can generally carry a thousand catties of goods.

Medium-sized rafts are made up of 80-100 skin bags, with 4-5 sailors, and can hold 250 to [-] catties, or more than [-] hu, of grain, equivalent to ten large carriages, but they can only go downstream from Lanzhou.

The big raft is made up of many small and medium-sized rafts, connected and fixed by more than a dozen wooden poles in the middle, and a large wooden paddle is set at each corner. There are 16-18 sailors, and the carrying capacity is almost comparable to that of a tank boat.

Rafts are great for long-distance freight.After arriving at the destination, release the air in the raft, and return directly to the starting point by land for shipment.Or simply sell the cowhide and make new rafts when you go back.

Many people in Lanzhou are doing this now.The raft transports the goods, and after the goods are delivered to the customer, the raft is disassembled and sold.The raft is similar, earning money for two trips.

Timber, cowhide, and sheepskin are actually the main export commodities in the Qingtang and Lanzhou areas.Now the local planting industry is also gradually picking up, and dried meat, cheese, and camel hair have also begun to be transported downstream in large quantities—as for wool, because the hair is short, thick and hard, it is not easy to use, and it is troublesome to clean, so there is no market unless it is cultivated. A better sheep.

Rafts, sheepskin rafts, cowhide rafts, tank boats, pack horses, camels, carriages, almost all means of transportation were used.A large number of sailors and civilian husbands gathered from all over the country. When the strength of the two sides was about the same, the war was actually about logistics.

Shao Dashuai's transportation cost is not too high, what about Li Keyong?

(End of this chapter)