Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 408 War Is Not So Simple

"How far is it from Jingzhao Mansion?" Zhu Liangfa, the food envoy, asked on the post road in the valley beside Luoshui.

"There are still forty miles to Tongguan County."

"Let's take a rest first." Zhu Liang looked at the tired-looking Tutuan peasant and ordered.

As the food envoy of the Shuofang Army, before the main force sets out, he must first go to the front line to build food platforms and equipment warehouses to store materials for the war.

Shanguo is still too far away from the core of Lingxia, and it is impossible to transport food for a long distance, so we can only use the surplus grain in Weibei and Huazhou nearby. It is hard to say whether it is enough or not.

It would be great if the river is in your hands.

The tank boats set off from Lingzhou, transported all the way to Hezhong Town, and then took a land transfer to the front line.

"Calculate carefully the materials used for war horses and draft animals." During a break, Zhu Liang said to several military Chinese officials.

His arithmetic level is average, but he is meticulous in his work.

However, these clerks under his command came to defect after the abolition of the imperial court's Ming arithmetic examination. They have been in the army for some years, they are good at arithmetic, and they are familiar with every corner of the barracks. They are all practical talents.

The imperial examinations in the Guo Dynasty were inherited from the Sui Dynasty and developed. There are more than 50 subjects in total, namely Jinshi, Mingjing, Mingshu, Mingfa, Mingshu, etc.The exam is held every year, the number of admissions is not fixed, and the selection is based on strength. For example, the Xiucai Section was discontinued because it was too difficult and the number of people admitted each year was too small.

After the Huang Chao Rebellion, because of lack of money, the imperial court cut off many subjects in the imperial examinations, and Ming Suan was one of them.What to do with some math students who have studied for many years, naturally they can only go to places where they can support their families.

The requirements for mathematics candidates are not high, because even if they pass the exam, they are still just a small official from the ninth rank. (fifth-rank) ranks, and even the vast majority of people will be ninth-rank officials all their lives.

Actually that would be fine.The "secondary courses" such as Mingsuan are discriminated against, and they are not comparable to the "main courses" Jinshi, but after all, they take the exam every year, and every year someone wins. It has trained many talents that the country needs.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was only one subject of Jinshi. What about people who study arithmetic, law, calligraphy, etc.?
In the ten prefectures of Shuofang, the number of medical students and economics students is more than twice the number stipulated by the country. This year, math schools are also opened at the prefecture and county level. This is another big expense, and [-] yuan a year is indispensable.

Doctors in agriculture are also being recruited, but they don't plan to open it at the county level. They will start a state school first, including horse politics, breeding, and the like.

As for doctor of engineering, doctor of law and so on, let's save some money first, unless the imperial court "sponsors".

"The Flying Bear Army now has [-] horses and the Iron Cavalry Army has [-] horses. These two armies will go south this month ahead of schedule. Don't make a mistake." Zhu Liang is not good at arithmetic, so he repeatedly told him that he was afraid of mistakes. .

"Of order." All the civil servants responded one after another.

The horses of Flying Bear and the Second Cavalry Army are really "delicate"!
Once the war started, they didn't even want pasture mixed with grains and beans, but only grains, beans and bran, which were made into cakes and fed to the horses.

12 horses consume more than [-] hu of food a day, and [-] hu of food a month. The appetite is amazing!
No way, in the end, I still have to reason with them, mix some hay, and reduce food consumption.

The horses of the cavalry of the Iron Forest Army are willing to mix grass and beans, so the iron cavalry and the flying bears are so delicate?

The two towns of Wei and Hua have a population of just over a million, how long can they last?

But there are not so many grasslands in the Central Plains, which is another problem.

In war, logistics is really a big problem, alas!If the Jingzhao government is willing to provide food and grass, it will be much easier...

After a short rest, the convoy continued on its journey.

This time they shipped a lot of camping equipment, plus 50 arrows, and shipped them to Tong and Hua for storage in advance.

This month, a team of camels and horses will be sent out, with more than [-] camels and more than [-] pack horses, carrying Uighur beans, soybeans, ropes, sharpening stones, spades, tarpaulins, pots and other odds and ends.

This is another big expense.

In addition, people have to be sent to Tongzhou to clean up several coal mines.When the army travels, if there is coal for use, it is much more convenient than collecting firewood.

The general doesn't like to cut down trees, and the army is used to using coal now, unless there is no place to camp.

Chang'an and Taiyuan were the most used charcoal in the Guo Dynasty, and the charcoal in Chang'an mainly came from Tongzhou, which solved a big problem.

The cost of a war far away from the core area is so high!No wonder the commander-in-chief ordered the transfer of manpower from the five metropolitan institutes of Sui, Xia, Ling, Lan, and Wei to form the Tongzhou Metropolitan Institute. The cost of transshipment was too high.

In mid-August, a convoy led by Zhu Liang crossed Luoshui and arrived in Tongzhou.

The assembly of materials is in progress, and the assembly of personnel is about to begin...

******
"This time the troops have entered the Central Plains, how can we think about how to fight?" Shao Shude, who returned to Yulin Palace in Shengzhou, found Zhe Siyu, an envoy of the cavalry army, and Yang Hongwang, an envoy of the Feixiong army.

The big detour, the first thing to solve is the problem of logistical supplies.

"There are not so many grasslands in the Central Plains. How can people and horses solve the food source?" The three of them sat around eating melons and fruits, and Shao Shude asked: "After the cavalry set off, they can carry food and water for at most ten days. How to solve the rest?" ?”

"Can the commander-in-chief allow the people to be looted?" Zhe Siyu asked bluntly, "If the people refuse to pay the grain, can you allow the massacre of villages and towns?"

Shao Shude remained silent, this is a very real problem, and it cannot be avoided.

The Central Plains is different from the grasslands. There are not so many grasslands for you to graze horses, cattle and sheep.Even if there is an open pasture, the type of grass growing on it is still a problem. It is not impossible to start with a large herd of cattle and sheep, but it is very difficult. This trick is probably not easy to use.

"Bring more cheese and dried meat, this thing is very hungry." Seeing Shao Shude thinking, Yang Hong suggested from the side: "Maybe it can last for more than ten days."

"You can requisition food, but try to kill as few people as possible." Shao Shude also knew that this sentence was weak. In fact, when others saw that you didn't kill people, why should you pay food?In addition, ordinary people in the countryside don't have much food, especially if the walls are cleared, there is really no food at all. Where can you replenish it?
"If the enemy digs trenches and cuts off the road, can civilians be used to fill the trenches?" Zhe Siyu asked again.

Shao Shude was a little angry, why did he always ask such sharp questions?But he has reason and knows that this is a real problem, damn it!
He tried to recall what the Mongols did.

The Mongol Empire compiled history, and in their official records, it was written that soldiers who ran long distances ate human flesh, dead animal carcasses when they ran out of food, and even ate grass when they were extremely hungry.

Capture captives and eat one out of every ten people. They will eat any animals they encounter, including mice, cats and the like.

If you don't even have to eat people and animals, when you are very hungry, you will stab a knife in the horse's buttocks and suck the horse's blood.

When food and cooking were cut off, the horse's internal organs were eaten raw.

Long-distance raids are not as good as they look, and food shortages are commonplace.

People living in wealthy areas don't have this kind of cruelty, but there are many on the grasslands. This is why Shao Shude likes to recruit grassland cavalry, not only because many of them have practiced riding since childhood.

Of course, none of them can reach the level of the Mongols. It’s not that they can’t endure hardships and stand hard work like the Mongols, but they don’t have their cruelty and their moral bottom line is not low enough.

"There are many ways to fill the trench, and you can even take a detour." Shao Shude glared at his brother-in-law.

From the point of view of hegemony——

It may be nothing to drive the people to fill the trenches, because there are many warlords who do this, even the famous heroes and founding monarchs in history have done this.

Cannibalism is probably okay.When the world is in chaos and the order of production is disrupted, how can there be so much food?Did no one eat human flesh in the last years of the Qin Dynasty?Did no one eat during the Three Kingdoms period?At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, which rebel army did not eat human flesh?At worst, after winning the world, let people whitewash it, confiscate all kinds of private records of the people, reduce their credibility, and list them as unofficial history.

Massacring the city to frighten the enemy seems to be nothing.Because it is so convenient, many cities may fall without a fight in the future.

But if you really do this, it is still not in line with your own values.

Has been assimilated so much, and then give up some of the only persistence, and play an egg!
"What a noise!" Shao Shude stood up and scolded with a smile, "Can't we fight without these things? Heroes from ancient times, I respect Taizong the most, and fights are the cleanest. Go back quickly and make an advance route. The enemy is unprepared this time." , is destined to suffer a loss. After suffering a loss, I will probably be able to improve my memory, but that will be the next time, and it has nothing to do with this time. If you really can’t fight, you can withdraw later, and I don’t blame it.”

"Of order." The two saluted together.

In ancient times, heroes fought side by side and fought endlessly.

Some people are unscrupulous, some people do something and some people don't do it.

With the same team and the same strength, the former is more likely to succeed than the latter. It can be said that bad money drives out good money.

Shao Shude felt that he hadn't been beaten by the society so far, so maybe he didn't have to rush to lower his moral standard. The big deal was that he sat in the pass, controlled Pujin Pass, Tongguan Pass, and Wuguan Pass, and took his time to find opportunities.

After Zhe and Yang left, Shao Shude read the letter from Zhe Silun again.

In fact, I have seen it once before, and now I rewatch it again, and I have made up my mind.

He found Lu Siye.

"Write a letter to Fengxiang Zhe Situ, asking him to take charge of the overall situation and conquer Feng Xingxi." Shao Shude said: "Then send envoys to Fengxiang Mansion, Xingyuan Mansion and Jinzhou, saying that they are powerful. The three towns united forces, and Zhe Zong This is handsome. If Zhuge Zhongfang and Li Xiang are unwilling, I will deal with it myself."

Of these three, apart from Jinshang, which is a small town, the strength of Fengxiang and Xingyuan should not be underestimated.

Zhuge Zhongfang now has a yamen army of around [-], Zhezongben is slightly more, but not more than [-], and Li Xiang, a gold merchant, has less than [-].

The combination of the three families can make up more than [-] no matter what.

Almost enough, the terrain over there, too many troops is also a troublesome thing.

"After capturing Junzhou, there is no need to rush to return it. I want to talk to Zhao Dechen."

(End of this chapter)