Cutting 1719

Chapter 401 Horse Breed Improvement Project
At the end of June, the 12rd Division and No.[-] Division of the Fuhan Army advanced ten miles outside Luodian City, but they did not choose to attack the city immediately, but began to set up camp. Twenty thousand officers and soldiers were in the small Luodian City The work outside was in full swing, and it took seven or eight days of hard work to dig three long trenches.

Guo Ding'an, who came out of the martial arts hall before he became the brigade commander, was an absolute expert in building positions. In addition to the three-layer trenches, he also arranged barbed wire on the positions, making a strict guard against death. It seemed that they had no intention of attacking Luodian City at all, and even shot a cannon at Luodian City.

Needless to say, when this scene appeared in front of Guizhou Admiral He Shiji, he was completely stunned.

Do you want to be so cowardly?Isn't it he, He Shiji, who should really be cowarded?
In fact, when the 4000 Fuhan army left Sizhou, He Shiji had the urge to run away. He had a clear understanding of the combat effectiveness of his own army and the Fuhan army. To put it bluntly, deal with him Of the [-] Qing soldiers in Luodian City, about [-] to [-] would be enough.

Therefore, when the Fu Han army put on a defensive posture, He Shiji was inexplicably relieved. Naturally, he hoped not to hit him if he could not beat him, but after he recovered, he became a little crooked, and that was to repay himself .

Although He Shiji didn't know why the Fuhan army didn't attack, but no matter what he said, He Shiji led 8000 people to stick to Luodian City. So far, he hasn't allowed the Fuhan army to overstep the barrier. This is not a credit, what is a credit?

"Hurry up and send the letter to Lord Du Xian, this time He is going to be prosperous!"

He Shiji rubbed his chin, and a smug smile appeared on his face. He arranged a secret sentry every day to keep an eye on the movement of the Fuhan Army's position. Once there was a sign of an attack - he would immediately run away with his troops .

If the Fuhan army wants to continue to stalemate with him in Luodian City, then feel free, anyway, he will never take people out of the city for half a step, it would be even better if it lasts forever.

When He Shiji thought he was doing his own thing, he didn't realize that his sentries outside the city were constantly being hunted down, and his battlefield intelligence space was infinitely compressed. Almost half a mile out of the city, there were Fuhan army sentries chasing and killing him, which lasted for a long time. A few days later, the Qing army in the city will discover a problem, that is, Luodian City has been completely blocked.

Guo Ding'an naturally wouldn't stare at him like a little He Shiji. In fact, when he and Yue Lingfeng saw that Luodian City was a bait, they already had other ideas, and it was a very bold one. idea.

That is to completely drag the Qing army in Guizhou and Guizhou provinces to death in Anshun Mansion!

It is not easy to achieve this, so Guo Dingan submitted the entire plan to the group headquarters, and several divisions are required to cooperate to complete it. It is entirely possible to achieve this strategic goal.

It has to be said that since the last battle of Xinhui, Guo Ding'an has fallen in love with this kind of tactics of encirclement and annihilation. It is nothing to defeat the enemy. Time ends.

In order to achieve this strategic goal, Guo Ding'an has led the third division to Pingtang secretly, and joined the fifth division to attack Duyun. The key point is that the first division from Hunan has successfully captured Sizhou and is on the way. Marching along Zhengyuan, Huangping and Pingyuan, the assembly is expected to be completed in Pingyue Prefecture.

Through this way of building plank roads and hiding Chencang secretly, Guo Ding'an can completely bypass the Qing army cluster in the direction of Luodian and complete the surprise attack on Guizhou Prefecture with relatively less risk, so Cheng Ming has already expressed his approval.

When the morning glow appeared in the sky, the first ray of sunshine from the sky shone on the earth, and the undulating and endless pasture was covered with a layer of red neon clothes, surrounded by mountains and trees, and the tributary of Yuelong Lake extended in the hinterland of the pasture. As far as the eye can see are cattle and sheep, egrets, pastures and trees.

From time to time in the distance, leisurely cattle and sheep are eating green grass, and some horses are running wantonly. In the distance, Yuelong Lake is dotted with stars, and some egrets can be seen flying. It is like a fairyland on earth, full of tranquility and peace. smell.

Ning Yu strolled on the pasture, he did not choose to ride a horse, but a group of people surrounded him, followed respectfully one by one, waiting for Ning Yu's instructions.

This is not a grassland, but Chuzhou, which is located at the junction of Anhui and Jiangsu. It is less than a hundred miles away from Nanjing, so its strategic significance is very important.But for Ning Yu, he came here today not for anything else, but to inspect the Huangzhai army horse farm set up here.

People in the world think that the grassland is in the north, but in fact there is also a grassland in Chuzhou, that is the Huangzhai grassland, which is also a grassland with a very long history.

In this era and even before, there is no need to say much about the role of war horses. Therefore, in all dynasties, horse administration has been a very important matter for the central court, and the grasslands set up everywhere are also very important, directly affecting the army. An important factor in the supply of war horses.

Chuzhou Fengshan, where the mountains are not high and steep, the water is lush and the grass is luxuriant, it is a good place for feeding and breeding war horses. Therefore, as early as the sixth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of War ordered the establishment of management of horses and horses in Chuzhou. Taipu Temple, the official office of the Taipu Temple, and large-scale breeding and breeding of war horses in Huangzhai Grassland.

Although after Jing Nan, the capital of the Ming Dynasty moved to Beijing and set up a Taipu Temple in Beijing, the Nanjing Taipu Temple in Chuzhou also remained until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Among a group of ministers, several were blond and blue-eyed Westerners. They were the horse breeding experts and related cavalry officers that Ernst invited back from European countries. They also wore Ningchu's red official uniforms, but they looked a little Nondescript.

"John, I heard that you brought over a dozen breeds of Arabian horses from England this time?"

Ning Yu glanced at the horses in the distance, but did not find any Arabian horses. Most of the horses were Mongolian horses, so he was a little curious.

A Westerner with big eyes heard the translator translate the emperor's words, he took two steps forward and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have indeed brought twelve Arabian stallions to the empire. It will be used as a horse breed to breed war horses suitable for the empire."

When he heard what John said about breeding horse breeds, Ning Yu couldn't help but feel moved. In fact, the improvement of horse breeds was not first started by Westerners, and the current horse breeds in China have also gone through a long period of improvement.

As early as the Han Dynasty, in order to deal with the threat of the grassland Huns, the Han Dynasty did not hesitate to spend a huge price to improve its own horse breeds. One of the purposes of conquering Dawan was to obtain Dawan's bloody horse breeds. He obtained [-] blood-sweat horses from Dawan, which had a great influence on the subsequent breeding of military horses.

Since the past dynasties have attached great importance to horse politics, the improvement has never stopped. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were many actions to improve the horse breed. However, these methods did not greatly change the horse breeds at that time.

Until the Yuan Dynasty, due to Mongolia's entry into the Central Plains, the horse breeding industry developed vigorously. At that time, the pasture land of the Yuan court ranged from Tamla in the east, to Huolituma in the north, and even in the west. Gansu and Yunnan have established a large number of horse farms. Even Zhu Yuanzhang's later cavalry used horses from the Yuan court horse farm, and Mongolian horses basically became the main source of war horses in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

However, in addition to the Mongolian horse, there are two other war horse breeds, namely the Kazakh horse and the Ili horse that was later bred through the Kazakh horse. However, these two horse breeds are from Xinjiang and are relatively small in number, so the current mainstream War horses are still Mongolian horses.

"John, I put you on the Chuzhou racecourse. How much do you know about the current warhorses of the empire?" Ning Yu was not the one to slap his head directly, but he still wanted to listen to the opinions of relevant experts before making a decision.

John glanced at the Mongolian horses on the horse farm lightly, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, if you didn't tell me, I would have thought those horses were all donkeys used to pull goods."

When the translator heard this sentence, his expression changed immediately, and he didn't know whether he should translate it or not, but it aroused the curiosity of the ministers next to him.

Ning Yu knew a little bit of English, so he naturally understood the meaning of the Westerner in front of him, and said softly, "John, do you think these Mongolian horses are not suitable for being used as war horses?"

"Your Majesty, the Mongolian horse is a very ancient horse breed. It has many advantages, such as a thick body, strong limbs, a rough and strong physique, and tenacious vitality. It will perform very well on the Mongolian grassland-but for your For the empire, if you want to have a strong heavy cavalry regiment, you cannot choose the Mongolian horse because it is too short."

John said seriously that he had no intention of accusing Mongolian horses at all, but he knew that Mongolian horses alone could not train a qualified heavy cavalry.

The cuirassiers Ning Yu has always wanted are actually the most typical and common heavy cavalry in Europe. They wear polished steel breastplates and brass-decorated helmets. The breastplate alone weighs as much as 7 -8 kg, while the horses of the heavy cavalry are required to be strong and tall, and the requirements for speed and agility are not high, but they must have impact.

The height of Mongolian horses is usually only 120-142 cm, and the weight is between 267.7-372 kg. A war horse of this height and weight naturally does not meet John's needs.

"Your Majesty, the military horses used in various European countries have been continuously bred, such as the British Thoroughbred, the German Hanoverian, and the French Sierra French. These horses are different in height and weight. In terms of horsepower, it is much higher than that of Mongolian horses."

While talking, John explained: "These bred war horses are usually between 150 cm and 160 cm in height, and their weight is much higher than the current Mongolian horses, so we also need to use Arabian horses. , combined with Mongolian horses to improve horse breeds suitable for the empire."

"John, I see what you mean."

Ning Yu and Ning Yu couldn't help sighing softly. In fact, he was not the only one who encountered this problem. Japan also encountered it in history. After the Meiji Restoration, there was a horse breed improvement movement, but the horses that time This kind of improvement has gone through decades of uninterrupted cultivation time.

Before the Meiji Restoration, Japanese horse breeds usually came from Mongolian horses and some stallions in Japan, such as Misaki horses, Kiso horses, Noma horses, Hokkaido and stallions, Taishu horses, Yonaguni horses, and Miyako horses. For small horses, due to the limitations of Japan's own conditions and the inaction of horse politics, until the Meiji Restoration, the height of Japanese horses was less than 100 centimeters, which was even shorter than donkeys.

Later, in the early days of the Meiji Restoration, France presented some Arabian horses to Japan. At that time, the Meiji court was still using local small horses as military horses.

This improvement lasted for ten years. Of course, in the course of these ten years, the improvement work of Japanese horses was also in place. The average height of the registered military horses reached 135-138 cm. Then, in order to further improve the quality of military horses, the Japanese government was established in that year. Established a modern horse breeding institution—Santa Breeding Farm, and began to implement the first 30-year horse breed improvement plan.

The plan learned advanced animal husbandry technology from Western European countries, introduced various types of horses from all over the world, and made comprehensive improvements to Japanese horses. As a result, before the Sino-Japanese War, the average height of Japanese military horses had increased to 142 cm, and the average weight had also reached 329 cm. With a weight of [-] kg, it basically completely surpassed China's mainstream military horses.

But even so, in the later Eight-Power Allied Forces’ invasion of China, the military horses of Japan and the military horses of Western European countries still had obvious disadvantages. The difference in height was still close to 20 cm, and the difference in weight was nearly 70 kg. ridiculed in every way.

However, in 1906, the first phase of the horse breed improvement program in Japan was over, and the Horse Political Bureau was established, and then the second phase of the horse breed improvement program was launched, which continued for 30 years, and this time a large number of high-quality horses from Europe were also introduced. species, the height of the improved military horse has risen to 160 cm, and the weight has been significantly improved.

Therefore, Ning Yu was a little worried about the decades-long improvement of horse breeds. If it really took so long, how could he wait until the improvement of military horses?We can only make do with the current Mongolian horses.

"Your Majesty, I plan to spend about ten years in China to complete the improvement plan of crossing Mongolian horses and Arabian horses." John said solemnly. Of course, he would not have thought that Ning Yu could also think of Japanese horse breed improvement.

In fact, this point was completely a misunderstanding by Ning Yu. The reason why Japanese horses took so long to improve their breeds was that on the one hand, their original background was too poor and they had to spend longer to make up lessons. However, due to financial constraints, the Japanese government could not afford so much money to improve horse breeds, so naturally it took a long time.

But China is different after all. On the one hand, the original Mongolian horse roots are still there, and on the other hand, Ningchu is much more generous in funding. Therefore, breeding a large number of horse breeds can completely shorten the time for improving this horse breed.

(End of this chapter)