Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 284
When Wu She was lobbying Huainan Wang Yingbu in Pengcheng, Xiang Zhuang came to She County.

In the mountainous area of ​​Shexian County in Danyang County, the once lush virgin forest has been burned down, replaced by patches of green grass pastures. This is the largest military horse farm in Chu State - Shexian Military Horse Farm. No less than [-] Mongolian pony horses and more than [-] Arabian mixed-breed horses have been bred.

In order to introduce Arabian horses, Chu State paid a very heavy price.

In order to support the naval fleet to go to Nanyang, Chu State spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources.

After the failure of the first voyage to Nanyang, the state of Chu quickly built a fleet of [-] Chu ships. Ge Sheng still led the team and went to Nanyang with [-] elite soldiers. After the South Vietnam Mutiny, this fleet became a transportation team, traveling between South Vietnam and Jiangdong, transporting tens of thousands of strong men from Chu State.

Six months later, Ge Sheng regrouped and went to Nanyang for the third time.

This time, the fleet even crossed the Strait of Malacca. Unfortunately, the fleet was hit by a hurricane again in the Indian Ocean. Four Chu ships loaded with goods such as public transport paper, liquor, and silk ran aground and sank without these goods. , it would not make much sense to go to the West again, so Ge ​​Sheng had to return.

During the fourth voyage to Nanyang, the number of Chu ships in the fleet increased to fifty!

Moreover, Ge Sheng also learned the lesson of the last failure and placed the goods separately on each ship, so that even if one or several ships sink, it will not affect the overall situation.

This time, Ge Sheng's fleet finally arrived in the sky city - Babylon.

At this time, the Mesopotamia was under the rule of Seleucus (a general under Alexander the Great), and was being attacked by the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire, so there was no time to entertain guests from the east, but the Chu people still got They got what they wanted - Arabian horses, camels and lots of gold!

However, on the way back to Jiangdong, many crew members suffered from serious diseases and died one after another (actually malaria).

After bypassing the Strait of Malacca, the four thousand sailors had died so that there were less than 1000 left. Even Ge Sheng, the general of the Louchuan, fell ill and died suddenly. 1000 people could not control fifty Chu ships. In total, healthy Arabian horses, camels, and all the gold were concentrated on twenty Chu boats, and then another thirty Chu boats were scuttled.

On the way back to Jiangdong from Malacca, many people died.

When the fleet returned to Dantu Port, there were less than 600 of the [-] sailors left when they set off, and all of them were skinny and emaciated. The Arabian horses and dozens of camels were intact, and the tens of thousands of catties of gold were also intact.

Hearing that Ge Sheng also died suddenly on the way, Xiang Zhuang was very sad, and immediately posthumously presented Ge Sheng as Marquis of Wuxiang, and Ge Sheng's eldest son, Ge Bu, who was only nine years old, inherited the title.

Therefore, in order to obtain Arabian horses, Chu State paid a very heavy price.

Today, more than a thousand mixed-breed horses in the Shexian Army Horse Farm are improved by crossing Arabian horses with Mongolian pony horses.

However, Xiang Zhuang traveled through the crowd after all, so he did not repeat the mistakes of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of the Han used all the blood-sweat horses imported from Dawan for breeding, but ignored the blood genes that maintain the blood-sweat horses. As a result, he embarked on a road of no return from introduction, breeding, improvement, backcrossing, until extinction. In the end, the huge Han Empire could not find a single purebred horse.

Therefore, Xiangzhuang did not use all the Arabian horses for breeding, but reserved a certain population to maintain the genes of the Arabian horses. Only when the gene pool of the Arabian horses is maintained, will there be more Arabian horses for improvement. Only the Shexian Army Horse Farm can continuously breed excellent mixed-breed horses.

However, judging from the size, the improved mixed-breed horse is not very outstanding.

In fact, the average height of the purebred Arabian horses introduced from Babylon is only more than six feet, which is only a few feet higher than the average height of Mongolian horses. It is more than enough to form light cavalry. If it is used to form heavy cavalry, then That’s not enough, if you want to form a heavy cavalry, you have to be a tall horse with a height of more than eight feet!
However, just as there are horses over eight feet tall in Mongolian horses, there are also oversized individuals in the population of Arabian horses, and even horses with a height of nine feet will be born. There will always be enough horses to be bred, and it will be a matter of time to form heavy cavalry.

However, Xiang Zhuang didn't come to She County this time to see these mixed-breed horses.

Xiang Zhuang came to She County this time to recruit mules for the expedition to Bashu, because in She County, in addition to the military horse farm, there is also a large mule horse farm, which has tens of thousands of mules.

The so-called, the army did not move, the food and grass went first, but Xiangzhuang did not move the food and grass, and the mules and horses went first!
Mules are actually offspring of a hybrid between a horse and a donkey. They not only have the load-bearing capacity and resistance of a donkey, but also have the spirituality and running ability of a horse. Moreover, mules eat less than pack horses and are even better at adapting to harsh environments. With the pack horses in the southwest, with mules, all the bad horses eliminated in the military horse farm can be sold to subsidize the expenditure of the military horse farm.

In fact, in recent years, the Shexian Army Horse Farm has been able to replenish blood by itself, and no longer needs subsidies from the treasury.

Speaking of mules, they actually appeared as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, but they were hidden in the palace as rare objects for the nobles to enjoy. It was not until the Song Dynasty that mules were used as draft animals, and they began to be bred in large numbers. After leaving Xiangzhuang, the crossing people, the time for Huaxia to use mules has been greatly advanced.

In this expedition to Bashu, the soldiers of the Chu army can no longer go out with dry food bags on their backs.

In the past, carrying dry food bags was forced by the situation. There was no other way. Now that the conditions of the Chu army have been greatly improved, there is no need for the soldiers to eat the dry and astringent dry food. Moreover, from Jiangdong to Bashu, that is It is more than 2000 miles away, and it takes a month or two to march alone. No matter how big the dry food bag is, you can't eat it, right?
Therefore, enough mules must be mobilized for this expedition to transport food and supplies.

For this expedition to Bashu, Xiang Zhuang plans to use the [-] elites of the Huben Camp and the Sirius Camp as the backbone, and then transfer [-] government soldiers to form an expeditionary army. Moreover, Xiang Zhuang plans to lead the expedition himself!

Fifty thousand troops, people eat horses chew, is not a small number!

Moreover, the distance from Jiangdong to the middle of Shu is very long, at least more than 2000 miles. The march alone may take a month or two. For this expedition, at least four months of rations for an army of [-] troops must be prepared, which is really not a small amount.

Assuming that one soldier consumes one shi of grain in one month, 20 soldiers would consume [-] shi of grain in four months!
20 shi, that is, 400 million jin. It is no problem for a mule to carry [-] jin (Qin jin) to cross mountains and ridges. That is to say, [-] mules are needed. Considering the loss of mules during transportation, at least Thousands of heads need to be requisitioned, and this is only the transportation of grain, and there will be more if the luggage is included.

Therefore, at least [-] mules will be recruited for this expedition!

As for the rations of [-] mules, there is no need to consider it, because mules are more adaptable to harsh environments than Mongolian pony horses. If there is no excessive load, there is basically no need to worry about losing weight. Jiangdong to Bashu is not a desert, the grass along the way is enough to solve the ration problem of mules.

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When Xiang Zhuang was recruiting mules and horses for the expeditionary army, Liu Bang was in a daze in Taicang, Xianyang.

The foundation of the Han State was much better than that of the Chu State. Even after Guanzhong was looted by the Chu army, its population size, cultivated land area, land fertility, etc. were still better than those of Jiangdong. Ju, now the population size of the Han State and the family wealth saved are much richer than that of the Chu State.

In the past ten years, the total population of the Chu State has almost doubled to nearly 500 million, but the Han State has not stood still. Now the total registered population of the Han State has exceeded 700 million, and the number of strong men has exceeded 150 million. Whether it is the total population size or the number of strong men, it still firmly overwhelms Chu State.

The corn stored in Xianyang Taicang is far more than the rice stored in Ziling Taicang.

Qinchuan and Bashu plains are all fertile lands for eight hundred miles. Although the Jiangnan of later generations is known as the land of fish and rice, most of the area in this era is uncultivated wasteland. The total grain output is far from being comparable to that of Guanzhong and Bashu, the two world granaries.

After ten years of accumulation, the corn stored in Xianyang Taicang has exceeded 500 million shi!

Standing in Taicang, Liu Bang couldn't believe it was true when he watched Duo go to the granary to put down the hills of corn that could only be piled in the open air. When he was fighting with Xiang Yu more than ten years ago, he often Wan Shi was worried about the rations of the Han army, and he was as capable as Xiao He, Prime Minister Xiao, and he had to do his best to barely supply the Han army with rations.

But now, there is so much food in Xianyang Taicang that they can't finish it!

Even if an army of one million is dispatched, it is enough to support the May battle!
So, it's time to leave the customs. Although Liu Bang's health is not bad, but anyway, he is already 69 years old this year, and he will have a few more years of good life in the future. Only God knows. The kingdoms of the Kanto region are united, so Liu Bang can't rest in peace even if he dies.

However, before leaving the customs, you must first solve the hidden danger of the Huns!
If the Xiongnu are not destroyed, the rear of the Han Kingdom will be unstable, and the Han army will be distracted and dual-purpose. This is undoubtedly extremely disadvantageous from a strategic point of view, and it is easy to be used by an enemy country like Chu. It is not necessary to wipe out the Xiongnu, as long as Jiuyuan is recaptured and the Huns are driven back to Mobei, it is almost the same.

(End of this chapter)