The horse bandits on the Hexi Corridor were just a small episode and did not affect the Tang army's rapid march.
In mid-October, Li Ye's team passed through the Hexi Corridor and headed towards Liupanguan. Li Ye decided to take the Jingyuan Road to save three days.
On the last day of October, the team finally came out of Jingyuan Road. On the same day, a severe blizzard swept Hexi, Shuofang and Longyou. On the next night, the blizzard moved south and also swept Guanzhong.
Fortunately, Li Ye's team entered Chang'an half a day early before the blizzard came.
Li Ye stood in front of the study window, drinking fragrant milk tea, looking at the snowballs in the sky being caught by the north wind and dancing wildly in the wind.
At this time, Dugu Xinyue walked up to her husband and smiled softly: "God also favors me and gives me the opportunity to go home."
Li Ye nodded, "I remember the first blizzard last year was in early November, but it happened earlier this year. Fortunately, we decided to take the Jingyuan Road, otherwise the team would have been trapped in Qizhou by the blizzard."
"Will your husband go to Anxi again in the future?"
Li Ye smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I don't know, but I have to find a way to shorten the time from Chang'an to Anxi as much as possible. The distance is too far, which is very detrimental to our control of Anxi."
"The best way is to set up a post station!"
Dugu Xinyue said with a smile: "I heard my father say that if a post station is set up every hundred miles, horses and people will be changed to run in relays, day and night, it will take only twenty days to reach Beiting, and about twenty-five days to Anxi.
It’s the fastest speed.”
What Li Ye had in mind was a steam train, but it is not realistic yet. The iron output cannot reach it, and the technical level cannot reach it either.
Li Ye smiled and said: "You are talking about delivering letters. I was thinking about how to transport troops. This time we used a cart to transport wounded soldiers and it gave me an inspiration. We can build a longer cart. Each cart
Fifty soldiers were seated, and eight draft horses were used to pull the cart.
At the same time, horse stations were set up along the way. Each horse station had thousands of horses. Horses were changed immediately at each station. Soldiers could lie down in the carts, which was more comfortable.
In this way, 200 carts can be used to transport 10,000 people, and I estimate that it only takes 20 days for the 10,000 troops to arrive in Beiting."
"Isn't this the same thing as setting up a post station?"
Li Ye shook his head, "It's different. The post station changes people and horses, while the horse station only changes horses, not people. It is mainly to facilitate the transportation of troops."
In history, the Mongolian cavalry set a record of marching ninety kilometers per day. If this speed was followed, the cavalry could travel from Chang'an to Beiting in twenty days.
But that requires the habit of sleeping on horses, marching day and night, carrying mares to produce milk for food, horse dung for fuel, and endless grasslands.
Therefore, the Mongolian army's western expedition destroyed a large number of agricultural facilities in order to turn farmland into pasture to facilitate their march.
However, this method was not suitable for the Tang army. For the farming people, it was more convenient to use large carts to carry supplies along the way, not only to transport people, but also to carry heavy supplies of grain and grass, etc.
Dugu Xinyue smiled and said: "Then we have to build a road first! We need to build a very smooth Tangzhi Road that leads all the way to the river. This will take many years."
Without smooth roads, Li Ye's horse-drawn train plan was empty talk. But then again, Qin Shihuang's original intention when considering Qin Zhidao should be the same as his own, to send the army to the border as quickly as possible.
What the Qin State did at that time was not to build a new road, but to repair the existing official roads at that time and level the rough places. This reduced the amount of work a lot. Otherwise, the Qin Dynasty's national power at that time would not be able to withstand such a large-scale construction.
Build roads.
You can also use the same method to flatten the existing official roads. In fact, the key is not the roads, but the construction of horse stations, which must have a large number of horses.
At the same time, there are efficient standardized operating procedures and a complete management system.
The second is to have a sturdy and durable cart with advanced technology, so that excellent craftsmen can find ways to improve the cart's manufacturing technology, reduce the level of bumps, and make walking smoother.
If you do these things well, your idea should be realized.
Li Ye thought about it repeatedly, and finally made a decision to turn his ideas into reality.
In the early morning of the third day, the blizzard that had been falling for two days finally stopped, and Chang'an turned into a snowy world. Soldiers and people went out to sweep the snow and clear the snow on the streets and roofs.
In the morning, Li Ye came to his official room. This was him getting back on track after a few months.
The first thing is to listen to the reports from Li Mi, Liu Yan and others to understand the major events that have happened in the past few months.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the past few months have been relatively peaceful. After winter, the epidemic in Jianghuai and Yingzhou has ended, and Li Xiangguo has returned to Luoyang. In addition, the imperial court has appointed Zhu Si as the governor of Youzhou, and Prince Fanyang has recognized him.
In response to Li Huaixian's replacement, Li Baochen and Tian Chengsi sent their sons to the court as hostages to apologize to the court, including Li Zhengyi, and the vassal rebellion came to an end."
"Has Li Zheng withdrawn from Qizhou?"
Li Mi shook his head, "I didn't quit!"
Li Ye couldn't help but sneered, "He came to the door with great momentum and ended up in disgrace. The imperial court really has a lot of face."
"This matter is indeed a coward. According to the information we got, the supervisory army should have secretly reported to the emperor that Guo Ziyi secretly made friends with the nobles in Yanzhou and Yunzhou, which made the emperor suspicious. At this time, Li Zheng had already written a letter to plead guilty.
After sending another son to the court as a hostage, the emperor borrowed the donkey from the slope and issued an order to recall Guo Ziyi's army. There is obviously something fishy in this!"
Li Ye nodded, "It must have been that Li Zheng had bribed the eunuchs, so the supervisory army would attack. In fact, it's normal to think about it. The imperial court ordered Guo Ziyi and Li Zheng to confront each other and not fight. In their spare time, Guo Ziyi and the local nobles
Fame will definitely lead to contacts. It is obvious that he wants to have a good relationship with the local gentry and not affect the garrison. But if the supervisor changes his explanation and turns into a private acquaintance with the gentry, the crime will come. Basically, it is the emperor's distrust of the general.
"
Liu Yan also sighed, "The eunuchs are really a cancer in the imperial court!"
"Is there any other important news?"
Li Mi thought for a while and said, "Also, I heard that the emperor has a physical problem."
Li Ye perked up. This was the news he was most concerned about. He quickly asked: "What's wrong with your body?"
"It's the news from Dugu Ming. It is said that the emperor has been suffering from continuous fainting in the inner palace!"
"What's the reason?"
"It should be that he was too addicted to women. It is said that after the emperor moved the capital to Luoyang, he held two consecutive drafts and consecrated more than two hundred concubines. Even a strong man could not stand it, not to mention that the emperor's body was already weak."
Li Ye could completely understand that the emperor Li Heng had been suppressed by the Supreme Emperor Li Longji when he was the prince. In order to eliminate his father's suspicion, he had to surrender and indulge in wine and women. At the same time, he also used wine and women to anesthetize him.
Own.
Even if he became the emperor, he would often instinctively choose to drink and have sex in order to relieve his depression. With the instigation of the eunuchs and Empress Zhang, the emperor completely indulged himself. Within a year of going to Luoyang, he actually had two drafts.
Historically, Li Heng was a short-lived emperor, which was closely related to his addiction to wine and sex.
At this time, Li Ye thought of something and asked: "How are the preparations for next year's imperial examination going?"
In March next year, Chang'an will hold a grand imperial examination to recruit talents from all over the world. More importantly, this imperial examination is also a test to see how much the world's nobles recognize King Qi.
Li Ye paid great attention to this matter, which can be said to be the most important event in Chang'an in the first half of next year.
Sima Chen Huan was in charge of the imperial examination. He nodded and said: "The plan has been drafted. Once Your Highness approves it, we will start making preparations!"
