Under Yanzhi Mountain, thousands of horses galloped.
If calculated based on the time of establishment, Xia Jun's first racecourse was the Yinchuan Racecourse in Yinzhou, which is also the most important racecourse at present. It is responsible for the breeding and cultivation of various types of horses such as war horses, draft horses, riding horses, and pack horses.
Even in the later period, sheep breeding began again, and the development was very prosperous. Currently, there are about 170,000 to 80,000 horses.
The second ranch is Yongqingzha near Tiande Army City. It was originally a horse farm that supplied the Zhenwu Army and Tiande Army. It was very small in scale. After years of development, it now has between 50,000 and 60,000 horses.
The Xishicheng Racecourse was built from scratch after the conquest of Hewei. It is adjacent to the Xia Army's fifth horse farm, the Dongshicheng Racecourse, in the Tiandu Mountain area. The former has 40,000 horses and the latter has about 30,000 horses.
Xiedan Racecourse is the fourth racecourse established by the Xia army. The horses are obtained from war seizures and donations from various ministries. It developed relatively late, but because of its good conditions, it has caught up with others. It currently has 150,000 horses, second only to Yinchuan Ranch.
The sixth racecourse is the Blackwater City Racecourse, located in Shaqiu. It was established the latest and is the smallest in scale, with only over 20,000 horses.
With more than 400,000 horses, the scale is quite large.
During the Zhenguan period of the Guo Dynasty, 700,000 horses were raised in Helong. However, by the Xuanzong Dynasty, the number did not exceed 800,000 at its peak. It may have been close to the limit, not the limit of the pasture, but more likely the limit of demand.
Xixia's war horses numbered about 500,000, which were more powerful than Marshal Shao.
The Liao Kingdom was very powerful. The number of horses in the government-run horse farms exceeded one million. The number of private horses is unknown, but there should be a lot.
As for the Northern Song Dynasty, sometimes it was less than 200,000, sometimes more than 200,000, but it was probably maintained at the scale of 200,000 horses. Compared with the number of 400,000 horses raised in the Central Plains in the Han Dynasty, there were too many sheep in the Northern Song Dynasty.
, it is more likely that 200,000 horses only exist in the accounting books, and it is difficult to say how many there actually are.
"In a few days, each ministry donated 20,000 horses? Let's settle the accounts with them when we come back!" Shao Shude was a little dissatisfied as he watched the herdsmen gathering the horses outside the pasture.
Everyone was speechless. Almost all the horses that could be used in an emergency were sent over from the surrounding ministries, right? There were even horse gear.
From the perspective of livelihood, grassland people don't like to raise many horses. If the Uighurs were not special and like to raise horses for big things, Ganzhou would never be able to mobilize so many horses in a short period of time.
Furthermore, when the Dingming Army was first formed, so many warriors were selected from various ministries and not only were they given away, but they were also given a horse. Supreme Khan, is it really okay for you to exploit them like this?
"Okay, it's almost enough. In the prefecture, the Hexi shogunate will compensate them with some grain. You can decide how much." Shao Shude said: "Please transfer 50,000 horses to me from Xidan Ranch. The sooner the better, I'll wait.
Not as good as."
Even though the ranch officials were mentally prepared, they still felt like they were struck by lightning. There were a total of 150,000 horses, and if 50,000 were taken away at once, what would be left?
In a group of horses, only 20 to 30% are suitable for use as war horses, and the rest can only be used as draft horses, pack horses, and riding horses. There are also a lot of old horses and ponies. This basically captures the essence of the racecourse. What follows
It will take a long time to recover.
But it seems that there is not much to worry about at the moment. The king's attitude is very firm. No one dares to talk nonsense. They immediately send people to pull over the tamed and numbered horses. At the same time, they provide a lot of beans and deliver them to the auxiliary soldiers of the cavalry army.
After collecting the horses and supplies, the entire army mounted their horses.
"Go!" Without the heroic words of mobilization before the battle, Shao Shude drew his sword and pointed his finger, and the whole army responded with a roar.
Looking down from the sky, on the vast and magnificent grassland, more than 90,000 horses rush forward with joy.
The cavalry army had more than 20,000 horses for the ten thousand people. The subordinates of Hongyuan Palace originally only had one man and one horse. Now they have 70,000 horses. The speed of the whole army suddenly increased.
Shao Shude didn't care whether he would be hungry after going to the Central Plains, he would rush there first anyway.
With the sound of thundering hooves and the neighing of horses, the entire army arrived in Tianbao County on the 11th. Today almost everyone changed horses twice to fully maintain their horse power.
Tianbao Ling received the order three days ago, and ordered the peasants to wait beside the post road with large quantities of hay, Uighur beans, and wheat.
Fu Yanchao, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Dingnan Army, has also stayed here for several days. He even asked the auxiliary soldiers to take time out to help the civilians chop up fodder.
"See you, Your Majesty." Fu Yanchao stepped forward quickly and saluted.
"Do you still have time to give these false gifts?" Shao Shude pushed him and said: "Go and urge the sergeant to take care of the horses. If you can't take care of the horses, how can you march long distances?"
"As ordered." Fu Yanchao immediately turned around and went to work.
"Are you Tianbaoling?" Shao Shude looked at the middle-aged man standing in front of him and asked.
"Report to the king and subordinates..."
"That's right." Shao Shude glared and said, "Have you done what I assigned you in advance?"
"It's done." Tianbaoling stopped talking nonsense this time and replied directly: "More than 1,370 horses have been raised."
"Come here, Oritsugu Yu!" Shao Shude shouted.
"Your Majesty." Yu Oritsugu trotted over.
Tianbaoling watched silently.
He was decisive in killing, and his hands were stained with the blood of the Tibetan people. In Hexi, the notorious Zhe Butcher in the Qingtang area was as docile as a kitten in front of King Xia.
"Replace those horses that have lost their strength." Shao Shude ordered.
"As you command." Oritsugu Yuu immediately took off in big strides and spread orders everywhere as if there were springs in his body.
During today's march, some horses were running empty, some were carrying people, some were carrying armor and equipment, and some were carrying cheese, coarse cakes, beans, and so on.
There is no doubt that it is impossible for every horse to expend the same amount of energy. Even if you make adjustments midway to share the pressure as evenly as possible, there will still be differences. Furthermore, horses are just like people, some are tall and some are short, some are strong and some are thin.
, some are born with good physical strength, and some are not.
Tianbao County raised 1,3400 "fresh troops" to replace some of the horses that had run out of strength and needed to rest for several days. This was a plan made before departure.
At the beginning of the hour, it was getting dark. After the soldiers finished eating and drinking, they immediately returned to their respective camps and got into their tents to rest. The auxiliary soldiers continued to work, washing the horses, feeding them water, and even trimming the horses' hooves and re-nailing them.
Horseshoe is very busy.
Being a soldier is hard, being an auxiliary soldier is even harder.
The soldiers had rested and slept, but the auxiliary soldiers still had a lot of things to do. The motivation for them to persevere, apart from the military pay and rewards they received, was probably that they could one day join the ranks of the soldiers.
Shao Shude had been running for a day, and his body was a little tired, but he could still hold on. The forty-year-old man practiced martial arts, hunted, and played polo all year round. He was able to shoot a hard bow and ride a powerful horse. He was a standard brave warrior.
Perhaps only such people who are energetic and ambitious can win the favor of warriors. This is an era where the aesthetics are extremely biased towards bravery and masculinity.
After a good night's sleep, early in the morning on the 12th, everyone ate the hot meal cooked overnight by the people in Tianbao County, took a short rest, and then got on their horses again.
In the evening of the same day, the entire army arrived in Lisuo Guzang County, Liangzhou. The Tielin Army escorted the princess, and the prince and officials had just arrived here two days ago.
The various ministries, prefectures, counties, and shogunate levels in Liangzhou were well prepared and brought 40,000 to 50,000 horses to replace those whose physical strength had declined. Some horses that were injured or died during the rapid march were also replenished.
It is possible to maintain the status of accompanying the horse herd.
Fu Yanchao watched silently all the way, feeling very excited.
With more than 100,000 horses, marching 380 miles in two days, isn't it amazing? Wherever they go, fodder, beans, steamed cakes, pickles, dried meat, cheese, and civilian soldiers are all ready for battle.
, cooperate with the auxiliary troops to serve the horses. In the Helong area, there are many people who have dealt with horses. They are not afraid of horses like the people in the Central Plains. On the contrary, they are more or less familiar with the nature of horses, which helps a lot.
The "real" grassland khan may not be able to achieve this level. Only the kind of force that combines the dual attributes of farming and animal husbandry, has strong financial resources, and has a strict local political organization can do all this calmly, and even do better.
.
Princess Zhe Fangmei personally brought food and wine to express her condolences, which greatly boosted the morale of the troops.
Shao Shude laughed loudly, mounted his horse with "Kedun" in his arms, and made a quick circle. The sergeants cheered even more enthusiastically.
Du Rangneng, the governor of Hexi Province, who was walking over from a distance, laughed at each other with his staff. It was too nonsense, the Hu style was too strong!
On the 13th, the army left Liangzhou.
Before leaving, Shao Shude looked at the sergeant who was in good spirits and was very satisfied.
The cavalry army has been fighting all year round, and has made many long-distance raids, and is able to fight hard. They are in good spirits, and Shao Shude fully understands that as professional warriors, this is what they eat. But the newly recruited Tibetan soldiers of the disaster-defeating army, which has expanded to 10,000 people, are more impressive to him.
I was surprised, and in the end I could only sigh that the livestock attributes of the Tibetan people are indeed much stronger. Their daily life is harder than that of the Han people, and they may have been used to it long ago.
After leaving Liangzhou, there was a long journey of four hundred miles. There were only some beacons and a few tribes in the middle. It was sparsely populated and very desolate.
This section of the journey lasted for nearly three days, and we arrived at Xinquan Military City on the afternoon of the 15th.
Hundreds of warriors were stationed in the city, and the three counties of Huizhou took turns sending people to guard it. As soon as he saw the army coming, the commander Wang Quan immediately jumped off the platform, shouted to the warriors to prepare meals, and at the same time led the horses over.
Xishicheng Ranch, located in Dingxi County, Huizhou, sent 20,000 horses. Huining, Dingxi, and Wulan counties also vigorously searched for horses, and even recruited most of the horses from the post station. The tribes within the territory also
After receiving the conscription order, they jointly collected 16,000 to 7,000 horses and sent them to Xinquan Military City.
The old rules are to replace the horses that lose strength and lose weight during the running, and to replace the horses that are injured, sick, or dead.
The civil servants accompanying the army had their eyes twitching when recording the march. The high-intensity and rapid march caused too much damage to the horses. This trip almost caused chaos in the states and counties along the way. Not to mention the consumption of food and grass, the horses were a contribution.
There are many horses that have run away and are frothing at the mouth. Even if they are still alive, they may have suffered irreversible damage. This is commonly known as "running dead".
Shao Shude climbed onto the earth platform and looked at the faintly visible river to the east.
Tomorrow, we will go twenty miles east to Wulan Pass and Wulan County. After crossing the river, we will reach Huining Pass. In the evening, we can go to Huizhou City for supplies. Going east from Huizhou, there is also the Tiandu Mountain Ranch under the jurisdiction of Dongshi City.
There are also many tribes nearby, which can be replaced and supplemented with horses.
Up until now, they have been marching on the inside, and overall it has been relatively relaxed and comfortable. But I don't know where they can feed so many people and horses when they go to the Central Plains and fight on the outside. Do they really want to imitate the Mongols?
If you do that, you may never be able to reach the Central Plains. Wheat is only ripe in June. Where can you get food at this time? Shao Shude thought for a while and was too lazy to think about it anymore. There must be a road to the mountain. If it is not possible, why not?
There is someone who can be sent (robbed), donated (robbed). That person has long been displeasing to him.