Ningxia was restored, and the civil strife part of the Northwest Rebellion was over. To a certain extent, the highly pragmatic mission was completed.
However, this completion is obviously not thorough enough. Even if he is only temporarily in charge of military affairs in the northwest, if Wei Xuezeng is not here, theoretically he cannot step down.
Chen Ju conveyed the emperor's wishes through the Jinyiwei channel. Although this channel also used post roads, it did not share the same "line" with ordinary military affairs. It was Jinyiwei's unique system. The speed and speed depended on the intention of the superiors.
Of course, the matter that the emperor was personally involved in was of the highest level, so it only took less than five days for the news to reach Gao Pangshi. It is estimated that there should be a certain section of the road that used flying pigeons to deliver messages - this thing really exists.
However, you generally don’t just send one letter to avoid accidents. And you usually use a special potion to write it, and you need special means to make it visible before you can read it. Of course, by the time Gao Pragmatic gets it, it has completely turned into a verbal message.
It won't be shown to outsiders.
The emperor's words were not an imperative sentence, but rather a request for Gao Pragmatic's own opinion, but his attitude was still clearly urging.
What Gao Jingshi couldn't figure out now was why the emperor wanted him to return so early. Although the Jin Yiwei who sent the letter had told Gao Jingshi about the situation in Liaodong, he doubted that this situation had anything to do with his return to Beijing.
Gao Pragmatic thought: Let me go to Liaodong again? This should be impossible. The imperial court cannot use people like this. If I were a military general, it would be okay to conquer Ningxia and then attack Liaodong. But I am a civil servant, and civil servants are often in charge of the army.
To move back and forth, that is to regard the officials in the court as nothing - am I the only civil servant in the court who can command the army?
Even if it is true, we cannot do this. This is a matter of "property" and face. After all, it is not a time when the Ming Dynasty is at stake, so we can even ignore face.
Since it is impossible for me to lead the troops to Liaodong, then why does the emperor want me to go back?
Gao Pangshi thought about it, and there seemed to be only one possibility: to save military pay, and transfer the military pay originally intended for the three northwest sides to Liaodong, so that Liaodong could take action.
Thinking of this, Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but sigh in his heart: The financial system of the Ming Dynasty is so fucked up. In such a big country, the people are rich enough, but they can't even carry out two local wars at the same time. What a waste of this so-called
An army of millions.
From Gao Pragmatic's point of view, a country at the hegemon level should have the ability to conduct at least two local wars at the same time and ensure victory. Only then can it be a qualified hegemon. Otherwise, it will be all vain.
Obviously, the current Ming Dynasty is just puffy. Don’t look at the surrounding countries, the various forces regard the Ming Dynasty as the splendid dynasty. When trying to scare others, they often claim to have "millions of heavenly soldiers", but in reality? Even if they use 100,000 troops at a time,
It requires "the power of the whole country", otherwise it won't even be able to raise military pay. What a big deal!
What makes Gao pragmatic even more dissatisfied is that in order to save money in this battle, he has already tried his best to use what he thinks is the most reasonable and labor-saving strategy, but the imperial court still needs to withdraw troops from the northwest before it can have enough energy to take action in Liaodong. This
The degree of rigidity of the system is also too high, worse than the Soviet-style planned economy - at least it can still fight a war.
However, since the imperial court really does not have the capital to start a war on two fronts, then I have no choice but to go back. However, the war on Huo Luochi's side still has to be dealt with with Wei Xuezeng. I can't do one thing to another, especially for the three Mongolian armies.
The use of cavalry.
In the five days since the emperor's oral message came, Wei Xuezeng had already arrived in Xi'an from Tongguan. As soon as the new governor of the three sides arrived in Xi'an, he claimed that he was old, tired from traveling and traveling, and needed to rest for a while.
This statement is obviously not true. His original intention was not to compete with Gao Pragmatic for credit. Firstly, Gao was considered his junior and he would not be ashamed to do so. Secondly, the division of labor between Gao and him in the northwest was not clear. Who listened to who?
Yes, the court has not explained it before.
This second point is particularly troublesome. Logically speaking, the war in the northwest is under the control of him as the governor of the three sides, but Gao Pingshi, the commander of the reinforcements, has been appointed as the admiral to supervise military affairs in the northwest. At the same time, he is also the manager of the seven towns. The limits of authority between the two people
It's very unclear, and it's impossible to say who should be respected.
Normally speaking, high-pragmatic dispatches are more "senior", but Wei Xuezeng is not only more senior, but also has a higher rank - he holds the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War.
The final reason that made Wei Xuezeng decide to "recuperate" was that Gao Pragmatic had already put down the Ningxia Incident. Wei Xuezeng felt that if he interfered at this time, his intention to grab credit would be too obvious, and he would definitely be criticized. Therefore,
Simply declare to take a rest. Although you won't get any military honors, you can at least get a reputation for being "high-spirited and upright."
But to everyone's surprise, just two days later, he ended his recuperation and hurried to Guyuan.
Guyuan is the official residence of the governor of the three sides, and he must take office when he arrives in Guyuan. Shaanxi officials are wondering in their hearts: Could it be that Gao Shutai and Wei Zhitai have agreed so quickly on who should be in charge next?
The answer is yes, because Gao Pragmatic also went to Guyuan, and he went to hand over military power.
On the eighth day of the fifth lunar month, he assisted the left minister of the military affairs department in the capital, the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, managed the border affairs of the four towns of Jiliao and the third town of Xuanda, and also took charge of food and wages.
The military service was officially ended, and the military power was returned to Wei Xuezeng, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi Province. At the same time, Shang Fangjian was sealed up - this was to be taken back to the emperor. Of course, he had no right to transfer it to Wei Xuezeng.
According to Gao Pangshi's public statement that day, it was the imperial practice for the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi to be responsible for the northwest military affairs. He himself had previously supervised the northwest military affairs only because Wei Xuezeng had not yet arrived and Ningxia was in an emergency and could not delay it. Now that Wei Zhitai has taken office, he
Of course, he retired with success.
This is good news. Wei Xuezeng's high integrity and integrity were not rewarded, but Gao Pragmatism was benefited from it - he truly retired after success and fully deserved the title of high integrity and integrity. Officials in Shaanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, and Gansu are just mortals in Guyuan.
Everyone has to admire Gao's pragmatism for relinquishing military power to Wei Xuezeng with the glory of being able to accomplish his full feat immediately.
But they may have missed one thing: once Gao Pragmatic handed over the military power in the northwest, he was no longer responsible for the money, food and other materials he had forced various places to provide. Anyone who wanted to ask could only go to Wei Xuezeng...
What a noble and upright person.
"Well, you are so pragmatic. The three northwest sides are so poor that you have managed to scrape out so much money and food?" In the Governor's Mansion of the three sides, Wei Xuezeng stared at the "list of remaining money and food" handed to him by Gao Pragmatic.
: "And you are so generous and bear the expenses of the Mongols? Do you know that although the Mongolians don't eat much, the tens of thousands of horses eat too much!"
He pointed at the list and said: "Look at the cost. These war horses ate so many eggs along the way. The price of eggs along the way has gone up like crazy! The cost of these war horses is that one horse can pay for at least three people."
Have you got rations?”
"To be precise, it's more than four." Gao Pragmatic spread his hands: "But this is money that must be spent. We can't make the horses run and not eat grass, right?"
"Is that grass? Those are eggs. They are all refined grains!" Wei Xuezeng still stared wide-eyed: "Have these Mongolian war horses ever had such a good life since they were young?"
Gao pragmatic coughed lightly: "Although the consumption of eggs seems to be large, for tens of thousands of war horses, it is actually not much when spread out. One war horse only eats less than three in ten days.
Eggs...Okay, okay, I know the Mongols deliberately gave their war horses extra food, but I still think it's worth it."
There is a question that needs to be clarified here, that is, there is a very popular saying in later generations, that is, ancient war horses need to consume a lot of refined grains, otherwise the war horses will die of exhaustion, or at least they will lose fat, overwork, etc. In fact, this is not the case -
At least not in China (including Mongolia and other surrounding areas).
The origin of this saying in later generations is said to come from the Japanese Army's one-day horse ration standard in 1914. That is, 5 liters of barley = 5.25 kg; 1 stick of hay = 3.75 kg; 1 stick of sage = 3.75 kg; salt: 40 grams.
The standard daily horse food for the baggage troops is 4 liters of barley = 4.2 kg; 1 stick of hay = 3.75 kg; 1 stick of lotus root = 3.75 kg; and 40 grams of salt.
Sixteen years later, this standard continued to increase a bit. In 1931, the Japanese Army's daily horse ration standard was 5.25 kg of barley; 4 kg of hay; 3.5 kg of algae; and 40 g of salt.
Among them, available substitutes for barley include 5.25 kg of oats, sorghum or soybean cake; or 4.2 kg of brown rice and soybeans; or even 4.73 kg of millet, corn, rye, and wheat; or even 7.88 kg of rice bran and 15.8 kg of hay.
However, please note that the last "hay" can still use substitutes, including 4 kilograms of pasture, 16 kilograms of grass, and 10 kilograms of soybean straw. The previous hay can also be used as a substitute: 5.3 kilograms of straw.
If you compare it to the past, you will know that in fact, war horses can eat all grass (such as alfalfa, etc.). If there is no dedicated grass, any miscellaneous grass can be used, but it requires eating a lot. From the "quantity"
In terms of weight, it is very large - this means that the war horse will need to eat many meals a day to provide itself with enough energy.
There is another very important point here. It must be noted that the war horses used by the Japanese Army were introduced from Western war horses. The war horses finally bred were what the people at that time commonly called "Eastern Horses". This kind of horse inherited most of the tall Western horses.
Due to their physical characteristics, their appetite is relatively large, and their diet and environmental requirements are also far more delicate than Mongolian horses.
In fact, Mongolian horses are not that particular at all. They are one of the best breeds in the world that are easy to feed and have excellent endurance.
This may still need to be convincing by giving an example. Let’s take the Mongolian Western Expedition as an example.
In the autumn of 1219, the Mongolian army lost eight miles to Bulu (later Boluo City, Xinjiang), passed through Temur Chancha (also known as Songguan, later known as Guozigou) to Alimari, crossed the Ili River westward, and passed through the sea.
Advance towards Khwarezm.
At that time, Temur's confession was a very difficult pass. In 1222, Qiu Chuji also passed through this pass when he went to the Western Regions to meet Genghis Khan. His follower Li Zhichang wrote in "Changchun Zhenren's Journey to the West": Jinshan is to the east and Yinshan is to the west.
Thousands of rocks and ravines cross the deep stream. The rocks lying beside the stream are lying in the road. Wheel hoofs are not allowed to pass through it in ancient and modern times.
When the Mongolian army passed through, Chagatai, the second son of Genghis Khan, cleared the road with marble and cut wood to build bridges, building a total of 48 bridges. The bridges were wide enough to accommodate two vehicles running parallel.
The fierce battle between the Mongolian Expeditionary Force and the Khwarezm Army roughly started when the Mongolian army arrived at the border fort of Khorezm and the city of Nyatara. The troops were divided into four groups: Chagatai and Ogedai led their divisions to besiege Nyatala; Jochi
Those who led the army to conquer Zang raised the cities of Jigan; Tahai led 5,000 cavalry to conquer the cities of Huzang (later known as Nabad); Genghis Khan and Tuo Lei took the middle road, crossed the Syr Darya River, and crossed the Red Desert to the southwest to approach Bukhara.
city.
In March 1220, Jochi and other three armies occupied all the cities on both sides of the Syr Darya River. Genghis Khan's middle army also occupied the city of Bukhara, the cultural center of the YSL religion, completely cutting off Samarkand, the new capital of Khwarezm.
Transportation between (later to be a major city in Uzbekistan) and the old capital Urgench (later to be a Turkmenian city, the Chinese name was written as Wulonggechi).
In May 1220, the four Mongolian armies met under the city of Samarkand and surrounded Samarkand. After six days of hard fighting, they were able to capture the city of Samarkand.
It can be seen that the Mongolian army basically followed the old route of the Western Expedition to Dawan, with a large number of mountain roads and deserts.
So, if their war horses really can only eat grain, then if they only eat grain for a month, the horse will be exhausted according to Japanese standards: it has to eat five kilograms of grain a day, and they have walked for so long.
There is no place to replenish food along the way, so does this food fall from the sky? As for carrying it by yourself... Isn't this war horse likely to need the load capacity of a Dongfeng truck?
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for the Mongolian army’s war horses to be “indispensable for food” even during expeditions and operations, so the fine grain commentators can rest.
However, the Mongols obviously know the benefits of using food for war horses - the benefit is that they can eat much less and don't have to constantly "make up for their meals".
So after Gao Jingshi promised to provide food and grass, the Mongols were not polite. They ate and drank so much on the way to fight the Huo Luochi brothers that the price of eggs increased along the way. And eggs, they are refined grains.
Top products in.
Wei Xuezeng looked at the calm Gao Pragmatic and sighed after a long while: "You really don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. They only spent three hundred miles along the way. Look how much money they spent. The total expenses were almost thirty thousand taels."
!With this money, my army of 100,000 people can feed me for more than a month!"
Gao Pragmatic still smiled and said: "Yes, but Mr. An, a hundred thousand troops may not be able to play their role in a month. First, we have to mobilize a hundred thousand people, and a lot of money will be spent in the process.
.Second, when facing Huo Luochi and Litu's troops, the Ming Dynasty's infantry could not chase them. Only Tuotuo, who was also a Mongolian cavalry, and Yilduzi's troops could do it. Chapter 2
Third, when we fight, people must die, and those who die must be compensated; when we fight, some people must perform meritorious services, and if they perform meritorious services, they must be rewarded..."
"But you also promised to give the Mongols a reward." Wei Xuezeng seemed to be very concerned about the military affairs of the northwest along the way, and he even knew this.
Gao pragmatic smiled and said: "It is based on the standards of Datong's soldiers. Que'an Gong, this economic standard is not high. For our Ming Dynasty, it is almost like sending beggars, so what if it is given to the Mongols?"
Only then did Wei Xuezeng realize that Gao Pragmatic was playing a word game here: He mentioned the reward standards for the Mongolian Datong soldiers, but the Ming Dynasty did not follow this "regulation" at all. In fact, due to the Ming army after the Civil War
It becomes increasingly impossible to fight, and the reward for killing an enemy has already been doubled several times.
Mongolians don't have so many colorful intestines. They are obviously cheated here, and a mute eats Coptis chinensis. It's hard to tell, because Gao Pragmatic does it "according to the rules".
Wei Xuezeng was speechless for a while, then finally gave up and said helplessly: "Okay, even if what you said makes sense, what should Zhuang Langwei do next? Do you have any explanation?"
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