Zhao Ziliang smiled and said: "Although not all of them, most of them are mares, and a few are male horses.
Male horses are not used for fighting, but for breeding, and the mares used as war horses must have given birth to foals.
The mare cannot be weaned yet.
In the future, mare's milk will become a staple food for our soldiers.
They will take care of their own horses, feed, milk and drink them by themselves, and ride them to fight."
"Hiss!"
Yu Saipu and Yu Zhu gasped.
As nomadic tribesmen, after hearing what Zhao Ziliang said, they didn't understand the benefits of this short-footed Mobei mare as a war horse.
It’s another mobile dining table that brings its own food, so, like this The army basically does not need logistics, and the Mobei dwarf mares are very endurance.
They are not suitable for charging, but they are more than enough for riding and shooting, and their endurance and cold resistance are far superior to other horse breeds, even in You can march as usual even on extremely difficult roads.
In addition to Zhao Ziliang's plan to spend several years or even ten years based on these war horses to form a light cavalry corps with a strength of more than 30,000 and suitable for long-distance raids, he also decided to form a heavy cavalry corps.
Now he is not short of money.
He has also made a lot of money from the seizures of wars over the years and from selling grassland in Mobei.
The money obtained is enough to form these two armies.
Regarding the formation of the heavy cavalry corps, Zhao Ziliang had another plan.
Of course, the horses needed to form the heavy cavalry could not be short-footed horses.
Even the tall horses among the Mobei horses were not qualified in his heart.
Hequ horses and Yili horses could barely do it.
Okay, you need to get someone tall and strong who can sprint quickly.
It is not difficult to get Yili horses.
You can trade them with the barbarian tribes in the Ili River Basin.
However, it is not easy to get Hequ horses.
Now that the Tubo people have reoccupied the Jiuqu area of the Yellow River, the origin of Hequ horses has once again fallen.
Once it falls into their hands, it is not easy to obtain even through smuggling.
Zhao Ziliang is not in a hurry about this matter.
Now the soldiers to form the heavy cavalry have not yet been found.
Even if they get the war horses, it will be of no use.
Instead, they have to send people to take care of them.
The day when we agreed with all the tribes to send out troops to attack the Taqiang tribe was coming soon.
According to the agreement, on June 20, all the tribes would meet at the shore of Ala Lake in the territory of the Geluolu tribe, and Zhao Ziliang arrived.
The journey has not yet started on June 12th.
Because of this matter, Wang Can came to Shouzhuofu on the night of June 12th to remind Zhao Ziliang.
After hearing Wang Can's words, Zhao Ziliang said: "How can I forget this matter?
I have already decided to set off on June 15th." , it took us five days to reach the shore of Ala Lake.”
"General Wutianxi, are you kidding me?
It's a thousand miles from our Xilin Guard to the Yinshan Governor's Mansion.
Even if they are all cavalry, it will be a long time to arrive in five days, not to mention the fact that we have to bring infantry."
Zhao Ziliang asked back: "Is it difficult?
Other infantry can't do it, but it is not difficult for my Zhao Ziliang's infantry to march a thousand miles in five days.
I have already made up my mind on this matter, and there is no need to say anything more."
That day, Zhao Ziliang convened a meeting with the generals and officials and ordered Zheng San to prepare five days of dry food and drinking water for two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry, and then prepare carriages to load the army's food and grass for one month.
To be cautious, he also prepared the food and water for the army by himself.
A month's supply of food, grass and some drinking water were packed in the space in case of emergencies.
Nowadays, two thousand cavalry can barely fight on horseback.
Although they are not elite, and their riding skills are not as good as those of the nomadic tribes who have lived on horseback since childhood, their combat effectiveness is not bad.
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The competition was also held a month ago.
Team leaders, captains, and brigade commanders were all selected from among the soldiers.
However, captains, deputy captains, and generals above were basically served by Zhao Ziliang's retinues.
This selection of junior officers The mechanism allows ordinary soldiers to see the hope and fairness of promotion, and the grassroots officers selected through this method are generally supported by the soldiers.
The lower-level soldiers are easy to manage, and the cohesion of the army is far from comparable to other armies.
Moreover, the followers who are responsible for teaching them have provided ideological education to the soldiers from the beginning, making them loyal to Zhao Ziliang, loyal to the country, and protecting the people.
This army In this way, the military soul of the army was unknowingly forged.
As long as it goes through a few battles, it will become an army that cannot be defeated or delayed.
The thousand cavalry sent by Beiting have completed their protection mission and returned to Tingzhou.
They have also completed the construction of the city walls and houses in the city guarded by Xilin.
Moreover, the preliminary training of Zhao Ziliang's recruits has been completed and they are already capable of fighting.
Therefore, Their mission was completed and they returned to Tingzhou.
Among the new recruits, there are currently only two thousand cavalry capable of fighting, and the remaining more than five thousand are infantry.
Zhao Ziliang's idea is to train these two thousand cavalry into specialized cavalry, and use them as a basis to train heavy cavalry.
And these infantry, Zhao Ziliang's The idea is to train these people to be able to walk The light cavalry used in the war were then used as the basis to train light cavalry that could fight on foot and ride and shoot.
However, the past commercial taxes that Xilin Shouchu could collect were very pitiful now, let alone training 10,000 heavy cavalry and 30,000 light cavalry. , even now it is difficult to feed less than 8,000 troops.
On June 15, Zhao Ziliang left the judges Gao Shi and Bo Lehan to garrison Xilin with two thousand infantry to guard the capture.
He took Wang Can as the vanguard and led one thousand cavalry to march towards Mouluo tribe.
He himself led a group of soldiers.
Thousand Cavalry and Three Thousand The main force of the infantry followed, and this time the marching Sima Chen Qing, the recording officer Cen Shen, and the inspection captain Gong Ren and others accompanied him.
At the same time, he sent the remaining two hundred guards and the Eighteen Tornado Cavalry after serving as officers in the garrison.
Also accompanying.
Zhao Ziliang gave the marching instructions to the infantry.
The daily marching speed must reach 200 miles and reach the shore of Alahu Lake within five days.
The temperature in the northwest is high during the day and cold at night.
In order to march better and give the soldiers enough time to practice , Zhao Ziliang arranged the march The time deliberately avoids the hottest time at noon and the coldest time at midnight.
The daily march time reaches sixteen hours, and the march speed reaches about thirteen miles per hour.
Although this kind of march speed is not extremely fast, it is not slow either. , even walking has to walk quickly to complete the requirements.
Zhao Ziliang also wanted to use this long-distance emergency march to give these recruits a baptism before the final actual combat, and also to test the training results of the previous period.
Sixteen hours of forced marching every day, marching 6.5 kilometers per hour.
For the recruits who have gone through such a long period of training, they can survive the first two days.
After crossing the Alashan Pass, there are many challenges.
The soldiers' marching speed dropped significantly.
Almost every morning and night when the march was over, the soldiers fell asleep at the end.
They were so tired.
One day was fine, and two days could be endured, but marching with such intensity for several consecutive days made these new recruits feel exhausted.
It was really unbearable, especially when crossing the Alashan Pass.
The altitude was a bit high.
Many soldiers had strong reactions.
Zhao Ziliang had to stop and rest for half a day after crossing the Alashan Pass.
Compared with the infantry, the accompanying thousand cavalry were much more comfortable riding horses, but riding for a long time was also a kind of torture for them.
The bumps along the way made them feel like their whole bodies were falling apart when they dismounted to rest.
During the march, some soldiers fell ill due to overwork.
For these people, Zhao Ziliang ordered them to ride on horseback like the cavalry, but they could not fall behind.
He also sent special personnel to take care of them and let them follow the rear of the army.
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Those who were too sick to ride would ride in the carriages of the baggage team.
The march of the army could not be slowed down because of them.
On the fourth day, the main infantry caught up with the thousand cavalry who were clearing the way in front.
This made the cavalry feel very embarrassed.
They had four legs, while the infantry only had two legs.
Two legs caught up with four legs.
This How can this group of very proud cavalry feel?
Especially the military leaders who trained and taught them.
They used to be Zhao Ziliang's followers.
Now they have become officers, but they were forced to go down by the infantry led by their former brothers or brothers.
They were all humiliated, so the cavalry Everyone was scolded bloody.
On the evening of the fifth day, Zhao Ziliang led the main force of the Tang Army to the shores of Ala Lake.
A thousand cavalry vanguard led by Wang Can had arrived first that morning and set up camp for the main force.
When Zhao Ziliang arrived with his army, the leaders of various ministries came out of the camp to greet him in person, and the scene was grand.
The infantry were indeed tired from marching for the past five days.
After dinner, Zhao Ziliang arranged for them to sleep and rest.
Marching Sima Chen Qing was responsible for arranging patrols and security matters.
Zhao Ziliang sent people to invite the leaders of various ministries to his central army tent to discuss the dispatch of troops and attack.
The leaders of each ministry soon arrived one after another, and Zhao Ziliang asked people to prepare a banquet of wine and meat.
"Dear khans and leaders, thank you for fulfilling your agreement and coming to join us with your troops.
On behalf of thousands of soldiers of the Tang Dynasty and officials from Xilin Shouchuo Mansion, I would like to propose a toast to you."
Zhao Ziliang said, holding up the wine cup.
Zhao Ziliang's words made these khan leaders feel more proud.
They all smiled and said modestly, "General, you are so polite.
Let's respect the general together."
After everyone drank three cups in a row, Zhao Ziliang invited them to eat meat.
While eating, he said: "Some of the chief khans came from far away places, such as the transfer khan of the Horushi tribe and his group.
Thousands of soldiers and horses, including local ones Landlords, such as Muluo tribe, it is not easy for soldiers and horses from afar to march such a long distance.
They should take a short rest before setting out troops.
Therefore, I need to ask your opinions on when to send troops and the positions of each ministry on the way.
I don’t know what you have to say. " The Khan put down a leg of mutton and said loudly: "General, since we are here at the invitation of the general, everything will be subject to the general's order.
How can we bargain?"
When the other Khan leaders saw what the Khan had said, they all said: "It's very, very serious.
Just ask the general to give the order.
We will have nothing to say":