freenovelworld Chapter 663
Chapter 663
Chapter 663
Naturally, it will not be as simple as Lin Xuan's expedition with 1 people.
What Li Shimin read were all the generals in charge of the army. It was confirmed at this time that they were to call up the soldiers who were on rest, to reorganize their armaments, and to add some generals in the future.
Dai Zhou, Minister of the Household Department, came out, saluted, and said, "May I ask how many troops your Majesty plans to send this time?"
The household department needs to supply food and grass for the army, and the food and grass in Datang is not particularly sufficient now. Dai Zhou needs to confirm the number of people so that he can allocate food and grass in advance.
Li Shimin pondered for a while, and said: "This time I plan to mobilize 20 cavalry, and [-] other troops, a total of [-] soldiers and horses."
The total number of troops in the Tang Dynasty is about 80. Excluding those county soldiers and some border garrisons, the number of troops that can be mobilized is only about 40 to 20.
"Your Majesty, with so many soldiers and horses, the Household Department simply cannot supply them," Dai Zhou said.
Many people may think that whether they are fighting or not, the food and grass consumed by soldiers should be the same.
In fact, during the war, the consumption of food and grass increased several times compared to when there was no war.
The Tang Dynasty adopted the Fubing system. When there was no war, the soldiers took turns to take turns. During the turns, there was no support from the court at all, which could greatly reduce the pressure on the court.
When there is a war, these soldiers and horses need to be supported by the court.
As the saying goes, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers.
During the war, in order to ensure that the soldiers have sufficient physical strength, the ration of each soldier will be increased by a lot than usual.
Not to mention, there are 20 troops and [-] cavalry.
Horses are the same as people, usually they only need some grass, supplemented with a certain amount of fine grains, but when fighting, in order to ensure that the horses have enough energy to run, they must rely on refined grains.
The so-called fine grains include millet, soybeans, sorghum, bean cakes, and wheat bran, and salt is added to the drinking water. It can be said that what horses eat is not much different from what humans eat.
But in the Tang Dynasty, there was a kind of coarse grain, which greatly reduced the amount of food for war horses, that is alfalfa.Alfalfa is a green-purple plant with long stems and multiple stems. People mainly eat its leaves. You only need to put the leaves in boiling water to scald them, then take them out and stir-fry them with salt and oil to become Delicious food on the table.
Some people found that horses like to eat alfalfa very much, so they began to plant alfalfa on a large scale to feed horses.After alfalfa is eaten by horses, it will be more filling and nutritious than ordinary grass, and the cost of planting is not high.It is precisely because of the appearance of this thing that the problem of food for war horses has been alleviated to a certain extent. With this, food consumption will be reduced.
But Ma Ke can eat more than people, and even if it is reduced, the food consumed is more than what is needed to feed a few soldiers.
Normally, the consumption of supporting ten infantrymen is about the same as that of one cavalryman.
There were relatively few cavalry in the ancient Central Plains Dynasty, not just because the grasslands deliberately blocked the horses, but the Central Plains Dynasty was simply unable to support so many cavalry.
Although Datang had less consumption in feeding cavalry than in previous dynasties because of the appearance of alfalfa, supporting one cavalry was equivalent to supporting five or six infantry.
One hundred thousand cavalry plus one hundred thousand other arms consume a lot of food and grass every day.
In addition, tens of thousands of people are needed to deliver food, and the food and drink of these people will also be borne by the court.
However, Datang has been plagued by natural disasters in recent years, and there is not much food at all.
Those who are familiar with the history of the early Tang Dynasty should know that ten years ago in Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty rarely launched wars except for the war against the Eastern Turks.
Whether it was the battle to destroy Gaochang, or the war with Tubo, including Li Shimin's personal conquest of Goguryeo, it all happened in Zhenguan more than ten years ago.
It's not that Li Shimin doesn't want to fight, he has no one, and he lacks food.
Ten years before Zhenguan, there were natural disasters almost every year in the Tang Dynasty, and Li Shimin was forced to reduce the expenses of the palace several times, so how could he have the ability to beat others.
As for Lin Xuan's time travel, although he changed some things, he couldn't change the weather.
If it wasn't for Lin Xuan's idea to let Li Shimin get some food from the aristocratic family, Dai Zhou might have jumped out to object when he proposed to send troops to the grassland.
"The Tubo troops have withdrawn, and I have allowed Hou Junji's troops to return to the court. In this way, the pressure on the household department will be much less." Li Shimin said.
"Your Majesty, Lord Lu only has [-] soldiers and horses. Even if the troops return to the court, they will not save much food." Dai Zhou said with a wry smile.
It was the cavalry that really consumed the most food, and Hou Junji didn't bring many cavalry. The 2 people who came back could indeed save some food and grass, but compared to the shortfall, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
"Just tell me, how long can the household department's grain and grass supply 20 troops?" Li Shimin asked.
During the Sui Dynasty, the Turkic people were a serious threat, and Li Yuan's garrison in Taiyuan was actually to guard against the Turkic people.
In order to stabilize the Turks, the Sui Dynasty made peace with the East and West Turks many times. Even so, the Turks still looted the border people every year.
Li Shimin felt the threat of the Turks since he was a child, and when he came to the throne, the Eastern Turks attacked Chang'an, which made him determined to fight on the grasslands like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. A great consumption of Turkic strength made the border of Datang stable for a hundred years.
Now that he has the opportunity to weaken the strength of the Turks, and even flatten the grassland in one fell swoop, Li Shimin is naturally unwilling to give up.
Dai Zhou pondered for a while, and said: "Without using the emergency granaries in various places, it can be supported for up to two months."
Two months may seem like a long time, but it is normal for wars to be fought for several months.
Li Shimin was silent, he knew the consequences of using emergency granaries in various places.
Since he came to the throne, natural disasters have continued every year, and those people are too hungry to eat, so they will naturally rebel.
The reason why there are not many records in the history books is because the imperial court sent troops to suppress it in time, and the disaster relief was timely, so the scale of the rebellion was not large.
The common people have nothing to eat, but whether you are a wise ruler or a foolish ruler, being killed for rebellion is better than starving to death.
Once the emergency granary is used, if a natural disaster occurs, the court will not be able to provide food for disaster relief, and chaos will definitely result.
In addition, there is another solution, which is to increase taxes.
But now the people of Tang Dynasty are not rich at all, even if taxes are raised, the people will not be able to pay.
Li Shimin was silent for a long time, and said: "If you use the third floor of the emergency granary in various places, how long can you supply it?"
"Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible. The emergency granary is related to the foundation of the Tang Dynasty and cannot be used." When Wei Zheng heard that Li Shimin was going to use the emergency granary, he couldn't even bother to salute, and hurried out of the queue and said.
Li Shimin didn't blame Wei Zheng, but said softly: "I don't have to use the emergency granary. Now I'm just preparing to send troops. When to send troops, it depends on the situation in the grassland. If it takes longer, wait until after the autumn harvest. The problem of food is naturally solved.”
(End of this chapter)