The Huns' strength in the direction of Hetao caused some princes to retreat.
These people are typical wallflowers.
To be more precise, he is someone who only wants benefits and does not want to take risks.
Such people are not uncommon no matter where they are.
However, more people are excited.
The map intuitively weighs the strength of the Han and Hungarian sides on a scale.
At the very least, on paper, the Han Dynasty was ahead of the Xiongnu.
There is no doubt that this is a gratifying thing.
For the first time in sixty years, the Han cavalry had a dual advantage in quantity and quality over the Huns.
In the past, with pure infantry, the Han Dynasty could fight back and forth with the Huns. It makes no sense that the cavalry has the advantage and cannot defeat the Huns!
For a time, all the princes were eager to try.
But the generals and princes who were on the front line and had experience in leading troops and even fighting suddenly fell silent.
The addition of the Lu Hou and Zhelan tribesmen to the battlefield caught everyone by surprise.
Before these two tribes joined the Hetao war zone, the Han Dynasty still had the ability to completely occupy the Hetao before the main Xiongnu force could react, creating a fait accompli.
However, the addition of Lu Hou and the Zhelan tribe made this plan aborted.
These two tribes have at least 10,000 capable soldiers.
What is even more troublesome is that the Luhou tribe is one of the few tribes among the Xiongnu tribes that knows how to build cities, except for the tribe of Lu Tazhi, king of Donghu. (Note 1)
Moreover, not all of the Hetao area is a wilderness.
Some cities and outposts left by Zhao and Qin still exist today.
The Huns could rely on these defense systems locally to delay the Han army's actions.
Therefore, Da Nong Ling Zhi Buyi, after thinking for a moment, stood up and poured cold water: "Your Majesty, if the army is outside the fortress and delayed for more than three months, I cannot guarantee that we can maintain the supply of the army!"
As soon as these words came out, the princes in the entire hall immediately became excited.
But no one can accuse Zhi Busuo of anything.
The Jiangdu typhoon in April this year consumed more than half of the grain stocks in Aocang and Shu counties in order to relocate and resettle refugees and the subsequent reconstruction and relief work in the disaster area.
The subsequent reclamation mission work even emptied the entire treasury.
In Aocang today, it is said that only 30% of the warehouses are full.
In Guanzhong, there is a lot of food.
There are at least four million stones of grain reserves in each official warehouse.
However, not a single grain of these grains can be moved.
Because this is the food for the four million people in Guanzhong. If it is disturbed, a food shortage in Guanzhong is not a joke.
The Great Agricultural Order could actually squeeze out enough food and grass supplies for an army of 50,000 for three months. This is something beyond people's imagination.
Liu She, the order of the Shaofu, also reported: "Your Majesty, the number of cattle, sheep and other livestock currently in the Shaofu is about 200,000, of which 30,000 can be supplied to the army..." After a pause, Liu She pointed out a finger and said
: "It's only enough for the army for one month!"
After listening to Liu She's speech, the generals began to calm down.
The army has not moved, but the food and grass go first.
Since ancient times, the sky is big and the earth is big, and the full belly is the biggest.
Three years ago, Zhou Yafu sent Li Ji and Han Dang to cut off the Wu and Chu food routes and immediately wiped out the Wu and Chu armies.
The lesson is right before our eyes.
No one can ignore the information from Da Nong and Shaofu.
Even Liu Che was slightly stunned after hearing Liu She's words.
As the emperor, Liu Che certainly knew that the army, especially the field army, was inseparable from meat.
Without eating meat, soldiers would not have enough physical strength to fight fiercely.
You can't expect that the nutrition of corn and pickles will allow you to hold a weapon and sprint on the battlefield, right?
Judging from the experience in the history of world wars, no matter the East or the West, in the cold weapon era, when a large army went out for battle, it would always bring a huge herd of livestock with it.
For example, historical records fully record the number of livestock consumed by Li Guangli's army during his conquest of Dayuan.
During the Crimean War in the 19th century, the British Expeditionary Force ate 300 cattle and hundreds of other livestock every day.
At that time, it was already the time to line up and be shot.
The physical energy consumption of soldiers is far less than that in the cold weapon era.
If the Han army's 50,000 cavalry were to go out of the fortress, not counting the supplies of loot, the 50,000 men would have to eat at least a thousand heads of various livestock every day.
Of course, if you want to bring only cattle, maybe 300 to 400 will be enough.
But the problem is that the Han Dynasty could not and did not have so many cattle for the army to eat.
In other words, the Shaofu's livestock breeding scale should be expanded dozens of times to be able to meet future expansion needs.
In his mind, Liu Che wrote this down.
Of course, in the future, dried fish from the ocean can also make up for meat to a certain extent.
This is why Liu Che vigorously promotes offshore and inland river fishing and spends a lot of money on it.
To fight a war is to fight for the economy and national strength.
At this point in time, the only thing that matters is money and food.
Only when you have money and food can you defeat the world.
This is the situation now, with money but no food, which makes the generals and princes fall silent.
Even the old Prime Minister Shen Tujia sighed and said nothing.
As an old general, he naturally knew that if he went to fight without adequate supplies and preparations, half of the battle would be lost before it was even fought.
However, the main force of the Xiongnu was marching westward, and the southern part of the country was empty. If such a great opportunity was not seized, Shen Tujia was worried that there would never be such a good opportunity again in the future.
Liu Che saw that the generals were a little depressed, so he clapped his hands and said: "My lords, are you scared by such a little difficulty?"
"If there is not enough food and grass, I can give birth to an infertility, take out the treasures from Weiyang Palace, go to Guandong, go to Liaodong, go to Fujian and Vietnam, and go to South Vietnam to sell food. No matter what, I will not let my soldiers go into battle hungry!"
"Furthermore, in the land of Yanzhao, there are still three million stone granaries and rice that can be adjusted. Shu County can also send another million stone of grain to Guanzhong. If I order the princes' relatives to save food and clothing, I can also collect another million stone!
"
"As for livestock, we can go to the Huns to eat in the vast grassland. While the Huns' tribes are scattered, we can always get livestock supplies!"
After listening to the emperor's words, everyone felt that this was very unreliable. Are you kidding me? Two or three months have passed since Yanzhao adjusted grains and arrived at the Great Wall. As for Shu County? It's more important to use water transport.
It’s a scam, I guess we won’t be able to see it until next year.
The day lilies were already cold by the time these grains arrived.
But, the emperor is always right!
Therefore, everyone lowered their heads in shame and said: Your Majesty, I am not as good as you!
Of course, Liu Che also knew that it was enough to do this for show and never take it seriously.
Therefore, he changed the topic and said: "But, I do not support it. I will fight against the Huns at this time!"
"Why!" Liu Che held his head high, looked at the ministers, and said loudly: "Time is on my side!"
"As time goes by, my world will become stronger and stronger, and the Xiongnu will become weaker and weaker. If we start a war with the Xiongnu today, the outcome will be about 50-50, then next year the outcome will be June 4th."
The year after next will become July 3. Five years from now, our army will go out and sweep away all monsters and demons. We will break through the Rouge Mountain, march to the Qilian Mountain, hold the Shan Yu in Chang'an to question the guilty, and offer the prisoners to the Imperial Ancestral Temple!"
These words were like a bomb thrown into the river, which immediately shocked everyone.
Countless people say "His Majesty is a wise man" on the surface, but they are actually cursing in their hearts: That's not how you brag!
But Liu Che really isn’t bragging!
He clapped his hands. Wang Dao immediately bowed his head and accepted the order, walked down the steps, and came behind a screen in the hall. Then, he came out holding an armor chained with a belt and an iron buckle, and an obvious iron helmet.
.
"Put it on for me and try it on!" Liu Che ordered.
"No!" Wang Dao respectfully accepted the order, then led two eunuchs, walked to Liu Che, knelt down, loosened the iron buckle and belt of the armor, then put it on the emperor's body, and then put on the helmet.
Liu Che held the helmet, but did not wear it. Instead, he stood in front of the ministers and showed them the new armor.
"This is the breastplate. The latest pure iron armor produced by Mo Yuan weighs about forty kilograms. It is hammered with water power. Within a hundred steps, even the big yellow crossbow cannot penetrate the iron armor's defense. It can only penetrate the armor's defense within thirty steps.
Only when you are within one step can you use the big yellow crossbow to knock down the person wearing this armor from his horse!"
The defensive capabilities of the breastplate are unquestionable.
This kind of cavalry armor, which was prominent in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, was still the standard equipment of cavalry even in the age of flintlock muskets.
At this time, all I can say is that this breastplate is simply a bug!
With the technical capabilities and level of the Huns, they simply could not make weapons that could penetrate the breastplate defense.
Although this kind of iron armor is not as powerful and dazzling as the heavy armored cavalry.
But the practicality far exceeds the former.
Because the whole body and the horse were not covered with armor, the weight of the entire set of armor was reduced by dozens of times.
With a weight of forty kilograms, even an ordinary war horse can move the knight along with it and maintain high-speed movement.
The Han cavalry, whose entire chest and back were wrapped in iron armor, could ignore most of the Huns' arrows and weapons. They could just rush over and hack the enemy to death. Even if they were hit by an arrow, their lives would not be in danger.
This will give the cavalry wearing it great confidence.
This kind of breastplate can be equipped with almost all types of cavalry.
Whether you are an archer, a lancer or a ranger, you can use it.
And for a long period of time, there is no need to consider replacing with new equipment.
When the breastplate becomes obsolete, it will be time for artillery doctrine and the flood of iron armor.
Of course, with so many advantages, its shortcomings are also obvious.
First and foremost, it is expensive.
For such a breastplate, it would take at least half a month to complete the casting of a breastplate under the hammering of advanced hydraulic machinery.
Moreover, currently due to immature technology and material issues with iron, scrap products may occur.
Mo Yuan reported that one of the three sets of breastplates forged in the initial trial was scrapped.
Then, the raw materials used for forging are very demanding.
Must be refined iron grade.
In other words, the molten iron coming out of the blast furnace generally needs to be reprocessed to remove impurities before it can become the raw material for the breastplate.
The price of such refined iron is more than twice that of other crude iron.
A breastplate, based on cost alone, is more than 10,000 yuan.
Although as time goes by and technology develops, its cost will definitely come down.
But no matter how it is reduced, it cannot be reduced to the point where it is cheaper than crude iron.
At present, an iron farm tool of the same weight is worth three thousand yuan.
Secondly, because it is standardized production and uniformly forged.
Therefore, it is restricted and can only be worn by a sturdy man eight feet tall.
This design was to prevent the breastplate from being captured by the Huns and used to fight the Han army.
In the Han Dynasty, there were not many eight-foot-tall men, but there were also many.
For example, the entry threshold for Yulin Guard and Huben Guard is eight feet.
The ethnic characteristics of the Xiongnu are mainly thick and short.
Basically, the Huns rarely have men over seven feet tall. Eight feet is considered a giant among the Huns.
Liu Che pulled off the breastplate. He was still a bit bulky wearing this kind of armor. After all, he was only seventeen years old and his body was still growing.
"Captain Ju!" Liu Che waved his hand to Ju Meng and said, "Please put on this breastplate and show your ministers the power of this armor!"
"No!" Ju Meng immediately accepted the order, then respectfully took the breastplate handed over by the eunuch, retreated to the screen in the middle of the hall, changed his armor, and then came out.
Then, two servants on duty in the palace took two long swords, said sorry to Ju Meng, and in front of the ministers, they slashed and stabbed Ju Meng on the breastplate with their swords.
, various fancy attacks.
But apart from the dull sound of gold and iron hitting, their weapons had no ability to leave even a single scar on the breastplate. At most, they only scratched a few shallow marks.
After the demonstration of the play was completed, the generals were dumbfounded.
Compared with this kind of iron armor, previous armors were extremely weak!
Even the heavy armor previously equipped in the Yulin Guard and the Tiger Guard became rubbish in front of this kind of breastplate.
"Your Majesty, what is the production volume of this kind of armor?" Zhou Yafu immediately asked impatiently.
"Currently, Moyuan has not completely solved the manufacturing problem of breastplates, so the output is a bit low. It can produce about fifteen to twenty pieces per month!" Liu Che replied: "But I have ordered an allocation of five thousand.
Thousands of dollars, and at the same time ordered the Shaofu Dongyuan Order to fully cooperate, requiring the Shaofu to produce 200 pieces per month next year, 400 pieces per month the year after, and 1,000 pieces per month in five years!"
It will take five years to produce 10,000 pieces per year.
The number seems a bit small, but considering this era.
Ten thousand breastplates would require at least 400,000 kilograms of fine iron, which is a bit scary.
You know, Shaofu's current annual iron output, even if all production capacity is included, may only be 20 to 300,000 jins a year.
The total iron output in the country is only one million catties!
In 1788 AD after the Industrial Revolution, Britain's national steel output was only 78,000 tons.
Now, in this pre-Yuan era, the Han Dynasty used two thousand tons of refined iron a year to make breastplates.
The pressure on Nanyang's smelting base is huge!
The ministers and princes do not care about these things, at least they will not consider these things now.
Each of them looked at the breastplate that appeared out of nowhere with gleaming red eyes.
Everyone now has only one idea: this kind of equipment should be equipped with Xiliu (sentence note, Feihu) first. (~^~)
