Supplying military rations? Moreover, the handover was completed directly in Liuzhou and supplied to the army going south nearby. This is a good thing, a huge good thing!
Now Li Xuan is exhausted trying to solve various material supply problems for the army. There is no food, and even if it is available, to be honest, with the current logistics and transportation capabilities of the Tang Dynasty, it cannot transport it to the front line.
.
When armies fought in ancient times, if they relied solely on land transportation by civilians, the food carried by one civilian could only sustain one soldier for eighteen days. Well, this was after the soldiers themselves carried five days of rations.
In other words, if the troops continue to move for more than half a month, they must have the same number of logistics personnel as combat troops to supply military rations.
This is only limited to military rations, and does not include the weapons and ammunition needed for combat and all kinds of miscellaneous military supplies. If these are included, this number will be even larger.
And this is why the Logistics Department of the Privy Council recruited tens of thousands of civilians to transport various logistics supplies for the troops going south!
This is because the second baggage regiment of the troops going south and the baggage troops of each regiment and battalion carried a large amount of military supplies!
Well, out of the more than 10,000 troops heading south, there are actually almost 3,000 logistical troops, and the actual combat troops are actually less than 10,000.
This shows how difficult logistics transportation was in ancient times!
In this way, it is difficult for you to understand why more than half of the more than 38,000 people led by Zhu Zhihai are young and strong civilians, because these people are actually part-time logistics personnel, but Zhu Zhihai and others like to fight.
Just bring them with you when the time comes!
In ancient armies, if the maneuvering distance was more than half a month or even longer, they would often need 100,000 combat troops, followed by 300,000 or even 500,000 civilians to provide logistical support!
Therefore, it is possible that hundreds of thousands or millions of armies fought in ancient times, but most of them were civilians transporting baggage, and the number of combat soldiers was generally only a fraction, and the larger the army, the more likely it was to fight
The proportion of personnel is smaller!
If it is an expedition to the Indochina Peninsula or the northern grasslands, it is possible that ten or even dozens of civilians will appear to supply one combat soldier.
After understanding how scarce food was in the Tang Dynasty and how difficult transportation was, you will understand why Ma Wei, Hao Bainian and even Li Xuan himself paid so much attention to it.
On the day after receiving the report, Li Xuan summoned the tax department Yang Duwei and asked the tax department to strive to reach a deal with the Huaiyuan Cen family. At the same time, the report from Liuzhou also mentioned that the Huaiyuan Cen family might make some more difficult requests.
It may even be non-commercial, but involves some political requirements.
In this regard, Li Xuan also ordered Xie Wahuan, the Minister of Rites, to ask the Ministry of Rites to send relevant people to participate in the negotiations!
Because in the Tang Dynasty, the Ministry of Rites was the agency actually responsible for foreign affairs. There was a vassal affairs department under the Ministry of Rites, which was originally intended to deal with foreign vassals and foreign countries. However, because the Tang Dynasty was so awesome, it was still there for the time being.
They don't bother to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, so the feudal affairs department currently has nothing to do. At most, it is dealing with a few chieftains.
Because there are actually a large number of chieftains in the southwest region, and the power of these chieftains is not small. In order to avoid being slowed down by them, the Tang Dynasty currently adopts a gentle policy towards these existing chieftains, mainly to win over them.
Just like Xu Ming, as long as they recognize the Tang Dynasty and pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, their hereditary status will be recognized.
Well, in fact, even if they don't pay tribute, as long as they can't afford to fight against the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan will happily recognize their hereditary status. After all, the main enemy of the Tang Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty, and it is too weak.
, we must draw in all the forces that can be drawn together.
In other words, if you have to give in, give in!
Well, I give in for the time being. When one day he becomes awesome, Li Xuan will definitely turn his back and change his ways. At that time, it was called: If you don’t pretend to be awesome in life, what’s the difference between it and a salted fish? It’s nothing more than a talking fish.
Just salted fish!
The Tang Dynasty, which had smooth decrees and very efficient execution, dispatched a six-person negotiation team consisting of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Ordnance Department of the Privy Council to Huaiyuan County on the same day, and also used the First Cavalry.
A platoon of more than ten cavalrymen from the battalion escorted them to prevent them from being robbed by the blind bandit gang on the road.
This negotiation team started all the way from Xingquan Prefecture, crossing mountains and ridges, taking boats and cars, and hurried as soon as the sun came out, and didn't rest until sunset!
It only took five days to arrive at Huaiyuan County. At this time, the military representatives of the southbound detachment sent by Hao Bainian, namely the deputy commander of the second baggage regiment, and several representatives of the southbound troops had just arrived in Huaiyuan County.
.
At the beginning of the negotiation, before the big shots from both sides could exchange views on the main conditions, and even before the Cen family stated their main demands, Lu Jiafeng, the representative of the troops heading south and deputy commander of the Second Baggage Regiment, had already proposed
established a prerequisite for negotiation.
On behalf of the southward detachment and Hao Bainian, he proposed that the Cen family could transport a batch of military rations immediately, and preferably directly to Xiangzhou!
And this amount requires at least two hundred stones!
Two hundred stones, this number is not a big deal for the rich and major grain-producing areas in the south of the Yangtze River, but for Liuzhou, which was originally barren, and more importantly, is currently war-torn, it is not a small number.
.
After the army going south, it mainly relied on food from the enemy. However, in recent days, it has been increasingly difficult for the army going south to raise enough rations.
Currently, the army in Xiangzhou, which is fighting a fierce battle with the Ming army, has less than half a month of food reserves. This number is extremely dangerous for an army.
After Lu Jiafeng said this, he saw a few people from the Cen family showing a hint of amusement, and immediately said with a straight face: "This is a prerequisite for this negotiation, and it must be reached before this negotiation can continue!"
After saying this, a middle-aged man from the Cen family on the side said: "General Lu, these two hundred stones of grain are not a small amount. Liuzhou definitely does not have so much grain now. We still have to buy a few grains from outside."
All prefectures and counties can't do it even for a while!"
However, as soon as these words came out, Lu Jiafeng's face immediately turned cold: "If the military rations cannot be transported in time, what use will our army have to wait for you? If it takes ten days and a half, our army will not send troops to other prefectures and counties.
Collect food?”
As soon as these words came out, the Cen family looked at each other, and then a middle-aged man in the lead immediately said: "Since General Lu has said so, it would be too disrespectful for our Cen family to shirk it again.
As long as the negotiation is reached, two hundred shi of grain will arrive in Xiangzhou within three days!"
"However, we also have a few small requests, and we hope that you can be accommodating. As long as you agree to help our Cen family, not to mention these two hundred shi of food, even two thousand shi, or even five thousand or more
We in the Huaiyuan Cen family can also raise and transport stone grains for you!"
"Oh, I don't know what the request is? Tell me!"
The person who spoke this time was Cui Shenlin, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, a middle-aged man in his forties. This man was not a scholar, but a shopkeeper. He was the shopkeeper of an inn before. Later, he fell in love with the owner's daughter-in-law.
Eye, needless to say, the result was that he was kicked out by his employer. Not only that, but his employer also used some methods to attract people from the government, causing his family to be destroyed, his parents died, and his brother and sister were separated. Later, in a fit of anger, he died one night.
Sneak into the owner's house!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that he wiped out the whole family of his boss, he didn’t have the courage yet, but he ruined the boss’s eldest daughter, and after that, he secretly abducted the boss’s daughter-in-law and ran away with her!
Then, he took his employer's daughter-in-law and fled to the far corners of the world, eventually living among bandits and becoming a dog-headed military advisor.
When the Tang Dynasty incorporated many bandits in Dashan, he joined the Tang Dynasty like many bandits and slowly rose to the position of Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
I won’t say whether he is a scumbag or not, but because of his background as a shopkeeper, his skills in dealing with people are pretty good, otherwise he would not have gotten into the position of military advisor among the bandits.
Of course, he would not tell others about these past experiences. His identity within the Tang Dynasty was still very innocent, he was just a military advisor!
And this time, because he has the highest official rank, he is also taking the lead in this negotiation!
Hearing Cui Shenlin, who was sitting on the main seat, say this, the middle-aged man from the Cen family across from him said: "The ancestral home of my Huaiyuan Cen family is not in Huaiyuan, but in Wuxuan. My ancestors have always been hereditary local chieftains. However, a hundred years ago, Ming Dynasty
In the Mongol and Yuan Dynasties, the traitors rebelled and seized the throne and were recognized by the pseudo-Ming Dynasty. Most of the direct descendants died. We and other branch descendants were only able to survive under the help of several other chieftains. We have never forgotten this for hundreds of years.
Our hometown, we think about returning to Wuxuan all the time!"
It is not easy to go back to Wuxuan. It has been more than a hundred years. Even if a few descendants of the Cen family come to Wuxuan, they may not be able to cause any trouble. The local Wuxuan chieftain will not stop them, but
Seeing how serious he said it, everyone could guess that going back might not be that simple!
So everyone did not speak, but waited for him to continue!
Sure enough, his next sentence was: "Now that your army is sweeping across Guangxi, the whole of Guangxi is looking forward to the early arrival of Master Wang. I, Wu Xuan, am also looking forward to the arrival of your army and to bring justice to my Cen family!"
At this time, Cui Shenlin, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, said: "Are you trying to proclaim the position of Chieftain?"
At this time, several members of the Cen family stood up immediately, then stepped aside and bowed and said: "As long as your emperor is willing to restore the position of our Cen family, our Cen family is willing to be loyal ministers of the Tang Dynasty forever and pay tribute every year!"
At this time, Cui Shenlin said with a smile: "You have a big plan!