Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 411 Mu Niu Liuma, Nanzhong Rebellion

Zhuge Liang recognized the training results of the cavalry very much.

These cavalry are not simply using scarecrows for simulated battles, but for all-round tactical training.

They themselves were all elite knights when Liu Bei formed the cavalry in Hanzhong, Liangzhou.

In the battle of Guanzhong with Cao Cao, they played brilliantly.

Therefore, the cavalry are all elites who have been on the battlefield.It's just that Zhang Fei Ma Chao used to fight as a cavalry general, fighting according to his own intentions, lacking certain tactical training and organizational skills.

So retraining here now is to improve their tactical execution and turn them from elite veterans into a group of strong troops who obey orders.

Under such hard training, the cohesion of the soldiers was quickly strengthened.Shen Chen also used many of his disciples as middle- and lower-level military officers to give political propaganda courses and tell the soldiers why they fought.

The result is that the soldiers at the bottom have faith. They understand that they are fighting for the people of the Han Dynasty, for the peace of their hometown, and for their wives, children and family members.

Zhuge Liang stayed in the military camp of Guixu Township for three days, traveled all over the camp, and then, accompanied by Shen Chen and Li Yan, went north to inspect Baoxie Road, Chencang Road, Tangluo Road and Ziwu Road, and really understood Hanzhong Four difficulties and dangers.

In June, in Baozhong County’s government office, after three months of inspections, Zhuge Liang went to and from Chencang Road and Baoxie Road twice. This morning, just after returning from Jigu, a meeting on grain transportation was held. .

Zhuge Liang sat in the main seat, and Shen Chen, Huang Zhong, Li Yan and others sat down one after another. After everyone arrived, Zhuge Liang said seriously: "In the past three months, along the Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road, I have walked Ziwu Road several times, and I thought that the only ones who can transport grain are Chencang and Baoxie Road."

"Yes, brother and I think the same."

Shen Chen first agreed, and then sighed: "Chencang Road is a wide road. It is an open road. When Yuan Zhi was the prefect of Hanzhong, he had been resting and repairing the road, trying to ensure that all the roads were almost flat. Although there are some difficulties, But generally speaking, it is still easy to travel. There is even a part of Ximian water that can be transported by ship, and some grain and grass can be sent to Wuxing by using Mian water. The only problem is that it is too far away, and it has to be transported from Nanzheng to Yangpingguan. Then from Yangpingguan to Hechi, and finally all the way north to Chencang, it is [-] miles, and it is a big circle, so that the transportation of grain and grass is extremely slow, and it is only a daily trip to transport grain by ox carts and horse-drawn carts. Twenty miles away, if a large army is dispatched to transport grain along the Chen Cang Road, we simply don’t have so many poor horses and ox carts, so how can we support the entire Northern Expedition’s grain road with only manpower?”

The transportation of food by the army is not a one-time transportation of food, but a continuous flow of food.According to the records in "Juyan Han Bamboo Slips", Han soldiers consumed three stones of grain a month, but that was based on millet and wheat. Hanzhong is now a rice-producing area, so a soldier's grain consumption per month is two dendrobiums, or two stones.

If you send 20 troops, you will consume [-] shi of grain a month.However, this is just the basics. People eat horse chews, and the civilian husbands and auxiliary soldiers who transport food also need to eat. Even if they are discounted in half, they will cost [-] shi, not to mention salt, pickles, etc.

That is to say, the overall consumption of an army of 30 would consume more than 120 shi of grain a month. In the Han Dynasty, one shi was 223 Han Jin, which was about 27 grams, which is about 810 kg today. The army had to eat [-] tons of grain in one month.

"Juyan Han Jian" also records that one ox cart can pull 25 shi of millet, and more than 30 ox carts are needed to pull 1 shi.

Frankly speaking, even if there are so many ox carts, they can only take the Chencang Road, which is [-] miles. It takes [-] to [-] miles for the ox carts to travel every day, and it takes a month to haul them back and forth. During the long gap, the frontline troops would starve to death.

The most important thing is that this is only the section from Hanzhong to Guanzhong. After leaving Guanzhong, there is still more than 400 miles to Chang'an. It is much faster, but it will also greatly extend the supply line and food road line, making it more difficult for them to provide food and grass.

That's why Shen Chen felt that the food road problem was difficult.

Although he improved the deer cart, that is, the wheelbarrow, no matter how much he improves the load of the wheelbarrow, it is still far inferior to the ox cart, and there are more peasants to mobilize. At least [-] to [-] peasants must continue to transport food back and forth in order to ensure that the frontlines Wan Dajun's food supply continued.

So it's very difficult.

However, Shen Chen remembered that he had watched the Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV series. The wooden ox and horse invented by Zhuge Liang were very powerful. Sima Yi was once amazed that an ox cart could actually walk by itself, carrying one-year-old grain, traveling dozens of miles a day, and traveling in groups for twenty Li, and people are not too tired.

This shows that a wooden ox and horse can carry 24 shi of rice. Even if it only travels [-] miles a day, build more wooden ox horses. Each wooden ox horse is equivalent to half an ox cart. It only takes [-] to [-] people to ensure the transportation of grain at the front line. .

In addition, he remembered that it was said in the TV series that Mu Niu Liuma took the praise ramp.

The praise ramp is too close.

six hundred miles.

Walking 25 miles a day, 50 wooden oxen and horses, [-] shi of grain can be sent to the front line in [-] days, is this still worth it?
That's why Shen Chen hurriedly asked Zhuge Liang to solve this problem.

However, Zhuge Liang didn't give an answer right away, and he didn't bring up what Shen Chen was thinking about right away, but asked first: "Xiaoqing, have you made any plans before?"

Shen Chen thought for a while and said: "Yes, Chencang Road is suitable for large-scale grain transportation, so I once thought about building a four-wheeled vehicle, which has a larger load, but its disadvantages are also obvious, that is, it cannot be steered, and it is flexible and far away. It’s not as good as a two-wheeler. I haven’t figured out how to do the steering shaft, and maybe even if I figure it out, I’m afraid the wooden steering rod will not work, and I have to use iron.”

In ancient China, there were few four-wheeled vehicles. It was not that there were technical barriers to making them, but that four-wheeled vehicles were far less flexible than two-wheeled vehicles.The steering shaft used in later generations of cars is made of gears. Shen Chen is engaged in architectural design, not in automotive technology. He is a layman in this field and can only explore by himself.

"Steering to a four-wheeler?"

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan lightly, pondered for a while and said: "I remember Xiaoqing told me about gears before, maybe this thing can be made with gears."

"I thought so too. In fact, it's not that troublesome to make gears. Just make a mold and fill it with molten iron. The problem is that I still don't know how to use gears for steering. Alas, I should have learned the theory at the beginning."

In the last sentence, Shen Chen's voice was much softer.

Zhuge Liang asked in surprise, "What?"

"It's nothing."

Shen Chen shook his head.

He is an architectural designer who majored in fine arts, and he also studied liberal arts at the beginning.

The application of gears can only be done by science students.

In other words, it's not that troublesome. The mechanics of junior high school physics can use gears to build a steering four-wheeler.

However, it has been many years since Shen Chendu graduated from university, and the knowledge in junior high school has long been returned to the teacher.

That's why he felt a headache in his head.

Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said, "Maybe I have a way. Let the craftsman make the gear I want first."

"I have some ready."

Shen Chen turned his head and said to Shan Yi who was outside the door: "Yide, send someone to the Guixu Market and bring all the gears."

"Yes."

Shan Yi sent someone to fetch it.

Baozhong is more than 100 miles away from Guixu, and it is already afternoon. Even if you go quickly to pick it up, it will arrive tomorrow, so the problem of turning to a four-wheeled vehicle will be put on hold for now.

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice: "I thought that the Chencang Road could be transported by carts, and I will figure out how to turn to four-wheeled vehicles later. The Baoxie Road can be carried by small carts. The plank roads are often tens of miles in parallel. There are steps, and camps are set up every few tens of miles, and square bags are placed on four-wheeled carts to transport grain and grass to the camps, going back and forth continuously, what do you think of Xiaoqing?"

Tens of miles camped according to?

Shen Chen thought about it, according to Zhuge Liang's theory, it is to set up a small stronghold every few miles to store food.Then the soldiers used something like a small trolley in the supermarket to go back and forth between the front and back camps, and sent the grain and grass from the rear camp to the front camp, forming an assembly line operation, which would greatly reduce the time and cost of food transportation.

The main thing is that the Baoxie Road is basically based on plank roads, and there are three to four hundred miles of plank roads in six hundred miles. In history, after Zhao Yun was broken, more than 100 miles of plank roads were burned down. Later, Shimen plank roads restored by Hanzhong City can be glimpsed The elegant demeanor of Baoxie Road and plank road back then.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang proposed to use small carts to transport grain back and forth on the plank road, so that there is no need to worry about the problem that the grain transport vehicle cannot climb up the stairs on the plank road. Instead, build a stronghold near the stairs, or pass and exchange the grain. Send the grain behind to the empty trolley in front, and continue to transport the grain forward.

In this way, food will continue to flow.

The only disadvantage is that the scale of grain transportation is relatively small, and it is estimated that each time it is only two to three hundred catties, and the load is only one-fifth of the cart.But the benefits are also obvious. One is the fast transportation of grain, and the other is naturally low cost and high efficiency.

"Ah."

Shen Chen thought it made sense, nodded and said, "You can give it a try."

"That's it."

Zhuge Liang said: "I will draw the blueprints and objects first, Xiaoqing can go to Baoxie Road to set up a stronghold first, and after I make the real objects, you can try it yourself."

"it is good."

Shen Chen agreed to this matter.

The two split up at the moment, Zhuge Liang began to make tools for transporting grain, while Shen Chen went to Baoxie Road to select a stronghold.

This matter is related to whether the Northern Expedition can be carried out smoothly, and it cannot be sloppy, so Shen Chen is very attentive.

In the next half month, he went north again along Baoxie Road to Xieyuguan. Along the way for [-] miles, he ordered the soldiers to choose places other than plank roads to build camps.

The plank road is often tens of miles of steps. In order to prevent the wheels from getting through, he ordered to use a chisel to dig a cave on the wall. The soldiers who came to deliver the food had already arrived, but the empty convoy to pick up the food had not yet arrived. You can put the food in the cave base first, and then go back and forth.

Compared with building plank roads, opening stone caves is much simpler.Because the plank road is to dig a stone hole on the cliff, and then use wood to list the road, and dig a hole below, and use a mortise and tenon structure to connect the supporting wood below with the wood above.

The ancient ancestors are not only amazing in wisdom, but also amazing in the results of labor.At least the plank roads opened on the cliffs like this may not be able to be done well even by machines, but the ancients can make hundreds of miles. It shows how much manpower and material resources they used to build these roads.

By the time Shen Chen returned to Jigu from Xieyuguan in June of the fourth year of Zhangwu, he had already seen Zhuge Liang set up a camp in Jigu, four-wheel carts were placed on the road outside Jigu, and two carts were placed on the carts. A square bag was pushed onto the trestle bridge by the soldiers and transported to the front line.

In terms of walking, people can walk about four to five kilometers per hour. The whole journey of Baoxie Road is 250 miles, which is converted into kilometers, which is about [-] kilometers. The walking speed is calculated as [-] hours a day, and you can walk five to five kilometers. Sixty kilometers can be covered in five days at most.

The advantage of the reward ramp is that it is close, but the disadvantage is also obvious, it is too narrow.It can only accommodate two people side by side, and there is a cliff next to it. Even the handrails and the rain shield on the head were made by Shen Chen last year, and Li Yan was ordered.

Li Yan sent people to re-drill holes above the plank road, with holes every few meters, connecting them with wooden sticks, and then connecting the plank road below with wooden sticks, and laying wooden boards on it.

In this way, there are vertical wooden sticks on the cliff side of the plank road as handrails, and then an iron chain is used to wear them in the middle.In this way, the wooden planks above can prevent rainwater, prevent the wood from getting damp and rot, or rain and wet the grain and grass when transporting grain, and it will also be more stable for the plank road below.

At the moment below the Jigu camp, Zhuge Liang brought Shen Chen and others to the entrance of the Bao ramp, and pointed to the uphill road: "Look, this cart uses four wheels to transport grain, and it is stable and safe on the plank road. A square bag with a load of [-] dendrobium and a slope of [-] miles. With a stronghold every [-] miles, a person can go back and forth to a stronghold every two hours. Every six to eight hours, one person can transport at least fifteen dendrobiums of grain and grass. "

Shen Chen looked over and saw hundreds of soldiers lined up in a long snake formation, pushing small four-wheeled carts like supermarket trolleys along the road.Thirty Hanli is 24 kilometers, and the round trip is 500 kilometers. If you walk fast, you can indeed cover it in four hours. Calculated on the scale of [-] people's carts, you can transport [-] shi of grain every day.

And Baoxie Road is 500 miles away, which is 1 strongholds.There are 23 people in each stronghold, and [-] people transport [-] shi of grain back and forth every day, which is about [-] shi of grain in a month.Although it is not enough for a [-] army to consume in January, the problem is that they can still add people.

For example, add 500 people to each stronghold, so that the grain transportation in one month can be doubled to 46 shi.There are 2 people pushing food back and forth in the entire Baoxie Road, and the food and grass on the front line are naturally continuous.

Seeing this scene, Shen Chen was surprised and ashamed at the same time.

As a later generation, it is a bit embarrassing for the traveler to not have thought of this flowing water method of food transportation.

But he also admired Zhuge Liang's wisdom, so he said: "Brother, this method is really good. In this way, each person can transport fifteen shi a day, and for 1000 people in each stronghold, the daily grain transportation is 2 shi. [-] people go back and forth three times a day, enough food for a hundred thousand troops."

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Because it flows on the plank road every day, I named this method of transporting grain as Liuma."

"Liu Ma?"

Shen Chen was at a loss.

When he read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it said that the wooden cow and horse are a kind of thing that looks like a bullock cart that moves automatically. Why is it just a cart?What's more, isn't a wooden cow and a flowing horse a thing?Why are they named separately?

Did he change history by himself, or is Sima Yi riding a wooden ox in TV dramas just nonsense, and the wooden ox and Liuma in real history are not the appearance of TV dramas at all?

Another thing to say again, flow refers to the flow on the plank road every day, so why is it called a horse?

"good."

Zhuge Liangliang nodded and said: "Based on the gear made by Xiaoqing, I developed a wooden ox that can turn. This thing can carry a year's grain and travel thirty miles a day. Over there, Xiaoqing, follow me to take a look."

Shen Chen followed the direction he pointed, all the way to the back of the Jigu army camp, and saw a kind of vehicle on the camp, with a huge carriage on the top, four legs on the bottom, a axle frame, and four wheels on the bottom. Kind of like that office chair, but much bigger.

"This thing is a wooden cow."

Zhuge Liang pointed to the vehicle and said.

Shen Chen was even more puzzled, and asked, "Did brother solve the steering problem?"

"Yes."

Zhuge Liangliang nodded: "I installed a rack inside, and used the gears to turn the two front wheels into active wheels. When turning, the axle will automatically rotate back and forth according to the road ahead, so as to realize the steering."

"do not talk."

Shen Chen only felt a headache, recalling the tragic memories of being tortured by the physics teacher back then.

How about learning the Confucian classics well?
Isn't he a liberal arts student?

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Xiaoqing can try it. After adding gears, the speed is indeed much faster. If there are no gears, you can also make four wheels, but you can only increase the load bearing by two parallel small wheels on each side. Unlike now, four large wheels can be used, and the load is greater."

Shen Chen walked over and tried to push it. It was indeed more labor-saving. It was able to turn while dragging the cart back and forth, so he said, "This wooden ox can turn and push, so it's good to take Chencang Road. Brother's way It is indeed a good method, but it is a bit troublesome. After all, why is it called Mu Niu Liuma?"

"I understand."

Without waiting for Zhuge Liang to answer, Shen Chen suddenly realized: "The person who pushes the wooden ox and the horse is the ox and the horse, brother means that."

"Bullshit."

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but rolled his eyes and said: "The ox is slow but the horse is fast. A horse can travel a hundred miles a day, but a cow can only travel thirty miles a day. Isn't this just a wooden cow and a horse?"

"I see."

Shen Chen was overjoyed and said: "If we send troops to the Northern Expedition, Baoxie Road will arrange [-] horses, and Chencang Road will send [-] wooden oxen, and only [-] civilians will be required to work in corvee, and the grain transportation in one month will reach more than [-] shi. The problem of food and grass , it was completely solved! Hahahahaha!"

He laughed.

Everyone is also smiling.

Now that the biggest problem of the Northern Expedition has been completely resolved, they will no longer have to worry about running out of food and grass.

Zhuge Liang waved his lupine and also kept smiling.

Although he has been taking on the job of the chief housekeeper in the rear, it is still a pity that he did not go to the front line to help in person.

Now helping Shen Chen complete the most difficult problem of grain transportation in Hanzhong, and feeling the joy from the heart of the good brother, why not make him feel very happy?

"Report!"

Just when everyone was happily celebrating that the grain road problem was finally resolved.

Kuai Malai from the rear reported: "Yue Yi Wang Gao Ding joined forces with the governor Zhu Bao to rebel, Dudu Li's army went deep alone, and was surrounded by the enemy in Dianchi County!"

Zhuge Liang frowned suddenly.

Shen Chen said angrily: "Nanzhong's rebellion is really rampant. I'm just about to test how good the cavalry is. Brother, you go south with your cavalry."

"It's okay."

Zhuge Liang waved his hand: "Nanzhong is all mountainous, cavalry is of little use. I have ordered Wang Ping to wait for me in Jiangzhou. Although the counties and counties rebelled, Yizhou's county soldiers are enough to deal with it. You actively train recruits and prepare for the Northern Expedition. I'll set off immediately and go to Nanzhong."

"it is good."

Shen Chen knew that this matter could not be delayed, so he said, "I'll send my brother off."

Now he sent Zhuge Liang all the way to Nanzheng Wharf, and the prime minister's guards escorted him across the Han River, heading towards the direction of Mi Cang Road.

(End of this chapter)