In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 277 We all have what the Mongolian army has, but we have what the Mongolian army does not.

The armor of the Song Army cavalry is different from that of the infantry.

The cavalry armor weighs fifty kilograms and has good protection. It is said that many people also wear leather armor or half chain armor, and they are all imitating the Mongols.

Gao Liangyao saw that these two Song armies numbered more than 9000 people, bringing with them [-] carriages and about [-] horses and mules.

The carriages are relatively large, and there are also large carriages newly built by the imperial court.

The maximum load of the new carriage was 150 jin, and four horses and mules were needed, and the Song Army brought [-] infantry.

These six hundred carriages brought a lot of dry food, including dry biscuits made by the Song people themselves, cheese and beef jerky learned from the Mongols, dried pork made by the Song people themselves, a small amount of dried fruits, a large number of tents, a small number of tools, etc. .

According to Meng Ying, the Song army had a total of 3 troops, and only the Bu camp brought 300 carts of rice and about [-] shi.

Under normal circumstances, this amount of food would only last three or four days for the Ten Thousand Steps Camp.

At this time, Gao Liangyao saw that the Song army was completely imitating the Mongols, relying on war to support war. Their staple food was dried meat, dairy products, and a small amount of grain as supplements in porridge and soup.

At this time, Meng Ying told Gao Liangyao that they had almost everything the Mongolian army had, but the Mongolian army might not have what they had.

Each of the infantry battalions and cavalrymen of the Song Army carried marching sleeping bags. At the same time, the carriages and mules also carried cold-proof and warm materials and tents to prevent the rainy season and protect the carriages and equipment.

There are also fifty craftsmen accompanying the army, who specialize in repairing carts, weapons and artillery.

There were fifty other doctors accompanying the army, which shocked Gao Liangyao even more.

In this era of war, no one would lead an army of 3 men with fifty doctors.

Song people were the first to do this.

However, there were not many local doctors in the Song Dynasty. Only these fifty doctors were enough, almost from several prefectures and counties in Shukou.

Gao Liangyao also noticed a detail. Except for donkeys and mules, most of the horses and mules transported by the Song Army were mares.

This is also learned from the Mongols.

Mares can mate with stallions during the march, give birth to ponies, and produce mare's milk, which is used to make cheese.

Attacking Tubo can be regarded as an expedition, but the Song army was learning from the Mongols in everything.

This made Gao Liangyao believe that if the Song people were strong enough, an expedition to the grasslands or even Mobei would be absolutely possible.

On the 3000th, the last group of [-] infantrymen arrived. This group of infantrymen were not very tall but looked quite fierce. Later Gao Liangyao found out that they were soldiers sent by Yang, the chieftain of Bozhou in the Sichuan army.

The Yang family of Bozhou followed Yu Jie in bloody battles with the Mongolian army in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, and made countless contributions. After Yu Jie's death, Xiangyang was defeated again, and the Yuan Dynasty specially recruited him to surrender, allowing him to continue to rule Bozhou before surrendering.

From then on until Wanli was destroyed in the Ming Dynasty, he was a local boss.

On the 1000th, Meng Gong gathered [-] Song and Xia coalition forces in Mianzhou, [-] cavalry, [-] infantry chariots, and more than [-] people from various herding stations, craftsmen, doctors, and other personnel.

The whole army had nearly 700 horses and mules, and more than [-] carts. It was a huge force, and the number of horses among them was even more than that of the entire Song army combined during the Kaiju Northern Expedition.

In the early morning of that day, Meng Gong summoned the commander of the entire army to speak.

The target of the Song army was Zhao Agechang in Diezhou, mainly by sneak attack. If the sneak attack failed, the first troops to enter the city (in units of 500 commanders) would get one-tenth of the city's wealth.

As soon as Meng Gong finished speaking, the Xixia people at the scene shouted wildly, with excited expressions.

Meng Gong said again, craftsmen will not be killed, doctors will not be killed, and horses, cattle, sheep, and camels will be distributed uniformly.

He didn't say whether he would kill the others, but the Xixia people were obviously more excited.

After saying a few simple words, pioneer Li Pingxia took the lead with six thousand cavalry.

Each of his cavalrymen has two horses. One horse carries people and sleeping bags, arrow knives, water bags and other items, while the other horse carries armor, dry food and other items to keep warm from the cold.

Heading toward Xihezhou in a mighty way.

After Li Pingxia left, Shader followed closely with four thousand Xixia cavalry.

Then came six thousand Song Army cavalry.

Then came the Ten Thousand Infantry Battalion and the Artillery Battalion.

Gao Liangyao brought a thousand people from the herding station and two thousand mares to accompany him, often rotating with the cannon horses.

Behind them was Meng Ying leading the last cavalry.

At noon that day, I ate dry food and water.

After dark, Gao Liangyao found them in the middle of a road. There were many local people on both sides, boiling water for cooking and providing them with hot food.

The second army set off and arrived in Chengzhou at noon.

Chengzhou has organized two thousand people in the local area and is waiting for them with a lot of grain and meat.

The whole army had a full meal and continued to set off.

The civilians followed for three days and ate all the food they brought. The civilians turned back and gave some of the horses and mules brought by Chengzhou to the Song army. The Song army's transportation capacity was greatly enhanced.

The whole army continued to move forward.

NO.19 Go to Xihezhou.

Xihe Prefecture had also prepared civilian laborers and food, horses and mules to follow them all the way forward.

Gao Liangyao was full of praise when he saw it. The Song Army's entire march was well organized, and there were water and food supplies along the way.

The civilians from Xihe Prefecture followed for several days, and finally returned to Xihe Prefecture with the food they had brought home, leaving more than 1000 horses and mules for the Song army.

Starting from Xihe Prefecture, and further to the west, including half of the Jisi area in the Southern Song Dynasty, there will be Han people and local people living together.

The Song army first entered Minxian from the north to the Zhaozhou area of ​​​​the original Xixia, and then turned south to Diezhou.We had no choice but to go directly over the mountains to the west, which would be very difficult for both men and horses, not to mention that the carriages and cannons would not be able to move at all.

On the 25th, the Song army entered the territory of the original Xixia.

At this time, Meng Ying and Shader led a battalion of 500 cavalry and a car battalion of [-] people in front.

Other soldiers and horses followed far behind.

Because the purpose of their visit this time was to exchange sugar and salt for the cattle, horses and sheep of Zhao Age Chang's tribe.
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Just when the Song army entered Xixia and then turned from Xixia to Diezhou.

Zhao Agechang, a local aristocrat in Diezhou City, was excitedly hugging his mother and drinking kumiss.

The location of Diezhou City is relatively important, guarding the border between the original Xixia and Tubo. In history, Mongolia entered Tubo for the second time to conquer Dali, so this is a must-visit place.

To the north is the Yellow River, so when the Mongols came to surrender, Zhao Agechang ignored them because it was not easy for the Mongolian army to bypass the Yellow River.

But this time the Song army circled from the Song Dynasty to the Xixia Dynasty and did not need to cross the Yellow River. It was approaching them unimpeded.

However, because of the surrender of the Mongols, Zhao Agechang felt that the situation was not good, so during the recent period, he would send sentries to check around from time to time, just in case.

On the 28th, a sentry came back to report that he found a large number of people from the Song Dynasty, escorting hundreds of carriages, all containing sugar, silk, refined salt, etc. There were more carriages coming from behind, fifty or sixty miles away from Diezhou. , the Song people asked Zhao Agechang to prepare cattle, horses, sheep, and the best kumiss and cheese to entertain them.

Zhao Agechang was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly ordered to prepare horses, cattle and sheep for trading with the Song people. However, according to convention, the horses were unqualified war horses or mares, and high-quality war horses could never be traded with the Song people.

Zhao Agechang asked again, how many carriages did the Song people come this time?
The sentry rider said that there were more than 100 vehicles in front, and hundreds more in the back. It was said that there were thousands of vehicles, and even more horses and mules were transported.

Zhao Agechang was extremely excited and felt that he was going to make a profit this time.

Since Meng Gong entered Sichuan a few years ago, he began to organize caravans according to the emperor's request, and tried to trade with various ministries of Tubo.

But the border between Tubo and the Song Dynasty is a bit awkward. There were seven or eight lines between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty in the past, but now there are not many lines between Tubo and the Southern Song Dynasty, and they are not easy to travel.

The first line, Yunnan is now Dali, and Tubo cannot go there. The second line crosses the Yellow River from Maduo to Linzhao now, which has to pass through Xixia (now occupied by Mongolia).

The third line has to go through the Hexi Corridor and Yumen, but it still has to go through Xixia, and it's too far now.

These few routes that can be used by large armies now either need to be detoured or go around other countries, which is not easy to take.

In other places where the distance is close, it is necessary to climb mountains and mountains, and it is difficult for the army to walk.

An army can do it, but a carriage cannot do it.

So in the end, the Zhao Agechang tribe was the closest tribe to the Song army in Tubo, and the tribe was easier to travel by carriage.

There is no need to go around the Yellow River or climb mountains between them and the Song Dynasty. They only need to go around the Xixia territory.

The people of the Song Dynasty mainly traded sugar and silk with them. The sugar was said to be transported from farther away, which was not easy.

But after sugar entered Tubo, the market suddenly opened up among the Tubo nobles. It can be said that the supply exceeded demand.

The snowflake white sugar of the Song Dynasty was sold here at Zhao Agechang for [-] Wen per catty. After Zhao Agechang got the sugar, he resold it to the tribes in the southwest of Tubo, and it could be sold for at least [-] Wen per catty. .

Of course, the Song people almost didn't need any money, and the Tubo people didn't have that much money either. Both parties traded in cattle, horses and sheep.

Zhao Agechang exchanged one horse for one hundred kilograms of snow-white sugar, which equaled the price of one horse to fifty kilograms.

At this time, the better west horses (war horses) start at [-] guan, and the high quality can reach [-] guan. Low-quality horses are worth the high price of war horses, deceiving the people of Song Dynasty.

But the Song people didn't seem to care and were willing to trade their horses, because low-quality horses could also be used as transport horses.

Zhao Agechang's cattle (not yaks) were exchanged for [-] kilograms of snow-white sugar, and the converted price reached [-] yuan.

In fact, in most periods of ancient times, the price of horses was more expensive than that of cattle, but the price of horses fluctuated greatly. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the price of horses was from five to ten guans, and the good ones were from [-] guan to upwards.

The price of cattle is relatively stable. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of cattle rose from two guan to ten guan. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the price of cattle rose sharply, reaching [-] guan in some places.

Since there were more cattle and sheep in the northwest, the price of cattle was actually not that expensive. However, Zhao Agechang deliberately raised the price and insisted on selling it more expensive than horses. The people of Song Dynasty also had no objection.

As for the price of sheep, it is even cheaper here. They trade with the Tubo tribes themselves or with nearby Han people. They usually range from [-] to [-] yuan, and most of them fluctuate around [-] yuan.

The price of the sheep that Zhao Agechang sold to Song Jun was equivalent to twenty kilograms of brown sugar.

Zhao Agechang's prices were relatively high, but Song people accepted them.

Zhao Agechang was a large local landowner, one of the [-] households in the early Yuan Dynasty. There were more than [-] slave households in the tribe, and countless cattle and sheep.

Every time he asked to trade a large amount of sugar and other goods with the Song people, the Song people said that the transportation was not easy.

In the past, every time people from the Song Dynasty came, they would have at most two to three thousand kilograms of snow-white sugar, plus about five thousand kilograms of brown sugar and five thousand kilograms of rock sugar.

This makes Zhao Agechang not satisfied. By changing hands, he can earn more cattle, sheep and horses from other Tubo tribes.

He also tried to trade yaks and camels, but the Song people didn't want them, only ordinary cattle.

Meng Ying has been trading with him for nearly three years. Because of the long distance, they only do it maybe two or three times a year.

The two sides are becoming more and more familiar.

Starting from this year, the people of Song Dynasty came out with a kind of refined salt. The quality is better than the green salt of the original Xixia people, and it only sells for 35 Wen per pound.

Originally, various tribes in Tubo either used their own cheap well salt or green salt from Xixia.

After the refined salt of the Song Dynasty came out, it immediately occupied the green salt market. Zhao Agechang felt that he was making more money.

In recent years, due to road reasons, Meng Ying mainly traded with him. He was equivalent to Tubo's general agent and made a lot of money.

However, starting from last year, the people of Song Dynasty asked tentatively whether the two sides could form an alliance and whether they could provide high-quality war horses.

Zhao Agechang decisively refused.

(End of this chapter)