Strictly speaking, Baoxie Mountain Road is not without construction.
After repelling Guo Huai's attack, Chen was less stressed here, and indeed he had arranged for someone to contact Hanzhong and launch a corvee to repair the Baoxie Mountain Road.
But this was just a routine maintenance. A small number of civilian workers were used to repair some damaged areas, strengthen the wooden plank roads in some areas, and compact the loose soil.
That's all.
What Zhang Xi hopes to see is to use cement roads to widen the mountain roads and change the wooden plank roads to stone ones. This will not only be durable, but also widen the width of the mountain roads and reduce the difficulty of transporting troops and food.
In the era without cement, this kind of project would not have been completed within ten or twenty years. In other words, the politicians would not invest so much manpower and material resources for such a mountain road.
But now that we have cement, all we need to mobilize is manpower. For this kind of thing, we can repair a little bit this year and a little bit next year. Without increasing the burden on the people, we can build it to a rough appearance in about three to five years.
Even if there is a war now, the Baoxie Road crossing must always be prepared for Cao's army to attack, but it is not impossible to take the time to build the Baoxie Mountain Road behind it.
I don’t ask you to replace all mountain roads with cement roads, but for this plank road, you can always change all the fixed support structures from wood to stone, right? !
Two years have passed and there are no traces of cement buildings at all. This is somewhat unjustifiable.
Regarding this point, Chen Dao still did not answer Zhang Xi, but motioned Liu Yin to get up. The answer was obvious. Chen Dao was trying to praise Liu Yin, and he was also recommending Liu Yin to Zhang Xi in disguise.
Liu Yin didn't refuse. He stood up directly and told Zhang Xi the reason why he didn't build the Baoxie Mountain Road now.
One is a common issue - manpower issue.
The more than 12,000 soldiers at Baoxie Daokou are needed to defend against Cao's army in Guanzhong, and among these 12,000 soldiers, except for the 7,000 white soldiers, the remaining 5,000 are garrison soldiers or county soldiers. .
According to the provisions of the military system of the Han Dynasty, these soldiers, county soldiers rotated once a year, and garrison soldiers rotated every three years. Two years ago, it happened that Liu Bei ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and the world was amnesty. Both garrison soldiers and county soldiers conducted a batch of Rotation, so these more than 5,000 soldiers have been rotating in public, always in a state of insufficient combat strength and dissatisfied soldiers.
Chen Dao really didn't dare to act rashly.
After all, Chen Dao has been a veteran who has led the army for many years. Although he trusts the combat effectiveness of the Baijie soldiers he has trained, 7,000 people have to face Cao's army of more than 50,000 in Guanzhong. The strength of this army is poor, and Chen Dao does not dare to take it lightly. .
Therefore, in one of the two years, Chen Dao did not dare to mobilize troops to build the Baoxie Mountain Road behind him.
Although the people's corvee in Guanzhong can be activated normally and can help with the construction, in the past two years, Huang Quan's hair turned gray because of anxiety, so he managed to make Hanzhong a little angry.
Hanzhong Dingkou can only guarantee the smooth operation of the most basic farming. This kind of place is the place that needs the most rest and recuperation.
These days, it is actually not easy to recruit refugees to settle down. One is due to the war, and the other is the tax. Huang Quan finally restored some prosperity to Hanzhong. If the refugees heard that colonization in Hanzhong must be done, it would be dangerous and difficult. Baoxie said, how many refugees would be willing to settle down in Hanzhong?
Although it may be hard to live in a wealthy family as a hermit, and sometimes you will be hungry, but if you live frugally, you will not be unable to survive. But if you go to build a mountain road, you may die at any time.
In this case, it would be better to be a hermit in a wealthy family.
In this way, Chen Dao did not dare to use soldiers on a large scale to build the road. Huang Quan at the Hanzhong Prefecture was also half-soft and half-hard in delaying the repair. It took Chen Dao and Huang Quan a long time to repair the Baoxie Mountain Road. With his words and Liu Yin's proper arrangements, it was possible to build it into what it is now.
The second reason for not building the Baoxie Mountain Road is that Liu Yin felt that it was not a good time to use cement to build the Baoxie Mountain Road.
The current Baoxie Pass is still the front line, and there may be war at any time, so the supply line must be kept open. Once the construction of the Baoxie Mountain Road begins, it will definitely affect the supply of food and grass at the Baoxie Pass.
After all, this pavilion ramp is only so wide. At its widest point, it can only accommodate two large vehicles running parallel to each other. In narrow areas, even one large vehicle must be careful to ensure the safety of food and grass.
Once construction of such a narrow mountain road begins, sufficient food and grass supply will not be guaranteed for at least a while.
To deal with this situation, it is necessary to ensure that enough food and grass can be stored at Baoxie Pass, at least to ensure the supply of 12,000 soldiers for half a year, just in case.
But Huang Quan said that if you need food and grass for half a year, it would be better to replace him with someone else as the prefect of Hanzhong.
Huang Quan really had no choice.
When Wei Yan was the governor of Hanzhong before, he was only in charge of the army. Food, grass and logistics were all shipped directly from Chengdu. The governor of Hanzhong didn't have to worry about the problem of food and grass at all.
But Huang Quan is now in charge of the military and political affairs. He has to manage not only the army but also the people. After Liu Bei's Northern Expedition and his proclaimed emperor in Chengdu, the supply of food and grass was also very tight.
It's not that Huang Quan couldn't collect the grain and grass that the 10,000-strong army had been hoarding for half a year, but the problem was that after collecting the grain and grass, Huang Quan's plan to relocate Hanzhong residents would be greatly affected, and the recovery of the entire Hanzhong would be delayed by three days. to five years.
This is actually the reason why Huang Quan became a "slow advance" faction.
Only when you get to a place can you know the actual difficulties of the place. In the central government, all you see is just a pile of documents and numbers.
It's not impossible if you insist on the Northern Expedition. We can help you get the food and grass needed for the Northern Expedition. But if you go to the Northern Expedition like this, both the local families and the people will have to suffer for three years.
It doesn't matter if you belong to a Ku family. Anyway, the so-called "suffering" of a family is completely different from the suffering of the common people.
But the problem is that when aristocratic families suffer, they will pass on the "suffering" to the people. By the way, there is something wrong with your court. Huang Quan himself is a member of a noble family in central Shu, how can he still understand these circles? Round and round? !
After all, Huang Quan still has some conscience. He really doesn't want to see the "suffering" of the aristocratic family, but he doesn't want to see the suffering of the people even more!
So for this matter, Huang Quan gave Chen a soft nail and pushed him back.
Chen Dao was originally very unhappy, which made Chen Dao very angry. If you have difficulties, don't I have no difficulties? !
Soldiers are the most important matter of the country, the place of life and death! ! !
Without me standing in front of you, how can you develop in the rear with peace of mind? !
But fortunately, Liu Yin had already arrived in Chen Dao's army at this time, and initially gained Chen Dao's trust and importance. He helped to persuade him a few words, and then thought of a compromise plan, which he coordinated with Chen Dao and Huang Quan to accept. , and then this matter was revealed.
This compromise plan is to mobilize a small number of people to build roads according to the old method. The repairs will last another three years, as long as they are usable.
Cement road construction is fast, but the terrain of mountain roads is complex. If all cement roads are to be built, the amount of earthwork required will be huge. I don’t know how many civilians it will take to complete this kind of project.
Let's wait until Chang'an is captured and Hanzhong becomes the rear before we consider this kind of thing.
The last reason for opposing the construction of cement mountain roads is the military aspect.
In these years, in addition to mobilizing civilians and soldiers, the most important means of transportation for grain and grass transportation were donkeys and horses.
Donkeys and horses transporting grain on mountain roads consume a lot of animal power. If donkeys and horses are allowed to carry grain on hard cement roads, they will probably not be able to carry it a few times. The hoofs of donkeys and horses will be greatly worn, resulting in a serious shortage of transportation capacity.
You can't let the peasants carry food across the mountain roads, right? !
As soon as Liu Yin asked this question, Zhang Xi suddenly fell into deep thought.
Indeed, horses in these days basically fought on the plains and in the mountains and forests. Even if there were cavalry, they would strictly abide by the rules of "not entering the mountains" and "not entering the woods".
Not only were they worried about an ambush, but the cavalry's lack of speed would affect their combat effectiveness. More importantly, there were gravels everywhere in the mountains and forests, which would cause considerable damage to the horses' hooves.
As for a horse, once its hoof is cracked, it is basically useless and has no other use except waiting to die.
The reason is that in this era, there were no horseshoes.
Horseshoeing is not difficult. To put it bluntly, it is a matter of changing your thinking - everyone knows that you need to wear thick-soled shoes when walking on mountain roads, but why don't you think of wearing a pair of iron shoes for horses? !
This thing is really not a high-tech thing. Once it is revealed, it will definitely be worthless.
It's not like Zhang Xi has never thought of doing this, but Liu Bei's group does not have cavalry.
Ever since Zhang Xi officially surrendered to Liu Bei, Liu Bei's group has been hanging around in the Yizhou area of Jingzhou and has not formed a decent cavalry at all.
Even if it is Ma Chao, if he wants to use cavalry to fight, he must use his own charisma to summon Qiang and Hu Yi followers. If you want to form cavalry, you really don't have this condition.
After all, Ma Chao's status and reputation are there, he is treated like this, and Zhao Yun, the "first master and main rider", has even less conditions.
Although Liangzhou has been occupied now, it will take at least three to five years for Zhao Yun to smooth over the affairs of Liangzhou, frighten the Liangzhou family and foreign tribes, and form a cavalry force.
Zhang Xi had indeed thought of horseshoes before, but the person who benefited the most from the creation of this thing must be the cavalry of the Cao Wei family in the north, which has many powerful cavalry. Horseshoes have no technical content, so the creation of this thing is completely based on capital. enemy.
As for whether this thing will end up in the territory of foreign races, Zhang Xi is not worried.
During the Han Dynasty, facing the surrounding foreign races, it was also cavalry against cavalry. The Han Dynasty had never been afraid since Emperor Xiaowu. Even at the end of the Three Kingdoms, when the world was divided into three parts, beating foreigners was like an adult beating a child. Adding a horseshoe can make it easier. Has the offensive and defensive situation changed? !
The situation that the Jin Dynasty of the Sima family got into was entirely due to their own incompetence, not because of how strong the barbarians were.
(End of chapter)
