Although they received more than 100,000 cavalry from the remnants of the King of Shu, some of them defected due to various reasons after arriving in the Western Regions. Some of the men and horses recruited by the King of Shu from Tubo in the Qing Tang Dynasty also returned to the snowy plateau to herd horses and sheep. However, after several years of integration, it has continued to expand its strength while losing value. After several years of hard work, he still has 100,000 cavalry under his command. Although it has expanded externally, its strength is still somewhat weak. But with these 100,000 cavalry, it is more than enough to protect themselves even if they are surrounded by powerful enemies.
Compared with the King of Shu, those subordinates had their own thoughts. Although the number of his one hundred thousand cavalry now is not as good as that of King Shu back then. But the degree of loyalty, the information obtained through the imperial court, and the intelligence transmitted by the Fan family are far better than before. I have to say that this guy is indeed a talent. At that time, the Shu waste people were not able to accomplish things with their abundant financial resources, but he basically accomplished it within a few years. Among them, he had no iron-blooded purge. To be honest, Huang Qiong himself didn't believe it.
However, his iron-blooded purge did not trigger a large-scale resistance among his subordinates who had ulterior motives when he took over. Even if someone helps, this is a pretty big deal. You know, in the environment like the Western Region, if you use excessive methods, there is always the possibility of capsizing. And this guy, so quietly, completed the rectification of the miscellaneous troops he took over. Not only did it not give the surrounding enemies a chance, even the imperial court kept it a secret for such a long time.
If it weren't for the Fan family, the imperial court might still think that his strength was still the same as when he took over. And to achieve this, it is definitely not something that can be achieved simply by relying on martial arts. Not only the scheming, but also the skills must be at least first-class. It was not until receiving the report from the Fan family that Huang Qiong realized that she had really underestimated this person. There was even a hint of threat. There is a vague feeling that this person's ambition may not be willing to succumb to the position of King Anxi, and I am afraid it will not be limited to the Western Region.
The more this happens, the less likely it is that Huang Qiong will grant him cannon. What Huang Qiong was most worried about was if he wanted to escape the bitter cold of the Western Regions when he was going all out for the Northern Expedition. Concentrating all the troops to the east and trying to return to the Central Plains is equivalent to stabbing a knife in one's waist. Even before the Northern Expedition, he left some troops and horses from the Xijing camp to deal with him. But facing the one hundred thousand cavalry under his command, I'm afraid he is no match. This is also the reason why Huang Qiong summoned him to Xijing for an audience this time. Just want to touch his base.
If there were no plans for the Northern Expedition, let alone the one hundred thousand cavalry under this guy's command, even if there were more, as he said at the beginning, Huang Qiong would not care at all whether he would develop the ambition of herding horses in the Central Plains. But Huang Qiong didn't want to think that someone would stab him in the flank during the Northern Expedition. What's more, in order to fight for the world within the Huang family, just like the Eight Kings Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, rivers of blood flowed from their own people. At that time, not only will he be ashamed of the people and subjects of the world, but he will also leave a joke in the history books.
If that guy doesn't come, then I should probably make some appropriate preparations in advance. Before the all-out Northern Expedition, its threat must be minimized. This made him unable to pose a threat to the Central Plains from the west during his Northern Expedition. Huang Qiong also knew that there was a certain gap between the court and that guy. First of all, the guy wrote several times asking the court to allocate several cannons to him, but Huang Qiong rejected them all. The situation in the Western Region is too complicated. Not only are there many tribes, but they are also surrounded by powerful enemies.
Not only the remaining Uighurs in Ganzhou are still resisting. There was also the more powerful Karakhanate further west. The tribes in the Western Regions have always been connected with the Kara Khanate to the west and even the Seljuq Turks further to the west. Giving them cannon and medicine would be extremely easy to leak. Even Huang Qiong knew that sooner or later the secrets of these weapons would not be kept. But Huang Qiong still hopes that these are epoch-making things in this era, and the sooner we learn about the person who teaches the faith, the better.
What's more, this thing looks mysterious, but in fact there aren't many secrets. As long as the raw materials are available, it is not difficult to manufacture. The most important thing is that Huang Qiong doesn't want the shells fired by these cannons to fall on his head if this guy decides to return to his homeland one day. That guy is not one of those uneducated clan members, on the contrary, he is quite shrewd. During the counter-insurgency against the imperial court, the cannons used by both the imperial court and the rebels had long been recognized for their outstanding performance on the battlefield.
Every year they are asking for discounts, and they are always asking for cannons. Only in the past few years did Huang Qiong know why that guy kept asking the court for cannons. During the counter-rebellion, this guy actually ignored the court's ban and secretly ran to the battlefield to watch the battle. From the battle of Jiangning Mansion to the final decisive battle in Nanning. His martial arts is not low, although it is naturally impossible to change the situation of the battle by relying on martial arts alone. But self-protection is still no problem. A clan member actually sneaked away to the battlefield, and Nanzhen Fusi didn't know anything about it, which made Huang Qiong quite furious.
But the matter has already passed, and when he learned about it, this guy had already gone to the Western Regions. He just wanted to pursue it, but he could no longer pursue it. But after this guy went to the Western Regions, he asked for cannons almost every year. I have always rejected this request. This undoubtedly created a slight gap between the two people. Although Huang Qiong also knew that giving a dozen cannons wouldn't change anything. But every time he received a discount from this guy, Huang Qiong always hesitated for some reason.
As for the artillery in the army, he didn't even think about it. Unless those military attachés didn't want the whole family's head, no one would dare to privately sell the cannons issued to him by the generals. Moreover, the cannons equipped by Huang Qiong and the Western Army were all heavy cannons weighing thousands of kilograms. Unless this guy bribes the entire border army, even if he gets it, he won't be able to transport it out at all. However, this was just one of the conflicts between him and the court. Another reason is that after preparing to expand cavalry preparations, the horses in the Western Regions are relatively excellent.
The imperial court increased the number of horses required to pay tribute, which caused a certain degree of dissatisfaction from this guy. Although he now controls the entire Western Region, he still faces threats from the grassland nomadic tribes in the west and northwest. Although Beiliao was blocked by the desert, it was unable to threaten his flank. But Bei Liao was in Kedun City, recruiting 20,000 cavalrymen from the Division on the northwest road. As well as the tribes on the desert grasslands, they all need to be on guard. The enemies around him, including the Tubo tribes on the Kunlun Snow Mountains, were almost all cavalry.
Its powerful enemies in the Western Regions, the remnants of the Uighurs in Ganzhou and the Kara Khanate, were also good at cavalry. The Persian horses and large food horses used are better. In the Western Region, he has higher demands not only for the quantity of war horses, but also for the quality of war horses. Even if the war horses produced in the Western Regions are more outstanding than the party horses and Khitan horses used by the imperial court, they are not endless after all. Although the Western Region is vast, not all places are suitable for raising horses. The annual horse production is also quite limited.
The number of 10,000 horses per year is indeed somewhat unaffordable for him. Many people think that even if a war horse can only live ten years, it can be used for at least eight years. What's more, horses generally live a full twenty or thirty years and should last longer. But in fact, the life of a war horse seems to be very long. It may be used as a cavalry charge horse, and its service life, even if it is not injured during the period, does not exceed six years. War horses are actually similar to humans. The number of years a horse can be used as a war horse is only the years when its physical strength and energy are at its strongest.
Just like people, when horses reach a certain age, their weight-bearing and sprinting abilities decline rapidly. Just like the elderly cannot go to the battlefield, war horses have reached the end of their service life. As long as there is not too much shortage of horses, they will basically have to withdraw from the ranks of war horses. They are either sold to the private sector or used as draft horses in the logistics industry. Moreover, the war horses look mighty and majestic, and training requires a lot of effort. But it is not generally fragile in use. Not only are they easily injured during training, but they also suffer huge losses on the battlefield.
Not to mention the various weapons specifically designed to deal with cavalry, when a war horse is sprinting, a small hole larger than the size of a horse's hoof can cause a war horse to permanently lose its combat effectiveness. Once a war horse breaks a bone, especially a broken leg, it means that it will never be able to be used again. Not to mention, other more fatal injuries. Therefore, there are strict standards for the use of cavalry and war horses in all dynasties. Even if you cherish your horses, there is no guarantee that they will not be injured on the battlefield, even if they are injured during training.
And it ensures that a huge cavalry has truly strong combat effectiveness. In addition to paying for it with blood on the battlefield, more depends on daily rigorous training. Even the northern nomads who are born cavalry do not really rely on recruiting people into the army. Just like the Northern Liao Dynasty, in addition to the emperor's personal army, the rest were tribal armies, and they had to train together frequently. What is needed on the battlefield is not only orders and prohibitions, but also tactical cooperation between each other. No matter how good the cavalry is, it depends on daily training in order to master tactics.
A mess of tactics and charges means that no matter how good the cavalry or the best horses are, it is of no use. As long as there is training, there is no war, which means horses will suffer losses. The amount of this loss also depends on the degree of training. Nowadays, there is basically no war in Daqi, but in order to maintain the training of the cavalry. The pastoral supervisors of Longyou and Shanxi must replenish the army with 20,000 war horses every year. This number still only maintains that the cavalry has only one horse, unlike the Northern Liao cavalry, which requires each person to ensure three horses.
Among them, except for the war horses that have reached the end of their lifespan and are naturally retired. There are also many horses that are unable to continue to be used as war horses due to injuries and can only be pushed out of sequence. Maintaining the combat effectiveness of a cavalry requires not only rigorous training, sophisticated tactics and equipment, but also ensuring that there are enough horses to replace losses at any time. To maintain a large cavalry, more horses need to be supplemented. He maintained a cavalry force of 100,000 people in the Western Regions, and the number of horses was at least 150,000.
This can ensure its most basic combat effectiveness. The Western Region does produce horses, but ensuring this number of war horses is not an easy task. There are quite a few tribes within it, especially the tribes at the northern foot of Jinshan Mountain, who are still defying them, and the number of horses available for collection every year is quite limited. Ten thousand horses a year does put a lot of pressure on it. Although Huang Qiong has given him certain compensation in other aspects. But this guy is good. It also expressed certain dissatisfaction.
Because of this, Huang Qiong was a little worried that this guy had now rebelled. Therefore, this time Huang Qiong came to Xijing and brought Dao Meiping with him. Just use Dao Meiping to hold Duan Lin when needed, and Duan Lin to hold that guy. I just don’t know what the relationship between the two is like now.
