"Well, since you have such confidence, then I will naturally not be stingy, and I should take care of your needs whenever you need them."

Ning Yu had a little joy on his face, the cultivation of military horses can be called a century-old plan, especially in this era, although firearms have begun to develop rapidly, the position of cavalry is still difficult to replace, and it has always been an indispensable strategic weapon.

For the Fu Han army, the biggest shortcoming at present is the cavalry, after all, once the northern expedition in the future, it will have to face the impact of the Eight Banners and the Mongolian cavalry on the plain, although Ning Yu has defeated the Eight Banners cavalry in the previous war, but there are also terrain restrictions, if it really goes to the open area, it is not certain.

Therefore, before the Northern Expedition next year, Ning Yu urgently needs a relevant cavalry unit, preferably a trained cuirassiers, which is the force most needed by the Fu Han army at present.

In the future, the Fu Han army will also be equipped with large-scale cavalry troops, so as to compete with Lao Maozi in the north, otherwise there is no cavalry response, and all this is impossible. It was precisely because of these needs that Ning Yu asked Ernst to search for Roman species experts and related cavalry talents from the West.

John smiled slightly, he already knew from Ernst how generous the Great Emperor was, but he was not polite at all, "Your Majesty, if it is to give me a personal reward, the title and money are all I need, and if it is needed to improve the horse breed, then first of all, a large number of stallions, followed by alfalfa grass." ”

When John finished speaking, the faces of the ministers were slightly wrinkled, and they secretly despised this Westerner who had never seen the world, how could he ask for money and titles like this? It's too vulgar and too uncultured.

However, after Ning Yu heard this, he felt that this person was quite straightforward, and immediately laughed and said: "John, I will never let down the heroes of the empire, after you cultivate the military horses that the empire needs, I will give you the title of earl, plus 200,000 silver dollars, how about it?" ”

Earl?! Two hundred thousand silver dollars?!

A look of greed flashed across John's face, then turned to ecstasy, a great reward he could never have dreamed of, and he quickly fell to his knees.

"His Majesty the Great Emperor is so generous! I am willing to breed qualified military horses for His Majesty the Great Emperor! ”

With the temptation of money and titles, this person's motivation to do things is different, John hurriedly took the initiative to introduce to Ning Yu: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, if you want to breed Arabian horses, these forages are not good now, you must replace them with rye grass and alfalfa grass to better meet the needs of horses." ”

"Alfalfa grass? Ryegrass? ”

Although Ning Yu does not understand animal husbandry, he also understands the importance of forage, and its requirements are also very many, to produce high grass, but also to have soft grass, strong regeneration, and need a variety of rich nutrients, and the palatability of horses must be good, in order to be used as pasture, so it is not any grass.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we need to replace all the pastures here with these two, and then we need to plant pastures elsewhere as well in order to expand our farming scale."

John said with a serious face: "With these two kinds of grass, they can be mixed and fed, so as to avoid the problem of single forage causing the horses to get sick, and they can grow faster." ”

This problem is not too big, so Ning Yu also readily agreed to John's request, anyway, the cultivation of military horses will continue for many years, and the money spent is like flowing water, and it is not important.

After Ning Yu left the Huangzhai Military Horse Farm, he immediately ordered the Military Horse Department of the Privy Council to carry out the military horse breeding work in the Huangzhai Military Horse Farm, and John, a Westerner, as an adviser to the Military Horse Department, personally participated in the military horse breeding.

For the sake of the breeding of military horses, Ning Yu also specially allocated 1 million silver dollars, so that Ernst could continue to send people to search for Arabian horses in various countries, and send all of them to China as stallions, and also buy a large number of forage seeds, and find suitable places in the south to plant them as grazing places.

This is also Ning Yu's helpless move at the moment, after all, Mongolia is not in his hands at the moment, and he can only choose to plant pasture and raise horses in the south, but after reunification, he will be able to use the Mongolian grassland.

In addition to the long-term nature of the war horse breeding work, Ning Yu also allocated a full 2 million yuan to buy war horses in Western European countries, because the price of war horses is cheaper than stallions, about eight pounds to twelve pounds per horse, that is, 80 silver dollars to 120 silver dollars directly, basically can buy about 20,000 war horses.

Although it is said that there are 20,000 war horses, but if you really need training and equipment, etc., it is a mess, counting the losses, you can probably equip a Praetorian Cavalry Division, which is about 8,000 people.

Of course, for Ning Yu, just a Praetorian cavalry division is not enough, it is also necessary to develop large-scale dragoons, that is, mounted infantry, and Mongolian horses for mounted infantry are enough, which are relatively cheap in price, so they can be equipped with three or four mounted infantry divisions.

It's not enough to have war horses, after all, a large number of horses and pack horses are also needed in the war for logistics, so the relevant logistics horses are also being collected, but fortunately, the requirements for this kind of horse are not high, so it doesn't cost too much money, but the number will be relatively large.

Since the cavalry unit itself was established in the Privy Council, this part of the budget was originally on the books, just waiting for the war horses from the West to be in place, and there was also the collection of Mongolian horses from various sources.

In this way, Ning Chu had cuirassiers as the arrows of the charge, and mounted infantry as a fast-moving strategic force, so he had a certain ability to compete with the Qing court in cavalry troops, and he did not have to worry too much about the shortcomings of the cavalry.

As for the more distant plan, that is, after the completion of the breeding of war horses, it will be carried out on a large scale of breeding and stocking, and in the future, Ning Chu will need at least 500,000 or more horses in terms of war horses, and in terms of pulling horses, it will exceed 100 to 2 million stocks, so as to achieve large-scale rationing.

After returning to Nanjing, Ning Yu got the dynamics of the war in the southwest, Ning Zuyi had already submitted the newly formulated plan of Cheng Ming and others, and he did not express his position too much, after all, it was about the front-line troops, and it was difficult for the rear to grasp the first-hand situation, so try not to interfere indiscriminately, this is the rule customized by Ning Yu.

"The outcome of this battle is probably faster than we expected.......

Ning Zuyi had a little caution on his face, and said softly: "At the moment, Deputy Cheng Cheng's plan is actually to force Ortai, if Ortai does not protect Guiyang, he must withdraw now, otherwise once the back road is blocked by the three divisions of the Fu Han Army, I am afraid that it will be ugly to go." ”

"Hmph, Ortai is worthy of being a person valued by Yongzheng, he wants to take our army, but the people I sent are not vegetarians, so we will take him into an army!"

Ning Yu had a sneer on his face, in fact, the first battle in Guizhou Province was not so complicated, mainly because Tusi was on Ortai's side, which made Ortai determined to fight hard with the Fu Han army, and the root cause was still Ning Chu's policy towards Tusi.

But for Ning Yu, if this is the case, he can be forced to retreat, wouldn't it be a distrust of the front-line soldiers? Besides, the battle against Tusi was originally in the plan of the Southwest War, but it could not be changed.

"Since you want to fight, just fight bigger, and order King Changshan that the battle of Sichuan can be advanced, and Yue Zhongqi can't be allowed to help Ortai anymore, as for Cheng Ming's side, let him rest assured to fight!"

"Yes........"

...........

With Ning Yu's order, the 50,000 army led by Ning Zhongyi, the king of Changshan, finally opened the first battle into Sichuan, that is, the water and land passed through Wushan and attacked the Sichuan gateway Kuizhou Mansion, because Yue Zhongqi arranged 30,000 troops in Kuizhou Mansion, so it was difficult to conquer for a while.

Yue Zhongqi, as the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, was looking at the map on the table with a gloomy face when the Kuizhou Mansion was besieged, and Cai Ting, the governor of Sichuan on the side, also had a gloomy face, and Zhang Guangsi, the newly appointed governor of Sichuan, was full of solemnity.

"Chu rebels 50,000 troops don't fight early, don't fight late, and fight Kuizhou at this time....... Hmph, I'm afraid it's intended for the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. ”

Yue Zhongqi had a little dissatisfaction on his face, when the fight broke out in the south, he was also ready to let Zhang Guangsi take his subordinate superintendent and the green battalions of several towns to support Ortai, but he didn't expect that this drama was so good, and the war was suddenly attracted to him.

Sichuan Governor Cai Ting has always been at odds with Nian Qianyao, and he doesn't have much disgust with Yue Zhongqi, he said softly: "Governor Xian, even if Chu rebels with 50,000 troops even if they have other intentions, we have to be cautious, and the following officials According to the previous war, if we don't rescue Kuizhou in time, I'm afraid that the 30,000 army won't be able to support it for long." ”

As soon as these words came out, Yue Zhongqi's face changed, he had suffered from the Fu Han army in Anqing City before, so he naturally would not have the slightest hint of underestimation, so he immediately nodded and said: "Don't hide it from Lord Cai, this governor plans to do his best to fight the army in central Sichuan and fight to the death with the Fu Han army." ”

After hearing this, Cai Ting nodded, after all, there are currently 50,000 Qing soldiers in various towns in Chengdu Prefecture, plus the 30,000 green battalions in Kuizhou Prefecture, a total of 80,000 people, and it is still possible to resist the attack of 50,000 Fu Han troops.

"But my lord, we have to beware of other conspiracies on Chu Wei...... After all, the current waterway is in the hands of Chu Wei, and if the other party bypasses Kuizhou Mansion from the waterway, I am afraid that it will be very disadvantageous to our army......."

Zhang Guangsi suggested euphemistically, this is not false, after all, the Fu Han Army has a strong sailor, you can defend Kuizhou if you want to, when the time comes, you can directly dig into the heart, bypass Kuizhou, Suiding, Zhongzhou and other places, and directly take Chongqing Mansion and Chengdu Mansion, what do you take to guard?

If it is really occupied by the Fu Han army so easily, I am afraid that the 80,000 Qing troops in Kuizhou will disperse in an instant, after all, everyone's back road has been cut off, and even the family members have fallen into the hands of the Fu Han army, what else to fight?

When Cai Ting heard what Zhang Guangsi said, he felt quite reasonable, and said softly: "Duxian, what Lord Zhang said this time seems to be quite reasonable, wouldn't it be too reckless for us to send troops like this?" ”

A smile appeared on Yue Zhongqi's face, "Who said I must go to Shoukuizhou?" He Chu can beat the attention of my Chongqing Mansion, is it possible that the governor can't take Yichang Mansion directly? ”