It's no wonder, though. You know, the Crimean Khanate is a country of professional robbery, and the whole country is a soldier. Moreover, the Crimean Khanate was armed not to defend against foreign invasions, but to rob other countries.

Therefore, when Jama Khan returned home and communicated Marin's intention to acquire Marin, the Crimean Khanate, which saw the money, did not hesitate to touch several thousand Tatar cavalry and launched an attack on the Cossack villages in the Zaporozhye region.

Although because of the revolt of the Cossacks, some losses were brought. However, in the face of the high price of 40 gold coins per Cossack household, the impoverished Crimean Khanate felt that it was worth it. What's more, counting the horses captured in those Cossack villages, they can also be exchanged for 20 gold coins from Marin. In this way, for each Cossack captured, 60 gold coins could be exchanged with Marin. Then, 2,000 Cossacks can be exchanged for 120,000 gold coins.

What is the concept of 120,000 gold coins? Originally, in history, Zygmunt I only spent 15,000 gold coins to induce the Crimean Khanate and its original ally Grand Duchy Moscow to turn around and fight, and 120,000 gold coins could basically make the Crimean Khanate crazy.

Although, now the Crimean Khanate sells 10,000 cattle to Marin every year, which can be exchanged for 80,000 gold coins. Sell 2,000 Eastern European Mongolian horses to Marin, and you can also exchange them for 40,000 gold coins. But who is afraid of less money? Moreover, selling cattle and horses also needs to raise cattle and horses, is it not cost-effective? How can you grab it directly? Therefore, the Crimean Khanate, which was full of bandits, did not hesitate to take the big order of Marin......

This time, the escort of the 2,000 Cossacks, a team of about 8,000 people, was Jamakhan, who came last time. In addition to the huge population team, it is also a large team of cattle and horses.

Marin looked at the size of the cattle and felt that something was wrong:

"No, Mr. Jamahan, I don't want so many animals! Didn't the 10,000 cattle and 2,000 horses last time be delivered? ”

Even if each Cossack household was equipped with one war horse, it would be 2,000 war horses. And the number of horses brought by Jama Khan this time is in the tens of thousands, which makes Marin feel very wrong.

Jama Khan said disapprehantly:

"Grand Duke, these horses are not all sold to you, most of them are rations for this long journey!"

"What? Do you use horses as rations? Marlin was taken aback. You know, horse meat is not delicious. In addition, horses have such a great effect, and it is also a waste to kill and eat. Unless it is a disabled horse or too old to do labor, it will be killed and eaten meat.

"Hahaha......" Jamahan laughed.

He then explained to Marin:

"You have misunderstood, the Grand Duke, when I say rations, I do not mean killing horses and eating meat, but referring to mare's milk! These slaves always have to eat along the way, right? But we don't have that much money to buy food for them. So, only according to the tradition of my great Mongol Empire - to drink mare's milk! ”

"In our Mongolian daily life, eating beef and mutton is not the mainstream, drinking mare's milk and goat's milk, or eating cheese is the mainstream. Of course, if there is tea, it is even better to make milk tea. As for mutton and beef, although it is often eaten, it is not eaten every day. ”

"Like the army of our greatest ancestor, Genghis Khan, when the army marched westward, each warrior usually brought three horses. Among them, there is a lactating mare. Its function was to provide mare's milk as food for the warriors of the expedition. Otherwise, the invincible Mongolian cavalry in the world would not be able to go on an expedition at all! ”

"That's what happened!" Marin was amazed, and he was also very impressed by the operation of the Mongolian cavalry.

Indeed, if a large army goes out to war, like the Han army, it will not only be unbearable for the national strength, but also have a great impact on the mobility of the army. How cumbersome is the grain truck? Sometimes the army ran too fast and had to stop and wait for the baggage troops. Not only that, but the baggage troops were also easy targets for enemy light cavalry. Once the grain carts are looted or burned, the army is finished.

And the Mongolian cavalry is indeed very coquettish in this way, and with a mare who is lactating and giving milk, it will solve all problems directly.

Of course, it is also possible to bring ewes. However, the ewe ran too slowly to keep up with the cavalry. Therefore, for an expedition, a milk-producing mare is the best choice.

……

Ma Lin, including many people in later generations, always thought that the Mongol cavalry marched westward and brought three horses to hurry faster. But in fact, one of the three horses was a milk-producing mare, which was used as food for the cavalry. Of course, sometimes I will change the mare, but it will never make the mare tired. Otherwise, it will definitely affect milk production. Moreover, if you are in a hurry, it is enough for two horses to change cars.

Of course, this trick was only used by the Mongol cavalry. Because, Mongolian horses are resistant to rough feeding. Even if they travel for a long time, Mongolian horses only need to eat grass. What you bring, mare, eats grass, and milk, which can be used as military rations.

However, it is certainly not enough to drink mare's milk alone. Therefore, when the Mongol cavalry was marching, they would also plunder the grain of the villages along the way, or the livestock of the nomadic tribes, in order to obtain food and meat and comprehensively replenish nutrition. But when passing through some barren places in Central Asia, it is all supported by mare's milk.

European horses obviously can't do this, because once they run, they have to be fed concentrate. Therefore, the operation of the Great Army, like the Han army, requires a strong supply line. In fact, each war horse needs several times more food than a soldier...... As a result, it was difficult for Europe to assemble a large cavalry force......

The descendants of the Golden Horde such as the Crimean Khanate inherited the characteristics of the Mongolian cavalry, and the war horse is also a mixed breed of Mongolian horse and Eastern European native horse, which has the advantage of Mongolian horse resistance to rough breeding. So, the Tatar cavalry of the Crimean Khanate also had the habit of using mares to provide mare's milk.

The most important thing is that mare's milk is cheap! For the Crimean Tatars, who mingled in the steppes, grain was expensive. Mare's milk, on the other hand, is readily available.

The price of food in Europe has always been very expensive, and if they lived on food, the Tatars who had no money to buy food would have starved to death.

Therefore, nomads generally focus on dairy products. Among them, goat's milk is the most common source of dairy products. Moreover, sheep are more tolerant of rough feeding than horses, and almost never need concentrate.

It's just that, when the march is rushing, the sheep can't keep up with the marching procession. That's why mare's milk is used instead of goat's milk.

But this kind of operation can only be done by horses that are resistant to rough breeding, led by Mongolian horses. Otherwise, a mare who needs to be fed concentrate during the lactation period will definitely not be able to be used as a source of food for the cavalry on a long journey. Because, that kind of mare must bring a lot of food with the army......

……

After listening to Jama Khan's explanation, Marin's eyes only lit up. So he said to Jama Khan:

"I'm going to buy a mare! I want all these mares you brought, 10 gold coins each! ”

Jama Khan was stunned for a moment and said:

"These mares are not war horses, they are all horses, and they only have the ability to provide mare's milk!"

For the Crimean Tatars, mare's milk is the cheapest food, grain is expensive. Moreover, before that, Marin only bought war horse-class Eastern European Mongolian horses from the Crimean Khanate, and never bought a horse.

Marin was already fascinated by the prospect of the mare providing mare's milk as a military quartermaster, so he did not hesitate to say:

"In the future, I want the pony too, but only the mare!"

"Okay, no problem!" Jama Khan happily agreed. After all, horses are rare for Marin, and for the Crimean Tatars, they are especially cabbage. Besides, they don't have enough mares to rob someone else!

The Cossacks around the Crimean Khanate, as well as the nearby Kazan Khanate, Astrakhan Khanate, and Nogai Khanate, which were of Mongol descent, also had no shortage of Eastern European horse mares that were tolerant of rough breeding. Just grab some points, or exchange them for some at a low price, and you can exchange them for gold coins with Marin......