In Europe, cavalry could not travel long distances. The key is that European war horses consume too much feed. In this era when there were no soybeans, European war horses mainly used oats and barley as war horse feed. Oats are more nutritious, but they are less productive and more expensive. Therefore, in addition to the aristocratic lords who love their war horses very much, barley will be selected for the feed of military war horses.

According to the infantry code of the French army during World War I, the daily ration of barley for each horse was 4,800 grams, close to 5 kilograms. And if 10,000 cavalry are dispatched, one person and two horses, the consumption of barley alone will cost 96,000 kilograms, or 211,000 pounds, per day. At this time, the price of barley in Europe is about the same as the price of rye, which is about 1 pfennig per pound. Therefore, the daily food consumption of 20,000 war horses is worth more than 3,500 gold coins.

This is still because the time of sending troops was chosen after spring ploughing, at this time, spring returns to the earth, everything recovers, and there is no shortage of grass in the wild. As a result, a lot of horse feed can be saved. If you choose to send troops in the winter, it will be fatal. Because they can't eat grass, the food consumed by the war horses will be doubled every day.

Therefore, in this era, the nobles generally did not choose to fight in winter. In particular, an army with a lot of cavalry could not afford to fight at all in winter.

And the European war horse, which consumes 4.8 kilograms of grain every day, is obviously not suitable for long-distance travel. Because, you can't bring so much food and grass......

Only Mongolian horses, which are extremely resistant to rough feeding, can be maintained by grazing, and can make long-distance runs. The reason why the Mongol Empire was able to hit Europe in one go had a lot to do with the quality of the Mongolian horse. The reason why Tsarist Russia was able to attack the vast Siberia was also because the Cossack cavalry they relied on rode horses that were descendants of Mongolian horses, suitable for long-distance expeditions, and they were not allowed to bring so much food.

The war horses of farming countries, including Europe, are not good, these horses are used to eating grain, and their bodies will collapse if they don't eat grain for a few days. Therefore, the cavalry of the agrarian country consumes a lot. Even a big empire like the Han Dynasty has emptied its treasury because of its repeated conquests against the Xiongnu.

If it was like the previous Marin's army raiding Florence from Rome, it only took a day or two to gallop back, and only needed to hang a blanket around the horse's neck with 10 kilograms of oats, barley, etc., and it would be solved. No matter how far it goes, it would be difficult to do a long expedition across most of the Apennines, such as from Milan to Naples.

After all, it is impossible for a war horse to carry a few sacks of grain on their backs for a long run. According to the cavalry discipline, in general, for long-distance marches, a maximum of 20 kilograms of grain can be put in the blanket hanging around the neck of the war horse. No matter how much it is, the back of the war horse will not move, which will affect the maneuverability of the war horse......

In other words, if the cavalry leaves the baggage troops, they can only survive alone for more than 4 days at most. Except, of course, looting the people in the grain-producing areas. However, in the case of a long-distance attack, time is precious, and it is impossible for a large cavalry force to stop and grab food. Moreover, the large cavalry army consumes too much food, and it is difficult to maintain it even if it is rushed. The reason why Charles VIII blocked the Northern Italian coalition in the Battle of Fornovo was because there was not enough food, and the troops were divided to grab food, and the time was delayed, so it was blocked by the Italian coalition army, which was dominated by infantry.

Therefore, Marin arranged for people to stock up on a lot of food on the way through the French cavalry. When the French cavalry passed by, they were sold to them.

Of course, John who offered advice to Louis XII. Rafi would not say that it was given to Marin, but that he had used his old business connections in Germany to get it.

John. Raffi used to do business in Münster, so it's normal to know a few business friends.

Louis XII for John. Rafi was a little skeptical about the relationship, after all, it was 10,000 cavalry. If there is no food supply along the way, it will be over. So, he first sent people along the Roman road to explore. As a result, in John. The point marked by Lafite really saw the connector who sold the grain, and also saw the grain.

In this way, Louis XII was relieved to send 10,000 cavalry lightly armed, one man and two horses to the south. Along the way, use the money looted from the city of Milan to buy barley from the grain merchants along the way. And the leader of the 10,000 French cavalry was none other than the previous one with John. Baron Bowman, who competes for favor, ......

……

At this time, Marin, who was far away in Aurich, also received a flying pigeon message from Italy. Learned that Ludovico. Sforza actually fled without a fight, and sent 22,000 cannon fodder soldiers to Louis XII, and Marin had 10,000 MMPs to talk about in his heart.

It is true that he is now supporting the French, but he is only afraid that the French will lose. However, Marin's real intention was to make France and Spain dog-eat-dog, not to fully support France.

Originally, it was relatively stable for France to dispatch 60,000 troops. Well, now there are 22,000 more people, which is a sure win. But is this the result Marlin wants?

But it's happened, and there's nothing Marlin can do. If you want to blame, you can only blame yourself for missing this stubble before and not notifying Ludovico in time. Sforza bar.

……

Just when Marin was furious when he got the information, there was no movement on the Spanish side, and no carrier pigeons flew back home.

Why is that? Because the pigeons released by the Spanish agents in Milan were intercepted and killed......

What the? Can carrier pigeons still be intercepted? This is the Mongolian condor archer? Not......

You know, the Spanish spies released 6 carrier pigeons in the Duchy of Milan. Even if the Condor Hero Guo Jing comes, he can't guarantee that he can shoot all 6 carrier pigeons. However, from the moment the nurses openly "requested" Louis XII to send troops to the Kingdom of Naples, some people began to clean up the carrier pigeons flying to the southwest.

What's going on? It turned out that from the moment the nurses openly "requested" Louis XII to send troops to the Kingdom of Naples, a team that Marin had arranged near the city of Milan began to clear all the carrier pigeons that flew to the southwest.

The team used a very unique method of cleaning pigeons - using falcons......

And this master of using eagles is also very legendary - this person's name is Bai Geri, and he is an Evenki slave bought by Ma Lin from the envoys of Yehe when he bought old ginseng from the tributary envoys of the Yehe tribe in the Ming Dynasty. Bought it together with Bai Geri, there is also a Haidongqing falcon in Bai Geri's hand.

At that time, Ma Lin was very envious when he saw that Bai Geri had driven Hai Dongqing to explore the path for the Yehebu mission. So, it was proposed to buy Haidongqing. However, he doesn't know how to train eagles. So, he simply offered to buy it with Bai Geri.

The Yehebu envoy did not agree at first, but Marin threw money at it. Then, the Yehebu envoy agreed. After all, Baigeri was not a member of the Yeh tribe, but a slave captured by the Yeh tribe from the Evenks. There are many such people on Yehebe's side. Yehebu is already close to the area where the Evenks are active, and it is very easy to catch a few Evenki falconers. Moreover, the Jurchens themselves are also good at training eagles, which is not uncommon in the Northeast. Then, Marin got Bai Geri and his Haidong Green Falcon.

Originally, Marin bought Bai Geri and his Haidongqing falcon out of pure curiosity. After all, Hai Dongqing is a legendary existence.

At first, Ma Lin just asked Bai Geri to take Hai Dongqing out hunting with him, and used Hai Dongqing as a scout. However, by chance, Marin found out that Hai Dongqing had killed a carrier pigeon and got the book on it. Then Marin realized—what a weapon for killing pigeons......

After experiments, Bai Gezhi and his Haidongqing falcons intercepted and killed many carrier pigeons flying out of Aurich and Emden, and learned of several foreign spy dens in the North Sea.

Then, Bai Gezhi became a professional pigeon hunter under Marin. To this end, Marin also equipped him with a service team to ensure his safety.

This time, the team was sent to Italy by Marin to hunt any carrier pigeons that flew in the direction of Spain. Then the news of the Spaniards was delivered very slowly. It was not until the city of Naples was besieged for some time that news was received. But by then, it was too late......