The current territory of the Chu State is all south of the Yellow River, and the northernmost is Ju County, which has not been a place to raise horses since ancient times. After the Great Voyage, the sea route replaced the land route, and the rich and poor regions of China were therefore transferred to the northwest before the Song Dynasty, and the south of the Yangtze River was mostly developed by immigrants from the Central Plains in the northwest.

The northwest is not only good for raising horses, but also connected to Central Asia, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked for a BMW in Dawan, the national horse breed improvement in the Han Dynasty, and even the national horse breed improvement in the Tang Dynasty, and even the improvement of the horse breed in New China, are inseparable from Central Asia. The state of Chu was not connected to the northwest, and the north and northeast of China were blocked by Qin and Qi, so it was extremely difficult to obtain horses. The Qin realm forbade the horses of the Zhao State to go south, and although the Qi State allowed it, it collected heavy taxes.

When the horse arrives in the Chu country, he can only eat the herbs, but the herbs also need money to buy. It is a grass uncle (bean), fifteen dollars per stone, and a grass stalk, five dollars per stone. The most conservative estimate is that feeding a horse costs three dollars a day. Each army of 1,600 cavalry costs 182.5 gold per year, and based on the calculation of 30 armies, the annual forage cost alone costs 5,475 gold, accounting for 30% of the national land rent.

Raising horses is expensive, and buying horses is even more expensive, even if the Qi State is willing to release 48,000 war horses, even if it is 1.5 gold at the cheapest price, it will cost 72,000 gold to buy these horses alone, which is 2,000 gold more than the annual income of the Chu State in a year. Horses are raised south of the Yellow River, the Song people have done it, and the Mongolians have also done it, it is possible, but horses can only be raised in the south and cannot breed. Compared with the dry north, horses raised south of the Yellow River are not only difficult to get pregnant, but also give birth to foals that are not as good as those in the north, and after a few generations, they are short and lose their riding value.

The successive monarchs of Chu State all valued horses, but Chu State did not have a place to raise horses, and horses had to be purchased from the north every year, otherwise the domestic horse herd would degenerate to the point where it was impossible to make envoys. The gap between the two armies of Qin and Chu, in addition to the gap between the knights, is the gap in the growth of horses in different climatic environments.

Xiong Jing didn't know the reason, Lian Po had been in Zhao Jun for a long time, and he also served as the minister of Zhao State, and finally entered Chu as a general, so he naturally knew the reason. He was in favor of the Chu State cultivating a reconnaissance cavalry force that could compete with the Qin State, but he felt that it was unnecessary to cultivate light and heavy cavalry several times that of the reconnaissance cavalry. The training of cavalry in the state of Chu is like transporting ice cubes into the desert, and the result is half the result in several times.

It's just that Xiong Jing is not only thinking about Chu State, but also about the horses in East Asia. Even the cavalry of the Qin State was only five feet eight inches (1.34) tall at the shoulders and weighed only four hundred kilograms, which was not a good horse in his heart, the only advantage was that these horses were not Mongolian horses, and Mongolian horses were lighter. What he really wants is a West Asian horse, a European horse. If there is time, the stallions of West Asia and Europe will be matched with local mares; If there is no time, then the silk will be exchanged for horses, and boats will be transported over.

But he had never heard of the southern mare being difficult to conceive. If so, can we only go...... Cheju?

Whenever the 63rd district of the jar talks about cavalry and horse breeding, Jeju Island is the most thought of by everyone, and the first sentence must be 'Jeju Island has 80,000 hectares of grassland, and the Mongols plan to ...... it', so that Lingao Zhong finally captured Jeju Island for horse breeding.

The past came to Xiong Jing's mind, and he didn't have time to sigh for a long time, and before he had time to think about when the sailboat would be built, the military Sima Peng Zong came over, and his first sentence was: "Tell the king, the Qin army has withdrawn from Yiyi." ”

"Withdrawn?" Xiong Jing was a little unconvinced, the Qin army was newly defeated, and it was said that he should rest for the night, and he didn't want to withdraw from Yiyi.

"Exactly." Peng Zongdao, "Our army reprimanded and saw that there was a fire in Yiyi and the Qin army camp, so I quickly came back to report." The Qin army withdrew overnight, and the general ordered our army to camp on the spot and arrive in Yiyi tomorrow. ”

"This ......" Xiong Jing looked at Lian Po, and saw that Lian Po didn't react, so he said: "There is a fire in Yiyi, how are the people?" ”

"The people?" Peng Zong didn't expect Xiong Jing to think of the people of Yiyi, and he couldn't help but be a little gloomy. "Tell the king: the Qin army is honored with the first rank, and those who are five feet to sixty feet tall can be ...... deaths."

"Isn't it possible that the Qin army and the people can't be separated?" Xiong Jing couldn't help but feel a deep disgust for Qin Jun, and then thought of the hundreds of thousands of Chu people who had drowned in Old Ying, and his face was full of hatred.

Although he hated it, Peng Zong, Lian Po and others felt abrupt. The name of the Qin army's brutality in the Kanto region was heard by women and children, and the king didn't know it, so it really shouldn't be. Lian Po said: "According to the law of Qin, the siege of the city and the beheading of 8,000 people have been able to make a profit. If there are no 8,000 heads, even if you take the city, you can't be knighted. The Qin people joined the army, just to confer knighthood, and if they beheaded less than 8,000 after the siege, they would have to search and kill to make a full profit. Fortunately, the Chu army only pulled out Yiyi, not Chengyang and Xizhu County, otherwise the dead would be ...... in vain."

"Prepare the horses!" Xiong Jing stood up suddenly, because he got up too fast, and several cases were suddenly overturned.

"The king......" looked at Xiong Jing very puzzled. It was late at night, and the Qin army withdrew from Yiyi again, but the king had to prepare horses to leave the camp.

"The king must not!" After following for a long time, the right official understood Xiong Jing's thoughts best and immediately stopped him.

"I am the king of Chu, why not go and see my people? Get out of the way! Xiong Jing's face seemed to be frozen, and his words were colder than ice. He said that he staggered the right history and walked out, Peng Zong also panicked, and wanted to pull him, not wanting him to be short, so he bowed his head and passed.

The cold wind outside the camp was biting, and Xiong Jing, who was not wearing a fox fur, only felt that his clothes were filled with knives, and he couldn't help but shiver. But he did not stop, and went straight to the stable, drew out his mount, and was about to mount. Only then did he remember that he was not wearing stirrup pants, and he jumped a few times before he sat in the high saddle.

"If the king goes, let him also go with the knights of our army." Peng Zong rushed out and stopped in front of the horse. The temple people also chased out, holding Xiongjing's riding clothes and black fox fur, and they knelt in front of the horses: "The winter night is very cold, please add clothes to the king." ”

Seventy or eighty kilometers from Qisi to Xixian County, seven or eight hours on horseback; Twelve or thirteen kilometers from Qingshuihe Daying to Yiyi, but because it was against the wind, more than two hours of riding was more tiring than seven or eight hours. The cold night was deep, but the fire in Yiyi was raging, and no shouts could be heard in the city, only the beeping sound of burning wood.

Xiang Zhi and Xiong Jing walked together, and Fei Jing led more than 100 horsemen to Yiyi before Xiong Jing. In the firelight, the flag floated in, and a group of people bowed and saluted. Who wants Xiong Jing not to stop, and directly rode his horse through the city gate to the city. Xiang Zhi was shocked, and followed him with shouting.

Yiyi is not a big city, but the four gates are still an urn city structure. The towers of the castle were on fire, and the light of the fire illuminated not only the faces of the knights who entered the city, but also the rows of corpses hanging at the head of the city, and the heads of wooden poles hanging in red.

Xiang Zhi drove into the urn city and saw the corpses again, but more corpses were still in the city, especially the gate of the city Yin Mansion. What made Xiang Zhi even more uneasy was that the king was gone, and he shouted as he dismounted: "Quick! Hurry up and find the king! ”

The Qin army did not stay in Yiyi, but set up camp outside Yiyi, but did not want to clean it up. In Yiyi, after the Qin cavalry rushed into the city with lightning speed, the Chu soldiers hurriedly responded to the battle, and the fiercest place in the battle was at the gate of the city. After occupying the outer city, the Qin army rushed to the city with a rushing car, so as to break through the inner city. Starting from the south gate of the city, there are headless corpses along the road, and the corpses at the gate of the city are piled up, and there are many civilian corpses on the streets in other parts of the city, and they are all cut off like soldiers.

The fire burned the city, and Xiong Jing was able to walk on the streets, mainly because the city was full of bungalows. The fire starts from the roof and burns the inside of the house when the roof is burned out. Rao is like this, when Xiang Zhi found him, he was also faint on the street in the smoke. If it weren't for the mount guarding his side all the time, I'm afraid that the new king of Chu would have landed in Yiyi.

In the afternoon of ......the next day, Xiong Jing woke up slowly. When he opened his eyes, in addition to Youshi and others, the old servant Ge who had a broken arm was also there, and Zhao Yu, he couldn't ride a horse, and when he ran to Yiyi in the middle of the night, Xiong Jing had already fainted.

"Yes. Water..."Xiong Jing rolled his eyes, not thinking of anything. He only remembered that he had a long dream, in which he was scorched by the fire, and the Qin army armor soldier with a partial bun smiled and added firewood to the fire. In the flames, he was like a handmade puppet, burning smaller and smaller, until in the end it fell apart. However, the most bizarre thing is that he didn't feel any pain during the burning, but became more and more sober as he burned, only to finally turn into ashes and be blown into the sky by the wind, and his mind was also during the Qingming period, and he repeatedly recalled only his father's words: 'After your father goes, you will be the forty-third monarch of Chu and the thirty-third king of Chu......

"King, the water is coming." Ge handed the water to Xiong Jing with his remaining right hand, but Xiong Jing didn't answer, and he got up.

"Where is the king?" The people in the tent were in a panic. The weight of the monarch is heavier than Mount Tai, last night Xiong Jing was fainted in Yiyi, everyone was frightened, and now the king is going to go out of the tent when he wakes up, and everyone is even more shocked.

"Where is the king?" The temple people naturally did not dare to stop the king, and when Youshi and others chased it out, Xiong Jing had already arrived at the big tent.

"Meet the King." This is Xiang Yan's shogunate, and as soon as Xiong Jing came out, he saw the generals surrounding Xiang Yan, Peng Zong and others to discuss matters.

"Meet the King." The Qin army retreated without a fight, and the generals were relieved, and their eyes were full of joy.

"What are you waiting for?" Xiong Jing didn't say anything about being polite, and when he was about to go out of the tent through the shogunate, those smiles stopped him.

The smarter, or the more well-informed, at this time the face has changed to a look of Qi, but a martial artist is a martial artist, and Cai Chi, the general of Xia Cai, did not hide his smile at all: "I would like to inform my king, after yesterday's battle, the Qin people are already frightened, and they withdrew from Yiyi last night, and they may withdraw from my Chu realm tonight." What the general discussed was how our army would take advantage of this to seize Jiyi. ”

Cai Chi's smile was piercing, but there was nothing wrong with his words, Xiong Jing sighed and walked straight out of the tent. Of course, Xiang Yan knew about last night's incident, and he said worriedly: "Where is the king going?" ”

"Where are you going?" Xiong Jing turned his head, glanced at the generals again, and then said, "Go and bury the corpses, go and bury my people." ”