Chapter 346: Ryoma

[Today's first update]

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Blue sky and white clouds, crooked rivers, green grass, the Mongolian Hulunbuir steppe, cattle and sheep can be seen everywhere, under the rule of the Chinese Empire, it has become a green pure land and a paradise for life.

The Mongols here no longer wage plundering wars for the lack of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and other daily necessities, they only need to pay a certain number of war horses to the imperial government every year, and the government will help them sell their cattle and sheep at a good price, and help them exchange them for daily necessities.

The vast natural pastures, fresh and tranquil, surrounded by beautiful savannahs, make people feel open-minded. The area here is vast, the scenery is charming, the water and grass are abundant, more than 4,000 criss-crossing rivers, more than 700 dotted lakes, forming a gorgeous picture, extending to the pine waves of the great Xing'an Mountains.

Every year in July, tourists and businessmen from all over the country come here.

Of course, more of them are admired. Because it has become one of the summer resorts that the emperor of the Chinese Empire must come to every year, many people want to come here to see the majesty of Emperor Shenwu at first.

Near the Ergun River, the birthplace of the Mongols, it had been given to the Horqin tribe by Emperor Shenwu.

As a relative of the emperor, this place became a fief of the Horqin tribe and did not cause dissatisfaction among other Mongolian tribes, at most they were jealous, regretting that it was not their tribe's girl who married Emperor Shenwu in the first place.

In the original location of the Mongolian Golden Horde, that is, the site of Genghis Khan's earliest khan, Wang Zhaisang, a relative of the Horqin Department, built a palace for the Shenwu Emperor there, and every year around July, the Shenwu Emperor would bring the harem concubines and princesses to live here for ten days and half a month.

Whenever Emperor Shenwu came here for a vacation, the leaders of the Mongol tribes would send a group of people with unique skills to perform in the palace.

During the day, horse races, horse sets, horse taming performances, Mongolian boke, wrestling ring races, etc., Deng Haonan as the chief referee, excellent people will be rewarded, from monetary rewards to medals and trophies, if favored by the emperor, the winner will get a good official position.

At night, the beautiful Mongolian girl dances around the red bonfire, and the bright and melodious Mongolian tune is accompanied by delicious food and wine, which is intoxicating.

Of course, many Mongolian nobles arranged all kinds of beauties to create various opportunities to get close to Deng Haonan. Whenever this happens, there will always be a few imperial concubines staring at Deng Haonan tightly, so that Deng Haonan can only be greedy, but he has no chance to start.

Life is always spent in this kind of fun, Deng Haonan didn't think about accepting any more concubines, there were already six concubines at this time, and Deng Haonan was already a little overwhelmed by dealing with them, let alone had any other thoughts.

However, the marriage between Mongolia and Han has always been Deng Haonan's established national policy. The Mongol-controlled area occupied most of the territory of the Chinese Empire, and the stability of the Mongols directly affected the long-term strategy of the empire.

For this reason, Deng Haonan also took the opportunity of vacation, took the ministers of civil and military affairs of the imperial court, and their children in the family, and married the children of the Mongolian tribesmen, and the marriage of the high-level government strengthened the stability of the Mongolian and Han people, so that the Mongolian people did not feel abandoned by the Han people, and then affected the common people, and the Mongolian and Han intermarriages strengthened the empire's rule over the Mongolian steppe.

Of course, there is another main reason why the imperial government attaches great importance to the Mongolian steppes, that is, in the future strategic steps of the imperial government, the Mongolian steppes need to provide excellent war horses and excellent knights to carry out colonial wars from land to Europe.

After the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire formed an alliance, the Western Regions became a military buffer zone between the two countries. Neither side will intervene in the Western Regions, so that the possibility of a military conflict between the two sides is basically eliminated.

In this way, the Russian Empire could safely shift its focus to the war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the struggle for the Ukrainian region became the primary strategic objective of the Russian Empire.

Similarly, the Chinese Empire relieved the military pressure on the northwestern frontier, and the Royal Army mobilized 100,000 cavalry troops and 20,000 infantry troops into Qinghai-Tibet to threaten the Mughal Empire to the south.

On the steppe of Hulunbuir in Mongolia, there are three major military bases of the empire, which are located in the three Mongolian military regions of China and abroad. These three bases have built a complete system of cavalry units of the Imperial Government, with three main military horse farms. For strategic reasons, the largest military horse farm is located in the Horqin Department, which is managed by Guozhang Zhaisang. The main war horses of the imperial cavalry were bred and bred in the Mongolian Hulunbuir steppe, and by the seventh year of Shenwu, the empire had more than 100,000 excellent western war horses. After the colonial war against Luzon, some of the fine Spanish horse breeds in Luzon's military horse farms were also transferred to the savannah for breeding.

At this time, the empire had already achieved quite good results in the cultivation of war horses.

After ten years of breeding and breeding, excellent war horses such as the Spanish Andalusian horse of European origin, the Alden horse of France, the Hanoverian horse of Northern Europe, and the Shire horse of England have fully adapted to the natural environment of the Chinese Empire and have survived widely in the steppes of Inner Mongolia of the Chinese Empire.

These world's oldest and best horse breeds died out in the future world with the decline of European medieval cavalry, but because of the foresight of the Chinese Emperor, they were transferred to Asia to keep them alive.

It is known that in the modern world the real war horse is extinct.

In the past, the tall and fierce war horses have also undergone a qualitative change due to the decline of heavy cavalry. Due to the extensive interbreeding with Arabian horses, today's "fine breeds" are mostly racehorses such as thoroughbreds, or equestrian horses such as Dutch warmbloods. As for the modern Western European heavy horses with the bloodline of ancient European war horses, they have become horses and equestrian horses, but we can still see the glory of their ancestors from them.

The Chinese Empire first bred fine war horses of European descent on a large scale to keep them from the brink of extinction.

Subsequently, the vast steppes of Inner and Outer Mongolia of the Chinese Empire provided a new and vast living environment for it. From the time the Mongols surrendered to the Chinese Empire, the Mongols who were excellent at raising horses quickly cultivated war horses that belonged to the East and were better than those of the West according to the needs of the imperial cavalry.

The Chinese Imperial Dragon Horse was born, the Dragon Horse is a family of war horses named by the Emperor Shenwu himself, a collection of European and Asian war horse advantages, such as the Dragon Horse inherited the bravery of the Alden horse and the ferocity of the Siberian wild horse, this character can ensure that the Dragon Horse will not flinch in the face of the enemy's dense spears and muskets. Inherited from the tall Andalusian horses, the height is generally between 160 and 190, and the height of the stallion reaches more than 200, worthy of the title of dragon horse. Modern Western European heavy horses, such as the English Shire horse, the French heavy Persh horse, the German Holstein horse, etc., still see the advantages of their ancestors from them, such as their tall stature, generally between 150 and 180, but because of the degradation of three or four hundred years, they are no longer as tall as their ancestors.

Ryoma is large but has no fat, especially the muscular legs, which makes it fast and has a large carrying capacity. This is all thanks to the vast Mongolian steppe, and the long running time allows them to maintain the sprint speed of European war horses, and also exercise the long endurance of Eastern Mongolian war horses, as well as good balance and other advantages.

In Europe, ordinary war horses can only carry light cavalry, but after the knight is replaced by an Oriental, even an ordinary war horse can be used to carry the heavy cavalry of the East. And Ryoma is the best of them, carrying heavy cavalry and still walking like flying.

This is the biggest breakthrough in the field of cavalry by Emperor Deng Haonan of Shenwu, cultivating heavy war horses in the West, but carrying knights from the East, so that the heavy cavalry in the East can still have mobility and flexibility like light cavalry, so that the heavy cavalry still plays an important role on the battlefield.

In later generations, most of the advantages of ancient Western European war horses no longer exist. For example, close-range sprints, modern horses have strong close-range sprinting ability, such as thoroughbreds, their size is only compared to their ancestors, they are smaller, their strength is insufficient, and their temperament is not brave enough. For example, the modern French heavy horse has become a gentle horse.

Today, the Chinese Empire has transplanted excellent war horses from the endangered breeds of Europe to Asia, and has continued to breed and survive in Asia through a new horse breed, the dragon horse. It is foreseeable that in the future world, these excellent war horses will no longer represent Europeans, but witness the glory of the Chinese Empire.

Knights need to ride tall and fast horses, which are suitable for indestructible spear charges, and can also rely on the height of the horse's back to make the killing power greater. This is also the reason why knights prefer to fight on foot if they do not have a good horse - riding a horse with a small size, poor sprint, and lack of courage not only loses the above advantages, but also magnifies the shortcomings of the cavalry in poor defense of blocking, or because of the cowardice of the horse, it leads the way to escape.

The Europeans had an advantage in horse breeds, armor, and personnel, and their knights became the most powerful warriors in the Cold Weapon Age in the Middle Ages, and Western Europe also had a relative military advantage throughout the Middle Ages.

However, today the cavalry in Europe is rapidly degrading, and in turn, the new type of heavy cavalry in Asia is rapidly rising.

In those years, Genghis Khan used cavalry composed of Mongolian horses to fight the Europeans with fear. Now Deng Haonan will use the heavy cavalry composed of dragon horses of the Chinese Empire to turn Europe upside down again.

By the seventh year of Shenwu, the number of European war horses in the empire had reached 180,000, and more than 20,000 war horses increased every year. And the dragon horses that have been bred alone as the empire have reached more than six thousand, and will grow exponentially in the coming years, and a new population of war horses will soon be established.

In addition to breeding dragon horses for battle, the empire is also breeding heavy horses for carrying baggage. The British Shire horse, as the best heavy pull-back horse, could tow a ton and a half of weight, and the horses that had previously been used as imperial consignment artillery were already very prominent. To this end, the empire increased the breeding of shire horses, which were raised on a large scale.

In order to make the shire horses more docile and easy to tame, the imperial government did not breed such horses on the prairie, but carried them out in the Gyeonggi region within the Great Wall. In order to maintain its fighting ability, the Ryoma was born and raised in the savannah, and in order to make it docile enough, the Sharma was all artificially fed on horse farms near towns or farms.

Due to the wide application area of Sharma, there is a great demand for private consignment of goods, travel carriages, mills, wineries, factories, workshops, etc. As a result, the rate of reproduction of shire horses has increased massively, much faster than the rate of reproduction of war horses.

As of the seventh year of Shenwu, the Shire horse has become the second largest group of horses in the land of China, and the number has increased dramatically, with more than 500,000 horses nationwide, and with the demand of the market, it is still increasing on a large scale. In addition to supplying the needs of the military, the domestic breeding of shire horses could not meet the needs of the civilian population, so the imperial government had to increase the preferential policies for shire horses to encourage the breeding of shire horses. At the same time, herders are also allowed to raise horses in some parts of Mongolia, but the mixing of shire horses with other war horses must be strictly controlled.

Although the imperial government introduced large Western horse breeds, it was very popular with both the military and the people. However, compared to the Oriental horse breeds, the Mongolian horse, the Ili horse, and the Three Hippos were still the main tools used by the people of the empire.

The Imperial Government did not abandon the large number of Mongolian horses because of the cultivation of dragon horses, and the means of transportation used by the infantry and lancer divisions of the Imperial Army were Mongolian horses with long-lasting endurance. Strictly speaking, the cost of using Mongolian horses was low, and the logistics for the imperial army could keep up.

With the Imperial Government's westward expansion from the land blocked, the Imperial Government set its sights on the Mughal subcontinent.

In 1526, Babur, a descendant of the Mongol-Turkic ethnic group of the Central Asian feudal lord, invaded India. Victory over the Lodi Sultan at the First Battle of Panibat and proclamation as Emperor of Hindustan marked the beginning of Mughal rule over India. Babur then went on to unify North India through the Battle of Kannu in 1527 and the Battle of Gogra in 1529. In 1530, Humayun succeeded to the throne (1530~1556). In 1540, Humayun defeated the Bihar Afghan sheikh Sher Shah at the Battle of Qunu and went into exile in Persia and Afghanistan, temporarily ending Mughal rule in India. In 1555, Humayun reconquered the Indian plains, occupied Delhi and Agra, and restored Mughal rule in India. In 1556, Akbar succeeded to the throne and implemented progressive internal reforms, adopted a tolerant religious policy, and expanded the social and political basis of Mughal rule in India. He established a centralized system, expanded the territory, unified the vast areas of the subcontinent, and promoted the social and economic development of India.

By the time of Chahanjie (r. 1605~1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628~1658), the Mughal dynasty was growing in power and had expanded several thousand square kilometers of land on the basis of Akbar.

At this time, the Mughal Empire controlled the Bengal region of North India, Central India, and East India, but Bengal had become the actual control area of the East India Company of Britain, France, Norway, Sweden and other countries, especially the British East India Company, which had become the de facto feudal lord of Bengal.

However, although Shah Jahan (Shah Jahan) stabilized the rule of the Mughal Empire, at this time parts of the southern and eastern continents of India were still under his control, and wars continued, and the national power had reached the peak of the dynasty and began to decline.

The Mughal Empire at this time had more than 8,000 jagils, a system that had been in place since the time of the Delhi Sultanate, when it was called "Iqta". In the middle of the 16th ~ 17th century, Jagil became the basic form of land tenure in Mughal India. At the time of Chahanjay's rule, Jagil accounted for about 70% of the country's arable land, and the holders of Jagil were called Jagildar. In 1635, there were 8,210 Jagildar in Mughal India, divided into upper, middle and lower classes, distributed throughout the country, with 68 upper classes, consisting of princes and nobles, 587 middle classes, and 7,555 lower classes. They are not affiliated with each other. Jajir Dar has no ownership rights over him, only the right to collect prescribed land endowments and miscellaneous taxes that are nominally illegal and in fact legal.

Most of the Jagil of the Mughal Empire was very wealthy, and the prosperity of the Mughal subcontinent at this time was comparable to that of the Chinese Empire, mainly because the Indian subcontinent was separated by the Himalayas and was less affected by the Ice Age.

Because of this, the Mughal Empire had a population of more than 30 million, making it a very large economy.

Colonial warfare was about ruling a populous region, and the attitude of the Chinese Empire towards land colonial warfare had changed dramatically, mainly because of the empire's strong financial and military strength.

The huge fiscal surplus could not be directly invested in the domestic market of the empire, which would cause the collapse of the economy. To this end, Emperor Shenwu needed to use guò to fight foreign colonial wars to stimulate the growth of the domestic economy. Through the guò war to stimulate the military industry, and then to drive other industries in the country, the huge amount of financial funds through the guò military industry slowly flowed into the civilian population.

It's like a sustained-release capsule, slowly releasing the effects of the drug.

The westward expansion of the empire ended, and the southward expansion became the first choice for colonial warfare.

Deng Haonan set off economic aggression in Southeast Asia, but for the Mughal Empire in the South Asian subcontinent, its huge economy and backward military just met the conditions for imperial colonial aggression. And the huge population resources of the Mughal Empire, as a colony of the Chinese Empire, are huge profits.

At this time, the Mughal Empire had always been a neglected country by the Celestial Empire. Due to the barrier between the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Celestial Empire has never really understood the situation of this South Asian country, and in fact the economy of ancient South Asia was not much worse than that of the Celestial Empire.

Take the current Mughal Empire as an example, its society is still dominated by an agricultural economy, and commodity production in agriculture has expanded, and specialized production areas of commercial grain and cash crops such as cotton, raw silk, indigo, and tobacco have emerged, and the products are exported to the Eurasian market.

The handicraft industry was very developed during the Mughal period, and the technical level of the main handicraft production exceeded that of the advanced European countries at that time. The main forms of handicraft production were the workshops and cottage industries of the feudal economy, and the high-quality products of the large government-run workshops were mainly to meet the needs of the court and the nobility for luxury, and only then for export. In some port cities, the production of small workshops of handicraftsmen is controlled by means of advance payments, supply of raw materials and purchase of their products, but advanced workshop handicrafts have not yet emerged.

The development of the commodity economy led to the development of commerce and foreign trade. In the 16th ~ 18th centuries, some major cities in India began to play the role of industrial and commercial centers, although they were still the political centers of feudal rule and the consumption bases of the aristocracy. The size of the cities of Delhi, Agra, Lahore, and Ahmedabad is comparable to that of Beijing, Paris, and London at that time. Active commercial trade has gradually broken down the isolation of various regions. Many regional domestic markets were formed along the land and water trade routes. Bangladesh and Gujarat were the most developed regions for foreign trade, with merchant ships traveling between Europe, Asia and Africa and China.

The development of the commodity economy and money exchange led to the rise of merchant capital. Money dealers with abundant monetary capital have opened money banks and banks in major cities to operate deposit businesses. Issuance of promissory notes and bills of exchange. The wealthy Banya merchant caste acted as royal merchants, nobles, and official royal merchants and financial brokers. However, the commercial capital of India during this period had not yet been transformed into industrial capital of a capitalist nature, but it was a highly developed feudal economy.

The colonial war against South Asia had been secretly planned as early as the sixth year of Shenwu, and by the seventh year of Shenwu, the imperial royal army had successively marched into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and settled in Tibet.

Part of the 'Roof of the World', Pulan District has a steep terrain, harsh climate, inconvenient transportation, sparse population and backward economy. In the eastern section, the mountains are high and the valleys are narrow, the roads are dangerous and the forests are dense, and the climate is changeable. The western section of the area, with an average altitude of 4,500 meters, the main peaks are above 6,000 meters, the surface is bare, the snow is covered all year round, the oxygen is lacking, and the climate is very cold.

Across the Himalayas from Puran is the plains of the Mughal Empire, and along the Jumuna River, the capital of the Mughal Empire, can be reached directly from the steppes of the Maha River.

Delhi and Puran were just a mountain apart, but the Mughal Empire never feared a trumpet invasion from the Tibetan Plateau, believing that the Himalayas could not be breached. Although Qinghai-Tibet had been incorporated into the territory of the Chinese Empire at this time, if the Chinese Empire wanted to attack the Mughal Empire, it needed to bypass the Himalayas, so it had to borrow from the Western Regions. Obviously, the Mughal Empire knew about the direct agreement between the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire, the Western Regions were neutral, and the troops of the Chinese Empire would not pass through the Western Regions, so Shah Jie Khan of the Mughal Empire was not worried.

However, there are no absolutes in anything.

In the summer of the seventh year of Shenwu, when the Qinghai-Tibetan army of the Chinese Empire was drawing a topographic map near Pulan, the surveyors accidentally discovered a secret mountain road, and soon the surveyors passed through the Himalayas from this mountain road and appeared directly on the plains of the Mughal subcontinent. The surveyors had been able to find the Jumuna River and had seen the city of Delhi from afar, and then quickly returned.

The news was quickly sent to Beijing, where the imperial government took it very seriously, and the shelved plans for the colonial war were put back on the agenda. E