My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 467 Trouble
Keeping warm - especially military warm supplies - has always been a headache for Liu Rong.

Because in this era, almost all of the high-value targets that the Han Dynasty expanded outward were located north of the existing territory - at least north of the axis of the territory.

For example, Munan~
Hexi~
North Korea~
Even the Hetao area, which is generally recognized as "relatively warmer" on the grassland, is a strategic target of great strategic value to the Han Dynasty, but it is located in the north, and climate factors have a greater impact on military operations.

Just like in later generations, even people who like sanitary napkins are salivating over the black soil in the Northeast.

But if we want to truly make good use of that black soil, especially to take root there, we must solve the problem of keeping warm.

In later times when the Industrial Revolution had already been completed, keeping warm was naturally not a problem.

——Official heating, wall-mounted natural gas stoves, and all kinds of clothing are enough to support the Chinese nation to overcome the cold and take root in that black land.

But in this era - in the current Han Dynasty, keeping warm is an extremely grand proposition.

First, the clothes.

In this era, almost none of the filling materials for warm clothing that were common in later generations could be found.

Down can’t be made;

Cotton has not yet been introduced.

The nobles' warm clothing was mostly fur coats made of animal fur.

Those who were of ordinary family and could not afford sable furs could only wear cotton clothes.

Of course, this cotton coat is not that cotton coat.

The cotton-padded clothes of later generations were filled with cotton and had very high warmth retention properties.

But in this era, cotton-padded clothes were filled with silk cotton.

What is silk cotton?

Weavers raise silkworms and spin silk. The silk that can be spun is naturally used to weave cloth and make clothing.

Those defective double-palace cocoons that cannot produce silk will be disassembled into silk cotton.

Among them, the ones with better quality are called cotton, which is real silk cotton.

Those of lower quality are called: fluff.

Whether silk cotton or cotton wool, it is used by the middle and lower class people to fill winter clothes, quilts and mattresses.

Just the thermal performance...

how to say.

——No matter how warm the filling material called "wadding" can be, how warm can it be?

Even if it is silk cotton, it is only slightly better, but it is still not as good as the real cotton clothes that people in later generations have in their impressions.

To put it bluntly: If winter clothes filled with silk cotton could really keep out the cold, the nobles would never have spent a lot of money to buy mink and fur coats, which have extremely high raw material and labor costs.

Since they would rather spend tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times the price to wear a fur coat, it can also be said from the side that there is almost nothing wrong with fur coats except that they are expensive.

As we all know, if something is expensive, it is often not the problem of the thing itself, but the problem of your wallet...

cough cough cough.

When it comes to the military, the matter is even more troublesome.

Of course, it is impossible for fur coats made of animal fur to become a unified equipment distributed to Han army soldiers for keeping warm.

Even a few middle and senior generals could only afford to wear the so-called fur coats out of their own pockets, and they dared not show them to others easily, for fear that the generals and soldiers under them would feel unbalanced.

The lower-level officers received the "wool" on time and in quantity, and used it to fill their thin quilts and cotton-padded clothes.

It would be best if you could keep out the cold, but if you can't, you can only consider yourself unlucky and then do whatever you can to stuff more cotton wool into your quilts and winter clothes.

This situation is very common in the Han army today.

The Han Dynasty even had a complete set of laws that stipulated what level of soldiers could receive what standard of cotton wool when they were stationed in what place.

Therefore, the combined casualties on both sides in the Battle of Baideng were less than a few hundred, but tens of thousands of Han people were frozen to death, disabled, or frostbitten.

——You should know that Mount Baideng is not outside the Great Wall!
Baideng Mountain is located in the Pingcheng area. From a geographical point of view, it is roughly located in the north-central part of Dai State, thousands of miles further south than Mayi City!

In the winter on Mount Baideng, Emperor Taizu Liu Bang's personal guards were frozen to death or disabled to the point of almost losing their organization. What about Mayi, which is further north and even colder?
Even Mayi is still not considered outside the Great Wall!

After leaving Mayi and passing Wuzhou Pass, we officially set foot on the grassland. The climate was visibly much colder.

It is no wonder that the Huns on the grassland would do everything they could to fatten their cattle and sheep in the spring, summer and autumn of each year, and then save food for themselves, and then hide in their felt tents in the winter and not come out until the beginning of spring.

——The grassland must be even colder!
The means of keeping warm of nomadic peoples should be even scarcer than those of the Han Dynasty today, but in fact, the existence of cattle and sheep gave the Huns the possibility of "gathering together for warmth."

On the grassland, there is still a way of treating diseases: let cattle, horses and other large livestock lie on the ground in a circle, put the patient in the circle, and keep him/her warm together with the cattle and sheep for a while.

Regardless of whether the disease can be cured, at least I won’t feel cold anymore.

Therefore, the Huns, who seemed to be more fragile and lacked means of keeping warm, were actually more "cold-resistant" than the Han army soldiers, and had more experience in dealing with the cold.

Especially Gaoque - if the Han Dynasty really wanted to launch an attack against Gaoque, the Huns would definitely be waiting for them.

The Xiongnu defenders at Gaoque could at least hide their bodies behind the wall instead of being blown directly by the freezing wind.

Inside the walls and towers, the Huns could make fires to keep warm without any worries.

In contrast, the Han army soldiers braved the cold wind to cross the river outside the city wall - and the river was frozen.

Everyone who understands knows how cold the frozen river is.

Let alone making a fire to keep warm, that was naturally impossible.

The only way left is clothes...

"May I ask your majesty?"

"Now, among the soldiers still stationed in Bowang City, have any of them suffered from frostbite or frostbite because their cold-weather clothing is not warm enough?"

After a long silence, Zhidu finally asked a question, bringing Liu Rong's scattered thoughts back to the present.

At the same time, he was also understanding the specific situation on the premise of leading the army and attacking Gaoque as the vanguard.

Upon hearing this, Liu Rong's evaluation of Zhidu's military qualities immediately raised several levels.

Zhidu reacted quickly.

Just after hearing Liu Rong say "Do you want to be a pioneer?", Zhidu began to think about the difficulties he might encounter and the troubles he couldn't solve.

Liu Rong didn't know whether most of the Han generals had such abilities.

But Liu Rong was very sure: Cheng Bushi, Marquis of Bowang, did not have such ability.

——Cheng Buzhi would certainly have thought: The key to attacking Gaoque lies in how much the soldiers are affected by the cold weather.

The less the soldiers are affected by the weather and the more they keep warm, the higher the success rate of attacking Gaoque will be. Cheng Buzhi can also think of this. But Cheng Buzhi will not react so quickly and ask questions in person. Instead, he will go back and think carefully, and then write a table one by one;

Then he presented it to Liu Rong: Your Majesty, there are one, two, three, four and other issues that need to be resolved during this expedition.

Moreover, what made Liu Rong's eyes lighten was that Zhidu was not a pure "military man" after all. After all, he had been in the court for quite some time.

Although it was also a question, the words that Zhidu asked were full of the wisdom of dealing with things in the central court.

——Are there any soldiers defending Bowang City who were frozen to death or frostbitten because their cold-proof clothing was not warm enough?
Zhi did not say whether the Shaofu could afford to supply warm clothing to Bowang City, and whether it could send enough warm clothing;
There is no mention of whether the soldiers in Bowang City have received sufficient cold-resistant clothing.

Zhidu didn't even say: the soldiers in Bowang City were frozen to death or disabled due to any work mistakes made by the central government of the Han Dynasty.

It sounds a bit strange, but it is actually very clever: the cold-resistant clothing is not warm enough.

What could be the reason why the cold-resistant clothing is not warm enough?
Isn’t it because the cotton wool sent by the Shaofu treasury was not enough and not good enough, and the cotton clothes on the soldiers were not thick enough? ?
But as long as this is not said explicitly, there are many explanations for "the cold-weather clothes are not warm enough".

Could it be that the objective conditions of freezing weather make the warm clothing unable to withstand the severe cold?

Could it be that the soldiers did not stuff the cotton wool distributed to them into their clothes and beddings, but instead sold it for money, which resulted in their clothes being too thin and unable to keep out the cold?

In short, as long as he is willing to speak, Zhi can find one to eight hundred thousand "reasonable" explanations for the seven words "cold-proof clothing is not warm enough".

As for the truth - is it true that the Shaofu's treasury is really stretched to the limit and cannot afford so many warm clothes and the cotton wool that needs to be filled in the clothes?

For the sake of the image of the central court, Zhidu naturally followed the principle of not recognizing it if he could - he could only secretly do a good job in the future, but he could never admit that he had not done a good job before.

Even if they admitted it, the system had countless ways to exonerate the entire court, including the Shaofu Treasury.

What? It's a long way to go~
It's a difficult journey~
Insufficient manpower and shortage of supplies~
and many more.

In short, officials who come from the Legalist school are naturally best at shifting the blame for the emperor.

However, in their view, this is not a manifestation of irresponsibility, but rather a maintenance work that must be done for the sake of the majesty and image of the court.

Furthermore, Zhidu did not directly ask whether the soldiers could get enough warm clothes and whether they could be guaranteed to keep warm in the Battle of Gaoque.

Instead, he asked indirectly: Soldiers in Bowang City, has anyone frozen to death or suffered frostbite due to lack of warm clothing?
In this way, Zhidu could first understand the situation more intuitively: whether the soldiers in Bowang City, only a hundred miles south of Gaoque, could withstand the cold weather.

If they can - if the soldiers can withstand the cold of Bowang City, then Gaoque will naturally have no problem.

Even if he couldn't hold on, even if over the past six months, some soldiers in Bowang City had frozen to death or been disabled due to problems with cold-resistant clothing, this problem would not directly hurt Liu Rong's reputation.

Feeling Zhidu's caution, Liu Rong couldn't help but be silent.

——Once upon a time, the most powerful confidant of the emperor in Chang'an City, Goshawk Zhidu, also known as the "lonely minister" by others, was not as relaxed as he seemed.

During the days in Chang'an - especially the period after the late emperor ascended the throne, Zhidu was like dancing on a tightrope every day.

Zhidu did not dare to be negligent in every sentence and every word he said.

When such a person goes to the battlefield, the caution and meticulousness he has developed as a lone minister in the court will be reflected in a more comprehensive battle plan and more meticulous risk avoidance...

"General, don't worry about the warm clothes, bedding, wine and meat."

"——This is all about the Shaofu's treasury, which is what I need to worry about."

"General, you only need to know: I am not Jie or Zhou."

"I will not allow my people, my Han warriors, and the good people of Guanzhong to die in Gaoque wearing only a single layer of clothing."

Liu Rong naturally admired Zhidu's wisdom in dealing with matters in the central court.

But deep down, Liu Rong still prefers a straightforward and concise way of communication.

Especially with the generals, Liu Rong didn't want the communication between the monarch and his subjects to become like that in the court, where one thing could lead to eight hundred sentences.

Sensing Liu Rong's intention, Zhidu did not hesitate any longer - he nodded immediately, then lowered his head again and refocused his attention on the sand table in front of him.

The difficulty of attacking Gaoque is obvious to any mature general.

Soon, Zhidu came to a conclusion and immediately looked up and cupped his hands to Liu Rong.

"In this battle, my Han family will suffer heavy casualties."

"—and there is probably no upper limit."

"If everything goes well, there could be thousands of casualties, or around 10,000."

"If things go wrong, there will be tens of thousands of casualties, and even with so many casualties, we may not be able to take Gaoque firmly."

Zhidu went straight to the point, and Liu Rong nodded slightly with a serious expression.

Liu Rong understood the principle that a kind person should not be in charge of an army.

Especially in this kind of offensive battle, unless there are planes and artillery to help, the only way out is to risk human lives and fight hand-to-hand.

Liu Rong was naturally prepared for this.

Although this is the truth, Liu Rong still did not forget to mention: "Necessary casualties are naturally inevitable."

"But they are all loyal and righteous men of the Han family~"

"As long as we can reduce casualties - even if it means one less death or one less injury, it's good."

"If you need anything, General, please feel free to speak up."

"Winter clothes, food and supplies, weapons and military equipment, as long as they can help us attack Gaoque, I will allow everything."

If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it grass.

If you want a horse to run as fast as lightning, you have to feed it sugar, eggs, or even more expensive nutritional intake.

The same principle applies: if you want to take Gaoque, you have to be willing to pay the price.

Casualties are only one aspect; logistical support and investment are the top priorities of this battle.

Knowing that Liu Rong was not being polite, Zhidu did not hold back and immediately listed the additional supplies needed for this battle, in addition to the logistical supplies that would be supplied by default.

The first to bear the brunt were naturally the two Sui camps that played a key role in the Hetao-Mayi Campaign.

Although this battle took place in the dead of winter when the river was frozen, and there was no need for Suiying to build a pontoon bridge, Zhidu believed that Suiying also had a chance to play a role in this battle.

In addition, there were a few special weapons that were a little beyond Liu Rong's expectations, but were not impossible to give.

——Bed crossbow with a movable base!

—— Detachable arrow tower and catapult!

and many more.

Zhidu asked for a huge sum of money, and Liu Rong basically agreed to his every request.

(End of this chapter)