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Zhu Yuanzhang was also thinking.

"It's incredible. It's really a money-burning army."

"No wonder Augustus, a great emperor of ancient Rome, beat his chest over just three legions."

"Three auxiliary army corps are really nothing."

"But if the Ming Dynasty today loses 30,000 elite armored veterans, we will vomit blood!"

"Moreover, even the leather shoes, tents and shields that can be replaced have to be high-end ones."

"Then the other food supplies, soldiers' compensation, etc., will probably not be less."

The sky continues.

[When it comes to food rations, the figures are even more staggering.]

【After all, everyone has to eat. 】

[For each legion, we also have to take into account the legion's servants and spare cavalry mounts.]

[Although these servants and spare horses do not need to be equipped, they definitely need to be fed.]

【So when calculating rations. 】

[We can assume that a Roman legion consisted of at least 6250 men and 150 horses.]

[Each person needs about 0.9 kg of grain per day. ]

[A horse needs 5 kg of grain or hay every day.]

[This means that a fully staffed standing army requires at least 6.38 tons of grain per day.]

[Given the absence of modern chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides, crop yields were not as high as they are today.]

This number is even more astonishing.

[Today, the average yield of one acre of land is 3 tons of grain.]

[In the Roman period, the average yield per acre in Britain was less than 1 ton.]

[But the British province was already considered quite fertile land at that time. ]

[In less fertile areas, yield figures are further reduced.]

[The only constant is the amount of grain required for each legion and auxiliary corps.]

[No matter where they were stationed, they ate the same food.]

[The province in which it was stationed was responsible for obtaining this grain by levying taxes or purchasing it from farmers.]

[Based on ancient production values ​​and the legion's demand for grain. ]

We can infer that.

[To feed a legion for a day, it takes about six football fields of land to produce grain.]

[During harvest time, this may not seem like much.]

[But we must also remember that a province must provide food for the local legions throughout the winter until the harvest in the spring of the following year.]

[This means that they need to store a lot of grain in time for the September harvest.]

Let’s do the math.

【During the six months between harvests.】

[Just to feed a corps in winter, an additional 1148 tons of grain were needed.]

[This is equivalent to the output of 868 football fields! ]

[It should be noted that this is assuming that 100% of the harvested grain on this land is supplied to the Legion.]

【But this is not actually the case.】

[Only in emergencies would the provincial administrators requisition or purchase all the grain directly from the peasants to supply the legions.]

[After all, Rome was a long-term ruler. If they wanted to sustainably support the legions,]

[The average tax collected by Rome was 10% of the grain produced, which was a medium tax rate.]

[This means that 11480 tons of grain would be needed to feed a legion for a winter.]

[This would require far more land.]

[In addition, consider that the weather is not always good every year. ]

[The Legion must also prepare sufficient reserve grain for years of poor harvest.]

[In most cases, the governor of a province in a poor region was responsible for using part of the provincial tax revenue to purchase grain from more fertile provinces.] [Historical records mention this.]

[In the most fertile areas of Rome's major grain-producing regions, Africa and Egypt, grain production could reach a hundred times or more of local demand.]

[Although this may be a bit exaggerated.]

[But Egypt alone had three permanent legions to support.]

【Then, in addition to supporting the three legions. 】

[Egypt was still able to export large quantities of grain and supply several provinces, including Italy.]

[The presence of legions in Egypt, in turn, ensured that Egypt became one of the most stable and peaceful provinces in the empire.]

[The Syrian province also had three permanent legions.]

[But it may not be possible to rely on local grain to meet the demand, so the Syrian province has to import some of the grain it needs from neighboring provinces. ]

【Due to this huge logistical food burden. 】

[We can begin to understand why such a large Roman army was almost always deployed in a dispersed manner.]

【The main purpose is to reduce the pressure on a single province or region. 】

【For example, in the winter of 53 BC. 】

[Julius Caesar deployed his ten legions in Gaul in the territories of the Treveri, Lingones, and Sequani.]

[Almost half of Gaul. ]

[This is a tactical arrangement.]

[It’s also a logistical strategy.]

[Because of such a large army, it is easy to cause famine and rebellion in any local area. ]

[Similarly, Emperor Trajan's famous invasion of Dacia.]

【It is composed of multiple detachments from more than 16 different legions. 】

【Always form at least four columns.】

【Never merged.】

[We can’t afford to support all the soldiers together! 】

Barrage:

"The granary of the empire is in the Nile Delta."

"Egypt feeds half of Rome."

"What about France? There are so many plains in Gaul, but the production there cannot exceed that of Egypt."

"Gaul is not bad, but it is not as good as Egypt."

"In the past, the Nile River could grow crops by simply sowing seeds."

"Then why does Egypt have to import food now?"

"Because the population of Egypt has increased twenty-five times..."

"The grain tax in Rome was only 10%? Is it that low?"

"The Han Dynasty still charges 15% or 130% of taxes. Without excessive taxes, the taxes are generally very low."

"Trajan's sixteen legions were divided into four columns. This is why Sarhu divided his troops to attack together. Supply was indeed difficult."

"Ancient Rome also had access to the Mediterranean, which gave it an advantage over ancient Chinese dynasties in grain transportation."

"So the map of Rome cannot be too far away from the Mediterranean, or the ocean."

《Now I understand.》

And outside the sky.

Three Kingdoms.

Zhuge Liang also worried about food problems every day.

In the sky picture, we can see Roman transport ships carrying large amounts of food, quickly providing supplies to the front line.

And transport large numbers of reserve soldiers.

They all said with envy:
"To transport food on a large scale, we still need the navy."

"It's a pity that the ancient waterway was diverted during the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition. Otherwise, the transportation of grain would not be so difficult."

"The Mediterranean is indeed the foundation of the Western European emperors." (End of this chapter)