sweeping the world

Chapter 654 Wanting to scare me! ?
Liu Yan told a lot of stories outside the "world", not only about the Asan land, but also about the north of the North Sea (Lake Baikal), the north of the Western Regions, and the north of the grassland.The only thing he didn't mention was North America and South America. These two continents have oceans away from the World Island. Even if ships can cross the oceans, they cannot be included in the territory of their generation in their lifetime.

When talking about Ah San, Liu Yan never lacked some cynicism. The impression he gave to the courtiers was that the people on Ah San’s side seemed to be nothing. The obstacle for Han to conquer Ah San was the road. After overcoming the difficulties of the road , the army will be able to take whatever they want when they arrive at Ah San's territory.

In fact, Ah San's combat effectiveness in the cold weapon era was not weak.

Alexander the Macedonian fought all his life, but in the end he fell into the sand in the hands of Asan. After retreating to Persia, he never had a chance to make a comeback and head east again.

The Dayue clan invaded the Asan area, first defeating Asan's cavalry group in the Kashmir region, and then overthrew the Zhanxiang group near the Ganges River Basin. The people of the clan used the method of cannibalism to advance gradually, but the people of the Dayue clan failed to completely wipe out Ah San's local power. The north belonged to the nobles of the Da Yue clan, but the south was still dominated by the natives of Ah San.

The political system adopted by the Guishuang Empire is very similar to the dual system, which is more similar to the structure of the Liao Kingdom with two separate capitals.The Da Yue clan occupied Ah San's territory, but they also fell into the great tiankeng of Ah San's caste system and religion.Later, there was a civil strife between the north and the south in the Guishuang Empire. The two sides fought out their brains, but it was the Asan aborigines in the south who won the final victory. It's just that the Dayue people still left their habitat in the north, but the Asan aborigines were torn apart after the war.

Asan split itself into hundreds of states and kingdoms of different sizes, and has not been unified since then. Currently, there is a fairly powerful Gupta Dynasty in the northeast, and a Vagathaka Dynasty in the middle, and the rest are fragmented. States, especially the small states along the southeast coast.

Of course, Liu Yan didn't know the current situation on Ah San's side. He only knew that there was no big country, and even the northwestern part of Ah San was basically a vassal of Sassan.

What I want to say is that the sea navigation of the Gupta Dynasty was very developed. Their main trade targets involved Eastern Rome, the Greek city-states, Persians, and Arabs. Even the Egyptians were also one of the main trade targets. They even discovered the Strait of Malacca early on. It exists and has maritime trade with the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

It is difficult to say exactly when the Maritime Silk Road started, but some related documents and relics show that there were ships traveling in the Strait of Malacca earlier than the Han Dynasty, that is, in the pre-Qin period.

The official definition of the Maritime Silk Road is that the Maritime Silk Road became prosperous from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and even the Eastern Romans traded with the Tang people by sea.

There was a Maritime Silk Road in the Sui Dynasty, but people in the Central Plains didn't care at all. They even just knew that those merchants came from the sea, but they didn't pay attention to where they came from or what routes were on the sea.

By the Song Dynasty, due to the rise of the Arabs, the Arabs actually cut off the trade between the Central Plains dynasty and the Mediterranean countries.This war was a contest for control of the Silk Road. The Arab navy had an absolute advantage, but the Song Dynasty's maritime trade was forced to stop because of the war.

There is a saying that the death of the Southern Song Dynasty was due to redundant soldiers and redundant officials.However, the phenomenon of redundant soldiers and redundant officials in the Northern Song Dynasty was already very serious, especially as long as an official could hold several salaried "titles", until the maritime trade was interrupted, there was rarely a dilemma of lack of money. It fell into a financial crisis after it was broken, and eventually the Southern Song Dynasty fell into the country. (Maritime trade tax was an important source of income in the Southern Song Dynasty. It once accounted for more than 20%, and related business taxes accounted for 53% of the total revenue. If maritime trade is cut off, the corresponding business must also be affected. It is a death.)
The current Arabs are either ruled by the Eastern Romans or the Sasanian Dynasty. Not only do they have nothing to do on land in Central Asia, but they also have no right to speak at sea. It is certain that the Gupta Dynasty is definitely rich because of the prosperity of maritime trade. Flowing oil.

Liu Yan didn't know that there was maritime trade with Ah San's country before the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He waited until the navy reported that he found an unknown ship, which was sunk earlier and followed by captives, before he got the relevant information.

"According to the captives, Gupta has trade relations with many countries, and the country is extremely rich. In terms of military affairs, there are 60 infantry, [-] cavalry, [-] chariot soldiers, [-] war elephants, and more than [-] ships. More than that." To be honest, Ji Chang was a little surprised by the news, and he said cautiously: "Gupta has a neighboring country called Vajathaka, and its military strength is only a little less."

There are 60 infantry alone?Including other arms, it should not exceed a million!To be honest, Liu Yan was also a little confused. I really didn't know that apart from the Maurya Dynasty and the Guishuang Empire, there was such a dynasty with such a large number of troops in Asanna.

"Captives must exaggerate their strength in order to survive." Liu Yande calmed down, but on the other hand, he didn't believe it at all: "The climate in that place is pleasant, suitable for agricultural production, and the population is quite large. But I don't believe that a country can support millions of troops for a long time. .”

Even in the Western Han Dynasty, which once "exploded", at the most exaggerated time, it recruited troops to build an army of about 70. The army of all dynasties has always been maintained at less than 30, and they are basically conscripts. Even [-] is the sky.

Han has thirteen standing armies that are not engaged in production, with a total of more than 40 people.Behind them, there are more than [-] garrison troops and nearly [-] slaves dedicated to food production, but it is a bit difficult to support them like this, not counting the support of weapons and equipment.

Liu Yan really doesn't know how many people there are in the Gupta Dynasty. Considering that it is too easy to grow food there, and based on some data from the Guishuang Empire period, it is a more reliable guess that there are 3000 to [-] million people, but even there Food production is good, why can't we support millions of troops for a long time? !

"Your Majesty, the soldiers are professionalized..." Ji Chang didn't dare to say that Liu Yan was also frightened, but he had to remind him: "You are the only one who organizes more than [-] non-productive legions. .”

In the past, there were too few dynasties that raised professional soldiers.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were the Northern Army and the Southern Army. Later, Liu Che started to gradually become a professional army, which was divided into three divisions and eight schools.The three divisions are the Attendant Army, the Qimen Army, and the Habayashi Cavalry. Each department is actually an establishment of more than a thousand people, and the Habayashi Cavalry selected by the orphans of the fallen soldiers is only 700 people.The Eight Schools are actually the so-called Imperial Guards (Central Garrison). They are the Central Base, Tunqi, Infantry, Yueqi, Changshui, Huqi, Shesheng, and Huben. Each school has only 700 people.Then it can be seen that after Liu Yan became a professional soldier, there were only 600 professional soldiers in the Western Han Dynasty who were not engaged in production.

There were only five schools in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was to abolish the Southern Army, which was considered to have no combat effectiveness, and integrate the eight schools of the Northern Army, and downsized them into five battalions: Tunqi, Infantry, Yueqi, Changshui, and Shesheng.The establishment of each battalion is different. For example, the infantry battalion compiled by Han people has more than 700 people, and the Changshui and Yueqi battalions composed of Karasuma and Southern Huns have 1000 to [-] people. .Since the establishment of professional soldiers in the Eastern Han Dynasty was constantly changing, sometimes there were still empty numbers and no actual soldiers. It is really hard to say how many professional soldiers should be raised, but it will not be less than [-].

One raise is 20 professional soldiers who are not engaged in production. Not only is it a retrospective of the previous dynasties, but it will not appear in the Chinese civilization until modern times in the future. There are too many people who don’t understand Liu Yan. I don't know how many people oppose the captive's threat.

"There are only more than [-] million people in the Han Dynasty..." Ji Chang had long wanted to seize the opportunity to persuade Liu Yan. The Jie people are finished, and Xianbei no longer poses such a big threat. A country under too much pressure should really downsize.In the middle of his speech, seeing Liu Yan looking at him unkindly, he swallowed the rest of the words and changed the subject: "If Gupta really has millions of troops in this country, it can be seen that it is a militaristic country."

In an era of poor productivity, it was quite normal for ten families to support one soldier. Ji Changcai did not believe that the Gupta Dynasty had a population of 20 million, but he had to think about it. If you dare to recruit more than [-] soldiers, there will be exceptions for everything, so you can only think of the Gupta Dynasty as a militaristic country.

"It's a pity that there is no more information." Ji Chang now wants to know whether the Gupta Dynasty is at war with any country. Fighting that Vaja Toka, and entering the stage of decisive battle?"

How did Liu Yan know?

After the collapse of the Guishuang Empire, Asan’s side split and began to fight against each other. The Gupta Dynasty and the Vajathaka Dynasty were established by the nobles in the south during the Guishuang Empire. There should be some wars with each other, but the relative peace between the big countries is basically Big countries are bullying small countries.

"There is absolutely no army of millions." Liu Yan does not think that every ruler is a lunatic like Shi Hu, and not everyone can have the courage of Fu Jian: "Regardless of Gupta's mobilized troops, cut half of them before Half, if there is an army of 20 to [-] on standby, that's too much."

This time Liu Yan became a countryman. The Gupta dynasty was really not that stingy. During the period of Chandragupta I, the number of troops waiting for war was no less than 30. Samudragupta also maintained the corresponding number. By the time of Chandragupta During the reign of King II (Super Sun King), the size of the army really exploded to one million.

Now the Gupta Dynasty is the reign of Samadhara Gupta. He does not have the courage to surpass the Sun King. However, in order to deal with the threats from the northern Saracens and the southwestern Fagathaka Dynasty, it is also because of the Gupta Dynasty. The thriving trade is not short of money, and in addition to occupying the grain-producing areas of the Ganges River Basin, feeding 30 troops is really just like playing around.

"Even if there are only 20, how many troops should the big man dispatch to effectively invade?" Ji Chang thought about it for a while, and his brain hurts. It's not that you can catch them when you go abroad, but you need to sail thousands of miles of sea. How many ships will you need? Boat?

Liu Yan was also bitter in his heart. If he really wanted to invade Ah San's territory, it would not be effective if he went less, even if it wasn't to deliver food. It would be a severe test for transport capacity if he wanted to send large troops.He asked Cui Zong to find a map, and waited for the map to be rolled out and stepped on to inspect it.

"What is this under the Pyu country..." Liu Yan stopped at the junction of Burma and Thailand, and pointed to the place on the Andaman Sea, which was later named: "A port must be established here, and a place for garrisoning troops must be opened."

The pointed coast is Dawei in Myanmar, but Liu Yan shook his head again and pointed to Yangon again: "Depending on the situation, if this place will disturb the three countries, then retreat here (Tawa)."

Ji Chang has been the prime minister for several years, and his horizons have broadened a lot. The country has always been in a state of war, so it is difficult for him not to learn strategies and tactics: "It is true that there is a need for a transfer station."

"Let the Liang family, the Chen family, and even the Sima family mobilize one by one, concentrate their forces on developing here, and let them complete the military port and the garrison area." Liu Yancai didn't care what effect it would have on those colonial legions: " The widows allow them to go out to colonize and gain great benefits, and the country should do its best to complete what it needs!"

Ji Chang, the prime minister, of course agreed. He even thought that Liu Yan did it on purpose. He didn't want those families to have time to breathe, let alone allow those families to accumulate too much power and threaten the mainland.

"One soldier of the great man can equal five barbarians." Liu Yan recalled a moment, and said: "In the past, the great Yue clan, they had a population of less than 200 million and they were able to rule three to forty million Ah San. How many years have passed , Ah San will become hard after eating the oil? How can one Han army be worth seven or eight Ah Sans!"

The Da Yuezhi can rule 3000 million Asan, because the Da Yuezhi people fully respect the tradition and religion of Asan. As a result, the Da Yuezhi people also fell into the tiankeng, but the Da Yuezhi really completed it great cause.

According to the nature of the Central Plains Dynasty, no matter whether it is weak or strong, only foreign races have always been used to the customs of the Central Plains, and they also try their best to suppress religions and so on. Anyway, the Central Plains Dynasty loves to promote Sinicization every place they go. Today, I brought advanced civilization to a group of ruthless and blood-drinking guys. I really never thought about still obeying the customs of the local people.

Preconceived Liu Yan really didn't think much of Ah San. He had the impression that anyone could go wild with Ah San. In the era of cold weapons, the Da Yuezhi, Persia, and Arabia took turns to bully Ah San. In the age of firearms, the Spaniards and French went first. In colonization, the British were actually taking advantage of the Spaniards and the French, but 2 Westerners could really hold down tens of millions of Asan.

Ah San, who can be bullied by anyone, Liu Yan took it for granted that it was not difficult for Han to bully him. Can you rub Asan on the ground on the southern coast?
(End of this chapter)