It turned out that it was ungeographical to cultivate wheat in the newly conquered highlands such as Iconium and Kayseri, so while promoting the cultivation of millet, Anna also personally issued an order: vigorously encourage the development of animal husbandry, and the local plateau areas have areas and forages suitable for livestock grazing, and excellent forage plants such as cattail, clover, and alfalfa are also planted in rotation in the border of the wheat fields. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

That's why Anna hired a painter and asked him to paint a pastel painting of herself and Gawain holding a lamb to set an example for the border people and farmers on the plateau.

When it was over, in the corners of the temple, several craftsmen were preparing to print them in large quantities on Seleucian paper according to the plates drawn by the painters, and put them all over the country on wooden ties, so that the people could see how she and her husband loved the sheep as a lovely animal, and that the wool, cheese, horns, and mutton were all precious and would bring rewards to the farmer who raised them, as did the cattle.

However, Gawain was most concerned about the shepherding of horses, and after finishing the painting, the two of them rarely went to the inner room with the curtain hanging, sat together on a long couch, and persuaded the attendants and maids around them to dissuade, and began to discuss this topic first.

Anna's idea was to use the Liberal Rehabilitation Society to send supervisors to supervise the border residents to join the insurance, distribute a quota by village, and collect foals on an annual basis.

Gawain groaned, got up from the couch with his hands behind his back, paced around the hall floor a few times, laughed dumbly, and then rejected Anna's idea, "I have crossed the sea from Italy to fight in Anatolia until now, and the Red Hand Division has spent a lot of money on several rounds of horses. Maintaining a cavalry horse is usually equal to the cost of two or three infantrymen. And then Anna, you can calculate, as I told you before, how many peasants do you need to feed an infantryman? ”

Anna, who caressed her stomach with one small hand and began to measure with the other, quickly reported the answer, "It used to take the output of ten farmers to supply a hoplite's salary, rations, armor, helmets, gloves, weapons, and leather clothing. The entire Tarsus agrarian reform is now progressing rapidly, slowly reducing to seven peasants to supply one hoplite. ”

"In that case, how many farmers are needed to shepherd a foal?"

"Fifteen people."

"That is, at least five families can produce so many men." Gawain sighed, "In addition, horses are the most delicate animals, and if things don't go well, they will immediately get sick and die, which is why the country of Tarsus has so far only used horses to work and cultivate in the post posts, the model farms of the saints, and the road transport. Then it is not difficult for you to imagine that these five families shepherd a foal, and adults and children have to revolve around the foal, which is basically equivalent to most of the farm work being wasted, far less worry-free and labor-saving than raising cattle. ”

"I know what you said, but you say that it is better to raise cattle and sheep, but you must not ask your red hand soldiers to ride oxen and sheep to the battlefield." Anna said with disgust.

"That's not necessary, you can actually improve the breed, but it won't be effective in a short period of time. On the contrary, the original Roma inhabited by Iconium could be exploited. Gawain then broke the answer.

Anna frowned, "Ask those Turks to raise horses?" ”

"Yes, they are born herders, and this kind of thing is as natural and simple for them as the Germans wielding a hoe to plow the land, and it is enough to ensure the efficiency of the foal's fertility and survival. It is much more effective to set up several large pastures in Ikan, Iconium, Little Antioch, and the whole of Cappadocia, with the nearby supply of wheat and alfalfa fields, so that the Turks can live in a large group, and every year they raise their horses and deliver them to the army camps, as they did with salt households, rather than forcing the peasants to keep their horses in order. ”

This made Anna ponder, and then she calculated, "In this case, the mobilized Turkic herdsmen would be 70,000 people. ”

"Well, if these 70,000 people raise all the horses of the plateau and the territory in captivity, half of them will cultivate and raise livestock tax-free to support themselves, and half of them will be in charge of horse husbandry and maintenance, and a reasonable form of rewards and punishments will be formulated, plus the allowance of the state treasury, at least 10,000 new horses can be produced a year, of which there are as many as 3,000 war horses. This is sufficient for self-support for three years, after which a surplus can begin. It seems that Gawain is still very confident in this method of raising horses, which will not delay agricultural production, but also allow professional herders to increase the breeding rate and survival rate of war horses.

And Anna herself had nothing to refute, she leaned on her back and tried to get up from the couch, indicating that Ma Zheng's secret discussion was over, and then it was implemented. Then she walked to the long table in the middle of the hall at the four corners, which was specially made, with bronze legs and a reinforced iron frame, and on the table was a huge map mercury plate, which clearly condensed the rivers, mountains, roads, cities, and fortresses of the whole Levant, Anatolia, Thrace, Great Bulgaria, Dalmatia, and the Peloponnese, and almost as far as the world was known.

Anna, who watched all this with a little intoxication, took out a few pieces of Zeno from the box next to the table, and carefully placed them in the positions of Kayseri, Nazar, and Iconium, so that the red pieces appeared more and more, and they occupied most of Cilicia, all of Seleucia and Cappadocia, and the small half of the Romani plateau, and were shaped like angry bulls galloping towards the holy sea.

Anna laughed, "What's next?" ”

Gawain, who had been a model for a long time in the painting just now, was a little tired, but he was not too happy to spoil his fun, so he stared at the large silver platter and whispered to his wife: "Nothing special, since it is possible to establish trade relations with Theodoro through the Iconium trade route, then there is no need to follow the emperor's idea and fight to the death on the Sivas Plateau - wouldn't it be better for us to send a secret mission to Amasya again, and everyone should divide the territory of the Sivas Plateau and Merrick in a friendly manner?" Chaldia to Theodoro, Sivas City can also be given to him, we want Caesarea and Meritene so that there is no conflict of interest. After speaking, Gawain also took out a few red Zeno chess pieces from the box and placed them in the position he had just pointed out, so that in Anna's view, almost half of Anatolia turned red.

"Within three years, we were encroaching and digesting these regions, so that all the Turks would be expelled from Anatolia by me. Then the remaining enemies were the Armenian kingdom of Marash, and ......" Before Gawain could finish speaking, Anna's soft pregnant body was attached to the crook of his arm, holding his fingers, and lined up the remaining red chess pieces in the box, from Ikonium to Nicaea, Brusa, and then the last one was placed in the position of Constantinople. (To be continued.) )