Chapter 1530: Xuanyuan's Mount

The matter Xuanyuan was most concerned about has now been resolved; the calendar has been successfully formulated, and from now on, whether for farming or for the arrangement of all things, there is a basically fixed timeline.

Furthermore, through the Solar Term, one can also roughly guide the year's work; for example, after the start of Winter, all matters requiring long-distance travel must be concluded, especially war—fighting in winter has always been a very irrational act.

Previously, not knowing when winter had arrived, one relied entirely on the perception of changes in the surrounding temperature to judge, and it was completely impossible to have a precise time guide; now that there is a calendar, there are not so many considerations.

Xuanyuan had nothing left to do in the tribe, so he decided to set off as soon as possible to head to the Shennong Clan; time had already been delayed for several days, and there was no need to continue staying.

As for Baifeng, he prepared to continue waiting at the Xuanyuan Tribe, waiting for the Huaxia Soldiers to all arrive before heading to the Shennong Clan; his mount was also on the way, and although riding an ox is a bit more comfortable, it is still not as dashing as riding a horse.

Just on the second day, when Xuanyuan was leaving, Baifeng saw something that shocked him extremely, and that was that Xuanyuan had a mount of his own; it was just that this mount was truly a bit too unbelievable.

Because Xuanyuan's mount was actually an elephant, though it looked like the kind that was completely not yet an adult, still very far from adulthood; it might have been a lone young elephant they encountered while hunting in their territory, or it might have been a young elephant specifically captured.

It was fortunate that its age was young enough and its strength was not too great, so the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe were able to control it; perhaps it could be well-trained in the future, but it did not look very obedient right now, with several people surrounding the elephant, ready to control the young elephant at any time.

However, no matter how small a young elephant is, it is still bigger than an ox, so supporting Xuanyuan's body was completely no problem; this was what Xuanyuan showed Baifeng, his own mount.

And what Xuanyuan thought in his heart was that the final form of Cavalry was riding elephants; he thought that Cavalry should be based on strength and impact, whereas the Cavalry Huaxia wanted was speed and flexibility—this was the difference in cognition.

Without sufficient speed, no matter how massive the body or how thick the armor, one would still be kited to death; the support speed is not enough, and the harassment speed is not enough, so elephants are not suitable as Cavalry.

In some large-scale Regiment battles, elephants might be able to charge the formation to perform tasks like breaking formations, but for most dynasties, using elephants for war is very unwise and not cost-effective; elephants simply cannot be used as war tools, not to mention that later on, due to the advancement of Weapon, the Asian elephant became extinct on a large scale nationwide, and in the Central Plains, a place that once possessed a large number of elephants, elephants became extinct, and finally, the habitat of elephants retreated to the primitive forests in the far southwest.

The same goes for the Asian rhinoceros; the last time the figure of the Asian rhinoceros was seen in the country should have been at the beginning of the founding of the nation, or even earlier, but what was seen were already corpses after being hunted.

Although Baifeng was extremely shocked by Xuanyuan's mount, he did not doubt its rationality; as far as the current Xuanyuan is concerned, he is in a process of wanting to try to domesticate all things, and even if he were domesticating a snake, he would not feel strange.

Historically, after Xuanyuan, by the time of Yushun, the History Book records that Shun trained elephants to plow at Lishan, training elephants to plow the land; regardless of whether it was useful or not, it indeed shows that the training of elephants was carried out very early.

Another thing is Chinese chess; one theory is that it was invented by Yushun's half-brother Xiang, which is why it is called Chinese chess; from the name, as well as various aspects, it can also show that the communication between humans and elephants began a very, very long time ago.

Xuanyuan also asked Baifeng: "Baifeng, how is this mount of mine? You said that Huaxia brought real Cavalry this time, but is it trained elephants?"

Baifeng was naturally negative: "It is definitely not elephants; I really have not thought about training elephants. Of course, in the territory of our Huaxia, the number of elephants is relatively small. Our Cavalry uses another kind of animal; I cannot describe it to you, but you will know when you see it. I also have a mount, and when the time comes, I will ride him to catch up with you."

Xuanyuan still had confidence that there was no mount in the world that could surpass his elephant; if there were, it would be a divine beast like a dragon, but the dragon was made up by Baifeng, and the most powerful wild beast in the world is the elephant; even the rhinoceros and the bear cannot compare to the elephant.

After arranging tasks for the tribesmen, Xuanyuan quickly left the Xuanyuan Tribe and headed to the Shennong Clan; he brought more than six thousand Soldiers with him, and also brought thousands of Laborer and Slave to transport grain and supplies.

And when Xuanyuan was negotiating, he only mentioned labor, not Slave; it was still related to his thinking. He believed that Slave were not important, and bringing more would not reflect his emphasis, so it was better to say labor; however, Baifeng would not care about those things, as long as there were people who could transport the grain and forage.

This year, it was still Lu who led the team, and then there was the Cavalry team led by Hun; this time they were divided into two parts: the main tribe took the water route, and the Cavalry took the land route, because the horses were unwilling to board the Boat, and once on the Boat, they could not get used to the bumping and swaying on the Boat, which might even cause them injury, so they could only take the land route.

The land route also followed the riverbank; there were not many trees or anything on the riverbank, so there was no obstacle for the horses to run, and only a small part was not so easy to walk; most places were very spacious, especially after reaching the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe, because the Xuanyuan Tribe cut down a large number of trees, and trees in places like the riverbank, where it is easy to drag wood into the river, were definitely the first to be cut, so the trees were even more bare, making it easier to walk.

The speed of the Cavalry and the speed of the Boat were almost the same, so they did not need to carry food, only a little for noon; in the evening, after meeting with the fleet, the fleet would hand over the food to them, as well as the fine feed for the horses.

These warhorses really had a higher dining standard than people for every single one; not to mention that their bellies were big and they ate a lot, it was just because they were so precious that they had to be given good food and drink.

Only by eating and drinking well could they have enough strength to run such a long distance every day; in the evening, the Cavalry still had to wash and brush the horses, at least brushing their hair, to keep them in the best state; they were extremely precious.