How many supplies did Liu Bei have at Dangyang? I was attempting to translate this passage from the Records of the Three Kingdoms:


  比到當陽，衆十餘萬，輜重數千兩，日行十餘里，別遣關羽乘船數百艘，使會江陵。


The background of this is: Cao Cao had invaded Jingzhou, Liu Bei was fleeing towards Jiangling with 100,000 civilians and supplies, and Guan Yu travelled by river with hundreds of ships. Later, Cao Cao caught up with Liu Bei with 5,000 elite cavalry, captured the civilians and supplies, forcing Liu Bei to flee with very few followers. From here we get the classic episodes like Zhao Yun rescues Adou and Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge.

The question is: how many supplies was Liu Bei travelling with?

See, the original text reads "輜重數千兩" - supplies of several thousand liang/taels. But during the Han dynasty, one Chinese tael was approximately 13.8 grams. If you do the math that's like 30-40 kilograms - one person can carry it! This makes no sense.

What does 兩 in this sentence mean? Could it be an ancient variant of 辆 (measure word for vehicles)? That would make more sense - thousands of carts of supplies.
Yes, 兩 used to have many more meanings.
In the details section of zdic, there's the following additional meanings:

(4) 匹(长四丈)
归夫人鱼轩,重锦三十两。——《左传·闵公二年》
(5) 通“辆”。车一乘 [used for buses,carts,etc.]
武王戎车三百两。——《书·牧誓·序》
之子于归,百两御之。——《诗·召南·鹊巢》

Definition 4 shows that it's also a measure word for silk fabric, but in this context definition 5 would be more appropriate - it is indeed the same as the modern 辆. So &quot;輜重數千兩&quot; should mean &quot;supplies of thousands of carts&quot;.