Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 172 All Things Are Complicated
"Forty-two tribes in Hetao Mongolia, Fusi of Beizhen needs to pay attention, and let me find out their respective nomadic positions."

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, Cao Huachun and Lu Wenzhao knew that the good days of the Hetao Department were numbered.

They all knew their Highness, and he was obviously a master who refused to suffer.

This time the Hetao tribe plundered and killed tens of thousands of Ming people. Such an enmity must be repaid with blood.

Inquiring about the scale of nomads is for the convenience of later sweeping.

If you want to avoid guerrilla warfare with this group of guys and end the battle quickly, it is necessary to detect intelligence.

Lu Wenzhao bowed in response, while Zhu Youjian looked sideways at Cao Huachun and said:

"How much is the ordnance of the Yanshan Institute, and how much is the equipment for soldiers and horses?"

Seeing Zhu Youjian's inquiry, Cao Huachun bowed and responded:
"Except for the [-] cannons transferred to the south by Sun Yingyuan, there are [-] five-jin cannons, [-] ten-jin cannons, and [-] twenty-jin cannons in the ordnance station. , ninety-five twenty-four-jin cannons."

"The artillery has not been transferred to the Sixteenth Guards, because you have not yet given instructions on how to distribute it."

"Instead of cavalry guns and short guns, the four cavalry guards have all been equipped with cavalry guns. In the Nine Guards infantry, the rifles are all equipped with [-] rifles per guard."

"Currently, the Nine Guards Infantry Army still lacks cavalry guns and cannons, while there are more than [-] cavalry guns in stock, more than [-] rifle rifles, and a shortage of [-] horses."

Cao Huachun told the inventory of Yanshan Ordnance Institute, and after Zhu Youjian listened, he said directly:

"Allow [-] cavalry guns and [-] pace guns to the cavalry of the three guards of Daning, and the artillery piece..."

Zhu Youjian thought for a while, and then said:

"Transfer six hundred and nineteen five-jin cannons and two hundred ten-jin cannons to Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Kuandian respectively."

"Among the four cavalry guards, each guard has [-] men as gunners, and each guard has fifty artillery five-jin cannons."

"The four cavalry guards only have five-jin cannons, and the other nine-step guards mainly use five-jin and ten-jin cannons, with one hundred guards per guard."

"After satisfying the four cavalry guards, the remaining nineteen five-jin cannons and one hundred and twenty-five ten-jin cannons will go to the three guards of Daning."

"As for the [-]-jin and [-]-jin cannons, they will be transferred to Tianjin and handed over to the three guards of the Navy, and let them distribute them themselves."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Hearing what his highness said, Cao Huachun took orders, and Zhu Youjian continued to ask:

"How many clay models does the artillery factory make every month? How much success? How much money does it cost to make artillery?"

Several questions were asked, but for Cao Huachun, it was not difficult to answer:

"His Royal Highness, the Artillery Factory produces [-] five-jin cannons, five hundred ten-jin cannons, three hundred twenty-jin cannons, and one hundred twenty-four-jin cannons every month."

"The probability of success is about 550%. The monthly production of artillery is about 700 to [-] pieces, and the silver consumption is about [-] to [-] taels."

"As for the gun factory in the Ordnance Institute, it needs more than twelve thousand taels of silver every month."

"But..." At this point, Cao Huachun showed embarrassment and said:
"The cost of artillery and gunpowder is not high, but the cost of gunpowder is a bit high. The monthly training consumes [-] catties of gunpowder, which costs [-] taels."

"It's not bad." Hearing Cao Huachun's words, Zhu Youjian smiled.

In this era, the Central Plains Dynasty is the undoubted overlord of gunpowder.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Central Plains army had fallen behind in certain firearms. For example, Myanmar and the Qing army already had flintlock guns, and some exquisite Japanese shotguns had surpassed the Ming army, and they also had advantages in specific use.

However, the Ming and Qing armies were all victors in the war against the surrounding countries. The reason was that the output of gunpowder in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was too "foul".

The current production of gunpowder in the Central Plains not only crushes the surrounding areas, but is even [-] times higher than that of the United States during the War of Independence a hundred years later.

During the War of Independence, the United States produced only [-] pounds of gunpowder, equivalent to more than [-] catties. Later, it barely carried the war to the end by importing more than [-] catties of gunpowder from the Caribbean.

During the Battle of Jinchuan and Jinchuan at the same time, the Qing army used a total of more than 427 million catties of gunpowder. The reason for the poor production of gunpowder in the North American continent was that there was too little saltpeter.

This contradiction often appeared around the Central Plains Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some people concluded that Japan and other countries had more sulfur and less saltpeter, and the northwestern regions had more saltpeter and less sulfur.

It is precisely because there are so many gunpowder raw materials that there is a basis for the invention of gunpowder.

As far as the current situation is concerned, under the annual limit of the armor factory, the output of gunpowder is [-] catties, while that of Yanshan Institute is [-] catties.

These are just two ordnance factories. If you add the Ministry of Industry and other places, Daming's gunpowder output is undoubtedly terrifying.

One year's gunpowder production is enough for European countries to fight a war that lasts for several years.

Cao Huachun and the others are complaining, but they don't know that Western Europeans are complaining.

Zhu Youjian is more optimistic. As far as gunpowder is concerned, he has many operable things.

But those are things for the future, and the current thing is to plan a plan to recover the lost land in Liaodong.

In today's court meeting, Zhu Youjian didn't just talk about it, but he was thinking about regaining the lost ground.

In the end, there will be problems with the defensive defense of the Ming Dynasty, which will drag down the Ming Dynasty's finances. It is necessary to fight the disabled Jianlu, reduce the strength of the Liaodong troops, and transfer them to the Central Plains to prepare for the abolition of the Central Plains.

Kaiyuan, Tieling, and Fushun castles within the Great Wall are still in the hands of Nurhachi, so the Jurchen's food will only be a crisis, and will not develop into a famine.

All he has to do is regain lost ground.

Of course, to regain lost ground, it is impossible for him to send troops as soon as his head is hot, but it takes time to prepare.

First of all, according to the fight between Qi Jin and Lao Nu last year, even Qi Jin and the big corps are very weak in battle.

He himself admitted in a letter to Zhu Youjian later that after the number of soldiers and horses exceeded [-], his response to commanding soldiers and horses dropped a lot.

Although Zhu Youjian comforted him afterwards, it was considered as experience.

But Zhu Youjian also knows that the human brain also has a peak period, and fighting a war happens to be a brain-consuming thing.

At Qi Jin's age, it is impossible to make much progress, so he still wants to train the second and third generations of the Qin, Ma, and Qi families.

Qi Yuangong, Qi Yuanfu, Qi Yuanbi, Qin Minping, Qin Banghan, Qin Bangping, Qin Gongming, Qin Yiming, Ma Xianglin...

These are second- and third-generation children that can be cultivated.

Zhu Youjian did not require them to become commanders who could command tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but as long as they could command two or even three battalions alone, four battalions of soldiers and horses were enough.

In other words, it is to become the generals of the left, right, front and rear armies under the commander-in-chief.

Therefore, from this fact, it can be seen that the current generals in Liaodong have no generals who can command tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Perhaps Xiong Tingbi can coordinate the armies, but there is a limit to the need for coordination.

The terrain in Liaodong is complicated. If you want to regain the Eastern Great Wall, you need to enter the branch of Changbai Mountain and march from Gushanbao.

Secondly, Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun and other places also have complex terrains, and each unit must have at least [-] to [-] soldiers.

If it is less than this number, there is a possibility of being surrounded and wiped out.

Zhu Youjian couldn't afford to lose, even if he transferred enough cannons to Liaodong, as long as one of them was wiped out and the artillery was damaged, then Nurhachi, who had the artillery of Yanshan Artillery Factory, would become very terrifying.

Now the Ming army relies on the sharpness of its artillery and its range is farther than that of the artillery made by Nurhachi, so that it can gain an advantage in the battle of defending the city.

Once Nurhachi seized hundreds of artillery pieces, the situation will be a little delicate.

If among the generals in Liaodong right now, there are four generals who command [-] soldiers and horses without chaos, Zhu Youjian can definitely trust Xiong Tingbi with confidence.

But the problem now is, let alone the four generals who commanded [-] troops, he couldn't even find four generals who commanded [-] troops without chaos.

This is the aftermath of the Battle of Salhu, the veterans are dead, and the recruits are not yet ready.

Zhu Youjian's side is not good at generals, but on Laonu's side, there are many people who can command tens of thousands of horses.

Huang Taiji and Daishan are two of them. Although Daishan is a little worse, Huang Taiji is not bad.

As for the person who can command tens of thousands of people, the banner owners of each of the Eight Banners can do it.

They have accumulated a long time of experience, and they were taken by Nurhachi in their teens to conquer Mongolia in Haixi, Donghai and other places.

In contrast, on Zhu Youjian's side, there were not many in the entire Ming Dynasty who could command tens of thousands of troops without chaos. On the contrary, there were many strategists and tacticians who commanded tens of thousands of troops.

Xiong Tingbi, Zhu Xieyuan, Yuan Keli, and even Yang Hao can formulate tactics.

But the problem is that the current embarrassing situation of the Ming Dynasty is that there are high-level and low-level generals, but the middle-level generals who hook them up are missing.

If there are these middle-level generals, Ming's army can be revitalized, even if Xiong Tingbi and others are old, but there is enough time to train Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng and others.

This is also the reason why Zhu Youjian still transferred Sun Chuanting and others to the southwest when the situation in the north was so dangerous.

The chieftain soldiers in the southwest are not as good as Hou Jin, or even the Mongols.

In the absence of rogues, starting from there is a good exercise, and the long tug-of-war is more beneficial for them to improve in all aspects.

Only by improving their capabilities, and while An Bangyan gradually weakened, some generals in Liaodong and Southwest China were replaced in advance, and those with strong capabilities were sent to Liaodong, could they carry out large-scale operations, and then regain lost ground and encircle Nurhachi.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Cao Huachun:
"How much cash does the Yumajian have now?"

"Back to Your Highness, there are more than [-] taels of silver in total." Cao Huachun responded, and Zhu Youjian said after hearing the words:

"Brother Huang's internal funds have given out silver, so the Imperial Horse Supervisor can't lag behind."

"You write to Cheng En, ask him to go back to Yanshan Camp, and transfer [-] million taels of silver to the capital."

"After the silver arrives, first transfer one million taels to the south and deliver [-] taels to Sun Yingyuan's department, [-] taels to Sun Chuanting's department, [-] taels to Hong Chengchou's department, and [-] taels each to Cao Wenzhao, Yang Wenyue, and Wu Aheng."

"Finally, Hu Yingtai, Du Wenhuan, and Mu Zeng's three ministries were adjusted to [-] taels each."

"As for the [-] taels in the capital, [-] taels will be delivered to the armor factory, and the armor in stock will be transferred to the southwest and handed over to Cao Wenzhao and Sun Chuanting."

"The remaining [-] taels will be handed over to internal funds."

With a wave of Zhu Youjian's hand, [-] million taels of silver were spent.

But he is not uncomfortable, after all, he still has the income from selling grain in Liaodong.

Therefore, after spending the money, he said to Cao Huachun:
"How much of the [-] million shi of grain in Liaodong has been sold now, and what is the price of grain in Liaodong?"

"Returning to Your Highness, I have sold more than [-] million stones and received [-] million taels of silver." Cao Huachun replied honestly, and continued to explain:
"At present, there are still two sums of silver of [-] million and [-] that have not yet been transported to Yanshan Camp."

"In the first half of this year, the [-]th Guards Army and the [-]th Battalion in Shanxi and North Zhili have been paid."

"As for the price of grain in Liaodong, at first those grain merchants wanted to buy our grain, but later they realized that they didn't have so much money to collect, so they started to sell it at a lower price."

"Right now, the price of grain in Liaodong has dropped to [-] Wen a stone, an average of [-] Wen a catty."

The price of grain in Liaodong has dropped, which is good news, especially in the name of Huangdian, which has a great effect on easing the relationship between the people of Liaodong and the imperial power.

"What do the people think of the imperial court now? Are there any merchants smuggling?" Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Wenzhao, eager to know the answers to these two questions.

People's hearts are food, and now Huangdian's price cuts to stabilize food are regaining people's hearts.

As for Lu Wenzhao, after hearing Zhu Youjian's question, he first said seriously:

"The merchants in Liaodong are very secretive in selling food. Although the three cities of Kuandian in southern Liaoning have caught them several times, they insist that they are selling to the front-line stone castle."

"As for the Shenyang area, it is difficult to control. Most of them use boats to transport food. Once they cross the Pu River, they will be supported by Houjin. Our people dare not approach."

Lu Wenzhao's words made Zhu Youjian nod secretly. After all, the reorganized Jinyiwei is an espionage organization after all, and it is impossible to fight against the armored Houjin soldiers.

From this point of view, if you want to block food, you still have to take the sea channel, especially the sea area from Denglei to North Korea.

As for the land, after the abolition of the western Liaoning army, the establishment of the eastern province of Liaodong, and all supplies will be traded by the imperial store, which will reduce the number of Liao merchants secretly selling grain to Nurhachi.

"Now when the people in Liaodong hear about the Huangdian, they are full of praise. Even if they encounter injustice, they will curse those officials in private, hoping that Long Live can deal with them. It is much better than before."

Lu Wenzhao's serious expression suddenly relaxed, and he smiled and said the change of people's hearts in Liaodong.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian also breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile:
"Food is the heart of the people, not only in Liaodong, but also in other places."

"The military camps in Shanxi and Northern Zhili can expand their granaries. After Lu Jianxing transports the grain from Huguang to the capital, they can also properly build the Changping warehouse in Huangdian. Once the price of grain rises, Huangdian will take action immediately to stabilize the price of grain. .”

"But..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Lu Wenzhao showed distress and said:
"Although it is good to stabilize food prices, low grain prices hurt farmers. For example, in Liaodong, prices are very high compared to other places. Not only food and salt, but also oil, vinegar, and cloth are very expensive."

"Now that the price of grain has fallen, the Liao people who live in the fields can no longer afford to buy some cloth..."

Low grain hurts farmers, these are the four words Lu Wenzhao wants to say, and this problem is easy to solve.

Zhu Youjian already had a solution in his mind, so he said with confidence:

"Cloth is expensive, so we opened a weaving factory in the south field of Yumajian, and hired tenant women to weave."

"Grains are cheap, then hire Liaodong people to repair roads, build stone bridges, repair water conservancy, and mine and make iron during the slack season."

Zhu Youjian said this, although he didn't know how the spinning jenny in history knew, but he knew that Daming's textile technology is world-class at the moment.

In terms of silk weaving technology, pedaled two-person reeling carts were commonly used in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and one person could reel 30 taels of silk a day.

Xu Guangqi's "Nongzheng Quanshu" records the improved five-person reeling cart in the late Ming Dynasty, that is, one person holds the drum, two are dedicated to beating the silk head, and two are in charge of reeling. Five people can "reel silk for thirty catties".

In terms of the cotton textile industry, the "Haiyan County Tujing" in Zhejiang states that "the spinner can get four or five taels of yarn a day, and the weaver can make a piece of cloth a day."

"Jiashan County Chronicle" records that "women in Southeast Township weave three horses a day, but they are small and thick, not as good as Songjiang", "Women weave diligently, sleep early and sleep at night, and often get forty-five horses a month."

This represented the level of textiles in Jiangnan at that time, and this level of textiles was only due to the internal market of Daming.

As long as Daming expands its basic market and the population continues to grow, and the state-owned government of Huangdian sells cloth, the demand for textiles will increase, and naturally some people will research better textile machines.

All technology comes from the needs of life. Once there is a need, someone will innovate.

It is as if the steam engine is because the mining industry in the UK has developed to a considerable scale. It is difficult to meet the requirements of draining underground water in mines by manpower and animal power alone, and there is abundant and cheap coal as fuel on site.

Realistic needs prompted many people to devote themselves to the exploration and experimentation of "lifting water with firepower", and finally perfected the steam engine little by little.

Zhu Youjian didn't know how to make a steam engine, but he knew the basic principles. When the students of Yanshan Institute gradually matured, the Academy of Sciences would also be established, and then conduct research on various technologies.

It is also for this reason that Zhu Youjian wants to open a mine.

Of course, this is only part of it. What is more important is that Daming will have too much demand for steel in the future.

If you want to lay down a large territory and control Wusi Tibet, Western Regions, Mobei, Northeast, Southwest and other places, you need Great Ming to have great delivery means and capabilities.

It would be good if the steam engine could be developed and developed in the direction of trains and ships.

But if it can't be developed, then Zhu Youjian still needs a lot of steel, because there is no train, he can also get a rail carriage, so that the four-wheeled rail carriage can carry twice as many soldiers and goods as an ordinary carriage.

Manufactured according to the gauge of the train, before the train was developed, rail carriages were used for freight.

Reorganize the post station so that the carriages can change horses at the post station, and let the post station supervise the rails to prevent people from stealing the rails and increase employment.

The population of Daming, in the face of drought, has an average distribution pattern of at most five acres of land per person, so that everyone's ability to resist risks is not high.

However, if other jobs can be created and they are absorbed from agriculture, coupled with the expansion of the territory by the imperial court, the land in the hands of farmers can be increased and everyone's ability to resist risks can be increased.

But in this way of playing, one thing must be guaranteed, that is, the court's own finances must be sufficient.

This is why Zhu Youjian has been emphasizing state-run salt, iron, wine, tea, and various important materials.

To put it bluntly, he just wanted to turn Daming into an enhanced version of the Song Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, all kinds of resources were government-run, and the land tax was too heavy, which led to a heavy burden on farmers. Then the Ming Dynasty government-run, reduced the land tax, and tried its best to achieve a semi-agricultural and half-state tax system.

To achieve all this, the people of the world must first taste the sweetness, and this starts from Liaodong.

Textile mills are not only targeting at home, but most of them are overseas.

As long as Malacca is taken down, and then all kinds of things are state-run step by step, and finally the so-called maritime merchants have no goods, the East Asian trade is what the court says.

Maritime merchants can also do business, let them do business in the vast area west of Malacca, and drive merchants to places such as South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.

After selling the goods, it was up to the businessmen who saw what the Western colonists did in these places to do what they wanted. Ming only needed to stabilize the basic market in East Asia.

"Tell Wang An to build a textile factory with [-] people in the north and south of the Huaihe River in the south of Yumajian, and ask him to report the price and profit after clarifying it."

"In addition, Lu Wenzhao, your Jinyiwei can search for some iron ore explorers and ask them to explore iron ore in Liaodong. Once they find out, they will report back immediately and tell Xiong Tingbi after the emperor's brother agrees to assign the place to the Yuma Supervisor to open the mine."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun agreed one after another, and Zhu Youjian felt much happier.

With both the economy and the military, even if the political table is overturned, "reason" can still be used to convince people.

"Your Highness, there is one more thing I haven't told you."

Cao Huachun seemed to think of something after bowing, and said to Zhu Youjian:

"Man Zongbing returned and said that the three cities and nine forts in Daning have been built, and the number of farming cattle has reached more than [-] through the mutual market."

"As for the people of Sanwei in Daning, there are more than [-] people."

"However, he tried. It is impossible to reclaim in the first month, at least until late February, and the time for reclaiming is from late February to late September."

"Further back, even with three oxen, it is difficult to plow the meadow."

"But there is good news, that is, according to what His Highness said, after building canals in the sandy land, setting up breeding farms, and laying compost with manure, some weeds did grow in the sandy land, and more than [-] acres of pastures were opened up."

"As for some meanders in the north of Liaoze, it will be much more convenient to reclaim after they are set on fire and piled up with ashes."

"Man Gui said that after the thaw, Daning Sanwei should be able to reclaim about [-] mu of arable land every year."

"This is just the speed of more than [-] people and [-] cattle, right?" Zhu Youjian interrupted, and Cao Huachun nodded to indicate that it was indeed so.

"Since this is the case, we will increase manpower and transfer all the people from Shanxi Nursing Home to Daning Sanwei." After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he looked at Lu Wenzhao and said:

"Let the governor of Nanzhen check to see how many lazy people are still living in the nursing home in the Ming Dynasty. Since they have eaten rice from the imperial court for so many years, helping the imperial court to cultivate land should be regarded as making a living for them and repaying the imperial court's favor."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao responded.

"Okay, you go to work." Zhu Youjian picked up the tribute tea next to him, and Lu Wenzhao got up to salute when he saw this, and then left Xuqin Palace.

As for Cao Huachun, he had someone compile Zhu Youjian's arrangements into a document, and then took the document to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

When Zhu Youxiao saw the content of the document, he didn't say anything, but complained that since Zhu Youjian was in the court, it wouldn't hurt to help him supervise the country for a day or two.

For this, Cao Huachun, Wei Zhongxian, and Wang Tigan felt ashamed.

The power of the Son of Heaven, what is going on with these two brothers...

(End of this chapter)