The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The weather is getting colder, and the cold wind blowing from the north is getting more urgent every day.

When Chen Wang returned to Baituguan from Zhushan Camp, it was already October [-]th.

Yang Sichang, in charge of Zuo Liangyu and Zu Dabi, returned to Xiangyang with more than [-] soldiers and horses, preparing to rush south from Xiangyang to aid Yiling.

The road that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai traveled south to eastern Sichuan was rugged, their march was unchanging, and there were many mountains and deep forests. Many places were excellent ambush sites.

If we pursue along the road, we must send out a large number of reconnaissance cavalry to conduct continuous reconnaissance, and the speed of travel along the way will not be fast at all.

It would be better to divert directly from Xiangyang and rush south to aid Yiling. In this case, although the distance is more than twice as long, the speed is much faster.

Time was pressing and the military situation was raging, so Yang Sichang naturally chose the latter.

Chen Hongfan and the more than 2 soldiers and horses he led were arranged by Yang Sichang to guard Fangxian and Zhushan respectively, and came to guard against the more than [-] remnants of the rogue bandits hiding in Zhushan and south of Fangxian.

Chen Wang also got what he wanted so far from Yang Sichang - time.

Yang Sichang led his troops back to Xiangyang to protect central Huguang. The Sichuan troops originally transferred to Xing'an Prefecture returned to Sichuan to protect eastern Sichuan.

In this way, the interface between Hanzhong Mansion and Yunyang Mansion will naturally become a lot empty.

As early as the beginning, Chen Wang had been conveying the news to Yang Sichang that he was recruiting new soldiers and reorganizing the troops.

So this time, Chen Wang was naturally allowed to lead the troops to stay at Baituguan, and at the same time take charge of the defense of Yunyang Mansion.

The first is to guard against Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other troops who have left and returned to Yunyang Mansion, and the second is to guard against bandits from Fang County and the south of Zhushan.

Chen Hongfan's troops who stayed in Fangxian and Zhushan are now naturally under his control.

"Brother Wang."

Not long after Chen Wang entered the Baituguan camp, Hu Zhiyi had already arrived from outside and entered the camp.

"The reorganization and assessment of all battalions of soldiers and horses in the town have been completed."

Hu Zhiyi acted vigorously and resolutely, and he did not spend much time on all the matters that Chen Wang explained.

"Zhang'er and Huanglong's two ranger camps each have a division of cavalry, and the rest of the soldiers are infantry. The total number of soldiers is 6000. The military salary of the two battalions requires a total of [-] taels per month."

Military pay is generally not paid once a month, but is generally paid quarterly, such as spring pay, summer pay, etc.

"The main barracks require 9000 taels of military pay per month, the right reinforcement camp requires 5000 taels of military pay per month, and the left reinforcement camp requires 4000 taels per month, for a total of 8000 taels per month."

The right reinforcement camp is the reinforcement camp led by Chen Gong, and the left reinforcement camp is naturally another battalion led by Zhou Yumao.

"There are a total of five battalions of soldiers and horses in the town, one for regular soldiers, two for reinforcements, and two for rangers. Taking into account the generals and their soldiers, the monthly military salary requirement is 5000 taels of silver, the quarterly requirement is 5000 taels of silver, and the annual requirement is 30 taels of silver. .”

"In the third month of the recruit period, the infantry salary is halved by two taels of silver, but only in the first quarter can you save about 500 taels."

"The annual military salary issued by the imperial court is about 20 taels, and there is still a gap of 10 taels."

It was impossible for the military pay in each town to be paid in full. In the late Ming Dynasty, arrears of pay were the norm.

A large part of the reason why the deformed servant system was formed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was also due to insufficient military pay.

Eating empty pay and drinking soldiers' blood gradually became the norm in the towns of Jiubian.

Hu Zhiyi placed the document directly in front of Chen Wang's desk.

"According to the current financial situation, military pay can only be issued for one season at most, and then we will be unable to pay any more..."

Hu Zhiyi looked a little hesitant and said hesitantly.

"Grain prices in Shaanxi are quite high. If we transport grains for sale, we can balance the expenditure."

Chen Wang opened the document, and the current situation of Hanzhong Town was clearly written in front of him.

The shortfall of 10 taels a year is just military pay and does not count as a man's meal.

The food allocated by the imperial court was not enough to feed so many people. To feed so many soldiers, they had to buy it.

Taking into account various expenses such as human consumption and horse chewing, the gap will reach nearly 15 taels a year.

But in fact, the additional expenditure is still more than [-] taels.

Because Han Zhongwei had grain, they kept a lot of it for themselves and could supply it to the army.

In military mobilizations like the present one, food and grass are allocated uniformly, and leftovers can be left over. Therefore, although it is indeed an expense for people to eat horse chews, it does not require any money.

Now Chen Wang leads a total of four major sources of income, namely mines, private salt, fields, and collecting customs duties from caravans crossing the border.

"Don't mention the matter of selling food again. I will have use for all this food in the future."

The output of the fields will basically not be exchanged for gold and silver. Chen Wang is very clear that the famine in the late Ming Dynasty will last for a very long time, and food will be the most scarce thing, so naturally it will not be bought and sold easily.

For this reason, Chen Wang even ordered people to build a large number of granaries in advance for grain storage.

These granaries were built in bastions, and many soldiers were stationed for defense.

The soldiers guarding the area were not only equipped with the latest models of sworn guns, but also many artillery pieces.

Chen Wang built a total of seven fortresses in Hanzhong Mansion specifically for grain storage.

There is one next to each of the five guard posts of Hanzhong Guard, and one each of the two guard posts of Qianhu in Mioxian County and Xing'an.

"Food will only become increasingly scarce in the future. Selling food is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst."

"I checked the droughts over the years, and it has been the No. 12 thought since the beginning of the year. Not only has the drought not disappeared, but it has expanded day by day, spreading from the north to the south."

In the 12th year of Chongzhen's reign, there was a summer drought in Hanzhong, locusts in autumn, all the crops and seedlings were exhausted, and there was a great famine.

In the 13th year of Chongzhen's reign, there was a severe drought, people ate each other, and all vegetation was destroyed.

Chen Wang remembers clearly that the drought in Hanzhong Prefecture in the 13th year of Chongzhen's reign caused greater damage than the drought in the 12th year of Chongzhen's reign.

"In the current situation, we not only cannot sell grain, we also have to collect grain and store grain."

Nowadays, there are only more than [-] shi of grain stored in the granaries in various places.

It sounds like more than 2 shi is a lot, but if calculated, more than [-] shi of food can only feed an army of more than [-] people for one year.

This is all infantry, not cavalry, and does not include transportation losses.

Although this food is still sufficient now, when the world is in chaos, [-] shi of food will be just a drop in the bucket.

The saying "build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become king" is not out of date when used in the late Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming Dynasty has declined and is already in decline, its final counterattack can still hurt people and even kill people.

Throughout the dynasties, those who first raised the flag of righteousness were often killed by the final counterattack.

And the successors will step on the mountains of corpses and seas of blood to clean up this great river and mountain again.

Hu Zhiyi frowned, wondering. "Purchasing grain is now more difficult. Henan is suffering from drought and bandits are resurgent. As a result, rice prices in Huguang and Nanzhili have also risen."

"The price of rice has risen to two and a half dan per kilo. This price is really too high, and most of the grain and rice are shipped to Henan. The war in Yunxiang has temporarily interrupted the trade routes."

"Now that the balance of payments is already out of balance, it is already very difficult to maintain the army. To purchase food again..."

It was precisely because he knew the current finances of Hanzhong Town that Hu Zhiyi raised objections.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Wang finally chose to postpone the purchase plan of grain and rice.

"It is indeed not suitable to purchase grains and rice now, so this plan can be put on hold for the time being."

Chen Wang narrowed his eyes slightly. It turned out that he really didn't have much to do about the gap in gold and silver. However, now that he was ordered by Yang Sichang to take charge of the entire Yunyang Mansion, it was not difficult to deal with the gap in gold and silver.

"Military pay is still being paid in full, and I have already found a solution to the financial gap."

"Hanzhong Mansion has no money, but Yunyang Mansion is rich."

In the Battle of Baituguan, tens of thousands of rogue bandits were defeated. The main force of the rogue bandits indeed fled to Fang County and the south of Zhushan.

The information Chen Wang reported to Yang Sichang was indeed true, but there were also many bandits who fled in other directions within the Yunyang Mansion.

Therefore, Chen Wang also received an order from Yang Sichang - to wipe out the remaining bandits in Yunyang Mansion.

Although the gentry and landlords in Yunyang Prefecture have been attacked several times by Zhang Xianzhong and other rogue bandits, several large cities in the north of Yunyang Prefecture have not been captured, and there are still many gentry and landlords.

Whether it is gold, silver or grain, the gentry and landlords in the north of Yunyang Prefecture are not in short supply.

"How is the situation at the Ordnance Bureau?"

The Ordnance Bureau was managed by Tang Shiping, who stayed in the guard station.

Tang Shiping's ability to lead troops in battle was far inferior to his ability to manage logistics, so Chen Wang simply let Tang Shiping continue to manage Hanzhong Wei's Arms Bureau.

He doesn't know much about Chen Wang from the Arms Bureau. These days, Chen Wang's focus has been on the war situation to ensure that the situation develops according to the trajectory he has set.

"The Ordnance Bureau currently has 380 armor craftsmen and 470 two weapons craftsmen, including 87 gunsmiths, for a total of 850 three people."

"At full production, we can produce more than [-] armors per month. We can produce up to a thousand guns per month. Artillery can produce eight guns per month, not counting the time for making mud films."

The output of Everlasting gun is now very high. Now all the gun tubes produced by Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau are drilled using hydraulic gun machines, which saves the production time to one-third of the original time.

"Most of the crafts of the Ordnance Bureau now use water power. As Wang said before, water power can not only be used to drill gun tubes, but also try to use water power forging hammers to make armors. There are also craftsmen who have improved it, but the skills are not yet there. Mature."

"In the arsenal, there are three thousand seven hundred and sixty four collars of cloth-covered iron armor, four thousand seven hundred and fifty eight cannons, twelve three-pound cannons, three five-pound cannons, and only two seven-pound cannons were cast."

Hu Zhiyi also knew the Ordnance Bureau quite well, and also brought the data of the Ordnance Bureau.

"By the way, more than a thousand of the Everlasting Guns can be equipped with bayonets."

Full output does not mean monthly output. The current income and expenditure within Hanzhong Mansion cannot maintain the full production of the Arms Bureau.

Most of the ores are assets, but labor costs and transportation costs are also costs, and the costs are still considerable.

Therefore, when some gun-making craftsmen are not making fire guns, they naturally cannot be idle.

Tang Shiping sent all of them to hand-polishing the sleeves and bayonets for the produced Everyother guns. In addition, many craftsmen and apprentices also joined in the polishing sequence, and in this way more than a thousand sleeve-type bayonets were produced. of sea-sworn guns.

The Ordnance Bureau's expenditure has always been the bulk of the financial expenditure. The market price of a piece of cloth-covered armor can rise to more than ten taels including the labor and materials.

Although the cost of the Everlasting gun has been reduced a lot due to the hydraulic gun bed and the proficiency in skills, the market price of one shot still costs six taels.

Of course, the most expensive thing is the artillery. With so many bronze cannons cast, the output of the few copper mines owned by Chen Wang is naturally not enough, and many of them are ores purchased from outside.

The cost of a three-jin cannon is more than 300 taels, a five-jin cannon is almost 600 taels, and the price of a seven-jin cannon has reached 900 taels. These artillery pieces have already cost 200 taels.

And the most important thing is that artillery is easy to obtain, but artillery is difficult to cultivate.

Artillery live-fire shooting and training will cost a lot of money, and this money will continue to go in an outrageous direction.

"Three thousand muskets were sent to my main barracks, and the more than 1000 guns with bayonets were all allocated to them. Three thousand were also allocated to the armor, and the rest were allocated to the reinforcement camp led by Chen Gong."

"As for artillery, two seven-pound cannons will be brought to the main camp, and the rest will be assigned to the camp led by Chen Gong."

Chen Wang pondered for a moment, thought for a long time, and decided to arm the main barracks under his direct command first.

Chen Wang, who has more than 1000 swords with bayonets, is not prepared to separate them. He directly gathers them together to create a thousand headquarters. This is the best arrangement.

"After a while, I will send a message to our Yangge Department and write four points: no money, no soldiers, no food, no armaments, but we need pay, soldiers, food, and armaments."

Only children who can cry will have milk, and they will definitely need money and food.

Otherwise, when Yang Sichang feels that he has a strong army and strong horse, not only will he not allocate resources, but he will also be asked to continue to fight, it will be really difficult to solve.

"As for the hydraulic forging hammer..."

Chen Wang pondered for a moment and continued.

"The improvement of the process of making stamped iron armor with hydraulic forging hammers is put first, and the relevant craftsmen are allowed to study it with all their strength. Whoever can come up with an effective improvement plan will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver for the pattern. Those who make a complete improvement will be rewarded with 500 taels of silver for the pattern. Those who have improved before, according to This example serves as a reward.”

The defensive ability of cloth-covered iron armor is good, but a single pair of cloth-covered iron armor is still far inferior to plate armor.

Forging and hammering iron armor in water can not only save time, but more importantly, it can make one-piece plate armor.

A full set of plate armor is indeed expensive and extremely bulky.

But Chen Wang never planned to make a complete set of plate armor, only the upper chest armor.

Chen Wang's vision for the future was that ordinary soldiers were equipped with a full set of equipment, wearing a pointed iron helmet with a collar on their head, iron arm armor on their arms, and a plate breastplate.

"The Arms Bureau will not expand for the time being. The current scale is already sufficient."

The scale of the Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau is already sufficient, but now it is unable to exert greater production capacity due to lack of money.

Chen Wang put down the report delivered by Hu Zhiyi. The shortage of money were all problems revealed on the surface.

The underlying problem is that Hanzhong Mansion is such a large place, with extremely limited resources and population. At present, the development of power has reached its limit. Unless it continues to expand, it will already be the limit.

However, continued expansion is not realistic at present.

The pinnacle of a military official is the commander-in-chief of a town, which has reached the limit.

As an emperor, Chongzhen could not delegate more power.

The system of the Ming Dynasty determined that the probability of a military general's rebellion being successful was extremely slim.

There isn't much that Chen Wang can do now.

However, Chen Wang didn't need to do anything.

Because Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and the Qing court in the north will pave the way for him.