national surname chiming

Chapter 316 It's not bad to pick up a Hanzhong for nothing
"The general has met the governor! I don't want to thank you for your kindness. The governor's grace for saving you will never be forgotten! I will definitely work together in this life and kill the thief in return!"

When Zhu Shuren arrived in Hanzhong, he was several tens of miles away from Nanzheng County, and saw Cao Bianjiao leading his guards out of the city to greet him.When the two sides met each other, Cao Bianjiao got off his horse and stood respectfully by the side of the road, waiting for Zhu Shuren to approach, and then said these words of gratitude more humbly.

Cao Bianjiao didn't bring too many soldiers and horses, obviously he knew how many people Zhu Shuren brought in advance.Zhu Shuren had [-] guards, and Cao Bianjiao only brought [-] guards, so as not to be nervous when they met suddenly.

When they met for the first time, Zhu Shuren was really curious, and carefully scrutinized Cao Bianjiao's appearance.

Cao Bianjiao is 35 years old this year, with sharp edges and corners on his face.

He has a beautiful beard, not as exaggerated as Guan Yu's, but it is also very thick and neat, and it is trimmed into a sharp corner under the jaw, which looks very tough.

Cao Bianjiao in history ended his life at the age of 34. In the next year and a half, he has already lived a lot.Looking at this famous warrior in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shuren was also quite emotional.

He hurriedly stepped forward to help the other party: "Hey, General Cao is a senior in the army, why bother to be polite, please get on the horse and enter the city with me.

When I was a student at the beginning, I heard about General Cao's reputation, which inspired me a lot, so I decided to donate my fame and lead the army to serve the country.

As for the rescue, there is no need to mention that in the battle of Tashan and Xingshan last year, my father supervised the change of water transportation to the sea, and sent Zhang Junmen of Haidao and Zheng, the chief of the shipping department, to escort and transport grain. at all?

You are all loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but those of us who are rich in the Ming Dynasty will certainly not stand idly by when we see a chance to rescue them.Everyone worked together and said nothing thank you. "

Cao Bianjiao was pulled up by Zhu Shuren, and his heart was also moved. He didn't expect this young governor to take so little credit, and he felt ashamed:
"The last general is clumsy, and I don't know what to say for a while. Shen Butang's great kindness, of course, is also to be thanked. It's not that the last general may not have the opportunity to visit Nanjing in this life. Thanks to the governor, it's the same. Your Excellency the Governor is really loyal and warm-hearted, it is the luck of the last general to be able to work under the command of the Governor.”

Zhu Shuren smiled indifferently: "Don't say that, isn't General Cao's family also a family of loyalty, and Uncle Ling was famous for his courage and courage back then.

Even General Cao yourself, when you heard about Bai Guangen, Tang Tong and other defeated generals who fled back from the Battle of Songjin last year, you were also in awe. "

The two chatted about business, and soon became acquainted, and they became less polite.

Cao Bianjiao expressed his gratitude and respect to the governor from the bottom of his heart. He insisted on staying a horse's head behind, and followed Zhu Shuren to lead the way back to Nanzheng.

And while chatting, Cao Bianjiao soon discovered that this Governor-General was not only of great merit and kindness, but also very approachable, with a kind of respect from the bottom of his heart for all warriors.

In Zhu Shuren's speech, demeanor and expression, there is not even a trace of emphasizing civility over martial arts, which makes Cao Bianjiao and the generals around him even more sympathetic.

In particular, they all noticed that when the governor reported himself just now, he actually said that "General Cao's deeds have inspired me a lot, so I am determined to donate my fame to lead the army to serve the country."

This sentence is so natural, but it is obviously unreasonable-as we all know, Zhu Shuren was born as a Jinshi in the second list, and he is famous for admonishing the world!

Although his prison students were donated, and during the six months between the donation of the prison students and the half year between joining Chunwei, the temporary official position was bought with money, but at any rate, it only lasted half a year, and then he got a genuine imperial examination background !

In the Ming Dynasty, if you changed to another civil servant, as long as he was born in the imperial examination, who wouldn't show that he was born on the right track?Even if he ends up living in a pavilion or department hall, he no longer needs to brag, and he will inadvertently and indifferently mention his serious background.

Zhu Shuren is so open-minded, just because the official position in the first six months of his career was bought, he will say "I, Zhu, an official, bought it" for the rest of his life, which is simply unique!

It has to be said that Zhu Shuren used this trick, and he did not know how many generals he bought to have a heart-to-heart sympathy with him, thinking that he was "one of his own", and it was tried and tested.

Cao Bianjiao had never seen it before, so he was recruited without any surprise, and the degree of desperation suddenly increased by ten percent.

……

After entering Nanzheng County, in the yamen of the prefect of Hanzhong, Cao Bianjiao simply set up a reception wine, accompanied by the authentic prefect of Hanzhong Chen Junchong, and they all came up to greet Zhu Shuren one by one.

Zhu Shuren just dealt with it casually, and didn't take it seriously. These civil servants were not the focus of his efforts to win over, and there were not any geniuses among them.

This Chen Junchong was not well-known in history, so Zhu Shuren didn't know about his life, and didn't know that this person's integrity was not bad. In history, when Li Zicheng invaded, he strictly guarded the death festival.

Because of the bad times and the fact that Cao Bianjiao had just arrived, the task of raising military rations in the local area was already heavy. As the local chief official, Chen Junchong put out a rather shabby welcome banquet, which was nothing more than some game and fish and shrimp.

Zhu Shuren didn't mind either, he ate whatever he had, and he didn't drink too much, so these new subordinates looked at him again between his words and demeanor.

Everyone heard that the governor's family has been the richest man in Suzhou for several generations. It is really rare that such a top-notch dude can endure hardships.

While eating and drinking, Zhu Shuren asked about the defense deployment, military strength, and people's livelihood and taxes around Hanzhong.

Cao Bianjiao was the first to report the situation of the armament department. He cut wild boar meat with a short knife and said:
"The garrison of the original guard in Hanzhong Mansion was 4000 people, and the Gongchang Mansion and Minzhou Guard next door also had [-] soldiers each. But after the end of the day, we checked and checked, at least two-thirds of the vacancies were left! The lower third is also mostly randomly pulled to recharge.

The area around Hanzhong has not been fought much in the past three or four years, but it was washed away by repeated military disasters at the beginning.Gao Yingxiang entered Hanzhong from Yunyang six years ago, and when he finally wanted to break out of Hanzhong, he was defeated and captured in Ziwu Valley.I remember that the last general also participated in the battle with Governor Sun, but I didn't expect that Governor Sun has already... Sigh.

A few years after Gao Yingxiang's death, Yunyang was constantly in war, so he often followed Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, etc., and separated from his division to Hanzhong to wash away.The soldiers and horses of the imperial court were scattered and recruited new recruits, with no combat power at all.

Twelve years after Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong surrendered and rebelled. After that, the thieves gradually moved to other rich places. In the past two years, it has finally been peaceful here, but it is impossible to recruit elite soldiers.

Now the local defenders mainly rely on the [-] veterans brought from Taiyuan at the end, and the [-] elite soldiers from Fengxiang Mansion—the guards of Fengxiang Mansion, who were supposed to be the subordinates of Governor Sun,

However, after Governor Sun died in Xi'an, the entire army was not wiped out. The remaining Fengxiang soldiers fled back to Baoji, Mei County, and Dasan Pass. Relying on the support of Hanzhong, they could barely hold on. He gave them some food and grass from the authority. "

After Zhu Shuren heard this, he probably knew it in his heart. The existence of Cao Bianjiao's forces can provide him with at least 5000 elite soldiers, plus thousands of strong men who are drawn to the local guards.

For a long time to come, we will rely on this army to ensure that the northern line on the west side of Zhu Shuren's territory will not be disturbed, and to prevent the spread of bandits in Guanzhong to Hanzhong.

The combat power of the Taiyuan soldiers brought out by Cao Bianjiao is absolutely acceptable.

Although in the Pine Brocade War the winter before last, when they rushed to kill the Huangtaiji Banner formation, many backbone elites died in battle.

Today, a considerable part of these 1 people were only second-line troops when they were stationed in Shanhaiguan, and some were recruited again after Cao Bianjiao returned to Shanxi.But in any case, even if among the 1 people, there are three or four thousand elites who followed Cao Bianjiao and rushed to kill the Huangtaiji Banner formation, that's enough.

Today's defense in the Hanzhong area, the biggest shortcoming is civil affairs, which is the supply of military rations.

If you just hold the Hanzhong Basin, the situation is slightly better.But if we want to keep the bridgehead back to Guanzhong in the future, and keep several counties such as Baoji in Fengxiang Prefecture north of Qinling Mountains, the food consumption will be much higher.

Even those who have no knowledge of geography, just think about Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, when he transported four shi of military rations from Hanzhong, he had to eat three shi on the way to reach the Chencang crossing with one shi, and he would know how difficult and dangerous the transportation conditions were for crossing the Qinling Mountains in ancient times.

The Ming Dynasty was more than 400 years later than the end of the Han Dynasty. Of course, the traffic conditions and technology have greatly improved, but Zhu Shuren estimated that transporting one stone of grain to Baoji County would cost at least two stones and five buckets in Hanzhong. In bad weather seasons, three stones can still be achieved.

Zhu Shuren thought for a while, and immediately came up with two ideas: "Since General Cao can still secure Baoji, Dasanguan, etc., these bridgeheads in the future counterattack must not be lost. We must hold them firmly and wait for them. Guanzhong has changed.

The biggest problem in crossing the Chencang Ancient Road to defend the northern end of the Qinling Mountains is to transport food, so we must try to use as few troops as possible to ensure the defense of Baoji County and Dashan Pass—General Cao, how many troops are there in each of these two garrisons? "

Without even thinking about it, Cao Bianjiao blurted out: "The 5000 remnants of the Fengxiang Army left by Governor Sun are almost all in Baoji County, and the last general also sent an extra [-] soldiers to help defend the city.

At Dasan Pass, the final general will be stationed with 2 soldiers and horses from the headquarters, and half of the guards in Hanzhong Prefecture.There are 5000 people in Hanzhong, but about [-] people are deployed in these two most important places.

In the rest of Nanzheng City, there were only [-] soldiers and horses stationed, and another [-] elite troops occupied the Taibai Mountain at Baoxie Road, Ziwu Valley, and Hanshui Valley, which is adjacent to Yunyang.

Both Baoxie Road and Ziwu Valley are more steep than Chencang Road, and they are also plank roads, so it doesn't take too many troops to defend them, especially at the entrance of Ziwu Valley, where hundreds of people guard the pass, which is enough for ten thousand people to pass. "

Zhu Shuren thought for a while, and the defensive force of other main roads really couldn't be reduced any more. The Hanzhong Basin doesn't seem to have a large population, but it occupies a large area, with too many mountainous areas, and the openings to be guarded are more scattered.

Therefore, in order to save the number of people, the most important thing is to reduce the garrisons in Baoji County and Dasanguan, so that less military food will be transported to the north this year and next.

So he made some calculations and suggested: "That being the case, reduce the garrison at Dasan Pass by half, and strive for 3000 people to guard the pass. The officer will allocate all the old-fashioned firecrackers in the army to the guards, and make up at least [-] soldiers. Rods, coupled with hundreds of bird guns, Lumi guns, one hundred turtledove guns, and twenty new-style Frang machines.

As for gunpowder, more than [-] jin of gunpowder will be transported at one time. As for lead bullets, in addition to foreign shipments, you can also consider making them locally. It can be plugged.

With such heavy firearms, and relying on the danger of the Qinling Mountains, 3000 people will definitely be able to defend it.Baoji County will also give a batch of more firearms to reduce the number of guards to 5000. "

Cao Bianjiao wanted to seek stability at first, but he didn't stop him when the governor said that the firearms were enough.

Although the old-fashioned firearms are slow to fire and cumbersome and inefficient, it doesn't matter if you stand on the city wall.Sophisticated new weapons, of course, should be given priority to field troops.

On the other hand, all the armies under Zhu Shuren's command must be on a first-come-first-served basis. Zhu Shuren himself can give Cao Bianjiao preferential treatment because he is a famous general of a generation and a famous name in history books.However, the other generals under Zhu Shuren's command inevitably had their own thoughts, thinking that they had been with the governor for many years, so they were not as valued as the newcomers.

In order to keep the water level, the best way is to let Cao Bianjiao fight the defensive battle with old-fashioned firearms first. After his troops follow Zhu Shuren, they have also made meritorious service and withstood the test. Zhu Shuren will give him a higher salary. If you change your equipment, you won't say anything if you get caught.

In the real world, manipulating people's minds to rule subordinates is not playing the strategy game "Three Kingdoms" - my original military commander has an intelligence of 95, and when I recruit a general with an intelligence of 98, I can immediately withdraw the original military commander and replace him with this 98 intelligent general. .

Not to mention leaving the number of generals such as the big chariot guards empty, and after capturing Lu Bu, Guan Yu, and Zhao Yun to surrender, they can be promoted directly to the big chariot guards, and then the old subordinates will be given a few hundred taels of gold to make up for their loyalty. .

The ruler who dared to do this in the real world was killed by his subordinates long ago.

After finishing the matter of deploying troops and saving rations, Zhu Shuren turned to Chen Junchong: "Prefect Chen, I don't know how the people's livelihood is in this Hanzhong prefecture, and the tax and rations may provide the rations for the [-] soldiers?
If it is not enough, can you assign some soldiers to farm in your spare time?As long as you spend two months of training every year in addition to farming, the combat power should not drop too obviously.I just don't know if there is enough land in Hanzhong. "

Chen Junchong quickly replied: "A few years ago, Hanzhong was full of dissatisfaction among the people, and was repeatedly ravaged by thieves. Now it has long been sparsely populated. During repeated wars, ten people died and seven to eight people died, and almost all the rich and educated people were killed.

Thirteen years after Chongzhen, it barely started to resume production.However, the tax is still not collected very much. The people were too miserable before, and they have just been postponed for two years. If the tax is paid in full this year, it will only be the third year after the resumption of production.

If Cao Junmen can allocate manpower and set up the army on its own, the lower officials will definitely be able to allocate a sufficient amount of land for cultivation, but the harvest will be difficult to guarantee, and the local water conservancy has also been in disrepair for a long time, and was too severely damaged by the war before.

After the next official took office, he tried his best to persuade the people to rebuild the water conservancy within two years, and not to exhaust the lake and fish and reclaim land like the refugees from Shaanxi, but the improvement is not great. "

After hearing these words, Zhu Shuren felt a sense of knowing Chen Junchong.These days, those who know how to persuade the people to build water conservancy projects and make long-term plans are considered good and knowledgeable officials.

When he was in Wuchang, he always urged the people to build water conservancy and never engage in destructive reclamation. For those who came from Shaanxi and farmed after the thieves surrendered, as long as they have the bad habit of driving those bad money out of good money to Huguang Yes, it will be severely punished——

Of course, Zhu Shuren never only punished bad people, he also punished evil gentry equally.As for landlords who violated the permanent tenancy rights, did not lease the well-protected fertile land to fixed tenants permanently, and wanted to increase the rent by exchanging land, Zhu Shuren was like a slaughterer.

Under Zhu Shuren's rule, there has always been only one iron rule for tenancy rights: whoever protects the land well has the right to grow the land forever, and cannot increase the land rent, nor can they use the increase as an excuse to force the other party to change a field. .

If the boss of Wangpu does a good job, the landlord will increase the rent or change the store, who will do a good job!

Zhu Shuren exchanged a few words with Chen Junchong, and immediately expressed his opinion: "You can rest assured on this point, I will support you. When I was in Huguang, I disregarded the laws of the Ming Dynasty and severely cracked down on the trick of exchanging land and increasing rent.

In addition, since Hanzhong has a vast land and few people, and there is a temporary lack of irrigation, we can promote the planting of the new corn brought by our officials.The yield of this product is much higher than that of wheat, and the key is to save water.

As long as [-]% of the irrigation water for planting wheat is needed, corn can be fed.It is said that it is best to rotate wheat in winter and corn in late spring.

But it is not impossible to plant in late summer and early autumn. It is nothing more than a season of winter wheat, and it must be harvested before the cold winter, which will lose several percent of the yield compared with the corn in late spring.Since Hanzhong's water conservancy is bad, it's better to push it up for a while.I brought tens of thousands of corn and potatoes with the army this time, which can be used as seeds. "

After Chen Junchong heard it, he was also amazed: "I didn't expect the governor to be so proficient in Nongsang. I really admire it. I will go to prepare it."

(End of this chapter)