Daming: Old Zhu, we agreed not to rush!

Chapter 407: On Food and Grass Guarantee in War

"How's it going, Prince Yan, do you have any ideas?"

Su Jing also stopped.

After Zhu Di pondered for a while, he said: "Mr. Su, the students feel that this is a systematic project, and food security cannot be solved by just one aspect or method."

"Well, yes, the idea is right. So what can King Yan think of?"

Su Jing looked at Zhu Di and asked with a smile.

Before, he and Zhu Di basically talked about how to arrange their troops and how to win when the two armies faced each other.

The logistics aspect has basically not been mentioned.

Su Jing also wanted to know how much Zhu Di understood the importance of logistics in war.

Zhu Di replied: "Sir, food is the most important material in war. If you want to ensure the safety of food, you need to have enough soldiers to protect it."

"In addition, the transportation of food is also very critical, because the transportation of food and grass is more difficult and slower than the march of combat soldiers, so it usually needs to go first. This is why there is a saying that the food and grass go first before the soldiers and horses move."

Su Jing couldn't help but nodded and said: "It seems that King Yan has a very good understanding of the importance of grain and grass. So, does King Yan know how efficient the Ming Dynasty's army is in transporting grain to the Northern Expedition? If you want to transport grain and grass from the Ming Dynasty to For one stone of grain in the frontier, how much will be consumed on the road?”

Zhu Di shook his head and said, "Students don't know."

Although Zhu Di was very interested in fighting, he also wanted to join the military camp and fight on the battlefield.

But at this age, it is definitely too early.

He didn't know much about the details of food and grass.

Su Jing smiled and said: "If it is transported normally, if one stone of grain is sent to the front line, at least seven stone of grain will be lost on the way. Although it is not that one stone will be lost, it will not be too different."

"There are so many!"

Zhu Di was a little surprised and said: "Even if the soldiers transporting food want to eat, they won't eat so much, right?"

Zhu Di had never understood this aspect of grain transportation efficiency before.

Zhu Di was a little confused when he heard such an inefficient grain transportation efficiency.

Su Jing said lightly: "King Yan, in addition to people who need to eat food, the toads who transport food also need to eat food, even more than people. At the same time, the routes for transporting food are not all smooth official roads. Some wear and tear is completely normal.”

In fact, when Su Jing learned about the efficiency of grain transportation in ancient times in her previous life, her reaction was similar to Zhu Di's.

Through such an efficiency in transporting grain, Su Jing immediately understood that the millions of troops recorded in history books were simply impossible.

With just this level of production efficiency in ancient times, it was impossible to supply the food and grass consumption of a million-strong army.

Whether it is the East or the West.

An army of one hundred thousand is already a very large number.

Moreover, among the [-] troops, the number of units that can effectively fight is estimated to be only [-] to [-].

In this way, in some battles, it is logical to bring one or two thousand elite soldiers to stand out from the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of troops.

"Mr. Su, if that's the case, then wouldn't the most important thing to ensure the safety of the army's food and grass be transportation?"

Zhu Di thought quickly and expressed his doubts towards Su Jing.

Su Jing smiled and said: "Transportation is naturally very important. I just said why Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition always failed. This is directly related to the difficulty of transporting grain and grass."

"An army without food will have no combat effectiveness. To ensure the safety of food and grass, transportation is the key. In order to solve this problem, your father, didn't he imitate the military system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and invent the guard system."

"The capital reaches all counties and counties, and all have guards and posts. External control is in the capital, and internal control is in the governor's office of the five armies. Each sergeant receives 50 acres of land, cattle and farm tools, and is exempted from all taxes and labor."

"This intuitively solves the problem of food and grass. During non-war periods, soldiers farm and are self-sufficient and can also store some food. During wartime, the stored food can be used directly. Because it is farmed locally, transportation is much simpler. .”

When it comes to war matters, Zhu Yuanzhang is really good at it. Looking at the long history of China, not only the emperors, but even the famous generals of all dynasties are included, there are few who can compare with him.

Zhu Di listened carefully, but he did not expect that his father had done so many things that he didn't know about.

For example, Zhu Di had never paid attention to the health institution system before.

The fundamental reason why he likes to march and fight is because he feels that as a man, he should gallop on the battlefield and make achievements.

Even if it was something like logistics, he felt that it should be a matter for counselors, and he only needed to take care of the frontline battles.

Su Jing continued: "But the guard system is only a system that suits the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. It will not work after a long time."

"Why? Are there any shortcomings in this health center system?"

Zhu Di asked curiously.

Su Jing said calmly: "King Yan, think about it, the Ming Dynasty has made several Northern Expeditions, and there are constant foreign invasions. The guard system is to ensure that the Ming army has sufficient food and grass while not squeezing the people too much. In this kind of system, It’s naturally very useful when you’re often in battle.”

"But what if we wait until all the foreign troubles are almost eliminated? When the remaining troubles of the Yuan Dynasty are completely resolved, and no foreign enemies dare to launch a war against the Ming Dynasty again, what do you think the guard system will look like?"

Zhu Di frowned, he really hadn't thought about such a far-reaching thing.

At this moment, following Su Jing's train of thought, he began to think about it.

"If there was no war, these soldiers stationed in the fields would grow more and more food, and there would be no need to pay taxes on this food."

Zhu Di said to himself: "The food in the guard system is used by the army, but the army cannot consume it, so it can only be sold. In this way, wouldn't the generals of the border army become rich?" ?”

"Just like this, what kind of impact will it have?"

After all, Zhu Di's brain was mostly used in marching and fighting, but not so good in other aspects.

"Students don't know anymore."

Zhu Di looked up at Su Jing and explained his situation directly.

Su Jing said lightly: "What King Yan said is basically correct, but there is one thing. These farms under the guard system will only be slowly occupied by high-ranking officials in the court or generals in the army. Ordinary soldiers farming The pay will get lower and lower, until they can no longer accept it and run away. When it comes time to go to war, they may not even be able to gather the number of soldiers, so they will have to recruit new soldiers."

What Su Jing is talking about now is exactly what happened in the Ming Dynasty more than 100 years later.

At that time, when the Ming Dynasty was fighting, there were not enough soldiers, and they even went to Liaodong and Shaanxi to recruit mercenaries.

There is no way, these fields that are exempt from tax and labor under the health system are the highest quality land resources.

At the same time, under the guard system, the army cultivated fertile land on the spot, and most of the war areas were far away from the capital. The so-called sky is high and the emperor is far away, and the probability of being discovered is also very low.

Land annexation itself was the biggest disaster of the Ming Dynasty, and the army was no exception.

Of course, for Zhu Di now, these are just Su Jing's analytical insights.

But Zhu Di knew that what Su Jing said was definitely not false.

"Really? This health system is so harmful? Isn't this a disaster for our Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Di said to Su Jing with a surprised look on his face.

Su Jing shook her head and said with a smile: "King Yan, you have misunderstood. This is not the harm of the guard system. It can only be regarded as a drawback at best. Without the guard system, wouldn't there be people who want to occupy these fertile lands? "You have to look at the essence of things. Considering the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, the health system is still very useful. At least it reduces the burden on the people, doesn't it?"

"It's just that your father has one characteristic, do you know? King Yan."

Characteristics of Zhu Yuanzhang!

Zhu Di was frightened when he listened to Su Jing's words.

Su Jing actually dared to criticize her father so casually. He was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty!
It is a capital offense to speak ill of the emperor.

But Zhu Di also knew that this definitely did not apply to Su Jing.

So at this time, Zhu Di just lowered his head and said nothing.

Su Jing continued: "Your father is too confident. He confidently thinks that what he has set up is the best, and there is no need for any changes. As long as you descendants can follow the policies he set and do not change, Then we will have endless descendants, and the Ming Dynasty will last forever."

"Of course, now that he is a little better, he knows that he has asked for a change, so my urging is not in vain."

Lao Zhu's pursuit of stability is really engraved in his bones.

However, Zhu Di did not feel this deeply because he was still young, had not experienced many things, and Ming Dynasty had not yet stabilized.

"Mr. Su, my father is a holy king. Isn't this bad?"

Zhu Di asked Su Jing.

He didn't fully agree with Su Jing's words.

Su Jing said: "Your father must be Mingjun, but whether he is a saint or not, it depends on the standard."

Zhu Di's face twitched, and he was already struggling with how to report to his father after he returned.

"Mr. Su, what if we want to change it? How should Ming Dynasty change this health system in the future?"

Zhu Di had no choice but to redirect the topic.

Su Jing didn't pay much attention, looked at Zhu Di and said: "This is not the focus of today's explanation, and it is not included in the content of food and grass security. Let's not mention it for now."

"When it comes to food and grass security, the health center system is one aspect, but this alone is definitely not enough."

"Since the problem of too long transportation routes can be solved through local farming, another option is to build grain roads to facilitate transportation."

"Transportation is a crucial factor in war. In addition to the offensive route traffic that needs to be opened for forward attacks, there is also baggage route traffic for transporting supplies from the rear."

"Let me ask you, King Yan, what is the main mode of transportation for transporting grain in this war?"

Zhu Di immediately replied: "Manpower and livestock, some water battles can use boats."

Su Jing nodded and said: "Yes, today's wars basically have these three options. The most common of them is livestock. The number of transportation is more than manpower, and the environment it can adapt to is more than water power."

“There are only so many modes of transportation, so how can we improve the efficiency of transportation?”

Zhu Di said without thinking: "Road! The better the road, the faster the transportation will be."

"Very good! Roads are another important factor in ensuring the security of food and grass during the war."

Su Jing said: "And good roads are not only conducive to transporting grain, but also conducive to transporting troops. Do you still remember the lesson I gave during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year about Qin's unification of the six countries? The carriages are on the same track, and they seem to be prescribed carriages. The actual purpose of the specifications is to unify the road and improve driving efficiency."

"At the same time, we will open up roads across the country and establish a transportation network that connects all directions. Ying Zheng is very serious about the importance of roads."

Su Jing's words instantly brought Zhu Di's thoughts back to last year's Mid-Autumn Festival.

Su Jing at that time did indeed describe many aspects of the unification of the Qin Dynasty, including some descriptions of Lu.

"I see, students are taught."

Zhu Di saluted seriously.

The two of them talked as they walked, and they had returned to the small courtyard.

Su Jing opened the door and said to Zhu Di: "Prince Yan, would you like to soak your feet?"

???

Zhu Di didn't react for a while. Su Jing's thinking was really jumping too fast.

Without waiting for Zhu Di to answer, Su Jing said directly: "You came on horseback, so you must soak. Let's go to the kitchen to boil water."

"Yes, Mr. Su."

Zhu Di immediately followed Su Jing to the kitchen.

Not long after, a pot of hot water was boiled. Su Jing found two more footbaths, one for each person, and started soaking her feet in hot water directly in the kitchen.

If you want to say why not go to the hall to soak in the room, it is naturally convenient to heat the water next to the pot.

Although Su Jing's place is said to be a small courtyard, it is actually quite large, and the kitchen space is enough for two people to soak their feet.

"Hiss...it feels so comfortable."

Su Jing felt the burning sensation on his feet, which was extremely comfortable. He also added some ginger to remove the foot odor.

Zhu Di was naturally very comfortable. Although he didn't have to walk when riding a horse, it was still very tiring for his feet to stand in stirrups all the way.

"Mr. Su, is this enough food and grass guarantee?"

Zhu Di took the opportunity to continue asking Su Jing.

"Why, what else does King Yan want to know?"

Su Jing said with a smile.

Zhu Di replied: "The students feel that although what Mr. Su said is very useful, there seems to be something more."

"Oh, what?"

Su Jing said lightly.

Zhu Di said: "Mr. Su has taught students the theory of large-depth combat before. Some of the tactics. Mr. Su told the students that the current level of firearms cannot be achieved, but in the future, it will be possible when firearms continue to develop."

"The students wondered whether the guarantee of food and grass would be different at that time."

Hearing this, Su Jing was also shocked by Zhu Di.

Good guy, Zhu Di is really a natural-born general, he can think of all this.

Obviously, I was still a rookie who didn't know much about logistics support before, but now I am directly reminded of the supply transportation in modern warfare.

Su Jing paused and said: "Of course there are changes. Let's take the simplest one, changes in transportation methods."

(End of this chapter)