A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 668 This Land
In mid-July of the 15th year of Chongzhen, Xuanfu was divided into Xundao North Road and Dushicheng.

This city is the northernmost pass of the Great Wall in Xuanfu Town, and it is also one of the most dangerous passes on the Great Wall. Looking at the Baihe River in the south of the city, there is a flat land protruding like a strange rock. Then the two mountains are facing each other, and only a single rider can pass by.

Xiongguan is majestic, look at the continuous Great Wall, spreading in various mountains, smoke pier one after another, but, everywhere in the Great Wall, many places are already dilapidated, and the mountains are also bare, not to mention trees, there are few weeds, captive horses can easily The earth entered the mouth from every hill and slope.

At this time, all the generals gathered around Wang Dou, looking at a mountain, pointing to one place, praising Qin Yi, and said in a vicissitudes of life: "Xuan Town is surrounded by three sides, and the single stone is especially the throat of the whole town. After the land protrudes from the mountain, it is lonely and fortified, the shoulders of the capital are on Xuanzhen, and the shoulders of Xuanzhen are on the monolith."

He said: "The frontier is majestic, easy to defend and difficult to attack. This is a place that military strategists must contend for. In the 20th year of Yongle, Cheng Zu personally conquered Mobei for the third time. From this, the army crossed Dushikou and advanced to Kaiping. Arutai dared not fight. , abandoned all their belongings, and fled to the north.”

He sighed: "It's a pity that in the fifth year of Xuande, Daming lost Daning, Xinghe was abolished, and Kaiping was isolated outside the Great Wall. Yangwuhou Xue Lu repeatedly asked, so Daming abandoned more than [-] miles of land and lost the land of Longgang on the Luan River. Since then, the northern captives have invaded through Dushikou many times."

Wang Dou said: "If you want to guard the river, you must guard the Huai River, and if you want to guard the Dushi, you must guard Kaiping. Right now, our division has occupied Pingding Fort (the source of Gu in later generations) and set up various grasslands. In the future, we can travel along the Luan River , and then reopen Kaiping Old Guard, and then occupy Yingchang in the north and control the nearby pastures and deserts.”

On July [-]th, Wang Dou led the guard camp again, and the generals of the Jingbian Army went from Wanquan Youwei City to Yehuling to inspect Xinghesuo and Shacheng outside the Great Wall.

The temperature difference outside the Great Wall is huge, and even after a while, there will be frost, and the ultraviolet rays are very strong, so everyone put on thick autumn and winter clothes and rode healthy horses.

Yehuling Mountain is high and steep, and the wind is fierce. Geese fly over here and fall when encountering the wind. It is the junction of Wanquan County and Zhangbei County in later generations, and it is also the dividing point between the upper and lower dams, and the dividing line between farming and nomadism. , because the forest is tall and grassy, ​​and the wild foxes were in groups in ancient times, so it is called Yehuling.

When everyone went to the wild fox ridge, Gao Shiyin rode his horse and said with emotion: "I don't see a wild fox, but a gazelle. I beat one and roasted it to eat."

At noon, everyone feasted on the gazelle shot by Gao Shiyin. Pointing to the peaks in front of him, Qin Yi sighed: "This mountain can see the rise and fall of China. When Genghis Khan conquered gold, there were 40 golden soldiers lined up with wild foxes." Lingbei, a big defeat, all elites are lost."

"The Kingdom destroyed Da Yuan, and Emperor Yuan Shun fled from the city with his empress and concubines Wen and Wu. He crossed Yehu Ridge and went to Yuan Shangdu. In the third year of Hongwu, Li Wenzhong, the deputy general of the left, left Ye Hu Ridge with 10 people. After defeating the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, 60 people below Michi were captured. During the reign of Yongle, Chengzu made several expeditions to Mobei, and he came back from Yehuling."

He sighed: "After Xuande shrank the frontier, from the fifth year of Xuande to the 38th year of Jiajing, there were 38 large-scale invasions by northern captives. Since then, the cold smoke has decayed the grass, and the wind of the Central Plains has been cut off since then."
Gao Shiyin laughed loudly: "Although I am also a scholar, I am not as sentimental as Qin Zanhua. It is normal to advance and retreat. No, our Han army is not out of the fortress again?"

All the riders were passing through the mountain road in the valley, and wild beasts could be seen from time to time, and when they came out of the mountain pass, their eyes lit up.

Sparse forests, willow bushes, grasslands, and meandering rivers, lakes, patches of birch trees, maple trees, and many leaves are slowly turning golden, with fiery red inside, golden leaves intersecting, emerald emerald flowing gold!

It feels like seeing an oil painting.

Here, the temperature is also a little lower. It seems that the average temperature has dropped a lot. Although it has not yet entered autumn, it still feels like it is too cold at high places.

The shogunate set up fortresses and pastures here, mainly around the original Xinghesuo City, Shacheng, and Haizi in the northwest of Shacheng.

Many refugees moved here to plant wheat, soybeans, sugar beets, etc., and the grasslands here are vast, with abundant water and grass. There are also many livestock farms, and fur and meat processing factories have also been established one by one.

Along the way, dense villages are working. These new villages mainly adopt the land management system, similar to large farms. The villagers, like hired labor, receive monthly rations, clothing, food, wages, salt and tea, etc.

However, owning one's own land has been the longing of the Chinese people for thousands of years. The current land management system is in a transitional stage, and eventually, the land will be divided into households.

Of course, some of their official organizations will remain unchanged in the future. After all, is it possible for a single household to have the ability to build water conservancy and fight disasters?
At present, because of regulations, those who work hard can be given priority in obtaining naturalization and Chinese registration, and in giving priority to land. The implementation of camping in each fort is still effective, and it is also conducive to opening up wasteland for farming and promoting horse farming.

These fortresses not only garrison fields, but also their surrounding farms, chicken and duck farms, vegetable gardens, etc. Don’t underestimate their material resources. This time, we will go to the outside of the Great Wall and wait for some old fortresses to support many frontlines. Food, as well as pork and beef, vegetables, wood, coffins, stretchers, fruits and so on.

Greatly reduce the strength of transporting materials from the mouth.

"General, at first glance, the establishment of the fortresses, the land camp system, the restoration of agricultural production, and the reclamation of fields are very effective, but people's hearts are like this. In the end, it is inevitable to divide the fields by households."

Zhang Gui, the ambassador of the Department of Civil Affairs, was also by Wang Dou's side at this time, he said with emotion.

Qin Yi also said: "Indeed, at the beginning of the Kingdom of China, a field division was set up. Within a few years, the barn was full of grain and rice, and it didn't cost a single grain to feed millions of troops."

"It's just that these reclamation troops, all the income from the camps are admitted to the government, no more than the army. They pay a certain amount of grain and rice, and the rest belong to themselves. After a long time, the land has no real acres, the army has no real registration, and the collection has no real rent. , the weak compensated, the strong robbed, and even deducted the monthly rations of the reclamation army as tax, resulting in a shortage of troops and losses for both soldiers and farmers. In the end, the land was divided according to military households, and a part of the grain was paid. Of course, the guards are now in decline. gone."

Wang Dou sighed: "That's right, there is no such thing as perfect, everything accumulates over time, and there are always disadvantages."

He thought of the Construction Corps of later generations, which was full of vigor and great contribution in the early days, but gradually, it also suffered from poor management, serious losses, and even severe staff reductions. Some divisions even lacked more than one-third of their staff, and their organizational system was seriously incomplete.

Even if in the future the farmlands are divided into households, the same, people are lazy and diligent, and some people are poorly managed, and it is difficult to pay taxes and food. Looking at ancient and modern times, all countries in the world, there is no good way to solve this problem.

Chickens and dogs smell each other, horses neigh, and the scenery of the castles in front of you is full of vigor.

Surrounding each fort, there are also some small villages, or a few households, or a dozen households, or dozens of households gathered together. These villages have complex sources, including veterans' meritorious fields and pastures, and there are also villages set up by merchants and people. Livestock etc.

Their buildings also give full play to the wisdom of the masses. There are traditional wooden fence walls, and more, the gates are inward, the house walls are outward, and multiple households are gathered together, similar to courtyard buildings.

Of course, there are differences, because there are perforations and small windows on the wall of the house, and the residents can shoot from there with bird guns.

This kind of building integrates living and defense, and there is no need to build a wall or a safety point. A circle of trenches can be dug under the wall. Dozens of women and children, holding bird guns, can kill hundreds of horse thieves outside the Great Wall, and some The invading tribe and others fled in embarrassment.

After all, they don't have artillery, and the merchants living outside the Great Wall all have certificates for holding guns, and they all bought sharp bird guns, as well as powerful potions, bows and arrows to attack the enemy, who are their opponents?
The gate is also between the two houses. In this place alone, there are five firepower points, two of which are still flanking, if the bandits break through the gate.

Not to mention, all the villages support each other, and when the horse bandits come, the military fort and the fort will also send troops.

More simply, we also saw buildings in the style of Hakka Tulou, which are more defensive and more and more popular among business people outside the Great Wall.

Not far to the northwest of Shacheng, there is a lake, later called Anguli Nao Lake, but now it is called Angkun Naoerhai.

Looking at the sea, there are geese, geese, swans, geese, etc. in it, looking from a distance like people, those standing, sitting, and walking, the white ones are like snow, the black ones are like ink, or they will fly away when they are chased by horses. Spin down, fly back and forth in the water.

Going to the northwest, there is another Haizi, which the locals call Chahannaoerhai. In the early Ming Dynasty, Chahannaoerwei was set up. I don’t understand how this Haizi turned into Huanaoer. It has the meaning of cursing the Han people, so Wang Dou all changed their names, Angkun Naoerhai was called Mie Huhai, and Han Naoerhai was called Jinghuhai.

Qin Yi said: "Kaiping used to be the upper capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Shacheng, and the middle capital of the Yuan Dynasty. I heard and read the history books that this place is the most suitable for herding horses. If you look at it today, you will know the scenery outside the Great Wall. In the past, you read it but saw it on paper. It is not as good as it is today. See you."

Military forts have been built on both sides of Haizi, and local defenses have been set up to guard the various large and small forts in the south.

In the current Jingbian army, the militant atmosphere is very strong. Everyone wants to go out to fight in the field. If they are allowed to garrison for a long time and lose the opportunity to make meritorious service, it will inevitably make the sergeants dissatisfied, so it is best to take turns to garrison.

And these troops, even if they are in the local area, do not participate in all aspects of affairs such as farming, except for drills on weekdays.

If there is a war, the local garrison can also mobilize troops such as Tunbao villages under its jurisdiction.

Standing by the lake, you can see countless swans, wild geese, hares, roe deer, foxes and other birds and beasts.

Pointing to the west, Wang Dou said: "Going to the west, there is Jining Haizi. You can re-establish Guanshanwei. If you occupy Guihua City and control the Yinshan line, then set up Kaipingwei and Monan line. All the strongholds are connected to form a With a complete defense system, this piece of land has returned to my Han family."

Gao Shiyin shook his head and said, "The death of my Qilian Mountain will make my animals invincible, and the loss of my Yanzhi Mountain will make my women colorless...haha..."

All the generals are excited, to control Monan, to declare that there is no threat to the Great Northern Border, and a steady stream of immigrants can flock here.

Wen Fangliang frowned and said: "In the north of the Yin Mountain, it is cold and dry, and there are deserts everywhere. It is difficult for the Han people to use their long skills in farming. I heard that the west end of the Yin Mountain is also a continuous desert Gobi, which extends to the Western Regions. It is not suitable for farming or grazing. It's enough to reach Yinshan Mountain, so why don't we, the Jingbian army, only occupy Yinshan Mountain?"

Han Chaodao: "From the perspective of military affairs, the Yin Mountains go north, the population is cut off, the desert Gobi is desolate and barren, occupying the south of the desert, the Han soldiers go south to the north, and it is also inconvenient for Hu'er to go south to herd horses."

Wang Dou smiled and said: "Otherwise, the price of the Northern Land is more expensive than gold, and you will understand in the future."

(End of this chapter)