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

Chapter 717
On September 15th, [-]th year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou arrived at Guihua City. Of course, those huge captured prisoners were still walking slowly behind, and Wang Dou sent an army to escort them.

Grasslands always give people the feeling of vast land and few people, and few settlements. When Wang Dou led his army along the way, he saw tall weeds everywhere, and from time to time more than a dozen gazelles sprang out from the forest in the mountains. Although they looked like sheep, they The hoof is as high as a deer, and its movement is like flying.

Although there are also droughts, such an ecological environment is undoubtedly much better than that of later generations. Looking up at the sky, the sky is beautiful without industrial pollution. It is just that human beings need to develop, and environmental damage is inevitable, but he from later generations can choose less. Take a detour and choose the one with the highest cost-effectiveness ratio.

Coming down from Daqing Mountain, you can see large tracts of land suitable for herding along the way. At this time, Omubu is by Wang Dou's side, and he is quite proud to introduce to Wang Dou: "I, Tumet people are best at herding, and we Mongolians love livestock. It’s like how the Han people cherish their crops, especially their horses, and in autumn when the horses are tall and fat, they want to control the horses to make their mounts fat and strong.”

He said: "I remember the elders said that after the Longqing peace talks, our Tumed department exchanged more and more horses with Daming every year. Six years after Wanli, in the Zhangjiakou horse market alone, the annual horse exchange volume was [-]. Horses, the war horses that the general will need in the future will be included in our Tumed troops.”

Wang Dou laughed loudly and said, "I will definitely trouble you, King Shunyi, in the future."

Emubu smiled straightly: "It should be, it should be, as the Marquis of Yongning said, the reconciliation between Han and Meng is a matter of mutual benefit, Marquis is too polite."

Of course, Wang Dou would not be polite to Omubu. Grassland herdsmen naturally have their advantages in raising animals in such a sparsely populated place. Natural pastures will save them a lot of money and food in the future.

What interested Wang Dou was that the closer it was to Guihua City, the more farmland ditches would be reclaimed.

According to historical records, since the Jiajing period, there have been settled cities and towns in Monan. As of the fifth year of Longqing, before and after the tribute was granted, Yuntian Fengzhou has thousands of hectares and hundreds of villages. All of Mert's ministries are relying on the board to increase the harvest.

Bansheng means a village or town. Guihua City is also called Dabansheng by the Mongolians. There are many kinds of crops such as grain, millet, scallion, sorghum, and broomcorn in the surrounding area.

But from Wang Dou's point of view, the agricultural production of the Tumed Department is still very backward, and there is a lot of room for improvement.

Soon Guihua City was in front of us. In the sixth year of Longqing, Alda Khan built Qingcheng mostly in Xiaoyuan. After four years of construction, the city was basically completed. Altan Khan sent envoys to the Ming court to invite The name of the city was given to the city, and Emperor Wanli gave it the name "Guihua". He also gave Buddha statues, scriptures, python satin and other things, which is the origin of Guihua City.

The city in front of us rests on the towering and majestic Daqing Mountain in the north, the undulating Manhan Mountain in the east, the Hetao in the west, and the Dahei River in the south. Because the city is all made of blue bricks, it is really blue in the distance, and it is extraordinary under the sunshine. .

In the ninth year of Wanli, Altan Khan also built an outer city with a circumference of [-] miles to make the city larger.

Looking at this city, all the generals of the Jingbian army had strange expressions in their eyes. This is the first big city outside the Great Wall they conquered. Will there be more in the future?
Wang Dou listened to Gao Shiyin behind him let out a long breath, and subconsciously moved away from him. All the generals around him were like this. Knowledgeable, but always revealing his true colors.

Sure enough, after taking a long breath, he chanted loudly: "Ah, the passers-by are tricky and the wind is dark, and the princess's pipa is full of grievances. Camping is thousands of miles away without a city, and the rain and snow are pouring into the desert. Hu Yan whines and flies every night, and Hu Er's tears fall .”

Ermubu's face twitched, pretending he didn't hear it, when he reached the gate of the city, as the original owner, he respectfully said to Wang Dou: "Master, please."

Wang Dou smiled and said, "Please, King Shunyi."

At this time, Guihua City was guarded by the new army camp of Datong Town, and Tian Qiming, the right battalion general of the Xuanwu Army, led a part of the second-class army, and Sun Sanjie, the general of the supply camp, was transporting food and grass. At this time, he was waiting outside the north gate early. , Everyone was very happy to meet each other.

As soon as Tian Qiming saw Wang Dou's face, he shouted loudly: "Congratulations to the great general for a great victory outside the Great Wall, and praise my Jingbian army!"

Sun Sanjie is not good at expressing, but the joy in his eyes has revealed his inner emotions.

Wang Dou laughed and said, "Captain Tian You is still so eloquent, he deserves to be brought out by Ambassador Tian."

Tian Qiming was originally a servant under Tian Changguo's command. These people from the old army generally have a lot more oily temperament, but this is just a small detail, which can be ignored. After all, there are thousands of people, so we should not demand the same.

The army continued to enter Guihua City. Wang Dou, Wang Pu, and Emubu were in front. Not long after entering from the north gate, Wang Dou shook his head secretly. …

All kinds of shacks, pieces of huts, tents, piles here and there, vegetable plots and fields, cattle pens and sheep pens everywhere, potholed streets in disrepair, many silted ditches, occasionally There are some slightly gorgeous temples, which are not planned at all.

Fortunately, due to the arrival of the Jingbian army and others, the streets have been cleaned everywhere, and the road surface is still clean, but it seems that the residual smell of horse manure and sheep manure, as well as the pungent quicklime smell are still in the nose.

Although Altan Khan is ambitious, his ability is limited, so he can only do so. However, in the eyes of ordinary herdsmen, this city is already extremely magnificent and prosperous.

We must plan carefully in the future, after all, the shell of this city is still very good.

Wang Dou also noticed that there were still traces of fire and destruction everywhere inside and outside the city, but it was in the fifth year of Chongzhen that after Huang Taiji defeated Lin Danhan, he looted the city extensively, and the Houjin soldiers finally set fire to the city. , Many houses and temples in Guihua City were burned down. When the city was first built, most of the eight tall buildings and the glazed gold and silver halls collapsed.

Seeing all this, Omubu also talked about it, and Wang Dou couldn't help but said: "This is really a destruction of civilization. Yidi led beasts to eat people, and the ancients did not deceive me."

Recalling the destruction of the city by Houjin soldiers at that time, Emubu gritted his teeth and said, "That's right, you hateful Manchurian Tartars, really barbarians, barbarians!"

Ermubu considers himself a descendant of the Great Yuan Dynasty, and looks down on those Manchurians in his bones. Although Nurhachi and others claim to be the descendants of the Jurchens of the Jin Kingdom, who knows which corner of the valley they ran out of?Although they were also called captives by the Han people in the Central Plains, the Tumet tribe still felt that they were more like civilized people and regarded the Manchurians in the east as barbarians, just like the British thought of Americans back then.

Of course, the generals of the Jingbian army did not have the feelings of Wang Dou and Ermubu. Everyone just looked at them, and the exotic atmosphere made them very interested.

Although Wang Pu had been stationed in Guihua City for a while, he was still not used to it, so he curled his lips and said, "It's better if it's broken."

……

The Han Dynasty had long searched for a place to live in the city for Wang Dou. Because the city of Guihua was dilapidated, especially when Gu Luge and others fled, they destroyed it. Finally, they decided to set up the general’s camp in Yinfo Temple, which is the first building in Guihua City. The Dazhao Temple of Lamaism was named "Hongci Temple" by the Ming Dynasty in the seventh year of Wanli. It was also named Silver Buddha Temple because the statue of Sakyamuni in the main hall was cast from pure silver.

When Wang Dou arrived at the gate of the great temple, there was a temple forehead in Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese languages ​​hanging on it, but the Chinese name was "Wuliang Temple". Given the new temple forehead, the Chinese name of "Hongci Temple" became "Wuliang Temple".

Wang Dou ordered to restore the Chinese name of "Hongci Temple" and remove the Manchu characters on it. He asked those lamas to live back and issued a military order. This cultural relic must be properly protected in the future. Find out and never lend lightly.

All the lamas were very excited, and Ombu was also very grateful. The Dazhao Temple is already the sustenance in the hearts of their Mongolians, especially those from Mongolian tribes. When the fourth Dalai Lama Yundan Gyatso was in power, many Mongolians came to worship , invited monks to learn scriptures, but unfortunately the grand occasion was gone at that time.

The current fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, is being persecuted by other sects and is hiding everywhere in Tibet. It would be great if he could usher in Guihua City.

In the afternoon, Wang Pu's saddle horse was tired and went to rest. Emubu returned to his dilapidated palace under the escort of the Jingbian army. Seeing everything in front of him, Omubu's eyes filled with tears. Treatment, this time is really a sky, a place, like in a dream.

Wang Dou, however, did not care about being tired, and led the generals of the Jingbian army to inspect the whole city, and climbed up to the south gate to look out, and saw that the south and west plains were endless, spreading far away, and the land here was full of fertile land, which was convenient for irrigation. , suitable for farming.

This will be a piece of land that I completely control, and it is still so big that I can let my dreams freely spread on it.

There was a strange light in Wang Dou's eyes, his heart was surging, Li Zicheng was prosperous again, Cao and Wang were defeated, reminding him that the inertia of history is so huge, it is like a huge iron ball that is constantly rolling, to influence it, change Its direction needs to have the strength to affect the overall situation, and a rock several times larger than the iron ball, or even a mountain is blocked in front of it.

But to be honest, do you have the strength to fight?Wang Dou didn't think so. Maybe the military was very powerful, but many things were not only about the military, but more about the civil affairs. Otherwise, he would have wiped out Li Chuang back then.

But is the power of the people's government enough?In terms of silver, with the seizure and the original inventory, I have a total of about 2000 million taels of silver, which seems to be very rich, but looking at Ming Ming, from the overall situation, this amount of money is nothing.

The Zheng Zhilong Group in the south monopolizes the coastal trade of Ming Dynasty. Its annual profit exceeds tens of millions of taels of silver simply by selling the flag of passage at high prices: Tens of thousands of tricks are used to enrich the enemy's country."

At the height of Zheng Zhilong's prosperity, the Dutch East India Company could not compete with it at this time. Whether in military affairs or in terms of trade, the history records that Zheng Zhilong's subordinates were all rich in tens of millions, and the few were in the millions. , with capital in the millions, compared to the Ming court, the annual city ship tax was only 4 taels.

Compared with Zheng Zhilong's wealth, he is nothing compared to him.

The Guanning Group in Liaodong has a salary of several million yuan a year. Although nearly half of it is used to manage and intercept, the officers and generals in the various forts will not be short of money.

Moreover, money cannot be eaten as food. Without food and grass, a refugee is still a refugee, and nothing will change.

As a traverser, he has the advantage of overlooking the overall situation, but the higher he stands and the farther he sees, the more shocking the result will be. He realizes that there are so many opponents in the future and it is difficult to change.

Yes, this land is full of worries. The Northeast is full of Qing Dynasty, not to mention the bandits in the Central Plains. It is already a headache. In the ocean in the south, there are also various powers vying for hegemony, such as the Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch Chinese and British came here one after another, and never gave up spying on China's sea and territory.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the British were taken away and compensated 3000 taels of silver in Guangzhou. After the failure of Luowan in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the Dutch refused to give up several times and built castles such as Zeelandia and Chixian City one after another. In the 14th year of Chongzhen It also fought a naval battle with Spain, segregated Taiwan as the victor's division, and eyeed China.

Wang Dou has the deepest understanding of these Europeans. If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty, it would still be a system of strong civilization, and the Han people would be the second fate of the Indians. Don't look at the Spanish and Portuguese people who are called Francines in Macau at this time. They are meek and missionary. The soldiers are all sanctimonious, but how do they do it in America?

Hanging Indians alive is just a common method, such as picking out the fetus of a pregnant woman and chopping it into pieces, hanging a child upside down, smashing it to death on a stone, beheading and beheading the body in a competition, waving it horizontally and vertically, the method is cruel, and the crime Vile and shocking, it can be compared with the Japanese invaders.

Missionaries are no different in this, either personally participating, or encouraging adventurers to continue massacring heretics with peace of mind. Just a bullying mentality.

Sure enough, the missionaries who felt civilized in the Ming Dynasty showed their true colors by the end of the Qing Dynasty, which is surprising enough. Why do the missionaries at this time feel completely different from the missionaries in the Ming Dynasty?In fact, the person is still the same person, but the objects of civilization are different.

For these people, Wang Dou holds the greatest vigilance, because he understands, so he is vigilant.

And this north...

Although Monan is peaceful for the time being, the future is not without worries, and only Wang Dou knows about this worry in Da Ming, and that is Tsarist Russia, an extremely greedy monster who only eats but does not vomit.

As early as the 34th year of Wanli, the Russians invaded the Balabin Grassland. In the following decades, from the Tara area to the Irtysh River and the Yenisei River Basin, the Tsarist Russians encroached and devoured whales again and again, and established key points everywhere. Castle, and continued to send missions to lobby the various Mongolian ministries in an attempt to persuade them to submit to Russia, and at the same time collect information on the various Mongolian ministries and the Ming Dynasty.

In the 47th year of Wanli, the Russians established Yeniseysk, and in the first year of Chongzhen, Krasnoyarsk was established. After that, they had two invasion directions, south and east.

However, the south-facing Mobei Grassland is inhabited by Erut and Khalkha Mongols. Each tribe has a large population and has strong resistance to various intentions of Tsarist Russia. They sent people to Moscow many times to negotiate, but Tsarist Russia's intention to go south was blocked, so it turned its target to the east.

Around the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Russians established the Yakutsk Governor's Mansion, the Cossacks conquered a large area around the Lena River, and built Irkutsk in the west of Lake Baikal, occupying pastures on all sides of the lake and building fortresses. And there was a fierce conflict with the Buryat Mongolian tribes stationed in the east of Lake Baikal.

The second part has been inextricably fought since the fourth year of Chongzhen. After about 25 years of war, the Buryats will be completely subdued and submit to Russia, and some Buryats will move south into the Khalkha territory.

This is the current status of the Russian colonization. For Wang Dou, it is intolerable for the Russians to come to Lake Baikal. This is the deepest and largest freshwater reservoir in the world, accounting for one-fifth of the global freshwater resources. , is his fancy target, how can outsiders take it away?
The Russians are another future opponent, whether they like it or not.

Of course, if you want to change, you need strength, so that no matter where the situation in Ming Dynasty goes, you can take it easy, but you need time to save up.

Dreams are on this land.

He woke up and looked at the generals of the Jingbian Army beside him. They were all looking at him like him. Many people were still discussing excitedly, saying that the land outside the Great Wall was quite different from what they remembered. Just looking at the front of their eyes, they could not imagine the land that could be cultivated. So many, many still look fertile.

Wang Dou smiled and said loudly: "Yes, you may not have imagined that from this Tumo River to the Hetao Plain, there are tens of millions of acres of arable land! We can immigrate to cultivate, and in the coming year the wheat crops will be cultivated." In Daxing, it will definitely be no problem to feed the people of several provinces, and this place will become the treasure of my Daming's granary!"

Surprised, Zan Hua Qin Yi tremblingly said: "Is what the general said true?"

Wang Dou nodded heavily: "Yes!"

Yes, this land.

According to the statistics of later generations, Inner Mongolia has more than 1 million mu of arable land, most of which are concentrated in the Tumochuan Plain and the Hetao Plain. These places have abundant water resources and densely distributed rivers. The steppe was dry during the Ice Age, but there were still many places available for irrigation.

Moreover, there is as much shallow water distribution as possible under the ground, and it does not need to be deep to dig wells. In Tumochuan and Hetao Plains, there are many traces of the Han army's reclamation in the past. Restoration and use are much more convenient than building from scratch.

Wang Dou described his plan in a dreamlike tone. On these two plains, a large amount of crops such as wheat, soybeans, rice, millet, sorghum, naked oats, etc. can be planted. The three of you have a high possibility. This piece of land still has many grasslands, and you can vigorously implement the breeding industry, horse herding, cattle herding, and sheep herding. Not to mention anything else, dairy products are very promising.

This land is still very rich in mineral resources, such as iron, copper, lead, zinc, coal, etc. Marble, granite, graphite, crystal, etc. can be seen everywhere, and there are extremely rich wild plants, animals and plants, etc., here A piece of blank paper is easy to draw, and a series of industry plans can be carried out calmly.

This piece of land will be the beginning of a series of ideas for the Jingbian Army.

With the arrival of Wang Douwei, everyone was so excited that they touched their ears and cheeks, and completely lost the calm demeanor of the past generals who praised paintings. Many people also understood why Wang Dou tried his best to conquer the land of Monan. Take the blame!
Wang Dou said loudly: "Qin Zanhua was right that day. The most important thing in suppressing bandits is civil affairs. Military affairs are only a supplementary one. If there is no food in hand and the bandits are not paid from the bottom of the pot, the officers and soldiers are just exhausted! Therefore, internal affairs, when As the head of our Jingbian Army, the future of our Ming Dynasty and the future of our Jingbian Army lie in this land in front of us!"

Gao Shiyin's face was flushed with excitement, and he suddenly realized: "No wonder the general appeases Ombu so much. Is this a way to calm down? I was thinking of killing them all just to make a point."

Wang Dou said: "No, we can't just have fun, we have to consider the overall situation. Monan Mongolia is a role model, and it is a sharp weapon to attract all the tribes in Mobei. With my strong army in hand, the Tartars dare not move. In addition, the tribes in Monan are also overwhelmed." A good day will surely make it naturalized!"

For Wang Dou, it is impossible to attack Mobei now. Considering the logistics alone, the journey from Guihua City to Kent Khan Mountain and Yinma River area is more than two thousand miles. Dangerous places such as Xuexuezi, unless most of their old nests are found, and they come to a pot, otherwise it will be a disaster.

Besides, in order to deal with the Russians in the future, it is necessary to be friendly with the Mongolians. Supporting the Buryat Mongols will also be put on Wangdou's agenda. If possible, he will also incite the Khalkha Mongolian ministries to attack the Russians. Irkutsk must be removed.

Although Wang Dou is not able to get involved in Siberia now, it doesn't mean that he is happy to see the Russians nibbling over there. This is also one of the reasons why Wang Dou is determined to make good friends with the various tribes of Khalkha in Mobei.

In the future, he will use more proxy strategies, like the British, to support, suppress, and provoke, and it will depend on the timing when he goes into battle himself.

Han Chao mused, "Indeed, when Cheng Zu went to Mongolia to conquer the north, he transported hundreds of thousands of rations for each conquest. Our Jingbian Army is not strong enough now, it's just..."

He said: "Yidi people face beasts and are capricious. Although Emperor Gao said that there is no difference between Huayi and Yidi, although the surnames are different, the characters are the same, but he also forbids the Hu language and Hu surnames. He also ordered Mongolian Semu people not to marry with this kind. It was the same with Emperor Chengzu, the general appeased the Mongolians, but he didn’t know if he would repeat it?”

Wang Dou's eyes were deep, and he said lightly: "Don't worry, they can't figure out anything."

Wang Dou is confident that he will turn the Mongolian tribes into Chinese Cossacks and fight for the Central Plains.

He didn't mention this question: "The most important thing now is food. If you have food in your hands, don't panic in your heart. If you have food and a strong army, everything is nothing to worry about!"

There is another matter that is close at hand, which makes Wang Dou worried.

He leaned on the city wall, looked to the southeast, and said slowly: "Don't worry about Ming Dynasty. Natural disasters and man-made disasters are endless. I estimate that there will be a great plague from Shanxi to the capital next year. It is related to the survival of the people. The shogunate We have to prepare early!"

All the generals were shocked and woke up from the state just now: "Great plague?"

Wang Dou nodded heavily: "Yes, the great plague!"

He sighed. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the northern provinces were always plagued by disasters. Not to mention the drought and locust disasters, plagues followed one after another, especially the great plague from Shanxi to Beijing in the 16th year of Chongzhen, which was even more shocking.

There is a record in the notes of the people at the time: "The 16th year of Chongzhen's capital epidemic, from February to September, the epidemic was prevalent inside and outside the capital, and the disease was called pimples. One person felt it, and the whole family passed it down. Death does not stay for a moment, even the door is closed, and there is no one who has a coffin. The sun rises from the nine gates, and all the passers-by hang their heads and drown, drowning..."

In Shanxi, there was also a major epidemic in the whole territory, as well as in Tongzhou, Changping Prefecture, and Baoding Prefecture. Did not hold for three days.

After Li Zicheng's army entered Beijing, it was not without luck, and the same was true for the later Qing soldiers. There are records in history: "The Manchurian soldiers first entered the pass, afraid of acne, and died of infection."

In history, Dingkou, which is full of Eight Banners, originally reached its peak when Huang Taiji was in power, and the statistics were about [-] Dingkou. In the early years of Shunzhi, it dropped to more than [-] Dingkou. Except for the battle, there is no shortage of Dingkou. The cause of the plague.

The dirty and messy environment caused by the financial collapse is one of the reasons for the continuous epidemics in the North. At that time, the people of the capital said that there was a lot of excrement in the capital, and people from all over the world were crowded with gnats. , The child is not living, it seems that the whole of Shanxi will be mobilized to clean up.

The generals of the Jingbian Army certainly believed in what Wang Dou said. This has been proved time and time again. Everyone knows the horror of the plague. Gao Shiyin clenched his fists and said viciously: "Kill anyone who can see Rats, wipe out all the rubbish!"

Han Chao said: "We need to prepare more doctors. Also, the otters on the grassland can't be beaten. The poor herdsmen have to survive the winter, so we can give them food!"

Food is food again, if there is food, things will be much easier in this big world. All the generals in the Jingbian Army feel that internal affairs are serious, and food production should be the top priority.

Wang Dou leaned on the city wall and looked at the land. Yes, food. He hoped that this land would allow him to have food.

I have tried my best, Wang Dou thought.

At the same time, I was thinking, the victory report has been sent out, and Li Chuang has also pushed towards Kaifeng. I wonder if the fight will start, and what will be the final outcome of the battle?

(End of this chapter)