I'm a big dick

Chapter 595 Hetao Raiders
"The Yellow River is full of evils, but the only thing that is rich" is a common saying that may be familiar to travelers.

But in history until the Qing Dynasty, the Hetao area was not a fortified south of the Yangtze River, let alone a granary outside the fortress.Except for Qiantao, other areas are either dry grasslands or long yellow sands.

After "going to the west mouth", thousands of poor peasants flocked out of the mouth to make a living and develop agricultural water conservancy in Hetao. After more than a hundred years of struggle, "the Yellow River in the world is rich in Hetao, and the first set is rich and the back set is rich".

When Sun Chuanting wanted to take Hetao, he also obeyed the emperor's will, and the area he wanted to recover was also the Qiantao area.After occupying the front set, vigorously cultivated and developed it in order to regain the material base of the back set.

From a larger strategic point of view, occupying Hetao will improve the defense system in the north, make up the gap between Datong and Ningxia, and prevent the Mongolian tribes from using it as a base to harass Ming Dynasty.

Seeing that Sun Chuanting had made a decision, Hong Chengchou pondered for a while, and asked, "Long live the restoration of Liaodong, do you want to use troops against the Mongolian tribes? Or do you want to take advantage of the catastrophe to subdue the Mongolian tribes?"

The extermination of slaves in Pingliao can be said to have solved the confidant of Ming Dynasty. Despite the catastrophe, the Mongolian tribes with a single production method must have been more difficult than Ming Dynasty.

The so-called: take advantage of his illness to kill him.It is only natural for Hong Chengchou to have such thoughts and guesses.

Sun Chuanting hesitated for a moment, but still nodded.That's what the emperor meant, but he couldn't say it clearly, there's no way you can guess it.

Hong Chengchou let out a sigh of relief and stopped persuading Sun Chuanting.If the disaster spreads and expands, without the use of force by the Ming army, the Mongolian tribes will go south to plunder in order to survive in line with tradition.

Therefore, the battle must be fought.It is also a clever strategy to act first and occupy the favorable position of Hetao.

Of course, logistics is what is fought in the war. How much food and salaries the imperial court can provide, how far Shaanxi can save itself in the disaster, and how much support the surrounding provinces can provide, all need to be carefully considered and calculated.

Since the emperor had this plan, he must have made arrangements and was confident.As for the emperor's temperament, one can get a glimpse of it from the Ping-Liao battle, which is quite cautious and quite strategic.

"The grain stored in the granaries in Shaanxi can actually support the recovery of Hetao." Hong Chengchou said slowly: "But it's only a year. If the disaster doesn't ease, it will be difficult to help. We can only wait for the court to make adjustments."

Sun Chuanting nodded slightly, which already satisfied him.After all, the entire province of Shaanxi was in disaster, and food was stored to help the common people.

Arching his hands to the east, Sun Chuanting said: "Long live the wise man, make arrangements in advance so that we can deal with it calmly now."

It is indeed a wise decision to arrange for major disasters in advance. In the past two years, taxes have been collected, but they don't understand Beijing, but store them on the spot to prepare for major disasters.

Not only in Shaanxi, but also in northern provinces such as Henan and Shanxi. Among the major disasters in history, they were the most severely affected and the most severe peasant uprisings.

According to the emperor's request, the Inspectorate and Dongchang supervised and inspected from both light and dark aspects. Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Shanxi and other provinces had to stockpile enough grain to last a year.

In the two years of the advance arrangement, the emperor also issued an order to the governors of the provinces to vigorously promote the cultivation of potatoes.It is both cold-resistant and high-yield, which greatly enriches the warehouses of the provinces.

In addition to the official warehouses, the common people also stored some grain and stored a lot of potatoes.

Based on various measures, despite the disasters in Shaanxi province this year, the actual situation is still supportive.The common people are also able to get by, there is no miserable scene of starvation everywhere.

Hong Chengchou also bowed his hands to the east, and said: "The food and materials transported from the four provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, Henan, and Shanxi, according to the current speed and quantity, will be able to support the people's livelihood even if there is no harvest next year. Just continue to supply Military use is not enough.”

Shaanxi is the province's worst disaster this year, while neighboring provinces have not been hit by the disaster, or the disaster is relatively minor.According to the principle of saving taxes locally, these provinces do have spare capacity to relieve Shaanxi.

What's more, if the grain stocks in each province are less than one year's use, they can also be adjusted and increased from the grain shipped from outside.

In fact, this is also a form of segmented transportation.It's just that the imperial court dominates, and the provincial governments undertake transportation and storage.

Three parts natural disasters, seven parts man-made disasters.The emperor already knew that the historical Ming Dynasty fell, and the key reason was not a catastrophe.

As long as the imperial court attaches great importance to it and local governments are capable, it is not an impossible task to survive the catastrophe.

Moreover, while resisting disasters, while deploying the north, taking the opportunity to subdue the Mongolian tribes, the emperor believed that it was completely achievable.

Sun Chuanting is also full of confidence in this. The reason is very simple. The elite soldiers drawn from Liaodong have greatly improved the combat power of the Ming army in the northern military towns, and have a great advantage over the Mongolian tribes.

In the years of fighting in Ping-Liao, the weapons and equipment of the Ming army in various places have been upgraded by at least one level.The troops in Liaodong have even figured out the tactics to deal with the nomads from actual combat.

"Even if there is no war, can the food and salaries needed by the army still be in arrears?" Sun Chuanting expressed objection to Hong Chengchou's calculation, "It is not difficult to capture Qiantao, and then only need to supply [-] defenders with food and supplies."

The meaning is very simple, the army has to eat no matter what, can it be tied up in the days when there is no war?Therefore, the increased grain and grass materials are the cost of road transportation.

Conquering the Hetao is also a sure thing. The Mongolian tribes can't stop the Ming army's massive attack and sharp firepower.The remaining problem is to garrison for a long time and stabilize the occupation of Hetao.

Three thousand Ming troops with flintlock muskets, artillery, and even a relatively simple trench parapet were enough to severely damage the invading Mongolian tribes.With such a force, the logistics supply is reduced to a minimum, and the pressure is greatly reduced.

What's more, there are many rivers in the Qiantao area, and the natural conditions are very good. "Ming History Chronicles" says: "The Yellow River is blocked on three sides around Hetao, and the soil is fertile and can be cultivated." This is what it refers to.

Even in the worst case, the Qiantao area, like Shaanxi, cannot be cultivated under the disaster, and the army is just stationed in another place, and the loss is the money and food for transporting supplies.

"The front set can be cultivated." Hong Chengchou knew a lot, and said with certainty: "There is Sheyan River in the west, Heishui in the northwest, Jingwei (now Yulin, Shaanxi) flows into the south from the Sancha River, and there is a large river in the north (that is, Yellow River), much stronger than the drought-stricken Shaanxi.”

Sun Chuanting smiled and said, "With the words of brother Heng Jiu, this governor's confidence is even stronger."

The two are Jinshi of the same discipline, so the relationship is still harmonious.Sun Chuanting has a high official position, but he is not arrogant. He also admires Hong Chengchou's talent.

But the two of them didn't know that the emperor not only wanted to regain the Hetao, but also planned to push forward the emigration to the west entrance in advance.

(End of this chapter)