There are many large and small horse thieves in the Wusun steppe. [ ] But there has never been a gang of Han Chinese horse thieves. After all, the Han people are an agrarian people, and it is impossible for them to ride horses on the prairie like nomads.

When Xiao Kunmi heard that the horse thief was a Han Chinese, his first reaction was that his subordinates were lying, but as more and more evidence emerged, Xiao Kunmi also believed that the horse thief who was disturbing the Wusun Prairie was really Han.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division, conquered the west, resulting in heavy losses, and for hundreds of years, the Han people never set foot in the Wusun Prairie. Unexpectedly, now there are Han people who dare to come to the Wusun prairie to stir up.

Xiao Kunmi suddenly felt as if he had been slapped in the face fiercely. As a nomad, Wusun was beaten to the grassland by the Han people, which was absolutely unbearable, so Xiao Kunmi personally led the army and prepared to exterminate the horse.

Ma Lingbing is experienced, and he does not intend to entangle with Xiao Kunmi, but adopts a wandering method, always avoiding the real and the false, not confronting Xiao Kunmi, and at the same time continuing to kill the nearby small tribes. Wherever the horses passed, men, women, children, and even slaves were killed.

Wusun is composed of large and small Kunmi, and the tribes under the command of Xiaokunmi add up to three or four hundred thousand people, and if you add slaves, there are almost nearly half a million people. Ordinary horse thieves can't do this kind of means of killing people when they see them, and I'm afraid only horses can do such things.

Horses specially select some relatively small tribes to start, and for those large tribes with seven or eight thousand or even tens of thousands of soldiers to fight, horses never touch. Those small tribes were already few, and it was difficult to resist the trampling of horses, ten thousand iron horsemen.

Finally, after more than a year of killing and chasing, the Wusun people were scared.

Because of the appearance of horses, those smaller tribes lived in fear all day long, and even if they had the courage to resist in the face of horses, they did not have the ability to resist, and finally, the small tribes began to migrate to the westerly places to avoid the horse army.

The Wusun people on the grassland were originally composed of large and small tribes, and there were only a handful of really large tribes, and the vast majority of the Wusun people still lived in those small tribes.

The west side of Little Kunmi. It is the Great Kunmi tribe that is also part of the Wusun clan. At that time, the big and small Kunmi were the same one, but they were divided by Emperor Wu with a divisive trick and became the current big and small Kunmi. For hundreds of years, there has been a discord between the big and the small, and the wars have continued, and the two sides have been fighting openly and secretly for the survival resources and population.

The small tribes under the command of Xiao Kunmi moved west, and many people came to the jurisdiction of the Great Kunmi. There are a lot of more people for no reason, and Da Kunmi is naturally very happy, so everyone who comes to take refuge in Da Kunmi is willing to take in.

This move annoyed Little Kunmi, who angrily accused the horse thieves on the grassland of being sent by Big Kunmi. And Da Kunmi naturally refused to admit it, and the conflict between the two sides continued to intensify.

With the passage of time, more and more small tribes migrated to the west in order to avoid horses, which made the strength of the Great Kunmi greatly increased, but the small Kunmi was greatly weakened. The conflict between the two sides continued to intensify, and finally the war broke out.

Ma's efforts were not in vain, provoking a war between the big and the small, and the horse could benefit from it. Ma continued to harass the soldiers on both sides, and there was a surprise attack on the royal court of Da Kun Mi during the period, but Da Kun Mi was not there at the time, and Ma just tore off the royal banner of Da Kun Mi.

The war continued to consume the Wusun people, coupled with the fact that Arima stirred up the situation, making the war even more tragic, and finally, when the big and small Kunmi fought until the oil ran out, they realized that there was no victorious side in this war of attrition.

In one big battle after another, dozens of the so-called No. 1 warriors of the Wusun steppe have been replaced, and ironically, nearly half of them died at the hands of horses.

The constant killing gave Ma Bo a bad name, and in the eyes of the Wusun people, the cavalry that the horse carried was the embodiment of the devil. Eventually, little Kunmi decided to move west, and the Ju clan moved further west.

However, at this time, the horse also fell ill. There was a shortage of doctors and medicines on the grassland, and horses never stood up for this disease.

The next battles were all commanded by Ma Qiu. Ma Qiu has been by the horse's side for many years, and has gradually grown into a qualified general, probably because of the infection of the horse, Ma Qiu, who was originally a good baby, has a ruthless breath on his body.

Several years of war also caused huge consumption of the Ma family's army. Of the 10,000 people brought with him that year, less than 3,000 were able to return alive, and a third of these 3,000 were disabled and could no longer go to war. But those who survived were all elites. No one has dozens of lives on them.

At the same time, many years of grassland life have also allowed many knights in the Ma family army to learn to raise horses, and this time, Ma Qiu brought back 10,000 BMW horses from the Wusun grassland.

Forming a cavalry team like the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is Adou's dream. After the appearance of the iron plate and the high bridge saddle in the cold weapon era, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry was greatly improved, and those cavalry wielding sabers and horse pistols not only had strong mobility, but also had lethality. With the exception of sieges and certain battlefields such as mountains and ships, cavalry is more useful than infantry.

At the beginning, Adou relied on the war horse captured from Tian Pengzu to form a team of seven guards and help Adou escape back to Shuzhong. However, that few hundred horses were too far away from Adou's dream of cavalry.

Feeding a cavalryman is far more expensive than an infantryman. Horses need to eat forage and equipment. In these troubled times, the consumption of one horse is enough to be worth several adults, so even Cao Cao, who is in control of the two states, only has a few cavalry under his command. The Central Plains is not a prairie, and the land is to be used to grow food. There is no place to graze horses, which makes it impossible to ride the whole people like the steppe nomads.

At the same time, horses were needed to form cavalry. Shu did not produce horses in the first place, and even if they did, the quality of the horses could not be compared with the grassland horses. Therefore, neither the previous Liu Bei nor the current Adou had any plans to form cavalry.

Later, Adou occupied Liangzhou and once thought of forming a cavalry unit. But then Adou Xian, the one-time investment was too high. In this troubled world, the price of war horses was already very high, even if it was to buy war horses in Liangzhou, the treasury of Shu Han could not afford it.

Yongzhou reconstruction. The internal relocation of the Di people, as well as various reforms, all cost money, and years of war, so that the treasury accumulated by Shu Han for many years was very little, and it was already slightly overwhelmed. In this case, Adou was simply not able to form cavalry.

The 10,000 war horses brought by Ma Qiu just solved the problem of horses, and at the same time, the knights who came back alive from the Wusun prairie are also a valuable asset.

……

In the Weiyang Palace.

Adou wrote a big book and wrote three big words on the paper.

"General?" Ma Qiu muttered, and then involuntarily admired: "Good words, really good words!" ”

Ma Qiu is not patting on the back, Adou's calligraphy level is really very good.

Generally speaking, people with good kung fu, especially those with good kung fu in their hands, have good calligraphy, and those generals who exercise their wrist strength on weekdays write most of the words that are very imposing. is like Zhang Fei, who seems to be a big old man, but his calligraphy level is very good. After all, I practice a lot of snake spears on weekdays, my wrist strength is amazing, and the words I write are also vigorous and powerful, and I am unique.

Ah Dou practiced the sword, and the kung fu on this wrist was naturally quite good, whether it was the grasp of strength or accuracy, it was first-class, so the words written were also very good.

Looking at the words he had just written, Adou smiled with satisfaction, and then said, "Ma Aiqing." I will leave this guard to you. I give you the power to choose the best soldiers in the army at will, and I hope that in two years' time, you can bring me a group of qualified cavalry. ”

"Your Majesty rest assured, the minister will do his best!"

"Also, there is a martial arts hall over there of General Huang, you should have heard of it, right?"

"I've heard of it." Ma Qiu replied.

"Sergeants who have come back from the grassland, those who are disabled and cannot go to the battlefield, if they want to go home to farm, I will send the military department to arrange, if they want to continue to serve in the army, go to the martial arts hall to teach!" Adou continued.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" A look of joy appeared on Ma Qiu's face, and it could be seen that Ma Qiu was happy from the bottom of his heart.

Under normal circumstances, there are two main ways out for soldiers who are disabled and cannot continue to fight, one is to be sent to work as a tuntian soldier and continue to farm, and the other is to be sent back to their hometowns.

So for these soldiers, maybe dying in battle is not the most terrible time, the most terrible thing is that they can no longer go to the battlefield when they are disabled, but they are sent back to their hometowns, and some soldiers with serious disabilities, broken arms and legs, are not suitable for heavy physical labor at all, and after being sent back to their hometowns, the end will be very tragic.

Being able to go to the martial arts hall to teach, lead the court's fortunes, and have no worries about food and clothing is probably the best destination for these disabled soldiers who can no longer go to the battlefield.

"Ministers, the soldiers of the Western Expedition, thank Your Majesty Longen." Ma Qiu said sincerely.

"Well, as for those soldiers who are still healthy, I will give rewards according to their merits......" Adou said here, sighed slightly, and continued: "This expedition to the west is not easy, more than 10,000 soldiers, only more than 1,000 people can come back completely!" I will not forget your merits...... In this way, tomorrow, I will hold a banquet in the western suburbs to entertain the meritorious soldiers of the Western Expedition. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" A trace of excitement also rose in Ma Qiu's heart. Adou said that the banquet was held in the western suburbs, that is, to entertain all the soldiers who came back, otherwise, there would be no need to go to a place as big as the school field.

……

Simple tables have been set up in the school field in the western suburbs.

This place is very large, and the emperor inspects the troops on weekdays, and it is here.

Now, the 3,000 soldiers who returned from the Western Expedition are all gathered in this small boat, plus some accompanying courtiers, guards, and subordinates, almost 4,000 people have gathered. But in this vast school field, 4,000 people are nothing at all.

Being able to receive the personal hospitality of His Majesty the Emperor, the soldiers who returned from the Western Expedition were naturally extremely happy. But what makes everyone even happier is that those injured and disabled soldiers can enter the lecture hall and enjoy the court's fortune.

After several years of getting along, for these soldiers, Pao Ze is like a brother, and many of them have formed a deep friendship in the battle. So when they heard that those disabled soldiers had a good home, everyone was heartily happy.

Adou held his wine glass and slowly walked off the stage, looking at a dark-skinned man at the front.

There was a long scar on the big man's cheek, sending the corner of his eye all the way to his mouth, and at the same time, the nose was missing a small half, and he looked hideous, but Adou knew that these scars represented the merits on the battlefield.

There was a sturdy young man standing next to the big man, his dark skin was slightly ruddy under the stimulation of alcohol, and the young man was holding a wine glass in both hands, but Adou inadvertently appeared, and the young man's left and right ring fingers and little fingers had been cut off together.

Looking at the energetic warriors, staring at the shocking scars, Adou knew that each of these scars contained an unforgettable story, and unconsciously, a trace of sourness rose in Adou's heart, and Adou suddenly felt that he should do something for these applied warriors.

"Huh......" Adou took a deep breath, closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then said to the eunuch beside him: "Intended ......"

The eunuch picked up the pen and paper as quickly as possible, and cautiously peeked at Adou, waiting for Adou's instructions.

"Decree, the soldiers of the Western Expedition, whether they survive or not, their households are all joined by the military, for the military households, exempt from taxation, the military households can be hereditary, if the father is not there, the sons and nephews can join the army, replacing the official positions of the fathers......"

Then, the eunuch recited aloud the holy decree that Adou had just moved.

After a few seconds of silence, a loud cheer rang out.

After joining the military, the whole family can enjoy tax exemption, which is definitely very tempting. But what is even more tempting is that in the back, military households can be hereditary, and the official positions in the army can also be hereditary. In other words, if the father is a centurion, the son can take his father's place and become a centurion when he grows up.

Many soldiers, after a lifetime of fighting, at most mixed with the position of a centurion, you must know that this centurion has already been included in the ranks of low-level officers, if you become a centurion as soon as you join the army, you have a good chance to be promoted in the next few days. At the same time, although the centurion also has to face the enemy directly, he does not have to rush to the front like ordinary soldiers, and the chances of survival are much greater. It can be said that the hereditary nature of this official position is different from that of ordinary military households.

……

After returning to Weiyang Palace, Adou kept thinking about his decision just now.

With Adou's holy decree, the prototype of the government military system has also appeared.

Today, the Three Kingdoms still implement a conscription system, but this conscription system has gradually shown signs of being interrupted. A few days ago, Wei repeatedly dressed up, and the supply of soldiers was tight, and he recruited troops in Jizhou and Qingzhou, but only recruited 20,000 or 30,000 people, and these 20,000 or 30,000 people were still uneven.

The previous recruitment system was all the best of the best, just like the Wu Qi recruitment in the Warring States Period, requiring soldiers to run with weights, thinking that the current 40-kilometer distance is qualified, and they must be completed within the specified time. Forty kilometers is about the same length as the current marathon, and it has to be completed with weights, although the physique and endurance of the ancients are better than those of today, but it also shows that the recruitment is the best of the best, and not everyone can come.

But now, of the 30,000 people recruited by Wei in Jizhou and Qingzhou, less than sixty percent of them are really strong men, and the rest are more like people who have no food to eat and come to the barracks to mix rice, which is better than the Tuntian soldiers.

The quality of the source of soldiers is not good, and it is okay to have quantity, but the quality and quantity are not good. Faced with this situation, Chen Qun suggested to Cao Rong that he simply follow the Shang Dynasty reform law of the year, and every five households should be a soldier, and each army must send a soldier to the imperial court, if not, all soldiers will be punished.

Chen Qun's suggestion was to forcibly recruit soldiers, but this suggestion was indeed very effective, and Wei raised 100,000 troops in a short time.

However, now these 100,000 troops have been moved by Xu Shu, and most of them have been sent to Youzhou to deter Gongsun Yuan.

In Soochow, since the time of Sun Ce, Soochow has been recruiting soldiers among the Shanyue people, although they don't get much, but they have accumulated over the years, and there are 100,000 people. It can be seen that this conscription system has long been unworkable in Jiangdong, which is vast and sparsely populated.

Compared with Wei and Eastern Wu, the situation of Shu Han was better, and the conscription system was always used. However, this was based on the fact that Shu Han did not go through the defeat of Yiling. According to Adou's knowledge, the defeat of Liu Beiyiling in history greatly damaged the vitality of Shu, so when Zhuge Liang made the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, he had canceled the recruitment and carried out conscription. Today's Shu Han does not have Liu Bei's defeat in Yiling, and it consumes a lot of people, so there is no shortage of soldiers for the time being, but if it goes through one or two more wars, Shu Han will definitely face a shortage of soldiers.

Thinking about the military system in later generations, the Northern Wei Dynasty was strong, and the damaged Central Plains was able to resist Rouran and other tribes, and it also made Tang Taizong have the capital to fight a long-term war with the Turks, which shows that the military system is indeed good. Adou has already begun to consider whether to implement the government military system.

So, Adou found Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong and told them his thoughts.

After Pang Tong listened, his brows furrowed and his eyes flickered, but Zhuge Liang began to shake his head again and again.

After a while, Pang Tong spoke: "Your Majesty, the military household you just mentioned is feasible. However, according to His Majesty's words, all soldiers are from military households, that is, if I have an army of 100,000, I must have 100,000 military households. And this military household is exempt from taxes, that is, while raising these 100,000 military households, our dynasty will also give away 100,000 taxes for nothing. In this way, my annual tax revenue will be much less. ”

"Yes." Adou nodded slightly, each military household has a soldier, and at the same time, the military household is exempt from taxation, that is, while the imperial court raises this soldier, it also has to bear the taxes of one household. If there are fewer people, it is okay, but if there are more people, hundreds of thousands of households will be exempted from paying taxes at every turn, which is indeed a great loss. Moreover, the imperial court originally had to spend a lot of money to raise soldiers, and the soldiers' salaries, weapons and equipment, and weekday training all cost money.

Adou thought for a while and said, "Taifu, I plan to let these military children work as farmers when they are busy, train when they are not working, and assemble to fight when there is war. Moreover, I am preparing to let the children of military families prepare their own food when the farmers are training every year. In this way, there are only two or three months of agricultural leisure time every year, and there is a little cost to train, and there is no need to raise these soldiers on weekdays, so it should save some money. ”

Pang Tong nodded, this raising soldiers is indeed a big expense, according to Adou's calculations, the money for raising soldiers will be saved, but it is just a loss of one household's taxes, and the loss is much less.

Zhuge Liang frowned and calculated for a moment, and then said: "Your Majesty, in this way, the tax of one household is less, and the money for raising a soldier is less, basically raising a soldier with the strength of one household, if there is no war, this is not a loss for our dynasty, but if it is a war together, the treasury will be lost, and the longer the war drags on, the more unfavorable it is for us." Just as Shiyuan said just now, in wartime, the children of military households are mobilized to fight on the front line, if it is counted as 100,000 people, in the course of the war, we will continue to be responsible for the supply of food and grass for the soldiers, and we will lose the taxes of that household in vain. If the war goes on for a year, our dynasty will lose a year's taxes, and at the same time, this soldier will still be supported by the state treasury. If the pre-tax source is less, but the consumption is not reduced, in the long run, I am afraid that the treasury will not be able to support it. ”

"Well, who Kong Ming said, if we have a surplus of three or five years in the treasury, the minister is in favor of His Majesty opening a military household, but now that there have been wars for many years, the people have moved inward, and the reconstruction of Yongzhou has exhausted the treasury, which is quite dangerous to implement military households. If there is no war in the next three to five years, it is fine, but if there is a war, I am afraid it will be difficult to continue. Pang Tong also said from the side.

"Well, that's a problem." After listening to Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong's analysis, Adou's head suddenly became as big as a fight, and a penny was difficult to defeat a hero, for those who are emperors, it is quite a painful thing to have no money in the treasury.

However, Adou did not give up the idea of reforming the military system, after all, this reform of the military system has reached the point where it cannot be delayed.

"Prime Minister, do you have any way to increase taxes?" Adou asked.

Zhuge Liang had a smile on his face, as if he had expected Adou to ask this. I saw Zhuge Liang take out a fold from his arms and hand it to Adou with both hands.

"Hey, it turns out that the prime minister has already had a countermeasure." Seeing this scene, Adou smiled helplessly. Adou feels that this character, who has been demonized by later generations, is indeed a demon sometimes.

"Your Majesty, Liang thinks that the industries of iron smelting, boiling salt, and cotton weaving should be taken into official camps, and full-time officials should be set up to manage them. This will surely increase my tax revenue! Zhuge Liang took advantage of Adou's reading of the twists and turns and began to explain.

The Han Dynasty monopolized salt and iron, but with the advent of troubled times, salt and iron were smuggled. Salt is a necessary material for life, and the circulation of private salt is very rampant, and iron is an important strategic material, and the profits from smuggling are also quite huge.

However, this salt and iron monopoly sells all primary products, that is, unprocessed pig iron and uncooked coarse salt. The power to smelt iron and boil salt is still in the people's hands.

The government smelts iron ore into crude iron, or direct iron ore, and sells it to the people, and then there are folk craftsmen who further refine it and then make it into various agricultural tools and weapons, and in the process the value of pig iron can be doubled several times, and the profits are very huge.

Only in the salt industry, the situation is similar. There are three main sources of salt in the Han Dynasty, one is sea salt, the second is well salt, and the third is pool salt. Sea salt is naturally salt in seawater, well salt is from the Sichuan Basin, and pool salt is from Liangzhou, Yongzhou. Among them, the salt dried by seawater contains relatively few impurities, but the well salt and pool salt contain more impurities, and the impurities need to be removed after boiling the salt before they can be eaten.

Wei and Eastern Wu are both close to the sea, so sea salt is eaten on weekdays, and Shu is not near the sea, so you can only use well salt and pool salt. However, under normal circumstances, what the government sells is unprocessed coarse salt, and after the traders buy coarse salt, they boil the salt and purify it, and then sell it to the people.

And the brocade that Zhuge Liang said mainly refers to Shu brocade.

In the Han Dynasty, Yizhou Shu brocade manufacturing has been very up, Shu brocade as the four famous brocade is naturally very popular with people, no matter where it is sold, it can be sold at a good price, it is rumored that Cao Pi was very fond of Shu brocade. Compared with salt and iron, although the demand for Shu brocade is much less, the profits it can bring are not inferior.

According to Zhuge Liang's proposal, if these three industries with huge profits are state-owned and monopolized, they can indeed bring a lot of money to the imperial court, and this effect is immediate.

"Prime Minister, this matter, I am approved, and you will be fully responsible for this matter, Prime Minister! As for the military household I just mentioned, Taifu, I'll leave it to you and the military department! ”

After sending Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong away, Adou suddenly felt a lot more relaxed in his heart. If Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong are in charge of the overall planning, there is no need for Adou to worry about it.

"Zhang Wei!" Adou shouted softly, and Zhang Wei immediately walked over.

"Your Majesty, have and commanded?"

"Guo Huai has been fine lately!"

"Well, it's okay, eat when you should eat, sleep when you should, and read military books from time to time, but I'm depressed all day long." Zhang Wei replied.

"Hehehe, people all over the world think that he surrendered to me, he just jumped into the Yellow River, and he can't wash it, so of course he can't be happy......" Adou said, stretching: "There's nothing to do today, let's go see this Guo Huai!" ”