The new army has the strength of the new army, but the new army also has the inevitable shortcomings of the new army. www.biquge.info Chen Wen was not interested in playing some intrigues and tricks to weaken the new army, and he firmly believed that striking iron still needed its own hard truth, and only to maximize the strength of the Ming army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang was the only way to completely eliminate the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The news of Wu Sangui's defeat in Weinan came one after another, the new army won a complete victory, and then went down to Xi'an without a fight, Wu Sangui fled in a hurry with the remnants of the defeated army, and disappeared for a while. However, in order to appease the morale of the Eight Banners Army participating in the war, avenge the Four Banners of the Right Wing of Xi'an, Shaanxi, and shock the Han people on the ground in Shaanxi, the Qing army successively carried out a tragic massacre in Weinan County and Xi'an Fucheng.

All the people in the county town of Weinan were killed, and the survivors were only a single digit; Xi'an Fucheng is slightly better, because the distance is far enough, coupled with the slaughter of the city, the people in the city have an estimate of the Qing army's revenge, so after Wu Sangui went out on the expedition, a large number of people fled to the countryside, and when the news of the fiasco came back, it was even more overwhelming, so that the Qing army could only rely on the slaughter of the people of the surrounding towns and villages and a fire to burn this historical city to vent their anger.

From Shaanxi to Nanjing, thousands of miles apart, aside from the report of the Military Intelligence Department, the fastest is still some local civil and military forces in Henan. It's just that, compared with Wu Sangui's earlier days, there are already a very small number of civil and military officials who have sent people to deliver the letter -- probably because the strong combat effectiveness of the new army has frightened them, and they no longer dare to put all the treasures on Chen Wen's side.

"This group of bitches raised the grass on the wall, sooner or later they will clean them up."

As soon as the words came out, Zheng Qi realized that he had made some gaffes, and hurriedly bowed down, claiming that he was guilty of death. Chen Wen didn't care about this, and turned to the reason why he passed Zheng Qi and Ono Ichiro today.

"The details of the North Korean side, but the investigation is clear?"

"Back to the king's words, I have already investigated clearly."

"Let's talk about it."

In this era, there is no radio, no Internet, and no audio-visual materials, and the news is passed on by word of mouth, and the authenticity often becomes more and more deviated from the truth as more and more people's tongues pass. Chen Wen is not afraid of the nonsense of those North Korean exiled officials, because no matter what they say, Chen Wen must first understand the real situation before making a decision.

"Back to the king's words, the last general was ordered to go to Japan and Korea to inquire about the situation, Korea has indeed been destroyed by the Tartars, and there is no too fierce uprising in Korea, and the limited ones are all petty fights, not at all. On two occasions last year, the Tartars did not even send troops stationed in the big cities, and only let the states suppress them. ”

"That's right."

After that summons, the Korean exiled officials also asked to meet a few times, reported some of the information of the rebels who had contact with them, and said that once the king division entered Korea, these Korean righteous soldiers could become the king's division to help Yunyun.

These guys have spoken generously in the Qi Palace's mansion again and again, and what they said has come and gone, but unfortunately Chen Wen won't even believe a punctuation mark.

In the Imjin War, it was not for the Ming army to cross the Yalu River, Korea had already been destroyed by Japan, and it was not for nothing that resisted, but most of them were waste, except for Yi Sunsin, who was blown to the sky and the earth by the peninsular nation of later generations, and even the Ming army that had the grace to recreate Korea was also scandalized by them, because if they did not do so, there was no way to highlight the humble role of their hero in the Imjin War.

Even in later generations, when Japan colonized Korea, the anti-Japanese intensity of the Koreans was ridiculously low, but they joined the Japanese army more enthusiastically. For example, what those North Korean officials said was that there were already flames everywhere, and the Tartars suffered heavy losses in North Korea, and the difference was only the fatal blow of Wang Shi, whether others believed it or not, Chen Wen would not believe it anyway.

Of course, putting himself in his shoes, the ministers of the fallen country tried their best to save the country, even if it was to use deception to seek the help of the big powers, which was understandable, but he was not a Korean, so he naturally still had to take care of the interests of the Ming army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang, and always had to distinguish the priorities.

"The last general will go to Korea, and Ono will be in Japan to gather information on Koreans in Japan. A summary of the information available now indicates that the Tartars established their rule over Korea soon after completing their war of annihilation against Korea. ”

"In the early days, the Tartars killed a large number of Korean courtiers on the charge of opposing the Qing Dynasty and supporting the Ming, and took the clan to the capital, intimidating the rest of the civil and military classes. In the following days, by dividing the territory of the recruited Mongol garrisons and Bangzi, as well as forming the so-called Eight Banners of Goryeo and Kaike, the Korean country was easily turned into two provinces of the Tartars, and it took no effort at all. ”

The so-called Bangzi is the untouchable class of Korea, and the contemptuous name of the Goryeo stick in China since the Ming and Qing dynasties and even in later generations also comes from the untouchable servants of the envoys sent from Korea to China.

Chen Wen had already expected what kind of urine North Koreans were, and after listening to Zheng Qi's rough description, he also had a basic understanding of the current situation in North Korea. The details are in the intelligence summary, and Chen Wen has read them in detail before summoning them to come, but there are a few questions that he still has to ask them.

"This king has read the report that the Tartars did not fish in Korea, but instead used a method of rule similar to that of the Han land. This king remembers that the Korean official said that the annual income of North Korea is only 200,000 stones, and the Tatars rule like this, how to supplement the problem of cutting off grain after the loss of Jiangnan? ”

Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Eight Banners have been lying on the towering tree of China to suck nutrients of the moth, and now the Manchu Qing Dynasty's preferential treatment of the Eight Banners is not as exaggerated as that of later generations, but the grain is cut off, and the grain and grass of the Eight Banners Army will also become a problem. The Manchus had previously attacked Korea in order to regain a grain-producing area. However, Jiangnan District is not Jiangnan, and with this little income, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not exhausted its efforts to fish, which is really strange.

"Back to the king's words, the grain production in North Korea is actually not so small, it is those civil and military people who have two classes of east and west wantonly annexed the land of ordinary people, and they did not pay taxes to end up in such fields. After the Tartars broke through Seoul, they killed a group of civil and military officials, confiscated their property and land, and the land was distributed to the garrison and the state, but also to a lot of landless civilians, so that they could cultivate their own fields, the specific figure of income is not clear, but there are still about two million stones. ”

The annual income of 200,000 stone is simply unthinkable for a country like North Korea, which has a population of 10 million and a territory of no less than 2 million square kilometers. You must know that in the Ming Dynasty of the same era, a medium-sized government also had an annual income of more than ten or two hundred thousand stone grain, and this was produced under such a strange tax system in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, according to the calculations of the Japanese at the time of the Imjin War, Korea's annual income should have been between 8 million and 12 million stones. This figure is exaggerated, for sure, but the gap with that 200,000 stone is too big. And the gap in this comes from North Korea's civilian and military classes.

"The Tartars collected taxes to supply the Eight Banners Army in the capital. According to your report, some of the grain was used to supply the garrison, and most of it was transported by sea to Tianjin by North Korean grain ships, and then by land to the capital. ”

Chen Wen's question was asked to the point, and Zheng Qi immediately realized the key to this question: "If you return to the king, it is exactly like this. The last general thought that if he tried to intercept the Tartar grain ship, even if it could not be captured, sinking or burning it would weaken the strength of the Tartars. ”

With this question, Chen Wen wants this sentence. However, Chen Wen still needs to take the specific things to the joint meeting for consultation, and now is not the time to be in a hurry.

Nodding, Chen Wen no longer continued to ask Zheng Qi about North Korea, but turned to Ichiro Ono and asked about the things he had asked the fleet to send to Japan earlier.

"When I returned to the king, I personally took the things to the emperor and the shogun, and handed them over to the daimyo of the Choshu, Satsuma, and other feudal domains, and they were all interested in the above things, and the Satsuma clan privately told the shogunate that if the shogunate interfered, they could cooperate in the Ryukyus."

"Ryukyu? This fox tail is not hidden? ”

Saying this, Chen Wen also laughed. Then he asked about Ono Ichiro's preparation for becoming a Chinese citizen, and said that he would agree to his application after this incident, which attracted a thousand thanks.

For North Korea and Japan, Chen Wen had a plan, but he needed more force to carry it out. However, this power actually exists in the Ming army of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the difference is only how to unfold.

A few days after receiving the news that the New Army had defeated Wu Sangui, Chen Wen set off for Taiping Mansion in the upper reaches of Nanjing. The Ma'anshan iron ore mine there has already begun to be excavated, and now it has formed a scale, after the relocation of the military industry workshop of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming Army, the iron materials used are also produced in the ironmaking workshop there, Chen Wen has been to inspect many times before, but this time there is something newer.

"King, this is the track published in Science magazine."

Seeing the vernier caliper, Chen Wen simply submitted an article to Science magazine under the pseudonym of Lu Xun that he used when he intersected with Li Yu, saying that he had seen it in the mountains of Henan, and according to the local villagers, it was made by the Qin people to transport goods.

At this moment, what appeared in front of Chen Wen was a railroad track that stretched from the mine in the distance, and on it was a healthy mule pulling several carts of iron ore towards the warehouse of the ironmaking workshop in the distance.

The solid rammed earth foundation is covered by soft sleepers, which are topped by two railroad tracks side by side. Just looking at those carts of iron ore, it should be a cow or two to pull it, but now a mule is enough, who said that you have to have a train to use the rails.

"Ben Wang has also read an article in a magazine, saying that there is less friction on the rails, so it can pull a lot of goods."

"The king is erudite and knowledgeable, and the officials admire."

The bitter gourd face lined up with sycophants, Chen Wen also shook his head with a smile, and then said to the director of the Military Industry Department: "What is the cost of this thing, and is the damage rate still acceptable?" ”

"Back to the king, damage is common, mainly because of the materials used in the rails, hardness and toughness, and the experiment is still continuing. However, this thing does come in handy, usually those miners rely on manpower to carry out of the mine, now the mine can be dug larger, relying on this track alone can save a lot of manpower, the output of the mine has also skyrocketed. ”

In the mines of Ma'anshan, there are many kinds of machinery, although the miners who are mining are still those captured Eight Banners and Green Battalion, especially the former is the object of consumption, but Chen Wen is concerned about the output, in order to ensure the output of the mine's management - the Military Industry Department has also invested a lot of machinery, and now it seems to be quite gratifying.

Iron ore production doubled, and iron-making workshops made extensive use of technology from the Ming Dynasty and from Europe. Chen Wen didn't know much about this, and he also took out the method of heating the air in advance with the exhaust port and air intake side by side that he had seen on the Internet before, and according to the previous practice, coke was used to ensure quality in iron and steelmaking. New technologies and old traditions are intertwined, and today's ironworks are enjoying the benefits of technology, and steel production is gradually increasing.

"If nothing else, by next year, the steel production here will be able to support other aspects, and a military industry workshop alone will not be able to eat such a large output."

The output has doubled, and Xu Yi, the official in charge, can be said to be deeply touched. When he took over the workshop of the Military Industry Division, it was still a group of workshops enclosed by high walls in the city of Jinhuafu, and later due to the extensive use of hydraulic machinery, the workshop moved outside the city, but the production capacity increased, and he also fell into a situation where he was worried about raw materials every day. I remember that at that time, the merchants who were able to transport raw materials from the occupied territories of the Tartars, he was polite and did not dare to neglect in the slightest, even the local magistrates. But now, the output of raw materials has exceeded the use, and it feels like a world away.

"Xiaguan has been thinking about it these days, and when steel production continues to rise, maybe he can consider building a ring track in Nanjing, so that it will be much more convenient for both the people and the garrison to be in the city."

The city of Nanjing is very large, and it takes a lot of time to travel from one place to another, even if it is in the city. Xu Yi's proposal caused Chen Wen to think, the Ring Railway was launched ahead of schedule, although it was a little ahead of time, and it can even be said that it was obvious that Xu Yi had worried about overcapacity, but this is always a good thing, isn't it?

"This proposal is somewhat interesting, take your time, or take care of all aspects of the existing first, the output is rich to that point, not to mention the Nanjing ring track, even if it is not impossible to build from Nanjing to Hangzhou."

Chen Wen's words really startled Xu Yi, there are no less than five hundred miles between the two places, how many railroad tracks do you need. However, in Chen Wen's view, the first Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway built by the Chinese at the end of the Qing Dynasty was also 400 miles long, and Zhan Gong also built such a railway under the environment of the late Qing Dynasty.