At the end of the fourth year of Hongwu, the movement of Huainan triggered repeated changes in the situation in the world, and the Hu people in the north were ready to move to enter the Central Plains in the coming year. Sima Shu was not to be outdone, and at the year-end court meeting, he and the cabinet ministers began to take stock of their family resources in recent years.

"How's the Korean Peninsula preparing?"

"Your Majesty, in the past two years, the Korean Governor's Office has recruited a total of 50,000 soldiers locally, plus the imperial court left enough troops to mobilize tens of thousands of troops to attack Goguryeo in the north."

"Well, that's good, with these tens of thousands of horses, plus the mercenaries of the Murong tribe, it should be possible to invest 100,000 troops on the Liaodong front, and the navy can also support them, so the Duan clan and Yuwen are not worried." Sima Shu breathed a sigh of relief.

According to the news from the secret spies lurking in Liaodong, Duan Wu Muchen and Goguryeo wanted to raise troops to destroy the power of the Great Jin Dynasty on the Samhan Peninsula several times, but they were separated by the Murong tribe and had more than enough strength.

"How is the recruitment of the Qiang people in the northwest going?" Sima Shu asked about another matter.

"Your Majesty is going very well." Zu Ti replied that a few years ago, the Liangzhou Thorn Prefecture used business travel to reach an agreement with the Northwest Zhuqiang, and began large-scale trade in pig iron, tea, salt, horses, etc. Because Sima Shu demanded that the merchants of the Great Jin Dynasty do things fairly and abide by integrity, these Qiang tribes in the northwest who had often been "deceived by the trap" had a very good impression of the merchants of the Great Jin Dynasty. Some of the Qiang tribes in the northwest could not bear the oppression of the Tuyuhun tribe, and they went out of the mountains to join the Great Jin.

The Qiang people originally developed from the source of the Xihai (now Qinghai) River, with a total of 150 species, and then scattered in the east, south, and west. Since the former Han Dynasty, there have been Xian Ling, Yaodang, Le Sister, Dang Frying, Dang Khotan, Feng Yang, Tired Sister, Sister Gang, Beiyan, Hunu, Wuwu, Zhongcun, Gongtang, and Freeze, Fu Nan and other departments have successively moved to Anding, Beidi, Shangjun, Xihe, Hanyang, Anding, Longxi Counties, and even as far as Guanzhong, Bingzhou and Sizhou.

"Your Majesty, we have now recruited a total of 18,000 cavalry from the Qiang tribe. Now they are all under the jurisdiction of the Liangzhou Governor's Office, in addition, the Qiang tribe that depends on us can also provide 30,000 cavalry, plus the 50,000 cavalry of Tuyuhun, our army can invest 100,000 troops in Liangzhou in the northwest. ”

"And the most important thing is that the main artery of the highway from Guzang to Chang'an will be put into use soon, and the logistical problems that have plagued the northwest operation have been completely solved."

"According to the plan of the Privy Council, all the armies in the northwest region have been reorganized and merged into the Northwest Governor's Office, with Liangzhou Thorn Shi Zhang Liang as the Governor of the Governor's Office, Tuyuhun, Ma Xian, Wu Yong and others as the deputy generals, Tuyan as the vanguard, and the goal is directly aimed at the Hexi Corridor. Their goal was to recover the entire Hexi Corridor and eliminate the entire Hexi Xianbei. ”

"Tell Zhang Liang and the others. We must take a good look at those soldiers who belong to the Qiang tribe in the northwest, they are the foundation for us to pacify the Xihai Plateau in the future. These are warriors from the plateau, who have no low prestige among their respective tribes, and we must treat them with sincerity and justice. Try to bring them back to their hearts as much as possible. Sima Shu specially advised.

Now all the Qiang tribes in the northwest are scattered and lived. Basically, hundreds or thousands of people live on their own for a tribe. Otherwise, the nearly one million tribes of the Qiang tribe would not have been suppressed to death by tens of thousands of Tuyuhun tribes. That's why Sima Shu is so concerned about this group of recruited Northwest Qiang warriors, as long as they are well recruited, they will naturally be able to win them over, and they will not worry about the uncertainty of the Northwest Plateau.

"The minister must write to the Liangzhou Governor's Office. Be clear about what's at stake. Zu Li replied solemnly.

"Mengsun. The Northern Expedition is about to begin, is the military supply ready? Sima Shu nodded, turned his head and asked Zhang Bin.

"Your Majesty, since the first year of Hongwu, the imperial court has spent a lot of money to buy a large amount of grain from all over the country since the initial determination of Guanzhong, Central Plains, and Shu Prefectures. In addition, in the past few years, under the rule of the imperial court, the wind and rain have been smooth, and the grain has been harvested every year, and we have purchased a large amount of grain from the people at market prices. In addition to the tax on the land, a total of 3.2 million stones were hoarded, and they are now stored in Chang'an, Shouchun, Yecheng, Luoyang, Guzang and other places, and can be allocated to the military at any time. ”

"That's good, in the past few years, the people of Bingzhou and Youzhou have been exploited by the Hu people, and we must not only recover the lost land, but also appease the people who have suffered a lot. By the way, the cabinet should start to buy cattle and other materials, and help the people in the northern regions to resume production as soon as possible. ”

Zhang Bin nodded solemnly, he has followed Sima Shu for many years and has also run the Central Plains for many years, and knows the hardships of restoring people's livelihood. The land is well divided, measured and then according to the head of the person, but the ensuing seeds, cattle and cultivation are more important things, and the land is not the factory overtime can see the income immediately, you can't see the harvest until the autumn harvest, and an autumn harvest takes a year and a half, these spare days are equivalent to eating the old book is not ready, how can you do it?

At present, some literati who do not understand vulgar things talk about the Northern Expedition and reunification in the newspapers every day, as if Wang Shi will quickly prosper as soon as Guanzhong arrives, and the people's hearts will quickly return to him. But if you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, if you don't have full preparation, how can the millions of poor people in Bingzhou and Youzhou make ends meet? No matter how high the banner of your benevolence and righteousness is raised, the people of the two northern states will still have complaints in their hearts if they can't eat enough, and if someone instigates it a little, I am afraid that it will be another war.

However, Sima Xiao thought further, the grain production in ancient times was too low, and after these years of development, the grain output in various places under the rule of the imperial court had reached the limit, and no matter how high it was, it could not be high. At this time, although the land in Guanzhong, Central Plains, and Shu was fertile, it really couldn't support too many people except to feed itself.

Sometimes, Sima Shu was eager for the navy to go around the Americas and Africa as soon as possible to get some high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes back there, so as to solve the problem fundamentally.

After thinking for a while, Sima Shu turned to the topic again: "Xie Shangshu, how are you preparing over there?" ”

"Returning to Your Majesty, the Ordnance Factory has been in full production since the first year of Hongwu, and now it is equipped with 330,000 troops with a total of 110 infantry cavalry troops. It is expected that by April next year, the arsenal will be able to store 100 weapons and equipment used by the army. Since the first year of Hongwu, the ordnance factory can be equipped with ten artillery battalions in addition to supplying naval guns every year, and now the imperial court has set up fifty artillery battalions, with a total of 6,500 cannons. ”

"Your Majesty, in order to meet the ammunition consumption of the army, the major gunpowder factories can now produce three million rounds of ammunition per month, and now there are hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition in storage alone, which can fully cope with future wars." Xie said confidently.

"No, the production of ammunition is still relatively small, and the production must be increased!" Sima Shu's categorical words interrupted the complacent smugness, which did not complain that Sima Shu was demanding, and in the other world in 1813, in the Battle of Victoria, Spain, nearly 60,000 British troops consumed 3.5 million bullets, which was enough to cover the output of the gunpowder factory for more than a month.

The Dajin new-style army has more than 200,000 people, and there will be more and more. According to the infantry regulations, each soldier needs to carry 60 rounds of ammunition with him, and each box needs to carry three bases, that is, 180 spare rounds of ammunition per person, and this guy went to 37.8 million, which is equivalent to the production capacity of the gunpowder factory for more than a year.

"How's the rest of the supplies going?" Sima Shu continued to ask.

"Back to Your Majesty, in May last year, the War Department placed an order for 1 million sets of winter military cotton uniforms, 300,000 field tents and other materials, and now the Privy Council has accepted 500,000 sets of cotton clothes and 25 field tents, and it is expected that the rest will be delivered by April next year."

The biggest enemy of the Northern Expedition in addition to the Hu people's iron cavalry is the severe cold in winter, especially in the eastern Liaodong region, which is a very cold place, more than half of the Jin army in charge of the Northern Expedition is the Central Plains, and they basically have not tried to live a life of tens of degrees below zero. Fortunately, the promotion of cotton has allowed all kinds of cotton fabrics to enter people's homes on a large scale. For the purpose of cold protection and ease of action, the winter combat cotton clothing has become the greatest guarantee for the cold protection of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Sima Shu nodded, he knew that this huge number of orders to the manufacturers around the country brought huge profits and impact, some factories can be said to be in a hurry day and night, and the demand for raw materials is so huge, directly caused from July last year to stop selling cotton cloth and other products overseas, and limit domestic sales.

Due to the shortage of cotton fabrics, and the confidence of the merchants of the Great Jin Dynasty in the Northern Expedition of their own army, the merchants who saw the prospect began to take action to expand the existing factories or simply open larger cotton imitation factories, and expand the cotton planting area as much as possible on the basis of the law that was not violated.

Let the cotton fabric industry of the Great Jin Dynasty gain another huge opportunity to take off with the help of the upcoming war, of course, these actions are also indispensable to the royal family, families and other capital predators.

"One more thing, I need to remind everyone that the cold is not only a serious test for my Northern Expedition army, but also a severe test for the people of the two northern states. Once our army recovers the two places, we will have to bear the problem of feeding the local people and wearing warm clothes. I wonder if the Cabinet has this in mind? ”

Zhang Bin hesitated with a look on his face: "Your Majesty, our cabinet and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have prepared more than one million sets of cotton clothes, but it is still not enough, but the financial resources of the imperial court are limited, and no matter how much it is, it will not be able to afford it. ”

Sima Shu knew the difficulties of the imperial court, the northern expedition of hundreds of thousands of troops was very costly, and the imperial court also had to prepare food for the people of the two places to survive and materials to resume production. The burden is already extremely heavy, and it is really unaffordable to add a sum of money to buy winter clothes for the people in the two places, no matter how few the people in the north are, there are millions, and no matter how rich the imperial court is, there is always a limit. (To be continued......)