Although Bibai, Bi Chengen and others escaped, the Battle of Ningxia can still be regarded as a complete victory. The Imperial Court mobilized far fewer troops than expected, and the duration of the war was greatly shortened, and the savings in military expenses were considerable.

The scribes under Ye Mengxiong were busy writing merit documents, and it was natural to put a lot of thought into the distribution of the merits of the generals who participated in the war. Fortunately, Su Hao took the initiative to humbly concede the credit for conquering Ningxia City, Xiao Ruxun knew that his foundation was still shallow, and it was not easy to become the chief military officer of Ningxia, so he no longer competed with Li Rusong. In this way, even if the first merit of the Battle of Ningxia is on Li Rusong's head, it will not be in vain for him to work hard.

Under the first merit, Xiao Ruxun, Su Hao, and Ma Qiancheng received the second merit respectively, and then it was the turn of the middle and lower-level officers of each department and the soldiers with outstanding performance. Xu Guangqi, Hao Qing and other technicians are also on the list of meritorious contributions, and in the face of such a big victory, it is estimated that the imperial court will not spare these merits.

According to the prior arrangement of the imperial court, after the recovery of Ningxia City, Xiao Ruxun's position as the chief soldier of Ningxia was still retained, commanding the guards and horses of Ningxia. He generally promoted all the generals he originally brought with him to the rank of commander and commander of each guard station. As for the positions of staff generals and guerrilla generals at the next level, they can only wait for the military department to arrange for someone to take up the position.

The officers and soldiers in Ningxia who were coerced by Liu Dongyang and Bibai to participate in the rebellion were strictly screened. The officers and soldiers who committed the crime were stripped of their military household status and sent to work as coolies in the coal mines. Rank and file officers were transferred out of their original ranks, demoted or even relegated to the rank of ordinary soldiers. As for those who were originally soldiers, they cannot be degraded now, nor should they be punished, so they can only continue to be used. However, the charges on their heads had to be carried for a while longer, and Xiao Ruxun issued an order, saying that if these soldiers had any more mistakes such as violating military orders within a period of time, they would be punished for both crimes and severely punished.

With the exception of the sergeants who were sent to dig coal, the rest of the officers and soldiers who participated in the rebellion had a sense of the aftermath of the disaster. When the imperial army approached the city, they felt that the end was coming, and the destruction of the city was the time when their heads were broken. Who would have thought that the imperial army successfully broke through the city walls, but did not kill them. A mere demotion or admonition is hardly a punishment, but it is a blessing to survive.

What surprised the officers and soldiers even more was that Xiao Ruxun immediately announced the welfare plan for the entire Ningxia Wei. The supply of coal and vegetable greenhouses, which were originally limited to the officers and soldiers of the Pingyu Institute, will be extended to all officers and soldiers of the Ningxia Zhuwei. Xiao Ruxun also promised that the arrears of salaries and clothing of officers and men during Dang Xin's tenure as governor of Ningxia would be fully made up within the next year or two, and that the taxes on the tuntian fields of officers and soldiers would also be reduced or exempted for two years.

"Thank you, Mr. Xiao!"

"Mr. Xiao is benevolent!"

"I am willing to saddle the horse and back for Mr. Xiao, and stick a knife in both ribs!"

When the news came out, the officers and soldiers of the Ningxia guards rushed to tell each other, and there were even people who ran to the gate of the general soldier's mansion to cry bitterly and kowtow and swear. Xiao Ruxun asked his Chinese officers to go out to appease the officers and soldiers who came to express their loyalty, and he sat in the conference hall and talked about this matter with Su Hao, which was also full of emotion.

"These are all things they deserve, if Dang Xin could give them these earlier, it wouldn't have caused death." Xiao Ruxun said.

Su Hao said: "Dang Xin is innocent of death, but the poor ones are those military households who were forced to rebel, and they were inexplicably coerced into it and sent their surnames to their lives." and those soldiers who sacrificed their lives to quell the rebellion are also unjustified disasters. And all of this is because of the greed of Dang Xin alone. ”

Xiao Ruxun said: "Change, speaking of this, Xiao really wants to thank you very much, in fact, whether it is this coal mine or the warm shed, it is all thanks to you, and I Ningxia Guards want to thank you." ”

Su Hao said: "Brother Xiao is serious, I did these things just by raising my hands. The border army brothers are fighting so the border, what do I have to do with this little effort? ”

"Da En is not grateful, this time it is as heavy as a mountain to my Ningxia border army, Xiao can only say that he will report later." Xiao Ruxun said.

"Brother Xiao said this, which made the little brother embarrassed." Su Hao waved his hand, lifted the topic, and asked instead: "Brother Xiao, you are now the chief soldier of Ningxia, what do you think about the defense of Ningxia Wei in the future?" ”

Xiao Ruxun knew that Su Hao was not asking out of thin air, so he said, "Xiao Mou is trying to hear the idea of reform." ”

Su Hao was not polite, and said directly: "When Su Hao and Brother Xiao were in Pingyu City, they talked to Brother Xiao that for the threat of the Tatars, offense is more effective than defense, Brother Xiao can remember this." ”

Xiao Ruxun nodded and said, "Of course I remember, the meaning of changing it is ......"

Su Hao said: "I'm thinking about Ningxiawei these days, and I think that although the source of this mutiny is in Dangxin, the hard life in the border area is also an important reason. If we cannot effectively improve the living environment and increase the population in the border areas, it will be difficult to guarantee the stability of the border areas. ”

"It makes sense to change it." Xiao Ruxun said.

The living conditions of Ningxia Wei are difficult, and Xiao Ruxun is the most experienced. After Su Hao arrived in Pingyucheng, he helped the border army find a coal mine and built a vegetable greenhouse, which did improve the local living standard to a certain extent, but this improvement was very limited. Out-of-season vegetables were sold at sky-high prices last year, but as more and more military households began to build greenhouses and grow vegetables, the price of vegetables in winter will soon drop, and at best, it will be able to ensure that the border troops have fresh vegetables to eat in winter.

The most serious consequence of the difficult living conditions is that very few women are willing to marry in Ningxia Weilai, and even some women who have already married have fled because of the hardships. A large number of military households have become old singles here, and they have also become the biggest destabilizing factor in the local area.

Now that the rebellion is preliminary, Xiao Ruxun provides some benefits to the rebel soldiers who have returned to Shun, which can get everyone's gratitude and stabilize the morale of the army in the short term. After a long time, if the living conditions are still not effectively improved, the complaints of the military households will inevitably arise, and at that time, I don't know what new chaos will be caused.

But is it so easy to improve local lives? Xiao Ruxun couldn't help but set her eyes on Su Hao, hoping to get some new inspiration from this young man.

Su Hao said: "Brother Xiao, I have carefully studied this place in Ningxiawei. The surrounding mineral resources are very rich, and there are a large number of rare medicinal materials, if you can attract mainland businessmen to invest in mining and planting medicinal materials, it can be a way to get rich. In addition, the Ningxia Plain has a tradition of diverting the Yellow River for irrigation since ancient times, and there were water canals in the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Tang Lai Canal dug during the Tang Dynasty is still in effect today. However, in recent years, due to climate reasons, the water volume of the Yellow River has decreased, and the difficulty of water diversion has increased, leading to the decline of agriculture. It would not be difficult to renovate the irrigation system, or even build a dam on the Yellow River to store water, raise the water level, and restore Ningxia's scenery to the south of the Yangtze River. ”

"Dam on the Yellow River?" Xiao Ruxun stared at Su Hao with wide eyes, "It's not a joke with Xiao, right?" ”

Su Hao said: "It depends on the determination of the Ministry of Industry, as for the technical difficulty, I don't think it's a problem." ”

Su Hao said this, of course, not without purpose. In later generations, the upper reaches of the Yellow River were developed in cascades and more than a dozen dams were built. Among them, the Qingtongxia Dam built in Ningxia was first built by manpower, and the degree of mechanization application is very low. Su Hao believes that what can be done by manpower in later generations can also be completed now.

Su Hao is not a historian, but he also has some knowledge of the history of the late Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the influence of the Xiaoice River period, a severe drought occurred in a large area of northwest China, resulting in a large-scale reduction in agricultural production. The starving peasants had no livelihood, which eventually led to a peasant uprising led by Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others, and became the main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Since history accidentally brought Su Hao to the Ming Dynasty, and to the northwest, he hoped that he could do something to save the fate of the Ming Dynasty. Building dams can change the situation of agriculture relying on the sky for food, and provide buffer room for the upcoming Xiaoice River period, which is the main reason why he proposed to Xiao Ruxuan to repair water conservancy facilities.

Xiao Ruxun doesn't know much about engineering issues, and it is inconvenient to evaluate. He nodded and said to Su Hao: "Since it is not difficult to change the dam, there must be some truth. It's just that what you are talking about whether it is mining or damming, what does it have to do with the use of troops? ”

Su Hao said: "To restore Ningxia's economy, there must be a peaceful environment. If the Tatar Ministry comes to disturb them twice in three days, who will dare to come to Ningxia to invest, and who will want to come here to farm? My idea is that we should take the initiative to attack the Tatar tribes around Ningxiawei and make them afraid of our homeland. ”

Xiao Ruxun said: "Change what you think, Yu Xiao has a kinship. Xiao also thought that if one day he could get out of the side wall, sweep the grassland, and make contributions, that would be the work of a good man. However, we also have to think about it, this war is all about money and food, and the imperial court is overstretched to even quell the rebellion, and if we propose to take the initiative to cross the border wall to fight, the imperial court will definitely not approve of it. ”

Su Hao said: "I have been in peace for a long time, everyone doesn't want to fight, and it is already a practice to nest in the side wall all day long waiting for others to fight us." However, there is an excuse now, doesn't Brother Xiao want to take advantage of it? ”

"What excuse?" Xiao Ruxun asked.

Su Hao said: "In this battle of Ningxia, it is a big pity to escape. If we propose to the imperial court to use troops in the name of arresting and bringing him to justice, the imperial court may approve of it. ”

"I don't think so." Xiao Ruxuan said, "Arresting and worshipping is naturally what everyone expects." But money is needed to fight a war, and it is not necessarily possible to get through it with the cabinet. Instead, I think it will cost us to go into the grassland to fight and worship? ”

Su Hao smiled and said, "If I say that we don't need a penny, does Brother Xiao believe it?" ”