Luo Rucai fled completely, not only giving up Lu'an, but also giving up all the territory.

Gushi, Mall, Gwangju, Gwangsan, Xixian, Luoshan, Xinyang, all these prefectures and counties were thrown to Zhao Han. He took the elite old battalion, wrapped up a large number of new thieves and people, and ran across the Huai River to the hinterland of Henan.

Li Zicheng's main force had already left and was assembled on the border of Shanxi and Henan, trying to attack Beizhili with all his might.

The situation in the hinterland of Henan is very complicated, and there are dozens of large and small anti-thieves. They were ostensibly attached to Li Zicheng, secretly attacking and robbing each other, and Luo Rucai was going to annex those forces.

Tough with Zhao Han?

Luo Rucai's bandit name is "Cao Cao", if he can not fight a tough battle, he will never fight, and when he must fight, he is like a mad dog.

"Governor, letter from the front."

There were several letters, one of which was written by Hu Dinggui.

This kid admires Lu Xiangsheng very much, and in those few pursuit battles, he should retreat and advance at critical moments, all of which are Lu Xiangsheng's decision-making.

And Lu Xiangsheng is still very face-saving, so he told Hu Dinggui first and let Hu Dinggui give orders. As a result, most of the cavalry soldiers thought that Hu Dinggui was directing the battle, and did not realize that Lu Xiangsheng was the decider.

The cavalry pursuit battle was a great test of command ability, and Hu Dinggui was still too tender.

If Lu Xiangsheng was not in charge, it was likely that he would be eaten by Luo Rucai's white-edged battle if he was not careful.

Lu Xiangsheng also wrote a letter back, mainly to summarize the tactics of the dragoons:

First, dragoons belong to the cavalry firearm infantry, and they must not use cavalry tactics, nor can they go head-to-head with traditional cavalry. It is necessary to keep a distance from the enemy at all times, and it is better to miss the fighter plane than to ensure your own safety.

Second, the dragoons needed at least fifty or more people to ensure combat effectiveness, because the number of troops was too small, and the fire salvo was not powerful at all.

Thirdly, if the enemy is a traditional cavalry, the best firing distance for dragoons is about 60 paces. The distance is too far, the hit force is too low; Too close to each other, easy to get entangled by enemy cavalry.

Fourth, replace it with spontaneous (flintlock) muskets as soon as possible, arquebuses seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the dragoons.

Fifth, the spurs can be mounted on leather boots, which is more conducive to the control of the dragoons against the horses.

Lu Xiangsheng definitely has a super command talent, and the first time he took the dragoons into battle, he automatically learned what to use.

When he pursued Luo Rucai, he did not divide his troops to bite or fight desperately, but always kept a certain distance. The enemy is fast and I am fast, and the enemy is slow and I am slow, which is completely different from the traditional cavalry pursuit battle.

It is useless to divide a small number of troops to fight to the death, and if you fire a shot, you will lose your combat effectiveness.

Luo Rucai is also very sensible, from beginning to end, except for trying to charge the white-knives battle, he didn't think about breaking the army the rest of the time. He only had 2,000 cavalry, and after going out with a few hundred people, it was just to deliver food, and it would collapse with one salvo, which would be eaten little by little.

Clever hunter, cunning prey.

Zhao Han put down the letter and asked people to ask Song Yingxing about the development of the flintlock pistol.

Song Yingxing was not in Nanjing, but remained in Jiangxi, and wrote back that he was improving the production technology of springs, and at the same time trying to reduce the rate of dumb fire of flintlock pistols.

The percussive flintlock pistol, which existed as early as the middle of Wanli, has always been popularized and used in France. With the assassination of King Henry IV of France, the French generals refused to use flintlock pistols because of their very high rate of mute fire.

Stimulated by the Thirty Years' War, Europe has picked up flintlock pistols again in recent years.

However, improvements had to be made, and if the rate of mute fire could be successfully reduced, the flintlock could completely replace the arquebus.

European countries are improving, Song Yingxing is also leading people to improve, and the research and development process of the East and the West is actually similar.

Also, the same goes for dragoons.

In a few countries in Europe, dragoons have already appeared. And the war horses are similar to the Datong cavalry, they are all inferior horses that have been eliminated, and the real good horses are used to form traditional cavalry.

Even the establishment is similar, the number of dragoons in Europe is about 1000-1500 people in a regiment, and the Datong dragoons are 2000 people.

Charge, fight, mount and shoot...... These projects, the dragoons will not.

It is to run away on horseback, then dismount and shoot, continue to shoot when there is no danger, and immediately run away on horseback when in danger.

The only exceptions were the Swedish dragoons, the musketeers merged with the dragoons, and the cuirassiers merged with the unarmored cavalry. The result was a strange cavalry armed with light armor and cavalry swords, capable of charging into battle on horseback, and firing muskets on horseback. This thing is no longer a dragoon, it can be regarded as a lightly armored musketeer.

The birth of the Swedish multifunctional light armored musketeers was not how good the Swedes were, but ...... Poor!

Sweden didn't have the money to form too many cavalry units, so it could only use one kind of cavalry as a few, probably belonging to the cavalry world "three thousand for your life".

As Lu Xiangsheng said in his letter, Zhao Han could only temporarily improve his riding boots, that is, add spurs to the boots of the cavalry.

In ancient China, there were also spurs, and the "strategy" in "galloping horses" is spurs.

As for the flintlock pistol, keep improving.

It's not that it can't be made now, but the rate of dumb fire is too high. It is also for this reason that the kings of Europe wanted to promote it, but the generals resolutely resisted.

The firing rate of the arquebus is more than 70%, and the firing rate of the flintlock pistol is less than 20%......

……

Intermediate Courtyard Army Direction.

Zhang Tieniu led his troops to land in Tongzhou (Nantong), and before the siege began, the defenders sent envoys, saying that they wanted to negotiate in Nanjing.

As long as Zhao Han agreed to their demands, the rebel army in the Jianghuai salt-producing area was willing to surrender in its entirety.

Zhang Tieniu did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent the envoy to Nanjing.

The rebel army here, a small number of them are salt lords, and most of them are stove households. If the war kills and injures too many stove households, who will cook salt in the future? After the uprising, the price of salt skyrocketed in the past six months.

There were several envoys of the salt army, and the leader was called Tian Yang.

"Knock on Zhao Tianwang, long live!" Tian Yang led everyone to kneel on the ground and shouted in unison.

"Get up and speak." Zhao Han said with a smile.

To be sent as an envoy by the salt lord and the salt household, it is naturally impossible to be a cowardly and cowardly person. When they met, they knelt down and shouted long live, which was nothing more than putting a high hat on Zhao Han in exchange for Zhao Han's sympathy.

"Xie Zhao Heavenly King!"

After these people got up, Zhao Han asked, "If you have any requirements, say them one by one." ”

Tian Yang said: "Please Zhao Tianwang resume the salt class!" ”

"I was surprised by this request." Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.

In the Ming Chengyuan system, the people were organized into stove households, and each household counted Ding to cook salt, and handed over a certain amount of salt to the government every year. These salts that need to be handed in are called salt classes, also known as "forehead salt".

Over time, some of the stove households became wealthy, or colluded with officials to form bullies among the salt households. They seized the means of production of the rest of the salt households, and lost the salt taxes of the means of production, but they still had to continue to pay taxes to the government, so a large number of stove households fled.

In addition, the salt outside of the salt class is also called "residual salt".

At first, the surplus salt could only be purchased by the government, and then it could be purchased by the merchants, and the government and the merchants often lowered the price, resulting in the stove households being forced to sell the surplus salt cheaply, and also tossing a large number of stove households to flee.

The salt class and the surplus salt system are very unfavorable to the stove households, so they secretly sell private salt.

In order to stop the flood of private salt, by the end of the Wanli period, the distinction between the amount of salt and the surplus salt had been abolished, and the stove households were allowed to pay the salt class directly with silver.

As a result, the stove becomes even more miserable!

The government and businessmen jointly exploited it, where did the stove get the money to pay the salt class?

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was regarded as a "salt lesson" for bad governance, but now at the end of the Ming Dynasty, after the stove households rebelled, they actually asked Zhao Han to recover.

In the past six months, Zhao Han summoned many businessmen and scholars, and at the same time repeatedly discussed with Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua and others. There has been a lot of discussion on how to reform the salt law, but after countless discussions, no one has proposed to restore the "main lesson".

Just because, no one thinks about the problem from the perspective of the stove household!

Zhao Han asked: "Why do you want to resume the main class (salt in kind), isn't it good to pay the silver directly?" ”

Tian Yang said: "The government and businessmen have lowered prices, and stove households have been unable to make ends meet by selling salt. If you pay the money to pay the lessons, the stove households have little left, and they can't eat enough at all. ”

"Listen to you, it seems like you've read a book?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Yang arched his hand and said: "I am the second son in the family, and my father and brother sell illicit salt for a living, so I have been rich in studying since I was a child. ”

Zhao Han asked again: "Since you are a smuggler of salt, why do you help the stove household?" ”

Tian Yang replied: "The private salt business is not easy to do, since the Wanli Dynasty reformed the salt law, the government and businessmen have taken the lead in selling illegal salt. If there is 10 points of salt on the market, 7 points of private salt and 3 points of official salt. Half of the private salt was produced by officials and merchants. The big salt lord is just fine, and the small smuggler salt dealer, where can he win the businessman? ”

Well, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, 70% of the salt circulating on the market belonged to private salt, and half of it was still sold by the government and merchants.

How did this make Emperor Chongzhen collect salt taxes?

But what's even more weird is that the salt tax of the Chongzhen Dynasty was the most collected in the entire Ming Dynasty! Forcibly collected, ordered each salt farm, how much must be handed over.

Zhao Han has already formulated a policy here, because Guangdong also produces salt, and plans to transplant Guangdong's new salt law.

Zhao Han said to these salt army envoys: "First, I will cancel the stove registration, and there will be no stove households in the future; Second, the cancellation of the salt class, not only the main class, but also the folded silver of the salt class; Third, relying on regional distinctions, each salt factory was converted into a salt factory, and all stove households were turned into salt cookers. ”

Tian Yang was dumbfounded when he heard this, and after thinking carefully, he asked, "Who belongs to the salt factory?" Is it from the government? Or is it a merchant's? What about factory exploiters? ”

Zhao Han explained: "The land of the salt works is owned by the government and leased to the concessionaire. The merchant built his own factory, made his own equipment, and was responsible for his own profits and losses, but only for 30 years. After 30 years, the salt yard will be leased again. As for salt boilers, the government will set a minimum monthly wage. If the workers are not satisfied, they can leave at any time and fend for themselves, and I will not tie you up in the salt works. ”

"Workers don't have to pay the main class, and they don't have to pay the salt class?" Tian Yang asked.

"No, you don't." Zhao Han shook his head.

Tian Yang asked again: "If the concessionaire Jia opens a salt factory, can we salt soldiers too?" ”

Zhao Han smiled: "I'll give you three concession places, and you can allocate them yourself." It is also possible for multiple people to jointly own a joint venture shareholding. ”

Although the salt factory was privatized, the land of the salt factory was in the hands of the government, and salt could not be boiled without suitable land. Even if salt can be boiled, the cost will increase dramatically, which means that the government can still control the salt industry.

If the exploitation of workers is excessive, or tax evasion is detected, the fine should be fined, and jail time should be imposed. When the 30-year period is up, don't think about getting a license in the future.

In addition, the salt introduction system was abolished and the salt monopoly system was changed, and there were monopoly sellers in each region.

Once the monopoly dealer is found to have evaded taxes, all of them will be dealt with according to the sale of illicit salt.

Every link of salt delivery, transshipment and retail sales must be registered and reported to enhance the government's control over salt.

Although there are still loopholes to exploit, they are more advanced than the salt introduction system. Because the salt introduction system is too rigid, it leads to two evil consequences: first, salt introduction becomes futures; Second, illicit salt is rampant.

Really, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, salt became a piece of futures paper.

The most profitable people are not salt merchants, but the magnates who speculate on salt and futures, or the financiers who have a relationship with the magnates.

Zhao Han set his own conditions, especially the three places to open the factory, and the rebel army in the Jianghuai salt-producing area soon surrendered. Before the surrender, there was also a fight for three concessions.