"Wash it clean, it's all what you have to eat, the more you get it, the more you are afraid of running out of food when you go to Liaodong."

On the fifth day of November in the first year of Taichang, next to a small river at the foot of Yanshan Mountain, tens of thousands of people are squatting here on both sides of the river at this moment.

Beside them, there was a cart of grain consignment for the autumn harvest of rice.

Strange to say, at this moment, they were cleaning the rice, and Qi Jin and Qin Bangping, as generals, followed Zhu Youzhen, shouting at the people and horses, while explaining to Zhu Youzhen:

"When a large army goes out on a march, it is impossible to bring grain that has been harvested directly and stripped of the husks and wheat husks."

"The soldiers and horses of the expedition are easy to be attacked if the grain route is extended."

"Therefore, the size of the grain should be reduced, so the military rations are different."

Qi Jin introduced Zhu Youzhen, and gave an example by the way:

"Generally speaking, it is not surprising that when you are stationed in the city, you will eat soft rice and millet."

"But if you go long distances, or go deep into enemy territory, and fight in the wilderness, you must have little food to eat."

Qi Jin's words, Zhu Youzhen is not difficult to understand, to put it bluntly, it is portable rations, such as modern compressed biscuits.

However, he was curious about how Qi Jin would use to make rations that could be compressed.

Fortunately, within a few seconds of his curiosity, Qi Jin replied:

"This military ration, before going out on the expedition, you need to take a stone of rice, remove the shell and wash it, bake it in the sun after cooking, take out the impurities after drying, and steam it again."

"After repeating this ten times, you can get two buckets of hard rice."

"These two buckets of rice need to be carried by soldiers on the march, and each time they bury the pot to make rice, each person takes three coins of hard rice, throws it in boiling water, and after boiling, you can get a bowl of hard rice."

"How long can you eat two buckets of military rations like this?" Zhu Youzhen understood, to put it bluntly, it was to remove the moisture in the rice, and compress the weight of the rice after repeated many times.

But even if so, how long can you eat it?

Facing his question, Qi Jin said with a smile: "With the salt of the two armies and a piece of vinegar cloth, these two buckets of rice are enough for the army to eat for fifty days." ”

"What are military salt and coarse cloth?" Hearing that two buckets of rice could be eaten for fifty days, Zhu Youzhen was slightly stunned.

Two buckets of rice are converted, but only twenty-five catties, which is equivalent to half a catty of rice every day.

But thinking of these twenty-five catties of rice, which was made by drying and compressing one stone of rice, Zhu Youzhen didn't think it was strange.

When he was a child, he also saw that if a grain of rice is cooked and refrigerated, it will be lighter than the original rice, but the taste will be worse.

This is repeated ten times、Actually, there are still so many rice, but the weight is reduced。

When Zhu Youzhen reacted, Qin Bangping next to him explained with a smile:

"Military salt needs to take three catties of salt, put water into the pot and boil, until it is small, there will be about three pieces the size of a fingernail, weighing two taels, and you can cut off a trace with a knife every time you cook."

"The vinegar cloth is to soak the coarse cloth one foot into a pound of vinegar, after drying, every time you cook, cut an inch, soak it in water, and then pick it up when the coarse cloth changes color."

"In addition, they will also take mulberry and wild fruits, or other things, and they will also soak in water after exposure to the sun and eat."

"None of these things can be missing, and if one is missing, it will make it difficult for the soldiers to hold on."

Qin Bangping's words, from a scientific point of view, are just supplementing salt and vitamins.

In ancient times, someone was able to come up with such a method, which shows that the ancients were not stupider than modern people, and even surpassed them.

The people of the future will only stand on their shoulders and see higher and farther.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Youzhen also said:

"In the future, if the Imperial Horse Supervisor has the opportunity to receive the Taifu Temple, then he will definitely ask every soldier to eat dried meat."

It was rare for ordinary soldiers to eat dried meat, especially on the march.

Zhu Youzhen used a lot of energy to raise Yulin Sanwei and Yuma Supervisor, and what he wanted was for them to be brave and good at fighting.

But if they can't even eat well, how can they be brave? How to fight well?

At present, the grassland and arable land of the Imperial Horse Supervisor are not enough, so naturally they cannot afford to raise so many cattle and sheep that are enough for the army to eat.

But Zhu Youzhen is confident that as long as he follows his plan, there will only be more and more cattle and sheep.

He thought so, and then he and Qi Jin turned on their horses and rushed towards the Yanshan camp.

On horseback, Zhu Youzhen asked:

"If you go to Liaodong from here, I don't know how much military rations you need to stockpile?"

Seeing that this question was simple, Qin Bangping also replied directly: "From here to Shenyang for 1,200 miles, if the army travels 50 miles a day, it will take about 24 days. ”

"Therefore, when my sister comes with white pole soldiers, in the case of 11,000 people, 11,000 buckets of military rations should be needed, but vinegar cloth is not needed."

"However, 10,000 catties of salt must be prepared, and at least 20,000 catties of dried vegetables and 30,000 catties of vinegar must be prepared."

"If there are 11,000 buckets of military rations, it will probably take about 5,000 stone of shelled rice."

"Good!" Hearing Qin Bangping's words, Zhu Youzhen said to the two of them:

"At that time, I will transfer 2,000 horses from the imperial horse supervisor, 2,000 horses for carriages, 10,000 catties of salt, 10,000 catties of vegetables, 30,000 catties of vinegar, and 5,000 taels of silver from the imperial horse supervisor."

Zhu Youzhen logically said that there was no need to pay this amount of money and grain.

Because logically speaking, the military department will come out, and the good royal brother also promised that he would pay the military salary according to 221 people.

However, these days, Qin Bangping and Qi Jin have taught him so many things, and they can be regarded as half of his masters, so it is impossible for him to just let it go.

In addition, he also had important matters to communicate with the two, so after the two thanked them, Zhu Youzhen said:

"Although Liao Shen is a horn for each other, it is still necessary to garrison Zhenjiang and use three places as horns to contain Nurhachi, which the two of you know better than me."

"But what I want to say is that it is very difficult to pacify Nurhachi, and we don't know how many of the millions of Liao people have taken refuge in Nurhachi and how much intelligence they have betrayed."

"So I hope that the two generals will not be greedy for merit and go out of the city to meet the enemy."

"The most important thing at the moment is to defend Liaodong, and then wait for the follow-up reinforcements of Shizhu and Zhejiang soldiers."

"I told the imperial brother that if you want to win, the first thing is to remove the soldiers and horses from Liaodong and replace them with guest troops to defend the city."

"As long as the two generals hold Liaodong for six years, there will inevitably be tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under their command."

"At that time, I will send Sun Yingyuan, Man Gui and others to go with the Seven Guards and One Battalion, and Liaodong will be just around the corner."

"What His Highness said, the last general listened to it." Qi Jin and Qin Bangping returned the salute one after another, and Zhu Youzhen also explained:

"After Mrs. Qin Liangyu comes, I'm afraid I won't be able to greet her."

"But don't worry, when I return to the capital tomorrow, I will ask the imperial brother to allocate 300,000 taels of silver, 55,000 taels of silver for the opening of the silver, and the rest for the next year's military salary."

"As for Mrs. Qin Liangyu, I will ask the imperial brother to allocate another silver and ask her to continue recruiting troops after returning to eastern Sichuan."

"That's very good...... Qin Bangping and Qi Jin looked at each other and smiled, and Zhu Youzhen also smiled and led them towards the Yanshan camp.

After the three returned to the Yanshan camp, because it was noon, they all returned to their residences to rest.

Zhu Youzhen also returned to the backyard of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's yamen, but after arriving here, he asked the little eunuchs around him:

"Where's Cao Huachun?"

"Back to Your Highness...... the little eunuch saluted slightly:

"Admiral Cao has led people to Yanshan, and then he has to supervise the refining of honeycomb coal."

"Is that so......" Hearing the little eunuch's words, Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, and then said:

"In that case, I'll take a lunch break first, and wait for Cao Huachun to come back and wake me up."

"The slave takes the command." Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, the little eunuch saluted obediently, and Zhu Youzhen just walked into the bedroom, and took a step back to look at the little eunuch and said:

"The honeycomb coal, step up tonight to make 3,000 catties, and add 30 stoves, and bring them back to the capital tomorrow."

"The slave takes the command." Hearing this, seeing that Zhu Youzhen didn't say anything else, the little eunuch hurriedly sent someone to inform him.

As for Zhu Youzhen, he had already taken off his regular clothes outside under the clothes of others, and fell asleep on the bed in his underwear.

Before going to bed, he was still thinking about how to use honeycomb coal to harvest the silver of the Mongols and the people, and it can be said that he wanted to make money and wanted to go crazy.

But he hadn't slept long before he heard hurried footsteps and roadblocks:

"During the Yang Affair, His Royal Highness is taking a lunch break, you ......"

"Lunch break? Go away, I've got something important! Yang Lian's irritable voice appeared in Han Jingluo's ears, and Han Jingluo could only get up tiredly, sighed and said:

"Let Yang come in in the middle of the matter."

"The slave and maid receive the order...... Hearing this, the little eunuch suddenly didn't dare to block the way, and Yang Lian also broke into the bedroom, and held up the letter in his hand to Zhu You on the bed:

"Things in Liaodong have progressed, Zhu Tongmeng and they brought people back to the capital early this morning, after you return to the capital tomorrow, if there is anything to do with Xiong Feibai, you must protect him!"

Yang Lian was very nervous at this moment, and it was hard to imagine that such tension would appear in a Donglin party.

As a member of the Donglin Party, he now wants to protect Xiong Tingbi of the Chu Party, which really makes people want to laugh......

But at the moment, Zhu Youzhen couldn't laugh, he got up and took the letter, and after glancing at it, he made sure that there was no Xiong Tingbi's handle that was caught by Yao Zongwen and others, and then rubbed his eyebrows and said:

"If there is no handle to be caught, Xiong Tingbi will pass through Liaodong, and there will be no mistakes in the match of Governor Yuan Yingtai."

"The current problem in Liaodong is that after the winter passes, Nurhachi will definitely raise a large army to invade Liaodong."

"At present, there are nearly 100,000 Han captives under his command, even if the Zhejiang soldiers and white pole soldiers are transferred to Liaodong, it is very difficult to hold on."

His words made Yang Lian nod, and the stubborn old man found a place to sit by himself, frowned and said:

"After the loss of the Great Wall of Liaodong, the defense was difficult, so Xiong Feibai was sent there."

"Although Xiong Feibai has a strange and irritable temper, he is good at military affairs, and I think he can see the ambition of the old slave."

"Didn't he say that there were 120,000 soldiers and horses in Liaodong, but there were 30,000 or 40,000 fighters?"

"At that time, 20,000 troops will be transferred to garrison Shenyang and Liaodong respectively, and the old slave will not be able to capture it at that time."

"It's not that simple...... Zhu Youzhen was speechless, Yang Lian's thinking about the military almost straight line, he could only explain it to him:

"The old slave used the Zai Sai of the barbarian (Inner Khalkha) as a hostage to force the lord of the Tuban Alliance to submit to him."

"That is to say, once the troops are transferred from Liaoxi to Liaodong, then Liaoxi will be empty, and there will be a danger of being cut off by Jianyu."

"So it's not feasible to transfer troops, and all that can be done is to strengthen the defense of Liaodong."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Fortunately, I ordered someone to add fifty Fran machine guns, as well as many general cannons." ”

"These artillery pieces are transferred to Shenyang, plus thousands of families in the hands of He Shixian and You Shigong, they should be able to hold Shenyang City."

"As long as Shenyang is held, the old slave will not dare to directly invade Liaoyang."

"At that time, Qi Yuanfu will lead his troops north in June of next year, and at most they will arrive in Liaodong in September, and the danger in Liaodong will be solved."

"Then according to what His Highness said, you can only keep it?" Yang Lian frowned, as a member of the Donglin Party, he also suffered from a special system of the Donglin Party, that is, he threatened to attack at every turn.

Therefore, after Zhu Youzhen's words came out, he immediately said:

"The imperial court spent millions of Liaoxiang just to defend Liaodong?"

"Now is not the time to march!" Zhu Youzhen raised his voice, and when he saw that Yang Lian didn't speak, he explained:

"The 70,000, 80,000, or even 100,000 soldiers and horses in Nurhachi's hands are real, and how many of them are in Liaodong?"

"To say something unpleasant, Yang is in the middle of the matter. Although our dynasty claims to have more than 2 million soldiers, only 200,000 people can be pulled out to fight Nurhachi. ”

"Among these 200,000 people, I also include the Seven Guards and One Battalion in my hands."

"It's not a compliment, you should know ......"

Zhu Youzhen counted the Seven Guards and One Battalion, and said in disguise that the other more than 100,000 horses were actually not as good as the Seven Guards and One Battalion, which had been trained for more than a month.

"This ......," Yang Lian said a little uncomfortably:

"Jiubian, which spends tens of millions of taels of silver every year, has more than 700,000 horses, and can only pull out more than 100,000 people?"

"Or else?" Zhu Youzhen sneered lightly: "What does Gonghua City look like, I guess you saw it." ”

"If you still think it's impossible, then I suggest that you go to Miyunwei and further afield during my trip to the capital."

"After reading it, you will know why Lone trains soldiers and horses."

Yang Lian only felt hit at this time, after all, for a Wenchen like him, who had experienced the three major expeditions of Wanli, Da Ming was extremely strong at the moment.

This is not his mind alone, but also the thoughts of all civil officials and ordinary people.

Just find a random person in Wanli, Taichang, and the Apocalypse to ask them, and tell them that the Ming Dynasty will die in more than ten years, and no one believes this sentence.

Even the hungry people in Huaibei only feel that there are too many corrupt officials and corrupt officials, not that the Ming Dynasty is not strong.

This illusion was not until Chongzhen's own change in the second year that the true family background of the Ming Dynasty's foreign powerhouses was revealed.

At present, there are four evils in the world, vassal kings, gentry, military officers, and natural disasters......

The vassal king did not pay taxes, exploited the people, and annexed land.

The gentry and merchants colluded, did not pay taxes, and did not pay grain.

The guards and the nine-sided officers were seriously emptied, and they ate 70% of the imperial court's finances every year, but they had no effect.

The final catastrophe is a trifle compared to the first two.

As long as the gentry and merchants are cleaned up, and then the blood-sucking guards and the nine-sided officers are cleaned, the Ming Dynasty can completely resist natural disasters with national strength.

When there was not enough food, they recovered Annam and purchased from Siam and Donghu.

As long as we take the sea by sea, actively stock up on grain, and ensure that all provinces in the country have grain to eat during the three years of the severe drought, then there is nothing to be afraid of natural disasters.

But is the road easy? No, it's hard, it's even harder than fighting the world all over again.

But does Zhu Youzhen have a way out? If he doesn't solve these things, he will die, and the land of Shenzhou will sink under the iron hooves of the alien race.

Therefore, there is no way back for him......

Thinking of this, Inspector Zhu You sighed, and then said to Yang Lian:

"In the Yang Qi matter, when I returned to the capital this time, the first thing I did was to persuade the emperor's brother Fa Neinu and the Sichuan soldiers and Zhejiang soldiers."

"At present, the soldiers and horses in Liaodong and Jiubian are unreliable, if you want to revitalize the soldiers and horses, the first thing is to hold Liaodong first, and slowly figure it out."

"Only by removing and replacing the soldiers and horses in Jiubian, especially Jizhen, can we save money for the imperial court, and can we further train and reduce troops."

"Only when the imperial court's silver expenditure is reduced can the ...... of the field be reduced"

Zhu Youzhen's words can be regarded as deceiving Yang Lian, an old boy.

He has never figured out what class Yang Lian belongs to, whether he is a poor peasant or a rich peasant, or a small landlord and a squire.

Donglin Party members come from all over the world, and all the interests involved are different, and only by using interests to envelop people is the simplest, most direct and close means.

Sure enough, after Zhu Youzhen said this, Yang Lian sighed and said:

"It is naturally a good thing to reduce the tax for the people, but it is difficult to do side things, what should the court do after the tax is reduced?"

When Yang Lian said this worriedly, Zhu Youzhen immediately jumped out of several possibilities in his heart.

First of all, he sent Jinyi Wei to check Yang Lian's family background, Yang Lian's great-grandfather Yang Gongduo was a rich peasant in the Huguang area in the last years of Chenghua.

Because Emperor Chenghua promoted official learning, he was able to go to official school for free, and after learning knowledge, he loved to fight for others, so he was called a ranger.

By the time his grandfather was born, it was already the Zhengde period, and the atmosphere at that time was due to the eunuchs, which led to a heavier burden on the people.

So, Yang Gongduo and his son Yang Wanchun helped the people in their hometown together, and the two of them were called "Yang Erzhai Gong"

In the Jiajing period, Yang Lian's father Yang Yanao was born, because of the teachings of his grandfather and father, Yang Yanao was kind and charitable, but also because of the third grandfather's philanthropic character, Yang Lian's family was between small landlords and rich peasants.

Even now, Yang Lian's family is only 50 acres of paddy fields and 150 acres of thin fields, and there is one eldest brother in the family, and the eldest brother has three sons and eight grandchildren, and Yang Lian himself has five sons and nine grandchildren.

With the addition of his wife, the Yang family has reached Yang Lian's generation, and there are a total of thirty-seven people.

Although there are many talents in the family who can be exempted from land taxes of hundreds of acres, Yang Lian still requires the family to pay field taxes to the imperial court every year.

It can be said that judging from the information obtained by Zhu Youzhen, Yang Lian is simply a clean official who is so honest that others are ashamed.

But Zhu Youzhen still can't completely trust this little old man, just because what he wants to do must be done by someone trustworthy.

Therefore, Yang Lian's words just now can only make Zhu Youzhen confirm that he is a person who speaks for the people, and is different from most people in the Donglin Party, or most civil officials in this era.

It's not that he didn't think that Yang Lian was a traitorous person, but when he thought of Yang Lian being killed by Wei Zhongxian after he came to power, the whole world was sad for him, but he couldn't imagine that Yang Lian was a treacherous person.

So after confirming this point, Zhu Youzhen gave Yang Lian a bottom:

"If you want to reduce the agricultural taxes of the people and ensure the taxes of the imperial court, then you can only start with the military tun and the guard."

"No!" When Yang Lian heard this, he immediately said sharply:

"The system of guards involves millions of people, if they rise up, then the court ......"

"So what?" Zhu Youzhen said:

"Could it be that Yang thinks that these millions of people have their own fields?"

In a word, Zhu Youzhen held back what Yang Lian wanted to say back into his stomach.

Yes, everyone knows that since the death of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, Xungui and the officers of the guard station have begun to encroach on the military tuntian.

The military tun system in the early Ming Dynasty, under the supervision of Zhu Yuanzhang, effectively guaranteed the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty.

In the first year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the sub-grains of the military tuntian of the national guard station were more than 23 million stones, and all the tax grain of the Ming Dynasty was added together, which was only more than 31 million stones, and the income of the military tuntian accounted for more than 70 percent of the national tax grain.

If the Ming Dynasty can guarantee the tax collection during the Hongwu and Yongle periods, even if the border army is incompetent, it can also pull up a team of men and horses again.

But the problem at hand is that after more than two hundred years of development, the court is full of hereditary interpersonal relationships.

Talented people are pushed to high positions and do nothing, and if they want to keep the court running, they have to increase the number of officials as much as possible.

As a result, the imperial court fell into a cycle of redundant officials and redundant troops.

Redundancy refers to the vicious expansion of the bureaucracy, with personnel far exceeding the needs of normal work, and administrative inefficiency.

Redundant troops are mainly manifested in the huge number of military personnel, weak combat effectiveness, and uselessness.

Redundant officials and redundant troops, as long as one can be solved, the Ming Dynasty can continue to live for fifty years.

In the choice between the officers and the army, Zhu Youzhen had no choice but to solve the redundant army, because those redundant troops had no combat power, even if there were millions of people, and in the face of tens of thousands of iron cavalry, they could only be defeated.

"What does Your Highness think......

After all, Yang Lian couldn't help but ask Zhu Youzhen's thoughts, but Zhu Youzhen leaned forward and said with an unchanged face:

"Let's start with Beizhili, where the redundancy is the most severe."

"The more than 300,000 troops in Beizhili represent not only millions of taels of military salaries, but also tens of millions of acres of cultivated land that have been embezzled by the officers of the guard."

As soon as he said this, Yang Lian frowned tightly and said in a deep voice:

"Twenty-six guards of Shangzhi, eleven guards of Tianshou Mountain, Jizhen...... The ...... of the various health offices in Beizhili"

"Your Highness may be too little, if you want to attack Beizhili, you will have to face more than 300,000 soldiers and horses and a million men in the guard!"

Yang Lian looked directly at Zhu Youzhen, and finally his voice continued to be low: "Have you thought about it?" ”

Faced with such a question, Zhu Youzhen got up, walked slowly to the window of the house, looked at the falling snow, and said after a while:

"If you cut it, you will mutiny, if you don't cut it, you will lose the country, you have no choice, and the same is true for the royal brother......"

When he said this, Yang Lian lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking, until a eunuch broke into the bedroom, Yang Lian looked up at Zhu Youzhen, and said:

"So, the old man knows what to do......

After that, Yang Lian retreated, and Zhu Youzhen also watched his back walk out, and only after the sapling did he look at the little eunuch and said:

"Tell me, what's wrong?"

"Back to Your Highness......" The little eunuch wanted to speak again and again, and finally couldn't help but say:

"News came from the capital, Concubine Li Kang...... Concubine Li Kang is ...... Worried! ”