[On the twenty-fourth day of the winter month, Sicheng Prefecture fell into the hands of the rebels, and tens of thousands of people were plundered]

[On the twenty-seventh day of the winter month, Qingyuan Mansion fell into the hands of the rebels, and tens of thousands of people were plundered]

[On the third day of the lunar month, Anlongsi and Shanglin Tusi rebelled, and the Qianguo Gong dispatched the Tusi of Guangnan, Guangxi, and Lin'an to rush to the aid and entered Guangxi to quell the rebellion. 】

[On the ninth day of the lunar month, the rebels besieged Liuzhou, and Hu Yingtai, the governor of Liangguang, led his troops to break the thieves outside the city of Liuzhou and relieve the siege of Liuzhou]

[On the ninth day of the lunar month, the thief leader An Bangyan and Song Wanhua led 30,000 troops to help Zhenyuan, and fought with the Sichuan soldiers, and the Sichuan soldiers calmly withdrew]

[On the eleventh day of the lunar month, Sun Yingyuan led the troops to Jingzhou]

[On the thirteenth day of the lunar month, Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of the five provinces, ordered the twentieth and six troops of the lunar month to march together to encircle and suppress extravagant Chongming]

An urgent military report of 800 miles was delivered to Zhu Youzhen in a very short time, and at this moment it was already the eighteenth day of the lunar month, and there were only two days left before Zhu Xieyuan encircled and suppressed Luxury Chongming.

"Your Highness, judging from the sand table, as long as Governor Zhu encircles and suppresses Luxury Chongming, then you can gather troops and horses, go to the Yongning Xuanwei Division, and the Zunyi Military and Civil Mansion to go south to encircle and suppress An Bangyan and Song Wanhua."

Wang Chengen happily turned his head to look at Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting on the main seat and watching the military newspaper, and in front of him was a southwest sand table with a length and width of one zhang and a height of four feet.

On the sand table, there are hundreds of wooden signs, large and small, of different colors.

The castles and passes were carved out of wood by the craftsmen of the army, while the mountains and rivers were built with stones and sand, and the rivers were sprinkled with red cinnabar.

Right now, in the military tent, observing the battlefield of the sand table is not only Wang Chengen, who has returned, but also the generals of the Six Guards Army and Lu Wenzhao and others.

Wang Chengen's words made everyone look at Zhu Youzhen, wondering what His Royal Highness would say.

It was Zhu Youzhen, who did not get up immediately after hearing the words, but glanced at the map and said:

"In the first battle of Yongning, there were more than 26,000 people in the Ming Dynasty, and my six soldiers and horses in the Ming Dynasty were Cao Wenzhao Duogan Camp 2,600 people, Du Wenhuan 12,000 people, Wu Aheng 3,020, Sun Chuanting 3,070, Yang Wenyue 3,000, Hong Chengchou 3,020, a total of 27,700 people."

"Sun Chuanting's department still needs to leave 500 people to defend the Mani Institute, so the gap between soldiers and horses is not big."

"This kind of situation of besieging a place with almost the same number of soldiers and horses is worth watching."

"What do you think is the loss of our army after this war?"

As soon as Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth, everyone was dumbfounded, after all, before the fight started, he said that it was damaged, which was really unlucky.

But the people also understood the character of their highness, and would never blame them for such a thing, so one of the commanders stepped out and said:

"The last general estimates that I am afraid that thirty percent of the troops will be lost."

"The last general thought it would be lost by forty percent." Another conductor walked out.

"The last will think ......"

The opening of the two of them led to the other people's answers, but even the one who guessed the most among them only dared to guess forty percent.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen smiled at them: "No one dares to guess fifty percent?" ”

Fifty percent, that is, more than half of the casualties, if this guess is known by the imperial history, I am afraid that everyone in the account will be impeached.

However, in this regard, Zhu Youzhen is not taboo:

"This battle has been fought for two whole months, although the art of war is cloudy, one blow, then decline, three exhaustion."

"But don't forget." Zhu Youzhen looked up at the generals and said:

"Don't underestimate your opponents."

After that, Zhu Youzhen continued:

"Although the siege of the city by the troops of Yu Chongming failed, and many soldiers and horses were lost, but the people who fought against him were also veterans from all over the country who had been trained for more than nine months."

"At present, the veterans of our army are almost fighting, in fact, the combat strength of the two sides is equal, and the key is to see the 12,000 Songpan people in the northwest of Sichuan led by Du Wenhuan."

"Besides, outside Yongning City, there are four stone forts that are easy to defend and difficult to attack on all sides, and there are more than 9,000 soldiers and horses stationed here."

"Although it is not as dangerous as Hailongtun, if Yu Chongming is determined to defend Yongningwei and wait for An Bangyan to go north, I am afraid it will be very easy to defend it for a few months."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youzhen glanced at everyone and said again:

"Do you know how much food has been spent in the current rebellion?"

“……”

A question was asked by the generals in the tent.

For a long time, the affairs of the army's money and food were managed by Zhu Youzhen, Wang Chengen, and Cao Huachun, and only Yu Linwei really participated in the war among the departments, so for a while, only Yu Linwei commanded the envoy and said:

"Returning to His Royal Highness, the last general has read the newspaper of the household department, and it is said that it has been used to Yunnan and Sichuan's Tianfu and all the additional factions, and Huguang and Liangguang have also used most of it."

In a word, although I can't tell you a rough idea, at least Commander Yu Linwei has these things in mind, which is gratifying.

If the general can't consider whether the logistics supply behind him can be supported, it is tantamount to a burden for the imperial court, and it is extremely important for strategy.

"At the moment, it has cost at least 920,000 taels."

"What?!"

Zhu Youzhen replied directly, and this expenditure made everyone almost stop breathing.

Nine hundred and twenty thousand taels, this is basically one-twentieth of the current tax of the Ming Dynasty.

You must know that it has only been fought for two months, and in the estimation of the generals, this battle will take at least a year.

In other words, if the fight is really over, the imperial court will need to spend at least five or six million taels of silver.

Even if the scale will be bigger and smaller, the cost will not be less than four million taels.

Four million taels ......

The scale of this expenditure made the generals swallow their saliva one after another, and Zhu Youzhen said:

"What do you think will happen if it's two or three years?"

Two or three years, there is no doubt that if it really lasts that long, the situation that the Ming Dynasty has just improved will become a little bad.

Although this kind of bad is under control, it will take more energy from Daming.

"Okay, you go down to study, remember to march and fight in the future, you must remember the money and food of the soldiers and horses of the headquarters, as well as the local money and food expenditure, and you must not implement local taxes that cannot be completed."

"I'm waiting to retire ......"

Hearing Zhu Youzhen say this, the generals withdrew from the big tent, and in the end, only Wang Chengen and Lu Wenzhao were left.

After they left, Zhu Youzhen also picked up the booklet on the table and glanced at it.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen also stepped forward and said: "After two months, under the measurement of more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, the military tuntian in Shanxi and North Zhili is a total of 23,648,709 mu and 4 points. ”

"The children of the two provincial health offices, as well as the people of Fatian, and the children of the clan, a total of 7,232,492 people."

"850,000 acres of military land, 2,064,329 acres of military dependents."

"723,320 mu of clan fields will be issued, and 20,010,0060 mu of tenant fields will be distributed for 4 cents."

"And ......"

"Alright." Zhu Youzhen put down the booklet, looked at Wang Chengen and said:

"Those people and the children of the clan, have they explained to them the characterization of the acres?"

"I said, you need to take out the three fields to pay taxes, and all the acres of land belong to the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and they cannot be bought and sold." Wang Chengen responded:

"In the autumn harvest of next year, I should be able to receive a field of more than 9 million stones, and after paying the tax, there will be more than 7 million."

"Counting it, starting next year, counting the private salt, after folding the color, it should be able to earn about fifteen million taels per year."

Wang Chengen's words made Zhu Youzhen a little smacked.

He never expected that he would be able to achieve such a high income just by rectifying Shanxi and Beizhili.

But after reacting, he understood everything.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, because the land was deserted, it was difficult to reclaim the military tuntian, so the seed grain of the military tun set by his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang was not much, and the guard was quite comfortable, but it was not good with the corruption of the officers.

If his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang followed his own collection method, it is estimated that the tenants would have rebelled.

As for why they harvest 30% and the tenants are not unhappy, it is because the normal landlords are 46, and some even 55, and even 64 and 73.

In contrast, the three-seven-point imperial horse supervisor is simply the conscience of heaven and earth.

"The world is sinister, and I show a little kindness, but it has become a straw for the people......"

Zhu Youzhen smiled contemptuously in his heart, and then said to Wang Chengen:

"How is the matter of Huangdian selling grain in Liaodong?"

"More than 5,260,000 stones were sold, and more than 2,797,000 taels of silver were exchanged, and the price of grain in Liaodong has fallen to 7 wen a catty." Wang Chengen responded, with a smile on his face.

Zhu Youzhen knew that he laughed because the Imperial Horse Supervisor had silver, and this silver would continue to increase in the future.

"The silver I got asked Lu Jianxing to send someone to Huguang to buy grain, and if the price of grain in Huguang rises, I will buy it in Jiangxi."

Zhu Youzhen said while calculating in his mind.

It is already the second month of the lunar month, and there is still more than a month to go, Liaodong will begin to thaw, and spring planting will begin three months later.

At that time, the price of grain in Liaodong should be able to stabilize at five or six wen a catty, and even if the imperial store still transports it in the future, it is not impossible to hit the grain price to four wen a catty.

"Hoo ......"

Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief, because he knew that people's hearts were food, and stabilizing grain prices was stabilizing the hearts of people in Liaodong.

As long as the hearts of the people in Liaodong are stabilized, then the next dismantling of the Liaodong Guard can be carried out in an orderly manner.

As long as the abolition is over, and then the Liaodong Chengxuan Political Division is set up to make Liaodong a separate province, then Liaodong's sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty will slowly return.

However, it is necessary to abolish the Liaodong Guard......

"Hasn't there been any news from Li Rubai's side?" Zhu Youzhen looked at Lu Wenzhao, and when Lu Wenzhao heard this, he replied:

"After Li Rubai learned the news, he wrote a handwritten letter and sent it to Liaozhen, but the generals of Liaozhen have not yet replied to him."

Lu Wenzhao explained what happened, and Zhu Youzhen rubbed his fingers and played with the taste:

"It seems that the people of Liaozhen are not all stupid......"

In this regard, Lu Wenzhao also said according to the news inquired by Jin Yiwei:

"This is also normal, after all, since Ning Yuanbo and Li Chengliang were impeached for the first time, Liaozhen has been divided into three factions."

"One faction is the generals of the Li family in Liaodong, the other is the rising star of Liaodong, and the other is the generals of other towns."

"Compared with Qi Shaobao, Ning Yuanbo ......"

Speaking of this, Lu Wenzhao didn't know what to say, and Zhu Youzhen glanced at him and knew what he meant.

To put it bluntly, most of Li Chengliang's military exploits when he was in Liaodong were outside the fortress, and it is easy to whitewash the real situation.

If the enemy invades the interior, he will rely on the fortified city and clear the wilderness, support the army to wait and see the situation and then attack, and even cover up the defeat and turn it into a merit, kill the good people and pretend to be the head of the enemy army, and plunder the people of Liaodong.

The officials of the cabinet were all deceived by him, and the governor and supervisor of Liaodong Town were squeezed out by him if they had the slightest intention of disobedience to him, so that they could not report his illegal acts.

In the nineteenth year of Wanli, Li Chengliang was finally deposed, but the battle of Ningxia broke out in the second year, and no one was available in the Ming Dynasty, so Li Rusong could only lead the Li generals to conquer, which indirectly expanded the power of the Li family.

Fortunately, Li Rusong risked the enemy and died later, otherwise with his merits in the Battle of Korea, I am afraid that the current Liaodong will be a monolith, rather than the current division into three factions.

Since there are factions, then you can pull one faction and fight another.

At present, on his side, it is He Shixian, You Shigong and others from the Yulin faction, and the soldiers and horses have also been broken up by themselves, and after separation, they are filled with new pawns, and they can't get rid of themselves at all.

The only thing to care about is Zhu Wanliang's rising star in Liaodong, as well as Zu Dashou and other generals of the Li family's original faction.

The number of soldiers and horses in the two departments is a lake account, not to mention Zhu Youzhen himself, even Xiong Tingbi can't figure it out.

At present, Qin Bangping divided the soldiers and horses east of the Liaohe River into 28 battalions, and after scattering, they were stationed in various parts of Liaodong, so that the strength of the two factions was suppressed.

The soldiers and horses in southern Liaoning are already on the way to be reorganized, and they can't set off the wind and waves, and the only thing to pay attention to is the west of the Liao River.

If it is like in history, perhaps the generals of Liaozhen entrenched here can also cut off the Liaoxi Corridor to threaten the imperial court.

But the problem is that at present, the Inner Khalkha and Karaqin are surrounded by the interests of Zhu Youzhen, and the Ming army can gallop in their horse fields at will.

Coupled with the existence of Daning Sanwei and the opening of the sea route to Jinzhou, the importance of the Liaoning West Corridor was greatly reduced.

As long as the Liaozhen generals here dare to do something, the Ming army in all directions will destroy them before Nurhachi attacks.

"How many soldiers and horses are there west of the Liao River and north of Shanhai?"

Zhu Youzhen asked suddenly, and when Lu Wenzhao heard this, he also took out the booklet from his arms, flipped through it a few times, and said:

"According to the Yellow Book, it should be two hundred and forty-five forts of six guards and five battalions, with a total of 69,000 soldiers and horses."

"Sixty-nine thousand...... Zhu Youzhen squinted his eyes, and Lu Wenzhao also said:

"According to the temperament of Liao Town, it should be about the same as the number of soldiers and horses played by Xiong Jingluo before, about 46,000, of which more than 16,000 can only garrison the city, and 30,000 horses can go out of the city to fight."

"However, according to the General Man's report to the follow-up army of Qinghe Pass, these 30,000 horses are even worse than Yulinwei at that time."

Lu Wenzhao's intelligence probably made a division of the combat power of Liaozhen's current troops.

The first class is undoubtedly the white pole soldiers, Zhejiang soldiers, and the white armor of the prisoners.

The second class is the ordinary Eight Banner soldiers of Jianyu, and the more than 6,000 old troops of He Shixian, You Shigong and others.

The second class is the Liaoxi Jiading of Zhu Wanliang and Zu Dashou, the seven battalions of Han soldiers of Daning Sanwei and Kuandian Qi Yuangong of Mangui, and the generals of Shanxi Three Towns to aid Liao.

The third class is the soldiers and horses of Liaodong who garrisoned the city, and the ordinary soldiers of Shanxi who came to the aid of Liao.

From this point of view, whether it is in terms of the number of soldiers and horses, or the degree of bravery, Zhu Youzhen and them have the upper hand.

But there are still two variables, one is the Liaoxi Corridor controlled by Zhu Wanliang and other Liaozhen soldiers and horses, and the wild boar Pinurhachi who hides in the mountains and forests.

In the last battle, although Nurhachi was beaten and nearly one-thirtieth of the number of men in Jian's captives was eliminated, it did not reach the level of cutting off one of his fingers after all.

The strength of the captives is still there, and it is necessary to be vigilant against them.

Therefore, in order to deal with the soldiers and horses of Liaozhen entrenched in western Liaoning, the first thing is to divide the current generals and soldiers of the old and new factions and towns into soldiers.

Even if Zhu Wanliang is unwilling to leave Liaozhen, as long as Li Pinghu, Li Ning, Li Xing, Qin Deyi, Sun Shoulian, Zu Dashou and other Li families will follow Li Rubai to Guyuan with nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses from Liaoxi, then the remaining Zhu Wanliang will be easily solved.

"Continue to monitor Li Rubai, and notify me as soon as there is news."

Zhu Youzhen explained to Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao also responded, but said again:

"Your Highness, if Li Pinghu and Zu Dashou, Zhu Wanliang and they don't respond to Li Rubai, what should they do?"

"Not leaving?" Zhu Youzhen said contemptuously: "If you don't leave, you don't dare to rebel, then wait to be eaten." ”

"The transfer of troops and horses one by one, when there is no way to retreat, either rebel or bow down."

"At present, there are three guards and horses in Daning, 30,000 soldiers and horses in Shenyang, and 14,000 soldiers and horses in Liaoyang."

"If they want to be taken prisoner, they have to get by."

Zhu Youzhen is very confident, and this self-confidence stems from the situation in Liaodong that has been arranged long ago.

However, after responding to Lu Wenzhao's doubts, he looked at Wang Chengen again and asked:

"Have you chosen a place for planting potatoes and sweet potatoes?"

"Back to Your Highness, I chose Shuntianfu, potatoes and sweet potatoes, according to Your Highness, you need to plant about 1.7 million acres of arable land." Wang Chengen responded:

"After the autumn harvest next year, we should be able to plant 5 million mu, and at most 134 million mu the year after that."

The promotion of crops is slow, and Zhu Youzhen did not feel strange when he heard Wang Chengen's words.

Besides, he doesn't need to promote too many sweet potatoes and potatoes, just need to make this proportion reach 10% of the Ming Dynasty.

In the final analysis, it is supplementary food, which is mainly used for disaster relief in the year of famine and feeding livestock in the year of peace.

This proportion is not low, according to the Ming Dynasty's private land, military tuntian, and official land, it can reach 77 million ~ 110 million mu.

At that time, only this 10% of the supplementary food will be able to feed hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty for three or four months.

Their appearance will reduce the people's demand for rice, wheat, sorghum and other crops, and in disguise can use the limited land to feed more people.

However, this alone still cannot guarantee that hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty will survive the seventeen-year drought.

Therefore, the most important thing is the development of the Northeast, Southwest, Nanyang, Western Regions, Hetao and other places.

"Over there in Mangui, remember to ensure their sweet potatoes and potatoes first, and in addition, the peppers and tomatoes from Yongping Mansion can also be sent to Daning in the spring of next year."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to explain, and Wang Chengen responded with a slight bow.

Peppers and tomatoes are introduced crops that are found incidentally, but the yield is not as horrible as that of later generations.

In this era, the yield of peppers per mu was about 1,600 catties, and the tomatoes were 3,000 catties.

Peppers can keep out the cold and increase calories, while tomatoes have more yield per mu and can become a large supplementary food in the vegetable market.

In short, a series of crops are prepared for the severe cold and more than ten years of drought in the next few decades.

All you have to do is increase complementary foods and reduce your intake of staple foods.

Although for Wang Chengen, he didn't know why His Royal Highness cared so much about these things, but he still did his best.

After responding to Zhu Youzhen, he also said to Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, the peanuts you mentioned, our people found them in Denglai."

"Peanut found?" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up.

In this era when the yield of soybeans per mu is 1560 catties and the oil output is only about 18%, it can be said that it is a good treasure that can help the people survive the great famine.

If people have oil and water in their stomachs, the demand for food will drop greatly.

"What is the yield of peanuts per acre?" Zhu Youzhen asked eagerly, and Wang Chengen also said:

"This thing is easy to raise, planted in April, harvested in August and September, and one acre can have a look of more than 100 catties."

The news reported by Wang Chengen did not discourage Zhu Youzhen, because according to the weighing of the Ming Dynasty and the comparison of later generations, this 100 catties is about 120 catties per mu of later generations.

Although the yield per mu of peanuts is lower than that of soybeans, its oil yield is as high as 40%, that is, one mu of peanuts is almost comparable to two acres of soybeans.

"Good news......" Zhu Youzhen clenched his fists, and then said to Wang Chengen:

"Buy enough peanut seeds in Denglai and cultivate them in the official fields in the south of Beizhili, and I will write a booklet on how to extract oil later, and you can let people follow that booklet."

"The slave takes the command." Wang Chengen responded, and at this time, the smell of rice wafted outside the big tent.

Zhu Youzhen sniffed, and his stomach gurgled as well.

He didn't feel embarrassed, smiled at Lu Wenzhao and Wang Chengen, and then waved his hand and said:

"Let's go! Eat first, since the matter of Juntuntian is going to be resolved, then I should also return to Shuntian with the Six Guards. ”

After that, he took the lead and walked out of the big tent, and Lu Wenzhao and Wang Chengen followed closely behind him.

It's just that when the three of them just walked out, someone came all the way not far away, and Lu Wenzhao also subconsciously protected Zhu Youzhen's front.

The person who came was a brocade guard in a hundred household clothes, and after he walked in front of Zhu Youzhen, he first made a salute, and then took out his hand and said:

"Your Highness, a letter from Tianjin, the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, fourteen civilian ships from the Tianjin dock were launched."

"It's okay so soon?" Hearing the news, Zhu Youzhen took the handbook, tore it open and looked at it at a glance.

Sure enough, the dockyard manager in the letter had already responded, saying that the fourteen civilian ships had been completed and left to rest for three days.

Now we are waiting for the launch of the water on the 26th day of the lunar month.

The civilian ship is the accumulation of experience in manufacturing sail battleships, and Zhu Youzhen attaches great importance to the future invincible fleet of the Ming Dynasty, so he said to Wang Chengen:

"Pack up, tomorrow we will set off first and go to Tianjin!"