Chapter 60 Manpower Gap

Out of Chang'an Fort, it is only a few dozen miles away from Shenyang.

In the past dozens of miles, He Xi has seen a rare scene in Liaodong. Large tracts of farmland that have been reclaimed. Relatively dense dwellings. Of course, this kind of dense dwelling depends on who you compare with.

There is no way to compare with the density of boats and people in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is even a large amount of barren land between villages. There are even some grazing cattle and sheep. It is the large open space here that reminds He Xi.

Liaodong is also an important horse breeding ground in the Ming Dynasty.

But it was much better than the situation where He Xi came from near Liaoze.

Near Liaoze, except for the post station, the military fort, and some land that has been barely reclaimed outside the post station military fort, it is all barren.

He Xi rode on his horse, held the reins, and said, "Are the people here all migrating from the mainland?" ”

Ye Wang rode a horse to accompany He Xi and said, "No, although over the years, some people have also migrated from the mainland. But most of the people here live here. There are Khitans, Jurchens, Koreans, and so on. Most of them are Han Chinese. ”

"At one time, the imperial court wanted to set up a prefecture and county in Liaodong. But then I thought it would be better to set up a health center. Therefore, all these people were incorporated into the guard. ”

He Xi nodded.

This is also a special environment in Liaodong. Today's Liaodong is a multi-ethnic mixed population, and there are even some guards where the vast majority of people are Koreans. And even if it is the end of the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong is also a very special place, although this is a guard. But get on the horse to manage the army, and get off the horse to manage the people.

He Xi asked again: "What is the situation in the north?" ”

The so-called north is naturally the Liaoyang Province of the Remnant Yuan.

Ye Wang said: "The dog who lost his family lives up to the original. When the last general first came to Liaodong, Naha sent a large army to Niuzhuang. The subordinate officer asked him to give up three houses, and the base soldiers were the wall. The city was built overnight, so that he could not attack it, and then ambushed the army and returned to the road, breaking it. From the fifth year of Hongwu to the year before last, there will be a big war every autumn and winter, but it is only a big deal. However, after the great victory of the imperial court last year, the north was divided. And -----" Ye Wang said in a low voice: "The following officials know that the Jinyi Guard is constantly coming and going to the north. Naha guessed he wanted to surrender. ”

He Xi asked about the situation in the north, but it was actually a routine inquiry.

After all, Liaodong is a frontier region, no matter what he wants. For the people of Liaodong, the biggest problem is the military situation in the north. It's just that he never expected that he actually heard the news, and Naha, the prime minister of Liaoyang Province, wanted to surrender.

That's heavy news. News that affects the balance of power between us and the enemy. It even affected the decision-making and progress of the Ming court.

He Xi asked, "Do you think Nahachu will surrender?" ”

Ye Wang said: "No, he is in the north, he has long disobeyed Emperor Yuan's orders, he is already a prince, where is it so easy to surrender, but he just wants to delay the army." ”

Ye Wang's words were actually hinting at his strength.

However, Ye Wang is not wrong.

It was very difficult for the Ming Dynasty to run Liaodong. Originally, it was to appease the local tyrants of Liaodong, but later the local tyrants of Liaodong rebelled and rebelled, and only then did the two generals Ma Ye enter Liaodong. But after they entered Liaodong, the land route with Daming was not so smooth. It's like the cow village that Ye Wang said. What is Cattle Village? It is the location of the water and land station, and it is the connection between the western Liaoning corridor and the Liaoshen area. That is, in the early years of Hongwu, Liaodong was lonely, and the land and sea routes were not very smooth.

The two generals of Ma Ye, who managed Liaodong, built cities one by one in the battle with the Tartars step by step.

Ye Wang also hinted that the Ming Dynasty was eyeing Naha, who was the next strategic target, was actually defeated by his men, and more than once. In fact, on the one hand, it shows his strength, and on the other hand, he did not want to book a position in the future Northern Expedition through He Xi.

He Xi is also very interested in this.

After all, although He Xi was hesitant to accept Ye Wang. But He Xi is tempted, but it is certain. How is Ye Wang's combat power? He Xi is difficult to distinguish from the archives. At this moment, it is also interesting to listen to Ye Wang's vicious battles in Liaodong.

The two sides talked and talked, and they arrived outside the city of Shenyang.

Looking at it from a distance, Shenyang City gives people a familiar and unfamiliar feeling.

Familiar is, specifications, cross streets, square city. This is the establishment of the guard, almost the whole world, the guards in all directions, the city, most of them are like this. What is unfamiliar is that this city is much larger than the ordinary guard city, after all, it is the residence of the Liaodong Capital of the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, the city will not have only one guardhouse, but at most five and at least three. Generally speaking, it is the left and right central defenders of Shenyang, or plus the front and back.

This city is the strategic fulcrum of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty.

But He Xi was very disappointed in his heart.

Because the population is so small.

He Xi estimated that there were 300,000 soldiers and civilians in Liaodong, and it was difficult to say. Shenyang is the central city of Northeast China, with a population of no more than 100,000, and from this point of view, it is not even comparable to ordinary small counties in the south of the Yangtze River. In this way, how to bear the idea of passing through the northeast, and even the development of two thousand miles of Liaoze that He Xi wants, is even more impossible.

What He Xi didn't know was that before the Ming Dynasty entered the Northeast region, the Red Turban Army and the Yuan Army fought for several years. The population of Liaodong has long been dissipated, and some people estimate that the population of Liaodong at that time would not exceed 100,000. The so-called Liaodong tyrants' residences are all cottages. And not the city, you can see their size.

Now there are 300,000 of them. When Zhu Yuanzhang immigrated to the north, he also immigrated a lot to Liaodong, and then Liaodong was a place of exile for sinners, such as Tielingwei, almost all of whom were resettled from the Central Plains.

That's where we are.

This is also why Daming has always had to transport grain to Liaodong.

It stands to reason that Liaodong should be able to be self-sufficient. After all, Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. A large amount of land is also cultivable. It is because of the continuous immigration behavior, and the almost uninterrupted fighting since the four years of Hongwu.

A large amount of grain and grass is consumed.

"A thousand miles of feet begin with a single step." He Xi secretly said in his heart: "Success or failure." Always have to see clearly. ”

As soon as He Xi arrived in Shenyang, he delved into Shenyang's official documents, wanting to see the clues of Liaodong and the places that could be used.

First of all, it is necessary to look at the current situation of the Liaodong mine, especially the coal and iron.

After all, He Xi has known since he was a child that the Northeast is a good place to develop heavy industry. I used my mobile phone to find a map of China, and compared the iron ore mining area in it with the map of this era. He Xi immediately discovered that many coal and iron producing areas in Northeast China were under the jurisdiction of the current Liaodong Prefecture.

Even He Xi found that many of the iron used by the Liaodong Dusi to build weapons were made from local materials. However, the people do not use coal in their daily lives, but firewood.

There is no other, because the Northeast is different from the rest of China.

Elsewhere in China, forests have been cut down for thousands of years of agrarian civilization. On Taihang Mountain, it was already a bare mountain in the Song Dynasty. There is no wood left to burn. It was also in the Song Dynasty that large-scale coal consumption began in the north.

And here, the vegetation is lush. Most of the mountains have large trees, and some even require several people to hug them. Therefore, most of the people cut wood instead of coal.

In this way, the situation is okay, if the minerals are in the Heilongjiang region of Jilin, that is, the future Nuer Gandu Division. That's more difficult. And even militarily, manpower, there is simply no possibility of exploitation. It's just that things are back to the source.

People, lack of people.

He doesn't want tens of millions of people in Liaodong, if he wants to handle all this, he needs at least a few million people. Now these hundreds of thousands. Almost all the people are soldiers, and they can only maintain the territory of the Ming Dynasty in the northeast. Nothing else can be done.

Military needs, national defense needs have already exhausted the population. In feudal society, whether it is a micro society, the village competes for land and water. It is still a macro society, a war between countries, in the final analysis, there is still strength in numbers.

Without an adequate population base, there is nothing.

But ah, where did this man come from?