Chapter 127

Since ancient times, farmers have been a vulnerable group. Because of poverty, even if new types of ploughs, harrows and other agricultural tools were invented, there was neither the money nor the ability to replace them. Even though everyone knows that cotton can keep out the cold, everyone knows that good cotton cloth sells for more money than silk.

But the problem is that there is no money, there is no cost to invest, planting cash crops is not like ordinary grain, wheat, soybeans and sorghum and other crops, after thousands of years of replanting, such as cotton, flax are not planted in a large area, ploughing-harrowing-harrowing for the system of intensive cultivation technology is becoming more and more mature, the entire Ming and Qing dynasties for more than 600 years, but there is almost no development in agricultural tools and agriculture.

Just like sweet potatoes in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580), Chen Yi obtained seedlings from the Spaniards in Luzon, and then introduced them to the Ming Dynasty, however, more than 50 years and half a century have passed, sweet potatoes are only sporadically planted in Shandong, not that farmers are conservative, nor are they lazy and unwilling to plant.

Rather, it was the heavy and exorbitant taxes that overwhelmed the peasants, and any mistake would ruin their families. Unless you have seen the high yield of sweet potatoes and the high yield of corn, you can learn from the experience of others and learn from the experience of others, and the learning speed is naturally slow.

There is another reason, and that is because farmers no longer have land, and they can't plant if they want to. Landlords, who own large amounts of land, are naturally reluctant to grow such high-yielding crops, because this will destroy the high grain market. If there are no large numbers of hungry people, how can food be sold at a high price?

For ordinary farmers, a good harvest is not necessarily a good thing. Because in a good year, grain may not be sold, and it may not be sold at a price.

In fact, the development of anything should be viewed from a long-term perspective, just like in later generations, from the contract production to households to the present, private contracting of a large amount of farmland has formed a comprehensive trend. Because it is very dangerous, once the oligarchs and capital monopolize the real estate, the price of food will rise like a rocket.

Although there is no package production to the households, the current military households are also very enthusiastic about their work, as the saying goes, there is no harm if there is no comparison. The landlords of the Ming Dynasty had a minimum of 450 percent of the land rent, and the most of them even reached 70 or 80 percent, making it impossible for the peasants of the Ming Dynasty to have continuous accumulation, so it was impossible for them to get rich, and the gap between the rich and the poor in the Ming Dynasty became wider and wider.

Cheng Shijie stipulated that the Tuntian military households of the Ning Navy were not paid any remuneration except for the fact that the prisoners could only receive rations, but ordinary military households or military households adapted from homeless people only received three buckets per mu of military land, and this tax rate was about 10 to 15 percent, and even the most conscientious landlords were more than double the land rent of Ning Haijun.

The land tax in southern Liaoning was not only much lower than that of the landlords, but also much lower than the tax of the imperial court, because the peasants had to serve in addition to paying taxes, but there was no forced labor in southern Liaoning, and any construction was a paid job.

Generally speaking, even if there are nine people in a family, in fact, a house of 300 square meters of half an acre of land is enough for a family to live in, and the reason for the distribution of more homesteads is to let the military households in southern Liaoning grow vegetables in these places.

Everywhere you go, you can see cucumbers, beans, winter melons, pumpkins, turnips, cabbage, eggplants, zucchini, and other vegetables in front and back of the newly built houses.

In the end, Cheng Shijie will not divide the land in southern Liaoning equally to the ordinary people, but is ready to give away the fields in the form of military merits, military exploits, reforms, innovations, technological inventions, technology transfers, and great achievements, etc., to form farms one by one. Liberate a large number of peasants from the land and provide sufficient manpower for the industrial revolution.

A farmer who cultivates 60 acres of land and works hard all year round can barely make ends meet, but a worker can earn at least 10 taels of silver by working in a factory with food and shelter for a year, and this is the difference. In order for a farmer to earn more than ten taels of silver, he needs not only land, but also a large number of livestock, which can produce manure and provide sufficient fertilizer for the land.

But right now, how can the people of southern Liaoning have the capital to raise horses and cattle?

Fu Zonglong and Sun Yuanhua followed Cheng Shijie to the horse farm in Jinzhou, where there are only more than 400 stallions at present, although the number of stallions is small, each one is tall and strong, the backbone is strong, and the spirit is vigorous.

Some of these war horses were captured by Cheng Shijie in Shandong, some were captured in the hands of Jiannu in southern Liaoning, and some were purchased from Jiannu.

Today's Hu Erqi, after the Dongjiang Army mutiny in Haizhou, led more than 4,000 people under his command to join Cheng Shijie, and Cheng Shijie gave limited trust to this Haixi Jiannu. He appointed the garrison of Haizhou Wangtai Town, which is the Haizhou previs, with Xinhe Town on the right side of Wangtai Town, Sangang Town on the left, and Qiantai Town on the south.

Geographically speaking, this looking at the town is like Chu Yunfei's big lonely town in "Bright Sword", surrounded by three sides, even if Hu Erqi rebels again, it will have little impact on the overall defense of southern Liaoning.

Cheng Shijie asked Hu Erqi to exchange markets with Jiannu in Wangtai Town, and the cattle, sheep, horses and even population in Jiannu's hands could be traded in Wangtai Town, and more than 140 excellent stallions in this horse farm were exchanged by Hu Erqi from Jiannu at a very low price.

Now almost many Jiannu tribes know that there is a Hu garrison under the command of the Liaoningnan Navy who is bold, and he only dares to sell it if he gives money in place, from refined salt, grain, cloth, tea, and even blades.

It's just that Hu Erqi is very greedy, even if he sells grain for one or two taels of silver per stone in Dengzhou, Shandong, he sells five taels of silver per stone of grain, and the landed rice from Jiangnan to Jinzhou costs eight dollars of silver per stone, but he actually doubled it tenfold directly, and dared to sell it for eight taels of silver per stone, and he likes to buy it or not.

Compared with ordinary grain, rice was undoubtedly more preferred by the Jiannu aristocracy. But the price of eight taels of silver is already the price of a pony or a calf.

Hu Erqi's garrison energy seems to be very powerful, not only can you get a lot of rice, but you can also get pure spirits, crystals that make beauties crazy,

Of course, Hu Erqi's smuggling channels and smuggling behavior, which Cheng Shijie acquiesced, was to confuse Jiannu and make Jiannu think that the Ning Navy was actually no different from the Guan Ning Army, and that it could be bought, co-opted, or divided.

At the same time, it is also to increase the cavalry strength of the Ning Navy, if a country has a million powerful infantry, then no one may dare to bully him, and if a country has 500,000 cavalry, it can definitely sweep all over the world.

During this time, these war horses had a good life, and there was endless forage to eat every day in the stable, and there were special people to smoke mosquitoes for them, clean up horse manure, and eat a meal of fine food every few days, and the food was so good that even the hard-pressed soldiers in the barracks had to swallow saliva when they saw it.

These stallions are Cheng Shijie's treasures, of course they have to be served.

Fu Zonglong praised Cheng Shijie for raising horses well, but Cheng Shijie just smiled and didn't speak.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty did not lack the experience of raising horses, since the founding of the country, Henan, Shandong has been one of the important horse breeding bases, horse households have to provide a large number of horses to the army every year, if the quality of the horses is not up to standard, it is to be fined.

This horse policy ensured the supply of horses for the Ming army, so that the Ming army has been able to maintain a strong cavalry for more than two hundred years, but it also made the common people of Shandong and Henan suffer, in order to complete the task of raising horses, they had to give everything they had, and there were not a few people who went bankrupt for this.

Now that the people's livelihood is withering, even the common people can't live happily, and Ma Zheng is naturally unsustainable, but a large number of horse breeders are still there, Cheng Shijie just recruited some at random, and these four or hundreds of war horses are served properly.

After looking at the horse farms, pig farms, and sheep flocks all over the mountains, most of the sheep in southern Liaoning are actually raised in captivity, not free-range, and the alfalfa grass is cut and sent to the sheepfold to feed the sheep. After the corn is harvested, soybean straw and corn straw can also be used as green storage feed for cattle, horses or feeding.

There are actually not many places that can be seen in Jinzhou, such as the iron and steel factory, the work of the Ordnance Bureau, and the factory of the Gun Bureau, it is absolutely impossible for Fu Zonglong to show them, it is not Cheng Shijie who hides his secrets, if Fu Zonglong knows that Liaonan can easily produce 5,000 guns in a month, he will definitely go crazy.

What's more, Cheng Shijie has already hoarded a large amount of grain, grass and equipment, which is a taboo thing in itself, and his brain is in water, so he will take him to see it?

Aren't you afraid of being buttoned by him with a big hat?

Fu Zonglong's biggest concern is actually the combat effectiveness of the Ning Navy, as the governor of Jimen, Liaodong, and Baoding military affairs, he knows very well that there are not many troops in the Ming Dynasty that can fight now, and the one who takes the lead is the rising star of the Ning Navy.

"Cheng Jingluo, let's go to the barracks and have a look!"

"Yes!"

The strategic defense center of the Ning Navy is in the northeast of Haizhou and Fuzhou, and as for Jinzhou, the military headquarters and a garrison bureau of the Ning Navy were originally dispatched, and in order to deal with Fu Zonglong and his party, 6,000 sailors, cavalry, and infantry were temporarily dispatched to participate in the canonization ceremony.

The group soon came to the temporary barracks of the Ning Navy, Fu Zonglong looked at the fence of the Ning Navy camp towering and continuous, the deer barn was thick, the trench was dug deep and wide, and the layout was meticulous, like a Tangchi Iron Fort, and it was a headache to gnaw down such a big camp.

Next to the camp is a more heavily guarded camp, five steps and one sentry, ten steps and one post, all fences are pasted with thick mud to prevent fire, in order to prevent theft, even all the grass within hundreds of steps is shoveled, in order to prevent thieves and robbers from sneaking into the camp using vegetation cover.

"Meet the Commander!"

In the school field, more than 6,000 officers and men of the Ning Navy saluted Cheng Shijie in unison.

"All the soldiers are exempt, take a break!"

Fu Zonglong looked at the Ning Navy General Sen Ran Lie, full of murderous aura, surprisingly consistent equipment, surprisingly consistent mental outlook, the entire army was integrated, giving people an indescribable pressure.

At the beginning, the sources of equipment for the officers and men of the Ning Navy can be said to be varied, some were transferred by the command of Dengzhou Wei and the Yamen, some were transferred by Sun Yuanhua from the Denglai New Army, and some were captured from the bandits, who generally did not have armor in their hands, and the bandits who could have armor were in fact surrounded and suppressed by the officials and soldiers, and they successfully defeated the officials and troops, so it was possible to have armor.

Of course, it is also possible to be like Zhang Huairen of Zhensanshan, who was backed by the Zhang clan of Laiyang and used the craftsmen of the Zhang clan to create it privately, Cheng Shijie had no choice but to use this kind of armor of uneven quality, but with the success of the armor bureau of the Ning Navy, the plate armor was produced.

Cheng Shijie replaced the armor of the Ning Navy with a unified system, as for the equipment of the Ning Navy, it was half bought and half given to the Dongjiang Army, and the current Ning Navy is equipped with steel armor, which is poured in the arc mold by molten steel, and then while the steel plate is not completely cooled, it is forged by a forging press to form the arc of the human body.

All the plate armor was painted black, and what surprised Fu Zonglong even more was that Ning Haijun's pikemen, firearms, or sword and shield soldiers all had a dog-legged knife hanging from their waists. Whether it's a pikeman or a shield soldier, everyone carries a crossbow on their backs.

Fu Zonglong looked at Ning Haijun's equipment, and immediately understood why Ning Haijun could behead Jiannu tens of thousands of ranks, this kind of armor was much stronger than the tattered production of the Imperial Court Staff Bureau.

In particular, the sword and shield soldiers not only wore heavy armor, but also held a heavy shield with a height of one meter and four meters and a width of sixty centimeters, which was covered with a layer of steel plates and weighed more than 40 catties. In battle or on the march, it is a heavy burden for the soldiers.

But the problem is that the Ning Navy is a mule and horse march, this heavy shield, on the way to the march, directly inserted into the wall of the carriage, to form the shield of the carriage, when necessary, with a heavy shield plus a support frame can form a shield wall, sword and shield soldiers and pikemen cooperate, let Jiannu attack again?

"Master Fu, Master Sun, do you want to let the soldiers practice so that the elders can be assessed?"

Fu Zonglong said with a smile: "Forget about the drill, although the old man is already old and dizzy, but whether a unit can fight or not, you can still see at a glance." The Ning Navy is well-equipped, with high morale from top to bottom, and is obviously an elite soldier who can fight, and it is incredible that you can train such an elite soldier in half a year! ”

"Actually, it's not difficult, just copy Qi Shaobao's "New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness"!"

Fu Zonglong didn't take Cheng Shijie's perfunctory words to heart, and Sun Yuanhua just smiled.

Don't look at Cheng Shijie's claim that the training skills of the Ning Navy come from Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Ji Xiao", but in fact, the training method of the Ning Navy is very similar to the Wei Wushu trained by Wu Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Wei Wushu was a terrible iron-blooded force during the Warring States Period, well-trained and well-equipped, and the phalanx of Wei Wushu was like an unshakable Mount Tai, pressing on the heads of the Shandong countries, making them shudder.

From the perspective of later generations, this is the first professional army in Chinese history, each soldier has his own land, serfs, has a certain economic strength, can buy his own weapons and horses, and his social status is also quite high, so the morale is high, dare to fight, fight all over the Shandong countries invincible, even the Qin State was defeated in front of the Wei Wushu phalanx, lost nearly half of the country, if it were not for Wu Qi was not tolerated by the Wei State, had to run to the Chu State, the Wei army would not have fought to Xianyang.

During the battle of Hexi in the Qin State, the Great Qin Tieying Ruishi encountered Wei Wushu, and the Wei army was defeated worse than Ma Ling, and the elite soldiers and good generals accumulated in a hundred years were almost swept away......

This actually does not prove that Wei Wushu is not as good as the Qin army, the Wei Wushu at the time of the Hexi fiasco is no longer the Wei Wushu who Wu Qi commanded the military power, at this time Wei Wushu is not as good as Wu Qi in terms of military training and social status, the land is eaten away by the big landlords little by little, the treatment is not as good as day by day, and he has been unable to buy sophisticated equipment for himself, but the burden has increased, and the decline of combat power has become an inevitable thing.

Can't the guards of the Ming Dynasty fight?

In order to completely eliminate the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang began the first northern expedition in 1370, and in the next 26 years, a total of eight northern expeditions were completed before the Northern Yuan forces were completely defeated. During the period of Chengzu Zhu Di, it was five expeditions to Mobei, seven to the West, and the guards of the Ming Dynasty were also very capable of fighting.

At that time, almost all the guards owned more than 100 acres of land, and when they were full of food and drink, they still had money to spare, not to mention the hereditary military household system, which could make those guards forget their fears and what happened after their deaths, and fight bravely to kill the enemy.

In any military system, as long as the administration of officials is not corrupt and the interests of officers and men can be guaranteed, the army can sweep through the eight faminerals and be invincible. The same is true of the Tang Dynasty's government soldier system, when Guanzhong has more than 28 million acres of land, more than 200,000 Tang army Guanzhong government soldiers, Beiping Eastern Turks, Eastern Expedition to Goguryeo, Western Turks, Gaochang, and a great reputation, when the land in Guanzhong was encroached upon by the Shizu Gate Lord, the Tang Dynasty had no soldiers available.

Cheng Shijie really wants to build a force like Wei Wushu, each soldier has his own field property, and his family can get better treatment, so as to enhance their centripetal force, so that they can devote themselves to the battlefield without distraction, and use the sword in their hands to win fame.

It is very difficult for a group of troops called Hanako to win a battle, and the rogues may be able to do so, because they have no choice, and the guerrillas can also do it, but the regular army is absolutely not good, they are not well fed and clothed, and once they die in battle, the whole family will have to starve to death, what combat effectiveness can such an army have?

Why didn't Cheng Shijie divide the land equally among the ordinary people, because his land resources were limited, and if it was divided, what would Ning Haijun do? What do they take for their meritorious service? What do the fallen soldiers get for their compensation?

Whether it's buying horse bones or inviting people's hearts. In fact, it is all the same, Cheng Shijie wants to use his best efforts to make the Ning Navy soldiers and their families into the first batch of wealthy people in southern Liaoning. They have shed blood and established for southern Liaoning, why can't future generations enjoy a rich material life?

The opportunity is also in front of everyone, whether you are willing to seize it, whether you are willing to pay or not, that is everyone's business.

Fu Zonglong was very satisfied with the mental outlook of the Ning Navy, and when he came to the big tent of the temporary barracks of the Ning Navy, only Cheng Shijie, Sun Yuanhua and Fu Zonglong were left.

Fu Zonglong said: "Cheng Jingluo! ”

Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, Cheng's small character Beiping, is the table word taken by Lord Sun Futai, you can call it Beiping!" ”

"Beiping!"

Fu Zonglong looked at Sun Yuanhua.

Although Xu Guangqi has said many times that the relationship between Cheng Shijie and Sun Yuanhua is average, it is just an ordinary relationship between superiors and subordinates, and even does not hesitate to make himself ugly, saying that Cheng Shijie bribed Xu Dacheng, a staff member under Sun Yuanhua, with 8,000 taels of silver in order to become an official.

Because Xu Dacheng received this money, he recommended Cheng Shijie to Sun Yuanhua.

The ministers did not believe this statement. If they have a disciple like Cheng Shijie, let alone a bribe of 8,000 taels of silver, they would rather give Cheng Shijie 80,000 taels of silver, no, even 100,000 taels of silver is not ambiguous.

Now I hear Cheng Shi say that his words are taken by Sun Yuanhua, and the words are generally given by elders or teachers, Sun Yuanhua is willing to give Cheng Shijie words, and Cheng Shijie is willing to accept it, can this be an ordinary relationship?

"Beiping!"

Fu Zonglong groaned, "Do you know? Originally, this decree was announced, and the imperial court only needed to appoint a Ministry of Rites, or the presiding officer, why did the old man come to Jinzhou? ”

"Beiping is dull, please let Master Fu speak clearly!"

Fu Zonglong sighed and said: "Someone in the DPRK has impeached you for selling military rations for profit, looting the people's fat and ointment for military funds, and building a large number of weapons, which seems to have bad intentions!" ”

Cheng Shijie's face changed slightly, but he immediately returned to normal, and pretended to be indignant and scolded: "Which dog did this?" Too poisonous, right? ”

Although Fu Zonglong did not see Cheng Shijie's general workshop, he could already see from the horse farm of the Ning Navy, as well as the large number of military tuntians, as well as the equipment of the officers and men of the Ning Navy, that these words of impeachment were not groundless.

Sun Yuanhua said with a disgusted face: "Do you still need to ask?" It must have been done by those imperial historians! ”

As early as when Sun Chengzong was passing through Liaodong, he adopted fortress tactics to oppress the living space of Jiannu little by little, and adopted the method of cutting off food and aid, forcing Jiannu into a desperate situation.

It doesn't take too long, if you persist for another five months or a year, the Jiannu will fall apart. Don't look at the Jiannu soldiers are all strong and strong, try it in the first half of the year? If they can stand up, they are considered capable.

It's a pity that the Imperial Historian is like a troll in later generations, no matter what logic, no matter what the reason. As long as you do something, you can spray.

These imperial historians and speech officials have no real power, so they don't have to do anything, just scold people. They do two things all day long, scolding the emperor and looking for the blame of their colleagues.

Being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is very hard, and if there is a slight mistake, there will be a large group of officials and imperial historians, with green eyes and drooling eyes, rushing up and chasing and beating fiercely, not letting the emperor bow his head and admit his mistake and pretend that his grandson is not over!

If the emperor is angry and wants to beat them, it is even more unbelievable, for these guys, the court staff is definitely the most glorious resume, and a board down, it is definitely a reputation jump, so many officials and imperial historians are looking for nothing to do, looking for the emperor's ballast out of nothing, pointing at the emperor's nose and scolding the dog's blood.

It's not that the emperor really made so many mistakes, it's that these guys have itchy butts and want to deceive the court staff, often so angry that the emperor's face is blue but helpless.

As for the evidence, for the officials, it is never needed, their duty is to hearsay things, not to handle cases!

"Master Fu Mingjian, Cheng ......"

Without waiting for Cheng Shijie to explain, Fu Zonglong said with a smile: "Beiping has just entered the official career, and he doesn't know how to be an official. ”

Fu Zonglong looked at Sun Yuanhua and said, "Brother Chuyang, you have been in officialdom for a long time, can't you mention Beiping?" ”

Sun Yuanhua could only smile bitterly, didn't he mention it?

The key is that Cheng Shijie has to listen to him. He had already told Cheng Shijie that he was going to Beijing to cry poor, but Cheng Shijie had his own plans.

Of course, this layer of paper, Sun Yuanhua will not tear it.

He muttered: "Beiping, Benxian also knows that all things in southern Liaoning are complicated, and Jiannu often attacks and disturbs, so it is inconvenient for you to get out of the matter easily, but the problem is that there are some things that you need to appeal to Your Majesty." Since the formation of the Ning Navy, the Ministry of War has not allocated a grain of food or a pair of armor, and it is not easy for you! ”

If Cheng Shijie couldn't hear what Sun Yuanhua meant, then he would have lived in vain all these years.

This is called a crying child with milk.

Fu Zonglong then lowered his voice and said: "This matter is not urgent now, after the autumn harvest, you will bring tens of thousands of stone grain into Beijing, and now it is really difficult for the imperial court, at that time, all rumors will be self-defeating!" ”

Cheng Shijie also knows that the imperial court is difficult, but the problem is that there is no way to solve it. Many people think that by killing the gentry and dividing the land equally, the problem can be solved.

In fact, has it been solved?

The problem of Daming is not only a land problem, but also a financial problem. Since the founding of the country, the forbidden sea exists in name only, through the sea trade, a large amount of silver has been earned, these silver has been saved, and there is no circulation, and now with natural disasters and man-made disasters, many large households have dug up the silver.

A large amount of silver flowed to the market, causing inflation, which made matters worse.

To solve the problem, there must be sufficient food and goods to meet market demand, what Cheng Shijie needs is to fill this gap, this is like the eighties and nineties in later generations, any goods are scarce materials, as long as they are produced, it is money.

Cheng Shijie said: "This is very good, after the autumn, Cheng is ready to bring 200,000 stone of grain to Beijing!" ”

"Very good!"

Fu Zonglong left with the well-fed and well-fed Beijing officials, and when he left temporarily, Cheng Shijie gave each of them a big gift package according to the size of their official positions.

Even the lowest rank officials have ten catties of salt fish, dried kelp, a woolen cloth cloak woven from wool and cotton thread, or Xu Guangqi's new book that has just been printed.

This hardcover book also has colorful drawings on it, and some of them include mutton jerky, horse jerky, and crystal products, wood crafts (a model made in a 20-to-1 scale, which is a four-wheeled carriage), and some items of captured slaves, such as bone ornaments, bows and arrows, knives, guns, armor, and other equipment.

Fu Zonglong and his entourage left with big bags and small bags, and Sun Yuanhua was also ready to leave.

When Sun Yuanhua left, he quietly said to Cheng Shijie: "Jiangxi Xiang has sent a letter, Beiping, don't be deceived!" ”

(End of chapter)