Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 214 Crow's Mouth

Generally speaking, war horses are the most lacking in the Senai region, followed by cattle. These two items are strategic materials, and their quantity and quality are directly related to the rise and fall of a country.The trade between the central dynasty and the nomads is generally dominated by war horses, followed by cattle, and camels, which are large livestock that live in desert areas, have never been traded. Everyone thinks this thing is not very useful. They can't be used as war horses or oxen to pull plows. Except for caravans outside the fortress, civilians and troops have no use at all.However, Yang Menglong thinks that camels are very useful. They eat less food than war horses. They are resistant to hunger and thirst. They can be ridden or pulled in carts. The most important thing is that they are cheap. A glass can be exchanged for one.So this guy got hundreds of them back in one breath, and the Mongols asked cautiously if they could continue to exchange camels in the future?They could have provided more camels if they could.

By the way, considering that those small tribes really couldn't trade more large livestock, Yang Menglong generously allowed them to exchange things like cowhide, tendons, horns, and horsetails. Let him get tens of thousands of beef tendons, more than 1000 pieces of cowhide, not to mention things like horns and horsetails. They were pulled back by carts, and even wool was pulled back by more than [-] carts!Lu Xiangsheng was amazed, this kid is born to do business, he is so good at searching things!

"How about it, do you want camels? I can give you a hundred of them." Yang Menglong thought that good things should be shared with everyone, so he asked generously.

Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "Forget about the camels. I don't need them. If I can, I'd like to buy your horses at a high price."

Yang Menglong immediately turned his face: "Don't even think about it! My hundreds of high-quality war horses are of Central Asian blood, not the kind of Mongolian horses that are not much bigger than donkeys! Is it easy for me to search for these horses? No matter how many there are I don’t even want to sell it for money!”

Lu Xiangsheng salivated and said, "Then give me half!"

Yang Menglong emphasized his tone: "Don't even think about it! Don't even think about a single one! Let me tell you, my horse is tall, strong, durable, explosive, attractive and durable. Where can I find such a good horse? Let alone you, I won’t even give it to the emperor!”

Lu Xiangsheng snorted: "Stingy!" He stopped forcing it.He had seen the horses that Yang Menglong brought back from Mongolia. There were indeed many war horses of Central Asian descent among them. They were tall and strong, and they were greedy. 300 years ago, Mongolia conquered Central Asia and plundered all the population and wealth of Central Asia. The war horses of Central Asia were naturally also included in the key plunder. The tall and strong blood of Central Asian war horses has been integrated into the blood vessels of Mongolian horses until now. However, there are still some tribes in Mongolia that herd war horses of Central Asian origin. These are very sought-after high-quality war horses, and he would not be willing to give them to others if he managed to get hundreds of them.

After drinking a cup of tea, he asked: "By the way, how is the situation in Shaanxi?"

Yang Menglong looked sullen: "Don't mention it, it's chaotic, it's so chaotic! I don't know what evil it is, there is severe drought every year, the land is cracked, and the crops are lost year after year. The officials in Shaanxi don't care about the lives of the people. Blindly search the dead, do not report the riots of hungry people, let alone provide relief, just close the city gates to prevent the hungry people from entering the city, maybe they think that after these hungry people starve to death, they will be fine! Fuck, these dogs Officials should be shot a hundred times!"

Lu Xiangsheng frowned and asked, "Is there still a severe drought this year?"

Yang Menglong said: "That's not true! In fact, there is still water in the river, and there is also water in the ground. As long as you find a way to pump the water up from the river, or build more irrigation wells, many farmlands can still produce normally, but no one does it. For these business matters, just collect taxes and collect taxes. Even if the imperial court has ordered the exemption of taxes in some counties and counties with severe disasters, the tax collectors are still collecting taxes. It turned into a powder keg, so that I didn’t dare to take the road of Shaanxi, so I had to detour to Shanxi and then enter Yulin, and it can be said that I suffered a lot along the way!”

Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "This national affairs is getting more and more difficult..."

Yang Menglong snorted. In his opinion, the current chaotic situation was mostly caused by the court's loss of execution ability.Years of drought in the northwest is a fact, but no matter how dry it is, it is far from reaching the point of extinction. As long as the imperial court can mobilize enough manpower and material resources to build dams and reservoirs, build more irrigation wells, and reduce taxes for the people in the northwest, In the affluent south, more business taxes were collected to help the victims of the disaster in the northwest. This natural disaster can be overcome, but no one does it. When the minister encounters a natural disaster, the first thing he does is to scold the emperor and ask the emperor to reflect. If God bows his head and admits his mistake, all disasters will be gone. It's really unreasonable!

"By the way, I heard that Liaodong has started to build Dalinghe City again?" Yang Menglong changed the subject.

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Yes, the city has already started."

Yang Menglong frowned and asked, "Why do we have to build Dalinghe City? If I remember correctly, this Dalinghe City was built twice and then demolished twice. Once it was built, it was demolished once. Isn't that a waste of money and food! "

Lu Xiangsheng said: "The Ministry of War has plans to do this, so let's stop guessing." He was a little excited, "Once Dalinghe City is built, the Guanning line of defense will be pushed forward fiercely, and Jiannu will be pushed forward. Go to Shenyang! Jiannu is not good at siege, as long as we build a strong city and fight every step of the way, sooner or later we will be able to drive them back to the old forest to eat bark!"

Yang Menglong shouted: "This is not how wars are fought! There is no war that can be won by building fortresses! Without an elite army that dares to fight decisively in the wild, building more cities will be in vain!"

Lu Xiangsheng smiled wryly: "If there is an iron army that dares to fight Jiannu in the wild, Mr. Ge won't have to bother to build a fortress. For decades, our army has been invincible against Jiannu in the wild. Even The Guan Ning army, when they mentioned that they were going to fight Jiannu in the field, they were also terrified! With such an army spirit, besides building fortresses to strengthen the line of defense and trying to push forward, is there any other option?"

Yang Menglong was a little excited: "I admit that this fortress strategy is very useful for Jian slaves who are not good at attacking fortifications, but they are not idiots, they will have the ability to attack fortifications sooner or later! Moreover, the tax sources are shrinking day by day, and the treasury is unable to make ends meet. Carrying out this kind of fortress strategy that costs a lot of money and has little effect is suicide! The most sensible choice should be to abandon all those secondary fortresses, shrink the force to ensure the three points of Ningyuan, Jinzhou, and Shanhaiguan, save money, and use this It takes a sum of money to train a field army, and after three to five years of training, you can almost pass the pass and compete with Jiannu, which is much more cost-effective than building a city!"

Lu Xiangsheng was silent for a moment, and said: "What you said is also reasonable, but building a strong city and fighting a dead war is the consistent strategy of the imperial court. It can last for so many years, so there is a reason for it..."

Yang Menglong snorted: "There's a reason for this. It's not because this strategic project is huge and there are many places where you can get money, so everyone doesn't want to change at all! Just wait and see, if this continues, this country will sooner or later be taken by Liaodong. The war dragged on!"

Lu Xiangsheng's expression changed slightly and he shouted in a low voice: "What nonsense are you talking about? Be careful that walls have ears!"

Yang Menglong said: "I'm afraid of shit! That's the reason. If you make a mistake, don't let people tell you?"

Lu Xiangsheng's face was sullen: "The strategy of the country, every move determines the life and death of tens of millions of people, how can we criticize it! Don't talk about it!"

Yang Menglong moved his mouth, wanting to continue, but seeing Lu Xiangsheng's expression changed, he swallowed back the words, forced a smile, and said, "I'm just speaking for the soldiers and civilians outside the pass who were exposed to the Jiannu soldiers. , and the Li people who worked in the fields all year round and didn't earn enough to pay taxes... In fact, it's good to build a few fortified cities and push them forward. "

Lu Xiangsheng's expression softened slightly and he said: "I understand your feelings, but...there are some things that we ministers really cannot comment on. The only thing we can do is to do our own thing well!"

Yang Menglong didn't say any more, stretched his waist, and asked, "Where is Mr. Qi?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "What happened in the military camp?"

Yang Menglong narrowed his eyes and called, "What's the matter? I said, you should give me back him and those instructors too, right? I also want to expand the army. I really need these experienced instructors when training recruits!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Come on, you have brought out two thousand elite soldiers with one hand, none of them are fuel-efficient lamps, and there will be a shortage of instructors? The old man has stayed here for several months, and he has not had time to teach many things. What are you in a hurry? "

Yang Menglong was really anxious: "Damn it, you are planning to borrow Jingzhou from Liu Bei, and you won't be able to pay back the loan?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Repay you at the end of the year, pay you back at the end of the year!"

Yang Menglong shouted: "I want it now!"

Lu Xiangsheng resolutely fought Lao Lai to the end: "I am about to expand my army by two thousand. If you take them back, what will I do? I will pay you back at the end of the year, okay?"

Yang Menglong was helpless: "Okay, you must pay me back at the end of the year."

Lu Xiangsheng breathed a sigh of relief.For an experienced veteran soldier like Qi Hu, no one would be willing to let him go. If possible, he even wanted to keep all the dozens of instructors that Yang Menglong lent to him——whoever these instructors are in charge of A hundred soldiers are more than enough, and some are even competent as generals.But it would be too unkind to do so. He is thin-skinned and can't do this kind of thing. He laughed and said, "Okay, I will pay you back at the end of the year! You and I haven't seen each other for half a year. It's rare for you to come to your daimyo. What do you say?" I have to stay and play for a few days, so that I can do my best as a landlord."

Yang Menglong made a detour to Daming Mansion this time. First, Shaanxi was too chaotic and unsafe, and he had to enter Hebei via Shanxi. Second, he came here to get back the instructors he lent to Lu Xiangsheng, so as not to be recruited by Lu Xiangsheng. If he fails to repay the loan, he will suffer a big loss.Of course, look at old friends too.It has been almost two years since he came to the end of the Ming Dynasty, but he doesn't have many real friends. He always feels awkward when dealing with the civil servants in Nanyang. From then on, it is really not easy to find a friend who can speak freely, and Lu Xiangsheng happens to be one of them.Hearing Lu Xiangsheng's words, he was happy: "If you don't tell me, I will have fun here for a few days, to see the ruins of the ancient city of Daming Mansion, to see the Handan King City!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "It's just right, I have some free time these days, so I will accompany you to visit the Daming Mansion...Come here, prepare wine!"

As soon as the order was given, the servants immediately got to work. The pig butchers slaughtered the pigs, and the sheep butchers slaughtered the sheep. It didn't take long to make a table that was not luxurious, but definitely appetizing.Yang Menglong asked Zhong Ning to bring a bag of strong wine, saying it was made from potatoes, and asked Lu Xiangsheng to taste it. After Lu Xiangsheng tasted a cup, he felt that the wine was as clear as a spring, with a tangy aroma and extremely spicy taste. The wine flowed down the esophagus into his stomach , the blood in the whole body is boiling, and I can't help but praise the wine!Two people, you have a cup and I have a cup, drink freely, what a joy!
(End of this chapter)