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

Chapter 630 Inquiries 2
Fu Zonglong asked the most critical question this time.

Food supply has always been the lifeblood of farming peoples during their expeditions beyond the Great Wall. Most of the frontiers are barren lands. The food produced is not enough for the local people, let alone provide for the army. Every grain of rice and every piece of cloth needed by the army , have to be transported within the customs.From the mainland to the frontier, it is more than a thousand miles away. The manpower required to transport grain for thousands of miles is unimaginable, and the consumption halfway is also unimaginable. The treasury allocates 50 shi of grain, and finally transports 40 to the border. Thank God for Shi, where did the other 10,000 Shi go?All eaten on the way!In addition, officials at all levels are greedy for ink, and the consumption is even more astonishing. Therefore, when an army of [-] goes out for an expedition, hundreds of thousands of civilians are often required to transport food, water, and weapons behind, otherwise the battle will be impossible to fight. It is also doomed that every expedition will not last long. Every time the Han army goes out to expedition against the Xiongnu, it usually lasts only one month. After one month, the supplies are exhausted.Just because the supply cost is too staggering, the Han army has always been quite passive in the battle with the Huns. The Huns often fled to the depths of the desert as soon as the Han army came, avoiding the front of the Han army, and waited until the Han army’s supplies were almost exhausted. In the Hungarian-Han War, such bloody lessons abound.Huo Qubing, the lunatic who dared to go deep into the desert without bringing them back, bought or annihilated one when he met one, and got all his supplies, overcame the tactics of the Huns, and made them pay a heavy price. Unfortunately, Huo Qubing only had one, and he couldn't help it. After his untimely death, the strategy of the Han army became more conservative and returned to the way of fighting for national power.In contrast, the Tang Dynasty was smarter and vigorously developed the frontier fortresses. Part of the supplies provided by the frontier fortresses and a part of the interior were transferred, which was enough to support the expedition of tens of thousands of troops. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty became the most aggressive external expansion in Chinese history. , the highest achievement dynasty.But the Tang Dynasty still had no way to completely solve this big problem. When its national strength declined, even though there were still [-]+ fierce elites at the border, there was still no way to prevent the Western Regions from being submerged by the torrent of nomads—no food to eat, No matter how capable the army is, it will be given for nothing.

The Ming Dynasty can't stand shoulder to shoulder with the Han and Tang Dynasties. The current national strength of the Ming Dynasty is not at the same level as that of the strong and prosperous Tang Dynasty. The weak body cannot bear the huge consumption caused by a protracted expedition. If the Tianxiong Army can't solve it by itself As for the problem of food, even though it was a good opportunity to conquer the Mongolian plateau, Daming could only reluctantly give up.

Regarding this thousand-year-old problem, Lu Xiangsheng has a plan in mind: "Don't worry, my lord, the Yinchuan Plain is fertile and rich. The rice produced in just one season is enough to feed the frontier soldiers. In addition, the meat obtained from the Mongolian tribes , cheese, as long as our troops don’t stay on the grassland for too long, eating won’t be a problem.”

Fu Zonglong asked: "Then how many troops can be supported by the Tianxiong Army's warehouses to go out for an expedition?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "It is more than enough to supply [-] cavalry, but if it is infantry, it will be discounted. It can only support an expedition of [-] infantry at most."

Fu Zonglong asked in surprise: "How come there are five thousand less infantry?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Because the grass seeds are gradually ripening now, the war horses will not have to worry about finding food on the grassland. The cavalry only needs to bring two horses, twenty or thirty catties of dried meat and a few bags of kumiss, plus some captured , is enough to last a month on the grassland. They move quickly and can gallop two or three hundred miles a day and night. Even if the food is exhausted, they can withdraw as quickly as possible. But the infantry cannot, and the supplies carried by the infantry are very limited Therefore, a large number of peasants, camels, mules and horses must be recruited to transport food for them, which undoubtedly greatly increased consumption, so if infantry is dispatched, the consumption will be even greater."

Fu Zonglong frowned and said: "Only the cavalry is easy to suffer!" He was very impressed with the tactic of Tianxiong's infantry lining up and shooting, and decided that this was the best tactic to end the nomads.Fu Zonglong is not very confident about the cavalry against the cavalry. After all, the Mongols spend much more time on horseback than on the ground. Angry horses and strong bows come and go like the wind. It is difficult for the Tianxiong army to be simple Rely on cavalry to defeat them.

Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "Yes, with the combat effectiveness of our army's cavalry, it is not difficult to defeat any of the Chahar, Aohan, Tumed, and Khalkha tribes, but if they unite, it will be very difficult. Trouble, if you want to completely beat them up, you have to rely on infantry." He suddenly smiled, "However, the development of the Yinchuan Plain has gradually improved, and more and more people have moved to the Yinchuan Plain to settle down. Time is completely on our side. Next year we can reclaim more farmland and plant more rice, wheat, and potatoes. Our strength is increasing every day, while the Tartars and Jiannu are weakening every day. Years later, they will lose their appetite, and we will deal with them when the time comes, which will make it easier and more enjoyable.”

Fu Zonglong deeply agrees.According to the information he has, since the Tianxiong Army entered the Datong Basin and cut off the route for Shanxi merchants to smuggle grain, the price of goods in Houjin immediately began to soar, and daily necessities such as grain, cloth, salt, and tea were priced at a daily rate. Among them, the price of grain has risen particularly exaggeratedly, soaring to the level of seven taels of silver for a stone of miscellaneous grain a month ago.Now that the autumn harvest is in, the price of food in Shenyang has dropped a little. However, relying on hundreds of thousands of slaves to grow food cannot feed the huge army of Hou Jin. It will be 300 years before the Northeast becomes China's granary. Now that the Songnen Plain and the Heilongjiang Plain are not developed, it is not easy to rely on the output of the Liaodong Plain to support a country with a population of one million. If you want to have enough food, you have to grab money.The problem is that the Denglai Navy has cut off the possibility of them looting North Korea. The Guanning Army has defended the Guanning Line like an iron wall. Now that the Tianxiong Army has taken over Xuanda and even Jizhen, it is also airtight, and even appeared When there is a strong attack momentum, where do they go to grab it?It's better to quickly peel the bark, pick grass seeds and acorns, and save some food for the winter!

The sad thing is that God stood on Daming's side and gave Daming a piece of fertile and fertile Yinchuan Plain and a powerful army that could keep it. As the Yinchuan Plain regains its vitality, the strategic initiative will completely fall to Daming's side. Kim has no chance!
"Having said that, but..." Fu Zonglong said thoughtfully, "But if I don't move for three years in a row, it will be difficult for me to be justified in the court. Suyi Hou, find the right opportunity to fight a battle and win a few victories. , even if it’s just a few small victories, I can silence Chief Wen and the others to prevent them from attacking you endlessly.”

Lu Xiangsheng asked, "Are you going over the side wall to attack the Tartars?"

Fu Zonglong said: "It's okay. Anyway, in the past few months, you can fight a few battles when you see the opportunity and get some heads. The rest is left to the old man."

Lu Xiangsheng cupped his hands in salute: "Obey!"

Fu Zonglong was very satisfied with the results of this trip. The Tianxiong Army is indeed a powerful team. After being released at the border, the arrogant Tartars immediately became quiet like chickens. He moved towards the Mongolian grassland as if he had left his legs. Even Ma Zheng, who was half dead before, is now making a splash. These are all political achievements.As a Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, it is not easy to encounter the current situation. He is already satisfied, as long as the Tianxiong Army can guard the border like a copper wall and win a few battles from time to time. , he will not meddle in border affairs.As for Jiannu...let them starve for a few years first, and then send troops to deal with them when they are weak from hunger!He supports all of Lu Xiangsheng's decisions [-]%. Lu Xiangsheng maintains a strong desire to attack, and the Tianxiong Army is also capable of knocking the Tartars down. This is very good. He is willing to play the role of that rubber stamp. In the Battle of Lushun, he got a ride with the Tianxiong Army and became the first Minister of the Ministry of War in Ming Dynasty to conquer the Mongolian Plateau!
After resting for a few days, the old man returned to Datong with Lu Xiangsheng.On the way, he found that many farmers who had moved from Shaanxi were sorting out a large piece of dry land that was obviously not suitable for planting crops, and then sowed grass seeds in the field. He was quite surprised: "What are they planting?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Plant grass."

Fu Zonglong was even more surprised: "Planting grass? Is it necessary to plant grass?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Of course we must plant it!" Pointing to the large tracts of land that are difficult to irrigate, he said: "It is extremely difficult to irrigate these lands. The only water source is drawn from the Yellow River hundreds of miles away to meet the needs of residents and livestock. There is not much left after the need, and this little water cannot irrigate the farmland. So I asked them to plant Langwei Valley in these fields. This kind of grass can feed cattle and sheep, and the fruits produced can also be eaten, although only one per mu It can harvest fifty or sixty catties, but the advantage is that it is resistant to drought and pests, and the harvest is stable. Planting more than ten or twenty acres can still feed a family."

Langwei Valley has a nickname called "Bird of Angry Death", the grain it produces cannot be pecked by birds at all, and has to be scraped off grain by grain with a sickle.The grains produced by Langwei Valley are rich in starch, and can be eaten after removing the skin and cooking. The taste is not necessarily good, but the nutrition is still guaranteed. The most important thing is that it is easy to feed, similar to weeds, so you don’t need to worry about planting it. , so it is an ideal crop.

Going forward, I met another grass planter, and one kind of grass is hundreds of thousands of acres.In order to plant these hundreds of thousands of acres of grass well, the Tianxiong Army made great efforts to lay a 150-mile-long underground water pipeline to draw water from the Yellow River, and at the same time use lime to kill insects in the ground. Eggs were then sprinkled with bone meal, grass ash, and phosphorus fertilizers, and it took a lot of effort to sow the seeds.Fu Zonglong asked for a handful of seeds and came over to take a look. Damn, this time they were real grass seeds. If they were genuine, only extraordinary people like Su Wu could eat them.He asked suspiciously: "What is this? Marquis Su Yi, you won't tell the old man that this is real grass, will you?"

Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "This official bought it from Fanren at a high price. It is called ryegrass, a very good pasture grass. It is said that one acre of ryegrass can provide more fresh grass than an acre of grassland on the grassland. What can be provided is several times more, and the same one-acre grassland can feed four or five times more cattle and sheep."

Fu Zonglong was delighted: "I've seen the old man planting grain a lot, but it's the first time I've seen planting grass. It's an eye-opener!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "We need to breed a large number of cattle and sheep to provide meat and cheese for the frontier soldiers and people, and we need to breed a large number of horses for military use, but there are not so many pastures, and we can't find so many people who are willing to drive cattle and sheep like the Mongolians. The wind, frost, rain and snow are grazing everywhere, so I have to use my brain." Pointing to the fences surrounded by barbed wire on the other side of the pasture, "We built cattle pens and sheep pens there, cut the grass from the pasture and transported it there to feed. For livestock, the entire pasture is divided into several pieces, and the grass is mowed in turn. When the last piece is cut, the first piece grows, and so on. There is also running water in the pasture area, and the herdsmen can provide sufficient forage and drinking water for the herd without wandering around. , Cattle and sheep raised in captivity grow faster and fatter than pastured ones."

Fu Zonglong exclaimed: "In this way, our Han people who are not good at grazing can also gain a foothold on the grassland. Master Hou really has the ability to be unpredictable, I admire it!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "This is the idea of ​​the champion Hou to the next official."

Fu Zonglong's exclamation turned into a sigh: "Champion Hou Wei is really unfathomable... It's a pity that this guy is too lazy, asking him to help do more things is really harder than going to heaven!"

Lu Xiangsheng felt sorry for him: "I agree!"

Yang Menglong, who was far away in Xinyang, sneezed for no reason.

PS: Those who hold this kind of thinking, please give yourself a slap in the face.

(End of this chapter)