eldest son of Ming dynasty

The Forbidden City is so busy that you can't feel the passage of time. If someone hadn't reminded him, Zhu Houzhao probably wouldn't have realized that it was May.

During this time, Wang Shouren had moved from Sanguan Town to Datong Town. For nearly half a year, his military supplies of [-] troops and horses were shipped from the capital.

The emperor showed determination by preferring to spend more money on food to maintain the army, and deterred generals who were unwilling to carry out the emperor's orders.

Wang Shouren was responsible for cleaning up the military camps in the two towns. He was an official of the Governor of Hetao. During this period, he had actually controlled the troops and horses in Sanguan Town and Datong Town.

He, a civil servant, also personally led troops to the countryside to check, which was not actually the emperor's request.

But Wang Shouren had mentioned the matter of cleaning up military camps ten years ago.And a general who really knows how to lead troops must be a general who loves and cares for his soldiers.Distributing Tian Zhen to the hands of soldiers again is what he has always wanted to do.

And those who have read history must know how difficult it is to accomplish this.

Therefore, Wang Shouren was racing against time to push every guard post to conduct a new land survey.

In the past ten years, the decay on the ground floor of various health centers has become more shocking.

In various guard posts in the two towns, he found that many military households had fled because they could not bear the hardships of life. The soldiers' rations were insufficient and the weapons of the guard posts were dilapidated.

When the Qianhu of several Qianhu stations of the Datong left guard greeted them, they themselves were in good military appearance. After all, they were coming to see their superiors, but when it came time to actually assemble the troops, no Qianhu could gather the people together.

Even among the remaining soldiers, there were many old men with saggy skin and half-white beards.

Wang Shouren was quite sad after reading it. He said to Shi Feng, the commander-in-chief of Datong Town, and the generals: "Thankfully, Your Majesty insists on accomplishing this even if all nine sides rebel. Otherwise, in a few decades, What kind of dilapidation should it look like? By that time, if the Tatars raise troops and invade again, I am afraid that the Central Plains will become the grazing land of the Tatars! Are there still farmlands privately occupied by you people?!"

Shi Feng felt ashamed, "From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, His Majesty has issued several decrees to urge us, but as of today, Datong has only cleared four guard posts. The land for military settlements is too complicated."

After he finished speaking, the remaining thousands of households felt a little uneasy.

"Jizhou, Ningxia, Sanguan, Yulin and Gansu are all doing it, so how complicated can it be? It's just that the generals who occupied the fields, the big local clans and the royal palace were unwilling to spit it out. There were also eunuchs involved in Ningxia Among them, we have also solved them! I think that His Majesty has opened up a wide range of things. Anyone who cooperates in measuring the land and handing over the past occupation will not be beheaded. This is written in the imperial edict. Even if you are not willing to do this, then we No choice?"

Wang Shouren thought silently that it was really inappropriate for him to bring up the difficulty of this matter ten years ago.However, the emperor had been planning for ten years, and the power he had accumulated was given to him for use, and he was much more confident.

The progress of the Datong left-back is slow. No matter what the reason is, it has become an excuse at this time.

Wang Shouren was too lazy to talk nonsense with them. He went to the Qianhu Office in person today. Since he came, he wanted to remove these positions and replace them with others.

The experiences of other towns are the same. This cannot be done without moving a few people.

"Ministry?" He has a very young commander, Han Twelve Lang, and the two thousand guards and horses he leads are even more fierce.

"Take it."

Wang Shouren gave the order calmly.

Several big men in front of the door were frightened by this change and shouted, "Budang, General Shi, what are you doing? We have already cooperated with the measurement of the land?! Why are they still taking us?! We are unjustly accused !”

Shi Feng is not easy to talk to.

In fact, it was already found out before they came. These people did not dare to rebel or disobey their superiors, but they were reluctant to part with their illegal wealth. Therefore, when the orders came from the superiors, they also measured the fields, but they did not measure everything. Other people's fields are transferred to others through various names, or sold at low prices, and finally make a fortune.

What is this called cooperation?
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhu Feng angrily scolded, "You guys still dare to cry out for injustice? Don't you know that the Jinyi Guards sent by His Majesty have arrived in Datong? You still think that the Jinyi Guards can't find out what happened?!"

Wang Shouren turned his back and waved. He didn't want to talk nonsense with these people anymore. He had seen the situation of Datong Left Guard with his own eyes. Instead of wasting time on these people, it would be better to divide the fields quickly, because a considerable number of military households were always hungry. Belly.

"Spread the news about the arrest of these people. Starting tomorrow, any violators of the Datong Town Guard Stations who still violate the law will be killed without mercy! I am not afraid of being fooled by them. His Majesty has sent the Deputy Envoy of Jinyi Guards to conduct the first round of inspections. Move quickly. Yes, Jizhou has already conducted a second round of inspections! Inform the various health stations of these situations to see if there are any such bold people!"

At the same time, Wang Shouren also ordered that the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief should lead their troops to each guard post to supervise the affairs. He brought [-] thousand guards and assigned them one guard each, plus Shi Feng and Zhu Feng's own troops. People, this ensures that no dissatisfied people will mess around.

Soldiers and ruffians are different from civil servants. As the old saying goes, it takes three years for a scholar to rebel, and he will become timid if he reads too much. However, soldiers are different. They have well-developed limbs and simple minds. They do not know a few big words and can easily act according to their emotions.

But what did Wang Shouren do here?
After five months, he arrived in Datong and was not ready to leave for the time being. The remaining [-] elite soldiers were led by him personally to see how difficult it would be.

When alone at night,
Wang Shouren wrote a memorial to the emperor in the Xingyuan study room, reporting the specific progress of Qingtun, and at the same time expounding some of his ideas on reorganizing the army.

From Sanguan Town to Datong Town, the flight of military households was a common phenomenon, resulting in a fort that failed to become a fort and a place that could not become a place. So far, he had not seen a thousand-household place that was complete.Moreover, such reforms will definitely sow the seeds of dissatisfaction, so Sanguan and Datong also need to take this opportunity to reorganize.

……

The capital, Qianqing palace.

The emperor took the memorial and read it to his ministers: "Wang Shouren believed that it was imperative to streamline and retrain the soldiers and horses in military towns. He suggested that the Ministry of War should take the lead in this matter, but at the same time, each town should implement policies according to the local situation. At the same time, he It is recommended not to use Jizhou, Yulin, and Ningxia's strategy of reducing the size of their troops in Datong Town and Sanguan Town.

Because there is Xuanfu on the west side of Jizhou, Ningxia and Yulin are no longer the front line after the recovery of Hetao, but Sanguan Town and Datong Town are different. Datong is the gateway to Shanxi, far away from Hetao and close to the capital, like a person's back , if Datong also reduces its scale, it will cause the two ends to be heavy but the back to be light. Once the Tatars use this as a breakthrough point, it will definitely shake the capital.In other words, there is a gap in the border defense line, so Datong should focus on building forts, cities and other fortifications. "

Qi Chengsui, Minister of the Ministry of War, has also returned. The emperor's summons to him must involve the current Qingtun and military reorganization in Jiubian.

Wang Shouren is indeed a great man of his generation. He is not constrained by the current downsizing atmosphere that permeates the court, but still puts forward his own opinions.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao's original intention was to switch from defense to offense and always maintain a large-scale cavalry unit to wipe out the Tatars at any time.

However, from the perspective of long-term peace and stability, it is equally important to continue to consolidate the defense line.

Wang Shouren was right to remind him of this.

"What do you think?"

Qi Chengsui has returned to Beijing, and he has also entered the palace today. "Wei Chen thinks it is feasible, but [-]% of the military households in Datong have already fled. The previous towns have been reduced in size, and more can be selected, but Datong needs to expand and add new ones." It’s definitely not easy for military households.”

"That's right." Zhu Houzhao sighed, "A good man can't be a soldier, and a good man can't be a soldier. Who wants to be a military household?"

The emperor was speechless when he talked about the cabinet and several ministers like this.

This involves the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, and the household registration system involves a wide range of things. Zhu Yuanzhang assigned a role to everyone, and once a person's household registration is determined, his descendants cannot easily change it, so it is very rigid.

But it is not easy to change, especially in these troubled times.

"If the number is insufficient, we can only recruit soldiers instead. I am opposed to recruiting soldiers who are not qualified in body and age into the military camp just to make up the number. Li Qing mentioned an idea a few days ago. I think it can be An effective supplement is that after the military households in Jizhou and Datong fled, there will definitely be excess land in the Qing settlements, so that the court can recruit refugees in those places for commercial settlements."

Gu Zuo is also here today. He handed over his hand and said: "I have already arranged the business settlement. I plan to carry out commercial settlements in Sichuan, Hetao and Jizhou. The Shaofu has allocated 20 taels of silver each and plans to cultivate 50 Ten thousand acres of land can produce 100 million to 150 million shi of grain.”

Zhu Houzhao thought about it. In his concept, the new Shangtun was completely different from the previous Shangtun built by Ming merchants for salt. This time they were doing it with the power of the country, so to be precise, it was a kind of Concentrate your efforts on big things.

"Are there three people in charge?"

"Yes."

Zhu Houzhao was eager to try, "I really want to take a look and see the golden wheat waves."

All the ministers were shocked when they heard this, "Your Majesty, with his rich body, can no longer easily take risks. If something goes wrong, I will die without redemption!"

"Prince Li..."

"Your Majesty!" Gu Zuo knelt down, "I know that Your Majesty is worried about state affairs and is thinking about the world and the people. But the elders are right, His Majesty also has the country and the country tied to his shoulders, so I beg Your Majesty to think again!"

"Then this matter about Shangtun..."

Gu Zuo kowtowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will handle this matter properly no matter what!"

"I'm keeping this in mind and can't make any mistakes."

"Yes!"

All the ministers breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Zhu Houzhao himself told them in this way that he valued it.

Although only 50 acres is a bit small, it is just the beginning. Just like shipbuilding, this cannot be done with money. With so much land, enough people must be found to cultivate it, which is the key.