317 [Horse-raising concept] (for the Shangxian Qitian boss
Zhang Guowei, the Minister of War in Nanjing, finally agreed to surrender.
His hometown is in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, and he was given one sentence: Either surrender and do something, or severely investigate the Zhang family!
The answer is obvious.
The official position given by Zhao Han was very interesting, and Zhang Guowei was appointed as the "Jiangnan Water Conservancy Envoy". There was no rank, and the salary was equivalent to that of a county magistrate. All prefectures and counties in Jiangnan must fully cooperate with his work.
This man once served as the governor of ten Jiangnan prefectures in the Ming Dynasty. He dredged rivers, built bridges and paved roads, built cities, dug ponds, and dug canals. His political achievements are definitely outstanding.
He also wrote a book called "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Complete Book", which gave him a thorough understanding of the water conservancy situation in the south of the Yangtze River.
This kind of people are used to fight and defend the city?
What a waste!
Zhao Han could not work directly for a senior official, so he was asked to be an unranked water conservancy envoy. He would be promoted in a few years, and he would be in charge of water conservancy in various places from now on.
There was also Wu Yingji, who successfully recruited and surrendered the Taihu water bandits.
Moreover, Wu Yingji had a very deep understanding of the industry, agriculture and commerce in Jiangnan. This third person in Fushe was appointed as the Senator of the Chief Secretary of Jiangnan. He also had no rank. His job was similar to that of a county magistrate, and he was equivalent to a special consultant on Jiangnan government affairs.
Jiangnan Province was formally established. If divided according to later administrative regions, its jurisdiction is temporarily: Anhui and Jiangsu provinces south of the Yangtze River, plus the municipality of Shanghai.
The provincial capital is Nanjing!
Like Hunan Province, the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province is temporary, and will be changed and divided again after the invasion reaches the north of the Yangtze River.
Zhejiang Province: Li Rixuan, the political envoy to the left, and Fei Yuanjian, the political envoy to the right.
Jiangnan Province: Liu Anfeng, the chief envoy to the left, and Chen Wenkui, the chief envoy to the right.
Li Rixuan is Li Banghua's nephew. He fled back to Jiangxi three years ago and worked step by step. In another time and space, he should have been the minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty.
Chen Wenkui was the one who punished Fei Chun's parents with extremely tough methods. Zhao Han sent him to Jiangnan Province to suppress the big landowners and businessmen.
Fei Yuanjian was similar. He also used tough tactics and was transferred to Zhejiang to suppress the rich families.
"Headquarters, letter from Nanjing." Li Yu came in holding a stack of letters.
Zhao Han first opened the letters from home, three in total.
The first was written by Fei Rulan, saying that everything was fine at home and asking Zhao Han not to worry. He also said that Zhao Zhenlan had been in Ji'an for a long time, bought a house in the city, and often visited the General Military Mansion to chat.
The second one was written by Zhao Zhenfang, saying that she was very happy to finally meet her eldest sister, and also talked about many things about the girls' school.
The third one was written by Pan Qimei. The handwriting is crooked and the content is very simple: "My husband is well. I can write letters. The child is about to be born. I eat eggs every day and the chickens raised at home are already able to lay eggs."
The three letters made Zhao Han smile, and he couldn't help but read them again.
Next, there are letters between Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua.
The contents are similar, and Zhao Han is asked to consider becoming king and move his headquarters to Nanjing.
Li Banghua also wrote an additional paragraph, saying that since ancient times, defending the river must defend the Huaihe River, and we must reach the front line of the Huaihe River as soon as possible, and we must capture Luzhou Prefecture.
There is a horse farm in Luzhou Prefecture!
Cao Cao first raised horses here, and by the Yuan Dynasty, horse farms were everywhere.
Zhu Yuanzhang set up 21 horse farms in Luzhou Prefecture, such as the famous Maotanchang Middle School, "Maotanchang" is one of the horse farms.
The veterinary monograph "Yuanheng Horse Treatment Collection" was also written by the Yu brothers from Lu'an Prefecture in the Wanli period. It records the prevention and treatment of horse and cattle diseases, as well as the identification and breeding of horses.
Zhao Han put down the letter and began to think carefully.
Becoming king, moving the capital, etc. are not urgent at the moment, but raising horses must be put on the agenda.
Ships in the south and horses in the north. In future battles in the north, cavalry will be an indispensable unit. The raising of war horses and the training of riders will take several years, and preparations must be made in advance.
"Call Zheng Eryang." Zhao Han suddenly said.
Zheng Eryang was the governor of Anlu who surrendered. Fensun Chuanting, Yuan Chonghuan, Chen Zizhuang, Kong Zhenyun, Ma Shiying, and Xue Guoguan were all Jinshi in the same department.
In that year, there were many famous people and gods and demons dancing wildly.
"Greetings to the main town!" After Zheng Eryang surrendered, he temporarily served as Zhao Han's secretary, and happened to let a few of them out some time ago.
Zhao Han asked: "You used to be the governor of Anlu, do you know anything about the Luzhou Racecourse?"
Zheng Eryang replied: "The horse administration in Luzhou used to be divided into official herding and civilian herding. The civilian herding has been abolished, leaving only a few official and herding horses. Now there is no horse."
"Why?" Zhao Han asked.
Zheng Eryang said: "For more than two hundred years, eunuchs, officials and powerful men have continuously occupied racecourses and converted pastures into farmland. By the Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing years, the racecourses in Luzhou had existed in name only, and some were restored when Yangminggong managed the racecourses.
In the early years of Chongzhen, there were more than 20 horse farms in Luzhou, and there may be hundreds of horses in total, and none of them could be used as war horses. When the intruder (Li Zicheng) and the Eight Thieves (Zhang Xianzhong) ravaged Luzhou, they also robbed all these bad horses.
Walk."
Zhao Han asked again: "Is there anyone in Luzhou who knows how to raise and care for horses?"
"Maybe, but he must be very old." Zheng Eryang replied.
Zhao Han was silent in thought.
Zheng Eryang said: "The horse farms in Luzhou have long been reclaimed as farmland, and pasture must be replanted first. And if you want to raise horses on a large scale, one horse farm often covers hundreds of hectares of land, which may be suspected of disturbing the people."
This is too troublesome and very difficult to operate.
Zhao Han asked again: "Where did Guan Ning's cavalry horses come from?"
Zheng Eryang said: "Trade with Mongolian herdsmen."
Although the various Mongolian tribes had surrendered to the Manchus, they still had to do business, often selling horses to the Ming Dynasty's border troops behind the Manchurians' back.
There are even more unexpected situations!
After the Qing Dynasty strengthened the management of Mongolian war horses, the Outer Khalkha tribe became the largest smuggler. Huang Taiji was furious, repulsed the Outer Khalkha tribe, and then... personally did business with the Ming Dynasty, monopolizing the trade of selling war horses to the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Xiangsheng, who was in charge of Xuanda, was the person in charge of the war horse trade with the Manchus.
Zheng Eryang had guessed that Zhao Han's plan was to raise horses in advance to train cavalry. He said: "In the main town, there are only three points to raising horses. One is the horse breed; the other is the horse farm; the third is the horse herder. This
Of the three important things, horse farms are the best to find. Luzhou can raise horses, Jiangxi can also raise horses, Huguang and Guizhou can also raise horses, and even Qiongzhou (Hainan Island) can raise horses."
This is true. Raozhou, Jiangxi Province, was also used as a horse breeding farm in the Yuan Dynasty.
All you have to do is be ruthless, choose a place with a suitable climate, and forcibly plant farmland with pasture.
The real difficulty is getting horse breeders and people who are good at raising horses!
Suddenly, Zhao Han remembered a place: "Does Jeju Island in North Korea produce war horses?"
Zheng Eryang was stunned: "Decades ago, the Ming Dynasty occasionally purchased war horses from North Korea. Horses should still be raised there. However, the horses are not good breeds and are getting shorter and shorter. After being shipped to the Ming Dynasty, the price is more expensive than Mongolian horses."
In other words, there are many people in Jeju Island who know how to raise war horses.
As for the horse breeds, let the Portuguese bring them.
By conquering Jeju Island, you can obtain pastures and horse breeders, and then use the horse breeds brought by the Portuguese to breed them.
Restoring the Luzhou Racecourse will have a great impact on people's livelihood. It is more cost-effective to seize North Korea's territory to raise horses.
By the way, Jeju Island can also be used as a cavalry training base!
"Dong dong dong dong!"
"Come in!"
"Headquarters, urgent military situation."
Zhao Han opened the letter from Xu Ying and frowned immediately.
The Cao people's uprising in Shandong was just suppressed by the officers and soldiers, and now they are rebelling again.
Cao soldiers, Cao workers, Cao people, from Huai'an all the way to Beizhili, more than ten groups of rebel armies appeared within half a month.
Zhao Han occupied the south of the Yangtze River, and water transportation suddenly lost its starting point. Those who relied on water transportation for food naturally had nothing to eat.
These rebels have captured Xuzhou, many cities along the Grand Canal have been surrounded, and Huai'an was almost captured by the rebels.
"The Ming Dynasty is almost over." Zhao Han sighed.
Zheng Eryang received the military report and said anxiously: "Please send troops quickly and reach the front line of the Huaihe River as soon as possible."
"We don't have enough military rations, so we have to wait until the autumn harvest at least." Zhao Han expressed helplessness.
This dispatch of troops consumed a lot of food and grass, and the remaining food and grass were used to provide relief to the people in Jiangnan. Food was also needed to control the price of rice in Nanjing.
Zhao Han really doesn't have much food in his hands right now.
Once troops are sent to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, there will be a food shortage in an instant. Moreover, the drought north of the Yangtze River is serious, and there is a bottomless pit. A large number of hungry people are waiting for Zhao Han to save food.
If he didn't care about the life and death of the people in the provinces or the soaring price of rice in his territory, Zhao Han was sure to fight all the way to Beijing.
Zheng Eryang said: "Food from the south cannot go north. There will be a food shortage in Beijing this year, and I am afraid that thieves and bandits will emerge. The Ming Dynasty... Alas, it will only last one or two years, and it will definitely not last three years."
Neither Zhao Han nor Zheng Eryang knew that the situation in Henan had changed drastically due to frequent uprisings along the Grand Canal.
Zuo Liangyu did not dare to fight with Li Zicheng, and openly disobeyed Yang Sichang's military orders and went to Shandong to suppress the bandits. His intention was simple. There was no food left in Henan, so he would go to Shandong to grab food, otherwise the soldiers would run out of food.
.
Moreover, the water transportation uprising army is definitely easier to defeat than Li Zicheng, and they can use this to achieve many military exploits.
Shandong, Liaocheng.
"Surrender without killing, surrender without killing!"
Zuo Liangyu galloped on his horse, killing the enemy's defeated troops while shouting surrender slogans.
Tens of thousands of rebels composed of Cao soldiers, Cao workers, and Cao people were killed by Zuo Liangyu, dragging their families with them and running all over the place. These people were so hungry that their faces were yellow and thin, and many of them did not even have the strength to run, so they lay on the ground waiting to die.
, maybe if you die early, you will suffer less.
After a great victory, Zuo Liangyu selected 5,000 "young men" and issued them simple weapons, so his military strength once again exceeded 10,000.
He drove out the remaining rebel troops (hungry people), plundered the countryside along the way, and sent the hungry people who were barely fed to attack Shen County.
When the rebels broke through the county town, Zuo Liangyu arrived soon after and rushed into the city to rob the property. Later, he blamed the rebels for the robbery.
By repeating this operation, Zuo Liangyu soon had 30,000 troops and plenty of food and grass.
At the same time, he made numerous military exploits, and Chongzhen bravely rewarded him and reinstated Zuo Liangyu, who had been demoted to the third level.
The situation changed so quickly that Zuo Liangyu was on the verge of openly rebelling.