The time came to the last month of the thirteenth year of the Great Yuan Dynasty. Zhang Ximeng counted on his fingers that it had been one year since he arrived in this time and space.
To sum up the past, first of all, he survived, and secondly, under Zhu Yuanzhang, he had an outstanding position and was quite respected, so he was doing well.
And Zhu Yuanzhang has made rapid progress. In the past year, he finally got rid of Guo Zixing's control and began to take drastic measures to develop his own power.
Taking stock of the troops under Lao Zhu's command, the total number is close to 40,000, which has greatly exceeded that of Guo Zixing. Even Peng Da and Zhao Jun are not as good as others.
If Lao Zhu was a short-sighted person who was eager for quick success and quick gains, he could have become the king on the spot and lived happily as a prince.
But obviously, Lao Zhu did not do this.
On the contrary, he was still worried, because after silent calculation, Lao Zhu found that his money and food shortage was very serious.
For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang had to call Li Shanchang and Zhang Ximeng in the off-year, and the three of them got together to discuss the important issues of military finance and taxation.
Zhu Yuanzhang first set his sights on Zhang Ximeng.
"Sir, how many soldiers and horses do we have now?"
Zhang Ximeng immediately said: "Returning to my lord, there are thirty-six thousand households from Tanghe Qianhu down, including three cavalry thousand households. In addition, the Feng family brothers brought people from Miaoshan Village to join forces. Logically speaking, they can also be organized into one
Thousand households, in total, the lord has more than 37,000 soldiers, 1,500 cavalry in the army, 300 escort cavalry, and more than 8,000 horses."
After listening to Zhang Ximeng's introduction, Lao Zhu nodded repeatedly, "There are quite a few. So what's the situation with these soldiers and horses? Can they all fight?"
Zhang Ximeng shook his head, "The first ones who can fight are naturally the old Linhuai tribe, mainly concentrated in the first ten thousand households... It is these ten thousand households that can basically get rid of production. The other thousand households are far from enough.
"
Obviously, under Lao Zhu's command, a distinction has also been formed between Type A Thousand Households and Type B Thousand Households. Type A Thousand Households are well-equipped and have strong combat effectiveness. Their armor penetration rate can exceed 35%, and in some cases it can reach more than half.
These ten thousand households were the ones Feng Guoyong saw who could practice for five days and take one day off.
So Lao Zhu allowed Feng Guoyong to see what he wanted, and when he arrived at Zhang Ximeng’s place, he arranged for him to visit the most powerful part... Is it possible that who would take the initiative to let others see their own shortcomings? No way!
To put it bluntly, this is the operating space of Zhang Ximeng, the big secretary, and it is allowed by Lao Zhu.
These soldiers were well trained, and their food and treatment were quite good. They could basically eat a meaty meal in two or three days. In order to ensure their supply, Ma even hired a group of women to raise chickens and ducks.
But even so, the nutritional supply is still insufficient. It is impossible to carry out high-intensity training like armed cross-country running every day, only once every two or three days. But it is enough, let alone Peng Da and Zhao Jun, even if they use these people
Even if they are the elites of Yuan Ting, they may not be able to reach this level.
Moreover, there is another consideration of five days of training and one day off, which is to tie the soldiers in the military camp to prevent these energetic young men from going out to cause trouble.
Zhu Yuanzhang cared very much about military regulations and discipline. He often patrolled the camp at night, and if he found someone gambling or staying out late at night, he would severely punish them.
Whipping and being punished by sweeping the latrine were commonplace.
After talking about the first ten thousand households, the ones behind them started to pull their hips. The soldiers here were mainly from Lupai Village and Hengjian Mountain. Many of them were strong men recruited and captured by Yuan Ting. Their combat effectiveness was quite questionable.
Despite efforts to rectify it, it is only beginning to take shape.
Under Lao Zhu, they mainly play a supporting role. The usual training is three days of training and one day off. Not only is the intensity reduced a lot, but they also have to undertake some civil engineering and barracks construction, which is somewhat similar to the existence of the Xiang Army.
But one thing is clear, no matter which thousand households they belong to, as long as they are under Lao Zhu's hands, they will be able to have enough to eat.
The main force, Qianhu, is provided with training food subsidies and can eat meat. Other soldiers can also get it occasionally, about once every ten days. And make it clear to everyone that in the future, our territory will be larger, the conditions will be better, or you will make great contributions.
You can upgrade it to the main Qianhu level.
Similarly, if the main force of Qianhu is not strong enough, it will face the risk of downgrade.
No need to ask, this idea of rolling up must have come from Zhang Ximeng.
But even if they are treated differently, one pound of food per soldier per day is still necessary, especially for Category B thousand households, which have less oil and water and need more food.
In the army, you should never compete with others for your appetite. There are not many ruthless people who can eat a bowl of food in one meal.
"Nearly 40,000 people, that's 40,000 kilograms of grain a day, 10,000 shi a month, and 120,000 shi a year. This is just for daily consumption... If there is a war, it is necessary to recruit civilians to carry the grain and baggage.
, the consumption is several times more. Not counting the thousands of war horses, in terms of consumption, 8,000 horses are no less than 40,000 people."
Li Shanchang calculated silently, then frowned, feeling very embarrassed.
"Your Majesty, our food sources are still very few at the moment, mainly... robbing." Li Shanchang did not shy away from it. Haozhou's soldiers and horses were defeated. Zhu Yuanzhang got a lot of food. Although he later gave some to Guo Zixing, he did not do anything about it.
I got more from the flowers.
In addition to the looting of the Lu family, Zhu Yuanzhang's starting food supply was about 60,000 shi.
Then he captured Lvpai Village, captured Hengjian Mountain, captured 30,000 stones, killed the Mu family, and obtained some food.
After all, it's just over 100,000 dan.
So far, almost 70,000 stones have been consumed, and the remaining food is only enough to last for a few months. This is without a large-scale battle, otherwise the food will really not be enough.
"Since we relied on looting in the past, are there any places around us that can be looted? Can we replenish military rations?" Lao Zhu asked again in a deep voice.
This time Zhang Ximeng spoke, "My lord, I'm afraid it won't work anymore. The next biggest piece of meat is Chuzhou. However, Chuzhou's merchants come and go and trade is prosperous. The population is large and the consumption is huge. If we plunder food, it will cause famine for the people."
, it will really damage the lord’s reputation.”
Li Shanchang saw that Zhang Ximeng had said it, so he no longer hesitated and said directly: "The superior, I want to remind the superior that the Feng brothers proposed to capture Jiqing, but judging from the current situation,
It really doesn't work. We have already divided the land. It is best to wait until the people have harvested, taxes and grains have been paid, the granaries are full, and the supplies are sufficient, then we can use the army in a large scale. Work step by step and fight steadily. This is the army of the king!"
It is rare that Zhang Ximeng and Li Shanchang are highly consistent when it comes to treating food.
In the final analysis, what Lao Zhu took was not the rogue route of robbing one place, eating up all the time and then finding the next one, but the royal route of dividing the land evenly, establishing a solid base, taking one step at a time, steadily, and heading towards victory.
.
Therefore, we must carefully calculate the military and financial resources, how many soldiers and horses we have, and how big of a task we will do.
Lao Zhu pondered carefully and asked again: "Mr. Li, how many people do we have now?"
"Going back to the superior, now we have more than 10,000 people from around Linhuai. After capturing Hengjian Mountain, we have about 70,000. Adding in Dingyuan and other places, the superior now has less than 150,000 people. If we capture Chuzhou
In such a land, the number of people under its rule can reach 300,000."
When Lao Zhu heard this, he couldn't help but take a breath. Even if the population is calculated as 300,000, it would support 40,000 soldiers, which is less than ten people supporting one soldier. This burden is too great.
Is it reasonable that there are only this few people?
Zhang Ximeng felt that not only was it reasonable, but also thanks to Lao Zhu's good reputation, the people around him gathered around him and did not run away, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people!
According to historical records, in the 26th year of Hongwu's reign, a nationwide survey found that Fengyang Prefecture had more than 79,000 households, with a total population of more than 400,000.
Even including the hidden household registrations, the entire Fengyang Mansion only has about 500,000 people. Don't forget that under Lao Zhu's rule, there will not be too many hidden household registrations, otherwise the machete will come down.
Moreover, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Fengyang Prefecture expanded a lot, encompassing five states and thirteen counties. It was a super-grand prefecture and was governed by the Central Capital.
Obviously, there were far fewer people in Haozhou in the late Yuan Dynasty.
Speaking of which, it was all thanks to Zhiyuan Lao Zhang, who gathered 100,000 soldiers' families and stationed troops in Hengjian Mountain, which was regarded as giving Lao Zhu a super tonic pill.
Without his assistance, the number of people under Lao Zhu's rule would only be around 50,000 to 70,000. After all, what he really controls now is Dingyuan County.
"After all the calculations, we still have fewer people and more soldiers, and the people are suffering too much." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, turned and asked Li Shanchang, "Mr. Li, do you have extra acres in Dingyuan and other places?"
"Yes!" Li Shanchang said: "The Baogong River and the Haoshui River are surrounded by fertile fields, and there are also many abandoned fields around them."
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and said: "As long as you have acres of land, order the soldiers to cultivate the fields, and we will work with the big guys!"
Li Shanchang was stunned, "I'm afraid this is not appropriate, superior!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "There is nothing wrong. We are from a farming background. We wanted to farm before but there was no land to farm!"
Zhang Ximeng put his hands on his hands and smiled, "That's great, now you can do it yourself and have enough food and clothing!"
"Yes, just ask yourself to have enough food and clothing!" Lao Zhu said happily.
Only Li Shanchang, the dignified leader of one party, went to plow the fields. Is it ridiculous?
Li Shanchang wanted to give some advice, but Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Mr. Zhang is too young. Mr. Li, just follow us to work in the fields and set an example for everyone!"
Please remember the first domain name of this book: ._