Zhang Yuanheng put down the rolled-up map, and Zhao Jifang brought in volumes of illustrations to show the grain roads of the Marshal's Mansion in front of everyone.
Since Liu Chengzong made the request to prepare for the Northern Expedition last year, the marshal's offices in the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai have been preparing for military supplies.
In this regard, thanks to the high warlord-like physical tax imposed by the Marshal's Office in Qinghai, it was easy to collect supplies, but it was even more difficult to transport military supplies.
Because of their logistics, they had to start by rebuilding the post road.
A post station is a military depot. It can not only serve as a transfer point for troops, food and pay before the war, but also can collect stragglers during the march.
However, the Marshal's Mansion is located in most areas of Shaanxi and has no inns.
No one else is to blame for this. Although Emperor Chongzhen abolished some of the post soldiers in Shaanxi and put some paramilitary personnel who wielded force into the society, the post roads were still running smoothly.
When Shaanxi Yilu came to an end, Liu Chengzong cannot be described as the instigator. He was the one who facilitated it all by himself and gave little chance for others to imitate it.
He marched from east to west, demolishing the post stores in Yan'an, Qingyang, and Pingliang; marching from west to east, his soldiers and horses destroyed the post stores in Lintao and Gongchang.
A few that have been missed are limited, such as the Huichuan Horse Post in Jinglu and the Weizhou Horse Post in Weizhou, which were demolished by Cao Yao; the Chencang Horse Post in Baoji, Fengxiang Prefecture, was built by Luo Rucai.
Only the stations in Xi'an Mansion and Shikou were out of danger.
However, although the post station was not destroyed, the post officials and post soldiers also fled when the war came.
The Shaanxi post road leading to the Marshal's Mansion was almost blank and had to be rebuilt.
This brings up a new problem: the station's superior unit, the Marshal's Mansion, does not have one.
Post stations have been used for military purposes since ancient times. In the Han Dynasty, they were subordinated to Taiwei, and in the Yuan Dynasty, they were subordinate to the Great Khan. Today, they are no exception. They are directly subordinate to the Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War without going through the provincial government.
The administrative organization of the Marshal's Mansion was always restricted by Liu Chengzong's needs.
He needed to manufacture weapons, so he had a government office; he needed to appoint officials, so he had a government office; he needed to manage his vassals, so he had a government office; he needed to spend money and food, so he had a household office.
But he does not need the legal system to restrain him, so there is no criminal yamen; he does not need anyone to dictate the military, so the military yamen is a disability department in charge of the promotion of low-level officers and soldiers.
The Marshal's Mansion has never been a centralized empire, but an army that covers one or even three provinces.
In the past, their communications were entirely completed by Tangqi within the army.
Until now, some post stations have been restored under the jurisdiction of the generals of various garrison troops. However, except for the Second Prefecture of Xikang, there are no post officers and unified management in other places. There are only a small group of soldiers stationed in the dilapidated post cities to act on their behalf.
Complete the postman's work.
Of course, there are three stations in Gansu from Wuwei Station to Sancha, Heishan, and Ningbian. Because the road is not easy to walk and there are no people along the way, Cao Yao restored the Yuan Dynasty tradition, instead of horse stations and using sheep stations, people passed by
The domesticated antelope is also called the Huangtan sheep.
In fact, we can't talk about domestication. Animals that require a lot of open land are not easy to domesticate, but it is not troublesome for the postmen who run around every day.
Just tie a bell on them and go back and forth between the two stations to look for food. Once you are proficient, you can use it to convey some less important messages. When it is delivered, you can lick it with a salt brick and run faster than a horse.
But when war comes, it is particularly important to conduct unified management of the stations throughout the territory.
In order to take charge of the delivery of goods to the post, Liu Chengzong established the military chariot driving department. The doctor of the chariot driving department was his groom Guo Ruqi, also known as Guo Zashi.
Under the Chariot and Driving Department, there are five departments: Du Li, Fa Fa, Horse Administration, Hercules, and Forage.
They are responsible for the mobilization of people, carriages and ships, the issuance of prospecting contracts, the inspection of the number of troops and horses, the registration of military personnel guarding the post, the management of various forage yards, and the management of funds and expenditures, etc.
With this organization, it will be much easier to repair the post road to the Marshal's Mansion.
Because there are two major difficulties in building a post road, one is site selection and the other is selecting people. This is not a problem for Liu Chengzong.
We all know the location of the post cities in the past, but some were demolished, some were smashed, and some were abandoned. All we need to do is to allocate funds to restore them.
The selection of people at the post station is even simpler. There are many old post soldiers under Wei Qian'er in Tongguan Guard, and there are also many skilled post soldiers on Xikang Road, who can all be transferred to Shaanxi as post officials.
In fact, not only the Bing Yamen, but also other Yamen, after the Marshal's Office took control of Xi'an, all simultaneously carried out a large number of personnel expansion due to the central government's control of the local area.
Each government office established additional departments as needed, with Yu Lin, who was generally educated around Liu Chengzong, as the doctor as the chief officer. Subsequently, each department opened various subjects as needed, and selected veterans with work experience in various subjects to serve as ambassadors and deputy envoys.
Cheng Yun sorted out the documents and organized the language, and then he clasped his fists and said: "Brother, this time the North Road will use 70,000 troops. Before the war begins, we need to prepare for the next three months on the front line. In addition, we need to prepare for three months of transportation, which is thirty
Every stone turns into food."
"There is a huge amount of grain and grass, but Guyuan does not have the ability to handle it. We need to temporarily set up a munitions bureau in Qingyang first."
Liu Chengzong actually laughed in amusement when he heard this: "When fighting in the interior, transporting food is actually more difficult than in the border areas."
The Marshal's Mansion fought in the border areas, so it was easy to feed the troops. Horses and grass were everywhere, and the mounts could eat as they went. There were also herding villages in various places, and the chieftains provided meat, which made it much easier to worry about.
But it is different in the mainland. We really need to transport food. If we don't transport food, we can't fight the war.
In fact, the grain storage camps that Liu Chengzong and Chengyun prepared for this battle were all in Guyuan.
Because the geographical location there is suitable, Lanzhou and Xi'an transport grain to Guyuan, which is 500-600 miles and 11 stops away.
The distance and location of the inland post stations have long been established. This is much more scientific than the post stations on the Xikang Road established by Liu Chengzong and the Tianshan Road post station established by Liu Chengzu during his northern expedition to the Tianshan Mountains.
From Xining to Kangning, from Gansu to Tianshan, it is all according to the rules of military information transmission, and it is about one stop a hundred miles away.
In the mainland, the post stations are well-equipped and express delivery stations are used to convey military information. The distance between the post stations is set according to the speed of walking and riding.
The inn is set up based on the route that can be reached by starting in the morning and arriving in the evening.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Therefore, Bingliang is divided into sections by inns, which are transferred day and night. Eleven stations mean that it can be reached in six days.
Soldiers need speed, so food routes must also be fast. The faster they are, the less travel is consumed. At the same time, the faster they are, the longer the shelf life of their rations is.
But the problem in Guyuan Prefecture is that there is no one.
Like Jingning Prefecture, Liu Chengzong did not set up a magistrate's office in Guyuan Prefecture. He only sent a general judge to manage the military and civil affairs. The general judge was named Yang Sanyuan, who was a relative and brother of Yang Chengzu.
Guyuan has never been a Minzhou. There were many troops stationed there but very few civilians. Even the dispersed peasant army was unwilling to run there. As a result, Dingkou, where Yang Sanyuan reported to the commander's residence, was very pitiful.
In Guyuan Prefecture, a large city, there are more than 900 households, including craftsmen and handymen, with a pitiful population of more than 4,000 people.
With this small population, there is basically no surplus population that can handle military supplies.
"As for the temporary munitions bureau, my idea is to set up one in Guyuan and one in Qingyang. It is better to transport military supplies and supplies through multiple routes. It is safer. Can the waterway from Xi'an to Pingliang be connected?"
Hearing Liu Chengzong ask this, Chengyun shook his head and said: "Jinghe River shipping is intermittent. There are five stations that can be taken by water. From Xi'an to Pingliang, it can be transported alternately by car and boat. The road consumption is not big, but the preparations are
There are so many ships, vehicles, mules and horses that we haven’t gathered yet.”
"It is estimated that the eleventh station will purchase 1,800 donkeys and mules, 900 double carriages, 7,000 carriage drivers and escorts, and 430 small and large civilian ships. In addition..." Cheng Yun said, speaking to
Liu Chengzong asked: "Will this road still be used in the future?"
Liu Chengzong frowned and asked, "How do I say whether I will use it in the future?"
"If it still needs to be used in the future, we can invest more money to open up the rivers that are not easy to navigate. Then the cost allocated to the river yamen will be more. It is estimated that the first batch of investment will be about 45,000 taels. If it is not used in the future
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As he said this, Cheng Yun smiled: "There are many military mules, and we can also recruit vehicles and ships. Thirty thousand taels will be enough. Each post can also allocate nearby fields to them, and each post can have thirty or fifty hectares of land."
Reclamation is almost done. After the start of transportation, up to 48,000 shi can be transported to Guyuan every month, but the road consumption of conquering the land will cost another 7,000 shi."
"About 40,000 stones arrive every month."
Liu Chengzong also laughed when he heard this: "It means that the preparations are hasty this time, so we have to be more or less fooled."
There is really no way around this, of course I want everything to be perfect.
But more often than not, for the Marshal's Mansion, which lacks time, it can only be one expedient plan after another.
After all, even if the Jingshui River is overhauled, they will start building the waterway from the beginning of spring. The river section is uneven, new ships need to be built for each section, and the river needs to be repaired. It is impossible to use waterway navigation in this year's campaign.
The investment of 40,000 to 50,000 taels is only the first batch of budget, and this amount of money is given to each soldier participating in the war, which can even allow people to starve for a day with high morale.
"This river is very important. The post road is worth 10,000 yuan in addition to the 30,000 yuan. A large number of military rations are transported, and many mules have to die and many vehicles have to run down. It must be replenished in time."
"In addition, a budget of 50,000 taels will be made for the river side first, but don't allocate any more. Let Chen Qiyu inspect the Jinghe River first, not only for navigation, but also for irrigation and hydraulic repairs in the counties along the way. Wait for him to report the budget.
Say it again."
"Anyway, I can't do anything with the money, so I'll just fool around with you on the east side."
When the word "fooling" was mentioned, Liu Chengzong smiled and asked Chengyun: "What about the West Road? How can we make do with it?"
"Haha, brother, there's no need to make do with the West Road."
This is where we are proud of our transportation. Xining was the former base camp of the Marshal's Army, and the Hehuang line has a track with better transportation capacity, which can quickly transport munitions to Lanzhou.
"Lanzhou has mobilized more than 11,000 pack horses and pack mules, assigned to 11 stations along the way. There are also 3,000 pack mules and 1,500 pairs of wagons in reserve. The mule team can transport 900 to 1,000 packs of military supplies to Guyuan every day.
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Cheng Yuan explained: "If the east road transports grain enough for military use, the west road is responsible for transporting military supplies. Lanzhou sent a message the day before yesterday that more than 40,000 packs of various military supplies have been prepared."
"Among them are 10,000 loads of salt, 5,000 loads of oil, 4,200 loads of maltose, 6,700 loads of dried meat and salted fish, 5,000 loads of pickles, sesame seeds, peanuts, etc., 1,200 loads of vinegar cloth, and 2 ounces of gunpowder.
Fourteen hundred loads, two thousand loads of arrow clusters and shafts, four thousand loads of rockets, and more than ten thousand loads of felt bow strings and other miscellaneous items."
Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. The base camp was easier to use than Pingliang, Qingyang, and Xi'an.
He asked: "What if we need food and grass from there?"
"Lanzhou has prepared 400,000 shi of raw grain wheat and beans for processing and shipment at any time."
Chengyun added: "In addition, Mr. Yang and Dalai Taiji from the military office also asked whether a group of workers who are skilled in stir-fried noodles and dried noodles should be registered as military personnel and sent to Guyuan to build a factory?"
"Give as much as you can."
Liu Chengzong's east and west food routes were simple, but he knew very well that this was only the first route of this northern expedition.
One stone of raw grain is processed into flour in Lanzhou or Xi'an, and is converted from 150 kilograms to about 100 kilograms of finished grain. It is transported to Guyuan as military supplies and needs to be transported a second time to the front line, or on-site.
Processed and then shipped to the front line.
What is processed is naturally the famous food of the Marshal's Mansion, emergency military ration fried noodles.
Yang Dingrui prepared so much salt, oil, sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts and other things in Hexi so that Liu Chengzong could process fried noodles in Guyuan.
This also means that although Yang Dingrui has reservations about Liu Chengzong's plan to use troops in Monan, he is already ready to support the Monan campaign in terms of military supplies to support the war.
Because if it was just for the northern expedition to Ningxia and Yansui, there would be no need to make so many fried noodles. They had a complete rear grain road and a side wall to protect them.
The frontline army can completely use the border wall as a boundary, enjoy sufficient military rations, carry some raw food, and make fresh food with a short shelf life in the camp.
Such as steamed buns, pot helmets, noodles, or even noodles cut into the dough.
Fried noodles are just a quick snack and a temporary supplement to emergency military rations.
But if they fight deep into Monan, they will need to make a large amount of fried noodles that will last longer.
The two brothers were summarizing the supplies for the expedition in the office, but Zhang Xianzhong, the secretary of the office of ceremony, could not say anything for a long time.
Normally, he should have unique insights into military matters, but the Eight Kings knew nothing about logistics, post routes, military rations, and other messy things.
These idiots sound like they are in chaos, and they have to prepare tens of thousands of mules.
Zhang Xianzhong smacked his lips with a look of boredom on his face: "Commander, there are tens of thousands of concubines recruited from the east and west. It would be too much to keep them in vain."
Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows: "Is there any way Zhang Butang can reduce road consumption?"
"There is a man named Wang Yinglong from the Fushi Township Party who was a bowsmith in the Western Brigade. He used to repair weapons for me and take care of the baggage. He has a group of people who are all good horses. One person can lead twelve mules."
"We might as well use mules as army food and let them walk to the camp on their own with swords and guns on their backs. An army of 70,000 only needs 2,000 horse legs to drive 20,000 mules, which is enough to drive down the Ningxia soldiers."
Liu Chengzong almost laughed out loud and asked with a strange expression: "What about Yansui?"
"Let's rob Ningxia, and we may have more mules. We will drive all Ningxia to attack Yansui, and then rob Yansui." Zhang Xianzhong's eyes lit up as he spoke: "Then we will drive the troops from the two towns to Monan to attack the east.
We will chase them as far as Shenyang and take back their mules and horses. Yes, there is also gold and silver."
The logic is closed.
Liu Chengzong gave him a thumbs up. It was very good and had the spirit of a desperado in a troubled world.
He did not ask what to do if there was no food supply, or what if the army was defeated due to lack of food and grass. Such questions were unnecessary.
There is no need to talk to Zhang Xianzhong about repairing the Jingshui River on the East Road, which can irrigate the fields of several prefectures along the way; the mule team on the West Road transports materials to Guyuan and opens a military ration processing factory, which can also make the people of Guyuan who are in need of work earn a little money and carry their money.
Grain is ripe.
Because things about government affairs and construction are redundant to Zhang Xianzhong.
However, Zhang Xianzhong did remind Liu Chengzong tactically and made him think of some things, such as that the best defense is offense.
At this moment, Yu Linlang quickly walked into the palace and handed over a letter marked Yanqing Road: "Commander, urgent report."
Opening the letter, it was written by Zhang Zhen, the commander-in-chief of Yanqing. The letter stated that it had been detected recently that the commander-in-chief of Yansui Town, Yu Chongxiao, was not in the town and had gone to Ningxia. Ding Guodong, who was stationed in the Huanxian direction, had captured Wang Ji, the governor of Ningxia, who had fled to Qingyang.
Father and son.
Liu Chengzong pressed the letter and looked at Zhang Xianzhong and Chengyun. His eyes lit up unconsciously, and the hairs on his neck stood up in excitement: "Ningxia, there has been a mutiny!"