Chapter 124: Observing government according to orders (10)
Gao Pangshi didn't quite remember how many troops Anda had gathered after the Hannaji Incident in history. He only remembered that Anda made no big moves after a little testing at a few key passes. It was all a matter of thunder and rain.
.
But now I'm wondering if I will still choose this way. Gao Pragmatic was told this by Gao Mo, and I'm really a little unsure.
The reason for the inaccuracy actually lies in Gao pragmatism in what he does.
Historically, in the past few years, because the core area under its rule has been continuously hit by disasters, Anda's strength has actually been a bit like being strong on the outside and strong on the inside - it still has fighting power, but the economic situation of ordinary herdsmen is very miserable.
How miserable was it? After Wang Chonggu became the governor of Xuanda, Ma Fang proposed to Wang Chonggu to recruit Mongolian wanderers under his rule out of consideration of recruiting Mongolian knights to strengthen the army. Wang Chonggu followed suit and actually issued an announcement. The result was less than one day.
Within a year, two to three thousand herders who were unable to survive in Mongolia came to seek refuge. Ma Fang selected more than two hundred strong men with excellent riding skills among them to join the army. In addition, more than a thousand Han people who had fled north also returned.
You know, in the past few years, Han people have been fleeing north to Mongolia, and unless the tribal civil war failed and they were homeless, not many Mongolians fled south. This year, the situation has actually been reversed. It can be seen that the Mongolian side was affected by the disaster.
How serious has the situation become?
Of course I am anxious, otherwise I would not have gone south to rob twice in a row just over half a year ago.
It is a pity that the two raids southward did not achieve good results. Although the Shanxi-Gyeonggi defense line composed of Ma Fang, Zhao Ke, and Qi Jiguang cannot be said to be flawless, it did make me almost unable to go south twice.
Try not to lose money - if the resistance to robbery is strong, there will be losses.
Therefore, facing this situation in history, I must have been facing a lawsuit. It would not be a lawsuit, and it would not be a lawsuit.
He said that he would also lose his prestige both inside and outside the tribe.
But the emergence of Gao Pragmatic made Anda's situation a little better than in history. After all, Gao Pragmatic had to pay for a horse in exchange, and although he tried his best to export "high-end industries", the Mongolian nobles were not all fools.
In addition to being tricked into buying a lot of silk and other items by highly pragmatic people, they would also buy some daily necessities for the herdsmen under their own names.
This kind of trade, if you look at each transaction individually, it is just a drizzle, but if you look at it together, it is a huge amount.
Of course, although Gao Pragmatic's smuggling team is expanding rapidly, it will not be able to satisfy the entire Monan Tumochuan tribe. It can even be said that it can only meet a small part of their needs. However, even this small part is enough for me.
Answer: The various ministries under his command have gone from "a large number of herdsmen starving to death" to "a small number of herdsmen starving to death".
You know, if a hundred herdsmen starve to death in a year, and if thousands of herdsmen starve to death in a year, the pressure I face is completely different. That's why Gao Pragmatic is worried about whether Anda will not be able to survive because of the pressure on his head.
It's such a big deal in history, but we took a different stance on this incident than we did historically.
Therefore, after Gao pragmatic thought for a while, he asked Gao Mo: "This time you went to Fengzhou River, in addition to getting close to Bahannaji, did you observe the livelihood expenses of ordinary herdsmen in Tumo River? I mean
, they have been hit by disasters in the past few years, are they now so severe that they are unsustainable?"
Gao Mo nodded and said: "Yes, we are going north this time, not from Datong, but from Laoyingbao in the southwest of Datong, passing Laoniuwanbao, and upstream along the river (Yellow River), at Liancheng and Junzijin.
We stayed briefly in the three places of Tuotuo, and then walked northeast along the Dahei River. We first went to Dabansheng City to see Bahan Naji, and then went to Fengzhouchuan Khan Court with Bahan Naji."
"On the way, we met dozens of tribes of different sizes. Generally speaking, the situation of the larger tribes is slightly better, and they can barely make ends meet. The smaller tribes are in dire straits. It can be said that
They have nothing to eat every day and nothing to wear every year. Especially the little ones find that they are in dire need of iron tools, which is simply unimaginable."
"Oh?" Gao Pragmatic's expression changed, and he asked: "To what extent is it missing?"
Gao Mo said: "In larger tribes, such as those with nearly a thousand households, there may be more than ten or twenty iron pots in the entire tribe, and cooking is done in turns. Smaller tribes, such as those with only one or two hundred herdsmen households,
Even if there are two to three hundred herdsmen households, the entire tribe may only have seven or eight iron pots - those iron pots are used almost all day long, and there is no leisure time at all."
Although Gao Pragmatic knew that the Mongols were seriously short of iron, and the history books even said that sometimes two small tribes would fight over an iron pot, but he really didn't know that the total number of iron pots was so small, and he couldn't help but
Somewhat surprised.
Gao Mo was still making introductions and said: "We met a herdsman from a small tribe on the road this time. When his two sons separated, because they were short of pots, they had to break a pot and divide it into two halves.
Each got half. This man also had a daughter. Because she had not yet married, she had to leave some dowry, so she was given a small iron basin. The iron basin was probably only slightly larger than the bowls we usually eat. His daughter was very happy.
, thanked my father and two brothers again and again. In addition, we also met many herdsmen families. Because they did not have pots and their status in the tribe was not high, they had no chance to cook in the communal iron pots in the tribe, so they had to cook in skins.
Meat for food.”
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and asked: "I remember that it should be difficult to repurpose the pig iron for making iron pots, right? For example, melt the iron pots and then make arrows?"
Unexpectedly, Gao Mo said: "Young Master, this issue must be looked at separately. If you say it is not possible, it is actually wrong. No matter what kind of iron it is, if you want to melt it and make arrows, it is actually possible, but the problem is that it is not cost-effective.
, very uneconomical.”
"Oh? What should I say?" Gao Pragmatic was not angry at all.
Gao Mo explained: "According to my understanding, the pig iron used to make iron pots is of very poor quality. It is not very hard and has many impurities. Generally speaking, the plows used by our Ming people are better than
This kind of iron is much better. The Mongolians' smelting level is very low. Although they have the help of Han'er from Dabanshengcheng, it is still far behind the Ming Dynasty. If they melt the molten iron in an iron pot to make arrows
, I am afraid that there will be only three or four taels left in a pound of iron, and it takes a lot of effort, so... Anyway, I have never seen such a situation. Moreover, Gao Jue specifically asked this question to shopkeeper Cao,
Shopkeeper Cao said that the Mongols would have done this unless they were crazy, because they even lacked iron pots to eat, so how could they melt the iron pots to make arrows?"
Gao Pangshi said calmly: "Isn't it also a way to make arrows to rob our Ming Dynasty?"
"Ha, it sounds like it is, but the problem is that Anda has not been very effective in looting at the border in recent years. Many tribes have expressed dissatisfaction with this. For example, several tribes that led Han Naji themselves followed Anda in the past few years.
They went south to plunder and lost nearly two hundred men, but the things they grabbed were not enough, so I muttered in front of him all day long that this deal was not worthwhile and it was far better to do business with us - otherwise, how could we win over so easily?
Hannaji?”
When Gao Mo said this, he said seriously: "I wonder if the eldest young master knows that the title of Han Naji in the 30,000 households in Tumochuan is Dacheng Taiji. This is a quite high position, so he is actually in a certain place now."
To a certain extent, he can be said to be one of the leaders of the Tumokawa Che-Ming faction."
"No wonder..." Gao pragmatic nodded and thought to himself: Han Naji is one of the leaders of the pro-Ming sect, so Anda will be so nervous after he comes to the Ming Dynasty, but Anda's nervousness is not necessarily simple.
He was worried about internal instability, but because Anda himself had always hoped to reconcile with the Ming Dynasty and do business safely, so after consecrating Han Naji to the Ming Dynasty, he was afraid that this reckless grandson would be regarded as even worse in the past few years.
The reckless Ming Ting was killed directly.
In the past few years, the Ming court would chop off the heads of Anda envoys at every turn, but those envoys did not have a high status, so they would be beheaded as soon as possible. Anda could handle it, but in the event that Hannaji, a pro-Ming sect, "Dacheng Taiji"
"The initiative to Nantou was cut off by the Ming Dynasty, so Anda could no longer suppress the internal opposition to reconciliation with the Ming Dynasty and mutual benefit through tribute, and could only bite the bullet and fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty.
