Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 435 Are you willing to lend me a helping hand?
As a certain degree of tacit understanding was reached with the Khoshut tribe, the war in Sichuan came to an end.

Normally, the finishing work should be left to Fan Yiheng and other provincial governors, and Zhu Cilang should return to Yingtian as soon as possible.

But things are not that simple.

Nine out of ten houses in Hanzhong are empty, and only half of the remaining houses in Sichuan are empty. If enough population cannot be moved here within a short period of time, the large army stationed here will inevitably become a heavy burden on the court due to insufficient local supplies.

This is the problem that has troubled Chinese rulers for thousands of years.

It is not difficult to conquer territory, but it is difficult to hold it; the enemy is not scary, but it is the lack of logistics supply.

Just like the rise and fall between farming and nomadism, when the weather turns warmer, the agricultural civilization in the Central Plains will inevitably move its defense line northward as the climate changes. When the temperature drops, its territory will have to shrink back to the traditional farming area.

The root cause of this situation is naturally climate change, but the most direct reason is that crops cannot mature. When the military supply of the stationed troops cannot be solved locally, the only option left for the court is to give up.

Of course, there is no need to worry about the temperature in Hanzhong, as the insufficient supply is caused by the lack of population.

But it takes at least thirteen or fourteen years for a person to go from having sex to becoming a laborer, so there is no need to rush.

Then the question arises, how to maintain the presence of garrison at a lower cost when the local hematopoietic capacity is insufficient.

Military farming.

This is the solution given by the officials in central Sichuan.

China has always had a tradition of letting soldiers cultivate land. The income from this can not only alleviate the pressure caused by the long supply lines, but also bring a sum of money to the court. Whenever there is troubled times, this is the only way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and it can be called a good strategy to save the world.

But to everyone's surprise, Zhu Cilang directly refused, and even contrary to his usual behavior, he did not even give any explanation.

Faced with such a situation, Fan Yiheng and others were quite surprised, but since His Majesty had no intention of explaining, they did not dare to ask more questions. But who would have thought
"Sir, take a break before cutting again."

Looking at the soldiers dancing with sickles, Wang Er couldn't help but call out to them.

After the government troops broke through Yangping Pass, they did not make things difficult for ordinary people like them. They just said that those who wanted to leave could leave, and those who were willing to stay and work could get two meals.

As the army came and went, the granary at home was cleaner than one licked by rats. Wang Er stayed in Yangping Pass for the sake of those two meals.

There is no need to say much about what happened next. The Khoshut cavalry arrived and were built into a Jingguan.

When the war was over and it was almost time to harvest wheat, he planned to return to the farm.

According to common sense, unless the war situation is very tense, the army will generally not force the civilians to stay at this time. However, before he said goodbye to the general in charge of the camp, a message came from there that the emperor had ordered the civilians to stay for two more days.

Your Majesty, isn't this nonsense? ! ! !
He watched helplessly as the wheat turned yellow day by day, but he did not allow the people to return home. If it really rained, the harvest, which was already not much, would be cut in half. What would they use to pay the emperor's grain? !
Complaints abound.

There are really a lot of complaints.

Although there are not many civilians in Yangping Pass and Hanzhong City, they are almost all of Hanzhong at the moment.

At such a critical time, the emperor who was lazy and ignorant of grains forced everyone to stay. How could the people of Hanzhong not complain?

To be honest, the emperor treated them well. If they had work, they had three solid meals a day. If they had no work, they had one solid meal and one liquid meal. But since he was born in heaven, how could he know that things on earth never wait for anyone?

In just two days, Wang Er's mouth was full of bubbles due to his anxiety, and the atmosphere in the camp became more and more anxious.

Fortunately, it did not rain during those two days, and the food in the army was much better than at home, so the laborers finally waited until the time to disband the camp.

But at this moment, something terrifying happened again.

When the laborers were about to leave the camp, the generals asked them to take some of the big soldiers back with them according to the amount of land they owned.

Seeing this, Wang Er was filled with despair. He thought that the food in his own fields would be difficult to preserve and his family would not survive the winter.

This is inevitable. With the armies going back and forth over the years, the common people have been suffering every time. Those who have survived to this day are smart and have seen such things, and they have a deep understanding of the fact that soldiers are as ruthless as a comb.

just
"No rest, hurry up and finish your harvest, you have to help other families."

Since the other party said so, Wang Er would not force it. After half a day, the wheat in his field had all been piled up. The soldiers then sat on the edge of the field to relax.

"Master Junjun."

As Wang Er's timid voice was heard, the soldiers couldn't help but look over, and then the thin man knelt directly on the ground.

"As you have seen these days, I have three children at home. I only ask that you leave some food for me!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Er's head kept hitting the ground, and it was obvious that he was certain that he could not protect the grain that he had just harvested.

Faced with this situation, the soldiers were stunned, and then they hurriedly helped him up.

"What are you doing?! Have we brothers ever offended your family in the past few days?!"

"No, no."

"Then why do you want to defame someone? Do you want us to be punished by His Majesty's military law?!"

Seeing that the leading soldier seemed to be really angry, Wang Er was immediately frightened and his legs went weak. He wanted to turn around and run away, but he was held up by the soldiers at this time and could only speak out his words directly.

"Sir, I know you are here to collect military rations, but I didn't say I won't hand them over. I just ask you to..."

"shit!"

Wang Er had only said half of his words when the leading soldier started to snort. Before he could respond, the voice came over again: "We are here to help you harvest the wheat under the order of the emperor, but we didn't expect that you, such a heartless fellow, would not appreciate our kindness!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Wang Er's crying stopped abruptly. Seeing that the soldiers had no intention of stealing his wheat, he sat down on the ground in a daze.

Seeing his look, the leading soldier seemed to have thought of something. After looking towards the north for a while, he stopped his previous behavior.

"I was also a peasant back then. If I hadn't really had trouble making a living, I wouldn't have followed the King of Rebellion."

"Xiaoqi! Stop talking nonsense!"

"It's okay, His Majesty is generous and doesn't mind this." The leader didn't care about the reminder of the soldiers beside him. After waving his hand, he continued, "His Majesty said that he will not treat us unfairly, and he hopes that we will not be like before. This time we are just here to help you harvest wheat, so don't think too much."

After he finished speaking, Wang Er finally took action. He walked towards the wheat pile under the gaze of several soldiers, and after some hesitation, he pulled out two bundles. "Sir, these two bundles are our token of thanks to you."

"How come you don't understand what I'm saying? Do you want me to be punished by military law?!"

"No, no, it's just that you can't work for nothing."

After hearing this, the soldiers immediately burst into laughter. When Wang Er was a little confused by the laughter, the leading soldier smiled and said, "Didn't we tell you? Your Majesty will not treat us unfairly. After we collect your family's food, we will report to the camp and then we will have mutton to eat."

mutton?

As soon as these two words were uttered, Wang Er's attention was drawn to them. He then felt his mouth watering and could even smell the aroma of meat.

In those days, eating meat was an extremely luxurious thing. Not to mention Wang Er, it was also a great temptation even for those soldiers who had followed Li Chuang to sweep across the country.

After a while, several people gradually got rid of the temptation of mutton, and then the soldiers packed up and prepared to leave. But when Wang Er looked at the departing figure with some longing, a heavenly sound reached his ears.

"His Majesty said that anyone who is willing to help other families harvest wheat can come."
-
Just as Wang Er and the soldiers were returning to the surrounding military camps, Zhu Cilang had already tasted the first pot of mutton in the camp.

“Too much salt?”

After tasting a bite of mutton, he was so choked that he stuck out his tongue. Seeing him like this, the soldiers around him immediately became flustered. But at this moment, he seemed to have thought of something. He rinsed the small piece of mutton with the water handed to him by Hu Yiqing and put it into his mouth.

"Just do it your way, don't bother me."

The diet of dignitaries has always been light, and the fundamental reason is that there is no physical exertion. If the hard laborers were forced to eat those bland foods, they probably would not be able to do any heavy work.

At this time, his performance had been seen by the soldiers who were cooking the mutton. If he was not prepared properly, who knew what the mutton would taste like.

This was the solution he came up with: the soldiers would help the people harvest for free, and then the court would compensate the soldiers.

In the eyes of Fan Yiheng and others, this is a very costly and low-return thing, but in his opinion, this is a very meaningful attempt that cannot be measured by material things at all.

At first, he was actually just opposed to reclamation and didn't think too deeply about it.

After all, Li Guo's troops who will be stationed here in the future have been reorganized, and according to his plan, they should develop in the direction of professional soldiers.

If they were given the task of cultivating land, within a few years these elite troops would be able to develop into military households. By then, not to mention the elite Tartars, they would even have difficulty dealing with the bandits.

Such a situation was certainly unacceptable to him.

As for the next season's farming after this season's harvest, what will happen?
This is not a difficult task.

After all, he not only had tens of thousands of large livestock that Gushri Khan used as an apology, but also those scattered among the herdsmen. As long as he used the animal power properly, the land in Hanzhong would definitely be sufficient to supply the local garrison.

It was because he, as an emperor, had a very high prestige that even though the civil and military officials and soldiers did not quite understand his actions, they still did their best.

However, during the inspection, he accidentally discovered that because of the past few days of getting along, the relationship between the soldiers and the people had become much more harmonious, and some people even developed a sense of responsibility and honor in their hearts.

Upon realizing this, he immediately invested great enthusiasm in this matter.

In order to concentrate his energy, he not only postponed his return trip to Yingtian, but also abandoned the saltpeter mine in Hanzhong.

By this time, the soldiers who had returned one after another had all shown subtle changes compared to before, which was truly a pleasant surprise for him.

"Fan Qing."

After walking around the camp, Zhu Cilang found an empty spot and sat down directly. When the civil and military officials beside him were like his own emperor, his voice came again.

"His Majesty."

"Yingtian has many complicated affairs. After this harvest, I will go back."

When Fan Yiheng heard the words, he naturally knew that there was something to be settled, so he bowed slightly and pretended to listen attentively.

"The saltpeter mine in Hanzhong must be restored as soon as possible, and the population in Sichuan must also be checked as soon as possible." Zhu Cilang paused for a moment, and after a little hesitation, he continued, "If the population is insufficient, you can submit a petition. If it really doesn't work, you can just set up a military settlement in Sichuan."

Saltpeter is an important component of black powder, accounting for as much as 70% to 80% of it.

By this time, gunpowder weapons had become the Ming army's main method of defeating the enemy, and the use of saltpeter naturally soared to an extremely high level.

Under such circumstances, Hanzhong, which has rich saltpeter deposits, is more than just a strategic location. The rapid resumption of saltpeter mining has become a matter of great concern to Zhu Cilang.

However, when Zhu Cilang's words reached Fan Yiheng's ears, although he also understood the importance of resuming saltpeter mining, what attracted his attention more were the words "Sichuan Military Settlement".

Your Majesty is clearly very opposed to military settlements, so why is he planning to establish a military settlement in Sichuan?
With this in mind, Fan Yiheng wanted to ask a question, but Zhu Cilang's power had already surpassed that of previous generations with one victory after another. The words turned around on his lips, but he finally swallowed them back.

"I will definitely live up to your majesty's trust."

Zhu Cilang knew what Fan Yiheng was thinking without asking, but after he finished speaking, he asked a question without any context.

"Fan Qing, what do you think the emperor does?"

"This"

Send a proposition.

A definite death question.

When the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty asked this question, not only did Fan Yiheng, who had been a provincial governor for many years, not know how to answer, but even generals such as Li Guo looked at him in disbelief.

"Emperor, shepherding the people on behalf of Heaven, fundamentally speaking, is to make all the people in the world live a good life," Zhu Cilang said, and then glanced at the civil and military officials around him. Seeing that they all turned their attention to him, he continued: "If you can't do this, it's time to change the dynasty."

"His Majesty!"

When Fan Yiheng heard the words, he was immediately startled, but before he could say anything, he saw the Ming Emperor Jingwu waved his hand slightly.

"Except for those famous tyrants, every emperor wants his subjects to have enough food and clothing. But a hero needs three helpers. Even an emperor needs useful ministers, otherwise he will be doomed. Alas~~~~."

Zhu Cilang did not finish his words, but just sighed at the end. However, everyone present knew that he was alluding to his father, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became tense.

"I want to pacify this chaotic world and ensure that all people in the world have enough food and clothing. You..." His voice paused, and his majestic eyes swept over the ministers present again: "Are you willing to lend me a hand?"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to die for you!"

(End of this chapter)