I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 491 Western Region Production and Construction Corps
But even so, there are still about 500 million people in the entire Weisuo system of the Ming Dynasty, which is also a huge human resource.
If the greatest advantage of the Weisuo system was to be found, it was that it enabled the rapid practical occupation of uninhabited/newly conquered areas.

It is very expensive to maintain a military force in a salient, as supplies need to be transported from the rear, food and fodder are also needed, and personnel and weapons are also needed. This is also the reason why it was difficult to maintain a vast territory in ancient times.

Military settlements can alleviate this difficulty, at least in terms of food and fodder. Guards, which are higher than military settlements, can take this advantage a step further and alleviate most of the pressure.

The reason is very simple. A guard is not simply 5,600 soldiers guarding a city. To be precise, a guard is not 5,600 people, but 5,600 households. Each soldier has his own family, with his wife and children. When the soldiers go to training, what do you think their wives and children do? It must be the small-scale peasant economy production of family manual labor, farming, textiles, blacksmith furnaces, etc. This is a city dominated by military.

Such a guard consists of about 30,000 people. These 30,000 people are equipped with weapons, have a certain degree of organization, and are able to support themselves. They are truly an armed pioneer group.

And most importantly, these families will also have their own children, and their children will still be military households. Only one child will be needed to inherit his father's military status, and his brothers will still maintain their military household status as military surpluses. However, they will no longer have any occupational restrictions, and it doesn't matter whether they farm, do business, or study for the imperial examinations. This is why so many university scholars, ministers, assistant ministers, censors and other high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty were from the garrisons.

Moreover, whether it is the eight-garrison and two-garrison of an ordinary guard or the whole-people farming of a guard, the majority of them are dedicated to farming. Of the 5,000 people in a guard, more than 4,000 are responsible for farming, and less than 1,000 are involved in daily training. This is normal. The military tasks of the guards along the northern border are relatively heavy, and there are fewer people to invest in farming. Their own production is often not enough, and they need to be transported by the central government. This can greatly reduce the cost of the central government's control of the border areas.

Not only can it maintain a vast territory, but it can also gradually penetrate the surrounding ethnic minority areas and gradually erode and assimilate the surrounding lands.

This is vividly reflected in the Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou regions.

Since ancient times, places that had never been set foot by the central power have become the territory of the Han people under the encroachment of one garrison after another.

It can be said that the Wei Suo was the best means to encroach on the newly annexed areas.

The above statement is based on the premise that the Weisuo system can operate healthily.

That's why Zhu Houxuan was reluctant to cancel the Weisuo system. A little-known fact is that the Qing Dynasty did not cancel the Weisuo system, and new Weisuo were still being built. It can even be said that the Weisuo system still existed after 49, but it was an upgraded version of the Weisuo system, and the name was changed to something like the Production and Construction Corps.

Zhu Houxuan planned to gradually relocate all of the Ming Dynasty's current garrisons to the newly annexed territories of the Ming Dynasty, making them the nails on the Ming Dynasty's borders.

Some people may think that this is a bit cruel, forcibly relocating a person living in the inland to the border thousands or even tens of thousands of miles away, far away from home, and facing all kinds of dangers.

But in this world of great contention, someone must make sacrifices.

If the Han people do not go to the border areas, they will be abandoning their land, which will be lost sooner or later.

Only when there are more Han people in the border areas can the country be stable.

These two sentences still hold true today.

Of course, Zhu Houxuan would also formulate various preferential policies for those who guarded the border for the country, giving them political preferential treatment and economic compensation. Moreover, Zhu Houxuan selected places with relatively superior natural conditions for these garrisons, not barren lands, such as the Hetao Plain, the Northeast Plain, the Ili River Valley, Ulaanbaatar, the shores of Lake Baikal, etc. As long as there were no exploitation by corrupt officials in these places, the garrison soldiers could live well simply by farming.

Moreover, the places Zhu Houxuan chose would not be limited to the north, he would also consider the scenic spots in the south.

Moreover, the hereditary officials of the garrisons suffered the most from this migration, as they had to give up the land they had annexed for many years. For most ordinary military households, they had nothing to lose, and what they gained was an opportunity to escape from their serf status.

These lands left behind by the migration would become the beginning of Zhu Houxuan's survey of the land in the world.

"It will be easy to relocate the garrison!" Zhu Houzhao said.

Then he sneered, "I know you are worried that someone will cause trouble because of this, brother. Don't worry about that. With me here, who dares to do that?"

"Now that your Majesty says so, I feel relieved." Zhu Houxuan bowed and said with a smile.

"Brother, you are the one who thinks about the long-term future of this country!" Zhu Houzhao suddenly sighed, "Only you dare to do something like this. If it were someone else, I guess they wouldn't even dare to mention it."

Zhu Houxuan smiled but said nothing.

"Just now you mentioned that what we talked about today is related to the attack on the Western Regions. What do you think about this?" Zhu Houzhao suddenly remembered something.

"I will organize the garrisons in Shaanxi and Gansu to form a Western Region Production and Construction Corps. Once my royal brother conquers a place, the Western Region Production and Construction Corps will take root there and make it completely part of the territory of our Ming Dynasty." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

"Hahaha!" Zhu Houzhao laughed heartily after hearing this, and it took him a while to stop laughing.

"My brother has a long-term vision. He thinks ahead of time and looks three steps ahead. I like you like this!" Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhu Houxuan with admiration.

"Thank you for your praise, brother. You trust me so much. This is what I should think of and do," Zhu Houxuan said modestly.

"Just go for it. Don't worry about anything. We have already agreed that I will be responsible for expanding the territory and you will be responsible for governing these new territories. So, just go for it boldly!" Zhu Houzhao said domineeringly.

In the following days of the 16th year of Zhengde, Zhu Houxuan began to reform the garrisons and also began to build public opinion for Zhu Houzhao's expedition to the Western Regions.
The expedition to the Western Regions was not like attacking the Northern Yuan Dynasty. During the attack on the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao often stayed in Xuanfu, which was only a few hundred miles away from the capital. If there was anything, he could rush back to the capital in three days.

Later, he stayed in Guihua City, about 1000 miles away from Beijing. If there was something, he would rush back to the capital within ten days.
The farthest one is the expedition to Mobei, but one can still get back to the capital within a month.
But some places in the Western Regions are thousands of miles away from the capital.
(End of this chapter)