Tiger Guards

Chapter 478 The Power of Domination
"Four million three hundred thousand people, barely a million households..."

Holding the household register in his hand, Zhao Ji knew perfectly well that the data was accurate, but there were some omissions.

For example, the three prefectures of Beidi, Anding, and Shangjun, which are about to be recovered, are not included in the statistics. These three prefectures alone have a population of no less than 300,000 people from Lushui and the various Hu tribes in Beidi.

In addition, Tianshui County reported 97,000 people, and the neighboring Longxi County reported 63,000 people. The more distant Jincheng County, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang and Xining did not report any, so we can roughly estimate that each county had 20,000 to 30,000 people.

In reality, the number should be two to three times higher; the more remote the area, the more households are encroached upon by various nomadic tribes and hidden by powerful clans.

A joint census of Han and non-Han populations shows that, not to mention anything else, Wuwei Prefecture alone could easily have a population of at least 150,000.

Currently, the most densely populated areas are Hedong and Taiyuan counties, with a total population of 1.5 million.

The Xiongnu in Xihe Commandery also numbered over 300,000.

With the addition of the population brought in from the Central Plains, the three prefectures of Hedong, Taiyuan, and Xihe will now have a total population of two million.

The Han and Hu populations under control in Yanmen, southern Daijun, and western Shangdang also number in the hundreds of thousands.

So the problem now is not where to recruit soldiers, but rather to suppress the number of troops.

Theoretically speaking, on average, three government-rented military fields could support a military household's off-the-job living.

In reality, the two government tenants leased 300 mu of government land, and the military households also cultivated a little over 100 mu of their own land and household land, which was enough to make the military households live a comfortable life.

However, such extreme expansion of the military is very dangerous, as it could cause the army to grow to an uncontrollable size.

More and more people are eating on the military farm annual salary system, which will forcefully push for external expansion... but the land they conquer will not have enough people to serve as government tenants.

Officers and soldiers promoted during wartime need more military land and annual salary to reward their merits. If the scale of official land and farmland is insufficient, it will cause widespread loss of trust, which is worse than suffering a defeat.

Even occasionally suffering a defeat and pruning the branches can actually help the group grow stronger.

Therefore, Zhao Ji's bottom line is ten official tenant households, corresponding to one military household.

In this way, the size of the army can be controlled, and the rate of self-replication and expansion can be barely suppressed.

Although there was no master-servant relationship between military households and official tenants, and official tenants rented government land, they were not necessarily required to rent military land.

However, Zhao Ji had a premonition that when the number of military households reached its maximum, it would definitely put pressure on the official tenants... for example, the official tenants would lack the motivation to have children, or the productivity of official tenant families would decrease.

Only when enough positions are left vacant, giving hope to ordinary households and the children of officials and tenants, can they do their current farming and herding work well.

Leaving enough room for maneuver and profit-sharing is essential to prevent things from going awry.

With the size of military households reduced, the finances of the prefectures and counties became relatively more abundant.

Today, including the Guanzhong Three Auxiliary Regions, Hongnong, and the three counties of Hedong, these seven counties have a total of 320,000 official tenant households.

The Tiger Step Army consisted of 18,000 military households, while the Grand Marshal's Five Battalions consisted of 20,000 military households.

Not counting the 5,000 daredevils and their corresponding 5,000 families, there are also 12,000 families of the generals in Guanzhong; 5,000 families of Zhang Liao; 3,000 families of Gan Ning; and the future families of the four tribes of Qingzhou will also be brought over, making a total of 10,000 military households.

As for the three thousand soldiers from Luqiu Jian's tribe who were embezzled from Zhang Yang, Zhao Ji certainly wouldn't allow them all to eat military rations. He would simply select the elite and reduce them to a battalion, giving them eight hundred military households as quotas.

Thus, not counting the mounted slaves and volunteer troops, there are currently 69,000 to 70,000 military households alone.

Although more than 60,000 of them were rank-and-file soldiers, the average amount of military land was 150 mu, which actually corresponded to 150,000 official tenants. These rank-and-file soldiers and squad leaders received a tax share of about 110 shi per year.

The reason for assigning so many official tenants to these military farms was that they were to be cultivated intensively to obtain higher profits.

After subsequent improvements in production tools and techniques, the number of government tenants can be reduced to below 100,000 households.

The military officers and generals, numbering less than 5,000, had an average of 1,400 mu of military land per family; a second lieutenant with the rank of one bar and one star started with 800 mu of military land, earning 600 shi of grain annually.

A centurion with one bar and three stars or two bars and one star could have an average of 1,300 mu of military land; a battalion commander or battalion commander had 2,000 mu of military land, a captain had 2,500 mu, and a colonel had 3,000 mu.

As for the military officers and generals, their numbers were one-thirtieth of those of the rank-and-file officers, but the average military land per household was twelve times that of the rank-and-file officers.

In other words, the annual military pay alone would consume approximately 230,000 government-owned tenants.

This was still the result of military households having to engage in basic agriculture, as they could not completely detach themselves from their jobs.

Of the 230,000 households of government-owned tenants, half of the land was rented to the army as their annual military salary, while the other half was handed over to the prefecture and county levels as the salary of officials at the prefecture, county, and township levels. This also exempted the government-owned tenants from corvée labor.

In Zhao Ji's view, it was reasonable to exchange 50% of the tax revenue for exemption from corvée labor for government tenants, since renting government land was itself a form of service.

Although there was no forced labor outside the official lands, manpower was still allocated for the maintenance of water conservancy and irrigation ditches within the official land area. Of course, poll tax, a type of tax levied on each person, also had to be paid.

In the next four or five years, Zhao Ji plans to rotate and exchange tenants... Although this process will involve material losses and resistance from various levels, it is better than the official tenants being swallowed up or suffering even heavier exploitation.

Today, there are 320,000 official tenants, of which 230,000 are involved in the leasing of military land.

This means that in the future expansion of the three counties, the number of government-employed tenants that can be mobilized is less than 100,000 households.

Zhao Ji looked at the population register and pondered and analyzed it. Pei Xiu and Jia Kui were also flipping through similar registers. The three of them were just discussing it and did not make any written records.

After a moment, Zhao Ji said, "If we can defeat the northern barbarians and the Hu tribes of Lushui this winter, the shogunate will be able to control the armies, with a limit of 80,000."

Currently, including some irregular formations, the total number of troops who need to receive annual military stipends has actually exceeded 90,000.

Pei Xiu looked surprised; he had expected to reduce the scale to 100,000 after recovering the three prefectures.

Despite its apparent strength of 100,000 troops, the internal garrison system was integrated with the military, with troops serving in rotation. In reality, the number of troops on standby was only between 20,000 and 30,000.

The largest of these standing and mobile forces will remain in Jinyang, Pingyang, and Anyi.

If there is trouble in the west, they will go down the Fen River and Su River directly into the Yellow River, and then go through the Wei River and Jing River to reinforce Guanzhong.

If something happens in the east, we can respond quickly.

This is merely a military buildup plan focused on maintaining order, border defense, and domestic development.

If mobilization is to be carried out, it will naturally be done gradually until the army of 100,000 is fully mobilized; the surplus able-bodied men among the military households can also form rear garrison and auxiliary defense corps with the county soldiers.

Pei Xiu was surprised that Zhao Ji would make the first move, so he glanced at Jia Kui, who said, "Grand Marshal, perhaps Jia Wenhe or Yuan Minggong should bring this up."

“This was my idea; there’s no need for my grandfather to bear the blame.”

Zhao Ji closed the register and tossed it onto the table: "I'm still hesitating about whether to reduce the military force. Liang Dao and Wen Li are both so cautious, which means it must be reduced. Only I can control the fate of this land. If we back down now, the number of military households will only increase. In the future, won't I have to listen to them for everything, from food and clothing to housing and weddings?"

Upon hearing this, Pei Xiu nodded. This was about taking the lead, and they couldn't give up an inch.

He then said, "If we do not increase our military strength, it will be difficult to persuade and convince the Han and powerful figures among them to serve us when we conquer the Hu tribes in the three commanderies."

"Then defeat them all and reduce them to government slaves."

Zhao Ji calmly stated his views, looking at Pei Xiu: "This time, I will appoint Xu Gongming, Zhao Zilong, and Zhang Wenyuan as the vanguard, with a combined force of 12,000 infantry and cavalry; Liu Qubei will lead a separate mobile force to fight when the opportunity arises; I will personally lead the central army, with 12,000 volunteer soldiers and daredevils. In Guanzhong, the Lushui Hu and Beidi Hu may launch attacks to burn and kill upon hearing the news; Jia Tong, Zhang Xiu, and Pei Juguang will lead the troops of the Three Auxiliary Regions to defend their homeland. In addition, I will appoint Duan Wei as the main general of the southern route, with Yang Qiu, Zhang He, Han Meng, and Zhu Ling as his assistants, to seize the opportunity to march north through Xiaoguan."

Pei Xiu listened and thought for a moment, then asked, "Am I going to the South Road?"

"Yes, go and serve as the Protector of the Southern Route Army, coordinating the generals to cooperate with Duan Wei. You are my brother, so going to Guanzhong is the same as me going there, and they will naturally cooperate in the battle. I will have Xu Chu select a thousand strong men to form your Protectorate Battalion; Han Dong is also a battalion commander now, and I will assign him a thousand Tiger Infantry Cavalry, who will serve as your Protectorate Colonel and Commandant along with Xu Chu. After this battle, I will establish the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in addition to the Tiger Infantry, and Xu Chu and Han Dong will be incorporated into the cavalry."

Zhao Ji explained his plan: to reduce the size of the military force, eliminate some of the old and weak, and increase the proportion of technical troops such as chariots, warships, and crossbowmen.

Technical branches of the military generally have a higher rank, and the current military benefits more, primarily to the individual and their family, which can alleviate some of the resentment.

Pei Xiu nodded and asked again, "Will I stay in the three prefectures to work after the war?"

"Well, after the war, each of the three prefectures will have a prefect. Wenli, you will be the Governor of Beidi, overseeing the military affairs of the three prefectures. Once the affairs of the various Hu tribes are settled, I will transfer Zhang Xiu to be the General Who Crosses the Liao and concurrently the Prefect of Beidi, so that he can guard the key points of Beidi."

The purpose of establishing temporary governorates was no longer for warfare, but for dealing with the various nomadic tribes that migrated to and fro.

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "Time is of the essence. In a few days, Seventh Brother, you should go home and spend time with your family. The imperial envoy will be arriving soon."

Pei Xiu nodded in agreement; he too was missing his mother and his new wife.

Zhao Ji turned to look at Jia Kui, who was solemn. Zhao Ji then said, "Last year, our army campaigned against Shangdang and was locked in a stalemate with Yuan Shao at Changshan. The entire army's logistics depended on Lord Wenhe. I hope that Brother Liang can take on this important responsibility this time. I have already instructed the people in Luoyang that Liu Xuan, the prefect of Xihe, has already accumulated enough merit and qualifications, and I intend to transfer him to be the prefect of Nanyang, making him a western vassal of the court. At that time, I hope that Brother Liang can take charge of the affairs of Xihe and oversee all logistics matters."

Upon hearing this, Jia Kui cupped his hands and said, "I dare not refuse. If Xiangli Wenlie assists, I can be assured of safety."

"Yes, I will try to persuade him."

Zhao Ji made a promise that Xiang Libao would be in charge of logistics and transportation on the Fen River, while Xiang Libao would seek the opportunity to lead troops into battle.

To persuade Xiangli Bao to continue handling logistics, some concessions must be made, such as promising to strengthen logistics and transportation capabilities and to make them more mobile.

Only when he had a combined logistics and transportation army of vehicles and cavalry to cooperate with Gan Ning's transport navy when he went out to fight again would he dare to fight with all his might.

(End of this chapter)