Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 145 Feint to the East, Attack in the West: A Tai Chi Tackle (Part 4)

These wheeled boats and ships are really fast, especially since Lü Zhi's trip was almost empty, and the speed was more than 100 li per hour.

He rushed back to the capital around noon the following afternoon.

At that moment, Zhu Jue was at the shipyard checking when the remaining twenty-odd wheeled boats would be completed.

Lu Zhi had been scanning with his binoculars when he spotted familiar figures such as Wang Chengen and Fang Zhenghua.

He immediately ordered his men to sail the ship into the shipyard's waterway, and soon arrived at Zhu Jue's side, bowing and saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "How is the situation in Liaodong?"

Lu Zhi quickly explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the situation in Liaodong is quite good right now. Lord Sun has almost finished repairing the border wall and has already repelled the first wave of attacks from the Jurchen cavalry."

The Jurchen cavalry have now set up a large camp in a grove of trees north of the border wall. Lord Sun said that the Jurchens are probably unwilling to give up and want to wait for the infantry to arrive before attacking the border wall.

He said it wasn't a big problem; the Jurchen infantry would take at least another thirty days to arrive, by which time the 70,000 chariot troops of the Beijing garrison would have already arrived.

Lord Sun also submitted a memorial, offering some supplementary suggestions regarding the recovery of Liaodong.

After saying this, he took out the map and memorial from his pocket and presented them with both hands while bowing.

Zhu Jue took the memorial and glanced at it, then nodded slightly.

Sun Chuanting did not offer any opinions on the overall strategy for recovering Liaodong, but only made some minor additions.

For example, when recovering the south, Haizhouwei should be the first to be recovered.

This is because Gaizhouwei is located south of the mouth of the Liaohe River, and there are almost no natural defenses to the north of Gaizhouwei. If Gaizhouwei is recaptured first, the defense line will need to be extended by more than twice, and more than 100 li of border wall will need to be built.

If we take Haizhouwei first, things will be different. Haizhouwei is located almost exactly at the level of the current border wall, and to the north of Haizhouwei, there is the Xiaohai River, a tributary of the Liao River, which flows directly from the Great Dividing Range to the confluence of the border wall and the Liao River.

In other words, after capturing Haizhouwei, all that is needed is to build a defensive line of over a hundred miles along the south bank of the Xiaohai River to defend against the Jurchen invasion from the north.

That makes sense, and he didn't say that Sun Chuanting had to do exactly what he said.

He carefully read through the memorial, then took the map, unfolded it, and looked at it. He then nodded slightly and said, "Yes, Boya is right. Go and tell him to do as he says."

Lü Zhi nodded repeatedly and said, "This servant understands."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Didn't Chuanting say he needed anything?"

Lu Zhi quickly explained in detail: "Your Majesty, Lord Sun said that they captured some grain this time, and with the autumn harvest this year, there will be at least several million shi of grain. There is no shortage of grain there. It is just that the soldiers and civilians who were enslaved by the Jurchens there lack living supplies."

They had very few pots and pans, and their clothes were tattered. There were a total of 80,000 to 90,000 households, or 300,000 to 400,000 people like them. Your Majesty, what do you think?

The people and soldiers of Liaodong have indeed suffered greatly in recent years.

I must ensure they live a good life, so that Sun Chuanting can gain more popular support in Liaodong.

Zhu Jue pondered, “Bo Ya has saved me at least several million shi of grain. I should give him all the money he would have spent on buying grain to turn into supplies.”

Here's what we'll do: pots, pans, and utensils will be provided for 100,000 households. You can calculate the approximate cost, and I'll have Ruoyu issue you a receipt later. You can then go to the Imperial Treasury to collect the money.

There's also cloth. Wei Zhongxian just happened to seize a lot from Suzhou Prefecture. You can take 400,000 bolts over there first, and give one bolt to each of the soldiers and civilians.

"Take these over there first, and when you get there, ask Boya if he needs anything else."

Upon hearing this, Lü Zhi nodded repeatedly and said, "This servant understands."

Hurry up and calculate the money.

Zhu Jue reminded him, "Roughly calculate the cost of pots and pans now, take the money and quickly send someone to buy them. Set off first thing tomorrow morning. If you can't gather enough, tell the merchant and they'll come back for the next trip."

Should we calculate it now?

Then we can only make a rough estimate.

For iron pots, buy the larger ones, let's say fifty coins each. Bowls, the kind used by ordinary people, cost several taels of silver per load, and one load is enough for ten households, so for one hundred thousand households, let's say sixty thousand taels.

A ladle costs five coins.

A basin costs ten coins.

Lu Zhi carefully calculated and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, it's about 60,000 taels, less than 70,000 taels."

Such a small amount of money?

It seems you're not greedy.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then decisively said, "Ruoyu, issue a receipt for 80,000 taels."

Liu Ruoyu had already prepared for it while others were calculating.

As soon as Zhu Jue opened his mouth, he finished writing in just a few quick strokes.

Once Wang Chengen stamped the seal again, he could withdraw 80,000 taels of silver from the imperial treasury.

Zhu Jue handed the receipts to Lü Zhi and instructed him in detail: "Just buy them for 80,000 taels each, buy more, and take them all over with you."

The general merchandise sellers in the capital are in luck now. A deal worth tens of thousands of taels of silver is something that only happens once every few years.

The people and soldiers of Liaodong were also blessed. Each person received a bolt of the finest cotton cloth, along with a complete set of pots, pans, and utensils, all for free.

Sun Chuanting was naturally good at winning people's hearts, and now he had become a true parent official in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong, the kind of official they regarded as their parents from the bottom of their hearts.

He also took advantage of the fact that the Jurchen infantry had not yet arrived to thoroughly inspect the fields and villages, only to find that the crops in the fields were not growing very well.

This is not due to drought, but because the Shuangtaizi River and the lower reaches of the Daliao River have abundant water resources, more than enough to use up.

So, what exactly happened?
If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to find the reason; at least, only an expert could tell.

After winning people's hearts, he could be found out with just a question.

It turns out that this was because the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong were passively resisting the Jurchens!
Most of them have been farming for generations, so they naturally know that crops need fertilizer to grow well.

However, the Jurchens whipped them and even threatened them with knives, forcing them to work day and night. Each household had to cultivate dozens or even hundreds of acres of land, exhausting them to the point that they were not allowed to eat their fill.

No matter how much grain they produce, they can't get enough to eat, so they deliberately don't fertilize the land. Apart from the gold juice that the Jurchens know about, they don't water the land with anything, and they don't even burn any wood ash. As for green manure, they don't allow it to be planted, and they even remove wild green manure as weeds.

Even fertile black soil couldn't withstand this kind of treatment, so the yield of black soil in the areas controlled by the Jurchens kept decreasing.

Originally, when they cultivated the land themselves, the yield per mu was basically more than two and a half shi. After the Jurchens forced them to cultivate the land, the yield plummeted to just over one shi, and it kept falling year after year. Now the yield per mu is less than one and a half shi.

There are three to four million mu of farmland between Shuangtaizi River and Daliao River. The reason why they reported a yield of only four to five million shi was not to deceive Sun Chuanting. This is because the crops were deliberately grown without fertilizer, and that is how much they produced.

Sun Chuanting also made a special report on this issue.

He originally intended to explain why the yield of these millions of acres of land was so low.

Unexpectedly, after receiving the memorial, the emperor immediately ordered Lü Zhi to bring in several million catties of phosphate fertilizer for future use.

Then, less than half a month later, Xu Guangqi brought over ten million kilograms of bird droppings with hundreds of fast naval ships!
Xu Guangqi also carefully inspected the field and instructed them to add more fertilizer. The crops in the field began to grow vigorously.

The soldiers and civilians in this area were overjoyed, because Sun Chuanting said that after the harvest, they would receive half of the grain as their rations.

Even if a family of five was forced by the Jurchens to cultivate 100 mu of land day and night, if half of it were divided, it would only yield 60 or 70 shi of grain, just enough to feed the whole family, with little surplus. With the additional fertilization, judging from the growth of the crops, the yield per mu would definitely return to more than 2 shi.

In this way, if half of it is divided, that would be more than a hundred shi (a unit of dry measure), and they would have at least thirty or forty shi of surplus grain.

The people and soldiers of Liaodong were increasingly delighted as they saw the prospect of a prosperous and comfortable life.

Huang Taiji's mood worsened, because he had been running around for half a year, covering tens of thousands of miles, but not only had he not gained any advantage, he had also lost three to four million mu of land between Shuangtaizi River and Daliao River.

He was determined to reclaim the land between Shuangtaizi River and Daliao River this time, and at the same time severely damage the Liaodong border army!
(End of this chapter)