In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 377: Can food be exported?

In fact, rye is now available everywhere in Persia, but the Mongols don't care about local agricultural production. They collect taxes directly from the local noble territories, so they don't notice the benefits of rye at all.

Abu Ahmad thought that if he had the opportunity to promote it to the Mongolians, if they had enough food, they would not need to collect so many taxes everywhere. However, the Mongolians are not a farming people, so they would not be willing to farm and grow food.

Zheng Dagen asked carefully. The planting time of rye depends on the climate and soil of each place. Currently, in most areas such as Persia and Baghdad, it is usually sown from March to May.

But actually after arriving at the Song Dynasty, we have to look at different regions such as the south and the north.

Sowing can be done in October in the south and in February and March in the north.

"How many kilograms per mu will be produced per year?" Zheng Dagen asked again.

In later generations, the yield of rye per mu would reach 800-1000 kilograms. Of course, it was not that high today. The yield in Abu Ahmed's hometown was about 300 kilograms per mu.

However, the weather in his hometown is relatively dry and hot, and the local water conservancy construction is not good, so the output is relatively low.

During this period, only a few countries such as the Southern Song Dynasty and Champa were the best in water conservancy in the world.

Europe and Central Asia basically do not pay attention to water conservancy and have little investment in it.

Seeing that Zheng Dagen was very interested, Abu Ahmad took him to another carriage. The carriage contained bags of fodder. When he opened a bag at random, he saw a lot of chopped fodder.

Abu Ahmad said that this was rye straw, with a yield of less than 150 kilograms (hay) per mu.

This is their processed fodder, which is mainly used to feed cattle and sheep. Of course, it can also be fed to war horses, but when feeding war horses, it is best to mix it with some beans.

The forage processed by them is very easy to digest and does not lose its nutritional value.

Zheng Dagen asked directly, how did you deal with it?
Abu Ahmad did not expect that the Song people were even interested in this, but most of this kind of thing is not a secret in Bagh, and the herdsmen on the Persian side also know it.

Abu Ahmad said that the most convenient and best way to deal with it in the early days was to add one pound of lime to one hundred pounds of water at a ratio of one percent, stir it evenly, and then allow it to bloom for a day.

Cut the wheat straw into corresponding lengths. In later generations, cows generally eat 3-5 centimeters, and sheep eat 2-3 centimeters. At this time, Lord Bage is the same. It is about three centimeters, and both cattle and sheep can eat it. .

Then he made a big tank and pressed the grass into the tank with stones.

Then filter out the water after blooming, pour it into the tank, cover the grass, soak it for a day and night, then take it out to dry.

The straw treated in this way is easy to digest, does not lose nutrients, and has a long storage time. It is very suitable for large-scale breeding of cattle and sheep.

It has to be said that at this time, the level of forage processing in Persia was already ahead of the Mongols, and because China was not a nomadic people, no one specialized in these technologies.

Although the Mongols are nomadic people, no one studies these things. They have large grasslands, so they don't have to worry about the lack of fodder, and they don't go to the fields to collect stalks to use as fodder.

In places such as Persia and Baghdad, and in the countries surrounding the Abbasid Dynasty, most cattle and sheep farmers would do this.

This is a relatively simple way to deal with it. In fact, there are better and more complicated ways, but Abu Ahmad did not say them out.

For example, distiller's yeast is added to rice bran in a certain proportion, fermented for seven days, and then kneaded and mixed with grass in a certain proportion.

This kind of treated grass is more nutritious and can even be used to feed horses, but the cost is relatively high.

In the big cities of Persia, merchants who specialize in selling beef and mutton may do this and improve the quality of the beef and mutton.

When Zheng Dagen and Abu Ahmad were communicating, Shader was listening silently. Xixia people and Mongolian Song people were different.

Like the Mongols, the Xixia people raised horses, cattle and sheep, and they also farmed fields like the Song people. Their largest fields were in several prefectures and cities, such as Zhongxingfu, Xiliang, and Xiazhou.

However, they do not pay much attention to water conservancy. Coupled with the climate and terrain conditions of the northwest, the output is not high. They mainly feed on cattle and sheep, supplemented by cereals.

Today I heard Abu Ahmad say that rye is good, and a hundred kinds are good. I feel that it is good to transplant this thing to Xixia.

It can be eaten by people and fed to cattle and sheep. What could be better than this?

After Abu Ahmad finally finished speaking, Zheng Dagen turned to Shader and said: "His Majesty said that the Mongols are useless except for killing and plundering. They will never come up with such a way to deal with it, and they are not willing to think about it. "

Just like what the Mongolian Biedie who gave advice to Wokuotai said in history, is there not enough fodder on the grassland?Just kill all the Han people in the Central Plains, then plant fodder, level the cities, and turn the Central Plains into a grassland.

Shader was convinced and nodded heavily.

"Each nation has its own specialty. For example, you Dangxiang people are good at raising war horses, we Song people are good at farming, these Abbasids know how to handle fodder, and the Mongols are good at slaughtering cities and killing people. We must be good at learning from the strengths of others. Then repay one with another, as the saying goes, learn from the strengths of the barbarians to control the barbarians——"

Zheng Dagen's words were all imitating the emperor's tone, so Shadel could naturally understand them.

Shader said without hesitation: "We must learn from the Mongols and kill all the Mongols."

"..." Zheng Dagen.

Since Abu Ahmad was more cooperative and obedient, Shader and Zheng Dagen decided to let him and his caravan go.

But he was not allowed to go to Batu again, and he was ordered to turn back immediately, otherwise, the Song Army's cavalry would approach the Bagh city.

Abu Ahmad was naturally frightened to death. He did not know that the Song army's territory was thousands of miles away from here, but they were now rushing into the area ruled by the Mongols. He must be afraid, and he immediately promised to turn back immediately.

But this was not enough. There were also Mongolians from Rai City in his team.

This group of Mongolians helped lead the way to Batu Na.

Zheng Dagen singled them out and asked Abu Ahmad to lead people to kill the Mongols himself.

But the Song people haven't let them go yet.

In the afternoon of that day, the Song army took Abu Ahmad and hundreds of Bagh adults as escorts and ran to the nearest small city nearby.

The Song army took the pass certificate of the slain Mongolian and led the people into the city smoothly. Then they raided a Mongolian leader in the city, and then ordered Abu Ahmad to lead the Abbasid dynasty to attack the few people in the city. They killed all the Mongols and then left.

Abu Ahmad wanted to cry at this time.

The Abbasid Dynasty completely offended the Mongolian army. Once Choermahan, who was far away in the Aras River, knew about it, he might immediately lead his army south to attack Baghdad.

Before leaving, Zheng Dagen put his arm around Abu Ahmad's shoulders: "If the Mongolian army comes to attack, your khalifa must hold its ground and must not surrender. The iron cavalry of the Song Dynasty will arrive soon."

Shader added: "You should have heard that many cities that surrendered were massacred by the Mongols."

Abu Ahmad was on the verge of crying but could only nod his head.

On the 21st, the Song army officially returned, and many people carried a small bag of rye seeds on their horses.

In fact, there is no need to carry more of this thing, but Zheng Dagen still asked for more than ten kilograms.

In order to prevent being surrounded by the Mongolian army, each person carried a small handful and divided them into hundreds of people to carry.

The entire Song army moved south, mainly to avoid the Afghans.

The area south of Persia was not the main center of Mongolian rule. The Song army was just touring the mountains and rivers, collecting and replenishing maps as they walked. When they saw small cities, they often attacked them suddenly, and the enemy's gates were not even closed in time. Can be rushed in by the Song army.

When the Song army attacked the city, most of them were hidden in the distance, and dozens of people were sent to pretend to be caravans. After arriving at the city gate, they suddenly killed people and controlled the city gate.

There is basically no moat in the city here, and the defenders are weak. The Song army tried repeatedly and successfully defeated many small cities.

The only time I was unlucky was that I happened to encounter a large wave of soldiers and horses coming out of the city, as if to quell the rebellion of the nearby people. The two sides fought at the gate of the city. The Song army lost more than a dozen people, and the rest ran back.

Every time Zheng Dagen broke into a city, he would first find the other party's local government office, such as the Song Dynasty county government office, and then force the officials to hand over the local map.

If this kind of thing destroyed a city in the Song Dynasty, many cities in the future would strengthen their defense, because the Song Dynasty was a unified dynasty.

But what was once the Persian Empire no longer exists and is currently under the rule of the Mongols.

In fact, it is basically the control of the nobles and powerful people in various places. Everyone is in charge of their own affairs. Sometimes there may be several different forces in several adjacent cities.

This allowed the Song army to take advantage of the opportunity and often used the same method to attack various small cities.

At the end of February of the first year of Yuanzhen, after more than a month of long-distance march, Shader and Zheng Dagen brought the remaining more than 700 Song troops to the city of Salavan in the southeast corner of Persia.

It is about 400 miles away from the Arabian Sea. To the east is the Qutb Shahi Dynasty (Pakistan). Because its three emperors were all slaves, it was also called the slave dynasty.

The current emperor is Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, who was born into a noble family and was later sold into slavery.

In 1211, one year after Aibak's death, he took over the kingship from his son Alam Shah.After succeeding, he overcame many difficulties and stabilized the territory of the state. In 1229, he was bestowed and canonized by Khalifa Mustansir of the Abbasid Dynasty in Baghdad.

Shadr and Zheng Dagen came here precisely because Shams-ud-din Iltutmish had a good relationship with Mustansir.

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish was born a slave. After taking over the throne, he felt that he was not in the right position. It was Mustansir of the Abbasid Dynasty who canonized him three years ago. This made the slaves Relations between the dynasty and the Abbasids were further enhanced.

They brought with them the letters of credence that Abu Ahmad was supposed to give to Batu, as well as the Abbasid people from Bagh, and they had unimpeded access to the slave dynasty.

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish also wanted to summon envoys to entertain the Song people from the great eastern country, but Shadr and Zheng Dagen were afraid of causing complications, so they declined the other party's kindness and only asked for some supplies along the way.

In fact, Shams-ud-din Iltutmish was under a lot of pressure at this time. He finally obtained the royal power and was canonized by the Abbasid emperor. He legitimately became the emperor of the slave dynasty, but the Mongols The enemy's military front has reached the Indu River Basin, and his small dynasty is also trembling and in danger, and it is in great need of finding a backer.

Unfortunately, Shader and the others had no time to pay attention to him. Mainly because they were afraid of being ambushed, they crossed directly across the Slave Dynasty, which lasted a month and a half. They entered the Pamir region of Tubo in early April and returned to Diezhou in late May.

Shadr's cavalry entered Xiliao in May last year. After making a large circle around Central Asia, they circled back to Tibet from Pakistan. It took more than a year and the journey was close to ten thousand miles.

When the entire army returned to Diezhou, there were still more than 600 people left due to various reasons such as illness and casualties.

Although the losses were huge, they brought back a lot of local first-hand information to the Song Dynasty, as well as a large number of maps near Central Asia.
-
In the first year of Yuanzhen, Shader and the others returned to Diezhou.

On the dock of Tianshui Zongmen north of Lin'an, the capital of the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Yurui, Niu Bao, Quan Yong and others were looking at the endless sea of ​​ships on the river.

In the past few days, a large number of sea and river boats have arrived from Fujian, Guangdong, Jeju Island, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Part of it will cross the Yellow Sea to the newly built Changchun City, and the other part will go to Sichuan via waterways.The imperial court is working hard to build various instruments, purchase various materials, and provide continuous support in two directions.

Among them, Zhao Yurui gave priority to protecting Sichuan, because he wanted to support the Ningxia region (former Xixia territory) from Sichuan and Shaanxi directions. Of the current 10,000+ troops in the Song Dynasty, he wanted to concentrate at least 40 in this area.

That side will be the left base for the Song Dynasty to counterattack Mongolia in the future.

According to Zhao Yurui's vision, the attack on Mongolia in the future can be divided into three groups.

Ningxia is one road, Shandong and Hebei are all the way, and Liaodong is one road.

Liaodong can be used as a partial army, with about [-] people being enough.

The main directions of attack are Ningxia and Shandong.

In addition, after Ningxia obtained the horse breeding land in Xixia, Zhao and Rui had to arrange a large number of troops and horses to Ningxia.

Soldiers can obtain war horses locally, but transporting war horses to various places is obviously more difficult than transporting soldiers to Xixia.

There are at least [-] to [-] large and small ships on the sea today, and they are coming from all over the country one after another. This time there are more grain ships.

According to Zhao Yurui's request, some of the autumn grain taxes paid from Fujian, Guangdong and other places were directly stored in the local treasury granaries, while some were transported here and then transferred to Changchun.

At this time, Zhao Yurui was staring at a three thousand stone large grain ship heading towards the Yellow Sea, and he was a little excited as he watched it.

After taking the throne for more than nine years, his achievements are obvious to all. At least he made the national machine of the Southern Song Dynasty run completely and smoothly.

"Your Majesty." At this moment, someone from behind kowtowed to him.

Zhao Yurui turned around, but it was Guo Zhengsun who came from Sichuan.

Guo Zhengsun was previously the deputy envoy of Sichuan.

Now Meng Gong is still in Xixia and is responsible for establishing the new Ningxia Manufacturing Department.

Guo Zhengsun came to Beijing this time with Sichuan's grain ship.

Sichuan was a large granary for the imperial court during the Southern Song Dynasty, and it handed over millions of stones of grain to the imperial court every year.

After Zhao Yurui attacked the landlords, the court's grain tax was higher. Now he can turn over 300 million shi of grain to the court every year, making him a big taxpayer.

Guo Zhengsun transported food to Lin'an, and when he returned, he would bring a large amount of equipment, military equipment, and even various personnel.

Seeing Guo Zhengsun approaching, Zhao Yurui waved his hand to signal him to excuse himself.

Behind Guo Zhengsun were two generals, both of whom were chieftains of Sichuan.

Emperor Zhao Yurui specially summoned the two of them, expressed their commendations, and gave the chieftains heavy rewards.

Whether it is the Sichuan chieftains in the Southern Song Dynasty or the Sichuan chieftains in the Ming Dynasty, they all served the imperial court. After the fall of the Song and Ming Dynasties, they surrendered to the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, so this must be given affirmation.

"Meng Gong is still in Xixia, and tens of millions of people in Sichuan are all dependent on Guo Zhizhi."

"This is my duty, I will do my best -"

The two chatted for a few words, and Zhao and Rui changed the subject and asked how many granaries there were in Sichuan now, how many large ones, how many small ones, and how many granaries they could store.

Zhao Yurui attached great importance to the construction of granaries. After all, the granaries of the Sui Dynasty were so famous that one granary could last for decades.

Guo Zhengsun immediately said that Cui Zhizhi had laid the foundation back then.

Cui Yu served as the envoy of Sichuan twice. This guy was famous for his love of building granaries. He built dozens of them when he was in Sichuan, and the largest one could store 30 shi of grain.

Twelve more were built in Yangzhou. Under his influence and the attention of Zhao and Rui, Meng Gong and Guo Zhengsun also built large-scale granaries in Sichuan.

So far, there are more than 300 large and small granaries in Sichuan Province, with more than 100 million shi of grain stored throughout the year. In addition to the 200 million shi that are transferred to Lin'an every year in Sichuan's tax payment, the remaining [-] million shi are stored locally in various local granaries. .

Every year, new grain is stored and old grain is used. The royal guards, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs send people to inspect grain stocks in various places throughout the year to ensure grain and grass.

Zhao Yurui was quite satisfied when he heard that Sichuan could save 300 million stones.

So as long as the court takes it seriously and the emperor takes it seriously, it can still be done.

When Cui Yu was in power in Sichuan, he was the only one who paid attention to him. He alone could store more than 80 shi of grain and more than [-] million yuan in money in Sichuan.

When it was handed over to the next envoy Zheng Sun, there was so much and not a penny was taken away.

However, when Zheng Sun was handed over to the next Zhizhi envoy, his food supply was less than half, and his money was only 10,000+ Guan. When he was also appointed as Zhizhi envoy, the gap arose.

Then Guo Zhengsun said that Sichuan's grain was somewhat exhausted, and if this continued, there would be more and more old grain.

Because Sichuan's grain storage has two main functions, one is to serve as a salary like the Ming Dynasty, and the other is to allow the military and government departments to support themselves.

Meng Gong originally trained nearly 20 soldiers and horses in Sichuan. These soldiers and horses used food for 80 million shi a year. Including the rest of the salary and the government's own use, the total cost was more than 100 million shi.

Now a large number of officials and troops from the imperial court have been transferred to Xixia. However, Xixia mainly eats cattle and sheep and does not need so much food.

In Zhao Yurui's Song Dynasty, as long as there were no particularly serious natural disasters, the people would not be short of food. The place where the Song Dynasty court used the most food also supported various personnel such as the army and craftsmen.

Now that Zhao and Rui have mobilized troops, craftsmen, and even doctors and teachers to Xixia, the local food consumption in Sichuan has been greatly reduced.

Guo Zhengsun proposed that grain could be sold to Dali, Annan, and Champa, and the sales could be 100 million shi per year.

Zhao Yurui was a little dazed after hearing this. When he came to the throne, the Song Dynasty was still unable to achieve self-sufficiency because of serious land annexation and a large amount of food accumulated in the hands of a small number of powerful landowners and officials.

At that time, many provinces such as Fujian still needed subsidies from the court. The Song Dynasty had records of buying grain from Champa City and Japan.

Now a few years later, the Song Dynasty can already export grain.

Well, it was only then that he thought of the Dali Kingdom over there in Sichuan.

Zhao Yurui also arranged personnel from the Intelligence Department in Dali. They knew that Dali's military strength was not bad and the terrain was conducive to defence. However, because of the powerful minister Gao in the country, the main elite troops were in the hands of the Gao family. On the contrary, Duan Zhixiang did not have any elite soldiers.

The Song Dynasty and Dali had always been at peace with each other, and Zhao Yurui had no intention of attacking Dali first.

Attacking Dali would not be of any benefit to the Song Dynasty at this stage. Dali's soldiers and horses would have to be trained for at least two or three years in the hands of Zhao Yurui before they could be used as elite soldiers.

"Okay." Zhao Yurui said immediately, allowing Sichuan to find a way to sell the unused grain to Dali and Annan.

As for selling to Champa, it is a bit unrealistic, it is too far, and Champa itself is not short of food. The Song Dynasty used to buy food from Champa to support Fujian.

Zhao Yurui continued, after you go back, you have to continue recruiting new soldiers.

Sichuan has a population of more than 200 million, making it the most populous province in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Based on five persons per household, there are 240 million households.

"The imperial court's new policy will be implemented on a trial basis in Sichuan first." Zhao Yurui said in a deep voice.

Guo Zhengsun listened carefully.

"Starting from the second year of Yuanzhen, one Ding (18-30 years old) from every fifty households in Sichuan has been selected as a recruit every year."

In this way, Sichuan recruits less than [-] soldiers every year, and Zhao and Rui asked for [-].

This is a new task given to Sichuan by the imperial court, with [-] new soldiers every year.

After hearing this, Guo Zhengsun's expression changed slightly. This task was quite big.

He knew the emperor's character and did not shy away from it. He immediately said: "Everyone between the ages of 18 and 30 is the main labor force in the family. They are paid 25 yuan a year, which will be [-] yuan in five years. How many young people are there in Sichuan? Are you afraid it will affect agricultural production?"

Zhao Yurui nodded: "Guo Zhizhi cares about the people. This is a good thing."

"Don't worry, the new policy is different from the past. After serving in the military for five years, you can retire and go home."

Guo Zhengsun's eyes suddenly lit up, because in the past, whether it was the Song Dynasty or other dynasties, there was no such thing as retirement. Many people stayed there for a lifetime, until they died in battle or could no longer fight.

In the Ming Dynasty, military households were hereditary, and the father retired and his son took over.

Now Zhao and Rui are implementing the five-year system in Sichuan first. If it proves that the army has combat effectiveness, it will be extended to the whole country.

Because the imperial court is close to developing a flintlock gun, the five-year veteran can now fight the Mongols. If a flintlock gun is added, it will be able to completely defeat the Mongolian army.

Guo Zhengsun asked again: "Are there any other conditions for recruiting new soldiers?"

"It's very simple. Anyone from eighteen to thirty years old can draw a lottery."

"There are two main types, one is self-registration, and the other is random drawing. Whoever is drawn will be the winner."

“If you register yourself, your family can get a tax deduction.”

"Whatever you get, there will be no tax reduction."

Zhao and Rui said, for the specific operation, you will discuss with the local capital secretary after you return, and the official documents from the court will be issued to Sichuan soon.

Then he looked deeply at Guo Zhengsun: "Under the new government policy, no matter who is drawn, they will have to go into battle."

"Guo Zhizhi's sons and relatives are no exception."

Guo Zhengsun said calmly: "It is the duty of a minister to be loyal to the country and to be filial to His Majesty."

Guo Zhengsun was honest and calm. Not to mention that he didn't get his son in the draw. When he heard that he could sign up by himself, he wanted to help his son sign up.

(End of this chapter)