If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 201 New Army
According to the conditions negotiated between Zhu Zhanju and the merchants, preparations for the Northern Expedition were finally launched smoothly.

Although many things still have problems of one kind or another, the war machine of the Ming Dynasty is finally operating at full capacity.

The 200 million taels of silver lent to Zhu Zhanquan from the Lianghuai salt merchants were deposited in the Daming treasury, and the Ministry of Accounts issued a draft of the same amount. Then 100 million taels of these drafts were valued at 150 million taels and used to pay [-] million taels. Grain merchants in Huaihe and Huaihe purchase grain.

These grain merchants would transport the grain to Tianjin and Peiping through the canal. After the grain was delivered, they could obtain salt imports in accordance with the court's usual regulations. After that, these grain merchants could use the salt imports to go to Changlu Salt Farm in Tianjin to extract salt.

As for the salt, some of it will be sold by these grain merchants themselves, and the other part will be transferred to professional salt merchants.

In the early Ming Dynasty, before the collapse of China and France, most of the grain merchants who could transport grain to the front line also ran salt-related businesses.

After all, salt can only be obtained by transporting grain. Many of these grain merchants made their fortunes by selling salt.

However, there are also some salt merchants who only deal in the salt industry. They do not engage in the grain business themselves, but they have sufficient cooperation with grain merchants. When the court needs to transport grain, they collect grain from the grain merchants and find ways to transport it to the front line. In exchange for salt, it is also an effective business method.

This is why the Lianghuai salt merchants and grain merchants were willing to lend 200 million taels of silver to Zhu Zhanjuan to support the imperial court's Northern Expedition.

For the imperial court, grain merchants and salt merchants from the Huaihe River and Huaihe River were not the only options to transport grain.

There are many merchants capable of doing this business in the seven provinces south of the Yangtze River, and it is not like there are no merchants in the north doing this business. Why did the imperial court choose salt merchants from Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers to bear the grain transportation for this Northern Expedition? If the grain in the imperial treasury is not used, why should we buy grain from the Lianghuai grain merchants?
Of course, for the Ministry of Household Affairs, most of the imperial treasury has been basically emptied by the Northern Expedition in the eighth year of Yongle and the Japanese conquest in the ninth year of Yongle.

Originally, the Northern Expedition in the eighth year of Yongle's reign had already hit the bottom of the Ministry of Revenue. In the ninth year of Yongle's reign, he finally managed to save a little wealth, but it was almost completely wiped out by the Japanese conquests. Now he really needs to purchase grain to support the army's immediate departure to northern Xinjiang. Fight the Mongols.

And this is because the conquest of Japan was basically completed last year. Zhu Zhanquan, Zhu Gaosui, as well as King Ning and King Liao controlled most of the land in Japan and were able to grow food locally in Japan to meet the consumption of the army. In addition, a large amount of grain was transported from the Ming Dynasty to the Japanese country.

Otherwise, while supporting the conquest of Japan and the Northern Expedition, Xia Yuanji would really suggest that the court abandon the north of the Great Wall and retreat to the Great Wall defense line for defense instead of taking the initiative.

But now, all the pre-existing problems of the Northern Expedition have been resolved.

The emperor has decided to march north in person, and his determination and will to fight cannot be shaken.

The rations for the Northern Expedition of the army have now been gradually collected by grain merchants in Lianghuai and began to be transported to the north. The grain worth 150 million taels is enough to consume the food for the 50-strong army in March.

In addition, the Ministry of Revenue also holds a money order of 100 million taels in hand. If necessary, it can raise another batch of grain at any time to send to the front line.

In fact, after the army sets off with three months' worth of food and grass, the Ministry of Revenue will begin to collect this second batch of food and begin transporting it to the front line after the army arrives in the north to ensure that there will be no food supply problems on the front line.

According to estimates from the Ministry of Revenue, these two batches of food can support the army's consumption for about four to five months.

If the war goes well, the army will be almost ready to return to the court by the summer harvest.Even if the war is not going well, when the summer harvest comes, the household department will be able to have new military rations, and there is no need to worry about the subsequent supply of military rations.

And this time, although Zhu Di was also personally conducting the expedition, he did not mobilize troops like last time.

In addition to the emperor's personal army of about 10 people, Zhu Di carried out a large number of streamlining of logistics personnel.

You must know that although Zhu Di's five Northern Expeditions in history were all claimed to have an army of 50, in fact the elite troops actually fighting were about 10,000+ emperor's own troops, and the rest were used to transport military rations and military supplies. The civilian husband and the heavy troops.

After all, the Mongolian grassland itself does not have enough water sources and forest land like the Central Plains. There are very few places where 10,000+ troops can be stationed. The advancement and stationing of the army require a large amount of manpower and material resources to ensure supply.

A soldier needs three civilians to do logistics to maintain combat effectiveness, which is not an exaggerated number.

In this Northern Expedition, Zhu Di chose to be as light and simple as possible to reduce the manpower used in logistics. At the same time, he also reduced the cavalry that needed to consume more food, grass and materials to support it, and instead used artillery and musketeers as the main tasks for this time. The main force of the Northern Expedition.

In the past year, although Zhu Zhanjun led the Northern Expedition, the military camp he left outside Dinghuai Gate was not abandoned, and the few workshops that could produce muskets and cannons were not idle.

The Ministry of Household Affairs has almost opened up the supply of materials to these workshops, and has also expanded the workshops to increase the production capacity of the workshops.

The final result was that during Zhu Di's Northern Expedition, among the 10,000+ troops he brought, there were nine more new troops with the same level of equipment as the Qingyu Guards.

Moreover, their training standards are also comparable to those of the Qingyu Guards. However, without Zhu Zhancui, the output of jade medicine is limited. Only three soldiers in this new army have taken jade medicine, and their quality is comparable to that of the Qingyu Guards. .

But even so, the new troops in these nine guard posts are already the absolute main force of this Northern Expedition.

After all, Zhu Di himself is also knowledgeable about soldiers. After watching the training of the new army, he clearly knows how the traditional cavalry will be massacred when facing this new army that is almost full of firearms.

After all, how could Zhu Zhanquan not equip the Ming Dynasty's army with weapons such as the French cannon and the squatting tiger cannon, which have proven to be very useful against cavalry in history?

That is to say, I feel that Gatling and Maxim are not needed to fight the Mongolian cavalry, and copper-cased bullets still have many technical problems that have not been solved for today's Ming Dynasty. The manufacturing cost is too high. Otherwise, the Mongols will be better this time. Taste the metallic peanuts.

The cavalry was replaced by new troops from nine guard stations, and the logistical pressure was suddenly reduced a lot. You must know that one horse has to eat at least the equivalent of three people's rations, and it needs specialized people to maintain the operation. , Maintenance, almost ensuring that one cavalry can fight will consume at least five people's rations.

Now that we have a new army, the cost in this area can be said to have been reduced a lot.

(End of this chapter)