Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 226
  In the yamen of the Thirty Thousand Guards Commander, Zhu Gaoxu told Sun Cheng and everyone about his future policies.

As a later generation, he knew very well how complicated the Ming Dynasty's tax system was.

This tax system has a basic problem, including the Ming Dynasty's administrative system. That is, these two teams require the emperor's personal ability to be able to direct them.

Whenever a person with mediocre abilities becomes an emperor, he will have to face the complicated tax system left by Lao Zhu, and such people often have difficulty sorting it out.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, as civil servants continued to add tax categories and various taxation methods, the system became more complicated, so much so that by the late Wanli period, even the imperial household minister could not sort out the Ming Dynasty's finances.

Zhang Juzheng in the early Wanli era and Bi Ziyan in the Chongzhen era both tried to sort it out, but they both ended in failure.

Zhu Gaoxu does not believe that he can create a perfect tax system, but he can learn from the tax methods of later generations.

Of course, how to formulate the specific tax system? Zhu Gaoxu plans to use Yu Xin, Xia Yuanji, and Huang Fu to redesign it after he conquers the capital. As for the period when he goes south, it is better to keep it simple.

The five taxes may sound high, but for the military households, there was no reward for cultivating the military farmland, and they had to pay heavy land taxes for cultivating the remaining fields. They relied entirely on the military households' military pay to live.

Therefore, the policy of distributing the military farmland, and then regardless of the military farmland and the remaining land, should be paid according to the five taxes and one tax, which would make the military households feel the joy of harvesting the fruits.

In the past, when we cultivated dozens of acres of land, the family could only harvest more than ten or twenty shi of grain from the army's pay and Yutian. Now that the land is evenly divided, the family can harvest more than a dozen shi from the field in addition to the twenty shi of grain from the military's pay and eight guan of money. food produced in it.

The income of military households has soared from more than ten or twenty dan per year to more than [-] dan. If you include the eight guan of money for joining the army, it is close to fifty dan.

This income only requires them to pay four or five stones of grain as the land tax every year, and I am afraid no one will refuse.

Therefore, after Zhu Gaoxu said this, Liu Zhao quickly stood up and bowed: "I will defend the people of [-] people. Thank you for your grace!"

"Get up." Zhu Gaoxu looked at him with a smile, then looked at the other commanders of the fifteen guards in the hall and continued:
  "We entered the customs this time not to commit adultery, plunder and satisfy our own greed, but to clear the emperor's side and put the country in trouble."

"Although your eight commanders are Jurchens, they are also my subjects of the Ming Dynasty. Whenever a city is captured in this battle, the [-] households with the greatest contribution among your eight guards can move into the pass, and each brother will be granted thirty acres of land. "

"Thank you, Your Highness!!" Ta Shi and others listened to Zhu Gaoxu's words and stood up one after another to bow and salute. Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and raised his hand to signal them to sit down.

"As for you and the Han soldiers in Bohai, I can only reward you with money and food."

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he motioned to Sun Cheng: "Take money from the treasury and pay the army first. The remaining commanders will be given fifty guan, [-] guan for each thousand households, [-] guan for each hundred households, [-] guan for the general flag officer, and [-] guan for the small flag officer." The officials and officials have their own heads, and the rest are divided equally.”

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's reward, Sun Cheng also smiled on his face.

According to Zhu Gaoxu's plan, as a long history officer and at the same level as the commander, he also received fifty coins.

Although it is not much, it is a beginning, which means that Zhu Gaoxu must continue like this in the future, and Zhu Gaoxu also knows this.

In fact, his method was the method used by Zhu Yuanzhang to cultivate a sense of belonging among his subordinates after he established his own business.

The method is old, but very practical.

"Let's all disperse. The army will set off in three days. Except for Liu Zhao's [-] guards stationed there, who need to cooperate with Sun Cheng to measure and divide the fields equally, the rest will prepare to set off."

"Yes!"

As Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, the generals dispersed one after another.

Soon, the news of the equal distribution of fields spread among the [-] Guards. Many people were illiterate and did not know what this meant. However, after Sun Cheng's [-] military officers visited, they soon understood the situation.

The officials under Sun Cheng were all students selected by Zhu Gaoxu from ten academies in Jilin City. Their knowledge was not high, but they had studied in school for three years, and they were all over fifteen years old. There is no problem with arithmetic, reading and writing, and it is completely sufficient to serve as an official.

The officials did not say much to the people. They only said that they would divide the fields. At the same time, they compared the family income when they were military households, and compared the income and tax situation after the land was equalized.

The common people are not fools. They will not miss the good thing of paying four or five dan of grain every year in exchange for getting more than ten dan of grain.

The next day, when Bohai's [-]-strong army set out, more than [-] to [-] Wei people who were in high spirits followed the officials out of the city and began to measure the acres of land.

The engravings of the field deeds had been carved last night. As the officials measured the fields, covered the engravings, wrote down the status and quantity of the fields with a red pen, and stamped them with official seals, one by one the field deeds were handed over to the people of Thirty Thousand Guards.

Holding the pile of land deeds, every household danced excitedly, and the more cheerful people began to clap and dance like a master.

Some who were equally excited grabbed his belt and followed him in singing.

Looking at this scene, the people of Thirty Thousand Guards were full of energy, and Zhu Gaoxu and the others also headed south.

The Bohai Navy's march did not slow down. Since it was backed by [-] guards, the more than [-] stones of grain did not need to be made into military rations. They were directly put on the mule and carriage to follow the army south.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu felt the happiness of the nomads. All the way south, there was only one saying that the more he fought, the richer he became, but there was no saying that the more he fought, the poorer he became.

The Bohai Navy traveled a hundred miles, and they arrived at the northern part of Tieling in the afternoon of the second day of departure.

From north to south, the west side of Tieling relies on the Liaohe River, and the north side of the city relies on the Chaihe River. It can be said that if you fight from north to south, you must face the natural fortification of the Chaihe River.

At the end of the [-]th century, Tieling's population was not large, with only more than [-] people, and the military farmland and surplus farmland combined were only over [-] acres.

Now because of the war, the crops north of Chaihe River were burned by Wu Gao, and the ferry was also destroyed by Wu Gao.

He led more than [-] troops to garrison south of Chaihe River, with Tieling City as his back.

When Zhu Gaoxu led his army to the north bank of Chaihe River, he immediately asked Wang Yi to lead his army to camp. He led Chen Chang and others on horseback to the north bank of Chaihe River and took out a long tube-shaped thing from his arms.

Not only him, but Chen Chang and others also took out this thing, pulled it open, and began to look at the south bank of Chaihe River.

Monocular telescope, this is an object that Zhu Gaoxu asked Wang Yuan and others to make. Although Jilin City does not have the manpower and material resources to build a glass greenhouse, it is relatively easy to make a telescope.

Although it is not as clear as later generations, it can at least be used.

Under Zhu Gaoxu's observation, he had a panoramic view of the defensive fortifications designed by Wu Gao for Tieling.

When the antler trees and caltrops appeared on the river beach, Zhu Gaoxu knew why Zhu Di had a headache.

"Behind the caltrops is the antler wood. If I guess correctly, there are also horse pits, horse lances, city moats, and cattle and horse walls..."

Zhu Gaoxu had to talk about these arrangements for a long time, but Wu Gao was able to come up with them all in less than five days. It was obvious that he was ready to defend to the end.

The sharp soldiers of Bohai are not good at defense, only good at attacking. However, they are good at attacking in plains and mountains. As for attacking cities, they are not in their dictionary.

From the time it was founded in Jilin to now, the Bohai Navy has never encountered a siege battle, so they looked at each other and didn't know how to fight this battle.

Instead, Zhu Gaoxu used a telescope to measure the positions of both sides and the city wall, and then turned to Meng Zhang in the crowd and told Meng Zhang: "Tune the artillery and artillery of the Third Battalion of Shenji to form an array on the low hill in the southeast!"

"Yes!" When Meng Zhang heard that he was the first to take action, he bowed excitedly and rode away.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also walked to the unknown hill in the west with his confused commanders, preparing to bombard Wu Gao there.

Except for Zhu Gaoxu and Xu Sheng, no one knew why Zhu Gaoxu wanted to transfer Meng Zhang's Shenji Third Battalion.

Only Zhu Gaoxu, Xu Sheng, and Meng Zhang knew that the Shenji Third Battalion was the reason they dared to go south.

"Master Marquis, the rebels are moving."

On the south bank of Chaihe River, when Zhu Gaoxu was observing the Southern Army, Wu Gao and others were also observing them.

When the fortress was built and the flag was raised, Wu Gao and Geng Feng realized something was wrong.

The number of the Bohai Navy's camps exceeded their expectations.

In their estimation, the Bohai Navy could only have [-] soldiers at most, including the [-] soldiers who surrendered to the enemy.

But looking at it now, the size of this camp is probably able to accommodate [-] to [-] people.

For a time, the Ming army changed from a superiority in strength to an equal strength and even a weakness in strength.

Fortunately, the time and place were favorable, which made Wu Gao feel relieved.

"The Chai River is more than forty feet wide. It will take a lot of time for the rebels to make boats. With the things I have arranged, we can stop them for at least half a month."

"Have the artillery been transferred?" Wu Gao asked Geng Gu, and Geng Gu nodded: "Liaoshen's artillery is already on the way, and Tieling's fifty bowl-mouth blunderbuss and thirty cannons have been dismantled and placed behind the cattle and horse wall. ."

"Okay!" Wu Gao is confident. He has artillery in his hands to protect Tieling City. Even if Zhu Gaoxu breaks through the first few fortifications, he will still have to face the artillery on the wall of cattle and horses behind the moat. Even if he has no choice but to retreat, he can still cause serious trauma to the rebels. .

Wu Gao was indeed cautious, and was already thinking of a way out before the fight. He didn't care about the gains and losses of a city or a place, but he cared about whether he could severely damage his opponent.

This approach is politically unpalatable, but militarily it can easily cause headaches.

Time passed little by little, and when the Bohai Navy camp was established, three thousand Shenji Battalion artillerymen also led the draft horses and pulled the artillery carts out of the camp.

With their appearance, Wu Gao and Geng Feng's expressions suddenly changed.

"How many artillery pieces are this?!"

Geng Ping looked at the hundreds of artillery pieces in surprise, his mood sinking to the bottom.

"No less than two hundred, maybe three hundred or more, this is a bit tricky..."

Wu Gao watched the artillery appear. He didn't have time to think about where Zhu Gaoxu got the artillery. He turned around and ordered: "The entire army withdraws to the cattle and horse wall!"

He gave the order and at the same time started to withdraw from the river beach.

At this moment, all he could think about was where Zhu Gaoxu got so many artillery pieces, and the appearance of the artillery pieces seemed different from the Hongwu iron cannons and bowl-mouth cannons, and he didn't know how powerful they were.

"Your Highness, you...you...where did you get so many cannons? Why are these cannons so narrow?"

Chen Chang, Wang Yi and other people who didn't know about the existence of artillery were shocked. The commander of the Eight Jurchen Guards who didn't know the power of the firearm was curious about why this thing surprised everyone so much.

"Picked it up from the forest." Zhu Gaoxu joked, and then told Meng Zhang: "Go ahead and fight one round first."

"Yes!" Meng Zhang nodded, and then looked at the three Qianhu officers under his command.

The three men returned the greeting and then began to blow their whistles.

In their rhythmic whistles, the three thousand artillerymen opened the two ammunition boxes of the artillery carriage. One contained gunpowder and the other contained iron balls.

In the early Ming Dynasty, artillery was still mainly used for shooting stones. Stone bullets made of granite were hard in texture and easy to mine, so they were very popular with the army. This was the same not only in the Ming Dynasty, but also in other countries around the world.

However, Zhu Gaoxu's frustration was that he did not have the extra manpower and material resources to polish the stone bullets, so he could only choose the most powerful and expensive method, using iron balls as cannonballs.

The shells used by the Bohai field artillery are five kilograms, and the three hundred field guns consume one thousand five hundred kilograms of iron in one firing.

According to the current iron price, one shot costs one hundred and fifty guan. If gunpowder is added, it can reach [-] guan.

If it weren't for testing the power of the artillery and damaging the morale of the Confederate army, Zhu Gaoxu would not be willing to use it.

"Fixed shot loading, target iron ridge, scheduling..."

Since the artillery was not made by assembly line, and rifled cannons and matching artillery shells were not available in this era, in the era of smoothbore cannons, artillerymen could only master the performance of the artillery in their hands by constantly feeding cannons.

Since the performance of each artillery piece is different, it is difficult to achieve unified command and angle adjustment. Only by allowing the gunner to adjust the angle of his own artillery can he hit the city wall with maximum accuracy. With Zhu Gaoxu and others watching, the three thousand gunners performed their duties and quickly completed the angle adjustment of the artillery in their hands.

"Ready... point!"

As hundreds of officers from various ministries shouted with copper trumpets from behind their positions, the artillerymen lit the fuses of the propellant in their hands. The long-burning fuses whetted everyone's appetite.

Finally, when it burned into the medicine room, everyone was looking forward to what kind of scene it would create.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"

"Neighing!!"

Like an earth dragon turning over and thunder exploding, the horses of the Eight Jurchen Guards and some generals, who had never seen the power of artillery, were frightened, and Ta Shi even fell off their horses.

A large amount of gunpowder smoke obscured their sight, but they could still vaguely see the hundreds of cannonballs that crossed the Chaihe River and were fired at Tieling City.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Tieling City was built with clay and gravel, so when it encountered five kilograms of heavy solid shells, there was a sound of explosions on the city walls.

Dense cracks appeared, shaking off countless pieces of soil and stone.

Many soldiers behind the cattle and horse wall looked at this scene and were paralyzed with fear. Many soldiers were killed on the spot by the deflected solid bullets, and their deaths were miserable.

Not only the soldiers were so frightened that their faces turned pale, but also Wu Gao, the commander-in-chief of the three armies, turned pale.

"How could it hit so far?"

Wu Gao couldn't believe it, and so did Geng Feng.

There is a distance of six hundred steps from the north bank of Chaihe River to Tieling City. Even the artillery of the Ming army can only hit five hundred steps at most, and even if it hits the city wall five hundred steps away, it will not be able to create such a powerful force.

At this moment, Wu Gao and Geng Gu looked at each other. There was only one question in their minds, and that was where Zhu Gaoxu got this kind of artillery.

"it is good!!"

On the north bank of Chaihe River, the recovered Eight Jurchen Guards and many Han generals cheered. This was the first time they saw the power of field artillery, and they all fell in love with it.

Ta Shi, who fell off his horse, didn't even bother to yell and curse, so he ran to the artillery position. While the artillerymen were cleaning the barrel, he touched the artillery with his hand, but he was so burned that he quickly let go.

"What a treasure! If there was such a thing, I'm afraid even Futigin City wouldn't be able to withstand it."

Ta Shi did not hesitate to compare it with his own city, while Zhu Gaoxu chuckled: "There are even more powerful ones. A few gates can knock down the walls of Futigin City."

"Your Highness! Give me some doors!"

"Yes, Your Highness! Give us a few doors, and we can take Tieling City in ten days!"

"I am seven days!"

"I'm five days old!"

"I have three days!"

"Okay, let's go then!"

"Eh, I..."

The commanders of the Eight Jurchen Guards quarreled, but Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "The number of these artillery pieces is too small, and you don't know how to use them. If you don't use them well, they will explode on the spot, killing everyone ten steps away." on the spot."

"This artillery will be promoted in the future, but that will be in the future, and you won't be able to play with it..."

"Forget it then..." Once they heard that this thing would kill people if it was not played well, Ta She and others stayed away from it.

Zhu Gaoxu laughed at their appearance, and Tasha and the others also turned red.

After he finished laughing, he asked Meng Zhang and the others behind him: "Have Wang Yuan finished explaining everything?"

"It's been agreed that when we capture Shenyang City, he will go south with more than a thousand finished clay molds."

Meng Zhang answered, and this answer also made Zhu Gaoxu very satisfied.

With the batch of clay molds in Wang Yuan's hands, Zhu Gaoxu could quickly build ships after taking Jinzhou and pull up a huge navy to crush the Southern Navy.

It's a pity that he originally had Yang Zhan as a naval general, but Yang Zhan was transferred to Guangxi by Zhu Yunwen.

If Yang Zhan had not been transferred, he would not have to worry about who would command the navy.

Zhu Gaoxu was feeling sorry, and after a few minutes of cleaning up, the artillerymen returned to their original positions, waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's order for the second bombardment.

"How many rounds of cannonballs and gunpowder did we bring with us on our trip south this time?"

Zhu Gaoxu did not give the order rashly, but asked Meng Zhang.

"If we mine granite right now and make it into cannonballs, we can fire at least thirty rounds. If we don't use them, we can still fire fifteen rounds."

"But we also have blacksmiths in the army. As long as we have enough iron materials, we can fight another fifteen rounds."

"Well..." After getting the details, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to the noisy Southern Army camp.

Obviously, the impact of the previous round of shelling on them was not over yet.

"Fire four more rounds, then change the target and destroy all the fortifications on the south bank until all the shells are fired."

"In addition, I will purchase iron materials from Thirty Thousand Guards. I will capture Tieling City as quickly as possible."

After saying that, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Wang Yi: "Order the brothers in the army who are proficient in shipbuilding to prepare to make boats."

"Yes!" Wang Yi has no doubt, because many people in the Bohai Navy have received training from Jilin Shipyard.

They can't build a big ship, but they can make a small boat.

"Fixed fire loading, target iron ridge, reset four rounds, scheduling..."

"point!!"

"Boom boom-"

The dull sound of artillery sounded again, and the Confederate army was in chaos. They were the only ones shooting at others, but they didn't want to be used by others to shoot at them today.

"Calm down!!"

Wu Gao scolded the soldiers who were in chaos outside the tent, feeling very helpless.

The soldiers of the Ming army were trained in cavalry charging and infantry fighting, but they were not trained on how to defend themselves against artillery. This was because the Ming army was good at hitting people with artillery, and they never thought about being hit by artillery.

"We have to think of a way..."

Wu Gao braved the risk of shelling and walked out of the camp, trying to find out how to defend against shelling.

War is like this. Only enough conflicts can promote the iteration of weapons, equipment and tactics.

What the Ming Dynasty lacked was this aspect, because there was no one next to them who was good at using firearms, used firearms on a large scale, and could overwhelm the Ming army.

In such an environment, Ming Dynasty had no motivation to change its weapons and equipment, let alone any ideas.

During the Wanli period, the pace of firearm updates accelerated. This was simply because the two wars in Toungoo and Burma and the entry into Korea to fight against the Japanese made the Ming Dynasty come into contact with firearm countries. Therefore, many firearms were replaced, but this was limited to this. The Ming army's equipment was still not large-scale. replacement due to insufficient external pressure.

Neither Toungoo nor Japan can put great military pressure on the Ming Dynasty, so naturally there will be no iteration of weapons and equipment.

By Tianqi and Chongzhen, although they had contact with Westerners and introduced more Western artillery and flintlock guns, they were unable to replace them due to financial resources.

The times are like this, they don’t give anything a chance. If you miss it, it will be difficult to catch up.

Today's Ming Dynasty is a period of uprightness and national strength, and its generals have experienced hundreds of battles. When they encounter problems, they will think of solving them instead of escaping them.

Soon, based on the frequency and power of the Bohai Navy's bombardment, Wu Gao formulated a series of countermeasures.

The first is to repair a rammed earth wall in the north of each camp, and secondly to add wooden boards behind the rammed earth wall.

In this way, even if the rammed earth wall is penetrated, the wooden planks will serve as a secondary unloading force. Once the wooden planks are broken, it will be difficult for the stone bullets to penetrate the tent. They will only roll along the curtain of the tent after being unloaded. to the ground.

Under Wu Gao's call, three-foot-thick rammed earth walls were constructed, and Wu Gao also had people sprinkle water on the walls and build them with clay.

The sticky rammed earth wall was quickly built, and Wu Gao only left [-] people to garrison the cattle and horse wall, and the remaining [-] people withdrew to Tieling City.

Although this method has not been tested in actual combat, it at least appeased the hearts of the [-] troops.

But when there was no one around, Wu Gao still found Geng Feng, with a solemn expression on his face: "What do you think of this battle?"

"I..." Before Geng Qing could speak, Wu Gao gave his answer: "I thought that if the rebels could continue to attack like this for three days, Tieling would be lost."

"Well..." Geng Wei's face was also very ugly. He obviously knew that Wu Gao's methods could only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

Originally, the rebels were marching faster than them, but now the artillery fire was farther than them.

Faced with such an opponent, the infantry pincer attack and infantry attack on cavalry, which the Ming army was proud of, became a joke.

The infantry attacked from a pincer attack, but the speed was no match for the rebel horse infantry...

If you use infantry to attack cavalry, if the infantry forms a formation, it may be attacked by rebel artillery...

Compared with artillery fire, the Ming army's artillery could not reach the edge of the rebel artillery, and could only be beaten passively...

For a time, the offense and defense changed. What was once an invincible tactic used by the Ming army against the enemy has now become an invincible tactic used by the rebels against the Ming army.

The quality of the Bohai Navy determines that it is difficult for the Ming army to defeat the opponent with the same number of people, and Yue Cheng cannot protect himself, and it is easy for Zhu Gaoxu to encircle and reinforce him.

Wu Gao and Geng Gu were in a dilemma, so Wu Gao could only sigh: "You and I will report to the court again and inform the Bohai people about the performance of the soldiers and horses under their command today. Please ask the court to mobilize the Japanese soldiers from Shandong and the seven thousand soldiers who are listening in Beijing." The cavalry goes north to Liaodong."

"If reinforcements can be brought in, this battle will still have to be fought. If they cannot be brought in, then Liaodong will be in danger."

"That's the only way..."

The two of them were worried, but they didn't know yet that the reinforcements they were looking forward to had already been led to Peiping...

　"Bohai Chronicles":
  　　In the fifth month of Jiaxu, Lord Jianwen appointed Gao as the chief military officer and stationed troops in Tieling to block the advance of the army. Ding Chou, the master went to the north bank of Chaihe River and bombarded it.

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty":
  　　In the fifth month of Jiaxu, Gao was stationed at Tieling and led his troops to Chaihe. Gao was timid and wanted to leave. Gu said: "If we abandon this city, Liao will be in danger." Gao heard this and was ashamed, so he defended Tieling.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)