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Chapter 128 Experience exchange, start siege

Chapter 128: Experience exchange, start to attack the city

Huang Laifu changed into casual clothes and came to Zhu Zhengse's camp. Even if Huang Laifu was the deputy general, he had to go through various complicated investigations before finally getting into Zhu Zhengse's tent. Moreover, Jiang Dazhong and other relatives had to stay outside the tent.

Sure enough, the treatment of senior civil servants is different. In Zhu Zhengse's tent, there is also a study room, which is ancient and colorful. The ground is covered with thick carpets, and the atmosphere is different.

There was no one else in the tent, only Zhu Zhengse sat at a desk with a smile and looked at Huang Laifu. He also changed into casual clothes, three collars and long beards, which looked very elegant and literary.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, even a general in a town was the general. When he saw a civil servant like the governor, the governor, he would kneel down and kowtow, not to mention that Huang Laifu was just a deputy general. Huang Laifu did not hesitate, and he knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Zhengse, "I have met the governor, Mr. Zhu."

Zhu Zhengse waited for Huang Laifu to kowtowed a few times before reaching out and saying, "At this time, we will not talk about military affairs. Why should General Huang be so polite? Please get up."

Huang Laifu cursed in his heart: "I didn't talk about military affairs... I don't have to be too polite, then you still kowtow at me? Fuck me!"

On his face, Huang Laifu smiled and said, "The Governor is generous, but he should not be rude."

When Zhu Zhengse nodded in praise, Huang Laifu talked and said, "I don't know what happened to Lord Zhu in the future?"

Zhu Zhengse smiled and said, "It's nothing, I'm just asking General Huang to come and talk."

He pointed to the chair next to him and said, "Come on, sit down, and General Huang must not be restrained in me."

After Huang Laifu thanked him and sat down, Zhu Zhengse said, "I have also seen General Huang's troops, which are indeed tigers and wolves. It is really a blessing for the court to have troops like General Huang."

Huang Laifu said: "My lord has been too rewarded, he is diligent in his work and trains his troops. This is the duty of the last general."

Zhu Zhengse nodded, changed his words and said, "I don't know what General Huang thinks about the current war?"

Huang Laifu said: "The imperial army gathered, and it won't take long to stop the Ningxia thieves. The most important thing is to rebuild the home after the rebellion."

Zhu Zhengse felt that Huang Laifu was very fresh in his words. He pointed at Huang Laifu and smiled, "Well, General Huang is talking about me."

He sighed: "Looking at the reason for the Ningxia border rebellion, the reason for the lack of food and wages in Ningxia Town is because of the lack of food and wages in Ningxia Town. If the border rebellion is sufficient, I believe there would not be this rebellion. However, Ningxia is broken and the court is tight, so it is powerless to allocate grain and wages. As the governor of Ningxia, it will be a headache to take over this mess in the future."

As he said that, he patted his head, Huang Laifu also pondered. As a later generation, he certainly knew the financial situation after the Ming Dynasty. From about the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the total fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was about 30 million taels of silver a year, which seemed to be quite large. Among them, the central government only had a few million taels of silver, and the rest were all allocated by the local government and military towns.

Especially the border towns were even more expensive. In the north, there were no wars in the Wanli period, and all kinds of expenditures such as food and wages were required for a year. More than 3 million taels of silver were paid by the central government, and the other several million taels were solved by local provinces and military garrisons.

For example, in Ningxia Town, there are more than 70,000 cavalry and infantry officers, and the annual food and salary is more than 60,000 taels. However, the food and salary here refers to the annual silver for the Beijing Movement. If there are only tens of thousands of taels of silver in a town, it is definitely not enough. The rest also have more than 18,000 taels of silver in the color of silver, more than 18,300 bundles of grass in the civil movement, and more than 148,000 stones of grain and materials. These are all transported and supplied by the prefectures and counties near Ningxia Town.

There is also Shanxi Town where Huang Laifu is located. The main soldiers in a year, and the visiting soldiers need 200,000 taels of silver, which refers to the annual silver of the Beijing Movement. In addition, there are more than 28,000 stones of grain, more than 1,000 taels of silver, more than 95,000 bundles of grass, more than 21,000 stones of rice, beans, and more than 322,000 taels of silver. These are all escorted by local Shanxi Province, or from many prefectures and counties in other distant provinces.

The grain supply system in Daming Bian Town is very complex, and it can be said to be complicated. A prefecture may transport grain and silver to more than a dozen different military fort garrisons. A garrison may also receive grain and silver from more than a dozen prefectures and counties. In just a hundred years, a stable system for supplying food and money has been formed.

If the weather is good, and the border towns can have some military camps, there will be no problem with the grain and salary supply system of this border town. However, with natural disasters and land annexation, and various reasons, the finances of northern provinces and border towns are increasingly relying on the central government for supply, which eventually led to the Ming Dynasty's central government's income being insufficient and eventually going bankrupt.

Huang Laifu knew history, and the future allocation of funds from the Ministry of Revenue will only become increasingly difficult. Only when the economy of the northern provinces recovers, or if the grain in border towns can be solved by themselves, can we get out of this vicious cycle.

Moreover, Huang Laifu knew that the geographical environment of Ningxia Town was quite good. It was close to the Yellow River, with multiple plains and lakes, and it was easy to irrigate. Huang Laifu knew that the area around Ningxia Town, which was later called Yinchuan City, had a cultivated land area of ​​more than one million mu. There was also Lingzhou City on the south bank of the Yellow River, which was later called Lingwu City, and also had a cultivated land area of ​​more than 400,000 mu.

These places are the essence of Ningxia's Yellow River Irrigation Area. They have been operating since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han and have a very complete and developed irrigation system. As long as they can be used properly, it is no problem to feed the military and civilians of the entire Ningxia Town, and there is no need for the court to allocate some money.

Thinking of this, Huang Laifu said: "Mr. Zhu, Ningxia has been in chaos and the place is broken, but this is also an opportunity. After the reconstruction in the future, many things can be reshuffled, and perhaps it can solve the problem of food and salary in Ningxia Town."

Zhu Zhengse said: "General Huang is the same as I think. I have heard that General Huang has a good farming experience in Shanxi Town and has his own experience. I don't know what good methods does General Huang have to store grain in Ningxia Town?"

Huang Laifu pondered: "At the end of the day, I have read the past report, saying that when Ningxia was in its peak, I could store 107,730 stones of grain and 235,200 bunches of grass in a year. In addition, there are the tax grains for the civil transport in various provinces, as well as the annual regular silver for the Beijing transport in the year."

Huang Laifu smiled slightly: "The whole town of Ningxia Town has a lot of land, and it is convenient to irrigate and divert water. When it was in its peak, it only had 170,000 shi of grain. It is the place where Wuzhai Fort, Shanxi Town is a fortress, and it is several times more grain storage a year."

Zhu Zhengse coughed gently, but didn't say anything.

Huang Laifu said: "There has been a lot of food in Ningxia towns. Of course, there are many reasons. In previous years, it was because of the prosperity of the border, and the barbarians did not dare to invade them. The old friends were able to work hard to farm acres and produce a lot of harvests. When they were inducing salt in the middle, they were easy to collect grain and grass, and both officials and businessmen were willing to take advantage of both the officials and businessmen. Later, the barbarians invaded from time to time, resulting in unemployed land and abandoned land and deficit of grain in the village. In addition, the tax and grain of the people's transportation was not effective, and some departments were unable to collect food in the year, and the number of grains in the border was increasingly lacking."

Zhu Zhengse listened very carefully. He looked at Huang Laifu's face and looked thoughtful in his eyes.

Huang Laifu said: "Of course, the tax and food in the civil service are not effective, so we cannot blame the people for not being wrong. The current year is not good, and the common people are living a difficult life. It is also difficult to rely on the imperial court to allocate funds. The most important thing is that the military camp must keep up with it, which is the most fundamental problem of the military food and salary."

Zhu Zhengse nodded.

Huang Laifu said: "I think that the border towns in the Ming Dynasty have developed to the present, and they are the same as those in Shanxi town where the Mo General is located. They may have been drought for years, resulting in a large number of military fields being abandoned. Or the military fertile fields are occupied by various officers, or the military fertile fields are occupied by civilians, or the military fertile fields are occupied by local tyrants. If the military fields are not returned to the hands of the military, there is no hope of storing grain."

Zhu Zhengse frowned speechlessly.

Huang Laifu smiled and said, "Of course, it is very difficult for those military fields occupied by civilians and local tyrants to get them back. However, this time the Ningxia border army rebelled. After the riots in the future, as riots, most of the officers' fields will be confiscated, and the thief leader also worshipped. He heard that his family occupied more than 100,000 mu of fertile land of Ningxia border army. In the future, these lands can be redistributed to the soldiers and let them store grain and collect grain. Of course, this is far from enough. Finally, we will come from Ningxia Town and find that there are many wastelands in various places. As long as we are reclaimed and irrigated with water, these wastelands can become fertile land. At least one million mu of fertile land can be added along the Yellow River line."

Huang Laifu talked so much, and Zhu Zhengse finally said: "General Huang said so much, reclaiming wasteland, which is what I have long wanted to do. However, in recent years, the rainfall is scarce, the water source is becoming increasingly scarce, and a large amount of fertile land has no water to attract..."

Speaking of this, he thought about it, and he said, "From the news from the diary, General Huang is in Shanxi Town, because he is digging underground wells, right?"

Huang Laifu said: "Yes, although the rainfall has decreased in recent years and there is no water on the surface, the water source is still very abundant under the ground, especially in the Ningxia Town area. We will be sure that the groundwater here is very rich. As long as the corresponding irrigation well is dug, it will be enough to irrigate many fields."

He thought for a while and said, "If Lord Zhu needs it, after returning to Shanxi Town, he can send some skilled craftsmen who drill wells to assist Lord Zhu in digging the well."

Zhu Zhengse smiled and said, "That's good."

He sighed and said, "Downloading wells is one aspect, and the most important thing is how to refer to the water of the Yellow River. There are many wastelands on both sides of the Yellow River. If there is river water irrigation, these wastelands can become fertile fields in the future."

He frowned and said, "It's just that the river is two meters high and the water is inconvenient. What should we do?"

Huang Laifu felt aroused. He knew the situation of the Yellow River entering Ningxia Town. When the Yellow River water entered the plains of Yinchuan and other places, the riverbed was wide and the water flowed slowly, and the silt was accumulated in large quantities, making the riverbed more than a few meters above the ground on both sides of the river, becoming an on-ground river, similar to Kaifeng, North China Plain and other places.

After the formation of the above-ground river, the riverbed continued to rise, and the two sides of the river faced the threat of floods during the flood season. In addition to constant floods, irrigation and diversion of water is also very inconvenient. However, in history, Zhu Zhengse found his own solution when managing the Yellow River flood in Ningxia and irrigation and diversion of water. Maybe there is no inspiration yet.

Huang Laifu said at the moment: "I thought of a way, but I don't know if it is feasible."

Zhu Zhengse said: "Please tell me, General Huang."

Huang Laifu said: "At the end, I imagine that the Yellow River in Ningxia is an on-ground river with a certain amount of water pressure. Can we use porcelain jars that contain grain to penetrate the bottom of the jars and connect them to build a siphon pipeline connecting the Yellow River, so that the water of the Yellow River can be transferred out of the embankment and turn countless wastelands into fertile fields."

Zhu Zhengse frowned and thought for a while, suddenly his eyes lit up. He didn't understand what Huang Laifu said about water pressure and siphon pipes, but he understood it by connecting the bottom of the jar and dividing the water out of the dike. During the Ming Dynasty, this knowledge also had corresponding Ming Dynasty statements. Huang Laifu didn't know it, which does not mean that Zhu Zhengse didn't know it.

He was happy and said, "It's wonderful, it's good, this method is feasible."

He couldn't help but feel excited, stood up, and walked around the tent with his hands. Finally, he came to Huang Laifu and said, "Huang Future, your method is countless living people. No wonder people call you the God of Food, and it's such a wonderful idea."

Speaking of this, he burst into laughter.

Huang Laifu thought to himself: "You don't know that this method was thought out by yourself in history."

He said seriously: "Why did Lord Zhu say this? Isn't this good recipe for living people come up with me?"

He exaggeratedly said: "It can be imagined that after Lord Zhu implements the law in the future, he will transfer water out of the dike and turn countless wastelands into fertile fields. The people will rush to praise the Lord as the Buddha of the Ten Thousand Family, and build a temple for the Lord, leaving a name in history, right now."

Zhu Zhengse was even more excited. Which civil servant is not good at being named? Especially the name that is left in history.

Seeing Huang Laifu being modest and low-key, giving the benefits to himself without hesitation, Zhu Zhengse choked for a moment. He couldn't say anything at once, but just patted Huang Laifu on the shoulder and said, "Okay, okay, General Huang is indeed... I highly recommend you..."

That night, Zhu Zhengse must keep Huang Laifu in the tent for dinner. Even if the army under the city often cannot eat enough, this problem naturally does not exist at the level of Lord Zhu.

The dinner was rich and elegant. During the banquet, Lord Zhu repeatedly advised him to drink, and Huang Laifu also drank with pain.

When Huang Laifu finally said goodbye, he was blown by the wind and his drunkenness dissipated. He shouted and thought, "Damn it, dealing with these guys is more difficult than fighting a war."

June 27, the 20th year of Wanli, August 4, 1592 AD.

Seven days after Huang Laifu led his army to the town, on this day, the three-sided governor Wei Xuezeng and Gansu governor Ye Mengxiong and others finally fought for a victory or defeat. Perhaps it was because Wei Xuezeng heard that Emperor Wanli was very angry at his decision to recruit him. He did not dare to insist on the decision to recruit him, but decided to continue to attack the city.
Chapter completed!
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