"Ada, after all, our family is an imperial family. We can still support dozens of descendants, but it will be troublesome if we have too many soldiers below! It's not a problem now, but in ten or twenty years... .”
Li Laiheng looked worried. He, Ada Li, was over fifty, and he looked to be in poor health. He would be the late emperor after another ten years or so. But he is still young. He is only in his thirties this year. If he lives to be over sixty, he will still have to worry about the following group of soldiers for thirty years.
This year has only been ten years of joint rule, and the number of soldiers has multiplied to this level. In another thirty years, the number of soldiers will probably exceed one million.
One million soldiers, one soldier can grant 100 acres of land, which is ten million acres!
It wouldn’t be enough to divide all the registered farmland in Sichuan and Yunnan!
If we do not grant land to these millions of soldiers, but choose to maintain the scale of 250,000 soldiers and official households, then the entire class of soldiers will be burdened by "Ding Yu" - the Dashun court will not grant land The fact that the fields support the second and third generations of government soldiers does not mean that they cease to exist, nor does it mean that they can find any way out. These people will eventually become a burden to Fu Bing's family, dragging Fu Bing's family, which is not originally wealthy, into poverty step by step.
The biggest difference between Dashun's army army system and the army recruitment system currently implemented in Ming Dynasty is that the former is a "contractor" and the latter is a wage earner. The land obtained by the government soldiers not only replaced military pay, but also had to bear a considerable part of the expenditure on ordnance and military food.
Therefore, once "Ding Yu" becomes a burden to the Fu soldiers, the financial resources of the Fu soldiers will be greatly reduced. If the Dashun court cannot provide sufficient subsidies, then the combat effectiveness of the Fu soldiers will quickly collapse due to the decline in financial resources.
Many of the big shots in the Dashun court today were originally military households from Shaanxi and Gansu in the Ming Dynasty. Of course they know how the military household system was screwed up!
The military household system or the military household system looks beautiful and is really easy to use in the initial stage, but it is very difficult to maintain it for a long time.
In other words, as the number of soldiers in Dashun Prefecture continues to grow, the military strength of the Dashun court itself will collapse. Unless the Dashun court can spend more and more money and food to subsidize the financially troubled soldiers... this is simply a bottomless black hole!
Moreover, in order to extend the "shelf life" of the Fubing class, the Dashun court had to adopt a policy of suppressing business in order to "make a profit." And the policy of suppressing business will cause the Dashun court to lack enough financial resources to subsidize the soldiers!
Therefore, the powerful Dashunfu soldiers must go through a process of prosperity and decline.
In contrast, the military system chosen by Zhu Cixiang for the Ming Dynasty was easier to maintain. Although the Ming army also had land grants and military honors, fundamentally speaking, the Ming army's new army (the new army to overcome difficulties) was a A mercenary army commanded by professional officers.
As long as Zhu Cixiang can pay close attention to the cultivation and education of a small number of noble officers and elite young soldiers, he can use the officer corps of 10,000 to 20,000 people and the young guard corps of tens of thousands (Nine-sided Boys) to maintain the strength of hundreds of thousands of Ming troops. combat effectiveness.
Although this military system of a small number of elites plus a large number of state mercenaries seems inferior to the legendary "Strong Qin Army Merit" and "Modern Nation-State Army", it is the only feasible way for the current Ming Dynasty, and It is also easier to maintain.
"Ada," Li Laiheng said again, "Echen's Northern Expeditionary Army fought several times in Siam with the Ming Dynasty's Jinghai Navy... They opened up in the Golden City area south of Ayutthaya City. In the battle, there was victory and defeat for each other, and we did not gain much advantage. It seems that the battle of the Southern Expedition will end at the Golden City of Siam."
"Stop at the Golden City?" Li Guo stopped and looked back at his son, "That's not the case, right? The Northern Expeditionary Army was specially trained for the Southern Expedition. Could it be that they couldn't even defeat the Ming Dynasty vassal army like Jing Haijun?"
Li Laiheng shook his head and said: "It's not that Jing Haijun is so strong, but that our soldiers fell too ill when they besieged Siam City... There were more than 30,000 people when we set off from Burma. After the city was captured, There are already less than 8,000 people who can still wield an edge in combat!"
"Less than eight thousand?" Li Guo was surprised, "The miasma in Siam is so severe!"
In fact, it was not that the malaria in Siam was particularly severe, but that Li Laiheng's Northern Expeditionary Army had been stationed for a long time under the dense water network of Ayutthaya City. The army was stationed near the water where mosquitoes breed, so it was particularly susceptible to malaria.
Although the Northern Expeditionary Army, which was trained for the southern expedition, had made necessary preparations in terms of equipment and tactics, after all, they had never actually fought in Southeast Asia, so they lacked experience in malaria prevention and treatment.
Jing Haijun had been in Southeast Asia for many years and had accumulated enough experience in preventing and treating tropical diseases. Moreover, Zhang Yong had already expected that sooner or later, the Dashun Army coming from the north would break out of the disease. Therefore, after entering Siam, he was not eager to seek war. Instead, he mobilized Siamese soldiers and civilians and overseas Chinese who had opened farms in southern Siam to build a bastion on the bank of the Chao Phraya River, known as the Golden Fort.
After the Dashun Army captured the city, Zhang Yong relied on the Golden Fort to block the Chao Phraya River, peered into the city, and fought a protracted battle with the Dashun Army.
Li Laiheng sighed: "Ada, there are many diseases and even deaths among the Northern Expeditionary Army. Moreover, many of the soldiers who moved to Ava before have died of illness... It seems that the soil and water in the south are something we cannot adapt to for a while. of.
Although our army in Dashun is strong, we cannot let it go to waste like this. Therefore, I think Dashun can end in Dacheng in the south. If the city cannot be defended, it will be withdrawn to Burma. Anyway, a lot was captured in the Battle of Ayutthaya, and they were not returned empty-handed. "
Li Guo frowned deeply: "With only Sichuan, Yunnan, and Myanmar, it is still too narrow..." He lowered his voice, "What if Sichuan and Yunnan lose, and there is only one Myanmar, can we still persist?"
"Ada," Li Laiheng paused and lowered his voice, "Now that Duduo is dead and Spain has been defeated by Japan, the pressure on the Southeast Sea has been greatly reduced. I estimate that the Ming Dynasty will use troops outside the Pass. This is our opportunity. ah!"
"Opportunity?" Li Guo looked at his son.
Li Laiheng whispered: "Ada, now is the time when our Dashun soldiers are at their peak. The first generation of soldiers who followed Lao Wansui and you to conquer the world can still fight. But the second generation of soldiers are large in number, and they are all Those who have practiced martial arts since childhood are better at fighting than their parents. Two generations of soldiers can pull out 400,000 people if they are superimposed. Moreover, the second generation of soldiers all want to get land and will definitely fight hard.
We just take advantage of this opportunity to give it a try! If it continues to be delayed, I am afraid that by the time the second generation of soldiers get married and start a business, they will be poor..."
Li Guo fell into deep thought.
He also knew that the Dashun Empire's military power was now reaching its peak!
Because the "Shun Second Generation" will grow up in large numbers in the next three to five years! These people were all raised as warriors by their fathers! They can fight, there are many of them, and they also have the desire to fight - most of them have nothing but skills!
If the opportunity is missed and these people start families and fall into the quagmire of poverty, not only will their combat effectiveness be weakened, but they may also become a trouble for the Dashun court.
"Where?" Li Guo asked.
"How about leaving Qishan?" Li Laiheng asked.
"Leaving Qishan?" Li Guo thought for a while, "Can't we take down Jiang?"
"No," Li Laiheng shook his head, "Fighting in Xiajiang means fighting with the navy. How can our navy be the opponent of the Ming Dynasty? Moreover, the Ming Dynasty built many fortresses and deployed huge cannons on both sides of the Jingjiang River. We can't defeat them. of."
Building bastions and attacking bastions is a matter of mathematics...
"So...are Guangdong and Guangxi advisable?"
"No." Li Laiheng still shook his head, "Taking Guangxi is not enough to make the overall situation easier, and fighting in Guangdong requires a naval force. Moreover, the Ming army can mobilize heavy troops into Guangdong through the sea... We will go over the mountains and ridges, but it will be delayed. Time has no chance of winning.
On the contrary, it is most beneficial to us to leave Qishan and fight in Gansu and Shaanxi! Our dynasty has been operating in Hanzhong and Gongchang for many years, building forts and hoarding food. The foundation is solid and can support the troops moving north! "
