A mighty team was walking through the vast peaks and valleys of Yanshan Mountain.
The number of people in this team is so large that it is probably no less than 250,000! Of course, with so many people, it is impossible for all of them to be warriors. Instead, between the groups of soldiers, there are also large groups of people, supporting the old and the young, driving animals and pushing carts, facing the howling north wind, falling step by step towards the vast mountains in the northeast. And go.
Because there were so many people, the team was very long. The front team had already entered the source area of the Liao River at the eastern foot of Mameng Mountain, while the rear team had just crossed the Luan River.
Huang Taiji, the Great Khan of Hou Jin Tiancong, was among the rear troops of this team, personally leading 8,000 elite soldiers selected from various banners to serve as the rear guard for his fully loaded army.
That's right, Huang Taiji returned home with a full load!
Although he didn't make much profit when he entered the wall, and even suffered a small loss, his harvest outside the wall of Ji Town was still quite abundant, even exceeding original expectations!
Huang Taiji's biggest gain outside the border wall of Ji Town is the population - not a population that is nominally attached to Houjin, but is actually difficult to control. Rather, they can truly be incorporated into the Eight Banners system of the Later Jin Dynasty (Qiding or Baoyi) and become the population of the inner circle of the Later Jin Dynasty. I gained as much as 200,000 yuan in one go, which can be said to be a real reward.
The populations of Hou Jin and Bei Yuan were limited, and even if they mobilized all the best soldiers in the country, it would be difficult to assemble a total of 200,000. Although the Ming Dynasty has a population of 20 million, it does not seem to be a problem to raise 200,000 elite soldiers, but in fact, the population and land that can be controlled by the young emperor Zhu Youjian is very limited, let alone 20 million, not even 20 million. There are only a few million people in the sky, and there are too many places to defend, so it is difficult to mobilize an army of 200,000 for one battlefield.
The war between the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan Dynasty and the Hou Jin Dynasty was actually just a struggle between the Ming Dynasty (not the entire Ming Dynasty) and the Mongolian Han tribe and the Eight Banners tribe of the Hou Jin Dynasty... The entire Ming Dynasty has a population of 20 million Most of them are not under the control of the little emperor Zhu Youjian at all. If he wants to send millions more to recruit troops, he can start a peasant uprising, and he can still hope to pull out hundreds of thousands of people from 20 million people. Millions of young men enlisting in the army?
Zhu Youjian, who has studied how to be an emperor for decades with Nizi, now understands this truth - no matter how good the books look, without actual population, land and abundant "tax flow", he is completely empty.
Therefore, he has been in power for more than a year, and he has not played tricks with his subordinates at all... It is a trick anyway, let the cabinet play with it, as long as the annual income in the first year of Chongzhen can be equal to that in the seventh year of Tianqi, he can develop Zhu Youjian was satisfied that he could not only receive the salary of officials and the military pay of Jiubian, but also send 1.2 million taels of gold and silver into the inner transport warehouse without any errors.
And his main energy is spent on capturing real land and population. All his actions these days are centered around these two goals!
And Zhu Youjian's opponents, Da Jin Tiancong Khan Huang Taiji, of course know this truth better. His Great Jin Kingdom did not lack land, but it was too short of population. Whether they are Eight Banner bannermen, coated slaves or Han people, the total number is pitifully small. The total number is only one or several hundred thousand, of which there are only three or four hundred thousand men. As for the core Manchu nobles and Zhushen bannermen, the total number is only 60,000 to 70,000.
Because the population was too small and there were wars every year, the vast land of the Hou Jin Kingdom could not be used at all. Since the founding of the country, there has been famine almost every year, and many Han people and Baoyi Aha starve to death every year. In the era of Tianming Old Khan, in order to alleviate the suffering of food shortage, the old Khan even ordered the killing of Han people who had no food! But the Han people are both consumers and producers! When eating, they killed too many people when they thought there were too many people. When it came time to farm next year, they found that there were fewer people working... As a result, they had to plant less and plant more fields. Naturally, there would be less food at harvest time. Famine came as expected.
However, there was no way for the people killed by the old Khan to be resurrected and come back to farm the land for the Kingdom of Jin. Therefore, Huang Taiji, the new Tiancong Khan, had no choice but to go elsewhere to grab some people and come back to farm the land.
So after he came to power, he ignored the famine in the country and launched wars for many years, non-stop attacking North Korea, fighting Ningjin, sweeping the Liaohe Hetao, sending troops to Karaqin Mongolia and the Battle of the Entrance... The main purposes of these wars were It's not to rob people, it's just to rob people for convenience.
But it’s not easy to steal people! The Battle of Dingmao, which sent troops to North Korea, did not attack the densely populated Kaicheng and Seoul areas, and because of the interference of Mao Wenlong's troops and the North Koreans running away too fast (Amin massacred the city when he invaded Anzhou, As a result, Pyongyang was scared into an empty city) and few people were captured.
And the battle of Ningjin was defeated again, so no one was captured.
When they sent troops to attack Mongolia, they snatched some people from the Dorot tribe, one of the eight Han battalions, but the total number was only more than 10,000, and they were all herdsmen who were not good at farming.
As for the operation to send troops to the Karaqin Mongolia, the original purpose was not to rob people, but to win over and control the various Karaqin tribes in order to obtain a detour into the pass.
By taking a detour and entering the heart of the Ming Dynasty, we could have grabbed a large number of people, food and goods, thus greatly alleviating the plight of the Later Jin Kingdom's shortage of people, food and goods.
However, the Ming Dynasty suddenly gave birth to a young emperor who was brave enough to conquer all three armies. Although he only tried his skills in Changping, Jiyunun and Tangzhishan, Huang Taiji still felt in danger.
Houjin is short of people! This also means that Huang Taiji must be careful to use the Eight Banners army left by the old Khan of Destiny - this is the biggest reliance of Huang Taiji and the Hou Jin Kingdom!
If the Eight Banners soldiers were weakened in the battle with the little emperor of the Southern Dynasties, then the kingdom of the Later Jin Dynasty would be on the verge of collapse...and the position of Huang Taiji, the "popular" Khan, would probably be shaken even more!
Therefore, after failing to win in three tentative battles, Huang Taiji did not have the courage to engage in a decisive battle.
This great military strategist who is familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" now feels that his situation is similar to that of Zhuge Liang who came out of Qishan six times... Although the Eight Banners soldiers can fight, Hou Jin's national power is limited and cannot afford to consume it. ah!
Fortunately, the little emperor Zhu Youjian was too violent and was unwilling to be kind to the Karaqin tribes. He also asked Princess Ulyanha to command thousands of Mongolian cavalry against those who were unwilling to join Duoyan Wanhu and Ulliang Hawan. The various Haraqin Mongolian tribes in Hunan went on a killing spree... As a result, a large number of Haraqin Mongolians living near the border wall of Xuanfu and on the Bashang grassland retreated to the east bank of the Luan River.
These Mongols, as well as the Haraqin Mongols who originally lived in the Luanhe River Basin, and the Haraqin Mongols near the border wall of Jizhen, are now mostly gathered by Huang Taiji because their tribes have been dispersed. , their homeland has been lost, so Huang Taiji can absorb them into the Eight Banners system...
"Two Beile, Three Beile..." Huang Taiji, who was already on the east bank of the Luan River, called Amin and Mang Gurtai to his side.
"Great Khan, you called me?"
"Khan, what are your orders?"
These two political leaders brought their elite soldiers to the rear with Huang Taiji, and are now following Huang Taiji.
Huang Taiji looked at the two pontoon bridges erected on the Luan River that had just been lit, and breathed out softly: "In the past, Zhuge Liang left Qishan six times, and in the future we, Dajin, will enter and leave Yanshan several times... Yanshan is Qishan, but I can't be Zhuge Liang, I want to surpass Zhuge Liang! In the past, Zhuge Liang was in trouble when he came out of Qishan, so he thought of using the method of garrisoning against Cao Wei. Unfortunately, the weather never took off, and he died of illness in Wuzhangyuan. And I will do it as soon as I leave Yanshan. Farming, and only farming, can allow us, Daijin, to compete with the Southern Dynasties for the gateway to Yanshan. And the important task of farming in Yanshan will be left to you two... Er Baile, I will divide one hundred thousand karachins The Mongols give it to you, and you go to farm in Mameng Mountain. Sanbeile, you also lead one hundred thousand Karaqin Mongols to farm in the Daling River Basin. One of you is stuck in the northeast of Yanshan, and the other is stuck in the east of Yanshan. While reclaiming the land, Encourage the surrounding Mongolian tribes and let them all be used by me. After next year's autumn harvest, I will lead a large army to fight for Qishan Mountain!"
