The vast Yanshan Mountain is now covered with thousands of miles of ice and thousands of miles of snow. Looking around, it is covered with silver makeup.
Such a beautiful country is now at the feet of the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian who has returned to his post.
On the official road leading from Beijing to Xuanfu, hundreds of cavalry in front of the tents were surrounding Zhu Youjian and others, heading north and now entering the ditch of Juyong Pass.
At this moment, Zhu Youjian was only high-spirited.
The mountains and rivers below are still the same as before, but there is no longer the risk of slaves and thieves breaking through at any time. There is no longer the possibility of an army of intruders sweeping in. Maybe... maybe, there will no longer be a treacherous son with a sword chasing Zhu Youjian's behind and shouting filial piety.
Because Zhili Bafu south of Yanshan, Datong Town west of Yanshan, Xuanfu, Yanshan, Miyun, Jizhou, Liaoxi, Changping and other six towns around Yanshan, as well as the city of Beijing, which is the best in the world, were finally included in the list for the first time. Zhu Youjian really mastered it.
Only truly, not completely.
Complete control can only be considered complete if we can restore the military system of the garrison and directly control the population and land of hundreds of garrison.
However, this can only be achieved after the world is in chaos and the population plummets. And it is difficult to maintain for a long time, because people's hearts will change and the population will increase... A small number of knights in front of the tent can still maintain combat effectiveness and economic prosperity under Zhu Youjian's personal supervision and protection. If there are really hundreds of guards and hundreds of thousands of military households, Zhu Youjian will not be able to control them.
Moreover, the climate in the north is now dry and cold, and the population is too large. It is simply a dream to use the profits from land management to support hundreds of thousands of military households (not households, but households) and maintain a sufficient number of standing troops.
Therefore, Zhu Youjian simply abolished the military power of all the guards in the eight prefectures and six towns (excluding Yanshan and Liaoxi towns) that he could really control. They were turned into ordinary local yamen, only responsible for collecting military rations, ordinary government affairs, and litigation.
As for the eight prefectures in North Zhili, it became a pilot area for "officials and gentry to pay taxes together" and "average tax burden for each county". Except for Zhu Youjian's land and the land allocated to the knights in front of the tent (actually also the land of the imperial village), the rest must be paid as one. Moreover, the standard for militia groups to pay grain is one-size-fits-all, five liters per acre. It doesn’t matter whether the land is good or bad, whether the landowner is rich or poor, whether he has fame or not, and how many people there are in his family. For every acre planted, five liters of grain (mainly wheat) are handed over, which are collected in two installments, once in the summer and again in the autumn.
Five liters of grain is only five or six kilograms. Even if you include a little freight, it is not a big amount. As long as it is divided evenly, it will not be difficult to pay the tax.
Of course, paying taxes is always unpleasant, so tax evasion and tax resistance are inevitable. Zhu Youjian is now just suppressing the cabinet and the Supervisor of Rites to issue the edict on the land tax reform in the eight prefectures of Zhili. We still don’t know whether the people below are willing to implement it, or whether there will be civil unrest and tax resistance.
But now Zhu Youjian is not afraid of this at all. How much trouble can the scholar-bureaucrats and hereditary military attachés in Zhili stir up? Now that the emperor has 100,000 elite troops (the Zhangqian Army, the Xuan Dachang Capital Soldiers, and the Mongolian Ten Thousand Household Soldiers), is he still afraid that he will not be able to pacify the situation?
Vaguely, he even hoped that someone would rebel... Only if someone rebelled would his house be confiscated and exiled!
In the narrow Guangou Valley, although the New Year is approaching, military dispatches have not stopped. Zhu Youjian went all the way north and saw a steady stream of convoys rushing to Xuanfu to transport food and supplies - these convoys were all replenishing supplies for the Xingzhou health stations east of Xuanfu. These newly opened health centers are still under construction. Not only do they have no output, but they also have to invest a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources into them. In addition to these convoys, there were also guards soldiers from various noble organizations in Beijing. One team after another passed through the Guangou Changgu in Juyongguan and went to the Xingzhou Guards in Yanshan Town to strengthen the defense there.
In addition to them, there was also a group of infantry from the "Xinjing Camp", which opened the way in front of the cavalry led by Zhu Youjian. The so-called "Xinjing Camp" was composed of Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa, Yang Sichang and others, with a total of more than 20,000 people. Now they have filled the vacancies in the Beijing Camp and have become the Ming Dynasty's economic and political army. 14,000 of them have been transferred to Beijing and Changping City, and Zhu Youjian's confidant Lu Xiangsheng is in charge of this "New Beijing Camp Army".
According to the plan, Zhu Youjian also wanted to turn this army into a new Western-style army. But the restructuring has not started yet, and the troops have not been reorganized. They are still led by the officers trusted by the regimental training leaders.
The remaining 6,000 people followed Gao Hongtu, Yang Sichang, Shi Kefa, Lu Zhenfei, Lu Daqi, He Tengjiao and others to serve as officials elsewhere.
Now Gao Hongtu is the governor of Yanyun, and Yang Sichang is the governor of Xuanfu.
Shi Kefa, Lu Zhenfei, Lu Daqi, and He Tengjiao were appointed as the prefects of Baoding, Hejian, Zhending, and Yongping respectively, plus Feng Quan (prefect of Shuntian) and Cui Chengxiu (prefect of Shunde) who had issued military orders. Prefect), Wu Chunfu (prefect of Guangping), Tian Ji (prefect of Daming) and others took control of all eight prefectures in Beizhili - the next land tax reform in Beizhili will depend on them to promote it.
Of course, Zhu Youjian couldn't let them take office empty-handed. They all sent troops. Four people including Shi Kefa, Lu Zhenfei, Lu Daqi, and He Tengjiao took office with their own regiment training, while four people including Cui Chengxiu, Wu Chunfu, Tian Ji, and Feng Quan took office. Each led 1,000 soldiers to "commit evil".
If you take office with a knife in your hand, there is no question of not being able to push forward reforms...the only question is whether you are willing to be a villain.
...
"Long live the banner of the Lord!"
At the top of Xuanfu City, several defenders suddenly pointed at the flags that appeared on the horizon in the distance and shouted loudly.
The person on duty at the top of the city that day was Zu Kuan, the godson of Zu Dashou. Hearing this, he immediately ran over from a short distance away. He pushed away the defenders and looked up at the battlements. Then he habitually touched his beard. , grinned and said: "I'm finally back. If I don't come back, the Queen will be anxious... The Queen is about to give birth!"
It is already the end of December in the first year of Chongzhen. In more than a month, the treacherous son will be born! Emperor Chongzhen has been away from home and never returned. Can Queen Zhou not be anxious?
Zu Kuan said, then turned around and shouted at Zuk Fa, who was also tall and thick, following him: "Old Wu, I'm going to pick you up. If you're tired, go to the imperial city and report the good news to the empress!"
But Zukefa shook his head and said: "Lao Liu, you go to the imperial city to report the news... I will go to greet Lord Long Live, and by the way, I will report to him about my mission to Tumotechuan."
Zukofa is now a "diplomat". Not long ago, he went to Tumutchuan again, met with Hutu Dunhan, and discussed the matter of gathering Mongolia to fight against slaves and thieves.
Hutudun Khan has now recovered some of his strength, and defeated two soldiers and horses of Tumote and Ordos with ten thousand households. He also absorbed a large number of tribesmen from these two ten thousand households, expanding the previous losses. In addition, due to the fighting between the Ming Dynasty and the Hou Jin Dynasty in the Yanshan area, people other than the Karaqin people also joined the Han tribe.
So now the Han tribe is stronger than before the Battle of Datong!
When the powerful Hutu Dun Khan saw Hou Jin defeated by Zhu Youjian, he naturally wanted to counterattack, and he couldn't wait until the autumn of the second year of Chongzhen - what a waste of time?
And by the autumn, the war horses of Hou Jin and Horqin tribes would be fattened up! Maneuvering on the grasslands outside the Great Wall relied on horses. Once their horses are strong, their mobility will be greatly increased. The Battle of Mamengshan is likely to become a decisive battle between the Ming Dynasty, Beiyuan Dynasty and Houjin Dynasty.
However, Hutu Dunhan felt that such a war was still uncertain, so he wanted to send troops in the spring of the first year of Chongzhen, taking advantage of the spring famine in the Karaqin tribe of Mameng Mountain, and also taking advantage of the frozen soil on Houjin's territory that was just blooming. , there was water everywhere, and it was difficult for the troops to move. First, they defeated the Houjin Army and the Karaqin tribe on the Mameng Mountain side, and then fought to the death with the army led by Huang Taiji.
