Gao Pragmatic told Huang Zhiting his thoughts. Huang Zhiting's face gradually became serious. After thinking for a while, he said: "You leave these matters to me. It seems that you hope that I will take charge of Annan for you during this war." ?”
Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "Yes."
Huang Zhiting then asked: "In addition to preventing changes in Annan, do I also need to coordinate Annan's various affairs to support the war in Yunnan?"
Gao pragmatic still said: "Yes."
Huang Zhiting continued to ask: "Will Annan also send troops?"
"The issue of Annan sending troops requires me to report to the court first, especially to convince the emperor that Annan has the spare capacity." Gao Pragmatic sighed softly: "Actually, I had planned this matter two years ago. , It’s just that the conditions didn’t allow it at the time..." Then he explained the previous situation again.
Huang Zhiting listened quietly and said thoughtfully: "So you were thinking about these things when you met the Dao brothers at Hoan Kiem Lake... Let's not talk about whether the emperor agrees with Annan's sending troops. I want to know if Annan is going to send troops. How many troops do you plan to send and who will lead them? Also, since we have to take the sea route, is this sea route safe now? Will the military rations be allocated from Annan?"
Gao pragmatically said: "My current idea is that the Thang Long garrison will mobilize 10,000 people to go south to Jinggang to assist in the defense, while the Jinggang garrison will mobilize 10,000 to prepare for the expedition by sea to Siam. In addition to the 10,000 Jinggang garrison, In addition to the people, Ruan Juan, Mo Yulin, and Ruan Huang each mobilized three to four thousand, making up a total of ten thousand for the expedition. The chieftains of the former Guangxi who moved to Annan also mobilized wolf soldiers based on the total of ten thousand, roughly including your Huang family and The Cen family each contributed three thousand, and the other chieftains contributed four thousand."
Huang Zhiting frowned and said: "I know your intention in recruiting Ruan Juan, Mo Yulin and Ruan Huang to join forces, but from the time you pacified Annan until now, we have never seriously combined their troops with our own. We have commanded together before, always letting them lead by themselves, which is a real 'conquest', but this time... you still plan to do this?"
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly and asked: "Are you afraid that the soldiers will be too mixed, which will make it difficult to command and unable to use your fingers like your arms?"
Huang Zhiting said unceremoniously: "Like an arm and a finger? Then you have to lead it yourself. I don't think anyone else can do it. Neither I nor Cen Ling can do this."
Gao pragmatically said: "I plan to let Gao Jue lead the army as the main general, and Cen Ling as the deputy."
"You transferred the army commander to Siam?" Huang Zhiting said in surprise: "If he leaves, what will happen to the remaining 40,000 Sheng Long garrison?"
"Of course you will be in charge." Gao pragmatically said: "Zhiting, the Shenglong garrison will be in charge of Shenglong, 50,000 or 40,000. In fact, there is not much difference. The key is to control those people in the Mo family's Commander-in-Chief Division. You I have a special status. As long as I have an order conveyed to Shenglong, the Shenglong Guard Army will not disobey orders. Maybe after Gao Jue leaves, other middle and high-level guards in the Guard Army will only be extra obedient in front of you instead of deliberately making things difficult. You can rest assured of this.”
Huang Zhiting was a little disbelieving at first, but after thinking about it, she understood. However, her face turned a little red, and she spat: "I'm not Mrs. Gao now."
I have to say that her speaking style is quite open-minded among the ladies of the Ming Dynasty.
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "It's just a matter of time. It's good to experience it in advance."
Huang Zhiting's face turned redder and redder, and she subconsciously changed the topic and said, "When will I leave?"
"Don't rush these days." Gao pragmatically said: "The imperial court's response is not that fast. Regarding the situation in Yunnan, they may have to discuss it for several days before they have a result. In addition, I have proposed to the imperial court, and whether the imperial court agrees will have to wait. Look... this will take some time. You should seize the time to understand the economic situation of Liaodong and Annan in the past few days. I will try to find a way to balance the problem of cargo ships for you. You cannot always be satisfied. The ship comes and returns with half a load, which is such a waste of transportation capacity.”
Huang Zhiting said: "Actually, I have two ideas. Do you want to listen to them?"
"Oh? Come on, tell me." Gao Pingshi was a little surprised and thought to himself: This girl has made progress. In the past, I only knew that she could fight, but now she has developed into domestic affairs?
In fact, Gao Jingshi thought differently. Huang Zhiting used to be able to take care of internal affairs. After all, she was in charge of their family back then. If she didn't understand internal affairs, big trouble would have happened long ago. Now it can only be said that she has been dating Gao Jingshi for a long time. Regarding these The understanding of things has improved again.
Huang Zhiting said: "In the short term, Annan can buy horses; in the long term, you can also buy tussah silk and various tussah silk products in the future."
Horses are really a good thing in this era, and they are needed everywhere. There is a shortage of horses in Annan, that's for sure. The horses produced there are almost all kinds of short horses, including neighboring Guangxi.
This kind of pony can be used for transportation on mountain roads, or it can be used as a comfort horse for women and children to ride, but it is nonsense to use it for combat.
However, as far as Gao Pangshi knew, the terrain in Annan, and even the Indo-China Peninsula except for a few plains, seemed to be unsuitable for northern war horses, so Huang Zhiting probably considered this when she said "buying horses in the short term."
That is to say, Annan does need a group of war horses, but the quantity is limited. Of course, limited returns are limited, and transporting horses accounts for a large amount of transportation. This transaction can indeed avoid empty ships returning south.
As for buying tussah silkworm products in the future, that is a good thing, because the sericulture industry in southern Liaoning is a key arrangement of Gao pragmatism in southern Liaoning, and the future development will definitely be very fast - raising sericulture is actually not that difficult, and tussah silkworms He is also relatively easy to maintain, and he has engaged in "intensive training". At first glance, he is preparing for a large-scale explosion in output.
The two people then discussed the matter for a while, and generally agreed that the amount of horses Annan would buy was indeed not large, but it was not very small either. A fleet could buy about 500 horses at a time. Probably at the level of 2,000 horses a year.
In fact, not all of these horses will join the army when they arrive in Annan. Many people with higher social status will buy them, especially military generals, but that is not something Gao Wuzhi is interested in thinking about in detail now.
Speaking of which, Liaodong's economy was already very deformed. It was not easy to bring Liaodong and Annan together.
For example, in terms of agriculture, Liaodong is different from other parts of the country. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were 903,313 hectares of farmland in the country, including military and civilian villages, accounting for about 10.6% of the total cultivated area of 8,576,23 hectares at that time. two. So what was the situation in Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty? Liaodong is "no land except for farming." 29GG
"Quan Liao Zhi" records that "the fields were returned to the village for planting and the seeds were harvested, and the remaining soldiers of each army paid out the evidence every year for the public use. That is to say, taxation was imposed on the fields, such as the case of Heji, but always The whole town gathered together and cultivated the fields, nine out of ten." It can be seen that in the early Ming Dynasty, the land management form in Liaodong was mainly military settlements, which was an important feature of Liaodong's economy in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, this situation has changed later. First, the military nature of Liaodong's economy has gradually weakened; second, the general trend of Liaodong's economy has become increasingly dilapidated.
The economic and military nature of Liaodong is gradually weakening, which is mainly reflected in the decline of Liaodong's farming and the transformation of military farming into civilian farming from the early Yongle to the late Jiajing. Although the farming in Liaodong declined during this period, overall, Liaodong's economy was still developing.
According to the archives reviewed by Gao Jingshi since he was promoted to governor, the military settlements in Liaodong were most developed in the late years of Hongwu and the early years of Yongle. The farmland reached 25,378 hectares, and military settlements accounted for nine out of ten of the total cultivated land. In the 17th year of Yongle, there were only 21,171 hectares of farmland in Liaodong, a decrease of 4,207 hectares or 16.58% compared with the first year of Yongle.
Since then, the number of farms has gradually decreased. In the third year of Zhengde, the number of cultivated fields was 17,931 hectares, a decrease of 3,240 hectares compared with the 17th year of Yongle.
However, the civilian farmland was 21,593 hectares, an increase of more than 15,000 hectares compared with the early years of Yongle. At this time, farming only accounted for 45.37% of the cultivated land area.
In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, the amount of farmland was 10,924 hectares, a decrease of 7,000 hectares compared with the third year of Zhengde. The number of civilian fields was 27,491 hectares, an increase of nearly 6,000 hectares compared with the three years of Zhengde. Farming accounts for 28.44% of the cultivated land area, a significant decrease.
After Jiajing, the second change in Liaodong's economy was that it became increasingly dilapidated. Before the Jiajing period, although the military garrison in Liaodong was declining day by day, the civilian land was increasing. However, after the Jiajing period, both military settlements and civilian fields were decreasing day by day.
For example, last year, the tenth year of Wanli, there were 8,903 hectares of military settlements and 24,188 hectares of civilian farmland in Liaodong, with a total cultivated area of 33,091 hectares.
Compared with the late Jiajing period, military settlements decreased by more than 1,000 hectares, civilian farmland decreased by more than 3,000 hectares, and the total cultivated land area decreased by more than 4,000 hectares. If Gao Pragmatic's memory is correct, this development trend will become more serious in the period from the end of Wanli to Chongzhen in original history. There are various reasons, and there is no need to mention them for the time being.
The economic ruin of Liaodong is also reflected in the large number of Liao people fleeing. In the first year of Hongzhi, Liao people "fleeed more and more". In the seventh year of Wanli, "half of the soldiers and civilians fled" in the entire Liao Town.
Some "haunt the islands of Shandong to live in the fishing sea, avoiding the most important and taking the easy and never return." Some fled to the Jurchen settlements and worked for the Jurchen nobles to farm and serve.
In the last period of history, in Liaodong, "young and brave men died in Jianzhou." Pan Zongyan, a soldier in Kaiyuan Road, wrote, "When I went to Huan Tieling, the residents along the way were in groups of hundreds or thirty or fifty. Everyone in the group, no matter they were fifty or sixty, complained one after another, crying that they could not find grass beans to buy, that the local produce had been exhausted, and that all the spring seeds were gone. Seeing that the people now live without grains, they had no choice but to flee.
The situation is not that serious now, but it is beginning to have this trend, especially under the operational thinking implemented by Li Chengliang, who does not "defend the territory" very much, but tends to attack the opponent's troops, which has caused some areas to We are always hit by wars, and of course the economy is getting worse day by day.
The economic ruin caused Liao people to flee, and the flight of Liao people accelerated and aggravated the economic ruin of Liaodong. This is already a deadlock, and the only way to change Li Chengliang's combat thinking is to change it.
The economic status of Liaodong can generally be divided into three regions. The first is the area west of the Liao River, which is often invaded by the Mongolian occupation tribes. From the east of Shanhaiguan, the area around Ningyuan, Jinzhou, and Yizhou is "fertile but deserted", "the village fields have been exhausted", "there are no villages for more than 300 miles, and there are a few villages near Guangning, but they are as scattered as morning stars."
One hundred and eighty miles from the east of Guangning to the Sancha River, the yellow sand and white grass are all desolate as far as the eye can see. "The land is barren, but there is no one to cultivate it, the grain is in arrears, and there is no one to pay for it." The degree of desolation is such that "although there are forts along the edge, the number of soldiers and civilians in the forts is only forty or fifty, and the small number is only twenty."
For the Mongolian tribes, "there are no villages to rob in Ningqian." For the border generals of the Ming Dynasty, "Each general can only defend three or four forts, and there are no villages to protect him." Gao Pragmatic also passed through western Liaoning when he came to Liaodong to take office, and he knew this.
The second is the area east of the Liaohe River and north of Liaoyang. The area around Puhe, Xunhe, Kaiyuan and Tieling is "surrounded by barbarians on three sides". In the period of Wang Gao and Atai, "there was land but the army did not dare to plant it". Of course, the people did not dare to plant it, so the land had to be left to become barren. .
The third is the area east of the Liaohe River and south of Liaoyang. This area faces the sea on three sides and is less directly threatened and harassed by Mongolia. When the economies of the two Shishu areas were in ruins, this area became the "fundamental place of the entire Liao Dynasty." Even though "the land here has no profit, but there are many hillsides, sand and carbon, and the harvest is relatively small", it cannot save the general trend of economic collapse in Liao Dynasty, and the Yuemengzhan and Jurchen tribes have long been "coveted".
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Now Gao Pragmatic plans to bring these three areas together, but develop them with different priorities.
Liaonan belongs to the "inner line" and is not easily destroyed by military disasters, so the previous Liaonan plan is implemented as usual. In addition to southern Liaoning, Liaonan slightly to the north, that is, the Liaoyang area, is a key industrial area, mainly driven by the Anshan Iron Mine and Liaoyang Iron Works that are about to start construction. This area is classified as Liaoning by Gao Pragmatic South Plan.
As for the western Liaoning region, his idea was to change Li Chengliang's current fighting style and not always allow the Mongols to rush into the pass and plunder.
Because for the Mongols, the gains from looting were actually limited, but for the Ming Dynasty, the damage caused by looting was huge. This situation might not matter in one or two years, but it would be a bad thing in eight or ten years. Although Li Chengliang's tactics brought him a lot of military success and created a military success group, it did great damage to the economy of western Liaoning.
As for the northern Liaoning region, the main opponents here are more complicated. There are Mongolia in the northwest, and the Jurchens in the north, northeast, and east. The Jurchens are not particularly dishonest at the moment, but the trend is already a bit bad, and Gao Pragmatic is thinking of ways to change it.
But no matter how it is changed, it is inseparable from Liaodong's war and defense strategy. In one sentence: you can't develop if you are beaten every day. The nomads can still run away after being beaten all the time. The farming people like the Ming Dynasty can really run away. The monks can't run away from the temple. Even if people can run away, the fields cannot.
Therefore, even if corn is planted in Liaodong and Liaonan, and even develops within a few years, it is still difficult to save the entire economy of Liaodong just by relying on Liaonan. If the situation in western Liaoning and northern Liaoning does not change, Liaodong will always have to import grain from outside. Just fine.
It seems that Annan's grain "export" can continue for a while, at least until Gao pragmatism changes the entire Liaodong war and defense strategy.
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