When Wang Tingzhuan and Xiong Tingbi arrived, Gao Pangshi was in his room. As soon as the two came in, they saw Gao Yuanfu raising his head slightly, looking at a large map hanging on the wall and thinking deeply.
The two looked at each other, and Xiong Tingbi spoke first: "Yuan Fu, Captain Ting is here."
Gao pragmatic turned his head reluctantly, nodded to Wang Tingzhuan and said, "The lotus pond is here, please sit down." He then ordered Xiong Tingbi, "Fei Bai, please go make some tea."
Xiong Tingbi didn't know whether Gao Pragmatic really just asked him to urge his servants to make tea quickly, or whether he wanted to tell Wang Tingzhuan something that was inconvenient for him to hear first. But in any case, since Yuan Fu gave the order, he naturally just Neng left in response, leaving Wang Tingzhuan alone in the check-in room with Gao Pragmatic eye to eye.
"Rixin asked me to come, but what are your orders?" Wang Tingzhuan was a member of Gao Jingshi's inner circle after all, so he took the initiative to ask before Gao Jingshi could speak.
Gao pragmatic didn't treat him with the same tone as he did with other officials, and said directly: "Liantang, I will give you two days to organize everything in the house, and then set off to Ganzhou to take over as the governor of Gansu."
"Feibai gave me a general explanation of the situation in Gansu just now, but it may not be detailed. I wonder if Rixin has any more information?"
Wang Tingzhuan's wording is very interesting. On the one hand, he simply addressed Gao Pragmatically, without "brother" or "gong", but on the other hand, he also used "shixia", which is obviously the following word. This not only shows that he has an unusual relationship with Gao Pragmatism, but also clearly demonstrates his attitude of obeying Gao Pragmatism's orders at any time.
Things like interpersonal relationships often test a person's level more than writing, and Wang Tingzhuan is obviously one of the best. However, Gao Wuchen has no time to pay attention to these now - although he usually likes to judge a person's mentality at that time from the details.
"There are two things that I think Fei Bai is unlikely to know, and it is impossible to tell you." Gao Pragmatic smiled slightly and said: "First, the so-called Weilubao militia temporarily recruited when Liu Wei regained Suzhou was actually I have already arranged a group of servants in Weilu Fort. Previously, Weilu Fort was able to remain calm in the face of the Mongolian army that suddenly came to the city and defended the lonely fort for several months. This is also the reason why."
"No wonder, when I saw in the Di newspaper that Weilu Fort on the outskirts of Suzhou repelled the attack of Burihatu, I thought it was Xu Lizhai trying to make up for himself by choosing a Wubao that was not attacked by the Tatars to fool the court. I didn't expect that this happened, but...heh, it has nothing to do with Xu Lizhai."
After a pause, Wang Tingzhuan frowned slightly again, stared at Gao Pragmatic and asked: "I didn't expect Rixin to just tell me such a thing... Could it be that in addition to Weilu Fort in Gansu, Rixin also has other Are there any other pre-arranged arrangements?”
"This is exactly what I want to say to Liantang alone." Gao Pragmatic took out a note from his sleeve and handed it to Wang Tingzhuan, saying: "This contains the industrial layout of Jinghua in Gansu... and some surrounding areas. You Take a look."
Of course Wang Tingzhuan knew how powerful Jinghua was, but his previous "knowledge" was rather vague. Now he was really surprised when he took Gao Pragmatic's instructions.
In Gansu and "some surrounding areas" alone, Gao pragmatic records include fifteen mines, six fortress-level large warehouses, two horse farms, three arsenals, one large and two small, etc.
This note also clearly records the scale and production capacity of each industry. For example, among the fifteen mines, there is "Suzhou Weilupu Copper Mine, with an annual output of 230,000 kilograms of copper, and a mining team stationed there." "About three thousand people"; "The Jingtieshan Iron Mine in Suzhou has an annual output of 740,000 kilograms of iron and a mining team of about 2,600 people."
Wang Tingzhuan did a simple calculation and found that the Jinghua Jia Ding Army stationed about 27,000 people in this Chen Shang property alone! Even though they are nominally "mine protection teams", "factory protection teams" and the like, they sound just like the so-called militiamen in the local Wubao, but just looking at the record of Weilu Fort, we know that these people are probably better than Most officers and soldiers have stronger combat effectiveness.
For a moment, Wang Tingzhuan's heart was pounding, and he finally understood that Gao Pragmatic wanted to send Xiong Tingbi away first - this was amazing!
This force usually seems insignificant, but suppose, just suppose - Gao Pragmatic has gone crazy, and with these nearly 30,000 elite soldiers, if he suddenly launches a sneak attack, I am afraid that the entire Gansu will change hands in the blink of an eye!
Can 30,000 people capture Gansu, one of the nine borders? I'm afraid Burihatu disagrees with this statement. But the problem is that Burihatu cannot but represent high pragmatism, because the two of them have different identities, and their methods of "taking" Gansu are of course completely different.
If Burihatu comes to attack Gansu, he will attack from the outside in; if Gao Pragmatic wants to attack Gansu, he will attack from within! As long as a few key points are figured out and then a wave of false information is publicized, with luck, many places may actually be able to spread the word.
Besides, although the imperial court talks about "nine sides", the strength of these "nine sides" is not the same or even close. To put it crudely, Jiliao Xuanda is on the first level, and the remaining towns are on the other level.
The nine borders of the Ming Dynasty are, from east to west, Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town (also known as Taiyuan Town), Yansui Town, Guyuan Town, Ningxia Town, and Gansu Town.
The total military strength of Jiubian Town changed greatly in various periods of the Ming Dynasty. It was about 680,000 during the Yongle period, and later it remained between 400,000 and 900,000. In the original history, the number of troops reached its peak around the forty-eighth year of Wanli, reaching 885,000. Afterwards, after changes in various periods, during the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty, the military strength was 590,000.
Liaodong Town starts from Fenghuang City (later Fengcheng City) in the east and ends at Shanhaiguan in the west, with a total length of nearly two thousand miles. The city defense system is divided into five levels: town city, road city, acropolis, suo city and fort city. There are two towns, Liaoyang City and Guangning City. As mentioned earlier in this book, Liaodong is actually divided into two parts: west of the Liaohe River and east of the Liaohe River.
There are five military garrison cities under the town: east, south, west, north and middle, which are road cities. Each city is in charge of twenty-five guards. The theoretical full strength of each guard is 5,600, but in reality there are more and less. Some important guard posts have long-term over-staffing, and some have long-term shortages.
Some guards built separate defensive acropolis, such as the famous Ningyuan Acropolis. There are 127 guards in Liaodong, and the city they rely on is Suocheng, which is relatively small in scale. The lowest level is Fort City, also known as Taibao, with 107 buildings.
The urban defense system of Jiubian Town is generally similar, so the urban defense situation of other military towns can be referred to Liaodong Town without repeated introduction. Let’s talk about the military strength of Jiubian in detail.
During the Yongle period, the garrison strength in Liaodong Town was 230,000. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the garrison strength was between 70,000 and 90,000. In the forty-eighth year of Wanli in original history, the military strength of Liaodong Town reached a historical high of 260,000. However, although there are many people, their combat effectiveness is very poor, and many soldiers are on empty pay. When they really encounter war, they often encounter the embarrassing situation of having no soldiers available.
As for the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty, because Liaodong had been lost, the military strength was reduced to more than 80,000. Due to the continuous wars in Liaodong Town in recent years, although the Korean War has ended, due to the new attachment of North Korea, Liaodong still needs to maintain a certain degree of military deterrence, so Liaodong Town has not considered downsizing for the time being, and its current strength is still about 180,000.
Jizhou Town is actually the largest military town in the Jiubian Design. It stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east to Mutianyu in the west, with a total length of more than 1,700 miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was set at 85,000, and by the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was nearly 130,000.
However, the current military strength of Jizhen exceeds that of the Chongzhen Dynasty in the original history. Because after Gao Gong's reform, the intermediate node of the Western Huaidong system is Jizhen, so Jizhen actually has a "function". The west has to support the west when something happens, and the east has to support the west. If there is something to support the east, then of course the troops must be relatively sufficient.
Although nearly twenty years have passed, this particularity of Jizhen has not changed. Therefore, the actual military strength of Jizhen is often as high as about 170,000-180,000, which has remained unchanged for many years.
Xuanfu Town starts from Mutian Valley in the east and ends at Xiyang River in the west, with a total length of thousands of miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was about 126,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was more than 80,000.
But at present, Xuanfu's military strength far exceeds the above two time points. Because the practical school continues to be strong in the court, Xuanfu, a border town with high pragmatism and direct lineage, is almost always strengthened immediately, including not only new firearms , also includes military strength. All in all, Xuanfu Town currently has more than 130,000 troops.
Datong Town starts from Zhenkootai in the east and ends at Yajiao Mountain in the west, with a total length of about 650 miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was 135,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was more than 76,000. Also because of the high pragmatism, Datong's current military strength is slightly lower than that of the Yongle Dynasty, but it is still about 120,000.
Xuanfu and Datong towns are adjacent to each other and are relatively small in area. It seems that they do not need such a large force - the two towns total 250,000. However, the problem is not that simple. The "Three Towns in Shanxi" are bounded by Tumut in the north and Ordos in the west. If there are no heroes in the town, how can we ensure that these two towns are honest?
Never forget the pragmatic principles of economic control and military deterrence. If there is only military, the two sides may fall into a long-term tug of war, and everyone will lose together; if there is only economy, how do you know that the Mongolians will not think that "doing business is too troublesome, so it is better to just rob"?
Since we have mentioned the "Three Towns in Shanxi", let's continue talking about the towns in Shanxi except Xuanda. Shanxi Town is also called Taiyuan Town, starting from the Great Wall of Zhenbao Town in the east and ending at Piantou Pass on the bank of the Yellow River in the west. Because Shanxi Town is located on the inner side (south) of the Great Wall in Datong and Xuanfu towns, it is also called the Inner Great Wall. The main function is to prevent the enemy troops from advancing straight in after the outer Great Wall defense line is breached.
As the second line of defense, Shanxi Town has relatively few troops. During the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was 53,000. It is not much higher now, about 65,000-70,000.
Then there is Yansui Town, which starts from Huangfuchuan Fort in the east and ends at Huamachi in the west, with a total length of more than 1,700 miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was 25,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was approximately 45,000. The current military strength is also between these two periods, about 37,000 to less than 40,000.
Guyuan Town starts from the west boundary of Raoyang Water Fort in Yansui Town in the east and reaches Lanzhou and Lintao in the west, with a total length of about one thousand miles. To talk about this town alone, in the early Ming Dynasty, there were only three towns in the northwest region, Yansui, Ningxia, and Gansu. However, because the battle lines were too long and the distance was far away, once a war happened, the three towns could not communicate with each other. Therefore, in During the Hongzhi period, Guyuan Town was added.
The town's military strength was nearly 60,000 during the Chongzhen period, and it is almost the same number now. At the beginning of Burihatu's attack on Gansu, the imperial court did not even think about sending troops to support Li Wen, the trilateral governor who was based in Guyuan. One of the reasons was that Guyuan did not have many troops and they fought relatively few battles. Pragmatically, I have some doubts about the combat effectiveness of Guyuan Town.
Ningxia Town starts from Huamachi in the east and ends at the north bank of the Yellow River in Xiquegou, Zhongwei, Ningxia in the west, with a total length of about two thousand miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was about 70,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was about 25,000. The current garrison strength is about 30,000. Because after Gao pragmatism put down the Northwest Rebellion, this area and Ordos were greatly frightened, so There is no need to have too many garrison troops now.
Finally, there is Gansu Town, the protagonist of this game. The southeastern part of Gansu Town starts from the north bank of the Yellow River in Lanzhou in later generations, and reaches the northwest to Jiayuguan Tuolai River area, with a total length of about 1,600 miles. During the Yongle period, the garrison strength was about 96,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison strength was about 40,000. However, the current garrison strength is about 60,000 and less than 70,000.
As mentioned before, Ganzhou, as the garrison of the governor of Gansu, is where Gansu's military strength is concentrated, but it can only reach 30,000 troops. So, how many soldiers can there be in other places in the 1,600-mile-long "city belt"? Except for "Suzhou + Jiayuguan", none of the other cities have a permanent military strength of "ten thousand".
Wang Tingzhuan read it quickly, jotted it down carefully, then took a deep breath and asked tentatively: "Rixin told me this, hoping that I would ensure the safety of these places?"
"Huh? No, of course not." Gao Pingshi shook his head and said, "You may not believe it, but I don't care much about how much money I have. Otherwise, I wouldn't come up with something almost only Jinghua has from time to time. Enough to qualify for the tax to be paid.
I tell you this because I want to say that all the servants stationed in the above places can be called upon after you arrive in Gansu. I have also said this to Liu Wei, but he is a front-line commander. Even if he needs to be mobilized, he will only mobilize those closest to him, just like Wei Lubao this time. He called this group of people because the surprise attack needed to pass through Weilu Fort.
I am authorizing you now because I hope you will not regard these people as my private soldiers and use them as they should. This Western Expedition is of great significance, and the goal is much larger than you know now. However, due to logistical system problems, the imperial army that can be mobilized is very limited, so you must make full use of the troops I give you.
These people have been stationed in Gansu for a long time and have adapted to the local environment. Mines, warehouses, horse farms, etc. also have sufficient stocks of food, ordnance and gunpowder. When you use them, the logistical pressure will be much less than that of the imperial army. ...Liantang, do you understand what I mean? "
"Tingzhuan understands." Wang Tingzhuan raised his hands and said seriously: "There is no second person in the world who sacrifices his family for the country."
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
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(End of chapter)
