Although there are civil and military differences between the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office, their positions are consistent when it comes to the issue of military combat effectiveness.
Tie Xuan and Xu Huizu's point of view is very clear: war horses are fighting power.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Yang Shiqi and said calmly: "Tell me your reasons. If you can't convince them, how can you convince me."
Yang Shiqi heard the implication of Zhu Yunwen's words. The emperor supported him, but if he wanted to change the current Ma Zheng, he needed sufficient reasons.
There are many reasons.
Yang Shiqi left the mission and shouted in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, I have three considerations. First, it has been more than 30 years since the Taipu Temple was established in the sixth year of Hongwu and the people were forced to herd horses. Eleven households in the south of the Yangtze River One horse is raised in each household, and one horse is raised in five households in Jiangbei. If the foal is not properly maintained, the foal will die of illness, and the people will need to compensate."
"A horse costs a year, at least six to eighty taels of money. How much money do ordinary people have left after a busy year? They spend the only money they have saved to raise horses. The people are poor and slightly sick. If it is difficult, it will be unsustainable. The people herding war horses has become a harsh government, and the people will suffer for a long time."
Xu Huizu frowned.
??????????????????Harsh government, is this a bit too much?
Taking Jiangbei as an example, five households share 8 taels, which means each family only gets 1 tael or 6 yuan a year. Can’t the common people even come up with this little money?
Yang Shiqi raised the wat board and continued: "Secondly, although the people and herdsmen have achieved results for more than 30 years, they have achieved little results. As far as I know, in the 30th year of Hongwu, the people and herdsmen turned in eight thousand war horses, but they were able to There are less than 900 people who are suitable to serve as cavalry in the military camp."
"Raising horses by the people is like raising cattle and sheep. They are not good at running and cannot travel far. Moreover, the horses are thin and have little fat, making them difficult to adapt to the severe cold border areas. In the 31st year of Hongwu, a report was made to the border that more than 700 war horses died of exhaustion and frostbite. Most of them come from civilian herds and war horses. I can't help but ask myself, the harsh government has harmed people's hearts and has exhausted the efforts of the people. Especially if we can't get enough war horses, do we really want to continue?"
Tie Xuan looked at Xu Huizu, who was silent.
That's right, people raise horses, and the horses they raise are often just horses, not war horses. They are used to pull things and travel short distances. It is difficult to run long distances and fight thousands of miles.
Who among the common people is proficient in raising horses? Their logic is to feed the horses grass, wait for them to eat and drink, and just take a stroll. But this way of raising horses can only make good horses useless!
War horses require a foundation from an early age, running and exercising from time to time.
If you ask a sprint horse that usually only runs one mile to suddenly run thirty or fifty miles, the horse won't be able to bear it and won't be able to run. In addition, most of the war horses bred by civilians were malnourished and not tall enough. They were selected according to the standards of cavalry. Indeed, many horses could not be used and could only be used as horses for pulling carriages and carrying goods.
The long-term existence of this phenomenon is also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty has been raising horses for thirty years but has never been able to support the court's demand for war horses. After all, more than 10,000 horses were lost in one battle, and it would take the private sector seven or eight years to replace them.
Zhu Yunwen stared at Yang Shiqi and asked in shock: "Of the eight thousand people herding horses, less than nine hundred can enter the military camp?"
Yang Shiqi solemnly replied: "If this is true, you can ask the Ministry of War."
Tie Xuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer: "What Yang Ge said is true, but having 900 war horses every year is better than not having any war horses at all."
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand and waved Tie Xuan away: "Eight thousand are only nine hundred. If I want to get ten thousand war horses, I need the people to raise one hundred thousand horses? Such a number is shocking!"
Yang Shiqi nodded heavily and said again: "Third, the Qilian Mountain Racecourse has been in operation for many years and can transport no less than four thousand war horses to the imperial court every year.
After the defeat of Tamerlane, the Tianshan Racecourse in Western Xinjiang was established. It has been more than two years since the beginning of the seventh year of Jianwen. Starting next year, war horses can be delivered to the court. It is expected that there will be no less than 5,000 war horses per year. In addition, other horses in Taipu Temple War horses are raised locally, and the imperial court can increase the number of war horses by more than 13,000 every year. "
"I believe that with the increase of 13,000 war horses every year, in five years, the number of war horses in the imperial court will exceed 250,000, and in ten years, the number of war horses will be between 400,000 and 500,000. I believe that the number of official and animal husbandry horses in the Qilian Mountains will be There are two major horse farms in Tianshan and Duoyanwei paying tribute, the ancient tea horse road, and the Wala-Tatar mutual trade, so there is no need for the imperial court to force the common people to herd horses."
Zhu Yunwen planned to capture Hami, capture Yili, and occupy the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. Especially the battle with Tamerlane allowed the Ming Dynasty to obtain a large number of war horses at once, which brought great changes to the Ming Dynasty's horse administration and also brought a large number of horses. Excellent horse breeds have laid the foundation for Tianshan Racecourse.
Yang Shiqi's estimate is reliable. There are no large-scale wars to fight in the Ming Dynasty now, and the urgency for war horses is no longer as high as it was during the Hongwu period. Although the Ming Dynasty and Oara and Tatar would have to fight several times sooner or later, Zhu Yunwen liked to fight once and for all. If he wanted to fight, he would completely conquer and completely control it, instead of several northern expeditions like Hongwu and Yongle in history.
Hongwu and Yongle were both great men. Hongwu had always wanted to eliminate Beiyuan, but unfortunately he fought several times and suffered a lot of losses. Later, he didn't even have many horses anymore, and he no longer had the capital to go deep.
Yongle had a lot of capital, and had hundreds of thousands of troops in one trip. However, these troops were mainly infantry, and there were not many cavalry, making it difficult to pursue them in depth. In addition, the large number of people and heavy logistics delayed the march, and others moved. He was still hanging around behind.
In the final analysis, it was not that they were incapable of defeating or even annihilating the Bei Yuan or the Wala Tatars, but that they lacked war horses and the capital to stay deep, stationed for a long time, fight continuously, and pursue the enemy to the end.
Zhu Yunwen believed that he could solve these problems and launch a truly decisive war to completely surrender the grassland.
Now that the number of official and herd war horses has increased, we should not continue to allocate the common people to raise horses.
Zhu Yunwen thought about it again and again, and finally made up his mind: "Let the cabinet draw up a decree to announce that the land for people to herd and the people's home, all the herd horses allocated by the court will be returned to the government. After the government registers them, they will be sold to the people or businessmen. In the future, there will be no more people to herd." In order to compensate the people for their hard work in herding horses, during the Hongwu period, one person was allowed to be exempted from corvee service for five years as usual."
Tie Xuan and Xu Huizu wanted to object, but could not find a suitable reason.
Yang Shiqi won the respect of hundreds of officials. With his wisdom and courage, he moved a mountain that was weighing on the heads of hundreds of thousands of households in the south and north of the Yangtze River, allowing many "pastures" to return to farmland.
Although Ma Zheng had reformed, the affairs of Taipus Temple were not over. Xia Yunzhong, Zhang Yongxiu, Wang Dong and others were escorted to the capital. After verification, they were imprisoned to be executed, and the rectification of Taipus Temple also began.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate did not miss this opportunity to rectify the officialdom. They bit them when they caught them and refused to let them go. In just ten days, more than thirty Taipu Temple officials were punished.
In this process, the supervisory censors Zhang Zizhen, Xia Xun, and Chen Wenru made great contributions and became the best among the officials. Gu Jinghai, who never uttered curse words and had a sharp writing style, even received a transfer order and went directly from the Imperial College to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and became a famous official.
Dai Deyi and Lian Zining didn't care that Gu Jinghai had scolded the Metropolitan Procuratorate. This guy dared to scold people and was not afraid of offending them. He was the best public servant.
Facts have proved that Gu Jinghai is not a speculative politician. On the second day after entering the Metropolitan Procuratorate, before his leaders and colleagues knew him well, he wrote a memorial directly impeaching the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
This guy is so cruel that he even impeaches himself...
Dai Deyi was bitter, and Lian Zining was a little helpless, but Gu Jinghai's impeachment was not groundless, nor was it a rumor, but a matter of fact and straight to the point, pointing out the inefficiency of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the inaction of the censors, especially the local censors. , I can't even write two impeachment documents all year round, what are you doing? It should be mandatory to supervise the censor down to the local level, and no less than twelve impeachment memorials should be written in a year.
As for whether the person to be impeached is the Chief Registrar, the County Magistrate, the Magistrate, or the Chief Envoy, it’s up to you. It must be truthful, responsible to the end, and quantitative. .
Dai Deyi was a little frightened. You, Gu Jinghai, can write five impeachment memorials in a month. Could it be that others can too? Aren’t you afraid of wrongfully accusing good people if you force the quantity?
Could it be that there is nothing good in the local area, and we have to impeach indiscriminately even if there is no problem?
Considering that Gu Jinghai's fighting ability was really strong and he didn't recognize his relatives, Dai Deyi was also worried about falling into his hands, so he simply entrusted Gu Jinghai with an important task and arranged for Gu Jinghai to go to Jiangxi for inspection.
While the Ma Zheng case was going on, the Fifth Army Governor's Office and the Ministry of War jointly submitted a petition requesting the establishment of a cavalry and artillery battalion in the Beijing Army to first explore and test tactics combining cavalry and artillery, and to study firearms and tactics adapted to the cavalry.
Zhu Yunwen readily agreed, and pulled out Zhu Di, who was hiding in Prince Yan's mansion with his grandson, and asked him to be responsible for the formation and training of the cavalry artillery battalion.
Ever since he returned to Beijing after the victory in Qamdo, Zhu Di had "disappeared". Everyone who came to visit him was thanked behind closed doors and no one was seen. He only shows up once or twice a year, and he is still the kind of person who can't escape, such as visiting Lao Zhu's tomb.
Zhu Di knew that although Zhu Yunwen was not afraid of his great achievements and shocking his master, he was afraid that he would get carried away after being complacent and end up on a path of no return.
Now Zhu Yunwen has been in control of the Ming Dynasty for nine years. In the past nine years, he has developed literary and military strategies, expanded territories, and developed culture and education. Whether he is a sergeant or a scholar, whether he is a common person or a businessman, whether he is a craftsman or a doctor, all recognize Zhu Yunwen , support Zhu Yunwen.
The people's hearts are stable and the country is stable, which is unshakable.
Under this situation, Zhu Di would rather hide at home with his grandson Zhu Zhanji than have more contact with the sergeant, so as not to arouse Zhu Yunwen's concerns, official impeachment, and the security bureau's following...
But Zhu Yunwen did not intend to forget Zhu Di. Although after several wars, the Ming Dynasty had many new generals, such as Zhang Fu, Yuan Yue, Duan Yun, Zhou Dazhi, etc., Zhu Di was the only one and it was difficult to be replaced.
There are many talented generals, but there are very few talented commanders and generals, and Zhu Di is the one.
Zhu Yunwen once again used Zhu Di, and the establishment of the cavalry and artillery battalion opened a new chapter in the firearms innovation of the Ming Dynasty. The traditional infantry-type magic machine camp gradually weakened, and the tactics of combining artillery and cavalry began to sprout...
