Low dark clouds shrouded the plains on the north bank of Sushui. An old man and a young man were walking in the wilderness leading a skinny old horse. The wheat fields on both sides had already grown ears - a large area of cultivated land had been abandoned for two years due to the war and was no longer cultivated.
The fertility has increased a lot, and the heavy wheat ears slightly bend the orange stems, swaying in the breeze.
The farmers working in the fields did not have much joy on their faces. They looked numbly and dullly as the old man and the young man led the old horse towards the village on the broken slope in the north.
After summer, the mighty Sushui River flows almost parallel to the lower reaches of the Fen River and merges into the Yellow River. The southern area of Puzhou where it flows is where the famous Jiechi Salt Land is located.
Since the late dynasty of the previous dynasty invented the method of cultivating salt from borderlands, the salt output of Jiechi has greatly increased. During the Tianxuan period, Jiechi once produced 800,000 tons of salt annually, which was sold in Qinlong, Fan and Deng, Yan Dynasty, Zhou and Song Dynasties and other places.
In the early years of Dai Viet, Cai salt trading method was practiced, that is, the court recruited tea and salt merchants to send money, grain and grass to the border areas, and awarded salt (tea) banknotes (salt tea notes) according to the value, so that they could hold the vouchers to Puzhou, Jianghuai and other places.
Receive tea and salt, then transfer them to designated prefectures and counties to sell for profit, and then directly pay money to buy salt tea notes (Yan Cha Yin).
During the Tianxuan period, Jiechi produced 800,000 quintals of salt annually. Each quintal of salt was converted into one salt citation and a payment of 6,000 yuan was required.
Chi can contribute 4.8 million yuan in annual income to the central government's wealth in a year.
After Chihu occupied the Hezhong area, in order to restore production in Jiechi as soon as possible, nearly 20,000 soldiers and their families moved to Puzhou and implemented the military household system to strengthen their control over the entire Hedong area.
, it took two or three years before Heluo implemented the military household system.
Young men from military families have been enlisted in the army for long periods of time to fight in the army. Even if they seize large areas of land locally, there is not enough labor to cultivate it. Or the young men may be killed or wounded on the battlefield, but their young sons have not yet grown up and cannot be drafted into the army.
Unable to guarantee the number of soldiers in the battalion, the Zhennan Zong Palace recruited civilian households on the spot as military households, merging them with regular military households into one military household.
The Prince of Zhennan Zong also stipulated that members of the regular military household should sign up to join the army, and the Tiejun household would provide money and food or contribute to cultivating the land. When the regular military household was short of soldiers, the Tiejun household could sign people into the army, and the regular military household would provide the necessary money and food.
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In this way, the Prince of Zhennan Zong guaranteed the surrender of Han soldiers and low support costs.
At this time, the people cultivating the fields along the Sushui River were either tenants who rented the fields of military households, or they were slaves who were driven to the fields by military households. They endured more harsh exploitation, and the wheat ears in the fields grew longer and longer.
Being plump has nothing to do with them. How can there be a smile on their face?
However, the children were not aware of the sufferings of the world, or had little memory of the bloody massacres in the early years. When they saw two salesmen, an old man and a young man, leading a thin horse towards the village, they all cheered to welcome them.
Dozens of children circled around the two cargo baskets carried by the thin horses. Although there was not a single coin in their pockets, it did not stop them from staring eagerly at the novelty toys stuck on the cargo baskets.
Two salesmen, an old man and a young man, have been walking along the Sushui River all year round. They knew what was lacking in the village, or they had agreed on it in advance. After entering the village, they would first deliver the agreed goods to the owner.
At home, it was getting dark after all the busy work. They were not busy setting out baskets of goods for the villagers in the village to pick up, but instead stayed in the homes of familiar people to rest.
The young junior was sitting huddled on the haystack under the eaves and taking a nap, seemingly watching the thin horses grazing in the yard. The people in the house didn't speak loudly, but the doors and windows were leaky everywhere, and the yard was only surrounded by adobe walls half a person's height.
After that, outsiders can easily bypass the bamboo fence and walk in. They have to guard against anyone approaching unintentionally. Young students can only watch in the yard vigilantly and listen to the intermittent sounds coming from the house:
"This is the number of recruits from several nearby villages - this is going to be a big war! The mountains have been relatively calm recently, do you want to cooperate with Hu Gouzi?"
"We are about to fight a big battle, but the military commander currently hopes to send out as little as possible in the mountains, stay quiet and recuperate, be patient as much as possible, and reduce his own injuries. Only by preserving himself can we attack Hu more powerfully.
Gouzi. Hu Gouzi is going to make a big move in the south, but he has to wait until Hu Gouzi draws away the troops here. There are not so many soldiers stationed there, and everyone can join forces to carry out destruction - then even if they let
If they don't transport a load of salt, a load of grain, or an animal to the rivers and Huaihe Rivers, it's all a victory..."
At that time, Xu Huai followed Emperor Jianji and led the army guarding the mausoleum to cross the river and go north, passing through Sushui and heading east through Taiyue Mountain to Zezhou. In order to hide his whereabouts, he used the Wuzhai along the Sushui coast that had not yet fallen as a springboard to march out by day and night.
Some seeds were left in the area and became the underground communication network of the Military Intelligence Department behind enemy lines. While contacting the rebels who persisted in fighting in Taiyue Mountain and Luliang Mountain, they also collected intelligence information from various places.
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The military households that filled the Hezhong area, especially the military personnel who surrendered to the vassal army, were not so wary of the native locals; of course, they could only enslave and exploit the locals in order to be generous and dominate the poor farmers.
Good days on earth.
This is more beneficial for collecting some sensitive information.
As intelligence from various places was gradually collected in Biyang, almost before August, the production department had figured out the scale of the troops that Zhennan Zong Palace planned to assemble in the middle road this autumn and winter.
"In the west of Beijing, the enemies of Heluo imitated the Chihu people's Qixue Army (Suwei Forbidden Army) system and implemented the second-order garrison method. Each military household signed a soldier, and every ten soldiers were divided into two parts for garrison rotation.
Soldiers return home in March and return to camp in October. Some return home in October and return to the army in March. This can almost guarantee the size of the permanent Han army of about 80,000 people on average. However, military orders have been issued in western Beijing and Heluo.
The soldiers at home will return to camp before September, and the soldiers in camp will also postpone their return home. A total of 160,000 Han troops from Jingxi and Heluo can be mobilized by October; while from Hedong and Bianliang
The scale of the Han army signing for the southern transfer in other places is about 80,000. In addition, the Zhennan Zong Palace’s mobilization of garrison troops this time may be as high as 60,000..."
In August, when the Kuomintang retreated slightly, Xu Huai mainly recalled the officials to Biyang to hold a war preparation meeting.
The Chihu people currently divide the Yanyun area formerly affiliated with Khitan, Hexi area affiliated with Dangxiang, and Longyou, Shaanxi, Hedong, Hebei, Heluo, Jingxi, Jingdong and other places into the Jingpanzong Palace and the Zhennan Zong Palace.
, Ping Yanzong's palace is divided into three occupied areas for management, which also correspond to the west line, middle line, and east line of the Qinling-Huaihe defense line.
The Prince of Zhennan Zong was the first to implement the military household system in the occupied areas. Including the soldiers and horses from Guanzhong who moved eastward, the general management of the soldiers and horses had a total of 360,000 households.
With the second-order garrison method, the Zhennan Zong Palace would normally maintain a regular Han army of 180,000 in the occupied area, but this does not mean that the extreme mobilization of the Han army would only be 360,000.
In addition to three to five military households, each military household usually has more than one young man in the military household. Just like when Beijing and Xiang recruited hungry people, the total number of troops stationed was more than 440,000, but
In terms of village households, there are even less than 200,000 households, with an average of 2.2 young men per household.
Considering that Tiejun households are basically local civilian households that have been forcibly merged and bear great servitude, even if they are sent out in a short period of time, they will not have much combat effectiveness. Theoretically, the maximum mobilization limit of the Han army in Zhennanzong Palace is about
About 600,000 to 700,000 - mainly from the surrendered Imperial Army, local state soldiers, and rural soldiers.
However, Zhennan Zong's palace's occupation of Hehuai and other places is still limited. Not only is it difficult to achieve absolute and effective control, but production in most areas has not yet recovered, and it is destined to be unable to carry out extreme signings.
In particular, the Guanzhong troops and horses with strong combat effectiveness need to move eastward from the Guanzhong occupied area to Bianliang and Xiangzhou, Weizhou and other places on the north bank of the Yellow River for resettlement, and their mobilization capabilities are even more limited.
Based on a lot of collected intelligence, the Military Intelligence Department believes that the size of the Han army that the Red Husbands gathered on the battlefield in the middle of this autumn and winter is about 230,000 to 40,000.
In addition to the Han army, the Chihu people recruited a large number of elite soldiers from their own tribe and the surrendered tribes in the early days when they invaded south. A considerable part of these troops will be stationed in the area for a long time.
Occupied area - the expedition and garrison troops composed of the elites of the Red Husbands and the elites of various colors. The Red Husbands are also called the Pioneer Army (Tanma Red Army).
There are a total of 80,000 elite vanguard troops under the jurisdiction of Zhennan Zong Wangfu Ululu Lie.
The Military Intelligence Department estimates that the Zhennan Zong Palace will transfer three-quarters of its elite vanguard troops to the frontline battlefield, which will still put everyone under great pressure.
"On the Wuguan-Xichuan line on our west wing, the Shangluo, Luonan and other places we face have been completely taken over by General Meng Tulie under the command of King Jingpan Zong - except for King Jingpan Kusigu who once coveted the throne and became the leader of Zhennan
In addition to being hindered by Wang Wulu Lie and Pingyan King Tu Ge, it is impossible not to have conflicts. The time for the Chihu people to conquer the Dangxiang people is still short. Even if they can drive thousands of Dangxiang troops to the battlefield, their combat effectiveness will not be better than that of the early surrender troops.
No matter how strong the Han army is, it is still inferior to weapons. In Xinyang, east of Luoshan, the German army is stationed in Huangchuan and other places. The morale of the middle and lower-level generals is relatively stable. Unless the enemy troops cross the Huaihe River in large numbers and besiege Huangchuan and other cities, the German army will
It should be able to maintain stability in a short period of time, which will make our east and west wings temporarily face less pressure. However, it is the front line of the mountains. We need to consider that after the Ruying and other waters freeze in the cold winter, they will face a massive attack by the enemy.
, the Military Intelligence Department advocated abandoning the outlying villages and evacuating all troops to Qingyi Ridge, the hinterland of Dafu Mountain..."
The biggest difficulty in defending Rucai is not only that the frontal battlefield is relatively open and scattered, but the flanks also face many unstable factors and are under considerable military pressure.
Sun Yanzhou and Hu Dangzhou came to the front with Hu Lumei before they surrendered. After their surrender, the movements of the German Army formed by them have always been the focus of the Military Intelligence Department.
It is of course difficult for the Military Intelligence Department to detect what Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others were thinking, but if Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others wanted to surrender to the Red Husbands, there was no way they would not pull their troops over.
And the 30,000 troops returned to the German army are not tools. They can be pulled immediately if they are told to pull.
This often requires a long period of preparation and subtle mobilization.
Before the Dongjing Lake Bandits were wiped out, the Military Intelligence Department sent a group of secret agents to infiltrate the Dongjing Lake Bandits. It also developed some secret agents within the Dongjing Lake Bandits. After the Dongjing Lake Bandits were recruited and reorganized into the German army, these secret agents were not recovered.
In order to keep track of the movements of the returning German troops...
