Chapter 604: Logistics Preparations for the Northern Expedition
While the Jin Yiwei was arresting the Kong family and their accomplices, Zhu Youxiao, who was in the capital, was not idle either.
The strategy for the two-pronged northern expedition has been basically decided, and the next step is to start planning the route for dispatching troops and arranging logistics supply issues.
He issued a decree to him a few days ago, although he did not clearly tell him the specific plan and time of the Ming army's northern expedition to Horqin.
But it also explained that he would also need to send troops for this battle, and the Ming army would only provide part of the equipment and prepare their own food and grass.
Unexpectedly, King Shunyi sent him a memorandum, expressing tactfully that we were really too poor and struggled to survive the winter.
Their various tribes are now in short supply of all kinds of materials. Let alone fighting, they don't even have a full meal to eat.
If you want them to send troops, let's not talk about paying them, but at least let everyone have enough food.
Perhaps it was because there had never been such good times, and the Ming Dynasty had been providing money and food in the past few days.
King Shunyi has also become a little arrogant recently. He thinks that he is nominally attached to the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it is a cooperative relationship.
After all, this was always the case when Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty had good relations in the past. The Ming Dynasty opened mutual trade and enthroned the leaders of one tribe as kings to command the rest of the subordinate tribes.
It's a pity that he didn't realize that the biggest difference between him and the previous Mongolian leaders was that he had no soldiers.
Most of the young men in his own tribe and the tribes he surrendered to are now part of the Ming army.
Therefore, after Zhu Youxiao saw it, he almost couldn't resist the idea of sending troops to beat him directly.
The Mongolian tribes were indeed not rich, although Zhu Youxiao gave them some preferential treatment and opened up mutual markets for bilateral transactions.
But he has been restricting the export of supplies to ensure that they can live a better life than before, but not to let them eat too much.
But King Shunyi openly said that he was poor. It seemed that he really thought he was easy to deceive.
You must know that most of the men in the prime of life from the tribes they surrendered to were basically recruited by him to serve as soldiers in the military camp.
Today, Xiaoqi Camp has a total of 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, and Xuanfu and Datong also have three to five thousand.
Zhu Youxiao has always attached great importance to the army. After the military reform, the monthly salary of soldiers was much higher than before.
In military towns such as Xuanfu, Datong, and Liaodong where reforms have been basically completed, soldiers' basic military pay is equivalent to one tael of silver per month, or twelve taels a year.
Weapons, armor, shoes and other items are all extra.
This standard is already comparable to Qi Jiajun and Yu Dayou's Tengpai soldiers.
As for the Emperor's personal army, the Yulin Army was even higher.
Although Zhu Youxiao has made adjustments several times, it is still the most powerful army in Xiangyin.
A soldier's monthly basic military pay is equivalent to one tael or five taels, which works out to 18 taels a year.
Moreover, the cavalry received a higher salary than the infantry. Their military pay was two taels of silver.
Xiaoqi camp has 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, and he has to pay 40,000 taels of silver every month just for military pay.
If it weren't for Zhu Youxiao's frequent house raids and his overflowing private coffers, he would not have dared to offer such a high salary.
And these Mongolian cavalry earn two taels of silver every month, and they have no worries about food and clothing in the military camp. The money will naturally be used to improve the lives of their families.
Moreover, he had officials and guards in uniform watching over them from the grassland. He knew very well what their living standards were like and whether they were poor or not.
So he sent another edict to him, stating directly that I will give you food, clothing, and support, and then start crying about poverty after asking you to do something?
How about I just stop the mutual market and let Man Gui and Li Wensheng take their soldiers and horses to go for a stroll on the grassland?
The threat and intimidation in it made King Shunyi wake up instantly.
After waking up from his sweet dream and being reminded by Zhu Youxiao, he finally realized that they could live a stable life because of the emperor's gift.
He quickly expressed that he had no second thoughts and was willing to send troops to join the Ming army in the northern expedition to Horqin.
But in Zhu Youxiao's heart, he had already put him on the death list, and he believed that it was necessary to strengthen the differentiation of the strength of the various Mongolian tribes and their dependence on the Ming Dynasty.
But this is something that will happen later. Currently, they still have value, so Zhu Youxiao decided to endure it for now.
He is not very worried about Liaodong. He has already stored a large amount of military rations in Liaoyang.
Moreover, he can ensure logistics through Shanhaiguan and Denglai Military Town, both on land and water.
What really needs planning and arrangement is mainly Xuanda's Northern Expedition Army.
The number of Xuan Dajun was not large. There were 8,000 in both towns, and the total number was only 16,000.
But the problem is that these 16,000 are all cavalry, and they are all equipped with one person and two horses.
But the Horqin tribe is located more than a thousand miles away.
Moreover, it is still a vast grassland, and after the Gobi desert, it is not easy to cross it smoothly.
In the past, there were many hostile forces of the Ming Dynasty in the Monan Grassland. He could also ensure part of the supply of the army by supporting war through war and reduce the pressure on logistics.
But in the Monan Grassland today, the remaining Mongolian tribes have basically all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and the rest either surrendered and became slaves or fled far away to Mobei.
Therefore, this time, if Xuan's army wanted to pass through Monan smoothly, or even return without success, the logistics supply line would be a big problem.
It's more than a thousand miles. How many troops and how much military supplies he has to transport.
Although he will mobilize troops from other military towns to serve as auxiliary troops, he can only mobilize part of them.
In the northwest, there are still Tumut, Wala, and Tatar Tumut forces.
While Zhu Youxiao was thinking hard, Cao Bianjiao, a close minister of the emperor, said from the side:
"Why don't Your Majesty follow the example of the Tartars and treat them in their own way?"
Zhu Youxiao turned around and looked at this younger brother who was a few years younger than him and whom he loved very much and said:
"What do you mean by this?"
"Your Majesty, throughout history, why have the Tartars been able to cross the desert and attack our borders every time?"
"Because they all carry a large amount of dried beef and mutton, and sometimes drive live cattle and sheep for emergency needs. Even mare's and goat's milk are one of the main military supplies."
"Didn't His Majesty follow this method when he was marching north to Lindan Batur in the first year of the Apocalypse?"
After hearing Cao Bianjiao's idea, Zhu Youxiao smiled helplessly and shook his head:
"Today is different from the past. We Han people are farming rather than nomadic, and the people are poor. How can we have so many livestock for military needs?"
"Besides the continuous wars, livestock are crucial to the stability and recovery of people's livelihood. Even if you have me, I can't bear to slaughter them in large numbers."
"During the Northern Expedition, I had no choice but to send people to the people and spend a lot of money, regardless of the means, in order to have enough livestock to be slaughtered and dried."
"During that time, I don't know how many people were cursing me. This method can be done once but not twice."