Luo Rucai fled completely, not only giving up Lu'an, but also giving up all his territory.
Gushi, Shangcheng, Guangzhou, Guangshan, Xixian, Luoshan, and Xinyang were all thrown to Zhao Han. He took the elite old camp, a large number of new thieves and civilians, and crossed the Huaihe River again to the hinterland of Henan.
Li Zicheng's main force has left and gathered at the borders of Shanxi and Henan, trying to attack Beizhili with all its strength.
The situation in the hinterland of Henan is very complicated. There are dozens of groups of rebels, large and small. On the surface, they allege to Li Zicheng, but secretly they attack and rob each other. Luo Rucai is here to annex those forces.
A head-on confrontation with Zhao Han?
Luo Rucai's gangster nickname is "Cao Cao". If he can't fight hard, he will never fight. When he must fight, he will act like a mad dog.
"Captain, a letter from the front line."
There were several letters, one of which was written by Hu Dinggui.
This guy admired Lu Xiangsheng very much. During those pursuit battles, it was Lu Xiangsheng who made all the decisions about whether to retreat or advance at critical moments.
Moreover, Lu Xiangsheng was very generous and told Hu Dinggui first to let Hu Dinggui give the order. As a result, most of the cavalry soldiers thought that Hu Dinggui was directing the battle and did not realize that Lu Xiangsheng was the decision-maker.
The cavalry pursuit battle tested the command ability, and Hu Dinggui was still too green.
If Lu Xiangsheng hadn't been in charge, he might have been killed by Luo Rucai in a hand-to-hand fight by accident.
Lu Xiangsheng also wrote a letter back, mainly summarizing the dragoon's tactics:
First, dragoons are horse-mounted infantry with gunfire. They must not use cavalry tactics, and they must not compete head-on with traditional cavalry. They must always keep a distance from the enemy. They would rather miss the opportunity to ensure their own safety.
Second, the dragoons must have at least fifty people to ensure combat effectiveness. Because the number of troops is too small, the volley of fire cannons has no power at all.
Third, if the enemy is a traditional cavalry, the best shooting distance of the dragoon is about 60 steps. If the distance is too far, the hit power will be too low; if the distance is too close, it will be easily entangled by the enemy cavalry.
Fourth, replace with spontaneous (flintlock) muskets as soon as possible. Matchlock muskets seriously affect the combat effectiveness of dragoons.
Fifth, spurs (spurs) can be installed on leather boots, which is more convenient for dragoons to control their horses.
Lu Xiangsheng definitely has super commanding talent. For the first time he led the dragoons into battle, he automatically learned what tactics to use.
When he pursued Luo Rucai, he did not divide his forces to bite or fight to the death, but always kept a certain distance. The enemy was fast, we were fast, the enemy was slow, we were slow, which was completely different from traditional cavalry pursuit battles.
It is useless to allocate a small number of troops to fight tightly. If you fire one shot, you will lose your combat effectiveness.
Luo Rucai was also very rational. From the beginning to the end, apart from trying to charge for hand-to-hand combat, he never thought about dividing his troops and breaking up the rear. He only had 2,000 cavalry, and he sent hundreds of people to break up the rear. It was just to deliver food, and he collapsed after one volley.
, that way it will be eaten bit by bit.
Smart hunter, cunning prey.
Zhao Han put down the letter and asked someone to ask about Song Yingxing's development status of the flintlock gun.
Song Yingxing was not in Nanjing, but still stayed in Jiangxi. He wrote back that he was improving the production technology of springs and was also trying to reduce the misfire rate of flintlock guns.
Percussion flintlock muskets have been around since the mid-Wanli period and have been promoted and used by France. Following the assassination of French King Henry IV, French generals refused to use flintlock muskets because the misfire rate of flintlock muskets was very high.
Due to the stimulation of the Thirty Years' War, Europe has picked up flintlock guns again in recent years.
But improvements must be made. If the misfire rate can be successfully reduced, the flintlock gun can completely replace the matchlock gun.
European countries are improving, and Song Yingxing is also leading people to improve. The R&D processes in the East and the West are actually similar.
In addition, the same is true for dragoons.
Dragoons have appeared in a few European countries. And war horses are similar to the Datong cavalry. They are inferior horses that have been eliminated, and the real good horses are used to form traditional cavalry.
Even the organization is similar. The number of European dragoons in a regiment is about 1,000-1,500, while the number of Datong dragoons is 2,000.
Charging, fighting, riding and shooting... the dragoons are not good at these events.
That is to ride a horse and run away, then dismount and shoot. If there is no danger, continue shooting. If there is danger, ride a horse and run away immediately.
The only exception is the Swedish dragoon. The musketeers merged with the dragoons, and the cuirassiers merged with the unarmored cavalry. As a result, a type of cavalry equipped with light armor and cavalry swords emerged, which could charge into battle on horseback and shoot muskets on horseback.
Weird cavalry. This thing can no longer be considered a dragoon, but a light-armored musketeer cavalry.
The birth of Sweden's multifunctional light-armored musketeers was not due to how good the Swedes were at fighting, but... poor!
Sweden does not have the money to build many cavalry troops, so it can only use one kind of cavalry as several types. It is probably the "three thousand lives you need" in the cavalry world.
According to what Lu Xiangsheng said in his letter, Zhao Han could only temporarily improve the riding boots, that is, add spurs to the cavalry boots.
Spurs also existed in ancient China, and the "ce" in "horse galloping" refers to spurs.
As for the flintlock gun, let's continue to improve it.
It's not that it can't be made now, but the misfire rate is too high. It's also for this reason that European kings want to promote it, but the generals firmly resist.
The firing rate of the matchlock gun is more than 70%, and the firing rate of the flintlock gun is less than 20%...
…
Military direction of the Central Academy of Sciences.
Zhang Tieniu led his troops to land in Tongzhou (Nantong). Before he started to attack the city, the defender sent an envoy saying that he wanted to negotiate in Nanjing.
As long as Zhao Han agrees to their request, all the rebels in the Jianghuai salt-producing areas are willing to surrender.
Zhang Tieniu did not dare to neglect and immediately sent the envoy to Nanjing.
A small number of the rebels here are salt lords, and most are Zaohu households. If too many Zaohu households are killed in the war, who will cook salt in the future? After the Zaohu uprising, the price of salt has skyrocketed in the past six months.
There were several salt army envoys, and the leader was named Tian Yang.
"Kowtow to King Zhao Tian, long live long live long live!" Tian Yang led everyone to kneel down and shout in unison.
"Get up and talk." Zhao Han smiled.
To be sent as an envoy by Yan Xiao and Yan Hu, it is impossible for him to be a weak and timid person. When he met, he knelt down and shouted long live. It was nothing more than putting a high hat on Zhao Han and hoping to gain Zhao Han's sympathy.
"Thank you, King Zhao!"
After all these people stood up, Zhao Han asked, "What requests do you have? Tell them one by one."
Tian Yang said: "Please ask King Zhao to resume salt classes!"
"This request surprised me." Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.
The Ming Dynasty inherited the Yuan system, and the common people were organized into kitchen households. Each household was assigned a small amount of salt to boil, and a certain amount of salt was handed over to the government every year. The salt that needed to be handed over was called the salt class, also known as "amount of salt".
As time went by, some kitchen households became rich, or they colluded with officials and became bullies among the salt households. They occupied the means of production of other salt households and lost the salt lessons of the means of production, but they continued to pay taxes to the government, resulting in
A large number of kitchen households fled.
In addition, the table salt outside the salt class is also called "remaining salt".
At first, the remaining salt could only be purchased by the government, and then it could be purchased by merchants. The government and merchants often lowered the price, forcing the kitchen households to sell the remaining salt at a low price, which also caused a large number of kitchen households to flee.
The salt class and surplus salt system were very detrimental to the kitchen households, so they began to sell private salt secretly.
In order to prevent the proliferation of private salt, by the end of Wanli, the distinction between amount of salt and surplus salt had been abolished, and kitchen households were allowed to pay salt lessons directly with silver.
As a result, Zaohu became even worse!
The government and merchants jointly exploited, so where did the kitchen households get the money to pay for the salt?
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the "salt acceptance class" was regarded as a bad government. Now in the late Ming Dynasty, after the kitchen households rebelled, they actually asked Zhao Han to restore it.
In the past six months, Zhao Han summoned many businessmen and scholars, and had repeated discussions with Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua and others. They have been discussing how to reform the Salt Law, but after countless discussions, no one proposed to resume the "regular class".
Just because no one considers the problem from the Zaohu's point of view!
Zhao Han asked: "Why do you want to resume the regular course (salt in kind)? Isn't it better to just pay money?"
Tian Yang said: "The government and businessmen have lowered the price, and the kitchen households cannot make ends meet by selling salt. If they pay the tax, the kitchen households will have little left, and they will not have enough to eat at all."
"Listening to you, it sounds like you have read a book?" Zhao Han asked.
Tian Yang cupped his hands and said, "I am the second son of my family. My father and brother sold private salt for a living, so I had money to study since I was a child."
Zhao Han asked again: "Since you are a private salt dealer, why do you speak for the kitchen households?"
Tian Yang replied: "Private salt business is not easy to do. Since the Wanli Dynasty reformed the salt law, the government and businessmen have taken the lead in selling private salt. If there are ten percent of table salt on the market, seven points will be private salt and three thirds will be official salt. Private salt
Among them, half are from officials and merchants. The big salt lords can just deal with it, but how can the small private salt dealers compete with the merchants?"
Well, 70% of the salt circulating in the market in the late Ming Dynasty was private salt, half of which was sold by the government and merchants.
How did Emperor Chongzhen collect the salt tax?
But what’s even more weird is that the Chongzhen Dynasty collected the most salt tax in the entire Ming Dynasty! It was collected by force, and each salt farm was ordered to pay the amount.
Zhao Han has already formulated a policy here, because Guangdong also produces salt, and plans to transplant Guangdong's new salt method.
Zhao Han said to these salt army envoys: "First, I will cancel the Zao registration, and there will be no Zao households in the future; second, cancel the salt class, not only the main class, but also the discount silver of the salt class will be cancelled; third, rely on
Depending on the region, each salt farm was converted into a salt-making factory, and all kitchen households were converted into salt-boiling workers."
Tian Yang was dumbfounded. After thinking carefully, he asked: "Whose salt factory belongs to him? Is it from the government? Or is it from the merchants? What if the factory exploits the workers?"
Zhao Han explained: "The land in the salt field is owned by the government and leased to licensed merchants. The merchants build their own factories, make their own equipment, and are responsible for their own profits and losses, but it only lasts for thirty years. After thirty years, the salt field land will be re-rented. As for the
For salt boiling workers, the government will set a minimum monthly salary. If workers are not satisfied with the treatment, they can leave at any time and find other livelihoods. I will not tie you to death in the salt field."
"Workers no longer need to pay regular classes, nor do they need to pay salt classes and silver?" Tian Yang asked.
"No need." Zhao Han shook his head.
Tian Yang asked again: "If merchants are allowed to open salt factories, can we salt soldiers do the same?"
Zhao Han smiled and said: "I will give you three franchise quotas, and you can allocate them by yourself. You can also join a joint venture with multiple people and jointly own one franchise quota."
Although the salt factory is privatized, the land of the salt factory is in the hands of the government. Without suitable land, salt cannot be boiled. Even if salt can be boiled, the cost will increase sharply, which means that the government can still control the salt industry.
If you exploit workers excessively or if you are found to have evaded taxes, you should be fined and put in jail. Once the thirty-year period is up, you can’t even think about getting a concession license in the future.
In addition, the salt introduction system was abolished and replaced by a salt monopoly system, with monopolies in each region.
Once a monopoly dealer is found to be evading taxes, they will all be dealt with as selling illegal salt.
Every link of salt production, transportation, and retail must be registered and reported to enhance the government's control over salt.
Although there are still loopholes that can be exploited, it is more advanced than the salt quotation system. Because the salt quotation system is too rigid, it leads to two negative consequences: first, the salt quotation turns into futures; secondly, illegal salt is spread everywhere.
Really, Yanyin became a piece of futures paper in the mid-Ming Dynasty.
The most profitable people are not the salt merchants, but the powerful people who speculate in salt futures, or the financial dealers who are related to the powerful people.
Zhao Han made his own conditions, especially three quotas for opening factories, and the rebels in the Jianghuai salt-producing land quickly surrendered. Before the surrender, there was an internal fight, which was nothing more than fighting for three franchise quotas.
