Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 599 Shocking
The cold wind was blowing, the snowflakes were falling, and the whole land was dyed white, covering up the disgusting withered yellow.

More than [-] cavalrymen lined up in columns and squares, and the white snow fell on the military robes, like a piece of white tofu, blending with the sky and the earth.

The conspicuous armor antenna can't be seen clearly at this time, but the touch of red is still eye-catching.

Lu Daqi was also unambiguous, wearing a woolen underwear and a cotton robe, he rode to the camp swaggeringly to inspect the army that was about to travel thousands of miles.

"Where are the war horses?"

Looking at the group of soldiers who were as immobile as a mountain in front of him, Lu Daqi felt emotional, but then he felt something was wrong, and couldn't help saying in surprise.

"Well, Ministry Hall, war horses are precious, this snowy day is hard, just come here."

Wrapped in a cotton robe, Zhu Jing followed closely behind. Seeing that Lu Daqi's face became serious, she was afraid she had misunderstood something, so she immediately opened her mouth to explain.

"A horse is more valuable than a man!" he emphasized.

"Then let's go quickly, it's not good to freeze the big guy."

Lu Daqi came to his senses and hurriedly waved his hands.

"No problem."

Zhu Jing whispered: "They are lined with wool, with wool boots on their feet, and wool gloves on their hands. They are warm!"

"Good guy!"

Lu Daqi was surprised: "How much does it cost!"

"Hey, with this body, each person will have to share about ten yuan. If you add the horse equipment, it will be even more..."

"Don't worry, these 3000 people are all elites drawn from the Beijing camp. They are all good men with one as five, one man with three horses..."

"Okay!" Lu Daqi stroked his beard, and said cheerfully, "With your guards, where can we go for thousands of miles?"

Zhu Jing was also excited.

After this trip, although the time is tight and the task is heavy, it is extraordinary, and the promotion of the official rank is no longer a problem.

At the beginning of November, when heavy snow covered the Shuntian Mansion, Lu Daqi led dozens of accountants, more than a hundred subordinate officials, and [-] cavalry, and rushed to Shanhaiguan in a mighty manner.

The first goal of the Nine Sides is Ji Town and Shanhaiguan, the gateway to Beijing.

Ji Town is not ordinary, second only to Xuanfu and Datong in the Nine Frontiers, there were nearly [-] soldiers and horses in the Wanli period, and Qi Jiguang was guarding Ji Town back then.

The scope of the garrison starts from Shanhaiguan in the east, passes through Yongping (Lulong), Qian'an, Zunhua, Jizhou, Pinggu, Shunyi, Changping and Pingzhou counties in the west, and reaches the town border city in the south of Juyongguan, stretching for [-] miles .

Badaling, Juyongguan, Shanhaiguan and other famous fortresses are all under his command.

In Shanhaiguan, after Wu Sangui moved Ningyuan and other guards inward, the Shanhaiguan area became the place where the remaining Liaodong people lived.

At the same time, although Guan Ning's army has been weakened repeatedly, its foundation is still deep, and the burden of Shanhaiguan must be carefully inspected.

Both of these places are in Gyeonggi, which can be said to be the top priority.

"Butang, it's not too late to wait for the snow to melt, why bother today?"

Three thousand cavalrymen braved the wind and snow, and their horses stepped on the muddy ground, spraining their feet from time to time, and perhaps hurt their horseshoes, which made many cavalrymen dissatisfied.

Zhu Jing obeyed the army's spirit and couldn't help asking.

Lu Daqi had a good temper, and said in a deep voice, "It's because of the winter that the soldiers can't move an inch, so we can act!"

These words made Zhu Jing wake up suddenly.

Waiting in front of the emperor for a long time made him extremely politically sensitive, and he immediately realized the beauty of this timing.

Their actions are always intended to offend others, whether it is Jizhen or Shanhaiguan, they will definitely not let them be manipulated.

If in summer and autumn, one of them is not good, and the possibility of mutiny is extremely high, even Jiannu will not rush to send troops in this cold winter, and why are these Qiuba people making trouble in this winter?

Going out to wander is tantamount to courting death.

In just a few days, a group of people came to Jizhou, Qianxi County, Sanlitun Daying.

The first time Lu Daqi went to look up the military register, he was immediately disappointed.

Waiting at the side is Xin Wencheng, the commander-in-chief of Ji Town.

He was stationed at Xianrenguan for several years. Although he missed the battles of Wuchang and Nanjing, he recovered Gongchang Mansion and Minzhou Mansion during the Shaanxi War, so he was granted the title of Qinzhou Bo.

Thinking of his hard work and perseverance, the emperor ordered him to be the chief soldier of Jizhen to guard the gate of Beijing.

"There are only five thousand in Ji Town?"

It was hard for Lu Daqi to believe that there were only these left in Ji Town, which used to be huge.

"Inspector, in the Battle of Jinzhou, Jizhen's soldiers and horses suffered heavy losses, and in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Tang Tong surrendered to Chuangni, and in the battle of Yiqianshi, there were no last [-] cavalry left, and there was really no one in Jizhou. "

Xin Wencheng smiled wryly and said, "These 5000 people were sent by me after urging the Ministry of War repeatedly. Otherwise, there would only be [-] old and weak, and no one would guard Juyongguan."

"The ruins are easy to manipulate."

Lu Daqi didn't expect Ji Town to be so easy, and he was not familiar with the files of the Ministry of War, so it was right to choose this place as the first stop.

"All the military settlements will be re-measured. For those civilian households that occupy the military settlements, they must either spend money to buy them back, or return their fields, or they must not give up."

"Yes!" Since Xin Wencheng had no interest, he responded simply.

"You just paint here first, and it will be easier later."

Lu Daqi said to his staff and the accompanying subordinates.

In a few days, the old military registers and fields were sorted out. The oldest one was in the early years of Wanli, when Qi Jiguang was the chief soldier.

In terms of the number of military fields, there are only [-] mu.

"One hundred thousand troops, each of them is only one mu?"

Lu Daqi laughed angrily, this statistic is even more unbelievable than that of the Ministry of War.

In the early Ming Dynasty, military households were awarded [-], [-], and [-] mu according to their fertility. In Jizhou, [-] mu per capita must not be bad.

According to a rough estimate, there are at least 5 million mu of military land in Ji Town, which is [-] hectares, distributed in a dozen counties.

Jizhen is his own people, Lu Daqi didn't hesitate, and went directly to Shanhaiguan.

"Find--"

Gritting his teeth, Lu Daqi said to the group of subordinate officials: "There must be remnants of county annals, thousands of households, and hundreds of households. We must find out one by one."

"The military fields occupied before the Wanli Dynasty are all required to be redeemed, paid taxes, and directly recaptured after the Wanli Dynasty."

After occupying the military settlements, those lands will not be on the yellow register, so naturally there is no need to pay taxes. If they are allocated from the military settlements, they will inevitably be converted into civilian land and pay taxes.

Don't think about it, most of them are generals in the army, so the damage to the data is serious.

These people die well!
For the first time, Lu Daqi felt that these officers and soldiers died well, especially the generals. How much land can this bring back?
When he arrived at Shanhaiguan, the Chinese New Year was not far away.

After more than a month of investigation, the powerless generals had to reveal 27% of the land, [-] hectares of military land, and the amount of redemption reached [-] taels.

The gentry were no exception, they spat out 80,000 hectares and bought [-] taels of silver.

With such a big commotion, when Lu Daqi came to Shanhaiguan, Zeng Ying, the commander in chief, came out of the city to greet him, very politely.

But his slender beard made Lu Daqi feel envious.

(End of this chapter)