The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

"Forty-five thousand taels..."

Chen Wang frowned slightly, and glanced at Chen Gong standing in the tent.

The money and food obtained by breaking the camp left by Zhang Yuan was far less than he expected.

"All the captives in the old rogue camp were pulled out and tortured. The camp was also searched three times. They also dug a lot of holes to find gold and silver that might have been hidden, but they couldn't find them. The gold and silver should be Zhang Yuan. All the belongings left behind."

Holding a document in his hand, Chen Gong stood at the bottom and reported the results to Chen Wang.

"More than 6000 shi of grain were found in the camp, and vehicles have been arranged to deliver it. It is expected that all of them will be transported back to our army camp before tomorrow evening."

"Except for gold, silver, grain and grass, there are not many valuable things in the camp."

"The rogues staying in the old camp in Xixiang and many old and weak women and children have all been handed over to the magistrate of Xixiang this morning."

Chen Wang nodded slightly, more than 7000 taels of silver is actually a lot, but the previous harvests made his desire a little inflated.

Rogues have always been able to fight if they can, and run away if they can't. They rarely do things that kill them.

Generally speaking, gold and silver are fine and soft things that they carry with them, so if they see the situation is not good during the battle, they can just flee without any worries.

Because of this, it is not always possible to capture a large amount of money when fighting bandits.

Speaking of which, Chen Wang was actually lucky to be able to snatch so much gold and silver from the bandits one after another.

Li Zicheng had just looted three or four big cities, so he was still rich after rewarding a lot of money.

However, Li Yangchun and Lin Shengquan were trapped to death in Ningqiang Prefecture, and the gold and silver they carried became trophies.

And Zhang Principle is because he has been in Hanzhong Mansion for a long time and has also established a camp. He has the idea of ​​​​separating one side in his heart. Therefore, not only food is stored in the camp, but gold and silver are also stored.

Although the harvest in gold and silver in this battle was far inferior to that in the first battle of Chunhua, there were still nearly 8 taels of silver, and a large amount of food and grass was also harvested.

Nowadays, famines occur frequently in various places, and places such as Suhu, Henan, and Henan are affected by rogue waves, which leads to a decrease in food and an increase in food prices year by year.

Hanzhong Prefecture did not suffer from a major famine, but the price of grain has more than doubled, and it costs two taels of silver to buy one shi of rice.

The price of rice in many places in Shaanxi has already tripled or quadrupled.

In some places where there is a shortage of food in Xi'an Prefecture, the price has even risen to more than ten taels, which is nearly ten times the normal price.

This time the bandits entered Shaanxi, not only engulfing a large number of people into the army, but also robbing a large amount of food and grass.

The harvest outside Hanzhong City, plus the suppression of Chenggu County, and the confiscation of grain and grass in the old camp of Xixiang rogues, add up to a total of more than 4 shi of grain. According to the current price of Hanzhong Prefecture, it can be exchanged for almost 9% in silver. Ten thousand taels.

In this way, the harvest this time is actually about the same as the harvest in the Chunhua battle.

And now that we are in troubled times, the price of rice is getting more and more expensive, and no matter where the food goes, it is a hard commodity. The harvest this time is actually greater than the harvest of the Battle of Chunhua.

"All the food should be placed in the food storage area where the rogues used to store it, and the first and second infantry departments should go to guard it. They must be strictly guarded and there must be no mistakes."

Chen Wang narrowed his eyes slightly, and ordered in a deep voice.

Food will only become more and more expensive, so naturally he won't sell all the food now.

In troubled times, money and food come first.

Only with money and food can we support the army and survive the troubled times.

After several battles and several replacements, Chen Wang now has more than 4000 people under his command, including two thousand mules and horses.

A man's solar eclipse is one liter, and a horse's solar eclipse is three liters.

If you want to eat and drink enough, you need to consume about one hundred shi of grain a day.

More than 4 shi of grain can be used for more than 400 days, and more than 400 days is more than a year.

After Chen Gong responded, he stood down and continued to report.

"A total of 720 pieces of cloth face armor, 370 pieces of chain armor, 820 pieces of cotton armor, and 370 pieces of cover arm were collected in pursuit along the road. The rest of all kinds of weapons are useless."

"The seized weapons and broken armor have been loaded and sent to the Acropolis of Hanzhong for repair or recasting."

Chen Wang frowned and pondered slightly.

"720 pieces of nine-collar cloth face armor, 370 pieces of mail armor..."

The chain armor seized is the least, the cotton armor is similar to the cloth face armor, and there are not many covered arms.

There were more than 500 cloth face armors in the original army, and more than 900 pieces of mail armor and cotton armor, all of which were issued to the army.

There are a total of [-] pieces of the three kinds of armor, and it is completely possible for everyone to have one.

But in fact, the armor rate in the army is only 70.00%.

Now Chen Wang has one cavalry and seven infantry under his command, totaling more than [-] men.

There are more than [-] cavalry, and all cavalry wear high-topped helmets with covered arms, cloth face armor on the outside, chain mail on the inside, and double armor.

The First Infantry Department has a full staff of 900 people, and has almost the same configuration as the First Cavalry Department. They all have covered arms, wear high-topped helmets, and wear double armor.

However, it is not cloth face armor on the outside and chain mail on the inside, but cotton armor on the outside and cloth face armor on the inside, and the cotton armor is worn on top of the cloth face armor.

The reason why cavalry wear cloth face armor and mail armor is because mail armor is relatively light and flexible.

The infantry wears cloth face armor with iron armor, which focuses more on protection. Such armor equipment is not something Chen Wang imagined.

In "Manchurian Records", the Ming army of the Chen Ce Department composed of Sichuan soldiers and Zhejiang soldiers in the "Battle of Hunhe Bridge" recorded, holding bamboo spears, broadswords and sharp swords, iron helmets with cotton helmets, and iron armors with cotton armor , It's hard to get into with a knife or a gun.

The remaining cloth face armor and cotton armor are given priority to the military academy in the army, the soldiers in the front line and the blunderbuss.

Except for the First Cavalry Department and the First Infantry Department, the rest of the armor is divided equally.

"Drop the elites from other departments, fill up the number of the second infantry department, gather cloth face armor and cotton armor, and equip everyone with double armor and cover arms. The rest of the armor will be added to each army depending on the situation. Stay armor."

Chen Wang knocked on the table, pondered for a moment, and continued to order.

Except for the first cavalry department and the first infantry department, which are fully staffed, the remaining six infantry divisions are not fully staffed. Now each division has only 500 people, which is less than half of the full staff.

"The matter of expanding the generals can also be put on the agenda. You send people to the camp of the captives to recruit recruits for the reason of recruiting auxiliary soldiers."

"Abolish the seventh infantry department, retain the first to sixth, and six infantry departments, and break up the original seventh infantry department and organize them into other departments."

"The first and second infantry divisions do not recruit recruits, and the remaining four infantry divisions are all recruited to full strength."

Chen Wang paused, then continued,

"The original first, third, and fourth infantry divisions were organized into one battalion and designated as the first infantry battalion."

"The original second, fifth, and sixth infantry divisions were organized into another battalion, designated as the second infantry battalion."

There are a total of six infantry departments and two battalions of infantry, all of which are 400 people.

Including more than 300 independent cavalry, a total of [-] people.

This number is a little too much, but it's not a big problem.

Zuo Liangyu now has more than 4000 so-called auxiliary soldiers under his command plus the [-] main soldiers under his own command. He Renlong also has more than [-] auxiliary soldiers under his command, and the rest of the generals also have many so-called auxiliary soldiers. soldier.

Most of the so-called auxiliary soldiers they raised were recruited rogue elite cavalry and cavalry troops. The governors of various places knew about these things, and the court also knew about them. In fact, they had acquiesced.

As long as you don't need to pay money, you just turn a blind eye.

But the difference is that most of these auxiliary soldiers are used as cannon fodder and consumables.

Chen Wang, on the other hand, regarded him as a soldier for training, and he also paid regular military pay, which was completely treated like a soldier.

But Chen Wang didn't say clearly, how could other people see the clues, and how could they pay attention to these things.

Hong Chengchou doesn't care about these things, and now for the governors everywhere, they are the same, as long as the generals under him are obedient and know how to fight, it is enough.

However, Chen Wang pondered for a moment, and chose to delay for a while.

"Select first, don't be in a hurry for now, wait until the seal letter of my general is delivered to the army, and then expand the army."

Anyway, things are not in a hurry, if you can not attract attention, it is better to make less disturbance.

It will be more reasonable and reasonable to recruit more auxiliary soldiers when the general's military rank is down and the number of troops in his own battalion is increased.

After getting Chen Gong's answer, Chen Wang picked up the report that Tang Shiping submitted not long ago on the desktop.

What is recorded in the report is the money and food left in the army today.

After the grain was counted, there were more than 4 shi, and only 1000 taels of gold remained. When Chen Wang was in Hanzhong City, Tang Shiping had asked Tang Shiping to exchange the excess gold for silver.

The silver in the original treasury, counting the seizure this time, already exceeded 19 taels.

Rao Chen Wang is well-informed now, but seeing the nearly 20 taels of silver balance on the book, his mood still can't help but fluctuate.

Now there are more than 4000 people under his command, and they have to pay about 6000 taels a month in full.

Nearly 20 taels of silver, if only the salary is enough to pay for 32 months, that is, two years and eight months.

But now the imperial court will pay the salary. Although the full amount is not paid, 4000 taels should be paid every month, but the actual monthly payment is only 3000 taels.

In the past few months, Chen Wang had paid the salary directly from the treasury. Every month, Chen Wang would regularly preside over the payment, and he must send the full amount of the salary to every soldier.

Anyone who dares to withhold payment, whether it is one cent or one cent, will be punished by beheading.

Chen Wang was very clear about the history of the Ming Dynasty.

The biggest reason why the Ming army's combat effectiveness is not strong is actually the lack of pay.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it became normal for armies in various places to be in arrears of salaries. After finally paying the salaries, they were deducted up and down and exploited layer by layer. There was not much left in the hands of ordinary soldiers.

There is a saying that has been widely circulated on the Internet of later generations - "The Ming army is not full of pay, and full of pay is invincible."

In fact, this sentence is really good.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, arrears of payment had become the norm.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed as the governor of Xuanda. After he went to inspect the army, he wrote a memorial, in which he wrote:

"Today, the salary is getting higher and higher, and the body is hungry and cold. I borrowed money from him to make bows, arrows, guns and knives, and they are still pawned and sold."

"Many soldiers lined up in the martial field, the golden wind is like an arrow, those who are discouraged and sick, and those who are stiff and weak will be informed one after another."

"Every time a soldier is ordered, there are those who have unlined clothes, those who have no hakama, and those who have few shoes and socks. The minister burst into tears when he saw it."

"The land is extremely fortified, Hu Fengshuo is snowy, chilling to the bone, the humble minister immediately puts on his coat, still looks unbearable, and is served by the inspectors, and some people become stiff and fall off their horses."

"This generation has been guarding for years, has no clothes to hang on, and is full of fresh food every day."

"The army under our jurisdiction has not received any payment from November and February last year."

"Although all the soldiers are standing on the wall and riding Mahogo, they have a human form and have no interest in life."

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, they even wore unlined clothes, and some people didn't even have shoes and socks.

After years of arrears of wages, it is difficult to even make a living.

But even in this way, there has been no rebellion, and even when the Qing army and Mongolia entered the pass, they were still resisting.

Chen Wang's eyes froze slightly, and memories of the past flooded into his heart. The situation in Liaodong was much better than that in Shanxi Town, but there was also the problem of wage arrears.

Cao Wenzhao was transferred to Datong Town as the commander-in-chief after his meritorious service in countering the rebellion. Datong Town and Shanxi Town are not far apart, both in Shanxi Province.

The situation reported by Lu Xiangsheng is actually an extremely common situation.

Most of the guards only have single clothes, and it is normal to be short of clothes and food.

Dunjun is a little better, with some dilapidated winter clothes, and a little food every day.

Even as a soldier, there is no guarantee of having winter clothes to wear, and the treatment is only slightly better than that of Dunjun.

It has already reached this level, and the Ming army was able to hold most of the defense lines of the Great Wall, and it was able to avoid large-scale surrender and large-scale rebellion.

To be honest, Chen Wang felt that this could no longer be explained by common sense. Perhaps it was Zhu Yuanzhang who expelled the Mongolian Yuan to the north, and Yu Ze, who was left behind by recasting China, was still caring for his descendants.

Chen Wang put down the report in his hand, arrears of wages and corruption were rampant, how could the army still have combat effectiveness.

Now the army is most loyal to him, neither the Liao cavalry, nor the refugees recruited in Binzhou, but the remnants of Liu Guozhen and Ai Wannian.

How did they have enough to eat every day, and how did they receive full salary every month.

Because of this, it is these people who are fighting the most fierce battles in the army now.

At the beginning, Chen Wang was worried about whether these veterans would bring the ruffian spirit from the original army into the army, but later found that this worry was completely unnecessary, and their spirit was the best among all the troops.

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Xiong Tingbi, Liaodong Economic Strategy:
"Liaodong buys a bow and two taels, and an arrow costs five or six points, and there is no place to buy it."

"As for armor, sacks, saddle bridles, leather ropes and other things, they should be dressed every day."

"Chasing at all times, mending the gaps, everything is not expensive."

"Every time I see a sergeant making reparations for utensils, pawning and selling luggage, without an inch of clothing, naked and wearing armor, his heart is cut like a knife, and I wish I could replace it with my body."

"The cotton armor is [-] layers thick, arrows and cannons can't get in, and a soldier has three or four horses, and in winter, the hoofs are covered with wormwood mattresses."

The cotton armor is made of seven catties of cotton, sewn with cloth like a jacket, the arms are five inches above the shoulders, and the bottom is long to cover the knees. The thick threads are straight and straight, and they are sewn tightly into the water. Swelling is the degree, and it is used after drying.Seeing that the rain is not heavy, and the moldy temples are not rotten, the bird gun cannot be seriously injured.