Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 109 Fanatical Han soldiers! Willing to die for the prince consort!
The officers of the Eight Banners of the Han Army were also very satisfied.

Those households with ten or a hundred households were mostly ordinary farmers before, but now their income is six times and fifteen times that of farmers who can just make a living.

What is this concept?
It is ten to thirty times their previous income!
It's like someone making 1,000 yuan a month, only to face their parents' sighs and their wives' cold stares every day. Then, after changing companies, they suddenly earn 20,000 yuan a month, becoming a high-income earner. What's that like? What's it like to be in front of your family? Just thinking about it makes me excited!
When it comes to the class of thousands or tens of thousands of households, there are some differences.

For example, people like Zhang Rou and Yan Shi, who became wealthy people in the countryside by relying on their prestige, used to live only slightly better than middle-class farmers.

Don’t they want their wives to wear gold and silver?

Don’t they want their parents to live out their lives in peace?
Don’t they want their children to have meat every meal?

It's not that they don't want it, nor do they love money, or that they don't have the means to make money. It's just that these people have higher standards than ordinary people, so they don't have much property.

Now they had suddenly become large landowners, and their wealth was a reward from the government, distributed according to their positions, so it was perfectly legitimate. They were now in a state of great joy.

Guo Baoyu, Shi Tianni and others are different from Yan Shi, Zhang Rou and others.

Guo Baoyu, the hereditary Duke of Fenyang, had a family fortune of over 300,000 mu (approximately 1,000 acres) through a century of management. Now that he had surrendered to the Mongols, these lands would undoubtedly be confiscated once the Jin recovered their lost territory. The gardens and luxurious mansions he had built in his hometown were also completely gone.

The Shi Tianni family was a wealthy family in Yongqing. They could easily donate 80,000 dan of grain for disaster relief and also maintained 800 private soldiers. Their family property was not much less than 200,000 acres.

Many of the other thousand households were local tyrants who owned private armies, or were simply local county magistrates or lieutenants.

In fact, the land Zhao Shuo had allocated to them was far less than their losses. You have to know that the grain production in the Hebei Plain is at least twice that of the land in Fu, Chang, and Huan Prefectures, and it is possible that it is two, three, or even four times higher.

But, this is just the beginning.
They naturally chose to surrender to Mongolia, and they were naturally people with a long-term vision.

It hasn't even been a year yet, and Zhao Shuo has already compensated them for such a huge loss, which is far beyond their expectations.

In addition, there will be huge dividends after conquering Zhongdu!

If all the property and women divided among these thousand-households and ten-thousand-households were converted into silver, it would amount to 3.6 million taels of silver.

Shi Tianni’s dividend alone exceeded 200,000 taels.

This is another huge amount of income.

Although it still cannot make up for the losses of historians, it is not much different.

What if they didn't surrender to the Mongols? The Mongol army would eventually defeat the Jin Dynasty, and would they be able to keep their land?

No matter how you calculate it, you're making money.

Moreover, there will be more battles to fight in the future!

Why worry about not having the opportunity to get promoted and make a fortune?

Of course, if we don’t fight well, then everything is over.

Zhao Shuo established a five-tier reward and punishment system for officers of the Eight Banners rank and above. After each battle, Zhao Shuo, the Eight Banners rank of Wan Hu, the Mongolian rank of Qian Hu, and the military judge, Machi Beiduwen, jointly evaluated the results.

After a devastating defeat with heavy casualties, not to mention promotions and wealth, it is not uncommon for them to be beheaded. All the lands they were given will be taken back, and only their houses and wealth will be retained.

What? Too harsh?

This is the result of preferential treatment for senior military officers.

The rules are even stricter for officers below the rank of Qianhu.

If a centurion retreated without reason without orders from his superiors, he would be beheaded, all his property would be confiscated, and his wife would be reduced to a slave.

If a centurion died in battle, his soldiers would be incorporated into the Death Squad and all their property would be confiscated if they recovered their bodies.

The Death Battalion had the lowest rank in the entire army, and would be ranked higher than the Baru Battalion in the next charge or siege. Only after they had achieved military merit could they rejoin the Eight Banners of the Han Army and have their property returned to them.

If the centurion's body is not recovered, all of them will be beheaded and all their property will be confiscated.

If an ordinary soldier was afraid of death on the battlefield, he would not only be executed and all his property would be confiscated, but his wife would also be demoted to a slave.

If ordinary soldiers fought bravely and died on the battlefield, their wives and lands would be reserved for them.

If there were no sons, half of the land would be reclaimed, and the remaining half would remain with the man until his wife died, or if the wife died prematurely, until the daughter reached the age of eighteen.

If a son had one, he had to pass a government-administered examination within five years of reaching adulthood to continue owning the land; otherwise, the land would be reclaimed. If a son had multiple sons, and the eldest son failed the government examination after five years of adulthood, his land would also be reclaimed. Younger sons could apply to the government within three years of reaching adulthood to join the Eight Banners and regain their land.

For those who retire due to wartime disability, their benefits are half of what they were when they were in service until their death. If they die prematurely, their benefits will be retained until their youngest child is fifteen years old.

For those who retire due to illness or old age, their benefits will be reduced to one-third until their death. If they die prematurely, their benefits will be retained until their youngest child is fifteen years old.

what is this?
Pensions for the disabled and those who died in battle, and pension benefits!
Such treatment for ordinary soldiers has never been enjoyed by these stinky soldiers even in a thousand or ten thousand years!

Even more so than ordinary soldiers, only a few county magistrates in the Jin Dynasty could serve as "temple officials", who only received money without doing any work when they were old.

In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, the county magistrate in his hometown was already a very important figure.

Thinking about their retirement benefits, which are higher than those of the county magistrate in their hometown, how could the soldiers not be extremely excited?
On the day the regulations were announced, cheers of "I am willing to die for the prince consort" continued to be heard in the three states of Fu, Huan and Chang.

Wherever Zhao Shuo went, the soldiers bowed to him with loud voices and fanatical eyes, full of love and loyalty.

This is exactly what Zhao Shuo wants.

The reason why he was so generous was not to protect human rights, but to maximize the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners of the Han Army.

Why are children from good families so strong in fighting?
It is because they have wives and children that they become their weak point.

Zhao Shuo gave the Eight Banners of the Han Army such generous treatment just to give them money, land, wives and children. They were full of weaknesses and were completely tied to Zhao Shuo's chariot.

In this case, when the situation is unfavorable, the best option for these Eight Banners soldiers is to die on the spot.

Of course, Zhao Shuo also gave generous rewards to officers and soldiers below the rank of Qianhu during wartime.

In addition to sharing spoils during battle, there is also a complete promotion channel.

The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were divided into 24 ranks, from the lowest level of slaves to Nurhaci himself. Ranks could be raised based on military merit.

In later movies, TV dramas and novels, the phrase "reward half of your future" refers to this.

Zhao Shuo simply established six career paths from ordinary officers to thousand households: soldier, deputy ten households, ten households, deputy hundred households, hundred households, deputy thousand households, and thousand households. As long as you accumulate enough career paths, you can be promoted.

There are clear regulations on what kind of achievements a person can make and how much future he or she can get.

For example, if an ordinary soldier can behead three levels of enemies in one battle, he will have half a chance of advancement. If he can behead six levels of enemies, he can be directly promoted to deputy ten households.

For example, being the first to attack a city means two different prospects for an ordinary soldier and a ten-household official.

If an ordinary soldier is the first to attack a city, he will not only share a lot of spoils, but also be promoted directly to a ten-household household. Similarly, a ten-household household can be directly promoted to a hundred-household household.

However, if a centurion wanted to be promoted to a thousand-household, he had to be promoted three times before he could get a chance to be promoted to a thousand-household. For those above the thousand-household level, the military merit evaluation was presided over by Zhao Shuo, and the calculation method was different.

For example, if they were trapped in an isolated city for more than a month, those below the rank of 1,000 households would receive a half-day bonus regardless of whether they participated in combat. Then, various promotions and rewards would be given based on their merits.

Of course, if the battle goes against you, your future will be at stake, and you may even lose your head and property.

In short, Zhao Shuo's management of the Eight Banners of the Han Army included both heavy rewards and severe punishments, and he was determined to build the Eight Banners of the Han Army into a fierce and fierce army that would be happy to hear of war.

Three months later, all the Eight Banners were settled, and the various military merit reward and punishment systems were fully explained. Zhao Shuo also completely won the hearts of all the Han troops in the Eight Banners.

Then, Zhao Shuo came to Huanzhou Mujian.

It is not accurate to call the 4,000 households and 20,000 people in the pastoral supervision "herders". They should be called "herders" or "herders' slaves" to be more accurate.

Like the "artisan households" of Jin Zhongdu, they lacked personal freedom and were solely responsible for herding livestock for the Jin court. Their daily needs, including clothing and food, were supplied by the government. Naturally, the pastures and the livestock within them were not their private property, but rather the property of the Jin government.

Now it all belongs to Zhao Shuo.

Now, the Huanzhou Muguan only has more than 74,000 horses, 60,000 cattle, and 170,000 sheep.

This is still more than enough.

Fuzhou and Changzhou were not conquered by Zhao Shuo. The livestock had become spoils of war for other nobles and were all taken away.

Zhao Shuo then realized that his previous estimate had been somewhat optimistic. He feared that within two or three years, the pastoral supervisors of Fu, Chang, and Huan Prefectures would all need his subsidies. Especially in the first year, an estimated 30% of the agricultural tax from the three prefectures would have to go to subsidize the pastoral supervisors of these three prefectures.

But it doesn’t matter, there is still a long way to go.

After King Hailing of Jin's failed southern expedition against the Song, only about a thousand war horses and ninety camels remained in the country's herdsmen. But just twenty-six years later, the number had grown to 470,000 horses, 130,000 cattle, and 470,000 sheep.

Zhao Shuo's starting point now is much stronger than the Jin Kingdom at that time.

Zhao Shuo estimated that if it was managed well, the three prefectures could be restored to their former glory within five years.

The fact that the Jin Kingdom was able to raise so many horses in the Three Prefectures Pasture showed that the various rules they set for the pasture were very scientific, and Zhao Shuo was not planning to make major changes.

He simply transferred more than 200 people to the ranch built by Zhao Shuo in Hulunbuir to breed excellent war horses, to exchange experiences with them, and then see if there were any rules that needed to be changed on the ranches on both sides.

In addition, Zhao Shuo appeased the Huanzhou herdsmen and asked them to send half of their livestock to Fuzhou and Changzhou. He also promised that the Jin court would provide the same treatment to these officials and herdsmen without any discount.

If you do a good job, you will be rewarded.

Furthermore, Zhao Shuo offered the Huanzhou herders a far-reaching promise. Not only were they confined to working within the herdsmen's prison, with little personal freedom, but their children were also subject to the same restrictions. It was a case of slavery for a time, slavery for life, with their descendants unable to rise above their former selves.

Zhao Shuo announced that as long as these "herders" diligently served him for twenty years, they would be considered ranch workers and could come and go freely. Not only that, during these twenty years, their sons could also take up other jobs.

If they died before serving for twenty years, their sons would make up for the remaining years of service and still be free.

"Thank you so much for your kindness, Prince Consort!"

"I am willing to die for your majesty!"

"I can't do anything else except raising livestock. Don't worry, Prince Consort. I'll raise those livestock next year and make sure they're all fat and strong, and they'll also produce plenty of cubs!"

"I will set up a longevity tablet at home, so that my descendants will remember the great kindness of my husband!"

……

As soon as Zhao Shuo finished speaking, the herdsmen all knelt on the ground and kowtowed loudly to thank Zhao Shuo for his great kindness.

There is no way around it. East Asians care most about their descendants.

Although judging by the efficiency of the Huanzhou Herdsmen's horse breeding, the treatment of these "herders" should be quite good. But who doesn't want their children to live better than themselves, and surpass their parents?

They also want their children to do business and become wealthy.

He also wanted his children to become high-ranking officials, bring honor to the family, and grant titles to his wives and children.

If that doesn't work out, serving as a soldier for your husband is also a good option!
Look at those Eight Banners soldiers, how are they treated now?
A year ago, their lives were far worse than those of these pastoral slaves!
Now, I have a house, land and money. Apart from the very hard training, my life is so wonderful!
Their descendants had no such opportunities before, but now they have them all.

It has to be said that Zhao Shuo gave the descendants of these "herders" the opportunity to freely choose their careers, which really made them grateful.

The people of Huanzhou were even more grateful to Zhao Shuo.

Zhao Shuo directly distributed a large amount of disaster relief supplies to those farmers who had no food or clothing, and all they had to do was pay 10% interest after the autumn.

These days, even offering 50% interest, let alone 10%, is considered a great benefactor. Even offering 100% interest would be praised by the people. Triple interest is considered normal. Otherwise, how could those wealthy families become so wealthy through cunning and plunder?
Ten percent interest? That's the same as no interest at all. These poor people simply regarded Zhao Shuo as their reincarnated parents, the reincarnation of an immortal Buddha.

Farmers with slightly better family conditions also benefited greatly from Zhao Shuo.

Zhao Shuo had retired a large number of war horses from the army, renting or selling them to the common people for farming. Since they were retired war horses, the prices for both renting and selling were extremely low. Those who couldn't pay could temporarily buy them on credit, returning them in the autumn with 10% interest.

Furthermore, there were four iron mines in Fuzhou, Changzhou, and Huanzhou. Zhao Shuo recruited many farmers who were unwilling to continue farming, as well as citizens from the three prefectures, to mine and smelt the iron. Zhao Shuo had over a thousand blacksmiths under his command, who forged a large number of iron plows and other iron farm tools.

Farmers who cannot afford to buy can also rent it at a very fair price.

How efficient is a horse-drawn iron plow? It's three times more efficient than an ox-drawn iron plow! And six times more efficient than an ox-drawn wooden plow!
It’s just that horses are expensive, prone to illness, and costly to raise, so they are not popular in the East.

These farmers can still afford the supply of concentrated feed in the short term, and a good harvest is expected in the fall.

Huanzhou's grain yields were low, due to factors including the local climate and soil, as well as production efficiency. Tenant farmers faced difficulties and could not afford iron farm tools. They rented oxen from the landlords, but the rent was exorbitant, allowing them to perform only simple, rough farming.

Farmers now estimate that grain production will increase by at least 20% this year.

If you calculate it this way, after paying 40% to the higher-ups, wouldn't there be 80% of the income from previous years left?

This is such a good day that I never even dreamed of!
Oh, and renting land.

It wasn’t so easy to rent land in the past.

"Those with daughters plant watered land, those with good wives plant good land, those with bad wives plant bad land, and those without women reclaim wasteland" is a later evil act of landlords. However, all evil in the world is universal.

In order to rent enough land for the whole family to make a living, poor farmers had to endure untold humiliations.

Now, the Eight Banners officers and soldiers govern the army according to military law, and the soldiers' combat effectiveness is related to the lives and futures of those senior officers. They will never allow such dirty things to happen.

Besides, most of the Eight Banners officers and soldiers were farmers before, and they could empathize with the farmers' plight. At least in the short term, they would not even have that thought.

Farmers are not faced with any difficulties in renting land, and they even feel that the sky in the three states is younger than in previous years.

By the way, the Eight Banners officers and soldiers are busy building houses now.

They had made a fortune in Zhongdu and brought all their belongings to a strange place. The first thing they wanted to do was to settle down.

First, they would temporarily live in a military camp or a ruined wealthy family.

Then, they hired farmers, and even trained them themselves, with the whole family working together to build a new home.

Following Zhao Shuo's instructions, they adapted to local conditions, gathering together in groups of ten, twenty, thirty, or forty or fifty households, and new manors began to take shape.

This gives farmers the opportunity to work.

A large amount of wealth from Zhongdu began to flow into the people of Fu, Huan and Chang states, which could be considered as "equal distribution of wealth" to a certain extent.

When farmers have money, they naturally spend it.

The Eight Banners officers and soldiers had money and needed to spend it.

The economies of Fu, Huan and Chang prefectures suddenly became active.

Across the three states, everyone has hope and the scene is bustling with activity.

Such a scene naturally attracted a large number of businessmen to come here, either to purchase properties or to conduct business, and the economy of the three states became more and more active.

Of course, this also attracted spies from the Jin, Song, Western Xia, and Western Liao dynasties to inquire about the territory of the Mongolian prince consort Zhao Shuo.

These spies have come to the wrong place.

Not to mention the Eight Banners soldiers, when Zhao Shuo said the sun was square, they would all say it looked like a red-lacquered Eight Immortals Table. Their loyalty was off the charts.

Those farmers can't be much weaker.

Zhao Shuo lent grain to extremely poor farmers at a 10% interest rate. Not only were the poor farmers grateful, but ordinary people were also extremely shocked.

In this era, agriculture was dependent on the weather. In a famine, even a middle-class family would be reduced to poverty. However, Prince Consort Zhao Shuo provided them with the most basic security!
In addition, Zhao Shuo gave them discarded war horses at a very low price, allowed them to keep 60% of the harvest, and also those iron farm tools...

Let’s not talk about anything else, just compare it with the rule of the Jin Dynasty, the difference is like heaven and earth!
Countless people teach their children that their good lives are thanks to their husbands. When they grow up, they should diligently practice martial arts and join the army to repay their husbands. If they cowardly fight on the battlefield, they would be letting their parents down and their descendants down.

These people are too vigilant against those who would destroy the prince consort's cause.

Countless secret spies were beaten half to death by the people and handed over to the centurions of the Eight Banners as soon as they revealed some suspicious information.

It can be said that Zhao Shuo won the hearts of the people and the military in the three states.

It has become Zhao Shuo's base, just like Liu Bang's Guanzhong area during the Chu-Han Contention.

At this time, news of the war between Song and Jin also began to reach Zhao Shuo's ears.

After receiving the imperial edict from Zhao Kuo, An Bing, the governor of Sichuan, mobilized his troops for a month and assembled an army of 5,000 cavalry and 95,000 infantry to launch an attack on Qinzhou.

The army had besieged the city for forty days, and Qinzhou was in imminent danger of being breached at any time.

However, at this moment, Shuhu Gaoqi, the former governor of Qinzhou who had been promoted to the position of Marshal and Right Inspector of the Jin army, suddenly attacked the Song army camp at night with 3,000 soldiers and 2,000 elite cavalry. They charged bravely while shouting that a 100,000-strong Jin army was coming to support them, disrupting the morale of the Song army.

An Bing was really frightened and abandoned his army and fled in panic.

The Jin army in Qinzhou City took the opportunity to attack, and with the help of internal and external forces, the 100,000 Song army was defeated and fled in all directions, with countless casualties.

The Song army generals An Fan and He Jiuling died in the chaos.

The Jin Kingdom took advantage of the situation to pursue and burn Dasan Pass, completely occupying the Lizhou East Road and Lizhou West Road of the Song Dynasty.

The Lizhou East Road and Lizhou West Road are actually the Hanzhong area that Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought over in history.

Hanzhong is located between the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains, connecting the Guanzhong Plain and the Sichuan Basin. Controlling Hanzhong allows you to conquer Guanzhong from the north and directly invade the Sichuan Basin from the south.

Sichuan had mobilized a hundred thousand troops, but the defense was already limited. Rumors that Shuhu Gaoqi had even taken over Hanzhong and Lizhou Road were spreading among the people of Sichuan, who were in a state of panic.

However, at this time, the Song Dynasty court could no longer take care of Sichuan.

The Jin Kingdom sent out not only Shu Hu Gao Qi!
Pushan Anzhen, a senior Jin general, had long fought peasant uprisings in Shandong. He commanded an elite unit known as the "Flower Hat Army." During this Mongol attack on the Jin, Pushan Anzhen led the Flower Hat Army and, against Mu Huali, defended the three prefectures, a truly remarkable feat.

When the Song people attacked Qinzhou of the Jin Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty not only sent Shuhu and Gaoqi to support Qinzhou, but also ordered Pushan Anzhen to lead 20,000 flower hat soldiers to the south.

Add to that Henan's 30,000 regular troops and 50,000 signed troops, the total army is 100,000.

These 100,000 troops were under the command of Pushan Anzhen.

Pushan Anzhen crossed the Huai River, won victory after victory, broke through seven cities of the Song army, defeated more than 30,000 Song soldiers, captured more than 70 men and women of the Song royal family, and let their horses drink water directly from the Yangtze River!

The capital of Song State, Lin'an, was only 300 miles away from the Yangtze River. For a time, the rulers and ministers of Song State were terrified.

They racked their brains to understand why such a powerful Jin army was forced by the Mongols to sign the humiliating Da'an Agreement?
Is it that the Song army is too weak?

Not right either.

Zhao Shuo, who was also a Han Chinese, became the first Bater of the Mongols, the most powerful Mongols after Temujin!
What exactly is the problem?
(End of this chapter)