Chapter 213 Feeding Pigs and Raising Soldiers
In the morning, as soon as he stepped into the Fusi Yamen of Pingkangfang Town, Wu Heita came in with a jar of wine.
"What's the matter, do you want to have two drinks early in the morning?" Qin Lang asked with a smile.
"Don't dare to drink when you are on business. This is a bottle of Gaochang wine that I treasure, an absolute treasure, and I will give it to Saburo." Wu Heita received the imperial decree yesterday and was named General Zuo Jinwuwei, which was a surprise. He was promoted again, besides thanking the emperor, he knew that Qin Lang was the one he should thank the most.
"This matter? You don't need to thank me. It's His Majesty's intention to promote you. I don't have much ability."
"I understand, I understand." Wu Heita put down the wine anyway.
Qin Lang looked helplessly at the wine, "You know that my family has a Guogong Winery, and there are two famous wines under the name, Guogong Wine and Weigong Wine. You still give me wine?"
"That's different. This is the wine of the Gaochang people. Pour it into a glass. The scarlet wine is both beautiful and delicious."
Qin Lang drank this Gaochang wine, and felt that the taste could only be said to be mediocre, not so magical. However, wine was indeed very famous in Chang'an at this time, and it was a popular product of Gaochang people. Besides wine, another popular product of Gaochang people was their white folded cloth.
Actually, it is cotton cloth.
But in Chang'an, the top-grade white cloth is much more valuable than silk.
Cotton cloth is more expensive than silk, which made Qin Lang feel wrong, but after a closer look, he realized that there is no cotton cloth production in the Central Plains today, and no cotton is grown. Only Gaochang State owns cotton, which produces white folded cloth, which is rare. For the least, although this cotton cloth is not as smooth as silk, it also has the advantages of being soft and sweat-absorbing, so it is highly sought after by the nobles in Chang'an, and the price is extremely high, and it is still difficult to buy.
This is the same as Gaochang wine, only their own.
Qin Lang picked up a pen and paper from the table, and wrote the words Gaochang Ma's Milk Grape and Cotton on it. This was his memo, and it was written down to remind him that these two things are worth a try.
There are many public wine-making methods in later generations. Gaochang wine uses their unique mare's milk grape, but as far as Qin Lang knows, it seems that the mare's milk grape plantation began to be introduced in the middle Tang Dynasty, and then Tang people also began to brew it themselves. wine too.
Cotton was also introduced into the court as an ornamental flower in the Tang Dynasty, and then slowly the Central Plains also began to plant weaving cloth. However, it seemed that the Central Plains did not plant a large amount of cotton until the Ming Dynasty, but it is said that it is another type of cotton.
But anyway, since Gaochang Cotton can weave cotton cloth, it is worth a try. Anyway, it is also a benefit to the people to make cotton jackets, cotton shoes and quilts.
After Wu Heita left, Liu Shili came again.
This big man, who ranks second only to Qin Lang among the real meritorious officials, is the emperor's confidant guard because he guarded Li Shimin several times into the palace on the fourth day of June. Xiaowei was transferred to serve as General You Jinwu.
This time, when Li Shimin perfected the Beiya Imperial Army, it was his confidantes who reused them.
Wu Heita and Liu Shili are both former generals of the Qin Palace.
The same guards Gongsun Wuda and Du Junchuo who followed Li Shimin into the Xuanwu Gate that day were awarded the right and left Qianniuwei generals yesterday.
The original commanders of Xuanjiaqi, Zhang Shigui and Zhai Changsun, were awarded the post of General of Left and Right Habayashi.
Chang He was transferred to be the general of the left prison gate, Li Mengchang was appointed as the general of the right prison gate, and Li Junxian was appointed as the commander of Baiqisi.
All of them are the guard officers of Prince Qin's Mansion.
This time they were all promoted to generals and became generals of the third rank.
The Sixth Army of Beiya was newly established, and the general has not been conferred yet. This general is actually the chief general of the Sixth Army. excited.
Wu Heita and Liu Shili served as the left and right generals of Jinwuwei respectively. Wu Heita was in charge of Chang'an Nine Gates, and Liu Shili was in charge of Chang'an Sixth Street.
The original 30,000 horses will now be cut and merged into 15 battalions with 15,000 people.
"According to your Majesty's intention, it is to be changed from government soldiers to recruited soldiers. From now on, they will be standing soldiers. Soldiers can bring their families to Beijing and settle down in the capital. The recruited soldiers will be paid monthly..."
Conditions are still very good.
The biggest difference from Fubing is standing soldiers, which are professional soldiers who are completely divorced from agricultural production.
"His Majesty promulgated the selection criteria, the second-class and above households, those who are six feet long and strong, who try the bow and horse more than four times, pass the pass five times, and walk thirty steps with five stones."
This selection standard is much stronger than Fubing.
First of all, if the household is above the second class, it means that it is quite strict. Tang households are divided into nine classes, and the upper, middle and lower classes are divided into three classes.
The assets of fixed households include slaves, servants, houses, vegetable gardens, docks, cattle, carts, grain, and fields, and the households are compared every three years, which means that they must be updated frequently. Adjustment.
Children from rich families have to be over 1.8 meters tall, not to mention able to draw a bow and shoot an arrow.
Even more strength is needed. To lift the gate means to lift the city gate bolt horizontally with one hand, which requires great strength and skill, let alone walking 30 steps with five stone meters on your back.
It can be said that those who can meet these standards are all rich and handsome.
This was actually Yang Guang’s condition for recruiting the Xiaoguo Army back then, and it was directly used by Li Shimin.
"For the original 30,000 soldiers in our town's Fusi, those who voluntarily apply for recruitment can be selected first. If the height is less than six feet, His Majesty's special permission is to relax it to five feet nine, which can be regarded as taking care of them. But the household and other conditions cannot be relaxed. The three assessments of bowing horse, passing the test and carrying weight must also pass the test!"
Wu Heita asked, "I don't know what the standard of food and salary is?"
Since it is a full-time standing soldier, it is naturally different from the government soldiers. They cannot farm, but they have to support their families.
"The provisional standard is thirty-six shi, eighteen bolts of silk, and eighteen bolts of cloth for a sergeant's annual grain."
Wu Heitai was a little surprised. This treatment can’t be said to be bad, it can even be said to be better. One person has thirty-six shi of food a year, and three shi of food a month. And now the left and right Jinwu guards are paid 15,000, doesn't it mean that they get 540,000 stone grains, 270,000 silks, and 270,000 cloths a year?
This expense is huge. You must know that Habayashi and Qianniu each have 6,000 people, so there is still 12,000 in total.
"How does the imperial court solve these military expenditures, is the supply affordable?"
In the past, it was the Fubing system. The Fubing in Fanshang prepared their own dry food on the road. When they arrived at the place, the imperial court was only responsible for the rations.
"Your Majesty said that some fields will be set aside in Guanlong as the grain fields of the forbidden army, or cultivated by the children of the forbidden army, or rented out to private households to collect rent, so as to fill the grain of the forbidden army."
But one million stone grains a year, I am afraid that this method is not enough, the imperial court is impossible to provide a million mu of land, after all, it is still in the Guanzhong area, and if it is for rent, it will need more than one million mu of land. The annual rent may be one million shi.
The imperial army is the army guarding the capital, and it is impossible to farm the fields like the frontier army.
"As for the issue of military expenditure, we don't need to consider it for the time being. What we need to consider now is how to recruit and select about 15,000 Jinwu Guard soldiers, and other issues such as the garrison of sub-battalions."
In fact, the military expenses of the Jinwu Guard under the Zhenfu Division are definitely more than that for a year, and those are just the military pay for the soldiers, which is wages. They usually have food and accommodation covered by the Jinwu Guard, not to mention equipment, training, and horses. Horses are expensive. Buying horses requires raising horses. One horse can support five infantrymen.
Therefore, Li Shimin wants a forbidden army of the emperor who can completely obey his orders and has a strong combat effectiveness. The biggest problem is not the problem of soldiers, but the problem of military expenses, equipment, food and daily expenses. This is definitely not the current imperial court. Wealth can support us.
Although the government soldiers have many shortcomings, the biggest advantage of them is that they serve as farmers in their spare time and serve as soldiers in wars. When fighting, they prepare their own food and clothing and do not need to pay. Even the general equipment is prepared by the government soldiers themselves.
And changed to a standing army, even if there are only more than 20,000 people, the court must be responsible for all expenses.
The only way Li Shimin gives now is to draw some fields, but this is far from enough. Qin Lang was thinking there, Zhenfusi still has a small treasury now, but it can't afford the 15,000 standing army. What's more, besides the 15,000 Jinwuwei, the Zhenfusi also has five In the school office, there are many people below who need food, drink and support.
Why don't the Zhenfu Division start some industries?
Earn some extra money to support Jin Wuwei?
But do something industry?
After thinking about it, farming is definitely not enough. This requires a lot of input and little output. First of all, there must be land. But now that there are many people in Guanzhong and little land, the most lacking thing is land.
Engage in farming?
Now that the people in Guanzhong raise a large number of poultry, there is no need for the Zhen Fusi to intervene. How about raising cattle and horses? It doesn't seem to work either. There are many pastoral supervisors in the imperial court who raise a large number of horses. It is said that the pastoral supervisors all over the country have more than 800,000 military horses, which is quite a lot, which is amazing.
It seems that raising cattle doesn’t work either, because the areas in Guanzhong that are suitable for large-scale breeding of cattle and horses are now all herdsmen set up by the imperial court, and they are now in the hands of Zhang Wansui and his father.
If it doesn’t work, why not just raise pigs.
The last time he investigated, the number of pigs raised in common people's family farming is not large, mainly because the war has just passed, and people's lives are more difficult. Pigs actually cost a lot of money. After all, one piglet is not cheap, even if it is raised It is also mainly based on free-range breeding, resulting in less breeding.
Guanzhong aristocratic officials eat more sheep, the upper class eats sheep, and sheep is also expensive. The upper class don't eat pigs very much, and the common people can't afford them. It's an embarrassing existence.
Why don’t the Jinwu Guard build some pig farms after getting the land, and find a way to promote pork?
Building a pig farm to sell pork to make money to support Jinwu Guards. Why is this idea so strange?
But Qin Lang felt that this was indeed a feasible solution. Would you like to report it to Li Shimin?
(end of this chapter)