Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 162 The Great Ming Military Reform

"Your Highness, these Mongols seem to be coming for Wild Wolf Fort?" Luo Guanzhong came to report to Zhu Han after some investigation.

It turned out that the Ming army's fortress tactics had worked, and the Mongolian tribes around Wild Wolf Castle could not graze at ease. They were worried about being attacked by the Ming army at any time, so they asked Wang Baobao for help. The tribe wants to break through the nail of Wild Wolf Fort.

After all, Wild Wolf Fort doesn't look very tall, it seems that the Mongols can break through it with a single charge.

"Hehe, the Tartars are here to die, how many soldiers do they have?" Zhu Han looked out of the fort, and saw the Mongols' arrogant posture.

"Reporting to His Royal Highness, there are a total of about 1 Mongols who invaded this time, all equipped with Mongolian scimitars, bows and arrows, as well as shields and spears, and the armor is also fully equipped, and there are even many siege Ladder?" Luo Guanzhong said.

Zhu Han said with a smile: "Hmph! They came just in time, just in time for us to train soldiers."

Seeing Zhu Han's confidence, Guo Ying, Zhou Dexing and others were also secretly surprised.

This Wild Wolf Fortress is only one foot high, and the garrison of the Ming Dynasty is only more than 1000 people. Zhu Han is not panicked at all, but full of confidence, which makes them confused.

However, Guo Ying, Zhou Dexing and other generals did not ask, but chose to remain silent.

The general of the Mongolian Yuan army outside the city was Wang Baobao's younger brother Alu Timur. He saw that the Ming army's Wild Wolf Castle was only one foot high, so he immediately ordered the Mongolian army to attack, and did not give the Ming army reinforcements a chance to come to the rescue.

The Mongolian army quickly surrounded them from all directions.

And began to concentrate on violently attacking the fortress.

But they underestimated the defense capabilities of the Ming army.

There are quite a few artillery pieces inside the fortress, and while the enemy was attacking, the artillery pieces fired at the Mongolian army one after another.

"Bang bang bang" was loud and deafening. Shells hit the Mongolian army one after another, and thick gunpowder smoke spread out, covering the sky.

The former army composed of Mongolian herdsmen was in disarray and was in chaos, unable to organize an attack at all.

At this time, the lookout post on the top of the fort immediately shouted, and then, dense musket fire was fired from the city wall, killing and wounding a large number of Mongolian soldiers and horses in an instant.

As for Alu Timur outside the city, when he saw this scene in front of him, his face suddenly changed!
He never expected that this Wild Wolf Fort would be so powerful!
However, he quickly calmed down and decided to personally lead the soldiers under his command to attack.

There were 500 people around Alu Timur, and these 500 people followed Alu Timur to conquer the north and south, and they were considered the elite of the elite.

These 500 people rode tall horses and followed Alu Timur to charge forward. Holding machetes in their hands, they rode their horses and galloped straight to the Wild Wolf Fort. walls and take this fortress.

However, when they were more than ten meters away from Wild Wolf Fort, the Ming army musketeers in Wild Wolf Fort suddenly raised their heads, raised their arquebus guns, and shot at the cavalry on Alu Timur's side .

There were only bursts of gunshots, and Mongolian cavalrymen kept falling in a pool of blood.

However, Alu Timur didn't care about these casualties at all, and he continued to lead the cavalry to sprint towards Wild Wolf Fort.

Finally, Alu Timur led five hundred cavalry to a distance of only seven or eight steps from the city wall, which was enough for them.

Alu Timur led the soldiers and began to dismount and climb up to the fort with ladders.

Seeing this, Zhu Han smiled contemptuously. He waved his hand and ordered the defenders' artillery to start firing.

"Boom"

On the tower of Wild Wolf Fort, artillery shells kept flying out one after another.

At this moment, the Mongolian cavalrymen really realized what is the power of firearms. One after another, the shells hit the Mongols, killing the Mongols' corpses all over the ground.

"Retreat!" Alu Timur shouted.

At this time, the Mongolian army was thinking of retreating, but it was already too late. Hundreds of musketeers appeared in the Wild Wolf Fort, shooting fiercely at the fleeing Mongols.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Alu Timur turned around and wanted to escape.

But it was too late, a shotgun just hit the back of his head, killing him instantly.

The rest of the Mongolian cavalry were not much better. Although they escaped the musket fire by chance, they were still blown up or shot to death by the artillery of the Ming army.

The Mongolian army suffered heavy losses. In the end, less than half of the people left escaped, and the rest were basically killed.

At this time, the Mongolian army outside the city saw this and immediately turned around and ran away.

Meng Yuan originally wanted to pull out these fortresses of the Ming army on the grassland in response to the surprise attack on Changfu this time, but they never expected that the defense of the Ming army would be so strong. Those inconspicuous fortresses have such powerful The firepower not only caused their heads to bleed, but also damaged one of the generals, Alu Timur.

After getting this news, the entire Meng Yuan was terrified. No one dared to think that Yingchang Mansion launched an attack. Even Wang Baobao could only bear it after knowing the situation. It is easy to attack the Ming army in southern Mongolia.

As a result, the Mongolian tribes on the entire Monan grassland were almost equivalent to being abandoned by the Mongolian and Yuan courts. They quickly changed their original position and began to surrender to the Ming army.

After Zhu Han learned of this situation, he immediately ordered Luo Guanzhong, Zhou Dexing and others to quickly expand this kind of fortress on the grassland.

It's just that this kind of fort needs to be stationed with a lot of soldiers and horses, and each fort must have at least two to three hundred people. If you want to build enough forts on the entire Monan grassland, you must deploy enough soldiers.

A mere 1 soldiers could not satisfy Zhu Han's plan to completely control the grassland.

In order to solve the problem of insufficient military resources, Zhu Han immediately sent a letter to his elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang, requesting that some of the military households in the Huaixi area of ​​​​Henan Province be allocated to serve in the North Parallel Capital Division. The conditions for these recruits are very generous.

Of course, military households are stationed on the grasslands, and it is impossible to have the land that every military household originally had, so they can only greatly increase their military pay.

You must know that there are many children of military households in Huaixi, but they did not inherit the status of military households.

Their way out is a big problem.

Daming, Xuzhou Prefecture.

Li Shan is 17 years old this year, and his father Li Sanming was once a member of Guo Zixing's Red Scarf Army.

First he followed the commander-in-chief Guo Zixing in Haozhou, and later he took refuge in the current emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. As the incorporated Guo Zixing old department, Li Shan's father became a member of the army.

Unfortunately, not a year has passed.

Li Shan's father died in battle, and Li Shan's eldest brother inherited the position of military household, that is, the 150 mu of land for employment, and 64 mu of tax land, and the rest of the mounts, pack horses, armor, bows and arrows, etc. All belong to the elder brother.

Li Shan and another brother.

Except for a suit of clothes and two houses, nothing was obtained at all.

There is no way, according to the laws of Daming military households.All occupations of military households and soldiers are not allowed to be split and inherited.

Because, the job field of a military household soldier is the source of most of his supplies when he is away on an expedition.

If the job field of a military household soldier is split up, there will only be twenty or thirty acres left, and it will be impossible to support the self-provided expenses for weapons, grain, pack horses, and leather armor.

Therefore, according to the law of succession in the military household soldier decree, Li Shan's elder brother became a wealthy military household soldier.

But Li Shan and his second brother became nothing.

On the outskirts of Xuzhou City, there is a garden of ten big houses, which is where Li Shan lives now.

This is the house of his eldest brother Li Zhong, a Xuzhou military family.

Today, elder brother Li Zhong went to Xuzhou City.

I heard it was to listen to the latest military orders.

"Third brother, I can't live through this day!"

Li Shan had just laid down on the broken bed in his room when he heard shouts from outside.

This voice was none other than his second brother Li Yi's voice.

As soon as the voice fell, a short, black-faced man pushed open the wooden door and barged in.

"Second brother, what's the matter? Why can't you live?"

Li Shan got up slowly and asked.

They are military households with mud legs, and there are very few red tapes between brothers.

Getting along with each other is naturally carefree.

"Humph!"

Hearing this, Li Yi spat very angrily at first.

"What else can there be!"

"The woman who is not the boss is really hateful."

"Arranging work today, treating you and me as tenants, and charging us for meals!"

"This thief, have you forgotten that this family was created by our father?"

After Li Yi finished speaking, he picked up the rough porcelain bowl on the table, and took two mouthfuls of low-quality rice wine.

Li Shan frowned when he heard his second brother's words.

He is really in trouble.

Now this family is already the boss.

No.

It cannot be said to be the master of the house.

This family is completely owned by the boss Li Zhong.

Li Shan and his second elder brother Li Yi, according to the law of the military households of the Ming Dynasty, if the children who have not obtained the right to inherit the military households, if they want to continue to stay in the family, they must all prepare auxiliary soldiers at home.

Once there is a war, these auxiliary soldiers are used as 'cannon fodder' for the main soldiers.

Moreover, it is very difficult for auxiliary soldiers to have the opportunity to go into battle and gain military merits.

Even if there is a chance, the bulk of the credit must be attributed to Zhengbing.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the military households of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Han and Zhu Yuanzhang had agreed a long time ago that they would give very preferential treatment to the military households under them.

"Second brother, I didn't mean you. Isn't this something that will happen sooner or later? Is it worth being so angry?" Li Shan said with a face of indifference.

His sister-in-law is also the wife of his elder brother Li Zhong.

It's just a 27-year-old woman with thick hands and thick feet.

Originally the daughter of a butcher in Haozhou City, although she has not read any books, she has a lot of eyes.

Brothers Li Yi and Li Shan, although they bear the names of two auxiliary soldiers in this family.

But it is eating more and doing less.

The eldest daughter-in-law had long wanted to drive them out of the house.

It's just that the boss, Li Zhong, still refuses because of his brother's affection.

"We are all biological brothers. It's too much for the eldest daughter-in-law to do this!"

Li Yi said angrily.

"Biological brother?"

Hearing this, Li Shan sneered.

"So what about the biological brothers, the eldest is now a military household, has errands, land, and the opportunity to be rewarded for his meritorious service in the future."

"What do we brothers have, we can only send our names here, and we will be exempted from taxes for two seasons of the year."

Brothers Li Yi and Li Shan, in the name of this family, are all auxiliary soldiers.

But they neither want to farm cattle or horses, nor do they want to work with the servants at home.

It's almost like eating rice.

Naturally, he was not welcomed by the eldest daughter-in-law.

"Hey, we brothers, we have to think of a way out!"

Li Yi said with a sigh.

"What kind of way out, this way out has already been given to the boss."

Li Shan said depressedly.

"Our brother is also skilled in martial arts, not much worse than the boss, but he just lacks the title of a mansion soldier. As long as we have a way, how can we not get a title?" Li Yi said, patting his chest.

"Nowadays, how can there be any good way out?"

Li Shan sighed, and then continued.

"If you want to get ahead, you must either study and take the imperial examination, and then become an official, or serve as a soldier and lead the army."

"But the two of us brothers are not the seeds of reading at all. It is impossible to rely on reading."

"If you become a military household, there are already [-] military households all over the world, and it is difficult to become a military household if you are overcrowded."

Hearing this, Li Yi felt a burst of sadness in his heart.

Today's Daming military households are not what they used to be.

In the past, as long as you went to join the army, you were basically a military household soldier with at least a hundred acres of land.

But in the past two years, the number of military household soldiers in the world has already been almost full.

If an ordinary person wants to become a military household, it will take a lot of effort, and it is no easier than taking the imperial examination.

Even the conditions for recruiting soldiers are very harsh.

"Never mind him, it's a big deal, we brothers, drink and eat meat here every day, anyway, what we eat and drink is the boss's wealth, he doesn't feel bad, and we don't worry!"

Li Shan said.

However, this kind of life is not a long-term solution.

I am afraid that the days of living under the fence will become more and more difficult.

The two brothers just sat and drank in the room.

I didn't give up drinking until the sun was past noon, and I was about to find lunch.

At this time, there were already four large wine jars empty on the ground.

"Second brother! But in the house?"

Just when the two were in a daze, a soft female voice came over.

The sound was coming from outside.

"Who?"

Li Shan got up with his eyes wide open, and walked out of the room.

I saw an eighteen or nineteen-year-old woman standing outside the door.

Although this woman is not very beautiful, but the more she looks at it, the more interesting she is.

Especially the plump upper body and the twisting waist made Li Shan take a look, and his heart was jumping wildly.

"Hey, Yue Niang, why are you here looking for us?"

Li Shan asked with a smile.

A pair of eyes kept looking at the woman's figure.

Seeing this, Yue Niang showed a disgusted expression on her face.

She took half a step back, avoiding Li Shan's naked gaze.

"The head of the family is back, and I want the two of you to meet him."

"The boss is back?" Li Shan was a little surprised when he heard it.

In the past, the training of military household soldiers lasted at least one or two days.

Why did you come back in less than a day?
Is it?
Could it be that he found out that he peeked at Yueniang taking a bath the day before yesterday?
Anyway, no matter what it is, today is bound to be scolded by the boss.

Li Shan couldn't help feeling flustered, and his second brother Li Yi was not much better either.

The second brother, Li Yi, also had an extremely ugly expression on his face.

You can tell at a glance that you must have done a lot of bad things.

The two came to the front yard and met the boss of the Li family.

The boss Li Zhong, who was sitting in the front seat, had a panoramic view of the expressions of the two brothers.

Li Zhong couldn't help but couldn't help crying and laughing in his heart.

These two younger brothers are both rascals.

Especially after he inherited his father's military household status, the resentment in their hearts gradually increased.

"In the past two years, you two have worked hard in this family. It can be said that you have contributed and worked hard."

Li Yi and Li Shan felt uncomfortable when they heard this.

Is the boss mocking himself, or is it sincere?

"Brother, don't say that, isn't it right to contribute to your family?!" Li Shan said pretending to be generous.

Seeing this, Li Zhong was not angry at all.

"Yes, yes, you should give it to yourself."

"However, both of you are very capable. Unfortunately, there is no way to enter the army. It is a grievance to be an auxiliary soldier here."

"Brother, what do you mean by that?" Li Shan's face collapsed.

"Boss, don't you want the Dusifu to remove us as auxiliary soldiers?" Li Yi showed displeasure.

Li Zhong shook his hand when he heard the words.

"Where are you two thinking about?"

"How could I revoke both of your identities from the Dusi Mansion? In that case, wouldn't I be urged to leave by the tax corvee every day?"

Although the Ming Dynasty is rising now, the life of ordinary people is not easy yet.

Ordinary people pay taxes twice a year, and there are dozens of days of corvee, or other miscellaneous labor.

This situation is the result of Emperor Hongwu's "rest and recuperation" in recent years.

Compared with the life of the military households in the Ming Dynasty, the ordinary people have worked much harder.

"Then what do you mean?" Li Yi asked, frowning.

"Haha, of course it's a good thing."

The boss, Li Zhong, then told what happened today.

"You don't know yet, do you?"

"The king's Beiping capital has issued a military order to set up twelve guards in Beiping, recruit soldiers from Henan, Huainan and Jiangbei, and the imperial court will give officials salaries, and all other military equipment will be allocated by the imperial court."

"The future military lords will all be the same as military households."

Hearing this, both Li Yi and Li Shan were surprised and delighted.

Surprised, such a good thing, how can you still recruit soldiers, shouldn't it be crowded a long time ago, and it will be overcrowded?

Fortunately, because of this way, my own martial arts can have a way out.

"Brother, where will the twelve guards be stationed?" Li Yi asked.

"Hehe, they are all in Beiping. If there is a war in the future, they will be relocated according to the military order." Li Zhong said.

Li Yi and Li Shan were happy again when they heard the words.

After the two glanced at each other, they continued to ask.

"That's great. Beiping is a good place. If it's a job field there, then it's a lot of money." Li Yi said eagerly.

"That's right, Beiping is the original capital of the Mongol Tartars. It's a great place! The surrounding job fields are very beautiful when you think about it." Li Shan also said.

"Ahem, you two may have misunderstood." Li Zhong cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"Worse?"

"Where did you think wrong?"

Li Yi and Li Shan were both taken aback.

"The Twelve Guards in Beiping recruit soldiers for salaries and official positions, but they don't have jobs," Li Zhong said.

"No job field?"

"How could there be no job field?"

Both Li Yi and Li Shan refused to believe it.

"Hey, you two don't think about it. The fertile land in these places has already been divided, and the remaining wasteland will take time to reclaim."

"Besides, what a wonderful place the surrounding area of ​​Beiping is, how could there be any vacant land for division of labor."

"These twelve guards are all given generous salaries, and they are actually no worse than their jobs."

Li Zhong's words finally made them feel better.

"Brother, how much is the salary of the Twelve Guard recruits in Beiping?" Li Yi asked.

"30 yuan!" Li Zhong stretched out three fingers.

However, these words made his two younger brothers look confused.

"What? 30 yuan?"

"What round and square?"

Li Yi and Li Shan were full of doubts.

"Thirty silver dollars, that is, thirty silver coins."

Li Zhong said it.

He took out a purse from his pocket.

Whoa!

With a soft sound, he poured out the money bag.

I saw a pile of white and round silver dollars rolling out.

"See, this is a silver dollar."

Li Zhong held up a silver dollar and said.

"Da Ming discovered a mountain of silver on Wa Island. In the future, all coins in the world will gradually be exchanged for this silver coin."

"Oh, that's called silver dollars."

"One is one yuan, and recruiting soldiers in Beiping costs thirty silver dollars a month, which is worth tens of thousands of dollars."

"If you count it, it's much better than a hundred acres of Susukida."

"Besides, you don't have to worry about harvesting the crops. You can get thirty silver coins every month. Isn't it beautiful?"

"What's so good about working in a field? Not only do you have to manage the planting and harvesting, but you also need to prevent insects from biting mice and gnawing at them, and you also need to prevent thieves from stealing at home..."

When Li Zhong said this, he suddenly felt a little bald, and quickly closed his mouth.

"This is a silver dollar!"

"Sure enough, holding this silver money in your hand is more comfortable than copper money!"

Li Yi and Li Shan grabbed a handful of silver dollars one after another.

They were in the gambling stalls in the city, and they once heard people talk about Ying Tianfu's issue of money.

Unexpectedly, not long after that, it was actually in his hand.

"Hahaha, as long as you two like it, go back and clean up quickly today, and you can go to Peiping with the people from the Dusi Mansion in two days." Li Zhong said with a smile.

"What? To Peking?"

"I haven't agreed yet!"

Although Li Yi and Li Shan love the vain money, they haven't agreed yet.

After all, whether this matter is reliable or not, they both felt that they should take another look.

"Hey, you don't need to agree to this matter." Li Zhong said with a 'sincere' smile.

"Now that my father is gone, the so-called elder brother is like a father. If you miss such a good thing, it will be gone."

"So, in the military mansion in Xincai City today, I have already agreed on your behalf."

Both Li Yi and Li Shan opened their mouths in surprise.

For a moment, neither of them knew how to deal with the problem.

"Here, the silver dollars in your two hands are the settling allowances issued by the Dusi Mansion in advance."

"Everyone is worth twenty silver coins. If they are exchanged for copper coins in Xuzhou City, they will be worth nearly ten thousand coins."

As Li Zhong said, he took out two more paper envelopes from his pocket.

"Also, here are your military documents."

"Take it well each of you. With this thing, when you arrive in Beiping, you can directly enter the Twelve Guards, and you don't need to check your skills and family background."

Li Yi and Li Shan took the two paper seals in a daze.

Afterwards, each of them took the money into their pockets.

Just so dizzy, he was 'sold' by his elder brother Li Zhong.

When they heard that it had been registered in the Dusi Mansion, they didn't dare to turn their faces rashly.

Who knows if it will cause big trouble?

Two days later.

When Li Yi and Li Shan took their own luggage, they went to Peiping with other Xuzhou warriors.

The Yinshan Mountains are bordered by the Yellow River in the south and bordered by the Saibei in the north.

The tall mountains divide the north and south sides into completely different scenes.

To the north of Yinshan Mountain, there are endless grasslands and deserts.

In the south of Yinshan Mountain, besides the grassland, there is also land suitable for cultivation.

Later generations said that the fortified south of the Yangtze River refers to the two sides of the Yellow River south of Yinshan Mountain.

A dilapidated city stands by the Yellow River. This was the capital of the Xixia Dynasty, Xingzhong Mansion.

"Xingzhong Fucheng is already so dilapidated. If it is built again, it will be impossible within half a year."

Xu Da looked at the dilapidated city wall in the distance and said in disappointment.

Since the end of the Western Xia Dynasty, the Mongolian Ministry has aggressively invaded the south.

Later, when Xixia was destroyed, Xingzhong Mansion was directly abandoned.

When Kublai Khan established the Great Yuan.

The Mongols established the Ningxia Mansion here, and only then began to slowly repair the city walls.

"Don't worry, Commander. We captured so many Tartar prisoners this time and let them work as coolies to build the city wall. We can build a city in as little as three months." Deputy Commander Chang Yuchun said.

After Xu Da returned to the northwest, he led the Ming army to launch a continuous attack on the grassland. He led the [-] Ming army in two groups and launched an attack from Xi'an City. After sweeping the Wanggu tribe near Yinshan Mountain, tens of thousands of prisoners were already captured. , As for cattle and sheep, there are as many as one hundred thousand.

However, these captured Wanggu tribesmen can only herd and rob. If they are used to build cities, Xu Da is really worried about the quality.

"I don't know if these prisoners of the Wanggu tribe are competent. If the construction of Ningxia's city defense is delayed, I'm afraid it will delay major events."

After the spring of the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an order from Yingtian.

The Ming Dynasty wanted to build a strong city in Ningxia to block the southward route of the grassland Tartars.

Because entrenched in the grassland, Meng Yuan Taishi Wang Baobao has already entangled a large number of Mongolian soldiers and horses, and is ready to break out of war at any time.

In order to ensure the smooth battle, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Han and Xu Da to lead the army to act together.

Among them, the main force of the northward attack is still the Beiping Dusi Army and the Liaodong Army led by Zhu Han, while the soldiers and horses led by Xu Da only need to be stationed in the area of ​​Ningxia Mansion and cooperate immediately.

The order Xu Da received was to rebuild a new city on the old site of Ningxia City as a base camp to deter the Mongols near Yinshan Mountain.

"If you can't do such a simple thing like digging and building a city, those Wang Gu people don't have anything to keep." Chang Yuchun said.

Chang Yuchun has always been known for being cruel to prisoners of war.

This time, if Xu Da hadn't made the decision this time, Chang Yuchun would have killed all these Wang Gu tribes.

"Marshal, Your Majesty's intention is to use this new Ningxia city to frighten the surrounding Mongolian ministries. If in the process of building the city, it can make the ministries fearful, wouldn't it be twice the result with half the effort." Chang Yuchun suddenly asked Said.

"Do twice the result with half the effort? What do you mean?" Xu Da didn't understand what he said.

"We caught too many prisoners of the Wanggu tribe this time. If we don't give them a little bit of strength, we will let them go. Who knows if it will be letting the tiger go back to the mountain."

Chang Yuchun revealed his ruthlessness with just one mouthful.

His plan is to take advantage of the opportunity of building Ningxia City to consume at least half of these captives and reduce the population of the Wanggu tribe as much as possible.

In this way, the city of Ningxia built with the blood of the captives was enough to scare the surrounding Mongolian ministries into obedient obedience.

Anyway, Yuchun had long understood that the tougher the better the way to deal with these Wanggu people.

What Chang Yuchun said really spoke to Xu Da's heart.

Although the imperial court re-established Xiliang Mansion and Ningxia Mansion.

But these two places have been occupied by Mongols for a long time, and the proportion of Han people is very small.

Xu Da must use the shortest time to establish his prestige so that the surrounding ministries dare not act rashly.

"Okay, then bring all the captives up and let them dig the mud and get the soil. At least before the rain, build the foundation of the Ningxia New City wall."

Xu Da immediately nodded in agreement.

The tens of thousands of Wanggu's captives who were captured by him are now following behind the army's ass.

The horses of these Wangu people have been confiscated, and they are not afraid of them escaping.

Without a horse on the grassland, it is like having no legs.

Even if they fled to other tribes on foot, the fate of these people was to become slaves of other tribes.

The grasslands are not the place to be kind.

Therefore, when Xu Da and the two Wanggu tribesmen expressed to the prisoners of Wanggu tribe that they would spare their lives and that they did not intend to assign them as slaves, but would stay here directly to build the city wall, almost all the Wanggu tribesmen burst into tears of gratitude. .

This situation was far beyond Xu Da's expectations.

They had already ordered the Ming army to prepare their swords and guns, and if they encountered any stabbing heads who dared to oppose, they would immediately kill them on the spot.

"Commander, besides letting us build a city here, do you have any other orders?" A leading prisoner of the Wanggu Tribe boldly asked Xu Da.

Seeing this, Xu Da said slowly.

"Building the city is the current order, and other orders will be discussed later."

When the leading captives heard this, they all showed surprise expressions on their faces.

"General, is this true?"

"Of course it's true. The general's words are naturally true." Xu Da was full of doubts.

The leading captives immediately fell to their knees in surprise.

Shouting the words of gratitude to Dade again and again, he kowtowed to Xu Da non-stop.

Xu Da was bewildered, and turned to look at Chang Yuchun.

Chang Yuchun was also puzzled.

The two of them had just imagined that if these captives were to be used as coolies to die, half of them might have to be wiped out.

However, these Wanggu captives are all grateful for the appearance of Dade, which is really puzzling.

Chang Yuchun immediately sent someone to question him, and only then did he understand the reason.

"These people were more afraid of other tribes than Daming."

"What do you mean by that?"

"These captives said that if they fall into the hands of other tribes, they will be completely slaves. Not only are their lives and property not guaranteed, but their wives and children will no longer belong to them and will be rewarded to other people. .”

"So, these Wanggu captives didn't think it was a surprise that they were punished as coolies for building the city, and it was a surprise that they didn't force their wives and children to separate."

These captives can continue to stay with their wives and children. With women and children tied up, these captives will have a lot of trouble if they want to run away.

With these captives building the city wall, Ningxia City soon took shape.

Xu Da and Chang Yuchun built a strong fortress with Ningxia Mansion as the center, and the land with a radius of hundreds of miles around it was all controlled by the Ming army.

Coupled with Zhu Han's victory in Yingchang Mansion, even though the tribes in the Monan Grassland were dissatisfied with the Ming army, they could only honestly express their submission.

Xu Da ordered the large tract of land from Ningxia City to the north to the foot of Yin Mountain to be reclaimed as army farmland.

These army farmlands are all sown with the latest high-yielding crop seeds provided by Zhu Han.

Xu Da had already estimated the fertility of these lands. He only needed to wait until after the autumn harvest. The harvest in just one place in Ningxia Prefecture could meet the ration needs of [-] Ming soldiers.

The Ming soldiers in the Ningxia Mansion no longer need to spend manpower to transport food and grass from the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)