Please ask me to be the emperor

"Yulin Town is centered on the four towns of Yan'an, Suide, Qingyang and Yulin, and there should be more than 20,000 households." Kong Wenxi, deputy envoy of Hexi Military Preparation, said seriously.

"If we talk about Shaanxi, Yan'an is the core, Qingyang and Suide are the two wings, and Yulin is the head."

"If we talk about northern Shaanxi, Yulin is the core, Thirty-six Forts are the two wings, and Qingyang, Yan'an and Suide are the raiding formations."

"This is the defense method of Yulin Town!"

Zhang Shun was no longer the former Wu Xia Ameng. Hearing this, he knew that Qingyang, Yan'an and Suide were the depths of Yulin Town's battle defense.

After the pirates broke through the thirty-six fort defense system with Yulin Town as the core, these three places were defended with the help of city fortresses to create opportunities for the main force to annihilate the enemy.

In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, few enemies in the north were able to break through Yulin's defense system.

Even in the last years of the dynasty, the enemy could only attack the city of Yanzhou at most. At the end of the war, it was impossible to threaten the core area of ​​​​Guanzhong.

But, are these what Zhang Shun wants? of course not!

"If I eliminate the old and weak, clean up the farmland, and restore the victory in the early Ming Dynasty, what can I do?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask.

"As time goes by, things change. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, elite soldiers and strong generals were sealed in an uninhabited land, so the military was at its peak." Kong Wenzheng was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but explain quickly.

"Most of the soldiers today are miserable, have no money left, and rarely want to be beggars. How can they be like in the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Don't coax me!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but sneered, "Under the old Ming Dynasty system, each household of guards officers and soldiers was allocated one hectare of land. These four guards combined should have 20,000 to 30,000 hectares of farmland."

"Today, the Yan'an Prefecture's tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty is only 36,637.22 taels of silver. Where did the huge difference go?"

"This..." Kong Wenzheng suddenly broke out in sweat after hearing this. He quickly took out his handkerchief and wiped it before answering with an excuse.

"It may have been embezzled by military officers, or it may have been buried by wind and sand, or it may have been hit by drought and the landowners abandoned their fields and fled, just to name a few!"

"How many times have the wind and sand swallowed up? How many times have people abandoned their fields and fled for famine? Why are taxes now no more than one or two percent of what they were in the early Ming Dynasty?" What you say makes sense, but let me ask you, why is the gap so big?

"Many...many are in the hands of noble officers!" Kong Wenzheng had to admit.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, military officers took advantage of their powers to continuously embezzle farmland and exploit soldiers, which led to constant flight from home. The court had to adopt a recruitment system to maintain the combat effectiveness of soldiers.

However, unlike most people in later generations who believed that the Ming Dynasty's recruitment system recruited soldiers from ordinary people, in fact, most of the recruitment targets in the Ming Dynasty were still people who had mastered certain military skills and military qualifications.

As a result, the military power of the Ming Dynasty became based on the camp system, and the position of guard officer was transformed into a title.

Therefore, the hereditary officers of the Guard today are already called "hereditary nobles" when they hold hereditary official positions.

Since you are an "Assaulting Lord", then I, the Great Qin, will definitely not recognize your title from the Ming Dynasty!

"They have done nothing for the country, yet they enjoy the benefits of farming. How can it be that there are no soldiers and no people for the people?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but asked sharply.

Soldiers serve, and civilians pay for their food!

Nowadays, this group of people have their own food and salary as soldiers. How can they occupy farmland and not pay grain and taxes in accordance with the regulations?

Sugar cane is not sweet at both ends, and you cannot make both ends of the bargain. Those who only enjoy power and do not fulfill their obligations are called "silverworms."

"King Shun wants to rectify the garrison. I wonder if he is ready?" Kong Wenxi saw that Zhang Shun was determined to go his own way and couldn't help but remind him quickly.

"I'm about to ask you, sir, what's the relationship between him and the Yulin generals? So that I can distinguish ourselves from the enemy!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but soften his voice when he saw that Kong Wenzheng no longer looked around at him.

"If we talk about involvement, Yulin Guards have the deepest connection among them. They are almost the foundation of Yulin Guards." Kong Wenzheng said honestly after hearing this.

"Suide is second, just because Yulin Town was originally moved from Suide, so there are many involvements."

"But it's been a hundred and fifty years since now, not as much as it used to be!"

"As for Qingyang and Yan'an, they are located in the hinterland. Apart from the fact that some of the soldiers were born here, there is not much involved!"

"Okay!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but get up after hearing this.

This person served as the deputy military envoy of Hexi for more than a year, and he knew the Yulin guards very well.

If it is true as Kong Wenzheng said, then this matter will be much easier to handle.

He can first stabilize the generals in Yulin, and then attack Qingyang and Yan'an.

After the two most critical guards, Qingyang and Yan'an, are solved, the privileges of the Suide guards will be revoked, and they will be converted into civilians and taxed together.

As for the Yulin Guards, they will not move for the time being. We will wait and see the results of Yulin Town's rectification before making any plans.

Now that Zhang Shun had made up his mind, he couldn't help but ask: "How about the Yan'an Guard?"

"Yan'an Guard has five thousand-household stations under its jurisdiction. Among them, the Qianhu Station on the left road is stationed around Yan'an Fucheng, the Qianhu Station on the left station is stationed in Yanchang and Yanchuan areas, the Qianhu Station on the right station is stationed in today's Ansai area, and the Qianhu Station on the front road is stationed in today's Ansai area. They were stationed in the present-day Ganquan, Yanzhou, Luochuan, and Yichuan areas, and thousands of households on the back road were stationed in the present-day Qingjian area."

"Below it are three guarding 100-household residences: Bao'an, Semen, and Anding. There are 5,936 households in total, and the farmland is more than 11,000 hectares."

"Wait, how many are there?" Zhang Shun was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask again.

"There are 5,936 households, and the farmland is more than 11,000 hectares." Kong Wenzheng repeated.

No, I just heard Ding Qirui, the magistrate of Yan'an, say that the three hundred households in Yan'an, Suide, Baoan, Saimen, and Anding have 6,000 households and a population of 100,000. This is different!

"How many military households are there in Yulin Town? How many farms are directly under them?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask.

"It is estimated that there are 27,260 military households in the town's guard station, more than 200,000 Dingkou, and 43,261 hectares of farmland directly under the jurisdiction." Kong Wenzheng responded again.

Cao Cao was fooled again!

The number of farmland in Yulin town was estimated by Hong Chengchou, Zhang Shun and others to be about twice as high.

Zhang Shun still doesn't understand that the amount mentioned by Ding Qirui must be the data of Yan'an Prefecture, which has been "modified" in various ways.

In the early Ming Dynasty, northern Shaanxi was vast and sparsely populated, and the land was barren. After military and civilian reclamation, the quota would definitely be much higher than the original quota. Obviously, Kong Wenzheng's data is closer to the real data.

Moreover, based on the calculation of the payment of 12 dan per hectare of farmland, these more than 43,000 hectares of farmland can obviously pay 500,000 dan of grain, which is quite close to the 400,000 dan per year in the early days of the country.

People say that the Ming Dynasty had no money and no wages. Isn’t it ridiculous that Shaanxi, a huge country, supports 100,000 troops a year and still needs the imperial court to borrow money from here and there?

Now Zhang Shun only cleans up the royal family's property and the Xi'an garrison, and he can clear out 700,000 shi of grain. If he adds the 300,000 to 400,000 shi from the Yansui towns, he can collect an additional million shi a year. Is it possible? Is there any reason why we can’t support 100,000 horses?

"Okay, in that case, go back and carefully calculate the amount of money, food, and farmland for the four thousand and three hundred households in Yansui Siwei, and hand it over to me. I will have my own opinion!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but sneered.