Zhou Billy took out a map of Ningxia Town, then pointed to a place on the map, raised his head and glanced at everyone, and then said in a deep voice: "Ningxia Town is managed by two sets of civil and military officials headed by the governor and the chief military officer, and there are also eunuchs guarding Ningxia Town. There are seven guards, namely Ningxia Wei, Ningxia Qiantun Wei, Ningxia Left Tun Wei, Ningxia Right Tun Wei, Ningxia Zhongtun Wei, Ningxia Zhongwei, and Ningxia Guard. Its jurisdiction is divided into five roads: east, west, south, north and middle, and is divided into East Road Houwei, West Road Zhongwei, South Road Shaogangbao, North Road Pingyucheng, and Middle Road Lingzhou.

The terrain of Ningxia is dangerous, the Yellow River surrounds its east, Helan towers its west, the northwest is solid by mountains, and the southeast is dangerous by rivers. However, the area from the east of the river to the Huamachi Castle is flat and there is no danger to defend. The key point of Ningxia Town's defense is a section of 300 miles east of the river. It has successively built the "riverside wall", Taole causeway, Zhenyuanguan side wall, Beiguanmen Great Wall, southwest wall of the city, Xiguanmen wall, from Hedong Huamachi, to the northwest Zhongwei, forming a tight line of defense.

Because of the arrival of our Far East, history has undergone great changes, and at present, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi Province, was not transferred to Jiliao because of the deterioration of the situation in Liaodong, but with the great drought in several northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the military affairs of the five provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang and Sichuan, plus the title of prince and Taibao and the secretary of the military department, became the main military commander of the Ming court to suppress the peasant uprising. Last year, Hong Chengchou led the elite main force of Shaanxi out of Tongguan, and was fighting fiercely with thieves from all walks of life in Henan and Huguang.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the guard system implemented in various parts of the Ming Dynasty was gradually abolished, and the conscription system was replaced, and the phenomenon of private support in the army became more and more serious, and soon prevailed, until the late Ming Dynasty developed into a family system parallel to the conscription system. Of course, Ningxia Town is not exempt from vulgarity. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was only one town in Ningxia, and the original number of horses and horses guarding the city and Dongcao Xia planting houses and preparing the remaining officers and soldiers, the total number should be 71,693 people, but now the actual amount of Ningxia town is only more than 20,000 people.

According to the information from the Ningxia Intelligence Station, there are currently less than 5,000 elite border troops in Ningxia Town, including officials at all levels and the families of military leaders. Moreover, Hong Chengchou went south to suppress the thieves. He also transferred some elite soldiers from Ningxia Town. It can be said that at present, Ningxia Town, including the three sides of Shaanxi, is rotten from top to bottom. Ningxia and Gansu were originally fertile lands, with more than 18,000 hectares of cultivated land registered in the Wanli period. However, all of them were occupied by civil and military officials, town guards and guards, and the soldiers could only cultivate some barren land, so that the tuntian was in deficit and the soldiers were hungry. ”

Everyone listened to his words, and they were all a little incredible. Song Tao shook his head and said with a wry smile: "No wonder the Ming army has always been defeated repeatedly when it encounters Houjin, and even the strongest border army of the Ming Dynasty has become this bear." What kind of combat effectiveness are you talking about? ”

Li Ming nodded, and said in a deep voice: "The Ming Dynasty pursued a set of ideas of separation of powers, checks and balances, and the use of literature to control military forces in the defense system of the nine-border military town. ”

The use of literature to control the military has solved the problem of military ministers supporting their own troops. But it has produced serious drawbacks. "Use soldiers with generals, and recruit with civil ministers. With the general in battle, and with the command of the civil officials, with the military to prepare the border, and the increase of civilian officials in the curtain, with the side of the government through a government, and the day of the war in the court. "Wenchen often lacks the military expertise and practical experience they deserve. There are many people who talk on paper, but there are few who are effective. The use of culture to unify the military was the main reason for the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army. ”

Zhou Billy continued: "In addition to the greed of officials at all levels and military leaders in Ningxia Town, there is also the existence of Qingwang Mansion in Ningxia Town, which is also the main reason for the decline of Ningxia Town year by year. From the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (1391), Zhu Mei was the first king of Qing. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), the last Qing king Zhu Zhuohong was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant army and shared the seal for more than 250 years.

King Qing's vein was multiplied and intertwined, forming a huge clan ruling group in the Ningxia region. This group enjoyed a large amount of jue rice every year, so that the local grain was simply not enough to pay for it, and it had to be transferred in large quantities from the Central Plains and several provinces south of the Yangtze River, which brought a heavy burden to the military and civilians in Ningxia. A considerable part of the fertile land in Juntun in Ningxia Town was occupied by the clan group behind Qingwangfuji. ”

Song Tao listened to Billy Zhou's words, and suddenly said urgently: "Old Zhou, according to what you say, Ningxia Town is now so poor that it rings, so let's have a fart." Don't fight Ningxia Town, you won't get anything in the end. ”

Zhou Billy shook his head, and said with a smile: "The situation in Ningxia Town is exactly the opposite of what you think, according to the information transmitted back from the intelligence station of Ningxia Station, although the armament of Ningxia Town is slack, officials and military leaders at all levels are greedy for ink, so that Ningxia Town cannot make ends meet year after year, and even the salaries of the officers and soldiers cannot be paid, and the weapons and city defense are even more dilapidated.

However, those officials and military leaders in Ningxia Town are all full of fat, and they all have huge family assets. In addition to occupying the most fertile military fields in Ningxia Town, the border troops were all reduced to their serf tenants. However, the biggest source of wealth is smuggling, trading with various departments of the grassland with iron, salt, tea and other goods, and earning huge profits. It even provided the Mongol Tartars of the steppe tribes with Ming standard weapons and armor to finance the enemy. ”

Everyone is full of righteous indignation when they hear this, the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty in this era, to put it bluntly, are all smugglers. If the eight traitors and Jin merchants did not have the cooperation of the civilian officials and military leaders of the military towns in various places, how could it be possible to transport the war preparation materials to Liaodong. Even many important ministers in the court and the families of the elders will participate in it, just because the profits are too rich.

Just like the Jiangnan region of the Ming Dynasty, the princes and nobles, the gentry and high-ranking officials, the wealthy businessmen, and the landlords are powerful, which one does not rely on the sea to eat. The Ming Dynasty banned the sea for many years, but the more smuggling was banned, the more rampant it became. Which powerful maritime merchant does not have the support of a powerful force behind him, this force is actually those princes and nobles and gentry, and even those high-ranking officials and elders in the court.

This is also why once the Ming Dynasty wants to lift the sea ban, it will be aroused by the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, some of whom are fierce, some of whom quote scriptures, and those who cry, roll on the ground, and hit their heads against the wall abound. It is not because the sea ban has been lifted, the profits of smuggling will be greatly reduced, and their interests will inevitably be infringed upon.

The north of the Ming Dynasty has no advantage from the sea, so it can only fight the idea of border passes. The nine-sided border wall of the Ming Dynasty stretches for more than 10,000 miles, and there are many forts, densely spread all over the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, but it has already leaked like a sieve, and the smuggling business of the northern border pass through the grassland has been done for more than 200 years. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thanks for rainbowyking's tip.