Author: Luo Xiaoming

Chen Wang's expression turned dark. He finally understood why the Hanzhong Guards couldn't defeat Zhang Yuan despite so many people.

It's true that most of the people are even temporary recruits, old and weak, and there are only a few regular soldiers in the guard.

Like other guards, Hanzhong Guard actually had only half of its regular soldiers before the rogue invaders invaded.

The rest of the troops were occupied, and these free wages were naturally divided up by the commanders, thousands households, hundreds households, etc.

Originally, the enrollment was almost full, but now there are only 3,000 or 4,000 on enrollment. This is because of the continuous wars, which made it difficult to replenish the number of troops.

If we give people like Tan Yingfeng a little more time, Hanzhong Wei will have another five to six thousand regular troops on paper.

"Except for these regular soldiers, how many people are there who can be used in the guard?"

Chen Wang stabilized his mind. Anyway, he did not really place his hope of fighting in the hands of the Guards.

He has about 6,300 main and auxiliary troops under his command, and they are fairly well equipped and can be said to have strong armor and sharp blades.

Most of these people have followed him and fought against rogue bandits many times, and those newly recruited soldiers from the ranks of rogue bandits have also gained experience in the city defense battles in Xing'an. It is not that they have never seen blood.

New recruits who have never been in battle.

During the Battle of Xing'an, Gao Yingxiang used Xing'an City to train his troops, and Chen Wang also used the Chuang Army to train his troops.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong, Liu Guoneng and others are currently engaged in a fierce battle in the Yunxiang area, and they have no intention of going west and entering Hanzhong Mansion.

If the original process remains unchanged, because Lu Xiangsheng was transferred north, the defensive strength of the Ming army in Yunxiang and other places can now be said to be at its weakest.

Facing the fierce attack of Zhang Xianzhong, Liu Guoneng and other troops, they could not block it at all.

Near the end of the year, Zhang Xianzhong will break through the encirclement network set by Lu Xiangsheng, lead his troops eastward along the river, and join forces with Ge Liyan He Yilong of the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo and He Jin, King of Zuo Jin, and will

The beacon fire was lit in Huaiyang area.

From the second half of the ninth year of Chongzhen to the first half of the tenth year of Chongzhen, there were basically no military disasters or banditry in Hanzhong Mansion.

"Wei Nei..."

Wang Yuankang looked embarrassed and his eyes flickered. He glanced left and right, and finally said bravely.

"There are about seven or eight thousand people available in the Wei..."

Wang Yuankang used a little bit of insight here. Wang Yuankang knew what Chen Wang meant by "people who can be used."

They are people who can be used as manpower, people who can farm or join the army, not the old and the weak.

But Wang Yuankang included many women.

Even if we study it in depth, it actually makes sense. It is said that ancient China was a society where men farmed and women weaved. Many people misunderstood that women only needed to weave, wash, cook and handle household chores.

But in fact, many women also need to work in the fields. Compared with men, they may be somewhat deficient in physical fitness, but their workload is not small.

Chen Wang looked at Wang Yuankang's eyes and had a pretty good guess about Wang Yuankang's little thoughts.

After he asked the question, he knew that he had not asked the question well.

In this era, most ordinary people, whether they are old people or children, women or men, are struggling hard on the poverty line.

Where can they rest and where can they relax? As long as the elderly can still move, they will need to do what they can to support their families.

As long as a child becomes more sensible and has some strength, he will still have to help in the fields and do things at home.

Chen Wang flipped through the document in his hand. The things in this document can only be used as a reference. After all, this is official information. In fact, many things are very different.

One regular soldier represents one household. If one household has about five people, the number of people in a fully-staffed one-thousand-household household is about five thousand.

Hanzhong Guard has five guard posts under its jurisdiction. If they are fully staffed, the number of the entire guard should be about 25,000.

But in fact, where does Hanzhong Guard have so many manpower?

As time went by, the guard system continued to collapse, military households fled seriously, and the total population of Hanzhong Guards basically dropped to 20,000.

After years of turmoil and war, the Hanzhong Guards suffered defeats one after another, losing troops and generals, many hundreds of households were captured, and many military households in the guard were massacred.

Now the total number of Hanzhong Guards has dropped to more than 11,000, which is an extremely serious attrition.

According to the ancestral system, each military household in the Ming Dynasty was allocated about fifty acres of military land.

At the same time, cattle, tools, seeds, etc. were allocated so that the military households could cultivate crops and concentrate on preparing for war.

But now, everyone knows what the situation of the Guards is.

In the Ming Dynasty, one hundred acres of land was equivalent to one hectare, which meant that a hundred households needed about fifty hectares of land to cultivate.

A thousand households need to cultivate more than 500 hectares of land.

There are five thousand-household settlements in Hanzhongwei. Based on the calculation, Hanzhongwei should have 2,800 hectares of land, a total of 280,000 acres.

But how could Hanzhongwei own so much land now?

The original Hanzhong Guards only had three thousand-household posts, and the next two guard posts were added. In fact, the number of people was never full, let alone the land allocated.

After two hundred years, no matter how solid the ancestral system is, it cannot withstand the ravages of time.

Nowadays, most of the military fields owned by ordinary guardsmen in Hanzhongwei have been occupied over the years by guards officers at all levels in Hanzhongwei.

They are still guards in name, but privately they have already become tenants of various officers.

The land rent of military households was much heavier than that of ordinary civilian households.

Very little of the harvest in a year belongs to the military households, and if they can get 30% to 40% of the harvest, it is already a sign of mercy from the Shangguan.

The Ming Dynasty itself was also very aware of the collapse of the Wei system.

It's not like they haven't thought about how to prevent the collapse of the Wei system.

In the middle and late period, in order to change the situation of officials and generals from various places invading the land of military households, the Ming Dynasty gave each military general a certain amount of land to support and cultivate integrity according to the size of his official position.

However, the granting of Yangliantian actually had little effect, and the officers of the local guards continued to exploit it.

In addition to being exploited by military officers, many military fields are also bullied by rich and powerful people.

The status of the guards was low, so many of the guard's fields were occupied, and there was no way to even appeal.

Originally, Hanzhong Wei still had more than 1,800 hectares of farmland, because the fields in Hanzhong Mansion were relatively wealthy, and his life was not too bad.

But since King Rui was sealed off, most of the fields in Hanzhong Mansion belonged to King Rui.

When a vassal king becomes a vassal, the court will not only give him a large amount of money, but also cut off a large amount of land from the local area and use it as the vassal king's property.

Many of Hanzhongwei's military fields were transferred to King Rui's name. Now, only more than 1,300 hectares of land are left under the name of Hanzhongwei.

Chen Wang estimated that even including some hidden fields, there should only be about 1,400 hectares of fields.

Among these fields, the good ones should basically have been occupied, and most of the remaining fields should be in the middle and lower fields.

Natural disasters have occurred continuously in recent years, although Hanzhong Prefecture has not suffered many disasters.

However, the land was reduced and the Hanzhong Mansion was subject to repeated turmoil. The Hanzhong Guards not only had to perform military service, but also had to pay a heavy rent.

Military pay has been delayed, and even if someone dies in battle, there is not much compensation. Most military households are already unable to make ends meet.

"How many men are there who are over fifteen years old and under forty-five years old?"

Chen Wang closed the book in his hand and asked again.

Wang Yuankang was startled for a moment, and then his expression suddenly darkened. After a moment of silence, he said leisurely.

"Excluding the main army, there are only about two thousand people left..."

The current situation of Hanzhong Wei is extremely poor. Most of the men have died on the battlefield, leaving mostly old, weak, women and children.

In the past few years, every household in the health stations in various places has often worn mourning and linen. Whenever there is a war, there are even more cries and cries in the health stations.

As military households, they have no right to refuse the imperial conscription...

All they can do is accept all this, then pick up crude weapons and go to the battlefield, waiting for their own destiny.

"I have a general understanding of the situation."

Chen Wang's sharp gaze swept across everyone in the hall, and everyone felt a little frightened.

"You can't see many things in the official documents. I want to go to health clinics in various places to see the specific situation."

Tan Yingfeng, who had been looking for an opportunity to sit far away, felt on pins and needles, with his hair standing on end.

Chen Wang's eyes made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Who among you has time to go with me?"

After Chen Wang finished speaking, Tan Yingfeng, Li Shiqi, and Yang Mingcai all subconsciously focused their attention on Wang Yuankang.

"Wang Qianshi has always been responsible for farming, ordnance, military inspections and other matters in the past. Since Mr. Chen wants to go down for inspection, it would be best to have Wang Qianshi accompany him."

Tan Yingfeng didn't even think about it, she moved directly to Chen Wang's side and sold it to Wang Yuankang with a low eyebrow.

The corner of Wang Yuankang's mouth couldn't help but twitch. This naughty Tan Sanling had never done many good things.

Every time something difficult happened, he would always take the blame.

Wang Yuankang cursed loudly in his heart, but he knew that he would probably not be able to escape these things.

"In my humble position, I have handled most of the official duties in the guards, leaving only a little that can be temporarily put aside."
To be continued...