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When we arrived in Ningbo, the willow trees had just sprouted and farmers were wearing straw hats and raincoats to plow the fields.
When we came back, the rice seedlings in the paddy fields on both sides of the canal were already green, and most farmers had gone out with their families, weeding the fields with wooden sticks.
Cultivate, cultivate. In later generations, many people no longer know what cultivating the fields is.
This is a very tiring job. After the seedlings have been planted and turned green for a while, the grass in the field also grows;
People had to hold on to wooden sticks and go down to the fields, weeding while poking their feet into the mud and dragging it along the rows of rice seedlings to turn up the mud and cover the roots of the seedlings.
After other rows of footprints appear, the fertilizer and water in the field will flow into these footprints, reducing the water area directly exposed to the sun, thereby reducing the evaporation of fertilizer and water in the field, and providing moisture to the seedlings for a longer period of time.
Qin Mu only learned about this when he occasionally stopped the boat and chatted with the old farmers who were working in the fields.
Perhaps it was God’s will, floods and droughts continued in the late Ming Dynasty, and famines continued for years;
But after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the climate has become very good in the past two years, with good weather and favorable harvests.
Ordinary people attributed this phenomenon to Qin Mu, believing that it was only because of the appearance of this benevolent monarch that such a good year was brought about.
In later generations, it is ridiculous to attribute good weather and good harvests to a certain person.
But in this era, it was very common. When there was a famine in the world, the people would think that it was the emperor's fault and that God had sent the famine to the world as a punishment.
The emperor had to avoid the palace, reduce his food intake, allow people to speak freely, reflect on his mistakes, and pray for God's forgiveness.
On the contrary, if there was a year of good weather and harvest, the people would also believe that it was due to the emperor's benevolence.
Qin Mu secretly accepted it. Indeed, he should thank God that the Little Ice Age was over.
There is little pollution these days, and the water in the south of the Yangtze River is clear and bright, as soft as a mirror.
The water splashed by the boat's plow was pure white, and flocks of white cranes flew over the fields. After a distance of two or three miles, there were four or five chimneys, six pavilions, and ten branches of flowers. It was a beautiful pastoral painting.
Qin Mu, Yang Shen and Jin Gongnan placed some wine at the bow of the boat and drank while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan on both sides of the river.
Yang Shen pondered for a moment and said, "King Qin, the Jiannu are not used to the hot summer in the Central Plains, and often suffer from acclimatization. There is another point. Due to the climate differences between the north and the south, the harvest time of summer grain is also different. Generally speaking, the further south you go, the earlier the summer grain is harvested. For example, the summer harvest in Jiangnan is half a month or even nearly a month earlier than that in Huaibei."
Yang Shen's words immediately perked up Qin Mu. He asked, "Yang Qing means that we should take advantage of the differences in the time of summer harvest in different places and launch a northern expedition during this period?"
"Yes, King Qin, I think this is a good plan. Now both the Qin and Jiannu are short of food. Dorgon is a man with great ability to govern. Last year, he ordered the Qing army not to disturb the people and strongly encouraged the people to farm. This year, the north is also good. After the summer grain is harvested, the Qing army will no longer be short of food, which is very unfavorable for our army's northern expedition."
Qin Mu felt that what Yang Shen said made a lot of sense. In Fujian and southern Huguang, which were now controlled by the Qin Dynasty, the summer harvest was at least one month earlier than in the north.
If they could take advantage of this time difference and launch the Northern Expedition a month earlier when the summer grain in the south is about to be harvested, the Qin army would have enough food and grass at that time, while the Qing army would not have harvested the summer grain yet and would be in the most difficult time of the transition from one harvest to the next.
I will kill you while you are sick.
The Qin Dynasty has no shortage of weapons or morale, only food and fodder. It's not that it is completely unable to gather food and fodder for the Northern Expedition. It's just that if it tries to requisition a large amount of food and fodder, it will cause the price of food in the market to rise, and the lives of many lower-class people will fall into difficulties.
If we requisition grain for the Northern Expedition when the summer crops are about to be harvested, as soon as the grain prices on the market rise, we can quickly transfer grain from the south to stabilize the grain prices. In this way, the lower classes will not be affected too much, and we can still launch the Northern Expedition before the summer harvest in the north.
When in Ningbo, Qin Mu's plan was to send the navy to attack Luzon first, or even seize the entire South Seas, and then march north. Now it seems that some adjustments need to be made.
Besides, Dorgon was indeed a man of great talent and strategy. He introduced many policies to reduce the burden on the people, and many fields in the corrupt north were restored to cultivation.
If we launch a northern expedition when the summer harvest is about to begin in the north, the food and grass in the north will fall into our hands. Then we can transfer some food from the south, which should ensure that the people will not starve to death.
In other words, it should not be a problem to first march north and then seize Southeast Asia to provide blood transfusion to the North. Even the two can be carried out at the same time. Spain and the Netherlands do not have many troops in Southeast Asia, and it should be enough to dispatch 10,000 or 20,000 naval forces. This will not have a big impact on the Northern Expedition.
“What do you think of North Korea?”
"King Qin, the Jiannu have suffered a series of defeats and have been constantly withdrawing troops to the south. Their control over Korea has become very weak. I think we can organize merchant ships to transport troops, escort them with some navy warships, and send 10,000 land forces to Korea to help Korea break free from the control of the Jiannu. Then, we can use Korea as a logistics base and join forces with the Korean army to advance into Liaodong. The morale of the Qing army is already low. If they are attacked from both the north and the south, our army will definitely be more successful in the northern expedition."
Jin Gongnan also said: "I heard that although Jiang Ge of Datong was defeated and lost Datong, he still had more than 10,000 troops retreating to the Taihang Mountains to persist in resisting the Qing. The Taihang Mountains have a special geographical location. If you go out of the Taihang Eight Paths, you can immediately threaten Yanjing, so it has tied up a lot of Jiannu troops. I think it's better to send someone to contact Jiang Ge to see if he is willing to surrender to Daqin and cooperate with our army's northern expedition."
Qin Mu smiled bitterly and said, "It's not that I don't want to contact him. I have already sent someone there. But Jiang Ge probably took the wrong medicine and only recognized Zhu Youlang from Guangxi."
Yang Shen sneered, "Jiang Ge is a fickle person. He is definitely not following Zhu Youlang sincerely. I think that he felt that the Qin Empire was too far away to help him, and he was just pretending to be so in order to get more benefits from the Qin Empire."
"I know this, but these guys are asking for too much. Great Qin can't rely on him. Even without him, my Great Qin army can still sweep across the Central Plains."
Yang Shen smiled and said, "What the King of Qin said is very true. A while ago, Teng Jitai of the Sunite tribe led less than 3,000 troops and was able to enter the territory without any help and fight his way back to the border. This shows that the Jiannu are already extremely weak."
"That can't be said. Tengjier didn't aim to capture cities and territories. He relied on the speed of his cavalry to avoid heavy attacks. In addition, the Mongolian tribes turned a blind eye to him and deliberately let him go. Therefore, he broke through the Great Wall. This does not mean that the Qing Dynasty was vulnerable. When our army marched north, we had to attack cities one by one. It can't be compared with his..."
As Qin Mu said this, he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flying from the top of the cabin. He raised his hand to block it, and the wine in the cup spilled into the river. Yang Shen and Jin Gongnan were shocked, "King Qin!"
Qin Mu waved his hands at this time, his face extremely embarrassed;
Because he had already seen clearly that the flying black shadow was a swallow, which flew past him two feet away at a very fast speed!
He laughed at himself and said, "Yan teased me, did I lose my moral character?"
"No, no, my king's grace covers all things, and Yan is delighted. A spring breeze sends my king off."
"Hahaha, Yang Qing you...hahaha, stop flattering me in the future."
A burst of laughter came from the bow, the river was clear, the spring breeze was blowing, and the singing of mulberry pickers could be heard faintly on the shore. The soft Wu dialect floated over the water, as gentle as water.
Qin Mu refilled his glass and drank it. He looked at the clear mountains and green waters on both sides of the river. The beautiful spring scenery of Jiangnan inspired him to write a poem: "Jiangnan is beautiful. I have seen the scenery before. The flowers on the river are redder than fire at sunrise. In spring, the river water is as green as blue... The three armies are busy preparing for war!"
Yang Shen and Jin Gongnan looked strange, wanting to laugh but not daring to. Yang Shen raised his cup and said, "I salute the King of Qin. This time, the King will conquer the north with unstoppable force, recover the homeland of China in one fell swoop, and drive the barbarians thousands of miles away."
"No, I will make sure that the barbarians will not return and will be annihilated within the Great Wall."
Qin Mu really had this intention. After all, once the Jurchens were allowed to retreat outside the Great Wall, it would be like letting a tiger return to the mountains. It would be difficult to wipe them out completely. It was not easy to achieve this strategic intention, and detailed planning was required.
Jin Gongnan said: "King Qin, if you want to annihilate all the barbarians within the Great Wall, it is not impossible."
"Gongnan, if you have any good ideas, please tell us quickly."
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.(To be continued..)
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