***
Planting in spring, growing in summer, harvesting in autumn, and storing in winter. This is an idea of the relationship between man and nature that every Chinese was very familiar with in ancient times.
In the preface to Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian believed that "Spring brings life, summer brings growth, autumn brings harvest, and winter brings storage. This is the great principle of the Way of Heaven. If it is not followed, there will be no order for the world."
In an agricultural society, people have to rely on the weather and follow the laws of nature to survive. This idea has influenced the entire country's politics, military, medicine, culture, philosophy, etc.
Specifically, in ancient times, countries generally would not launch wars during the busy farming season. Sometimes, even in the middle of a war, because the farming season had arrived, everyone would scatter like birds and beasts and go home to farm.
Even nomadic people often wait until the autumn when the horses are fat before launching a war.
It is not difficult to see the influence of natural seasons on national politics, military, social economy, culture, etc. Sima Qian said at the beginning that if we do not follow this natural law, it will be difficult to sort out the rules of the world. It is really far-sighted and to the point.
The current Qin Dynasty seems to be breaking this natural law because Qin Mu, as the emperor, has mentally transcended the constraints of the primitive agricultural society.
In the Northwest, this is also quietly changing, which is a matter of extraordinary significance.
In this season that should be for hibernation, the Northwest is full of vitality.
Government funds were allocated to hire civilians to build water conservancy projects, which gave many people seasonal jobs. The vigorous mining and transportation of coal further boosted the vitality of the people. Ordinary people, as long as you are not lazy, can still get a good income in such a winter.
As people have more money, their spending power increases, which in turn drives the prosperity of the commodity economy. During the Spring Festival, people buy new clothes, shoes and hats, and it is more worthwhile to spend money on New Year's goods.
In Chang'an City, there is a wide variety of goods from all over the world. Economic circulation reaches its peak in winter, and the regular prosperity will in turn provide more and better employment opportunities.
In Shanxi, coal mining was in full swing. In Datong, following the Korqin model, many large wool spinning mills were built, attracting a large number of Mongolian women to work in the mills.
In Longyou, the newly appointed Gansu envoy proposed that while further developing Longyou's tea-horse, medicinal materials, and fur trade, it would also be necessary to vigorously develop Longyou's cotton planting and attract private capital to Longyou to set up textile factories.
In Jiangnan, it goes without saying that in addition to the large number of workshops that have sprung up, ordinary people who do not want to work outside can go to the market in the morning, pick up silk yarn and go home, and then work with the whole family. After weaving the cloth, they will take it to the market the next day and hand it over to the merchants.
Due to the shortage of manpower and fierce competition, the wages offered by merchants continued to increase. An ordinary family of three could earn one dragon coin in a few days, and a family could earn up to five or six dragon coins a month, which was equivalent to four taels of silver in the past.
In the past, a strong young man working as a laborer at the dock could earn only a few dozen coins a day, or at most a hundred coins. But in reality, it was impossible to have work every day, so if you could earn one or two taels of silver a month, you were lucky.
As people's income increased, the prices of goods fell due to large production, and the quality of life improved greatly, which further stimulated people's enthusiasm for work. The so-called "winter storage" no longer seemed to apply to Daqin, and it was still hot in various places after winter.
Qin Mu looked at the official reports from various places, and compared them with the intelligence from Ye Bushou and the feedback from merchants such as Xu Yongshun. He could confirm that Daqin was entering a stage of rapid development and prosperity.
The living conditions of different places change every year. This gave him more confidence to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to worship during the New Year. He, who has always been "stingy", also took out a sum of money to invite folk artists to perform on the Imperial Street to have fun with the people and help celebrate the New Year.
During the Spring Festival, the city's guards were not on guard, and common people were free to go to the Meridian Gate to watch various performances. Every day's shows were wonderful, causing the crowds to cheer and applaud.
Among them, only the army did not relax. Except for a few days of relaxation during the New Year, it soon plunged into intensive training again.
Large quantities of Type 69 rifles were continuously transported from Nanjing and equipped to the army. The biggest difference between the Type 69 rifle and the Type 68 rifle is that it uses a flint to fire instead of a matchlock.
Many people are not clear about what a matchlock gun is. A matchlock gun has a rope clamped on the trigger. This rope is relatively flame-resistant. When firing, the trigger is pulled and the match clamped on the top of the trigger is pressed into the powder nest, igniting the propellant.
The disadvantages of the matchlock gun are that it is greatly affected by the weather and the matchlock needs to be replaced from time to time. In the past, the soldiers of the Ming army had to carry several matches in addition to bullets and gunpowder cans.
There is no need to say much about the advantages of flintlock rifles.
A few months ago, Qin Mu ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate 700,000 dragon coins to manufacture the Type 69 flintlock rifle. Due to the great improvement of the lathes in the Military Equipment Bureau, not only the production cost was reduced, but the production speed was also greatly accelerated. In just a few months, 7,000 flintlock rifles were produced, of which 5,000 were shipped to Chang'an.
Generals such as Su Jin, Li Jiu, Hao Yaoqi, Hui Dengxiang, Zhao Jian, Qin Yiming and others all got a part and were all very happy.
Time passed quickly, and the spring chill in February had not yet subsided. Ma Yongzhen of Datong took the lead in mobilizing tens of thousands of reorganized cavalry from various tribes south of the desert. Under his leadership, they began to advance westward, preparing to cut off Qitate's route to the north in Hetao.
After receiving the imperial edict from the Qin Emperor, none of the leaders of the tribes south of the desert dared to be perfunctory and they all rushed to Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor.
The Hetao area was still covered in white, and the ice on the Yellow River had not yet thawed. With the increasing frequency of Qin's scouts and the commotion of Ma Yongzhen in the south of the desert, Qitate felt a sense of pressure as if a storm was about to come.
He rode to the Yellow River almost every day to check the ice, eagerly waiting for it to thaw.
The area under the Helan Mountains is known as the Jiangnan on the Frontier. Qi Ta Te wanted to emulate the Western Xia and use it as a base to fight against the Qin Dynasty.
After he occupied the Ningxia region, he not only did not plunder and destroy it as he had done before, but he also worked hard to manage it, hoping to quickly establish a solid foundation.
Unfortunately, times have changed. The Qin Dynasty is not the Northern Song Dynasty, and there is no powerful Liao Kingdom in the north to contain it, so Qitate is destined to have a limited time to operate.
After checking the ice surface of the Yellow River, Qitate returned to Ningxia City in the cold wind. The current Ningxia City has been renamed Yinchuan by the Qin Emperor, so it can also be called Yinchuan City.
Seeing Chitate hurried back, Yatu came up to him and asked with concern: "Khan, how are you?"
Qitate shook his head and said, "There is still no sign of thawing on the ice. What should we do?"
Yinchuan has the Yellow River as its natural barrier. If the ice does not thaw, this natural barrier will disappear. If the Qin army comes, they can easily jump across the river on horseback, which will be extremely disadvantageous to them.
Moreover, unlike the original Western Xia, the territory controlled by the Western Xia was as far as the Hengshan line. It was not easy for the Song army to break through the Hengshan defense line. After breaking through the Hengshan defense line, the Western Xia still had a buffer zone of hundreds of miles, so the Song army suffered defeat again and again.
But now they only controlled the Yinchuan area and Dongtao. Lingwu, Yinzhou and other cities south of the Great Wall were all under the control of the Qin army. In other words, they did not have a buffer zone of hundreds of miles, and they relied entirely on the natural barrier of the Yellow River to block the Qin army.
Yatu was also a little uneasy. The current situation was very different from when she decided to seize Hetao. At that time, Norbu and Bailutuhu were still there, and both sides had troops to contain the Qin army, which was very advantageous to them.
But now, if Ma Yongzhen blocks the northern line, they will be like turtles in a jar.
But giving up Hetao is not an easy thing. They currently have more than 30,000 troops, more than half of whom are young and strong herdsmen from the Hetao area. If they are asked to bring their families and leave their hometown with them, embarking on a journey where their life and death are uncertain, I am afraid not many people will be willing to do so.
"Princess, please make a decision quickly. Ma Yongzhen has at least 50,000 troops and is closing in on us. If we don't come up with a plan, it may be too late."
"Don't worry, Khan. Ma Yongzhen's advance is not fast, obviously affected by logistics. The Qin army in the south is not moving at all, which also means that their attack may not come until the ice and snow melt. We still have some time to make arrangements. Khan, let me think about it."
"Princess, how about we make another feint to the east and attack in the west?"
"How is the Khan going to make a feint to the east and attack in the west?"
****************
ps: Please subscribe and recommend!
.(To be continued..)
...