In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there was a general named Kang Maocai, who followed Zhu Yuanzhang several times in his life and did not win several battles, but in the end he was named the Duke of Puguo by Zhu Yuanzhang, which was commendable. So what is so great about this person?
In the fifteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1355), Zhu Yuanzhang led a large army to cross the river. At that time, Kang Maocai was stationed in quarrying, guarding the Yangtze River, and defeating Zhu Yuanzhang many times. Later, Chang Yuchun lured Kang Maocai out and annihilated all his men with ambush troops. Kang Maocai gathered the remnants of his army and fled to Jiqing (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), where he was appointed governor of Huainan Province. In March, Zhu Yuanzhang led a large army to conquer Jiqing. Kang Maocai saw that the situation was not good, led his troops to surrender, and said: "In the past, the battle was each its own master, but now it is the destiny of heaven to repeatedly lose." If you can spare me from death, I will do the work of dogs and horses. ”
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he laughed and released him, still letting him command the old department. From then on, Kang Maocai followed Zhu Yuanzhang, fought all his life, and was finally made a duke. In fact, Kang Maocai did not fight several major battles in his life, but he was made a duke, and I think this is because of his remarkable political achievements when he was the envoy of dushuiyingtian (minister of agriculture).
In those years, when Zhu Yuanzhang was pacifying the world, there was often a shortage of military food, and later Zhu Sheng offered him advice, "Build a high wall, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become a king." In fact, these three sentences are nothing more than suggestions that Zhu Yuanzhang should taoguang and cultivate obscurity, lay a good foundation, and establish a good base area. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang also relied on these three sentences to win the world.
When Zhu Sheng talked about "extensive grain," he meant that we should make a good reserve of war grain. Zhu Yuanzhang arranged for the army to go to Tuntian when it was not fighting, that is, to let the army reclaim wasteland, plant grain, engage in agricultural production, and try to be self-sufficient. At that time, all the generals threw themselves into this vigorous production movement, but only Kang Mao did the best and achieved remarkable results.
At the beginning of Emperor Gao's reign, he ordered his generals to divide their armies into Tuntian at Longjiang and other places... Only Kang Mao cai tun tian, valley more than fifteen thousand stones. (Zhao Dynasty Canon: Ming Taizu zhizheng 23 years)
This means that when Zhu Yuanzhang first began, he ordered his generals to carry out a large-scale production campaign in Longjiang and other places, and only Kang Mao did the best, harvesting fifteen thousand stones of rice.
The early years of the Ming Dynasty were an era of warriors like clouds and stars gathering, and Xu Da and Chang Yuchun were not famous generals. Although Kang Maocai also had some military talents, he was far from them. However, it was because of the particularly good work of the military tun this time that he was able to stand out among the famous generals, and was praised by Zhu Yuanzhang, who was appointed as the envoy of Dushui Yingtian (the only full post), and let him take charge of the production work of the entire army.
Among the emperors of the past, the low status should be none other than Zhu Yuanzhang. He was born into poverty, lost his relatives at an early age, and became a monk and begged for food in order to survive. Such an emperor was naturally familiar with the affairs of the countryside, and he was even more familiar with the affairs of officials welcoming and sending them to the people, so he often instructed Kang Maocai to pay attention to flood prevention and drought prevention during spring ploughing, which is recorded as follows:
The way of financial management is not to precede farming. Spring crops are prosperous, and from time to time, there are obstacles to agricultural affairs. Therefore, he was ordered to take up this post, to patrol everywhere, to be high and not to be sick and dry, and not to be sick and waterlogged, and to be properly stored and discharged. Most of them set up officials for the people, not the sick. If he makes Arishi more decorated the building and sends him away, the disturbance will not benefit the people and harm it, and it is not the intention of paying. (Yu Jideng's "Allusions")
This means that there is nothing more important than agriculture. Spring cropping is on the rise, and considering that droughts and floods are not timely, it will hinder agricultural cultivation. So let you take this position, patrol around separately, so that the high terrain will not be short of water and drought, the low terrain should be drained and flooded, and the water must be stored and discharged. Officials serve the people, not disturb them. If the official only knows how to usher in the delivery, everywhere he goes will only disturb the people, and it will not benefit the people but will be harmful, and he is not a responsible official.
In the third year of Hongwu (1370), Kang Maocai was posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Puguo. Personally, I think that he did not win many battles in his life, but in the end he had this honor, which must be related to the fact that his agricultural work was very prominent.
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