Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 772
If you don't reach the Great Wall, you are not a hero.

Zhu Yihai, son of the Great Tomorrow, boarded the Great Wall for the first time to inspect,
At the foot of the Great Wall, like a giant dragon, it winds and circles among the mountains and mountains of Yanshan Mountain. The huge stones and city bricks rush towards the face with a heavy sense of history.

The top of the city wall is paved with square bricks, and five or six horses can run side by side. The outer edge of the city wall is a pile of more than two meters high, on which there are square lookouts and lookouts, and there are enemy towers every few hundred feet.

"This piece of stone weighs three thousand catties!"

Listening to the introduction of the accompanying minister, Zhu Yihai was secretly amazed. In such a high mountain, it is necessary to transport these stones and city bricks up, and then build them up to build this majestic Great Wall, even connecting things for [-] miles. How amazing.

Even if the Great Wall dragon cannot be recognized at a glance from space, it does not prevent him from being a glorious witness of Chinese civilization.

The Ming Great Wall was overhauled eighteen times successively, and how much manpower and material resources were consumed.

The first stop of the emperor's west tour was Juyongguan Badaling Great Wall.

The danger of Juyongguan is located in the Badaling Pass City in the north of the pass. The Great Wall is divided into two peaks, the North and the South. Wells, water sources are scarce, and there are not many troops to garrison at ordinary times.

The troops of the Imperial Battalion stationed in Badaling Pass City are mainly stationed in Chadao City, three miles northwest.

"The 'Chashou Mansion' has been cleaned up in Guancheng as the emperor's residence."

"Badaling Guancheng is not only a military fortress of Juyong Outer Town, but also an important traffic road. From here, it leads to Changping and Beijing in the south, Yanqing in the north, and Xuanhua and Zhangjiakou in the northwest. The roads are divided from here, extending in all directions. This is why Badaling got its name."

After the Shaotian Dynasty restored Beijing, it naturally attached great importance to the west gate of Beijing. Among the eight towns of the Nanya Imperial Army, one of the towns was stationed in Juyongguan and Badaling.

Many cannons have been added to the cities of Juyongguan and Badaling.

"The cannons on the Guancheng Fort are all fortress city defense guns, 24-pounder and [-]-pounder guns, which have a long range and strong power."

Standing on the Great Wall, Zhu Yihai looked at the inside and outside of the pass city. The defensive performance of Juyongguan and Badalingguan was indeed far superior to that of before. There was a town of [-] elite imperial guards stationed here alone, not counting the provincial battalion.

Just these huge cannons, plus this natural danger, basically no Mongolian or Jurchen can get close.

It can even be said that the defense of the Great Wall outside Beijing is actually a bit overflowing, because now the Ming army has begun to set up provinces outside Yanshan and Yinshan, bringing large areas outside the pass under control, and carrying out a special campaign of half-garrisoned, half-zhili, and half-jailed. governance.

Passive defense has been replaced by active offense.

The main points of defense in Yanshan North of Daming have been moved northward, no longer on the front line of the Great Wall, but in places like Daning and Chengde, in Jining and Zhangbei, in Liangcheng and Guihua.

However, Juyongguan is the west gate of Beijing after all, so like Shanhaiguan, it still needs to be heavily guarded by the Forbidden Army. Even the important passes of the Great Wall of Yanshan, such as Gubeikou, Xifengkou, and Dushikou in the north, still need to be heavily defended.

It's just that these are all defense areas belonging to the Beijing garrison, and now the real border defense is outside the Great Wall.

Juyongguan and Badaling Pass were garrisoned by soldiers from one of the eight towns of the Nanya Forbidden Army.

They have all completed the new equipment replacement. The infantry are all three-type bird guns, plus four-type nine-headed birds, five-type tiger squats, five-type Francophones, and three-pound battalion guns for heavy fire support. .The artillery standard is mainly [-]-pound field guns, because they are guarding the defense, and they have many heavy-duty city defense fortress guns.

Prestigious.

Not only are the guns brand new, but the uniforms of the soldiers are also very neat and new. They are all Shaotian three-style war robes, bright red, and a new type of cotton armor that is light and has good defensive performance. Put on a duffel army coat.

Many soldiers also deliberately wore medals on their chests.

There are purple and gold medals, platinum medals, and gold medals, and some people even wear several pieces.

Zhu Yihai even saw quite a few familiar faces. They were disciples of the Son of Heaven, including Yuan Cong Guards who were the first to come from eastern Zhejiang, military officers who had been taught by the Son of Heaven in the Martial Arts Hall, and some who had served as close guards in the Four Guards of Xun Yiwu. Guard officer.

They specially put the officer's sword bestowed by the emperor on their waists, and each of them raised their chests up, like a big rooster with high spirits.

When the emperor patted them on the shoulder and said their names, some young officers even choked up with excitement. Unexpectedly, as low-level officers of the seventh or eighth rank, the emperor could still remember their names.

Zhu Yihai asked them about their situation in the new army, and also learned about the real situation at the bottom. The officers are quite satisfied with the status quo, the military pay is good, there will be no arbitrary deductions, and there will be no arrears. In addition, they are stationed here now , Also divide the wives and land.

"How much land was allocated?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, the subject is only rank nine, so he allocated [-] mu of land, and it is in Yanqing. The subject's wife has already applied for joining the army."

"Well, is there any difficulty?"

"Back to Your Majesty, no, my family is doing well now. His Majesty issued an annual reward in the new year. After the prince's wedding, His Highness gave us another reward. I used this reward and my savings to buy a few. I will become a serf and help cultivate the [-] mu of land that His Majesty rewarded me."

Zhu Yihai asked him the price of the slaves he bought. They were all prisoners of war captured in Liaodong and other places. The few he bought were Horqin Mongols and Manchurian Eight Banners Yu Ding who were captured by Sunite.

Sunit was also a Mongolian from Monan, and even belonged to Chahar, but although their leader Teng Jisi became the son-in-law of the Qing Dynasty and married the princess of the clan, because of the grievances with Dorgon, in the end However, he turned against the Qing Dynasty, took the tribal people and ran to Mobei to vote in Khalkha, and submitted a form to the Ming Dynasty early.

Because of this, after Zhu Yihai returned to Beijing, this Tengjisi naturally received special treatment. Zhu Yihai entrusted the pasture in the north of Xuanhua to Sunite, divided it into eight divisions on the left and right wings, and set up eight guards in the two capitals. Dudufu.

In fact, this piece of land is roughly the land of the Chahar Eight Banners set up outside Zhangjiakou by the Qing government after Chahar was defeated in the rebellion in western Liaoning in history. Special boundary, south to Taipusi pasture factory and Shanxi border, north to Sizi tribe boundary.

Originally, Sunit was conquered again after the failure of the anti-Qing Dynasty in history, and it was placed further north.

Now it is close to the Zhangbei Bashang Grassland area, which is an excellent location, because it is close to the area directly controlled by Daming, which is convenient for trade exchanges and extremely favorable for development.

Near the water tower, get the month first.

The Sunite Tengjisi brothers received this award, one was a governor, each of their sons took four as governors, and one became two governors and eight governors' mansions, so they happily accepted it regardless of that.Anyway, even if it is divided into two and eight, if the meat is rotten, isn't it still in the pot?

After the Sunite Tengjisi brothers led their troops to move south, according to the emperor's will, they demarcated the boundaries and divided the pastures. At the same time, they also took the initiative to attack those Mongolian tribes that had not yet belonged to Ming Dynasty. The fox pretends to be the tiger.

The plundered cattle, sheep, livestock, and population were all brought to Zhangjiakou for trade, in exchange for Ming silk, tea, salt, wine, shredded tobacco, and even firearms and gunpowder.

Because they robbed a lot of people, they sold them relatively cheaply.

Many Ming soldiers stationed in the Datong area of ​​Xuanhua took the opportunity to buy these Jurchen and Mongolian slaves.

I'm not afraid that these people will be disobedient, if they wear chains to plow the land and graze, if they dare not work hard and try to escape, then you are absolutely welcome.It is also difficult to escape, these slaves branded with the mark of slavery on the passes and roads of various places belong to the private property of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and compared to the livestock, all the soldiers, officials, and people of the Ming Dynasty are obliged to capture or denounce them.After being captured, it is not allowed to take it privately, but must be returned to the original owner, and the original owner must pay the captured one a certain amount of remuneration according to the value of the slave.

At the end of Chongzhen, the Datong area of ​​Xuanfu had long been corrupted. After Jianlu entered the customs, he ran wildly to enclose the land, forcing the landlords to serve as slaves, and then fled north, taking everything and everyone who could be taken away. Leaving, resulting in thousands of miles of uninhabited Gyeonggi, Xuanfu Datong has become a wasteland.

The imperial camp and other soldiers were the first to come back, and the emperor and the imperial court also gave them priority in rewarding many cultivated fields near the station.

Naturally, there is a shortage of labor if there is land. Now many places are short of people. The imperial court distributes land to the poor people, or sells the land at a low price, and can even pay in installments, or directly relocate the poor people in some provinces with less land and more people. Go to Taiwan or even to the southwest and other places.

This has enabled many poor people to obtain their own land, but it has also caused landlords in many places to lack tenants to farm land.

However, the land must not be deserted, otherwise they will be fined heavily, and they can only raise wages and hire short-term workers, or reduce the rent, but there is still a large labor gap. If there is a shortage, you can only buy slaves to fill it in.

Now these officers and upstarts in Gyeonggi, Xuanhua Datong and other places are also faced with the problem of acquiring a lot of land, but they can’t grow it, and they can’t even rent it out, so they can only buy cattle and horses, and then buy slaves to plant. .

Zhu Yihai wandered around Juyongguan and Badaling Pass, and then walked around the Great Wall, and then ignored the established arrangements, and went directly to Yandun, post stations, and Tunpus inside and outside the Great Wall to visit at random.

In Koubei Fort, Zhu Yihai even had a roasted deer feast with Dunjun there. The venison cooked by Dunchang's wife lacked condiments, there was no onion, ginger, or pepper, but it tasted pretty good.

The seven pier soldiers blushed even more excitedly when the emperor ate venison in the pot with them. After the meal, Zhu Yihai also rewarded the deputy pier chief with a royal horse and a fox fur, and gave the black dog a big A piece of deer steak, and the other Dunjun also rewarded each with a piece of woolen wool.

The emperor also greatly appreciated their efforts to reclaim the wasteland beside the pier, and their own actions such as carrying water, manure and growing vegetables. For the six pier soldiers who were willing to stay and serve for a long time, the emperor directly converted them into professional recruits. They also gave each of them [-] acres of land on the edge.

"The construction of the Zhangku post road has already begun. A post road will be built from Zhangjiakou to Kulun, Mobei Mongolia. This post road communicates with the three tribes of Khalkha in Mobei, and Sunite and others belong to the tribes of Monan Mongolia. At the same time This will also be a trading route. My silk, tea, bricks, porcelain, iron pots, cloth, grain, salt, wine, tobacco, etc. from the Ming Dynasty will go north and go deep into the grassland, and the fur of livestock in the grassland will go south along the way. When this post road is built, Zhangjiakou will be connected to Kulun at one end. , connecting Beijing at one end, and connecting Datong, Taiyuan, Guihua, and Suiyuan to the west, and this will become an important commercial port in the west of Beijing.”

This plan was originally proposed by Zhu Yihai. He was very clear about the significance of this matter. He used the economy to influence and even control the Mongolian tribes, so that they would be tightly attached to Daming and could not leave.Zhangku Avenue is an important part of the Ming Dynasty Belt and Road Initiative.

"There is a shortage of people, but the population is too small. There is a large area of ​​land at the foot of Badaling, not to mention Zhangjiakou and Koubei. We still need to increase the migration. In addition, it is good to use slaves to fill the labor shortage, which is worth encouraging.

But there is one thing, the Mongolian and Jurchen tribes that have been attached to my Ming Dynasty are not allowed to plunder their human beings and sell them as slaves, and all tribes must abide by it.

Not to mention selling Han people as slaves. Now that the population is in short supply, even if there are those who were plundered or sold as slaves due to wars and natural disasters in the early years, the imperial court should try their best to pay for their freedom, and then resettle them, or place them in Xuanhua, Gyeonggi. Settling down with granting land, or relocating to Taiwan, Hainan, or Guangxi, Yunnan. "

Zhangjiakou is positioned as the economic center of Xuanhua Province in the future, while Xuanhua City is the political center.

The post road and commercial road from Zhangjiakou to Mobei Kulun, the post road and commercial road from Zhangjiakou to Datong, and the post road and commercial station from Zhangjiakou to Beijing. The three lines connect here. Zhangjiakou's economic prosperity will certainly drive the imperial court's attention to the Bashang grassland. The strengthening of control led to the strengthening of the imperial court's economic control over the Mongolian tribes in the north.

The economy opens the way, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Beijing, Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou, Datong, Taiyuan, Guihua, Baotou, etc. are connected in series.

Rested overnight at Badaling Pass City, the next day the emperor continued to travel north, at the north of Huailai Basin, at the foot of Jiming Mountain on the east bank of the Yang River, Zhu Yihai settled at this famous inn in the three provinces of Jiming.

Post stations have been established since the Yuan Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was already a very famous and prosperous post city. There are gates in the east and west, towers, and Yandun outside the city. Five roads in the city crisscross and divide the city into Twelve areas of varying sizes.

There are post offices, post warehouses, horse houses, and a large number of shops and dwellings in the city.

It used to be a prosperous city for a long time, integrating post, post, warehouse, business, and residence. After the Tartars entered the customs, it was even more prosperous, but it was finally destroyed when the Tartars fled.

When the Emperor of Heaven arrived here on his west tour, the post city had regained its vitality.

The imperial court re-established a post office, delivery shop, and even a civil letter bureau here. Because it is on the main road leading to Gyeonggi, this place has also become a commercial wharf. There are a large number of warehouses, dental merchants, officials come and go, and the army Military depots, military warehouses, etc. were set up here.

It is three hundred miles away from Beijing, surrounded by mountains and rivers.

The rebuilt post city not only prospered again, but even became an important transfer station for commercial goods in Northwest Beijing in a short period of time.

Even outside the post city, a stretch of Xinfang District has been established, with a large number of warehouses, dwellings, inns, restaurants, etc., and it is too late to expand the new city wall. Now it is not only a post station, but also the Huailai Basin. The most bustling town, even surpassed Huailai County, and even more than a dozen blocks away from the former Baoanzhou City on the west side of the West Basin.

Some officials even suggested that the imperial court downgrade Baoan Prefecture in Sanggan Hebei to Baoan County or change its name to Zhuolu County, move the county government to Jimingyi City, and expand a new city outside the Yicheng.

However, some people think that Jiming Station is on the east side of the Yanghe River. The Huailai Basin should be bounded by the east and west of the Yanghe River, with Huailai County on the east and Baoan Prefecture on the west. Now Baoan Prefecture has been changed to a county and moved to Jiming Station It's unreasonable to go.

There is such a controversy because of the reconstruction after the war, only some places along the important Beijing-Zhangjiakou line have been restored to life, such as the former Baoan Prefecture, which is almost empty now.

But Zhu Yihai thinks there is no need to worry about this, as long as the place is stable and it is around Beijing, are you afraid that it will not be lively?There is no need to turn Jiming Station into Zhuolu County just because Jiming Station is lively and Baoan Prefecture is desolate.

The emperor rode into Jiming Station on horseback. Looking at the periphery of the city, he saw that a large area of ​​new houses had been built, countless warehouses, warehouses, and even open-air cattle and horse markets, fur markets, and slave markets. lively.

It's really a drought, a drought, and a flood.

"Go and see the slave market. If there are people from my Han family, they will be redeemed at the market price with domestic funds, and they will be freed. They can be sent directly to Zhuolu County in the west to settle down and be resettled, and the land will be allocated."

The second assistant Wang Zhiren who accompanied him asked the emperor, "Why don't your majesty directly order that the Han people are not allowed to be bought and sold, and if it is found out, just ask the businessman to hand over the Han people for good."

Zhu Yihai shook his head.

This kind of order is easy to issue, but it is not thoughtful enough.

Wen Anzhi explained for the emperor that in the past Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Lu State had issued a decree that if the people of Lu State found Lu State slaves abroad and asked them to pay for the redemption and bring them back to the State of Lu, then the State Lord would reward them with great rewards. One day, a disciple of Confucius met a slave from the state of Lu, and offered money to redeem him and bring him back to the country, but in the end he refused the king's reward.

Unexpectedly, after knowing this, Confucius criticized his disciples, saying that he did bad things with good intentions.

Sure enough, after that, the people of Lu country seldom rescued the countrymen who were slaves when they met abroad.

The reason is also simple, not everyone is as noble as the disciples of Confucius, or not everyone is as good as him, and they pay a lot of money to redeem the people of the country. Originally, the king has rewards, so saving people is both famous and beneficial. At least you won't lose money.But after the disciples of Confucius opened the door to not rewarding money, everyone had to bear the cost of saving people themselves, and many people simply gave up.

It was originally a good thing, but in the end it was completely ruined because Confucius disciples did good things and did bad things.

Now if the emperor finds that there are Han Chinese among the slaves of the slave trader, he directly orders them to surrender and release them. The people here have been rescued. , no one is willing to take it to the Central Plains again, so they have no chance to be rescued.

If the emperor redeemed it at the market price, the dealer would have no loss, and he might buy and sell the Han people on the grassland next time.

"Wen Shoufu is right. Not only can we not forcibly order them to be released, but we have to buy them back at the market price, and we even have to add another reward to them, and tell them to do the same in the future, so that those slave traders, they are outside the Great Wall. On the grassland, if we meet the people of our Han family as slaves again, driven by profit, we will find a way to bring them back to the Central Plains and hand them over to us."

For Emperor Zhu Yihai, although this would cost money, even more money than ordinary transactions, it was still cost-effective and worth doing.

Wang Zhiren nodded, greatly appreciating, "I suggest that it is better to add a few more items, plus that the acts of looting and trafficking the people of our Daming Han family will be severely punished, and those who are already outside the customs can not be counted, only for the future. These behaviors in the Central Plains in the future."

"Wang Qing is right. I, Ming, who have been kidnapped and sold into slavery outside the Central Plains must find a way to rescue and redeem them, and I must also prevent the occurrence of kidnapping and slavery of the Han family."

"Let's add one more thing. All Mongols, Jurchens, Semu people, etc. who own slaves of the Han family must report it immediately, and the court will pay for the redemption. If anyone hides or hurts them, they will be killed!"

"The civil and military officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty are also not allowed to own or trade Han people as slaves. They must be reported to the court for redemption."

"From now on, all officials and people who dare to use Han people as slaves will be punished without mercy!"

The emperor did not prohibit the slave trade, nor restricted officials or ordinary people from keeping slaves and using slaves, but no matter whether Han people or Mongolian Jurchen Semu people, etc., they were prohibited from owning Han slaves.

This is actually the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty. He once stipulated that common people are forbidden to keep slaves. For meritorious officials, there should be no more than 12 slaves for the first rank, no more than [-] slaves for the second rank, no more than eight for the third rank, and no more than eight slaves for the fourth rank. Slaves are not allowed.

Therefore, it was not until the early and middle period of Ming Dynasty that slaves appeared in common people's homes again, but they did not dare to openly call these people slaves, but called them righteous men and righteous daughters, and slaves called them righteous fathers and mothers.

(End of this chapter)