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Chapter 830 Chifeng
The spring and summer of the sixteenth year of Jingyang were not peaceful, and the court was always shrouded in a heavy mood of anxiety. Whether it was the ministers who supported the Northern Expedition or those who opposed it, they all worried about their nephews, nieces, and grandchildren who were thousands of miles away.

Then I secretly cursed the emperor in the Forbidden City to die a miserable death! You have no son, so you just send a brother as a cover, but you want to use our own descendants as cannon fodder. Bah, you are a scourge that will cut off your descendants!

But it's not all bad. With these concerns, most of the court officials, whether sincere or not, sincerely hope that the court's army will win the battle.

Only in this way can the children and grandchildren save their lives as much as possible, thereby improving the efficiency of government. Especially when it comes to matters on the front line, anyone who dares to dawdle and be absent-minded will immediately be ostracized by his colleagues.

Unlike the court, the people were optimistic about this protracted war. With the help of Banyuetan and Shangbao, most battle reports were published in a relatively short period of time, which led to celebrations and even improved business in teahouses and restaurants.

Who doesn't want their country and their court to win the war? Although there is no short-term benefit on the surface, and it may even make their own family members become a member of the death list, but overall the people still support it.

Speaking of the death list, this is also a new thing this year. In the past, even if there was a newspaper report on war, it only described the course of the battle and the final result, and at most roughly wrote about how many enemies were killed, how many prisoners were captured, and how many casualties were suffered.

But this time it was different. The first issue of every month would list in detail the names of the dead soldiers of the previous month, down to each person's name, place of origin, age and position.

It was not just a simple announcement of death. If someone was on the list, officials from the local government would come to the door with gongs and drums. In addition to sending a pension from the Ministry of War, a stone tablet would be erected at the entrance of the village or at the door of the house, detailing the achievements of the people who died in the battle.

At the same time, the court's attitude was also written, a very short sentence: XXX sacrificed his life for the country, his name will be passed down through the ages, the world admires him, he should be treated as a national hero. According to his military rank, he will enjoy preferential treatment.

What benefits were offered? In addition to the pension, if the family had a loan, the remaining balance would not have to be repaid with interest; if the family had children, both boys and girls, they could go to the new school for free; if the family had young and strong people, they could immediately join the new army, with a rank starting from private first class. If the family had grievances, they could write to the General Staff Headquarters, and it would reach the emperor!
If we really want to talk about the court's preferential treatment for soldiers killed in battle, it seems that there is nothing concrete. After all, the people who are used to borrowing money from banks are still a minority, and the prefectures and counties with new schools are only in coastal areas. If the family can't survive, most people are still unwilling to let their children eat the emperor's food and serve as soldiers.

Only the last one seems to be somewhat useful, but it is hard to say whether it is really effective or not. Officials have protected each other for thousands of years. It is difficult for a person to change his bad habits with determination and perseverance, let alone such a big country.

But to be honest, the Chinese people are really easy to fool. They don't ask the masters to really make decisions for them. As long as they don't cause trouble a few times and show some attitude in normal times, they will be satisfied.

It is hard to say whether there will be less trouble now, but if the attitude is really there, don't be shameless and just accept it, otherwise you may lose even the attitude.

But this monument is not a formality in the officialdom. The existence of the General Staff may be unknown to the common people, but anyone with a high rank knows it in their heart, and it can reach the ears of the emperor 100%.

So the question is, how can we stop the people from complaining directly to the emperor for no reason? In fact, it is very easy to do, just do less harm to them and do your job more seriously.

Unfortunately, without this stele, some officials really couldn't do it. Even simple things seemed like ascending to heaven in their eyes. In mid-June, the delivery room brought good news: a baby was born! Not a person, but a city. After the unremitting efforts of tens of thousands of craftsmen, Chifeng City was born from scratch.

As the name suggests, the city is built entirely of brown stones collected from nearby mountains, called red stones. The city gradually rises along the hillside, and the main building in the front is not only tall, but also has a pointed roof, like a mountain peak.

When Hong Tao got the renderings drawn by the Army General Staff, he immediately knew who designed it. It was definitely Xiong Sanba, who combined the traditional Chinese city walls with the European church castles.

It is not really beautiful, but rather a bit out of place. But it is definitely practical, because the castle is located on the hillside, and a gap was blasted out of the hillside when collecting stones, which makes it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Even if the walls and towers were blown down, it would only be a superficial injury, and the garrison could still hold on to the ruins, with the same effect as the walls. There were also several springs on the mountain, and as long as there were enough weapons and food, there was basically no way to defeat them without suffering more than ten times the casualties.

Now Lindan Khan was in an even more difficult situation. He had never been able to defeat the Ming army hiding in the ditches on the hillsides. Now a fortified city had been built in which the Ming army could be stationed comfortably. The Ming army could send troops to harass the area at any time and at any time, day or night. How could he live like this?

What's more troublesome is that the wall hasn't fallen yet, but people have already started to push it. Not to mention the five Khalkha tribes, Lao Chaohua got drunk and left two months ago, and his two younger brothers are fighting for the leadership of the tribe. They are almost fighting each other, so who cares about the Khan?

Even if Lao Chaohua was alive, he would not be able to play any role, let alone send many soldiers. The Khalkha Five Tribes, as one of the 30,000 households on the left wing, a standard large tribe, was tormented to death by the Ming army in Fuyu City in two years.

More than one-third of the herdsmen defected to the Chahar and Khorchin tribes, and many simply threw themselves into the arms of the Han people, hiding near Jinzhou and ignoring everyone.

It seemed that the Jin Dynasty could no longer be counted on. Since the king of Joseon was replaced, the original alliance treaty was not recognized at all, even if it was written in black and white, it was glared at and said it was fake. The two sides returned to the situation of long-term confrontation. Half of the troops were reduced to focus on the Kuandian area, and there was no energy to send a large army north.

The most annoying thing was the Khorchin tribe. Seeing that they could not defeat the Ming army, they withdrew their troops to the east without even saying hello and never heard from them again. When someone was sent to inquire, Oba Dataiji was always bedridden and said he was seriously ill. The rest of the people could not make a decision and just waited.

Obviously, the Khorchin tribe also saw the embarrassment of the Chahar tribe and did not want to follow the injured wolf king. Anyway, their territory was the farthest from the Ming Dynasty and the climate was the coldest. Even if the Han people wanted to attack, they would not be able to get through in a short time.

On the contrary, once the Chahar tribe was forced to migrate, the vacated Liaohe Plain would be an advantage. Regardless of whether the Han people could fight or not, they were not used to the grazing life on the grassland. As long as they were willing to admit defeat and call him godfather, most of them would probably belong to the Khorchin tribe.

It doesn't matter who you follow. The key is to make sure the cattle and sheep in the tribe have grass to eat and water to drink, to make sure the men can afford fine wine, to make sure the women can afford fine cotton cloth, to make sure the children can put a spoonful of sugar in their milk, and to make the tribe more populous. It doesn't really matter what you are called or who you belong to.

(End of this chapter)