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Chapter 918 Nanhai Hubei Palace

"It's okay, it's okay... The General Staff has made a great contribution this time. If it weren't for you, Li Qing, planning and strategizing in the rear, I wouldn't be able to win this battle even if I had three heads and six arms. But this is just the beginning, don't be complacent yet, there are more troubles to come!

The various tribes of the Oirat Mongols had been badly damaged and would not harass the south again in the short term. The various tribes of the Outer Khalkha were very divided and would not easily move south, so the threat from the north was temporarily alleviated.

However, Sun Chengzong severely damaged the army of the Bukhara Khanate in Kashgar, almost annihilating them. Although the army of the Kazakh Khanate successfully broke through, it was intercepted and killed by Abdulchayin on its way back to the north, and suffered heavy losses.

In addition to blaming Abdulchayin, they will certainly bear a grudge against the Ming Empire. The two Khanates have large territories and large populations, and can mobilize more than 100,000 troops. Even if they are unlikely to come out in full force for this matter, it should still attract enough attention from the court.

I intend to take the initiative to send an envoy to negotiate with Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate, giving up some of their commercial interests in exchange for their cooperation. The specific personnel have been identified, and you can discuss the rest with the Ministry of Rites to make the trade route smooth as soon as possible.

If the other party allows, let the Ministry of Rites set up post houses in their capitals and send permanent officials to facilitate constant communication and minimize misunderstandings. "

The biggest problem for Hong Tao is that he has little money in his pocket, but the places where he needs to spend money are increasing instead of decreasing. In this case, unless he can conjure money out of thin air, he must make a choice.

Hong Tao's choice was to slow down the pace of expansion, and change from using military means to completely solve the problem to using diplomatic means to temporarily bridge the contradiction. As long as it can be delayed for a few years, the Ming Dynasty's economic situation can be fully revived.

At that time, no matter what is agreed upon, they can create a few caravans being robbed, and the army can just go there in the name of entering the country to arrest the murderer and maintain the smooth flow of trade routes. We can continue to negotiate after the pain, but the conditions must be changed. The empire must take the big advantage first!
That’s right, Hong Tao had such a narrow vision. He had never thought of turning Central Asia into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, nor did he want to command a million-strong army to sweep across Europe and laugh at the destroyed cities.

This kind of plot seems very childish when it appears in a dream, and anyone with a little bit of common sense would not take it seriously. The purpose of war is to solve problems. In addition to self-rescue, if you only capture and occupy without managing or utilizing resources, then war becomes pure killing for fun.
Why was Genghis Khan able to do it? Because he did not engage in economic construction, nor did he need to assimilate civilizations, he just robbed. To put it nicely, it was called the Mongol Empire, and to put it bluntly, it was a huge bandit gang. Moreover, the empire fell apart faster than it rose.

Hong Tao didn't want to spend his entire life creating a short-lived locust group. He not only wanted territory and population, but also wanted to establish a system that was conducive to civilization and progress. He would not consider anyone or anything that was contrary to this original intention.

In the vision of the future nation, the Central Asian countries are partners. As long as they do not block the trade routes to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, they can do whatever they want and believe in whatever they want, and we will never interfere.

Of course, from the perspective of the empire's interests, this region cannot have a unified regime, and must be divided into several khanates or forces. Whoever dares to make such an attempt is the enemy of the Ming Empire and must be eliminated as soon as possible!
"Your Majesty, it's time to eat..." As soon as Yuan Keli left, Wang Chengen came up and whispered to remind him that it was time for lunch.

"Well, what are we having for lunch?" Hong Tao looked at his watch and found that it was almost one o'clock in the afternoon, but he was not very hungry.

"They are all His Majesty's favorites, including cumin lamb, big plate chicken, and beef noodles!" Speaking of lunch, Wang Chengen couldn't help but straighten his chest. Others in this trip to the Western Regions went to fight, but he went to see the scenery, watch the excitement, and search for exotic food.

The emperor had very low requirements for food, clothing and shelter. He never asked for fine food, and he was not allowed to prepare more than a dozen dishes for each meal. But it was difficult to make the emperor happy. No matter how hard the imperial chefs worked, they usually only received a passable evaluation, and the chance of being named again was very rare.

As the chief attendant and the chief steward of the harem, in addition to ensuring the emperor's safety, Wang Chengen also had to ensure that the emperor had good food and drink. To this end, Wang Chengen spent a lot of time and effort, carefully studying the emperor's eating habits, and then looking for fresh ingredients and cooking methods everywhere, among which exotic food was the focus.

Whenever he arrived in a city, he would bring his royal chef to carefully ask the local emir what delicacies there were, and then select the ingredients to cook for the emperor to taste. At the same time, he would carefully record every expression of the emperor while eating, looking for bits of inspiration from them.

As the saying goes, hard work pays off. After many observations, Wang Chengen has made considerable gains. He found that the emperor likes to eat mutton from the Western Regions very much. Whether it is roasted or hot pot, he can eat it all up. In addition, the emperor is also very keen on the local ramen, and he personally asked about the specific method of making Abash ramen. As long as you have a goal, the rest is all trivial. Select live sheep of the right age and fatness and bring them back to Nanhaizi Farm and raise them according to the local people's methods. Even the forage grass was transplanted, except for the local water that could not be brought back, it had to be reproduced in its original form.

Another thing is to bring back some local cooking skills, ingredients, and cooking utensils. No one knows how to use them? That's too easy. Just bring back whoever is good at cooking. As for whether to arrest them or pay them, that's just a side issue. It's not difficult at all.

"Oh, you have some skills. You learned a lot during your trip to the Western Regions. Bring them all here so I can taste whether they are authentic!" He was not hungry at first, but after hearing the names of these dishes, Hong Tao thought it was okay to eat something.

"It must be authentic! I'm not bragging, it was Gulandam who said it. The imperial chef has spent many days learning these dishes, and he makes a few every day for Gulandam to taste." Wang Chengen was very happy and confident to receive the emperor's praise, because he had a very authentic Western Region food taster.

"Oh, if you hadn't mentioned her, I would have forgotten about her... Is she doing well these days?" But when Hong Tao heard the name, he was not reassured, but began to frown.

At that time, there was no halal food in the Ming Dynasty, let alone the concept of Hui people. Many descendants of the Semites who served the Yuan Dynasty and believed in Islam remained, but they no longer enjoyed special treatment.

The Ming Dynasty had a clear and unequivocal attitude towards the Semites: they must be assimilated! Starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, there were more than one imperial edicts for this purpose, which included prohibiting the use of foreign clothing, foreign language, and foreign surnames, prohibiting the Mongolian Semites from marrying their own people, and requiring them to intermarry with the Han people.

The famous eunuch Zheng He was a descendant of the Semu people who settled in Yunnan during the Yuan Dynasty. According to historical records, his original surname was Ma, but it was given to him by Zhu Di. In fact, Ma was not his original surname, but he was forced to change it. This was the policy at the time.

In such a high-pressure environment, where even language, clothing and surnames cannot be preserved, how is it possible for them to have independent eating habits?

Now suddenly there is a little Muslim girl, and she is considered a local noble, and she has taken the initiative to ask to come for sightseeing. It seems inappropriate to force her to change her living and eating habits.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I have arranged for her to stay in the Changping Palace. She will be safe with the children I brought back from the Western Regions. When she learns Chinese, she can go to the inner study first, or... go to the Haihu Division!"

The emperor said he had forgotten, but Wang Chengen didn't dare to believe it. It was hard to believe that he had no other thoughts when he brought back a little girl from a foreign race from a long distance, and she was a great beauty.

Therefore, he could not make random arrangements, or even send her out of the palace, but he could not keep her in the palace either. The emperor had to decide how to arrange her. If she stayed in the palace and was taught by the inner study, then she would most likely be taken into the harem.

"Hai Hu Division... not appropriate, not appropriate. So, we can draw personnel from the inner study and the Cuju team to set up an institution similar to the Hai Hu Division in the palace. You have to pay more attention to this matter and keep a close eye on it, so as not to make a big fuss in the city!"

Hong Tao did not think about Wang Chengen's test carefully. As an emperor, he was used to being speculated by his subordinates. But it seemed inappropriate to send Gulandam and the child brought back from the Western Regions to the Haihu Division. It was a training class for future officials of the Ming Empire, and there were many secrets that could not be disclosed for the time being.

However, along with the children brought from the Western Regions, children from Luzon, Annan, Inner Mongolia, Jurchen and other ethnic groups will soon face this problem, so we have to think of a long-term solution and not make do with it.

In line with the principle of one trick to conquer all, Hong Tao did not bother to think of another one, but copied the old one and set up a Hai Hu Division in the palace in the north of the city. The eunuchs from the inner school and the Cuju team were temporarily appointed as teachers, which was completely sufficient. The course arrangement would be decided when the child grew up.

(End of this chapter)