A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 103: It’s hard for us to deal with lack of money

The prince's matter has been settled for the time being, but before the next disturbance occurs, the Ming Dynasty is not at peace either.

Yongle three years.

Hu Yiyuan's regicide in Jiaozhi was exposed. What's even more outrageous is that in the third year of Yongle, Zhu Di sent 5000 people to escort Chen Tianping, the prince of Jiaozhi, back to the country to take up his throne. Hu Yiyuan and others were not careful about the apparent welcome, but secretly set up an ambush in the mountains and forests, and suddenly killed him. When they came out, Chen Tianping was killed on the spot, Dali Qing Xue Yan and pedestrian Nie Cong were also killed.

The Ming army did not expect that they would be bold enough to attack the army of the suzerain country.

Huang Zhong, the deputy general of Zhengnan, was also a veteran general. He immediately united his army and moved forward. However, Hu Yiyuan's army was cunning and destroyed the local bridges, making it impossible for the Ming army to pursue.

Can this be tolerated?Zhu Di was furious and immediately appointed Zhu Neng as the general, Mu Sheng and Zhang Fu (Zhang Yu's son, who had repeatedly achieved military exploits) as the left and right deputy generals, commanding a total of 30 soldiers from the capital, Jing, Hu, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangxi. Claimed to be 80, he left Guangxi and conquered Vietnam.

However, Zhu Neng died of illness in Longzhou. Zhu Di was very sad when he heard about it, resigned from the court, and made him the Duke of the country.

The general leading the army was gone, which was considered a bad start, but the battle still had to be fought.

Veteran Zhang Yu was sent to the battlefield.

Facts have proved that not many people in that era could defeat the Ming army in an upright fight.

In October, the Ming army broke through Liuguan Pass and Jiling Pass, and the northern gate of Jiaozhi was opened.

Later, Mu Sheng led his army to capture Mengzha and Hua Pass, and "the thieves fled".

In December, Zhang Yu led his army to attack the important city of Duobang. He wrapped his armor and attacked the city at night. He defeated the Jiaozhi army and chased them all the way to Umbrella Mountain. Marshals Liang Minxian and Ji Bole were all beheaded, and countless Jiaozhi soldiers died. .

In the same month, the eastern and western capitals of Jiaozhi were defeated successively.

In the first month of the fourth year of Yongle, Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng first defeated the Jiaozhi Army at Caijiang Gate, then defeated it at Pulai Mountain, beheading [-] people, and then defeated it at Pantan River, achieving three victories in three battles.

In the same month, at the Battle of Mimarujiang, the Ming army once again won a great victory. Generals Ruan Ziren, Huang Shigang and more than a hundred people were killed.

It had only been two months since the Ming army entered Jiaozhi, and the so-called "two million army" that Hu Yiyuan was proud of had collapsed.

In the fifth month, Hu and his son were captured and offered as prisoners to the palace.Emperor Yongle set up the Chief Envoy of Jiaozhi, with Zhang Yu as the commander-in-chief of Jiaozhi, and Jiaozhi was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

When conquering Jiaozhi, Ming's northern neighbors did not stop either.

Yongle three years.

The Mongols invaded the border for the Nth time. They broke through the Great Wall and ravaged the north of the Ming Dynasty. From Liaodong to Shanxi, beacon fires were lit everywhere.

Zhu Di was furious, but he soon discovered that he could not find the main person responsible for this matter, or in other words, the culprit who caused Mongolia's unscrupulous invasion was himself.

Except for the King of Qin who stayed in Nanjing and the King of Jin who was deposed, the other nine kings who guarded the border all followed him to Nanjing.Their troops also followed to the south and were stationed around Nanjing.

It would be damned if the Northland were not empty.

After many calculations about co-writing this matter, in the end it was myself who was to blame.

Emperor Yongle's eyes were sharp, his brows were raised, and the words of the imperial commander's personal expedition came to his lips.

It just so happens that I haven't hacked anyone for so long, my hands are itchy.

He was originally a very warlike emperor on horseback.

But the next moment, he held back because someone suggested a better choice.

Sapphire.

Even Zhu Di, the bright star of the previous era, had to lower his eyes in front of him.So the former Liang Guogong, who had been imprisoned for five years, finally walked out of the dirty and damp prison.

Finally got out of prison.Facing the long-lost bright sunshine, he sighed softly.

God still favored him, and the old man died before him.

And now, the newly enthroned Emperor Yongle wants to reuse him.

Five years of prison life have smoothed his edges. Now Lan Yu no longer has the frivolity and pride he once had, only calmness and stability remain.

Leading an army of [-] men, he set out on the journey again.

However, this was only a temporary measure, just like how badly Hongwu beat Mongolia when he was there. But during the Yongle period, they had the strength to invade repeatedly, and they recovered quickly.

It is true to say that Nanjing is not suitable as the capital.It is too far away from the north. With the speed of Mongolia's recovery, they will organize a large army again in a few decades.It is now the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the Ming army's combat power can still stop the Mongolian invasion. But later, when the Ming army's combat power begins to decline, if you are not careful, the unified Ming Dynasty will become the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Not only that, Zhu Di has been in the north for a long time. The north is his base, but the south is more or less not as easy to control.

Therefore, in the third year of Yongle, Zhu Di finally decided to move the capital after many thoughts.

However, if you want to serve as the capital of a huge regime like the Ming Dynasty, Beijing (Zhu Di changed Peking Prefecture to Shuntian Prefecture, and then deprived Kaifeng of Beijing's title and made Shuntian Beijing) is still somewhat insufficient. After all, it has been abandoned for some time.

The first thing is to build a capital city, like Xi'an.

However, when he expressed his suggestion to the ministers, the reply he received was:
Opposed.

The ministers raised objections in unison, and the leader was his good son Zhu Gaochi. He believed that Nanjing was the place where the dragon was prosperous and where the king's aura was. Jiangnan was also the hometown of scholars, and they were rooted here, which was completely in line with the Ming Dynasty's national policy of preferring scholars.

Even his confidant Yan Keng does not agree with moving the capital, at least not now.

"Your Majesty has already spent a huge amount of money on Jiaozhi, conquered the Mongolian tribes, and compiled the Grand Ceremony, which has left the national treasury empty. Now if the capital is moved again, the finances may be unsustainable. Please be aware of this!"

That's what he said.And although his words didn't sound good, Zhu Di couldn't refute him, because he himself also knew that the biggest weakness of the Ming Dynasty now——

Short of money.

The Ming Dynasty was short of money.

The northern expedition to Mongolia, the compilation of the Great Code, the southern expedition to Jiaozhi, and now the construction of Beijing are simply a waste of money.Zhu Gaochi was indeed a master of political affairs. With his assistance, Zhu Di managed the Ming Dynasty very well, but he couldn't help but make trouble. Some people even suggested that they just move the capital to Xi'an.

But in fact, Xi'an is also in Zhu Di's plan.He plans to use Xijing and Xi'an as the strategic fulcrum in the west to control the Western Region, while Beijing will be the fulcrum to control the northeast and beyond the Great Wall. In other words, both are indispensable.

But even if you have a lot of pride, if you don't have money, you are still a loser.

The Minister of Hubu complained on the spot, saying that the Hubu had been in deficit for a long time, and the warehouses could run out of money.

Fortunately, someone came up with a solution:

"The difficulty of the imperial court today is nothing more than money."

"The reason for the prosperity of the Song and Yuan Dynasties in the past was nothing more than trade. And maritime trade was the most important matter of trade. The foreign barbarians yearned for the prosperity of our country, and every time a ship arrived carrying Chinese goods, They rushed to buy it and got a lot of gold. And the specialties of the land could be sold at good prices in the Ming Dynasty, which was a huge profit. The Song and Yuan Dynasties became rich because of it."

Zhu Di raised his head suddenly, his eyes flashing with light, as if the shadow of copper coins was spinning in his eyes.

"Tell me in detail!"

(End of this chapter)