Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 116 Loyalty to the end
"Uh... huh..."

The small bedroom was filled with the smell of medicine and the sound of moaning on the bed.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the bed that was only three or five steps away from him, but felt that the distance was farther than the distance from the Forbidden City.

But he didn't have time to hesitate. He walked to the Babu bed with a stool and put the stool on the ground to sit down.

Only then did he clearly see Fu Youde lying on the bed.

The last time they met was three years ago. Although Fu Youde was 67 years old at the time, he looked only 54 years old. He walked with the strides of a dragon and a tiger, and his whole person also revealed a fierceness.

But at the moment, he was so thin that his cheeks were sunken and his face had many dark brown spots.

He didn't open his eyes, just lying on the bed like this, his brows slightly wrinkled, with a tired and helpless expression on his face, as if he was feeling uncomfortable due to illness.

His lips were chapped and had a faint purple tint, suggesting that his physical strength had reached its limit.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, he coughed lightly from time to time. The coughing sound was accompanied by heavy breathing, which made people feel that his body was experiencing a severe challenge.

"Weixue, I'm here to see you..."

Looking at Fu Youde's appearance, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke with a complicated expression, and as soon as he spoke, Fu Youde opened his eyes in pain.

He only glanced at it, but it was enough to confirm that the person in front of him was Zhu Yuanzhang.

"I'm dying……"

Fu Youde's voice was heavy, and his breathing was like a bellows with a hole in it.

He didn't give Zhu Yuanzhang a chance to interrupt, even though he now spends a lot of energy every time he speaks:

"It doesn't matter if you die, don't cause trouble to others..."

After just a few words, a lot of sweat appeared on Fu Youde's forehead, which was very difficult.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not interrupt, but sat quietly, lowering his head and watching Fu Youde.

"Gao Xu... is that boy Gao Xu... coming... here..."

"Outside the house, you can come in at any time." Zhu Yuanzhang answered him. When Fu Youde heard this, the pain-filled expression on his face also showed a relieved smile, although it was short-lived.

"Don't embarrass me... embarrass your master..."

Before leaving, Fu Youde did not criticize Zhu Yuanzhang for being unfair to him, but used his remaining energy to arrange funeral arrangements as much as possible.

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand and held his withered hand, but Fu Youde did not hold it as tightly as he did.

Regardless of whether he had no strength or not, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt a little uncomfortable in his heart at this moment.

"Let them...come in..."

Dragging his painful body, Fu Youde cheered up again and took a look at Zhu Yuanzhang.

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang did not refuse. He let go of Fu Youde's hand, stood up and walked out.

When the door opened, he saw Zhu Gaoxu, who had been waiting for a long time, and the Fu family children behind him with various expressions.

"Go in, I'll be waiting for you in the main hall..."

Zhu Yuanzhang said something to Zhu Gaoxu, and then walked out across the crowd.

Even though there were many people looking at him, he didn't look back. Even though there was ill-intention in their eyes, he ignored them in the end.

He went out, and Zhu Gaoxu also walked into the bedroom with his legs up.

After him, Fu Zhong and Fu Rang walked in holding the two babies, Fu Rong and Fu Zheng respectively, followed by the female relatives of the Fu family.

Amidst the heavy breathing, Zhu Gaoxu walked into the Babu bed with unknown emotions, and when he got closer, he saw Fu Youde.

He is no longer the fierce veteran, but like an old and injured tiger, lying quietly, waiting for the end of his life.

Fu Zhong and Fu Rang followed in with the two babies, Fu Rong and Fu Zheng, because the space beside Babu's bed was too small and seemed a bit crowded.

"father……"

Fu Zhong hugged Fu Rong and knelt in front of Babu bed and called Fu Youde softly. Seeing that Fu Youde didn't respond, Fu Rang quickly asked Fu Zheng in his arms to call him grandpa.

"grandfather!"

Fu Zheng didn't know what life and death were yet, so he just called grandpa as usual.

His "Grandpa" woke Fu Youde up. Despite the physical pain, Fu Youde slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Fu Rong and Fu Cheng, he smiled, but he quickly held on. He glanced around until he saw Zhu Gaoxu, and then he closed his eyes with satisfaction.

"That kid..."

As if he wanted to preserve his image of not being so weak, Fu Youde smiled and shouted. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also came closer and knelt down: "The Duke..."

"You said..." Fu Youde said painfully: "What on earth do you think..."

Fu Youde's words left everyone confused. They didn't know whether Fu Youde was talking about Zhu Gaoxu speaking for them, or whether he was talking about something else they didn't know.

Not only them, Zhu Gaoxu himself didn't know, so he felt very uneasy.

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's anxious look, Fu Youde forced himself to move his hands: "That's all... don't involve my family... in..."

After the words fell, Fu Youde closed his eyes in pain and breathed heavily.

"Let's all go out..." Looking at his father's appearance, Fu Zhong gave the child in his arms to the female family members behind him and motioned for everyone to go out.

Zhu Gaoxu also stood up. He knew that Fu Youde didn't want him to see his embarrassment, so he followed everyone out of the yard.

He did not stay in the backyard for a long time because there were too many female relatives in the backyard and it was not convenient for him to be an outsider. Moreover, he did not want to stay in a crowded place.

Everything seemed to be as arranged by Lao Zhu. Zhu Gaoxu returned to the main hall of the front yard and saw Lao Zhu sitting in front of a brazier to warm himself up.

A chair was prepared next to him. Zhu Gaoxu walked over and sat down, silent.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not ask what Fu Youde had said to him, but just moved the coals in the brazier with the tongs in his hand.

He just sat like this, looking straight at the burning coals in the brazier without saying a word.

The grandfather and grandson were silent to each other for an unknown amount of time. Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang broke the deadlock.

"I originally wanted to make a decree for you to send him away, so as to cut off your connection with the people in this house..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhu Gaoxu looked at him in shock, but facing his grandson's gaze, Zhu Yuanzhang's face remained calm.

He added a few pieces of coal with a poker and continued: "Just thinking about it, you are my grandson after all. This would be too cruel to you and the people in this house..."

After getting the coal ready, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and met Zhu Gaoxu's eyes. There was neither sadness nor joy in his eyes, like a bottomless pool of water.

Lao Zhu's words reminded Zhu Gaoxu of what Fu Youde said just now.

For this group of human beings who came out of the late Yuan Dynasty, they didn't know Zhu Gaoxu's little thoughts, but Lao Zhu couldn't bear it, and Fu Youde had nothing to do.

Zhu Gaoxu always felt that Lao Zhu was taking advantage of Fu Youde, but he himself was not the same.

"Yunwen is right, it's time for you to go." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Gaoxu, as if he got to know his grandson again.

"My grandson..." Zhu Gaoxu spoke, but he didn't know where to start. In the end, he could only say: "My grandson has never had the idea of ​​​​motivating the master of this house. He just wanted to follow the old master's military tactics."

Although it had been exposed, Zhu Gaoxu still denied it.

Seeing his denial, Lao Zhu did not pursue the issue, but took a deep breath: "It's up to you..."

Perhaps he felt that Zhu Gaoxu could not control the local capital officials behind the Yingguo Palace, or he had already figured out a way to solve the local capital factions in the Yingguo Palace. In short, Lao Zhu did not press Zhu Gaoxu, but changed his tone:

"The palace will send you a decree after spring begins. It's best to tell me what you want now, but before I say it, I have to tell you first..."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked directly at Zhu Gaoxu. At this moment, he was no longer Zhu Gaoxu's grandfather, but the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"Yesterday your father sent news that a civil strife broke out in Oara in Mobei. Their great khan was killed. Oara and the Tatars reached a compromise in Hulanhuwenwen. The two tribes jointly supported the second son of the former Yuan Emperor. Libala (Elbek) is the Great Khan."

"This time the position of Great Khan of the North was taken back from the descendants of Ali Buge. The restoration of Kublai Khan's lineage will probably pose a threat to the imperial court's northern frontier."

"I am not asking you to go to the Jilin Shipyard for exile, but for you to deal with Xiyang Ha for me, and then appease the Jurchens in Haixi and East China Sea to prevent them from turning to Uliang Ha."

"In addition, I want you to prepare the border with King Ning and King Liao to prevent Wu Liangha from going south. This will allow your father to feel at ease and guard against the northern invaders in Mobei."

Kublai Khan's lineage was restored, which Zhu Gaoxu did not expect.

Ever since Emperor Tianyuan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was defeated by Lan Yu at Yuerhai and fled to Moxi, and was attacked and killed by Yesudie'er, a descendant of Ali Buge, the throne of the Great Khan of Mongolia fell to Ali Buge's lineage. Calculating the time, only six years have passed.

In just six years, Khan's position actually returned to the lineage of Kublai Khan.

Such an alternation of power will definitely have an impact on the Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of the Khan Court alone, when the throne of Khan was in the hands of the descendants of Ali Buge, the political center of the Northern Yuan Dynasty moved westward to the sphere of influence of the original Ali Buge descendants, and most of the original Tianyuan Emperor's tribes were also forcibly moved to the west. Oara region of Mongolia.

Now that power has changed and the throne of Khan has returned to the lineage of Kublai Khan, the newly succeeded Khan will definitely find a way to move the Khan's court back to Hulan Huwenwen, or even move it back to the Hailaer River in his hometown in eastern Mongolia.

These things are what Zhu Yuanzhang needs to consider, so he needs Zhu Di to be able to guard the border in Kaiping with peace of mind to guard against the Mongols in Mobei.

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't know much about the history of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, he remembered that serious internal fighting broke out in the Northern Yuan Dynasty in the late Hongwu period, which caused Benya, a descendant of Kublai Khan, to flee to the Timurid Empire.

After Timur's death, Benya Shili ran to the Eastern Chagatai Khanate by virtue of his status as a "Yuan descendant". Later, he was able to return to Mobei with the support of some nobles of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate.Regarding what exactly he did to become the Great Khan after returning to Mobei, Zhu Gaoxu has not read any historical materials in this regard, but what he can be sure of is that after Benya lost his place and became the Great Khan, the Mongols invaded the northern border of the Ming Dynasty on a large scale. Then Zhu Di made up his mind to march to the north.

The time span in between is almost more than ten years.

In the past ten years, the Mongols may have also invaded the Ming Dynasty's border areas, but the scale should not be large, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu should be able to remember it.

Since it is not large in scale, it means that the north side is extremely stable. When I went to Jilin Shipyard, I found a leak.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also thought carefully about the promise made by Lao Zhu.

Starting from the Jilin Shipyard, this was something Zhu Gaoxu did not expect. He originally thought it would be the Kaiping Wei that Lao Zhu mentioned before, but he did not want to directly cross more than two thousand miles and throw himself into Jilin in the northeast.

He knew the situation in Jilin well. Compared with Kaipingwei, which was the capital of Yuan Dynasty, the situation of Jilin Shipyard was much worse. All the basics were in vain, and they could only rely on Liaodong Capital Division for support.

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to immigrate, but for the current Jilin Shipyard, immigration was a burden in the past, and he had to consider this.

"The Jilin Shipyard has dozens of ships, more than [-] military craftsmen households, more than [-] people, but only more than [-] acres of land..."

Zhu Gaoxu told the situation of the Jilin Shipyard in detail, which Zhu Yuanzhang was not surprised about, because he knew that Zhu Gaoxu had almost a photographic memory.

"The Jilin Shipyard's family has low financial resources and is under great pressure. That's why I sent you there."

Zhu Yuanzhang talked about his reasons, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded in thought. After taking a few breaths, he continued:

"The Jilin Shipyard has few soldiers. I need three hundred single craftsmen of various types and a thousand soldiers who can go with me to the Jilin Shipyard."

"In addition, I want three hundred Qin horses, and the Dashi stallions that Timur sent as tribute last time also want twenty."

"The Jilin Shipyard is bitterly cold and the winter is long. I have to prepare enough food for a year to be ready to send troops to encircle Xiyang Ha at any time."

"In addition, I am not very familiar with the Jurchens in Haixi and Donghai, so I need a Jurchen eunuch under Grandpa. The eunuch's name is Yishuha."

He quickly told what he needed, but when faced with his request, Lao Zhu bargained:

"Three hundred single craftsmen of all kinds can give it to you, but not firearms. For the rest, you can draw up a note for me to read."

"One thousand soldiers is too many. I'll give you 500 at most."

"There aren't that many free Qin horses. I can transfer [-] to you at most, plus another [-] draft horses for you. As for Dashi's stallions, I can give you [-]."

"For the last grain, I will ask Liaodong Dusi to transport enough grain to you for a year after the snow melts every spring, but it will only be rationed according to the number of people on the shipyard's books."

"As for that slave, I will ask him to move out of the palace to your courtyard tomorrow. The note you drafted and the things he needs can also be circulated to me."

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that his grandson was not an easy man to deal with. If the food issue was relaxed, he might immigrate through some means or recruit Yiding.

In this way, if you promise to prepare enough food for him for a year, I'm afraid it will snowball and get bigger and bigger.

"Okay" Zhu Gaoxu didn't bargain, because he knew that Lao Zhu was always on guard against him, even though it was difficult to expand the Jilin Shipyard.

But even so, he still looked at the courtyard gate: "My grandson wants Yulin Zuowei Xu named Baihu."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not agree directly, but looked down at the brazier: "If they are willing to go with you, that's for sure."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu didn't say much and just nodded.

But when Lao Zhu saw that he didn't speak, he asked instead: "Do you still hold mine maps of other places in your hand?"

"Not yet. You have to go back and read ancient books to find out..." Zhu Gaoxu naturally would not admit it, because he couldn't figure out Japan's mine map.

"Well..." Seeing what he said, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "What are we going to do when we go to Jilin Shipyard?"

For some reason, Zhu Yuanzhang was particularly talkative today, so much that even he felt a little annoyed, but he couldn't help but ask.

In response to his inquiry, Zhu Gaoxu briefly organized his thoughts:

"You won't know how to do it until you go there, but generally you have to reorganize your troops, reclaim wasteland, and build weirs, dams, and canals to irrigate farmland."

"The spring planting at Jilin Shipyard is in April. I will rush there after the spring starts in Nanjing. I should be able to arrive in late February."

"After busying with the spring planting, Sun'er is going to let Yishiha lead the troops to contact some small tribes of Haixi Jurchens to obtain the specific location of Xiyang Ha's station and find out the size of his tribe and the number of soldiers."

"While this is being discovered, my grandson will train his troops and wait to deal with Chief Hananu of Xiyang."

Zhu Gaoxu was very organized on how to manage the Jilin Shipyard. Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with this, and felt reassured about his departure from the Jilin Shipyard.

However, after the grandfather and grandson finished talking about this topic, they both fell silent again.

They were sitting here not only to talk about things, but also to wait for a piece of news. Even though the news was something that none of them wanted to see, they had to wait.

The waiting was excruciating. Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the fire tongs again and fiddled with the coals in the brazier absently. He looked at the red coals and didn't know what he was thinking.

Compared with him, Zhu Gaoxu is also shifting his attention to how to develop Jilin Shipyard.

He doesn’t know how to make steam engines, nor how to make smokeless gunpowder, breech-loading guns and other military weapons. Therefore, if he really wants to start a business with the Jilin Shipyard, he must rely on his current knowledge and plan the Jilin Shipyard well so that it can Support a team of your own.

From what he knew, the Ming Dynasty was an era of traditional agricultural economy, and the geographical environment and climate of the Northeast region had two major disadvantages for him.

The first is that the local winter is long, and an acre of land can only be harvested once a year. The farming period is short, and the seasonal utilization rate of cultivated land is low.

Based on his understanding of Jilin in later generations, the winter in Jilin in later generations generally lasted from the beginning of October to the beginning of March of the following year. It was cold for four to five months a year, and the coldest time could reach minus [-] or [-] degrees Celsius.

The average temperature in later generations was higher than now, so Jilin in this era was colder and the winter period would be longer, possibly up to six months, that is, half of the year was in winter.

This is a natural obstacle to his desire to develop agriculture in Jilin Shipyard, and the only crops he can cultivate are sorghum, wheat, and soybeans. Rice still needs experiments to see if it can be planted.

The above are the first problems he has to face.

As for the second problem, the local water conservancy facilities in Northeast China are seriously insufficient, and the local drought and flood prevention capabilities are extremely weak, which can easily destroy a farming organization.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that during the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty, floods broke out in the Northeast due to climate problems. Many Jurchen tribes' farmland was destroyed. Nurhachi also suffered many disasters, so he was forced to speed up the establishment of a state to unify the Jurchens.

Although the climate in the early Ming Dynasty was relatively stable, for a farming civilization, a complete water conservancy facility would definitely guarantee harvests from droughts and floods.

Although Huining Road, where the Jilin Shipyard is located, was a prosperous place during the Liao and Jin Dynasties, with the slaughter of the Mongols, most of the local buildings have long since disappeared. Only some small stone castles that cannot be destroyed have been destroyed by the remaining Haixi and Donghai. The Jurchens took advantage of it and formed small tribes.

If you want to maintain harvests despite droughts and floods, you must restore local water conservancy facilities at the Jilin Shipyard, no matter how much effort it takes to build them.

Since we want to quickly build weirs, dams, dams and canals, cement is essential.

As long as the above two factors can be solved, then I may be able to rely on Jilin Shipyard to start a business.

With confidence in his heart, Zhu Gaoxu was no longer so depressed.

"Come with me for a walk." As soon as Zhu Gaoxu figured out some of the key points, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't sit still and stood up.

Zhu Gaoxu got up and walked with Zhu Yuanzhang in the front yard. After just a few steps, Zhu Gaoxu once again thought of Fu Youde in the backyard.

He very much hoped that Fu Youde could survive, and that this night was just a false alarm.

But whenever he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's back, he had to give up this idea.

If Fu Youde does not die today, he will die due to other things in the future. As long as his in-law relationship with Zhu Fan is still there, he will always be involved in Zhu Fan's quagmire for the heir apparent.

Rather than being implicated to death, it would be better to end everything now.

Although this is a bit cruel, this is the best ending for Fu Youde.

Maybe he also understood this, that's why he said those words to himself just now.

As long as he dies, Lao Zhu will have a way to solve the problems he left behind, and the Fu family can survive, retain their official positions, and enjoy wealth.

But in his opinion, he might become the unsettling person who would cause trouble to his family in the future...

Zhu Gaoxu thought of Fu Youde's last words and what Lao Zhu had asked him earlier.

He knew better than anyone whether he wanted to take advantage of the Fu family, but he still lied.

After coming to Ming Dynasty, he seemed to have subtly become the kind of person he hated most.

But what can he do? If he wants to live well, he can only survive in this way of doing things.

Here, he is not qualified to be himself. Even his grandfather, who is an emperor, will encounter things he cannot control, let alone himself.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Lao Zhu's back, which was slightly stooped and seemed to be carrying a heavy thing on his shoulders.

He is indeed the emperor, but like himself, he often cannot control himself.

Looking at the back, Zhu Gaoxu was silent.

He wanted to say something, but at this moment, footsteps came from the corridor behind him.

The moment the sound appeared, their grandfather and grandson stopped in unison, with a premonition in their hearts.

With that premonition, they stiffly turned their heads sideways, and what they saw was a servant of Duke Ying's mansion walking towards them with a lantern.

He didn't say much, and there was no sadness on his face. He just walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang and his grandson and bowed.

"Your Majesty, Duke Ying has passed away..."

(End of this chapter)