Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 125 Crossing the sea to Denglai
"Why did the second brother go to Laizhou?!"

During the Lantern Festival, on this day when Prince Yan's palace was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, Zhu Di, wearing a scarlet robe, sat in a palace, holding a letter sent by Yao Guangxiao in his hand, his eyes widening.

Mrs. Xu, who heard this next to him, also grabbed the letter and frowned into the character "Sichuan".

"It seems that His Majesty does not want His Highness to have too close contact with Peiping."

Yao Guangxiao, who was sitting on the right side in front of the two of them, gave his opinion while counting the beads.

His view was the same as what he had mentioned before, but at that time Zhu Di didn't think his father would treat him like this.

Now it seems that he still underestimated his father's determination.

Zhu Di was still in a daze, and the other people in the hall also looked at each other.

While breathing, the older Zhang Yu also said: "Recently, your majesty has transferred soldiers and horses from the Jin and Zhou mansions to the city-building circle pasture in the Saibei Hetao area."

"Originally, the general thought that His Majesty wanted to weaken King Jin's power, but now it seems that he has transferred their troops to the Hetao."

"If I remember correctly, there are only three guards from the royal palace left in the Jin and Zhou mansions."

After Zhang Yu's words came out, Zhu Neng also said nervously: "Your Highness, both the Jin and Zhou mansions have mobilized their troops, won't we be next?"

"Won't……"

Before Zhu Di could speak, Yao Guangxiao shook his head and said firmly: "Your Highness is different from Jin and Zhou. Your Highness has no relatives or in-laws. Furthermore, there are two Highnesses of Qin and Jin in front of you. Your Majesty and Grandson will not target His Highness no matter what. "

"Compared to His Highness, it would be better to say that His Majesty and Grandson care more about His Highness now."

"Your Highness? Prince Qin?" A man in the crowd who was in his early fifties from a thousand households asked in confusion, but Yao Guangxiao shook his head.

Zhang Yu, who was sitting next to Qianhu, also smiled and said: "Qiu Fu, the master is talking about your second highness."

"My Second Highness?" Qiu Fu was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said: "Are you talking about the one in our house?"

Qiu Fu, as a guard of Qianhu in Yanshan, has been guarding Yanfu all year round, so he has also laid a deep emotional foundation with Zhu Gaoxu.

When Zhu Di was not in Peking, the Xu family would ask Qiu Fu to take Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi to learn equestrian and riding shooting.

Zhu Gaochi didn't like sports, so he often refused, but Zhu Gaoxu always took Qiu Fu and rode outside the city to ride and shoot and hunt.

Because of this, Zhang Yu said that Zhu Gaoxu was Qiu Fu's second highness.

"You just came back and you didn't know that His Highness has been canonized as King of Bohai and is already on his way to the Jilin Shipyard."

Zhang Yu explained to Qiu Fu, and after his explanation, Qiu Fu realized that so many things had happened in the six months since he went to Kaiping to guard the border.

"It's a big festival. According to the speed of the second child, it is estimated that he has arrived in Laizhou now. He will reach Dengzhou in three days at most. By then, he will take the sea to Liaodong."

Zhu Di looked at the news in his hand and felt a little melancholy. He didn't expect that his father would be so guarded against him and his second son.

Thinking of this, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, but when he thought of Zhu Gaoxu going to Jilin, he still asked Yao Guangxiao: "Old monk, is it okay if I send some money and food to Gao Xu?"

"It's best not to..." Yao Guangxiao stopped thinking about the beads in his hand and shook his head at Zhu Di:

"His Second Highness's salary is not low, which shows that His Majesty has already thought of everything."

"Based on His Highness's salary, it is estimated that it will take three years to support Jilin and then train troops to encircle and suppress Xiyang."

Yao Guangxiao talked about the development speed under normal circumstances, but he didn't know that Zhu Gaoxu had already negotiated a business deal with Yang Bin from Jiangnan.

However, when he said this, Zhu Di and Xu both looked ugly. It was a perfect holiday, but a letter ruined their mood.

"Okay, let's all go home for the holidays..." Zhu Di didn't want to implicate his bad mood on his own people, so he stood up and asked Zhang Yu and the others to retreat.

Before they left, Zhu Di also confessed: "Remember the border patrol after the spring plowing. Although there is no need to patrol the Daning border at the moment, more patrols are still needed on the Kaiping Guard side, especially now that the Northern Han Dynasty has changed. Due to its location, it might go south and invade the border.”

"Yes!" Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng and others stood up and bowed after hearing this, and then exited the hall in front of Zhu Di.

At the end, Yao Guangxiao also bowed and left, leaving only the palace maids and eunuchs serving Zhu Di and Xu.

But when Zhu Di and Xu were worried, Zhu Yunwen of Nanjing City also got news about Zhu Gaoxu.

"Arrived in Laizhou?"

In the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Yunwen spoke in surprise, obviously not expecting Zhu Gaoxu to be so fast.

Due to the recurrence of Zhu Yuanzhang's cold, today's political administration in Wuying Hall was cancelled, and Zhu Yunwen did not hesitate to change the administrative location to his own Chunhe Hall.

Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng stood three steps in front of Zhu Yunwen's desk waiting for the discussion, while Zhu Yunwen looked at Li Quan: "If you arrived in Laizhou three days ago, where can you go today?"

"Based on time, King Bohai should have arrived in Dengzhou."

Li Quan answered Zhu Yunwen, and Qi Tai who heard the words also said:
"Grandson, according to common sense, it usually takes fifteen days to travel from Nanjing to Dengzhou, but King Bohai only took twelve days to arrive in Dengzhou. It seems that he is eager to gain vassal status."

Qitai said it very cryptically, but everyone in the hall heard it.

Qi Tai still suspected that Zhu Gaoxu had evil intentions, but Zhu Yunwen stood up with a smile as usual.

He walked up to Qi Tai and said with a kind smile: "I know that sir wants to consolidate his position for Gu, but since Gao Xu has already arrived in Dengzhou, he wants to cross the sea in these few days."

"With bad intentions in Jilin, sir, you still think too highly of Gao Xu."

Zhu Yunwen still did not welcome Zhu Gaoxu as always. After all, the past half month was almost the happiest period for him since the university entrance examination last year.

Not only did they drive away Zhu Gaoxu, they also cut off many of the Jin King's wings. Even Yunnan's counter-rebellion was a matter of consecutive battles and victories. Everything seemed to be developing in a good direction.

At this time, let alone Zhu Yunwen, Qi Tai's advice would not be listened to. Even if he told it to Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu would probably sneer at it.

In order to avoid the topic, Huang Zicheng also bowed to Zhu Yunwen and said: "Your Highness, Sichuan Xingdusi and Wumeng and other prefectures have sent out mountain workers. It only takes three months to find out whether there are gold, silver and copper mines in the area."

"Okay..." Zhu Yunwen smiled and nodded. If he could confirm that the second mine map drawn by Zhu Gaoxu also contained gold, silver and copper mines, then this year's autumn tax could continue to be deducted with banknotes.

Thinking of this, he looked at Qi Tai: "Sir, what do you think of the influence of the chieftains in Wumeng and other six prefectures?"

"If gold, silver, and copper mines are discovered locally, will the local chieftains raise troops and rebel like the chieftains of Yunnan?"

Faced with this question, Qi Tai, who knew all the soldiers and horses in the world, did not hesitate too much and naturally nodded:
"There are a lot of people in Wumeng Mountain and Daxue Mountain (Daliang Mountain). They often kidnap people who go up the mountain and make them slaves. They are greedy, lazy and evil..."

"The Luoluo chieftain in this mountain not only treats passers-by like this, but also kills his own people at every turn, calling them livestock."

"Such a greedy and stupid person, even if he doesn't raise troops to rob the mine, he will still pose a threat to officialdom."

"In my opinion, after pacifying Nong Zhenyou, I should issue an order to order Wei Guogong to lead a large army to pacify Wumeng Mountain, Daxue Mountain and other Luoluo chieftains, capture their people from the mountains, resettle them in the valley, and organize the people into hundreds of households. Five miles constitute a township, five townships constitute a town, five towns constitute a county, and five counties constitute a government.”

"This is not only needed here, but also for the chieftain people in Guangnan, Lin'an and other places."

It has to be said that Qitai is quite familiar with the local situation. It is no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang sent him to the Ministry of War after asking him about the affairs of the Tianxia Guard.

After he finished speaking, Huang Zicheng was also eager to show off, so he bowed and said: "A few days ago, Zhang Shuiqing, the official seal of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said that Yunnan and Sichuan are all barbarian lands, and the people are all miserable."

"Although the imperial court appoints the local chiefs as hereditary native officials, the local people are ignorant of the Three Cardinal Guidelines and the Five Constant Rules. The imperial court should set up schools to teach their children."

"I believe that Confucianism should be established in Sichuan and Yunnan to educate the local people."

"This is a good idea..." Hearing Huang Zicheng's words, Zhu Yunwen also nodded slightly. Not to mention that he likes Confucianism, Huang Zicheng's method alone can solve the dilemma of native people and Han people not knowing their language.

However, if he wanted to implement this policy, the problem facing Zhu Yunwen was that he needed a large number of scholars to go to Yunnan, Sichuan and other places to teach Confucianism.

"Although this method is good, most of the tribute students in the Imperial College are still supervising the local government to build weirs, ponds and canals. There are very few scholars in the world. If we want to educate Yunnan, Sichuan and other places, there may not be enough scholars."

"This..." Huang Zicheng did not expect this, but he reacted quickly and immediately bowed:

"I can discuss this with Professor Fang Xiaoru of Hanzhong. If the imperial court is willing to grant official positions to his disciples, we may be able to develop a great culture in the southwest."

"If so, it will be remembered as a great contribution now!" After hearing Huang Zicheng's words, Zhu Yunwen also enthusiastically made his promise.

After receiving the promise, Huang Zicheng quickly returned the gift and promised: "Please rest assured, Grandson, I will fulfill my mission."

Seeing Huang Zicheng's happy look, "Grandson" Qi Tai had no choice but to stand up and pour cold water on him:

"Although the chieftains of the Six Prefectures are not great in martial arts, they are difficult to capture because they live in the mountains."

"In my opinion, there is no need to rush to appease the local people in the six prefectures, but we should set our sights on Yunnan."

"Yunnan?" Zhu Yunwen frowned: "Didn't Sir say that Nong Zhenyou will be punished soon?"

"Although Nong Zhenyou is about to be executed, Nong Zhenyou is not considered a big chieftain among the more than [-] chieftains in Yunnan."

"Among the chieftains in Yunnan, Luchuan is the most powerful, followed by chieftains from Mengzi, Lijiang, Mile Prefecture, Yuanmou, Mengmian, Yongchang, Wangnong, Ami Prefecture and other places."

"Among them, the chieftains in Lijiang, Maitreya Prefecture, Ami Prefecture, Yuanmou and other places are still obedient to the king and can obey the imperial court's control, but other chieftains have violated the imperial court."

"After Nong Zhenyou is pacified now, we should wait and see the situation of the other chieftains. If there is no rebellion again, we can mine gold, silver and copper mines and open up Confucianism in the Southwest."

Qi Tai explained his views, but Zhu Yunwen smiled openly after hearing this:
"Sir, your worries are too unfounded. Since Luchuan was defeated at the hands of King Qianning (Mu Ying), how many big chieftains in the southwest dare to do so?"

"This time Nong Zhenyou and the chieftain Aziz of Yuezhou were defeated. The chieftain of Yunnan is afraid that everyone is in danger, and how can they dare to stroke the beard of the imperial court."

After saying that, Zhu Yunwen waved his hand: "Okay, you two gentlemen can go about your business in the yamen first. I already know what to do next."

"This..." Qi Tai wanted to say more, but Huang Zicheng bowed and sang, drowning out his voice: "I'll take my leave..." After the words fell, Huang Zicheng turned around and left. Qi Tai had no choice but to follow suit. go.

Seeing the two of them leaving, Zhu Yunwen felt even happier.

However, compared to his happiness, Zhu Gaoxu's northern patrol team was even happier at this moment.

"Be a good man, warm-blooded and hot-blooded..."

On the official road from Laizhou to Dengzhou, Zhu Gaoxu was riding on horseback, holding a pipa in his arms and playing "Men Should Be Strong".

As he played music, the team behind him stood up and sang, making it very lively.

The arrangement of "Men Should Be Strong" was taken from the Tang Dynasty ancient song "General's Order", so after it was played, many people in the army had heard it, but Zhu Gaoxu played it more passionately than what they had heard before. Be more frustrated.

Not only that, Zhu Gaoxu copied the lyrics of "Men Should Strengthen Theirself" into "General's Order" and designated this tune as the military music of the Bohai Palace.

Along the way, many guards were able to sing this song skillfully under the leadership of Zhu Gaoxu.

During the Hongwu period, the imperial guards banned music, but military music was not banned.

Compared with the previous boring military music, the "General's Order" "composed" by Zhu Gaoxu was more popular among the guards.

It was precisely because of the music he played along the way that the originally boring journey seemed a little more interesting.

After the song "General's Order" ended, Zhu Gaoxu also placed the pipa horizontally on his lap.

Yishiha, who was standing next to him, saw this and rode forward: "Your Highness, your talent in composing music is probably on par with that of Prince Zhou."

"Haha, I'm not as lucky as him." Zhu Gaoxu smiled heartily. Compared with Zhu Youdou, who was in the company of countless beauties all day long, his life seemed miserable.

During the conversation, Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at both sides of the pipeline.

Although there are many mountains and rivers on the way from Laizhou to Dengzhou, it is generally relatively flat.

In addition, the energy in the Denglai area has recovered well, so you can see homesteaders cultivating their fields everywhere.

When we came here, we finally couldn’t see anyone from the Kong Mansion.

"These homesteaders and military households in the garrison can still live a good life. When the landowners and gentry in the west annex the land, they will probably reach out here."

As Zhu Gaoxu talked about it, Yi Shiha also nodded: "If those landlords and gentry can treat their tenants well, this land annexation cannot be said to be a bad thing."

"Indeed..." It was hard for Zhu Gaoxu to disagree with Yi Shiha's view. After all, from the perspective of the court and the economy, only wealthy gentry households with the ability to annex land could afford to reclaim wasteland and increase tax revenue for the court.

The relationship between this is like the process of transforming a small peasant economy into a middle peasant or large farm.

It is a pity that the human rights of the people at the bottom of this era are too low. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang has repeatedly granted human rights to tenants, Zhu Gaoxu and others can still see many scenes of landlords and squires bullying tenants along the way.

Fortunately, due to the vast land and sparsely populated areas, many wealthy gentry households only dared to verbally abuse their tenants, but did not dare to use swords or sticks.

It's just that this kind of oppression will become more and more severe as the population increases.

Many tenants today have a few acres of their own land, and being a tenant is just another job.

However, as the population increased and the number of corvees increased, when the tenants' own fields could no longer support themselves, they would have to rely on the gentry and landlords.

At that time, they were really at the mercy of others.

"This corvee is too much delaying the people's reclamation of wasteland..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the team of corvees on the road not far away, supervised by officials overseeing road construction, and couldn't help but shook his head.

"Indeed, according to what I know, the corvée service in Shandong often lasts three months." Yi Shiha said, looking at the surrounding terrain, and then said:

"If we give the people three more months based on the terrain in Denglai, I'm afraid every household can cultivate one or two acres of new farmland every year."

Yi Shiha talked about the heavy burden of corvee work on the people of Shandong, and Zhu Gaoxu also knew the burden of corvee work on the people of the world.

For the common people, regular taxes are not heavy, and miscellaneous taxes are not life-threatening, but corvee labor requires money and effort, and may even be life-threatening.

A few months of self-prepared food is nothing in peacetime, but once a disaster occurs, this food is enough to bring down a family.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, to liberate the people to produce, the first step is to gradually cancel corvee service. However, corvee service is also a type of court tax, so if you want to cancel it, you must start by increasing the court's income.

Now Lao Zhu and Zhu Yunwen are helping him to encircle and suppress the southwest chieftains and mine the southwest gold, silver and copper mines. It is estimated that when the Jingnan Campaign is successful, he will get a southwest cornucopia with an annual output of millions of gold for free.

However, just a few million dollars would not be enough to eliminate the need for corvee labor.

Sailing to the Western Ocean, stationed in Southeast Asia, and mining Japanese silver and copper mines...

Only by digging out all these hidden wealth can the Ming Dynasty realize the policy of eliminating corvee.

Even if the corvee cannot be completely eliminated, the local corvee time can be shortened to one month, which can save countless families.

Zhu Gaoxu never thought that he was a good person, especially after he violated Fu Youde's last will and testament, he felt that he was becoming more and more despicable.

It's just that his despicability is to survive better, and the prerequisite for his survival is to become the emperor.

To this end, he can become even meaner.

Only when he becomes emperor can he realize the world he wants and let the world implement the policies he wants.

Simply sympathizing with the people is not going to help them. A thousand words of sympathy is not as practical as lightening their burden.

The Zhu family wants to exploit everyone in the world, and Zhu Gaoxu is no exception when he takes the throne.

It's just that compared to Lao Zhu and Zhu Yunwen, he was confident that he would be more tolerant in this matter, making the people's burden lighter, but the court was not affected.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu became even more eager to rush to Jilin as soon as possible.

That night, they spent the night at Zhuqiao Horse Station. The further east they went, the fewer wealthy gentry households they could see. Even if there were some, they were only small landowners occupying a few hundred acres of land, unlike those in the west who often occupied hundreds of thousands of acres. Compared to the Kong family, they are nothing to mention.

After three days of traveling, they finally arrived at Dengzhou City on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.

Looking at the recently built Dengzhou city wall, Zhu Gaoxu turned to Yishiha and Lin Wuliu and said:

"Yi Shiha, go to the Yamen to find the official ship. Lin Wuliu, take the brothers to the inn to see if Fu Rang has arrived in Dengzhou. If not, let them rest in Dengzhou for a month before setting off. It will be okay Liaodong is still too cold.”

"Yes!" Yi Shiha and Lin Wuliu both agreed. After leaving four guards behind, they left with their team.

Zhu Gaoxu and the four guards did not enter Dengzhou City, mainly to avoid unnecessary entertainment.

But this does not mean that Zhu Gaoxu is doing nothing. On the contrary, he led four guards around the city wall of Dengzhou City.

Although Dengzhou City is only a small city in the northeastern part of the Jiaodong Peninsula, because it was the base for the Ming Army's crusade against the Yuan Army in Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lot of money on the construction of the city.

The circumference of Dengzhou City is nine miles. The walls are three to five feet high and two feet thick. They are all made of bricks and stones.

The city has four city gates, seven gates on the upper floors, and 56 pavilions. Each of the pavilions can see more than two Hongwu iron cannons, which can be said to have sufficient firepower.

Under the city, the moat dug by the Ming army was two feet wide and one foot deep. There were three water gates, corresponding to the three rivers.

It has to be said that Zhu Gaoxu did not feel any difference in population from South Zhili to Shandong. Although it was vast and sparsely populated compared to later generations, compared with many provinces in this era, Shandong's population was definitely among the best.

In this way, the records reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs that there are more than five million people in Shandong can be considered true. As a county in Shandong that connects the Liaodong Peninsula, Dengzhou's economy is no worse than Huai'an in southern Zhili.

Looking at the crowds of tourists and traders at the four city gates of Dengzhou, Shandong is indeed the largest province in the north during the Hongwu period, but it's a pity...

Zhu Gaoxu thought of Shandong during the Battle of Jingnan. Although history books did not record how many civilians in Shandong were killed or injured in the Battle of Jingnan, judging from the intensity of the Battle of Jingnan, there were probably many civilians killed or injured in Shandong.

Zhu Gaoxu always believed that he came to Ming Dynasty just to rewrite the history of unnecessary casualties.

He can't change Peking, but he can change Shandong.

Once the Battle of Jingnan breaks out, he will inevitably face the troops of Daning or Liaodong.

What Zhu Gaoxu hopes most is that Daning and Geng Bingwen deal with his father, while he faces Liaodong directly.

As long as he can defeat Liaodong, he can cross the sea and go south, directly across the sea from Jinzhou Port Arthur to Dengzhou City, and attack the rear of the Southern Army.

This will not only save his father from the siege, but also change the main battlefield from Peiping to other places in time.

Judging from Zhu Gaoxu's experience along the way, only two important cities, Dengzhou City and Huai'an, had complete fortifications built along the way.

After capturing Dengzhou, he could march straight in and attack Huai'an by land.

Under such a situation, as long as his father holds Geng Bingwen back, he will be confident that he can force his way to Yangzhou and cross the Yangtze River to Nanjing.

However, the premise of this series is that he must have a strong navy, and this is why Zhu Gaoxu is willing to go to Jilin.

Although the Jilin Shipyard is not located along the coast, it can provide Zhu Gaoxu with [-] skilled shipwrights.

As long as he has them, Zhu Gaoxu can build warships. Even if the tonnage of the warships he builds is not as good as Longjiang Shipyard, he can also seize the sea route from Jinzhou to Dengzhou by adding powerful artillery.

Looking at the Dengzhou City standing on the side of the seaside, Zhu Gaoxu squinted his eyes. He had already thought about what would happen in a few years. All he needed to do next was to make sufficient preparations...

(End of this chapter)