Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 127 Finally arrived in Jilin
"The snow in Liaodong does not melt until the end of February every year. Logically speaking, the general should have arranged to deliver food to you at the end of February..."

In the Liaoyang City Restaurant, Zhou Xing discussed the food delivery with Zhu Gaoxu, and talked about the weather in Liaodong at this time.

"It's just that your highness, you don't know. Although the snow in Liaodong melts early, the snow on the section from Sanwanwei to Jilin will not completely melt until early March."

"Although you can pass people on the official road in mid-February, you have to wait until March to pass a car. Sometimes the winter is long, and you have to wait until mid-March."

"Your Highness will naturally know this when he goes to Jilin in person in a few days."

Zhou Xing said as the food in the restaurant was served.

It must be said that although Liaodong has a sparse population, there are cooks everywhere.

On the dinner table, there were five or six plates of meat such as stewed lamb, stewed chicken, and barbecue. Even on other tables, there were one or two plates of meat dishes. It can be said that Zhou Xing spent a lot of money to entertain Zhu Gaoxu this time. After all, Liaodong Dusi also had money. It needs to be dialed from the south.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't say anything, but continued after Zhou Xing finished:

"Of course I trust the old general. Let's do this. Every year on the first day of April, I will send troops to the Thirty Thousand Guards."

"According to what the emperor said, the Liaodong Dusi will provide one year of food every year, and this time I brought about 800 soldiers and family members, as well as [-] war horses, [-] draft horses, and [-] food horses. .”

"I don't need fodder. The old general can fold the fodder into beans and distribute it."

Zhu Gaoxu said this, and several governors sitting next to Zhou Xing also took out a palm-sized abacus and beat it.

Not long after, one of the leaders said to Zhou Xing:
"General Soldier, the previous quotas at the Jilin Shipyard were 460 shi in total for millet and rice, 460 shi for horse and beans, and 1 bundles. The annual grain quota was about [-] shi, and the salt allocation was [-] shi. Thousand catties, five thousand pieces of cotton, twelve thousand catties of cotton..."

The governor truthfully told the previous situation, and then continued to add: "Now, judging from the batch of His Majesty Zhu Biao from the Governor's Mansion, the number of horses supplied by His Majesty Zhu Biao is 520, the number of new guards is [-], and the number of family members is [-]. , a total of eighteen thousand stones."

"To add it all together, if the grass bundles are folded into bean material, the annual quota is 460 shi of millet and rice, more than [-] and [-] shi of horse bean material, [-] pieces of cotton cloth, [-] catties of cotton, and salt Nineteen thousand catties.”

"In addition, there is a quota of [-] kilograms of iron, [-] kilograms of gunpowder, and an additional [-] bowl-mouth blunderbuss and [-] copper blunderbuss distributed this year."

The governor was reporting to Zhou Xing, but he was also reporting to Zhu Gaoxu.

According to the emperor's approval, there is no problem with this account, but for ordinary guards, what Zhu Gaoxu's Jilin Guard can receive is almost equivalent to that of a full-scale guard.

In other words, the supplies of the [-] military households in other guard posts are equivalent to the supplies of the [-] military households under his command, plus the [-] craftsmen households.

Zhou Xing had no reaction to this. After all, this was agreed by Emperor Zhu Pi, and he only needed to follow Zhu Pi's instructions.

However, this does not mean that the matter is over, because Liaodong Dusi still needs to be responsible for Zhu Gaoxu's salary.

Faced with this problem, Zhou Xing turned to Zhu Gaoxu and bowed: "General, I heard that His Highness has withdrawn this year's salary in advance, so Liaodong Dusi will be responsible for the royal palace's salary from next year."

There is no need to continue discussing how much Zhu Gaoxu's salary is. After all, it was what Zhu Gaoxu had told all officials.

Zhou Xing opened his mouth just to clarify the time.

"This annual salary should be escorted on the first day of April every year."

Zhou Xing discussed it, but Zhu Gaoxu did not refuse and nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Zhou Xing also happily poured wine and chatted with Zhu Gaoxu. The two chatted about Wu Liangha and Xiyang Ha.

However, what Zhou Xing knew about the information about Xiyang Ha was actually similar to what Yi Shiha knew. On the contrary, Zhou Xing explained a lot of information about Wu Liang Ha to Zhu Gaoxu that he did not know.

Wu Liangha is the Three Guards of Duoyan, although it has become the material of various marketing accounts on the Internet in later generations. For example, the Three Guards of Duoyan are the strongest mercenaries in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di relied on the Three Guards of Duoyan to win the Battle of Jingnan. Zhu Di ceded the Daning Guard to Duoyan Sanwei and so on...

But in the history of the early Ming Dynasty, Wu Liangha's presence and influence were not very strong. To say they were mercenaries was to praise them. In fact, their nature was not even that of bandits.

Just like now, after Nahachu was defeated by Feng Sheng, the tribes of Ulliangha immediately surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and were canonized as the Three Guards of Duoyan.

However, as King Aza of Liao lost his way and was defeated again by Fu Youde and Guo Ying in the Tiaor River area, the tribes of Ulliangha, who were worried that they would follow in the footsteps of King Liao, immediately defected to the new Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

In order to prevent being swept away by the Ming army, the tribes of Wuliangha also moved north to Wuliangha Tucheng to station their herds, which was thousands of miles away from Daning's Quaning Guard.

Although the two sides are thousands of miles apart, the pastures in the area of ​​Ulangha Tucheng are not enough to support the Ulangha tribes, so from time to time some small tribes will go south to graze, and plunder Daning, Liaodong and other places.

The northernmost guard station in Daning is the Quaning Guard patrolling the border along the Liao River, and the northernmost guard station in Liaodong Dusi is the Jilin Shipyard.

However, because the location of the Jilin Shipyard is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the products are not sufficient, the Ulliangha tribes generally choose to cross Liaoze in early spring and before winter to attack Sanwanwei and Kaiyuan.

At present, Zhu Gaoxu went to the Jilin Shipyard. If he could take the initiative to send troops to patrol the border, he could prevent the cavalry of the Ulliangha tribe from going south to invade the [-] Guards and Kaiyuan.

However, the one-way distance from Jilin Guard to the Liaohe River patrolled by Quanning Guard is about 460 miles, and the round trip is 920 miles.

It is obviously impossible to patrol such a large area with the strength of the Jilin Guards, so Zhou Xing's proposal is for the 260 Guards and Kaiyuan to patrol the [-] miles in the northwest. Zhu Gaoxu only needs to be responsible for the area from Jilin to the former Jinlong'an Prefecture. That's enough.

This distance is about two hundred miles.

Although Zhu Gaoxu's Jilin Guard only has [-] military households, after Zhu Yuanzhang distributed the horses, he now has [-] military horses, which can be said to be no less than the number of cavalry owned by a normal guard. For him, a patrol of [-] miles is very important to him. It's not difficult.

Moreover, the Wuliangha were not a collective, but composed of multiple tribes. Generally, the number of people who went south to plunder was only a few thousand, and most of them were women and children.

Under such circumstances, even if they met the Jilin Guards Cavalry in the wilderness, they would not dare to take action easily.

It can be said that Zhou Xing's arrangement has greatly considered Jilin Guard's lack of strength.

However, facing his proposal, Zhu Gaoxu said more simply:

"There is no problem with patrolling, but I want to restore the former Jinlong'an Mansion later. I wonder if a city can be built there now?"

Long'an Prefecture, later known as Changchun, was not only flat, but also had a large area of ​​plateau plains and alluvial plains. There was also enough limestone in the territory that Zhu Gaoxu could use local materials to build a cement plant.

However, its shortcomings are also very obvious, that is, because the terrain is too flat, with flat rivers to the west and north. It can be said that as long as Wu Liangha makes a surprise attack from the northwest and goes south, Long'an Prefecture will face the risk of being surrounded.

Because of this, the Ming Dynasty did not build inns or health centers locally.

"Your Highness, please think carefully. Although building a stone fortress in Long'an Prefecture can share the pressure on Jilin, Long'an Prefecture is easier to attack and harder to defend than Jilin."

Zhou Xing's words are not unreasonable. Changchun and Jilin are separated by hills and mountains. Although guarding Changchun can protect Jilin, the terrain of Changchun is not conducive to the Ming army defending the city.

However, Zhu Gaoxu smiled at this: "I will not build a stone fortress in Long'an from the beginning. At least until Jilin can be self-sufficient."

"I see..." Hearing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhou Xing felt relieved. After all, if Zhu Gaoxu fell into the hands of thieves, then he, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Army, would not be able to escape his involvement.

After getting the answer he wanted, Zhou Xing also exchanged cups with Zhu Gaoxu.

The banquet lasted from noon to dusk. Although it lasted a long time, everyone drank slowly because Liaodong was in the place of the Fourth War.

Until the banquet dispersed, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhou Xing did not drink too much.

After personally escorting Zhu Gaoxu to the post house to rest, Zhou Xingcai took the people away.

Early the next morning, Zhou Xing took his people by boat south to Jinzhou to inspect the city defenses. As for Zhu Gaoxu and others, they rested in Liaoyang for a few days before continuing on the road.

In Liaodong, which has a population of only 10,000+, it is difficult to see people on the official roads not to mention winter or summer, so they saw almost no one except Tang Qi on their way north.

The further north they went, the more Tangqi patrolled the area. Even in the ice and snow, from time to time they could see heads protruding from the stone forts and officers and soldiers coming to question them.

When they arrived at Shenyang Guard, Lin Wuliu and the others could not even understand what the officers and soldiers stationed there were saying. The area was filled with a large number of Shandong dialects and Mongolian Tatar.

Zhu Gaoxu was born in Peiping, and he could still understand some words when he was in Shenyang Guard, but when he arrived at Kaiyuan Guard and Thirty Thousand Guards, even he was blinded.

During the second half of the journey, they almost relied on Yishiha, who was proficient in many dialects and languages, to lead the way.

On February [-], Zhu Gaoxu and his party marched out of the Thirty Thousand Guards, which was also the last northern guard post directly under the direct jurisdiction of Liaodong Dusi. Further north, there was only one pass and four post stations.

The Northeast at the end of the [-]th century did not have the infrastructure and prosperity of later generations, nor did it have the bustling crowds of the Liao and Jin Dynasties.

Walking on the official road which is muddy after the snow melts, everything is white as far as the eye can see.

To the west is the endless Liaoze. In later generations it was a grain-producing plain, but in this era it was still a frozen swamp.

To the east of the official road, you can see the vast mountains covered with snow.

In this mountain range, as far as the eye can see, it is deserted, quiet and desolate.

Apart from the sound of horse hooves and the chatter of the team, not even the sounds of animals could be heard.

Being in this boundless barren mountains and ridges, all you can feel is the howling wind and the bleak scene of the living things. The feeling of being deserted arises spontaneously.

"Your Highness, the place we are going to cannot be more deserted than this..."

Many people in the team gave up. Even people like Lin Wuliu who firmly chose Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but come forward to ask anxiously.

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at the mountains. Looking at the mountains where even the birds and animals were gone, there was a smile on his face:
"If this place becomes crowded in the future, I will engrave your names and achievements on the stone tablet for passers-by to look at."

He didn't answer directly, but talked about the future.This feels like a pie in the sky, but in this place like the edge of the world, his commitment is enough to inspire everyone in the team.

In the next few days, they traveled through the barren mountains and mountains, hearing the howls of wolves and howling tigers every night, and feeling the biting cold wind.

Three days later, they arrived at the Long'an Mansion that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhou Xing were talking about, which was later known as Changchun.

Just as Zhu Gaoxu had guessed, they finally saw traces of civilization here, even if it was just collapsed ruins, it made them very excited.

"This place is really flat and the land is very fertile. It's just too cold. It's almost the end of February and it hasn't thawed yet."

Lin Wuliu poked his spear into the frozen soil, and when he pulled it out, he found nutritious black soil.

All that remains of the former Long An Mansion are the collapsed rammed earth walls and many ruins that fell into the snow and were buried in hay.

Looking at these ruins, Zhu Gaoxu felt very sad, and Yi Shiha also followed Zhu Gaoxu into the Long'an Mansion City in embarrassment.

"This place is quite good. If there are more people in Jilin in the future, maybe some people can move here."

Yi Shiha didn't know what Zhu Gaoxu would do in the future. He only thought that the terrain of Long'an Mansion was good.

After listening to his words, Zhu Gaoxu patted the snow and grass clippings on his hands: "Let's rename this place Changchun on the map."

In order to facilitate his recall, Zhu Gaoxu decided to officially change the name of Long'an Mansion to Changchun. Even if no one lives here yet, there will be in the future.

Yi Shiha had no objection to this. After all, after all, the Thirty Thousand Guards basically fell under the jurisdiction of the Jilin Shipyard.

Now that Jilin Shipyard has been renamed Jilin Guard, its jurisdiction can be said to depend entirely on Zhu Gaoxu.

If Zhu Gaoxu is willing, he can even claim that the entire Northeast except Liaodong and even Eastern Siberia are within his jurisdiction. After all, he is the only civilization in this land.

For the Jurchens of the East China Sea and the Jurchens of the West China Sea, as long as Zhu Gaoxu gives them enough benefits, they can even call Zhu Gaoxu the Great Khan.

However, this kind of rule is not what Zhu Gaoxu wants. What he needs is a Bohai Palace with a sound team.

"Let's go..."

Turning around and leaving Long'an Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu led Yi Shiha out of the collapsed city. After getting on his horse, he continued to lead Lin Wuliu and others towards Jilin Guard.

From Changchun to Jilin, if you take the official road, you need to walk another four hundred miles, but Yishiha is familiar with the local terrain, so he plans to take Zhu Gaoxu through the Dahei Mountains.

In this way, you only need to walk 180 miles to reach Jilin City.

During this period, they need to travel through the Daheishan Mountains, which is fifty miles away. Fortunately, there are not many Jurchens living in the Daheishan Mountains. In addition, the size of their group is not small. It is unlikely that any unsighted Jurchens will attack them without thinking.

This is also true. Although Zhu Gaoxu and the others were fully prepared for the battle, they did not encounter any Jurchens during the night they rested in Daheishan.

The next morning they packed their luggage a little and set out again, but they left Daheishan at noon.

After two days of driving like this, they finally saw a stone fortress standing between the Songhua River and the remaining mountains of Changbai Mountain on the third day.

The stone fort stands like a watchtower on the edge of the remaining mountains of Changbai Mountain. On the top of the stone fort hangs more than ten flaming red flags with the word "朙" written on them.

The flag fluttered in the wind and made a hunting sound, but the moment it appeared, it soothed everyone's fatigue along the way.

"Beep--"

A harsh whistle sounded, and three or four figures suddenly appeared on the top of the stone fort. They shouted to Zhu Gaoxu and others who were more than a hundred steps away: "Which people are under the fort?!"

"Hang the flag." Without Zhu Gaoxu's instructions, Lin Wuliu called on the people around him to hang up a flag.

Not long after, a flag with "Bohai" written on it was erected in the team. Lin Wuliu personally carried the flag and rode to the foot of the fort, waving the flag in front of the soldiers on the stone fort:

"The King of Bohai has arrived. Quickly spread the word to thousands of officials in Jilin Shipyard to greet His Highness!"

Lin Wuliu shouted with a smile on his face, but he didn't want the soldiers on the fort to look at each other, and finally shouted to Lin Wuliu in embarrassment:

"Official Zhang Qianhu is dead. He died of an injury half a month ago without treatment. We haven't had time to report to the capital."

In one sentence, Lin Wuliu was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that he had come all the way to Jilin Guard to take up his post, but the Shangguan was already dead before he even saw him.

After being stunned for a moment, he turned his head and glanced at the northbound team coming this way, then gritted his teeth and said, "Just ask the shipyard manager to prepare to receive them."

"Yes!" The soldiers on the fort responded, and then they descended into the stone fort in groups and opened the gate of the stone fort.

Soon, more than ten soldiers walked out of the stone fort under the leadership of a general flag officer. One of them rode a Mongolian horse to send a message to the rear.

They looked at Lin Wuliu and then at the approaching team, and couldn't help but take a breath.

Zhu Gaoxu and his party alone had [-] Qin horses, which shows their strength.

Not long after, Zhu Gaoxu led the team to the stone fort. One of the flag officers, who was about thirty years old, stood up and half-kneeled to bow. He was so fast that even Zhu Gaoxu couldn't stop him.

"Wang Yi, the general flag officer of Jilin Shipyard Jixibao, came to see His Highness. Long live His Highness..."

Wang Yi had never seen His Highness before, so he shouted Long Live without hesitation. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu quickly corrected him: "I am the king of the county. I can just call him Qian Sui. In the future, there is no need to kneel down in the army."

"Yes!" Wang Yi nodded in agreement. Upon seeing this, Lin Wuliu stepped forward and told the news that the official Qianhu of Jilin Shipyard was dead.

Zhu Gaoxu was a little surprised by this news. He quickly asked Wang Yi: "How did your Qianhu official get injured and die?"

Wang Yi and others are all military households who migrated from Shandong, so there is no big problem in talking to Zhu Gaoxu and others.

When faced with Zhu Gaoxu's inquiry, he truthfully said: "A few days ago, there was an invasion from Xiyang in the north. Official Zhang Qianhu was hit with a wolfsbane arrow in the face. It was snowing all over the sky and he couldn't get out, and there were no medicinal herbs, so he died. "

Wang Yi's words are embarrassing, and at the same time, we can hear how serious the situation in Jilin Shipyard is.

Because Song Sheng was transferred to Yunnan, the historical encirclement and suppression of Xiyang Ha by Song Sheng and Zhou Xing was postponed. Seeing that the Ming army did not respond, Xiyang Ha went south again and plundered. Therefore, this Qianhuguancai Died after the war.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu did not continue to delay here, but greeted Wang Yi: "You continue to station here, and I will make arrangements for the various stone forts when I get to the shipyard."

Zhu Gaoxu did not have a map of the Jilin Shipyard in his hand, so he did not change the defense at will.

After asking Lin Wuliu to leave a can of wine for Wang Yi and others, he took Lin Wuliu, Yi Shiha and others and continued to the Jilin Shipyard.

Passing through the stone forts and walking south along the Songhua River, they encountered three more stone forts in a row. Almost each of the stone forts was guarded by only a dozen soldiers.

After walking like this for twenty miles, they finally saw Jilin City built in a river bend.

According to Zhu Gaoxu's understanding, Jilin City is one mile long from east to west, more than 360 seven paces, and one mile wide from north to south, more than [-] paces. There are two stone forts on Taoyuan Mountain and Fortress Mountain behind it, and there are four Hongwu iron cannons on the stone forts. It forms a rivalry with Jilin City.

There is a water village one mile away from Jilin City. I think it is Jilin's shipyard.

Although Jilin City is not big, it is built extremely solidly. The whole city is built with stones from the river beach. Even if you haven't climbed up the city wall, you can still feel its weight.

As the team got closer, Zhu Gaoxu also saw hundreds of soldiers guarding the city gate, as well as a crowded group of military families.

When Zhu Gaoxu and the others got closer, they could see clearly the appearance of Jilin City soldiers.

They were all in their twenties and thirties, and they were excellent soldiers at that time, not as bad as Zhu Gaoxu thought at first.

Behind them stood hundreds of men, probably all their children or craftsmen in the shipyard.

"Visiting the King of Bohai..."

When everyone saw Zhu Gaoxu's arrival, they all knelt down. When Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he couldn't tell them to stop kneeling. He just said, "Who is the military attaché in charge of this place right now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, and a young man walked out immediately.

He looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, not even older than Zhu Gaoxu.

"The lower official Zhang Chun is the son of Zhang Ben, a Qianhu household in the shipyard. According to the "Da Ming Law", he was granted the title of Qianhu official, but he has not yet reported it to the capital."

"Is there a place where I can wait?" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhang Chun, who was younger than himself, and suddenly had a headache.

"Back to Your Highness, the order from the Governor's Office was only delivered in the middle of last month. The general and the military households in the fort have been working day and night, and they have completed a house and a military camp."

Although Zhang Chun was young, he spoke in an orderly manner, which relieved Zhu Gaoxu's headache a bit.

He looked at the team behind him and could only tell Lin Wuliu: "You and them are going to the military camp. Find me at the house later."

"Yes!" Lin Wuliu agreed, and Zhu Gaoxu Construction also took Yi Shiha to the house that took a month to build under the guidance of Zhang Chun.

As for Lin Wuliu and others, they also went to a new military camp in the city under the leadership of several officials from hundreds of households in Jilin City.

For them, ending the hard work of traveling is the happiest thing. Even though Jilin City looks simple, it is better than sleeping in the open air...

(End of this chapter)