Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 137 Chaos in the North and Conflict in the South
"Crackling..."

At the same time, compared to the vitality of Jilin City, the Songhua River more than [-] miles away from them was illuminated by fire.

On the river bank, a fort was being burned by fire, and the buildings inside the fort kept making bursting sounds.

In the firelight, many burnt corpses could be vaguely seen, and without exception, all of them had their heads cut off.

Their heads were piled on the road, and a broken Bohai flag was placed on the 'mound' formed by the heads, which was full of irony.

Looking at his masterpiece, a man in his fifties wearing commoners and wearing the Jurchen's signature hairstyle standing nearby was eating meat. There were seven or eight men in their thirties sitting in front of them, who looked like headmen.

On their table lay a roasted deer, and all were eating its meat with knives.

Behind them stood short and stocky soldiers wearing crudely made thick iron armor, and behind them were simple leather-armored soldiers on the road responsible for escorting the captured women of this tribe.

At a glance, there were only more than 1000 such soldiers, and there were only about a hundred women in the burned fortress.

"Last year I asked Balhan to surrender. He said he had his own pride, and now he hangs the flag of the king in the south."

"I'm not greedy for his livestock and food, I just look down on his behavior."

Sitting in the first place, Xiyang Ha, who was over fifty years old, talked about the reason why he attacked the fortress. He was not a tall man, only five feet tall, but he had a strong body.

"Amma, the two Wudiha in Huolawen and Shenzhen in the south have also hung the flag of the king in the south. Should we kill them together?"

Sitting in the first place, a man with a beard asked Xiyang Ha, to which Xiyang Ha shook his head:

"There are one or two thousand men in each of the deep areas of Huo La Wen. It's hard to fight them. The autumn harvest will be coming soon. I don't want the children in the sweat tent to leave too much."

"Just burn the seven fortresses on the Songhua River in the west, otherwise they will provide information about us to the Ming people in the south."

Xiyangha said, while also eating a piece of meat, looking at the mound composed of heads and the fluttering Bohai flag, and said with a smile:

"The king of Bohai in the south thinks that he can fight against me by appeasing these small tribes. This year we will burn the tribes close to us first, and next year we will go south to harvest grass and valleys from him."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Xiyangha joked like a joke, and his sons also laughed. One of them with a goatee also said: "I prefer the women of the Ming people. They are very docile and will not resist like the women of other tribes." .”

"Yes, they are like roe deer in the mountains, and they are very soft. But their health is too weak, and they will die if they serve ten or twenty people."

Talking about the daughters of the Han family, Xiyang Ha and his sons became excited and seemed eager to go south next year...

"Donkey Ball, Gu Haolai didn't say it twice. This time, I just want to find a way for Gu Yilu to go directly to this old slave's lair. There's nothing else to say!"

In the Chengyun Hall of Jilin City, when Xiyang Ha was discussing the daughter of the Han family, more than fifty officers above the general banner gathered together. They looked at the angry Zhu Gaoxu and cursed people, but they did not laugh at his thoughts. Instead, they felt that the scolding was too much. Relieve anger.

Xiyang Ha and Jilin Shipyard have been enemies for many years. Even if we don’t mention the battle in which Zhang Chun’s father died, in the past six years, this guy went south to fight in Caogu for three years and killed hundreds of military households. people and captured more than a hundred people.

Without him, it would be easier for Jilin Shipyard to develop.

At the moment, they and Xiyang Ha are counting the old and new grudges together, taking revenge if they have any grudges, and retaliating if they have grudges.

They laughed loudly, and at this moment, heavy footsteps also sounded behind them.

Hearing the footsteps, everyone looked back and saw the tall Fu Rang.

Seeing Fu Rang, everyone except Zhu Gaoxu bowed.

Ever since Fu Rang came to Jilin City, he seemed to have no sense of presence. It seemed that he could not be seen anywhere.

The reason why this happened was that Fu Rang was the most experienced among them, and Zhu Gaoxu also entrusted him with the most important task.

"How?" Zhu Gaoxu stared at Fu Rang with sharp eyes, and Fu Rang also spoke confidently: "I have been waiting for your words for too long. I have explored this road over and over again, and finally I have found a path that leads directly to his lair. There is still a road for horses to pass through.”

Fu Rang said, and four soldiers moving a heavy sand table appeared behind him.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding officers came forward to help, and with great difficulty they were able to carry the three-foot-long sand table into the Chengyun Hall.

As soon as he put it down, everyone gathered around him.

Fu Rang leaned out and drew on the sand table with the knife in his hand.

"We crossed the Songhua River from here and walked all the way north. We didn't mark the road, so only me and the twenty people who had been there knew how to go."

"There are many trees and bushes on this road, and it is easy to get lost, but we have walked it hundreds of times in the past three months and can pass through it with our eyes closed."

"This road is an invisible beast's path. At least it can be passed slowly."

"Hu'erha and I tried it with others. If we were wearing plain armor and carrying ten days' worth of military rations of vinegar cloth and salt crystals on our backs, the draft horse would have to bear about [-] kilograms, and it could carry us sixty miles a day. It takes at most five and a half days to reach Buyan Mountain.”

Fu Rang gestured and drew a path that avoided all the Jurchen fortresses. It was basically flat ground all the way, but it all went around the forest.

As long as they don't meet some hunting Jurchens, they will definitely be able to pass through smoothly.

"There is a problem before us, that is, the wooden fence of Boyan Fort is two feet high and five feet thick. Unless you bring a Hongwu iron cannon, it will be difficult to break through."

"The Xiyang Ha tribe has more people than we expected. The number is about [-]. There are no less than [-] men. There are [-] people wearing iron armor and [-] people wearing leather armor..."

Yi Shiha said this, but Zhu Gaoxu was not worried. He just looked at Boyan Fort and asked: "Is the fence outside the fort made of stone and wood, or is it directly inserted into the soil?"

"Insert it directly into the soil, and the depth is no less than five feet. I tried it with people, but it couldn't be dug out." Fu Rang said, and then said to Zhu Gaoxu: "I remember that there was gunpowder in the fort, but you used it to mine. Is there anything left now?"

Fu Rang felt uneasy. After all, he had been away for more than three months and just came back yesterday. He was really not sure whether the gunpowder had been used up.

His question made everyone's hearts hang in their throats, and Zhu Gaoxu also glanced at everyone vaguely.

"Among this group of people, I'm afraid there are some of my grandfather's imperial guards..."

While thinking, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly: "Too much was used in mining, and there is not much left now."

As he said this, his eyes looked away.

This scene was rehearsed by him and Yi Shiha a long time ago. Zhu Gaoxu believed that Yi Shiha was not a Jinyiwei because Yi Shiha invested a lot in himself. Of course, the more important thing was his intuition.

"There are still more than 80 kilograms. It just opened a gap of about ten feet, which may be enough."

"enough!"

As soon as Yi Shiha opened his mouth, Fu Rang was determined.

The Ming army used gunpowder for more than a day or two. It was easy to use gunpowder to storm Muzhai. Even if it was black gunpowder, as long as the amount was enough, it could still blast a big gap.

"Having said that, the odds of winning are still not high. We have to find a way to divide them and attack them."

Zhu Gaoxu crossed his arms and glanced at the sand table as if he was confident.

His eyes finally turned to Jilin's shipyard, and everyone followed suit.

"We are attacking in the east and west. In order to prevent this old slave from knowing the land route we are taking, we still have to make a false shot and make him think we are taking the water route."

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and looked at everyone. He glanced around for the last time and then told Lin Su:
"Lin Su, Zhang Chun and Xiyang Ha have a grudge against killing their father. This time, Xiyang Ha asks him to go with me, and you stay in Jilin City."

"Yes!" Lin Su did not complain that he could not go to the front line to fight. After all, the hatred for killing his father was indeed too great.

Although Zhang Chun was still in the south at the moment, he knew that Zhang Chun would be able to return to the north in a month or two, and he could not compete with him for a credit.

Lin Su did not complain, which made Zhu Gaoxu very happy. He turned to look at Yi Shiha: "Send a letter to the six cities and tribes along the Songhua River, saying that we will build ferries to park boats along the rivers of each city. "

"Yes..." Yi Shiha agreed first, then hesitated: "Will this scare Xiyang Ha away?"

"No." Before Zhu Gaoxu could speak, Fu Rang shook his head and said, "The autumn harvest is around the corner. Xiyang Ha cannot run away at this juncture. The nearly [-] acres of land outside Buyanbao are about to be harvested. He is reluctant to leave so much behind." food."

In this land outside the Pass, food is more important than human life, not to mention the cultivated land that can produce thousands of stones of food.

Without this batch of food, Xiyang Ha would not be able to survive even if he led his tribe to the north.

Both Zhu Gaoxu and Fu Rang observed that Xiyang Ha's previous escapes were almost always before the autumn harvest or spring plowing, which also shows that he could not let go of food.

"The old thief Xiyang Haha also has a stone fort downstream of the Huqi Wen River. It's too far away and we don't know how many people are stationed there."

Fu Rang pointed to the northeast with his finger. Since this sand table was made by Zhu Gaoxu, the terrain of the northeast was very clear and easy to compare.

The place he was referring to was the Fuyuan area in later generations, which is the easternmost part of the Sanjiang Plain.

Zhu Gaoxu measured it with his hands and estimated a distance of more than two thousand miles.

"With such a long distance, it's no wonder that officers and soldiers failed to find him several times before."

With a sigh, Zhu Gaoxu continued to look at Fu Rang, and Fu Rang continued:
"The best time to attack him is actually when our autumn harvest is about to begin."

"They are in the north, and their autumn harvest is half a month earlier than ours, so when we are about to harvest, they have already started harvesting."

"Yiqianshi's servants asked other small tribes nearby Buyanbao. They all said that after the autumn harvest begins, some people from the tribe who are good at harvesting will be sent down the river in small boats to Huci in the south. Wen Cheng harvests the grain there." "This number is usually seven to eight hundred men, accompanied by about three hundred soldiers and horses."

"If we wait until these people leave before attacking Boyan Castle, our chances of winning will be even greater."

After finishing his words, Fu Rang looked up at Zhu Gaoxu and asked him to make a decision.

Zhu Gaoxu did not answer this in time, but pondered for a moment and kept thinking in his mind.

After a few breaths, he said: "We will leave immediately when Zhang Chun and his 200 people come back."

"During this period, Lin Su and Yi Shiha were responsible for building the ferry from Jilin City to the mouth of the Sacha River, adding a sense of urgency to Xiyang Hanalao Nu and moving some people to the lower reaches in advance."

Although Zhu Gaoxu was eager to obtain a large number of laborers, he also knew that he could not feed or support the more than 2 people in Boyanbao.

After listening to Fu Rang's introduction, Zhu Gaoxu's strategic goal for this battle was to defeat the Xiyang Ha tribe and rob no less than 3000 people from Buyan Fort.

If we can go one step further, it would be best to occupy Boyan Fort for a long time, obtain nearly [-] acres of cultivated land there, and kill the old slave Xiyang Ha at the same time.

"Everyone, please step back." Fu Rang seemed to have something to say to Zhu Gaoxu, so he called the general banners and hundreds of officials on the left and right to step back.

After they left, Fu Rang said:
"Although there are 460 seven military horses in the army, only 260 seven from the original city have vests, and the remaining [-] have no vests."

"I just returned to Jilin City yesterday and went to the armory to see it. There are enough armors at the moment, so I should first build [-] sets of vests in the past two months."

"In addition, I also watched the training of soldiers in the army. Although the original more than 400 field soldiers were trained as combat soldiers for more than four months, they were not as good as the original combat soldiers and the people we brought."

"My opinion is that this time we will leave the original garrison troops and some combat troops to defend the city, and only take 1000 people on horseback and draft horses to Buyanbao."

"There are already 670 draft horses in the city. You just need to buy more in the mutual market to make up a thousand draft horses. Then we can take all the draft horses and military horses to Boyanbao, and we can do it in five days at most. arrival."

Fu Rang wanted to use his troops quickly, which coincided with what Zhu Gaoxu wanted.

He, Zhu Gaoxu, Yi Shiha, and Lin Su were the only ones staying in the palace at the moment, so it was more convenient to explain things.

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and looked at Yi Shiha: "No matter how much food there is in the city, we should first use it to do business with the six cities, but don't attract too much attention, and don't let Xiyang Ha notice that we are going overland."

"Yes!" Yi Shiha also knew that after defeating Xiyang Ha, he could get a lot of gains. He was usually careful and calculated and did not miss the mark at the critical moment.

Seeing Yishuha, Zhu Gaoxu also said to Lin Su and Fu Rang: "From today on, the more than 300 soldiers in the city will be trained separately by them."

"It would be better if the marching speed could be increased, but there is nothing we can do if it doesn't work."

"General, take your orders!" Fu Rang and Lin Su agreed, and then the three of them left the Chengyun Palace one after another.

After they left, Zhu Gaoxu continued to observe the sand table.

At the same time, Yang Bin, who had been away from Jilin City for more than two months, also returned to Jiangnan with furs, ginseng and other goods.

Like all the merchants who sold furs before, the furs Yang Bin brought back were ordered by the nobles in Nanjing as soon as they were made into ready-made clothes. Products such as antlers, tiger bones, and supplements from Liaodong were even more popular among the nobles. Rob.

Within half a month after returning to Jiangnan, Yang Bin sold out all the goods he had brought. At the same time, he purchased more than [-] shi of grain from the Second Mansion of Suhu to be transported northward.

Yang Bin holds the seal of the Bohai Palace in his hand, and it is very easy to understand his background.

His background made many people who wanted to take action against him avoid him, but at the same time, his background and what he did were quickly spread to the palace by interested people.

"More than thirty-six thousand stones?"

Late at night in the Qianqing Palace, Lao Zhu, who was about to wash up and go to sleep, received the information brought by the military attaché.

When he learned that Zhu Gaoxu had made such a large amount of business in a short period of time, Lao Zhu Dang even asked the military attache: "Is the people from the north coming back with the merchant team? What did they say?"

Lao Zhu is not worried about Zhu Gaoxu's business. He only cares about whether Zhu Gaoxu's business harms the interests of Ming Dynasty.

"Your Highness is trading grain, tea and iron pots with the Donglu in the north. Except for the possibility that the tea leaves will be handed over to Wu Liangha by these Donglu for trade, there are no major prohibitions on the rest."

"It's just that His Highness has too much trade with Donglu. Many merchants went to Liaodong to transport food and were unable to buy furs and medicinal materials. Many officials in the six ministries criticized..."

The military attache relayed the information collected from below. After learning this information, Lao Zhu relaxed his mind and body:
"It's good that he can abide by the law. This business is also done by others. If he can do it, it can protect the environment and the people, so let him do it."

In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, Zhu Gaoxu used his own methods to make Jilin City self-sufficient and did not violate the "Da Ming Law". Such an approach should be praised.

If all feudal kings could be as flexible as him and abide by their duties, then he wouldn't have such a headache.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was still sighing at Zhu Gaoxu's quick thinking, so the military attache started playing again.

"Tell me." Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of the soothing tea, and the military attaché also spoke:

"According to the brothers who came down with the caravan from the north, His Highness has already doubled the cultivated land in Jilin City within two months of his visit to Jilin City. This was only reported in May, and I'm afraid it has already doubled by two or three times. "

"How much?" Zhu Yuanzhang thought he heard wrongly, but when the military attache repeated it, Zhu Yuanzhang put down the calming tea in his hand uneasily.

As a farmer, he knows very well what foundation is required to open up wasteland and how difficult it is to open up wasteland.

Now that Zhu Gaoxu was able to carry out land reclamation so quickly in a short period of time, either the population of Jilin City was much larger than what Liaodong Dusi recorded, or Zhu Gaoxu obtained a lot of animal power from doing business with the Jurchens.

Of these two possibilities, he preferred the latter.

In terms of people's livelihood, more animal power can reclaim wasteland faster, and the burden on the people will be reduced.

But for the army, once there is enough animal power, an army of 3000 people can even be used as 5000 people.

"Let the people below write down the process of land reclamation in Jilin City in detail. I want to see for myself how this kid did it."

"In addition, the group of people still in the north, ask them to send the news from Jilin City as soon as possible without any carelessness."

Zhu Yuanzhang gave instructions to the military attache in a deep voice, and the military attache also bowed in response.

The military attaché thought that the matter would end there and that he could withdraw from the Qianqing Palace, but Zhu Yuanzhang spoke again:
"Have you found out what happened in Longzhou? Is Chang Mao really dead, or is he faking his death..."

He mentioned Chang Yuchun's son Chang Mao, and Chang Mao himself was not only Feng Sheng's son-in-law, but also an important figure among the nobles of New Huaixi.

Although Chang Mao was Feng Sheng's son-in-law, Chang Mao believed that Feng Sheng was not as good as his father, so he refused to accept Feng Sheng's restraint.

When he accompanied Feng Sheng to conquer Naha, Chang Mao often did things that violated the law. Feng Sheng condemned him many times, but Chang Mao didn't take it seriously, and even treated Feng Sheng very arrogantly.

Although Feng Sheng was angry at Chang Mao's attitude towards him, he did not expose what he had done.

Later, the two were very embarrassed because of Naha's incident. Chang Mao was escorted back to Beijing for stabbing Naha.

After returning to Beijing, Chang Mao took the opportunity to impeach Feng Sheng. Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately withdrew Feng Sheng's military seal and asked General Lan Yu to lead the Northern Expedition, and then achieved a great victory in the fishing sea.

Afterwards, after confirming Feng Sheng's innocence, Zhu Yuanzhang demoted Chang Mao to Longzhou, Guangxi.

Although it is said that a tiger fell down and was bullied by a dog, in the end, the skinny camel was bigger than the horse. Chang Yuchun's reputation, coupled with Chang Mao himself being a general in charge of the army, allowed him to thrive in the small Longzhou. rise.

Zhao Tiejian, a local official in Longzhou, had no sons but two daughters.

His eldest daughter married Li Yuantai, a local official in Taiping Prefecture, and his second daughter was given to Chang Mao, who took him as his concubine.

Zhao Tiejian died in the 21st year of Hongwu. Because he had no son, his Zhao Zongshou inherited the position of native official. However, Zhao Tiejian's wife Huang did not recognize his status. After he inherited the position of native official, he relied on Chang Mao His power controlled the affairs of Longzhou and eliminated Zhao Zongshou.

After Chang Mao died in the 24th year of Hongwu, Huang and Zongshou competed for the official seal of Longzhou and reported on each other.

Huang took the opportunity to let people fabricate rumors that Chang Mao was not actually dead, and Zhao Zongshou knew the details.

This matter spread to Nanjing not long ago. Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious after knowing it, and sent officials to question Zhao Zongshou, and ordered Zhao Zongshou to hand over Chang Mao to atone for his sins if Chang Mao was still alive.

While sending officials to inquire, Zhu Yuanzhang himself also sent Jin Yiwei to investigate whether Chang Mao was still alive. After all, if Chang Mao was still alive, he would inevitably cause chaos in the future.

Facing Zhu Yuanzhang's inquiry, the military attache maintained a bowing posture: "The brothers below have just arrived in Longzhou a few days ago and have not yet started the investigation. I think we will get the news in the next few days."

"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang responded: "Whether it is Longzhou or Jilin City, as long as there is news, report it to me truthfully immediately."

After saying that, he seemed to have thought of something more important, and his expression became a little heavy: "What is the current market price of Jiangnan's treasure notes?"

"Since the news that 640 immigrants will use banknotes to offset taxes this year was released, the price has now risen to [-] cash per banknote." The military attache answered truthfully, and this price also made Zhu Yuanzhang very satisfied.

It's only mid-July now, and there are still two and a half months before the autumn tax. If nothing goes wrong, the treasure banknote will rise to [-] or even [-] yuan.

It has to be said that Gao Xu's method is indeed effective. After the treasure banknotes were linked to taxes, they began to gradually rise.

If this continues for three to five years, then I will be able to do that thing...

Thinking of the matter in his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang was no longer in the mood to discuss other matters, and waved his hand: "Just step back."

"I excuse myself." The military attaché moved his stiff legs, stood up slowly, and left the Qianqing Palace...

(End of this chapter)