Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 149 Hongwu 29 Years
"Crackling-"

Firecrackers explode, the smell of New Year is strong...

With the arrival of Zhengdan Festival, Zhu Gaoxu also ushered in his third Zhengdan Festival in Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the confusion during the first Zhengdan Festival, the second Zhengdan Festival felt different in his heart. The third Zhengdan Festival was perhaps the least burdensome one Zhu Gaoxu had ever experienced.

The scene of cooking sheep and slaughtering pigs in front of the Bohai Prince's Palace reappeared, and many children who knew the taste of meat came here to follow the smell of meat.

In the Chengyun Hall, the food on the table in front of Zhu Gaoxu was much richer than usual.

The ten-course New Year's Eve banquet, including stir-fried mutton, pan-fried goose, stir-fried pork with yellow vegetables, vegetarian soup with clear sauce, steamed pig's trotters, two-cooked pan-fried fresh fish, and roasted pork, was a rare treat for Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness, these are bear paws and tiger paws. They are the ingredients sent by the Suizhen Ministry last night. We specially prepared them."

I thought that ten dishes would be of the highest standard, but I never thought that two bear and tiger paws bigger than his face would be placed in front of Zhu Gaoxu.

Sitting on the chair, Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a scarlet robe, felt a little sad.

In the previous life, let alone him, even those powerful people, who could eat the paws of this bear and tiger?
"Move chopsticks."

After glancing at Yi Shiha and others who were waiting to use their chopsticks, Zhu Gaoxu picked up the chopsticks first, and then started to use the chopsticks towards Xiong Hu Zhang.

Seeing him move his chopsticks, Lin Su, Zhang Chun, Yi Shiha and others moved their chopsticks one after another. The standard of the twelve dishes for these four people was quite high.

Of course, compared to Zhu Gaoxu's uncles, his food was relatively shabby.

But when it comes to eating, Zhu Gaoxu is not particularly picky, and his appetite is limited to three or four dishes at most, so he usually eats two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup.

There are so many people today, so we should have more dishes.

"It's been 29 years since Hongwu..."

Chewing the tasteless bear paw, Zhu Gaoxu felt as if he was chewing pig trotters, and his mind was full of emotions about the 29th year of Hongwu that had come.

"It's a pity that the mountains are covered with snow and it's not convenient to move around. Otherwise, we could go on a safari."

When Zhang Chun heard Zhu Gaoxu sighing about time, he thought he was bored in Jilin City, so he agreed.

However, Zhu Gaoxu did not continue, but asked: "What happened to the naturalized Jurchens?"

"Go back to Your Highness..." Yi Shiha quickly took a sip of tea to swallow the food, and then explained:
"Houses have been arranged, and coal and grain have been distributed to them. The pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks outside the palace will also be distributed to each of them a pound as appropriate. The food they eat is much better than when they were under the old slaves. , many people are grateful to His Highness."

Yi Shiha's words were not exaggerated. Although the Jurchens walked among the white mountains and black waters and could obtain meat through hunting, the days when they could eat meat were only a few dozen days throughout the year. The remaining days were still for farming and grain production. It is common for people to be hungry when they have to pay for food.

It is precisely because of the harsh living environment that they have the blood to fight.

In comparison, although Jilin City also needed them to open up wasteland and work, they never skimped on food.

The stable life of five buckets of rice per month for adults is out of reach for them, not to mention that the soldiers and civilians in Jilin City do not eat less than their portion of meat every time, it just depends on the amount.

If even such a day can be regarded as a slave life, then I am afraid that most of the Jurchens outside the customs will be willing to come to Jilin City to be 'slaves'.

In Jilin City, Zhu Gaoxu set the tone for their status, that is, they were workers in Jilin City until the three-year labor period was over.

After three years, if they are willing to stay, they will become the people of the Ming Dynasty. Their children will have books to study, and they will have their own farmland and life.

It is precisely because of Zhu Gaoxu's equality that the Jurchens who went south were sincerely convinced. Now they work hard without cheating and cheating.

Even though they didn't understand the language, they could understand what the Han people meant by making gestures with their hands and feet, so they followed them to work.

As long as there is enough time, the Han people's character of not holding grudges will begin to show up, so most Jurchens do not suffer discrimination.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu was still very satisfied. The only people who could not stand the Jurchens were the soldiers of the Bohai Navy who had participated in the battle.

Although they have received Zhu Gaoxu's education, they still can't let go of their hatred for the time being.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu could only wait for time to dilute all this, but fortunately, the soldiers' discrimination against the Jurchens only existed in the Xiyang Ha tribe, and Jurchens from other tribes were treated as usual.

"Woooooooo..."

The sound of howling cold wind woke Zhu Gaoxu up. He looked at the increasingly heavy snowfall and couldn't help but sigh: "I don't know when this heavy snowstorm will stop."

"Several small tribes couldn't survive and came to seek refuge with us. With so many people taken in, I'm afraid they won't be able to eat enough food for four months."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu talking about the blizzard, Yi Shiha also told what happened recently.

After the winter solstice, Fu Rang returned to Andong City on a dog sled to take charge. Zhu Gaoxu also took the opportunity to take a look at the sled dogs of this era.

Not much different from a husky, just thinner and with longer hair.

After Fu Rang led the people to leave, a heavy snowstorm fell outside the pass. Within more than half a month, many small tribes were in danger of running out of food, so they came to Jilin City in droves.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu also asked Yishiha to take all the bills, and also allocated newly built folk houses for them to live in. These folk houses only had walls built and there were open spaces inside, but this did not prevent the surrendered Jurchen tribe from setting up tents. .

After settling them, Zhu Gaoxu appointed the leaders of these small tribes as village heads. In addition to the ration of six buckets of rice every month, they also received a salary of one stone of rice.

This kind of treatment is very useful to these small tribal leaders with only dozens or hundreds of people. After all, when they were in the tribe, they could only harvest two to three hundred dan of food a year, and they had to take care of everyone's food rations. In fact, they had little left Not much.

Now that I have come to Jilin City, I no longer have to live a precarious life. Not to mention that with just rations and salary, I can harvest nineteen and twenty shi of food every year.

In addition, Zhu Gaoxu also promised that after the reclamation is completed in the coming year, they will also be given acres of land. After the beginning of spring, a school with Jurchen teaching will be opened so that their children can learn Mandarin and serve as officials in the future.

Such treatment made many small tribes keep their peace after arriving in Jilin City.

If the blizzard hadn't hindered the spread of the news, I'm afraid many small and weak tribes would have come to seek refuge in Jilin City.

"Have all the populations of those small tribes been counted?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha while holding a bowl of soup. Yi Shiha also nodded and said:
"It was started, and the four small tribes were all arranged in a private village, with 320 households and 320 people."

"The cattle, horses, livestock and grain they brought were all confiscated, but the slaves also told them that after spring, the palace would still give them cattle, farm tools and seeds."

Yishiha never disappointed Zhu Gaoxu in his work, especially in the arrangements for Jurchens. His identity as a Haixi Jurchen often gained the recognition and trust of other Jurchens, and he made remarkable achievements in recruiting Jurchens in Jilin City. .

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also told Yi Shiha:

"After the spring begins, the 69th Department will also send two thousand followers and cattle, horses and livestock. Then I will ask Lin Su to help you, and you two will train these 2000 people."

"We cannot treat them the same way as the Han people. It is best to let them learn Mandarin and writing for three months, and then adjust their work and rest to the same as other soldiers."

"These 2000 people are divided into two thousand households. You and Lin Su will each receive one."

Before the two thousand Jurchens could be obtained, Zhu Gaoxu had already arranged a place for them, but Zhang Chun said:

"Your Highness, although these two thousand Jurchens have no grudges against us, is it too fast to integrate them into the army in three months?"

"Although they have come to Jilin City, their relatives are still in their former tribes. What if their tribe wants them to do something that harms the imperial court?"

Although Zhang Chun is young, he has some grudges and always has some doubts about the Jurchen outside the Pass, but this is understandable.

In response, Zhu Gaoxu also raised his glass and said to the three of them:

"The area outside the Pass is large enough for Han and Jurchens to live and develop together."

"At the same time, Guanwai is also very small and can only accommodate people who are close to the Ming Dynasty and long to integrate into the Ming Dynasty."

His words were very cryptic, but Zhang Chun understood them.

In the final analysis, as long as they are close to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu can allow the Jurchen tribes to live peacefully. But if they are not close to the Ming Dynasty and intend to rebel against the Ming Dynasty, then Zhu Gaoxu will have to clean up the family.

What he, the Bohai County King, controlled was the entire area outside the Pass, including the Jurchen tribes living on the land outside the Pass.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu also took a sip of tea and continued: "In this place outside the pass, I think there will be no less than three hundred Jurchen tribes."

"Today we have only recruited 69 tribes, and we have not been in contact with many of the remaining tribes."

"Just like these small tribes that have come to seek refuge with us these days. Although they are small, they are not weak. They just suffer from not having enough armor and weapons."

"If we can recruit all the tribes in this land outside the pass, then this land outside the pass can at least raise tens of thousands of soldiers after several years of cultivation."

Zhu Gaoxu's words were not an exaggeration. This was a fact he personally inspected and discovered during his previous campaign against Xiyang Ha.

The reason why the Northeast is barren is because there is no investment, and the local Jurchen tribes cannot devote so much material to reclamation, so naturally there is no way to develop the Northeast.

Due to insufficient productivity, the Jurchen tribes can only live scattered in the Northeast. Even so, many tribes among them are still unable to support themselves.

The cooling of the Little Ice Age during the Song and Yuan Dynasties and the destruction of agricultural facilities in the Northeast by the Mongols all determined that if you want to develop the Northeast, you must have enough investment.

Why can Jilin City be developed so quickly?In the final analysis, it was not because Ming Dynasty kept giving people money and food behind Jilin City's back.

Take Zhu Gaoxu's arrival as an example. Before his arrival, the military households in Jilin City could only receive enough food to eat. Although they had enough animal power, the food was not enough to open up wasteland.

But after Zhu Gaoxu arrived, he dropped more than 10,000 stones of grain, and in just a few months, [-] acres of cultivated land was created in Jilin City.

In terms of input and output, the investment of 10,000+ stones will require at least ten years of output from the [-] acres of cultivated land to recover the investment.

If the calculation is more precise, if only land tax is collected for 60 acres of cultivated land, it will take 300 to [-] years to recover even if the land tax is two or ten.The life span of a dynasty can range from a dozen years to less than [-] years.

It takes 50 years to repay the capital. For many dynasties without strong self-confidence, such an investment is a huge gamble.

But for Lao Zhu, since he chose to put Zhu Gaoxu in Jilin City, it is Zhu Gaoxu's own business how to deal with it.

As for the vassal king, it is not kept anywhere, and the same is true for Jilin City.

Lao Zhu's confidence allowed him to provide Zhu Gaoxu with enough food, and Zhu Gaoxu's confidence in history allowed him to continue to invest in Jilin.

Given the current world climate and situation that the Ming Dynasty is facing, even Zhu Gaoxu cannot guarantee that he can make achievements in the northwest. Therefore, the development and consolidation of the northeast, southwest, and Nanyang is what he can and is sure to do at the moment. to things.

He not only needs to rely on Jilin to start his business, but also uses Jilin to connect the Songhua River Basin.

He would not be like his eldest nephew who did not exist yet and withdrew all the guard posts outside the customs with a wave of his hand.

What he wants to do is to transform the Northeast into counties. He is not afraid of investing because he is confident that he can do it well.

He has even thought about how to develop the population in the Northeast. As soon as the Jingnan War breaks out, Jilin City will usher in a wave of immigrants.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu will actively develop the Northeast, because as long as he seizes these opportunities, he can consolidate the Northeast.

Making Jilin City self-sufficient is just the beginning. The next thing he has to do is to make Jilin City have enough arable land before the twelfth lunar month of the 31st year of Hongwu.

"With our current animal power, if there is no war next year, how many acres of farmland can we cultivate?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yishiha, and Yishiha did not answer in a hurry. Instead, he answered after careful calculation: "With the current animal power and manpower, at least [-] acres of cultivated land can be cultivated next year."

"One hundred thousand acres?" Zhang Chun and Lin Su were a little surprised. They had participated in the land reclamation work in Jilin City, so they naturally knew how difficult it was to open up land in Jilin City today.

Regarding their surprise and surprise, Yi Shiha also explained:

“Last year we cleared land, basically towards the mountains and forests in the west, so the further in we go, the easier it is to encounter rocky land and tree root land that are difficult to reclaim.”

"The reason why we chose to cultivate inland is because although the land of Lianghe River near the Songhua River is fertile, it is prone to river backflow disasters during the rainy season."

"But later, Your Highness, you came up with cement. The cement dries quickly, is permeable, and is easy to build things. So later, we changed the direction of land reclamation and went to the river bend. The effect was remarkable, and we did not encounter the situation of river water backflow." ."

"Because of this, I plan to open up wasteland next year mainly on several river bends in Jilin Bay."

"These river bends can reclaim at least 40 million acres of arable land, and there are not as many rocks and tree roots as in the mountains. As long as the drainage problem is solved, it can be fully reclaimed in about three years."

"The more difficult thing now is the food used for reclamation..."

After opening up wasteland for a long time, Yishiha also gained some experience. But after all, it was because Jilin City had food and could feed more people, so there were more people to work.

These reasons, coupled with the emergence of cement, gave Jilin City the means to build flood discharge and flood control in a short time.

Without these means, there would naturally be no way to cultivate the fertile fields in the river bend, and among these means, food was the most important.

"You don't have to worry about food. If Yang Bin, Liaodong Dusi and I all add up their annual salary, we will have at least 30 shi of food next year."

Zhu Gaoxu reassured Yi Shiha: "Although there are nearly 2 people in the city now, it is not difficult to supply this few people."

"Besides, I also wrote in handwriting to the court that there should be more grain shipped next year."

Even though he said this, Zhu Gaoxu didn't have the confidence in his heart. After all, he knew very well that Lao Zhu had been controlling him.

After receiving the handwritten letter, Zhu Gaoxu himself was not sure whether Lao Zhu could approve more food for him.

If Lao Zhu doesn't give it, then he can only find a way to obtain food through trade. In short, no matter what means he uses, he will develop enough farmland in the Songhua River Basin to support 10,000+ people.

Thinking that the food on the table was almost finished, Zhu Gaoxu tidied himself up, got up and returned to his study.

His study room displays many books, including ancient books preserved in the Ming Dynasty and books written by himself.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu is a descendant of later generations. Although he is not proficient in all categories, if some of the categories he is proficient in are compiled into books, he may be able to inspire some talented people.

Astronomy, geography, ocean currents, firearms processes, artillery processes, gunpowder, names and properties of rare metals...

Looking at the books written by himself on his bookshelf, Zhu Gaoxu felt proud from the bottom of his heart.

Although these books have not yet been compiled and reviewed, they will one day be printed and released and become reading materials in the hands of students.

Just when he was imagining, under the mountains more than two thousand miles away from him, Wuliang Hatu City, located at the northeastern foothills of the Halawen Mountains (Daxingan Mountains), was also discussing the Northeast.

Wuliangha Tucheng is an earthen city where the Wuliangha tribe lives. Every winter, it attracts herdsmen from the Wuliangha, Wengniute, and Uqiyet tribes, who were called the Three Guards of Duoyan by the Ming Dynasty. .

The reason why they came here is that it is adjacent to the Haravan Mountains and has enough trees for them to survive a warm winter. After the winter is over, they can also grow some grains locally to survive the winter at the end of the year.

Although this place is just an earthen city, there are stone palaces and courtyards built in the city. Although it is a bit crude, it is still an amazing building in the northeastern part of the desert.

Suffering from this year's blizzard, more than [-] Mongolians gathered in Ulyanhatu City at this moment. They connected tents and camps, just to escape this tragic white disaster.

As long as they avoid this white disaster, the three great Khans will bring back food after the beginning of spring to help them survive the lean season.

In this Ulianghatu City, almost all Mongolians are looking forward to the next year's food, but they don't know that the food trade they are looking forward to has been interrupted...

"This Xiyang Ha is an idiot. Thousands of people can't defeat 1000 people. Now that he has lost his city and his life, he deserves it!"

"You can't say that. He is dead, but our food supply is gone, and our cattle and horses no longer have a place to sell them."

"The headache now is not that the idiot Xiyang Hana is dead, but that the Ming Dynasty wants to rebuild Zhaozhou City."

"Yes! Once Zhaozhou City is successfully rebuilt, we will either have to move north or surrender."

"Halawu, come up with a solution and we will listen to you!"

In the stone castle hall of Wulianghatu City, the Khans and nobles of the three tribes gathered here. A bonfire was burning in the hall, which dispelled a lot of coldness for everyone.

As the most powerful actor at the moment, Haragu, an upright and mature man, calmly listened to the noise of everyone.

It's just that in the end of their quarrel, he still needed to make the decision. No one objected to this. After all, Haragu's ability was obvious to all.

At the beginning, among the three guards, Wengniute was the strongest, followed by Uqiyete, and Wuliangha was behind.

Later, under the leadership of Ha La Wu, Wu Liang Ha's strength grew rapidly and ranked first among the three divisions.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty often referred to the three general areas as Duoyan Sanwei or Wuliangha Sanwei, and collectively referred to the three military bases as "Wuliangha Ground".

The Uuliangha tribes were not popular in the Yuan Dynasty and received very few resources. Therefore, they always acted as speculators, betting on the Ming Dynasty or the Northern Yuan Dynasty from time to time.

After Nahachu was defeated, they accepted the canonization of the Ming Dynasty under the leadership of Haragu and became the Three Guards of Duoyan.

However, Azashili, the former king of the Yuan and Liao Dynasties who was entrusted with controlling the three tribes at that time, was not satisfied with the Ming Dynasty's arrangements, and later led his troops and the three Ulyanha tribes south to the Kou border, which ended in failure.

After that, the three tribes of Wuliangha completely rebelled against the Ming Dynasty. Instead, they began to go south to plunder Daning and Liaodong every year, becoming a frontier trouble for the northeastern frontier of the Ming Dynasty.

However, rebellion is satisfying for a while, but the end is also miserable.

Since betraying the Ming Dynasty, the three tribes of Wuliangha have lost everything from arrow clusters to armor and food.

In desperation, they could only support the Jurchens in the Northeast, use them to transfer cattle, sheep and horses to be sold to the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time let them buy and sell some goods from the Ming Dynasty to support the three tribes of Ulliangha.

Xiyang Ha was the one who took over this transit business, but the business did not last long before Daming discovered it, and then cut off Xiyang Ha's qualifications for mutual trading.

Because of this, Xiyang Hacai was invaded many times.

He joined the invasion not only for himself, but also because the Ulangha tribes behind him were constantly putting pressure on him.

It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to trade with the three tribes of Wuliangha, but it can trade with Xiyangha, as long as Xiyangha shows its own value.

Originally, this value had been demonstrated by Xiyang Ha through the Kou border in recent years. Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu came from the south, and in less than half a year, he killed this important chess piece in Ha Lawu's hands, and according to the According to reports, this Zhu Gaoxu also wants to rebuild Zhaozhou City on the Sacha River.

If Zhu Gaoxu really rebuilds Zhaozhou City at the mouth of the Sacha River, it will undoubtedly greatly restrict the three tribes of Wuliangha.

In the near future, if Zhaozhou City is successfully rebuilt, it will reduce the scope of activities of the three tribes of Wuliangha from more than [-] miles from east to west to more than [-] miles from east to west. The three tribes of Wuliangha will lose hundreds of thousands of troops. grass pasture.

Going further, if Zhaozhou City is successfully rebuilt and can be maintained for a long time, it will become a bridgehead for attacking Wulianghatu City, because the distance from Zhaozhou City to Wulianghatu City is only [-] meters. more than [-] miles, and [-] miles of it can be traveled by water.

Although this waterway is not accessible to large boats, there is no problem in using small boats with a few hundred materials.

Therefore, Zhaozhou City must not be rebuilt, and they must stop Zhu Gaoxu's crazy move.

When the idea came to mind, Haragu, who was in his forties, also raised his head, revealing his eyes hidden under his felt hat.

He glanced around the crowd and finally spoke slowly: "Zhaozhou City cannot be rebuilt, and we cannot sit back and wait."

"Tomorrow we will start sending sentries south to find out the information. From Daning to Zhaozhou City, all the information must be ascertained."

"Besides this, let me tell everyone to sharpen the swords, guns and arrows in your hands. It's time to go to the south to hunt for grass..."

(End of this chapter)