Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 167: Eat the old man before it’s too late

"This is too small..."

Standing in the Chengyun Hall, Zhu Di looked around casually, with unspeakable disgust on his face.

Not only him, but also Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng and Ma He all had expressions on their faces as if they were constipated.

Compared with Zhu Gaoxu's palace, their Qianhu Mansion and Command Mansion seemed to be royal palaces.

Guo Yan blushed with embarrassment, but Zhu Gaoxu said shamelessly:
"When I left the capital, my grandpa told me not to be arrogant and extravagant, and not to seek to build the palace too well, so I just made do with it."

"That's not possible..." Zhu Di wanted to say something else, but when he heard what his father said, he closed his mouth and looked back at Zhu Gaoxu with eyes full of sympathy.

"The second oldest child in our family must have been frightened by my father. Now he is so honest."

Zhu Di was complaining for Zhu Gaoxu. After all, Zhu Gaoxu could be said to be domineering in the past, and he also chose the best for food and clothing.

Now when I come to Jilin City, I can see that this life is worse than that of a thousand households in a pass.

After seeing the shabby condition of the Bohai Palace, Zhu Di felt a little embarrassed and walked back to Zhu Gaoxu, saying with a guilty look on his face:

"Second brother, dad didn't expect that you would actually... ugh!"

Halfway through his words, he comforted Zhu Gaoxu: "The armor and weapons that Ping Bao'er captured outside, I have asked someone to give them to you. In addition, the more than 2000 cattle and sheep that I just captured when chasing Naha Lawu are also there." I give it to you and live a good life with your wife."

"Huh?" Zhu Gaoxu didn't expect that his father, who was always on the move, would be so generous today.

Although he felt something was wrong, he still smiled and bowed: "I took it, thank you father."

"What's the matter..." Zhu Di still felt embarrassed. He wanted to say something more, but someone came outside the hall.

Yi Shiha came to Zhu Gaoxu and others and bowed: "I see you, Your Highness."

"Your Highness, it's time to pass on the food."

"Pass it in." Hearing Yi Shiha's words, Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and Zhu Di, who had been hungry for a long time, was interrupted by what he wanted to say. He couldn't recall it for a while, so he simply sat on the main seat and said to Zhu Neng , Qiu Fu and the others signaled:
"Everyone, sit down. After you have eaten, we should go back tomorrow."

"Yes!"

Facing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Neng and others bowed in response and took their seats one after another.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Gaoxu also began to have time to look at them.

Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu are both brave generals.

The difference is that Qiu Fu is easily impulsive and is only suitable for being a vanguard or leading an army alone, while Zhu Neng is calmer and can coordinate the three armies, making him a rare general.

In appearance, generals who travel all year round are often a few years older than they look, and Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu are no exception.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu were both old members of Prince Yan's Mansion, and the old members of Prince Yan's Mansion were, to put it bluntly, the officers and soldiers of the Peking and Daning divisions that Zhu Di had been controlling all year round.

During the Battle of Jingnan, the old team was divided into the Beiping left-behind group with Zhu Gaochi and Yao Guangxiao as the core, and the frontline core team such as Zhu Gaoxu, Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng, and Qiu Fu who followed Zhu Di to fight on the front line.

In the early stages of the Jingnan Campaign, Zhang Yu, Chen Heng, Zhu Gaoxu, Tan Yuan, Qiu Fu, Li Bin, Zhu Neng, and Meng Shan were the most important among the generals around Zhu Di.

Needless to say, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng are the two main officers Zhu Di trusts most.

Chen Heng, Zhu Di's good friend, was also the main contributor who helped Zhu Di solve the Ning Dusi and King Ning.

Among the Daning generals, except for Bu Wan and Liu Zhen who were not close to Zhu Di, the other Daning generals such as Fang Kuan, Liu Cai, and others admired Zhu Di just like Chen Heng.

In addition to Zhang Yu and Chen Heng, the two most important generals in the early stage, Li Yuan and Li Bin have a balanced offense and defense, and Meng Shan has extremely strong defensive ability.

Tan Yuan and Qiu Fu are brave and assaulting generals and are not suitable to be commanders of one party.

In addition, the younger generation such as Zhang Fu, Chen Mao, and Meng Ying are also excellent middle-level backbones.

Of course, apart from these people, the most important thing is naturally Zhu Gaoxu, the predecessor who controlled the Yanfu cavalry during the Jingnan period and always performed the most critical tasks.

During the Jingnan period, Zhu Gaoxu was extremely brave. At that time, Qu Neng was recognized as the most powerful general of the Ming Dynasty. However, such a person was picked by Zhu Gaoxu, and it was the father and son who were picked by Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu had always been worried that he would not be able to lead troops. The reason was that in history, Zhu Gaoxu did not mention regiment operations. When it came to assault tactics, he was definitely No. [-] in the Yan Army.

If he could not achieve his achievements, Zhu Di might really be picked on by Qu Neng and his son and Ping An's troops, and Jingnan would naturally fail.

However, from the current point of view, his achievements are higher than those of Zhu Gaoxu in history. Just in case, it is best not to let Zhu Di alone come into contact with the Southwest Corps led by Qu Neng, Gu Cheng, and He Fu. good.

"Why do I feel that His Highness's silence is a bit scary..."

Zhu Neng was younger, so he turned his head to communicate with Qiu Fu, who was more familiar with Zhu Gaoxu. Qiu Fu also nodded slightly when he heard the words, and his expression was indescribably stiff.

Logically speaking, three years is too short a time to change a pampered and domineering nobleman.

But now it seems that no matter what His Second Highness has gone through, his changes have indeed made him afraid to recognize him.

What Qiu Fu could sense, Zhu Di could also sense, but he only thought it was a change in Zhu Gaoxu's personality caused by being intimidated by Lao Zhu too many times.

"Second..."

The meals were served one after another. Zhu Di also looked at the plates of chicken, duck, sheep, fish, bear and venison. While his appetite was whetted, he also used his chopsticks to ask about Zhu Gaoxu's experience in Nanjing.

The experience of Nanjing City was an experience that Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to recall. Fu Youde and Feng Sheng alone made him don't know where to start.

But when faced with Zhu Di's inquiry, he had to say it, otherwise it would not be enough to explain why his personality had changed so much.

In terms of topics, he avoided things such as "The Law of Money", "The Theory of Cutting Down Fans", "The Theory of Ping Japanese" and so on.

Zhu Di also knew that there were some things he could listen to and some things he couldn't listen to, so he couldn't help but be speechless just after hearing about Zhu Gaoxu, Fu Youde and Feng Sheng.

In his opinion, Lao Zhu was cruel enough to do these things.

Although he knew that Fu Youde and Feng Sheng would be killed in the end, he still asked his second son to learn the art of war from these two people and cultivate their relationship. Finally, he took his second son to witness the death of Fu Youde.

If these things happened to ordinary people, it would be a miracle that they didn't go crazy.

The meal on the table became boring under Zhu Gaoxu's narration. Zhu Di led the people to move their chopsticks constantly, as if he wanted to end this heavy topic.

After the meal was finished, Zhu Gaoxu also stopped talking, and Zhu Di also raised his hand to signal him to stop talking.

"Okay, second brother, I know everything about you, and I know how to tell your mother when I get back, but..."

Zhu Di paused, glanced at Guo Yan, then stood up and said, "Come out with me, I have something to tell you."

Zhu Di got up first, followed closely by Zhu Gaoxu. The father and son walked out of the Bohai Palace and walked on the streets of Jilin City to eat. At the same time, Zhu Di began to point out Zhu Gaoxu's shortcomings in this battle in detail.

There were some shortcomings that he couldn't say in front of Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng just now, but now that there were only father and son, he didn't shy away from it.

"In this battle, your command in the past few days was too rigid, but fortunately you knew how to set up defenses at Hadal Ridge, which prevented the city from being breached in the first place."

"Faced with someone like Haragu, you should have led your Qingqi out of the city in advance from the beginning, gathered the strong women and men in the city, and pressed them on the city with tens of thousands of people to intimidate him."

"Seeing that he doesn't dare to move, you ride behind him and interfere with him."

"Even three to five hundred light cavalry, as long as they are well dispatched, can still make this group of soldiers uneasy day and night."

"Sigh...that means your grandfather won't let you go back to Peking, otherwise I will have to teach you a lesson."

Zhu Di pointed out Zhu Gaoxu's mistakes mercilessly, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't know about these mistakes.

It's just that he got the wrong information from the beginning, so he made mistakes every step of the way.

He thought that Haragu only led more than [-] troops, but he didn't expect it to be [-].

If there were only [-] soldiers and horses, and Halagu saw thousands of Ming troops defending the city, he would naturally not dare to attack. At most, he would plunder the Haixi Jurchens and then retreat.

Unfortunately, there were 3 people in Haragu, and Zhu Gaoxu had already started building a meal before he had time to modify his plan.

War is all about intelligence, but intelligence changes at any time and at any time. Unless there is absolute certainty, any piece of intelligence is confusing.

His previous attack on Xiyang Ha was, to be honest, almost like fighting bandits and robbers, but this time he attacked Ha Lawu. Although a large number of soldiers and horses under Ha Lawu were ordinary soldiers and horses that were no different from those of Xiyang Ha tribe, Halawu Those thousands of armored soldiers are actually regular troops.

Most of the casualties caused to Jilin City soldiers and horses also came from them.

By the same token, it was the armored soldiers in the Ming army that inflicted the greatest casualties on the Hu soldiers, not the unarmored followers.

Training soldiers and training enough armor soldiers is what Zhu Gaoxu needs to do next.

In this regard, he and Zhu Di, who was walking in front of him, said, "I am going to ask my grandpa for more military immigrants. I wonder if my father thinks it is feasible."

Zhu Di's political and military vision were superior to his own at this time. There was nothing embarrassing for Zhu Gaoxu to ask him, and he also believed Zhu Di.

"I think your grandfather probably won't give it to you." Zhu Di struck mercilessly:
"Before I went on a northern tour, I heard that someone in the Governor's Mansion had asked for an additional Kaiping Guard post. On the basis of the current one guard post, four more guard posts, left, right, front and back would be added."

"Most of the health centers added this time are mainly Fengyang refugees. Four health centers were established in one go, and they were moved from Lianghuai. This stopped the way of converting civilian households into military households from Jiangbei."

"In addition, many chieftains in the southwest were put down because of their rebellion. The governor's office set up three more guard posts in one go. Immigrants from Jiangnan and other places moved to seven guard posts from the south to the north. Think about it for yourself..."

Zhu Di revealed the information he knew, and it had to be said that he was indeed well informed, and the incident at the seven guards also put an end to Zhu Gaoxu's idea of ​​immigrating.

The population of the Ming Dynasty was indeed large in the current world, but it was definitely not large enough to move more than 20 people across seven wards without any pain.

This size, if calculated in proportion to future generations, would be equivalent to tens of millions of immigrants.

Immigration of this magnitude would not be easy for future generations entering the electrical age, let alone the current Ming Dynasty.

It would take at least half a year for these more than 20 people to travel from Huaibei to Kaiping, and from Jiangnan to Yunnan.

To maintain their food rations, they need at least 70 million shi of grain, which is equivalent to a year's tax in many poor provinces.

This is just relocation, not to mention the distribution of farm tools, cloth, cattle and other expenses.

After calculation, this immigration will cost at least 300 million dan.Regarding the addition of the Four Guards in Kaiping, Zhu Gaoxu did not remember, maybe he missed it in reading, but regarding the immigration to the southwest, Zhu Gaoxu can guarantee that Lao Zhu in history never maintained such vigorous efforts.

When he first arrived in the Ming Dynasty, there were only 30 military households in Yunnan.

In his memory, this number has been maintained for decades, but now the number of military households in Yunnan may have exceeded 35.

Such immigrants accelerated the pace of Sinicization in Southwest China and promoted the local economy.

Zhu Gaoxu was happy to see this, but it was a pity that this immigration affected his plans.

During the conversation, Zhu Di took Zhu Gaoxu up to the arrow tower on the city wall. He pointed at the rice fields to the south and asked:

"I wanted to ask this before, how can you grow rice in your place?"

When Zhu Di came to Jilin City, the most surprising thing was not that his second son could pull out five hundred armored cavalry, but that this damn place in Jilin City could actually grow rice.

Regarding his doubts, Zhu Gaoxu could only explain to him about "cultivating seedlings first and then transplanting rice seedlings" and using various means to make the temperature of the seedling fields slightly higher than that of ordinary cultivated fields.

After listening to what he said, Zhu Di's first reaction was that this was a good idea, so he smiled at Zhu Gaoxu and said, "If your method is promoted in the north, I'm afraid it can solve most of the problems in military settlements."

Zhu Di was still looking at things from the perspective of King Yan of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that if he really promoted this rice technology to the entire Liaodong and Daning, then their father and son would suffer a lot.

Daning, Gansu and Liaodong are the three places with the heaviest burden on the Ming Dynasty at present. Among them, Zhu Gaoxu read the memorials when he was in Wuying Palace.

There are more than 35 military households in Daning guarding the border, and their dependents are close to [-]. Due to the low grain yield per acre and the fact that they have to face plunder from the north from time to time, the local self-sufficiency level is extremely poor.

In order to maintain the local population of 10,000+, Lao Zhu not only needs to distribute enough silver ingots every year, but also needs to recruit a large number of civilians in Peking.

In the 19th year of Hongwu alone, in order to transport grain to Daning, the Ming Dynasty conscripted more than 120 civilians and transported more than [-] shi of rice to Daning.

As a result, the 120 shi of grain only lasted Daning for two years. In the 21st year of Hongwu, Daning went back to the countryside to ask for rice.

What is the concept of consuming 120 shi of grain in two years?
Zhu Di's five expeditions to Mobei consumed less than 200 million shi of food on average. Even the most expensive first northern expedition only used 95 shi, and the second and third northern expeditions only used [-] shi. More than [-] and more than [-] stones.

In other words, the food spent on raising a Daning could, on average, allow Zhu Di to go on two expeditions to the north.

Faced with such huge logistical pressure, Zhu Di had no choice but to move the people of Daning to the three prefectures of Beiping after capturing Daning.

During the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Yunwen had been urging Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong to go north to destroy Yan, regardless of the difficulty of the winter march. It was also because if Zhu Di was not dealt with, Peiping's manpower and material resources were mobilized to rescue Daning, and Daning would run out of food.

Compared with Daming, Liaodong, which can be transported by sea, has less logistical pressure, but it is not so small that it can be ignored. It is still a big expense for Daming.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, promoting rice planting methods is "enemies", and this is not in line with his ideas.

He once thought about filling the area outside the customs with foreign population, and this so-called foreign population was actually the three 10,000+ people in Daning.

The inward migration of more than 10,000 people to the three prefectures of Beiping would be a loss for Daming and Zhu Gaoxu, but if they migrated outside the customs, it would be a huge fortune.

However, whether this wealth can be retained depends on whether Zhu Gaoxu can make Bohai self-sufficient while also supporting three 10,000+ people.

Rice is Zhu Gaoxu's trump card outside the Customs. As long as the technology of "cultivating seedlings first and then transplanting" can be successful and can make rice produce a higher grain yield than millet and millet outside the Customs, he can improve Jilin Bay in a short time. population capacity.

As long as Jilin can receive these three 10,000+ people and feed them, it will only take them two or three years to bring Jilin Bay to a higher level.

Once Jilin City is stabilized and Liaodong is captured, Zhu Gaoxu can liberate a large number of military households and let them colonize Liaodong.

By then, Zhu Di's three Peking mansions will be blocking him in the south, and he will be able to carry out large-scale construction in the rear and support Zhu Di at the same time.

When the time is right, they will cross the sea from Jinzhou, go straight to Shandong, and then drive straight to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.

Zhu Gaoxu had already thought out all the steps. The only thing that was holding him back was food.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the acres of rice fields and said without blushing:

"These rice seedlings are still being cultivated. If they are successful, they will naturally be promoted to Liaodong and Daning. But it is not possible right now. This batch is just the first batch of sowing by the boy. Whether it will succeed or not will have to wait until harvesting. Know."

"That's true." Zhu Di did not doubt that he was there. After all, for so many years, he had never heard of anyone growing high-yielding food in Liaodong, let alone rice.

Rushing to promote it will probably only cause losses to Liaodong and Daning, and we still have to wait until it is complete before promoting it.

Zhu Di understood, but he quickly approached Zhu Gaoxu and whispered: "Second brother..."

"You said..." Zhu Gaoxu noticed something was wrong, but he didn't want Zhu Di to say with a smile:
"I know that you kid has secretly learned the skill of looking at Shandian mines. Tell me honestly, are there any gold or silver mines in Beiping?"

"..." Zhu Gaoxu had calculated everything, but he never expected that Zhu Di was thinking about this matter just like Zhu Gaochi.

"Dad, there really is no..." Zhu Gaoxu sighed: "The kid learned this skill from ancient books, and then he looked at the terrain of Peiping and discovered that good gold and silver mines have been mined for a long time."

"Ah?" Hearing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Zhu Di's face showed a trace of disappointment: "I thought you could become my golden egg, but I didn't expect that your kid didn't learn enough."

What he said made Zhu Gaoxu extremely speechless. He really didn't know if there were any hidden gold and silver mines in Yanshan, but he knew that there were enough mineral resources in the Northeast.

It's a pity that he didn't dare to say it out. Once he did, who knows whether Lao Zhu would strengthen his control outside the customs.

In this way, his plan to survive Jingnan would be shattered.

"Forget it, take good care of yourself." Zhu Di suddenly said this, and Zhu Gaoxu was a little surprised.

Facing his gaze, Zhu Di also sighed and said: "The old monk Daoyan said that it is better for us, father and son, to be rare, otherwise I am afraid that many people above the temple will be unhappy."

"I want to help you too, but your grandpa doesn't ask, and you know..."

When it comes to Lao Zhu, Zhu Di starts to hesitate, but this is reasonable.

Not to mention that Zhu Di was afraid, but Zhu Gaoxu was not afraid. If he was not afraid, he would have sent people to the mountains to start making artillery and flintlock guns.

But now Jilin City has suffered a heavy blow. According to Lao Zhu and Zhu Yunwen, it is probably difficult for Jilin City to recover within two or three years.

"Hopefully they can turn their attention elsewhere and give me some time."

Zhu Gaoxu clicked his tongue at this idea, and Zhu Di next to him continued: "Your mother misses you very much, but you can't go see him."

"I will lead my troops back to the south tomorrow. Please write more letters. After I go back, I will give her one from time to time so that she can feel more at ease with you."

When Zhu Di talked about the Xu family, his face was filled with joy as he spoke, but there was a bit of helplessness in his eyes.

Maybe he was blaming himself, but for Zhu Gaoxu, his memories of Xu came from his predecessor.

The predecessor Zhu Gaoxu had a fierce temperament. Even if Mrs. Xu lectured him, he would still talk back. Mrs. Xu was so angry that she chased him and beat him several times. Zhu Di was so angry that he didn't dare to say anything.

In fact, Xu had many misunderstandings with her predecessor, but her predecessor had a stronger temper and was unwilling to explain, which caused many misunderstandings.

Recalling those misunderstandings, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly had a lot of things to say to Mrs. Xu. He didn't know whether it was because he wanted to explain to his predecessor or to comfort Mrs. Xu for his predecessor. In short, he now had a lot to say to Mrs. Xu.

"Don't worry, Dad, I will write a letter when I get back in the evening."

Zhu Gaoxu's tone was much softer, which made Zhu Di a little surprised, and said in his heart, "This child has changed his gender too completely." '

"It still scares my dad..."

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di really felt pity for him. After all, being stared at all day must be uncomfortable. After all, his eldest brother Zhu Biao was also surprised by his father Zhu Yuanzhang.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di reached out and patted Zhu Gaoxu on the shoulder: "Good boy, you have grown up."

"After all, the boy is already seventeen." Zhu Gaoxu didn't think deeply, just explained with a smile, and at the same time he and Zhu Di got off the arrow tower.

The two of them continued to wander around the city. Occasionally they encountered something that Zhu Di was interested in, so he stopped to ask. He was especially interested in the cement made by Zhu Gaoxu, which made Zhu Gaoxu more generous in the future and gave him a few gifts. A craftsman in this area.

Zhu Gaoxu naturally agreed to this, but this verbal generosity may not come until the Battle of Jingnan.

If things like cement were controlled by the imperial court, with the current size of the Ming Dynasty, they could completely fortify the city and trap him and Zhu Di to death.

After wandering around for a long time, Zhu Di took Zhu Gaoxu back to the Bohai Palace.

Zhu Gaoxu also wanted to let him rest in the palace, but he said that he was not used to living there and that the military camp outside the city was more suitable for him.

The father and son said nothing more, but before leaving, Zhu Di once again told Zhu Gaoxu to write a letter to Xu, and then left.

After all, they are father and son. Although the two of them have a lot to talk about, they can't talk about it without any distractions.

Zhu Di wants to maintain his father's dignity, and Zhu Gaoxu wants to hide his innermost secrets. Both of them have their own concerns.

However, compared to facing Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know why, but he was much less defensive about the Xu family who was thousands of miles away.

When he returned to Cunxin Hall, he originally planned to write a few letters, but he unknowingly wrote more and more letters, making it difficult to stop.

The next day, as promised yesterday, Zhu Di buried a pot to cook rice at Maoshi. After eating a meal of mutton, he led the cavalry and left Jilin City.

Before leaving, Zhu Gaoxu came to deliver a letter, but the father and son did not say much.

When the team went north, Zhu Gaoxu followed him on horseback for a long time. Zhu Di saw it, but he did not stop. Until he could no longer see Zhu Gaoxu, he said to Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu on the left and right:
"Gao Xu has changed too much. Maybe the events in Nanjing have hit him too hard."

"Indeed." Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng nodded, subconsciously looking at the thick letter placed on Zhu Di's horse.

At a glance, it seems that there are probably dozens of letters.

In the past, the Zhu Gaoxu they knew well would definitely not have written so many things to discipline Xu, who was very strict with him, but now the situation is reversed.

While the two of them were thinking, Zhu Di also urged his horse to take a few steps forward, walked out of the army, and came to the side of the team.

He reined in his horse and looked in the direction of Jilin City. Even though he could no longer see anything about Jilin City, he could still feel the location of Jilin City.

Looking at the horizon, Zhu Di grinned: "The second son of my family will definitely be able to manage this place well in the future..."

　"Bohai Chronicles": On Bingwu in April, Taizong returned after chasing Yuan soldiers, entered Jilin City, and was very happy to meet Shangyan soldiers.

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": On Bingwu in April, Taizong chased Yuan soldiers to the Songhua River and returned. He led his troops into Jilin City. He came out of the city to greet Queen Chengxiao Ming, Guo. People from all over saw him and worshiped him. Taizong was very happy to see him. Talking to Duke Qi and Duke Cheng that "the two sons are like me"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)