Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 240 Embarrassing situation

"What are you talking about? The second brother took down Daning?!"

In Beiping Chengyun Hall, only one day later, Zhu Di received the news that Zhu Gaoxu had captured Songting Pass and the entire Daning.

When the news came, not only him, but everyone in the palace was stunned.

Yesterday, they were still worried that they had not captured Shanhaiguan and could not unite their troops to deal with Geng Bingwen. However, only one day later, Zhu Gaoxu captured all [-] guards of Daning.

"Back to Your Highness, my Highness has captured the [-]nd Guards of Daning, defeated the invading Yuan General Harawu, and captured Harawu alive."

"My Highness sent the generals to ask how much food and fodder is left in Peiping. Our army's food and fodder are already insufficient."

Wu Meng, a thousand-household official in Bohai, stood in the middle of the palace, bowed to Zhu Di and opened his mouth.

As soon as he said these words, Zhu Gaochi was the first to speak: "There are still more than [-] million stones."

"Can you allocate one million stones to go to Liaodong?" Wu Meng was not polite and asked for more than one hundred grains.

"This..." Hearing that Zhu Gaoxu wanted so much as soon as he opened his mouth, Zhu Gaochi immediately turned his attention to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di was very happy at this moment. He stood up and laughed happily before replying: "Food can be allocated, but first you tell me how many soldiers and horses your Highness has, and when can Ningyuan be conquered? "

Zhu Di was very curious about how many soldiers his second son had now, and Wu Meng did not disappoint him: "We in Bohai should have [-] soldiers now. After His Highness defeats Liu Song in a few days, there should be [-], but His Highness said The entire army will not exceed [-]."

"Ninety thousand? Still raising troops?"

Listening to Wu Meng's words, Zhang Yu, Qiu Fu and others looked at each other.

You must know that the soldiers and horses in Peiping, Daning, and Liaodong are already very elite. To organize an army among such elites, Zhu Gaoxu's vision is really high.

"Don't organize an army!"

Sure enough, after hearing Wu Meng's words, Zhu Di quickly interrupted: "If he thinks there are too many troops, ask him to send them to me. Don't waste it."

"In addition, you said that he would defeat Liu Song soon, but what are your thoughts?"

"You can't talk about this general." Wu Meng is very principled. Like most of the generals in Bohai, he only has a slightly better attitude towards the Yan army. He only respects Zhu Di because of the father of his highness, and does not have the military commanders such as Daning and Liaodong. The admiration that soldiers and horses have for Zhu Di.

"Okay, you go back and tell the second brother that if he can take Liaoxi, I will have someone transport one million dan of food to him. But I don't have enough civilians here, so I'll ask him to send some troops."

"In addition, this is military information from the south. Geng Bingwen's [-] troops are about to go north. Teach him to arrange his own affairs early, and then go south to confront the enemy with me."

Zhu Di handed over a letter, and one of the two beardless but bronze-skinned men standing beside him stepped out and handed the letter to Wu Meng.

Wu Meng received the information and then bowed: "The general will return to Daning now. Your Highness can withdraw the troops from Jizhou, Changping, and Miyun."

After the words fell, Wu Meng turned around and left, while Qiu Fu frowned and waited until he was far away before speaking: "The soldiers under the Second Highness are indeed elite, but they are too unruly."

"It's better to be proud..." Zhu Di looked at Wu Meng who left and the Bohai soldiers who followed him.

The soldiers of the Bohai Sea were all raised by Zhu Gaoxu. Even people who don't know soldiers can see how brave they are, let alone Zhu Di.

"We have to find a way to get some Bohai soldiers from under the old man."

Zhu Di said what was in his heart. Everyone looked at each other after hearing this. Zhu Di also coughed after reacting: "Ahem, the second brother has never led an army of hundreds of thousands. If you give him these soldiers, he may not be able to compete with them." Bring it, I'll carry it for him, and I'll just return it when the time comes."

Although he said this, everyone knew that nothing he borrowed was ever returned.

Seeing him gearing up, all the generals felt sorry for their Second Highness, but Zhu Gaochi was the only one who felt his mood hit rock bottom.

Among the crowd, Yao Guangxiao was keenly aware of his changes, but did not speak.

"Okay, everyone, retreat and withdraw the troops from Miyun, Changping, and Jizhou. Now I have more troops at my disposal, and the chance of winning against Geng Bingwen, the old marquis, will be greater."

Zhu Di smiled happily, obviously thinking of his high-spirited appearance when he controlled Zhu Gaoxu and commanded an army of hundreds of thousands.

"I'll take my leave..."

Everyone stood up and retreated, including Zhu Gaochi. Only Yao Guangxiao stood up but did not leave.

After Zhu Di was happy, he also saw Yao Guangxiao who had not stood up. He knew that Yao Guangxiao had something to say to him, so after Zhu Gaochi and the others left, he stepped down from the high platform and asked Yao Guangxiao: "Old monk, if you don't leave, are you going to talk to him?" Shall I eat?"

"Has Your Highness ever thought about how the Crown Prince and His Highness will get along in the future?"

Yao Guangxiao spoke bluntly, and Zhu Di was stunned by this question.

To be honest, he hadn't thought that far yet, because his mind was basically occupied by how to defeat Geng Bingwen.

Of course, he didn't expect that his second brother was so good at fighting. Within three months of the war, he had captured most of Liaodong and the entire Daning.

Now that Yao Guangxiao reminded him, he naturally knew what Yao Guangxiao wanted to say.

Zhu Gaochi's crown prince position was canonized by Lao Zhu, in order to prevent Zhu Gaoxu from inheriting the Yan Mansion, so as not to increase the threat of the Yan Mansion to the imperial court.

But maybe even Lao Zhu could not have imagined that Zhu Gaoxu could actually pull nearly [-] troops southward in less than a year after his death, and defeat the Liaodong capital in three months and capture Daning.

"Right now, His Highness has nearly a million civilians in his hands. In a few days, he will have as many as [-] soldiers and horses. His power will be even greater than yours."

Yao Guangxiao talked eloquently and analyzed the current situation: "You have also seen the soldiers and generals of Bohai. They are so unruly. They only obey the words of His Highness, and they only maintain basic respect for you."

"Right now, they still have more than [-] officers and soldiers in western Liaoning and more than [-] officers and soldiers in Jiulian City. Once they deal with these people, Bohai and Liaodong will have peace of mind, because you will be blocking them in front."

"Since you can sit back and relax, there is no need to enter the customs."

"The reason why they need to enter the customs is nothing more than to conquer the world for His Highness."

"Under this situation, if the crown prince has always occupied the crown prince position, then I dare to ask the soldiers of Bohai, why do they still enter the pass to fight?"

Yao Guangxiao questioned Zhu Di. Zhu Di's political skills were not bad. He naturally knew what he wanted to say, so he couldn't help but remain silent.

Seeing his silence, Yao Guangxiao could only increase his intensity: "If the throne of the Crown Prince does not belong to His Highness, and Jianwen changes his mind and chooses to confer the title of Sandu Si to His Highness, do you think that the proud soldiers and generals under His Highness will choose to fight?" Officers and soldiers, will they turn around and attack you?"

"Even if His Highness the Second Highness stops it, the best outcome is just to sit back and watch."

"People say that when everyone gathers firewood, the flames are high, but the person who controls the temperature of the fire is also restricted by the firewood that everyone collects?"

"You have to consider the feelings of Commander Zhang, Commander Zhu and others. Your Highness also needs to consider the feelings of his generals."

After Yao Guangxiao finished saying everything, he stopped talking. Instead, Zhu Di sorted out the whole story after being reminded.

His current situation is even more embarrassing than that of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.

Li Yuan and Li Shimin, at least before they conquered Chang'an and even before Li Shimin went to fight Xue Ju, were all from the same team. Li Shimin also used Li Yuan's troops and selected people from Li Yuan's generals.

Even before the Xuanwu Gate Incident, most of Li Shimin's generals came from Li Yuan's account. These people just chose Li Shimin.

What about myself and my second child?

He has not had much contact with the people under his second son, and they are not convinced by him. On the contrary, Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, Zhang Yu and others under him are closer to Zhu Gaoxu, and they can only be said to have a superior-subordinate relationship with Zhu Gaochi.

Under such circumstances, it was easier for Zhu Di to become the Supreme Emperor than Li Yuan, and Zhu Gaochi even had a rare chance to compete. After all, Li Jiancheng still had some soldiers and horses to interfere with Li Yuan, but Zhu Gaochi had nothing.

"You want me to dethrone Gao Chi as heir apparent?"

Zhu Di spoke after a long silence, but Yao Guangxiao shook his head: "I don't know, but I think it is necessary to remind you."

"Unless you feel that the Crown Prince is more capable than the Second Highness, it is best not to follow Tang Gaozu's example and play checks and balances between the two Highnesses."

Yao Guangxiao's words were quite restrained. After all, except for Yuchi Gong and several surrendered generals, the people under Li Shimin's command all had relationships with Li Yuan and did not dare to attack Li Yuan directly.

But looking at Zhu Gaoxu's side, few people in the Bohai Navy have anything to do with Zhu Di. They don't feel guilty about doing anything to Zhu Di, especially the savage Jurchens in Beishan. They don't care about secular morality.

If Zhu Di dares to play a balance game between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi, I am afraid that the civil war in the Yan Mansion will break out halfway through.

"Gao Chi..."

Zhu Di's face was complicated, but what he murmured was Zhu Gaochi's name.

Yao Guangxiao knew why he was in trouble. After all, throughout the ages, even if a father and his son abdicated and succeeded, it would be difficult for them to achieve a satisfactory result, let alone brothers.

Of course, what is more fatal is the fate of the sons of Zhao Kuangyin in the former Song Dynasty. Although most of them had a happy ending, the most threatening Zhao Dezhao really committed suicide after being scolded.

Zhao Dezhao is like this, what about Zhu Gaochi?

Although the seniority is different, the threat is always there. Even if Zhu Gaoxu doesn't want to kill him, what about Bohai?

"Just now, the poor monk saw the prince's complicated expression. It seems that he has already thought of this matter."

Yao Guangxiao spoke, and this incident made Zhu Di a little uncomfortable. He raised his hand to interrupt Yao Guangxiao:

"I'll think about this matter myself. Besides, the second brother still knows the general idea. Next time I meet him, I'll ask him what he thinks."

Zhu Di placed his hope on Zhu Gaoxu and wanted him to tell him the answer.

This is a kind of shirk, but Yao Guangxiao can understand him.

If Zhu Di did not value family ties, then Zhu Gaoxu would have been tied up and given to Zhu Yunwen by him when he was in Wuliangha Tucheng. Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui would not even be able to return to Peiping.

His success was due to family ties, because family ties allowed him to keep Zhu Gaoxu, which in turn contributed to the destruction of both Liaodong and Daning today.

He was also defeated by family ties, which made it difficult for him to choose between Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu.

"Actually, it's too early to say this. I haven't even seen the Yellow River yet."

Zhu Di came to smooth things over with a smile. The reason why he used this excuse to smooth things over was because before today, he had never thought that he could win the world, so naturally he would not think about the problems caused by the position of crown prince. But things are different today. The combined number of father and son is [-], and there are many cavalry. There are no strong enemies outside, and they have the capital to compete in the world.

In fact, if Zhu Di was given time, it wouldn't take long for Zhu Di, who had experienced today's news of Daning's surrender, to think about the issue of the crown prince. Yao Guangxiao just pointed it out in advance.

"The poor monk retires..."

Seeing what Zhu Di said, Yao Guangxiao also bowed and then slowly exited the Chengyun Hall.

Watching him leave, Zhu Di hesitated for a moment and then returned to the front bedroom in the backyard of Yan Mansion.

Here, he saw the happy Mrs. Xu.

At this moment, she is happily writing a letter, and needless to say, this letter is naturally addressed to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Sister Xu, have you got the news?"

Zhu Di forced a smile and walked into the hall. When Mrs. Xu heard his footsteps, she knew it was him, but she did not look back. She smiled and wrote a letter saying: "Of course I got the news, so I wrote to ask Gao Warm situation."

"Hmm..." Zhu Di walked over to Mrs. Xu and sat down, without speaking for more than a dozen breaths.

Sensing something was wrong with him, Xu also put down the brush in her hand and looked back at him in confusion: "How come you didn't react to such news?"

"I..." Zhu Di hesitated, but finally decided to tell Mrs. Xu what Yao Guangxiao said.

He slowly opened his mouth to explain why he couldn't be happy. After hearing this, Mrs. Xu's expression gradually changed from happy to solemn.

"Your Highness, what do you think?"

Mrs. Xu asked Zhu Di, but Zhu Di looked troubled: "I don't know either. I think the second brother will not do anything to the boss, so I want to wait for him to lead troops into the pass and talk to him."

"Yes." Mrs. Xu breathed a sigh of relief. She was most worried about His Highness playing a check and balance game.

"Since the matter hasn't been decided yet, don't think about it for the time being. Let's talk to Gao Xu after he gets home."

Mrs. Xu comforted Zhu Di, then turned around and continued writing a letter home to Zhu Gaoxu.

Looking at her back, Zhu Di could only blame Zhu Yunwen as the cause of all this.

If he hadn't cut down the vassal so ruthlessly, he wouldn't have raised an army, and his family wouldn't have been in this situation.

As a result, Zhu Di even complained to his former eldest brother Zhu Biao.

Maybe he didn't even know it, but his attitude towards Zhu Biao began to gradually change because of Zhu Yunwen.

Similarly, under his arrangement, soldiers and horses from Miyun and other cities were sent outside Beiping City. For a time, Zhu Di had more troops at his disposal, and the situation began to become difficult to figure out.

"Your Highness, a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!!"

Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and when the singing ceremony began, Zhu Gaoxu also led his army back to Daning City from Songting Pass.

Compared with half a month ago, the population inside and outside Daning City has become much larger at this time, especially the soldiers and horses.

Chen Heng did not go out of the city to meet Zhu Gaoxu, after all, he had to avoid suspicion for a while.

On the other hand, Zhu Quan, Zhao Mu and others who had also surrendered met him outside the city.

"There are too many people outside. Let's go to the Yamen to talk about things first."

Zhu Gaoxu and the two people standing at the gate of the city gave orders, and the two decisively got on their horses and headed towards the capital commander's Yamen.

When they returned here, Chen Heng and several generals were already waiting here.

They stepped forward one by one to introduce themselves. Needless to say, Bu Wan and Chen Heng were among them. What surprised Zhu Gaoxu was the three brothers Fang Kuan and Chen Mao.

Fang Kuan joined the army in the [-]th year of Hongwu's reign and was now in his mid-forties, not too young. Before the war, he was arranged by Bu Wan to garrison at Lengkou Pass. When he saw Chen Heng's generals, he immediately surrendered.

The oldest of the three Chen Mao brothers is Chen Gong, who is twenty-nine years old, followed by Chen Zhong, who is twenty-six years old, and finally Chen Mao, who is twenty-one years old.

The three brothers look similar to Chen Heng. Their facial features are not outstanding, but they have thick eyebrows and big eyes. Judging from their appearance, they are loyal and brave people.

However, judging from the historical situation of the three brothers, although they were able to fight, their hands were not particularly clean. This was basically a common problem among the Ming Dynasty border troops.

In the future, if Zhu Gaoxu wants to strictly manage the army, he will naturally have to put an end to these things, so he has to polish these three people.

Of course, among the three brothers Chen Gong, Zhu Gaoxu valued Chen Mao most.

After all, Chen Mao lived from the Hongwu period to the Tianshun period. If he hadn't suddenly fallen ill, Zhu Gaoxu doubted that he would have survived until Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne.

If you polish it well, you may be able to serve four generations of your family. After all, my frail and sick eldest brother has lived forty-eight years. I am strong and strong, so it is impossible to live shorter than him.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu sat on the main seat, looked at the people in front of him, and first talked about the direction in general:

"Right now, only the four cities in western Liaoning and the Jiulian City in eastern Liaoning can hinder our army north of Peiping."

"I am going south this time in order to appease the emperor and purge the sycophants."

"If the eldest brother is willing to hand over Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, then I will naturally stay outside the customs. But right now, the eldest brother is still stubborn, doting on the sycophants, suppressing the military attaches and the vassal kings like me."

Zhu Gaoxu pulled the Daning generals to the same front as him, and then continued: "My father asked Wu Meng, the official of Qianhu, to bring me news that as long as the Liaoxi Corridor is opened, millions of shi of grain can be transported into Liaodong. Help the people open up wasteland."

"I know that some of you are unwilling to do anything to the former soldiers. It doesn't matter. Your enemy is not the Southern Army, but the Northerners."

After that, Zhu Gaoxu said to everyone: "The Marquis of Changxing led an army of [-] people to the north. My father's side did not have enough men, so the army will not be reduced. Today, Chen Heng is ordered to be the commander of the Liaodong capital, and Bu Wan is the commander of the northern parallel ( Daning) is the commander-in-chief of the capital, and Wang Yi is the commander-in-chief of the Bohai Sea."

"Promote Zhao Mu to be the commander of Peiping Capital, Chen Gong to be the commander of Peiping Capital, and Chen Mao to be the commander of Guangning Guards."

"In addition, the military affairs of the Peking capital are all under the control of Ning Wang Zhu Quan. The generals will lead their own troops and obey them. They will guard this place well for our Ming Dynasty and prevent the Hu soldiers from entering the invaders again."

After taking over Daning, those who work hard will naturally have to be promoted and knighted. Although they can't be promoted at the moment, there is no problem in getting promoted.

Bu Wan is definitely not willing to go south to fight the Southern Army. In this case, just let him stay in Daning.

Chen Heng and Chen Mao will be sent to Liaodong by themselves. Chen Mao will definitely go south with him, while Chen Heng will cultivate himself well in Liaodong.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness..."

The generals bowed in response, and Zhu Gaoxu also continued: "Over in Beiping, my father needs some soldiers and horses, so I plan to promote Fang Kuan to be the commander of the capital of Daning and lead [-] Daning infantry to go south."

"General, take your orders!" Fang Kuan stood up. Indeed, he was not very familiar with Zhu Gaoxu and more familiar with Zhu Di, so he was happy to go to Peking.

Seeing that he agreed, Zhu Gaoxu continued to speak: "Chen Zhong and Li Yuan organized the military households in each capital of Daning and began to move to Guangning tomorrow. Only [-] people from Daning's [-] guards, three stations and eight gates need to be left behind. Five thousand military households and their families will be enough, and the rest will all move to Liaodong to serve the people, and the post of seventh-grade Sima will be set up to clear up wasteland with the immigrant people."

"From now on, all the people under my command in Bohai will receive daily rice, two kilograms of grain for adults and one and a half kilograms for minors. All the reclaimed fields will be owned by the people who reclaimed the land. Miscellaneous taxes will be eliminated and only land taxes will be levied. There will be five land taxes and one land tax."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about his policies with the generals, and most of these policies have been implemented in the Bohai Sea for a long time. The middle and lower-level officers and soldiers may not know it, but they naturally understand it.

This policy requires continuous food shipments from the south to be sustained. However, the size of the Bohai Sea is far different from that of the entire customs, and the amount of food required will probably be a staggering amount.

However, Chen Heng and others didn't say anything about this. After all, they didn't need to worry about food.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had finished giving all the instructions, Chen Heng stood up and bowed: "Your Highness, may I ask when our army will set off to Guangning?"

When asked, Zhu Gaoxu responded without hesitation: "Tomorrow I will set out with six thousand cavalry, and at the same time, I will bring along all the family members of Guangning officers and soldiers as the first batch of people to move."

"Before this, please ask Old General Chen to send someone to secretly contact the Daning soldiers in Guangning City. If they are willing to surrender, the fields of the four guards of Guangning can be divided equally among them."

Zhu Gaoxu was very generous in his actions. The four guards of Guangning had no less than [-] acres of farmland. The number of combat troops and garrison troops from Daning to Guangning was about [-], of which [-] garrison troops were transported to Yizhou and Zhongzuowei. Give grain to Liu Song in Guangning City.

If these [-] people are equally divided into [-] acres of cultivated land, then each person can get [-] acres.

Of course, if you include their families, it’s basically three acres per person, but it’s still a lot.

If such conditions are proposed, many garrison soldiers who are unwilling to serve as soldiers may respond positively.

"In addition..." Zhu Gaoxu continued: "If you are selected into our Bohai Navy, each person will be given ten acres of enlistment land, twenty shi of military rations per year, and eight guan of money as military pay."

"This condition is not only a condition for recruiting soldiers from Guangning, but also a condition for any southern soldiers in the future."

"If you are willing to serve the people, the land will be divided equally. If you are willing to serve the army, you will still be given ten acres of enlisted land. Military pay will be paid as just mentioned."

Zhu Gaoxu wants to kill people, and he also wants to kill people.

He wanted to know how many of the millions of military households in the world were still willing to support Zhu Yunwen when faced with such a policy, and how many were willing to support him who issued the policy to them.

Among them, especially among the millions of military households, the seven or eight hundred thousand garrison troops who lived the most difficult life were the focus of his attention.

As long as you master this group of people, it will become very easy...

　"Bohai Chronicles": "Yiwei, [-] people moved up to Daning and entered Liao."

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In Yiwei, I heard that the military households in Daning were in poverty, so I specially moved [-] people from Ning to Liao to make the border with Liao rich."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)