Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 280: Comforting the Generals

"squeak"

In the early morning of June, a carriage slowly stopped at the gate of Wudinghou Mansion.

Under the surprised eyes of the guards of the Hou Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu stepped down from the carriage, followed by hundreds of cavalry as guards.

"See Your Highness!"

As guards of the Hou Mansion, many of them had seen Zhu Gaoxu when they escorted Guo Yan north. Naturally, they knew that their grandson was coming home, and they all bowed and saluted.

"Everyone, please get up. Grandpa-in-law is in the house, right?"

"exist!"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, and the guard responded quickly. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also raised his head and walked into the Wuding Hou Mansion.

Seeing him walking in, the guard also quickly ran to the back door to inform the concierge and maids, asking them to tell Guo Ying that the prince was here.

Everyone knows that there is only one crown prince today, and he is still the grandson of his own residence, so the entire Wuding Hou Mansion began to become busy.

In such a fuss, Guo Ying raised her head in confusion: "What's going on in the house? Why are you so confused?"

"Dad! The prince is here!"

As the fourth son of Guo Ying, Guo Yong, now the chief minister of the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion, ran all the way into the study. After hearing this, Guo Ying frowned and leaned sideways on the chair.

Seeing him like this, Guo Yong immediately complained: "Dad, the prince has come to visit, what are you still doing here?"

"Why should I go?" Guo Ying asked Guo Yong: "Anyway, the person is about to be buried. It's up to him to catch him or do whatever he wants."

"Stop making trouble..." Guo Yong was about to cry but had no tears. His eldest and second brothers were gone, and the Wuding Marquis Mansion was entirely supported by Guo Ying.

When Zhu Gaoxu surrounded the capital, Guo Yong almost clapped his hands with joy, so that among those who later surrendered, he was also the most active.

He is not Guo Yan's father, but he is Guo Yan's fourth uncle, so he can be considered a relative of the emperor.

As long as he hugs Zhu Gaoxu's thigh a little, he might also be able to become the Duke of the country.

Even Guo Yong suspected that if it weren't for his father and Jianwen's advice, his family would be the Duke's Palace now.

"I can't sit back and do nothing if Emperor Gao treats me like this."

"If he thinks I'm not doing something right, he can take away my title."

"father……"

"No one can say what my grandfather-in-law did was wrong!"

Guo Ying's words were tough. After hearing this, Guo Yong quickly wanted to dissuade him, but before he could speak, Zhu Gaoxu's voice appeared.

Guo Ying and Guo Yong subconsciously looked at the door, and sure enough they saw Zhu Gaoxu walking into the study at a fast pace.

He glanced at Guo Yong, and then focused on Guo Ying. The attitude of a superior looking down on others was full of oppression.

The last time Guo Ying felt it was with Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, Zhu Gaoxu is taller and burlier than Zhu Yuanzhang, and his eyes are more aggressive, so he feels more oppressive.

"I heard about what my grandfather-in-law did, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

"But now that Jianwen has set himself on fire, my grandfather-in-law no longer needs to continue to be foolishly loyal."

Zhu Gaoxu came forward and poured a cup of tea for Guo Ying.

"The Crown Princess will be moving south in a few days, and my grandfather-in-law doesn't want her to be in trouble..."

Zhu Gaoxu handed over the tea cup and looked at Guo Ying. This was the reunion of the two after many years of separation.

I have to say that Zhu Gaoxu is more feared than when he was in Wulianghatu City.

Guo Ying stretched out his hand to take the teacup, pondered for a moment and then said: "I'm old anyway, if you need anything, just tell my unfilial fourth son."

After that, he drank the tea in one gulp. It was very hot, but Guo Ying drank it.

Zhu Gaoxu saw this and knew that he really had no intention of continuing to serve as an official in the court, so he said: "In recent days, there are always people outside saying that my grandfather-in-law does not like my father."

"It's just that when I came to take a look today, I'm afraid the transmission was wrong..."

"Yes, yes! The transmission was wrong!" Guo Yong quickly smoothed things over, while Guo Ying remained calm and did not speak.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that Guo Ying probably said such things, otherwise he would not be caught by others.

But now that he is here and there are still people trying to catch him, things will not be so easy to deal with.

"Since the message was wrong, I'll leave. As for Fourth Uncle, let's work in Qian's position for the time being."

"If my grandfather-in-law has time, please come into the palace and say hello to my father. After all, my father also misses the time he spent working with my grandfather-in-law in Peking."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Guo Yong. Guo Yong was ecstatic when he heard this and was glad that his official position was saved.

Guo Ying, on the other hand, is no longer as unruly as he was before. After all, if he was really unruly, he wouldn't have been alive until now. He should have been targeted during the Hongwu period.

After turning around and leaving, Zhu Gaoxu cured Guo Ying's temper with just a few words.

Guo Yong sent him out of the house with a smile on his face, and not long after, he sent him to the carriage. After the carriage left, Guo Yong also ordered people to set off firecrackers at the gate of the Hou Mansion to celebrate that the prince came to the house and recognized his relatives.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was supporting the Guo Mansion, those who were chasing after rumors could only suppress their own thoughts.

There are many people who are trying to catch the wind. Everyone wants to show their loyalty to the new dynasty, and the best way to show loyalty is to pull and step on them.

Yu Xin, Xia Yuanji, Huang Fu, Li Jinglong, Wu Gao, Yu Tongyuan, Ping An, Sheng Yong, Xu Kai, Wu Jie and many other civil servants and military generals during the Jianwen period were impeached, and even Bohai was involved.

Bohai may not pursue the others, but the soldiers of Bohai have a lot of resentment towards Wu Gao, Yu Tongyuan, Ping An, Liu Zhen and others.

Today, in addition to standing up for Guo Ying, Zhu Gaoxu also needs to stand up for this group of people.

Therefore, his carriage gradually went further and further, and gradually came to the gate of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.

At this moment, the capital city is mainly dominated by Bohai's 6,000 fine cavalry and Yanfu's 5,000 old fine cavalry, as well as the 30,000 Shangzhi who have withdrawn from Jiangbei.

Wherever Zhu Gaoxu went, the local government office would be taken over by hundreds of Bohai elite cavalry following him, and the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion was no exception.

Today is perhaps the most depressing day since the founding of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

In the open space outside the central hall of the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion, hundreds of chairs were arranged neatly and divided into three groups.

There are also two chairs placed at the entrance of the nave, but someone has already sat down on one of them, that is Zhu Di who came to join in the fun.

In other words, Zhu Di wanted to see how Zhu Gaoxu arranged the world's troops.

Since the end of the canonization of heroes, most of them have only had titles and official positions, but in fact they do not have much power.

Zhu Gaoxu convened the old and new members at the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion today in order to properly allocate their whereabouts and prevent them from causing trouble.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

When the singing started, Zhu Di, who was sitting on a chair discussing matters with Qiu Fu, Zhang Wu and others, also looked towards the door.

Sure enough, Zhu Gaoxu arrived after a long journey and was receiving the singing ceremony from the Bohai generals and soldiers.

Qiu Fu, Zhang Wu, and other generals of the Southern Army, who had made no other movements except singing salutes to Zhu Di, began to stand up one after another to bow and salute Zhu Gaoxu.

After Zhu Gaoxu simply nodded and said hello, he came to Zhu Di's side and saluted, and then took a seat under Zhu Di's nod.

When he took his seat, everyone also took their seats.

After scanning the crowd, Zhu Gaoxu tilted his head and looked at Zhu Di: "Does father have any thoughts on transferring the generals in Peiping, Shaanxi, and Shanxi?"

"Zhu Yong, Qiu Fu, and Li Bin in Peiping, Zhang Yu, Zhang Fu, and Liu Sheng in Shanxi, and Liu Rong, Zhang Xin, and Zhang Wu in Shaanxi. I will draw up a detailed note for you. Just don't arrange these three places for the time being. "

After all, Zhu Di has to take care of the Yanfu faction, and Zhu Gaoxu also chooses to respect his ideas. However, as for the generals of the Yanfu, he only thinks Zhu Yong, Zhang Yu and Zhang Fu are good. The younger ones Li Yuan and Meng Ying are also good, and the others are all good. It's to the extent of leading tens of thousands of troops, so forget about entrusting them with important responsibilities.

Zhu Di only retained his opinions on the three capitals, which gave Zhu Gaoxu room to play.

His eyes first moved to the generals left over from the Jianwen period, mainly Li Jinglong, Wu Gao, Yu Tongyuan, Ping An and others.

"The country has just been established, and the world is not at peace."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, all the generals listened attentively, and he also arranged for them:

"At present, the Luoluo and Yao Miao rebellions in Yunnan, Sichuan Xingdusi, and Guangxi are endless, all because of the instigation of local officials."

"Therefore, the imperial court intends to change the chieftains who do not accept the king's rule to official status, or to abolish them directly."

"Now Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao State, is appointed as the Pingqiang General, Jiangyin Marquis Wu Gao is the former general, and Wu Jie is the deputy general. He controls the twelve guards in the north of the Yangtze River and 50,000 troops and their families to go to Guangxi and return home."

Zhu Gaoxu chose to transfer Li Jinglong, Wu Gao and other old ministers to Guangxi, next door to Yunnan, where the old ministers also gathered.

"The Qinghai bandits invaded many times, and they transferred Yue Yu Tongyuan, the governor, Ping'an, Xu Kai, and Yu Jing to lead 3,000 cavalry guards in Jinghe Prefecture to garrison Xining."

"The commander-in-chief Qian Shi Sheng Yong, Song Xuan, and Fang Kuan were transferred to lead 30,000 troops left in Beiping and Henan and their families to move to Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Liangzhou respectively."

Zhu Gaoxu basically placed all the old ministers of Jianwen next to his former ministers, but he was not afraid that these people had evil intentions.

With Song Sheng in the northwest and three Fu brothers and Wang Xuan and his son in the southwest, this fight can still be suppressed.

"I will teach you..."

When Li Jinglong and others heard this, they stood up one after another, knowing that Zhu Gaoxu was protecting them.

Zhu Gaoxu also had a headache. Although because of his participation, the conflict between the Southern Army and the Yan Army was not as grand as in history, there were still many grievances.

In order to take care of the Yanfu generals and the Bohai generals, he could only transfer Li Jinglong and Sheng Yong to the northwest and southwest.

However, after arranging them, Zhu Gaoxu also turned his attention to Bohai, which had the largest number of people present.

"The Duke of Shen, Wang Yi, is appointed the commander of the capital of Daning, the Duke of Liao, Meng Zhang, is appointed the commander of the capital of Bohai, and the commander-in-chief Yang Wen is appointed the commander of the capital of Liaodong."

"The governor-general Fu Rang is appointed as the commander-in-chief of Shandong, the governor-general Lin Su is the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang, the Marquis of Changchun Xu Sheng is the commander-in-chief of Jiangxi, the Marquis of Zhaozhou Chen Chang is the commander-general of Huguang, the Marquis of Hanzhou..."

Zhu Gaoxu successively awarded real-power official positions to many knighted officials in Bohai, from Sichuan to Huguang, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Zhili to Henan, Shandong, Liaodong, Daning, Bohai...

It can be said that these local commanders, commanders, and colleagues are basically all handled by him.

The only ones left to the Yan Mansion were Shanxi Xingdusi (Hetao) and Shaanxi Xingdusi, as well as the three capitals of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Peiping. He did this to prevent anyone from the court from thinking about abolishing Shanxi Xingdusi in the Hetao area, and to increase investment in the local area.

However, the Hetao is like useless to the Ming Dynasty. It is useless to eat and it is a pity to abandon it.

The Ming Dynasty spent more than 200,000 dan every year to maintain the local Dongsheng Guard, but there was no trace of the Mongols in the entire Monan, so that the local defenders had nothing to do every day.

But it doesn’t matter. Zhu Gaoxu will soon start the trend of infrastructure construction in Hetao, making the front and back areas full of life.

But before that, he still needed to speak:

"Besides the Fifth Military Governor's Office, there is a special Navy Commander's Office, an autocratic river navy, and a marine navy."

"Gong Yang Zhan of the State of Yue is granted the title of Right Commander of the Navy, with a first-class official position."

"Yang Qiu, Marquis of Chongming, is the left commander of the Navy, with a first-class official position."

"Pingjiang Marquis Chen Xuan, Bohai Marquis Zheng Jun, Donghai Marquis Cui Jun and other three people are the commander-in-chief of the navy, and they are from the first rank."

"The navy is organized into seven groups: Donghaiwei, Dongyangwei, Whalewei, Nanyangwei, Nanyangwei, Xihaiwei and Xiyangwei. It mainly controls the East, South and West."

The Fifth Army Governor's Mansion became the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion. Everyone attributed Zhu Gaoxu's emphasis on the navy to the reason why he captured the capital. Little did they know that Zhu Gaoxu valued the navy because the navy would bring huge benefits to the Ming Dynasty in the future.

After finishing the arrangements for his headquarters, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Zhu Di, who also announced the transfer of several other Dusi and Xingdu divisions.

Zhang Yu temporarily acts as the commander-in-chief of the Shanxi capital, Zhu Yong acts as the commander-in-chief of the Peiping capital, Song Sheng acts as the commander-in-chief of the Shaanxi capital, Zhang Xin acts as the commander-in-chief of the Shaanxi capital, and Qiu Fu acts as the commander-in-chief of the Shanxi capital.

The remaining official positions such as Du Commander Tongzhi and Du Commander Qian Shi were also arranged accordingly. However, even so, the Yan Mansion was still in short supply of generals and many of them had no real power.

For this reason, after discussing with Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di expanded the Shangzhi Sixteenth Guards into the Shangzhi Sixteenth Guards.

On the premise of retaining the sixteen guards, Yanfu added seven more guards in the north of the Yangtze River, and Bohai occupied three guards in the south of the Yangtze River.

Every negotiation between father and son represents the advancement and retreat of interests. Although Zhu Di wants more, the number of soldiers and horses under his command is not large.

Excluding the 50,000 troops and horses in Bohai and Daning led by Fang Kuan and Wang Yi, Zhu Di could only use less than 120,000 troops, and even including Song Sheng, it was only 150,000.

On the other hand, Zhu Gaoxu, because of his timely reception, almost all the rest of the world's soldiers and horses were in his hands. Except for the 50,000 soldiers in Mu Chun's hands, he could not control them, and the remaining nearly 600,000 soldiers were controlled by him.

After dividing the cake of the Ming Dynasty's military attache system, Zhu Di also got up and left with the generals of the Yan Mansion.

Everyone who stayed behind greeted Zhu Di respectfully and looked at Zhu Gaoxu eagerly.

When Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he immediately sat down and spoke to everyone:

"The guard system can no longer fully apply to the situation in the Ming Dynasty, but a sudden restructuring is not good either. Therefore, I plan to take the lead in piloting it in the four capitals from Bohai to Daning, Shandong, and Liaodong."

"There are forty-seven guards under these four capitals, but after our reduction of available combat troops, there are actually only 120,000, and there are still 140,000 garrison troops left."

"For the soldiers of these four capital divisions, I have decided to leave the garrison from today. Only the establishment will be retained, and the field will not be retained."

"All the farmland will be given to the former soldiers to divide the land equally and organize the army to serve the people."

"Those who are selected as soldiers are still the same as before, with an annual salary of eight guan, twenty shi of military rations, one bolt of cloth, three catties of cotton, and twenty-four catties of salt."

Zhu Gaoxu announced a major event, that is, the four capitals began to share the land and troops to transform the people.

Such a move seemed to be expected for the Bohai generals. Only Li Jinglong and other old officials were slightly surprised, but they quickly stood up and bowed to support Zhu Gaoxu.

They had no choice but to have deep grudges with Yan Mansion, so they had no choice but to go to the dark side with Bohai.

"Of course, the health system will not be completely abolished. I will continue to open health centers in various parts of the Bohai Sea to recruit villagers to reclaim wasteland. But once these health centers can become self-sufficient, we will immediately cancel the establishment of health centers in counties and towns."

War troops open up the frontiers, and guards defend the territory. This is the system Zhu Gaoxu wants.

It's not perfect, but it just meets Zhu Gaoxu's needs.

"Meng Zhang!" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Meng Zhang: "The Bohai Dusi currently has four prefectures and ten counties, but I still have to recruit the Jurchens and the Han people in Shandong for farming."

"Within three years, Bohai will have at least twenty guards, each with a minimum of 3,000 households. In addition, the eight Jurchen guards in Bohai will also continue to recruit soldiers. It's up to you how many you can recruit."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will fulfill my mission!" Meng Zhang did not complain that Zhu Gaoxu threw him back to the Bohai Sea. On the contrary, he was very happy.

Although he is already the Duke of the country, many people with titles now do not have the corresponding real power. It is undoubtedly a good thing for him that he can control Bohai and recruit Bohai Jurchens.

He became an important part of Bohai's transportation of soldiers to the Ming Dynasty, and also an important part of the sinicization of Bohai.

"Mr. Cao Guo..." Seeing that Meng Zhang was not unhappy, Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at Li Jinglong.

He was a little embarrassed at this moment, and Wu Gao and others were equally embarrassed.

However, Zhu Gaoxu appeased them and protected them not to embarrass them, but to expand territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing Li Jinglong stand up and bow, Zhu Gaoxu said: "Master Cao and your 50,000 soldiers and horses, including the 36,000 soldiers and horses of the Guangxi Dusi, there are 86,000 people."

"Although the jurisdiction is in Guangxi, the chieftains in southeastern Sichuan, southwestern Huguang and all of Guangxi are within the scope of your return."

"For the land reform in the southwest, I will send censors to supervise it later. Whenever a place is converted to land, 70% of the land will be distributed to the local people, and 30% will be given to the families of the soldiers who stayed in the local area, and schools will be opened to teach They speak Mandarin and let them learn my culture.”

"For native officials who are willing to change their native land and return to their hometown, the court can grant hereditary San rank according to their official position, and they will still receive salary."

"Those who resist tenaciously will be punished severely."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he looked directly at Li Jinglong, and Li Jinglong could only bow to him.

Zhu Gaoxu knew the military discipline of the Ming army in the southwest better than they did.

Some chieftains are indeed cruel and stubborn, but most of them just want to exchange their military power for some wealth and power.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 2,000 chieftain families in the southwest, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were less than 200 families. Some of the larger chieftains were basically repatriated or wiped out by the Ming army.

For example, the Song, Si, Yang, Tian, ​​and An families in Guizhou, the Ami, Wangnong, Mu, and Long families in Yunnan, and the Tulong, Sicheng, Longzhou, Tianzhou, and Donglan chieftains in Guangxi.

Of course, there are also a large number of Fanren and Luoluo Tusi in Santang and Daxueshan in Xichuan.

The Ming Dynasty made great efforts to exterminate the southwest chieftains, but the scale was not large.

But now, Muchun has 50,000 soldiers in Yunnan, Fu Mao and others have 30,000 soldiers, Wang Xuan and his son have 20,000 soldiers, and now Li Jinglong's 86,000 soldiers and Qu Neng and Gu Cheng's 20,000 soldiers are added , the number of soldiers in the Southwest has reached as high as 200,000.

Using 200,000 soldiers to reform the country in the long term will definitely promote the Sinicization of the Southwest, but before that Zhu Gaoxu was willing to hand over one thing.

"Perhaps the biggest obstacle you encounter this time when you change your land in the southwest is the stone forts and wooden villages built by the chieftains of the southwest for hundreds of thousands of years."

The moment Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Li Jinglong realized what he wanted to say, and the next second Zhu Gaoxu also looked at Meng Zhang and Xu Sheng:

"After Meng Zhang went to Bohai, all the Jurchens you recruited were expanded into the Shenji camp, and they are still recruited and trained according to the training of three thousand people per camp."

"As for Xu Sheng, you will lead two battalions of divine machine guns, carrying 400 field guns and 100 siege guns, and go with Cao Guogong to the southwest to reform the country."

"Me?" Xu Sheng frowned. He was a little unwilling to mix with Li Jinglong and others.

However, seeing the appearance of His Highness, he still had no choice but to bow to him.

Seeing his actions, Zhu Gaoxu also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Go back and get ready."

He said the last sentence, turned around and walked out of the Chinese Army Governor's Mansion.

However, after he left, Bohai, Li Jinglong and others looked at each other, frowned slightly and left one after another.

But when Zhu Gaoxu walked out, he also saw the emperor's coat that had been parked at the gate of the Governor's Mansion.

He was just wondering why Zhu Di hadn't left when he saw Zhu Di open the window: "Come up here and I have something to ask you."

Zhu Di opened his mouth, and Zhu Gaoxu stepped onto the carriage and sat cross-legged.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu almost reaching the roof of the carriage, Zhu Di said to the outside: "Dog, go back to the palace city."

"Yes!" Wang Yan shook the reins, and soon the cavalry and the escorting more than 200 riders from Yanfu and Bohai began to move.

Sitting on the large chariot, Zhu Gaoxu waited for Zhu Di to speak.

Looking at his appearance, Zhu Di then said: "I have studied your camp system. It is good, but it is easy for soldiers and generals to mix."

"The camp is made of iron and the troops are flowing. All the soldiers are on rotation for three years. In places with frequent wars, the generals are not replaced when the troops are replaced."

"Of course, the more important thing is to cultivate the knowledge of the soldiers so that they will not be deceived."

Zhu Gaoxu expressed his views and also analyzed the shortcomings of the camp system: "The shortcomings of the camp system are mainly financial issues."

"The salary of a guard soldier is twelve dan plus various miscellaneous items, no less than fifteen dan at most, but the total for the camp soldiers is at least forty dan."

"Based on the current situation of the imperial court, at most 30.4 million stones of field tax and 22 million stones of army grain are needed every year."

"These 52.4 million shi plus the other approximately 6 million gu in salt lessons, tea lessons, and miscellaneous items are the entire income of the imperial court."

"To maintain the operation of the imperial court, the amount that can be mobilized is actually no more than 10 million dan."

"Shandong Sidusi used to spend three million dan per year. Now after the restructuring, although there are fewer people, the expenditure has reached nearly 5 million dan."

Zhu Gaoxu said calmly: "I have calculated that if the Ming Dynasty's military garrison is banned and the garrison fields are taxed as civilian land, the court's food revenue will drop to about 38 million shi."

"To maintain the current situation, we need at least 500,000 border troops and 200,000 inland troops, totaling 700,000. The expenditure will reach 28 million dan, which is higher than the 21 million dan during the Hongwu period. Seven million stones.”

"The extra seven million stones and the decrease of fourteen million stones will result in an expenditure of twenty-one million stones."

"What are you going to do?" Zhu Di squinted his eyes. He didn't really understand the economy. Although the voyages to the West were successful in history, this was also the reason why the water flow failed to last.

In response to his inquiry, Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment before speaking:

"I looked through ancient books and found that the area of ​​cultivated land north of the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River in the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties reached more than 3 million hectares. Only the Guo Dynasty only had more than 1.6 million hectares because of the ruins in the north."

"If the imperial court can be considerate of the people, relocate them to enrich the north, increase land reclamation, and find financial resources from other places, it will only take a few years to tolerate the people and increase the number of acres of land by millions of hectares."

　"Bohai Chronicles": "At the end of May, a naval governor's office was established."

　　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the fifth month, Peiping was established as the capital of China and changed to Beijing. He exempted more than half of the world's taxes and wanted to sail to the West."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)