Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 282 Everyone is in danger

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"Bump it away! Bump it away!"

On the evening of June 17, the 33rd year of Hongwu's reign, the sound of rapid footsteps and the sound of armor flakes could be heard in an alley in Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture.

The nearby people quickly closed their doors. Everyone knew that hundreds of cavalry had entered Wujiang County in the past few days, but they didn't know what these people were here for.

Hearing the banging on the door and yelling, everyone around them closed their courtyard doors in fear.

Not long after, there was the sound of the door being broken open, followed closely by the sounds of beatings, curses and wailing.

"I am a Juren, how dare you Qiu Ba do this to me!"

"Raise your mother's head!"

Not long after the conversation started, the sound of beatings and scoldings came again, and the neighbors all around knew who the person who had been arrested was.

Zhou Juren was usually the most respected person in this alley, but now he was beaten and scolded, and finally dragged away like a dead dog.

After they left, no one in the lane dared to go out of their houses. It was not until the next day that people learned that Zhou Juren bribed the city officials to prevent the tax department from measuring the acres of land.

The Dongchuang incident happened last night, and he was dragged to Wujiang County Prison and imprisoned, and his status as a judge was removed.

Zhou Juren's land was measured and divided by the tax department. It included 32 acres of upper-grade paddy fields, 72 acres of medium-grade fields, 246 acres of lower-grade fields, and 124 acres of dry fields.

After he was convicted, his land was distributed to the tenants who helped him farm the land. This made many people lament Zhou Juren's experience and couldn't help but envy the group of tenants who all had access to the land.

However, before they could be envious, the next day tables, chairs and stools were set up one after another in the alleys of Wujiang County.

Officials from the Taxation Department have set up reporting points for those who conceal their land acres, and those who are above the household status but only pay the middle and lower household taxes. If someone reports the report, he will receive half of the accused's farmland that exceeds the standard.

For a time, countless people were moved, but they were more worried about revenge.

But that doesn't matter, because there is no shortage of courageous and heartless people everywhere.

Soon, people who were reported appeared in Wujiang County, and their fate was the same as that of Zhou Juren. When measuring fields, if the upper-class fields in their hands exceed the prescribed number, and they still have the status of middle and lower households, they will exceed the limit. Identities and acres were inspected, and money and grain were fined.

The inspected fields will be divided equally among the tenants by the Department of Taxation, and the informants will receive the reported fields in other counties.

In other words, as long as someone reports someone, and many people don't even know who is reporting them, their farmland will be seized and searched. If the amount and identity are matched, the tax department will release them.

If the amount far exceeds the status, the local chief and grain chief will be convicted and exiled, and the farmland exceeding the status of the person concerned will be confiscated.

Such a policy will be implemented in South Zhili, or the six Jiangdong prefectures, starting from June 15th.

When 30,000 Bohai navy and 3,000 tax department officials began to check the acres in Jiangdong Liufu, a place that accounted for 20% of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue, and checked the identities of the acres and the landowners, many village chiefs and grain chiefs who used power for personal gain were sentenced to exile.

In less than half a month, more than 700 li chiefs and grain chiefs were taken into custody in the capital, and more than 2,600 people were reported, including 246 officials of the ninth rank and above, and 500 officials of the fifth rank. There were forty-seven officials above grade, and more than 276,400 acres of land were confiscated.

Such a number is just a small test for Zhu Gaoxu, and what he has to deal with is just the gossip in the temple.

"You're doing well, but they're probably going to hate you."

On the first day of July, in the Chunhe Hall...

When Zhu Gaoxu was flipping through the book he had found out half a month ago, he raised his head and glanced at the person in front of him.

The commander of the West Factory, Muyang Bohu Lun, and another chief of the sixth grade with a lesser reputation.

"It's all my job." Hu Lun bowed, and the sixth-grade official next to him also bowed.

He does not look like a Han Chinese and is only in his early twenties, but he is already the head of the household department.

If those people whose homes were ransacked at this moment saw him, they would probably want to skin him.

The head of the Taxation Department, Haixi Jurchen Jin Cha, was a student who attended Jilin Health School in the 28th year of Hongwu's reign. He was already sixteen years old at the time, and was considered one of the older students.

When Zhu Gaoxu was in trouble and went south, he was led south by Sun Cheng, but his achievements were not obvious.

Zhu Gaoxu appointed him as the head of the Taxation Department just because he was the oldest among the students in the same batch and was fairly steady and obedient.

Now it seems that he is not only obedient, but also cruel enough.

"Someone is impeaching you for handling the wrong case. What do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Jin Cha, who responded with a bow in Mandarin with a Jurchen accent: "People talk a lot. I did handle a lot of wrong cases. The brothers below also paid for the medical expenses."

"Well, it's normal to make mistakes. Anyway, the only ones you can fancy are the big ones with hundreds of acres."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled disapprovingly. For him, since Jiangnan officials dared to gossip about him in the temple, he would naturally respond in kind.

He originally thought that the buttocks of this group of people were very clean, but when he checked a large area, he found that not many of them had clean buttocks.

He holds hundreds of acres of arable land in his hands, but he confidently uses his status as a middle household or even a lower household to pay taxes and grain.

Originally, they were supposed to pay a hundred dan, but after switching to the middle and lower households, and then using the benefits of official status and fame to exempt part of it, in the end they only had to pay more than 20 dan in taxes and grain.

Changing their tax status allowed them to pay seventy or eighty kilograms less in taxes.

Zhu Gaoxu finally saw clearly that he did not need to capture the people and officials of the world at all. He only needed to capture the six prefectures in Jiangdong, the four prefectures in northern Zhejiang, and the two prefectures of Nanchang and Ji'an in Jiangxi.

Seizing these twelve prefectures is equivalent to seizing the roots of 30% of the officials.

"Is there any dissatisfaction in the temple lately?"

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the chair, picked up the tea cup and took a sip.

Hu Lun nodded when he heard this: "Of course there are some, but they are all for the tax department."

As he spoke, he glanced at Jin Cha, and he couldn't help but admire Jin Cha for not being afraid of trouble.

But he also understood that as long as His Highness was still there, nothing would happen to Jincha.

"Temporarily turn their attention to the Taxation Department and don't delay the development of the Northeast."

Zhu Gaoxu put down the teacup and explained that at the same time, Hu Lun also felt pressured by Jin Cha.

Fortunately, the tax department's investigation was aimed at the six Jiangdong prefectures, otherwise the entire pressure in Jiangnan would have been borne by Jin Cha.

What can he, a small sixth-grade official, do?

Before Hu Lun could put his mind down, he heard footsteps coming from outside.

When he turned around, he saw Zheng He walking towards him with a stern expression, and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu:

"Your Highness, Your Majesty invites you to go to Wuying Palace."

"Prepare the golden chariot." Zhu Gaoxu stood up, apparently knowing that he would be invited by Zhu Di.

"Continue to do your thing, don't worry about others, Bohai's foundation is still very good!"

When passing by the two of them, Zhu Gaoxu comforted them, and then led Zheng He out of the Chunhe Hall.

Riding a golden chariot, Zhu Gaoxu passed by the Wenhua Hall, and it was vaguely visible that many civil servants on duty were looking this way.

"Your Highness's move has put everyone in the temple in danger."

Driving the car, Zheng He spoke with a smile, but Zhu Gaoxu sneered: "When my father and son entered the capital, they should have thought of this."

"I think I've given them enough face, but if they still want to slap their noses on their faces, they need to be taught a lesson."

"It is not necessary for them to govern the world..."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, the golden chariot also walked past the Wenhua Palace, passed through the Wen Tower and the Wu Tower, and arrived at the entrance of the Wuying Palace.

After getting off the car and walking, Zhu Gaoxu walked into the Wuying Hall not long after, and saw him sitting in the Wuying Hall. He imitated Zhu Gaoxu's behavior of hanging a map and hung up a relatively "abstract" map of the world.

There are many places circled in red pen on it, and it seems that they are all places that Zhu Di cares about.

"The boy pays homage to his father..."

When entering the palace, bow first and then raise your head.

"You are cruel. I just want to ask you, how much did you get from this house raid?"

Zhu Di got straight to the point and didn't hide it, or there was no need for the father and son to hide it.

As Yao Guangxiao said, it is best for father and son to be honest in everything they do. If one of them hides something secret, it will arouse suspicion, and then both parties will be unable to stand down.

"The records of the confiscated family documents have not yet been compiled. After all, the temple atmosphere has not yet responded. If it does, it will be over. Naturally, statistics can be compiled."

Zhu Gaoxu straightened up and sat down after Wang Yan brought the chair.

Zhu Di also scratched his beard when he saw this, and then said: "The horse administration of the six prefectures and two states has been abolished as you said. Except for the more than 30,000 civilian horses issued at the beginning, there are more than 120,000 horses left. It has been divided into two parts and sent to Xingtaipu Temple in Shandong, Beiping, Shaanxi and other places."

"I wanted to ask you how much you got from confiscating your house, but since the records haven't been compiled yet, let's talk about other things first."

Zhu Di was gearing up and his eyes were bright, which gave Zhu Gaoxu a bad premonition.

"When will the muskets and artillery in your army be distributed to all soldiers in the army?"

Zhu Di was interested in the firearm in Zhu Gaoxu's hand, but Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised after hearing this, and just said:

"It's easy to promote firearms, but how many people know how to use firearms to fight?"

"You can learn this." Zhu Di was determined to get a firearm.

"Because you have to learn, you have to take your time." Zhu Gaoxu explained:

"Right now, we must first provide firearms and equipment for 100,000 troops in Liaodong, Daning, Bohai and other three capitals, and then send military attachés from various places to Jilin to study in rotation."

"I plan to move the health education in Jilin to Nanjing and open a National Defense University. The university can still accommodate 3,000 students."

"In the future, all children of military attachés who inherit their father's position will have to attend the National Defense University for five years and pass the exam."

"National Defense University?" Zhu Di was stunned. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also explained:

"I plan to invite the Duke of Jing, the Marquis of Wuding, the Marquis of Chongming, and the Marquis of Pingjiang to enter the National Defense University as instructors. In addition, military attachés from flag officers to commanders in the Bohai Navy will also enter the National Defense University as instructors." "In the future, All senior generals and nobles will enter this university to serve as lecturers for two to three years."

"The study process at this university is divided into two years of basic military study and three years of branch military study."

"The academy is divided into two academies: the Army and the Navy. Specifically, it is subdivided into strategy, operations, tactics, command, management, political science, and logistics..."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke out military terms one by one and explained them to Zhu Di. This made Zhu Di slowly lean forward from being curious at the beginning.

It is not that there are no means of systematically teaching military affairs in this era, but no one has ever broken down military affairs in such a detailed way and explained it so straightforwardly.

The system that Zhu Gaoxu copied was a dimensionality reduction attack in this era, except for some disciplines that were not in line with the times.

It can be said that compared with the hereditary examination system for military attache children in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu's system undoubtedly raised the threshold for future military attache children to inherit their father's position.

However, if you can really study for five years and graduate successfully, it will definitely not happen that some military attachés in the late Hongwu period were unable to defeat unarmored bandits with armored soldiers.

As long as he can graduate successfully, no matter how bad he is, he will still be a qualified grassroots officer at the level of a hundred households and a general banner.

For the sake of this university, Zhu Gaoxu planned to place a large number of military attaches disabled due to the war in Bohai and Yan Mansion, and use their disabilities to tell the group of military attachés who wanted to inherit their father's position that being a military attache would lead to death.

"You are good at this. If you have any related books, show them to me."

Zhu Di turned his eyes and stared at these related books.

"Half of the books have been written. They are all teaching materials compiled by my son based on how he led troops to fight during this period. In addition, many useful military tactics have also been brought into the classroom."

"If father has time, I will have it delivered in two months."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't understand Zhu Di's Xiao Jiujiu. He just wanted to learn and surpass himself in this aspect.

But it doesn't matter, as long as he holds the power in his hands, there will be no problems in the relationship between father and son.

Two-thirds of the soldiers in the entire capital belong to Zhu Gaoxu. If he controls this place well, it is impossible for him to overturn.

"By the way, your eldest brother Shangshu asked for a transfer."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was so talkative, Zhu Di also released a message to him.

Zhu Gaochi is not a fool. He knows very well that Zhu Gaoxu asked him to inherit the position of King Yan in order to stabilize Zhu Gaoxu's crown prince position.

In this way, Zhu Gaochi's position as King of Yan came from Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Gaoxu's position as prince came from Zhu Di.

It's just that this King of Yan is not letting him really become the King of Yan, but just letting him solidify this arrangement.

Now that the arrangement has ended, he must take the initiative to apply for a change of seal.

Zhu Di opened his mouth to tell Zhu Gaoxu the news to make Zhu Gaoxu feel relieved.

"Where does father think he wants to change his title?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di. Upon hearing this, Zhu Di thought for a moment and then said:

"Your grandfather has always wanted to carve out a vassal king to sit in Yunnan. I originally wanted King Min to go, but he is really stubborn."

"Since your eldest brother asked for the title, let him be granted the title in Kunming and change his name to King of Han."

As expected by Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di chose to change Zhu Gaochi's title to Yunnan, but to his surprise, Zhu Gaochi's title was actually King of Han.

"The King of Han is also quite good." Zhu Gaoxu's mouth twitched, thinking of his predecessor being made into a crock pot chicken.

"So I called you here because I want to benefit your eldest brother." Zhu Di said after discussing:

"Although Yunnan has been developed by Mu Ying and Mu Chun for more than thirty years, it is still a wild land after all."

"It doesn't matter if your eldest brother is defeated in the past, but you can't ignore him."

"I understand, kid." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, guessing what Zhu Di wanted to say, so he took the initiative and said:

"How about giving the Han palace an annual salary of thirty thousand dan, two thousand guan in money, twelve thousand guards and three bodyguards, three thousand pieces of silk and satin cloth for the rest, and five thousand acres of farmland?"

"In addition, the imperial court will allocate another 300,000 stones and 100,000 guan to build the Han Palace for my eldest brother."

Zhu Gaoxu was very generous with his actions, and he was not afraid of what tricks Zhu Gaochi might cause when he arrived in Yunnan. After all, the three Fu brothers, the Wang family and his son, as well as Muchun, were not easy to deal with.

Besides, he didn't think Zhu Gaochi would be stupid enough to do anything rebellious.

As for his eldest nephew, he can't just think about killing him. He still has to see how he grows up.

Anyway, with the eldest brother's genes, it's a question whether the eldest nephew can live past forty. Judging from history, the worst his body is is in his fifties.

"You have to be generous and not picky and picky like me."

Zhu Di was a little sour. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at him in surprise, only to see Wang Yan smiling and saying:

"Recently, all the kings have come to ask when they can take over the vassal state. Your Majesty is worried about this matter."

"Just a vassal..." Zhu Gaoxu immediately smiled when he heard that the kings in Beijing wanted to secede a vassal state.

"There is peace in the north now, and it will be even more peaceful in the future. It is the southwest that is unsettled by the court."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking eloquently, and at the same time he raised his hands and bowed: "I think that I can change the title of kings to Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, southwestern Huguang and other places to become vassals, so as to consolidate the territory for the Ming Dynasty."

"All going to the southwest?" Zhu Di was a little hesitant when he heard this: "This is not good."

"As long as the imperial court provides money to repair the palace and provides treatment, what's wrong with it?"

Zhu Gaoxu had his own plan. Counting the vassal kings who were deposed by Zhu Yunwen, among the kings in Beijing, besides King Zhou and King Ning, there were fourteen people, eleven of whom were over fifteen years old.

If these nine people can be sealed to the southwest, the process of sinicizing the southwest will probably be greatly improved.

"The King of Qi can enthrone Guiyang, King of Sichuan, Luzhou, King of Gu, Sizhou, King of Liao, and Bijie, King of Han."

"King Lu can ennoble Nanning, Guangxi, Dai Wang Si'en, Su Wang Longzhou, Min Wang Sicheng, Jingjiang Wang Guiyang."

"King Shen can be canonized as Lin'an, Yunnan, and Guangnan, Yunnan."

"The King of Zhou can continue to be a vassal in Kaifeng, and Uncle Ning can move to Datong. In addition, if the third child wants to be a vassal in the future, he can choose Hanzhong to be a vassal for him."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, he made arrangements for all the vassal kings. If his idea is really implemented, the number of Ming Dynasty palace guards stationed in the southwest will probably not be less than 80,000 in the future. In addition, there will be troops stationed in various places. Whenever the southwestern chieftains tried to raise an army, they would be violently suppressed.

However, Zhu Di is not Zhu Gaoxu, and he still feels guilty for letting him demote so many relatives to the wilderness in one go.

"This amount is a bit too much." Zhu Di's mouth was dry, but Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di:

"Father, you know better than me the behavior of your brothers. Leaving them in the mainland will harm your reputation."

"Do you want temporary pain, or do you want ups and downs of labor pain?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di a question, and Zhu Di could only sigh: "I'll think about it again."

After that, he changed the topic and went back to firearms.

"According to your statement, we have to wait until the university is built, and then all the military attaches go to school for five years before firearms can be equipped with the three armies?"

"Yes!" Zhu Gaoxu responded without thinking. Zhu Di felt a little troubled after hearing this.

"Can't the time be shortened?"

"You also know that when your grandfather was here, we Han people had to go to the grasslands every two years to clean up the barbarians. Only in this way can the border fortress be long-term and stable."

"We have been fighting in the pass for more than a year now. I am afraid that the barbarians in the north will be dishonest, so I want to send people to lead troops north to teach them a lesson."

Zhu Di was still wary of the existence of the Tatars and Walas. Zhu Gaoxu also nodded after hearing this:

"It should be fought, but the two things are not in conflict."

"As long as my father wants to, when the imperial treasury is full, he can mobilize troops from Bohai and Daning to destroy Wuliangha first, then build a city and farm in Wuliangha's Bald City, and open up a post road to the Onan River."

"As long as the construction of the post road is completed and the military horses and draft horses of Modong are properly raised, grain and fodder from the Bohai Sea can be transported by water to Ulianhatu City and further to the Onan River."

"At that time, with only 200,000 grains and fodder, we can drive 30,000 to 50,000 horse infantry to sweep along the Onan River towards Hulan Huwenwen."

Zhu Gaoxu knew the effect of Zhu Di's Northern Expedition. At least it was good when he was alive. Even after he died, peace was maintained for more than twenty years.

As for the inability to continue, that is a problem left by Renxuan and has little to do with Zhu Di.

The Northern Expedition must be carried out, but the cost of the Northern Expedition must be minimized.

In history, Yongle's five northern expeditions cost nearly five million shi in money and food, which was not a lot.

But in Zhu Gaoxu's hands, this amount of money and food can be further reduced, and the Northern Expedition can become a regular border preparation task.

The distance from building a post road from Wulianghatu City to Qiwang City is almost a thousand miles, but starting from Kaiping, it is almost two thousand miles.

For an army of 50,000, reducing the logistics distance by a thousand miles can save hundreds of thousands of stones.

If in history Zhu Di needed five million stones to conquer Mobei five times, then once the Ming Dynasty established a settlement city in Wulianghatu City or even further north, Zhu Di would only need two to three million stones to complete the five great deeds.

More importantly, the Ming army could attack Mobei for a long time because the cost of attacking Mobei once was too low.

"Then Wenjiang, is it really that convenient?"

Zhu Di spoke in surprise, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled after hearing this: "I will ask Zheng He to send you a copy of the Map of the Universe in a moment. Then you will know how convenient it is to bother Wenjiang."

After saying this, Zhu Gaoxu bowed and was about to turn around and leave.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhu Di also reminded him: "Tomorrow your mother, the eldest son, the third son, and your wife will arrive in the capital. Don't forget to pick them up with me."

"Don't worry, kid!" Zhu Gaoxu responded remotely, and then left with Zheng He.

"Young boy, why are you so humble?"

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's back, Zhu Di stroked his beard, then turned to look at his map, unable to help but wonder:

"Then is Ann Wen Jiang really that useful?"

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": In June, the emperor changed the title of King Chi of Yan to the king of Han, and vassalized Kunming. The prince took pity on the king of Han and asked the emperor to change the title to Hanzhong, but the emperor refused.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)