Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 295 Planning Annan

"The sun shines in the sky, and the Ming Dynasty dynasties all nations. The sea contains the spring, and the Yuanhua love is in all directions. The Chinese barbarians return to the earth, and the plants, trees, insects and fish have their own nature. I respect His Majesty the Ming Emperor, the divine, cultural and holy martial arts, Zeng Zhi and Ren..."

"Chen Yuan Daoyi is sincere and frightened, so he pauses and speaks carefully."

At the end of July in the first year of Yongle, when Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites in front of Fengtian Temple, read out the letter of credence written by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to Zhu Di with an ugly face, it was not only his face that looked ugly, but the faces of all the officials were also very ugly.

Even though their expressions were ugly, they couldn't help but look up at Zhu Di. As the real master, Zhu Di was holding a small bag containing a pile of placer gold the size of a baby's fist.

The ministers who did not know Japan's intelligence could not figure out why Emperor Taizu Gao had spent thirty years trying not to make Japan a vassal. But now the imperial court could just send a fleet of 20,000 people to the East Ocean to make Japan a vassal. At the same time of surrender, they agreed to launch commercial shipping trade in Oki and Sado.

The development of the ship trade represents the good behavior of the coastal merchant gang's largest smuggling partner. This alone can cost the coastal merchant gang millions of dollars.

Of course, what makes them most uncomfortable is the ambiguous amount of ship trade and the gold mining on Treasure Island.

Their discomfort was seen by Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing next to Zhu Di, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Where are we now? Your good days are yet to come."

Zhu Gaoxu looked sideways at the placer gold in Zhu Di's hand. He did not explain the gold and silver output of Treasure Island, but the officials could guess that it was quite a lot.

"Yinqi City Shipping Department went to sea for three months. The first and second batches of goods have been traded. The imperial court received a total of 1,000 horses, more than 127,000 guan of copper coins, 260,000 jins of sulfur, and 50,000 hematoxylins. Four thousand jins, 150,000 jins of raw copper.”

"According to calculations by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the imperial court made a profit of more than 226,000 guan from this two-time ship trade alone."

"In addition, although the gold and silver output of Treasure Island has not yet been determined, the Duke of Yue has reported that it should be no less than 100,000 gold."

Facing the hundreds of officials in the Fengtian Palace Square, as well as the six ministries and five government officials on the high platform, Yu Xin, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came out holding a wat board to bow, and reported on the situation of the Japanese ships.

"Profit of more than 226,000 guan" was enough for the imperial court to maintain its policy towards Japanese shipping. After all, the cost of the goods brought by Zheng He was only over 400,000 guan.

Now less than 15% of the goods are sold and the profit is so huge. When the next trade of goods is completed, after excluding the cost price, the imperial court will make a profit of at least 12.3 million guan.

We must know that after the Ming Dynasty's land tax, commercial taxes and miscellaneous items were all reduced, the fiscal revenue was only 267 million yuan. Now a ship to Japan can increase so much revenue, what about the voyages to Nanyang and the West?

Officials from Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang looked ugly, but those from Jiangxi remained silent.

Although Zhu Di's eyes were on the placer gold in his hand, he was secretly watching the expressions of the ministers.

Seeing their ugly expressions, Zhu Di felt a little more happy.

He suddenly understood his father's thoughts. It was so comfortable to push others to the front and enjoy the results.

Seizing this opportunity, I can also organize a voyage to the West.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di looked at his second son aside and urged in his heart: "Second brother, speak quickly."

His gaze was noticed by Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu felt helpless about this, but he still came out and bowed: "Your Majesty, the voyage to the East Ocean has been successful and is on the right track. Judging from the speed of this shipping, there is only a slight difference in the shipping department. It can bring nearly two million yuan of money and food to the imperial court every year."

"I believe that when the fleet returns to the south of the Yangtze River, we should prepare for the voyage to Nanyang."

"This...is a bit too hasty." Zhu Di deliberately pretended to be embarrassed.

When he said this, Zhu Gaoxu immediately glanced at Zhu Di: "This cheap dad must be pretending to be addicted. He has been pretending since he took the throne until now."

"Your Majesty, I think the prince's words are right!"

Fortunately, there are people who support Zhu Gaoxu. Yu Xin, the Minister of Household Affairs, is not afraid of offending people and speaks out in support.

Previously, he felt that voyages to the East and West were a waste of money and food, and that was because he had not yet seen the results.

But not to mention the great success of the voyage to the East, the prince also transferred all the proceeds from the trade to the Ministry of Household Affairs, which made the Ministry of Household's waist even harder.

You must know that during the Hongwu period, the Ministry of Revenue was more of a statistical department than a financial department. Because Zhu Yuanzhang himself was energetic and capable, he could allocate resources from various ministries. The finances controlled by the Ministry of Revenue were only part of the national finance. .

Zhu Yuanzhang's team is only suitable for a strong-man emperor. Once the emperor's abilities are mediocre, it will be impossible to allocate resources from various ministries, let alone realize the tax potential of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu naturally knows how complicated the Ming Dynasty's financial system is, so he is now solving some of the complicated problems to make the Ming Dynasty's financial team less complicated.

As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Yu Xin was very aware of the changes that the new dynasty and the new policies had brought to the Ministry of Revenue, so he chose to support the voyage to the West.

"Your Majesty, I think the prince's words are right!"

After Yu Xin walked out, Jin Cha from the Taxation Department, Huang Fu, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Xia Yuanji, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and others all stood up to agree.

No one from the Fifth Army Governor's Office participated, so the only ones who had not expressed their opinions were Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, Jian Yi, the Minister of Punishments, and Liu Jun, the Minister of War.

Among them, Jian Yi is from Sichuan and Liu Jun is from Huguang. Their overseas voyages will not harm their interests, so they neither approve nor oppose it. Only Li Zhigang's interests were really violated, but he did not dare to stand up and do this. Outstanding bird.

"In that case, let the prince take charge of the voyage to the West."

Zhu Di pretended to be embarrassed, but Zhu Gaoxu bowed generously and complained in his heart about the old man's evil intentions.

After he agreed and retreated to his position, Yu Xin and others also retreated.

Seeing no response from the ministers, Zhu Di also mentioned other things.

"In the matter of Xifan Tea Horse, Emperor Taizu Gao has contributed a large number of horses to the imperial court. Now the imperial court is short of horses, so I plan to continue the tea horse trade. At the same time, I send eunuch Hou Xian to inspect Uzangdusi and Duogandusi. Think hard about the Military and Civilian Marshal’s Mansion.”

Perhaps Zhu Gaoxu managed his finances properly, or perhaps the money and food left by Lao Zhu were not squandered by Zhu Yunwen, so Zhu Di put many plans on the agenda. For example, he is sending Hou Xian to inspect Tibet and organize the tea-horse trade more than ten years in advance. .

"I wonder how many troops and horses your Majesty will mobilize and how much food will be spent?"

Yu Xin stepped forward sensitively, but Zhu Di stroked his beard and said, "It is enough to bring three thousand soldiers and horses. As for the money and food, it is calculated based on what three thousand soldiers and horses need for six months."

"If that's the case, I think it's feasible." Yu Xin breathed a sigh of relief. He was most worried that Zhu Di would consume all the proceeds from the East Asian trade in one go.

"I think it is feasible." Zhu Gaoxu will also attack Qinghai-Tibet in the future, so Zhu Di's method of sending Hou Xian to inspect Qinghai-Tibet is not inconsistent with his political views, and it does not cost much, so he should support it.

Seeing that both Yu Xin and Zhu Gaoxu supported it, the ministers had no reason to refute. After all, three thousand soldiers and horses patrolling for half a year would cost tens of thousands of dollars at most. Compared with the dredging of the Yellow River, canal, Wusong and other projects in Beijing, it was simply nothing. Not worth mentioning.

"Okay, if you have something to do, let's go back to court."

Seeing that his policy was supported, Zhu Di had nothing else to say, so he announced his withdrawal from the court.

The ministers did not take any action after hearing this. Their minds were distracted by the voyage to the West.

If the voyage to the West can be as successful as the voyage to the East, then the coastal merchant gangs will really have no way to survive.

While they were worried, the morning court also ended with Zhu Di's getting up and the singing of the ministers pushing the golden mountains and pouring the jade pillars.

Zhu Gaoxu followed Zhu Di with Yu Xin, Huang Fu, and Xia Yuanji, and arrived at Wuying Hall after two quarters of an hour.

After entering here, Zhu Di sat on his dragon chair, while Zhu Gaoxu took Yu Xin and three others to discuss the voyage to the West with Zhu Di.

"After today's voyage to the West was revealed, all the ministers looked unhappy. I think my father also knows why."

Zhu Gaoxu got straight to the point, and Zhu Di also nodded and said: "As soon as the voyage to the West began, many merchants along the coast had no way of living, so the imperial court encountered considerable resistance. What do you think?"

In fact, what Zhu Di was thinking about was government-run monopoly. He thought Zhu Gaoxu had the same idea as him, but Zhu Gaoxu knew the advantages and disadvantages of government-run monopoly very well, so he said:

"I feel that the trade between Southeast Asia and the West must be in the hands of the imperial court, but at the same time, private merchants must also be given a way to survive."

"Besides, judging from the current situation of the imperial court, it is unable to monopolize the Western trade while monopolizing the Nanyang trade. Therefore, I thought that the Western trade could be opened to private business gangs, so that they can convert from smuggling to formality."

"..." Listening to Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhu Di disagreed a little. Of course, the disagreement here was still due to tax issues.

"If they are allowed to engage in Western trade, how should the court collect taxes from them?"

"Just set up the Old Port Xuanwei Division in the Manchuria Strait." After Zhu Gaoxu said that, he looked behind Zhu Di.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Di also turned his head and glanced at the "General Map of the Four Barbarians in the World" behind him. Many place names on the map were changed by Zhu Gaoxu to fit the era. Among them, the Strait of Malacca was changed to Manlajia strait.

Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward, skillfully picked up a piece of dogma from Zhu Di's desk and pointed it at the Malacca Strait: "The reason why the Imperial City Shipping Department has difficulty collecting taxes is mainly because the imperial court has a large territory and rich resources, and there are too many places along the coast where smuggling can be carried out."

"But if Nanyang and East Ocean are set up as official trade areas, and the West Sea is set up as private trade area, and it is stipulated that private merchant ships can gather in the Malacca Strait and set off for trade in the West, all goods will be concentrated in the old port , Palembang area trade processing, it will be easier to manage and collect taxes.”

"I will hand over a copy of the specific operating conditions for you to read in a few days."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Di stood up and walked forward to look at the map, then frowned and said:

"It's a good thing that you want to open the Xuanwei Department here, but there are many small countries on your map. How do you plan to treat them?"

"We can imitate the Japanese trade, allocate land for trade locally, and provide a certain amount of money and grain every year as rent." Zhu Gaoxu responded, but Zhu Di frowned:

"If the interests of these small countries are taken over later, what should the Xuanwei Division that attacks the imperial court do?"

Many of Zhu Gaoxu's ideas came from Zhu Di's ideas in history. Therefore, after hearing Zhu Gaoxu's ideas, Zhu Di immediately thought of what he might encounter.

However, in response, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "That means they are seeking death, and the court can only defend itself and fight back."

Zhu Gaoxu's smile was warm and comfortable, but the meaning of his words was understood by everyone.

If the small country is really motivated by interests to attack the Xuanwei Division of the imperial court, then they will naturally be destroyed. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to maintain the tribute system, it could not be too powerful. Not only against Annan but also the Southeast Asian countries, it had to have an excuse before it could mobilize troops.

Annan instigated the chieftains of the Ming Dynasty to resist the Ming Dynasty, so the Nanyang countries were motivated by their own interests and attacked the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of public opinion, Ming Dynasty must occupy an invincible position in order to continue to benevolent and powerful.

"What do you mean, this place will also rebel in the future?"

Zhu Di heard a different meaning from Zhu Gaoxu's words, so he raised his hand and pointed to Japan in the northeast of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu did not hide it. He pointed at Japan with dogma and said:

"As far as I know, the leader of Japan, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, is very dependent on the Ming Dynasty, but his eldest son Ashikaga Yoshimitsu thinks it is a shame to surrender to the Ming Dynasty."

"But except for his eldest son, his other sons don't have this idea."

"Therefore, if Ashikaga Yoshimitsu encounters a sudden change and dies, the successor Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will definitely interrupt the shipping trade with the imperial court, and even think about taking back the Okini and the gold and silver islands."

Before Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhu Di: "So your idea is to take advantage of their suspension of ship trade in the future and take the opportunity to intervene in their country's affairs?"

"That's right!" Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "The Ashikaga family's control over Japan is very weak, but the majesty of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu suppresses Japan."

"Once Ashikaga Yoshimochi rebels against the imperial court and is defeated by the imperial court, the prestige of the Ashikaga family will be destroyed regardless of whether he is in power or not."

"Under this situation, if they want to continue to maintain the situation, they can only negotiate peace with the court and accept support from the court."

After he finished speaking, he looked directly at Zhu Di. Zhu Di stroked his beard after hearing this: "If it is true as you said, this little Japan has a population of tens of millions, then this can be regarded as a way to maintain stability in the place."

When he said this, it meant that he had approved it.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also pointed to the Qinghai-Tibet area. Since he was not very familiar with Qinghai-Tibet in this era, Zhu Gaoxu only drew a few cities recorded in the Ming Dynasty, the most important of which were Lhasa, Nagqu, Shigatse and Santang. , Qamdo, Derge and Leh areas.

"Today my father talked about Uszang, and I also read ancient books. From the ancient Yuan Dynasty books, I found that the population of Uszang, Ori, and Duogan should be around one million."

"This place is not as warm as the Han and Tang Dynasties, so the population cannot grow. To control them, only the tea-horse economy is enough. But if you want to interfere in its internal affairs, you still have to station troops in Lhasa, Qamdo, Derge, Shigatse, and Leh. Officials from the Ministry of Rites are permanently stationed.”

Zhu Gaoxu expressed his thoughts and was sure that Zhu Di would also agree, because in history, Zhu Di originally wanted to send troops to station in Lhasa, and he also built a post road from Songpan to Shigatse, but he was dissuaded by the three religious kings before giving up.

Of course, the real reason for giving up was because the power of Qinghai and Tibet could not threaten the Ming Dynasty, coupled with lack of financial resources.

Now that Zhu Gaoxu is here, it is necessary to forcibly control the Qinghai-Tibet area. He cannot maintain tens of thousands of people, so he can maintain a few thousand people.

With cannons and matchlocks, and if coupled with a certain number of cavalry, the few thousand Ming troops are enough to defeat tens of thousands of Jiafan soldiers. Among the entire Qinghai-Tibet forces, there are very few forces that can pull out tens of thousands of Jiafan soldiers.

"Put the Tibetan affairs aside for now. What I care more about now is the Annan affairs and the Uuliangha, Tatar, and Oara in the north."

As in history, Zhu Di attached great importance to Tubo, but its status was not as good as that of Mongolia and Southeast Asia.

Faced with his question, Zhu Gaoxu brought the topic to Annan.

"Half a month ago, Fu Rang and Zhang Fu had led their trained soldiers southward, and they will arrive in Qinzhou by the end of August."

"Cao Guogong has mobilized 30,000 troops to Qinzhou to participate in training. This training will last for about a year. When the next winter comes, troops can be sent to Annan."

"But before that, the imperial court should step back for those chieftains instigated by Annan and let them make the matter bigger."

"In addition, while there is still one year left, we can just transfer the taxes and grain from Guangdong and Guangxi to Qinzhou, and at the same time organize the naval fleet to sail to the West to garrison in Qinzhou."

"When next winter comes, Hou Muchun of Xiping will send 30,000 troops from Lin'an Prefecture, Fu Rang will send 30,000 troops from Jiling Pass, and Zheng He and Yang Zhan will send 20,000 troops from the sea to attack Thanh Hoa, Guangping, and Guangnan. , Hue and other places, at the same time Cao Guogong led 30,000 soldiers to start the encirclement and suppression of the chieftains close to Annan and Yunnan in Guangxi."

When Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he also used dogma to draw out the route to attack Annan.

In a few words, Ming Dynasty needed to mobilize 110,000 troops, of which 50,000 were new mixed firearms troops.

According to his plan, Zhu Di took a closer look, and then asked: "What is the distance between different places?"

"The farthest is Xiping Hou Muchun's troops, which need to go deep 400 miles, followed by Fu Rang, which needs to go 380 miles, followed by Zheng He and Yang Zhan's troops, although the north-south span is 800 miles, but They divided their troops into four groups, and each group maintained a distance of about 200 miles."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Di subconsciously gave instructions: "According to this attack, Yunnan will need at least 120,000 civilians, and Guangxi will have at least 100,000, and it must be fast, because the civilians without supplies in the navy can easily be contained."

"This war must end within three months. All that's left is to clean up the tail."

"As for Li Jiujiang, it is enough to recruit 30,000 civilians and fight slowly."

"Indeed." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, agreeing with Zhu Di's judgment.

After reading many military books compiled by Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di was already very familiar with firearms warfare. Although he had not personally led one, he was not lacking in theoretical knowledge.

He easily judged the number of civilians required by each army and estimated the approximate end time of the war.

Facing a small Annan, three months is enough to capture most of the towns, and the remaining finishing work is a troublesome matter.

"Yu Shangshu, how much food will a 110,000-strong army and 250,000 civilians need to fight for half a year?"

After Zhu Di was recognized, he asked Yu Xin without looking back.

Yu Xin was well prepared for this and reported without thinking: "Eight hundred thousand dan, but including the losses on the road, it's at least 1.2 million dan."

"One and two million shi, including the reserve warehouses in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, and the Changping warehouse, can we allocate it?" Zhu Di asked again, but Yu Xin calculated and nodded: "If we start to reserve from now on, it should be enough. ."

"Okay! Then get ready, and besides..." Zhu Di turned back and looked at Zhu Gaoxu:

"How is the situation in Liaodong and Bohai? Is Zhaozhou sure that it can store enough grain and grass?"

Sure enough, the reason why Zhu Di was anxious to attack Annan was for his own northern expedition.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was prepared for this, when he thought of Zhu Di running to the north to fight and leaving all the stalls in the south to him, he couldn't help but sigh helplessly, and then bowed:

"According to the progress, it will not be a problem for the cultivated land outside the customs to exceed 9 million acres this year. Bohai will have a surplus of at least 1.5 million shi next year, but 1 million shi will be transported to northern Liaoning, and about 500,000 shi will be transported to Zhaozhou."

"Including the grain retained last year, Zhaozhou should have 620,000 shi."

"Okay, okay!" Upon hearing that there was so much food in Zhaozhou, Zhu Di's face immediately smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum.

The more food there is in Zhaozhou, it means the less food is needed for the army to set out from Daning.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but want to increase the number of soldiers and horses in the Northern Expedition, so he tried it with Zhu Gaoxu: "I think it is easy to defeat Wu Liangha with 20,000 to 30,000 people, but it is difficult to expel them. It is better to mobilize 20,000 Shenji Battalion and 30,000 Shenji Battalion." How about horse infantry?”

"Bohai can't recruit so many civilians." Zhu Gaoxu still didn't know what Zhu Di was thinking, so he refused directly because there were not enough civilians.

Seeing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Di bargained: "The civilians are mobilized from Hanzhou in Liaodong. Anyway, relying on the Wen River, the cooperation of 50,000 civilians to pull the carriages is enough to supply 50,000 troops and horses."

Seeing that Zhu Di was determined to increase the number of troops in the Northern Expedition, Zhu Gaoxu could only sigh in his heart and take a step back.

"Right now, Liaodong can't mobilize so many carriages. You can recruit up to 30,000 soldiers and horses from the north, and you can maintain up to 30,000 civilians. Otherwise, the impact on Liaodong's land reclamation will be too great."

"Thirty thousand..." Zhu Di touched his beard and nodded with satisfaction after calculation: "Thirty thousand is barely enough."

After the bargaining was successful, Zhu Di began to bargain further, but this time the goal was not to conquer the North, but to the East.

"Although there are three thousand soldiers and horses in the East, if the generals who stay there have evil intentions, the loss to the imperial court will be too great."

As soon as Zhu Di opened his mouth, Zhu Gaoxu felt something was wrong.

"How about sending a few supervisors from the inner court?"

"Your Majesty!"

Sure enough, Zhu Di wanted to use eunuchs to supervise the army, which also aroused concerns among Yu Xin, Huang Fu and others.

"Father, how many people like Zheng He, Wang Yan, and Hou Xian are around you?"

Zhu Gaoxu did not express his objection directly, but asked Zhu Di in return.

As soon as he said these words, Zhu Di thought of Queen Xu's words and couldn't help but lose his confidence.

"You are just like your mother, you know how to make me angry." Zhu Di complained, then waved his hand:

"That's all, if you don't send it, you won't send it. But if something happens in the future, you can wipe your ass yourself."

"Thank you for your understanding, father." Zhu Gaoxu laughed when he heard this and bowed in return:

"Since there is nothing to do, I will return to the East Palace to deal with the memorial."

"Stay far away, don't be an eyesore." Zhu Di was angry, but Zhu Gaoxu was not angry. He smiled and left Wuying Palace with Yu Xin and others.

But after they left, Zhu Di murmured in self-doubt:

"I don't believe it. I can't find a few useful eunuchs around me..."

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the eighth month of Guimao, the emperor wanted to send his eunuchs to the East, but was persuaded by the prince and ministers Yu Xin, Huang Fu and Xia Yuanji, so he stopped."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)