Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 307: There is a Queen in the East Palace

"Didn't my father admire Tang Taizong very much?"

In Wuying Hall, facing Zhu Di's angry inquiry, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and changed the subject in a friendly manner.

"Just because I appreciate him doesn't mean I want to be him."

Zhu Di understood what Zhu Gaoxu meant, which was for him to have the open-mindedness of Li Shimin, but Zhu Di also knew that he could not become Li Shimin.

Faced with Luo Qian's pedantic memorial, he could not be as tolerant as Li Shimin towards Wei Zheng.

"Of course you can't be him, but you can't just kill Luo Qian and the others, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu chuckled. He didn't think it was a pity that Luo Qian was killed, but he just didn't like waste.

"If you hate him, it would be a good idea to exile him to Yunnan and assign him to teach."

"As for Che Shu, Yuan Fu, Yu Shiji and others, they will naturally be killed, and not only will they be killed, but they will also have to follow the clues and implicate more people."

"The officials implicated will all be stripped of their posts and sent to Yunnan to teach Confucianism, along with their relatives."

Luo Qian was nothing more than upright and pedantic, and his crime would not lead to death, but Che Shu and the others who were pushed out would definitely die.

The former is a personal issue and the latter is a political issue.

"What are you going to do?"

Zhu Di did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu had such a calculation, but after calming down, he also felt that it was inappropriate to kill Luo Qian directly. After all, no one knew better than Zhu Di whether Luo Qian had committed a crime or not. He was just disgusted.

As for Che Shu and others, Zhu Di did not want to do such a big thing as Zhu Gaoxu thought. He just wanted to scare the monkeys and not affect the temple.

"It would also be good to take this opportunity to clean up a group of officials and subordinates who have done nothing, as well as wealthy households in the capital."

Zhu Gaoxu said this with a smile, which made Zhu Di glance at him sideways: "Don't make things too big, or it won't end well."

"Father, please don't worry, my son knows what's going on."

In response, Zhu Gaoxu slowly stood up and prepared to leave, but he never thought that before he could take action, Zhu Di said:

"I recently looked at the sand table in the southwest and felt that if there was only one road leading to Yunnan, it would be difficult for the court to control it."

"So I took a look and planned to upgrade the Guizhou Xuanwei Department to the Chief Envoy Department, and set up a Prosecution Department and a Dusi Department. What do you think?"

Zhu Di suddenly proposed the establishment of a province in Guizhou, which was a surprise to Zhu Gaoxu. After all, in history, Zhu Di decided to establish a province in Guizhou only after pacifying the Tian family in Sizhou. Now, the Tian family is preparing to establish a province before it is pacified. Time It was more than ten years ahead of schedule.

However, it is inevitable for Guizhou to be established as a province, and Guizhou’s population and cultivated land potential must also be developed.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also thought for a moment and then said: "There were originally 225 families in Guizhou. After several years of suppression by my grandfather, there are still 197 families, including the Shui Xi'an family (Bijie), Shui Xi'an family, The Eastern Song clan (Guiyang), the Sizhou Tian clan (Tongren) and the Bozhou Yang clan (Zunyi) are the largest, and are also known as the four major chieftains."

"The four chieftains each have hundreds of thousands of people under their rule, and their troops range from 20,000 to 30,000 to as many as 50,000 or 60,000. If you want to establish a province in Guizhou and be able to govern yourself, you must first seize the population and land from the chieftains. .”

In the historical chapter of the Ming Dynasty's transformation from native land to homeland, the four major chieftains in Guizhou are definitely a chapter that cannot be surpassed.

From the Sizhou Tian family in the Yongle period of the early Ming Dynasty, to the Battle of Bozhou in the Wanli period, to the She'an rebellion in the Tianqi period.

The former does not have much space in history, that is because it faced the Ming Dynasty, which was growing in national power.

It only took Gu Cheng a few months to pacify the Tian family in Sizhou, but at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it took more than twenty years to face the rebellions of the Yang family, the She family, the An family, and the Song family in Bozhou.

The rebellion of the Yang family in Bozhou was still within the controllable range of the Ming Dynasty, but the She'an Rebellion made the situation of the Ming Dynasty even worse.

After defeating the Ming army at the Battle of Nurha Chisarhu, She Chongming, An Bangyan, and Song Siyin raised their troops to suppress the rebellion of the chieftains. The rebellion lasted from the Tianqi period to the Chongzhen period, which greatly restricted the Ming Dynasty's national power in the southwest and allowed the Ming Dynasty to On the one hand, he had to deal with Nurhachi in Liaodong, on the other hand he had to deal with the peasant uprising in the interior, and he had to put down the She'an Rebellion.

If the Ming Dynasty had not pacified them and allowed them to survive until the Qing Dynasty, it would probably have caused the Qing Dynasty a headache for a long time. After all, these four chieftains were not comparable to the small chieftains like Jinchuan and Jinchuan who had less than ten thousand soldiers.

They are powerful and have a large population, making it difficult to pacify them.

But in other words, if they can be pacified, the Ming Dynasty's cultivated land and population will definitely increase. There will be no problem in supporting at least one Guizhou Three Divisions. Zhu Di also understands this.

"I want to start with the Sizhou Tian family, but I don't have any reason."

Zhu Di's thoughts were very clear, and he still chose to start with the Tian family in Sizhou, near Hunan, as he had done historically.

"It is certain that the southwest should be repatriated. The more than ten big chieftains in Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, and Sichuan must be repatriated. If they are unwilling, they will send troops to quell the rebellion. As for the reason, you can just find any one. "

Compared with Zhu Di who wanted to find reasons, Zhu Gaoxu directly chose to create reasons. After all, only winners can write history.

There are a few people in later generations who are aware of the Ming Dynasty's efforts to drive Miao seedlings and develop industries in the Southwest. Don't they all think that Han people have been living in the Southwest since the Han Dynasty?

But in fact, the southwest territory of later generations was laid by the Ming Dynasty, but the process of laying it was very bloody.

"We must continue to reform the land and return it to local people, but we cannot blindly squeeze the toast."

Before Zhu Di could react, Zhu Gaoxu became conservative again.

"The imperial court's tax requirements for the southwestern chieftains are not low, and the burden they bear is also heavy. The original conversion of native land to native land could not effectively reduce the burden, so the chieftains also held a rebellious attitude."

"If that's the case, then why doesn't the court choose another way?"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke his thoughts conservatively and continued based on this question:

"Give the chieftain two options. One is to hand over military power, become a hereditary native official, and increase his salary."

"The other is to retain military power, but accept the imperial court's deployment to garrison in other places, and give up the population and governance rights under the rule."

When Zhu Gaoxu's conservative policy was announced, Zhu Di immediately looked at him in surprise, because Zhu Gaoxu's policy was much more radical than the Ming Dynasty's reform of the country.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's demand for reforming Tuguiliu was nothing more than to abolish the chieftain system in various ethnic minority areas in the southwest, and instead have the imperial court appoint exiled officials to directly rule, and implement the same local administrative system as in the mainland.

“The specific implementation method of the policy is to abolish the privileged status of chieftains and bring all the land and population originally under the jurisdiction of chieftains under the direct control of the imperial court.

At the same time, the imperial court carried out a series of reforms in these areas, such as changing land ownership, redrawing administrative divisions, and implementing a new tax system.

In many places, the transformation of the local people back to their hometowns was not complete. The former chieftains were appointed as local magistrates and local magistrates. They still controlled the population and troops, but only increased the tax quota.

When Zhu Gaoxu arrived, he directly asked the chieftain to give up political power or military power, and he could only choose one of the two.

From this point of view, his policies are much more radical than Zhu Yuanzhang's.

"If you do this, I'm afraid the chieftains in the southwest won't be willing."

Zhu Di was made conservative by Zhu Gaoxu's radicalism, and he couldn't help but worry: "We are still preparing to pacify Annan..."

"So I'm not planning to attack the Southwest Chieftain now, but do it step by step." Zhu Gaoxu responded:

"The reason why 200,000 to 300,000 troops are stationed in the southwest is to prevent the chieftain rebellion."

"If the entire army can be equipped with firearms, then the stone fortress in the hands of the chieftain will not be a hindrance. Once the army sets off, it can eradicate the stubborn chieftain one by one."

"Once the southwestern chieftains are completely pacified, the imperial court will only need to maintain 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Guizhou, Huguang and other places, and transfer more troops to Duogan, Sanxuan Liuwei and Annan."

"That's true." Zhu Di originally wanted to refute, but when he thought of the battle simulation topics he had seen at the National Defense University these days, and after seeing with his own eyes the power of naval guns, coastal defense guns, siege guns and field guns, he I don't think it's difficult to change my roots and return to my hometown.

The emergence of cannons and matchlocks made the Ming Dynasty's science and technology advance for nearly two hundred years, but the corresponding southwest Tusi Pass and stone fortress still maintained the style of this era.

It was not difficult for the Southwest Corps to attack Luchuan. The reason why it took so long was because the Wankou gun and Hongwu iron cannon could not quickly defeat the Luchuan fortress.

But if you take the Bohai cannon and go to the southwest, not to mention the siege cannon, even the field artillery can easily capture any city and fort in Luchuan after a few days of bombardment.

Of course, the premise is that the number of artillery pieces must be sufficient, otherwise a few artillery pieces may have to bombard them until the end of the year.

"When are you going to take action on the land-return movement in Southwest China?"

After Zhu Di figured out what Zhu Gaoxu was thinking, he asked about the time to take action.

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that there could be no delay. The strength of the Southwest Corps now lies in the presence of Muchun, Qu Neng, He Fu, Gu Cheng and others.

Now, although I have transferred Li Jinglong, Sheng Yong and others to the southwest, their abilities are not as good as those of the veterans of the Southwest Corps.

While these veterans can still fight, they must be allowed to bring out a new group of young generals.

"Five years later."

Zhu Gaoxu looked up at Zhu Di and told him the approximate time. Zhu Di knew what Zhu Gaoxu was thinking just by listening to it: "Are you going to let these students from the National Defense University join the battlefield of reforming the country in the southwest?"

"Yes!" Zhu Gaoxu didn't hide anything. After all, there was no need to hide when facing Zhu Di. Now many people wanted to see the joke between their father and son, but they refused to let these people get their wish:

"If Duke Qian and Duke Cao can bring out a group of young and strong generals, then the Ming Dynasty can prosper for another forty years."

"Forty years is too short, the two of us together are enough." Zhu Di scratched his beard, and Zhu Gaoxu felt a little ashamed after hearing this.

Fortunately, in Zhu Di's opinion, both he and himself seemed to be able to live to be over sixty.

Zhu Gaoxu had no doubts about whether Zhu Di could live to be over sixty, but he was a little worried about whether he could live to be sixty.

"I won't die in front of the old man, right?"

When he thought that he had shared so much work for Zhu Di and did not often confront Zhu Di like Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaojiu couldn't help but doubt that the old man would live longer in this life.

But before he could think about it carefully, he heard rapid footsteps coming from outside the palace.

The father and son looked at the palace gate at the same time. Not long after, they saw a military attache appearing at the palace gate. He was panting and did not forget to bow:

"I know that Wu Zhong, the Governor of the Governor's Office of the Right Army, has an urgent report, please report to Your Majesty!"

"Come in and start playing!" Zhu Di had a bad feeling when he heard that it was the Governor's Mansion of the Right Army, and signaled for Wu Zhong to come in and report.

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhong bowed in return, then walked into Wuying Hall and handed over the urgent report. Wang Yan, who had been standing in the corner without opening his mouth, stepped forward to take the urgent report and handed it to Zhu Di without thinking.

While Zhu Di opened the urgent report, Wu Zhong then said: "Luomiao Puliang rebelled on the platform, and Yazhou, Qiongzhou Prefecture, encountered Japanese invasion and repelled it."

Before the topic of returning to rural areas was over, the Luo Miao rebellion broke out, which made Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di look at each other.

However, after reading the urgent report, Zhu Di was not in a hurry, but said: "Since Cao Guogong has led troops to conquer Luo Miao, the right army governor's office only needs to pay attention to the war. As for the appearance of Japanese pirates in Yazhou, there is no need to worry. Let the Japanese guards along the coasts of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian be on alert until Zheng He goes to Nanyang next year to clear them out."

"Your Majesty..." Wu Zhong agreed, and then left Wuying Hall at Zhu Di's signal.

After he left, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu: "How are the preparations for the fleet going to Nanyang?" Seeing Zhu Di asking about this matter, Zhu Gaoxu also gave the answer after thinking for a while:

"Originally there were forty treasure ships, one hundred warships with three thousand materials, and one hundred horse ships. Now it seems that we may need to increase the number."

"Deploy another five hundred thousand guans, and at the same time recruit 15,000 more navy troops, build fifty warships with 3,000 rations, ten treasure ships with 5,000 rations, and one hundred horse ships."

"In this way, the number of 35,000 people in the Navy's Seventh Guard will be full."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he also gave the specific strength of the Ming Navy in the future.

Counting the treasure ships, war ships and horse ships left in the Whale Sea, the Ming Navy has a total of 35,000 men, 60 treasure ships, 170 war ships, and 240 horse ships, for a total of 480 A combat logistics vessel.

This scale is twice as large as Zheng He's voyages to the West in his previous life, but it is also appropriate.

After all, Zheng He's fleet to the Western Ocean only retained a certain number of garrison troops and ships in various official factories, but Zhu Gaoxu wanted to deploy seven permanent naval garrison posts in the Whale Sea, the Eastern and Southern Oceans, and the Western Ocean to protect the Ming Dynasty's overseas interests.

"It's up to you to handle this matter."

Zhu Di stood up after hearing this. It seemed that he was not ready to continue talking to Zhu Gaoxu about anything else. After all, both of them were busy with government affairs.

Their father and son do not have the same energy as Lao Zhu, not to mention that Daming's workload is now much higher than that of Lao Zhu. Even if Lao Zhu is resurrected, he will have to work for nine hours a day, let alone the father and son.

Even if divided equally, each person would have to work for four and a half hours, so except for some days when there were relatively few memorials, their personal time was still very little.

Although Zhu Di always went to the university to teach and the National Defense University, he still had to manage politics on the way.

The repetitive life made him feel boring, but when he thought about his rise to the top, he could only bite the bullet and continue to prove that he was tens of millions of times better than Zhu Yunwen.

"My son, please retire..."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed and left, and Zhu Di also went to the side hall.

Not long after, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the East Palace in a golden carriage, but as soon as he got off the bus, he saw a happy-looking Yi Shiha waiting for him at the palace gate.

"Your Highness!"

"Why are you so happy?"

Yi Shiha came forward happily. Zhu Gaoxu was still curious and asked, but he didn't expect Yi Shiha's next words to make him stunned.

"The Crown Princess is so happy!"

Yishiha's face was full of excitement, and he didn't know it but thought his wife was pregnant.

"Happy?" Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, and it took him a moment to realize that he was pregnant.

"Is it that easy?"

Zhu Gaoxu didn't expect that he would reap the results after two months of hard work, and his mind went blank.

In his previous life, he was still happily single when he was almost thirty. He saw that his colleagues might not be able to conceive after several years of marriage, which made him think that it would be difficult to have children.

Now it seems that it is not difficult.

"Let's go to the front bedroom!"

After Zhu Gaoxu came to his senses, he happily led Yishiha towards the palace.

The two of them almost ran all the way, thinking that some important national event had happened.

When he ran to the front bedroom, Guo Yan was still sitting and playing the guzheng, which made Zhu Gaoxu quickly walk into the palace.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

The female officials bowed, and Zhu Gaoxu asked curiously: "Aren't you overjoyed? Why are you playing the guzheng again?"

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that it was not pleasant to have a female colleague who was overjoyed in his previous life, so he was a little worried about Guo Yan.

"I don't feel any discomfort after being happy, but I feel a little uncomfortable when I am happy."

Guo Yan smiled brightly, and his eyes were as crescent-shaped.

Zhu Gaoxu sat aside and stretched out his hand to touch her abdomen: "How many months has it been?"

"The imperial doctor said it should be a month and a half." Guo Yan stretched out her hand and put it on Zhu Gaoxu's. She could feel that Zhu Gaoxu cared about her sincerely this time, which made her relieved.

Mother is more valuable than her son. If she can give birth to a son, then her position as crown princess will be truly secure.

"Then the baby should be born in September next year, right?" Zhu Gaoxu didn't understand this very well. Guo Yan shook his head: "The imperial doctor said that the baby should be born around August, and September is already full term."

"Okay!" After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu looked up at the smiling female officials and eunuchs in the palace, and said generously:

"Everyone in the East Palace will be rewarded with ten guans each. In addition, you will also reward the female medical officer who will be transferred from Liaodong to be in charge of childbirth."

"My slave has issued a transfer order." Yishiha bowed in return, which made Zhu Gaoxu very satisfied. At the same time, he turned back to comfort Guo Yan:

"Although childbirth is dangerous, there are also many female medical officers trained in Bohai and Liaodong. They have handled many difficult labor surgeries in Bohai and Liaodong. Regardless of your physical condition, you can rest assured."

"Yes..." Guo Yan felt happy at this moment. Zhu Gaoxu had cared about her before, but nothing could compare with this time.

"Has the news reached Wuying Palace and Qianqing Palace?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Yan, and Guo Yan nodded.

Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Zhu Di and Queen Xu appeared in the front palace.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu sat aside, while Queen Xu couldn't help but smile on her face and kept sharing her experience with Guo Yan.

Looking at the scene, Zhu Gaoxu went from being happy at the beginning to becoming calm now. However, Zhu Di watched him calm down and pulled him aside.

"Just now I received news from the Grand Teaching Center that the third child has been tortured quite a lot."

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaojiu and talked about Zhu Gaosui's experiences during this period, but Zhu Gaojiu stopped him: "If you want to let him out, dad, you'd better wait."

"It's been less than three months. How much do you think he can change his temper?"

"The fact that he has been able to hold on until now means that there is nothing wrong with him. In this case, it is better to let him continue to stay in the cathedral. At least this way the capital can be more peaceful."

There is nothing wrong with what Zhu Gaoxu said. After the testimony of Shi Gusheng, the head of the Zhao Palace, there was a lot of news about the palace coming out of the Zhao Palace.

Now that Zhu Gaosui is locked up in a large church, not to mention what it does to the people's livelihood, it is a good thing for the palace alone.

When he becomes sensible and grows up, it won't be too late to let him out at that time. Anyway, it was he who took the initiative to postpone the feudal clan.

"You are cruel."

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu and couldn't help but shake his head. After all, Zhu Gaosui always ran behind Zhu Gaoxu in the past, and the two brothers had the best relationship.

Now when I look at it, not only has Zhu Gaojiu changed, but I also want to change Zhu Gaojiu.

Although this is a good thing, Zhu Di is always reluctant to think about Zhu Gaosui's hardship.

"Gaoxu."

The father and son had just finished talking about Zhu Gaosui when they heard Queen Xu's voice, so they returned to the main hall.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu walk out, Queen Xu also stood up and walked to his side, urging him to take good care of Guo Yan during this period.

Zhu Gaoxu listened to Queen Xu's words, so no matter what she said, Zhu Gaoxu nodded along.

Seeing that he was obedient, Queen Xu finally said a few words: "Don't sleep with Yan'er in the next few months. Don't you still have two servants in the East Palace? Just use them."

"If it's not enough, when I choose a concubine for your father next March, I will choose a few more for you."

"No need, mother, as long as the son has agreed as promised." Zhu Gaoxu was ashamed. If Empress Xu really chose dozens of beautiful women for him, he might not be able to control it.

The past month and a half of sleeping with Guo Yan had already made him feel mentally exhausted. Now that she was finally pregnant, he was ready to take a few days of rest.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at the silent master Zhu Di.

He also admired the old man. He obviously had so many concubines when he was in Peiping, but except for the deceased Zhu Gaoyan and the still alive Chang Ning, he was able to manage not to have children with other concubines.

If he hadn't known that the old man was changing names every day, Zhu Gaoxu would have doubted whether he had ridden too many horses and was unable to survive.

Anyway, Zhu Gaoxu can't do this kind of determination...

"What do you think I'm doing?"

Zhu Di, who was furious at Zhu Gaoxu, glared at him. Before Zhu Gaoxu could respond, Queen Xu shot him back.

"Your Majesty should also pay attention to moderation. The cards have been turned over too frequently recently."

"I'm just trying to be fresh. If I like it, it's only you, Sister Xu." Zhu Di made Empress Xu blush as soon as she opened her mouth, and subconsciously looked at Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan.

"Don't say this in front of Gao Xu and the others. Such an adult is shameless."

"Hehe..." Zhu Di smiled. Seeing this, Empress Xu could only nod awkwardly to Zhu Gaoxu and the others: "You guys should rest early, we'll leave first."

When she said this, she didn't notice that it was still noon, and hurriedly walked out of the front bedroom, and Zhu Di happily chased after her.

"My mother and Your Majesty have a very close relationship. You will get used to it if you watch more."

"I am envious of His Majesty's ability to express himself so directly."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and talked to Guo Yan, and Guo Yan looked enviously at Zhu Di and Queen Xu who had walked away.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say. He just led Guo Yan to the side hall and sat down. At the same time, he asked Yishiha to take the memorial to the front bedroom for processing.

(End of this chapter)