Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 326 Preparing for the Northern Expedition

"The breath of spring is blowing like the wind, and the mountains and forests are like shadow, and they are far away..."

Under the dark night, the night was getting darker. As the singing of the geishas in the Golden Pavilion came out, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was sitting in the top of the Golden Pavilion, also led the important nobles in the shogunate to drink and listen.

The aroma at the entrance made the nobles indulge in it, and the many pastries placed on the table made the nobles of this poor country enjoy the life of the Ming Dynasty literati.

This was the third year that the Ming Dynasty opened a shipping department. The whole of Japan began to benefit from the opening of a shipping department in Japan.

Various commodities such as cycads, brown sugar, porcelain, silk, cloth, and tea from the Ming Dynasty greatly enriched Japan's poor domestic market, and Kyoto's prosperity also reached a higher level.

In the past, cakes made with brown sugar could only be eaten by guardians and nobles. However, with the influx of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of Daming sugar into Japan every year, the price of sugar in Japan has gradually begun to fall.

The sugar that originally cost one hundred and forty coins only cost sixty coins when purchased from the Japanese Shipping Department. The guardians who obtained the qualifications for the shipping business made a lot of money.

This is just brown sugar, not to mention other tea, porcelain, cloth, and satin.

Except for a small number of nobles who own fiefdoms who are worried about the Ming Dynasty's penetration into Japan, most other nobles are not worried about these things at all, especially the nominal Taizheng Minister of the Shogunate, who can actually only control Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in the Gyeonggi and parts of Kanto and Kansai. .

"Yoshimochi, how much did our annual income increase last year?"

While watching the geishas performing in front of him, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked his son, the current shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi.

"About 180,000 guan."

Ashikaga Yoshimochi is serious about his words, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is very satisfied.

As a feudal regime of the Samurai clan, the Ashikaga shogunate's income from land was an important part of supporting its finances.

The shogunate owned more than 200 "gosho" across the country, which were the territories directly under the jurisdiction of the military family. The rent collected from these lands was the main component of the shogunate's income.

The shogunate also attached great importance to its direct jurisdiction, so it appointed the Ise family, hereditary deacons of the shogunate, to manage the imperial palace. Some imperial palaces were also managed by Gozan monks. This income seemed stable, but it was not worth relying on.

In addition, the royal family members with knowledge and experience in four towns or above paid the local royal family service at the same rate per person, and one-fiftieth of the total income of the samurai from all countries was also collected from the shogunate as samurai family service.

Twenty-three years ago, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu obtained the power from the imperial court to collect and exempt dan money from various countries, calling it dan money.

Duanqian is the tax temporarily collected from the whole country when the new emperor succeeds to the throne, temple construction and other important events.

Due to the wide range of collection, the income from Duan Qian was very considerable, so the shogunate took control of the collection of Duan Qian, which undoubtedly enhanced its own economic strength.

However, this situation did not last long. Manor owners, guardians, and people in various places began to collect Duan money privately, and gradually changed this tax from temporary collection to long-term collection. Therefore, the shogunate, with limited direct jurisdiction, could not collect Duan money. No matter how much benefit was gained in terms of money, the system of local private collection of money continued into the Warring States Period.

In addition to dan zen, the fees for the annual Buddhist rituals and prayers held by the Ashikaga family are also levied from the guardians of various countries. However, unlike dan zen, this fund is not in the form of taxes but in the form of money "gifted" to the shogunate by the guardians. paid.

It can be seen from these things that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu spared no effort to create new tax sources. The reason is that forty years after the establishment of the shogunate, there is still no source of income that is rich enough to rely on with confidence.

The financial crisis led Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to focus on the Sakaya and Tokura Servants and levy them as long-term taxes, thus achieving an annual fiscal revenue of about 6,000 kan.

Just this income of 6,000 guan made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu very happy at that time. Now that the Ming Dynasty has entered Okinaki and established the Municipal Shipping Department, it can steadily hand over 60,000 to 90,000 guan to the shogunate every year.

Even if part of this money has to be distributed to the Kyogoku family, the shogunate will still get about two-thirds of it, which is a large and stable income.

Moreover, in addition to this income, the shogunate, as the largest buyer in the market, could earn more than 100,000 guan from the private sector every year by reselling obscure Ming products. This money was not earned by the shogunate before.

It is precisely because of the support and threat of Ming Dynasty that the guardians of Kansai and Kyushu can do business honestly, and the tax revenue can be handed over to themselves through the hands of Ming Dynasty.

The tariff of 180,000 guan was almost a quarter of the fiscal revenue of the Ashikaga Shogunate.

If this money is used to maintain the army, it can completely maintain 60,000 ashigaru.

If used to build armor and train an army, 40,000 ashigaru can be recruited and equipped.

It can be said that as long as this fiscal revenue can be maintained stably, the financial pressure on the Ashikaga Shogunate will no longer exist.

Because of this, even if you don't like Ashikaga Yoshimachi of the Ming Dynasty, you can't say it to the person who founded Shibo like before.

But he couldn't say it, which didn't mean he supported his father's doing so.

In his view, paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty and ceding islands such as Yinqi and Sado were undoubtedly acts of humiliation and loss of power.

In the past two years, the relationship between the shogunate and the imperial family has become increasingly tense, and his father seems to be preparing to coerce Emperor Gomatsu into abdicating the throne with the support of the Ming Dynasty, so that his younger brother Yoshitsugu can succeed him as emperor.

Thinking of this, Ashikaga Yoshimochi looked very sad, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu didn't care about his attitude and kept his eyes on the banquet.

The banquet lasted for a long time, and it was not until late at night that the nobles dispersed in groups.

At the end of the banquet, only Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and his three sons were left.

The eldest of the three sons is the current shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimichi, who is now eighteen years old.

After him were the ten-year-old second son Ashikaga Yoshitsune, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's favorite Ashikaga Yoshitsugu.

Looking at his three sons, the forty-six-year-old Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sat up and then taught them:

"The current environment is not suitable for enjoyment, and I am not holding a banquet for enjoyment."

"If you observed the banquet carefully, you should have seen that many of them were just hypocritical, and not many of them could really get along with us."

"You three brothers need to unite. Only in this way can we continue to maintain the stability of the shogunate."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu set his sights on Ashikaga Yoshimochi, whose political views were different from his own: "Yoshimochi, I know you don't agree with my switch, but now that the switch can bring us benefits, then we need to maintain it."

"When the benefits of switching are no longer enough, you can choose to retreat."

"Yes..." Ashikaga Yoshimochi put his hands on his legs and nodded slowly.

He seemed solemn, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could feel that he still did not agree with his words, which made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu feel a little uneasy.

It was just that the current situation was relatively peaceful, so he didn't think much about it. Instead, he gave a few words of warning to Ashikaga Yoshitsune and Ashikaga Yoshitsugu respectively, and then motioned for the three of them to step back.

Watching their departing figures, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sat upright and asked someone to take the pen and ink and wrote a letter of credence with his own hands.

Not long after, this letter of credence was sent to the Ship Division of Yinqi City by several warriors.

A few days later, the credentials passed by the Shipping Department of Yinqi City were brought back to the Ming Dynasty on the official ship of Tomorrow Trade.

By the time it arrived in Nanjing, it was already the end of February in the third year of Yongle, and it was only three days before Zhu Di went north.

The emperor wanted to conquer the north, which was a top priority for the Ming Dynasty.

You must know that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who conquered the world with his own hands, did not conduct any personal conquests. He only went to Kaifeng after Xu Da and others conquered the Central Plains.

Now that Zhu Di was going to go on a personal expedition, Zhu Gaoxu was appointed to supervise the country, and the entire Jiangnan began to prepare for the emperor's tour.

[The King of Japan expresses his moral gratitude to His Majesty the Ming Emperor]

[The sun is shining in the sky, and the Ming Dynasty is dynasty to all nations. Haihan spring nurtures, Yuanhua love is everywhere. The Chinese barbarians returned to the earth, and the vegetation, insects, and fish took over. 】

[Respect to His Majesty the Ming Dynasty Emperor, Divine Wen Sheng Wu, Zeng Zhi Ci Ren, Royal Unification, Cha Shu...]

"This Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has changed quite well. Last time, he was promised to be the third empress, and now he calls himself the king."

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Di held the letter of credence written by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and laughed happily, because he saw from the letter Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's closeness to the Ming Dynasty, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's move to call himself king also showed that he was indeed I want to be the king of Japan.

For Zhu Di, he is not afraid of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ambition, but he is afraid of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's lack of ambition.

Ambitious people are always easier to drive than people without ambition.

"When you have confidence, you will naturally dare to call yourself the king."

While Zhu Di was having a good time, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the left side of the hall, also took a sip of tea, with a calm expression on his face, as if he had expected that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would get close to Daming.

"Don't mention him, you will take care of this matter anyway. What I care about now is what happens to my supplies for the Northern Expedition."

General Zhu Di didn't take Ashikaga Yoshimitsu seriously, because he knew that his second son was in charge, so he didn't want to bother.

What he cares about now is how to prepare supplies for his northern expedition, so as not to cause any trouble on the guise of not having enough supplies.

"Everything is ready. Quanningwei has a grain reserve of 200,000 dan, and Zhaozhou's grain reserve is more than expected. It currently has 800,000 dan."

"The Yanshan left and right guards from North Zhili are already waiting for you in Beijing. The Zhaozhou central guard and 60 1,200-horsepower ships have also been transferred to the Bohai Sea to await your transfer order."

"Now let's see which troops from the capital you are going to take north." After Zhu Gaoxu said this, he also looked at Zhu Di's expression.

Zhu Di scratched his beard: "I have already said before, the left and right guards of Zhaozhou, Li Shi and Li Qi, and the left and right guards of Yulin, Li Yuan and Zengshou."

"These total 36,000 troops and horses, enough for me to gallop across the desert."

"Just wait for me. Dad will help you defeat Modong before winter comes."

Zhu Di spoke arrogantly, as if saying that the progress in the south was too slow, and if he had taken action, it would have been solved long ago.

He was proud of his capital, and Zhu Gaoxu did not refute him, but smiled and said: "It would be better if you win it earlier."

"After taking Modong, in at most three years, the imperial court will be able to launch a northern expedition to Qiwangcheng."

"Hmm..." Zhu Di stroked his beard and nodded, and at the same time did not forget to inoculate Zhu Gaoxu: "I will have to lead the people to fight against Qi Wangcheng myself. Others are not as good at fighting as me."

When he said this, Zhu Di was actually a little uneasy, because recently, many ministers came to persuade him not to do the conquest personally, and even his own eldest son came to join in the fun.

Therefore, in Zhu Di's view, although his second son supported him once, he probably would not support him a second time. However, he miscalculated. Faced with his idea, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "As long as you cherish the national strength, no matter what you want to do, my son will support you."

"Second brother..." Zhu Di felt a sore nose and couldn't help but stepped forward with some emotion. He stretched out his hand and patted Zhu Gaoxu's shoulder: "Second brother, you really look like me."

"..." Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu always felt weird, but he didn't think about it deeply. He just asked, "Can you go too, mother?"

"Go." When mentioning Queen Xu, the soreness in Zhu Di's nose quickly dissipated. He sat next to Zhu Gaoxu with a smile, put one hand on the coffee table and said:

"Your mother said that she hasn't seen the families of the soldiers in Peking for a long time, and she wanted to take this opportunity to visit Peking."

"Very good." Hearing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu felt a little emotional.

Historically, the thing that Empress Xu always talked about and regretted before her death was that she did not return to Peiping.

Now that it's better, the Ming Dynasty's national power has not suffered too big a blow. Coupled with its development of the southwest and the East, the progress of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition has also been increased, and my mother can also make a smooth trip back to Peiping.

"When Uliangha is dealt with this time, the Tatars can be dealt with in three years."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, and at the same time thought of things in the west, he couldn't help but ask:

"I sent Jin Yiwei to the river to investigate some things. It seems that Timur held a huril meeting in Samarkand and was preparing to start the Eastern Expedition. Do you have any news from the West Factory?"

Three years after Yongle, Timur in Central Asia finally ended his war with the Ottomans. After returning to Samarkand, he prepared to use the excuse of conquering the Ming Dynasty to conquer the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and conquer the Mongols. of Mobei.

Zhu Gaoxu admired Zhu Di for being able to send Jin Yiwei to reach out to Central Asia in three years, but Zhu Gaoxu was never worried about matters in Central Asia.

"Father, don't worry. Timur's body has already contracted the disease. If he really wants to go on an expedition, I'm afraid he will die before he fights Bessbali."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Di said in surprise: "You can even find out this kind of news?"

"Xichang can find out more than this." Zhu Gaoxu pretended to be confident. When Zhu Di heard this, he also stroked his beard suspiciously, and then said regretfully:

"It's a pity. I read the information about Timur. He is considered a hero. It's a pity that I can't fight him."

Zhu Di was still feeling regretful, but the sound of singing came from outside the palace: "Xu Zengshou, the commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army, asks to see your majesty."

"Announce him in!" When he heard his brother-in-law coming, Zhu Di responded and walked to his seat to sit down.

Not long after, when Xu Zengshou came in wearing a robe of robes, he first bowed five times to Zhu Di and kowtowed three times, and then saluted Zhu Gaoxu.

After doing all this, Xu Zengshou bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the two guards on the left and right of Yulin are ready, and ten thousand troops and horses are ready to go out at any time."

"I understand. You should prepare and go to Yangzhou first to wait."

Zhu Di nodded and gave instructions to Xu Zengshou, and then said without forgetting: "The Queen will also go north this time, but she will just stay in Beijing. When the time comes, you can tell her that you want to go north. I don't want to be blamed by her."

"Yes!" Xu Zengshou smiled in return, naturally knowing that his sister did not want him to go to the battlefield.

But if he doesn't go to the battlefield, where will he get military glory?

"Father, uncle, I have to leave first."

Seeing that the two of them were going to talk about the Northern Expedition in detail, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to waste time staying here, but was preparing to return to the East Palace to enjoy his last few days of leisure.

After all, once Zhu Di leaves, the pressure of government affairs will fall on his shoulders.

"Wait a minute, second brother." Zhu Di stopped Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"In this northern expedition, I will also take the great bachelors in front of the palace, as well as the Zuo Shilang of the Sixth Ministry and some Yuanwailang and chief officials to go north."

"Although you are the supervisor, I also have to read the government affairs. You can't miss important things and send them to me."

"Father, please don't worry." Zhu Gaoxu laughed when he heard it. Zhu Di found something to do on his own, so he couldn't be blamed.

"Um..." Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's smile, Zhu Di felt something was wrong, so he added: "Only do it for big things, not for small things."

"My son, I understand." Zhu Gaoxu bared his big white teeth and didn't listen to Zhu Di's words at all.

He returned the gift respectfully, then walked out of Wuying Hall, hummed a little tune, got on the golden chariot, and returned to Chunhe Hall.

While he was getting into the car, Zhu Di also stroked his beard and asked Xu Zengshou uneasily: "Do you think... will the second brother take advantage of me while I'm not in Nanjing?"

"Huh?" Xu Zengshou thought he heard wrongly and looked up at Zhu Di in surprise.

After confirming that he heard correctly, Xu Zengshou said: "Prince Renxiao, this is something that both the government and the public know, why is Your Majesty worried?"

"I always feel that this guy is kind on the outside but treacherous on the inside." Zhu Di muttered a few times, while Xu Zengshou was dumbfounded: "You are not that easy to air."

What Xu Zengshou said was true. Although Zhu Di lost the opportunity, he still had one-third of the world's troops in his hands, and the ministers in the temple supported him more than Zhu Gaoxu.

If Zhu Gaoxu's position was not too stable, it is estimated that the officials would have opposed the canonization of Zhu Gaoxu when he was first named the prince.

Compared with Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochi was the prince and heir apparent they wanted.

It's just that it's too late to say anything now. The matter has been finalized. Zhu Gaoxu's position cannot be shaken by even Zhu Di, and it is also difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to shake Zhu Di's position.

"Also..." Zhu Di sighed, thinking of Zhu Gaoxu's support for his second northern expedition, and immediately slapped himself in the face:

"After all, the second child is like me. I respect my father, and the second child also respects me."

"If he wants the throne, he will definitely be impatient."

"Besides, I'm forty-four now. Although I'm still in my prime, I don't know how long I can live. There's no need to take risks."

Zhu Di slapped himself in the face, and Xu Zengshou was very helpless when he saw this. Sometimes he felt that his brother-in-law was a little nervous.

"In this northern expedition, you and Li Yuan will lead Yu Lin's left and right guards as the central army, and the vanguard will be handed over to Meng Zhang."

Zhu Di got down to business and explained: "After all, we haven't been to Modong for five or six years, so we don't know anything about the specific situation in Modong."

"Meng Zhang has been recruiting Jurchens and the Uliangha people who fled south for almost three years in the Bohai Sea. There must be Uliangha people in his army as patrol posts. It is better for him to be the vanguard."

"As for the generals to be transferred to the north this time, I thought about it and decided to use Qiu Fu and Chen Mao."

Speaking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

The average age of the generals born in the Yan Mansion is over forty. Zhu Neng is currently the youngest person who can take the lead, but he is still thirty-four.

Among the new generation of generals, only Zhang Fu and Meng Ying mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu are handsome and talented. Most of the others are only suitable to lead a single guard and fight as a vanguard.

Apart from them, Zhu Di only has Jiang Gui, whom he discovered last year, who has some potential.

Such an embarrassing situation made Zhu Di feel melancholy. He only felt that the Yanfu generals were too old and might have to withdraw from the front line one after another in ten years and turn to the second line like Zhang Yu, Chen Heng and Meng Shan.

In comparison, the generals from the Bohai Sea are very young. Even the oldest Wang Yi is just forty, and the following Fu Rang is only thirty-six. The remaining generals Lin Su, Zhang Chun, Chen Chang, Xu Sheng and Yang Zhan, Wang Xuan and others in the south are only twenty-eight or nine.

It can be said that the average age of Zhu Gaoxu's team is at least twelve or thirteen years younger than that of Yanfu.

Zhu Di still envied his second son for being able to bring out so many young generals, but he didn't feel that he was inferior to his second son. He just felt that there were too few smart generals around him to learn his essence.

"It's a good thing for the general to be younger, as long as the war is fought without ambiguity."

After all, Xu Zengshou had gone on an expedition with Zhu Di to fight Naierbuhua, and was also sent to the northwest by Zhu Yuanzhang to train troops. Therefore, he was very confident in commanding thousands of men, and his military vision was not bad.

In his opinion, it is a good thing that the generals in the imperial court are getting younger. After all, most of the generals left since the Hongwu Dynasty are in their forties or fifties. If these people get old and there is no backbone to stand up, then the Ming Dynasty's border guards in the future will really be worrying. .

"I just sigh and sigh."

Zhu Di shook his head, and then chatted with Xu Zengshou about home affairs.

A quarter of an hour later, he personally escorted Xu Zengshou out of Wuying Hall, watched him go away, and then returned to the hall.

But before he could return to the palace for too long, he heard the sound of footsteps.

He looked up and saw that the person coming was Ji Gang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards.

"I bow to your Majesty..."

Ji Gang entered the hall and bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then stood up to the sound of Zhu Di's "hmm".

"How are you doing at the temple lately? Is anyone talking about my Northern Expedition?"

Zhu Di asked Ji Gang, and Ji Gang's eyes flashed with light when he heard this, and he quickly answered:

"The great scholars Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi, Hu Guang, Hu Yan, Jin Youzi, Huang Huai, as well as the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang, the Minister of Punishment Zheng Ci, the Minister of War Liu Jun and others all opposed it. Even His Highness the King of Han..."

When he said this, he slowly began to hesitate. After hearing this, Zhu Di felt very uncomfortable and snorted coldly: "In the civil and military dynasties, the boss is the one who takes the lead and sings the opposite."

"Remember this group of people to see if they are motivated by selfishness or publicity. Besides, you don't need to go to the Northern Expedition this time. Stay well in Nanjing City and show me what they are doing. Over there in the East Palace Policies must also be passed on to me in a timely manner.”

Zhu Di paused as he spoke, and after a few breaths, he said, "If the East Palace has any arrangements, you can do it first and then go to the hospital."

He stroked his beard and said with some uncertainty: "My second brother is still like me after all, so nothing will happen to him."

"I accept the order!" Ji Gang responded, his mind gradually becoming more active.

Not long after, he retreated at Zhu Di's signal, and the entire capital became increasingly busy with the arrival of the Northern Expedition.

(End of this chapter)