Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 329 Deep feelings

"Drive out the Han soldiers and conquer Vietnam!"

In early April, due to the influx of a large number of Annan people, Chen Jikkuo of Shannan area issued a proclamation surrounded by Jian Ding, treating the Ming army as bandits invading Annan territory, and sent 40,000 troops to conquer Thanglong.

At the same time, a large number of Annan's powerful gentry in the areas recovered by the Ming army began to rebel. For a time, the entire Annan was full of smoke, and the smoke that finally faded away burned again.

On the fifth day of April, Duke Muchun of the State of Guizhou issued a proclamation, making it known to the public that Chen Jigao had impersonated the Chen Dynasty clan, and troops were divided into multiple groups to counter the rebellion.

After learning the news, the Hu family and his son who were entrenched in Xinghua also sent troops to prepare to attack the Ming army with Chen Jikao. However, what stood in front of them was Zhang Fu who had stationed 5,000 troops in the east of Shanxi Town.

On the sixth day of April, Muchun, Fu Rang and other generals came into contact with Chen Ji's troops and horses. Chen's troops collapsed at the first touch and lost fifteen cities in less than three days.

At the same time, Hu Yuancheng led 30,000 troops to fight with Zhang Fu in Shanxi Town. Hu Yuancheng led the elephant soldiers to fight, but Zhang Fu dispersed the elephant herd with artillery shells and defeated the front army with three close shots from matchlock guns.

After fighting for only an hour, the Vietnamese army fled. Zhang Fu personally led 200 cavalry to pursue them for 30 miles and killed tens of thousands of prisoners.

On the tenth day of April, Qu Neng led Qu Yu, Qu Tao, Zhang Chun, Meng Ying and other generals and more than a thousand infantry to raid Shannan Town, and simply ordered 20,000 soldiers to go out of the city to meet the enemy.

During the battle, Qu Neng, Meng Ying, Zhang Chun and other dozens of generals rode out of the formation and attacked left and right.

Jian Ding commanded the soldiers and horses to guard, but Qu Neng led his troops to break in, swinging his double hammers and leaping horses as fast as flying. The second son, Meng Ying, Zhang Chun and other generals killed hundreds of people, and the Vietnamese troops fled.

On April 15th, the Vietnamese army under Chen Jikuo was completely wiped out in Shannan. Muchun, the Duke of Guizhou, supported the 67-year-old Chen Yao, the only elder of the Chen family, as the leader of the Annan Kingdom, and asked Shu to set up a capital department. This helped the Chen Dynasty to resist future Hu invasions.

"Who is this Chen Yao?"

At the end of April, when the news from Annan arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Gaoxu was busy recruiting civilians to help Zhu Di's northern expedition. Unexpectedly, Muchun actually pacified Chen Jikuo and supported Chen Yao, the elder of the Chen clan.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha bowed when he heard the words: "Back to Your Highness, this Chen Yao is the only clan member of the Annan Chen family at the moment, but he is not smart and has no heirs."

"In other words, the Chen family is extinct?" Zhu Gaoxu asked in surprise, but Yi Shiha shook his head: "Many people fled south to Nanyang, but they couldn't be caught."

"It's a pity..."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, and when Yi Shiha saw this, he tentatively said:

"Your Highness, the Duke of Guizhou, Chen Yao, is the lord of Annan. This seems a bit excessive."

The matter of Mu Chunli and Chen Yao was not suggested by Zhu Gaoxu, so it was indeed wrong for Mu Chun to do this.

But for Zhu Gaoxu, there is no harm in doing so. After all, Chen Yao has no heirs and is still sixty-seven years old. It is hard to say how many years he can live.

Governing Annan in his name can greatly appease the people of Annan and prevent national rebellion.

After Chen Yao died in a few years, the imperial court would be able to take over Annan on the grounds that the Chen family had no descendants, and it would be able to occupy a high position for the sake of justice.

"Establish a command and envoy department in the capital of Jiaozhi, with jurisdiction over twenty-two guards."

Zhu Gaoxu wrote a red pen and handed Muchun's memorial to Yishiha, and at the same time he did not forget to remind:

"Before the end of the year, we will first find out the population of Cochin, and then prepare the land survey next year."

"In addition, Mu Sheng was promoted to the Marquis of Xiping, Qu Neng was promoted to the Marquis of Jianchang, He Fu was promoted to the Marquis of Ningyuan, and Gu was promoted to the Marquis of Zhenyuan."

"In addition, Fu Rang is ordered to inherit the Duke of Yingguo and sit in Annan, Zhang Chun is appointed as the commander-in-chief of Jiaozhi, and Zhang Fu is appointed commander-in-chief of Guangxi."

"Lin Su was appointed as the commander of Shanxi's capital, and Meng Ying was appointed as the commander of Jiaozhi."

In a few words, the Mu family gained a marquis, Qu Neng and three others were promoted from earls to marquises, Fu Rang inherited the dukedom of Ying Kingdom, and the rest, Zhang Chun and others, were promoted one after another.

Of course, the most eye-catching one is Lin Su's role as the commander of the Shanxi capital.

Shanxi Xingdu Command and Envoy Division, which is mainly responsible for Datong, Monan and most of the Hetao areas.

For the Ming Dynasty, this area was basically a purely imported land like Daning and Liaodong in the past, without any output.

In the early years, Zhu Di discussed with Zhu Gaoxu that he wanted to abolish this place and move the Dongsheng and other guards in Hetao to Shanxi. The reason was that this place had no output and no targets for defense.

Since the great victory in Yuerhai, the Hetao has been invaded very rarely. The local army grazes sheep every day and can only survive on hundreds of thousands of stones of grain transferred from outside every year.

Historically, Zhu Di moved here because his input and income failed to produce output, but the fundamental reason was that Hebei's population was exhausted, so he could only replenish Hebei's population by moving the population here.

Now, because of Zhu Gaoxu's existence, not only did the Battle of Jingnan end two years earlier, but the war in Hebei did not spread too widely. Therefore, although the population of Peiping is small, at least there is no rush to enrich it.

For Zhu Gaoxu, the Hetao must become Han territory and must be built until the output exceeds the input.

When Liaodong can be self-sufficient, it will be time for Zhu Gaoxu to invest in Modong and Hetao. Therefore, it is definitely a good arrangement to transfer Lin Su, who is good at farming, to go there.

"Isn't it bad to destroy one Annan and promote so many titles?"

Yi Shiha couldn't help but feel a little worried when he heard the list mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu.

"If you have merit, you should be rewarded. Their merit is not as good as the merit of destroying the country, but it is almost the same."

"There is no reward for Mu Chun, so I can only reward Mu Sheng."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't have so many ideas. He just awarded rewards based on the idea of ​​​​rewarding merit and punishing demerits.

With the policy of granting casual ranks after the military attache examination, he would not worry about the burden brought by merit rewards.

If this group of military attaches can really produce talents from generation to generation and pass on the title continuously, then Zhu Gaoxu will not have to worry about civil servants overpowering military attaches.

As he thought this, he couldn't help but think of the number of students enrolled in the National Defense University this year.

"How many students will be admitted to National Defense University and Taixue University this year?"

"There are 4,627 people in the national defense and 28 people in the Imperial Academy."

During the inquiry between the master and the servant, Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the letter home written by Zhu Di to him and talked about its contents: "The problem of rations in Shandong must be eliminated. Subordinate officials in Shandong who travel on business can also enjoy the accommodation and meals at the post station like officials." .”

"My slave, take your orders." Yi Shiha agreed, and Zhu Gaoxu followed closely and continued to give instructions:

"I have read Annan's immigration brochure, and it turns out that only over 30,000 people migrated in four months. Although there are 50,000 people from Guangdong and Fujian provinces willing to migrate, it is still not enough to fill Annan."

"Order the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Personnel to allow migration to Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Southern Zhili and other places. Those who are willing to migrate will be rewarded with fifty acres of land per household, and their rations will be provided by the government for three years."

One after another new policies were conveyed to the world in the hands of Zhu Gaoxu, and Yishiha just followed them, and only gave appropriate reminders when Zhu Gaoxu took too big a step.

As Zhu approved the policies one by one, the memorials on the table were also solved by Zhu Gaoxu one after another.

The sun was setting in the west, and after Zhu Gaoxu had finished processing most of the memorials, it was already dusk outside the window.

"Your Highness, tea..."

After stretching, Zhu Gaoxu took a cup of ginseng tea from Yi Shiha and sighed: "My body is actually reduced to drinking ginseng tea."

After saying that, he raised his head and glanced at Yishiha. Looking at Yishiha's face that was much older than ten years ago, he couldn't help but sigh: "You are also much older. You have been helping me for such a long time. It's very tiring to think about it." Bar."

"Your Highness, if it weren't for Your Highness, I would still be just an ordinary eunuch on duty." Yi Shi laughed and shook his head.

If Zhu Gaoxu had said this from someone else, Yishiha would definitely think a lot, but when Zhu Gaoxu said it from his mouth, he only felt that he was concerned about himself.

"I remember you have a brother, right?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

"Yes, I have two brothers." Yi Shiha was not a fool. He knew that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to reward him, so he asked about his family situation.

"Do your two brothers have any extra children that can be adopted by you?"

Zhu Gaoxu really felt sorry for Yi Shiha and wanted to be kind to him, but Yi Shiha was also a eunuch, so he asked about Yi Shiha.

"My brother also said it, but after thinking about it, I decided to forget it."

Yishiha smiled bitterly and shook his head: "After all, it is not his own, and it will be the same if he adopts it."

"You..." Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say, and finally he could only sigh: "You are like this, so I don't know how to reward you."

"Being able to work beside His Highness and leaving a name in history is the best gift." Yishiha bowed respectfully, which made Zhu Gaoxu's nose sore.

If Yishuha is greedy for money after years of palace fighting, as in history, he can still use money to satisfy Yishuha.

But now, because Yi Shiha was taken outside the customs by himself, his ideal has changed from gold and silver treasures to leaving a name in history, which makes him wonder how to compensate him.

"You are a Jurchen from Haixi. It is because of your achievements that the imperial court can recruit people outside the Pass. I want people to build a monument of your achievements in the six cities and carve your stone statue so that future generations can admire you."

Jian Yishuha wanted to leave his name in history, and Zhu Gaoxu also satisfied him. After all, with his contribution, he can definitely erect a stone monument full of achievements.

"Slave, thank you for your kindness, Your Highness!"

Yi Shiha made a bow and bowed deeply.

He knew that Zhu Gaoxu didn't like to kneel down, so this was his greatest gratitude to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Thank you, it's me thanking you too."

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and helped Yishiha up, and Yishiha also took the opportunity to mention someone.

"Your Highness, do you still remember Yang Bin, the Huai'an merchant from the past?"

"Yang Bin?" A fat face appeared in Zhu Gaoxu's mind, so he nodded and said, "Of course I remember."

"Although the Yang family did not support Yang Bin, Yang Bin still supported the imperial court. I remember that I gave him a full rank of fifth rank."

"What? He's not satisfied?"

Zhu Gaoxu never treated anyone who helped him harshly. Even if Yang Bin's position was not stable at the critical moment, he still solved the problem of food and grass for his army to go south, so Zhu Gaoxu originally gave him a fifth-grade powder that can be inherited and downgraded. The rank is enough to guarantee his wealth for six generations.

"Although Yang Bin is now an official and businessman, his children are not allowed to take part in the imperial examination, so he came here to beg for help."

Yi Shiha told Yang Bin what he wanted from him. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu frowned and said, "I remember that the heirs of merchants can take part in the imperial examination. I am afraid that his family may have offended someone in the early years." "Go back to your highness." Yi Shiha said with a smile. : "The Yang family had a relationship with Zhang Thief in his early years, so he was banned from participating in the imperial examination."

"Lift the ban." Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu spoke without hesitation, and Yi Shiha thanked Zhu Gaoxu for Yang Bin.

Seeing that the government affairs were almost done, Zhu Gaoxu also stretched out: "Okay, let's go back to the front palace to rest, and take a look at what He'er is doing."

After walking out of Chunhe Hall with Yishiha, Zhu Gaoxu looked up and saw layers of burning clouds.

"Your Highness, this is an auspicious sign."

Yi Shiha praised it, but Zhu Gaoxu said with a hearty smile: "It's just a miraculous work of nature. If it's auspicious signs, it's better to say that our army in Annan and the upcoming Northern Expedition are auspicious signs for the Ming Dynasty."

He walked towards the front palace. At the same time in the north, Zhu Di and Queen Xu also arrived in Beijing.

"finally reached!"

Before the sunset ended, Zhu Di finally saw the city of Beijing close at hand.

It had been three years since he went south. Although he had seen the construction drawings of Beijing City, he had not taken a closer look.

Now looking across Li Xu, the scale of Beijing city is probably even larger than on the drawing.

Kuai Xiang, a famous Jiangdong craftsman responsible for the construction of Beijing, saw the emperor acting like this and quickly introduced him and the queen:

"The capital city was originally planned to be forty-five miles long. Later, it was revised by the prince and divided into the capital city, the imperial city, and the palace city."

"The capital city is fifty miles long, the imperial city is twenty miles long, and the palace city is five miles long. The height and thickness of the city walls are different, about four feet and five feet, with the bottom being seven feet thick and the top being six feet thick."

"This city was built by skilled craftsmen from all over the country and used cement allocated by the imperial court."

"However, after trials by Chen and others, cement is not as strong as Sanhe soil. Therefore, Sanhe soil is mainly used for repairing Beijing's city walls, and concrete with sand and gravel is mainly used for roads, buildings and cement."

"In addition, in the drawings drawn by His Highness, the imperial court is required to set aside open space in the south of the capital. In the capital, there are 70,000 four-quarter courtyards with two entrances and 8,000 houses for rewards and an area of ​​more than an acre. seat."

"His Highness said that after these houses are built, they can be sold directly to the people at low prices, or they can be directly rewarded to meritorious officials."

"As for the south of the capital, there is swampland. It can be used as farmland after the construction of water conservancy in the future, or when the capital is crowded in the future, an outer city can be built here."

The Beijing city mentioned by Kuai Xiang is not as large as Nanjing, but it is much larger than the historical Beijing city during the Yongle period, enough to accommodate 500,000 people living in it.

Zhu Di was naturally full of joy for such a majestic capital, so he asked Kuai Xiang: "How is the construction of the palace city? Can it be lived in?"

"The Imperial City was built first, and most of the palaces were also built." Kuai Xiang explained: "I heard that Your Majesty was about to go north, so I accelerated the progress of Qianqing Palace and Wuying Palace. Now they can move in at any time."

"Okay, okay..." Zhu Di stroked his beard happily and smiled at Empress Xu behind him: "Sister, how are you?"

Queen Xu smiled and nodded, but her mind was not on this. Instead, she stepped forward and asked Kuai Xiang: "How were the military households and people in the city earlier?"

"Your Majesty, according to the arrangement of the prince, four small courtyards were allocated to each other." Kuai Xiang answered honestly, which made Empress Xu breathe a sigh of relief.

What she was most worried about was that the people who were already living and working in Peking would be disturbed because of Beijing's construction. Now that she had the answer, she felt much better.

"The civil and military ministers are all exhausted. Is there a place for them to live?"

Queen Xu continued to ask, which made the bachelors such as Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi, and the officials of the Sixth Ministry who were following behind feel warm in their hearts.

"Everything has been arranged."

Kuai Xiang bowed in reply, and when Zhu Di saw this, he greeted Queen Xu: "Sister, you are tired too. Let's go in and rest early. We will go see how the people in the capital are doing tomorrow."

"Okay." Empress Xu smiled and nodded. Seeing that she agreed, Zhu Di helped her get into the car, and then entered the city of Beijing with all the civil and military officials.

In order to save costs and facilitate future maintenance, the roads in the capital are all plastered cement roads, which are very smooth, and there are fine lines on the roads to prevent slipping.

Cement roads are naturally not as good as the bluestone roads in Nanjing, but they are easy to clean and tidy.

Entering the capital, the civil and military officials saw many craftsmen who had gone off duty, as well as the people of Peiping living in the capital.

Many of them saw the emperor's car and waved hello from a distance.

Seeing this, Zhu Di simply opened the window, revealing himself and Queen Xu.

"Your Highness! You are back!"

"I'm back, but now I'm Your Majesty!"

"Your Highness..."

"It's your Majesty!"

"Yes! It's Your Majesty!"

At this moment, Zhu Di felt like he was returning home in fine clothes. He took the trouble to correct the former Peiping people and saw many familiar faces.

Zhu Di greeted him warmly, while Queen Xu sat behind and looked at him with a peaceful smile.

Many people in the crowd saw Queen Xu who often appeared on the street, and called her one after another.

Seeing that his sister was mentioned, Zhu Di quickly gave up his position, pushed his sister to the window, and showed the people of Peking that his sister was now the queen.

The expression on his face seemed to be even happier than being the emperor.

Facing the cheers, the original two-quarter-hour journey was delayed by half an hour, but even so, Zhu Di was very happy.

After entering Donghua Gate, the ministers were arranged to stay in their residences to rest, while Zhu Di and Queen Xu took chariots directly to the Gate of Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Di got out of the car first, helped Queen Xu get out of the car, and walked into the Qianqing Palace gate with the eunuchs holding lanterns on the left and right, and saw the Qianqing Palace with candles lit in the distance.

The couple walked in along the stone path and looked around at the Qianqing Palace in Beijing, which was no different from the Qianqing Palace in Nanjing.

Maybe they were tired, or maybe it was too dark, but in short they did not move around. Instead, they washed themselves up and lay down on the dragon bed while being served by the female officials who had stayed behind in the Peking Palace.

Queen Xu sat, Zhu Di rested his head on Queen Xu's lap, and Queen Xu gently used her hands to comb Zhu Di's forehead hair.

They are no longer young, but the feeling at this time makes them feel that they have returned to the time when they joined Beiping.

Zhu Di was twenty years old and Queen Xu was eighteen years old.

They were childhood sweethearts and had a deep relationship, which was different from many princes and princesses.

Feeling his sister's hands combing his forehead, Zhu Di looked up at Queen Xu, who had a peaceful face, and sighed: "To be honest, sister, I don't feel like an emperor until now."

"I don't think I look like a queen now either." Queen Xu replied with a chuckle, combing Zhu Di's hair more carefully.

"I don't have that big ambition. I always feel that being able to guard the border for the imperial court in Peiping, lead the second brother and the others to fight in Mobei, and then see you every time when I come back is the greatest happiness."

Zhu Di stretched out his hand, took Queen Xu's hand, and felt the roughness on it.

This roughness is nothing compared to the hands of ordinary people, but as Queen Xu, such roughness is part of what she has paid for Zhu Di.

"Since I have become the emperor, I have to act well. If I go down in the future..."

As Zhu Di spoke, Queen Xu put her finger in front of his mouth: "Don't say such unlucky things. Your Majesty is strong and can live for a long time."

"It doesn't matter how long I live, I mainly want to watch you."

Zhu Di stretched out his other hand, took away Queen Xu's hand, and at the same time kneaded Queen Xu's hand with his own hands.

"My hands are a little rough, sister, don't dislike me."

Zhu Di smiled happily, and Queen Xu also chuckled, but said nothing and allowed Zhu Di to squeeze his hand.

After Zhu Di's interest subsided, Queen Xu continued to comb his hair, while Zhu Di kept looking at her intently.

"You are old and yellow, haven't you seen enough?"

"I can't see enough." Zhu Di said without hesitation: "In my eyes, you have always been Miss Xu who embroidered with my mother in the Qianqing Palace."

His gaze never moved away. Although Empress Xu's face did not reveal a deeper smile, the look in her eyes could tell a lot.

Zhu Di sat up, and Queen Xu looked at him quietly with a smile.

Looking at her, Zhu Di also noticed the sachet at her waist that never left her body.

He picked up the sachet, but found that it was heavier than ordinary sachets. He couldn't help opening it, and then saw a small bottle.

"What is this?" Zhu Di took out the thumb-sized bottle and asked. Empress Xu didn't answer, so Zhu Di felt bored and stuffed it back.

She lay back on Queen Xu's lap, stretched out her hand and touched Queen Xu's haggard face.

"I have to go to Quanningwei in five days. Sister, is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Don't rush too far forward when fighting." Empress Xu only confessed this sentence, because in her opinion, Zhu Di only had this shortcoming in fighting.

But when she was stroking Zhu Di's hair, she didn't know what she thought of, and suddenly said to Zhu Di: "After the end of the Northern Expedition, Your Majesty, please also ennoble a few noble concubines from the harem."

"I can't agree to this." Zhu Di shook his head, grabbed Queen Xu's hand, and said honestly:

"I only have one queen in my harem, and no concubines vying for favor."

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the fourth month of the fourth month, Ji Kuo of Annan rebelled and led an army to attack the king's army but was defeated. The Duke of Guizhou heard that Ji Kuo was a slave of the Chen family and now pretended to be a member of the clan, so he sent troops to conquer, and Bingyin was defeated. "

　　"Southern Expedition": "In early April, there were rumors that Ji Kuo was a slave pretending to be a member of the clan. Ji Kuo was afraid that the rumors would be leaked, so he sent troops to attack the king's army. When the Duke heard about this, he sent Jian Changbo and more than 10,000 troops to the south of Shannan. When Jian Ding heard that the king's troops had arrived, he did not want to repent and led his troops out of the city to fight. He met Jianchang Bo in the formation and died. The Vietnamese army suffered tens of thousands of casualties in this battle, and Ji Kuo committed suicide in the city."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)