Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 330 Sharing joys and sorrows

"Drive! Drive!"

"Open the camp door!"

On the vast grassland, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves in the distance, a Ming army cavalry passed through the dry Gobi in the south and came towards them.

Wearing mandarin duck war coats, each of them had two horses, one horse carried the man and the other carried the armor. They ran with firm and powerful steps and finally arrived at the source of a river not far from the military camp.

Following the general's shout, the door of the military camp was opened, and hundreds of Ming army cavalry filed in.

"Xu..."

When Zhu Di stopped his horse and looked around, what appeared in front of him was a busy and orderly scene.

Wherever you look, hundreds of soldiers are shuttled back and forth, including many brave and capable Tatar soldiers and Jurchen soldiers.

Facing Zhu Di's arrival, many soldiers who did not know his identity just glanced at him, then lowered their heads and started doing what they were doing.

"drive!"

Zhu Di shook his horse's reins and headed towards the Chinese army's tent.

Along the way, some people were cleaning weapons, some were carrying grain and grass, some were preparing gunpowder, and everyone was making full preparations for the upcoming Northern Expedition.

In the center of the camp, a large flag fluttered high with the character "朙" written on it, surrounded by small flags.

Among them, the colors of the flags are divided into red, orange, blue, green, yellow, purple, white and other colors. However, what is unified is that a fiery red sun is painted in the center of the flag, symbolizing China's rise and invincible determination.

In front of the Chinese army's tent, three hundred generals formed a square formation, while Zhu Di reined in his horse in front of the formation and walked from the left to the right of the team.

The neat queues, strict discipline, and howling wind all showed the strength and might of this group of generals.

"All the people in the army who are above the hundred household officers are here?"

Zhu Di asked without looking back. Li Shi, Xu Zengshou and others rode their horses forward and bowed: "Report to your Majesty, except for the three hundred households who are in charge of the patrol, everyone else is here."

"Okay!" Zhu Di nodded. Facing the generals who formed the command system of the 30,000-strong army, Zhu Di bowed to them on horseback:

"This time we patrol the north, we must make great achievements in one battle."

"There are already 4,000 cavalry and 80,000 civilians in Zhaozhou preparing for us. Once we capture Wulianghatu City, they will take over Wulianghatu City and use Wenjiang River to transport grain and grass for us."

"In addition to the 20,000 shi of military rations you have made as military rations, there are 800,000 shi of grain waiting for us in Zhaozhou."

"Soldiers, when have we ever fought such a rich battle?"

"Sending troops from Wulianghatu City to the north, I'm afraid I've never been so rich in my life!"

What Zhu Di said was a bit cumbersome, but there was no problem at all.

Starting from Wulianghatu City and going north, you can reach Beishan by heading north for more than 800 miles.

For the Ming army, which had been conducting thousands-mile campaigns all year round during the Hongwu period, the eight-hundred-mile northern expedition could be said to be easy.

Even though they still need to walk five hundred miles to reach Ulyanha Tu City, and it is very likely that they will fight the Ulyanha people in Wuliangha Tu City, no matter what, they will never have to worry about logistical issues in this battle.

"Unless we defeat the enemy, we will never turn back!"

"Long live! Long live!"

Zhu Di drew his sword and raised it high, and more than 300 generals knelt down one after another, bowing and singing.

"Tomorrow at twilight time, break camp!"

After the words fell, Zhu Di flexibly got off his horse, turned around and walked into the Chinese army's tent.

Seeing him dismount, Li Shi, Xu Zengshou, Li Qi and others dismounted one after another to follow. The Jurchen soldiers on the left and right of Zhaozhou consciously protected the Chinese army's tent.

In their sight, many naturalized Tatar soldiers were also guarding the outside of the tent.

Although there are 30,000 Ming troops here, 10,000 of them are naturalized Jurchen soldiers, 10,000 are naturalized Mongolian Tatar soldiers, and among the remaining 10,000 there are many Xifan and Miao Yao soldiers. The real Han soldiers are no more than six. More than a thousand people.

Walking into the tent, the army did not carry a sand table, only a simple map, as the entire army was equipped with horse infantry and cavalry.

Zhu Di looked at the hung map and found that the surveying and mapping on it were in accordance with the requirements of the National Defense University, and couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.

At the same time, the rapid sound of horse hooves was also heard outside the tent. Zhu Di looked out and saw Ning Wang Zhu Quan who was guarding the border in Daning, Chen Heng's eldest son Chen Gong, and Yanshan Left Guard Commander Li Yuan who was in his early 40s. .

"Long live your Majesty!"

Zhu Quan led the two men off their horses and walked into the tent, then knelt down and bowed.

"Brother Seventeen, what's the situation with Wuliangha now?"

"Return to your majesty!" Although Zhu Quan was changed to Nanyang by Zhu Gaoxu, he was also the vassal king who only granted the title to the people of the country in the interior and led the troops outside.

"Since the last time the prince sent troops to attack Wuliangha, killing Harawu and capturing soldiers, Wuliangha has suffered heavy losses."

"Now the one who makes the decision in Wuliangha is Tuolu Huchaer who escaped in the first place. The entire Wuliangha male population over fifteen years old is probably only 20,000, and the maximum number of tribesmen is 70,000."

"Therefore, when our army mobilized its troops to Quaningwei, Tuolu Huchaer led his troops to flee north. According to the speed, I am afraid that they will soon reach Wuliangha Tu Mountain."

Zhu Quan briefly explained the situation in Modong, and Zhu Di nodded repeatedly.

He had been paying attention to the situation in the north, and naturally knew that after four rounds of attacks by his father and son, Wu Liangha was now facing a problem in self-protection, let alone going south to clear the grass valley.

Because of this, he only had 36,000 men, because this force was enough to expel or annihilate them in the Modong grassland.

"Tomorrow the army will march north, and at the same time tell Meng Zhang of Zhaozhou to prepare to set off on a grain ship in three days."

Zhu Di did not say how he was going to deal with Wu Liangha, because his method was very simple, that is, to ensure that Zhaozhou's grain reserves in the past four years could be transported to Wu Liangha's Tucheng, and then divide his troops to pursue him.

The Modong grassland becomes narrower and narrower as you go north, making it easy to find the main force of Wu Liangha.

After briefly discussing the matter of sending troops, Zhu Di dismissed Li Shi and others.

It was not until dusk that Wang Yan, who was responsible for leading the civil service team northward, arrived at the military camp with more than 600 civil servants including Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi and hundreds of memorials.

Since the imperial examinations in the early Ming Dynasty had extra points for riding and archery, most civil servants had mastered equestrian skills. However, they had never seen the vastness of the north, so their speed was slower.

"Long live your Majesty..."

Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi and other bachelors led six officials to the Chinese army's tent, and Zhu Di also ordered people to lay a coarse picnic cloth on the ground.

As everyone finished singing the ceremony, Zhu Di, dressed in military uniform, walked out of the big tent, put his hands on his hips and said, "How about this, you can't see the vastness of the north in Jiangnan, right?"

"Your Majesty, the north is indeed vast, but it is not as green as the green waters and mountains in the south."

Xie Jin was still arrogant. After he said those words, Zhu Di was very unhappy, but he did not blame him. Instead, he said: "It is true that the south is green and green, but it is not shaded by trees."

“If you want to say that trees provide shade, then it’s the southwestern provinces.”

"That's what your Majesty taught." Yang Shiqi was worried that Xie Jin said the wrong thing, so he quickly echoed Zhu Di.

"Yeah." Zhu Di nodded and glanced at Jie Jin.

Xie Jin looked at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose. Not long after, a bonfire was lit in front of the Chinese army's tent, and the cleaned yellow sheep were also carried to the bonfire and grilled by the soldiers themselves.

"Everyone, take your seats!"

Zhu Di himself sat on the mat in front of the big tent, and a soldier came forward and unfolded the folded wooden table for him.

Soon, hundreds of folding tables were set up, with matzas serving as chairs.

After the ministers and generals took their seats, plates of yellow lamb sprinkled with salt and spices were brought to the table.

Zhu Di was the first to use the knife, and he started to cut the roasted yellow lamb leg on his table with the knife. Occasionally, if he thought it was not spicy enough, he would ask someone to add more spice to continue eating.

The vulgar appearance made the officials frown, but the generals were happy.

The ministers wanted to use chopsticks, but Zhu Di deliberately did not prepare chopsticks for them, so he asked them to cut the meat with knives and eat with their hands.

"It's an insult to politeness..."

Jie Jin shook his head and sighed. Hu Guang, who was sitting next to him, had no choice but to cut the meat with a knife and eat it.

In addition to him, many civil servants also picked up knives to cut the meat. However, they made a lot of jokes because they had never used this method of eating. Some even cut their fingers, which made Zhu Di laugh and said:

"You have been staying in the south of the Yangtze River, how can you see this vast grassland, and how do you know how to deal with the barbarians?"

"Only by going deep into the grasslands and understanding the situation of the Hu people can we think of ways to govern them."

"You guys are boasting in the temple, but only today do you know how strong the wind in the north is."

"Not only the wind, but also the rain, snow and wind and sand on the grassland are irregular. Only June is considered peaceful."

Zhu Di taught these southern officials proudly and complacently, making everyone blush and not know what to say to rebut.

As long as there is one person among them who can refute Zhu Di with the situation in Mongolia, the Jianwen court will not be destroyed.

At first they thought Zhu Di was humiliating them, but Zhu Di, who was laughing and eating meat, suddenly changed his expression, stood up, grabbed the leg of lamb and ran to the Chinese army tent: "It's going to rain, run away!"

After Zhu Di said this, everyone looked at the sky without knowing why. In an instant, rain fell from the sky.

"Meat! Don't leave the meat behind!"

Seeing everyone rushing into the tent without even asking for the freshly roasted mutton, Zhu Di couldn't help but cursed: "These old barbarians don't know how valuable mutton is!"

Just as he finished cursing, the originally calm grassland suddenly exploded with lightning and thunder, and heavy rain continued.

"Hahahaha... I was right!"

Zhu Di held a leg of lamb in one hand and laughed while gnawing. His behavior was so degrading that it made Xie Jin and others who followed them to the Chinese army's tent shake their heads frequently.

Not mentioning "cruelty", just talking about etiquette and behavior, Zhu Gaoxu of the East Palace has much better behavior than Zhu Di and Emperor Gao.

"It's about to stop." Zhu Di suddenly said, which made everyone look outside, thinking it was impossible. After all, the rain had only lasted for two hours, and it was still a heavy rain and it didn't seem to be abating.

Unfortunately, just when they thought it was impossible, the rain suddenly became lighter and stopped completely in less than a word.

"Look, are you familiar with it?"

Zhu Di teased the surprised officials: "The weather outside the Great Wall is like this. If we had come a month earlier, we would still have encountered sand and dust."

"But this season is good. Going north from Quanningwei, there are a lot of wild leeks and green onions near Harawen Mountain. They are very delicious. If you can't hunt, you can pick more and stew the mutton to make it fresh... …”

At this moment, Zhu Di seemed to be transformed into a wilderness survival expert, explaining to Xie Jin and others how to survive in the grassland.

For example, he knew everything about hunting goats, hugging rabbits, collecting wild vegetables, etc. Hearing this, Jie Jin and others had splitting headaches, but they had to listen.

After a long time, as the rainstorm completely ended, Zhu Di looked at the messy camp and could only send Xie Jin and others away.

Seeing that they could retire, several people also left the place as if they were running away.

"Haha..." Zhu Di looked at their backs and laughed, and Wang Yan also came forward: "Your Majesty is deliberately teasing them, right?"

"It's intentional. Who makes them always think that the people in the north are barbarians!" Zhu Di said bluntly: "I still think they are old barbarians."

After cursing, Zhu Di glanced at the sky, turned around and looked at the pile of memorials. He couldn't help but feel melancholy: "I still have one copy of the memorials untouched. I'll probably be busy until midnight."

"It's just that compared to Lao Er's side, I don't have too many memorials here..."

Zhu Di, who originally thought he was miserable, suddenly stroked his beard happily when he thought of Zhu Gaoxu, who was even worse.

However, when he was happy, Zhu Gaoxu, who was in the south, was lying on an armchair, enjoying the melodious music in the candlelight in the hall.

"The sky is blue waiting for smoke and rain, and I am waiting for you. The smoke is rising across the river..."

"No, no, this is thousands of miles across the river, not thousands of miles across the river."

Leaning in the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu, who was already at the age of 11, was still processing memorials, but his work efficiency was not fast because he was busy training the musicians.

Dozens of court musicians playing instruments filled in the music according to the tunes hummed by Zhu Gaoxu, and then began to play under Zhu Gaoxu's guidance.

The musicians sang in unison, played the harp, the sheng and the flute one after another, and dozens of plump musicians with slender waists danced. Zhu Gaoxu could not resist this scene.

He sat on a chair and worked on the memorials. After finishing a book, he stopped and read it for a while.

During the days when Zhu Di went north, Zhu Gaoxu and his musicians composed more than thirty pieces of music.

He forgot the outline of some songs, but while he was humming them, the palace musicians composed a new song and wrote the lyrics.

As the last memorial was finished, Zhu Gaoxu also walked in listening to the song "Chrysanthemum Terrace" and signaled one of the musicians to hand the pipa to him.

After receiving the pipa, he began to play. Under the six-foot height, the less than two-foot pipa looked a bit miniscule, but Zhu Gaoxu still played selflessly.

The musicians around him took the initiative to lower their voices and focused on his pipa. This kind of enjoyment gave Zhu Gaoxu a rare moment of relaxation.

"I'll send you away. Thousands of miles away, you are silent..."

Zhu Gaoxu played the pipa and sang boldly from time to time.

The original love between sons and daughters in the great era of war was suddenly sung by him into the feeling of sending Zhu Di to the north to conquer Mobei, a golden horse and an iron horse.

If it weren't for the exquisite skills of the court musicians who changed their tunes according to Zhu Gaoxu's singing, I'm afraid Zhu Gaoxu would have sang "Thousands of Miles Away" to the point of beating Bei Yuan hard.

"I'll send you away from the end of the world, will you still...ahem!"

Because he sang for too long without drinking water, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but cough a few times, and the whole band immediately stopped playing.

Seeing this, Yi Shiha quickly handed over the tea, and Zhu Gaoxu also took it with one hand and took a sip, moistening his throat and recalling his singing.

"Well, this ancient karaoke room is not inferior to KTV."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed twice and sighed, but he didn't think about anyone who could match his conditions.

"The music composed by His Highness, the words and phrases, and the singing method are all unique. In my opinion, this singing method can be compiled into a palace style."

The music officer came forward to flatter him, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't take it seriously: "Just listen to it to your heart's content. I will take you to compose southwest folk songs later."

"I accept the teaching order."

The music officer agreed and then returned to his seat.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu let them perform on their own. He listened to the music and walked to the couch in the side hall. He sat down cross-legged and watched the dozens of musicians dancing at the same time. He couldn't help but show satisfaction.

"Your Highness, do you want to call two people to serve?"

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were on the girl, Yishiha subconsciously asked, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "There are many women in the queen's palace, I just watched the dance."

"Yes." Yishiha stopped talking when he heard the words, but after a while someone brought him supper.

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't eat particularly well, he still ate quite often.

A plate of grilled lamb chops and a bowl of chess noodles were a midnight snack, and he also watched the dance while eating.

After watching for a long time, he seemed to feel a little tired, so he waved his sleeves and said, "Everyone, please step aside. That's it for today."

"I'll take my leave..."

The music stopped, and the music officer led the musicians and girls to retreat one after another. Zhu Gaoxu also turned his head and looked at Yi Shiha: "What's going on between the north and the south?"

"Your Majesty from the north should have arrived in Quaning. Meng Zhang and Gan Yue are already waiting for news from your Majesty in Zhaozhou." Yishiha was used to Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts wandering around, so he answered without thinking after he asked:

"More than 56,000 people were relocated to the south, and most of them built concrete stone forts north of the Red River to prepare for hundreds of households. There are 120 stone forts for hundreds of households distributed throughout the north of the Red River."

"In addition, Muchun and others have withdrawn their troops. Now Annan only has 28,000 Eastern Route Army troops under Fu Rang's command, 12,000 garrison troops who have moved there, and more than 18,000 navy personnel."

After Yishiha finished his report, Zhu Gaoxu dropped the mutton chop he had eaten in his hand on the dinner plate and wiped his mouth: "In other words, Annan only has 40,000 soldiers."

"Back to Your Highness, that's the case." After Yishiha admitted, he also asked: "Zheng He asked when the fleet can continue to go south."

"Let him decide at his own discretion. If there are not enough soldiers, he will return to Guangzhou to recruit." Zhu Gaoxu picked up the chess pieces and took a bite before giving instructions.

During the whole process, Yishiha kept nodding to express his understanding. Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the affairs of Jiangnan after asking about the affairs of the north and the south: "Have all the provincial examination papers been distributed this year? What did the ministers think after seeing it? reaction?"

"The reaction is not small." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu ask about this matter, Yishiha's face turned slightly solemn, but Zhu Gaoxu remained as steady as a mountain.

The provincial examination is usually held on the ninth day of August. The examination is mainly divided into three sessions. The first session mainly consists of three questions on the four books, four questions on the meaning of the classics, and a poem in five characters and eight rhymes.

The second session mainly focused on topics from the Five Classics and imperial edicts.

The third session is mainly based on five policy questions on current affairs, requiring candidates to express opinions or opinions based on current affairs and government affairs at that time based on the combination of classics and history.

It can be seen from the content of these three examinations that Confucian classics is the main core content of the provincial examination.

If you pass the provincial examination, you will be called a scholar, and the first place will be called Jieyuan.

Zhu Gaoxu cannot say that he has changed all of these things, but he cannot say that he has retained many.

There are no changes in the three exams, but there are only six questions on the Four Books and Classics in the first exam, and one new question on arithmetic.

In the second session, there were no changes to the Five Classics questions and the imperial edicts.

The policy discussion in the third session was streamlined, and there were four questions, namely foreign policy, vassal affairs, government affairs, and military.

The topics of these four policy papers are "Tatar and Ming Dynasty Issues", "Ming Dynasty and Vassals Issues", "Imperial Internal Affairs Issues of the Imperial Court", and "Imperial Military Troops Issues".

The Tatars and the Ming Dynasty were military, political, and diplomatic issues, and the vassals were diplomatic and economic issues. The internal affairs of the court were the issue of the exploitation of miscellaneous civilians and subordinate officials. The main issue of the court's military force was the guard system.

If some amazing talents can emerge from these policies, then Zhu Gaoxu will not be in vain.

In addition, from the perspective of the imperial examination system alone, Zhu Gaoxu made few changes. He only added arithmetic and broadened the scope of answers to policy essays, allowing candidates to step away from classics and history and discuss current issues from a current perspective.

Although the changes are not major, any change in the imperial examination will require candidates to spend a hundred times the time to study, figure out and answer questions.

The local examiners did not dare to reveal the content of the questions because they knew that whoever dared to reveal the content of the questions would be sent to the Imperial Guard and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to arrest the person.

"Will any of our subordinate officials and students take part in the imperial examination this year?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha. After hearing this, Yi Shiha nodded and said, "One thousand, six hundred and forty-seven people signed up for the exam."

"It's not a large amount, but I still feel guilty when I think about it." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head when he heard the amount, but he understood it.

In the final analysis, the background of students outside the Guan Dynasty is too weak, and they will definitely not be able to compete with the traditional Confucian scholars from Jiangnan in the field of Four Books and Five Classics.

Zhu Gaoxu decided not to hold the imperial examination because he just wanted to see how many people would dare to sign up. He did not really want to see how many people would pass the imperial examination and win the position of Jinshi.

The power of interpretation of the Beijuan was in the hands of the imperial court, and Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di were the imperial court. The first batch of thousands of officials from outside the customs who came forward through the Jianwen legacy recommendation system were the future examiners of the Beijuan.

For this group of officials, no one can impeach them about their origins. After all, if we really want to discuss it, their asses are not clean.

Not to mention anything else, take the current imperial scholar Yang Shiqi as an example. He just takes the shortcut of the recommendation system, and there are many people like him.

The reason why Zhu Gaoxu did not deal with them in the original Jingnan Campaign was to keep them to contain various local forces.

If both sides are not clean, the Guanwai faction, which makes up the majority, will take advantage.

"We should encourage the candidates who take the imperial examination. It doesn't matter if they fail the examination. Just let them deepen their studies."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him and felt embarrassed, and slowly got up from the couch.

After the eunuchs on both sides put on his shoes for him, he walked to the door and glanced at the high moon. He couldn't help but think of Zhu Di who was going north, and he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"Old man, have fun in the north..."

(End of this chapter)