Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 332 The end of the road

"The virtue of God is to live well and live well. The rule of man is to follow the law of heaven and love people first. The world is so vast that no one person can rule it alone. He must choose the best and the best to rule together..."

On May 22nd of the third year of Yongle, before Zhu Di left the fortress, he did not forget to write an imperial edict, preparing to announce his ideas of governing the country to the ministers. This showed that although he was far away from the temple, he still paid attention to every move in the temple. .

Under the canopy umbrella in front of Fengtian Hall, Zhu Gaoxu listened to the minister of Honglu Temple saying everything, and then stood in front of the golden platform and said:

"Your Majesty is far away in Modong on a personal expedition, but he still does not forget the government affairs. You are in the capital, and you should manage the government and do not do the dirty things of villains."

"Recently, many officials have been accused of corruption and bribery. I hope that all of you are innocent people and have innocent bodies."

"Even if you are not innocent, you can correct it early to avoid jail time."

"I sincerely obey the teachings..."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, all the officials bowed and saluted, and he continued:

"Six ministries are preparing to draft a plan to move landless people from southern Zhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places to Henan, Annan and other places to open up wasteland."

"With the note issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the refugees are exempted from paying taxes for one year. With the note issued by the imperial court, they can exchange for land reclamation rations or receive cooked land at the local county government."

"If it's land reclamation, each person can redeem four buckets of land reclamation rations with a note per month."

"In addition, a thousand tax officials from the tax department were transferred to Henan to verify and maintain this policy. Anyone who harbors corruption will be exiled to Zhaozhou from the three tribes."

Since Annan's population migration work has not been going very smoothly, Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to start forcibly immigrating people.

As this policy continued to be issued, no matter how reluctant the local government offices were, in order to avoid the tax department sending people to investigate, they still had to force some people to go south to Annan and north to Henan.

Such a policy is unfair to the group of landless refugees who live and work in peace and contentment, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, and their sacrifices can only be made up for a small part by the imperial court's land reclamation rations.

Maintaining food rations for land reclamation has become the top priority for restoring people's livelihood in Henan.

As for Annan, although the specific "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" have not been sent there, the amount of local ownerless farmland is probably too much to cultivate.

Most of the people who migrated to Annan lived in developed towns and there was no risk of contracting malaria or epidemics. They could directly receive unowned farmland from Cochin Dusi and produce directly.

For this reason, Zhu Gaoxu said that taxes would be exempted for one year, because the immigrants had mature land for farming in the past, and due to the climate problem in Annan, the immigrants did not have to endure the cold winter and could plant three seasons a year, which was unmatched in the north.

If the three granaries of Jiaozhi, Henan, and Liaodong can be developed, then moving the capital to Beijing will not be a big burden for the south, and the burden on Shaanxi and Yunnan will also be reduced.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty only developed one granary in Henan. As a result, it was impossible to know the true land strength of Henan due to measurement problems in the middle and later stages.

Faced with the same drought, Shaanxi in the northwest survived the civil uprising for less than a year, and Henan was still living a comfortable life in which people had to carry dozens of coins with every gift.

If the three-year drought in Chongzhen hadn't caused too much damage, followed by the locust plague and refugees, Henan might have gritted its teeth and got through it.

Now Zhu Gaoxu is vigorously building dams, weirs, and sluice gates in order to prevent the Yellow River from bursting.

As long as the Yellow River does not burst, the land reclamation work in Henan will be very smooth. After all, the problem in Henan now is a lack of people, not a lack of land.

Moreover, these lands have been intensively cultivated for thousands of years, and they have only been abandoned in the past two hundred years.

In terms of land reclamation, they are much easier than Bohai and Liaodong.

Without obstructions such as tree roots and stones, a skilled worker can cultivate an acre of mature land in a month. The soil can be plowed before winter and can be cultivated next year.

As long as there are enough people, most of the land in Henan can be re-cultivated, and a small amount of it only needs to rebuild water conservancy facilities to restore the conditions of the Two Song Dynasty.

No matter what era people are in, they represent a kind of resource, and Henan is short of this kind of resource.

The same thing is Beiping. As for Shaanxi, the land carrying capacity must be considered.

Since the worldwide temperature drop in the Tang Dynasty, the precipitation line has continued to recede eastward.

The land carrying capacity of Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty was far less than that of the Song and Song Dynasties, let alone the Han and Tang Dynasties.

During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, the population of Shaanxi reached more than 4.6 million, but this was only the registered population on paper, and at that time, Guannai Road still had the burden of Chang'an City with a population of one million.

After the loss of Chang'an, even without the Hetao, the number of Yongxing Military Road and Qinfeng Road during the peak period of the Northern Song Dynasty reached more than 7 million.

The area of ​​Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty was larger than that in the Northern Song Dynasty, but the temperature dropped slightly. But even so, according to the late Ming literati's calculation that the real population of various places was three times that recorded in the "Yellow Book", Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty also supported no less than 7 million people. .

Before the drought broke out during the Tianqi period, people in Shaanxi were already in dire straits. Food prices were only low in places near Henan and Sichuan. Food prices in other places were much higher than in Guandong.

The Ming Dynasty had a population of more than 2.3 million in Shaanxi and Gansu, but this figure was recorded in the 26th year of Hongwu, which is already eleven years ago.

For eleven years, no one knew the population of Shaanxi and Gansu.

The only thing that is certain is that the ethnic ratio of the population in Shaanxi and Gansu is extremely unreasonable.

In the three years since Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di governed the Ming Dynasty, twenty-six rebellions by Tartar and Semu officials broke out in Shaanxi and Gansu.

This is still the number of times that the report can be presented in front of them, and I am afraid it is even more in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

The fact that Semu and the Mongols account for half of the northwest is considered conservative. The real situation may be more.

Migrating the northwest Semu and Mongolian people to Guandong and even the south of the Yangtze River, and then migrating the Han people there, can slowly solve the local problems.

"In addition, people from Semu and Mongolia migrated to Shanxi, Huguang, Shandong and other places."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished his supplement, he directly signaled the ministers of Honglu Temple to withdraw from the court without waiting for the ministers to speak.

"Retreat—"

"Your Highness Chitose..."

The ministers seemed to have long been accustomed to Zhu Gaoxu's arbitrary way of attending court meetings, and no one would criticize him, because those who criticized him had already been dealt with by Zhu Gaoxu using Chen Ying and Ji Gang.

The old smell of the four major cases of the Hongwu period seems to be wafting in the air of Nanjing again.

Riding a golden chariot, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Chunhe Hall, while the courtiers gathered in groups.

Some of them went out of the palace to go to the Yamen to do business, and some went to work at the Wenhua Palace. In short, they just didn't want to stand in the Fengtian Palace Square.

The atmosphere in the temple made them feel uncomfortable, and they even couldn't help but miss the time when Zhu Di was in charge of the court meeting.

At this moment, I hope Zhu Di will end his Northern Expedition soon and more and more officials will return to Jiangnan.

Regardless of their thoughts, Zhu Gaoxu, who returned to Chunhe Hall, devoted himself to handling government affairs.

Reviewing more than 160 memorials took a lot of energy. He needed to review wars, disaster relief, and other things that happened in various places.

"The Miao Yao rebellion in Guizhou is becoming more and more frequent. It seems that they are addicted to robbing and don't know the power of China's firearms."

After Zhu approved a memorial about the Yao Miao rebellion in Guizhou, Zhu Gaoxu made a joke and said to Yi Shiha:

"Let Gu Cheng lead his troops to Guizhou to suppress the rebellion, and train ten artillery battalions in Bohai and Liaodong."

"Your Highness, is ten too many?" Yi Shiha asked Zhu Gaoxu. After all, one battalion has 3,000 people, and ten battalions is 30,000 people.

Although there are more than 2 million people outside the customs, there are only more than 900,000 men. To recruit 30,000 people at once is indeed too much.

"Not much, ten is just enough." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and asked Yi Shiha to allocate money and food to outside the pass.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs, after collecting taxes this autumn, will transfer 8 million stone tax grains from Shandong and Beiping to Liaodong."

"If Yu Xin talks too much, then tell him that the imperial court will move people to enrich Modong next year. Most of the money and food will be prepared for Modong."

"Secondly, after Wu Liangha was expelled, Wu Liangha Tucheng was renamed and set up as the administrative seat of Daningdu, and three more mansions and three guards were built."

"After the military households in the guard station are replenished, the rest will be distributed to the local people to reclaim wasteland for the people."

"If Your Majesty is interested in the names of the guards and mansions, let him choose the names. If you are not interested, let me do it."

After that, Zhu Gaoxu turned over the matter and continued to deal with the memorial.

Under the watchful eye of Yi Shiha, the more than 7 memorials did not embarrass Zhu Gaoxu for too long. From Chen time (17 o'clock) to You time ( o'clock) in the afternoon, all the memorials were processed, which made Yi Shiha react. Come over.

"Your Highness, did you send a memorial to the north?"

"I can't make arbitrary decisions about the imperial court. Your Majesty is the emperor and should handle the memorials."

After Yi Shiha finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu stood up and stretched: "Go and bring Chi Huan here, and I will practice equestrian skills."

"Yes..." Hearing this, he laughed bitterly and was speechless. At the same time, Zhu Di, who was thousands of miles away, doubted his life.

"Why are there so many memorials today?"

In Wulianghatu City, Zhu Di looked at the more than ninety memorials that had been processed and the twenty dozen memorials that had not yet been processed, and couldn't help but question the officials who sent the memorials.

"Your Majesty, this is what the prince has decided. The memorials from the four provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Beiping, and Henan are all here."

"Absurd!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Di immediately threw the ink pen at the official and said directly: "The memorials from Shaanxi and Shaanxi Xingdusi were sent to Nanjing, as well as those from Henan."

"In the future, I will only accept memorials from Shanxi and Peiping!"

"I accept the order." The official prostrated in agreement, then picked up the ink pen and handed it to Wang Yan.

Wang Yan took the ink pen to the little eunuch next to him to clean it, and he changed the ink pen to Zhu Di: "Your Majesty, your highness is doing this to reassure you."

"I'm at war now, so I shouldn't have too many memorials. If he sends me so many memorials, how can I fight?"

When Wang Yan persuaded him, Zhu Di became even more angry and couldn't help but said: "Is this still the case between father and son?"

"I think he just wants to be lazy!"

Zhu Di yelled and cursed angrily, and the curses were also heard in the temporary palace next to the wooden house, and were heard clearly by Xie Jin and others.

When Xie Jin and others heard his scolding, they couldn't help but feel that the brushes in their hands felt much lighter.

But when they wanted to continue listening, the noisy sound of horse hooves came from outside the wooden house. Everyone looked outside, and Zhu Di stood up and walked out of his wooden house.

"Your Majesty, the first batch of 50,000 shi of grain and 5,000 shi of beans has arrived!"

Li Shi, who was in charge of contacting Meng Zhang, took the lead with a thousand cavalry to escort 20,000 civilians and 20,000 draft horses to transport grain to Ulianghatu City.

Zhu Di stepped forward to help him up, and then asked: "How much grain and beans were lost by taking the water transport on the Wenwen River and then turning overland to get here?"

"The grain is less than 10,000 shi, and the beans are less than 800 shi." Li Shi's answer without thinking made Zhu Di smile immediately.

"Okay, okay, my second choice is a good waterway, a good choice!"

Zhu Di, who was scolding Zhu Gaoxu a second ago, now praised Zhu Gaoxu again.

You must know that in the past, they used Daning to send troops to the north to patrol Modong, and they lost 50% of the food on the road alone.

Out of ten shi of grain, often only five shi can be transported to Wulianghatu City, and even more will be needed further north.

Now with the water transportation of the Bohai Sea Navy and the Wenjiang River, this loss has been reduced to less than 20%. The three stones of food saved are enough to feed an armored soldier for four months.

"Wang Yan, have Li Yuan and Zeng Shou found Wu Liangha's main force?!"

Zhu Di turned around and shouted to Wang Yan at the door of the wooden house. Wang Yan also quickly walked out and bowed: "Your Majesty, I haven't found him yet. I think that Tolu Huchaer has gone further north."

"No matter what, prepare to load up the army rations. The army will set off in three days and search northward along the Harawen Mountains (Daxingan Mountains)."

Zhu Di gave the order and then walked back to the wooden house.

As his decree was issued, the horsemen and infantrymen began to cut down the trees at the foot of the Halawun Mountains. Although the trees here had been cut down by the Ulyanha people for many years, the trees in the Halawun Mountains were still lush.

In order to avoid eating cold food, each small banner had to prepare its own firewood, and the Ming army, after receiving the news, also began to take action.

In just one day and one night, hundreds of acres of forest at the foot of the Halawen Mountains west of Uliangha City were cut down, leaving thousands of tree stumps.

Li Shi was assigned by Zhu Di to continue cutting firewood so that the army could move south calmly when they returned in triumph.

In the next two days, Gan Yue and Li Qi each transported two batches of grain to Uliangha Tucheng, and Zhu Di asked the entire army to turn the grain into military rations.

With the help of the 30,000-strong army, 150,000 shi of grain was turned into 15,000 shi of grain for transportation. It was not until the third day when Meng Zhang led the civilians to transport the fourth batch of grain that Zhu Di allowed the three armies to eat a mouthful of white rice. .

On May 26, following Zhu Di's order, 30,000 horse infantry and 4,000 cavalry began to go north to search for prisoners. The remaining 2,000 cavalry were responsible for the escort of 80,000 civilians transporting grain.

On the second day of June, after a march of 600 miles, Zhu Di led the army to arrive at Wulianghatu Mountain.

As a sacrificial mountain where the Ulyanha people gathered, there is only a pile of burned ruins left here at this time.

Zhu Di turned over and dismounted. After taking a look at the burned house, he judged: "They should have been gone for almost a month. Is there any news from the east and west sides?"

"Not yet. All traces of the herd have been washed away by the heavy rains in the past few days." Wang Yan, who was following him, replied. At the same time, Meng Zhang also bowed to Zhu Di:

"Your Majesty, the northern and northeastern border officials have sent sentries to the north and northeast of Wulianghatu Mountain. There are mostly swamps there, and Hu soldiers will never go to the north or northeast."

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said when he led the troops that the Harawain Mountains can be traversed, as long as we find the right place. Therefore, I believe that our army should place the direction of searching for prisoners in the northwest."

As the third general of the Bohai faction, Meng Zhang's words were still very weighty, and Zhu Di had to take them seriously, but at the same time, he also spoke of his own experience.

"Tulu Huchaer did not defect to the Tatars and Oaras after the defeat of Haragu. I think it was because he did not want to get involved in their internal fighting."

"Although our move north this time has put pressure on them, he will not flee westward because of this."

"I estimate that Natulu Hucha'er is hiding in a mountain col with his men at the moment, preparing to wait for us to retreat before they go south."

"You lead Zengshou, Li Yuan, and Li Shi each with a thousand cavalry, and search all the way to the northern foot of Harawen Mountain. You will definitely gain something."

After Zhu Di said this, Meng Zhang bowed in agreement without hesitation.

Soon, four thousand cavalry were dispatched by him to search from the Uliangha Tu Mountain to the northeastern foot of the Halawu Mountains.

Facts have proved that the direction pointed out by Zhu Di and Meng Zhang was right. The four thousand cavalry only traveled more than a hundred miles before they found a small tribe of four to five hundred people and captured them one after another.

Meng Zhang asked Li Shi to take them south to Wulianghatu Mountain, while he continued to explore the road with Xu Zengshou and Li Yuan.

On the fourth day of June, Li Shi returned to Wulianghatu Mountain with the captured tribal leaders, where the Ming army had already cut down trees and built military camps.

"Go faster!"

Looking at the bare Wuliangha Bald Mountain, the little man lowered his head in frustration and was taken into the camp by Li Shi.

His hands were tied, like a horse being led.

Here, he could feel the hot gazes coming from all around.

If Li Shi allowed it, he had no doubt that his head would be chopped off by the group of soldiers wearing mandarin duck jackets in the next second.

"Here we go, kneel down!"

Li Shi pulled hard, and the little-headed man staggered and knelt on the grass. He looked up in a panic and saw a large tent and the familiar face walking out of the tent.

"Your Majesty, our army captured a small tribal leader more than a hundred miles northwest."

Li Shu bowed and reported, while Zhu Di led Xie Jin and other civil servants out with a smile, and his smile grew wider after seeing the little-headed man.

"I've seen you before. You are Haragu's nephew, right?"

"The skills of the Wuliangha tribe are very good, please see His Majesty the Ming Emperor!" Upon hearing that Zhu Di recognized his identity, the little man did not hide it and directly revealed his identity.

Seeing that he was honest, Zhu Di also put his hands on his hips and said, "Untie the rope for him."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Li Shi stood up and drew the knife without thinking, cutting the rope around Shu'er's wrist.

"Thank you, His Majesty the Ming Emperor, for your kindness!"

After all, Shuerche was considered a noble and knew some Mandarin, so he expressed his gratitude.

"Li Shi, how many followers did he have when you captured him?"

Zhu Di looked at Shu Erche, but asked Li Shi the question.

"Less than five hundred people!" Li Shi answered honestly, and Zhu Di also smiled heartily, and said to Shu'erche: "I remember when you and your uncle were fighting, you had at least several thousand people under your command. Why do you only have so few now? Are you here?"

Zhu Di is very familiar with all Mongolian branches, and he also knows the background of even a small figure like Shuerche very clearly.

"I was defeated by His Highness the Crown Prince in Daning, and after returning to the tribe, he was cannibalized by other gangsters. Therefore, I am waiting for the arrival of His Majesty the Emperor more than a hundred miles northwest of Wulianghatu Mountain."

Shuerche didn't have much brains, but after all, he had been with Harawu for so many years, so he also saw that the Uliangha tribes were at the end of their rope, so he did not choose to go too far north.

After all, if Zhu Di really chased Uliangha Tushan, they would have absolutely no way out or anywhere to go unless they took refuge in Arutai of the Tatar tribe.

"I know what you are thinking, but you are a good person. If you can say something nicer, I can give you a hereditary commander Dangdang."

Shuerche's little thoughts were difficult to hide in front of Zhu Di, but Zhu Di did not expose them too thoroughly, but gave Shuerche a chance.

"When Tolu Hucha'er and the others heard about His Majesty's arrival, they headed to the northeastern foothills of Mount Hala, more than 400 miles away. The direction in which the heavenly army was searching was exactly where they were hiding."

"If His Majesty the Emperor needs it, I can lead the way for His Majesty the Emperor!"

Shuerche betrayed Tolu Huchaer and the others without hesitation. After all, Tolu Huchaer did not protect Shuerche's tribe, and Shuerche naturally did not need to leave a way for them to survive.

"How many soldiers, how many soldiers and horses, how many tribes and how many cattle and sheep do they have?"

Zhu Di did not agree rashly, but wanted to obtain more information. Shuerche also knew Zhu Di's concerns, so after he asked, he continued to answer:

"More than 16,000 armored soldiers, more than 10,000 light cavalry, more than 60,000 tribesmen, and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep."

"Okay." Zhu Di nodded, and then ordered Wang Yan beside him: "Arrange a tent for him, kill a yellow sheep to fill his belly, place his tribe not far from the military camp, and leave a hundred households. guard."

"The army will set off tomorrow, and he will be the guide."

After Zhu Di gave his instructions, he also promised Shu Erche: "After this battle, I will give you a hereditary guard commander, but the prerequisite is to meet the main force of the Ulliangha tribe."

"I would like to express my gratitude to His Majesty the Emperor for your kindness!" Upon hearing this, Shu Erche quickly knelt down and kowtowed, while Zhu Di returned to his tent.

Not long after, Li Shi left with Shu Erche, and Xie Jin and others also took the opportunity to stay away from the tent, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally we can go back."

As soon as Xie Jin said these words, both Yang Shiqi and Hu Guang and others nodded. At the same time, Yang Shiqi also said:

"Your Majesty took us north just because he wanted us to understand the importance of Modong to the imperial court."

"After this trip south, whenever His Majesty speaks in the temple, it would be best for us to agree."

Yang Shiqi knew very well that Jie Jin and others had complaints about Beizheng, even himself.

But he also knew very well that it was okay to complain, but he must never say it out loud.

Even if Modong's output is poor, don't try to hinder the Tian family's father and son's investment in Modong, otherwise they may have to take them with them in the next Northern Expedition.

Yang Shiqi didn't want to suffer such a crime again.

Seeing what he said, even Xie Jin, who had always been arrogant, couldn't help but nodded gloomily. It was obvious that he had suffered a lot this time.

Seeing that they all understood the general situation, Yang Shiqi breathed a sigh of relief, and then led Xie Jin back to the big tent.

When they disappeared, Zhu Di just glanced at them and said nothing, but only he knew what he thought in his heart.

　I've encountered some tricky things these days, so the second update will be a little later. I estimate it will be updated at 1 p.m. today.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)