Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 334 Sanctimonious

"In the sixth month of Dingsi, I led my army to the Ruanli River. At that time, 30,000 Hu cavalry were condescending, and 30,000 soldiers were facing each other. The Hu soldiers rushed into the formation. The king's division destroyed their fronts with muskets, and cut off their troops with swords and spears. Tuolu died and his troops collapsed. In this battle, we killed 7,647 enemies and captured 100,000 Hu soldiers, women and children, and more than 600,000 cattle and sheep."

On June 27 of the third year of Yongle, when the results of the Northern Campaign were reported back to the capital, the ministers in the Fengtian Palace Square looked at each other in confusion. Zhu Gaoxu, under the canopy umbrella, glanced at them and signaled Yishiha to continue speaking.

Yi Haxin understood the meaning, and immediately read the contents of the military report of the Sixth Army Governor's Office, and also read the contents of Zhu Di's imperial edict.

To put it simply, after Zhu Di destroyed the Ulliangha guards, he did not continue to stay there. Instead, he set up a thousand-household station in the valley where the battle was fought, and left a thousand soldiers and horses to temporarily station. At the same time, half of the general's grain was left behind. Gave them.

Zhu Di set up two guards in Wulianghatu Mountain and Wuliangha City respectively, but he did not name them. He asked Zhu Gaoxu to name them and asked Zhu Gaoxu to set up guards in important places.

Because of this, after Yishiha finished reading the decree, Zhu Gaoxu said without thinking:

"Incorporate Modong into Daning Dusi, set up Baicheng Guards in Wulianghatu City, set up Taining Guards in Wulianghatu Mountain, two hundred miles northeast of Wulianghatu Mountain, and set up Hecheng Guards in the middle and upper reaches of the Wen River. Wenjiang changed to Nenjiang.”

"The three guards are under the jurisdiction of twenty stations. When each station is fully staffed, prisoners from Zhaozhou are sent to the three guards in Baicheng, Taining and Hecheng. In addition, the Wuliangha tribe is moved to the Liaodong prefectures, and the herds are assigned to the Liaodong and Bohai lines. Taipu Temple.”

"In addition, the Xincheng, Huizhou and other guards under the control of Daning Dusi were abolished and reduced to thousands households. The remaining military households went north to Baicheng Guards."

In a few words, Zhu Gaoxu settled on the specific situation of the three new guards in Daning Dusi. After hearing this, all the officials bowed in succession, and the officials of the Sixth Army Governor's Office in Beijing also bowed.

Seeing that there was no objection, Zhu Gaoxu announced some new policies:

"Order Meng Zhang, Duke of the Liao Kingdom, to recruit the Jurchens from Beishan, Donghai and other tribes, and to establish an additional Bohai Guard Station."

"Shanxi Xingdu Division established Wuyuan Guards and moved the people without land in Shanxi to Shanxi Xingdu Division to open up wasteland and cultivate land."

"He ordered Lin Su, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi's capital, to abolish some of the military posts and establish counties instead."

A few simple sentences revealed the future direction of Ming Dynasty.

Shanxi Xingdu Division mainly manages the Hetao area and parts of Shanxi and Monan areas.

Shanxi's Xingdu Division was transformed into a health county, which was a step forward on the road to solidification.

If nothing else, the imperial court’s northern focus in the next few years will be on the Hetao and Daning areas.

As long as Hetao and Daning are safe, the entire Northeast region can produce with peace of mind. In this way, it is certain that the Bohai Sea will be increased from the Dusi to the Third Division in the future.

"Retreat!"

After clearly explaining his political philosophy for the next few years in the north, Zhu Gaoxu did not argue with his ministers, but bluntly announced his resignation.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

The ministers returned the greeting, but Zhu Gaoxu had already walked away.

He sat on the golden chariot and returned to Chunhe Hall. As soon as he sat down, he asked Yi Shiha: "When will my father come back?"

Hearing this, Yi Shiha also reported back based on the news sent by Zhu Di: "The army has returned to Baicheng. His Majesty should return to Beijing with the left and right Yanshan guards in Peiping in early August, waiting for the Modong three guards to have troops to replace Li Shi and others. Only then will we go south."

"Calculating the time, we should go south around September."

"September..." Zhu Gaoxu nodded slightly and then said, "How is Guo Zi and Yu Xin studying?"

"Not bad." Yi Shiha responded, and then walked to the desk and found some books that were delivered to Nanjing today.

"This is the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" sent by the Cochin Dusi this morning. In addition, Zheng He left Cui Jun to take charge of the fifth southern mansion. He and Yang Zhan, the Duke of Vietnam, led the fleet back to Guangzhou to recruit troops. They are expected to go south to Nanyang in the twelfth lunar month. "

"There is also this letter of credence sent by sixteen countries including Champa, Khmer, and Siam. I hope that I can use the voyage fleet to come to the capital to pay tribute."

"These two copies are memorials sent by the Dukes of Guizhou and Cao to quell rebellions by the chieftains of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Sichuan."

Yi Shiha said a lot of things, and Zhu Gaoxu also opened these things one by one. The first was Annan's "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" sent by Jiaozhi Dusi.

[Forty-eight prefectures, 168 counties, 224,672 households, 95 elephants, 271 horses, 32,520 oxen, and 8,000 boats Eight hundred and sixty-five. 】

[Hankou is worth 124,750, Annankou is 1,897,400, and cultivated land is 1,642,473,663 acres. 】

"More than 2.02 million people, more than 16 million acres of cultivated land...it's pretty good."

After reading the contents of the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album", Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction. Although the native population of Annan is still nearly 1.9 million, at least the migration rate of the Han people is not too slow.

Since forced immigration began in Jiangnan and other places, Zhu Gaoxu took a brief look and found that the number of people migrating to Annan could basically reach about 160,000.

If these 160,000 refugees without farmland are moved to Annan, the population of Annan will reach 280,000.

This proportion is not low, at least higher than the historical proportion of Annan population of nearly 3 million and only 300,000 Han people.

"The problem now is the barbarians in the Changshan Mountains. Their numbers cannot be underestimated. They are the ones we have to deal with after wiping out the Hu family and his son."

"To deal with them, we can draw one faction to fight another, win over those who surrender to us, and attack those who resist us. At the same time, we must turn the local people in Annan against them. Only in this way can we, the Han people, reproduce stably."

Zhu Gaoxu's intention was obvious, which was to use the hatred between the Changshan barbarians and the Annan people to intensify the conflict between the two parties, so that they would ignore the Han people.

When they are almost at the same level, the Han people can use their population advantage to assimilate them, and then completely control Annan.

The two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Han Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty were to be developed more and more by Zhu Gaoxu's own hands until they could no longer eat them.

For now, the Indochina Peninsula is difficult to eat, and the only countries that can be eaten without name are the more than ten countries in the Siam region, as well as Champa and Khmer south of Annan, and more than a dozen small countries on the Malay Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Luzon and other Southeast Asian islands can only absorb a few important islands. Unless the Ming Dynasty can explode in population growth in the next few decades, it will be difficult to absorb the three declarations and six comforts of Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Northeastern region south of Heilongjiang is already regarded as traditional Han territory. As long as the Jurchens are recruited from the mountains and then enough criminals are assigned to occupy both sides of Heilongjiang, there will be no problem in actually controlling the Northeastern region.

After more than 200 years of war in the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong was able to increase its population from more than 400,000 at the beginning to 2 to 3 million at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Now as long as he doesn't have any problems, he can at least double the population of the entire Northeast region in the few decades he can live.

If the population of Northeast China can exceed five million, then the Little Ice Age will come and Northeast China will not encounter too many problems.

The reason why Nurhaci was able to be cultivated in the late Ming Dynasty was not only the support of Li Chengliang, but also had many problems with the floods in the Northeast during the Little Ice Age.

However, the floods in history were due to the fact that the Jurchen tribes did not have enough population and strength to build water conservancy projects, which made the entire people outside the pass miserable. In the end, the tribes were involved in internal affairs, and a guy like Nurhachi was involved.

Although the current water conservancy construction in Northeast China is not as good as that in Jiangnan, it is better than most provinces in the north.

As long as this continues, relying on the three major rivers of Heilongjiang, Songhua River and Nenjiang will be enough to expand the Northeast region, not to mention the large number of mines and handicraft workshops built by the Ming Dynasty outside the customs.

"Tell Zheng He not to be in a hurry when he goes to the West. He should train his soldiers well before going south. In addition, all Nanyang ships need to be inspected. If any rebels dare to bombard and sink the ship, no one will be left alive."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the memorials of Zheng He and Yang Zhan, and gave them instructions through Yi Shiha.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about the pirate king Chen Zuyi. In front of the naval guns and the Pacific fleet, they were just bandits driving fishing boats.

As for what the Nanyang countries would think, Zhu Gaoxu didn't bother to care whether it would affect them. They were not good birds anyway.

In the end, wasn't the Jiugang Xuanwei Division destroyed by these guys?

If you don't show them your force, they will think that the Ming Dynasty's artillery is just a display.

"Will this make the Southeast Asian countries dissatisfied with the imperial court?"

"so what?"

Yi Shiha spoke worriedly, while Zhu Gaoxu looked at the memorial and said relaxedly: "If you don't beat them up, they won't know who is the dynasty of heaven and who is the common ruler of the world."

"Don't swallow your anger for the sake of temporary peace and show off the so-called demeanor of a great country."

“Only if your reasoning is strong enough, they will be as polite as you.”

Yishiha could guess what Zhu Gaoxu was talking about without thinking too much, so he didn't continue and just nodded to show that he understood.

"If Champa, Siam and other countries are willing to send envoys to follow the fleet back to Nanjing, they can just show them the power of the imperial court."

"As for things in the southwest..."

Zhu Gaoxu opened two memorials from Muchun and Li Jinglong, both of which were about counterinsurgency against the chieftain rebellion in the southwest.

The pacification of Annan did allow the southwestern chieftains to see the strength of the Ming Dynasty, but it also spawned a group of guys who were accustomed to looting.

Muchun and Li Jinglong had no mercy towards this group of people.

In the past four months, as many as forty-two families of chieftains have been destroyed, and their lands have been returned to their homeland. The land has been evenly distributed to the few people under the chieftain's rule.

The cultivated land in the "Fish Scale Atlas" of Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan has also increased by nearly 400,000 acres, and the number of people in the "Yellow Register" has also increased by nearly 100,000.

These toasts are not considered smart and powerful. The truly powerful ones are the three major toasts of Yunnan, the four major toasts of Sichuan, and the Yao Miao toasts of Guangxi.

If they could all be dealt with, the three southwestern provinces would be able to increase their population by at least two to three million people and hundreds of millions of acres of cultivated land.

But for now, what Ming needs is to recuperate. After all, he has been fighting for two consecutive years.

"These native people are exempted from taxes for one year. In addition, officials from the Seiyi Pavilion are sent to learn the local languages, and officials who have learned these languages ​​are sent to Shandong and Liaodong to build Seiyi Pavilions."

"Students who graduate from the official school in the next five years can register for free study at the Siyi Museum. After successful study, they can participate in the imperial examination."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking about his thoughts, and Yishiha heard the words and said carefully: "Do you want to include language in the middle volume?"

"Absolutely. You can't expect a bunch of arrogant scholar-bureaucrats to teach local people in Mandarin, right?" Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and gestured with his hand to Yishiha to check.

Yishiha followed Zhu Gaoxu's hand and looked towards the memorial, and easily saw several riots where fighting broke out due to language issues.

Fortunately, Muchun is not an unreasonable person. Regarding this kind of unrest, Muchun will send people to persuade, and the local people will become honest again and continue to farm and pay taxes locally.

"Only by learning their language first can we promote official learning and let the local people integrate into the Ming Dynasty."

Before Zhu Gaoxu could finish his words, he heard a harsh cry. He couldn't help but lean on the chair and look at Yishiha helplessly. In just a few breaths, Guo Yan appeared in the Chunhe Hall with Zhu Zhanhe, who had his hair shaved off and a bald head in his arms.

As soon as he saw Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Zhanhe stopped crying. Zhu Gaoxu could only stand up and walk towards Guo Yan, signaling that he would take Zhu Zhanhe.

"This child always cries after not seeing you for too long."

Guo Yan said helplessly, Zhu Gaoxu also hugged Zhu Zhanhe and smiled bitterly: "Boy, are you sincerely torturing your father?"

"Dad...Dad..."

Zhu Zhanhe said simple words and stopped crying. He looked at Zhu Gaoxu with his big black and white eyes.

"Everyone else's son is close to their mother, why are you close to your father?"

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he lifted Zhu Zhanhe up and made him dance happily.

Looking at this scene, Guo Yan and Yi Shiha looked at each other, as if they were saying that they are close to you because you don't treat your son as a son.

"have you eaten?"

Zhu Gaoxu, who easily lifted Zhu Zhanhe and tossed him around, asked Guo Yan. Guo Yan shook his head, and Zhu Gaoxu told Yishiha: "Prepare lunch."

"Yes" Yishiha agreed and went to make arrangements, while Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhu Zhanhe.

I don't know if he was knocked unconscious or what to say, but he looked around with wide eyes at this moment, and there was no sign of crying at all.

"Isn't that pretty good?"

Zhu Gaoxu handed him back to Guo Yan with a smile, took Guo Yan to sit on the couch, and poured him a cup of tea.

"Grandpa has caught a cold recently. I want to take He'er back to the Marquis Mansion to stay for a few days."

Guo Yan spoke his thoughts carefully. Zhu Gaoxu, who heard that Guo Ying was ill, also stopped drinking tea and asked, "Have the doctors and imperial doctors from the transfer hospital gone to see him?"

"See..." Guo Yan's face was full of sadness. It was obvious that Guo Ying's situation was not very good.

Zhu Gaoxu thought about it after seeing her like this. It seemed that Guo Ying did die of illness this year, but he didn't know if he could survive it.

"Let's go back and have a look." With a sigh in his heart, Zhu Gaoxu approved Guo Yan's return home to visit relatives.

"By the way, Zhang Fengyi is very happy."

Guo Yan nodded and told Zhu Gaoxu some good news.

"Zhang Fengyi?" Zhu Gaoxu looked confused. After all, there were several Zhang Fengyi in the East Palace.

"That's your favorite Zhang Fengyi from the Third Palace of the East." Guo Yan explained, and after hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also remembered who it was.

That Zhang Fengyi was a beautiful girl selected by Queen Xu. She was tall and plump, and she was attractive enough even without makeup.

It was precisely because of his good looks and good figure that Zhu Gaoxu stayed in Dongsan Hall many times.

There is a bit of love, but after staying overnight too many times, it will always feel a bit boring. Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu has also changed his overnight partners in the past two months, and occasionally goes back to the palace to accompany Guo Yan.

"Your Highness, if you have time, you can go and see Zhang Fengyi."

Guo Yan was very generous. After all, Zhu Zhanhe was free from disasters and illnesses, and he was still the legitimate eldest son. He could be reborn, so there was no need to be jealous of a mere Fengyi.

"I'll go take a look tonight."

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't have much affection for these women, after all, he was pregnant with a child, and it was a bit uncomfortable to do nothing by himself.

When he came to this era, he had to accept some things of this era. If he still had too much affection for any woman when he was the prince and emperor, then Zhu Gaoxu might not have much thought about dealing with government affairs.

"You must go." Guo Yan hugged Zhu Zhanhe and warned with a smile. Zhu Gaoxu also smiled helplessly and said: "You are pushing me out."

"I am afraid that others will say that I am jealous." Guo Yan explained with a smile, but it was not convincing.

Guo Yan is different from those women here in Zhu Gaoxu. Even if she does not have the status of a nobleman in Huaixi, she at least shares the hardships with him. The two of them can be regarded as a couple in need.

Of course, although the relationship between the two is good, it is insignificant compared to the world.

Fortunately, Guo Yan also knew it, so he basically didn't talk about things in the temple, and never interrupted Zhu Gaoxu's employment, which made Zhu Gaoxu very satisfied.

"You, mother, and grandma are all people with general knowledge. The court needs such people."

Zhu Gaoxu hugged Guo Yan, but Guo Yan smiled and said: "Your Highness, please don't always talk about the imperial court. You always do this. I always think it is too official."

"Then what should I say?" Zhu Gaoxu really didn't know how to fall in love or maintain relationships, so even if he stayed in the harem, he would fall asleep after solving the problem, and get up and leave early the next time.

"Your Highness can say..." Guo Yan thought for a while and finally said with a smile: "This is the kind of wife our family needs."

"Okay, okay..." Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "My family needs a wife like you to make the harem peaceful."

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."

Guo Yan hugged Zhu Zhanhe and stood up to salute, but Zhu Gaoxu laughed and said, "You are calling me official, so why don't you salute every day."

"Although they are husband and wife, they are also monarch and subject." Guo Yan sat back down and asked:

"I heard that the war in the north is over. When will your parents come back?"

Guo Yan's inquiry about this matter did not involve the temple. After all, Empress Xu had handed over the management of the inner court to her before she went north. Knowing when Empress Xu would come back, she could prepare to welcome her in advance.

"Dad said he would go south around September. I guess I should be back before New Year's Eve."

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Guo Yan seemed to remember something and lowered his voice: "There was news from the Prince's Mausoleum that there was a fire in Prince Ou Ning's Mansion. Fortunately, people from the West Factory discovered and put out the fire. Otherwise, I'm afraid Prince Ou Ning..."

Not long after Guo Yan spoke, Zhu Gaoxu's brows frowned.

King Ou Ning is Zhu Biao's fifth son Zhu Yunxi (Huo Xi). Because he was too young when Zhu Gaoxu conquered Nanjing, although he was implicated, he was only demoted to King Ou Ning by Zhu Di, unlike Zhu Yunxi and Zhu Yunxi who were deposed as concubines. people.

Zhu Yunxi now lives with Lu family not far from Zhu Biao's mausoleum, and is ordered to guard Zhu Biao's mausoleum.

According to Guo Yan's words, if it weren't for the people from Xichang in Prince Ou Ning's palace, Zhu Yunxi would have been burned alive.

"Go tell Ji Gang and Hu Lun to come see me."

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and ordered Yishuha. Hearing this, Yishuha quickly sent someone to pass on Ji Gang and Hu Lun.

After doing this, Yi Shiha finally said: "If King Ou Ning really dies, it may not be good for His Highness's reputation."

"I know, that's why I asked the people from Xichang to protect the three brothers." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He knew very well what Zhu Biao's three surviving sons and Zhu Yunwen's son represented.

Since Zhu Gaoxu's capture of Nanjing led to Zhu Yunwen's self-immolation, in the eyes of the world, the relationship between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Yunwen can be said to be a feud.

If Zhu Yunxi was burned to death, and he was burned to death while Zhu Gaoxu was in charge of the country, then Zhu Gaoxu would not be able to cleanse himself even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

"Pass on my decree to move the Wu, Heng, and Jian common people to the Prince Ouning's Mansion, and replace all the people in the Prince Ouning's Mansion with Jurchen guards from Bohai."

"Tell the brothers below that anyone who wants to harm Prince Yiwen's descendants is working against me."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Yishiha and placed Zhu Yunxi, Zhu Yunzhen and Zhu Wenkui in Prince Ouning's Mansion.

With Lu's support in Prince Ou Ning's Mansion, their lives would not be too bad.

Coupled with the Jurchen and Xichang guards, their safety can also be guaranteed, and such a thing will not happen easily again.

"Your Highness is like this, don't worry that they will..."

Yi Shiha wanted to remind him, but Zhu Gaoxu said cheerfully: "Why should I be afraid of them?"

"Zhu Yunwen lost his millions of troops, what did they have?"

Zhu Gaoxu is not worried about Zhu Yunxi and their future descendants at all, and will even treat them well.

Don't you see, even if the descendants of the Jiansu people and the Wu people lived until the Jiajing period and died, Zhu Di, as the instigator, would still be scolded bloody.

If Zhu Biao's son died during his tenure, he would probably have hundreds of unofficial histories written by these Confucian scholars.

However, not only did he not treat Zhu Yunxi and Zhu Wenkui harshly, he also wanted to take good care of them in the future.

The purpose of doing this was to slap these Confucian scholars in the face.

When Zhu Yunwen was here, not everyone was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but would sacrifice his life for the country at every turn, just like his father and son would murder Zhu Biao's descendants when they entered the capital.

Now Zhu Biao's descendants are living well, and these Confucian scholars have not died for their country, but they appear to be dirty.

Zhu Gaoxu looked down on Yang Shiqi, Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Jin Youzi, Huang Huai, and Hu Yan. They had agreed with Zhou Shixiu to celebrate Zhu Yun's death together, but in the end, except Zhou Shixiu, everyone else shamelessly survived.

If he hadn't been the emperor now, Zhu Gaoxu would have wanted to give Zhou Shixiu a posthumous gift in order to satirize these sanctimonious guys.

"Your Highness, Commander Ji Gang and Muyang Bohu Lun have arrived outside the palace..."

Suddenly, the eunuch at the door bowed and sang to the hall. Zhu Gaoxu narrowed his eyes when he heard this: "Invite them to come in."

　The second update today is estimated to be at 1 p.m. After two days of busy work, the normal update time will be restored.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)