Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 343

"This is to grant the title of Commander of the Nanyang Guards to Liang Daoming, an overseas Chinese from Palembang, Zheng Bo Zengcheng's Thousand Households, Shi Jinqing's Jambei's Thousand Households, Wang Mian..."

The second day after Zheng He's voyage fleet arrived at Palembang.

Accompanied by the singing of Zheng He's edict, Liang Daoming and others, after yesterday's shock and a night of deliberation, sent someone to hand over the royal seal of Srivijaya late at night and officially accepted the offer.

After learning the news, Yang Zhan ordered Cui Jun to lead the army to take over Palembang.

Most people in Liang Daoming's small group were willing to return to Guangdong, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang. Only Shi Jinqing was willing to stay there as the Qianhu official, so Zheng He gave him the position of Qianhu official in Jambi City that he had not yet won, and asked him to Temporarily control Palembang's original army.

However, for this army, Yang Zhan's request is to allow soldiers to voluntarily choose whether to join the army.

In the end, Palembang, which originally had more than 4,000 soldiers, only had about 1,600 soldiers left, and was temporarily under the control of Shi Jinqing.

After solving the problem of the local army, he mobilized 10,000 troops and horses, combined with Shi Jinqing's 1,600 troops, and at the same time divided the troops into five groups to take over other Srivijaya towns except Palembang.

For Majapahit who might invade, Yang Zhan gave only one military order, which was to counterattack and recover our lost towns.

On the plain outside the mountain, a newly built palace stands, surrounded by thousands of soldiers and horses guarding it.

"Don't run!"

"I don't care about these clowns. As long as they threaten the court, I can send troops to destroy them."

That's right, in Yang Zhan's view, the prince of the old Srivijaya, now the king of Malaka, has handed over the territory of Sumatra to the court, and Liang Daoming of the new Srivijaya also expressed his submission.

He asked his brother-in-law to shut up impatiently, and then rushed back with the wolf corpse.

"What I care about now is when we will go to Majapahit, and at the same time go north to Boni and Sulu, and go to Luzon to set up the Nanhai Guard and the Luzon Xuanwei Division."

"I know, how is Palembang's population and cultivated land?" Yang Zhan was unwilling to continue talking about this aspect, so he asked about government affairs.

In this way, once Majapahit seeks death and attacks, the Ming Dynasty can just take the opportunity to drive him out of Sumatra, and then appease many city-states in northern Sumatra.

Only by first allowing the Han people who are willing to stay to multiply, and at the same time Chineseizing the few local people, and then starting to recruit troops for war after there are more men, can this be in line with the experience gained by Zheng He and Yang Zhan in Annan.

Yang Zhan was a little anxious. The reason was that his father Yang Qiu had recently contracted the cold. Zheng He understood very well, so he explained: "This place is not stable yet. At least one Majapahit attack must be defeated first, and then we can launch an army." He went to his capital in the form of questioning."

"Okay, okay, Zengshou, you have become verbose now."

"This group of people must be integrated, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with local malaria and miasma with just the people we have."

The wolf's body was shot straight through by the arrow, and he ran forward for dozens of steps before falling to the ground.

"More than 57,000 people, more than 156,000 acres of cultivated land." Zheng He said, putting down the yellow book at the same time:

"But this is just the situation in one city. What really should be verified is the population situation of local towns and villages."

Holding the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Atlas" of the Xuanwei Department of Old Port that he had just compiled in his hand, Zheng He, who was sitting in a small courtyard in Palembang City, told Yang Zhan about the current situation.

The Nanyang Guard, the South China Sea Fleet, has six thousand-household stations. The old port guard establishment currently only has two thousand-household stations in Palembang and Jambi. If you need to ask the capital for instructions on whether to add more.

After a while, the mountains and rivers became shorter, and the front suddenly became clear.

"According to Liang Daoming and others, the people in the territory under the jurisdiction of the old Srivijaya should be no less than 1.5 million, and the current territory is no less than 600,000."

On April 17, as the Ming army completely took over the entire Palembang area, Zheng He named the entire area the Old Port Xuanwei Division in accordance with his decree. Yang Zhan, as the naval commander, established the Nanyang Guard and the Old Port Guard there.

Once these places go deep, it is easy to become acclimatized and contract miasma and malaria, which is very scary.

Seeing this swarthy man, the cavalrymen reined in their horses and bowed. One of the generals in his early thirties couldn't help complaining: "Your Majesty, you..."

"Ha ha!"

"Take a step at a time. First tell His Highness the general situation of Palembang. Then wait for Palembang to settle down and wait for news from Chen Zuyi."

After speaking, Yang Zhan picked up the tea cup and took a sip. After a pause, he seemed to think of something and couldn't help but say: "Speaking of which, the imperial examination should be over for a month, right?"

Because of this, the local overseas Chinese can be said to be the best soldiers, but Zheng He did not want to waste all his efforts.

Seeing the wolf fell, the dark-haired man also rushed forward, turned sideways and picked up the wolf carcass from the ground while galloping, held it in his hand and rushed along the road.

At this period, there is no doubt that the only one who can be called Your Majesty is Zhu Di.

Not long after, he ran into a group of galloping cavalry.

Liang Daoming and others saw the interest and took the initiative to take Zheng He and others to visit Palembang. Zheng He also took the subordinate officials who studied in Bohai to start planning the floor plan of Palembang city and planning and designing it.

"These guys are making a lot of noise, especially Chen Zuyi from the south."

During the visit, Zheng He also obtained information about Chen Zuyi from Liang Daoming.

Once all these men are eliminated, people will have to be relocated from other places, and a large number of people will probably die after arriving there.

At the same time, Zheng He also began to send out more than 500 officials who accompanied the army on the voyage to the West, and led his soldiers to establish households in Palembang and measure the land.

"Indeed..." Zheng He responded, and their thoughts drifted thousands of miles to the north along the wind.

The two of them were sitting on a stone bench, with various tea sets placed on the stone table in front of them.

But no matter what, with eight thousand soldiers and horses stationed in Nanhai and Old Port, the safety of Old Port can be guaranteed. On the contrary, the various forces in Sumatra cannot be guaranteed, so there is an endless stream of merchant ships spying on intelligence. Traveling to and from the old port, they all have Nanyang faces.

Malaria and miasma have become demonic obstacles in the hearts of all naval officers.

It would be fine if they only fought at sea, but the navy has to do more than just fight at sea. It also needs to cooperate with the other five armies to fight on land, and it is either in the Central and South China region or in the Nanyang region.

For the existing land, the Ming army only registered it, but for the land to be reclaimed in the future, it was evenly distributed according to the labor force of each household.

In late April, in the mountains and forests of the south of the Yangtze River, when the sound of horse hooves and the shouts of people could be heard, a man with dark skin, wearing a red velvet sash and waist-length armor was seen. He drew his bow and nocked an arrow towards a wolf fleeing ahead. The arrow was shot.

Regarding the local campaign, Yang Zhan was only worried about malaria and miasma, so while sending troops, he also asked his former subordinate Liang Daoming to lead the way to avoid entering miasma and malaria areas.

Zhu Di carried the wolf carcass on his horse and rode in, and soon threw it in front of a large tent.

"Second!"

He shouted for Zhu Gaoxu, and the next moment Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing armor, also opened the curtain of the tent, walked out and saw the wolf corpse.

"Look, we just set up camp and saw this beast on the shore. We hunted it to prevent it from hurting the people."

"It's a lone wolf." Zhu Gaoxu squatted down and checked, then raised his head and said to Zhu Di: "There are indeed wolves in Baohua Mountain. It's a good idea to take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate them."

"That's natural." Zhu Di walked into the tent, and Zhu Gaoxu also stood up and walked in.

In the tent, the palace band who were adjusting their instruments saw Zhu Di coming and stood up to salute. However, Zhu Di waved his hands to indicate that there was no need to be surprised, sat down on his desk, picked up the tea cup and took a sip. , while moistening his throat, he also picked up the pastry that had just been placed and took two bites.

"Later, we and I will each take fifty people to hunt the pack of wolves. In addition to the pack of wolves, there are also leopards and tigers to prevent the beasts of Baohua Mountain from hurting anyone."

Due to the vast land and sparsely populated areas, there was no doubt that there were more wild animals in ancient times than in later generations. Even in the Baohua Mountain at the foot of the Emperor, there were packs of wolves, tigers, and leopards.

In later generations, these are nationally protected animals, but in this era, they are just beasts that harm the people.

"There shouldn't be many wild animals in Baohua Mountain. Let's go back after two days."

Zhu Gaoxu sat on the chair next to the desk, holding an orange in his hand from unknown time, peeling and eating it, and asking Zhu Di.

Since there is no need to collect summer grain this year, and the imperial examination has ended, the period from mid-April to mid-June is undoubtedly the most relaxing period for the two fathers and sons.

Zhu Di wanted to exercise after returning from the north, so Zhu Gaoxu simply accompanied him to Baohua Mountain to hunt wolves.

"There are too few wild animals in Baohua Mountain. There must be more wild animals in Yanshan and Taihang Mountains."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had just arrived and was discussing when to go back, Zhu Di deliberately changed the subject.

Zhu Gaoxu was very smart and knew that the old man didn't want to go back too early, so he didn't mention it at all. Anyway, he would deal with the memorial the same way when he came here.

"There were indeed many tigers in Yanshan in the past. I heard that Pei Min of the Tang Dynasty was good at shooting tigers. He once killed thirty-one tigers in one day."

Zhu Gaoxu told anecdotes about the Tang Dynasty that he had seen in his previous life. After hearing this, Zhu Di smiled heartily and said, "This is a story. I have heard it in Peking."

"The story says that after he shot thirty-one tigers, he looked around at the bottom of the mountain, looking very proud of himself."

"After a while, an old man came over and said to him that the ones he shot to death were all tigers. They looked like tigers but not tigers. If you..."

Zhu Di told Zhu Gaoxu the stories he heard in Peking, and said from his own experience:

"When I first went to Peking and had your brothers, I ran to Yanshan Mountain all year round and hunted there."

"After so many years, I only see a few tigers occasionally, and they run away from people when they see them and don't fight with them."

"I went back later, but couldn't find them. I think they were hunted or driven away."

He sighed a little, as if he was thinking of the time when he was young, frivolous and high-spirited.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu peeled the orange and handed the pulp to Zhu Di, who took it and ate it.

He looked at Zhu Gaoxu with satisfaction and couldn't help but said: "Although I often talk about you and feel that you have changed a lot, in my heart I still feel that you are like me."

"Is this change good or bad?" Zhu Gaoxu took out a knife and peeled Zhu Di's pear while asking with a smile, but feeling a little nervous.

"Of course it's good." Zhu Di said without thinking: "In the past, you were very irritable. I asked you to learn the art of war, but you said that you were the enemy of a hundred people. No one in the entire palace could deal with you, but I can."

"When I tease you on weekdays, you'll get excited after just a few words and leave angrily." "Later, when I came to Nanjing, not only did my temper improve, but I also started to take the initiative to learn the art of war."

"Especially because you are actually the first prince besides your uncle and his son to be allowed to study in Wuying Hall. When I found out about this, I felt very shameless and couldn't sleep because of my happiness."

Perhaps because of his old age, Zhu Di has been recalling the past with emotion, and Zhu Gaoxu also smiled, sitting aside and listening to him quietly.

"Eat the pear." Zhu Gaoxu inserted the knife into the pear and handed it to Zhu Di.

After Zhu Di took it, he cut the pulp with a knife and ate it. At the same time, he asked Zhu Gaoxu if he still remembered the past.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu naturally told what happened in the past.

However, compared to Zhu Di's recollection, Zhu Gaoxu was like a bystander, telling all the wrong things he did when his predecessor was young and expressing his own feelings.

In his opinion, Zhu Di was not successful in raising his son, even his grandson. This may be related to his doting.

Because of this, the young Zhu Gaoxu understood what it meant to be arrogant and arrogant, and he also knew that he was strong enough to solve many problems.

Regarding these problems, Zhu Di basically confused them with a few words. On the contrary, Empress Xu kept scolding Zhu Gaoxu and teaching him a lesson.

However, even so, Zhu Gaoxu was still relatively close to Queen Xu, which made Zhu Di very uncomfortable, so he kept guiding and praising him.

It can be said that Zhu Di has no problem guiding Zhu Gaoxu. At least judging from the historical Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Gaoxu is indeed an excellent cavalryman, even among the best in history.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu talked about various things about "him" in the past.

Zhu Di was a little confused because his memory was too detailed, because he couldn't remember that Zhu Gaoxu had committed these things at all, only a vague idea.

"It's good that you understand this."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's "confession", Zhu Di patted him on the shoulder, and then motioned for him to get up and follow him.

The father and son walked out of the tent, their horses ready.

Zhu Gaoxu's big black horse and Zhu Gaoxu's Chi Huan were standing in front of the tent waiting for them. Especially when Chi Huan saw Zhu Gaoxu, the soldiers beside him couldn't pull it at all.

"What a good horse, your grandpa is willing to spend money." Zhu Di looked at Chi Huan enviously, but he was not envious that it was a bloody horse, but envied that Zhu Gaoxu could win the favor of his father.

"Recently, I asked Xie Jin and others to compile the affairs of Jingnan, and the actual records have also started to be compiled."

After getting on his horse, Zhu Di suddenly talked about compiling history books. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also got on his horse and followed him out on horseback.

"I want to change some of the content inside, what do you think?"

Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu. After all, if Zhu Gaoxu disagreed, even if he could change it now, Zhu Gaoxu could get someone to change it back in the future.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu, who had long known that Zhu Di was changing history, pretended not to care and said: "If you want to change it, father, just change it."

"But before changing it, I still want to talk to my father."

"Then when Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to read the Annotations, the literati said that he was trying to modify the history books. If you really modified the contents of the history books, I am afraid that future generations will scold you even more fiercely than this."

Zhu Gaoxu used Li Shimin as an example because Li Shimin was indeed wronged.

He wanted to read the Daily Notes just because he wanted to see the Xuanwu Gate and some political events, but he was forced to read it as "Revisited History".

In fact, after Li Shimin became emperor, even if he did not speak, the historians would favor him as appropriate.

Skip the ugly things as much as possible, and spare no space on the meritorious things.

After all, not every historian is a hard-nosed person. In order to avoid getting into trouble, he would definitely do what the emperor at that time would do.

Li Shimin was accused of changing history just because he wanted to read the Living Notes, let alone Zhu Di's direct change of history. Even Zhu Gaoxu, a geology researcher, knew about Zhu Di's change of history.

After all, changing history is a big project. If there is any mistake, whether it is accidental or intentional, as long as there is a mistake, future generations can determine whether to change history based on the private histories written by people at the time.

If Zhu Di did not change history, there would be no Hongwu thirty-five years.

"If you don't change it, how will that person write it?"

Zhu Di struggled with how to write Zhu Yunwen. When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he knew that he could not persuade Zhu Di, so after sighing in his heart, he took the initiative and said: "If you want to change it, just change it. In the future, if your son wants to edit your records, he will also start from the time you ascend the throne." Start writing and you don’t have to worry.”

When Zhu Di heard the answer he wanted to hear, he immediately stroked his beard, his face full of joy.

It was obvious that from the time he returned to the big tent after hunting wolves, he had been playing the emotional card all the way in order to get Zhu Gaoxu to say these words.

Zhu Gaoxu could also guess what he was thinking, but so what, could he still refuse Zhu Di?

Even if he wants to pursue truth, when Zhu Zhanhe grows up and reads history books, he will not think of changing it.

It is impossible to know when the change of history began, but once this idea is opened, subsequent kings will not want too many stains on their lineage.

"Just take things as they come."

Zhu Gaoxu did not dwell on this matter, but talked about the imperial examination with Zhu Di: "In this imperial examination, I heard that 80% of the positions for Jinshi in the Southern List were taken by Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi?"

"Yes." Zhu Di did not hide it. After admitting it, he continued: "Many officials in other places were not convinced and wrote many memorials to me."

"Looking at it now, your method of dividing papers into north and south and setting up three separate rankings is indeed good. At least it ensures that candidates in the north and southwest will not be affected."

As Zhu Di shook his horse's reins as he spoke, Zhu Gaoxu also shook his horse's reins to follow, and at the same time said: "The recommendation system is actually what they want most."

"What they thought was beautiful." Zhu Di said, took a bow and arrow, and a rabbit was killed instantly.

Zhu Di didn't care, because the cavalry following the two of them would go and deal with it.

But after saying this, he mentioned the matter to Zhu Gaoxu again: "The power you gave to the Ministry of Household Affairs seems to be a bit too great. You have handed over the bank treasury of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Rites to them."

"Add these to the Shipping Department, and your policy of dismantling the military camps in the Mainland Guards, and evenly dividing the common people, the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs will become more and more powerful."

Zhu Di was worried that the power of the Ministry of Revenue was too concentrated, but Zhu Gaoxu was helpless: "Not everyone can understand the system that grandpa left behind. Let alone He'er, even if you are my father, do you dare to say that you can completely sort out what grandpa did? ?”

Zhu Gaoxu understood very well that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to divide the power of the ministers and wanted the six departments to maintain a balance.

The problem is that this set of things is not something that anyone can play with. Let alone the emperor who is not good at finance, even many ministers of the Ministry of Finance who are good at finance in the middle and late Ming Dynasty are at a loss.

Except for Zhang Juzheng, no one has sorted out the financial problems of the transfer department.

Zhu Gaoxu could sort it out, but he was able to memorize it because his memory was extraordinary. Otherwise, even Yu Xin, Guo Zi, and Xia Yuanji would have to prepare in advance to answer fluently.

"That's what I said, but I'm still a little worried..." Zhu Di stroked his beard, feeling a little uncertain.

He believed in himself and his second son, but he was undoubtedly unsure about Zhu Zhanhe, who had not yet grown up, and his future descendants.

He knew Zhu Biao's character, but who would have thought that Zhu Biao would actually give birth to Zhu Yunwen.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but look at Zhu Gaoxu, and secretly sighed at his luck: "Fortunately, Sister Xu helped me give birth well, but I don't know how my daughter-in-law's birth turned out."

"His Majesty!"

Suddenly, the sound of rapid horse hooves came from behind.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu reined in their horses at the same time, turned their horses' heads and looked back.

I saw Xu Zengshou coming on horseback from behind, holding a letter in his hand.

"Your Majesty, it was sent by the Pacific Fleet."

When they came to the two of them, Xu Zengshou reined up his horse and handed over the letter. Seeing this, Zhu Di also took it and opened it.

He quickly read the contents of the letter and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu who was standing aside.

Zhu Gaoxu took it and looked at it. The handwriting of this letter was not written by Zheng He, Yang Zhan, or Cui Jun. It should have been a note written with mouse hair and sent to Nanjing via a flying pigeon. Then it was copied by Jin Yiwei on the letter paper and presented. .

The content of the letter mainly talked about the progress of the Nanyang expedition, and then talked about the establishment of the Xuanwei Department in the old port, and the lack of response from the Nanyang giant Chen Zuyi.

Zhu Gaoxu closed the letter after reading it, while Zhu Di stroked his beard: "Zheng He did a good job."

"Yes, but Chen Zuyi must be eliminated." Zhu Gaoxu replied without thinking, and explained the dangers of Chen Zuyi to Zhu Di.

If people like him, who have gathered tens of thousands of smugglers, do not submit but resist, it will undoubtedly affect the future Nanyang trade zone, and thus the future customs tax of the imperial court.

As soon as he heard that it was related to money, Zhu Di gave an unequivocal order: "Find a way to send news to Zheng He. Once Chen Zuyi refuses to submit, he will be eliminated immediately."

"Yes!" Xu Zengshou bowed in response, then turned around and rode away.

Looking at his back, Zhu Di whispered to Zhu Gaoxu: "Your uncle has made a lot of contributions. I will continue to take him with me on the next Northern Expedition and find him a duke."

"So this Northern Expedition..." Zhu Di was about to continue, but Zhu Gaoxu shook the reins of his horse and rode Chi Huansa Yazi into the mountains.

His actions made Zhu Di stunned for a moment, and the next second he yelled at his back:

"Little bastard, your father doesn't speak well to you!"

(End of this chapter)