Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 370 Father and son collude
"Boom bang bang-"

At night, the Nanjing Imperial Palace is bustling with lights inside and outside, and the palace is inexplicably warm and welcoming.

Zhu Di sat high on the golden platform in front of the Huagai Hall, wearing a Yishan crown and wearing a crimson uniform with a coiled collar and narrow sleeves.

The uniform is embroidered with gold coiled dragon patterns on the front, back and shoulders, with a jade belt around the waist and leather boots on the feet.

Beside him, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui, who were sitting on the left and right chairs respectively, were also wearing scarlet uniforms and Yi Shan crowns.

In His Highness Huagai Square, there were hundreds of civil and military officials sitting at hundreds of round tables. When the time came, they all stood up to bow to the three people on the high platform and toast.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty on your triumphant return, long live, long live, long live..."

Facing the gifts from the courtiers, Zhu Di sat firmly on his chair, with a bit of pride on his face while raising his glass to drink with the courtiers.

Suddenly, there was a loud "rumbling" sound, and colorful fireworks bloomed over the palace.

That kind of brilliant light makes people addicted to it, and it adds a bit of prosperity to this banquet.

Since the chefs of the palace and Guanglu Temple in the early Ming Dynasty were carefully selected, and Zheng He brought back rich spices from his last voyage to the West, the palace delicacies prepared for this state banquet were refreshing, indescribably delicious, and intoxicating. In the pleasure on the tip of the tongue.

In order to help his sister diagnose her pulse, Zhu Di taught himself medical skills for two years, so he naturally knew what this meant.

Counting from the time when she was canonized as Princess Yan in the ninth year of Hongwu to the birth of Princess Zhu Zhiming of Xianning in the eighteenth year of Hongwu, in almost ten years, Queen Xu gave birth to seven children for Zhu Di, which had already damaged her roots, let alone giving birth to Zhu Gaochi. He was only sixteen years old.

The two chatted for several hours, and it was not until the dinner that everyone was allowed into the palace for a family dinner. Then Queen Xu asked Zhu Di to take her back to Qianqing Palace.

Empress Changsun of the Tang Dynasty gave birth to two sons and one daughter, Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Lizhi, for Li Shimin within three years.

The intertwining of fireworks and the sky is like colorful silk and satin, which makes people feel relaxed and happy.

Zhu Gaoxu has composed more than ninety pieces of music, including the military song "Song of the Army", "The Elephant King's Journey" and "Broken Formation Music" suitable for state banquets, and the melodious music "Wind and Moon" and other tunes. .

Colorful lanterns were set up on the Huagaidian Square. The colorful lanterns illuminated the surroundings and dispersed the dark night.

"It's a pity that your mother doesn't like this excitement."

Although the eyes are full of prosperity, when thousands of musicians play music and hundreds of soldiers in military uniforms sing songs in unison, the song "Men should strengthen themselves" undoubtedly suppresses the greed in the hearts of the ministers and suppresses the bloody side of men. wake.

Zhu Di nodded naturally, personally helped his sister get into the carriage, and returned to Qianqing Palace to rest.

Under the background of the fireworks, the palace seems to have become another world, with luxurious and spectacular decorative details showing the rich cultural heritage of the Han family.

Compared to the two of them, Zhu Gaosui is obviously not interested in this singing method. He prefers the melodious sounds composed by Zhu Gaoxu.

To put it more simply, Zhu Gaochi has been eating too well these years, and he has indulged too much, and he cannot even take tonics for those who are weak and not replenished.

The surrounding palace ladies, dressed in brocade robes and embroidered skirts, poured wine for the ministers in the Huagai Palace Square and served the meals brought by the eunuchs to the table.

Almost all Western musical instruments can find suitable replacements in the Ming Dynasty, but the style of music is different from this piece.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di explained the difference between this kind of chorus and the previous ones. For Zhu Di, who knew the emperor well, he could naturally understand what Zhu Gaoxu meant.

That kind of dance music is the kind of dance music that Zhu Gaosui and Zhu Gaochi like to watch, especially "Feng Yue".

Now he is 88 years old and Guo Yan is 26 years old. The two couples are in love and are in very good health.

"Yesterday, I heard from your mother that Shi Shu, the chief minister of the Han Dynasty, said that your eldest brother fell down on the way to worship the Buddha. How is your health now?"

It seems that Zhu Di is back, and her stay in Qianqing Palace will not be so deserted anymore.

"This is a group chorus, which can be accompanied by accompaniment or without accompaniment. However, it requires the singer's single voice to be highly unified and the melody between the voices to be harmonious. It is the most popular and widely participated form of music performance discovered by Erchen. one."

These tunes have long been spread, especially among the official prostitutes and musicians on the 16th floor of Nanjing. They almost arranged and practiced "Wind Moon", "Blue and White Porcelain" and other tunes into dance music.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled bitterly after hearing this, and then replied: "I sent officials from the Yunnan Chief Envoy Department to see him, and they said he would have to lie in bed for half a month. The royal doctor did not dare to prescribe medicine for my eldest brother to take at will, for fear of him. It’s too much to make up for.”

Zhu Gaoxu suspected that Queen Xu's illness was caused by continuous and frequent childbirth.

After all, the couple have been together for thirteen years. Even though Zhu Gaoxu puts his family and country first, he cannot ignore Guo Yan's care for himself and his family.

"This is good, I like it..."

Zhu Di nodded frequently, simply liking this method, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded in response.

In other words, Queen Xu couldn't stand the trouble, otherwise he might still want an eighth child.

In this era when medical conditions were not yet developed, Zhu Gaoxu would not believe it if there was no harm to the body from frequently giving birth to so many children at such an age.

Zhu Di took a sip from his wine glass and asked Zhu Gaoxu at the same time.

Zhu Di sighed. He just came back yesterday and went to see Mrs. Xu. In order to have a quiet chat, Zhu Di kicked Zhu Gaoxu and the others out, and he and Empress Xu were alone in the Huagai Palace.

The same thing happened to Queen Ma and Queen Changsun of Tang Dynasty. Queen Ma gave birth to five male heirs for Lao Zhu within seven years, then rested for three years, and gave birth to two more baby girls within three years.

"Is it too much?"

Zhu Di could imagine what his greedy boss looked like now.

Because of this, he was always happy that he met Guo Yan late, and he was also happy that Guo Yan gave birth to an heir late.

Compared with their husband and wife, Zhu Gaochi's side was a little not so good.

"This song is good, and the way of singing is also good."

"Arrogance in the face of thousands of waves, blood like the red sun, courage like iron and bones like fine steel, a mind that is thousands of feet long, a vision that is thousands of miles long..."

This scene of dazzling fireworks and busy beauties makes many people intoxicated and full of prosperity.

Zhu Di stroked his beard and looked at Zhu Gaoxu with satisfaction.

"Let Princess Han take good care of his mouth and body!" With a slight snort, Zhu Di stopped discussing Zhu Gaochi.

The father and son set their sights on the state banquet at the same time, watching the ministers exchange cups and cups in the square, which was very lively.

It's a pity that often at times like this, something disruptive happens, such as right now.

"Your Highness..."

Yishiha walked carefully to Zhu Gaoxu, lowered his head and whispered in his ear. Zhu Gaoxu looked a little moved after hearing this.

Zhu Di had been paying attention to Zhu Gaoxu. Seeing him like this, he asked, "What happened?"

"Returning to my father, Yang Sheng, the Xuanwei envoy of Bozhou, Tian Zongding, the Xuanwei envoy of Sinan, and Tian Chen, the Xuanwei envoy of Sizhou, raised their troops to rebel."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed and said something that was enough to shock the court. Upon hearing this, Zhu Di said, "Didn't you already start to suppress the rebellion?"

"It was postponed due to the rainy season in Guizhou. Now that the rainy season has just passed, they rebelled before they sent out troops. This is an opportunity."

While explaining, Zhu Gaoxu also talked to Zhu Di about the situation in the southwest at this time.

The imperial court's 150,000 officers and soldiers, led by Muchun and Li Jinglong and supplemented by Gu Cheng, Yang Wen, He Fu, Qu Neng, Sheng Yong, Liu Zhen, Qu Yu, Qu Tao and others, have launched an encirclement in the Guizhou area.

Now that the rainy season is over, Mu Chun originally wanted to wait for the weather to clear up and the road to be stronger before setting off with his artillery army, but he never thought that these two chieftains would be the first to take action.

"What did Muchun and the other An and Song families do?"

Zhu Di asked Muchun and the other two chieftains what they were doing, and Zhu Gaoxu explained:
"The Duke of Guizhou has learned the news and has led an army of 30,000 people from Qijiang into the territory of Bozhou. He is planning to clean up Bozhou first, then the Tian family, and finally appease the Song and An families who have not moved."

"With an army of 120,000 to contain them, it is impossible for these four chieftains to send too many troops to confront the Duke of Guizhou."

"As long as the Yang family in Bozhou is destroyed, Cao Guogong will lead 30,000 troops from Guangxi to enter Guizhou from the south and cut off the connection between the Tian family and the Song and An families."

"Once the contact is severed, the imperial court can mobilize 20,000 troops from Huguang to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Tian family."

"I estimate that the war will be over in two years at the earliest."

After the emergence of the cannon, Zhu Gaoxu no longer paid attention to the Guizhou chieftains. Historically, Zhu Di sent 50,000 troops. Only using rock-shooting cannons such as bowl-mouth blunderbuss could destroy the Sizhou and Sinan Song clans, and established Sizhou and Liping in one fell swoop. , Xinhua, Shiqian, Sinan, Zhenyuan, Tongren, and Wuluo eight prefectures, it can be seen that the Tian family is strong and the Ming army is even stronger.

Now that there are cannons and generals like Muchun, Zhu Gaoxu doesn't think that the Yang family in Bozhou and the Song family in Sizhou can stay together for long.

"As long as you feel confident about it, you can be confident about the southwest affairs. I can rest assured."

Zhu Di approved Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement and said at the same time:

"I have interrogated many Tatar officials before. I don't need to worry about Wala for the time being, but I have to worry about Guilichi."

"I want to try to see if I can attract the ghost Lichi."

"I think it's unlikely." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head. He was very familiar with Gui Lichi. Historically, although Gui Lichi asked for help from the Ming Dynasty, this did not mean that he was close to the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he was facing Alutai and Benya was forced to take advantage of the situation under the threat of the three forces of Shili and Wala.

If Guilichi truly surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, he would not have sent someone to poison Anke Timur of Hami. After all, Anke Timur was pro-Ming.

"I know it's unlikely, but I can take this opportunity to appease him." Zhu Di stroked his beard and said thoughtfully: "Now that the imperial court has a thousand households in Mobei, after a few years of settlement, they can send troops from the local area to conquer Oara. "

"However, I want to try to capture Hami and attack Moxi via the old route of the Han and Tang Dynasties."

It is not surprising that Zhu Di knew the Mongols very well, but he did not know much about the Western Regions and the ancient ways of the Han and Tang Dynasties in Desert West.

In the early Ming Dynasty, foreign intelligence work was inherently difficult. After all, the surrounding area was either Mongolian or Western, and the Mongolian and Spanish were almost integrated, making it difficult to penetrate.

If the Han people want to know about these places, they first read ancient books and secondly send officials.

However, when officials went to Moxi, they were often supervised by Oala cavalry. Therefore, they could not remember the route clearly while walking. Coupled with the problem of translation, the issue of the Northern Expedition was very difficult.

Zhu Di felt that the army could go north from Hami to Hangai Mountain and Jinshan (Altai Mountain). He just thought that the Han, Tang and Meng Yuan Dynasties could do it, and so could the Ming army.

"The old roads of the Han and Tang Dynasties in Moxi have long been abandoned, and the few remaining roads are mostly occupied by tiles."

"If our army really wants to go to Moxi, let alone how to solve the problem of supplies, if Oara pollutes the water source, then our army of tens of thousands may be defeated without a fight."

Zhu Gaoxu was very fortunate that he understood geography and climate conditions, and could further analyze the geography and climate conditions of this era based on the conditions of later generations.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, an army like the Ming Army, which needed a large army of civilians to maintain it, had no choice but to take the desert Eurasian steppe.

"In a moment, I will ask Yishiha to send you a sand tray. Then you will know why you can't count on Hami."

Zhu Gaoxu, who had guessed Zhu Di's thoughts early, naturally prepared a sand table early to allow Zhu Di to feel the situation in the north more intuitively.

"There's no need to wait a moment. Third child, you greet me here. Second child and I will go take a look at the sand table."

Zhu Di stood up and told Zhu Gaosui, who was sitting next to him watching the whole show, and walked towards the Huagai Hall without waiting for his reaction.

"Go and bring the sand tray over."

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned when he ordered, and then stood up and followed Zhu Di's footsteps.

After the two people walked into the Huagai Hall and took their seats, they soon saw Yishiha leading six soldiers carrying a heavy sand tray into the Huagai Hall.

The sand table is one foot long and six feet wide. The southern end starts from Xi'an, Luoyang, and Jinan, and the northern end ends with Xiaohai (Lake Baikal), Nurgan City, and the upper reaches of the Jianhe River (Yenisei River).

To the west it ends with Nüergan, and to the east it ends with Nuergan.

On such a sand table, the terrain and water flow conditions of the Mongolian plateau, as well as the terrain and hydrological conditions of the Western Region, Northeast China, and Guan Nei are all clearly visible. Fine sand, turf, fine stones, and wood-carved mountains are even laid out according to the terrain to represent deserts and grasslands. , Gobi and mountains.

Based on his own memory and the intelligence obtained from interrogating Tatar officials in the past two days, Zhu Gaoxu planted the flags representing the Mongolian tribes, and also planted the flag of Besropali in the Western Region.

"This flag represents a tribe or a city, and there are notes on it."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished all this, he began to show it to Zhu Di: "With your ability, you can see things from this without me telling you."

After he said this, he returned to the chair beside him and sat down. Zhu Di put his hands behind his back and watched the sand table with Wang Yan, Yi Shiha and others holding candles.

The scale of this sand table is even more detailed than that of the previous sand table "General Map of the Four Barbarian Guests in the World" produced by Zhu Gaoxu, so many small rivers are also represented in it.

Because of this, Zhu Di rejected the idea of ​​sending troops from Hami and Gansu at the first sight.

The main problem why the Mongolian Plateau is called Mobei and Monan is that there is a huge Gobi Desert between Mobei and Monan.

The Mongolian Gobi is the northernmost desert in the world, the second largest desert in Asia, and the fifth largest desert in the world.

Counting from Kaipingwei on the eastern boundary of the Gobi to the Hami area in the eastern part of the Western Region, the straight-line length can reach three thousand miles.

If you include the Gurbantunggut Desert in northern Hami, the straight line length from east to west can reach more than 4,600 miles.

Even in later generations, it will not be easy to travel from Hami to Ulyasutai, let alone this era.

In order to avoid the Great Gobi, Zhu Gaoxu specially developed the Modong Sanwei in order to use the Nen River water transportation to save a lot of food and grass expenses.

Without the Nenjiang River, this Northern Expedition would not have been so cost-effective, nor would it have been possible to transport so many artillery and gunpowder and support so many troops to the Hulunbuir Prairie.

"Anwen River, Yinma River, Selenge River, Ganwei River (Zhabuhan River)..."

Zhu Di murmured about the marked rivers, and finally looked up at Zhu Gaoxu and squinted his eyes: "You are a good chess player."

The distance between the rivers marked by Zhu Gaoxu is basically no more than 500 miles, and these rivers are also the reason why the Mongolians can live in Mobei.

They brought water, life, and abundant pasture, thus giving the Mongols the possibility to live in Mobei permanently.

Along these rivers, if the Ming Dynasty had enough population in Modong Sanwei, it could even raise a team of 300,000 civilians and supply 50,000 cavalry to attack Mobei.

It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty cannot attract so many people in Modong, nor can it move so many people in a short period of time, let alone feed so many people.

Looking at the sand table, Zhu Di sighed: "Second brother, do you think our father and son can win this Mobei?"

"We won't be able to control it for a long time even if we take it." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head. He didn't think that with the current productivity of the Ming Dynasty, the minerals in Mobei could be mined and transported to the south, and at the same time, he could make huge profits.

Without profit, Mobei is a "loser".

For the Manchus and Qing Dynasties, Mobei at least had the united front value of "Manchu and Mongolian dignitaries", but it was useless to the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Gaoxu dared to implement the policies of the Manchu Qing Dynasty towards the powerful people in Mobei, he would definitely be stabbed in the spine.

Whether it was a marriage or a transfer of money and food, in the eyes of the Han people, especially the people of the Ming Dynasty after the two Song Dynasties, it was almost a policy that was powerless and humiliating to the country.

Therefore, before productivity and transportation capacity are improved, weak control of Mobei is the only possibility that Zhu Gaoxu can reach.

Occupy the Hulunbuir Prairie, maintain a certain number of troops who dare to fight, and then intimidate the Mobei Grassland, and at the same time adopt the method of pulling one faction to fight against the Mongols, using culture and economy to corrupt their powerful people, and let them gradually become attached to the Ming Dynasty until the Ming Dynasty begins. Industrial Revolution.

As long as we enter the industrial era and have trains, Zhu Gaoxu can't think of a worse script than the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The small Manchu clan and the large Ling clan found it difficult to innovate and accept industrialization, but the Han Dynasty did not have so many concerns.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, as long as basic education is done well and the foundation is laid, even if Ming Dynasty will not take the initiative to industrialize, it will follow suit after seeing the success of industrialization in other countries.

If Ming Dynasty can achieve this, even if it performs normally, it can't be worse than Manchu Qing's script.

"You are right, it is true that it cannot be cured forever..."

Zhu Di thought of the time, money and food he had spent traveling north and south, nodded in approval, and then continued:
"Over at Hailaer Qianhu Station, please greet Wang Yi properly. I'm not in a hurry, but it can't take too long."

As he spoke, Zhu Di sat next to Zhu Gaoxu, held his hand, and pretended to be aggrieved: "Second brother, you have to know that your father and I are almost fifty, and I may leave at any time."

"You don't want to let your father and I leave with regrets, right?"

"The money and food matters are up to you. I can rest assured that you will oversee this family."

"When I cripple Wala, you can prepare to ascend the throne."

"As for me, if I am still alive by then, I will become a great emperor. You will allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to me every year, and I will move to Beijing so that it will not be an eyesore to you."

"If you are worried, then build some gardens in Beijing. I will live in the gardens and you will live in the Forbidden City."

"When you have nothing to do, go and see me. After all, I am old and afraid of being left out..."

Zhu Di spoke the so-called "heartfelt words", and his voice even took on a crying tone without realizing it.

Looking at this scene, even though he had seen it countless times, Zhu Gaoxu could not help but admire it.

It’s no wonder that the old man’s love for his predecessor was such that he couldn’t help himself. His acting skills would make him the Best Actor in future generations. It’s not easy to trick his predecessor.

"Dad, you are in good health."

Zhu Gaoxu put his hand on Zhu Di's pulse, and said this suddenly, blocking many of the words Zhu Di had prepared.

"Wala will definitely fight, but when and how to fight depends on the situation of the Modong Three Guards and Bohai."

"When we, father and son, govern the country, we naturally open up the territory to the outside world and ensure the well-being of the people at home."

"Sichuan's New Deal has produced results, and now we can prepare for Henan, Beiping, and Shanxi's New Deal."

"Are we about to start?" Zhu Di withdrew his hand in embarrassment. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said, "You will know after reading the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" of the Ministry of Household Affairs in a few days."

"This is only the situation in Sichuan counties. If Muchun defeats the four major chieftains and Guizhou successfully establishes the third division, then the southwest will be the real people in peace, and the imperial court can fully focus on the north."

Zhu Di stroked his beard and said: "To start in the north, you must have enough students."

"In addition, when I was in Mobei, there were many officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate impeaching subordinate officials in the New Deal areas for corruption."

"If you want to carry out a new policy on the north, you must first resolve these issues."

"Don't worry, father." Zhu Gaoxu's eyes flickered, he touched his mustache and said confidently:
"There are as many as 200,000 graduate candidates this year..."

(End of this chapter)