Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 398 Make a fortune from war

"Dang...dang...dang..."

As the bells and drums in the capital rang out in unison during the day, the officials and people inside and outside the capital turned pale with fright.

The bells and drums rang thousands of times, and the entire capital learned of Queen Xu's death.

All the officials rushed into the Fengtian Palace Square and waited for Zhu Di for three days before Zhu Di came out of his sadness.

Although Empress Xu had said before her death that she would not hold a grand ceremony, Zhu Di still arranged Empress Xu's funeral with the highest standards.

Hundreds of officials wore linen mourning clothes for twenty-seven days, wore plain clothes for a hundred days, and stayed out of court for five days without ringing bells or drums.

From now on, even as the emperor, he will have to wear plain clothes for one year, and the princes will be in mourning for three years. During this period, they have to wear plain clothes and are not allowed to play around.

He will not enter the Wuying Hall for a year, but will discuss matters with officials at the West Corner Gate.

The married women in Beijing, all dressed in adult attire, cried at Sishan Gate for three days to mourn Empress Xu.

It can be said that compared to the simple burial when Zhu Yuanzhang died, Queen Xu's funeral had very high regulations, so high that it affected the normal life of the people.

Queen Xu questioned Zhu Gaoxu about not seeing her for so many years, which made Zhu Gaoxu feel guilty. Even for the current hard work, he felt that he deserved it.

"Then I'll put it here, and you'll remember to eat it when you're hungry."

"Boom boom boom——"

He did many things that could be left to the people below him, as if he wanted to express his guilt towards his mother in this way.

In just a few days, Zhu Gaoxu has shrunk. He gets up at 9:00 a.m. and goes to bed at 10:00 a.m. every day. The rest of the time is either busy with funerals or dealing with government affairs.

Its scale is larger than ever before, with an expected construction period of eleven years and a cost of more than five million yuan.

Shaharul calmly walked to an artillery piece and stretched out his hand to touch it, but was so burned that he immediately dropped his hand.

After Empress Xu became seriously ill, Zhu Di had already urged Kuai Xiang of Beijing Construction to start building Changling first, so Changling has already entered the final work.

Zheng He was able to sweep across the Persian Gulf with 20,000 troops and penetrate hundreds of miles into the hinterland of Persia. This means that the Ming Dynasty actually had the strength to go to war with Timurid.

Even people’s marriages need to be stopped for a hundred days...

"Field artillery." Zheng He responded confidently and arrogantly, and added: "There are nearly 7,000 such artillery pieces in China."

"You have to eat something after all, right?"

She left the Chunhe Hall, and was busy organizing the funeral of Queen Xu for the next half month. However, when faced with the burial of Queen Xu, Zhu Di stubbornly demanded that Queen Xu be buried in the longevity mountain of Tianshou Mountain in Shuntian Prefecture. Inside the mausoleum.

At this moment, he had a deeper understanding of Daming.

Their expressions were not good at this moment, because in their eyes, the pile of earth walls a mile and a half away was almost reduced to ruins, and such accuracy and shelling distance were beyond the reach of the stone cannons in their hands. and the existence of.

"Hiss..." After hearing Zheng He's words, Shaharul's ministers took a breath of cold air, and they did not have any doubts, because the number of field artillery that appeared in front of them was as many as two hundred. Door.

You know, Zheng He and the others are just a fleet, and if a fleet wants to sail across the ocean, there are limits to all the supplies it can carry.

But even so, Zhu Di was still reluctant to bury Queen Xu, but Zi Gong, who had been accompanying Queen Xu in Jiyan Hall these days, even though Zhu Gaochi and others took turns to persuade Zhu Di, Zhu Di did not listen.

"If you and His Majesty continue like this, you won't be able to hold on..."

"This is the support of my heavenly empire!"

Since the death of Empress Xu, Zhu Di's temperament has changed drastically. He is more irritable and suspicious than before. The palace officials and concubines are all uneasy. He even does not even meet Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaosui. Only Zhang and Guo Yan can help Empress Xu. Arrangements were made for Zi Gong to see Zhu Di.

"What are their names?"

Outside the city of Kelden, Zheng He arrived here from Basra at some unknown time and showed off the Ming Dynasty's military power in an understated manner.

But even so, no one dared to stand up and say anything wrong, because no one would want to touch Zhu Di's brow now.

Therefore, as far as the current situation is concerned, as long as Zheng He continues to fight in Persia with Yusuf of the Black Sheep Kingdom, the entire Persian region will not be peaceful.

Standing next to him was Shaharul, who had just ended the chaos in the river, and a group of Timur generals.

Guo Yan looked at Zhu Gaoxu's haggard appearance and felt uncomfortable in his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

"I was not filial to my mother when she was alive. If she is like this after she dies, then what else can I do..."

While Zhu Gaoxu was handling government affairs, rounds of shelling were heard outside Kelden City, tens of thousands of miles away from Nanjing.

Under the pressure of sleeping less than three hours a day, his weight loss was visible to the naked eye, and the same was true for Zhu Di.

Shaharul could not imagine the existence of a country that could form an ocean-going fleet of 20,000 people and equip it with 200 artillery pieces.

In the Taixue, Guanxue, Guozijian and other places in Beijing, the students, officials, monks and Taoists, as well as the elders in the houses, all wore plain clothes and mourned for three days.

Zhu Gaoxu did not try to persuade Zhu Di. He knew that Zhu Di would think otherwise, and what he had to do now was to handle the government affairs of the court well and not let Zhu Di be distracted.

Zhu Gaoxu was wearing linen and mourning, and was sitting on a chair in plain clothes. His face was a little pale, but the ink pen in his hand never stopped.

Soldiers, civilians and women are required to wear plain clothes, gold and silver jewelry is prohibited for three days, music and worship are suspended for a hundred days, and slaughtering is prohibited for forty-nine days.

Guo Yan couldn't bear it and came forward with a bowl of soup and rice, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head lightly and said, "I have no appetite. You and your sister-in-law should go take care of your mother's Zi Palace first."

In the Chunhe Hall, Guo Yan looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who had not been able to eat well for several days, heartbroken.

Due to the emergence of Zhu Gaoxu, the Changling Mausoleum in Tianshou Mountain was not chosen to be built after the death of Empress Xu as in history. Instead, it was set up as auspicious soil at the beginning of construction in Beijing. It has been under construction for more than nine years now.

The difference is that this time the artillery is not used for offense and defense, but to show muscles...

Even the Ministry of Rites was very cautious in choosing the posthumous title. Finally, according to Zhu Di's wishes, they chose the almost perfect posthumous title of "Benevolence, Xiao, Compassion, Yi, Cheng, Mingzhuang, and the Queen of Tianqi Shengwen".

As long as the Ming Dynasty still has the strength to transport more troops, it is really hard to say what will happen to the Timurid Kingdom.

"You have more than thirty of our cities and a population of more than one million in your hands."

"You can even become a king here if you want."

"Under such circumstances, I don't think you are willing to hand over such a large territory to me."

Looking at Zheng He, Shaharul expressed his thoughts, while Hu Ji and Liu Mian standing beside him acted as translators for him and Zheng He.

"Ha ha……"

Facing Shaharul's thoughts, Zheng He smiled. He knew that this was Shaharul's temptation, but he didn't care.

"I know very well your current strength, Sultan, and I also know what you are afraid of."

"But if I wasn't sincere, then I wouldn't have gone to such trouble to make an appointment with you to meet here and withdraw most of Kelden's troops."

"If you didn't trust me, you wouldn't dare to come to meet me with more than a thousand cavalry."

Zheng He went straight to the point and continued without waiting for Shaharul's reaction: "We are not prepared to occupy any inch of the Timur Kingdom's territory."

"This place is too far away, and the cost of managing it is too high. Instead of taking over the Timurid Kingdom, it is better to think about how to deal with the Tatars and Oaras on the grassland."

"Besides, not all of these thirty cities with a population of more than one million will be handed over to you. Port of Horumus is a city that we must keep."

"The other thirty-two cities can be handed over to you, but we need an apology and compensation."

"Of course!" After hearing Zheng He's words, Shaharu lowered his guard.

He didn't care about the port of Horumus, because the Timurid Kingdom itself was not a maritime country. Exchanging one Horumus for thirty-two cities was a very cost-effective deal.

Therefore, the compensation Zheng He mentioned was, in his view, the price for purchasing these thirty-two cities.

"I can offer one hundred thousand gold coins and three million silver coins."

Timur quoted a price, but for Zheng He, who was familiar with the difference between Timur's currency and Ming currency, he knew very well that the value of this converted into Ming currency was less than 700,000 guan.

"Do you think your people are not even worth ten gold coins per person?"

Zheng He was not prepared to ask for too much, because that would plunge Timur's empire into chaos, which was not in line with Ming Dynasty's policy of stabilizing Central Asia.

But he was not prepared to ask for too little, even though he had already acquired vast wealth from across the Persian Gulf.

"One million gold coins, this is beyond my strength."

Shaharul spoke frankly and admitted the situation he faced: "Now that I have taken over the thirty-three cities in your hands, I still need to invest wealth to restore their prosperity."

"Besides, I have several enemies in the west, and my army needs pay."

"For these thirty-two cities, I can only give out at most 200,000 gold coins and 6 million silver coins, no more." Shaharul basically handed over most of his wealth, and this amount The price also reached nearly 1.4 million yuan.

Seeing this, Zheng He was not prepared to continue to force Shaharu, but opened his hands as if to embrace him.

"Congratulations, you successfully recovered these thirty-two cities and became the largest king in Persia."

"I should also congratulate you." Shaharul gritted his teeth and said this, and hugged Zheng He fiercely.

However, Zheng He was not an ordinary eunuch. He was also a man who walked out of a mountain of swords and a sea of ​​fire with Zhu Di. Therefore, when he exerted force, Shaharu felt pain and then let go of his hand.

"We will retreat on warships after your army arrives."

The two let go of their hands, and Zheng He stood under the canopy umbrella and talked with Shaharul about the handover of the city, and discussed the matter of Horumus:
"We have no intention of becoming your enemy, so the garrison at Horumos Port will only remain at less than 6,000 people."

"If your descendants encounter any unsolvable problems in the future, you can also invite our military to help you solve some minor problems through our vassal embassy in the capital of your country. However, you should be aware of the pensions caused by the war. ”

Zheng He spoke the same words that have not changed for thousands of years, and Shaharul had already learned from Liu Mian about issues such as state vassals, garrisoning, and pensions before he came here.

In his opinion, the Ming army in Horumos Port is the same as his vassals, but they require higher pensions.

For Shaharu, who has seen the strength of the Ming army, if the Ming army can achieve the same results as this time, then paying hundreds of thousands of silver coins as a pension is not a problem.

You know, his father spent millions of silver coins to take over Azerbaijan. If this Ming army of less than 6,000 people is sent and they can maintain the level of the Persian Gulf battle, then He can solve the problems in Azerbaijan by spending at most one million silver coins.

However, now is obviously not the best time to mobilize this Ming army, lest Zheng He see his weakness.

Thinking of this, Shaharul chatted with Zheng He about many things and inquired about the information about Ming Dynasty.

In this regard, Zheng He was not prepared to hide it at all. Instead, he told Shaharul everything about the Ming Dynasty without exaggeration or adulteration because it was unnecessary.

Based on Zheng He's experience of traveling to the West, he could already conclude that Ming Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world today.

Not to mention anything else, their fleet alone has more than 20,000 troops, which can dominate most of Persia. If Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu develop the old port and Ceylon ruthlessly, the number of the Western Fleet can even be greater. It increased to thirty thousand or even forty thousand or fifty thousand.

Zheng He himself didn't dare to think about what he could do if he had 50,000 ocean-going troops.

"Sure enough, power makes people inflated. No wonder Your Highness has to examine myself three times a day."

Zheng He sighed and said goodbye to Shaharul who had discussed all the matters.

He watched Shaharu retreat with more than a thousand cavalry, and then returned to Kelden City with Hu Ji.

At the gate of the city, Chen Xuan, who had been waiting here for a long time, saw them returning. He immediately ordered the field artillery to be withdrawn, and walked down the horse path to ask about Zheng He.

"How's it going? Is everything settled?"

"If the negotiation doesn't go well, the worst we can do is fight them again and let them see how powerful we are!"

Chen Xuan's mind was filled with thoughts of fighting to gain merit, but Zheng He smiled and said: "We've agreed. After all, Shaharul is not a fool. Ursa has been beaten to the point of fear by us. It's impossible for him to commit an offense with Ursa." Same mistake."

"In the middle of next month, he will send troops to take over the other thirty-two cities and hand over 200,000 gold coins and 6 million silver coins into our hands."

After Zheng He said this, Chen Xuan lost interest: "It's not that much."

"Indeed, we can obviously ask for more." Hu Ji was also very puzzled, but Zheng He explained:

"We want too much. Although he can give it out, how will he suppress other rebels later?"

"What we want is a Timurid state that can maintain peace in the Transoxiana region, not a divided Timurid state."

"The war in the north has caused many tribes to migrate eastward. It's not like you don't know this news. It's not good for us to continue fighting."

"What's more, we don't have much gunpowder in our hands anymore. Although we have been collecting it, there are too few craftsmen here who can make gunpowder. Solve the matter of Horumus as soon as possible, continue the voyage to the West as soon as possible, and then go home as soon as possible. "

After Zheng He explained everything, he looked at Chen Xuan and asked, "Have all the seizures of the thirty-two cities been counted?"

"Everything has been counted, so I said that what Shaharu gave was not too much." Chen Xuan couldn't stop smiling when he mentioned the seizure.

"Five hundred and seventy thousand gold coins, more than nine million silver coins, more than 300 boxes of copper coins, and more than 200 boxes of jewelry..."

"In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of livestock, millions of sheep, and more than four million stones of grain."

"But where are we going to transport these things, Ceylon?"

Chen Xuan has a headache. Gold, silver and jewelry are good luck, but living animals such as livestock are more difficult to transport.

"The cattle can be left to cultivate the land. In addition, all the people in Horumos except the craftsmen can be handed over to Shaharul according to the situation."

Zheng He thought for a while and then made an arrangement. He was not planning to keep everyone in Horumus, but only planned to keep a certain population to cooperate with animal power farming, and the remaining population would be handed over to Shaharul.

A small population and a large amount of animal power can allow the hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated land north of Horumus to satisfy the city's garrison and people's rations, while also storing a certain amount of food to cope with the fleet's next voyage, as well as The situation of being surrounded and lacking food in the future.

"After these things are discolored, they are probably worth no less than five to six million yuan."

Zheng He estimated the approximate value, and then continued: "The remaining livestock, sheep, can be sold to Shaharu, and the cattle can be transported by sea to see if they can be transported to Ceylon."

"If it cannot be transported, then it will be sold at ports in coastal countries. Anyway, there is no shortage of buyers for farm cattle."

"It's hard to deal with only food, so we might as well build a big granary here."

"I estimate that the price of food in Timur's country will not drop in the short term. At that time, we can sell this food to businessmen from various places, and then buy food reserves after the price of food stabilizes."

Zheng He made a rough arrangement of these things, and then said: "Get ready. After Shaharul takes over the city, we receive all the compensation, and get his letter of apology, we can continue our voyage to the West. .”

After nearly a year of delay, Zheng He finally brought up the topic of his voyage to the West.

Chen Xuan's face showed disappointment, but the naval officers around him were very happy.

They have been away from home for almost three years, and now they can finally continue their voyage and return home on the next voyage. How can they be unhappy in this situation.

"What should we do with the maritime merchants, and what should we do with the navy stationed here?"

Chen Xuan asked a question. For the former, Zheng He did not answer immediately, but arranged for the latter:

"I plan to set up the Persian Guard, which will be under the Navy Governor's Office and temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Navy. If His Highness wants to change it, it will not be too much to change it when the time comes."

"We will not dare to continue our voyage to the West unless we station enough troops in Horumus."

"In addition, His Highness has said before that it is very difficult to buy large quantities of food south of Mugu Dushu, so let us be prepared and not bring too many people into the Kunlun Continent's waterway."

"Therefore, I plan to leave two guards stationed, and we will lead the East Sea Guards and Toyo Guards to continue southward."

"As for the maritime merchants' matter..." Zheng He paused, not because he felt it was difficult to deal with, but because the number of maritime merchants was too small.

Merchants are all driven by profit, and Zheng He and the others stayed in Horumus for almost a year. The expenses for this year were beyond the affordability of many merchant gangs. After the Mamluks and other foreign merchants completed their business, most of the merchant gangs organized groups and returned to Nanyang.

Since Zheng He had cleaned up all the pirates on the return voyage, they didn't have to worry about being robbed.

Moreover, after more than two years of training, many merchant sailors on armed merchant ships have become proficient in using Hongwu iron cannons. Groups of them, not to mention pirates, even ordinary small countries would not dare to provoke them.

Therefore, at present, only the official merchant ships of various countries and seven larger merchant gangs in Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang are left in Horumus.

Although they had finished their business, Zheng He kept telling them not to leave in a hurry. Although there was no trade to be done in Kunlun Continent, there was business to be done.

The terms trade and business sound similar, but those who know Zheng He all know that the former means that Kunlun Continent has no business, while the latter means that Kunlun Continent is profitable.

Although they did not know what they were up to, they remained in Horumus.

It was precisely because of their stay that Zheng He could continue the second half of his voyage to the West.

"Tell them, three months at most, and they will know why I kept them here."

Zheng He squinted his eyes and gave an overview. Chen Xuan was a little confused after hearing this, but still asked someone to inform him.

After receiving Zheng He's notice, the business gangs from various countries and the seven major business gangs in Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang also felt relieved.

The business gangs in various countries have enough funds to support them, and the seven major business gangs in Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang are strong in themselves.

In their opinion, since Zheng He knew that there were not many countries to the south, there must be a reason for his continued move south.

It would be profitable to unite with Zheng He. Although they didn't know what medicine Zheng He was selling, it didn't stop them from following him south.

Anyway, if there is a delay, it will only be a delay of a few months. But if the south is really profitable, then they will be the first to seize the opportunity. This is an opportunity that is rare but cannot be sought.

Driven by their greed, Zheng He began to prepare for his next voyage to the West, and Shaharul, who returned to the north, also began his journey of raising money...

(End of this chapter)