Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 438 The old man will go
"Uuuuuu——"

At the end of winter, when the people of Ming Dynasty were preparing to welcome the twelfth lunar month, Zheng He and Yang Zhan also led the Western Fleet to the once desolate Kunlun Cape tens of thousands of miles away from Ming Dynasty.

Through the telescope, the once deserted Kunlun Cape has now been built with a large dock. On the hills not far from the shore, several rammed earth and stone cities and the green crops beside them are very eye-catching.

When the Ming Dynasty's horn sounded on the sea, Zheng He saw in his telescope a group of his own soldiers running out of the city and excitedly coming to the dock to wave.

"It's difficult for a thousand people to stay in a place like this for two and a half years."

"Indeed, we are late..."

Standing on the deck, the thirty-eight-year-old Yang Zhan looked ahead, and Zheng He also felt deeply.

The two men led some soldiers to change their boats, because the dock at Cape Kunlun was obviously not as big as expected and could not accommodate the upgraded 6,000-material treasure ship.

Treasure ships and horse ships with more than 3,000 materials were moored at sea. The soldiers replaced the big fortune ships with 3,000 materials and headed to South Kunlun Port.

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!!"

Although the number of people has decreased, the size of the fleet has not decreased much. After all, Zheng He and the others are going to Dongzhou this time to transport enough goods to return to the Ming Dynasty.

This time, after the fleet on the voyage to the West was replaced by soldiers from thousands of households including Persian Guards, Mugu Dushu, Banggala, etc., only more than 8,000 soldiers and horses successfully arrived at Cape Kunlun.

After the Yongle New Deal began, fifteen supervisory censors were appointed in the two capitals, and ten supervisory censors were appointed in each province. The supervisory censors were promoted to the sixth grade.

When they set off to Dongzhou, the Ming Dynasty also ushered in the New Year, which they had been looking forward to for a year.

Time passed little by little, and by the time Yang Zhan returned to Kunlun Cape, it was already the last two days of the twelfth lunar month.

The local land is barren and the yield per mu is only five measures of grain.

"Give me……"

After doing all this, everyone replenished enough fresh water, and then left one thousand households to continue to stay at Kunlun Cape, while the remaining 7,000 people rode the wind and waves and continued towards their destination, Dongzhou.

Liu Tuan, the thousand-household official in Kunlun Cape, is the eldest son of Liu Rong, the uncle of Guangning in Yanfu. In the past two and a half years, he has communicated with the indigenous people in the Kunlun Cape area and established long-term trade.

"Wang Mazi, give me your new clothes!"

Zheng He and Yang Zhan were moved and waved their hands: "Replace with the latest and best!"

Although there are abundant fruits, the long-term lack of grains still makes the soldiers stationed here skinny.

During this period, they also needed to go to Ma Lin Land to buy food. However, the long-term life of full meals and hungry meals still left 162 lives on this land.

Not only them, but all the Ming troops who came ashore embraced them warmly.

Originally, this group of people thought that the friends and brothers who stayed there would burst into tears, but they did not expect that these guys would directly focus on the boxes of goods on the ship.

After receiving the military orders from the two men, everyone cheered, and then the scene of changing clothes and shoes began on the dock.

As in previous years, due to the rectification of officialdom, although there is no guarantee that there will be no official corruption in any place where the New Deal is implemented, the lower limit is always much better than in places where it has not been implemented.

During the Hongwu period, the Metropolitan Procuratorate had 110 censors of the left and right capitals, censors of the left and deputy capitals, censors of the left and right capitals, and 110 supervisory censors of the thirteen local tracts.

After hearing this, Zheng He was no longer in a hurry to go to Dongzhou. Instead, he led more than 5,000 soldiers ashore to help reclaim the wasteland. At the same time, he discussed with Yang Zhan, who would lead the maritime fleet to the southwest coast of Kunlun Continent first to confirm that Wang Ren and them Do the tribes we experienced still exist.

Upon hearing this, the Qianhu officials also summarized what happened in the past two and a half years with Zheng He and the others.

Two and a half years have passed, and the once brand-new Yuanyang jacket has become shabby and has many patches.

Among them, there are many robes, friends and brothers of the soldiers stationed there.

Yang Zhan summoned the Qianhu officials stationed at Kunlun Corner, and after communicating with him, announced the good news that their Qianhu brothers could return to the Ming Dynasty and rest for three years.

As the warship docked, Zheng He and Yang Zhan stepped ashore one after another and warmly embraced the soldiers on the shore.

Seeing the Ming warships getting closer and closer to them, the Ming troops on the shore reveled in joy.

"Crackling..."

The number of the thousand troops stationed in the Ming Dynasty has significantly decreased. It is not known whether it is due to disease or other reasons.

These cultivated lands are mainly planted with wheat, followed by potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes and other crops obtained from the returning advance team ship.

"My knife is broken, give me a new one!"

Although it was laughter and curses, it made people's noses sore.

They used the iron materials left by Zheng He to make weapons and long knives for these natives in exchange for large amounts of livestock and fruits.

"Give me shoes, I've been wearing f*cking straw sandals for two years!"

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!!"

This group of young men in their 23s and 44s now look as if they are in their thirties.

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!!"

Yang Zhan has determined that there are tribes on the west coast who can provide them with enough fresh water, fruits and vegetables. Zheng He also used nearly a month to open up more than 700 acres of cultivated land for Kunlun City.

With the one-for-ten tax policy and the increase in the number of censors inspected by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the officials who were transferred from outside still need to worry about their jobs. And because these officials are wandering officials, ordinary people do not worry about future retaliation from the locals, so they are bold Impeach.

"Okay, you can change defenses and be ready to return to Ming Dynasty at any time!"

Because of this, they survived the most difficult first year and used this year to open up hundreds of acres of farmland around Kunlun City.

More and more soldiers came ashore, from more than a thousand at the beginning to thousands later.

Now Kunlun Qianhusuo has passed the most difficult period. The city is large enough to accommodate 5,000 people, and there are more than 3,200 acres of cultivated land outside the city.

Under the supervisory censor, there are also eight-level inspection censors, whose daily duties are to inspect local counties, towns and villages. Each supervisory censor has twenty to thirty inspection censors under him.

In other words, the current Metropolitan Procuratorate has become a huge organization, especially the more than two thousand inspection censors. They are almost like sharp knives hanging over the heads of corrupt officials everywhere, and they will fall from time to time.

You must know that the current Ming Dynasty has expanded its territory several times, but it only manages more than 1,600 counties.

For more than 2,000 inspection censors, these more than 1,600 counties are not enough. They either work in groups to investigate the governance of the government, or they disperse to inspect the market towns and villages below.

Inspection censors have their own tasks. If they fail to achieve results for two years, they will be assigned to local officials.

Because of this, in order to complete their tasks, the more than two thousand patrol censors could only investigate back and forth in the local area. Local officials also called them mad dogs.

"This group of people keeps impeaching the inspection system. Do you think it's because the inspection system is bad, or because they are afraid?"

In Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu was sitting in his seat, holding up his tea cup and asking Xia Yuanji in front of him.

Xia Yuanji, who is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, nodded when he heard this: "The inspection system is good, but you give them tasks and they must meet the standards every two years. This can easily lead to unjust, false and wrong cases."

"Such an atmosphere makes officials everywhere feel insecure and act cautiously and conservatively."

"But..." Xia Yuanji paused, and then added: "Such a trend is a good thing for the people, but I don't know how long it can last."

He felt that the inspection system had pros and cons, and Zhu Gaoxu felt the same way, so he took a sip of tea, put down the cup and said:

"Any policy that is not implemented well is a double-edged sword. That's why I set up a Beijing review system after the impeachment of the censor."

"Although it is troublesome and cumbersome, it can always reduce some unjust, false and erroneous cases."

The Beijing trial system is to send officials from the capital to local areas to interrogate officials at a certain period of time. After investigation, they will determine whether they have violated the Ming Law.

If not, it is an unjust, false or wrongful conviction, and the impeaching censor will be punished, usually by being demoted one level.

Of course, if the impeached person has a strong background and can bribe people sent from the capital, then the censor will suffer injustice. Therefore, the officials dispatched in the capital trial system are usually relatively upright and have no connection with any political party. of officials.

"In the past few years, many subordinate officials in Zhejiang and Jiangxi have been impeached. Most of them have been arrested and their vacant positions have been replaced by New Deal officials."

"You can help me calculate how many officials in Zhejiang and Jiangxi now support the New Deal, and how many are against it?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Xia Yuanji, and Xia Yuanji heard the words but responded without thinking:

"In fact, officials all support the court's new policy, but they cannot support it blatantly."

"The imperial court wants to wipe out the subordinate officials in the world, and its original intention is to wipe out the powerful gentry in the local areas."

"For the current officials, the biggest obstacle to their governance is actually this group of people."

"But if the court fails to clean up the matter, the officials who are caught will inevitably be afraid."

Xia Yuanji's meaning is quite simple, that is, it is normal for local officials and local powerful gentry to collude and have leverage against each other.

The current implementation of the new policy of the imperial court is to kill local officials and powerful gentry with one blow, so the resistance is relatively high.

But if we change the direction, and only kill the powerful local gentry, so that the imperial power can be extended to the towns, while retaining everything of local officials, then local officials will naturally choose to support the imperial court.

If this had been done from the beginning, the New Deal would have been fully implemented in Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu naturally knew this, but he was not prepared to compromise with these local officials.

As for several major cases during the Hongwu period, Zhu Gaoxu found that the more he compromised with officials, the more they would get in trouble.

The original intention of Lao Zhu's North-South List case was not to make a big fuss, but as a result, this group of people thought that Lao Zhu was dead.

Facts have proved that Lao Zhu was indeed not very good at that time, but the reason why this group of people dared to jump into the trap was not because Lao Zhu had not taken action against them for many years and had been sorting out the affairs of Huaixi nobles.

As long as Lao Zhu is cruel enough to this group of people, Zhu Gaoxu doesn't believe that these people will be bold enough to keep jumping off the leash.

The amounts of the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" have remained unchanged for many years, or have almost remained unchanged, which is a test of Lao Zhu.

As an emperor, population, army, and finance are the three elements that must be mastered.

If you want to understand these things, you must rectify the administration of officials, so Zhu Gaoxu will be the first person to dispatch officials on a large scale. Even if a subordinate official who came from a powerful local gentry was impeached by the people, he could still rely on his local strength to retaliate against the people.

But the official cannot do that. The power of the official lies in the skin on his body.

As long as this layer of skin is peeled off, all the connections he was once proud of will collapse.

Others will not retaliate against another common man for the sake of him, a common man, unless he pays a higher price.

"I will not change the New Deal. I will not cut off five cities today and ten cities tomorrow, and then have to sleep overnight."

Zhu Gaoxu gave Xia Yuanji the answer, but Xia Yuanji was about to speak but stopped.

In the eyes of others, he was just a pawn in Zhu Gaoxu's hands, but he knew very well that others saw him this way because Zhu Gaoxu protected himself very well.

Not only him, but also Huang Fu and Yi Shiha.

Among Zhu Gaoxu's subordinates, the only one who showed a little bit of edge was Sun Cheng, who led the New Deal faction in the temple.

"Half a month ago, Duke Qian and Duke Cao had already begun to convert the chieftains of Guangxi to their native lands."

"There are no less than 100,000 rebels in Dateng Gorge and the area at one time, but with their methods, it is not difficult to conquer this place."

"The only thing I care about now is money and food."

Zhu Gaoxu never looked down upon Li Jinglong. Although he couldn't beat Zhu Di and was even beaten by Zhu Di, he could only beat Zhu Di and the others.

The four commanders left behind by Zhu Yuanzhang before his death were Zhu Di, Song Sheng, Muchun, and Li Jinglong.

Li Jinglong can't beat the first three, but he can beat the others with his hands. This can be seen from his achievements in pacifying the chieftains in Guangxi over the past ten years.

The strength of the Guangxi chieftains is not weaker than that of the Guizhou chieftains. After all, Annan has been supporting the chieftains in Guangxi since the Southern Song Dynasty, so the local chieftains are also quite powerful.

The main reason why we can now mobilize 100,000 troops is because of the multiple blows from Yang Wen, Li Jinglong, and Sheng Yong.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, at the current speed, the rebellion can be ended in three months at most. Only the Yao Miao rebellion in Dadeng Gorge is more difficult to deal with.

This place had been in trouble for more than 250 years in history, and it was not until the Tianqi period that it was completely suppressed and converted into Chinese.

For this area, Zhu Gaoxu was ready for a protracted war, but he did not need many troops.

As long as Sheng Yong is allowed to lead two guards and horses to conduct daily patrols and crack down on local bandits, the local Miao Yao can be completely suppressed in less than ten years without daring to make any more mistakes.

Just in this way, Daming will need to fix a local expenditure every year.

Zhu Gaoxu discussed with Xia Yuanji in advance, meaning that he would go back to discuss with Guo Zi.

"Don't worry about money and food. The spices brought back by the fleet from two voyages to the West have not been completely processed yet."

"Based on processing 500 tons per year, it will take at least three years to process it completely, and we can harvest 2 million tons per year."

Xia Yuanji reported on the spices, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded after hearing this. He was very relieved that Xia Yuanji was in charge of the staff department and also the household department.

He was about to say something when he saw the eunuch on duty at the palace gate suddenly walked out and came back after a while, with a hesitant look on his face.

He walked towards him, and after seeing himself looking at him, he walked into the side hall and knelt down.

"Your Highness, there is news from Duke Jing's Mansion that Duke Jing passed away just now..."

As soon as he said these words, Zhu Gaoxu stood up suddenly, and Chen Heng's face flashed in his mind.

After the Jingnan, Chen Heng stayed behind closed doors all year round. Only his eldest son Chen Gong, second son Chen Zhong, and youngest son Chen Mao appeared from time to time in the memorials on Zhu Gaoxu's desk.

At present, one of the three brothers is in the northwest, one is in the north, and one is in the southwest. Only their children are filial to Chen Heng.

In a daze, Zhu Gaoxu came to his senses, but he quickly calmed down and said: "We summon the Commander-in-Chief Chen Gong, the Commander-in-Chief Chen Zhong, and the Commander-in-Chief Chen Mao to return to the capital to observe their filial piety."

"This..." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Yi Shiha, who was standing by and was shocked, quickly reacted and said quickly: "Your Highness, Chen Zhong is still on the battlefield in Guangxi."

"Since the Duke of Guizhou and his friends are here in the southwest, nothing will happen. I will transfer Chen Zhong to the north. In addition, I will send the news about Chen Heng to Peiping to Chen Maoshi, and also send news to my father."

After Zhu Gaoxu explained, Yi Shiha said nothing more and just did what he said.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Xia Yuanji also stood up and bowed: "I'm leaving."

"Well, you go back first." Zhu Gaoxu's mind was now full of the little old man who once acted in Daning City.

Although he and Chen Heng didn't get along for a long time, if he hadn't handed over the Daning soldiers and horses, he would not have been able to defeat Jingnan so smoothly.

It's a pity that Chen Heng didn't want to choose between his father and his son, so he chose to return to the nursing home after the crisis.

"Your Highness, you don't have to be too sad. Duke Jing is already eighty after all."

Yishiha saw that Zhu Gaoxu was still a little sad, so he couldn't help but comfort him. Zhu Gaoxu cheered up a little after hearing this.

Indeed, if it hadn't been for him, Chen Heng would probably have died of illness in the second year of Jingnan due to his injuries, just like in history.

His appearance allowed him to live twelve years longer than in history, but...

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, sighing not only at Chen Heng, but also at the fact that the veterans of the Hongwu Dynasty had begun to gradually retire.

From Guo Ying to Song Sheng, and now Chen Heng, these veterans have withered one by one. Who will be next?

Zhu Gaoxu was a man of two generations, and speaking of his mental age, he was almost fifty.

At this psychological age, there is nothing that scares him except life span.

He still had many things to do, so he was very afraid of death.

Thinking of this, he looked at Yishiha beside him, and saw that Yishiha's temples had started to turn white at some point.

"You're only forty-four, why are you starting to get older?"

Zhu Gaojiu looked disappointed and couldn't help but say this.

Yi Shiha also noticed the gaze of His Highness, touched his temples, and couldn't help but smile: "My hair is just gray, how can I be called old?"

"If one day His Highness also goes on a personal expedition, then this servant will still mount his horse and kill the enemy with His Highness just like before."

Yi Shiha refuses to accept old age, or he doesn't feel old in the first place.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Gaoxu felt a little relieved, and then sighed: "Let's see what father's attitude is about the Duke of Jing first."

"Yes..." Yi Shiha did not refute. After all, Chen Heng was special among the Yanfu and Bohai factions. He chose to help Zhu Gaoxu because of Zhu Di, but at the same time he was very close to the Bohai generals, so for him to be raised, Neither Yanfu nor Bohai have any objections.

The conversation between the master and the servant ended, and the news of the death of Chen Heng, Duke of Jing, also began to spread.

In the north, when Zhu Di got the news, it was already the ninth day of the first lunar month.

"Chen Heng...has left too..."

Standing on the palace road of the Forbidden City in Beijing, Zhu Di held in his hand a letter written by Nan Bian Yi Shi Ha, feeling dejected.

Wang Yan, who was standing next to him, also felt a little uncomfortable. His nose was sore and he turned around. He wiped the corners of his eyes before turning back and cheering up:
"Your Highness means to ask His Majesty how you plan to deal with the arrangements after the death of Duke Jing."

"..." Zhu Di was silent for a moment, and then sighed: "I named Chen Heng, Duke of Jing, the King of Quaning, and gave him the posthumous title of Xiang Min. His eldest son, Chen Gong, ascended the throne and the court was suspended for one day."

Zhu Di told all his arrangements, and Wang Yan quickly wrote them down and sent the decree back to Nanjing.

After watching Wang Yan finish all this, Zhu Di walked silently in the empty Forbidden City in Beijing.

Since the capital has not yet been moved, Beijing is still there, so in addition to the 800 people transferred previously, the only slaves in the Forbidden City are the more than 400 people around Zhu Di.

Twelve hundred people are placed in the Forbidden City in Beijing, which is larger than ever before. No matter how you look at it, it looks empty.

Such emptiness made Zhu Di's silence aggravated.

Wang Yan knew Zhu Di's character well and knew that he was feeling sad, so he didn't disturb him and just followed him silently.

It wasn't until the sun set to the west that Wang Yan spoke: "Your Majesty, Ji Gang has escorted Xie Jin to Dezhou and will arrive in the capital in ten days. Look..."

He wanted to ask Zhu Di whether he wanted to interrogate him personally, but Zhu Di shook his head and said: "The three departments will interrogate him, and then take him to jail, or..."

Zhu Di paused, and then added after a moment: "Maybe you ask the second brother, he has wanted to save Jin's life for a long time."

Obviously, Zhu Di no longer cares about Jie Jin's life.

When Wang Yan saw this, he bowed in response, and Zhu Di also asked him: "How are Zhang Yu, Meng Shan, Qiu Fu, and Huo Zhen in good health?"

Different from Zhu Gaoxu's Bohai generals, Zhu Di's Yanfu faction is about the same age as the veterans from the Hongwu period, with an average age of more than fifty.

Among the young and strong faction of the Yan Mansion, only Zhang Fu and Meng Ying can take the lead. The former is thirty-seven and the latter is twenty-nine.

Except for these two people, the other second generations of Yan Mansion are basically at the level of officials and commanders of thousands of households. They can't even find a few generals with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Perhaps thinking of this, Zhu Di asked how his old friend was doing.

But in response to his inquiry, Wang Yan looked a little hesitant, and finally said: "Zhang Yu and Meng Shan have been in poor health in recent years. Qiu Fu and Huo Zhen also started to fall ill after returning from the northern expedition. It seems that they will get sick again. No more battlefields."

"I'm already old..." Zhu Di sighed, and at the same time touched his beard, and couldn't help but ask Wang Yan: "Do I have gray hair?"

"Your Majesty doesn't have any white hair, at least less than the slave's."

Wang Yan truthfully confessed that Zhu Di did not have any white hair. Although he was fifty-three years old, he looked at most forty-five or sixty-five years old.

"I'm getting old too."

Zhu Di's words meant something. Wang Yan did not dare to answer, and Zhu Di did not ask further questions. Instead, he walked towards Qianqing Palace with his hands behind his back, his back getting smaller and smaller...

(End of this chapter)