Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 472 Wala moves westward
"Drive... drive..."

On the vast grassland, when hundreds of cavalry rode from the east, they crossed the hills and arrived at a river valley not long after.

In the river valley, nearly 10,000 tents were stationed here, and tens of thousands of people came and went.

The difference is that the people here are not herdsmen, but men wearing armor.

Hundreds of horsemen rushed into the camp and rushed towards the big tent. After arriving not long after, the leading Qianhu dismounted and walked into the big tent.

The nobles of the Choros family were sitting in the large tent that could accommodate dozens of people. Among them, Mahamu, who was in his forties, sat at the head of the table. Next to him sat the grown-up Tuo Huan.

Qianhu walked into the tent, folded his arms and knelt down and said, "Master, the news from the east is correct. The Ming army is indeed on the way to Hai La'er in the north. Hai La'er has gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses."

"We failed to capture the tongue, but judging from the scale this time, the number of the Ming army will probably not be less than 50,000."

After Qian Huguan finished speaking, the nobles in the tent became nervous, and Mahamu's face didn't look good either.

"Fifty thousand..." Mahamu murmured, and finally said: "Based on what happened last time, the 50,000 Ming army can at most escort 10,000 people to Moxi, and they will not use such a small number of troops to show their force. ”

Therefore, using the power of the Ming Dynasty to weaken Mahamu is what they want, and this is why Zhu Di is confident that they will not participate.

"Where to move west?" Tuohuan, who was sitting next to Mahamu, asked his father. After all, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate was also participating in the encirclement and suppression of them.

Seeing this, Mahamu also explained.

Along the way north, Zhu Zhanhe's number of troops led from a cramped number of more than a hundred at the beginning to a cramped number of 500 now. He applied the theoretical knowledge in the book to reality, and his level of military leadership was not high. But it's quite satisfactory.

Mahamu made some analysis, but it did not alleviate the worries of the Choros nobles.

If Taiping and Batu Polo were suspected soldiers and had actually hooked up with Mahamu, it would be enough for the Ming army to drink.

"It's better to be cold than to be hit hard. If the Ming army still refuses to leave, then we will go west and annex Jilijisi, Kreyiti, and Theliangkuti."

At the same time, the large forces of the Ming army had assembled in Hailar. As the commander-in-chief, Zhu Di also led 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 auxiliary troops in Beijing to Hailar.

"Taiping and Ba Tupolo are standing still. It seems that Ming Dynasty promised them something, otherwise they would not be so honest."

Soon, the Choros tribe began to break up camp and began to gather their cattle and sheep to migrate northwest.

The tribes Mahamu mentioned were forest tribes during the Mongol Empire. Although most of them were taken away by the Mongolian army and integrated into them, a small number of people still continued to live locally.

If the Ming army wanted to pursue them, they would have to march about four thousand miles to catch up with them.

In his impression, many people said that the bitter cold in Mobei made it difficult to grow food, but it seems that this is not the case now.

They are not Mahamu. Mahamu captured many Tatar prisoners in these battles, so his strength increased. However, Taiping and Buluo suffered heavy losses in these two battles with the Tatars. Horses are no more than ten thousand people.

Seeing what Mahamu said, everyone had no objections. After all, a cold winter might lead to the death of thousands of Choros people and cattle and sheep, but a war with the Ming army might lead to their annihilation.

"Is it too cold if it's so far away?"

Outside Hailar City, when the army was commanded by Zhu Neng to enter the camp to rest, Zhu Zhanhe, who escorted Zhu Di, came outside the camp and pointed his riding whip at the tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land outside Hailar City and asked.

Thinking of this, Mahamu said: "Order to break up the camp and prepare the tribes to move westward."

"Later, Zheng He and others brought back new crops, and Taixue developed a water pump, so the crops here became abundant."

When faced with a choice between two people, anyone who is not stupid knows what to do.

"Grandpa, this is Haila'er City? Can't you grow food outside this city?"

Tuo Huan frowned. After all, the place north of the mountains was extremely cold and could not be inhabited by ordinary people, let alone cattle and sheep.

“It could have been planted, but the cost was just too much.”

"They won't move. With more than 20,000 cavalry in our hands, they are no match for the Ming army."

"Right now, their troops are still gathering. It looks like there will be no less than 80,000 people in the end. The number of people who can escort them to the front line should be around 20,000 to 30,000."

If the Ming Dynasty did not deal with Mahamu, then Mahamu might turn around and attack them after annexing the Tatars.

Anyway, he can handle all matters big and small for the five hundred people under his command, but he is not as fast as Zhu Zhanji.

To put it simply, Penlanzhou is 1,500 miles further northwest than where they last encountered Zhu Di.

“These crops grow so well by pumping water out of the land.”

Zhu Di said a tongue twister and at the same time turned his attention to the camp.

Of course, this possibility is unlikely. Zhu Di does not think that Taiping and Batu Polo have such courage.

The camp where 80,000 people gathered was huge and seemed like a lot, but by the time the army arrived in Moxi, only 20,000 of the 80,000 people would be left.

Mahamu is already aware of the strength gap between his own side and the Ming army, so he does not consider himself to be an opponent of the Ming army.

Zhu Di was wearing a mandarin duck war coat. He pointed at the land outside the city with his riding crop and said:
"What you see are wheat, soybeans, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other crops. Before, there were not such abundant crops here, only wheat and soybeans."

If we can annex them, we can naturally get a lot of food to help them survive the cold winter.

"You can think so, but you can't really think so."

"We can't go southwest, so we have to head northwest, which is naturally to move west to Penlanzhou (Abakan)."

Zhu Di explained, and Zhu Zhanji beside him asked, "If that's the case, then with the pump, wouldn't it be possible to farm all the way to the west?"

"There will be such a day!" Zhu Di said firmly, and Zhu Zhanhe also chuckled:
"By then, the entire Mobei will be within the territory of the imperial court. When this clown sees our heavenly army coming, he may not dare to fight with him and will retreat."

The journey of nearly two months has darkened Zhu Zhanhe and Zhu Zhanji. They are responsible for Zhu Di's escort, and they have a thousand cavalry in their hands, five hundred for each of them.

Mahamu named a place that was rarely mentioned by the Oara people, let alone the Han people.

"We will set off for the expedition in three days. You two boys should prepare well... drive!"

After Zhu Di confessed, he shook the horse's reins and rode off into the distance.

Perhaps only when riding horses on the grassland can he find the young King Yan again.

"Grandpa, wait for me!"

Zhu Zhanhe shook the reins of his horse, and Zhu Zhanji followed without saying a word. The figures of his grandfather and grandson gradually faded away.

Three days later, the 80,000-strong army broke camp and headed west. Alitai led more than 10,000 Tatar cavalry as the vanguard of the army, searching for traces of Mahamu along the way.

At this time, they did not know that Mahamu had fled to the west, and Zhu Gaoxu in Beijing City in the south was having a headache with the government affairs at hand.

As time entered June, memorials from North Korea, Japan, Siam and other countries continued to arrive in Beijing. The main thing was their competition for interests in Kunlun Island.

Although Japan is like an insect to the Ming Dynasty, to North Korea and Siam, it is a big country with a national strength several times that of its own country.

Although Siam formed an alliance with the Southeast Asian countries, it could only swallow its anger in the face of Japan's continuous encroachment on the river.

A conflict broke out between the two sides on a river, with hundreds of people killed and injured on each side.

After Japan retreated, North Korea launched an attack on Japanese camps.

North Korea claimed that it was attacking in self-defense and only injured dozens of Japanese people and stole more than a hundred taels of gold.

Japan, on the other hand, said that North Korea caused nearly a thousand casualties in the camp and thousands of taels of gold were plundered.

Both sides insisted on their own opinions. After the news came back to China, they reported to Ming Dynasty, hoping that Ming Dynasty would adjust.

Although the number of casualties among the three parties seems to be small, sending thousands of people to Kunlun Continent requires a lot of supplies. What's more, whether the gold snatched by North Korea is more than a hundred taels or thousands of taels is still open to question. .

Regarding this matter, Zhu Gaoxu decided to fight 30 major points each. First, he ordered North Korea to return the gold to Japan and compensate Japan with 100 anti-malarial powder.

Secondly, Japan stopped its invasion of Siam rivers and returned the occupied rivers.

In the end, Zhu Gaoxu designated the gold exploration areas for each of the three parties based on their respective situations, and ordered the private business gangs of the Ming Dynasty to pan for gold in the south and not to participate in the conflict in the north.

Under his division, the area was subdivided from north to south into four areas: the "Nanyang Alliance", North Korea, Japan, and the Ming Dynasty Private Areas.

In the north, there is Mu Gudu Shu Qianhu Office as the supervisor, and in the south, there is Kunlunzhou Xuanwei Division as the supervisor.

Zhu Gaoxu deliberately placed the weaker Nanyang in the north, the Ming Dynasty in the south, and Japan and North Korea in the middle and adjacent to each other.

Although the area he divided is wider than the homeland of the three forces, there are not many areas that can really be utilized by them.

There will inevitably be friction between the two parties over resources, and this is what Zhu Gaoxu wants.

Soon, under his division, each country obtained a large territory, and this map was also named "Kunlun Kun Map".

After settling the matter in Kunlun Continent, Zhu Gaoxu continued to focus on the country.

As time passes, various cement yards and iron smelting yards in the north are constantly working, and the survey of the Northwest Railway is moving farther and farther west.

By July, the Northwest Railway had already surveyed Suzhou. The remaining railway sections from Suzhou to Shazhou, Guazhou and Hami could be started according to the situation of the imperial treasury.

At the same time, news came back from the north, and it was pretty much what Zhu Gaoxu expected.

[The captives heard that the imperial court sent troops and took their subordinates to escape. Along the way, many livestock were abandoned and the tribes were scattered. Our division searched and captured tens of thousands of cattle and sheep along the way, as well as thousands of barbarian women and children.]

"Pretty much what I expected."

In mid-July, as news came back from the north, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:

"Mahamu suffered a painful blow, but he never dared to fight against the imperial court again."

After he finished speaking, Yi Shiha also handed over a handwritten letter: "Your Majesty, this is a handwritten letter from the Supreme Emperor."

"Well" Zhu Gaoxu took it and opened it, taking a rough look at it. In general, Zhu Di did not want the Northern Expedition to be in vain, so he hoped to bring Taiping and Tupolo under the jurisdiction of Yanran Dusi, and at the same time confer them both as commanders and magistrates of the capital.

Zhu Gaoxu also agreed very much with this. After all, with this name, in the future, the Ming Dynasty would have a name to build a city to the west and enter Mobei. All it would cost was nothing more than paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taiping and Tupolo II every year. That’s all.

This salary is a lot, but Zhu Gaoxu will not give this money in vain, but needs Taiping and Tupolo and Alitai to resist Mahamu.

All in all, since Mahamu escaped from Mobei, he should not think about coming back again and just stay in the Siberian prairie.

"Follow the Emperor's wishes and ask the Emperor when he will return south."

Zhu Gaoxu circled red with a red pen, and he couldn't help but ask questions while explaining.

Yishiha nodded when he saw this, and then took out the memorial and ordered it to be followed.

Soon, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, rushed to the Wuying Hall, and after entering the hall and bowing, he asked:
"Your Highness, does Yanran Dusi still need to continue to maintain it?"

Obviously, he came to ask after seeing Zhu Gaoxu's decree to confer Taiping and Tupolo.

The purpose of his inquiry was probably because he felt that there was no need to invest a lot of resources in Mobei.

"Yanran Dusi needs to be maintained. Although there is no output there now, the court still needs to dispatch hundreds of thousands of grains from the Bohai Sea every year to maintain it. But in the future, as the population of Mobei increases, the court can also mine gold, silver and copper mines locally to use Railway transportation back to the customs.”

Needless to say, there is no need to mention the mineral resources in Mobei. Setting up factories there will not only deepen the Mongolian people's sense of identification with the Ming Dynasty, but also bypass the leaders of various ministries and directly affect the grassroots Mongolians.

It is better to solve the Mongolian problem in Mobei than to let them go south without food and eat cholera.

After Mahamu moved westward, the number of Mongols in Mobei would not exceed 400,000.

As long as the Northeast Railway is built, and then the railways from Hecheng to Hulanhu, and even farther west, we can immigrate to Mobei and consolidate this territory with water pumps and new crops.

Only the migration of more than 200,000 Han people is enough to assimilate the more than 400,000 Mongolians. This is the assimilation ability of the Han people.

When you can work to support your family, who will start a rebellion with the lords?

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache, and then continued to focus on Guo Zi: "How is the situation of the treasury?"

"Since the beginning of the new year, Dongzhou has continued to transport gold, silver and copper ingots. In addition to gold, there are nearly 27 million silver, old coins and new coins."

"In addition, since it is a new dynasty, do we need to replace Yongle Tongbao with Hongxi Tongbao?"

Guo Zi responded to Zhu Gaoxu and asked about coins.

Kings of all dynasties would make new coins after they came to the throne, but Zhu Gaoxu did not issue a decree to cast Hongxi Tongbao, so Guo Zi asked specifically.

"No need for the time being, just continue to cast Yongle Tongbao."

Zhu Gaoxu is not in a hurry to mint new money. In his opinion, if the people live a good life, they will naturally remember that it is the Hongxi period and do not need new money reminders.

If the people are not living well, it will be useless no matter how much money he casts.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked: "How long will it take for the Beijing-Beijing Railway to be completed?"

"About three years." Guo Zi replied respectfully. Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"Since the national treasury is abundant, I plan to build the Beijing-Wanquan and Datong sections of the Northwest Railway first."

"This section of railway is 600 miles long. The price quoted by the Ministry of Industry is 2.4 million yuan in three years. The cost is not high."

"If this section of railway can be built, then coal from northern Shanxi can be transported to the south of the Yangtze River continuously while the railway between Beijing and Beijing is connected, achieving self-sufficiency in the coal mines early and solving the firewood problem of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. What do you think? ?”

"Of course you can!" Guo Zi replied without thinking.

In his opinion, since the emperor said it in such detail, it was obvious that this matter must be done.

Although Fangshan's coal has been transported by rail to southern Beizhili and eastern Shandong, overall the output of Fangshan's coal mines is not enough to meet local demand.

Of course, this also involves the lack of railways in Fangshan, and the need to use horse-drawn carriages to transport coal, which leads to inefficiency.

Therefore, when agreeing to the Northern Shanxi Railway, Guo Zi also suggested:

"Your Majesty, I propose to build a railway from Fangshan to Beijing East Railway Station, and then build a railway from Luanzhou Iron Mine in Yongping Prefecture to Yongping Station."

"In this way, Luanzhou Iron Mine and Fangshan Coal Mine can be transported directly to the capital by train, and then transferred to the south."

Guo Zi's suggestion made Zhu Gaoxu pat his head: "I forgot about this..."

Zhu Gaoxu was a little annoyed. He should have thought of these things earlier, but it was a pity that he was so busy during this period that he even forgot these things.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu told Yishiha beside him: "Make it clear to the Ministry of Industry that after the main line is completed, railways will be built in the mining areas on both sides of the main line to transport resources."

"Whether to approve or not is a matter between me and the Ministry of Revenue, but the Ministry of Industry must investigate and report."

"The slave takes the order" was also disappointed. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu continued to focus on Guo Zi:

"How much money and grain from the treasury does the imperial court consume every year?"

"This..." Guo Zi paused: "Last year it was 6 million guan. So far this year, more than 4.3 million guan has been consumed. It is estimated that it will reach 7 million guan by the end of the year."

"If the Shanxi section of the Northwest Railway, plus the railways in Fangshan, Luanzhou and other places, start construction next year, it is estimated that the number will be as high as 8 million."

"Based on the state of the national treasury, it can probably last for about three years."

"However, when the Beijing-Beijing Railway and the northern section of Shanxi are completed in three years, the cost will be reduced to more than 5 million guan."

"If the railways in Fangshan, Luanzhou and other places can also be completed, it should drop to 4 million."

"Judging from the annual financial growth of the national treasury, as long as there is no major war, the annual gap is estimated to be only about 1 million yuan, and it will gradually become parallel after three or four years."

"Of course, this is based on the situation that the construction of the Northwest Railway does not start. If the construction of the Northwest Railway also starts, the gap may expand to about 3 million or even 4 million."

Guo Zi vaguely reminded Zhu Gaoxu that the situation in the court was not as optimistic as imagined.

These three years can be spent with the gold and silver seized from overseas wars, as well as the proceeds from the Jie Jin and Ji Gang cases, but after three years, they will have to tighten their belts.

"Where is the Northeastern Railway now?"

Zhu Gaoxu did not respond to Guo Zi immediately. Instead, he asked about the situation of the Northeast Railway.

"The construction has already reached Ningyuan County, Liaoxi Prefecture, and it is expected to reach the west side of the Liaohe River by this time next year."

"The remaining 1,200 miles will take almost five years to complete."

Guo Zi answered the question about the construction status of the Northeast Railway, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded after hearing this.

Historically, it took the Japanese and the Russians five years and four months to build the South Manchuria Railway. Of course, the mileage of the South Manchuria Railway was much longer than the Songyuan-Haicheng Railway in the Ming Dynasty, but the railway construction in the Ming Dynasty was much longer than that of the Russians and Japanese. The benefits offered were good, and Zhu Gaoxu's prestige in the Northeast was high, so it was easy to recruit workers.

In addition, construction will start at multiple points, so there will be no problem in repairing it in five years.

"People in Liaodong, Bohai and other places learned that the imperial court was going to build a railway, and that His Majesty would go to Jilin after the railway was completed, so there was an endless stream of people signing up, and there were more than 100,000 workers."

"If it weren't for so many people, the Ministry of Industry might be able to recruit hundreds of thousands of people to build this railway."

Guo Zi couldn't help but smile on his face, and Zhu Gaoxu's face even showed pride.

Coming to this world, if Zhu Gaoxu is most satisfied with his achievements, it must be the development of the Bohai Sea and Liaodong.

Thanks to him, Liaodong and Bohai in the Ming Dynasty were able to transport hundreds of thousands of grains of grain to the inland every year. Although this was not much, it was absolutely impossible in history.

Being able to transport food means self-sufficiency and food storage. Historically, Liaodong needed to transfer millions of dan from Shandong and Beizhili every year to keep the price of food at a constant price.

For Liaodong, Zhu Gaoxu changed a lot by himself, which also made Zhu Gaoxu disdainful of Zhu Zhanji's ten years in office.

The amount of gold and silver left by Zhu Di to Zhu Zhanji was nearly ten million. As long as Zhu Zhanji was willing to invest, the situation in Liaodong would not have remained unchanged for more than two hundred years.

"For the people of the Northeast, agriculture and industry are mainly carried out in parallel."

"If handicraft industry is not suitable, then we should develop resources such as iron ore and coal, and at the same time develop agriculture."

"There are thousands of miles of fertile land in the Northeast, but because it is not managed, much of the land is silted and cannot be cultivated."

"Now that we have water pumps, as long as we have enough manpower, the Northeast can reclaim tens of millions of acres of farmland."

Zhu Gaoxu has a high opinion of the Northeast. If the cultivated land in the Northeast can be reclaimed, even if only one tenth of it is cultivated, the Northeast will not be too sad during the Little Ice Age.

Floods in Northeast China during the Little Ice Age were serious, and they were caused by no one to control them.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty is building water conservancy projects in the Northeast. Two hundred years later, the cooling of the Little Ice Age may lead to a decrease in food production. However, once chemical fertilizers are used and perfect water conservancy is used, the Northeast will be self-sufficient even if it encounters a disaster. Nurhaci, the scroll king, will be born because of the disaster.

Besides...

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly remembered Nurhaci's ancestor Timur, so he couldn't help but ask Yi Shiha: "I remember that Chen Chang captured that fierce brother Timur before. Where are the others?"

"Brother Meng Timur?" Yishiha's expression was a little confused. He really couldn't remember such a small person for a while.

After walking to the bookshelf and searching for a long time, he looked back and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu:
"Your Majesty, he was sent to Nanjing, his wife and daughter were moved to the sixteenth floor, and he himself was sent to Xiaoling to guard the mausoleum."

"Send?" Zhu Gaoxu frowned: "I didn't say send him to Xiaoling."

"It seems that it was the order given by the Supreme Emperor at that time, and it has been castrated..."

Yi Shiha's voice was a little softer. Zhu Gaoxu was speechless when he heard the words, and finally smiled:

"That's all. Since we've already dealt with it, we won't bother to deal with him."

Shaking his head and smiling bitterly, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Guo Zi and continued to discuss with him where the court needed money...

(End of this chapter)