Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 485 Expedition to Kashmir
In May, as if to give Zhu Gaoxu some trouble, hurricanes and heavy rains occurred in Guangzhou and other cities in Guangdong Province on the ninth day of the lunar month. The tides caused flooding and caused disasters. More than 500 people drowned, more than 1,600 houses were destroyed, and more than 50,000 stones of grain were damaged. .

When news of the disaster reached the capital, Zhu Gaoxu sent Hu Ji, the commander of the Xichang capital, to conduct an inspection. He also ordered the Chief Secretary of Guangdong and the Chief Secretary of Huguang to provide disaster relief and distribute food. The adult age was 15 years old, three buckets per month for adults and two buckets per month for children. .

In early July, Hu Ji reported that the disaster in Guangdong was true. Zhu Gaoxu issued an order to exempt the people of Guangzhou from taxes, and took 300,000 treasury funds from the Daming Bank of the Cochin Exchange to purchase rice and more than 700,000 stones to be shipped to Guangzhou, Huizhou, Chaozhou and other prefectures for disaster relief.

The city of Guangzhou has been cleaned up, and the bank deposits have been counted and there are no shortages.

Zhu Gaoxu issued a further decree, instructing Hu Lun to withdraw 200,000 yuan from banks in Guangzhou and other prefectures. He ordered the Chief Secretary of Guangzhou to demolish the disaster-stricken houses, and the government funded the reconstruction of the houses. The workers recruited were mainly victims of the disaster, and the daily wages were Forty articles were assigned to work for relief.

At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu's handwriting was sent to the Guangdong newspaper office, and the handwriting was published in the "Guangdong Monthly".

[I heard that Guangdong was hit by the hurricane Longgua, and the people were terrified and displaced, and felt uneasy. I wrote a monthly report in handwriting to appease the people and make a promise...]

Zhu Gaoxu's handwriting is filled with hundreds of words, and the meaning expressed is very clear.

"I know that the people in Guangdong have been attacked by dragons. Many people are afraid of being displaced and find it difficult to settle down. Therefore, I am writing a monthly handwritten report to appease the people and make a promise to you."

"I have asked the officials in Guangdong to start demolishing the dilapidated houses damaged by the hurricane. The imperial court will provide money and food to help you build new houses. The people affected by the disaster will also have food rations to eat. Three buckets per month for those over fifteen years old. The following is two buckets per month.”

"Someone is coming from the Yamen! Someone is coming from the Yamen!"

Scenes like this happened all over Guangdong, and people everywhere began to praise the imperial court.

The victims looked sad, but they only felt sad for a quarter of an hour before a voice came running from the dirt road in the distance and shouted excitedly:

"The relief food will be distributed for three months. After three months, I hope you will live well."

"Pass an order to Liu Zhao, Duogan Dusi, to lead 2,000 troops to Lhasa, to inquire about the news, and to wait for an opportunity to coordinate Li Ying's return to the army."

In history, in the 18th year of Yongle, a kingdom in Kashmir attacked the Guge Kingdom, which was the Oris Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion of the Ming Dynasty.

"Is someone coming from the Yamen?"

"South..."

Zhu Gaoxu could only make up for it. After all, in his opinion, the strategic value of the Ali region in this era was not great. After a few decades, if Ming Dynasty's technology had improved, it would not be too late to move to the Ali region.

"Don't spend this money carelessly, save it carefully. When the house is repaired and you need to buy furniture, you can use the wages to buy it or buy rice and noodles to live on."

Now two months have passed, and Zhu Gaoxu has just learned the news, which gives him a headache.

Zhu Gaoxu also breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that the disaster in Guangdong was under control and people began to rebuild their homes.

In this way, it has been more than a year since Kashmir attacked the Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion in Oris. Li Ying went there, and the day lilies were probably cold.

Of course, he was more worried that after the 2,000 soldiers of the U-Tsang General Command were defeated, their flintlock rifles would be seized, thus affecting other places.

"Goro, is it true or false?"

Li Ying's rash actions disrupted his layout and plans in the land of Xifan.

"Are you really giving out money and food?!" After hearing this, everyone was stunned. The next second they reacted immediately and ran towards the village that was mostly destroyed by the hurricane and looked like ruins, shouting as they ran.

"Besides, if you encounter officials who dare to deduct your wages, you must be brave enough to resist. Don't worry about the army and the military department dealing with you. Immediately take these officials to the military camp. They deserve to be beaten to death!"

Yi Shiha, who was standing next to Zhu Gaoxu, had a bad look on his face, and felt that Li Ying was a little too impulsive.

"It shouldn't be a lie, isn't it? Didn't the emperor just have people deliver food to us a few days ago?"

Not long after, hundreds of men gathered towards the town.

"It's fake. Normally the salary is only fifteen cents, how come it suddenly rises to forty cents?"

It's a pity that God doesn't want him to relax.

Not only him, but even Zhu Gaoxu felt the same.

After closing the newspaper, a young man wearing old clothes explained the contents of the newspaper to a group of people in front of him.

In Wuying Hall, Zhu Gaoxu was muttering, and this scene seemed to flash through his mind.

The eighteenth year of Yongle in history is also the third year of Hongxi.

"If you send troops on your own, it's fine if you win, but if you lose, that would be terrible."

"In addition, the victims will be recruited to build the houses themselves, so that you can see the sincerity of the court. At the same time, the wages are 40 cash per day."

Li Ying, the commander of the Uzbek capital stationed in Lhasa, learned of the news and immediately sent someone to rush the memorial to Beijing. At the same time, he personally led two thousand troops to support the Oris military and civilian marshal's mansion and recruited Lhasa and Qiangtang and others. Five thousand herdsmen in the area transported supplies to the Ming army.

The man who came running shouted: "Someone is coming, someone is coming. The yamen has come with food, cement and money. It is said that the village officials from each village went to the town to collect money, food and cement. Official Wang asked me to call you." Let’s go to town, all the men!”

"That's about it."

"Yes, yes, it's definitely not fake. The court gives us such a high salary because we feel sorry for us."

"I hope..."

"The salary is forty cents?"

The Ming Dynasty's military strength in Duogan and Uzang has been reduced to 6,000. If the 2,000 troops in Lhasa are wiped out, it will take several years to train another 2,000 troops to station in Lhasa.

On June 17, the fifth year of Hongxi, the Oris military and civilian marshal's mansion, which had not had contact with the Ming Dynasty for forty years, suddenly sent monks to Lhasa. The reason was that they were attacked by forces from the south.

A group of people who had been affected by the disaster were chattering away, and the young man also scratched his head and said:
"Anyway, it's written like this in the newspaper. It's impossible for the Yamen to not act in accordance with the emperor's instructions, right?"

When the news came back to Beijing, it was already mid-September of Hongxi's fifth year.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu became slightly irritable.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but get angry.

Fortunately, he was good at cultivating his qi. After calming down a little, he continued to calm down and deal with the memorial.

At the same time, the sound of footsteps also came from outside the hall.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is back."

The eunuch on duty suddenly spoke. Zhu Gaoxu paused with the red pen in his hand, raised his head and said, "Announce him to come in."

"Prince Xuan enters the palace!"

The eunuch on duty was singing a salute, and as he took his breath, he saw a figure walking into Wuying Hall.

"My son, I see your Majesty, long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty..."

A familiar voice sounded, and Zhu Gaoxu kept looking at the door of the palace, so he could see him clearly.

He put down his ink brush and stood up, walked to Zhu Zhanhe, and looked up and down while helping him up.

Zhu Zhanhe's height of five feet nine inches (188cm) makes him look like a little giant in this era, and he is only two inches shorter than Zhu Gaoxu.

He has a lot more meat on his body, and he looks much stronger. His skin is dark, but he is very healthy.

"Not bad, it looks like I learned a lot from Yanran Dusi."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke with satisfaction, but Zhu Zhanhe grinned and said: "In the past two years, those barbarians have pretended to be obedient, but in fact they have been inquiring about our reality every day. My ministers have been fighting with them every day on patrol. Although they have not taken action, they have also inquired a lot. Less false and true.”

"A few barbarians are nothing to worry about." Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache. The Ming Dynasty was in his hands and he was not afraid of any force.

"So, you know the news about those barbarians?" Zhu Zhanhe's eyes lit up. After all, his official position was too low, and no one dared to tell him many things.

Although Wang Rong would talk to him, Wang Rong himself didn't know much about Xichang and Jinyiwei's intelligence spying.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanhe had a keen sense of smell, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and motioned for him to follow him. He walked towards his position and said:
"Alitai is rebellious but has no strength, so he wants to win over Taiping and form an alliance with Tupolo, Mahamu and others to deal with the imperial court."

"He thinks very well, but he doesn't want to consider that not everyone has the courage to confront the imperial court."

"Someone came to tell me about his collusion with Mahamu at the beginning of the year through paying tribute."

"Are they the tribe of Tupolo?" Zhu Zhanhe read the newspaper every day. Although it is not easy to send newspapers to Mobei, a quarterly newspaper like the "Da Ming Daily" that is only published four times a year is still a must-read.

At the beginning of this year, only Tupolo was sent to pay tribute, so he could think of the news coming from Tupolo.

"Batu Polo is timid and afraid of getting into trouble. He always only relies on the strong."

Zhu Gaoxu sat down, put his hands on the armrests, leaned against the chair and said:

"Although the alliance between Oara and the Tatars has nearly 100,000 cavalry, they are still bigger eggs."

"When you go south this time, you should have seen the Mobei Railway under construction, right?"

"I saw it." Zhu Zhanhe nodded: "It has been completed for more than seventy miles now. According to this progress, there will be no problem in completing it within four years."

"That's right, four years." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, with a bit of pride on his face:

"In the past, the Hulu were repeatedly unable to be exterminated, simply because our army's logistics were weak and unable to pursue them in depth."

"Now I have built the railway to Haila'er, and even approached Yanran City step by step."

"Relying on the railway, materials from Jiangnan can be transported to Hailar City in at most one and a half months, saving millions of people's manpower."

"If it weren't for the inability to build a railway from Songyuan to Hecheng, it would only take one month for supplies from Jiangnan to be transported to Hailar City."

"With the support of the railway and the Wenjiang River, it will be easy to transfer two to three million grains from the south of the Yangtze River to Mobei every year."

"Next, we can fight and build railways at the same time. All the places the railways pass through must be the territory of our Han people. All the land illuminated by the sun and the moon must be our pastures and fertile fields."

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache and sounded a little proud. Zhu Zhanhe was also very excited when he heard this, and could not hide his excitement.

"If Mobei can be included in the territory of the country, then my father will be the first person in my Han family to open up a county in Mobei."

Zhu Zhanhe's words were very pleasant, and Zhu Gaoxu also chuckled and said: "The future will be an era of oceans. If I were not worried that my children and grandchildren would not be able to deal with Mobei in the future, I would not have worked so hard to build railways and move people there."

"I will take down the land and manage it well. The descendants of future generations will only have to manage the taxation well, and they don't need to worry about the rest." "Of course, even if I take Mobei into my pocket, this does not mean that the court will have no foreign enemies. ”

"There are millions or even tens of millions of Mongols in the west. They may not come back. Therefore, if you ascend the throne in the future, you cannot take it lightly."

"My son knows, please rest assured, father." Zhu Zhanhe bowed solemnly, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and said:

"When you go south this time, you should have a good rest in the capital first and stay with your grandpa, and then go south to Yunnan after the Lantern Festival next year."

"On the Longchuan side, railway construction will begin after the Lantern Festival next year. Unfortunately, the local terrain is complex and cannot connect to Kunming. If it can, it will save the court a lot of things."

Zhu Gaoxu felt a little regretful, and Zhu Zhanhe also nodded and said: "My son, I will go to see the local situation at that time, and I will write to your father afterwards."

"Well, you go and do your work first. By the way, have you gone to the Daming Palace?" Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but remind Zhu Zhanhe. After all, he was sometimes busy with affairs, and Zhu Di was very bored in the Daming Palace alone.

If he hadn't promised that he would lead his troops to the north, Zhu Di might have wished he could have asked him to go to the Daming Palace to talk to him every day.

"I've been there. Grandpa asked me to ask you whether the Northern Expedition has been postponed?"

Zhu Zhanhe showed a smile, and without waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's reply, he took the lead and said, "I told grandpa that I wouldn't do it. The treasury is very full now."

"Well, as long as you know." Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache with a smile on his lips:

"I am in my prime, and I will pay back all the debts I owe. When you come to the throne, I will naturally leave you a full treasury. When your son comes to the throne, you will do the same."

"Be careful not to use force as a king. You should be domineering and domineering, and you should focus on military affairs and economics."

"First you have the barrel of the gun, then you can get the bag of money."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't shy away from this at all. He knew that his body was very good.

"My son, I have been taught." Zhu Zhanhe bowed to show that he had been taught, and then he said, "I will go to see my mother and brother Qi."

"Go!" Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and grabbed the Zhu pen in his hand, ready to manage politics well.

When Zhu Zhanhe saw this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Although my father seems to be only thirty-two or thirty based on his appearance, he is actually forty-two years old.

After my current trip south to govern, if I could come back to help him, it would be considered as my filial piety.

While thinking, Zhu Zhanhe exited Wuying Hall.

Looking at his retreating figure, Zhu Gaoxu also felt faintly satisfied.

Yishiha, who stood aside silently but with a smile, bowed and said to Zhu Gaoxu:
"Your Highness seems to have been exposed to a lot of things, and is much more tactful than before."

"It's a good thing. If you're not smooth, you won't be able to stay in this temple. Those who are too upright can only be ministers. If they are kings, it will be a disaster for the world."

Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head while processing the memorial, and then after answering Yi Shiha, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to it.

Today's Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and complicated government affairs. In addition, the state offices under the Ministry of Rites stationed in various countries also have government affairs. Therefore, even though he delegated a lot of power, the number of memorials is still increasing day by day.

Fortunately, he is only forty-two years old and can still keep up mentally.

Thinking like this, he gradually came out of Li Ying's mood of sending troops without permission.

Maybe he no longer thinks about Li Ying, so this matter was pushed deep into the pile of heavy things in front of him.

Compared to how busy he was, Li Ying was extremely excited at this moment.

"kill!!"

"Clap clap clap-"

It was also mid-September, while Beijing was still immersed in late autumn, but the Ali region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had already entered early winter.

With sub-zero weather and plateau climate, perhaps only people who live on this plateau all year round can fight hard in such a harsh environment.

In the valley with the snow-capped mountains as the background, a one-sided massacre was breaking out at this moment.

Thousands of troops wearing strange armor were being chased by less than a thousand cavalry. The hoofs of the war horses trampled heavily on the fallen corpses. There was a constant sound in the ears, and occasionally the sound of a trigger that failed to ignite could be heard.

"Anyone who jumps from the beam will be punished!"

Nearly a thousand cavalrymen, armed with carbines in one hand and hammers in the other, ran rampant among the rout of chaos, ravaging thousands of Kashmiri dynasty troops to the point of mental collapse.

Their king, Zain, had fled, leaving them as a group of infantry to be tricked and killed by the Ming army.

An entire hour later, there was no one in the valley except for the Ming cavalry wearing bright armor and holding carbines.

"Kill with pleasure!"

Li Ying grinned, and at the same time ordered behind him: "Remember the gains. Although the court may not necessarily reward you with silver, there is hope after all."

"In addition, let Siruomanla from the Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion in Oris recruit 2,000 people and transport these things to me as trophies to Lhasa."

Li Ying said this, and the military attachés under his command also followed his instructions.

Not long after, as the cleaning of the battlefield was completed, they threw thousands of corpses into the river, and headed back towards Xiangxiong, the capital of Guge, with carts of armor and weapons.

Half a day later, they followed the river to Shang Shung City, which seemed to have been devastated by war.

Xiangxiong City is built on an earthy hilltop, one mile wide from east to west and two miles deep from north to south. To the north of the city is the Xiangquan River, and the terrain is relatively open; the other three sides to the east, south and west are surrounded by mountains, forming a natural barrier.

The buildings in Xiangxiong City are piled up on top of the mountain, meandering upwards, from the ground to the top of the mountain, layer upon layer, forming a group of majestic buildings, with an overall gap of a hundred feet.

The buildings of the entire city are divided into royal palace area, residential area, temple area, clan government and defense engineering facilities.

Among them, the royal palace occupies the top of the hill, the temple is located on the gentle slope to the northeast, the residential areas are mainly distributed in the foothills and slopes of the north and northwest, and the defense engineering facilities are organized between the districts, and the functional divisions of the building complex are clear.

This group of buildings, backed by mountains and facing water, occupies a favorable terrain and fully considers the factors of war and the functional requirements of defense.

Precisely because this place was dangerous enough, they resisted for long enough until Li Ying led his army to arrive.

When Li Ying and others returned from the victory, the former marshal of the Oris military and civilian marshal's office and the grandson of Si Ruomanla, who had been imprisoned, was leading hundreds of officials to wait for them.

They brought two boxes, which were opened and contained Guge's local specialties...gold and silver.

The reason why Li Ying rushed to Guge's aid was because the monks who went to Lhasa said that Guge was rich in gold and silver mines and would reward the army after they rushed to help.

Now it seems that the gold and silver in those two boxes are worth at least tens of thousands of dollars.

"Mother, the heads of the barbarians from the south are not worth much. I will admit them even without a reward!"

Looking at the gold and silver worth tens of thousands of pounds, Li Ying's eyes almost widened.

Not only him, but also the Ming army behind him looked the same.

"Thank you to the imperial court for relieving us. This is the gold and silver we have saved. Only by using them can we repay the general's kindness to us."

Siruomanla, who was in his early thirties, took officials and monks Li Ying to express his gratitude. Li Ying waved his hand when he saw this and said:
"You are the people of the Celestial Empire, and it is natural for me to send troops. If that barbarian attacks you again in the future, just inform me immediately and I will come to deal with it."

After Li Ying finished speaking, she no longer wanted to say anything more, but then the military officer on the side spoke in Chinese:

"Capital Commander, if it is only us who benefit and the imperial court does not benefit, then the imperial court is likely to convict. We have to gain some benefits for the imperial court."

"Yes, yes!" Li Ying's political EQ was not high. After being reminded by military officials, he said:

"Of course, the imperial troops and horses also need money and food to maintain. Therefore, from now on, the Oris Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion must pay tribute of 500 taels of gold and 1,000 taels of silver to Lhasa every year!"

"This..." Hearing this amount, Siruo Manla looked troubled and bowed with a monk's bow: "General, we can't mine that much gold and silver."

"If the court needs it, we are willing to pay tribute of one hundred taels of gold and five hundred taels of silver every year..."

"You!" Li Ying was angry when he heard this, but the military officer stopped him: "The commander-in-chief is pretty good. It seems they don't have many good things here."

The military officer's words reminded Li Ying that although the specialty of Oris Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion was gold and silver, the local desertification was severe, oases were rare, the roads were rugged and difficult, communication with the outside world was not close, and supplies were extremely scarce.

If the Ming Dynasty had not stationed troops in Lhasa very early, perhaps they would not have asked Lhasa for help. After all, the monks in Lhasa and Sanzhujie looked down on the people living in the Ali region.

Only the Ming Dynasty will take care of them, and if the Ming Dynasty does not care about them, then they will definitely be robbed this time.

Because of this, they are willing to take the initiative to maintain the relationship between the two parties.

Moreover, judging from the situation of this battle, the strength of the Ming army far exceeded their imagination. With only two thousand people, they defeated the nearly ten thousand army led by Zain.

But judging from the carloads of armor behind the Ming army, they killed at least three to four thousand Kashmiri troops.

"Well, you need to pay taxes every year. You can only pay more, not less."

Li Ying finished speaking helplessly, and then turned his attention to the seizure behind him.

The number of beheadings of the Ming army was designed by Zhu Gaoxu. It was not as strict as in the middle and late stages of history, but it was much more complicated.

The number of beheadings by the Ming army was mainly based on the number of captured armors, of which body armor was the main one.

In other words, seizing a breastplate is equivalent to beheading a person, and the weight of a breastplate ranges from ten to twenty kilograms, making it troublesome to carry.

Of course, the biggest headache for Li Ying and others was whether the court would give them credit, and how much silver reward these barbarians would get for their heads.

"Give them the captured weapons. These things will drag down the team and are not worth much."

After receiving tens of thousands of guan in reward, Li Ying generously gave thousands of weapons to Siromalla, and at the same time instructed:

"If the imperial court needs you to go to Beijing to report on your duties, then I'm afraid you will have to make a trip to testify for me."

"I will definitely testify for the general!" Siruoman replied with a salute, and upon seeing this, Li Ying arranged for the army to camp outside Zhangxiong City.

The next morning, he embarked on the rugged road back to Lhasa with a slightly uneasy mood...

(End of this chapter)