Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 71 The Yan Mansion is powerful
"My lord, I'm here!"

Not even three moments later, before Zhu Gaoxu entered the martial arts training ground, Feng Sheng heard his voice.

When he turned around, he saw Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a luxurious plate-collared robe, walking towards him.

Feng Sheng sheathed the long sword he used for practicing and looked Zhu Gaoxu up and down: "You are very happy."

"So be it." Zhu Gaoxu raised his eyebrows, then took out a five-foot iron rod from the weapon rack and practiced while chatting with Feng Sheng about matters in the palace.

It was only when he opened his mouth that Feng Sheng interrupted him: "I don't want to get involved in your family's affairs."

Obviously, Feng Sheng was tricked by Zhu Ji, and he had had enough involvement in the affairs of the Zhu family's children.

"I won't talk about that." Zhu Gaoxu responded with a smile, and at the same time talked about the rebellion between Muchun and Yuexunman.

"My lord, you led troops to Yunnan back then. Do you think it would be feasible for the imperial court to station troops in Yunnan and send troops to places like Annan or Myanmar?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Feng Sheng, and Feng Sheng responded calmly while practicing his sword: "I only went to Qujing in Yunnan back then. It would be better for you to ask Ying Guogong about matters in western and southern Yunnan, but..."

Feng Sheng paused and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu: "Given the situation of the country, even if we capture these two places, it will be difficult to hold them."

While practicing his sword, he told Zhu Gaoxu what he knew about the situation in the southwest:
"The land of Yunnan is complicated. There are 30 immigrants and tens of thousands of people who have escaped. If you want to go to Annan and Myanmar, it will be difficult to penetrate deep without the supply of 30 civilians."

"There are only more than 30 Han people in the local area, and there are more than a million minors. It is extremely difficult to recruit [-] men to serve as civilian husbands, and it is also difficult to provide for them."

"Forcibly sending troops from here to attack Annan and Burma, I am afraid that fifty-six out of ten men in Yunnan will be killed or injured, and tens of thousands of families will wear sackcloth and mourning."

"Do you still want to use troops against the Southwest now?"

Feng Sheng asked Zhu Gaoxu in return, and Zhu Gaoxu asked calmly: "If there are enough mules and horses, can the people reduce the number at their discretion?"

"The country has enough land, so there is no need to waste money and people." Although Feng Sheng was a military general, he did not support Zhu Gaoxu and even taught:
"Those who are good at fighting don't talk about fighting. You still have a lot to learn."

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu did not refute, but he quickly smiled and said: "What the boy is planning is not now, but two or thirty years from now."

"Children of military families in the imperial dynasty often only need 20 years to grow into one generation. Now the second generation has begun, and the third generation will be more than [-] years later."

"Judging from the number of military farms in the early days of the People's Republic of China, there were more than [-] million acres of military farmland. By then, they could barely maintain the livelihood of the guards, and the remaining farmland of military households would probably have been divided into seven or eighty-eight."

"The kid is thinking that if we want the military households not to flee their country, the only way is to maintain their military pay and land, of which land is the most important."

Feng Sheng had already heard Zhu Gaoxu's argument about the "collapse of the guard system", but this time Zhu Gaoxu added the clause of ensuring that the military household would have enough land.

The reason for this is that he discovered that today's military households have begun to rely on extra land to support their families. Once the extra land is not enough, it will become normal for military households to flee their registration.

Only by ensuring the remaining land for military households can military households take root in the border areas with peace of mind.

"Twenty or thirty years from now is too far away. What you have to plan for is not then, but now."

Feng Sheng glanced at Zhu Gaoxu and seemed to remind him intentionally: "Let me ask you, have you ever been to the East Palace since you won the award after taking the exam?"

"Never..." Zhu Gaoxu frowned. He didn't want to cater to Zhu Yunwen, because he knew that it would be useless.

From the time Zhu Yunwen asked Zhu Gaochi to persuade him to rewrite a "Lun" on the reduction of vassals, Zhu Gaoxu no longer imagined that he could change Zhu Yunwen's method of reducing vassals.Since this is the case, the two of them will meet each other sooner or later on the battlefield, so why bother trying to please him?
The expression on his face couldn't be hidden. Feng Sheng saw something wrong, but he just thought it was the young man's strong will, so he tried to persuade him:
"You are close to him, not to please him, but to make His Majesty feel at ease."

Feng Sheng explained, and Zhu Gaoxu also raised his head in confusion.

Seeing his puzzled look, Feng Sheng was also puzzled.

Sometimes he felt that Zhu Gaoxu had a very long-term vision, but sometimes he appeared to be short-sighted.

"This son is good at state affairs, but bad at human relations..."

Feng Sheng gave Zhu Gaoxu an evaluation from the bottom of his heart, and then asked: "What do you think of the power of your Yan family?"

"This..." Zhu Gaoxu hesitated, and after a moment he hesitated: "On the surface, the Jin Mansion can still dominate my father, but in fact my father doesn't want to pay attention to him."

Zhu Gaoxu revealed the true relationship between Zhu Di and Zhu Fan, and continued to analyze the situation in the north:
"Since my father's lone army marched north and made an emergency landing in Nai'erbuhua, it has been difficult for the Jin government to surpass him in military achievements, so they had to rely on the East Palace and become a pawn of the East Palace to balance the North."

"After the death of the late prince, although the Jin government repeatedly spoke ill of my father to Your Majesty, Your Majesty saw clearly."

"Right now, instead of using Yan Mansion to check and balance Jin Mansion, it would be better to say that Jin Mansion, Ning Mansion, Dai Mansion, and Liao Mansion are used to check and balance Yan Mansion."

He analyzed the situation truthfully, but was met with a retort by Feng Sheng: "If you know it well, why don't you know how you should face your grandson?"

"..." Feng Sheng's words made Zhu Gaoxu stop his movements. He frowned slightly. Feng Sheng also stopped his movements, turned around and looked at him and taught:

"At present, the East Palace is afraid of King Sai and advises His Majesty to cut off King Sai's wings. People like Lan Yu and others are guilty of this."

"Although your Yan Mansion has no foreign aid due to the death of King Zhongshan, it is still close to the Duke of Wei."

"Originally, this is nothing. After all, Duke Wei is close to the East Palace and cannot be your foreign aid."

"But now that you have suddenly emerged, if His Majesty asks you to guard one side in the future, will you have to cut off the three guards of Yan Mansion and give you one guard?"

"If it is cut off, the military power of your Yan Mansion will be dispersed, and all the vassals will think that His Majesty wants to cut down the vassals."

"If I don't cut it and give you one bodyguard, then your Yan Mansion will have four bodyguards and more than [-] soldiers and horses."

"In addition, the King of Yan has been deeply entrenched in Peiping, Liaodong, and Daning for many years. He has more than [-] troops and horses in Peiping, Daning, and Liaodong under his control. Once the imperial court cannot control your Yan Mansion, the King of Yan can take advantage of the situation and summon more than [-] troops from the north. When soldiers and horses move south, how can the East Palace not be afraid?"

After Feng Sheng said this, he turned around and continued practicing his sword: "Those who are short of human feelings will find it difficult to gain a foothold in the temple."

Feng Sheng seemed to be talking about Zhu Gaoxu, but also seemed to be talking about himself.

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also understood what Feng Sheng meant. The most important thing he should do now was to move closer to Zhu Yunwen. Even if Zhu Yunwen gave him a tiger chair, he would still have to sit down.

He sat down not to make Zhu Yunwen happy, but to make Zhu Yuanzhang happy.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu raised his hands to Feng Sheng and bowed, and then continued to practice martial arts.

However, while practicing martial arts, he was also thinking about how to make Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunwen happy at the same time, so as not to take it personally.

(End of this chapter)