Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 77: Troubles in the North
"Your view is unique and indeed good."

In the afternoon, inside Duke Ying's mansion...

When Fu Youde, who was sitting on the chair in the study room, listened to Zhu Gaoxu's views on the Japanese invasion, he couldn't help but touch his beard, nodded in approval and admitted:

"However, His Majesty is right."

Fu Youde raised his head and looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the left side of the study: "Compared to the interests of Nanyang, the Central Plains and the North are more important to the country."

Facing Fu Youde's words, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded:

"The boy thinks so too. It's just that there isn't any big power in Nanyang right now. If we miss this opportunity, it will be more difficult to take advantage of the opportunity to enter Nanyang in the future."

"You don't have to worry about this." Fu Youde said firmly:
"The situation in the north is dilapidated. Once it is stabilized, no matter what the situation is in the south, the court's direction will be to the south."

"Well..." Zhu Gaoxu nodded slightly, and Fu Youde also explained to him the situation in the north:
"Now your father is in the north, and Naha Chu, Nai'er Buhua and others have been eliminated by the court one after another. The power of the four kings of the Northern Barbarians has shrunk and they can only recuperate in the Mobei area."

"Beilu is just a problem for the imperial court. What we really need to worry about are the internal problems in the three provinces of Northwest and Hebei."

"You have read the memorial recently, and you must have seen from it that the Tartar officials and Semu people in these two places and three provinces have evil intentions, and from time to time they will call on the old cholera area."

"Therefore, if these people cannot be dealt with, the court will have no way to focus on the south."

"I understand." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He heard Fu Youde talk about the situation in the north and personally participated in the governance of Wuying Palace. Naturally, he knew what the key directions were in the early Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming Dynasty had begun to assimilate the north and continued for more than twenty years, the problem between the north and the south did not improve much.

The area north of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains is mostly populated by Hu and Han people, and there are also a large number of former Yuan officials among them.

For the sake of their own local interests, they did not mention the overt and covert violations of the Ming Dynasty's decrees. Occasionally, they would rebel and endanger the local area.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know when the problem of the northern Tartar officials was solved by the Ming Dynasty, but judging from Fu Youde's current explanation, it would be difficult to assimilate them without 30 years of hard work.

After such analysis, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt that his father was also having a hard time.

While going to the West to rebuild the tribute system of the Han and Tang Dynasties, at the same time it was necessary to stabilize Uzang and Sanxuan and Liuwei, establish Nuergandusi, and appease the Jurchens in the Northeast. Finally, they had to continuously attack the Tatars and Oara tribes in the north.

"It's just a pity..."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed in his heart, and couldn't help but think that his cheap father's achievements were plundered by his great nephew and great brother, not to mention that many achievements that needed to be consolidated were abandoned.

"Thinking about it this way, my great-nephew was tricked by his father."

Zhu Gaoxu thought of his grandnephew Zhu Qizhen, who was known as the "God of War of the Ming Dynasty".

It was obviously his father who gave up on Annan and sat back and watched the rise of Luchuan and Wala, but in the end, he had to fill in the holes one by one for these things.

"Having said that, if you want to use troops in Nanyang, it is difficult to do so based on the current situation."

Fu Youde picked up a cup of tea and took a sip while glancing at Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu nodded in understanding:

"If you want to use troops in Nanyang, you must establish a supply place overseas."

"This kid thinks that Luzon, Annan, and Java must set up guard posts in order to continue to encircle and suppress Japanese pirates."

"Since you know, you should know why His Majesty is unwilling to clean up the Japanese pirates in Nanyang, right?" Fu Youde put down the tea cup and asked Zhu Gaoxu to test. "Well..." Zhu Gaoxu's expression was solemn, and his eyes were a little wavering:

"Annan and Yunnan, the country and the dynasty can only choose one. If you have to choose, it can only be Yunnan..."

"As long as you understand." Fu Youde nodded and said:
"Annan has been separated from the Central Plains for more than four hundred years. It is very different from the Central Plains in terms of race, culture, and language. It is not easy to maintain its rule."

"I know." Zhu Gaoxu knew how difficult it was for the Ming Dynasty to rule Annan. To put it bluntly, unless Annan could show huge interests, the powerful people of the Ming Dynasty would not agree to attack such a country that is difficult to assimilate, such as Yunnan.

Yunnan, a place separated from the Central Plains for more than [-] years, has also established its own culture, writing and systems.

The Ming Dynasty was able to capture this place because Zhu Yuanzhang considered Sichuan's safety.

But if this is the case, then the Ming Dynasty's rule over Yunnan will last for decades at most. Once the national power weakens later, the Ming Dynasty will still withdraw from Yunnan.

The reason why such a thing did not happen is because a large number of gold and silver mines were discovered in Yunnan during the Zhengtong years, and these were the things that the Ming Dynasty was in urgent need of.

Because of this, when Zhu Qi Town wanted to exterminate the Luchuan Dynasty with a population of several million and more than [-] troops, some powerful people in the Ming Dynasty gave unprecedented support.

Food is just a matter of distribution. The Ming Dynasty does not lack food, nor does it lack land to grow food, but gold and silver are things that the Ming Dynasty is extremely short of.

Since the discovery of gold and silver mines in Yunnan, it has become an important area in the Ming Dynasty.

In order to protect Yunnan, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty used troops on an unprecedented scale against the southwestern chieftains.

No matter in which era, if you want to occupy a place permanently, you need the local area to provide huge benefits.

Currently, there is only a Red River Delta plain in Annan that deserves Ming's attention, but this area has not been well developed, and there are still a large number of areas that are swamps.

That is to say, after Ming Dynasty conquered this place, it still needed to spend huge manpower and material resources to achieve results.

Rather than investing resources here, it would be better to invest in places such as Peking and Sichuan where the results will be faster. You must know that there is a lot of abandoned land in these places, and the amount is several times that of the Red River Delta.

The difficulty of reclaiming these lands is much easier than the difficulty of reclaiming the Red River Delta.

Annan's role is a bridgehead. Only by laying it down can we use it to supply supplies and then conquer Nanyang. Therefore, unless Nanyang shows value, no one will be willing to attack here.

Zhu Gaoxu knew very well what the value of Nanyang was. It was nothing more than spices.

But once too many things like spices flood into the market, they will become worthless.

The reason why Annan and Nanyang were abandoned during the Xuande period was that there were too many spices obtained from Nanyang during the Yongle period. There were still some spices in stock until the Chenghua period, and they were not completely used up until the Zhengde period.

In other words, with only one spice as a profit, Nanyang can easily be abandoned. Only by discovering rare resources such as those that are in short supply in the Ming Dynasty can Annan and Nanyang be valued by the Ming Dynasty.

But in this case, Zhu Gaoxu faced a somewhat embarrassing situation.

He didn't know much about the distribution of gold and silver mines in Southeast Asia. In comparison, he knew more about gold and silver mines in Japan.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu calmly took a sip of tea:
"Even if Nanyang cannot be defended, it would still be good to hang a knife on Japan's waist..."

(End of this chapter)