Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 78 He Anyao Miao
"On the Gengzi day of the seventh month, King Zhen of Chu and King Bai of Xiang led the Huguang Dusi and the palace guards to capture and kill more than [-] people. The beasts then fled to the southwest..."

In the early morning, when Zhu Yunwen's voice came out from the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang in the hall also stroked his beard happily.

On the side, Zhu Gaoxu, who was much calmer, just listened quietly. After finishing, he lowered his head and continued to process the memorial.

It is now July [-]th, and it has been more than a month since Zhu Gaoxu last argued with Zhu Yuanzhang about the Japanese invasion.

During this month, Zhu Gaoxu accompanied the government at Wuying Hall in the morning, and went to the mansions of Ying Guogong and Song Guogong to study in the afternoon, meeting Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan from time to time.

It seems that because of the failure of the last argument, Zhu Gaoxu rarely argued with Zhu Yuanzhang after that, and would only answer when he asked questions.

Such a change is undoubtedly good for Zhu Gaoxu himself, but Zhu Yuanzhang does not like it.

For example, now, seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had no opinions, Zhu Yuanzhang turned to look at him:
"Your two uncles have put an end to this Yao chaos, but there will be another Yao people chaos in the near future. How do you think we should solve it?"

Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head, not knowing that Zhu Yuanzhang was asking him, but Zhu Yunwen saw this and answered with a smile:
"The rebellion of the Yao people is nothing more than greed in human nature and coveting the money of the Han people."

"From Sun'er's point of view, all we need to do is send troops to quell the rebellion, and we can end it once and for all."

"..." Zhu Yunwen's answer made Zhu Yuanzhang frown. Although Zhu Gaoxu felt something was wrong, he did not refute Zhu Yunwen's opinion.

He kept Feng Sheng's reminder in mind and mostly did not offend Zhu Yunwen when managing politics, and even tried to please him.

Although this approach made him feel disgusted, he could only do this in order to make Zhu Yuanzhang happy and prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from thinking that Yan Mansion was domineering.

"Gao Xu..."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not respond to Zhu Yunwen, but stubbornly read Zhu Gaoxu's name, trying to get him to answer.

In response, Zhu Gaoxu could only sigh helplessly in his heart, raised his hands and bowed:
"What Taisun said is good, but some details have not been completed."

Although he thought what Zhu Yunwen said was wrong, Zhu Gaoxu could only agree and agree with him before putting forward his own opinion:
"Among the Yao people, there are indeed greedy people, but there are also kind people."

"My grandson thought that good people did not want to plunder the Han people. In the final analysis, they just couldn't survive."

"As long as they are given a few mouthfuls of food, they will not come down to rebel."

"Gao Xu..." Zhu Yunwen frowned and reminded, as if he thought what he said was a bit disrespectful.

"That's very good, but I'm not like those people below who closed their eyes and told lies."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in agreement. He did not think that the world he governed could already provide enough food for everyone.

As a person with a rebellious background, Zhu Yuanzhang knew better than anyone that he would not rise up if he had a mouthful of food to eat.

He is like this, and so are the Yao people.

"Sun'er thought that for the Yao people living in the mountains, they could be cared for and arranged to live in relatively flat places. They would also be given farming tools, exempted from taxes for three years, and given food rations."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about his policy towards the Yao people: "In addition, we also need to send skilled craftsmen to help them build water conservancy and build houses."

"Haha..." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhu Yunwen interrupted him:

"Gao Xu, what you said is very good, but it would be easier if these Yao people were really so honest."

"In the past, the imperial court sent officials to manage them and encourage them to come down to the mountains to farm, but most of them rebelled again after a few years and continued to go up the mountains to become bandits."

Having said this, Zhu Yunwen turned around and bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang:

"Grandpa, my grandson thinks that these Yao people who cause trouble should be punished with heavy punishment!"

When he said these words, he was filled with awe-inspiring righteousness, as if the faults of these Yao people were all their own problems, and the government had no problems at all.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't like this kind of gesture, but he couldn't refute it.

On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhu Yunwen's words calmly, his expression did not change, and he was indifferent.

He calmly picked up the tea cup and took a sip to moisten his throat before teaching Zhu Yunwen:
"You said that Gao Xu was wrong, that the officials had taken good care of them, but have you sent people to see all of this? Or did you only read the officials' memorials?"

Zhu Yunwen was a little speechless at Zhu Yuanzhang's words, but he thought quickly and immediately bowed and replied: "My grandson has been in the imperial city all year round, so naturally he has no chance to go out to watch, but I think there is no problem with what the officials said."

"No problem..." Zhu Yuanzhang said these three words calmly, which made Zhu Yunwen realize that something was wrong.

He quickly realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he turned his attention to Zhu Gaoxu, obviously hoping that Zhu Gaoxu would change the subject.

Facing Zhu Yunwen's gaze, Zhu Gaoxu could only sigh helplessly in his heart, then stood up and interrupted Zhu Yuanzhang's attack, bowing and saying:
"Grandpa, my grandson thinks that officials are not completely okay, otherwise there would be no such thing as 'officials force people to rebel'."

"Youdao is the official word with two mouths, one facing up and one facing down."

"If used well, it is called the way of heaven and the control of the people's hearts."

"If you don't use it well, it's called deceiving the superiors and hiding the truth from the inferiors."

"Even grandpa, I'm afraid he can't guarantee that every official sent out will be a good and honest official."

"Since there is no way to guarantee it, we can only strengthen the supervision of officials."

"As for the Yao people, Sun'er thought that he could appoint their leader as a local official, but he was not allowed to have soldiers and horses."

"The Yao people were collected and resettled in one place and a county was established at the same time. A separate guard station and military camp were built in the local area."

"In this way, if the Yao people are in charge of the Yao people, there will naturally be no conflicts between the Han and the Yao. The guards only need to patrol the area on a daily basis and be wary of deliberate rebellion."

"As long as the troops and horses are in the hands of the imperial court, the Yao people will rebel and be destroyed in a matter of seconds."

Zhu Gaoxu's words were very bold. What was most difficult for Zhu Yunqi to accept was that Yao people were in charge of Yao people, and they also had to establish counties.

"This won't work." Zhu Yunwen retorted:
"Although there are native officials in the dynasty, most of them are chieftains, and these Yao people are just loose bandits. How can they deserve the position of native officials."

As soon as Zhu Yunwen opened his mouth to retort, Zhu Gaoxu was too lazy to continue speaking and silently closed his mouth.

This move made Zhu Yuanzhang slightly unhappy, but on the surface he was still calm:

"It's okay to try it first, and then tell you if it doesn't work."

After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang turned to the eunuch and eunuch who was serving beside him and said:

"I ordered the Huguang Dusi and the kings of Xiang and Chu to surrender to the Yao people, appoint the leaders of the Yao people as officials, distribute the valley plains to the Yao people, and deploy a thousand soldiers and horses to garrison the area."

"In addition, we informed the Yao people leaders and the Huguang Chief Envoy to exempt them from taxes for three years and distribute farming tools."

"My slave, take your orders..." The eunuch and eunuch, the eunuch in charge of rituals, bowed in response, and then turned around to draft the edict.

Looking at the eunuch's leaving figure, Zhu Yunwen felt dissatisfied, but he did not dare to say anything and could only lower his head and sit down.

This scene was seen by Zhu Yuanzhang. He looked at the two grandsons who both lowered their heads, and his thoughts were active. After a while, he said:

"I'm going to the Purple Mountain tomorrow. Gao Xu, please accompany me."

"I allow you to supervise the country for half a day and then go to Purple Mountain in the afternoon."

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were so shocking that his two sons raised their heads one after another. After a moment of astonishment, they both bowed and said, "My grandson accepts the order."

"Okay, let's continue with the memorial."

Seeing that the two agreed, Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head to deal with the memorial, and Zhu Gaoxu also lowered his head with him.

Zhu Yunwen, on the other hand, looked at this scene with mixed feelings in his heart.

Although he was happy that he could supervise the country for half a day, he was a little reluctant to leave Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was even more worried about Zhu Gaoxu accompanying Zhu Yuanzhang to the Purple Mountain.

It's just that all this was Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement, and even his great-grandson was unable to resist.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but clenched the red pen in his hand. After a while, he calmed down and lowered his head to carefully review the memorial.

(End of this chapter)