The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 391 Who are you?
In the southern mountains of Zhaozhou County, Liaodong, an army stepped on the thick snow and quietly surrounded a valley.

Xu Yungong stood on a high place and looked at a village below through a telescope.

"It's Hai Dongqing's village. Tell the brothers to guard all the intersections and not let anyone escape."

Deputy General Qin Bozhen rubbed his stiff face and said:
"Damn it, these Dongyi people are really good at running. I finally caught them this time."

Hearing the word "Dong Yi", a sturdy man wearing a thick fur coat next to him showed dissatisfaction.

Xu Yungong frowned and scolded: "Shut up, there are no Dongyi in the Ming Dynasty, only Ming people."

"If I hear anyone mention Dongyi again, I will punish him by military law."

Qin Bozhen quickly reflected on himself and said, "It was a slip of the tongue. Please forgive me, General."

Xu Yungong's tone softened a bit, and he said, "The ideological and political class made it very clear that all the people in the world are brothers."

"I don't want my brother to be court-martialed because of a slip of the tongue."

"I don't want a rift between us brothers because of a slip of the tongue."

"I know my crime." Qin Bozhen was ashamed, and then said to the leather-clad sturdy man next to him:
"Brother Gergei, I was really irritated by these Jurchens just now, and I made a slip of the tongue."

"I don't mean to humiliate you all, please don't take it personally."

The unhappiness in Gergei's heart immediately dissipated, and he laughed loudly:

"Haha, General Qin, that's not right. I hate these Jurchens to bits, too."

"If it weren't for my inappropriate status, I would have wanted to curse you as a Dongyi barbarian."

There are only Ming people in the Ming Dynasty, and it is not allowed to use derogatory terms to refer to other ethnic groups.

However, other ethnic groups were not allowed to emphasize their own identities and had to unify and call themselves Ming people.

Dongyi was a derogatory term for the Jurchens, Tungus and other ethnic minorities in eastern Liaoning, and was naturally not allowed.

Gergei was a Tungusic people and also belonged to the category of Dongyi.

Just now Qin Boyin said something bad about the Dongyi people. Although everyone knew that he was scolding the Jurchens, it still made Gergei feel uncomfortable.

But we are all old comrades, and the small conflict was resolved with just a few words.

Xu Yungong also felt relieved. It is really difficult to integrate ethnic groups.

But if done well, the benefits are really huge.

The group of Tungus people before us is the best proof.

Because the Ming Dynasty treated them equally, they took the initiative to get closer to the court and regarded themselves as Ming people.

Actively maintain the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

He even formed an army to help the Ming Dynasty fight against rebellion.

They don't ask for much, just some daily necessities to feed their family.

These people are not idiots. They are really brave in combat and can often defeat ten enemies at once.

Even if the most elite Ming army fought against them, it would be a 50-50 situation.

If the battle was in the mountains and forests, the Ming army would be no match at all.

In the past, the Ming army had no way to deal with the tribes hiding in the mountains and forests, but the situation turned around after the Tungus people joined.

The elite Ming army and the Tungusic soldiers who were familiar with the mountains and forests defeated the rebellious tribes.

For example, today, they are going to attack a Jurchen tribe that is unwilling to surrender.

This tribe, called Haidongqing, has more than 4,000 people and is considered a very powerful tribe in the local area.

Their leader Doha is a descendant of the high-ranking officials of the Jin Dynasty and is proficient in the Jurchen script.

Before, I followed Nahachu and lived a very comfortable life.

After the Ming Dynasty recovered Liaodong, it wanted to promote a new policy to register the people, but these tribal leaders were naturally unwilling to do so.

Aren't you stealing our rights?
So Doha took his people and hid in the mountains, often coming down the mountains to rob the people, which seriously affected the local stability.

They escaped several encirclement and suppression attempts by the Ming army and the Tungus soldiers.

After a few times, Xu Yungong realized that someone had tipped them off, otherwise they would not have been able to escape every time.

But he didn't have any good solution for this.

Haixi (Daqing) is an area where many tribes live together and is also one of the traditional territories of the Jurchens. It is normal for someone to leak information.

It's hard to find out who did it.

So, Xu Yungong decided to do something ruthless.

After detecting the movements of the Haidongqing tribe years ago, he did not rush into military action, but instead kept people on the lookout.

After the New Year, when everyone had rested for a few months and had relaxed, he finally decided to send troops.

Anyone who knows about the winter in Liaodong knows it.

Water freezes into ice as soon as it falls. No one expected that he would send troops at this time.

The reason why he chose to send troops at this time was mainly because of the snow.

It is generally one or two feet thick, and in some places it can even submerge people. Even if someone wants to report the news, there is no way.

Sure enough, after a hard march, they successfully blocked the target.

Afterwards, Xu Yungong began to arrange tactics.

Gergei looked at the surrounding environment, then looked at the two feet of snow on the ground, and suddenly said:
"General Xu, how about this? Leave this battle to my people."

"The military merits are yours, and the rewards are all given to us, how about that?"

Xu Yungong's heart moved, and he asked, "Is your tribe short of food?"

Gergei nodded and said, "Since I followed the general to fight, the tribe has never been short of food, and everyone eats heartily."

"The food that used to be enough for two winters is almost gone in just two or three months..."

"If we eat frugally, we can get through the winter."

"It's just that... the ancient sages said it well: it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality."

Hearing this, Xu Yungong said readily: "Okay, then I'll leave it to you. I'll have someone help you keep watch."

Gergei's face lit up with joy and he said gratefully, "Thank you, General."

Then he began to gather his men to launch an attack.

They didn't adopt any tactics, five hundred people just rushed in directly.

In fact, no tactics are needed.

The Jurchens of the Haidongqing tribe hid in their houses for the winter and were caught off guard by someone who walked right outside their door. The outcome was already doomed.

The battle ended after an hour.

The Tungus people captured the Saker Falcon tribe of more than 4,000 people at the cost of 27 deaths and 144 injuries.

Doha was also captured alive.

Xu Yungong interrogated them on the spot to find out who tipped them off.

Doha was stubborn at first and refused to confess, but when Xu Yungong ordered his family to be stripped naked and thrown outside the house, he finally confessed.

A total of twenty-three people were confessed, most of whom were Jurchen tribal leaders who nominally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

And they have one thing in common, they are all descendants of the high-ranking officials of the Jin Dynasty.

Xu Yungong was not surprised at all when he got the list.

These people considered themselves to be of noble blood, looked down on ordinary Jurchens, and married each other through alliances.

After one or two hundred years, the relationship between them has become extremely intricate.

It's normal to tip him off.

After getting the confessions, Xu Yungong did one more thing. He gathered all the Jurchens together and asked them a question one by one.

"who are you?"

The person who was asked at first replied timidly: "Female... Jurchen."

Xu Yungong shook his head and said, "Wrong answer."

Then Qin Bozhen dragged out his entire family and beheaded them on the spot.

The Jurchens behind were terrified and trembled in fear, not daring to answer, or they kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Xu Yungong said, "I don't even know who I am, so what's the point of keeping me here?"

Then their entire family was killed.

After asking more than twenty questions, a clever ghost finally shouted:
"Ming people, I am from the Ming Dynasty."

Xu Yungong said with satisfaction: "Very good, remember your identity and don't forget it in the future."

The people behind them naturally learned how to answer, and when asked, they shouted:

"I am a Ming person." Soon, all the remaining people in the tribe answered that they were Ming people.

Xu Yungong finally said to them: "Since you are Ming people, you must obey the management of the court."

"After the spring, all of you will go to the government office to register your household registration, and the government office will allocate land to you."

"If you don't go, or if someone escapes, your entire clan will be executed."

In the face of a bloody butcher's knife, these words are quite intimidating.

The Jurchen people of the Haidongqing tribe, who had lost their senior leader, naturally dared not refuse.

After that, Xu Yungong did not kill people in large numbers, nor did he rob the enemy of their wealth and food.

After resting for a night, he led his men to evacuate the next day.

Seeing that he really let these people go, Gergei said with admiration:
"General, be merciful."

Xu Yungong said seriously: "We are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty. How can we kill each other?"

"Besides, these people are not against the court, they are just being coerced by their leaders."

This was what Chen Jingke told him. Ordinary people have no concept of identity.

Those at the top have a real concept of status.

It is also the tribal leaders who obstruct ethnic integration because it will harm their interests.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to complete ethnic integration, it had to distinguish the two.

If you don't care, treat the entire tribe of the other party as traitors and suppress them.

This means forcing the other side's ordinary people to develop a sense of ethnic identity and then stand up against the Ming Dynasty.

By that time, the problem will be troublesome.

At first, Xu Yungong didn't quite understand what he said.

After spending a long time in Liaodong, I realized how true this statement is.

From then on, when he attacked tribes that refused to submit, he often tried to eliminate the other side's top leaders.

Then appease the ordinary people.

At the beginning, the two sides did not trust each other and progress was very slow.

After the situation was opened up, more and more ordinary people learned about the policies of the Ming Dynasty, and the situation changed.

Many ordinary people took the initiative to escape from the tribe and surrender to the government.

It would become very difficult for tribal leaders to coerce their people to fight against the imperial court.

This policy played a vital role in the Ming Dynasty's ability to stabilize Liaodong so quickly.

After returning to Zhaozhou County, Xu Yungong immediately went to work to arrest people according to the list.

Take down all those Jurchen high-ranking officials who have disloyal intentions.

After the spring, he called a meeting of all the tribes in Haixi (Daqing) and sacrificed all the Jurchen leaders.

It really shocked everyone and laid the foundation for the future governance of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the ordinary people of the Haidongqing tribe, they indeed walked out of the mountains and forests and surrendered to the local government shortly after the beginning of spring.

The Zhaozhou County government, which had been notified long ago, dispersed these people and resettled them in various places, and allocated land, farm tools and seeds to them.

What is ridiculous is that when registering their Han names, these people collectively chose "Xu" as their surname.

And they never said they were Jurchens again.

No matter when or where, always call yourself a Ming person.

Just when Xu Yungong was ambitious and prepared to make further efforts to completely wipe out the rebellious tribes in Haixi, a memorial was delivered.

He was transferred back to Beijing to serve as the commander of the Shenji Camp.

The Shenjiying was the only firearms branch of the Ming Dynasty and was also the imperial guard that protected the capital.

Being in charge of this army shows the emperor's trust in him.

However, there was not much joy on Xu Yungong's face, because a letter was sent along with the imperial edict.

It contains a detailed introduction to the current situation in the capital.

The article focuses on the situation after the birth of the emperor's eldest grandson.

Although the Xu family's status would not be shaken by a baby, it was still very embarrassing.

Xu Yungong immediately knew that the emperor's transfer of him back to serve as the commander of the Shenjinying was probably a form of appeasement.

It is also a statement that the Xu family's position is unshakable.

But…when he thought of the quagmire in the capital, he felt upset.

After staying in Liaodong for a long time, he has become accustomed to the life here and does not want to go to the capital to get involved in the intrigue.

This was also the reason why he refused when he was transferred back to Beijing last time.

But there are some things that he can't choose not to do just because he doesn't want to.

As the eldest son of the Xu family, he must shoulder certain responsibilities.

Just like this time, he had to go back.

Then he thought of Zhu Xiongying and Chen Jingke, wondering how they were doing.

After going through so much, can we still be as close as we were before?
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Just when Xu Yungong received the transfer order, Zhu Di, who was far away in the south of the desert, also received an imperial decree to transfer him back to Beijing to report on his work.

Of course, there was also a private letter that came with it.

It tells the real reason why he returned to Beijing, to attack India.

If it was something else, he would definitely write back and refuse.

There is no need to report on my position. I will talk about it after I stabilize the overall situation on the grassland.

With the construction of concrete fortresses, most of the southern part of the desert had become the domain of the Ming Dynasty, and the Northern Yuan forces had to migrate to the northern part of the desert.

The climate in Mobei was even worse, and many tribes that could no longer survive chose to move south and submit to the Ming Dynasty.

In previous dynasties, they would definitely be thrown into the grassland and allowed to live freely.

This time, the Ming Dynasty took a completely different approach.

With the concrete fortress as the center, the land south of the desert is divided into small squares.

All the tribes that surrender must live in this small square.

Anyone who migrates at will will be executed along with his entire family.

In fact, when this policy was implemented, there was no need for the Ming Dynasty to maintain it.

The local tribes will spontaneously protect their own pastures and prohibit others from entering their pastures.

Your tribe dares to come to my tribe to graze? Draw your swords.

In addition to military, there is also economic control.

The Ming Dynasty built markets in every residential area.

They uniformly purchase wool, dairy products, cattle and sheep, and sell daily necessities such as salt, cloth, and grain.

And around the market, there live a large number of Han people.

Do business and promote Han culture on weekdays.

In this way, the communication between the two sides is deepened.

However, there are many seasonal rivers in the grassland, so it is difficult to keep people in one place.

The first thing to do is to solve the water problem.

The imperial court sent many craftsmen to dig wells everywhere on the grassland.

With water, there are conditions to keep people fixed.

In recent years, Zhu Di did three things: digging wells, building fortresses, and fighting the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

He is also a workaholic. Seeing that there is hope to completely solve the hidden dangers in the grassland, he is really motivated.

Move your home directly to the grassland for convenient management.

He didn't even return to Beijing for the Chinese New Year this year.

But this time he knew that he really had no choice but to go back.

Tianzhu, that is his own fiefdom.

The imperial court wanted to implement the India strategy, and it would be unreasonable for me not to go back.

So he arranged everything, took his wife and children and headed south back to Luoyang.

(End of this chapter)