Smuggling Daming

Wool and mutton are the two things that grassland people and herdsmen produce the most. Among them, wool has no other use for the shepherds except for making felts, and it is impossible for them to make all the wool into felts. Wool is discarded at random. As for mutton, it is their staple food. Relatively speaking, they prefer to exchange some food with mutton, especially in autumn, because the stored fodder will be eaten by the sheep throughout the winter, but the fodder Often there will be insufficient, so the herdsmen can only kill a batch of sheep. At this time, the mutton is extremely cheap. Even when there is no salt to marinate, they can only watch the mutton go bad and throw it away.

Now Zhou Zhong sent up clothes made of wool and canned food that can preserve food for a long time. This is great news for the shepherds on the grassland. Daming bought wool and mutton, which means that he has two more. There is no income channel, and with the income, they can exchange for better things from Daming, such as tea and salt that are urgently needed on the grasslands, as well as ironware, porcelain and other items. exchange.

In addition, the role of cement is even greater. The reason why Ming Dynasty was unable to rule the grassland was that apart from the resistance of the grassland people, the most important thing was the natural environment of the grassland. Take the road as an example. They are all roads, but that’s not the case at all. Under the dense green grass, there are also dangers. Some rotten mud ponds are covered with green grass, but as soon as people step on it, they will be attracted immediately. Even the whole person will sink, worse than quicksand.If the road is built on the grassland.But a heavy rain came down.All roads are covered with mud and grass roots.

But now with cement it is different.If it is possible to use this kind of cement to build roads, even if it is just a road that is not very wide, Da Ming can use this road to push forward the power control line. If he builds some defensive fortresses on the road, then Da Ming can firmly It is no exaggeration to say that wherever the road is built, the Ming army can control it.

Although Masanori is playful.But his brain is not stupid, on the contrary, Zhengde is actually an extremely smart person, especially he is more thorough in military matters, so when he learned the functions of these three things in front of him, he immediately understood What my second brother meant was to use the opportunity of buying wool and mutton to make the shepherds on the grasslands develop the habit of relying on Daming, and then use cement to build roads on the grasslands, using roads to control those shepherds who are willing to trade with Daming.

Knowing Zhou Zhong's intention, Zhengde lowered his head and began to think.Intellectually speaking, Zhou Zhong's plan is indeed better than his plan of establishing cavalry.With the trade of wool and mutton, the tribes on the grassland will no longer be able to do without Daming, and if the scale of this trade expands, the shepherds will prefer to raise sheep, so the number of horses will decrease , This will naturally reduce the combat effectiveness of the grassland people.Then Daming used roads as bones and fortresses as joints to slowly erode the grassland step by step. After a few decades, the entire grassland would probably fall into the hands of Daming. By then, Daming would no longer have border troubles in the north.

In contrast, Zhengde's idea of ​​establishing a cavalry is a bit risky. Even if this cavalry is really established, and it can defeat the cavalry of the grassland people, such cavalry can only be vertical and horizontal for a while. After all, it is impossible for Zhengde to rely on cavalry Occupying the grassland will eventually return to Daming. It may be that the grassland people will recover after they leave, so in the long run, his cavalry will not have much impact on the grassland at all. At most, it can only satisfy Zhengde himself. Warlike heart.

Zhengde likes to play around, and sometimes even disregards the overall situation, but from his heart, Zhengde still wants to be a good emperor, even if his reputation is not good now, but he doesn't want his people to suffer from aliens for no reason. massacre.So Zhengde lowered his head and pondered for a while, then finally raised his head to look at Fugui and said, "Second brother is very thoughtful, such a step-by-step erosion of the grassland is indeed more practical than my idea, presumably the second brother already has a detailed plan. Hurry up and take out your plan!"

"Your Majesty is wise. After discussing with the Minister of the Ministry of War Wang Qiong, Lord Wang Shouren, and the generals in the military academy for nearly half a month, the prince finally came up with a specific plan. The cabinet is also very grateful for this plan. Interested, even Grand Master Yang expressed his appreciation, if there is no problem with His Majesty, then we can start to implement it step by step!" Fugui said, and took out a thick memorial from his arms, which was written exactly for Prairie's Strategic Plan.

Speaking of such an important grassland strategic plan, it is usually necessary to send an official of the court to send it, but Zhou Zhong understands Zhengde's temper, and knows that he must be very dissatisfied with the cabinet's opposition to the establishment of cavalry, and even has a dissatisfaction with the court. The officials are also very dissatisfied. If an official is sent in the name of the cabinet at this time, it may arouse Zhengde's rebellious psychology. If he disagrees in a fit of anger, Zhou Zhong's painstaking efforts will all be wasted. , So Zhou Zhong thought of a way to let Fugui see Zhengde in the name of giving gifts, and then explain several new inventions one by one. After Zhengde thoroughly understands his intentions, he can calmly consider the gains and losses. , Facts have also proved that Zhou Zhong's method is indeed effective, at least Zhengde has now agreed to Zhou Zhong's plan.

Zhengde took over the grassland strategy plan written by Zhou Zhong, and immediately began to study it seriously. When he just read the beginning, the expression on his face was stunned, as if he was a little surprised, and then he studied down a little bit, his face The look of surprise slowly faded away, and finally even showed a slight smile.

Zhou Zhong's plan for Zhengde is generally divided into three steps. The first step is not to start building roads on the grassland directly, but to send troops to Liaodong. Speaking of which, there are two major forces in Liaodong. Yan Sanwei, and the second one is the Jurchens-based Jianzhouwei. Although these two major forces apparently returned to Ming Dynasty, and even established the Nurgan capital in Liaodong and other places when Ming Chengzu was born, but now Nurgan The Dusi had already been abolished, and Duoyan Sanwei and Jurchen were also capricious towards Daming. Maybe this year they surrendered to Daming, and next year they may rebel. This also restrained a lot of Daming's troops.

In Zhou Zhong's plan, the first step was to clean up Liaodong. In addition to Duoyan Sanwei and Jurchens who restrained Ming's forces, Liaodong's position was also very critical, especially Duoyan Sanwei. They were actually part of the Mongols. Moreover, it is located on the east side of the little Tatar prince's power. If Daming can completely control Liaodong, he can attack the little Tatar prince from the east and south of the Mongolian grassland, so the strategic location is very important.

In addition, Duoyan Sanwei was an idiot that annoyed Daming very much. When Ming was strong, Duoyan Sanwei surrendered to Ming. Later, when Ming was weak, Duoyan Sanwei began to waver between Daming and Tatar. The princes were unified, so Duoyan Sanwei completely fell to the little Tatar prince, but it was Duoyan Sanwei's sloppy attitude that made the Tatar prince not trust them very much. If the Ming army entered Liaodong and conquered it Again, if the Mongols of Duoyan Sanwei were incorporated into the cavalry, they would be a good cannon fodder. After all, no one on the grassland knows the Mongols better than the Mongols.

As for the Jurchens, they were originally a malignant tumor of Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, and they were located to the east of the Duoyan Sanwei. If you want to subdue the Duoyan Sanwei, you have to be wary of the Jurchens, so Zhou Zhong felt that the Jurchens should be eliminated altogether. It also saves problems in the future, and Zhou Zhong also specifically confessed that he already has a clever plan, that is, not letting Daming spend too much money, and can also destroy the Jurchen. welcome.

Cleaning up Liaodong is the first step in the invasion of the grassland, and the next step is the second step. This is also the happiest step for Zhengde, because Zhou Zhong named this step "Strong Army".The so-called strong army is actually to form a large-scale cavalry. After all, if you want to rule the grassland, you can't just rely on road construction and trade. You must have a strong cavalry.

It's just that this cavalry is different from the cavalry that Zhengde wants. This cavalry does not need too sophisticated equipment and hard training. It just expands on the basis of the original Daming cavalry and maintains a sufficient number. The money is far less than what Zhengde planned.If there is a war on the grassland in the future, this cavalry will gallop along the concrete road to entangle the opponent, and the real decisive battle with the enemy will be the infantry from behind, with artillery and muskets, coupled with the assistance of cavalry However, it is not difficult to wipe out the rebellious Mongols.

In the whole plan, this cavalry will be a mixture of Mongols and Hans. Mongols are natural cavalry, and they do not have a unified national concept, so they are very easy to be recruited by Ming, and they will deal with the Mongols on the grassland. , such as the 3000 Battalion in the Beijing Camp, their predecessors were [-] Mongolian elite cavalry.In addition, there are not a few Mongols in the Ming Frontier Army, and most of them are concentrated in the cavalry, so it is not difficult to expand the cavalry.

While the first and second steps are being implemented, the third step of the whole plan is also going on at the same time. At the beginning, Da Ming vigorously purchased wool and mutton, but Da Ming would only trade with those friendly tribes. The tribes controlled by the prince banned trading at all times. This was also to divide the Mongols and prepare for the future invasion of the Mongolian grasslands. (To be continued..)