Smuggling Daming

A few days later, Murad was arranged by Zhou Zhong to study in the Naval Academy, and he also promised him that after he graduated from the military academy, he could serve in the Ming Navy. As long as he performed well enough, he would be willing to support him. Go back to the Ottoman Empire and compete with his brother Suleiman.

In fact, Zhou Zhong didn't have much hope for Murad. After all, few people in the Ottoman Empire knew Murad's identity. It can be said that Murad had no foundation in the Ottoman Empire. The most outstanding emperor in the history of the Ottoman Empire, how can such a person be defeated so easily?

However, even knowing that Murad has little hope of regaining the position of sultan, Zhou Zhong still decided to train him with all his heart. After all, the Ottoman Empire is the only country in the world that can compete with Ming. If you make trouble for the other party, it will only be beneficial to Da Ming, and what Da Ming pays for this is only a small and insignificant price.

Just as Zhou Zhong had just finished arranging Murad's affairs, the results of the fight between Zhengde and the little Tatar prince finally came from the fishing sea in Liaodong. When the Tatar prince arrived with [-] cavalry , Zhengde has brought [-] Fire Dragon Riders to strictly guard, and the two sides launched a duel between cavalry and cavalry on the grassland.

The Ming side has the upper hand in terms of numbers and equipment, and more than half of the entire Fire Dragon Cavalry is Mongols, so in the early days of the battle, Ming has the upper hand, especially the application of firearms such as grenades, although the direct lethality is limited , but it can have the effect of scaring the opponent's war horse, thereby disrupting the opponent's charge formation. For the cavalry, when the charge is disrupted, the power of the cavalry will be reduced by more than half.

Occupy such a big advantage.The Ming army fought against the cavalry of the little Tatar prince from the beginning, and Zhengde was determined to consume the strength of the Tatars, so he was ready to fight head-on with the Tatars from the beginning, anyway, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty powerful.The population is also large.Although it was not easy to form the Fire Dragon Rider, even this time it was exhausted.As long as the money and food are sufficient, it will not be long before they can be reorganized, but if the Tatar cavalry is exhausted, it will be for the grassland people.An absolute disaster.

It was precisely because of this that the little Tatar prince fell into a passive position from the very beginning. Even if he had the upper hand when the war started, he couldn't stand the consumption of Da Ming, not to mention that they were forced to fight from the beginning. At a disadvantage, there is no possibility of turning over.

Faced with this situation, the little Tatar prince was also very helpless.In the end, he had no choice but to retreat. Originally, he hoped that the Emperor Daming on the opposite side would lead his troops to chase after him, so that he could take advantage of his familiarity with the grassland and wipe out the Ming army on the grassland.They even captured the young Ming emperor directly, just like they captured Ming Yingzong back then.

But it is a pity that Zhengde has no intention of chasing after all. After all, he also knows the weakness of his own side. Although Zhengde is confident in entrusting his life to others, he is not yet arrogant.

The little Tatar prince didn't give up after his defeat. After waiting for a month, he organized another army to send troops to the Xuanfu, but this time he returned without success. Little damage, and the little Tatar prince was also on guard against Da Ming's sneak attack on his lair from the direction of Yuyuhai, so although Zhengde pretended to attack, he didn't dare to actually send troops in the end.

They failed to take advantage of Daming's army twice in a row, which also made the Tatars demoralized. In addition, the concrete roads in Xuanfu and Diaoyu'erhai were also extending forward without any haste. When the cement road advances one point, the trade routes of Daming also expands one point forward. The goods on the grassland are transported to Daming from the cement, and the goods of Daming are transported to the grassland along the cement road. Many grassland tribes even Daming traded and took the initiative to relocate the tribes to both sides of the cement road, and many grassland herdsmen personally joined the team to build the cement road for the reward given by Daming.

The little Tatar prince was also helpless against the slow encroachment of Daming. He had sent troops twice before to destroy this kind of action of Daming, but not only had no effect, but also lost a lot of troops, which was even more terrifying. Yes, these two big defeats plus the previous several big defeats against Daming have dealt a huge blow to his reputation, and many tribes have begun to doubt his ability, which also makes the little Tatar prince dare not No matter how easy it is to send troops, otherwise, if he loses the battle again, I am afraid that his position as the Great Khan will be taken away by others.

The little Tartar prince did not dare to act rashly, and the encroachment of the grassland by the Ming Dynasty became even more unscrupulous. Countless caravans from the Ming Dynasty began to flock to the grassland. Wool, horse temples, and various leather materials are their favorite commodities. With the rapid development of industry and commerce, there is a huge demand for raw materials, so no matter how many raw materials are purchased, there is no need to worry about sales.

In addition, while buying raw materials, the merchants of Ming Dynasty are also slowly transforming the pastoral structure of grassland people. For example, the textile industry in Daming is very developed now, and the demand for wool is huge, so when these merchants enter the grassland for trading, they give priority to Naturally, wool was purchased, and even sheepskin, which was a common commodity in the past, is now somewhat unsalable, because with the development of the textile industry, the people's first choice is naturally cheap textiles, and they also like to wear cotton jackets instead of leather jackets in winter. As a result, the demand for leather products will naturally drop. Of course, this decline is the lowest-end sheepskin. If it is cowhide, wolf skin and other mid-to-high-end fur, it has always been as much as there is.

The merchants in Ming Dynasty like wool the most, and the tribes on the grassland are naturally not stupid. They quickly adjusted the types of animals they graze, such as increasing the proportion of sheep, and then reducing the number of cattle and horses. If the number of horses is reduced, the cowhide will also decrease, and cowhide is the main reason for the prairie people to make armor. As for the horses, the prairie people who lack horses are like cripples without legs, and there is no threat at all.

Of course, the adjustment of this kind of animal husbandry structure on the grassland is very slow, and with the knowledge of the grassland people, they can't detect the impact of this change on themselves, and even many "smart" tribes are already consciously Change the breed of sheep they graze. In the past, they raised sheep mainly to drink goat milk and eat mutton. Sheep flocks can be said to be their main source of food. Now, because the merchants of the Ming Dynasty like wool the most, they began to raise sheep with large wool production. The wool is relatively slender, and the milk and meat yields are second. After all, they can get enough food from the merchants of Ming Dynasty by selling wool, and even fine wine and silk. For one thing, they don't have to worry about raising sheep that produce milk and meat.

Although the adjustment of our animal husbandry structure is slow, it spreads like a virus throughout the Mongolian grassland. After all, the life of the herdsmen on the grassland is too hard, and they don't even have basic life protection. Maybe a catastrophe in winter White disasters can make a medium-sized tribe disappear, and relying on transactions with Ming merchants, they can exchange more conveniently stored food and even warm clothes. With these, even if there is a famine in a certain year, They can also carry it, instead of waiting to starve to death like before.

It's just that with the adjustment of this structure, the grassland people will gradually find that they will be more and more dependent on Daming, such as wool, which is in short supply now, but if the shepherds on the entire grassland raise sheep, plus With the saturation of the wool textile market, there will always be a day of excess production in the future. At that time, it will not be the merchants of Ming Dynasty begging them to sell, but they will beg the merchants of Ming Dynasty to buy.

What is even more frightening is that when there is a surplus of wool production, the grassland people will also find that their basic necessities of life are completely in the hands of Daming. If Daming does not buy their wool, then they will have no food, salt, tea, or clothes. , iron pan, etc., even when they want to resist, they will find that even their war horses will become very scarce, and they will no longer be able to run thousands of miles in a day like before.

In addition, the most critical thing is the concrete road built from Xuanfu and Yuyuerhai. This hardened road will have a solid fortress every hundred miles, and each fortress will be stationed with a centurion. , when the two cement roads cross on the grassland, a cross-shaped iron chain will be formed to lock the whole grassland firmly. If there is any change in any place in the future, it will be difficult to escape Daming's eyeliner, and with the help of convenient transportation , Da Ming can mobilize the army at the fastest speed, and stifle the changes on the grassland in the cradle.

Seeing that the situation in the grassland is getting better day by day, the grassland people with the tribe as the unit also began to slowly move closer to Ming Dynasty. Under the ebb and flow, the power of the Tatars became weaker and weaker. For the sake of the survival of the tribe, they have already secretly sent people to Daming, hoping to ask for some benefits from Daming, and then give their tribe to Daming. After all, they are not stupid, and they know that if this continues, they will follow Tatar together Destruction, since this is the case, it is better to take advantage of the present to get some benefits for yourself, and by the way, let the tribe survive better.

The decline and demise of the Tatars finally made Daming heave a sigh of relief, especially Zhou Zhong and the cabinet felt that they had lost a big burden. For this plan of encroaching on the grasslands, Da Ming invested countless manpower and material resources. If it succeeds, it will be a big loss.

However, when the border troubles in the northern grasslands gradually disappeared, Zhou Zhong also discussed with the cabinet how to bring Zhengde back. After all, it is not unreasonable for an emperor to lead troops outside all the year round, but at this moment, Zhou Zhong has been worried. One thing suddenly broke out.