Smuggling Daming

The three armies of the Ming Dynasty gathered around Kent Khan Mountain, and the sons of the little Tatar prince also gathered their last strength to prepare to defend their last homeland. A big battle that will determine the fate of Tatar is about to begin.

However, this great battle that determined the fate of Tatars did not actually happen. When the sons of the little Tatar princes had just assembled their troops and discussed how to deal with Ming's attack in the big tent, unexpectedly the Tatars The tribal leader suddenly rebelled, and the rebels rushed into the sweat tent, killed all the sons of the little Tatar prince, and then announced their surrender to Ming Dynasty. The few tribes that were unwilling to surrender with them were all slaughtered.

When the big rebellious tribes brought the heads of the sons of the little Tatar princes to the Ming army, they were personally received by Zhengde, and then a series of rewards came, but these tribal leaders received the rewards at the same time. Daming will also send people into their tribes. On the one hand, they will count the population and livestock, and on the other hand, they will be included in the rule and management of Daming.

After the demise of the Tatars, the entire core area of ​​the Mongolian grasslands has been completely under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, leaving only some tribes in some remote places in the west, which have not yet accepted the rule of the Ming Dynasty, but this is only a matter of time. After Ming stabilizes its rule over the grassland, it will start to advance westward until it completely controls the entire grassland.

The demise of the Tatars marked the complete resolution of the northern border troubles that had troubled the Central Plains dynasty for thousands of years, especially with the extension of cement roads on the grasslands, the Ming army could reach any place on the grasslands at the fastest speed.Coupled with the bondage of economic interests, the entire Mongolian grassland can no longer be separated from the Ming Dynasty's rule. Of course, military and economic rule alone cannot last long. In addition, it must be combined with another rule method, that is, education and integration.

Originally, Zhou Zhong wanted to learn from the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty over Mongolia, such as dividing and ruling, allowing the children of Mongolian nobles to study in the capital, corrupting their upper classes, and even using religion to paralyze ordinary Mongolians, especially encouraging Mongolian men to become lamas.It is said that one-third of Mongolia's total population at that time were lamas, which shows that this policy is terrible.

However, after serious consideration, Zhou Zhong found that the method used by the Manchu Qing could only be partially used for reference, and it must not be completely copied. For example, encouraging Mongolian men to become lamas, although it can weaken the number of Mongolians.Even let Mongolia become a poor and ignorant land, but in the future with the economic and cultural development of Ming Dynasty, Mongolia will be unable to catch up with the footsteps of Ming Dynasty. rift, and even in the end there may still be a war.So instead of leaving this problem to future generations, it is better to solve it directly in his generation.

So in this case.Zhou Zhong decided to completely tie Mongolia to Ming's chariot, both economically and culturally. Now that Daming's caravans have begun to drive Mongolia's economic development, it is natural for culture to follow suit.

First of all, Zhou Zhong also divided the Mongolian grassland into six provinces, and each province was divided into several state capitals. Each herdsman had his own household registration, and at least one school was set up in each state capital.The school provides board and lodging, allowing herdsmen to send their children to school to study.However, these schools do not learn poetry and songs, but learn the most basic Chinese language. After all, the first step in communication must be language communication. Connected into one.

In addition to learning Chinese, the school will also learn some simple arithmetic and medical skills. These are the most commonly used knowledge by herdsmen. Among them, arithmetic can prevent them from suffering losses when trading with Han merchants. As for medical skills, they can not only cure people, More importantly, it can heal livestock. Natural disasters on the grasslands are not limited to snowstorms and fires. Plague is also the disaster that herdsmen fear most. Sometimes a large plague can make several tribes starve to death due to lack of food.

In addition to the above-mentioned measures for ordinary herdsmen, Zhou Zhong also borrowed from the rule of the Qing Dynasty over the Mongolian nobles, that is, to let those Mongolian nobles send their children to the capital, and he will open a school for these Mongolian nobles to study. On the one hand, let these aristocratic children become hostages, and on the other hand, they also ideologically reform these Mongolian aristocrats. When the new generation of Mongolian aristocrats grow up under the education of Daming, they will have a natural sense of closeness to Daming, which is even more difficult. There is a rebellion.

At the same time that Zhou Zhong was busy bringing the Mongolian grasslands under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the water conservancy officials of the Ming Dynasty, who had been to Egypt for nearly two years, finally received the news. The original four lakes in the Suez area, and the whole process is almost a straight line, which greatly reduces the excavation routes. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire also promised that they will be responsible for capturing slaves for digging canals. These slaves do not need to spend money, just need to guarantee Their basic diet is enough, so the excavation cost is greatly reduced, but even so, the final estimate of the excavation cost of the canal is still as high as 100 million taels, such a huge sum of money, for Da Ming and For the Ottoman Empire, it was a huge expense.

However, for the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Canal is within their territory, and as long as the canal is successfully dug, they will have an additional golden waterway, which can bring them huge profits every year. I believe it will be possible within a few years. They would never miss such a good opportunity to recover the cost of the canal, not to mention that Da Ming would help them bear half of the cost, so the Ottoman Sultan Selim had already begun to raise funds.

Zhou Zhong did not expect that such a huge cost would be required to dig the Suez Canal. Although Daming only had to bear half of it, it would still cost 1000 million taels of silver. , it may only need more than 100 million taels of silver per year, which is still affordable for the current Daming.

However, the cabinet disagreed with this huge cost. The main reason is that it will take too long to dig the canal. According to the estimates of those water conservancy officials, it will take at least seven to nine years. In such a time, no one knows what will happen. What, if there is a problem with one of the Daming or the Ottoman Empire, it is likely to cause interruptions in the excavation of the canal.

Although Zhou Zhong could understand the cabinet's worries, he was not worried at all, because he knew that although Selim would not live for a few years, Suleiman who took over as the sultan was the greatest sultan in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Under his leadership, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak. It not only reproduced the huge territory of the Arab Empire, but also overwhelmed the European countries. To some extent, the reason why Europe opened the age of great navigation , in addition to the pursuit of wealth, but also because they are always threatened by the Ottoman Empire, which makes them have to go to sea to find a new place to live.

Thinking of the future history of the Ottoman Empire, Zhou Zhong was not worried at all that the other party would have no money to build the canal. As for Daming, he was even less worried. He is not yet 30 years old, and he is in the prime of life. After some rectification, all aspects are showing prosperity. It can be said that even if he does nothing from now on, the entire Ming Dynasty will still develop forward by inertia. This kind of development may not happen in hundreds of years stop.

However, Zhou Zhong did not feel completely relieved about the Suez Canal because of this, especially because the Ottoman Empire is about to usher in its most glorious period. In this way, with the prosperity of the Ottoman Empire, they are likely to burst out with greater ambitions, and they may even Will want to tear up the previous Suez contract and impose heavy taxes on Ming's ships.

Therefore, under such circumstances, Zhou Zhong must also make preparations in advance. Although Da Ming is very far away from the Suez Canal, it is impossible to send the army there, but the navy of Da Ming can reach the distant Red Sea, especially when the contract was signed before. He obtained the right to garrison troops in the Gulf of Aden in the Red Sea. Naturally, this contract must be used well. As long as a strong navy can be maintained there and control the entry and exit of ships in the Red Sea, then the interests of the Suez Canal can be divided. part.

It was also under such circumstances that Zhou Zhong decided to separate a separate fleet from the Nanyang Fleet and establish a port in the Aden region at the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula, which would be the westernmost enclave of Ming Dynasty overseas. This is only temporary, maybe after a few years, Daming will establish his own port in a more distant place.

In fact, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is also facing a huge reorganization. At the beginning, Zhou Zhong used Nanyang as the most important place of immigration, so among the three fleets established, the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet are both inland sea fleets, and their main functions are inspections. And defense, only the Nanyang Fleet is the fleet that is really used for overseas operations. The most important thing that Ming was able to rule Nanyang in such a short period of time was to have this powerful fleet as its backing.

But now with the stability of the Nanyang rule, the original Nanyang has also become the inner sea of ​​Ming Dynasty, and the outer sea of ​​Ming Dynasty has become the wider Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Although the Pacific Ocean has not yet been truly explored, the Indian Ocean has become the entertainment of the Ming Navy. In the field, whether it is Portuguese or Arab, they have to abide by the rules of Ming Dynasty in order to live.

It is also under such circumstances that the original establishment of the Ming Navy can no longer adapt to the current development, so the reorganization of the navy is also imperative, but before the reorganization of the navy, there is another major event related to the sea Zhou Zhong should handle it personally. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)