Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 222 The Northwest Problem
"Hehe... Cao Bingbi, these are some gadgets that I gave to His Royal Highness King Qi, please accept..."

On the first day of August, when the ministers flocked to the Qianqing Palace like a tide of memorials, Cao Huachun, one of the two major butlers under Qi Wang Zhu Youjian, also received many civil servants' favors.

In the current situation, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the king of Qi and the emperor have already broken their faces with all parties.

But the strength of the two parties, as long as anyone with eyes can see clearly, it is obvious that the imperial power with hundreds of thousands of troops is greater.

Rather than saying that Zhu Youjian's subordinates belong to the Qi royal party, it is better to say that he is a royalist party.

Judging from the current situation, it is the best choice for non-partisan officials to stand in line with the emperor.

To stand by the emperor's side, it is naturally impossible to bribe the emperor casually and wag his tail. After all, civil servants still want face.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian, who is under one person and above ten thousand people, has become a breakthrough.

Only a few days after the end of the Battle of Restoring the Liao Dynasty, Cao Huachun had received overtures from hundreds of Beijing officials and hundreds of foreign officials.

Cao Huachun compiled the names of these people into a list, and then sent them to Zhu Youjian in Shenyang.

When Zhu Youjian received this list, he didn't have much thought to deal with this group of speculators, but showed displeasure, or a slightly angry expression, on a letter in his hand.

[Presented by the Guangxi Thousand Household Office of Beizhen Fusi: On July [-], He Zhongwei of Annan Luzhou invaded Guangxi Shangsi Prefecture, surrounded and moved to Longdong, and plundered Baisha Village in Pingxiang. Governor He Shijin led his army to repel it. 】

The news of Jin Yiwei Beizhen Fusi hit Zhu Youjian's face like a loud slap in the face.

He was still celebrating the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, and he never thought that there would be someone who would show his minions to Daming.

The most ridiculous thing is that the guy who stretched out his hand is still a small force in the north of Annan.

Although this man's troops were repulsed by He Shijin, the governor of Guangxi, Annan's soldiers suddenly did such a thing when the whole country was celebrating in Ming Dynasty, which really disgraced Zhu Youjian.

But if that's the case, there's no need for Zhu Youjian to look ugly.

Right now, although his face is ugly, he is actually happy in his heart.

"I am worried that there is no reason to take back Annan. Right now, you are invading our Daming. If you don't fight back, won't you be ridiculed by all nations?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes, and said to Lu Wenzhao without raising his head:

"Go tell Hong Chengchou to come, and let Jin Yiwei bring all the information about Annan..."

"Yes..." Lu Wenzhao responded, and then ordered someone to summon Hong Chengchou who had just returned to Shenyang from Jiefan City two days ago.

While he was arranging, Zhu Youjian was also thinking about how to deal with Annan.

First of all, from a moral point of view, Annan has long been demoted by Jiajing's subordinate country to the Annan Capital Commander, and now it is the frontier of Ming Dynasty that they are actively attacking. The reason for sending troops can be said to be justified.

Secondly, because the Ming army had just ended the Battle of Restoration of Liao Dynasty, plus the tens of millions of taels of silver rewards owed after the Battle of Restoration of Liao Dynasty, it was impossible for Ming Dynasty to launch a large-scale "counter-insurgency" operation against Annan.

In addition, in terms of terrain, Annan was not suitable for the large-scale southward march of the Ming army.

If Zhu Youjian remembers correctly, the area of ​​cultivated land in Annan will not exceed [-] million mu, and the population will be around [-] million to [-] million.

With such a large population, and a population with its own culture, how to fight?How to govern?How to integrate it into the basic disk of Ming Dynasty has become something Zhu Youjian needs to consider.

While he was thinking this way, Jin Yiwei also sent Annan's information, and Zhu Youjian also looked at it on his own.

To put it simply, since the Ming army withdrew during the Xuande period, Annan's Li Li established the Li Dynasty. After that, Annan was peaceful for a hundred years. Until the Zhengde period, Annan Mo Dengyong overthrew the Li Dynasty and established the Mo Dynasty. After that, Annan began a hundred years of war. year.

At this time, the remnants of the Li Dynasty continued to rebel and fight on a large scale. From the reign of Zhengde to the reign of Longqing, it was also the "Northern and Southern Dynasties period" in Annan, also known as the "Controversy between Li and Mo."

The Mo family ruled the northern area of ​​Annan, known as the "Northern Dynasty", while the Ruan family controlled the area south of Thanh Hoa, known as the "Southern Dynasty".

The bitter civil war between these two rival feudal groups lasted for more than half a century.

The Mo family surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and at the price of surrendering a subordinate country to a territory, successfully made the Ming Dynasty stop thinking about attacking the Mo Dynasty.

As for the Ruan family in the Southern Dynasty, after the death of its ruler Ruan Gan, there was another internal dispute between Zheng and Ruan.

Ruan Gan's son-in-law, Zheng Jian, took over all the powers and conspired to deprive the Ruan family of their influence and establish Zheng's hereditary power.

When Ruan Gan's son Ruan Huang saw this, he took the initiative to guard Hue and Guangnan to establish his own separatist power.

In addition, in the northern part of Annan, there are generations of Wu family guarding Xuanguang Town, as well as some barbarian forces.

It's just that these so-called forces have developed to the present, and they have almost been wiped out.

In Annan right now, there are only four forces left, "Zheng Ruan Mo Wu", and their number of soldiers and horses is not small.

Adding it all up, we can still gather [-] soldiers, more than [-] auxiliary soldiers, hundreds of war elephants and many arquebus bought from Europeans.

However, if it's only to this extent, Zhu Youjian doesn't need to worry.

What he was worried about was how to manage it after it was laid down, and in his opinion, perhaps Hong Chengchou could give him a satisfactory answer to this problem of governance.

"Your Highness, Governor Hong has arrived at the main hall."

Lu Wenzhao's words interrupted Zhu Youjian's wild thinking, and upon hearing the words, he also opened his mouth and said:
"Send him in..."

"Yes..." Lu Wenzhao still responded, and then ordered someone to pass on Hong Chengchou.

This process didn't make Zhu Youjian wait too long, almost after a cup of tea, he heard footsteps.

"Your Majesty Hong Chengchou, see Your Highness, Your Highness is thousand years old..."

Hong Chengchou's voice sounded, and Zhu Youjian came back to his senses after hearing the words: "Get up, I told you that you have something to say."

"Yes..." Hong Chengchou got up, then lowered his head and waited for Zhu Youjian's instructions.

Zhu Youjian looked at him, then thought about Hou Jin's dog with a broken spine, and then said:
"Annan invaded the frontier of our country, and was repelled by Guangxi soldiers and horses after robbing the people. I want you to send troops to recover Annan while controlling Yun, Guizhou and Guangxi..."

"..." Zhu Youjian spoke, but Hong Chengchou was not in a hurry to respond, but was thinking.

Zhu Youjian didn't urge him either, he just drank his tea and waited quietly for him to speak.

After a while, Hong Chengchou suddenly said:
"If the following official headquarters, plus Qindu Commander, Madu Commander and two troops, should be able to pacify Annan within three years."

"With the support of the navy's three guards and a thousand five-jin cannons, the time can be shortened to two years."

"It's just..." Speaking of this, Hong Chengchou hesitated, and tentatively asked: "What kind of recovery does Your Highness hope for?"

What kind of recovery?This is a good question. Apparently, Hong Chengchou also knew that if he just attacked Annan normally, then even Yang Wenyue and others could regain Annan.

Since Zhu You interrogated him, it naturally needs to be different.

Regarding this, Zhu Youjian took a shallow sip of tea, and then said absent-mindedly:
"I hope that the chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan will be restored first and then restored. It is best to be as stable as Huguang."

Zhu Youjian's words made Hong Chengchou understand everything in his heart.

The first mention of reforming the soil and returning to the bloc means that he does not want to see Annan still have a force that is not under the control of the court.

It is as stable as Huguang, but why is Huguang stable?Why didn't the ancient man and Yao people who made rebellion in the past stop making rebellion?This is the question Zhu Youjian asked.

Hong Chengchou knew better than anyone how to deal with this problem, so he bowed immediately and said:
"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely take Annan back, but if you want to achieve Huguang's stability, you may have to pay a lot of money..."

"You don't need to worry about money and food. If you settle down quickly enough, or after the next Beijing inspection, the Sixth Ministry will have your seat." Zhu Youjian said suddenly, but Hong Chengchou's face remained calm.

"Your Majesty should do his best, and only wait for the money and food to arrive, and His Highness's military order, to send troops!"

He solemnly bowed down, and Zhu Youjian waved his hand calmly, signaling him to back down.

Hong Chengchou didn't say much, Dang even withdrew, and Zhu Youjian picked up the teacup when he saw this, and took a sip of the tea.

Only Lu Wenzhao looked at Zhu Youjian puzzled and asked, "Your Highness, what did you mean just now?"

"..." Zhu Youjian didn't answer Lu Wenzhao's question immediately, but said with lowered eyes after a while:
"Annan's population is a bit too much..."

"With so many people, how much land can we get even if we flatten the Zheng Ruan Mo Wu family?"

"But..." At this point, Zhu Youjian paused, then continued:

"It would be great if we could use these people to develop Nanyang."

"Your Highness, are you too anxious? This year, after all, you have to spend tens of millions of taels of rewards and pensions, and more than seven million taels of military pay..." Lu Wenzhao said worriedly, and Hearing this, Zhu Youjian touched his chin and said with a smile:

"The matter didn't start so quickly. If nothing else, it would take a lot of time for Beizhen Fusi to inquire about Nanyang's news, and it would take a year to mobilize troops and horses."

"This year and next year will still focus on maintaining stability. As long as Hong Chengchou understands the means, it is enough to keep Annan and Guangxi colliding."

"As for the mobilization of food and grass for the army, and the deployment of silver, that will be a matter of the next year."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at the courtyard outside the study, and looked at the blue sky and white clouds in the distance. While feeling a lot better, he also felt that the burden on his shoulders was getting heavier and heavier.

Great famine in Huaibei, Yellow River breach, Shandong earthquake, severe drought in northern Shaanxi...

These things are not accidental, but man-made and natural disasters.

How to use Wei Zhongxian's brainless and violent framing method in the next time to solve those who are capable and resist the reform among civil servants.

As long as this group of guys die, Zhu Youjian will not need to take action on the remaining group of stinky fish and rotten shrimps, and they will be dealt with by civil officials who want to take refuge in him.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian glanced at the memorabilia sent by Cao Huachun on the table.

Lu Wenzhao looked at Zhu Youjian's gaze, and after looking along, he also said:

"Your Highness, with the addition of this group of people, it will be much easier to deal with the party in the future."

"It's nothing but scumbags. If you rely on me today, you may turn your head to someone else tomorrow." Zhu Youjian looked back and said:
"There is no one available right now, let's use it for the time being, and when the students of Yanshan become useful, then the court can be cleaned up."

People who reuse the old interest groups cannot make the new law that Zhu Youjian thinks continue. They must still use Yanshan students to complete the reform in Zhu Youjian's mind.

Especially when fighting against the upcoming Little Ice River drought, this group of people will become a backward existence.

"Go pass it on to Sun Chuanting."

When thinking of natural disasters, Zhu Youjian thought of Sun Chuanting.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao ordered someone to pass on to Sun Chuanting.

Since the end of the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, the frontline troops have gradually withdrawn.

After all, the supplies on the front line need to be transported by civilians. Without a big war, the army staying there is just a waste of supplies.

The power of the peasants must be reserved for reclamation and inheritance of acres.

"Your Highness, Envoy Yuan Bu seeks an audience."

While Zhu Youjian was thinking, Yuan Yingtai's sudden appeal brought him back to reality: "Biography"

After saying a word, Jin Yiwei, who sent the message, turned around and left. After a while, Yuan Yingtai, who was holding two books, walked into the courtyard, bowed at the door and said:
"His Highness, the number of acres of fields in northern Liaoning and outside the customs has been counted."

"Come in." Zhu Youjian sat back in his seat, and Yuan Yingtai also entered the study with the document, and handed the document to Lu Wenzhao, who then passed it on to Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian, who got the file, also looked at it at a glance.

Kaiyuan, Tieling, Fushun, Puhesuo and other places within the Great Wall have more than [-] mu of land that can be directly cultivated, while Xinsarhu, Jiefan City, Gule City, Jianzhou and other places outside the Eastern Pass have There are nearly [-] mu of fields, large and small.

That is to say, in the first battle of Liaodong, the Ming army regained nearly [-] million mu of land. Adding the original land and the new land relocated to Zhenjiang and other places by the people from Shenyang, the cultivated land in Liaodong has reached [-]. More than [-] mu.

"Have all the victims entered Liaodong?"

Looking at the document on the number of acres of land, Zhu Youjian asked without raising his head, and Yuan Yingtai was worthy of the name of his ability to manage politics that was often praised by Xiong Tingbi in history, and immediately bowed:
"All the victims of the disaster have entered Liaodong, and there are now more than [-] million people in Liaodong."

"Since they have all entered the Liao Dynasty, we should move them to the northern part of Liaodong and the outside of the customs, and first distribute the land rewards and pensions to the local soldiers in Liaodong, and then divide the acres of land equally among the victims according to their heads." Zhu Youjian closed the file and said One side said:

"Nearly [-] million people and nearly [-] million acres of land, it is still a bit difficult to raise [-] troops in Liaodong. Don't worry about food. The Royal Store of Yumajian will transfer grain from south to north, and I will pay enough for the army every year. Next What you and Xiong Tingbi have to do is mainly to improve the livelihood of the people, and at the same time to rectify the cavalry to continue to attack the Jianlu."

"Don't give them a chance to breathe, but don't go deep into the mountains easily, the main thing is to deal with the Jianlu of Wu Yewuwei."

"Based on the acres of land in their hands, they should not be able to support the [-] to [-] soldiers and horses. It is estimated that they will either rob the Beishan Jurchen or plunder the Outer Khalkha."

"If neither of the two is true, then only skirmishers are left to farm, but with the temperament of the old slave, as long as he is not dead, he should not do so."

"The lower officials think so too, but Jianlu hasn't acted for nearly half a month. The lower officials speculate that something may have happened to the old slave." Yuan Yingtai speculated, and Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:
"It doesn't matter whether they act or not. The most important thing is that Liaodong trains its troops well and rectifies its internal affairs."

"There are [-] elites who have experienced the First Battle of the Liao Dynasty, and there are more than [-] cannons. If the old slave dares to come, he will definitely have his teeth shattered."

"Yes..." Yuan Yingtai responded, and then Zhu Youjian didn't give any instructions, and after replying "Resignation", he left the study.

However, shortly after he left, Zhu Youjian received another message from Jin Yiwei, saying that Sun Chuanting had arrived.

"Let him come in." Hearing Sun Chuanting's arrival, Zhu Youjian also put down his teacup, quietly waiting for Sun Chuanting's appearance.

"Your Majesty, Sun Chuanting, see Your Highness, Your Highness is thousand years old..."

After a while, Sun Chuanting came in wearing official uniform, and when Zhu Youjian saw him coming, he motioned for him to take a seat, and then said:

"It is said that you came here for the affairs of Shaanxi."

"This time the guard is abolished, and I plan to abolish the Taipu Temple as well..."

Zhu Youjian's words were astonishing, which meant that he was going to tear himself apart with Wen Chen directly.

In other words, the civil servants have already torn their faces, and Zhu Youjian is too lazy to get used to them.

The [-] million mu of land under the Taipu Temple is managed by this group of waste, and the annual income is only more than one million taels. Who doesn't like this?

More importantly, most of the fields and pastures of Taipu Temple exist in Shaanxi, and compared with the population, the land in Shaanxi can be said to be pitifully scarce.

If Zhu Youjian does not take action against Shaanxi, I am afraid that the people in northern Shaanxi will really have to wait for the rebellion in the seventh year of the apocalypse.

In the three areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia with no more than [-] million mu of land, there are more than [-] million mu of military farmland, and the number of land in Taipu Temple has reached [-] million mu.

That is to say, the number of official farmland has reached half of the farmland in Shaanxi.

But the embarrassing thing is that the court did not receive much income from these acres.

The pasture land that was specially designated for raising horses was invaded and reclaimed by powerful landlords in Shaanxi and Shandong. The officials of Taipu Temple had nothing to do about this, so they acquiesced that this situation existed, and issued regulations to the tyrants who invaded the pasture land. pasture rent.

However, the rent is pitifully low, so it is better to distribute the land directly to the people of Shaanxi.

Therefore, what Zhu Youjian asked Sun Chuanting to do is something he has done in history.

Clarify the fields...

"Nearly half of the acres in Shaanxi belong to the Taipu Temple and the Guards. If these acres are taken back, clarified, and then distributed to the people for cultivation, it will greatly reduce the burden on the people."

Zhu Youjian said while watching Sun Chuanting's expression changes, but although Sun Chuanting was not as cunning as Hong Chengchou, he did not show his thoughts on his face at will.

Regarding Zhu Youjian's words, Sun Chuanting just bowed and said:
"To clarify the fields, I am afraid that there will be conflicts with the local tyrants in Shaanxi, and most of the tyrants in Shaanxi are from the Northwest Frontier Army. If we want to clean them up, I am afraid they will meet with each other..."

"The court is in trouble, and the people can't survive anymore. If they don't hand over the acres, why not kill them?" Zhu Youjian responded with a sneer.

To put it bluntly, military commanders are inferior to others in this era, especially when the central power is extremely powerful.

The current center, the current imperial power, can be said to have reached the strongest time since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

For Zhu Youjian, if the Northwest Frontier Army really dared to rebel, it would be a matter of liquidation.

The four towns in the Northwest can pull out [-] elites, but Sun Chuanting's one, plus the Waigongwei camp in Shaanxi, the war may have just broken out, and it will be declared over.

Not to mention that among the four towns in the northwest, Guyuan Town is still Li Rubai's army.

However, Sun Chuanting's worries are not unreasonable, and there are a lot of soldiers and horses in Shanxi.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said:

"You lead the troops to Shaanxi this time. I will issue a military order to transfer ten battalions of soldiers and horses to you from Shanxi. In addition, the newly cast [-] five-pound cannons and six hundred ten-pound cannons from Yanshan Ordnance Institute will be fine. call you."

"If this is the case, then the local tyrants in Shaanxi are nothing to worry about." Seeing that everything he needed could be met, Sun Chuanting naturally had no worries, and directly agreed to Zhu Youjian's idea.

But if it's only to this extent, there is no need for Zhu Youjian to let Sun Chuanting come. He wants Sun Chuanting to come, there is one more thing.

Thinking of this, he got up and said:
"Even if the acres of land are found, the land in Shaanxi is still not enough to make everyone in Shaanxi rich. Therefore, what I want you to do is to relocate the people and garrison the Hexi Corridor."

The Hexi Corridor is the later Gansu region.

This area was lost after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, and it was not recovered until the early Ming Dynasty after nearly [-] years. When it was recovered in the early Ming Dynasty, there were only about [-] people in the entire territory of Gansu, and most of them were from other races.

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang moved the population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Gansu in the early Ming Dynasty, the current population of Gansu is less than [-] million.

If you want to recover the Western Regions, this population is completely insufficient, because in Zhu Youjian's memory, after the Qing Dynasty took over Gansu, the population did not recover to [-] million until the Yongzheng period.

But with a population of [-] million, even the [-] South Army of the Qing Dynasty who attacked Junggar from north to south could not support them.

The reason is too simple, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the distance to attack the Western Regions is even more desperate.

From Jiayuguan to Yili River Valley, it is a full three thousand miles, and due to climate changes, the environment in the Western Regions at this moment is much worse than that of later generations.

This can be seen from the attitude of the seven guards in Kansai after they moved in. They were clearly the bosses outside the pass, but after they moved into the pass, everyone in the seven guards couldn't think of leaving.

You must know that Gansu in this period was even more barren than Yunnan, Guizhou, Liaodong and other places, but they still felt that Gansu was a paradise.

Even though the Ming Dynasty asked them to fight back several times, they still "planted melons and lent money, made a living, and never thought of leaving."

Such a bad place in Hexi made Zhu Youjian dare not tell Sun Chuanting and others that he wanted to regain the Western Regions.

If he really said it, both Sun Chuanting and Lu Wenzhao would suspect that he was possessed by a monster.

Spend tens of millions of taels of silver to build a place that can only reclaim a million acres of land and five or six million acres of pastures?

Not to mention the follow-up expenses of spending money to garrison troops here after they are conquered. If you want this energy, you might as well go to regain three propaganda and six comforts.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian did not say that he would recover the Western Regions, but only said that for the livelihood of the people in Shaanxi, some people needed to be relocated to Hexi.

After all, no matter how barren and desertified the Hexi land is, it still has the snow water from Qilian Mountains to irrigate the fields.

If Zhu Youjian remembers correctly, under the background of the severe drought in the late Ming Dynasty, Gansu was less affected.

Thinking about it this way, relocating people to Gansu for reclamation is a good thing for both the people in Shaanxi and Daming.

The only thing to pay attention to is the food needed for reclamation.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian calculated an account, and then said:
"As for the matter of garrisoning fields in Hexi, I will order Yu Majian to transport grain from the south to the west to stabilize the local grain price."

"What you have to do is to abolish the local guards, and then move the people in northern Shaanxi from Yansui and Yan'an to Hexi for reclamation."

"The relocated people are given twelve stones of rice and sixty catties of meat every year, and one head of farming cattle for each household. The acres of cultivated land are registered and recorded, and all belong to the people who cultivated them."

"This... specific reclamation matters, you need to go to Hexi to respond to His Highness." Sun Chuanting did not nod because of the generous conditions offered by Zhu Youjian.

In the final analysis, he still needs to see the situation of the people in Shaanxi, and then to see the situation in Hexi, before he can decide whether he can relocate the population to reclaim Hexi.

"Just do it, and lead the troops to set off in the middle of next month. As for the guards in Shaanxi, just wait for my military order."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he signaled to Sun Chuanting that he could leave, and upon seeing this, Sun Chuanting bowed to leave immediately.

Looking at his leaving back, Zhu Youjian looked a little worried.

After all, he himself does not know how bad the current environment in Gansu is.

Specifically, only after Sun Chuanting can see it himself can he decide whether the population can be relocated to Hexi.

If not...

Zhu Youjian's mood sank. If he can't, it means that Da Ming may have to wait until the coldest period of the Little Ice River passes before he has a chance to regain the Western Regions...

　I will change it today, because yesterday when I was riding on a business trip, I encountered a reverse vehicle speeding, and then I was hit by a bad luck.

　　Everyone in the book group knows that the knee was scratched, and I thought it was fine, but this morning, the joints behind the knee hurt badly, so I planned to go to the hospital this afternoon, and now I am in a wheelchair
　　
　
(End of this chapter)