Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 299 Conquering the South and the North

"My lord, please see your Majesty..."

On the next day after arriving in Beijing, when the sound of singing and singing rang out in the Wuying Hall, eight people, including Mu Chun, Qu Neng, He Fu, Gu Cheng, Wang Xuan, Fu Mao, Fu Zheng and Fu Jing, who were wearing robes, also sat opposite each other. Zhu Di, standing aside, bowed and saluted.

Their expressions were calm, but only they knew what they were thinking.

"Give me a seat." Zhu Di gestured to Wang Yan. Wang Yan also brought several eunuchs to bring chairs so that the eight people could sit in two rows on the left and right.

When taking the seats, Muchun, Qu Neng, He Fu and Gu Cheng sat on the right, and the three brothers Fu Mao and Wang Xuan sat on the left.

Judging from the seating situation, it was obvious that the eight military attachés in the Southwest were at odds with each other because of what had happened during the Jingnan Campaign.

This situation made Zhu Di very happy. After all, if the military attachés were monolithic, it would be difficult for him to deal with it.

"The new dynasty has arrived. I know you may not like me, but that doesn't matter. As long as you serve the court well."

Zhu Di was straight to the point, and even used my self-identity to bring the relationship closer.

His words moved the faces of Muchun and others, perhaps because they did not expect Zhu Di to be so open-minded.

"Except for this sentence, the main reason why I called you to Nanjing is to reform the Southwest and pacify Annan."

"Let's talk about the matter of reforming one's native land and returning home first." Zhu Di paused, and then explained his thoughts:

"I know it's not easy for you in the southwest. In addition, you have contributed to the pacification of Luchuan. Therefore, before discussing the matter of reforming Tuguiliu and Annan, I have to talk about another thing first."

Zhu Di turned his attention to Wang Yan. Upon seeing this, Wang Yan also took out an imperial edict that had been written long ago.

Upon seeing this, Muchun and others stood up and knelt down, bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and waited for Wang Yan to announce the decree.

"I will reward Xiping Hou Muchun as the Duke of Guizhou. He will be granted special promotion to Dr. Ronglu, Youzhu Kingdom, and a salary of 2,500 shi. His descendants will be hereditary. With a title certificate, I will be exempted from death twice, and the three generations will be granted the title."

"Promote Governor Gu to become Zhenyuan Bo..."

"Promote Governor He Fu to Ning Yuanbo..."

"Promote Governor Qu Neng to Jianchang Bo..."

"Promote Kunming commander Fu Mao to the title of Guangnan Bo..."

"Fu Zheng, the commander of the Puding Tuntian Guards, was promoted to the commander of the Yunnan capital..."

"Fu Jing, the commander of the Dali Guards, was promoted to the commander of the Yunnan capital..."

"Wang Xuan, the commander of Nandian, was promoted to be the commander of the Yunnan Dusi..."

"Promote the reward to the commander of Yongchang Guard Wang Zhaowei..."

Zhu Di rewarded the generals in the southwest in one go. Muchun was promoted to Duke for pacifying Dao Ganmeng, and the other four, including Gu Cheng, were promoted to counts, followed by Fu Zheng, Wang Xuan and other five brothers and their sons. Basically, they all entered the Yunnan Capital Command and Envoy Si Yamen.

Such a reward immediately touched the hearts of the generals except Muchun.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty..."

The generals thanked him, including Muchun, but whether it was Zhu Di or Zhu Gaoxu, they could see that Muchun himself didn't actually feel much about the matter of canonizing the Duke.

This is not surprising. If he were not such a person, he would not be willing to distribute all the 300,000 acres of Kunming farmland to the people. Zhu Yuanzhang would not directly override the ministers and let Muchun guard the southwest, and in front of the crowd The minister said: "This child is my family, there is no need to be tried."

Compared with him, his younger brother Mu Sheng is far behind, but even so, he can still control Yunnan and the chieftains of Sanxuan and Liuwei, which shows the Mu family tradition.

"Sit flat on your back."

Zhu Di was not surprised that he failed to conquer Muchun. Speaking of which, he and Muchun had known each other for many years, and they both joined the army in the same year.

The difference is that in the same year that Mu Chun joined the army, he followed Mu Ying in the Western Fan expedition at the age of seventeen. He also accompanied the army in expeditions to Yunnan, Jiangxi and other places. He was often a pioneer, and at the age of less than twenty-five, he was awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Rear Army. House affairs.

At that time, he was much more famous than Zhu Di who had raided Naierfuhua before. He seemed to be another rising star after Li Wenzhong, Zhu Wenzheng and Mu Ying.

Zhu Di was lucky to not have encountered him during the Battle of Jingnan.

"For the chieftains in the southwest, we need to gradually divide them, select the big chieftains who are dissatisfied with the imperial court, or are too powerful to exterminate them, and set up prefectures, prefectures, counties, and guards in the local areas. The imperial court will also send officials and relocated people to the area."

Zhu Di began to talk about the reform of the Southwest, but only in general terms, and then focused on the pacification of Annan.

Since there were no complaints from Chen Tianping or Pei Boxi, the remaining minister of the Chen Dynasty, the reason used by the Ming Dynasty was that Hu Jishen incited the southwestern chieftains to oppose the imperial court and invaded Guangxi's Siming native officials and Yunnan's Ningyuan Prefecture's Mengman, Luzhou, etc. Land, as well as taking advantage of the Ming Dynasty's vassal state of Champa to conquer Champa on the occasion of the death of King Luo Aixin.

Taken together, these things were enough for the Ming Dynasty to send troops to conquer Annan, even if the remnants of the Chen Dynasty did not ask for help.

"I'm not worried about pacifying Annan. You guys have been leading troops in the southwest for many years and have been fighting in the Luchuan area for a long time. Then Hu Jisao is no match for you."

Zhu Di first praised the generals, and then said: "But after taking Annan, how to govern the local area and how to guard against the remnants of the Hu family are what I am worried about."

Speaking of this, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu aside.

It's not that he has no way, but that Zhu Gaoxu is not very familiar with Annan. When the father and son discussed Annan's affairs before, Zhu Di could sense that Zhu Gaoxu had deeper thoughts.

"Indeed..." Seeing Zhu Di looking at him, Zhu Gaoxu also picked up the conversation and continued:

"Annan is no better than the Southwest Chieftain. I have sent people to investigate the area. In general, Annan has 48 prefectures, 168 counties, and a population of more than 3 million."

"In addition, the local situation is similar to Lucchuan in western Yunnan and Cheche in southern Yunnan. Therefore, even if its main force is wiped out, the remaining troops can still harass prefectures, counties and towns."

"If the local people provide more support, these remnants will not only be able to survive in the jungle, but even grow stronger."

"To put it simply, today's Annan is no longer the Annan of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but a place where the court cannot govern gently."

"Under such circumstances, if the imperial court thinks it can govern Annan in a decent way, it will only end up with failure."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but talk about the Annan barbarians who were not recorded in the books.

"In addition to these three million people, there are more than two million barbarians in the western mountains of Annan. This group of barbarians is more difficult to govern than the Annan people."

"In other words, Annan has a population of at least five million, which is more than three times the population controlled by Yunnan chieftains."

"I looked through the history books and found that Rao was as powerful as the Tang Dynasty. After the destruction of Goguryeo, a large number of people moved out, but there were still uprisings in the area. Eight years later, they moved north to govern the province."

"After the imperial court captured Annan, the first thing it did was to relocate the people, and it also had to set up a large number of guard posts and move in Han people."

"As for how to ensure Annan's long-term peace and stability under the imperial government, I have two methods, one fast and one slow."

Zhu Gaoxu paused when he reached the exciting point. The generals looked at him one after another. Zhu Di was also surprised by his pause and couldn't help complaining: "Don't be pretentious. If you have any idea, just tell me."

Facing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath and said: "The quickest way is to kill people. Show the Mongols' attitude towards the Jurchens. They repeatedly looted and looted during the war with Annan, and slaughtered all the soldiers and civilians during the war. , then Annan can be determined."

When a method was revealed, everyone in Wuying Hall took a breath of cold air.

How did the Mongols deal with the Jin people?

The Jin Kingdom had a population of 50 million at its peak, of which nearly 5 million were Jurchens, Khitans and Bohai Han people who surrendered. However, after the end of the Mongolian-Jin War, only a few hundred thousand of the more than 5 million Jurchens, Khitans and Bohai Han people remained.

This method of killing was the reason why it was difficult for the Jurchens to make a comeback throughout the Mongolian period.

Although the method proposed by Zhu Gaoxu was to use war to physically reduce the number of men in Annan, rather than massacring the people like the Mongols.

But this method was still bloody, and even the generals in the southwest who often killed everyone in the battle against Luchuan could not calm down.

"What about a slower way..."

Zhu Di's voice couldn't help but become a little softer, obviously he didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to say such a bloody method.

"The slow way is to plan it slowly, support the Chen family to restore the country, and at the same time announce the dedication of Lang Son, Lang Giang, and Xin'an in the name of the Chen family, and stabilize the dangerous places such as Ailiu and Polui south of Jiling Pass. Stand still."

"This move can be said to be a nominal punishment for the "barbarian thieves" who invaded the southwest states of the imperial court. At the same time, it can also allow them to "return" half of Xuanhua and Guihua to Ningyuan Prefecture."

"On this basis, the Guangxi Xingdu Division was established to manage the land donated by Annan, and Ningyuan Prefecture was promoted to the Military and Civilian Xuanwei Division, and together with Cheche and Laos, it was transferred to the Xingdu Division."

"In this way, the imperial court is equivalent to taking over the sixteen provinces of Yanyun in Annan. There is no barrier north of Thang Long (Hanoi), and the imperial court can attack southward at any time."

"Once Annan becomes restless, he can find a reason to beat him from time to time."

"This has been repeated for more than ten years or decades. If we can defeat Annan, we will destroy it. If we can't defeat it, we will take over his Taiyuan and Beijiang step by step. In this way, we will get the largest plain in Annan."

Zhu Gaoxu came up with a slow method, but this method was not accepted by everyone.

After all, the purpose of sending troops this time is to capture the entire territory of Annan. If more than 100,000 troops are sent and only the mountain passes and plains in the north are captured, it will be completely out of proportion to the gains.

The expressions of the generals were seen by Zhu Gaoxu. In his opinion, the Ming Dynasty had only these two choices if it wanted to capture Annan...either to be patient or cruel.

As for the method used by the Mu family to protect Yunnan, it cannot be used on Annan, let alone solve the problem.

The prerequisite for Zhu Yuanzhang's success in allowing the Mu family to defend Yunnan was that the population of Yunnan was already very small due to the chieftain wars. In addition, the Ming Dynasty forced hundreds of thousands of military households to occupy all the transportation arteries in Yunnan. Therefore, the time and place were in the hands of the imperial court.

In comparison, Annan did not have this condition at all.

First of all, in terms of population, Annan has a very large native population. Counting barbarians, it is three times that of Yunnan.

From a military point of view, once Annan passes the Polei Pass, it will be a vast plain of the Red River Delta. There is no such thing as Yunnan, which is full of passes.

Under such geographical conditions, stationing the garrison and the army on the plain was equivalent to being isolated and unconnected. This was one of the reasons why Le Li was able to defeat the Annan Ming army.

Secondly, the core of Shishou Yunnan is that there are many conflicts among the chieftains in Yunnan. It is impossible and does not exist for them all to unite and rebel at the same time. Even after a certain chieftain rebels, the surrounding chieftains with ulterior motives will immediately declare their support for the Ming Dynasty. Then he participated in the encirclement and suppression organized by the Yunnan General Army.

The Ming Dynasty always led the majority to defeat the minority in Yunnan, which was also an important reason why Yunnan could be maintained for a long time, but this basis did not exist in Annan.

Therefore, in Zhu Gaoxu's view, the fastest and most secure way to conquer Annan was to physically eliminate a group of troops and civilians, greatly reducing the proportion of Annan men, and then migrating orphaned men from the south of the Yangtze River to Annan.

As for the county system implemented by the Ming Dynasty in Annan, he did not agree with all of it. In his opinion, Annan had to implement military control in order to avoid the outbreak of greater turmoil.

Yunnan is different from Annan. After the turmoil broke out in Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty would fight to the death to suppress any turmoil due to the more than 2 million gold, silver and copper mines every year.

But the gold, silver and copper mines in Annan are not as rich as those in Yunnan, and the mining difficulty is not low. The tungsten ores, bauxite and rare earths that are easier to mine are of little use in this era. More importantly, the value of Yunnan has been discovered by Zhu Gaoxu. At present, most of Yunnan's minerals have been discovered under his guidance. Even by the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, the exploration of gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan was not as good as it is now.

Because of this, the Ming Dynasty was able to obtain more than 2 million gold, silver and copper coins worth more than 2 million yuan from the southwest every year.

It is also because of this that officials in the Manchu Dynasty did not resist investing in Yunnan, because they knew that the greater the investment in Yunnan, the higher the return from Yunnan.

In comparison, Annan, which is not easy to mine and has no foundation, is not even as attractive to the Ming Dynasty as Luzon, which is isolated overseas.

Only physically fast methods could allow Ming Dynasty to obtain the most precious land resources of this era on the land of Jiaozhi.

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not know the situation of cultivated land in Annan, judging from their ability to feed three million people, the cultivated land should be no less than 10 million acres.

If the number of hundreds of thousands of men in Annan could be reduced through normal war, two to three million acres of more arable land would be available.

If these cultivated lands were given to the Han people from Weisuo who moved to Annan, it would allow the Han people to gain a foothold there.

It's just that whether Zhu Di dares to use this method is another matter.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di, but Zhu Di obviously did not want to capture Annan in such a bloody way.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to remind him that he did not want the Ming Dynasty to want both things and want them, as in history, and end up with both ends of the world in disarray.

But if the Ming army held firm in Annan, Li Li was suppressed without even a chance to jump.

But even though he said this, Zhu Di still shook his head and said: "The imperial court can follow the example of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and move the men from Annan to Guangdong and Guangxi, and then set up more guardhouses in Annan."

"How many guard posts should we build?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di in front of the generals, but after calculating, Zhu Di said, "How about thirty guard posts?"

"Thirty guard posts can draw up to 50,000 soldiers. It will not be easy to control Annan." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head.

"Sixty guard posts and one hundred thousand soldiers combined with your firearms are enough to suppress them." Zhu Di seemed to have made a decision and dissuaded Zhu Gaoxu:

"It is easy for the army to open a butcher's knife, but it is difficult to take it back. You have been a general for many years, so you should understand."

"Yes" Zhu Gaoxu sighed in his heart, but soon noticed Zhu Di's thoughts.

Obviously, Zhu Di recognized the quick method he said, but he didn't want the imperial army to do such a thing.

If that's the case, wouldn't it be enough to prevent the imperial troops from doing such a thing?

"To conquer a rebellion with such a large population in Annan, the imperial court's 80,000 soldiers and horses are obviously insufficient. How about recruiting soldiers and horses to Sanxuan Liuwei and chieftains from various places?"

Zhu Gaoxu was prepared to let the chieftain take the blame. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty was going to return to the country, and then the chieftain's robbery in Annan could be used as one of the excuses.

The discipline of the chieftain army is definitely not comparable to that of the Ming army. As long as no one cares about them, they can wipe out all the land in Annan.

"How much do you think is appropriate?"

As expected, Zhu Di approved this method, and upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at Muchun on the chair.

"I dare to ask the Duke of Guizhou, how many troops can the chieftains from Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan Xingdusi, Guizhou, Sanxuan and Liuwei and other places recruit?"

"More than a hundred thousand..." Mu Chun's political acumen was no worse than Mu Ying's, and he had already seen clearly the drama between father and son.

"As much as you can recruit." Zhu Di opened his mouth to set the amount of recruitment. Upon hearing this, Mu Chun knew that Zhu Di wanted to use the conquest of Annan to consume the chieftain's strength.

As long as the Ming army uses artillery to blast open the Annan city gate and then sends the chieftain army to enter the city first, they don't need to give orders themselves. I'm afraid they themselves...

"Okay, the matter is settled like this. We will send troops to Annan next winter. If there is a shortage of food and grass in Yunnan and Guangxi, we will dispatch them from Sichuan and Huguang."

Zhu Di didn't want to continue this topic. After all, it would be wrong to talk too much.

Seeing this situation, Muchun and others also stood up and bowed: "I'll leave..."

After that, they slowly exited Wuying Palace.

Not long after they left, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu and said, "In the future, you should rarely talk about this kind of thing in front of the generals. You should talk about it in private, and it is best to be more secretive."

"Please remember this." Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement. Seeing this, Zhu Di also said:

"You can get such detailed information from Annan. It seems that your West Factory is doing well."

This was the first time Zhu Di mentioned Xichang, and he was also testing Xichang's external intelligence capabilities.

He attributed Zhu Gaoxu's ability to grasp the situation in Annan to Xichang, but in fact Zhu Gaoxu was able to know Annan's population situation so well because history had written this chapter when he was reading in his previous life.

The article posted all the data collected after the Ming army conquered Annan. Not only the population situation, but also the number of cows, horses, ships, and elephants in Annan were clearly stated.

The only shortcoming is that the situation of cultivated land was not written, otherwise the information Zhu Gaoxu had could be more accurate.

However, since Zhu Di attributed the source of his intelligence to Xichang, Zhu Gaoxu just took advantage of it.

"Indeed, the West Factory is mainly open to the outside world."

Zhu Gaoxu sat on a chair nearby and gave an "open and honest" answer to Zhu Di.

After hearing this, Zhu Di also showed an expression of "Sure enough," on his face.

But this expression didn't last long before his true nature was revealed.

"You said you have such an accurate grasp of the situation in Annan. What about the situation in the Mobei Tatars and Oara, as well as the situation in the Timur Kingdom that you mentioned earlier?"

Zhu Di asked about Tatar and Oara out of instinct, and asked about Timur's country because Zhu Gaoxu exaggerated so much in his early years that the Ming Dynasty is still on guard against Timur.

"The Oara and Tatar headquarters only have a few hundred thousand people, and the Mingjia warriors they can pull out are at most a hundred thousand."

"As for Tamerlane in the west, he is currently at war with the Persians in Persia and has no ability to invade eastward."

"Furthermore, according to the information I have learned, the new king of Beishebali (East Chagatai) is not convinced by Timur and is trying to rely on the imperial court to fight against Timur."

Zhu Gaoxu roughly stated what he knew about the situation. There may be errors in the details, but overall there should be no problem.

"Well...the news from the north is pretty much the same as what I know."

Zhu Di touched his beard, and then said: "You can handle Annan's affairs yourself. Regarding population migration, I am planning to move from Guangdong to Guangxi, and from Guangxi to Annan."

"At least 200,000 people will be relocated in the first batch, and 30 health posts will be set up, and then they will continue to move again."

Regarding population migration, Zhu Di had similar ideas to Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu wanted to migrate more.

"You can migrate from Fujian to Guangdong, Guangdong to Guangxi, and Guangxi to Annan."

"I estimate that millions of Han people will migrate to Annan within twenty years, and then Annan will be completely controlled by the imperial court."

Zhu Gaoxu expressed his thoughts, but Zhu Di frowned: "Fujian has a small population. Will there be resistance to moving there?"

"No." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head. He knew the situation in Fujian very well, so he explained to Zhu Di:

"Because Fujian is isolated, there are not many rich families and gentry households. In terms of population alone, Fujian has a population of 4 million but only more than 12 million arable land."

"My father should know better than his son whether three acres of land can support one person, but in terms of cultivated land and population, Fujian is already very dangerous."

The land problem in Fujian was particularly serious during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because the place was isolated, the court often did not pay attention to it.

However, the class contradictions here have been very obvious since the late Yongle period. Zhu Zhanji's indifference during the Xuande period made the contradictions in Fujian even more serious.

During the Zhengtong years, when Zhu Qizhen's eyes were still on the southwest, an uprising broke out among miners in Fujian. It was originally an uprising of a few thousand miners who could not bear the squeeze of mining classes, but it quickly grew to hundreds of thousands due to land conflicts.

Not long after Zhu Qizhen sent Chen Mao to send troops to suppress it, Wa Lakeng Pass in the north, and then Zhu Qizhen fell into a three-line battle situation.

Needless to say, Zhu Qizhen insisted on fighting on the third front and was caught as an overseas student in Mobei.

In short, the problem of the Fujian miners' uprising is essentially a problem of interests and resource distribution.

The burden of mining courses in Fujian is indeed heavy, but the burden on ordinary people is not light either.

Even if three acres of land produces six stones of grain, after it is handed over to the government, they can only live a tight life. Once the number of people in the family increases, it does not take more than a few generations, but only one more generation, and then they will encounter the situation of not being able to afford food. .

The people of Fujian and Zhejiang have been facing this situation since the late Yongle period. After the suppression during the Zhengtong period, the conflicts were alleviated. However, by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, people who wanted to make a living could only smuggle to Nanyang to live. Therefore, the smugglers and smugglers during the Jiajing period Japanese pirates mainly live in Fujian and Zhejiang.

Zhu Gaoxu can be sure that as long as he offers sufficiently generous relocation conditions, not to mention moving to Guangdong, even if he directly moves Fujian people to Annan, they will dare to move as a whole family.

"Anyway, Annan's affairs will be left to you from today on. I will no longer interfere, but I will have to review all matters in the north before making a decision."

Zhu Di is relatively reassured about Zhu Gaoxu's handling of government affairs. As long as he doesn't take too big steps, there will basically be no problems.

What he is thinking about now is how to send troops to take over Modong after pacifying Annan.

"I accept the order." Zhu Gaoxu agreed, but still added: "After Modong is recovered, we can slowly build more guard posts..."

"Okay," Zhu Di interrupted, complaining in his words:

"I want to hit you, but you won't let me go. Before I hit you, you are thinking about what will happen next. You should sort out Annan's affairs first and then talk about it."

After saying that, Zhu Di picked up a memorial, leaned on the dragon chair, and used the memorial to block the gaze of Zhu Gaoxu.

"Haha, in that case, I'll take my leave..."

Seeing Zhu Di's appearance, Zhu Gaoxu smiled lightly and bowed in return, and then left Wuying Hall with a hearty laugh.

But after he left, Zhu Di put down the memorial and scratched his beard: "Annan..."

He murmured to Annan, and then clicked his tongue a few times: "Compared with the second child, I feel that I am too sage."

(End of this chapter)