Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 339 Timur’s Eastern Expedition

"Crackling——"

"Boom boom boom!!"

The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and on the occasion of the New Year, there is great hustle and bustle inside and outside Nanjing.

The thick morning fog along the Yangtze River smelled of sulfur and saltpeter, and rows of cannons on the walls of Nanjing roared along with the sound of firecrackers.

Standing on the city wall, soldiers wearing armor, serious and solemn, facing the river wind, sang "Army Song" to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

In the inner city, red lanterns were hung high on the archways in the streets and alleys. The long streets were bustling with people, and even the alleys were very lively. It seemed that the people of Yingtian Mansion had crowded into Nanjing City, squeezing the city to the limit. .

Pedestrians dressed in New Year's attire, singing and laughing to celebrate the coming of the new year, while vendors pushing carts struggled to weave through the crowds.

Some of them are soliciting business, while others are selling snacks such as five-flavored melon seeds, candied haws and candied lotus roots.

The children mixed in the crowd were holding small drumming sticks in their hands, looking for some fun for themselves and playing eagerly.

"My minister believes that it has been ten years since the imperial court last changed the salary of hundreds of officials. Now that the new dynasty has a new atmosphere, prices and wages are different. In addition, the imperial court has obtained copper coins from the southwest and overseas, so it should change the old salary system and formulate a new one."

It is impossible to avoid the autumn grain, because the autumn grain of the Ming Dynasty has reached 80% of the quota of 35 million shi, but it is possible to avoid the summer grain.

In the Song Dynasty, people could show off their tricks during holidays.

Zhu Di had actually read this booklet a long time ago, and he was just acting with Zhu Gaoxu for the officials to see.

"I thank you, Your Majesty. Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty..."

Holidays are not a system unique to later generations, but a system passed down from ancient times to the present.

"If any official dares to collect summer grain privately, he will be dealt with according to the law."

Guo Zi had a close relationship with Zhu Di, so he dared to reject Zhu Di's proposal on the occasion of the New Year.

Judging from the meaning of Zhu Gaoxu's words, he was obviously planning to increase the salary of all officials. Thinking of this, all the officials were eagerly looking forward to it.

Zhu Gaoxu continued to stand up and speak, but the words that came out of his mouth made the officials feel strange.

It is true that the salary given by Zhu Yuanzhang is not too much, but it is definitely not too little, especially after Zhu Yuanzhang followed Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion and canceled the halving of salary into treasure notes, officials can still live well by relying on their salaries.

Not only that, the leave system was extended to all people serving in the service except officials.

After Zhu Di said this, Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a royal robe, also stood up and bowed. When Zhu Di saw this, he also nodded: "That's right."

"This year's summer grain is exempted, which will lighten the burden on the common people's shoulders!"

If you want to do something, you have to do it in a public way, and the Great Court Meeting is obviously a good place to do it.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Officials' half-percent salary is not too small. If it can be increased by half every ten years, then they will not complain, not to mention the copper coins used to allocate general salaries, which saves a lot of time and money for the officials. energy.

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu said his words, thousands of officials inside and outside Wuying Hall swallowed their saliva.

"Follow what is written in the document and start executing it after the Lantern Festival."

Zhu Di, who was wearing a crown robe, opened his crown with his hand, read through this booklet on the salaries of hundreds of officials in the New Dynasty at a glance, and couldn't help but admire:

"Compared to the original base, the base has increased by half, officials in remote areas have increased by 20%, and their salaries have been paid in copper coins at half, which is good..."

At this time, every street and alley in Nanjing is decorated very festively, with red lanterns everywhere, making it particularly lively.

In the past half month, he had discussed a lot with Zhu Gaoxu and found that no matter how taxes were reduced, corrupt officials would not let go of the opportunity to exploit the people.

"This is the "Yongle Dynasty Salary Book" agreed upon by my ministers, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, and Yu Xin, the former Minister of Household Affairs. Your Majesty, please read it."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Wang Yan also handed the booklet he had prepared early to Zhu Di from the side.

However, if you rest every day and live a "salted fish" life, you will obviously not be able to adapt to the needs of work.

"Your Majesty, I thought that we could increase the official leave as appropriate."

What the first northern expedition brought to Zhu Di was not the joy of victory in the war and the expansion of territory, but the heavy burden that the people of Shandong said.

"This is a blessing for the people, but it still requires planning and calculation by the Ministry of Revenue to know whether it will affect the national treasury."

After Zhu Di responded, all the officials knelt down and sang in salute.

As Zhu Di spoke, the ministers in the Fengtian Palace looked at each other in shock. The new Minister of Household Affairs, Guo Zi, came forward to bow:

In addition, the local government offices in the Song Dynasty stopped working on the 20th of the twelfth lunar month every year, which was called "sealing", so that officials could prepare to go home for the New Year, and did not "open the seal" until the 20th of the first lunar month of the following year.

Therefore, there are only two ways to benefit the people. One is to follow Zhu Gaoxu's idea and implement the New Deal province by province, so that the court can firmly control the grassroots.

No matter who they are, they cannot maintain a certain state forever, even emperors and ministers are no exception.

Zhu Di didn't take his words to heart and just said: "Although this matter is considered good, once it is confirmed that it has no impact, it will be distributed to various places immediately."

It seems that in order to celebrate this excitement, Zhu Di in Fengtian Palace also announced something during the New Year.

As the situation in the empire stabilizes, various rules and regulations are gradually being implemented, and the leave procedures for officials are becoming more and more perfect. If a person takes a vacation without the emperor's approval, he will most likely be punished. On the contrary, if a person does not take a break all year round, he will also be punished. The emperor might be bored.

In the Han Dynasty, officials had an average of sixty days of vacation per year. In the Tang Dynasty, there were a total of fifty-three days of holiday leave. Including the usual ten-day holidays, the Tang Dynasty officials had at least one hundred days of vacation per year.

Removing summer grain is actually equivalent to relieving the burden of the north, because the summer grain harvest in the south is not large.

Therefore, how to enable the bureaucratic group to better exert its effectiveness without reducing efficiency has become a problem that the ancient ruling groups have pondered for a long time.

Although the basic holiday system is the same as that of the Tang Dynasty, it is still one holiday every ten days. Unlike the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty also expanded many seasonal holidays.

The second is large-scale tax exemptions, where officials are directly sent to tell local governments that taxes cannot be collected.

Calculating this way, officials in the Song Dynasty could actually take a month off during the New Year.

In short, the total number of large and small festivals, plus the thirty-six days of Xiuxiang a year, as well as holidays such as visiting relatives, weddings and funerals, can be maintained at about 110 days.

Compared with the unbridled holidays of the Song Dynasty, the holidays of the Ming Dynasty were obviously strictly controlled.

The holidays established during the Hongwu period mainly included a five-day holiday for Zhengdan, three days for the Winter Solstice, and ten days for the Lantern Festival. Including two days for the birthdays of the emperor and the queen, there were only twenty days of holidays throughout the year.

Such holidays make life miserable for officials. If it weren't for the pressure from Zhu Yuanzhang, some people might have been unable to bear it.

Now that such a thing was finally brought up, the ministers were very happy. The only surprise was that the person who brought up the matter was actually Zhu Gaoxu.

Needless to say, Zhu Gaoxu's relationship with the civil servants was somewhat guarded when he came forward.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about their precautions. After all, in his opinion, many of the things Lao Zhu formulated were somewhat anti-human.

Lao Zhu always feels that if he can do it, others can do it too.

However, it turns out that what he can do, others really can't do.

Take the financial system he formulated as an example. He could still play with it while he was alive. When it came to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, it was a bit difficult for the two of them to jointly handle it, so Zhu Gaoxu assigned part of the power to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

This is true for finance, and it is true for other systems as well.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't think that more holidays were needed to handle government affairs well. He just felt that the holidays must be reasonable and sufficient. Twenty days was too little.

"My son suggested that we increase the monthly leave by three days each month. In addition to the twenty-day holiday during the Hongwu period, we will have fifty-six days of leave throughout the year."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, the number of official holidays nearly tripled from the original basis. This made the ministers widen their eyes and looked at Zhu Gaoxu, suspecting that a ghost had taken over the East Palace today.

"Um……"

Zhu Di stroked his beard, thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Let's do this starting from this year."

"My lord, thank you for your kindness..."

The addition of a holiday was a cause for celebration for the ministers, who all knelt down to return the favor.

Seeing this, Zhu Di didn't say much. He just asked the Sixth Department and the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to report on the summary and situation of last year.

Regarding this process, the officials were mainly surprised that the population of the imperial court exceeded 70 million and the land exceeded 500 million acres. The rest did not change much.

Until the end of the dynasty, the ministers had not yet come out of the surprise of a salary increase and a doubling of holidays, and they all looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a more complicated look.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at them and didn't think that his favor would make them step back much in the struggle for interests.

The main reason why he announced these new policies was to improve the system.

After leaving Fengtian Hall, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di changed into their regular clothes at Huagai Hall and headed towards Qianqing Palace.

When they got off the bus, the palace of Qianqing was already filled with the fragrance of food.

Empress Xu, Guo Yan, Zhang, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Yueying, Zhu Yugui and others were sitting at the dinner table, chatting about homely affairs.

"Father……"

Seeing Zhu Di and the others arriving, everyone stood up and saluted, and Zhu Gaoxu naturally sat next to Guo Yan.

"Where are my two grandchildren?"

Looking at Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe who were missing, Zhu Di looked around, but Zhu Gaochi returned the greeting: "Dad, Zhanji is sick and is taking medicine at the house."

"He'er was too young, so he didn't bring him with him." Guo Yan also explained.

"There are just two grandsons. You can't even see them during the Chinese New Year. After the Lantern Festival, there will be only one left."

Zhu Di couldn't help complaining after hearing this, while Zhu Gaochi laughed awkwardly.

The construction of the Han Palace and many royal palaces has been completed, and even the kings of Tang, Ying, and Yi are preparing to start vassalage.

It can be said that when the Lantern Festival passes in fifteen days, there will no longer be a vassal king in Beijing except the imprisoned King Zhu Yunxi of Ouning.

Such desolation naturally made Zhu Di feel a little lonely.

During these two days of Lantern Festival, he had spent a comfortable time with his brothers, but he didn't know if they would be honest as the vassal.

"Dad, let's eat first."

Zhu Gaochi spoke carefully, but Zhu Di glared at him: "I just know how to eat."

After glaring at her, Zhu Di looked at Mrs. Zhang: "Daughter-in-law, watch your Han prince. He will become a vassal after he goes to Yunnan. Let him keep his mouth shut and don't eat too much."

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will take good care of him." Mrs. Zhang agreed quickly, which made Zhu Gaochi on the side complain incessantly.

He just wanted to liven up the atmosphere, why didn't he even care about how much he wanted to eat. "Take a seat and eat."

Although he scolded Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Di still felt uncomfortable, so he motioned for everyone to sit down before speaking:

"Last year, the third child wrote me a lot of letters, saying that Changsha is not bad, but the water vapor is too heavy, it is hot in summer and cold in winter."

Zhu Di also revealed what he meant. He simply said such a sentence, probably hoping that Zhu Gaoxu would open his mouth and let the third child come back.

Just facing his intention, everyone lowered their heads to eat, and no one paid any attention to him.

"Let's eat."

Queen Xu put a few chopsticks of meat and vegetables into his bowl, as if she wanted to block his mouth.

As a mother, Queen Xu naturally didn't want her son to leave her too far away, but she was also a queen and knew that it was not a good thing to have three sons by her side.

Now Zhu Gaosui is gone, and Zhu Gaochi will leave in a while. By then, the temple will be much more peaceful, and the father and son Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu will be less suspicious.

In Empress Xu's view, personal emotions are really inferior to the stability and stability of the world.

"Eat, eat..."

Zhu Di murmured and took a few bites, but the atmosphere could not be adjusted.

However, after a while, a piece of music that was very different from this era sounded in the side hall, causing everyone to put down their chopsticks in unison.

"Your tears are weak and hurt..."

The music played by various musical instruments such as guzheng, pipa, long piccolo, etc. was played, and the singing of the female musicians was also very beautiful.

The song "Chrysanthemum Terrace" made Zhu Di, the "Emperor Zhiyin" who liked listening to music when he was in Prince Yan's Mansion, pause his movements and listen to the music quietly.

Not only him, but others were also listening to the music.

After the performance of the song was completed, Zhu Di said, "Who compiled this song? It's interesting."

"It was written by Gao Xu. When he was in charge of the country, he composed 82 pieces of music. Many of them are sung in the capital."

Queen Xu explained with a smile, but Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu with wide eyes, full of disbelief.

But he thought about it for a moment and straightened his back: "Well, like me."

"Huh?" When everyone heard Zhu Di's words of praising Zhu Gaoxu on the surface, but actually boasting and selling himself off, there was a moment of astonishment on their faces.

However, Zhu Gaoxu was already used to it. After coughing, the band in the side hall continued to play.

When everyone heard the music playing, they ate quietly, listening to the music while eating.

After everyone had finished eating, Zhu Gaoxu had the food and tables removed, and asked the band from the side hall to perform in the main hall.

With the combination of Chinese-style music, the dancing of the musicians, and the singing of the musicians, a performance of opera and dance music that is different from this era is presented to people.

Zhu Di stroked his beard and watched the performance in a comfortable mood, while Zhu Gaoxu himself sat with Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi struck Zhu Gaoxu with his hand, making Zhu Gaoxu look at him in confusion.

"Second brother, you have a good band, how about giving me one?"

Zhu Gaochi was talking about Leban, but his eyes were always looking at the dancers. Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but think of the things that his good eldest brother did after he came to the throne to vent his lust and indulge in wine and sex.

"I can give it to you, but I'm afraid my sister-in-law will be angry."

Zhu Gaoxu raised his chin and motioned Zhu Gaochi to look at Mr. Zhang.

When Zhu Gaochi saw this, he looked around and saw the livid-faced Zhang. It was obvious that she had seen everything he had just done.

"Sister-in-law won't let you stay somewhere else?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked curiously, but Zhu Gaochi said awkwardly: "Here, it's just that sometimes if I don't go back for several days, she will get angry when she comes to the door."

He was talking about losing his temper, but Zhu Gaojiu had already imagined in his mind the scene of Mr. Zhang chasing and beating Zhu Gaochi.

He clicked his tongue twice and couldn't help but feel that Guo Yan was good.

But he didn't think about it. Compared to Zhu Gaochi's indulgence, he at least knew how to exercise restraint.

If Mrs. Zhang hadn't been in charge of Zhu Gaochi, he might not have even lived to be forty-eight.

Zhu Gaojiu didn't react. He was still feeling pity for Zhu Gaochi and couldn't help but say:

"I will have someone deliver it to you in two months. Besides, you have gone to Yunnan. If you are missing something, just write a letter. I will satisfy you as much as I can."

"Not yet, just remember to give me a music class. Just get one like this for me." Zhu Gaochi looked at the graceful and light beauty, and almost drooled.

"You will die on a woman's belly sooner or later." Looking at this scene, Zhu Gaoxu finally came to his senses.

"If we can stay together after we return, we will die under the peonies, and we will live like ghosts."

Zhu Gaochi did not forget to recite poems and write poems. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu could only shake his head and pray in his heart that his good brother would not die early due to excessive indulgence after going to Yunnan.

"Okay, I'll go to Huichunhe Palace to handle the government affairs first."

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and told Zhu Gaochi, while Zhu Gaochi focused his attention on the dancer.

Seeing him like that, Zhu Gaoxu walked up to Zhu Di and Queen Xu.

Although Zhu Di had been watching the band, his main attention was on listening to the music. Queen Xu was also similar, so when they saw Zhu Gaoxu coming over, they looked at him suspiciously.

"Dad, I have to deal with the memorial at Huichunhe Palace first."

"Well, go ahead, just let Leban stay." Zhu Di replied straightforwardly, as if he already regarded Leban as his own.

His confident answer made Zhu Gaoxu speechless, and he could only curse in his heart that he shouldn't show this old man something good.

"The son resigned."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed in return and glanced at Queen Xu.

When their eyes met, Empress Xu smiled kindly and nodded at him, not forgetting to remind him: "Although government affairs are important, you must not tire yourself out."

"Mom, don't worry. My son remembers that you should also take good care of yourself."

Zhu Gaoxu was a little worried about Queen Xu's health, but Zhu Di waved his hand: "Let's go, your mother has me."

"My son, please retire..."

Seeing what Zhu Di said, Zhu Gaoxu walked to Guo Yan, lowered his body and said, "You stay with your parents, I will go back to handle government affairs first."

"Please go back slowly, I have a concubine here." Guo Yan replied with a smile and narrowed his eyes. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also stretched out his hand and pinched her cheek.

This move made Guo Yan blush, and Empress Xu and Zhu Yueying in the palace were also amused. Zhang, on the other hand, looked at it with envy, then looked back at the guy whose soul had been seduced by the dancer, and couldn't help but feel a little angry.

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan, then at Queen Xu, and seemed to want to give it a try, but in the end he stopped thinking when Queen Xu raised her eyebrows, and coughed by the way: "Ahem, old man This guy here is not like me, and he is not as stable as me."

Seeing Zhu Di say this, Queen Xu withdrew her gaze.

Just watching her look away, Zhu Di always felt itchy and secretly wanted to try it tonight.

Ignoring their various thoughts, Zhu Gaoxu took a carriage back to the Chunhe Hall in the East Palace after walking out of the Qianqing Palace.

When he arrived at the door, he saw Yi Shiha waiting at the door.

"It's windy outside, what are you doing here?"

Zhu Gaoxu walked forward with a smile, patted Yi Shiha on the shoulder and walked into the Chunhe Hall.

After seeing this, Yi Shiha followed him, rubbed his hands, and after feeling a little warm, he said:

"News came from the west. Timur had assembled an army of 200,000 men and hundreds of thousands of civilians, and ordered his grandson Khalil to lead a vanguard of 30,000 troops to Tashkent to raise food and grass."

He told the reason why he was waiting in the wind and snow. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "Relax."

After that, he walked to his seat and asked Yishiha to put down the map. Then he put away several maps of the Southwest and Nanyang, and then revealed the "General Map of the World's Four Yi Bin Servers".

He picked up the thin command pole and pointed at the river area in Central Asia, sliding all the way to the Western Region.

"If he wants to send troops from Tashkent to march eastward, his goal can only be Beelsebali in the Western Region, and at most Oara in Desert West. As for us..."

Zhu Gaoxu took back the command stick, tapped it on his palm a few times, and chuckled: "It is impossible for him to cross more than three thousand miles to fight with us. Even if he wanted to, his body would not allow it."

Zhu Gaoxu admired Timur very much, but he never took Timur in his eyes.

Times and climate have changed. In this era, it is impossible for the Arabs and the Tang Dynasty to fight against each other in Central Asia during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

Just as the Ming Dynasty could not reach Central Asia, Timur from Central Asia could not reach the Ming Dynasty. The only place where the two countries could compete was in the Western Regions.

If Timur was twenty years younger, Zhu Gaoxu would have been interested in the Western Regions, but Timur was too old.

He is almost seventy, and even Zhu Di may not be able to survive it, let alone himself.

What Zhu Gaoxu is really worried about is the internal strife and collapse of the Timur Empire after Timur's death, the chaos in Central Asia, and the resulting Mongolian movement eastward.

Once the Timur Empire collapsed, many Mongolian tribes under their rule would definitely not continue to live in the war-torn rivers and Eastern Europe, and moving back to the Mongolian homeland would become their choice.

The Ming Dynasty was unable to completely defeat Mongolia in the early Ming Dynasty because Mongolia was much larger than the Huns and Turks.

By virtue of his reputation as a Yuan descendant, Benya Shili attracted many tribes from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to help. This was unimaginable during the Han and Tang Dynasties.

The Han and Tang dynasties dealt with the northern nomads until they moved westward. However, there are now more Mongols in the west than in the east, and they can continuously provide blood transfusions to the Mongolian headquarters.

During the heyday of the Four Great Khanates, the number of Mongolians exceeded 10 million, making it the period with the largest number of Mongolians.

Although the number of Mongolians continued to decline sharply due to wars, until now, the number of Mongolians around the world is still in the millions.

This scale is enough to crush the northern nomads of all generations, and the Mongols of this scale will also become the blood bag of Mobei Mongolia.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu only felt a headache, and at the same time he became anxious about the production problems of the Three Guards of Modong in Da Ningdu.

"I have to think of a way..."

(End of this chapter)