Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 546 Extremely stupid
"The order of the Supervisor of the State has been passed down. Now Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, has become an official. He has awarded the prince the title of Young Master and given him one thousand two hundred coins."

"The scholar Wang Qiandiange has been promoted to the post of Minister of Household Affairs and will be in charge of the government immediately!"

"Zhao Feng, the Minister of the Ministry of War, became an official. Wang Ji, the Grand Scholar of Diange, resigned from the post of Grand Scholar and became the Minister of the Ministry of War."

"Cao Nai, the Minister of Hubu, and Chen Xun, the Minister of Officials, resigned from their posts and joined the cabinet."

In early June, after more than half a month of quarreling, Guo Zi resigned as Minister of Household Affairs and returned to his hometown to retire at the age of seventy, while Wang Hui also became active again in politics.

For the entire Ming Dynasty, these two things were of great importance.

Guo Zi's departure means that only Huang Fu and Jian Yi are left among the Hongwu veterans in the cabinet.

Huang Fu is already sixty-nine years old and will be seventy in one year. Jian Yi is sixty-eight years old and will be seventy in two years. .

In fact, when Guo Zi submitted his official memorial, Huang Fu and Jian Yi also submitted their memorials. However, Zhu Gaoxu only approved Guo Zi's memorial, while Huang Fu and Jian Yi's still required some more hard work.

In addition, Zhu Gaoxu remembered that Huang Fu and Jian Yi seemed to live a long life.

Therefore, he planned to let the two of them work for two more years, while Guo Zi and Xia Yuanji could retire early and maybe live for two more years.

The current situation between the six ministries and the Metropolitan Procuratorate is clear: Jian Yi, the Minister of Personnel, Wang Hui, the Minister of Hubu, Wang Ji, the Minister of War, Xu Shuo, the Minister of Punishments, Yang Shiqi, the Minister of Rites, and Huang Fu, the Minister of Industry.

In addition to the six departments, the seven great scholars in the palace are Yang Pu, Cao Nai, and Chen Xun, led by Yang Rong, as well as Lu Yu from the East Palace, Chen Chang from the Xunchen, and Xue Xuan from the Zhongyong.

The situation is very obvious. After the New Deal occupies three positions among the six ministries, the Diange is balanced by the Conservatives occupying four positions.

In addition to the important Six Ministries and Seven Pavilions, the most important ones are the Duchayuan and the Liuke, and the Liuke and the Duchayuan have almost become the single voice of Wang Hui's faction.

Not only that, there are also three soldiers and horses in the Fifth Army's Soldiers and Horses Division who were brought out by Wang Hui back then. Only Kuang Ye and Xu Xi are from the conservative faction.

Based on this situation, it is not difficult to see that the current internal struggle in the Ming Dynasty is particularly serious, and this is what Zhu Gaoxu wants to see.

Although the fight seemed serious, everything was under control.

But if you want to maintain this control, you have to clean up some important institutions.

Therefore, on June 12, Zhu Zhanhe began to order Liu Mian and Hu Ji to conduct separate internal inspections of Jinyiwei and Xichang.

Forging iron requires one's own hard work. If even the factory guards are not under control, then the imperial court will not be responsible for even confiscation of homes. The so-called party struggle will only bring harm to the imperial court, without any benefit.

When Zhu Gaoxu was preparing to return to Beijing, what was undoubtedly more anxious than Beijing was Kunlun Island at this moment.

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

In the middle of the first month of the thirteenth year of Hongxi's reign, while Zhu Di and others were still celebrating the Lantern Festival in Beijing, a fierce war broke out in Kunlun Continent.

After the friction between Japan and North Korea intensified, a conflict broke out on the west side of the Middle Boundary Lake (Lake Tanganyika).

After the conflict broke out, Jin Zongrui, the military control envoy of the Kunlun Protectorate of North Korea, led 4,000 troops to garrison here.

Japanese General Kajii Yoshinori of the Kunlun General Mansion learned the news and led five thousand Japanese troops to attack Jin Zongrui at night.

At this time, the North Korean army no longer had the strength of the so-called Haedong power more than thirty years ago.

They were able to deal with the indigenous people and Siam and other countries in the north with ease, but facing the Japanese army led by Kajii Yoshinori, they were completely caught off guard.

North Korea's military control allowed Kim Zongrui to escape with his life, but the Japanese army led by Kajii Yosei killed more than 700 Korean soldiers and captured more than 1,600. The remaining Korean soldiers abandoned Jin Zongrui and fled back. North Korea's towns in the north.

A conflict made Kajii Yoshinori see clearly the strength of North Korea, so he ignored the order left by his brother Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, the leader of Japan, to "defend the territory first and avoid disputes."

Kajii Yoshinaga gathered his troops and began to attack North Korea in the north. At the same time, he sent his son Kajii Yoshinaga to the Kunlun Xuanwei Division to report to the Xuanwei Division that North Korea had taken the initiative to provoke disputes and violated the "meridian" established by the emperor.

Since Japan's Kunlun General's Mansion was closer to Kunlun's Xuanwei Division in the south than North Korea's Kunlun Protector's Mansion, Xuanwei Division was the first to see the Japanese envoy.

Before the Ming army could make any move, North Korea secretly came to Xuanweisi in the south by sea ship and told Qi Sheng what happened.

Faced with the situation where the two insisted on different opinions, Qi Sheng, the Kunlun ambassador who learned the news, did not choose to send troops. Instead, he ordered Mu Gudu to Shu Qianhu to inquire about the information, and made two copies of the information obtained, and sent them separately. Go to the imperial court and the Xuanwei Department.

In addition, he sent Mugudushu military officials to deliver messages to Siam and other countries and were not allowed to participate in disputes between North Korea and Japan.

However, what Qi Sheng did not expect was that Siam and other countries did not participate in the dispute, but people from their side took the lead in participating in the dispute.

On the second day of February, a fleet flying the flag of the Sixteenth Merchant Gang anchored in Malindi and suddenly bombarded the North Korean dock in Malindi. Jin Zongrui was frightened and sent envoys to the Xuanwei Division to inquire about the situation.

Faced with this situation, Qi Sheng was also very angry.

At this time, he was discussing the Atlantic trade with Franchi Country. He was already busy, but now the matter was getting bigger and bigger.

Seeing that he could not stop, Qi Sheng could only temporarily put aside the envoys of Franji Kingdom and send messengers to send the news back to the country. He himself personally led two large treasure ships and twelve large fortune ships to go north to Ma Lindi.

In addition, he ordered people to go ahead and order Jin Zongrui, Kajii Yoshinori and the heads of the Sixteen Merchant Gang to come to Ma Lindi to discuss matters.

On March 17, Qi Sheng led two thousand troops and fleet to Ma Lindi.

Facing the summons, the provocateurs Kim Zongrui of North Korea and Yoshinori Kajii of Japan came to Ma Lindi, but the principals of the Sixteenth Merchant Gang did not arrive in advance.

Such a move was undoubtedly a slap in the face to Xuan Weisi.

After Qi Sheng waited for three days, the leaders of the Sixteen Merchant Gang in Kunlun Continent finally arrived, but they refused to admit that any one of them had bombarded the North Korean dock.

This result made North Korea's Jin Zongrui very angry. He believed that these businessmen were undoubtedly insulting North Korea, so he sent people back to North Korea to prepare to directly communicate with the Ministry of Rites about the matter.

Kajii Yoshinori saw that Qi Sheng was so busy that he couldn't even manage his merchants. He returned to Japan's Dadi Town (Lilonggui) in Kunlun Continent the next day on the grounds of physical discomfort, preparing to further launch the plunder of North Korea's land in Kunlun Continent. .

At the same time, the armed merchant ships of the Jiangnan Sixteenth Merchant Gang began to gather towards Ma Lindi. In less than two months, more than 60 armed ships with more than 2,000 pieces of material were gathered, and the sailors alone were 4,770. More than a hundred people.

In addition, some of the armed forces of the Sixteenth Merchant Gang in Kunlun Prefecture were also put on the table.

More than 3,000 servants wearing armor surrounded Ma Lindi, and wearing armor was allowed in Kunlun Continent, so their move did not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

The two thousand navy led by Qi Sheng were surrounded by more than seven thousand sailors from the Sixteenth Merchant Gang in Ma Lindi, but the Sixteenth Merchant Gang was just showing their strength and did not dare to actually conflict with Qi Sheng.

More than 7,000 people surrounded Ma Lindi for three days and began to retreat. Qi Sheng reported all this to the court.

When the news arrived in Beijing, it was already August of the thirteenth year of Hong Xi's reign.

After hearing the news, the whole court was in an uproar. No one could have imagined that some merchants would dare to threaten the court.

"Your Majesty, I thought I should order the closure of private trade in Kunlun!"

"Your Majesty, since ancient times, I have never heard of merchants daring to gather a crowd to threaten the army. Moreover, these merchants have gathered more than 7,000 troops, which is already a considerable force. We must put down the rebellion as soon as possible!"

"What are you saying, Minister Li? Your Majesty has long said that people's rebellions are caused by corrupt officials and exploitation. What's more, Kunlun Continent is thousands of miles away. Did these things really happen, or were Qi Sheng exaggerated to comfort him? This It’s not conclusive yet!”

"Although Qi Sheng has a great reputation, when he previously defeated the Western Yi, I heard that he directly killed the Western Yi floating on the sea with an oar. This incident may have been a civil uprising caused by his exploiting the people of Kunlun Continent! "

"Civil uprising? North Korea's ambassador has been staying in Siyi Pavilion for a month, and the content of his memorial is roughly the same as Qi Sheng's. How can he call it inciting a civil uprising?"

"Your Majesty, please send troops immediately to destroy these sixteen rebels!"

"Your Majesty, I object!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal..."

On August 24, as Zhu Gaoxu's first court date after returning to Beijing, he did not expect that the Sixteenth Merchant Gang would dare to make the matter so big.

In other words, they themselves didn't expect to make the matter such a big deal.

The latter is not because Zhu Gaoxu underestimated the other party, but in this era of underdeveloped communication, it is normal for one thing to be made out of a molehill.

Judging from the incident in Suzhou, the Sixteenth Merchant Gang was relatively restrained and did not cause any casualties.

Of course, it is also possible that this group of people felt that the imperial court's strength in Kunlun Continent was insufficient, so they dared to be so provocative.

It is understandable to think this way. After all, based on the information provided by Yang Bin, Zhu Gaoxu found that except for Yang Bin's family, the other fifteen merchant gangs had servants ranging from 500 to 1,500 in Kunlun Continent.

In addition, judging from the number of armed merchant ships built by the six major shipyards for this group of merchant gangs, they have a total of 324 armed merchant ships.

To control these merchant ships, you need at least 30,000 sailors.

From this point of view, this group of business gangs are not provocative because of their hot-headedness, but they do have this strength in the Kunlun Continent.

Of course, facing the huge Ming Dynasty, their strength was simply ridiculous.

However, there is no shortage of impulsive people in this world, and if this matter is calculated according to time, if the time of delivering the letter is included, it was basically planned at the same time as the Suzhou parade.

But these are no longer important. Zhu Gaoxu was worried that he would not have the opportunity to take action against the Sixteen Merchant Gangs, but he did not expect that they would show up on their own initiative.

Thinking of this, he glanced around at the ministers in front of him, and then he said:

"I already have an idea about this matter, Lord Yue..."

"I'm here!" Hearing the emperor's words, Yang Zhan in the crowd took a step forward and bowed with a wat board in his hand.

His move immediately made many ministers' hearts hang in their throats.

"The naval waters are under martial law. All the ships of the Sixteenth Merchant Gang have arrived at the port for inspection. In addition, you and Zheng He will personally lead the East China Sea and North Sea fleets to see if the trouble in Kunlun Continent is true or false."

"I accept the decree..."

Yang Zhang agreed, and the two fleets had a total of 11,200 people, including 15,000 auxiliary troops for supplies.

With the strength of the two fleets, let alone the Sixteen Merchant Gang, it would not be a problem to destroy some small countries.

Of course, the strength of the Sixteenth Merchant Gang is no worse than that of some small countries.

If they were thrown into Europe far away from the Ming Dynasty, they might be able to sail the Mediterranean with more than 300 armed merchant ships and more than 30,000 merchantmen.

But no matter what they think, if they can afford such a large fleet and more than 30,000 servants, such financial resources and strong strength are not allowed to exist in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

It was time to kill the fat pig that had been raised for almost twenty years.

"The Minister of Rites..." "I'm here!"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke, and Yang Shiqi stood up nervously.

"The situation in North Korea is easy to appease. In addition, let Hu Xi ask Ashikaga Yoshitsugu if he feels that his wings have become stiff and wants to follow the example of Sai Ming in the past and provoke the Celestial Empire?"

"I accept the decree..."

The Qi Ming mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu is the Japanese Emperor Qi Ming, and Emperor Qi Ming was an emperor who tried to cross the sea to conquer the Korean Peninsula and then died of illness.

Although he died of illness, his plan was continuously promoted by the people below, and the Battle of Baijiangkou in the Tang Dynasty broke out.

This battle was the first battle between the Central Plains and Japan as national entities. As a result, the Tang army won a complete victory and Japan's expansion path was forcibly interrupted.

Although Zhu Gaoxu knew that Ashikaga Yoshitsugu was not that bold, who knew whether this guy would become so big that he could provoke the Celestial Empire by annexing several guardian countries.

If he really has the idea of ​​​​provoking the Ming Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty cannot destroy the entire Japan now due to logistical supply problems, with the continuous improvement of steam engines and ships, the Ming Dynasty will always achieve that day.

"Ministry of Industry..."

"Chen is here!"

Seeing the emperor summoning the Ministry of Works, Huang Fu, the Minister of Works, walked out holding a wat board, and Zhu Gaoxu also said:

"The Northwest Railway is about to be completed. According to the original design, how much more food will be needed to continue building it 400 miles west?"

"About 1.8 million strings."

Huang Fu answered all questions, and Zhu Gaoxu also continued: "How about the preparations for the construction of the Anxi Railway?"

The so-called Anxi Railway is the railway from Anbei City in Mobei to Hami in the Western Region.

"There are no problems in surveying for more than 700 miles. There are still 600 miles that have not been surveyed. The survey will be completed in June next year."

Huang Fu answered about the railway from Mobei to the Western Regions, and Zhu Gaoxu then asked about the construction of several other railways.

The Jiangnan Railway has been repaired from Ningbo to Suzhou and is expected to reach Nanjing in June next year.

In addition, the Hangzhou-Nanjing section of the Jiangnan Railway has been completed.

After reaching Nanjing, there are still about 1,700 miles left, and it is expected to be completed in six years.

As for the Huguang Railway, it has also been built from Hengyang to Chenzhou.

Starting from Chenzhou, the railway will enter the Lingbei mountainous area, and the construction speed will be greatly reduced.

The remaining 600 miles will still take at least six years even with current advances in iron smelting and cement technology.

As for the Mobei Railway in the north, it will take at least five years to build from Anbei City to Xiran City.

The Liaodong Railway has been repaired to Lushun, and will reach Dingliao in about four years.

The route of the Southwest Railway in the past has also been re-explored. Although it is still technically unable to reach Kunming from Xuzhou, the construction of some flat sections of railway in various prefectures and counties in Yunnan can already begin.

Because it is too fragmented, the situation has not yet been reported, and it is expected that the situation will be known by the end of the year.

In addition, the 1,300-mile railway starting from Dongchang, all the way from Jinan, Qingzhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou to Weihaiwei and Wendeng counties can be constructed after investigation.

As long as there are no problems with raw materials and funds, it is expected to be completed in five years and will require 6 million dollars.

However, the railway from Nanchang to Fuzhou ran aground due to too many mountainous areas and substandard technology.

Huang Fu reported one thing after another, and the ministers listened attentively, because they all knew the benefits of building a railway.

When they hear that their hometown cannot build a railway because the technology is not up to standard, they will feel disappointed in their hearts.

When I heard that railways could be built in other places, I couldn't help but feel a bit envious and jealous.

In short, after Huang Fu's report, some of the officials in the palace were happy and some were sad, with different expressions.

Compared with them, Zhu Gaoxu did not have such big mood swings.

"Let's start preparations for the construction of the Shandong Railway. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Household Affairs will inspect the situation in some big tax-paying cities, and build railways where there are no railways."

Zhu Gaoxu is not planning to take action against Jiangxi this time, because in the Age of Discovery, Jiangxi's advantages have gradually begun to be evened out.

This time he planned to use some railway projects to block Sanyang and concentrate on cleaning up Jiangdong and Zhejiang.

Sure enough, facing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Sanyang looked at each other vaguely, shook his head and said nothing.

The New Deal faction had been vaccinated against Wang Hui for a long time, and there was not much fluctuation in this regard.

At this moment, their thoughts were focused on how to deal with Southern Zhili and Zhejiang, and the officials elected by these places also felt like a thorn in their backs, as if they would be escorted out of Wuying Hall by the Han general in an instant.

"The affairs of Kunlun Continent will be left to the Duke of Yue. The transformation of the southwest is becoming more and more intense. If the Yunnan Dusi and Xingdu si are short of money and food, the Ministry of Revenue does not need to ask for instructions and will allocate them all."

"I accept the decree..."

Wang Hui responded to Zhu Gaoxu's instructions, neither humble nor overbearing.

However, everyone knew that Wang Hui was calm and calm at the moment just because the storm had not yet come.

Once the storm comes, Wang Hui will let everyone see his side of Jiangnan Pili again.

"Dismiss the dynasty!"

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and left. Upon seeing this, the ministers of Honglu Temple sang a salute, and all the ministers bowed in obeisance and sang long live.

In the midst of their voices, Zhu Gaoxu led Zhu Zhanhe, who was always silent above the court, to the side hall.

After Zhu Gaoxu took his seat, he discussed some things with Zhu Zhanhe.

"I heard that your boss Bo was transferred to Hami Mansion to prepare for the establishment of Yiwu County in Hami Mansion?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked knowingly, and Zhu Zhanhe looked at him with complicated eyes. After a long time, he nodded and said, "Yes..."

"It doesn't matter, there is Zhang Bohai beside you, you can listen to his words more."

"Father..." After hearing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but said, "I think it's not a big problem to listen to my advice."

"Call Your Majesty!" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe with a gloomy look. Zhu Zhanhe clenched his fists and finally lowered his head.

"Your Majesty, I don't think it's a problem to select talents and use them."

"Can you judge who is a virtuous person?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Zhanhe, and Zhu Zhanhe nodded: "I can judge."

"You..." Zhu Gaoxu almost couldn't help scolding this boy. If he could really judge who was virtuous, he wouldn't have to be so tired.

Although Zhu Zhanhe's current performance can be called a conservative leader, Zhu Gaoxu is not satisfied.

He will save enough money and food for Zhu Zhanhe to develop the Ming Dynasty in the future, and what he has to do is to steadily expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty while developing.

Judging from his current situation, Zhu Gaoxu is very worried that this kid will make wrong decisions in the future under the wrong advice from the wrong people.

"Bohai does not have a suitable chief envoy, so Zhang Bohai is transferred to Bohai to serve as chief envoy."

Zhu Gaoxu also transferred Zhu Zhanhe's most trusted person in the East Palace, which made Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty..."

"You want to resist the decree?" Zhu Gaoxu asked him.

Faced with such questioning, Zhu Zhanhe suddenly turned around and walked out.

"I accept the decree!"

There was anger in his voice and his back was very stiff.

Looking at his back, Zhu Gaoxu's eyes showed a little loss.

In fact, he hoped that Zhu Zhanhe would just get angry and harden him, but his temper was too meek to do this.

The reason why he transferred the three Jianghuai people was to cultivate Zhu Zhanhe's character of distrusting others.

It is not good for a king to be suspicious, but it is worse not to doubt anyone.

"Your Majesty, Zheng He wants to see you!"

Just as Zhu Zhanhe left, Zheng He's voice asking for an audience came.

"Xuan!"

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the chair and saw Zheng He walking into the hall a moment later, but he couldn't help but look behind him.

Obviously, he just saw Zhu Zhanhe walking away in anger, and wanted to know why he was angry.

"Your Majesty, I heard that I was going to lead a fleet to the capital of Kunlun Continent to inspect the merchants of Kunlun Continent, so I came here to inquire."

Zheng He bowed and saluted. Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:
"Since you already understand everything, I won't say anything more."

He squinted at Yi Shiha. Yi Shiha understood the meaning and immediately dismissed the rest of the eunuchs on duty in the palace.

After all the people left, Zhu Gaoxu continued to turn his attention to Zheng He.

"If this is true, we will mobilize troops to reclaim all the land occupied by these sixteen merchant gangs."

"Yes..." Zheng He was mentally prepared, but he still needed to ask one thing.

"Your Majesty, if this group of people resists the decree, what should this slave do?"

Zheng He asked cautiously, but Zhu Gaoxu's eyes narrowed when he heard this, and then he said calmly: "Kill..."

(End of this chapter)