Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 562 Big Lie
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it has arrived in the winter of the fifteenth year of Hongxi.

From mid-September to early October, Zhu Gaoxu issued twelve imperial edicts in a row, ordering Zhu Neng to invite the retired emperor back to Beijing, but he failed every time.

Either Zhu Di said that he was sick and couldn't walk, or Zhu Qiyue suffered from bean disease and couldn't be exposed to the wind.

In short, in order to continue staying in Hami, the grandfather and grandson used all kinds of excuses and means.

As time entered October and the temperature in the northwest dropped sharply, even if Zhu Gaoxu wanted Zhu Di to return, it would be impossible for him to come back.

Just as Zhu Zhanhe expected, unless his father took action himself, there would be no way to persuade these two ancestors to come back.

In desperation, Zhu Gaoxu could only send the imperial doctors in Beijing to Hami, praying that nothing would happen to Zhu Di in Hami.

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't quite believe in proverbs, the saying that saints are sad at the age of seventy-three and eighty-four still made him a little worried.

After all, the old man in history only lived to be sixty-five, but now he is seventy-three, and may even be seventy-four soon.

His extraordinary performance even surpassed that of Zhu Yuanzhang, so it seemed strange that Zhu Gaoxu was not worried.

Of course, family affairs are family affairs and state affairs are state affairs, and Zhu Gaoxu still has to distinguish clearly between them.

A cold winter, whether in later times or in this era, will claim many lives.

On the fourth day of the twelfth month, Wang Kui, Marquis of Zhenkang, died at the age of sixty.

Regarding Wang Kui's death, Zhu Gaoxu first wrote a handwritten letter to Wang Xuan, hoping that he would not be too sad and take good care of his health. He also hoped that he would come to Beijing to reminisce about the past after the Burmese pacification.

Only after writing the letter did Zhu Gaoxu begin to arrange Wang Kui's funeral.

Wang Kui was posthumously named Duke of Pingnan and given the posthumous title of Wuhui, and his son Wang Zhao inherited his title of marquis.

Despite this arrangement, Wang Kui's military ability was actually average. Although his son Wang Zhao followed Wang Xuan in the southwest for more than ten years, his official position was only a guard commander, which shows that he did not have any outstanding talents.

Wang Xuan's sons did not have any outstanding talents, which made Zhu Gaoxu worry about the future of the southwest.

Fortunately, Mu Chun's two sons were quite capable, and Fu Rang's sons and nephews were also quite good. Relying on the Ming army's advanced weapons, it was not a problem to suppress the natives of Indochina.

Among the sons of nobles today, Zhu Gaoxu has not yet seen a talented general in the three generations who can command more than 100,000 troops, which makes him a little worried.

Although Wang Xuan, Fu Rang, Chen Mao, Jiang Gui, Meng Ying and others are all very good, they are old after all, and the youngest is fifty years old.

If there are no sons of noble families who can become talented generals, then Zhu Gaoxu can only promote talented people from other places to become new noble families.

Among them, Mao Zhong, Cao Yi, Liu Yongcheng, Fang Ying, Dong Xing, Liang Yan, Sun Tong, Shi Heng and others who emerged during the Zhengtong period were all noticed by Zhu Gaoxu early on.

The oldest among them was only in his early forties, and the youngest, Fang Ying, was even studying at the military academy in Nanjing. She was only seventeen years old, but her grades in almost all subjects were A.

There are not many talented generals among this group of people, but there are many who can lead tens of thousands of soldiers.

In the current Ming Dynasty, there are still a few generals and soldiers with tens of thousands of troops, and they can hold out for another ten years.

With Wang Ji in charge of the court, Zhu Gaoxu didn't have to worry too much.

After judging the general situation, Zhu Gaoxu was still melancholy, but he could do nothing about it.

A general who can lead more than 100,000 soldiers is hard to come by, and there are usually only a handful of such generals in a dynasty.

There were too many people who could command more than 100,000 soldiers in the early Ming Dynasty, but now there are only the old man and myself, as well as Zhang Fu, Zhu Neng, Meng Zhang and others.

Meng Zhang fell ill and stayed at home due to guarding Bohai for many years. Although Zhu Neng was still active in the northwest, no one knew how long he could be active.

The only one who could last a little longer was Zhang Fu, but judging from Zhang Fu's situation in official history, after the fourth year of Zhengtong, I don't know if it was because he was old or what, but in short, we rarely see him making clear military analysis.

Zhu Gaoxu could understand this. After all, he was now on the decline, and his thoughts were no longer as active and lively as when he was young. Instead, he tended to be conservative.

Even Zhu Di, a strong and energetic man, could not help becoming confused after he turned seventy.

Everyone will grow old, and their body functions will continue to decline with age. This cannot be forced.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"

"Ok?"

Yishiha's voice rang in his ears, and it was not until he raised his voice slightly for the second time that Zhu Gaoxu came back to reality from his thoughts.

His reactions have become somewhat slow, which would have been impossible a few years ago.

Such a result made him a little sad, but he remained calm on the surface.

"The ink is dry."

Yishiha reminded Zhu Gaoxu, and then he realized that the ink in the red brush in his hand had dried up.

After realizing it, he put the pen back into the inkstone and wanted to continue writing, but he didn't know what he thought of. He couldn't help but put down the pen and motioned Yishiha to follow him.

He took Yishiha out of the Qianqing Palace and walked on the square outside the palace.

It is now the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month and heavy snow has begun to fall in Beijing.

Since the Forbidden City in Beijing had floor heating installed in all palaces and official spaces at the beginning of its construction, every winter a convoy would transport large quantities of coal to the Xuanwu Gate, and people would be ordered to open the gates to boil water, so that the underground pipes throughout the Forbidden City would be filled with large amounts of hot water.

Because of this design, the snow on the ground will melt little by little, and it will flow through the gaps between the bricks into the underground drainage ditch and be washed out.

This design is very clever, but it has been used for a long time.

The reason why it has not been promoted is that too much coal is needed to maintain such a large-scale heating.

The Forbidden City consumed more than 400,000 strings of cash every year, a quarter of which was spent on coal.

Heating like this requires 200 tons of coal a day, and 30,000 tons in a winter. Heating alone requires 20,000 strings of cash for a winter, and 30,000 strings of cash if cooking is included.

This is due to the reduction in coal prices caused by the Industrial Revolution. If it were during the Hongwu period, consumption would probably have doubled.

Walking on the palace road, Zhu Gaoxu did not say a word for a long time, and Yishiha did not speak either, but just followed him obediently.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhu Gaoxu stopped, said nothing, turned around and returned to the Qianqing Palace.

Yi Shiha felt uncomfortable watching this scene, because he felt the confusion of his Majesty.

This kind of situation should not have happened to His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, I am really old..."

Yishiha felt upset. After escorting Zhu Gaoxu back to the Qianqing Palace, he saw that Zhu Gaoxu had calmed down a little and picked up his pen to continue writing his book.

While he was behaving like this, the Ming Dynasty was still rushing along the path he had designated.

Amid the crackling sound of firecrackers, the Ming Dynasty entered the 16th year of Hongxi.

Zhu Gaoxu rarely showed up at the grand court meeting that year. The entire meeting was presided over and completed by Zhu Zhanhe.

After it was over, Zhu Zhanhe had the documents from the six ministries and six offices sent to the Qianqing Palace.

The new year has begun, and the achievements made in the past year have been quite fruitful.

In the 15th year of Hongxi, the population of the Ming Dynasty reached more than 125.64 million, and the amount of cultivated land reached more than 716 million mu.

The fiscal revenue of the 18 provincial governments in the two capitals was more than 57 million strings of cash, and the fiscal revenue of the four major overseas provincial governments was more than 9 million strings of cash, totaling more than 66 million strings of cash.

Of the 66 million strings of cash in taxes, 38 million strings were used to pay salaries to the military administration, official school instructors, administrative staff, civil and military officials directly under the imperial court.

The military expenditure of the Six Military Governor's Office reached 17 million strings of cash.

The maintenance of railways, water conservancy facilities and official roads reached an expenditure of six million guan.

The remaining 5 million strings of cash were deposited into the national treasury because the tens of millions of strings of cash allocated by the imperial court had not been spent.

The current Ming Dynasty is definitely a huge dynasty unprecedented in history.

A population of more than 120 million, 740,000 troops, 520,000 soldiers, 150,000 government servants, 500,000 clerks, 660,000 teachers, and more than 70,000 civil and military officials...

It can be said that the number of people who relied on the imperial court for their livelihood was as high as 2.64 million.

If we include the workers on the government-run projects under the Ministry of Industry, the number would be as high as seven million.

These seven million people represent seven million families, while the registered households in the Ming Dynasty were only over 23 million, and almost one-third of the families depended on the court for their livelihood.

This ratio is not healthy, but it is the only way to implement the court's policies.

Compared with basic administration and expenditure, the investment part is more surprising.

Since the Reform Movement of 1911, the imperial court has allocated more than 48 million strings of cash to local governments, and has spent more than 22 million strings of cash so far. It has built 276 factories, more than 1,300 miles of railways, and more than 2,400 miles of official roads.

Of course, these factories have just been built and have not yet started production, so there is no return.

People from all walks of life are worried about this.

If this approach doesn't work, will the emperor suspend it and instead adopt the traditional approach of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure?
If they increase revenue and reduce expenditure, will they consider the current situation as one of redundancy, redundancy and will they be laid off?
Thinking of this, the entire court seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog, which made people sad.

Compared with the worries of the civil officials, the military generals were more concerned about the wars in the southwest and northwest.

Most people know why the war in the southwest has lasted until now, but no one is willing to expose it.

However, in the war in the northwest, whether it was the emperor, civil officials, or all the meritorious officials and generals, everyone was pursuing a quick victory.

Either don't fight, or if you fight, get rid of it like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Otherwise, the huge logistical pressure would be enough to crush the Ming Dynasty today. After all, the economic reforms of the Ming Dynasty required an investment of 10 to 20 million strings of cash every year.

If the war in the northwest cannot end soon, it will affect the new political reforms in the country.

Under such pressure, the construction of the railway from Hami to Turpan is also progressing continuously.

Although the construction speed was hampered by heavy snow and cold in winter, the railway was still advancing towards Hami, and the speed was faster than anyone in the government had imagined.

Because of this, Yilibali, who had been stationing troops in Turpan, finally couldn't bear it.

"Sorry..."

"kill!"

“Crack!”

On March 17, the 16th year of the Hongxi reign, thousands of cavalrymen were galloping back and forth and fighting in the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Eastern Tianshan Mountains.

Two thousand Ming cavalrymen, led by Xu Tao, continued to engage in guerrilla warfare with Yilibali's three thousand Mongolian cavalrymen.

Relying on the carbines in their hands, they charged back and forth, and in just a few rounds, they repelled the 3,000 Mongolian cavalry who came to spy on the news, and left behind the bodies of 300 to 400 Mongolian cavalry.

"Collect the armor, have the examiner record your military merits, and tell the laborers behind to continue building the railway. We are here at the front!"

Xu Tao was standing on his horse with his sword drawn. Although he was young, he was quite heroic.

At his order, the Ming army fighting at the front sent more than a hundred wounded brothers to the rear and reported the military situation to the rear.

A team of Tang cavalry came galloping from the east. The civilians on the Gobi Desert looked at the cavalry nervously, and their feet were ready to escape.

"Send the commander's order. The Western Tartars have been repelled. The railway construction continues. We are stationed in the front. You will be safe!"

"Good!!" "The government troops are mighty!"

Upon learning that the invading Western Tartars had been repelled, the laborers began to cheer, and tens of thousands of people accelerated the pace of building the railway.

At the same time, military intelligence was also sent to Hami City, more than 400 miles away.

In the temporary palace, Zhu Di was wearing a black cotton robe, holding a military report from the front in his hand, and stroking his long white beard from time to time.

In the temporary palace, Zhu Qiyue, Chen Mao, Zhu Neng and more than ten generals were waiting for his instructions.

Obviously, the old man is still as good as ever. In just half a year, he conquered Hami's western expedition army.

Of course, without Zhu Gaoxu's nod, the old man could not do this. After all, he was now the emperor emeritus, not the emperor.

"How many troops does Yilibali have in Turpan now?"

Zhu Di asked Zhu Neng, who bowed and said, "About 40,000. This is probably the maximum force they can mobilize to resist the Timurid Empire."

"Forty thousand..." Zhu Di nodded, and after a little thought, he spoke:

"Our railway is now less than 80 miles away from Turpan. Their probing this time shows that they are ready for war."

"The Tianshan Mountains are insurmountable, so we can move westward with peace of mind."

"Zhu Neng, Chen Mao, Mao Zhong, each of you will lead 25,000 officers and soldiers and 40,000 auxiliary troops in the city to the front line."

"Yes!" Hearing this, the three of them bowed and saluted, while Zhu Qiyue was eager to try.

Zhu Di did not hastily send Zhu Qiyue to the battlefield. Instead, after Zhu Neng and others left, he said to Zhu Qiyue:
"You have never led troops into battle at your age, but Grandfather will give you this opportunity. You just need to wait."

"I know!" Zhu Qiyue nodded, and at the same time said worriedly:
"Grandfather, if grandpa and my father knew what was happening here, would they send someone to take us away?"

"Take him away?" Zhu Di laughed out loud: "Haha, no way..."

He knew his second son well. He was a man who attached the most importance to state affairs and it was impossible for him to go to the front line in person.

Thinking of this, he said to Zhu Qiyue: "This war will not start in a short time. It will take at least until May."

"Although Hami does not have the main force of the Western Expedition, there are still 3,000 Yanshan Guard cavalry guards in the palace and outside the city."

"I understand!" Zhu Qiyue's eyes lit up, knowing that his grandfather still wanted to go to the battlefield, and the 3,000 cavalry of Yanshanwei were his capital to go to the battlefield.

The grandfather and grandson smiled at each other, and they looked as if they were carved from the same mold.

As they laughed, as the troops in Hami City were mobilized, Xia Yuanji, who had been paying attention to all this, immediately went to the palace.

The joy of the grandfather and grandson did not last long, as it was interrupted by the singing of the Yanshan guards.

"Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Xia requests to see you!"

"not see!"

Zhu Di responded without thinking, and only felt the situation after he came to his senses.

"I forgot about this guy Xia Yuanji..."

Since the beginning of autumn, Xia Yuanji had been urging Zhu Di to return to Beijing, but Zhu Di had always used the excuse that he was in poor health.

As a result, he refused to leave, and Xia Yuanji didn't leave either, looking like he was determined to fight to the death with him.

The troops have just been mobilized, and this guy has taken the initiative to come looking for us. It must be something bad.

"Yes, great grandfather, we can't see him. If we see him, it will be bad if he doesn't leave."

Zhu Qiyue also quickly agreed. Zhu Di was about to nod when he heard the Yanshan guard say awkwardly:
"Grand Tutor Xia said that if His Majesty doesn't see him, he will kneel at the entrance of the palace."

"..." Upon hearing this, Zhu Di and Zhu Qiyue were silent. They did not expect that Xia Yuanji was still so shameless.

Although it is already mid-March, it is still cold in Hami at this time. Not to mention asking Xia Yuanji, a man in his sixties, to kneel for a whole night, even a young man in his early twenties would not be able to withstand it.

The worst case scenario is just a cold or fever, but the worst case scenario is death.

Thinking of this, Zhu Qiyue felt a little scared and tried to ask, "How about...let him in, at most we can just fool him?"

"How to fool people?" Zhu Di thought that he was already the emperor, and no one would pay attention to recording his behavior, so he was not afraid of being embarrassed.

"You lie down and pretend to be sick. I will bring Mr. Xia to see you. As long as he is sure that you are really sick and cannot go to the battlefield, he will definitely go back."

Zhu Qiyue has many clever ideas, but he just doesn't care about the dignity of his royal family.

It is estimated that only the retired emperor Zhu Di would be willing to cooperate with him on this idea. If it were Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Zhanhe, whose actions were recorded by historians at any time, they would be considered kind-hearted if they did not beat this kid until he was covered in peach blossoms.

"Okay, I'll play a show with you, kid."

As soon as Zhu Di finished speaking, he took Zhu Qiyue to the backyard and asked the guard to call Xia Yuanji into the palace.

In just a quarter of an hour, Xia Yuanji arrived at the backyard of the palace at the call, and saw Zhu Di lying on the bed.

"His Majesty?"

Xia Yuanji couldn't believe that Zhu Di was really sick. Zhu Di's acting was very good. His eyelids trembled slightly, and then he lifted his eyelids as if with difficulty, and was a little confused.

After a few breaths, he looked at Xia Yuanji and said slowly: "Well... you are here..."

"Your Majesty, I just saw troops being mobilized in the city. Is a war about to begin?"

Xia Yuanji bowed respectfully, while Zhu Di pretended to know nothing and looked at Zhu Qiyue: "Boy, has the war started?"

"To answer Grandfather, Duke Cheng and his men came just now, but you were not awake, so I took the initiative to approve it for you."

Zhu Qiyue spoke in a very low voice, as if he was afraid of disturbing Zhu Di.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di pretended to stand up. Zhu Qiyue and Xia Yuanji hurried forward to help and supported him up.

Leaning against the head of the bed, Zhu Di exhaled deeply, and he looked as if even breathing was a little difficult.

"Grandpa, I'll ask Wang Wanzhe and the others to get you some oxygen."

"No need..."

Zhu Qiyue was about to leave, but Zhu Di stopped him softly and looked at Xia Yuanji: "The war is about to start, it shouldn't reach here, it's okay."

"Yes..." Xia Yuanji originally wanted to persuade Zhu Di to return to Beijing, but seeing Zhu Di's current appearance, how could he bear to say this?

Seeing Zhu Di like this, Xia Yuanji felt a sudden lump in his throat and tears flowed from his eyes.

Seeing his true feelings revealed, not only Zhu Qiyue, but even Zhu Di was stunned.

Just because he got sick, Xia Yuanji could cry like this?
"I have lost my temper, Your Majesty, please punish me..."

Xia Yuanji turned sideways to wipe away his tears, then turned around and bowed to Zhu Di.

After he did this, not only Zhu Di, but even Zhu Qiyue didn't know how to deal with it.

"I'm not going to die yet, so you don't have to cry..."

Zhu Di was a little overwhelmed. Why did he start crying when he wasn't dead yet?

But he was pretending to be sick, so it was not easy to say these things, so he could only comfort him:

"Wang Wanzhe said that it will be fine once summer comes, but it will take another month for Hami to enter summer. You should take good care of yourself during this time and don't be like me."

"Yes..." Xia Yuanji couldn't hold back his tears after hearing what Zhu Di said. Zhu Qiyue was so scared that he didn't dare to speak, and Zhu Di didn't know what to say.

"I will take my leave now, Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

Xia Yuanji bowed and saluted, and Zhu Di nodded and said, "Step aside..."

"Yes..." Xia Yuanji left the bedroom, and Zhu Qiyue followed him out.

Zhu Di leaned against it, not moving for several breaths. Only when the footsteps faded away did he glance at the door guiltily.

Seeing that they had really gone far away, Zhu Di finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Not only him, but also Zhu Qiyue at the moment is the same.

"Your Majesty's affairs are all in the care of the Crown Prince. You must send Your Majesty back to Beijing safely."

After walking out of the bedroom, Xia Yuanji saluted to Zhu Qiyue while crying. Zhu Qiyue was sweating profusely and could only nod his head repeatedly.

Seeing Zhu Qiyue's promise, Xia Yuanji wiped her tears and walked out.

Looking at his back, Zhu Qiyue's expression was complicated.

As he turned and left, Xia Yuanji returned to his residence and wrote a letter to Beijing while crying.

The general idea is that Hami is about to go to war, and all the troops have been mobilized. Now Hami only has 3,000 cavalry from Yanshanwei and 2,000 Hami troops, which are not enough to protect the emperor.

Now that the emperor is ill and cannot return to Beijing, please send more troops to Hami to protect him...

"It's also lost!"

"The slave is here!"

On March 24, when Xia Yuanji's memorial was delivered to Beijing, Zhu Zhanhe immediately sent it to the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Gaoxu was writing a book happily when he suddenly learned that Zhu Di was seriously ill, and he immediately called Yishiha.

"Is the Emperor seriously ill?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yishiha, who bowed and said, "Wang Wanzhe did say that Your Majesty is ill, but it's just a cold, nothing serious."

"What's the matter with Xia Yuanji's memorial?" Zhu Gaoxu questioned Yishiha, but Yishiha could not give a clear explanation.

At this time, it was Zhu Zhanhe who stepped forward and bowed:

"Father, maybe Wang Wanzhe was busy treating his illness and forgot about it, or maybe the news is still on the way."

What Zhu Zhanhe said was true. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu frowned for the first time.

"How many soldiers and horses are there in Turpan?"

"The Western Tartars have 40,000 soldiers in Turpan, while our army has 30,000 regular soldiers and 40,000 auxiliary soldiers. In addition, there are 5,000 soldiers in Hami City, including 3,000 cavalry from Yanshan Guards."

Zhu Gaoxu asked and Zhu Zhanhe answered. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu thought about it and picked up Xia Yuanji's memorial to take a look.

When Zhu Gaoxu heard Xia Yuanji say that the emperor was seriously ill and was on the verge of death, he was still a little worried.

He wasn't there when his good brother died, and now if he's not there when the old man passes away, then he...

After all, he was too concerned to be confused. Zhu Gaoxu did not expect that the old man would lie to him. After a little thought, he took the initiative to speak;

"Dispatch the Jilin Guards to prepare for a tour. I will personally go to Hami to supervise the battle!"

(End of this chapter)