Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 488 The End of Nomadism

"This humble subject, no, I am willing to do anything, please give your orders, Your Majesty."

Although Yang Hui didn't know what Lu Jin wanted him to do, as long as he could leave that iron mine, he was willing to try whatever it was.

However, Lu Jin said, "Oh? You're willing to do anything? Don't be so sure of yourself. What if the work I ask you to do is even harder than mining?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Hui looked up, opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. She thought to herself, "Worse than mining? Then forget it."
Seeing that he remained silent, Lu Jin turned to look at Nahachu and frowned. Then he said to himself, "Nahachu, Nahachu, I thought that you might be of some use in the future because you are a descendant of Muqali, a famous minister in the early Yuan Dynasty. That's why I spared your life. But things are unpredictable and the situation changes so quickly. Suddenly I feel that you are no longer of any use."

"You've been captured by me for almost two years now. What have you been thinking all this time? Do you want to live or die? Let's settle this today."

Nahachu frowned upon hearing this. He thought that Lu Jin hadn't killed him for so long and had been keeping him well-fed and cared for, so he was trying to use his status as a Mongolian nobleman for something. He never expected Lu Jin to say such a thing today.

He couldn't help but ask with some doubt, "I have been in prison for a long time and am unaware of the current situation. May I ask where you have fought to and what the state of the Yuan Dynasty is now?"

"How dare you! You call me Your Majesty, but who do you think you are to address me as 'Your Excellency'?" Just then, before Lu Jin could say anything, Li Dingbang, who was standing to the side, shouted sternly.

Lu Jin waved his hand to indicate that it was alright and that he could call him whatever he wanted. Then he said, "Just last month, in mid-March, I pacified the Central Plains. Bianliang has been recovered by me, and Tongguan is now in my hands. I also control Huaiqing Prefecture north of the Yellow River. In the east, I have completely occupied Shandong, and in the far north, I have reached Dongchang Road."

"Last autumn and winter, we pacified Jiangxi and Huguang. There are no more main Yuan troops in the south, and the remaining cities can be taken in a day or two. Now, only the final blow of the Northern Expedition is left, and your Great Yuan will be gone."

"The Yuan court in Dadu is currently without soldiers or food. Even the food that Dadu is currently eating is supplied secretly by my spies. If I were not worried that Toghon Temür would sneak into the grasslands due to food shortage, I could cut off Dadu's food supply right now."

"At that time, we only need to wait until autumn and winter this year, when most of the food supplies are exhausted and people are resorting to cannibalism. The Yuan court will then flee into the grasslands. At that time, I will not even need to send a single soldier to easily recover Yanyun and drive the Tartars completely into the desert."

Naha opened his mouth, not expecting that in less than two years, the situation had changed so drastically. The Yuan Dynasty had collapsed a little too quickly.

Yang Hui, kneeling beside him, was speechless with astonishment. Eight months! Eight months ago, Lu Jin had only just reached Wuzhou Road and Quzhou Road. In less than eight months, he had already pacified Huguang and the Central Plains and was now aiming his sword at Yanyun. Moreover, judging from Lu Jin's words, it seemed that recovering Yanyun was not a difficult task.

He was filled with regret. If he had known that the Yuan court was so vulnerable, if he had known that Lu Jin had the ability to recover Yan and Yun and rebuild the country, if he had known that things would turn out this way, he would have surrendered long ago. He might have become a prefect or a provincial official by now, and he wouldn't have ended up like this.

Yang Hui was filled with remorse, but unfortunately there's no medicine for regret. Thinking about this, he couldn't help but lament his decision back then.

Nahachu, standing to the side, was stunned for a long time before recovering, and then asked again, "What about Xu Shouhui's pseudo-Song? You have pacified Jiangxi and Huguang, so where did Xu Shouhui go?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "Last year in May or June, Xu Song was besieged by the Yuan army from Huguang, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces. He was defeated and his country was destroyed. His remaining troops all surrendered to me. Xu Shouhui himself has also relinquished his imperial title and submitted to me."

"What about Liu Futong from the Central Plains?"

"At the end of February this year, just before the Battle of Bianliang, he also raised troops and surrendered."

Nahachu fell silent. If you calculate it this way, the Central Plains and the South have indeed been basically pacified by Lu Jin. Only the final blow of the Northern Expedition is left, and Yanyun can be easily taken back. Not to mention, as Lu Jin said, he still controls the grain supplies of Dadu. What's the point of the Yuan court fighting?

Thinking of this, he smiled bitterly and said, "Then I am indeed useless. This world belongs to you."

“Yes, that’s right, that’s what I think too.” Lu Jin immediately nodded in agreement.

Nahachu fell silent again after listening. He thought about it carefully, but then retorted, "No, although Your Excellency can take back Yanyun, Yunnan has not yet submitted. With my status, I can pacify the Liang King of Yunnan."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin asked with a half-smile, "So you're going to submit to me?"

Naha did not answer directly, but said, "I just want to prove my worth."

Lu Jin nodded, stood up, walked to the desk and paced back and forth, saying, "It's possible that the Prince of Liang could be pacified, but it's somewhat impossible."

"Besides, even if you appease the Liang King, what then? What I want is a Yunnan with a population of registered households, not a Yunnan full of chieftains. Even if the Liang King surrenders, there's still the Duan family of Dali."

"The Duan family will never surrender easily. They may be willing to submit and pay tribute, but they will never give up being the local emperor of Dali, and they will not allow me to send officials to Dali. So what should we do? We still have to fight!"

“Since Yunnan is a must-attack area, what difference does it make whether we attack one or two? I don’t expect to win over the Liang King, so you are still of no use to me.”

Nahachu agreed with Lu Jin's analysis. Appeasing the Liang King was simply a way to avoid a campaign, but since a military expedition was inevitable, the appeasement seemed pointless, rendering the Liang King useless.
But he was still not convinced and said again, "After the Northern Expedition, do you want the Liaoyang Province? That is the fiefdom that my ancestor Muqali inherited. I still have some influence in Liaoyang and can pacify the Jurchen and Mongol tribes there."

"Bullshit! What do you mean by your family's hereditary fiefdom? What are you and Muqali? That's the Blackwater Protectorate of my Great Tang Dynasty, and the Liaodong Commandery of the Great Han Dynasty. Hundreds of years ago, when the Han and Tang Dynasties were still alive, your grassland tribes were nothing more than slaves who herded horses for the Han people!" Lu Jin immediately corrected.

Upon hearing this, Nahachu's eyes flashed with anger, but considering that Lu Jin was about to launch a northern expedition to destroy the Great Yuan, he suppressed his anger and said, "No matter what happened thousands of years ago, you cannot deny that it is still the Liaoyang Province of the Great Yuan, nor can you deny my family's prestige in Liaoyang."

This conversation immediately filled Yang Hui, who was lying next to her, with shame. Her eyes filled with tears, and she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Lu Jin disregarded Muqali, even boasting that Liaoyang was the ancient land of the Han and Tang dynasties. Yang Hui, who was clearly a Han Chinese, arrogantly told Lu Jin to apologize to the barbarians in Dadu when they first met. The difference in their behavior was obvious. Yang Hui was a disgrace to the Han people. No wonder Lu Jin looked down on him. Such behavior could be described as forgetting one's roots. He had truly wasted his education.

Upon hearing Nahachu's words, Lu Jin immediately nodded and said, "I do acknowledge your family's prestige and influence in Liaoyang. In fact, when I first captured you, I even considered using your identity to pacify the various tribes in Liaoyang. But times have changed, and I have now changed my mind."

Nahachu looked at Lu Jin with a puzzled expression upon hearing this, while Lu Jin continued, "If I were to directly destroy the Yuan Dynasty, the remaining forces in the northern deserts and Liaoyang would be nothing more than a disorganized mess without the command of the Yuan Dynasty's central government. I could send people to do whatever I wanted, whether to appease or attack them."

“Sending you to pacify the various tribes in Liaoyang might save me some trouble at first, but as you said, your family has great prestige in Liaoyang. If you manage to integrate the tribes in Liaoyang, and then you surrender and rebel again, wouldn’t I be letting a tiger return to the mountain and shooting myself in the foot? How can you guarantee your loyalty? And what makes me believe in you?”
"Since you can't gain my trust and I don't trust you, it's better not to use you at all. Even if it's difficult to manage Liaoyang at the beginning, I'll accept it."

Naha opened his mouth upon hearing this, but he really had no way to make Lu Jin believe him. In the current situation, the prestige of the Muqali family in Liaoyang had become the thing that Lu Jin feared most. An uncontrollable sword was better left unused.

Nahachu thought for a moment, then said, “Even if you don’t let me go to Liaodong, after the Yuan Dynasty is destroyed, those princes of the Eastern Route in the Mongolian Plateau will definitely lose control. You can’t control them. Only we Mongols can suppress them.”

"The Mongols and Han Chinese have different customs, and the mountains are the boundary. You will never be able to control the grasslands, just as we will never be able to control the Central Plains. Why don't you let me go back? After the Yuan Dynasty is destroyed, I will take control of the grasslands for you, become a bulwark for the Central Plains, and suppress the various tribes of the grasslands. What do you say?"

“No, that won’t work.” Lu Jin shook his head and said again under Naha’s questioning gaze.

"Even if you are willing to be a subject of the Celestial Dynasty, loyal and devoted for life, serving as a bulwark for the Central Plains and the grasslands, what happens after you die? Can you guarantee that another bandit named So-and-so Khan won't emerge on the grasslands, leading his troops south to invade the Central Plains? You can't!"

Nahachu countered, "But besides this, do you have any other methods?"

Lu Jin then stamped his feet, looked up and sighed, “From the Qin and Han dynasties and the Xiongnu, to the Tang dynasty and the Turks, to the Song dynasty and the Jin and Liao dynasties, to the grasslands and the Central Plains, to nomadic and agricultural societies, this pair of enemies has been fighting for long enough, for thousands of years. It’s time to stop.”

"If I said I wanted to build cities, station troops, and cultivate the grasslands, bringing the grasslands under my control, and registering the herders as ordinary citizens, I would solve the conflict between agriculture and animal husbandry once and for all. Do you believe me?"

"Pshaw—of course I don't believe it. Do you think I haven't read history books? Even the mighty Han and Tang dynasties, when they went to the grasslands, they only fought and left. They couldn't directly rule. The most recent Jin and Liao dynasties also implemented a dual-court system, with grasslands following grassland laws and the Central Plains following Central Plains laws."

"Your Excellency's blind imitation and forced implementation of settlement on the grasslands is no different from the Yuan Dynasty's grazing in the Central Plains. In the end, it will only be like the Yuan Dynasty, barely occupying the land for a while, and sooner or later it will have to retreat."

"Ha, so you do know what you Mongols did. I thought you didn't," Lu Jin said sarcastically, then added.

"You are still too dull and cannot see the key point. The fact that the Yuan Dynasty could not rule the grasslands and the Central Plains at the same time does not mean that the Han people in the Central Plains could not do it. Have you ever thought that this may be a problem of your Mongols?"

"You Mongols are nothing but a bunch of uncivilized barbarians, beasts in human skin and clothes. How could you possibly know how to govern a country? Not to mention you can't even manage the Han people in the Central Plains, have you ever managed the herdsmen on the grasslands?"

Upon hearing Lu Jin's insult to Mongolia, Nahachu stared intently at Lu Jin with wide eyes.

Lu Jin seemed to ignore him and deliberately walked up to him, saying, "Don't look at me with those murderous eyes. I'm telling the truth, especially for Mongolian nobles like you. When have you ever cared about the lives of the lower-level herders?"

"Before you occupied the Central Plains, the nomadic people of the grasslands lived in misery. After you occupied the Central Plains, their lives remained the same. All you did was transfer grain from the south to the grasslands for relief. But how is this any different from your previous raids to the south? Is this what you call governing a country?" Nahachu suppressed his anger upon hearing this, but he had to admit that Lu Jin was right. So he asked again, "Does implementing land reclamation on the grasslands really change the status quo of the grasslands?"

"Of course, I don't know if you've ever herded livestock, but you must have seen farming. If it's a good paddy field, one or two acres can feed one person. A family needs at most ten acres to survive. If they have fifty acres, they can not only survive but also live relatively well. Even if it's dry land, five acres are enough to feed one person."

"And what about the herders on the grasslands? A family needs to graze at least fifty sheep, two cows, and three or four horses to meet the most basic survival needs of the family, and they live in extreme poverty. So many livestock require at least two hundred acres of grassland to keep them alive. The same amount of land, if used for farming, would be enough to support four or even ten households. This is why there are more Han people than you."

"The most crucial point here is not just how many people the same land can support, but also how much it can store. Cultivating land can store grain. Fifty acres of land per household is enough to store enough grain for winter and to cope with common natural disasters."

"But nomads cannot save. You drink milk and eat cheese. When winter comes, the livestock will freeze and starve to death in large numbers because there is no fodder. When the livestock die, there will be no milk or cheese, and people will starve to death as well. So what can you do if you don't want to starve to death?"
"Of course, it's to go south and plunder the Han people. Only the Han people have accumulated grain. If I were a starving herdsman, I would also rob them. Anyway, if I don't rob, I will starve to death sooner or later. If I rob, I might die in battle, but I might also get grain and valuables, and then I can survive. Doesn't that make sense?"

Wang Dayuan, who was sitting next to him, nodded in agreement, while Yang Hui, who was kneeling beside him, suddenly realized that Lu Jin had finally explained the crux of the conflict between nomadic and agricultural societies.

Even Nahachu couldn't help but look at Lu Jin with surprise. He didn't expect Lu Jin to know so much about the lives of the herdsmen, and he didn't expect Lu Jin to sympathize with them, to empathize with them, and to say that he wanted to go south and rob the Han people.

Lu Jin continued, "So the problem isn't with the Mongols. Even without you Mongols, there were the Xiongnu and Turks before you, they just had different names."

"The real problem is nomadism, and your backward way of life. As long as nomadism is not abolished and replaced with land reclamation, countless cattle and sheep will freeze to death in a single heavy snowfall during a cold winter. If I put you in charge of the grasslands, do you think you can suppress those starving herders who want to go south to plunder for survival?"

"You can't stop them if you don't solve their survival problem. Even if you can, who will stop those starving herders after you die?"

Nahachu finally nodded upon hearing this.

Lu Jin continued, "As for your statement that my implementation of settlement on the grasslands will inevitably fail, that is incorrect. In this world, only civilization can replace barbarism, and the advanced can replace the backward."

“You Mongols promoted grazing in the Central Plains. Land that could originally support ten households could only support one household after grazing. The other nine households on that land would starve to death. If they did not want to starve, they would naturally try to drive you away. Forcibly replacing the advanced with the backward and the civilized with the barbaric would inevitably backfire. This is the reason for the Yuan Dynasty’s failure.”

"My approach to promoting reclamation on the grasslands is exactly the opposite. Land that could only support one family can be converted into land that can support ten families. Even if there are a few die-hards who are unwilling to change their lifestyle and cling to outdated production methods, they are bound to fail."

"Because if they continue to be nomadic, they can only support one soldier, while I can support ten soldiers. These ten soldiers are unwilling to continue living the precarious life of nomads. They also want to be rich and have stored food. Without me having to drive them, they will take up arms and fight against those conservative diehards."

"This is the way of the world: the advanced replacing the backward. This is the only way out for the grasslands. Do you still think I will fail?"

Naha shook his head this time, finally acknowledging Lu Jin's point of view, but he still refuted it.

“Even if we promote reclamation on the grasslands, it is very difficult. You Han people occupy the most fertile land, while we only have deserts and grasslands. In addition, the herdsmen are not good at farming, so even if they sow seeds, they can't grow many grains of food.”

"Even iron farm tools, as long as a great power emerges in your Central Plains, it will definitely impose an export ban on iron tools to the grasslands. If the herdsmen don't even have farm tools, how can they cultivate the land? What you say sounds nice, but it's as difficult as climbing to the sky to accomplish this."

Lu Jin waved his hand and said, "Don't complain to me about everything. It just shows that you're lazy!"
"The land occupied by the Han people was not originally so fertile, but was gradually improved through cultivation and fertilizer accumulation. Even so, the Central Plains also suffers from natural disasters such as drought and flood. But we Han people are hardworking enough. When there is a flood, we build dikes and when there is a drought, we dig canals to divert water."

"Instead of just complaining like you, and unlike you who resort to robbing others to survive when natural disasters strike, you can also find ways to solve this or that problem, unless you admit that you Mongols are born inferior, beasts in human skin, barbarians who cannot understand human language."

"Otherwise, why can't you learn the things that the Han people can do? Don't you have hands, feet, and ears?"
"If you don't know how to farm, I can send someone to teach you; if you don't have farming tools, I can sell them to you through trade, but the trade must be fair. You herdsmen are poor, each one as poor as a ghost, why should I sell you ironware? I don't owe you anything."

"As for the land issue, if we can't grow grain, then we'll grow grass. Even growing grass is much better than your nomadic lifestyle. Have you ever seen alfalfa?"

"Of course I've seen it. It's the best grass in the world, capable of producing the fattest livestock."

"An artificially planted alfalfa pasture can yield two to three thousand catties of dry hay and more than ten thousand catties of fresh hay per mu, enough to raise at least ten sheep. However, for natural pasture grazing, one sheep requires two mu of land, which is a twenty-fold difference!"

“Raising cattle is even more exaggerated. Grazing one cow on natural grassland requires at least 34 mu of land, and even 100 mu can only raise three cows. However, one mu of cultivated alfalfa pasture can raise one cow. If you graze three cows on pasture, you can raise 100 cows after converting it to cultivated land. That’s a difference of more than 30 times.”

"Even if you can't grow grain, if you calculate based on the original 200 mu of grassland needed to support a nomadic family, you can only graze a maximum of 50 sheep and one or two cows; but after switching to cultivating alfalfa artificial grassland, the same 200 mu of grassland can yield enough pasture to support a thousand sheep and nearly a hundred cows."

"With a thousand sheep and dozens of cattle, you can sell them to merchants for money. What kind of farm tools can't you buy? What kind of clothes can't you buy? What kind of fine clothes and beautiful houses can't you build? The poor herders who once lived on the brink of death can also become rich. How can you just make up the excuse that 'we can't grow grain'?"

Upon hearing Lu Jin's calculations, Nahachu exclaimed in surprise, "Can you really raise so many cattle and sheep by switching from grazing to cultivating pasture?!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately turned around, poked his chest with her finger, and said disdainfully, "You are just as heartless as those other Mongol nobles. You never care about the lives of ordinary herders. Even if you occupy the Central Plains, the lives of those herders have not improved at all. On the contrary, they are even more miserable than before."

"You collude with those Semu merchants to exploit them ruthlessly, squeezing every penny out of them, and then turning them into slaves. When have you ever thought of treating them as your own people, governing them properly, or trying your best to help them get rich? Not once, not even for a day!"

"As a Mongolian, and a high-ranking Mongolian nobleman, how could you ask such a question as how many kilograms of grass can be grown per acre, or how many cattle and sheep can be raised? Do you have any conscience? Have you ever cared about those herders?"

Nahachu was speechless at Lu Jin's question. After a long silence, he finally said, "Perhaps you are really more suited to be an emperor, the Khan of the grasslands. Maybe then the herders could live a better life."

"Oh, you do have some good taste." Lu Jin glanced at him and saw that his eyes were vacant and he seemed to be deep in thought. It seemed that he had really listened to her words, and her painstaking advice had not been in vain.

Lu Jin suddenly asked him again, "If I became the Khan of the grasslands, what name should I take?"

Naha suddenly snapped out of his daze, looked at Lu Jin with surprise, and saw that he looked serious and not joking. After thinking carefully, he spoke.

“I know that you Han people have the title ‘Heavenly Khan’. Genghis Khan also means the sea, divine gift, and power, which is similar to ‘Heavenly Khan’. However, the name Genghis Khan has extraordinary significance on the grasslands. If you call yourself Khan, I guess no one will recognize you. And since you are Han Chinese, I guess you would call yourself Heavenly Khan?”

Lu Jin shook his head and said, "There's nothing new about it. If I were to become the Khan of the grasslands, my title would definitely be Ulaanbaatar Khan."

“Ulaanbaatar? The Red Hero Khan?” Nahachu looked at Lu Jin in surprise, then nodded. “That’s right, you’re from the Red Turban Army, so it’s reasonable for you to call yourself the Khan of Ulaanbaatar.”

Lu Jin returned to his seat behind his desk and stopped talking. He had said everything he needed to say, and now it was up to Naha Chu to decide what to do.

He stood there in deep thought for a long time before asking again, "Is it necessary to promote settlement and reclamation on the grasslands?"

Lu Jin stared at him seriously and said, "This is the only way out for the grasslands. Otherwise, the grasslands and the Central Plains will continue to fight, and time is not on your side."

"You should be able to tell what kind of person I am. As long as I am here, the Central Plains will only get stronger and stronger. If I cannot change the grasslands while I am alive, then before I die, I will definitely kill all the Mongols on the grasslands and leave no future troubles!"

"Either you switch to farming and grazing, or you die. There are no other options!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all!"

Just then, Gongshu Tan, who was sitting to the side playing with toys, suddenly stood up from the couch, holding a short sword made of building blocks in his other hand, while also holding the wooden toy car. The boy was imitating Lu Jin's speech.
Lu Jin and Naha Chu looked over at almost the same time upon hearing the sound, but they had different thoughts.

Lu Jin looked at his son's smiling face and thought to himself that his father had a worthy successor, while Naha Chu felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Yes, Lu Jin still has a son. Even if Lu Jin dies, the new dynasty he establishes will have a successor. If this successor is also taught to have the same attitude as Lu Jin, then if the Mongols do not change, they will probably only have one path left: death.

When Gongshu Tan saw Lu Jin looking at him, he immediately raised his two little arms and cried out, "Daddy, hug me!"

"Okay, Daddy will hold you." Lu Jin immediately stepped forward and took his son in his arms before looking at Nahachu again.

Seeing this, Nahachu finally made a decision: "If you want to promote settlement and reclamation on the grasslands, what can I do to help you?"

This guy finally got it.
(End of this chapter)