Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 17 The weather is quite cold, let’s start the group!

Zhu Qiyu came to Kunning Palace and said he wanted to pay his respects to the empress dowager.

The Queen Mother was preparing to eat, and when she saw him, she waved, "Come in, why are you here at this time?"

After Zhu Qiyu knelt down respectfully and bowed, he seemed to be hesitant to speak, and his face looked very embarrassed and conflicted.

"If you don't want to tell me, get out!" The Queen Mother waved her hand while drinking her soup.

"Queen Mother, I heard that the fake brother captured by Yesen looks exactly like... my brother." Zhu Qiyu frowned, "How about we send someone to redeem him? If he pretends to be Your Majesty, our dynasty will definitely deal with him. He is now controlled by Yesen, and if he is escorted to the front line when a battle breaks out, it will also bring shame to our Ming Dynasty."

The Queen Mother's eyes were sharp, but her heart was broken.

That was her son, of course she wanted to rescue him.

"No!" The Queen Mother shook her head.

"Empress Dowager, what if... I mean what if..." Zhu Qiyu didn't dare to continue.

"There's no such thing as a contingency!" The Queen Mother threw the soup spoon onto the table and sighed softly, "Even if we want to redeem him, we have to wait until Yesen is defeated. Let's see if he can live until then!"

Zhu Qiyu no longer insisted and nodded, "That's right! The war is imminent, and we can't let the army lose its morale."

The Queen Mother glanced at him with murderous intent in her eyes.

She knew the purpose of Zhu Qiyu's visit, which was to test and find out which emperor was the real one.

If the captured emperor is real, it means that the current Majesty is fake, then he will have the opportunity to catch the fake emperor and then ascend the throne himself.

However, she did not expose Zhu Qiyu.

Because, after defeating Yesen, if her son was still alive, she would find a way to bring him back. Then she needed someone to do it, and Zhu Qiyu was the person who could be used.

……

Deshengmen Tower.

The blazing torches lit up the night sky.

Zhu Qizhen and Yu Qian gathered around the fire to keep themselves warm. The cold wind at night was even colder.

"Your Majesty, I don't want Yesen to be defeated right away." Yu Qian rubbed his hands and said, "Now we have enough food in the city to last for two months. By then, it will be winter and snowy. If we counterattack again, he may not be able to return to the grassland."

"Didn't they say that Toghtobuha led a large army to attack Datong?" Zhu Qizhen frowned, "If Toghtobuha also breaks through the pass, then we will be in trouble."

Yu Qian shook his head and chuckled, "Totubuhua is just testing the waters. He is waiting for the outcome of the battle in the capital. Haha, if Yesen loses, do you believe that Totubuhua will take advantage of Yesen's misfortune to rob him?"

Toghtobukha was the nominal Great Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, but in reality the various tribes on the grassland were controlled by Taishi Yesen.

If Yesen was defeated, Toghtobukha would never miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and would defeat Yesen's Wala tribe in one fell swoop.

"It seems that although Yesen is arrogant now, if he is defeated, he might even lose his life." Zhu Qizhen sighed, "Striving for world dominance is really like walking on thin ice."

Yu Qian's eyes were filled with resentment, and he snorted coldly: "It's all for selfish desires. A general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of people, let alone the achievement of hegemony. How many people will have to die?"

Zhu Qizhen smiled bitterly: "It's not that we want to fight, but if they want to invade, what can we do?"

Yu Qian threw the firewood in his hand into the fire, was silent for a while and said:
"I once presented a border strategy to Emperor Taizong. In my opinion, the grassland people don't want to fight. However, the cold weather in Mobei means that crops can't grow in the land, so they have problems with food and daily necessities, so they can only plunder."

"If we open up the trade, the grassland people can exchange for the materials they want, and the looting will definitely be greatly reduced. As long as the trade is well managed and the merchants abide by the rules, and there is no shortage of materials on the grassland, who would fight desperately?" "The trade can resist a million troops!"

As a time traveler, Zhu Qizhen knew that this matter was not that simple.

The agricultural empire in the Central Plains has been fighting with the handsome guys from the grasslands for thousands of years and simply can't stop.

……

Zhu Qizhen recalled the knowledge from his previous life, organized his words and said:
"Old Yu, mutual trade may bring peace for a while, but it won't solve the problem in the end. For example, when the Song Dynasty paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty, it did bring peace for a while, but in the end, the Mongols still invaded, didn't they?"

"What's that expression on your face? Do you look down on the Song Dynasty? If you do the math, you'll find that the annual tribute from the Song Dynasty is far less than the cost of the war. How much silver and food did the Yongle Emperor spend on his five expeditions to the northern desert?"

Yu Qian's eyes lit up first, then he shook his head firmly: "We definitely can't give annual tribute, that would be so embarrassing!"

Zhu Qizhen smiled and nodded, and began to help Yu Qian analyze:

"Of course, we can't give in to the pretty boy from the grassland! What I mean is that your trade can't solve the fundamental problem."

"There is a fundamental problem here that cannot be solved. For our Central Plains Empire, war is pure consumption. We have a complete system and taxation. Fighting with the grassland handsome guy, whether we win or lose, is pure consumption. When the army sets out, food and grass must be brought first."

"As for the handsome guys on the grassland, they have no taxes, so the cost of fighting is very low. They all graze on horses anyway, so why not ride horses together to plunder, and it will be faster to make money and food."

"For our Central Plains Empire, it's as powerful as during the reign of Emperor Taizong. He conquered Mobei five times and made all the handsome guys on the grassland so angry that they surrendered. In the end, how long has it been? They are here again!"

"Hey, this is a dead end! Because north of the Great Wall, the rainfall line is lower than 400 mm, which means that we can't grow crops north of the Great Wall. Even if we win, it's useless and we have to retreat. In a few years, the grasslands will be fine again."

Yu Qian felt impressed after hearing this.

Although there were many strange words and he didn't know what they meant, he roughly understood them.

"Your Majesty, now that you put it that way, it all becomes clear to me." There was a flash of disbelief in his eyes.

How could the previous emperor know so much? The previous emperor only knew how to fish, catch crickets, and listen to eunuchs.

"Your Majesty, this problem has not been solved yet?" He frowned.

"Yes!" Zhu Qizhen spread his hands. "When firearms develop to a certain level, the grassland cavalry will completely lose their advantage, and they will be forced to kneel down and sing "conquer". Old Yu, that day is still a long way off!"

He read history books in his previous life, but still could not solve this problem until the later Qing Dynasty.

Kangxi also personally led an expedition against Galdan, and it was not until the Qianlong period that the Dzungar Rebellion was completely suppressed.

"Your Majesty, you seem different from before," Yu Qian said.

"Since the defeat at Tumu Fortress, I have been diligent in my studies, so I naturally know more." Zhu Qizhen shrugged, "I ask myself a question every day, are you more knowledgeable than yesterday?"

Yu Qian: “!!!”

Your Majesty is truly a role model for us.

Suddenly, it started raining and the temperature dropped even lower.

Zhu Qizhen looked at the Wala army camp outside the city and rubbed his face: "The weather is too cold, let's start the group early! It's a cold and rainy night, and everyone is in the rain, which is not elegant."

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(End of this chapter)