Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 270 The Campaign Against the Qing Begins in Yunnan

Upon learning that it was already the fifteenth year of the Yongli reign, Zhu Yuanzhang's side acted very quickly.

On the same day, Zhu Di was dispatched with a thousand imperial guards.

Then Xu Da and Ji He were put in charge of transporting the supplies.

Zhujiaping was very desolate at this time, with many mountains and rolling hills.

Flat land suitable for building a house was scarce, and in later generations, most of the farmland and vegetable gardens in Zhujiaping were terraced fields and wild land.

The steep slopes are quite challenging for storing supplies and building warehouses, especially since this place is on a mountain, making it difficult to transport supplies down the mountain in the future.

Therefore, Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Di had to carefully consider their current plans. Otherwise, even if a large amount of supplies were transported, the harsh conditions in the mountains meant that a heavy rain could easily cause all those supplies to be wasted and lost.

Currently, Zhu Cibei's family owns only one house, so they have no choice but to stay there.

Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Di, and Xu Da sat around a table. Instead of a map, the table had a large screen display that allowed them to directly touch and view satellite maps.

With BeiDou Maps, the entire world can be viewed from a two-dimensional perspective. Scrolling further down, you can even see three-dimensional streets.

"This is my home."

Zhu Yunfeng first located their county on the map, then followed the Zi River upstream to Lansha Town, and then found the location of Zhujiaping on Shangfeng Mountain in the mountain valley southeast of the town.

He zoomed in on the map and said, "This is Zhujiaping three hundred years in the future. If you go south along that road, you can go to the neighboring Jixiang Town. If you go north down the mountain, you can go to Lansha Town. But there are no main roads now, probably not even roads."

Xu Da carefully examined the map. Jixiang Town was farther from Shangfeng Mountain, a straight-line distance of 11 kilometers, but closer to the county seat.

To the north of Lansha Town lies a primeval forest, which later became the Panda Mountain Primeval Forest, a 4A-level scenic area. It is closer to Shangfeng Mountain, about 5 kilometers away as the crow flies, but the mountain road is estimated to be seven or eight kilometers long, taking at least two hours to walk.

Now we need to see their strategic intentions.

Zhu Di looked around and pondered, "As the advance team, our most urgent tasks are twofold: first, to find a suitable storage location for supplies; and second, to immediately depart for Burma to rescue Emperor Yongli. What are your thoughts?"

Xu Da pondered and said, "Your Highness, I believe that sending five hundred men to Burma is sufficient. Hunan is the southern hinterland of the Jurchens, and the garrison there is already not much. As long as we bring enough weapons, ammunition, and food, even if food is insufficient, we can attack cities along the way to resupply. It is not difficult to march to Yunnan."

He pointed to the map and said, "This army can head west, cross the Xuefeng Mountains, reach Huaihua, and enter Tongren, Guizhou. Then they can pass through Guiyang and Anshun, take Qujing in Yunnan, and descend to Kunming and Lincang. We don't even need to go to Burma ourselves. As long as we defeat the Jurchen army deployed in Yunnan in Kunming and relieve the pressure on Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan, they can go to Burma to rescue Emperor Yongli. Therefore, we should solve the problem of where to store supplies first."

So, is it Blue Sand Town or Lucky Town?

Zhu Di inquired.

He knows these two places very well; he drives to these two towns all the time.

In later generations, roads were built in the mountains, some even four-lane asphalt roads. Now, other countries are building six-lane or even eight-lane roads, and the mountains are closed off. It's very fun to go for a race now.

However, apart from Zhu Cibei, no one had lived in the area around the top of Shangfeng Mountain before. The mountain was densely forested and covered with vegetation, making it quite troublesome to reopen the road.

"Jixiang Town!"

Xu Da did not choose Lansha Town, which was closest to Shangfeng Mountain, but pointed to Jixiang Town to the south and said, "We are not advancing from Yunnan, but starting from Hunan, so we must consider convenience. Lansha Town is close and convenient for storing supplies, but it is not suitable for our attack. Choosing Jixiang Town to the south is closer to the county seat. After taking the county seat, we can head east to Loucheng, follow the Lianshui River, and go straight for Changsha. This will make transporting supplies much easier."

"That's not right."

Zhu Yunfeng wondered, "Wouldn't it be better to transport supplies by water? It's more than 60 li from Jixiang Town to the county, plus another 20 li from Shangfeng Mountain to Jixiang Town, so we'd have to travel more than 80 li by land alone. And then from the county to Loucheng, even if we go through Lianshui halfway, there will still be a lot of land travel involved. Wouldn't that be even more inconvenient?"

"hehe."

Xu Da smiled and said, "Your Highness means going from Lansha Town to Songxi Town, and then from Songxi Town along the Zi River, right?"

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded.

As seen on the map, the Zi River flows from south to north, passing through Lou City and Yiyang before finally emptying into the Xiang River.

If they take the Zi River, they can obviously transport a large amount of supplies to Yiyang City by waterway. Whether they march south from the Xiang River into Changsha or go by land from Yiyang, it will be much faster than going south.

However, Xu Da shook his head and said, "Your Highness only saw the convenience but did not pay attention to the terrain. You can't see it from a map, especially since this is a map from later times."

He pointed to the section of the Zi River that flows through Xuefeng Mountain and said, “Back then, when I joined forces with Councilor Yang Jing and others to thoroughly eliminate the remaining forces of Chen Youliang, we conquered various routes in Jing and Xiang, successively capturing Jiangling, Yiling, Xiangtan, Chenzhou, Hengzhou, Baoqing, Jingzhou and other places. I had seen the Zi River then. This section of the river is swift, with many reefs and islands in the middle of the river, as well as a lot of steep slopes, so small boats can travel but large ships are difficult to navigate. If we were to actually travel this section, we would not only find the journey difficult, but we might even lose a lot of supplies.”

"Um okay."

Zhu Yunfeng realized that he had become out of touch with reality.

Although his hometown is on the banks of the Zi River, his knowledge of the Zi River is limited to the section near his hometown county, and he has no understanding of the upstream and downstream areas.

Xu Da, on the other hand, had attacked Hunan and personally surveyed the terrain, so he naturally had a more detailed understanding of it than Xu Da.

Xu Da continued, “We are limited by the stone tablet, so we can only take Hunan as our base. To take Hunan, we must first take Changsha. I think we can first take Lansha Town and Jixiang Town to protect Shangfeng Mountain, and then use Jixiang Town as our supply and rear base. Following the route I just mentioned, we can take Changsha and then plan to conquer the whole of Hunan.”

"Ah."

Zhu Di thought it made a lot of sense, so he said, "Then so be it, Mao Xiang."

"The minister is here."

Mao Xiang, who was outside, came in and bowed.

"Send two teams to take down Lansha Town and Jixiang Town."

"Yes."

"Unexpectedly, the only obstacle to our fight against the Jurchens was the inconvenient transportation."

Zhu Di sighed.

Zhu Yunfeng scratched his head and said, "There's nothing I can do. My ancestor has come to hide in the mountains."

Zhu Cibei, who was listening attentively, raised an eyebrow.

If you hadn't hidden yourself in the mountains, would there be any unfilial descendants like you? You would probably have been beheaded by the Qing government long ago.

"However, it should only be for a short time. They have already tested it over there. The stone tablet itself has its own spatial node, but it requires a huge amount of energy to open the spatial node."

Zhu Yunfeng said, "After we take Changsha, we can bring the stone tablet with us, arrange a time with them, and once the stone tablet is in place, they can use nuclear energy to frantically infuse it with energy, blast open the spatial node, and then we can use it in another place."

"I suddenly had a bold idea."

Upon hearing Zhu Yunfeng's words, Zhu Di immediately raised his right index finger, a flash of inspiration crossing his mind, and his eyes revealed a gleam of wisdom.

"what idea?"

Xu Da was puzzled.

Zhu Di swept the map southwest and said, "Aren't we going to rescue Yongli? Why don't we take the stone tablet with us, fight our way to Yunnan, and then place the tablet there? We can start from the southwest and directly crush the Jurchens, how about that? They drove us all the way to Burma, we'll fight our way back from Burma, it'll be a legend!" Xu Daren was dumbfounded.

Isn't this just pointless and unnecessary?
I've seen people start with the difficult part and then move to the easy part, but I've never seen someone increase the difficulty for themselves.

Although Hunan is not exactly wealthy, it is one of the heartlands of the south and a transportation hub. To the east, one can take Jiangxi and Jiangnan; to the south, one can seize Guangdong and Guangxi; to the west, one can march on Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan; and to the north, one can cross Hubei and rush straight to the Central Plains.

Therefore, if an uprising were to begin here, it would be possible to quickly seize the surrounding areas and bring the entire south under its control, just as Zhu Yuanzhang did at the end of the Chongzhen era.

But Yunnan is different.

Not only is the location remote, but the roads and transportation are also very difficult, making it very troublesome to transport grain and supplies. Why put extra strain on yourself?

"Your Highness, is this really necessary?"

Xu Da smiled wryly and said, "Your Highness was just saying that our biggest obstacle is the inconvenient transportation. Yunnan is a barren land, and transportation is extremely inconvenient. What's the point?"

Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Yunfeng, who replied nonchalantly, "Anything is fine. How about we get some carriages over later?"

The Ming Dynasty no longer lacks carriages.

Although we haven't yet established a production chain from Hyundai, we can simply import vehicles directly from Hyundai.

Whether it's a gasoline-powered car or an electric car, they can get their hands on anything.

Most importantly, modern times are already sending oil refineries to the Ming Dynasty, and everyone knows the state of military strength under Hongwu.

They have no shortage of fighting power; what they lack is simply the means of transportation to sweep across the world.

Modern aid has built many shipyards, which are mainly powered by petroleum. Since Southeast Asia has oil, it is entirely possible to extract oil from Southeast Asia to provide ships with longer voyage capabilities.

However, we have only started the initial steps. It is expected that we will be able to complete the project next year, or the year after next, and then import crude oil from the Middle East on a large scale, refine it in the Ming Dynasty, and send it to the modern era.

Oil is not only a power source for automobiles, but also the lifeblood of industry. Although my country has large reserves, they are all strategic reserves.

If Hongwu (the Hongwu regime) were to supply a large quantity of oil, it would be a game-changer for my country, capable of altering the global landscape. Even disregarding national factors, oil prices are already over 10 yuan per liter.

With oil supplied by the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the price of oil will soon drop to four or five yuan.

Therefore, my country is very enthusiastic about oil, and Zhu De also put the plan to seize oil on the agenda.

The Ming Dynasty navy has long since sailed south and conquered the entire Southeast Asia, and its military might has even reached Australia. It is estimated that it will not be long before a steady stream of oil is being sent from Southeast Asia.

While the Southern Ming dynasty may not be able to enjoy the oil resources of the Hongwu era, it shouldn't be a problem for the modern side to provide them with some oil first.

The only problem is that the transportation is terrible.

I estimate we'll need a lot of off-road vehicles.

However, none of this mattered to Zhu Yunfeng.

If all else fails, we can just place an order with the car manufacturer.

"Then I'll go talk to Dad about this plan right away."

Zhu Di found it very challenging and immediately stood up excitedly from his chair, saying, "Father will definitely support me."

He hurriedly ran out.

Xu Da looked at the Zhu family as if they were a bunch of lunatics. Only after Zhu Di left did he ask Zhu Yunfeng, "Your Highness, is this necessary? War is not child's play."

Zhu Yunfeng chuckled, "You don't understand. First, our Great Ming Dynasty was driven all the way to Burma by the Jurchens, which was a humiliation. Pushing them back from Burma is like returning that humiliation. Second..."

"Secondly what?"

"Secondly, war is indeed like child's play now. Do you think the Jurchens can stop us? In fact, they can't. No matter how many come, they will all die. Fourth Prince and Ancestor should actually enjoy this process of killing the Jurchens. The longer this process lasts, the better. If we just push it over, wouldn't that leave us wanting more?"

"Forehead"

Xu Da thought about it and then realized that different perspectives lead to different ways of looking at problems.

He was thinking about how to attack the enemy in a way that was advantageous to him.

But there's really no need for that.

Even without modern support, with the firepower of the Ming Dynasty, even if the Jurchens had already gained momentum and had a million-strong army, they could easily break through.

So to some extent, with the ability to transport a large amount of firepower, fighting the Jurchens was really like child's play.

No matter how many Jurchens come, or how many soldiers they have, I will use artillery to plow the land and assault rifles to charge. I can annihilate hundreds of thousands of them in one battle. It's a pure dimensional reduction attack.

Therefore, at this point, killing the Jurchens was not just about restoring the country, but about the sense of accomplishment in their hearts.

This can still be explained using Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

You Jurchens drove our Great Ming to retreat to Burma, and even caused the Great Ming to suffer the humiliation of the Cursed Water Calamity. Then the Great Ming must repay this humiliation tenfold or a hundredfold.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

I will not only fight my way back to China from Myanmar and kill you all, but I will also do it slowly, like cutting flesh with a dull knife, so that you can feel the fear of being slowly and painlessly executed.

This is what Zhu Di wanted, and it's why he wanted to take the stone tablet to Yunnan and start his campaign against the Qing from there.

So, is this what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted?

Based on Zhu Yunfeng's understanding of Zhu Di, he might not have thought of this at first, but if Zhu Di went back and mentioned it, he would most likely agree.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang came to the Southern Ming Dynasty precisely because of his dissatisfaction.

This way, he could better vent his frustration.

In fact it is.

Zhu Di went back and told his father, Zhu, who agreed and was very pleased. Zhu praised Zhu Di for his intelligence and then went to discuss it with Qin Lao.

This matter also requires modern cooperation. In addition to coordinating resources, the most important thing is to bombard the stone tablet with energy so that it can teleport through space.

If you accidentally mess things up and can't teleport after moving the stone tablet, that would be a huge problem.

Therefore, the idea is good.

We still need to be cautious and coordinate with all parties involved.

(End of this chapter)