Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 218: Set up Yingzhou Guards to attack and kill Zhu Di! [Please subscribe]

In order to avoid being conspicuous, the nearly fifty-year-old monk Daoyan dressed up as a military guard and rode a horse beside Zhu Di.

Zhu Di said, "According to the intelligence gathered by the Guangming Guards, combined with what Li Yifu just said, although Goryeo took this island by force ten years ago, there are still many Mongol and Tamra forces on the island who resist them."

"Although these forces were small in number, lacked equipment and food, and were not strong enough to overthrow Goryeo's rule on the island, they still made it difficult for Goryeo to cope with them."

"Therefore, over the past ten years, in addition to receiving a small amount of tax revenue from the island, Goryeo has mainly relied on the island's excellent pastures to raise horses, which it then pays tribute to the Northern Yuan Dynasty and our Ming Dynasty."

Daoyan pondered for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, this island has only a little over a thousand registered households, and most of them make their living by fishing, so the taxes they can contribute are very small."

"Therefore, within ten years, I'm afraid the imperial court will rely mainly on the island's pastures. And to raise good horses, having pastures alone is not enough; good horse herders are also needed."

"Since the Mongols on the island who rebelled against Goryeo were able to survive, they must have colluded with the nomadic people who had already surrendered to Goryeo."

"Your Highness will be responsible for taking over this island and garrisoning it for three months. This is plenty of time, and perhaps you can find a way to subdue the Mongols on the island for the imperial court. If this is accomplished, the credit will surely be considerable."

Zhu Di laughed heartily and said, "That's exactly what I meant."

The two of them talked along the way. With the guards and escorts shielding their surroundings, they were not afraid of being overheard by others.

Not long after, the group arrived in front of Jeju City.

Daoyan looked up at the small city before him, which looked like some Ming Dynasty county towns. He shook his head and sighed, "Tamra has a long history. There must have been a royal city on the island, but it certainly wasn't this one—the original Tamra Royal City was probably destroyed."

Zhu Di nodded. "This city is located in the north of the island, across the sea from Goryeo, making it easy for Goryeo to control it. It was probably built later by people sent by Goryeo. It's only about a mile long and wide, which is really stingy."

Soon, a general of the guard army came to report that the guard troops had taken control of various important places in the city, and the guard army had also checked the government offices and other places to ensure safety.

Zhu Di then brought Daoyan and others into the city.

His action was not cowardice, but a necessary caution, which is what any commander would do.

When Zhu Di arrived at the Jeju Governor's Mansion of the Goryeo people, a middle-aged military general with an imposing bearing came out to greet him upon hearing the news.

"See His Highness King Yan!"

Zhu Di quickly dismounted and supported the man, saying with a smile, "Commander Qi, please don't be so polite. Although I hold the civil office of an angel, my military position is merely that of pacification. I should be the one to salute Commander Qi."

After saying this, Zhu Di gave this person a standard Ming army fist-holding salute.

Although it was not a kneeling ceremony, the middle-aged general still did not dare to accept it and quickly moved away.

Zhu Di was just pretending - as a prince, if he was too obsessed with military etiquette, it would make others uncomfortable.

In addition, Zhu Di did not treat all military generals with such courtesy, it depended on the person.

This commander Qi was named Qi Xiang. He was originally a farmer from Dingyuan, Haozhou. When he could no longer make a living, he defected to Zhu Yuanzhang. He started as a small soldier, fought in battles in the south and the north, and was promoted to a thousand households.

There were many middle-level generals with such experience in the Ming army, and Qi Xiang was not very prominent among them before.

However, since the 14th year of Hongwu, Qi Xiang followed Fu Youde and Lan Yu to participate in the war to pacify the southwest, and he seemed to be lucky and made many military achievements.

After he returned to the capital with Fu Youde, he was promoted three levels in a row due to his merits, from a fifth-rank Qianhu to a third-rank Zhihui Tongzhi!
This summer, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Qi Xiang as a trial commander, selecting soldiers and civilians from the coastal garrisons in Shandong and Hebei to establish new garrisons in preparation for the Ming Dynasty's takeover of Jeju Island.

Zhu Di was in the north and had noticed Qi Xiang since the beginning of his appointment.

He felt that Qi Xiang had been promoted too quickly in the past one or two years, and there must be a reason for that.

He asked about it when chatting with Zhu Biao in the capital during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and only then did he know that Qi Xiang was actually the ancestor of Qi Jiguang, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty in later generations!
After listening to Zhu Biao retell the story of Qi Jiguang, Zhu Di naturally became interested in Qi Xiang.

This time, he seized the opportunity to become a colleague with Qi Xiang, and he tried to show his goodwill along the way. He was also thinking about whether he could persuade Qi Xiang to resign and follow him with his family when he went overseas to serve as a vassal in the future. Although the hope of success was slim, he might as well give it a try.

What if it succeeds?

Not long after Zhu Di arrived at the prefectural government, other important military generals of the Ming Dynasty who landed on the island also arrived.

Qi Xiang was the chief general, and although Zhu Di was a prince and an angel, he was the deputy general.

Qi Xiang stood up and bowed towards the capital, saying, "I have been ordered by the Emperor to serve as a trial commander, leading tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to establish the Yingzhou Guard on this old island of Tamra. I hope that all my comrades will work together to accomplish this mission and live up to the Emperor's grace!"

Zhu Di immediately stood up and solemnly responded with the commanding officers, assistant commanders, governors, and captains below him: "We will work together to accomplish this task and live up to the emperor's grace!"

"Okay!" Qi Xiang nodded with a smile, "Then let's discuss the location and establishment of each thousand-household and hundred-household office!"

In the following meetings, Zhu Di mainly listened in and did not participate deeply.

Because in addition to taking over Jeju Island, his other mission this time was to help guard the island for three months, rather than joining the garrison army.

Qi Xiang and others had a lot to discuss this time.

First, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's order, Jeju Island was officially renamed Yingzhou Island - because at that time the main peak of the mountains on the island was called Yingzhou Mountain (Hallasan), and it is said that there are relics at the foot of the mountain where Xu Fu of the Qin Dynasty sought the elixir of immortality.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang took the legend of Yingzhou, one of the Three Immortal Mountains on the Chinese Sea, renamed the island Yingzhou Island, and established the Yingzhou Guard.

At present, Yingzhou Guard is still under the jurisdiction of Shandong Commandery, but it is hard to say whether its affiliation will change in the future. After all, the Ming Dynasty now intends to take over Goryeo and Japan.

In addition to Zhu Di's two thousand guards (one thousand cavalry and one thousand navy), the Beiyang Navy sent only more than three thousand Yingzhou Guard troops to Yingzhou Island.

As for the remaining nearly 8,000 soldiers, they are still on the mainland. They will have to wait until after this winter, when the soldiers have laid a certain foundation for the construction of Yingzhouwei on the island, before they will be sent to the island by the Beiyang Navy next spring.

There are more than 3,000 regular soldiers in Yingzhou Guard, but less than 8,000 surplus soldiers. On average, each regular soldier has less than three family members.

In fact, most families of regular military personnel have more than four members, and some even have as many as five or six.

At the same time, there are still many bachelors in Yingzhou Wei who have been separated from their families and need to solve the problem of getting married in the next few years.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave Qi Xiang a secret order, asking him to try to absorb population from the islanders, or to try to recruit young and strong refugees from Goryeo to supplement the population needed for the garrison.

As for whether there would be refugees in Goryeo, Zhu Yuanzhang said yes, even if not.

What's more, the Goryeo Kingdom was already at its end. Most of the nobles were indulging in pleasure and expanding their private fields and farms. The large number of lower-class people had almost no place to live. If they wanted to survive, they could only become slaves on the nobles' farms.

In this case, if the lower-class people in Goryeo could find a way to come to Yingzhou Island to become a Ming army household or military surplus, they would definitely be happy to do so...

A few days later.

Zhu Di took more than a thousand guards and cavalry to inspect the pastures on the island.

Yingzhou Island was formed by volcanic eruptions and has fertile land and a mild climate.

After the Mongols conquered the island, they moved many herdsmen to the island to herd horses in order to ease the transportation costs of horses and other supplies for the conquest of Japan.

Over the past hundred years, these herdsmen have settled down on the island and their numbers are quite large.

Ten years ago, after Goryeo seized the island by force, it intended to wipe out all the herders on the island, but it did not dare to act because the Northern Yuan Dynasty was still in existence.

Later, when Goryeo recognized the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked Goryeo to pay tribute to the island's horses. Goryeo then dared not to deal with the island's herders.

The existence of these herdsmen provided cover for the Mongolian horse bandits who resisted the rule of Goryeo.

Because it is an island, the pastures on the island are not a whole piece, but are divided into more than a dozen large and small ones.

Two days after Zhu Di's inspection, the herdsmen on the island all knew that the fourth prince of the Ming Dynasty, Prince Yan, had arrived, and the island was renamed Yingzhou Island, and from then on it belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

On the third day, Zhu Di finished inspecting a pasture between the mountains. When he was returning through a large hillside, hundreds of cavalrymen suddenly rushed out from the woods on both sides, shouting in Mongolian and charging towards Zhu Di's troops!

Zhu Di was riding on a horse. Seeing this scene, he was not panicked but smiled instead.

"Finally appeared. I thought these horse bandits wouldn't take the bait."

Daoyan also laughed and said, "These bandits have been able to deal with the Koreans on the island for ten years. It's impossible to say that they don't have the support of the Northern Yuan Dynasty behind them."

"Since they are under the influence of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and know that Your Highness is on the island, there will definitely be people who want to take risks and try to gain great merit."

While Zhu Di and Daoyan were talking, the escort cavalry that had been marching in a long snake formation quickly changed their formation, splitting into two groups to the left and right, with hundreds of people in each group, forming seven or eight miniature goose-step formations to meet the horse bandits.

Zhu Di's guard cavalry were elite troops selected from the Ming army cavalry. They were well-equipped and had trained with him for many years. They were all professional soldiers and the elite among the elite.

Although these horse bandits were of Mongolian herdsmen origin and had excellent horsemanship, few of them were professional soldiers. Their weapons and horses were inferior to those of the guards' cavalry, and their armor rate was also very low.

The man originally wanted to rely on a surprise attack to capture the king's carriage, kill Zhu Di and then escape.

Who would have thought that the escorting cavalry would react so quickly, as if they were prepared.

Seeing his companions being killed by the Ming army like chopping melons and vegetables, Seremo, as the leader, was furious.

At this time, one of his companions shouted in Mongolian: "Chief, this must be Cui Zhen's trick. He wants to use the Ming army to destroy us. Let's retreat quickly!"

Seeing the situation was not good, Seremo was already thinking of retreating. Upon hearing this, he immediately shouted, "Retreat!"

After he said that, he saw that dozens of his companions were surrounded by the Ming army, so he wanted to rely on his personal bravery to rescue these companions and retreat together.

Unexpectedly, after he rushed in and tried to run around, he was trapped inside.

When these Ming cavalry withdrew, there were several rows of musketeers outside aiming at them from two directions.

Seeing this, Seremo wanted to lead the remaining dozens of men in a desperate charge, but he heard someone from the Ming army say in Mongolian: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan admires your bravery. If you dismount and surrender, you can be spared!"

These words made Selemos struggle.

He was not afraid of death, but he did not want to die when he thought of his wife and children in the mountain village.

However, do you really want to betray the Yuan Dynasty and surrender to the Ming Dynasty?
While Selemo was still hesitating, he heard strange noises behind him.

He turned his head and saw his companions dismounting one by one, throwing away their swords and kneeling to surrender.

Selemu's inner struggle became more intense.

At this time, the Mongolian-speaking Ming general continued, "You, trapped on the island, probably don't know that half a year ago, Nahachu surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and was granted the title of Marquis of Haixi."

"My Great Ming is now invincible throughout the land. We can destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty in three years. You are just ordinary herdsmen and have not received much favor from the Timur family. Do you think you will be buried with the Timur family?"

Upon hearing this, Selemo's expression changed drastically, and incredible exclamations came from behind him.

"The Grand Commandant also surrendered to the Ming Dynasty?"

"is this real?"

"That should be true. Otherwise, why would Goryeo hand over this large island to Ming?"

"It seems that the Yuan Dynasty is really going to perish."

"From the moment the Great Emperor fled Dadu, the Yuan Dynasty was already dead..."

When Selemo heard the discussions behind him, the last bit of his belief in dying for the Yuan Dynasty collapsed.

"Ugh!"

He sighed heavily, threw down his scimitar, dismounted, and knelt, shouting, "Selemon, surrender!"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)