Ming Dynasty: Charge, Emperor Yongle!

Mid-July is the most beautiful time of year on the grasslands.

Zhu Di stood on the city wall of Wan'an Palace, gazing northwards.

The land undulates gently, stretching for hundreds of miles, covered in lush green grass.

Wildflowers bloom everywhere—golden lotus, blue thorn, and mountain lily—swaying in the wind like a flowing brocade.

The Orkhon River, like a bright jade ribbon, meanders and twists, and under the blue sky and white clouds, herds of cattle and sheep are grazing with their heads down.

Karakorum was transformed into a bustling construction site, where tens of thousands of Mongols, like diligent worker ants, built bridges and roads, dug wells and canals, and craftsmen fired bricks and tiles, made charcoal, and smelted copper and iron, creating a vibrant and bustling scene.

"Whoa!"

Zhu Neng, who had galloped from afar, presented an urgent report to Zhu Di: "Your Highness, this is a letter from Yingtian Prefecture."

Yingtian Prefecture!

Zhu Di received the urgent report, broke the wax seal, and carefully examined it.

As expected, this was a letter sent by Zhu Yuanzhang, bearing the emperor's seal. The contents were simple: first, to inform him of the list of officials under the Prince of Yan's court; second, to inform him of the movements of the reinforcements.

After reading the names of the officials in the Prince of Yan's residence, Zhu Di sneered, "Father is truly interesting."

"Your Highness."

Zhu Neng's expression shifted, his face filled with a thirst for knowledge.

Zhu Di casually tossed the letter to him, and said with a self-deprecating smile, "I really am quite influential. The officials in my palace are either descendants of founding ministers or descendants of scholars from Zhejiang."

"Both of the Earl of Chengyi's sons have been sent here. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was going to become the crown prince."

"Your Highness."

Zhu Neng opened it and was shocked.

These people, none of them simple, almost encompass all the civil officials in the imperial court except for those from Huaixi.

What is Your Majesty trying to do? Are you trying to make the Prince of Yan a real target, a target of public criticism?

"How is the construction of Karakorum going?"

"Your Highness."

Tan Yuan answered methodically: "The useless religious buildings in the city have been demolished, and the four districts of east, west, south, and north have been replanned."

"The eastern district housed military camps and drill grounds, the western district contained workshops, armories, and granaries, the southern district was a residential area for artisans and merchants, and the northern district housed government offices."

"The city is about 5 li long from north to south and about 2.6 li wide from east to west, covering an area of ​​about 48.75 hectares (3.25 square kilometers)."

"It is expected to be completed within three months and will be able to accommodate 100,000 people."

"The craftsmen found the mining information left by the Northern Yuan Dynasty and confirmed that copper, gold, iron, lead, coal and other minerals are distributed in the Yanran Mountains."

"The only problem is the lack of labor, which makes large-scale development and smelting difficult."

"Our food supplies are being depleted rapidly, and even if we include all our cattle and sheep, it will only last for a few months."

"There's no need to worry about food supplies."

With his hands behind his back, Zhu Di calmly said, "Your Majesty has already ordered people to transport grain and fodder from Shanxi and Hebei to Yanmen Pass and Juyong Pass."

"If we take down Wang Baobao, the problem will be solved."

『............』

Zhu Neng, Tan Yuan, and the others twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Is taking down Wang Baobao an easy task?

"Kama."

"How's the integration process going with the three thousand battalions?"

Zhu Neng turned his gaze to Huo Li Huo Zhen.

"Return to your highness."

Huo Li Huo Zhen replied in a serious tone, "The three thousand battalions are ready for battle at any time."

"it is good."

With a slight nod, Zhu Di immediately ordered: "From this day forward, three thousand battalions will march north to conquer the Mongol tribes south of the Han Sea (present-day Lake Baikal)."

"Capture all able-bodied men, women, and children and send them to Karakorum as slaves to hasten the construction of Karakorum."

"This is the foundation upon which we stand in the northern desert, and we cannot afford to lose it."

"Yes."

Huo Li Huo Zhen left immediately, his face beaming with joy.

The Three Thousand Battalion consisted of three thousand Mongol cavalrymen armed with weapons and armor captured from the Kheshig army. On this grassland, apart from the Yuan army under Wang Baobao, no one could stand against them, and conquering the tribes south of the Gobi Desert was a piece of cake.

"Your Highness."

"His Majesty has already dispatched the Marquis of Yingchuan, the Marquis of Zhongshan, and General Mu Ying."

"You're now building up Karakorum on a massive scale, isn't that...?"

Zhu Neng hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"Of course I know that the most convenient way is to wait for Fu Youde and the others to arrive and take all the people and things of Khara-Khoto back to the Ming Dynasty."

"But did I, the king, travel all this way to the northern desert just for this?"

Zhu Di's eyes gleamed with ambition as he said meaningfully, "Father wants to use me as a target to contain Huaixi."

"How could I possibly do this willingly?"

There's a saying among the people: "It's better to have your own than to have your own parents."

"Khara-Khorrin was the capital of the Lingbei Province of the Yuan Dynasty and the center of the Mongolian Plateau."

"Backed by the Yanran Mountains, it has abundant mineral resources and timber. To the north are natural grasslands irrigated by the Orkhon River, the Hanuy River, and the Ider River, where cattle, sheep, and horses can graze freely. This is a natural hub for controlling northern Mongolia."

"We have wiped out the Northern Yuan court in one fell swoop. Why not take this opportunity to seize power and establish the rule of our Great Ming over the grasslands?"

"If the Tang Dynasty could establish the Protectorate of the Han Sea to govern the grasslands, why can't our Great Ming Dynasty establish the Protectorate of the Northern Desert to govern the grasslands?"

"Huh?!"

Zhu Neng and the others stared wide-eyed. The establishment of the Northern Protectorate to rule the grasslands was something they had never imagined.

In their preconceived notion, the Central Plains dynasties had always maintained indirect control over the grasslands, and even the Tang Dynasty had not achieved long-term control. Could the Ming Dynasty do the same?

Zhu Di observed all the changes in their expressions. He could understand Zhu Neng and the others' thoughts, but he dared not agree with them.

Because times have changed, the Yuan Dynasty was the first unified dynasty in history to be ruled by a nomadic people. Kublai Khan designated the entire Mongolian Plateau, the area around Lake Baikal, and even large swathes of Siberia as the Lingbei Province, with the aim of protecting his ancestral lands and maintaining the ethnic foundation of the Mongol nobility.

The Yuan Dynasty solved the political dilemma of previous dynasties' inability to cover diverse cultural regions through the provincial system, which provided a reference for the Central Plains dynasties to control the grasslands.

By building cities on the grasslands, a system of rule was formed from points to areas, dividing the grasslands into sections and achieving tiered control.

Later, the Manchu Qing dynasty, through the banner system and intermarriage, firmly confined the Mongols to the grasslands, preventing the emergence of another monster like the Mongol Empire. The entire desert grasslands were scattered and directly controlled by the Central Plains dynasty.

The timing now is far better than in later generations. The Northern Yuan left behind three strongholds for governing the grasslands: Qudiao Alan, Halahelin, and Chenghai. The Yuan Dynasty called these three cities the three major towns in the northern desert, and used them to control the Lingbei Province.

Qudiao Alan is located near the confluence of the Kerulen River and the Sengkul River, southeast of Langjuxu Mountain (now the Khentii Mountains in Mongolia).

This was the Great Ordo during the reign of Genghis Khan. Before Ögedei Khan established his capital in Karakorum, the Great Ordo was the political center of the Mongol Empire.

The area known as Hai (in present-day southeastern Khovd Province, Mongolia) was second only to Karakorum in status.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Chenghai Pacification Commissioner's Office, the Grand Marshal's Office, and the Chenghai Military Farming General Administration were successively established here. It once became the most important military farm base and border town in Lingbei Province, with an annual grain output of up to hundreds of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure).

In addition to Karakorum, these three important towns are the centers of eastern, central, and western Mongolia, respectively. With these three points in a line, the Ming army only needs to control these three cities to firmly grasp the situation in Mongolia.

At that time, Lingbei would not only be the northern border barrier of the Yuan Dynasty, but also the northwestern border defense wall of the Ming Empire.