On August 12, Zheng Tianzi Shi Fangzhen returned to Yongchang City. The male soldier is in iron armor with blood-stained dust, and the neat horse's hooves step out of the majestic and majestic, Shi Fangzhen is dressed in golden armor, sitting on horseback and looking forward to Shenfei, the sound of "long live" everywhere he goes is like thunder, looking at the people who worship on the ground, Shi Lizhen feels that the hard work of the past few months has not been in vain.

The Son of Heaven returned from sweeping the Northern Desert, the city celebrated, the wine shop and teahouse were full, and even the business of the Qinglou rose sharply, especially the business of Mo Nu and Hu Niang was surprisingly hot, and there was still an endless stream of benefactors who wanted to hire them and enjoy the pleasure of conquest.

There are different opinions about the achievements of this northern expedition, some people say that the army smashed the court of the desert people, and the desert people fled north; Some people say that the desert people and wolves rode and subdued nearly 100 desert tribes, with millions of cattle and sheep; It is also said that the weather in the northern desert turned cold, and the army had to withdraw.

All speculations had a unified result after the Son of Heaven announced the change of the Yuan," ...... The northern desert often invaded the border, and I led a large army to quell the northern troubles, killing 100,000 enemies, serving more than 500,000 people, seizing thousands of miles of land, countless cattle and sheep...... Amnesty to the world, changed the eighteenth year of Fengle to the first year of the establishment of the military. ”

After the sacrifice to the sky, it is to reward the heroes, Wang Keming, the marshal of the camp in the north of the town, has become a national prince, and the surname is not the king, so the reward is 10,000 taels of silver, 100 hectares of fertile land, and the guard is increased to 200 horses; Miao Tieshan returned to Anbei to serve as the governor of the capital, and was named the Marquis of Zhoushan, and his birthplace of Zhoushan County, Fuzhou, was rewarded to Miao Tieshan Shiyi; Qi Xinwen was transferred to Jingzhong, succeeded Ning Tao as the general of Zuo Weiwei, and was named the Marquis of Honghua, and Fengyi was his hometown of Honghua County, Shaozhou. Da Zheng Jue is divided into duke, marquis, uncle, son, male, but there is a distinction between each lord, taking the marquis as an example, there is a difference between the county marquis, the township marquis, and the pavilion marquis, Yang Xiangliang's Yiyong Marquis is a township marquis, compared to Miao and Qi, the two are one level worse, and the proverbial Wanhu Marquis refers to the county marquis.

In addition to these three giants, other meritorious personnel were rewarded, or promoted or made a fortune, among which Huang Xi appeared in the Northern Expedition, and was promoted by the Son of Heaven as the deputy governor and became Feng Ning's deputy; Jia Qingyuan inherited the Marquis of Pingnan, Zhu Yifeng was named a baron, General Zhongwu of Jin, and Fang Zhizhong was promoted from General Ning Yuan under the fifth rank to General Xuanwei from the fourth grade; Liao Jianhui should fight bravely, and the official should be reinstated as the general of Dingyuan, and the title of Changyong should be restored; Jiang Jian was recommended by Huang Xi, and the official seal was deputy to calm down, and he was desperate to protect Huang Xi.

Taiwei Mansion, a large banquet to celebrate Zhu Yi's victorious return. The Son of Heaven doesn't like Zhu Rustic, everyone looks at it, which puts a shadow over this century-old Taiwei Mansion, once the old Taiwei goes west, the Zhu family is likely to decline, and the first Jiangmen will fall into the hands of others. The rise of Zhu Yifeng, the third generation of the Zhu family, is eye-catching, and at the age of thirty-two, he became a loyal general on the fourth grade, Zhenxi male, it seems that the Son of Heaven intends to cultivate Zhu Yifeng as the successor of the Zhu family, and the favor of the old Zhu family is undiminished.

In the study, Zhu Taiwei and Zhu Zipu listened to Zhu Yifeng tell about the Northern Expedition. Taiwei Zhu is seventy-nine years old, with gray hair, goosebumps, and bowed back with his teeth down, and his courage can only be glimpsed from the eyes that sometimes flashed with essence.

Zhu Yifeng talked about the strength of the wolf cavalry in the Northern Desert, and the formation studied by the Taiwei Mansion and the Ministry of War had little effect in front of the Hu cavalry like mercury, and Zheng Cai was at a disadvantage in the cavalry duel, so he could only use the power of crossbows and strong arrows to slightly turn the tide.

Tai Lieutenant Zhu Wennan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he interjected from time to time to ask, and sometimes Zhu Yifeng was asked and had nothing to say, so he could only say: "Sun Er followed Qi Dashuai to fight, and the understanding of the situation is not comprehensive, Shen Guogong organized a special person to record the battle situation of the Northern Expedition in detail and comment on it, grandpa might as well let him send the record to watch." ”

Zhu Zhipu said: "According to Feng'er, you said this, the advantage of our army in this Northern Expedition is not obvious, why did the Son of Heaven say that he killed 100,000 enemies and expanded the land for thousands of miles in the sacrifice to the sky?" ”

"Uncle (Zhu Yifeng is the son of Zhu Zhipu's eldest brother, Zhu Zhishan), and the killed desert people are also counted in the sacrifice of astronomy." Zhu Yifeng said embarrassedly: "In the first battle of the Wuena River, he killed nearly 50,000 people in the Naifu Department, and later fought two battles with the reinforcements of Liman's department, and with the help of the power of the ironclad cavalry, he killed more than 30,000 people in the desert cavalry, including more than 2,000 people in Liman's blue wolf cavalry. Liman led the people to retreat, but the shepherds of the Badai and Saman tribes did not escape, with more than 120,000 people and millions of cattle and sheep seized. ”

The more Zhu Yifeng spoke, the more excited he became, he picked up the tea and drank it dry, and continued: "When the army was returned, the Kunbo Department and the Liman Department joined forces to block it, and Shen Guogong and Miao and Qi joined forces in one place, defending it steadily, winning and losing each other's battles, and the indifferent people did not take any advantage. Shen Guogong summed up a set of techniques to resist the enemy, first used winch crossbows and crossbows to block the enemy, and then used ironclad cavalry to charge the formation, light cavalry then pursued and killed, infantry lined up in a phalanx with spears to cut horses' hooves, and the indifferent people had no way to take us, so we had to retreat. ”

"Just because you can't do it now doesn't mean you won't be able to do it in the future, and there are also masters among the indifferent people." Zhu Wennan recognized the figure of the reverse road in front of his eyes, and warned: "Soldiers, treacherous ways, ever-changing, must not be investigated, and must not be careless when encountering the enemy." ”

Zhu Zipu was very unhappy that he was left in the capital in this northern expedition, and said slightly sourly: "In this way, the results of this northern expedition are not great, and the real killing of the desert soldiers is only 50,000, and there are more than 30,000 self-inflicted soldiers. ”

Zhu Wennan also felt that the Northern Expedition was a bit hasty, but he said: "It's okay to fight a battle, our army has not experienced any battles except for the two battalions of Anxi and Anbei, especially the 16 guards in Beijing, which are known as elites, but they are mostly showy, and it is beneficial to see blood on the battlefield." ”

Zhu Yifeng obviously disagreed with his uncle's understatement of denying the results of this Northern Expedition, and said with a smile: "In this expedition, nearly thirty tribes in the Northern Desert have returned to obedience, and Long Live will seize the grassland and divide the land to these tribes, and the captured desert people are also given to them, so that they can be used as a barrier in the north to resist the invasion of the Batu tribe." The tribes of the Tie Beggar Tribe, the Hun Branch, and the Krantu Tribe, which had taken refuge in the early days, suddenly numbered more than 100,000 and became large tribes, and the leaders of these tribes were grateful to Dade and jointly honored the Son of Heaven as the 'Emperor Khan'. ”

"These indifferent people are capricious, and if they have milk, they are mothers, and I am afraid that if the Badu Department goes south and turns to the royal court, they will become the pioneers of attacking Zheng." Zhu Zipu said disdainfully.

"Uncle is very worried", Zhu Yifeng said: "The marshal suggested that Banzai build Zhenbei City four hundred miles away from Baisheng Pass, and connect Baisheng Pass, Zhenbei City and the Moren tribe through the Chi Road. And 20,000 soldiers are stationed in Zhenbei City, and 30,000 soldiers are sent to Zhenbei City every year to train soldiers, so that 50,000 troops are stationed in Zhenbei City, and they can respond to the situation, and those tribes that are divided do not dare to have ambitions easily. Encourage traders to trade with the tribes around Zhenbei City, and win the hearts and minds of these tribes, so that even if Mo Cai goes south, Zhenbei City can resist the support of the army. ”

Zhu Wennan praised: "Wang Keming, this kid has brains, so that my country has firmly inserted a wedge in the territory of the deserters, advanced and retreated freely, and achieved the purpose of military training." After ten years of rotational training, the army is heading north again, and the deserters will die at my hands. Alas, it's a pity that the old man can't wait for that day. If the court of the desert falls into my hands, don't forget to tell me when you wait for the family sacrifice, so that I can be happy underground. ”

The Northern Expedition made meritorious contributions, and the whole country rejoiced, but only a few people were worried. Yu Zhijie, the head of the household, looked at the empty treasury, and his hair turned white. After the war, the rewards for meritorious deeds and the compensation for the casualties of the three armies were all due to money and food. When Yu Zhijie learned that the army had returned to the division, he had collected 11 million taels of summer taxes from 16 states in advance, and after the reward, even the rats in the treasury did not want to enter.

In the imperial study, after the ministers left, Yu Zhijie complained to the Son of Heaven alone, and now the treasury is completely empty, and even the courtiers don't know where to raise it next month.

This Northern Expedition spent at least 50 million taels of money and grain, almost two years of taxes, Shi Fang really throbbed, no wonder they all said that the war is to fight money and grain, I really can't afford to fight, the DPRK can't send out a fortune, Zhenbei City is still in urgent need of construction, at least a few million taels of silver, money, money, I knew that I would sell some of the desert people and cattle and sheep that I caught, and exchange them for 180,000 taels of silver for emergency.

Yu Zhijie saw that the Son of Heaven was entangled, and suggested softly: "Long live, or fill the silver taels with grain, silk and other things next month, and then don't reduce the money for the ministers tomorrow." ”

Shi Fangzhen smiled bitterly: "I just won the battle, and I will reduce my salary under great joy, and the discussion between the DPRK and China will inevitably be surging, Yu Aiqing's kindness I know, but if you reduce your salary, I am afraid that you will be scolded to death by everyone." Alas, I remember that there are more than ten manors at the foot of Yanshan, and Yu Qing asked people to sell them, so let's get over the difficulties for the time being. ”

Yanshan is in the north of Yongchang City, is a mountain of Yunxing Mountain Range, because of the beautiful scenery, pleasant climate was opened up into a royal garden, Emperor Zhao had a lot of construction in the mountain, built more than ten manors for viewing flowers, summer retreat, perching on clouds, enjoying the snow, after Emperor Xuan ascended the throne, he led Luo water into the lake at the foot of the mountain, planted lotus flowers by the lake, built a water pavilion, took the world's precious fish, birds and poultry to raise in the lake, became a grand scene. Emperor Xuan often took close ministers to live in Yanshan to enjoy, after Shi Fangzhen ascended the throne, he was diligent and restrained, rarely came here to play, Yanshan Manor became a place for royal nobles and children of the family to show off their power and entertain relatives and friends.

However, Yu Zhijie estimated that each manor could sell at least two million taels, and only three or four manors could be sold to raise ten million taels of silver, and the difficulties in front of him could be easily overcome. Thinking that since the Son of Heaven ascended the throne, he has made great efforts to govern very little Youye, the palace eats and eats simple, and the palace is in disrepair, Yu Zhijie feels that he is a little guilty as a household scholar, and he is sorry for the diligent and self-denying Son of Heaven.

"Long live, there are eighteen manors in Yanshan, and the minister only needs three to deal with the current situation, and the other manors are still left to Banzai to enjoy the scenery. Long live the work of the country, and it is necessary to know that the combination of work and rest is the best way. Yu Zhijie lowered his head, his voice choked, not letting the Son of Heaven see his tears.