On the sixteenth day of the first month of the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty, just after the Lantern Festival, Zhu Ciji issued an order to recruit 100,000 people from all over the country, preparing to start passing through Mongolia and completely controlling the Mongolian grassland in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

On 15 February, as 200,000 people from all over the country began to move north, large quantities of cement began to be loaded on ships along the Yangtze River, ready to be transported from the sea to the navy to Tianjinwei, and from Tianjin to the Mongolian steppe.

Cement had been fully developed six years before ZTE, and after a year of production, the inventory was extremely rich, at least according to Zhu Cijiao's idea, it was enough to pass through the Mongolian steppe.

Zhu Ci's strategy for navigating the Mongolian steppe was simple and practical, that is, to use cement and stone to build cities in various places where water and grass were abundant in the Mongolian steppe, so that all the herders of the Mongolian steppe could live in the city on the steppe.

Nomads survive without a trace, and it is often impossible to completely annihilate the Mongol nomadic cavalry in the endless Mongolian steppe.

For example, during the Yongle period, the Yongle Emperor conquered Mongolia five times, and each time he beat the Mongols to lose their armor, but they could not completely annihilate the Mongols, and the Ming army could not stay in the Mongolian steppe for a long time, after all, it was too expensive to guard against the sneak attack of the Mongols at all times, so every time the Ming army withdrew from the Mongolian steppe, the Mongols would make a comeback.

Not only in the Yongle period, but also in the Chinese dynasties from the Qin Dynasty onwards, whenever they were strong, they could defeat the nomads of the northern grasslands, but they could not solve this hidden danger every time.

Whether it is the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic, or Mongol, they have all been brutally defeated by the Central Dynasty, and even the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic and other nomads who originally occupied the northern steppe have disappeared successively, however, for thousands of years, the northern steppe is still the confidant of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the disappearance of a nomad will re-enter a nomad, and then continue to threaten the Central Plains Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent the Mongols from coming and going without a trace, they had to spend huge manpower and material resources to build the Great Wall with a huge amount of work.

No one can calculate what kind of price the Ming Dynasty spent in order to build the Great Wall of the North, but unfortunately, this is a palliative rather than a cure after all, and it still cannot solve the scourge of the northern grasslands.

Zhu Ciji plans to build cities all over the Mongolian steppe and enclose all the places with abundant water and grass in the Mongolian steppe, which is a trick to draw wages from the bottom of the kettle.

As we all know, the survival of nomads depends on the land of abundant water and grass, once all the places with abundant water and grass in the Mongolian steppe are surrounded by the city, then the nomads can only rely on the city to survive.

Once the Mongolian steppe is shrouded in a large number of cities, then the Ming Dynasty only needs to send a small number of troops to hold the city and guard all the land with abundant water and grass, so that the Mongols can cut off the foundation of the Mongols, so that the Mongols can only live in the city built by the Ming Dynasty if they want to continue to herd sheep and horses on the Mongolian grassland, and accept the control of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Ci knew that the early cost may be hateful, but he also knew that no matter how big it was, it would definitely not be able to beat the cost of building another Great Wall, and this could also permanently solve the hidden dangers of the Mongolian steppe, and completely and completely incorporate it into the only way for the Ming Dynasty.

"Hahahaha, the emperor's move is really high, it's too high!" Ji Feng, commander of the First Army stationed in the Mongolian steppe, laughed.

At present, there are three regular armies of the Ming Dynasty stationed on the Mongolian steppe, namely the First Army, the Seventh Army, and the Nineteenth Army, with a total of 60,000 people.

Although it was 10,000 fewer than the original 70,000, these 60,000 troops were all regular troops, all equipped with 90-millimeter cannons with firing rifles, and even a small number of new machine guns, which were more than twice as strong as the original 70,000 troops.

Although the Seventh Army and the Nineteenth Army are not as strong as the soldiers of the Ying Long Army who were originally composed of more than a dozen soldiers of the First Army, but because the weapons are the same, the combat effectiveness is at least six or seven percent of that of the First Army, not that Ji Feng and others are confident, relying on their 60,000 troops, even if the Mongols have 500,000 iron cavalry, if they dare to come to attack them, there is only a dead end.

Zhu Ciji has already ordered Ji Feng to preside over the affairs of Mongolia with full authority.

Ji Feng's task was twofold, to protect the 200,000 people who entered the Mongolian steppe to build a city, and at the same time to prevent the Mongols from jumping over the wall and attacking the unbuilt city.

At the same time that the decree came into Ji Feng's hands, there was also a chapter on the detailed map of the Mongolian steppe, which was marked with a large number of points, some of which indicated that a large city was to be built, and the smaller point meant that a smaller castle was to be built.

According to the description on the map, there will be 30 large cities and hundreds of small castles in the entire Mongolian steppe, almost in proportion to the entire Mongolian steppe, and there is no doubt that once these large and small cities are built, the Mongols will have no place to turn over.

Although with the support of cement, the construction will be easier, but so many projects, Zhu Cihesitant is thinking that they will be completed within three years, so of course, just the 200,000 people recruited are not enough, but this is only the early batch, and more manpower will be obtained from the Mongols themselves and two other places in the future.

Why are the Mongols counted among them, after all, this is breaking the foundation of the Mongols, and the Mongols are willing to blame for cooperating, of course Zhu Ciji knows this, and he dares to be ten percent sure that once the city is built, it will not be long before the Mongols will jump over the wall and directly launch a riot. And this is exactly what Zhu Cihesan was looking forward to, the Mongol tribe dared to start a riot, so Zhu Cihesan dared to assign a large army to destroy the Mongol tribe and capture the herdsmen of the Mongol tribe as coolies to participate in the construction of the city.

As for the other places that Zhu Ciji said, it is North Korea and Annan, the Ming Dynasty has been calm for two years and has not used swords, and the soldiers of all armies are about to rust, when Annan once took advantage of the fire to rob when the Ming Dynasty was in internal and external difficulties, and sent troops to capture several county towns on the border of Guangxi and Yunnan, and still refuses to take the initiative to spit it out, Zhu Ciji can tolerate them to this day, it is already a blessing.

There is also North Korea, Zhu Ci stumbled with North Korea two years ago to sever the relationship between vassal states, just to prepare for the future use of troops against North Korea, after all, the Tielingwei of the year, Zhu Ci has always been worried about it, when North Korea said one thing and did another, when Yongle launched the Jing Rebellion, he swallowed Tielingwei, resulting in the fait accompli of ruling across the Yalu River with the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle did not pursue North Korea back then, but it does not mean that Zhu Ciji does not pursue North Korea now. North Korea has occupied the Tielingwei of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and counting the interest, North Korea has to cede at least half of the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Thinking of this, Zhu Ci's smile was full of creepy meaning.