To assimilate the Mongols, it was first necessary to build all the cities and castles to be built on the Mongolian steppe.

At the end of February of the seventh year of Zhongxing in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Ci issued an order to mobilize all the cement stocks produced by the Nanjing City Cement Plant for more than a year and transport them to the Mongolian steppe.

Since more than a year ago, when the Institute of Science and Technology had just successfully developed cement and produced it on a large scale, Zhu Ciji thought of the arrival of this day and consciously stockpiled all the cement produced.

Except for the Chahar tribe, which still has some weak resistance, the other tribes have all lost all the ability to resist, and there is no longer any force in the Mongolian steppe that can prevent the Ming from building cities on a large scale in various places with abundant water and grass in the grassland.

Most of the coolies needed to build the city would be borne by the captured Mongol tribesmen.

In March, large-scale construction began.

The first batch of construction includes Ulanqab City, Horqin City, Chahar City, Chengcheng and other ten cities closest to Daming, and then the other 20 cities.

200,000 Ming people, more than 150,000 captured Mongolian cavalry, as well as Mongolian men, women, old and children, except for children under the age of 10 and the elderly over 60 years old, all men and women of all departments must participate, a total of more than 1 million people, more than 100,000 people in each city.

With such a large scale of construction army, the speed of construction is extremely fast.

"Send the stone up!" The 20,000 garrisons that followed into the Mongolian steppes were used at this time, and they were used to supervise and supervise the construction work of Mongolian men and women, and whoever dared to slack off, they would not hesitate to go down with a whip.

The grassland women are more bold, in fact, they have no sins, but unfortunately their fathers, brothers and husbands have sins against the Ming.

In recent years, the Mongolian tribes followed the Manchus into the customs, and many innocent Han people died tragically at their hands.

Not to mention the years of following the Manchus, even before the Manchus, because they were nomads, the Mongols knocked on the customs almost every year, and even the Great Wall could not stop them from robbing the Han people of food and property, and in the process, how many innocent Han people died tragically.

The Han people didn't want to do anything to the grassland, and never thought about the grassland, from the Han Dynasty, if it wasn't for the Huns who were too ruthless, and there was no Han Wu Emperor to conquer the desert, at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the five Hu Chaohua were all grassland nomadic tribes, if it weren't for Ran Min Tianwang, they might slaughter all the Han people north of the Huai River, although the Wuhu died out later, but this could not cover up their sins, the Tang Dynasty, the rise of the grassland Turks, and the same as the Xiongnu back then, taking advantage of the replacement of the Central Plains Dynasty, knocking every year, Because of this, there was Tang Taizong's war against the Turks, and the same is true of today's Mongolia, and they have done more sins than the Huns and Turks back then.

Today, Zhu Ci is going to use their own hands to let them build cities and castles on the grassland that will bind their hands and feet in the future.

"Dangdang dang" gongs and drums sounded.

"It's eaten, it's eaten!" When the time came for lunch, steamed buns and sweet potatoes were distributed to the Mongolians to satisfy their hunger.

As Mongolian tribesmen who live in the Mongolian steppe all year round, they grew up drinking goat's milk and eating beef and mutton, and steamed bread and sweet potatoes may also be eaten, but if they are really allowed to eat steamed bread and sweet potatoes, some people will feel unbearable.

Suddenly, a hot-tempered Mongolian man threw the steamed bun and sweet potato in his hand to the ground, and was about to protest loudly.

"You just give us these things to eat every day, Lao Tzu won't snap!"

"Smack! Syllable! Smack"

However, the Mongolian man was not done protesting and was greeted with a whip.

A soldier of the garrison who supervised them looked at the Mongolian man who was constantly rolling on the ground by his own whip, and sneered: "Hmph, even if you are lucky to have these things to eat, according to Lao Tzu, you should eat coarse chaff and moldy rice mixed with sand!" Why, do you really think you're an uncle? ”

The hatred of the people of the Ming Dynasty for the Mongols did not dare to have the slightest resistance, and the Mongols did not end well, they only had one way, and they were full and silently participated in the construction of the city!

Not far away, there were Han people watching this scene, with sarcastic smiles in their eyes.

"This group of bazi, you also have today, work hard when you are full, otherwise the swords of our Ming soldiers don't mind staining your blood more." While sneering, the Han man drank a sip of the broth in his hand, ate a few pieces of fragrant meat in the bowl, and took a sip of wine.

Compared with the Mongolians, who only have a way to continue to work after they are full, the life of the Han people is much better, not only has wine and meat, but also has an hour to rest and take a nap at noon, working for a maximum of four and a half hours a day, and one day of rest every ten days, and a salary of five taels of silver a month, and no one has beaten and scolded when working.

Because the construction of Ulanqab City was the first to start, when the other cities had just started, the four walls of Ulanqab City had already been built, but the people who built Ulanqab City did not go to the next city to continue construction, but remained in Ulanqab City and continued to build houses in the city.

Most of the houses in Ulanqab were built according to some Han Chinese habits and specifications.

In order to build these houses, the imperial court brought in large quantities of timber and other housing materials from Kannai.

Zhu Cihe's purpose is very clear, that is, to prepare to emigrate some Han people into the grassland to settle down. In order to assimilate the Mongols, in addition to powerful military repression and cultural transformation, it is inevitable that some Han Chinese people will be involved, and Ulanqab is the first place to prepare for the immigration of some Han Chinese.

After another little more than a month, most of the houses in the city were built.

The news reached Zhu Cihe's ears, and Zhu Ciji did not hesitate to order the emigration to prepare the Han people to enter the Mongolian steppe.

For the Han people, Zhu Ci did not want to have any coercion, which required thinking of a feasible way, enough temptation for some Han people to take the initiative and voluntarily immigrate to the Mongolian steppe to settle down.

After half a day of discussion between Zhu Ciji and Li Yan, three policies were finally introduced.

First, those who are willing to settle down in the Mongolian steppe will be given free houses for each household, and the court promises that in the future it will be purchased at a price of one tael of silver for each adult lamb, six taels of silver for each adult cow, and eight taels of silver for each adult horse.

Second, if a single man is willing to emigrate, the imperial court is obliged to introduce a Mongolian woman to marry him.

Third, immigrants can choose to stay in the grassland or return to the Central Plains after seven years, and the imperial court will provide free round-trip fares.

The three policies are all based on inducement and favor, and Zhu Cicheng hopes that every immigrant will be voluntary. He wants to prepare to use the entire Mongolian steppe as a pasture for the source of cattle, sheep and horses for the Ming Dynasty, and provide a large number of war horses, beef and mutton for the Ming Dynasty every year.