When the Roman legions that invaded Anatolia dealt a heavy blow to the Ottomans, there was also a widespread uprising in the Balkans, and the once seemingly powerful Ottoman Empire seemed to be in a precarious situation.

On the other side of the world, Zhu Mingzhong, who has rarely gone out in the past two years, is listening to his son introduce the situation there.

“…… Basically, this is the situation now, the biggest problem now is logistics, after all, all the supplies need to be transported from Baku to the front line, although they set up an ammunition factory in the Batumi fortress, but materials such as saltpeter, sulfur, lead bars, etc., still need to be transported from Baku, in Lao Jiu's letter, he said that in Sivass he knocked out all the rockets, consumed almost two-thirds of the ammunition, and the mountains of the Caucasus will be closed by heavy snow in winter, so he must be in front of the heavy snow to close the mountains, Transporting the last supplies to Sivas, but even then, only half of them could be replenished, and this meant that he would not be able to launch a large-scale offensive until next spring, only a passive defense. ”

When Zhu Hejia introduced the situation in Rome, Zhu Mingzhong just listened quietly, and in the past two years, he spent most of his time in the study writing down the knowledge he had learned with his memories, so most of the time, Zhu Hejia presided over the government affairs. But the current issue is not something that Zhu Hejia can decide, after all, it involves war.

Putting down the pen in his hand, Zhu Mingzhong thought for a moment and said.

"Attacking from the Caucasus to the direction of Turkey, originally to catch the Turks off guard, these years, the Turks' defense focus has been in Europe, they are still dreaming of attacking Europe, so in their hometown Anatolia is extremely empty, his side is progressing smoothly, and this is also the reason, the delay is unfavorable, once the Turks are given a breather, then the situation may not be as smooth as it is now."

Over the years, the military department has long figured out the Ottoman situation through various channels, and all along, the seemingly powerful Turkish hinterland is actually extremely empty of troops, and even most places are not garrisoned at all, which is why Zhu Mingzhong did not oppose their march from the Caucasus - the enemy army they faced was only a few tens of thousands of Turkish troops scattered throughout Anatolia, as long as there was a time difference, they could get rich results before the Turks reacted.

However, things did not seem to be as smooth as expected, after all, the characteristics of the Anatolian mountains limited the speed of the army's advance, but even so, the harvest was extremely rich for now.

"That's true, Lao Jiu is also worried about this problem."

"So what?"

Glancing at his son, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"There must be something in his letter that bothers you."

"Therefore, he hopes that Daming can send troops to occupy Baghdad Province, and he will also send part of his troops to the south, and after the two armies meet, they will replenish supplies through Baghdad Province by sea."

Baghdad province is almost the region of what is later Iraq, but the area is larger. Recalling some of the situations in Baghdad Province, Zhu Mingzhong asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Turks have always had a heavy presence in Baghdad province, after all, they just took it from the Persians decades ago, am I right?"

"Indeed, the current strength of the Turks in Baghdad province should be no less than 80,000, which is why the Persians did not attack Baghdad when they were defeated in Vienna for more than a decade."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter much, that Suleiman I has no interest in political affairs, preferring to stay in the harem, and the affairs of the government are in the hands of the prime minister and the council of harem eunuchs. In the decades following his succession, the eunuchs became increasingly powerful, corrupt and lax, and attacked Baghdad only to give away their heads. ”

Persia is a neighbor of the Ming Dynasty, of course Zhu Mingzhong will pay attention to it, and he has a good understanding of the situation there.

"Father, Suleiman I died of gout a few months ago, and the eunuchs chose his eldest son, Hussein, to succeed him as Shah."

"Oh!"

Zhu Mingzhong was stunned by his son's reminder, and then fell into thought, of course he didn't care about the life or death of Suleiman I, but was thinking about another issue.

"What if it comes through Persia?"

Looking at his son, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically,

"Sending troops to Baghdad, the court is bound to object, and if you send troops for Lao Jiu, how will others explain in the future? Therefore, this soldier is not suitable for the time being, rather than from Baghdad, it is better to borrow Persia, the Persian monarch is newly mourned, plus the eunuchs control the government, and the armament is also extremely lax, and exert some diplomatic pressure, which should be able to force them to agree, besides, they and the Ottomans are mortal enemies, and they must also be happy to see the Ottomans' power weakened, after all, the enemy's enemy is a friend. ”

Zhu Hejia thought for a moment about his father's suggestion, and it was indeed a safer choice than attacking Baghdad, and it would not provoke opposition from the cabinet.

"Father, northern Persia is mountainous, and the logistics situation may not be much better than it is now."

"As long as it does not affect the winter offensive, that is, some arms are transported from the rear, and food and everything is collected on the spot, after all, it is the hometown of the Turks, as long as it is used well, it will definitely solve the problem of feeding 200,000 people, and as for the arms, there are thousands of wagons, which should be able to ensure the needs of the front line."

Compared with Zhu Hejia's worries, Zhu Mingzhong seemed very calm, and he could vaguely feel that his son was not worried, but hoped to gain his glory through the attack on Baghdad Province, after all, as the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was also eager to expand the territory, after all, this is the emperor's work.

Everyone has their own vanity, just like Zhu Mingzhong himself, didn't he transport the pharaoh's obelisk to the Ming Dynasty and place it in the cemetery, just to remind the world of his merits? - Even the Far West was conquered by him in a special way. Now Zhu Hejia will have such thoughts and thoughts, which is not expected at all.

"Yan'er, in fact, you are more inclined to send troops."

Facing his father's question, Zhu Hejia was silent for a moment, and then smiled bitterly.

"Father, in fact, the sons sometimes feel that maybe the battles that the Ming Dynasty should fight have been fought by the father, and now the territory of the Ming Dynasty is far wider than that of the previous dynasties, even if it is not a colony, it is only the mainland, from the north to the extreme north of the ice sea, and to the west of the Caspian Sea in the Western Regions, hundreds of millions of people live and work in peace and contentment, to be honest, sometimes, the sons are also thinking about the future, just be a king of success, but they ...... in their hearts."

Smiling, Zhu Hejia said.

"I still aspire to expand the territory, or do I still desire to have outstanding military achievements in the future...... Besides, the sons also have sons, although they will not have as many as their fathers, but no matter what, they must have a few pieces of land for them as a feudal state. ”

Regarding his son's words, Zhu Mingzhong nodded, looked at him and said.

"Yan'er, in fact, as a king, the most difficult thing is not to expand the territory, but how to keep it, it is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a business, for you, the most important thing is to digest these years, the place that Daming swallowed, only if it is digested is his own, otherwise it ......"

Shaking his head, Zhu Mingzhong sighed.

"Sooner or later, one day, it will still belong to someone else."

In fact, to a certain extent, he didn't want Daming to continue to expand externally, he hoped that Daming could spend decades or even a hundred years focusing on the digestion of the Western Regions and other places.

"Only when it is completely inlandized will those places be us, and now ...... Not necessarily! ”

"What my father said is very true, and my son has been taught."

The teachings of his father made Zhu Hejia nod and say.

"However, in this matter over the years, it has been quite harmonious, the imperial court provides subsidies of more than 5 million taels to the Northwest Railway every year, and it has also reduced so many taxes, why? In order to reduce the transportation cost of the Northwest Railway, the passenger fare of the Northwest Railway is only equivalent to 30% of the Beijing-Ping Line, equivalent to 60% of the Northeast Railway, and there are subsidies for the Northeast Railway and routes......

Zhu Mingzhong has implemented a series of policies in the past few decades, and the effect has been extremely significant, just as the population of the northeast region, including Binhai, has exceeded 15 million after more than 30 years of long-term migration. This also means that the Northeast region has basically been inlandized. As for the Western Regions, it is also slowly becoming inland, and its population has already exceeded 5 million. Even in Mongolia and other places, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the mainland.

Large-scale migration has changed the situation in the Northeast and Western Regions, but if we want to change it completely, we must continue to promote measures to encourage migration.

"So, now and in the future, for Daming, it is to further increase measures to encourage immigration, don't talk about what immigration will lead to the shortage of population in the mainland, haven't you seen the rate of population growth in Daming in recent years? Population growth is greater than the world can imagine, why? ”

Looking at Zhu Hejia, who seemed to be thoughtful, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"Concubines are not only the power of the rich, but also ordinary people, but all men, if they charge an extra three or five buckets, they will always wonder if they can take a concubine, in fact, it doesn't cost much, how many foreign maids come to Daming every year? Three hundred thousand? Half a million? There may be more, these maidservants say that they are maidservants, but many of them have become the concubines of the head of the family, and their status is low, but they can have children and have many children...... What a good thing! ”

The emotion of the father made Zhu Hejia say with a smile.

"Father, it seems that people have always disliked those foreign maids, and they feel that it is really humiliating to them."

"Degrading ......"

His son's words almost didn't make Zhu Mingzhong laugh.

If you say what the biggest change in Daming is over the years, I'm afraid that millions of foreign maids have entered Daming, but in all medium families, there will be interracial maidservants, as few as a few, as many as hundreds. The reason why this is so is because the Ming Dynasty prohibits self-selling, and both self-sellers and slave buyers have to travel thousands of miles, and they have to confiscate their family property. Because only maidservants are allowed to enter the Ming Dynasty, there are many maidservants in this household, such as maidservants, Nanyang maids, and maidservants from the Western Regions.

The number of these handmaidens has also brought a series of problems, and the biggest problem is that people have always felt that using such handmaidens will insult their identity, not to mention that there are millions of handmaidens who have become the concubines of their masters or ordinary people, which makes many people quite dissatisfied.

"Do they still say that they have skewered seeds, the taste is different, that is, they are just idiots, don't pay attention to them, I don't know anything else, I only know, there are foreign women, the compatriots will not serve others, they will not sell themselves, those people think that the servants make their compatriots noble, they can, let them hire people, want to buy their compatriots as slaves......"

With a sneer, Zhu Mingzhong said coldly.

"I'm still worried about the lack of colonists!"

After throwing out this sentence, Zhu Mingzhong looked at his son and said in a serious tone.

"Yan'er, manpower is national strength, enough manpower is the foundation for the Ming Dynasty to maintain a strong force, these millions of maidservants can give birth to tens of millions of people for the Ming Dynasty, these tens of millions of people are more than the Ming Dynasty, correspondingly, there are tens of millions of people in foreign countries, over time, the more people in the Ming Dynasty are, the more places they occupy, and the population of foreign countries will naturally become less and less, as long as the Ming Dynasty continues to maintain the advantages of the Celestial Empire and maintain the advantages of life, those foreign women will be happy to come to the Celestial Empire, even if it is as slaves, is more willing to be the concubine of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the wealth resources and blood inheritance are equal, which is also the biggest advantage of the Ming Dynasty now! ”

Father's words made Zhu Hejia fall into deep thought, but he was only silent for a moment, he still looked up at his father and asked.

"It seems that there is still no way around the expansion, after all, with the increase in population, the land of the Ming Dynasty is always limited, and some people in Qinghe Academy estimate that according to the current growth, at most another thirty to fifty years, the population of the Ming Dynasty will exceed 20,000, even if it takes into account the large number of people who have emigrated overseas Zhuxia, at most fifty years, it will exceed 20,000 people. At that time, perhaps the Ming Dynasty will face the dilemma of insufficient land supply, which will inevitably reduce the living standards of the people. ”

Expansion is also a last resort to improve the living standards of the people, although they do not want to admit it, but they still need to face it.

"It's true, now there are fewer people and more land, so the people's living standards are very high, but when there are more people and less land, it is a luxury to be able to eat at that time, and there is only one choice to solve this problem......"

Looking at his son, Zhu Mingzhong said with a serious expression.

"It's external expansion, but why focus on Baghdad? It's all desert, and if you look west, don't we have a neighbor there......"