Every day after that, Zhu Gaoxu sat on duty in the middle hall of the old courtyard, listening to the generals come over to report on their work.

Most of the contents are to widen the walls of the guards, repair the complete fortifications, or open up how many acres of tuntian, and a few have captured the enemy's spies. The generals do much the same thing on a daily basis, and it sounds quite boring.

However, everyone mainly wants to maintain the operation of the government, of course, there are not many interesting things, and it is normal that there are no waves. Of course, the border generals will not say some of the dirt in it themselves, but will only rack their brains to come up with some serious things that have been done.

It is no wonder that Xuanzong, who was quite capable in the Tang Dynasty, later hated politics and preferred to spend his days entertaining with the daughter of a merchant who sold timber. Zhu Gaoxu also heard that some emperors liked calligraphy, some liked carpentry, and some people were obsessed with Hualiu Lane. Suddenly, he had some understanding of those who had become the jokes of the ages.

Fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu did not feel tired of it, after all, he had a life of precariousness and lack of life, and he was very satisfied with the days when he was accompanied by beautiful women without worrying about food and clothing. Just like Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a monk and a beggar, and starved his family to death, Taizu never got tired of politics after he became rich and prosperous, and until he was seventy years old, he had to personally review a large number of recitals every day.

So Zhu Gaoxu showed great patience with the long nonsense of the border generals. He will not only let the generals finish their words, but also take the initiative to ask some details, such as how many military households are in the army, the real amount, and so on.

How many military households there are in a certain acropolis, Zhu Gaoxu doesn't care; However, from the generals' answers, we can roughly understand whether this person can grasp the situation under his rule. Of course, this can also give the generals some intuition that the emperor is paying attention to the border guards, and can urge them to fulfill their duties.

In the afternoon, after all the people who had arranged for today's debriefing had been received, Zhu Gaoxu left the central hall. With a group of retinues, he walked out of the old courtyard and headed for another nearby courtyard.

The winter in Peking is very dry and cold, today is cloudy, the wind is not strong, and the cold blowing on the body is through the clothes. At first, Zhu Gaoxu didn't feel it in the house, but after he came out, he felt that the temperature was already so low.

Or the weather is getting colder, and the streets outside seem a little deserted, and there are few pedestrians scattered. However, this big city, which was once the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, has a population that is far less than that of Jingshi. Originally, Taizong of the Ming Dynasty was preparing to move the capital to Beiping, and according to the plan, in the middle and later stages of the capital move, a large number of wealthy households would be forcibly moved from the south; However, the relocation of the capital was soon suspended, and the matter of migrating the population could not be started.

The group walked into the courtyard gate, and there were some brick houses with short and narrow eaves on the top of the mountain. When Zhu Gaoxu came to the hall, he saw Zhang Shengying, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, come out, kneel on the ground and kowtow.

Zhu Gaoxu held him up with one hand and said, "You come to do it, I happen to be free, and I will watch from the sidelines." ”

Zhang Sheng said: "The minister obeys the order." Holy on the inside, please. ”

Entering the middle hall, Zhang Sheng stepped forward to raise a curtain, and Zhu Gaoxu walked into the side of the cabin. This room was probably the place where the tools and ceremonial guards were stored, but by this time they had been cleaned up, tables and chairs had been set up, and the guards had made a cup of tea and put it here.

Zhu Gaoxu sat down and waited.

After a while, there was a sound of shackles in the middle hall, and a Mongolian was vaguely seen being escorted in. Zhang Sheng's voice said, "The lock is opened." ”

A sergeant responded, "Yes." ”

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Cao Fu, who was standing beside him, looked at the curtain, and raised his chin. Cao Fu understood, and gently lifted the corner of the curtain, and Zhu Gaoxu could just see the Mongolian. The Mongols, who had just been unchained, were staring at Zhang Sheng at this time.

Zhang Sheng also looked at the Mongolian man and said, "I'll send you back to Mahamu tomorrow, so I don't need to lock you up anymore." You don't have to think about it, you can wait for us to escort you back to the Warat tribe. ”

There were a small number of Mongols in the Jinyi Guard who had already taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty, and naturally someone translated it into Mongolian and told the Navarat captive.

Through an interpreter, the Warats asked, "Why?" Are you really going to let us go? ”

Zhang Sheng said: "I promised you that the Holy Lord would release and forgive you. The Ming monarchs and ministers will not go back on their word, and they will do what they say. ”

Zhu Gaoxu paid close attention to the expression of the Nawarat people, and saw that he was a little happy, but the joy was not obvious, and he still looked a little dignified. The Waratites spoke.

Captain Jinyi Wei translated: "You want me to help you with your errands, and go back and say bad things about the Tatar Prime Minister." ”

Zhang Sheng said coldly: "Once you return to the grassland, what do you want to say or do, how can we care?" But we believe that you will tell Mahamu the truth. What is the truth of the matter, Mahamu has his own plans. ”

The Warat people suddenly pressed their hands to their chests and bowed to Zhang Sheng.

The translator added: "Thank you to the Ming Emperor and the generals for their tolerance." ”

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also thought that these Warat captives were very lucky, and they should indeed thank the Ming court for their tolerance. They attacked the Ming army and almost slaughtered hundreds of Ming army guards, accompanying officers, and Tatar remnants. But Zhu Gaochu needed them to go back and convince the Warat chieftain Mahamu of the Tatar schemes.

Zhang Sheng's voice said: "You tell those Warats to get ready and leave early tomorrow morning." We will send troops to escort you, first to Datong Mansion, and then to Dongshengwei (Hohhot). Then go to the southern foot of Yin Mountain, go to Ningxia left avant-garde (Baotou), right avant-garde (Bayannur). After that, the guards will withdraw, and will give you enough dry food and horses to make your way north in search of the Warat tribe. ”

In Zhang Sheng's account, the places in the Hetao area of Ningxia, the left avant-garde and the right avant-garde, were newly established by He Fu in the past two years according to the will of the imperial court.

Originally, the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty did not include the Yinshan area in the scope of direct garrison, among which the Yansui defense line in the northwest of Shaanxi Province was located near Yulin; Dongshengwei near Yinshan Mountain also belongs to the outpost acropolis.

Such a northern defense line is mainly related to the Great Wall, which is in the northeast of Shaanxi, which is concave back to the south; This construction is also related to the average annual rainfall, and the ancients learned it through years of experience. Such a line of defense, taking into account the tuntian and the source of materials, is a more reasonable defense idea.

However, after Zhu Gaoxu came to power, he mainly conspired with Shangshu Qitai of the Ministry of War, and did not hesitate to make great efforts to reconstruct the northwest transportation routes and grain storage facilities, and expanded the defense line to the north, and began to expel the Warat people and occupy the entire Yinshan Hetao area.

This strategy is an aggressive strategy, which aims to reduce the living space of the northern nomadic tribes in the Monan region by increasing their own consumption. No wonder Warat

When people attacked the remnants of the Tatars, they didn't care about the Ming army at all, they were quite dissatisfied with the Ming court at this time, and they didn't care if they were offended and resented; Because after He Fu went to the northwest, he had already formed a bond with the Warat people.

At this time, Captain Jinyi Wei used Mongolian to relay Zhang Sheng's meaning.

Seeing the demeanor and demeanor of the Warat captives, Zhu Gaoxu immediately believed that most of the matter was done.

When I returned to the old courtyard, the sky was getting darker. The old courtyard was almost deserted before, and there were only slaves in charge of cleaning and guarding on weekdays, so naturally there was no one who specifically told the time, but looking at the light, it was almost hourly at this time.

Zhu Gaoxu did not dine with the concubines, but called the accompanying nobles and civil and military officials in the front yard, and the monarchs and ministers had dinner together.

After three rounds of drinking, Zhu Gaoxu began to talk with everyone, and he said in a casual tone: "Considering the defense of the north, the political envoy of Beiping is really an important place. ”

"The saint said that Taizong originally wanted to move the capital." Qiu Fu echoed.

Now the nobles in the court, in addition to the old ministers of Jianwen, Qu Neng, Sheng Yong'an and others, most of the "heroes of Jingnan" and "heroes of crime" are military generals who made their fortunes in Beiping, so most of the nobles are willing to move the capital to Beiping; But they are not dissatisfied if they do not move the capital. After all, Beijing is prosperous, and everyone has repurchased industries in Beijing.

However, most of the civil officials obviously did not want to move the capital (a civil official strategist in the Yanwang Mansion, because he stood in the wrong position, he leaned his strength to support Gao Chi before and after the "Battle of Crime", and Wu Dechu was the first force to be eliminated). When Zhu Gaoxu first ascended the throne, in order to save expenses, he temporarily suspended all matters related to the relocation of the capital. At that time, almost no one objected, and that was the case.

Qiu Fu's voice said again: "In the past few years, the imperial court has eased up, does the saint still want to move the capital to Beiping?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "What I said on the edge of the Yellow River, the future prosperity will depend on water transportation, external sea transportation, and inland river transportation. We belong to the fire phase, but we have to rely on water. The lower reaches of the river are a good place, as the river connects to many inland water systems and is not far from the sea. With the current draft of sailing ships, many places downstream can dock sea vessels, and many ports can be established. So in the long run, it might be better not to move the capital at this time. ”

He thought for a while and said: "However, Beiping can be used as the center of most of the nine sides, and if there is no such a central city, the north will inevitably be top-heavy. Therefore, I want to promote the political envoy of Beiping to Beizhili, and Beiping City to Beijing, as the auxiliary capital of the Ming Dynasty. The central government office is set up here, and when the time comes, our monarchs and ministers will go north to patrol and hunt, and they will be able to come and live for a while from time to time. ”

Wang Bin said with a smile: "That dare is good, the ministers and the saints have been with each other for a longer time." The honorable generals all enthusiastically echoed and agreed with Zhu Gaoxu to do this.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "After returning to Beijing, I will discuss with everyone. ”

If you don't move the capital, only set up a companion capital, it will really save money. The ready-made Yanwang Mansion can be used as an imperial city after repair, and it is nothing more than repairing a few more official offices and appointing some officials of the six ministries and five temples of Beizhili, which is a drop in the bucket compared with the large-scale relocation of the capital.

With Beiping as the accompanying capital, Zhu Gaoxu's previous vision of the reform of the military system in the eastern section of the Nine Sides will also have the institutions and personnel for local decision-making and management.

Zhu Gaoxu's heart was also slowly relaxed, things were complicated, and he finally came up with an idea and slowly sorted out a line.