In the Wuying Palace, there is now a temporary place for a court in the four headquarters of the Ming Guards.

In a hall that has been converted into a conference room of the General Staff of the Guards.

More than 10 golden silk nanmu chairs have been placed around a large round table by the officials below, and tea cups have been placed on the round table, and a map has been hung on the wall of the round table against the door, which is the whole map of the Ming Dynasty.

The whole map of Kunyu Wanguo will not appear until the Wanli period, so the current map of the Ming Dynasty is obviously just a map formed by artificial proportions, and the whole world has formed a pattern centered on the Ming Dynasty.

But fortunately, the general orientation is correct, after all, this era is the era when the great geographical discoveries have just begun, and the map of the Ming Dynasty is unlikely to progress to the point of being close to that of later generations.

On the wall side of the round table, a blackboard was painted on the wall of the conference room.

Now, however, there is nothing to remember around the blackboard or on the blackboard, except for a box of chalk on top of a high table.

Zhu Houzhao walked in first and sat at the top, Ma Wensheng and Xu Jin also followed one after another, followed by a large number of red-robed or blue-robed civil and military officials, all of whom sat down one after another.

But this atmosphere of sitting at the same table with the emperor made them feel very strange and uncomfortable, and at the same time a little excited, as if they were more cordial, and felt that they could use it to blow a cow for four or five years when they went out, after all, they were now in the general staff of the Guards Army, but the emperor was at the same table.

Especially a military attache like Qiu Yue, when he thought that he was sitting on the head of His Majesty the Emperor, and opposite him were civil officials such as the first assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the Ministry of War, he felt that he was not qualified, and he felt awkward to sit on it like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Therefore, he was deeply afraid of being impeached by the official because of this, so he hurriedly stood up: "Your Majesty! Let's stand. ”

The other military attachés also stood up one after another, all of them seemed embarrassed to sit with the emperor and the civil officials present.

Zhu Houzhao pulled down his face: "Sit down!" Today is the Guards court to discuss military affairs, the distinction between monarchs and ministers is put aside for the time being, there is only the division between commanders and generals! If you don't sit down, how to discuss things, and it's not a martial arts training ground, you have to wait for a martial arts competition! ”

has just undergone a great purge, and now Zhu Houzhao's monarchy has climbed again, basically a look can make an official tremble, so as soon as he pulls down his face now, the military attache is so frightened that he sits down and looks at Zhu Houzhao.

Ma Wensheng and Xu Jin and other civil officials present did not say a word when they saw this, but they also guessed that His Majesty wanted to promote both civil and military affairs, and no longer admired the meaning of literature and suppressed martial arts, they were or are all civil servants who led troops, and they did not reject military affairs, nor did they have any opinions, not to mention that they did not dare to go against Zhu Houzhao's will now.

"As you all know, the main combat mission of our Guards at the moment is to retake the Loop! Your proposed task of recovering the Hetao, I have also seen it, it is nothing more than mobilizing the border army and the guards to form a three-way army, marching from Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Xuanfu three directions, do you think we will definitely be able to recover the Hetao? ”

Zhu Houzhao stood up, and as soon as he spoke, the civil and military officials present all stood up again, and under Zhu Houzhao's order, they sat back obediently, and gradually adapted to this way of court discussion.

Zhu Houzhao didn't say much when he saw this, he knew that it was understandable that the officials of the Ming Dynasty would definitely have a period of adaptation for the officials of the Ming Dynasty to change the military court from an inefficient way for the emperor to make a decision immediately.

At this time, Xu Jin, the secretary of the military department, stood up: "Your Majesty, this minister can't guarantee it!" The Tartar cavalry has always been difficult to find, coming and going without a trace, for fear that we will spend countless money and food to gather several armies, but in the end we will get nothing! On the contrary, it is easy to be attacked by the Tartar cavalry, and each one can break it! ”

"In that case, do you disagree with the battle plan drawn up by this General Staff?" Zhu Houzhao asked directly.

Xu Jin was embarrassed to answer, because he knew that Ma Wensheng, the current chief assistant of the cabinet, was the secretary of the General Staff, and if he directly said that he disagreed, it would be tantamount to not taking care of Ma Wensheng's face, and he himself couldn't think of a better strategy.

"Your Majesty! What Da Sima said is true, but the General Staff has no other way, after all, it is indeed difficult for the Tartars to annihilate it! They are mainly cavalry, and they can attack everywhere, and my soldiers in the Central Plains can only be tired of coping! However, now the imperial treasury is overflowing, the soldiers are well fed, and the army can afford to regain the Hetao. ”

Ma Wensheng, the first assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the General Staff, saw that Xu Jin was embarrassed to answer, so he answered himself.

"I remember that the current combat mission of the Guards Army determined by the General Staff of the Guards is to recover the Hetao, and it is not said that it is to annihilate the Tartars, who are like rogues, with no trace, even if the Ming Dynasty invests millions of troops, it is difficult to annihilate them all, but it costs countless money and food, increasing the burden on the people;

Therefore, I mean to recover the Hetao is to recover the Hetao, the purpose is not to annihilate the Tartars, but to encroach on the territory of the Tartars, and turn their land and even the people enslaved by the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty into the land and common people of my Ming Dynasty! ”

Zhu Houzhao said and pointed to the map of the Ming Dynasty drawn in human proportions:

"No matter where the Tartars are, let's first choose an important place as a city near the Hetao in the border town, and send the guards to occupy this important place first! Immigrants are on the real side! Divide the land between the military and the people! In this way, the army and civilians are bound to defend to the death! And then build another city! Build a county in a year, build a government in ten years, less than 30 years, the Hetao is the land of my Ming Dynasty, and the Tartars have no place to survive in the Hetao, and there is no need to work on expeditions, waste money and food, but only need a number of elite soldiers, a number of officials, and a volume of fish scales! ”

"Dripping water through stones, ropes sawing wood broken, Your Majesty's policy is really a good policy to open up territory, but it can't be immediate, but it's good that it doesn't cost the people and money, and even benefits the people!"

Ma Wensheng, the first assistant to the cabinet, immediately agreed, he thought that Zhu Houzhao was going to recover the Hetao overnight, so as to achieve his great imperial cause and surpass the achievements of the previous emperors, otherwise he would not have desperately increased the treasury revenue after he became pro-government.

Now, he found that his majesty the emperor seems to be not just a simple good achievement, although he has great ambitions, but he is not ignorant of loving the people, and he is quite prescient, and he can think of dividing the land to the people, which can not be said to benefit the people and benefit the Ming Dynasty.

"In this way, there is no need to recruit a large number of migrant workers, mobilize troops in various border towns and raise a large amount of food, and most of the military advance can be saved.

Other civil and military officials also agreed.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao said: "Okay, the General Staff of the Guards Army has redrawn the battle plan, and at the same time think about where the Ming Dynasty should be the first city to build." ”

After Zhu Houzhao said that, he announced the dismissal of the meeting, and passed Xu Jin, the secretary of the military department, to himself, and instructed:

"The official map of the Kanyu Department of the Ministry of War is very poor, send an official who is willing to learn to Beijing Normal University, find Wang Wensu to learn arithmetic scale, I will personally teach him when I have time, and let him be in charge of the Kanyu work of the General Staff of the Guards in the future, how can you fight with such a map, even the height of the terrain cannot be distinguished!"

Zhu Houzhao said and pointed to the map on the wall without contour lines.

"Obey the order!" Xu Jin didn't expect His Majesty to have such high requirements for maps, but he didn't dare to ask more, so he only replied.

At this time, Ma Wensheng suddenly handed a note to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty! Please resign! ”

Resign?!

Ma Wensheng's request for sudden resignation surprised Zhu Houzhao and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to resign?" ”

"The ministers are old, their mental strength is insufficient, and it is difficult to have a strong hand in the cabinet, so that the ministers think that the cabinet is weak and incompetent, and they are really worthy of His Majesty's trust, so they resign from the government, so as to avoid the suspicion of falling in love with the position of power, and also to avoid the heart of the latecomers to attack in vain," Ma Wensheng said.

After Zhu Houzhao listened, he looked at his recital again: "I understand, you are still more suitable to work with a king like the first emperor, and you can be the first assistant, but you can't resign as an officer of the General Staff of the Guards!"

Hamiwei was recovered by you, and I believe that by recovering the Hetao, you can also help me! In this way, now the entire Guards Army, including the terrain around the Hetao now, is not well understood, you have always known the geography of the soldiers, and you are the secretary of the General Staff of the Guards, I asked you to be the superintendent, to inspect the three sides for me, and choose where to be suitable for the Ming Guards to enter the Hetao and build a city in the future, how about it? ”

"Obey the order!" Ma Wensheng immediately agreed.

"In this case, then the battle plan of the General Staff of the Guards Army will not be drawn up first, and it will be drawn up after you come back, I will give you a year, after you go to the border town, coordinate the civil and military officials of each side, and be sure to do the following things:

The first is to reclaim the land and divide the ownerless land among the people;

the second is to store grain, repair border walls, and train village soldiers in high forts;

the third is to crack down on the strong and eliminate the foreign enemy;

The fourth is to send people to the river loop and the geography of the three sides, to detail the height of each mountain and the depth of each river;

I will let Zhang Xuan from Beijing Normal University go with you, he has learned how to surveying and mapping at Beijing Normal University! I will give you a year, and after a year, I will send you back to Beijing to make more detailed and precise plans. ”

"I understand! Your Majesty, please rest assured! Marven replied.

Zhu Houzhao also nodded, patted Ma Wensheng on the shoulder, and asked Ma Wensheng to go to the border town first to make preliminary preparations for recovering the Hetao, he was relieved, after all, Ma Wensheng had been in the border town before, and many civilian and military generals on the three sides were his protégés, so it was naturally more efficient for him to coordinate the entire border affairs.

And Ma Wensheng is good at raising soldiers in Tuntian.

As for why Zhu Houzhao asked Ma Wensheng to reorganize the border preparations before recovering the Hetao, it was naturally to avoid the little prince from attacking his back when he sent troops to march into the Hetao.