The grasslands in June are a beautiful scene, which is completely different from the cold weather in winter.

Three thousand cavalry galloped in a long dragon across the vast grassland, forming a faint dust and mist belt under the firmament.

This is the best grassland in the world, and it is also the largest grassland in Mobei, where countless Tatars live and reproduce. Herds of horses and sheep can be seen everywhere, grazing leisurely under the protection of serfs.

On both sides of the road, there are now patches of farmland that are now cultivated, and all of them are wheat. Although because of the cold climate, the yield is not high.

But because the Ming Dynasty bought more than half of the price in the pass, many tribal leaders were willing to let those serfs earn more for them outside of grazing.

Unlike Guannei, the grasslands of Mobei are still serfdom, and powerful tribal leaders enjoy great glory and wealth. But those serfs not only had difficulty in getting enough to eat, but they didn't even have their own lives.

Even so, these serfs were reluctant to run away, because the current steppe was still the world of wild wolves. They are the overlords of this grassland, and even the tigers and black bears in the mountains and forests do not dare to oppose them.

Without the protection of the tribe, they can only become food for the mouths of wild wolves.

At the forefront of this cavalry team of 3,000 people, Zheng Hengzhi, Marquis of Wu'an, rode on a tall horse with satisfaction.

This is a sweaty horse from the Western Regions, which is much taller than ordinary Mongolian horses, although the long-distance endurance is not as good as that of Mongolian horses, but the speed is a lot faster.

From the twelfth year of Yongle's northern expedition, Zheng Heng's stay in this land has entered the seventh year.

In the past seven years, he has become the most envious object of the entire Ming military generals and nobles, because he controls the entire Beimingshan Copper Mine in his hands, as well as the millions of people who rely on this copper mine to be gathered.

Silver, he has fished a lot over the years, even so much that it scares him.

He also always wanted to apply for a callback because he knew he was too hated.

The Beimingshan Copper Mine supplies more than 200,000 taels of gold to Daming every year, as well as hundreds of millions of taels of pure copper. And the cavalry who is responsible for guarding this place can also receive a subsidy of five cents every year in addition to the lulu.

Even if Zheng Heng is not greedy, he can net 10,000 taels of gold every year.

The benefits were so amazing that he even felt hot when he took them.

But because Zhu Zhanji, who let him guard here, go to sea, Zhu Di has no more suitable person to replace him, so he has always stayed in this position.

He has already earned enough money, and now he wants to be like Liu Sheng, and change his Wu Anhou to Wu Guogong.

Now, the opportunity has finally arrived.

The grandson returned to the country, and then supervised the country, and His Majesty went west.

Originally, he just wanted to be able to relieve himself of this heavy responsibility, return to Beijing to report on his work, and then use gold to win Zhu Zhanji's favor, arrange a noble position for himself, and enjoy a few years of happiness.

But he didn't expect that the position of the commander of the Northern Route Army would fall on his head so fortunately.

Before that, he had never had such an expectation, as he had been making others jealous for several years, and no matter how you look at it, the position seemed to have nothing to do with him.

But now it's him.

And all this, he knows very well, is because the grandson is speaking for him in the middle.

As the first military general to take refuge in Zhu Zhanji, he has had the least contact with Zhu Zhanji over the years, which has always made him a little uneasy.

But now that he can take the power of leading the army, it shows that His Royal Highness Taisun still trusts him.

Through Zhu Zhanji's letters, he also understood why he was able to replace Liu Sheng and become the commander of the Northern Route Army.

What the imperial court needs is not a general who can only fight and kill, but a general who can strategize and envelop the northern Ming Dynasty, including the tribes in the northwest.

Although Zheng Heng felt that it was not cost-effective for the imperial court to spend too much energy in the northwest, it was too poor and there were not too many benefits at all, and the pay was greater than the return.

But this is what he is good at, and he is sure that he will be able to divide and subdue all those tribes.

This kind of confidence comes from his interactions with various ethnic groups in the Beimingshan copper mine over the years, and he can firmly control the big fat meat of Beimingshan in the hands of the imperial court, not only relying on the deterrence of 100,000 cavalry, but also relying on his clever skills.

In his opinion, in fact, the grassland peoples are easier to rule than the Ming people, they are simple-minded, submit to the strong, and do not have too many fancy intestines.

With a knife in one hand and sugar in the other, you can control these people well.

It has been three months since he received the news that he was appointed as the commander of the Northern Route Army, and Zheng Heng still did not go to the northwest to take up his post, which was not a disobedience to military orders, but a deliberate one.

The Ming Dynasty had about 200,000 cavalry in the north, in addition to the 100,000 in Beiming Mountain, another 50,000 in Beiping, Xuanfu area, and 50,000 in Liaodong to Kaiping Qiantunwei area.

Zheng Heng wants to send 100,000 soldiers to the northwest, and these soldiers need to be reorganized even if they are not uniformly trained.

What's more, he not only had to take the Ming soldiers to the northwest, but also to draw cavalry from the Warat, Tatar, and Duoyan Sanwei that had already been annexed.

On the one hand, it is necessary to consume their military strength and prevent them from sitting on the throne. On the other hand, it is also to balance the strength of Mobei, so that the Ming soldiers will not be empty after they are transferred, so that they will have a chance.

However, it is difficult to pay them to make it easy for them to work, and to pay them to work hard.

Zheng Heng has been using both grace and power in the past few months, threatening and luring at the same time, and finally persuaded the tribes that they can draw a total of 30,000 cavalry and 30,000 servant soldiers.

And the head of Montenegro (Hulunbuir) is his last destination.

Two hundred years ago, Temujin gave the head of the Black Mountain to his eldest brother Huchchi Hazar, the rest to his second brother Hechiwen Elchi and his relatives Dexue Chan family, and the Lingdong region (east of the Great Khing'an Mountains) to his younger brother Timurge Huchijin.

After two hundred years of ups and downs, the Mengyuan people have lost most of the Lingdong region, and although this grassland is still controlled by the Mengyuan tribe, it has also changed its owner repeatedly.

In the seventh year of Yongle, the Tatar Arutai and the puppet Khan Benyasuri led their troops to attack Warat, but were defeated by Mahamu and others, and retreated to the Luqu River (Krulun River), and the lush pastures at the head of Montenegro became the world of the Tatar headquarters.

Although Arutai was defeated, he did not suffer a major blow, and he still had strong self-sustaining strength and was the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. In July, he killed the Ming envoy Guo Ji.

In August, Zhu Di ordered 100,000 cavalry to conquer Arutai and Benjamin. Qiu Fu advanced alone, and was defeated by Arutai and Benjami in the upper reaches of the Yuqu River, and the whole army was annihilated.

This is also the biggest failure since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di was furious and exiled the entire Qiu family.

In March of the eighth year of Yongle, Zhu Di led an army of 500,000 to conquer Arutai and Benyasuri.

Arutai and Benyashiri split, Benyashiri led his troops to the west, and Arutai led his troops to the east. The first battle of the Ming army was Benjamin, and the Mongol army was defeated, and Benjamin only escaped with 7 horsemen and entered Warat in the west.

Zhu Difu led his troops to the east, defeated the Alutai army in the Xing'an Mountains, and occupied the head of Montenegro. In the winter of the same year, Arutai was forced to send tribute horses to reconcile with the Ming Dynasty. In the eleventh year of Yongle, the imperial court named Arutai as the king of Hening.

The Second Eastern Crusade, that is, the twelfth year of Yongle, was the first time that His Royal Highness Taisun made his voice heard on the battlefield, and it was also the first large-scale application of Daming firearms.

In this battle, the Warat tribe suffered countless casualties and fled in a hurry.

Later, the Tatar Arutai took the opportunity to move westward, captured Mahamu, and gave Mahamu to the Ming Dynasty.

Mahamu was beheaded in Yingtianfu to show the public, and the power of Warat was greatly damaged, and some tribes fled westward, and the other part belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

Arutai wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, but the Beiming Mountain stronghold established by Daming in Mobei made his plan fall through.

In recent years, the Ming army has become stronger and stronger, especially after the muskets have been fully loaded, and the Tatars now have no idea of rebellion at all.

Zheng Heng knows very well that Arutai is not a good person, this person is the evil wolf of the grassland, he is now surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, but because he is inferior to others, if he is given a chance, he will become a big trouble for the Ming Dynasty.

For several years, he had been vigorously suppressing the Tatar proper, propping up other tribes.

Arutai is just a Turkic of the Mengyuan Dynasty, he is not in harmony with the large and small tribes of the Mengyuan headquarters, and he seizes this point to carry out propaganda in various departments, so that Arutai does not dare to rebel casually, which is the basis for Zheng Heng to maintain the stability of the grassland in recent years.

When a wide lake appeared in front of him, as well as the forest-like military flag by the lake, Zheng Heng breathed a sigh of relief, and his face, which had been flat, became relaxed.

This time, in order to persuade Arutai to send troops, he has spent more than half a month.

Although Arutai allowed him to lead his troops into Montenegro, he only allowed him to carry 3,000 men. In order not to panic Arutai, he complied with the other party's wishes.

However, he can't help but guard against it, these nearly 20,000 cavalry stationed in Kuoluan Haizi (Hulun Lake) is a deterrent to Arutai.

This cavalry was all musketeers, and although there were only 20,000 men, even in the face of the 50,000 cavalry of the Tatar headquarters, it could have an absolute advantage.

Although he knew that Arutai would not dare to use force, after all, it was his own life, and it was a risk to break into their headquarters with 3,000 people.

But everything went well, under the pressure of nearly half a month of ridicule and deterrence, plus inducement. Arutai finally nodded, willing to send 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 servant soldiers to the west with the Ming army.

Although it was only 20,000 men, for the already underpopulated Tatars, this was already half of the strength of Arutai.

Being able to let him send so many people, Zheng Heng was already satisfied.

The news of his successful return came back early in the morning through the glider signalmen, and the big tent was already prepared.

By the time Zheng Heng led the cavalry back to the trenches outside the big tent, his son Zheng Neng had already led the other generals to wait on the side of the road.

Although Zheng Heng has a peaceful personality, he leads the troops very strictly, and in the barracks, Zheng Neng does not dare to be commensurate with his father, but calls him a commander.

"Dashuai, if you don't come back today, the child will also send someone to find you. I received a letter from His Royal Highness today, Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu, will take over the position of marshal, and now Xue Lu is expected to arrive in Beimingshan next month with 6,000 new young troops. ”

"Yangwu Marquis Xue Lu ......" Zheng Heng frowned, and couldn't help but say: "This person is stupid and unwise, how could His Highness arrange for this person to come to Beiming Mountain?" ”

Changshi Zhou Xu shook his head and smiled: "The big handsome is wrong. This Xue Lu can be promoted from a soldier to the Marquis of Yangwu, how can an ordinary person do it? Over the years, in addition to suffering a loss in front of Ji Gang, who else has had the upper hand in front of him? This person seems to be stupid, but he is really treacherous! ”

Zheng Heng had dealt with Xue Lu during the Battle of Jingyan in the early years, and for nearly twenty years after that, the two were separated from each other and had never been in contact.

Hearing Changshi's reminder, he frowned again and groaned for a while before saying, "If you think about it carefully, it's like this. I just heard that he was competing with Ji Gang for a beautiful female Taoist, and Ji Gang smashed his head with an iron melon, and almost died, thinking that this person was a reckless person.

But being able to be promoted from a small soldier to today's Hou Ye, and being valued by His Royal Highness, is obviously not an ordinary person. Neng'er, send someone to collect information on Xue Lu, before he arrives, I want to know what kind of person he is. ”

Zheng Neng bowed down and said: "Yesterday, I received a letter sent by Chen Cheng from Langzhong of the Ministry of Works, and my father's military order arrived at Jiayuguan smoothly, and the military guards have begun to prepare to meet the army of the Western Expedition. However, it will take at least three months or so to complete the arrangement. ”

Zheng Heng returned smoothly this time, in a happy mood, and said with a smile: "Let's go back to the big tent first, now that the Tatar Ministry has unified its troops, we can only go all the way west when the weather is cold." ”

Although in the official document of the imperial court, Zheng Heng was asked to send troops after the Chinese New Year, Zheng Heng definitely did not dare to send troops at that time.

This trip went thousands of miles, and there was a delay in the middle, and if he missed the war, then he would not have enough to cut off ten heads.

In his plan, troops would be sent after the autumn harvest, and everyone would be light and simple, and let the guards provide supplies along the way.

This saves you the expense of sending troops and doesn't have to carry too many supplies. But it is not an easy task for the military guards along the way to provide supplies for more than 100,000 people.

It would take three months to be able to send the supplies needed from all over the country to the past, which is already fast.

After returning to the big tent to rest for a while, and pouring half a pot of tea, Zheng Heng rested, rubbed his thighs and said: "It's not okay to be old, I've only been riding for half a day, and my legs are heavy." ”

Zhou Xu said with a smile: "Dashuai is in his Chinese years, how can he be said to be old, he still wants to follow Dashuai behind, and he can also be stationed on one side, so he can have no regrets in this life." ”

After a few idle words, Zheng Heng sat up straight, and the other generals immediately stood still.

One order after another was issued by Zheng Heng, and the army immediately packed up its bags, arranged defenses, packed up today, rested for one night, and returned to camp at dawn tomorrow.

After the subordinate soldiers were ordered to leave one by one, only Changshi Zhou Xu was left in the camp, and Zheng Neng said in a low voice: "Father, His Royal Highness arranged for Yangwu Hou to take over from his father, and I would like to ask my father to show me what regulations are next." ”

Zheng Heng shook his head and said, "You, your vision is still too narrow. Let his father be stationed in Beiming Mountain, this is His Royal Highness's reward for his father. You must not think of Beimingshan as your own.

Whether it is Yang Wuhou or others, everything is in accordance with the charter, and there is no favoritism. In addition, in the past few years, 50,000 taels of gold have been saved, 20,000 taels have been taken out, and the other 30,000 taels have been deposited in commercial banks.

30,000 taels of gold, that is, 300,000 taels of silver, a few years ago, how could my father have thought that he could leave you such a large inheritance, you should be satisfied. ”

Although Zheng Neng was a little reluctant, he knew that he had to do it now. The imperial court now prohibits the transfer of large amounts of gold and silver, and all the family business that their Zheng family earned before is in Beiming Mountain, and now it is difficult to transport it back to Daming by themselves.

Fifty thousand taels of gold, this is too eye-catching. Hand over 20,000 taels, and His Royal Highness Taisun shouldn't be staring at the remaining 30,000 taels.

Zheng Neng responded in a low voice, and said: "Then this Beiming Mountain, I won't care about it in the future?" Such a big portion......"

"Shut up!" Zheng Heng glared at his son, looked at Zhou Xu and said with a smile: "Now I still have less experience, and I lack some vision!" ”

Zhou Xu said with a smile: "Beimingshan was originally jealous, but in the past two years, no one has slandered the marshal behind his back, has the marshal ever thought about why?" ”

Zheng Heng said with a smile: "Naturally, it's Nanzhou, and the news from Xizhou came back, which attracted the eyes of those people. ”

Zhou Xu asked again: "Have you ever thought of going to sea to occupy a large area?" ”

Zheng Heng smiled bitterly: "I even vomited when I got on a river boat, how can I go to sea?" ”

"What about the Far West? Or what about Samarkand? ”

Zheng Heng's eyes froze, and he couldn't help but lower his voice and asked, "What does Chenguang want to say?" ”

Zhou Xu also said solemnly: "That Lin San, Tang Sai'er and his wife are just a rural farmer, and His Royal Highness can promise the position of a city lord and the title of earl." Although everything has to start from scratch, there is also a goal.

Now that my Ming Dynasty has used troops against Timur, and the marshal is the commander of my Northern Route Army, haven't you thought about what to do if Samarkand is defeated? ”

Zheng Heng was silent, but Zhou Xu said: "Your Majesty will not stay in the Western Regions for a long time, defeated the Timurid State, and when Your Majesty returns, this Western Regions is thousands of miles, and naturally needs a reliable general to command." Dashuai has now been in this Beiming Mountain for many years, and he knows how to intersect with other races.

If the subordinates are not bad, as the commander of the Northern Route Army, the marshal has taken advantage of the right time and place, and this Samarkand will be garrisoned in the future. Therefore, his subordinates suggested that the marshal should not hand over the gold and leave it as the capital for future development. ”

Zheng Heng was greatly moved, and he knew very well why he was chosen as the commander of the Northern Route Army because he was good at dealing with foreign races. Otherwise, when it comes to fighting, there are many people in the court who are stronger than him, and they will not be able to take their turn in front of him.

Now everyone else's eyes are staring at Nanzhou, Xizhou, this Western Regions, I'm afraid that no one will rob him.

Thinking about it this way, there is a great possibility that he will guard the Western Regions in the future.

After thinking for a while, he raised his head and said, "No, it seems that not only can this gold not be kept, but it should also be given to His Highness in its entirety. Gold is not scarce in the Western Regions. But silk, spices, and porcelain are the real scarcity......

Also, since the thirteenth year, the countries of the Western Regions have begun to plant a large number of cotton, and now most of the cotton in the Western Regions has to be transported back to Daming by thousands of miles. If you can get the permission of His Royal Highness and weave cloth directly in the Western Regions, this is much more valuable than a gold mine. ”

The more he talked, the more excited he became, he looked at Zheng Neng and said, "Neng'er, while the troops have not yet been dispatched, I want you to take a team of men and horses to escort the gold back to Beijing, and you want to hand the gold directly into the hands of His Highness." In front of His Highness, there is no need to hide it, just express the idea that my Zheng family wants to guard the Western Regions, and see what His Highness says......"

Although he said that, Zheng Heng didn't expect Zheng Neng to do this well, because everything depended on him confessing to Zhu Zhanji in the letter.

Although Zheng Neng's son is a little too upright in Zheng Heng's opinion, he knows very well that Zhu Zhanji is a person who likes such an upright character, and maybe he can win the favor of His Royal Highness because of this.

Cultivating the relationship between the next generation and His Royal Highness is the true purpose of Zheng Heng.

On the second day, the army returned from camp, because it was all cavalry, and it took only three days to return to Beiming Mountain.

Zheng Heng prepared for a few more days, and asked Zheng Neng to return to Daming with three hundred private soldiers and the bank's gold truck.

At the same time, Xue Lu took the family's sons and nephews, as well as 6,000 newly trained young soldiers, and took over the send-off wine from Zhu Zhanji at the Yuejianglou Wharf in Yingtianfu.

Although he had already been ordered to go to Beimingshan to take over Zheng Heng, because the training of the young army was not completed, and Zhu Zhanji must have asked him to bring 6,000 young troops, so it has been delayed until now.

Almost all of Zhu Zhanji's young army were reliable sources of soldiers recruited from the Jianghuai region, and each of them was the second son of the family, the youngest son, and the family was prosperous.

They have been training since the beginning of the year, and unlike before, they do not train physically, not martial arts, but in the queue.

All this is not much different from the training of Yulin Weixue, but there are no cultural courses of Yulin Weixue, and there are no professional courses of Yulin Weixue.

Yulin Weixue is an advanced education method for later generations that Zhu Zhanji set up in accordance with the military academy of later generations, and all the purpose is to obey orders.

Of course, these young soldiers cannot be compared in terms of overall quality, but after nearly half a year of training, everyone has the standard of future recruits.

They know how to obey all kinds of orders, understand all kinds of rules and regulations, and know how to fight together on the battlefield.

Such a soldier, in the Ming Dynasty, is already considered an elite soldier. What's more, they were all issued muskets, and even if they were weaker, they were almost no match.

Beimingshan is becoming more and more important in Zhu Zhanji's heart, it is not only a gold mine, but also a bridgehead for Zhu Zhanji's colonization of Siberia.

These 6,000 young troops are led by 12 Qianzong learned from Yulin Wei, and they will be familiar with the situation everywhere in the whole northern Xinjiang, draw maps, and prepare for the future great migration.

The words that should be explained have been said, Xue Lu drank the wine in the wine cup and put the wine cup into his arms. Only then did he bow down and bowed: "Your Highness, please rest assured, when the minister arrives at Beiming Mountain, he will guard the north gate for Daming." Those Mengyuan tribes are obedient, and if they are disobedient, they will wash my Daming's knife with their blood. ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "Don't pretend to be confused for me, I didn't let you kill people if I let you go, dare to kill innocents indiscriminately, I'll take off your head first." Make a few years of money, earn some money, and go back to Nanzhou or Dongzhou, go and work for me again. ”

Xue Lu laughed and said: "The life of the minister has long been His Highness, my Xue family has twenty-three members, and His Royal Highness is the only one." ”

Then, he knelt down on his knees and kowtowed three times to Zhu Zhanji, before he got up and said, "Your Highness, the minister has gone." ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded, and with a wave of his right hand, the three cannons on the dock were ignited one after another, making three loud noises.

Xue Lu boarded the flagship river boat, raised the marching flag, and to the sound of drums, the fleet left the dock in turn.

Xue Lu took out the wine cup that he had just hidden from his arms, which should have been smashed directly on the ground, implying that the years were safe.

He handed the wine cup to his favorite youngest son and said, "Put it away, in the future, this small wine cup may be able to save a life in front of His Highness." ”

(There are still 6,000 later today, making up for the arrears the day before yesterday.) ）