Lu Qi first told Chongzhen about Chunfeng Building, and for the gathering of these chamber of commerce representatives, Zhu Youzhen only nodded slightly, indicating that he had understood, but did not give any instructions.

Lü Qi then mentioned the second news, the news about the return of the caravan visiting Russia, and the unfortunate death of the personnel sent by Jinyiwei.

Zhu Youzhen said with some emotion: "Let Jinyiwei settle his future affairs well, you go to visit his family in the name of me, if you have any requirements, take care of those who can take care of it." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. The minister will give a good explanation to the Jinyi Guard. Lu Qi bowed his head and said in response.

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "The Tsar's gifts and letters of state were sent into the capital safely, and as for the Kazakhs attacking our caravan, I ordered the reporters of the Daming Times to interview the survivors of the caravan, report the incident in detail, and condemn it." ”

Although Lu Qi wondered in his heart what effect the condemnation in the Daming Times could play for the Kazakhs thousands of miles away, he still agreed to them one by one.

However, for Zhu Youzhen, reporting on the Kazakh attack and condemning it is not for foreigners, but for his own people. As the average annual temperature continues to decrease, the natural environment of Gansu is also deteriorating. Especially in the Hexi Corridor, the water source of the local oasis comes from the melting snow of the Qilian Mountains, and the lower the temperature, the drier and less water-scarce the local area becomes.

The agricultural harvest in the Hexi Corridor continued to fail, and the local people became more dependent on the maintenance of trade routes, but the entire Western Regions is now constantly fighting, which has led to the extremely high risk of trade routes to the Western Regions, so that most caravans now choose to detour through Mobei Mongolia.

In such a situation, there are actually only two ways in front of the imperial court, one is to continuously transport grain from the interior into Gansu to help the local people; The second is to launch a war to conquer the Western Regions and open up trade routes to Central Asia, even if it is only to obtain the area south of the Tianshan Mountains, it can also solve the problems of people's livelihood in Gansu.

Zhu Youjian, who understands better than people of this era what is called the Xiaoice River Period, naturally knows that if he does it in the previous way, it is estimated that the Xiaoice River Period has not yet ended, and Daming will be dragged down. Seizing the Western Regions and opening up trade routes to Central Asia is the best way to solve the Northwest problem.

It's just that the people of the Ming Dynasty don't like war the most, even if the Jurchens of Jianzhou rose and annexed the entire Liaodong, few of the people of the Ming Dynasty supported the war to recover Liaodong. As long as the Jurchens don't break into the gate, everyone can live in peace and quiet.

Of course, the reason why the people of the Ming Dynasty are so disgusted with war is that every time the Ming Dynasty launches a foreign war, the people not only have to pay additional taxes and labor, but also send the men in their families to fight. But after the victory of the war, those benefits were shared by the court officials and wealthy families one by one, and the people got nothing. For such a war, the people are naturally disgusted.

Therefore, if he wants to launch a war against the Western Regions, Zhu Youzhen must first launch a war of public opinion, first reverse the Ming people's disgust with foreign wars, and then release war dividends to ordinary people after the war, so as to reverse the concept of the Ming people towards war. The reason for the Kazakh attack on the Ming caravan undoubtedly became the best introduction to unite people's hearts.

As Wang Chengen walked into the room and reported to Chongzhen that dinner was ready, Zhu Youzhen finally stopped talking to Lu Qi and got up and walked to the restaurant. On the way to the restaurant, Zhu Youzhen was still thinking about the extent of the war with Vietnam.

The Vietnam War, which was remembered by Chongzhen, is actually nearing its end. Under the instigation of the Ming Dynasty, coupled with the rout of Zheng's invasion of Guangxi. Nguyen Phuc Yuan, who had been recuperating in semi-seclusion in Phuoc An, finally couldn't bear it anymore, and he thought that this was the best opportunity for Quang Nam to take advantage of the situation to unify Vietnam, so he personally ran to the front line and commanded the Quang Nam army to advance north.

At the end of April, the Quang Nam army captured the area of Thanh Ha and Fuli in the southwest of Thang Long Province, and it was less than 100 miles away from Thang Long Province. The 8,000 Army Army and 6,000 Navy led by Lu Xiangsheng also occupied Fenghua, Hongji, Haiyang and other places in the lower reaches of the Red River.

As for the more than 20,000 Ming troops, Tusi soldiers and Gaoping Mo's soldiers led by Liu Xingzuo, they attacked from Lao Cai in the north and Gaoping in the east respectively, and surrounded Xuanguang Town in the north of Thang Long Mansion. The Vu clan, the protector of Tuyen Quang Town, like the Quang Nam Nguyen clan, was a separatist force in Vietnam, but the Vu clan was weak, so he chose to surrender to the Zheng clan.

The Wu clan had no more than 8,000 men, and in the face of the strong pressure of the Ming army, they could only rely on the terrain to hold on to the terrain while asking for help from the Shenglong Mansion. However, Zheng Jie was too busy to take care of himself at this time, and only sent 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers to symbolically rescue Xia Xuanguang Town, and these 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers were quickly broken by the peripheral troops of the Ming army.

So after holding out for more than three months, the Wu clan finally surrendered to Liu Xingzuo and sent the prince Wu Gongzhu to the Ming army as a hostage. After seizing Xuanguang Town, Liu Xingzuo took Xuanguang Town as a base and led 15,000 men and horses south along the Red River Plain, entering the flat Red River Plain, and staying in the area of Fengzhou, about 100 miles northeast of Thang Long Province.

So by mid-May, the Thang Long Mansion where the Zheng clan was entrenched had been surrounded by the Ming army, the Mo clan, and the Nguyen coalition army on three sides. If it weren't for the continuous rain that hindered the advance of the coalition forces, the coalition forces would have arrived outside Thang Long by about this time.

Thang Long Province, located on the Red River Delta, was founded in the 11th century and has a history of nearly 600 years. As the most densely populated area in Vietnam, Thang Long Province, which was modeled after the capital city of the Central Plains, has been rebuilt by successive Vietnamese monarchs, and its scale is no less than that of the capital city of the Central Plains.

Thang Long Province is divided into two areas, the inner city and the outer city, with the circumference of the outer city being about 25 kilometers, which is slightly larger than the perimeter of the inner city of Beijing. The inner city of Thang Long Province is also divided into three parts: the Forbidden City, the Imperial City, and the location of the capital city, and the capital is a neighborhood inhabited by ordinary people, with about 100 streets.

Thang Long Province has a pleasant climate, four seasons like spring, abundant rainfall, lush flowers and trees, known as the "Spring City of Hundred Flowers". The Red River Delta, where it is located, is flat and has a plain formed by river water in the lower reaches, except for some scattered highlands in the upper reaches, so it is very suitable for agricultural development. But looking at it the other way around, it means that there is no danger around Thang Long Mansion.

When Nguyen Phuc Nguyen realized that the Truong clan was left with only an isolated city, he immediately mobilized all the family resources of Quang Nam and mobilized nearly 30,000 troops to arrive in Fuli in an attempt to settle Vietnam in a war. He also sent Ruan Youyi to contact the Ming army and agreed on a date to attack Thang Long Province together to share the pressure on the Quang Nam army.

However, on the fourth day of June, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen led the Quang Nam army to the city of Thang Long and began to fight, and until June 11, he did not see the appearance of the Ming army. Heavy rain on 12 and 13 June washed away the Quang Nam military camp outside the city, and the Quang Nam soldiers were stuck in a muddy swamp, and their morale was extremely low for a while.

At this time, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen finally realized that the Ming army did not seem to appear, and he had to order the withdrawal of his troops. But Zheng Jie, who had never been out of the city, personally launched a counterattack with 8,000 elite soldiers who had been recuperating for a long time at this time. The Quang Nam Army, whose morale was declining, was completely unable to withstand the assault of Zheng Zhu, and no one was willing to break off for the army, so the Quang Nam Army finally turned from a retreat to a great rout, losing nearly 10,000 horses.

Ruan Phuc Yuan, who retreated to the camp in Fuli, was so angry and annoyed that he was bedridden that night. In Haiyang City, less than 100 miles southeast of Thang Long Mansion, Ruan Youyi, who had been under house arrest in a courtyard in the city, escaped from the mansion on the morning of 8 June while the Ming soldiers were guarding the Ming army, and rushed to the yamen of Lu Xiangsheng, the commander of the Ming army in the city, and cried to Lu Xiangsheng about the purpose of his mission and the process of being placed under house arrest.

Lu Xiangsheng, who was waiting for Guangnan's response, was also shocked, he was suspicious that the envoy he sent to contact the Guangnan army had not responded for a long time, and he didn't expect that the envoy sent by the Guangnan army was detained by his own subordinates. Lu Xiangsheng was about to raise the guards to find out who was detaining Ruan Youyi, and the news came that Deputy Marshal Zheng Zhilong came to visit him.

Lu Xiangsheng suppressed his anger and ordered the guards to take Ruan Youyi down to freshen up first, and then he received Zheng Zhilong first, and then came to deal with Ruan Youyi's house arrest.

When Lu Xiangsheng summoned Zheng Zhilong to meet him, he found that he did not come alone, and he came with him to ask to see him, as well as Lin Yueshan, a representative sent by the Prime Minister's Yamen. After Lu Xiangsheng greeted the two of them, he asked Zheng Zhilong: "Inspector Zheng and Commissioner Lin came to me together, but is there anything wrong with the logistics supply at sea?" ”

Zheng Zhilong's eyes rolled back and said: "There is no problem in logistics, Vietnam's winter and spring rice has just been harvested, which has relieved us of a lot of transportation pressure."

As a matter of fact, I came here with Committee member Lin to report to the marshal on other important matters. I would like to ask Commissioner Lin to explain the details to you. ”

Lu Xiangsheng's gaze immediately shifted to Lin Yueshan, who was in his early thirties and was officially appointed as the Foreign Affairs Commissar of the Prime Minister's Yamen, and he was responsible for coordinating the logistics of the expeditionary fleet and the negotiations with the vassal states during this war.

He can point fingers and disdain in front of martial ministers like Zheng Zhilong, but in the face of a military officer like Lu Xiangsheng, who was born as a scholar, he seems much more honest.

Lin Yueshan got up and bowed to Lu Xiangsheng and said, "Xiaguan and Zheng Xunyue's envoys came to ask to see the marshal, hoping that the marshal would not agree to anything to the Guangnan envoy, so as not to put our country in a passive position politically. ”

Lu Xiangsheng's eyes narrowed, and he quickly asked, "So, is it you who detained the Guangnan envoy, or did you do it together?" ”

When Zheng Zhilong was thinking about how to defend himself, Lin Yueshan replied in a big way: "Back to the commander, it is an order from the lower officials." ”

Lu Xiangsheng stared at him and said expressionlessly: "Do you think that Ben Shuai can't cut off your head?" ”

Lin Yueshan suddenly felt a chill in the back of his head, but he still replied stubbornly: "Xia Guan just made the most advantageous choice for the country, not to despise the authority of the marshal. ”

Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile in a hurry: "My country united with Quang Nam to attack the Zheng clan in Vietnam, and now the Zheng clan is left with a lonely city, and now at the last moment of success, you are privately detaining the Quang Nam envoy and trying to cut off the connection between our army and the Quang Nam army, what is the most advantageous choice?" What do you want? ”