Compulsory education, military academies, arsenals, and vocational and technical schools have also been established in an orderly manner, and Zhu Ao feels that he has been so busy this year, even busier than marching and fighting. It took a lot of money to set up these projects, but fortunately, he now has the money and can build his own country according to his own vision with great fanfare. This is also the reason why he first developed business, and then developed education and the military industry.

Because the latter does not bring economic benefits, it is a purely consuming project of national resources, and it is not possible to build it, so there must be enough money to support it. This is the same as playing Red Police, where the mining industry must be built first, so that there will be money to build other military projects.

Fortunately, Zhu Ao did not have to fight in recent years, and he could make money to engage in the economy in a frenzied manner, and then invest in the military education projects of the country.

What's next? War horses, yes, it's time to build up your own cavalry force. In the past, Zhu Ao mainly relied on the infantry, although Zhu Yuanzhang also mainly relied on the infantry to win the world, but that was because he was in the Jiangnan region, and it was difficult to get the war horse to organize cavalry. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, although the cavalry had saved a little money, but basically lost in the battle of Lingbei, since then the Ming army rarely went out of the fortress, and began to set up nine great Sai kings on the nine sides, relying on the infantry and the dangerous pass to resist the invasion and harassment of the Mongols.

Now due to the gift of God, Zhu Ao was sealed to the northwest land, occupying the Hexi corridor with abundant water and grass, which is a high-quality pasture since the beginning of the Xiongnu, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Huo to take it from the hands of the Xiongnu, from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, it is the main production base of military horses in the country. During the Tang Dynasty, there were officials in the Hexi Corridor who specialized in the management of military horses.

The reason why the Song Dynasty was repeatedly bullied by foreign enemies, in addition to the national policy mistakes of emphasizing literature and light on military force, there was also an important reason that the Hexi Corridor was not controlled in its hands, the whole country was basically infantry, and there was an extreme shortage of war horses, so it could only squat there and wait for others to fight.

In the past three years, no matter how severe the situation is and how short the troops are, he has never used the war horses in the military horse farm.

After three years of rapid development, the major military horse farms represented by the Shandan Military Horse Farm in Su have made great progress, and the Shandan Military Horse Farm alone has more than 40,000 war horses, and it has faintly restored its heyday weather.

In addition, Zhu Ao's newly conquered Shazhou, Hami and other places were the territory of the Mongols before, all of which were dominated by animal husbandry, and the tea and horse exchange market that Geng Bingwen presided over here at the beginning was mainly to exchange tea with them for war horses, and now there is no need to change, all of them have become Zhu Ao's private property.

There are three main sources of war horses in the major military horse farms: the first is their own production, the second is the war capture, and the third is the exchange with the Uighurs and the Mongol tribes in Qinghai.

Zhu Ao actually wanted to trade with Warat, it was always the Ming Dynasty that did business with ethnic minorities, and he was very rich now, so he could use money to buy off Warat's subordinates like Lao Jiang in later generations, so as to facilitate his successful crusade against them in the future.

Therefore, he sent several waves of envoys to Warat, hoping to establish a trade relationship with them to pay tribute to each other, but although Warat courteously treated the envoys of Suguo, he never gave a word, and Zhu Ao could see from here that they were also hesitating.

It doesn't matter, the widow has the patience to wait for you, and it is not a business to catch up, and it seems that the widow has dropped the price if he urges too much. His current strategy is to try to develop the economy of Su and maintain trade relations with other countries, so that Warat can watch and see how people make money, and when the time comes, you can't sit still. Who in this world can resist the temptation of money?

Warat was not in a hurry beforehand, and the most important thing now was to vigorously develop cavalry for future expeditions to the desert. Zhu Laosi's cavalry is mainly a 3,000 battalion composed of Mongols, which is not enough to boast of, Zhu Ao wants to form a cavalry composed entirely of Han men, and he must train them to become the most brave cavalry in the world, and restore them to an era when they can compete with Hu Lu.

The heavy responsibility of training cavalry was entrusted to his most trusted Qu Neng, Qu Neng fought all year round, and he also had a set of cavalry battles, and his dream was to train a brave cavalry, like the hussar general Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty, who smashed the royal court and sealed the wolf.

After Qu Neng accepted the appointment, he first counted the number of war horses in Su State, and measured them as follows: more than 43,000 war horses in Zhangye Shandan Military Horse Farm, more than 10,000 war horses in Lanzhou and Wuwei, more than 8,000 war horses in Jiuquan, more than 20,000 war horses in the area from Dunhuang to Jiayuguan, the former Shazhou King Alu Ge Shili's sphere of influence, and more than 30,000 war horses in the former Hami jurisdiction.

After Qu Neng basically figured out the situation of Su Guo's war horses, he came to Zhu Hao's main hall and gave a military salute, saying: "Your Royal Highness, our country has more than 110,000 war horses, and if you train cavalry, a person must have at least two horses, and only by riding in turn can he have the ability to run long distances." Therefore, our country can only train more than 50,000 cavalry at present. ”

50,000 is already a lot, and after the Great War, in order to reduce military spending, those who had been recruited by the people have returned to the peasant households, and the current standing army of the state is 130,000. There are 50,000 cavalry among the 130,000 people, and the proportion of infantry is already very high, and the population of Su is still growing, and the army will definitely be expanded in the future, but it cannot be rushed. First, I am afraid that it will stimulate the surrounding countries, and second, the current national strength is not sufficient, and I am really unable to run education and expand the army.

His public schools have military subject training, and when the first batch of students graduate, they will be a good source of soldiers after receiving a certain amount of military training, and they will also save their own money on training, which is also a necessary means of saving costs.

Zhu Ao held his chin with his hand and pondered for a moment, and said lightly: "In this way, you will first train 30,000 cavalry as a model, and then expand the strength of the cavalry after our country expands the army next year." In addition, you have selected five thousand war horses to live and raise, and the widow has another use. ”

Qu Neng glanced at Zhu Ao suspiciously, not knowing what Zhu Ao wanted to do with these five thousand war horses? It's hard to think that it can't be used for hunting, but after thinking about it, these horses are all his anyway, even if he kills and eats meat, he can't blame it, he lowered his head and said respectfully: "Yes, the minister obeys the order." ”

Zhu Ao waved his hand and motioned him to retreat, Qu Neng gave another military salute to Zhu Ao, and then bowed down and withdrew from the hall, and went to train the cavalry with his heart.

Zhu Ao selected 5,000 war horses, naturally not for hunting, 5,000 war horses for hunting, not to mention that those imperial historians would be impeached, and the widow himself would feel distressed. The purpose of his selection of these war horses was inspired by the queen Sun Yunqi to bribe, and the object of the bribe was his own Laozi-Zhu Yuanzhang.

Since the heavy losses in the Battle of Lingbei, Zhu Yuanzhang has been very short of war horses, and now that he has a war horse, if he doesn't show some meaning, Lao Zhu will definitely have opinions in his heart, at least he will think that he is not filial, and after occupying this point, he is afraid that he will not be able to do anything he wants.

That's why Zhu Ao will select 5,000 sturdy war horses to give to Zhu Yuanzhang, too many are not good, the first is that he himself will feel distressed, and the second Zhu Yuanzhang will think that there are too many war horses under your command to count, and it will not be good to make the autumn wind that beats you badly.

Under Qu Neng's personal supervision, the cavalry of Su Guo was practicing horsemanship, bows and arrows, knives and guns, etc., because Zhu Ao said that there would be a big military parade in three months, and he would personally come to check their training, so everyone held back their strength and wanted to perform well in front of the king.

Cavalry training is on track and has already begun to be in full swing, so don't worry about this for now, wait until three months to see their results before talking.

On this day, the weather was very good, the wind was beautiful, Zhu Ao was practicing archery hard, Huai En walked over alone, bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, the envoy of His Royal Highness King Qing is here." ”

"Oh?" Zhu Ao put down the bow and arrow in his hand, glanced at Huai En with interest, and said softly: "You take him to the other hall, be careful not to let others see it." ”

In order to prevent the vassal kings from threatening the central government, Zhu Yuanzhang clearly stipulated that the vassal kings in various places were not allowed to interact privately, but this regulation was just a dead letter, and the vassal kings were far away in the sky, quietly sending envoys to communicate with each other, and it was difficult for the emperor to detect it.

At the time of the Battle of Jingjing, because Zhu Yunwen offended all the vassal kings, most of the vassal kings actually thought that Zhu Di could win, because in this way they could continue to live a corrupt life. Not only did the nine great Sai kings have eyeballed with him, but even Zhu Chun, the king of Shu who is far away in Sichuan, has secretly communicated with the fourth brother.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, it was mainly the vassal king who controlled the national army, followed by the noble sons of military generals.

Zhu Ao still has a good impression of his sixteenth brother Qingwang Zhu Chang, first of all, the two of them are from relatively humble backgrounds and are of similar age, so they played more together when they were children, plus the wife married by Qingwang Zhu Chang is Sun Yunqi's sister Sun Yunzhu, the two are both brothers and brothers-in-law, and their feelings are deeper than others.

The last time Zhu Ao poured the strength of the whole country into the war against the Uighurs, Warat took the opportunity to harass the frontier, which put the northern defense line of the Su State under great pressure, and if it were not for the timely support of Zhu Chang, the king of Qing, the Su army would have suffered great losses.

King Qing's affection has always been in his heart, and after the situation stabilized, he specially sent an envoy to King Qing's mansion with gifts to thank him, of course, this was also done in secret.

Zhu Ao understands his current position very well, that is, a warlord. If you want to be a good warlord, there are four points that are the most important, the first is territory, he has; the second is the army, which he also has; the third is money and food, and he does not lack it; Fourth, strong allies.

This last point is often overlooked, but it is really the most important, because life is like a chess game, no one dares to say that they can prosper forever, and everyone has bad luck. When you are at a low point in your life, if you have a strong ally to support you and lend you some money, you may be able to make a comeback. Otherwise, you can only be like Guan Yu, no one will come to save you, and you will be killed in the end.

In terms of feelings and situation, King Qing is undoubtedly the best candidate for an ally, first of all, the two are brothers and brothers-in-law, and the family affection is relatively deep, and secondly, King Qing's fief is in Ningxia, and he is the closest vassal king to Zhu Ao among the nine kings.

Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, not to mention brothers who live very closely, this relationship must be solidified, whether it is facing Zhu Yunwen's cutting of the domain or Zhu Di's cutting of the domain, or even the challenge of Timur, there will be strong support on his side.

Huai En has been with Zhu Ao for so long, so he naturally knows his thoughts, not to mention that the person who can be appointed by Zhu Ao as the eunuch of the master of ceremonies and the seal of the seal is definitely not a fool, after hearing Zhu Ao's command, he bowed and whispered to Zhu Ao: "Don't worry, the king has already arranged the slave and maid." Ask the king to come with his slaves and maids. ”

This is efficient and reliable. Zhu Ao was very happy in his heart, and was very satisfied with Huai'en's approach, threw the bow and arrow to the little eunuch beside him, and said with his hands: "Lead the way forward." Then, he followed Wynn to meet King Qing's envoy.

Huai En is very delicate in doing things, and arranged the envoy of King Qing to an inconspicuous side hall, leading Zhu Ao to meet him, and on the way he also met some palace maids and eunuchs who were working, these people saw Zhu Ao after seeing each other, and then they went to their own business, no one dared to ask more questions, this is the criterion for survival in the palace.

For these eunuchs and palace maids who have no rank and no quality, Zhu Ao naturally will not return the salute with them enthusiastically, and walk straight as if he didn't see it, he is a king, and he is already used to the humility and respect of these people.

Huai En led Zhu Ao to a side hall, took two steps, went up to open the door, bowed and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, please, the envoy of His Royal Highness King Qing has been waiting inside for a long time." ”

Zhu Ao didn't answer, and walked in with his hands, the light inside was dark, and it was difficult to see the situation inside clearly, it was really the best place for spies to connect and engage in assassination activities, if it weren't for Huai En being his cronies, and this was his territory, he wouldn't dare to enter easily.

Zhu Ao walked into the hall, and Huai En followed him, and then ordered the people he brought from the East Factory to let out the wind outside the door, and no one could approach, and finally closed the door gently.

The envoy of King Qing saw a richly dressed young man walking in accompanied by the great eunuch who received him, and he was undoubtedly the king of Su, so he immediately got up from his chair, walked to Zhu Ao, and knelt down respectfully and said: "Liu Chanzhou, the grass people, knock on His Royal Highness King Su, His Royal Highness is a thousand years old, a thousand years old." ”

"Grass people?" Zhu Ao wondered in his heart, doesn't this person have any official position? But after thinking about it, I understood that King Qing had been timid since he was a child, and he was more cautious than himself, and he would definitely not send officials from the palace to communicate with him, so he would definitely not be able to hide from the eyes of the palace chief, he was still a vassal king, unlike himself who flew alone, and he had to accept the supervision of the palace governor Shi Si, so he was more cautious in doing things.

Zhu Ao bypassed Liu Chanzhou, who was kneeling on the ground, walked straight to the chair in the middle of the room and sat down, and then raised his hand and said to Liu Chanzhou: "The messenger has worked hard, get up, watch the seat." "This person must be a slave that King Qing trusts more, they are all descendants of the old Zhu family, and the younger brother's slave is the elder brother's slave, there is no need to be polite.

Liu Chanzhou knelt on the ground and spun around, then kowtowed heavily to Zhu Ao, and said, "Thank you, Your Highness." Then he stood up slowly, but his appearance was still very deferential, and he could see that he was a person who could be a man, and he could always understand his position, no wonder King Qing could use him so much.

Huaien, who was full of eyesight, had already brought a chair to Liu Chanzhou, and smiled very politely: "Messenger, please take a seat." ”

Liu Chanzhou smiled kindly at Huai'en, nodded, and returned the salute very politely: "There is Father-in-law Lao." ”

After politely saluting and the guests and hosts sat down, Zhu Aocai said to Liu Chanzhou's envoy with a pleasant face: "Before, when the widows were fighting a war with the western power of the Uighurs, the Warat tribes took the opportunity to harass the northern frontier of our Su Kingdom. If it weren't for my imperial brother sending troops to support in time, I'm afraid that the soldiers of my country would have suffered huge losses. ”

Liu Chanzhou bowed slightly, and said with a smile: "Your Highness is polite." After all, His Royal Highness and my king are brothers whose blood is thicker than water, and they are brothers-in-law, and when His Highness fought the Uighur thieves with all his strength and opened up the territory for my Ming Dynasty, Warat dared to shamelessly sneak attack His Highness's back road. My king is the younger brother of His Royal Highness, and he has been good with His Highness since he was a child, how can he sit idly by? ”

"Hahaha, you're right, there is a way to fight tiger brothers, fathers and sons, nothing in this world can compare to this blood thicker than water." When he read history before, he saw all the deceit and fratricide of the emperor's family, and he thought that the people in the emperor's house were like Li Shimin, who only had power in his eyes and did not talk about family affection at all, but with the increase of experience, knowledge and personal experience after the crossing, he felt that this was still a minority.

The people of the emperor's family are also people, they all have consciences and feelings, as long as you don't touch his vital interests, what is there to talk about between brothers and uncles? What if you quarrel twice? Then forget about it.

During the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong's eldest brother gave up his position as the crown prince to Li Longji, who was only the third son, and Li Longji also respected him very much, built him a big house, and did not want him to die unexpectedly because he was the eldest son with legal inheritance.

During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaochu's rebellious heart was clearly revealed, and Zhu Gaochi didn't care much about him, if he hadn't died in the end, at least it would be no problem to spend his old age in peace. During Zhu Di's period, there were also several vassal kings who wanted to oppose Zhu Di under the banner of supporting Zhu Yunwen, but Zhu Di only imprisoned them and did not harm them.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian had an estrangement with Zhang Yan, the queen of the Apocalypse, so he thought of using the spy organization in his hands to engage in some armor, letters and other things, and framed Zhang Yan and Zhu Youzhen, who was still the king of faith at the time, for plotting against him.

But in the end, he was persuaded by his cronies and eunuchs, who advised him: "Although the emperor is a big man, he is very good to his family, and if you directly confront his wife and his own brother, he will definitely die at that time." Wei Zhongxian thought that he had been reprimanded by Zhu Youxiao for being rude to several distant vassal kings, so he immediately gave up and withdrew his previous deployment.

However, this incident also made him and Zhang Yan and Zhu Youzhen form a bond, and at the same time, it also left an impression of a traitor in Zhu Youzhen's heart, laying the groundwork for the two to conspire to get rid of Wei Zhongxian.

However, Lao Wei is also very wronged in this matter, in his eyes, Zhu Youzhen will be nothing more than a vassal king who eats and waits for death in the future, and he will not be a threat to him, but what he never expected is that the Emperor of the Apocalypse in the Spring and Autumn Period would die due to an accidental fall into the water, and he did not leave an heir during his lifetime, so he could only be succeeded by his only brother Zhu Youzhen.

It's all fate!

According to Pu Yi's "The First Half of My Life", when the Empress Dowager Cixi was dying, she summoned all the princes and ministers to serve outside the palace, and at this time, Prince Gong's son Pu Weiman thought that Cixi would make him the new emperor because he was the eldest of Pu's generation. So he knelt outside the hall with great anticipation and waited for Lafayette's summons, but what he didn't expect to see was Pu Yi being carried in by the eunuch, and then he realized that he was completely out of play.

This Pu Wei's temper is not very good, and after seeing that his emperor's dream was in vain, he was so angry that he scolded and roared at the hall. According to the provisions of the law, he was completely worthy of great disrespect and even misdeeds, but at that time, no one, including Cixi, was prosecuted, and the reason given was to rehabilitate him for the sake of his father, Prince Gong, for the sake of his previous merits.

But in fact, the main thing is family affection at work, and it is normal to scold him after the wish is not fulfilled, and it is okay to scold him, there is no need for the family to make a bloody disaster for such a thing.

As we all know, the Qing Dynasty did not set up a prince since Kangxi, which means that theoretically every prince has the qualifications to compete for the throne, who can resist such a huge temptation? Therefore, these princes must have competed during their lifetimes, but except for Yongzheng, no one has engaged in his own brothers after he came up.

The temptation of the big position is too great, everyone wants to do it, who can understand this, you can think about it before, as long as I sit on it, don't think about it anymore, I won't touch you, after all, it's a brother. There will also be fights between brothers, and there will also be fights for family property, but there are not many people who can be ruthless enough to use knives for this matter. Because of family affection, it is really a wonderful thing, that is, the separated father and son have not met for decades, and once they meet, they will cry and hug each other. This must be a natural attribute that no one can erase.