"Your Majesty, the last general understands, the last general must be optimistic about this land for His Majesty, for the imperial court."

Zhu Youzhen saw that Hong Chengchou lacked a pioneering spirit, so he had to say: "Chengchou, just being optimistic about this land is far from enough, I will talk about the situation around Chita." ”

"The last will listen to His Majesty's teachings."

"I will first talk about the future rule of the imperial court here, and I already know about it," Zhu Youzhen opened the marching map he was carrying, "I plan to set up Lingbei Province here in the future, and I will also send corresponding civil officials." ”

"His Majesty intends to set up prefectures on the banks of the Chita, Beiwang and Nan rivers?"

"Yes, in the future of Lingbei Province, the capital is Chita, the population of Beiwang is too small, for the time being, it is only a county, and it is also a county on the bank of the Nan River, and it is also a county, and it is called Hengjiu, right? This is called Hengjiu County. ”

"陛xià......"

"Cheng Chou doesn't need to shirk, this is a reward for the court to you, and your name will forever go down in history."

"Thank you." Hong Chengchou prostrate in front of Zhu Youzhen, he can always leave a name in history, he can't wait for Jiang's own heart, and take it out for Zhu Youzhen to see.

"Chengchou, get up, this is the honor you deserve." Zhu Youzhen helped Hong Chengchou to sit down again, "Just now Chengchou said that he should be optimistic about the land, which naturally refers to this piece of land. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, this piece of land, in the hands of the last general, will never be lost, and the last general will use the head on the item as a guarantee."

"Of course I believe this, but, Cheng Chou thinks about it, why did I set my capital in Chita? Which province have you ever seen the capital of a province at the very edge of a province? ”

"Your Majesty means that more land will be opened up in the future?"

"Yes, if you don't have the determination to open up the territory, you can't grasp the important land from the overall situation, and if you have already obtained the land, you will lose it sooner or later," Zhu Youzhen took a sip of tea and moistened his throat, "Liaodong Capital Division, Nuer Gandu Division, what a beautiful scenery back then, but it was only two hundred years old, and it was completely lost, because of the strong enemy of Jiannu, who did not pay enough attention to it back then." ”

"陛xià......"

"If you only defend the land of Lingbei, the Ming Dynasty will spend too much military strength and silver, so to protect Lingbei, you must eliminate the surrounding strong enemies one by one."

"So His Majesty wants to subdue Horqin?"

"Yes, I subdued Horqin, not to make them surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but to naturalize them into Han Chinese, once Horqin is fully naturalized, Lingbei, Horqin Grassland and the Jingshi of the Ming Dynasty will be connected." Zhu Youzhen suddenly had an idea: "I will do my best to garrison the city of Krulun River, where it is only five or six hundred miles to Hengjiu County in Lingbei Province, and less than a thousand miles away from Chita. ”

"Your Majesty, the last general has been taught."

"Cheng Chou, what you just said is the south of Lingbei, don't worry about the east of Lingbei, Yuan Chonghuan's army, I'm afraid it has already restored the entire Nurgan, in the future, if conditions permit, you can send people to the east to contact them, and I will also build a cement avenue from the north to the east, and completely connect this area."

"Yes, Majesty," Hong Chengchou blinked, "What does Majesty mean, and the north and the west?" ”

"Cheng Chou is right," Zhu Youzhen gave a thumbs up, Confucianism can be taught, "the north is now a large forest, there is no country there, only the people who live in fishing and hunting, you will gradually expand northward in the future, draw a detailed topographic map, and naturalize the local people into Han Chinese." ”

Hong Chengchou nodded, he didn't understand, how did the young Zhu Youzhen know so much about the general trend, could it be that he was born to be the material of the emperor?

Zhu Youzhen pointed to the marching map, from Yashankou to the west, "the west is the focus of expansion, from Yashankou, seven or eight hundred miles away, is the world's largest freshwater lake, during the Hongwu period, the general Lanyu once defeated the Mengyuan here, Mongolia has since fallen into division, here is the Ming must seize the strategic place." ”

"Seven or eight hundred miles?"

"Cheng Chou doesn't need to be in a hurry, what I am talking about is the direction of future development, everything must be done according to our ability, we must not be reluctant, for now, it is better to naturalize these 18,000 Mongolian herdsmen first," Zhu Youzhen's tone was very resolute, "In the future, when the conditions are ripe, I am determined to win this fishing sea." ”

"Your Majesty, the last general understands, and the last general will do what he can in a while."

"Well," Zhu Youzhen's gaze was withdrawn from the marching map and fell on Hong Chengchou's face, "You must first open up the passage of Yashan Pass, from Yashan Pass to the west, although there is a road, but the road is rugged and narrow, not suitable for the passage of the army, use the leisure time to organize soldiers and herdsmen, and open up this road unimpeded." ”

"The end will immediately start to open up this channel."

"Not now, you have to build a house and build a city first, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Han people to adapt to the cold climate here," Zhu Youzhen shook his head slowly, "I returned to Beijing and immediately sent civilian officials, your army, you must support civilian officials, in this place where there is no sinicization, without the support of the army, civilian officials may not be able to move an inch." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the last general will definitely fully support the civil officials."

Zhu Youzhen entrusted his ideas to Hong Chengchou in one breath, and he breathed a sigh of relief, "Chengchou, I am about to return to Beijing, what other requirements do you have for staying here?" ”

"Your Majesty," Hong Chengchou hesitated, but in the end he still said it, "This is the extreme north, the climate is very cold in winter, but the soldiers are still dressed in autumn, if the soldiers are all nested in the house, lighting a fire to keep warm, then it will not be able to patrol in the field." ”

"Don't worry about Chengchou, I have already sent a book to the household department and the military department to send you cotton clothes and food, and now you should be on the way, when it comes to patrolling, I think of one thing, don't take it lightly."

"Majesty, what's the matter?"

"There is a big country in the West, called Russia, they will definitely send a caravan to expand to the east, I don't know when, they will come to Chita, so you must pay close attention to the West, especially Yashankou, and you must strengthen the garrison."

Hong Chengchou saw that Zhu Youzhen was very cautious, and he was also a little nervous in his heart: "Your Majesty, what if they are coming?" ”

"You're a soldier, do you still have to ask me about this little thing? Kill, of course. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." This time, Hong Chengchou answered categorically, fully embodying the demeanor of a soldier.

"They also have fire # guns, if you have captured, send someone to Jingshi in time, I want to see what level their fire # guns have developed."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the last general has remembered, a qiē, for the sake of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Yes, a qiē, for the sake of Da Ming!" Zhu Youzhen also clenched his fists tightly.

Wang Mujiu finally brought the herdsmen of the Chechen Khan to Chita, because there were only more than 2,500 herdsmen who left 1,000 herdsmen on the banks of the Nan River.

Zhu Youzhen also assigned 1,000 herdsmen and asked Hong Chengchou to send people to the banks of the Beiwang River to settle down in the city on the banks of the Beiwang River, and the remaining more than 1,500 households, more than 8,000 herdsmen, were settled in Chita.

The Mongols all have yurts, and there is no need to build houses for the time being, and the strong men among them are all drawn out to help the Ming army build houses and cities, and only women and children continue to graze their cattle and sheep.

Zhu Youzhen instructed Hong Chengchou to divide the land for the herdsmen first, 30 mu of cultivated land per ding, plus 500 mu of pastureland, anyway, there is land here, if the pasture land is not enough, it can be increased in the future.

The land here is barren, the pasture land is nothing, as long as there is grass, you can graze cattle and sheep, but the arable land is different, and the herdsmen must plough it themselves.

However, it is already late autumn, and it is obviously too late to plant crops, and besides, these herdsmen have no seeds and farm tools, so they must wait for the Ming army to transport them from Beijing, and they must wait until next year to start farming.

Zhu Youjian estimated that the winter here is too long, and if winter wheat is planted, it is likely to be frozen to death by the severe cold, so it is better to promote spring wheat.

There are many rivers here, and it would be better if rice could be promoted, and the yield of rice is higher than that of wheat.

No one knows whether spring wheat will be able to bloom and set ears here, so it is best to bring the seeds and tubers of corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, choose some land, and plant these crops with lower growing conditions.

Hong Chengchou's 10,000 troops, stationed in Chita, Beiwang, and Hengjiu, on the one hand, divided the land for the herdsmen, and on the other hand, it was also to supervise the herdsmen, and they could not let them flee.

Hong Chengchou was personally stationed in Chita at Yashankou, not only because this would be the capital of Lingbei Province, but more importantly, Zhu Youzhen asked Hong Chengchou to strengthen his guard at Yashankou.

Zhu Youzhen finally left Chita, and so far, the Second Army on the left side, the Northern Expedition mission was successfully completed, and they went all the way to the north and expanded the territory of the Ming Dynasty by 3,000 miles.

As for how much area has been added, Zhu Youzhen also wants to know, but he can't calculate it, for example, Horqin grassland, is it considered the land of the Ming Dynasty now? Can the large wasteland north of Chita be regarded as the land of the Ming Dynasty?

Also, the Ming Dynasty now only occupies the three-thousand-mile main road from the Gubeikou of the Great Wall to Chita, and as for the area around the main road, there are still many tribes that have not been attached for the time being, because winter is coming, Zhu Youzhen wants to return to Beijing, and there is no time to conquer them for the time being.

When Zhu Youzhen returned, he took all the horses of the herdsmen with him, and the herdsmen lost their horses, and they not only lost the ability to fight, but also lost the ability to move.

At first, the herdsmen refused to hand over their horses, and they were even ready to fight the Ming army, but Zhu Youzhen gave a death order, and all the horses must be handed over to the Ming army to take away.

The herdsmen were frightened by the Ming army on the banks of the Krulun River, and Li Lun maneuvered around it, and Bumu Butai appeared again to lobby, she started from the actual situation of the Horqin Department of Mongolia, and told the herdsmen two truths: against the Ming Dynasty, there is absolutely no second way except death; Daming will definitely let his people have food and clothing, as long as the herdsmen are willing to naturalize Daming.

In the case of some loosening of the herdsmen, Zhu Youzhen suddenly told the herdsmen that the Ming Dynasty did not want to snatch their war horses, but to prevent the herdsmen from being unfavorable to the Ming army, and that the Ming Dynasty would use seeds, farm tools, grain, salt, etc., to give a certain amount of compensation when they took away these war horses.

In desperation, the herdsmen had to register the number of horses according to Zhu Youzhen's request, and then let the Ming army take away all the war horses.

On the return journey, the army had no combat mission, and a large amount of grain and grass were left in Chita, and the cavalry walked fast, traveling more than one hundred and fifty miles a day.

When Zhu Youzhen returned to Xilin, he was just in time for the end of Korqin Naadam.