"Ah Cheng, you're right!" Min Min nodded: "If you defeat the Jurchens this time according to the rules of the grassland, then everything they have will be your property, and the men will become slaves, farming, grazing, and fighting for you; The women shear and milk your sheep, and the meritorious warriors get a share of the spoils; And since you adopted Na Fu Lin as your adopted son and became the regent of Na Laoshi's imperial father, many things cannot be done, and the soldiers below must be a little resentful! ”

"Minmin, what you remind me is that I will find a way to compensate them!" Liu Cheng nodded: "Actually, these are still trivial matters, the most important thing is that in this way, my feet are empty, and there is no foundation!" ”

"Oh? That's what you're here for? ”

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng nodded: "If your feet don't touch the ground, people will be unstable." The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info can immediately fight the world, but it cannot rule the world. When I was in Tongguan Mountain, if I hadn't met my righteous brother to help, I was afraid that I would have been a corpse on the side of the road; In Dunzhou, if there were no Ma family father and son, Zhao Youcai, Suo Luomeng, and Lord Lu, I would not have been able to open the situation; Later, there were many people such as your father, the living Buddha of Qiesang and Mr. Cheng Er, who either contributed money, or strength, or wisdom. I, Liu Cheng, have come to this point, not by my own strength, and if I want to continue walking, I will never be alone. If these people are Han or Mongolian, and even English, Russian, Spanish and other Taixi people, if they want to continue to support me, the only way is to give them an identity, tell them that this piece of bread is not eaten by me Liu Cheng alone, everyone has a share, if you want to eat the cake, you have to carry water, firewood, and noodles. ”

When Min Min heard Liu Cheng's words, her eyes couldn't help but ripple. Since Liu Cheng crossed, relying on his personal talent and the chaotic situation in the north at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he started from Shaanxi to suppress the Liukou, first dug his first pot of gold in Dunzhou by cleaning up the military tun, and then established a textile, coal and iron complex based on hydraulic machinery in Chaoyi, and then completely defeated the last Great Khan of the Chahar Department in Ningxia through marriage with the Jungger people and in Ningxia. Since then, he has laid the foundation for separating the Hetao and looking at the northwest. Subsequently, in the next few years, Liu Cheng successively sent troops to Mobei, the eastern half of Monan, and Liaodong, eliminating the Houjin regime, and the actual control area has been "connected to the sea in the east, out of the Kurgobi in the west, the Great Wall in the south, and the desert in the north, extending more than 10,000 miles", this vast land lives with more than two million people, if it is fully mobilized, it is not difficult to pull out 300,000 horsemen, if you take into account that in order to meet the orders of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, the arsenal under Liu Cheng has expanded its production capacity several times, Having acquired all the reserves in the Houjin arsenal, these armies were far more powerful than the nomadic cavalry in history that could not even be adequately supplied with iron arrowheads.

But in stark contrast to his military toughness, Liu Cheng was extremely weak politically. Corresponding to his succession of resounding titles, his people were made up of many tribes, nationalities, and various small groups that were not connected to each other, and even hated each other, and the only thing that could bind them together was Liu Cheng's repeated military victories. If you drag back the time to six hundred years, the question is simple, anyway, the rule on the grassland is that if the Huns win, everyone will be Huns; If the Xianbei people win, everyone will be Xianbei people; But the times are different, after Genghis Khan, there are only Mongolians in the steppe, and there are many Han, Jurchen, and Japanese under Liu Cheng's command who have entered a highly civilized life, and it is impossible to let them regress to the state of the Mongols.

Therefore, Liu Cheng's first task now is to build a community that transcends ethnicity, tribe, and culture, to integrate this hodgepodge of his own hands, and to establish a master-slave relationship with the elites in order to legitimize his power. Only after he had done all this could he tear up the coat of the courtiers of the Ming Empire on his body and wave his army south. This process had to be as fast as possible, because the rulers of the Ming dynasty were not too stupid to see Liu Cheng as a new threat to the empire.

The Senate was an important part of this attempt, and the elites of various nationalities who had proved their loyalty and ability with their practical actions would be awarded the title of Senator, and they would become the political base on which Liu Cheng could rely on them, and the Senate would be the supreme advisory body and legislative body of Liu Cheng, and would have the qualifications to serve as governors of the provinces. In order to avoid this group threatening Liu Cheng himself, the army will be in the hands of a small group of generals, who will be forbidden to become senators, and as compensation, they will enter the Privy Council after rising to a certain rank, which will be the highest military advisory group around Liu Cheng, and their descendants will have priority to enter the Senate.

This system has an obvious advantage - origin, ethnicity, and skin color will not be used as an obstacle to becoming a patriarch, so that when Liu Cheng attacks other countries, it will be easy to find a useful "leading party", and there is no shortage of frustrated careerists in the ruling class of any country, who become patriarchs by selling their own nation and country; Or continue to live a life of frustration that is despised, this choice is not difficult to make. More importantly, in the ivory chairs in the Senate, the senators will soon find that the differences and contradictions between them are much smaller than those between their own nationalities, and it is much more advantageous to unite to consolidate the authority of the Senate and suppress other elements of their own nation than to fight for the interests of their own nation in the Senate, at least for Liu Cheng, it is much easier to get a few hundred senators than to deal with hundreds of tribes and countries.

When Liu Cheng was explaining the future political south map to his wife, Yue Tuo had just jumped out of the carriage and looked at the familiar and unfamiliar Shengjing South Gate in front of him, the last time he saw it was three years ago.

"Hey!" Yue Tuo sighed silently, the feelings in his heart were very complicated, it was naturally not a good thing to become Liu Cheng's prisoner, but he also caused many changes that occurred later, in these chaos, Huang Taiji, Azig, and Zilharang died, and Dolgon and Duoduo were forced into exile, but he was unharmed, and now it seems that it is really a blessing for Saion to lose his horse!

"Master!" It was a black-faced man who spoke, he was the coat of Yue Tuo's mansion, Liu Cheng released him after taking Shengjing according to the agreement with Dai Shan, and he went to Guihua City to take Yue Tuo back: "Go home first or go to the master first?" ”

"No!" Yue Tuo shook his head, he knew that the master in his subordinates' mouth was referring to his father Daishan, and he asked, "Where does the regent live now?" ”

"It should be in Yongfu Palace!" The black-faced man replied in a tone of not very sure, "You want to see him?" ”

"Hmm!" Yue Tuo nodded: "Everyone is back, father, they don't care about this, I can come back thanks to the regent's magnanimity, I should go to thank you first!" ”

The black-faced man's face showed a disapproving look, in his opinion, Liu Cheng's release of Yue Tuo was completely out of reward for Dai Shan - it was precisely because of Dai Shan's cooperation that Ah Gui was able to stabilize the situation in Shengjing so easily, and Liu Cheng was able to eat Houjin almost bloodlessly, from this point of view, Dai Shan can be said to have contributed a lot to Liu Cheng - second only to Ah Gui and Ji Bilong. However, he still habitually obeyed the master's order, he lowered his head and said: "It's okay, master, you get in the car first, and after entering the city, I will let people go to the house to report a message, and get ready, you will pick up the wind and wash the dust when you come back from Yongfu Palace!" ”

When Yue Tuo came to Yongfu Palace and explained his intention to the guards, he was not surprised to see a surprised look in the eyes of the guards - was this Jurchen person confused, was he released and was not in a hurry to go home to thank him. However, they still quickly passed on the meaning for Yue Tuotong, and soon brought a reply - Liu Cheng was willing to accept his Jin opinion.

When Yue Tuo walked into the room, he saw Liu Cheng talking to a secretary: "You will go to the Ministry of Industry tomorrow, count the craftsmen according to the roster, and remake the book, the Jurchens have excellent armor, and they can also cast red-clothed cannons, and there is a very good team of craftsmen, which must be in our hands." You have to go to the blacksmith street outside the east gate in person, distribute condolences, calm people's hearts, stabilize the team, and understand the situation. After completion, write a detailed report to me, to find problems, raise problems, solve problems, don't be afraid of offending people, and when Liu Zongmin and they arrive, they will choose a site to prepare for the construction of a new factory, and strive to start production before next autumn! ”

"Yes, yes!" As he spoke, the secretary took out a board with a piece of paper and wrote something on it with a quill pen. This is Liu Cheng raised his head, just in time to see Yue Tuo coming in from the door, with a smile on his face: "Oh, Da Belle is here, the journey is going well!" ”

"I can't afford it!" Yue Tuo hurriedly bowed down: "The Great Jin Kingdom is gone, where is there any big Baylor and two Baylors, thanks to your blessings, the journey is still smooth!" ”

"Get up, please!" Liu Cheng smiled and said: "Come on, show Lord Yue Tuo a seat and serve tea!" ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Yue Tuo hurriedly thanked him: "Yue Tuo came this time to thank you for your kindness!" ”

"Oh!" Liu Cheng smiled: "What's so thankful for this, first, your father is a meritorious person, and the only request he has made is to release you, so I naturally have to agree; Besides, you are a capable person, at the beginning, the two countries fought against each other, and now that the war has subsided, you can't be locked up like this, right? ”

Yue Tuo heard what Liu Cheng said, his spirits perked up, and he said with a smile: "Your Highness has a good reputation, how can the generals of the defeated army be brave, and how can the ministers of the fallen country be loyal?" In the next is the general of the defeated army, and the minister of the dead country, it is already a fluke to be able to save his life, how dare you be your praise! ”

"You can't say that!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "We are all martial artists, as soon as we go to the battlefield, we will not be able to win or die, if the luck is bad, even if King Xiang has the defeat of Wujiang." At the beginning, he was with Lingle, and everyone would lose. Relax your mind and live at home for a while, and I will be of great use in the future. ”

Hearing Liu Cheng say this, Yue Tuo was first shocked, and then secretly rejoiced, he is not yet forty years old, he is the most prosperous age of a man, how can he be willing to return home to accompany his wife and children for the rest of his life? Yue Tuo pondered his tone for a moment, and replied in a deep voice: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your love, I don't know if you can mention a little bit or two, so that you can also be a little prepared!" ”

"What about North Korea, for example?"

"North Korea?" Yue Tuo was stunned when he heard this, and immediately asked, "Your Highness wants to use troops against North Korea?" ”

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng said indifferently: "North Korea is a place I must take, do you have any suggestions?" ”

"The Korean army is weak, with the power of His Highness, he can bend his knees with an envoy, so why use troops?"

"It's easy to just ask him to bend his knees, but I want more than that!"

"Dare to ask, how far is Your Highness going?"

Liu Cheng smiled, walked to the bookshelf on the side, took out a map and unfolded it on several cases: "Yue Tuo, you see, these locations are very important, North Korea must cede them to me, and I also need to build a port here, as well as a shipyard, at least 10,000 craftsmen of all colors, 100,000 strong men." While explaining, Liu Cheng clicked on Tsushima Island, Busan, Wonsan, Incheon, and Lushun on the map. According to Liu Cheng's political blueprint, the Rim of Japan, the Bohai Sea, and the Yellow Sea would become the hinterland of his future empire. Although this area is not comparable to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in terms of population and economy, it has abundant coal, iron and timber resources, and these resources are either located in areas not far from the sea or next to large rivers, which are not difficult to mine. Coal and iron are the basic resources for industrial construction, and high-quality timber is a necessary condition for building a navy. Liaodong has a large area of cultivated land to be cultivated, as long as the corresponding cold-resistant agricultural varieties are given, enough agricultural surplus can be provided to feed the industrial population, and from Liaodong, it is easy to enter the grasslands and even Central Asia, obtain enough war horses and other necessary military resources, as long as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei and other places are controlled, they can enter the Central Plains at any time. By sea, Liu Cheng could easily transfer the goods and force produced by the big factories into the deltas of the world's major rivers, such as the Yangtze River, the Pearl River, the Red River, and the Mekong River, which are the most fertile, rich, economically developed, and densely populated regions in the world. In order to build this dualistic empire of the sea-steppe, it was extremely necessary to control the important ports of Korea and the Tsushima Strait, where the exit from the Sea of Japan to the East China Sea was located.

Yue Tuo did not give an answer immediately, but fell into deep thought, and Liu Cheng did not disturb him, just waited quietly on the side. After about half a meal, Yue Tuo replied: "If you allow me to select 2,000 men in Lianghongqi and give me a few boats, Korea will be yours before the fall!" ”