The spring breeze blows the weeping willows by the pond, and the willows slowly sway with the wind. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The water in the pond ripples and reflects a sparkling brilliance. The warm spring breeze carries a sense of laziness.

Zhao Yunwei reached out and grabbed a handful of fish food and threw it into the water, and countless koi of all sizes poked their heads out to compete for food. Shu'er next to her looked at her sister, and a smile appeared on the corner of her lips. Her lower abdomen was already bulging, and her pretty face, which had always been a little thin and haggard, became more rounded, and her cheeks were slightly red, as if turning into a pool of spring water flowing into people's hearts.

A pair of arms suddenly came up from behind, silent. Zhao Yunshu shook his head helplessly, not much surprised, and leaned back slightly on his familiar shoulder.

Ye Yingwu gently hugged Zhao Yunshu and didn't say anything. And Zhao Yunwei obviously also noticed that something was wrong behind him, turned his head and made a grimace at Ye Yingwu, and ran along the pond with fish food into the distance, so frightened that the maid behind him also hurriedly followed. Maybe those fish were already familiar with Zhao Yunwei, or maybe they also saw the bucket in Zhao Yunwei's hand, so they shook their tails and rolled the waves, keeping up with Zhao Yunwei's figure, and the fish moved in the clear pond, like a red cloud moving in the sky.

"Why did the husband come to the Imperial Garden?" Waiting for Wei'er to go away, Zhao Yunshu said in a low voice.

In the past few days, Ye Yingwu has been in the imperial study, and he has not even stepped on the door of the harem, so he suddenly appeared in the imperial garden in the deepest part of the harem, which made Zhao Yunshu a little surprised.

Ye Yingwu was silent for a moment, and said softly: "A certain has already ordered the start of a full-scale Northern Expedition just now. ”

Zhao Yunshu was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "Hasn't the husband been waiting for this moment for a long time?" Why do you look a little unhappy? ”

Shrugged helplessly, Ye Yingwu shook his head and said: "Because there is no 10% chance of winning in a certain heart, and even now the Mongolian Tartars have given Daming such a problem, which makes a certain person have to take risks, and he doesn't know what Daming can get after this battle." ”

Zhao Yunshu's smile narrowed slightly. She also understood what Ye Yingwu meant. For the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Expedition at this time was definitely not necessarily a good thing.

In the wars and conquests of all dynasties, there were many people for the interests of the country and few for personal grievances, even if all the commanders were determined to conquer, they generally had to do it in order to maintain the dignity of a dynasty. The ancients had a saying, "The major affairs of the country are in the worship and the battle", and sacrifice and war are the foundation of the survival of a country. Therefore, for war, throughout the ages, more of a cautious attitude has been taken, and what has been done is to enable the country to gain more benefits.

The Ming Dynasty set the Central Plains in the north, in fact, it has basically restored the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, although the Shanxi area is still controlled by the Mongols, but in exchange, the Ming Dynasty has owned Hexi, and even opened up the Tubo, Oriental and Nanyang, not to mention the territory of the former Song Dynasty, and even more than the Han and Tang Dynasties. Especially in the past hundred years, the most important idea of the people is the "Northern Expedition to the Central Plains" rather than the "Northern Expedition to Youyan", which means that the killing of the Central Plains has actually met the people's needs for imperial court wars and force.

According to the previous Wen Tianxiang Northern Expedition and the Ming army's counterattack, the war-torn northern land did not get sufficient recuperation in the hands of the Mongols, and even in the hearts of the Mongols, except for important towns such as Luoyang and Bianliang, the rest of the place is more like a warehouse, and they will not care when they are not needed, and they will directly use force to rob grain, grass, gold and silver when they are needed.

In another time and space history, it was not until the Mongols won the Battle of Xiangyang and established the Yuan Dynasty that the Han culture was officially taken as orthodoxy, and Kublai Khan was also under the persuasion and influence of Han officials, and began to really consider adopting a soft policy towards the Han people, rather than blindly suppressing and exploiting, and focusing on economic, trade and cultural exchanges between the north and the south, intending to strengthen the control of the south of the Yangtze River, and the dredging of the Grand Canal is a very important part of it. It's just that even so, in fact, until Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops with Huaishang cloth, Jiangnan was still the richest place in the world, and it was also the first place in the world, which also means that Mongolia has not completely controlled the hearts of the Han people in the north and south from beginning to end.

Therefore, the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty at that time Lianghuai and Heluo, from the hands of the Mongols was a mess, forcing the imperial court to even have to raise money from the people to support the Lianghuai, and gradually rebuild the infrastructure, guide the people to stay and farm, so that the bones are all over the field, desolate and dilapidated Lianghuai and the southern part of Heluo rejuvenated, and further became the support base of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty.

But Heluo and Lianghuai were okay, when the incident happened suddenly, the Mongols obviously did not have enough preparations, nor did they have enough troops to plunder the people to the north. Now it's different, according to the battle report sent from the front, the Mongols obviously have already thought of countermeasures, and the strong wall clears the wilderness and even completely plunders the entire Han people in the north, and finally leaves nothing for the Ming Dynasty, which means that the Ming Dynasty finally got a barren white land.

This is absolutely not in line with the needs of the Ming Dynasty in terms of interests alone, especially the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty is a bit hasty, and the Mongols are undoubtedly increasing the difficulty of the Ming Dynasty in the later period of the Northern Expedition, and at the same time making these empty cities a burden for the Ming Dynasty.

After all, if the Ming Dynasty wants to stick to the border, it needs to rely on the city, and if it wants to build and hold the city and reclaim the wasteland, it is indispensable to have the support of the local Ding Zhuang, and if you want to have enough local Ding Zhuang, you need to have enough women and children to breed the population, it can be said that those women and children are the foundation of the Ming Dynasty to consolidate its rule, and Mongolia does not even let go of these, all packed and taken away.

This also means that it is not so easy for the Ming Dynasty to digest and absorb the land obtained from the Northern Expedition, especially in the past few years, when the Ming Dynasty opened up the South Seas and immigrated to Heluo, it was already stretched thin on Ding Zhuang and women and children.

Ye Yingwu is a traverser, the Northern Expedition is his dream, the dream of the entire nation for three hundred years, and it is also the dream of Wen Tianxiang and Su Liuyi who have adhered to it all their lives, but "in his position, he should seek his government", Ye Yingwu is now the monarch of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally he must also take into account the practical interests of the Ming Dynasty, and the current Ming Dynasty has an absolute upper hand in the confrontation with Mongolia, so there are not too many demands for the border defense of the north. In addition, now that the Ming Dynasty is prosperous and developing in all aspects, it is precisely the time when stability is needed, and it is completely feasible if the Northern Expedition is not carried out or the Northern Expedition is delayed.

After all, the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia are in the process of eliminating each other's strengths, and in another five or six years, the Ming Dynasty will be able to completely overwhelm Mongolia in terms of national strength, and the Northern Expedition will naturally be easier at that time.

Ye Yingwu said this question to Zhao Yunshu, in fact, he was wondering, for Daming, which is more suitable for the Northern Expedition at this time or the Northern Expedition later.

Zhao Yunshu stretched out his hand and gently pressed his lower abdomen, and looked back at Ye Yingwu. It is impossible for Ye Yingwu to ask Wen Tianxiang about this question, the government and the opposition are all waiting to roll up their sleeves and do a big job, if Ye Yingwu himself is shaken first, the officials below will naturally be shaken, and it is not so easy to make them cheer up again. Therefore, Ye Yingwu could only ask the wives and concubines of the harem.

"For the Ming Dynasty, maybe what the Northern Expedition got was just a piece of land with no population and no people," Zhao Yunshu said tentatively, "But then again, one blow, and then three times and exhaustion, the husband thinks about whether the Ming can gain anything from the Northern Expedition, but he doesn't take into account what the Ming Dynasty will lose if it does not carry out the Northern Expedition or delay the Northern Expedition, or what will be wasted?" ”

Ye Yingwu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly took a light breath.

If the Northern Expedition is not carried out, it means that the trade of the Ming Dynasty is still limited to the south of Heluo, after all, the previous sudden counterattack war, so that the Mongolian Tartars have forcibly closed down all the Ming Dynasty in the north, and the merchants of the Ming Dynasty can no longer enter the north, so that the goods in Liaodong, grassland and other places can only rely on a very small amount of smuggling on the border. If the entire situation in the north is completely opened, then the scope of the economic and trade market in Daming will naturally be broader, and there will naturally be more large and small businessmen rising.

Of course, there is a more important point, without the Northern Expedition, it is thought that the Ming Dynasty must maintain absolute deterrence and suppression of Mongolia on the northern front, which means that the Ming Dynasty must maintain a sufficient number of main forces, especially for the main army that is gradually equipped with firearms, which not only means that the Ming must maintain enough Ding Zhuang to stay on the front line, but also occupy a large production capacity of the Ministry of Industry to maintain the army's daily training consumption. This will undoubtedly hinder the ongoing infrastructure construction of Daming to a certain extent, if not to a large extent.

The Ministry of Industry of Daming has formulated a very detailed infrastructure plan for the Ming Dynasty, including the straight road through the two Huai and Heluo and the straight road connecting Guangxi and Dali, so as to connect all corners of the Ming Dynasty through the straight road, and can also realize the commercial and trade water and land linkage with the river, canal and sea, one to facilitate the mobilization of the army, the people to travel, the second to greatly promote the development of commerce and trade, and the third is to enhance the central government's control over the locality, so that the Ming Dynasty takes Nanjing as the center and completely unites together.

However, because of the long-term war of the Ming Dynasty and the lack of labor, now only the straight road from Nanjing to Quanzhou and then to Lingnan has been built, and this straight road is actually expanded on the basis of the original official road and even the straight road of the Qin Dynasty, rather than really digging a straight road from scratch, which to a certain extent can be said to not meet the original requirements of the Ministry of Industry.

In the final analysis, the reason for this was not because the Ming Dynasty did not have enough financial and material resources - after all, if the Ming Dynasty began to build these roads and lacked funds, there would be not hundreds or dozens of merchants who wanted to donate generously - but because the Ming Dynasty lacked enough labor, after all, the labor force in the South and the East was limited, and now it could only meet the dredging of the canal and the construction of the first straight road.

Therefore, for the Ming Dynasty, how to get more cheap labor is an important goal, and if the Northern Expedition can get a large number of Mongol Tatar prisoners of war, then this condition will naturally be met invisibly.

In this way, the Northern Expedition may seem to increase the burden of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact, it also alleviates the military pressure of the Ming Dynasty to a certain extent, and can enable the Ming Dynasty to obtain more labor for domestic infrastructure construction, even if the Ming Dynasty does not make anything, it does not lose money.

Zhao Yunshu smiled and looked at Ye Yingwu, Ye Yingwu gently hugged her and kissed her on the smooth forehead: "Our Shu'er is ice and snow smart." ”

"The husband is just a fan of the authorities." Two blushes appeared on Zhao Yunshuqiao's face, after all, since she was pregnant, Ye Yingwu didn't dare to touch her more, so the two had actually had no intimate action for a long time. So when the footsteps came to mind, Zhao Yunshu even looked around slightly with a little bit of a thief's heart.

Lu Wanyan walked over with Su Niang and Qiong Luan, the three girls were all dressed in simple palace clothes, and when they saw Ye Yingwu, they all smiled. Lu Wanyan said with a smile: "I met Wei'er just now, and I found out that my husband had actually hid here. ”

Ye Yingwu snorted: "I want to talk to you about the Northern Expedition." ”

Lu Wanyan was stunned, Ye Yingwu has been in the imperial study for the past few days, and now he is suddenly back, which naturally shows that he has made up his mind to the Northern Expedition, so what can be talked about now must be Ye Yingwu's own plan during the Northern Expedition, which is closely related to these concubines in the harem after all.

As we all know, Ye Yingwu is the emperor immediately, and he has participated in almost all the wars that determine the fortunes of the Ming Dynasty, and it can be said that half of the Ming Dynasty is now fought by Ye Yingwu himself. After Ye Yingwu ascended the throne, he was really unsuitable to go on the expedition as an emperor, so he gradually disappeared from the front-line battlefield of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, Ye Yingwu faced a group of officials who knelt down in the dark, and there was really no way to insist on the royal conquest. Moreover, after Ye Yingwu ascended the throne, the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia were actually more local conflicts, and Ye Yingwu was not needed.

Now it is different, whether the Northern Expedition is smooth or not, no matter how much benefit the Ming Dynasty can get, it is the most important war of the Ming Dynasty, and it can also be said to be a war of the re-emergence of China in the past three hundred years, and a battle between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia.

Therefore, even if Ye Yingwu does not appear on the front line, but only sits in Heluo, it is a very important stabilizing role for the frontline army. In particular, Ye Yingwu is the founding emperor and has always had a high prestige in the army, and Ye Yingwu's appearance will naturally greatly encourage the morale of the army.

Lu Wanyan slowly raised her head and looked at Ye Yingwu, and after a moment of silence, she said softly: "The husband is the king of a country. The Northern Expedition was a major event of the Ming Dynasty's 'reopening of the Han and Tang Dynasties', so it is reasonable for the husband to drive the expedition in person. As long as the husband himself is willing, the concubine with the harem sisters will be fully supported. ”

Ye Yingwu nodded: "I am in Nanjing, which means that both the Praetorian Guard and the Divine Guard Army must leave enough troops to defend the capital, and if I go north, I can also enhance the combat power of the Northern Expedition." However, there is also a temple test in April, which is what X is most worried about now. ”

Xiu frowned slightly, and after a while, Lu Wanyan remembered something, and said with a smile: "In this case, why should the husband directly take those jinshi to the north, Daming also has a palace in Luoyang, although the place is not big, but it is more than enough to hold a palace test." ”

Ye Yingwu was stunned, this is a good way. Because in this way, these Jinshi, who are about to become the new officials of the Ming Dynasty, can see the implementation of the Ming Dynasty's local policies and the operation of the entire Northern Expedition process, and even Ye Yingwu can also fill them into the staff team nearby, so as to make up for the lack of the staff team after Liang Yanwu took some people to Hexi.

In this way, they can not only experience the jinshi and enable them to better consider the whole country from the perspective of officials, but also make up for the lack of staff in a timely manner and exercise their personal ability to control the overall situation. After all, these first batch of Jinshi who were lifted in the middle of the lift will definitely be reused in the future, and it is a good thing to let them experience it in advance.

"That's fine," Ye Yingwu exhaled softly, obviously the things he had been most worried about and had not resolved had already landed.

Lu Wanyan saw Ye Yingwu relaxing, and she also smiled: "Husband's journey to the north this time, there can't be no one around to take care of him, so let Sister Su Niang and Sister Gesang follow Husband to the north." ”

Wang Qinghui and Gesang are obviously two people who are quite loved by Ye Yingwu, and the most important thing is that the two of them have no heirs, so they have less to worry about. Moreover, Lu Wanyan let the two of them accompany her, naturally in order to increase the chance of giving birth to an heir for the Ye family, so that the Ye family can spread out.

After all, for the current Ye royal family, the population is inevitably thinner.

Ye Yingwu did not object, he believed that Lu Wanyan could handle the contradictions and entanglements in the harem. Although Lu Wanyan is not necessarily the smartest woman in the harem, she is definitely the woman with the best personality and the most kind personality, so she can perfectly balance the relationship between the concubines and try to ensure that the harem concubines are evenly wet.

"By the way, my husband has triumphed in the Northern Expedition this time, please do the concubine a favor." Lu Wanyan suddenly remembered something, hesitated for a moment and said.

Ye Yingwu looked at her in some surprise.

Lu Wanyan bowed slightly: "When the ancestor died, he made a will, and the husband should know." also asked the husband to help the concubine pay tribute in the north. ”

Ye Yingwu was stunned and slowly clenched his fists.

The ancestor is the Lu family's honorific title for Lu You, and how could Ye Yingwu not know the will of Lu You when he died, and how could the whole of China not know?

Wang Shi set the Central Plains Day in the north, and the family sacrifice did not forget to tell Naiweng! (To be continued.) )