When Chongzhen returned to Beijing with Ran Sanniang and Li Xiangjun, it was already early April.

By the way, Chongzhen returned to Beijing directly from Nanjing by train this time.

After more than a year of repair, the Liangjing Railway was finally completed, and Chongzhen took the first passenger train.

After the opening of the Liangjing Railway, the Yunxi Railway Freight Company was established immediately after, and began to prepare for the construction of the Yunxi Railway, that is, the railway from Yuntiguan to the Western Regions.

The length of this railway will be more than ten thousand miles.

Of course, the Yunxi Railway will be divided into two phases.

In the first phase, the railway from Yuntiguan to Xi'an was repaired.

The second phase continued to build the railway from Xi'an to the Western Regions.

In addition, preparations for the Beijing-Shenyang Railway have also begun.

The Beijing-Shenyang Railway is the railway line from Beijing to Shenyang.

With the experience of building the Liangjing Railway, the railway construction of Daming began to be fully rolled out.

Chongzhen's goal is to build a basic railway network of two vertical and two horizontal within ten years.

The so-called two verticals, in addition to the two Beijing railways, is from Datong through Taiyuan, and then through Zhengzhou and Wuhan, and finally to Guangzhou of the vast railway, in the future will also build from Xi'an to Chengdu, and then to Guiyang and even Kunming Xikun railway, but at this stage is not capable, because the difficulty of the project is too high.

At this stage, the main reason is that the technical level of engineering construction is insufficient.

The number of workers was sufficient, and in addition to the Osaka Company, which was continuously recruiting workers from the Wakoku Kingdom, the Nanyang Company, which had just been established for a year, also began full-scale operations.

In addition to the normal trade in goods, Nanyang is also responsible for recruiting laborers from Nanyang.

In just over a year, Osaka Company and Nanyang Company imported more than 1 million laborers from Waguo and Nanyang to Daming, which greatly alleviated Daming's labor shortage.

Speaking of which, it is impossible not to mention one thing.

That is, among the laborers "recruited" by the Nanyang Company, in addition to a large number of Southeast Asian natives, there were also black laborers trafficked by Hongyi from South Asia and even Africa.

When the first black laborers arrived in Jiangnan, it caused a very violent reaction from the new gentry class in the eight prefectures and one state in Jiangnan.

In addition to the old gentlemen, the new gentry in the eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River also had more wealthy businessmen who profited from the development of industry and commerce, and these wealthy businessmen were not only economically rich, but also politically had a considerable degree of voice because of their inextricable connection with the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Wuyingdian.

Regarding the Nanyang Company's move to traffic black laborers, the old and new gentry groups in the eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River showed a high degree of unanimity, that is, they were resolutely opposed.

Groups of old and new newspapers, led by the Huangming Times and the Hanlin Daily, published articles in a row lashing out at the black laborers, arguing that the introduction of these "Yaksha" laborers would pollute the Yanhuang bloodline.

Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has almost never talked about blood.

But this time, Daming's media talked about the bloodline uncharacteristically.

Hanlin Daily even turned out the story of the Tang Kunlun slave from the pile of old papers, and the magnates of the Tang Dynasty also bought Kunlun slaves, but the Kunlun slaves sold to the Tang Dynasty by Arab merchants at that time were all castrated, so they were docile and would not stain the blood of the Tang Dynasty, so they were sought after by the Tang magnates.

Under pressure, Nanyang added a provision.

Only castrated black males and negro females who have been sterilized can enter the Ming Dynasty to work, even if they are young males or female blacks, they must be castrated or sterilized.

For this matter, Chongzhen did not advocate but did not oppose it.

……

As soon as I returned to Beijing, I received good news.

"Holy Lord, King Ding has pacified Juyanhai." Jiang Tianyi reported happily, "The two banners of Tumut and the Dzungar section entrenched near Juyanhai have been completely annihilated, and Bumu Butai, Fulin mother and son, and Sanggar have all been captured alive by our army, and they are now on the way to Beijing. ”

"Really?" Chongzhen said happily, "This is really good news. ”

After a pause, Jiang Tianyi said again: "In addition, King Ding is ready to continue his westward expedition to pacify the Oirat Mongol tribes, and even prepare to lead his army to kill the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to pacify the national teacher Khan. ”

"What? He wants to continue his westward expedition to pacify Oirat, Mongolia and Qinghai-Tibet? ”

This is what Chongzhen never expected, this stinky boy's ambition is not small.

"Yes, King Ding said that he wanted to unify the autumn leaves and begonias mentioned by the saint." Jiang Tian smiled and said, "The minister thought that he could let King Ding try, after all, the battles of pacifying Horqin, Chahar, Khalkha and Sangar were all fought very well, the losses were small, but the results were very large, they were both descendants of Temujin and descendants of the Mongolian Golden Family, and the performance of the Oirat tribes and the Qinghai-Tibet State Master Khan may not be much better than other tribes." ”

"Don't worry about things on the battlefield, don't say that Dingwang and Li Yan have six cavalry divisions, even if there are only four cavalry divisions, they are enough to sweep the Western Regions and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau." Chongzhen said, "What I'm worried about is how to replenish the supplies?" At present, the first phase of the Yunxi Railway has just been approved, and it will take at least one year to be completed, and the second phase will take at least three years! ”

Jiang Tian smiled, and then said: "Saint, King Ding is ready to follow the tactics of the Mongols' westward expedition, driving cattle and sheep on the road to graze cattle and cattle on the road, and marching westward at the same time, so that at least the problem of grain and grass supply can be solved, so that all the freed mules and horses can be used to carry ammunition, and King Ding said that he can carry ten base ammunition, which is enough for a year." ”

Chongzhen made a decision after a little silence: "In this case, I want to drive the expedition in person." ”

This is really not to compete with his son for military exploits, nor is it afraid that Zhu Cijiong's tail will not fall.

The main reason is that Chongzhen likes to fight and doesn't want to miss such a grand expedition to the west.

……

In May of the 24th year of Chongzhen (1651), Chongzhen swore to march west from the naturalization city.

Because Korqin, Chahar, Khalkha and Tumut were exterminated successively, and there were only armed strongholds established by the Rakshasas along a few rivers in the vast land further north, so the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty actually had no neck enemy, and only a small force of cavalry was enough to ensure the security of the northern frontier.

In view of this, Chongzhen mobilized almost all the cavalry.

Except for the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Liaodong and the 4th Cavalry Division stationed in Mobei, the remaining eight cavalry divisions were all engaged in the Western Expedition.

In addition to the eight cavalry divisions, the army of the Western Expedition also had more than 100,000 women and children, as well as female soldiers in the women's barracks.

That's right, these hundreds of thousands of women and children are all wives and children of the soldiers of the cavalry division, in addition, there are also 8,000 female barracks led by Li Xiangjun, and the female barracks are all serious soldiers, and their combat effectiveness is not bad.

Therefore, the entire process of the western expedition was roughly as follows: eight cavalry divisions were responsible for the battle all the way, more than 100,000 women and children were responsible for grazing more than 2 million sheep, more than 300,000 cattle, more than 500,000 horses and more than 3,000 camels, and 8,000 female soldiers in the women's barracks were responsible for protecting women, children, cattle and sheep from sneak attacks by small groups of enemies.

On the route of the western expedition, Chongzhen's army did not go west in a daze.

Although the distance from the Hetao to the Western Regions through the Hexi Corridor is the closest, the route is either a desert or the Gobi, which is not suitable for grazing, and if you have to take this road, it will inevitably cause a large number of cattle and sheep to die.

Therefore, Chongzhen took the northern route, which is now in Outer Mongolia.

In early June, the Ming army reached the banks of the Arutula River at the foot of Mount Kent, near the present-day city of Ulaanbaatar.

Along the Arutura River to the north is Lake Baikal, Baikal, which is an eternal pain in the hearts of all Chinese in another world, and the pearl that originally belonged to the Chinese nation was snatched away by Lao Maozi.

It's just that this world, Lake Baikal, can no longer be snatched away.

In the evening, Chongzhen father and son took Xu Wuniu and other guards to the bank of the Arutula River.

"Father." Zhu Cijiong pointed to the Arutula River that meandered north with a horsewhip in his hand, and said with a smile, "You are the second Han emperor to hit the Arutula River in 800 years. ”

"Dingwang, who is the other emperor?" Xu Wuniu looked dazed.

"Fool, of course it's Emperor Chengzu." Zhu Cijiong said with a dark face, "In the twelfth year of Yongle, Emperor Chengzu personally led a large army to defeat Mahamu in Hulan, and chased all the way to the bank of the Arutula River. ”

"yes." Chongzhen also said, "Emperor Chengzu made five expeditions to Mongolia, but he failed to completely surrender Mongolia, and when Emperor Yingzong, the Mongolian Taishi also led his division into the Kou first, and almost captured Beijing. ”

"That Grandpa Cheng is far worse than the Holy Lord and King Ding." Xu Wuniu said.

Hearing this, Chongzhen and Zhu Cijiong, father and son, did not react, but Lu Jiude, Li Yan, Hu Guozhu and other accompanying eunuchs and generals changed their faces greatly, can this be said casually?

Lu Jiude even reprimanded with a face: "Bold, Grandpa Cheng is what you can say?" ”

"Father-in-law Lu is so powerful." Zhu Cijiong snorted, "You can still manage other people's mouths?" Grandpa Cheng's five expeditions to Mongolia did not beat Mongolia down, this is a fact, and others are not allowed to say it? ”

After a pause, Zhu Cijiong said again: "You need to know the mouth of the people and even the Sichuan." ”

Chongzhen also said quietly: "Father-in-law Lu, if you want people to speak, let people speak, and the sky will not fall." ”

"Long live the old slave, that's not what the old slave meant." Lu Jiude was so anxious that he quickly turned over, dismounted, and knelt on the ground.

"Get up, what are you doing? Our Ming Dynasty has abolished the kneeling salute. "Chongzhen doesn't have a good airway.

After Lu Jiude got up, Chongzhen turned his head and asked Zhu Cijiong: "Jiong'er, has the pioneer group sent to the Far North and the Far East?" ”

"Father, it has been sent out." Zhu Cijiong said, "A total of 18 armed pioneer regiments were dispatched, each of which was about 100 people, except for some retired veterans, mainly Mongols and Koreans. ”

Chongzhen silently calculated, eighteen armed pioneer regiments, a total of more than 1,000 people, barely enough.

Because at this time, there were more than 1,000 Tsarist Russian pioneer groups active in Siberia and the Far East.

In the desolate Far North, it is impossible to send a large army to conquer it, and sending an armed pioneer regiment is the first place.