"Woo......"

"Bang bang bang-"

In November, accompanied by the sound of trumpets and the sound of cavalry, outside the Great Wall of Kaiyuan in eastern Liaodong, 400 miles to the north, the iron cavalry of the Ming army, which was as fast as the wind, was shooting the Jin army sentry cavalry at the Jinjun Tunbao at the foot of Nuer Mountain.

At the head of Tunpu City, a Zhenghongqi Niu Lu clenched his fists, but he didn't dare to let people open the gate of Tunpu City.

Since the end of the Battle of Fuliao, the Ming cavalry has been sentry and assault to the north.

Meng Kru watched his subordinates being shot and killed by the Ming army outside the city, and his heart was like a knife, but there was nothing he could do.

"Ezhen, take people out to rush a wave, they only have one general flag of more than fifty people!"

The general next to him couldn't help but want to open his mouth, but Mamke Lu shook his head and said:

"Are you sure they only have the number of people in the general flag? If the gates are opened, there will be equal numbers of enemies and friends, and it will be difficult to retreat. ”

As soon as Meng Kru spoke, everyone shut up, because they had all heard the power of the Ming cavalry from the mouths of the two red flags who participated in the First Battle of Fuliao, so even if they couldn't bear it, they still had to recognize the reality.

"From the sentry fort outside the Great Wall of the Ming army to here, it is only about three hundred miles away, it seems that the cavalry of the Ming army can travel back and forth, as expected by the Great Khan, and the round trip cannot exceed six hundred miles......

Meng Kru analyzed the distance of the Ming cavalry into the northern frontier in the past few months, and it seemed that the Nurhan Mountain Fort was the maximum distance they had penetrated, because he had not heard the news that the Ming cavalry had appeared further north.

"Without auxiliaries, travel 600 miles ......"

Meng Kru's heart sank, and at this time, the harvest of the Ming army outside the city was completely over, and the twelve Jin army sentry riders were cut off, the corpses were piled on the ground, and the horses were taken away by the Ming army.

Such a scene occurred on any fort outside the Great Wall close to the Later Jin forces, but the Jin army could only passively defend against it.

The death of 30,000 horse infantry greatly dealt a blow to the mobility of the Jin army.

In terms of mobility, the Ming army far surpassed them, and their only advantage was that they were far enough away from the Ming army.

"Today's beheading is good, seventy-one, if it goes on like this for a long time, it is estimated that it can really be the same as His Highness said, dragging the Jianyu into small-scale guerrilla warfare, so that they can no longer skillfully operate large-scale movement warfare."

When the Niu Lu of the stone forts of the Jin Army was still annoyed by the attack of the Ming cavalry, Yuan Yingtai, who was working in the Shenyang General Governor's Mansion, happily reported the results.

Opposite him, Xiong Tingbi was watching the battle reports one by one, and said at the same time:

"The cancellation of the Liao salary began in the Guannai, and when I heard about the cancellation of Tian Fu, the people of the world were rejoicing, and such a grand occasion was that I only saw it in my childhood."

"Has Your Highness gone hunting in Daning again?" Yuan Yingtai asked while tidying up, and Xiong Tingbi bowed slightly:

"In one month, His Highness will be fourteen years old, and at such an age, it is not strange that he can actually open a five-force bow and like hunting."

The two were discussing Zhu Youzhen's fun in Liaodong in his spare time, but they still got down to business.

"His Royal Highness did not enter the customs and returned to the capital, but avoided some disasters."

Yuan Yingtai frowned, took a copy of the document in his hand and said:

"This is the official newspaper of the capital, and the Jingcha, which has been stopped for four years, is about to start again, but this time it is organized by Cui Chengxiu, the secretary of the ministry, Li Kuilong, and Cao Qincheng, the deputy envoy of the capital."

"Aren't these guys all eunuchs who have taken refuge in the eunuch Wei Zhongxian?" Xiong Tingbi frowned when he heard this, walked over, picked up the newspaper and read it.

Seeing this, Yuan Yingtai explained: "I heard that Banzai has been out of government for a month on the grounds of being cold, and I don't know if this Jingcha was instructed by Banzai, or if Wei Zhongxian deceived his superiors and subordinates. ”

"Probably not, probably long live." Xiong Tingbi closed the newspaper and continued to explain:

"After all, His Royal Highness is still in Shenyang, if Wei Zhongxian deceives his superiors and subordinates, with His Highness's strength, it is more than enough to clean up a house slave."

"That being said, looking at this posture, I don't know how strong the Jingcha will be this time......" Yuan Yingtai was still a little worried.

"If you think about it, you and I will probably be regarded as rebels by that group of people a long time ago, but if they are all deposed, you and I will be more relaxed." Xiong Tingbi is very open, but it is not strange.

In terms of background, Xiong Tingbi himself is a cattle herder from a poor family who has helped the landlords in the township herd cattle since he was a child, but fortunately, he was lucky to catch up with the years when Zhang Juzheng was in power, so he had an official school to study.

This is also the reason why he does not deal with most of the Chu party, after all, his background is different.

In his opinion, when Yao Zongwen's group impeached him, Guan Yingzhen and others didn't even say a word, in fact, Guan Yingzhen betrayed him, not him betrayed the Chu Party.

This kind of party that cannot protect its own people should be dissolved as soon as possible.

Xiong Tingbi didn't think that there was a problem with his character, after all, as far as the group of stinky fish and rotten shrimp within the Chu Party was concerned, if he became the leader of the party, he would inevitably trample the three parties of Zhejiang, Xuankun and Kun under his feet.

Arrogant and contemptuous, this is Xiong Tingbi's character.

"Sigh the law ......"

Just as the two were chatting, the sound of the war horse sighing in the Jingluo Mansion sounded, and you don't have to think much to know that the person who dares to ride the horse in the Jingluo Mansion is only Zhu Youzhen.

As soon as the two of them got up to greet them, they saw Zhu Youzhen and his people walking in from outside the hall.

Walking into the hall, he picked up the teapot and teacup, poured it full, and drank it all.

"Your Royal Highness......" Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Yingtai shook each other, while Zhu Youzhen wiped his mouth with his arm guard and said:

"What, look at you like this, what's going on?"

"The capital is going to start the Beijing inspection, but this time it's ......" Yuan Yingtai was ready to give it all out, but Zhu Youzhen raised his hand and said:

"Don't worry about the affairs of the capital, you just need to take care of Liaodong and Mirror City, has You Shigong arrived in Mirror City?"

"Arrived, arrived six days ago, three battalions of foot soldiers, two battalions of cavalry, and four hundred five-pound Yanshan general cannons were stationed in Jingcheng."

Xiong Tingbi replied, and at the same time said to Zhu Youzhen:

"Some stone forts outside the Great Wall have also been restored, and the enemy is a hundred miles north of the Great Wall."

"Well, in this way, Liaodong can produce safely." Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Zhu Youzhen nodded with satisfaction, and the two brocade guards behind him also helped him pat the snowflakes on his body.

After everything was done, Zhu Youzhen sat down on the main seat, motioned for Xiong Tingbi and the two to sit down, and then said:

"I asked Lu Wenzhao and Man Gui to go to Tuman and Karaqin a few days ago, and in the future, Liaodong must have twelve battalions of iron cavalry with one man and three horses, and the matter of war horses will be handled by the Imperial Horse Supervision Committee, and you can continue to drag Jianyu into small-scale guerrilla warfare."

"Beizhen Fusi got a lot of news that the old slave reclaimed the fields at any cost, and used troops against the Beishan Jurchens."

"I'm calculating the time, probably starting in the spring, Huang Taiji will lead the troops to unite with the Horqin Department and use troops against Hutudun or Transkhalkha."

Zhu Youzhen explained his analysis, as well as some preparations for the Liaodong Iron Cavalry to become more elite, which made Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Yingtai very excited.

Twelve battalions, one man and three horses, it can be said that counting the original more than 40,000 military horses, Zhu Youzhen is preparing to allocate 70,000 military horses to Liaodong one after another.

If the combat power of these twelve battalions is formed, then in the future, Liaodong alone will be enough to sweep the north.

However, the training of cavalry is not so simple, plus the imperial horse supervisor also has to supply direct soldiers and horses, it is estimated that the twelve battalions will have to wait until two or three years later.

"The reward of the Liaodong soldiers, it is estimated that it will be escorted to arrive in a few days, calculate the time, I should almost return to the customs."

Zhu Youzhen suddenly said that he wanted to return to the customs, which made Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Yingtai hurriedly speak:

"Your Highness, the current strife in the Guan, Jingcha is not over yet, it is not a good time to return to the Guannai at this time, and Banzai has also said that you don't have to go back for the time being."

"Of course I ......know this," Zhu Youzhen chuckled:

"But there are a lot of things I need to do in the Guannai, there are 120,000 soldiers and horses and two in Liaodong, and I am completely relieved, but the Guannai is not good."

"The abolition of the Jingying and the guard, as well as the renovation of the Taifu Temple, all these things need to be done by me one by one."

Zhu Youzhen explained why he wanted to go back at this time, he naturally knew that it was not a good time to go back, but there was nothing he could do.

This is mainly because compared with Jianyu, natural and man-made disasters make him pay more attention.

The Xiaoice River drought is his first opponent, and it is impossible for him to hide in Liaodong until next summer and wait for the end of Jingcha before returning.

Besides, the distance from Shenyang to the capital is more than 1,200 miles, which is too long, and if something happens, he can't react.

In comparison, returning to the Yanshan camp is what he should do now, besides, the northern soldiers and horses are about to be his people now, what is he afraid of?

Just those civil keyboard warriors' mouths, at most, he felt a little noisy.

He really wanted to see up close what kind of sparks could collide when most of the Wenchen, who only knew how to play with their mouths, met Wei Zhongxian, who only knew how to use torture.

"Okay, I'll leave tomorrow, and Liaodong will depend on the two of you."

Zhu Youzhen said it very easily, including Xiong Tingbi and others, who also felt that this was the case, mainly because Jianyu had been disabled.

According to the harassment of the Ming army, it is estimated that hundreds of soldiers will be lost every year.

Under such a stalemate, Jianyu was either dragged to death, or waited for Zhu Youzhen to lead his troops to sweep the north and annihilate them in one fell swoop.

Now the Ming army is only short of money, food and population from the destruction of Jianyu.

Liaodong could not be self-sufficient, so the Ming army had to feed millions of victims while carrying out the Northern Expedition.

This Northern Expedition is at least 1,200 miles from south to north, such a distance, even if the Imperial Horse Supervisor does not pay military salaries, and directly stud the family, it can be fought for half a year at most.

The size of the 50,000 expeditionary army, a distance of 1,200 miles, requires at least 1.5 million people to transport the baggage, and 100,000 auxiliaries to protect the baggage line.

At least 3 million stone grains have to be eaten this month, and this is only people, and livestock carrying gunpowder and ordnance?

There are only a handful of battles in ancient and modern times that have traveled more than 1,000 miles, such as the well-known one in the Ming Dynasty, which is the Battle of Yuerhai.

This battle of 150,000 Ming troops against 70,000 Northern Yuan elites was also the result of Zhu Yuanzhang's preparation for three years, and the financial situation of the Hongwu Dynasty was much better than the current Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Youzhen didn't need to pay military salaries, then he could lead 70,000 iron horsemen out of the fortress, with thousands of five-pound cannons, and wipe out the captives in one fell swoop.

But the problem is, there are a bunch of people behind him right now.

Lan Yu fought a battle in the fishing sea, but Zhu Yuanzhang was obedient to pack up his rear.

But Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao, to be honest, Zhu Youxiao also tied with civil officials at most, because he still lacked the Guozijian in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.

If it weren't for Zhu Youzhen's preparations, stockpiling enough grain in Liaodong, and Zhu Youxiao intercepting the gunpowder from the armor factory that the civilian officials wanted to transport, then maybe the original victory of Fuliao would have turned into a fiasco for Fuliao.

In front of his own people, Zhu Youzhen would not rest assured that he would march north.

This is also why he immediately took Gu Bingqian in after the end of the First Battle of Fuliao.

The eunuch in Wei Zhongxian's hands has always been a black pot, as long as the goal is achieved, he can get rid of it all, but Gu Bingqian can't.

In other words, Gu Bingqian is the one who stood up and ended after the end of the party dispute between the Eunuch Party and the Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun, and Donglin parties.

It's just that there can't be many people who finish these things, because once there are more, it will affect the future Yanshan students and Zhu Youzhen's innovation and change.

And if there are too many people, they will attract the attention of the parties like eunuchs.

At the moment, the number of hundreds of Beijing officials and hundreds of foreign Beijing officials is enough.

What Zhu Youzhen wants is their qualifications, obedience, and age, and as for the people who do things, they are still Yanshan students.

As long as the first batch of Yanshan students to enter the school get out of their age, then Gu Bingqian's group can also be replaced.

If the wood is decayed, it will be replaced with a new batch......

With this thought, Zhu Youzhen turned around and left Jingluo Mansion, while Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Yingtai glanced at each other at the same time.

It's just that they didn't say anything after all, they just bowed their heads and returned to their positions and continued to deal with the military and political affairs of Liaodong.

It was only after Zhu Youzhen left far enough that he opened his mouth and asked the Jinyi Wei Qianhu next to him about some of the things he cared about.

"How many people have moved from the Ryukyu Prefecture right now?"

"When I returned to Your Highness, I heard that there seemed to be more than 300,000 households, nearly 2 million people."

The Jinyi Wei Qianhu next to him immediately replied, but Zhu Youzhen frowned when he heard this:

"How can there be so many people?"

He was happy that so many people had migrated to the Ryukyu Prefecture, but he was more concerned about the reason behind it.

Regarding this question, Jinyi Wei Qianhu replied respectfully:

"This year, some places in Fujian and Guangdong have suffered from drought, which has caused grain prices to rise to 800 wen and one stone."

"As soon as many people who couldn't survive heard about the relocation of Ryukyu to distribute grain and cattle, they moved their families directly to the port."

"Is it food again...... Zhu Youzhen's heart sank.

Although he knew that from the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty to the early years of the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the entire stage was a long Xiaoice period, and the Xiaoice River drought would also officially break out in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, but he did not expect that this Xiaoice River drought had not yet broken out, and so many natural disasters had already been revealed.

The current natural disasters in the past few years have made me anxious to deal with.

Although this is certainly due to the fact that there are strong enemies outside and corrupt officials inside, natural disasters are real.

Zhu Youzhen calculated an account during this period, that is, if the Ming Dynasty reverted to the taxes in the Hongwu period, could it survive the drought of the Xiaoice River......

The answer is no!

In the 17 years of drought, tens of millions of people were involved at least every year, and nearly hundreds of millions of people were involved at most.

How much food do hundreds of millions of people need to eat in a year?

Even if sweet potatoes and potatoes are paired with rice and wheat, it takes at least 300 million stones a year to ensure that they are alive, and this is just living, and it is the kind of living method that is about a pound of sweet potatoes a day.

If you eat it for a long time, it will cause big problems.

That is to say, in the face of the Xiaoice River drought, the grain that Zhu Youjian must maintain is 300 million stones.

What kind of difficulty is this? At least in feudal society, and even before the twentieth century, no dynasty dared to say cruel words about the official storage of 300 million stones.

From ancient times to the present, most of the methods are still to transfer grain to help the victims, but the embarrassment of Zhu Youzhen is, where did he transfer it from?

If you can do it in the first few years, and you can do it in the next few years, what about the two years with the worst drought in the middle?

70%~80% of the country's population and cultivated land have been affected, and expect to transfer the grain of the two or three percent of the cultivated land population to help them?

In the area of disaster relief, the Chongzhen imperial court did not make any efforts, but the result of the efforts was that in the two years at the peak of the Xiaoice River drought, the price of grain in Daming almost reached the average price of one stone and one or two silver.

Who can afford such food prices?

Such a natural disaster can only be overcome by means of salvage fishery in coastal provinces, grain transfer in the interior, and relocation from other places.

Develop the Northeast, take the Indochina Peninsula, and develop the Ryukyu Prefecture......

These are all helpless moves, if it weren't for the natural disasters of the seventeen-year drought, how could he have thrown money and food on this.

Just like the current Ming Dynasty civil and military, they don't understand why Zhu Youzhen smashes hundreds of millions of stones of grain every year to develop Liaodong and Ryukyu.

Perhaps even if the Xiaoice River drought came, they would say at most "the year of famine, break the cost", and then pick up the chopsticks and continue to eat their own delicacies.

As for the people who have been afflicted, as long as they don't rebel, they don't care at all......

"We have to increase the migration from the outside and fight against the south......"

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but think in his heart, and then said to Jinyi Wei Qianhu:

"After Hong Chengchou and others arrived in the southwest, they told me as soon as possible."

"Yes......"

Jinyiwei Qianhu should go down, and Zhu Youzhen also returned to his resting place under the escort of Jinyiwei.

A few days later, he rode overland with a brigade of Jinyi Weiti and returned to the Yanshan camp, and such news was also watched by the civil and military officials who had been paying attention to his whereabouts.

"When this son returns to Beijing this time, he will inevitably abolish the Governor's Mansion of our five armies and abolish the Beijing camp!"

"I have endured the removal of the guard post before, but now His Highness wants to attack the Jingying, don't you think it's too much?"

"My ancestors are also heroes who shed their blood for the Ming Dynasty, why don't you need it now and give it up?"

In the capital and the British Mansion, dozens of nobles of all sizes were noisy and noisy, and this situation made the British Duke Zhang Weixian who was sitting in the position frown.

"That's it! There is no thing about the eight characters, noisy and noisy, what is the system?! ”

Xu Xigao next to him saw Zhang Weixian's frown, and immediately reprimanded him, but his reprimand seemed to be for Zhang Weixian.

Zhang Weixian glanced at him, and then came out to calm his heart and said:

"The matter of Jingying, I have already entered the palace this morning to ask Banzai, long live means that even if His Royal Highness wants to be abolished, he will find a way out for me and others, don't worry."

"Is that really going to be cut?" The fat on the face of Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen trembled, and a word made the hall quiet.

"Listening to Banzai means to abolish it, but the specific arrangements should be discussed with us first." Zhang Weixian is still trying his best to maintain the situation.

"But the King of Qi didn't discuss the matter of the Shanxi Guards before he dismantled the Shanxi Guard, and he didn't discuss it with us......

"And Shandong, Henan is the same......"

Some Xungui wanted to reply, but after thinking about it, they still collected some voices and were not so tough.

There's no way, the current Zhu Youzhen is more like a martial artist than them, and with the innovation of the vassal king, no one dares to underestimate His Royal Highness the King of Qi, who will soon be fourteen.

After all, this is a person who can even start to innovate his own relatives, what are these nobles compared to the vassals?

The vassals are still alive, but what about them? If you do something, I'm afraid you will see Jinyiwei standing at the head of the bed the next day.

"This time is different from before, the abolition of the Tianxia Guard, as well as the problem of the Beijing camp, His Royal Highness did not hide it." Zhang Weixian explained to Zhu Youzhen:

"If you don't trust the old man, the old man can write a letter and ask His Highness what he thinks."

"No need!"

At this time, there was a sound of neat footsteps not far from the hall, and at the same time, a group of brocade guards also bypassed the shadow wall and appeared in front of many nobles.

At this moment, all of them unconsciously clenched the hem of their clothes, and their palms were sweaty.

Li Ruolian appeared under the arch guard of the Jinyi Guard, and then stopped in the courtyard outside the door of the hall with the Jinyi Guard, and said:

"Pass the order of the king of Qi, please go to the Yanshan camp in three days!"

The words of "......" came out, and everyone was silent.

Yanshan Daying、What kind of place is that? It is estimated that no one in the entire Ming officialdom does not know.

That place is the place where Zhu Youzhen made his fortune, and it is also the safest place for Zhu Youzhen.

When many nobles were discussing Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen suddenly asked everyone to go, which made all the nobles inexplicably empty-hearted.

Even the British public Zhang Weixian couldn't help but bow his hand and saluted back:

"Dare to ask Commander Li, why did His Highness ask me to wait?"

"Old Guogong ......" Li Ruolian saw Zhang Weixian making a salute, and immediately returned the salute, and then said:

"This time, I invited many nobles to go, mainly for the governor's mansion and guard of the five armies, as well as the affairs of the Beijing camp."

"Your Highness said, if you keep your own clothes, then you will be treated, and Your Highness is not willing to criticize anyone who has contributed to the Ming Dynasty."

As soon as Li Ruolian's words came out, many nobles were nervous, some people were worried and scared because they had done something wrong, and some people were doubting who had done something that was not good for Daming.

Among the crowd, there was one person who dodged his eyes, and Li Ruolian naturally saw him, but he didn't say anything, because he knew that His Highness still needed this person to continue to expand his influence.

"Now that the matter has been spread, the contemptible man will also leave."

Li Ruolian bowed to Zhang Weixian, and then retreated with Jinyiwei.

At this time, the house became silent, and Zhang Weixian also glanced at everyone, and then said:

"It's up to three days later......"

"......" everyone was silent, only hoping that this line would not be a Hongmen banquet......

(End of chapter)