"Father."

In the Fengtian Palace, Zhu Gaosui cautiously slipped in, and saw Zhu Di criticizing the folding, so he whispered.

Jin Zhong handed over the fold on the side, and Zhu Di didn't approve it very carefully, sitting on the cushion and leaning on the dragon chair and rubbing his temples painfully, like a homeroom teacher who corrected the students' homework after work.

And Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu were standing on the other side, and seeing that his father didn't take care of him, Zhu Gaosui shut up with amusement.

The two princes of the country, as well as the military advisor Jin Zhong, seem to be planning military affairs, if nothing else, they should be discussing the conquest of Annan, which is an imminent matter.

In fact, in this May, a series of things have rushed together, and the matter of the Japanese mission is not very important at the moment, it can only be said to be a small episode, the highlight is the death day of Taizu a few days later, and then the assessment of the generals, and then the army marches out to Annam.

"After the death of Taizu, after the assessment of the generals, we will start to use troops on the southern front, and if you calculate it, it will be ten days later, since the main force of Nanjing is going to be dispatched, then the northern front will have to be fully prepared."

Zhu Di said to himself: "The northern front has barely filled the hole in the troops caused by the Jingnan this year, but the two families of the King of Qin and the King of Jin still have to be disposed of, otherwise there will be a leak in the middle." ”

As he spoke, he stood up, and several people came to the back of the screen, where there was a picture of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaosui was accustomed to being an invisible person, so he followed directly, and when he walked past the dragon chair, he glanced at the twists and turns on the case, which was the twists and turns of Song Sheng, the marquis of Xining, the chief military officer of Gansu, very brief, what to say, it was Song Sheng's consistent style.

"Returning to the vultures, it seems that the king of Samarkand and Besshin Balisha Michagan intends to lead his army eastward under false pretenses, and he will not dare to do so, but he must not be slackened. In the former Tang Dynasty, Taizong's troops were prosperous, and the Turkic path to Weiqiao can also be learned. It is advisable to train the horses and horses, scout, count the grain reserves, and prepare them in advance. ”

Zhu Gaosui's heart jumped, as the two most powerful empires in the world, the Ming Empire and the Timurid Empire were only separated by the Lost Bali Khanate (later renamed Yili Li) in the Western Regions, and they both knew each other's strength, and now there is an alarm in Gansu, is the Timurid Empire going to do it?

Of course, Song Sheng only said that "it seems to be intentional", and there is no tangible evidence, taking the humiliation of Tang Taizong Weishui as an example, it is only recommended to take more precautions to avoid being raided.

Zhu Di pointed to the huge Kanyu map with a long pole, which stretched for thousands of miles from west to east, which was the northern defense line of the Ming Empire.

"The westernmost side."

Jin Zhong reported the number expressionlessly: "Song Sheng, the chief military officer of Gansu, Xining Marquis, commanded the ten guards of Gansu, with a total of 57,000 and 45 Mabu Banner Army. ”

Zhu Di's long pole continued to move eastward.

"Ningxia Chief Military Officer Ningyuan Marquis He Fu, under the command of Ningxia Four Guards, a total of 2,413 Mabu Banner Army."

This is still the result of the reorganization of the soldiers and horses of King Su and King Qing in the western section of the northern defense line, Gansu and Ningxia have a total of less than 80,000 soldiers and horses, not because of the lack of troops in the Ming Dynasty, but because the Ming Dynasty is different from the Han and Tang dynasties and even the Song Dynasty, as the economic center of gravity moves to the east and south, the grain population in Guanxi has decreased, and the Guanlong Theater has no longer become the core area of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty were both based on Guanzhong as the core, and tried their best to expand to the Western Regions, while the Song Dynasty raised a large Western Army in order to guard against the Western Xia, and the Ming Dynasty fought against the Mongols, which was supplemented by the Western Front and the Eastern Front, which was precisely the opposite direction of the Han and Tang Dynasty's operations against the Saiwai.

"What do you think of Timur's side? I heard that when Timur's old lame man went on an expedition against the Ottomans, he mobilized six or seven hundred thousand people for the whole country, and the seventy or eighty thousand soldiers in Gansu and Ningxia were definitely not enough to confront them head-on, and they were not enough to plug their teeth. ”

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu with a long pole.

"The most critical problem in Gansu and Ningxia is that the fortress is not strong enough, not enough people, Temujin demolished the city when he conquered Mongolia, the Yuan Dynasty did not repair, there was no war in the west of our Ming Dynasty, and we did not spend much effort to repair, in fact, if it is strong enough, with a series of cities in the Hexi Corridor, even if Timur really fights, it is enough for them to gnaw." Qiu Fu analyzed.

Zhu Neng bowed slightly, and then said: "Timur has a set of siege cities, I heard Arab merchants say that many tall and strong cities of the Ottomans were captured by Timur with artillery and gunpowder. ”

"That's a problem."

Zhu Di nodded, the cities and fortresses in Ningxia, Gansu are too short, and they are not strong enough to play any defensive role, the land there is sparsely populated, the roads are rugged, and it is inconvenient to transport civil materials and build cities, and it cannot be solved for a while.

At this time, Jin Zhong suddenly said: "But we don't need to change the current plan because of a news from the Western Regions, no matter whether Timur dares to come to fight the Ming Dynasty or not, the preparation for the expedition of hundreds of thousands of people will take a year and a half, and from Samarkand to Guanzhong, there is an extremely long desert Gobi in the middle, stretching for eight thousand miles, and there are basically not many tribes or oases in the middle to supply, even if there is, how many troops can be supported must be a question mark, so even if Timur is determined to attack the Ming Dynasty from now on, from preparation to hurry, When he arrives at the border of the Ming Dynasty, it will be the end of the third year of Yongle to the beginning of the fourth year of Yongle. ”

Zhu Di nodded, at least from a few Mongolian tribes close to the Ming Dynasty, it can be learned that in the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu, several groups of caravans returning from Samarkand have not found traces of the Timurid Empire's troops, and Timur must come from the country if he wants to fight the Ming Dynasty, and this scale of mobilization cannot be hidden, this news should not be wrong. Even if you take 10,000 steps back, even if the worst happens, it is really in the process of the Ming Dynasty's conquest of Annam in the next few months, Timur's hundreds of thousands of troops suddenly appeared on the border of Gansu, which is actually nothing.

Because there is no possibility of losing in the frontal battlefield when the Ming Dynasty fights Annan, and it is maneuvering along the coastline, even if it doesn't fight halfway, the speed of returning to the division is very fast, and it will come back in a few months, and Gansu is still thousands of miles away from the core ruling area of the Ming Dynasty, and there are countless cities and guards in the middle, and the buffer space is too great.

Therefore, no matter how it is calculated, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to cancel the current plan to attack Annan because of an unconfirmed news from Timur, and the soldiers, horses, grain, grass, vehicles, and ships are all ready, and as soon as the death day of Taizu passes, they can start a big army.

"Well, that's right."

Zhu Di thought about it, this unexpected news really couldn't affect the things that were about to be done to Annan, so he ordered.

"Ningxia General Military Officer Ningyuan Hou He Fu, Gansu General Military Officer Xining Hou Song Sheng: Today, Qintian Jian Yan Yue is committed to the Northeast Star, and its occupancy will be worried, and it is said that Venus is out of Angbei, and our army is in the south, Qing and others are guarding the border, and between movement and quiet, often add police provinces, not rash."

This is the meaning of telling He Fu and Song Sheng to strengthen their combat readiness.

After the matter of the western section of the northern line was handled, Zhu Di's long pole was transferred to the Xuanda area east of the Hetao.

Jin Zhong continued: "The remaining guards and horses of the Acting King and the King of Valley, Ping'an, the chief military officer of Datong, and Sheng Yong, the chief military officer of Xuanfu, have been reorganized, plus the soldiers and horses of Datong and Xuanfu, the total number of troops after the reorganization is 85,608 people. ”

In addition to the guard post used for security in Monan, Xuanfu and Datong are at the northernmost end of the defense line, and the south behind them is the jurisdiction of King Jin, and Datong Chief Military Officer Ping'an and Xuanfu Chief Military Officer Sheng Yong and their subordinates are all grandma does not love grandma and grandfather, and they are obviously in the middle of the northern defense line to be cannon fodder.

And it is also the kind of "both external and internal", once you want to cut the feudal domain, the two major feudal kings of Qin and Jin, who are in the second line of preparation in the northern defense line, then Ping'an and Sheng Yong, the two generals, have to be the vanguard.

Continuing to the east, this is the center of gravity of the northern defense line of the Ming Empire, that is, the defense line of Beizhili and Liaodong.

Jin Zhong said slowly: "Gu Cheng, the right governor of the military capital and the marquis of Zhenyuan, under the command of the Northern Zhili Sixty-one Guards, a total of 345,418 people, and the actual mobilizable troops are about 110,000. ”

Don't get me wrong, the reason why there are four to ten guards in other places, and there are 61 guards and 340,000 people in Beizhili, is because the establishment of the Yan army is a total of 340,000 people, all of which are nominally in it, and the main force of the Yan army in the south is about 230,000 people, and only 110,000 people are currently stationed in Nanzhili, and only 110,000 people are left in the nest of Beizhili, including a lot of Tuntian soldiers, wounded soldiers, and old and weak sergeants, and they really have combat effectiveness, about 73,000 people.

"Liaodong Chief Soldier, Baoding Hou Mengshan, eleven guards under his command, a total of 63,120 Mabu Banner Army."

In this way, not counting the soldiers and horses of the King of Qin and the King of Jin in the second line, the distribution of available soldiers on the northern front of the Ming Empire is extremely clear.

There were 77,000 soldiers in Gansu and Ningxia in the western section, 45,000 soldiers in Xuanfu and Datong in the middle section, 136,000 soldiers in Beijing and Liaodong in the eastern section, and 258,000 soldiers in the northern front.

In addition, Shandong and Huanghuai also have 60,000 reserve Japanese troops and 20,000 naval divisions to deal with the direction of Korea and Japan, and at the same time, they can also maneuver along the coastal road at any time.

In the direction of Nanjing, there are 230,000 main forces of the Yan Army and 80,000 troops of the Southern Army, with a total of 310,000 mobile troops.

Coupled with the more than 1.6 million guards who were left all over the country and experienced the Battle of Jingjing, the total strength of the Ming Empire was as high as 2.25 million.

Although it is reduced compared with the 1.915 million guards and 575,000 flag troops used for field battles in the 26th year of Hongwu, a total of 2.49 million troops, it is still an extremely large number.

As the world's largest power today, the total strength of the Ming Empire has more than doubled that of the Timurid Empire, which ranks second!

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty is really not afraid of the Timurid Empire to fight, with the national strength, territory, and military strength of the Ming Dynasty, no country in the world has the ability to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

This is also where Zhu Di's confidence lies in daring to conquer Annan.

The number of the Ming army is almost catching up with the population of Annam!

"Can your body handle it?"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Neng with concern.

"Ahem. It's not a big deal, just a little cough lately. ”

Zhu Di nodded, a few kilometers away, Qiu Fu is too old, Xu Huizu wants to go north, Xu Jingchang is a little kid, Li Jinglong is okay with age, qualifications, and ability, but Zhu Di can't believe him. There's no particularly good reason at the moment, after all, you can't say that you won't let you lead the army south if you cough, right? Therefore, the matter of conquest of Annan has to be Zhu Neng.

Zhu Di, Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu, and Jin Zhong discussed some details of the expedition to Annam, and the general things have already been prepared, and now they are only finalized, so that all the plans for the expedition to Annam have been thoroughly implemented, and only a dozen days later, a piece of paper can be sent to the south.

After the three of them dispersed, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaosui, who had been silently invisible for a long time, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"The merchants who came with the Japanese mission began to sell their goods." Zhu Gaosui leaned closer and said in a low voice.

"Huh?"

Zhu Di was stunned and motioned to Zhu Gaosui to speak carefully.

Zhu Gaosui told him the news he received today from beginning to end, what purchase restrictions, what lottery numbers, what bargaining knives, Zhu Di pointed at him and smiled: "Guess whose idea this is?" ”

"This" Zhu Gaosui certainly knew the answer, but he couldn't say.

"National teachers always have ideas."

The long pole in Zhu Di's hand slapped the table, and instructed Zhu Gaosui: "On the problem of insufficient defense of cities and fortresses in Gansu and Ningxia, you write a note and ask the national teacher to see if he has any good ideas. ”

"Okay."

Zhu Gaosui looked at his father, and stopped talking.

"What do you want to ask?"

Zhu Di supported the long pole with both hands, leaned on the wooden table, and looked at him fixedly: "Do you want to ask if I acquiesced to Wang Jing in this matter?" Do you want to ask me if I am dissatisfied with the national teacher's unauthorized mobilization of the Flying Eagle Guard without a holy decree? ”

"Yes, my father is Mingjian, and no careful thoughts of my sons can escape my father's eyes."

And the word "fiery eyes" was learned by Zhu Gaosui from reading the words in "Ming Pao", which can be regarded as a popular word.

"Not interfering doesn't mean acquiescing, that's Wang Jing's own opinion, he bears the consequences, I don't have him, and I'm not as careful as you think, of course, I'm dissatisfied, which emperor will be dissatisfied, if you sit in my position, you will also be dissatisfied, you know? But it's just dissatisfaction. ”

Zhu Di sighed and blew his beard: "Third child, do you know what is the most important thing about being an emperor?" ”

"Erchen didn't dare to know."

The last dragon robe incident had already made Zhu Gaosui have a psychological shadow, and he directly covered his ears.

But it didn't work.

Zhu Di continued to say to himself: "I have also read books in the past few days, the "Book of Han" said well, in the planning and planning of the husband, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, I am not as good as the ovary; Town the country, care for the people, give wages, endless food, I am not as good as Xiao He; Even an army of millions, the battle will be won, the attack must be taken, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three are all masterpieces, I can use them, so I take the world. ”

"As for me, the war is still much stronger than Emperor Taizu Gao of the Han Dynasty, even if it does not reach the level of 'the more the merrier', it is still more than enough to have two or three hundred thousand soldiers and horses. But people have their strengths and weaknesses, I am different from the first emperor, I don't like to criticize and fold, in terms of government affairs, with your eldest brother to help me, I have saved a lot of heart; In terms of ideology, I am stupid, I can't scold those rotten Confucians, and I have a national teacher to help me, and I have saved a lot of heart. ”

"When you are an emperor, anyone can be the emperor, but whether you can put the right person in the right position and govern the world in an orderly manner is a knowledge, and how to make the right person stay in his right position honestly and not cross the line, this is the most important thing."

"Then I ask you, the national teacher is in a hurry to obey the power this time, and he has crossed the line, if it is you, will you acquiesce to Wang Jing to stumble on the national teacher?"

"Tell me the truth."

Zhu Gaosui put down his hands covering his ears and said honestly: "There is a high probability that he will acquiesce." ”

"Stupid!"

Zhu Di scolded unceremoniously.

"I'm telling you, it's useless to beat someone like the national teacher, understand? If you let him do things, you have to follow the hair, let me tell you clearly, not only will I not condone Wang Jing, but also support and reward the national teacher. ”

"Why?"

"Think for yourself."

Zhu Di continued to lean against the table and close his eyes to recuperate, Zhu Gaosui pondered for a long time, and asked tentatively:

That is to say, although the national teacher crossed the line, he did not have the ability to control the scale of military power, so this is not a test of the father's tolerance, it is indeed just an accidental crossing of the line, even if the father does not care, in fact, the national teacher can not have more control over the military power, so the punishment is not as good as the reward, the national teacher himself also knows that he has done something inappropriate, and he has been rewarded, and he must understand the love of his father in his heart. In this way, the father not only drew the line, but also did not chill the heart of the national teacher. ”

"Count you kid still a little savvy."

"But the point is that it's not actually online, but people on both sides of the line, do you understand?"

Zhu Gaosui first wanted to shake his head, and then nodded.

Seeing Zhu Gaosui nodding, Zhu Di did not continue.

On the line of military power, on one side are standing noble and military ministers, and on the other side is not only the national teacher Jiang Xinghuo. Even more heavyweight is the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi.

And this also implies that the conquest of Annan is different from the pacification of the White Lotus Rebellion in Jiangnan, Zhu Di does not intend to let Jiang Xinghuo fight with the army, and at most can only deal with diplomacy and the handling of Annan after pacifying Annan.

"Still." Zhu Gaosui hesitated: "Erchen really can't figure it out a little, and he doesn't vomit unpleasantly. ”

"Say." Zhu Di raised his eyelids.

"Why didn't my father stop Wang Jing? In fact, if the father does not stop it, in the eyes of others, it has already become a tacit approval. ”

Zhu Di clenched his fists, but instead of hitting Zhu Gaosui, he raised his index finger first.

"Sea ban."

Then Zhu Di raised his middle finger: "Open the middle method." ”

Finally, the ring finger: "Cao Yun." ”

"Got it?"

Zhu Gaosui was stunned, a little incredulous, and asked: "Father plans to take this opportunity to abolish the sea ban, the opening of China and France, and Caoyun?!" ”

"Not bad."

Zhu Di nodded and said, "So I have to find a reason to let them quarrel first." ”

The sea ban and the Cao Yun basically do not need to be explained in particular, while the "opening of the Chinese law" needs to be talked about separately.

The so-called "open middle law" means that this law is a method implemented by the Ming court to use salt and tea as intermediaries, mainly official salt indicators, to allow the interests of merchants, and to recruit merchants to pay for military rations, horses and other materials.

Salt is one of the essential nutrients for the human body to maintain life, and since the Western Han Dynasty, salt and iron are the most important sources of income for the state in addition to field taxes, and legal official salt is equivalent to wealth in the Ming Dynasty.

"Kaizhong Law" originated in the third year of Hongwu, when the Xuanfu and Datong border areas in Shanxi were in urgent need of military food, and the imperial court recruited merchants to transport grain in exchange for salt, and led the salt to be sold in the designated area, called Kaizhong, and the Jin merchants started from this; In the fourth year of Hongwu, the rules for Chinese salt were formulated, considering the distance of roads, the amount of grain transported, and other factors such as whether Chinese and Namito merchants could make a profit, so as to determine the amount of grain exchange; Five years after Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty successively implemented the method of accepting notes in salt, Nama in salt, Na iron in salt, nano tea in China, and tea in Yima according to needs.

No matter which method it is, the specific operation steps of the "open middle method" are basically the same, which are roughly divided into three steps: reporting, guarding the branch, and changing the market.

In the newspaper, the salt merchants transported the grain to the granary of the designated border area in accordance with the requirements of the Ming court's investment promotion list, and exchanged it for salt from the government; Shouzhi means that after the salt merchant exchanges the salt lead, he leads the salt to the designated salt field to wait for the salt; Shiyi is a salt merchant who transports the obtained salt to a designated area for sale.

However, this policy was implemented for 30 years, because the spread of salt was too attractive, from the clans, nobles, and civil officials, to see that it was profitable to hold salt, they all played salt and resold it to salt merchants to make a profit, this phenomenon is called "occupying the nest". This phenomenon of "occupying the nest" has intensified, greatly undermining the Kaizhong system, and also seriously affecting the financial revenue of the Ming court, and now it is imperative to reform the salt law to make up for the financial revenue of the imperial court.

And the "opening of the law" is inseparable from the transport, because the essence of the opening of the law is that the imperial court contracts the grain and grass materials of the border army to the merchants for transportation, and the merchants take the transport of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, because only the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a river that runs through the north and south, and from the Sui Dynasty, it is the main artery that communicates the north and the south.

Chen Xuan, who set out from Wusongjiang a month ago, has already experimented with the fact that grain shipping can completely replace Cao Yun, and this has the basis for rectifying the "opening up of the Chinese law."

Zhu Di started from the thirteenth year of Hongwu in Beiping, and sat in Yanyun for 22 years, as the recipient of the "Open China Law", he saw the disadvantages of this law clearly, he had no chance to do it before, for fear of affecting the reorganization of the northern defense line of the empire after the Battle of Jingyan, and now that the reorganization is almost complete, he naturally plans to do something about the "Open China Law".

However, it is not so simple to do something about the "opening of the Chinese law", which involves too many chains of interests, and the northern defense line does need a large amount of food and other materials to be transported and supplied from the south, even if the "open China law" is abolished, there must be a new way, and the interest groups originally cultivated by the "open China law" must be directed to a new way, otherwise it is equivalent to offending a large number of people at the same time, and at the same time, they will abolish their own northern defense line, after all, the soldiers will mutinier if they can't eat.

"After the quarrel, what is my father going to do?" Zhu Gaosui asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, I have to quarrel first, the matter of the goods of the Japanese mission is making a big fuss, and the future of tomorrow's unarmed free trade zone will definitely make the civilian officials blow up. The core issue is whether to completely lift the sea ban, after all, even if Zheng He goes to the West, it is only official trade, not non-governmental trade, if the sea ban is not lifted, there will be no way to talk about tomorrow's unarmed free trade zone. Zhu Di said with his hands on his hips.

"Wait."

Zhu Gaosui looked at his father: "So what my father means is that this matter is actually a prelude to tomorrow's unarmed free trade zone in the future, and whether tomorrow's unarmed free trade zone can be completed depends on whether to abolish the sea ban. ”

"That's it."

Zhu Di looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

"Then how do you make sense?"

"Look at the national teacher."

Zhu Di walked to the dragon chair, dipped his pen in ink, and wrote a holy decree.

"Give the national teacher Jiang Xinghuo a hundred taels of silver, twenty color coins, three hundred bills, a gold talisman, a unicorn suit, and a mansion, in order to show his impromptu disposal, thwart the rebellion, and enter the Ronglu doctor, Fengtian Fuyun to promote sincerity and serve the righteous Wenchen, and Shangzhu country."

Zhu Gaosui watched from the side, and his heart was pounding.

For no other reason, the name given by Zhu Di is really interesting.

It needs to be explained here one by one, these three are rank officials, titles, and honors, which are the three parallel honor systems of the Ming Dynasty, and they are all directly filled with Jiang Xinghuo.

Doctor Guanglu, the name of the rank official, the civil and military officer of the Ming Dynasty was awarded the special Ronglu doctor at the beginning of the first rank, and was promoted to the special Guanglu doctor.

Therefore, this is a high-ranking official of the first grade.

And "Fengtian Fuyun pushes sincerity and righteousness Wenchen" is the only title, Fengtian Jing's difficult meritorious hero series, the most is "Fengtian Jing's difficult to push the sincere Xuanli Wuchen", a large number of public marquis are like this, Gu Cheng is tailor-made "Fengtian Yiyun pushes the sincere Xuanli Wuchen", Li Jinglong is also tailored "Fengtian Fuyun pushes the Chengxuan Li Wuchen", and the rest have three kinds of military ministers' titles, and the Wenchen title is only obtained by the military department Shangshu Ru Yu, which is "Fengtian Yiyun Shouzheng Wenchen".

Obviously, Jiang Xinghuo's title is also tailor-made.

The last one, the Upper Pillar Country.

Of course, the Shangzhu Kingdom here is not the division of real power of the "Eight Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty", it is just a medal, but it is an extremely rare title.

How hard is it to get?

As of the history of the Ming Dynasty up to now, only Li Shanchang and Xu Da of the Hongwu Dynasty were awarded alive, and Chang Yuchun of the Hongwu Dynasty and Wu Liang, the Marquis of Jiangyin, were posthumously gifted when they died.

The Jianwen Dynasty did not, and the Yongle Dynasty Jiang Xinghuo was the first.

"Go ahead, leave it to the national teacher."

Zhu Gaosui walked out of the Fengtian Hall with the holy decree, and couldn't help but look back at his father in the hall.

What a big game of chess

(End of chapter)