"This time to go to the West, we need to destroy Annam first, pass through Champa, Khmer, Siam, Manraka, Sumatra, and Majapahit, and set up the Old Port Propaganda Department in the local area."

"After the end, the fleet stayed in the Nanyang Fleet with 3,000 people, and then went north to Boni and Sulu, set up the Luzon Propaganda Division in Luzon, and after staying in the South China Sea Fleet, it went north to Quanzhou and returned to the south of the Yangtze River......"

On October 20 of the first year of Yongle, when Zhu Gaoxu stood in front of the sand table and pointed out with dogma, he also circled the route to the West this time.

There were more than 20 people who followed him to enclose the sand table, Zhu Di, Mu Chun, He Fu, Qu Neng, Zheng He, Yang Zhan and others were among them.

The sand table that allows them to enclose and watch is two feet long and wide, including the provinces south of the Yangtze River and the Indochina Peninsula, as well as the whole of Southeast Asia, and further south to Nanzhou (Australia).

This sand table was made by Zhu Gaoxu according to the map drawn by Zhu Gaoxu instructed the craftsmen of the East Palace, although it is not as detailed as later generations, but it can still be said to be the most detailed three-dimensional sand table in this era and even hundreds of years later.

After all, as a person whose profession is related to geology and geography, if nothing else, hand-drawn maps are still readily available.

I can't remember the small islands, but as long as you can draw the large islands by hand, you only need to make a rough idea of the plateaus, plains and hills of the mainland.

Even so, this sand table still opened everyone's eyes.

After reading this sand table, they understood why Zhu Gaoxu said that the policy towards Annan must be tough.

In terms of the long and narrow terrain of Annam and the flat terrain after breaking through Lang Son, in the event of an unfavorable battle, many remnants of the army could indeed quickly burrow into the mountains to the west.

This kind of geographical suppression is like the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau can threaten the Sichuan Basin at all times, even if it can't beat you, a few sneak attacks from time to time are enough to disgust you.

"The area of Luzon, Nanyang, Central and South China is not smaller than my Daming, and there is also this Nanzhou ......"

Zhu Di glanced at the sand table, and it could be said that he had already regarded this thing as his own forbidden body just at a glance.

"Your Highness, why are these islands different in color?"

Zheng He questioned Zhu Gaoxu and pointed to the sand table that had been brushed with dye in green, dark green, and red-white.

He could understand that the sea was blue, but what about these?

"Green is plain, dark green is tropical jungle, red and white is arid."

Zhu Gaoxu took Nanzhou as an example: "Nanzhou is a vast area, but only about 20% is forest and jungle, and the remaining 80% is relatively arid, which is difficult to support the growth of forests. ”

"Except for the northern coast, the eastern coastal and part of the southern coastal areas, as well as the southwest coastal areas that are suitable for land reclamation and residence, most of the rest of the areas are not suitable for land reclamation and residence."

"However, judging from my reading of ancient books, this continent should have more mines of all kinds, but it is too scattered."

Before Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Di asked: "Is there a gold, silver and copper mine?" ”

"Yes, there are more of them than in Japan, but they are more scattered and too far away from us." Zhu Gaoxu pointed to Guangzhou and rowed to the south of Nanzhou:

"From the coast of Guangzhou to the southern tip of Nanzhou, which is suitable for habitation, there are at least 20,000 li, and after passing through Majapahit, there are at least 10,000 li by sea without a market town that can supply food and fresh water."

Zhu Gaoxu's words made Zhu Di's heart completely cold.

It's not as open-minded as he is, Zheng He is more curious about the situation in Nanzhou: "Such a big piece of land, is there no one and the country on it?" ”

"There are people, basically Kunlun slaves, the whole continent is divided into several tribes, speak different dialects, each occupies a hunting area with a demarcated border, and lives by hunting sea and land mammals and collecting shellfish and plants, and the weapons are mainly stone tools, but the number is less than a million."

Zhu Gaoxu said, Mu Chun also took the initiative to ask about some things he was interested in: "On the Indochina Peninsula, are the three propaganda and six comforts of the imperial court these places with flags?" ”

Through his words, everyone turned their attention to the Indochina Peninsula, and the entire Indochina Peninsula, including Yungui and other places, were planted with dark red, light red and various colored flags.

"Crimson is a place where the dynasty can send officials, and light red is the place where Tusi and Tuguan are autonomous."

With Zhu Gaoxu's remark, everyone knows how powerful the Ming Dynasty is in the Indochina Peninsula, and it can be said that it occupies one-third of the Indochina Peninsula.

If Annam is taken again, then the entire Indochina Peninsula will only have Siam, Khmer, Champa, Manraka and other complicated small countries in the south.

These small countries did not pay tribute except for Manraka, and the others were subject to the tributary system of the Ming Dynasty, so their banners were also red-edged, and only Manraka was pure variegated.

"From this point of view, only Annam, Khmer and Siam, and the Burmese Propaganda Division have relatively wide plains in the whole of Central and South China."

"I'm afraid this area is not smaller than the 800-mile plain in Chengdu."

Mu Chun roughly compared, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "It's much bigger, but because of the variety of factions, and the fact that all countries cannot be centrally managed except for Annan, there are not many places for development, most of the areas are full of miasma jungles, hot and humid, and there are many snakes, insects, rats and ants." ”

"If you want to eradicate this miasma, you actually want to cut down the forests that can develop the plains, burn the jungles, so that the miasma has no place to live."

"Hundreds of years ago, the area around Fujian, Guangdong, Huguang was not regarded as a place full of miasma, but as the population went south to burn the forests and reclaim wasteland, this Huguang became a land of fish and rice, and few people in Fujian and Guangdong heard of miasma."

Zhu Gaoxu explained the situation in Indochina, and at the same time explained how to eliminate the miasma in order to prevent everyone from being afraid of miasma.

Mu Chun, who heard this, had a deep understanding: "This miasma does only appear in the sultry jungle, so I contracted it once, but fortunately it was cured." ”

Thinking of the soldiers who suffered from miasma and could not be treated in time, and could only die in the barracks, Mu Chun felt a layer of gloom in his heart.

In the battle of the Ming army in the southwest to conquer Daoganmeng, Luchuan suffered nearly 100,000 casualties, and the Ming army also suffered nearly 15,000 casualties.

Of these, only 6,000 died on the battlefield, and the remaining 9,000 or so died of disease due to unsuitability to water and soil, miasma, and disease.

These are still soldiers transferred from Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places, if the soldiers are directly dispatched from the north to fight in the southwest or even in the central and southern regions, then I am afraid that more people will die of illness.

"That's right, this miasma must be guarded against, so in the future, the soldiers and horses fighting in Central and South China will try to focus on Yunnan and Guangxi."

"Even if the soldiers are selected from the two places, they should try to be mainly men from southern Yunnan, southwestern Yunnan and southwestern Guangxi, who are more resistant to miasma than people from other places."

Zhu Gaoxu kept popping up new words in his mouth, but fortunately, they were all relatively vernacular, and it was not difficult to understand.

"In this Annan, there are only a few roads by land, but you can break through by sea."

Qu Neng glanced at Annan's situation, which was also the first time he had spoken.

For this fierce general in history who almost picked Zhu Di in formation, but was picked by Zhu Gaochu in a side attack, Zhu Gaochu himself still appreciates it very much.

Mu Chun, He Fu, Gu Cheng, Qu Neng and their sons and nephews formed the Southwest General Corps, without considering any firearms, and Zhu Di and himself did not end up.

It was really difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to find a general who could defeat them, let alone the Indochina Peninsula.

Even Zhang Fu and Meng Ying can suppress and beat Li Li, a clown who jumps off the beam, not to mention Mu Chun, who performed brilliantly in the later stage of Hongwu.

"There are several princes of Qianguo and a few people in Annan, and the imperial court is very relieved."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to boast about the generals in the southwest, and then said: "But Yunnan is not stable, I heard that there are a few Tusi in Yunnan who rebelled when you left Yunnan?" ”

"Yes!" Mu Chun didn't hide it, and said directly: "Many Tusi in the south and southwest of Yunnan are strong in their own strength, and they are afraid of us. ”

"Now that I leave, they think that the imperial court can't deal with them, but there are still generals in Yunnan, such as Wang Zhao, Wang Kui, Mu Sheng, Qu Yu, and Qu Tao, and I think it won't take a few days to calm down."

Mu Chun said this, and Zhu Di also stroked his beard: "I don't have to worry about you, this kind of trivial matter doesn't need to be returned, my father is the eldest brother of our brothers, and you are also my family." ”

Mu Chun is actually only three years younger than Zhu Di, but in terms of generation, he is indeed Zhu Di's nephew, and he has no refutation of this.

As far as the conversation in the past few days is concerned, Mu Chun has surrendered to Zhu Gaoxu, who once helped him, and Zhu Di, who was once familiar, after all, he has also exchanged letters with Zhu Yunwen.

Generally speaking, Zhu Yunwen's temperament is not weak, but he has no opinions on many things, especially in the military, so he is easy to be led by the nose.

For Mu Chun, who is accustomed to an assertive and thoughtful emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang, he and Zhu Yunwen are indeed not very compatible, and Zhu Yunwen has never regarded him as a family member, which can't help but make him a little disappointed.

The reason why he was loyal to his duty was not only because of his father's will, but also because of Zhu Yuanzhang's words to his ministers.

"This kid is my family, so there's no need to try it."

With just this sentence, how could Mu Chun not concentrate on the sidelines?

Now this sentence has been said by Zhu Di in another form, whether it is a play or not, but it always makes Mu Chun a lot happy.

"In the southwest, all the Tusi are willing to send troops, among which the Mu clan in Lijiang is willing to send 3,000 troops, but their military discipline is quite strict, so the ministers did not let them participate."

Mu Chun mentioned the Mu Clan, which reminded Zhu Gaoxu of the Mu Clan's natural plateau soldiers.

After the Lijiang Mu clan was attached to the Ming Dynasty in the fifteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, it was given the Han surname 'Mu' by Zhu Yuanzhang and named it the prefect of Lijiang.

Because he had taken some land from the south from the Mu clan, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to compensate them, granted them the hereditary prefect of the Tuguan Prefecture, the permanent fixation of Shimen, the suppression of the Imperial Tartars, the power to control Lijiang and the northern corner of Qinghai-Tibet, and allowed them to mine gold and silver mines there.

With the permission of Zhu Yuanzhang and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Mushi Tusi also began to mine silver ore in the local area, and at the same time used force to compete with the Tubo people in Qamdo, Santang and other places for gold and salt mines, and used the gold and silver obtained to build water conservancy and develop agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, and commerce in Lijiang.

Zhu Yuanzhang also opened Confucianism for the Naxi people afterwards, so that the Sinicization of the Mu family deepened, and in the Chenghua years, it was known for knowing poetry and books, and was known for keeping etiquette and righteousness, and Menghua and Yuanjiang were called one of the three major Tufu in Yunnan.

However, unlike Menghua and Yuanjiang Tusi, who were ambitious, the Mu family adhered to the idea that the small clan did not make trouble to live their own small life, and whenever the Ming Dynasty encountered a war, it also actively donated silver and war horses to the imperial court, and sent soldiers to help the imperial court fight many times, becoming the head of the Tusi in the province.

After Nurhachi raised an army, the Mu clan also hurriedly donated 10,000 taels of silver, and Shangshu was willing to send troops, but at that time, people in Litang and other places were in turmoil, and Wanli did not agree to them to send troops.

After the defeat of Salhu, the Mu clan also donated silver to the imperial court many times, but when the Southern Ming Dynasty was thin, the Mu clan also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with the idea that the small clan would not make trouble.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't think there was anything about their surrender to the Qing Dynasty, after all, in the case of the Naxi people, if they really resisted the Qing Dynasty, it was very likely that they would be wiped out.

As far as their way of doing things for more than 200 years is concerned, as the three major toasts in Yunnan, Mu's tutor does not need to say much.

Such a small clan can just become an agent to control Qinghai-Tibet in the future.

"I've heard about them in the Mu clan, and it is said that they are not like other local officials who resist sinicization, but take the initiative to accept Confucianism, and the clansmen know poetry and books, and they are good at etiquette."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to talk about the situation of the Mu family, and he was also introducing Zhu Di in disguise.

Zhu Di understood what Zhu Gaoxu meant when he heard this, so he set his eyes on Mu Chun.

Seeing this, Mu Chun also bowed his head and said: "The Mu clan is indeed obedient, Mu Chu, the prefect of the Tu Mansion, never resisted the imperial court order, and he understands the righteousness. ”

"That's a good thing, but they're not good at fighting in the jungle, so don't go." Zhu Di stroked his beard, and at the same time said to Wang Yan next to him:

"Reward 50 pieces of brocade, 100 pieces of silk, and 500 pieces of money in Lijiang Tuprefect's mansion to reward his loyalty."

"Yes......"

Wang Yan responded, and Zhu Di also set his sights on the vast Nanyang region.

"This time I went to the West and only made a circle in the South Seas?"

He asked Zhu Gaoxu, who also pointed to the small red flags planted on the sea and said: "In such a circle, there are more than 20,000 miles, and the navy will also participate in the battle to extinguish Annam, and the fleet will also need to set up the Propaganda Department and the Nanyang and South China Sea Guards in the old port and Luzon, and I am afraid it will take a whole year to come and go." ”

"A year?" Zhu Di thought about it, and it was almost when he came back from fighting Wu Liangha.

"You look at the arrangement of things in the south, what I care about is how many things I can bring back from this trip to Nanyang, and how many things I should bring."

Zhu Di said, Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while and then said: "Porcelain, tea, raw silk, brown sugar, cloth, and silk are all trade items of the dynasty. ”

"As for the specialties of the South Seas, they are mainly spices such as sumac, pepper, and sandalwood, as well as pearls and coral."

"It is difficult to say with them that there are things such as gold and silver, but there is a lot of spices to be obtained."

"In addition, in the early years, the Semu merchants brought a large amount of copper coins to the Western trade, and they could also take this opportunity to buy the copper coins back."

"Of course, it is more important to set up a customs office in the old port, and at the same time set up a propaganda department in Luzon, canonize local overseas Chinese as officials, and train soldiers and horses to explore the gold and silver mines in the north."

"The harvest from this Western trade should be no less than 2 million guan, but in the long run, if the gold and silver mines in Luzon can be found and mined, it will be no less than 500,000 guan imported into the imperial court every year."

Zhu Gaoxu said, and Zhu Di was also satisfied.

Luzon, Japan, Southwestern ......

If the government-run mining department and the city department in these three places can be on the right track, then Daming can do nothing every year, and he can also reap more than 4 million yuan of profits from these places.

As long as this money is long-term and stable, then plus the tea class and salt class, it will be enough to pay for the ministers and solve the problem of building Beijing.

The gains from going to the West are also enough to solve the problem of dredging the Yellow River, the canal, and the Wusong River.

In this way, even if half of the remaining 50 million stone grains such as military tun seed grain and field endowment are set aside to pay military salaries, half of them can still be used for their own use.

"The second child is really still like me......"

Zhu Di was proud, forgetting that the last time he scolded Zhu Gaoxu, he didn't look like himself at all, but like a brick picker.

"How's things going in Guangxi?"

Zhu Di was happy and asked about the situation in Guangxi, and Wang Yan on the side also responded: "Back to Your Majesty, Fu Dudu has trained 30,000 soldiers and horses in Qinzhou, and the firearms in Liaodong have also been transferred south, and now they have arrived in Fuzhou, and I think they should be able to arrive in Qinzhou by the end of next year." ”

"Hmm......" Zhu Di bowed his head, and then seemed to remember something, and suddenly looked at Mu Chun: "Mu Chun, I remember that you are also good at using firearms, right?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister is good at using firearms, but the firearms in Liaodong have not been seen yet." Mu Chunzuo replied, he was also very curious about what the Liaodong firearms that were boasted of being invincible in the world looked like.

"Er, look ......"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu, perhaps because he felt that he had a hand in making money, and even his attitude softened a lot.

"Tomorrow, Erchen will take you to the Great Teaching Ground to visit the firearms training."

Zhu Gaoxu understood what Zhu Di meant, and took the opportunity to speak: "The Ordnance Bureau over there in Liaodong has been working, and there are still 3,000 arquebuses and 50 field guns in stock, and 10 siege guns. ”

"Erchen can transfer this batch of firearms to the south, transport them to Kunming, let the army train first, and then transport 10,000 ordinary arquebuses, 2,000 large arquebuses, 100 field guns, and 20 siege guns to Yunnan in April."

"Good!" Zhu Di scratched his beard, and looked at Mu Chun, Qu Neng and the others with a smile on his face: "Mu Chun, you earned it this time, but I don't have any of these things." ”

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty and Your Highness Longen!" Although Mu Chun and the others still didn't know what these arquebuses, siege guns, and field artillery were, they could hear that these were good things.

"Okay, all step down, tomorrow the prince will take you to the big church to see the firearms."

Zhu Di gave an eviction order, and when the ministers saw this, they reluctantly glanced at the sand table, and then left Wuying Palace.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu was also ready to let people carry away the sand table, but he didn't want Zhu Di to ask, "What are you doing?" ”

"Naturally, it was carried back to the East Palace, didn't you say that the affairs in the south were in charge of the ministers?" Zhu Gaoxu had a bad premonition in his heart.

"You're in charge of the south side, but you leave this sand table for me." Zhu Di really exposed his true nature, and continued even more grandly:

"In addition, when do you ask people to get a sand table for the north, I see that you have a good sand table in the south, and the north must be okay."

"Anyway, you have a lot of craftsmen in the East Palace, so it must be very quick to get such a thing."

At this moment, Zhu Di is like a robber, after finishing the sand table, Zhu Gaoxu thought he was finished, but he didn't want Zhu Di to continue:

"Also, I don't have to fight about the Northern Expedition first, and it will be set in April of the third year of Yongle."

"However, this firearm has to be allocated to the army in advance, and I will transfer the left and right guards of Zhaozhou under your command in April next year, as well as the left and right guards of Yulin to go north to Liaodong for training."

"When the time comes, Beizhili will send out two guards and horses, and you will send out one guard and horse from Bohai."

"I did the math, and the total was more than 36,000 people, which was more than expected, but not much."

"When the time comes, don't recruit the people, you Bohai will pull horses, and I will transfer 60,000 troops from Beizhili to transport grain, so as not to delay the people outside the customs to reclaim wasteland."

Zhu Di spoke the truth, but the more Zhu Gaoxu listened, the more wrong he became.

Originally, it was set at 20,000 people and 50,000 people, but later it increased to 30,000 people and 60,000 people.

Up to now, there are actually 36,000 people and 60,000 soldiers, and Bohai has to pull horses.

"Dad, your account is not right......"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di and frowned, but Zhu Di walked to the side and sat down on a chair, crossed Erlang's legs and picked up the teacup:

"Although this Tatar Warat is fighting among themselves, what if they want to rush to the aid of Uliangha?"

"Didn't you say before that after expelling Uliangha, you would set up three guards in Modong and put them under the control of Daningdu?"

"I thought about it and thought you were right!"

"36,000 people, after the fight, I will let your Zhaozhou left and right two guards, as well as one Bohai guard and horse stationed in Modong, and then you can transfer two guards and horses from Bohai to fill your Jurchen Eight Guards?"

"Modong's place is good......"

"If there is no Wuliangha, the thousands of miles of abundant water and grass are the places where the imperial court grazes, I think about this grazing place, I still have to hand it over to you, others take care of it, I don't feel at ease......"

Zhu Di talked eloquently, and his tone was as if Zhu Gaochu had taken a big advantage, but Zhu Gaochu was not a fool.

The things in the south are enough for him to be busy, and now Zhu Di wants to throw it to him after beating Modong.

Yes, originally Zhu Gaochu was ready to govern this place by himself, but after Zhu Di said this, Zhu Gaochu suddenly found a bad sign.

The old man's meaning seems to be that he will only fight and not be governed, and all the government affairs will have to be piled up on his head.

This is not the main thing, the main thing is that he is either Varat or Tatar in and out of his words now, what does he want to do?

Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward and sat next to Zhu Di and licked his dry lips: "You tell me honestly, are you going to fight Tatar after fighting Uliangha?" ”

He dared to say this because he calculated the time, if Zhu Di sent troops in May and came back in October, it would be the time after the tax count.

Zhu Gaoxu, the treasurer of the Ming Dynasty, understood that when Zheng He just came back, there would definitely be an extra 2 million yuan in the imperial court's account.

If these two million guan are thrown to the north, Zhu Di can take tens of thousands of people to squat in Beijing for several years.

When the time comes, he will definitely ride south, and he will definitely not be able to settle down as soon as the money is in hand.

"What are you talking about?" Zhu Di seemed to be poked to the point, and immediately put down Erlang's legs.

"The burden of the people is heavy, and it is not easy to go north once, how can I go on two consecutive northern expeditions?"

"You'd better ...... like this" Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhu Di, then got up and looked at Wang Yan: "Let the craftsmen of the East Palace imitate two sand tables, one to be transported to the East Palace, and the other to the Governor's Mansion of the Six Armies." ”

As soon as the words fell, he turned to Zhu Di and said, "Erchen retires." ”

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu turned to leave, while Zhu Di looked at his back with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

Wang Yan came up and wanted to pour tea for Zhu Di, but Zhu Di looked at him: "Dog, you tell me honestly, did you tell my second child my thoughts." ”

"Huh?" Wang Yan was stunned, crying and laughing: "Your Majesty, I won't leave your side an inch......"

"Then how did he know that I wanted to rest for a few months and then go north to Tatar." Zhu Di looked at Wang Yan suspiciously, and also revealed his thoughts.

"This, the slave and maid don't know." Wang Yan had no choice but to pour tea for Zhu Di, and then stepped aside.

Zhu Di glanced around, looked at this palace, and said uneasily: "This place is good, but I always feel that my father will come out of it at any time, so I still have to build Beijing as soon as possible and go to Beijing to live." ”

"But it should be fine, if my father comes, I will say that Gao Xu accidentally forced Yun Wei to death, I was still in Beiping at the time and didn't know, otherwise I would definitely teach him a lesson......"

His muttering made Wang Yan, who was standing in the corner, feel a chill in his back, and he couldn't help but look around, and in a blink of an eye, he saw Zhu Gaoxu sticking out half of his head in a window.

"You ......"

Wang Yan didn't say it yet, but when he saw Zhu Gaoxu make a shushing motion, he could only shut his mouth.

Obviously, Zhu Gaoxu ran back without going far just now, and Zhu Di's words just now were heard by him word for word.

It's just that Zhu Di, who is facing away from the window, doesn't know yet, and is still drinking tea with Erlang's legs crossed, sighing from time to time: "The second child is still too tender......"

(End of chapter)