"Drive! Drive! ”

"Open the camp gates!"

On the vast grassland, accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves in the distance, a Ming cavalry passed through the dry Gobi in the south and met them.

They were dressed in mandarin duck battle jackets, each of them had two horses, one horse was a man, and one horse was armoured, and their steps were firm and powerful, galloping all the way, and finally arrived at the barracks at the source of a river.

With the shouts of the generals, the camp gate of the barracks was opened, and hundreds of Ming cavalry rushed in.

"Appeal ......"

When Zhu Di Lema looked around, what appeared in front of him was a busy and orderly scene.

As far as the eye could see, hundreds of soldiers shuttled back and forth, including brave and warlike Tatar soldiers and Jurchen soldiers.

In the face of Zhu Di's arrival, many soldiers who did not know his identity just glanced at it, and then lowered their heads one after another and started what they were doing.

"Drive!"

Zhu Di shook the reins of his horse and went to the big tent of the Chinese army.

Along the way, some people were wiping weapons, some were carrying grain and grass, some were preparing gunpowder, and everyone was fully preparing for the upcoming battle of the Northern Expedition.

In the center of the camp, a large flag fluttered high, with the word "朙" written on it, and there were small flags around it.

Among them, the colors of the flags are divided into red, orange, blue, green, blue, yellow, purple, white and other colors, but the unity is that the center of the flag is painted with a round red sun, symbolizing the rise of China and its invincible determination.

In front of the big tent of the Chinese army, three hundred generals formed a phalanx, and Zhu Di was in front of the formation, walking from the left side of the team to the right.

The neat queue, strict discipline, and the whistling wind all show the strength and might of this group of generals.

"The whole army of more than 100 households is here?"

Zhu Di didn't reply to the inquiry, Li Loss, Xu Zengshou and others immediately stepped forward: "Back to Your Majesty, except for the three hundred households in charge of patrolling, the rest of them are here." ”

"Good!" Zhu Di bowed his head, facing the generals and colonels who formed the command system of the 30,000 army, Zhu Di waved at them on horseback:

"This time we are on a northern tour, and we must make contributions in one battle."

"There are already 4,000 cavalry and 80,000 people preparing for us on the Zhaozhou side, once we take the Wuliang Ha Bald City, they will take over the Wuliang Ha Bald City, and go to the Wenjiang River to transport grain and grass for us."

"In addition to the 20,000 stone of military food made into military rations on your body, there are 800,000 stone of grain waiting for us in Zhaozhou."

"Soldiers, when have we ever fought such a rich battle?"

"Sending troops north from Wuliang Ha Bald City, I'm afraid I've never been so rich in my life!"

Zhu Di's words were a bit cumbersome, but there was no problem.

Starting from the city of Wuliang Ha to the north, you can reach Beishan for more than 800 miles all the way to the north.

For the Ming army, which maintained a thousand-mile campaign all the year round during the Hongwu period, the 800-mile road to the north can be said to be easy.

Even though they still have to walk 500 miles to reach the city of Uliangha, and it is very likely that they will fight the people in the city, they will never have to worry about the logistics of this battle.

"If you don't break the enemy's army, you won't turn back!"

"Hooray! Banzai! ”

Zhu Di drew his sword and held it high, and more than 300 generals knelt down one after another to sing and salute.

"Tomorrow, the camp!"

When the words fell, Zhu Di flexibly turned over and dismounted, turned around and walked into the Chinese army's tent.

Seeing him dismount, Li Lost, Xu Zengshou, Li Qi and others dismounted one after another to keep up, and the Jurchen soldiers of the left and right guards in Zhaozhou consciously guarded the big tent of the Chinese army.

In their sight, many naturalized Tartars were also guarding the perimeter of the tent.

Although there are 30,000 Ming troops here, 10,000 of them are naturalized Jurchen soldiers, 10,000 are naturalized Mongolian Tatar soldiers, and there are many Xifan and Miao Yao soldiers among the remaining 10,000, and the real Han soldiers are only more than 6,000 people.

Walking into the tent, because the horse infantry of the whole army cooperated with the cavalry, the army did not carry a sand table, only a simple map.

Zhu Di looked at the hanging map and found that the surveys and mapping on it were all in accordance with the requirements of the National Defense University, and he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

At the same time, there was also a rapid sound of horses' hooves outside the tent, and Zhu Di looked out and saw Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, who was on the border of Daning, as well as Chen Gong, the eldest son of Chen Heng, and Li Yuan, the commander of the Yanshan Left Guard in his early forties.

"Long live Your Majesty!"

Zhu Quan took the two of them off the horse and walked into the tent, and then knelt down.

"Seventeenth brother, what is the situation of Uliangha now?"

"Back to Your Majesty!" Although Zhu Quan was renamed Nanyang by Zhu Gaoxu, he was also the only vassal king who was the only one who was in the mainland and led the troops outside.

"Since the last time the prince sent troops to attack Uliangha, killing Harawu and the prisoners, Uliangha has suffered heavy losses."

"Now the Uliangha is in charge of the original escape, and the entire Uliangha is over 15 years old with men, I'm afraid there are only 20,000 people, and the most people are 70,000."

"Therefore, after our army transferred troops to Quanningwei, Tulu Kucha'er led his troops to flee north, and according to the speed, I am afraid that it is almost to Wuliang Ha Bald Mountain."

Zhu Quan briefly explained the situation in Modong, and Zhu Di also nodded again and again.

He has been paying attention to the situation in the north, and naturally knows that Wu Liangha has gone through four rounds of blows by his father and son, and now let alone going south to fight the grass valley, it is a problem to protect himself.

Because of this, he only needed 36,000 men, because this amount of troops was enough to expel or annihilate them in the Modong grassland.

"Tomorrow, the army will go north, and at the same time tell Meng Zhang of Zhaozhou to prepare to drive the grain ship to set off in three days."

Zhu Di didn't say how he wanted to deal with Wuliangha, because his method was very simple, that is, to ensure that the grain stored in Zhaozhou in the past four years could be transported to Wuliangha Bald City, and then divide the troops to chase it.

The Modong grassland becomes more and more narrow in the north, and it is easy to find the main force of Wuliangha.

After a simple agreement on sending troops, Zhu Di dismissed Li Shi and others.

At dusk, Wang Yan, who was in charge of leading the civilian team north, arrived at the barracks with more than 600 civil officials including Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi and hundreds of Ben Shu.

Since the imperial examination in the early Ming Dynasty had a bonus point for mounted archery, most of the Wenchen mastered equestrianism, but they had never seen the vastness of the north, so their speed was slower.

"Long live Your Majesty......"

Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi and other scholars led the officials of the six departments to the big tent of the Chinese army, and Zhu Di also ordered people to lay a coarse cloth for picnics on the ground.

As everyone finished singing, Zhu Di, who was wearing a military uniform, walked out of the big tent, crossed his hands and said: "How is it, you can't see the vastness of the north in the south of the Yangtze River, right?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the north is indeed vast, but it is not as green as the south."

Xie Jin was still arrogant, and after saying that, Zhu Di was very displeased, but he didn't accuse him, but said: "It's true that the south has green waters and green mountains, but it's not like it's shady trees." ”

"If you want to say that the trees are shady, it is also the southwestern provinces."

"Your Majesty taught." Yang Shiqi was worried that Xie Jin would say the wrong thing, so he hurriedly opened his mouth to echo Zhu Di.

"Hmm." Zhu Di bowed his head and glanced at Xie Jin.

After a while, the bonfire in front of the Chinese army's tent was burned, and the yellow sheep that had been cleaned were also set up by the bonfire and roasted by the soldiers themselves.

"Take your seats!"

Zhu Di himself sat down on the horse in front of the big tent, and a soldier stepped forward to unfold the folding wooden table for him.

Soon, hundreds of folding tables were set up, and the chairs were made of Maza.

After the generals took their seats, a plate of yellow mutton sprinkled with salt and spices was brought to the table.

Zhu Di took the lead in using the knife, and with the knife, he began to cut the roast yellow lamb leg on his table, which was occasionally not spicy enough, and let people continue to eat it with spicy.

That vulgar appearance made the ministers frown, and the generals were happy to eat.

The ministers wanted to use chopsticks, but Zhu Di deliberately didn't prepare chopsticks for them, so they let them cut meat with knives and eat with their hands.

"Insulting Sven ......"

Xie Jin shook his head and sighed, Hu Guang, who was sitting next to him, was helpless when he heard this, so he could only cut the meat with a knife and eat it first.

In addition to him, many Wenchen also picked up knives to cut meat, but they who had never used this way of eating made a lot of jokes, and some even cut their fingers, causing Zhu Di to laugh:

"You have been staying in Jiangnan, how can you see this vast grassland, and how do you know how to deal with the Hu people?"

"Only by going deep into the grassland and understanding the situation of the Hu people can we think of a way to deal with them."

"They talk about it in the temple, but only today do we know how strong the wind is in the north."

"Not only the wind, but also the rain, snow and wind and sand on the grassland are also irregular, and it is only in June that it is considered peaceful."

Zhu Di proudly and complacently taught this group of southern officials, making everyone red-faced, and they didn't know what to say to refute.

Among them, if they can get out of a person who refutes Zhu Di with the Mongolian situation, they will not let the Jianwen court fall.

At first, they thought that Zhu Di was humiliating them, but Zhu Di, who was smiling and eating meat, suddenly changed his face, got up and grabbed the leg of mutton and ran towards the big tent of the Chinese army: "It's going to rain, run quickly!" ”

As soon as Zhu Di said this, everyone looked at the sky for some reason, and rain fell from the sky in an instant.

"Meat! Don't drop the meat! ”

Seeing that everyone was going to the tent, not even the freshly roasted mutton, Zhu Di couldn't help but scold: "This group of old barbarians, I don't know the gold of mutton!" ”

He had just finished scolding, and the grassland, which was originally calm, suddenly thundered with lightning and thunder, and the torrential rain continued.

"Hahahaha...... I'm not wrong! ”

Zhu Di held the leg of mutton in one hand, nibbling and laughing, that behavior was simply insulting, which made Xie Jin and others, who followed the escape to the Chinese army's big tent, shake their heads frequently.

Not to mention "brutality", in terms of etiquette and behavior, Zhu Gaoxu in the East Palace has much more manners than Zhu Di and Emperor Gao.

"It's stopping."

Zhu Di suddenly spoke, which made everyone look out, and they all felt that it was unlikely, after all, the rain was only two words, and it looked like it was still a torrential rain, and there was no abatement.

Unfortunately, as soon as they thought it was impossible, the rain suddenly became lighter, and it stopped completely in less than a word.

"Look, don't you see?"

Zhu Di teased the surprised ministers: "The sky outside the plug is like this, if we come a month in advance, we can still encounter sand and dust." ”

"But this season is also good, from Quanningwei to the north, close to Harawen Mountain, there are a lot of wild leeks and shallots, very delicious, you can't hunt, you can pick more when the time comes, stew mutton to improve freshness......"

At this moment, Zhu Di seemed to be incarnated as a wilderness survival expert, explaining to Xie Jin and others how to survive in the grassland.

For example, he knew everything about beating yellow sheep, hugging rabbits, collecting wild vegetables, etc., and he heard that Xie Jin and others had a splitting headache, but he had to listen.

After a long time, as the rainstorm completely ended, Zhu Di looked at the messy camp and could only dismiss Xie Jin and the others.

Seeing that they could retreat, several people left the place as if they had fled.

"Hehe......" Zhu Di looked at their backs and laughed, and Wang Yan also stepped forward: "Your Majesty is deliberately playing tricks on them, right?" ”

"It's deliberate, who makes them always think that the people of the north are barbarians!" Zhu Di said bluntly: "I still think they are old barbarians." ”

After scolding, Zhu Di glanced at the sky, turned around and looked at the piled up notes, and couldn't help but feel melancholy: "I haven't moved a copy of this music, and I guess I'm going to be busy." ”

"It's just that compared to the second child's side, I don't have too many performances here......"

Zhu Di, who originally thought that he was miserable, immediately stroked his beard happily when he thought of Zhu Gaoxu, who was even more miserable.

However, when he was happy, Zhu Gaoxu, who was in the south, was lying on a chair, enjoying the beautiful sound in the candlelight in the hall.

"The sky is blue and waiting for the smoke and rain, and I am waiting for you, the smoke is rising, and the ...... across the river"

"No, no, this is thousands of miles across the river, not across the river ~ ten million miles."

Leaning in the Chunhe Palace, Zhu Gaoxu, who was already in his prime, was still dealing with the recitals, but his work efficiency was not happy, because he was busy training the musicians.

Dozens of court musicians fiddling with instruments filled in the scores based on the tunes Zhu had sung, and then began to play them under Zhu's teaching.

The musicians sang in unison, the piano and the sheng flute appeared one after another, and dozens of musicians with plump bodies and slender waists danced, where could Zhu Gaoxu resist this scene.

He sat down in his chair and worked on the notes, and then stopped to look at a book.

In the days when Zhu Di went north, Zhu Gaoxu led the musicians to compose more than 30 tunes.

He had forgotten some of the songs, but while humming them, he was composed into a new song by the court musicians and wrote the lyrics.

As the last piece of music was processed, Zhu Gaoxu also walked in listening to a song "Chrysanthemum Terrace" and motioned for one of the musicians to hand over the pipa to him.

When the pipa arrived, he began to play, and at the height of six feet, the pipa less than two feet looked a little mini, but Zhu Gaoxu still played it selflessly.

The musicians around him took the initiative to lower their voices and focus on his pipa, which made Zhu Gaoxu rarely relax for a while.

"I'll send you away, thousands of miles away, you ...... silently"

Zhu Gaoxu played the pipa, and from time to time opened his mouth and sang heroically.

The original love of the children of the Great Era, he sang it as the feeling of sending Zhu Di to the north to conquer Mobei and Jin Ge Iron Horse.

If it weren't for the exquisite skills of the court musicians and the change of tune with Zhu Gaoxu's singing, then I am afraid that Zhu Gaoxu would sing "Thousands of Miles Away" to the feeling of hitting the Northern Yuan.

"I'll send you away from the end of the world, are you still... Ahem! ”

Because he hadn't drunk water for too long, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help coughing a few times, and the whole band immediately stopped playing.

Seeing this, Yizha hurriedly handed over the tea, and Zhu Gaoxu also took a sip with one hand, moistened his throat, and recalled his singing.

"Well, this ancient singing room is not inferior to KTV."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed twice, but he didn't want to think about who could have his conditions.

"The tunes composed by His Royal Highness, the words and phrases filled in, and the singing methods are all unique, and according to the views of the ministers, this singing method can be compiled into the palace style."

The music official stepped forward to flatter, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't care: "Just listen to it to your heart's content, and I'll take you to compose the folk songs of the southwest later." ”

"Decree of the Minister."

The musician should step down and then retreat to his place.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu let them play by themselves, listened to the music and walked to the couch in the side hall, sat down cross-legged, and watched the dozens of music girls dance at the same time, and couldn't help but show a satisfied gaze.

"Your Highness, do you want to call two people to serve?"

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were on the music girl, he subconsciously asked, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "There is something in the women's back bedroom, I just watch the dance." ”

"Yes." When he heard this, he stopped talking, but after a while, someone brought him supper.

Although Zhu Gaoxu's food is not particularly good, he still eats quite a lot.

A plate of grilled lamb chops and a bowl of chess pieces noodles was a supper, and he watched the dance while eating.

After looking at it for a long time, he seemed to feel a little tired, so he waved his sleeves: "Stand down, that's the end of today." ”

"The ministers retired ......"

The music stopped, the musicians and musicians led the musicians and girls to retreat one after another, and Zhu Gaoxu also turned his head to look at Yishiha: "What happened to the north and south?" ”

"Your Majesty in the north should have arrived in Quanning, and Meng Zhang and Gan Yue are already waiting for news from Your Majesty in Zhaozhou." Yizha was accustomed to Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts jumping out, so after he asked a question, he answered without thinking:

"More than 56,000 people were distributed to the south, and most of them built concrete stone forts north of the Red River to prepare for the 100 households, and there were 120 stone forts for 100 households, distributed throughout the north of the Red River."

"In addition, Mu Chun and others have withdrawn their troops, and now Annan only has 28,000 East Route troops under Fu Rang, as well as 12,000 troops who migrated in the past, and more than 18,000 people in the navy."

After the report, Zhu Gaoxu threw a lamb chop that he had eaten up in his hand on the plate and wiped his mouth: "In other words, Annan only has 40,000 soldiers. ”

"Back to Your Highness, that's right." After admitting it, Yizha also asked: "Zheng He asked when the fleet could continue to go south. ”

"Let him decide at his discretion to return to Canton to recruit if there are not enough soldiers." Zhu Gaoxu picked up the chess piece noodles and took a bite before ordering.

During the whole process, Yizha always nodded his head to indicate that he knew, and Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the matter of Jiangnan after asking about the north and south: "Have all the township test papers been issued this year?" How did the ministers react when they saw it? ”

"The reaction is not small." Listening to Zhu Gaochu ask about this, Yiha's face was slightly solemn, but Zhu Gaochu was still as stable as Mount Tai.

The township examination is usually held on the ninth day of August, and the examination is mainly divided into three sessions, the first of which is mainly three questions of four books, four questions of scriptures and righteousness, and a poem of five words and eight rhymes.

The second session is based on the Pentateuch questions and the edict and the edict table.

The third session is based on the five policy questions of current affairs, which requires candidates to express their opinions or opinions according to the current affairs and government affairs of the time according to the classics of the scriptures and history.

From the content of these three examinations, it can be seen that Confucian classics are the main core content of the township examination.

If you pass the township examination, you can be called a person, and the first place is called Xie Yuan.

For these things, Zhu Gaoxu can't say that he has changed everything, but he can't say that he has retained a lot.

There is no change in the three exams, but there are only six questions in the first one, and one new one is arithmetic.

In the second Pentateuch question, the edict question has not been changed.

The third session was condensed, and there were four topics given, namely foreign affairs, vassals, government affairs, and military affairs.

The topics of these four policy treatises are "The Question of Tatar and the Ming Dynasty", "The Problem of the Ming Dynasty and the Vassals", "The Problem of Important Internal Affairs of the Imperial Court", and "The Problem of Military Soldiers and Horses of the Imperial Court".

Tatar and Ming are military peace, political and diplomatic issues, and vassals are diplomatic and economic issues, and the internal affairs of the imperial court are the problems of miscellaneous affairs and officials of the people, and the military soldiers and horses of the imperial court mainly take the guard system as a problem.

If these strategies can emerge a few amazing talents, then Zhu Gaoxu will not be in vain.

In addition, from the perspective of the imperial examination system alone, Zhu Gaoxu has not changed much, but has added arithmetic and broadened the scope of answers to the policy theory, so that candidates can get out of the classics and discuss current issues from the perspective of the present.

Although the changes are not big, the slightest change in the imperial examination requires candidates to spend a hundred times more time learning to figure out and answer questions.

The local examiners did not dare to reveal the content of the questions, because they knew that whoever dared to reveal the content of the questions, Zhu Gaoxu dared to send Jinyiwei and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to take people.

"This year, will any of our officials and students participate in the imperial examination?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yizha and lost Ha, and after hearing it, he also bowed his head and said: "There are 1,647 people who have signed up for the examination." ”

"It's not a lot, and it's still weak when I think about it." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head when he heard the amount, but he also understood.

In the final analysis, the background of students outside the Guanxi is too thin, and they will definitely not be able to compete with the traditional Confucian students in Jiangnan on the track of the Four Books and Five Classics.

Zhu Gaoxu put on and off the surgical examination, just to see how many people dare to sign up, not really want how many people to be admitted to the imperial examination and win the position of Jinshi.

The interpretation of the northern scroll is in the hands of the imperial court, and Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di are the imperial court, and the first batch of thousands of officials outside the customs who came up through the recommendation system left by Jianwen are the examiners of the northern scroll in the future.

No one can impeach these officials about their origins, after all, if it really comes to discussion, their butts are not clean.

Not to mention anything else, take the current palace scholar Yang Shiqi as an example, he just takes the shortcut of the recommendation system, and there are many people like him.

The reason why Zhu Gaoxu did not dispose of them in the original Battle of Jingyan was to keep them to contain various local forces.

If both sides are not clean, then the vast majority of the Kanwai faction will take advantage.

"Give encouragement to candidates who participate in the imperial examination, it doesn't matter if they fail the exam, let them deepen their studies."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Yi Shiha, and slowly got up from the couch.

After the eunuchs on both sides put on shoes for him, he walked to the door and glanced at the moon hanging high, and couldn't help but think of Zhu Di who went north, and he couldn't hide a smile on his face.

"Old man, let's have fun in the north......"

(End of chapter)