The emperor didn't know that these troops were Zhu Yunchang's personal soldiers and confidants. Keeping them by your side is tantamount to luring a wolf into the house, although the previous imperial expedition was a great victory, but it also greatly consumed the soldiers and money of the imperial court.

The army of the imperial court needs to be replenished quickly, otherwise Liaodong will have no soldiers to defend, although Shanhaiguan is nominally the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but it is not the actual control of the Ming army, and the strategic location of Liaodong is very important.

At the beginning of his succession, the current emperor put forward the idea of "the Son of Heaven guarding the country".

Naturally, the enemy must be outside the country.

But this Northern Expedition was also a lot of consumption for the imperial court, and the victory was not so good, it was won with thousands of lives and the blood of soldiers.

This time, the casualties of the Ming army were not as light as those announced to the world in the song, and the army suffered a third of the casualties, although it won the victory, but the casualties were very large.

Some of the remaining soldiers will be promoted to knighthood, and some will be disarmed and returned to the field by virtue of military merits, so as to enjoy the blessings of Qingfu, but in this way, the number of soldiers will be greatly reduced.

The newly recruited soldiers were not able to form effective combat effectiveness for a while. Liaodong is a bitter cold place, and there are foreign tribes entrenched there, including the Jurchens, the Mongols, and the Goryeo, the biggest henchmen.

If they fail to form a greater deterrent, if these alien races take advantage of the emptiness within the Ming Dynasty to attack in groups, then they will completely lose the strategic place of Liaodong, and the consequence of losing this strategic military place will be the loss of an extremely favorable buffer zone, and the core of the Ming Dynasty, the capital, will be completely exposed to the iron horses of these alien races.

If they were allowed to drink the Mashan Pass, the Ming Dynasty would only be able to defend the Great Wall, and the land beyond the Great Wall would be completely exposed to the enemy's iron cavalry, after all, the cavalry ability of the Han people was not as good as these Hu people who grew up on horseback.

When the time comes, if these alien races unite and patrol under the long walls under the Great Wall, as long as they take advantage of our inattention, they can destroy the defense line of the Great Wall and invade the territory of our Ming Dynasty. Plunder our money and food, people.

And when the time comes, the Ming Dynasty can only follow the old path of the Song Dynasty. Can we drive these Hulu back beyond the Great Wall?

I'm afraid no one knows, after all, there are not many famous generals like Yue Fei, Di Qing, and Xu Da Chang Yuchun.

If there are rebellious ministers and thieves in the country who take advantage of the chaos at this time, then the Han family will fall back into internal and external troubles, and it is very likely that the Hu people will drink horses and unify the Central Plains in the south.

Zhu Di is an immediate emperor, of course he has foresight in these matters, he thinks that he does not have the ability of Tang Taizong, who forced back hundreds of thousands of Turks between his lips and tongue.

also does not have the majesty of his father Ming Taizu, and the ability to help the Han family in the world.

All he could do was to prevent everything he had in mind.

The emperor picked up the pen on the table, and wrote twenty-two words on the gold silk. "No harmony, no reparations, no land, no tribute, the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies. ”

Gonggong Cao never left, and the emperor ordered: "Aiqing, put this edict of mine in a brocade box and put it behind my dragon chair." ”

After Gonggong Cao received the emperor's edict, he slowly withdrew.

The emperor continued to review the folds, although he didn't want to relieve Zhu Yunchang's pressure, but there was no way to do it. Compared with the Jurchens and Mongols outside Shanhaiguan, Zhu Yunchang was still his own person, and the emperor also believed that Zhu Yunchang would not rebel.

On the other side of the harem, Concubine Yun's bedroom is very quiet, because there are only two people here, except for the palace maids who deliver meals every day and the palace maids and eunuchs who keep vigil.

Because she is not a person who likes to be disturbed, she is a person who likes to be quiet.

What's more important is that she sometimes needs to practice, and she doesn't want to be seen the secret of her martial arts.

Although she believed that the two factory dukes of the East Factory and the commanders of the Jinyi Wei major town government divisions, as well as the generals of the General's Mansion, knew this tacit secret, she still didn't want to be discovered by anyone outside them.

Hongsu was outside the hall and said, "Madame, slave and maid are back." ”

Concubine Yun exhaled lightly, collected her strength and said, "Come in." ”

Concubine Yun's bedroom is not much different from the places of other concubines, but compared to their gorgeous decoration, she is much more plain here.

Concubine Yun didn't get up, she was still sitting cross-legged, this palace skirt was scattered on the wide palace bed, and she was like a blooming white lotus at this time. The dancing of the water moon is nothing more than that.

Concubine Yun closed her eyes and asked, "How is it?"

Hong Suyu said: "Mrs. Huiyu, there are not many people who go to Zhu Yunchang today, only King Ning and King Wu. King Ning, the old fox, pretended to be deaf and dumb, and still talked about marriage with Zhu Yunchang, but King Wu advised Zhu Yunchang not to agree to the emperor's request, not to reduce his own forces and hand over the Tongguan Heavenly Danger. ”

Concubine Yun didn't say anything, still sitting with her eyes closed.

Hong Su asked, "Madam, what do you think of this matter?"

Concubine Yun didn't open her eyes, she said: "Zhu Yunchang will definitely agree to the emperor's request, this time it seems that Zhu Yunchang has suffered a big loss, but it is actually a dangerous move by the emperor." ”

Hongsu said: "Niangniang, you mean that you are afraid that the emperor will lure the wolf into the house and put Zhu Yunchang's knife on his neck?"

Concubine Yun opened her eyes and said: "Yes, this time the Northern Expedition of the Imperial Court seems to have won a great victory, but in fact, it consumes a lot of money, grain, and baggage, and when I fed the emperor lotus seed soup, I saw the twists and turns, and the actual casualties on the folds and the announcement to the world, the historian's compilation and revision of the strategy is different from the book." The Ming army suffered three or four out of ten casualties, and this great victory, the imperial court will inevitably reward the three armies, so that more experienced soldiers will leave. ”

"If we don't find a way to fill the vacancy in this part, then the north will be in chaos. The emperor had no choice but to make such a decision. The last person who wants Zhu Yun to cut the soldiers is the emperor. ”

Hong Su couldn't figure it out and asked, "Madam, the vassal king is strong and has plenty of soldiers. Isn't this the claw that threatens the imperial court? Why doesn't the emperor want Zhu Yun to cut down the army?"

Concubine Yun smiled and said, "Although the northwest is large, the products are scarce and the people are scarce. In addition to the fact that in the event of a war, the imperial court would broadcast silver taels, and the silver that the vassal kings used to raise soldiers on a daily basis was the tax silver collected from their respective fiefdoms. And the people in the northwest are not enough to support such an army, and Zhu Yunchang can't cut it, so he can only barely supply the army, so he has no extra silver to use to sustain a war. ”

"And the army of the imperial court is highly disciplined, and it can't burn and plunder like the Hu people, if that's the case, Zhu Yunchang will lose the hearts of the people in the world even if he rebels. And many martial arts people will not tolerate a single butcher. ”

That's why this strategy of feeding and not being full, starving and starving to death made Zhu Yunchang stay for so long. ”

(End of chapter)