"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, didn't you say you won the battle? Why hasn't my baby come back yet?"
"Your Highness, are my Wulang and Zhang Wulang still alive?"
"Your Highness..."
In Jilin City, when Zhu Gaoxu rode Chi Huan, who had suffered several arrow wounds, back to Jilin City alone, the streets were full of people eagerly waiting for their husband, father, and son to come home.
People who were worried about their families asked Zhu Gaoxu. Their faces were worried, but Zhu Gaoxu stopped when he heard the name Zhang Wulang.
Zhang Wulang... If Zhu Gaoxu remembered correctly, this man should have perished in Hadal Ridge.
"I……"
For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say.
He took out so many soldiers, but none of them came back, but he came back.
At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu felt like it was stuck in his throat and it was difficult to swallow.
"Everyone..."
Zhu Gaoxu stood up and got off his horse. Hundreds of people surrounded him, and everyone was worried.
They looked at Zhu Gaoxu eagerly, trying to hear that their family was still alive.
But Zhu Gaoxu did not respond to this, but bowed to them first.
Seeing his actions, many people's legs weakened.
I recall that during the last expedition to Xiyang Ha, dozens of people died in battle. His Highness had never experienced such an experience. Now...
With indescribable feelings, Zhu Gaoxu bowed in a circle, then stood up and said with difficulty:
"In this battle, there were more than 30,000 Hu soldiers. In order to defend our country, my brothers, more than 800 soldiers were deployed..."
After telling the result in one sentence, the people around him knelt on the ground with weak legs. Although they didn't know what happened to their family members, this string of numbers was enough to make them sad.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, my Wulang is still alive! Zhang Wulang! The one who always follows you is not big. He is twenty-three years old. He..."
"Mom, don't get excited."
"Yes, aunt, Your Highness will definitely remember it."
"Yes, yes, Wulang must be fine..."
A woman in her fifties rushed forward. People around her grabbed her and comforted her, but facing her, Zhu Gaoxu could only remain silent.
Sometimes, silence is the best answer.
The aunt saw that he was silent and didn't speak, and her whole body instantly collapsed on the ground, wailing and crying.
Grief is contagious. With so many people killed in the battle in Jilin City, no one knows whether their family members will be lying down or standing when they return. Many people began to cry for a while.
In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu did not remain silent, but said:
"Before this war started, I told my brothers that if they unfortunately died in the battle, each family would be given forty acres of land and twenty dan of grain. In addition, the land reward for each battle would still be paid..."
"In addition, if there are children at home, an additional five acres of pension land will be given."
Zhu Gaojiu admitted that he did not hesitate to give the soldiers' compensation benefits because of the large number of people who died in this battle. Instead, he was honest and fair:
"As you all know, I don't have that much farmland in Jilin City, but all the wasteland reclaimed this year will be handed over to you in accordance with the pension policy."
"The rest of you, I'm sure you also know who these brothers died to protect, not just for their families, but for you as well."
"So please rest assured, whether it is the policy of pension or land equalization, as long as I am still in charge of Jilin City, I will not change it for a day, let alone do anything like this!"
Zhu Gaoxu said what he wanted to say, turned around, got on his horse, and left surrounded by the people, returning to his shabby palace that could not even compare with Qianhu Palace.
When he returned to the mansion, he did not slack off, but said to the two soldiers at the door: "Gather the twenty-four leaders who have taken refuge in Jilin City this time, and tell them that the enemy has retreated, and I have important matters to discuss with them."
"Yes!" The two soldiers bowed in agreement, and then one of them went to inform the news.
The other person continued to do his duty faithfully, while Zhu Gaoxu rode towards the back door.
When he arrived at the back door, the two soldiers on duty opened it for him, took the reins after he dismounted, and led Chi Huan to the stable.
Zhu Gaoxu walked into the backyard and immediately saw the middle and back door across the stable and woodshed, where two Jingjun were guarding.
"Your Highness!"
The two soldiers bowed to each other, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "Thank you for your hard work."
Without further ado, Zhu Gaoxu walked into the real backyard, and then headed to the main house, which was called the Cunxin Hall, but was actually not even a yard.
He walked into the main room and saw Guo Yan who was embroidering, and the maidservant who was embroidering beside her.
"Your Highness..." Seeing Zhu Gaoxu come back, Guo Yan immediately stood up and ordered the maids on the left and right: "Go and boil water for His Highness to bathe."
The two maids retreated, and Zhu Gaoxu sat next to Guo Yan.
Guo Yan already knew the news of Hu Bing's retreat, and even knew that her father-in-law was encircling Hu Bing not far from Jilin City. She stepped forward and was about to change Zhu Gaoxu's clothes, but her hands stopped in mid-air and asked carefully: "Has Your Highness ever been injured?" ?”
"I suffered some blunt injuries. It's not a problem." Despite saying this, Zhu Gaoxu still said to Guo Yan:
"If my father comes to the palace in a while, you will bring someone to entertain him. I have summoned the leaders of the twenty-four tribes to come. They may want to talk about something that will take a long time."
"Don't worry, Your Highness, I know what to do." Guo Yan returned the salute slowly, and then started to carefully help Zhu Gaoxu take off the layers of clothes.
After taking off all her clothes, she looked at the bruises on Zhu Gaoxu's body, feeling worried and scared.
Even though she had been taught by the nuns at Wudinghou Mansion, she was still just a thirteen-year-old girl.
Facing the horrific injury, she tried to reach out and touch him carefully. When she saw that Zhu Gaoxu didn't make a sound, she nervously turned around and walked towards the bedroom.
In front of the wardrobe, she selected for a long time, and after a while she chose a cyan round-neck robe.
Seeing her bring a green round-neck robe, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly and said, "Isn't it bad to wear blue on days like this?"
"I think blue is just right for me." Guo Yan brought clothes for Zhu Gaoxu and explained at the same time: "This green robe is similar in color to the plain robe, and the plain robe is a garment used to pay homage to the dead. Your Highness wears this green round-neck robe, which is just the right color for the people." , to express your sorrow for the soldiers killed in battle."
Zhu Gaoxu did not have detailed memories of what Guo Yan said. After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, a lot of waste was waiting to be done, and many etiquettes needed to be constantly excavated from ancient books.
A situation similar to the complete system of etiquette and law in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was extremely difficult in the early Ming Dynasty.
This is the first time Zhu Gaoxu has heard the saying of Qingpao. Earlier, he and Zhu Di often wore black clothes when they offered sacrifices. He originally thought that black clothes were the clothes for worshiping the dead, but he didn't expect that Qingpao also had this saying.
While he was thinking this, the two maids who left before also walked back to the door of the house.
"Your Highness, you can take a bath now."
The two maids bowed, and upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also stood up, took his green robe, and walked out shirtless.
The two maids blushed and were even more frightened.
He blushed because of the tendons on Zhu Gaoxu's body, and was frightened because of the shocking wounds on his body.
Not long after, Zhu Gaoxu went to the bathing room.
Due to his injuries, Zhu Gaoxu did not dare to enter the tub to take a bath. Instead, he wiped his body with a coarse cloth dipped in water.
During this process, it was inevitable to clean up the medicinal wine, but fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu took a bottle with him when he left, and just asked the two maids to help him a little.
After wiping his upper body, Zhu Gaoxu washed his head and wiped it carefully.
With his half-wet hair scattered, he returned to the house with his green robe in his arms, and took out the medicinal wine from his previous clothes.
"You guys wipe it for me."
What Zhu Gaoxu said made Guo Yan and the others blush with embarrassment.
Guo Yan stepped forward to take the medicinal wine, but did not let the maid help. He wiped the medicinal wine for Zhu Gaoxu by himself, turned around and put the medicinal wine away, and washed his hands at the same time.
Seeing this, the two maids also dressed Zhu Gaoxu and combed his hair after wiping the medicinal wine.
Time passed little by little. About two and a half minutes later, Zhu Gaoxu's hair was tied up and his usual wooden hairpin was inserted.
After finishing everything, Zhu Gaoxu didn't stay in the backyard for long, but got up and went to the front yard.
The speed was too fast. Even if Guo Yan wanted to say something to him, he had no time.
When he came to the Chengyun Hall in the front yard, the hall was already filled with the leaders of the twenty-four tribes.
They all learned that Hu Bing was defeated, and it was not difficult to imagine what would happen to their stronghold.
Regarding Zhu Gaoxu's summons, many of them could probably guess his purpose.
But even if they knew it, they still came and didn't think about running away.
There are three reasons. One is that it is really difficult to escape from Jilin Bay.
Secondly, the fate of their fortress may not be very good. It will be difficult to provide enough food during the autumn harvest to allow the entire tribe to survive the half-year-long winter.
Thirdly, after this battle, many men from each tribe were killed or injured. If there are not enough men, they may be annexed by some tribes after they return.
This is the rule outside the customs. If Jilin City had not suffered heavy losses before, Jilin City could still send troops to protect them.
But the current casualties suffered by Jilin City were no less than theirs. Whether Jilin City intended to send troops to protect them is highly questionable.
For various reasons, the leaders of the twenty-four tribes gradually divided into two factions.
One faction wanted to simply join Jilin City. After all, during the past few days in Jilin City, they had also seen how the tribes who fled the cold winter last year and joined Jilin City lived.
They thought that if they sacrificed their cattle, sheep, horses and tribesmen, there would be no reason why they would be worse off than those tribes.
Anyway, it would be difficult to survive even if he returned to the fort, so it would be better to go to Jilin City directly.
This is the idea of one faction, while the other faction believes that as long as they sell some cattle and sheep to Jilin City, get some of the food and return to the castle, they can still grow a new batch of food before the cold winter.
Regarding the number of supporters of these two factions, the former is more and the latter is less.
But no matter which faction they were on, they only dared to quarrel with their own people. When Zhu Gaoxu appeared, they all shut up.
Zhu Gaoxu sat on his throne. Facing the silent twenty-four leaders, he looked at an official who had been waiting for a long time.
At the beginning, Zhu Gaoxu asked the city officials to learn Jurchen language not only to teach Jurchen children, but also to serve as translators.
Looking at the official, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the twenty-four leaders before speaking:
"In this battle, more than 800 men of your 24th Division were killed or injured. Although they fought tooth and nail for your safety, they did protect the people in Jilin City."
"Although the Hu soldiers were repelled and their strength was greatly reduced, it is said that all your strongholds were destroyed, all the millet seedlings were eaten by cattle and sheep, and the fields were trampled and compacted by cattle and sheep."
"Although the rations in Jilin City are not much now, if any of you are willing to stay in Jilin City, I will also grant you the position of head of the village. You will receive six dou of rations and one stone of salary every month, as well as three pieces of coarse cloth distributed every year. .”
"The cattle, sheep and horses in your tribe will be purchased at the land price, and the fields will be distributed to you in Jilin City so that you can continue to be wealthy."
"The specific price is one cow or two horses or five sheep for one acre of land. If you are willing, you can get up and stand aside."
After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, the official translation also arrived at the same time.
Among the twenty-four tribesmen, the ones who stood up without hesitation were eight tribesmen with only a few hundred tribesmen and more than a thousand cattle, sheep, and horses.
Their tribe was originally small, and now many men had died. In addition, Zhu Gaoxu offered generous terms, so they had no reason not to accept it.
They have seen the land in Jilin City. It is very fertile and can actually grow rice.
If the total number of cattle, sheep and horses, which exceeds 1,000, are exchanged for fields, at least 300 to 400 acres can be obtained, and a harvest of 200 to 300 shi of grain per year can be achieved.
Although this amount of food is less than one-fifth of what they produced in the fortress, it does not prevent them from having to feed their tribesmen. The two to three hundred stones of food can be spent on themselves and their families.
The eight small-headed men led the team to stand up, and twenty-four Jurchens took sides in the drama.
While looking at each other, three more leaders stood up, followed by one after another.
An hour passed in this way, and when there were still six leaders standing there, Zhu Gaoxu did not use violent means, but nodded and said: "I respect your choice. You can leave Jilin City with your tribe in three days." , return to your stronghold and continue to hang the lonely banner."
"Thank you, Your Highness..." The six leaders expressed their gratitude, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't care.
He knew very well that with the fragile economic environment of the Jurchens, these six leaders could only last until winter at most, and in the end they would still have to bring their tribes to seek refuge with him.
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu said to the officials beside him: "Distribute the waist badges of the village chiefs to the eighteen leaders who are willing to stay, and prepare to open twenty-four new villages."
"Twenty-four?" The official thought that His Highness was wrong. After all, there were only eighteen tribes willing to stay, and their number could fit in at most five cities.
Twenty-four Xinfang cities are enough to complete the urban part of Jilin City.
Although he didn't know why His Highness said this number, the official chose to write it down first, then report it to his superior, and finally His Highness would confirm it again.
As he thought this, Zhu Gaoxu also raised his hand and said, "Okay, you all should disperse."
"Your Highness Qianfu..." The leader of the Twenty-four Division said this sentence in poor Mandarin, and then left in a hurry.
Looking at their leaving figures, Zhu Gaoxu didn't say anything, but sat in his seat in a daze.
After a moment, he raised his head and looked at the official: "You can go down too, I want to be alone for a while."
"Yes..." The official bowed his head and stepped back, while Zhu Gaoxu continued to sit there in a daze.
He was probably thinking about the scenes and pictures when he entered the city just now, and further thought about the scene of hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in the Battle of Jingnan a few years later, and the scene of hundreds of thousands of families wearing sackcloth and mourning.
"Soldiers are valuable and quick..." Zhu Gaoxu murmured these four words.
After this battle, even though he had just annexed eighteen small and medium-sized tribes, the number of troops he could pull out was still less than five thousand.
With this small number of soldiers and horses, even if we include the military households from the south that have not yet arrived, there are only more than 4,000 people.
If these troops were all wearing armor, they would naturally be able to dominate the Jurchen tribes. However, the Jurchen tribes in this era are, at best, like a barbarian army, and at worst, they are hunters of the fishing and hunting tribes.
Dominating hundreds of thousands of Orions, what does Zhu Gaoxu have to be proud of?
"Ha Lawu..." These three words flashed through Zhu Gaoxu's mind, and he gritted his teeth.
Although this battle did not disintegrate all Zhu Gaoxu's plans, it did destroy many things.
Zhu Gaoxu's character of vengeance existed not only in his predecessor, but also in his later generations.
The reason why he was unable to develop this nature in his previous life was because given his conditions, he really did not have the opportunity to develop his nature.
But in this life, his revenge will definitely not be about "revenge in ten lives", not to mention that attacking Wu Liangha and obtaining a large number of horses was already in his plan.
"One year... I will only endure it for one year!"
Zhu Gaoxu clenched the armrest beside him, and at the same time, an official came to the main entrance of the palace.
He held an album in his hand. After seeing Zhu Gaoxu, he held it out with both hands and walked into the hall. When he came to Zhu Gaoxu, he said:
"Your Highness, this is what Palm Seal has just calculated and confiscated."
In an instant, Zhu Gaoxu snatched the booklet away and quickly flipped through it to the final summary.
[A total of 1,976 sets of Mingjia, 4,967 sets of leather armor, more than 7,000 weapons, 3,416 horses, and 726 various types of millet were paid. Stone, arrows are useless...]
Just adding their armor together, the soldiers of Jilin City killed no less than 6,900 Hu soldiers, a battle loss of one to three.
This battle damage is not bad, but it is not bad either. After all, the largest casualties of the Jilin City Ming Army during the defense of the city came from the Jurchen retinue.
"Let Yishiha take care of the leather armor. As for the plain armor and weapons and arrows, if the workmanship is too poor, just smelt them into iron and forge them again."
"Among the captured horses, choose 200 medium-sized horses to send to Peace, and choose 300 to keep and give to my father."
It was Zhu Gaoxu's promise to send horses to Ping An. As for leaving 300 horses to Zhu Di, it came from Zhu Gaoxu's understanding of his father.
Even to use Lao Zhu's words, Zhu Di is a poor man who has money in his pocket. This time Lin Su has touched so many horses, it is strange that Zhu Di is not jealous.
By choosing three hundred usable military horses for Zhu Di, he considered himself fulfilling his filial piety for his predecessor.
"It's a pity that we couldn't capture the cattle, sheep and horses..."
Zhu Gaoxu sighed. If he could capture Haragu's more than 100,000 cattle and sheep, Jilin City's economic strength would truly improve.
While he was thinking this, he was already having a headache about how to pay for the huge pension expenses.
"You ask people to calculate the land compensation, grain rewards, and land according to the number of soldiers killed in battle and the number of armor captured this time."
Zhu Gaoxu explained to the official, who bowed and responded, but in the end he also asked: "Your Highness, how should the pensions of those Jurchen retinues and Liaodong soldiers be calculated?"
The official thought that Zhu Gaoxu would say that there was no need to count, but Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment and then replied: "After all, the heroes who were killed in the battle by our Jilin people are the heroes. The Liaodong Army will count those who were killed twenty times. If their families are willing If we move to Jilin City, we can develop another 40 acres of farmland.”
"As for the Jurchens who perished in the battle, they were given twenty dan of grain, and those who were willing to stay in Jilin City were also given forty acres of farmland. Among them, there were laborers from the Ha tribe in Xiyang who participated in the war and were lost in the battle. Their parents, wives, and children at home would be exempted from all crimes and imprisonment. Jilin people, like ordinary people, enjoy the policy of enrolling children in school and equalizing land."
"In addition to those who have broken limbs or injured internal organs and need to withdraw from the army, they will also be given 40 acres of land and 20 dan of grain."
"Is this... not too generous?" Although the official also felt that he should be compensated, he did not expect that his highness would provide so much compensation.
But in this regard, Zhu Gaoxu sighed and said: "If I can't devote all my wealth to those who protect my family and country, then why will the people trust me?"
"Your Highness..." The official had mixed feelings, and in the end he could only bow deeply, then turned and left the palace.
About half an hour later, the official returned again and brought a new booklet.
In this half hour, Zhu Gaoxu did not move a step. Perhaps he was tired after fighting on the battlefield. At this moment, he no longer wanted to bother anymore and just wanted to sit quietly.
When the official handed over the booklet, he also took it and started reading.
According to the calculations of the officials, the Bohai Palace had to spend at least 63,000 acres of cultivated land as pension fields for this battle, more than 32,000 shi of grain as pension rations, and more than 12,000 guan of Shenyang Zhongwei in Liaodong. Pension money.
In addition, there are more than 17,800 pieces of gold rewarded for killing enemies.
After all, those who participated in the war could get about three guans on average, which was a lot of reward money.
Moreover, this is only the reward given to them by Jilin City. After returning to Liaodong, as long as Zhu Gaoxu writes a letter stating their achievements and assigns some captured heads to them, they will also receive additional rewards and promotions.
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of Zhou Ding, the Qianhu official who escaped.
In any case, the sum of these pensions and rewards can basically take away one-fifth of Jilin City's finances this year.
But Zhu Gaoxu was willing to do this.
The only thing that gave him a headache was the more than 60,000 acres of pension land. Fortunately, Lin Su captured more than 3,000 horses. Even if he selected middle-class horses and high-class horses, he could still have more than a thousand low-class horses left to serve as draft horses. Horse plowing and clearing up wasteland is the only commendable capture in this battle.
"Huh..." After exhaling a thick breath, Zhu Gaoxu also got up and returned to the backyard to rest.
He didn't sleep much last night. He only slept for an hour or two this morning, and he was really sleepy at the moment.
Shaking his sleepy body, he returned to the backyard, but instead of going to the Cunxin Hall to rest, he chose an inverted room, lay down and fell asleep without even a bedding...
(End of chapter)
