"Your Highness is blessed with good health and a thousand years old..."
On the tenth day of September, while Zhu Quan was still on his way back to Quaningwei, Zhu Gaoxu had already led his team back to Zhaozhou City.
At the dock south of Zhaozhou City, the soldiers on duty, led by Wang Yi, saluted Zhu Gaoxu in return as he was disembarking.
Just over a month after leaving, the Zhaozhou Pier has been expanded a lot. It can accommodate ten horse-drawn boats with a capacity of 1,200 yuan, and more than 20 small boats with a capacity of 200 yuan. This shows that Wang Righteousness is maintained properly.
"Well done."
Zhu Gaoxu complimented, then turned to look at Fu Rang, Lin Su and others who were disembarking from the boat behind him.
"It's going to snow heavily in less than half a month. I would like to go back to Jilin City with you, have a drink and watch you leave, but..."
While he was still talking, Fu Rang raised his hand: "I am in Liaodong. If I want to come back, I can do it at any time."
"Besides, I am here in Jilin City, but I still have more than 400 acres of fields for appreciation and military service. In my spare time, I have to come back to see how my fields are being taken care of."
Fu Rang said while looking at Wang Yi: "Wang Yi, I will leave my land to you. Just pay me 60% of the rent every year."
"Okay!" Wang Yi grinned. Before he could say anything else, the military attachés such as Lin Su and Zhang Chun who had disembarked from the ship also started looking for someone they could trust.
In their hands, they have dozens to hundreds of acres of war merit fields. These fields can produce dozens or hundreds of dollars every year, which is a lot of money. Naturally, they have to explain it well.
"Okay, those who want to sell their land should also go to Wang Yi, and those who don't want to sell their land can find a tenant by themselves."
Zhu Gaoxu ordered with a smile, turned around, mounted the horse that Wang Yi had asked someone to fetch, and rushed towards Zhaozhou City.
Seeing this, Fu Rang and others arranged their subordinates as Zhu Gaoxu said.
The current Bohai Navy has more than 1,200 military attachés above the rank of flag officer, and 192 of them were promoted last time.
After this time, many military attachés may be promoted, but Zhu Gaoxu has already looked away.
As long as he firmly grasps the grassroots level, it won't matter even if Lao Zhu sends people to replace all the military attachés.
He galloped on his horse and soon passed through the woods and arrived at the wasteland area outside Zhaozhou City.
Here, you can see more cattle, horses and sheep than before the expedition. It is obvious that Wang Yi left many behind.
Zhu Gaoxu dismounted and took a look at the land reclamation situation. After about a quarter of an hour, Wang Yi and the others came looking for them.
Seeing Wang Yi, Zhu Gaoxu also waved and said: "How many cattle, sheep and horses were sent before? Have you counted them?"
"Of course!" Wang Yi replied truthfully in front of everyone:
"Among the cattle, sheep and horses sent by His Highness, there are 14,627 cattle, 21,600 horses, and 74,916 sheep..."
"The herds were sent one after another. During this period, Zhangyin also came to Zhaozhou City to herd 8,000 cattle, 15,000 horses and 70,000 sheep back to Jilin City."
"Then, Yi Zhangyin brought another batch of grain and beans, and asked people to herd 2,000 cattle and 1,600 horses to Heishui City."
"The remaining 4,600 cattle and more than 4,000 horses were left in Zhaozhou City, and the rest were sent to Andong City."
In Zhu Gaoxu's absence, Yi Shiha was in charge of government affairs. He knew almost everything about the specific conditions of the four cities in the Bohai Sea, so he naturally knew what animals were needed in which places.
Zhaozhou City is the frontier of sentry in the Bohai Sea. In addition to planting beans in the coming year, it will naturally require enough horses.
Although Anton City is now in the hinterland, the population is not sufficient. They can graze more than 3,600 cattle for them, which is enough for them to cultivate in the future.
The situation in Blackwater City is complicated. Although it is for grazing, there are no easy land routes in some places, and bears and tigers are common, so it is just right to send a small number of cattle and horses there.
As for Jilin City, it is Bohai's hometown after all. Moreover, Bohai will develop the vast hilly plains west of Hadaling in the coming year, so it uses the most animal power and can afford to raise it.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu had no objection to Yi Shiha's arrangement. He just took Wang Yi and the others back to the road. When he got on his horse and returned to Zhaozhou City, he did not forget to explain: "Select some of the sheep left behind and slaughter them. Add more salt and spicy spices as a farewell to the brothers.”
"Yes!" Wang Yi nodded and arranged for a Baihu official to do the work.
Soon after, they returned to Zhaozhou City and sat down to rest in the main hall of Qianhu Mansion, which was slightly larger in the city.
After sitting down, Zhu Gaoxu got down to business: "In this expedition, our army killed no less than eight thousand men of Ulliangha. Although I did not set a reward before the expedition, the cattle and sheep captured this time are the spoils of war. "
"I can't share the cattle and sheep with the brothers, but the land and rewards will not be less."
Zhu Gaoxu leaned on his chair and said: "Before we set off for the expedition in August, I looked at the land reclamation situation in Jilin City and found that more than 240,000 acres of land had been reclaimed."
"Therefore, after this reward has passed, I have decided to use 120,000 acres of land as reward land. As for the brothers who are about to travel to other places, I will directly pay the reward."
"Pass my order..." Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the generals, and everyone stood up and bowed, waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's orders.
Looking at them, Zhu Gaoxu also told his arrangement:
"The soldiers who went on this expedition, all ordinary soldiers, will receive a reward of fifteen acres of land, and the rank of military attachés will be doubled."
"As for the brothers who are about to travel and take up their posts, the small flag officer will receive ten guan, the general banner officer will receive 20 guan, the official of 100 households will receive 40 guan, the official of 1,000 households will receive 100 guan, the governor Qian Shi will receive 200 guan, and Fu Rang will receive 5 guan alone. Hundred Guan.”
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness!!" After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, the generals bowed in return. Zhu Gaoxu also raised his hand to signal them: "Sit down!"
The reality is not martial arts. Someone can easily spend hundreds or thousands of taels of silver to eat and buy things.
To everyone, ten guan is not a small amount. It is enough to buy nearly 30 shi of rice, which is the output of fifteen acres of paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River. It is enough to feed a family of five for a year.
Even for senior military attaches, the rewards given by Zhu Gaoxu were very generous. After all, they did not fight a difficult battle.
"By the way..." After everyone took their seats, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at Wang Yi and said: "The three thousand brothers who were left to guard the city also had their merits in guarding the land. They were all rewarded with two acres of land, and their military attache ranks were doubled."
"Brother General Dai Sanqian, thank you for your kindness, Your Highness!" Wang Yi stood up and returned the greeting, but Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to stop him.
After he sat down again, Zhu Gaoxu continued: "I will leave for Heishui City tomorrow. I am afraid that I will not be able to meet many of you during this trip."
"If any of you can be transferred back in the future, I will naturally be happy. If not, then you have to work hard as an official outside."
"I don't want people who go out of Bohai to become greedy worms who only know how to drink the blood of soldiers."
"Just do what you did in Jilin City. If you don't get a promotion and feel wronged outside, then just go to Jilin City and send a message."
"I will not miss every word of the letters you send, and I will read them all clearly."
"If you are wronged, no matter how old the other party is, I will make things right for you!"
Zhu Gaoxu is not very old. Except for Zhang Chun, everyone here is basically older than him.
But at this moment, he is more like an adult, more like an adult who protects his shortcomings.
Therefore, all the Bohai generals stood up one after another. Even though Zhu Gaoxu had given three orders not to kneel down, they still got up and knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu five times.
Fu Rang was naturally not included in this group of people, but even so, the look he looked at Zhu Gaoxu was very complicated, and he even sighed.
Once upon a time, the young man who studied under his father had become his own role model for how to behave in the world.
Apart from sighing, Fu Rang didn't know what he could say.
He was sighing, but Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others were silent after standing up.
The better Zhu Gaoxu performed, the more reluctant they were to leave him, because they all knew exactly who they relied on to reach such a position.
Without that person, the people in the main hall, except for Fu Rang, who has a family background, the rest will just be lost in the crowd, and there will no longer be so many achievements for them.
Not only Zhang Chun and Lin Su, many people also thought about this before waiting for the practice banquet.
Because of this, when the practice banquet started, many people waited for the opportunity to come to the main seat to look for Zhu Gaoxu, and tactfully expressed their thoughts that they did not want to go south.
But facing their thoughts, what could Zhu Gaoxu do, he could only comfort them.
Zhaozhou City is an important military area and alcohol is not allowed, so no one caused any scandal.
By the time the banquet was over, the sky had darkened and the bright moon had risen into the sky.
Zhu Gaoxu came to the stable in the backyard of Qianhu Yamen, lit a torch and trimmed Chi Huan's mane.
There were many scars left by arrows on Chi Huan's body. Whenever he saw these scars, Zhu Gaoxu understood why Emperor Taizong Li Shimin cried for his horse.
For Zhu Gaoxu, Chi Huan is undoubtedly a comrade he can rely on. After all, it is a beast and will not betray Zhu Gaoxu.
"If I go south in the future, I will keep you in the north and let you deal with the outside world, not the inside."
There was no one around the stable, so Zhu Gaoxu was able to open his heart to Chi Huan frankly.
Facing his words, Chi Huan also turned his head and rubbed against him, snoring regularly.
At this time, several footsteps sounded, and Zhu Gaoxu could tell who it was without turning around.
When he turned around, he saw Fu Rang and Lin Su.
Behind them, Gan Bala came with them.
"Your Highness..."
Everyone bowed and saluted, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and looked at Ganbala first:
"Ganbala, I said before the war that if the war goes well, I will give you another reward. Now is the time for me to realize it."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness!!" Gan Bala bowed and Zhu Gaoxu also said:
"Now I'll take your surname "Gan" and give you the name "Yue". Let's call you "Gan Yue".
"In addition, I will promote you to Zhaozhou City Patrol Officer of 100 Households, responsible for patrolling the west of Zhaozhou City."
Zhu Gaoxu was not suspicious of those he employed, but Gan Yue helped him fight, killing nearly ten thousand members of Wu Liangha's tribe, and he had completely broken with Wu Liangha.
Therefore, it is appropriate for him to be in charge of the western patrol. After all, if Wu Liangha attacks, Gan Yue will probably suffer the worst fate.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness!!"
As usual, Gan Yue knelt down on one knee and bowed. He had no time to feel that Zhu Gaoxu was using him. Instead, he felt that Zhu Gaoxu had entrusted him with a matter that was related to the life and death of Zhaozhou City.
After all, if he allowed Wu Liangha to invade, even if Zhaozhou City was not breached, there would probably be heavy casualties.
"Okay, please step back."
Zhu Gaoxu signaled him to leave, and Gan Yue quickly returned the greeting and left the backyard happily.
After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at Fu Rang and the others, sitting on the horses in front of the stable, waiting for them to speak.
"Your Highness..." Zhang Chun was the first to speak. He was young and could not hold back his thoughts.
"The general will definitely not embarrass Bohai when he goes south this time, and he will never embarrass you. Please rest assured!"
"The same goes for the last general!" Lin Su stepped forward and said, "As long as His Highness says a word, the last general will go through the mountains of swords and seas of fire, and he is willing to go through fire and water for His Highness."
After the two of them finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Fu Rang and Wang Yi.
Wang Yi didn't need to be transferred, so he naturally had nothing to say. As for Fu Rang, Zhu Gaoxu didn't expect what he would say.
"Now that you've finished explaining, get up and leave. Don't disturb His Highness's rest."
Sure enough, Fu Rang didn't say anything, he just asked everyone to leave and not to delay Zhu Gaoxu's rest.
"Your Highness, take care of yourself, please cherish..."
Before leaving, Lin Su and Zhang Chun said goodbye to Zhu Gaoxu one after another, and Zhu Gaoxu also raised his hand to signal them to go back and rest quickly.
After watching them walk away with his own eyes, Zhu Gaoxu felt at ease and returned to the house to rest.
The next day, before dawn, Zhu Gaoxu took dozens of personal guards and set off for Heishui City. As for the soldiers and horses inside and outside the city, Fu asked them to lead the troops back to Jilin City. After all, they had to go back to pack their things.
He took a boat down the river and did not stop at Andong City because he was too pressed for time. It had only been a few months since he last went to Andong City, so not much had changed. So he thought about returning to An Dong City in the spring of next year. Come to Dongcheng to see the changes.
However, when he was on his way to Heishui City, Zhu Quan returned to Quan Ning Guard with the Ning Mansion soldiers and horses without incident, and immediately sent the good news to the south.
This victory was even more surprising than last year's. After all, Zhu Di led the team last year, and there were tens of thousands of troops on the Northern Patrol, so it was not surprising to achieve such a result.
Just this year, Ning Wang Zhu Quan and Bohai King Zhu Gaoxu had only eight thousand troops combined, but in the end they were able to kill twice as many enemies, which had to be admired by many famous military figures.
"This kid's fighting style is quite vicious..."
On September 15th, when Zhu Gaoxu went to Heishui City, the good news from the north had been rushed to Nanjing over 800 miles.
In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang rarely appeared to govern. His health seemed to be much better than at the beginning of the year. At this moment, he was praising Zhu Gaoxu in front of everyone.
The faces of Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Jixi, and Zhu Gaochi in front of him were also filled with smiles, and they all seemed to be happy that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Quan could achieve such a great victory.
Among them, Zhu Yunwen took the first step and bowed and said: "Grandpa, Gao Xu and Seventeenth Uncle destroyed Wuliangha very badly during this northern tour. Counting the fourth uncle's attack on Wuliangha last year, more than half of the men in Wuliangha were killed or injured now. I'm afraid It will be difficult to go south and invade the border in the next few years."
"Although I say this, we still can't take it lightly..." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, but still reminded: "I would like to remind Xiao Qi and Gao Xu not to be complacent, but to strengthen the grazing of Quanning Guard and Zhaozhou City. Take over the pastures where Ulyanha grazes and don’t let them recover.”
"Besides, they captured quite a lot this time. Forget it with Gao Xu and let Xiao Shiqiyun give 2,000 draft horses to the Liaodong Dusi. In addition, let Zhou Xing change the battle camps in the four states of Hai, Gai, Fu, and Jin. , we will fight for one and nine villages instead, and reclaim the local wasteland."
"If he doesn't know how to open up wasteland, he can go to Jilin City to learn from Gao Xu. Gao Xu has not been a man of power for three years, but he has already opened up more than 5,000 hectares of farmland. Liaodong is managed by the Qianyuan Dynasty and has the full support of the imperial court. How can the army and the people cultivate more than 20,000 hectares of farmland?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's words were somewhat resentful, but it was strange that he had no resentment.
Zhu Gaoxu took more than 100,000 shi of grain from the court every year. In just three years, Jilin City, which originally had only a thousand households, turned into Haidong Fancheng with nearly 20,000 military and civilian households and more than 5,000 hectares of farmland.
On the other hand, Zhou Xing has been in charge of Liaodong for many years. Not to mention that he did not achieve as impressive results as Zhu Gaoxu. Just talking about the farming area gave Zhu Yuanzhang a headache.
There were 26,000 hectares of farmland for the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong, of which 20,000 hectares were for military farming. However, even so, the Liaodong Dusi handed over only more than 710,000 shi of grain to the army every year.
Based on this calculation, the output of each mu of military farmland in Liaodong was only three dou. It can be said that the farmland was a mess.
On Zhu Gaoxu's side, judging from the information Zhu Yuanzhang himself obtained through Jinyiwei, Jilin City, which is colder than Liaodong, achieved an output of nearly 30,000 shi from nearly 40,000 acres last year, with an average of more than seven pou per mu.
In comparison, Jilin City allocates only a hundred thousand dan in money and food every year, but Liaodong Dusi allocates more than 1.2 million dan.
If Zhou Xing can also make Liaodong achieve the same output as Jilin City, then Liaodong Dusi's seaborne grain transportation can be reduced to at least 500,000 shi.
What went wrong during this period? If Zhou Xing is not responsible, Zhu Yuanzhang can't think of anyone.
Even if Liaodong Dusi is not as wealthy as Jilin City, and each household can have a draft horse or a plowing ox, it doesn't mean that it doesn't even have half of Jilin City's per-acre output, right?
Thinking of these troubles, Zhu Yuanzhang even had the idea of letting Zhu Gaoxu go to Liaodong to teach the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong to farm.
But he also knew that the geographical environment of Liaodong was special, and Zhu Yunwen transferred Fu Rang to Liaodong. After thinking about it carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Let that boy Fu Rang be fully responsible for Haizhou, Gaizhou, Fuzhou and Jinzhou. Farming matters in the four states of southern Liaoning."
"Yes!" Zhu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Zhu Yuanzhang did not blame him for transferring Fu Rang.
He naturally knew that Zhu Gaoxu had made military exploits, so he was very pleasing to his grandfather, so he did not say anything to slander Zhu Gaoxu. Instead, he said for Zhu Gaoxu:
"Grandpa, Gao Xu has made such military exploits this time, do you want to reward him?"
Everyone in the palace nodded in agreement with Zhu Yunwen's words. After all, in their opinion, Zhu Gaoxu should indeed be rewarded. Even Zhu Gaoxu, who was far away on the road to Heishui City, wanted to ask Lao Zhu for some good things.
But he never wanted to face Zhu Yunwen's words, but Lao Zhu smiled and stroked his white beard: "I'm afraid this boy has already thought about crying for me. I won't read his family letter until winter comes."
"Let's put up with his crying so that he can teach him not to always think about making me happy and become a sycophant."
Lao Zhu suppressed his thoughts and said that he would not allocate money and food to Bohai troops. Such words made Zhu Yunwen happy in his heart, but there was still a look of embarrassment on his face: "Grandpa, I'm afraid I can't do this to Gao Xu..."
"Excuse me?" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed like a child who was laughing at the fool: "He accomplished such a great feat this time, and actually told me that he only captured a few thousand horses, cattle, and more than 10,000 sheep, and he even went out of his way to Come to me and cry for poverty."
"Nowadays, in Shandong, Henan, and Zhili, who doesn't know that Yang Bin, a businessman from the Bohai Palace, buys grain everywhere and transports more than 100,000 dan to Jilin every year."
"If he is crying for poverty, I'm afraid all your uncles will come to me and cry for poverty."
During the conversation, Zhu Yuanzhang kept using me. Obviously, it was not that he did not want to allocate money and food to Zhu Gaoxu, but the treatment he gave Zhu Gaoxu was so good that many princes were jealous.
Although King Jingjiang has set an example as a county king and is no less than a prince, the momentum of King Jingjiang's development is not as rapid as that of Zhu Gaoxu.
Today's King of Jingjiang, Zhu Chanyi, is raised in the capital, with only a few hundred guards, but his salary is not lower than that of the prince, and he has almost no real power.
In comparison, although the favors Zhu Gaoxu received were due to his military exploits, he could never withstand the jealousy of the princes.
With the palms and backs of his hands full of flesh, Zhu Yuanzhang could only choose to temporarily shelve Zhu Gaoxu's reward. He only rewarded his generals, soldiers and horses: "Gao Xu's reward will be put on hold for now. The eight thousand soldiers who participated in this battle will each be rewarded with cloth." Ten horses, ten stones of grain.”
"My grandson takes the order..." When Zhu Yunwen heard Zhu Yuanzhang's reward, his face seemed to feel sorry for Zhu Gaoxu, but he was a little happy in his heart.
During this period of time, he had been busy disrupting Zhu Fan's offensive, so that Zhu Fan's power was still firmly restricted to the three guards of the Jin Mansion, and he had no time to distract himself from dealing with Zhu Gaoxu.
Compared to Zhu Gaoxu, who could transfer two-thirds of his generals with a single transfer order, his good third uncle was the most difficult person to deal with.
If he could go one step further and mix some sand into his three guards, then he could deal with Zhou Fan without any worries.
Thinking like this, Zhu Yunwen also slowly straightened up.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang began to ask: "Gao Chi, how is your father's northern tour? Is there any results?"
Zhu Yuanzhang turned the topic to Zhu Di, who led the most troops out of the fortress this time, and Zhu Gaochi, who was in charge of the news, bowed slowly and said: "Returning to the emperor, my father led five thousand cavalry as the vanguard to explore Wang Baobao's old place. We did find some Hu soldiers, but they were not many, only a few thousand."
"When they saw my father coming, they knew there were people behind them and immediately withdrew to the west."
"Sure enough..." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. He knew that there was turmoil in the Can Yuan Palace in the north. Naturally, many people wanted to return to the former Qi Palace as a pastor.
Now it seems that those thousands of people should be the advance troops. Once they find that the Ming army is not patrolling in the old place of King Qi City, they will wait for an opportunity to return to the old place of King Qi City to garrison herdsmen.
Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to station herdsmen in Qi Wangcheng, but Qi Wangcheng was too far away from Kaiping Wuwei. The distance of two thousand miles made Zhu Yuanzhang unable to do anything.
"The fourth child also knows how to save money. He knows that it is not easy for the army to leave the fortress, so he first took the cavalry to the old place of King Qi's city to find out the news."
Zhu Yuanzhang praised Zhu Di, but then criticized him: "It's just that he rode so lightly. If he was ambushed, wouldn't it be a joke?"
Zhu Yuanzhang knew Zhu Di very well. Although he had some courage, he was not like Ping'an, Zhu Gaoxu, Qu Neng and his son, who could defeat hundreds of people.
But this old man always liked to take the lead and did not give full play to his strengths as a commander. This made Zhu Yuanzhang really worried that he would be ambushed and surrounded one day during the battle.
"My grandson is ashamed..."
Listening to his father being lectured by his grandfather, Zhu Gaochi bowed in shame.
Seeing his benevolent appearance, Zhu Yuanzhang also told him: "You go back and write a letter home and go to the north and tell your father that if he marches like this next time, then don't think about going out of the country. Next time, let your third uncle Forget about leading the troops, if that doesn’t work, we still have Gao Xu and Shi Qi.”
His words not only revealed Zhu Di's status, but also revealed the status of the other people.
In terms of leading troops, Zhu Gaoxu actually ranked in front of Zhu Quan, second only to Zhu Di and Zhu Fan.
Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang was referring to the north. If we look around the world, there are still many talented people in the old Zhu family who are good at fighting, such as Zhu Zhen, King of Chu in Huguang, and Zhu Bai, King of Hunan.
But for some people, Zhu Yuanzhang's words seemed to send a signal.
For example, Zhu Yunwen felt nervous when he heard the news that Zhu Fan was leading the army.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head to deal with the memorial after explaining Zhu Gaochi, and did not continue the topic of Zhu Fan, Zhu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time secretly reminded him.
"As long as grandpa is still here, Third Uncle will have to keep it under control. As for the rest of the people, we can put it aside for the time being..."
With this idea in mind, Zhu Yunwen also returned to his position and lowered his head to deal with government affairs.
Soon, Wuying Hall became quiet again, as if the bustle just now had never existed.
Thank you for your concern. I went to the hospital for a check-up and it was indeed gout in my wrist.
Because I don’t usually have the habit of eating a lot, eating seafood or drinking alcohol, the doctor thought it might be related to me staying up late, and said that I would be able to work after three to seven days of rest.
Personally, I think it should be fine in another three to five days, and I can resume the second update by then. Thank you for your concern.
(End of chapter)
