"This time, more than 500,000 jins of tea were used, and 13,518 horses were obtained, of which 2,427 can be selected to enter the large training ground and serve as military horses."
On March 15, when Li Jinglong, who returned from the northwest, reported the results of the tea-horse trade to Zhu Yuanzhang and others in the Wuying Hall, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Yunwen all chuckled, obviously very happy about this matter.
Only Zhu Yuanzhang, the lord of the world, looked a little heavy, but he couldn't explain the reason.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang had no reaction, Zhu Yunwen came forward and poured tea, asking in a low voice: "Grandpa, are you feeling unwell?"
"No, I'm just a little uneasy." After being awakened by Zhu Yunwen's voice, Zhu Yuanzhang said casually and turned his attention to Li Jinglong.
He was very satisfied with this grandnephew.
Although Li Jinglong is not as good as his father, his abilities and talents are still among the best in the world.
Even though Xu Huizu has been practicing in the southwest for two and a half years, he is still too far behind Li Jinglong. This can be seen from the tea and horse trade that Li Jinglong presided over this time.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, apart from veterans like Guo Ying and Geng Bingwen, among the vassal kings and military officers of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic generations, from top to bottom, they were his fourth son, Mu Chun, Li Jinglong, Song Sheng, Wu Gao, and his third son.
If we count further down, they are Yang Wen, Ping An, Chen Xuan and that kid Zhu Gaoxu.
Of course, in his mind, Zhu Gaoxu is still young and has not yet been finalized, so there is still room for growth.
But even though he knew that Zhu Gaoxu's future achievements would be very high, he never thought about guarding against him, he just tried to control him as much as possible.
After all, in his opinion, even if Zhu Gaoxu became popular in the future, with the little force in his hands, he really couldn't imagine that he could do anything that would threaten the foundation of the imperial court.
The current situation of the Ming Dynasty vassal was a situation that could make the emperor laugh in the face of previous dynasties.
Comparing the power of the vassal kings in the Western Han and Western Jin Dynasties and even the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the vassal king system he created is not a powerful force.
Compared with Liu Bi, the king of Wu in the Western Han Dynasty, who ruled three counties and fifty-three cities and had nearly 100,000 soldiers, Zhu Di, who could only rule one palace, three guards, and less than 20,000 soldiers and horses, Zhu Fan and the others were simply at the mercy of the imperial court.
As long as you give the generals enough trust, even if something goes wrong in reducing the vassalage in the future, it will not affect the overall situation.
He thought this and felt much more relaxed.
Unknowingly, he had already made arrangements for many things in the future. As long as Zhu Yunwen followed Xiao Gui and Cao followed, the Ming Dynasty could prosper for another generation.
After more than 2,000 military horses enter the large training ground this time, the number of cavalry in Beijing can reach 10,000.
Including the cavalry from each capital, careful calculation shows that the imperial court also has 30,000 cavalry, and the family is considered to be well-off.
Thinking of these many things, Zhu Yuanzhang also put aside his uneasiness. While turning his gaze to Li Jinglong, he stroked his beard and said, "Did you find anything wrong when you went to the northwest this time?"
"No, then Song Sheng did a good job running the Shaanxi Xingdu Division after returning to Liangzhou."
Li Jinglong answered truthfully, and this also explained why Song Sheng did not appear in this Nandian victory.
Since Wala often attacked the Ming army's garrison city in Yijinai, Zhu Yuanzhang transferred Song Sheng and his son back to the northwest in September last year, appointing Song Sheng as the commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division and stationed in Liangzhou with the post of Pingqiang General.
Now listening to what Li Jinglong said, Song Sheng did a good job in taking charge of Liangzhou. With him in charge, he could rest assured.
"Did you hear anything about Timur during your visit this time?"
The only thing Zhu Yuanzhang can't let go of right now is what Zhu Gaoxu said about Timur's eastward invasion.
However, after Zhu Yuanzhang's inquiry came out, Li Jinglong shook his head: "I haven't heard of it, but the Hu people who are not far away have increased the intensity of patrolling the border. Song Sheng told me."
"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang didn't react much. After all, with Song Sheng plus the twelve guards and four garrison posts of Shaanxi Xingdu Division, even if something happened, the nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses could stop it for a while. , enough support for Sichuan and Shaanxi to send troops to support.
Thinking about it carefully, he had nothing to worry about. The only things he needed to pay attention to were the war in the southwest and the border patrol in the north.
With his thoughts at this point, he said to Li Jinglong: "I am going to order King Yan to patrol the border, but this time it will mainly focus on the Uuliangha tribe."
Zhu Yuanzhang expressed his thoughts, but Li Jinglong didn't think there was anything wrong, and bowed in return: "If there are three or two more northern patrols like this, the tribes of Ulliangha will have no choice but to flee to Mobei."
"What the imperial court wants is for them to escape to Mobei." Zhu Yuanzhang also made no secret of his strategic goals.
In order to make Li Jinglong and Zhu Yunwen understand, he specifically glanced at each of them, and further explained: "Gao Xu's last northern inspection tour relied on the waterway to penetrate directly into Wuliang Hashan Mountain, so I thought that if I could use the waterway, then I would We must vigorously develop Jilin and vigorously cultivate land in Jilin.”
"In the future, if Jilin can become a granary outside the customs, it can rely on water transportation to penetrate into the eastern part of the desert and expel the Ulliangha tribes to the northern part of the desert."
"As long as the tribes of Wuliangha leave, Daning's soldiers can go north to build the city, making the Daning area a rear area, allowing the troops to cultivate with peace of mind."
"Gao Xu wrote in his letter home to me that it is more difficult to cultivate the upper reaches of the Wenjiang River than along the Liaohe and Songhua Rivers, but the underground water source is rich. If you want to dig a well, you can get water just a few feet down."
"If we can expel the Ulliangha tribes, we only need to set up more than ten thousand-household settlements along the east side of the Halawu Mountains, which will be enough to stabilize Modong."
"Judging from the map he presented earlier, as long as this guy doesn't tell lies, once the Ulliangha tribes are expelled, the imperial court will no longer have to spend more than two million stones a year to maintain Daning and Liaodong. It will be completely It can allow local troops to be turned into civilians."
Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts were still clear, and it goes without saying what he saw. He had always known the benefits of controlling Modong. His only worry was that the Han people could no longer live a good life there.
But when Zhu Gaoxu told him the detailed situation in Modong through letters and drawings from home, he quickly put aside such worries.
"If this is the case, then the burden on the court can be reduced a lot."
Li Jinglong did not doubt the sights and opinions of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Gaoxu. Since Zhu Gaoxu both said that the upper reaches of the Wenjiang River can be cultivated, once the Ming Dynasty controls Modong through immigration, plus the Kaiping Five Guards established last year, Daning and Liaodong will soon Become the home front.
As long as they become the rear area, many local military households can be converted from military to civilian.
Without the heavy burden of food and monthly rations for the guards, the court could save more than 2 million dan in money and food.
That's more than two million stones. If invested in the southwest and northwest, it will undoubtedly further expand and consolidate the Sanxuan Liuwei in the southwest and the Kansai Seven Guards in the northwest.
You must know that Ming Dynasty's current investment in Gansu and other northwest important towns and Yunnan is only two million dan.
If another two million stones of food were invested, the number of local soldiers could be doubled.
If the number of soldiers in these places is doubled, Sanxuan Liuwei and Guanxi Qiwei will immediately become honest and continue to be good sons of the Ming Dynasty, and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate will also rush to recognize relatives, Wus The chieftains and monks of Zang and Duogan will also be more respectful.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was most concerned about whether he could capture Modong, or whether he could colonize it after capturing Modong and completely liberate Daning and Liaodong.
It was precisely because of its importance that Zhu Yuanzhang decided to organize another large-scale northern patrol.
He would rather spend millions of stones to solve the problem in Modong for several consecutive years than to steadily invest two million stones in food for a lifetime to maintain the defense line.
"But grandpa..."
Zhu Yunwen spoke at an inappropriate time, and after attracting everyone's attention, bowed in return: "If we have to conduct two or three more northern patrols, then Changpingcang in Shandong and Zhili may be unsustainable."
Zhu Yunwen's words made Zhu Yuanzhang frown, and Li Jinglong also kept silent and did not answer.
Obviously, he had indescribable military insights into this great grandson.
But when Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Li Jinglong didn't speak, he felt uncomfortable and asked Zhu Yunwen: "If you don't use the money and food for the war, is it possible to keep it to pay annual tribute like the previous Song Dynasty?"
"My grandson didn't mean that. I just thought it would be okay to take it slow." Zhu Yunwen quickly explained, and Zhu Gaochi, who had never spoken at the side, also excused him:
"Your Majesty, that's not what my grandson meant. It's just that in the past three years, the imperial court has continuously launched northern patrols, spending millions in money and food. Although many Hu soldiers were killed and many herds captured, in the end, they used gold to fight beggars. , the gain outweighs the loss.”
"You can't say that!" Seeing the opportunity to express himself, Zhu Jixi did not miss it. He quickly stood up and bowed and retorted:
"As Grandpa Huang said, I would rather beat people with millions of money and food than let people come and rob my home."
"I can't bear to part with these millions of money and food now, but in the future I will have to endure guarding against foreign troops every year and preparing the border every day for decades."
After Zhu Jixing finished speaking, he did not forget to flatter Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Comparing the two, my grandson would rather spend tens of millions of dans of grain to fight thieves than spend tens of millions of dans of grains to guard against thieves."
"Well..." Zhu Jixi's words obviously benefited Zhu Yuanzhang more.
Regardless of whether Zhu Jixi's words were meant to flatter him or he analyzed them himself, he finally made peace with his own thoughts.
Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted tone of voice could be seen by everyone in the palace.
Zhu Gaochi looked hesitant, Zhu Yunwen remained calm, Zhu Jixi was happy, but Li Jinglong was the only one who was high-spirited.
Li Jinglong knew very well what his uncle was thinking. He was never a peaceful person.
Even though he suffered the defeat of Lingbei, he still launched several northern expeditions after that, which also meant that his idea was to eliminate the remaining Yuan instead of holding on.
If the former prince had not passed away, the imperial court would have continued its large-scale northern expedition.
The death of the late prince made this old man stop for a few years, but the sudden rise of Zhu Gaoxu, a young man, gave this old man hope that the Northern Expedition was feasible.
It is true that Can Yuan escaped from the west, but he could not defeat Can Yuan. The imperial court could defeat Wu Liangha and the Jurchens outside the Pass.
With the wealth accumulated by this old man in thirty-one years of the Hongwu Civil War, chasing the residual wealth may be a loss-making thing, but recruiting the Jurchens and capturing Modong is definitely a long-term operation worth doing.
When thinking about this, Li Jinglong couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaoxu.
But he never thought that the young man who told him how to conquer the Japanese would not stop after arriving in the north. Instead, he would fight harder and harder, giving the court more and more hope.
It was after seeing what Zhu Gaoxu did in Jilin City that Zhu Yuanzhang thought about setting up a camp in Modong.
Before, he would have never dared to think so, because he always felt that the time was not ripe.
But as the Ulliangha tribes experienced two heavy casualties, he gradually felt that this opportunity might be under his control.
Because of this, he would increase the line and monthly rations for the Jilin Guards, and increase the military rations from about 200,000 dan for 13,000 military households to 540,000 dan.
Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang did not invest so much in Jilin Guard because of personal feelings. What he wanted was for Zhu Gaoxu to continue to cultivate mature fields in Jilin City until Jilin City could afford to supply military rations to more than ten thousand-household stations along the Harawen Mountains. He will take action to deprive Jilin City of everything.
Although I feel sorry for the boy by doing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's first identity is the emperor, and secondly his grandfather Zhu Gaoxu.
If it doesn't work, just find other things to make up for him in the future.
Zhu Yuanzhang touched his beard guiltily, and gradually thought of Zhu Gaoxu's expression when he learned that he had suffered a loss.
Of course, he kept all this in his heart and never told anyone else, not even his trusted Guo Ying, so Zhu Yunwen naturally didn't know.
Because he didn't know, Zhu Yunwen only felt that his grandfather was helping Zhu Gaoxu expand his power.
He felt inexplicably uncomfortable, but Zhu Yuanzhang woke him up at this moment and announced some other things.
"Jiangnan's tax deductible with banknotes has been done intermittently for two years..."
Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned the use of banknotes to offset taxes, which made Zhu Yunwen feel inexplicably nervous.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know about his nervousness, and just continued to talk to himself: "A few days ago, I asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to do an inventory. For the two years of summer and autumn taxes, Su and Song's Second Mansion used more than two million guan of treasure notes to offset them. Nearly five million stones of tax money and food were collected.”
"After last year's autumn harvest, when banknotes were used to offset taxes, the prices of precious banknotes in various provinces across the country have not seen an increase. I guess they have reached their limit."
"Therefore, I have decided to stop using banknotes to offset taxes this year. We will wait and see the opportunity after the autumn harvest and then decide at our discretion whether to continue using banknotes to offset taxes next year."
Using banknotes to offset taxes, what really made the price of banknotes rise was not the more than 2 million banknotes recycled by the imperial court, but the banknotes that the wealthy people all over the world exchanged and hoarded from the market.
After being stimulated by using banknotes to offset taxes twice in three years, many wealthy households have hoarded a lot of valuable banknotes, but the scope of using banknotes to offset taxes has not been expanded.
As a result, there will naturally be no wealthy households in the market willing to exchange and hoard treasure banknotes, and the price of treasure banknotes will naturally not be able to rise.
In addition, the imperial court moved wealthy households into the capital, and many wealthy households even sold and exchanged a lot of treasure banknotes. As a result, at this time last year, the price of treasure banknotes fell for a period of time.
Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of using banknotes to offset taxes was not just to allow these wealthy households to enjoy the benefits, but to make them pay a certain price in order to enjoy the benefits.
Now they just want to reap the benefits and don't want to pay the price, so the use of cash to offset taxes will naturally have to stop.
It was just his arrangement that made Zhu Yunwen quickly stand up and bow to him: "Grandpa, the news of using banknotes to offset taxes this year has been released. If it is stopped, it may be detrimental to the prestige of the court."
"..." Seeing Zhu Yunwen walking out, although Zhu Yuanzhang expected it, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
"If that kid Gao Xu is here, he should agree with my idea..."
I don’t know if he is getting old or nostalgic, but Zhu Yuanzhang always thinks of Zhu Gaoxu recently.
Just thinking is one thing, but how to control him is another matter, just like now...
Zhu Yuanzhang set his sights on Zhu Yunwen. He knew that his grandson was close to the wealthy squires in Jiangnan, so he deliberately told him that he would stop using banknotes to offset taxes for one year.
The purpose of doing this is to use Zhu Yunwen's words to convey his meaning to that group of people, so as to teach them who the master of this world is.
Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard lightly and wanted to say something else, but at this moment, a pale-faced military attache walked in outside Wuying Hall.
He was Jiang Hui, the new commander of the Jinyi Guards, and his pale face made Zhu Yuanzhang's already uneasy heart gradually become heavier.
"Hail, Your Majesty..."
Jiang Hui entered Wuying Hall, bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then slowly raised his head: "Taiyuan 800 miles urgent..."
When the word 'Taiyuan' appeared, everyone in the hall turned around, but no matter how much they thought about it, they never expected what Jiang Hui would say next.
"On the night of March 12th, at three quarters and six o'clock in the morning, His Highness the King of Jin... passed away!"
When the last two words came out of his mouth, Jiang Hui lowered his head, and the air in the hall instantly froze.
Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Gaochi, and Li Jinglong showed expressions of disbelief. Zhu Jixi, who was beaming with joy a second ago because of his ability to flatter himself, now had a blank mind.
Zhu Yuanzhang's normally half-closed eyes suddenly widened. He slowly stood up from the dragon chair, put his hands on the dragon table in disbelief, and his beard trembled: "What did you say..."
"His Royal Highness King Jin... has passed away!" Jiang Hui knocked his head to the ground. Repeating these words twice made Zhu Jixi's body go limp, and he slumped down on the gold bricks in the palace.
"My father... passed away..." Zhu Jixi seemed to be in a daze as he kept repeating this sentence.
Zhu Yuanzhang staggered out from behind the Long Case and almost fell down. Fortunately, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Yunwen quickly stepped forward to support him, and Li Jinglong also helped up Zhu Jixi who was lying limp on the ground.
Even now, everyone's minds are still blank and they don't know what to say.
"How did he die? How did he die!"
Zhu Yuanzhang lost his composure. With the support of his two grandchildren, he took a few steps forward and asked with a trembling voice.
"The medical officer of the royal palace diagnosed that the qi, blood and body were deficient. He tried all kinds of supplements but the body did not take them. It was because he was deficient and could not be supplemented, and he died of illness..."
Jiang Hui struggled to tell the cause of Zhu Fan's death. The cause of death made Zhu Yuanzhang's body, which had finally recovered, suddenly become weak and almost sit on the ground.
Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi struggled to support him, but tears welled up in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes: "The third child...my son!!"
When he learned that Zhu Fan died of the same disease as Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang burst into tears.
There were no other thoughts in his mind at this moment, almost blank. He was just crying instinctively following his body's reaction.
Not only him, but Zhu Jixi who had come to his senses at the side was also holding his head and crying.
It's just that compared to Lao Zhu's pain of losing his son, his crying emotions were more complicated.
Although the pain of losing his father is painful, Zhu Fan's death brought another heavy blow to Zhu Jixi.
It is no longer possible to enter the Wuying Palace in the Jin Mansion. Like Zhu Shangbing, he was sent back to Shanxi to inherit the throne after facing the news of his father's death, and will no longer have the opportunity and qualification to govern in the Wuying Palace.
His father's promise to him to ascend to the position of great treasure has completely become impossible to achieve.
Zhu Jixi persisted for more than ten years, at the expense of his father-in-law's life and the princess's love, but in the end he got this ending. How could he accept it?
Compared with Lao Zhu and Zhu Jixi, Zhu Gaochi and Li Jinglong were still confused.
At this moment, Li Jinglong subconsciously looked at Zhu Yunwen, who was supporting the emperor.
The expression on Zhu Yunwen's face was complicated, but the smile at the corner of his mouth could not be concealed.
The emperor was experiencing the pain of losing his son and had no time to notice, but he...
Just as Li Jinglong was about to look away, he met Zhu Yunwen's eyes.
As if he just realized that Li Jinglong was looking at him, Zhu Yunwen quickly adjusted the expression on his face to look sad.
Such a change made Li Jinglong's heart sink. Perhaps it was only at this moment that he discovered that the great grandson was so deeply scheming.
Unlike everyone else, if everyone is sad, then Zhu Gaochi is worried at this moment.
Faced with the situation that all three uncles died in their prime, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but worry about his father.
But when he thought of Zhu Di's strong body, he felt a little relieved: "My father is in such good health, he should be fine..."
Before he could finish his thoughts, he felt his hands heavy. When he looked down, he saw that his grandfather had passed out in tears.
"grandfather!!"
"The Imperial Physician! Pass on the Imperial Physician!!"
Zhu Gaochi was the first to discover Zhu Yuanzhang who was unconscious. Zhu Yunwen, Li Jinglong and others who reacted quickly called the imperial doctor.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang was not in particularly good health last year, the imperial doctor from Tai Hospital has been arranged to be on duty around him.
When the voice calling for the imperial doctor came, an imperial doctor carrying a medicine box quickly rushed in from outside the palace.
After taking Zhu Yuanzhang's pulse, he quickly used silver needles to prick Baihui, Shangxing and other acupuncture points.
Not long after, Zhu Yuanzhang woke up, and people around him were concerned and asking.
Facing these inquiries, he only felt noisy and tears slowly flowed out.
"Zhu Mengyan, the Minister of Summoning Ceremonies..."
Although he was still crying, his mood was much more stable than before. It was just that he was sad inside, and I'm afraid only he could know it.
After the explanation, Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi helped him sit back on the dragon chair.
As a son of a man, Zhu Jixi, after being frightened by Zhu Yuanzhang's fainting, the tears that he had finally stopped flowing out again a moment later.
Only Zhu Yunwen, after helping Zhu Yuanzhang to sit down, glanced meaningfully at Li Jinglong, who had just noticed that he was smiling.
Facing that gaze, Li Jinglong slowly lowered his head...
"Records of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty": Geng Shen, King of Jin Dynasty, passed away. He mourned and stayed away from the court for three days.
(End of chapter)
