"In April of the seventeenth year, I sent the emperor to hunt south in panic. Unknowingly, three years have passed. I pity the tens of thousands of people in the north, looking south for the king, year after year..."
At the meeting between the two imperial palaces on the second day, Emperor Hongxing of the Ming Dynasty sighed leisurely as soon as he came up.
The time is now in March of Yangchun, the 20th year of Chongzhen, and it is the third anniversary of Chongzhen's move to the south. This is not a good day! Although Zhu Cixiang felt that he and Emperor Chongzhen were getting along well, one had become the peaceful Emperor Hongxing of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and the other had become the romantic and cheerful Emperor of the Immortals. However, in the eyes of knowledgeable people in the world, Emperor Hongxing always had a "safe" hat weighing on his head...
In the past, Emperor Chongzhen was responsible for taking the blame for the foolish emperor. Now that Chongzhen has retired to enjoy the blessings, Emperor Hongxing has to take the blame for this "a corner of peace".
Zhu Cixi also knew that the conditions for the Northern Expedition were not mature, but it was uncomfortable to take the blame. It was politically incorrect! Moreover, there are still many reforms to be carried out in the southeastern half, such as land clearing and land inspection - this is a very troublesome matter that cannot be solved with just a few imperial edicts! So there needs to be some external pressure to silence the internal opposition!
Another example is the household registration reform - this matter is almost as difficult as clearing land and inspecting land, and will also affect the interests of many people, because in the process of household registration reform, not only the lowly and slave registrations will be abolished, but also the household registrations linked to occupations. The system will also be abolished, and the number of privileged households (don’t even think about everyone being equal in a feudal society) will be greatly reduced. On this basis, the government and the people will also be implemented to pay grain and taxes together...
In addition, the deepening of the reform of the imperial examination will also make a large number of people unhappy! The Jinshi subject no longer exists, and the examination of candidates actually does not exist anymore - if you succeed in the examination, you will become a sesame official and start from the job of the ninth grade! If you don’t want to be an official, then you should still be a scholar. Moreover, a scholar is still a private household and has no privileges at all. After becoming a Zhima official, he is still an official household!
In short, Emperor Hongxing needs to do something now so that everyone in the world knows how powerful he is!
As for the warlords in Shandong and Huaibei, they just don't want to live in peace, so let's do something together!
"Your Majesty, I have 20,000 tigers and warriors, all of whom have been fighting for a long time. Last year, we were awarded land in Xuzhou, and everyone has a family fortune. Now everyone is full of energy, waiting for the Northern Expedition to make a lot of achievements. Some land!”
Kenan Qushanbo Gaojie was the first to stand up and express his position. He was full of big words and it seemed as if he was telling the truth.
In fact, among the six Huaibei and Shandong warlords who entered the dynasty, he was the one who least wanted to go to the Northern Expedition. Because he now occupies two extremely wealthy territories in Xuzhou and Haizhou. What does the Northern Expedition mean? If you win, can you give me a better piece of territory? Unlikely... he might have been sent to Shaanxi to keep Wu Sangui company.
"Chen Huang Degong is willing to be a pioneer! Go straight to Yandu!"
Huang Degong saw Gao Jie jumping out to perform, and not to be outdone, he also rushed to express his stance and ask for a fight. But unlike Gao Jie, he was sincere.
The territory in Huaibei is too poor! Moreover, his direct-administered territory was relatively small - for a feudal lord whose economy was based on land, the amount and fatness of the directly-administered land was directly related to his authority in his headquarters.
Gao Jie's direct jurisdiction included the entire Haizhou (Zhili Prefecture), and he was very wealthy. His land tax alone amounted to more than a million dan every year!
Therefore, Gao Jie's ability to control his troops did not weaken with the conferment of fields and construction of guards. But Huang Degong suffered a lot. The first territory Zhu Cixiang assigned him was Guide Mansion, but it was later snatched away by Hauge.
After the bloody stream battle, Zhu Cixiang did not take advantage of the victory to recover the lost land in Henan, but gave Huang Degong some land in Huaibei. Moreover, most of these lands were allocated to Huang Degong's men. At that time, Zhu Cixiang wanted to allocate land to build guards and reorganize Huang Degong's army into Zhuwei Army, so he did not leave any direct land for him.
However, Huang Degong was not a vegetarian. He took advantage of Zhu Cixi's opportunity to seize Huguang and sent troops to annex Taoyuan and Suining counties, which belonged to Haizhou. These two counties are located on the west bank of the Yellow River flowing south. They have fertile land and a relatively large population (the last time Hauge invaded the south, it was not affected there), so they became the economic basis for Huang Degong's survival.
However, the oil and water in the two counties are too little after all, and there is not enough food!
"Okay," Zhu Cixiang smiled brightly and nodded repeatedly, "After the Northern Expedition is successful, Huang Qing will definitely have a seat among the nine frontier fortresses."
When he responded to Li Zicheng's half-baked Northern Expedition last time, Zhu Cixi stated that he would change Beizhili to Beiping Province. Later, when he established Jiangdu and Wuhan Prefecture, he once again confirmed that the three capitals in the south, middle and north would be changed to Jiang (du) and south. (Beijing) Two Capitals.
Therefore, after the success of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Cixiang would not return to Beijing. Instead, he would set up nine frontier fortresses as a vassal screen in the Central Plains.
This sounds like reversing the course of feudalism, but in fact it is strengthening the centralization of power - because the prerequisite for setting up the Nine-Border Fortress is to bring large tracts of land in the Central Plains, Shandong, and Beizhi under the direct jurisdiction of the central government.
That is to say, drive all the warlords to the northern border...
Zhu Cixiang had a generous smile, clasped his fingers and said: "Liaodong, Daning, Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, Yansui (Yan'an plus Yulin), Ningxia, and Gansu, there are nine towns in total, all with vassal palaces or Jiedushi! The Wu family takes two, one for Dai Fan, one for Tang Fan, and one for Lu Fan. The remaining four are given to the two high officials, Huang Qing and Zuo Qing. As for Shi Qing... Choose between Baoding and Zhending!"
After listening to Zhu Cixi's explanation of how to divide the territory, the faces of the four local snakes, Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai, all darkened. Huang Degong and Shi Kefa are quite happy... They don't have any good territory, so of course they are happy to get the same territory.
But Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai are at a bit of a loss. Shandong and Xuhai are such good places, but they will have a hard time guarding the border...
Zhu Cixiang's eyes swept over the elongated faces of the four great warlords, and he laughed: "The official fields and military fields on the ground in Shandong and Xuhai are all handled by the feudal lords themselves. What kind of yellow and gold are handed over by the feudal lords?" The imperial court would decide what kind of fish scale atlas it would approve, except for the hidden property that needed to be inspected, and nothing else.
In addition, each of the six vassals could seal tributaries of each family in a county in the Shandong, Xuhai, and Huaibei circles. "
The benefits here are huge!
Shandong Province alone has more than 61 million acres of land in the Ming Dynasty Fish Scale Atlas. After deducting the land in Penglai County and Denglai Seven Guards under the control of the Denglai Governor's Yamen and the Shandong General Army Yamen, the remaining land is at least There are 56,7 million acres! How many official fields and military fields are there? How many hidden fields are there?
If all this land is "washed" into private land, you can understand the benefits from it even with your heel...
In addition, Zhu Cihong also gave six major warlords the privilege of establishing small vassals in one county in each circle of Shandong, Xuhai, and Huaibei.
This is equivalent to turning six vassals into twelve vassals...the benefits here are huge!
Seeing the loyal smiles on the faces of Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai, Emperor Hong Xing also laughed together, and then gave Zuo Military Advisor Li Yan a wink.
Li Yan immediately understood and said with a smile: "The Generalissimo's Office has been planning the Northern Expedition these days, and has also read the memorials submitted by everyone. Now it has drawn up a five-pronged Northern Expedition strategy to attack the city of Beijing."
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Tell everyone about it."
He waved to Huang Xiaobao, and the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi immediately took out the map he had prepared and spread it on a long table in Dongnuan Pavilion.
Five big arrows have been drawn on the map!
The first arrow is to start from Juehua Island, first cross the sea to Ningyuan, and then follow the Liaoxi Corridor to the Shanhaiguan Pass and go straight to Beijing City.
The second arrow starts from Haisha Island, first conquers Dagukou, and then goes straight to Beijing city along Tianjin Weihe River and the Grand Canal.
The third arrow is to attack from Qufu and Xuzhou, all the way north along the canal, and go straight to Beijing!
The fourth arrow is to send troops from Luliang Mountain to attack Taiyuan, cross Taihang, and go straight to Beijing City.
The fifth arrow is to send troops from Ningxia Town, walk through the Hetao, cross the grassland, and attack Beijing City from the direction of Xuanfu and Datong!
