In April of the 10th year of Chongzhen, the early summer finally arrived... After several rains, the dry and cold grassland outside the mouth was finally covered with green.
The skyrocketing summer grass also means that the Mongolian tribes in southern and northern Mongolia can migrate. The time has come when Zhu Youjian left Beijing again and embarked on the Western Expedition.
Outside Deshengmen in Beijing, there was once again a solemn scene of an army marching out.
In front of the tent are knights, Mongolian athletes, and a team of chariots, horses, and camels. Under various banners, they all stood on the official road outside Deshengmen. The soldiers and armor are neatly arranged, and there are many guns and blunderbuss.
Their number is not large, only more than 20,000, but they are the elite who follow Zhu Youjian across the northern country and sweep away all directions. These days, although there is peace both internally and externally, there is no war. However, these elite soldiers and generals have not delayed their preparations and training. They have all adjusted their condition to the best and are ready to launch a thousands-mile expedition at any time!
And an expedition spanning thousands of miles across the grasslands and Gobi was an almost impossible task for the Ming army, which originally had no nomadic capabilities. Because the troops from the farming areas of the Central Plains must rely on long logistical supply lines to maintain the momentum of the war. The logistics supply line itself consumes a lot of money, especially the supply lines passing through grasslands and deserts... No matter how well it operates, a 2,000-mile supply line can consume about 90% of the goods shipped. of food and fodder!
Fortunately, it took Zhu Youjian nearly ten years of hard work to finally have 700 directly subordinate Mongolian households capable of nomadic life, and 1,800 dependent Mongolian households.
Therefore, the 20,000 Ming and Mongolian coalition forces currently concentrated outside Deshengmen are only the elite part of the Western Expedition army. At this time, 7,000 Mongolian herders drawn from the seven noble concubines and ten thousand households outside Xuanfu are driving hundreds of thousands of sheep and more than 100,000 horses, ready to follow Zhu Youjian and Wu Liang. The army led by Concubine Hada set out to the west.
In order to send troops before the autumn of the 10th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian also ordered the three towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Yanshan to take out the hay they had stored up and feed and fatten the livestock carried by seven thousand Mongolian households!
In addition, Chahar's "Little Khan" Erkongoro Ezhe, who is only 16 years old this year, also received an edict issued by Zhu Youjian in the name of Tian Khan. With the assistance of his mother, Concubine Sutai, he led the 5,000 households of Chahar, Zasaktu, and Chatutaiji to join forces and march into Khovd together, waiting for an opportunity to cross the Altai Mountains and go to Attack the Jungar tribe in the Oara Alliance.
At the same time, the 20,000 households of Tang King Zhu Yujian and the 20,000 Gansu military households (sweet potato soldiers) commanded by the Trilateral Governor Mei Zhihuan and Gansu General Yang Jiamo had already entered the Suzhou Guard in Jiayuguan and were waiting. Zhu Youjian gave an order to go west to Jiayuguan and attack Yumenguan, Shazhouwei, Guazhou and Dunhuang, which had been occupied for many years.
Everything is ready for a war that will span thousands of miles to the west, and perhaps even open up frontiers thousands of miles away!
The commander-in-chief of this Western Expedition to the Frontier, Zhu Youjian, who was also the Ming Dynasty Emperor and Mongol Khan, is still in the urn city of Deshengmen, together with Empress Zhou, the emperor's nephew Zhu Cixiang, and six cabinet ministers. The Grand Bachelor and the twelve ministers of the Six Divisions said goodbye.
"Mr. Hong, you are my official and my most useful commander, and now you have become Yuan Fu... After I leave the capital to go on an expedition, you will not only assist my great nephew in supervising the country, but also You must pay attention to your nephew’s studies, especially his financial management studies, and never let them go to waste!”
Hong Chengchou has been a daughter-in-law for many years now. Finally, after the old and sick Bi Ziyan became an official, he surpassed Wen Tiren, the "second assistant for ten thousand years", and became a bachelor of the Zhongji Palace and a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Wen Tiren continued to be his Grand Bachelor of Jianji Hall and Minister of Rites, Xiong Wencan was also a Grand Bachelor of Wenhua Hall and Minister of Works, Chen Qiyu took charge of the Ministry of War and became a Bachelor of Wuyingdian, Shangshu of Hubu and Wenyuange. Gao Hongtu, who was new to the cabinet, was given the title of Shi Kefa, a bachelor of Dongge and the minister of the Ministry of Punishment.
"I will work hard to assist my nephew in overseeing the country well," Hong Chengchou assured Zhu Youjian, "At the same time, I will also keep an eye on the studies of His Highness my nephew."
Zhu Youjian turned his head and glanced at Zhu Cihong, who was 10 years old, and said: "Brother Chun, you have to work harder... You have to study Confucianism, Wuwu, martial arts, military science, financial management, and Latin with all your heart! When I return to the throne, I will inspect every door!"
Zhu Youjian now hopes that his son will become rich...Now the Ming Dynasty has begun to "overcome the tribulation". Even if this "tribulation" can be overcome, it will definitely bring the finances to the brink of bankruptcy. If he wants to get rich again, he must I can only count on my treacherous son.
Zhu Cixi seemed a little helpless... He was learning more and more things and had no time to play. It was really painful!
"My son knows!" Zhu Cixi didn't dare to disobey his father's orders, so he had to obey obediently.
Zhu Youjian nodded, looked at Queen Zhou who had just given birth to her fifth child, and said with a smile: "Queen, you should pay more attention to your health and don't work too hard for a few children...especially the eldest and third child. I have already made arrangements for their studies, so you don’t have to waste time teaching them.”
Queen Zhou looked at Zhu Youjian unhappily: "Are you worried that I will relax the studies of the eldest and the third child? But the studies you have arranged for them are too heavy, they are still young!"
Small? Zhu Youjian said in his heart: Three filial sons are okay, but Zhu Cihong is not good. He was a rebellious son at the age of 17 in his previous life! Now that he is 10 years old, can he not be educated well? If you don’t educate yourself well, what will you do if you become a traitor again?
When Zhu Youji thought of this, he said to Zhu Cixi with a straight face: "Brother Chun, as a father, I have to fight for more places for the people of the world to survive... You are still young and cannot be with me, so you have to Study hard, got it?"
"My son...I know!" Zhu Cixiang seemed a little helpless. He didn't know whether it was because he had too much homework to do, or because he saw that this old man often had to do business at a loss.
"Okay!" Zhu Youjian nodded and called again, "Xiong Wencan, where is Sun Yuanhua?"
"I'm here!"
"I'm here!"
Xiong Wencan is the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Sun Yuanhua is now the right minister of the Ministry of Industry and the Tianjin Artillery Manufacturing Bureau.
"The affairs of the Tianjin artillery bureau will be left to you two!" Zhu Youjian warned, "The two artillery bureaus, Xuanfu and Ningyuan, will be moved to Tianjin as soon as possible...the two places will be integrated into one , we need to greatly increase the scale of production, not only to make cannons, but also to make blunderbuss, gunpowder, fire blunderbuss, swords, and armor!"
Zhu Youjian went full circle and put the firearms factory he had set up, bypassing the Ministry of Works, back under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works. And it went a step further, allowing this firearms factory under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry to cross-border manufacturing of swords and armor.
"I am a soldier, Mr. Sun, Mr. Lu," Zhu Youjian finished instructing the Ministry of Industry to make cannons and muskets, and then called Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng to come forward, "I am very relieved to have two gentlemen in charge of military affairs. However, I am also worried about the new Herding Department established by the Ministry of War... The horses raised in this Herding Department are all good horses that I have collected through various channels. They must not be allowed to compete with outside horses. The horse is in trouble!
In addition, you must try to expand the horse herd in the Herding Division as much as possible. There are currently less than 1,000 Fold-eared horses and Luzon horses (actually Andalusian horses). I hope that by the 17th year of Chongzhen, the horse herd can be expanded to 5,000 horses, and 2,500 high-quality gelded war horses must be prepared for me. "
"Your Majesty, don't worry," Sun Chuanting said with a smile, "I know how to raise horses."
Lu Xiangsheng also said: "Besides, there are pastoral slaves from Luzon Island among the group of pastoralists, so nothing can go wrong."
"Not only can we not make mistakes," Zhu Youjian said, "but we also have to learn the skills of those Luzon slaves." He paused and then said, "If we want to pacify Liao and eliminate slaves, we still need to be able to overwhelm the slave thieves. The elite cavalry! However, the slave thieves’ forward battalion and white-armored guards are both very strong... If we want to defeat them, we have to focus on the horses!"
After he said this, he glanced around again and said loudly: "I'm leaving... Beijing will be handed over to you!"
