Regarding the issue of the Northern Expedition, there was huge opposition in the court, including Zhang Juzheng. At first, they did not agree with Zhu Yijun's plan for the Northern Expedition, thinking that it was a great success that was not worth the gain.
This is not surprising. The ministers did not have the perspective of a time traveler, and they did not know that Siberia, which the Chinese called the Luo Wilderness at this time, was the largest resource treasure house of mankind. No matter which nation owns this wilderness, it will have an invincible position in the changes of the next thousand years. capital.
As a time traveler, Zhu Yijun certainly coveted this land. In his memory of Siberia, this land was particularly easy for colonists to conquer - Tsarist Russia conquered this land with only a few thousand Kazakhs without a regular army.
Thousands of soldiers occupy 13 million square kilometers of land. This should be the greatest benefit that the Space-Time Administration gives to travelers. Zhu Yijun therefore tried his best to get it into his pocket despite all the opinions. The reason he gave was: after occupying this wilderness, the threats from the north will be fundamentally eliminated. For the Ming Dynasty, it is worthwhile even if the blood of hundreds of thousands of soldiers is used to water this wilderness.
This reason is very powerful. The Chinese people’s fear of coming from the north is deep-rooted - the Great Wall is the best proof. If we can go deep into the wilderness and eliminate its roots, and China will no longer have trouble from the north, it will be a good deal. Moreover, the national power at this time had exceeded the courtiers' imagination of a "prosperous age", and everyone felt that it was within the tolerance to accompany the emperor to go crazy. And once Zhu Yijun's plan succeeds, the money saved will be very valuable.
However, the most difficult thing about conquering this wilderness is not the enemy, but the harsh climate and geographical environment. After Zhang Juzheng understood the basic situation of Luo Wilderness, he had a conversation with Zhu Yijun. He believed that even if this wilderness was occupied during the Wanli period, future generations would give it up because there was not enough benefit here - after all, the frontier is far away from the center. The further away, the harder it is for the center to control its centrifugal force.
This is indeed a problem, but Zhu Yijun is confident that a railway running through the Luo wilderness will be built in his lifetime, thereby fundamentally solving this problem. Although the research on steam engines has not yet begun, Zhu Yijun believes that millions of taels of technology investment every year will surely yield fruitful results in the near future.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia’s ambition to find an outlet to the east will not stop. If Zhu Yijun uses the Ural Mountains as the border of his empire, he must retain a standing army there that is enough to guard thousands of miles of borders. For the current Ming Dynasty and the future Chinese nation , this will be a huge burden.
Despite this, the Northern Expedition was inevitable. This land must be in the hands of China. It will become the psychological and practical rear area of the Chinese nation in future generations. No matter what happens in the future, China with Luo wilderness will have capital that cannot be conquered.
More importantly, in Zhu Yijun's view, one day Ming Dynasty will meet Tsarist Russia in the Luo wilderness. Because the entire North Asia is a huge landmass, the border between the two countries will be very long anyway. In other words, this burden will need to be borne by both sides no matter how many years have passed.
In this case, why not try your best to push the border to the west? There are not many people on this land, and the cost of occupation is extremely low. ——Even in the 21st century, the development of the Luo wilderness is far from enough. Hundreds of thousands of Russians are lost in Siberia and the Far East every year, making the entire wilderness increasingly sparsely populated.
In fact, the Luo wilderness in later generations was actually wasted in the hands of Russia. Because of the sparse population, less than one percent of the entire 13 million square kilometers of land has been developed. If the Luo wilderness can be fully developed, this land can easily support 200 million people, and the food it produces can also feed hundreds of millions of people.
Another huge advantage of setting the strategy for the Northern Expedition is to fully integrate the Mongolian and Han nationalities throughout the strategy. This will be a package plan. Zhu Yijun plans to spend fifty years to forge a new Ming Dynasty - the internal affairs have initially achieved results, and the Northern Expedition is only the second step of the Long March.
...
When the Ming Emperor turned his attention to the north, Tsar Ivan IV of the Rurik Dynasty had actually already turned his attention to the east. In the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing, Ivan IV met with the great nobleman Stroganov, inquired about the border situation, and authorized his family to build fortifications, recruit troops, and wait for opportunities to invade and occupy the Siberian Khanate.
Fast forward to the ninth year of Wanli, the Tsarist Russian heavy criminal and Cossack leader Yermak led 840 mercenaries to invade the Irtysh River, defeated the Siberian Khanate, and dedicated the land of the Siberian Khanate to the Ivan IV. Yermak, who had achieved such military exploits, was pardoned and rewarded with a large number of silver coins.
Zhu Yijun, who was thousands of miles apart, did not know all of the above when he planned the Northern Expedition. Although he is a history buff, he did not remember the specific time of Russia's eastward invasion before traveling - he only had a vague feeling that Tsarist Russia had already begun to move eastward at this time, so it was inevitable for the Ming Dynasty to move north. .
After Zhang Juzheng reported the results of the exchange with King Shunyi to Zhu Yijun, Zhu Yijun gave the governor's office of Zhili, Liaodong, Rehe and others the last decree before the year - in the eleventh year of Wanli, the emperor would go out to Beijing to hunt in the north. Hanba gathered all the Mongolian tribes to show the emperor's goodwill and secure the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty!
When the decree came out of Beijing, the world was shocked. This was the first time after Wuzong left the Forbidden City that the Ming Emperor wanted to go outside the Great Wall. Although Jiajing had left his home in the Forbidden City, he had not been outside the Pass during his southern tour.
After the Spring Festival, Zhu Yijun was twenty-two years old, six years younger than Wu Zong, who left seclusion at the age of twenty-eight. However, the treatment received by the two emperors was completely opposite - Zhu Houzhao was almost scolded to death by civilian officials when he went out to fight. As a result, he did not take any civilian officials with him when he went on patrol. After his victory, he was scolded by the civilian officials again and his impressive record was set to zero. .
Zhu Yijun's tour was different, and there was a lot of praise from the court to the people. The court officials praised him for "hunting to the north, and the movement of heaven is unparalleled in ancient times"; the folk newspapers praised him for "caring for the world and not being afraid of hard work". If Emperor Wuzong knew about it, the cover of Zi Palace would collapse.
In this regard, Zhu Yijun believes that the character he has accumulated through his ten years of diligent pursuit of national governance has played a huge role. Not to mention compared to Wu Zong's bastard, compared to Taizu and Chengzu, Zhu Yijun's performance in the past ten years is difficult for courtiers to criticize him morally.
Moreover, in the eighth year of Wanli, the emperor had his eldest son, and after that year, the king of Luo County was already four years old. In the past two years, Zhu Yijun has been planting and harvesting extensively. The concubines in the harem gave birth to three more sons for him. For this reason alone, Zhu Yijun was much more reliable than a double plug like Wu Zong.
Of course, having many wives also has side effects. For example, after the decree came out, Zhuang Jingjia was overjoyed after receiving the letter, and immediately asked the female official to inform Zhu Yijun to sleep in Kunning Palace at night, and prepare to make a request-to accompany him.
Being trapped in the Forbidden City for the past five years, Zhuang Jingjia has already become familiar with every plant and tree in the Forbidden City and Xiyuan, and she is very tired of it. After she became the queen, the farthest place she went to was Xiannongtan, where she carried out ceremonial farming. In the rest of the time, in addition to learning to handle palace affairs with Empress Dowager Li, she also had to arrange for Zhu Yijun to sleep with his concubines every day, which was a sour feeling.
Although the emperor's love for her continued and he would accompany her every other day, Zhuang Jingjia still felt depressed. Now that I heard that the emperor is going to the grassland, why don't you go and relax?
However, before Zhu Yijun could return to Kunning Palace from get off work, Empress Dowager Li ordered her to go to the Yangxin Palace and ask to accompany him. It was said that Empress Dowager Chen often suffered from wind and cold this spring and Princess Leping was pregnant, otherwise she would also go out for a walk.
The news of Queen Mother Li's oral message reached Kunning Palace, and Queen Zhuang almost cried. Empress Dowager Chen is no longer in good health and no longer cares about palace affairs. If Empress Dowager Li leaves, to whom can these thousands of people's inner palace be thrown?
If the imperial concubine was allowed to take charge of affairs, Empress Zhuang would not be able to bear the loss of power. Moreover, Prince Luo was young and was being raised in Kunning Palace at this time. Zhuang Jingjia originally planned to entrust him to Empress Dowager Li. Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Li had the same thoughts as her, and struck her first, which made her want to cry.
At the same time, Empress Dowager Li's edict also triggered open and covert conflicts among Zhu Yijun's concubines. If the queen cannot accompany her, then in theory everyone has the opportunity to follow. Let’s not talk about the issue of traveling to relax. The emperor can’t take all the harem with him when he goes on tour. He can take three or five of them with him. This period of time is equivalent to being a special pet. Whether he can conceive a dragon and change his destiny, let’s give it a try!
Empress Zhuang was inexperienced in fighting and was tricked by Empress Dowager Li. Zhu Yijun received more than a dozen letters from the harem in one afternoon at Yangxin Hall - all of them invited him to taste special delicacies in the evening. The concubines who wrote the letter all said that they had been preparing for this dinner for a whole day, and their hands were soaked in the water.
Zhu Yijun couldn't be serious about these girls who violated the palace ban. Normally, they would not dare to do this - isn't this because they are desperate and want to win?
From this point of view, it is best to sleep in the Yangxin Palace at night. If you go back to Kunning Palace, you might have to coax your wife for half the night - this kind of multiple-choice question Zhu Yijun was also asked in later generations: Wife and mother fall into the water first Who to save? Well, Empress Dowager Li was led by Zhuang Jingjia during this northern inspection tour, which is similar to this.
Although Queen Mother Li is not the biological mother of Zhu Yijun’s soul, isn’t this still the old society? Before women were liberated, even if ten or eight queens were tied together, Empress Dowager Li could take care of them with one hand - there would still be plenty left.
After a fierce ideological struggle, Zhu Yijun went to Kunning Palace. After all, he couldn't take the queen out to play, so he had to calm her down - Zhu Yijun decided to make her cry tonight.
