Geng Bingwen stood on the city wall, inspecting the city defense layout. When he saw some sergeants slacking off, he scolded them majestically. Just yesterday, a batch of gunpowder bombs was secretly moved to the city wall, and the divine machine gunner took over the important position of city defense.
The strength of the Beijing army's defense exceeded Zhu Di's expectations.
As early as October of the sixth year of Jianwen, Geng Bingwen mentioned that he was not in good health and hoped to return to the capital to recuperate. With a stroke of his pen, Zhu Yunwen transferred Geng Bingwen, who was in Jinan, back to the capital, but he was not allowed to recuperate. Instead, he served as the guard of the capital. Cooperate with Mei Yin to handle the defense of the capital.
Geng Bingwen is very old, already in his early seventies. Fortunately, he is in good spirits and has no signs of dementia. When he received the appointment, he knew clearly who Zhu Yunwen was guarding against. He was very old and often braved the wind and snow to inspect the city defenses and inspect the capital. The army can be regarded as doing its best to share your worries.
At the same time, the main naval force led by Chen Hui and Geng Xuan, one stationed at Dashengguan in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the other stationed in Longtan in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, were all fully armed and equipped with firearms. Once the capital has police, the main force of the navy can reach the outskirts of the capital within an hour.
It was about the lives of a whole family. Zhu Yunwen did not dare to be careless, nor did he want to be careless. Although he said that Zhu Di surrendered, he did nothing except self-destruction along the way. Whatever happened, the military morale is very stable and there is no sign of rebellion. However, considering Zhu Di's "criminal record", it is always good to be more prepared.
When the first batch of troops to conquer the west ferried to the south bank of the Yangtze River via the Dafu boat, Zhu Yunwen was holding a family banquet in the Provincial Gong Palace to entertain Zhu Zhi, Zhu Gui, Zhu Geng, Zhu Zhen, Zhu Chun and other vassal kings.
King Zhu Zhi of Liao was very happy and congratulated Zhu Yunwen: "Now that King Yan has returned with a great victory, his army is majestic and commanding all directions. It is because of your majesty's wise appointment and proper planning. The general is united and I propose three toasts."
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand and said with a smile: "Uncle King Yan is here. If he sees Uncle King Liao getting me drunk and not entertaining him and other generals properly, I wonder if they will attack the palace of King Liao. This wine is still good. Leave Uncle Yan and the others to drink together when they come."
Zhu Chun, the king of Shu, was shouting at the side: "The emperor drinks like an ocean. What does this mean? Otherwise, we will toast three glasses together?"
"good!"
All the vassal kings agreed in unison and raised their glasses to toast.
Zhu Yunwen was in a happy mood and raised his glass: "In that case, let's discuss the matter after three glasses of wine."
Been drinking.
Zhu Yunwen put down his wine glass and looked at the vassal kings with a smile: "Let me put it bluntly, when King Yan returns to the capital, what the uncles are most concerned about should be the group of prisoners."
"Haha, no."
Zhu Gui was looking forward to it.
Although Zhu Chun was a scholar, his family also owned a mine and needed a group of prisoners. Zhu Zhi, Zhu Geng and others were also eager for it.
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly: "In the battle with Timur, more than 75,000 soldiers were captured. Excluding those who were disabled and useless, there were still more than 64,000. Among these prisoners, 4,000 were taken out and distributed to the palace and various places. There are 60,000 left in the feudal prince's palace. I can sell these 60,000 prisoners to you."
The imperial palace needs eunuchs, and so does the feudal prince's palace. Zhu Yunwen couldn't bear to castrate the people of the Ming Dynasty, but the palace had to recruit new eunuchs. He could only follow Zhu Yuanzhang's example and fill the palace with prisoners of war.
"Is it just 60,000?"
Zhu Gui frowned a little.
Sixty thousand was an astonishing amount, but the problem was that there were as many as sixteen vassal kings who offered to buy prisoners. If divided evenly, there would only be 3,750 prisoners.
Taking Zhu Gui's coal mine in Shanxi as an example, a medium-sized coal mine requires more than a thousand people, and a large coal mine requires at least 3,000 people. This number of prisoners is only enough to support a large coal mine.
Zhu Zhi said: "Your Majesty, there are 8,000 cavalrymen who surrendered in Karachi. Are these people not counted among the prisoners?"
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Zhi and said: "Karachi surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. It was a meritorious service and cannot be considered a prisoner."
"With merit, what merit does he have?"
Zhu Zhen was very puzzled. Karachi's contribution was not mentioned in the imperial military report. He was captured by Song Sheng in Beita Mountain. He was not a prisoner.
Zhu Yunwen didn't lie.
Karachi was a general under Harry. After surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, although Karachi did not participate in the battle against Tamerlane, if it had not been for his active cooperation, Harry would have probably escaped long ago and would not have become a prisoner of the Ming Dynasty.
After the battle with Timur's main force ended, Karachi became an important person. The large number of prisoners was a "burden" to the army conquering the west. The prisoners?????????? There are more than 70,000 captives. Once trouble occurs, it will be a real trouble for the army conquering the west, and the person who helps Ming Dynasty solve this trouble is Karachi.
It was Karachi who helped Ming Dynasty stabilize the prisoners, it was Karachi who led people to guard the prisoners, and it was Karachi who suppressed the disobedient prisoners.
Zhu Di promised Karachi and his people that as long as they cooperate with the Ming Dynasty and are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, they will not become prisoners, but will enjoy the glory and wealth and live the rest of their lives.
Karachi didn't want to be a prisoner, and he didn't want the people he took to be prisoners, so he completely became the person who helped Zhu Di take care of the prisoners. In order to avoid accidents, Karachi even did not hesitate to chop off the heads of his compatriots to show his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.
It can be said that Karachi was a traitor to Timur's empire. It was his existence that made so many captives very obedient along the way without causing any trouble, as the army approached the capital.
No matter how you evaluate Karachi, he has contributed to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty also needs him as a sign to tell others that for those who surrender to the Ming Dynasty and are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will not hesitate to give them preferential treatment and will not liquidate them afterwards. .
This person must be well taken care of and cannot be sent to be an old black slave.
As for the 8,000 cavalry brought by Karachi, no, they should be 8,000 infantry, so let them go. Anyway, they will not be given weapons or horses. In the future, if they want to be common people, they will be soldiers. In the military camp, there is always a place arranged.
Zhu Yunwen didn't explain much: "Don't think about the soldiers in Karachi. For these 60,000 prisoners, whoever of you buys can freely discuss how much. I only want the result. But you and Uncle Yan discussed the thirty liang of a prisoner, and I He doesn’t recognize it.”
"Your Majesty, thirty taels is already a lot..."
Zhu Zhi spoke quickly.
That is to say, the court has been very strict in the past two years. They are not allowed to buy or sell children. Even maids are not allowed to sell themselves. They are only allowed to sign long-term labor contracts, and they are not allowed to kill maids and servants for how many years they will work. But in some places, you can still buy maids. A good girl only costs five to eight or thirty taels, which is enough to buy several girls who live in the same house.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Zhi: "You are a businessman and you know the value of captives. You recruit people to mine in the mines and give them at least twelve taels of money a year. If you encounter casualties in mining accidents, you have to compensate them with a pension. But captives Well, you only need to provide them with food, shelter, and year-round labor, and you can save costs in two years!"
"This group of captives are mostly young and strong. As long as you don't abuse them, arrange your work in shifts reasonably, and treat them when sick, they can mine for you for at least ten years. In ten years, how much cost can be saved for you, how much creation can you create How much wealth? A slave, fifty taels."
"Ah, fifty taels..."
Zhu Zhi grimaced.
Zhu Geng felt a little uncomfortable, the corners of Zhu Gui's mouth twitched, Zhu Chun was a little frightened, and the other vassal kings were also a little uneasy.
Fifty taels per person is really a bit expensive.
Zhu Gui swallowed his saliva and said with an ugly face: "Your Majesty, one prisoner is fifty taels. Three thousand prisoners are equivalent to 150,000 taels. We can't come up with such a large sum of money."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Gui and said softly: "Oh, since Uncle Dai Wang can't get it out, the other emperor uncles can share some more prisoners. Can anyone get it out? If not, I can sell these captives to merchants. , the local mines are also short of manpower."
Zhu Gui was anxious. He just said that he couldn't take it out, but he didn't say that he didn't want to take prisoners.
Zhu Zhi looked at the open-mouthed Zhu Yunwen, sighed, and said, "I have made some money from my voyages over the years, so I think I need four thousand prisoners. However, I need to borrow fifty thousand banknotes from the central bank."
Zhu Gui's eyes lit up, how could he forget that this amount, more than a hundred thousand taels, was really not a difficult task for him, but in order to reduce costs and save expenses, he could borrow a loan from a bank.
"I want four thousand prisoners."
Zhu Gui said quickly.
Zhu Chun coughed: "Thirteenth brother, you just didn't have the money to ask for 3,000 prisoners. Now you want 4,000. Isn't it too much? The other brothers are still waiting to be divided."
Zhu Gui smiled and said: "We are businessmen now, and we use businessmen's tactics. Whoever can get the money will be captured."
In terms of wealth and wealth, Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng are the most powerful among the vassal kings, followed by this generation of king Zhu Gui. Especially in the past two years, the demand for coal has increased greatly. When coal is dug out and transported to the local area, it is money. They control several big cities in Shanxi. In coal mines, it is impossible to say that there is no money.
Zhu Chun has limited financial resources. Although his family is engaged in iron ore, Zhu Chun has a scholarly temperament and is tepid. He only needs to maintain operations. He has not pursued much expansion of scale or production. The wealth accumulated over the past few years is limited and he only speaks. A thousand prisoners were taken.
Zhu Yunwen felt that he was very sinful and anti-human. Aren't the slave owners who were criticized by thousands of people and despised by thousands of people in history just like him?
However, who made them prisoners!
If the Ming Dynasty failed in this battle and Timur invaded the Ming Dynasty, countless people might be worse than slaves and be directly slaughtered like pigs and dogs!
These captives were sold just to fill holes for the imperial court.
It is really difficult for the Ministry of Household Affairs. Such a huge war consumes too much money and food. It does not generate income and does not think about prisoners. How can this be done?
For the sake of the national treasury and the great mining industry of Ming Dynasty, please work hard.
Sixty thousand people, fifty taels each, and three million taels of banknotes can be recovered from the captives alone. In addition to the 200,000 taels of gold and 3 million taels of silver sent by Zhu Di from Harry, the Ming Dynasty's tight treasury can finally be filled!
