Outside the capital city, there is a royal farm. As the largest landowner in the Jianwen Dynasty, Zhu Yunwen owned land. No one knew exactly how much, but the 200 acres of farmland occupied by the Guozijian Agricultural College outside the city did belong to the palace.
Sheng Zhong, the dean of the College of Agriculture, brought thirty supervisors from the College of Agriculture and set up tents to live in the fields. They arranged for people to take turns guarding them every day and every night.
On the second day since Zheng He's navy returned, the sweet potato seedling work has been started. Considering that the suitable planting time is tight, Zhu Yunwen adopted two sets of seedling raising plans.
The first set: Use carts to store soil in the palace, plant sweet potatoes directly in the soil, and raise seedlings first. The second set: Seedlings were raised in a farm outside the palace.
The purpose of storing soil and raising seedlings on carts is to facilitate external transportation. For example, it takes about ten days to travel to Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places. The seedlings are just right and can be cut and transplanted when they arrive at the place.
If you want to raise seedlings in a farm, you should raise the seedlings directly in the field. Sheng Zhong was sitting on the ground, without any pretense as a dean. He looked at the bare land in front of him and was very worried. He had been raising seedlings for three or four days and there were still no seedlings. Could it be that the seeds were not suitable for the Ming Dynasty's climate? Are you so frustrated?
Song Yu took the farming rules and carefully examined every detail. Sweet potatoes are suitable for sandy loam soil with deep soil, easy drainage and irrigation, and good air permeability. Yes, this is it.
It takes about 20 days to raise seedlings and about five days to emerge. Brother, is this going left or right? I don’t know if everyone is watching now. If the seedlings don’t emerge, the imperial court’s reward will be a big joke and people will die!
Zhang Cheng walked around anxiously, looked at the sun, and said to Sheng Zhong: "Dean, why haven't the seedlings sprouted yet? I'm so worried!" Sheng Zhong was not in a hurry. These were the first batch of sweet potato seeds in the Ming Dynasty. If they cannot survive and take root in the land of Ming Dynasty, Zheng He's naval officers and soldiers will not be able to bear it, and the court will be humiliated.
God, you have to protect Ming Dynasty. No matter what, Sheng Zhong still maintained a confident smile and comforted the restless people: "The emperor said that it will take about five days for the seedlings to emerge, so just wait with peace of mind." Seeing the dean's determination, everyone calmed down and said, My mentality has also become much calmer.
At night, Sheng Zhong looked at the starry sky, hiding his uneasiness and anxiety deep in his heart, and guarded silently until the supervisors were rotated, and then he entered the tent to rest.
"Dean, dean!" Song Yu ran to the tent and pulled Sheng Zhong up from his sleep. Sheng Zhong was in a daze. He waited outside and looked at the gray sky. He couldn't help but feel a little depressed. He shook his aching head. Before he could ask any questions, he heard
The words "The seeds have emerged" made me tremble.
"What did you say?" Sheng Zhong grabbed Song Yu's hand. Song Yu grinned and pointed in front: "Dean, the seedlings have emerged." Sheng Zhong looked and saw a group of people standing in front of him, and quickly shouted: "Get out of my way!" The supervisors quickly dispersed.
Sheng Zhong stepped forward and looked at the land by the starlight. The land that was originally bare was now a little green, and the sprouting buds were very fragile and cute.
"The seedlings have emerged, the seedlings have emerged, God bless the Ming Dynasty, God bless the Ming Dynasty!" Sheng Zhong was excited. As long as the sweet potatoes sprout, it means that the soil and climate of the Ming Dynasty can grow these crops. If they survive, it doesn't matter even if the yield is not as high as the emperor said. It is always a good thing for the people to have more rations.
The sky finally got bright. Sheng Zhong, Song Yu and others looked at the fields and saw that a few buds had appeared, and the planted sweet potatoes had begun to sprout.
News of the emergence of sweet potatoes soon spread to the palace. After Zhu Yunwen understood it, he just nodded. Now Zhu Yunwen no longer had the energy to pay attention to the sweet potato issue. After receiving documents from Gansu, Shaanxi and other places, Benya Shili and Arutai of the Tatars gathered a large number of tribesmen to move eastward.
The Tatars moved eastward, and the Ming Dynasty had to pay attention to it. Xu Huizu, Zhu Di, Tie Xuan, Yang Rong and others entered Wuying Hall to discuss countermeasures.
Zhu Di examined the map, combined with various intelligence, and said seriously: "Tatars will move eastward on a large scale. There are three most likely places to settle, the Hetao, the Aluhun River Basin, and the Luqu River Basin. There are even Tatars in the Hetao. Even if they go, they may not dare to stay. The Aluhun River Basin is the middle zone and is relatively safe for them. If the Tatars return to the Luqu River, they will pose a threat." Xu Huizu nodded solemnly and pointed to the northeast Direction: "Although Duoyan Guard and Fuyu Guard surrendered to the imperial court, they have been dissatisfied with the tribute of war horses in recent years. According to the intelligence spied on by the Security Bureau, the senior officials of Duoyan Guard and Fuyu Guard do not want to continue to pay tribute to the imperial court. A large number of war horses, including their tribesmen, do not have much favorable impressions of Ming Dynasty."
"There are probably two reasons why these two forces have not rebelled. One is that they are isolated and helpless, and there is no external force to rely on. The other is the military deterrence of the imperial court. Whether it is the defeat of Timur or the military parade, I am afraid that everything will be given to them. It brought great shock. If these two reasons persist, maybe they will continue to surrender. If the Tatars advance eastward to the vicinity of the Luqu River, the Duoyan Guard and the Fuyu Guard will no longer be isolated and helpless." Zhu Di looked at it. After taking a look at the territorial positions of Duoyan Guard and Fuyu Guard, he advised Zhu Yunwen: "If Duoyan and Fuyu have second thoughts, the court should deal with it early." Tiexuan advised: "The military power in the northeast pays too much attention to the original Jurchen In this area, there is limited deterrence to Duoyan and Fuyu in the west. In addition, the imperial court has set up guard posts in the northeast and deployed additional troops. I am afraid that it will also make Duoyan and Fuyu feel uneasy and may intensify their rebellion. I think , we should pay close attention to the movements between the two guards and the Tatars. If Duoyan and Fuyu really want to unite with the Tatars to cause trouble in the Northeast, they should send more sergeants to the north as soon as possible." Zhu Yunwen looked at the map, and the Luqu River was close to Duoyan Wei's territory. It's still hundreds of miles away, separated by the Harawon Mountains. If they want to get together, they need to cross mountains and ridges.
It is unlikely that the Tatars will go all-out eastward. Once they enter the northeastern plains and are blocked by the Ming Dynasty, it may not be easy to go back through the mountain roads.
If Duoyanwei and Fuyuwei are not honest, I am afraid they will only have one choice, and that is to suddenly plunder the Northeast, and then run over the mountains and ridges to meet with the Tatars.
But do Duoyanwei and Fuyuwei have the courage? Zhu Yunwen was very suspicious. During the military parade, the top leaders of Duoyan Guard and Fuyu Guard came. They saw the strength of the Ming army and the cavalry and artillery. If they provoked the Ming Dynasty, they went to the Tatars. So what if we go, it is no longer the time for the Ming Dynasty to fight Timur a few years ago. Although it is unrealistic for the Ming Dynasty's current cavalry to completely eliminate the Tatars, it is still possible to completely eliminate the Duoyan Guards and Fuyu Guards.
"Order the Daning Dusi and Liaodong Dusi to pay close attention to the movements of Duoyan Wei and Fuyu Wei. If they intend to connect the Tatars to the west and disrupt our northeast, then don't let the thunderous wrath of the imperial court destroy their tribes!" Zhu Yunwen dropped his brush. , said sternly.
"I obey." Xu Huizu, Zhu Di and others bowed and exited Wuying Hall. Loop. Nourished by the water of the Yellow River, the Hetao area is rich in water and grass, making it a very beautiful pasture.
The Yinshan Mountains in the north are like a barrier, blocking water vapor from going north, making the rainfall in the south even more abundant.
There was a sound of thunder and countless war horses neighed. Benyasili and Arutai arrived in the Hetao area with a large number of tribesmen, ready to take a good rest.
After the failure of the attack on Weilu City, Benya Shili and Arutai were really unsettled for a while. They were afraid of a sneak attack by the Ming army. They did not have a good winter this winter. Seeing that the spring was warm and the grass was green, there was no movement from the Ming army. Calm down.
In Arutai's view, the main reason why the Ming army was silent was that the Ming army lacked the strength to penetrate deeply into the grassland. The number of horses of the Ming army may not be large. After the battle with Timur, the Ming army won, but Didn’t the Ming army themselves suffer any losses?
Each rumor is scary, but after all, it is nothing more than the tip of a silver-like wax gun. If the Ming Dynasty was really powerful enough to easily defeat Timur's hundreds of thousands of cavalry, why didn't the Tatars even dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty?
Since the Ming army did not have the courage to attack and could only huddle in the city and rely on some magic machine gun to survive, then they should stay in the Hetao. After the horses are fat, they can break through the barrier once.
Zhu Yunwen ordered the closure of all Tatar trade, which was a bit annoying. No one gave away the strong wine in the past, and no one gave away the fine silks. Now it seems that the sheep are about to shed their hair, but there are no merchants. .
The most uncomfortable thing is that there is not enough salt. Although we have a lot of salt after years of trading, we eat more because there is more salt.
Who would have thought that after a whole winter of feasting, they discovered that the merchants were no longer coming... The Tatar tribe could only store salt for eight months. Even if they saved some money and ate less, it would only last a year at most.
But looking at the Ming Dynasty's situation, I'm afraid it won't open trade with the Tatars in a year or two. If there is no mutual market or trade, then there will be war.
Hetao is an excellent place to attack. It has aquatic plants and good terrain, and it is not far from Daming City. For example, it is very close to Datong.
Guo Ying, the general of Datong, is dead, and an unknown person named Xue Lu has become the new guard of Datong. This is good news for the Tatars.
As long as you open Datong, you can loot several years' worth of supplies. Arutai and Benya were very excited and planned the bright future of Tatar.
Sudden! Arutai saw that the forward army had stopped, and he couldn't help but raise the riding whip in his hand to signal the following troops to stop. Benya reined in his horse, looked at the messenger with some confusion and asked, "Why don't you move forward?" The cavalryman who reported the message pointed behind him: "Reporter, there seems to be Ming troops in front!" Benya lost his mind and Alu Tai was confused.
This is the Hetao, where did the Ming army come from? The troops of the Ming Dynasty all had the same moral character. They were afraid of unobstructed grasslands and deserts. They had to camp even to sleep at night, otherwise they would not feel safe.
If the Ming army appears here, wouldn't it be prey delivered to the mouth?
"Let's go!" Benya Shili and Arutai hurriedly drove their horses forward. When they reached three miles, they couldn't help but be stunned.
Arutai even swore: "Taiyang and his whole family, when did there become a city here?"
