Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 150

"Prepare them all for me, don't break them, you know?"

On the fifth day of August, accompanied by a voice that could not have appeared in Tianjin, Zhu Youxiao in uniform appeared in the dock of the navy's three guards, and Wei Zhongxian and Sun Yingyuan wiped their sweat not far away.

Since the farce on July [-], Zhu Youxiao announced that he would quit court for ten days, and on the fifth day, he secretly let [-] Han generals escort him to Tianjin.

In the dock, the [-] to [-] meter long teak trees were barked by skilled boatmen under Zhu Youxiao's shouts, and they were transported to the wooden warehouse with rollers to dry in the shade.

Zhu Youxiao looked at it with great enthusiasm, and even peeled off the bark by himself, which made Sun Yingyuan sweat coldly.

Originally he was in Yanshan Daying, but Zhu Youjian was going to transfer Teng Xiang and Wu Xiangwei to Yanshan, so he arrived in Tianjin yesterday.

As a result, he rested all night. He was just about to go to Wuxiangwei and Tengxiangwei to see the situation. Before he went out, someone told him that the emperor was coming.

I thought it was a joke, but I didn't expect the emperor to really come, and he would sneak out of the palace.

Knowing this, he immediately sent someone to send the news to the Yanshan Camp, and then dispatched two guards, Tengxiang and Wuxiang, to defend them.

He thought that the emperor was going to inspect the soldiers and horses, but he never thought that it was Shui Wu from the third guard of the navy to supervise the shipbuilding.

Seeing the thick teak wood being peeled and sent to the wooden warehouse, Sun Yingyuan had a headache.

He didn't know that the emperor would come to Tianjin for a few days. If it took longer, the court ministers would know that he and his highness would have to be impeached.

"Sun Yingyuan, come here!"

Suddenly, the emperor called Sun Yingyuan, and Sun Yingyuan hurried over, but Zhu Youxiao patted the teak beside him and said:

"Look at my craftsmanship, how about it?"

"Long live's craftsmanship is exquisite, I have never seen a technique that can peel the bark so neatly." Sun Yingyuan quickly flattered.

"Haha!" Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was obviously very happy, and then said to him:

"You ask someone to send [-] pieces of teak to the capital, and put them in the imperial city to dry in the shade. Next year, I will do it myself and make them into a big ship according to my brother's drawing!"

"The minister leads the decree..." Sun Yingyuan felt a headache because the two guards, Wu Xiang and Teng Xiang, had received Zhu Youjian's order and needed to arrive at Yanshan Daying on August [-]th.

It's just that at the moment, if we want to transport these dozens of giant logs weighing tens of thousands of catties, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time.

However, he was too embarrassed to speak out, for fear of alienating the relationship between his highness and the emperor.

As for Zhu Youxiao, he didn't know, he just patted the wood and said:

"Okay, go ahead, I'll go back to the capital first."

"Yes...huh?" Hearing this, Sun Yingyuan responded first, then was taken aback for a moment.

What does it mean?Are you going to leave after an hour?Really to see the wood?

"Long live, Che Yu is ready."

Sun Yingyuan was still thinking, but Wei Zhongxian greeted him, and then escorted Zhu Youxiao out of Shuiwu. After getting into the car, he returned to the capital under the guard of fifteen hundred Han generals.

Seeing this, Sun Yingyuan knew that the emperor was not joking, so he quickly mobilized Wu Xiang and Teng Xiangwei and asked them to get enough logs to push thirty teak logs weighing tens of thousands of catties.

At the same time, Sun Yingyuan also sent a letter to Yanshan Daying, but when Zhu Youjian got the letter, he just smiled lightly and didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen next to him opened his mouth and said:

"Your Highness, Long Live, is it possible that you went to Tianjin because of those thirty logs?"

"Yes, and no." Zhu Youjian stood up with a smile and said:
"Brother Huang is good for wood, but more importantly, it is to test the reaction of civil servants to his leaving the palace."

He knew that his imperial brother did not want to be locked in the Forbidden City as a canary, he longed for the outside world.

In the past, the imperial power was not strong enough, so he naturally didn't dare to come out.

But right now, after nearly a year of arrangement, Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion can be said to be the places where the imperial power is unimpeded, and in the hands of his own imperial brother, there are three guards of the imperial city and the Great Han General.

In this way, even if there is no Sixteenth Guards Army and Twelve Arch Guards Battalion, his royal brother has the military power to negotiate with civil servants.

Not to mention, if you add the Sixteenth Guards and the Twelve Arch Guards Battalion.

Therefore, this is a test, to test whether the emperor can leave the palace and the capital at will.

This kind of temptation is terrible, because the reason why most emperors can't experience the sufferings of the people is because they can't get out of the imperial city.

Most of the so-called private interviews by micro-services in later generations are just jokes.

Most of the emperors who can walk out of the capital have a certain degree of control over military power.

Since Zhu Zhanji in the Ming Dynasty, only Zhu Houzhao can run around at will.

There are very few records of other emperors leaving the palace, and even Zhu Houzhao's random running was established under the control of civil officials.

For example, if civil officials don't let Zhu Houzhao pass Juyongguan, then Zhu Houzhao won't be able to pass.

But Zhu Youxiao is different, as long as he says a word, Zhu Youjian can send him anywhere in the world.

This is the deterrent power that the imperial power can release after the military power is coordinated.

The emperor is morality and fame, and military power is fist.

If you don't agree with the reasoning, you can beat them with your fists. This is...convincing people with reason.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian put down the letter in his hand, and said to Lu Wenzhao who was drinking tea at the side of the study:
"Have Lu Wenzhao and Yang Zhaoji arrived in Shenyang?"

"Returning to Your Highness, we arrived at the beginning of last month, and General Qi Yuanbi arrived in Hangzhou, recruiting [-] soldiers from all over Zhejiang, and preparing to go north in the middle of next month." Lu Wenzhao responded.

"Is there no movement in the southwest?" Zhu Youjian frowned and asked, he didn't expect that the result of the Battle of Shenyang would make She Chongming pretend to be cowardly for so long.

"There is no movement, extravagant Chongming. After the autumn harvest, the people of Xuanfu Division in Yongning did not respond except to build armor."

Lu Wenzhao explained, but Zhu Youjian said:

"No reaction is the biggest reaction, it shows that he is waiting for his opportunity."

"He has to wait for an opportunity, well, I will create an opportunity for him!"

After all, Zhu Youjian said to Wang Cheng'en: "Let Hua Chun go to the emperor, and ask the emperor to transfer Qin Liangyu's [-] white soldiers to Shenyang immediately, and then order Qin Liangyu to garrison the stone pillars and continue to train the newly recruited [-] soldiers. .”

"It's Your Highness..." Wang Chengen nodded and left after hearing this, but Lu Wenzhao said:

"By the way, Your Highness, Mrs. Qin went to the public a few days ago and said that half of the men from Shizhu and Youyang have joined the army, so after these [-] white soldiers..."

Lu Wenzhao didn't continue to talk, but Zhu Youjian knew that if he continued to recruit soldiers and horses in Shizhu and Youyang, he was afraid that the white soldiers would have to wear hemp and mourning in case of war.

But for this, Zhu Youjian knew how to do it.

The loyalty of the Qin and Ma clans has been witnessed by history. If this is the case, they might as well elevate their status.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Wang Chengen:

"Let Huachun ask the emperor if he can promote Ma Qiancheng, the son of Qin Liangyu, Ma Xianglin, to be the soldier of the Zunyi Army and People's Mansion."

Zunyi Military and Civilian Mansion, this is the local administration established after the abolition of Bozhou. If Ma Xianglin was appointed as the military guard here, then the sphere of influence of the Qin and Ma clans would be larger than that of Yang Yinglong back then.

For the Ming Dynasty, which was very wary of the southwestern chieftains, such a promotion needed to be weighed against many parties, because no one was sure that the Qin and Ma clans would not rebel.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian can only do his best and obey the destiny.

Wang Chengen didn't ask anything, just bowed and went to work.

But after he returned, Zhu Youjian said to Lu Wenzhao again:

"In Kaiyuan, Tieling, and Fushun, how many acres of land are there, and how much grain can be harvested? Has the Fusi of Beizhen found any news?"

"Returning to Your Highness, I haven't found out the details, but this year there should be a million stones of grain, and [-]% of it will be handed over to Jianlu."

"So, counting the grain and grass looted from the north of Taizi River, they will have no problem surviving this winter." Zhu Youjian folded his arms and frowned.

Hou Jin plundered five or six million stones of grain and grass from the north of the Taizi River, plus the autumn harvest of the site itself, there is no problem in sustaining it until the beginning of next spring.

But after the beginning of spring, the soldiers and horses under Nurhachi's command had to go out of the mountains and go to the grasslands in Liaodong. Otherwise, during the period from spring to autumn harvest, hundreds of thousands of Jianlu and Han people would have no extra food to eat.

Now Nurhachi has not completely torn his face, because he has not yet obtained Liaodong, so he dare not wave the butcher knife against the Han people in Liaodong.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see why he just sent the people to Shenyang after mopping up more than a dozen stone fortresses.

To put it bluntly, he didn't dare to massacre every city, because Liaodong hadn't been captured yet, and because of his hypocrisy before taking down Liaodong, many people in Liaodong supported him very much.

But if he once showed the face of massacring the people of Liaodong, it would be impossible for Houjin to enter the customs.

Historically, Hou Jin was able to enter the customs because Huang Taiji changed his policy in a timely manner. This kind of expedition to gamble on the fate of the country with his own changes took away enough food and silver from Northern Zhili. stable.

To be honest, if possible, Zhu Youjian really hoped that the old slave would live forever.

As long as the old slave is alive, Huang Taiji will always be just a Baylor. If he doesn't come to power, Houjin will just be a small force living in a corner.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian calculated the strength of Liaodong in his mind.

At present, Xiong Tingbi's command, or the generals of the Liaodong faction, have [-] to [-] soldiers and horses. Although there are only about [-] elite soldiers among them, they are indeed a large force.

In addition to these [-] to [-] soldiers and horses, there are nearly [-] soldiers and horses from the three towns in Shanxi, as well as [-] white-armed soldiers and more than [-] Liao soldiers in Shenyang.

In addition, there are [-] Zhejiang soldiers in Liaoyang, [-] Liao soldiers, [-] white soldiers from Qin Banghan in Jinzhou, [-] Han soldiers from the three cities of Kuandian in eastern Liaodong, and [-] auxiliary soldiers from various places. , a total of [-] soldiers and horses.

The [-] soldiers and horses, except for the [-] soldiers and horses in Guangning, who received twelve taels of annual salary, the rest were fifteen taels of guest soldiers, and the auxiliary soldiers received five taels or six taels of money.

The military salary alone reached [-] million taels, and including logistics, it was about [-] million taels.

Compared with Liaodong's [-] million taels last year, it has dropped by nearly a quarter, and the border affairs are also very stable.

Even if there are [-] auxiliary soldiers to eat, and there may be [-] Guangning soldiers left, there are still [-] elite soldiers, enough to stop Nurhachi's invasion in the coming year.

In other words, at present, Liaodong is stable, and the only thing to worry about is the southwest.

It's best to get rid of She Chongming and Anshi from Shuixi together.

But the immediate problem is that the [-]th Guards and the [-]th Guards Battalion will not move, and the soldiers and horses in the southwest will not move. They absolutely dare not move.

If you want them to take the initiative to rebel, the easiest way is to transfer troops and find work for the Sixteenth Guards.

Then the remaining guards in Shanxi and North Zhili were abolished, merged into the battalion, and then [-] old soldiers under Qin Liangyu's command were transferred, leaving only [-] new soldiers. It can be said that they created a situation for them.

After this situation is created, it is necessary to create opportunities for them.

"Recently, is there anyone talking about transferring troops from Chongming and Shui'an clans to aid Liao?"

Zhu Youjian spoke, but Lu Wenzhao shook his head and said:
"After the Liao incident settled down, few people mentioned this matter."

"Can you spend some money, in the name of She Chongming and Shui'an, to get some corrupt officials from Donglin, Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and other parties to propose this proposal?"

Zhu Youjian's mind turned rapidly, and he thought of a method that could enrich the treasury and solve the Southwest problem.

"We can try this, but I can't guarantee it for a lowly position." Lu Wenzhao didn't agree directly, because he knew that if there were smart people among the parties, it would not be difficult to see through this kind of thing.

"Send some money to see if it can be done first, it doesn't matter if it doesn't work, if you want to extravagance Chongming can't help it, as long as the things in Hebei are fermented."

After all, Zhu Youjian turned his head and looked at the map hanging in his study, on which, the enlarged version and the very accurate painting method of later generations were impressively displayed on it.

On this map, the east of the Yellow River and the north of the Yellow River are called Hebei.

As long as Beizhili and Shanxi are taken down, the basic market will not expand, and after four years, the students from Yanshan will be able to reform taxation!

Just to win here, we need to deal with [-] military households, tens of thousands of battalions and more than [-] households.

For the battalion, Zhu Youjian already has experience, and the same is true for the guard.

Giving up part of the benefits, at present, he is still unable to turn his face against the battalions and guards across the country, so he needs to retain their official positions and bring the battalions into the army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said: "Sun Yingyuan has been delayed by the matter, and it is estimated that he will come back in half a month."

"It seems that during this period of time, I can only train soldiers myself."

Even though he said that, the eager expression on his face showed that he was very excited about his military training in his heart.

But before the training, he had to ask some questions about logistics, which represented whether the Yumajian could support the newly established Outer Sixteen Arch Guard Battalion.

"Cheng'en, the autumn harvest in September requires you and Huachun to put some thought into it. It's best to keep the food in the north field for the future soldiers and horses for a year, and transport all the rest to Liaodong for sale."

"Let the Yumajian Nanchang go by sea to transport the grain to Liaodong for sale."

"After the sale, give the silver to Lu Jianxing and let him buy grain from Sichuan and Huguang."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Wang Chengen bowed in response.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the price of grain in Northern Zhili is [-] yuan per stone. After passing through Shanhaiguan, grain in Liaodong becomes more and more expensive as you go east.

At present, Guangning has reached the level of one stone for one tael, Shenyang for one tael, Jinzhou for one tael, and Zhenjiang fort for one tael for three.

This shows that after Nurhachi's looting, the people in Liaodong did not have enough food to eat.

At this time, it is what the government needs to do to stabilize food prices.

After the harvest, the price of grain in Sichuan and Huguang is generally at two or three Wen a catty, and Zhu Youjian doesn't even need to make too much money, he just needs to buy it and sell it everywhere at the price of Seven Wen a catty, so that he can stabilize the situation in Liaodong. The price of food has gradually reduced them to the level of Liuqiwen.

This back and forth, excluding the labor cost of transportation, the profit is about double.

After the North Field harvests the imperial court’s taxes, there will still be about ten million shi, leaving the soldiers and horses of the Imperial Horse Supervisor to eat, as well as the food for the breeding and official farms, which can normally sell about [-] million shi, and the income of the South Field is more than [-] Wan Shi,

The two amounted to about ten million taels. If they were shipped to Liaodong and sold at a price of nine hundred cash per stone, they could make a profit of nine million taels of silver and stabilize the price of the goods.

Of course, this is an ideal state. The key still depends on the speed of sea transportation and whether the grain will go moldy after being delayed at sea.

In any case, this move will not lose money, and it is also the best way to save the people of Liaodong without dragging down the Yumajian.

Some people may think, such a good business, why don't the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River do it?
However, at present, there are countless people who have made a fortune transporting grain in Liaodong. Most of them transport grain to Liaodong, and then buy ginseng and fur from Liaodong and return to Jiangnan for sale.

It's just that they are different from Zhu Youjian in that they are not as large as Zhu Youjian.

He governed more than 50 million mu of arable land, with an annual income of more than 30 million shi, which was almost [-]% of Daming's land tax and [-]% of the national treasury's income.

What he can play, others can't.

With soldiers and horses and imperial power, what can he not do?
Civil servants and merchants can't play his game at all, which is to rely on big capital and physical flow to play and run.

If there was no Yumajian Nanchang, Zhu Youjian would have to ask Lu Jianxing and the officials and gentry in Jiangnan to compromise and act on the spot.

Then with the Yumajian, it will be different.

Your Jiangnan officials won't let me take the Yangtze River to sea?Can!Let me go to Huaihe to go to the head office!If you obstruct, then I will have to repeat the old trick and let Qi Yuanbi also lead the troops northward.

This is Zhu Youjian's rogue trick.

The civil servants didn't want him to garrison troops in the south field of the Yumajian. Zhu Youjian knew this very well, and even he had no idea of ​​garrisoning troops in the south of the Yangtze River.

What he does is very simple, that is, let the Qi family go to Zhejiang to recruit soldiers every year.

He doesn't garrison troops, he just goes to recruit soldiers. Once civil servants make things difficult for him, he can only take a knife.

There are tens of millions of men in Zhejiang, and [-] are recruited every year. This kind of restraint will only make men from all over Zhejiang sign up enthusiastically.

Zhejiang officials want to solve this problem, and it is simple, either to distribute land to tens of millions of Zhejiang men, or to find jobs for them.

Some people went to the nursing home to make a living because it was difficult to find a job. At this time, a way of paying fifteen taels of annual salary suddenly appeared. Who would not go?
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian was very proud of himself, and he even saw how the three parties of Zhejiang, Xuankun and Kunming were deflated.

"Your Highness!"

Suddenly, when Zhu Youjian was imagining how the three parties were deflated, a young voice sounded.

Zhu Youjian, Lu Wenzhao, and Wang Chengen heard the sound and saw a middle-aged guerrilla walking in, five feet seven inches (182cm) tall and wearing a thousand-household cloth mask.

Seeing this man come in, Zhu Youjian also smiled and said: "Wen Zhao is here? How is it? Have you received your nephew?"

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, he revealed the identity of this person, and Cao Wenzhao, who was "the number one good general in the Ming Dynasty".

Cao Wenzhao, who had already been favored by Zhu Youjian, was transferred to Liutiaozhai. After the Battle of Shenyang broke out, Liutiaozhai was destroyed, and he led people to break through the siege and go south to join Qi Jin.

After the battle of Shenyang was over, Zhu Youjian asked Qi Jin to help Cao Wenzhao add a fortune when evaluating his merits, and then transferred him to the Shence Guard of the Yanshan Camp to serve as a thousand households of Zuoye cavalry.

However, Cao Wenzhao, who came to Yanshan Daying, asked Zhu Youjian for leave as soon as he knew about Yanshan. He wanted to go to his hometown Datong to pick up his relatives and come to Yanshan Daying. Study in Yanshan Institute.

When Zhu Youjian heard the words, he agreed to him at that time. Now that a month has passed, he did not expect Cao Wenzhao to come back so soon.

"Received!"

Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Cao Wenzhao grinned and turned to the door and said, "Wen Yao, bring Ruijiao and the others in!"

Wen Yan and Zhu Youjian looked at the entrance of the main hall, and then saw a simple young man in his twenties, five feet five inches in height, walking in with a teenager and two children.

"Grassman Cao Wenyao, bring your nephew and nephew to meet His Royal Highness King Qi..."

As soon as Cao Wenyao came in, he knelt down with his three nephews, but Zhu Youjian set his sights on the oldest child.

The child was as old as Zhu Youjian, but he was wearing coarse linen clothes, his skin was sallow, and he looked malnourished.

But even that couldn't hide his five-foot-three-four-inch height and broad frame.

He is not handsome, but he has a kind of unruly feeling.

"Your Highness, this is the eldest son of my younger brother Wen Yao, Cao Bianjiao."

Seeing that Zhu Youjian had been looking at his nephew, Cao Wenzhao stepped forward to introduce him, which also made Zhu Youjian's eyes shine.

Cao Bianjiao, this man's force and bravery can be said to be extremely famous.

Later generations always thought that Cao Wenzhao was extremely brave, but they didn't study Cao Wenzhao in detail. All the way, he used the elite Ming army to encircle and suppress the poorly equipped peasant army.

In the end, because the peasant army accumulated a lot of armor, they pulled out an elite group and besieged him to death.

From this point of view, Cao Wenzhao mainly relied on his personal bravery to fight, plus the elite equipment of his headquarters. Once he encountered someone with the same elite equipment, he would be easily surrounded by carelessness, a typical vanguard general.

Unlike him, Cao Bianjiao faced the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, the first army in East Asia at that time, in his last battle.

But even in the face of such an army, after being besieged, what Cao Bianjiao did was not to kill himself like Cao Wenzhao, but to prepare for a gamble.

He ordered all the elites of the headquarters, opened the gate of Songshan City after nightfall, led more than a thousand elites under his command to the Qing army's Zhenghuangqi camp, and killed the Qing Zuo leader Zhang Guli who was the first to block.

He fought all the way towards Huang Taiji's big tent, and all the Zhenghuang Banner Qing troops who tried to stop him were killed by the Ming army's sword.

Cao Bianjiao himself led his troops to rush left and right among the Qing army, as if entering the land of no one, and finally chose the big tent of Zhenghuang Banner to charge there, and Huang Taiji was planning to attack Songshan here that night.

Facing Cao Bianjiao's attack on the camp, his son-in-law Doerji led a group of Baijia Balaya to stop him, and was immediately killed by Cao Bianjiao.

The internal ministers Buyan and Ta Zhan led their troops to fight one after another, but were defeated by Cao Bianjiao.

Huang Taiji's guards rushed forward as the last line of defense to defend Huang Taiji. At this time, Huang Taiji had already formed the Baijia Balaya of the whole army into his own guards.

Under the guard of thousands of Baijiabalayas, Huang Taiji should be able to sit back and relax, but the once brave Baijiabalayas faced Cao Bianjiao, only to fight back a little, but was led by Cao Bianjiao and defeated with unstoppable power.

Finally, Huang Taiji ordered people to release arrows, almost shooting Cao Bianjiao into a hedgehog, and then forced Cao Bianjiao back.

Such bravery, for Zhu Youjian, is simply the destined vanguard of the future Ming army cavalry sweeping across the northern part of the Great Wall.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, and said to Cao Wenzhao:

"Arrange people to go down to rest. Your younger brother will be with you as a hundred households, and your three nephews will be sent to Yanshan Institute. After five years of study, they will be appointed as military officers."

"Thank you Qi Wang Longen!" Hearing this, Cao Wenzhao knelt on the ground excitedly, and immediately kowtowed.

"Okay, get up, go down and arrange for your nephew and brother first." Zhu Youjian stepped forward to help him up, and comforted him with a smile.

"The last general takes orders!"

When Cao Wenzhao heard the words, he also retreated with his younger brother and nephews.

However, when retreating, Cao Bianjiao turned his head and glanced at Zhu Youjian, as if he wanted to remember this person who was the same age as him, but could make his admired uncle kneel down and kowtow.

Zhu Youjian saw everything about him, but just smiled:
"The future vanguard general, with..."

(End of this chapter)