Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 233 Preparing for a re-set
In February of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, this should have been an ordinary month, but it was detonated because of a letter of memorial.

On February [-]th, He Zongyan, a cabinet minister who did not form a party, died in office, and Zhu Youxiao presented him with the posthumous posthumous title of "Wen Yi".

On February [-]th, the cabinet ministers Zhu Guozuo and Shen Yu successively submitted their speeches, and Qi Shijiao and Guan Yingzhen submitted their speeches together.

By February [-]th, the four of them jointly submitted nineteen letters within three days, and Zhu Youxiao could only approve and agree.

The four of them withdrew, and the Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang parties had no leader, which made Zhao Nanxing, the leader of Donglin, shine in his eyes.

But before Zhao Nanxing could make a move, officials from the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun all attached themselves to Cui Chengxiu. The eunuch party's power instantly swelled, and even overwhelmed Donglin and the Qi royal party in the court situation.

With the increase in the number of officials under his command, Wei Zhongxian, who was frightened, hurried to find Zhu Youxiao. When Zhu Youxiao was puzzled, Hakka blew wind in his ears, so he let Wei Zhongxian go.

Seeing that he was offended, Wei Zhongxian was also interested, so he even suggested that Zhu Youxiao push Gu Bingqian into the cabinet to make profits for the Qi royal party.

In order to balance the situation in the imperial court, Zhu Youxiao could only promote Gu Bingqian to the rank of Prince Grand Master and Grand Master of Jianji Palace. At the same time, he sent Cao Huachun, who had just returned to the palace, to Yanshan Camp again.

When the time came to February [-]th, when Zhu Youjian from Yanshan Daying finished reading his brother's handwriting, his brows furrowed in an instant.

"This Zhu Guozuo is playing tricks..."

Zhu Youjian could tell Zhu Guozuo's method at a glance, because wasn't this the method he used before?

In the first year of Taichang, why was Zhu Youjian not noticed by officials of various parties?The first is because the Yumajian originally belonged to the emperor, and the officials of the various parties could not control it. The second is that Zhu Youjian helped Donglin a lot, which led to the increase of Donglin's power.

Just at this time, the Huaibei Great Famine broke out, and the powerful Donglin Party and the civil servants of all parties focused on the Huaibei Great Famine.

It was these short few months that gave Zhu Youjian time to develop.

After the civil servants of the various parties resolved the Huaibei famine, Zhu Youjian had pulled tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Yanshan camp, and the imperial power had a sword...

So according to this context, why Zhu Guozuo took the initiative to resign, and why the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and Xuankun joined the eunuch party is easy to explain.

Zhu Guozuo can see that the imperial power cannot be opposed to it at the moment. If it is opposed to the imperial power, the five parties will certainly not be able to survive.

Since you can't do it, then simply join the eunuch party who is more loyal to the emperor than Zhu Youjian.

Unlike Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youjian's strength comes from the military power and the Yumajian. That is to say, the military power and the Yumajian are first loyal to Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian is then loyal to Zhu Youxiao.

This has led to the fact that even if one day Zhu Youxiao doesn't trust Zhu Youjian, if he wants to move Zhu Youjian, he needs to weigh again and again, because there are scruples everywhere.

But what about eunuchs?
Wei Zhongxian was just a domestic slave under Zhu Youxiao's command. Zhu Youxiao could have given Wei Zhongxian to death, and let Wang Tiqian, Liu Ruoyu and other close eunuchs continue to govern the eunuch party.

In other words, the civil servants of the five parties who joined the eunuch party became the emperor's domestic slaves in disguise.

One is a domestic slave who can be killed at will, and the other is a prince who still needs to be cautious. No matter how you look at it, as long as they don't take the initiative to provoke the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian, they will be preserved.

It was impossible for the emperor to kill the eunuchs that he had managed to attract and stabilize. Therefore, after the five parties joined the eunuchs, there was only one opponent left for the imperial power in the court.

Donglin...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian, who was riding on a horse and was about to go to Duogan Camp for inspection, closed the handwriting, and said to Cao Huachun who was rushing back next to him:
"How many positions are vacant in the cabinet now?"

"Return to Your Highness." Cao Huachun said, "Currently there are only Ye Ge, Sun Chengzong, and Gu Bingqian."

"There are only three?" Zhu Youjian frowned, and thought about the candidates who could join the cabinet for balance.

In all fairness, he hoped that people like Yuan Keli, Bi Ziyan, and Li Changgeng would join the cabinet, but in the current situation, it would not be a good thing for Yuan Keli to join the cabinet as a member of the Donglin Party, and Jiangnan cannot do without Li Changgeng.

Since Li Changgeng became Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, there has been no delay in going north with money and food from the southern provinces every year, so he cannot move until Zhu Youjian finds someone who can replace him.

It is not very good to recommend only one Bi Ziyan. The remaining few seats are likely to be ignored by Wei Zhongxian and Keshi, which will increase the number of eunuchs.

If so...

"Bi Ziyan, Zhu Xieyuan..."

"Buzzing..."

Suddenly, Zhu Youjian, who was talking, had tinnitus, and a large number of birds flew out of Yanshan Mountain in the distance, and the war horse under his crotch kicked its hoof uncomfortably, and even walked around.

Zhu Youjian shook the reins and shouted "Woo", but he couldn't make him stop.

The war horses in the entire barracks began to neigh rhythmically, and before everyone could do anything, Zhu Youjian and everyone suddenly felt that the surroundings began to shake.

"earthquake!"

Zhu Youjian turned over and got off the horse, and when he got off the horse, the horse ran like an arrow off the string. Cao Huachun also supported Zhu Youjian:

"Your Highness, Earth Dragon has turned over!"

"Boom boom boom..."

Just as Cao Huachun finished speaking, there was a roar in the distance, and the surrounding sunlight even dimmed a lot in an instant, and then Zhu Youjian squatted on the ground.

He just felt himself bouncing up and down like riding a horse, and a few seconds later he felt swaying from side to side.

There was a "bang" collapse and some other abnormal noises in the distance, and the Jin Yiwei surrounded Zhu Youjian one after another. After a cup of tea shook, everyone stood up with lingering fear.

"Dilong turned over and ordered someone to go to the capital to see if there is anything wrong!"

Zhu Youjian's first reaction when he got up was to think about the safety of his royal brother, and Cao Huachun quickly responded, and then arranged for a fast horse to run around the Yanshan camp.

The topic of the list of cabinet ministers that I was going to talk about was also interrupted. Zhu You ordered the inspector to move the tables and chairs to the open square, and sat under the canopy to rest.

During this period, Cao Wenzhao, Sun Shoufa and others ran over one after another. After seeing Zhu Youjian Wuhai, they reported that the military camp was Wuhai, and then continued to guard him.

There were several earthquakes in the middle, which made Zhu Youjian, who experienced the earthquake for the first time, look a little ugly.

He was worried about Zhu Youxiao, but the Tiqi sent out never returned, until the sky darkened a little, and the Tiqi sent out came back one after another.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the earth dragon turned over in Luanzhou, the capital of the capital, and also broke out in Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhaiguan and other places.

When the news of Tiqi's report came out, Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief, and then ordered Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao:
"There will be a follow-up after the earth dragon turns over. In the past few days, the army has been ordered to be vigilant. Once the earth dragon reappears, everyone will go to the school to take refuge."

"Yes!" Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao bowed in response, and Zhu Youjian was also very frightened by the earthquake.

He ordered people to set up a tent on the open space, and he didn't plan to go back to the house to sleep in a short time. After all, he didn't know if the earthquake would have another aftershock on Yanshan.

These days lasted for four days. It was not until the third day of March that the aftershocks were no longer felt in Yanshan, but the earthquake continued in Luanzhou.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian could only send troops to the disaster area for relief after the situation was a little safer, and the news of the earthquake was also collected by Jin Yiwei and sent to Zhu Youjian.

【February [-] Luanzhou earthquake, numerous damaged houses, ground cracks and foreign objects gushing out.In the old shop village of Leting, the ground cracks and black water gushes out, more than a foot high.The sound of Qian'an was like a huge thunder, and countless city walls and houses were destroyed.Lu Long knocked down many government and civilian houses. 】

[At noon on February [-]th, the palace in the capital was shaking, and the water in the copper vat was shaking. 】

[By the second day of March, the capital was shaken three more times.The big city was shaken by earthquakes, the roof tiles were shaken, and people dared not sleep at night, and there were many street sleepers.Changli, Xin'an, Zhendingfu, Jizhou, Zunhua, Yutian, Hejianfu, Baodingfu, Tianjin Sanwei, and more than [-] prefectures and counties including Linyi, Deping, Haifeng and Wudingzhou in Shandong Province to the east were all shaken, causing casualties Nearly a thousand people...]

"..." Looking at the document in his hand, Zhu Youjian's face was a little ugly.

As far as the power and scale of this earthquake is concerned, it must be at least magnitude [-] or above. Such an earthquake breaking out in the capital will inevitably be used as a fuss by interested people.

But this is only political. Zhu Youjian is more concerned about whether the frequent earthquakes represent the early arrival of the Little Ice River drought.

All his preparations were to meet the severe drought in the Little Ice River in the seventh year of the apocalypse. If the severe drought came earlier, although Daming could survive it with his current body, the famine was enough to take away tens of millions of people.

Therefore, after the earthquake was completely over, he ordered the Fusi of Nanbei Township to start collecting drought matters from all over the world. For the so-called cabinet list, he only gave the names of Zhu Xieyuan and Bi Ziyan.

When Cao Huachun returned to the capital with the names given by Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youxiao immediately promoted these two as cabinet ministers, and at the same time promoted Wei Guangwei and Feng Quan from the eunuch party to cabinet ministers.

In this way, the four-year cabinet members of Tianqi formed a situation in which Ye Xianggao, Gu Bingqian, Sun Chengzong, Bi Ziyan, Zhu Xieyuan, Wei Guanghui, and Feng Quan belonged to several different camps.

Among them, Gu Bingqian naturally held Zhu Youjian's thigh tightly, and Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan recommended by him, although they said they also had party affiliations, they were actually the same as having no party.

Zhu Youjian doesn't care who the cabinet seat is, as long as he can do things, it is enough not to hold him back.

Especially right now...

The replacement of the cabinet ministers caused quite a stir in the court, especially the positions of Wei Guangwei and Feng Quan.

The Donglin officials all thought that Han Yu would be in charge this time, but they didn't want the two of them to take advantage of it, so many Donglin civil servants began to continue to put pressure on the eunuch officials.

On March [-]th, when the capital was in turmoil, Zhu Youjian received five million taels of silver and eight million stone grains and fodder escorted by six ministries, five temples and internal funds.

It's just that although the money and food seem to be a lot, it is a drop in the bucket for the Five Armies Dudu's Mansion.

Zhu Youjian, who got the money and food, didn't have time to look at them, so he got the news that Mangui had gone to the grassland to recruit soldiers and returned.

He led people out of the Yanshan Camp to meet Man Gui at Xuanfeng Building.

Just after noon, [-] to [-] horses and horses with their families appeared in the distance. Zhu Youjian picked up his clairvoyance to watch, most of them were old and weak women and children.

"Your Highness, it seems that Man Dudu did not recruit many soldiers and horses when he went to the grassland this time."

Cao Wenzhao put down his clairvoyance and spoke to Zhu Youjian who was next to him, and Zhu Youjian nodded slightly when he heard the words: "There should be two battalions."

When he said this, three thousand cavalry rushed out of the crowd and rushed towards Xuanfeng Building, while Man Gui was in the lead in front of the team.

After a cup of tea, Man Gui rode his horse and arrived, got off his horse and saluted:
"Your Highness, when we enter the grassland this time, we will eventually recruit a battalion of iron cavalry from Karaqin and Tuman respectively. Bo Yunai and Chaohua are not very willing, otherwise we can recruit more according to our military salary."

Man Gui's words were full of dissatisfaction with Bo Yunai and Chaohua, and Zhu Youjian nodded slightly when he heard the words:

"It's normal to be dissatisfied. Although they don't have armor to equip these men, it's better to have men in the tribe than no men."

"Forcible recruitment will only make them dissatisfied."

"They dare!" Sun Shoufa stared and said, "If you don't obey His Highness's military order, we will send troops to suppress them."

Sun Shoufa's words were also the voices of the generals around. After all, after the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, the cooperation between the Ming army soared.

It can also be said that the population of Liaodong is too small to maintain a large army out of the fortress, but there is no such concern in Beizhili.

As long as money and food are given, a large number of men will volunteer to sign up to transport food for the Ming army.

The cavalry of the Ming army attacked the Harqin and Tuman at the door of the house with ease.

"Okay, I don't have time to deal with them now, let's deal with the Hetao first."

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, all the generals shut up one after another, and when he saw the generals shut up, he also said to Man Gui:

"The two battalions have more than [-] soldiers and horses, which is not bad. With their participation, the re-enactment will be much easier this time."

"It just so happened that the money and food arrived this morning. You rest for three days. After three days, take the three guards of Daning and the two battalions to Shaanxi. As for the families of the two battalions, you can temporarily send them to Datong to rest and wait for the Liao Dynasty to return. Send them ranch after the end."

"The last general takes orders!" Man Gui happily agreed, and after Zhu Youjian motioned for them to follow, he drove back to the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

Seeing this, Man Gui got on his horse and led many generals to follow, as did Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao.

A group of more than ten people went to the imperial horse prison, arrived a quarter of an hour later, got off their horses and entered the interior of the yamen.

After arriving at the meeting hall, Zhu ordered the inspector to lift up the sand table and motioned everyone to sit down.

He sat in the main seat himself, and then he spoke:
"For the matter of resetting, since there is money and food allocated by the imperial court, it seems that we don't have to wait until next year's autumn harvest, and we can just wait until next year's spring."

"However, if you want to repeat the set, you must first make good preparations, especially clarifying the places where the Shaanxi army farms and herds."

"Taipusi's [-] million mu of land in the herdsmen's office must be taken back from the powerful before the autumn harvest. Anyone who dares to block... will be beheaded!"

"In addition, there is no need to hide the news. It is best to let both Hetao and Ningxia know that my Ming cavalry is about to sweep the set."

"If the army wants to sweep the tricks, civilians are necessary. How and where the soldiers and horses will come out of the tricks this time, and how many civilians will be needed. I have already prepared this in these days."

While Zhu Youjian was talking about this, a sand table with a length of one foot and a width of one foot was carried into the meeting hall, and Zhu Youjian stood up.

Seeing him standing up, all the generals stood up one after another, and Zhu Youjian took his pear flower tree from Cao Wenzhao, pointed to the sand table and said:

"The army has five exits. The first is to go to Piantouguan Fort in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. About [-] infantry will leave the fort along the Yellow River and sweep the northern captives of the Hetao tribe on the south bank of the Yellow River."

"The second way out of the fortress is to send troops through Yansui Town, Shaanxi Province. More than [-] cavalry rushed out of the fortress, and more than [-] infantry covered the peasants to keep up. The army went straight into the Red Salt Pond and cut off the salt in the Hetao area."

"The third exit is the Zhenyuan Pass in Ningxia. However, the soldiers and horses are divided into two groups. One group crosses the Yellow River and sweeps the northern captives along the Dusitu River. There are more than [-] cavalry and more than [-] infantry covering the civilians."

"The second branch is to stand still, wait for the news, and observe the whereabouts of Tumote's troops in Tumochuan. Once Tumote's Su Nang leads troops south to support, I will immediately take down the back cover, and there will be more than [-] horse and infantry. "

"As for the fourth exit, go to Zhenfanwei to go out of the fortress. Two soldiers and horses each have more than ten thousand cavalry, and they surprise Juyanhai and Baitinghai respectively."

"At the last fifth exit, a large army of more than [-] horse and infantry soldiers swept north along the Zhangye River."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian paused, but continued:
"In addition, our army also needs to garrison a part of the army to kill the tiger in Datong. Once the bag is moved, the [-] army will go straight to the city and regain the front."

"Anyway, after this battle is over, we need Daming's iron cavalry to garrison Yinshan Mountain, and let the northern captives wander to the north of Yinshan Mountain!"

Zhu Youjian's plan to dispatch troops is very grand. Only [-] cavalry, [-] horse infantry, and [-] infantry will be mobilized, for a total of [-] troops.

The [-]-strong army sweeping the north can be said to have given Ningxia and Hetao enough face. After all, the total number of men in the two departments does not exceed [-].

But just giving face like this is enough to show how determined Zhu Youjian is to regain Hetao.

He is expressing his determination, and after expressing it is the governance plan for regaining the Hetao.

Pointing to the front cover and the back cover with pear wood, as well as Zhu Youjian from Baitinghai, Juyanhai and other places, continued:

"After the army regained Hetao, all the soldiers and horses led the civilians to build cities in these places, and built cities along various rivers."

"Guhui ordered Xu Guangqi, the governor of Shaanxi, to relocate the people in northern Shaanxi to Qiantao and Houtao, and the people in Longyou to Juyanhai and Baitinghai."

"The number of household registrations in Longyou and Northern Shaanxi is more than [-] as recorded in the Yellow Book, but the actual number should reach one million."

"Therefore, once the war starts, food from all provinces will be continuously shipped to the front line."

"How much food and fodder can be left depends on the time of the war."

"I'm going to allocate [-] million stones, grain and fodder, and the [-] army needs at least [-] civilians."

"Every month this war is fought, the food and fodder consumed is a million stones, so it must be resolved quickly."

"As for the recruitment of civilian husbands, a notice can be issued half a year in advance. Those who are willing to join the army as civilian husbands will receive a monthly salary of one tael of silver. After the Hetao is conquered, the whole family can move to the Hetao. During the three-year period, the cultivation of grain and fodder will be borne by the imperial court."

Zhu Youjian invested a lot of capital. The sum of various conditions means that the expenditure for food and fodder after laying Hetao and the next three years will not be less than [-] million shi.

This is tantamount to saying that one year's land tax from the Ming Dynasty is exchanged for the migration of the people in northern Shaanxi.

Let Zhu Youxiao and others know about such a move, I am afraid they will frown, but only Zhu Youjian knows how cost-effective it is to quell the rebellion in northern Shaanxi with [-] million stone grain and moss.

"Your Highness, if you want to send troops like this, then the cavalry must be one man and three horses, but..."

Man Gui hesitated to say something, that is, the cavalry in the northwest could not reach the level of wealth of one man and three horses, and one man and two horses were rare.

If the cavalry of the Ming army could have one man and two horses, it would not be impossible to catch up with the Hetao tribe every time.

Regarding this, Zhu Youjian also nodded slightly, and then said:
"From now on, the Yumajian will send war horses from Tuman and Karaqin to the northwest, so don't worry about it."

"Even if you can't have one man with three horses before the war, you can guarantee one man with two horses."

"As for the main attack, I will personally lead the four cavalry guards to pursue and suppress them. You only need to send a large army to take over the various places."

Alright, after hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Man Gui knew that this time the second battle was not so much about the [-] troops sweeping the tricks, it was better to say that Zhu Youjian led [-] people to sweep the tricks, and the remaining [-] people just took care of it. It is to accept the Hetao.

Perhaps, only the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses who conquered the Ningxia Department can make people experience the joy of sweeping the North.

But everyone didn't dare to say anything to Zhu Youjian, after all, His Royal Highness King Qi had planned many battles.

"Okay, you guys back off."

Zhu Youjian waved his hand to signal the generals to retreat, and all the generals also bowed and exited after hearing the words.

After everyone had left, Zhu Youjian asked the Jinyiwei Qianhu at the door:
"How about the Southwest? Is Annan still invading?"

"Returning to His Highness, Mu Zeng is still waiting for His Highness's reply. Governor Hong has converted the whole territory of Guizhou to the locals, and after leaving the fourth battalion to station in Guizhou, he arrived in Kunming with the fifth battalion."

"Currently in Yunnan, plus Ma Zongbing's recruitment during this period, there are a total of [-] battalions of soldiers and horses from the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies..."

"As for Annan, he hasn't invaded again during this time." Qianhu replied honestly, and Zhu Youjian also said to the other party after hearing the other party's words, after thinking carefully:

"Send someone to send a message to Hong Chengchou, asking him to draw up the marching plan for Pingxinan chieftain."

"In addition, send someone to inform Ma Xianglin that he is going to accept the troops of the Mu Clan in Lijiang, and ask him to personally tell Mu Zeng that the future Duo Gancheng will announce that the chief envoy of the Chief Secretary is his."

Zhu Youjian has already seen Mu Zeng's letter and requirements. After all, Mu Zeng's requirements are not difficult to meet.

The mining of gold and silver mines in the Duogan area is extremely difficult, and Mu Zeng is willing to hand over [-]% as a tribute, which is not harmful to Zhu Youjian.

If one Duo Gan accepts the position of announcing the political envoy, he will get more than [-] troops from the Mu clan, which is not a bad deal.

On the contrary, after Mu Zeng handed over his troops, Mu Changzuo and Mu Qiyuan, who had been supporting him all the time, would probably give up directly.

As long as the Mu family is subdued, some small chieftains with a small force can only accept Daming's reform and return, as for the remaining big chieftains who still want to resist...

These people, Hong Chengchou will take good care of them for Zhu Youjian.

(End of this chapter)