Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 234 Nanyang Since Ancient Times
On March [-]th of the fourth year of Tianqi, with Zhu Youjian's letter sent to Kunming, Ma Xianglin, the general soldier of Yunnan, led [-] troops to Lijiang Mansion.

His actions made Mu Changzuo, Mu Qiyuan, and Wu Bikui who were in Yuanmou extremely nervous.

Because on the journey from Kunming to Lijiang, the nearest place is only more than a hundred miles away from Yuanmou, so Mu Changzuo led [-] troops to garrison Laoqingshan, and sent sentry cavalry [-] miles south to observe Ma Xianglin's third battalion at any time The movement of the horse.

When Ma Xianglin's soldiers and horses passed by, the atmosphere between the two parties was extremely tense, but no one dared to fire the first shot.

Mu Changzuo, who was originally full of confidence and thought he could eat Ma Xianglin in a real fight, couldn't help but feel guilty after seeing the three hundred five-jin Yanshan General Cannons of Ma Xianglin's army.

The two sides spent a tense hour, and this tension gradually eased as Ma Xianglin's soldiers and horses drifted away.

"It looks like Ma Xianglin is going to Dali and Lijiang? Could it be that he is planning to join hands with Mu Zeng to deal with me?"

After Ma Xianglin's soldiers and horses left, Mu Changzuo on the top of Daqing Mountain couldn't help asking himself, but after thinking about it, he found it impossible, because with the increase of Kunming's soldiers and horses, Hong Chengchou and Ma Xianglin could completely encircle and suppress him alone.

Thinking that it is impossible to join forces, then the only two possibilities are the outbreak of conflicts between the two sides and preparations for war, or Mu Zeng's surrender and acceptance of reform.

As soon as these two possibilities appeared in Mu Changzuo's mind, his heart sank instantly.

He knows Mu Zeng, Mu Zeng can't betray Daming, then...

"..." For a moment, Mu Changzuo had a lot of thoughts in his mind, and after a long time, he directly ordered the troops to withdraw.

The army withdrew and returned to Yuanmou, and five days later, Ma Xianglin also led the army to Lijiang City.

Lijiang City was built at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Ajiaade, the governor of Tongan Prefecture in the Yuan Dynasty, returned to Daming. Zhu Yuanzhang established the Lijiang Military and Civilian Mansion, and Ajiaade was given the surname "Mu" by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and was named hereditary. Prefect.

Recognized by Daming, coupled with Daming's local policies, Lijiang City began to expand continuously, and the Mu family also developed stronger and stronger, gradually becoming the overlord of Northwest Yunnan.

After the Tumu Fort change, Ming's control over Qinghai-Tibet weakened, so it began to appoint the Mu family of Lijiang to monitor Qinghai-Tibet.

While scrambling for minerals, they also did not forget to build water conservancy, develop agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, and commerce.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Mu family, together with Menghua and Yuanjiang, was known as one of the three major Tufu in Yunnan, and was the richest Tusi.

When the court was in financial difficulties in the late Ming Dynasty, the Mu family actively donated money and war horses to the court since the Jiajing period, and sent soldiers to help the court many times in battles, becoming the top chieftain in the province.

Until the Qing Dynasty, it suffered heavy losses due to its support for the Northern Expedition of the Ming Army. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, it was targeted for supporting the Northern Expedition of the Ming Army, and then gradually declined.

For the Mu family, Zhu Youjian has good intentions, so in his letter to Ma Xianglin, he also specifically explained the etiquette matters.

Ma Xianglin also did a good job of explaining to Zhu Youjian. He ordered the army to camp ten miles away from Lijiang City, and he took twelve relatives to ride horses to the gate of Lijiang River.

When he came here, Mu Zeng, the governor of Lijiang and the right minister of Yunnan, had already led [-] soldiers and horses in Lijiang to line up. He was holding a tray and presented the letter with the seal of the military power tiger.

"This is the Tiger Talisman Sealed by the [-] Army of the Lijiang Mansion, please take it away from Zongbing Ma..."

Mu Zeng handed out the Indian Tiger Talisman on the tray, and Ma Xianglin got off his horse and bowed:

"Don't worry, Mubu Zhengshi, the last general has received His Royal Highness's oral order. From now on, Mu Buzheng will be the governor of the Western Army Zuo to join the army. In the future, when Duogan Dusi sets up the chief secretary, Mu Buzheng will also be in charge. The matter of the silver mine is as usual as stated in the letter of the wooden minister."

"Mu Zeng, thank you Long Live, thank Your Highness Long En..."

After Mu Zeng got Zhu Youjian's accurate recognition, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and Ma Xianglin also took the seal and said:
"There are [-] troops in the Lijiang Mansion, and the Wooden Chief Envoy can take away what is needed. His Highness personally promises that you can raise [-] family members and maintain the Duogan mining area."

"Among the army, I will never stop those who want to quit farming, and those who are willing to stay have an annual salary of fifteen taels."

"Thank you, Zongbing Ma." Hearing that Zhu Youjian was willing to let him support a thousand family members, Mu Zeng felt even more satisfied.

To be honest, it is not a good thing to have heavy troops in your hands when the center has military power and is strong.

In order to maintain an army of [-], the Mu Clan of Lijiang spends hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year. Now that they have handed over their military power and kept the mines, the Mu Clan is not at a loss in terms of earning silver.

Once Duogan is established as a province in the future, the Mu family's status in Duogan will be improved to a higher level.

Thinking of this, Mu Zeng also showed a smile. After saluting each other with Ma Xianglin, the two got on their horses and walked towards the city of Lijiang.

In the following time, Ma Xianglin organized the [-] soldiers and horses of the Mu family during the day, and enjoyed the customs and customs of the local ethnic groups with the Mu family at night.

Within a month, Ma Xianglin reorganized and abolished the [-] troops of the Mu clan into seven battalions, with a total of more than [-] soldiers.

The news was intercepted by Yuanmou's sentry cavalry on the way back to Kunming. After Yuanmou's Mu Changzuo heard the news, his first reaction was that it was impossible, but he soon cheered up.

He sent people to Lijiang to inquire, and it was not until ten days later that he confirmed that Mu Zeng had handed over his military power, accepted the reform of the land, and voluntarily handed over the news of more than [-] mu of military farmland in Lijiang and other places.

When such news came back, Mu Changzuo couldn't hold back immediately.

Counting the court troops in Lijiang, Yunnan Baguan, Kunming and other places, the military strength of the Western Army Governor's Mansion in Yunnan has reached a terrifying [-] people.

Mu Changzuo couldn't bear it anymore, so he could only take the initiative to admit his end, and wrote a handwritten letter to Zhu Youjian.

At the same time that the handwriting was sent to the capital, chieftains from all over Yunnan knew the news that the Mu family in Lijiang had handed over military power, and the entire chieftain in Yunnan was in an uproar.

After all, the current Lijiang Mu clan is the real top chieftain in Yunnan. Since the Mu clan has expressed their views, the other chieftains must follow suit.

Because the Ming Dynasty’s detention method in Yunnan was mainly to maintain the chieftain’s national identity and territorial attachment to Daming, so as to achieve the goal of stabilizing the territory of the southwest frontier country.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty governed Yunnan chieftains through military control and Jimi rule, making Yunnan chieftains the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time making Jimi chieftains undertake the important task of protecting the country and borders, so as to realize the expansion and stability of the southwestern border of the Ming Dynasty.

This led to the very loose rule of the chieftains in Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty, and the chieftains also had greater autonomy in local government affairs.

As for what Daming needs, it is nothing more than the chieftain helping Daming to resist the invasion of the enemy country and at the same time taking the initiative to bear the taxes.

Therefore, even though the Ming Dynasty has been reforming the native land for more than two hundred years, even if the chieftain who accepted the reformation of the native land returned to the native land, he still holds a lot of military power in his hands.

However, as the Mu family handed over the military power, the number of soldiers and horses on the chieftain's side disappeared instantly by one-tenth or even one-fifth.

Not only that, shortly after Mu’s chieftain handed over his military power, news of small chieftains in northwestern Yunnan and Yunnan Baguan successively handed over military power continued to spread.

Until April [-], more than [-] small chieftains in the west of Yuanjiang surrendered their military power one after another, and Ma Xianglin also followed Zhu Youjian's order, listed them as local magistrates, and raised their salaries to [-] years.

Even if they step down as magistrates, their descendants will still inherit the vain title of military honors of the sixth-rank Yunqiwei, and receive an annual salary of five hundred taels a year, and the treatment will remain for five generations.

These little chieftains are very satisfied with such an official rank and salary, and Ma Xianglin solved one-third of the chieftain problems in Yunnan without any effort.

When such news came back to the capital, Zhu Youjian was personally quite happy.

On May [-]th, sitting on a chair in the study, he was holding the handwriting of Ma Xianglin and Mu Changzuo, with a smile on his face.

If Ma Xianglin's handwriting represented Daming's initial success in Yunnan's land reform, then Mu Changzuo's handwriting represented that Daming could start a comprehensive land reform.

"His Royal Highness, Duke Qian hopes that His Royal Highness can increase the hereditary lineage of honored ministers to five generations. Long live will also suggest raising it after knowing it. You see..."

When Cao Huachun, who came from the capital, spoke, Zhu Youjian was pulled back to reality.

He glanced at Mu Changzuo's handwriting. Mu Changzuo's biggest worry and dissatisfaction was that Zhu Youjian treated his ministers too harshly, so he carefully stated what he wanted in the letter.

These things can be summed up in four points.

First, the land farmed by the army can be handed over, but the land granted to the Mu family by previous emperors cannot be handed over.

Second, the military power can be handed over, but he hopes that he, Mu Qiyuan, and later Mu's children can have official positions in the Western Army's Governor's Mansion.

Third, I hope to increase the hereditary status of Xun Chen to five generations, because the third generation is really harsh on Xun Chen.

Fourth, I hope that Zhu Youjian can agree with the Mu family to retain certain servants and continue to guard Yunnan.

These four pieces of news are all Mu Changzuo needs, and Zhu Youjian is naturally a little unhappy about this.

He added the quota of one thousand family members to Mu because the Mu family really needed the thousand family members to protect the mine. After all, the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty were not yet ready for the Qinghai-Tibet chieftain to return to the land.

But Mu Changzuo's request for family members is different. He also hopes to live in Kunming, and wants to have an official position in the Western Army's Governor's Mansion and continue to guard Yunnan.

This kind of treatment determines that he can use a thousand family members to develop his personal connections in the army. Maybe after a few decades, the local garrison in Yunnan will only know the Mu Mansion and not the court.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian would never agree to the demands of the servants that Mu's mansion needed, unless Mu Changzuo was willing to move his family to Menggen's mansion to guard the frontier for Daming.

"Huachun, write a letter for me and reply to Mu Changzuo. Unless the Mu family is willing to move their family to Menggen Mansion or Longchuan to guard against Annan or Burma for Ming Dynasty, otherwise there is no need to discuss the matter of family members."

"As for the five generations of Xunchen..."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian paused, and after a while he sighed and said:

"That's all, after the Earl went to be a noble, he was awarded the fifth-rank Xiaoqi Lieutenant, with an annual salary of [-] taels."

Zhu Youjian added another generation, and in terms of the title of the Duke of Qian, there are still four generations of rich people.

"The maidservant takes orders..." Cao Huachun breathed a sigh of relief, because he was staying in the capital, so he knew what the attitude of the ministers in the capital was.

It can be said that if it were not for the protection of the emperor, they would have wished to eat Zhu Youjian's flesh and drink his blood.

Although this additional generation cannot offset their hatred for Zhu Youjian, it can at least ease it.

"Does the request from His Highness, the Governor's Mansion of the Western Army and Citian need to be dismissed?"

Cao Huachun studied ink and wrote a pen, raised his head and asked a question, and Zhu Youjian also said after being silent:
"It can be granted to Mu Changzuo as the Right Counselor of the Governor's Mansion of the Western Army. As for the grant of land, if Mu Changzuo abandons his family, there is no need to open his mouth to take it back. If Mu Changzuo is willing to go to Longchuan and Menggen, the Qi Palace can give seven taels and one mu of silver. Buy Citian."

"Yes..." Cao Huachun responded, and then continued to reply.

But when Cao Huachun replied, a Jinyi guard walked into the meeting hall quickly, bowed to Zhu Youjian in the study and said:
"His Royal Highness, there is news from the Qianhu Office of North Korea that the Tiger Rabbit Dun of the Tatar tribe sent troops to rob Horqin's Huoerchen tribe ten days ago."

"The captive chieftain of the Huoerchen tribe asked the old slave for help. After the old slave heard the news, he specially ordered Huang Taiji to lead more than [-] Jianlu and Beihu people to the Huoerchen tribe three days ago."

"Huoerchen Department?" Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard the news, just because the place was too far away.

The grazing land of the Huoerchen tribe was between the Xing'an League and Baicheng in later generations, and it was nearly a thousand miles away from the nearest station of the Ming army.

The cavalry can be killed if they rush to the past, but how to come back becomes a problem.

It is said that cattle and sheep can be grazed and returned nomadically, but if too many soldiers and horses are dispatched, the cattle and sheep may not come back after eating.

But if too few troops are dispatched, and it is difficult to severely injure Horqin and Huang Taiji, it will be a bit troublesome...

"This tiger and rabbit prick, it's better to pick a closer one..."

Zhu Youjian had a headache. Before the people's power in Liaodong was restored, the Ming army in Liaodong could not organize an expedition of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Jianlu can do this because they are fishing and hunting themselves, and there are a large number of Mongolians among the soldiers and horses to help nomads, so it is so easy, but the Ming army did not have all this.

Not to mention that Daming's iron cavalry had not been to the northern part of the Horqin Grassland for hundreds of years, and they were not familiar with the local conditions.

Even if they are familiar, who can judge whether this guy Lin Danhan will suddenly attack the Ming army?
This guy's background in history is not clean, and he has done a lot of things in looting border towns while taking annual tribute.

"keep an eye on."

After thinking about it, Zhu Youjian still didn't plan to send troops, because the Ming cavalry in Liaodong didn't have the ability to go back and forth for nearly two thousand miles for the time being.

"Call Lu Wenzhao."

After talking about the matter of Jianlu, Zhu Youjian also became concerned about the affairs of Liaodong, so he deliberately asked someone to pass on Lu Wenzhao.

Recently, Lu Wenzhao has been busy with intelligence news in the Southwest, Northwest, and Southeast Asia, and he couldn't even follow Zhu Youjian closely.

Zhu Youjian also understood, so he didn't let people bother him very much.

Counting, the two haven't seen each other for more than half a month, and this time they happened to ask something.

Also following Zhu Youjian's order, after a quarter of an hour, Lu Wenzhao rushed to the meeting hall in a hurry, and immediately bowed to Zhu Youjian.

"Your Highness..."

"Tell me about the acres and population of Liaodong Yellow Book, and then talk about the news about the Northwest, Southwest, and Nanyang."

Zhu Youjian walked out of the study and took the main seat in the hall, and Cao Huachun followed closely.

When Lu Wenzhao saw Cao Huachun, he greeted him with his eyes, and then responded to the question:

"Currently there are more than [-] households in Liaodong, more than [-] million people, and nearly [-] million refugees have poured in. Since last year, the number of newly cultivated land in Liaodong has reached [-] million acres. More than mu, the total number of field mu is more than [-] million mu."

The total number of acres of fields inside and outside the Great Wall of Liaodong is about to exceed [-] million acres. This is good news, and the population has also exceeded [-] million.

Last year, nearly [-] million mu of land was newly reclaimed. Although this is only a preliminary reclamation and it will take another two years to cultivate it, I have to say that the speed of reclamation is indeed very fast, and there is no waste of the cattle and farmland left by Zhu Youjian. horse.

At this rate, the number of acres of land in Liaodong should exceed [-] million in two years, and the number of fields that can grow grain will reach [-] million acres.

If the population of Liaodong can be more, then the number of reclaimed fields will be faster, but...

Thinking of the population, Zhu Youjian then thought of the food problem of the two million hungry people in Liaodong.

No matter how carefully Yuan Yingtai calculated, the two million people still had to eat more than twelve million shi of grain every year.

If oil, salt, and other vegetables and meat are included, the annual expenditure is about six million taels.

Daming's financial budget last year was only [-] million taels at most, and the annual expenditure of [-] million taels was indeed somewhat difficult for Daming.

This is still a place in Liaodong, if you count Ryukyu Mansion...

"How's the situation in Ryukyu Mansion?" Zhu Youjian leaned on the chair and asked, but Lu Wenzhao thought for a while and said:

"The latest yellow book sent seven days ago is more than [-] households, nearly [-] million people, and a total of more than [-] million acres have been reclaimed so far."

"Deputy Shen mentioned that roughly next year, about [-] mu will be available for cultivation, but the specific output should not be high, because Your Highness said that no more than half of the sweet potatoes can be planted."

"Well, no matter how much it is, I can solve some problems by myself." Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief.

From the second year of the apocalypse to the current fourth year of the apocalypse, the Ryukyu Mansion finally had some food income.

With more than [-] mu of arable land, even if it can only produce [-] shi of grain, it can meet the food rations of [-] to [-] people for a month.

Now the Shibo Department of Ryukyu Mansion earns money, and puts it into the grain trade. It buys a large amount of grain from Huguang and Jiangxi and transports it to Ryukyu Mansion.

Ryukyu plus Liaodong, there are more than three million people in the two places, and they need to consume food worth nearly ten million taels of Ming Dynasty every year.

This has made Daming a bit stretched, but Zhu Youjian has no time, he still needs to fight the Hetao, and then relocate millions of people in northern Shaanxi.

The expenditure of these one million people is greater than that of the two million people in Liaodong, because the only way to get to Hetao is by land.

The flow of the Yellow River in this era is less than that of later generations, and it is even more difficult to navigate, especially the section west of Luoyang. If you want to navigate this section, it is comparable to reaching the sky.

Therefore, not surprisingly, after the people in northern Shaanxi moved, Daming would spend tens of millions more on food every year.

But the good news is that when the war ends next year, it will take at least six years after the apocalypse to relocate millions of people.

In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the hungry people in Liaodong also had an acre of land, which could reduce a lot of burden for Ming Dynasty, and the same is true for Ryukyu Mansion.

Zhu Youjian calculated that in the sixth year of the apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty should only need to spend [-] to [-] million stones to maintain the reclamation of these three places.

However, in addition to these three places, he still needs to launch a war against Nanyang and increase the migration and reclamation of the people in Nanyang.

Therefore, he must continue to open up new sources of income seven years before the apocalypse, and tap the tax potential of Daming as much as possible.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian didn't ask in a hurry, but looked at Lu Wenzhao and motioned:
"What happened to the Northwest, Southwest, and Nanyang?"

"Return to Your Highness..." Lu Wenzhao bowed, and then said:
"The population of Qinghai, Ningxia, and Hetao in the northwest should be around [-], with no more than [-] males and no more than [-] armored soldiers."

"The three ministries are all building cities in nomadic land and reclaiming a lot of fields. The total amount should not be less than [-] mu."

"As for the southwest, Burma, Annan, and Nanzhang are all in turmoil, and the various tribes are fighting frequently. Siam, on the other hand, is able to survive the disaster because it pays tribute to me every year with timber."

"In Nanyang, Beizhen Fusi has been investigating for more than half a year, and has almost found out the number of soldiers and horses in each country."

"Great Francois (Spain) has no more than [-] people, no more than [-] troops stationed in Luzon, no more than ten warships, and more than a hundred merchant ships."

"Francobots (Portugal) have no more than [-] people in various places, no more than [-] garrisons, nine warships, and more than a hundred merchant ships."

"The Red Maoyi (Netherlands) has the largest number of people in Nanyang, with more than [-] people, more than [-] warships, more than [-] merchant ships, and more than [-] soldiers scattered all over Nanyang."

"Besides, there are Anelia (British), Francia (French) and other Europeans, but there are only seven or eight hundred soldiers in the garrison, and the total number of warships and merchant ships is only a few dozen."

"As for the dozens of tribal countries in Nanyang, the strong have tens of thousands of soldiers and the weak have more than a thousand soldiers. There are all kinds of miscellaneous things, and the total number of them will not exceed [-]."

Lu Wenzhao's words roughly explained the situation in Nanyang to Zhu Youjian, and after listening, he rubbed his fingertips subconsciously, and then said:

"From this point of view, only two Class B fleets, more than [-] merchant ships, and more than [-] soldiers can take Nanyang..."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes, and then said:

"You ask Huang Long, if you want to dispatch more than [-] sailors, more than [-] infantry, and two second-tier fleets, how much food will you need to conquer Nanyang? What is the marching plan?"

As Zhu Youjian talked, he became inexplicably excited:
"If the expenditure is not large, I don't mind if I'm lonely. Before resuming the set, I will recover the old port..."

(End of this chapter)