Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 313
"Beep!"

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

On the ninth day of March in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, along with the sound of firing guns in Tianjin Port, crowds of people were already standing on the docks of the port.

Among them, there are people who come to watch the excitement, and there are also boatmen from Tianjin Shipyard, but more are soldiers of the Gongwei Battalion who are responsible for maintaining order, officials of the Ministry of Rites who are responsible for supporting the return of the ship, and Bi Zi, the Minister of the Ministry of Households who presided over the welcome. strict.

In addition to them, there are also various vassal kings and county kings who came from the capital one after another.

They couldn't wait for the head of the feudal clans to go to the capital, so they decided to greet them in person.

The reason for not waiting is very simple. The second vassal king meeting during the Tianqi period will be held in front of the Taimiao in the capital ten days later, and Bi Ziyan, who is in charge of presiding over the meeting of the vassals, is Bi Ziyan, who was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the Prosecutor Zhu You.

On the pier, Zhu Fan's complexion was not good, or it should be said that he had mixed feelings.

Some of them secretly looked at the vassals on their left and right, and some looked at Bi Ziyan. Few of them paid attention to the sailing fleet that was about to dock.

With the sound of "bang", when the fleet docked, the wooden ladder was lowered, and a fleet of voyage fleets that had been away for more than a year finally returned.

What they see and hear will determine how much the various feudal clans will bet on and how much they will bet on this "card table".

"See Chitose..."

When hundreds of clan chiefs and envoys got off the boat one after another, they bowed to the crowd of clans.

Seeing this, Bi Ziyan glanced around, and when he realized that there were too many people, he said to the officials of the Ministry of Rites beside him:

"Organize people to return to the capital."

"Yes..." The officials of the Ministry of Rites bowed in response, and then began to arrange for the officials of the various feudal clans, princes of the various feudal clans, and county kings to board the car.

The elders of the convoy headed back to the capital, but on the return carriage, many vassal kings had already begun to ask about the history of the vassal chiefs, the most representative of which was Zhu Suqin, the king of the Zhou vassal.

"How is the land of Tianzhu? Is it suitable for the vassal?"

On Zhou Fan's elephant, Zhu Suqin took Zhu Gongyan and Zhu Shaotong to ask a long history and four retainers who had returned from Zhou Fan. For this, Chang Shi Chen Rui handed over a document and respectfully road:

"The situation in the land of Tianzhu is complicated. I divided it into three parts, one is the geographical advantages, the second is the humanities, and the third is the interests."

"First of all, in terms of geographical location, the minister and the others just cruised with the fleet from the coast of Toungoo to the border of Persia."

"Whether it is climate, soil or vegetation, all kinds of changes in the entire coastal area of ​​​​Tianzhu are very significant. The vastness of the land is no less than that of Ming Dynasty..."

"Keep talking!" A sentence did not lose to Daming, and immediately aroused Zhu Suqin's interest. He asked, and Chang Shi Chen Rui also continued:
"I have inquired about inland things on the coast. To make a long story short...the land of Tianzhu is broad in the north and narrow in the south. Most of the plains and places suitable for farming are also in the north along the banks of a river called Ganga (Ganges) and in the central area. .

"The northern and central plains are densely covered with river networks, numerous irrigation canals, and agriculture is developed, while the southern part is a plateau, with only a small amount of plains on the east and west coasts."

"However, this plateau is not useless. The area between the plateau and the coastal plain is rich in crops such as rice, wheat, and sugar cane, and the minerals are richer in coal, iron, manganese, mica, gold, etc."

In the north of the northern plain, there is a raised mountain that stretches for thousands of miles, lying between Xuanweisi and Tianzhu. "

"Because there are tall and stretching mountains in the north and east, and the sea is surrounded on three sides, and a large amount of cultivated land has been developed, Tianzhu has certain advantages in geographical advantages."

"However, there is a large area of ​​desert in the northwestern part of Tianzhu, so if you want to fight for the vassal land, the coastal area closest to the central plain is the first choice."

Chang Shi expressed his opinion, and Zhu Suqin felt relieved when he heard that Tianzhu had a lot of cultivated land. He continued to signal to Chang Shi, and Chang Shi also said:
"The climate of Tianzhu is very different from that of Ming Dynasty. First of all, the temperature in this place is extremely high throughout the year, and the time of rainy season varies greatly from place to place."

"Some places don't rain all the year round, and some places rain all the year round. Among them, the northwest and northeast bear the brunt, and these two places are also prone to droughts and floods."

"In addition, most of the plains in Tianzhu have been developed, with irrigation and water conservancy facilities, and agriculture is developed. In my opinion, the cultivated land in Tianzhu is not inferior to my Ming Dynasty..."

"How is this possible?" Zhu Suqin didn't believe that the amount of arable land in Tianzhu was comparable to that of Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Wangshizi Zhu Gongyan also frowned and said:

"If there is so much arable land, wouldn't the number of their people be comparable to mine?"

"It's quite..." Chang Shi bowed and said:

"When I followed the army to attack Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Division, Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Division was just an overseas country in Tianzhu, but there were several mansions and millions of people in an island."

"As for the cities and towns along the coast of Tianzhu, there are hundreds of large and small cities, with more than [-] people and tens of thousands of widows. Merchants who heard about them said that the most people are still in the cities on the banks of the Ganga River."

"At present, Tianzhu is severely divided. The northern part is a country established by Babur, the descendant of Timur, the son-in-law of the Harleigh Kingdom (Tamerlane Empire)."

"The country is called Mughal by the Europeans. There are tens of millions of people under its rule. It controls the entire southern plateau of Tianzhu. It has more than [-] armored soldiers, most of whom are cavalry..."

"[-] cavalry?" Hearing this, Zhu Gongyun and the two who had studied at the Military Academy opened their mouths in surprise. After all, they could support [-] cavalry in the [-]th century, which shows that the economy of the Mughals was not inferior to that of Ming Dynasty.

"Not all of them are cavalry. Their army mainly consists of infantry, war elephants, artillery, and cavalry. The number of cavalry is about [-]."

"However, the number and power of their artillery are far inferior to ours. It took less than half a year for the four guards escorting the Shangzhi Navy to destroy the [-]-strong state on Ceylon Island."

"When I talked with the commanders of the four guards, they were also very familiar with the intelligence of the Mughals. Among them, Huang Fei, the nephew of the naval governor Huang Long, the commander Huang Fei even threatened that "with our heavenly army and one guard, we can destroy tens of thousands of southern captives." rhetoric."

After Chang Shi finished speaking, he looked at the appearance of Zhu Suqin and others, and said cautiously:
"Although it's a bit exaggerated, the combat power of the navy and the Gongwei Battalion is obvious to all. If we can really hire a guard and horse, we may be able to wipe out a land in the south within a few months, gain tens of millions of arable land, and millions of people. "

"Zong'er..." Zhu Suqin looked at his son Zhu Gongyun, after all he didn't understand military affairs, so he could only ask Zhu Gongyun for help.

Regarding his father's request for help, after all, Zhu Gongyou was appraised as a student with the talent to serve as a general, so he naturally had some opinions of his own.

He was silent for a moment, and after thinking about it, he asked:
"In your opinion, if wars are used to support wars, how much money can the southern states capture?"

"This..." Chang Shi was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect Zhu Gongyou to say so blatantly, but after a pause, he still responded:

"If the southern states really want to fight, perhaps choosing a large state can seize hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

"However, if you really want to use war to support war, you still have to attack the coastal plains in the east of the Mughals."

"Among the several Mughal cities in the east, there are more than [-] people in each city, and more than [-] people are not a minority. In addition, the Mughal economy is relatively prosperous, and perhaps one city can support [-] soldiers."

"Three thousand..." Hearing these words, Zhu Gongyou's heart was a little moved, but Zhu Shaotong next to him seemed to see it, and quickly dissuaded him:

"Father, if we want to attack the Mughals, the Mughals' hundreds of thousands of troops will attack us. We don't have enough troops, and we may not be able to continue."

"My Prince Zhou's mansion has been turned into a seller. As long as we collect money, it is enough to recruit six guards and horses to fight for us for a year!" Zhu Gongyou showed courage.

Zhu Suqin was very satisfied with this scene, he thought for a while before saying:

"If there are six guards and horses, they can completely repel the southern captives known as Mughals. At that time, they will control the land of a province, and then unite with the rest of the feudal clans to attack the southern captives, and the big thing will be settled!"

Zhou Fan's confidence and education made them think of the biggest profit-making opportunity in a very short period of time.

They have an advantage, a great advantage, that is, they have Daming behind them, and the feudal clans beside them.

Even if you don't count the county king, the power composed of thirty-two vassal kings is definitely not something that Mughal can eat in one bite.

Even if each vassal only recruits one guard battalion, they can form a huge scale of thirty-two guard battalions.

Nearly [-] soldiers and horses are enough to shatter Mughal's teeth, and the only thing that needs to be manipulated and paid attention to is how to divide the land peacefully and unite the feudal clans.

"The matter of dividing the land still needs to be discussed carefully. It can't be so evil that the feudal clan is strong, otherwise it will be difficult to form an alliance in the future."

Zhu Suqin grasped the problem, and Zhu Gongyun said:
"The imperial court set up the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner, obviously to supervise the feudal lords and control them by the way."

"As for the alliance, we have to see who Zhu Youjian will send to supervise the envoy."

"In my opinion, I'm afraid it's either Hong Chengchou or Sun Chuanting, and there is no third person..."

Zhu Gongyun mentioned two possible names, and Zhu Suqin thought for a while before saying:

"Hong Chengchou is sophisticated and ruthless, Xiao Xiyang Supervisor is very suitable for him, but I don't know if Zhu Youjian will choose another candidate."

"In short, it is better to unite the feudal vassals first, and it will not be too late to discuss the matter after the Taimiao holds a general meeting of the feudal vassals ten days later."

"Yes..." Everyone in the Xiangren responded one after another, and scenes like those in Zhou Fan's Xiangren were also staged in various Xiangren.

Three days passed slowly, and when the feudal vassals Xiang Ren entered the Hundred Kings' Mansion in Dongcheng, Jin Yiwei also sent the news of the three days' inquiring to the Zhen Fusi, and handed it over to Lu Wenzhao.

"This group of people is quite far-sighted..."

Lu Wenzhao looked at the attitudes of the feudal vassals in his hands, but when he saw the back, he put away his smile: "But there are many idiots..."

After all, he led the people towards the imperial palace, crossed the Xihua Gate, the Wuying Hall, and finally came to the gate of Qianqing Palace.

When he arrived at the gate of Qianqing Palace and got the decree to enter, there was also a scolding from the Hall of Mental Cultivation:
"do not move!"

There was a scolding sound from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and the sound was not from the emperor, which made people feel a little inexplicably guilty.

But if you look carefully at the scene in the palace, no one will feel guilty anymore.

At this moment in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Zhu Youxiao was wearing a winged crown, a yellow uniform, and a jade belt around his waist. He was sitting in front of a screen with a big horse and a golden knife, looking very majestic.

Under his seat is a pure jade dragon chair and a three-by-three-zhang high-quality Sichuan brocade carpet. This carpet alone is worth a thousand taels of silver. Although the jade dragon chair under his seat is of ordinary quality, it is also worth tens of thousands of taels. silver.

Since the whole day is either seafood or wild game, and Zhu Youxiao does manual work by himself, and Zhu Youjian helps to handle government affairs, he is not as thin as in historical portraits, but a bit strong.

He sat motionless, and opposite him was a painting table, and behind the table was Zhu Youjian who was drawing a full-body portrait for Zhu Youxiao.

Lu Wenzhao who entered the hall was taken aback by the scolding, but he was relieved when he saw that the person who scolded was Zhu Youjian.

He stood in the corner of the hall, waiting for his highness to report after finishing painting.

Originally, he was curious why his Highness scolded Long Live, but after a while he understood.

I saw that when Zhu Youjian was painting with peace of mind, Zhu Youxiao seemed to be suffering from ADHD, scratching his face now, yawning now, and moving his neck randomly after a while.

With this reckless behavior, an ordinary court painter can only play freely, but when this painter became Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youxiao began to suffer.

It would be uncomfortable for anyone to sit still for a quarter of an hour, let alone Zhu Youxiao, who likes riding horses and archery, and does carpentry.

For him, being painted by his younger brother can be said to be a kind of torment.

Even though this painting request was put forward by himself...

After all, the tormented days passed after a quarter of an hour. When Zhu Youjian put down the brush, Zhu Youxiao immediately leaned back on the chair and let out a long sigh.

Although he didn't speak, everyone in the hall could see that the emperor who had clamored for his younger brother to paint him the day before, probably wouldn't let his younger brother paint a full-length portrait of himself again in his lifetime.

"Tell me, what's the matter..."

Zhu Youjian walked to the corner of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, washed his hands in the golden basin, and asked Lu Wenzhao without looking back.

When Lu Wenzhao heard the words, he immediately took a step forward, presented the document with both hands and said:
"This is the actions of the various vassals in the past three days, and they are basically targeting the coastal areas near the central part of Tianzhu..."

"They are pretty good at choosing..." Zhu Youjian wiped his hands before taking the paperwork and looking at it.

After reading it, he handed the document to Zhu Youxiao: "Brother, you can take a look at the land of these good emperor uncles."

"Your brother is so sure?" Zhu Youxiao took the document and glanced at it roughly.

On the other hand, Zhu Youjian said: "Before they came back, I probably knew how they would divide this land of Tianzhu."

"Thirty-two princes, more than a hundred county kings, the land of Tianzhu is only about the same size as my mainland."

"If they squeeze in, I'm afraid the land of Tianzhu will not be able to withstand their toss."

"Even if we build up a large feudal state, we can make it under the Ming Dynasty's ancestral system. Perhaps within a hundred years, hundreds of prefectures will appear on Tianzhu."

The younger brother of the prince of the Ming Dynasty needs to be entrusted, which is similar to the Tweeting Order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian has never worried about the rebellion of the feudal vassals, because the longer it takes, the more fragmented the forces on Tianzhu will be.

However, there has never been any kind of strategy in the world that can be truly unsolvable.

The so-called incomprehension is actually only due to the special situation at that time, and the same is true of the Tweeting Order.

As the most famous conspiracy in ancient history, the Tweet Order is actually not unsolvable.

It's just that during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, under that special situation, the cost of the princes and kings to crack the Tweet Order was too high, so it seemed impossible to crack it.

Regarding the so-called "No. [-] conspiracy in the ages" of the Tweeting Order, the princes and kings actually have at least three ways to crack it.

These three methods are: family planning, direct rebellion, or only dividing land without dividing power.

Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, in order to maintain the rule of the old Zhu family, Zhu Yuanzhang once sealed his sons to various important places in the country to guard them.

But at the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang has also read history books, and he is also worried that these princes and kings are too powerful and will threaten the safety of the court.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang designed a very clever system at that time.

According to this system, although the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty were enfeoffed, they did not have any management rights over their own feudal kingdom.

The only power of the vassal kings in the early Ming Dynasty was to bring their own personal guards to guard one side.

When there is a war, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty gives military power, and then leads the troops to fight, and the power is very small on weekdays.

As for why Zhu Yunqi had such a big advantage, he was still overthrown by Zhu Di. This is not because Zhu Yuanzhang didn't leave Zhu Yunqi with a strong general, but the gap between Zhu Yunqi and Zhu Di.

The lineup of generals that Zhu Yuanzhang left for Zhu Yunqi is very luxurious in any dynasty, from Song Sheng to Wu Jie, Sheng Yong, Ping An, Tie Xuan, Xu Huizu, Guo Ying, Qu Neng...

There are also a large number of outstanding mid- and lower-level officers trained by the Hongwu Dynasty. Among these people, there are civil and military officers, fierce generals, cavalry generals, and commanders. The army has high quality, high morale, and sufficient logistics supplies...

Not to mention whether Lan Yu and Fu Youde could beat them, even the young Chang Yuchun, Xu Da and others couldn't guarantee that they would beat Zhu Yunqi's subordinates.

This group of people, some fought against the Songpan minority, some fought against the southern minority, and some participated in the Northern Expedition Mongols.

Even the Han and Mongolian elite cavalry, which the Yan army was proud of, were defeated by the southern cavalry in the Battle of Baigouhe.

Zhu Yunwen's cutting down the feudal clan is the stupidest way to cut down the feudal clan. Zhu Youjian doesn't need to learn from him at all. What he has to learn to emulate is that strengthening control is enough for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's methods of cutting down the feudal clan.

Because compared with the period of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the current vassals have one more vassal land that can be managed autonomously.

As for what Zhu Youjian has to do, it is to let the vassals accept and use the hereditary methods stipulated by the Ming Dynasty.

Thirty-two princes, as long as there are enough children, South Asia, which is more than four million square kilometers, can be divided into more than four hundred counties.

What Zhu Youjian has to do is to strengthen control and ensure the number of heirs of the vassals, so that they can be weakened invisibly.

That's why he didn't care as much about Zhu Fan's overseas employment as Zhu Youxiao did. To put it bluntly, Zhu Fan could only become a pawn in the Ming Dynasty's military and a member of the Chinese economic circle in the future.

"We need to stabilize the feudal clans, and pay attention to the distribution of the feudal clans."

"Don't let strong feudal clans collide, protect the interests of small feudal clans, and avoid premature internal friction..."

Zhu Youjian spoke to Lu Wenzhao, and Zhu Youxiao also listened.

I have to say that Zhu Youjian played well. As long as Xiao Fan doesn't follow the strong fan, there are only seven or eight strong fan, which is not enough to gather force to threaten Daming.

"Zhou Fan and Shu Fan, Fu Fan, Jin Fan, Chu Fan, Zhao Fan, Qin Fan, and Tang Fan should have the most money..."

Zhu Youxiao reminded Zhu Youjian when Zhu Youjian spoke, but facing the advance, Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:

"Chu Fan is suspected of being a false king of Chu, Qin Fan is a collateral superior, Jin Fan and Zhao Fan are incompetent..."

"These four feudal clans only want to solve the matter of the feudal clan quickly, and go overseas to the feudal clan early."

"They will not compete for too scarce a position, and the high probability is on the coastal plains on both sides of the south."

"This competition is mainly among the four feudal clans of Zhou Fan, Shu Fan, Fu Fan, and Tang Fan."

"The northwest is barren. If the four domains compete for it, they must all compete for the east."

"However..." Zhu Youjian paused, thinking of Tang Fan's old King Tang and Zhu Yujian, and then said:
"It is estimated that Tang Fan will also choose the central or southern part, and even take the initiative to split the Tang Kingdom."

"That is to say... there are only three vassals?" Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, and Zhu Youjian also said:

"This area is not small. Among the San Francisco, the Zhou Fan is the strongest, the Shu Fan is next, and the Fu Fan is the weakest."

"Among the children of the various feudal clans, the children of the Fu clan are also not capable. The San Francisco may have conflicts after resisting the Mughals, so brother needs to pay attention."

"Beyond thousands of miles of sea and territory, the position that the San Francisco wants to grab is also far away from the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner. How should we pay attention?" Zhu Youxiao didn't know the overseas situation, so he could only ask.

"It's very simple..." Zhu Youjian walked to the bottom of the "Daming Kunyu General Map" and patted Dongyu Burma with his hand.

"It is enough to recover the three declarations and six comforts, drink horses east of the Ganga River, and directly border San Francisco."

"Three announcements and six consolations are not easy to regain..." Zhu Youxiao was a little annoyed, after all, he knew exactly what the Ming army had fought against Toungoo Burma in the southwest during the Wanli period.

Although it cannot be said to have been a disastrous defeat, it is a fact that Daming has lost its sovereignty over three declarations and six consolations.

As for Zhu Youjian, he is also very clear that it can even be said that the next two decades will not be a good time to recover the three propagandas and six comforts.

The reason is very simple. Under the rule of Anabilon, Taungoo has overwhelmed local forces, re-completed the nominal unity of Myanmar, and ended the division of Myanmar since the end of the sixteenth century.

Thalom, who succeeded him later, conducted a national census within the Toungoo Dynasty and compiled survey statistics on household registration, arable land area, output and taxation in various places as the basis for taxation and labor.

And Toungoo's decline again will have to wait until Talong dies of illness.

When was that time?It seems like twenty-one years later...

Twenty-one years... Zhu Youjian couldn't wait for this time.

He would rather fight against Toungoo who is in ZTE again than wait twenty-one years.

Twenty-one years later, the Great Drought on the Little Glacier was completely over. Although it was still in a low temperature period and the national grain production decreased, at least the people could survive.

As long as they can survive, there will not be too many people who are willing to migrate.

In this way, Daming needs to invest more resources in the Toungoo immigrants.

Instead of investing resources to relocate the people and balance the nearly [-] million barbarians in the area, it is better to break out a big war in advance, and fight for more than ten years to exhaust Toungoo, and finally get three announcements and six consolations of the sharply reduced population.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian closed the document and subconsciously looked out the window, as if his thoughts had already flown to Lin'an Mansion in Yunnan...

(End of this chapter)