eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 347 Supporting the Borderlands
"Datong Chief Soldier Zhou Yanzhang has come to give a memorial. Please lead the Ming cavalry north to the Great Wall. You should all know, right?"

The emperor summoned the Military Aircraft Department to discuss the state affairs together today.

After the great martial arts performance, the imperial decree was exempted for another day. Some civil officials might have ideas, but in the afternoon the emperor summoned the officials into the palace, so there was nothing to say.

"Returning to the emperor, the memorial was sent in last night, and most of us already know it today." It was Yang Tinghe who answered this question.

"En. When I was studying history, I often thought, if what Yue Wumu received back then was not the Twelve Dao Recall Golden Letters, but military pay, food, soldiers, and weapons, would the Zhao Song Dynasty be as weak as this?"

The officials of the Military Aircraft Department, the household department in charge of money, the military department in charge of soldiers, and Yang Tinghe listened to the emperor's hadith together.

"I also know that Song Taizu released the military power with a glass of wine. From the very beginning, the Zhao family suffered from the problem of worrying about the generals. But later generations will think that Yue Wumu is a pity no matter what. Up to the will of God, down to the will of the people. I think the people's heart is to hope that we Han people will win the war, so I don't worry about what Song Taizu was worried about; Song Gaozong was afraid of Yue Wumu, but I am not afraid. Even if Anlu Mountain is really raised in this way, if I want to replace my Zhu family emperor, then at least the Central Plains will still be dominated by Han people. Is it better than being a 'fourth-class southerner' under the Yuan Dynasty?"

The court of the Yuan Dynasty divided the country into four classes of people. The first class was the Mongols, the second class was the Semu people, the third class was the Han Chinese, and the fourth class was the Southerners.

The emperor's words meant a lot.

Yang Tinghe couldn't help praising, "Your Majesty's magnanimity, my heart is shocked. However, I believe that Zhou Yanzhang will be Yue Wumu, and definitely not An Lushan!"

Han Wen and Wang Bing also echoed.

In the current environment of the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to think of a Jiedu envoy who holds great power like An Lushan.Daming has the Beijing camp, and Yang Yiqing's soldiers and horses, so there is no need to worry about the so-called general army becoming bigger.

Zhu Houzhao pondered for a while, then said: "Zhou Yanzhang led [-] soldiers and horses into the desert for the sake of the country and the people of the Ming Dynasty. Now that some people are going through life and death on the front line, those of us in the rear can't" the warm wind makes tourists drunk , straight to use Hangzhou as Bianzhou'. Therefore, I think that although we can't help them directly,... we can't do singing and dancing every day, creating a situation of "when will the West Lake dance and dance stop". After all, this War is related to everyone in the world!"

The three officials of the Military Aircraft Department were a little surprised. It has been rare for the emperor to sympathize with the frontline soldiers to this extent.

"Your Majesty's meaning..."

"Starting tomorrow, the Military Aircraft Department will first publish an article signed by the three of you on "Ming Pao", announcing to officials across the country that the Military Aircraft Department will fully support Zhou Yanzhang's campaign to suppress the conspiracy. Then the cabinet, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household... and the court All the yamen must keep up. In this way, I want to tell the officials all over the world that Ming Dynasty is fighting against the outside world, and no one can hinder it. I don't care what kind of people have political thoughts, what kind of political disturbances they want to stir up, as long as they want to use the war... I will not agree!"

In this case... Han, Wang, and Yang thought about it for a while. Although they were a little different, it was reasonable for the emperor to ask the military aircraft department to support the court generals.

"Your Majesty, let me write this article." Yang Tinghe volunteered.

"Prelude!"

In fact, Zhu Houzhao is increasingly appointing some "confidantes" to serve as local officials. Even if they do not have the emperor's explicit instructions, if so many yamen in Beijing publish such articles,

Some governors or chief envoys also expressed solidarity with the military action on behalf of the local government.

If you don't support...

Zhu Houzhao is dealing with people.

This idea was buried in his heart, and he wanted to see it.

Because many officials have a bystander mentality of 'he is fighting anyway, not me'.It's actually very strange when you think about it, how could your country be at war and you don't care at all?

As far as Zhou Yanzhang is concerned, the political support he can get as a border general must be ranked first in history.

On the fifth day after Ma Rong left,
Zhou Shangwen led the generals to step out of the gate of Datong according to the plan.

Nearly 2 soldiers and horses looked down from a high altitude like ants pouring out of their nests, and the King of Ming Dynasty flag was erected between the sky and the earth, guiding the formation to march forward.

In fact, the most terrifying thing about marching in the desert is the problem of material supply.

In addition to grasslands in Monan and Mobei, there are actually more Gobi.The wilderness on the Gobi could not be seen at a glance, so in order to solve the material problem, the army on the expedition often used nearly a thousand horse-drawn carts to ensure food.

And for the convenience of preservation, usually bring a lot of pickled food that is not perishable.

The better ones can bring some bacon, and the bad ones are pickles. Anyway, three meals a day, every meal is a mouthful of dry food with pickles.

Although some cattle and sheep will be encountered on the grassland, there will not be groups of them. At most, a few gazelles will be killed to give officials a tooth-beating sacrifice. Soldiers are not so lucky.

Herds of cattle and sheep are all trophies. If you want to eat these, it means that the situation is already very bad. There is a feeling that you can't go back alive anyway, eat a good bite, and then go all out.

In addition, there is another big problem is the water source.

There is not much precipitation on the Mongolian plateau, and some of the water is still salty. Although it is a way to go along the water source, the Tatars are not stupid. If you want to come to me, I still run along the water source?
Not to mention other dynasties, but the Ming army had to stay away from drinking water in all previous northern expeditions.

The only peace of mind is that Zhou Shangwen is not the first time back.

The same is true for Ma Rong.

After Hongzhi went to war in 18 years, Ma Rong realized that if he wants to win the battle on the grassland and Gobi, he must know the road, which is more important than practicing more on weekdays.

That's why he asked someone to find a guide for him this time.

First, at least know the north, south, south and north in the vast wilderness, and second, you must know the clues of horse dung, sheep dung, etc. These are things that will leave important information. Of course, it is more important to remember some springs and The location of the Tamsui River.

This kind of person is hard to find, after all, for the Han people, they don't often walk in these places, only some merchants who have trade with the Tatars have them.

"...This thing is called day lily, which is recorded in "Beizhenglu". Its flowers are as big as Chrysanthemum chrysanthemum, and its leaves are as big as fingers. It is several feet long and can be eaten."

The guide was an ordinary middle-aged man. He didn't wear a military uniform, but only a linen cloth with his head tucked in. Even so, the skin on his face was rough and his lips were cracked.

Ma Rong is okay, there is no crack, but there is dead skin on his lips, which is obviously dry.

He squatted down, that is to say, Chi Shikuai opened his mouth and chewed the dish that the guide said had flowers like Chrysanthemum chrysanthemum,

Ma Sheng and the three Qianhu who watched from the side were startled, "Young General (Second Brother)!!"

"Slightly sweet. It should be edible." Ma Rong disapproved, stood up and said with a smile.

On the other side, the guide has actually started eating.

"We used to have dry food, and we didn't want to take the risk, and we didn't know it at all. It's really a good idea to bring you, at least we can have fresh wild vegetables to eat."

The guide worked as a businessman, and his status was humble, so he hurriedly said: "Don't dare, I only know about it after walking a lot on the grassland. Besides, this is not a skill, and now the generals also know about it."

Ma Rong smiled, and gave the four generals behind him a signal look, so the four called the soldiers to get off their horses, "There are wild vegetables to eat today, don't eat those pickles!"

Ma Rong took the guide aside, "Food, water, and enemies, these three things must be found. Don't worry about General Ben."

"General, there is a saying that villains still have to say... The little prince is not a foolish lord."

"I know, so you are more important."

The guide's eyes continued to look north, "The villain knows a grazing land, and he has to go for at least another seven days."

"General!! Look to the west!"

Just as he was talking, someone suddenly called the police, and Ma Ronghe and some people around him all got on their horses, and then shouted loudly: "Drive!!"

The horseshoes ran wildly, but when they got closer, they found that they were just two gazelles.

On the grassland, the soldiers were so bored that when they came across a sheep, they would whistle and scream strangely to surround it.

Ma Rong ordered, "See if anyone is there!"

When the soldiers slowly encircled the two gazelles tighter and tighter, and finally captured them, the guide also rushed up.

Walking around the two sheep, stroking left and right, counting breaths, then raised his head, and said seriously: "General, these are bred, not wild!"

The strange screams of the soldiers stopped, and everyone could understand what it meant.

Ma Rong also looked serious, "Why do you see that?"

"Look at the fur." ​​The guide rolled over the Gazelle, "It's much cleaner than the wild ones, someone must have cleaned them!"

"But since there are people raising them, why do they come here?"

The guide asked back: "Where does the general think this is? Isn't it possible to graze here?"

Hearing this, Ma Sheng's impulsive temper could no longer be restrained. He immediately rode his horse back and shouted: "All troops gather! All troops gather!"

They were all nervous, because there were people nearby, but they didn't know it. In this way, it was not certain whether they would be ambushed!

But Ma Rong's face remained unchanged,
"I've been waiting for this day!"

……

……

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The emperor's mind was attracted by Han Wen,

"The Yanyin in the hands of merchants is not as good as the Yanyin in the hands of nobles and ministers. Da Situ, if you suddenly say something like this, you must understand the severity."

"I understand!" Han Wen held up the memorial in his hand, "In the salt industry, officials and businessmen generally call it occupying nests and buying nests! If the prince and ministers support the salt, there is no difference in the salt fields everywhere, but if the merchants support the salt The short term is to keep the branch for three to five years, and the long term is to keep the branch for decades. The salt merchants have no choice but to bribe the prince's ministers and use their status to pay for salt. !"

According to Zhu Houzhao's understanding, this is a concrete manifestation of the realization of power.

And such behavior can greatly disrupt any industry, because the success of doing business depends on the quality of your relationship.As the emperor, he definitely didn't like it.

But to his surprise,
Gu Liqing, the censor who inspected salt, hadn't said anything in Yangzhou, how could Han Guandao, who has always been prudent, suddenly make such an astonishing omission?
Among them, is there something tricky?
"The salt law is corrupt, I have known it for a long time. It's just that all the officials in the court said that the great rule of the world requires the combination of benevolence and righteousness, and the combination of hardness and softness. But the country has been in peace for a long time, and the people's aspirations are becoming more and more lax. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate the world with benevolence, and the world will never return to benevolence."

Han Wen immediately said: "Your Majesty, Liu Daxia also said before the Xiao Temple that foreign ministers should not ask questions, and internal ministers should discuss and verify matters. So, how can we convince the public?"

The emperor looked at Wang Bing and Yang Tinghe, "What do you think?"

Although they have nothing to do with this matter, important officials of the court can express their views on major matters, whether they support or not.

"My minister thinks that Da Situ is trying to seek the country. It's just that the matter involves dignitaries, and we still have to verify it before taking any action."

This is nonsense, and it must be verified whether it involves dignitaries.Government decrees cannot be changed at will.

"My minister agrees."

After hearing what the two of them said, Zhu Houzhao had no idea, he just hadn't figured out why in Korean.

But he thought again, no matter why, since someone brought it up, it was a good thing anyway.

"Big Situ,"

"The minister is here."

"I don't need to double-check it because it involves dignitaries. Anyone or anything needs to be confirmed before I can make an order. There are princes and relatives here. You, Han Guandao, want me to deal with them as a whole in a memorial." , Is there something wrong with that? Besides, if you firmly believe that this matter is true, you shouldn’t be afraid to verify it, right?”

Han Wen didn't think that the emperor might protect those people, and the emperor sent Gu Zuo there, wasn't that what he was waiting for?

"Your Majesty's words are very true, and my minister is certainly not afraid of verification!"

"it is good!"

The emperor turned his head and said to Liu Jin: "Don't alarm anyone, in the name of the supervisor of ceremonies, the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy was announced to the capital, and Gu Liqing also returned to the court. This matter involves the emperor's relatives. Situ's slander, or they really committed illegal acts, we should find out."

"If you figure it out, you can do whatever you want. Moreover, the imperial court is instructing all the ministers in the world to support the generals of the frontier army. When this case arises at this time, we can't swallow it all. The front is tight, and the rear is tight. Speak out." , the imperial court is a joke!"

Zhu Houzhao said firmly, "This is absolutely not possible! Da Situ,"

"The minister is here."

"I will not publicize today's matter, and no one in Qianqing Palace is allowed to publicize it. After you go down, you must actively investigate this matter. I will not give you orders. You can only investigate by yourself. If you can get evidence, I will Follow your memorandum, if you can't produce evidence, don't complain to me."

Han Wen made a big salute, and he was actually quite safe in his heart. Once he did some things, he would not regret it.

"Weichen, lead the decree!"

The corners of Zhu Houzhao's mouth curved slightly, although he still didn't know what happened between Han Wen and Gu Zuo.But since someone made a move, he went on to say, after all, it was nothing more than killing some people!

===
It's too late today, I can only update [-] (take my wife to a big hospital in the big city next door for some checkups).

On the last day of March, don’t forget the monthly pass that has not been cast~
(End of this chapter)