The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 749

But loyalty is loyalty, the concept of these courtiers is already a bit outdated.

Zhu Linmi then waved her hands and said, "What Zhang Butang said is not unreasonable, but have you ever thought that with the continuous improvement of military weapons, the so-called natural dangers and high walls and strong cities can still play a role in the stability of the country?"

As a person of later generations, he naturally knows better than anyone else. Needless to say, in the era when airplanes ruled the battlefield, as long as breech-loading guns became popular, it has become a joke to rely on cities to prevent enemy invasion.

He continued: "One of the national policies of the Ming Dynasty in the future is to vigorously develop maritime trade, so the imperial court will definitely invest a lot of manpower and material resources in building warships. As long as there are strong naval forces, the criss-crossing waterways around Nanjing will not be a hidden danger, but a Our best defense against the enemy."

A group of courtiers still couldn't keep up with their thinking, and were trying to "digest" his meaning, when they heard the emperor said again: "In addition, the capital must have a large population, and a large number of garrison troops must be stationed, and the north is not a place where the Ming Dynasty produces food, so It had to take a lot of trouble to transport grain from the south to the north, and the manpower and material resources were exhausted.

"Nanjing, the capital, saves 10 taels of silver every year just to transport grain.

"In addition, the Forbidden City in Beijing was stolen, looted and burned by the Jian captives. If only Beijing is used as the capital, it can save money for repairing the palace ban, which is a huge amount of several million taels."

Zhu Linmi looked around, "So, do you think the capital should be moved to Shuntian Mansion?"

What he said made the officials present nod their heads.Especially the people from the Ministry of Commerce, they are very aware of the commercial value of the southern part of the capital, and the maritime trade alone is several times more convenient than the northern part, and they immediately praised it.

Only Yu Xin whispered a few words to each other with several senior members of the Ministry of War, stepped forward and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, the dangers of our country have all come from the northern Tartars. He nomads outside the Great Wall and lives by water and grass. Whenever there is a slight natural disaster, he will die Unable to sustain themselves, they will go south to plunder our border people and invade our land. Or if the weather is good and the strength is strong, and they want to occupy our central plains, they will still raise troops to invade.

"Therefore, the northern frontier has been policed ​​for thousands of years. During the Chongzhen Dynasty, due to the rebellion of bandits, it was even taken advantage of by the Eastern captives. Iron cavalry broke through the pass and entered. If it weren't for His Majesty's mighty power, the Ming Dynasty would have almost been overthrown by thieves.

"Because the first Emperor Chengzu moved the capital to the north according to the edict of 'the son of heaven guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country'. It is precisely for the benefit of the capital of the country, to keep the captives away from the nearest one, and to control the Daming country without any danger."

He cupped his hands vigorously, and said earnestly: "Your Majesty, although the eastern captives are defeated now, the centipedes are dead but not stiff, and there are Tatars and Oalas who are always watching. The last general thought that for the safety of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing is still the capital. It's the best choice."

"Haha," Zhu Linmei couldn't help laughing and shaking her head when she saw that most of the generals, including Zhang Jiayu, echoed Yu Xin's opinion, "Chuang Zhi, I, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, lived in the north and guarded the gate of the country for hundreds of years, let's see the result? The gate is guarded. ?"

Yu Xin hesitated, and hurriedly said: "This...is because the country has a traitor, and the government has something wrong, so..."

Zhu Linming interrupted him and said, "Northern troubles have been going on for hundreds of years. After the civil fortress, Meng Yuan invaded the border almost every year. Afterwards, Jianlu took over our two capitals! What does this mean?"

He looked at Yu Xin and the others, and said solemnly: "It means that relying on defense is absolutely impossible!

"There is only a thousand days to be a thief, but there is no thousand days to guard against a thief. The northern frontier army pays millions of taels of silver every year, but they guard every hole. Has the problem been solved? No!
"There is only one way to calm the side trouble once and for all!"

He focused on looking north, and his voice suddenly raised, "Follow Han Wu! Gather a large army to go north, and wipe out the Tartars with a thunderous force, so that there will be no future troubles, and peace will be achieved forever!"

This time, without waiting for Yu Xin to say anything, Zhang Canghai hurriedly stood up, "Your Majesty, sending troops out of the fortress will cost a lot of money, and even with the prosperity of the national power in the Yongle Year, it will not be able to last for a long time. Going north to suppress thieves, until the treasury was empty, the army's salary was not enough, and it was gradually difficult to fight against the eastern captives.

"Right now, I have suffered disasters from the bandits first, and then the disasters from the captives. I am facing the whole country waiting to be rebuilt, and my financial resources are tight. It is even more difficult to send a large army to fight outside the customs. I hope Your Majesty will see clearly."

Zhang Jiayu also continued: "Your Majesty, the people outside the Great Wall are nomadic with their livestock. They are used to having no cities or important places. Our army will go immediately. If they see no enemy, they will retreat. When our army returns to the army, they will come later with little loss. But it wasted my food and salary.

"That's why Chengzu made five northern expeditions, but he still failed to injure the bones of the Tartars. Outside the Great Wall, he was always under his control. After a while, he regained his vitality, but it was extremely difficult to destroy it..."

Zhu Linmei first looked at Zhang Canghai and said, "Does Zhang Butang know why it is so expensive to use troops outside the pass?" Then he turned to Zhang Jiayu, "Yuan Zi, have you ever thought about why the Tartars are still invincible?"

He didn't wait for the two of them to speak, he asked himself and answered: "You are actually talking about the same question - food and supplies.

"Gaiyinguan is very far away from my grain-producing land, and there are no roads on the grassland, so it is extremely difficult to pass. One soldier in front needs ten people behind him to transport grain and supplies!
"Therefore, it costs more than 20 taels of grain and rice to be transported to the outside of the customs for two taels of silver and one stone in the south! Not to mention chariots, horses, weapons, cannons, gunpowder, etc. Such consumption is enough to make the Yongle Dynasty retreat and drag down the Wanli Dynasty.

"The fact that food and rice were unsustainable made it impossible for our army to stay outside the Great Wall for a long time, so Yuanzi said that the Tartars retreated when they saw our army coming, and returned when our army went.

"However, although herdsmen are more suitable for grassland life, if they move to places with sparse water and grass to avoid our army, their cattle and sheep will be difficult to breed, and they will sit and eat mountains and empty mountains for a long time. It doesn't need to be much, as long as [-] to [-] elites can be nailed in various important places on the grassland. In the last three years, the north will suffer forever!"

Zhang Canghai was puzzled and said: "Your Majesty just said that food, grass and supplies outside the customs are very expensive. With our current financial resources, we will definitely not be able to last for three years... In fact, according to my estimates, three months is quite difficult."

Zhu Linming seemed to have been waiting for him to ask this question, and immediately smiled and said: "The food, grass and supplies are expensive, and [-]% of them are transported on the way.

"Now we have a sharp transport tool - wooden rails, I'm afraid Zhu Qing has forgotten it?

"I have decided to build two main roads with wooden rails. One goes northeast, starting from Beijing, passing through Tianjin and going straight to Shenyangwei. The other still starts from Beijing, passing through Sanniangzi City and Hetao Dazhamutu."

Shenyang is Shengjing, the hometown of the Qing Dynasty, and Sanniangzi City is the Hohhot of later generations.

As for Hetao, let alone, it has been a battleground for military strategists outside the Great Wall since ancient times, the gate leading to the northwest, and a place where horses are produced.

Zhamutu has penetrated deep into the hinterland of Mongolia, and it is the road connecting Mobei Mongolia.

These two wooden tracks are the main railway lines of later generations. The terrain must have been repeatedly measured by experts of later generations. There should be no problem in building wooden tracks.

"The transportation capacity of the wooden track is more than ten times that of ordinary carriages and horses, and the consumption of horses and manpower is extremely small. It is not a problem to set up camps along the track and send troops to garrison for a long time."

(End of this chapter)