Chapter 183 The culprit is the powerful gentry behind it
Zhu Houzhao nodded and patted Zhang Cong on the shoulder:
"You have lost weight, tell me, what is the current situation of fields, population, minerals, etc. in Yulin County? Then tell me about your actual experience in building Yulin City, and let Zhang Lun and others who are also from Capital University listen carefully! ”
Zhang Cong replied, "Yes!" He glanced at Zhang Lun, the British grandson from the corner of his eye.
Although Yulin City is now quite large, the buildings in the city still have thatched roofs, and only the county government offices are brick buildings.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao and a group of court officials could only rest temporarily in the county government office.
In this world without electricity, Zhu Houzhao could only sit by a pit with 145 candlesticks and a burning bonfire and listen to Zhang Cong's report.
The chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, the chief minister of etiquette, Liu Jin, and the governor of Datong, Feng Junyan, could only stand in the room and crowded around. The senior officials were closer to the fire, and the junior officials stood directly at the door to block the cold wind. .
Those without official positions could only stand in the ice and snow, with the fire burning in front of their bodies and the wind blowing in the back.
After Zhu Houzhao listened to Zhang Cong's report, he couldn't help but ask Shen Lu of Jinyiwei: "Where have the tribes reached now?"
"Reporting to your majesty, the cavalry of the Yongxie Division and the Ordos Division have begun to set off, but there is no sign of movement from the Chahar Division," Shen Lu replied.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but hurriedly asked Zhang Cong to take out the map that he had asked him to follow Ma Wensheng to the border fortress in advance. He was a little surprised when he saw it:
"The Chahar tribe is the farthest from Yulin among the Mongolian right wing. They should set off in advance. Why have the cavalry of the Tuxie tribe and the Ordos tribe already set off, but the cavalry of the Chahar tribe has not yet set off!"
"I am confused and have asked someone to ride back and ask our spy. Let's see what he says."
As Shen Lu was talking at this time, he saw the sound of horses roaring outside and heard the camp soldiers calling: "Report! Find Mr. Shen, a member of the Jinyi Guards!"
Zhu Houzhao signaled to Shen Lu and asked him to go out and see what was going on.
Not long after, Shen Lu walked in again and reported to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty! The Chahar Division has set off."
Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, couldn't help but relax a little. Now that His Majesty the Emperor was outside the Great Wall, he was really afraid that something would happen and things would happen again in the 14th year of Zhengtong. Although the Emperor was not going to conquer the little prince, and he would return to Datong City tomorrow.
But Jiao Fang is still worried that if the Chahar tribe does not come, it means that the Chahar tribe changes its mind midway and is unwilling to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, and may even collude with the young prince to harm the Ming Dynasty.
Now that he heard that Chahar's cavalry had set off as scheduled, he was naturally relieved.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao and Jiao Fang were worried about the same thing, so when he heard that Chahar's troops had not set off, he asked Shen Lu very carefully.
Now that he knew that the Chahar troops had set off, Zhu Houzhao breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Zhu Houzhao could not ignore the phenomenon of why the Chahar tribe set off later than the Tuxie and Ordos tribes. He couldn't help but ask the civil and military officials present again.
"Gentlemen, why do you think the Chahar cavalry set off the latest?"
Except for Jiao Fang, Liu Jin and Zhang Cong, most of the officials present had led troops in border towns. They were already thinking without Zhu Houzhao asking.
At this time, Qiu Yue said first: "I think this Chahar tribe may want to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."
"Tiger? Who is Tiger?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
"Back to the emperor, naturally it's me, Ming Dynasty, and the little prince," said Liu Jinggang, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, while Feng Jun, the governor of Datong, retorted directly:
"That's not true. There are guards and border troops in Datong now, with a total of no less than 100,000 troops. His little prince has not yet unified the right wing of Mongolia. He only has 30,000 households on the left wing, and only tens of thousands of cavalry. Tathagata Datong does not have enough strength yet. A decisive battle with my Ming Dynasty! And now, according to your majesty’s clever plan, the battle between the Mongolian right wing and the left wing is just the planner.”
Feng Junyan, the governor of Datong, was indeed an experienced official in leading troops in border towns, and he immediately grasped the key.
"According to Governor Feng's opinion, this tiger fight is a battle between the left and right wings of the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, and the Ming Dynasty is just watching it?"
Zhang Cong said with a smile.
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and asked Shen Lu: "Do those who report back and forth know the direction in which the Chahar cavalry set off?"
Shen Lu bowed his hand to Zhu Houzhao, then left the Yulin County government office to ask again, and then came back immediately: "Southwest!"
"Southwest! No! The southwest is farther and farther away from Yulin City. It is the retreat of the Tuxie Tribe and the Ordos Tribe! The Chahar Tribe is going to take the retreat of the Tuxie Tribe and the Ordos Tribe!" Qiu Yue deserves it! He was a famous general in the world, and he immediately told the possible motives of the Chahar tribe.
Before Zhu Houzhao could react, Qiu Yue hurriedly raised his hands to Zhu Houzhao and said: "Your Majesty! Now you and the elders need to make a new decision! This little prince is not targeting our Ming Dynasty! I'm afraid he will be from the beginning to the end. Preparing to unify the entire Mongolian Yuan Dynasty! Trying to destroy the right wing!”
Zhu Houzhao didn't react. Seeing Qiu Yue so excited, he couldn't calm down and analyze it carefully.
The chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, and the chief minister of rites, Liu Jin, were also confused. They knew very little about Qiu Yue, the hereditary governor Qianshi. They only knew that for some reason, your majesty asked the Ministry of War to transfer this person to the capital and teach him at the capital. After learning the training of a group of Jinshi and noble disciples, he was responsible for the training of the entire Guards in a blink of an eye. Now he has become the commander of the First Division of the Guards. He holds the position of Deputy Chief Soldier and concurrently serves as the General Staff of the Guards. Zuo Shilang.
But in fact, everyone still despises this military attaché more or less, thinking that His Majesty just likes him.
Now, Qiu Yue's performance naturally shocked them.
Zhu Houzhao could only wave his hand and said: "Wait a minute, Qiu Qing, do you mean that the little prince's goal now is still to eat the right wing of Mongolia and unify Mongolia?"
"Exactly, if what I expected is true, the little prince has no intention of becoming an enemy of the Ming Dynasty now. First of all, the Ming Dynasty has very complete border preparations. Secondly, the little prince is not strong enough yet. The little prince should now first to contain The Tuxie Tribe and the Ordos Tribe, and the Chahar Tribe is afraid that while agreeing to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, it has already taken refuge with the little prince, and wants to work with the little prince to destroy the Tuxie Tribe and the Ordos Tribe in order to unify the entire Mongolia!"
< br>
Qiu Yue continued: "Your Majesty, the unification of Mongolia is ultimately detrimental to the Ming Dynasty. Back then, Emperor Taizong enfeoffed Arutai and other Mongolian lords as kings, dividing them and controlling them, so that the Yongle Dynasty had almost no external troubles. After Ye Xian's father Tu Huan unified Mongolia, Ye Xian succeeded to the throne and dared to attack the Ming Dynasty! Now the little prince also wants to unify Mongolia! How should the Ming Dynasty deal with it? "
< br>
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but help his forehead: "I killed his son, and executed him at Lingchi! I even asked all parties to ban his salt and tea trade! Shouldn't he come to make an enemy of the Ming Dynasty?"
At this time, there was another sound of horse whistling outside.
Immediately afterwards, the battalion soldiers standing guard shouted: "Report! Find Mr. Shen, the member of the Jinyi Guards!"
Shen Lu withdrew again, and then came back to report: "Report to Your Majesty! This is a message from Jin Yiwei's secret agent in the little prince. There are two reports:
1. The little prince said that his son Urus Boluot was killed by the right-wing Tuxie tribe Yibula Taishi and the Mandu Lai Agulhu of Ordos, so he decided to mobilize all the left-wing tribes to attack the right-wing rebels! On November 18th, we set off from Weininghai!
2. The little prince got thirty thousand jins of new salt! Twenty thousand catties of tea!
Zhu Houzhao really didn't expect that the little prince would blame the Mongolian right wing for the death of his son Urus Borot.
"This is the revenge of killing a son! Don't you come to me for revenge? This little prince is really a man. He can bear this, he is a real man!"
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing.
Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, couldn't help but nodded: "I am also unbelievable. Now it seems that it is because your majesty is so powerful that even a little prince does not dare to offend my Ming Dynasty easily!"
"Stop wearing such a high hat on me!"
Zhu Houzhao replied to Jiao Fang and looked at Qiu Yue, who was quite foresighted about the battle situation: "I probably understand what you mean. The little prince now wants to destroy the Tuxie tribe and the Ordos tribe first, and there is no need for the Chahar tribe." Suspicion has taken refuge in the little prince, and the little prince As long as the Tuxie Tribe and the Ordos Tribe are destroyed, the entire Mongolia can be unified! Now the news about the arrival of the Jinyi Guards is consistent with what you said. The little prince blamed the Mongolian right wing for the murder of his son, but did not mention Chahar. Department.”
Zhu Houzhao said and looked at the others: "But I still have a question. The second news revealed by the Jin Yiwei said that the little prince had gained 30,000 jins of salt! 20,000 jins of tea! The Ming Dynasty failed to block his salt tea. How did he get it?”
Zhu Houzhao did not directly say that there might be officials in the border town of the Ming Dynasty secretly colluding with the little prince, but his harsh tone at this time naturally made the officials present guess it.
Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, said hurriedly: "Your Majesty! For this matter, we can only write a letter to question Ma Wensheng and Caikuan first, and ask them to investigate in detail who is secretly dealing with the little prince."
"That's right! We can prepare a decree to accuse these two people!"
Zhu Houzhao said.
Preventing the unification and growth of Mongolia is something that the Ming Dynasty must be vigilant about, and preventing border town officials from colluding with foreign captives to maintain the Ming Dynasty's ability to exercise economic control over foreign captives is also something that requires constant vigilance.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao was also very concerned about the second news, and even a little angry.
If his strategy of using the Mongolian right wing to get rid of the little prince fails this time, then these powerful gentry who secretly colluded with the little prince and even exported important supplies to the little prince will be the culprits!
Zhu Houzhao has secretly determined that these people must be severely punished as long as they are found out!
Otherwise, if the rise of the Jurchens does occur in the future, will those Shanxi merchants still be able to export strategic resources to foreign enemies unscrupulously, and will the commanders who are fighting at the front still dare to do this? !
But now we can only question Ma Wensheng and Caikuan, who are in charge of the border town.
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Datong Governor Feng Junyan, who was also the commander of the border town, and asked again: "Now let's talk about how Ming Dynasty should deal with the current changes."
(End of chapter)