In the imperial palace in the capital, in the study room of the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Hongzhi convened a small meeting with important ministers after the morning court as usual.
"Your Majesty, the quality of the horses that the Kazakh Khanate has contributed to our Ming Dynasty in the past two years has been getting worse and worse. They are all old horses, sick horses, and disabled horses. They often drag their feet and find various excuses to shirk their duties. Tribute horses."
"In addition, according to the report from the Chief Envoy of Hezhong and the Chief Envoy of the Western Regions, they have not abided by the original agreement that Kazakhs were not allowed to enter the Great Yuzi Grassland for grazing in the past few years. Every year, a large number of Kazakh herdsmen enter the Dayuzi Grassland to graze. , and even settled here for a long time.”
Zhang Mao reported to Emperor Hongzhi the situation of the Kazakh Khanate with a memorial in his hand.
"It seems that after years of recuperation, the Kazakh Khanate has regained its strength, and now it is no longer willing to keep horses for us."
Emperor Hongzhi read Zhang Mao's memorial carefully and said with a smile.
When the Ming Dynasty regained the Western Regions and swept Hexi, the Kazakh Khanate directly sent troops to attack the Western Regions in an attempt to occupy the Western Regions. As a result, they were completely defeated by the Ming cavalry led by the Australian Duke Yang Yun, and finally had to sign an alliance under the city.
One hundred thousand horses were required to be paid as tribute to the Ming Empire every year. At the same time, Kazakhs were not allowed to graze in the Great Yuzi Grassland where the Ming Dynasty and the Kazakh Khanate handed over.
This is definitely the most shameful treaty for the Kazakh Khanate, and it is also a painful agreement.
Every year, the Ming Dynasty attacked 100,000 horses and horses, which was definitely a huge support for the Kazakh Khanate. Even though they owned the vast grasslands of Central Asia, they were also nomadic tribes who made a living by herding.
Horses are a normal thing for them, even very common things.
But 100,000 horses per year. If this huge number is suppressed, the entire Kazakh Khanate will be breathless. What's more, the Great Yuzi Grassland has been a famous fertile grassland since ancient times. Now it is not allowed to graze, which is another compression. Grazing areas of the Kazakh Khanate.
Just these two treaties made the Kazakh Khanate breathless, and also made the Kazakh Khanate always hold a grudge, always silently accumulating strength, and prepare to seek revenge on the Ming Dynasty one day.
"Your Majesty, in the 16th year of Hongzhi's reign, when we went to war with the Ottoman Empire, the Kazakh Khanate was ready to take advantage of the opportunity to seize the Ming Dynasty's Hezhong and Western Regions."
"If it weren't for our Ming Dynasty's army sweeping across all directions and quickly beating the Ottoman Empire to pieces, they would have already sent troops to attack our Ming Dynasty's Hezhong and Western Regions."
Liu Jian seemed to remember something and quickly stood up and said.
"Well, it does happen."
"At that time, Yang Yun also mentioned this matter in a memorial and dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops to the Hezhong area, including 100,000 cavalry specifically to deal with the Kazakh Khanate."
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately remembered this matter and nodded.
"Your Majesty, the Kazakh Khanate is a nomadic tribe on the grassland. It is unruly and ambitious. How can we, the Ming Dynasty, let it always stand by and threaten the borders of our Ming Dynasty."
"I believe that I can take advantage of this opportunity to completely eliminate the Kazakh Khanate, annex the entire Central Asian grassland, and at the same time, go west and north to include the vast area east of the Ural Mountains to the Caucasus into the territory of our Ming Dynasty."
Xie Qian stood up. A civil servant was murderous and extremely bellicose.
However, Liu Jin had already seen this often, and now these civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were more warlike than the generals in the imperial court.
Because it is the military generals who are on the battlefield, and the benefits they receive after the war are not much less than those of the military generals.
Whose family in the Western Regions doesn’t have plantations in the river? Doesn’t it have large pastures?
Who doesn’t have a vineyard here in Nanyun Province?
Who doesn’t have a plantation in Nanyang?
How many minerals are there in Australia and Golden Island?
The use of foreign troops is also a matter of great benefit to these civilian groups. If they win the war, they can not only expand their territory, but also have new land to build plantations and pastures. They can also explore for resources and open up new lands.
Minerals or something.
The large number of captive people can be sold as slaves, allowing them to make a fortune while having slaves to work on their plantations and pastures.
At the same time, the larger the territory of Ming Dynasty, the larger the market for the products produced by their factories, and they can be sold to more places.
For example, after Nanyun Province was annexed by the Ming Dynasty, the goods of the Ming Dynasty could go all the way west to Nanyun Province, where they could directly trade with Europeans without having to take the sea route as before.
, the danger is great.
In short, there are many benefits, and the key is that the military commanders and noble groups contributed to the war, and the funds came from the internal funds of Emperor Hongzhi.
The only thing these civil servants need to do is to support external expansion, and the rest is waiting to be divided among the benefits. This is an important reason why the civil servant group of the Ming Dynasty is extremely bellicose.
As for the talk about preventing military commanders and noble groups from growing bigger, about being warlike and destined to perish, and about convincing the world with benevolence, righteousness and morality, these are all nonsense and are far less important than the interests of one's own family.
If your family builds more plantations, gets more pastures, more slaves, and sells more goods in factories, wouldn’t the free money be worth it?
The Military General Xungui Group is now very powerful, so it doesn't matter if they grow bigger or not. Anyway, they are actually similar to us. They all open factories, plantations, and pastures.
As for war, Ming Dynasty has waged wars almost every year. Not only has it not lost its country, but the war has become stronger, its territory has become larger and larger, and its economy has become richer and richer. Today, Japan, Siam, Malacca, England, and the Ottomans
The empire and others are still paying money to the Ming Dynasty on a regular basis every year, so there is no reason to talk about war and death.
"Your Majesty, I also believe that the Kazakh Khanate must be solved."
"The Western Regions of our Ming Dynasty, Hezhong, and Nanyun are all under the threat of the Kazakh Khanate. If it is not eliminated, there will be no peace in these three regions of our Ming Dynasty."
"In addition, the Kazakh Khanate has blocked the way for Ming Dynasty to continue to expand westward. The vast area east of the Ural Mountains and north of the Caucasus Mountains is blocked by the Kazakh Khanate. Only by destroying the Kazakh Khanate can I continue
If we advance westward and occupy these areas, we will have the opportunity to occupy the vast and fertile Eastern European plains in the future."
Li Dongyang also stood up and expressed his stance. His health was getting worse and worse, and he couldn't help coughing when he spoke.
Liu Jin estimated that he wouldn't be able to work for much longer. His health was not good. He had asked the minister to return to his home several times. Emperor Hongzhi's repeated requests to stay were routine. If his health really failed, he would probably still have to approve it.
"Your Majesty, the time has come to use troops against the Kazakh Khanate."
"My Ming Dynasty has been running the Western Regions and Hezhong for many years. In the Hezhong and Western Regions, we have enough food to feed tens of millions of people, and we have enough horses to arm millions of cavalry."
"All the tribes in the Western Region and the Hezhong area are dedicated to the bright future, and their hearts can be used. With just one order from His Majesty, they can immediately have millions of lions."
"The right time, the right place, the right people, and all the people are on our side, the Ming Dynasty. Cleaning up the Kazakh Khanate is just a matter of hands."
Zhang Mao also stood up and expressed his stance.
Going to war is certainly a good thing for him who is in charge of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.
He is already very old and is planning to retire. If he can complete this important matter before retiring, it will be regarded as a complete meritorious deed.
In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has used relatively few foreign troops, and the military has become more vocal.
Especially the soldiers at the bottom, all clamoring for war.
Because since joining the army, these soldiers have heard all kinds of legends about how a poor boy not only got promoted through one battle, but more importantly, he also made a fortune. The reward alone was hundreds of taels.
There are also rewards for a large amount of land, and even captured slaves and beautiful women. Getting rich overnight is nothing more than that.
Without a battle to fight, they could only train constantly, listen to passionate stories, and be envious and jealous, while at the same time longing for the emperor to use troops abroad.
All of this was finally fed back to Zhang Mao, who clearly understood the desire of the lower-level soldiers for war.
"Hmm~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly after listening to the words of several people.
Looking at the huge world map hanging on the wall, in the river and northwest of the Western Region, the only thing that can threaten the security of the Ming Dynasty's border is the Kazakh Khanate.
The Persian Empire in the south had a very good relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and could also help contain the Ottoman Empire.
"Liu Jin, what do you think?"
Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while, then looked at Liu Jin.
The other ministers all asked for war, but Liu Jin remained quiet and seemed to be thinking about something.
"Your Majesty, it is naturally necessary to use troops against the Kazakh Khanate. It is not difficult to destroy the Kazakh Khanate. The key is how to govern the vast area of the Kazakh Khanate in the future."
"This vast land east of the Ural Mountains is cold and desolate. It is easy to capture, but it is extremely difficult to manage and rule."
Liu Jin quickly replied.
In fact, Liu Jin was not thinking about destroying the Kazakh Khanate at all. With the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, it was really not difficult to destroy the Kazakh Khanate.
Liu Jin is now thinking about how to rule and manage this vast land in the future, especially the vast land of Siberia.
The area is extremely vast and the resources are extremely rich, but it is too cold. It is in the temperate and frigid zones, and the winter is long and cold.
It is not difficult to occupy them, but the key is how to manage and develop these areas in the future?
Without someone to rule and manage, this vast area can only be left alone.