Guangning, Liaodong, in the residence of Commander-in-Chief Jiang Ji.
Liu Jin chatted with Jiang Ji while drinking.
"Master Liu, what is your mission when you come to Liaodong this time?"
Jiang Ji asked cautiously.
"Master Jiang, to be honest, I came to Liaodong this time mainly for inspection."
"You must also know that the Tatar tribes have been included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Now the grasslands have settled down. Liaodong is so close to the capital and they all belong to the Bohai Bay."
"So His Majesty also wants to develop the Liaodong region."
Liu Jin looked at Jiang Ji, thought for a while and said.
"Develop Liaodong~"
When Jiang Ji heard this, he immediately became energetic.
The other accompanying generals from Liaodong Dusi, Yang Yu, Han Fu and others, also immediately became energetic.
"Yes, how close is Liaodong to the Beijing-Tianjin area? There are so many sea ships now, making travel very convenient. How can such a good place be kept there forever?"
Liu Jin smiled and nodded.
"Master Liu is saying that our land in Liaodong is fertile and densely forested. It is actually a rare treasure land, but it is too cold here in winter."
Jiang Ji nodded and said.
"Approximately how many people are there in Liaodong now?"
Liu Jin nodded, thought for a while and asked.
"Now in the entire Liaodong region, there are about 96,000 Han households and a population of about 380,000. As for the Jurchen tribes, we have no statistics."
(The data comes from the records in "Quan Liao Zhi")
When Jiang Ji heard this, he quickly replied that these figures were something he, the capital of Liaodong, had to master, and he had to report them to the court every year.
"Only 380,000 people?"
"Isn't this too little?"
Hearing Jiang Ji's reply, Liu Jin couldn't help but frown. The population was too small, much smaller than he imagined.
In Liu Jin's opinion, there should be millions of people here no matter what, but there are not even half of them.
"Sir, there is nothing we can do about this."
"Liaodong is a bitterly cold place, and no one wants to come. These 380,000 people are still military households who migrated here before. No one wants to come to Liaodong."
Jiang Ji immediately said with a helpless smile.
"I know it's cold, but when it comes to suffering, that's not necessarily the case."
"I took a look when I came here. The land here is black soil. This is the most fertile land. The harvest of food grown here should be pretty good, right?"
Liu Jin thought for a while and asked.
"Sir, the land here is indeed fertile, but it is too cold. It is more comfortable now in the year. After a while, the weather will be extremely cold, and the wheat production is actually very limited."
Jiang Ji looked at Liu Jin, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.
Sure enough, he is worthy of being a son of an expert. He even knows the situation in Liaodong very clearly. Although the winter in Liaodong is cold, the wheat yield is higher than that in places like Beizhili, Shandong, and Henan.
"Yeah~"
Liu Jin smiled. In later generations, the three eastern provinces were big granaries. You actually said that the output was not good. You are lying.
However, Liu Jin did not study this issue in detail. With the reform of the military system, the troops stationed here in Liaodong Dusi will soon be laid off, and those stationed in other places will be transferred to other places.
Anyway, we won't let them stay here forever.
At that time, the military households here will become ordinary farmers, and they, the general soldiers, and thousands of households will all be transferred, and everything will naturally be known.
"Sir Chiang, the imperial court is planning to develop Liaodong. I wonder what things you think need special attention?"
After thinking for a while, Liu Jin continued to ask.
Jiang Ji is a local snake, he must know everything about the situation here.
"Master Liu, the imperial court wants to develop Liaodong, which is a good thing."
"The forest resources here in Liaodong are very rich and the land is fertile. If it is developed, it will be no problem to feed tens of millions of people."
"But if you want to develop Liaodong, one of the grasslands in the west needs to be stable, and the other is North Korea in the east. They are not very peaceful."
"The most important thing is that this is a bitter cold place, and no one wants to come here, so talent is the key and fundamental."
Jiang Ji thought for a while and replied.
"Hmm~"
After Liu Jin heard this, he nodded slightly.
Then he smiled and said: "I remember that there are Nurgan Dusi and the three major Jurchen tribes in the north. What's their situation?"
There must be something wrong with Jiang Ji. Although the three problems he mentioned are all problems, he did not mention the most important thing about the Jurchen tribe.
There must be something wrong here, and Jiang Ji must have benefited from the Jurchens.
Liu Jin, who came from a later generation, knew clearly that the Jurchen tribe had always been causing trouble, the focus of which was the Jianzhou Jurchen tribe.
The Jianzhou Jurchens had three guards, namely the left guard, the central guard and the right guard. Among them, the left guard was always controlled by the later Qing emperors.
Starting from Timur the Meng, the Jianzhou Zuowei branch was under the control of the Aixinjueluo clan. The full name of Timur the Meng was Aixinjueluo~Meng Temu, and he was the founder of the Qing Dynasty.
Ancestor.
When he was the leader of the Jianzhou Weizuowei, he was relatively honest, because Comrade Lao Zhu, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty at that time, did not even dare to fart.
But when he died, his son Dong Shan (Aixinjueluo~Chongshan) began to take control of the construction of Wei Zuowei, and his ambition began to be slowly exposed.
He first found an excuse to move to the south to avoid the Udiha savages, and then continued to integrate the various Jurchen tribes to strengthen his own strength.
In order to compete with his uncle Fancha for the position of leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens, he killed and plundered border residents many times without any reason.
Starting from the second year of Chenghua (AD 1466), Jurchen tribes often invaded the border. In the third year of Chenghua, the Jurchens from Haixi and Jianzhou returned to Crow Pass (today's Sandao Pass in Weiziyu Town, Xinbin).
Shi Dengzuo, the commander of the Ming Dynasty, was killed in an ambush by the Jurchens in Shuangling. In March he returned to Lianshan Pass and plundered Kaiyuan, Fushun, Que Tieling, Ningyuan and Guangning.
At the same time, Dong Shan was acting on both sides. At the same time, he also asked the North Korean king to grant him an official position, and asked North Korea to open a mutual trade, etc. to obtain the iron tools, salt, grain and other materials he needed.
It can be said that starting from the Chenghua Dynasty, although the Jurchen tribe still respected the Ming Dynasty in name, it was actually an independent political power in essence.
Due to the Tumu Fortress Incident, the Ming court's military strength was weakened, and military power fell into the hands of civilian officials. They deliberately suppressed the generals and nobles, so they had always been unable to deal with these Jurchens.
It was not until the late Ming Dynasty that the Jianzhou Jurchens gradually completed the unification of the Jurchen tribes and gradually integrated the Jurchen tribes into a large alliance. Their strength quickly grew and they truly became a worry for the Ming Dynasty.
Liu Jin was naturally very clear about all this. Although Jianzhou Jurchen was still nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, it was only in name.
It is nothing more than regularly paying tribute to the Ming Emperor with some seaweed, dongzhu, ginseng, tiger skin and the like, but all the power in these places has fallen into the hands of the commander of the Jianzhou Jurchen Three Guards, that is, the Jianzhou Jurchen
In the hands of the tribal leader.
Because the command of the three guards of Jianzhou has been passed down from father to son, and from son to grandson since the fierce brother Timur, and it is hereditary. In addition, all the power is in their hands, so they will naturally become powerful.
Now that Jiang Ji didn't even mention the Jurchens, Liu Jin concluded that he must have done nothing to benefit from the Jurchens.
Since the Ming Dynasty destroyed the little Tatar prince and the grassland army, the grasslands have now been included in the Ming Dynasty's territory, which means that the Ming Dynasty's military power has begun to grow stronger.
These Jianzhou Jurchens became much more honest. They knew that the Ming Dynasty was now powerful in military power, so they chose to hide some things by bribing the generals and deputy generals of Liaodong Dusi.
They have tried this trick repeatedly. Anyway, there are still a lot of ginseng, mink skins and the like here in Liaodong. These things will be very valuable when shipped back to the Ming Dynasty.
Hearing Liu Jin's words, Jiang Ji's eyes dodge, and after thinking for a while he said: "Sir, the three Jurchens, the Savages, Haixi, and Jianzhou, among them, the Jurchens in Jianzhou are the most powerful and have the largest population, and the Savage Jurchens are
In the far north, I’ve always been more peaceful.”
"It's this Jianzhou Jurchen who is not restless and sometimes robs our border residents."
"Only sometimes?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he smiled and asked.
When Jiang Ji heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately understood in his heart that the Liu Jin in front of him was not easy to fool. He probably already knew everything, and he was just asking himself questions on purpose.
"Tell me about the situation of the Jianzhou Jurchens?"
Liu Jin looked at Jiang Ji and said calmly.
"Yes~"
"Jianzhou Jurchen is divided into three guards. Among them, the left guard is the most powerful. The center guard and right guard are average in strength. Now the commander of the left guard is Aixinjueluo ~ Tuoluo..."
Jiang Ji began to slowly explain the current situation of Jianzhou Jurchens.
Because during the reign of Dong Shan, the Jianzhou Jurchens were very arrogant, plundering border residents and killing Ming court officials, so in the third year of Chenghua, the imperial court launched a crackdown on Jianzhou Jurchen tribes.
This blow also weakened the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou. When Tuoluo became the leader, he was smarter, so he chose to lead the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou to restore and develop production, and opposed the Jurchen tribes to harass the Ming army border residents.
, insisting on maintaining a relatively good relationship with the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, during the Hongzhi Dynasty, the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou were relatively honest. Of course, the main reason was that their vitality was seriously injured and they needed time to recuperate. However, there were still people from the Jurchen tribes who would plunder the border people in Liaodong from time to time, but they were far less arrogant than during the Dong Shan period.
So domineering.
In the past two years, the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou have been very honest and peaceful, because they already knew about the destruction of the Tatar army in the grassland, and they did not dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty for fear of being attacked by the Ming army.
