The Manchu Qing chose the time very well, or in other words, the Chechen Khan chose the time very well.
As the saying goes, the north wind blows the ground and the grass falls, and it snows in August. At this time, it is already the early winter season in the Mobei area. By the end of the war, there will be heavy snowfall.
At this time, taking advantage of the severe cold of winter, it is time to eliminate the opposition and absorb the power of the hostile forces.
Moreover, due to the weather, neither the Tushetu Khan Tribe nor the Zhasak Khan Tribe could send troops to support them, and they could only watch the Chechen Khan Tribe being swallowed up.
Of course, there was no radio in this era, let alone communication signals. Zhu Yixi had no way of knowing the news about Mobei. He could only vaguely hear the movements of the Chechen Khanate.
All this will have to wait until next year to come to light.
As for him, he wanted to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with his wives, concubines, and concubines, which was very lively.
The big move of the imperial court was the use of troops in the northwest.
Different from the Qing Dynasty in later generations, when the entire Junggar tribe had unified Oirat Mongolia, Galdan purchased a large number of firearms from Tsarist Russia and was well prepared to eliminate the Yarkand Khanate.
Became the dominant power in the Western Region and Central Asia.
Therefore, during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was open to the West and reused missionaries in order to gain an advantage in firearms.
At this time, Oirat was divided into three, and Galdan had not yet taken power. The Ming Dynasty directly eliminated the Yarkand Khanate and took the lead in the northwest.
In this case, the offensive and defensive situations are different.
The cabinet analyzed that the tens of thousands of people in Tiannan alone were not enough. Gansu must increase its troops by at least 20,000 in order to eliminate the Oirat Mongols in one fell swoop.
"From now on, the three Mongolian tribes, Moxi, Mobei, and Monan, will all surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and the border troubles will be eliminated!"
Zhao Shu said with some excitement.
Cabinet ministers echoed and expressed their approval.
This is the reason why civil servants support the Northwest General Army, to cut off Mongolian border troubles, rather than occupying any territory.
In fact, the original Qing Dynasty also sent troops frequently for nearly a hundred years in order to cut off the Junggar tribe's idea of unifying the Mongolian tribes.
Zhu Yixi didn't bother to pay attention to the reasons why the civil servants supported the war, as long as the Northwest General Army goes well:
"Gansu sent 20,000 troops, and Li Dingguo directly led the troops and took charge of the battle against the Oirat Mongolian tribes."
"In addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs allocated two million and three million in grain to support this war."
In this regard, the cabinet has nothing to do.
This is the time for the cabinet to show its strength.
Transporting grain directly from Taicang to Gansu and the Western Regions is the most inferior method.
Therefore, what is generally used is to adjust grains from local Gansu or from Shaanxi. Naturally, the summer taxes used are used.
In order to prepare for the war, Gansu did not start the summer tax for two years, just for this time.
Of course, just in case, the imperial court would still send grain transporters to be responsible for grain management and to supervise Gansu granaries to prevent corruption.
The war in the northwest relies on food.
Supervision, operation, and coordination must not be neglected in any aspect. This is the responsibility of the literati.
From this aspect, we can also see why for thousands of years, culture has been emphasized over military affairs.
As war becomes more and more professional, the test of logistics becomes more and more severe, and civilian officials naturally have an overwhelming advantage in logistics.
The greatest role of warriors was to lead troops in battles, and the rest relied on civilians. In this case, warriors were stronger than in the founding period of the country. As time went by, civilian officials would inevitably dominate.
This is the inevitable result.
Li Dingguo has already made great moves in the northwest.
Previously, the Tiannan Dusi mobilized troops on the pretext of sending troops to Adulat Khan, which made the Oirat Mongolia, especially the bordering Junggar and Heshuote tribes, greatly alert.
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By the end of August, the weather in the northwest has dropped significantly. Even during the day, the wind is biting and torturous.
At this time, the two departments also put away their vigilance and prepared to spend the winter well.
Li Dingguo is preparing to place the first target in the Junggar region.
Among the three tribes of Junggar, Koshote, and Dulbert, the Junggar tribe is the strongest. It borders the Kazakh Khanate, the Uzbek Khanate, and Tsarist Russia, and receives a lot of trade. It has an advantage in both military strength and firearms.
After several years of research, he also had a rough understanding of the strength of the Junggar tribe:
There are more than 30,000 herdsmen in tents and 40,000 soldiers.
The entire three tribes of Oirat only have a total of about 60,000 tents. Junggar directly accounts for half of the population, so they continue to advance westward and bully the Kazakh Khanate.
Of course, the Heshuote tribe originally had the most advantage. Unfortunately, Gushi Khan led the main force eastward to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and established the Heshuote Khanate, leaving some old, weak, sick and disabled to his nephew, Eqirtu
sweat.
Even some old and weak people still let the Heshuote tribe take the position of leader.
Today's Heshuo Special Department, after decades of development, has 20,000 members.
The northernmost Dulbert tribe is nomadic near the Yenisei River and has the smallest influence, with more than 10,000 tents.
Therefore, after destroying the strongest Junggar tribe, even if the Heshuote tribe and the Dulbert tribe later joined forces, they would not be a match for the Ming Dynasty.
The most important thing is that the Junggar tribe is at its weakest at this time.
In 1653, the seventh year of Shaowu's reign, Batur Hutaiji of the Junggar tribe passed away. His fifth son, Sengge, inherited Taiji. However, his brothers were dissatisfied and rebelled, and a civil war broke out.
In the past few years, he has been on the road to countering the rebellion, which has been extremely hard.
If we don’t take advantage of the situation now, then when will we wait?
Li Dingguo was immediately moved.
So when reinforcements from Gansu arrived in Yarkand, he led an army of 70,000 people and prepared to directly take over the Yinli Valley of the Junggar tribe.
The dispatch of the Ming army shocked Seng Ge.
He did not expect that the Ming army would dare to directly send troops to Junggar in winter.
"Could it be that the Ming army is here to support the two younger brothers?"
As soon as Sengge thought about it, he couldn't help but cursed loudly, and then quickly asked for help from the Heshuo Special Department.
But his two younger brothers were overjoyed. They had already lost their spirits even though they were barely surviving, and immediately prepared to join the Ming army.
In this way, with the leading party, the Ming army went particularly smoothly.
In the first battle, the main force of Junggar was directly defeated, and the fertile Yinli Valley was directly occupied. Nearly 10,000 herdsmen were captured.
Sengge, on the other hand, fled directly to his father-in-law's home, the Heshuote tribe, and prepared to raise troops to retake the tribe again.
Seeing the opportunity, Tsarist Russia quickly took the opportunity to promote its own firearms, preparing to fish in troubled waters and not let Akito succeed easily.
For a time, the entire northwest was in chaos.
…
On the sea in August, the strong wind blows the sail into a huge arc. Under the action of the sail, the bow of the ship jumps between the waves, speeding through the waves as if it does not touch the ground.
The rain brought by the south wind poured down on the ship, and the drainage holes on the two strings were like the wide-open mouth of the Dragon King, pouring out the rainwater and splashed sea water.
"The sea wind is too strong! The boat is going to capsize if it goes like this!"
Bang, a loud slap came.
"Baga, what are some unlucky words to say at this time?"
The captain started fighting directly and then began to command.
On the deck of the ship, there were five or six men in short clothes who were busy covering the cargo placed on the deck with canvas and tying the ropes.
Their clothes had already been soaked by the rain, and the sea was very windy and rough. They had to shout at the top of their lungs when talking to each other.
According to common sense, the best itinerary is in winter, when the wind blows from the mainland to the ocean, which is not only less intense, but also easier for navigation.
But for businessmen, the advent of the sailing age means that all time does not count, and only money is eternal.
"Baga!" At this time, a man walked out of the cabin. His clothes were more luxurious. He wiped the rain off his face and looked up:
"Be careful. The goods here are very valuable. I can't even afford to sell your whole family."
"Hi--"
"Lower the sail! Lower it to one-third of the height! Also, go in and tell Abu to steady the rudder! There is so much rice on the ship that it cannot fall over."
The captain quickly commanded, pulled the last rope hard, stepped on the cargo box with both feet, and leaned back. The ship shook, and even he fell to the deck of the ship, "Hey! Someone come quickly!"
"Yes -" Several other people swarmed over and helped him up, pulled the rope, and tied him to the fixed objects on the side of the boat.
"Master, we can't go on like this! Look at the wind direction, there will be more blowing. Why don't you find a place to take shelter from the wind and rain before leaving?"
The captain bowed and asked the nobleman who just came forward.
The man ignored the crew's advice, and after seeing that there was no big problem with the safety of the cargo, he waved his hand and led everyone into the cabin, taking off the rain hat on his head.
"You stupid guy! Are you looking for a place to take shelter from the wind and rain? What should you do if someone finds something on the boat and you have evil intentions?"
"I'm sorry! I made a mistake."
Then they asked about the itinerary, and when they learned that it was only a hundred miles away from Nagasaki, everyone laughed.
After the storm, the captain carefully returned to the cabin: "Master, how much money can I make from this trip?"
"Our ship is somewhat damaged. If we make less money, we won't be able to get our money back -"
Shimazu Hisari looked at this servant and sighed.
After leaving Beijing, he followed the man's plan and settled in Ryukyu, preparing to obtain the title of scholar.
It's a pity that this move made the already not wealthy family even worse. Not to mention that he had to learn to buy books, so he couldn't help but want to start a business.
So I borrowed a sum of money and bought a small boat, intending to import some white sugar from Taiwan and ship it to Nagasaki to sell.
Thanks to his connections in the Imperial College, although it was difficult to buy and sell sugar, he still got fifty or sixty shi, plus some tea leaves and fragrant rice, which was not a loss.
In other words, make a lot of money.
"Five hundred dollars, maybe."
"So many?" the captain was surprised.
The price of buying and selling his boat only cost a hundred yuan, but this time it cost several times that amount.
"Taiwan's white sugar is the most popular among samurai and feudal lords in Japan! If it hadn't been for this heavy rain, I'm afraid there would have been more."
Shimazu Hisari sighed, he was afraid that the rain would melt the sugar, otherwise he would suffer a huge loss.
The wind and rain on the sea came and went quickly. Before the first watch, the wind and waves became weaker and weaker. Although it was still raining on the sea, it was nothing compared to just now.
Next, they encountered the cruising Ming Navy.
Reluctantly, after paying a sum of money to buy the way, we arrived at Nagasaki smoothly.
Although Shimazu Hisari was angry, he was used to it.
As early as the sixth year of Shaowu, that is, four years ago, the Ming army forced the Tokugawa shogunate to sign a tribute treaty, which not only forced Nagasaki to expand the scale of trade, but also cut off the Fukue Islands outside Nagasaki as a base, allowing the Ming army to use water
The division is stationed.
Japan gives the navy 50,000 taels of silver every year to protect the Nagasaki trade.
It's a pity that the navy is also a soldier and is always greedy. Within half a year, it started to collect tolls.
Thirty yuan for a large ship, ten yuan for a medium ship, and five yuan for a small boat. The cost was not much, so the merchants allowed them to do whatever they wanted.
"Hmph!" Watching him leave, Shimazu Hisari sneered: "When I pass the exam next year, I will definitely impeach you. Even the navy dares to collect money. I really don't take the Department of Commercial and Taxation seriously."
Having lived in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, Shimazu Hisari certainly understood that the Commercial Tax Department had great control over commercial taxes, and local governments could only enjoy a share of it and could not directly participate in it.
What's more, the navy is also a soldier. If it is allowed to collect taxes, wouldn't it mean that it can grow at will and escape the control of the imperial court?
Under the strong central government of the Ming Dynasty, this was a great provocation and would never be allowed.
After arriving in Nagasaki, since he was originally from the Shimadzu family, although the family was divided and the property was divided, his connections were still there, and some businessmen were very generous and bought all the goods directly.
Among them, most of the white sugar is exported to the West, and a small part goes to the mainland. Japan's share is very small, and it is difficult to compete. The price per stone is almost fifteen silver dollars.
And when he first bought it from the Taiwan government, he only had five silver dollars, which tripled the amount.
“Why are the prices so high?”
Shimazu Hisunari couldn't help but ask.
"Although the general is young, he still loves sweets. From this, everyone in Edo loves them, so that the price of sugar is increasing day by day. As long as you still have it, I can take it."
The businessman said respectfully.
Sixty stones of white sugar, a direct profit of 600 yuan, which made Shimazu happy for a long time.
Some tea leaves, grains, books, etc. are all common items. Perhaps because they are imported in large quantities, the prices are very low, but the cost is increased by 30 to 40%.
From this, Shimazu Hisari estimated that he directly earned nearly 700 silver dollars from this trip. After paying off the loan, he would still have about 400 yuan left.
These are enough for him to prepare well for the exam.
"When will you come next? As long as it's white sugar, I'll accept it, and I can add 10% to the price of the other Tang products."
The businessman's face is full of enthusiasm.
White sugar is very popular, but there are very few people who have access to the Taiwanese government to purchase it. The average businessman has no connections at all, so he can only sit back and watch the big businessmen enjoying themselves while he is greedy.
But now that Shimazu Hisari has connections, it is really surprising.
Hearing this, Shimazu Hisunari was stunned. The words "Stop?" were on his lips, but he couldn't say them out.
Anyway, there is still a year left before the county examination. Isn’t it just a matter of making one more trip on my own, and then concentrate on preparing for the examination in Taiwan, finding ways to do it, and letting my subordinates do the errands?
It’s really wonderful to make money while learning.
"In a month! I'll try to get as much sugar as possible."