"I heard that Samarkand is also a big country. The road from the capital to Yili is plain and it is very easy to walk. The number of soldiers he brings will not be small. There must be three or four hundred thousand. The soldiers sent by the Ming Dynasty will not be better than them.
"Master. Now in the northwest, nearly a million troops are gathered together to fight each other. It's exciting to think about it." Qin Sen said with a look of helplessness.
"It sounds really heart-warming, but in such a battle, there will be many casualties among the soldiers. Especially the generals, who will have to set an example when the time comes. Even the commanders will not be able to protect themselves from the chaos," Yun Xin said.
"Anyway, it's worthwhile to be able to walk around such a large battlefield. Your Highness, will the emperor recruit our Yongfan troops?" Qin Sen asked.
"It's hard to say, but according to the emperor's past practice, he will probably be recruited."
"This is really great. Your Highness, if the emperor recruits Yong Fan's troops to fight in the northwest, your highness must remember to send ministers to the northwest to gain experience."
"Are you really willing to go?" Yun Chen looked at him in surprise. Yun Chen thought he was just joking. Everyone has the idea of seeing big scenes, but Qin Sen has also experienced it in the past few years.
After a few battles, people who know the cruelty of the battlefield will probably not be willing to fight such a war.
Besides, because his second brother Qin Song was the commander of the Jinyi Guards, he was unwilling to send him. If he died in the battle, Qin Song would hate him, which would not be a good thing for him.
But Yunzhen stared at him carefully for a while, and saw that his face was firm, and then said: "Think about your brother."
"If my brother is still here, I will definitely agree with you."
'Impossible. You don't have a son now. Even if it is a critical moment to protect the emperor, your brother will not want you to be the queen.' Yunxun thought to himself.
But Qin Sen showed that he was very willing to fight at this time, so he could only pretend to be polite and said: "Okay, if the emperor recruits Yongfan's troops, I will let you lead the troops to the northwest." But he thought in his heart: "It will happen soon."
When you arrive in the capital, I will send someone to tell your father and brother, but I don't believe they can't stop you.'
On the second day, Yunzhen got up early, led his entourage and continued on the road, arriving at the capital before noon.
After entering the city, Yunzhen smiled at his entourage and said: "Qin Sen, you people from the capital city, please go home now. You don't need your protection when you are alone in the capital city. Today is the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. You go home to celebrate the New Year.
It’s a surprise for the family.”
While talking, he also took out a package from the carriage, took out a few things, and asked the guards who were born in Yongfan to distribute them to them: "This is a reward for you during the Gugu New Year."
Qin Sen took the small bag, opened it, and was surprised when he saw ten pearls of the same size inside. He raised his head and said to Yunzhen: "Your Highness, this reward is too generous, and I dare not accept it.
"Although these round pearls are not particularly big, ten of them can be sold for thousands of taels in the capital. They are still expensive but not marketable.
"It's just a few pearls, what's they worth?" Yunzhen said: "The specialties of Yongfan are leather goods, ginseng and pearls. Each of you has a lot of leather goods and brought them to the capital, and the ones in your own hands are not as good as those in your hands."
Yours is strong, but ginseng is difficult to harvest, so I can’t give each one one. After much thought, I can only divide a few pearls.”
"Although pearls are very valuable in the capital, they are nothing in our Yongfan. You also have sisters or aunts and nephews. It is much better to give these gifts than anything else, so just accept them."
"But," Qin Sen still wanted to refuse.
"Why," Yun Zhen said with a straight face, "How dare you refuse my reward!"
Seeing that His Highness was angry, although everyone knew that he was just pretending to be angry, they did not dare to reject it anymore and hurriedly accepted it.
Yunzhen immediately turned from anger to joy, and gave them a few words before letting them disperse.
But after Qin Sen left, he whispered to a man who was from the same guard station as Qin Sen: "After you go back, find a time to see Qin Sen's father Qin Shoushan and tell him what Qin Sen wants to do in the war with Samarkand next year.
Go to the northwest to fight, and there is no need to say anything else. Remember not to let Qin Sen know about it."
"Yes, Your Highness." The man agreed, mounted his horse and left.
After giving orders to everyone, Yunzhen took the rest of his entourage to his palace.
The palace had been cleaned a long time ago. When the servants who guarded the palace in the capital learned that the prince would definitely return to the capital this year, they immediately cleaned up the entire palace, without even a fallen leaf.
After seeing it, Yunzhen felt quite satisfied. He ordered the eunuchs who had followed him back to Beijing to put their luggage in each room, and said to his eldest wife, Wu, "Is there anything else you want? If not, come with me to the palace to pay respects to the emperor."
"
"Even if I have something to do, I have to go and see the emperor first." Wu said with a smile, "There is nothing more important than seeing the emperor."
"That's right." Yunzhen also smiled and said to his wife Yang, "You also go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor."
"Your Highness, I," she was very surprised. This concubine was a local he accepted in Yongfan. It is said that his ancestors were descendants of the royal family of the Jin Kingdom. After the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the Mongols did not give any preferential treatment to the Jin people and were third-class northerners.
Like Han, the surname Yang was changed to Han for convenience. Her family was the leader of a large local tribe, but she soon believed in Taoism after the Taoist priest from Wudang Mountain went to Yongfan to preach, and she was very respectful to Yun Xin.
Yunzhen adopted the leader's daughter as his concubine.
She has been with Yunzhen for more than two years, and has learned a lot of Han people's etiquette. She knows that she is just a little wife and may not have the right to meet the emperor.
"It doesn't matter. According to the etiquette, all those who have entered Yudie must be canonized by the Queen. You are in Yongfan and you are in a hurry to obey the authority. Naturally, you will have to pay homage to the Queen when you come to the capital for the first time." Yunzhen said.
When she heard this, she quickly agreed.
Seeing that she agreed, Yunzhen ordered the eunuch to pack up the gifts he had brought back from Yongfan all the way, changed his clothes, got on the carriage, and headed to the palace with his wife and concubines.
The carriage soon arrived outside the palace and drove into the imperial city from the right gate of Chang'an. It did not stop until outside the Qianqing Gate. Yunzhen and his wife and concubines got off the carriage and walked towards the Qianqing Gate.
But before he reached the Qianqing Gate, he saw a figure flash at the door. A man in the emperor's uniform stood at the door, smiled at him and said, "Fourth Brother!"
"Brother Emperor!" Yunxun shouted, walked quickly to him, knelt down and saluted.
Yunxi pulled him up and said with a smile: "Why have we become so different after not seeing each other for two years?"
"My brother, I haven't seen the emperor for two years, so I can't help myself." Yunzhen said with a smile.
The two brothers joked for a while, and Mrs. Wu led Ms. Yang forward and bowed and saluted: "I have met the emperor."
"Hello, brothers and sisters. This is," Yunxi looked at Yang and said.
"This is the concubine that my younger brother married in Yongfan." Yunzhen said hurriedly.
"Okay, okay." Yunxi looked at her for a few times, said a few good words without meaning, and ordered the eunuch beside him: "You take Prince Yong's concubine and his concubine to see the queen, and ask the queen to reward the concubine more. After all.
This is my first time meeting you."
The eunuch took the order and led them to Kunning Palace.
Yunxu and Yunxu came to Qianqing Palace side by side. As they walked, they asked: "You have been in Yongfan for the past two years, and there have been few troubles in coming to the court. Brother Huang, I don't know how you are doing there. Let's start now. How many people are there? Can you provide food yourself? Come and talk to the emperor."
"Brother Imperial, my younger brother has been in the Northeast for the past two years and thinks he has done a pretty good job." Yunzhen boasted first, and then said: "In the past few years, Yongfan has brought over more than 2,000 people from the Central Plains. With such a small population, Of course it was not enough, so my younger brother sent people to conquer or contact the Jurchen tribe to expand the population. Before I left Yongfan, there were more than 107,000 naturalized Jurchens and Mongolians." He took the defeated ones as slaves. The Jurchens used are also included.
"Taoism played a big role in this. The local people were very ignorant, and my use of Confucianism to educate them had little effect. Instead, Taoist priests who had learned some superficial medical skills were very popular in various tribes, and often only one person was cured. If you get sick, all the people in the village will believe in Taoism. Although most people only believe in it superficially, their resistance to the government will be much smaller after they believe in Taoism."
"Zhenzhen Zhang also invited hawkers to do business in their villages, which greatly changed their impression of the Han people. Several real people also took in several young children as Taoists, and after a few years they have become devout believers. Together with the masters, we preach among the villages."
"Haha, the emperor was right when he ordered you to support Taoism," Yunxi said with a smile.
"Brother Huang is really far-sighted. At first, I didn't believe that the Taoist Church could play such a big role. If Brother Huang hadn't insisted, I would have just left them to fend for themselves. In this case, there would never have been such a big situation. " Yunzhen said.
Yunxi smiled and told him again: "Even so, we can't rely entirely on Taoism. Taoism only prevents them from being hostile to the Ming Dynasty, but if you open a government office in the local area, you will inevitably collect taxes from them. Even if they become Taoists and send missionaries, they will not willingly pay taxes and send missionaries."
"We still need to destroy several big local tribes so that they will be afraid and dare not disobey you. The ultimate goal is to break up their tribes and divide them into villages. You can't finish one term like an official. , only focusing on the present and not on the long term. The eternal kings in the future will all be your descendants."
"How could my brother not know about such a thing? Don't worry, my brother, I will definitely comply with the instructions." Yun Xun said.
Then he went on to introduce: "The climate in the Northeast is cold. My brother asked people to calculate the latitude. Yongming City is further north than Twenty Uncle's Kaiyuan City, and the food can only be harvested once a year."
"But the local land is very fertile. The old farmers said that the land is so fertile that even if no fertilizer is used, the growth of crops will be the same. Later, seeds of sorghum, wheat, barley and other crops were planted. Sure enough, the crops are growing very well, and there happens to be no disasters. All the farmland has a good harvest, and the granaries are full. As long as this happens every year, Yongfan will not need food from the Central Plains."
"It's best this way. But I'm afraid you won't be so lucky every year. For now, you should transport some grain from the Central Plains every year and store it. You will stop transporting grain from the Central Plains when you have almost enough food to govern the people for a year."