Yunxi didn't pay attention to Min'er's expression, or couldn't care less. While eating, he talked to Zhu Song, talking about some light topics. Yunwen and Yunzhi also interrupted from time to time, and the atmosphere changed from the dull one just now.
Very active.
However, Ma Hanyu never spoke. Firstly, Yunwen had very strict rules and she was not allowed to speak at will. Secondly, they talked about many things that happened in the palace together when they were children. She didn't know about it, and she didn't dare to talk nonsense, so she just
I can remain silent.
Not long after she finished her meal, she stood up and said: "Guan family, twenty uncle, husband, I have finished eating. Seeing that the children have already eaten, they are all starting to play, so I took them to the back pavilion to play.
, I won’t bother you talking.”
"Go ahead and take care of Wen Kui. I remember he was very polite when he was in Hangzhou. Why is he like this now?" Yunwen frowned and whispered to Ma Hanyu. She agreed and took the children with her.
Back off.
Yunxi looked at it and it was almost time. He drank another glass of wine with Zhu Song and turned the topic to national affairs. After talking about national affairs for a while, he suddenly said: "Uncle Twenty, do you know that the country of Samarkand in the northwest will send troops to the east next year?"
Conquer the Ming Dynasty?"
"Is this happening?" Zhu Song was surprised. After leaving Siping, he rushed all the way to the capital. Although he stopped at a post station along the way, he only slept, so he had no idea what happened during this period.
"On the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, I received an urgent message from the northwest. The Kingdom of Samarkand intends to conquer the Ming Dynasty eastward." Yunxi said.
"The country of Samarkand is so rampant!" Zhu Song suddenly shouted: "(Jianye) secretly attacked Guangzhou at the end of the fourth year. Your Majesty was magnanimous and ignored it, but his country actually got worse! Your Majesty must punish his country severely!"
After listening to Zhu Song's words, Yun Wen opened his mouth to speak. In fact, the current news can only confirm that the Samarkand Kingdom will fight this year. After analysis by Yili's people, it turned into an Eastern Expedition, and then through the Fifth Army Governor's Office
It became a plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty. However, as a 'pacifist', Yunwen would of course carefully analyze the court's newspapers and see that it was not certain whether the Samarkand Kingdom would conquer the Ming Dynasty. At this time, he heard that Zhu Song was allowed to
If you don't want to mislead, you have to speak up.
Ke Yunwen said nothing in the end. Although it is not certain that the Kingdom of Samarkand will definitely conquer the Ming Dynasty, it is very likely, and it is reasonable for the court to make preparations in advance.
Zhu Song cursed a few times, then turned to Yunxi and said: "The officials, do you want my Yingfan to contribute? I am willing to send five thousand troops to follow the army to fight with the country of Samarkand in the northwest." What he said was very heroic.
But Yunxi laughed and scolded: "Uncle Twenty is really cunning!" Seeing that Yunxi had not been deceived, Zhu Song also started to giggle.
After Zhu Song heard about this, he immediately realized that Yunxi wanted him to send troops to the northwest to fight with the army. Otherwise, why would he specifically tell him about this today?
He made a calculation in his mind. Of course he was not willing to send troops to fight in the northwest, even if all the barbarian soldiers were sent, but he also knew that since Yunxi had spoken, it was impossible to send not a single soldier.
Before he officially spoke, he offered to send five thousand troops, so that Yunxi would be happy and not let him send more troops. However, he still did not hide it.
"Uncle Twenty, there are a hundred thousand Han people under your rule, and there are hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and Jurchens who have taken refuge. You only sent five thousand troops, which is too few! You must send at least ten thousand troops!" Yunxi said.
"Guan family! Our Ying vassal has been attacking the Jurchen tribe in Siping for the past four years, and it was not destroyed until more than ten days ago. How can we send 10,000 troops to follow the army to fight in the northwest!"
"Stop pretending to be poor with me! The Jurchens you have taken refuge with are all young and strong. The Mongols are enough to make up 50,000 soldiers. The Han people can also make up at least 30,000 soldiers. That's 80,000 people. Not counting you.
If you submit to a tribe that is willing to send troops and food, ten thousand soldiers will not be enough."
Zhu Song said goodbye to him again, but Yunxi was unwilling to say more and said to him in a commanding tone: "There is no need to discuss this matter again!" Seeing that Yunxi had made up his mind, Zhu Song could only bow and agree.
Yunxi comforted him again and said: "I don't want you to send out your Han soldiers. Just send all the Mongolian and Jurchen soldiers. When you go back, tell them that as long as they make meritorious service in the northwest, I will never be stingy with rewards! Besides, this is good for you.
It's also beneficial." He repeated what he said to Yunzhen at that time.
After hearing this, Zhu Song's expression became much more relaxed, and he asked Yunxi for benefits: population and military doctors. Yunxi bargained with him and agreed to give him a fixed population and military doctors every year.
After hearing this, Zhu Song's expression completely recovered and he said with a smile: "Guan family, this has solved my urgent need. Now that we have just occupied the important place of Siping, the Jurchen guards who have arranged to take refuge are not worried. There are thousands of
The people can set up a camp there and use it as a fulcrum to continue marching to the north."
"Those military doctors are more important. The medical skills of the barbarians in the Northeast, whether the Jurchens or the Mongols, are very backward. When they get sick, the only way to resist is to hire a shaman to dance with them. In my opinion, it is almost the same as resisting yourself."
"So when I sent military doctors to treat them for the first time, they were immediately impressed by the superb medical skills of the military doctors, and many tribes surrendered because of this."
"Aren't your Jurchens and Mongolians just north of Liaodong? Not far from the Ming Dynasty when grandpa was alive. Didn't you know that our medical skills are a hundred times better than theirs?" Yunxi was a little confused.
"Some people have heard of it, but except for a few tribes close to Liaodong, the rest have never been diagnosed or treated in our lifetime."
"The large area of land north of Liaodong is still covered with vast forests. The Jurchens live in hiding in them and make a living by fishing and hunting. Except for the occasional collection of precious Chinese medicines such as ginseng, or deer antlers and other things, the Jurchens living in the deep mountains rarely go out of the mountains.
When you come to the place where the Han people come, only the tribes living on the edge of the mountains and forests will often trade with the Han people."
"It was after I was sealed to Kaiyuan that I sent three troops to cut down trees and build strongholds in the north, and opened up farmland in the plains, and then I came into contact with the Jurchens living in the mountains."
"These Jurchens in the mountains are very ferocious. They often harassed the people farming at first. I had no choice but to use hard and soft tactics to eliminate the most violent tribes. I also did business with other tribes and allowed them to obtain goods at prices many times cheaper than before. Only then did I
They are willing to surrender."
"Keep your mouth warm and hold a big stick in your hand." Yunxi interjected.
"What the officials said was good, concise and to the point. That's how I was in the fiefdom." Zhu Song went on to talk about many of the difficulties of pioneering in the Northeast.
"I see." Yunxi sighed: "I thought it would be easy for you to expand northward using Kaiyuan as your foundation, but I didn't expect it to sound so difficult."
"It is naturally much easier than nephew Yunzhen. After all, I have my back in Liaodong. If I hadn't encountered the Siping tribe, I should have expanded the territory at least two hundred miles further north. But there are many barbarians in the northeast, and I want to let
It's not easy for them to surrender." Zhu Song added.
"Thank you so much for your hard work." Yunxi said.
"Although it is hard work, the new territory is my fiefdom, and the new people are my subjects. In the future, my children and grandchildren will always be in Kaiyuan, so it won't be hard." Zhu Song said with a smile.
Yunxi laughed for a while, and then said: "Let's not talk about this anymore. It's Chinese New Year, so let's talk about something light-hearted. Do you have any local anecdotes in the north of Liaodong?"
"As for anecdotes, they are nothing. There are also Jurchens and Mongols who submitted to the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. Their customs are mostly the same, so there is nothing to say. By the way, there is something that I thought was very interesting when I first saw it."
Zhu Song said: "Although the barbarians in the Northeast are collectively called Jurchens, there are actually multiple ethnic groups, and the customs of each ethnic group are also different. One of them was named Jianzhou in the late Hongwu years, and the Jurchens there were called
Jianzhou Jurchen."
"The Jurchens in Jianzhou have different customs from other Jurchens: all the hair on their heads and foreheads must be shaved off, leaving only a small patch of hair on the back of their heads, no more than the size of a copper coin. This small patch of hair is left uncut and left to grow.
When it reaches the back, it is tied into a braid and left behind the head."
"I have never heard of this custom before seeing it. Although it is recorded in the book that the Dangxiang people of Xixia also shaved the hair on the top of their heads, but all the hair around them was left and tied in a small braid, unlike the Jurchens of Jianzhou.
Leave a braid on the back of your head.”
Zhu Song told this incident as an anecdote, and Yunzhi was really surprised: "It's really strange that there are people with such hair." She then turned her head and looked at Yunxi: "Guan family, this is Jianzhou
Jurchen,..." She fell silent mid-sentence.
"Official, but what I said is inappropriate?" Zhu Song saw that Yunxi's expression was very gloomy, and he didn't know what the reason was, so he hurriedly said.
"It's not that what Uncle Twenty said was inappropriate, it's just that I thought of something and that's why I looked like this." After Yunxi heard Zhu Song's words, his expression immediately returned to normal and he smiled at him.
But Yunxi's smile was very forced. Even a person with little experience like Yunzhi could see that Yunxi was in a very bad mood. Zhu Song felt even more uneasy. He apologized to Yunxi many times in different words, wondering what he was doing.
Where did he say something wrong? But Yunxi just told him that he had thought of other things and had nothing to do with Zhu Song's words.
Zhu Song was surprised, but he didn't dare to ask again. Because he still had something to do, he resigned and said: "Guanjia, I came to Yunwen's palace just after I arrived in the capital, and there are still some things that have not been arranged."
"Uncle Twenty wants to go back to the palace, right? It just so happens that I have been staying at the second brother's mansion for half a day and want to go back. Let's break up now. I will host a banquet for Uncle Twenty in the palace the day after tomorrow." Yunxi immediately said.
said.
Zhu Song bowed and was about to leave. But after Yunxi agreed, he seemed to have made up his mind: "The troops you send to the northwest this year must all be Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers."
"Yes, official." After hearing this, Zhu Song knew in his heart that Yun He hated Jianzhou Jurchen. He was surprised in his heart but did not show it on his face, and bowed and said.