Ming Dynasty Gazette——
The Prince of Yan led an army of 200,000 to the north to attack the Mongols and defeated the Tartars. In the chaos of the battle, he beheaded the ruler of the Yuan Dynasty, seized millions of cattle and sheep, captured hundreds of thousands of Mongolian soldiers and civilians, and obtained countless food, fodder, supplies, rare treasures!
When such explosive news came out, the sales of Daming Dibao once again reached an unprecedented peak.
Before this, the Ming Dynasty had already launched several northern expeditions.
The first Northern Expedition was in the third year of Hongwu.
The reason was Wang Baobao's siege of Lanzhou.
Wang Baobao's military talent was not bad, but unfortunately he met the wrong opponent.
Not long ago, Wang Baobao's army of 100,000 was wiped out by Xu Da, but he quickly organized another 100,000 troops and built a city near Lanzhou, Gansu, confronting the Ming army across the Yellow River for two years.
So, Xu Da was once again appointed as the general who conquered the enemy and marched westward to Lanzhou.
Xu Da reached Gansu and Wang Baobao retreated.
After that, the two sides fought a decisive battle .
There were no surprises.
Wang Baobao's troops were wiped out again, and only Wang Baobao and his wife and children crossed the Yellow River.
The Ming army pursued for hundreds of miles but failed to capture him again.
The subsequent second northern expedition was originally intended to continue the unfinished business of the first northern expedition: to completely eliminate the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
But things went against their wishes and the Ming army suffered its only defeat.
Soon the third northern expedition was launched, which was the Battle of Horqin led by Mu Ying. Although Mu Ying did not have the title of General of Conquering the Enemy, the troops he led could only be considered a small force.
But the results were considerable - they directly surrounded Helin and annihilated 10,000 enemies.
Then came the fourth Northern Expedition, and Xu Da was again appointed General of Conquering the Enemy. Although he won the battle, his performance was mediocre.
This was considered the Ming Dynasty's fifth northern expedition.
With Prince of Yan Zhu Di as the general of the northern expedition and Lan Yu as the deputy general, they led an army of 200,000 and marched straight into the Yellow Dragon. They wiped out all the former Mongolian troops in one breath and killed the ruler of the Yuan Dynasty. They finally achieved their goal in one battle and brought a perfect end to the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition.
Not long ago, Su Che had received the head of the Northern Yuan Dynasty Emperor Toghon Temur.
Even though only the head of the Northern Yuan Dynasty Emperor Toghon Temur was left, it seemed to still be alive. Its eyes were wide open, and its eyes were filled with anger and unwillingness before death.
This battle led to the complete collapse of the Yuan Dynasty's administrative system.
After this, the Yuan Dynasty ceased to exist.
Back to its original name: Mongolia.
but.
Although the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, the threat from the north did not disappear.
Without the suppression of the Yuan Dynasty, the two major tribes of Oirat and Tatar would inevitably rise in the future.
The threat to the grassland still exists!
but.
After this war, the next northern expedition had changed from clearing out the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty to counterattacking those who harassed the border.
Regardless, this was a resounding victory.
As the Ming Dynasty Gazette was printed and sold, people all over the world knew the news. Whether in the streets or in the fields, people were discussing the progress of the war with great interest.
Many people only read the contents of the court bulletin and then described the various details vividly, as if they were there themselves, and even added a lot of content on their own.
I saw an old farmer sitting on a bench, holding a newspaper in one hand and a pipe in the other, surrounded by a group of children and adults.
The old farmer took a puff of his pipe and continued with spit flying:
"The Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, took the lead, holding the Emperor's Sword bestowed by the current emperor, and rushed directly to the restricted area of ​​the Northern Yuan Palace to face the Lord of the Northern Yuan Dynasty!"
"Let's talk about Toghon Temur, the ruler of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. He was the ruler of China and the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. He was the supreme ruler. He was originally a real dragon. But after he lost the Chinese kingdom, he lost his dragon body and turned into a vicious dragon. But even so, his strength is still unimaginable!"
"However, he is facing the fourth son of the current emperor, the Prince of Yan! As one of the Sai Kings, the Prince of Yan in Beiping is equally powerful. In his early years, he presided over the Ming Military Academy and had countless students!"
"Isn't the King of Yan a general?" someone in the crowd couldn't help but interrupt.
"You know shit!" The old farmer exhaled a puff of smoke and said disdainfully, "Do you know or do I? Ever since the Ming Dynasty Gazette came out, I have read it from the first issue to now, and I know everything about the world!"
"The emperor today believes that the supremacy of Confucianism is of no benefit to the country. The Song Dynasty was cowardly to the core because of the power of scholars! But Your Majesty did not emphasize military power over literature. Instead, he established the Military Academy, Medical Academy, Agricultural Academy, and Mathematics Academy, four major academies!"
"Those high-quality rice varieties of yours were cultivated by the Agricultural College. It can be said that this is largely due to the efforts of the current emperor!"
"The emperor has given this military academy to the King of Yan to manage!"
"The Prince of Yan in Beiping, as one of His Majesty's most outstanding sons, is extremely powerful!"
"In that battle, the King of Yan and the Lord of Beiyuan fought for three days and three nights!"
" One side is the evil dragon of the old dynasty, and the other side is the dragon son of the new dynasty. Their strengths are equally matched, and it was hard to tell who would win for a while!"
"At the most critical moment, it was your majesty's Emperor's Sword that worked!"
"There was a wisp of your majesty's divine consciousness remaining in the Emperor's sword. At that moment, the divine consciousness revived and only took a glance at the Lord of Beiyuan. The terrifying aura of the real dragon frightened him so much that he could not move!"
"And King Yan also seized this opportunity!"
At the critical moment, the old farmer became excited, used his pipe as a sword, and stabbed into the air, shouting, "Evil dragon, die!"
"This sword directly cut off the head of the Lord of Beiyuan! A dragon head was cut off!"
"good!"
"good!!!"
When the onlookers heard this, they couldn't help but applaud and cheer.
Although I don't know how much private stuff this old farmer added secretly, it's refreshing to hear, and that's enough.
…
The Yuan Dynasty was not a distant concept to the people of the world. After all, only twenty years had passed, and the events of the past had not been completely forgotten.
No one expected that the Yuan Dynasty would be completely destroyed in this Northern Expedition!
And those rare treasures that had been lost to the grassland were also taken back!
Many people couldn't help but shout out in joy.
This war is far away from the common people, but that doesn’t mean they don’t feel anything.
On the contrary, all the people were deeply happy for the victory of the Ming Dynasty.
Ever since Su Che intentionally strengthened the concept of the Chinese nation, he has done a lot of things, publicized a lot, and implemented policies in all aspects. As time goes by, there have finally been some results.
Many people in the Ming Dynasty see themselves as part of the Ming Dynasty, sharing honor and disgrace! They are no longer numb!
The official gazette brought the news of victory to the whole country and also caused a sensation in the court.
The Yuan Dynasty was not far away. Many ministers came from the Yuan Dynasty and served as officials in the Yuan Dynasty. After hearing the news, they were inevitably stunned for a moment and felt inexplicably complicated.
Although it was a good thing to eliminate the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, it was inappropriate to let those military generals take credit for such a great achievement, especially when the credit went to the vassal king, Prince of Yan Zhu Di, which could easily lead to the problem of the tail being too big to be removed.
Since ancient times, the power of the vassal kings has been a serious threat to the central court.
At first, Zhu Yuanzhang did not listen to the advice of his ministers and insisted on enfeoffment of princes.
He believed that "the world is so vast that we must establish a vassal state to protect the country and the people. Now that my sons have grown up, they should each be given a title and given rank to govern the various states."
In ancient times, fiefdoms were divided into two categories according to their nature: one was a real fiefdom that enjoyed a "high degree of autonomy", and the other was a virtual fiefdom that only provided for "empty meals".
The so-called real fiefdom means that the fiefdom has some financial, personnel and military powers independent of the central government, and the princes are the actual leaders of the vassal states.
The so-called virtual fiefdom means that the fiefdom is under the vertical leadership of the central government, and the princes do not have any power. The fiefdom is just a meal ticket for the princes to eat for free.
To put it in a more vivid way, under the real-sealing model, the princes are "local emperors", and under the virtual-sealing model, the princes are "parasites".
Zhu Yuanzhang did not want the princes to become parasites, so they were granted considerable autonomy. For example, they all had certain military powers, and each prince had at least three guards.
And among these sons.
There were nine "Sai Kings" who were responsible for guarding the border. From east to west, they were Zhu Zhi, King of Liao, Zhu Quan, King of Ning, Zhu Di, King of Yan, Zhu Tan, King of Gu, Zhu Gui, King of Dai, Zhu Mugang, King of Jin, Zhu Chong, King of Qin, Zhu Chan, King of Qing, and Zhu Jian, King of Su. They directly or indirectly controlled tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops.
In Zhu's fantasy, these frontier kings could guard the borders and become a barrier for the Ming Dynasty.
Unfortunately, this is just a fantasy.
There was the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" before and the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" later. These are bloody lessons, but as the saying goes: the only lesson mankind has learned from history is that it has not learned any lessons from history.
Even before his death, Zhu Yuanzhang left a will: "There are no loyal ministers in the court, and there are traitors in the court. We must raise troops to punish them and clear the emperor's side."
To the extent that Zhu Di didn't even need to think of a reason to rebel!
Zhu Di won a great victory this time and would certainly be rewarded lavishly, which further strengthened his power. The court officials were worried, and more than one minister mentioned this matter in front of the Crown Prince Zhu Biao.
However, Zhu Biao did not care at all. Instead, he was genuinely happy for Zhu Di's great victory and looked forward to meeting his brother.
To Zhu Biao, Zhu Di posed no threat at all.
As the second generation, most of the kings were as close as brothers, and Zhu Biao's authority was unmatched, so this position was naturally very stable.
The only problem is Zhu Biao’s life span.
If Zhu Biao died early, his son would obviously not be able to control the other princes, and it would be only a matter of time before the world fell into chaos.
This is also the problem that Su Che is worried about. Although Zhu Biao's condition seems to have improved a lot thanks to his efforts, whether he can change his original fate is still an unknown.
As for the issue of rebellion by the vassal kings, Su Che was not worried. With him around, the world would never be in chaos. If Zhu Biao really died, he would not consider a fool like Zhu Yunwen when choosing an heir.
A few days later.
Outside Yingtian Prefecture.
Su Che saw General Zhu Di and Lan Yu, the Generals of the Northern Expedition.
When the two saw the emperor's carriage, they immediately half-knelt in greeting.
"Greetings, Father!"
" Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!!!"
The soldiers followed suit and half-knelt in salute in unison, with the movements causing thunderous cheers!
Su Che came over, helped Zhu Di and Lan Yu up, and said loudly: "Thank you for your hard work!"
"Everyone, thank you for your hard work!"
"You are all heroes of the Ming Dynasty!"
Following Su Che's encouragement, every soldier who came to Yingtian Prefecture was in high spirits.
Not everyone was qualified to come to Yingtian Prefecture to receive the emperor's reward, and most of the soldiers were stationed in frontier fortresses.
Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, the legacy they left behind has not yet been enjoyed. This is the key to this war.
Most of the soldiers who came to Yingtian Prefecture at this moment were those who performed outstandingly in this war.
After encouraging, Su Che looked at Zhu Di and Lan Yu and talked to them. Then he gave the task of awarding rewards to Zhu Biao and asked him to do it on his behalf!
To a certain extent, these soldiers will remember whoever rewards them. Although they have achieved their current merits by following Zhu Di and Lan Yu, the person they are ultimately grateful to is Zhu Biao.
Su Che talked a lot with Zhu Di and Lan Yu about this war and the future.
Although this war was a great victory and the Northern Yuan Dynasty was completely destroyed, this war had just begun before the Ming Dynasty completely occupied Mongolia.
The Northern Yuan Dynasty was gone, but there were still the Oirat, the Tatar, and even those Jurchen tribes.
Su Che’s ultimate goal is to conquer all these tribes and make the grassland a complete part of the Ming Dynasty!
These words made Zhu Di and Lan Yu's blood boil. They thought that after destroying the Northern Yuan Dynasty, they would have no more goals... Who would have thought that His Majesty had such a grand goal? They were short-sighted!
"The future doesn't stop here. I will come up with some new things in the future to show you what the power of innovation is!" Su Che smiled faintly. Not long ago, the Shangfang Department that Su Che had spent a lot of money to set up had already tinkered with a steam engine!
Su Che could rely on others to complete agriculture, mathematics, medicine, and even the military academy, but he was in charge of scientific and technological research alone. He did not let others help him and conducted research secretly. Even few ministers knew about it.
The money invested in Shangfang is several times more than that of the four major academies combined, but Su Che doesn't feel sorry at all. After all, it's just treasure notes. He can just print money and loosen the liquidity, and that's it!
When the Ming Dynasty becomes stronger, it will be no problem to release more water - this is just the beginning.
With the investment of countless money and materials, and Su Che's brain, Shangfang gradually developed some useful things.
The steam engine is one of them.
Once the railway tracks leading to Mongolia are laid, and steam trains are raising mist and continuously transporting all kinds of supplies and even soldiers, the advantage of the Mongolian cavalry will become smaller and smaller.
Even in this world of immortals and demons, the power of innovation cannot be underestimated.
…
A few days later.
Shangfang Research Department.
Zhu Di followed Su Che here and saw the huge locomotive. He was immediately shocked: "Father, what is this?"
"This is a steam locomotive!" Su Che smiled faintly and said slowly.