Chen Youliang worriedly told the story of the Ming army's recent great achievements.
To be honest, deep down in his heart, Chen Youliang admired brothers Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Hanzhu very much. His disgust and hatred for the Mongols gave him the basis for this sympathy.
But everyone understands that when the threat of the Mongols is lifted, the next goal of the Ming army must be to occupy the Chen and Han regime in Sichuan and Yunnan.
"Now that the Ming army is at its peak, with arrogant soldiers and strong generals, it is invincible. I think we should build forts on the border, train soldiers, and use the mountains to prevent the Ming army from invading."
As soon as Chen Youliang finished speaking, the Prime Minister Zou Pusheng next to him immediately gave his suggestion.
But what Zou Pusheng said are all commonplaces, and of little use to the Chen and Han regime that is now separatist in Sichuan.
If only relying on the method of shrinking, the Ming army would use ten times its national power to crush Chen Han's defense.
What Chen Youliang needs now is how to improve his national power, rather than building a turtle formation and separatist rule in Sichuan for the rest of his life, as Zou Pusheng said.
"Brother Emperor, we don't have many people in Sichuan now. Even if we eat up Yunnan, our population will still be far less than that of Huguang. If we want to increase our national strength, we must increase our population." Chen Youliang's younger brother Chen Youren said.
As the most capable of Chen Youliang's younger brothers, Chen Youren has always been able to provide very useful strategies for governing the country.
"Youren, please tell me, is there any good way to strengthen the country's strength?" Chen Youliang asked quickly.
Population is related to national strength, which has been an unchanging principle since ancient times.
Because of the continuous fierce wars between the Song and Jin Dynasties in Sichuan more than a hundred years ago, Sichuan, which was originally a land of abundance, lost more than 80% of its population. Later, when the Mongols ruled Sichuan, there was no recuperation and they always levied high taxes and tributes.
Today, the entire population of Sichuan is less than half of what it was during the Song Dynasty.
"If you ask me, Zhu Chongba, there are only three things that are better than us. One is the big territory, the second is the money, and the third is the large number of people." Chen Youren said slowly, "This territory is big.
Because there are more people, we can recruit soldiers, and if we have money, we can train the army to be more elite. If this is the case, then we will follow Zhu Chongba's example and increase the number of people first, and treat the people of Sichuan lightly.
Fu, if we call back those people who have been hiding in the deep mountains and old forests, we can gain at least nearly one million more people."
The people Chen Youren mentioned who were hiding in the mountains and forests were not included in the imperial household registration statistics at all. These people hiding in the mountains and forests did not have to pay taxes or perform military service.
Of course, wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes.
These people who fled into the deep mountains and old forests did not live in the Peach Blossom Land.
In Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, there are a large number of chieftains who dominate the mountains. The population under the chieftain's rule basically belongs to the chieftain's private property.
Various government administrative orders and the collection of grain and grass taxes are often only specific to a certain chieftain.
This situation caused the chieftains with a large population to pay only a very small amount of taxes. Many chieftains even had their own armed forces and were not even interested in recruiting soldiers from the government.
"What you are talking about, Youren, is indeed a good idea." Chen Youliang touched his short beard with his hand, nodded and said, "However, these populations are controlled by each chieftain. If we want to control the population
If we take it back, we must meet these chieftains' swordsmen."
These hereditary chieftains who are entrenched in various hills, whether they are of Han or Yi origin, all regard their territory and population as important as their lives.
The Mongols, who were notorious in those days, never took away the land and population from their hands.
Now if Chen Youliang dares to touch their lives, these hereditary chieftains will definitely rise up to resist.
Chen Youren smiled coldly, "So what if the swordsmen meet? These chieftains usually bully the weak and fear the strong, just relying on the high mountains and dangerous roads. Zhu Chongba sent people to wipe out so many chieftains in Guizhou, which shows that the geographical advantage they relied on was not the same.
It is not invincible. As long as we learn Zhu Chongba's method of attacking the chieftains in Guizhou, we can clean up these chieftains in Sichuan and Yunnan."
After hearing Chen Youren's words, Chen Youliang's eyes suddenly lit up with joy.
The Ming army never stopped attacking various chieftains in Guizhou.
The first person to be unlucky was the Yang family, the hereditary chieftain of Bozhou in eastern Guizhou. Last winter, the Shuixi chieftain in western Guizhou surrendered to the Ming Dynasty Guizhou Xingdusi.
All the chieftains in Guizhou were wiped out by the Ming army. Millions of people and land were controlled by the Ming army. The strength of the Ming army in the southwest suddenly increased dramatically.
Chen Youliang naturally knew that the Ming army was able to make such rapid progress in Guizhou because it adopted the most rapid and effective administrative and military means.
Chen Youren also made feasible suggestions to Chen Youliang based on the intelligence he heard.
"Brother Emperor, the Ming army in Guizhou is just attacking the chieftains to divide the land. We can also learn this trick."
"Another one, I found that even if the chieftains in the mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan can cultivate food and weave cloth, there is one thing that they absolutely cannot lack."
Chen Youliang immediately guessed what his brother was talking about as a necessity.
"Youren, you mean salt?" Chen Youliang asked in a low voice.
Chen Youren nodded, "Brother Huang is right, what I am referring to is salt. Most of these toasts live in the village and there is no way to get salt. In addition to salt, there are many other medicines and other necessities that they lack."
Yes, as long as we take appropriate measures, we can flatten and round these toasts."
Brother Chen Youliang quickly decided on a strategy and prepared to attack the chieftains on the mountains in the southwest.
After some calculations, the two brothers figured out that by eating half of the strength of these toasts, they could increase their number of soldiers by another hundred thousand.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! It can be seen that since the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, many people in the southwest have been hiding in the mountains and forests.
Brother Chen Youliang had just decided on a strategy to deal with the chieftains of each family, and was preparing to use the last bits of gold, silver, grain and grass to supply the army, but suddenly they received urgent military information from Yunnan.
After driving away Duan Gong, Chen Youliang returned to Chengdu and set up the Marching Marshal's Mansion in Yunnan, leaving his fifth brother Chen Yougui to guard it in Yunnan.
"Duan Gong is thousands of miles away, and he still dares to think about Yunnan. It's really intolerable. What can't be tolerated!"
When Chen Youliang saw the information coming from Yunnan, he became very angry.
It turned out that after Chen Youliang drove Duan Gong to the Tianzhu people in Bangladesh, he massacred the Burmese people who surrendered to him. Although the barbarians were subdued in a short time, Duan Gong sent someone to contact Myanmar shortly after Chen Youliang left.
various tribes in Myanmar, and provided them with a large amount of military food support, allowing these Burmese tribes to collude in rebellion.
Several camps in the Yunnan Marching Marshal's Mansion have been captured by Burmese rebels. The rampaging rebels even threatened several important copper mining areas in Yunnan.
Chen Youliang is now able to support hundreds of thousands of troops, half of which relies on the rich products of the Chengdu Plain in the Land of Abundance, and the other half of which relies on several large copper mines in Yunnan.
Now, under Duan Gong's deception, the Burmese rebels threatened Chen Youliang's money bag, which naturally made him intolerable.
"Immediately send troops to reinforce the Yunnan Marching Marshal's Mansion. We must kill all these Burmese rebels and capture them all in the mines to dig stones!" Chen Youliang said angrily.
The land in Yunnan is vast and there are many mountains and rivers. The few troops in the hands of the fifth brother Chen Yougui are simply unable to fully attack and defend, so troops and horses must be sent to support.
Chen Youliang was very confused about one thing.
That is when Duan Gong was driven away by them, he was obviously in a very embarrassed state. He only took 10,000 to 20,000 remnant soldiers and fled in defeat. Not only did he not take away much food and supplies, but he was also betrayed by the Burmese natives.
How come less than a year has passed and Duan Gong actually has such abundant capital to support the Burmese indigenous people?
According to intelligence from the Yunnan Marching Marshal's Office, the total number of rebels in Myanmar, large and small, totaled nearly 100,000.
Although there are 100,000 Burmese rebels, they may not be able to match the 10,000 combat effectiveness of the Red Turban Army.
But if you want to support 100,000 eating mouths, the amount of food required is a very huge amount.
Chen Youliang couldn't figure out how Duan Gong got so much food.
"Could it be that the Tianzhu where Duan Gong fled to is really full of gold, silver and jewels and grows food all year round?" Chen Youliang couldn't help but asked in confusion.
When Chen Youliang led his army in Yunnan, he once heard from the indigenous Burmese savages that Tianzhu in Bangladesh is rich in gems, gold and silver, and has abundant rain all year round and a warm climate, which is very suitable for the growth of rice.
Now, after only one year, Duan Gong had enough food to support the savage natives of Burma. It seems that the rumors about Tianzhu's prosperity are indeed true.
"Brother, please hit the snake seven inches away. The mountains and forests where these Burmese savages live are full of poisonous insects, rats, and ants. Even if we repel them, it will be difficult to exterminate them in the mountains and dense forests. If the weeds are not eradicated, they will still come back."
Return it." His younger brother Chen Youren said beside him.
"Youren, what do you think we should do?" Chen Youliang asked.
"Since Duan Gong is behind these indigenous savages in Myanmar, we will find a way to get rid of Duan Gong. In this way, without Duan Gong providing food and grass support, the Burmese people in the dense forests and mountains will not be a concern." Chen Youren
said.
The suggestion he made can be said to go straight to the heart of the Burmese people.
Although ancient Myanmar was located in a tropical area, the agricultural production level of local residents was backward, and there were not many means of development for the swamp rainforests scattered throughout.
As a loose alliance of city-states, it is almost difficult for Myanmar to scrape together enough food for a 10,000-strong army to go on an expedition for several months.
Therefore, once there is no food support provided by Duan Gong, relying only on the Burmese people's little family resources, they can only play like birds and monkeys in their respective tribes.
"It's a good idea, but Duan Gong is thousands of miles away, and he has to cross the miasma-filled jungle in Myanmar. How to solve Duan Gong?"
"Brother Emperor, I once heard the Tubo people say that after crossing the Holy Mountain in the south of Tubo, it belongs to the territory of the King of Delhi of Tianzhu. The place Duan Gong occupies now also belongs to the King of Delhi of Tianzhu. He must have hated Duan Gong deeply.
, after all, we have robbed him of his territory. If we can send people to join forces with the King of Tianzhu, we can let him eliminate Duan Gong together, thus solving our worries in Yunnan."
In the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, August 16th.
Jiangnan, Zhenjiang.
The rustling autumn wind has swept away the hot weather, and the southward monsoon has appeared on the sea east of Zhenjiang.
This was the time for Zhu Han's planned voyage to the West to begin.
Brother Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han came to Zhenjiang Port together to witness Ming Dynasty's first voyage to the West.
"Qiwu, do you think our voyage to the West this time will really benefit the descendants of the Ming Dynasty for generations to come?" Brother Zhu Yuanzhang asked still a little worried.
This voyage to the West planned by Zhu Han was unprecedentedly large in scale.
There are five light sailing ships just as pioneers for exploration.
These light sailing ships are all the latest sailboats produced by Zhenjiang Shipyard. The hulls are all made of huanghuali wood, and the rudders are made of rosewood. Only these precious woods will be enough to buy a super large class ship in later generations.
Modern yacht.
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty now has relatively abundant wood resources, so the cost of making these strong hulls is still acceptable.
In addition to the five exploration-type sailing ships, there are also ten sailing battleships of levels four to six.
These sail warships have made many adaptive adjustments in structure and layout based on the experience and lessons provided by Hu Dahai from his previous drifting for thousands of miles.
As the latest batch of sailing warships, these ten warships are the main force in the voyage to the West. Each warship is equipped with three types of artillery. The short and heavy cannon can directly destroy the enemy's hull structure at close range, and the cannon can be used at medium distances.
It bombards the enemy's hull and sails, while the lightweight cannon on the deck can fire shotguns to kill enemy sailors and crew.
The investment in the construction and renovation of these ten warships was regardless of cost.
When the masts and keels needed strong and suitable wood, Zhu Han directly ordered the Korean palace to be dismantled and the beams and columns above were used as shipbuilding materials.
The maintenance cost of each warship is almost equivalent to the salary and supply costs of all the soldiers in a guard station.
Behind the ten sail warships, there are six galleys.
These six galleys can not only be used as logistics supply ships, but also can use oars to sail quickly near the sea, and can also travel unimpeded in ordinary rivers.
Each galley is equipped with dozens to hundreds of oarsmen. Generally speaking, the oarsmen on the galleys are the most difficult and tiring positions. Almost all oarsmen from Europe to West Asia are held by slaves.
.
The rowing sailors on Zhu Han's ships were not slaves, but most of them were recruited from the Goryeo and Japanese countries. The Goryeo and Japanese people were thin and short, but they were also hardworking and hardworking. They were most suitable for the narrow paddling positions.
, and the Ming Dynasty only needed to provide them with a military salary of ten taels of silver per year, and it would be enough to give them a Ming Dynasty naturalized person status after five years.
Gaoli and Wa both belong to the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty. After these coolie sailors have the status of naturalized people of the Ming Dynasty, they can serve as officials in Gaoli and Wa without kneeling, can own their own fixed property, and are protected by the Ming garrison. Their status is almost the same.
So the warrior class.
For the Koreans and Japanese people, these conditions were generous enough, even allowing them to sacrifice their lives when necessary.