The reason why Zhu Cixiang chose the lord system to allow the lords to be completely autonomous was because the territory would be large in the future. In the case of inconvenient communication and transportation, if he forced the court to control it, it would be a mess and counterproductive.
Therefore, it is better to adopt this kind of lord system and let each lord be autonomous, just to prevent them from annexing each other and getting bigger. This will not only save a lot of worry and effort, but also can recruit a large number of cavalry to fight in wartime.
Dozens or hundreds of years later, when the communication conditions were better and the affiliation of various ethnic groups to the Han people was also stronger, it would not be too late to carry out reforms and direct management.
As for tax collection, it will completely depend on the situation in the future.
Of course, in order to encourage ordinary Mongolians to fight for the court and for better assimilation, some corresponding measures are still necessary.
First of all, the heirs of each lord must go to the Ming Dynasty to study. Only those who pass the cultural assessment of the relevant departments are eligible to inherit the title.
Furthermore, if an ordinary Mongolian cavalry has achieved military exploits, the court will grant the status of a knight. Although the knights are nominally under the jurisdiction of each lord, each lord must report to the court if they want to dispose of them.
Compared with other herdsmen, knights have a much higher status. Although they cannot be hereditary, their property and the safety of their families can be guaranteed.
If the knight performs meritorious service again, he can obtain the title of land and be promoted to a lord.
After Zhu Cixiang explained the lord system, the dozens of leaders in the tent immediately became angry, but except for a few ambitious guys, almost all the other leaders supported it.
After all, this lordship system actually did not cause much loss to them. On the contrary, future generations would receive huge protection, and they would no longer have to worry about being annexed by other tribes all day long.
As for fighting for the emperor, in their opinion, there is no difference at all from fighting for the Great Khan, not to mention that the benefits and spoils will probably be greater.
And they were eager to send their heirs to the Ming Dynasty to learn Han culture.
The only thing that makes the leaders resist is the knights under their rule. After all, no lord does not want to completely control the life and death of the people under his rule.
But on this point, Zhu Cixiang's attitude was very resolute, and there was no room for negotiation at all. Everyone could only compromise. In the end, they all looked at Tugel, the great Khan of the Tumote tribe, especially those who were ambitious and ambitious.
The unwilling leader.
Seeing that the situation was over, Tugel could only stand up and express his support for the emperor's feudal system and accept the title of Marquis of Shunyi.
Even the great Khan Tugel compromised, the leaders didn't have the slightest concern, and a few ambitious guys had no choice but to accept it.
Immediately, Zhu Cihong carried out the canonization. Since he was the first batch of lords, each of them was also rewarded with a large amount of grain, cloth, salt and other materials.
After canonizing the lords, Zhu Cixi gave all the 5,000 Mongolians that Ran Duoer brought to the Ming Dynasty the status of knights, and then distributed them to various territories.
These knights will also have their own pastures, cattle, sheep and horses, but they will have to pay taxes to the lord. The knights' tax rate will be uniformly determined by the court. The tax rate paid by other herdsmen will be determined by the lord himself, and the court will not interfere.
The five thousand Mongolians who were knighted were naturally very happy. What they were happy about was not their current treatment, but the fact that they could become lords in the future after meritorious service. Therefore, they were the group of people who supported this system the most.
As for the 20,000 ordinary Mongolians, their performance was mediocre as they did not receive much benefit or suffer much loss.
However, when I learned that after fighting for the emperor and performing meritorious service in the future, I could become a knight or even a lord, I felt a sense of hope in my heart.
After the canonization, Zhu Cixi asked each lord to send a son to bring some warriors back to Hetao and move all the tribe's cattle and sheep over.
As for the feudal lords, they are temporarily detained here and it is impossible to release them now.
The hundreds of thousands of troops also did not return to the Great Wall immediately, but began to build the city. In order to deter these lords, the imperial court would definitely station troops on the grasslands.
Finally, after some site selection, Zhu Cihong chose to build the seat of the Andong Protectorate to the east of the Liao River, beside a tributary fifty miles away.
Zhu Cixi planned to build a main city and four acropolises. The main city had a circumference of ten miles, and the walls were three feet high and three feet thick.
The four acropolis are located on the four sides of the main city, twenty miles away from the main city, three miles in circumference, and the walls are three feet high and two feet thick.
Since the slaves had not yet completely returned to the northeast, Zhu Cixiang was not in a hurry to pasture the various lords, but could only focus on building the city.
All the materials needed to build the city could only be transported from Ji Town. Fortunately, it was only a hundred or two hundred miles away and there were many horse-drawn carriages. Although the cost was huge, it was fully affordable with the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, the war in the Central Plains also came to an end. Compared to Zhu Cixiang's timidity, the Red Lady was undoubtedly much more courageous.
After arriving in Taiyuan, news came that the Great Western Army had been defeated by Wu Sangui and fled into the mountains. Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing were also storming Tongguan. The Red Lady did not hesitate to take Liu Liangzuo and more than ten thousand soldiers and horses directly to the east.
Crossed the Yellow River and went straight to Chang'an to kill, claiming to have an army of 200,000.
As a result, wherever the army went, it was almost as if they were waiting for the wind, and the whole Guanzhong was panicked, causing the Red Lady to easily reach the gates of Chang'an City.
Although there are still 50,000 defenders in Chang'an City, the only ones that King Chuang can really control are the 30,000 people left by Li Guo. The leaders of the other 20,000 have different ideas. Even the 30,000 people left by Li Guo,
Since Li Guo himself was far away in Tongguan, his morale was low and he didn't have much fighting spirit.
When Li Guo heard that the Red Lady led troops and marched straight into Chang'an, he was shocked. He wanted to rescue, but was unable to return because Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing were attacking Tongguan at this time.
"People inside, listen, my noble concubine has said that in view of our past friendship, as long as we lay down our weapons and surrender in Kaicheng, everyone except King Chuang, Song Xiance, and Niu Jinxing will be exempted from guilt!"
The Red Lady knew that trying to storm Chang'an City with just over 10,000 troops was tantamount to wishful thinking and seeking death, so she could only choose to attack the heart.
At this moment, King Chuang and a group of civil and military ministers had arrived at the top of the city. Looking at the army outside the city and the voices urging surrender, King Chuang's face was gloomy, Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing's faces were pale, and everyone else's hearts were floating.
"Your Majesty, we must first stabilize the morale of the army!"
Niu Jinxing also calmed down. When he saw the expressions of the soldiers around him, he immediately reminded him in a low voice.
"Don't be afraid, everyone. The Ming army definitely doesn't have 200,000 people. It can't hold out more than 10,000 people, and it won't be able to attack them no matter what!"
Song Xiance shouted loudly.
However, the effect was not great, because ordinary soldiers could not tell the difference between 10,000 people and 200,000 people. They only knew that it was dark outside the city, and there were endless people and horses, so they could not be counted at all.
Coupled with the reputation of the Red Lady, they are more willing to believe that the Ming army really has 200,000 people. Otherwise, how would the other side dare to attack directly?
If there really were only a handful of thousands of people coming, why did all the places surrender, and why didn’t the king take them out of the city to fight the opponent directly?