"I didn't expect that Lan Yu would have such a big change. It's really unexpected for me."

In the Huagai Hall of the Daming Imperial Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the file records he had just taken from Jiang Lin and said to his eldest grandson beside him with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ying took the file and glanced at it, then nodded with satisfaction.

The military has a long history of tolerating corruption among officers and soldiers.

Don't say that it can't be stopped despite repeated bans. This is what many grassroots soldiers urgently desire, especially in wartime.

Zhu Yuanzhang also thought of some ways in this regard, but the results were not very good.

The military has been like this for many years.

To curb this trend, we can only fill the gap with more military pay, but if the military pay is too high, it will put enormous pressure on the national treasury.

In the past few years, the Ming Dynasty's treasury has been tightening its belt to survive, so it has no time to consider so many things.

If we really force a ban, it will easily lead to a mutiny and even more likely to shake the morale of the army.

As a long-time military commander, Zhu Yuanzhang understood the pros and cons and had no choice but to let it go.

This led to a very embarrassing situation.

That is, if a civil official embezzled a few taels of silver, he would be executed, and corruption and bribery were rampant in the military.

For example, in the army controlled by the Huaixi military generals and nobles, the appointments, dismissals and promotions of these hundred-household units, thousand-household units, including the general flags and small flags, are almost all clearly priced.

Many garrison commanders made a fortune by doing this.

Now, because of what happened in Cao Zhenwei’s military camp, Zhu Yuanzhang’s stereotype of Lan Yu has been greatly improved.

Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, there are only a handful of people who can match Lan Yu in military capabilities.

The original intention was to put the horses in the southern mountains and put the weapons into storage.

Even in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, in addition to strengthening the defense against foreign tribes on the border, he also wanted to establish some unconquered countries so that his descendants could guard this home well.

Now, the eldest grandson has excellent abilities, and has exceeded Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations in both military affairs and governing the country, and he also has great ambitions.

Although war was about to break out on multiple fronts, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think it was a difficult task.

Shaanxi can be destroyed with a wave of the hand.

Japan can be suppressed by a large army, and there are huge mountains of silver to be mined. If there is really as much as Da Sun said, it will be a good thing for the Ming Dynasty.

As for Liaodong, no matter how many soldiers and civilians are sent there to open up the wasteland, it is worth it, as it is almost the granary of the entire north.

Get silver from Japan and collect grain from Liaodong.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will only become more prosperous and powerful, and the future is promising.

After talking about Lan Yu, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows and said, "How much money have these profiteers hidden? We have arrested a group of them in the capital, and the amount of money we have seized is more than 2 million strings of cash. It is simply shocking."

"Places like Shanxi are already poor. Every year we have to spend so much money on food and disaster relief, but what do we get in return?"

"These profiteers, with so much money and grain in their hands, don't think about contributing to the Writers' Association of their hometown, but instead collude with foreign races to harm our Ming Dynasty. They deserve to die!"

The Shanxi merchants were rich, but the people of Shanxi did not have a good life.

As far as the Ming Dynasty is concerned, the entire northwest region is a very poor area, and droughts are common occurrences.

Water, in particular, is in great short supply.

It is truly a place of poverty, mountains and bad water, and horse bandits are a unique feature of the entire Northwest.

Zhu Ying knew even more that even in later generations, the overall economy of the Northwest would always be at the bottom, not to mention the current Ming Dynasty.

And now, so much money and grain have been confiscated, which is enough to show that the gap between the rich and the poor is beyond imagination.

More than two million strings of cash, that’s a lot of taxes.

Zhu Yuanzhang now has a very strange feeling. Ever since his eldest grandson appeared, the money and food seem to have come too quickly and too easily.

Recalling the past years, when he had to fight with the Ministry of Revenue for money every time, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but cough twice.

If we calculate carefully, the amount of banknotes that have flowed in and out since the eldest grandson entered the palace must be tens of millions of strings of cash.

It’s just... so cool.

Zhu Yuanzhang started from scratch when he was young, but now he feels like he is relying on his grandchildren. How rare, how rare!

When a big white floats.

If there is no alcohol on the table, then you can only use tea instead. Pick up the cup and drink it all in one gulp. It feels so good!!!

"Grandpa, in the next two days, I will lead the governors, associate governors, and assistant governors of the Governor's Office, including the commanders of the guards around the capital, to inspect the Black Armor Guards."

Zhu Ying thought for a while and then spoke.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes moved, and he asked with a smile: "It seems that the eldest grandson wants to march into Shaanxi and Shanxi in advance."

Zhu Yuanzhang understood Da Sun's thoughts with just one sentence. At this time, he brought almost all the military leaders to see the Xuanjia Guards. The meaning was self-evident.

One is related to the Lan Yu incident this time. It is obviously to eliminate the trend of corruption and implement it in the hearts of all soldiers.

Secondly, at this point, the only option is to march to Shaanxi for redress.

Because if we wait until the spring comes, and Shaanxi has not been pacified by then, the impact on spring plowing will be very great.

This battle is the first stop of the year. We need to show our momentum and cannot delay. It must be resolved quickly.

Zhu Ying nodded and replied, "My grandson wants to boost the morale of the soldiers before this, allocate food and fodder, and march to Shaanxi. When the army is almost there, it will be close to spring."

"In Shaanxi, the winter is tough, and now is the time when morale is low. This way we can wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop."

Zhu Ying had specific considerations in mind when deciding to set off around the Lantern Festival.

The biggest difficulty was the march of the army.

The place where Tian Jiucheng rebelled was in Mianyang County, which is the Hanzhong area, not deep in the northwest region. Although it belongs to Shaanxi, it is close to Sichuan and is not a plateau area like the Northwest.

It is located at the western end of the Hanzhong Basin, backed by the Qinling Mountains to the north and the Bashan Mountains to the south, and is a strategic location for Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.

After the rebellion, Tian Jiucheng did not attack the more prosperous Hanzhong, but instead went in the opposite direction of Nanjing City to attack Lueyang.

The meaning is very clear, which is to establish one's own territory, develop power, and imitate Zhu Yuanzhang in the past, building high walls and storing up grain.

The intention is very clear, which is to develop towards the northwest, and then connect with the grassland to jointly resist the Ming Dynasty.

"It seems that my eldest grandson wants to take the water route, transport troops to Hanzhong, and quickly annihilate these rebels." Zhu Yuanzhang said after a moment of thought.

Zhu Ying nodded and replied, "My grandson is preparing to mobilize a large number of warships, including some merchant ships, which can be requisitioned to transport troops."

“After reaching Xiangyang, we will change the route to Han River. We will reach Hanzhong in less than a month and annihilate the enemy within half a month, just in time for spring plowing.”

The most convenient thing about traveling by water is logistics, and it can save the soldiers' physical strength to a great extent.

Except for necessary stops for supplies, they can march day and night without stopping, which is much faster than simply walking and can completely avoid the suffering of cold wind.

The most important thing is that the Han River has no freezing period. Although the ships go upstream, slower than usual, it is safer.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in agreement, without much surprise.

When the news of the rebellion by Tian Jiuchen and others reached the capital, it was basically confirmed that it was a strategy of taking the water route.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang asked his eldest grandson for details, but it was just a test.

Obviously, Zhu Ying's answer made Zhu Yuanzhang very satisfied.

The most admirable thing is that if we act in advance, we can catch these rebels off guard.

Because it is a water march, it is more secretive. Under the restrictions on water merchant ships, even if the rebels' gangs want to secretly pass on information, they will definitely not be as fast as the imperial army.

Moreover, certain restrictions will be imposed on all passes from the capital to Hanzhong, especially for traveling merchants.

The rebels did not have the convenience of the post station. Walking in such weather, there was no possibility of leaking the news to them in advance.

Because the soldiers traveled directly up the river by boat, their physical strength was well preserved. On the day they arrived in Hanzhong, they were able to launch a general attack and wipe out the rebels.

Zhu Ying didn't have much to worry about in this regard.

Historically, although Tian Jiucheng and others were very powerful, they did not cause any waves.

In the same year that Geng Bingwen rebelled, he was directly suppressed.

Although Geng Bingwen has a lot of experience, in terms of combat, he is still ranked very low among the noble generals in Huaixi.

This time, Zhu Ying's plan was to have Lan Yu as the leader and Zhu Quan as the assistant to sweep across directly.

To be honest, for a famous general of the Ming Dynasty like Lan Yu to fight a peasant uprising was like using a butcher knife to kill a chicken.

This is also for the sake of safety, because the first battle of the new year is extremely important to the current situation of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Suppressing Tian Jiucheng is not the end, but just the beginning.

Zhu Ying's ultimate goal was to carry out a sweep and strict control of the entire Shaanxi and Shanxi. He would sweep through all the horse bandits and get rid of them one by one.

In particular, the distribution of high-yield grain varieties will completely change the situation in the entire Northwest and improve the lives of the grassroots people. Even if they can't get enough food and clothing, at least they will not starve to death, which is a huge change.

Shanxi is close to Northern Zhili, which is Hebei in later generations.

It is of great significance when it comes to the strategic layout of Liaodong and Nurgan.

The population migration in Liaodong cannot be done by transferring people from the south. It can only be based on the principle of proximity, with Northern Zhili being the first consideration.

If Shanxi is unstable, it will have a great impact on northern Zhili.

It is not only about Liaodong and Nurgan, but also the threat from the grassland, which is crucial.

The stability of Shaanxi and Shanxi is closely linked to grain production and immigration in Liaodong and Nurgan.

Both Zhu Ying and Zhu Yuanzhang were very clear about one thing.

That is, during the war against Japan, the tribes on the grassland will definitely not miss this opportunity.

They would take advantage of the weakness of the border defenses and take the opportunity to carry out extremely brutal looting in the Ming area.

These are all things to take into consideration.

If there is any mistake, it will be like hell on earth for many people.

…

The Five Military Commanderies had enormous power.

But as far as the capital is concerned, its presence is not strong.

Although I attended the daily court meetings, there was basically no big difference between me and the audience.

Their main operations were mostly in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and in the capital, they were basically mobilized by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

The garrisons in the capital were only under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commissioners' Headquarters in name only. In actual operations, it was impossible for them to bypass Zhu Yuanzhang.

For example, Li Jinglong would often just go for a walk and then disappear.

Many military generals and nobles are like this.

Zhu Yuanzhang never cared about it either.

But today, the Five Military Governor's Office, which is usually as quiet as a retirement office, has become extremely noisy, like boiling water.

"What is the purpose of your Highness the Crown Prince's action?"

"I think His Royal Highness is planning to gradually distribute the training methods of the Black Armor Guard to each guard post."

"Let's not talk about the salary of the Black Armor Guards for now. The cost of training is extremely huge. As far as I know, they have meat for three meals a day. If other guards are like this, I'm afraid the court will not be able to afford it."

"You are worrying about nothing. Don't you see that the salaries of our brothers have almost all gone up? Not only is the national treasury full, but even the private treasury is said to have been spent without knowing how. How could it be possible?"

"I think that even if they won't be completely like the Black Armor Guards, they will move in this direction. They will take the path of elite soldiers and strong generals."

"We will know when the time comes. I haven't seen the Black Armor Guards yet. I really need to take a good look this time to see why they are called the best guards of the Ming Dynasty."

"Hey, you'll understand when you go there. The first time I went there, I was so shocked. It's hard to describe."

Those who were able to serve as the governor, associate governor, or assistant governor in the Five Military Governor's Office had all fought in the battlefield and made contributions.

But among the Xuanjia Guards, many people were convinced, but many others were not.

Those who have been there say that it is the most powerful garrison in the world today, but those who have not been there tend to disagree.

Now His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has issued an order that tomorrow morning he will bring all military commanders to inspect the Xuanjia Guards together.

The meaning is very clear.

In Lan Yu's mansion.

Cao Zhen asked, "Brother, this time His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly asked all the commanders to go and watch the Black Armor Guards. Is it related to what happened to me yesterday?"

Cao Zhen felt somewhat panicked. If this matter was really related to him, he was afraid that he would no longer have a good impression in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The first thing he did when he heard the news was to come to Lan Yu.

No matter what, as far as the military is concerned, Lan Yu and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are related by blood after all.

Lan Yu smiled and said, "Now you know you are afraid. I told you at that time, but you still wanted to favor your subordinates."

Cao Zhen shook his head and said, "I don't know a lot of things."

Lan Yu replied, "Look, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince probably won't bother with a rough guy like you, but after going to the Black Armor Guard this time, all the soldiers in the guard will probably change to a great extent."

"Now that the treasury is full and there is enough money and food, some rules will be re-established."

Lan Yu saw it clearly. He realized that the key this time was not only about training, but more about making a thorough change to certain bad practices in the army.