Ruling the grassland and defeating the grassland are always two different things.
According to paper data, the grassland population has always been only two to three million, which is already the limit of the grassland's carrying capacity.
The reason why Genghis Khan was so powerful during his time was not because the grassland had a large population, but because he incorporated many of the conquered ethnic groups into the Mongolian tribes.
Many of the Mongolian tribes today are domesticated people of other ethnic groups.
Perhaps some people have thought about this: the population of the Central Plains often reached tens of millions, so why didn't successive dynasties migrate all the population from the grasslands here?
It's just two or three million more people, and the Central Plains can afford to support them.
In this way, there will be no more border troubles on the grassland.
Emperor Wu of Han said, I am familiar with this.
I can only say that the idea is very rich, but the reality is too skinny.
This has indeed been done in past dynasties, but unfortunately it all ended in failure.
Let alone two million, even a million refugees would be a disaster that could destabilize the entire country in any dynasty.
It's nonsense that you can't even get enough to eat yourself and yet you're still thinking about making others full.
However, Emperor Wu of Han did not expect that a thousand years later, the Ming Dynasty would be able to fulfill his unfulfilled ideals.
The grassland is particularly cold this year, or rather, every year is colder than the previous year.
Without the support of the Ming Dynasty's agricultural civilization, the life of the grassland people would be difficult, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty now occupies the already scarce pastures on the grassland, which is simply adding insult to injury.
It can be predicted that the number of grassland people who starved to death this winter may reach a peak in hundreds of years.
While the tribes migrating around the grassland were starving, the grassland captives in Guihua City lived a good life with food to eat and clothes to wear.
Isn't it a good day?
The Ming Dynasty provided two meals a day, and they could also have meat. Although they could not eat and drink to their heart's content, they could at least eat about 70% full every day.
It is said that orcs will never be slaves unless they are provided with food and shelter.
These grassland people who are doing labor in Guihua City no longer want to go back to their previous wandering life.
The only thing that bothers many grassland people is that in addition to daily labor, they also have to attend an hour of Chinese studies.
At dusk, someone would gather them together and teach them Chinese language and Chinese characters.
This is the first time such a thing has happened in the entire history of the grassland.
"I don't know what the imperial court is thinking. They want these barbarians to study. Do they want them to pass the imperial examinations and then serve the imperial court?"
"Don't say that. There are many ministers in our court who are also Mongolians."
"Hey, I'm just confused. Why didn't we have such a good time? When I was a kid, I was herding cattle and pulling weeds. It was not like this. Reading and writing were the responsibility of the landlords. It hasn't been long since then, and everyone has to read and write."
"This is a good thing. It is the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to let everyone learn to read and write. Now, schools have been set up in every prefecture, state, and county in the Ming Dynasty. Even our villages have township-run schools."
"I heard that even farming is now very particular, it really is... a good world."
The soldiers in charge of patrolling were chatting idly, and many of them had a strange feeling, that the world was changing too fast, so much so that it felt like many years had passed.
Such changes gradually spread from the capital to the local areas. Many soldiers who had been at the border for several years were completely unrecognizable when they returned to their hometowns. People and things had really changed.
The construction of Guihua City did not stop even in the winter, as trains continuously brought food to Guihua City.
Because it was the Spring Festival, not many soldiers had gathered on the grassland since Zhu Yuanzhang left. Three hundred thousand of the million-strong army were left to guard the city, with Geng Bingwen as the commander-in-chief.
Geng Bingwen won great merit in the Battle of Hulunbuir. It can be said that without Geng Bingwen, Zhu Chong would have been killed or captured long ago.
The large number of firearms nourishing the Mongolian army will inevitably greatly increase the strength of the Mongolian army.
Zhu Chong was punished, but Geng Bingwen made an indelible contribution, so he should naturally be greatly rewarded.
After much deliberation, Zhu Yuanzhang decided not to confer the title of duke on Geng Bingwen. Instead, he was given the title of Left Governor of the Grassland Province, in charge of 300,000 troops in Guihua City.
It’s not that Zhu Yuanzhang is stingy, it’s just that now is not the time to conquer the world, so of course he has to think carefully before appointing officials.
When he returned to the palace, the smile on Lao Zhu's face never stopped.
It seems that there was only one major battle involving Zhu Chong, but in fact, when Zhu Yuanzhang was stationed in Daqing Mountain, the Ming army never stopped fighting small battles.
It is actually very difficult for a major war to occur on the grassland. The grassland people are very brutal when they go south to plunder because they have no way to retreat or they will starve to death.
When faced with the Central Plains army, the custom of the grassland tribes was to run away, fight if they couldn't run away, and surrender if they couldn't fight.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not interested in taking his army around, so he ordered his soldiers to conduct a carpet search of the entire grassland with Daqing Mountain as the center.
The contribution of each game is not obvious, but the added effect is huge.
Zhu Yuanzhang's original plan was actually to survive the winter and then take over the grassland tribes while they were severely weakened. However, because of Zhu Chong, the grassland combat plan was completed ahead of schedule.
Therefore, at this time, there was not much point for Zhu Yuanzhang to stay in the grassland.
"You don't know, grandson, that when we left, there were still a steady stream of tribes coming to Guihua City and asking to be slaves."
"These guys are penniless and have nothing. Even the few cattle and sheep they brought with them are as thin as ribs. It's obvious that they just want to beg for some food from us to survive this winter."
"We have plenty of food in the Ming Dynasty. We can feed tens of thousands of people, let alone hundreds of thousands. But guess what? Many people from the grasslands who came to join us asked to serve as envoys to help us persuade more tribes to join us."
"This is what they mean by conquering the enemy without fighting."
"When we left, I was thinking that we had not made Guihua City bigger. Now there are 500,000 people in Guihua City, and people keep coming. If there are more people for a longer time, I guess Guihua City will not be able to accommodate them all."
"Hey, grandson, guess how many war horses we got from the grassland this time?"
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying were roasting by the fire. Zhu Yuanzhang held a freshly roasted sweet potato in one hand and asked his eldest grandson while eating.
Zhu Ying certainly knew how many war horses the old man had captured, but in order to cooperate with the old man, he deliberately asked, "One hundred thousand?"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "No, no, guess again?"
Zhu Ying asked: "Two hundred thousand?"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly: "Three hundred thousand, a total of more than three hundred thousand war horses. This time our Ming Dynasty will no longer be short of cavalry."
"Speaking of military merit, the first-class merit this time should belong to the fourth brother. The fourth brother is really quite capable. He took down the three guards of Doyan without any soldiers. Nearly half of the war horses came from the three guards of Doyan."
"After some training next year, we will have 400,000 cavalrymen. What a great guy! We will make a fortune this time."
"Timur could never have imagined that it only took us eight months to take over the grassland. Now they are probably still mobilizing troops and waiting to attack us in the spring of next year."
Four hundred thousand cavalrymen, this number is extremely exaggerated and terrifying.
You should know that when Genghis Khan established the Mongol Empire, he only had 300,000 cavalrymen.
The Ming Dynasty, which now occupies the grasslands, has not yet completely eliminated the Oirat and Tatar. The number of its cavalry will reach 400,000 next year. This is naturally because it inherited the legacy of the Mongols.
After Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan entered the Central Plains, and the Mobei Plateau, as the birthplace of the Mongol Empire, naturally became the ancestral land of the Mongols.
During the nearly 100 years that the Mongols ruled the Central Plains, the grassland developed extremely efficiently.
This is to use agricultural civilization to feed nomadic civilization. In order to better ensure their own rule, the Mongols naturally attached great importance to horse breeding.
Therefore, the number of war horses on the grassland increased in an extremely exaggerated manner.
However, it is precisely because of raising too many horses that the desertification of the grasslands is becoming increasingly serious. After all, it is impossible to expect the Mongolians of this era to engage in environmental protection.
This period in the early Ming Dynasty could be said to be the peak period for the number of war horses on the grassland.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang seized 300,000 war horses from the grassland.
It can be seen how many grassland tribes were wiped out.
It has always been the grasslands that went south to plunder, but this time it was the Ming Dynasty that went north to seize horses.
"If Timur doesn't come in the spring of next year, we will go and fight him." Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily.
In his heart, he had always been unhappy with Timur because this guy had deceived his feelings for many years.
He thought Timur was truly submitting to the Ming Dynasty, but it turns out he was an ungrateful person.
With 400,000 cavalrymen, Zhu Yuanzhang had great confidence in his Western Expedition.
He could have followed the example of Genghis Khan and directly invaded Central Asia to establish the Ming Dynasty with a larger territory.
"Then we need to build a railway track across Tibet." Zhu Ying agreed with a smile.
Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but pause: "How much money will this cost?"
After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately smiled and said, "I think the Tibetan tribes are deeply troubled by Timur, so they will definitely help us build the railway tracks."
Zhu Yuanzhang's words obviously meant that he wanted to take advantage of Tubo's labor force for free, but this was exactly what Zhu Ying wanted.
The grasslands have been ruled by the Ming Dynasty, so how can Tubo escape to the Western Regions?
Zhu Ying said: "Grandpa, don't worry about the money. With your grandson here, everything will be taken care of naturally."
"Some time ago, an envoy from the Cham King came. Due to the chaos caused by gangs in Cham City, the people are now living in misery, so the Cham King requested to submit to the Ming Dynasty."
"Champa's initiative to submit is also a cause for celebration for our Ming Dynasty. Their envoys are now living in the Tianjie Temple. My grandson wants to wait until the first day of the first lunar month for a big court meeting, and then let grandpa take the lead in the matter of Champa's submission to the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Yuanzhang knew it was the work of his eldest grandson, so he pointed at him and said, "You, you always want to take credit for something like this. I'm already half buried in the ground, how can you still care so much?"
"Besides, pacifying the grassland this time is enough for us."
Zhu Ying smiled and said, "Grandpa is still strong even at old age. What's the point of talking about old age? Champa took the initiative to submit to you. It was only because of your majesty that they surrendered."
Seeing that his eldest grandson insisted, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped forcing him.
Then we chatted about some things about educating the grassland.
The key point in civilizing the grassland lies in the supply of food. Without sufficient food supply, everything is in vain.
In addition to food, corn feed needed for war horses is also an important key.
Hundreds of thousands of war horses were especially gathered at the border and around Guihua City.
It is naturally impossible for the Ming Dynasty to take these war horses around to look for pasture like the grassland people, and it is impossible for the surrounding areas of Guihua City to supply hundreds of thousands of war horses. Therefore, all the concentrated feed for the war horses must be imported from the Ming Dynasty.
Only by ensuring the supply of concentrated feed can the war horses prevent themselves from losing weight in the winter, thus stabilizing the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.
It has to be said that without corn, it would be impossible for the Ming Dynasty to raise so many war horses.
Now almost all the corn feed grown in the entire northwest is taken away by the government just to meet the needs of war horses.
There are only a few days left before the Spring Festival.
A piece of news reached the palace.
Li Jinglong, who had set out on a voyage to the West with a large fleet on September 18, the 29th year of Hongwu, was about to return.
It is now the end of the 33rd year of Hongwu, and this voyage to the West has lasted more than three years.
However, Li Jinglong would definitely not be able to make it in time for the Spring Festival. This time, the message was delivered by a speedboat sent by Li Jinglong in advance. If it really arrived in the capital, it would be around the end of the month.
The main reason is that the treasure ship needs to be driven by the monsoon, and the end of the year is also the time when the monsoon arrives.
Zhu Ying was very excited about the news.
You have to know that this is different from Zheng He's voyages to the West in history. This time, Li Jinglong set out with a trade mission in addition to political missions.
Bringing so many goods out must be a big profit.
Although the Ming treasury is now full, the consumption is still very huge due to the Northern Expedition to the grasslands. At least half of the money in the treasury is spent on the grasslands.
Now that we have conquered the grassland, we have basically gained nothing except the war horses.
There are quite a few cattle and sheep, but they must be raised in Guihua City and it is impossible to bring them to the capital to add to the national treasury.
The grasslands were originally poor and barren, which is why many dynasties did not like to conquer the grasslands.
This year's Spring Festival seemed particularly lively to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Because the princes from all over the country, including Zhu Su in Huguang, also returned.
Looking at his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't stop smiling.
Thanks to his efforts, the Zhu family finally grew and became larger.
On the first day of the first lunar month, there is a grand court meeting.
The weather was still a bit cold at the moment, and because there were too many people, it could only be held in Fengtian Square.
Zhu Ying stood next to Zhu Yuanzhang as the crown prince.
In the first row of the stairs below are the princes.
The first thing that happened at the beginning of this year was Champa's surrender.