Chapter 61 Great Colleagues
Shi Heng led his troops to chase and kill the remaining troops of the Oirat Mongols, while Zhu Yuhuan conducted a simple inspection in Datong.
Compared with Jizhou, Datong, which had just experienced two battles, was a little quieter. Zhu Yuhuan took this opportunity to review the soldiers recruited by Shi Heng, and by the way, accompanied by local officials, he inspected the military farms, etc., while waiting for the arrival of follow-up troops.
Although on the surface the amount of grain provided by the military farms remained unchanged each year, Zhu Yuhuan could clearly feel after a rough review that the number of people cultivating the land and the amount of grain handed in did not match.
Zhu Yuhuan ascended the throne in a hurry and had not had time to verify last year's tax grain, but she still remembered the figures from the two years when she was assisting in the administration. The gap between the amount of grain each person received and the amount of tax grain they had to pay was huge, and had reached a terrifying level.
Judging from the details, Zhu Yuhuan was able to guess that there were quite a few military households fleeing along the border.
If military households flee and military farms become abandoned, the land will be annexed and, over time, it will become a rotten sore.
It is not difficult to reclaim the wasteland in a short period of time. The rebellion in Fujian has been basically put down, and many people who followed the rebellion can be directly sent to the border to farm, which can be said to be a large amount of labor.
But it is indeed not an easy task to make use of the military farming system.
Although Zhu Yuhuan often made decisions that went against his ancestors, it seemed that there was no perfect way to replace the military farming system. It might not be a good thing for Zhu Yuhuan to rashly take action against the military farming system. He could only start with the simplest one, just like the policy of changing the native land system to the Han people.
For example, Zhu Yuhuan had already done some of the work on developing water conservancy projects, providing agricultural tools, fertilizing the land, and improving crops, but what was lacking was further refinement based on local conditions.
Apart from this, the only other option is for the government to take coercive measures and send a large number of reliable officials to various places to supervise local officials.
Thanks to Zhu Qizhen's early death, Zhu Yuhuan was able to catch up with the next year's spring examination.
With only six months left to prepare for other things, Zhu Yuhuan could only secure the throne first and then fine-tune the overall structure.
After a rough inspection, Zhu Yuhuan gave a brief speech to the local officials, and finally waited for Jiang Gui and Zhang Fu who were "late".
Jiang Gui and Zhang Fu were old after all, but considering that the emperor was running so fast, the two old men chased him day and night, and finally caught up with him in Datong.
The two men first paid their respects to Zhu Yuhuan, carefully confirming that His Majesty the Emperor was safe and sound.
They were not missing any limbs and had not been captured by the Oirat people. Now they could finally rest assured and no longer have to worry about criticism from people like Wang Hong.
Zhu Yuhuan asked the two of them to sit down and rest, while he listened to the officials around him explain the accounts of the military farming.
Zhang Fu then asked, "Why isn't Shi Heng, the garrison commander of Datong, here? The Wala army has just retreated. If they launch a surprise attack..."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuhuan said, "Bring the military report to Duke Ying and Marquis Dingxi for a good look."
Zhang Fu and Jiang Gui looked at each other, and then they realized that Liu Yongcheng and others had joined forces with Hami to raid the rear of the Wala, and Shi Heng led his men to complete the encirclement with Liu Yongcheng.
Seeing that both of them were getting restless, Zhu Yuhuan said, "Shi Heng has already taken some of his elite troops and recruits to pursue the Wala. You two are old, and I have things to entrust to you in the rear."
At their age, the two men naturally had the will but not the ability, so they asked carefully, "I wonder if Your Majesty has anything you want to tell us?"
One of these two people was an acquaintance and the other was a comrade-in-arms, so Zhu Yuhuan didn't need to beat around the bush.
She glanced at the two of them and said, "Collect the remains of all the soldiers who died outside the border during this patrol, erect a monument and write a memorial for them."
Most of the Oirat army had withdrawn from the border. Although a lot of armor and other items had been recovered by both the Oirat and the Ming Dynasty, the bodies of royal relatives, civil officials, military generals and soldiers were still exposed in the wilderness. Zhu Qizhen had died both physically and in reputation. As his "successor", Zhu Yuhuan naturally had to clean up the mess he left behind. It was also a good opportunity for her to win people's hearts and establish the image of a wise ruler.
Zhu Yuhuan naturally knew that she had invisibly catalyzed their deaths, and this was something she had to do, so she could only try to make up for it afterwards.
When mentioning those who had unfortunately died while following Zhu Qizhen, Zhang Fu and Jiang Gui fell silent. The officials who had been flipping through the account books and records also slowed down their hands, not daring to make any extra noise.
Although this defeat did not damage the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, it was still a double blow to the Ming Dynasty, which had always presented itself as a powerful country over the years, both in terms of face and substance.
Especially for a vassal state like Korea, which had close relations with the Ming Dynasty, it was inevitable that it would inquire about news and spread gossip everywhere.
Zhu Yuhuan raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced around, and asked, "Why are you all silent? Do you have any objections to my order?"
Zhang Fu and Jiang Guilian claimed that they dared not.
Zhu Yuhuan snorted a laugh at their reactions, then said sternly, "While what happened this autumn was certainly shameful, it would be truly ridiculous and pathetic to simply forget about it and move on from it, as if nothing had ever happened. Therefore, I demand that you not only erect a monument to record this incident, but also record the names of all the royal relatives, ministers, officers, and soldiers who died in Datong and Tumu Fort, so that future generations can mourn and learn from them. If you have any questions, you can ask Shi Jing and others who escaped from Tumu Fort and reported the news."
Zhang Fu and Jiang Gui exchanged a glance and asked cautiously, "What about Wang Zhen and the others who accompanied the army..."
Now the emperor has ordered Jinyiwei Commander Xu Gong to thoroughly investigate the crimes of Wang Zhen and his accomplices in the capital, and to deal with them according to the law. According to Zhu Yuhuan, Wang Zhen and his accomplices clearly fall within the scope of the monument...
Zhu Yuhuan paused for a moment and looked at the two of them with more sincerity.
"You should at least leave some space for future generations to spit, right?"
Zhang Fu: “…”
Jiang Gui: “…”
"Your Highness... understand."
Seeing that they were still hesitant to speak, Zhu Yuhuan said, "Why, do you still want to ask about my brother?"
This sounded very vague. Zhang Fu and Jiang Gui exchanged a glance and immediately said, "The Ming Dynasty now has only one emperor. Your Majesty is in good health. We have witnessed it with our own eyes. What is there to ask?"
Zhu Yuhuan said with a half-smile, "If you want to ask, just ask. Why are you pretending?" She put down the notebook in her hand and said, "I killed him myself. Everyone saw it with their own eyes."
Zhang Fu's breathing stopped and he didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Jiang Gui, who was standing next to him, said, "The war is urgent. This is a temporary measure for Your Majesty. Besides, who knows whether the emperor is real or fake..."
"Since I have taken action, it must be true."
Now Jiang Gui didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"The Emperor is the Ruler of the World, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. How could he fawn on others?" Zhu Yuhuan glanced at the two men and said, "Two of the guards who served Zhu Qizhen have returned. They served Zhu Qizhen during his time in the Oirat Mongols. Who led the Oirat Mongols back this time, and at whose instruction did they openly knock on the door as the Emperor?"
Now Zhang Fu and Jiang Gui had completely understood that Zhu Yuhuan not only intended to take the throne, but also did not even intend to give face to Zhu Qizhen.
If it weren't for the Datong incident, Zhu Qizhen could still be called an emperor who committed suicide for his country. But after the Datong incident, when so many soldiers saw the emperor openly leading the enemy troops to knock on the door, their reputation as an emperor was thrown to the ground and trampled to pieces.
I believe that when Zhu Yuhuan returns to Beijing, he will begin to abolish Zhu Qizhen's throne.
There is no reason more just than this.
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