Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 433 Encountering a Demon

I must have encountered a demon.

Taiji was defeated, and the Ming Emperor killed even the elite cavalry. Ang, such a worthless shepherd slave, actually encountered the demon that the Buddhists talked about.

Looking at the Ming cavalry cruising around, Sangjie drove the scattered livestock back to the herd while thinking lightly.

He was originally the property of Quetu Khan, and was divided among Dayan after Gushri Khan entered Qing. This time when he followed Taiji south, he unexpectedly found that the property had been transferred to the hands of the Ming Emperor again.

If you think about it normally, changing one's master is normal for the shepherd slaves. Objects like them should not have any emotions due to such a change.

But the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was really weird.

The day before yesterday, several kids lost their lives due to injuries.

At that time, the shepherd slave in charge of taking care of the child knew that he had caused a disaster, so he exchanged his only coat for the eight-year-old child and entrusted him to someone else.

But who would have thought that the shepherd slave waited naked for half a day but still did not see his new master coming to take his life. If the Ming army guarding had not noticed that the number of people was wrong, it is unknown how long he would have to wait.

In the end, the warriors of the new master were not as brave as the chieftains, and the baby and the torn jacket were taken back by the herdsmen who managed to save their lives.

Many similar things have happened these days, and many pastoral slaves who should have been executed are still alive today.

If it were somewhere else, this would be a happy occasion for everyone, but considering that the new master not only allowed people to eat their fill but also allowed them to eat dead cattle and sheep, the shepherd slaves always felt that this was a demon luring people to hell.

Why?

All of these people had done sins in their previous lives. If they could not suffer pain and torture in this life, they would have to continue in the next life. However, this new master not only fed them, but also left them in this world to suffer. Doesn't this hinder everyone's progress in atonement?

Alas~~~~~~.

Thinking of this, Sangjie couldn't help but sigh in his heart. After driving back the stray cattle and sheep, he saw a Ming army knight riding a horse towards him. Then their herdsmen team turned back without waiting for the cattle and sheep to eat, which made Sangjie confused for a while.

These days the Ming cavalry had only followed them and had never interfered with their grazing affairs. But today they behaved out of character and no one knew what had happened.

After a while, Sangjie's herdsmen returned to the camp. After driving all the cattle and sheep back to the pen, all the herdsmen were gathered in the open space outside the camp.

At this time, a platform about one person high had been built outside the camp, and on it stood a military officer who looked like a high-ranking official. After all the herdsmen teams had arrived, the military officer began shouting at the top of his voice.

"Your Majesty has ordered that all the cattle and sheep captured in this battle belong to you. They will be distributed according to the number of people tomorrow!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the general jumped off the stage, and the thousands of slaves standing below the stage seemed to be fixed in place by the magic of the devil, and they did not react until the urging voices of the surrounding Ming army were heard.

"Luosang, I don't speak Chinese well, the gentleman before..."

"I don't understand either."

After saying this, the thin middle-aged man standing next to Sangjie turned away stupidly. He hesitated for a long time before following the Ming army to the tent.

The shepherd slaves in the same team were all silent along the way, and he was also thinking about his own affairs.

But after recalling the pronunciation of Chinese several times in his mind, he couldn't help but ask a question to the Ming army he had been with for many days.

"Sir, I don't speak Chinese well. What did the gentleman say earlier?"

When the voice came out, the young soldier looked at him in surprise. After confirming that Sangjie was asking sincerely, he replied casually: "His Majesty said that the cattle and sheep were distributed to you."

Snapped!
There was not much emotion in this sentence, but when it reached the ears of the herdsmen, it seemed to break a string in their hearts, leaving more than a dozen people stunned on the spot.

Seeing this, the soldier did not urge him, but just stood there and waited quietly. After about six or seven breaths, he said another sentence, obviously he was not unfamiliar with this situation.

"Okay, let's go. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. He will not go back on his word."

He was a cavalryman under Li Guo, and after surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, he lived in anxiety for a long time.

Later, the imperial court not only gave these rebels emergency food, but also allocated land to each of them. He also had the same reaction as these pastoral slaves.

What surprised him was that after this explanation, these shepherd slaves were not as happy as he had been at the beginning. Instead, they looked terrified as if a disaster was about to happen, which made the soldier a little confused about the situation.

As the imperial order was issued, an atmosphere of fear immediately spread through the camp where the pastoral slaves were located. When the general in the camp reported the matter to Zhu Cilang, he only asked him to pay attention to it, but did not pass down any other orders.

After all, he knew the real situation in the snow area, so he would not make a fuss like his generals.

After all, that place was still a slave society hundreds of years later, and coupled with religious brainwashing, it was almost a purgatory on earth.

People who are used to living in hell will need some time to get used to the appearance of heaven. They will not think that they are qualified to live a happy and fulfilling life like the Han people.

"Your Majesty, these people have no gratitude for the emperor's grace. Why don't we build a Jingguan together?"

Before the general retreated, Li Guo stood up angrily. After expressing his opinion, he was even breathing heavily, obviously feeling sorry for his own emperor.

Honestly speaking, when Zhu Cilang made this decision, everyone expressed some different opinions, but when they saw that he had no intention of adopting them, they all shut their mouths.

Firstly, Dayan brought a lot of livestock with him when he went south. Even after all the slaughter, there were still 30,000 to 40,000 heads left. If all these livestock were converted into silver, there would be at least 200,000 or 300,000 taels of silver. Everyone felt it was a pity to give them away for nothing.

The other is the so-called defense against Chinese and barbarians.

After the harm caused by the Qing Dynasty, everyone kept saying that those who are not of the same race must have different hearts. In addition, tens of thousands of lives were used to build the Jingguan, so the generals in Hanzhong felt that there was no need to keep these slaves.

But Zhu Cilang doesn't think so.

At its core, he is a believer in great men, so he naturally knows that ethnic conflicts and gender confrontations are just tricks used by some people to cover up class contradictions, and he will not vent his anger on these poor people.

What's more, the problem in the west is still a bit troublesome. If we want to solve it thoroughly, we must find a way to the root cause.

How could he give up the opportunity to set an example when there was a group of pastoral slaves who had been oppressed by lamas and chieftains for more than a thousand years?
"They are all poor people. They will recover after a few days."

As Zhu Cilang's rather compassionate words came out, Li Guozhong still retreated to his seat angrily, and at this time, the voice of His Majesty reached his ears again. "It may be too late this year. Remember to let them shear all the wool next spring."

"Huh? Oh."

Seeing that Li Guo was acting a little foolish, Zhu Cilang knew that this guy didn't know the importance of the matter. He then broke down all the causes and consequences, and the murderous man finally understood the benefits of the matter.

In addition to relying on the weather, agriculture has another major drawback, which is the extremely unbalanced use of manpower.

During the busy farming season, a lot of manpower and material resources need to be invested in the fields, but during the slack farming season, everyone can only lean against the wall at the entrance of the village to pass the time.

Obviously, this is not only a waste of manpower, but also an unstable factor. Therefore, the corvée labor assigned by the court is generally selected during the slack farming season. On the one hand, it can complete public construction at a very low cost, and on the other hand, it also considers eliminating unstable factors.

On the surface, this seems to be a win-win solution, and there seems to be no harm except that public construction cannot last for too long.

But Zhu Cilang knew very well that when society had a large amount of cheap labor, machines would have no soil to survive, and things like the Industrial Revolution would become a mirage.

With this understanding, he naturally wanted to find more ways for the people to make money during the slack season, and wool was one of the ways he thought of.

But then again, Zhu Cilang always had many concerns in mind when doing things, and finding something to do for the people during the farming off-season was not the only reason.

The thousands of years of conflict between the Han people and nomadic tribes was actually rooted in trade imbalance.

The Han Dynasty has always been self-sufficient and has demanded nothing from the grasslands except for war horses. In order to obtain supplies enough to withstand the cold winter, the various tribes on the grasslands had no choice but to invade the south again and again even if they knew they had to fight with their lives.

But if this trade becomes large-scale, the situation will be somewhat different.

Every spring, the Han people are busy sowing seeds, and the tribes on the grassland are busy shearing sheep.

Afterwards, wool was transported to the Han area through various channels, and the people could process and weave it during the slack season. The various tribes on the grassland could also obtain supplies for the winter from these transactions. Even if their lives became difficult, they would not have to risk their lives to come to the Han area to find a job.

By then, the connection between the grassland and the Han area will become increasingly close. Even if some individual tribes really come to attack, they will not be able to form a large-scale attack. By the beginning of next spring, the Ming Dynasty will be able to wipe them out with the help of internal supporters, and such border troubles will be controlled within a certain range.

Of course, the effect that can be achieved by just this one thing is limited, but things have to be done one by one. It is impossible to become fat in one breath. Since he has encountered such an opportunity, Zhu Cilang is willing to try the power of this conspiracy.

"I understand!"

Looking at Li Guo who was quite excited, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but smile.

After all, he was just a fighter. After hearing these words, he thought that everything was ready and that only the east wind was missing. He could collect the wool next year and turn it into money. However, he didn't know that there were many more things to deal with.

After nodding slightly towards Li Guo, Zhu Cilang turned his attention to Li Dingguo again. But before he could say anything else, he saw a soldier appear outside the military tent, followed by a report.

"Your Majesty, Yingtian has come to report."

After the words were spoken, Hu Yiqing handed the thick letter to Zhu Cilang. Zhu Cilang opened the envelope, but after only one glance at it, he was so shocked that he could not recover.

Judging from the length of the letter, it must have said a lot of things, but Qian Qianyi chose to put the matter of Spain sending people at the very beginning.

At first, the envoy only came under the guise of promoting friendly relations between the two countries and did not reveal his true intention. However, after the twists and turns of those two days, he took advantage of the time when the Emperor Ming won another great victory and expressed to the Minister of the Ministry of Rites the idea of ​​discussing the ownership of Luzon.

According to them, their King Philip IV believed that the Ming Dynasty was the top power in the world and was qualified to be a friendly neighbor of Spain.

In order to eliminate the trivial conflicts of the past and demonstrate the magnanimity of the Kingdom of Spain, Philip IV decided to marry his daughter Maria Theresa to Zhu Cilang as a concubine and use the entire Luzon as a dowry.

This is the reason why Zhu Cilang was stunned.

The Ming Dynasty possesses enormous potential. As long as the Tartars are dealt with, it will be able to focus entirely on the sea. This old empire will be able to fully utilize its geographical endowment and become a powerful overlord with both sea and land power.

But the Ming Dynasty was still in the midst of civil strife. Not only had most of its territory been seized by the rebels, but it had also lost control over its former vassal states.

At this time, Philip IV actually planned to use Luzon as a dowry and marry his daughter to the Ming Dynasty as a concubine. Anyone with a clear mind could see that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.

Realizing that things were strange, Zhu Cilang recalled the situation in Europe in his mind.

At this time, Spain was basically on the decline. Not only had its last Invincible Fleet been destroyed, but it was also being crushed on land by the coalition forces of several countries.

As a result of this series of failures, the home territories declared independence one after another, and the overseas colonies were gradually eroded by the great powers.

It is obvious that without the intervention of powerful countries, Spain, which has already slipped from the throne of world hegemony, will sink again and become a second- or third-rate country, and even lose all its overseas colonies.

Is it not.
As pieces of information appeared one after another, Zhu Cilang had some guesses in his mind.

But Spain is thousands of miles away. Even if Zhu Cilang married the princess Maria Theresa because he coveted Luzon, why did Philip IV think that the Ming Dynasty was capable of helping Spain maintain the situation?

I'm afraid we have to settle all the matters in the southwest as soon as possible.

With this in mind, Zhu Cilang continued reading. After three or two incense sticks of time, he put the letter in his hand and immediately turned his gaze to Li Dingguo.

"General Lee."

"Your Majesty, just call me Dingguo."

"Well, have the soldiers finished their rest these days?"

"Your Majesty, all our soldiers are ready to go. We will march straight into Guanzhong as soon as your Majesty gives the order!"

Due to various factors, Li Dingguo's return to the Ming Dynasty was so smooth and natural that it was a natural thing. Even though the two had only met for more than ten days, one could see some of the restraint of a newly returned general in him.

"We can't attack Guanzhong this time," Zhu Cilang said, and then he looked at the Shaanxi generals present. When he saw that everyone showed regretful expressions, he smiled and said, "The Tartars are already grasshoppers after autumn. I will take you back to your hometown after I sort out all the affairs in the court."

The generals hid their regrets deeply in their hearts after hearing the piercing sound. Then Zhu Cilang's voice reached Li Dingguo's ears again: "Has Dayan recovered?"

(End of this chapter)