The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 85 Counting the romantic figures

Some debates in the court had little impact on Zhu Yuanzhang. Once he decided to do something, it was difficult for anyone to stop him.

Ma Xiuying sat on the carriage and smiled in disgust, "All show but rotten inside, that's what I mean by him."

Liu Shuning was embarrassed to speak because the Queen was talking about Ma Xun.

The Queen could express her dislike for Ma Xun, but if Liu Shuning agreed, then the Queen would be unhappy.

Ma Xun, who was unaware that he was being disliked, didn't care about that. Wearing a silver helmet and silver armor and a scarlet cloak, he rode back and forth on horseback, carefully checking the marching formation.

Behind him was Chang Mao, who was carrying a flag and holding a knife. Chang Mao, who was "joining the army" for the first time, was obviously more excited and more excited than Ma Xun.

At first glance, these two are just for show, the type that is both stupid and hardworking. If they help less, perhaps the effect will be better.

Zhu Biao, who was riding a horse beside the phoenix carriage, said with a smile, "Mom, don't talk about uncle. Uncle has made a lot of progress now. Let's not talk about other things. Uncle will not make any mistakes when the team marches."

Ma Xiuying said with some regret, "He followed Wenying for most of the last year, and later your uncle Tiande taught him. After all this time, he only learned how to arrange a march of two to three thousand troops without mistakes. Is this progress?"

Zhu Biao was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. He couldn't agree with them either. If he followed suit and said "disdained", my mother would be unhappy. But my mother could only disdain my uncle, not anyone else.

The crown prince led all the civil and military officials out of the city to see the emperor and empress off. The empress was going back to Suzhou, the emperor was going to Beiping, and the crown prince was once again regulating the country.

Everyone is very familiar with this, and this is not the first time such a situation has occurred.

As soon as the fleet crossed the river, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Sisters, then you go back to your hometown, and I will go north."

"You guys should be more careful." Ma Xiuying said, "Keep an eye on the little brother and don't let him do whatever he wants."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded. If a tree is not pruned, it will not grow straight; if a person is not disciplined, he will become timid.

Zhu Yuanzhang only led more than 2,000 troops north, which seemed to be a little short of numbers, but he did not think there was anything wrong with it, and neither did anyone else.

It was true that the north had been initially pacified, but the Yuan Tartars basically did not dare to move south, and the army was also in the north, with many guards along the way. If there were any bandits, dozens of them would be wiped out, not to mention those who wanted to gather more than a thousand people, which would be considered a rebellion.

Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood. Seeing Ma Xun following him, he said, "My riding skills have improved a lot."

Ma Xun said proudly, "Brother-in-law, I have fought for thousands of miles, and it would be unreasonable if I didn't make any progress. Not to mention other things, even among my Ming cavalry, there are not many who have ridden farther than me on horseback."

There should be nothing wrong with this statement. Ma Xun really fought thousands of miles last year, so his riding skills naturally improved a lot.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a small blow, "You can only ride a horse now, but you can't fight on horseback."

Ma Xun did not object. He only knew how to ride a horse. It would be too much to ask him to fight on horseback and become an elite cavalryman.

It is important for people to know themselves. Ma Xun is very clear about his own abilities.

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to the front and said, "Thinking back to the battle against Chen Youliang, I led a team of elite soldiers to march day and night. I first lifted the siege of Anfeng and rescued the young Ming King, and then led an army of 200,000 to fight Chen Youliang."

Ma Xun was envious. Up to now, he had only led more than 10,000 troops, and was basically only responsible for marching. This was based on the help of Mu Ying and others.

Let alone asking him to command an army of 200,000, he simply does not have the ability to do so.

Looking at Chang Mao in front, Ma Xun said directly, "Chang Mao, take Sanshitang to scout ahead. You know all these, right?"

Chang Mao immediately said happily, "Uncle, don't worry. If I can't do these well, how can I lead the army in the future!"

Watching Chang Mao waving his whip and walking away, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Although Chang Mao is quite capable, it will be difficult for him to become a general in the future. He can't help Biao'er much."

Ma Xun said, "He doesn't need it, does he? I think Chang Mao will be the one guarding the Beijing Army in the future. He, Yun Gong from the Xu family, and Jing Long from my eldest brother-in-law's family, these three will be in the Grand Commandery. As long as one of them has a promising future, there will be someone in the army."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "You know all this, so why don't you say that if you have a child, you can also help Biao'er."

Ma Xun said, "There is a big age gap between us. I don't think I can help Biaoer."

"That's right. When you have a child, bring him to the palace and let your sister help teach him." Zhu Yuanzhang said directly, "I don't think you can teach him well. You will guard the capital army for my grandson in the future."

Ma Xun said quickly, "If I have a son, how can I send him to the palace? There is still a lot of knowledge at home, I have to teach him myself." Zhu Yuanzhang was not very satisfied with Ma Xun's argument, "Can you teach a craftsman or a doctor? In front of your sister, your Ma family is a family of poetry and books. How can your Ma family be well-read when she is not around?"

There seemed to be nothing wrong with this statement. No one would say that the Ma family lacked family learning when Ma Xiuying was around. However, the Ma family was not a true family of poetry and literature, and was indeed far behind some scholarly families.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with some anticipation, "I have discussed this with your sister before. If you have a child, he will probably grow up with my grandson. He will grow up in front of your sister and be taught by her. In the future, the court will be stable and the military power will be controlled by someone."

It is impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to give all the military power to the Xu family, the Chang family or the Li family. The best way is to check and balance each other, so that the emperor can keep the military power firmly in his hands.

Ma Xun panicked, "Brother-in-law, I don't have much prestige in the army."

"This has nothing to do with your prestige. If you have the ability, go out and fight. If you don't, help supervise the army." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, "You have no say in this matter. Your sister has already thought about it."

Ma Xun tried to struggle, "Didn't you say that I would return home after I had children?"

"When you are old and want to return to your hometown to retire, I will let you go back naturally at that time." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, "Your eldest son must stay in Beijing. At that time, one son will stay in Yingtian Prefecture, one in Beijing, and one in your hometown."

Ma Xun was stunned for a moment, then he realized that the so-called "capital" was most likely in the north or Guanzhong.

Moving the capital was inevitable. It was true that Nanjing was the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, but it was not the capital of a unified dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was the first dynasty to unify the country from south to north. There was nothing wrong with using it as the capital when conquering the world, but considering the subsequent focus of rule, Nanjing was somewhat inappropriate.

Being isolated in a corner is not the aura of a unified dynasty. The main reason is that the division between the north and the south is too serious. The Ming Dynasty has the mission of unifying the hearts of the people in the north and the south, so it is not appropriate to establish the capital in Nanjing.

The imperial court will move the capital sooner or later, which is something that many knowledgeable people know well.

But there is no need to worry too much now. At this stage, it is most appropriate to use Yingtian Prefecture as the capital. Zhu Yuanzhang had previously wanted to directly establish Fengyang as the capital, but fortunately it was just a thought.

Let's continue heading north. Although it is the emperor's tour, the emperor's advantage is that he only needs to bring a small number of troops and does not need a large entourage.

Even though there are some eunuchs and maids, they all have remarkable abilities and have come here during the chaotic times, so they can still keep up with the speed of the army.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the Huai River in the distance and said, "After crossing this, we will be in the north."

Ma Xun nodded, but he didn't quite understand what Zhu Yuanzhang meant.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "When we were conquering the world, we regarded this place as a natural barrier. Liu Futong and Mr. Guan fought very hard here. If these people had some foresight, they would not have been defeated and killed."

Liu Futong was the leader of the Red Turban Army in the north. At that time, not to mention Zhu Yuanzhang, even Guo Zixing and others were not worthy of his attention.

Unfortunately, he was eventually besieged by Zhang Shicheng and had to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for help. He also died in the river with Han Lin'er for unknown reasons.

Mao Gui, Guan Duo and others traveled across Shandong and Shanxi, and finally captured the Goryeo capital of Kaesong, but unfortunately they were all attacked and killed.

Seeing that Ma Xun still didn't understand, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "You know that in times of turmoil, powerful people rose up and treacherous people plundered. Now Wang Baobao is still in the north. What do you think, should we pacify him or continue to fight him?"

Ma Xun said cautiously, "I think Wang Baobao is difficult to pacify. When he was loyal to the Yuan Emperor, he was involved in the power struggle between the emperor and the crown prince. Moreover, even if he is the Prince of Qi of the Yuan Dynasty, he will only listen to orders and not orders. It will be useless to persuade such a person to surrender."

"This man can mobilize 100,000 soldiers, which is also a skill." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If he is not dead, we will not be able to rest easy. This man is unable to look south, and if he often harasses the border, it will be enough to make us uncomfortable."

That's true. If Wang Baobao harassed the border, it wouldn't cause too much damage to the Ming Dynasty, but it would be disgusting. If the border troops made a mistake by mistake, the losses in the north might be greater.

Ma Xun still insisted on his own opinion, "Some people are afraid of power but not virtue. Wang Baobao is probably one of them. If you ask me, we should beat him, but I think it will be difficult to pacify him. I think the same is true for people like Nahachu. They have to be beaten and scared before they will obey."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and looked at Ma Xun and said, "It's not just the Tartars who are like this, some people are like this too. It doesn't matter if you don't want to get involved in the affairs of the Secretariat. When you get back and deal with them properly, you'll know what these people are thinking."

Ma Xun thought about it and it made sense. Not only did the civil servants need to be disciplined, but some arrogant soldiers and generals also needed to be restrained.

The troubled times are over, but it is obviously not acceptable to continue to maintain the lawless and disorderly state that existed during the troubled times.

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the Huai River and said, "My dear brother, just wait and see. The south is prosperous and the north is desolate. We have to turn these pastures for grazing cattle and sheep into good fields for growing crops!"

(End of this chapter)