The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 276 The Second Northern Expedition

June is the time when the grass on the grassland is the most lush and tender.

The cattle, sheep and horses of the nomadic tribe ate hay for a whole winter and waited for a whole spring. Finally, the grass grew up and it was a good time to eat and fatten up.

Wanli is preparing for another northern expedition!

The northern barbarians were in tears.

For more than a hundred years, they have been invading the Ming Dynasty every year. This time, they finally tasted the pain of being beaten every year.

They don't know it yet.

Last year, Wanli only let the border cavalry practice, which was not considered a northern expedition at all.

This year Wanli was preparing to launch a real northern expedition. To be precise, this was his second northern expedition.

This time his target was the Chahar tribe north of Xuanfu Town.

However, his slogan was still to conquer the Tumed tribe.

The Tumed tribe had been frightened by him three times and had become a little numb.

This time they didn't feel particularly scared.

If you can't beat them, just run away. You'll get used to running.

Most of the northern barbarian tribes also had this attitude. They were used to being beaten, so they were not so afraid. Running away when they couldn't win was their way of survival. They did this during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties.

They also regard Wanli as the Hongwu Emperor and the Yongle Emperor.

Both the Hongwu Emperor and the Yongle Emperor pursued the various northern barbarian tribes, defeated them, subdued them, forced them to surrender, submit, or returned to the court after they had chased them out of sight.

Therefore, the northern barbarian tribes still have room to escape.

The south and north of the desert are so big that if things really don't work, you can escape to Nurgandusi or even Siberia.

The distance of thousands or even tens of thousands of miles was really beyond the reach of Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle.

Wanli is very different from Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle.

He defended wherever he fought, advancing step by step, and gradually occupied all the territory of the Northern Tartars!

However, this is easier said than done, or it is easier to capture than to defend.

Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle must have known that as long as they took it and held it, they could solve the problem once and for all.

The problem is that it is not easy to defend a territory of thousands, tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands of miles.

During the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, they only managed to defend the Beijing Xingdusi, an area of ​​over a thousand miles outside the Great Wall. This was easy to defend because of the terrain.

The Beijing Xingdusi is surrounded by mountains on three sides and a river on one side, so it is not easy for the northern cavalry to rush over.

As for other places outside the Great Wall, although they are not flat, there are no tall mountains or wide rivers to block the Northern Tartar cavalry, making it difficult to defend at all.

This problem also gave Wanli a headache.

Except for Xuanfu Town and Datong Town in the south, the Chahar tribe's territory has no strategic locations to defend on the east, west and north sides.

Moreover, no one knows how big that piece of land is, because the grazing areas of the northern barbarians have no boundaries at all.

It seems that his only solution is to build city fortresses and then use cavalry to intimidate the enemy.

The question is, it took more than a year to build the city and fortress of Beijing Xingdusi, which is such an easy place to defend. How long would it take to build the city and fortress of Chahar tribe, which has no strategic location to defend?

He couldn't waste several years on such a small piece of territory. The territory of Tatar alone was ten times larger than that of Chahar. There was also the Oirat and the Nurgan Regional Command, which were all larger than the territory of Tatar.

So, how can we build a city fortress quickly?

Wanli pondered for a long time and finally came up with a solution.

On the morning of June 23rd, around noon, he took his entire family on a carriage and headed for the Mountain Resort under the escort of tens of thousands of Jinyiwei cavalry and tens of thousands of imperial guards cavalry.

At this time, the roads from the capital to the Mountain Resort have been paved with asphalt and gravel. The carriages run very briskly, and the war horses can run at full speed without any problem.

Before noon, they arrived at the Miyun Palace.

Immediately afterwards, he summoned Yongnian Earl Wang Wei and Zhou Danquan to the lobby of the original county government office.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, he asked directly, "Duke Zhou, can you make bricks?"

Uh, that's the question.

I am a master at firing porcelain, and you ask me if I can fire bricks?
Zhou Danquan was stunned for a moment before he said carefully, "Your Majesty, bricks are actually a type of pottery, the simplest kind. The firing process is basically the same as pottery, so naturally, this humble servant knows how to fire them."

Oh, I see.

Then there is no need to explain anything.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, I just want to try using the kiln to burn bricks. Otherwise, you can organize people to build a bigger kiln for me."

Oh, so the Emperor wanted to use a kiln to make bricks.

Bricks aren't made in kilns, even by bricklayers. Instead, they pile air-dried bricks with firewood, coal, and hay, then surround them with large earthen bricks like a circular fortress. Fire is then lit in pre-prepared holes underneath. This saves money. Before coal became popular, bricks were simply cut and burned, with virtually no other costs except for labor.

It would be a different story if you built a kiln. The labor cost of building a kiln alone would be higher than burning a pile of bricks using the traditional folk method.

However, for His Majesty, this labor cost is naturally nothing.

Zhou Danquan thought about it carefully, then asked, "Your Majesty, how big do you want this brick kiln to be?"

this problem.

Wanli thought about it and said simply, "Of course, we can build it as big as we can. It's up to you."

what?
How big can a kiln be built?
Zhou Danquan thought about it carefully, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, the largest kiln I've ever seen is the Zhen Kiln in Jingdezhen. It's several meters in radius. I'm afraid it's impossible to build such a large kiln in the Summer Resort. I'll have to find a mountain with relatively compact soil to dig."

Several feet in radius?

Wanli asked, "How many bricks can be fired in there?"

Well, that’s a famous kiln used for firing porcelain, not bricks.

Zhou Danquan estimated, "It can produce at most 20,000 to 30,000 pieces of porcelain at a time. As for bricks, they have a more regular shape and are easier to stack than porcelain. I estimate that 50,000 to 60,000 pieces can be fired at a time."

Is this a lot or a little?

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How many bricks can a brick kiln like a circular fortress burn at a time?"

There is no fixed number for this.

Zhou Danquan recalled, "Your Majesty, those brick kilns may look large, but they actually contain a lot of firewood, coal briquettes, hay, and so on. Therefore, they can generally only produce a few thousand bricks, and the largest ones can only produce tens of thousands. More than that won't work."

This means that one kiln can replace ten such brick kilns?

Very good!
Wanli nodded repeatedly and said, "Then hurry up and dig a kiln like this for me to see."

How long will this hurry take?

Of course, the faster, the better.

After Zhou Danquan returned, he gathered hundreds of cave digging experts and ran around the Summer Resort to find a suitable hillside and started digging frantically.

Around noon the next day, Wanli was dining in the backyard with his concubines, princes, and princesses when Li Xuancheng suddenly poked his head in and said, "Your Majesty, Duke Zhou requests an audience."

This guy, can’t be so fast?

Upon hearing this, Wanli immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up and said, "You guys eat, I'll go take a look."

When Zhou Danquan saw him coming out, he quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the kiln is ready."

Sure enough, this guy does things as quickly as he can.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Where is it?"

Zhou Danquan said without hesitation: "It's just west of the North Arena."

That's very close.

Upon hearing this, Wanli immediately summoned the imperial guards and cavalry, and followed Zhou Danquan to the northern arena.

In less than a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the foot of a not very high mountain.

At this time, a city gate-shaped hole, roughly taller than a person, had been dug out at the bottom of the mountain.

Wanli followed Zhou Danquan in and saw that there was an arc-shaped cave less than ten feet high, like an upside-down bowl. There was a layer of bricks neatly laid all around, including the top. There was also a round hole as big as a washbasin at the top, and sunlight shone through it.

He looked at it carefully and then asked, "Duke Zhou, are the bricks laid to prevent collapse?"

Zhou Danquan nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the mountain soil will fall down when it dries up, so we have to lay a layer of bricks, and add clay between these bricks. In this way, as long as the kiln is fired once, they will become one piece, just like a huge bowl turned upside down."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "You spent a lot of manpower on this, didn't you?"

This one.

Zhou Danquan said rather embarrassedly, "Yes, His Majesty said to hurry up, so I summoned over 300 craftsmen."

Well, more than 300 craftsmen are not many.

Wanli took another look around and then asked, "Why are you digging so low? Wouldn't that mean you won't have to put in a lot less bricks?"

Zhou Danquan explained carefully: "Your Majesty, we dug it so low so that the temperature can rise quickly. The height of the kiln can burn it with a strong fire for about ten hours. The higher it is dug, the longer it will take to burn."

Well, it’s better to be more efficient.

Wanli nodded slightly, then ordered: "Then quickly burn a kiln of bricks and try it out."

Uh, hurry up again?

Then we have to quickly gather hundreds of craftsmen to make bricks.

(End of this chapter)