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Text Chapter 537 Land and Sea

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    The three armies of the Ming Dynasty met around Kent Khan Mountain. The sons of the little Tatar prince also gathered their last strength and prepared to defend their last homeland. They saw that a battle to determine the fate of the Tatars was about to begin.  However, this battle that decided the fate of the Tatars did not actually happen. When the sons of the little Tatar princes had just gathered their troops and were discussing how to deal with the Ming Dynasty's attack in the big tent, unexpectedly, several Tatar princes  The tribal leaders suddenly rebelled. The rebels rushed into the sweat tent, killed all the sons of the little Tatar prince, and then announced their surrender to the Ming Dynasty. The few tribes that were unwilling to surrender with them were all massacred.  When several large rebel tribes came to the Ming army with the heads of the sons of the little Tatar prince, they were personally received by Zhengde, and then received a series of rewards. However, while receiving the rewards, these tribal leaders also  The Ming Dynasty will also send people into their tribes to count the population and livestock, and on the other hand, they will be included in the rule and management of the Ming Dynasty.  After the demise of the Tatars, the entire core area of ??the Mongolian grassland has fallen under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Only some tribes in the more remote places in the west have not yet accepted the rule of the Ming Dynasty. However, this is only a matter of time.  After the Ming Dynasty stabilizes its rule in the grassland, it will begin to advance to the west until it completely controls the entire grassland.  The demise of the Tatars marked the complete resolution of the northern border troubles that had plagued the Central Plains dynasty for thousands of years. Especially with the extension of cement roads on the grasslands, the Ming army could reach any place on the grasslands at the fastest speed. In addition,  tied to economic interests.  The entire Mongolian grassland could no longer break away from the rule of the Ming Dynasty.  Of course, rule by force and economics alone cannot last long.  In addition, it must be matched with another way of governance, which is education and integration.  Originally, Zhou Zhong wanted to learn from the later Manchu Qing rule over Mongolia, such as divide and rule, allowing the children of Mongolian nobles to study in the capital, corrupting their upper class, and even using religion to paralyze ordinary Mongolians, especially encouraging Mongolian men to become lamas. It is said that at that time  One-third of the total population of Mongolia are lamas, which shows the horror of this policy.  But later, after careful consideration, Zhou Zhong made the decision.  However, they found that the system used by the Manchus could only be partially borrowed and could never be copied in its entirety. For example, encouraging Mongolian men to become lamas could weaken the number of Mongolians and even turn Mongolia into a poor and ignorant land. However, with the Ming Dynasty in the future,  With the development of economy and culture, Mongolia will become increasingly unable to catch up with the Ming Dynasty. When this gap becomes wider and wider, rifts will occur between Mongolia and the Central Plains again, and a war may even break out in the end.  So rather than leaving this problem to future generations, it is better to solve it directly in his generation.  So in this case.  Zhou Zhong decided to completely tie Mongolia to the Ming Dynasty's chariot. Both economy and culture must be synchronized. Now that the Ming Dynasty's caravan has begun to drive Mongolia's economic development, the cultural aspect must also follow suit.  First of all, Zhou Chong also divided the Mongolian grassland into six provinces, and each province was divided into several state capitals. Each herdsman had his own household registration, and at least one school was established in each state capital.  Providing food and accommodation allows herdsmen to send their children to schools to study. However, these schools do not learn poetry and songs, but learn the most basic Chinese. After all, the first step in communication must be language communication. Only when the adults  Only when most of the herdsmen on the grassland understand Chinese can the grassland be integrated with the Central Plains.  In addition to learning Chinese, schools will also learn some simple arithmetic and medical skills. These are the most commonly used knowledge among herdsmen. Arithmetic can prevent them from suffering losses when trading with Han merchants. As for medical skills, they can not only treat people, but also  More importantly, it can treat livestock. Natural disasters on the grassland are not only snow disasters and fires. Plague is also the disaster that herdsmen fear most. Sometimes a major plague can cause several tribes to starve to death due to lack of food.  In addition to the above measures for ordinary herdsmen, Zhou Zhong also learned from the Qing Dynasty's rule over the Mongolian nobles, that is, he asked those Mongolian nobles to send their children to the capital. He would open a school specifically for these Mongolian nobles to study.  On the one hand, these noble children became hostages, and on the other hand, they also ideologically transformed these Mongolian nobles. When the new generation of Mongolian nobles grew up under the education of the Ming Dynasty, they had a natural closeness to the Ming Dynasty, and it was even more difficult.  A rebellion occurred.  While Zhou Chong was busy bringing the Mongolian grassland under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty water conservancy officials who had been to Egypt for nearly two years to inspect finally received news that the entire Suez Canal excavation route had been determined, and the canal passed through  The original four lakes in the Suez area were crossed, and the entire journey was almost a straight line, which greatly reduced the excavation route. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire also promised that they would be responsible for capturing slaves to dig the canal. These slaves did not have to spend money, they only needed to guarantee  They are the most basic?¡¯s food and drink is enough. In this way, the cost of excavation is greatly reduced. But even so, the final estimated cost of canal excavation is still as high as 21 million taels. Such a huge amount of money is not enough for the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire.  It was a huge expense for the empire.  However, for the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Canal is within their territory, and as long as the canal is successfully constructed, they will have an additional golden waterway that can bring them huge profits every year. I believe that it will be completed within a few years.  To recover the cost of the canal, not to mention that Ming Dynasty will help them bear half of the cost, they will never miss this good opportunity, so Ottoman Sultan Selim has already begun to raise this fund.  Zhou Chong did not expect that digging the Suez Canal would require such a huge cost. Although the Ming Dynasty only had to bear half of it, it still cost ten million taels of silver. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty did not need to spend it all at once, but divided it into several years.  In the future, it may only require more than one million taels of silver per year, which is still affordable for the current Ming Dynasty.  However, the cabinet had disagreements about this huge expense. The main reason was that it took too long to dig the canal. According to the estimates of the water conservancy officials, it would take at least seven to nine years. In such a time, no one knows what will happen.  What, if there is a problem with either the Ming Dynasty or the Ottoman Empire, it is likely to cause interruption in the excavation of the canal.  Although Zhou Zhong could understand the concerns of the cabinet, he was not worried at all because he knew that although Selim would not live for a few years, Suleiman who took over as sultan was the greatest sultan in the history of the Ottoman Empire.  Under his leadership, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak, not only recreating the huge territory of the Arab Empire, but also overwhelming European countries. To a certain extent, the reason why Europe started the Age of Discovery  , in addition to their pursuit of wealth, it was also because they were constantly threatened by the Ottoman Empire, which forced them to go to sea to find a new place to live.  Thinking of the future history of the Ottoman Empire, Zhou Zhong was not worried at all that the other party would have no money to build the canal. As for the Ming Dynasty, he was even less worried. Now he is less than thirty years old and is in the prime of life, and the Ming Dynasty has passed  After his rectification, everything is prosperous. It can be said that even if he does nothing from now on, the entire Ming Dynasty will still rely on inertia to move forward. This kind of development may not happen for hundreds of years.  will stop.  However, Zhou Chong was not completely reassured about the Suez Canal, especially since the Ottoman Empire was about to usher in its most glorious period. As a result, as the Ottoman Empire grew stronger, they were likely to have greater ambitions, and even  Will want to tear up the previous Suez Contract and impose heavy taxes on Ming ships.  Therefore, in this case, Zhou Zhong also had to prepare in advance. Although the Ming Dynasty was very far away from the Suez Canal and it was impossible to send an army there, the Ming Dynasty's navy could reach the distant Red Sea. Especially when the contract was signed before, the Ming Dynasty  We have obtained the right to garrison the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea. Naturally, we must make good use of this contract. As long as we can maintain a strong navy there and control the entry and exit of ships in the Red Sea, we can then separate the interests of the Suez Canal.  part.  It was under this circumstance that Zhou Zhong decided to detach a fleet from the Nanyang Fleet and establish a port in the Aden area at the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It would be the westernmost enclave of the Ming Dynasty overseas. Of course,  This is only temporary. Maybe in a few years, Ming Dynasty will build its own port in a more distant place.  In fact, the Ming Dynasty's navy also faced a huge reorganization. Zhou Zhong originally regarded Nanyang as the main immigration place, so among the three fleets established, the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet were both inland sea fleets, and their main function was to inspect.  And defense, only the Nanyang Fleet is the fleet that is really used for overseas operations. The most important thing that Ming Dynasty was able to rule Nanyang in such a short period of time was that it had this powerful fleet as its backing.  But now with the stability of Nanyang's rule, the original Nanyang has become the inland sea of ??the Ming Dynasty, and the outer sea of ??the Ming Dynasty has become the broader Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Although the Pacific has not been truly explored yet, the Indian Ocean has become the entertainment of the Ming Dynasty's navy.  In the world, whether they are Portuguese or Arabs, they have to abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty in order to live.  It is also under this situation that the original establishment of the Ming Navy can no longer adapt to the current development, so it is imperative to adapt the navy. However, before the navy is reorganized, there is another major event related to the sea.  Zhou Zhong needs to handle it personally.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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