Chapter 804: Third Crown Prince Zhu, You Can't Keep Living Off Your Parents!

With the conclusion of the first Condé tutoring class, the war machine of the Great Ming Empire began to rumble into motion!

Although the first-phase objective of the Great Ming's northern expedition was the Central Plains, the places where war actually began were the northwest and the seas of the northeast.

The defection of the Dzungar tribe and their war against the Yarkent Khanate might seem to have little to do with the Great Qing, but in fact the opposite was true.

Because once the Dzungar tribe transformed into the Great Ming's Beiting Army, the western part of Khalkha Mongolia would be exposed to the spearhead of the Dzungar host!

Moreover, once the Yarkent Khanate fell, the Great Qing's connection to the Khoshut Khanate would be severed. And the importance of the Khoshut Khanate to the Great Qing exceeded what many people imagined.

For the Khoshut Khanate ruled Tibet and Qinghai and was the protector of the Gelug school of Tibetan Yellow Hat Buddhism! And all the Mongol tribes of Inner and Outer Mongolia now believed in Tibetan Buddhism and regarded the Great Lama of Tibet as a living Buddha! Thus the Great Lama's standing among the Mongols was somewhat akin to that of the Pope in Western Catholicism.

Once the Khoshut Khanate was conquered by the Great Ming and Tibetan Yellow Hat Buddhism became an ally of the Great Ming, then the Great Qing's rule over Inner and Outer Mongolia would be shaken!

Therefore Dodo could not simply ignore the defection of the Dzungar tribe and the destruction of the Yarkent Khanate!

However, Dodo's countermeasure was not necessarily to send troops to attack the Dzungar tribe (the Beiting Army), because the distance was too great and logistical support too difficult.

Without attending Condé's tutoring class, the staff officers of the Grand Marshal's Office could already guess that Dodo would use the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" to save the Yarkent Khanate and intimidate the Dzungar tribe.

And the "Wei" in Dodo's eyes could only be the Shuofang Army!

"Third Brother, once the Dzungar tribe invades the Yarkent Khanate and raises the banner of the Great Ming's Beiting Army, your Shuofang Army will inevitably become Dodo's target!"

Within the Forbidden City in Nanjing, the Zhu Emperor was walking and talking with his full brother, the "Third Crown Prince Zhu," Zhu Cijiong. Behind the two of them followed a great crowd of eunuchs, palace maids, and guards, following at a distance and making no sound.

The two brothers were heading to the Hall of Martial Valor. Today was the day Zhu Cijiong would leave Nanjing, and he had to go kowtow and take his leave of the Retired Emperor Chongzhen and the Retired Empress Zhou.

Zhu Cilang had also returned to the Forbidden City in Nanjing from Laoshan Palace for this matter, and Chongzhen and Empress Zhou had likewise returned from their retreat at the Xipu detached palace to the Forbidden City, taking up residence in the Hall of Martial Valor to await their two sons' visit.

The "Third Crown Prince Zhu" was in a poor mood. The Dzungar tribe had clearly been brought in through his connections, yet the one who had untied the knot was Wu Sangui, while he still had to go on being the "Debt King," and it looked as though that would be hereditary and irrevocable!

Because Zhu Cilang had already found an excellent way to maintain harmony between the central court and the frontier commands—recruiting boy soldiers from the frontier commands!

"Recruiting" was, in fact, spending money to buy sturdy youths from the impoverished Nine Border Commands, then training them into an army, using elite officers from the Military Academy to command them, and moreover giving them the prospect of earning merit, rising in rank, and entering the Military Academy. How could these frontier youths, with no one to rely on, fail to become the sharpest sword in the hands of the Great Ming court?

The nine frontier commands would supply the court with more than ten thousand sturdy youths each year. Calculated at a fifty percent elimination rate and an average service term of fifteen years, the court could maintain at least 120,000 to 150,000 Nine Border youth soldiers with explosive combat power over the long term!

Which frontier command would still dare show disrespect to the court? A single frontier command could at best afford to maintain 20,000 elite troops, and those certainly could not compare to the Nine Border youth army trained up from boy soldiers.

If only the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, had thought of this trick back in the day, the Nine Border frontier lords would all have been obedient, and there would have been no need to disband them either.

It seemed that the Shuofang command could never be abolished!

"Imperial Brother, your subject-brother's Shuofang Army is small in troops and few in officers. Although the registered military households number fifty or sixty thousand, fewer than twenty thousand among them are fit for battle. Moreover, the equipment is not very fine; the firearms were all made in places like Yulin and Yan'an, and the quantity is insufficient as well!

But the greatest difficulty is still lack of money. The money from the last issue of frontier bonds has almost all been spent, and I can barely pay the interest! Imperial Brother, you must save your subject-brother!"

The Third Crown Prince Zhu was suffering! He had not had a good day in eight years. At first he worried day and night about being captured by the eastern barbarians and beheaded! Later he fretted over high-interest debts that could never be fully repaid.

Still later, his elder brother the Zhu Emperor set a trap with the frontier bonds, swindling a batch of wealthy merchants and landlords in Huguang and helping the Third Crown Prince ease his difficulties a little.

But although the principal of the frontier bonds did not have to be repaid, the interest still had to be paid!

The Shuofang frontier bonds had been issued for more than five million taels, at six percent interest, requiring a payout of three hundred thousand taels a year!

And the financial foundation of the Shuofang command was extremely weak. Almost all the land had been distributed to military households, so the command could not collect a single copper in taxes.

Therefore Zhu Cijiong had no choice but to work hard developing the industry and commerce of the Shuofang command—developing the Huamachi salt fields, expanding the iron industry of Yulin and Yan'an, opening mutual-market trade with the Mongol tribes, and selling horses to the court, among other methods, to obtain profit.

But despite every effort, the annual fiscal revenue of the Shuofang command did not exceed 200,000 taels. Even with the court subsidy it came to only 550,000 taels. After paying the interest, a mere 250,000 taels of silver remained, and after paying necessary expenses, less than 100,000 taels were left.

Although not much remained, there was still a surplus in the end! So the claim that he could barely pay the interest was actually an appeal of poverty.

Zhu Cilang naturally knew he was pleading poverty, but he also understood that with Zhu Cijiong's financial resources, he truly had no ability to mobilize all fifty or sixty thousand registered troops of the command.

Because the land of the Shuofang command was extremely barren, the income of the military households under the command was also low, only enough to sustain life, and they could not bear the burden of military service.

If Zhu Cijiong wanted to mobilize a large army, he would have to issue a sum of "marching money" and "family settlement money." Without one or two million, there was no way to launch a large army.

"Third Brother," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "how much grain does Shuofang have in storage?"

One or two million taels of silver was no problem for the current finances of the Great Ming; the scale of the Great Ming's finances had already surpassed one hundred million!

It was nothing like the days when the Chongzhen Emperor held power, when not even ten million could be collected in a whole year.

As for firearms and cannons, that was not difficult either. The Shuofang command could produce firearms itself; over the past few years it had sold at least several thousand guns to the Mongols! How could it have no stock in its own hands? A few dozen 3-pounder cannons from the court should be enough.

But transporting one or two million shi of grain to Yulin would be a headache! There was no water route from Xiangyang to Yulin; it could only be transported by cart and horse, and not even ten percent would arrive.

"It's not quite enough." Zhu Cijiong shook his head. "The northwest is poor and dry; not much grain can be stored up. The grain in my hands is less than 500,000 shi, and that was bought from Shanxi and Guanzhong with the silver from issuing frontier bonds."

"You bought grain from Shanxi?" Zhu Cilang raised his thumb. "Well done! Can you still buy it now?"

"I'll try, but the silver..."

Zhu Cijiong had once been a prince enfeoffed in Shanxi and still had some foundation there, so he could buy grain, but the price would certainly not be cheap.

"I'll give you one million taels first, plus thirty 3-pounder cannons." Zhu Cilang paused. "Remember, do not fight recklessly! Dodo is known as the Valiant Prince, the most capable fighter among all the eastern barbarian princes. And he uses his cavalry very well; you are no match for him."

As the two brothers spoke, they had already reached the Hall of Martial Valor, and from a distance they heard Pang Tianshou announcing: "Old Imperial Father, Her Majesty, His Majesty and the Prince of Dai have arrived!"

Chongzhen was already forty-two this year and was being called "Old Imperial Father," yet he did not look old at all; on the contrary, he was radiant. His son Zhu Cijiong, however, though only twenty-one, looked somewhat aged, appearing to be twenty-five or twenty-six, and was very thin, and his clothes were very old. At a glance he looked like a prince in dire straits.

Chongzhen and Empress Zhou both stood under the great eaves of the Hall of Martial Valor, craning their necks to see their son—not looking at Zhu Cilang, but only at Zhu Cijiong. Seeing their son's shabby appearance, the "two elders" both had tears welling in their eyes.

This son had a hard fate! Stuck with a ruthless and stingy elder brother like Zhu Cilang, he had shouldered millions in "high-interest debt" at a young age. What would become of him in the future!

But Chongzhen and Empress Zhou had no money either. The couple's annual fixed income plus Zhu Cilang's filial contributions came to only 1.2 or 1.3 million taels of silver, and they had no means to let the Third Crown Prince Zhu live off his parents. Just thinking about it made them heartsick!

(End of Chapter)