Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 643 Kill two birds with one stone

In the capital, Meng Jun persuaded the important officials of various tribes one by one. Then, at the court meeting, he severely denounced the Dzungars for not submitting to the king, repeatedly threatening the northwest, and sending envoys to the tribes south of the desert to alienate their loyalty to the Heavenly Khan.

Meng Jun then emphasized that the Western Regions had been the territory of the Central Plains since the Han and Tang Dynasties, and finally said that the Dzungar Khanate had massacred the people of the Western Regions on a large scale.

In short, the emperor's intention was very clear. He wanted to recover the Western Regions, and war was inevitable. With the strong support of important officials in the court and a number of nobles, the plan to use military force against Dzungar was formally approved at the court meeting, and the war machine of the Qian Dynasty began to operate.

In order to more conveniently contact Qinghai, U-Tsang and the various tribes in the south and north of the desert, Meng Jun decided to go to Guanzhong in person to coordinate military affairs.

While the Qian Dynasty was preparing for war, it sent messages to the Qinghai, U-Tsang and other tribes, asking their leaders to go to Xi'an to pay homage to the emperor.

But the result disappointed Meng Jun. When the emperor arrived in Luoyang, the envoys sent to U-Tsang in Qinghai came back one after another. Only a few tribes agreed to come to Xi'an, and most of them were tribes close to the Qian Dynasty.

However, most of the tribes that grazed their livestock near U-Tsang Qinghai did not send anyone.

By the end of December, Meng Jun personally visited Guanzhong. At this time, heavy snow had fallen in Guanzhong. From afar, the ground looked covered in white.

Meng Jun came to the city wall and looked down at the ancient capital, accompanied by Lin Shiqi, Meng Bian and Shen Congwen.

Meng Jun asked somewhat disappointedly: "How many tribes in Qinghai and U-Tsang sent people?"

Lin Shiqi stood behind Meng Jun and said in a deep voice, "I'm afraid that Your Majesty will be disappointed. There are only twelve tribes willing to come, and six of them are the Khoshut and Torghut tribes that have already surrendered to the court, as well as some small tribes that failed in the Dzungar conquest of Moxi."

Shen Congwen, who was standing by, saw that the emperor looked unhappy, so he said, "Your Majesty, since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Central Plains has focused its energy on Liaodong, and its influence on the Qinghai and U-Tsang tribes has gradually disappeared. Although our dynasty has unified the country, it cannot change the weakening of the Central Plains' influence in the Western Regions and the plateau for the time being."

After listening to the two's words, Meng Jun felt somewhat bored, so he casually asked, "What is the current situation in U-Tsang?"

Lin Shiqi said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, if our dynasty were to invade Dzungar, I'm afraid the U-Tsang tribes would not help us, and they might even side with Dzungar."

Meng Jun was stunned. He really didn't expect this. In Meng Jun's opinion, even if the various tribes of U-Tsang did not help the Qian Dynasty, they would not help Dzungar either. The most likely possibility was that they would sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two tigers, and help whoever won.

Although Junggar seems to have a vast territory today, the Qian Dynasty is much stronger than Junggar in terms of population, economy, technology, and even military strength.

Seeing Meng Jun was somewhat puzzled, Lin Shiqi continued, "Sengge had a younger brother named Galdan. When he was born, he was recognized as the reincarnation of some Buddha in U-Tsang. Anyway, Galdan went to the plateau. He is quite famous among the various tribes in U-Tsang."

Meng Jun asked again: "What about the U-Tsang Dusi established during the Ming Dynasty?"

Lin Shiqi shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, as early as the 15th year of Chongzhen, Gushri Khan conquered Shigatse, and the U-Tsang Regional Administration was destroyed long ago. However, there are many religious sects in U-Tsang, and the descendants of Gushri Khan cannot monopolize power. They can only rule jointly with the local living Buddha."

After a long while, Meng Jun snorted coldly and said, "The plateau is no longer what it used to be. The glory of the Tubo Empire has long been destroyed. I am still young. After I destroy the Dzungar Khanate, if the tribes of the plateau are unwilling to surrender, whether it takes ten or twenty years, I will definitely conquer the plateau!"

After hearing this, Lin Shiqi comforted him, "Your Majesty, the tribes in the west have not yet realized how powerful our dynasty is. As long as we destroy the Dzungars, our dynasty will not need to use military force, and the tribes in U-Tsang will surely rush to submit!"

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Just when Meng Jun arrived in Xi'an and tried to contact the various tribes in U-Tsang, Qinghai, the people of the Central Plains, who had long been away from the war, felt a long-lost breath in the vast land of the Central Plains, and that was the smell of war.

Starting from the beginning of October in the eighth year of Zhaowu, the Qian Dynasty mobilized money, grain and supplies from Huguang, Henan, Shandong, and Jiangnan.

Whether it is the Yangtze River or the Han River, strong men pulling the oars can be seen everywhere, and ships transporting supplies are endless in the river.

On the road from Nanyang to Guanzhong, or from Tongguan to Guanzhong, there are mule and horse carts and baggage carts everywhere. There are crowds of people and the neighing of livestock along the way. Large groups of people and horses block the road, which is a spectacular sight.

However, some of the laborers who transported supplies had also transported supplies for the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty when they were young, and these people all said that with this cement road, their life became much easier.

They had never thought that in their lifetime they would be able to see a road that was not muddy when it rained and not too hot when the sun was shining. They were all amazed.

Meanwhile, Meng Jun in Xi'an was thinking about how to stabilize the border and use military force against Dzungar. Meng Jun was confident that he would win in the end, it was just a matter of how much the price would be.

Therefore, Meng Jun did not dare to make bold moves like Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu of Han conquered the Huns and defeated them in several battles, but he also wiped out the wealth accumulated during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing.

Although the Dzungars could not be compared with the Xiongnu, the Dzungars were much closer to the Central Plains, which put greater logistical pressure on the Qian Dynasty.

Therefore, Meng Jun was thinking about how to reduce logistical pressure on the one hand and stabilize the border on the other.

Therefore, shortly after arriving in Xi'an, Meng Jun discussed with his ministers and ordered the provinces to recruit civilians, mostly unmarried young men or those whose families had little land. As long as they were willing to migrate, the court would grant them land in the border areas and they could cultivate the land there.

Meng Jun felt that doing so would, on the one hand, reduce the amount of food that the laborers needed when they returned home, and on the other hand, after defeating the Dzungar Khanate in the future, there would be no need to start all over again and settle the people on the border.

Moreover, if the war cannot be ended quickly due to logistical problems, the people who live in the local area can provide rations for the army, which can greatly reduce the pressure of transportation in the rear.

Due to the principle of voluntariness, this decision will not arouse opposition from the people. Now the world is peaceful, the population is growing rapidly, and each family has limited land. If the family is divided, the land will become less and less, and over time, the people will become poorer and poorer.

The best way to stabilize the border is to immigrate people from the interior to the border. Only in this way can there be long-term stability. Moreover, with the development of technology in the future, once the steam engine is invented, railways will come into being, and the communication between the Central Plains and the border will be more convenient.

Meng Jun believed that this might provide a new idea for future generations to solve a series of problems caused by population growth.