Chapter 216 Military Deployment Documents, Southeast Asian Maritime Trade

Three days later, the sun was shining brightly.

The news of the upcoming expedition has spread.
The soldiers of the front army scouts have already started preparations for the expedition.

The first thing to do is exercise, including posture training, endurance training, and mountain training.

The front army scout unit is located in Puzikou City, where there are naturally no mountains.

But Lu Yunyi artificially created some traps for the soldiers to practice.
At this moment, the front scouts were howling like ghosts and wolves.
Soldiers were jumping up and down on the torturous drill,

There are ground stake grids, trenches and low walls, high-plank bridges, and some simulated mountain terrains.

Nearby, a soldier who had just finished training was lying on the ground.

While enjoying the massage of the fascia knife, there was a cry of pain inside and out.

Lu Yunyi did not participate in the training, but this did not make the soldiers feel dissatisfied.

It was because they had seen how miserable Shangguan had been these past few days.

If I remember correctly, I haven't slept for three days and three nights.
The whole person is like a rich young man in Yingtian City whose body has been hollowed out by alcohol and sex.

At this moment, Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, who was howling like a ghost, suddenly saw a familiar figure.
But the severe pain in his hands and feet could not calm his mind. He could only take a deep breath and pretend to be calm.
"Yun Gong, why are you here?"

Xu Yungong, the future Duke of Wei, frowned and stared at Li Jinglong from top to bottom, frowning slightly:

"Jinglong, what are you doing?"

"Would you like to try it while relaxing your muscles?"

Li Jinglong tried hard to keep his voice calm, but his face looked hideous, like an evil ghost in the night.

Xu Yungong looked around and saw many elite soldiers wailing like Li Jinglong.
He immediately felt apprehensive, and he quickly straightened up and shook his head slowly:

"I'd better forget it. You can practice on your own."

"Hey - don't go, it's very comfortable together."

Li Jinglong lay on the ground, with his palms open, veins exposed, grabbing the ground with all his strength
This appearance made Xu Yungong even more fearful, and he took another step back:
"I still have military duties to attend to. You should practice first."

Hearing this, Li Jinglong was startled, then immediately reacted and asked:

"Hey, has the document for the expedition arrived?"

Xu Yungong nodded without hiding anything.
Li Jinglong was overjoyed, and immediately looked at Guo Quan who was holding his legs behind him, and cursed:

"You little brat, you have no sense. The military report has arrived, and I have to go and receive the order!!"

But Guo Quan pretended not to hear and continued pressing hard.

The soldier holding the fascia knife was not polite either, and added a little more force.
"what!!"

Li Jinglong's head, which had been raised high, suddenly lowered and hit the ground with a bang.

Guo Quan said with a serious expression:
"Duke Cao, the master has ordered that others can be sneaky, but you cannot.
If you die in the southwest, we will all suffer, so you should just keep practicing."

"What a sin, what a sin!!!"

Li Jinglong's eyes were bloodshot, his features were grim,

Xu Yungong took two steps back and looked at the fascia knife that was as smooth as a blade with a little more fear.

After looking for a while, Xu Yungong turned and walked towards the military tent, ignoring Li Jinglong's cries for help behind him.

Soon, he met his younger brother Xu Zengshou in front of the big tent.
"Why don't you go to practice?" Xu Yungong asked in surprise:
"Brother, I'm done with the drill. The Lord needs to be on duty here, so we're training fast."

Xu Yungong nodded and was about to go in, but was stopped by Xu Zengshou who raised his knife:

"Although you are my eldest brother, this is the military, and military orders are the priority. No one is allowed to enter without permission!"

As he spoke, Xu Yungong saw a hint of excitement hidden in Xu Zengshou's eyes.

His face darkened and he said coldly:

"Then what are you waiting for? Go and pass the message."

"okay!"

Xu Zengshou turned over and entered the military tent. Xu Yungong followed him in without stopping.

"Hey, you can't come in!!"

Xu Zengshou noticed this and shouted quickly.

Lu Yunyi, who was buried in the desk like a wild man, suddenly raised his head.
His cloudy eyes swept towards the entrance of the military tent, and his brain froze for a moment.

what happened?
Soon, the clarity in his eyes gradually recovered, and he said with a little fatigue:

"Zigong, what are you doing? Get out of the way."

Xu Zengshou curled his lips and pouted at Xu Yungong.

Only then did he reluctantly move aside and stood aside angrily.

Xu Yungong was not angry when he saw this, but felt relieved.
My younger brother, who had never grown up, seemed to have matured a lot after joining the army.

He looked at Lu Yunyi, who looked haggard at the moment.
His dishevelled hair made him look particularly miserable, and his face was shiny and oily.

The originally expensive clothes were also a little messy.
This was even more true in the military tent, where scattered on the ground were not just pieces of paper stained with ink;
There are also some documents and maps that fell on the ground.

A huge map has been laid out on the table, with various crooked markings on it.

There are also some red and blue thin lines, densely intertwined.

This is what Lu Yunyi gained from his three-day retreat.

He put all the war events, troop movements and battle locations recorded in his mind onto a map.

I plan to take it with me when I go to war.
When war breaks out, at least there are laws to follow.

"General Lu, are you always so obsessed with sleep and forgetting to eat?"

Xu Yungong's face showed a hint of admiration.
He had read these documents countless times, and each time he read them he found them boring and extremely uncomfortable.

But this is his job, and he has to do it.

But this Lu Yunyi in front of him had made so many preparations for the war.

If he doesn't make achievements, who else can?

Lu Yunyi stared intently, trying to focus on Xu Yungong's face.

But I found that my eyes were blacking out, and finally I sat down on the chair.

Xu Yungong and Xu Zengshou were startled, and just as they were about to rush over.

Lu Yunyi waved his hand quickly:
"It's nothing, I just haven't rested for too long."

He looked at Xu Yungong with a wry smile on his face:
"Sir Xu, when the clerks of our Governor's Office copy the military reports, they must copy them accurately.
I have found many cases where the original southward movement was written as northward movement.
This is so contradictory that I almost thought I was blinded by my old age."

Xu Yungong was stunned, and then a wry smile appeared on his face:

"General Lu, most of these military reports are stored in the warehouse.

Once it is put in, most people will never read it again.
Therefore, my subordinates are inevitably a little careless, please forgive me."

Lu Yunyi blinked his eyes, and suddenly realized.
No wonder Li Jinglong could take out the imperial court secrets so easily, it turned out that no one was interested in them.

After a while, Lu Yunyi felt the pain in his head dissipate a little, and he slowly stood up, then bowed to Xu Yungong:
"Your subordinate Lu Yunyi greets Lord Xu."

Xu Yungong smiled bitterly:
"General Lu, there is no need for us to be polite. You should sit down and have a rest.
Xu admires the fact that he studied such documents late into the night. "

Lu Yunyi was not polite either. He sat down, looked over with tired eyes, and asked:
"I wonder what Lord Xu is here for?"

Xu Yungong took out a document from his pocket, handed it to Xu Zengshou, and winked.
Xu Zengshou hurriedly ran over and handed over the document, his eyes filled with excitement.

As Lu Yunyi and Xu Zengshou expected, the memorial was indeed a document from the Ministry of War to mobilize troops.

He ordered the 5,000 soldiers of the front scout unit to join the Duke of Cao, Li Jinglong.
Let's go to the southwest together and set off in four days. Xu Yungong said:

"General Lu, we have already completed 9,000 multifunctional tactical backpacks.
It will be completed in two more days, and General Lu will take it away then."

Lu Yunyi stood up by holding onto the table, with a grateful look on his face:

"Thank you, Lord Xu, for sending me the memorial. Thank you, Lord Xu, for lending me the document.
This afternoon I sent someone to return all the documents.”

Xu Yungong was shocked. He turned around to look at the corner full of things and couldn't help asking:

"General Lu, have you finished reading it all?"

"Fortunately, I have accomplished my mission. I just finished reading it this morning, and now the battle map is almost finished."

Lu Yunyi showed some pride on his face, with hundreds of military newspapers and documents.
At this moment, most of the key information and the fighting styles of the enemy and our own generals have been memorized.

If the multifunctional tactical backpack is the equipment for the Southwest War,
Then these memories are the cornerstone of victory in the Southwest War!

Xu Yungong was too late to be shocked at this moment, but instead concentrated on studying the map on the table, sighing repeatedly:

"This is the war mobilization in the 19th year of Hongwu. Our Ming army won the battle and killed nearly a thousand enemies.

This was a defeat in the 18th year of Hongwu, with heavy casualties."

The more Xu Yungong looked at the map, the more shocked he became. What shocked him was not the location of the battle, but the routes of the troops deployed by both sides.
The Ming Dynasty's troop movements were naturally recorded in the military newspapers.

However, there is no record of the enemy's troop movement routes in Luchuan, so we can only rely on speculation.
From his point of view, the troop deployment routes recorded on the map should be as accurate as 80%.

He couldn't help but feel some doubts in his heart, so he turned to look at Lu Yunyi and asked:

"General Lu, why do we also need to mark the enemy's movement routes?"

Lu Yunyi smiled tiredly, opened his slightly closed eyes little by little, and shook his head slowly:
"Master Xu, a person's character may change.

But a man's habit of marching and fighting will not change.
I have collected all the enemy generals' attack routes and intentions.

When the next battle comes, it will be easy to guess the enemy's marching route based on the terrain and the enemy's general's character.
They can even make decisions ahead of the enemy, so they can set up ambushes and wait in advance."

Xu Yungong's pupils suddenly contracted and he raised his head abruptly with a look of disbelief on his face.

"I'm sorry."

Lu Yunyi also reacted at this moment, and wanted to slap himself twice.
How could such a confidential matter be spoken out so casually?
Wouldn't that make people jealous?
The military records of many generals of the Ming Dynasty are stored in the Dudufu and the Ministry of War.
He quickly tried to make up for it:
"Of course, this is just a guess.
The real decision still depends on the intelligence information from the soldiers.

If you jump to conclusions based on these groundless things, you will surely die without a burial place."

After saying this, Xu Yungong's expression gradually returned to normal, but he was still shocked in his heart.

He also inherited his family's knowledge, so he naturally knew that what he said made some sense, but it was too difficult to put it into practice.

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Xu Yungong looked at Xu Zengshou and said with a smile:
"General Lu, once we go to the southwest, I don't know when I will be able to respond to Heaven again.
It is still unknown what kind of dangers there are in the southwest, so I will ask you to take care of my brother."

"Don't worry, Master Xu. Zigong has some talent in marching and fighting. He will definitely be a capable general in the future."

At the same time, he secretly added in his heart,

How can the future Duke Dingguo die? No, no. He can only be Duke Dingguo after he dies.

At this moment, Lu Yunyi felt that his mind was a mess and his face was uncomfortable.

Xu Zengshou was very excited.
A smile appeared on the dark little face, and the white teeth swayed in the military tent.

At this moment, the curtain of the military tent was lifted.
Li Jinglong came in, limping and seemingly unable to control his body.
At this moment, there was dust all over his body, and his clothes were wrinkled.
There were beads of sweat on his forehead, flowing uncontrollably.

"What good thing do you have to do behind my back?"

Li Jinglong spoke much more fluently at this moment.
As soon as he saw the memorial in Lu Yunyi's hand, he felt relieved.
I even wailed in my heart.
Finally, I don’t have to practice anymore and can go out to fight!!
Thinking of this, a smile gradually appeared on his twisted face, and he turned to look at Xu Yungong:

"Yun Gong, why don't you take the job of transporting troops when you are working in the Central Military Commander's Office? Uncle Mu must miss you so much."

Speaking of Mu Ying, Xu Yungong smiled and said calmly:
"I have some things to do in Beijing and can't leave."

Li Jinglong was stunned, and then realized something.
After taking a look at Lu Yunyi, he simply said:

"Are those people still trying to prevent me from inheriting the title?

Didn't they say that the matter would be settled after the ceremony? Could there be some unexpected changes?"

Seeing that Li Jinglong was not shy, Xu Yungong also smiled bitterly:
"Our Great Ming governs the world with benevolence and filial piety. A ruler is a ruler, so it is inevitable that there are some taboos.

Although things are still a little uncertain, they are not far from being settled. "

After hearing this, Li Jinglong immediately became furious and kept shouting:
"These scholars have become obsessed with the Three Principles and Five Constant Virtues.

Uncle Xu won the title himself. Why can he inherit it only after changing his name? What a bunch of bastards!

Your Majesty has already said that the name was given by my parents and cannot be easily changed, so why are they still holding on to it?"

Now that we have spoken, no one present is an outsider.
Xu Yungong sighed and sat down at the table:
"Years of war have pushed everyone in the government and the country to the limit of their patience.
Your Majesty has imposed many taxes and collected a lot of money in Nanzhili.
The issue of the name was just an opportunity to express his dissatisfaction.

If it weren't for the great victory in the Northern Expedition, who knows what would have happened in the government and the country."

Lu Yunyi, who was originally drowsy, frowned slightly, slowly raised his head and asked:
"Master Xu, I see that the entry tax for Yingtian City has been waived until the year after next.

Where does the idea of raising taxes come from? "

"The taxes added are business taxes, horse and carriage taxes, market stall taxes, and customs duties and salt taxes."

Xu Yungong looked heavy-hearted, showing a hint of helplessness:
"In fact, the dissatisfaction of the court officials is because Your Majesty does not treat everyone equally, otherwise it would not have come to this.
While these taxes were being levied,

Your Majesty exempted many border towns from grain taxes and asked them to distribute the grain.

They also exempted the city entry tax, wine and vinegar tax and other miscellaneous taxes.
Now, the rumors are spreading among the government and the public that Your Majesty is using the excuse of war to
Robbing the rich to help the poor, killing the goose that lays the eggs,
His Majesty was furious about this, and yesterday he beheaded two censors who spoke nonsense."

In this way, Lu Yunyi's eyes flashed with a flash of enlightenment. The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was thirty percent.

But because of the war, although the tax rate was still 1 in 30,

But the tax had to be levied many times a year, which made some people dissatisfied.

As he spoke, Xu Yungong's face became extremely solemn. He looked at the people present and said in a low voice:
"We are all family here, I will tell you the truth, please don't spread it."

Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, nodded repeatedly with his eyes wide open, his eyes already burning with the fire of gossip.
Xu Zengshou stood aside with a curious look on his face.
Lu Yunyi, on the other hand, was somewhat confused.
Why did he feel that Xu Yungong was being instructed by someone to talk about some court affairs?

But he didn't act pretentiously and nodded repeatedly:

"Don't worry, Master Xu. I won't reveal a single word."

"I heard that some people want to take this opportunity to lift the maritime ban and allow merchants from the southeast coast to participate in maritime trade."

For a moment, Lu Yunyi looked dazed, while Li Jinglong started cursing:
"These bastards, it turns out they are targeting the court's money-making business, they really deserve to be killed!!!"

He immediately looked at Xu Yungong, with a look of anxiety on his face:

"Yun Gong, you must not let them succeed.
It's just a name, just change it, don't let Your Majesty worry about it, at worst I, Li Jinglong, will accompany you!"

Xu Yungong smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"Don't worry, if things are difficult, it's just a name.

If I change my name, will I no longer be Xu Yungong?"

Only then did Li Jinglong feel relieved.

It was only at this moment that Lu Yunyi figured it out.
It turned out that he wanted to get involved in the maritime trade of silk, tea, and porcelain.
Although the imperial court has banned maritime trade, it only bans merchants from engaging in maritime trade.

Trade with the Southeast Asian countries was controlled by the imperial court itself and could be considered a state-owned enterprise.

Such a large amount of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty every year through maritime trade.

It was not until this moment that Xu Yungong cast his eyes towards Lu Yunyi, sighed heavily, and said in a deep voice:
"General Lu, please tell Lord Mu that you are going to the southwest.
This battle must not only be won, but also fought beautifully and won honorably.

Otherwise, the court would be in chaos."

Lu Yunyi blinked his eyes, his face suddenly realizing.
These words were not only spoken to Mu Ying, but also to him.
As for who said it, Lu Yunyi guessed it should be the prince.
"Please rest assured, Lord Xu. We will definitely defeat the Kingdom of Luchuan when we go to the southwest!"

(End of this chapter)

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