Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 178: Mongol nobles serving as laborers
The military officers of the Guards were not subject to civil control.

Therefore, Zhang Cong, the magistrate of Yulin, did not have the power to command the imperial guards to guard Pang Guangyuan.

Pang Guangyuan has the power to handle military operations on the spot.

According to the order issued by Zhu Houzhao to the Imperial Guards, once the Imperial Guards went out of the border and encountered the Tartars, they should annihilate or defeat the small groups, and evacuate the large groups and hold their ground until reinforcements.

The strategic goal is to gradually erode the power of the little prince.

But now, this Mongolian warrior An Zak has only a thousand cavalrymen behind him, which is half the number of the Ming army.

According to the principle of small-scale gathering and annihilation, the Ming cavalry naturally showed no mercy. Their horses galloped directly over and they fired their short crossbows. In an instant, thousands of arrows were fired like a rain curtain.

Susu!

The short crossbow arrows with huge accumulated momentum were made of the newly manufactured steel of the Ming Dynasty. They could penetrate even double-layer plate armor, not to mention the leather armor of these Mongolian cavalry.

Therefore, there was the sound of countless crossbow arrows piercing the Tatar cavalry, and bright flowers of blood splashed.

The Ming cavalry are now equipped with short crossbows and scimitars, using crossbows for long-range combat and swords for close combat.

Of course, the distance here only refers to cavalry battles, not the so-called long-range battles.

Since the Ming Dynasty improved the steelmaking method, the production of high-carbon steel became possible, and machine tools with tool steel could be made using the machine tool drawings provided by Zhu Houzhao.

At the same time, the use of hydraulic machinery can make better crossbows and springs from tool steel, which has greatly improved the crossbow assembly, elastic structure and sight placement technology.

The short crossbow specially made for the Guards Cavalry is a masterpiece among them. It is helpful to take the initiative when confronting enemy cavalry. When the enemy draws the strong bow, a crossbow arrow can be shot to defeat the enemy.

Zak Zhong and the Tatar cavalry behind him were well-trained. After a rain of arrows, they did not collapse. Instead, they immediately drew their bows and shot, forming a dense rain of arrows to give the Guards a taste of their own medicine.

But at this time, the Ming cavalry had already rushed to the front of these Tartar cavalrymen, and could see their faces clearly. Therefore, except for a small number of guards who were hit by arrows, most of the cavalrymen had already swung their swords at these Tartar cavalrymen.

With one slash of the sword, the sharp high-carbon alloy steel was chopped off by the Ming cavalry and easily cut off the head of a Tartar cavalryman, sending it flying into the sky.

The strong one took advantage of the inertia and chopped a Tartar cavalryman's waist with his thick-backed knife, cutting both the man and the horse in half, leaving only half of the man and half of the horse standing in place, bleeding!

Zak was stunned, wondering what kind of crossbow blade this was that could pierce armor and chop people like mud!
More than 2,000 Ming cavalrymen surrounded Zak Zhong's cavalry in a forked manner and killed his outer cavalry. Zak Zhong could only fight and retreat with his own cavalry.

The Ming cavalry still held on. If the cavalry under the Zak clan fled in a certain direction, countless crossbows would be fired in that direction to harvest the lives of the Tatar cavalry.
If the Zak clan wanted to break through the Ming cavalry, the Ming cavalry would not hack them, but would directly throw a row of thunder bombs at them. Iron beads, iron spikes, arsenic and other objects exploded and flew everywhere as the gunpowder in the thunder bombs exploded, directly blowing these Tatar cavalrymen all over their bodies, and they fell to the ground crying for their parents along with their horses!

In just half an hour, the Zak cavalry completely collapsed and retreated in panic, with some even falling off their horses.

Except for a few Tatar cavalry who managed to escape, most of the Tatar cavalry were taken prisoner, even Zak Zhong himself was taken prisoner.

Zhang Cong had been watching the battle from the spot. He really wanted to say that this was actually a looting and killing of the Tartars by the Ming cavalry. After Yongle, it was almost always the Tartars who looted and killed the Han people, and now the Ming Dynasty could also let the Tartars taste the feeling of being looted and killed.

But Zhang Cong had to admit that these Tatars were very poor. Even the captured Tatar nobles did not seem to be dressed very well, not to mention the ordinary Tatars and slaves at the bottom.

However, although Zhang Cong lamented their poverty, he would not be merciful to them. After all, these people were poor, but many of them were ruthless when it came to looting and killing.

Regardless of who they were, as long as the captives had committed the crime of looting and killing Han people, they were driven to the newly opened mines to perform labor for a period of ten years. After ten years, their life or death would be determined based on their degree of education.

Other herdsmen were also made to work and received educational courses arranged by the government.

The primary method of education was to speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty and change customs, then learn Confucian etiquette, and finally express willingness to serve the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty as their master.

Only in this way can one be pardoned or become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why these people were taught Confucian etiquette was naturally because Confucianism was very good at grinding away a person's bloodiness and creating a person's dullness. It would be easier to rule them if these herdsmen were turned into docile sheep.

This is naturally different from the Han education method in Yulin City. According to Zhu Houzhao, the Han people of the Ming Dynasty no longer need to focus on moral education and Confucian education, but should gradually open their wisdom, so they should learn a variety of knowledge; and the people who have just joined the Ming Dynasty should naturally learn to respect teachers and the way of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, so that they will no longer have the heart to kill.

The children of herdsmen who had not committed crimes against the Han people of the Ming Dynasty were also gathered together to receive unified Han education.

Confucian scholars were responsible for imparting Confucian etiquette and Neo-Confucian knowledge to them, teaching them how to be loyal to the emperor, and helping them change their customs and habits, so that they could be completely assimilated into the Han Chinese.

"This is your last name. Your last name is Shi now, because you and your descendants must be as loyal to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty as a rock! Your name is Shi Biao! Remember it? Read it again. Your name is Shi Biao!"

Even the names of these herders will be changed.

But these herdsmen were not unacceptable because of this. On the contrary, they became very active and serious in accepting Confucian education and sinicization. Because, the county magistrate had said, only in this way could they be qualified to become the true citizens of the Ming Dynasty, and only by becoming the true citizens of the Ming Dynasty could they own pastureland.

This is a power that only the people of the Ming Dynasty can possess.

These herdsmen on the grasslands and the farmers on the cultivated land are naturally the same, and they all value land the most.

Therefore, the herdsman named Shi Biao actively accepted Confucian education, began to speak Chinese and learn Chinese customs.

As far as he knew, several talented herdsmen had obtained their own ranches from the county government, and from now on the sheep on these ranches would no longer belong to the slave owners but to themselves.

Because Shi Biao had often come into contact with and traded with Han people in border towns, he had learned some Ming official language and recognized some Chinese characters, and he accepted them quickly. As a result, he soon became a citizen with his own pasture.

Since Shi Biao got his own pasture, he began to herd his sheep actively and diligently. He was very happy to become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty and was also very happy to have such a life now, because in this way, he would no longer have to be a slave, and he could have his own wealth and be protected by the Ming Dynasty court.

For many lower-class herdsmen and slaves who were once oppressed by the Mongol nobles, they now have some sense of being human.

The Yuan people like Zak who had committed crimes were naturally not so lucky. Now they have been assigned to labor service. They will wear special labor clothes and be arranged by the government to do the dirtiest, most tiring and most dangerous work in designated mining areas. And unlike migrant workers, they do not receive wages and must work more than ten hours a day.

They have to continue this high-intensity work for ten years.

Zak Zhong couldn't stand this kind of abuse. He thought that the Han people were really kind and would not kill him. But now he had to admit that the Han people were not kind but were more cruel than before. They could kill him with just one knife, but now they made him work day and night like a slave. This was really a life worse than death!
"Pah! Hurry up, don't dawdle!"

Because the Han Chinese old man Jia was too old to do physical work in the mine, he became the mine supervisor. He was responsible for supervising the work of these Yuan criminals every day. At this time, he whipped Zhak Zhong on the back, leaving a bloody mark on his back, and he grimaced in pain.

But Zhak Zhong was now helpless against the Han Chinese old man Jia, for he was no longer the former Yuan Dynasty Meng'an. He also knew that if he disobeyed, the guards on the high slopes on both sides would hack him to death on the grounds of treason. The dead bodies piled up in the ditch opposite were the bodies of Yuan Dynasty criminals who were unwilling to perform labor and attempted to escape.

Zak didn't want to die. Fear of death is human nature, and he was no exception. He could only endure the torture and continue working.

But what made the Zak people collapse was that these Yuan criminals had even more unbearable torture.

Zak Zhong didn't know how the Han people came up with such an idea. They would regularly take the captured Yuan people to the largest square in the county, where his former slaves would criticize him or listen to the Han people in the border towns crying about how their families were killed by the Yuan people.

Zak is becoming more and more afraid of this kind of thing. At first, he was very angry that these slaves dared to scold him, but later he became afraid of these slaves. Now he even feels a little guilty. He now begins to think of himself as a sinner and a demon who owes a lot of blood debts.

Therefore, in the end, when the supervisor continued to whip Zak Zhong, Zak Zhong had become numb, and his original idea of ​​gathering some Yuan criminals to kill the supervisor and escape was obliterated in his mind.

Like Zhak Zhong, other Yuan criminals had lost their former vitality after being cursed by the victimized slaves and Han family members and subjected to heavy labor. They became dull and numb, like walking corpses, working and eating, and working again every day.

In any case, these Yuan criminals made up for the shortage of labor in Yulin City, and a large amount of iron ore was produced within less than half a year after the city was built.

At the same time, the progress of repairing the official road from Yulin City to Datong was also greatly accelerated.

In September of the fourth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao prepared to set off for Datong.

On the surface, the little prince did not immediately plunder the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, but according to intelligence provided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the little prince's troops were gathering in secret, which made Zhu Houzhao even more worried that the little prince would make bigger moves.

Therefore, he could not just wait in the capital for the little prince's action, he had to take the initiative.

(End of this chapter)