The most arrogant in history

He Zhongshu was very optimistic and said with a smile:

"Tianxian Chanyu has been crippled by us and has no power to fight back. If he attacks our Beihai camp, it would be like sending us cattle, sheep and horses.

Although our Beihai camp has only 2,000 people, we have advanced weapons and every one of them is a sharpshooter or archer. With the help of the solidity of the castle, each of them can defeat a hundred enemies with one.

I guess nothing will happen in winter, and everyone will just stay in the castle, eating and drinking."

Ye Kun nodded: "In another two or three years, our Beihai Avenue will be connected and the transportation capacity will be enhanced. Then we can implement a rotation training system. Every year, we will send a group of veterans home and send a group of new soldiers here to achieve long-term garrison."

In fact, the Beihai Camp built by Ye Kun was equivalent to the border garrison of the Ming Dynasty.

There are still remnants of the Xiongnu, so the guards must exist.

A few years later, the national strength became stronger and the Xiongnu further declined, so it didn't matter whether the guards were kept or not.

At that time, the Beihai Camp might become a settlement of Chinese nomads.

Guan Yong asked, "Your Majesty, you said that we will build a railway here in the future. Is that true? How much money will it cost to build it?"

"of course it's true."

Ye Kun smiled: "Our current steel production is frighteningly large, tens of millions of pounds per year. Coal production can also keep up. The civilian and military cannot consume so much steel, and it is completely fine to use it to build a few railways. The main problem is that we don't have enough population and workers."

"Didn't we bring back millions of laborers from Jiaozhi and Tianzhu?"

"More than one million, two million."

Ye Kun chuckled, "If we hadn't introduced so many foreign workers, we would have built a lot of buildings in the country, and the people would have rebelled long ago. But most of these workers went to coal mines, iron mines, quarries, cement plants, brick kilns, textile factories, and some are building canals. It's far from enough."

He Zhongshu said: "We have also captured more than 100,000 Xiongnu this time. We can send them to work."

Ye Kun sighed softly: "Hundreds of thousands of people, what's the use!"

This time, less than 200,000 Huns were captured, including men, women, young and old.

The resettlement of these people is also a problem.

Guan Yong meant to send all the men to mine.

Older women were sent to military laundry rooms or imperial ranches.

As a young woman, just share it.

But Ye Kun couldn't bear it.

Those captured Huns declared themselves to be Chinese and were willing to submit to China and accept its management.

Therefore, Ye Kun adopted a compromise method. He sent Xiongnu families with their children to various parts of the country, settled them randomly, gave them houses and land, let them learn farming, and incorporated them into the Chinese ethnic group.

Young Xiongnu men were sent to factories and mines to serve for three years before being assigned to other positions.

In fact, many Hun men died in this battle, and most of the remaining people were women, children and the elderly.

He Zhongshu suddenly smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if you don't have enough manpower, I have a plan."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "What's the plan?"

He Zhongshu said: "In the four counties of Hexi and the Chang'an area, due to trade with the West, there are a large number of Western slaves who have been purchased by our wealthy families and become domestic servants.

In the four counties of Hexi and Chang'an, there are now at least 100,000 Western slaves, all of whom are strong young men, distributed everywhere.

The emperor can issue an order to prohibit the people from buying slaves of other races, and ask everyone to hand over all the slaves of other races! In this way, we will have an extra 100,000 laborers at once."

Ye Kun shook his head: "I was just about to encourage the people to buy slaves from other races to improve productivity. Once the people are prohibited from buying slaves from other races, the impact on production will be huge."

"Then we will buy back these foreign slaves from the people."

"Buying back is also an option. But how much is one alien slave?"

"About twenty taels of silver, no more than thirty taels at most."

"I will discuss this with the nine ministers when I return."

Ye Kun thought this was a good suggestion.

Anyway, there is money in the treasury and it cannot be spent.

This money was all looted from Jiaozhi and Tianzhu by the expeditionary soldiers, or earned through trade, so Ye Kun had no regrets spending it.

The domestic labor shortage is still very serious.

The most cost-effective investment would be to exchange the dead money in Ye Kun's hand for living people.

After marching for more than twenty days, they arrived at a small stone town.

There is a big river that flows around the city.

Ye Kun calculated based on the longitude and latitude coordinates that this should be the Ulaanbaatar area in later generations.

The guide and the prospecting team reported that coal mines had been discovered here, but the quality of the coal was not very good.

Ye Kun rode his horse around and said to He Zhongshu:

"This place is only two thousand miles away from Yinshan Mountain. There are mountains, water, and coal resources. We can build a permanent city here. In the future, this place can be used as a new capital of the grassland to control the grassland. It is not too far to build a railway from the north of Yinshan Mountain to here. It is worth considering."

He Zhongshu had this in mind and said:

"Your Majesty is right. We Chinese are not good at nomadic and grassland guerrilla warfare. To control the prairie, we must have a big city. This place is located in the middle of the prairie, and the location is very suitable."

Ye Kun nodded and said:

"I will leave you 20,000 troops. Start building the city right away. Start with the first phase of the project. Stop construction after winter comes, and start the second phase next year. In three years, you need to build this place so that it can accommodate more than 100,000 people. From now on, you will use this place as the center of the grassland and work here."

Building materials are hard to come by on the prairies.

It is not easy to find soil for building rammed earth cities.

Fortunately, there are mountains here and rocks can be mined.

If we transfer another batch of cement and wood and divide the construction period into three years, we can still build a big city.

He Zhongshu nodded: "In that case, I will stay here and not see the emperor off. In the summer months, I will build the inner city and then build the outer city next year."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Very good, you can start construction immediately, no need to send me. I will send you supplies and food continuously."

Stone City was named the Northern Capital of the Grassland by Ye Kun.

Ye Kun stayed here for seven days, participating in the overall planning of the Grassland Northern Capital and the construction budget.

He Zhongshu's 40,000 troops, plus the 20,000 troops left by Ye Kun, a total of 60,000 people, immediately began construction, digging foundations, laying stones, and were busy.

Seven days later, Ye Kun, Guan Yong and others continued their journey.

Here in the northern capital of the grassland, Ye Kun left behind a large number of cattle and sheep, as well as military rations and weapons, and thousands of carts.

Wen Axiu smiled and said, "The emperor is building a big city on the grassland, which is another big move. I wonder if Lord Wu Qiong will have any objections if he knows about it?"

Construction costs money.

As soon as you spend money, Wu Qiong will jump out.

Ye Kun smiled and said, "I am building this massive project for the sake of the country and the people, not for myself. So, even if Wu Qiong objects, I am not afraid."

Guan Yong frowned and said, "Your Majesty, is this Wu Qiong very difficult to deal with? When I return to Zhuo County, I will find an opportunity to kill him with a single blow!"