Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 173 State affairs are difficult
"Guangqumen Tonghui River Wharf recruits thirty laborers! Thirty pennies a day!"

"I me me!"

On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month of the second year of Tianqi, at Luomashi Street in the capital city, a man in silk and satin shouted, and dozens of laborers squatting on both sides of the street immediately surrounded him.

The weather in the first month of the month, the capital is only three or four degrees, and the breath is full of white smoke, and these laborers are only wearing thin cotton clothes.

There were a lot of people around the man in charge, he roared, and then he pointed to a few people. After gathering thirty people, he rushed towards the armor factory.

This scene appeared in the streets and alleys of the capital. Thousands of laborers went to the Tonghui River in Guangqumen, and then saw the Daxingying soldiers and horses escorting carts of money and food.

Those laborers put their hands in their sleeves, waiting for the officers and soldiers of the Daxing Camp to speak before they dared to carry them.

They all knew that this should be the military pay and rations sent to a certain place, and they also knew that a box of silver was money that they could never earn in their entire lives, but no one dared to think anything wrong.

At this moment, on the wharf of the Tonghui River, hundreds of merchant ships are mooring, and thousands of sails are berthing, but it is not as lively as before.

It is estimated that everyone knows that the imperial court will deliver money and food today, and the officials and subordinates of the canal notified in advance to clean up the site.

The general of Daxing Camp stood beside a carriage, talking and laughing at the people inside, as if some important person was sitting in it.

"Hey, what do you think this is waiting for?"

In the late Ming Dynasty, the atmosphere was open, and the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" clearly stipulated that the relationship between employers and employees, landlords and tenants was a transaction, not a master-servant relationship. Therefore, some laborers were not afraid of being held accountable. Ask with a smile.

"I'm probably waiting for the boat, but looking at the thousands of carriages, I guess there are a lot of things to be transported today." A Lifu responded with a pompous mouth.

"It's good to have more, if we have work to do every day, our life will be more comfortable." A Lifu said with a smile, and at this time someone started to riot.

Some laborers looked in the direction of the commotion, and it turned out that tall ships were coming from the Tonghui River.

The shape of these ships is somewhat different from the traditional ships of Ming Dynasty. They are narrower and longer, and the sails of the ships are replaced with hard sails (for walking on the river).

The laborers were discussing, and some soldiers of Daxingying were also discussing. Regarding this, Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in the carriage, looked at the armed merchant ship that he could not see launching.

"It's been in the water for half a month, and there is no problem at all. Daming's shipbuilder is really top-notch."

Zhu Youjian lamented in his heart the craftsmanship of Ming craftsmen in shipbuilding, and then asked Cao Huachun who was sitting in the groom's seat:
"Has the shipyard started new building?"

"Returning to Your Highness, the construction of sixty large ships has already started with dry wood, and the keels are being laid. The armed merchant ships with three thousand materials should be built in late March. Four, five, and six thousand materials still need to test the craftsman's ability." craft."

Cao Huachun responded to the inside of the car, and said by the way: "Long live used Feng Zhou's mortise and tenon joint technology to solve the connection problem of these large material ships."

"The connection problem is solved, and then we only need to solve the problem of the watertight cabin and the unloading of the artillery."

"The director of the shipyard told me that these three types of ships should be ready for sea trials in late May."

"Well, how is the Siamese teak drying in the shade?" Hearing that his royal brother used the connection method of sealing the boat to apply to the new type of boat, Zhu Youjian smiled and continued to ask.

"It started to dry in the shade in August last year. After peeling, there were [-] pieces of teak wood. When it was dried in the shade until the beginning of the month, there were still more than [-] pieces of teak left. It is estimated that after another seven months, there will be only [-] pieces of teak. .”

"Hmm..." Hearing that [-] teak wood can be dried in the shade to get [-] to [-] materials, this greatly exceeded Zhu Youjian's expectations.

Converted in terms of tonnage, one material is 0.325 tons, and [-] materials are more than [-] tons, which is much more than Zhu Youjian's estimate of more than [-] tons.

If an armed merchant ship with [-] materials can be developed, then it will be relatively simple to develop a sailing battleship with [-] to [-] materials.

The 1625-ton sailing battleship is [-] tons. In comparison, the ships of the Europeans in the Nanyang region are only armed merchant ships of about [-] tons, and no more than [-] Galen ships.

盖伦船又分为小型（100-400吨），中型（500-800吨），以及大型（900-1200吨）。

Therefore, as long as the five-thousand-material Daming sailing battleship is developed and launched, and it is successfully put into service, it will no longer be a dream for Nanyang to be the back garden of the Ming Dynasty.

Only twenty such sailing battleships are needed to dominate the east of Malacca.

If we take the Second Anglo-Dutch War [-] years later as an example, Ming only needs to configure [-] or [-] battleships and [-] cruisers for these [-] capital ships.

Then the total size of the fleet will reach a terrifying [-] ships, more than [-] artillery pieces, and [-] sailors.

In comparison, in the second Anglo-Dutch war 212 years later, the combined size of the two sides was only 32 warships, 14 arson ships, 21 communication ships, 9200 armed merchant ships, 4.3 artillery pieces and [-] guns. Sailors.

This is the wealth accumulated by Britain and the Netherlands for a century, and how long would it take for Ming Dynasty to build the [-] warships that Zhu Youjian had in mind?
As long as there is no problem with the technology, it only takes Tianjin Shipyard and Longjiang Shipyard to work hard, plus Siam's teak transportation is strong, and it will take up to five years to build this invincible fleet.

At that time, the east of the Cape of Good Hope and the west of America will all prostrate under the banner of the Daming Navy.

With these [-] warships as the main body, eight regional armadas can be divided.

At that time, the teak in the Indochina Peninsula, the rubber, gold, and spices in Nanyang, and the trade market in South Asia will all be dominated by the Ming family.

The benefits it can obtain will reach three million taels per year.

Although Zhu Youjian doesn't expect to maintain such a large fleet, a [-]% discount is still needed.

"Beep~~~"

While he was thinking this, all the ships of the Navy Sanwei arrived at the pier and began to lower the ship ladder.

"Okay, let's work!"

Seeing the boats approaching the shore, following the opening of the general of Daxingying, the governors of the more than two hundred imperial shops notified all the Lifus to start working.

Tens of thousands of Lifu began to work carefully at the wharf where hundreds of ships could berth, and loaded boxes of heavy silver and bags of grain onto the cargo ship.

At the same time, a cannon with a black door was also pushed out under the watchful eyes of the three guards of the navy.

They can't wait to start receiving the artillery, and at the same time push the artillery to the fixed muzzle.

This scene was seen by Zhu Youjian, and he couldn't help but shook his head with a smile, wondering how this group of guys would feel if they knew that they were only sitting on a supply ship.

Perhaps since Liu Daxia burned the blueprints of the treasure ship and Zheng He's voyage materials, the Daming navy no longer dared to expect to be able to command a large ship with three thousand materials.

Daming has the technology, but no blueprints. Zhu Youjian just provided the blueprints, and Zhu Youxiao summed up the differences between the two ships, and made them up by learning from each other.

Zhu Youjian was very happy watching the cannons being hoisted one by one and put on the gun positions, watching the silver grain being transported onto the ships, and watching the cargo ships leave with full loads.

He was not only happy with the shipping, but also the laborers on the dock.

In the beginning of spring, the capital city with a population of one million cannot provide many jobs, and most of the low-level people who came to the capital city came after the autumn harvest, preparing to earn some wages and go home in winter.

It's spring now, and it's not far from the spring planting, but there are not many work places for them in the capital.

Such as imperial dispatching, maintaining the loading of goods for a few days can allow a group of laborers to save a lot of money and go home before the spring planting.

"Maybe I need to solve the livelihood of the people under my feet first..."

Looking at those people who were obviously covered in sweat but talking and laughing after carrying the goods, Zhu Youjian was deeply moved.

He always thinks about the future, always thinks about Liaodong, Northwest, and Southwest. As for the Beizhili, Shanxi and other places under his feet, only the matter of land distribution has benefited the people.

But how much does it benefit?Maybe only one-third of the people.

If he can't solve the livelihood of the remaining two-thirds of the people, how can he solve the livelihood of the people in the entire Ming Dynasty?

Thinking of this, he pondered for a moment, wondering what could solve the livelihood of so many people.

First and foremost, the one that employs the most people must be the large infrastructure.

But the problem is that the infrastructure construction of the Ming Dynasty is often completed through the common people serving corvee.

Not only do the people need to bring their own dry food, but it also delays their busy farming time.

The corvee must be abolished in order to reduce the burden on the people.

But to abolish corvee, we need to face the opposition of the gentry all over the world.

Maybe the rich peasants, small and medium landlords, and poor peasants all thought it was a good thing, but for the gentry who were exempted from corvee, it was tantamount to depriving them of their benefits.

If the rich and the poor eat the same and drink the same, then what is there for the rich to be proud of?
Knowledge?

The knowledge that the rich are proud of is nothing more than gossip for ordinary people.

You talk about your Tang poetry and Song Ci, and I listen to my street novels.

You play with your landscape paintings, and I play with my coal graffiti.

It doesn't have to be a nobility.

For the gentry who do not have to serve corvee, the pain of seeing others in corvée is the joy when they feel that they are superior to others.

If everyone stopped serving corvee, their power would be tantamount to being gone.

How can we make the place honest?
Again, a nail must be left in the place, and this nail is the army.

Abolishing corvee is not the same as collecting taxes. To collect taxes, people have to investigate, calculate, and then collect taxes.

But what about the abolition of corvee?You only need to issue an imperial decree, the hard part is to see where it is implemented.

For private interests, there is bound to be a situation for local officials.

That is, the imperial court abolished corvee, but local officials continued to clamor that corvee still existed in order to collect money for exempting corvee.

This kind of corrupt officials are the ugly elements who actually blocked the court's benefits to the people.

What should be done to deter such a person?
It is natural to arrange a group of people to supervise them, and this group of people can do without soldiers, and the Fusi Jinyiwei in Nanzhen is enough.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian thought about it, and immediately said to Cao Huachun:

"Hua Chun, go back to the palace, and go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to find Brother Huang."

"Yes..." Hearing His Royal Highness's words, Cao Huachun drove the carriage away, and there were more than a hundred cavalry guards behind the carriage.

They guarded the sides of the carriage and escorted the carriage to the palace.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian couldn't see the style and style of a place at all with such a rush and ostentation.

He has always wanted to see the real life of the people in the city, but for now, every time he "closes to the people" represents an adventure.

There are many people who want to kill him, and Zhu Youjian can't bet that everyone is smart, because as long as there is a reckless person in this group, his private visit to people's livelihood may become his last day.

With this thought, half an hour passed slowly, and when they arrived at Donghua Gate, Zhu Youjian changed into a chariot and drove towards Qianqing Palace.

The abolition of corvee still needs to be planned first, rather than decided on a whim.

The abolition of corvee means the loss of free labor for local governments.

Zhu Youjian can naturally abolish corvee, but after the abolition, the cost of building water conservancy and roads, repairing city walls, county government offices, stone bridges, etc. will increase.

For example, for a stone bridge, corvee can be collected when there is corvée, and the government only needs to pay for materials.

It can even be said that if there are suitable raw materials locally, then only the cost of the tool and the material cost of the three-component clay are enough.

But if corvee is abolished, then labor costs will appear.

In some small counties, even if they only pay ten Wen a day, the one hundred people will be one tael of silver, and the thousand people will be ten taels of silver.

A road, a stone bridge, a canal...

The time required for these infrastructure constructions is calculated in months.

Even if only a hundred people are recruited to build a road for three months, an expenditure of ninety taels is required, and with tools and raw materials, the expenditure can even reach two hundred taels.

Two hundred taels of silver, how many taels can a small local county have in a year?
There are 1427 counties in the Ming Dynasty, and the coastal areas are okay. In some inland counties, the treasury silver is only two or three thousand taels of silver.

This may seem like a lot, but the daily maintenance of the yamen, the repair of the city wall, the repair of the roads in the city, etc., will cost more than half of the money.

Sometimes, the imperial court will ask the provinces to raise money, which is even more fatal for these counties.

For example, in the current southwest war, the five provinces themselves raised more than [-] million taels, all of which were based on the fact that the counties paid out money.

The financial system formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang guaranteed the local government's disaster relief to farmers and the local government's independent power.

The reason is that the Song and Yuan dynasties over-concentrated silver to the center, which led to disasters for local people with insufficient financial resources.

It is also because the local government of Ming Dynasty has kept enough money for its own operation, so it is rare to see the central government distributing money for disaster relief.

This system is very good, but it can't stand the late Ming civil servants, eunuchs, emperors, relatives and other forces messing around.

The system established by Zhu Yuanzhang has been turned into muddy water by them.

Letting the provinces raise money is essentially an act of reducing the risk of local counties resisting famines.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian must make some changes if he wants the local government to continue to operate after the abolition of corvee.

The first is to centralize a department, especially finance.

The Yumajian is a good example, but the concentration of one-third of the army in the world has achieved an astonishing tax revenue.

If the local government is banned from raising money, the local finances will become richer. As for various military operations, the central government will distribute the money.

Whether the central bank has enough money is the premise of whether the abolition of corvee is feasible.

While Zhu Youjian was thinking fast, his chariot also arrived at the gate of Qianqing Palace.

After passing the pass, he walked into the Qianqing Palace, entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and saw his own imperial brother who was sitting on the seat, frowning and processing the memorial.

"elder brother……"

As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, Zhu Youxiao put down the memorial, raised his head and smiled kindly at him and said:

"My brother is here, sit down and tell me if there is anything wrong."

"There are things, but..." Zhu Youjian sat on the chair that Wei Zhongxian asked someone to move, and said to his imperial brother:
"My brother wants to abolish corvee in the world and reduce the burden on the people."

"..." After saying a word, Zhu Youxiao fell silent.

The abolition of corvee means that the imperial court may increase the expenditure of millions of taels of silver every year.

Zhu Youxiao couldn't figure it out, why did his brother say such a thing?

"After the corvee is abolished, the imperial court will spend more, let's wait until Liaodong is pacified..."

Zhu Youxiao thought about it, and finally said this sentence in a more kind tone, telling Zhu Youjian in disguise that he did not want to abolish corvee.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian expressed another opinion.

"The abolition of corvee is not an unavoidable act. The abolition of corvee and the supervision of Nanzhen Fusi will only make the people grateful to their brother."

"Have you forgotten, brother? In the future, we will have to collect taxes. If corvee is abolished, people can spend more time farming at home and take care of the crops more carefully. Then the yield per mu will increase, and the court's tax will also be higher."

"Not to mention that after the popular support is gained, if miscellaneous items are to be collected in the future, when the people of the world face the gentry's bewitchment, once someone mentions this matter, will the people still stick together with the gentry?"

Zhu Youjian's words made some sense, but Zhu Youxiao said:
"The abolition of corvee is a good thing, but is the people's heart really on the emperor?"

"Brother, don't forget that when there was a great famine in Huaibei, the gentry only incited a little, and the hungry people almost rioted."

"If I abolish corvee, but the local officials say it is due to the ministers of the court, then the people will only be grateful to the ministers of the court, but not to you and me."

From Zhu Youxiao's point of view, he knows that the power of public opinion does not belong to his brothers right now.

Under such circumstances, even if the two brothers did something to benefit the people, they would be pushed to the ministers of the court. The people only felt that they were an upright official, and the emperor just listened to their opinions.

Of course, Nanzhen Fusi can publicize it, but will the local people believe it?

Do you believe in the words of your fellow countrymen, or do you believe in the words of the emperor Yinggou?

This is a difficult problem. Zhu Youjian thought it too simply, but Zhu Youxiao thought it more comprehensively.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian can only say in silence:

"My brother thinks well, but my brother thinks too well."

Zhu Youjian came to his senses. He thought that he had Jinyiwei, an army, and money, so he could handle civil servants.

But he missed one point, that is, people are not pawns, and ordinary people can also think.

In this era when public opinion is controlled by civil servants and there is a strong local complex, the people are more willing to listen to the words of officials from the same village, rather than a king of Qi who cannot be defeated.

"It's good that my brother can understand." Seeing Zhu Youjian listening to the persuasion, Zhu Youxiao also heaved a sigh of relief, then picked up a memorial and said:

"This is the memorial sent by Xiong Tingbi after he heard his brother said last time that he wanted to encircle and suppress the old slaves. Xiong Tingbi responded that things are difficult."

"My younger brother has protected him many times and told me that he is talented, but now he is in Liaodong, with [-] troops under his command, and he dare not confront the old slave..."

Zhu Youxiao paused and didn't continue talking, but what Zhu Youjian knew was that he began to doubt Xiong Tingbi's ability.

But this is not surprising. The last time Liaoshen was defended, it was Zhu Youjian who operated properly, and Xiong Tingbi's army was the only one among the troops who did not beheaded.

In addition to the defeat of Puhe in June last year, after careful calculation, Xiong Tingbi did not have any credit. The only credit that can be praised may be the rectification of Liaodong.

Zhu Youxiao doubted Xiong Tingbi. Zhu Youjian didn't find it strange. He also knew that Xiong Tingbi didn't know how to talk about scenes, and he spoke straighter, so people felt that he was timid.

But Zhu Youjian knew that the Liaodong Ming army was relatively strong at the moment, but the quality of the generals obviously couldn't keep up.

If he really wants to regain the lost ground, then Zhu Youjian must find at least four generals who can command thousands of people without chaos.

Zhu Youjian really couldn't find these four people.

Whether it is Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Yang Wenyue, Wu Aheng...

They have only led troops to fight for less than a year, and at most they are at the same level as Qi Yuanfu and the others. Commanding thousands of people, they still have to pay a heavy price to win against opponents like the old slave and the Eight Banners Lord.

Instead of losing tens of thousands of people and regaining the three places in Tieling, Zhu Youjian is still willing to wait until the Liaodong Guard is abolished before mobilizing troops.

Therefore, he could only continue to wipe his ass on the matter of Xiong Tingbi's straight talk, and persuaded him with kind words:
"Xiong Tingbi speaks frankly, and my brother knows it. The reason why he said things are difficult is because of the problems of soldiers and generals."

After all, Zhu Youjian looked at Wei Zhongxian: "Bring the Liaodong sand table I gave to the emperor."

"Yes..." Wei Zhongxian bowed in response, and then had someone carry the Liaodong terrain sand table that Zhu Youjian had made earlier.

After the sand table arrived, Zhu Youjian looked at the city and the flags of the troops, and after confirming that there was no problem, he got up with Zhu Youxiao and explained to him:
"Brother, please see that there are currently [-] soldiers in Shenyang and Liaoyang, and there are five battalions in each fort between the two cities, with [-] soldiers and horses."

"It seems that there are enough soldiers and horses on this line, but brother, don't forget, among the total of [-] soldiers and horses, there are less than [-] cavalry."

"The old slave has a lot of cavalry. On the northern front, this terrain is good for the old slave, not good for our army."

"After talking about the northern route, brother, look at the eastern route. Qi Yuanfu and other seven battalions on the eastern route have [-] people. After careful calculation, they have only trained for ten months, and there are still more than [-] of them who have not yet been equipped with armor. .”

"Of the [-] men in the Three Guards of Daning, more than [-] have not been equipped with armor. Among them, [-] cavalry are not enough for one man and one horse."

"The last time I said to take back Tieling and other places, it was just to block the civil servant's idea of ​​using troops in Hetao."

"If we really want to regain Tieling, at least we have to wait for the soldiers and horses in these three places to be equipped with armor and horses before we can really send troops to recover the lost land."

"..." After hearing what his younger brother said, Zhu Youxiao was silent for a while, and then sighed:
"Silver is used everywhere, and it is difficult to deal with horses."

"Brother, don't worry, I have asked the people below to transport the two million taels of silver from Liaodong grain sales to the capital, and it will eventually be included in the internal funds."

Zhu Youjian smiled and comforted his royal brother, and then said again:

"In addition, my brother is going to order them to go south to the Great Liuqiu after the warships of the three guards of the navy are built at the end of the year."

"I heard that there are many tall trees in the Great Liuqiu. If those trees are transported to the capital, the repair of the three main halls can begin."

"Really?!" Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up.

He wanted to restore the three main halls even in his dreams, but the cost of repairing the three main halls was as high as tens of millions of taels of silver, which he couldn't afford.

Now that Zhu Youjian said so, it is not surprising that he is happy.

After getting Zhu Youjian's confirmation, Zhu Youxiao looked at the sand table in Liaodong happily. As for Zhu Youjian, although he smiled on his face, he sighed in his heart.

The money for the restoration of the three halls is enough for Daming to train one hundred thousand new troops.

If it was him, he would never spend money on the three halls, because he is pragmatism.

But there is no way, in the eyes of people in this era, or my own royal brother, a palace without three halls is like a dynasty that has lost its destiny.

It is impossible for him to prevent the construction of the three halls, even if he does not pay money, Zhu Youxiao will use money from his own money to repair it.

All he can do is to allow the three guards of the navy to take the Great Liuqiu, and at the same time open up arable land in Liaodong and the Great Liuqiu, transport the available timber to Tianjin.

Thinking of this, he looked at Zhu Youxiao with a smile on his face, he could only shake his head in his heart, and sighed:

"The world is difficult..."

　Four o'clock and one more

　　
　
(End of this chapter)