Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 318 A strong man from a small country

"In this summer tax, a total of 5.46 million shi of rice and wheat, 320,000 pieces of silk, and 400,000 guan of treasure money were collected."

In mid-September, when the harvest of grain had begun outside the customs, the summer tax situation had just been calculated inside the customs.

Among the Imperial College, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting in the study room of the small courtyard, was holding the document handed over by the Ministry of Revenue. In front of him was Yu Xin, who was reporting on the situation.

As the four trusted civil servants of Zhu Gaoxu, Yu Xin, Xia Yuanji, Huang Fu, and Sun Cheng were undoubtedly able to enter and leave Taixue in emergencies.

Looking at the book, Zhu Gaoxu spoke after a moment: "Compared with the summer tax in the 26th year of Hongwu, it is 708,000 dan higher, and the silk and treasure notes have also increased."

"Yes, the main contribution is from Shandong." Yu Xin answered and said:

"The officials in Shandong have done a good job in regulating the administration, and Uncle Hanzhou (Sun Cheng) has outstanding abilities. Therefore, the summer taxes on rice and wheat paid by Shandong this time accounted for 26% of this year's summer taxes."

"Oh?" Zhu Gaoxu was also surprised, and then he reacted and smiled: "It seems that there has been new progress in the field inventory in Shandong."

Hearing this, Yu Xin also raised the corners of his mouth slightly and raised his hands to bow: "Your Highness guessed it right. Although the quantity of cultivated land has not made much progress, the quality has improved a lot."

"In addition, many gentry, wealthy households, officials and subordinates who committed crimes were brought to justice, as many as 4,000 in number."

"But..." At this point, Yu Xin paused: "Recently, many people in the temple have accused Uncle Han Zhou of being too harsh in his criminal law. Although His Majesty has suppressed the news, many people among the people have criticized him. Compared with the righteousness of the Western Han Dynasty, he and Chen Ying were considered to be cruel officials of the dynasty."

"Chen Ying?" Zhu Gaoxu became interested and couldn't help asking: "What shocking things has he done that can compare with Sun Cheng?"

Sun Cheng purged many gentry and subordinates who had committed crimes in Shandong, and then expanded the scope, raising the price of land, and sent a large number of li chiefs and grain chiefs into the army, so that he got the name of a cruel official.

Although Chen Ying is Zhu Di's subordinate, what on earth has he done that can compare with Sun Cheng?

"Yesterday, Chen Ying went to court to impeach more than 40 officials, such as the minister Huang Guan and the editor Wang Shuying. He and the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Ji Gang, directly arrested them and imprisoned them. Before the trial of the third division, they were directly sentenced. Kill them, implicating hundreds of families and thousands of people..."

As soon as Yu Xin opened his mouth, Zhu Gaoxu laughed. He didn't expect that Chen Ying was quite good at using tricks to please Zhu Di.

There is no doubt that this group of officials are people who occupied official positions after the Jingnan Dynasty and did not do practical things. It does not mean that they cannot do practical things, but that they are unwilling to do practical things for Zhu Di.

Because of this, Zhu Di has tolerated them for a long time. This time Chen Ying impeached so many people, it was probably Zhu Di's instruction, but Ji Gang actually got involved. It seems that this matter is not over yet.

"If that's the case, it's not surprising."

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the chair with a smile on his lips.

"Shandong is too far away. They don't know the pain when the knife is not on them. But Chen Ying's knife cuts into their flesh every time, making them grin."

"But that's fine. They can focus on Chen Ying, and I can continue to prepare for the implementation of the new policy in the future."

After he finished speaking, Yu Xin said worriedly: "Having said that, Chen Ying's move is to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. The imperial court does not have so many talented people to fill official positions."

"That's true." After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu propped up his chin with his hand, thoughtfully.

The reason why he did not kill all those who obstructed the New Deal in one fell swoop was that he did not have enough handles, and the second was that he did not have enough officials to use.

Running a country is like cooking fresh food. If there are too many connections and no one can be selected to replace them, then the government will be shut down and trouble will easily occur.

There were many yamen in the Ming Dynasty, and each yamen had a different operating method. It would take several years for ordinary officials to master its operating methods. Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu could replace the most basic subordinate officials, li chiefs, and grain chiefs, but he could not replace them. Too many officials.

After all, the jobs of junior staff, li chiefs, and grain chiefs are too simple. As long as they are literate and can master basic arithmetic, they can complete their tasks well.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu was able to master the grassroots in Shandong so quickly, because he had too many people who could replace subordinate officials.

"Autumn taxes will be collected in one month. This year's autumn taxes must be collected, and provinces must not default."

Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Yu Xin and did not forget to explain to him, but Yu Xin also asked: "Will the tax deduction with banknotes continue this year? Now the imperial court has recovered more than 28 million banknotes in stock. "

"The old banknotes are destroyed and the new ones are kept temporarily. What is the price of the banknotes on the market now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yu Xin, and Yu Xin said without hesitation: "Each pass is equivalent to seven hundred words."

"That's right. The use of banknotes to offset taxes can be stopped in the future, but the court also has new policies to be promulgated in Shandong."

Zhu Gaoxu did not want to be someone who harvested the common people to replenish the national treasury. The treasure banknotes issued by Zhu Yuanzhang in the past did harvest too much wealth from the people, including not only the wealthy squires, but also the common people.

He didn't dare to say these words before, but now there is no need to say them.

No matter how much we say, it would be more enjoyable to reduce the pressure on the people.

"Starting the pilot project in Shandong, anyone who needs to use corvee labor will be paid at the daily wage rate of ten cents."

"The wages paid must be based on new money."

After Zhu Gaoxu said this, Yu Xin immediately responded: "The court wants to make new money?"

"Yes, this is the style and coin pattern of the new money." Zhu Gaoxu took out the coin pattern and three coins from the drawer next to his desk.

The coins still have the traditional Chinese idea of ​​a round sky and a square place. On the front are the four characters "Da Ming Tong Bao", on the back are the words "Yongle" above and below, and on the left and right there are three regulations: "One Wen, Ten Wen, and One Hundred Wen".

The reason why it is called a coin and not a copper coin is that the one hundred-penny coin is a silver coin.

"The quality of these three copper coins..."

As the Minister of Household Affairs, Yu Xin naturally understands the situation of popular coins on the market, and Zhu Gaoxu took out three Ming Dynasty Yongle Tongbao, whose quality can be said to be the best in history.

"The three coins each weigh one penny and one cent (4 grams). The silver and copper mixed in the coins are more than % of the coins."

"The authenticity of copper coins of such quality can be identified at a glance, and the profit is not high. Private coinage cannot afford it, and it is difficult to imitate it."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking about the situation of the three coins. After all, he was familiar with the proliferation of private money in the Ming Dynasty and had already been fully prepared.

The proliferation of private money in the Ming Dynasty was mainly due to the lack of control by the court and the instability of the currency system, which provided opportunities for pirates to make huge profits.

In addition, there are also official institutions that practice favoritism and malpractice, using government money furnaces to mint coins privately, thereby enriching their own pockets.

However, there are also many problems with private money. For example, private money is usually modeled on officially minted official coins, and the pattern, size, thickness, and weight are all close to official coins.

In addition, privately minted money is mostly a folk craft with crude craftsmanship and rough production. It is prone to quality problems such as irregular fonts and casting deformation.

The main reason why private money can spread is that the quality of official money is only so low, and the casting of official money is also scattered in different places, resulting in different craftsmanship.

The current Ming Dynasty Yongle Tongbao promoted by Zhu Gaoxu is different. All coins will be set up by the Ministry of Household Affairs and cast with the same technique, and the quality must be made according to the standard of more than 95% copper and silver.

Under such standards, it is impossible for private coins to imitate the Yongle Tongbao of the Ming Dynasty, because the cost is too high and it is easy to be seen through. It is not as comfortable as imitating copper coins from other periods.

"Based on this quality, I'm afraid no one would dare to forge private money."

Yu Xin looked at the three new coins. Not only did he like them in his heart, he was also very happy with the denomination design of the coins.

Based on the economic knowledge he had learned in the two years he and Zhu Gaoxu had spent together, he understood that only the imperial court could make enough profits by casting this kind of money, and the private sector simply could not make such a large amount.

In terms of the inflow of silver and copper ingots from the southwest and Japan, the Ming Dynasty was able to mint more than three million new coins every year, with half a percent profit from each coin.

By casting one hundred guan "Hundred Wen" coins, the court can make a profit of 5 guan. Although it is not as fast as cutting corners, the income that can be brought back with more than 3 million guan of new money every year is still considerable.

Compared with the imperial court, if those evil money dealers who minted private money among the people wanted to imitate it, they could only spend the same energy to harvest less than 30% of the profits of some old money. If the amount of minting is too small, it will not be possible to recover the original money.

After all, privately minting money is a serious crime. Many craftsmen's wages are in the tens or hundreds of guan. If they only earn a few or more than a dozen guan for casting a furnace of money, then they will have to wait until eternity to make money, let alone a new one. It's easy to notice when money is pouring into a place.

"How much money is your Highness prepared to mint?"

Although he already had a premonition in his heart, Yu Xin still asked just in case.

"Every year, all the silver and copper ingots obtained are minted into coins, and the old coins recovered are also recast."

When Zhu Gaoxu said this, Yu Xin frowned and said: "If this is the case, the profits will decrease. After all, the quality of old money is uneven."

"If the court expects to make money by casting money, it will be useless." Zhu Gaoxu smiled heartily, raised his hand and said:

“Take it from the people and use it for the people, take it from overseas and use it at home.”

"Only when good money drives out bad money can the folk currency system be less complicated."

"In addition, all kinds of old money will be preserved for future generations to admire."

"Yes." Yu Xin bowed in return. After all, Zhu Gaoxu had said so, and it was hard for him to refuse.

After discussing everything, he stood up, bowed and prepared to leave, but before leaving, he conveyed a message.

"When I came to the Imperial Academy, Your Majesty asked me to deliver a message to His Highness."

"Ok?"

Yu Xin bowed in shame, while Zhu Gaoxu was surprised.

"Your Majesty said, please don't forget your grandson. You should finish your work and return to Chunhe Palace as soon as possible."

Yu Xin conveyed Zhu Di's words, but it was obviously modified by him, because Zhu Di would not speak so elegantly.

"I forget that I'm a father now."

Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, and then he said with a hearty smile: "Don't worry, I will return to the Spring Palace to manage the government after this month. After all, the government affairs will be busy in the next two months." "Yes." Yu Xingxin returned the greeting and then exited the study. , walked out of the small courtyard.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu looked at his bedroom: "Everyone, come out."

As soon as he opened his mouth, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Yishiha and Hu Lun walked out of the study and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu motioned them to take a seat, and then turned his attention to Hu Lun: "The officialdom in Shandong is in turmoil, but the Confucius Mansion has not been affected at all?"

"Uncle Han Zhou also tried to arrest Kong Fu's sore feet, but their arms were severely broken and they were not able to implicate too many people. They only arrested some insignificant collateral descendants and could not implicate dozens of people."

Hu Lun's face showed regret, but Zhu Gaoxu was calm: "It's not surprising, if they didn't have the three skills, they wouldn't be able to stand up to now."

"But it doesn't matter, cats will always steal things, just keep an eye on them."

"In addition, the Sichuan side can also be arranged..." Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yi Shiha: "The money from the East Palace can be transferred to Hu Lun at any time. Don't let him tie his hands."

"I will teach you." Yishiha agreed, and Zhu Gaoxu also turned his attention to Hu Lun again: "How many people are there in Xichang now?"

"Six thousand seven hundred and forty-seven people." Hu Lun did not hesitate, and Zhu Gaoxu also ordered: "Jiangxi has to send people early as well. The Jiashen imperial examination is coming soon. They should have already started to select their children, so pay close attention."

"Yes!"

"Okay, all of you, please step aside."

After giving all the instructions, Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand for them to leave, wanting to be alone for a while.

After leaning on the chair for a long time, he came back to his senses and rubbed his brows, feeling that he was indeed a little too tired during this period.

"It'll be fine if you finish this busy period."

He comforted himself and then turned his attention to government affairs.

As time passed, the Ming army began to mobilize in the southwest, and such a large-scale mobilization of troops could not be hidden from the Annan Hu family who had spies in the southwest.

"Drive! Drive!"

Early the next morning, Tangqi, riding a horse from southern Yunnan, went south from Lang Son in the north into Thang Long (Hanoi) Prefecture. What he saw along the way was the developed Red River Delta plain and endless cultivated land.

In the fields, many short-statured people were as skinny as firewood and farming in the fields numbly.

Since Hu Jisao restored the surname Hu, claimed to be a descendant of Yu Shun of the Central Plains, and changed the country's name from the original "Dayue" to "Dayu", Annan fell into a very embarrassing situation.

Although the previous Dai Viet Tran clan was also harsh on the people, there were glorious moments after all.

The Chen family of Dai Viet followed the Li dynasty, not only attaching importance to the development of agriculture and water conservancy construction, but also imitating the system of the Southern Song Dynasty to implement the New Deal, vigorously building river embankments from the source of the river to the coast, and digging ditches to prevent river flooding and washing away farmland. It can also benefit from drainage and irrigation, so that rice can be harvested despite droughts and floods.

Not only that, the Chen Dynasty also learned from the farming system of the Central Plains and put the country's serfs and criminal slaves, as well as a large number of prisoners of war, into the Red River Delta plains to open up wasteland.

Due to the preference for the Song Dynasty, the Chen Dynasty's commerce and handicrafts were developed, and the imperial examination system of the Li Dynasty was continued, giving the middle and lower classes and small nobles of the Chen Dynasty the opportunity to rise in class.

The only bad thing is that after more than four hundred years of separation, they have developed their own culture, and the Chen Dynasty was the promoter of this movement.

Before the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese characters were the common script in the Annan region, and government documents, books, poems, and articles were all written in Chinese characters.

However, with the promotion of the Chen Dynasty, the "Nan" character originally created by the Annan people for the convenience of writing Chinese characters began to flourish and embarked on the development track of replacing Chinese characters.

Since they had their own writing, the Annan people also began to imitate the Central Plains dynasty in compiling their own history books. Therefore, after the fall of the Chen Dynasty, many Annan people still missed it, and this was what Hu Jiyou was afraid of.

Knowing that the remnants and officials of the Chen Dynasty despised him, Hu Jishen abdicated to his son Hu Hancang in the same year he usurped the throne, calling himself the Supreme Emperor. However, he still held the power of Annan.

Everyone knew what he was thinking, but they did not think that Hu Jisao could last long. The reason was that many of them had already fled to the Ming Dynasty, preparing to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to restore the country.

Of course, they decided not to restore the country for the sake of the Chen family, but for their own interests.

"These people have the nerve to say they are doing it for Dai Viet, but in fact they are not doing it for their own interests, Chongzhi!"

At noon, when the sentries passed through the streets of Thang Long City, the busiest city in Indochina, and brought the military information from Lang Son in the north to the palace, Hu Jima, who got the news, also began to curse.

Although he is over sixty years old, it can be seen from his facial features that he was quite handsome when he was young. The only drawback is that his figure is not outstanding. He is only about five feet tall, which makes him look a bit funny when wearing Ming Dynasty clothes. .

At this moment, he was sitting in the Qinzheng Hall, looking around from time to time, as if someone would come out of the hall at any time to take his life.

Originally, he had moved his capital to Thanh Hoa, but as the situation in the north worsened, he had to return to Thang Long City, which made him feel uneasy.

Looking at the Shenglong Palace, the information in his hand made him angry.

He denounced those princes and nobles as "insects", and there was a reason for all this.

After he usurped the throne, he was determined to change the Chen Dynasty's decadence and dark officialdom in his later years. However, the reality forced him to bow his head.

Faced with Annan's predicament, he first restricted the previous princes and ministers from plundering the people's fields and restricted them from using slaves and servants to forcibly develop the land.

In the entire Dayu court, except for the king and princess, no one could occupy more than ten acres of land.

In addition, various roads, prefectures, prefectures, and county officials set up agencies to survey and register land, and unregistered land was confiscated as "public land."

It can be said that his policies drew on the New Deals of previous dynasties in the Central Plains, but they were also hindered by the implementation of New Deals in previous dynasties.

The nobles not only opposed the implementation of this new policy, but also imposed additional taxes on the people, and lied to the people that the taxes were levied by King Hu Ji-yao, completely ruining Hu Ji-yao's reputation.

After his reputation was completely ruined, Hu Jiyou began to hunt down Chen Dynasty's remaining ministers. At the same time, he promulgated other new policies that were beneficial to people's livelihood, such as restricting princes and nobles from raising domestic slaves and maids, setting land taxes and commercial taxes, unifying Annan's internal weights and measures, and so on.

However, his reputation is already bad. No matter what the original intention of his New Deal is, it cannot stop the people from hating him.

Hu Jisao knew all of this very well, and he also knew what Daming in the north was thinking.

"Your Majesty..."

In the Qinzheng Hall, the only minister spoke cautiously. While waking up Hu Jiya, he could not help but say: "Now the Ming Dynasty has tens of thousands of soldiers in Lin'an and Longzhou, and our troops in Xuanguang and Langzhou combined It’s only 30,000, so do we need to mobilize the armies of Thang Long and Thanh Hoa to go north to fortify our defense?”

"Of course." Hu Jiyou's face was uncertain. He knew exactly what Daming was thinking.

Most of the descendants of the Chen family have been killed by themselves. If the Ming Dynasty attacks Dayu under the leadership of the Chen Dynasty's relics at this time, the army to the north of Dayu will obviously be unable to defend it, so additional troops must be sent.

"Seventy thousand soldiers and horses from Thang Long and Thanh Hoa were mobilized to support Tuyen Quang and Langzhou, and another 150,000 civilians were recruited to follow them north, and elephant soldiers were also mobilized to accompany them."

"When Chen Xingdao was able to defeat the Hu army of 500,000 people twice, I didn't believe that I couldn't do it!"

Hu Jisao was naturally wary of prying eyes from the Ming Dynasty, but since Annan's independence, he had fought against the Southern Han Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty, and even the Shengyuan Dynasty at its peak, and had won all the wars with them.

This kind of history is undoubtedly worth being proud of and learning from. If the Ming Dynasty really intended to seize Annan, it would have to send troops from Xuanguang and Langzhou.

As long as Lang Son holds on, the Ming army will have to turn to Bach Dang Giang to fight with itself.

Baiteng River, this river swallowed up the armies of the Southern Han, Northern Song, and Yuan Dynasties, and now it will also become the place where the Ming army collapsed.

"Your Majesty, do you want to send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to explain..."

"Explain what?" Hu Jisao interrupted the minister, and at the same time he bravely spoke:

"They thought that Gu Dayu would be easy to bully just after he founded the country, but Gu wanted to use his strength to tell them the truth."

"Seizing this opportunity, Gu wants to let the people know that Dayu's replacement of Dayue is a gift from heaven, and Gu is also a wise master given by God to the people."

Hu Jishen's eyes were blazing. He knew very well that he was betting by doing this. Once the bet was won, there would be no obstacles to the new policy he wanted to implement.

As for losing, he never thought about losing. After all, Dayu's national power was here. Compared with the Ming army that needed to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River, he had the right time, place, and people, so it was impossible to fail.

The three battles of Bai Tengjiang allowed this land to enjoy peace for more than four hundred years, and now he was about to fight the fourth battle of Bai Teng Jiang.

"No, Your Majesty. If a war breaks out, it will be very detrimental to both you and Dayu."

The minister advised Hu Jiya, but Hu Jiya knew very well that it was not whether he wanted to fight, but whether Ming wanted to fight.

"The war is not started by a single person, but by the group of sycophants in front of Chen who are fanning the flames."

Hu Jishao put his hands behind his back and stood on the golden platform looking down at the ministers: "Send envoys to tell the officials of the Guangxi Chief Envoys Department that we are dealing with the internal affairs of Dayu, and we won't bother the Celestial Empire to take action."

"Those insects who fled north are just the former Chen's sycophants. It is precisely because they bewitched the young emperor that the country became dilapidated."

He took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a little: "If Heaven gives Gu time, Gu himself will take care of them, and Dayu will still be a minister of Heaven."

"If the Celestial Empire is tough, then Gu Ye will never be afraid."

His eyes became firm, and his low figure seemed to be supporting millions of people in Yu at this moment, and his words were sonorous and powerful.

"If the Celestial Empire is determined to listen to the slanderous words of the traitors and invade Dayu, then Bai Tengjiang will be Dayu's gift to the heavenly army!"

(End of this chapter)