Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 346 Five Years of Yongle

Coconut trees sway and waves crash onto the shore...

At the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the people of the Ming Dynasty were already preparing to welcome the New Year, a coastal town somewhere in Nanyang was also preparing all kinds of things they could collect to celebrate the New Year.

A Chinese-style town stands on land in the northeastern part of a bay. Although there is no city wall, the hundreds of huge warships in the bay are like a Great Wall on the sea, which is insurmountable.

On the shore, women and children were preparing paper-cutting to welcome the New Year, while the men were shirtless, holding tools, and enthusiastically repairing various facilities such as roads, docks, and canals in the town that benefit the people.

Walking on a hill not far from the town, Zheng He looked at the town named Luzon by the imperial court, followed by a fat man in his forties.

"Although Luzon has a large population, your development is still too shallow."

Zheng He spoke slowly, and the man behind him also said with shame: "You are right. Mainly, everyone just regards this place as a place to do business. They want to go home after making money in the future, so they don't bother to cultivate farmland. There is no food in the city." Most of them are purchased from Guangdong, Guangdong, Siam and Champa.”

"But it's different now. Since the imperial court wants to develop here, if the official is willing to serve as a front-line soldier for the imperial court, he must manage this place well."

The only person who dared to say that he would personally govern Luzon was Xu Chailao, the wealthy man in Luzon who was appointed by Zhu Gaoxu.

Xu Chailao was a native of Jinjing, Jinjiang, Fujian Province. He went to work in Luzon in his early years. Later, when he gradually became wealthy, he was known as the richest man in Luzon. He was also elected as the leader of the local Chinese by local overseas Chinese.

As in previous years, the Ministry of Household Affairs took the lead in opening this year's meeting.

The reputation of Zheng He's voyages to the West has long been spread from all directions, and the capture of Nanyang Pirate King Chen Zuyi shocked Nanyang even more.

Time passed little by little, and soon the sound of firecrackers sounded all over the world.

You must know that he is just a businessman and never thought that one day he would be promoted to a scholar.

Not just him, it can be said that most people in the court have their eyes on Guo Zi.

"In addition, I will leave 600 craftsmen to help you build various factories such as cement yards, iron smelting yards, and lumber yards, and plan the town."

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs.

The current Ming Dynasty can truly consider Nanyang and the South China Sea as its own back garden, and everything east of the Strait of Malacca is controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

"Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, has something to report!"

"I am so grateful!" Xu Chailao felt indescribable when he heard that he could actually see the emperor and the prince. He quickly bowed to Zheng He, and he wanted to govern Luzon as soon as possible.

However, the population outside Guanwai and Shandong is only more than 7 million, and the population of other provinces is more than 60 million.

Seeing his loyal look, Zheng He felt relieved and said comfortingly: "When I return to Nanjing, I will ask the court to transfer a thousand officials and two thousand craftsmen to go south. You can also write to your relatives and friends." Friends, let them migrate to Luzon.”

"When I sail to the West next time, if Luzon can be self-sufficient, I will pick you up personally and take you to the capital to meet His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Last year, there were households in the world..."

"Sing"

Zheng He reminded him openly and secretly, and Xu Chailao also knew it well, so he bowed and said: "Don't worry, I have mobilized the people of Luzon to send letters to relatives and friends in their hometowns to go south to Luzon."

This seems to be no problem, but as long as you look through the Yellow Book carefully, you will know that the new population is mainly concentrated in Shandong and outside the customs. The new population in Shandong and outside the customs alone has reached 220,000, accounting for more than 30% of the world.

Zheng He talked about his arrangements after leaving, and at the same time said to Xu Chailao: "Luzon is full of waste, so I can't take you north to the capital to report on your work this year."

"What you have to do is hire natives to reclaim wasteland and make Luzon self-sufficient as soon as possible."

"You don't have to worry about the army. Jiang Gui will help with training. Although three thousand people are not many, they are enough to help you sweep across the main island of Luzon and advance south step by step."

The overwhelming sound of firecrackers seems to announce the arrival of the fifth year of Yongle in the world.

Although in the eyes of the ministers, most of these places were unproductive, in Zhu Gaoxu's view, this was undoubtedly a further manifestation of the Ming Dynasty's national power.

"News has been sent from various national embassy offices that I will probably lead the fleet to leave Luzon after the Lantern Festival."

"Now Luzon doesn't have to worry about money, food, soldiers and horses. The only thing missing is population."

Compared with last year, the population increased by more than 800,000, and the cultivated land increased by more than 16 million acres.

Guo Zi began to report on the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs last year, which showed that the population reached more than 71.24 million people, and the cultivated land reached more than 520 million acres.

Another year has passed. In the past year, the Ming Dynasty mainly established two Xuanwei bureaus in Luzon and Jiugang, as well as 22 vassal offices in Nanyang, recruited 32 city-states as chieftains of the Ming Dynasty, and strengthened the gained control of the Xifan region.

When the shouts of "Long Live the Mountain" sounded in the Fengtian Hall, all the officials were still wearing court uniforms as in previous years, and Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di were wearing imperial robes.

Under his guidance, Xu Chailao also roughly figured out what the imperial court meant.

When he learned that Zheng He was going north, Xu Chailao also prepared generous gifts with overseas Chinese in Luzon early. However, he did not expect that this gift would get him an official position as Luzon's ambassador.

Especially when Zheng He said that the imperial court would soon ship 100,000 shi of grain to help Luzon with its early construction, Xu Chailao understood even more how much the imperial court cared about Luzon, and he also thought about how to seize the opportunity this time. Chance.

However, 200,000 of the population growth came from the recruitment of the Bohai and Nanyang Xuanwei Divisions, and the natural increase in population was only 600,000.

"That's good." Zheng He nodded, and then chatted with Xu Chailao about some local things, such as how to build, how to open up wasteland, how to build a city and move it north and south, etc.

Even though he had followed Zheng He to govern Luzon City for two and a half months, he still felt a little unbelievable in his heart.

As long as the customs is settled and a Western private trade zone is established, Ming Dynasty can sit in the Strait of Malacca and slowly collect money.

"Crackling——"

"Prelude!"

"Long live your Majesty, long live long live..."

"But don't worry, Jiang Gui of Nanhai Guard will be stationed there and build a military camp."

Now that the south side has settled down, it’s time to wait for the north side and the interior to get back on track.

"You don't have to worry about food after the migration. The imperial court will give each of them 20 dan of food to open up wasteland, which is enough for them to open up wasteland for three years."

According to this ratio, it stands to reason that the natural increase in population in the world should be around 2 million, and no matter how low it is, it will not be less than 1.5 million.

"The longer it is delayed, the more people will be hidden..."

Sitting on the golden platform, Zhu Di looked at the "Yellow Album" in his hand while judging the situation, and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu from time to time.

After he finished reading, Guo Zi had almost finished talking about the issues of population and cultivated land, and at the same time began to report on the tax situation.

"This year, the summer grain is exempted. Therefore, the world's taxed grain is more than 3,000 and 400,000 dan, 67,200 pieces of cloth, 325,000 jin of silk and cotton, and more than 40,000 and 720 jin of cotton velvet."

"Thirteen thousand two hundred taels of gold, more than 975,300 taels of silver, and more than 1.82 million taels of copper."

"There are more than 2.4 million pieces of miscellaneous, commercial tax, mining, salt, and tea, and there are 120 pieces of iron, lead, silk, silk, silk, satin, cloth, cotton, etc. More than sixty thousand strings."

"According to calculations by the Ministry of Household Affairs, last year's grain income was more than 3,000 and 400,000 dan, and other various types of income were more than 7,160,000 dan."

"Last year, we spent more than 32.6 million shi and money of 7.25 million guan. We took more than 2.2 million shi from the old treasury and 90,000 guan of money."

Guo Zi mentioned taking the old treasury, and the old treasury was the money and grain left by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Among them, the grain is replaced with new grain every year, and the court uses old grain and takes out the old warehouse, which means that the overall fiscal expenditure of the court last year was negative.

This is not surprising. After all, even if the finances were normal every year during the Yongle period, the balance would only be two to three million, not to mention that Zhu Dixie exempted the world from summer grain last year.

As soon as the summer grain was withdrawn, the imperial court lost nearly five million shi in revenue, so it would be strange not to withdraw from the old treasury.

The ministers were silent. Upon seeing this, Zhang Yu from the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion took the initiative to report on the situation of the army's grain harvesting in the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion.

Although Zhang Yu currently teaches at the National Defense University, he still needs to attend important court meetings such as the Great Court Meeting.

In his report, Juntun Seed Food also had a negative expenditure of 600,000 dan last year.

With the end of his report, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty became clear at a glance, but even people like Xie Jin did not dare to criticize last year's finances after hearing this. After all, last year they actually saved summer grain.

Seeing that no one criticized the finances, the other five ministries began to send messages one after another, and the ministers listened quietly.

After all the six ministries and six governments had reported important matters, Zhu Di said: "You should know better than me how things went last year."

"You should also be very aware of the changes in the situation in various provinces in the past few years."

When Zhu Di said this, the ministers' hearts trembled.

"Among them, the people of Shandong not only live a comfortable life, but also pay more and more taxes to the court. Even if they exempted summer grain last year, they still paid nearly four million dan, nearly 1.5% of the court's taxes."

“It’s self-evident how effective Shandong’s New Deal is.”

"Therefore, I am going to promote the New Deal to the south, and I have chosen the place where the New Deal will be..."

Zhu Di paused deliberately, causing the ministers to nervously grasp the wat tablet in their hands.

"Sichuan!"

When the place for the implementation of the New Deal was selected, officials in Jiangnan and Huguang breathed a sigh of relief. However, Xie Jin, a bachelor of the Imperial Palace, exchanged a vague glance with Yang Shiqi and others.

Sichuan, isn't that the place where the prince sent Jian Yi down?

"I have transferred 30,000 subordinate staff and teachers to Sichuan. Sichuan will implement the new policy starting from June this year."

He finished talking about the arrangements for Sichuan's new policy, but Xie Jin and others heard something fishy.

They did not make any noise, but followed the officials and shouted long live the mountain.

Seeing that the ministers did not respond, Zhu Di lost interest.

Upon seeing this, Guo Zi immediately took a step forward and discussed this year's quota.

"I would like to ask Your Majesty, will this year's quota be the same as last year's, or will it be re-established?"

"The quota will be collected according to last year, and there will be no changes for the time being." After Zhu Di said this, he looked at Zhu Gaoxu and saw that he had no objection, so he stood up.

"Retreat from the imperial court..." "May your Majesty be in peace..."

The Minister of Honglu Temple had quick eyesight and quick hands. When he saw Zhu Di getting up, he immediately announced his withdrawal from the court. The ministers sang salutes one after another, while Zhu Di took Zhu Gaoxu to the Qianqing Palace for a family banquet.

However, after they left, several academicians from the palace gathered together, and everyone frowned as soon as Xie Jin opened his mouth.

"That Jian Yizhi (piaozi) voted for the East Palace long ago, otherwise His Majesty would not have failed to appoint a new chief envoy this time."

Xie Jin's words made everyone frown and nod. After all, when Shandong implemented the New Deal, Zhu Di abolished the chief envoy of Shandong and let Sun Cheng, the chief envoy of Liaodong, serve as concurrently.

Now that Sichuan is going to implement the New Deal, even if Sun Cheng is not sent there, a more senior civil servant from Bohai should be sent there. How can it be possible for Jian Yi to stay behind?

With this kind of behavior, it can only be said that Jian Yi surrendered to the East Palace early.

"According to the number of subordinate staff and instructors mentioned by His Majesty just now, Sichuan's new policy will probably be implemented very quickly."

"Once the Sichuan New Deal is successful, where will Your Majesty and His Highness choose as the place to implement the New Deal?"

Hu Guang asked a question, but Yang Shiqi on the side heard the words and said: "Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, or the north and Huguang."

"Yes!" Xie Jin agreed very much and explained: "It is too difficult to implement the New Deal in the three provinces of Jiangnan. Fujian is unprofitable. The only ones are Shanxi and Huguang, but I prefer Huguang."

"Except for Shanxi and Shandong, the other provinces in the north are dominated by military camps. They are vast and sparsely populated and cannot implement the New Deal fast enough. Shandong has already implemented it, so it is better to take action against Shanxi and Huguang."

"So, we don't have to worry too much." After hearing this, Hu Yan analyzed, and Yang Shiqi said: "The farmland in our hometown should be resolved as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary problems in the future."

After his words fell, everyone nodded, and then followed Da Liu out of the Fengtian Palace.

After a while, the entire Fengtian Hall became deserted.

Compared with the deserted place here, the Qianqing Palace is very lively.

Zhu Zhanhe, who was four years old, sat in Zhu Di's arms. Zhu Di fed Zhu Zhanhe with a spoon. Queen Xu next to her was still holding a little boy who was less than one month old.

This couple is enjoying the joy of being grandparents, and the little boy they are holding in their arms is Zhu Zhanqi, born to Zhu Gaoxu and Donggong Zhang Fengyi.

Although the second son of his predecessor, Zhu Zhanqi, was a rebellious son, Zhu Gaoxu did not have so many taboos.

If he really had so many taboos, he would have dealt with his eldest nephew in advance.

How a son is doing depends mainly on how the father teaches through words and deeds.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu said to Zhu Di: "Dad, don't dote on He'er."

"Ah?" Zhu Di raised his head and was surprised. After realizing it, he immediately taught him a lesson: "How do you call this doting? This is how I raised you when you were a child."

"Grandpa, I still want to eat." Zhu Zhanhe spoke at an inappropriate time, calling himself "I" one after another, which made Zhu Gaoxu speechless and wanted to slap his forehead.

"He'er, you can call yourself me or Gu, don't imitate your grandpa."

Empress Xu smiled and taught Zhu Zhanhe, but Zhu Zhanhe looked at Zhu Di aggrievedly, and Zhu Di immediately said cheerfully: "It's good to use me. My father used me before."

"But later, grandpa changed his name." Zhu Gaoxu was unable to explain, but Zhu Di glared at him and said, "We'll wait until you become emperor. Anyway, I am here, so I can call you whatever you want."

"Okay, you have the final say." Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to chat wordlessly with Guo Yan and Queen Xu.

Not long after, when Zhu Yuying and her sisters arrived, Zhu Gaoxu also greeted them respectively, and then continued to eat.

Zhu Di originally wanted to say that Zhu Gaoxu only knew how to eat, but when he thought that Zhu Gaoxu's figure was more proportionate than his own, he was embarrassed to say it at the moment.

He continued to coax Zhu Zhanhe to play, calling him "good grandson" every time, which made Zhu Gaoxu's ears tingle and his eyelids sore.

Fortunately, the family banquet ended quickly, and soon came the performance of the palace band.

Just like last year, several songs and dances were performed in harmony, but this year there was no one sitting next to Zhu Gaoxu, the good brother who coveted the dancer.

Although Zhu Gaoxu always wanted him to leave, after he actually left, he still felt a little empty in his heart.

"Your Highness is in a bad mood?"

Guo Yan saw that Zhu Gaoxu was in a bad mood, and even after asking specifically, he did not forget to report a happy event to him: "I didn't have time to tell His Highness today, because Wang Fengyi and Liu Fengyi are overjoyed."

"Huh?" Zhu Gaoxu didn't expect that there would be two more concubines in his harem, which meant that he would become the father of four children in a few months.

"My concubine also knew about this matter when Chen was in charge. Your Highness should be happy."

Guo Yan smiled and seemed to have gotten over the shadow of Guo Ying's death.

Seeing that she was happy, Zhu Gaoxu was also happy. However, regarding the unhappy concubines in the harem, he still said to Guo Yan: "You should take care of the affairs of the harem as much as possible. I will also take time to visit them occasionally."

"In the past, when my grandfather and I were in charge of government in Wuying Palace, we had seen my grandfather's attitude towards the younger sons such as the King of Tang Dynasty. Maybe there were too many sons. Later, the family relationship became weak. He only cared about my father and four other uncles. .”

"I thought about it, and it's just because he often goes to Kunning Palace, and my father and the other five of them all live in Kunning Palace, so they see more and have more feelings for each other."

"I have deep feelings for He'er and the others now simply because I only have these two children. If I had more than a dozen children, it would be difficult for me to have much affection."

"You are not jealous of the concubines in the harem, and you often take care of them, which saves me most of my energy."

Zhu Gaoxu said these words, and Guo Yan kept listening quietly.

After he finished speaking, Guo Yan said: "Not to mention Your Highness and Emperor Gao, even Grandpa Chen is like this. After all, it is normal for you to have too many children and grandchildren to take care of."

Guo Yan was considerate of Zhu Gaoxu, and when Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he stretched out his hand and pinched her, which made her blush. She looked around nervously and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that no one was paying attention.

She turned to look at Zhu Gaoxu, only to see that Zhu Gaoxu was looking seriously at the band performance in front of her, and he didn't even give her a chance to complain.

The two couples flirted and chatted for a while. As the noon lunch arrived, after the family had another meal, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di left first, leaving Guo Yan, Zhu Yuying and others to accompany Queen Xu.

After returning to the Chunhe Palace, Zhu Gaoxu first took a look at the "General Map of the Uniforms of All Barbarians in the World" that had been changed in color.

Old Port and Luzon are very conspicuous places, and the more conspicuous place is undoubtedly the Northeast region.

Yishiha brought a cup of hot tea, Zhu Gao took it and took a sip, then motioned him to look towards the northeastern region: "How many Jurchens did Meng Zhang recruit? Have they all moved to Liaodong?"

"There have been no more than 400,000 Jurchens, and they are becoming increasingly difficult to recruit. It is estimated that the Jurchen population will not exceed 500,000."

Yi Shiha said the matter of appeasement, and at the same time pointed the command pole at the Heilongjiang outlet.

"A few days ago, Meng Zhang took care of Nurqiancheng. There are more than 3,000 Jurchens here, but now they have been moved inland. The number of Jurchens in the entire Bohai Sea is less than 200,000, but there are 400,000 in Hankou."

"Meng Zhang hopes that the exiled prisoners will come here in Nuergancheng, because it is too cold and the migrant population may not come here."

After Yishiha finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu took another sip of tea: "This is where we recruit people from further north."

Zhu Gaoxu remembers clearly that there are many Jurchen tribes in Eastern Siberia. After all, Jurchen is mainly a general term, and many ethnic groups can be included in it.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to talk about the incident on Sakhalin Island, but then a voice came from the palace door: "Your Highness, the Right Army Commander Qian Shi Gu Tong has requested to see Yunnan border affairs."

"Xuan!" Zhu Gaoxu responded without thinking when he heard about Yunnan border affairs.

During this period of internal fighting among the Mongols, Yunnan was undoubtedly the place where the most wars occurred during the Ming Dynasty.

Although Luchuan has been defeated, the barbarians in the southwest are still active, not to mention the inner chieftains.

Soon, Gu Tong, the eldest son of Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and a minister of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, walked into the palace and saluted Zhu Gaoxu.

"What's going on in Yunnan?" Zhu Gaoxu asked with a frown. Gu Tong bowed after hearing this;

"The Yunnan Dusi was ordered to go to Sanxuan and Liuwei to appease, but when he went to Daguci (Yangon) to canonize local officials, he was blocked by 800 Dadian."

"The Duke of Guizhou asked his ministers if they wanted to send troops to defeat the thieves."

After Gu Tong finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that Muchundu would be taken care of to Dakula. Then he stood up and looked at the map of Central and South China behind him, and found Babaidian, which was located in the northern part of Thailand in later generations.

【Babai Dadian (Babai Daughter-in-law Country)】

"What does the country of eight hundred wives mean?"

Looking at the name above, Zhu Gaoxu asked Gu Tong. Gu Tong had followed his father in the southwest for many years, so he naturally knew the purpose of the Eight Hundred Daughters-in-law Kingdom, so he explained:

"There is a kingdom there, which consists of 800 towns and villages of different sizes. The leader of each town or village is a woman."

"Therefore, the previous Yuan Dynasty called it the Eight Hundred Daughters' Country, while our dynasty called it the Eight Hundred Dadian."

"This place was originally a vassal of our dynasty, but in the second year of Yongle, its king Dao Banmian passed away. The thirteen-year-old prince Daozhao San ascended the throne with the support of his uncle. However, this Dao Zhaosan was not the eldest son, so his Brother Daozhao, you were very dissatisfied with this result, and the two brothers had a dispute."

"At that time, Babai Dadian asked the court for mediation, and the court divided Babai Dadian into two Xuanwei Divisions, Babai Dadian (Chiang Mai) and Babai Zhe Nai (Chiang Rai)."

"The Eight Hundreds were dissatisfied with the imperial court's mediation, so they attacked Eight Hundred Dadian, but were ultimately defeated."

After Gu Tong finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned: "Why did the Eight Hundred Dadians stop the court officials?"

"Because Babai Dadian is also dissatisfied with the court's actions..." After Gu Tong said this, Zhu Gaoxu was speechless.

He asked for mediation. After the mediation, he did not say anything about his dissatisfaction. He waited for a year before saying anything, and even sent troops to intercept the imperial team.

"You can complain to the court if you are dissatisfied, but it is not a reason to intercept the court team."

"Let the envoy from Babai Dadian go to Kunming to report. If he doesn't go, let Wang Xuan control the three propaganda and six consolation troops to conquer Babai Dadian."

The country's affairs cannot be compromised. It can be said that Babai Dadian is dissatisfied with mediation, but it is another matter to directly send troops to intercept the imperial team.

If other Xuanwei departments follow suit, the authority of the Ming Dynasty in Indochina will be wiped out.

This eight hundred days is like hitting the muzzle of a gun...

(End of this chapter)