Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 378 Heading to the North

"Crackling——"

"Boom boom boom!"

Another year passed, and when the Zhengdan Festival arrived in the eighth year of Yongle, the entire Ming Dynasty fell into an atmosphere of celebrating the New Year.

The salute of Nanjing City was fired, and the imperial meeting was held as scheduled.

The ministers and officials did not know that Zheng He led his troops to attack the capital of Ceylon and captured its leader alive. They just bowed and sang as usual.

On the golden stage, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu were wearing crown robes, one sitting and the other standing.

The crown covers their facial features, making it difficult to see their expressions.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report to you, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs..."

"allow"

The implementation of the New Deal has become unstoppable, and officials have obtained the number of New Deal students graduating this year through insinuations.

Zhu Di stated a series of policies for Guizhou and announced the implementation of the New Deal in the four regions of Beizhili.

Compared with the four major chieftains in Guizhou, these little devils are more difficult to deal with.

A few days ago, Muchun had destroyed Sizhou City and captured Tian Chen. Now Muchun's troops were turning north towards Yinjiang, preparing to take Tian Zongding away as well.

“Sichuan and Guizhou keep their own land and grain, while Huguang’s land and grain are transferred to Sichuan.”

As for Annan and Guizhou, the two newly established provinces, the former has gradually stabilized and can incorporate taxes and grain into the imperial court, and the same is true for the latter.

"There are more than 2,300,000 pieces of miscellaneous items, commercial tax, mining, salt and tea items, and more than 1,567,000 pieces of silk and cotton items."

For most Confucian students, their families provide them with private schools and pay them a lot of money to make connections. They spend hundreds of money and food. How can they become a swordsman and pen official with a salary of only 20 guan per year?

"There are still more than 24 million shi of grain, more than 3 million guan of money, and more than 7 million guan of banknotes."

Although land surveying and registration have not yet been carried out in Guizhou, for now, it is unlikely that the number of cultivated land in Guizhou will be less than 10 million, and the number of people will not be less than 4 million.

Under Guo Zi's report, the seventh year of Yongle was undoubtedly another year of resting on Lao Zhu's laurels.

Not to mention counting three generations forward, but counting seven or eight generations forward, the ancestors of New Deal students are also mud-legged with their backs to the sky and their faces to the loess.

"Nowadays, most of the chieftains in Bozhou, Sizhou, Sinan, Shuixi, Shuidong and other places are being recruited, and the three chieftains in Guizhou can also start to be established."

The terrain in southern Guizhou is complex, and eradicating them will undoubtedly be a long-term task.

"In the land of southern Guizhou, although the land has not yet been changed to Guiliu, Pu'an Prefecture, Anshun Prefecture, and Duyun Prefecture have been established first."

"How much food is there in the old warehouse now?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Zi.

"Last year, the imperial court received an annual tax of 35 million shi, 125,600 pieces of cloth, more than 520,000 jins of silk, and more than 400,000 jins of cotton velvet."

"In the seven years of the new dynasty, the cultivated land in the world increased by more than 1.4 million hectares, while the tax revenue only increased by 4 million dan."

"Last year, the expenditure was more than 39.6 million shi, and the money was 8.25 million guan. The old treasury took more than 4.6 million shi, and the money was more than 1.154 thousand guan."

Zhu Di felt Zhu Gaoxu's gaze and knew it was time for him to speak, so he said:

They think so because their ancestors come from scholarly families, but New Deal students do not.

Zhu Di responded, and upon seeing this, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, also started the annual reporting work.

No one objected to Zhu Di's quota plan, because all officials knew that the past few years were undoubtedly a period of benefit for Liaodong, Sichuan, and Henan provinces.

Two hundred and forty-six thousand, four hundred and thirty-two people, what a huge number.

"According to calculations by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the annual income from grain was 35 million guan last year, and the annual income from other types of income was more than 700 and 96,000 guan."

Guo Zi answered truthfully. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and couldn't help but cast his eyes on Zhu Di.

"This year's tax and grain quota is 35 million shi. The newly increased 5 million shi will be allocated to Annan with 2.5 million, Liaodong with 1 million each, and Guizhou, Sichuan, and Henan with 500,000 each."

After the four chieftains were wiped out, Muchun still needed to cooperate with Li Jinglong to wipe out and appease the barbarians in the southern Guizhou area.

"Thirty-five thousand taels of gold, more than 895,000 taels of silver, and more than 1.95 million taels of copper."

"Beizhili, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou will implement the new policy from now on."

To fight against millions of intellectuals, this is difficult for even the emperor to do. Even Zhu Gaoxu first consolidated the foundation step by step in Jilin City before he could have his own basic base to fight against the ministers, and could the ministers pull out so many Students versus New Deal students?

Under Muchun's attack and surrounded by Ming troops from all sides, the two chieftains Song and An began to accept their return to the countryside, and the treatment Zhu Di gave them was not bad. They were first-class Sanjie and Wuxun. In addition to the treatment, he was moved to Chengdu Prefecture and was given 10,000 acres of farmland.

"Establish three divisions in Guizhou, establish sixteen prefectures in Guizhou, and the other six ministries will discuss the establishment of seventy-two counties."

They can pull them out, but how many of the students they pull out are worthy of the jobs of grain chief, li chief, clerk, etc.?
The goal of students under the Confucian system is to take part in the imperial examination, be selected as a Jinshi, and then rise to the top.

"After the establishment of the Three Divisions in Guizhou, the people in the mountains immediately moved to Meizhou, Tongchuan, Jiading, Baoning and other places in Sichuan. The court distributed rations and farm tools, and dispatched district chiefs and grain chiefs to lead them to reclaim wasteland and become self-sufficient."

Although everyone has no objection to this, it is not a good thing to always be the last person.

"According to my decree, Bozhou is divided into Zunyi Prefecture and Pingyue Prefecture, and Sizhou and Sinan are split into Sizhou Prefecture, Tongren Prefecture, Sinan Prefecture, Shiqian Prefecture, Zhenyuan Prefecture, Liping Prefecture, and Xinhua Prefecture. , split Shuidong and Shuixi into Bijie Prefecture, Weining Prefecture, Panzhou Prefecture, and Guiyang Prefecture."

"Last year, the number of acres of land in the world was 5,467,919 hectares, 32 acres and six cents."

Although they were mentally prepared, everyone couldn't help but take a deep breath when they heard the news.

Now those who want to implement the New Deal are not only the emperor and the Prince of the East Palace, but also the millions of students under the New Deal system.

"Last year, the number of households in the world was 1,434,755, and the number of people was 72,469,427."

Compared with them, New Deal students do not have this worry. For them, the cost of studying is not high. Except for book fees and rations, the rest is paid by the court. As long as they graduate and meet the standards, they can lead their families out of poor.

The 20 guan salary of the swordsman and pen clerk, which Confucian students looked down upon, was the kind of wealth that more than 99% of the people in the Ming Dynasty had to work hard in the fields for three or four years to earn.

Twenty guan of salary can buy fifty shi of rice at the current rice price, which is the output of 25 acres of farmland in the south of the Yangtze River and the output of 50 or 60 acres of cultivated land in the north.

The folk proverb "One person works as an official, and the whole family has enough to eat" began to spread in the fifth year of Yongle, when students from government schools began to graduate in large numbers.

With the current number of New Deal students graduating, everyone knows that those who graduate early will be able to eat early. After all, the number of staff and teachers is also limited.

Just talking about the number of students graduating this year, it is enough to fill all the posts of county and town teachers, officials, township and village chiefs, and grain chiefs in the four provinces.

That’s true this year, but what about next year? What about the year after next?
As time goes by, in at most five years, the New Deal will be fully promoted in Ming Dynasty. By then, not only will the number of students graduating be greater, but there will also be fewer jobs.

Nowadays, New Deal students are tied to an iron rice bowl. Once they graduate, they will get a job, but it will be different in the future.

The students of the New Deal were anxious, but the ministers were even more anxious than them, because when the New Deal was expanding, Confucian students would inevitably be squeezed, so Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, couldn't help but take a step forward:
"Your Majesty, Li Zhigang, Minister of Rites, has something to report."

"allow!"

After Zhu Di responded, Li Zhigang hurriedly said: "I believe that the New Government Official School only lasts five years, and the quality of the students it can produce is worrying. It would be too simple if you can serve as teachers and subordinates just by graduating."

A few years ago, no one objected to students from official schools serving as subordinate officials. That was because their interests were not infringed, and they did not expect that the imperial court would promote official schools in such a snowballing way.

Now they have realized that if they continue to let the court continue, then Jiangnan Confucianism will really have no way to survive.

"Compared with those who graduated from official schools, the subordinate officials currently held by local governments are probably really simple."

Suddenly, a voice sounded, but this voice did not come from Zhu Gaoxu's mouth, but from an official standing three rows in front of the hundred officials.

Everyone was stunned when they saw this official. They had no memory of this person.

But it is normal for them to have no memory, because this person does not move around the capital, or this is the first time he has returned to the capital in more than ten years.

"The right minister of the Ministry of Finance, Hanzhou Bo Suncheng, has met His Majesty and His Highness..."

When Sun Cheng began to introduce himself, everyone realized that Hanzhou Bo Sun Cheng, who had been presiding over Guanwai and Shandong New Deal in Shandong, was actually the person in front of them.

The ministers could figure out what Sun Cheng's entry into the capital represented without having to use their brains. It was nothing more than the comprehensive promotion of official learning.

It's normal to think like this. If you promote the New Deal to the four chief secretaries from all over the world at once, if there is no capable minister in charge, it will indeed be easy for things to go wrong.

When the emperor announced this just now, many ministers thought of this, but they did not think of Sun Cheng.

Although Sun Cheng was also a hero of the Bohai faction in Jingnan and was awarded the title of earl, his sense of presence is indeed alarmingly low.

Now that he suddenly entered the capital, the ministers could not help but feel a sense of anxiety in their hearts.

"Sun Cheng, when you first arrived in the capital, you didn't understand the etiquette of the great dynasty. Today you suddenly said it. Because you don't understand the etiquette, I won't hold you accountable."

"I am ashamed..."

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly spoke, seemingly reprimanding Sun Cheng, but in fact he was trying to save him, because as the Minister of Rites, Li Zhigang was already preparing to use the etiquette system of the imperial court to overwhelm Sun Cheng, but now he was interrupted by Zhu Gaoxu, who almost The tone failed to come up.

"Go back."

Zhu Di opened his mouth to signal, and Sun Cheng also retreated to his position.

While he was retreating, Zhang Yu from the Fifth Army Commander's Office also took the initiative to stand up and bow:
"Your Majesty, last year there were 372 guards in the country, 2820 stations, and 216 stations guarding thousands of households."

"The number of military households in the world is 1,865,427, the army's farmland is 826,000 hectares, and the army's grain is more than 23,725,000 shi."

The number of military households in the Ming Dynasty increased a lot, but this was mainly due to the continuous establishment of guard posts in Jiugang, Luzon, Guizhou, Annan and other places. This was also the reason for the increase in military farming. Zhang Yu is already sixty-six years old. Judging from the fact that Zhang Fu can live to seventy-five, it should not be a problem for him to live to seventy. After all, as of now, he does not have any injuries.

Looking at Zhang Yu, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of the butterfly effect caused by ending the Jingyan crisis two years early.

First, the capital that Lao Zhu saved was not used up by Zhu Yunwen in time, so it was used by the Yongle Dynasty and has not been used up yet.

Secondly, except for the legions in Liaodong, Peiping, and Shanxi, which were severely damaged, the war basically ended without participating in the war. The Ming Dynasty had abundant military strength.

These various butterfly effects made the situation during the Yongle period much better than in history. Zhu Di's Northern Expedition was also able to bring out several generals who were good at planning for him, so that he did not have to be a leader on the Northern Expedition like in history. Mother, everything must be directed by him so that the Ming army can do well.

This situation made Zhu Gaoxu unable to help but feel proud and complacent, and the subsequent promotion of Xia Yuanji, Huang Fu and others only added to this pride.

The canal has been dredged, and most of the Yellow River sluices have been built. The sediment has been reduced by more than half compared with five years ago.

The flooding frequency of Wusong and Huangpu rivers has been reduced. Waiting for the repair in three years will save people in Susong and other places from flooding and make their grain production more stable.

The report of this incident made Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di feel much better because Queen Xu's condition did not improve.

Until the end of the court meeting, when the father and son accepted the singing ceremony and exited to change clothes in the Huagai Hall, Zhu Di could not help but praise himself:
"In the past and present, what other father and son pair can compare with the two of us?"

"It is indeed rare." Zhu Gaoxu responded proudly.

Indeed, among the father and son emperors throughout the ages, who could open up to the north to the city of Nurgan, to the south to the old port, to the west to the Russian Military and Civilian Mansion, and to the east to establish a shipping department in Japan?
Not to mention that during his seven years in office, the cultivated land increased by 170 million acres and the population increased by more than 12 million people.

This year, Zhu Di is forty-nine and Zhu Gaoxu is twenty-nine. There are really very few fathers and sons who can achieve similar feats to them at this age.

"After you go to the East Palace, don't forget to go to Qianqing Palace for a family banquet in the evening."

"My son, I remember."

Zhu Di changed into regular clothes under the wait of the eunuchs on his left and right, and after explaining to Zhu Gaoxu, he walked out of the Huagai Hall.

Zhu Gaoxu, who had also changed into regular clothes, walked out of the Huagai Hall and saw Yi Shiha and Sun Cheng waiting at the door.

"temple……"

Before Sun Cheng finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu came up and gave him a bear hug.

For Sun Cheng, who is only five feet two inches tall, he is as powerless in front of Zhu Gaoxu as a child facing an adult.

He was picked up by Zhu Gaoxu, his feet still fluttering in the air a few times.

After Zhu Gaoxu put him back on the ground, Zhu Gaoxu said: "Ride a golden chariot with me today."

He took Sun Cheng's hand and walked onto the golden chariot, and Yi Shiha followed him with a smile.

After the three of them sat in the golden carriage, Zhu Gaoxu asked Sun Cheng: "You didn't enter Beijing until the eighth year of the new dynasty. I delayed you."

"Your Highness, it's my honor to work in the north for Your Highness."

"If it were anyone else, they might not have such an opportunity."

Sun Cheng truthfully stated his thoughts, and Zhu Gaoxu also said: "I will protect you as a marquis in the future."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness." Sun Cheng did not refuse, because he knew His Highness's character well.

Seeing that he agreed, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded with satisfaction: "I am restrained by hundreds of officials in the capital and cannot go to the north to find out. Apart from Xichang, the only one I have eyes for is you."

"Now I ask you, how is the implementation of the New Deal, and how are people's lives going?"

As he grew older, Zhu Gaoxu gradually began to feel uneasy.

Although he has power, he does not have the ability to directly understand the situation below. He can only understand the situation in remote areas through others.

Under this situation, he is actually full of worries about his new policy.

"Don't worry, Your Highness!" Sun Cheng bowed and said: "The people in the New Deal land are living and working in peace and contentment. According to last year's situation, the average amount of farmland in each province is seven acres in Shandong, six acres in Liaodong, 14 acres in Bohai, and nine acres in Daning."

"The land equalization policy has not changed. I have sent people to monitor the Kong Mansion, and we dare not blatantly bully the tenants and the people."

"The only problem is that the age at which students graduate and join the workforce is too young, so when faced with many temptations, their ability to resist is too low, and the number of bribes they receive..."

Sun Cheng was embarrassed to continue talking, but Zhu Gaoxu understood it very well.

Most students who graduate from the New Deal are between the ages of fifteen and twenty.

In their past lives, it was the most comfortable life if they could have enough food for a year, and it was even more magical if they could eat meat occasionally.

After serving as subordinate officials, even if their salary is enough to eat enough and eat meat from time to time, human nature is to push beyond the limit.

When you are not full, you want to eat enough. When you are full, you want to eat meat. After eating meat, you want to eat meat every day. When you are full of food and wine, you want women and power.

This is not a problem for government students, but for people themselves to have this desire.

There are very few people who can restrain this desire, otherwise the high salaries of the Song and Qing Dynasties to support incorruptible officials would not have failed.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, corruption and enjoying beauty are nothing. As long as the court's policies can be implemented and no excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes are imposed to harm the people, then it can still be used.

But once they fail to implement the court's new policies, Zhu Gaoxu will be ready to replace them.

The more than 200,000 graduates every year are enough for him to replace subordinate staff in several provinces under the New Deal.

There are already signs of a shortage of graduate positions. If the people below don't even have this ability to respond, they are not suitable to stay in their positions.

"There are rats every year, and we can't defeat them every year. This matter cannot be stopped, so you don't have to feel guilty."

Zhu Gaoxu sat on the golden chariot and spoke calmly, and guided: "What you have to do is to lay off these people and replace them after you find that they have parted ways with us."

"Yes!" Sun Cheng nodded solemnly, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded slightly.

He does value feelings, but his first identity is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, and his second identity is the royal highness of his ministers.

He is indeed prone to arrogance and complacency, but he can calm down when faced with things.

He had been a grandson under Lao Zhu for so many years, and he had already developed it.

"Have you visited Beizhili, Shanxi, and Henan?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Sun Cheng, and Sun Cheng actually nodded.

"The three places I visited secretly and what I saw gave me new ideas about the implementation of the local New Deal."

"Tell me about it." Zhu Gaoxu became interested, and Sun Cheng also pondered for a moment. After sorting out his thoughts, he said:

"To be honest, the conditions in the three places are different, and Shanxi is the most different."

"Due to the fact that Shanxi suffered less wars during the Zhizheng period, there are many mountains in the territory, and there are few rivers north of Taiyuan, so 89% of the cultivated land has actually been developed, and continued development will not achieve much results."

"I went to Changzi County in Shanxi and looked through the "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album". The contents were basically copied from the 26th year of Hongwu. In terms of the actual situation, the increase in cultivated land was not much, and the number of mouths was If so, based on my judgment, the population of Changzi County should be no less than 60,000, far exceeding the 47,000 recorded in the Yellow Book."

"When I visited other places, most of them showed less growth in cultivated land and more growth in population."

"According to my judgment, the number of people in Shanxi is greater than the four million recorded in the "Yellow Book", and can reach up to six million."

"With a population of six million cultivating 40 million acres of arable land, it looks relatively wealthy, but in fact it is not. The number of land annexed by local wealthy gentry households and health guards accounts for at least 40% of all Shanxi's land."

"Such a merger has both advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that the per capita arable land of the people is insufficient. The advantage is that it facilitates stability and collects taxes."

"Not only in Shanxi, but in the whole world, my views are these two."

Sun Cheng's words made Zhu Gaoxu nod. Facts have proved that places where land annexation by landlords is serious is indeed easier to stabilize. For example, Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty had serious land annexation. However, except for the rise in food prices caused by the intrusion of seawater in Jiangnan during the Chongzhen period, which caused short-term social instability. In addition, the rest is the Jiangnan slave rebellion after Dashun captured Beijing.

Both of these factors of instability are based on socioeconomic decline.

The former was because the landowners' land was swallowed up by the sea and the tenants lost their source of income. The latter was an uprising caused by excessive oppression.

The slave revolution was caused by the failure of the system to continue to be implemented in the early Ming Dynasty, and the court allowed wealthy households to purchase slaves. This was controllable, and the former tenants' source of income had to be prepared.

"In a place like Shanxi, if land annexation is allowed, the only thing that can accommodate landless farmers is the coal kiln, and the coal kiln workers are underpaid. The living environment of the people in Shanxi has become slightly more comfortable except for the reduction of land tax in recent years. In the past few years, it has been It’s not easy.”

Sun Cheng said this and continued to Zhu Gaoxu: "Compared with Shanxi, Beiping and Henan have many rivers and lakes. Many cultivated lands during the Song Dynasty were abandoned due to insufficient population."

"I have specifically visited and found out that even if many farmers cultivate their fields extensively, they can only cultivate more than ten acres with manual labor. Not to mention that the yield per mu is not high, and the work is no easier than intensive farming. However, at the end of the year, they can harvest an additional hundred acres. Kilograms of grain.”

"But even so, there is still a lot of abandoned farmland in Henan and Beiping. It is easy to re-cultivate this farmland, but it is abandoned due to insufficient local population."

"If we can provide Shanxi people with wasteland grain and cattle, and move them to Beiping and Henan, then the environment in Shanxi can be improved, and the re-cultivation work in Henan and Beiping can also progress rapidly."

"Henan, a huge country, has less than 17 million acres of arable land. This is really a huge waste."

As Sun Cheng said this, the golden chariot stopped in front of the East Palace Gate.

Zhu Gaoxu got off the carriage and at the same time told Sun Cheng behind him: "You can draw up a charter for me when you go back for a while. I want to read it in detail."

"I have already prepared it." Sun Cheng got off the carriage and took out the memorial from his arms. Zhu Gaoxu also took it and walked into the East Palace.

Only by restoring the northern economy can the north transform from a status that depends on Jiangnan's face to a status of equality.

Therefore, Sun Cheng’s memorial is very important...

(End of this chapter)