Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 388: Tens of thousands of houses in Guangzhou

"Dang...dang...dang..."

In the thick foggy mountains, as the bells rang, the wind in the mountains blew away the thick fog, revealing a long and narrow plain.

As the clouds and mist blew away, a newly built town could be seen on the plain.

The town is built of stone and wood, with stone walls on the outside and rows of clean courtyards on the inside. The stone walls of the entire town are simple and natural, integrating into the surrounding natural environment and making people feel at ease.

Concrete streets extend in all directions, connecting the two walled markets on the east and west. In the center, in addition to the Yamen, is a square covering an area of ​​several acres.

In the square, a three-foot-high bell tower looks extremely abrupt, but it can transmit the sound of the bell to all directions, bringing a sense of vitality and beauty to the forest.

"It seems that you have put all the supplies given to you to good use."

Walking in the square, Xu Shuo glanced at the group of people wearing Shaomin costumes coming and going in the square, and couldn't help but praise them.

No one would have imagined that this seemingly prosperous town was still a small inn more than eight months ago.

Under the policy tendencies of the Ming Dynasty, the land outside the customs became a prosperous land in the north in just five or six years, and the southwest was the next "outside the customs".

"By the way, how are the other counties doing?"

"Except for the situation in the county, three market towns and 11 villages have been established in the small valleys where the chieftains once lived. The county has a population of more than 32,400 people and more than 95,000 acres of arable land."

Wang Zhang asked Xu Shuo, with a bit of worry in his eyes.

This is still the situation after Hongwu and Yongle resumed farming for a total of 41 years.

Xu Shuo read all this news from Di Bao.

"Relying on these resources, before officials from other governments arrive, we can still strive to increase Zunyi's cultivated land to exceed one million acres."

During the Song Dynasty, the population of the five provinces in these two provinces was nearly 15 million. Now, including Guizhou, the population is only over 9 million.

However, with the influx of 300,000 native people from southern Guizhou, and the nearly one million stones of land reclamation rations allocated by Jiaozhi, the mighty "Guangzhong Reclamation" began.

Wang Zhang asked curiously, and Xu Shuo also chuckled and said: "The land reform in the south is going smoothly. Most of the population has moved to Guangxi to open up wasteland, and a small amount has moved to several other counties."

Huguang and Sichuan had more than 55 million and 24 million acres of arable land respectively in the Song Dynasty, but now they only have 25 million and 13 million acres of arable land.

"There will be no problem in three years." Wang Zhang also patted his chest and said: "As far as the current situation is concerned, it will not be a problem to reclaim 30,000 acres of cultivated land in the county every year. After all, food and drink are guaranteed by the court."

"Well, you have no problem here, then I'm relieved."

Under the spring breeze of policies, Zunyi Prefecture in Guizhou is undoubtedly the first place to eat grapes.

Apart from Guangxi, there is no need to say much about the re-cultivation work in Sichuan and Huguang.

Although Guangxi is a mountainous area in many people's minds, compared with Yunnan and Guizhou, Guangxi's hilly and plain area reaches more than 30%. A single Guizhong plain can reclaim tens of millions of acres of arable land suitable for growing rice.

"We are not busy with the affairs of each government. Now other counties in Zunyi Prefecture are on the right track. Even if the Chief Envoy reduces the allocation of materials in the government, you will not be short of materials here. You can rest assured about this. .”

According to the unit of land reclamation in the Ming Dynasty, the two provinces were able to reclaim at least 70 million acres of arable land. However, due to insufficient manpower, it was difficult to meet this standard even with extensive reclamation management.

In the case of Guizhou, it is impossible to rely on Yunnan and Guangxi in the south. We can only rely on Sichuan and Huguang to allocate supplies.

Xu Shuo comforted Wang Zhang and told the truth at the same time.

"More than 5,420 acres of cultivated land were reclaimed outside the county. The Sichuan Chief Envoy sent nearly 900 cattle and horses, more than 69,000 stones of grain, more than 200 tons of cement and 20,000 kilograms of salt. .”

"In three years' time, the cultivated land in the county will exceed at least 200,000 acres. Although I dare not say that it will pay tens of thousands of dan in taxes and grains, it will not be a problem to pay 10,000 dan."

Xu Shuo nodded when he heard this and chuckled: "The entire Zunyi Prefecture, but your Tongzi County is poor and poor. Now even you are being supported. I estimate that in three years, you will be able to pay taxes and grain."

No one knows what a country’s policies represent better than people like Xu Shuo.

"By the way, officials from other provinces should have arrived one after another, right?"

Among them, manpower in Guizhou is undoubtedly a waste. After all, Guizhou does not have more than 15 million acres of arable land for more than 3 million people to cultivate. This is why Zhu Gaoxu wants to move the Guizhou population to Sichuan and Huguang.

As Guizhou's population migrates and manpower is utilized, Sichuan and Huguang will resume farming at a much faster rate than before, and restoration of the cultivated land situation during the peak period of the Song Dynasty is just around the corner.

"The Chief Envoy of Sichuan said that five thousand Huguang criminals will be sent here next month, so I should prepare to receive them early."

"Currently, Zunyi Prefecture has a population of nearly 250,000, more than 700,000 cultivated lands, and nearly 30,000 cattle and horses. Almost the entire territory of southern Guizhou has concentrated cattle and horses in our hands."

Standing next to Xu Shuo, Wang Zhang, who once cried about poverty in Tongzi County, is now smiling and seems to be very satisfied with his situation.

Wang Zhang talked about the situation in Tongzi County. In fact, except for the county seat and the province, the situation in other towns and villages in Tongzi County is pretty good.

In the past year, Sichuan received nearly 700,000 minors from northern and western Guizhou, Huguang received more than 400,000 from eastern Guizhou, and Guangxi received more than 300,000 from southern Guizhou.

Due to underpopulation and local fragmentation, the local Chief Secretary in the past was unable to organize large-scale land reclamation campaigns.

These populations have greatly enriched the population of Huguang, Sichuan, Guangxi and other places, and the work of establishing counties in the three provinces has also begun.

Xu Shuo could understand his worry. After all, Zunyi Mansion was able to develop so fast mainly because they were the only place in Guizhou that was freed from military control. Therefore, most of the resources allocated by the Sichuan Chief Envoy were eaten up by them. .

"How is the situation in the county?" Xu Shuo sat down on the concrete stone bench under the bell tower. Wang Zhang also sat down and introduced the situation in Tongzi County.

Facts have proved that the minority population in Guizhou is indeed very large, more than three million, and most of them have migrated to Guangxi, Sichuan, Huguang and other places.

"There are 1,272 households and 7,647 people in the entire county. There are still nearly 1,600 acres of open space in the county that are not in use, all waiting for the army to return the land and relocate the population. Come."

Now as officials from various prefectures arrive one after another, military control in each prefecture will also be lifted, and the resources available to Zunyi Prefecture will undoubtedly gradually decrease.

"The support given by the imperial court and Meng Ming is enough, otherwise it would not have developed so fast."

It was already August, and Muchun and Li Jinglong's counterinsurgency in the Qiannan region was gradually coming to an end. The chieftains of the so-called Hundred Thousand Mountains were defeated by artillery, and hundreds of thousands were captured.

Facing Sichuan and Huguang, the only post roads they can enter into Guizhou are Tongren, Zunyi, and Bijie that can transport supplies.

Tongzi County is the well-deserved gateway from Sichuan to Zunyi. Therefore, the better the construction of Tongzi County, the less logistical pressure Sichuan will have on delivering supplies to Guizhou.

If he didn't even have this bit of foresight, Xu Shuo might not be able to hold the position of prefect of Zunyi for a long time.

"According to the assessment, we still have two and a half years."

Xu Shuo looked at Wang Zhang and said, "I know you are under a lot of pressure, but you don't have to worry here. I specifically asked the staff."

"As for Tongzi County, your merit assessment is different from that of other counties. The population and cultivated land of Tongzi County are far different from those of other counties. Therefore, what you have to do is to seek truth from facts. As long as you can make a difference in the remaining two and a half years, The people of Tongzi County are self-sufficient, so your achievements are enough to give you a first-class rating."

After Zhu Gaoxu's reform, the six departments had different standards for examinations in each county, but the resulting scoring levels were the same, that is, they were divided into four grades: A, B, C, and D.

Grade A means extremely good and can be promoted to one or two levels depending on the situation; Grade B means qualified and can be promoted to first level by repeating the grade or completing three assessments of Grade B.

"Class C expressed deficiencies and was kept on probation, while Class D was demoted one level to serve as a warning to others."

It can be said that what Zhu Gaoxu formulated is a simple promotion evaluation. The difference is that the merit examination department is only responsible for merit examination, and if there is a problem with the regional merit examination officials, even if only one official has a problem, he will be demoted one level. punishment.

As for the issue of officials, the inspection censors of each province are responsible for recording and supervising. Once any violation of laws and disciplines occurs, the inspection censor will report to Tianting, and the palace will dispatch Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, the Criminal Section, Jin Yiwei and Xichang will handle it.

Zhu Gaoxu did not set up a new supervision yamen alone. After all, the yamen left by Lao Zhu were sufficient and basically covered all aspects.

What he has to do is to strengthen or concentrate the tasks and powers that these yamen should do.

As for the "Beijing Inspection" system that was gradually changed to a test every ten years during the Hongwu period, it was also standardized and formulated by Zhu Gaoxu as a method of "one inspection every year and merit test every three years."

To put it simply, every year, the inspection censor and officials from the Ministry of Household Examination Department will come to inspect, and only those who have passed the test for three years can be evaluated for merit.

In the past three years, even if the first two years were A-level, but the last year was only B-level, it would not be able to meet the standards of A-level, and could only be calculated as B-level.

It can be said that the Beijing-Chai system during the Hongwu period was at most a sharp sword over the heads of Ming officials, but the Beijing-Cha system during the Yongle period was an ax placed on the necks of officials.

The sword cuts the throat, the ax cuts off the head, this is the evaluation of the officials.

During the Zhengde period, he wanted to change the Beijing inspection to one every three years. As a result, he encountered strong opposition from hundreds of officials, and in the end it could not be implemented. Now Zhu Gaoxu conducts inspections every year. It can be said that those officials who are already dirty are frightened and have troubles. sleep.

Just like Xu Shuo's discussion, not to mention those officials with dirty hands and feet, even relatively honest officials like them are worried that their performance is not up to standard and they will be retained or replaced.

This kind of effect is exactly what Zhu Gaoxu wants, because the efficiency of replacing tens of thousands of officials in more than 20 years during the Hongwu period can no longer satisfy the increasingly large New Deal official system. Just like now...

"How many New Deal students are applying for the next imperial examination?"

In the Chunhe Hall of Nanjing City, thousands of miles away from Tongzi County, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but be shocked by the numbers reported in the memorial in his hand.

【Two hundred and twenty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-seven people】

Looking at this string of numbers, Zhu Gaoxu was first shocked, and then asked: "How many students graduated this year?"

"About 330,000." Yishiha stepped forward to answer, and continued: "Since the matter of only selecting 100,000 subordinate officials at the beginning of the year began to ferment, many students were doubtful about taking the route of subordinate officials in the future, so Started to turn to the imperial examination."

Yi Shiha's words made Zhu Gaoxu nod. The worse the employment environment, the more people would eat from the imperial court. Zhu Gaoxu knew this truth very well. Of course, those who participated in the imperial examinations mostly thought about rising to the top in one step. After all, if they became civil servants, they would be able to serve as officials, eliminating the "detour" of several years of first becoming a subordinate and then studying to prepare for the examination.

"They're going to get banged up all over their heads."

For these people, Zhu Gaoxu gave this evaluation, because the difficulty of the imperial examination is much more difficult than getting the second grade in the official school graduation examination, and second only to getting the first grade.

"The age is too young for this group of people."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, and then thought of the middle school he had been preparing for for many years.

"How many middle school teachers are there in Taixue? How many have graduated?"

He asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha also replied: "From the second year of Yongle to now, if you include the batch that graduated at the end of the year, there are about 3,400 people."

"If they are to be transferred to prepare middle schools outside the customs, approximately 15 middle schools can be built and nearly 40,000 students can be enrolled."

"How many will graduate next year?" Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask, and Yishiha also answered: "More than 2,600 people."

Even at Taixue, the number of graduates has grown step by step over the years, especially the students who will graduate next year correspond to the hundreds of thousands of students who graduated in the fifth year of Yongle.

Even if they are only one in a hundred, nearly 2,600 people have been admitted to Imperial College and graduated as scheduled.

Currently, there are more than 20,000 students in Taixue, and the number is increasing at an alarming rate every year.

"How many prefectures are there in Daning, Liaodong, Bohai, and Shandong?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha heard the words: "Six in Shandong, six in Liaodong, five in Bohai, and Daning is temporarily planning two, for a total of nineteen."

"Then make adjustments and send more than 3,400 graduated students to these places after graduation. Make adjustments based on the number of local students. Let people build middle schools in advance and serve as chief envoys and governors of each province. Make publicity.”

"The salary for teaching in a middle school is an annual salary of 30 guan and ten shi per year. Middle school students need to pay textbook fees and tuition and miscellaneous fees, and the school provides lunch."

"Start publicizing now, enroll students after the Lantern Festival next year, and start school on the first day of March."

After finishing everything, Zhu Gaoxu added: "By the way, it is not compulsory to attend middle school. It all depends on personal preference."

Regarding middle schools, Zhu Gaoxu did not dare to impose compulsory enrollment. In that case, there would be at least hundreds of thousands of students enrolled every year. Judging from the basic situation of Ming's middle schools, it would be too much to bear.

"I understand, I just don't know whether the middle school is under the county's jurisdiction or..."

Yi Shiha asked cautiously, and Zhu Gaoxu also thought about it after hearing this.

In the Ming Dynasty, officials specializing in managing education were set up in various places. Officials at the "prefecture" level were called "professors", those at the "state" level were called "Xuezheng", and those at the "county" level were called "Jiaoyu". .

"The middle school is under the management of the County Jiaoyu. In addition, there is a Jiaoyu Department in the Ministry of Rites, which is managed by Zuo Shilang. Under Zuo Shilang, there are four Yuanwailang and eight directors."

“The Chief Secretary’s education is under the management of professors, state students are under the management of xuezheng, and county middle schools and official schools are under the management of teaching envoys.”

"Since the teachings have been promoted to the ninth grade, then if you learn from Zheng, you will be promoted to the eighth grade and teach the seventh grade."

"In addition, after the establishment of middle schools in Shandong and other places, we will decide whether to add more middle schools based on the results. In addition, I sent my decree to Jian Yi and asked him to build middle schools in Sichuan. Each middle school must be enough to accommodate 3,000 students and 300 teachers."

Calculating the time, next year will be the time when the first batch of students in Sichuan will graduate, which means that by March of the 10th year of Yongle, Sichuan students will be able to seamlessly attend middle school.

Of course, how many of the first batch of Sichuan students are willing to continue studying in middle schools depends on local conditions.

"Your Highness, what should we do if students who have graduated many years ago want to return to middle school?"

Yishiha suddenly asked Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu didn't expect this question either. After Yishiha reminded him, he touched his mustache and said, "If it is really there, as long as there is still a place, let them read it."

After Zhu Gaoxu expressed his stance, Yi Shiha returned the greeting and continued: "The establishment of official schools in the Jiangnan area has begun. For Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture, the Ministry of Rites estimates that 300 official schools will be built."

"How much?" Zhu Gaoxu immediately frowned when he heard that the Ministry of Rites was going to build 300 official schools in Su Song's second mansion.

"Three hundred." Yishiha bowed after answering: "After eight months of measurement and inventory registration, Suzhou Prefecture has more than 1,240,000 acres of cultivated land and a population of 3,175,220. Nine people.”

"Songjiang Prefecture has more than 5,457,000 acres of cultivated land and a population of 2,084,755 people."

"After calculation, the two governments have a total of more than 5.26 million people, which is 1.7 million more than the old records copied from the 26th year of Hongwu."

"In fifteen years, there will definitely not be that many people. They are probably all former hermits."

Listening to Yi Shiha's words, Zhu Gaoxu's face was calm: "In order for my children and grandchildren to go to school, even if I live in seclusion, I don't dare to stay in hiding anymore."

Zhu Gaoxu knows very well what a student status represents. Not to mention this era, it will also be an excellent trump card in future generations.

But what they didn't expect was that Su Song's population in the early Ming Dynasty was already close to the population in the Republic of China. It's no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang often migrated people from Jiangdong.

It is easy for this place to give birth to more than 100,000 or 200,000 people a year. Especially with the promotion of the New Deal and the construction of various local hospitals, the local birth situation is expected to continue to improve.

"We need to strengthen the management of the abandoned baby policy in these two prefectures, and build more almshouses."

Zhu Gaoxu thought about the fact that the population of Su and Song's second mansion would not increase significantly in the next few hundred years, as well as the various stories of abandoned babies written by Jiangnan literati.

He would not sit idly by and ignore these things. After all, these babies could migrate to the southwest and northwest after being raised, enriching the Ming Dynasty's local Han population.

"Three hundred official schools can recruit at least 600,000 students. How many students can apply for it in Jiangnan?"

He turned his attention back to the construction of 300 official schools. Yishiha shook his head when he heard this: "There are currently less than 300,000 students applying for the exam, and most of them are the children of ordinary people."

"There are so many reports from the Ministry of Rites, and I'm afraid they all have something to do with Li Zhigang."

Li Zhigang is from Huating, Songjiang Prefecture. He is now fifty-three years old.

Because of his poor character, although the wealthy Jiangdong gentry wanted to rely on him, they were also wary of him, so his reputation in his hometown was not good.

Because of this, this guy is probably planning to change his route and gain fame among the people.

"It's a good idea. Use the resources of the imperial court as a favor for yourself."

Zhu Gaoxu snorted softly, then glanced at Yi Shiha: "There is a conflict between Li Zhigang and Xie Jin, right?"

"Yes" Yi Shiha nodded and explained: "Li Zhigang is good at flattering. He has been in the position of Minister of Rites for so many years because he is good at flattering His Majesty."

"Xie Jin is a noble person and can't stand Li Zhigang's behavior, so the relationship between the two has long since broken down."

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, thought for a while and then ordered: "Let Ji Gang and Chen Ying start with Li Zhigang. After obtaining the information, they will find a way to hand it over to Jie Jin. Xie Jin will take action against Li Zhigang."

"As long as Li Zhigang reconciles with the Jin Dynasty, it will be much easier for us to implement the New Deal in Jiangnan."

"My slave, take your orders." Yi Shiha agreed, and at this time Zhu Gaoxu also felt a little tired.

Just as he was about to rest, he saw two eunuchs bringing dozens of memorials to two trays.

"Are they all from Wuying Palace?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, rubbing his eyebrows. The two eunuchs also nodded cautiously after hearing this.

Because of Queen Xu's incident, Zhu Di had been uninterested in government affairs for several months.

Historically, Zhu Di would definitely not have done this, because Zhu Di did not dare to let go to Zhu Gaochi, and many of Zhu Gaochi's policies were also contrary to Zhu Di's ideas.

But now, not to mention delegating power to Zhu Gaoxu, but also handing over all the soldiers and horses in the world to Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di is also very relieved. After all, the two father and son have the same route, and Zhu Gaoxu is better at making money.

Although he understood his parents, the pile of memorials still gave Zhu Gaoxu a headache.

It's not that he never thought about asking Zhu Gaochi to help him, but that situation only lasted for one day, and he drove Zhu Gaochi away. The reason was that this guy was too talkative and his political views were almost opposite to his own.

All of Zhu Gaochi's political views are restrained. What he advocates is to focus on cultivating internal strength regardless of external developments.

According to his words, as long as the Ming Dynasty is rich and its people are strong, there will naturally be no enemies that cannot be defeated.

But the problem is that according to his policy, the Mongols will probably go crazy with joy.

The policies of Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu are both internal and external. They must cultivate their internal strength internally and strike hard externally.

Because of this, no country around the Ming Dynasty dared to show its teeth to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, if we insist on counting, North Korea in the northeast and Oara in the north count as one.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask Yishiha: "How is the matter with Benyashili, Guilichi, and Wala Tatar?"

"There is no news yet." After Yi Shiha responded, he seemed to have thought of something and bowed slowly:
"By the way, Your Highness, Chen Chang has led the Shandong soldiers and horses to cross the sea to Jinzhou, and will soon cross the Yalu River and head to Donghai Mansion."

"There have been many fishing boats in North Korea recently observing the movements of the army in the offshore waters. Look..."

"Don't worry about them." Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the chair, closed his eyes and rested his mind while leaving an explanation:
"Send my instructions to Chen Chang. After entering Donghai Mansion, if Timur and Aha refuse to be recruited, lead your troops to defeat them."

"If the North Korean soldiers and horses are stubborn and unwilling to withdraw from the Shuangcheng area, lead their troops to attack them."

(End of this chapter)