Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 413 Dog bites dog

"Go away, go away!"

rustling...

While Wang Ren and others were helping the Yu family spread the reputation of the Ming Dynasty in Dongzhou, Japan was in chaos.

First, Ashikaga Yoshimichi bloody purged the pro-Mei nobility in Kyoto, without waiting for the guardians of various countries in Japan to respond.

The message of the Ming Dynasty's crusade against Ashikaga Yoshitomichi reached Japan. After receiving the news, Ashikaga Yoshitomichi immediately cut off the supply of Sado and Oki from the Gyeonggi area, and strictly prohibited all Japan from trading with Sado and Oki's shipping companies in the Ming Dynasty.

After his order was issued, the situation in Japan instantly became chaotic.

The Kyogoku, Uesugi and other families who were not satisfied with Yoshitomichi took this opportunity to respond to the Ming Dynasty's appeal. The Uesugi family led their own family and in-laws to mobilize Chiba, Iwamatsu, Takeda, Mutsu, Hitachi, Shinano, Ueno, Samurai from Sagami, Musashi, Shimono, Izu and other places marched towards Kamakura.

At the same time, the Kyogoku family united with many guardians in Kansai who had suffered damage and marched towards the north.

Faced with the situation of a pincer attack from the north and the south, Ashikaga Yoshimichi decided to assemble his army and first deal with the Uesugi family in the north, and then go south to sweep through Kansai.

"It's not necessary, and the court doesn't have the energy." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head, and Xia Yuanji nodded:
"The most important thing at the moment is to repatriate the chieftains from the southwest and consolidate their rule in Luzon, Jiugang, and Jiaozhi."

"Let him work freely, but if the cultivated land breaks through, taxes and grain will also increase accordingly." Zhu Gaoxu nodded in response, and then asked Yi Shiha: "When will Muchun and the others arrive in Nanjing?"

"If the New Deal is to be implemented in Jiangnan, the deposits in the national treasury will only last for three and a half years at most."

"That said..." Yi Shiha said hesitantly: "You can also take this opportunity to ask for some benefits."

The two-story teahouse covering an area of ​​less than half an acre was packed with seats. Zhu Gaoxu and the others walked down the stairs and walked out of the teahouse.

“I remember the road to the north was rough and difficult, and how they thought about taking that road.”

However, one of the reasons why the shogunate was able to raise so many troops was the taxes paid by the Oki City Shipping Division.

Including the shogunate's army, Ashikaga Yoshimochi only had 70,000 troops available, and 40,000 of them had to stay behind, leaving only 30,000 that could really be mobilized.

Ashikaga Yoshimichi questioned Imagawa Norimasa, who lowered his head after hearing this: "The Ming army in Sado has trade with various cities in the north. They have provided money to help the locals build roads very early. With this road, the Uesugi family can transfer from the north. The soldiers quickly entered Echizen."

"In front of the army, all conspiracies and machinations are paper tigers."

When I walked out of the single room, I was greeted by the bustle of people.

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu agreed and turned to look at Xia Yuanji: "After the Northern Expedition ends next year, I plan to start the reform of Guangxi while implementing the Jiangnan New Deal."

At the beginning, this place was just a rammed earth road. Although there were some straw huts built for people's livelihood and the population was very crowded, in the end it was just a town.

"Arrived around August 24th."

"Bastard!" Ashikaga Yoshimochi scolded him. He had known for a long time that Ming had bad intentions in coming to Japan to trade. If his father hadn't hindered him, he would never have given Ming a chance to interfere in Japan's domestic situation.

Thinking of this, he began to arrange methods against the Uesugi family's army.

When they came to the street, the plants and trees here felt familiar and strange to Zhu Gaoxu.

His idea is good, but the reality is very cruel.

"The scope of the unrest is greater than I expected..."

Sitting in front of Zhu Gaoxu were Yi Shiha and Xia Yuanji. Seeing Zhu Gaoxu read the letter, Yi Shiha curiously asked: "Why doesn't Your Highness take advantage of this moment to occupy Japan?"

"I estimate that this time we will be able to return to rural areas much faster than Guizhou, but this time we have to go by sea. Please discuss the losses with Guo Zi during the period, so as not to be fooled by mermaids."

Now that tomorrow's trade is cut off, if the war cannot be ended as soon as possible, the shogunate will not be able to pay military salaries.

After he finished speaking, Xia Yuanji nodded in agreement, and then continued: "Guizhou's land-returning process is coming to an end, and both Sichuan and Huguang have gained a lot of population."

"Guo Zi and I went to check out the gold and silver spices that Zheng He brought back this time. They are all of good quality, but the quantity is too large and will take at least three years to be consumed."

Seventeen years have passed, and the development here has been faster than Zhu Gaoxu imagined.

"General, Uesugi's rebellion is moving south from Echizen, and those guys from the Shiba family didn't stop them at all."

Except for Imagawa Norimasa, Uesugi Fusakata, and Yamana Tokihi who responded to him and brought nearly 20,000 troops to him, the other guardians were dissatisfied with Ashikaga Yoshimochi cutting off tomorrow's trade, so they did not send troops to support him.

It was too late to say anything now. He had to suppress the rebellion in Uesugi and Kansai before the Ming army escorted Yoshitsugu arrived, and then he could concentrate on fighting the Ming army.

Seeing him say that, Yishiha stopped talking, but Xia Yuanji spoke up:

In the land of Tsuruga, there are currently 30,000 troops of Ashikaga Yoshinori stationed here. Standing in the tent, Ashikaga Yoshitari wearing armor listened to Imagawa Norimasa's report, his face couldn't help but look ugly.

In a teahouse, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting in a single room on the second floor, glanced at the contents of the letter, then lit it and threw it into a stone basin.

Under such circumstances, Ashikaga Yoshimichi was undoubtedly very anxious.

Dashuying Town, this is the market town where Zhu Gaoxu often hung out with Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan when he came to the Ming Dynasty.

The entire army in the Gyeonggi area was mobilized. Ashikaga Yoshimichi ordered the armies from all over the place to stand firm, and he marched north with 30,000 ashigaru.

"Just a Mutsu officialdom is too small."

"If you bite off more than you can chew, one officialdom is enough." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and continued to eat the food on the table with his chopsticks.

At the same time, news of the chaos in Japan was also passed through the Xichang Office in Japan and reached Nanjing in mid-August.

"Jian Yi also mentioned in his memorial that the reclamation rate in Sichuan is very fast. Most of the Guizhou natives who have migrated to Sichuan have now cultivated two to three acres of cultivated land. As long as the imperial court continues to support it for two years, Sichuan's cultivated land will exceed 3,000 acres. Ten thousand acres.”

"The current Su-Song Second Prefecture has started the New Deal as early as the year before last. Their reaction is not too big. I don't think the other four prefectures will make a fuss."

"That's enough." Zhu Gaoxu picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "I don't plan to attack the entire Jiangnan area, but start with the six Jiangdong prefectures first."

"Yes..." Xia Yuanji bowed in agreement. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also stood up and led them out of the single room.

The once rammed earth road has become a concrete road, and the houses on both sides of the road have been torn down and rebuilt. There are two rows of gated yards with white walls and blue tiles. The pedestrians coming and going are not dressed in coarse linen, but in silk and satin.

In the distance, the hut where Zhu Gaoxu and the rest used to rest has disappeared, replaced by a concrete corridor, which not only provides shelter from the wind and rain, but also does not have to worry about collapse when the wind blows.

“How is cement production going?”

Zhu Gaoxu looked at all this and asked, and when Yishiha heard the words, he stepped forward and whispered: "There are about 320,000 tons in the country, and there are more than 164,000 practitioners."

The answer given by Yishiha made Zhu Gaoxu very satisfied. In this era where manpower is the mainstay, Zhu Gaoxu was very happy to be able to produce 320,000 tons of low-strength cement.

According to the official road standards of the Ministry of Industry, these 320,000 tons of cement are enough to lay more than 700 miles of official roads.

Although cement has many uses and it is impossible to implement them all in road construction, for Daming, this is just the beginning.

Once gunpowder and steam engines are developed and advanced, the output of various industries will increase, thus helping the Ming Dynasty digest the land that cannot be digested at present.

"Are the people in Dashuying Town still the same people as before?"

Zhu Gaoxu walked on the concrete road, trying to find familiar faces in the passing streets, but he couldn't see any familiar faces after looking for a long time.

"When the Yamen expropriated the land, most of the people exchanged the land for money and moved closer to the outer city gate."

"The people here now are basically those who moved in later."

Xia Yuanji's words made Zhu Gaoxu silent for a moment. He thought that the people's lives had become better, but he didn't expect that it was just that a group of wealthy households had changed.

"But no matter what, people's lives have indeed improved a lot. Once the subordinate staff are replaced, the burden will probably be lighter."

Xia Yuanji saw Zhu Gaoxu's disappointment and quickly added, but Zhu Gaoxu knew better than Xia Yuanji whether the people were living well.

We are currently in the throes of the Ming Dynasty's policy transformation, and many people are living in dire straits because they cannot adapt, especially in areas where the New Deal has not yet been implemented.

However, it is impossible for the current Ming Dynasty to avoid them. After all, the labor pain lasts for three to five years, but the long-term pain lasts for more than ten years, and even the entire layout collapses.

"Based on the current situation of cultivated land measured by the imperial court, after the new policy is fully implemented, it is estimated that the tax and grain taxes will reach about 60 million dan."

Zhu Gaoxu was discussing with Xia Yuanji. He did not think like Wang Hui that the imperial court could collect 70 to 80 million shi of grain. After all, the difference between the north and the south was too great. The grain production in the northwest and parts of the Bohai Sea was only 7 or 8 dou per mu, or even In some places there are only six buckets.

After they are compared with the highly productive Jiangnan, the output of more than 60 million dan from more than 600 million acres of cultivated land is already very high.

"Although taxes have increased, expenditures have also increased."

Xia Yuanji was very worried. Although he was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he was also responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs and often worked with Guo Zi to deal with them.

The current situation in Ming Dynasty is very dangerous, and the economy will collapse if we are not careful.

"Here are three cups of sour plum soup."

Although it was already August, Nanjing was still a bit hot. Zhu Gaoxu asked for three portions of sour plum soup and took out the new money from his pocket and handed it over.

When the ice drink shopkeeper saw this, he happily took the new money and poured three cups of sour plum soup for them, adding crushed ice cubes.

During this period, others came to buy ice drinks, but the shopkeepers selectively checked the coins.

If it was a Yongle Tongbao with new coins, he smiled and took it and put it away.

If it were other Tongbao, he would weigh it in his hand a few times before putting it away.

This scene was watched by Zhu Gaoxu and the other three. After taking the sour plum soup to cool down, Zhu Gaoxu said: "It seems that the new money is quite popular."

"Indeed, after the court's new money is minted, it usually takes ten days and a half to disperse. However, after the tax reform, the money collected does contain a lot of fake money."

Xia Yuanji asked a question, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "There is nothing we can do about it. After all, more than 80 million people are a mixed bag, and not everyone can distinguish real money from fake money."

"Although the imperial court has lost some profits, many money-making workshops have been destroyed in recent years. Most of the fake money circulating in the market was minted in the past few years."

"After this batch of counterfeit money is digested, even if they will still appear on the market, the quantity will definitely not be comparable to now." "Then when can we go..." Xia Yuanji shook his head, but he knew the situation at the mint. of.

Due to the abundant materials, if the mint mints five million coins every year, it will basically only make a profit of 250,000 coins.

If the Ministry of Revenue collects too much fake money, it may even have to pay hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Don't worry about this problem." Zhu Gaoxu comforted Xia Yuanji and said with a smile:
"The imperial court mines so many silver and copper ingots every year. Don't tell me you haven't read those books on Economics."

"Of course I have read it. Many of the concepts are novel, but they all have a certain truth." Xia Yuanji explained quickly and continued:
"According to what you wrote, if the population continues to grow, then as long as the speed of inflation is controlled, there will be no such thing as inflation, right?"

"This issue is more complicated. I'll talk to you when I get back, otherwise I'm afraid you and I will have to chat here all day." Zhu Gaoxu smiled and avoided the question.

He is not a major in economics, so when it comes to the economic issues of the Ming Dynasty, he is basically crossing the river by feeling the stones.

Because of this, the implementation of the New Deal was so slow. Even after ten years, half of the population of Ming Dynasty was not covered.

The reason why it is so slow is because Zhu Gaoxu is taking it one step at a time and is unable to implement far-sighted economic policies.

In the current situation of Ming Dynasty, I am not afraid of taking too small steps and take my time, but I am afraid of taking too big steps and damaging my eggs.

"In your opinion, how much liquid currency is there in the Ming Dynasty now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Xia Yuanji. Xia Yuanji pondered for a moment after hearing the words, and then said: "Including copper coins, silver and gold, it is about 1.3 billion to 2 billion coins."

"Okay." Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "According to what you said, the gold, silver and copper ingots obtained from overseas by the Ming Dynasty every year are minted and distributed to the market, which means that the annual currency growth of the Ming Dynasty is only about 0.4%, and occasionally it will fall to 0.3%. "

"Under such circumstances, inflation caused by excessive issuance of metal currency is basically impossible at the moment. The only inflation problem that may be encountered is transportation difficulties caused by natural disasters and soaring regional prices."

"This problem cannot be solved by relying on the current conditions. Only by waiting for the steam engine developed by Taixue to appear can we slowly solve this problem."

Xia Yuanji and Huang Fu were the mainstays promoted by Zhu Gaoxu, so they also knew many things about Taixue.

They naturally knew about the steam engine, and they also knew what changes it would bring to the Ming Dynasty once the steam engine appeared.

However, Xia Yuanji and others were still skeptical about whether the steam engine could be successfully produced.

Although the current steam engines can already pump water stably from mines, this is beyond their imagination when it comes to actuating heavy objects carrying tens of thousands of kilograms.

"How many treasure banknotes are currently recycled by the imperial court every year?"

Zhu Gaoxu walked to the edge of Dashuying Town, and a carriage guarded by Xichang warriors appeared in front of him.

As he stepped onto the carriage, he asked Xia Yuanji, and Xia Yuanji also explained: "The number of damaged and replaced pieces fluctuates between five and six hundred thousand strings."

"According to this situation, banknote prices should rise a little bit every ten years."

"But I don't understand, Your Highness, why you want to recycle the treasure banknotes. Why don't you just ignore it and save the court some money."

There is no problem with what Xia Yuanji said. In his opinion, there is no need to continue to restore things that are irreversible, and this is the case with Baoqiao.

Although after Zhu Gaoxu's reminder, the Ming Dynasty did not issue large-scale treasure banknotes after the 27th year of Hongwu, there were still a large number of treasure banknotes circulating in the market.

The success of Hongwu's rule actually owes a large part of the credit to Bao Chao.

Although its function is to harvest the people, after so many years, the people have already recovered.

Now they only need to wait slowly for the treasure notes to be scrapped, and then Ming Dynasty will immediately reduce one of its economic problems.

However, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head after getting in the car and said to Xia Yuanji and Yi Shiha who got in the car:
"It is very likely that the imperial court will continue to use banknotes in the future. If the credibility of the imperial court is damaged by using treasure banknotes now, it will be much more difficult to issue banknotes in the future."

Zhu Gaoxu cannot wipe the butt left by Lao Zhu, but at least he cannot make this butt bigger and bigger like Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Di, Zhu Zhanji, and Zhu Qizhen in history.

"Show your attitude now, and then slowly wait for time to pass and the treasure money to disappear. Only then can the impact be minimized."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about his thoughts, and Xia Yuanji finally understood the reason why Zhu Gaoxu agreed to exchange old treasure banknotes for new money.

Although the Ming Dynasty issued hundreds of millions of treasure banknotes, most of them were damaged and difficult to read because they were still buried in cellars.

Because of this, the number of old banknotes exchanged for new ones by the Ministry of Accounts every year is so small.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, it is estimated that not even half of the treasure banknotes issued by Lao Zhu are still in circulation.

As long as he doesn't issue treasure notes, in another twenty or thirty years, Lao Zhu will still have three achievements in the treasure notes left by him.

Therefore, although he was more concerned about the issue of treasure notes, he rarely worried about it.

"The distribution of new money mainly depends on distributing it to workers and soldiers, so that the currency can circulate."

"in addition……"

"Go away, go away!!"

Before Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he heard the rapid sound of horse hooves and the sound of people shouting to leave.

He and Xia Yuanji were stunned for a moment, and then looked out the window curiously.

On the official road of the outer city, more than a hundred Tiqi were divided into more than a dozen groups, meeting outside the city and heading towards the inner city. Apparently they had received some news.

Since the main role of Jinyiwei is to monitor the officials, such a move immediately made Zhu Gaoxu squint his eyes.

"Yi Shiha, go ask Hu Lun and see what new tricks Ji Gang has come up with."

"Yes!"

Yi Shiha agreed, and then sent someone to the Xichang Yamen to ask Hu Lun.

During this period, Zhu Gaoxu and Xia Yuanji returned to the inner city and sent him to his mansion.

"Thank you, Your Highness..."

After getting off the car, Xia Yuanji stood in front of the small Xia Mansion of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu, while Zhu Gaoxu looked at his mansion.

Xia Yuanji's mansion is not too big. According to the current Ministry of Industry standard of three ratios of length to depth, the Xia Mansion, which is about five feet wide, should only be fifteen feet deep inside and occupy an area of ​​just over an acre. It is indeed not suitable. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Finance.

"Your mansion is too small. In a few days, the East Palace will provide money to help you repair a larger one."

There was no room for refutation. After Zhu Gaoxu left these words, he asked people to drive away. Xia Yuanji tried to stop him but failed.

"Your Highness..."

Xia Yuanji stood in front of the mansion and smiled bitterly, then shook his head and returned to the mansion.

While he was returning home, Zhu Gaoxu also told Yishiha in the car: "Allocate one thousand guans from the East Palace to build a mansion for Xia Yuanji..."

Halfway through, Zhu Gaoxu paused: "That should be enough, right?"

"That's enough. One thousand guan is enough to build a five-acre mansion." Yi Shiha smiled and nodded, and Zhu Gaoxu also smiled after hearing this.

Since Xia Yuanji's residence was right next to the imperial city, it didn't take long before Zhu Gaoxu and the others entered the imperial city and arrived at the Donghua Gate of the palace city.

After changing to the golden carriage, they entered the palace city and headed towards the East Palace.

After arriving at Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu saw Hu Lun in front of Chunhe Hall, and Hu Lun also saw the golden chariot and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

"Your Majesty, Muyang Bohu Lun, comes to see His Highness!"

"Let's talk things over. You're busy over there, so don't delay."

Zhu Gaoxu got out of the car and helped him up. He was not going to go into the palace to talk, but was going to go about his business after talking.

Hu Lun nodded when he heard this, and then smiled and said: "No problems were found when Su and Song's second government implemented the New Deal, but in order to seize Xie Jin's handle, Ji Gang secretly led people to investigate Li Zhigang."

"This guy has extremely bad character. After a little investigation, Ji Gang found out that Li Zhigang engaged in favoritism in his early years and recommended relatives to serve as subordinate officials in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture."

"To seize Jie Jin's handle, why is he checking on Li Zhigang?" Zhu Gaoxu didn't understand, so Hu Lun explained:
"Although Li Zhigang did not deal with Xie Jin, the two were indeed good friends in their early years. They should each have their own handles."

"This time Ji Gang investigated Li Zhigang, and Li Zhigang handed over the evidence against Xie Jin. Ji Gang also promised to help him destroy these evidence."

"Hmph!" Hearing that Ji Gang helped Li Zhigang destroy the evidence, Zhu Gaoxu knew without much thought that Ji Gang must have taken advantage of Li Zhigang.

"Find out their transactions, and when we deal with Ji Gang in the future, we will also deal with Li Zhigang."

"Yes!"

Seeing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Hu Lun quickly agreed, and at the same time carefully asked: "Your Highness, do you want Jie Jin to add fuel to the flames?"

"No need." Zhu Gaoxu objected, and added: "Although I don't know what evidence Ji Gang caught, people like Xie Jin cannot be killed in one go."

"Let Ji Gang deal with him first. An unruly person like him will not keep his peace after being dealt with. When my father gets impatient, his death will come."

After finishing his words, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Hu Lun: "Remember, we still have decades to go, so don't ruin your reputation too early."

"Yes!" Hu Lun felt warm in his heart. Ever since he became the commander of the West Factory, he had always paid attention to the relationship between Ji Gang and Zhu Di.

He had already known that Zhu Di used Ji Gang as a pawn, and even guessed Ji Gang's fate early on.

Due to the similar location, he would often think blindly, worrying that he would be treated like this by his Highness.

Only as time went by, he realized that His Highness was still the same Highness. As long as he did things well and didn't go too far, his future would never be comparable to Ji Gang's.

Thinking of this, Hu Lun bowed deeper to Zhu Gaoxu's retreating back...

(End of this chapter)