Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 420 Follow every step
"Xu Shuo, the prefect of Zunyi, met with the Councilor..."

In the cold winter, when the snow was already falling in the south of the Yangtze River, Xu Shuo, the prefect of Zunyi, was bowing to a scholar dressed in plain satin outside the Yamen of Zunyi Prefecture in the mountains of southwest China.

His courtesy was to the point, without flattery or flattery, nor did he make people feel alienated.

The Xie Counselor whom he bowed to was Xie Jin, who had been decentralized to Guangxi as an official in the Provincial Envoy Department three months ago.

"Prefect Xu, I'm passing by here. Is there any charming place you can recommend?"

Xie Jin, who was now wearing plain satin, bowed in return, but did not lower his head even a little bit.

"More than ten miles to the south, there is a temple that was built during the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty. The name Huguo Temple (Xiangshan Temple) has been passed down for more than 640 years. If you are interested, you can go and have a look. "

"There happens to be an empty car in the government office. If you don't mind, you can take this car."

Xu Shuo answered politely, and Xie Jin also smiled when he heard the words: "In that case, it would be disrespectful for me to refuse."

"Zhao Tongzhi, let's shunt the train." When Jin Jin was about to leave, Xu Shuo also spoke humbly to Zhao Gui beside him.

Xie Jin opened the window and left the horse he was riding on. He was obviously very satisfied with the carriage and wanted to take it away.

Although Xu Shuo is a well-rounded person, he can also tolerate some secret thefts, but he usually won't tolerate it easily like Xie Jin, who wants to take the government carriage in an upright manner, but now...

Zhao Gui has worked with Xu Shuo for many years and is already familiar with his temper.

"The situation is stronger than the person. If someone cares about you, you and I will not be affected, but we will be targeted."

"Then Jie Jin was sent down by His Majesty at the end of August. Now it is already the middle of the twelfth lunar month, but he has only just arrived in Zunyi."

Zhao Gui got angry when he heard this, but Xu Shuo stepped in front of him and bowed: "Since Senator Xie likes it, give it to Senator Xie."

Zhao Gui bowed expressionlessly and turned back to the government office. Not long after, he saw a horse-drawn carriage coming out of the side street of the government office and stopping in front of the government office.

There were six or seven guards beside him, all riding horses, so there was no need to crowd with him.

"Once he returns to Jiangnan, Your Majesty will be furious when he finds out about it, so his life..."

"Although I didn't read about him in Di Bao, I still made a detour to Zunyi for three and a half months. I think he traveled up the Yangtze River from Nanjing, visiting mountains and rivers, and writing poems and inscriptions along the way."

"This is Councilor Xie who is going to Guangxi to take up his post. Please greet me well. Don't neglect me."

"He is in the limelight, so you and I can avoid him." Xu Shuo chuckled and said, Zhao Gui said angrily: "You can still laugh?"

"When the assessment is over, you and I will be able to take a two-month long rest, and then we will be able to relax and have a good rest."

"Such a person, I'm afraid if I give him another month, he may not be able to reach Guilin."

"The situation in Zunyi Mansion is slightly better. You and I are also in the last year of the three-year assessment, so why bother with him."

Seeing him speak, the coachman also shook the reins and drove the carriage towards Huguo Temple.

"With his behavior and the behavior of the people behind him in the temple, it is not easy for His Highness to keep him alive until now."

"Even if we take the land route, it only takes two and a half months to go south from Wuchang to Guilin."

"Hmph!" Zhao Gui snorted coldly, with a sharp look in his eyes: "According to what you and I said before, we will both go to Guangxi by then, and maybe we will become colleagues with Xie Jin."

"Why do you see it?" Zhao Gui asked subconsciously, but Xu Shuo raised his chin and said:

Xu Shuo turned around and walked towards the government office. Although Zhao Gui followed him, he was still not happy.

"Three months is neither long nor short. If we simply rush to take office and take the sea route and the Pearl River waterway, we can reach Guilin in one and a half months at most."

"Yes..." Seeing Xu Shuo say this, the coachman bowed and got out of the car and set up a horse stool for Xie Jin. Xie Jin was not polite and lifted his legs to get on the carriage.

Zhao Gui was not good at words, and he hated flattery. He only said this to Xu Shuo because he felt that he and Xu Shuo were friends.

"His Majesty forgives him now, but only delegates him to an official position, and not only does he not correct his attitude, he also travels around the mountains and rivers along the way."

The two of them were silent all the way until they returned to the study, where Zhao Gui sat down and said:

"Now he traveled by land and water, but it took him three and a half months, and he took a long detour to get to Zunyi."

Xu Shuo's qualifications are indeed not deep, and he has never been through the muddy waters of the temple, but he can't resist the fact that Jian Yi is guiding him behind his back.

At that time, there will be a shortage of important ministers in the southwest, and I may be the official who can take charge.

After they walked away, Zhao Gui frowned and said, "Although Jie Jin is generous and the horse he rides is more expensive than the draft horse, after all, this carriage is an official's property, how can he give it away casually?"

"No need, let's go!" Xie Jin closed the window and was very generous.

"With this behavior, after going to Guangxi, I guess he can't wait to return to Jiangnan as soon as the reform begins."

"This horse is precious. I will keep it for the time being for Councilor Xie. When Councilor Xie passes by Zunyi Mansion in the future, I will present it to you with both hands."

Jian Yi knew the world but was not worldly. If he wanted to give Xu Shuo a lesson, it would be easy.

Xu Shuo also knew that Zhao Gui hated the so-called Qingliu the most, so he poured tea for him personally and comforted him: "Relax a little, it's only more than half a month until the end of the assessment."

"Becoming a colleague with such a person will make life difficult for you and me."

Although Jian Yi was appointed as the chief envoy to Sichuan, Xu Shuo also knew that Jian Yi would probably be transferred back to the capital in a few days.

"This horse was brought from the inn in Chongqing Prefecture and will be left in Zunyi Prefecture."

"I estimate that if His Majesty hadn't spoken this time, Jie Jin would have been imprisoned because of his disciples."

Zhao Gui was worried that Xie Jin would point fingers in government affairs, but Xu Shuo chuckled.

His laughter made Zhao Gui frown in shock, while Xu Shuo said confidently: "I estimate that before you and I take office, Jie Jin will cause a lot of trouble."

Of course, whether this matter can be successful or not depends on Donggong’s opinion.

Thinking of this, Xu Shuo straightened his clothes: "Based on the situation recorded by the Yamen this year, I am not far away from being promoted."

"Next, we just need to wait for the official to pass the examination, and then I can be transferred to Guangxi, where I can continue to make meritorious services."

As he finished speaking, Zhao Gui nodded in recognition.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, Zhu Gaoxu also obtained the "Yellow Book" and "Fish Scale Atlas" of the 15th Chief Envoys' Department in the two capitals this year, the 20th Governor's Department, and the Third Xuanwei Department.

They were placed in front of Zhu Gaoxu, allowing Zhu Gaoxu to look through them.

"There are eight thousand three hundred and sixty-five thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven people. The growth is very impressive."

Sitting in the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the increase in population by more than 1.54 million compared to last year. He did not show any dissatisfaction, but was very happy.

His behavior actually made Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi, who were given seats in the palace, a little embarrassed.

"Currently, there are nine Chief Secretaries who are implementing the New Deal, five Chief Secretaries, five Chief Secretaries, and three Chief Secretaries..."

"Except for several administrative envoys and governors in Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Yunnan, only the two governors in Uszang and Duogan in Xifan did not implement the New Deal."

"In this year's "Yellow Book", most of the new population was handed over to the places where the New Deal was implemented. Not only did there not be any new population in these places where the New Deal was not implemented, but it actually decreased by more than 400,000 people. It is completely inconsistent with common sense."

"In my opinion, after the Lantern Festival, we must first start with the six governments in Jiangdong to implement the new policy in Jiangnan."

Xia Yuanji spoke straight to the point, with some temper in his words.

This is not surprising. After all, although the Ming Dynasty has undergone many migrations, the total population of the New Deal lands is only 40 million.

The remaining 43 million people are those in Jiangnan who have not implemented the New Deal.

It may seem that there are too many people in Jiangnan, but in fact there are more people in Jiangnan.

As far as the "Yellow Book" of the 14th year of Hongwu alone is concerned, the six provinces in one capital and six provinces in which Xia Yuanji mentioned that the New Deal was not implemented had a population of 40 million in that year.

Now, twenty-nine years later, how come the population has only increased by 3 million?
Moreover, the population of three million was found from Yingtian Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, and Suzhou Prefecture. Not only did the population of other places not increase, but they reported lower numbers.

Based on the situation of the three prefectures, the population of the entire Jiangnan land should be conservatively estimated to be no less than 50 million.

"According to what you said, after the Lantern Festival, we will implement a new policy for the six provinces."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in approval, and the reason why he didn't care so much was because Yang Zhan was currently training a navy in Changzhou Prefecture, with more than 40,000 in number.

This time the implementation of the New Deal in the six Jiangdong prefectures not only involved tens of thousands of officials, but also 40,000 navy and 20,000 Zhili troops.

With military-civilian cooperation, it would be strange not to be able to eat it.

As long as they eat it, it will be easier for the entire South Zhili to implement the New Deal.

“The number of acres has not increased much, mainly in Sichuan and Guizhou.”

Zhu Gaoxu looked down at the "Fish Scales Album" and told the situation.

When Guo Zi saw this, he quickly bowed and said with a smile on his face: "This dynasty is very concerned about the registration of the "Fish Scale Atlas", and the north is dominated by military settlements. Therefore, after the reduction of the northern troops stationed in the fields, the measured situation is not an exaggeration."

"Compared with last year, the cultivated land this year has increased by more than 7 million acres. Most of this is the result of Guizhou natives migrating to Sichuan for reclamation and spontaneous reclamation within Guizhou's jurisdiction."

"If the imperial court has a population of 90 million, then 630 million acres of cultivated land can be cultivated."

Guo Zi still knew how to farm, sowing and managing by manpower. Even a strong man could only take care of five acres of land by himself.

The 630 million acres of cultivated land are mainly due to the extensive management outside the customs and the livestock power of a large number of cattle and horses.

"After checking the six prefectures in Jiangdong, I estimate that many people will be convicted..." Zhu Gaoxu closed the "Yellow Book" and said to Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi: "Of these people, those who have committed the most serious crimes will be exiled to Fujian Ryukyu Prefecture, and the second best will be exiled. Guizhou will be exiled to the land of Gan, Su, Gua and Sha."

"Your Highness..." Upon hearing the direction of Zhu Gaoxu's exile, Xia Yuanji bowed and said:

"I don't have any objections from other local ministers. Mainly the Guasha land in the northwest. Have too many people been relocated there?"

"This year, just to maintain the existing population of more than 40,000 people in Guasha and Shazhou, the imperial court has adjusted more than 200,000 dan of grain. The local situation may make it difficult to be self-sufficient."

Thousands of years have passed, and the environment in the northwest has deteriorated even more seriously than in later generations.

You can still see a lot of green in Dunhuang and Guazhou in later generations, but in this era, that kind of scene is simply impossible.

Even near the river, there is at most some green grass and not many trees at all. After all, trees are not only building materials, but also fuel for heating.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't pointed out the coal mines in Guasha, the more than 40,000 people in the two states would have been a huge problem just for heating water and cooking fuel.

"Although the two states cost a lot, they are after all the springboard for the imperial court to enter Hami."

"This time, while my father is going north, I plan to send Guo Yong to lead three thousand cavalry to escort Tuotuo to Hami, and serve as the imperial guard commander in Hami. I will confer Anke Timur as Zhongshun Bo and move him inland to Lanzhou. , rewarded with three thousand acres of farmland."

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to attack the Hami Guards. Even though the local Anke Timur had a good attitude towards the Ming Dynasty, this place was always controlled by them, not the Ming army.

The only way is to allow the Ming army to station in the area, use cement to build underground canals and karez wells, restore the ecology of Hami little by little, and cultivate crops.

Hami also has coal mines, coal mines and concrete, so the trees are not very useful in construction and fuel.

It is much easier to plant crops on such a basis, turn the straw into grass grids to fix the sand, and then plant sand-proof forests.

"If Hami is captured, then the Hubu side..."

Xia Yuanji was a little hesitant. After all, there are only so many difficulties in maintaining Guasha. Hami, which is still five or six hundred miles away from Guasha, is even more difficult.

"After Hami moved inland, the imperial court only needed to keep a thousand troops and horses there. Although there was a 600-mile Gobi Desert, the troops and horses from Guasha could be transferred to the east of Suzhou. They only needed to keep one thousand households each. enough."

Zhu Gaoxu explained to Xia Yuanji, and Xia Yuanji breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

Currently, one guard is stationed in Guasha. According to Zhu Gaoxu, after the war, Guasha plus Hami will have at most 3,000 troops. Although the logistics pressure has increased, at least it is not as big as expected.

"In this case, I will say no more."

Xia Yuanji put down his bowing hand, and when Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he asked: "How much is owed by the Ministry of Revenue this year, and how much is left in each treasury?"

"This year, the Household Department's accumulated money and grain arrears are about 7 million guan, and there are still more than 27 million guan of money, grain, and spices in each treasury, but more than 8 million guan of them are gold."

Guo Zi reminded Zhu Gaoxu that the Ming Dynasty now has a lot of gold in stock, more than 840,000 taels.

This is despite the fact that the Ministry of Revenue did not collect it carefully. If the Ministry of Revenue collected it carefully, there could be more.

"Although gold is very important, it can be used when necessary without special reminder."

Zhu Gaoxu is not ready to implement the gold standard now, so gold is also an emergency thing for him.

The financial pressure in the next three years will be great, but once these three years are passed, Ming's financial pressure will gradually become smaller and the final balance of payments will be achieved.

"Has the Ministry of Revenue calculated how many Yongle Tongbao have been issued in total over the years, and how many coins of various types have been collected and destroyed?"

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on his chair and asked Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi. The reason why he asked them was because Yongle Tongbao began to be issued on a large scale in the third year of Yongle, and Guo Zi was not the Minister of Household Affairs at that time.

"In eight years, more than 86 million yuan were issued. The specific situation can only be understood by obtaining the documentation."

Xia Yuanji spoke without hesitation and continued: "As for the amount of new money handed over for destruction and casting, it is probably around 50 million guan."

"In these cases, the Ministry of Household Affairs has kept a record. After all, old money is minted into new money every year, and the quality of the coins will always be different, which will lead to a lot of fire consumption."

Needless to say, the quality of Yongle Tongbao is so good that there are very few workshops on the market that dare to imitate Yongle Tongbao.

Instead of imitating Yongle Tongbao, it is better to imitate the ancient coins of Hongwu and previous dynasties.

"Judging from the market situation, how many years do you think it will take for the court to completely make Yongle Tongbao mainstream?"

There are always new words popping up in Zhu Gaoxu's words, which Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi are used to.

Guo Zi calculated for a while and made an estimate before saying: "Several copper mines were found in Luzon last month. According to the words of Xu Chailao, the local consolation envoy, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of copper ingots can be mined and transported stably by this time next year. In the capital city, one million jin will be mined in a few years.”

"If this news is true, then the imperial court will be able to mint an additional two to three million guan every year. Counting the silver and copper ingots from overseas and the southwest, it will not be a problem to mint 7 million new guan every year. It will take up the mainstream in at least twenty years. market.”

"One million catties?" Zhu Gaoxu was surprised. Although he knew that Luzon's copper reserves were very high, with the productivity of the current era, it was not easy to mine one million catties of copper in Luzon every year.

"Your Highness, many people in the temple have recently impeached Mr. Xu Chai..."

Before Zhu Gaoxu could get over his surprise, Xia Yuanji told the story of the temple's impeachment against Xu Chailao.

After all, Xu Chailao was a businessman before, and businessmen are driven by profits.

At this period in history, Luzon had no output, so the Ming Dynasty did not give Xu Chailao any resources.

When Xu Chailao got old, he returned to his hometown of Fujian from Luzon. The Ming Dynasty's rule in Luzon also fell apart after he led his fellow villagers to leave.

But things are different now. Zhu Gaoxu pointed out the gold and copper mines in Luzon, and Xu Chailao naturally started to take action.

Coupled with the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Jiang Gui's two guards, Xu Chailao's ambitions were naturally amplified.

The population of Luzon is not that large, with only over 130,000 people developed so far. Naturally, there is not enough manpower to exploit the mineral deposits.

Not only is there insufficient manpower for mining, but even land reclamation is very slow.

Because of this, Xu Chailao tempted Jiang Gui to capture the natives and use them to reclaim wasteland and develop mineral deposits.

Jiang Gui didn't talk nonsense. As long as he could do something good for the local people, he had nothing to hesitate.

Therefore, in the past few years, large areas of farmland have been reclaimed and many minerals have been mined.

Today, Luzon is not only self-sufficient, but can also pay tens of thousands of taels of gold and tens of thousands of stones to the court every year in taxes and grain.

As a propaganda envoy, although Xu Chailao was not under the supervision of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion also had its own assessor.

In the past few years, most of the military attachés who went to Luzon and returned from the Sixth Army Governor's Office would be afraid of being too harsh on the natives and causing rebellion.

In fact, their worries are not unnecessary, because in the past seven years, a total of 79 rebellions broke out in Luzon.

You must know that even Annan, who has a culture, has only had sixty-two rebellions in the past few years, and as time goes by, the scale of the rebellions becomes smaller and smaller.

But Luzon is different. The scale of Luzon is getting bigger and bigger. The largest scale is the Huangshan Rebellion that happened three months ago.

More than 30 native tribes formed a coalition of 40,000 troops and launched an attack on Huangshan Town in the east of Luzon City.

However, this massive attack was defeated by Jiang Gui with 600 cavalry and 3,000 musketeers.

After the war, Jiang Gui killed more than 7,000 natives and captured more than 20,000, with 52 killed and 336 wounded. The remaining natives fled into the mountains.

Although they disapproved of Jiang Gui's oppressive way of governing Luzon, the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion still commended Jiang Gui for his merits and submitted them to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu was very familiar with Jiang Gui and did not think there was anything wrong with his methods. He even promoted him to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Governor's Mansion.

Every era has its own rules. Before the 20th century, the rule was that of the weak and the strong.

Compared with the Western colonists, what Xu Chai Lao and the others did in Luzon was nothing at all.

Not to mention the current historical background of the early fifteenth century, even the eighteenth century.

If the white people only asked the black people to work for three years before giving them their freedom and giving them food to cultivate their own land, the black people would probably be moved to tears.

In comparison, Zhu Gaoxu didn't pay attention at all to what Xu Chailao did in Luzon.

Because of this, when faced with Xia Yuanji's words, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but shook his head and said:

"We Han people have a habit. Whenever we see the other person as pitiful, a group of people will feel pity, which will lead to disaster in the future."

"There are too many examples like this to be placed in history books."

"We cannot make such mistakes and avoid repeating them."

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the tea cup and took a sip. Xia Yuanji frowned and said:
"It's okay to say that this kind of thing only happened in one place, but if you ignore it and even promote Xu Chailao and Jiang Gui as officials, I'm worried that other places will follow suit..."

Xia Yuanji is not worried about things in Luzon. He is worried that Luzon's approach will be imitated by other places, and this culture is not suitable for governing complex places.

It's okay if it's at sea. There are many vassal states in the Ming Dynasty, and there are many places for supplies. For rebellions in some coastal towns, they can also rely on strong ships and cannons to suppress them.

However, if this kind of thing happened in areas with complex terrain such as Sanxuan, Liuwei, Yungui, etc., it would be a different matter.

"What you say makes sense..."

Zhu Gaoxu put down his tea cup, and after thinking about it, he said: "Let's use this as an excuse to rate Xu Chailao and Jiang Gui as second-class in this year's assessment."

"Isn't this... too light?" Guo Zi couldn't help but speak, and Xia Yuanji also frowned.

"Under their management, both the imperial court and the people of Luzon have benefited. It is not good to criticize too much."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to continue this topic, and Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi could only sigh helplessly when they saw this.

Not long after, they changed directions and started discussing issues about the southwest...

(End of this chapter)