Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 423 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

"Smash it! Smash it all!"

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, when Zhu Di hurriedly went north to prepare for the northern expedition.

Thousands of weavers from Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou in Jiangdong took to the streets, surrounded the Taxation Department, and prepared to smash it to pieces.

"Beep--"

"Let me see who is so impatient that he dares to take action!"

Dozens of soldiers in front of the Jurong County government office heard the whistle and raised their guns, pointing coldly at the hundreds of weavers who were trying to beat them up.

Standing in front of the Jurong County Government Office, a hundred-household official glanced at everyone with a cold face, and many weavers hesitated for a while.

"Get started, let me see which of them..."

"Snapped!"

Before a wealthy man in silk satin could finish speaking, his fat body was hit by gunfire, making a wailing pig sound.

"Of course, what's more important is that this incident is the beginning of the imperial court killing chickens to scare monkeys."

"If you are worried that without these malicious operators, you will lose your source of income, you can rest assured."

Yi Shiha placed the three books in front of Zhu Gaoxu's case. Zhu Gaoxu was wondering why there were three books and opened them and saw the contents.

These hundreds of weavers were originally afraid of the dozens of Ming troops in front of the Yamen. Now that they saw the magistrate's instructions, they did not mention the smashing and smashing, and walked towards the Jihu Yamen in the distance.

Although not much can be found in seven days, there are still things that need attention.

"No matter who it is, no matter what the reason is, whoever hinders the implementation of the court's policies should pay the corresponding price."

The implementation of household registration for all people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was a level that none of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties had accomplished, except for the Tubo dynasty and later generations.

The magistrate of Jurong explained to hundreds of weavers and pointed out to them the location of Jihu Yamen.

"I guess he won't interfere in the implementation of the New Deal in Zhejiang and Jiangxi. He really..."

An artificially instigated riot was reduced to nothing under the intimidation of the Ming army and the explanations of New Deal officials. Such scenes also occurred in the remaining four prefectures and counties in Jiangdong.

In the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the riots in the six Jiangdong prefectures in the past few days after the comprehensive new deal. The expression on his face was not angry, but happy.

"Don't let this scoundrel follow you. The government's new policy is mainly to collect taxes from private weavers, not to increase taxes from weavers."

Except for a few county offices that were beaten up by weavers and farmers because the Ming army was slow to rush in for reinforcements, most of the riots were defused.

"In the past, the imperial court's taxes on Jiangnan were never high. It was all because of the existence of these villains that the land tax, which originally amounted to several dozen kilograms, was pushed to hundreds of kilograms."

"It is true that these thirty weavers died unjustly, but it is true that they smashed the county government office."

"Your Highness, these three volumes are the population numbers of Liufu counties in Jiangdong, the situation of borrowing looms from Jihu Yamen, and the last side is the contents of the household registration of the people of Xifan Uzang and Duogan. "

"Your Highness, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, would like to see you."

Feeling the comfortable feeling, Zhu Gaoxu also leaned on the chair and said: "Dad has led his troops to the north. When he comes back, the implementation of the New Deal in Southern Zhili will probably be over."

"It hurts! It hurts me so much! My leg!"

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he looked sideways at Yishiha who was standing not far away, pointed at the memorial and said: "Let the local county government compensate these thirty weavers with twenty guan. If there are other weavers in the family, they will Give each household a loom.”

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about this, he just nodded and said, "Let him come in."

Zhu Gaoxu showed a bit of helplessness, and just wanted to say that Zhu Di had lived a very happy life.

When Guo Zi arrived at this time, he obviously came with the results of the implementation of the New Deal.

"Not only that, the more than 200 loom merchants who instigated these things also contributed more than 30,000 looms to the imperial court, as well as raw materials worth more than 800,000 guan."

"The imperial court established Jihu Yamen in each of the six counties in Jiangdong. Private weavers could borrow looms from the Jihu Yamen branches and then return them with silks, satins and cloth!"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu pointed out: "The riots are normal. The imperial court's new policies have touched the interests of many civil servants. They will naturally incite the crowd in order to protect their own interests."

"Once this wave of compression goes down, they will never get up again."

The Six Prefectures of Jiangdong are at the foot of the capital. Since the implementation of the New Deal on the seventh day of the first lunar month, documents from the "Yellow Book" and "Fish Scale Atlas" have been sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs from all over the six prefectures, and the Ministry of Household Affairs has been sorting them out overnight.

"Pingshen, give me a seat!"

"Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, is here to see His Highness..."

"I will teach you this..." Yi Shiha agreed. Seeing this, Guo Yan also moved his hands from his shoulders to his temples to knead.

"Your Highness, there are so many riots and more than thirty people have died. Is this worth being happy about?"

"But I had expected this, so I mobilized 60,000 troops and dispersed them in the six prefectures in Jiangdong."

Guo Zi's words brought a smile to Zhu Gaoxu's face.

The rich man suddenly collapsed to the ground. At this moment, the magistrate of Jurong County also came out to understand the situation and immediately started shouting with the weavers.

"Thirty-three counties, 19 counties rioted, and three counties succeeded. They were really generous."

At the gate of the palace, the eunuch on duty began to sing. Guo Yan let go of his hand after hearing this, and walked to sit behind the screen not far away.

Mongolia's Qi people's household registration is relatively loose, and the Tibetan ministries are allowed to report on their own, so they are not included.

Standing next to Zhu Gaoxu, Guo Yan rubbed Zhu Gaoxu's shoulders and asked him doubts.

Zhu Gaoxu, as always, offered seats to the officials who came to Chunhe Hall, and Guo Zi also brought three books and presented them to Yishiha, and then took his seat.

In comparison, the Ming Dynasty's Qi people's household registration system appears to be very important.

This time the household registration of Qi people started when Hou Xian led his army into Tibet, and it is already the eighth year.

Under the inspections of the Ming army, Uszangdusi and Duogandusi began to conduct an inventory of the number of households and population of those once thousands and ten thousand households. It has only been eight years since the census was completed.

Zhu Gaoxu did not first read the official document of the Jiangnan New Deal and the documents of Jihu Yamen, but opened the contents of the health offices of the two divisions of Xifan.

In his early years, Zhu Yuanzhang's plan for the land of Xifan was divided into two commanderies: Wusuzang and Duogan, and Longda Commandery.

Followed by Duogan, Dongbu Hanhu, Changhe Xiyu Tongning and other Xuanwei envoys.

We summoned Si Duogansi, Duogan Longda, Duogandan, Duogan Canglu, Duoganchuan, Mo'erkan and other recruiters from far away.

Sha'erke, Naizhu, Luosideuan, Besima and other ten thousand households.

Duogansi, Solazong, Soboliga, Souchanghexi, Soduobasansun, Sojiaba, Suozhaori, Nazhu, Lunda, Guoyou, Shalikehahu's, Boligasi, Sa There are thousands of households in Litu'er, Shenbulang, Lacuoya, Xieliba, Runzelusun and so on.

This system seems sound, but is actually complicated.

Now, after the Ming army stationed in Tibet, the Qi people were registered as households, and the land of Xifan was divided into the Uzangdu Command and Envoy Division and the Duogandu Command and Envoy Division.

Both commanders have 12 guards under their command, as well as 21 thousand-household stations and 156 100-household stations directly under their jurisdiction, with a total of 13,257 military households and 40 military households. Seventy-nine thousand and thirty-two mouths.

Of course, here we mainly only count the tribes along the post roads that the Ming army could control. There are no statistics on areas such as Ngari, Ladakh and Qiangtang in later generations.

However, even if these places are included, the number of Xifan people in the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will not exceed 700,000.

Compared with the millions of people who lived in Tubo during its prosperity, as the temperature dropped, the environment on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau also began to deteriorate, and the population began to shrink.

Now there are 700,000 people, which is pretty good. After all, in the early days of liberation, it was only a little over 1 million.

"Your Highness, Hou Xian, Li Ying, Mu Tu, and Liu Zhao all think that the horse tax is too heavy. Please reduce it as appropriate. You see..."

Guo Zi still lacks confidence when facing Zhu Gaoxu. After all, he is Zhu Di's person, not Zhu Gaoxu's person.

"Five households have one horse, and a hundred catties of dry tea are also given as a gift. Is this still harsh?"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned when he heard this. You must know that the Ming Dynasty's horse tax in Xifan is not so much a one-sided tax as a two-sided trade.

It is true that the cost of one hundred kilograms of dry tea is only three or four guan, but if the Western horses are shipped to the mainland, they will easily cost 78 or even more than 10 guan.

But if you include the freight for transporting tea, the Ming Dynasty actually couldn't make much money from one horse. Besides, most of the horses collected from Xifan Land were used in the army.

"Tea is good, but what Xipan is lacking now is food..."

Guo Zi answered cautiously and continued: "If the imperial court hadn't moved the Xifan people from Duogan and other places to Sichuan for farming and grazing, I'm afraid there would have been complaints in the local area."

"How many acres of cultivated land are there in Xifan land now?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Guo Zi also replied:
"Duogan and Uzang have a combined total of less than 2.4 million acres, and the average output per mu is only eight bushels of highland barley. At least four acres of land can feed one person."

"However, the imperial court would also use dry tea to purchase grain from the local area every year to supplement military rations. Usually, they would purchase 70,000 to 80,000 dan of highland barley a year."

After Guo Zi answered, Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache and then said:

"Do you think that if the imperial court moves the population of Xifan to Sichuan, how much more people can be moved?"

Zhu Gaoxu still thought of the old method, which was to migrate people into the interior, so that the local people could remain self-sufficient in per capita cultivated land and grain, and at the same time, it could also supply part of the army.

"If we want to move, we can only move about 2,700 households in Nagqu, Longbu, Sumang and other places. Twenty-seven hundred households, about 20,000 people."

“After moving them away, the herdsmen from Lhasa, Samchujie, Qamdo and Dege can take over the land.”

"But as a result, this land of Xifan will lose another hundred thousand people, and the horse tax will be reduced by at least 20,000 horses in the coming year."

"There is no need to move everyone." After hearing Guo Zi's words, Zhu Gaoxu interrupted:

“Ten thousand households were moved from Nagqu, Longbu, and Sumang to Long’an, Sichuan for farming and herding, and then from Lhasa, Sanzhujie, Qamdo, Derge and other places for pastoral purposes, and 10,000 households were moved to Sichuan and Yunnan as appropriate. "

"With this reduction of 20,000 households overall, local people can immediately take over the local farmland for cultivation, reducing the time of wasteland."

"According to this, the people in these places will have a lot more arable land in their hands. The only thing they have to worry about is how to recruit and govern the 20,000 Xifan people after they move inland."

"There is Jianyi in Sichuan and Muchun in Yunnan. They are good at governance. I am very relieved."

This discussion between Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Zi immediately reduced the population of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by more than 100,000.

But it doesn't matter. At present, Ming Dynasty has no enemies in Qinghai and Tibet. With more than 300,000 people supporting 7,000 troops, the burden is not very big.

Compared with the life of serfs in the past, the current life of the people of Xifan is good enough.

It has to be said that Zhu Gaoxu has reaped the dividends of the times.

The current Qinghai-Tibet period is undoubtedly the weakest period since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Even the Pamudlupa family, which once ruled the Sakya Hall, is unable to mobilize thousands of troops to confront the Ming army. This fragmented Qinghai-Tibet made it very easy for the Ming army and the people to register their households, and they encountered almost no trouble.

Occasionally, a few chieftains tried to resist, but they were all defeated by the Ming army's field artillery.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also asked about the post road: "Has the post road been repaired?"

"It has been completed, so I would like to ask His Highness whether it is still necessary to build a post road leading to the Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion in Oris?"

The post road Guo Zi answered was a post road that was not opened in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in history.

Because of this, this place was easily invaded by the Mughals in history.

Of course, although there are no Ming and Qing post roads, there is indeed an old Tubo road from Lhasa and Sanzhujie to Leh and Segar, but it is not easy to walk.

"If this post road is calculated based on the cost of building the post road before, how much will it cost?"

Ming Dynasty was rich, but the money would always be spent, because compared with Zhu Gaoxu's plan, the savings of more than 20 million yuan were too small.

Therefore, he had to ask about the cost of this post road before deciding whether to build it.

"I'm afraid it won't be less than a million dollars."

Guo Zi answered bravely, and this also made Zhu Gaoxu weigh it.

It is true that the area of ​​Oris Military and Civilian Marshal's Mansion is important, but that is for future generations, not now.

Secondly, the local population is tens of thousands. If there is a conflict with the Ming army, the Ming army's supply line is at least 9,000 miles from Chengdu Prefecture in Sichuan.

Although the people of Xifan could be recruited along the way, the cost would be too high, and there would be little local output, and the Ming Dynasty would not be able to reach Central Asia to supply it.

It is undoubtedly very difficult to station troops locally.

"Let's build this post road little by little. One hundred thousand stones will be transported from Chengdu every year. Take your time."

Zhu Gaoxu was not prepared to complete the project in one go. Based on the annual shipment of 100,000 stone, it would take at least 40 years to complete the post road, but this would not put much pressure on Sichuan and Xifan.

If the Ming Dynasty can regain the Western Regions in forty years and cultivate supplies in the Kashgar area, it will be relatively easy for the Ming army to gain a foothold there.

"Yes……"

Guo Zi simply replied, and Zhu Gaoxu also opened two brochures from Jiangdong Six Prefectures.

According to the book, there are six prefectures and thirty-three counties in Jiangdong. There are more than 606,000 households in the counties and a population of more than 2.95 million.

If we follow the population data of more than six million people in the six prefectures in the 40th year of Hongwu, then the urbanization rate of the six prefectures in Jiangdong may have exceeded %...

Of course, such a situation is naturally impossible, so it can only mean that there are more hidden people in rural areas than in county towns.

How much can six million people grow in thirty years?
Even if the mortality rate in ancient times was very high, there would probably be no problem if the population increased by 50%.

Looking at the entire South Zhili from the six prefectures in Jiangdong, the population of South Zhili is estimated to have exceeded 18 million, while the six prefectures in Jiangdong have a population of at least 9 million.

The land of the Six Prefectures is the population of one or even several provinces except Jiangnan.

Zhu Gaoxu also wanted to know how many people had been hidden in the past thirty years.

"The population situation continues to deteriorate. With the policies of dividing people into acres, abolishing corvées, and household registration involving official education, the population of the six prefectures in Jiangdong can be counted as soon as one year."

"It will be completed this year, and tens of thousands of officials will be transferred to Southern Zhili next year to fully implement the New Deal in Southern Zhili."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking and Guo Zi was taking notes.

After talking about the population, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to the document book of Jihu Yamen.

According to the book, all the more than 50,000 looms owned by Jihu Yamen were borrowed.

A loom is worth hundreds of guan and can weave hundreds of pieces every year, which is worth 40 guan.

Judging from the fact that the court only charged five cents of interest for borrowing looms, the weavers would have to weave white cloth for at least two and a half years before they could settle their accounts.

However, this does not include the time of raw materials. If the cost of raw materials is included, the weavers will have to go without food for seven or eight years to balance the accounts.

After settling the accounts, they can earn at least 40 guan per year, and they can earn another 10 guan after removing the materials.

If you are more skilled in craftsmanship and weave some silk and satin, your income can be doubled.

If you work hard for one year, you can buy three or four acres of high-quality paddy field outside the city. Or if you work hard for three years, you can buy a courtyard with three entrances and three exits in the inner city and become a rich farmer from then on.

This means that the imperial court is willing to directly loom, whereas the wealthy households in the past would only rent looms at most, and the interest rates would be much higher than those charged by the imperial court.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, "weavers provide capital and weavers provide labor" was regarded as a capitalist employment relationship, but in reality, weavers could only make a living and lived only slightly better than ordinary farmers.

A business like the Imperial Court that only requires five cents of annual interest is something you can't even find with a lantern.

Because of this, all the looms in Jihu Yamen were used up in such a short period of time.

Seven or eight years later, the imperial court made a profit of thirty or forty guan from each loom. In addition, it was able to use the white cloth with a flat account to conduct ocean trade and earn enough trade from Dongzhou and Japan.

This transaction will not be a loss no matter how you calculate it.

The only ones who will lose money are the wealthy households who rent looms at high interest rates, which is why the reaction of Jiangdong Six Prefectures was so big this time.

Without the interference of the imperial court, the looms in their hands would have made tens of millions of dollars just from the interest. Now that the imperial court has intervened, they would have to find another way to make a fortune.

"The wealthy families involved in the current incident have been implicated for three generations and have been exiled to Luzon."

After Zhu Gaoxu read the memorial of Jihu Yamen, he immediately expanded the scope of involvement of more than 200 wealthy households to three generations. If nothing happens, Luzon will gain thousands of people.

"Yes……"

Guo Zi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard that only three generations were involved.

If the nine and three tribes were implicated, then these two hundred people might involve tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of people. He really offended the Jiangdong gentry completely.

"Since there's nothing wrong, I'll take my leave..."

"go"

Guo Zi stood up and wanted to leave, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't stop him.

After watching him leave, Guo Yan stood up and walked out behind the screen.

She walked back to Zhu Gaoxu, seemed to have remembered something, and said to Zhu Gaoxu:

"Dad took Mom's Zi Palace away during the Northern Expedition. Do you think Dad has really let it go?"

"No." Hearing Guo Yan's words, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head, and quickly thought of Guo Yan's thoughts: "Do you want to persuade dad to choose the queen?"

"It's not what I think, but the concubines in the harem are fighting openly and secretly, which has created a mess." Guo Yan had no choice but to tell the truth, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head after hearing this:
"You can just tell dad these things when he comes back, there's no need to interfere."

"Dad has a very deep affection for mother. It can be seen from the fact that Zi Palace has been parked for more than a year. During this period, he often went to Jiyan Palace."

"In the end, this matter will probably be like that of my grandparents. The position of queen is vacant, and you are the one who was entrusted by my mother to manage the harem before she died."

"My father may appoint concubines and give them their due position as concubines, but he will not establish a queen."

Zhu Gaoxu remembered clearly that during the lifetime of Queen Xu, Zhu Di did not give any title to any concubine in the harem.

It was after Empress Xu passed away, a year after her death, that Zhu Di began to canonize concubines and give them titles.

But even so, his good sister-in-law Zhang was still in charge of the harem, and Zhu Di no longer had any children with other concubines.

Moreover, Zhu Di secretly ordered Chen Ying and Ji Gang to kill several people when admonishing hundreds of officials in history. Judging from the fact that the topic of establishing a queen was taboo here, Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Yan not to mention it.

Guo Yan didn't take it seriously. When her husband said this, she stopped discussing the matter and just brought the topic to Zhu Zhanhe and Zhu Zhanqi.

"He'er always takes his brothers out of the palace to play around these days. I'm worried that the situation in Jiangnan will be too chaotic and it will affect them."

"Don't worry." Hearing that Guo Yan was worried about this, Zhu Gaoxu took her hand and comforted her: "He'er and the others are surrounded by people from Xichang, so nothing will happen."

"In addition, he is getting older. He can't go to elementary school because of the mixed situation, but he can still go to middle school."

"I plan to let him go out to practice for a few years after he reaches middle school. When he comes back, he will be able to assist me in running politics."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about his arrangements for Zhu Zhanhe, and when Guo Yan saw Zhu Gaoxu say this, he couldn't help but expect: "Let him lead the army on an expedition, or inspect and manage the place?"

"Huh?" Hearing Guo Yan's words, Zhu Gaoxu looked embarrassed. Seeing this, Guo Yan also tried: "What are you..."

"I'm going to let him be a teacher or an official. If he likes it, he can be a big-headed soldier."

Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache in embarrassment. Now it was not only him who was embarrassed, but the entire Chunhe Palace.

Since ancient times, apart from being exiled, no prince or grandson has ever become as virtuous as Zhu Gaoxu said.

Even if he is exiled, he still has enough food and clothing, so there is no reason to become a subordinate official or a soldier.

"Your Highness, you... should think again and again."

Guo Yan was not happy to let Zhu Zhanhe become an official, but Zhu Gaoxu stroked his beard and said: "I have made up my mind, and I think he will be very happy by then and will not be uncomfortable."

"Yan'er, people say that a loving mother often loses her son, so a boy must be trained well."

"Besides, considering his age, by the time he graduates from middle school, he will be almost seventeen or eighteen years old."

"Go out and practice for two or three years, and you will be able to manage government after you return and win the championship. There will be no delay."

"What about marrying a wife and having children?" Guo Yan said worriedly: "Isn't it too late to marry a wife and have children when you are still young?"

"It's not early for you or me either." Zhu Gaoxu smiled heartily, making Guo Yan's pretty face turn red.

The advantage of getting married early is that the two have been an old couple for seventeen years, but Guo Yan didn't even celebrate her thirtieth birthday, which was when the young woman was in full bloom.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu coughed and lowered his voice: "I will go to the back palace to rest tonight."

Guo Yan's face was rosy, and he couldn't say anything else. He just saluted and said, "I'll go back first and let people get ready."

After saying that, Guo Yan turned around and walked out of the hall, while Zhu Gaoxu also dealt with the memorial in a happy mood.

(End of this chapter)