Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 451 Blooming Flowers
"put!"

"Boom boom boom——"

On the Jiangdongmen Pier, with the sound of salutes, dozens of horse ships and treasure ships slowly sailed into the port.

Three years passed by in a flash. In the blink of an eye, Zheng He's third voyage to the West was already three years ago, but now it has arrived in the twelfth lunar month of the fourteenth year of Yongle.

In time for the New Year, Zheng He and the others came back and brought gifts that were enough for the world.

"My envoy to the West, Zheng He, has returned triumphantly with his navy. Please inspect the troops and horses and read the documents!"

Zheng He's neither humble nor arrogant voice sounded on the dock, and behind him were boxes of goods being moved.

Among them, some items were packed in boxes the size of a human head and looked very heavy, requiring two people to carry them.

For something of this size, you don’t need to say much to know what it is.

Standing under the canopy umbrella, Zhu Gaoxu took the gift list and opened it eagerly.

Knowing the source of this batch of gold and silver, Zhu Gaoxu became much calmer. In his opinion, the people of the Inca Empire completely wasted the local mineral resources.

In three hundred years, European countries plundered 3.5 billion taels of silver and more than 60 million taels of gold from the Americas, not counting smuggling data.

Zhu Gaoxu's words are true, not to mention the time-consuming need to lay supply stations on the way to Europe. Looking at the products in Europe now, Zhu Gaoxu really can't think of anything that is needed.

Unlike the spices from Nanyang, these things are real money.

"In Zhejiang, I will go back and ask later. Now that the New Deal is implemented, it will be easy to move tens of thousands of people to Beizhou and Dongzhou."

It can be said that the wealth accumulated by the Inca Empire for two hundred years is not as much as the amount of mining by European colonists in three years in the early sixteenth century.

Perhaps Shire horses and Yorkshire pigs are good, but there is no need to send a fleet to these species at all. You can only spend thousands of dollars to hire Arab merchants to buy them and bring them back.

Zheng He suddenly asked. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to agree, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head and said:

These precious metals will still be valuable even in future generations. Even if humans enter space, they will not be eliminated. They can be said to be permanent hard currencies.

In contrast, Europe is now in the late Middle Ages. Famine, plague and war are everywhere. The European population has been significantly weakened. During the period when the Ming Dynasty's population exceeded 80 million in a few years, their population was only seven. The standard line of tens of millions is at stake.

"Let's go, the golden chariot said!"

As soon as he sat down, Zhu Gaoxu asked about Zheng He's arrangements in Dongzhou and Beizhou, and at the same time asked about the gold and silver mines that he was most concerned about.

Zhu Gaoxu will get hold of the gold and silver mines in America no matter what method he uses, even if he keeps them in the treasury without spending them.

"The establishment and systems of the Dongzhou Xuanwei Department and Beizhou Xuanwei Department are very good. Just send Zhang Chun to the Beizhou Xuanwei Department. I believe he can do it."

You must know that in the one hundred years since Spain and Portugal mined gold and silver mines in the Americas, the value of the gold and silver mines shipped back to Europe almost every year could be converted into eight million Guan Yongle Tongbao.

"No need, they don't have anything that the court needs right now."

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of the joke from later generations, that is, how much of the money Cixi lost would be distributed to 1.4 billion people in later generations...

The officials could not see the contents of the document, so they only knew that Zheng He had brought back gold and silver, but they never expected that Zheng He actually brought back gold and silver worth 30 million pounds in one go.

What is this concept? You must know that most of the gold and silver mines in the Ming Dynasty have been taken back by the imperial court as state-owned. But even so, the annual output of gold is only a few hundred thousand taels, and the silver is only two million taels at most, and the price is up to 300 taels. Yu Wan Guan.

Upon seeing this, Zheng He and Yang Zhan quickly followed him. Fortunately, the capital was moved from Beijing to Nanjing, and the number of officials remaining in Nanjing was less than half of what it had been three years ago. Therefore, they walked to the golden chariot without wasting much time.

"Your Highness, do you need to go to Xizhou (Europe) as an envoy?"

It would be better to let the European countries enjoy themselves in Europe for decades, and when they are done fighting, they will realize that the world outside has changed.

From textiles to steel, the Ming Dynasty crushed the entire Europe in all aspects. Such "industrial" strength was difficult for them to match.

The population of the Ming Dynasty was four to five times that of Spain and other four countries today, not to mention productivity.

These things would have become the primitive accumulation of Europe, but now they will become the primitive accumulation of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu decided on the candidate for the Beizhou Xuan comfort envoy, and at the same time he also had an idea about the candidate for the Dongzhou Xuan comfort envoy three years later.

If Zhu Gaoxu remembered correctly, the money Cixi lost seemed to be 1.23 billion taels of silver, and what Zhu Gaoxu now had in front of him was more than 3.3 billion taels of silver and more than 60 million taels of gold!

Zhu Gaoxu suppressed his excitement and asked Zheng He. Zheng He heard the words and said without thinking: "Originally, it was for trade exchange, but the leader of the Southern Kingdom attacked our division. The slaves had no choice but to fight back and defend themselves. Most of the gold and silver were seized, and their value should be 30 million. Above."

When the gift list was opened, the contents immediately made Zhu Gaoxu take a breath.

Whenever Zheng He returned home, this was the most exciting moment.

In the world currently controlled by the Ming Dynasty, India is a population market, the Americas are a resource and population market, and the Middle East and Southeast Asia are also population markets.

If the Ming Dynasty went to America to mine gold and silver mines, Zhu Gaoxu could not imagine how much gold and silver mines the Ming Dynasty could get from the Americas every year.

"What do these gold and silver items of yours have to do with the Southern Kingdom?"

Thinking of the mines in America, Zhu Gaoxu grabbed Zheng He's wrist and motioned for him and Yang Zhan to follow him, very anxiously.

These markets are closer and easier to develop than in Europe.

The Inca Empire, which had tens of millions of people, had accumulated only 30 million coins for more than two hundred years.

Although the "Yellow Book" from the Ministry of Household Affairs has not yet been handed in, according to the situation in Jiangxi and Guangxi, there will be at least 77-8 million people in the Ming Dynasty this year.

The gold, silver and copper ingots worth far more than 20 million yuan made Zhu Gaoxu tighten his grip on the book and couldn't help but look behind Zheng He.

The gold and silver that Zheng He brought back at once was the amount of gold and silver mined in the entire Ming Dynasty for ten years, and it was also all the gold and silver accumulated by the Southern Kingdom for more than two hundred years.

It took the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands more than three hundred years to mine so much. Compared with them, the Ming Dynasty had an advantage that they could not match, and that was a huge population market.

[764,527 taels and four cents of gold, 12,765,427 taels of silver, 60,000 catties of copper ingots, and 14,600 gold and silver items Seventy-two pieces, two hundred and seven cinchona bark...]

"But you should be careful about these people in the past, don't let them carry diseases, especially smallpox."

"Those people in Dongzhou and Beizhou have not experienced these diseases and can easily be infected and die. This is why I have reminded you repeatedly before."

At the moment, Zhu Gaoxu is still preparing to support the three countries of Dongzhou to help him mine, but he is not prepared to deal with them. When the time comes, he will have to arrest people from Kunlun Continent.

What Zhu Gaoxu wants is to maintain the situation in Dongzhou and obtain enough benefits to develop the Indo-China Peninsula, Northeast and Northwest, and Southeast Asia.

The Americas are great, but they are too far away, and before industrialization, hurricanes in the Great Plains of Beiping were agricultural killers. Only the Central Valley on the west coast was suitable for agricultural reclamation and survival.

For this continent, Zhu Gaoxu can take his time, but for places such as Sanxuan Shiwei, Nanyang, and even Nanzhou (Australia), he has to speed up.

After sorting out his mood, Zhu Gaoxu took Zheng He and the others to Chang'an Gate for another state banquet, and then ordered Yang Zhan to hand over the sea-going fleet to various shipyards for maintenance.

Although the voyages to the Western Ocean may not necessarily continue, Zhu Gaoxu still needs these fleets. After all, they are still needed in the shipping lanes of the Nanyang, Little Western and Daming Oceans.

After three rounds of drinking, Zhu Gaoxu returned to Qianqing Palace and lay down drunkenly. At the same time, he also met Guo Yan, whom he had not seen for a long time.

Guo Yan helped him change clothes, wash and lie down. He used his legs to support him and combed his freshly washed and dried hair.

"Zhejiang's New Deal is almost over. This time your actions are much smaller..."

Guo Yan was talking about things in Zhejiang, and Zhu Gaoxu closed his eyes and responded: "Keep them, they are useful."

He didn't say much, but he was answering.

"There are still three places that need to implement the New Deal. Once they are implemented, you will be the emperor?"

Guo Yan asked about something that outsiders did not dare to ask. Zhu Gaoxu grabbed Guo Yan's hand and said, "To be honest, I haven't thought about how to be a good emperor."

"Although in the eyes of outsiders, I am no different from the emperor now, I know that if I were the emperor, I would definitely be an unqualified emperor."

What he said is true. Many of his policies are overthrowing the emperor's set of rules influenced by heaven and humans. In the long run, this will do more harm than good to the Tian family.

"I have been going back to Haozhou during the Qingming Festival these years. I have seen and heard many new things on the way."

Guo Yan didn't answer the question, but Zhu Gaoxu understood what she wanted to say.

"There is no place where I pass that does not praise you and Your Majesty. Thousands of years later, future generations will judge whether you and Your Majesty are good emperors, but for now, the people of the world think that you and your son are good emperors. and the most virtuous prince."

"Throughout the ages, many people have talked about equalizing land, but only you and Your Majesty have done it all."

Guo Yan gave his opinion. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu sighed and slowly opened his eyes: "I feel like I feel sorry for Dad."

If he said he was sorry, there were not many people Zhu Gaoxu felt sorry for. Except for the soldiers at the beginning of Bohai, they were Empress Xu and Zhu Di.

He was avoiding Empress Xu, and Zhu Di was avoiding her because of his upcoming accession to the throne.

There were twenty-two years of Yongle in history, but now it seems that the longest Yongle is probably only sixteen years.

Compared with the thoughtful Empress Xu, the straightforward and carefree Zhu Di is easier for Zhu Gaoxu to get close to.

Perhaps from the time when he said he wanted to rebel, and Zhu Di chose to be imprisoned in Wuliangha Tucheng aggrievedly by him, he regarded Zhu Di as his father, while Queen Xu came very late.

"Your Majesty should be proud to have a son like you."

Guo Yan combed Zhu Gaoxu's hair and comforted him: "Whether it was Taizu Emperor Gao or my grandfather, they all got it wrong..."

"Actually, I was right. I knew a long time ago that you would not be willing to be a little Bohai County King."

Guo Yan's eyes were bright with a hint of admiration. Over the years, her love for Zhu Gaoxu did not fade with the passage of time, but became stronger as he did major things.

"If they don't force me, I would rather be a little Bohai County King..."

What Zhu Gaoxu said is true. Although he looks only thirty-four years old, he is already over sixty mentally.

He will also feel tired when facing government affairs, and he also wants to live a plain and comfortable life.

If Lao Zhu hadn't used the lives of Feng Sheng and Fu Youde to let him know what power is, if Zhu Yunwen hadn't pressed hard step by step and didn't leave himself a way to survive, if it hadn't been for all the things Zhu Zhanji had done to him in history...if it hadn't been for these, Zhu Gaoxu would never have taken this path at all. He would have taken this path because he was forced to this point by one person or one thing.

It's not that he didn't make peace with Zhu Yunwen and submit to him, but he didn't give himself a chance.

"It has been fifteen years since I left Yingtian Mansion, and it has been fifteen years since I held an iron spear, rode a fast horse, and fought bravely."

There was a hint of sadness in Zhu Gaoxu's voice. Although the emperor was good, he could not forget the passionate feeling on the battlefield.

He looked at his hands. As he grew older, he became stronger and more knowledgeable in the art of war, but he never had the chance to go to the battlefield again.

"I miss Jilin City a little bit..."

With a murmur, Zhu Gaoxu slowly put down his hand, closed his eyes and fell asleep slowly.

Guo Yan brought a pillow for him to lean on, and she snuggled into his arms.

This kind of tenderness did not last long, but within three hours, Zhu Gaoxu was woken up by the palace maid, and he went to the Chunhe Hall wearing ordinary clothes tiredly.

It was still Mao hour when he came to Chunhe Hall. Although Zhu Gaoxu did not hold a morning court, these six ministers, Jue Shao, who could not stand up to him, came to Chunhe Hall early in the morning to find him.

"Your Highness, Chitose..."

When the singing of the salute sounded, Zhu Gaoxu's complaints from last night disappeared. He continued to regain his usual composure, strode past the ministers, walked up to his seat and sat down.

"Pingshen, give me a seat!"

The skillful words were spoken again, and Zhu Gaoxu wanted to see what Xia Yuanji and the others wanted to do.

"Your Highness, after a day and night of verification yesterday, the quantity of gold, silver and goods brought back by Sanbao Eunuch is indeed not much different from what is stated in the document."

"In addition, this is a document seized during the implementation of the Zhejiang New Deal. A total of 124 officials, 1,756 subordinate staff, and more than 800 powerful and wealthy households were found to have been involved in bribery."

"Searched more than 64,000 taels of gold, more than 1,753,000 taels of silver, more than 4.7 million taels of money, more than 1,320 million taels of treasures, the house..."

"During the implementation of the New Deal, more than 16,000 rioters obstructed the implementation of the New Deal, and they were all arrested and detained."

Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, respectfully reported the implementation of the New Deal in Zhejiang, mainly talking about the seizure of gold and silver.

To be honest, given the size of Zhejiang, there will only be more gold and silver seized and officials involved than Jiangxi, not less.

If it were not for the idea of ​​​​balancing the New Deal faction, Zhejiang would at least be dug up by Zhu Gaoxu this time, and the resistance of Zhejiang's gentry and wealthy households would be even greater than now.

Zhu Gaoxu warned two months in advance that most of the powerful gentry might not be able to unite officials and subordinates to revise the manual.

The group of people being pushed out now were just giving Zhu Gaoxu an explanation.

"More than seven million guan, which is not bad..."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said to Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi at the same time: "The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue cooperated with each other. The mob involved in this incident implicated three generations of father and son and was sent to Ryukyu Prefecture."

"Officials, powerful and wealthy households, and subordinate officials were also implicated in three generations of father and son, and were assigned to... Beizhou Xuanwei Division."

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not want to kill the Western Zhejiang faction, it did not mean that he would condone this group of powerful gentry and corrupt officials.

Being assigned to the Beizhou Xuanwei Division may be more difficult to accept than killing them.

You must know that the current Daming Yang waterway is not perfect. According to past experience, these 2,800 people can involve at least 20,000 people.

After sending 20,000 people to Beizhou, it's hard to say how many of them will survive in the end.

"I will take your orders..."

Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi took the order, and Zhu Gaoxu continued: "How much gold, usable silver and copper coins are left in the treasury now?"

"In addition, how many Yongle Tongbao have been issued, and how many are circulating overseas?"

Zhu Gaoxu raised two economic issues, and Guo Zi said calmly:

"More than 3.96 million taels of gold, more than 32.6 million taels of silver, and about 20 million taels of old coins and copper ingots."

"Since the release of Yongle Tongbao, a total of more than 42 million coins have been issued. Since the denominations are different, the specific number has to be checked at the mint."

"As for the circulation of copper coins, they were basically domestic. However, with merchants trading in the West and the imperial court trading in the East, no less than three million coins were circulated overseas."

Guo Zi opened his mouth to explain, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "No need to tighten it. The imperial court has discovered many copper mines and there is sufficient copper material."

"Behind these 42 million Yongle Tongbao, a lot of money must have been recovered, right?"

"Your Highness, it's true." Guo Zi said with shame:

"In the past fourteen years, nearly 62 million guan of old money have been recycled. After recasting, the only money left is more than 57 million guan, a decrease of 5 million guan..."

"So many?" Song Li and Jin Zhong clicked their tongues when they heard that five million strings had disappeared.

"The old money market is like this. There will always be consumption. If the court doesn't bear the burden, only the people will."

Zhu Gaoxu was dissatisfied with Song Li and Jin Zhong and said: "This burden is too big and the people cannot bear it, so we have to let the court bear it."

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, five million gold and silver in fourteen years is not much, at least compared to the seven to eight million gold and silver overseas in the future, five million gold and silver is not much.

In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer counterfeit money on the market, and more and more counterfeit money workshops have been destroyed. Gradually, few people dare to mint counterfeit money.

When Yongle Tongbao completely takes over the market, the economic environment of Ming Dynasty will be much better.

"Now that the imperial court has money, the reform of Yunnan should be accelerated. This time, Duke Qian and Duke Cao will still be in charge, and Duke Ying will follow."

"In addition, the princes and counts of Zhenyuan, Jianchang, Ningyuan, and Longchuan should all participate. The troops of the six capitals of Sichuan, Huguang, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiaozhi all obey the control of the three princes."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke to the eunuch on duty not far away, and at the same time said to Guo Zi:
"Allocate 5 million yuan to the three princes. This battle must be fought beautifully. I don't want to see the rebel chieftains again."

"I accept the teaching order..." Guo Zi readily agreed. After all, the treasury is indeed rich now.

"Next year we will recruit 50,000 officials, teach 100,000, and implement new policies in Huguang, Fujian, and Guangdong."

After one wave after another, Zhu Gaoxu finally directed the New Deal to the remaining three chief ministers.

If nothing else happens, the New Deal will end in the 16th year of Yongle at the latest, and Zhu Gaoxu will also give Zhu Di a satisfactory answer in that year.

"Your Highness, do you want to conduct a railway survey in the northwest, southwest, and northeast?"

Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, suddenly stood up and said that in his opinion, the imperial court was indeed rich now. In this case, it was entirely possible to survey the routes of the other three railways in advance.

You must know that these three railways are not as good as the two-Beijing railway. No matter in terms of geography or terrain, there are too many railways between the two Beijings.

It took a year and a half to survey the two Beijing railways, let alone these three.

"The survey is OK, but the construction will have to wait."

Zhu Gaoxu informed Huang Fu, and then said to Jin Zhong, Minister of the Ministry of War: "The Railway Military and Horse Division can be established."

"I accept the teaching order..."

Jin Zhong bowed in agreement, and Zhu Gaoxu glanced at everyone and nodded with satisfaction: "If you have nothing to do, please step aside."

"I'll take my leave..."

Xia Yuanji and others bowed and left. Zhu Gaoxu also sat in his seat and quietly watched them leave.

After sitting for a while, he got up and walked out of the Chunhe Hall and started walking around the Forbidden City in Nanjing.

At its peak, the city of Nanjing, which had nearly 10,000 civil and military officials and tens of thousands of officials, became deserted due to the relocation of the capital.

The great bachelors of Diange went to Beijing, as did Ji Gang, Chen Ying and others.

Half of the people in the six yamen and the Metropolitan Procuratorate moved north, bringing with them nearly 200,000 people in their families.

Although he did not leave the Forbidden City, Zhu Gaoxu had seen the situation in Nanjing yesterday and found that it was indeed cooler than before.

Whether in the square in front of Wenhua Palace, or in the squares of Wuying Palace and Fengtian Palace, the number of soldiers, horses and officials that can be seen is much less than before.

Compared with the outer court, the inner court was even more deserted. A dozen concubines, thousands of maids, and more than 2,000 eunuchs followed Zhu Di to Beijing.

Currently, the inner court is maintained by 300 Korean eunuchs and 500 Korean maids who paid tribute to the Korean King Li Bangyuan.

Not surprisingly, they will stay in this deserted Nanjing Palace for the rest of their lives.

The palace city of Nanjing will be deserted, but the city of Nanjing will not.

No matter how deserted Nanjing is now, it will return to its former prosperity or even surpass it in a dozen years.

We must move the capital to Beijing, and Beijing is also the most suitable capital for building railways.

Nanjing has the Yangtze River, Xi'an is too barren, Luoyang is too small, and Kaifeng is undefeated. Only Beijing is suitable for the Ming Dynasty, and the Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula will also become Beijing's forts facing the sea.

It's a pity that although Beijing has advantages in all conditions, Zhu Gaoxu can't help but sigh when facing Nanjing, where he has lived for more than ten years.

“I don’t know how many more years I can live here and whether I will come back in the future.”

While walking on the city wall horse path, this thought came to Zhu Gaoxu's mind, but it was cleared away after a moment by him shaking his head with a smile.

"So what if I go to Beijing?" Zhu Gaoxu stood on a virgin wall, looking at the imperial city outside the palace city, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"It's just another place to 'imprison' me..."

After the thought fell, Zhu Gaoxu turned around and continued walking on the horse road at the head of the city. His back became smaller and smaller until he disappeared...

(End of this chapter)