Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 452 The fifteenth year of Yongle

"Everyone, hurry up. If I don't see you packing up and entering the river before Tatsuki, you won't even be able to have lunch today!"

In the early morning, amid shouts and curses, thousands of Kunlun people stood up tiredly from their simple wooden beds.

They walked outside the tent, and outside was a tropical scene.

Tropical vegetation and a river three to four feet wide and four to five feet deep formed this simple camp.

In the camp, a flag was hung high with the words "Ari Ming Korea" written on it.

The entire camp was surrounded by hundreds of Korean soldiers wearing iron armor, and inside the camp were nearly two thousand defeated and captured Kunlun people.

Soon, two vats of gruel were opened, and more than two thousand people began to line up to drink the gruel.

When the gruel was finished, they were driven down the river bed by North Korean soldiers and used simple tools to pan for placer gold in the river.

While they were panning for gold, a man in the camp wearing the uniform of a North Korean military attache walked out of one of the few wooden houses in the camp. He glanced at the group of Kunlun people, and then said to another military attache next to him in disgust. :
"The gold mining speed of these Kunlun slaves is too slow. With more than 2,000 people, they can only find 10 taels of gold every day. In a year, the maximum is 3,650 taels. But Yuhou has set a price of 4,000 taels for us. If The speed of their gold mining is too slow. Not only can we not complete the task, but we can't make any money."

The five-guard system is a military system that combines soldiers and farmers. Its personnel are farmers in peacetime and soldiers in wartime. The soldiers are self-sufficient in food, clothing, weapons and other materials, and the country has no financial burden of raising soldiers.

The number of North Korean troops in Kunlun Continent is increasing day by day, and the number of rivers and slaves under their control is also increasing.

Flag Officer Liu Yu nodded upon hearing this, then weighed the money in his hand and put the bribe money into his arms. As for the other bag of tax money, he took it back to his cabin.

For ordinary soldiers, when they come to such a distant place, their annual salary is only three taels of gold, and even military attachés only have seven or eight taels of gold, so it is impossible not to be greedy, let alone food.

He watched with his own eyes as his flag officer took over a heavy bag of money from the merchant on the other side, then weighed it, inspected the goods on the ship, collected the tax normally, returned to the warship, and released the merchant ship.

As for the "anti-malarial powder", it is the only medicinal material that can treat malaria, but a serving costs one or two gold.

Regarding this phenomenon of extra money, people like Yang Zhan and Chen Xuan turned a blind eye. As long as it did not involve military secrets, the occasional extra money would not be dealt with by military law.

However, not all the gold can reach them, because they need to go to Ma Lindi and buy "anti-malarial powder" and grain at the Ming Navy Military Base in Ma Lindi.

The seven families employ nearly 6,000 slaves and retired soldiers. They control many rivers, and there are as many as 30,000 slaves.

Wang Wu was short and stocky, with dark skin. When he received the money, he grinned with big white teeth.

Even if each ship was bribed with more than a dozen coins, they would still earn thousands of dollars a year, not to mention that no businessman would use such a small amount of money to bribe people.

"After three years of working in Managali, even a fool can return the favor..."

This system is obviously learned from the Central Plains system. However, when the Ming military guards maintained combat troops for a long time, North Korea did not maintain combat troops. Therefore, starting from the Hongwu period, the combat effectiveness of the Korean army, which had been peaceful for a long time, gradually declined. The military attache wanted to Obtaining military honors is almost a luxury.

Flag Officer Liu Yu shouted, and at the same time he opened the heavy money bag, took out a sling of money, and threw the other sling to Wang Erhu's cousin Wang Wu.

Two pounds of porridge per day, plus some dried fish and mixed vegetables, is the slave's daily meal.

On the sea, except for the Ming Navy, which has the strength to transport hundreds of thousands of shi of grain from the north in one go, no other country dares to say that it can transport more than 100,000 shi of grain from the sea.

"I think so too." Another military attache nodded, and then began to inspect the camp.

The three parties continue to go deep into the inland along the river, relying on the river to pan for gold. The most powerful among them is undoubtedly the Jiangnan Seven.

Practices similar to those of North Korean military attachés are not uncommon. Even the Ming army has sources of extra income. For example, escorting grain is their business.

As time goes by, the scope of activities of the three gold mining forces in Kunlun Continent is getting larger and larger, and the gold they bring back is also increasing.

As early as after the second voyage to the West, a saying spread among the navy and the Nanyang Army.

The Manlajia Strait is the largest source of customs duties for the Ming Dynasty, and the Manlajia Qianhu Station stationed here is undoubtedly a good job.

The Persian and Western guards stationed in Horumos during the Ming Dynasty purchased grain from Timur's country all year round, and then sold it to various forces in Ma Lindi at three times the price.

In the future, there will be an alliance of Manchuria and Lajia, with more than 2,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 slaves.

During the war, the Five Guards went to the front line to fight.

From a thousand people at the beginning to five thousand people now...

This sentence is quite right, because judging from the situation Wang Erhu sees now, this is indeed the case.

For the parties with tens of thousands of slaves under their command, they did not dare to let the slaves go hunting. If they ran away, there would be no place to cry, so they could only buy food at high prices.

Under such a situation, with the opening of the great voyage, gold mining in Kunlun Island became a reality. Li Fangyuan, who was rewarded, immediately sent troops to follow Zheng He on his voyage to the West, and after arriving at Ma Lindi, he explored inland.

All they have to pay is to soak in the water for at least five hours every day to pan for gold.

With the hundreds of thousands of dans of grain transported every year, they could harvest 30,000 to 40,000 taels of gold. In the end, the gold was evenly divided. Ordinary soldiers could earn an additional five or six guan of extra income, while military attachés could earn even more.

The three of them control rivers and some discovered mines, and can mine tens of thousands of taels of gold every year.

"Wang Wu, you five, come here and give a share of the money to the people below you!"

In the intricate hinterland of Kunlun Continent, there are currently seven major families including the Qian family and the Zheng family of Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang of the Ming Dynasty on one side, North Korea on the other, and Champa, Sulu, Manlajia and other countries on the other.

Next is North Korea, which has 5,000 soldiers and 20,000 slaves.

In normal times, the five guards take turns taking on the task of guarding the palace.

Five hundred cents per dan of corn would be resold for the same 500 cents per dan. The key is not to buy it, because if you don't buy it, there will be no grain left to eat.

There are tens of thousands of merchant ships passing here every year, and there are many places worth making profits from.

"Just send out troops in a few days and capture some slaves. If 2,000 people are not enough, then 3,000 or 5,000 people!" The military attaché next to him continued:
"Anyway, only three hundred taels of gold are needed to feed a thousand people. The cost of five thousand people is only fifteen hundred taels."

In the early days of the founding of North Korea, the military system was dominated by the five-guard system, which was the Uiheung Guard, Yongjian Guard, Houben Guard, Chungsa Guard and Chungmu Guard, with a large number.

"It's always the same!"

Soon, the five flag officers each took away two hundred cents of the money in the bag. After leaving one hundred cents, they distributed the remaining one hundred cents to the nine brothers below.

Each person's share was not much, only eleven cents, but the number was too high, and there were always seven or eight ships in one day.

Wang Wu put Wang Erhu at the last penny. In this way, Wang Erhu got twelve cents.

"Brother, I..."

"Shut your mouth and just pretend."

Wang Erhu was a little flustered. Wang Hu shouted, and then he pulled Wang Erhu to the stern of the ship to patrol.

"Brother, doesn't this violate military law?"

"Hey, we didn't ask them for it. They gave it to them on their own initiative. Why not accept it?"

Wang Erhu's words were very childish. After hearing this, Wang Wu laughed and said: "Anyway, as long as the tax money is guaranteed to increase year by year, we will be fine here."

"It took me a lot of effort to stuff you into the Manlajia Qianhu Station. You boy, do it well. Don't go to Fireworks Lane with them when you get ashore. Save three years of military pay and this. When you return to Quanzhou, you don't have to go back to your hometown. Just go straight Buy a yard in Fuzhi and buy a dozen acres of land.”

Wang Wu patted him after he finished speaking: "Don't worry, it's not just us who are eating the money, the ones above are also eating."

"Of course, don't say these words to anyone else. If they spread, you will be beheaded."

After explaining everything, Wang Wu and Wang Erhu continued to get acquainted with other small flag officers in the general banner.

An hour later, they saw another merchant ship, and this time the money given was still two coins. The flag officer still divided one coin away, leaving one coin for everyone.

Two dollars, which seems to be the minimum bribe amount for navigation in the Straits of Malacca.

For these merchants with tens of thousands of dollars of goods on board, what they feel distressed about is never the bribe, but the taxes collected by the customs...

"Yes, this year's tariffs are much higher than last year."

"It should be because of the Kunlun Gold Rush."

Amidst the sound of the waves, in the Palembang City Yamen of the Old Port Xuanwei Division, Cui Jun, the Navy Commander, was sitting in the main seat. Below him was Shi Jinqing, who had served as the Old Port Xuanwei Envoy for two years.

Liang Daoming has already taken up his official post. Before he took up his official post, he obtained the hereditary rank of a third-grade Zhaoyong General, which could at least protect his immediate family from starvation for ten generations.

Shi Jinqing's ambition was greater than Liang Daoming's. He wanted more, so he had to pay more.

In the past few years, under the management of officials sent by the Ming Dynasty, he had managed the old port in an orderly manner, and tariffs had been increasing day by day.

Just like now, the document he handed to Cui Jun is the best proof.

[Tariff: 8672 taels and 3 cents for gold, 75627 taels and 3 cents for silver, 1,240,327 taels and three cents for silver centimeters]

[Tian Fu: five hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and twenty-four stones and fifty-three catties]

[Mining tax: twenty-six thousand four hundred and twenty-seven taels of gold, five thousand six hundred silver...]

After totaling customs duties, land taxes, mining taxes, commercial taxes and other taxes, what Cui Jun faced was a tax amount of nearly 2 million yuan after discount.

Military attachés like Cui Jun were very satisfied with such a tax amount, not to mention the civil servants in the Ministry of Revenue.

"How much population and cultivated land is there in Old Port? Are they recorded here?"

Cui Jun looked through it and asked Shi Jinqing. Shi Jinqing nodded and said, "It's recorded."

After he finished speaking, Cui Jun saw the contents of the "Yellow Book" in Jiugang.

[Households are 174,627, population is 796,423, paddy field is 2,793,627 and a half acres, slope land is 751,000 Four hundred and eighty-eight acres and three cents...]

"Among the nearly 800,000 people, how many are in Hankou?" "About 290,000. In recent years, fewer and fewer people are willing to move south."

Cui Jun asked, and Shi Jinqing answered and explained the reason. Cui Jun also knew this, so he comforted him:

"I told His Highness about this matter. His Highness said that you don't have to worry about the population. As the population of the Central Plains increases, more and more people will migrate."

"As a Cantonese, you should know the population situation in places like Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, and you should also know that not everyone has a prosperous life."

"Although the current land distribution policy of the court can alleviate some problems, in at most ten years, a family of five will be divided into three households, and the land is destined to be insufficient for food."

"When the time comes, Nanyang will be their destination."

"But before that, we still have to improve various facilities in Nanyang, such as building roads."

Cui Jun vaguely reminded Shi Jinqing, and Shi Jinqing nodded quickly: "Don't worry, Lord Marquis, I am confident about these things. The three prefectures of Old Hong Kong will definitely build cement roads within ten years. I am also keeping a close eye on the water conservancy and sewerage facilities in each city."

"Okay, as long as you say this." Cui Jun stood up and said to Shi Jinqing when he walked out of the Yamen:

"No need to send them away. If you encounter a shortage of manpower, tell me and I will have people take action against those disobedient princes in the north."

"Thank you, Lord Marquis, please go slowly..." Shi Jinqing saluted respectfully, and then watched Cui Jun walk out of the Yamen.

Things like Old Port are just a microcosm of the great era. This microcosm happened to Japan, Uzbekistan, Korea, the Three Proclaimations and Ten Welfares, and other countries in the Indochina Peninsula.

Unlike North Korea, Japan's Ashikaga Yoshitsugu did not dare to send troops to Kunlun Continent to pan for gold, because he was worried that after sending troops to Kunlun Continent, he would be besieged by the guards of the Kanto and Kansai countries.

For this reason, he could only closely cooperate with the Ming Dynasty's decree passed down by Hu Hui, and this was the situation Zhu Gaoxu needed.

Time passed little by little, and the fifteenth year of Yongle arrived as scheduled.

The crackling sound of firecrackers seemed to drive away the desolation of Nanjing City. Although Zhu Di may be holding the Zhengdan Dynasty in Beijing at the moment, the Zhengdan Dynasty in Nanjing has not been left behind.

"Your Highness, a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old..."

"Be flat!"

Zhu Gaoxu, wearing the imperial robe he had not worn for a long time, walked up to the golden platform of Fengtian Palace with a jade in his hand. More than 200 officials of the fifth rank and above knelt down in the hall to sing, and more than 2,000 civil and military officials in Nanjing outside the hall also knelt down. He sang the ceremony and stood up at the opening of the Honglu Temple Cheng.

"Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, has something to report!"

"allow!"

After being crowned, Zhu Gaoxu's expression was blurry, making it hard to see through.

"It has been more than a year since Zhejiang's New Deal was implemented, and the population and cultivated land situation have been clarified."

"After verification, the more than 47 million acres of cultivated land in Zhejiang in the past were actually more than 16 million acres of paddy fields, more than 6 million acres of dry fields, and more than 25 million acres of sloping land..."

"In the past, Zhejiang had a population of more than 1.5 million. After verification, the current households are 2,964,327 and the population is 15,809,712."

With the implementation of the New Deal, people have become more aware of the situation in Zhejiang, and among them, cultivated land is the most concerned about by Zhu Gaoxu.

He had previously been curious about why the Ming Dynasty could count more than 40 million acres when the highest in later generations was only over 20 million acres.

Now it seems that the subordinate officials include all the slope land, but the slope land often does not pay much tax because of its poor output. Therefore, this kind of data is really useless data for the Ming Dynasty.

"In more than thirty years, the population has increased by more than five million, which is really worthy of celebration."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke slowly, and at the same time continued: "In the implementation of the New Deal, ten taxes are one, and the same is true in Zhejiang."

"In addition, this year's new policies will be implemented in Huguang, Guangdong, and Fujian."

"Do you have any objections?"

He explained slowly, but the hall was completely silent, no one dared to speak.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu simply explained a few things, got up and left Fengtian Hall.

The sound of dismissal sounded behind him, and the same scene happened in Beijing, more than 1,700 miles away.

However, unlike the Yiyantang in Nanjing, the temples in Beijing are particularly quarrelsome.

"Now that the number of people living in the country has exceeded 80 million, the cultivated land has decreased by nearly 20 million acres after the New Deal in Zhejiang. This is contrary to common sense!"

The Royal Censor King responded with certainty, but his words were interrupted by Sun Cheng, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue: "Zhejiang is mostly sloping land with very little output. It would be a good idea to exclude it from the category of cultivated land this time."

"If Wang Yushi doesn't believe it, he can go to Zhejiang to investigate by himself. There is nothing fishy about this matter."

A rare thing happened. Sun Cheng, who helped Zhu Gaoxu implement the New Deal, actually quarreled with Wang Hui and others he brought out.

Wang Hui and others thought it was suspicious that Zhejiang's cultivated land had decreased by more than 20 million acres, but Sun Cheng thought it was completely normal. After all, Zhejiang is also a place with many mountains and few plains. It would be crazy if there were really 40 million acres.

"Your Majesty, please go to Zhejiang for verification!"

When Wang Hui heard this, he became angry and immediately asked to go to Zhejiang.

This may be the advantage of the New Dealers, that is, no matter how they criticize people, they will really deal with it when something happens, unlike Qingliu, whose mouth is thousands of miles away and his legs are still motionless.

"Go and have a look."

Sitting on the golden stage, Zhu Di felt that he quite liked the atmosphere. He was not the one being criticized anyway.

After briefly explaining the matter, Zhu Di began to ask: "How is the promotion of new crops? How is the output of fertilizers in Songjiang Erfu? Have these been studied?"

"Back to Your Majesty..." Sun Cheng stood up and continued to bow and said:

"The development of Ryukyu Prefecture is going smoothly, and soil fertilizers in Songjiang and Suzhou Prefectures were also successfully used last year. After on-site inspections, the cultivated land in Songjiang and Suzhou Prefectures has basically increased production by 20%. This year, the land tax has increased by nearly one million dan."

"Okay, okay..." Zhu Di nodded with satisfaction when he heard that the soil fertilizer was really effective.

"My lord, the Ministry of Etiquette has something to report to Zhou Na, the official of the Qing Dynasty!"

Suddenly, an official from the Ministry of Rites walked out. Zhu Di nodded when he heard this: "It's accurate!"

Seeing that Zhu Di was about to play, Zhou Na immediately stepped forward with a wat in his hand, knelt down and played: "Today there is peace, the foreign guests are in uniform, and the people are prosperous. I ask your majesty to enshrine Mount Tai and engrave stones to commemorate the merits, which will be remembered for eternity."

Hearing this, many officials knelt down and bowed: "Your Majesty's holy virtues and extraordinary achievements are so outstanding that he should be enshrined at Mount Tai as requested by Zhou Na!"

"Feng Taishan?" Zhu Di thought about it in his mind, feeling a little moved, but suddenly he remembered the last person who had sealed Mount Tai, and his face immediately darkened.

Through Mian Qi, the officials could not see his expression, and could only hear Zhu Di's voice.

"Although the world is fine now, floods, droughts, and epidemics do occur from time to time."

"Every time I hear about it being reported to the counties, I am wary of it. How dare I call it a peaceful world?"

"Moreover, the Bible does not mention the practice of enshrining Zen, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty did not enshrine Zen. However, Wei Zheng often used the deeds of Yao and Shun to admonish Emperor Taizong."

"Aren't you doing this to make me live under Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, which is completely different from Wei Zheng's way of loving the emperor?"

"Don't mention the matter of becoming a Zen monk again. You should encourage yourself as an ancestor and live up to your responsibilities as an uncle."

Zhu Di made a rare remark. The ministers looked at each other in confusion, thinking that the person sitting on it was not Zhu Di but Zhu Gaoxu.

After all, this cultured way of rejection is really not like Zhu Di's character.

"Okay, but is there anything else important to do?"

Seeing that the ministers were suppressed by him, Zhu Di was very helpless. He just had an unconventional and bold personality, which did not mean that he was really uneducated. He had at least studied in the main hall for more than ten years.

"Retreat without incident!"

Seeing that the ministers had nothing to say, Zhu Di simply got up and left the Fengtian Palace in Beijing.

The ministers sang and retired from the court behind him. Zhu Di came to the other side and took off his heavy crown clothes and put on light regular clothes. At the same time, he couldn't help but say to Wang Yan who was changing clothes for him:

"How is the construction of Daming Palace going?"

"Back to Your Majesty, it is located just between the two lakes. Kuai Xiang has selected the site and roughly drawn the drawings. Now it has been sent to Nanjing. We only need to wait for Your Highness to improve it before construction can begin."

Wang Yan explained and introduced:
"The Daming Palace covers an area of ​​4,000 acres, with lake scenery, more than 100 palaces, more than 30 large and small courtyards, and more than 3,000 pavilions, terraces, towers, pavilions, corridors, pavilions and other different types of buildings. "

"Construction will start in about March, and the main Daming Hall and Yangxin Hall will be built by the end of the year. In addition, His Highness has previously issued an edict to move the antique calligraphy and paintings confiscated from South Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi into them for your Majesty's viewing."

"Of course, if it's too cheap and you don't like it, you can also sell it to subsidize the national treasury."

Wang Yan introduced everything about the future Daming Palace. Zhu Di nodded after hearing this: "Let's all move into the Daming Palace. The treasury does not need my funding now."

Zhu Di's words made Wang Yan nod. The treasury is indeed full now.

"Put aside the treasury matters for now. Ask the second child when he will come to Beijing. Also ask him what he means. I want to meet the boss and the third child in Beijing to see if he is willing."

"If you want to, give the order. If you don't want to, it's okay. After all, his father is old and won't live for many years."

Zhu Di said this deliberately. He knew very well that if he wanted to, the second child would definitely help him complete it. Therefore, by looking at the eldest and third children, he wanted Zhu Gaoxu to plan and build the Northeast Railway in advance to facilitate the transportation of grain from the Northeast to Mobei.

In this way, he might be able to conquer Mobei again in a few years. After all, according to his judgment, Alitai was too timid to rebel, but Mahamu was not.

After a few more years of rest, Mahamu will definitely go south to join the invaders. Even if he doesn't join the invaders, he will still think of fighting Alitai to make Wala bigger and stronger.

Such an idea is absolutely unacceptable to Zhu Di. Last time he only hurt Mahamu, but this time he wants to completely eradicate Mahamu!
(End of this chapter)