Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 461 Solving people’s livelihood
"Drive! Drive!"

It’s the end of July, even though it’s early autumn, but the Beijing area can still feel a little chilly.

Since Zhu Zhanhe was going south in a few days, the place for hunting this time was not very far away, but in the hills south of Gubeikou.

This land was built into a reservoir in later generations, but in this era it was an area where hills and swamps coexisted.

Nearly ten thousand soldiers and horses surrounded the area of ​​more than ten miles. Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaosui's father, son and grandson each led a thousand cavalry, commanding the army to drive away the prey, and finally they shot them.

For this reason, emperors in the past dynasties rarely boasted about their military prowess in hunting. After all, this does not count, it is not a real hunting, except for a certain rabbit killer.

"boom!!"

On horseback, gunfire rang out, and a sika deer fell to the ground after being shot.

At the same time, several arrows also hit the escaping wild boars. After running for more than ten steps, these wild boars lay on the ground one after another.

"Xu..."

Holding the reins, Zhu Di, dressed in armor, circled in front of the fallen prey, holding a carbine in his hand.

Wang Yance came immediately, took the carbine from his hand, and loaded ammunition for him.

Behind him, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi also came on horseback. Except for Zhu Gaochi, the others all wore armor.

Although he was riding a horse, Zhu Gaochi was so tired that he was sweating profusely. However, although Zhu Gaoxu had not done equestrian sports for many years, his riding skills were still superb, and although Chi Huan under his crotch was old, he was still as good as the sweaty horses around him.

"Dad, this is the first time I see you wearing armor."

Zhu Zhanhe, who came on horseback from a distance, looked at his father excitedly. Like him, there was Zhu Zhanji who had been watching Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu's bravery is well known to the world, but after all, he has been trapped in the palace for sixteen years, and it is difficult to say whether his skills have declined.

It seems now that he is still the same person he was back then. Just now, he held a bow and fired continuously at a distance of more than ten steps behind Zhu Di. He killed several wild boars in just a few breaths. His shooting skills were shocking.

Most of the wild boars shot by him were adults, and their bodies were covered with resin and soil. Normally, weaker arrows would definitely not be able to penetrate them, but the bow and arrow in Zhu Gaoxu's hand could penetrate the body of the wild boar with one arrow, and even go out. The momentum did not decrease, and it was submerged into the soil until the arrow feathers. The power was evident.

Yi Shiha got off his horse, pulled the arrow out of the soil with difficulty, and brought it to Zhu Gaoxu for reading.

"I am in my prime and my strength is at its peak. If it were more than ten years ago, I would definitely not be able to shoot such a powerful arrow."

Looking at the arrow he shot, Zhu Gaoxu said to Li Shi and Richard on his left and right. Zhu Di took the loaded carbine from Wang Yan and said:
"With this carbine, what else do you need the bow and arrow for?"

Zhu Di held the handle in one hand and the wooden butt under the barrel in the other, and said to Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui:

"You two are not good at riding and shooting, so using this carbine will give you an advantage."

"I am ashamed..." Zhu Gaochi said breathlessly, while Zhu Gaosui was slightly out of breath, but not as scary as Zhu Gaochi, like a bellows.

"Zhanji, you can't be like Dad." Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Gaochi helplessly, and then explained that Zhu Zhanji had performed well just now.

When Zhu Zhanji heard this, he bowed and said, "My father likes reading, but he doesn't like riding and shooting. Please don't blame me, grandpa."

"If you want to blame him, you've already finished blaming him." Zhu Di was a little angry, but he still suppressed his temper and glanced at Zhu Gaochi distressedly.

"Boss, you are not feeling well. Go back and rest first. Just let Zhanji follow."

"Then...then...I will retire..."

Faced with Zhu Di's consideration, Zhu Gaochi did not push or pull, but directly agreed, and then turned his horse's head back to the camp.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Zhanji signaled with his eyes to the people around him, and the guards of the Han Palace immediately turned their horses and sent nearly a hundred people to escort Zhu Gaochi back to the camp.

"Let's go, the three generations of us will continue walking inside and see if we can hunt bears and tigers."

As soon as Zhu Gaochi left, Zhu Di shook his horse's reins and led everyone to hunt deeper.

On horseback, almost everyone looked at Zhu Gaoxu from time to time.

Perhaps, they were remembering the Bohai County King back then.

"I feel like I'm young now."

Li Shi, who was following Zhu Gaoxu not far behind, clicked his tongue a few times. Richard also touched his short beard: "Your Highness is still the same Highness. With this armor on his body and this forest... I feel like I have returned to the Bohai Sea."

The words of Li Shi and Richard represented the thoughts of most of the soldiers on the left and right sides of Zhaozhou at this moment.

The prince is very good, but he belongs to everyone in the world. Only the prince of Bohai County belongs to Bohai.

"Dad, will you still fight now?"

Riding his horse forward, Zhu Zhanhe looked at Zhu Gaoxu with great interest, but Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him: "How many troops do you think you can lead?"

"At least five hundred!" Zhu Zhanhe raised his chin, and Zhu Gaoxu shook his head after hearing this:
"Ask me this question when will you be able to command an army of one hundred thousand? When I was your age, I could already command nearly a few thousand soldiers."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his horse's reins and galloped to follow Zhu Di's footsteps, leaving the deflated Zhu Zhanhe behind.

Yi Shi Ha Ce immediately stepped forward and said with a chuckle: "Your Highness is leading the troops, even Your Majesty would not dare to win easily."

"I'm just curious..." Zhu Zhanhe rubbed his nose awkwardly, then smiled:

"Since my father is so good at fighting, why doesn't he lead his own troops and fight on his own? I see that in ancient times there were many kings who personally went to war, and so did my grandfather. Why can't my father?"

In Zhu Zhanhe's view, the Ming Dynasty was on the right track. If his father wanted to, he could raise troops and find an opponent to deal with it.

"His Highness has said that as a general, those who dare to fight and can fight will not hesitate to fight. If they fight again and again, the people who die will be the sons of the people, unless it is necessary."

Yi Shiha explained to Zhu Zhanhe, but Zhu Zhanhe didn't take it seriously: "What about us playing Jiaozhi?"

"That's for future generations." Yi Shiha explained:
"Create a livable place for future generations, leave enough money and food, and finish all the wars in this generation, then future generations can enjoy happiness."

"However, if you enjoy happiness, you will enjoy happiness. If you are good at fighting, you will be destroyed. If you forget to fight, you will be in danger. You still have to remember this truth."

After Yi Shiha finished speaking, he also rode up to follow the team in front. Zhu Zhanhe frowned when he heard this, but he still wrote it down.

Zhu Zhanji, who was not far away from him, also heard these words and agreed with them deeply.

Not long after, they had gone deep into the forest. After many years of ban on logging in Yanshan, they could already see many thigh-thick trees. These trees were naturally invisible before.

"These trees grow well. If such trees grow from Yanshan Mountain to Taihang Mountain, and even Yinshan Mountain in Hetao, then Hebei will not encounter sandstorms."

Stopping in front of the trees, Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and touched these thick trees, and spoke with a slight sigh.

Yishiha beside him nodded when he heard the words, and said at the same time: "If Shanxi also orders a ban on logging, the growth of trees should also be good."

"Not necessarily." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "In the final analysis, the felling of trees is caused by poverty. The reason why the trees in Hebei have grown so well in recent years is not only the ban, but also the support of the court. Moreover, it is difficult to cut down trees after being punished. To find a job.”

"People are worried about finding jobs, so they don't dare to cut down trees indiscriminately. As for the poorer people, how can they care about it."

"Chopping down trees and stealing railroad tracks are the same thing. They both take risks because people are poor."

“If people were wealthy, who would steal railroad tracks and chop down trees?”

"What we want to do is to make people around the world rich, so promoting industry is the path we must take."

While Zhu Gaoxu was riding Chi Huan slowly on the mountain road, he was explaining to Yi Shiha beside him.

Yishiha nodded when he heard this, and said at the same time: "It's shameful to say that apart from letting the people work, I really don't know how to make them richer than they are now."

There is some truth to what Yishiha said. After all, the Ming Dynasty is still an agricultural society. Judging from paper data, the Ming Dynasty seems to be able to achieve more than seven acres of cultivated land per capita, but the income generated by the seven acres in the north and the seven acres in the south The gap is huge.

Each acre of land in Beijing can only produce 200 jins of solid grain, while the rich land in the south can produce more than 300 jins or even 400 jins.

In the south, rice is worth two cents per catty, but in the north, it is three cents.

In other words, although the price of food in the south is cheap, one acre of land can be sold for 700 to 800 cash, while in the north, although the price of food is expensive, one acre of land can be sold for up to 600 cash.

The difference between one acre of land is not big, but the difference between seven acres of land is huge.

In this era of sudden drops in temperature and reduced food production, the people in the north cannot be richer than the people in the south just by relying on the small-scale peasant economy. On the contrary, the gap between the two sides will continue to widen.

If the north wants to make money from agriculture, they can only build large farms. However, the Ming Dynasty does not have that many large farms for the people in the north, so they have only the option of working.

Facts have proved that this road is indeed good. At least in the past sixteen years, the number of workers in the north has increased sharply from 120,000 during the Hongwu period to 440,000 today, nearly 100,000 more than in the south.

There are 440,000 northern workers, and behind them are millions of people. Making them rich means making the people behind them rich.

But this is not enough to make Zhu Gaoxu happy. Not to mention how many people there are in the entire north, but just talking about the people along the border and next door to the desert, the number is no less than one million, and not many of them can get jobs.

The productivity of the Ming Dynasty has not yet improved, and transportation is not developed, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu would really want to hire these people to plant trees.

"The northwest is short of supplies and the southeast is short of money. Only the northeast, southwest and hinterland of the Central Plains are fairly evenly distributed."

"If people in this world want to live a good life, we must continue to develop."

After leaving a comment, Zhu Gaoxu shook the reins of his horse and followed the footsteps of Zhu Di and others who disappeared.

The group of people hunted until dusk before returning to the camp, discussing the day's hunt. Among them, the best performers are naturally Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, followed by Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Zhanji, and finally Zhu Zhanhe.

As for Zhu Zhan'an, he was too young, only seven years old. He returned to the camp shortly after Zhu Gaochi left today.

Today's prey was cooked by the imperial chef accompanying the army. After the team picked up many dead branches and threw in several insect-repelling herbs, Zhu Di and the others took off their armor and started eating and drinking in front of the big tent.

Black bear paws, game meat such as gazelle, pheasant, waterfowl and many wild vegetables were served.

Zhu Di called Zhu Gaoxu to sit next to him, and said to Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe beside the campfire:
"These two boys are quite good. They have a good way of commanding their men during today's hunt. Although we cannot say that we will have tens of thousands of troops, it will not be a problem to lead more than ten thousand troops in the future."

Zhu Di said this, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "With the current strength of the country, more than ten thousand soldiers and horses, as long as they are well supplied, are enough to destroy Hu Ting and go south to destroy the country."

Zhu Gaoxu's words are not a joke. After more than a hundred years of normal development in history, the Southeast Asian countries were still beaten to death by thousands of European colonial teams equipped with matchlock guns. Although some countries were able to resist during this period, most of them were directly ruled. .

After they were finally equipped with matchlocks, the Europeans began to use flintlock muskets again, and small countries were wiped out one after another. Only those countries in Indochina survived for a few hundred more years because of their strong national power, but they were still colonized by Europe.

The current 10,000 Ming army equipped with flintlock rifles can indeed destroy any part of Mobei, and even go south to destroy Siam, Kampuschi, Champa and other countries.

These countries were all vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Regarding them, Zhu Gaoxu still had the mentality of biting off more than he could chew and resorted to cultural and commodity invasion methods.

In this way, if Ming Dynasty has the population and strength to annex them in the future, it will be a lot easier.

If you have no intention of annexation, you can rely on these countries to prepare for the emergence of any powerful country in South Asia in the future.

With this thought in mind, Zhu Gaoxu continued to lower his head to eat, and time passed little by little.

The few days of hunting ended soon, and the tree planting project in Yanshan also made Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Zhanhe realize the benefits of tree planting.

As time entered August, Zhu Zhanhe took the Mu family back south to Nanjing, while Zhu Gaochi and the others continued to live in Beijing, because Zhu Gaoxu saw that Zhu Di was reluctant to let them go, and Zhu Gaochi's health seemed to be getting worse because no one was suppressing him.

He didn't feel much about his eldest nephew, but he still felt a little reluctant to let go of his good eldest brother.

Because of this, he also wanted Zhu Gaochi to spend more time with Zhu Di. Maybe this would be the last meeting between father and son.

At the same time, as time passed, the Ming Dynasty's Eastern Sea Route began to be continuously improved, including stopping at the Hawaiian Islands.

Zheng Jun, who organized the Oriental Sea Route, named the place Tanxiang Qianhusuo, appeased the local natives, and built Tanxiang Hong Kong on the island.

In addition, the Beizhou Xuanwei Division began to take shape, with Beizhou City (San Francisco) as its main city.

In the past two years, the imperial court exiled nearly 30,000 people to Beizhou, but less than 20,000 people arrived and survived.

Although there are only 20,000 people, these 20,000 people do not have to work by themselves, because the Beizhou Guards have equipped them with armor and weapons, and there are also exiled officials who know how to fight. Therefore, they will soon be They come together.

They clashed with the indigenous people in northern Beizhou and captured the indigenous people to cultivate farmland.

This group of civil servants who once took matters into their own hands have now become the warriors they most despise, and they have captured a large number of natives.

In addition to the natives they were capturing, the Beizhou Guards were also capturing the natives who were attacking them and eating people.

These natives were not sent by the Beizhou Guard to cultivate farmland, but were sent to pan for gold in the rivers near Beizhou City.

The extremely high death rate made the Ministry of Household Affairs suspend the idea of ​​migrating people to Beizhou, but the Ministry of Punishment was happy to send people to Beizhou.

By the twelfth lunar month of the 16th year of Yongle, with the compilation of the documents of the Fourteenth Chief Secretary of the two capitals and the Sixth Military Governor's Office and the Xuanwei Department, there was no doubt that the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty had made a huge leap forward.

"The gold and silver mine trade volume of Dongzhou Xuanwei Division surprised me a little."

Sitting in the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but be a little stunned when he looked at the Dongzhou trade volume indicated on the Shipping Department.

[Gold is fifty-two thousand six hundred and fifty-two taels and two cents, silver is six hundred and twenty-three thousand four hundred and sixteen taels and seven cents, and copper ingots are two hundred and sixty-four thousand three hundred and five jins]

"These add up to almost 1.5 million strings. This is just the beginning."

Zhu Gaoxu clicked his tongue a few times, and Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi, who were sitting in front of him, bowed and said:
"According to the memorial of Dongzhou Xuanwei envoy Wang Ren, the mining volume should increase by 40% next year, and the local mineral deposits will be able to maintain an annual trade import of seven million guan in about five years."

"With such a huge profit, I suggest that Dongzhou City be set up as Dongzhou Prefecture and send the prefect and military commander there."

Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi would not let go of the gold, silver and copper mines that would generate an annual income of 7 million yuan in five years. In addition, they also felt that Wang Ren's methods of governing the Southern Kingdom were too crude, so they needed to send prefects to govern the Southern Kingdom.

Zhu Gaoxu was very happy with their idea, but he was worried that the so-called prefect would cause trouble to Ming Dynasty in the future.

After much thought, Zhu Gaoxu decided to send the prefect to increase the production of local gold, silver and copper mines.

Even if the prefect leads the people of the South to rebel in the future, as long as the Ming Dynasty can obtain enough profits, it is absolutely impossible to give up the cornucopia of the South.

The better the governance of the Southern Kingdom is and the more gold and silver are mined, the less likely Ming Dynasty will give up here.

"As you said, let's send officials there, but do you have any candidates now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked the two of them. Xia Yuanji bowed after hearing this and said, "I am going to choose from next year's imperial examination."

"Well, you can figure it out." Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement, then picked up another book and flipped through it.

This booklet records the production conditions of the government-run factories of the Ming Dynasty, such as 70,000 tons of iron, 570,000 tons of cement, more than 19 million tons of coal, 14.32 million pieces of textiles, soil fertilizers, etc. Five hundred and twenty thousand tons of gunpowder...

The existing industrial and handicraft output value of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu sometimes nodded and sometimes shook his head, made Xia Yuanji and Guo Zixin feel in their throats.

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu closed the album and then said:

"The output of iron materials, cement, coal and soil fertilizers have all been increased. However, except for the growth rate of coal, which I am satisfied with, I am not so satisfied with other growth rates."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Xia Yuanji had to bite the bullet and said: "Your Highness, if all kinds of industrial output are along the railway, that's fine. They can be transported directly to the construction site, but if the distance is far away, even if they are produced, It’s also difficult to transport out into the market.”

"Take coal as an example. Although the imperial court's coal output has increased in the past year, not much of it may have entered people's homes. After a large amount of coal was produced, it was hoarded in coal yards and could not be digested."

"Under such circumstances, if coal mining continues, it will undoubtedly consume the national treasury."

"I think we must wait until the Northwest Railway connects coal mines in various places to increase production bit by bit."

Xia Yuanji wanted to proceed steadily, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that once the railway was opened, the current output of Ming Dynasty would not be able to solve the problems that Ming Dynasty needed to face.

"It is right to proceed slowly and steadily, but once the railway between Beijing and Beijing is completed, what Jiangnan needs urgently is coal."

"Not mentioning the whole of Jiangnan, but taking the city of Nanjing alone, using the data recorded by Shangyuan and Jiangning last year, the number of firewood transported into the city throughout the year was as high as 800,000 tons, while Nanjing only had more than 500,000 people last year."

"You know the situation in Jiangnan as a whole. At least 30% of the people lack firewood, which means nearly 15 million people."

"How much firewood these 15 million people need can be reduced by 50% if replaced by coal. But even so, there is still a gap of more than 20 million tons."

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Xia Yuanji bowed and said, "Your Highness, a load of river firewood worth 100 kilograms is worth thirty-three cash, while fifty kilograms of coal, although resistant to burning, is worth sixty-five cash."

"Even if the Beijing-Beijing railway is opened to traffic, people will only choose Hechai, not coal."

"I know, so we need to lower the price of coal!" Zhu Gaoxu interrupted:
"In the past few days, go to Datong in person and see how many trees I have in the northern border."

"Firewood in the north costs more than 70 yuan per load, and in the south of the Yangtze River, it costs 33 yuan. However, coal in the north has dropped to more than 70 yuan per 100 kilograms."

"If we can continue to increase production capacity, and once coal becomes available, the price can be reduced to thirty cents per hundred catties, then will people in the north and south of the Yangtze River still choose Hechai?"

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to lower the price of coal, but Xia Yuanji and others frowned and said:
"In coal mining in the country, each worker can mine up to two hundred cash worth of coal per day, and the labor price is nearly one hundred and thirty cash."

"If coal drops to thirty cents per hundred kilograms, coal mines in various places will be unable to make ends meet and will need money and food from the court to maintain."

Xia Yuanji put the reason for the high price of coal in front of Zhu Gaoxu. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu said: "It is for this reason that the quality of mining must be improved."

"Take a mine as an example. With twenty miners, at least ten people are needed to pump water, and only ten can work."

"If a water pump is installed to pump water, then the twenty miners only need to send one person to be responsible for pumping water, and the rest will only be responsible for mining."

"In this way, the efficiency of coal mining will naturally increase."

Zhu Gaoxu's words made Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi look at each other, and they understood what Zhu Gaoxu meant.

There are a lot of coal miners now, but half of them are responsible for pumping water, and productivity is severely delayed.

If this group of miners can be released for mining and the task of pumping water is handed over to the pumps, then the waste of manpower in coal mines everywhere will be reduced.

This alone can save at least half of each mine's expenses except for transportation. Coal mining volume will increase, and people can enjoy low-price coal.

"Although water pumps have been tested, there is no data support for a large number of applications."

"Besides, there are so many mines in the imperial court. How many pumps are needed to satisfy them? This is another expense..."

Xia Yuanji questioned with suspicion, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled:
"It's hard to let go of a child, but you can't lasso a wolf. A water pump only costs a few hundred strings, but it can be used for many years."

"The imperial court will not lose money on this deal no matter what. Once low-priced coal appears, combined with trains, it can greatly solve the firewood problem of the urban population in the Ming Dynasty."

"But you are right, we must first provide supporting transportation."

"Before this, coal from coal mines in various places was temporarily stored to cope with the huge urban coal market in the future."

(End of this chapter)