Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 463 The Seventeenth Year of Yongle

"Crackling——"

Firecrackers sounded and gunpowder smoke filled the air. With the appearance of firecrackers and gunpowder smoke, the people of the Ming Dynasty also entered the seventeenth year of Yongle.

On days like this, people naturally want to have a good meal to celebrate the New Year, and the people of Huai'an County are no exception.

Since the Tianxia garrison was abolished and merged into counties and towns, there were nearly 200 more counties in the Ming Dynasty.

Huai'an County was once just a guard station in the northern frontier of Shanxi Province. Now, after merging with the guard stations in Sifang, it has become a veritable county seat.

Thanks to the protection of Yanran Dusi and Kaipingwei, this place that was once a frontier fortress has now transformed into an inland area.

A stable environment allows the local military households that have been converted into civilian households to reproduce in peace and contentment, but reproduction also brings many environmental problems.

In Huai'an County, which is surrounded by mountains, you could occasionally see rare trees on the mountains. However, as the local population continues to increase and the demand for firewood continues to increase, mature trees seem to have become a rare species in this land and are difficult to find.

The nearest forest to Huai'an County is more than 40 miles to the south, and this distance is enough for a woodcutter to travel back and forth in three days.

Because of this, a hundred catties of firewood can be sold at a high price of sixty cents per load in Huai'an County.

Many people had no choice but to soak the rice in cold water to eat, or cook a meal of rice and eat it over several days.

If the rice becomes stale after being left out for a long time, there is nothing you can do about it. You can only endure it on weekdays.

On the first day of the New Year, even the poorest people still need a hot meal, so fighting for firewood has become an eye-catching drama.

Some woodcutters rented horse-drawn carriages and showed up with hundreds of kilograms of firewood, which was sold out in an instant.

People who couldn't get firewood had no choice but to go to the city to buy high-priced coal.

But what is surprising is that the price of coal, which used to cost 70 cents per load, has now dropped.

"Boss, did you write this sign wrong? How can coal cost sixty cents per load?"

"That's right, maybe you want to trick me when the deal is concluded!"

"It must be, how can coal be cheaper than firewood?"

"Yes yes yes..."

On the main road in Huai'an County, the discussion of dozens of people attracted the attention of passers-by, and everyone turned their attention to the [official department store] store.

Standing on the steps of the shop, a forty-year-old manager bowed to the people around him and said:

"There is no such thing as deceiving the people about the government-run coal prices."

"The reason why the price of coal has dropped is because the coal mines in the south have become cheaper. In addition, the imperial government has a policy to sell coal cheaply to prevent people from cutting down trees. That's why the price of coal is 60 cents per load."

"Really?!" After hearing the chief's words, the people who were originally skeptical immediately changed their attitude and took out their money to buy coal.

Worried that coal prices would rise later, they bought as much as they could.

For a time, there was a crowd of people in front of the [official department store] store. In less than half an hour, all the 200 tons of coal that arrived today were sold.

People who had not bought coal were asking when the coal would arrive tomorrow and whether the price would still be 60 cents per load.

When the chief heard this, he quickly said that he didn't know what was going on, causing many people to leave in despair.

As for the people who grabbed the coal, they happily carried it home.

One load of coal was enough for them to cook for two months.

Thinking about not having to eat cold food for two months makes you giggle.

Scenes like this commonly appear in Shanxi and the North Zhili region, and all this is due to the improvement of productivity.

While the people are celebrating the New Year happily, even Fangshan Industrial City, an industrial base, has a rare half-month holiday.

Just after the Great Court Meeting ended, Zhu Gaoxu rode with Zhu Di to this future industrial city of the Ming Dynasty.

A low wall with a circumference of twelve miles surrounded the entire industrial area. Due to the holiday, there was no noise from machines in the city.

Walking into the city, most of the land in the industrial zone covering an area of ​​5,000 acres is exposed on the surface, which is very ugly.

The few buildings in the urban area are barracks, workers' dormitories, and clusters of factories.

“There are currently three factories in Fangshan Industrial Zone. The largest factory is responsible for the production and assembly of machine parts. The other two factories are for pumps and steam engines. They can produce 20 steam locomotives and 530 pumps throughout the year. "

Compared with last year's annual output of 500 units, after the actual operation of the industrial zone, the output was much higher than expected.

Zhu Gaoxu took Zhu Di into the factory to visit, and Zhu Di could not imagine how these giant steel beasts would operate under human control.

The directors and managers of the factory took it upon themselves to show Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu how to make a nut.

Under their operation, all-metal precision screw lathes began to operate under the work of steam engines. With the lathes, the nuts and bolts needed for industry were slowly produced. The speed was very slow, but standardized production could be guaranteed.

"These things can move by themselves and rely entirely on water and coal. How much coal and water does your factory consume every year?"

Zhu Di took the screws made by the lathe and looked at them carefully, and also raised questions.

"Forty tons of coal are consumed every day, which is why the industrial zone is placed in Fangshan."

"As for water, Beizhili has abundant water resources, so there is no need to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu explained, and Zhu Di nodded in understanding.

Although Hebei in this era did not have as much rainfall as Hebei in later generations due to the climate environment, the problem is that the population of Hebei in this era was not as large as in later generations.

In later generations, the population of Hebei was close to 110 million, while the current Hebei population is less than 4 million.

Just talking about per capita water resources, Beizhili in this era was nearly 30 times that of Hebei in later generations.

As for the so-called greenhouse effect, Zhu Gaoxu wishes there were more greenhouse effects.

If possible, he would even like the world to rise by two degrees, so that he wouldn't have to worry about the Little Ice Age.

It's a pity that compared to nature, human power is too small, and this kind of thing is simply impossible to achieve.

"If this thing is used to make weapons, I'm afraid the production speed won't be slow, right?"

After Zhu Di saw the scene of these machines making screws, his first reaction was to use them for military industry.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and said: "The Ordnance Bureau has begun to design suitable lathes. When the artillery can be mass-produced, the ballistics in the military academy will also come in handy."

Although Zhu Gaoxu said this, he did not think that the Ordnance Bureau could use military lathes soon.

They invented the steam engine directly, but they did not invent many industries related to the steam engine and could only continue to explore.

In addition, what Ming Dynasty needs now is not to let steam engines enter all walks of life, but to solve the problem of population poverty.

As the precipitation line in the northwest moves toward the southeast, Guanzhong, Hetao, Hexi and other places that were once lush with water and grass during the Han and Tang Dynasties have become barren.

These places can develop industry, but the goods they produce must be sold through channels, and this channel is the Northwest Railway.

Building a northwest railway, Zhu Gaoxu carefully observed, can at least solve the labor problem of more than two million people along the border.

Minting overseas gold and silver into currency and distributing it to the people through large-scale infrastructure construction is the least likely way to cause inflation and can also make the people in the northwest rich.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked the supervisor next to him: "How much output can be increased every year?"

"About 40%" the supervisor replied without thinking, which made Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said:

"That's not bad. According to this calculation, when the Beijing-Beijing Railway is opened to traffic, there will be nearly 200 steam locomotives that can pass through."

"According to the current transportation capacity, two hundred vehicles can transport almost 24,000 tons of cargo. If it is food, it is about 150,000 to 60,000 dan."

"It only takes two months to travel from Nanjing to Beijing. These 200 vehicles can transport more than 3 million shi of grain back. At the same time, they can also transport 24,000 tons of coal to the south."

"After it arrives, excluding consumption, even if the coal price is forty cents per hundred kilograms, one trip can earn the court seven to eight thousand guan, which is more than 800,000 guan in a year."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about the benefits of opening the railway between Beijing and Beijing, and coal was only the cheapest cargo among the goods. If other high-profit goods were shipped to the south, the price would be higher.

According to this profit rate, excluding maintenance costs, the investment can be recovered in about fifteen years.

"I trust you when it comes to making money, but the Beijing-Beijing Railway will not open to traffic for more than four years, and the court's money may not be enough for four years."

Zhu Di shared his views, and Zhu Gaoxu asked and nodded:

"Father can rest assured. As long as there are no problems with the bank this year, the money and food issues will be much easier to solve."

"Not only that, if the bank can be done well, it will be much easier for the court to provide disaster relief in the future."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gaoxu thought of newspapers: "Now the "Daming Daily" can sell more than two million copies every quarter, which shows that the people are still very concerned about the government's policies."

"In addition to the "Da Ming News", the sales of other newspapers are also very good. The annual sales of various newspapers have accumulated to more than 24 million copies. Including advertising fees, Donggong's newspaper revenue alone last year made a net profit of 190,000 yuan. ”

"You must have seen the power of public opinion in newspapers. As for the profit of 190,000 yuan, I will send it to the internal funds at that time, so you can spend it well."

Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the profit of the newspaper, and Zhu Di smiled when he heard this:

"Well, it's not a lot of money, but since you gave it to me, it's okay if I don't spend it."

"Anyway, when I die, you will probably live in the Daming Palace as well. Just treat it as if you paid for the construction of the Daming Palace in advance."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, and Zhu Gaoxu was ashamed: "You are in the prime of life, so you should stop saying such unlucky words."

"People have to die eventually. Your grandfather is so powerful, why would he still die?"

Zhu Di didn't have so many taboos. After explaining a few words, he asked:

"If these more than 500 machines are put into mining areas, will coal prices fluctuate even more than they are now?"

"It will get lower and lower." Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said at the same time:

"But as Xia Yuanji said, no matter how low it is, people still can't afford it if they don't have money." "You should understand the money shortage in Shanxi and Northwest China, so building the Northwest Railway is imperative."

"Building a railway can give tens of millions of dollars to the people. After the railway is built, it will be much easier for the people to sell grain and vegetables. The same is true for merchants to buy grain and vegetables."

"Once transportation is convenient, it will be difficult for people to live in poverty."

Zhu Gaoxu was still discussing the Northwest Railway. Zhu Di nodded after hearing this:

"You can do it if you decide, but you still have to take the lead in ensuring the railway between Beijing and Beijing."

After moving the capital for so long, Zhu Di also saw some problems in Beijing.

The first is the food issue, and the second is the transportation and political issues.

After moving the capital to Beijing, it was indeed easier for the imperial court to control Monan and Northeast China, and it finally gave the north a populous metropolis.

But after the capital was moved, the price of food in Beijing increased visibly. Before the capital was moved, the price of food in Beijing was about 400 yuan per stone, but now it has risen to 450 yuan.

The price of grain has increased a lot not only in Beijing, but also in the entire Northern Zhili. Moreover, Beijing has also competed with the border troops for the grain transported from the south to the north.

Secondly, although the transportation in Beijing is okay, the distance to the southwest is too long, making it inconvenient to control the southwest.

Politically, even the New Deal faction started to make noises about moving south after moving the capital. This shows that many officials are still not optimistic about moving the capital to Beijing.

Apart from these problems, from an economic and military point of view, moving the capital to Beijing will indeed help the imperial court control the north, and it will not pose much hindrance to controlling the sea.

Once the railway between Beijing and Beijing is opened to traffic, food and transportation problems will also be solved, so Zhu Di is even more concerned about the railway between Beijing and Beijing than Zhu Gaoxu.

"Don't worry, father, I will be ready."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed in response, and Zhu Di felt a little inexplicable as he watched him bow.

In the following time, he and Zhu Gaoxu traveled throughout the industrial zone and listened to his explanation of the factories in the future industrial zone and the industrial output of these factories.

It wasn't until afternoon that they got on their horses and headed back towards the palace.

On the way, they could see acres of cultivated land. Since it was the first day of the year, there were not many people here.

However, as far as cultivated land is concerned, the concrete ditches between the cultivated fields undoubtedly demonstrate the imperial court's assistance to farmers.

"The world's population and cultivated land have been improved in the hands of you and my son. After this year, you work hard. When I go down, when your grandfather asks me something, I can answer it with dignity."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, obviously testing Zhu Gaoxu again.

But this time Zhu Gaoxu did not avoid it, but nodded.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Di was stunned, but quickly reacted and looked at him with pleased eyes.

"Go back to the palace in a while and ask the Ministry of Rites to order all the vassals at home and abroad to come to the capital to pay tribute. Your enthronement ceremony will just be held at that time."

Zhu Di saw Zhu Gaoxu's intention and explained to him with relief.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded when he heard this: "My son knows what to do, please don't worry, father."

"As long as you know how to do it, my boss and I have visited the Daming Palace. By the end of this year, two-thirds of it will be basically completed."

"I will move in there at that time. I will not enter the palace at any time. I will invite you to come over and talk about old times."

Zhu Di talked about what happened after he abdicated. Zhu Gaoxu listened carefully and seemed to want to write down everything.

The father and son rode horses slowly to Xizhimen in the capital, then changed to a carriage and headed to Wuying Hall.

On the way, Zhu Gaoxu thought of Yao Guangxiao in Nanjing and couldn't help asking: "Didn't father call the young master to come to Beijing?"

"I have already summoned him. I have built a temple for this old monk in the Daming Palace. When he comes to Beijing, I will let him live in that temple."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, thinking of Yao Guangxiao's face, and couldn't help but smile.

Father and son looked at each other, completely speechless.

Not long after, they returned to Wuying Hall.

With their governance, the Ming Dynasty also changed little by little.

In the seventeenth year of Yongle, the magistrates of each county received the drawings issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and chose a place near the county Bingma Si Yamen to start construction according to the drawings.

Time passed little by little, and as the time entered February, Zhu Di thought that during the Hongwu period, all the temples in the world had been merged, but recently, some people who did not follow the ancestral customs were still building private nunneries in remote places, where monks and nuns mixed together, and repeatedly violated the charter. So he ordered the Ministry of Rites to show the world that they should strictly abide by the rules, and those who violated them would be punished.

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites also dispatched fast horses to convey messages, and sent envoys and soldiers from Dakula, Donghai Prefecture, Hami Prefecture and other places to go overseas to announce that various countries would pay tribute to Beijing.

Among them, the fastest responder is undoubtedly North Korea, which is just around the corner.

Since last year, North Korea has stepped up its development of Kunlun Continent and regards Kunlun Continent as the best place for military training.

For the sake of Kunlun Continent's military exploits and gold mines, North Korea's two squads rarely put aside their party struggles.

As the king, Li Fangyuan saw the situation and took the opportunity to propose the abolition of the crown prince Li Bao and make Li Tao, the prince of Zhongning, the crown prince.

Although the crown prince was renamed, the crown prince still needed the recognition of the Ming Dynasty, so Li Fangyuan sent Li Tao to lead more than 20 civil and military officials, two hundred beautiful women and three hundred eunuchs to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, Japan, Siam, Champa and other countries also received the news and sent tribute missions one after another.

In addition to the excitement in overseas countries, the most celebrated event in February is undoubtedly the holding of the Dingyou Imperial Examination.

The selected Gongsheng students waited and then took part in the palace examination on the first day of March.

Zhu Di didn't care about this kind of proctoring, so he handed over the imperial examination to Zhu Gaoxu.

Facing hundreds of candidates, Zhu Gaoxu, standing on the golden stage, glanced around.

"Snapped!"

Accompanied by the whip sounds of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, hundreds of officials and examinees knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu on the golden stage.

Before the palace examination begins, Zhu Gaoxu will first "plan the examination" for the students.

The purpose of the examination is to test the candidates' intelligence, answer questions and eloquence to determine whether they are qualified to advance to the next round of examinations.

Candidates who pass the examination will advance to the next round, while other candidates will be eliminated.

After scanning the candidates, Zhu Gaoxu took his seat and immediately said: "An emperor needs good ministers to assist him in order to bring peace to the world. If the people are wealthy, they also need good ministers to govern them. Now..."

Zhu Gaoxu raised a question, that is, the emperor needs good ministers to help him govern the world, and the people need good ministers to govern them if they are prosperous. So in the face of the current situation, how should good ministers help the emperor to govern the world so that there is peace, and what should be done to make the people rich and healthy.

Faced with this question, the candidates who were seated after thinking about it finally picked up their pens and started to answer the questions.

The time passed slowly, but everyone was waiting quietly.

During this period, Zhu Gaoxu also asked Yishiha to prepare lunch, which included five pieces of tea, five pieces of fruit, five kinds of wine, one piece of snacks, two kinds of soup, one point of rice, four-color dishes, and five minutes of wine for each table.

This kind of treatment made many candidates feel that the court valued them, and they continued to answer the questions carefully.

Two hours passed slowly, and more and more candidates put down their pens.

As the three hours passed, all candidates put down their brushes.

Seeing this, Yi Shiha and dozens of eunuchs began to collect the papers in front of each candidate.

During this period, Yi Shiha personally went out to collect the papers. When he passed by a student, he even glanced at him.

After being glanced at, Jiang Huai, who was sitting in his seat, couldn't help but feel a little pressure.

No one would have thought that a son of a serf could pass the provincial and palace examinations and come to the center of power in the Ming Dynasty to participate in the palace examinations.

In addition to him, there is another person in the palace who is more legendary than him, and that is Lu Yu of Luzon Mansion.

"Sanchao..."

As the ministers of Honglu Temple sang the ceremony, the ministers and candidates also bowed and exited Fengtian Hall.

Some candidates left Miyagi with relief, while others were reluctant to leave.

Having made it to the palace examination, most of them have no regrets.

The next thing they have to do is wait for the results of the palace examination.

At the same time, Xia Yuanji and Huang Fu, the examinees of the palace examination, collected all the examination papers, sorted them and sent them to Guo Zi, the sealing official, for sealing.

Different from the provincial examination and the general examination, the examination papers of the palace examination do not need to be transcribed. The examiner will directly transfer them to the Dongge Examination Officer for marking.

The paper reader divided the test papers into first, second and third grades according to regulations, and the outstanding test papers were provided to the emperor for identification and ranking.

Because there is no need to transcribe, the candidates' written work will be seen by officials and emperors without reservation. However, candidates who can reach this point, although they are not considered to be the masters of contemporary calligraphy, are still somewhat successful and do not need to worry about writing.

In the next three days, the students were very anxious, and Zhu Gaoxu became an emotionless marking machine.

Among the more than 300 candidates, except for a few who attended middle school, most of the others only attended elementary school.

Therefore, when it comes to methods of managing people's livelihood, they still prefer those methods found in classics and historical books.

Although there is nothing new in the world and history keeps repeating itself, for Zhu Gaoxu, he needs new ideas and methods instead of sticking to old rules.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu reviewed more than 300 test papers and finally determined their ranking...

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "On the first day of the seventeenth year, the prince was summoned to Fangshan, and the Ministry of Rites was ordered to summon all the vassals in the country to pay tribute to the capital, and negotiated with the six ministries to abdicate."

　　"Bohai Chronicles": "On the first day of the seventeenth year, the emperor and I went to Fangshan to patrol the industrial area and returned. On the way, the emperor said: "I am not hesitant and old, and you will be in charge. If you refuse, you will disobey your father's words. "When I heard about it, I had no choice but to accept it."

　　"Zhu's Wild Notes": "During Yongle, I heard that the emperor and the prince were at odds. The prince followed the example of Tang Zong and made the emperor retreat to the Daming Palace, and then succeeded to the throne."

　　"Yongle Legacy": "The prince was cunning and the emperor was often displeased. However, the prince had a strong army, so the emperor had no choice but to grant the throne to the prince."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)