Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 471 The Southwest Matters End
"Is this the train from China..."

"Woo-"

The piercing whistle sounded, and watching a train in the distance pulling several carriages of goods heading east, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, who was sent by Ashikaga Yoshitsugu to attend the enthronement ceremony of the Ming Dynasty, was filled with shock.

The speed of a train loaded with goods is not much faster than that of a horse-drawn carriage, but the ability to pull hundreds of thousands of kilograms of goods without horses only exists in myths for envoys from various countries.

On the official road leading to Tianjin, the envoys from various countries who left one after another saw train after train. Sometimes even they doubted whether the Ming Dynasty was really the son of God.

"One day, we will build something like this!"

For a time, envoys from Japan, Korea, Siam, Manchuria, Champa, Kampuschi and other countries made such bold promises.

The Central Plains has always been a benchmark for the surrounding countries. There is no doubt that all countries will spend great efforts to study the policies of the Ming Dynasty.

From firearms and treasure ships at the beginning to trains now, they only feel that they have more and more things to learn.

Shocked, they arrived in Tianjin and took a boat out to sea, heading back to their country.

Outside Beijing's Anding Gate, tens of thousands of cavalrymen fluttered their flags, and two squads of civil and military troops arrived one after another.

"Okay, everyone, go back and wait for my triumphant return!"

Factories have sprung up in various provinces, especially those in the north.

After he left, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui rode the elephant carriage towards the palace.

The money shortage problem that had troubled Hongwu for thirty-three years was greatly alleviated by him in less than seventeen years. And based on the current situation, it may only take a few years for the money shortage problem to be solved.

Soon, 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 auxiliary troops began to move north.

The military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty dropped sharply from 18 million guan to 14 million guan. The saved 4 million guan was not saved but put into the market.

On horseback, Zhu Di looked at this mighty army. Although he knew that the northern expedition would be costly and likely to be in vain, he still decided to go north and not give Mahamu a chance to recuperate.

"Dad, uncle (second uncle) and third uncle, let's go."

On the contrary, since Zhu Gaoxu became the crown prince, Zhu Gaoxu could basically satisfy Zhu Di's wishes, or help him find a solution.

You must know that a suit of armor weighs at least sixty kilograms. At the age of fifty-eight, Zhu Di wore a suit of sixty kilograms of armor and traveled thousands of miles across Mobei. How could people not worry?
"Second brother, look at these two of them."

On the third day of April, Zhu Di led the left guards of Yanshan and Zhaozhou to the north. The three capitals of Daning, Bohai, and Liaodong also gathered their troops to move closer to Hailaer.

"Yes, Dad, don't be too pushy. It's not like Zhu Neng and the others are incapable of doing this."

"The boss and the third child don't know how to fight. Don't listen to them. Just do what you want. I know your body well. It won't be a problem if you do it twice."

The three capital divisions each recruited civilians, dispatched grain and grass, and transported grain and grass to Hailaer through the Wenwen River and overland.

"Dad, please take good care of yourself during this Northern Expedition."

Regarding Zhu Di's policies, Zhu Gaochi basically only agreed with policies that benefited the people, such as building canals, combing the Yellow River, and dredging the Wusong River. He opposed Zhu Di on all other policies.

As he finished speaking, Zhu Neng, who was commanding the troops, immediately ordered the army to go out.

Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe came on horseback wearing armor and bowed to Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand. Zhu Gaochi was holding back his words. Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was not worried at all, he suppressed his chatter and watched Zhu Zhanji and the others bowing and heading north.

Not long after, the originally bustling Andingmen suddenly became deserted.

But in terms of results, Zhu Gaoxu's pace seems to have been very steady, because he really has a lot of ways to make money.

Historically, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Di had disagreements. Zhu Di also needed to release Xia Yuanji to supervise Zhu Gaochi in the pass to prevent Zhu Gaochi from messing up.

It's surprising that Zhu Di's condition has improved after a long time.

Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Gaochi and the others, and then turned his attention to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu's words are true. Zhu Di's health is much better than in history.

"This time it will cost a lot of money. If there is pressure on the treasury, please write to me in handwriting."

In front of the war horse, although Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui did not participate in this battle, they were worried, fearing that Zhu Di would not survive.

At the same time, the entire Ming Dynasty was also making steady progress, and the railways leading to the north and south were being built bit by bit.

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu with satisfaction. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "The military expenditure is only one or two million guan. If my father is worried, then next year he can cut the internal funds by 500,000 guan to subsidize the national treasury."

With no time to rest, he quickly got back into the tedious work.

The two father and son had highly unified opinions on policy. When they occasionally disagreed, it was mostly because Zhu Di felt that Zhu Gaoxu was too radical and took too big a step.

"Boss and Third, you can go back to the palace to rest. I'm also going to handle government affairs."

Seeing the army going out for battle, Zhu Gaoxu told the boss and the third child, then turned around and got on the chariot and drove towards the city.

The Ming Dynasty, which emerged from the Southwest War, used the gold and silver transported from Dongzhou to continuously mint coins, and used infrastructure to circulate the newly minted coins to the people.

Amid the rapid development of people's livelihood and economy, a not-so-big war is also gaining momentum.

"Go!"

The two fathers and sons quarreled countless times over the matter of moving the capital to Beijing, not to mention the compilation of the "Yongle Dadian", the voyages to the West, the conquest of Jiaozhi, and the destruction of the Si Nantian family.

An hour later, Zhu Gaoxu strode into Wuying Hall, and no less than two hundred memorials were piled on the table.

"Hahaha..." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhu Di knew that he had chosen the wrong person, so he shook the reins of his horse.

Zhu Gaoxu was wearing an emperor's uniform. Faced with Zhu Di's teasing, Zhu Gaoxu also glanced at the two of them and responded to Zhu Di:

It seems that because of Zhu Di's departure, many ministers began to impeach the current Jinyiwei commander Ji Gang, as well as Zuodu censor Chen Ying, censor Qin Heng and others.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu did not reject these memorials, more and more ministers began to submit memorials, and finally there were hundreds of memorials to impeach them.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Gaoxu issued an order on April 9th, summoning the Ministry of Punishment to investigate the case against Geng Tong, and detained more than 30 officials including Ji Gang, Chen Ying, and Qin Heng.

On April 17, Geng Tong submitted a memorial, stating that he had seized three boxes of account books from the residence of Ji Gang and others, involving more than 600 officials and more than 2,000 clerks. He had seized 12 boxes of gold, 87 boxes of silver, and 6 boxes of copper coins. There are more than a hundred boxes, more than forty boxes of gold, silver, jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings, dozens of houses and villas, and tens of thousands of acres of fertile land.

On April 20th, Geng Tong reported to Ji Gang, Chen Ying and others for accepting bribes. According to the "Da Ming Law", they should be skinned and stuffed with grass to serve as a warning to others.

The memorial was passed to Zhu Gaoxu, who said: "Ji Gang and others are all ministers of the former emperor. They have made meritorious service in the country and can be exempted from death. Therefore, Ji Gang, Chen Ying and others are assigned to Changchun Prefecture on the Bohai Sea as common people."

Zhu Gaoxu's punishment of Ji Gang aroused strong dissatisfaction among officials such as Geng Tong.

In the past seventeen years, Ji Gang and Chen Ying had killed many officials. Xie Jin was buried in the snow by Ji Gang's men, not to mention other officials who were not important.

However, Zhu Gaoxu issued an order to the ministers not to discuss it further and to resolutely implement his previous decree.

Seeing this, Geng Tong and others had no choice but to shut up. After all, it was difficult for them to protect themselves now. If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't restrained the New Deal faction, the party struggle might have started two hundred years earlier.

A balanced temple allows Zhu Gaoxu to manage politics calmly and make targeted arrangements for each province, such as now...

"Thousands of people were involved this time, and a lot of gold, silver and copper coins were seized, as much as eight million coins."

"With this money, northern industries can also make more detailed arrangements."

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Gaoxu took the seized proceeds from the Ministry of Revenue and made an evaluation. Guo Zi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also bowed after hearing this:

"Your Majesty, this money can actually be used to repair the Northwest Railway..."

"The Northwest Railway does need to be built, but not now. We will wait until the route is surveyed."

Zhu Gaoxu interrupted, and then turned his attention to Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was sitting next to Guo Zi.

"Huang Fu, how is the situation with the mineral deposits that I asked you to go to Shaanxi and Gansu last year?"

"Your Majesty, the Daxigou Iron Mine in Xianning County has been found. We just need to allocate money and food to recruit workers to mine it." Huang Fuyi replied:

"In addition, iron ore and coal mines have been found in Gansu and other provinces. Just like the Daxigou Iron Mine, they can be mined with the allocation of money and grain."

Huang Fu's answer made Zhu Gaoxu nod with satisfaction. The mines in Shanxi and the northwest are the foundation of the prosperity of the northwest.

These mines were discovered very early, but they were not mined on a large scale because they could not be transported.

Once there is a railway, resources from these places can continuously flow into the Central Plains east of Mount Wei.

"First recruit a sufficient number of iron miners to mine the iron ore, and at the same time build a cement field and a gunpowder field to make cement and gunpowder."

"The northwest is so remote that the miners' wages cannot be paid according to the wages in Shanxi and Beizhili. Let's allot them at one hundred cash per day. As for cement and gunpowder, they will be paid at fifty cash per day."

Zhu Gaoxu set the wages for Shaanxi and Gansu, which made Huang Fu bow to him: "Your Majesty, is it too high?"

Huang Fu's words are true. In Shaanxi and Gansu, local wages are very cheap. Even miners' wages rarely exceed forty cash per day.

Now that the official camp comes in, they are given one hundred coins a day, which is thirty-six and a half coins a year.

You must know that even in a remote place like northern Shaanxi, the price of food is at most 500 yuan per stone.

According to the wages set by Zhu Gaoxu, if northern Shaanxi opened a mine to recruit workers, a miner's annual income would be enough to buy 73 shi of rice, enough to feed a dozen people. With the population of Gansu and Shaanxi, if the local area can provide 300,000 miner jobs, then the local people can rely on minerals to feed themselves.

As for the wages of cement plants and gunpowder factories, they are basically more than twice as much as ordinary local workers.

Huang Fu knew that to obtain gold and silver from overseas, he had to pay for infrastructure construction, but he couldn't do it this way.

"Based on this wage rate, the court will still make a profit anyway, it's just more and less."

"The iron mine will start construction first. I will ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate the money and grain to you. You don't have to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu does not think that the wages are high, or that the national conditions are different.

In the Ming Dynasty, more than 7 million guan of gold and silver flowed in from overseas every year. After the gold was saved, there were at least 5 million guan of resources that could be used to mint money.

If this money were distributed to the entire Ming Dynasty people, each person would get more than fifty pieces of cash every year, which could make a person live comfortably for ten days, and this amount is still rising.

It is naturally unrealistic to distribute them all to the people, but it is very worthwhile to invest in industry and convert the Ming Dynasty's agricultural population into an industrial population.

Britain and Spain also plundered silver and gold from the Americas. There were many reasons why Spain could not start industrialization, but the main reason was that they did not put the gold and silver they plundered into production.

The Ming Dynasty could not follow in the footsteps of Spain, so Zhu Gaoxu wanted to greatly promote the industrial process of the Ming Dynasty in his limited life.

The world's population market is 300 million. If Ming Dynasty can capture the 300 million population market, it will be difficult for other countries to have a chance to make a comeback.

The battles that should be fought have been fought during the Yongle period. What Zhu Gaoxu has to do now is to use his ancestral craftsmanship, open up wasteland and cultivate land, research technology, and innovate in science and technology.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Zi: "How is the promotion of new crops?"

"New crops have been planted in the mountainous areas of the southwest and the northeast and northwest. The area is not large, less than 14 million acres."

Guo Zi reported truthfully. Zhu Gaoxu did not feel that the speed was slow and nodded in approval:
"This speed is already very fast. Taixue is already conducting further research on chemical fertilizers and cultivating new crops."

"When chemical fertilizers can be mass-produced and no longer need to rely on struvite, people will no longer have to worry about starvation."

"In addition, primary school promotion should mainly focus on teaching by graduates from the north. If it doesn't work, we will recruit and train again."

"Right now, the number of students counted by the Ministry of Rites has reached more than eight million, and our teacher-student ratio has reached one to twenty-seven."

"This ratio is already very high. It cannot exceed 30 at most. We should continue recruiting when we should. No matter how hard it is, we should not work hard on education. This is the difference between us and the Seyi."

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that the reason why the two industrial revolutions were so rapid was actually inseparable from the emphasis Europe placed on basic education at that time.

For example, from 1754 to 1784, the illiteracy rate among British small shopkeepers was only 5%, the illiteracy rate among Yeomen and farmers was 19%, the illiteracy rate among various merchants was 20-30%, the illiteracy rate among housekeepers was 46%, and the illiteracy rate among building owners was 51%. The illiteracy rate among workers is 59%, and the illiteracy rate among agricultural workers and domestic servants is %...

After the influx of gold and silver from the colonies, basic education was valued. However, in just fifty years, the literacy rate of British society further improved. The illiteracy rate among businessmen dropped to 15-30%, and the illiteracy rate among construction workers was 38%...

This was still the case when Britain and the Qing Dynasty maintained a trade deficit, but now the Ming Dynasty occupies the two advantages of a world trade surplus and the gold and silver mines of Dongzhou and Kunlunzhou.

Although the population of the Ming Dynasty was nearly ten times that of the United Kingdom in the mid-eighteenth century, the rate of decline in illiteracy was not much slower than that of the United Kingdom, because the productivity of the Ming Dynasty was higher than that of the United Kingdom at that time, and prices were cheaper.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu rubbed his eyebrows and said to Guo Zi and Huang Fu:
"The north needs support, while the south is making steady progress. Once the Beijing-Beijing railway is opened, the south will also receive a steady stream of low-priced coal and iron from the north, which is also good for the south."

"Yes..." The two bowed in agreement, and Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "Step back."

"I'll take my leave..."

The two stood up and left, and Zhu Gaoxu continued to deal with the memorial with his head down.

While he was processing the memorial, Zhu Di's team was still slowly heading north, and Lu Yu, who had stayed in Jianshui County, Lin'an Prefecture for nearly a year, was finally informed that he could go to Jinghong County in the car to take up a post.

He took hundreds of officials and more than 600 staff to Chemanfu. Since it was summer, the place was very hot and muggy. Many officials and staff who went from the north to the south could not bear the sweltering heat and bid farewell to Lu Yu one after another.

Lu Yu had no choice but to agree to their farewells.

Therefore, when he came to Jinghong County, the seat of Chefu, there were only less than 400 people left in the team of more than 700 people around him.

Due to fear of rebellion, the area is still under martial law, with four guards and more than 20,000 troops stationed there.

The so-called Jinghong County is actually a village built by the Dai people.

When Lu Yu arrived here, he saw Dai slaves planting rice and many sergeants coming and going to supervise.

The city wall of Jinghong County is made up of wooden villages. The perimeter of the village is more than two miles, and thousands of people can live inside the village.

Because it relies on the Lancang River, there is no shortage of water here. On the contrary, it is very hot and muggy.

Many surrounding woods were burned due to the war, but in this rainforest climate, those burned woods were covered with green plants, and there were no traces of burning at all.

This kind of environment is even worse than that of Luzon.

"There are fifty-seven villages of various sizes in Chechefu, and they are basically dominated by the Baiyi (Dai) people."

"According to military statistics, the total population is more than 367,000, and the cultivated land is more than 792,000 acres."

"Now that you are here, this "Yellow Album" and "Fish Scale Album" will be handed over to you."

"We will gradually withdraw the troops starting next month. Each thousand households will move several white-clad soldiers from the local villages, and finally a guard will be left in the car to guard the border."

"In the end, almost thirty villages were removed, leaving twenty-two villages for you."

"But you don't have to worry. People from Longchuan have begun to migrate here. It is said that there are tens of thousands of people."

In the Jinghong Village of Che Mansion, standing in the yard where the chieftain once lived, Lu Yu communicated with Mu Sheng, who was stationed there, on how to hand over the situation.

Lu Yu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that Mu Sheng and the others were going to evacuate the people from thirty villages, and that tens of thousands of Han people were also migrating.

"Thank you Captain for handing over!"

Lu Yu bowed to Mu Sheng, who nodded in greeting, then left Jinghong Village and returned to his camp outside the village.

Seeing Mu Sheng's departure, Lu Yu also began to take over the various villages. At the same time, in accordance with the requirements of the imperial court, he selected five counties as the basis for governing Chefu.

Although the local area is muggy and hot, there is anti-malarial powder and enough water, which meets many conditions for land reclamation.

In the next few days, Lu Yu basically worked with Mu Sheng on the post-war handover. It wasn't until tens of thousands of criminals from Longchuan were exiled that Lu Yu began to manage the Che Mansion.

First, a cement yard was opened to facilitate the construction of water conservancy facilities and city housing in the future. Secondly, the people left behind in Cheche Mansion were managed in a large-scale centralized and small-scale decentralized manner.

The so-called large-scale concentration means that most of the population is concentrated around the five counties to open up wasteland. As for the cultivated land left in the past, a small number of people are left behind to cultivate it.

For the people who stayed behind, they directly obtained the entire village's land. Some even more than 20 households with a population of just over 100 people received thousands of acres of cultivated land.

In order for them to plant well, Lu Yu also distributed the cattle given to him by the army to these people.

As for the people who were moved to open up wasteland around the five predetermined counties, they didn't think anything of it.

When the chieftain was here, they were his slaves, but now they are the masters. Although it is hard to open up wasteland, the land they open up is their own, and they have enough food. This is a life they once could not imagine.

The post-war recovery of Cheche Mansion gradually got on the right track with Lu Yu's running around, while the situation in Longchuan Mansion began after Jiang Huai used Wang Xuan's power to wipe out the local criminals and began drastic reforms. .

It is not uncommon to convert rice into mulberry and rice into sugarcane. As a middle school graduate, Jiang Huai used the knowledge he learned in middle school to build sugar factories in various counties of Longchuan.

Machines that use pulleys to apply pressure to juice sugar cane are not considered advanced means.

Although there are no results yet, judging from the content of Jiang Huai's palace examination answer sheet, supporting him will not make Wang Xuan and Xu Shuo take responsibility.

Therefore, Xu Shuo had a lot of support for Longchuan and Che Che. He very much hoped to establish a relationship with the two so that he could visit the temple in the future.

By mid-May, the Yunnan Chief Secretary and the Dusi also handed over the documents captured by the army in Yunnan's land-returning campaign to Beijing, and Zhu Gaoxu was able to review them.

"When the army returned to Yunnan, they found 2.76 million people and more than 8.24 million acres of cultivated land. Many people fled to Sanxuan and Shiwei. After half of the gold and silver seized were retained by the army, More than 2.6 million yuan were handed over."

Yi Shiha reported the results of Yunnan's agrarian reform. Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the chair, nodded after listening:
"The amount of gold and silver is not that much, but the population and cultivated land far exceed my expectations."

"Let this gold and silver be handed over to the Chief Envoy of Yunnan for post-war recovery. I think Xu Shuo has a lot of support for Longchuan and Cheche. I hope these two places can become the official announcement and consolation of the imperial court in the future." 's base."

After closing the booklet, Zhu Gaoxu gave high evaluations to Longchuan Mansion and Cheche Mansion.

Seeing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Yishiha also chuckled and said: "The Jianghuai River in Longchuan Prefecture was dredged a few days ago. I hope the court can build a railway from Longchuan to Nandian and to Manmo via Ganya."

"Although it is only three hundred miles away, given the conditions in Yunnan, the cost may not be less than one million yuan."

"This Jianghuai really dares to mention..."

"Ha... I guess it's the opinion of that idiot Wang Xuan." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, but he did not directly reject Jiang Huai's offer.

In his opinion, the 300-mile Longchuan Railway is still necessary. The Ming Dynasty's technology does not support the construction of a railway across the Qinling Mountains. However, if Longchuan can reach Chongqing and Chengdu directly, it can take land and water routes. Transport materials and troops from the Chengdu Plain, Huguang, and Jiangnan to Yunnan.

However, the problem is that compared with the Qinling Mountains, the Hengduan Mountains in Yunnan are not easy to climb. The Ministry of Industry will have to go and inspect it for details.

It's just that the Ministry of Industry is currently surveying the Northwest Railway, and Lucchuan has been analyzed by itself, and it will not give Luchuan a chance to rise again. Therefore, the construction of the Southwest Railway is not that urgent, and can be discussed after the completion of the Beijing-Beijing and Northeast Railways.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also thought of the old man from Beizheng, and couldn't help but ask:
"By the way, old man, where are they?"

(End of this chapter)