Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 526: Helping those in need
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers, Jiangnan Railway survey is about to be completed, and the railway will run through Jiangnan!"

"Sell newspapers!"

"Give me one!"

"I want one..."

In April, with the publication of the second quarter's "Da Ming Bao", ordinary people in Jiangnan didn't know about the upcoming railway construction in Jiangnan until then.

For most merchants and ordinary people in this era, railways are no longer unfamiliar to them. However, in the prosperous places of Jiangxi and Zhejiang, they have only seen trains and sketches of railways in newspapers, and do not know about trains. and what a railroad looks like.

People tend to only care about their own interests. When they saw that there were railways in other places but Jiangnan didn't have them, they didn't think it was a big deal. But as more and more railways become available in other places, Jiangnan, which is a place of taxation, will naturally feel dissatisfied. .

“It’s long overdue!”

"That's right, I don't know what to think if we don't build a railway in the south of the Yangtze River and build it into such poor areas."

"I don't know when we will be able to take the train. If the court allows us to move around freely, we can also take the Beijing-Beijing Railway to visit Beijing."

Compared with the Yan Li case, they are more concerned about the Jiangnan Railway.

Because of this, the people don't seem to care.

Not only the ordinary people were happy, but also many wealthy gentry and wealthy households who were still reviling Sanyang because of the "Yan Li case" became happy.

Yang Rong talked about the progress of the Ming Dynasty’s salt, wine and tea administration after the Yan Li case. You must know that before the case was opened, the world’s salt, wine and tea administration only had an annual income of more than 7 million yuan.

The Jiangnan Railway was the escape route that Sanyang had thought of for himself, and the fact was that this retreat also played a role.

Under such circumstances, it would be strange for the survivors not to resent Sanyang's inaction.

There are several dozen years in a person's life. Compared with laborers who can't do half a year a year, the migrant workers needed for railway construction can better solve the employment problem of the people at the bottom of Jiangnan.

The main reason why wealthy squire households are rich is that they have more information than ordinary people.

The imperial court's finances will reach a new high at the end of the year, and the increase will be even greater than last year.

Now that the price of salt has been adjusted down, the revenue from the salt, wine and tea policies should have decreased, but in fact it still reached 12 million strings of cash.

"At this rate, the salt policy alone can make a profit of four million guan per year. Moreover, the price of salt is currently low. If we choose to raise it, then if we raise it by one penny per jin, the court can make a profit of one million guan."

When they learned that there were two railways in the south of the Yangtze River, with a total mileage of more than 3,300 miles, many people at the bottom immediately became happy.

If the price of salt increased slightly by one or two cents, the imperial court would be able to earn an additional one or two million cents.

But now Sanyang is admonishing to build a railway, which will undoubtedly bring the prosperity of Jiangnan to a higher level, and this result has also calmed down a lot of the anger of this group of surviving gentry and wealthy households.

The original interest group is dead, and they no longer have to resist the imperial government's policies of tea, wine, oil and salt.

In addition, the wages in the imperial court are usually higher than the market price, so for them, this is a livelihood that they can rely on for a long time.

"It's really a happy event, it should come to light!"

The news about the train made the front page of Jiangnan. In comparison, the incident involving Yan Li's case did not attract so much attention.

"Added together, even if the price remains unchanged, the imperial court can earn 12 million yuan per year from these three items. No wonder His Majesty wants to take these three items into the official camp."

"As for the vacancies above the fifth level, we can only let others temporarily take pictures, and we will work on them later."

"The imperial court has selected more than 7,000 local candidates to serve. In addition to the imperial examination in a month's time, as long as capable talents are selected this time, the more than 100 Jinshi seats in Jiangnan are enough to fill the vacant officials below the fifth rank in Jiangnan. "

The newspaper did not report how much money was gained from the house ransack, but concluded the case with the sentence: "We accumulated tens of millions of dollars, the main culprit's car was broken, and the rest were lost."

After Yang Shiqi finished speaking, Yang Rong also frowned and said:

According to what they had read in the newspapers, the construction of more than 3,300 miles of railway would take at least more than ten years and require millions of workers.

Because of this, the Yan Li case harvested nearly 50% of the wealthy squires in the north and south of the Yangtze River.

"In addition, wine, tea, and oil are also big items, and the annual income can be at least 8 million yuan."

Yang Shiqi took a sip of tea and reminded: "Learn the specific railway route from the Ministry of Industry in advance, and arrange talented people to nearby prefectures and counties, so that they can be promoted more easily."

This is not because the people are numb, but because the newspaper reports on the closure of the Yan Li case are relatively vague.

Yang Pu explained the current situation, and Yang Rong also continued: "It is relatively easy to fill up the official ranks. After all, there have been no major cases in the past many years. Although the Guimao case is serious, northern students are also seriously unemployed. This time By attacking Jiangnan, I think the efficiency will be improved a lot.”

After all, even if they are just officials, their means of obtaining information are much better than those of ordinary wealthy households.

"Now the salt, wine and tea administration has been returned to the official management of the imperial court. I have also read the brochure of the Salt Course Department for the specific figures. In the past two months alone, nearly 13,000 kilograms have been sold using the railway, making a profit of 60 Yu Wan Guan."

However, judging from the current situation, the national treasury still has more than 60 million yuan in reserves, so they obviously do not need to worry about money and food.

Thinking of this, Yang Rong's meaning was already obvious.

After the Yan Li case, wealthy rural gentry households in the south of the Yangtze River were implicated. After all, since ancient times, the heirs of wealthy rural gentry households had only one path, and that was to take the imperial examination and serve as officials.

After the news came back to Beijing, the three people who had gathered after work sat in Yang Shiqi's mansion and discussed the next arrangements. After all, they could not waste this opportunity where all officials were empty.

"Xia Yuanji is a talented person in the civil service department. It will be easier to promote him by letting the people below him achieve some results."

If there was a shortage of money and food, they would be more willing to persuade the northern railways to stop than to generate revenue.

Naturally, they would not think about generating revenue for the court. After all, every industry has a group of interest groups, and it is not worth offending them for the sake of the court.

If you really don't have talent, then it would be a good idea to get a job as an official for the sake of your family.

What they have to do now is to promote the construction of the Jiangnan Railway, and the construction of the Jiangnan Railway must ensure that there is enough money and food on the books.

"The Jiangnan Salt, Wine and Tea Policy can actually increase the imperial court's revenue by more than 3 million yuan. This is something I never expected. It seems that the people below are actively obstructing it because the interests involved are too great."

"The arrangements have been made in the East Palace, but His Highness still prefers to trust Zhan Shifu's high opinion. Although this person has a low official position, he is not a good helper for His Highness. But if he is here, our people will It won’t be reused.”

"In addition, Dong Gong has already attracted people in private. Jiangxi Councilor Lu Yu and Zhejiang Councilor Jiang Huai are both people he has courted."

"These two people have been arranged by His Majesty and have made a lot of achievements. It is estimated that if they are promoted further, they will either participate in politics or become officials in Beijing."

"If these two people come to Beijing as officials, then Zhan Shifu will become a decoration."

"After all, there needs to be someone who can balance the north and the south." Yang Shiqi said clearly:

"Although His Majesty is bridging the North and the South today, is it so easy to bridge the North and the South?"

"Even if we rely on overseas gold and silver to support the North, if we lose overseas, the North will be restored to its original shape in just a blink of an eye."

"What's more, the north just asks for it from overseas, while the south is different."

"The brown sugar, white sugar, cotton, cloth, porcelain, and tea needed overseas are all produced in the south. The stronger overseas, the stronger Jiangnan will be."

"The power of Jiangnan is so great that no one person can stop it."

Yang Shiqi set the tone for this so-called bridging of the north and the south. In the current era, the gap between the north and the south will only become wider and wider, and the prosperity of the north during the Yongle and Hongxi years was just a flash in the pan.

Yang Rong and Yang Pu deeply believed in his remarks.

Their conversation was very private, but for Zhu Gaoxu, there was nothing in the world that could remain secret even after he paid attention to it.

"It's so presumptuous!"

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Zhanhe listened to Hu Ji's report and immediately scolded Sanyang for his remarks.

On the contrary, compared to him, Zhu Gaoxu was very calm and not angry because of this matter.

Zhu Zhanhe saw this and looked at him: "Father, aren't you angry at Sanyang's words?"

"Can anger solve the problem? You don't have to pretend to me."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, Zhu Zhanhe was immediately shocked, and he quickly bowed and said, "My father is laughing at me for being a master at work."

After all, Zhu Zhanhe has been assisting in government affairs for more than a year. Although Sanyang's remarks are shocking, they will not make him lose his composure.

His gaffe was mainly just to express his position.

In response, Zhu Gaoxu slowly looked at Hu Ji in front of him, and then spoke.

"The southern power is something that needs to be acknowledged. The bridge between the north and the south does not happen overnight. The challenges that the court needs to face are also huge."

"However, it is more reasonable to say that the so-called contradiction between the North and the South is a class contradiction."

"Let me ask you, will ordinary people in the south of the Yangtze River hate the people in the north?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Zhanhe a question, and Zhu Zhanhe shook his head and said: "Of course not, the people just want to live their own lives."

"The biggest problem in the world is always class conflict, not regional conflict."

"Everyone suffers in rise and fall, but poverty has no distinction between race and gender."

"That day..." Zhu Zhanhe asked hesitantly. He naturally knew what class conflict was. After all, it was taught in middle school politics class.

"In politics class, do you remember how to reconcile and resolve class conflicts?"

Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask Zhu Zhanhe. Zhu Zhanhe thought for a while and then said vaguely:
“The textbook says that class contradictions can be reconciled. Economically, resources can be redistributed through social welfare. Politically, democratic consultation is the main method. Culturally, respect for other ethnic groups and the implementation of ethnic autonomy systems are the main... …”

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "What you said is all about coordinating class conflicts."

"What the book says is actually out of consideration for the stability of the regime, rather than a real solution."

"Then the real solution is..." Zhu Zhanhe asked modestly, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "I don't know either."

"..." Zhu Zhanhe was stunned when he heard his father's words.

In his eyes, his father could be said to know everything. However, when faced with class issues, his father gave "I don't know" as the answer.

"Or I should say, there is a way, but this method cannot be realized under the current situation, and it is impossible for you and me to accept it." Zhu Gaoxu thought of the systems of later generations, but these systems need to be implemented with technology and in line with the background of the times. .

If you just copy it without regard to the background of the times, you are asking for death.

What's more, with his status and background in the Zhu family, future generations are destined not to accept the new system.

The emergence of the new system will definitely make the Zhu family fall from their high position, so he said that it was unacceptable to their father and son.

"Class contradictions cannot be resolved, but the exploiting classes can."

"By solving the exploiting class and distributing their wealth to ordinary people, the contradiction between the North and the South will be bridged."

Zhu Gaoxu once again talked about the issue of wealth distribution, which made Zhu Zhanhe realize that what his father wanted him to inherit was actually the idea of ​​wealth distribution.

"Don't worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality. I understand."

Zhu Zhanhe suddenly said such a sentence, which made Zhu Gaoxu look at the boy.

He placed the document that Zhu Di had recorded on the table and motioned to Zhu Zhanhe to read it.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Zhanhe opened it and soon learned about the life of the people in the northwest.

"The future is an era of oceans. It is not difficult to resolve the current North-South conflict, but it will be more difficult to resolve the East-West conflict in the future."

"But no matter what the conflict is, as long as you remember that the distribution is reasonable, the people will not cause trouble."

"Only when the gap between the rich and the poor widens, and the rich continue to exploit the common people, will the common people realize what the so-called class conflict means."

"Currently, more than 4 million acres of land have been seized in the Yan Li case, and these lands are still being sold off."

"When the land is completely sold off, the imperial court can still earn more than 30 million yuan."

"Normally, these lands should be distributed equally to the people, but the imperial court now has an overseas market with hundreds of millions of people. Simply dividing the land equally is not enough to solve the problem."

"As the population continues to increase, the court will also be short of money, and the court will inevitably issue banknotes."

"Under the Ming Dynasty vassal system, there can only be one kind of paper currency, and that is the Ming Tongbao."

"Let the Ming Dynasty become the world's factory and use goods to control vassal countries."

"There are many problems involved. Even if I tell you in a few words, you won't be able to remember them."

"I will write a book in handwriting someday. You can take it back and read it. It will also make it easier for you to manage Dongzhou, Beizhou and India."

Zhu Gaoxu felt his mouth was a little dry. He picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. At the same time, he looked at Hu Ji and asked:
"Have the Supreme Emperor and the Great Grandson been in the Daming Palace since they last returned?"

"Your Majesty, I have been in the Daming Palace all the time, but recently the Emperor is planning to go to Suzhou in the northwest after the spring in the northwest."

Hu Ji responded to Zhu Gaoxu's question and also said: "Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Civil Affairs, learned about this and often asked the Supreme Emperor not to travel far, but the Supreme Emperor refused to listen and even asked someone to use Xia Shangshu's memorial as firewood. The fire burned."

"Haha..." Upon hearing that Zhu Di and Xia Yuanji fell in love and killed each other, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help laughing:

"It's better for Xia Yuanji to bother the Supreme Emperor than to bother me. This old man always advises me to treat officials well, but I don't want to think about how many officials can be as honest as him."

After the evaluation, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but tell Zhu Zhanhe: "This Xia Yuanji is really honest. You can reward him with a hundred coins from your own funds."

After Hongxi's reform, the so-called gift of money was Yongle Tongbao made of pure gold. One piece weighed five taels, two coins were one tael, and a hundred coins were equivalent to fifty taels of gold.

"Yes, I will ask someone to take care of it soon." Zhu Zhanhe said this, and then said:

"Father, it is already the tenth year of Hongxi's reign, but the court is still using Yongle Tongbao. Isn't this a bit unreasonable?"

"There is nothing unreasonable. The version is set there, and if it is suddenly changed, it will be a waste of money and food. It is still the same."

Zhu Gaoxu has no obsession with minting money. The main purpose of minting money is to make money for the people and allocate overseas resources to the people, rather than to satisfy him personally.

For the common people, there is no difference between using Yongle Tongbao and Hongxi Tongbao.

"In the past twenty-eight years, the imperial court has minted more than 260 million guan. In recent years, more than 9 million guan of silver and copper coins have flowed in from overseas. However, the number of births in the imperial court is approaching four million every year."

"You have to pay more attention to the governance of Dongzhou. The silver and copper ingots there are enough to sustain the court for many years."

"Right now, a lot of the imperial court's currency is flowing out of overseas countries. Most of the vassal countries have begun to use the Chinese currency, which will increase the money supply problem."

"It's good when I'm in office. If there are problems with supply when you're in office, it's okay to properly recycle treasure banknotes and issue banknotes."

"The issuance of banknotes must have an anchor and cannot be issued at will."

"I will also write this in the book for you. Not only will you need to read it, but Yue'er and his descendants will also need to read it until the content is outdated."

"My son, I understand." Zhu Zhanhe responded, always feeling that his father was a little strange today.

If he hadn't known about his father's physical condition, he would have even felt that his father was explaining the funeral arrangements.

"Okay, that's pretty much what needs to be said. You can sit down and govern."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Zhu Zhanhe, and at the same time said to Hu Ji: "Your father is old and has become an official. It's okay to let him rest at home. Now that you have been promoted to the commander of the West Factory, remember not to be arrogant, otherwise even I will have to deal with you cruelly." is you."

"Please remember..."

Hu Ji was startled, and after realizing it, he quickly bowed and saluted.

After bowing, he said: "Your Majesty, the matter of King Yi and King Gu has been found out. King Yi was deceived by the eunuchs when he was young. The story of King Gu is true. We have punished the two of them according to your Majesty's instructions."

"In addition, the military achievements of the Kunlun Xuanwei Division have also been verified to be true. The Persian Guards found several people who are proficient in the Western Yi language and obtained information from those surrendered soldiers."

"The country is Franji. It is located on the southwest coast of Xizhou. It has an area of ​​only two or three prefectures and a population of nearly one million."

"This expedition to invade the Kunlun Cape of our country has exhausted the country's national strength. After this failure, I am afraid they will not invade easily again."

Hu Ji explained the follow-up information about the Franji invasion of Kunlun Cape. Zhu Gaoxu nodded after hearing the words:
"There are many countries in Western Continent, and the national strength alone is not worth mentioning. However, the imperial court currently does not have much power on the eastern coast of Dongzhou and Beizhou. If they invade these two continents, it will also bring a lot of trouble to the imperial court."

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe: "Support several forces on the east coast to prevent these Western barbarians from invading the territory of the Celestial Empire."

"Yes!" Zhu Zhanhe agreed, and upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu continued to cast his gaze back on Hu Ji.

"Intelligence in Xizhou must be arranged early, and the imperial court must understand the world. Even if these countries are weak, they cannot let them go."

"In addition, many people escaped from the Franchise during the naval battle. After these people escape back to their home countries, some changes should occur in Xizhou, allowing people to get back the intelligence as soon as possible."

"I obey the order." Hu Ji nodded and handed over some information about Xizhou.

"News also came from Xichang's headquarters in Lumi Kingdom (Ottoman). The ruler of Lumi Kingdom has built many stone cannons. It seems that he is preparing to storm the capital of Fulin Kingdom (Byzantium)."

"Attack Constantinople?" Zhu Gaoxu became interested. In his memory, Byzantium seemed to have perished not long after Constantinople was breached. The last emperor of Byzantium died after the city was breached.

This feeling of participating in a major historical event but looking at things from a condescending perspective is quite interesting, I have to say.

"Constantinople?" Hu Ji was stunned. The Ming Dynasty used transliteration for various countries, so the names were relatively casual.

Most of the nice-sounding names on the map were casually spoken by Zhu Gaoxu, and then drawn by the mapping officials.

Seeing that His Majesty called the capital of Fulin Kingdom Constantinople, Hu Ji naturally did not choose to correct him.

As long as His Majesty speaks, even if this place was called Pigsty before, it should be called Constantinople in the future, and vice versa.

"It's okay, you can continue your report."

Zhu Gaoxu motioned for him to continue reporting and wanted to know if there was anything interesting.

However, Hu Ji's next report is bound to disappoint him.

Facing his gesture, Hu Ji seemed a little hesitant. After hesitating for a moment, he bravely spoke:

"The royal doctor of the Han Dynasty has received news that the King of Han's health has become much worse recently..."

Hu Ji brought a piece of bad news, which made Zhu Gaoxu's heart fluctuate, and even his face showed a solemn expression.

He couldn't help but stood up and said in a serious tone: "Is it serious?"

"The King of Han has been admitted to Kunming Hospital." Hu Ji lowered his head, which made Zhu Gaoxu realize how serious the boss's condition was.

There was an imperial doctor in the Han Palace, but the imperial doctor obviously could not take care of Zhu Gaochi all day in the Han Palace, so he was sent to Kunming Hospital, where the imperial doctor and doctors from Kunming Hospital jointly took care of his body.

After knowing the seriousness of the matter, Zhu Gaoxu began to sweat a little on his palms. He also examined the sweat on his hands and looked at Zhu Zhanhe.

"Is there anything urgent that needs to be dealt with in Dongzhou, Beizhou, and the Indian affair?"

Zhu Zhanhe understood what his father wanted to say, and immediately bowed and said: "There is nothing urgent, and besides the southwest coast, I am willing to make a trip for my father to see my uncle's body in person."

"Okay, you take Wang Wanzhe and others from Taiyuan Hospital to Kunming, and take a look at your father-in-law."

Zhu Gaoxu did not hesitate and chose to send his best medical team to the southwest to treat his elder brother.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhanhe bowed in response, and at the same time raised his head and asked, "Do I need to tell grandpa about this?"

"Stop it for now, I'm afraid he won't be able to bear it." Zhu Gaoxu had to consider Zhu Di's health.

Zhu Di has already experienced the loss of his wife in middle age. Unless the boss's matter is really difficult to cure, he doesn't want to tell Zhu Di easily and make him sad.

"I'll take my leave then."

"The minister will leave..."

Zhu Zhanhe bowed and resigned, and Hu Ji also bowed and resigned and followed Zhu Zhanhe's footsteps.

After they left, Zhu Gaoxu's mind was filled with the things that happened between him and his boss in Nanjing.

After a long time, these memories turned into sighs...

(End of this chapter)