Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 531 The Twelve Years of Hongxi

"The dianthus in the West Pavilion have new buds, and the hairsprings have cut off the cherry blossoms. The doves and swallows are singing, and spring is getting late. When the quinoa is used, the Tian family is talked about again..."

In August, acres and acres of corn in the north have matured. A middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat and cloth clothes also sang poems while breaking off the corn strands and throwing them into the basket on his back.

From time to time, you can still see him peeling open the corn and eating the milky white corn kernels raw, which looks very sweet.

This is Jilin City in the Bohai Sea, and this 40-year-old farmer singing poetry is Wang Hui, who has been deposed for several years.

"This corn has been cultivated to be much larger than what I saw when I was young, and the taste is much sweeter."

Wang Hui was making comments, accompanied by his eldest son Wang Yu and second son Wang Yu.

The two boys are already fourteen or fifteen years old and are currently studying in a middle school in Jilin City. Today is the weekend holiday, so they came here to pick corn with him.

He didn't need to farm, but there was really nothing to do in Jilin.

He didn't want to preach or receive a job, let alone be restrained, so he painted and sold paintings from time to time. His immediate pleasure was eating fruits and vegetables he cultivated by himself.

By that time, he may not be able to live the comfortable life he has now.

If it weren't for the inability to grow it, I'm afraid the amount of cultivated land could be doubled.

Wang Yu asked about his father, but Wang Hui had a smile on his face and shook his head gently.

Wang Hui was lamenting the good life of people now, but it was also a lament for the past.

As more and more students graduated, the threshold for entering Taixue became higher and higher. A group of inventors began to emerge among the people. They researched and invented many strange things.

"Your father's hands have been trained since he was a child. Don't think that he can only play with ink."

Although these poles are still green, it will only take a few days to dry them aside, and then they can be burned.

As for those who had escaped and survived before, they were shrewd in their methods. Even if the Jingcha was launched again, they would still be escaped by this group of people, and the gain would not be worth the loss.

In addition, some people have installed bicycles with inflated pig bladders, trying to invent amphibious transportation, as well as glasses that make it easier to lie down and read, wooden folding bridges and other useful or useless inventions.

India, with a population of nearly 70 million, was divided into sixteen countries, large and small, each of which joined the Ming Dynasty vassal system.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty's 100-household residences in many places on the Arabian Peninsula were also expanded into 1000-household residences, attracting certain Han people from the Western Seas to live there.

Although the fully loaded train can only travel 700 miles a day, and it takes a full five and a half days to get from Huguang to Jilin, the benefits are still high.

Wang Yu opened his mouth to remind Wang Hui. Wang Hui took a look and saw that the three-thirds of the corn was harvested by the three of them in an hour.

It takes five days for a train to reach Jilin with a full load of 200 tons, but if it only carries 100 tons or even 50 tons, it can completely transport the goods to Jilin in about three days.

After that, he sat on the ridge of the field and motioned to his two sons to pack up the corn stalks in three parts of the field.

Moreover, even if there are two cows, the cultivated land cannot be diversified, and part of it will basically be planted with easy-to-serve crops such as soybeans, peanuts, and corn.

If someone else picks them up, it saves them having to deal with them.

Today, there are more than 12 million acres of cultivated land in the Bohai Sea, but the population is only about 800,000, almost 15 acres per person.

The treasure banknotes issued since the Hongwu period were finally recycled in September of the 11th year of Hongxi.

Rao is currently fifteen acres per capita, which is the result of each household having at least two cattle.

Thinking of this, Wang Hui immersed his thoughts in the fertile black land in front of him, and the entire world was constantly changing with the passage of time.

This is a convenient tool that allows workers to dig out sand without having to go underwater. It works a bit like a waterwheel, except that the transportation and excavation objects are replaced by mud and sand at the bottom of the river.

This fun seemed very dull, but he knew very well that the emperor would not leave him idle for too long, and he would need to return to the temple soon.

Only when the influence of the collusion between officials and businessmen reaches a certain extent, will the emperor ask himself to come back to deal with them.

Before that, all he had to do was take a good rest.

A large number of treasure banknotes were intensively destroyed, and the Indian Sidan area on the Atlantic Ocean became the best population market for the Ming Dynasty.

"These are great times. Thirty years ago, when I was your age, I would never have dared to think about having vegetables to eat every month."

He is not in a hurry to return to the temple, because he knows that the rich people in the world have not yet grown up, and the capital in their hands is not enough for them to find political spokespersons.

Based on the bicycle, they invented a pedal-operated boat for sand and mud digging.

People may need to consider putting vegetables worth ten cents per catty in other places, but they don't need to consider it in the Bohai Sea.

"After using chemical fertilizers, the corn in this three-thirds of the field can actually weigh more than 40 kilograms."

"Is it forty pounds?" Wang Yu weighed it in disbelief, but Wang Hui smiled and picked off a few grass clippings from his head.

There are two acres of vegetable land, one-third of which is corn, and the rest is normal seasonal vegetables.

He motioned to the two children to put down their backpacks, then weighed them with his hands, nodded and said:

Even if the cost of transporting one hundred tons of vegetables by train is deducted, one hundred tons of vegetables can still net hundreds of dollars.

The Ceylon Xuanwei Department became the main force to supervise them. At the same time, the number of Hankou in the Ceylon Xuanwei Department reached 320,000, the total population reached 1.45 million, and the proportion of Han people was getting higher and higher.

The two sons didn't mind it at all, and immediately started picking up the corn stalks.

Vegetables are not expensive in spring, summer and autumn, but in winter, a pound of cabbage can be sold for ten cents in Jilin, while it only costs one cent in the country of origin.

"Dad, it's all done."

"Dad, aren't you anxious to go back and become an official?"

Looking at his vegetable garden, Wang Hui punched the sickle on the ground and chuckled:

After they invented these things, they would often rush to Taixue and show off their inventions at the gate of Taixue, even if they were blocked.

Zhu Gaoxu was happy to see this, so for some interesting inventions, he would ask the Imperial Academy to evaluate them and bring them to him, and reward the inventors as appropriate.

Many of these inventions are useless, so some people in the temple commented that they were boring inventions made by the common people after they were full.

This sentence sounds like a curse, but it is the best evaluation of Zhu Gaoxu's governance of the world.

If we don't have enough food, how can we have these "wonderful skills"?

Perhaps because he felt that the Ming Dynasty was too smooth, God finally sent Zhu Gaoxu a piece of bad news at the beginning of winter.

Xunzhou Bo Shengyong and Qingyuan Bo Liu Zhen died of illness in October respectively, at the ages of 65 and 62.

After hearing the obituary, Zhu Gaoxu regarded the two as having made great contributions to the country, and posthumously named them Zhongzhong and Zhongsu, respectively, and inherited the title as their direct eldest son.

The bad news of their departure had not yet dissipated. In the middle of winter, Duke Shen passed away at the age of sixty-six.

After hearing the news, Zhu Gaoxu felt an uncomfortable feeling in his heart. Although he was very disappointed with Wang Yi and others because of the Guimao case, in the end they were veterans who followed him to conquer the world.

Wang Yi's death seems to mean that the former heroes of the Bohai Sea disaster are also withdrawing one by one.

After calming down, Zhu Gaoxu posthumously named him King of Jiaodong and gave him the posthumous title Zhongwu. His son Wang Rong inherited the title of Duke of Shen.

After experiencing this incident, Zhu Gaoxu left the government affairs to Zhu Zhanhe, and planned to take advantage of the opening of the Changji Railway to go to Jilin to see the places where he had fought hard.

It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty still couldn't do without him, and he never made up his mind to go to Jilin.

In the smoke of the New Year in the twelfth year of Hongxi's reign, Zhu Gaoxu sat on the golden platform of Fengtian Palace in his imperial robes.

Through Mianqi, the officials could not see his expression clearly, but they could all understand the emperor's health from his burly figure.

Another year has passed, and although it is not his birthday yet, he is already walking the path he should take when he is fifty.

In this year, the population of the Ming Dynasty reached more than 36 million, and the cultivated land was more than million. The proportion of illiterates among the population dropped to %.

This process took Zhu Gaoxu a full thirty years.

If you include the foundation laid by Zhu Yuanzhang, it will be a full sixty-three years.

The Ming Dynasty's finances reached more than 53 million yuan, of which agricultural taxes further dropped to %.

From 65% of the agricultural tax in the 53rd year of Hongwu to % today, although the rate of decline is not very fast, in the context of this era, it is getting closer to the Ming Dynasty's goal of transitioning from agriculture to industry. .

Zhu Gaoxu was very pleased, and upon seeing this, the Sixth Army Governor's Mansion also began to speak up.

"Your Majesty, now that the Dongzhou and Beizhou Xuanwei Departments are on the right track, do we need to put the Nanzhou Xuanwei Department on the agenda?"

The person who initiated the proposal was Yang Zhan of the Navy. He had just returned from a patrol in the South Seas. At fifty-six years old, he was still quite strong and in good health.

"In this case, the Xuanwei Department of Nanzhou (Australia) and the Qianhu Office of Yingzhou (New Zealand) will be established."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth and played accurately. Yang Zhan saw this and sang the salute in response. Zhu Gaoxu then glanced at the ministers and said:

"It is now the twelfth year of Hongxi. The prosperity of the people is not a boast of the court, but a real situation."

"Despite this, the growth rate of the imperial court's population has repeatedly hit new highs, reaching a high of 4.16 million last year."

"If calculated as an adult, these four million people would need at least twelve million dan per year to barely have enough to eat, and this amount of food would require six to seven million acres of cultivated land to produce."

"The amount of newly cultivated land in Guochao has also reached its peak in recent years. It is already very difficult to cultivate more than 4 million acres of new land every year."

"If we calculate this way, at most for more than a hundred years, the food in the world will not be enough for the people of the court."

"Since ancient times, any dynasty that has left the people with insufficient food to eat has been overthrown." "If we want to ensure that the people have enough to eat, we must first pay attention to agriculture, such as chemical fertilizers to assist childbirth, or to increase productivity."

"Most of you graduated from elementary school and middle school and then took the imperial examination and entered the temple. I think you should be very familiar with these words."

"Because of this, I would like to increase the expenditure for this year's Imperial College to three million yuan. Do you have any objections?"

Zhu Gaoxu had said this, and even if the ministers had opinions, they did not dare to express them blatantly in the court meeting, so they naturally bowed and saluted.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu gave a few instructions and then stood up and left the Fengtian Hall.

Listening to the sound of the mountains behind him shouting "Long Live Long Live", Zhu Gaoxu felt a little tired.

However, when he returned to Wuying Palace, he regained his energy and continued to face the complicated government affairs of such a huge empire.

Even with the help of Zhu Zhanhe and Diange, his burden is still heavy, but this is as it should be.

Whether before him or after him, there has never been such a huge empire in human history.

Even the British Empire at its peak could not compare with the Ming Dynasty at this time in terms of territory.

Even excluding the territories of vassal states, the territory directly controlled by the Ming Dynasty now reaches an astonishing 36 million square kilometers.

If vassal states are included, the territory that Ming Dynasty needs to manage reaches about 70 million square kilometers.

When the Nanzhou Xuanwei Department and Yingzhou Qianhu are established, it will be further improved.

In this era without wireless wires, managing such a huge territory required too much ability from a feudal monarch.

Even if someone as energetic as Lao Zhu were to manage such a huge territory, it would probably be difficult for him to manage it well.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu had to delegate power to the six departments. At the same time, even he was considering subdividing the work of the six departments.

After thinking about it carefully, he decided to increase the number of bachelors in the palace first.

"Promote Jiang Huai, the counselor of Zhejiang Province, to the rank of Grand Master of the Imperial Palace, Lu Yu, the counselor of Jiangxi Province, to be the Grand Scholar of the Imperial Palace, and Chen Chang, the Marquis of Zhaozhou, to be the Grand Bachelor of the Imperial Palace."

"Zhao Gui, the chief envoy of Yunnan Province, joined the Ministry of Household Affairs as the Right Assistant Minister, Zhang Bohai, the Inspector-general, was appointed as the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, and Yu Qian, the censor of supervision, joined the Metropolitan Procuratorate and served as the Experience Department of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

"Gao Guan, the school secretary of Zhanshi Mansion in the East Palace, is appointed as the chief bookkeeper of Zhanshi Mansion. He will take office immediately. There must be no mistake."

"In addition, since Jin Chun, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, has become an official, Xu Shuo, the great scholar of the Imperial Palace, will retire from the imperial court and become the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments."

In a few words, Zhu Gaoxu promoted several ministers from Zhu Zhanhe's faction, and at the same time sent Xu Shuo to the cabinet to serve as Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.

For a time, several more important departments had Zhu Zhanhe's people, and Zhu Zhanhe's power also increased rapidly, and this was the charm of imperial power.

If there was a normal seniority ranking, the people in the East Palace would have to wait until they were in their forties or fifties to be qualified. Now, they are only thirty years old and have already entered the capital to serve as important officials. This is such a blessing and honor.

Even Yi Shiha, who had followed Zhu Gaoxu for decades, could not help but say at this moment:

"Is this promotion too fast?"

"Unhappy." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "It is right for the young man to step on the stage and the old man to retreat behind the scenes."

"If it weren't for the second-generation son of the local Qingzhuang sect's honorable ministers who couldn't escape, I shouldn't have let Chen Chang enter the cabinet."

After sighing, Zhu Gaoxu continued: "By promoting them in advance, I can also test them to see if they are suitable for serving as officials in Beijing."

After explaining, Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head and started processing the memorial.

About an hour later, as the imperial edict was issued and spread, Zhu Zhanhe, who was having a family dinner with Zhu Di in the Daming Palace, also learned the news after Wang Huan reminded him.

"Okay!" Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but said happily: "With Jianghuai and his group coming to Beijing to help, things on my side will be much easier to handle."

"By the way, what are the trends in Jiangnan and Bohai?" Zhu Zhanhe glanced at the lively family banquet in Changchun Palace and asked Wang Huan in a low voice.

Wang Huan bowed after hearing this and said: "The Bohai Sect has not taken any action, but the people in Jiangnan have learned that so many important positions have been occupied. There are inevitably voices below. It is estimated that if Jianghuai and others cannot show their skills, it will be difficult for them to gain a foothold in the capital."

"Why, you don't trust your disciple?" Zhu Zhanhe asked with a chuckle, Wang Huan said with shame:

"Although the boy is capable, I haven't seen him for several years after all. I hope he can make some progress."

"Of course" Zhu Zhanhe raised his glass and took a sip of wine, then took a few steps outside.

Wang Huan followed him, and when he was far away from Changchun Palace, Zhu Zhanhe said, "My father didn't mention Wang Hui's side this time?"

"No, after all, it has been less than five years since the major case was concluded. There is no need to rush to start another one."

Wang Huan explained, and at the same time reminded Zhu Zhanhe: "Kunlun Continent is not stable. Japan has been trying to seize the Kunlun Continent market with North Korea since Yi Si annexed several small countries to protect themselves. "

"..." After hearing the news, Zhu Zhanhe frowned and said, "Does father know?"

"Your Majesty knows, but Your Majesty asked Meng Ran, the Xuanwei Envoy of the Kunlun Continent Xuanwei Department, to handle it on his own. Meng Ran was biased towards North Korea before, and it seems that it will be the same this time."

Wang Huan said this, and at the same time said: "The father of Meng Ran is Meng Zhang, Duke of Liao State, and he is also Meng Mao's younger brother. He has the intention to seek refuge with you, Your Highness."

"How is he like a person?" Zhu Zhanhe pays attention to his character, but this is also a helpless move. He has too many pairs of eyes staring at him in this position. If he is alone, he can control himself, but the people under him cannot. .

Therefore, in his opinion, he would rather the East Palace has fewer but more refined people, rather than having more and more mixed people.

"This one……"

Wang Huan hesitated. Seeing his hesitation, Zhu Zhanhe also frowned and said, "Then don't worry about it. How is the situation in Dongzhou?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked another question after he finished speaking. Wang Huan heard the words and continued: "Over Dongzhou and Beizhou, Meng Mao and Yang Shuo guard Beizhou and Dongzhou respectively. Yang Shuo is the eldest son of the Duke of Yue, but he has a normal relationship with us. ”

"Meng Mao has selected a few small tribes that are easier to control to support them in annexing the larger tribes, and appointed them as local chieftains."

"Based on his report, in about five years, several large tribes with tens of thousands of people can be supported as cities, and the court only needs to control them with food."

"Even if these tribes rebel, Meng Mao can easily lead his cavalry to suppress them."

"Not bad..." After hearing these words, Zhu Zhanhe gradually felt relieved about Dongzhou and Beizhou.

He turned his attention to the Indian army, so he continued: "What is the situation of the Sixteen Kingdoms in India, and what about the local intelligence spying by Xichang and Jinyiwei?"

"The imperial court has deep arrangements in these places. Your Highness can rest assured." Wang Huan responded:

"Although there are currently no major wars among the sixteen kingdoms of India, small frictions continue. Except for Punggala, which accepted imperial Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and changed its national doctrine, there have been no changes in the other countries."

"Liu Yongcheng, the Ceylon Xuanwei envoy, has good abilities. He and Chen You of the Persian Guard are both interested in joining us. They are also of good character."

"Then accept it." Zhu Zhanhe replied without thinking, while commenting on the situation of fighting in India.

"This place will definitely be the imperial court's largest market in the future. Check what is suitable for planting in the area and whether it has any economic benefits. Blind trade plunder will only make the local area more and more impoverished. What the imperial court wants is their admiration, so it must win over them. Only the upper class nobles will do.”

"In addition, if one of their countries is disobedient to the imperial court, they will support another country to suppress them and kill the chicken to scare the monkeys."

After Zhu Zhanhe gave instructions about the Indian servants, he rubbed his eyebrows and took a sip of wine.

"That's roughly what happened. If there's anything else that needs to be explained, I'll tell you at the same time."

"The king is here, do you need to win over him?" Wang Huan asked in a low voice, but Zhu Zhanhe felt tight when he heard this.

There was a complicated expression on his face. He was undoubtedly both wanting and worried about someone like Wang Hui.

Needless to say, Wang Hui's abilities, methods, and character, but Wang Hui was too honest, which had to make Zhu Zhanhe suspect that he had a bigger conspiracy.

After thinking about it, he still shook his head and said: "Since the big case will not be launched, let's put this matter aside for the time being and wait for Jianghuai and the others to come to the capital to discuss it."

"In addition, let Jianghuai and the others speed up and come to Beijing to meet me early. I have a lot of things on hand. If they come, it will be much easier for me."

After the words fell, he couldn't help but sigh: "My father can handle such a huge country. This is what I admire the most."

Wang Huan did not dare to answer. When Zhu Zhanhe saw this, he waved his hands and said, "Okay, you go and rest first. I will accompany grandpa and return to the palace."

"Yes" Wang Huan bowed and stepped back, and Zhu Zhanhe also turned around and returned to Changchun Palace.

In the Changchun Palace, Zhu Di didn't care about the dance music in front of him, but was immersed in the conversation with Zhu Qiyue.

In more than half a year, Zhu Qiyue grew several inches taller and learned a lot at the same time.

He and Zhu Di seemed to have new topics of conversation all the time, and Zhu Zhanhe couldn't get involved at all.

Sitting in the first place on the left, looking at the happy couple of grandparents and grandchildren, Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but said to Mu next to him:
"You and I have become foils. It seems that having more grandsons for grandpa will make him happier."

"Having said that, His Highness does not accept the courtesy. I am just a concubine. I am afraid it will be a bit overwhelming..."

Mu did not shy away from it, and Zhu Zhanhe was used to her extroversion, so he raised his glass to her and said, "How will you know if you don't try?"

The couple looked at each other and smiled without saying a word.

Unfortunately, when they were looking at each other and smiling, Zhu Di, who was sitting in the first place, suddenly had his eyelids twitching, making him couldn't help but rub them.

"My eyelids suddenly twitched so much."

"It's the left eyelid. It should be a good thing coming, right?"

Zhu Qiyue used his grandfather's words to excuse his great-grandfather, while Zhu Di smiled and nodded: "It should be."

Having said that, Zhu Di suddenly became flustered for some unknown reason...

(End of this chapter)