Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 554: The Xinhai Reform
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, you can't go!"

"His Majesty……"

In mid-April, as the Ming Dynasty was constantly waging wars abroad and fighting corruption at home, the 72-year-old Zhu Di was about to embark on his tour to the west.

However, just like the previous times, Xia Yuanji still arrived at the train station early this time and kept stopping him from getting on the train.

"Mr. Xia, I won't take you with me this time."

With his arms folded across his chest, Zhu Qiyue rarely addressed others as "Mr.". Before Xia Yuanji could react, he grinned and said, "Send Mr. Xia back home!"

"Understood sir!" Upon receiving the order, the strongman from the Western Factory immediately lifted up Xia Yuanji and carried him out from the platform.

After finishing this matter, Zhu Qiyue walked back to the carriage humming a little tune, and saw Zhu Zhanqi sitting face to face with his great-grandfather.

"Grandpa, everything is done, we can set off now."

Zhu Qiyue grinned, and Zhu Di also stroked his beard: "This Xia Yuanji really thinks I am made of mud."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Di waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiyue signaled to Wang Tao next to him with his eyes. Wang Tao nodded and walked towards the front of the car, and returned again after a while.

Soon after he returned, the train they were riding in blew a shrill whistle.

As if it was a notice, many guards, Jinyiwei and Xichang strongmen on the platform boarded other trains.

Six locomotives were now parked on the platform tracks, each pulling two coal and water cars and two passenger cars.

Except for the one that Zhu Qiyue and his companions were riding in which only had dozens of people, the other trains carried more than a hundred people.

This is just the departure team. An advance team had already set off yesterday. The entire western tour team has more than 3,000 people.

Gradually, as the first train started to depart, the subsequent trains followed closely.

The train pulled the team and gradually disappeared into the horizon.

At the same time, the people of the entire Ming Dynasty also learned from the second issue of "Da Ming Bao" in the 14th year of Hongxi that officials and businessmen in Jiangnan had colluded and launched a rebellion in Kunlun Continent.

"Hiss... more than 100,000 people?"

"This is nothing. I remember that hundreds of thousands of people were implicated back then. Now that's considered a small number."

"Look here, this group of guys only involved more than 100,000 people, but the stolen money amounted to more than 70 million strings of cash, and there was also more than 10 million in national debt."

"I was wondering why we couldn't buy the government bonds. It turns out that they were all sold to these profiteers by these corrupt officials."

"What kind of profiteers are these? Didn't you see that they are starting a rebellion in Kunlun Continent and surrounding the officers and soldiers?"

"Yes, this is treason, punishable by the death of nine generations of the clan!"

"So, your majesty is quite lenient. He only killed more than 400 officials."

"Your Majesty has always been very kind. Look, it's written in the newspaper that the proceeds from this confiscation will still be invested in the construction of the country, so that the people can have jobs and be well fed and clothed..."

People always like to watch the fun. Compared with the bland newspaper content of previous years, the content of the second issue of the newspaper in 14th year undoubtedly satisfied the people's two psychological needs of hatred of the rich and watching the fun.

People were discussing this major case known as the "Gengxu Case" in the streets and alleys, and at the same time they were hoping that the court would use the money to build projects in their areas.

For the common people, a project of the imperial court meant that they could earn three or four months' worth of money in one month. This was also the reason why there were few cases of famine among the people of the Ming Dynasty since the Yongle reign.

If you had been a little more diligent, you would not have starved to death during the Hongxi period.

If he did not marry and have children, the wages he earned from working one day in the government office would be enough to buy him delicious food and fish for two or three days in a row.

However, not everyone was happy about this. For example, some local merchants were not very welcoming of the court's infrastructure projects.

It’s not that they are unwilling to walk on bad roads or live in shabby houses, but the court’s wages are too high. Once the court recruits workers locally, most of the people will go to work for the court.

If the court needs fewer people, it would be easy to deal with, but if the court needs a lot of people, they will have to snatch people from the court to work.

If you want to compete with the imperial court for people, you must offer a wage that is no lower than the imperial court's wage.

The court's wages, even for laborers, ranged from 40 to 50 wen per day.

However, in the current market, the wages of laborers in ordinary small counties are only 20 wen, and in big cities such as Nanjing, Beijing, and Suzhou, the wages can reach 30 wen.

Once the imperial court arrives, the interests of local merchants will be harmed.

Of course, the so-called loss is nothing more than that one could earn ten cents per person, but now one can only earn five cents.

What Zhu Gaoxu did was to raise the wages, but he did not raise the wages mindlessly. Instead, he raised the wages little by little in advance according to the normal increase in wages.

During the Hongwu period, even in cities like Nanjing, the laborer's wage was no more than 20 wen, and in small counties it was only more than 10 wen.

Now, more than 30 years have passed. With the influx of large amounts of gold and silver, and the convenience brought by transportation, prices in places where railways pass are much lower than those in other counties.

The low prices not only benefit the people, but also the merchants.

Originally, a person created a value of 100 wen, but the merchant only paid 20 wen as wages. The raw materials were 30 wen for wages, and 20 wen was used as transportation. The merchant made 30 wen.

It may seem like a small amount, but a merchant has dozens of people working for him, and can create one or two strings of cash every day, which adds up to hundreds of strings of cash in a year.

Nowadays, freight and material costs have been reduced due to the advent of trains, and even the time has been shortened. Merchants can earn thousands of strings of cash a year, but pay workers less than half of what they earn.

What Zhu Gaoxu had to do was to make them pay back the extra money they earned because of the court and use it to raise the workers' wages.

Naturally, they would not be happy about such things that infringe upon their interests, but they were too small to find their own political representatives, so in the face of the court's policies, they could only lower their heads and quietly increase wages.

All this is what Zhu Gaoxu wanted to see...

"After being monitored and recovered by the Ministry of Revenue, nearly 18 million strings of gold, silver and copper coins were deposited into the treasury during the Gengxu period."

"In addition, all the accumulated goods, farmland, and houses were sold, and the value was 37,460,000 yuan."

"In addition, more than 20.8 million strings of national debt have been recovered. Your Majesty, how should we deal with them..."

Inside the Forbidden City and Wuying Hall, as Wang Hui reported the results of the seizure of the Gengxu case, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting in the main seat, put down the red pen in his hand and stretched his sore wrist.

"Does the wealth of more than 70 million include the wealth of all corrupt officials and businessmen?"

"Your Majesty, that's right..." Wang Hui responded.

"Have you read the memorial I sent you?"

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the teacup and took a sip to moisten his throat while staring at Wang Hui.

"Your Majesty, I have read them all. I still have much to learn."

Wang Hui spoke humbly, and Zhu Gaoxu also spoke: "Twenty million strings of cash will be transferred from the Ministry of Revenue, and you will be in charge of the reform of the north. We will gradually transfer as much as is needed later. Do you have any objections?"

"Your Majesty is wise and wise. I can only admire you and have no objection."

With Wang Hui's attitude, Zhu Gaoxu also put down his teacup and said, "The Ministry of Industry has learned from past surveys that there are about 67 railways that can be built in the southwest, with a length of no more than 400 miles and a shortness of no more than a few dozen miles."

"I have eliminated all railways with a length of less than 100 miles, leaving only 12 railways with a total length of more than 2,800 miles. Take a look..."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Hong Bao, who was standing next to him, picked up the memorial, walked towards Wang Hui and handed it to him.

After Wang Hui took it and looked through it, he found that the longest time from the planning to the completion of these railways was no more than two and a half years, and the shortest was one year, with a total cost of 12 million strings of cash.

In other words, the imperial court needed to spend 12 million strings of cash over two and a half years.

These 12 million strings of cash, plus the 20 million strings of cash in the north, total 32 million strings of cash.

It should be noted that the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty is only more than 66 million strings of cash. The normal expenditures of the six ministries, hundreds of officials, local government offices, the Military Department, the Education Department, etc. total 40 million strings of cash, military expenditures 16 million strings of cash, and maintenance of railways, water conservancy projects, etc. 5 million strings of cash.

Normal administrative and military expenditures totaled 61 million guan, and 5 million guan could be accumulated each year.

These five million strings of cash were normally used to build railways and local roads, canals, and reservoirs. However, this year, with the completion of one railway after another, expenditures have finally been reduced.

Thirty-two million strings of cash. Even if the Ming Dynasty did not build these projects, it would take at least six years to save up the money. But now it was all spent at once.

Wang Hui felt a little sad, but he knew it was all worth it.

Only with this investment of 32 million strings of cash could the Ming Dynasty's finances maintain rapid growth.

"After deducting these 32 million guan, the national treasury should still have more than 98 million guan left this year."

"However, nearly 30 million guan of this was received from issuing government bonds. In a few years, about 40 million guan will need to be repaid, including principal and interest."

Wang Hui reminded Zhu Gaoxu, who nodded and said, "You can expect the northern affairs to be effective in a few years."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about the 40 million guan of national debt, after all, it would take another eight years to pay it off.

He was more concerned about economic change in the North than the national debt.

It would not be convenient for economic circulation to accumulate so much money and grain in the national treasury without using it, so the money must go somewhere and it must be worth the money.

The economic reform in the north is the best project to absorb so much money and grain, and once it succeeds, it will immediately change the current economic status between the north and the south.

I can’t say that we can surpass the South, but at least the gap won’t be that big.

"I expect that we will see initial results in three years, and by then the court will maintain an annual fiscal growth rate of about 5%."

"Ten years later, the imperial court will be able to completely control the market commodities of India, Japan, Korea and most of the coastal vassal states."

"However, during this period, the imperial court also needs to increase its investment in the naval forces to ensure that the navy has enough deterrent power to allow the imperial court's goods to circulate in the vassal states without being restricted."

"Ten years from now, I estimate that the court's fiscal revenue will reach 100 million guan, while basic fiscal expenditure will be controlled at around 80 million guan, with an annual accumulation of 20 million guan."

Wang Hui's remarks were very bold, and Zhu Gaoxu thought for a moment after hearing them.

He remembered that since the United Kingdom enacted the India Regulation Act in 1773, its fiscal revenue has continued to rise. In less than years, Britain's fiscal revenue surpassed the Qing Dynasty and left it far behind.

This was the first time between the East and the West that the Central Plains dynasty was defeated by a single Western country in terms of fiscal revenue.

Even in the late Ming Dynasty, which was ridiculed as poor, its fiscal revenue reached 27 million taels, slightly higher than that of Spain at the same time. However, this is not surprising. The economic market of Britain was already very large at that time, coupled with the continuous development of technology and the continuous increase in the population of Europe, so it was able to achieve a fiscal revenue reversal and successfully exceed 100 million.

Although the current world population is less than half of that at the end of the 18th century, the population market of the Ming Dynasty far exceeds that of the United Kingdom.

The Ming Dynasty and its vassal states, with a total population market of more than 260 million, will be the key to the Ming Dynasty's financial growth.

Among them, India is undoubtedly the largest population market controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

Maintaining the current structure of sixteen countries in India is something that the Ming Dynasty needs to persist in for a long time.

In addition, there is the balance between the three forces of Kanto, Tenno and Kansai in Japan, as well as the balance between the King of Korea and the civil and military classes.

As for other countries, the stability of the vassal states in Central Asia and West Asia currently requires the Timurid Empire, while the South Seas require Siam.

If we keep these countries under control, nothing unmanageable will happen in these regions.

As long as the Ming Dynasty can consolidate the territories under its rule, in the future it will not be the Ming Dynasty that is isolated by Europe, but the world that is isolated by Europe.

While thinking, Zhu Gaoxu spoke:

"The economy of the north is very important. Not only should heavy industry be developed, but the light industry I wrote about is equally important."

"The technologies and machines that become obsolete in the north can be sent to the southwest after being calibrated. As for the south of the Yangtze River, I have my own plans."

Zhu Gaoxu did not think that the North could always suppress Jiangnan, even by uniting with the Southwest.

The most important problem can be seen from the collusion between officials and businessmen in Jiangnan this time.

Jiangnan is naturally suitable for finance, and finance will definitely make money faster than industry.

Perhaps Zhu Gaoxu should be thankful that due to the vast territory and complex terrain of the Ming Dynasty, it was destined not to de-industrialize and focus on finance like the United States in later generations.

The south of the Yangtze River is capable of finance, and the north can develop industry and large farms, but the southwest and northwest cannot.

The Ming Dynasty’s population market is large enough to support mid- to high-end industries, finance, and agriculture.

Just as Westerners later feared, with the population size of the Central Plains dynasty, once it became developed, other developed countries would be squeezed out by it, unless there were more advanced technologies and a new industrial revolution was brought about.

Eat meat and drink soup, and then give the leftover soup to a few small countries that maintain regional peace. This is what Zhu Gaoxu wanted to do.

As for whether it will succeed, we have to do it first and then discuss it.

"Any thing else?"

Zhu Gaoxu pulled himself out of his thoughts and asked Wang Hui with a sidelong glance.

Seeing this, Wang Hui bowed and said, "I will take my leave..."

Under Zhu Gaoxu's gaze, Wang Hui gradually left the side hall of Wuying Palace.

As he walked out, he happened to meet Xu Shuo and Yang Shiqi who were summoned.

"Minister Yang, His Majesty has summoned you to enter the palace first."

Before Wang Hui had time to think, he heard the voice of the eunuch on duty coming from behind him.

After a little thought, Wang Hui knew what the emperor wanted to do with Yang Shiqi.

A barely perceptible smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he walked out of Wuying Hall with brisk steps.

When Yang Shiqi was summoned, he subconsciously glanced at Yang Rong, Wang Zhi and other ministers of the palace, and then walked into the hall and bowed respectfully.

"Your Majesty, I, Yang Shiqi, the Minister of Rites, pay my respects to you. May your Majesty live forever..."

"Give me a seat."

Zhu Gaoxu's voice was heard, and two eunuchs on duty brought a chair for Yang Shiqi.

After Yang Shiqi thanked the emperor and took his seat, Zhu Gaoxu stared at him for a long time.

However, he kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, and did not make any move at all.

Seeing that he was honest, Zhu Gaoxu said, "I am ready to put an end to the Jiangnan issue."

"The future is an era of the ocean. You wanted to change rice cultivation to mulberry cultivation in Huguang before, which was a good thing, but the court has decided to use the southwest as a textile factory facing the West, while Zhejiang and Nanzhili will be textile factories facing Japan, Korea, Dongzhou and Beizhou."

"In the north, I have also come up with an idea and will soon implement it."

"At present, Huguang, Guangdong and Guangxi, Jiaozhi, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places have not yet made a decision. What do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yang Shiqi, which surprised Yang Shiqi.

The emperor has always been wary of the south of the Yangtze River. Even though Jiangxi is not on good terms with Jiangdong and western Zhejiang, the emperor's vigilance has not diminished.

Yang Shiqi originally thought that after the emperor dealt with the big business gangs in Jiangdong and western Zhejiang, he would turn around and take action against Jiangxi and Fujian.

Now it seems that the emperor is indeed going to take action, but he will not be ruthless.

Considering that both the southwest and the north had received support, Yang Shiqi probably had a guess in his mind.

"I believe that Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiaozhi and Fujian can all serve as bridgeheads for the imperial court's trade with Southeast Asia."

"Commodities such as tea and porcelain from Fujian and Jiangxi, brown sugar from Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiaozhi, and wine from Huguang can all be profitably sold in Southeast Asia."

Yang Shiqi still holds traditional Confucian ideas and continues to follow the old path.

Hearing his words, Zhu Gaoxu could only shake his head.

He finally understood why the Three Yangs were able to hold power in the court but not bring much benefit to it.

It’s not that they are bad-hearted and don’t do it, it’s that they don’t care about the outside world at all and their mindset has not changed.

When it comes to political intrigue, the three of them may be worthy of praise, but when it comes to governing the country, if the three of them had the ability, then Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Qizhen would not have to rely on Guo Zi, Xia Yuanji and Huang Fu to support them.

As for the statement that they lost Jiaozhi in order to monopolize maritime trade, this is too much of a compliment to them.

If Yang Shiqi really had any insights on how to govern a country, he would not have failed the imperial examination during the Hongwu period. After all, the questions posed by Zhu Yuanzhang were all biased towards governing a country.

A person who has the ability to govern a country will not fail the exam even if he does not get the top spot.

The fact that they were reused for so many years just represents that the Ming Dynasty was on the decline.

Otherwise, if there had been a few ministers like Xia Yuanji, Guo Zi, Yu Xin and Huang Fu, there would not have been so many uprisings during the Xuande and Zhengtong periods.

The emergence of the Three Yangs shows that during this period of the Ming Dynasty, officials moved away from reality and toward abstraction. Officialdom no longer emphasized ability, but rather emphasized personal connections and pomp.

The performance of the three was not proportional to the reputation they received. No wonder Mao Yuanyi, Zhang Cong, Huo Tao, Gui E and other literati in the middle and late Ming Dynasty criticized the three of them so harshly.

"It seems that Jiangxi needs some practical people..."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head secretly in his heart, and at the same time he said: "The court has set up the Nanzhou Xuanwei Office in Nanzhou. What do you think about this matter?"

"Your Majesty..." Yang Shiqi thought about Kunlun for a moment, and then asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, do you want to emulate Kunlun's actions in Nanzhou?"

"Yes and no." Zhu Gaoxu nodded:
"Although Nanzhou is rich in resources, it is not enough to accommodate too many people fighting. Kunlun has tens of millions of people, while Nanzhou has only millions. This is evident."

"Although Huguang, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi, Jiaozhi and Fujian have sufficient population and goods, the market facing Southeast Asia is still too far away and too small."

"But if we operate in Nanzhou, we can connect to Nanyang to the north and Dongzhou to the east. This way, the market will be much bigger."

In the end, Zhu Gaoxu mainly wanted Yang Shiqi and others to organize the officials below and persuade the merchants in these places to form a business group to develop Nanzhou.

Although he wiped out the merchant groups in Jiangdong and western Zhejiang this time, as long as the trade routes existed, it was only a matter of time before they rose to power.

Jiangxi was not hit this time, and the surviving officials in Jiangdong and western Zhejiang were unlikely to trust them as before.

Coupled with the conflicts during the Hongwu period, the three parties were destined to be unable to unite.

At this time, taking advantage of the fact that the Jiangdong and western Zhejiang business groups have not yet risen and supporting the Jiangxi, Huguang and Fujian business groups will not only allow the three parties to fight to the death in the southern papers of the imperial examinations, but also continue to fight for commercial interests.

As long as these three places do not join forces, it will be very easy for the official forces dominated by the north and southwest to suppress them.

"I... dare not speak nonsense."

Yang Shiqi didn't know what the emperor was thinking, but he knew that this was definitely not a good thing for him.

From the fact that Yang Shiqi and his old friend agreed to die for Jianwen, to the fact that his old friend died for the country while Yang Shiqi survived and was loyal to Zhu Di, it can be seen that Yang Shiqi himself was a person who put his own life before his country.

Only by protecting yourself can you protect other things.

This kind of character affects him, so it is impossible for him to do something that he cannot understand.

Zhu Gaoxu did not expect him to figure it out so quickly, but after he returned, as he gradually figured it out, Zhu Gaoxu did not believe that he could resist the temptation of the three markets of Nanzhou, Nanyang and Dongzhou.

"Go down and think about it slowly. There's no need to rush to give me an answer."

"The minister will leave..."

Seeing that the emperor asked him to leave, Yang Shiqi, who was feeling very uneasy, slowly stood up and walked back out, thinking about what the emperor meant.

Looking at his back, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried that he would not figure it out.

After all, Yang Shiqi was not stupid, it was just that his thinking was incompatible with the current era.

As long as he wants to research, he will be able to come up with something.

Before he could think it through, Zhu Gaoxu still needed to make long-term plans for the southwest.

Therefore, after Yang Shiqi left, Zhu Gaoxu looked sideways at Hong Bao and said, "Call Xu Shuo in."

"Yes……"

(End of this chapter)