Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 362 How big the heart is, how big the territory is

The first is tax reform to ensure a virtuous cycle of Ming Dynasty's economy and finance.

This is easy to understand. The reason why the Ming Dynasty's treasury is extremely full at present, with annual income of tens of millions, is mainly supported by the overseas trade led by the imperial court, the salt tea franchise, and the huge profits of the royal trading houses.

Zhu Gaoxu was certainly able to control his officials, but that didn't mean that his descendants could be like him, so it was extremely important to establish a complete tax system.

Otherwise, even if he conquers a huge territory in the future, once he dies, it is very likely that there will be a situation where people will perish and the government will cease.

By then, the virtuous cycle of the Ming Dynasty's economy and finance was destroyed, and the imperial treasury became increasingly empty. It deteriorated to the point where it could not even pay out military expenditures and official salaries, and it was inevitable that it would lose its borders and land.

On the contrary, as long as there is a tax system as complete as possible, coupled with the royal self-operated commercial trade, even if the treasury has no money and the emperor has money, he can barely maintain the normal operation of the huge empire.

The second is to improve communication timeliness and ensure timely and unobstructed communication between the imperial court and local garrisons and local officials.

Communication timeliness is related to the advancement of communication methods and the development of road transportation networks.

Although the Ming Dynasty continues to improve and upgrade wired telegraphs, Mo Qiaosi has not yet developed a multi-channel telegraph, but fortunately a single-channel wired telegraph is barely usable, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu would not have asked Yu Qian to take charge of the construction of cables from Ningxia and Liaoyang to the capital. telegraph.

As long as these two wired telegraphs exert their great value in actual use, it will be a matter of course to establish a nationwide wired telegraph system in the future.

As for road transportation, due to the fact that small steam engines with higher practical value and stronger power are still in the research and development stage, the Ming Dynasty is not yet able to build a steam railway transportation network, but Zhu Gaoxu can lay out the railway network in advance.

For example, when he set up a solid tudusi on the grassland and built a fourth-level road and post station system, he specifically requested that a three-step wide auxiliary road be laid [-] steps away from the straight road. This auxiliary road will be where the railway tracks will be laid in the future. use.

As early as the 16th year of Yongle, with the establishment of large-scale coal plants, quarries, iron smelting plants and other government-run factories directly under the imperial court, highly practical railway tracks were not only the first to come out, but were also transformed step by step by craftsmen. The appearance of Zhu Gaoxu in his previous life memory.

At that time, in order to facilitate the transportation of materials, rails made of wood were laid in mines, quarries, coal plants, and ironworks. As for the trucks traveling on the wooden rails, they were all pulled by manpower or oxen and horses.

Because the iron material was very heavy, the wooden rails in each ironworks were severely worn. At this time, the craftsmen of the Zunhua County Ironworks came up with a way. They covered the wooden rails with a layer of iron sheet.

However, after using it for a period of time, the iron sheet will still be worn away.

The craftsmen persuaded Song Jian, the elevator of the Zunhua County Iron Works, to cast long iron bars from pig iron and lay them on the factory roads instead of wooden rails.

In this way, the original railway track that was both labor-saving and stable was born.

But driving on the iron bars looked too awkward, so Song Jian, the promotion officer of the Zunhua County Iron Works, asked craftsmen to improve the iron bars and make groove-shaped rails.

This kind of track can prevent the wheels from slipping out, but it is easy for stones and coal dust to accumulate in the grooves, and the rails are easily damaged.

So the craftsmen made the rails as wide as the top and bottom, and slightly narrower in the middle, so that garbage would not easily accumulate and the rails would not be easily damaged.

However, the stability of this kind of track is too poor, and the rails are prone to overturning when impacted, causing vehicles to derail and roll over.

Finally, at the suggestion of Song Jian, the promotion officer of Zunhua County Iron Works, the craftsmen widened the bottom of the rails to create a shape like the Chinese character "work". This shape of the track is both stable and reliable.

The Zunhua County Ironmaking Plant also improved the efficiency of transporting materials. The iron production that year was several times that of last year. Song Jian, the plant's promotion officer, not only received a high rating in the year-end assessment, but was also recognized by the Minister of Industry Song Li appreciated him and asked the court to promote him to the rank of doctor of the Ministry of Industry.

At that time, Zhu Di had already ordered that "all political affairs should be punished by the prince, and then reported to the public." Therefore, when Zhu Gaoxu reviewed Song Li's memorial, he was curious and asked Song Li for details. Only then did he learn that the train tracks were the same as those in his memory of his previous life. The "I"-shaped railway track has been born in the Zunhua County Iron Works, although most of the cars walking on the railway track are horse-drawn.

Since then, Zhu Gaoxu has formulated a reward mechanism for the craftsmen and private craftsmen of Mo Qiaosi branches in various places, as well as all coal plants, quarries, ironworks and other mines in the world, that is, anyone who builds a product that can be completed on ordinary roads within half an hour. Individuals or groups that drive steam-powered vehicles for more than 3 miles or more will be rewarded with at least [-] taels of silver dollars.

If the steam-powered vehicle built can travel more than forty miles in half an hour, then at least 10 taels of silver yuan will be rewarded.

Unfortunately, until today, 12 years later, no one or group in the world has built a steam-powered vehicle that can reach a speed of twenty or forty miles per hour.

Although Zhu Gaoxu knew the principles of steam engines, it did not mean that he could build a practical small steam engine.

Therefore, in September of the first year of Qianxi, the powerful steam engine installed on the treasure ship "General" that Zhu Di sailed to the West was still very large.

Zhu Gaoxu felt that with the ingenuity of the Chinese people, a powerful small steam engine might be available in another ten years.

He firmly believed that even if such a small steam engine could not be built in ten years, it would be possible in 20 years.The third is to build a reasonable governance model.

Specifically, if it is near, it will be established with counties and counties; if it is far, it will be divided into feudal states or become vassal states; if it is further far, it will retain tributary trade relations and maintain the stability of the tribute system.

Zhu Gaoxu did not intend to establish a colonial system, let alone a treaty system.

In his view, tribute is the most advanced model of international relations, using canonization as a means, combined with the Confucian ideological system, and extending outward layer by layer.

Otherwise, if they directly use strong and violent means to expel or massacre the residents of a certain place, and then establish strong rule there, this kind of rule model is destined to not last long.

A huge empire built on this model will surely fall apart after losing people's hearts.

Moreover, enfeoffment was more advanced and gentler than colonization. The king of Xia ruled the barbarians, made laws according to customs, changed customs, and governed customs with customs, eventually turning barbarians into Xia.

In time, it will be a matter of course to establish a world international order with the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state, the Ming vassal states as the defensive stronghold, the Ming vassals and vassal states as the sphere of influence, and the pure trading tributary countries as the economic partners.

As mentioned earlier, the three factors that determine the size of a dynasty's territory are military strength, governance capabilities, and the location of defensive fortresses.

Zhu Gaoxu reformed the military system, focusing on professional soldiers from the recruitment system, supplemented by hereditary soldiers from the guard system, and coupled with systems such as quartermasters and military judges, it was possible to continuously introduce new ones and ensure combat effectiveness.

But recruiting soldiers requires money, and reforming the tax system is to enable future generations to have money to raise soldiers and to maintain the military strength of the Ming Dynasty from declining as much as possible.

Improving communication timeliness can further strengthen the court's ability to govern local areas.

As for the establishment of the Ming Dynasty vassal state overseas by the vassal kings and the establishment of solid tudus in new occupied areas, they were all forms of defensive fortresses.

In terms of enfeoffment and land granting, the limit of the Ming Dynasty's territory lies not in the strength of the Ming Dynasty's military strength and governance capabilities, but in the size of Zhu Gaoxu's ambition.

If he established the Ming vassal state in Wozhou (North America), then Wozhou would be the limit of Ming Dynasty's territory.

If he established the Ming vassal state in the west, then Taixi would be the limit of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

However, in comparison, it was more difficult to establish the Ming Dynasty in Western Tai than in Wozhou.

First, there are already a large number of small countries with their own civilizations in the West, with mixed races, different customs, different languages, and there are entanglements between them.

The second is the attitude of the Ming Dynasty’s civil and military officials and people towards the countries in Thailand and the West.

For today's officials and people of the Ming Dynasty, there is no saying that "Westerners are more advanced in thinking", but only the idea that "our Ming Dynasty is a celestial dynasty and a central dynasty."

Not to mention that the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty despised the Western countries, even the people of the Ming Dynasty looked down on the "Western Yi people" with blond hair, blue eyes and brown hair and brown eyes.

Yes, they are "Western Yi people".

Since Yongle opened the sea, Zheng He was ordered to patrol, and the tens of thousands of officers, soldiers and sailors who accompanied him to sea had seen the living environment of Westerners. Although they respectfully called the people of Western countries "the people of the Western countries" in private, they privately Call them "Western Yi".

There is no way. Many capitals of small countries in Western Europe are not as prosperous as a county in the Ming Dynasty. The sanitary environment in the city is even worse. Urination and defecation can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys.

On the other hand, during the Ming Dynasty, in the early Yongle period, Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di and issued an edict to build public toilets in selected locations in all prefectures, counties, towns, and markets across the country, prohibiting suburban residents from urinating anywhere, and at the same time, he also promoted the composting method.

With such a comparison, it is reasonable for the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty to look down on the "Western Barbarians".

Wozhou is different from Taixi.

In the eyes of the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty, the people living in the Wozhou area were uncivilized indigenous people, and their appearance and customs were almost the same as those of the Chinese people.

Therefore, the people of Ming Dynasty have a natural affinity with the native people of Wozhou.

Therefore, the resistance to Zhu Gaoxu's enfeoffment of his sons to Wozhou to establish a country was far less than that of establishing a country in Western Taipei.

(End of this chapter)