Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

As the officials discussed, more and more officials came to realize that:

If the great disaster that the emperor described really happened in the Ming Dynasty, the only place around that could accommodate tens of millions of immigrants would be Liaodong.

The Liaodong Military Region had millions of people in the past. After the recovery, the province will be established, and the population that can be accommodated will certainly be even greater.

The civil servants in the court believed that their level of governance must be better than that of the Dusi and Weisuo, and that they could accommodate a larger population than the Liaodong Dusi.

In fact, there have always been people proposing to set up provinces in Liaodong Regional Administration and Shaanxi Regional Administration under Gansu for better governance.

In the Ming Dynasty, the province was divided into three departments. Except for the Dusi, the officials of the Provincial Administration Department and the Censorate were all civil servants.

The civil servants in the court all welcomed such things.

So the more they discussed it, the more officials supported the pacification of Liao.

Regardless of whether the disaster the emperor talked about was true or false, the recovery of Liaodong and the establishment of a province would bring many new official positions.

What's more, the emperor wanted to implement the well-field system outside the Great Wall, and officials in the court might also be assigned the well-field system when their merits were assessed.

Of course they should support such a good thing!

Therefore, after the ministers asked the emperor and received a clear promise to establish a new province, the recovery of Liaodong became more and more of a consensus in the court.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian said:

"The war between the Ming Dynasty and the Jianlu was not only a war to quell the rebellion, but also a war to recover the homeland and the living space."

"Only by recovering Liaodong can we provide enough land for disaster victims in Shaanxi and other places to relocate and cultivate."

"Anyone who dares to obstruct this matter will be a sinner of the Ming Dynasty."

The matter of recovering Liaodong was raised to an unprecedented level. Zhu Youjian said to his ministers:

"The imperial court's mission for the next decade or so is to quell rebellions and provide disaster relief."

"The disaster relief was mainly to relieve the drought in Shaanxi and other places, and the suppression of rebellion was mainly to suppress the rebellion of She'an in the southwest and the rebellion of Jianlu in Liaodong."

"The cabinet, the six ministries, the nine temples and other government offices must come up with plans around this goal and write a three-year or five-year plan."

"The coordination and review of the plan will be the responsibility of the Anti-Rebellion and Disaster Relief Committee. I will appoint high-ranking officials from the court to serve as members of this committee."

"The cabinet chief Huang Liji, the minister of war Yuan Keli, the minister of personnel Yang Jingchen, and the minister of revenue Bi Ziyan joined first. Huang Liji is mainly responsible for disaster relief, Yuan Keli is mainly responsible for suppressing the rebellion, Yang Jingchen is responsible for assessment, and Bi Ziyan provides money and food."

"Once the plan is finalized, it must be implemented. If anyone dares to shirk responsibility, the Ministry of Personnel will immediately dismiss him!"

The officials listened to the emperor's order and realized the importance of this matter to the emperor. At the same time, they looked at Yuan Keli with envy.

They could all see that Huang Li Ji was just a cover, and the person the emperor really wanted to use was the Minister of War Yuan Keli.

Huang Liji was only in charge of the thankless disaster relief work because of his position as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

Yuan Keli's mission of suppressing the rebellion was placed higher in the list, and if he succeeded, he might be awarded the title of Purple Pavilion Hero.

After all, he was not only the commissioner in charge of suppressing the rebellion, but also the Minister of War. He would get a share of the credit for suppressing any rebellion.

It can be said that through this appointment, Yuan Keli has obtained the power of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and can legitimately interfere in other government offices and force them to cooperate.

This was something that Yuan Keli, who had just resigned from his position as the Third Judicial Officer, did not expect.

Because when he was the assistant minister of the three judicial departments, he was often criticized by some officials, who believed that he, as the Minister of War, should not interfere in other government offices.

The emperor listened to his request and removed the position of the assistant minister of the three judicial departments. Unexpectedly, a committee for suppressing rebellions and disaster relief was set up, and he was still allowed to interfere in other government offices.

He wanted to refuse the appointment, but Yuan Keli felt heavy-hearted when he thought about the disaster the emperor had described.

In his heart, he didn't really believe the emperor's dream, but the emperor's serious preparations for disaster relief and immigration still made him feel the seriousness of the matter.

Based on his understanding of the emperor, the current emperor rarely does meaningless things.

Now that the entire court has been mobilized with great fanfare, it is clear that the emperor has already confirmed the drought in his heart.

Considering the possibility of tens of millions of people being affected by the disaster, Yuan Keli felt that he had to help the emperor prepare regardless of whether it would happen or not.

At the same time, thinking of the importance of recovering Liaodong, he was even more worried about his old friend Sun Chengzong. The emperor wanted to pacify Liaodong so much, if Sun Chengzong could not meet the requirements, there might be big trouble.

So he requested:
"Your Majesty, pacifying Liao is not a one-time thing."

"I beg Your Majesty to give me more time. Don't make mistakes in a hurry and waste time."

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement and said:
"I have made the decision, and you will carry it out."

"You can discuss with General Sun and other frontline generals to determine a plan to quell the rebellion."

"My request is that the Liaodong land be recovered before the tenth year of Chongzhen."

"The disaster victims in Shaanxi should also be prepared to relocate."

As he spoke, he looked at Qin Shiwen, the Minister of the Imperial Household Department, and asked:

"Can the post roads leading to Shaanxi still be considered smooth?"

"I need the post roads in various places to be unobstructed, so that we can transport food from overseas and transport people from Shaanxi."

"All the post stations along the way must be prepared." Qin Shiwen has been very busy in the past few months. He finally took over the post stations in various places and built local Taifu Temple. Hearing this, he said firmly:

"But please don't worry, Your Majesty!"

"All officials from the Imperial Household Department will do their best to accomplish this."

Zhu Youjian listened to his firm voice and was very satisfied with this hard-working official. After praising him for a few words, he looked at Chen Qiyu, the Left Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, and ordered:

"Mr. Chen once served as an official in Shaanxi, so please go to Shaanxi for a visit."

"One is to inspect the post roads and post stations along the way, and the other is to see how serious the drought in Shaanxi is."

"Take the Imperial Censor and the Imperial Guards and leave as soon as possible. I grant you the royal flag and sign to replace the unqualified officials along the way."

"If anything goes wrong on the post road in the future, I will hold you responsible!"

After hearing this, Chen Qiuyu immediately took the order.

Although the royal flag was somewhat common, it was mainly used in the military, and the civil servants who could obtain the royal flag were mostly governors.

The emperor gave him the royal flag and asked him to reorganize the post stations along the way. If he could do a good job, he might be promoted to governor in the future.

So he accepted the order with great joy and planned to do it well. He also requested:
"If the post roads and post stations are in disrepair, can I levy corvée and order the local authorities to repair them?"

Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard this, unwilling to arbitrarily conscript labor and bring greater burden to the people affected by the disaster along the way.

Thinking of what Minister of Industry Xue Fengxiang had just said, he said:
"Mr. Xue said that the disaster victims should be provided with work-for-relief."

"The Taipu Temple can prepare money, food and supplies and recruit disaster victims to work."

"In addition, new post roads can be planned based on the existing ones, and the curves can be straightened as much as possible, referring to the design of straight roads."

"These post roads will be used frequently in the next ten years or so. The shorter the distance, the less damage will be done."

"besides……"

Turning to the Shaofu Temple, Zhu Youjian ordered:
"Taifu Temple and Shaofu Temple cooperated to establish the Public Transportation Research Institute."

"It has a Public Roads Research Institute, referred to as the Highway Research Institute."

"Give standards for different levels of roads, such as dividing lanes and sidewalks, and designating roads that can accommodate four carriages abreast as first-class roads, and roads with two lanes as second-class roads."

"All post roads should be built into first-class roads in plain areas as much as possible, and second-class roads in mountainous areas as much as possible. The road surface should be hardened as much as possible and maintained in a timely manner."

"Establish a transportation research institute and design several carriages that are heavy-duty and quick to build, which can be used to transport both food and people."

"The Taipu Temple and the Shaofu Temple should work together to innovate road transportation!"

Xue Fengxiang, who was also the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, quickly agreed, and Qin Shiwen, the Minister of the Ministry of the Imperial Household, also agreed.

Zhu Youjian ordered the Imperial Household Department to send personnel to inspect the post roads with Chen Qiuyu and plan new roads.

With reference to the roads of later generations, Zhu Youjian asked them to build two highways based on the existing post roads.

The first is the Longhai Highway, which runs from Shaanxi to Haizhou. It passes through the canal and can receive grain. Haizhou has even established a customs office to receive grain from overseas.

The route of this highway is similar to the Longhai Railway in later generations. In the absence of railways, the only option is to build a highway first.

The second is the Yancang Highway, which runs from Yan'an Prefecture to Cangzhou. It passes through Taiyuan Prefecture in Shanxi Province, passes through Jingxing Pass in Taihang Mountain, and enters Zhending Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture in Northern Zhili. It also passes through the canal and can obtain grain from the canal. In addition, Zhu Youjian also ordered the establishment of a port on the coast of Cangzhou to receive grain shipped from overseas.

The route of this highway is similar to the later Shuohuang Railway, except that the starting point was changed from Xinzhou to Yan'an, and the route is a little longer.

The construction of the two roads is a continuation of the previous grain transportation route. Although there will be a lot of losses along the way, they have to be built.

Because its function is not only to transport grain to Shaanxi, but also to transport Shaanxi's population out and relocate them overseas.

Moreover, given the situation in Shaanxi, if drought strikes in the future and the victims are not given a way out, civil unrest is inevitable. No matter how much loss there is on the road, we must try our best to transport food there to give the victims some hope.

Another option is to allow the disaster victims to immigrate overseas along two roads.

If drought occurs in Shanxi and Henan in the future, the victims in the two places will be able to do the same.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian ordered the construction of these two roads with the intention of preparing for drought in Shanxi and Henan.

In addition, Xue Fengxiang proposed work-for-relief, which required some major projects. These two roads for the victims were built by the victims.

In order to make the highway more capable and less expensive to maintain, Zhu Youjian also proposed hardening the road surface, paving with bricks and cement, etc. The importance of cement was raised again, and Zhu Youjian mentioned it again and asked Wensi Academy to study it.

Zhu Youjian only briefly mentioned these specific matters in the court, and turned his attention to the issue of where to relocate the victims after they arrived at the seaside.

Dongning has already decided to relocate the main refugees from Yunyang, and the people in Shaanxi may not be able to adapt to the climate in the south. Zhu Youjian needs to find a place in the north to accommodate some of the victims.

The Ezo land, which he named the North Sea Island, thus came into his sight.

The resources of this place are not that rich, but the surrounding seas are a large fishing ground where warm and cold currents meet. As long as some food is added, it can feed many people.

Like Kuwu Island, Beihai Island is now mainly occupied by Kuyi. The Matsumae Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan occupied some areas in the south.

Their strength was not strong. As long as they could open up a stable route, Zhu Youjian would be able to establish a vassal state on the two islands. So he began to discuss with his ministers who would be assigned to open a vassal state and set rules for the vassal state. (End of this chapter)