Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian didn't expect that he would encounter so many difficulties just transporting grain from Tianjin to the capital.

However, after seeing some ministers submitting memorials requesting the abolition of sea transportation or suggesting that sea transportation should not be allowed to be entrusted to miscellaneous streams on the grounds of preventing sinking, he

Zhu Youjian immediately realized that this was a joint counterattack by the canal transport interest group and the maritime transport interest group. They did not want to change the current situation and wanted to continue to control their interests.

Zhu Youjian could understand the resistance of the canal transport interest groups, after all, this was their livelihood.

However, Zhu Youjian could not understand why the shipping interest groups joined forces with them to cause trouble:

"Don't these people understand that this is the development of shipping?"

"When the pie gets bigger, they can share more of the profits."

Unable to figure out the train of thought of these people, Zhu Youjian could only think that these people wanted to monopolize maritime trade and not allow outsiders to interfere. Of course, such people must be resolutely cracked down on -

After all, as an emperor, he had never thought of monopolizing maritime trade, and even gave the Maritime Customs Office to the General Administration of Customs. Why did these people dare to monopolize maritime trade?
It’s not that Zhu Youjian looked down on them. These maritime merchants couldn’t even defeat Zheng Zhilong’s pirate group, otherwise they wouldn’t have paid the money obediently and let those pirates get rich.

Now with Yu Zigao in the north and Zheng Zhilong in the south, they had completely lost the dominance of maritime trade. So they set their sights on the court and wanted to get rid of the two people there.

In order to achieve this goal, they did not hesitate to join forces with the grain transport interest groups and the grain merchants in the capital to stir up this turmoil.

But there was one thing they didn't expect, that is, because of the conflict between civil and military officials caused by the martial arts conference, Zhu Youjian took advantage of the situation and let the court ministers suppress the officials.

Because of this incident, the middle and low-level officials are now silent. They can't find many officials to submit memorials even if they spend money. Only Li Zun, the Yunnan Provincial Censor in charge of inspecting the warehouse, has a little more influence in his memorials.

However, a mere memorial from an imperial censor could not stir up much trouble in the court. Most of the ministers in the court, tempted by overseas fiefdoms, supported sea transportation.

Even if there are those who are slightly less supportive, they just say that sea transportation has both advantages and disadvantages and needs to be considered comprehensively.

The viewpoint of Zhai Fengchong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, can be taken as an example. He pointed out in his memorial:

"Maritime transport is a great benefit or harm to the world."

I have proposed ten measures to eliminate corruption and eradicate malpractices. I hope the court will take them seriously.

Based on this memorial, Zhu Youjian convened a special meeting to allow ministers to express their opinions.

Zhai Fengchong was an official of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan and the Minister of the Ministry of Finance Guo Yunhou naturally supported his opinion.

They all knew the importance of overseas grain in the case of severe drought in the capital, so they all affirmed the necessity of sea transportation and suggested that it be carried out in parallel with grain transport.

The opinion is the same as Zhai Fengchong's, that is, sea transportation has both advantages and disadvantages, and a special government office should be set up to carry it, and it should be given the same attention as grain transport.

Zhu Youjian finally understood that the Ministry of Revenue did not disapprove of sea transportation, but wanted to control it. The inability to transport grain from Tianjin was closely related to them. Otherwise, Huang Yuntai, the Tianjin governor who was given the title of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, would have mobilized the troops of the governor's office to suppress the so-called Cao Gang.

These gangs were unable to cause any trouble in the face of the imperial army and the garrisons along the canal.

The Ministry of Revenue is now targeting the Shipping Bureau of the Navy Department and the Ming Shipping Group established in cooperation with the Imperial Household Supervisor.

Zhu Youjian certainly did not agree to this. He could not give the Ministry of Revenue control over the route just because they wanted to use it to transport grain. So he turned to the Ministry of Works and asked Xue Fengxiang:
"Student Zhang Pu proposed to build the Beijing-Tianjin Highway. What does the Ministry of Industry think?"

Minister of Industry Xue Fengxiang said:

"Beijing and Tianjin are flat, so there is no problem in building roads."

“As long as there are enough people, it can be built immediately.”

As he spoke, he also reported a piece of good news to the emperor:
"Your Majesty ordered the Wensi Academy to develop cement. We tried our best to test it and made it by burning wood ash."

"This cement can be shaped when it comes into contact with water. After three days, it becomes as hard as stone."

"It is much better than stone slabs and bricks for road construction."

Knowing the momentum Zhang Pu had created in the capital, Xue Fengxiang, after seeing the proposal for the Beijing-Tianjin Highway, deliberately suppressed the cement issue and only brought it up now.

After consulting the emperor, Xue Fengxiang sent someone to bring a cube made of cement, gravel, broken ceramics and broken bricks and presented it to the emperor for viewing.

Zhu Youjian asked the eunuch next to him to take it, and when he looked at it in his hand, he found that it was indeed cement. Although it was not as solid as later generations and the three-day drying time was a bit long, it was indeed usable.

This kind of cement is enough to harden the road surface when used to build roads.

This made him very happy, and he showed it to all his ministers.

Although the ministers did not know what cement was, when they saw the broken stones, broken ceramics and broken bricks in the block, they knew that it was definitely not naturally formed but was artificially made.

If it is true that it can be molded into shape and become as hard as stone after three days as Xue Fengxiang said, then it can indeed be used to build roads, and it is even very useful in building cities and houses.

In particular, officials from the Ministry of Revenue realized that cement could replace mortar and no longer use glutinous rice. At a time when food was so scarce, it was impossible for them to oppose cement and maintain the status of glutinous rice mortar.

So their faces suddenly fell. They knew that their idea of ​​intervening in shipping through the canal was no longer feasible.

Judging from the emperor's attitude, he would rather build roads than succumb to the canal transportation.

After the advent of cement, the cost of hardening roads was greatly reduced. The 200-mile road from Beijing to Tianjin could be transported entirely by land.

So Zhu Youjian turned to Yuan Keli, who was also the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, and asked:

"Both Beijing and Tianjin are in Shuntian Prefecture. Can Shuntian Prefecture organize manpower to build the Beijing-Tianjin Highway?"

Yuan Keli had been very busy these days and had offended many people over the grain price issue. He also urgently needed to ship in grain from overseas to stabilize the grain price in the capital.

So he said without hesitation:
"The capital has been suffering from severe drought, and the summer grain harvest is not good."

"Because of the severe drought, very few seeds have sprouted, so it is hard to expect autumn crops."

"In the coming months, we will need to continue providing disaster relief so that the victims can have food to eat."

"There will be no shortage of manpower for the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Highway."

There has been no rain for more than two months, and two crops have been damaged. Rich families may be able to hold on, but poor families can no longer sustain themselves.

In order to prevent them from having to sell their land and people, Yuan Keli asked the emperor to exempt many taxes and mobilized manpower to repair water conservancy projects to protect the harvest of irrigated land. He even started many projects to implement work-for-relief.

There were so many disaster victims that as long as they had food to eat, they could find people to work. Therefore, Yuan Keli did not worry about manpower, and the officials who organized the manpower could also get support from the Ministry of Works and the Shaofu Temple.

After receiving his assurance, Zhu Youjian immediately gave the order:

"Then we can build the Beijing-Tianjin Highway, directly from Beijing to Tianjin Ocean Terminal."

“It is tentatively planned to be a four-lane first-class highway, with space reserved for expansion to eight lanes.”

"After all, cement is a new thing. No one knows how many problems will arise when using it to build roads. We need to improve it during use."

“First build a four-lane road with cement, and after it is improved and perfected, build another four lanes.”

"The construction and maintenance schedules of the two roads are staggered to ensure they are always open!"

After this decision was made, all the officials realized that the emperor was not going to give in to the grain transport and had decided to use sea transport. Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, hurriedly made amends:
"Your Majesty, it takes time to build roads. For now, grain transportation still has to be done by canal."

"I think we can send a message to Huang Yuntai, the governor of Tianjin, to lead the officers and soldiers and order the grain transporters to transport the grain."

"The section of the canal from Tianjin to the capital can be separated from the Canal Transport Office and managed by the Tianjin Governor."

Both sea and canal transport had to pass through Tianjin, so the canal from Tianjin to Beijing was extremely important.

Guo Yunhou wanted to let the Tianjin governor take charge and strengthen the Ministry of Revenue's control over this section of the route. After all, the Tianjin governor not only had the title of the Ministry of Revenue, but was also often transferred to the Ministry of Revenue to serve, so he could be regarded as a member of the Ministry of Revenue.

But how could Zhu Youjian allow the Ministry of Revenue to control such an important waterway? This canal transport incident served as a wake-up call for him, letting him know that some interest groups cannot be left alone and must be restrained.

Zhu Youjian wanted to divide the interest groups in the grain transport industry, and issued an order:
“Not only the canal from Tianjin to Beijing, but also the rivers in northern Zhili need comprehensive improvement.”

"For example, the Lugou River, whose course is constantly changing, is also known as the Wuding River. Most of the floods in the capital are caused by it."

"I think we should do a comprehensive renovation, starting from the source of the Sanggan River, to preserve water and soil, reduce sediment, straighten the river, and stabilize the river course."

"Let's transform this river from a harmful river into a good river that can be navigated into the sea and used for irrigation."

"From now on, this river system will be collectively called the Haihe River, as Xu Xueshi said."

"Establish a Haihe River Inspectorate, who will be concurrently held by the Minister of the Rivers."

"It has the Haihe Shipping Group, which is responsible for shipping affairs."

The canal from Tianjin to Beijing is incorporated into the Haihe River system, and shipping is handled by the Haihe Shipping Group.

Li Congxin, the Minister of River Administration, was immediately excited when he heard the appointment. After the emperor listed Li Hualong, who had made great contributions to river management, as a meritorious official in the Purple Pavilion and reserved a seat for Pan Jixun, he had been thinking about how to make meritorious contributions in river management and become a wise official in the Purple Pavilion.

He was now old and did not expect to be able to manage the Yellow River well. So he thought of starting from the emperor's theory of water and soil conservation and Pan Jixun's theory of water and sand control, and formulating a plan to manage the Yellow River, so as to share the credit of river management with future generations.

However, this method is a bit like doing something for someone else, and it is also very uncertain because the people who will manage the river in the future may not follow his plan and let him share the credit.

Now that the emperor had asked him to concurrently serve as the Inspector General of Haihe River, Li Congxin immediately saw a way for himself to make meritorious contributions to river management and become a wise official in the Purple Pavilion.

Although the Haihe River is far inferior to the Yellow River, it is also known as the Hunhe River and the Little Yellow River.

This river is very similar to the Yellow River, both of which come from the Loess Plateau in the upper reaches, and the river water contains a lot of sand. The river channel in the lower plain often swings, and floods often occur.

If he could cure this river, his river control plan would be verified, and the plan for controlling the Yellow River in the future would have a greater chance of being used by future generations.

Even based on his achievements in managing the Haihe River, he is qualified to become a wise minister in the Purple Pavilion.

Therefore, even though Li Congxin knew that the emperor wanted him to compete with the Ministry of Revenue, he still accepted the task without hesitation.

The canal from Beijing to Tianjin was placed under the command of the Haihe Inspector General.

The Ministry of Revenue made a wrong move, and not only did they not get any benefits, but they also lost a section of the canal. Just as they were about to argue again, they suddenly heard the emperor ask:

"There are soldiers under the Canal Transport Office, right? I remember there are more than 100,000 soldiers, and there are also many garrisons."

"Who is the current commander of the Grand Canal?"

Minister of War Yuan Keli replied:
"The position of Governor-General of the Grain Transport Commander has not been established by the imperial court since Wang Chengxun resigned in the 40th year of the Wanli reign."

"The current grain transport troops and the garrisons along the way are under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of the Grain Transport and the Governor of Fengyang."

When Zhu Youjian heard the name Wang Chengxun, his brows suddenly frowned and he said:

"Wang Chengxun is the Earl of Xinjian, right?"

"Why has the position of Grand Canal Transport Commander not been established since his death?"

Yuan Keli thought about it for a moment and replied:

"In the matter of grain transport, originally, the military was respected and the civil was despised."

"Later, Li Sancai took office and Wang Chengxun moved to sit below him."

"From then on, the position of the Grand Canal Transport Commander was sidelined and the imperial court no longer established it."

Zhu Youjian frowned even more when he heard this, and his dislike for Wang Chengxun grew even stronger. It was this man who died in the fifth year of Tianqi, leaving behind the dispute over the succession to the title of Xinjian Earl, which still troubled the court.

Unexpectedly, he also lost the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Grain Transport, which had always been held by military heroes, and the power to manage the grain transport was completely taken away by civil officials.

This made Zhu Youjian wonder if Wang Chengxun was a little confused about his position because of his status as Wang Shouren's grandson. Was he still sitting on the side of the civil officials and not considering himself a noble?
If the Xinjian Earl family still has this idea, he will have to consider whether to use the Xinjian Earl succession case to kick them out of the nobles.

With this thought in mind, Zhu Youjian said:
"After the appointment of a general commander of the grain transport, many problems arose in the grain transport."

"First there was Li Sancai's case of stealing the imperial wood, and now there is the Cao Gang's trouble."

"It can be seen that the grain transport cannot be carried out without military merits. The governor of the grain transport has failed in his duty."

"Send an order to the nobles in the capital, asking them to write a military strategy and compete for the position of General of the Grain Transport Corps."

Upon hearing this decree, all the civil servants became furious and their faces turned red with shame.

Because the emperor's statement was actually pointing fingers at the civil officials and scolding them, blaming them for driving away the commander-in-chief of the canal transport but not doing a good job in the canal transport.

This made many people feel indignant. Ye Xianggao's disciple Cheng Jiming said:

"Your Majesty, Li Sancai has been the governor of the grain transport for thirteen years. He is known as one of the ministers who governed the country, along with Wei Yunzhen of Nanle and Li Hualong of Changyuan."

"Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was recommended as a cabinet minister even though he was not from the Hanlin Academy."

"As a result, he was envied by villains, which led to factional disputes."

"The grain transport is not inseparable from military merit. On the contrary, when military merit is in charge, the grain transport has many drawbacks."

Li Sancai's entry into the cabinet was triggered by Ye Xianggao's request to add cabinet members, which triggered the dispute between the Donglin Party, the Zhejiang Party and the Chu Party, and was the source of the current party dispute.

Now that he heard that the emperor intended to disown Li Sancai, Cheng Jiming, as a member of the Donglin Party and a disciple of Ye Xianggao, had to make some excuses.

But his defense was weak and did not explain the case of stealing the imperial wood. Zhu Youjian said:
"I don't deny Li Sancai's talent, but he didn't use it in the right way."

"Li Hualong, who is as famous as him, not only quelled the rebellion in Bozhou, but also opened the Yanhe River and other achievements, becoming a Purple Pavilion hero."

"Li Sancai has been the governor of the grain transport for thirteen years. I won't talk about his military achievements, but his contribution to river management. Can it be compared with Li Hualong, who was in charge of river management for a short time?"

"This person is a man of great talent and reputation, who is fond of using power and is good at winning over officials in the court, but he is not honest by nature."

"This is not the way to be a minister. You should take this as a warning!"

Li Sancai was completely denied, and he was regarded as the opposite of Li Hualong. (End of this chapter)