Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 656
In September of the 11th year of Chongzhen, as the weather turned cold, the locust plague that had ravaged Shandong and Henan for nearly three months gradually began to disappear.

The cabinet signed the mortgage room, and Li Jing looked at the memorial sent up from below, and heaved a sigh of relief.Under the current conditions, the locust plague cannot be solved by manpower.

After the locust plague, Li Jing sent people to Shandong and Henan to conduct a detailed investigation. The results of the investigation were shocking. Most of the areas in Shandong and Henan had no food harvest. Millions of people in the disaster-stricken areas had to rely on the disaster relief distributed by the government. Grain to survive.

Fortunately, Li Jing was well prepared, and most of the officials below were working hard, and the food for the disaster relief was basically distributed. Therefore, although Shandong and Henan provinces suffered such a large disaster, there was no civil disturbance, which made Li Jing A big sigh of relief.

In addition, while investigating the situation in the disaster area, Li Jing asked Chen Dahu and Wu Sheng to carefully investigate the grain growth conditions in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the two lakes.The results are still satisfactory. Although Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the two lakes cannot be said to have a bumper harvest this year, there is no problem in expropriating 600 million shi of grain, and with this 600 million shi of grain, at least it can support the next year's spring plowing.

Putting down the report, and looking at the account books for a while, Li Jing sighed lightly, Daming is really full of disasters, the country has just started to improve, and locust plagues broke out in two provinces, and all the wealth accumulated in the past two years was wiped out all at once. up.

After closing the ledger, Li Jingning brows and pondered.Why is Daming so stretched when there is a natural disaster?The land should be divided, and the high-yield sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn are also widely promoted in Daming, and the tax rate on food has also been raised, but the country is still severely constrained by the food problem.

"Marshal, do you want tea?" Su Heng came in with a teacup and said.

Li Jing pointed to the table and signaled Su Heng to put down the teacup.

Seeing Su Heng turned around to leave, Li Jing waved his hands and said, "Pingzhi, don't rush away, I'll ask you a question."

Su Heng hurriedly said, "Excuse me, Marshal."

Li Jing groaned and recounted the thoughts in his mind just now, and then asked: "Pingzhi, what do you think caused it?"

Su Heng heard the words and sighed: "In the final analysis, it is that Daming's foundation is too weak. When the commander-in-chief was in power, the country was poor and white, and owed a lot of military pay. The commander-in-chief spent two years plugging up the hole, and then It is not easy to put down Liaodong, wipe out the rogues, and resist this locust plague this year."

Li Jingjing nodded and said: "Yes, Daming's foundation is really too weak. The little wealth I saved when I was in Pingyang Mansion was used up when I fought in Liaodong. Then there were continuous natural disasters last year and this year. There is a little harvest, and the little grain I saved is not enough for myself, so naturally I refuse to sell it, so in many places we can't get grain at all, and we can only rely on the two big granaries of Lianghu and Jiangsu and Zhejiang."

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "But we can't always rely on the two lakes and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. What should we do if the two lakes and Jiangsu and Zhejiang are also hit by disasters? Could it be the wind? So we have to open up new granaries."

"A new granary? Where to open a new granary." Su Heng asked doubtfully.

Li Jingdao: "I think of two places for the time being. The first one is the Hetao area. The Yellow River has all kinds of harm, but only benefits. The Hetao area has a flat terrain and a gentle flow of the Yellow River. It is not only good for animal husbandry, but also for farming. It is a godsend. granary.

The second place is the Liaohe area in Liaodong.The Liaohe area is also flat and has abundant water resources. As long as a group of people move there, it will become the granary of Ming Dynasty in less than two years. "

"The Liaodong area is not a big problem. This time Shandong and Henan were hit by disasters, and a group of victims just moved there. As long as some people go there, the farming problem can be solved.

The trouble is the Hetao area. The Hetao area has been occupied by the Tatars for many years. The power of the Tatars has been deeply rooted in the Hetao area. It may not be so easy for us to take it back. "Su Heng said hurriedly.

Li Jingjing nodded and said: "That's right, it is not easy to take back the Hetao area, because it is not difficult to defeat the Tatars, but how to drive them out of the Hetao area is difficult. The wind, if you can’t beat it, you can run away, and if you turn around, you can sneak attack. Our army is not afraid of them, but the common people cannot withstand their harassment. If the Tatars keep raiding, the common people will not be able to give birth.”

Speaking of which, Li Jing sighed softly: "Alas, Emperor Chengzu was a great talent and a generation of outstanding people, but back then he commanded Daningwei (to the west of Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia today, governing the area north of the Great Wall in Hebei and south of the Xilamulun River in Inner Mongolia.) Giving up to Duoyan Sanwei and abandoning Dongshengwei (Yulin County in the Ming Dynasty, now Inner Mongolia Toketuo County and the northeast area of ​​Zhungeer Banner.) But it was a big mistake, losing the support of Daningwei and Dongshengwei, Kaiping Wei (now the area of ​​Zhenglan Banner and Duolun County in Inner Mongolia.) had no choice but to move inland, which is tantamount to giving up the Hetao area.

Without the support of the Hetao area, the Mongol cavalry could drive straight in.well!If Dongshengwei was in the hands of Daming back then, how could there have been changes in the civil castle? "

"Is the commander-in-chief planning to reset the guard post in Dongshengwei?" Su Heng asked.

Li Jing shook his head and smiled: "We have occupied Guihua City now. With Guihua City, there is no need to continue to set up guards in Dongshengwei. I want to build a city in Ningxiawei, Lingzhou, but it is not for defense. .

Pingzhi, defense is impossible to defend, you must take the initiative to attack.Building a city in Ningxia Wei can echo the east and west of Guihua City, attack the Moxi area to the west, and attack the Mobei area to the north.In this way, Ningxia Wei and Guihua City became the forward base for Ming to attack Moxi and Mobei.

Of course, after the construction of Ningxia City, we must first rely on Guihua City and Ningxia City to beat the Mongols so that they dare not approach the Hetao area, so that the people can safely produce and farm. When we have saved enough capital, we will wipe out Mobei and Moxi. "

Su Heng hesitated for a moment and said: "Commander, the treasury can't afford the money now, and I'm afraid we won't be able to build the city this year."

"Hahaha, Pingzhi, you dare to think more than I do. Now that Ningxia Wei is still in the hands of the Mongols, how do we build the city? Our first step is to occupy Ningxia Wei before we can build the city." Li Jing laughed.

After laughing for a while, Li Jing continued: "We can think about many things ahead, but don't want to eat a fat man in one bite. You have to eat food in one bite, and you have to take one step at a time."

Speaking of which, Li Jing stood up, took a few steps in the room, and then said: "Now the situation in Shaanxi has been settled, and Hong Chengchou's troops have almost rested. I think Hong Chengchou can lead the troops to march towards Lingzhou. Take an offensive posture to attract the attention of the Mongols.

Then Cao Wenzhao was transferred, and Cao Bianjiao and Ma Ke's cavalry units launched an attack. As long as the main forces of the Mongolian ministries were defeated, Hong Chengchou's infantry could advance in the direction of Ningxia.Hmm... Hong Chengchou's troops were only about [-] strong, which was a bit weak, so Lu Xiangsheng's troops had to be transferred there as well. "

After pondering for a while, Li Jing continued: "It's just that Lu Xiangsheng was transferred from Henan. Who should Henan's governor use?"

Seeing Li Jing's inquiry, Su Heng shook his head, how could he interrupt in such a personnel arrangement?

After thinking for a while, Li Jing shook his head lightly: "Leave it alone, Pingzhi, go and invite Gao Qi."

"Yes!" Su Heng hurriedly said.

After Su Heng left, Li Jing found out an official roster and read it carefully.

The people recorded in the roster in Li Jing's hand are those that Li Jing thinks are available. These people have the ability to do things, and most of them are upright and upright.However, most of these people were Jinshi in the last years of Wanli, Tianqi and Chongzhen. These people were born in the imperial examination and had relatively conservative thinking. They did not understand many policies promoted by Li Jing.

Before these people see the benefits of the New Deal, using them will undoubtedly cause Li Jing a lot of trouble, but if they are discarded, it will be a waste of talents, so Li Jing thinks again and again, and finally assigns these people a vacant position in the Ministry of Officials , and hung them up.Wait for these people to see the changes brought about by Daming's implementation of the New Deal, and change their minds before using it.

In the past two years, Ming Dynasty didn't seem to have changed much. The country had no food reserves, and the treasury was still empty.But sensible people know that all the country's warehouses are empty, and the country has no money left, because there have been too many natural disasters in Ming Dynasty in the past two years.

Although the drought in Shaanxi last year was less than in previous years, there was another drought in Henan and Shanxi, and there were even locust plagues in Henan. However, due to Li Jing's water conservancy, the drought was greatly alleviated, and Li Jing was in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan The high-yield grain promoted in other places also played a great role.

This year's situation is not as good as last year's. Not to mention the drought in the Northwest, large-scale locust plagues broke out in Henan and Shandong provinces, and the locusts crossed the border.

If there was such a natural disaster in Ming Dynasty in the past, it would be starving and dying, and countless victims raised their flags to rebel, but Li Jing tried his best to raise money and food to relieve the victims, and there was no trouble in the two provinces.

It was a miracle for Daming that no common people rebelled after catastrophes occurred for two consecutive years.At the same time, it is conceivable that the country cannot have surplus food under such circumstances.

In addition, although the treasury of Daming is empty, the Bank of Daming reserves nearly 2000 million taels of silver, which are stored in the underground vault of the Bank of Daming. The number is no secret in Daming.

Those who know the details also know that the underground treasury of Jingji Bank also reserves more than 2000 million taels of silver, and the imperial court even borrowed millions of taels of silver from Jingji Bank during the most difficult time.

With so much reserve silver, Daming's foundation is much richer than the previous dynasties.

Of course, everyone knows where these reserve silvers come from. Li Jing went to Beijing to raid corrupt officials first, and got more than 1000 million taels of silver at once. Most of the time, the remaining 500 million taels of silver were used by Li Jing as a reserve silver for opening a bank and promoting banknotes. Then he searched Fu Wang and other royal family and nobles to get another sum of silver, plus slowly accumulating, and finally saved nearly 2000 taels. Ten thousand taels of silver.

(End of this chapter)