I

   Chapter 725 722 [Heilongjiang Dusi]

  First assistant Song Yingxing, second assistant Fei Chun, cabinet ministers Liu Ziren, Yuan Yunlong, and Chen Maosheng.

  This cabinet, gathered together, after familiarizing themselves with the affairs at hand, discussed state affairs with the emperor for the first time.

Song Yingxing was the first to speak: "With the full collection of taxes in Shandong and Henan provinces, the annual tax revenue has increased a lot. The industrial and commercial taxes and tariffs of the provinces, especially in the coastal areas, are also increasing, but the treasury has not. Filled too much..."

   "First, due to the sharp increase in military expenditure, each division has 10,000 people, increasing to 11,000, and new cavalry divisions are still being formed. The navy is continuing to build ships, and these will cost money."

   "The second is to increase the salaries of officials and increase the tax withheld by the localities. One decrease and one increase, the fiscal revenue of the imperial court has disappeared a lot out of thin air."

"Third, education funds are increasing year by year. Thanks to His Majesty's blessing, the world is peaceful now, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are exempted, and the number of children in each province has increased sharply. Although free lunches have been cancelled, new schools will be built and teachers will continue to be recruited when there are too many children. Governments all over the country It is said that there is not enough money, which is also the reason for the increase in local retention. Primary and secondary schools have local expenditures, but universities in various provinces are directly allocated by the national treasury. The number of universities is increasing day by day, and teachers and students are also increasing. The annual expenditure is really high. Quite a few."

   "Fourth is immigration expenses, which is a cliché. Last year, there were a total of 250,000 official immigrants. Vehicles, boats, grain, seeds, quilts, cattle... There are all kinds of things, and the immigration expenses exceeded two million taels of silver."

   "Fifth is water course management. Yellow River improvement is the most expensive, and the existing river course needs to be constantly reinforced. Zhang Shangshu (Zhang Guowei) is digging and dredging a new river course in Shandong. Funds have to be allocated every year, and we don't know when it will be completed."

"I suggest that after the formation of two new cavalry divisions, the number of troops should not be increased. There are too many troops in the north, while the troops in the south are empty. One division should be transferred to Sichuan, two divisions should be transferred to Minyue, and two divisions should be transferred back to Nanjing. As for immigration, the number of people can be reduced appropriately, and 50,000 people per year are enough."

Zhao Han nodded and said: "Song Aiqing's words are reasonable. After the formation of two new cavalry divisions, the army should not expand any more. But there are still battles to be fought in the north, so there is no need to send so many troops south. Let's transfer one division to Chengdu. The main defense is Tibet. Send another division back to Nanjing, which is enough to defend the capital."

As he said that, Zhao Han thought for a while: "As for immigrants, the total number of immigrants this year should be reduced to 150,000. Among them, 50,000 people will emigrate outside the Great Wall of Liao to fill the population emptiness after the fall of the Tartars! Any immigrants from bitter cold or remote areas must be given preferential treatment. Prepare more clothes and food for them, and the more cattle the better.”

   "Your Majesty is wise!" Song Yingxing cupped his hands.

Yuan Yunlong, Fei Ruhe's eldest brother-in-law, said: "The newly occupied land (Jilin) ​​outside the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty can be governed by additional civil officials, but it does not have to be directly managed by Liaoning. A capital division should be set up for military control. First, it is to prevent the Tartars from coming back. It is to deter those barbarians in the Northeast."

Liu Ziren said: "This statement is justified. The land of Nuergandusi in the former Ming Dynasty should be fully recovered. After being ravaged by the Tartars for many years, Nuergandusi and the local people yearn for China. The capital outside the Great Wall of the Liao Dynasty, the minister suggested setting up In Jianzhou (Hetuala), it governs the vast area from the Liao Great Wall to Heilongjiang."

  Zhao Han shook his head and said, "Jianzhou City is too far to the west. How can Heilongjiang be controlled? Bring me a map!"

  A map of Nuergandusi was quickly placed in front of Zhao Han, which was obtained from the Beijing Wenyuan Pavilion Library.

  Zhao Han carefully examined the map, pointed to Harbin in later generations and said: "It is best to set up the seat of the capital here."

  Harbin in the Ming Dynasty was called Laluwei, and it was the name of the Weisuo as soon as you heard it. There is also a post station called Zalanu Station.

  In the Ming Dynasty, the post road was opened, from Shenyang all the way to Heilongjiang.

Along the post road, there are Yidonghewei (Changchun), Laluwei (Harbin), Ha Sansuo (Tonghe), Huer Haiwei (Yilan), Zhubang Station (Jiamusi), Futiwei (Fujin) ...following Heilongjiang River to the mouth of the sea, the mouth of the sea is the seat of Nuer Gandusi.

Looking at the map, Zhao Han continued, "All post stations set up in the former Ming Dynasty must be restored. This year's immigrants will be sent to the post stations first. Don't let the divisions in the Northeast be idle, and dredge all the abandoned post roads. The amount of work on the post road is quite large, and there are not so many civilians in the local area, so it can only be done by Datong soldiers. Also follow the past. In this way, the military power can radiate Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins, and even deter Beishan (outer Xing'an Mountains) Jurchen."

"To the south," Zhao Han said, pointing to the map, "don't continue to nest in Jianzhou. Hu Dinggui will lead me to Huifa City (the eastern part of Huinan County). With Huifa City as the center, settle immigrants, educate the aboriginals, and the population With more food and enough food, you can go to Ninggu Pagoda and wipe out the remnants of the Tartars! Before the population is sufficient, you can also go into the mountains every year to sweep. Take away the people under the rule of the Tartars, and take away those who can, Those who can’t be taken away will be killed immediately! Once a year, after a few years, the population of Tartars will be empty.”

Zhao Han picked up another map: "Xiao Zongxian's troops moved to the north of Liaobei, staring at the Mongols outside the Great Wall of Liao. Xiao Zongxian is not allowed to use troops this year, and Li Zheng, Hu Dinggui and other ministries will consume a lot of food and grass. Wait for the food in Liaodong to slow down next year. Xiao Zongxian can wait for the opportunity to move. You can use any method to win over and split up, to conquer by force, and cooperate with the Hebei friendly army to take back all the land of Duoyan Sanwei!"

Zhao Han continued to search for a map, pointed to the Hetao area, and said, "Last year, there was a severe drought in Shaanxi and Henan, and the local grain storage was exhausted. After the grain storage is restored, the local officials of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces will be called immediately. To close the grain, send troops to take back Hetao in one fell swoop, and get back everything south of Yinshan Mountain!"

  The five cabinet ministers looked at each other, and the emperor said so much in one breath, all of which were expansion plans in the north.

  If all of them are implemented, how much food will be consumed.

   It didn’t move in the past few years. It was because the population in the north was empty, and a lot of land was abandoned. To fight a big war, grain must be transported from the south to the north. After several years of recovery, coupled with the continuous use of food from the south to emigrate, the population of the northern provinces has gradually increased, and food production has also continued to increase.

  In this way, it is completely possible to collect grain on the spot and send troops to the grassland to recover the lost land.

  If it weren’t for the severe drought in the north last year, which consumed too much grain, troops would be sent to recover Hetao this year.

  Fei Chun asked: "Since the capital of the Northeast has changed its administrative office, should it still be called Nuergan Dusi?"

  Zhao Han thought seriously: "Let's call it the Heilongjiang Metropolitan Commander. Li Zheng should not lead the troops himself, and appoint him as the Heilongjiang Metropolitan Commander to take charge of Heilongjiang's military and civil affairs."

  Military and civilian affairs are grasped, and its jurisdiction includes Heilongjiang, Jilin, and large areas of Russia in later generations. This power is large enough to certainly no longer give the actual command of the army.

  By the way, in addition to purchasing military rations from North Korea and transporting them from southern China, part of the military rations in the Northeast actually came from Japan.

  Famines broke out repeatedly in Japan. Every year, farmers starved to death, but some local lords took the initiative to sell food. These grains were first transported to Ganghwa Island, then transferred to Lushunkou, and finally landed in the hands of the Datong Army—Ganghwa Island, located at the mouth of the Han River, was originally a place where North Korea exiled political prisoners, but now it has become a sea trade transaction between the two countries. land, and the Datong Navy rented a piece of land as a military port.

Liu Ziren suddenly said: "Your Majesty, according to the report of Guangnan Province, after more than a year, most of the officials who went to Guangnan to serve in Guangnan have learned to speak the local dialect and are familiar with the specific conditions of the people in Guangnan. They will go to Guangnan this year. Heavy hands, forcing the big clans in Guangnan to divide the land... Maybe, the gentry in Guangnan will confuse the people and incite the people to riot again. The Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War want to slow down. There was a civil uprising last year in Guangnan, and if there is another civil uprising this year , I am afraid it will not help win the hearts of the people in Guangnan."

"What are you afraid of?" Zhao Han sneered, "cut the mess quickly, or when will it be delayed? If there is a civil uprising, the army will be dispatched, just to kill a few more gentry with ulterior motives. As for the people of Guangnan, it is inevitable that there will be casualties during the battle. Since you rebelled with the gentry, you must have the consciousness to die by the sword!"

   Now that half of Vietnam is occupied, the division of land must be implemented.

   Firstly, this is a national policy of the new dynasty, and secondly, it is taking the opportunity to eliminate the influence of the gentry. The land annexation there is so fierce that the common people don't understand anything, and the gentry can do whatever they say. If the gentry want to rebel, the people will be bewitched, and if they don't deal with it, it will always be a hidden danger.

   Only by implementing the policy of dividing land so that the gentry cannot monopolize land resources can the rebellion problem be solved once and for all.

  Like Daming, if someone rebelled, he suppressed it, but did not clean up the Vietnamese gentry. Then after the national power declines, the Vietnamese gentry will have a different heart, use the resources and influence in their hands, and bring the people who don't understand anything to chaos again.

  The five cabinet ministers dispersed, Zhao Han leaned on the chair and closed his eyes to rest.

   Not long after, British envoys were brought in.

   "Meet Your Majesty the Emperor!"

   "Sit down. How many schools have you visited?"

  Milton said: "We visited two primary schools, one middle school, and Jinling University. The school education in China is very great, and we feel our sincere admiration."

   "You don't have to admire, Britain can do the same." Zhao Han laughed.

   "After returning to the UK, I will submit a proposal to Parliament." Milton said.

  After a chat, Milton suddenly issued an invitation: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, on behalf of the Republic of England, I invite Chinese officials to visit the UK."

   These words made Zhao Han think seriously, and it seemed that he could indeed send an envoy.

   Not only to visit the UK, but also to visit other countries along the way to enhance China's official influence from Asia to Europe. By the way, collect intelligence information along the way, and compile new nautical charts like Zheng He did.

  (end of this chapter)