Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 102 The southwest is in chaos
"Things went as Your Majesty expected. Many rich households and squires in Susong's Second Mansion purchased a large amount of treasure banknotes. According to a rough calculation by the brothers below, it is probably no less than 30 banknotes..."

Early in the morning, inside the Qianqing Palace...

When the familiar military attaché knelt on the ground and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was wearing Chinese clothes and preparing to sleep on the bed, Zhu Yuanzhang also slapped his legs twice with a memorial in his hand.

"30 yuan..." Zhu Yuanzhang pondered: "It seems that their business is not small, and they have bought a lot of land. They actually have to prepare so many treasures to deduct taxes."

"Yes!" The military attache lowered his head and replied:

"According to the inventory of the brothers in the office and the comparison with the Fish Scale Atlas of the Second Prefecture, [-]% of the land in Susong's Second Prefecture is owned by wealthy squires in the countryside in the city, another [-]% of the land belongs to the guard station, and the remaining [-]% belongs to the guards. Only when the land is cultivated can it be farmed by the people."

"In the Second Mansion, there are no less than ten thousand tenants dependent on them, and their identities are difficult to ascertain."

The military attache's words revealed the economic normalcy of Su Song's Second Mansion.

Since the country had just been founded, the land annexation situation in the Ming Dynasty was not particularly serious, but if left unchecked, the wealthy households would still be able to annex all the land of most farmers within ten years.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not worried about the land annexation in Jiangnan. He was more worried about the north than Jiangnan. This is why he adopted Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion of "using cash to offset taxes".

In today's world, the North and the South have different economic priorities and encounter different problems.

If "money" is used to deduct taxes, then the commodity economy in the south will be developed and the people will have spare money, which will naturally make the people happy.

However, the commodity economy in the north is weak, and people have no spare money. They would rather pay grain or work for nothing than pay.

Of course, it’s not that they really don’t want to pay, but because they really don’t have any money.

This "money" does not mean that they are poor, but that they have no silver or copper coins.

Because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to vigorously promote Baobao.

Unfortunately, his treasure money did not achieve the results he expected, but was constantly boycotted by the people.

He couldn't figure it out at first, but his confusion was cleared up with Zhu Gaoxu's "money method" that day.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at a corner of the hall.

There, Zhu Gaoxu's views on the "Money Law" were written down, and even framed and hung up by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Gaoxu's words provided Zhu Yuanzhang with a different way of thinking, and the current situation of the rising value of treasure banknotes made his eyes suddenly brighter.

According to his grandson, the depreciation of treasure banknotes was due to the fact that too many treasure banknotes were issued, and the court did not set any relevant tax policies for treasure banknotes. As a result, treasure banknotes could only be placed in the hands of the people, and more and more treasure banknotes were piled up. The final denomination did not match the value.

As long as the treasure banknotes are circulated in the court and among the people, the value of the treasure banknotes will begin to rise. Until the population grows to the point where the value of the treasure banknotes stabilizes, it will become a new currency.

I have to say that his grandson's mind is quite flexible when it comes to money, but I am not as good as him in this regard.

Thinking of this, the corners of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth turned up slightly, and he couldn't help asking: "What has that kid been doing in the past ten days?"

"That boy..." The military attache was stunned for a moment, but soon realized that Zhu Yuanzhang was asking about Zhu Gaoxu, so he responded quickly:

"The Second Highness is practicing calligraphy in the courtyard during this period, and occasionally annotates military books."

"Annotation on the Military Book?" Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu persisted for so long, so he couldn't help but be a little curious.

"You can send someone to get me some military books with his annotations tomorrow. I can read them at my leisure."

"I obey!" the military attaché agreed, and Zhu Yuanzhang also brought the topic back to the Su and Song government's policy of using cash to offset taxes.

When it comes to using banknotes to offset taxes, the root cause still has to be the mines. After all, if the profits from the banknotes are gone, then we can only count on the mines.

"How are you searching for the mines in Yunnan? Have you found them all?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sat up slowly, picked up the tea on the bedside and moistened his throat.

"Back to Your Majesty, we have found three gold and silver mines, six silver mines and twelve copper mines."

"After investigation, the miners believe that Jiuhua Mountain alone can produce more than [-] copper coins, and copper mines in Yunnan and other places can produce millions of copper coins..."

"The gold and silver in this land, if there are enough manpower, can deliver 3 taels of gold and more than [-] taels of silver to Yingtian Mansion every year."

The military attache's words made Zhu Yuanzhang pause in his movements. Obviously, the number was far more than he expected.

You must know that these things are not treasure coins, but real gold and silver.

The value of the gold, silver and copper mines produced in Yunnan alone in the future was close to 200 million yuan. Such a value made Zhu Yuanzhang breathe heavily.

The number of gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan increased its value to the Ming Dynasty from a purely military value to an economic and political level.

Faced with such a value, Zhu Yuanzhang could not govern Yunnan according to the original method.

For a time, countless ways to govern Yunnan flashed through his mind, and he selected them in a short period of time.

After a word, he slowly put down the tea in his hand and asked calmly: "How many people are still living over there at Willow Bay?"

"The people in Yangliujing and other places have moved. At present, there are only about [-] military households in Gaoshikan." The military attache lowered his head and replied. Zhu Yuanzhang also nodded in response after hearing this, and ordered in the next second:

"You send someone to tell Taisun that the people from Gaoshikan in Liushuwan will be moved to Yunnan. In addition, [-] households from Jiangxi and Jiangbei will be selected into the military register. They will go to Yunnan to guard the border in the next spring."

"In addition, those who committed crimes in the three provinces of Jiangnan and Beijing will be sent to the army and exiled to Yunnan."

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang said something, nearly ten thousand households suffered unreasonable disasters and had to travel across mountains and rivers to Yunnan to guard the border.

There was no hesitation in his eyes when he made such a decision.

Upon seeing this, the military attache bowed in agreement, and then saw that the emperor had no orders, so he exited the Qianqing Palace, took the lantern from the eunuch and walked out of the Qianqing Palace gate, where he met two crimson-robed military attachés who had been waiting for a long time.

"Your Majesty has a decree to move..."

The military attache told the two crimson-robed military attaches truthfully what Zhu Yuanzhang had said, and chose one of them to go to the East Palace.

Half an hour later, this man appeared in the Chunhe Hall of the East Palace and told Zhu Yuanzhang's original words truthfully.

"I understand, please step back..."

In the Chunhe Hall, Zhu Yunwen, who was sitting behind the screen, signaled to the Fei-pao military attache to leave. The Fei-pao military attaché did not stop, but bowed in return and then turned around and left.

Seeing his blurry figure leaving, Zhu Yunwen, who was working on the memorial across the screen, put down the brush in his hand, and Leader Li on the side also walked forward cautiously, holding a cup of medicinal tea in his hand.

Zhu Yunwen took it and took a sip, moistened his throat a little and then said:

"It seems that there are more gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan than I thought, otherwise grandpa would not have added nearly [-] households to guard the border in Yunnan when [-] households had already been relocated to guard the border in Yunnan."

Hearing what Zhu Yunwen said, Li Daiban next to him also told what he knew about the situation: "Your Highness, according to His Majesty's oral instructions, if the people who committed crimes in Jiangnan are included, the number of relocations this time may be tens of thousands of households, nearly [-] or [-] people. "

"With so many people wanting to move to Yunnan, the Ministry of Household Affairs may have to pay no less than one million for food and supplies. I'm afraid the expenditure this year will be..."

Before Li Duiban finished speaking, Zhu Yunwen picked up the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue and frowned at it.

Previously, the Imperial College Gongsheng sent by Zhu Yuanzhang had arrived one after another, and together with the local hydraulic workers, they surveyed the hydrology and drew drawings.

The drawings and documents were sent back to the Ministry of Personnel. After sorting, they were handed over to the Ministry of Works for counting and calculation, and finally the summary was handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Among the nearly 87 hydrological organization documents, there are 48 pond weirs, [-] river channels, and [-] canal embankments.

This is only less than half a month after Gongsheng went out, which shows how corrupt the local water conservancy is.

Zhu Yunwen was well aware of the importance of water conservancy to farming, but he could not approve this memorial to the Ministry of Household Affairs because the above-mentioned things cost nearly 300 million yuan in money and grain.

During the Hongwu period, the treasury was well managed by Yu Xin, but in the later period, it also began to rely on the issuance of treasure banknotes to complete local infrastructure.

Now that treasure banknotes can no longer be issued, millions of dollars in financial resources will be lost instantly this year.

Although gold, silver, and copper mines are good, water from afar cannot quench the thirst for nearness.

Zhu Yunwen, who was feeling worried, could only respond to Zhu Pi, suggesting that the water conservancy construction should be postponed until after the autumn taxes were paid.

After Zhu Yuanzhang approved it, he picked up a blank memorial and wrote down Zhu Yuanzhang's original words, and set a time to move these people to Yunnan to guard the border in the beginning of spring.

In order to prevent the national treasury from being empty, Zhu Yunwen also specifically reminded the Ministry of Household Affairs to leave money and food for immigrants to guard the border, and pay attention to increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.

It has to be said that under the suppression of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen handled the memorial in a legal and orderly manner and did not let himself go.

After writing this memorial, he handed it to Li Daiban: "I asked you to send it to the Ministry of Revenue immediately after the curfew is over, together with this."

Zhu Yunwen picked up the memorandum on water conservancy, and Li Daiban also took it, bowed in return and left the hall.

Watching him leave, Zhu Yunwen stood up unconsciously and looked at the copy of "On Cutting Down the Domain" behind him, and murmured softly: "Zhu Gaoxu..."

"Dang...dang...dang..."

A few hours later, as the morning bell rang, officials from the six bureaus and five temples began to rush to the temple to attend court.

Compared with them, Zhu Gaoxu had breakfast happily with Lin Wuliu, Wu Zhangyi and other brothers from Baihu, playing some games such as Pai Gow.

At the card table, Zhu Gaoxu, who did not know how to play cards, always lost money. Every day he lost a hundred yuan more and fifty or sixty yuan less.

In his own opinion, he did not have any luck in playing cards, but in the eyes of Lin Wuliu and others, His Highness deliberately lost money to them to support their family, and he became increasingly aggrieved by Zhu Gaoxu's experience of being grounded.

It's just that the ideas of these little people can never affect the people in the temple.

When the chants of "Long Live" sounded in the square in front of Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunwen also dressed in regular clothes and boarded the Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the golden platform, while Zhu Yunwen stood in front of the golden platform.

The six ministers and senior officials from the Metropolitan Inspectorate, the Five Temples, the Fifth Military Governor's Office and the Duke's Office stood in the first row of the square.

With the singing of "Ping Shen" and the beating of the clean whip in the hands of the leopard guards in front of the palace, the first morning court in September began as scheduled.

In front of hundreds of officials on the square, Zhu Yunwen glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang, and his eyes indicated that he wanted to inform all officials about the contents of yesterday's memorial.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, and when he saw this, Zhu Yunwen stepped forward and sang: "On the first day of September in the year 27, after..." Zhu Yunwen said the oral edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang last night in the form of an announcement to all officials. The content immediately attracted the attention of many officials. .

Faced with the continuous increase in the number of military households guarding the border in Yunnan, if we follow the usual practice, many officials will come forward to complain, thinking that this is too laborious for the people and money, and will force the people to lose their families.

However, since the news of the gold and silver mines in Yunnan spread, no one of the well-dressed ministers in these temples stood up to refute the emperor's decree.

Seeing the funny scene in front of him, Zhu Yunwen was slightly surprised, but Zhu Yuanzhang, who was sitting on the golden platform, had a calm look in his eyes.

Before he ascended to the throne, he knew that these civil servants were not good birds.

In the past, the reason why people were prevented from joining the army to guard the border was just because they were worried that too many people would leave and the wealthy gentry in their hometown would lose their tenants.

Nowadays, the value of Yunnan has doubled, and the gold, silver and copper mines are involved in the "tax offset" with cash. Every year of tax offset can reduce the local gentry and wealthy households by [-]% in taxes. Naturally, they are not willing to make themselves angry by rejecting the decree.

It looked like his power as emperor had reached its peak, and officials did not dare to disobey him.

It's a pity that if you look carefully, many of them may have formed a clique and deceived the emperor.

But for Zhu Yuanzhang, no matter how much these beasts change their stance and attitude, they can't stop him after all...

"After the ceremony, let's go..."

As the court was dismissed, all officials sang salutes one after another, and Zhu Yuanzhang also stood up and left.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen followed him, and all the officials also left and went to do their own business.

"grandfather"

When Zhu Yunwen followed Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang had already got on the carriage, and Zhu Yunwen also followed him and sat down.

When the grandfather and grandson were in the carriage, Zhu Yunwen bowed and said: "Recently, both the Sixth Ministry and the Governor's Office intend to increase the number of official positions in the Third Division of Yunnan. It is probably because of the gold and silver mines in Yongchang, Lijiang and other prefectures."

"It's just that only some of these places are directly under the imperial court, and most of the rest are occupied by local officials such as Tu Zhifu and Tu Zhizhou. If we want to change Tu Guiliu, I'm afraid it will cause local unrest, so my grandson came here specifically to ask grandpa what should be done."

Zhu Yunwen pointed out the problem of gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, which is the number of local officials.

A native official is actually a local chieftain who has been canonized by the imperial court.

The chieftain system in Yunnan began in the Yuan Dynasty and was completed in the Ming Dynasty.

When the Yuan Dynasty captured Yunnan, in order to effectively control various parts of Yunnan, they set up Wanhufu, Qianhufu and Baihusuo in various ethnic minority areas, and appointed local ethnic elites as Wanhu, Qianhu and Baihu to manage the local areas. .

After the establishment of Yunnan province, the Yuan Dynasty established Xuanwei, Xuanfu, and appeasement departments in ethnic minority areas, and granted the chiefs of various ethnic groups the official positions of Xuanwei, Xuanfu, appeasement, recruiting envoys, and chiefs. managed by local ethnic groups.

This approach led to the fragmentation of Yunnan Chieftains, but at the same time due to the lax control of the Yuan Dynasty, Yunnan Chieftains continued to grow stronger through trade, and finally developed to a level that was difficult for the Yuan Dynasty to control.

After the Ming Dynasty conquered Yunnan, it inherited this system from the Yuan Dynasty in Yunnan, recognized the official positions granted by the Yuan Dynasty to the leaders of various ethnic groups, and developed them, adding local officials such as Tu Zhifu, Tu Zhizhou, Tu Zhi Tu Guards, and Tu Inspectors.

Compared with the extensive management of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was keenly aware that the chieftains were getting stronger and stronger, so he added a series of regulations such as assessment, tribute, and recruitment to the native officials of the Yuan Dynasty, thus forming a complete set of chieftain systems.

By the time Mu Ying took control of Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty had already begun to use strong restraint methods to make the southwestern chieftains pay taxes to the court and accept supervision.

But even so, Southwest Tusi is still at its peak at this time. Even though Fu Youde and Mu Ying have been cultivating in Yunnan for many years, the number of Tusi in Yunnan is still as high as 580 and seven.

Because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to adopt the policy of "outside the three rivers, it is suitable for the soil but not for the rivers, and within the three rivers, it is suitable for the rivers but not for the soil".

This move established prefectures, prefectures, and counties in parts of the Jinsha River, Lancang River, and Nujiang River to manage local affairs, and the government and health officials participated in the establishment.

Six prefectures in Yunnan, including Qujing and Dali, were appointed with floating officials. In the three prefectures of Chuxiong, Yao'an and Guangnan, floating officials were appointed as magistrates, supplemented by local officials. In thirteen prefectures such as Xundian, Yuanjiang, Yongning and Wumeng, local officials were appointed as prefects. Officials are the main ones, and official officials are the supplementary ones.

Under such a policy, these chieftains could at least nominally submit to the Ming Dynasty and pay hundreds to thousands of equivalent gold and silver as taxes every year.

But in fact, they still control the local mineral deposits, the army, and economic lifelines such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea.

Nowadays, there are so many gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan. When the local officials know their value, I am afraid that if the Ming Dynasty does not take action, they will also take action against the Ming Dynasty in advance.

Under such a threat, it is not surprising that the Sixth Ministry and the Fifth Army Governor's Office want to add more official positions and further change the situation. It can even be said that the route chosen is right and on time.

However, the current problem is that Mu Ying, who was once a powerful figure in the southwest, has died of illness, while He Fu and Qu Neng are still fighting the rebellion in southwest Sichuan. Only the Mu Chun brothers in the entire Yunnan can be entrusted with important tasks.

It was said that there were several brothers, but in fact only Muchun could control the situation.

Under such a situation, it is not easy for the Sixth Ministry and the Fifth Army Governor's Office to change their positions and return to their old ways.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty had a strong military force in Yunnan, but the 580 seven chieftains were also at their peak. If they gathered their troops, they could gather 30 million barbarian soldiers to fight against Muchun.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't think too much when he presented the map of gold and silver mines in Yunnan because he didn't understand the current situation in Yunnan.

What he learned about the situation in Yunnan from Wang Xuan's mouth was just a glimpse of the real situation.

Now he is playing cards and reading in the courtyard, but how to successfully mine the gold and silver mines in Yunnan has become a problem for the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Yunwen. He knew that Zhu Yunwen had a solution in his mind, but he couldn't say it out.

Based on the current situation in Yunnan, it is actually best to send Fu Youde to control Yunnan and return to his hometown together with Muchun. After all, three of the five sons of the Fu family are serving in the military in Yunnan, and the rest of the generals in the guard are also Fu Youde's old subordinates.

It can be said that as long as Fu Youde goes to Yunnan, except for Mu Chun's soldiers and horses, the entire Yunnan will become a veritable "Fu family army", and Yunnan will monolithically deter the Yunnan chieftains.

Because of this, Fu Youde is the best candidate for this mission.

However, Jin Wang Zhu Fan's private message to Fu Youde became a thorn in Zhu Yunwen's side. It was difficult for him to believe Fu Youde and handed over Yunnan to him.

Not only him, but even Zhu Yuanzhang found it difficult to trust Fu Youde and Feng Sheng again.

But without these two people, Zhu Yuanzhang was left with only four people including Guo Ying, Geng Bingwen, Li Jinglong, and Xu Huizu.

Guo Ying and Geng Bingwen are easy to talk about. They were not unfamiliar with Yunnan when they followed Fu Youde to pacify Yunnan in their early years.

It's just that they were too old, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a little reluctant to let them go to Yunnan to quell the rebellion.

As for Li Jinglong and Xu Huizu, the former has the ability to control Yunnan and Muchun. In his early years, he accompanied Feng Sheng, Lan Yu and others to pacify Liaodong, and fought in the decisive battle of Yuerhai in the Northern Expedition. He also visited important northwest towns such as Gansu.

Because of this, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want Li Jinglong to leave Yunnan. After all, it would take a long time for Yunnan to return to its native land. If he was not careful, Li Jinglong would fall into the quagmire of Yunnan.

The last Xu Huizu, Zhu Yuanzhang intended to let him go to Yunnan, but considering that Xu Huizu had no experience in commanding an army, it was difficult for him to hand over such an important task to him.

Moreover, Xu Huizu is currently busy quelling the Japanese invasion along the coast, so it may be difficult for him to get out.

Faced with this situation, even Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and finally looked at Zhu Yunwen with complicated eyes.

When he saw it, Zhu Yunwen had a bad feeling in his heart.

"The Marquis of Wuding and the Marquis of Changxing are old, and there are many miasmas in Yunnan. It would not be a good idea to let them go. As for Cao Guogong..."

Just one word made Zhu Yunwen feel uncomfortable.

There are actually many famous generals in the Ming Dynasty at the moment, such as Wu Gao, Gu Cheng, Qu Neng, and He Fu. However, they are all currently hampered by border troubles and rebellions in Sichuan, Gansu, Liaodong and other places and cannot escape.

Faced with such a situation, Zhu Yunwen had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but even though he had a lot of thoughts, he still couldn't move faster than Zhu Yuanzhang.

"I have other plans for Mr. Cao Guo. I cannot let him go to Yunnan..." Zhu Yuanzhang spoke slowly, and every word he uttered made Zhu Yunwen extremely nervous.

But before he could react, Zhu Yuanzhang disrupted all his plans with one sentence: "Song Sheng in the Governor's Office of the Chinese Army is good. I intend to let Wei Guogong control Yunnan and appoint Song Sheng as the chief military officer and assistant."

In the end, he did not choose Fu Youde, but after careful consideration, he chose Xu Huizu, whom he was not very optimistic about.

However, to be on the safe side, he sent Song Sheng, who had arrived in Nanjing a few days ago, to Xu Huizu. It was thought that with Song Sheng's assistance, Xu Huizu would not suffer a disastrous defeat even if he was not capable.

Zhu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief, but said worriedly on his face:
"Wei Guogong is still clearing out Japanese pirates along the coast. If he is sent to Yunnan, then the Japanese pirates along the coast..."

He said three points, but Zhu Yuanzhang didn't mind and helped him to complete the sentence: "Yang Wen did a good job. Let Cao Guogong sit in Hangzhou, and Yang Wen can control the front army."

"Yes" Zhu Yunwen bowed in agreement. While he was a little happy in his heart, the figure of Zhu Gaoxu could not help but appear in his mind.

"Grandpa, Gao Xu has been banned for almost half a month. Can we let him out..."

Zhu Yunwen's words made Zhu Yuanzhang look sideways, but the next second he asked: "Do you want him to look at Shandian Mine for you?"

"It's for the imperial court..." Zhu Yunwen didn't panic, but Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly after hearing this: "Let's talk about it some time later."

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang say this, Zhu Yunwen could only nod in agreement.

At this time, the two of them also arrived in front of Wuying Hall.

The two got off the carriage one after another and saw Zhu Jixi and the other three who had been waiting at the palace gate early.

"My grandpa, great blessings, grandson Qianfu..."

Zhu Jixi, Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Shangbing performed salutes one after another. After winning Zhu Yuanzhang's nod, they entered the Wuying Hall with Zhu Yuanzhang.

To be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't like the sense of discipline among his three grandchildren.

"If it were Gao Xu, I'm afraid he would just sit in the hall and wait until I arrive before he gets up..."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaoxu's previous attitude towards him when he was here, and he missed him a little more.

This is how people are, when everyone around them is equal, they want to be superior to others.

When he is really superior to others, he still wants to find an intimate person who can talk to him on an equal footing.

In the past, Queen Ma, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiongying accompanied him, but now he is surrounded by well-behaved people who 'know the rules'.

Sitting in his seat, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at his four grandsons, looking at their strict manners and words, but he couldn't feel any warmth at all.

The life of a single person is too boring for him...

(End of this chapter)