Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 109 Yunnan is in danger

"The weather is getting colder..."

In late October, another half month passed quietly in a blink of an eye.

Sitting in the study, Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Lin Wuliu turned on the fire wall, he still felt a little cold. I think it was mainly because the doors and windows of the house did not have particularly good insulation effect.

His gesture of shaking hands happened to be seen by Lin Wuliu, who was carrying food into the study. Lin Wuliu immediately walked to the desk, put the food on the table, and stretched out his hand to touch the cold tabletop.

"Your Highness, I will ask the brothers to add ten kilograms of coal to the fire wall later." Lin Wuliu said, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded.

The winter in the Ming Dynasty was colder than he thought, and the feeling he got from the memory of his predecessor was never as good as his own experience.

Zhu Gaoxu in his previous life also visited Nanjing in winter, but he can be sure that Nanjing now is colder than Nanjing in later generations.

Zhu Gaoxu knew that the average temperature in the early Ming Dynasty was two degrees lower than that of later generations, but he did not expect that the average temperature was so outrageous.

That is to say, there is no thermometer, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu estimates that the indoor temperature is only four or five degrees, and the outdoor temperature is probably minus eight or nine degrees.

Nanjing is like this, so it’s no wonder why people from Jiangnan are unwilling to move to the north.

"Put a few kilograms of coal into your own penthouse, so you don't get too cold."

Zhu Gaoxu gave Lin Wuliu an instruction, but Lin Wuliu smiled and joked: "We are all rough guys, we are used to it..."

"Besides, the price of coal in Jiangnan this year is not cheap, so we should save money if we can..."

Before Lin Wuliu finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu took out a bunch of money from a wooden box on the desk and threw it to Lin Wuliu.

Although a lot of money has been spent, at a glance, there is still about five or six hundred coins.

"I say hello to you, so just do it. Don't worry about money. When I leave, I will also pick up a few loads and take them back to your homes."

Zhu Gaoxu greeted him, and at the same time he did not forget to ask: "What's the price of firewood and coal in Nanjing?"

Lin Wuliu collected the money and replied at the same time: "Hefei firewood is the cheapest, fifty cents per hundred catties, dry firewood eighty cents per hundred catties, and coal two cents per catty."

During the cold winter, the prices of various commodities have increased. The price of cold-proof materials such as coal, firewood and cotton has increased by [-] to [-]%.

Although the prices of these materials will fall after the beginning of spring, for the people of Nanjing, what goes against the prices is the shortage of jobs in the labor market.

In the cold winter, it is even more difficult to find jobs in Nanjing.

Families without fields have to rack their brains to find a job, otherwise the whole family will have to endure hunger and cold.

Listening to these prices, Zhu Gaoxu could only lament the difficulties of people's lives and the lack of food caused by backward productivity.

Lin Wuliu saw that he didn't speak and withdrew. Zhu Gaoxu, on the other hand, took the pen and continued to write, preparing to finish writing before going to eat.

If others were standing next to him and watching at this moment, they would find it difficult to understand what he wrote, as the content seemed like a painting.

However, if you choose someone from later generations to watch, you can see that Zhu Gaoxu is writing about some industries in English at this moment.

There is a huge gap between modern English and English in the early Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Gaoxu didn't have to worry about anyone being able to figure out what he was writing.

As for the contents of these books, they were some simple handicraft workshop processes that he remembered from his previous life.

These handicraft workshops included artillery, gun tubes, gunpowder, cement and other things that Zhu Gaoxu could remember.

Apart from these things that he could remember, the rest were research articles similar to papers.

Zhu Gaoxu personally did not know how to make any advanced firearms, so in this book, he recorded some firearms that craftsmen of this era were familiar with.

The first is the artillery. The artillery during the Hongwu period was mainly the straight-cylindrical Hongwu General iron cannon and the bronze cannon. The shape of this artillery did not fit the mold, so its power was far inferior to that of the artillery in the late Ming Dynasty. Too big.

Thanks to several antique artillery pieces in the Nanjing Museum in his previous life, Zhu Gaoxu clearly remembered the Franco machine guns and Hongyi cannons of the [-]th century.

He recorded the artillery data according to the data on the explanation board of the previous life museum. Because he was worried about being understood by others, Zhu Gaoxu did not leave any drawings.

In the artillery chapter, Zhu Gaoxu was more concerned about and described the issue of the artillery module. He did not write about other matters such as casting techniques.

The first is that he doesn't understand these things, and the second is that he remembers that the cannon-casting technology of the Ming Dynasty was the most advanced in the world even by the end of the Ming Dynasty. The only difference between it and the West was the module issue.

In other words, as long as the module problem is solved, Ming Dynasty's current cannon casting technology can meet the standards required by Zhu Gaoxu.

According to the historical process, Zhu Gaoxu recorded the difference between the firelock gun and the matchlock gun in his Huogun chapter, and then focused on the difference between the matchlock gun and the flintlock gun.

As for the specific manufacturing steps, Zhu Gaoxu turned his eyes dark.

It is true that he has been a soldier, but he has never seen the specific structure of a matchlock gun and a flintlock gun in his life. He only knows that the firing methods of these two kinds of muskets are different from the fire portal gun, but the specific structure can only be determined by the craftsmen. Just a little experimentation will do.

In his opinion, even if he could only develop a matchlock gun, it would be enough for him to deal with future wars.

The appearance of the matchlock gun actually represented that the peak of the nomads had passed. This can be seen from the results of the Ming Dynasty's war against the nomads.

The Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty only used firearms such as bowl-mouth blunderbuss and fire gate guns. If they wanted to ensure a sure victory over the nomadic cavalry, they had to gather a force similar to that of their opponents.

However, by the time of Qi Jiguang, the Ming army already had various artillery and heavy matchlock guns with the correct models.

After possessing these firearms, Qi Jiguang, a master of military training, even dared to say that "tens of thousands of soldiers will be trained, and Monan will be empty".

Although Jiajing and Wanli did not give him such an opportunity, the Qing Dynasty more than 100 years later verified his words.

When the Qing Dynasty used firearms similar to those used in Qi Jiguang's period to fight against Junggar, they were often able to use fewer troops to suppress Junggar with fewer strikes and more.

If the army is reduced by half, the supply difficulty may be only one-third or even one-quarter, which means that the army can wait longer in the grassland and Gobi.

Once the supply difficulty decreases, the nomads' tactics of "can't afford to offend but can afford to hide" will immediately become ineffective.

The longer the Qing army stayed outside the Great Wall, the more Mongolian nobles chose to join them.

With the help of these people, the Qing army could stay longer, so more people took refuge, and those Mongolian nobles who insisted on fighting fell into an endless loop.

In contrast, the Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty was stuck at the first step because they needed to gather more people, so they could not stay outside the wall for long.

When something happened to the Mongolian nobles, the Ming army's ability to protect them was limited. Since they couldn't protect their younger brothers, who would recognize Ming as the elder brother?

Just like Zhu Di's first and second northern expeditions, Zhu Gaoxu remembered that Zhu Di had assembled more than [-] troops. As a result, when the Battle of Onan River and the Battle of Feiyun Mountain came, Zhu Di faced a situation with less fighting. many.

The number of troops on each frontal battlefield was around [-] to [-]. During the Battle of the Onon River, a fierce battle against Benya's Mughalistan troops who lost their way, there were only [-] cavalry.

10,000+ troops went out, but only 3 to [-] people could reach the front line. This explains a lot of problems.

However, this also allowed Zhu Gaoxu to understand how suffocating the Ming army's suppression of the Mongols' combat power during the Hongwu and Yongle years.

Just imagine, if the Ming army could defeat one against five, it would only need to defeat the Tatar headquarters once on the frontal battlefield, and then the Ming army could be dispersed into more than a dozen cavalry groups of thousands of people and go deep into the desert to constantly harass them. Raid the Mongolian tribes.

Not only that, as long as the number of troops sent to the fortress is small enough and the logistical pressure is small enough, the Ming army can learn from the Qing army and take root in the grasslands, continue to accept the surrender of Mongolian tribes, and finally rule Mongolia through restraint.

Therefore, in Zhu Gaoxu's view, artillery is needed to attack the city in the south, and matchlock guns are needed to suppress firepower in the north.

As long as these two things are mastered, plus auxiliary materials such as cotton and sea-going ships, it will be enough for Ming Dynasty to have a strategic advantage of 300 years in advance.

As for cement, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't guarantee whether its hardness would be as good as that of later generations, but at least it was very easy to make, and compared to Sanhe soil made from grain, the limestone, clay and iron ore needed for cement were easy to obtain outside the Great Wall and were sufficient. save money.

Let’s not talk about other places, let’s talk about Kaipingwei. This place not only has iron ore and clay, but also huge limestone reserves, which are easy to mine.

All Zhu Gaoxu has to do is to constantly adjust the ratio according to the hardness of the finished product, and then start mass production after getting the best ratio.

As long as there is cement, and combined with the original city wall of Kaiping Acropolis, Zhu Gaoxu is confident that he can strengthen and heighten the Kaiping Acropolis in a short time.

As long as there is nothing wrong with Kaipingwei, he can go to the border to help his father, or go east to seize the military power of Daning.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu is also constantly searching for some achievable technologies in his mind, trying to apply them in this era ahead of time across hundreds or even hundreds of years.

But while he was writing seriously, Lin Wuliu walked into the study again.

Zhu Gaoxu looked up at him, but he bowed and said, "Your Highness, Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan came just now."

"Where are the people?" Zhu Gaoxu put down his pen. He still valued Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan very much. Even if they couldn't meet each other, they could still chat through a door.

It's a pity that before he took action, Lin Wuliu shook his head and said: "They have left, but before leaving, Yang Zhan brought you good news."

"Good news?" Zhu Gaoxu was slightly disappointed when he learned that the two were gone, but he was still curious about the good news brought by Yang Zhan.

"On the 22nd, Yang Zhan's father Yang Qiu and Governor Yang completely annihilated the Japanese pirates' stone fort on Dama'an Island in Ningbo Prefecture. They beheaded more than [-] Japanese pirates and captured more than [-] Japanese pirates and their families. In this battle, Yang Qiu was the first to board the dock and gained the merit. Later, he was promoted to the rank of Qianhu Official by the Dudu Mansion and received the rank of General."

Lin Wuliu enviously told the good news brought by Yang Zhan, and Zhu Gaoxu was slightly stunned after hearing this.It was not easy for military attachés to be promoted in the early Ming Dynasty, especially for someone like Yang Qiu who was only an official of hundreds of households in the first half of the year. According to common sense, he should have been quiet for at least one or two years after he was promoted to Dai Qianhu. To be promoted.

But I didn't expect that Yang Qiu would later follow Yang Wen and make many military exploits, so he had to jump two levels in a row and become a Zhengqianhu.

This time he got the credit for ascending first. Under normal circumstances, this credit would be enough for him to be promoted to a full fourth-grade guard commander.

Perhaps the Governor's Office considered that he was promoted too quickly, so they did not promote him this time, but even so, he received the false title of General Xuanwu from the fourth rank and received an extra salary.

You must know that the official system of the guard station is hereditary and replaceable. As long as the skills are sufficient, future generations can continue to inherit the official positions and military power of the previous generation.

After Yang Zhan met Zhu Gaoxu, he was directly promoted from the second generation of a hundred households to the second generation of a thousand households.

If one day Yang Qiu celebrates his [-]th birthday, Yang Zhan will be able to take the exam immediately and then inherit the official position of Qianhu in the East China Sea. It is no wonder that Yang Zhan came back to express his happiness.

However, compared to their good news, Zhu Gaoxu was more concerned about the Japanese pirates who were being encircled and suppressed.

It has been almost three months since Yang Wen began to encircle and suppress the Japanese pirates.

Zhu Gaoxu calculated that the number of Japanese pirates who died in Yang Wen's hands was not five thousand but three thousand. I am afraid that all the Japanese pirates along the coast of Zhejiang got the news and almost ran away.

Now that this good news has spread, it is estimated that the remaining Japanese pirates will withdraw from the sea border of Zhejiang and move north and south to find a new place as a base.

It is not easy to establish a base area. It is impossible for Japanese pirates to move with everything, so once they find a satisfactory island, they will definitely invade the coastal counties again to collect supplies.

"Lin Wuliu..." Zhu Gaoxu looked up at Lin Wuliu and said specifically: "Call a brother and send me a message to Cao Guogong's Mansion, saying that during this period, Shandong, Liaodong, Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi may encounter The Japanese invaded."

"Yes!" Lin Wuliu did not question Zhu Gaoxu, nor did he say that he was banned and could not tell anyone.

Even if he promised to be punished by the Governor's Mansion in the future, he would still spread the news about Zhu Gaoxu. Moreover, he also believed that Zhu Gaoxu would not harm him, and the spread of this news would definitely not affect him.

Thinking of this, Lin Wuliu walked out of the study after bowing in return and sent a brother to pass the message to Duke Cao's mansion.

In just about two-quarters of an hour, Zhu Gaoxu's words were spread to Cao Guogong's mansion by the brothers of Jia Xiaoqi.

After the words were brought, the brother did not stop and immediately walked back without stopping.

By the time Li Jinglong heard Zhu Gaoxu's reminder from the head of the Duke's Mansion, an hour had passed since the news came.

Li Jinglong didn't have much doubt about Zhu Gaoxu's words. He asked the person in charge to prepare the carriage, simply changed into a set of regular clothes, then left the Duke's Mansion and rushed to the palace.

At the same time, he wrote a memorial on the carriage, preparing to inform the emperor of the situation in writing.

"Your Majesty, Duke Cao wants to see you..."

In the Wuying Palace in the afternoon, only half an hour later, Li Jinglong appeared at the door of the Wuying Palace with a memorial, and the eunuch on duty also brought the news of his arrival to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Send him in."

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke without raising his head, attracting the attention of Zhu Yunwen and others.

"Continue to talk about the use of banknotes to offset taxes by Su Song's second house." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Yunwen who was holding a memorial from the Ministry of Household Affairs. It was obvious that they had just been discussing the use of banknotes to offset taxes by Su Song's second house, and they had not finished talking yet.

Zhu Yunwen came to his senses under Zhu Yuanzhang's reminder, took the memorial and continued: "The tax rolls of the Second Prefecture of Susong and Nanzhili have been handed in. The book says that the tax discount collected by the Second Prefecture is 140 More than three hundred, 27, and three coins were collected, and the actual collection was 29, seven and five coins, and three cents, and the rest were all common treasure notes."

"The Southern Zhili Taxation Yellow Book calculates the autumn tax of 620, seven shi and three cents, and the remaining tax is 420, six guan, three qian, four cents and two cents."

"After deducting the above-mentioned discounts for 'paying taxes with banknotes', the actual amount of tax collected is more than 350 guan, which is more than 110 guan less than before."

At this moment, the greed of the powerful squire was fully exposed. The Susong Second Mansion, which originally paid more than 140 million guan in taxes, actually paid less than 30 guan under their manipulation, and the rest was used to offset the tax with treasure money.

Although the treasure banknotes still had 60% actual value, the imperial court still lost at least [-] guan of its annual income.

60 yuan is a lot of money. Even Zhu Yunwen, who supports the use of banknotes to offset taxes throughout Jiangnan, can't help but sweat his palms. Zhu Gaochi and others are secretly dumbfounded.

But compared to them, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed much calmer, because he had already been prepared in his heart.

As a person who grew up as a cowherd boy and a beggar, he knew better than anyone how hateful the rich squires were. As long as they could afford more money, they would not choose to pay taxes directly.

The nearly 30 yuan in taxes was probably paid by ordinary people in Susong's Second Mansion, and had little to do with the wealthy gentry households.

Although this policy of benefiting the people did not benefit too many ordinary people, in any case, the effect Zhu Yuanzhang wanted was finally achieved.

After the autumn tax, the price of treasure banknotes in the entire Jiangnan has basically remained at the usual value of [-] cash, and the prices in other provinces have also basically risen to around [-] cash.

This is only the first time that banknotes are used to deduct taxes. If the scope of the policy continues to be expanded in the future, the value of the banknotes may really rise to the same value as the face value, as Gao Xu said.

However, if you want to continue to expand the scope of tax deductions with banknotes, you must allow the court to slow down.

In the situation where the recycled treasure banknotes cannot be issued, the Ministry of Revenue is losing more than 100 million yuan in taxes every year.

If Zhu Yuanzhang is willing to stop some local water conservancy projects and infrastructure construction, then maybe the Ministry of Household Affairs will not care about the more than 100 million yuan. After all, most of them have benefited.

But the problem is that Zhu Yuanzhang is unwilling to give up the remaining time of his life. He doesn't know how long he can live, so he wants to get everything done for the Ming Dynasty in advance while he can still move.

If we don't stop the construction of these projects, we will have to look for new income elsewhere, and this 'elsewhere' is naturally the gold, silver and copper mine in Shandian Mine that Zhu Gaoxu is looking at.

"I, Duke Cao, Li Jinglong, pay homage to your Majesty. May your Majesty be blessed with good health."

"Get up and give me a seat..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's mind moved, but at this time Li Jinglong also walked into Wuying Hall and kowtowed to him five times and three times.

In response, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and signaled him to get up, and ordered his eunuch to bring it.

"How about copper mining in Jiuhua Mountain?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of Li Jinglong to sit down and looked at Zhu Yunwen, asking him what he was most concerned about at the moment.

"Reply to grandpa..." Zhu Yunwen stood up in front of Li Jinglong and told the situation of the Jiuhuashan copper mine without any hesitation.

"People from the Ministry of Industry responded and said that the Jiuhua Mine may have been mined during the Han and Tang Dynasties, so all the places that are convenient for mining have been mined."

"Now that gunpowder is used for mining, although mining can continue, the number of copper ingots produced each year is not as much as previously estimated, and the cost has also increased a lot."

"The Ministry of Industry estimates that Jiuhua Mountain can hand over more than 120 million kilograms of copper ingots every year, which can be used to mint 30 coins."

After Zhu Yunwen said this, Li Jinglong, who had just sat down, was also a little surprised by the number of copper ingots in Jiuhua Mountain.

"Not bad..." Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with the output of Jiuhua Mountain. At the same time, he also raised the issue of Yunnan: "How is the mine exploration in Yunnan?"

Mount Jiuhua is just the appetizer. The real highlight lies in the Yunnan mines that Zhu Gaoxu pointed out when he looked at the mountain point mines.

In this regard, Zhu Yunwen also responded: "After several months, roughly 23 copper mines and six gold and silver mines have been explored."

"These 29 mines are mainly concentrated in Wuding, Chuxiong, Yao'an, Dali, Lijiang, Yongchang and Lin'an."

"The scale of the mines was written in the memorials of the Third Division, and it was believed that more than [-] mines could be opened. However, there were not enough people in Yunnan, so only about [-] mines could be maintained."

"In addition, 29 of the 23 mines were under the jurisdiction of local officials and chieftains. After the court discovered the mines, many chieftains led troops to surround the mines, saying that the court had made a gentleman's agreement with them. No matter what is within their jurisdiction.”

"They also said that if the imperial court is willing to hand over the mine to them, they are willing to double their annual salary..."

Zhu Yunwen said this, but everyone in Wuying Hall, including himself, felt that the chieftain of Yunnan was probably losing his mind and going crazy.

They all know very well what these 23 mines represent. As long as these places can be put into production, the Ming Dynasty's money shortage problem will be solved in the next few years. By then, even if treasure banknotes are not issued, the national treasury will be very abundant.

What's more, now using banknotes to offset taxes requires additional annual revenue to subsidize the national treasury, and Yunnan's gold, silver and copper mines are the only hope for the treasury.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not want to use weapons in Yunnan, he had to use weapons again for the benefit of the Zhu family and the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Yunwen: "When Wei Guogong goes to Yunnan, he will ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to transport the money and grain in advance, preferably one month in advance. In addition, next year, [-] selected households from Jiangxi, Fujian, South Zhili, Zhejiang and other places will be incorporated into military households. Additional health centers were established in Lin'an, Yongchang, Yuanjiang and other places."

"My grandson knows..." Zhu Yunwen bowed in response and at the same time looked at Li Jinglong who came to the hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang followed his gaze and looked over. When Li Jinglong saw this, he was also ready to raise his hands and bow, telling all the Japanese pirates matters mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu.

But before he could speak, there were rapid footsteps outside the hall.

The eunuch on duty today, Yi Shiha, walked into the Wuying Hall with an urgent memorial. After entering the palace, he knelt down and kowtowed. He held out the memorial with both hands and said in an urgent voice:

"Your Majesty, the Third Division of Yunnan has sent an urgent report. Yuezhou Guard Tumu Aziz, Ning Yuandao Bailan, Guangnan Nong Zhenyou and other troops have rebelled. Yunnan is in emergency..."

(End of this chapter)