Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 337 Rebellion

"put!"

"Boom boom boom——"

On the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of Yongle, when the salute of Nanjing Jiangdong Gate sounded, dragon boats one after another sailed into the ship's position.

Amidst the sound of salutes, thousands of officials in Beijing shouted long live and ushered in Emperor Yongle, who had disappeared for nearly a year.

On the dragon boat, Zhu Di, who was wearing ordinary clothes, walked down the ladder and waited for Queen Xu to get off the boat, then helped her get on the dragon boat first.

"My congratulations to Your Majesty on your triumphant return!"

"I congratulate Your Majesty on your triumphant return..."

When the prince Zhu Gaoxu and the Han king Zhu Gaochi sang the ceremony, all the officials followed them to sing the ceremony.

Facing the crowd, Zhu Di showed no happy expression, but directly raised his hand: "Let's all get back together."

"Tomorrow morning, the Crown Prince and the King of Han will go to Wuying Palace to wait for me."

"Ah?" Zhu Gaochi was confused by Zhu Di's scolding, and he said helplessly after he came to his senses:

"I have only been on the northern expedition for a long time, and there are already so many things happening in the capital."

"Boss, you go to Qianqing Palace to see your mother first."

As soon as he left, Zhu Di immediately stretched out his hands and pushed Zhu Gaoxu back to his position.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaochi bowed quickly, turned around and walked quickly out of the Wuying Palace. His skills were very strong.

"Do you think becoming the King of Han is great, or do you think that the second brother is protecting you, and you and the second brother can deal with your father together?"

Zhu Di put his hands on his waist and signaled Zhu Gaochi to go first.

An hour later, when Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi arrived at Wuying Hall and sat waiting for Zhu Di, Zhu Di, who had first sent Queen Xu back to Qianqing Palace, entered Wuying Hall.

"This time I conquered Modong during the Northern Expedition, and also discovered a mountain road that can lead to the eastern part of Mobei."

What was originally a grand welcome turned deserted, and the officials returned to their duties in the inner city.

"Maybe he's angry because you didn't let him march north." Zhu Gaoxu was also confused, but this didn't stop him from teasing his boss.

"Dad, can you still not know me?"

Seeing this, the ministers looked at each other in shock and could only make way, watching Zhu Di walk into the carriage and return to the palace under the escort of the royal guards.

"Okay." Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was taking the lead, and said directly:

"Second brother, do you feel that the position of the prince is uncomfortable and you want to change your position and become the emperor?"

"I have thought about it. It is indeed not easy to supervise the country. It is normal that you made some omissions in the south. I am actually very satisfied with you. Even with your investment in Modong, you are still too petty."

Zhu Gaochi answered honestly. Zhu Di was furious when he saw his cowardice, but when he thought that the boss had lost his position as the prince, it was hard to catch him scolding him alone, so he simply turned his attention to Zhu Gaoxu. On body:

"The boss has no power and I won't talk about him. You have the power to have soldiers and food in your hands. I approved Yu Xin's remarks without going through it."

Seeing his arrival, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu stood up and prepared to bow, but they didn't want Zhu Di to stand directly in the hall and look at them with unkind eyes:

"I know about the burning of Prince Ou Ning's palace. Do you say it yourself, or do I say it for you?"

"Yes, yes..." Zhu Gaochi nodded quickly when he saw his second brother excusing himself.

"Just go to prison as normal." Zhu Gaoxu watched the old man's performance and spread his hands: "You want to march north, and war breaks out in the southwest. Seeing that we will start negotiating quotas at the end of the year, someone will definitely make trouble."

Zhu Di didn't look very happy, but it was hard to tell whether he was angry.

"Besides, although Yu Xin is gone, Guo Zi is also a good talent, and the court can still operate stably. You finally went to the north and dealt with Wu Liangha. Why are you so angry now that you are back?"

"What did I tell you before the Northern Expedition?"

Zhu Gaoxu was still thinking about what medicine the old man was selling in his gourd with a confused look on his face, when he saw Zhu Di sitting next to him with an expression of concern for the country and the people:

"Dad, that's not what I meant, second brother." Zhu Gaochi also excused Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Di showed satisfaction when he saw this, but still pretended to be fierce:

Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaochi immediately hit Zhu Gaoxu with his elbow, and the chicken thief said: "Second brother, what's wrong with dad?"

Zhu Gaochi's words were filled with complaints, which made the flesh on Zhu Gaochi's face tremble.

"Yes, yes..." Zhu Gaochi nodded again and again. Seeing his appearance, Zhu Di became angry and pointed at his nose and cursed:

"Yes, yes, yes, what is right?"

"Anyway, my son doesn't think it's scary to cause trouble, as long as there are no problems in our own family."

Zhu Gaochi saw that Zhu Gaoxu was not telling the truth, so he turned around and got on his elephant chariot, and Zhu Gaoxu also got on his golden chariot.

"Dad..." Zhu Gaoxu said helplessly: "If you keep Yu Xin here, he will be exhausted and take up his post in two years."

Zhu Di didn't call himself "I", which made him a little strange, but Zhu Gaoxu bowed directly: "This matter has nothing to do with my son, and it has nothing to do with my eldest brother."

"I won't talk about the matters in the capital for now."

"Tatar and Wala are indeed more difficult to defeat, but they are not impossible to defeat."

"Look at how you look. You've gained a lot of weight after not seeing me for a few months."

"If you want to ask, you might as well ask Ji Gang and the others."

"The second brother is just speaking out of fairness. How dare we deal with you?"

"I looked at that mountain road. It's basically a river valley all the way. It only takes a few hundred people to build it slowly for three to five years, and it can be built directly to the eastern part of Mobei."

"No one said that."

"The reason why Wu Liangha was easy to deal with this time was mainly because of the effectiveness of the artillery and muskets."

"What? Are you going to make a scene?"

"Second brother, tell me, how is prison in your country?"

"Let's do this. The imperial court will move 300,000 people from Liaodong to Modong next year, so as to open the official road between Modong and Mobei as soon as possible."

"At that time, I will order a hundred thousand soldiers and horses, take the official road to Mobei, and take the opportunity to deal with the Tatars."

"Second brother, dad, I'm almost forty-four, and I don't know how many more years I can live."

"Tatar and Wala, I have to pack them up before leaving so that you can have a stable position."

"Believe me, dad, I moved 300,000 people to Modong. Three years later, dad led an army of 100,000 to wipe out the Tatars."

"I can also deal with the Wala in the west, but it will take a little longer, five or six years at most."

"When Tatar and Oara are almost dealt with, and Annan is stabilized, I will be almost fifty-two-three by then, and you can almost start to ascend the throne."

Zhu Di played a good game with a stick and a jujube. He scolded the two brothers for a long time at first, and then suddenly sent Zhu Gaochi away, leaving Zhu Gaoxu to give him jujubes to eat.

According to Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu will be able to ascend the throne in ten years.

Even Zhu Gaoxu was amazed by how skilled he was in painting a cake ten years later.

"How do you tell lies without blushing?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di and couldn't help but complained. Zhu Di was also stunned by his straightforward words. However, he did not admit it, but continued:

"I know you won't believe it, but after all, you are my son, and you are so much like me, my position will be yours one day."

"I have already made an agreement with Yu Xin about emigrating to Modong Sanwei." Zhu Gaoxu said after Zhu Di finished speaking:

"Twenty thousand people will immigrate continuously within five years. Only in this way can we control Modong and prevent Modong from putting too much pressure on the court."

"Two hundred thousand is okay, but five years is too long." When Zhu Di heard that Zhu Gaoxu had discussed everything, he immediately became unhappy.

"Three years. Two hundred thousand people will be relocated in three years. It's okay to spend a little more."

He walked aside and stroked his beard, then looked back at Zhu Gaoxu and complained, "You have weakened Wu Liangha too much. My northern expedition to Wu Liangha this time is not very interesting."

Zhu Di told his true thoughts. Because Wu Liangha was too weak, he couldn't be interested at all.

If he hadn't been worried about the lack of food and grass, he would have been ready to clean up Arutai.

"My son, I have good news and bad news for you."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di's appearance and immediately patted the table next to him.

Only then did Zhu Di see several thick books on the table.

After seeing the "Yellow Album" on the first album, Zhu Di's eyes lit up, and he immediately sat back on the chair and opened the albums one by one.

"The quota of 35 million dan remains unchanged. This year, the number of households has reached more than 11.96 million, with a population of more than 7,000 and 240,000."

"The amount of seed grain in Juntun has decreased compared with last year, but the scale of the decrease is not large. It is still more than 2,640,000 dan."

"On the Pacific Fleet, Zheng He and the others have recruited and replenished their sailors. They set out half a month ago and are expected to arrive in Champa in a few days."

"The revenue of the Japanese shipping company this year is 1.86 million guan, and the revenue of the southwest official mine is 2.55 million guan."

"This year's tea and salt mining class in the world, as well as all kinds of satins, silks and other miscellaneous items, are worth four million strings."

"Excluding preservation and maintenance, 39 million stones and 6 million strings can be transported to Nanjing."

"but……"

Zhu Gaoxu reported and deducted the accounts. Zhu Di heard the last thing and only heard Zhu Gaoxu say: "The balance is 400,000 shi and more than 176,000 guan."

"I'll take a look again!" Hearing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Di flipped through the book in disbelief, and the final result was exactly what he said.

This year's Ming Dynasty has basically no income.

"How do you manage prisons in your country?" Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu in disbelief. After all, in his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu was an expert in financial management.

But facing his words, Zhu Gaoxu could only spread his hands: "There are too many places that need to be immigrated this year, and the cost is too high." "The security war in Annan, the land reform in the southwest, and your old man's campaign in Mobei, As well as the rebellion of Tatar and Semu officials in Shaanxi and Beiping."

"In the past year, there have been more than 300 battles reported by the Fifth Army Commander's Office alone. Wars are being fought almost throughout the year."

"You can't blame me for this. The imperial court has taken over so many places, and it's normal to fight a lot. If you don't believe me, take a look at the Fish Scales Atlas."

Zhu Gaoxu took out the "Fish Scales Album", and Zhu Di also took it and started looking through it.

There were no surprises. This year, the population and cultivated land of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 70 million and 500 million as estimated by Zhu Gaoxu and Yu Xin.

The reform of the southwest has resulted in a considerable increase in cultivated land in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi provinces, not to mention the number of people.

In addition, Annan's situation also made Zhu Di straighten his beard.

"It's only been three years, but our Ming Dynasty already has 70 million people and more than 500 million acres of cultivated land?"

Zhu Di sighed, feeling proud at the same time.

Taking this achievement as an example, even if he goes down in the future, he will still be able to seek favor from his father.

"Yu Xin and I estimate that there are probably 10 million hidden households in Guochao, or even more."

"As for the amount of cultivated land, there should not be much change at the local level. The main reason is that the quality of cultivated land is difficult to judge."

Zhu Gaoxu did not have much doubt about the amount of cultivated land. After all, if 80 million people died, it would be enough to cultivate 400 million acres of cultivated land manually. If other animal power is included, 500 million acres would be enough.

The only thing he cares about is how much of the 500 million acres of land is high-grade, how much is medium-grade, and how much is low-grade.

"The land issue really is."

Speaking of land, Zhu Di's expression gradually became serious, and he said about his experience and investigation results of this northern tour:

"Your new policy is pretty good. I think it can be promoted in the future."

"I made a comparison between the people in Henan, Beiping, and Shandong. The fixed land tax set by the imperial court for the people in the three provinces is not high, and it basically does not exceed fifteen kilograms including miscellaneous items."

"It's just that when the corrupt officials below collect taxes, they can find a way to extract thirty or forty kilograms out of fifteen kilograms of tax grain."

"If your new policy can be promoted, then the 500 million acres of cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty will be able to pay at least 60 to 70 million stone fields."

Having said this, Zhu Di patted Zhu Gaoxu on the shoulder: "Second brother, you really look like me."

"Are you praising me or yourself?" Zhu Gaoxu looked confused, but still responded to Zhu Di's words:

"I also want to promote the New Deal, but there are currently not enough village officials at the bottom, so even if the New Deal is implemented, it will not change the current situation."

"The number of students graduating this year can only maintain the second batch of teaching in Shandong Official School and ensure the study problems of the second batch of enrolled students."

"What about the students from Liaodong?" Zhu Di asked and got to the key point, which is that there are more students from Liaodong than in the Bohai Sea.

"As far as I know, the first batch of students in Liaodong numbered more than 100,000, right?"

Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded when he heard this: "There are more than 100,000 and 6,000 people, but only more than 60,000 of them are over 16 years old."

"They will graduate at the end of next year, but at the same time, the number of students enrolled in Shandong in February of the fifth year of Yongle will reach 240,000."

"Of the 60,000 students, 30,000 need to be left to teach in Shandong, and the remaining 30,000 will be sent to Sichuan."

"Sichuan?" Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, while Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "Yes, Sichuan."

Taking this opportunity, Zhu Gaoxu sent Jian Yi to Sichuan to prepare for Sichuan to be used as a pilot project for the southern New Deal.

"I remember Jian Yi. He was a very good man, and he was also very honest as an official. This is rare."

Zhu Di remembered Jian Yi clearly, mainly because Jian Yi was famous for his integrity during the Hongwu Dynasty.

It's just that the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is not that easy. Except for people like Hai Rui, even honest officials will be tainted. Even people like Jian Yi sometimes have to compromise with some officials who form cliques.

This time Jian Yi agreed to be a New Deal official, which meant that he wanted to end his previous relationships.

His actions alone are worthy of admiration.

"There are only over 2 million people in Sichuan, and you want to send 30,000 officials there?"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu in confusion, but Zhu Gaoxu said: "This is to restore Sichuan to the prosperity of the Song Dynasty as soon as possible."

"In addition to serving as local officials' subordinates, these 30,000 people also need to visit mountains and rivers, record the conditions of abandoned water conservancy projects in various places, and lead the people to reorganize and repair these abandoned water conservancy projects."

"If Sichuan can return to the situation during the Song Dynasty, it will be able to pay at least three million shi in taxes and grains every year, which can support Yunnan's continued expansion into the southwest."

The current Sichuan is equal to Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou in western Sichuan, and the northeastern Yunnan region of Yunnan.

According to the experience of later generations, such a large area can cultivate 178 million acres of cultivated land, and paddy fields alone can reach 80 million acres.

However, at present, it only has more than 13 million acres, and the annual tax and grain quota is set by Zhu Gaoxu at 2 million dan.

"It's up to you to take care of this matter. Anyway, if you want to send this student there, it's best to take care of him in the north first."

Zhu Di personally still likes to stay in the north, so after understanding the exploitation methods of low-level officials and subordinates, what Zhu Di wants to do now is to take out everything they eat from their mouths.

The situation in the north will be much better even if we are evenly divided with the common people, let alone evenly matched.

"The north must change. My idea is to establish pilot projects in the north and the south, and then carry out reforms of grassroots officials in the north and south from east to west and from west to east."

"However, this workload is too heavy, and even I am not sure whether it can be completed in my lifetime."

Zhu Gaoxu sounded a bit modest when he said this. After all, there were 900,000 students in Liaodong and Shandong provinces alone, enough to replace tens of thousands of subordinate officials and millions of village officials such as district chiefs and grain chiefs.

However, people will change. If you want to maintain an efficient and clean team, you have to conduct surprise cleaning of the team from time to time.

From this point of view, 900,000 people cannot sustain it for a long time, and not everyone among the 900,000 people is suitable to be a teacher.

Zhu Gaoxu had no choice at first, so he treated all literate students as tutors.

But the problem is that they themselves are "crash teachers" cultivated by Zhu Gaoxu. Many people's own knowledge is not solid enough. If they continue to adopt this method to maintain it, they will definitely go astray.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu opened Taixue and taught new knowledge in Taixue.

What he hopes now is that the students of Taixue will grow up and then lead the Ming Dynasty's education system back on the right track as the highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty that continues to improve.

"As the number of students increases, the imperial court's expenditures will gradually increase. Now, maintaining the education of students in Shandong and Liaodong requires nearly one million yuan every year."

"Therefore, I thought that the teaching should be more refined, and let the students who graduated from Taixue build local middle schools and take five years of education to further train the students."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking about his thoughts, but Zhu Di frowned and said, "According to your statement, it only takes ten years to finish the official school and middle school."

"In ten years, how many people can support a student who has not worked hard for ten years?"

Zhu Di didn't understand the education system, but he knew the situation of the people.

It is very difficult for an ordinary family to train a student who will not work for ten years. Although the official schools in the Ming Dynasty do not require tuition fees, and the middle schools in Zhu Gaoxu's words most likely do not require tuition fees, but the problem is not the tuition fees, but the cost of paper, pen, inkstone and other expenses.

According to current prices, a student would have to invest three to five hundred words in paper, pen, and inkstone for one year of study.

This money may not seem like much, but it is the harvest of one or two acres of land.

There are so many people in the world, how many of them can have enough to eat and at the same time use the harvest of one or two acres of land to feed a student.

"Erchen knows this, so he will find jobs for these graduating students."

"Whether they are the district chief, grain chief, or clerk, according to the salary given by the New Deal, their salary is not low, and it is enough to support a family."

"I know that the common people cannot afford to raise one, but if the common people can raise one, then the whole family will have no worries about food and drink."

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di looked at each other, but Zhu Di hesitated and said: "If you are driven by profit, you can easily be harmed by it."

Zhu Di said it euphemistically, but to put it more harshly, these students could easily become disposable supplies, because the poverty caused by depleting their family wealth to support their studies all year round would easily make them become subordinates of grassroots officials. Shameless greed.

"There are always people who can stick to their true intentions, and there are always people who will continue to do so."

Faced with Zhu Di's worries, Zhu Gaoxu's words made people like Zhu Di unable to help but feel thirsty.

Co-author In Zhu Gaoxu's heart, these students who spent ten years of effort to train only have a "lifespan" of a few years. Once they cannot control themselves, they will also be abandoned by Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu does not need literati who can recite poems and compose poems correctly. What he wants is a large number of grassroots officials who can be produced and replaced easily.

As long as the incorruptible team is maintained and the court's financial situation is maintained, the court will have enough money and food to improve the lives of the people, and it will be possible for the people to live better and better.

This statement is a bit far-fetched, after all, productivity is here.

But Zhu Gaoxu also has his own self-confidence, that is, he believes that Ming Dynasty will cultivate scientific talents under this education system and scientific emphasis, and then produce technological products such as steam engines and internal combustion engines to change the existing productivity.

Zhu Di couldn't understand, so in his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's move was very dangerous.

"I have to think about this matter carefully. You should go back to the East Palace first."

"My son, please retire."

Seeing that Zhu Di was hesitant, Zhu Gaoxu did not pursue the explanation. Instead, after finishing speaking, he stood up, bowed, and walked slowly out of Wuying Hall.

Looking at his back, Zhu Di also began to face up to his son, who had changed since he went south to study in Nanjing.

Sometimes Zhu Di very much doubts whether his second son has changed. If the change in personality can be explained by the return of the prodigal son, then the knowledge in his head and the kind of detachment from this era even seem a bit dangerous to Zhu Di. The idea is inexplicable.

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's disappearing back, Zhu Di's face was solemn and he couldn't help but murmur something.

But because the voice was too low, no one could hear these words except himself.

(End of this chapter)