Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 373 The situation in the temple

"The guilty minister Yang Sheng misunderstood the slander of others and offended the power of heaven. Now I surrender and ask for surrender. I hope that the heavenly army will not embarrass our many officials and people in Bozhou!"

In the middle of the winter of the seventh year of Yongle, after more than half a month of running around, when the memorial was returned to Zhu Pi in Nanjing, Mu Chun Dang sent someone to contact Yang Sheng and told Yang Sheng what Zhu Pi and the court meant.

It is true that Yang Sheng was very angry at first, but in the past half month, Muchun had transferred more artillery from Qijiang.

At present, he has 300 artillery pieces among the 30,000 troops under his command, and these 300 artillery pieces have been standing in front of the camps of the two armies for a long time. From time to time, they use the mountains as targets for training, and bombard them every day to deter the chieftain troops who are constantly gathering in Boshu.

Facing the Ming army's artillery training, the Bozhou chieftains no longer had the courage to clamor at the beginning, and gradually tended to surrender.

However, they all also knew that after surrendering, they would have to accept a return to their native land, so they were worried about their treatment after they returned to their native land.

In order to appease the chieftain, Yang Sheng performed a scene in front of the battle where he was shirtless and bound himself with thorn sticks.

As he expected, Mu Chun sent Mu Sheng to help him loosen his bonds and brought him to Mu Chun.

"Yang Sheng, I won't mention my previous mistakes. I will hand over the official seal and the "Yellow Book" and "Fish Scale Album" of Bozhou. I will allow you to keep the Yang family's mansion in Bozhou, and at the same time, I will promise that all the local officials under your command will be dealt with accordingly. The casual rank of official rank."

"The Yang family cannot be compared with the Tian family. The Tian family was inherited from the Sui Dynasty and was the governor of Guizhou at that time, with a high and powerful position."

"The meaning of the East Palace is that a group of officials from Shandong, Sichuan, and Liaodong who are effective in implementing the New Deal will be selected and promoted to the three regions of Beizhili to facilitate the implementation of the New Deal."

"The New Deal in Sichuan has been stabilized. News came from the East Palace a few days ago that it is preparing to implement the New Deal in Henan, Shanxi and Beizhili in one fell swoop."

Jian Yi shook his head, rejected Xu Shuo's conjecture and explained:

In his opinion, the Tian family could survive for at most one year before losing, and the imperial court would also gain access to the land and population under Tian's rule, which would greatly enhance national power.

"Xiaguan feels that staying in Ba County and waiting to be transferred to Guizhou is the best path for Xiaguan at the moment."

"What do you want to say?" Jian Yi narrowed his eyes. Although he knew that Xu Shuo was smart, he didn't expect that Xu Shuo could actually guess the benefits of being in the southwest.

"Sir, it seems that the rebellion in Guizhou will be suppressed soon."

"Compared with the three northern regions, Guizhou's performance and experience in implementing the New Deal will undoubtedly be better."

"Won't……"

When Yang Sheng saw this, he first glanced at the Ming army, looking at the neat formations and bright armor of the Ming army, and then glanced at the artillery not far away, and finally sighed and bowed:

"Once the chieftain rebellion is suppressed, the next step will be to comprehensively implement the New Deal and bring the country back to its original position."

Xu Shuo respectfully told Jian Yi his thoughts truthfully. Jian Yi nodded after hearing this: "You have a long-term perspective, unlike your classmate."

Even Jian Yi thought that Xu Shuo would nod and choose to return to the north, but Xu Shuo shook his head and said:
"The north is good, but even if it makes achievements, it's just civil service. On the contrary, if you stay in the south, I think there will be more opportunities."

"Here in Sichuan, I have elected thirty-two officials, and one of them is you."

"As long as you nod, you can leave for Nanjing tomorrow to report on your work and wait for promotion."

Jian Yi did not continue, but just shook his head and sighed at Tian's profound heritage.

Jian Yi did not continue the topic of the Guizhou chieftain rebellion, but directed the topic to the north.

Faced with his inquiry, Xu Shuo said without hesitation: "The matter in Guizhou can take as short as half a year or as long as one year."

After that, Yang Sheng was led by Mu Sheng to escort the Ming army back to Bozhou City. In front of Mu Sheng, the conditions given by Mu Chun were explained to many chieftains.

He walked inside the yamen to relieve the pain in his waist and shoulders. At the same time, the county magistrate Xu Shuo followed him.

Muchun sat on the horse and looked at Yang Sheng condescendingly.

It wasn't until the county magistrate Xu Shuo explained in detail that he nodded clearly, then got up and walked out of the study.

"In the land of Bozhou, I think it can be divided into two mansions at most, and Sizhou and Sinan under the Tian family..."

"I'm the official, thank you for your kindness..."

"The court will make up for the land they handed over with money, grain, and farmland."

However, while they were evacuating, the Ming army was divided into sixty troops, large and small, to follow them back to their base.

"Based on your achievements in implementing the New Deal in Ba County, you should be promoted to the second level this time and go to the government office to serve as a general judge."

At this point, the Bozhou Xuanwei Division accepted the change of land and returned to exile. Yang Sheng, the Bozhou Xuanwei envoy, was deprived of his post. His son Yang Gang and his grandson Yang Jiongping were awarded the rank of Huaiyuan General of the third rank Sanfeng, the third rank of Wuxun Qingche Commandery, and were awarded Chengdu The new capital of the mansion has 5,000 acres of farmland and a mansion.

And because of Jilin's identity as Han people, there were many people to take care of them after they became officials. Whether they were discussing things with the military attachés of the Dusi, or with the officials of the Chief of Staff and the Chief of Police, few people would look down on them.

After hearing this, more than sixty chieftains from primary and secondary schools in Bozhou breathed a sigh of relief and obediently led their troops to evacuate Bozhou.

Although they had been displaced for more than a year, they were a blessing in disguise and were able to enter official education nearly four years ahead of schedule for Shandong students.

"Did Wei Zhong win the election too?" Xu Shuo was surprised. He said Wei Zhong was his childhood playmate Wang Hui, whose nickname was Wei Zhong.

At the moment, he was in the government office of Ba County, Chongqing Prefecture. When he got the news, he was still coordinating the issue of money and food for the troops. Therefore, when he heard that Bozhou Xuanwei Division had accepted the change of land and returned to exile, he still didn't believe it.

Tongpan was in charge of matters such as grain transportation and farmland water conservancy, which Xu Shuo was proficient in. Moreover, he was originally a northerner from Shandong who moved to Jilin. Even if he could not return to his hometown, it would be good to be transferred to Henan and Peiping.

Although Xu Shuo didn't know how deep the Tian family was, he knew that no matter how powerful the Tian family was, they couldn't beat the imperial court, not to mention that there were still conflicts within the Tian family.

As a student of Xu Shuo who participated in the imperial examination in Jilin and won the Jinshi, his identity as a Han outside the Guan Dynasty undoubtedly made his political path very smooth. Therefore, he did not think about it in detail. He only felt that the Yang family in Bozhou had surrendered, and the Tian family in Sizhou might also have Not a big deal.

When the Bohai Navy moved south in Jingnan, their town was moved to Liaodong, and then to Jilin City.

"The Tian family's heritage is indeed profound, but it may be difficult to survive in the face of the encirclement and suppression by Duke Qian, Marquis Zhenyuan and Duke Cao."

"In comparison, the Yang family was just a small governor who was sent to fight off border troubles in the late Tang Dynasty. The resources and connections he received were incomparable to those of the Tian family."

Although the troops and horses had not yet been deployed, when the news spread, the first person to get the news was Jian Yi, the Sichuan envoy who had been in charge of Chongqing Prefecture.

This is not surprising, after all, Jilin City has only a population of 160,000, and nearly 40% of the military attachés of the imperial court are from Jilin City. No one knows whether there will be a prince or count behind Xu Shuo and the others.

"After receiving the news, he set off for Nanjing. However, his political performance is not as good as yours. He is probably promoted to the first level at most."

Jian Yi said, and at the same time he looked at Xu Shuo approvingly and said, "It's a pity that you stay in Ba County. Follow me back to Chengdu in three months."

"Thank you for the promotion, sir!" Xu Shuo returned the greeting respectfully, and Jian Yi continued walking after seeing this.

After seeing Xu Shuo following him, Jian Yi said, "You may as well stay in the southwest. The water in the south of the Yangtze River is now muddy, but the southwest is still stable."

"Sir, are you talking about officials from Jiangzuo, Jiangdong, and Western Zhejiang?" Xu Shuo got straight to the point. Because he admired Jian Yi, and Jian Yi also intended to cultivate him as one of his own, he could be unscrupulous.

"Those three factions are not easy to get along with each other, especially after the division of the North and South rolls. The three factions are constantly fighting. Maybe it will affect the North roll and the middle roll. Especially after the establishment of the three divisions in Guizhou, if the number of middle rolls is to be increased, I’m afraid Nanjuan will also be quarreling for more.”

After Jian Yi finished speaking, he slowly shut up and looked at Xu Shuo: "What do you think of the temple today?"

Xu Shuo could naturally hear the question he was asking with a few points of examination, so he thought for a moment before following Jian Yi and said:

"The student has just entered officialdom for only two years, so some of his words may be immature. I hope you don't blame me sir."

After thinking deeply, Xu Shuo then said: "The current situation in the temple is one that is absolutely dominated by the palace."

"Whether they are officials from the old school or the New Deal faction, they can only operate within the bottom line set by the palace and must not cross the red line."

"As long as the red line is touched, even if it is a subordinate official of the New Deal, the palace will deal with it in the same way."

"Such a situation is rare. Even during the Tang, Song and Han Dynasties, there was no such situation. This situation is due to the increasing centralization of power since the Qin Dynasty."

"The difference is that the centralization of power in the Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties often generally referred to the emperor and a group of nobles and scholar-bureaucrats around him, but now it is centralization centered on the emperor and the East Palace."

"Since the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu Gao, all those who want to bargain with the court have died after a short period of rampage. Especially when the prime minister system was abolished, the emperor's power became even greater."

"However, this political system also relies more on the emperor's personal abilities."

"If the emperor is Emperor Gao, today's emperor, and someone like Dong Palace in the future, this will naturally not cause any problems."

"However, if there is an emperor with mediocre abilities in the future, the entire temple will decline along with this emperor's ability."

"This situation can be summed up in one sentence."

"If the emperor is strong, the Ming Dynasty will be strong; if the emperor is mediocre, the Ming Dynasty will be mediocre."

Xu Shuo expressed what he was thinking. After hearing this, Jian Yi nodded slightly but did not make any comment.

After a while, Jian Yi slowly spoke:

"What you said has some insights. The dynasty is different from the previous dynasties. The emperors of the previous dynasties were mediocre and could still be supported by their ministers. Even if the dynasty was weak, it could be restored with the help of virtuous ministers. However, the dynasty relied heavily on the emperor's personal ability."

"I'm old, and I just serve three dynasties, but you are different."

"You are the weakest person, and your career in the future will be long."

"Sometimes, you have to learn to assess the situation and don't just accept death."

Jian Yi secretly told Xu Shuo that if the emperor is strong, he must rely on the imperial power; if the emperor is weak, he must have his own opinions and not do things just to stand in line.

"Students are taught..." Xu Shuo called himself a student when he heard this. Jian Yi also stopped when he heard this, because they had walked around the county government office and returned to the door of the study.

After stopping for a moment, Jian Yi walked into the study, followed by Xu Shuo.

The conversation between the two was not profound, it was entirely Xu Shuo's personal opinions and Jian Yi's instructions, but even so, it still revealed a corner of the Ming Dynasty temple.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, their grandfather and grandson are undoubtedly among the emperors in the past 1,600 years and one of the pinnacles of the centralized monarchy.

Meeting the three of them was a bad luck for the scholar-bureaucrats and military attachés in the early Ming Dynasty.

This feeling is undoubtedly felt very deeply by Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi and others at this moment.

After four months of hard work, they finally rushed back to Nanjing on the seventeenth day of the winter lunar month. Hundreds of civil servants from the Northern Expedition had lost weight almost visibly, like a group of refugees fleeing from the grasslands.

"You are too slow. I have been back for so long and you have just come back. I have to handle so many government affairs alone. What does a grand master do?"

In Wuying Palace, Zhu Di looked at Jie Jin and the group of people with a bit of anger on his face, but he was smiling very happily in his heart.

"I am ashamed to trust Your Majesty..."

Facing Zhu Di's "anger", Xie Jin and others had no choice but to bow and bow, admitting that they had made mistakes even if they were right.

Before the Northern Expedition, they managed to have fair skin and a well-proportioned or round figure.

After the Northern Expedition, their skin color was dark, their cheeks were sunken, and they had no flesh on their bodies. The wind seemed to be strong enough to blow them away.

Even though they were tortured by Zhu Di, they couldn't say anything. After all, the emperor had personally endured hardships, so what could a group of his ministers say?
"The next imperial examination will make equestrian skills a mandatory requirement. I don't want the temple to be filled with a group of Confucian scholars who can't even master the Six Arts of the Gentleman."

Zhu Di was still taunting them, but they still had to smile with them.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting aside, stood up with a chuckle, thus saving the group of Confucian scholars who were said to be blushing.

"Your Majesty, the Yang family of Bozhou accepts the return of their native land, which is a good thing for the court. The three divisions of Guizhou can also be established."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Xie Jin, who was still blushing, had to raise his head and reluctantly bowed:

"Your Majesty, one province has been added to the range of the mid-term lottery out of thin air, which will naturally lead to crowded places for the mid-term lottery."

"I believe that the number of Jinshi should be increased in the three volumes of Northern and Southern Middle School."

Although he was already weak and unable to speak, Jie Jin was still fighting for future power in Shangshu.

"There is no need to increase the quota."

Before Zhu Di could speak, Zhu Gaoxu took the lead and said: "The imperial court is no more than a hundred mansions, a hundred prefectures, a thousand and four hundred counties, a little over four hundred guards, and a little over three hundred offices."

"With the addition of one province or the reduction of one province, these state capital health offices will not change much. The people participating in the imperial examination will still be the same group of people."

"If we want to increase the number of places, it will naturally have to happen when the population increases and competition becomes greater."

"Every official in the imperial court is not selected from thousands of miles away. Increasing the quota will only allow some fish with varying qualities to slip through the net."

Zhu Gaoxu seemed to be speaking for the officials, but in fact he was rejecting Jie Jin's thoughts.

The imperial examination is the path they want to take, so they should just take the imperial examination honestly.

The current situation is that the junior staff at the grassroots level are occupied by New Deal students, and the middle and high-level imperial examinations still need to face the challenges of New Deal students.

Just talking about the number of students, Xie Jin and the others had already learned about it during their journey south. There are more than 200,000 New Deal students graduating this year.

If the court continues to do this, after a few decades, Nanbeijuan may no longer be protecting students from the north and southwest, but students from the south of the Yangtze River.

Jie Jin and the others wanted to maintain the original situation, but Zhu Gaoxu disagreed.

There are only two ways he can give Xie Jin and the others, either to actively accept the New Deal now, or to be forced to accept the New Deal in the future.

By accepting the New Deal now, Jiangnan can keep up with other New Deal areas. If it is accepted again in the future, Jiangnan will fall behind by more than ten years.

Xie Jin and the others are now riding a tiger, unable to get off. The New Deal they want to accept is official education, but what they resist are the New Deal political and economic reforms outside of official education.

If this was a matter of land surveying and liquidation, it's possible that many officials would be implicated, but they didn't dare to take the initiative.

"Since His Highness said so, let's do it for the time being."

Jie Jin did not dare to argue with Zhu Gaoxu, mainly because he could not argue with Zhu Gaoxu.

Seeing that he failed to perform any meritorious service, a trace of regret flashed in Yang Shiqi's eyes, and then he continued to pretend to be responsible.

Seeing their appearance, Zhu Di also waved his hand and said: "You have just returned to Nanjing. I allow you to take three days off to rest, and you will be on duty after three days."

"Thank you for your grace, I will take my leave..."

Upon hearing this, Xie Jin and others bowed in return, then walked out of Wuying Hall with their heads lowered.

As they walked out, Zhu Di also laughed: "Haha, did you see that these old barbarians also look so ugly?"

"It's really embarrassing." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and bowed to Zhu Di:
"The Yang family of Bozhou accepted the reform and returned home, so now the only thorn in the side is the Tian family."

"If the Tian family is destroyed, the Song An family will most likely accept the recruitment."

"The current situation is that after cleaning up these four families, we have basically dealt with more than 80% of the chieftains in Guizhou. The remaining chieftains in southern Guizhou can be suppressed by force or recruited. In short, the problem of setting up three divisions in Guizhou is not big anymore. The problem now is Move their population out and move the people from the south of the Yangtze River in."

If you want to change the proportion of ethnic groups in Guizhou, the most direct way is to relocate a small number of people and bring in Han people.

Unlike Bohai and Annan, Guizhou does not have many grain-producing areas, so the political and military benefits of capturing it are greater than the economic benefits.

When the native people of Guizhou migrate to Sichuan and Huguang, they must ensure that they can live comfortably, and reclaiming wasteland for food is indispensable.

"My ministers are planning to relocate millions of native people to southern Sichuan and Huguang. At the same time, they will transfer 5 million dan of grain from South Zhili for them to open up wasteland."

"These five million stones, including the tax quotas from Sichuan and Huguang, are enough to support them in pioneering wasteland for two years."

"I believe that in two years' time, there will be fewer rebellions in Guizhou, and at the same time, the cultivated land in Sichuan and Huguang will increase."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about his thoughts, but after hearing this, Zhu Di raised a new question: "The number of people in Guizhou is so large that just moving one million people out of the mountainous area is probably not enough."

"One million is just a rough estimate. We still have to wait until he returns home to know the details, just like Xifan now."

Zhu Gaoxu mentioned Xifan, and Zhu Di also lowered his head and looked at his desk.

There are two books on his desk, which are the "Yellow Book" and the "Fish Scale Atlas" from the parts of Duogan that were converted to native lands by the Ming army and Mu's chieftain Papaya soldiers.

There were many Xuanwei Divisions, Zhaoping Divisions, Wanhu Prefectures, and Qianhu Offices under Duogan Dusi's rule. Among them, many chieftains in areas close to the post roads were returned to their hometowns by the Ming army, and the population and cultivated land were counted.

However, statistics are one thing, and governance is another. The Ming army can only maintain such rule in the Duogan area at the moment. Uszangdusi further up is unable to interfere and can only maintain the construction of post roads and defend a few an important city.

"The two Xuanwei Departments and Wanhu Mansion can count 120,000 people and more than 300,000 acres of cultivated land. This is indeed an unexpected surprise."

Zhu Di took the "Yellow Book" and flipped through it, but after reading it, he shook his head and said: "It's just that the output is too little."

Because the environment at this moment is even worse than in modern times, even in the Western Sichuan region in later generations, the yield per mu in the Duogan area in this era was only about a hundred catties.

Such output, coupled with the uncultivable land, undoubtedly gave Zhu Di a headache.

"Move 10,000 households to the plateau and leave 10,000 households behind." Zhu Gaoxu said.

In this era when productivity has not improved, if Zhu Gaoxu wants to make the Duogan region a place that can supply food and grass for the army, he must increase the per capita cultivated land area.

Since farmland is difficult to cultivate, reclamation is obviously not feasible.

In this case, the only way to increase the per capita cultivated land area is to migrate away the population.

"Leave 10,000 households to cultivate more than 300,000 acres of arable land locally, and ensure that sugar, oil, and tea are transported to the local area, which will increase their other food supplies in disguise. This will make it much easier to buy food."

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di explained. Zhu Di nodded after hearing this and said:

"It's a way, but it's easy for this person to move away, but it's difficult to move back."

Zhu Di also thought about relocating the population back in the future, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't think so. Considering the environment in Xifan, before industrialization, the local population was a burden to the Ming Dynasty.

“Maintain these populations first, and then discuss relocation when conditions are suitable later.”

Zhu Gaoxu was not going to discuss the population issue of Xifan with Zhu Di because he wanted to lead the topic to good news.

"Father, tell me, if the grain production in the Jiangnan region can be increased by 20%, how much will the court's taxes increase?"

When Zhu Di was about to pick up the teacup, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly spoke and stopped him.

"What did you say?" Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu in disbelief, and Zhu Gaoxu also stood up and chuckled:

"Erchen said that he can increase Jiangnan's grain production by 20%..."

(End of this chapter)