Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 399 Assessing the Situation
"Jingle Bell……"

In April, when the cowbells began to ring, the city gates of Zunyi City in Guizhou slowly opened, and many people dressed in coarse linen and linen clothes began to walk out of the city gates and went to work on their own farmland.

In more than half a month, the news of Queen Xu's death had reached Zunyi Mansion, and most of the officials in Zunyi City were working in plain clothes.

Many people were very curious about their change in clothing.

It was only after inquiring that they learned about the death of the current queen.

In addition to lamenting, even in this remote place in Zunyi, people spontaneously lit incense beside the Xiang River near Zunyi City to pay homage to Her Highness the "Queen Renxiao" whom they had only known for a year.

"Once Queen Daxing leaves, I wonder if there will be any changes in the capital..."

On the bank of the Xiangjiang River, Xu Shuo, the prefect of Zunyi, couldn't help but sigh after imitating the actions of Shaomin.

Standing next to him, Zhao Gui, a fellow prefect, stood in the pavilion by the river, watching the young people paying tribute on the river bank.

"Those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world. The people's hearts and minds of Zunyi Prefecture depend entirely on the imperial court's policy preferences."

"Yeah" Xu Shuo nodded: "I think so too, so Guizhou's land tax quota will definitely become higher and higher, after all..."

The former is to distribute production materials and rations, and the latter is to distribute copper coins in exchange for work relief.

Xu Shuo didn't know Zhao Gui's psychological activities. He was just calculating his assessment results in three years.

"To be specific, we still have to see what the imperial court's land tax quota for Guizhou will be. I estimate it will not exceed one million dan."

Of course, it wasn't that he thought Xu Shuo couldn't do it, but that he couldn't do it himself.

Under such policy tilt, the lives of people in Zunyi Prefecture have improved visibly.

"This year the imperial court allocated 500,000 yuan from Nanjing to Guizhou. I heard that it will arrive in Guiyang after autumn. How much do you think we can get?"

Whether the sun is scorching or it rains suddenly, these huts can serve as a shelter from the wind and rain for farmers who obey farmers.

Once the imperial court stops supporting Guizhou, no matter how capable Xu Shuo and others are, they will not be able to maintain the status quo.

"I estimate that the amount distributed to us will only be less than 10,000 guan at most."

In other words, if you work hard for a month, you can buy a piece of cloth and four pounds of salt, and still have ten cents left at the end.

"Do you think that among the sixteen prefectures in Guizhou, besides Sinan Prefecture, Guiyang Prefecture and Sizhou Prefecture, who else can surpass us?"

Xu Shuo raised his chin and motioned Zhao Gui to look outside.

Zhao Gui asked Xu Shuo. After hearing his question, Xu Shuo thought for a while and gave his answer:

A piece of cloth that once cost three hundred cents can now be purchased for only two hundred and thirty cents, and the salary offered by the court is ten cents per day.

Of course, whether the pay-for-work policy can be sustained depends on how long the court's policy preference for Guizhou can continue.

"But it's not bad. I plan to build the official road from Tongzi County to Dongxi Town in one go."

Xu Shuo said it easily, but it was extremely difficult for Zhao Gui to hear his words.

In his opinion, as long as he can catch Xu Shuo, he might be able to work hard to climb up, and maybe he can climb to a fourth-rank official position, in which case he will really be a glorious ancestor.

Zhao Gui was well aware of such a huge difference in treatment, but he also felt very uncomfortable, but he did not show it.

Zhao Gui's words made Xu Shuo nod. After all, they had indeed done a lot since they took office last year.

As for going higher, he had never thought about it, nor did he dare to think about it, because it was not something that a person with no background like him could climb up.

"Last year, we reclaimed more than 70,000 acres of farmland. If we continue this for two years, when we start paying taxes in the 11th year of Yongle, our government will be able to pay at least 60,000 shitian tax."

"With our annual output of less than 300 tons, we can never cope with it. However, the resources of Guizhou governments are poor and it is impossible to support us. Therefore, we can only ask the Chief Secretary of Sichuan for help."

"We have done well and they have benefited, so they will naturally be grateful to the court. This is why they pay homage to Queen Daxing like this."

The price of salt, which was once thirty or forty cents, has now dropped to fifteen cents per catty due to the influx of well salt from Sichuan.

"With the 16 prefectures and 72 counties in Guizhou, our conditions and environment are second only to Sizhou, Sinan, Tongren in eastern Guizhou, and Guiyang Prefecture where the Third Division is located, and this money is distributed according to the poor first and then the rich."

"Once the last 80 miles of official roads from Zunyi to Sichuan are completed, whether Sichuan is transporting supplies to Guizhou, or outside merchants are transporting goods into Guizhou, Zunyi will be our first choice."

Zhao Gui was different from Xu Shuo. Xu Shuo had a background from Jilin City, while he only had a background from an ordinary rural area in Shandong.

In addition, the former wooden bridges were demolished, and stone and concrete bridges were built.

Although they were all dressed in coarse linen, their dress was slightly different from that of the people in Zunyi Prefecture, and they were immigrants moved to Zunyi Prefecture by the imperial court in the past year.

In addition, the prices of cloth, cooking oil, rice, sauce, vinegar, and tea were originally nearly 50% more expensive than the outside world. Now, with the opening of the policy and the promotion of investment and trade by Xu Shuo and others, they have basically dropped a lot.

One month can solve the problem of food and clothing for a year. This was something that the people of Zunyi would not have dared to imagine when they were under the rule of Chieftain Yang.

"The people are not fools, they can see what we have done for them."

"Based on last year's output, after the construction of water conservancy projects, our government's output per mu can still reach one stone, three or four bushels of grain per mu."

It is the small thatched pavilion that Xu Shuo and the others are currently living in. This kind of thing seems inconspicuous, but they have built more than 400 of these thatched pavilions in one go, covering almost the entire area outside Zunyi City. on the plains.

Zhao Gui thought for a moment and shook his head after hearing this: "There should be no other ones except these three. However, these three mainly take up the benefits of Tian and Song chieftains' hard work for hundreds of years. Compared with construction, they cannot compare with us. In the end, It’s hard to say what the outcome will be.”

Divide the fields equally, distribute grain for land reclamation, build bridges and roads...

Zhao Gui looked in the direction Xu Shuo pointed and saw a group of farmers walking toward the fields while chatting.

"However, there are also difficulties, that is, widening this official road, which requires a lot of gunpowder and cement."

When others see Xu Shuo's resume, they will subconsciously wonder if he is related to any nobles in the court. But when they see their own resume, they will only leave a polite compliment, and then put his resume aside for a few days. I won’t pick it up and read it again.

Huguang and Jiangxi each forcibly moved 100,000 people into Guizhou. Zunyi Prefecture alone received 20,000 immigrants, and Xu Shuo also gave them 60,000 acres of cultivated land.

Since there are grain rations and cultivated land to produce, most of them will start to reclaim wasteland in groups after the busy spring planting. Last year, they reclaimed nearly 40,000 acres of the 70,000 acres of cultivated land in Zunyi Prefecture.

"Another group of immigrants will arrive this year." Xu Shuo told the trend above and said at the same time:
"The more people from Hankou migrate, the more obvious the policy will be until Guizhou becomes stable."

"Currently, not counting Qiannan, Guizhou has less than 2 million people. It is estimated that the imperial court will gradually stop the migration policy if another 500,000 people move in."

“Given the imperial court’s intensity of relocation, I estimate that the immigration policy will be ended within three years.”

"I heard that the chieftains in Qiannan in the south have been suppressed, leaving only some small and medium-sized chieftains fighting guerrillas in the mountains with Duke Qian and Duke Cao."

"I estimate that Qiannan will be completely pacified around the end of the year."

"When the time comes, the imperial court will either take action against Guangxi or Yunnan."

Although Xu Shuo often relies on his background, his sense of smell and ability are also one of the reasons why he can obtain background and resources.

Just like at the moment, even though he had made it clear, Zhao Gui did not agree: "Guizhou's transformation from native land to exile can be regarded as a great achievement in all dynasties."

"It will take less than 30 to 50 years to digest Guizhou. Will the imperial court be so anxious to swallow up Guangxi and Yunnan?"

Zhao Gui's analysis is not unreasonable. After all, from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the present, no Han people have been able to completely control the local area in more than 1,500 years, and the Yongle Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty undoubtedly completed this great achievement.

It will take at least thirty years to consolidate this achievement. Otherwise, if chaos breaks out in Guizhou again, this hard-earned great achievement may become a weakness that will be criticized by historians.

Anyway, from Zhao Gui's point of view, if he sat in that position, he would never be so anxious to seek success, but would take things slowly and steadily.

"If you don't take action, then you are not Your Highness."

As soon as Xu Shuo opened his mouth, Zhao Gui choked.

"Great success" is almost the best word for people to impeach Zhu Di and his son. Although the New Deal has been reducing the burden on the people, taxes cannot increase out of thin air. Therefore, the officials and subordinates whose interests were harmed spontaneously began to impeach Zhu Di and his son after they were eliminated. What a great success.

Although this great success did not increase the burden on the people, it does show how far the father and son have taken this step.

If their father and son really cared about this, they would not attack the southwest at the same time as the Northern Expedition.

Now that there is no war in the north and the war in Guizhou is coming to an end, it does not seem surprising that a new battlefield will be opened.

"Compared to Yunnan, I guess the court prefers Guangxi."

Xu Shuo was still mainly studying the court's policies, while Zhao Gui was analyzing what Xu Shuo had just said.

Seeing what he said now, Zhao Gui thought of Xu Shuo's thoughts: "Are you going to take a job in Guangxi after three years of assessment?"

"Yeah!" Xu Shuo didn't hide it from Zhao Gui. After all, he took the initiative to say this and wanted to take Zhao Gui to Guangxi with him.

The two have known each other for three years and worked together for one year. During this period, Xu Shuo felt that Zhao Gui was a good person.

Many New Deal officials he knew were eliminated because they could not resist the temptation. However, Zhao Gui passed through so much money and food every year, but almost never used power for personal gain. This kind of person was the person he needed.

"There are gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan. Why not deal with the chieftains in Yunnan first? Is it because Guangxi has sea routes?"

Zhao Gui asked Xu Shuo, but Xu Shuo shook his head and said: "The sea route is only one reason, the more important thing is the location of Guangxi."

"At present, all the chieftains in Guizhou and northwest Guangdong have been repatriated, and Jiaozhi is under military control. This means that all three sides of Guangxi are stable, but Yunnan is not stable." "If we want to deal with Yunnan first, then after that, The imperial court will have two directions: Three Annals, Ten Comforts and Guangxi."

"Since the establishment of the Dagula Xuanwei Division, there have been voices in the temple, thinking of taking action against Mengyang, Mubang, Burma, Dagula and other Xuanwei Divisions, so that the imperial court can directly control the Dagula Countries such as East Asia and Siam.”

"Once Yunnan is captured, Guangxi will definitely not be as important as this position. After all, the tax revenue that the East, West, and West can bring is not comparable to Guangxi. By then, it will be a sure thing to send troops to announce and ten comforts."

"But His Highness also knows that it is very difficult to build official roads in Yunnan, and the climate problem is serious, so sending troops by force will definitely outweigh the gains."

"Therefore, it is the safest plan to send troops to Guangxi first to connect the coast together, and then further reform Yunnan, and continue to proclaim and reassure the people that they will return to the country."

Xu Shuo's words are the latest trend in the temple, and this is also a problem caused by Xiaoxiyang being classified as a private trade zone.

Before Zheng He's voyages to the West, the maritime merchants' trading partners were only Japan and Southeast Asia.

Nowadays, both directions have become official trade areas of the Ming Dynasty, leaving them with only the Xiaoxiyang Trade Area.

If this trade area cannot bring enough benefits, then they will naturally not pay attention to it.

But over the past year or so, as the coastal merchant gangs of the Pacific Fleet have continued to return, it turns out that they have indeed made a lot of profits and become the only legal and compliant source of income.

Since Xiaoxiyang is profitable, strengthening control over Dagu La is naturally a top priority.

If you want to control Dagula, you must first control Manmo in the upper reaches of the Dajinsha River. Therefore, the security of western Yunnan has also been taken seriously.

However, different people have different views on this issue, such as Xu Shuo and Zhao Gui.

"Is it because of the Xiaoxiyang Trade Zone?" Zhao Gui frowned and said:
"I've also heard about this, but I heard that the main reason for the huge profit this time was that the fleet went to war with the Timur Kingdom. Many supplies were unable to be digested by the fleet, so they were sold to merchant ships accompanying the army at a low price."

"If the imperial court fails in Horumus, or if the two countries negotiate a peace, then this income will change from long-term to short-term."

Students under the New Government Official School tend to be biased towards later generations in terms of speech and behavior. This is because the teaching materials compiled by Zhu Gaoxu are biased towards later generations.

From the information obtained by Zhao Gui, he did not think that this short-term trade could promote the temple to pay attention to the three declarations and ten consolations.

But if he gets new information, he won't feel that way.

"They are not just following the fleet to eat scraps, but they have their own plans."

Xu Shuo glanced at Zhao Gui, and while walking out of the pavilion with him towards Zunyi City, he also explained to Zhao Gui:

"On this voyage to the Western Ocean, the larger pirates have been wiped out by the fleet, so most of the merchant ships returned to the Ming Dynasty in groups."

"On the way, I heard that they are not very stable. For example, the Bahniman Kingdom, which did not join the tribute, was robbed of its port in the name of disrespecting the king..."

"How is that possible?" Zhao Gui couldn't believe it: "They are just a bunch of businessmen, but they can actually fight against a country?"

"They are not ordinary merchants." Xu Shuo shook his head and said: "They gathered in groups, with dozens or hundreds of ships. Although the artillery was the eliminated Hongwu iron cannon, there are few countries in the world today that can Take out hundreds of Hongwu iron cannons?"

"They don't even need to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. They can defeat many small and weak countries with their sharp artillery."

The maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty have never been a law-abiding person. From Chen Zuyi who occupied other countries, to Liang Daoming who established his own country, and Shi Jinqing who sought separatism... none of these people were the ones who caused trouble at sea.

Either they want to establish themselves as kings, or they want to separatist power overseas, or they want to usurp the throne and become kings.

It is simply a fantasy to expect them to do business honestly.

Nowadays, Nanyang and East Asia are controlled by the imperial court, and all they can develop is the West.

It can be said that the current Xiaoxiyang is the Nanyang of the past.

This group of maritime merchants would not show mercy to those countries that had not become vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

"Does the court not care about it?"

Zhao Gui was surprised by the maritime merchants plundering other countries. He did not expect that these merchants were so courageous.

"How to control it?" Xu Shuo asked him, and asked: "Are they vassal states of the imperial court?"

"No..." Zhao Gui came to his senses. Since it was not a vassal state, why would the Ming Dynasty interfere in these matters.

If the imperial court really wanted to take care of it, let alone sending out the Western Fleet, the Western and Little Western Fleets stationed in Ceylon and Dakoura alone would be enough to destroy these armed merchant ships.

"The imperial court wanted to make these disobedient vassals surrender. Therefore, Haishang's actions not only did not offend the interests of the imperial court, but even added fuel to the flames."

As Xu Shuo said this, he even thought of some things that he himself had no information about.

"In the past, pirates were rampant in the Little West, so merchant ships passing by were wary."

"These merchant ships turn into pirates when they encounter someone weaker than themselves, and hand over their goods honestly when they encounter someone stronger than themselves. It can be said that the entire Little Western Ocean is a world of the jungle."

"But now that the imperial fleet has wiped out the pirates of the Little Western Sea, the Little Western Waterway has become unobstructed, and the number of merchant ships will naturally increase."

"Under such circumstances, many countries will collect taxes at ports."

"If it is a vassal state of the imperial court, then if the money is earned, it will eventually have to be handed over in the tribute trade."

"But if it were not a vassal state of the imperial court, then this money would have been lost in the ocean."

"The imperial court worked so hard to eliminate the small Western pirates, not just to make money for these small countries who did not accept the king's rule."

"Currently, all merchant ships in the Little Western Channel know that the harbors flying my Ming Dynasty flag are not allowed to be plundered. Once they are robbed, they will be attacked by the Little Western and West Sea Fleets."

"In that case, what do you think they would do if they saw a country that did not fly our Ming Dynasty flag?"

"If it were you, you would choose to rob."

Xu Shuo said this, and Zhao Gui also suddenly understood: "I understand, in this way, many weak countries do not need the imperial court to take action personally. They will take the initiative to contact the imperial court and voluntarily become vassals of the imperial court."

"But in this case, this group of business gangs will not have many opportunities to plunder. Will they still care about the three announcements and ten comforts?"

"Then I don't know." Xu Shuo shook his head, but after a second thought, he continued:

"But since the imperial court dares to let them do this, it probably knows that there is a more valuable direction ahead."

"If my estimate is correct, it should be Dongzhou, Beizhou or Kunlun Continent."

"As long as these places are profitable, I don't believe these businessmen will not be tempted."

After Xu Shuo finished speaking, he and Zhao Gui also walked into the Zunyi city gate and walked back towards the Yamen.

Drainage channels have been built on both sides of the neat stone brick road, and occasionally there are garbage trucks waiting to be towed away on the street.

Various shops are popping up in endlessly on the streets, and many merchants speaking Sichuan Mandarin are also struggling to communicate and do business with the local native people.

Compared with this time last year, the entire Zunyi City can be said to be more prosperous. Even the prices of vegetables in restaurants have dropped by 40% compared with before, and there are more diners in restaurants.

Although the two were prefects and co-prefects, ordinary people in Zunyi City rarely knew their identities and only regarded them as ordinary officials.

"This prosperity is the result of working for money. If we stop this policy and money stops flowing, then this prosperity will collapse."

Xu Shuo is very aware of the problem in Zunyi Prefecture, that is, there are no specialties that can support the current market.

The current market is nothing more than supported by the yamen's money for projects.

If there is no funding from the court, Zunyi Yamen will have no living money and cannot continue its policies, then this market will be just a flash in the pan.

There are relatively few resources here and there are relatively few that can be utilized, so Xu Shuo is prepared to immediately move to Guangxi or Yunnan after the assessment.

In his opinion, if nothing happens, Zunyi Mansion's only source of income is to continue to open up wasteland.

However, once policy support is lost, the pace of land reclamation in Zunyi Prefecture will immediately slow down.

Once the pace of land reclamation slows down, it will be difficult to achieve the "Triple A" that Xu Shuo wants.

Even with his background in Jilin City, he would only be an official of the Third Division in his life, unable to enter the capital he desired and serve as an official in the capital.

Only by following the policies and using the court's policies to demonstrate your talents will you have the opportunity to continuously climb up.

As for the people of Zunyi Prefecture, Xu Shuo could only hope that the next official would be less corrupt.

He didn't want a state or a government. All he wanted was the position of the six ministers.

Only by sitting in those positions can he develop himself better and leave a name in history.

Thinking of this, Xu Shuo and Zhao Gui also walked to the government office.

As soon as they entered the government office, an official came towards them with a piece of urgent information and smiled happily, and bowed to them from a distance:
"Prefect Xu, Tongzhi Zhao, good news came from the south. The chieftains in southern Guizhou have been pacified. Duke Qian, Duke Cao, Marquis Zhenyuan, and Marquis Jianchang have led their troops to regroup."

"That's indeed good news!" Xu Shuo had a smile on his face. The moment he took the letter and looked through it, he felt a little uneasy.

"We have to speed up. I hope the court won't move too fast..."

(End of this chapter)