Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 519 Long-term peace and stability
"Uuuuuu——"

After the first day of the new year, as the piercing whistle of Beijing East Railway Station sounded, a poorly dressed family was walking towards the station under the supervision of the royal guards.

The two young men stopped and looked towards the invisible Beijing City to the west.

The man in commoner clothes stopped when he saw this, turned around and walked to his two sons, stretched out his hand and patted their shoulders.

"Father, we left this time, can we come back again?"

A young man asked his father, and his father was Wang Hui, the Qiandian Pavilion scholar who had just been released and was now being sent back to his hometown.

Facing the expectant looks of his two sons, Wang Hui glanced at the city of Beijing: "I will come back. When the time comes, we will not be so passive."

"Master Wang, the train has arrived at the station."

The two royal guards bowed and reminded him. After hearing this, Wang Hui had no choice but to take his wife and board the train under their supervision.

After getting on the train, many people in the train learned of his identity and immediately enthusiastically brought him food and water, expressing their gratitude to him for punishing those corrupt officials.

Because the process went too smoothly, Muchun and Wang Xuan decided that Wang Xuan would guard Mengyang, while Muchun and Fu Rang led their troops to Mengken and Mubang to return home.

This method is more cruel than collecting taxes from the rich and giving them to the poor, but it is very practical.

Judging from the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, one hundred thousand people control most of the wealth in society.

Migrating these people can solve the population pressure in Jiangnan and enrich the place.

Through large-scale infrastructure construction, the Ming Dynasty distributed more than 80 million yuan of wealth to the people in the past nine years.

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Zhanhe took the list of corrupt officials in Hangzhou and Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, which Zhang Mengcun had submitted, and felt a lot of dissatisfaction in his heart.

The Ming Dynasty had already redistributed land once when Zhu Gaoxu implemented the New Deal and equally distributed the land. Now, corrupt officials and overseas gold and silver are collected in the hands of the court and distributed through major projects.

"Not surprising." Zhu Gaoxu responded calmly, while flipping through the Southwest War Memorial in his hand and nodding with satisfaction.

Wherever railways are built, people will basically not worry about work problems. They can work during the slack period and farm during the busy period.

There are more than 45,000 people, and 570,000 people are involved. This number is quite large, and they are mainly in Jiangnan.

"If this person is used well, the Ming Dynasty will be more likely to prosper."

"There are very few people like Wang Hui who are bold, careful and famous. Letting him go will teach him a lesson. The current treasury of the imperial court can last for three years. If he is reinstated in three years, he will not be able to do anything. Only forty-three years old.”

Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Yishiha wanted to take action, but Zhu Zhanhe took the first step to find the Ministry of Punishment's document and read it:
"There are 3,457 corrupt officials, 42,454 officials, and 576,954 family members involved."

Of course, in addition to this reputation, he also has other back-ups, and that is Zhang Mengcun...

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Zhu Zhanhe nodded in understanding, and then asked:
"Father said before that the court collects taxes from the people, and if the people have no money, they cannot pay the taxes. They can only sell their crops at low prices to exchange for silver to pay the taxes. Therefore, the court must distribute all the taxes collected to the people so that the people have money in their hands."

He turned to look at his father, but saw that his old god was there and didn't care about this matter.

"Father, this Meng Cun has returned to his previous appearance without Wang Hui's command."

As long as the entire plateau area is captured and the roads are repaired by then, it will be easy to capture the Great Jinsha River Plain.

One in a thousand people occupies most of society's wealth, which may not seem like much, but in terms of population, it is a lot.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu said without hesitation: "Corrupt officials, husbands, wives, and heirs will be sent to Mobei, and the rest will be sent to Daning."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished his review, he turned his attention to Zhu Zhanhe.

Then they can not only solve the problem of official corruption, but also enrich the national treasury to help the court support the people, and the people will be happy to see these corrupt officials confiscated and exiled.

As long as he has this reputation, he has no worries about coming back.

The current Yan Li case is essentially a process of resource recycling and redistribution. Social wealth can still exist in a pyramid structure in some small countries, but in the Ming Dynasty it existed in a nail structure.

Of course, there were also corrupt officials who tried to get their hands on the money, but the Guimao case undoubtedly recovered the part they wanted with interest.

Large-scale infrastructure construction is now the second method of distributing money and food in the Ming Dynasty, which has indeed made the people in the north rich.

In this context, officials who hold power must be a group of people who hold wealth.

Faced with the three people's plan, Zhu Gaoxu said: "Very good. Don't forget to register the people's households and submit the yellow book and fish scale atlas of Yunnan Xingdu Secretary."

"How many officials and family members were involved in the Yan Li case?"

But even so, in the face of the Ming army's rapid offensive, these chieftains still had no choice but to be converted into exile.

This scene made the two children couldn't help but puff up their chests, while Wang Hui responded politely to any common people who came forward and declined all food and water.

Zhu Zhanhe discussed the issue of secondary distribution. Secondary distribution is essentially an income redistribution process in which various income entities transfer the results of the primary distribution in cash or in kind through various channels. It is also the court's decision on factors The process of readjusting income.

"This approach is actually the same as the secondary distribution taught in middle school politics. But if this principle can be long-lasting, doesn't it mean that the court and the people can always be balanced?"

Parents, brothers, wife, uncle and father-in-law, these are the criteria for implicating others. Generally speaking, they are the three services of a corrupt official and his wife.

"What's going on with this Zhang Mengcun? He handled the case so quickly in South Zhili, but now he is timid in Zhejiang."

In essence, it is to steal the homes of the rich, use the rich's money to create jobs for the poor, and give the poor the opportunity to work and make money.

Muchun, Wang Xuan, Fu Rang and others took advantage of the slightly lower temperature in Mengyang and other places to send troops in winter. Most of the chieftains had been wiped out. Tens of thousands were killed and tens of thousands were captured. This shows the strength of the chieftains in Mengyang and other places.

What kind of means should be used in what kind of background? Although the background of the Ming Dynasty was more enlightened and closer to modern times than the original history due to Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement, it was still the background of feudal rule.

"Yes!" After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhu Zhanhe responded decisively.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Wang Hui knew that his plan was successful.

The wealth they control now is less than 90%, and that's because Zhu Gaoxu is constantly recycling and distributing it.

He has been to Daning and Mobei, and he knows very well how much change these 500,000 people can bring to Daning and Mobei if they are assigned to them.

Apart from anything else, there are currently so many resources in Mobei, but only a few hundred thousand Mongolians and Han people exploit them.

If hundreds of thousands of people are sent there, the rate of local resource extraction will also increase.

As for Daning, the Songyuan, Baicheng, and Hecheng railways are currently being prepared for construction. Daning has a population of only 400,000, and the annual five-month freeze period plus two months of farming leave only five months for construction. time.

With such a small number of people, such a short period of time, and so many things to do, it would be just right to send over 400,000 people there.

Anyway, the railway is being built, so there is no need to worry about food transportation.

With the railway, as long as the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was sufficient, it could organize the migration of tens or millions of people. It was just a matter of time.

For example, for the migration of more than 500,000 people, with the transportation capacity of the Beijing-Beijing and Northeast Railways, at least thousands of flights will be needed to transport them to Daning.

According to the existing transportation capacity, even if two railways are dedicated to distribution, it will take at least two months to dispatch more than 500,000 people to Daning.

This may seem very slow, but compared to the year it once took to send tens of thousands of people to Daning, this is already very fast.

The shutdown of the two railways will cause a loss of at least 600,000 yuan in two months, but in the long run, this 600,000 yuan is nothing.

The income brought by these people from traveling to Daning and Mobei alone far exceeds the 600,000 yuan.

Today, the Ming Dynasty has cultivated more than 680 million acres of farmland, but the cultivated land is mainly in the land south of Jilin. Many places north of Jilin are still swamps and depressions.

These places require a large amount of construction resources to build water conservancy facilities, and then gradually turn the swampy depressions into wasteland that can be reclaimed and cultivated.

This process is very long. Even if the Ming Dynasty had cement and trains, it would still take decades or even hundreds of years to domesticate this vast northeastern plain.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Zhanhe to draw up a policy for governing Daning and Mobei. After hearing this, Zhu Zhanhe quickly began to sort out his thoughts.

The father and son have gradually become harmonious in governing the country, but compared to them, a fierce war broke out in the mountains thousands of miles away from Beijing.

"put!"

“Bang bang bang!!”

The dull and violent sound of artillery sounded in the long mountain. Thousands of Ming troops were besieging a hilltop at this moment.

This mountain is called Niutoushan, and it is the hiding place of Li Li, the leader of the Cochin rebellion.

Li Li's tenacity exceeded Fu Rang's estimate. Fu Rang originally thought that Li Li would surrender in one and a half months at most, but he did not expect that Li Li had stored enough food on Niutou Mountain and there was enough water on Niutou Mountain.

Having fought against the Ming army for many years, Le Li already knew how to defend himself against the Ming army's artillery.

They built stone walls that were several feet thick. They blocked all the mountain roads with such thick walls. In addition, the roads were narrow and rugged, and the artillery could not go up at all, so they could only shell at the bottom of the mountain.

Because the distance was too far, the rapid cannonballs could only leave a few white marks on the thick wall after flying two or three miles.

The more than ten thousand bandits led by Li Li smelted the Ming army's artillery shells into weapons and armor, and constantly equipped themselves.

"Where did these guys get so much food, water, and firewood?"

In front of the artillery position, Zhu Zhanqi used his binoculars to look at Niutoushan, where smoke was constantly coming out, and his suspicions became more and more serious.

Due to his outstanding military exploits, he has been fighting fiercely in Niutoushan for three months as a Qianhu official.

"Zhang Qianhu, the commander sent an order for you to search around to see if there is a cave entrance to the outside in Niutoushan."

A Tangqi came on horseback and saluted Zhu Zhanqi on the ground. Zhu Zhanqi nodded after hearing this: "I understand!"

After receiving the military order, he quickly led the other 800 people under his command, except the artillery, to start the search, which lasted for several days.

On the eve of the Lantern Festival, he led his men to encounter hundreds of bandits who cut down trees and brought them back in a river seven miles away from the Niutoushan battlefield. Zhu Zhanqi took the lead, drew his sword and chopped down two bandits, and led dozens of Ming soldiers. The army then killed all these people.

"Qianhu, wouldn't it be a little bad to kill them all?" "These people came out of this river. The river should come out of the cave. You should be able to find them if you walk along here."

Zhu Zhanqi said to the hundreds of households beside him: "Besides, as long as we find this place and send troops to guard it, how long do you think they can hold on without firewood?"

"Send Tangqi to pass the news back, and the others will continue searching. There should be more than one entrance and exit to this cave."

"Yes!" After receiving the military order, everyone began to continue searching.

Not long after, dozens of cavalrymen came running from a distance, holding the flag "Fu", but it was not Fu Rang, but Fu Rong, who was related to Zhu Zhanqi.

"Zhang Qi, is there any other entrance?"

A thirty-year-old general with a mighty appearance and a tall posture dismounted from his horse and asked Zhu Zhanqi at the same time.

When Zhu Zhanqi heard this, he bowed and said, "We have sent people to search for it. So far, we have only found this one in a radius of ten miles."

Fu Rong, named Long'an, his father is Fu Zhong, the eldest son of Fu Youde, and his mother is Princess Shouchun, the ninth daughter of Zhu Yuanzhang.

After Fu Youde's death, Fu Zhong took two brothers, Fu Rong and Fu Cheng, back to his hometown.

In the tenth year of Yongle, Fu Rong and Fu Cheng left home and went to Fu Rang in Jiaozhi, and Fu Rang also began to train them.

Now they serve as the commanders of Guangping Guard and Qinghua Guard respectively. Although they are not as good as their fathers, they can be regarded as the middle class among the second generation of nobles.

"Take your people and continue searching. If you don't find it, send troops to guard this place. Without firewood, they won't be able to hold on for long."

"If we successfully encircle and suppress Li Li, you will be the first to win this battle!"

After Fu Rong explained, he hurriedly got on his horse and left the place.

Zhu Zhanqi led 800 people from his headquarters, excluding artillery, to garrison the river. During this period, rebels waded out of the water from time to time, but Zhu Zhanqi had given orders first, and all the rebels were killed on the spot.

As time passed, there was less and less smoke on Niutoushan, and finally there was even a move to knock down the house.

Zhu Zhanqi guarded the mouth of the cave and killed hundreds of rebels who tried to break out.

Two months later, Li Li committed suicide. The remaining more than 7,000 rebels and more than 5,000 old and weak people were suppressed and killed by Fu Rong.

At this point, the rebel Le Li, who had been causing trouble for the country for nearly two decades, was finally eliminated, and this good news was also sent to Beijing.

"My second brother took the lead in this battle, and the Jiaozhi Dusi asked for credit."

Zhu Zhanhe in Wuying Hall handed out the memorial with both hands. Zhu Gaoxu took it and read it, then put it down and said:
"I have said before that if Qi'er can be promoted again, I will let him stay in the army for one year. What do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu was testing Zhu Zhanhe, and Zhu Zhanhe said respectfully: "My second brother has such a talent, it would be good for him to have more experience in the army."

"Now that I have more experience, I will be able to guard a good place for the imperial court in the future, so that local rebellions will not continue."

Zhu Zhanhe had already understood his father's plan. In the final analysis, he wanted his dozen brothers to defend the most dangerous plan at the moment.

Zhu Zhanhe didn't think anything of it.

The most dangerous of the three diseases is malaria, followed by snakes, insects, rats, and ants.

But even so, the local population is still in the millions.

If these millions of people can take advantage of it, it will not be difficult to carve out livable areas.

Of course, if you want to make good use of these millions of people, you must have enough money and food, and Ming Dynasty does not lack money and food, at least not for the moment.

One Li Li in the southwest has been in rebellion for nearly twenty years. If several Li Li emerge despite the three announcements and ten consolations, it will be really difficult without the clan and local governors joining forces to strangle them.

"I wonder where my father is going to send my second brother to be a fief?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked his father, and Zhu Gaoxu heard this and said: "If he is still training in the army next year, then let him join the Burma Xuanwei Department after the Burmese Xuanwei Department is returned to his native land."

Zhu Gaoxu does want to confer kings on him, but this does not mean that he will send his sons to the poor mountains and rivers.

The plain area of ​​Myanmar is not small, and the development intensity is not large.

Enthroning a vassal king each in this remote area of ​​east, west, south, and north will not only assist Yunnan Xingdu Division in encircling and suppressing the rebels in the plateau and mountains, but also develop the local plains.

Among them, there are many chieftains gathered in the Arakan Mountains in the west, and they also have to face the threat of Tianzhu, so they need a capable vassal king to garrison them.

Judging from the current situation, Zhu Zhanqi's ability is just right for him to be stationed here.

"Bagan is a good place. It is not only the capital of the former Bagan Kingdom, but also the gathering place of the main ethnic groups in Luchuan. If you can manage it well here, other places will be much easier to manage."

"As for Ava (Mandalay), since this city is in the middle, it would be better to hand it over to Yunnan Xingdusi as the administrative center."

"What do you think?" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe, who nodded: "I think this is very good."

Although his father did not say it clearly, Zhu Zhanhe already knew the reason why his father conferred the title of Bagan on his younger brother.

Zhu Gaoxu was not unaware of Zhu Zhanqi's killing of prisoners in Jiaozhi, and even Zhu Zhanhe had heard about it.

Judging from his ruthless methods, using him to deal with the rebellious natives is undoubtedly the best arrangement.

Thinking like this, Zhu Zhanhe also picked up a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue and bowed: "This is a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue. In the past three months, Yan and Li have involved many officials, basically all of them were led by Yang Shiqi. and Zhang Mengcun’s disposal.”

"But this time Meng Cunzhan looked forward and backward. Without Wang's guidance, he no longer had that ruthless energy."

"After four months of investigation in Zhejiang, he only found more than 400 officials, and more than 2,000 officials had problems. Although he also found more than 2 million yuan, it was a drop in the bucket for the imperial court."

"In comparison, Yang Shiqi has maintained his previous ruthlessness. In three months, he identified more than 700 officials involved and implicated more than 3,000 officials."

"Even the accounts submitted to the Ministry of Accounts amount to more than three million yuan."

The achievements of the past three months alone are far less severe than the storm Wang Hui stirred up in southern Zhili.

Yang Shiqi was just waiting for someone to order the food. He didn't need to raid many houses, he just needed to do more than Zhang Mengcun.

Without the protection of Wang Hui, Zhang Mengcun naturally did not dare to be too cruel.

Most of the more than 400 officials he investigated were officials with low status and weak backgrounds among the Qingliu.

Otherwise, with Zhejiang being such a wealthy place, if you do a little research, you will find an income of tens of millions is not a problem at all.

"What do you think Wang Hui is thinking about?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Zhanhe. Zhu Zhanhe thought for a moment, and then said: "Probably he was wondering when the imperial court would use him."

"Maybe." Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yi Shiha: "It's been two months since he returned to Jilin. How is his life in Jilin?"

Yi Shiha bowed in return and then replied:
"After he returned to Jilin, his family only had the old house given to them by the royal family in the past, and six acres of farmland outside the city."

"Now he has his parents, younger brother and sister-in-law, and three nephews at home. Counting his family of four, there are three households of eleven people."

"His parents were farmers in their early years and owned six acres of thin farmland. Now they have been leased to other families for farming."

"His younger brother serves as one of the chief officials of Jilin County, and is a ninth-grade official. He has a salary of 30 guan per month and a frontier subsidy of 5 guan. In addition, he has purchased 20 acres of cultivated land over the years and has a third-grade official. Access yard.”

"After Wang Hui returned home, his younger brother invested 20 yuan to buy him a small courtyard with two entrances nearby. Wang Hui made a living by writing couplets for people and selling calligraphy and paintings."

"His paintings of birds, beasts and landscapes are extremely popular, and many old brothers who are leisurely at home pay high prices to buy them. However, he sells each painting consistently, not in large quantities, and only sells one piece every few days."

"He went home for two months and sold more than a dozen paintings. His life at home was very comfortable."

"The neighbors learned about his story from the latest issue of Daming News, and often sent him vegetables and rice, but he refused to accept them."

"I heard that he is going to teach in a middle school in Jilin recently, but I don't know what the current situation is."

Yi Shiha told Wang Hui's situation, and he had to say that if Wang Hui really wanted to make money, it would be very easy with his talent and learning.

Knowing that he was doing well, Zhu Gaoxu felt relieved.

"I will let him go for two years. If there is no one in the government who can replace him, it will not be too late to recall him."

Originally, Zhu Gaoxu was planning to leave him alone for three years, but judging from the current situation of Yang Shiqi and Zhang Mengcun, they might not be able to find much money in food even if they investigate the Yan Li case for two years.

At that time, Wang Hui may have to return so that funds can be raised for the construction of the remaining railways in the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking like this, Zhu Gaoxu thought of the palace outside the palace, and then said:

"The palace originally had five people, but now that Wang Hui has been dismissed, one person is missing."

As he said this, he already had a suitable candidate in mind, and this person was Wang Ji, who had been working outside for more than 20 years.

After serving as an official for more than 20 years, Wenzhi inspected Shanxi, punished corrupt officials, and managed Jiaozhi. The Hankou of Jiaozhi increased to more than 1.6 million people today, and the annual land tax exceeds 6 million shi.

His martial arts skills include repelling the rebels, relieving the siege of Qinghua, cooperating with Fu Rang to reform the southwest, transporting grain and grass for the army, and even personally leading the soldiers of the Military and Horse Division to encircle and destroy more than 30 large and small cottages in Jiaozhi.

With his literary and martial arts skills, Zhu Gaoxu should have given him higher treatment, even a knighthood.

But considering that Wang Ji is only forty-seven now, and he lived for more than eighty years in history, he still has a long road ahead, so there is no need to rush.

After his thoughts fell, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe and said:

"Pass on my decree to promote Zhang Mengcun to the rank of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites. I will submit the list of promotions to the Secretary of the Capital of Cochin."

"In addition, Wang Ji, the chief envoy of Cochin, was transferred to Beijing to serve as a bachelor of Wuying Palace and was awarded the title of Prince's Young Master."

(End of this chapter)