Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 549 Alone
"Stop the ship and get inspected!"

In October, as the imperial court decreed naval martial law in the sea, many ships of the vassal states and ships of the Ming Dynasty were undoubtedly affected.

Maritime control has become stricter, and state-owned merchant ships from various countries need to be inspected once they travel hundreds of miles by sea. The frequency is so high that all countries in the East Manchurian Sea can feel the shock caused by the internal changes in the suzerain country.

The East China Sea and North Sea Fleets led by Zheng He and Yang Zhan arrived at the Strait of Manlajia in the winter month.

This move caused Majapahit, who had been having constant friction with the Ming Dynasty in recent times, to calm down a lot.

However, as the two fleets headed to the Little Western Sea and the Little Western Fleet was mobilized, Majapahit's mind became active.

For a time, the friction between Majapahit and the Nanyang Third Division and Nanzhou Xuanwei Division of the Ming Dynasty not only did not decrease, but continued to increase.

On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Queen Suhida of Majapahit ordered to send away Shi Mao, the ambassador of the Ministry of Rites to Majapahit and his personal guards.

Such a move is undoubtedly the most arrogant provocation by a vassal state against the suzerain state since the establishment of the Ming dynasty vassal system.

As the expelled ambassador, Shi Mao took a boat to Palembang angrily.

After arriving in Palembang, he wrote in a memorial about Majapahit's expulsion of him. Not only that, he also wrote some of Suhida's mocking words towards the Celestial Empire.

Soon, his memorial was sent to the north, and at the same time, Cui Jun, the commander of the Nanyang capital, also sent a memorial to express his request to teach Majapayi a lesson.

The news spread soon after, and many small countries in Southeast Asia that had been bullied by Majapahit, such as Sumatra, Boni, Manchuria and other countries, came to the throne to severely punish Majapahit, and were willing to send troops to quell the rebellion together with the Celestial Empire.

Even Siam, Kampuschi, Champa and other countries have sent letters to express their readiness to be dispatched by the emperor of China at any time.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was relocating the Burmese Xuanwei Division and the Babaidian Xuanwei Division in the southwest, and also sent three fleets to Kunlun Island to quell the rebellion.

Therefore, whether to use troops against Majapahit became a matter that Zhu Gaoxu needed to consider.

However, compared to him, the New Deal faction and the Honorable Minister faction, who were eager for military and political achievements, did not want to let this opportunity pass.

"Your Majesty, this small country actually dares to expel the ambassador of the Celestial Dynasty. This news has not yet reached Xiaoxiyang. If it were spread, the countries of Xiaoxiyang would probably think that the Celestial Dynasty is weak, so they would cause chaos."

"Your Majesty, I request you to send troops to quell the rebellion!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal..."

In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, when the Jiangnan Jingchao was still in full swing, the Chang Chao of Wuying Hall began to discuss one-sidedly how to attack Majapahit.

Faced with this situation, Sanyang stood silently, while officials from Jiangdong, Zhejiang and other factions did not dare to speak out because of the Beijing inspection, for fear of getting angry.

This time, the opinions of the New Dealers in the North and the New Dealers in the Southwest reached a high degree of unity.

The purpose of the Southwest New Deal faction is to maintain the vassal system. Only when the vassal system is stable can the Southwest be able to draw a lot of benefits from the Western lands in the future.

In order to expand production capacity, the Northern New Dealers wanted to expand their production capacity. After all, all the Ming Dynasty's military industry was in the north, and the military industry system only needed to maintain the basic consumption of the army all year round.

Although the war to transform the southwest into native-born people has been going on, the annual consumption cannot meet the political achievements required by the new political faction in the north.

Charcoal from Liaodong, saltpeter from the Western Regions, sulfur from the Bohai Sea, steel from Gansu and Hetao...

Once the war starts, these industries will immediately be able to work overtime to reproduce, and money will naturally be invested into these industries from the national treasury, and the money and grain that pass through will also be converted into taxes and handed over.

Money and food are transferred to the left and right, which are the achievements of local officials in the official records.

Not to mention the Honorable Faction, Majapahit is a pirate country. Although it has a population of two million, its strategic depth is only two to three hundred miles.

With the strength of the Ming army, as long as they are properly prepared, they can be destroyed within a few months.

There is no war in the north now, and the war is basically in the south.

Therefore, many honorable ministers sent their children to the southwest for training early. Even so, it was not necessarily their turn to go to the battlefield to gain military glory.

Therefore, in the face of Majapahit, the ministers all wanted to gain military glory for their descendants and did not care about diplomatic influence at all.

Of course, in terms of diplomatic impact, since Majapahit offended too many Nanyang countries, the demise of the Ming Dynasty would not cause any trouble to them, but would get a positive response and welcome from the Nanyang countries.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu really couldn't think of a reason not to defeat Manzhi Boyi.

"I ordered Pingjiang Marquis Chen Xuan to be the Pingnan General, Bohai Bo Zheng Jun to be the front general, and Donghai Marquis Cui Jun to be the rear general, to control the troops and horses of the four guards of Xihaiwei, Nanyangwei, Nanhaiwei and Damingwei, and to raise money, food and ammunition at the appropriate time. Go out to conquer Manchu Boyi."

"I obey the decree!!"

When Zhu Gaoxu spoke on the golden platform, there were only voices of obedience in the hall, and not a single voice of opposition.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report..."

Yang Shiqi, the Minister of Rites, stepped forward to bow and salute. Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "That's right!"

"Your Majesty, the land of the West needs a lot of silks, satins and porcelain."

"Previously, Qi Sheng, the envoy of Xuanwei in Kunlun Province, also communicated with the Yi people in Xizhou for trade. Although it was interrupted by the rebellion, the trade will still continue after the rebellion is over."

"With the current production in Jiangnan, the supply may be insufficient. Therefore, I boldly declare that Huguang is a vast area and there is no shortage of land for planting mulberry trees. The imperial court can promote the conversion of rice into mulberry trees in Huguang, which will not only benefit the imperial court, but also benefit local people.”

After Yang Shiqi finished speaking, Jian Yi, who was the official minister, stood up with a long gray beard.

"Your Majesty, I think that if we want to convert rice into mulberry for Western commodities, it would be better to choose Yunnan than Huguang."

"Yunnan is covered with mountains, forests and high ridges, and roads are inconvenient. However, the Hu-Guang Railway was completed only six years ago, making transportation more convenient."

Yang Rong retorted after Jian Yi spoke. Seeing this, Xu Shuo could only sigh in his heart and glanced at Wang Hui who was standing beside him.

He observes his nose with his eyes and his mind with his nose, and is not distracted by these things.

But Xu Shuo knew that Wang Hui was responsible for all this, and the struggle between the Southwest New Deal faction and Jiangnan was brought to the forefront.

My mentor is not familiar with the situation in Yunnan and Yunnan Xingdusi, so he must not be able to argue with Sanyang, so...

"His Majesty!"

Xu Shuo stood up and bowed at the same time: "Although Yunnan is covered with mountains and forests, it has three golden waterways. One is the Great Jinsha River that leads directly to the Little Western Ocean, one is the Red River that is directly connected to the South China Sea, and one is the Lancang River that is directly connected to the Nanyang."

"Although there are no trains in Yunnan except Longchuan, the construction of official roads has not been greatly hindered. It is just narrower than official roads in other places."

"Even if this is the case, two carriages can run in parallel on Yunnan's official road."

"The journey from Kunming to Manmo is only 1,200 miles, and the transport of Shu Brocade from Chengdu to Manmo is only 2,000 miles."

"What's more, Yunnan started planting mulberry trees early in Longchuan, Yongchang, Zhenkang, Luchuan, Cheche, Mengken and other prefectures. It only takes two or three years before the mulberry trees produce mulberry and silkworms produce silk."

"If silk had been produced from Jiangnan, Huguang, etc. six years later, the fabrics and satins from the southwest would have been sold overseas."

"What's more, the waterway from Yunnan to Nanyang is only more than two thousand miles, and the journey to Xiaoxiyang is only more than fifteen hundred miles."

"In comparison, it takes six thousand miles to transport silk from Huguang, where silk is produced, to Guangzhou, and then from Guangzhou to the Strait of Malacca by water, and to Dagulara, which takes 10,000 miles."

"Even if we travel from Huguang to Guangzhou, it would still take more than 8,000 miles to reach Dagu La from Guangzhou alone."

"Based on the current seagoing ship traveling three hundred miles a day, including the time for supply stops, it will take at least a month and a half to transport the goods to Dagu La."

"In comparison, it only takes ten days to transport cloth and satin from Mengyang, Longchuan and other places to Dagu La, and it only takes twenty days from Mengken, Zhenkang and other places."

"The way of trade, how much can be saved by nearly doubling the speed, and how much profit can be produced, there is no need to explain it below, right?"

Xu Shuo was very familiar with Yunnan and Sanxuan Shiwei. Yang Shiqi only knew that the southwest had high mountains and dense forests, but he didn't know how close the southwest was to Xiaoxiyang.

"Of course!" Jian Yi looked at Xu Shuo with satisfaction. He was very pleased with the student he chose.

"Your Majesty, the people of Huguang have been deprived of the imperial policy for a long time. If this policy is implemented in Huguang, it will benefit more than six million people in Huguang!"

Yang Rong bowed and saluted, but Xu Shuo said:
"Huguang already has railways. Even without the textile industry, it can still rely on agriculture to survive. But what about Yunnan and Xingdusi?"

"As the two gentlemen said, although the land of Yunnan and Xingdusi has been transformed, it is still a bad land with high mountains and dense forests."

"However, the number of people in Yunnan and Xingdusi is nearly six million, which is comparable to Huguang."

"With high mountains and dense forests, it is very difficult to grow crops. If we don't invest in this place, how can the people's lives depend on it?"

"Both of you are familiar with Confucius and Mencius. There is a sentence in Mencius. I wonder if you still remember it?"

Xu Shuo glanced at the temple, bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and said: "Yu thought that there were people who drowned in the world, so he drowned himself. Ji thought that there were people who were hungry in the world, and he wanted to do it himself. This is why it is so urgent."

"Colleagues, if the people of Huguang change their rice crops to mulberry trees, their lives will be enriched and they will be healthy."

"However, our soldiers and civilians in Yunnan and Xingdusi still need food supplies from Sichuan and Jiaozhi."

"I don't disagree with investment in Huguang, but for the people of Huguang, converting rice into mulberry means wearing warm clothes on the basis of having enough food."

"But for the six million people in Yunnan and Xingdusi, the implementation of textile industry means that the six million people can have enough to eat."

"Only when you know you are well fed and warm can you think of your king and your country."

"It's obvious that you are full in front of Nuan..."

Being able to get to know Wang Hui since childhood, Xu Shuo's abilities are naturally extraordinary.

He didn't speak when he was in the palace because the emperor didn't need him to speak, he just needed him to stand in line. It didn't mean that he was not good at speaking.

Now that he wants to fight for the interests of Southwest, it is naturally impossible for him to remain as friendly as he was in the palace.

After some remarks and analysis, Yang Rong and Yang Pu among the three Yangs were speechless.

Not wearing warm clothes but having enough food will not necessarily kill you, but not having enough food will definitely kill you.

Xu Shuo has reached this point, and it is too difficult to defeat him.

"Has the statistics of the "Yellow Book" of the Ministry of Household Affairs been completed?"

On the golden stage, Zhu Gaoxu spoke slowly. Wang Hui, who had been waiting for a long time, also stepped forward and bowed: "Your Majesty, the statistics have been compiled and compiled."

"Can you remember exactly?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked again, and the king replied again: "My lord, I understand everything in my mind."

"In that case, let's give a rough idea."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Wang Hui immediately said:

"Today there are 18 chief secretaries in the two capitals. In terms of population, South Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi are the top three, followed by Shandong, Huguang, Shanxi, North Zhili, Shaanxi, Henan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiaozhi, Guangxi, Liaodong, Fujian, Gansu, Bohai, and Nanyang.”

"In addition, the governors in various places also have their own rankings. The details have been compiled into a booklet and sent to Wuying Palace." Wang Hui did not report the quantity in each place, but gave the ranking, which did not waste time and was convenient for the emperor. ask.

"How many people are there in Huguang?"

"More than 6.42 million people."

Zhu Gaoxu asked, Wang Hui replied, and Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask: "What is the population of Yunnan and Sanxuan Shiwei?"

After asking this question, the officials knew that the emperor was leaning toward the southwest.

The population of Sanxuan and Tenwei was originally an unknown number. Now, although Sanxuan and Tenwei have been changed to five, even these five only count the population of Mengyang, Mengken, Luchuan and other places.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs can find 6.27 million people, but based on estimates, it should be no less than 9 million."

After Wang Hui gave his answer, Zhu Gaoxu said:

"Although the people of Yunnan are already full, they still need to change their ways and return to their homeland after the three promulgations and ten consolations. Many serfs under the rule of chieftains have no hope of even having enough food to live."

“The purpose of the imperial court’s reform of the southwest was to ensure that the people living on this land had enough to eat.”

"The arrival of textiles in Yunnan and Sichuan is also a good thing for the court."

"The Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry are having a good discussion, so we should start work on it."

Zhu Gaoxu handed over the new textile industry to Yunnan and Sichuan, which made Sanyang very helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

"Is there anything else to start?"

He asked the officials in the temple, and after the Southwest New Dealers won their interests, the matter was naturally settled.

Jiangxi was defeated, and Sanyang had nothing to say.

Therefore, this time the Chang Dynasty won with the southwest, the north received military industrial orders, and the honorable ministers got the opportunity to establish meritorious deeds and declared the end.

Amid the cries of long live the mountain by the ministers, Zhu Gaoxu led Zhu Zhanhe back to the side hall.

After sitting down, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe: "Did you see it?"

"I saw it." Zhu Zhanhe became much calmer, and before Zhu Gaoxu could speak, he took the initiative and said:

"There is no such thing as a virtuous minister or a treacherous minister. When his own interests are involved, a virtuous minister can also become a treacherous minister."

"A silent person can also become a radical person..."

After losing someone he could trust in the East Palace, Zhu Zhanhe grew up much faster than before.

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't blame him for this. After all, if Zhu Gaoxu has some people who support his policies and can give him suggestions, then he won't think about so many things and make himself so tired.

At this point, Zhu Zhanhe's thinking is something that Jianghuai and others can keep up with and can put forward reasonable suggestions and implement them.

In comparison, even the top ministers of this era may not be able to think of most of the things in Zhu Gaoxu's mind.

They didn't know how fast the Ming Dynasty would progress, so no matter how radical their policies were, they were undoubtedly "conservative" in Zhu Gaoxu's view.

On the contrary, in the eyes of the ministers, Zhu Gaoxu's policy was not radical enough at all, but the kind of situation where he could take big steps at any time and fall hard if he was not careful.

“Have you visited the Tianjin shipyard?”

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the tea cup and took a sip. Zhu Zhanhe nodded and said:

"After reading it, I understand why my father is so anxious to renovate the shipyard."

"If new merchant ships are launched, all commodity trade cycles will be shortened, and the court can make more money in a shorter time."

"But I have a doubt, that is, making more money in a shorter period is certainly a good thing, but if all the money of these countries is taken away by the court, what should we do next?"

"It's time to activate the banknotes at that time." Zhu Gaoxu said calmly:

"If all the precious metals in the world are stolen by the imperial court through trade, then the imperial court will have to find a way to use paper money to trade with these countries."

"Grain, livestock, and some handmade products can be handed over to the subordinate countries for production, and the imperial court uses paper money to trade the harvest."

Facing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhu Zhanhe frowned and said, "But if the imperial court can produce these things, what role do the subordinate countries below have?"

"Population is also a resource." Zhu Gaoxu put down his teacup and said:

"There are so many mineral resources in the world. After the imperial court has developed to a certain extent and transportation costs have become cheap to a certain extent, the imperial court can allow the vassal states to mine the resources and trade with the imperial court, while the imperial court's resources are mainly reserved."

"As for what to do after the resources of the vassal country are exhausted, you don't have to worry about these things. I will compile a book in the future and pass it on to future generations."

"You can watch it if you want, but don't take too big a step. You are different from me."

Zhu Gaoxu was a little worried about Zhu Zhanhe's character, worried that he would be suppressed by him for too long and that he would release his natural instincts after he ascended the throne.

Although he was not prepared to sit in this position for too long, and he would supervise Zhu Zhanhe as the Supreme Empress, he was still worried that something would happen if Zhu Zhanhe was left unsupervised after he left.

This is the instability of imperial power. Many princes pretended to be princes for more than ten years, and then immediately overturned all their father's policies after taking the throne.

Although Zhu Gaoxu's policies are all related to the interests of the court, he is not afraid of ten thousand, but afraid of the worst.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu took a sip of water. Zhu Zhanhe nodded and said, "Father, please don't worry."

"Your Majesty, I also want to see you with my palm seal!"

At the gate of the palace, Yi Shiha, who had been ill for a long time, suddenly asked to see him. Zhu Gaoxu heard this and said quickly: "Xuan!"

Seeing his father's slightly nervous look, Zhu Zhanhe showed a trace of envy in his eyes.

He had never seen his father be so nervous towards him. Looking back now, it seemed that since he was ten years old, his father had only been harsh and sarcastic towards him.

Taking a deep breath, Zhu Zhanhe calmed down and looked at the palace door.

There, Yi Shiha, who was much thinner than before, was walking into the hall.

Without waiting, Yi Shiha opened his mouth. Zhu Zhanhe took a step ahead of his father and said, "Give me a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Highness..."

Yi Shiha bowed and saluted, and then sat on the chair a little tiredly.

Zhu Gaoxu, the great master of Yishan, was ten years old and is now almost sixty-two.

Although the illness this time was caused by wind chill, in this era without antibiotics, wind chill is enough to kill a person.

"If you get cold, take a good rest and don't move around."

Zhu Gaoxu was concerned about Yi Shiha, but Yi Shiha shook his head and said:
"My servant heard about the Duke of Liao, so I came here to give advice."

"..." After hearing that it was about Meng Zhang, Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a moment, and then he said:

"Hu Ji and Liu Mian have already given me their answers. This matter has nothing to do with Meng Zhang. It was all done by Meng Ran."

"I have issued an order to imprison him. Meng Zhang also said that I will deal with this son. What do you want to say when you come here to remonstrate?"

For Meng Ran, Zhu Gaoxu really couldn't care for him enough.

In less than three months of investigation, Hu Ji and Liu Mian discovered that Meng Ran had embezzled more than 600,000 yuan, an average of 50,000 yuan per year.

If he was corrupt from land reclamation, then Zhu Gaoxu wouldn't say anything. The key is that he supported the Sixteenth Merchant Gang and secretly smuggled a lot of things to the Sixteenth Merchant Gang to get so much money and food.

It was Zhu Gaoxu's kindness not to kill him immediately.

"There are some things that Meng Zhang is stubborn and refuses to say, but I know this."

"If Your Majesty really kills Meng Ran, Meng Zhang might..."

Yi Shiha shook his head. After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu kept rubbing his fingers under the case, as if thinking.

"Admitted to custody pending trial..."

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxu gave a four-word answer, and this four-word answer was used on Yang Ji last time.

In other words, although Meng Ran will not be killed now, he will definitely be killed in the future.

The reason why he is not killing now is just to appease Meng Zhang so that he will not be sent to the black-haired man by the white-haired man.

"My servant is Meng Zhang. Thank you very much, Your Majesty..."

Yi Shiha stood up and bowed in salute. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't bear to say: "Okay, go back and have a good rest."

"Slave, please leave..."

Yi Shiha left with the support of the eunuch on duty next to him, his back a little stooped.

Looking at his back, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but sigh.

The main reason why Yi Shiha's health is so bad is that he followed him to Jilin in his early years, where he had to climb on ice and sleep in the snow, and the day and night management of affairs left the root of the disease.

Otherwise, based on his physical fitness in history, at least before the first year of Jingtai, he had no major problems.

With his current situation, it may not be realistic to live for another twenty years, so Zhu Gaoxu always feels guilty when facing him.

"Send a medical team to his house and take good care of his daily life."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Zhu Zhanhe, and Zhu Zhanhe also responded respectfully.

Before Zhu Gaoxu could come to his senses, a eunuch on duty hurried into the palace with an unsightly expression on his face, as if he was a little scared.

"What a shameful act!"

Zhu Zhanhe frowned and scolded, but Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to indicate that he didn't need to curse, and asked directly: "What happened?"

"Your Majesty, slave..."

The eunuch on duty was hesitant and speechless for a long time. Zhu Gaoxu did not worry, but comforted him: "Speak slowly."

Seeing that the emperor was not angry, the eunuch on duty knelt on the ground and kowtowed five times: "Your Majesty, the imperial horse Chi Huan has left..."

(End of this chapter)