Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Capture barbarians, and earn titles!"

"This slogan is good; it should attract some people."

Ma Maocai commented on this.

He was not some pedantic scholar who attempted to civilize barbarians.

Amidst widespread famine in Shaanxi, he supported outward expansion and relocated the disaster victims.

How will these disaster victims survive when they arrive in foreign lands? They will have to fight with barbarians for land.

Ma Maocai said to Tian Jianxiu:
"The chances of earning a title are still too slim; not many disaster victims will believe it."

"Change a few words here, and change them to these six words!"

He picked up his brush and wrote six large characters.

Tian Jianxiu barely managed to make out the words, and read them out slowly and deliberately:
"Defeat the barbarians and distribute the land."

"Great! Great! Great! It's even better than I expected!"

"These six words are wonderful!"

It felt even better than what I had imagined: "capturing barbarians and earning titles."

But he couldn't explain exactly what was good about it.

Li Guo couldn't explain it either, but he also felt it was good.

The connection between fighting the barbarians and distributing land filled him with a sense of exhilaration.

Ma Maocai was also quite pleased with himself after writing this character.

The current emperor values ​​propaganda and enjoys teaching people to recite slogans.

The sixteen characters of Emperor Taizu's "Expel the barbarians, restore China, establish order and discipline, and save the people" were extracted by the emperor from the "Proclamation to the Central Plains" and were widely publicized as a slogan.

It even gave rise to the slogan "Expel the Tartars, restore Liaodong, serve the country with utmost loyalty, and pacify the world" as a means of pacifying Liaodong.

Some people disagree with this, thinking that just shouting slogans is nothing.

But after a few years of chanting, everyone became familiar with it.

"Expel the Tartars and restore the Liaodong Peninsula" has become a consensus.

Ma Maocai's slogan, "Defeat the barbarians, distribute the land," was modeled after this one.

They used these catchy, short phrases to tell people the benefits of fighting the barbarians: their land would be taken from the barbarians.

The more Ma Mao looked, the more pleased he became. He then explained to Tian Jianxiu and Li Guo:

“‘Fighting’ is the means, ‘barbarians’ is the target, the enemy who is competing with us for living space.”

“‘Dividing’ is the method, and ‘land’ is the result, indicating that everyone gets a share of the spoils.”

"We fight the barbarians not to gain merit for ourselves, but to expand our territory and let more people of the Ming Dynasty own land."

This explanation made Tian Jianxiu and Li Guo realize why they thought these six words were better—

Compared to their own meritorious service and the bestowal of titles, expanding territory and allowing more people to own land is naturally more likely to incite disaster victims.

After all, who among the people of the Ming Dynasty didn't dream of acquiring a piece of land?
Now that the opportunity has arisen, naturally many people are eager to take it.

Tian Jianxiu immediately decided to use this slogan to recruit immigrants.

Li Guo also decided to add this slogan to attract more people to Heilongjiang.

Compared to southern Liaoning, their region was a vast land, and it was also inhabited by barbarians.

Capturing barbarians would earn merit and a share of more land.

This road can continue indefinitely until all the barbarians are captured and all the land is occupied.
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Inspired by Tian Jianxiu, Ma Maocai came up with this slogan and, still not satisfied, wrote a memorial to the emperor.

In his memorial, he suggested that the slogan be publicized in all disaster-stricken areas to encourage the victims to migrate overseas to the border regions.

Zhu Youjian was extremely excited when he received this memorial.

In his view, the power of these six words is no less than that of a six-figure army:
"Defeat the barbarians and distribute the land."

"Use barbarians as slaves to cultivate wasteland, and after harvesting grain, continue to fight the barbarians."

"This is a path that can continue until there is no more land left to explore in the world."

Clearly recognizing the changes this slogan would bring, Zhu Youjian did not hesitate at all. He personally wrote an instruction on the memorial and sent an eunuch to deliver it to Yuan Keli, the wartime prime minister.

At this time, Yuan Keli was worried about the war in Liaodong.

Although the imperial court made active preparations, there was no shortage of supplies in Liaodong for the time being, and the production of equipment and supplies in the rear even improved steadily.

However, if the war in Liaodong continues, he doesn't know how long he can hold out.

After all, producing materials and equipment requires a lot of money:
"Six million taels for Liaodong military expenses, and two million taels for war bonds military expenses."

"This amount of money seems like a lot, but I don't know how long it can last."

"What's the Shanxi merchants saying? How much military spending have they prepared?"

The emperor proposed last year that Shanxi merchants be responsible for the expenses of this war, in order to pardon their long-standing crime of colluding with the enemy.

These merchants dared not resist last year, but this year, as the war intensifies, they have begun to impose various conditions.

One of the demands was that the silver they provided be converted into war bonds, with a clear explanation.

After hearing Han Kuang relay the conditions of the Shanxi merchants, Yuan Keli said:
"I can agree to this."

"But don't expect to get your war bonds back with interest."

"His Majesty pardoned their crimes on the condition that they bear the costs of this war." Han Kuang nodded repeatedly and said:
"That's right, that's what I told them too."

"The merchants said they needed this as proof of their donation of the title."

"Currently, four families are willing to donate hereditary barons, and they hope to acquire these territories."

He drew four circles around Guihua and Hetao, indicating that Shanxi merchants needed these four places as fiefdoms.

Yuan Keli was surprised when he saw it, because these four places, when connected, could form a complete route.

Clearly, this was not the idea of ​​a single Shanxi merchant, but rather the collective will of their group. They hoped the imperial court would approve their control of this route beyond the Great Wall.

Yuan Keli was somewhat cautious about this matter, which concerned the future governance of the border regions, and was unsure whether to approve it or not.

Just then, Hou Baoshan, the eunuch in charge of documents, brought over Ma Maocai's memorial.

Upon seeing the phrase "Defeat the barbarians, distribute the land," Yuan Keli exclaimed "Good!" and immediately said to Han Kuang:

"I approve this matter."

"However, the donation of these four baronies requires grain, and it must be transported to Liaodong as soon as possible."

"I will approve it whenever it is delivered."

Not a single grain of food can be missing!

Somewhat surprised by Yuan Keli's quick change of heart, Han Kuang only understood why Yuan Keli made this choice after seeing the memorial.

The original intention was to use these 1500 million shi of grain as military rations, as starting materials for "fighting the barbarians and distributing land".

However, 1500 million shi of grain is far too much, and it cannot be gathered in a short time. Han Kuang said:
"Each person consumes one liter of rice per day, and the military consumes even more, about one and a half liters."

"Even with a million soldiers and civilians, they only need 15,000 shi of grain per day, so 15 million shi can feed them for 1,000 days."

"This grain is too much; Liaodong doesn't need it."

"How about we offer the Shanxi merchants silver at the current rice price?"

He also mentioned the financial difficulties of the imperial court and the need for more cash.

Yuan Keli responded to this by saying:

"The imperial court needs money to purchase supplies."

"But if we have enough supplies, why would we need money?"

"Not a single one of these fifteen million can be missing; the number of soldiers and civilians in Liaodong may exceed one million."

Knowing the hardships of ordinary people, he was well aware of the allure of land to farmers.

Let alone destitute disaster victims, even tenant farmers and poor people might go to Liaodong for land.

He must prepare for this and provide enough food.

Han Kuang had no choice but to take this condition back with him.

The Shanxi merchants had prepared to offer silver melons, but Yuan Keli didn't expect that he didn't want silver; he just needed grain.

The sheer amount of fifteen million shi (a unit of dry measure) made them realize that even spending all that silver wouldn't buy that much grain.

After all, food prices tend to rise, and with them buying so much, prices are bound to go up.

Left with no other option, they went through the Inner Palace Bureau to petition the emperor.

Zhu Youjian was very pleased that they could come up with so much silver. After considering it, he said to Yuan Keli:
"It's not practical to use grain as a donation, and there aren't that many warehouses in Liaodong."

"Therefore, I will decide to allow them to invest another million in the Zhuolu Arsenal, which, together with the original two million, will be used to offset five million shi of grain."

"The imperial court can purchase three million taels of equipment without spending a single penny."

This is certainly good news for the Privy Council, as they will gain access to equipment worth three million taels.

The Shanxi merchants did the math and realized that the emperor had set the price of grain at six cents per shi (a unit of dry measure).

This price is slightly higher than the cheapest grain price, but compared to the market retail price of 70 cents per shi (a unit of dry measure), it is already considered a discount.

They agreed to this as well, and were willing to invest another million in the Zhuolu arsenal.

They also hoped that the Privy Council would teach them firearms tactics and help them train caravan guards.

Zhu Youjian, acting on behalf of the Privy Council, agreed and planned to send people from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Eagle Banner Army to strengthen their infiltration.

Ultimately, the three parties signed a contract in which the Shanxi merchants would provide money to the inner court, and the inner court would provide corresponding supplies to the Privy Council.

In addition to the three million taels of silver from the Zhuolu Arsenal, Zhu Youjian also received six million taels of silver donated by Shanxi merchants, which he used to offset ten million shi of grain.

He planned to use the six million taels of silver to mint silver dollars, issue silver notes and subsidiary currency, and use the currency to purchase grain.

The credibility of these currencies is now very strong.

Especially on Dongning Island, which was the Crown Prince's territory, the people who relied on the emperor for survival had great faith in the credibility of paper money.

Zhu Youjian planned to place an order for ten million shi of grain with Dongning Prefecture. They had already relocated two hundred thousand households and cultivated millions of acres of land, so they could produce as much as they could.

Only what is insufficient will be transferred to the Nanyang Governor's Office, as well as Pingjiang Prefecture, Borneo, and other places.

Spurred by this huge order, the enthusiasm of the soldiers and civilians of Dongning Prefecture for land reclamation soared even higher. They arrested local people everywhere and drove them to cultivate wasteland.

Ultimately, Dongning Prefecture used the eight million mu of reclaimed land to complete most of the orders within two years.

This suitable planting area is beginning to demonstrate the power of Taiwan.

Dongning, with its small population and abundant land, has become an important commodity grain base.

Seeing the wealth generated by growing crops on Dongning Island, people across Southeast Asia were similarly inspired, accelerating land reclamation and leading to a surge in people voluntarily venturing to Southeast Asia. (End of Chapter)