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Chapter 246 What Liu Daxia saw and heard in Jinling! Li Dongyang: Your Majesty's bottom line is beyond anyone's imagination!
Jinling, suburbs.

Supported by his son Liu Haiyuan, Liu Daxia slowly walked down from the boat. Everything he saw made him confused and unfamiliar.

"Haiyuan, is this Jinling?"

he questioned.

"No, what's going on?"

"How come I've only been away from Jinling for over a month, what's going on with Jinling?"

It wasn't just Liu Daxia who felt strange. When Liu Haiyuan left Jinling more than a month ago, he hadn't changed that much.

Everywhere he looked, he saw busy workers working enthusiastically, which made Liu Haiyuan suspect that he had come to a fake Jinling.

You know, the changes in the Ming Dynasty in the past month can be described as earth-shaking and precarious.

Especially when they were in Jiangxi... basically there were rebels everywhere. In Jiangxi, except for a few big cities, the rest of the places could be described as being full of flames and refugees. It was a complete scene of the late Ming Dynasty.

However... when they arrived in Jinling, the scene presented was so magical. The scenes of prosperity in the heyday and the end of the chaotic times gave them a strong shock.

Especially at this moment in Jinling...

The pier where Liu Haiyuan disembarked once a month was moved fifteen miles outside the city, but it was still prosperous. At least as far as the eye could see, there were only shacks and people working.

A huge official road runs in the middle, extending to the majestic city of Jinling.

The official road is very wide, about a hundred meters!
The flow of people and goods is clearly separated.

On both sides of the official road, there are planned areas and construction sites.

People coming and going go to work in various places in an orderly manner according to a certain order.

What attracted Liu Daxia and Liu Haiyuan's attention the most was that in the middle of the wide official road... there were actually two railroad tracks, and on the railroad tracks were a kind of vehicles that they could not understand... These vehicles were pulled by horses, and inside the carriages, some were filled with people, and some were filled with goods.

These two rails actually extend to the dock to carry out the simplest exchange or transportation of goods.

Everything is so strange.

Liu Daxia doesn’t understand what is happening in this world?
In short, the father and son were completely stunned by the changes outside Jinling City.

The reason why Liu Daxia went to Nanjing was that he was confused by the false news and various information flying around.

So, I want to go to Jinling in person to see what happened.

He never thought that it would be okay if he didn't watch it, but once he watched it, he would doubt his life.

"Refugees from the north, don't squeeze in, don't panic! There's food for everyone... After you finish eating, just take out your travel permit and register with us. It doesn't matter if you're homeless, we in Nanjing have plenty of jobs and shelters..."

"Refugees from the south, please don't crowd in, come and register with us..."

Then, a scene that shocked Liu Daxia even more appeared.

As they walked around and looked around, they were attracted by a group of refugees at the entrance of the original official road.

only……

Faced with these troublesome refugees, Jinling had obviously made preparations in advance, with officials from the Ministry of Revenue receiving, comforting, guiding and registering them.

"Work-for-relief..."

"Does Jinling have so much food and supplies?"

Liu Daxia immediately understood the important measures taken by Jinling to deal with the refugees, but looking at the porridge, he had another question.

However, Liu Haiyuan was destined to be unable to answer this question.

Liu Daxia did not ask any more questions, but tried his best to take in all the unreasonable things.

"The refugees go to the two sides, the common people go in the middle... Those who ride in carriages go this way... Those who visit relatives and friends go this way..."

After going through a simple level, Liu Daxia and Liu Haiyuan finally met an acquaintance.

"Binzhi!"

"Old Minister!"

Li Dongyang had actually come here in person to greet him. The two of them simply greeted each other, and Liu Daxia was soon surprised to find that Li Dongyang had changed.

"Binzhi, why do I feel like you're...younger?"

Although they had only not seen each other for two or three months, Liu Daxia was sure that Li Dongyang was in very good spirits, making him look younger.

"Haha, old minister, is there?"

"Maybe, something has been done!"

Li Dongyang touched his face and said something casually.

"Anything to do?"

Liu Daxia's heart moved, and he couldn't help asking: "Binzhi, are you the Prime Minister here again?"

"Haha! Old Minister, this is not the place to talk? Do you want to take a carriage or walk?"

Li Dongyang shook his head and didn't say anything. Instead, he pointed to the carriage and the official road, as if he knew that Liu Daxia now had many questions.

"Let's go for a while..."

Liu Daxia had so many questions piled up, and if he met someone who knew the subject, there was no way he would let them go.

"Okay, I guess you have a lot of questions, old minister, so let's talk while we walk..."

Li Dongyang led the way and Liu Daxia followed decisively.

This group of people seemed a little out of place among the busy and fast-paced crowd. They seemed particularly slow, but... it seemed like no one paid much attention to them.

Pedestrians didn't care much.

This was another question. Li Dongyang did not speak actively. Liu Daxia knew that he was waiting for him to speak.

"Binzhi, what is that?"

Liu Daxia finally couldn't help asking questions, pointing to the construction sites in the distance on the official road.

"Work-for-relief, expand the city, build the city!"

Li Dongyang also took a look and answered concisely.

"I know...but...does Jinling have the ability to expand and build a city?"

Liu Daxia was not satisfied with this answer.

"Do you have that much power? I don't know if you do... Anyway, this is the Ministry of Industry's business! Your Majesty and I just want the final result."

Li Dongyang also knew what Liu Daxia wanted to ask. He sighed slightly. Looking at Jinling, which changed day by day, he felt even more emotional.

"Binzhi, don't keep me in suspense. I want to ask, do the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works have that much money? The scale of this city construction is equivalent to expanding two or three cities as big as Nanjing. Now the whole country is in war, and Nanjing is doing this...Binzhi, you and His Majesty are not worried..."

Liu Daxia was eager to know the reason behind all this unreasonableness.

"How can I explain this matter? Old Minister, I don't know how to answer you!"

Li Dongyang paused, looked at him, and said as he walked: "The only answer I can give is... do your job! These things are not within my authority, and the situation in the country is not something I can worry about. All of this is under the overall coordination of the Presidential Office, and it is up to His Majesty to interpret it."

Is this still the Li Dongyang I know?

Liu Daxia had more questions in his mind and even wanted to ask Li Dongyang in detail what had happened.

You are the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and you don't ask about these things...

And could these words have come from Li Dongyang and others?
"What about this thing?"

After all, this was not the right place to talk, so Liu Daxia kept the question in his mind and directly changed the subject, pointing to the two rails.

"Your Majesty said this thing is called a train..." "A carriage running on rails..."

"It was built by the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Industry said... this kind of road can save a lot of energy and allow the horse to pull more things at a time..."

Li Dongyang once again introduced the initial use of rail trains. These things were even the most primitive uses of trains when they were first invented. Some sections of the road were indeed pulled by oxen and horses.

"A road made of iron... Can the Ministry of Industry have such an idea?"

"This is different from the Ministry of Industry I've come into contact with."

It was another unfamiliar area, but after just a few observations, Liu Daxia knew that this transportation principle was indeed faster and more convenient than simply carrying things on people’s backs, horses, or camels.

"Old Minister, I want to remind you... the Ministry of Works in Jinling is different from the Ministry of Works in the capital..."

"The current Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Revenue...are the departments with the largest number of people and the greatest power in Jinling..."

"Although Li Shan and Liu Jin did not join the cabinet as vice presidents..."

"But he is definitely the first choice after the Presidential Office..."

"Your Majesty has approved that Li Shan and Liu Jin will be the first and second assistants of the Northern Cabinet... Yang Shousui has also jumped from the Minister of Works of the Northern Cabinet to the third assistant..."

Li Dongyang was also deeply touched by Liu Daxia's sigh about the Ministry of Industry.

During this period of time, he watched the Ministry of Industry grow bigger and stronger, and become the most powerful, largest and richest department in the New Ming Dynasty... yes, the New Ming Dynasty.

Both ministers of the Ministry of Works have successfully entered the cabinet.

"Li Shan, Yang Shousui...they became the first and third assistant ministers of the Northern Cabinet?"

"Binzhi, please tell me what happened in the past two or three months, especially after His Majesty arrived in Jinling..."

Liu Daxia was suddenly overwhelmed by the great changes in Nanjing. He was now extremely curious about what Zhu Houzhao had done after coming to Nanjing... Compared with this, the external changes in Nanjing were not so important to him.

"Two capitals, two cabinets! Each cabinet governs the Ming Dynasty for four years...If they don't do a good job, they will be impeached..."

"Letting the Ming Dynasty go to war is just to eliminate land annexation and reshuffle the interests..."

At Li Dongyang's residence in Jinling, Liu Daxia dropped the teacup heavily.

"How dare he, Your Majesty?"

"Lord Li, if His Majesty allows war to break out across the country, how will he end it?!"

"Is his behavior no different from Wang Mang's?"

"Isn't he afraid that the Ming Dynasty will be completely destroyed in his hands?"

Liu Haiyuan, who had been following the whole process silently and pretending to be invisible, couldn't help but be amazed when he heard all of this, especially the last two measures.

"This situation...to be honest, I don't know either!"

"I have been excluded from matters involving core interests..."

"The reason why His Majesty asked me to be the chief observer of the political ceremony... In fact, in another sense, I have been excluded from the core of power. The power of our parliament seems to be unlimited, but it can only play its greatest role after four years."

"In the past four years, no matter whether the South's presidential office did a good job or a bad job, we only had the right to discuss politics, not the right to participate in politics."

Li Dongyang finally opened his heart to Liu Daxia: "Your Majesty will also fully support the Southern Presidential Palace. Even if they want to go all out with military aggression, as long as they don't rebel, Your Majesty will fully support them."

silence……

There was a long silence.

When the current political structure of the Ming Dynasty came to light, Liu Daxia felt that there were still two huge question marks before him.

Where did the emperor get his confidence from?

Where does the emperor get the confidence from?

Who gave the emperor the confidence and courage to do these extraordinary things?
These two most important questions were directly placed in front of him and Li Dongyang.

"Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Yang Tinghe... did they really rebel? How did Your Majesty know... how... did they really want their entire clans to be exterminated? Your Majesty... really doesn't care about any friendship at all? In the Northern officialdom, you really won't use anyone important?"

The two questions that would never be answered were again weighing on Liu Daxia's mind. He began to worry about Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others.

"Old Minister... now that things have come to this, the key is not whether their rebellion is successful or not..."

"It depends on... how many cards does His Majesty have that allow him to plan and win the battle thousands of miles away..."

"I've already said that..."

"I have never seen such a wealthy Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Works in all dynasties..."

Li Dongyang had just as many questions as Liu Daxia, and after witnessing these changes with his own eyes, he felt even more deeply.

"Such a wealthy Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Households..."

"I even feel that if Your Majesty wants to build a few large canals and launch eight or ten attacks on Goguryeo, it's completely possible!"

"The key is……"

"You've also seen that this is work-for-relief..."

"Your Majesty didn't even spend much money, and you can build two or three more Jinlings!"

"I still don't understand... How terrifying is the power of the people?"

"Don't think that before those refugees came to Jinling, they must have cursed Your Majesty as a tyrant and a fool..."

"But after living in Jinling for ten days, no, three days... they have become more supportive of Your Majesty than anyone else! With Your Majesty's supplies... I even feel that building eight or ten Jinlings would not be a problem!"

"I even doubt that... I have such a high level of public support..."

"Will the Ming Dynasty really perish?"

Li Dongyang asked questions one by one, which made Liu Daxia silent. They had never seen such a model where large-scale investment led to the vigorous development of a series of livelihood areas.

"How many people are there in Jinling now?"

He was silent for a long time, just wanting to know how many people there were in Jinling at the moment.

"The permanent population should be more than 800,000..."

"But the floating population, conservatively estimated... is three million!"

Li Dongyang gave a conservative estimate of the population size.

"Three million... Then the current population of Nanzhili... should be more than 10 million... or 20 million? Moreover... with the development of the war and the booming development of Jinling, the population of Yingtian Prefecture has even..."

As soon as this population figure came out, Liu Daxia couldn't help but estimate the current population of Yingtian Prefecture.

Because of Zhu Houzhao's call and encouragement, Yingtian Prefecture in Nanzhili basically accepted refugees from both the north and the south, resulting in an increasing number of people in Yingtian Prefecture.

The situation of war in the north and development in the south has occurred before in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties.

It can be predicted that as the war in the north expanded, Zhu Houzhao would introduce these policies to attract refugees in the south, and the country's population and resources would further concentrate in the south.

Almost one-third of the country's population is concentrated in the south, so what about the north...even if a hero Cao Cao really emerged, what would it matter?
"Don't think about it... Your Majesty has already thought about rebuilding the North..."

"In the north, your Majesty's bottom line is to only protect the capital and Chang'an..."

Li Dongyang knew what Liu Daxia was thinking, and he spoke directly to cut off some of Liu Daxia's fantasies.

In the current situation, no one can know Zhu Houzhao's bottom line.

Zhu Houzhao's series of actions are destined to leave no trace in history.

His boldness was beyond everyone's imagination.

(End of this chapter)