I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 482 Will Sheep Climb Trees?
During lunch, Emperor Longqing looked barely normal, but he ate very little. He basically relied on Meng Chong to kneel beside him and feed him small mouthfuls of food with a spoon.

Zhu Yijun asked Wanfu softly, "Has Meng Chong been taking good care of father these days?"

"Yes, Your Highness. These days Meng Chong has been working day and night to serve the Emperor."

Zhu Yijun looked at Meng Chong for a few times and said nothing.

Emperor Longqing was very weak, and he forced himself to tell a joke during lunch, which was not funny at all, but Chen and Zhu Yijun laughed in unison. The other eunuchs and palace maids also pursed their lips and tried hard to hold back their laughter.

Seeing that everyone was amused by his joke, Emperor Longqing was very happy and ate half a bowl of rice porridge more.

"Boss, the third day of the twelfth lunar month is the anniversary of your grandfather's death. You can take your new bride to the Renshou Hall to pay homage to him and let him see that Jun'er has started a family."

Emperor Longqing said finally.

"Yes, I will obey your order."

Zhu Yijun replied, feeling a little heavy-hearted.

The price of growing up is that loved ones leave one by one, even the emperor and the prince are no exception.

After sitting in the sedan chair and walking out of Xihua Gate, Zhu Yijun turned his head and took a look.

The majestic Forbidden City is like a mountain, but more like a cage.

After returning to the Qinzheng Hall behind the Ziguang Pavilion, Zhu Yijun immediately asked the secretariat to send over the urgent military report.

The first one was a recent report written by Cao Bangfu, who had been in Lanzhou for more than two months. After reading it, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but applaud and exclaimed loudly: "Mr. Cao is righteous and generous. I sent him to Shaanxi and Gansu. It's a party!"

Zhu Yijun happily picked up the red pen and wrote some words of praise on the memorial.

The second one was jointly submitted by Huo Ji, the governor of Datong, Shanxi, and Wang Daokun, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, commander of the Intelligence Bureau, and commander of the Mongolian right wing strategic front.

After reading it, Zhu Yijun's face became solemn. He stood up, put his hands in his sleeves, walked around the room a few times, and then turned to Qi Yan and said, "Ask the Supervisory Office to send an urgent letter eight hundred miles away to summon Mr. Wang Daokun back to Beijing."

"As ordered!"

Lanzhou, Shaanxi-Gansu Governor's Office.

Just a few days after Cao Bangfu arrived in Lanzhou to take up his post, he made a decision that surprised everyone and let Huo Jing and Huo Bian leave.

Everyone advised: "Although Huo Jing and Huo Bian have no hope of returning to the Tumed tribe, they are wild and difficult to tame. Once they are released, they will probably be like birds flying into the sky and beasts returning to the jungle, and it will be difficult for them to come back."

Cao Bangfu remained unmoved and personally escorted Huo Jing and Huo Bian across the pontoon bridge to the north of the Yellow River.

"Zhongming, Jingbian, you are going to Yinyijinai, the journey is long, be careful. It is said that Altan Khan sent a new Nayan and Qianhu to Juyanhai, so hurry back if things are not going well. The Ming Dynasty is not short of soldiers and horses, but only good generals."

Cao Bangfu held Huo Jing and Huo Bian's hands and gave them earnest instructions.

Huo Jing and Huo Bian's eyes were red, and they replied with emotion: "Lord Cao is kind and treats my brothers with sincerity. He not only prepared war horses for us, but also replaced the hundreds of guards with new armor.

Now they trust me and let my brother go. Don't worry, Lord Cao, there are many trusted subordinates in the Juyanhai tribe. As long as we seize the opportunity and eliminate the people sent by Altan Khan, the Juyanhai tribe will be under our control.

Please rest assured, Lord Cao, within one month, my two brothers will definitely bring the Juyan tribe back to the Ming Dynasty."

Cao Bangfu said generously: "Okay, I am looking forward to the good news from you brothers."

Huo Jing and Huo Bian led their three hundred followers on horseback and rode away. The sound of horse hooves rang out and dust rose up. The group soon disappeared in the endless wasteland under the morning sun.

After returning to Lanzhou, Mei Guozhen, the prefect of Lanzhou and the grain inspector of the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor's Office, smiled and said, "Mr. Cao is magnanimous and open-minded. The Huo brothers will definitely come back as promised."

Mei Guozhen was recommended by Xu Wei and once entered the Western Garden to accompany the prince in his studies. Later, when Fang Fengshi was sent to Shaanxi and Gansu, he came to Guyuan as his aide.

Later, Fang Fengshi was transferred back to the capital, but he stayed there. When the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu moved to Lanzhou, he became the prefect of Lanzhou and concurrently the grain inspector.

Cao Bangfu laughed, "Everyone says that I let the tiger go back to the mountain, they underestimated these two people. These two people, especially Huo Zhongming, have great ambitions.

Now, our Great Ming is in a stable political order and people are united. We are striving to become stronger, far better than the aging Altan Khan. Moreover, our Great Ming has abundant food and grass, and the favorable east wind can help the Huo family rise to prominence. "

Mei Guozhen smiled and replied, "Those people are judging a hero by their own standards. That's right, that's right!"

A few days later, Cao Bangfu summoned Xu Wei, Xu Zhenming and Mei Guozhen to discuss the implementation of the Northwest Construction Project.

"Everyone, when we left the capital to bid farewell to His Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince repeatedly told us that the Northwest Grand Construction Project is the top priority for the Ming Dynasty in the next ten or twenty years."

Cao Bangfu emphasized this first, and then said to Xu Zhenming: "You are the chief painter of the Northwest Great Construction. You tell everyone about it, so that everyone has a direction and strategy, and they have a bottom line in their hearts."

"Yes, the Governor." Xu Zhenming first asked the clerk to hang up the map of the northwest. This was a habit that everyone learned in Xiyuan.

Look at the pictures and talk.

Xu Zhenming continued.

"In the construction of the Northwest, the key issues are to develop water conservancy, relocate people, return farmland to pasture, and plant trees.

To develop water conservancy, according to the results of surveying and mapping conducted by the Northwest Branch of the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping in recent years, we decided to build dams in the middle and upper reaches of the Haomen River, Zhangye River and Taolai River in Gansu to store water into ponds and lakes.

The most notable feature of these three rivers is that the snow melts in the spring and the rainy season comes suddenly in the summer, causing the river water to surge and rush thousands of miles. In autumn and winter, the riverbed in the middle and upper reaches dries up and the river water turns into streams. We build dams at appropriate locations, dredge river channels, and dig canals to store water when the water rises in spring and summer. When there is a water shortage in autumn and winter, we slowly release water to adjust the water volume and balance it in all four seasons.

This will increase the yield of farmland in the middle and lower reaches, eliminating the need to open up new land to ensure food security.

Previously, the northwest often suffered from water shortage and low farmland yields. In order to fill their stomachs, the people had to work hard to open up wasteland everywhere. As a result, the vegetation was destroyed, water could not be retained, and the yields were even lower.

The cycle continues, and we are stuck in a dead end."

Xu Zhenming has been working in the Northwest for more than ten years. He has done practical work with his feet on the ground and is very familiar with the situation here. He can talk about all the facts without hesitation.

"After Gansu built water conservancy projects, we can follow the same prescriptions in the Zuli River, Qingshui River, Luopu River, Huanshui River, Luoshui River, Wuding River and Yanshui River in northern Shaanxi.

However, water conservancy projects require a large amount of cement. Taifu Temple plans to build a new cement plant in Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Guyuan, Yan'an and Mizhi, with an average annual output of 5,000 tons of cement per plant.

Huo Ji, Xu Wei and Mei Guozhen couldn't help but gasp when they heard this number.

They had gradually become accustomed to the new measurement system of kilograms, kilos, tons and meters, and knew that five thousand tons was a full ten million catties, sixty-six thousand shi, which was higher than a mountain.

But they didn't know that their prince, who was far away in Xiyuan in the capital, was dismissive of this output.

When Zhu Yijun was a senior civil servant and went out to "beg for alms", the output of any small cement enterprise in a township was tens of thousands of tons. Any cement plant with an output of more than 100,000 tons was only considered a small cement plant.

"Relocating the people means measuring the land to support the people. All the people will be relocated from the places that are barren, drought-stricken and unsuitable for living. Now the cabinet has set up a special office for relocating the people, headed by Zhang Gelao, to be in charge of this matter.

The provincial governments of Shaanxi and Gansu first investigated the places that were not suitable for living and registered the people living there. Now the migrants from Shaanxi and Gansu are divided into two groups, one moving to the newly established Liaoning and the other moving to Hunan.

As for the newly recovered Annan and other South China Sea regions, it was extremely hot and humid, and the people from Shaanxi and Gansu could not adapt to the local climate and water and were prone to illness. The people who migrated there were mainly people from Guangdong, Fujian, and eastern Zhejiang, where there were many mountains and little land.

Xu Wei continued, "There is a precedent for the relocation of people in our dynasty. Starting from the third year of Hongwu (1370), we recruited people from Pingyang, Luzhou, Zezhou, Fenzhou and other places in Shanxi several times, with one person from four families, two from six families, and three from eight families. After receiving the permits from Dahuaishu in Hongdong County, Shanxi, we relocated to Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other places.

By the 1417th year of the Yongle reign (), more than one million people had been relocated. The government had considerable experience in handling this matter.

Previously, the people were relocated from rich to poor, from fertile to barren, and most of them were reluctant to leave their homeland. But this time was different, as the people were relocated from barren to rich, from barren to fertile.

Although the Northeast is bitterly cold, the land is fertile, the rainfall is plentiful, and the yield per mu is much higher than that of the Northwest. Now there are cement brick houses and kangs, and coal is abundant, so it is not a problem to keep warm in winter.

The places where the Hunanese moved to were the banks of Dongting Lake, as well as the basins and plains along the banks of the Xiang, Yuan, Li, and Zi rivers.
At present, the Northeast, Huguang and other places have received imperial edicts, mobilized the camp guards, recruited civilians, built roads and bridges, and constructed houses to provide basic security for the migrants.
As for returning farmland to pasture and planting trees, it is closely related to developing water conservancy and relocating people."

Mei Guozhen asked: "All this requires money and food. Can the Ministry of Revenue afford it?"

Everyone knows what the financial and taxation situation was like in the Ming Dynasty. Although the salt administration was rectified and industry and commerce were booming, the salt tax and industrial and commercial tax increased year by year, but the country was not yet rich enough to spend as it pleased.

Xu Zhenming explained: "The Ministry of Revenue has allocated a quarter of the rice from the royal vassal states saved in the next three years to the northwest. In addition, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance have followed the old practice of opening up the Zhongfa and Shangtun.

All maritime merchants, border traders, salt merchants, mining companies, tea companies, silk and cotton mills and other industrial and commercial licenses are required to invest money and recruit people to build a certain amount of water conservancy projects and relocate a certain number of people in the northwest starting from next year.

His Highness calls this a payment transfer."

Mei Guozhen was a little puzzled. "Why not ask these industrial and commercial companies to donate money and grain directly, or increase taxes? The tax silver collected can then be transferred to the northwest by the Ministry of Revenue to implement this beneficial policy."

Xu Wei stroked his beard and said, "When I was in the Western Garden, I occasionally heard His Royal Highness the Crown Prince mention this matter."

Cao Bangfu, Xu Zhenming and Mei Guozhen turned to look at him.

"Please enlighten me, Mr. Wenchang."

“Your Highness once said that the central and local government offices were corrupt and inefficient in collecting taxes and allocating funds, and that a hundred silver dollars could only accomplish the work of ten silver dollars.

Let the industrial and commercial companies handle it directly. They are driven by profit and will naturally try to do the best and most efficient work with the least money. The central local government only needs to supervise and inspect. "

Everyone looked at each other. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a deep understanding of the styles and temperaments of officials at all levels.

"That's one thing. The second thing is that these transfers to support the construction of the northwest will be completed in about five to ten years. If we use taxation as a means of construction, and then change to the construction of the southwest, what about the construction of the north and south of the desert?
Taxes are a big deal. Once they are set, they cannot be easily changed or cancelled. It is also difficult to change or cancel them in practice. With this in mind, we are doing things in a commercial manner.”

"I see. Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise and farsighted!"

Cao Bangfu convened a military and political meeting to arrange the use of troops in Qinghai and the work of construction in the Northwest.

The construction of the Northwest is proceeding in an orderly manner and the progress is gratifying.

The military situation was stagnant. There were many changes in Tumote and Ordos, and the cavalry led by Li Chengliang was transferred to Ningxia, overlooking the East and West Hetao.

Among the nine borders, the military strength of Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu is relatively weak, especially Gansu, which can be said to be in the coldest situation.

Before the peace talks, Altan Khan often went to Qinghai to worship Buddha, and he would cross Gansu and cross the Qilian Mountains at any time as if he was in an empty land.

Now the main cavalry transferred from the east is still in Ningxia, and the main force in Qinghai is left with the surrendered Mongolian tribes led by Huo Jing and Huo Bian. However, more than half a month has passed, and the agreed day is getting closer and closer, but there is no news from the Huo brothers.

There was a lot of talk in Lanzhou City, and the local noble families and officials were secretly ridiculing the new governor Cao Bangfu.

Too honest, too trusting.

You believe what the northern barbarians say, so why don’t you believe that sheep can climb trees?
(End of this chapter)