The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 412: An Uncomfortable Meeting

After a whole morning of arguing, Zhu Jingkun and the other twelve princes finally came up with a compromise set of temporary meeting rules.

At the internal work meetings of Guangdong Province attended by the twelve princes, the temporary host of the meeting was determined by drawing lots at the beginning of each meeting before anyone was recognized by more than two-thirds of the members as the permanent host.

The temporary chairperson's term of office is one hour, and each meeting also lasts one hour. The meeting can be divided into two halves, each half lasting one hour.

Before all members have served as meeting chairperson, those who have served as meeting chairperson will not participate in the drawing of lots for the next meeting, to ensure that the member with the worst luck will eventually serve as meeting chairperson.

The first formal meeting was held that afternoon, with the eleventh prince presiding over the meeting to discuss and exchange the basic plan for the administrative division adjustment of Guangdong Province.

After the morning meeting, Zhu Jingkun felt as if his head was about to explode, and his body and mind were filled with exhaustion. The other princes felt similarly.

Because it was the first time for them to do things this way, and it was the first time for them to argue over the order of priority for any seemingly insignificant matter.

At the same time, most of the princes still instinctively felt that this experience was also part of the assessment and screening.

Once any prince becomes the crown prince, this will definitely not happen again.

The twelve princes returned to their own carriages to have lunch, then rested for a while in the carriages and held another meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon.

The eleventh prince glanced at his brothers around him, and with a complicated look on his face, he announced the start of the meeting:
“Everyone please bring out your own proposals. We will now exchange proposals with each other for comparison and first select the parts that are the same.

“The part where everyone agrees, and the part where two-thirds of the people agree, is the part where we have reached consensus.

"First, write down these opinions and suggestions first, and then we can continue to discuss other different areas."

Before today, no one could have imagined that this meeting would proceed like this.

What the Eleventh Prince said now was also a similar request made based on the discussion in the morning after the tug of war in the morning.

This should minimize tearing.

If everyone were allowed to present their own proposals one by one, it would probably lead to endless disputes and confrontations.

Even if someone else might have made the same suggestion, they wouldn't try to acknowledge it first.

So the eleventh prince suggested finding common ground first.

The Eleventh Prince's request seemed to be without problem, so the princes present began to look through their brothers' plans.

The formats of the plans are similar, and they were all required by Zhu Jianxuan at the beginning. There should be a table of contents and abstract at the beginning, and tables and summary at the end.

It is easier to find the key points, and the princes are accustomed to this file format, so they can read it very quickly.

The common points that everyone agreed on were quickly revealed.

The emperor required that Guangzhou Prefecture must be split up, but there was no clear requirement on how to split it up, and the princes had different ideas.

A small number supported two points, a small number supported four points, and more than half supported three points.

More than two-thirds of people support three points and two points, and their distribution methods also have something in common.

It is generally believed that Dongguan, Bao'an and other areas on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary can be split and set up as prefectures, which can be directly called Dongguan Prefecture or Bao'an Prefecture.

The scope is basically the three places of Dongguan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life.

The disagreement between the two sides lies in which specific parts of Guangzhou Prefecture should be left and how the area on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary should be divided.

In the plan to divide Guangzhou Prefecture into two, after demolishing Bao'an Prefecture in the east, the remaining part would be left to Guangzhou Prefecture.

In the plan to divide Guangzhou Prefecture into three parts, Xiangshan, Xinhui, Xinning and other places south of Shunde were to be removed and Jiangmen Prefecture or Xiangshan Prefecture to be established.

The scope is roughly Zhongshan and Zhuhai in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, plus the eastern and southern parts of Jiangmen, including the surrounding areas of Jiangmen city, Xinhui, Taishan and other places.

Guangzhou Prefecture retained the areas around the prefecture city, the Qingyuan County area in the north, and the areas around Foshan and Shunde in the west of the prefecture city.

At the same time, most of the princes believed that Huizhou Prefecture should be split and Zhaoqing Prefecture should be adjusted.

Huizhou is too large. The two prefecture-level cities of Huizhou and Heyuan in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life are now under the jurisdiction of Huizhou.

The princes all felt that Heyuan, Longchuan and other places should be demolished.

The jurisdiction of Zhaoqing Prefecture was long and narrow from north to south and twisted from east to west. At that time, Yangjiang and Yangchun areas, Kaiping and Gaoming areas of Jiangmen were all under the jurisdiction of Zhaoqing.

However, the princes had different opinions on how Zhaoqing should be adjusted.

The simplest solution is to directly split the country into north and south, separate the later Yangjiang, Yangchun, Kaiping and other places, and establish a new Yangjiang Prefecture.

A more complicated plan would be to demolish Luoding (Yunfu), give Yunfu to Zhaoqing in the north, and give Luoding to Yangjiang in the south.

The differences in details are even greater, primarily regarding which counties the newly established prefecture will govern.

As for how to choose the name of the prefecture and where to place the capital, those are actually minor problems.

After listing the common points, the Eleventh Prince sighed inwardly:

“Let’s put the commonalities aside for now, and then list all the direct conflicting points, have the relevant people explain their reasons for the split, and then vote on it.

“First, the Guangzhou Prefecture’s split plans will be explained starting with the four-part plan with the least number of parts, followed by the two-part and three-part plans.

"Those who have the same plan will draw lots to decide who will explain the situation.

"If the number of splits is the same but the splitting plans are actually different, then we should first draw lots and vote to select one in the same way internally."

After the eleventh prince finished speaking, the eldest prince Zhu Jingkun added casually:
"Does anyone have any objection to this arrangement?"

The princes murmured for a while, but finally expressed no objection and began to conduct internal screening according to this plan.

There were only three people who proposed the four-part plan, and the internal discussion was the first to come up with a result, and the seventh prince was selected as the representative.

The Seventh Prince explained the situation to the Eleventh Prince, and the Eleventh Prince asked everyone present to be quiet and listen to the Seventh Prince explain his plan.

The biggest difference between the four-part plan and the three-part plan is that Foshan, Shunde and other places are also demolished.

The reason is that the new industrial area of ​​Guangzhou Prefecture is mainly concentrated around Guangzhou City and Foshan, and the population in this area is also the most concentrated.

In the future, industrial construction in Guangzhou will continue and the population will continue to concentrate here.

If we don't split this area now, the Guangzhou Prefecture will still be too strong after the split, and the gap with other prefectures will still be large.

Therefore, it is suggested to draw a boundary between Foshan and the old city of Guangzhou.

A Foshan Prefecture was established in Foshan, Shunde, Sanshui and other places, and Gaoming County and Heshan County of Zhaoqing were also included.

However, Xinning (Taishan) and the area west of it will be assigned to Zhaoqing, or Yangjiang after Zhaoqing is split.

As soon as the Seventh Prince finished speaking, the Tenth Prince spoke:

“Although the population size must be taken into consideration when setting administrative divisions, we cannot just consider evenly distributing the population; more importantly, we must consider the management efficiency after the adjustment.

“Tearing out Foshan and other places means dividing the already connected built-up area into two prefectures.

"The boundary between the two prefectures will meander through the urban area, and both sides of a street may belong to two different prefectures." Once cross-border conflicts and disputes arise, jurisdiction becomes a big problem.

“And it’s not a problem that Guangzhou Prefecture is still strong after the split. Guangzhou Prefecture was originally the seat of the four government offices of Guangdong Province and the core of South China.

“I don’t agree to split up Guangzhou’s old city and Foshan area again.”

The other princes spoke one after another, and most of them opposed the split plan. The ninth prince did not support him either.

When the Seventh Prince saw his brothers' reactions, his expression looked a little ugly.

But it was my first time doing this, and I didn’t know what to do next.

On the other hand, the eldest prince Zhu Jingkun, while opposing the division of Guangzhou Prefecture into four parts, chose to partially support the seventh prince's plan:
“I think what Old Ten said makes sense, but Old Seven’s suggestion is not completely meaningless.

"After splitting up Zhaoqing Prefecture, exchanging the ownership of Gaoming and Xinning counties may not be a unreasonable plan."

The host, Prince Eleven, nodded slightly, but did not express his opinion directly:
"Everyone has expressed their opinions, so let's vote now. Please raise your hands if you support the plan to split Foshan and Guangzhou into four."

In the end, only two other princes who also proposed the four-part plan raised their hands to express their support, leaving only three people in total.

The eleventh prince asked those who opposed to raise their hands, and the remaining nine people raised their hands.

After the eleventh prince finished counting the votes, he announced:
“With nine to three, the opposition number exceeded two-thirds, and the four-point Guangzhou government plan was eliminated.

“We should record the content and results of the vote and submit it to my father’s office through the Ministry of Public Administration for record.

"Then the brothers who support the two-point and three-point plans will explain their considerations in turn."

No one had any objections, so the clerk on site began to register and file the information.

There were four princes who supported the two-part plan, and finally the ninth prince, who had performed most prominently before, was chosen as the representative.

The Ninth Prince confirmed the situation with the host and began to speak:
“We all believe that a new government should be established on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary.

“Because this is a clear new industrial center of the future, as well as the future starting point for ocean shipping and a transit point for near-sea shipping.

"Compared with the west side of the Pearl River Estuary and even the old city of Guangzhou, this place has great natural geographical advantages.

“It’s closer to the center of the natural waterway, and there’s a natural deep-water harbor here.

“However, the port conditions on the west side of the Pearl River Estuary are poor and do not have the conditions for building a large deep-water port.

“If the Guangzhou prefecture in the north is split off and the east and west sides of the Pearl River Estuary compete fairly, the east side will definitely win.

“In the future, the industrial and population advantages on the east side of the Pearl River Estuary will grow.

“It may even exceed Guangzhou city.

“Therefore, the western side of the Pearl River Estuary should not be split again and should continue to be governed by Guangzhou Prefecture.

“This is the only way to prevent the newly established Baoan Prefecture from surpassing Guangzhou Prefecture.”

The Ninth Prince paused here and subconsciously glanced at the First Prince Zhu Jingkun.

Several other princes also subconsciously glanced at the eldest prince.

There are a total of five princes who support the three-part plan, including the eldest prince and the eleventh prince.

Zhu Jingkun had a small dispute with the Ninth Prince.

So everyone instinctively wanted to see whether the eldest prince would take the initiative to debate with the ninth prince.

If the eldest prince does not speak, the others will consider whether to join the debate.

The eldest prince Zhu Jingkun had basically no hesitation in his heart.

This is a good opportunity to demonstrate personal abilities and gain support from other brothers, and Zhu Jingkun cannot afford not to seize it.

Anyway, Lao Jiu already has a conflict with me, so it is impossible to win his support.

It would be better to just treat him as a target:

“Bao’an Prefecture, located on the east side of the Pearl River Estuary, does have natural advantages in many aspects.

“But expecting it to completely surpass the areas around Guangzhou and Foshan is nothing but wishful thinking.

“The core of Guangdong and even Lingnan region is still around Guangzhou Prefecture, and the newly established Baoan Prefecture is just a transit station for external exchanges.

“As for the balance on both sides of the Pearl River Estuary, this is not a problem at all.

“Why do we have to make the two sides completely balanced? Other provinces don’t require that the sizes of certain prefectures must be highly consistent, right?

"The fundamental goal of splitting up Guangzhou Prefecture and adjusting Guangdong's administrative divisions is to facilitate management and construction.

“The scale of Guangzhou Prefecture in all aspects is too large to be managed, so it needs to be separated.

“Separation is a means, not an end.

"If we simply demolish Bao'an Prefecture, the remaining Guangzhou Prefecture will still be too large and inconvenient to manage and build, so we need to demolish another part of it.

“Even if we don’t split it now, we will have to split it later.

“However, I suggest that we draw on some of the suggestions of the four-point plan based on the existing three-point plan.

"A new Xiangshan Prefecture was established based on Shunde, Xinhui, Xiangshan and other places, and Heshan and Gaoming in Zhaoqing were incorporated into Xiangshan Prefecture.

"Enping, Kaiping and Yangjiang in Zhaoqing were separated to form Enping Prefecture, and Xinning (Taishan) County of the former Guangzhou Prefecture was assigned to Enping Prefecture.

"The remaining Zhaoqing Prefecture was merged with Luoding Prefecture and its subordinate Yunfu County to form a new Zhaoqing Prefecture, and the seat of Zhaoqing Prefecture was moved to Yunfu County."

According to Zhu Jingkun’s suggestion, the newly envisioned Xiangshan Prefecture should be located in Xiangshan County, which was Zhongshan in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life.

The scope includes Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, Jiangmen city and eastern regions of Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, plus Gaoming area of ​​Foshan.

Basically the entire area west of the Pearl River Estuary is included in this Xiangshan Prefecture, which is much larger than Bao'an Prefecture on the east side of the Pearl River Estuary.

In fact, Zhu Jingkun felt that what the Ninth Prince said made sense, so he suggested continuing to expand the scale of the new mansion on the west side.

However, it was impossible for him to support the Ninth Prince verbally. Instead, he made plans under the banner of learning from the Seventh Prince's four-part plan.

The Jiangmen area of ​​Zhu Jianxuan's previous life was roughly divided into two halves by Zhu Jingkun. The eastern part was incorporated into the newly established Xiangshan Prefecture, and the western part was merged with Yangjiang to form Enping Prefecture.

The Zhaoqing area was merged with the Yunfu area. At that time, Zhaoqing was the name of a prefecture, not a city. The Zhaoqing prefecture was originally stationed in Gaoyao County, but later moved to Yunfu County.

Yunfu County is closer to the central area of ​​the new Zhaoqing Prefecture than Gaoyao and Luoding.

At that time, there was no Huaiji County in Zhaoqing Prefecture. Huaiji County still belonged to Guangxi, and Lianzhou and Qinzhou still belonged to Guangdong. The two had not yet been exchanged.

After Zhu Jingkun finished talking about his plan, the Seventh Prince, who had previously supported the four-part plan, was obviously stunned.

(End of this chapter)