Jiajing Chengming

Xiyuan.

After Zhu Houcong came ashore after swimming, he changed into a soft silk dress, then sat by the pool and read a storybook.

Vernacular novels are popular in the Ming Dynasty.

The vernacular novels often reflect the social conditions of the lower classes of the market, and can serve as a reference for Zhu Houcong to decide the direction and intensity of his reforms.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong would basically read some storybooks after court session and exercise, both to understand the common people and to relax.

Zhu Houcong was reading the script at the time, and the eunuch Huang Jin came over and said, "Your Majesty, Lu Ying has been executed, and his family has submitted a petition requesting permission to collect his body."

In this era of supreme power.

If Zhu Houcong wanted to kill someone, his family members could not and dared not complain, and even collecting the body required permission.

After all, whether the emperor allowed him to collect the body was also a manifestation of favor or power.

"Tell the cabinet to allow them to collect the body."

Zhu Houcong nodded and continued reading the story.

Zhu Houcong returned to the imperial study after dinner, and also called Yang Yiqing, Zhang Cong, Zhao Huang and Gui E.

"Although we are not paying tribute, it doesn't mean that we can't consider border defense. You really don't take the safety of the soldiers and civilians in the border towns seriously."

"So, I summoned you here to discuss what to do next."

"You can also give us your opinions."

Zhu Houcong said.

Yang Yiqing spoke first, "Your Majesty's decision not to pay tribute is, in my humble opinion, a wise move, because in any case, Altan's desire to pay tribute was his own wish."

"How is it wishful thinking?"

Zhang Cong took the initiative to ask a question at this time.

Yang Yiqing continued, "The reason why the northern barbarians keep invading the south is that the temperature is getting colder every year, and the grasslands outside the Great Wall are seriously degraded. A large number of Tatars from the northern desert keep moving south, resulting in a situation where there are too many people and too little land. Many Tatars have no choice but to cross the border wall to plunder the Han people in order to make a living;"

"So, even if Altan is afraid of the power of the Ming Dynasty and wants to pay tribute, he can't stop the Tartars from crossing the border to invade in order to support their families. By then, the so-called tribute will be nothing but a formality and will not really stop the invasion!"

"That's exactly what it means!"

"The profits from the tribute trade can only enrich the Tartar nobles and the wealthy families in the border towns. They can then collude more legally to accumulate population and money, but the poor people on both sides will still hurt each other more because of the increasingly severe cold weather and the reduction in cattle, sheep and grain production. They may even launch a larger-scale invasion to the south because trade is not enough to maintain peace."

"This is the real reason why I have no intention of cooperating with Gong now."

"As for the Tatars, if we want them to stop plundering the Ming Dynasty, it is not as simple as making their nobles surrender, but we have to completely conquer their people!"

"Let them assimilate into one clan with us, and let them only recognize me as their master, only pay taxes to me, and only serve me, and then we can let them trade freely!"

Zhu Houcong talked about the real reason why he did not pay tribute.

He had to admit that Yang Yiqing, after all he had been the governor of three borders, was a man of far-sightedness. He guessed the reason why he refused to pay tribute, and also realized the impact of the Little Ice Age climate on the country's destiny.

Yang Yiqing also echoed at this time: "Your Majesty is wise. If you don't assimilate them, you will not let them stay in the northern garrisons with the Han people! Even if the Tatar nobles are allowed to exist, they will no longer have the power to rule the tribe. They can only be like vassal states, with a noble name but no real dignity."

Zhu Houcong nodded and continued, "Not only assimilation, but also migration of a large number of them overseas. The north is getting colder and colder. Even the capital has snow in March. If this continues, the number of people who can survive in the nine borders will definitely be less than before, and the surplus people can only be transferred overseas or to the south."

"I understand what your majesty means!"

"If we want to keep the border towns peaceful, it is not enough to just issue an edict to allow tribute and border trade. We also need to find a way out for these ordinary Tartars."

"But the prerequisite is that they must also assimilate and submit to become Chinese citizens and be willing to be your Majesty's subjects!"

"In this way, Your Majesty can migrate them southward or overseas. For example, you can let them participate in the transformation of the chieftains into Han people and pacify the chieftains in the southwest who also ignore the laws of the country, kill our Han people, and enslave our Han people. For example, you can let them go to places like Donglai and Rixing to open up land and change from animal husbandry to farming."

Zhang Cong spoke again at this time.

At this time, Zhao Huang also said: "Your Majesty, this is really a great strategy and wisdom!"

Gui E followed up by saying, "It is indeed a great strategy and wisdom. It not only solves the problem in the northern border, but also solves the problem in the southern border. It is much smarter than just paying tribute to Altan Khan for the sake of temporary peace and taking the risk of letting Altan Khan become more powerful."

"You are the ministers of the Imperial Library, so there is no need to say so many flattering words. Just express your agreement or disagreement."

Zhu Houcong reminded with a smile.

"Yes!"

then.

Zhu Houcong added: "In addition, if we do not agree to pay tribute now, I am afraid of nurturing local tyrants in the north. Everything must wait until the court can send troops to completely subdue the Tatars before we can discuss opening trade with the border towns."

"Your Majesty is right. But in this case, we must be more cautious in our border defense."

"The collapsed side walls must be repaired as soon as possible, and the side walls that need to be added should also be added as soon as possible."

"The other thing is to increase the number of troops. We must have elite soldiers stationed in various garrisons."

"Since Altan cannot reach a peace agreement, he will certainly frequently raid the border."

"Therefore, the Nine Sides must be more cautious."

Yang Yiqing then put forward his own views.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "The Prime Minister is right, we need to strengthen the border defense! The border wall also needs to be repaired!"

"Although the court has sufficient financial resources now, it has not been able to allocate enough manpower to repair the border wall because there are too many things to do in the military household reform. But now that the initial work of the military household reform has been completed and Altan is no longer a threat, the Nine Frontiers should take this opportunity to vigorously repair the border wall."

"Although the best defense is offense, for border residents, having a border wall is naturally better than not having one. In addition, for controlling trade, having a border wall is better than not having one!"

Zhu Houcong continued.

"Your Majesty is right. Especially now that the temperature is getting colder every year, many grasslands outside the Great Wall are degenerating. The northern barbarians' plundering is not only because the barbarian chiefs are expanding their ambitions, but also because the Tartars are finding it increasingly difficult to survive. Therefore, recently the barbarian chiefs have invaded on a large scale, and a small number of Tartar cavalry have come to the border to plunder more frequently."

"Therefore, building more border walls is still very important for protecting border residents."

"Otherwise, it will only lead to more and more soldiers and civilians fleeing from the border towns, making the border defenses even more empty and the border settlements even more deserted."

Yang Yiqing echoed.

Zhu Houcong nodded and said, "That's right. Right now, soldiers and civilians in border towns are generally short of food and clothing due to reduced grain production. There are also many Tartars who have taken the initiative to cross the border to surrender due to grassland degradation. We can use these manpower to repair the border wall. This can also be regarded as work-for-relief. However, in this case, more grain will have to be transferred."

"Your Majesty is right. For food, we mainly rely on the south. I think we should restrict the south from changing from rice to mulberry, reform the tax system, and impose different tax rates on rice and mulberry." "But to do this, we have to clear the fields first!"

Gui E then expressed his own opinion.

Zhang Cong followed and said, "I second the motion!"

But Yang Yiqing and Zhao Huang changed their expressions at this time.

Zhu Houcong knew that Zhang Cong and Gui E were keen on innovation.

but now……

He still needed Yang Yiqing to help him complete the military reforms and not to aggravate the internal conflicts, so he smiled and said:
"Let's not talk about the land survey first. Let's take a look at the grain market first. If grain prices are really going to soar because of the major wall repairs, then this is the only way."

Zhu Houcong said this to ministers such as Yang Yiqing who were unwilling to conduct land survey.

Yang Yiqing also took these words to heart.

He knew that if the emperor did not want to do the land survey, then he and other bureaucrats who did not want to do the land survey would have to prevent food problems from arising.

Therefore, Yang Yiqing continued to say to Zhu Houcong:

"As Your Majesty said, in order to recruit border residents and build border walls, we must increase the supply of food to the Nine Borders, especially in Datong. Since the Jinwu Guards of the Imperial Guards have gone to Datong, the military rations stored in Datong will probably be consumed faster, so the food in the Nine Borders must be more abundant. In order to ensure sufficient food for the Nine Borders, we must also make changes. For example, the Kaizhong Law seems to require paying grain to Kaizhong. Do we need to organize the military and civilians in the border towns to conduct larger-scale farming, or think of other ways to raise grain? All of these require a senior official to coordinate this matter."

"In addition, Altan's invasion will inevitably intensify due to his refusal to pay tribute and the colder climate. Xuanfu and Datong should have governors to coordinate military affairs. The same applies to Jizhou and Liaodong. Governors should be appointed to prevent the border officials of both sides from only being happy to lead the Tartars to each other instead of actively strengthening border defenses and only caring about making money."

"Then appoint a governor-general of Xuanda and let Cai Tianyou be the governor-general, and let Yan Song be the governor-general of Ji and Liao."

"I don't care what methods they use, I will make sure that the soldiers and civilians don't lack food, and at the same time, I will be able to supply more soldiers and civilians to build the border wall in the future!"

Zhu Houcong said at this time.

Yang Yiqing bowed and said yes.

Zhu Houcong had to admit that Yang Yiqing had served as a minister in a border town for many years and could indeed offer many insightful opinions on border affairs. He was also well aware of the money-making nature of border officials and knew that they would even bribe the Tartars in order to make money and let them cause trouble for other border towns, so that their defense performance would appear to be not the worst.

Now, it is indeed necessary to set up the Governor-General of Xuanda and the Governor-General of Jiliao to concentrate power.

And precisely because Yang Yiqing was very familiar with military affairs, when this matter was discussed, Zhang Cong and others had basically no say.

However, Zhu Houcong remembered that in the original history, Yang Yiqing should be the last civil official to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Because after Yang Yiqing, it seemed that more and more ministers began to be selected only from the Hanlin Academy. Even after Jiajing, cabinet ministers, especially the chief minister, basically only had experience as officials in Beijing and had no experience in governing at the local level.

Not to mention the experience of leading troops.

Even if one served as an official in Beijing, he would only be transferred to a few prestigious government offices such as the Imperial College, Hanlin Academy, and the Ministry of Rites.

This also meant that the Ming Dynasty's regents became less and less familiar with practical affairs in the later years, and were more easily deceived by the bureaucrats in charge of specific affairs below them, which in turn led to the emperor above them being deceived as well.

It seemed that the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty became more and more conscious of preventing those in power from being ignorant of practical affairs, and not just preventing the emperor from being ignorant of practical affairs.

Zhu Houcong did not want this scene to continue, so he would consciously transfer the ministers he trusted to the local areas to serve as military censors and governors.

For example, he appointed Yan Song as the governor of Henan.

Xiong Jia was now promoted from Shaoqing of Taifu Temple to Governor of Sichuan.

Cai Tianyou, the former Langzhong of the Military Selection Department, has now become the Governor of Datong.

Zhang Cong had some ideas about the reform of the Hanlin officials because he saw Yang Yiqing talking about military affairs in front of the emperor while he and his people could not get a word in.

It is the same as what he later proposed in history that Hanlin officials should be sent to the government and local areas for training.

"In addition to strengthening border defenses, we must also increase the number of elite troops in the capital to prepare for the future active attack on Altan."

"In any case, passive defense is not as good as active offense."

"More importantly, since we want to destroy the Tatars and assimilate them, we must first start by abducting their population for our own use!"

"In the past, the country was mainly focused on saving money and reducing the military, so we didn't need so many people. But now we need to increase finances and military, and also build large-scale projects, so we need more people."

"Besides, the current royal family reform and military reform have allowed more people to be exempted from military service, which means more people are needed to assimilate."

"So, we can change the situation from attacking to defending. Instead of the Tatars plundering our population, we plunder the Tatars' population, and let the Tatars slowly bleed. When the number of people owned by the Tatar nobles is almost the same as the number of slaves owned by a powerful family in our dynasty, the Tatars will exist in name only!"

"And to achieve all this, we first need to have enough soldiers in the capital, enough to be able to guard the capital while also being able to send a large army to the grasslands at any time to fight against the rebels and pacify the people!"

"To increase the elite troops of the capital, we must first increase the number of generals, so that we can train more soldiers through them."

"If we want to have more generals, we must revive the martial arts of the imperial guards and strengthen the role of the military examinations!"

"Through the military examination, we will select those who can serve as generals for the country, and then train them through the Beijing Guards' martial arts training, so that they can become my most loyal, brave and skilled officers in the future."

Zhu Houcong talked about expanding the army in the capital and revitalizing the military academy.

After Zhu Houcong said this, he instructed Yang Yiqing: "This matter will be supervised by Yuanfu himself! After all, Yuanfu has led troops and commanded generals, and he also knows the art of war. He is suitable to train officers for me."

"The minister obeys the order!"

Yang Yiqing responded immediately.

He was very willing to do this for Jiajing.

Because he knew that this meant that his value to Jiajing was still very great.

Zhang Cong, the emperor's favorite who was keen on reform, could not replace him.

Zhang Cong felt a little uncomfortable when he saw Yang Yiqing talking in front of the emperor.

But there was nothing he could do.

It is said that Altan also received a reply letter from Zhu Houcong brought by the messenger not long after.

"The Emperor of the Ming Kingdom sent a message to the Khan, saying that if you can't get the right to atonement on the battlefield, don't expect to get it by sending an envoy."

"If you really want to pay tribute, then the Khan should go and plead guilty first."

Snapped!
"what!"

After the messenger finished speaking to Altan, Altan, who was drinking mare's milk, immediately slammed half a bowl of mare's milk on the table and said "Altan covered milk". (End of this chapter)