Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 134: Jinyiwei spread all over the country

In the spring of the fourteenth year of Hongwu, just after the New Year, Zhu Yuanzhang made some political reforms.

First, he followed the reforms of the Yongle Dynasty, split the civil service group, granted administrative power to the cabinet, changed the Censorate into the Inspectorate, transferred the Ministry of Revenue into three departments, and established the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He spent a day in the Yongle Dynasty and was able to clearly see how strong Zhu Di's control was after he implemented the five-power separation system given by Zhu Yunfeng.

It can be said that in addition to the legal principles he provided, after Zhu Di used this system, the imperial power had reached the peak level of the feudal era.

Although it is not known whether it can be compared with the control of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty itself was a special case. It was the product of the checks and balances, support and restraints among the Han, Manchu and Mongolian ethnic groups.

The Ming Dynasty was unable to do this, so this extreme decentralization of the civil service group is relatively good.

Of course he also knows the side effects.

If the imperial power is too concentrated and powerful, it may be a disaster for the country if the king is powerful, but it will be a disaster for the country if the king is stupid.

But Zhu Yuanzhang believed that what was needed now was to strengthen centralization and focus on major tasks. Whatever the emperor asked for, the lower levels would do it immediately and well, without excuses or obstructions.

Moreover, he did not think that the two generations of kings under him and Zhu Biao could bring disaster to the country. Even if problems might arise in the future, he would deal with them later.

At least during the few decades that he and his eldest son were in power, he had to bring imperial power to its peak in order to implement various systems and developments.

The second is to recruit civilians and plan some major national projects.

For example, they dug canals, built water conservancy facilities, dredged blocked rivers in various places, reinforced canal embankments, built cement plants, brick and stone plants, and blast furnaces for iron smelting. At the same time, they officially established a steel plant in Wu'an County, Hebei.

These were actually the plans and arrangements made by Zhu Biao before, and they were officially implemented by Zhu this time.

Including the establishment and site selection of this steel plant.

At the beginning of the year, Yunfeng Group ordered several steam turbine generator sets from a high-end instrument manufacturer in Shandong.

The power is 10,000 kilowatts.

To be honest, this power is considered large for hydropower generation, but not large for thermal power generation.

Because in our country's large thermal power plants, if a generator does not have a power of 30 kilowatts, it cannot be called a large thermal power plant.

Large thermal power plants often have several or even more than ten such machines with a power of 30 kilowatts, or even 50 or 100 million kilowatts, which can generate tens of millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

Therefore, a 10,000-kilowatt thermal power plant is considered a small one, at least in our country. Many counties have more thermal power plants than this.

But it was already very remarkable in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, Daming’s current power generation depends entirely on the small hydroelectric generators obtained by Zhu Yunfeng.

We built two generators in the second half of last year, and four more at the end of the year. Each has a power of only 2 kilowatts, and the total power is less than 4 kilowatts.

If there is a thermal power generator unit, using coal as power, it can generate 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

The electric arc furnaces purchased by Zhu Yunfeng are all small electric arc furnaces, weighing only more than two tons. One furnace can produce about five to eight tons of steel. The steelmaking cycle is two hours. One steelmaking process consumes about 240 to 300 degrees of electricity, or 120 to 150 degrees per hour.

This means that this thermal power generator unit alone can supply sixty to seventy small electric arc furnaces to operate simultaneously, producing one hundred and fifty to three hundred tons of steel per hour, with a daily production capacity of nearly six thousand tons.

of course.

Zhu Yunfeng did not purchase that many electric arc furnaces because, although small electric arc furnaces are not expensive, they only cost tens of thousands of yuan each.

But this thing is not used to make ordinary steel, but for synthetic steel.

Ordinary steel is produced in super-large electric arc furnaces that weigh dozens or even hundreds of tons, and can produce hundreds or thousands of tons of steel at a time. No one would use a small electric arc furnace to produce ordinary steel.

This time, Zhu Yunfeng obtained legal procedures and planned to open a steel plant in Xuefeng Mountain, so he bought several large electric arc furnaces and mixed them with more than ten small electric arc furnaces to conceal his tracks and get away with it.

Therefore, although several thermal power generating sets were ordered, only one would be delivered to Daming. Together with more than ten small electric arc furnaces, it would barely be possible to form a thermal power plant and an electric arc furnace steel plant.

It produces 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 1,000 tons of steel a day, with surplus electricity used for city lighting. Together with the hydropower generated in the imperial farm, this is all the current industry of the Ming Dynasty.

As for why I chose Wuan, it’s simple.

As we all know, Hebei is the undisputed leader in my country's steel production.

Hebei's two largest steel-producing cities are Tangshan and Handan.

Tangshan City is mainly administered by it, while Handan City is mainly administered by it, which is a county-level city, Wu'an City.

Therefore, my country's steel production actually depends on Qian'an and Wu'an.

Just these two county-level cities will produce 2023 million tons of steel and 3766 million tons respectively in 3224.

In comparison, in the same year, Anhui ranked sixth in the country's steel production and Guangxi ranked seventh, and their combined production was almost the sum of these two county-level cities.

The great advantage of Qian'an and Wu'an is that high-quality coal and iron ore are very close to each other and have huge reserves.

But at this time Qian'an was on the border between the Northern Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming Dynasty has shown an overwhelming military advantage over the Northern Yuan Dynasty, how can it develop industry if the border is unstable?

So Wuan is the best choice.

From the beginning of spring to March of the fourteenth year of Hongwu, Ji He was as tired as his grandson.

During this period, he was the only one responsible for using a forklift to deliver the thermal power generator units and electric arc furnaces to Daming. Although they were all unassembled parts, it was still very tiring.

After that, we have to teach the craftsmen how to assemble the sent parts.

Fortunately, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty have now learned to use various tools and have complete drawings, otherwise it would be a trouble.

After the generator set and electric arc furnace are assembled, they will be transported to Wu'an.

And there is more to it than that. In addition to the generator set, thermal power generation also includes not only the steam turbine generator, but also the filtration system, the water vapor system, the combustion system, and finally the power generation system.

Equipment such as conveyor belts, storage bins, crushers, pipes, silos, boilers, control valves, condensers, etc. are required.

Although Zhu Yunfeng bought a set of small equipment and each individual device was not large, it was still very troublesome to assemble them all together.

It took Ji He more than two months of hard work before he finally set up this thermal power plant and steel plant in Wuan.

At this time, Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di are still in modern times.

They went to Nanjing and Beijing, and then took a plane to the Northeast and the Inner Mongolia grasslands. They saw the beautiful rivers and mountains of the motherland and were about to return.

Just when Ji He called Zhu Yunfeng and learned that Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were about to return, the Jinyiwei also began to spread across the country.

Historically, the Jinyiwei during the Hongwu period only operated in the city of Nanjing, because Zhu Yuanzhang only wanted to use the Jinyiwei as a butcher's knife to solve the four major cases. Therefore, there was no intention to expand it to the whole country, and the number of people was only a few thousand, which was not a large number.

The Jinyiwei really expanded after Zhu Di usurped the throne.

In order to consolidate his power, Zhu Di restored the functions of the Jinyiwei and expanded its influence, spreading it across the country. He set up thousand-household offices in important prefectures and hundred-household offices in ordinary prefectures to monitor the local areas. The number of people also expanded to more than 100,000.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang simply took one step and ordered the selection of elite troops from garrisons across the country, a total of 9 people, to form the Jinyiwei, wearing Feiyu uniforms and embroidered spring swords. Thousands and hundreds of households were set up in all prefectures across the country, and a small flag was stationed in each county, which was led by the thousand or hundred households of the prefecture.

After the Censorate was changed into the Inspectorate, supervisory and patrolling censors were set up in all prefectures across the country. The Jinyiwei was also ordered to establish secret guards to visit local areas in plain clothes, investigate local customs and whether there were corrupt officials.

In this way, the Inspectorate and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, divided into four groups of people, traveled to various prefectures and counties to gather intelligence, monitor the people, gentry, and officials, and strengthen the management of the grassroots.

In Suian County, Yanzhou Prefecture, at the Hu family residence at the foot of Xiatou Mountain in Wannian Township, Hu Yongkang sat cross-legged under a big tree in front of the door to enjoy the cool air.

It was already March and the weather in the south was a little hot. In the distance, his tenants were working in the fields. He drank iced sour plum soup, sitting there leisurely watching the tenants working hard.

There were several servants serving him.

The housekeeper said cautiously, "Dad, I heard that a group of errand boys have come to the county and are stationed there. They seem to be called Jinyiwei. I wonder if they will do anything bad."

Hu Yongkang said with a smile: "What's there to be afraid of? My brother is working in the government office. Even if it's the county magistrate, he can't catch me. The emperor has the final say on matters at Tianmen. In this mountain valley, I have the final say."

"Yes."

The butler responded.

Just at this moment, dozens of villagers came over in a noisy manner.

Seeing this, the housekeeper rushed into the house and shouted a few times, and more than twenty servants and thugs rushed out.

Although there were more villagers, Hu Yongkang was not panicked at all. Instead, he sat there leisurely.

After a while, a villager came over and said, "Village head, it's time to explain why you didn't let us plant the seeds given by the county? You didn't allow us to plant, but you planted them yourself."

"Yes, you said before that this seed is not good and that fertilizer can't be used, but we still planted it as usual, but you planted it so well. Aren't you deceiving us?"

"You have been occupying the land in the east, so you should return it to my family. The Jinyiwei has come to the county now. If you don't return it to me, I will go to the county to sue you."

The villagers clamored.

Hu Yongkang sneered and said, "What are you arguing about?"

After he finished speaking, he stood up from his chair.

Seeing him stand up, the villagers, who were originally furious, suddenly fell silent.

In fact, Hu Yongkang was not a big landlord. There were many wealthy businessmen in the county who were much richer than him.

There are also landlords in other townships.

But everyone knew that his brother was a clerk in the county government's prison, and he had a group of runners under him who were responsible for arresting criminals in the county.

Therefore, even those who are richer than him often dare not provoke him.

After all, these days, the changing county magistrates are not as influential as local tyrants like him.

Then Hu Yongkang said coldly: "The villagers rely on this land to produce food for the annual harvest. Who knows whether this seed is good or bad? If it is not good, and there is no harvest after planting, then we will starve. For the sake of everyone, why not try planting it first?"

Seeing this, everyone looked at each other.

This year, the county distributed seeds and required all residents in the county to plant the new seeds. They also had to go to the county's Diannongwei Office to collect the sufficient fertilizers each household needed to fertilize the new seeds.

However, when the seeds and fertilizers were distributed to their village, they were all intercepted by Hu Yongkang, and not a single seed was planted.

Hu Yongkang was a tyrant in the countryside on a daily basis, beating his neighbors and oppressing the good people. Even in years of famine, it was common for him to force the sale of villagers' land, so the villagers dared not speak out.

But seeing the new seeds growing well after being planted, they are both rice, but the new seeds have dense seedlings and tall and long rice stalks, which obviously means the yield is good.

The villagers were unhappy for a moment and wanted to come up to ask for an explanation.

But Hu Yongkang's heresy made them at a loss for words. After all, the villagers were ignorant and had low cognition. They could only believe what the landlords and gentry said. How could they have any other ideas?

However, one of the villagers shouted angrily: "How can you say that you occupied my land? The land was distributed by the county, and I have kept the deed. But you saw that the land was good farmland and insisted on taking it away."

"hehe."

Hu Yongkang's face became even colder, and he sneered, "Do you remember what my father told you? It's useless! It's useless even if you sue for your whole life. I will never return this land to you even in my dreams."

As he said this, he looked up at the sky and pointed upwards, but he stretched his head and sneered at the villager, "I tell you, even if it was approved by the Emperor, in the end, it still has to be approved to me as the village head. Once it is in my hands, I have the final say. Do you understand?"

The villager clenched his fists, suppressing his anger, tears glistening in his eyes.

Other villagers nearby quickly grabbed him.

"It's all gone."

Hu Yongkang glanced around and said with a smile: "Why, you want to rebel? That's even better. I will arrest you and send you to the county government to chop off your heads. Then all your land will be mine. Do you remember how Wang Wuliu died?"

"Let's go."

The villagers were dejected and left in despair, holding the hands of the villagers whose land had been taken away.

After the establishment of the imperial court, the emperor distributed land to the people of the world.

Fourteen years ago, Wang Wuliu and his son in the village were divided into more than ten acres of land. Wang Wuliu's mother died early, and his father died of illness before he could get married.

Originally, Wang Wuliu had just turned twenty years old. With these ten acres of land, he could get married, have children, and start a family.

But a few years ago, Hu Yongkang took a fancy to these lands and asked the county officials to find a reason to arrest him. Until now, no one has found him alive or dead.

Everyone in the village knew that Wang Wuliu might have died a long time ago.

But there is nothing anyone can do.

We can only blame Wang Wuliu’s father for not having any brothers, and Wang Wuliu himself for not having any brothers. As the only son in two generations, he had no relatives to support him, and was wiped out by Hu Yongkang.

Now when the matter of Wang Wuliu was mentioned, the villagers were frightened and finally had no choice but to leave.

Seeing them coming aggressively but leaving dejectedly, the butler laughed and said, "These peasants dare to ask for an explanation from me."

"This new seed has a high yield. If we let them grow it, then every family will have surplus food and become wealthy, right? Then how can I buy their land?"

Hu Yongkang shook his head and said with a smile, "If I wasn't afraid that our greed would be too ugly and our reputation would be ruined, and the surrounding gentry would be afraid and unite to get rid of my brothers, their land would have been mine long ago. But it won't be long. If God helps us this year and there is a drought, they will have no harvest while we have a bumper harvest, then we will have a legitimate reason to buy all their land."

The housekeeper thought for a moment and said, "It would be better to cut off their water supply."

"good idea."

Hu Yongkang's eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly, "That's a good idea."

If there is no water in the villagers' land, the rice will surely die of drought, and they will have nothing to eat. In the end, won't they have to sell the land to him?
However, Hu Yongkang didn't know that behind dozens of villagers, two strangers pretending to be onlookers were mixed in with them, watching what was happening coldly.

soon.

In the afternoon, what happened here was reported to the Jinyiwei Hundred Households Office of Yanzhou Prefecture.

The Hundred Households Office also quickly reported the situation to Nanjing.

It's not just Suian County.

All the Jinyiwei garrisons that have been officially built across the country have already started their work and are reporting all the intelligence and news they have obtained after entering the local areas!

(End of this chapter)