Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 217 Lao Zhu’s shocking discovery…Crisis!
early morning.

The sun just spit out fish white from the east.

The docks in Shanghai are already extremely busy.

Ships came in one after another and began the busy and intense loading and unloading work at the dock.

As time went by, more and more ships traveled from Shanghai to various inland cities along the Yangtze River.

There are also countless ships passing through the Huangpu River upstream.

In addition, you can go north along the coastline to the northern coast, or south to the southern port cities, or even to Taiwan, or to Japan... and so on.

In short, Shanghai is connected to the Yangtze River and is the intermediate node where the north and the south converge. Its unique geographical location makes it a shipping center.

This advantage was not fully reflected during the previous sea ban.

Now that the maritime ban has been lifted, it immediately stands out.

Of course, the most important thing is that Zhu Yunhuan had a "unique vision" and chose Shanghai for development.

Otherwise, perhaps no one would notice this place for decades or even longer.

This is the course of history.

The circle drawn by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty on the bank of the Huangpu River caused a city to take off.

Shanghai is extremely busy nowadays.

The wharf has begun to take shape, but a little further away, there are still a large number of projects under construction and development.

The entire city of Shanghai is a huge construction site that is being built and developed while starting trial operation.

Lao Zhu came to a breakfast shop on the street and had breakfast with the laborers who had gotten up early to work.

His observations on the economy became increasingly detailed, and he aggregated large amounts of data for analysis, gradually deepening his understanding.

From an "old farmer" who had no idea about how economics works, he is rapidly transforming into a "scholar" who has a deep understanding of economic principles.

Of course, all of this is also inseparable from the contributions of the Jinyiwei.

A lot of analytical data has to be collected by the Jinyiwei.

For example, where does a restaurant owner purchase his goods from and how much the raw materials cost? These kinds of things are not easy for ordinary people to figure out.

But for Zhu Yuanzhang, as long as he gave the order, the Jinyiwei would immediately investigate everything thoroughly.

Inside the breakfast shop, noisy voices were heard one after another.

"It's so tiring. The work is so hard. I just want to rest every day."

"Who isn't? But we still have to work. It's not easy to support a family."

"Okay, stop complaining. Aren't you satisfied with just one bite to eat?"

"That's right. If it were in the past, would you have come to this breakfast shop to eat?"

"Haha, that's true. If it weren't for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's new policy, how could we eat so much?"

"When I was working before, I was often hungry and it was good enough to eat half full. Now I can eat a full meal."

……

Lao Zhu ate breakfast while listening to their conversation.

His expression suddenly changed slightly.

Lao Zhu has been analyzing Shanghai's economic situation these days.

He knew nothing about economics before, but Lao Zhu knew how to do accounting.

He calculated all the income and expenditure of the entire Shencheng, and gradually figured out the secret of Shencheng's operation.

From the financial system to the transportation system, how is efficiency improved... But the more he studied, the more he found that something was still not right.

At this moment, he suddenly came to his senses.

The most critical issue is food!
The entire system designed by Zhu Yunhuan improved social production efficiency. As a result, when people's income generally increased, prices remained relatively stable.

Because the supply of goods increases greatly with the improvement of production efficiency.

But there is one core point that must be opened up, and that is food supply.

Maintaining low food prices is the core of keeping this system running.

If food prices rise, the whole balance will be disrupted.

Normally, one person cannot eat the food for two people.

But what if this person has never been full before?
Income is increasing, but food prices are very low, which means that the amount of food this person eats will increase greatly compared to before.

Because he was not full before, but he is full now.

But in this case, will the food supply be sufficient?

If it is insufficient, what problems will arise?

It’s far more than just an economic recession!
Because everyone was trapped in their hometown before, if they didn’t have enough food, they would just starve, and eating half full was enough.

For poor people, going hungry one day and then having a full meal the next is the norm.

Having enough to eat every meal is a beautiful world in fantasy.

But now, Zhu Yunhuan is carrying out large-scale construction everywhere, building roads, bridges, and new cities... These people come from far away just to make money and have enough food to eat.

Naturally, they were all very happy as they could earn money and have enough food to eat.

But what if you’re not full?
What if food supply is insufficient?
How was the Yuan Dynasty overthrown?

The direct cause was the construction of the Yellow River, and the migrant workers who worked on an empty stomach were extremely dissatisfied with this.

"The stone man with one eye stirs up the Yellow River and the whole world rebels!"

The migrant workers rebelled!
As a result, the vast Yuan Empire fell apart and eventually came to an end.

In today's Ming Dynasty, there are many more people working outside than at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

Because Zhu Yunhuan is currently working on a lot of projects.

Once they don't have enough food...

The more Old Zhu thought about it, the more frightened he became.

According to his statistics, calculations and analysis, under Zhu Yunhuan's governance, the production efficiency of the entire society has improved and the supply of most materials is sufficient.

Minerals such as iron ore have also been developed more extensively than before, on a larger scale and with higher mining efficiency.

This is especially true for smelting, where production efficiency is much higher than before.

There is an iron smelting factory in Shanghai, and Lao Zhu has seen it with his own eyes.

Smelting technology has improved, with larger scale and higher efficiency.

Therefore, the price of iron did not rise as wages increased, but instead continued to fall due to the increase in supply.

The same amount of money needed to buy a kitchen knife is less than before.

The same is true for many other supplies.

But food is different.

How much food can be grown in the land remains the same.

Of course, due to the sharp decline in population caused by the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the food supply in the Ming Dynasty was basically sufficient as the land area did not change much.

But this is also based on the premise that a considerable number of people can only eat half full.

Lao Zhu himself came from a low-income family and had been hungry for a long time, so he knows this very well.

Especially for poor peasants who have little land, it is normal to eat half-full for a long time.

Eating a full meal is definitely a rare occurrence.

But nowadays, it is these people who have no land who come out to work.

They ate very well!

But where does the food they eat come from?

The autumn harvest season is coming soon, so there will definitely be no food shortage for the time being.

However, this may not be the case when the lean period comes in the first half of next year.

Today’s food supply system, which is ensured by the imperial court and government by enforcing low prices, may collapse early next year.

At that time, those who are grateful to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince today will become people who hate His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the court.

The people's hearts are like water and can change at any time.

Thinking of this, Lao Zhu could no longer sit still.

He stood up and hurried away.

This matter is of great importance, and he must immediately remind that "rebellious grandson".

Jiang Lin and Ji Yuan didn't know what was going on, but when they saw Lao Zhu suddenly leave, they hurried to follow him.

Along the way, the two men observed the emperor's words and expressions, and seeing that the emperor did not look well, they remained silent.

After returning to his residence, Lao Zhu asked someone to prepare the four treasures of the study. He was about to pick up the pen to write a letter, but suddenly put it down.

Just now while on the road, he thought carefully about the food problem of the Ming Dynasty again.

However, they discovered that the Ming Dynasty’s food supply was not that fragile.

The first is the supply issue.

Due to the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of people died and many fields were left barren.

Over the years, the imperial court has been encouraging land reclamation.

The number of fields each year has been steadily increasing, which has also led to an increase in the total grain output.

However, part of this growth was converted into food stocks, while part was offset by the increase in food consumption caused by the simultaneous growth in population.

In addition, with the widespread use of cement, there was no need to use glutinous rice to build city walls, so there was more food.

There are also new fertile farmlands that were reclaimed along the coast after the Japanese pirates were eliminated.

All these greatly increased the Ming Dynasty's food supply.

Another problem that existed in the past was that large households hid their grain!

There were starving people everywhere outside, but the granaries of the rich were still full.

Many poor people knew this clearly, which is why they rose up in rebellion when they were starving and took out the grain from the granaries of the wealthy and divided it up.

Now, Zhu Yunhuan used a series of measures to transfer the grain originally stored in the granaries of large households into the national treasury granaries, thus increasing the grain supply security.

As for the increase in consumption.

In fact, the main increase is the number of people working on construction sites outside.

The builders of Shanghai, the coolies at the docks, the migrant workers who are involved in building roads and bridges, etc.

There are quite a lot of these people, perhaps hundreds of thousands or even millions.

But compared with the entire population of the Ming Dynasty, they are still a very small minority.

There were still a large number of people living in the original rural areas in the Ming Dynasty, still leading the same life as before and eating the same amount of food as before.

Even if the amount of food consumed by these millions of people increases significantly, even if each of them consumes food equivalent to that of two people originally, the food consumption of the entire Ming Dynasty will only increase a little.

This increase may be offset by the development of coastal areas, the elimination of glutinous rice waste, and inventory adjustments.

It is still within the tolerance of the Ming Dynasty.

Slowly, Lao Zhu's anxious heart became calm again.

At least, calculated this way, the Ming Dynasty's food problem did not seem as serious and urgent as previously thought.

Of course, this is still a big problem.

After all, the money has been spent.

The wages of hired workers also went up.

It is unlikely to fall again.

It is difficult to maintain a stable supply of low-priced food.

Beneath the prosperous Ming Dynasty, there was a huge crisis lurking.

But there is still time and it won’t break out for the time being.

Seeing that Old Zhu was lost in thought and had not yet written anything, Yoshigaki called out softly, "Your Majesty!"

"Go and find all the Science journals." Lao Zhu ordered.

When scientific journals began to be published, Lao Zhu had already left Jinling in anger.

However, he still had the full set of journals purchased.

After all, he was traveling incognito, far away from the court, and was unwilling to contact his grandson who was in charge of the government, or to tell his identity as a local official. He could only learn about the changes and trends in the court through the "Da Ming Daily" and "Science" journals.

Soon, Yoshigaki found them all.

Old Zhu opened one of the special issues on Agriculture.

There are a lot of discussions about farming above. In addition to discussions on planting time, fertilization, watering, weeding, drought prevention and disaster relief, there are also discussions on how to prevent and control pests and diseases, especially how to make and use pesticides.

Pesticides have been used very early in Chinese history, thousands of years ago.

However, the development of pesticides has been very slow.

Lao Zhu is well aware of the importance of eliminating diseases and pests.

Modern people in later generations often hate pesticides, but this is mainly limited to vegetables, fruits, etc.

They have a short growing period and high levels of pesticide residues.

When the fruits are picked and put on the market for sale, there are often still a lot of pesticide residues, which have a great impact on human health.

Naturally it causes dissatisfaction.

But in fact, among major food crops, pesticides have a vital impact on the stable supply of food production.

Without pesticides, the world's total grain production may be reduced by half or even more. It is not a question of health, but a question of how many people will starve to death!
Farmers of this era still have a general idea of the farming season and when to apply water and fertilizer.

Even if you don't understand, just watch how your neighbors farm and follow their example.

There are always smart people who know how to plant.

However, most farmers are really at a loss when it comes to making and spraying pesticides to repel and kill insects.

Many times, when faced with pests and diseases, we can just leave it to fate.

Or pray to the gods, etc.

The relevant knowledge discussed and disseminated in the special issue of "Agriculture" has undoubtedly given a ray of new hope to many farmers.

Old Zhu flipped through the contents of the "Agriculture" special issue and nodded slightly.

It seems that the "rebellious grandson" also knows the importance of food.

I just don’t know whether he was aware of the huge food crisis hidden in the Ming Dynasty.

His policies may seem to be good on the surface, but if there is a food shortage, the consequences will be disastrous.

It is still unknown how much the knowledge disseminated in the "Agriculture" special issue can increase grain production.

Fortunately, I had calculated it before, and the food shortage was not particularly urgent.

"No, you can't remind him directly."

Thoughts raced through Old Zhu’s mind.

They all said that they were not as good as that "rebellious grandson" in governing the country.

If I remind him like this, wouldn't it be a waste of money for the "rebellious grandson"?
Besides, if the "rebellious grandson" had already known about this and made preparations, then all my worries would be in vain, and it would make me appear even more incompetent in governing the country.

I am the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty...

But if there is any problem, we still need to remind you.

Lao Zhu always feels uneasy when doing nothing.

After thinking it over, Lao Zhu's eyes fixed on the pile of Science journals, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He got it!

He picked up the pen again, spread out the paper, and began to write quickly.

Yoshigaki was watching from the side, and the more he watched, the more he felt something was wrong.

Why does what His Majesty the Emperor wrote feel a bit weird?
But he didn't dare to ask.

After Lao Zhu finished writing, he put down his pen and folded the paper.

"Your Majesty, do you want to send someone to Nanjing?" Yoshigaki asked hurriedly.

"No need." Old Zhu shook his head and said, "Go buy an envelope, put a stamp on it, and send what we wrote to the editorial department of Science journal."

Yoshigaki's eyes suddenly widened.

Not long ago, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince established a Postal Department and set up corresponding branches in various places, printing envelopes and issuing stamps.

All citizens within the Ming Dynasty could purchase stamps and envelopes and mail letters.

The post office will then transfer the letters to the corresponding address and deliver them to the recipient.

However, because it was newly established, many local branches have not yet been opened and are still imperfect.

However, as a new city that was built with emphasis by the Ming Dynasty court, Shencheng was naturally one of the earliest places where a post office was established.

Old Zhu often traveled around Shanghai these days and had long known about the existence of the post office.

Due to the large number of immigrants in Shanghai, there is a high demand for sending letters back home.

At the door of the post office, there are people who specialize in writing letters for others.

However, is it necessary for the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to send his letters through the post?

Besides, why write to the editorial department of Science journal?
He suddenly remembered what the Emperor had just written, and it seemed that the style was somewhat similar to the article he had seen in Science journal.

Your Majesty, are you submitting an article to the journal Science?
This……

Yoshigaki became more and more uneasy.

If the submission is not approved and cannot be published, won’t Your Majesty be furious?
But soon.

He remembered something else.

That is, although His Majesty did not issue the imperial edict in the tone he usually used when reviewing memorials, but instead "disguised" himself as an ordinary person who submitted manuscripts to the editorial department, when he signed his name at the end, he wrote "Zhu Yuanzhang".

This was probably written accidentally by Your Majesty.

When the people in the editorial department of Science journal saw this signature, they should have realized that it was written by His Majesty the Current Emperor, right?

Then it'll be fine.

He couldn't possibly send someone to secretly remind the editorial department of Science journal, as that would be a big taboo.

But since Your Majesty made a "typographical error" yourself, you cannot blame others.

Although he was watching from the side, he didn't see clearly and didn't notice it, which was normal.

Thinking of this, Yoshigaki felt relieved and immediately went to the post office to buy stamps and envelopes, and delivered the article written by Lao Zhu.

"I have reminded him and pointed out the problems in his governance. It depends on how much he can understand." Old Zhu thought proudly: "No one can say that I am not as good as that 'rebellious grandson' in governing the country in the future."

……

Jinling City.

A peaceful and stable place.

Compared with the official victory reports sent by Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu, Yao Guangxiao's Intelligence Bureau received the news of the army's victory first.

The reason is very simple. The Intelligence Agency sent the message back by releasing carrier pigeons.

It is naturally faster than the good news sent by express horse.

However, this matter was of great importance, and Zhu Yunhuan could not rely on the information from the Intelligence Bureau as the basis, and had to wait for the official victory report.

This is different from when Zhu Yunhuan launched an expedition to Japan.

Although the good news was also delivered by releasing carrier pigeons at that time, more than one carrier pigeon was released, and the letter was written by Zhu Yunhuan himself, with the seal of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so it was considered an official document.

The imperial court can naturally take this as a standard.

What the Intelligence Bureau is reporting right now is just information obtained by intelligence personnel and cannot be relied upon.

We still have to wait for Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng to send back the official victory report.

This didn't take long.

Express delivery by horse is actually not much slower than that by pigeons.

On this morning, Zhu Yunhuan was convening all officials to discuss matters.

He rode a fast horse and went straight into Jinling City.

The man on horseback held up the scroll of military intelligence in one hand and whipped his horse with the other, galloping past while shouting loudly:
"Our army won a great victory, annihilating the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in one battle. The Northern Yuan Dynasty surrendered to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Our army won a great victory, annihilating the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in one battle. The Northern Yuan Dynasty surrendered to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Our army won a great victory, annihilating the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in one battle. The Northern Yuan Dynasty surrendered to the Ming Dynasty!"

Normally, if a battle is lost or the military situation on the front lines is urgent, it will be kept strictly confidential and not shouted out.

But a great victory will be announced with drums and gongs.

The people were confused at first and just tried to avoid the man riding the fast horse.

It wasn't until the other party rode away that he reacted.

"Great victory? Our army annihilated the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty?"

"Did the Northern Yuan Dynasty surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"

"Will we no longer have to worry about the Northern Yuan cavalry attacking us?"

"Did the new army pacify the Northern Yuan Dynasty?"

……

The people were talking a lot.

Soon, the city of Jinling also became a sea of joy.

When the new army set out, the Ming Daily carried out extensive publicity, and the people had high expectations for its victory.

Now that they heard the news, they couldn't help but feel happy.

Soon, the sound of firecrackers, gongs and drums rang out on the street...

East Palace.

Zhu Yunhuan picked up the victory report and read it carefully.

Although the information reported by Yao Guangxiao had been received long before, it was information from outsiders and was not specific.

In comparison, the official victory report sent back by Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu was naturally much more detailed.

The course of the war, the results achieved, how Enke surrendered, and the fate of Ugeqihashiha...

"Okay!"

After reading the good news, Zhu Yunhuan slapped the table heavily.

A stone in my heart has finally fallen to the ground.

Although he was very confident that the Ming army would win, the situation on the battlefield changed rapidly, so one should be prepared for the worst.

The biggest problem was that Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu's armies were mainly composed of horse-drawn chariots with only a small number of cavalry.

Their marching speed could not catch up with the Northern Yuan cavalry.

If the Northern Yuan Dynasty always avoided fighting and would rather give up the fertile and water-rich settlements than go to war with the Ming army, then Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu's expeditionary force would return empty-handed.

The probability of this happening is very low.

After all, the Northern Yuan Dynasty did not know the power of rapid-fire cannons and flintlock rifles. Seeing that the Ming army was so small in number, they had no reason not to launch an attack.

But it is also possible that the Northern Yuan Dynasty sent a small force to test the situation a few times, found that they could not win, and then gave up.

Zhu Yunhuan ordered the "Da Ming Daily" to publicize the attack extensively and with great fanfare, which was also intended to deliberately provoke the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

The purpose is to make them dissatisfied and make them determined to defeat the Ming army on the expedition.

The development of the matter was exactly as Zhu Yunhuan had expected.

It went even smoother than he expected.

As soon as they left the pass, Zhang Fu's three thousand soldiers defeated Ugezihasha's 60,000-strong army.

Afterwards, Zhu Neng led his army to the Yuan court, and the ruler of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Borjigin Enke, surrendered without hesitation.

In the court, all the ministers were in high spirits.

Northern Yuan Dynasty!
This is a major threat to the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty’s biggest enemy.

In the eyes of many court officials, the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty might continue for many years in the future.

After all, this has been the case between the Central Plains regime and the grassland tribes throughout the dynasties.

There were constant wars every year.

It would be very good if we could stop the attacks of the grassland tribes and ensure that the Central Plains would not be invaded by them.

This is also the meaning of the existence of the Great Wall.

If the grassland tribes were easily conquered, the various countries would not have been busy building the Great Wall since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and would not have continued to build the Great Wall during the Qin and Han Dynasties and even in subsequent dynasties.

However, no one expected that the Ming army's expedition would produce results so quickly.

And the results were so brilliant.

The Northern Yuan Dynasty surrendered!
For a moment, many ministers were so excited that they burst into tears.

Many of these people had experienced the era of Yuan court rule.

It seems like yesterday, still vivid in my mind.

Looking back now, it all seems like a dream.

Zhu Yunhuan was deeply touched. He put away the victory report and said with a smile: "The Northern Yuan has surrendered to our Ming Dynasty. The current problem is how to deal with the grassland tribes. Do you have any good ideas?"

Upon hearing this, a minister immediately stepped out and said, "Your Highness, I think that since the Northern Yuan Dynasty has surrendered, we can move most of its people to the Central Plains. This will solve the problem once and for all and prevent it from making a comeback."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned slightly.

"Your Highness, I think we should move the Han people to the grasslands, reclaim the wasteland and turn the grasslands into farmland, build fortresses, and send garrison troops to permanently station on the grasslands."

"Your Highness, I think that the grassland tribes are being killed endlessly, so we should appease them and the Ming Dynasty can form an alliance with them. Your Highness can marry the daughter of the Yuan emperor, and let future generations follow this practice. The Ming Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty will form an eternal marriage, and there will be no more wars."

……

Many officials made suggestions, but Zhu Yunhuan's face gradually darkened.

I originally wanted to hear their opinions, but now it seems that these people can't come up with any good ideas at all.

Right.

The problems of grassland tribes are of long history, and there has been no good solution throughout the dynasties.

Of course, the ministers in the court could not come up with any good ideas.

It seems that I have to directly implement the strategy I have already thought of.

At that moment, Zhu Yunhuan stood up and said, "I have written down all your words."

"I also have an idea about pacifying the grassland tribes and preventing them from making a comeback in the future."

The court suddenly fell silent.

Zhu Yunhuan's eyes slowly swept over the crowd, and then he spat out eight words: "Establish a new god, divide and rule!"

……

(End of this chapter)