Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 69 Development
Although Hong Chengchou, who was suppressing the bandits in northern Shaanxi, did not have any good news, he often went to the book, saying that the bandit leaders such as Li Zicheng, the bandit leader, had been forced to move north under his step-by-step strategy because of the complex terrain in northern Shaanxi. For this reason, although it was not possible to completely wipe out the bandits in northern Shaanxi for the time being, it cut off the route for the bandits to flee to the Central Plains, which greatly relieved the pressure on Lu Xiangsheng who was suppressing bandits in the hinterland of Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen expressed his appreciation for Hong Chengchou's maturity and prudence, because the current Li Zicheng is not a climate, no matter whether it is strength or fame, and he is firmly nailed to the northern Shaanxi area by Hong Chengchou, which greatly limits his strength. Li Zicheng in history It took the opportunity to develop and grow after breaking through the defense line of the government and the army, and fled to the Central Plains. If it has been shrinking in northern Shaanxi, where the population has declined sharply and the fields have not been harvested for several years, its power will be greatly weakened.

The most urgent task at present is to exterminate Gao Yingxiang, knock down the flag of the rogues in the Ming Dynasty, and then wait for Sun Chuanting and the Qin army to form an army, and then go north to join Hong Chengchou to wipe out the thieves in northern Shaanxi. As for Tuo Yangkun, Zhang Xianzhong, Ge Zuowu The battalion, Cao Cao and other ministries, although they have a large number of people, are not strong enough, or they are satisfied with a state of small wealth and peace, and mainly enjoy the enjoyment of plunder, which is not very harmful to Ming Dynasty. , It is not difficult to eliminate them.

It has been less than a year since I traveled to Ming Dynasty. By changing the original strategic plan of impetuosity and aggressiveness, strengthening the logistics support of the army, selecting talents and using talents, and insisting on the strategy of employing people without doubt, the situation that started to deteriorate has been gradually reversed. As long as the current situation is followed If we move forward in a general direction and there are no major changes in the middle, then saving the last dynasty of the Han people is not a big problem; the most difficult thing is how to change this decadent system, which will touch the interests of the vast majority of those in power If it is good, the end is extremely tragic. The end of Sui Yangdi is the best example.

The current top priority is still the military and finance. The civil society has been corrupt for a long time. To completely correct the root cause requires a long-term plan. The most important thing is to have enough strength in hand. Only with a sharp blade in his hands can he have the ability to challenge interest groups. Now that he is under internal and external troubles, and then attack the civil servants, he thinks he died too slowly, the emperor who died in less than a year after traveling, It will be a disgrace to the traversers.

What's more, the current imperial court can barely maintain it, and the civil servants are not monolithic. The Chu Party, Zhejiang Party, and Donglin Party are also restraining each other. There is also the eunuch Party that has declined but is not giving up, and is constantly sending out signals through some small actions , trying to return to the power circle.

Chongzhen has never replaced the first assistant Wen Tiren because he is a lone minister. Although his ability is mediocre and he is jealous of the virtuous and capable, he has not violated Chongzhen's words in the slightest. He is very aware of his current situation. The main goal is to hold tightly to the emperor's thigh, so as not to end up ruined.

The descendants of Chongzhen had great malice towards the Donglin Party. All those who knew about Ming history regarded the Donglin Party as the chief culprit for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Behaviors such as selfishness, incompetence, and lack of literati integrity have completely deteriorated the situation that was originally hopeful for eradicating thieves and exterminating slaves.

Chongzhen himself basically agrees with these views, but holds different views on the conclusions. The sphere of influence of the Donglin Party is mainly in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Getting rid of the eunuchs and recalling the tax and mining supervisors stationed in the south of the Yangtze River is one of the examples, but this only reduced the tax revenue of the Chongzhen Dynasty, and did not cause a devastating blow to the Ming Dynasty. Insufficient pay and food, lack of strategic planning and deployment for the entire war situation, headache and foot pain, and Lu Xiangsheng's death in battle, Chongzhen listened to the slander and arrested Sun Chuanting for several years, and then forced Hong Chengchou to rush into battle, and was forced into slavery. Defeating with Songshan, ruining the last 10,000+ soldiers of Ming Dynasty who could fight, etc., these are the reasons for the collapse of Ming Dynasty.

Gong Fanwu, who is drying salt in Qingzhou, also received good news. After months of hard experiments and waiting, the drying of salt has finally succeeded. Over the past half a year, the technology has gradually matured, and the salt production has increased steadily. The yield of salt per mu is more than [-] jin, and now the yield per mu has reached nearly [-] jin, and the salt field has also expanded from the initial [-] mu to more than [-] mu. With the continuous improvement of technology, the output will increase a lot. Except for manpower, the cost is almost negligible.

Years of severe drought, although crops suffered, provided an excellent opportunity for sun-dried salt. Sufficient light and continuous high temperature are the most important conditions for sun-dried salt. Such good conditions naturally need to expand the area of ​​sun-dried salt as soon as possible. Rapidly ramp up production.

Gong Fanwu is mobilizing a large number of people from the local area to pacify the barren beach, build walls and migrant workers' residences, including the camp of a small team of Jinyiwei, and improve supporting measures to make everyone's life more convenient.

In order to keep it secret, Gong Fanwu complied with Chongzhen’s wishes and recruited people on a family basis. All members of the recruited family were not allowed to go out for three years, and they were not allowed to contact strangers other than the saltworks, so as to avoid technology leaks. After all, drying salt is not a high-tech industry. Once someone comes in, the whole process will be seen at a glance. In the case that Chongzhen's sea salt has not monopolized the market, it will cause huge losses.

At present, there are 83 families in the salt field, with a total population of 51 people, including 32 young and strong, and [-] women, children, old and weak. A full meal, [-] copper coins per month, and two liters of rice per household per day were attracted by the favorable conditions, and the whole family moved into the saltworks. Such good conditions only require that they are not allowed to go out for three years. Such an owner It's like the reincarnation of a Bodhisattva, don't say that you can't go out for three years, even ten years is fine. My family usually spends two acres in the village. Except for small traders who sell needles, thread, and brains, I don't see many strangers in my life. .

The wall is extended about five miles inland from the salt field by the sea. This is also to leave enough space for various buildings after the salt field expands in the future. In Chongzhen's vision, the salt produced here will directly face Shandong, Henan, In some areas of Huguang, in the future, salt farms will be set up in Yancheng County in South Zhili to dry salt. Serious corruption in the department and the promotion department caused a large number of salt households to flee, and the output dropped sharply. Therefore, Chongzhen was also included in the reconstruction plan. Regarding the personal situation of the officials, after discovering talents with both ability and political integrity, they will clean up the yamen of the Changlu Salt Field, arrest corrupt officials big and small, and then let the person they like take over, and produce salt according to the method of the Qingzhou Salt Field, facing the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and In Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, if this plan is implemented, the financial shortage of the state treasury will be greatly alleviated, and internal funds will also be greatly enriched.

Of course, even if there is salt, there is still a market. If you want to win the market from those wealthy salt merchants, the process will be complicated and tortuous. Bloody violence is inevitable. Salt merchants and the people behind them , will never give up the cash cow in your hand, don't want to occupy the entire salt market of Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop. For all obstacles, the official salt monopoly is implemented in the whole Ming Dynasty. At present, it can only make a fortune in silence, and the means should not be excessive, so as to avoid uncontrollable variables.

(End of this chapter)