Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 196 Different Ideas
"Brother Qi, walk slowly—"

"Brother Chongwang, you don't need to send it away anymore..."

At the gate of Chongwang Mansion in Ruyang County, Zhu Youjian, who was dressed in ordinary clothes, bowed to a young man in his early twenties who was dressed in the prince’s ordinary clothes. Afterwards, Zhu Youjian got on his horse and led Lu Wenzhao and Shangbaiti to ride out of the city. .

The young man in the prince's uniform looked at Zhu Youjian's leaving back, hummed a tune, turned around and walked towards the mansion.

Today is the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. In just six days, Zhu Youjian successively visited Zhou Wang Zhu Suqin, Lu Wang Zhu Changhao, Zheng Wang Zhu Zaiyu (xi) in Henan, as well as Shandong's De Wang Zhu Changjie, Lu Wang Zhu Shouhong, Heng Wang Zhu Chang, etc. Kings everywhere.

Next, he will also go to Tang Wang Mansion in Nanyang and Fu Wang Mansion in Luoyang.

As for the more distant Qin Palace, Qing Palace, Han Palace, and Su Palace, he has no time to visit them one by one.

Fortunately, the four royal residences in Shaanxi together have no more than [-] clan members, and [-] of them have long been abolished as ordinary people.

Looking at it this way, the four kings of Shaanxi can be said to be models of the clan, and there will not be much resistance to innovation.

It's no wonder that the Four Kings will take the initiative to go to the sparse, after all, the population is sparse, and the children outside the fifth service are pitifully few, and the innovation will not do them any harm.

But in this way, Zhu Youjian only needs to visit Old Tang Wang and Zhu Youjian's good third uncle.

"Your Highness, is it really feasible to establish a feudal domain overseas? Will it arouse the panic of the vassal state? In addition, from this point of view, the overseas feudal domain may have to relocate many people from Daming..."

When riding out of the city at a slow pace, Lu Wenzhao suddenly asked Zhu Youjian, but Zhu Youjian responded blankly when he heard the words:
"If the vassal state panics, just tell them the reason, and if anyone dares to make trouble, just wipe it out."

"As for the people, don't you see your surroundings?"

Zhu Youjian asked Lu Wenzhao back, and Lu Wenzhao also glanced around the road when he saw this.

To tell the truth, at first glance, most of the people are clean and decently dressed. Some people in the crowd can be seen as farmers, but they also imitate the appearance of scholars, wearing Taoist robes and square scarves.

In the final analysis, the Ming Dynasty was different from all dynasties in history.

Until the first year of Chongzhen, the entire Ming Dynasty was still thriving.

The common people can run around to work in the county, and they can buy a new suit of clothes in the last ten days and a half months. The farmers in the fields mostly cultivate the land for their own food.

The money for paying taxes is basically collected by running around and working, or raising livestock at home and selling them before paying taxes.

Like the people in Henan, even if there is a military disaster right now, if someone shouts on the street that the Ming Dynasty will perish in more than [-] years, it will only make people laugh.

After all, even the people in northern Shaanxi can survive as tenants for the landlords, and the people in rich places like Henan live more comfortably.

Some ordinary people, who were not even scholars, learned from scholars to write "Travel Notes" and "Miscellaneous Notes", thus recording the peaceful and prosperous times before the Ming Dynasty suffered more than ten years of natural disasters.

It is precisely because of this record that Zhu Youjian knows how cruel it will be once a natural disaster strikes.

There is not much time left for him. If he remembers correctly, six provinces including Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Northern Zhili will have a drought in five years.

The difference is that the outbreak in Shaanxi was the scale of the whole of Shaanxi, while the other five provinces had sporadic outbreaks of drought.

In the next year, the drought in Sichuan and Henan will end, but Shanxi, Shaanxi, Northern Zhili, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian will all experience drought.

Among them, the drought in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Beizhili and Guangdong will affect the whole province.

In the next year, that is, seven years later, nine provinces will experience a severe drought. Among them, Sichuan, Huguang, and Nanzhili will experience a severe drought, and the price of rice in the world will soar.

But there is only one year of severe drought, and the people and government of all provinces can rely on Changping warehouses to survive. Only Shaanxi and Shanxi need to experience severe drought all the time.

The current situation will collapse in twelve years, and reach its peak in eighteen years. The two capitals and fourteen provinces, except Liaodong, Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian, are all drought-stricken.

This kind of severe drought cannot be resisted by the densely populated Ming Dynasty. No matter how many water conservancy projects are built, but there is no rain in the sky and no water from the ground. Except for some places near the big river, other places will be dry and cracked like crazy. fleeing from famine.

Population is an advantage for Daming, but it is a burden in the future.

If you want to prevent them from becoming a burden, you must reduce the population density as much as possible.

Relocating to the Northeast, Hexi Corridor, Western Regions, Central South and other places is the best way for Ming to survive the severe drought.

Migrating the population requires a lot of food and silver, and he only has five years left.

"Huh..." He let out a foul breath, but it couldn't relieve the anxiety in Zhu Youjian's heart.

In the eyes of others, he will be [-] years old in ten days, and he has already accomplished a feat that no one else can complete in his lifetime.

But in Zhu Youjian's view, the results of these achievements are far from what he needs.

He thinks about how to survive the drought all the time. From the perspective of population, the five provinces of Beizhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong are actually the places most frequently affected by drought.

For example, in other provinces, there are at least three or four years of vacancy to recuperate and recuperate. Therefore, reasonable adjustments to normal grain storage can completely allow other provinces in the south except Huguang, Jiangxi, Nanzhili, and Zhejiang to survive safely.

These four provinces are going to carry out population migration to reduce population density and increase the risk of resistance.

Due to the proximity to the sea, even if a severe drought comes, the scale of Huangdian's merchant ships can completely solve the problems of these four provinces while fishing and transporting grain from the Indochina Peninsula.

Therefore, the problem of drought is actually a problem of the five northern provinces.

The total population of the five provinces at the beginning of the country did not exceed [-] million people, and judging by the current hiding three times, it will not exceed [-] million people at most.

In addition, because Gansu was not well developed in the Ming Dynasty, there will be no drought in Hetao, and there will be no drought in Northeast China.

In fact, if it is done properly, the population can be diluted. For example, in the Northeast, as long as there is enough food, millions of people can be relocated there before the drought comes.

Five years later, there will be tens of millions of acres of fertile land in Northeast China, and these tens of millions of acres of fertile land will be able to save tens of millions of people.

The only problem is that it takes three years for the relocation and reclamation to bear fruit. If Ming wants to move millions of people, it will need to spend tens of millions of shimimai every year.

So in the final analysis, silver and food are still needed.

The abolition of the three provincial guards...

Zhu Youjian's mind has always been full of obsession with the guards of the three provinces. The reason why he concealed Xu Hongru's rebellion was to lead troops into Henan and Shandong, reform the vassal kings, and abolish the guards.

Now that the reformation of the feudal lord is coming to an end, the abolition of the guards will be on the agenda!

"Lu Wenzhao, in accordance with our military order, ordered the Shence Guards of Beizhili and the Habayashi Guards of the Four Cavalry Guards to go to Shandong, divide them into thousands of households, and go to Shandong to abolish the Shandong guards."

"Order the [-]th Gongwei Battalion in Shanxi to transfer the Nine Battalions south of Taiyuan Mansion and the Shouyang Battalion of Taiyuan Mansion, together with the Three Cavalry Guards, to abolish the guards in Henan!"

"As ordered!"

Zhu Youjian moved his heart to abolish, but Lu Wenzhao first agreed when he heard the words, and then said:

"Should I tell Long live first, and then deploy troops to abolish?"

"It's natural..."

Zhu Youjian didn't strike while the iron was hot to abolish the guards in Shaanxi, because he didn't have time to spend in Shaanxi right now, and he didn't have enough troops.

The soldiers and horses guarding the Great Wall could not be mobilized, so he only had [-] battalions and five guards to spare.

It is not wise to use less than [-] troops to abolish Henan and Shandong, and then abolish Shaanxi, which has four towns in the northwest.

Shaanxi needs to stay until the end of the Liaodong War, but it is not just Shaanxi that Zhu Youjian will abolish at that time.

After breaking Jianlu's back, while Jianlu is recovering from his injuries, he can transfer as many as [-] troops to the south.

The abolition of the guards is just the beginning. After the abolition of the guards, the outer guard camps in various places will be established, and then the students of the Yanshan Institute will be waiting for the students to come out of the mountain.

At that time, the rising new forces will be able to wipe out the gentry from all over the world, and carry out a thorough reform of the Ming Dynasty!

------

"Long live, the memorial of His Royal Highness King Qi..."

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Youzheng sat in the courtyard watching the snow and plum blossoms.

Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youxiao turned his head and took a look, then took the memorial, and slowly opened the viewing content.

Recently, Zhu Youxiao still stayed in the courtyard of the Inner Prison not far from the Inner Prison's dock, but he spent more of his time dealing with memorials on carpentry.

After the officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate's memorials were handed over to the Supervisor of Rites, he relaxed a lot and could spend more time studying the technology of looms and textile machines that his younger brother said.

Today I wanted to cook three grades of wine, enjoy the snow, and sort out my thoughts by the way, but I didn't want to have something else to do.

"..." Sitting in the seat, Zhu Youxiao glanced at the memorabilia, and his brows became more and more wrinkled.

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian next to him narrowed his eyes, then bowed beside Zhu Youxiao and said:
"Long live, is there anything wrong with His Highness King Qi's Shangshu?"

"No, let's do as my brother said. The supervisor of ceremonies will issue all the soldiers and horses that need to be ordered first, and then draft and send them to the cabinet." Zhu Youxiao handed the memorial in his hand to Wei Zhongxian, and stretched his brows. respond.

"The maidservant leads the decree..." Wei Zhongxian took the memorial first and responded, then got up slowly, walked out of the courtyard, and saw Wang Tiqian on duty at the door.

"Master." Seeing Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian hurried up to say hello.

Their relationship was not one of subordinate and subordinate, but a gesture of alliance, so Wei Zhongxian opened the memorial in front of Wang Tiqian and motioned him to read it together.

Wang Tigan came over, Wei Zhongxian also unfolded the memorial, and had a glance with Wang Tigan.

At this glance, both of them frowned, and Wang Tiqian even said:

"How long has it been? Are we going to attack the guards in Henan and Shandong again?"

"With military power, King Qi can do whatever he wants..." Wei Zhongxian seemed to have something in his words, but Wang Tigan twitched his facial muscles, and then said:

"Shandong has the Dusi, Beiwosi and other nineteen guards, sixteen thousand households, three herdsmen, and three battalions of soldiers. Henan has the twelve guards of the capital, six thousand households, and four herds."

"Together, the number is not small. If all of them are abolished, I am afraid that the Yumajian will gain tens of millions of acres of military farmland..."

In Wang Tigan's words, there was envy, jealousy, fear and reverence.

The reason why there are so many emotions intertwined is because the Imperial Horse Supervisor has too many interests involved.

As far as the land in these two provinces is concerned, there are tens of millions of acres of military farmland, and [-]% of the land tax is paid every year to deduct the tax that the Yumajian needs to pay to the Ministry of Households, and it can also make a profit of nearly [-] million stone grains.

This profit is equivalent to one-sixth of Daming Tian Fu, who can not be jealous?
But does jealousy help?Who is the beneficiary?That's not someone they can offend.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian closed the memorial, and then said:
"According to King Qi's words in the memorial, issue a decree to all the troops and horses, and then draft a new copy and send it to the cabinet."

"Yes." Wang Tiqian agreed, and then took over the memorial.

But at this moment, a carriage drove up in the distance.

In the imperial city, it is a good behavior to take a car for efficiency, but what Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan care about is not the carriage, but the people in the car.

"Is there something wrong with you two?"

Sure enough, when the door of the carriage was pulled open, it was Cao Huachun's face that was exposed, and Cao Huachun stepped on the horse stool that the groom had placed, then got off the carriage and bowed to the two.

"Hehe, Admiral Cao was just joking. The two of us are under the orders of Wansui and are about to go to the Supervisor of Ceremonies." Wei Zhongxian smiled, with a look of harmony and wealth.

"It's a coincidence, isn't it? Since you're going back to the Supervisor of Rituals, then take my carriage." Cao Huachun turned half of his body, indicating that the two of them could get in the carriage.

Seeing this, Wang Tiqian wanted to refuse, but Wei Zhongxian responded with a smile: "This is the best, thank you Admiral Cao."

"You're welcome." Cao Huachun responded with a smile, and finally said:
"Since there's nothing wrong, I'll go find Long Live first."

"Admiral Cao, go slowly..." Wei Zhongxian took Wang Tiqian to salute Cao Huachun, and Cao Huachun walked into the courtyard after returning the salute.

After he left, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan did not get into the carriage, but called the carriage again, and then boarded the carriage and went to the Supervisor of Rites.

As for Cao Huachun, after he entered the courtyard, he saw Zhu Youxiao who was cooking wine and admiring the snow. He immediately knelt on the ground and saluted from afar:
"Long live, my maidservant Cao Huachun is begging to see you, His Royal Highness Qi Wang has a trustee's maidservant to forward it."

"come on……"

Zhu Youxiao took a sip of the warm wine, and summoned him absent-mindedly, while Cao Huachun also took out a handwritten letter, and carefully handed it out.

Zhu Youxiao took it over, and then read the contents of the letter at a glance.

The content of this letter is mainly that Zhu Youjian said that the feudal vassals will be sent overseas to prevent them from dragging down Ming Dynasty in the two capitals and fourteen provinces.

After the vassal king became a vassal overseas, the salaries of all the princes, county kings, county lords and generals could also be saved, saving millions of taels of silver for Daming in disguise.

In addition, Zhu Youjian did not dare to say that the people would be relocated directly, because he knew that if he said that there would be a severe drought in a few years, his royal brother would just laugh it off.

Therefore, he relocated the people and designated them as criminals, lazy people in nursing homes, and other foolish people who are still superstitious about the White Lotus Sect.

It is a good thing for Daming to drive these people out, after all, the lazy people in the nursing home have to eat a lot of food every year.

Sending them out will bring back a lot of money from the feudal lord, which will be beneficial and harmless.

But even though Zhu Youjian had thought so perfectly, Zhu Youxiao still frowned dissatisfied.

It's just that he didn't say anything in front of the slaves, but put the letter aside, and then said:
"Let my younger brother arrange it himself. After the guards in the other two provinces are abolished, will they pay [-]% of the land tax as the previous regulations on the land tax of the Imperial Horse Supervisor?"

"When you return to Long live, you will still pay [-]% of the land tax." Cao Huachun responded honestly.

"How about the migration of millions of refugees from Shandong and Henan?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, and continued to taste wine and ask, and Cao Huachun also introduced after hearing the words:

"The imperial court promised to move to Liaodong to provide food, but the refugees and the common people were very resistant, and they still hoped to borrow food from the government to continue farming in Henan."

"However, the governments in Henan, Shandong and other places have already lost official food because of the follow-up relief of the Shandong earthquake, because millions of refugees had to go north to survive."

"In addition to the refugees, the lazy people in the nursing homes in Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places were also forced to move to Liaodong by His Highness."

"Currently, more than [-] pieces of wooden tablets have been distributed to the victims, and the number is still increasing by tens of thousands every day."

"Looking at the scale, the number of refugees is more than a million, maybe there are about [-] million..."

"His Royal Highness said that these people moved to Liaodong, and they only need to cultivate and farm for three years, and then they can feed back to the court in the fourth year."

"In Liaodong and Nurgan, if there is money and food supply, the people will send out people, and it will only be a matter of time before tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of acres of arable land will be reclaimed."

"In addition to the Songhua River in Nurgan and the banks of the Hutong River (Heilongjiang), there were Jurchen guards granted by the Ming Dynasty. Although the old slaves are besieging these Jurchen guards, since the cultivated land has been reclaimed, they can be moved. The people go, if..."

Cao Huachun wanted to say more, but Zhu Youxiao raised his hand and interrupted:

"You mean that my younger brother wants to move the people to Nurgan?"

"Long live back, it is..." Cao Huachun replied honestly, and continued:
"Your Highness said that if this old slave escapes into the mountains, if he doesn't pursue and intercept him, he will definitely cause harm to my Ming Dynasty later, just like the northern captives fleeing back then."

"Therefore, it is necessary to go north along the Liaohe River and Songhua River, and relocate the people where there are already fields, and station soldiers and horses."

Speaking of soldiers and horses, Zhu Youxiao remembered the Ping Liao next year, so he put down his wine glass and said to Cao Huachun:
"The matter of Ping Liao is the main thing. You should ask someone to write back to my brother. Don't delay Ping Liao."

"Long live, please rest assured..." Cao Huachun responded:
"In order to prevent Ping Liao from making mistakes, Your Highness asked your slaves to send a message to Long Live."

"Please call Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Yang Wenyue, Cao Wenzhao, Wu Aheng, Qin Liangyu, Ma Xianglin, Sun Yingyuan and other eight troops to lead the army and go north to aid Liao at the end of the twelfth lunar month."

Although the eight soldiers and horses suffered a lot from the encirclement and suppression of Shuixi City, Zhijinguan, Anshun Prefecture, and Yongning Prefecture, there are still [-] soldiers and horses.

Transferring these [-] people is equivalent to transferring [-] auxiliary soldiers behind them.

That is to say, it is necessary to transfer [-] troops to the north, and to transfer so many soldiers and horses, it takes [-] million taels just to move the silver.

Zhu Youxiao felt a little heartbroken about this, but he still frowned and said:
"Tune it, allocate one million taels of silver from internal funds, and order him to arrive in Liaodong in four months."

"Your maid obeys the order..." After hearing the emperor's words, Cao Huachun obediently complied, and Zhu Youxiao then waved his hand to signal that he could step down.

Seeing this, Cao Huachun cautiously exited the courtyard after returning the gift.

It's just that when he exited the courtyard, Zhu Youxiao's face that had a headache suddenly relaxed, and then he frowned, as if he was thinking about something.

In fact, it is not difficult to guess that what Zhu Youxiao is thinking about is the matter of becoming a fan abroad.

We must know that after Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di created a new form of vassal tribute system, the Central Plains Dynasty embarked on a different path.

The vassal tributary system established by the Ming Dynasty was essentially a patriarchal and feudal international relationship.

The ancient Central Plains dynasty had a large population, prosperity, and the highest level of civilization. Therefore, they thought they occupied the world and had the right to rule the world in terms of geography and jurisprudence.

But with the Central Plains as the center of the world, the power of the Son of Heaven is not enough to control the surrounding forces, because the surrounding forces are all backward, weak, and far away, and the Central Plains even disdains to seek control.

But it is undeniable that there are indeed many countries and tribes around the dynasty, so how to deal with their relationship has become a very important thing.

Because the Central Plains had an absolute advantage, and since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, patriarchal and feudal ideas and methods were left behind, later dynasties regarded the surrounding forces as their own appendages, just like Zhou Tianzi established vassal states and princes.

In this system, the vassal states paid tribute and were recognized by the Central Plains dynasty, which formed the vassal relationship.

The reason why the vassal state is willing to recognize the name of the suzerain of the Central Plains Dynasty is that there are great benefits in it.

For example, the Central Plains dynasty recognized the surrounding forces as independent states, bestowed titles and titles, ensured the safety of the vassal states, ensured the succession of the status of the vassal state monarchs, ensured the internal order of the vassal states, and resolved conflicts between the vassal states.

That is to say, the dynasty of the Central Plains—the suzerain state, the emperor of the Central Plains—the lords of the vassals are the corresponding relationship between the superior and the subordinate.

In addition, if the Central Plains dynasty wanted to maintain contact with the vassal states, it needed to do so under the "monarch-subject" relationship of "reward-paying tribute".

For example, the Ming Dynasty stipulated in detail "Kanhe", that is, vassal states paid tribute on time and in accordance with the amount, while the Central Plains Dynasty gave excessive "rewards".

This is a de facto trade relationship, and additional benefits can also guarantee the political enthusiasm of the vassal state.

During the Ming Dynasty, a certain country in Nanyang "paid tribute" a large amount of pepper, and the court had to accept it, and also "rewarded" a large amount of finances, so that pepper was used instead of official salaries to complete the processing.

The Ashikaga shogunate in Japan declined, and the daimyos of the two places successively carried out "reconnaissance and cooperation" trade under false names, and fought each other.

At some point, the Central Plains Dynasty needed to form an international coalition force, and would also mobilize vassal states to contribute, such as suppressing Annan in Nanyang, supporting Siam to contain Burma, and aiding Korea in the late Ming Dynasty to fight against the Japanese, etc.

This kind of economic, political and cultural integration not only built the Chinese cultural circle, but also promoted the expansion of the power in the Central Plains.

Therefore, the vassal relationship is the ancient international order in terms of politics, economy, culture, and security. It has practical benefits for the vassal state. For the Central Plains Dynasty, it also brings cultural pride, strengthens the authority of the court, and obtains a peripheral barrier in national defense. .

For civilian merchants, a highly developed, safe and easy-to-communicate trade circle has been built.

But here comes the problem. If the vassals go overseas, Daming can get a lot of money from them, but the problem is that if these vassals go overseas with Daming's technology and craftsmen, what should they do to build a bigger country? How to do?
If this problem is not resolved, Zhu Youxiao will not allow all countries to become vassals at all.

Even if the vassals are tens of thousands of miles away, he will not be at ease, because this is a common problem of the Central Plains Dynasty since Qin...

(End of this chapter)