Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 112 This April
On April [-]th, the last day of April in the first year of Hongwu, at Dinghai port, Zhu Yuan finally sent off the second batch of grain ships this year, and also sent off this April.

This month, many things have actually happened in the Central Plains.

The first major event should start at the end of March.

Sensing that Zuo Junbi, the former Red Army general who guarded Bianliang together, intended to surrender, Li Keyi, the Bianliang guard of the Yuan court, once again adopted the method of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, driving the people of Bianliang to flee westward in advance.Therefore, on March [-]th, Zuo Junbi dedicated Bianliang City.

Winning Bianliang is not only of great political significance, but also the battle in Henan is completely on the side of the Ming army.

Then, on the first day of April, on the southern route, Liao Yongzhong arrived in Dongguan, and Zuo Cheng He Zhen, the Yuan Jiangxi sub-province who was entrenched in Guangzhou, led his officials and subordinates to welcome him and formally surrendered.

There is no more serious trouble on the southern line.

On the eighth day of April, the Battle of Taer Bay.

The Ming army took Bianliang without bloodshed, and without stopping, they marched westward quickly, exited Hulao Pass, and fought against Taerwan with Pingzhang of Henan Province and Yuanliang King Aluwen.

At that time, the two armies lined up more than ten miles north and south of Luoshui, with banners unfurled and drums beating.

Chang Yuchun, deputy general of Zhenglu, charged into the enemy's formation alone. Facing more than [-] cavalry gathered together, he was happy and fearless, and shot his forward with arrows. Because the Yuan army was exhausted, Xu Da, the general of Zhenglu, took the opportunity to rally his troops. However, the Yuan army retreated in disarray, and the Ming army pursued the enemy for more than [-] miles, killing or capturing them without counting.

After this battle, Yuanliang King Aluwen surrendered, and Li Keyi retreated to Shaanxi.

Henan was pacified.

The news was sent back to Jinling, and Lao Zhu sent envoys to Henan to commend the troops and ordered Zhongshu to review their military achievements.Only Chang Yuchun, the deputy general of Zhenglu, greeted the emperor's close ministers and privately passed a commandment: "You are a general, and you care about competing with the small school. It is not what you want, so you should be refrained from it."

Then there are two things at the end of the month.

On April [-]rd, set up Shandong Xingzhongshu Province, and transfer Wang Guangyang from Jiangxi Province to participate in politics in Shandong Province.

Participating in politics in Jiangxi Province is temporarily vacant.

On April [-]th, it was a time of heavy wind and heavy rain in Mingzhou. The governor and Tongzhi Feng Sheng captured Tongguan, and Tongguan guards Li Siqi and Zhang Sidao left without a fight.After taking Tongguan, Jinling issued an order requiring the armies to stop their westward advance and make every effort to stabilize Henan and prepare for the northward advance.

On April [-]th, Mingzhou, the wind stopped and the rain stopped.

April [-]th, Xiao Man.

For fishermen in Mingzhou, Xiaoman is a very important day. Usually around this time, large yellow croakers come all the way from the south to the Zhoushan Islands area, and the largest sea fishing of the year begins.

On April [-]th, the day before the second batch of grain transport fleet departed for Shandong, the sea fishing fleet led by Li Gui, who was delayed in Xiangshan by wind and rain, finally returned to Dinghai smoothly.

Dinghai City East Wharf.

The chief officer in charge of the second batch of grain transport fleet was Tongzhi Changduan, commander of Ying Haiwei.

In addition, Xieyi's elder brother Qiao An also accompanied him this time.

Through the merits accumulated in the previous suppression of pirates, coupled with the expansion of the battalion sea guards, Qiao An was successfully promoted from a hundred households to a thousand households. This time, he was in charge of the 1000 dedicated navy, which was to some extent the third in the plan. Huagao's nephew Huayue, who is also the second-in-command of the batch grain fleet.

As long as this food delivery is successful, Qiao An can logically accumulate another meritorious service.

However, Zhu Yuan did not intend to let Qiao An continue to be promoted too quickly.

Always avoid suspicion.

Seeing the figures of the second batch of grain transport fleet gradually disappear, Zhu Yuan turned around and left the long embankment of the east pier.While talking about things with Hua Gao and the others beside him, there are also a lot of things in his mind.

The first batch of food convoys should also return in a few days.

Zhu Yuan has been paying attention to the situation in Shandong.

The first batch of grain transport fleets arrived in Shandong. The governor and the governor, Kang Maocai, originally hoped that some of the ships could pass through the inland canal and then go to Jinan, but later found that it would not work.

A sea-going ship with a minimum material cost of 500 is still too big.

Because, the canal from Jiaozhou to Jinan... Strictly speaking, it is not a canal.

The only official canal in the Shandong Peninsula is the Jiaolai Canal, which runs through the peninsula from north to south. It was specially dug by the Yuan Dynasty in the early years to prevent ships from bypassing the Shandong Peninsula.

Even if it is dredged, the grain transport fleet will pass through the Shandong Peninsula, and then enter Jinan from the North Yellow River estuary in the Bohai Bay. The whole journey is nearly a thousand miles, which is not cost-effective.

As for Jiaozhou to Jinan, it is mainly a waterway that crosses many inland rivers between Jiaozhou and Jinan. It is estimated that after dredging, flat-bottomed river boats with a maximum material of one or two hundred materials can be used.Furthermore, there is no need to consider the high winds and rough seas at sea when transporting grain in inland rivers. Moreover, there is no shortage of people in Shandong, whether it is rowing or pulling fibers, it can raise enough manpower.

It was impossible to go deep into the inland river, but after unloading the grain ship, the first batch of grain transport fleet still failed to return immediately.On the one hand, we must also consider the weather and wind direction. On the other hand, it is also Zhu Yuan's side. I hope that the fleet will not come back empty, whether it is minerals or hemp, in short, bring back whatever can be brought back.

According to news from land, apart from stopping at Jiaozhou, part of the fleet went to Haizhou.

Haizhou is not far from Yizhou, only more than 100 miles away.

At that time, Wang Xuan of Yizhou also conquered Haizhou, and Yizhou produced both coal and iron, and was rich in mineral deposits.Moreover, Haizhou itself has crystal deposits that Zhu Yuan has never forgotten.

The governor and the Zhi Kang Maocai learned about the needs of Mingzhou, personally coordinated from it, and diverted [-] refugees who had gathered around Jiaozhou to Yizhou. Ship to Haizhou, deliver the minerals in exchange for food.

In addition, the hemp seeds collected in Mingzhou have not yet been sent to Shandong. Kang Maocai, who received the news in advance and got Lao Zhu's approval, has also organized manpower to widely sow ramie and other crops mainly along the banks of the river from Jiaozhou to Jinan. , and the first crop is expected to be harvested this fall.

To be honest, after receiving these news in succession, Zhu Yuan felt that Kang Maocai should be allowed to participate in politics in Shandong Province instead of Wang Guangyang, a "good man".

Since he was able to get the title of "Uncle Zhongqin", Wang Guangyang's ability must be fine, but Zhu Yuan is not familiar with this man after all. The more important thing is that he does not know if this man will mess around after accepting Shandong government affairs. Destroy Kang Maocai's original arrangement.

However, since he is a 'good man', Zhu Yuan feels that the problem will not be too big.

On Mingzhou's side, when encountering disagreements, Wang Guangyang would most likely not be willing to conflict with the popular emperor's favorite minister if he was stronger.

The second batch of grain transport fleets were sent out, and the third batch was to be considered next.

The third batch of grain ships will not be the first batch of grain transport ships to return later. That group, whether it is people or ships, has experienced a long-distance voyage and needs to rest and reorganize.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of boats at the moment.

Not to mention that Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Wenzhou, and Taizhou, several coastal towns, continued to build new ships under the operation of the Yinghai Division, and in the south, under the strict order of Lao Zhu, the captured ships were also continuously sent.

It is said that Liao Yongzhong just captured Guangzhou, He Zhen and other ministries of the Yuan court, and more than 700 ships were confiscated.

In the past, the ministries used to keep the ships as their own. Now because of Lao Zhu's attitude, no one will keep them privately, at least not too many, and most of them will be sent to Mingzhou obediently.

So, back to what Zhu Yuan has been worrying about recently.

Linen.

Lack of hemp!
Now that there are too many ships, after considering the third batch of grain transport fleet, Zhu Yuan decided to increase the transport volume through a letter with Lao Zhu in Jinling.

The grain is still 20 shi.

However, this time, it is planned to increase the catch by 10 tan.

The total can be said to be 30 stone.

In fact, if the manpower is sufficient, Zhu Yuan still prefers to keep the 20 shi per shipment unchanged.

A small amount and many times.

This minimizes risk.

The problem is that there are not enough manpower available.

After recalculation, to increase the fish catch by 10 tons, it only needs to send less than 2000 people instead of the proportional 5000 people, which is tantamount to saving manpower.

Increasing the shipping volume requires more ships, but there are still many surpluses.

Zhu Yuan's plan is to put all of them into sea fishing.

For sea fishing, there is no shortage of boats. Relatively speaking, there is not much shortage of people, but there is a shortage of fishing nets.

Without a net, what kind of fishing is there?

Still want to fight!

Zhu Yuan is already asking people to find a way.

For example, fishing.

When it comes to fishing, in the minds of ordinary people, it is often one person, one rod, one sitting for a day.

Not so at sea.

People have conducted experiments in advance, and the efficiency of sea fishing is actually not low, especially in this era, when the ocean fish is abundant, if you specialize in catching big fish, you can find the location of the fish school, and each laborer can complete a load of tasks a day. easy.

After leaving the pier, Zhu Yuan, Hua Gao and others came to the west bank of the Yongjiang River together.

This is where the fireworks are curling up.

Yinghaiwei built a batch of arched kilns in the area behind the barracks, not many, only ten.

The kiln is one foot high, five feet wide and three feet long.

Or the reason is not enough material.

In this day and age, burning bricks is also very expensive, and most ordinary people can only live in mud houses for the rest of their lives just for fuel.

Zhu Yuan is not that extravagant either.

Therefore, except for a small number of experimental kilns built with bricks and mostly mud, the rest still decided to bake in the open air.

Here I have to talk about the harvest of the sea fishing team who returned from Xiangshan yesterday.

Preliminary estimates show that the official fish catch was 1.7 dan, the private catch was 2.1 tan, and the total amount was 3.8 dan, or 380 million jin.

Much higher than Zhu Yuan's initial expectations.

Zhu Yuan's basic expectation is that the official fishing will be 8000 tan, and the folks are probably equivalent to the official.

In fact, nearly five times as many fish were brought back.

However, this is actually not very satisfying, because of the lack of hemp materials, and because of the hurricane encountered in the last few days, not only was it impossible to go to sea, but it also caused a batch of fish to be not processed in time and spoiled, which means that the entire sea fishing team At least 1 tons of fish were lost.

Using "Dan" always lacks some impact, and converted into a more commonly recognized weighing unit, it is 100 million catties.

In any case, it was a success.

After all, it was just an experimental sea catch. In fact, it has exceeded the total amount of 300 million catties in a normal year during the Yuan Dynasty.Therefore, Zhu Yuan also wrote to Lao Zhu to announce the good news as soon as possible.

In addition to listing the catches in detail, it also mentioned the warning and risk-avoiding role of the lighthouse port to fishermen during the hurricane.

The importance of visible infrastructure.

Therefore, Zhu Yuan's suggestion is that the government needs to increase investment in related aspects.

Besides, a total of 3.8 dan of fish was caught, and Yinghai Division won 3.2 dan of it, equivalent to 320 million jin.

Speaking of which, according to the tax rate set by Zhu Yuan before, the fishing tax part is only 510 tons, because although there are many private boats, they are not large in size. I got 5 load, so I got 1 loads.

There are not as many resold by the Yanyun Division.

Even though Zhu Yuan gave the bottom line conditions, the government directly confiscated fresh fish for pickling, reducing the burden on the people to buy salt, but the Mingzhou Salt Transportation Branch followed southward, and sold more than 150 imported salt during the sea fishing process. .

Because it is sold directly to fishermen, based on the final selling price, the silver coins obtained are equivalent to more than 1500 taels.

The fishermen didn't have that much money, so they still paid the fish directly. According to the agreement with the Yinghai Division, the Mingzhou Salt Transportation Branch transferred the fish to the Yinghai Division on the spot in exchange for money.

Regarding the salt administration, since it is involved, Zhu Yuan has also paid attention to it recently.

At present, the terminal retail salt price set by the Ming court is 10 taels of silver, and the discounted price is 12 yuan, which is 30 renminbi a catty of salt.

expensive.

However, compared to the Yuan Dynasty, it was much cheaper.

The salt price set by the Yuan court in the early days was 10 taels of silver per quotation, and it dropped slightly in the middle period. In the later period, financial difficulties began to increase the salt price, reaching a maximum of 200 guan coins per quotation of salt. , but after conversion, the salt sold to the common people exceeded 300 Wen per catty.

The ultra-high salt price led to the flood of private salt. Another result of the butterfly happened to be the rise of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen, two private salt dealers.

The terminal retail price is as high as 10 taels of silver, how much can the Ming court get?
Not much, only 6 denarii.

This is the official tax that needs to be paid to the imperial court for every imported salt. As for the others, they are all counted as consumption.

Zhu Yuan felt that this 'consumption' was too great.

Referring to Yuan Ting's data, based on the current population of 5000 million, Zhu Yuan can roughly calculate that the annual demand for salt goods in the entire Central Plains is about 200 million yuan.Of course, it is a big quotation of 400 catties, so the official can get about 120 million taels in tax.

This is not much different from what Zhu Yuan learned about Daming's salt tax revenue of 137 million guan last year when he was still in Xiwu.

However, it was much lower than the previous dynasty, whether it was the Yuan court or the Song dynasty.

According to the data collected by Zhu Yuan recently, the salt tax in Song Dynasty could reach more than 1700 million guan.In my memory, the highest salt tax in the Ming Dynasty was only about 200 million taels of silver.It can be said that it is much lower than the previous and subsequent dynasties.

It has to be said that this is another important fiscal policy mistake by Lao Zhu.

Just like another Zhu Yuan happened to remember the almost negligible tea tax, Zhu Yuan could see that Lao Zhu's thinking was very simple and simple.

If the court collects less tax, the common people will have more wealth.

Actually, neither is so.

If it really benefits all the people, Zhu Yuan is also very happy to see various low tax rates, but Zhu Yuan is very clear about the reality.

In short, regarding the salt tax, we still need to plan carefully if we have time in the future.

Of course, there is also the fishing tax.

Calculated, the tax rate of 510 dan is less than one-fortieth of the total 2.1 tan of fish harvested by the private sector, which is too low.When the time is right in the future, re-planning is also required.

(End of this chapter)