There was a rush of footsteps, and then the voice of Wu Ruzheng, the right general envoy, came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, the memorial of the King of Yunnan and the memorial of He Tengjiao, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, have been delivered together."
Then came the voice of military advisor Li Yan: "Your Majesty, both memorials are urgent... Something big has happened!"
In the Dongnuan Pavilion of Fengtian Hall in the Forbidden City in Nanjing, Zhu Cihong was playing chess with Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong's veteran general is being hunted by Emperor Zhu, and there is no way out. Hearing the voices of Wu Ruzheng and Li Yan outside, Zheng Zhilong picked up the chess pieces and said with a smile: "No more, no more... The urgent memorial has arrived. Your Majesty, please read the memorial. I will return to the household department." Go and settle accounts.”
These days, the burden of the Ministry of Household Affairs has fallen on Zheng Zhilong's shoulders... Not to mention, Lao Zheng is still capable. Not long after he came to power, he proposed several reforms.
First, all land tax in Sijiang Province requires silver - Sijiang Province is not Huguang, but a province where rice prices are high and easy to sell. Moreover, there are many cash crops in these four provinces, and farmers have no extra rice to pay taxes. If they still have to requisition rice, then they will have no choice but to buy rice...which will not only increase the burden on farmers, but will also further increase the price of rice.
Therefore, Zheng Zhilong proposed a direct levy of silver, but the amount of silver levied would be calculated based on the average rice price of the previous year and would be adjusted every year.
The second is to propose that the canal and river affairs under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry be transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs - the Ministry of Household Affairs will be responsible for repairs, dredging, and toll collection!
How can the canal not charge fees?
The Ming government spends so much money on canals every year to facilitate merchants' sales and operations, but they don't charge any fees. Isn't this stupid?
Moreover, there are many canals that can be dug and renovated in the south - the cost of water transportation is very low, which is conducive to promoting the development of industry and commerce, and the court can also charge fees, killing two birds with one stone!
The third is to prepare for the construction of the Huaiyang Water Conservancy and Irrigation Project! Most of the water conservancy projects in Huaiyang Second Prefecture were destroyed due to the flooding of the Huaihe River. Now it is time to take advantage of the opportunity to control the Yellow River and Huaihe River to repair them. It is best to make unified planning to repair the water conservancy projects in Huaiyang Second Prefecture.
The fourth is to promote the development of coastal fisheries, exempt fishery classes, and provide salt directly to fishermen at wholesale prices to facilitate their pickling of salted fish. This has two benefits. First, it increases fishery output, which can solve some of the food shortages. ; The second is to train more sailors to facilitate the navy's recruitment of manpower.
The fifth is to implement a wine monopoly and impose a wine tax - winemaking requires a large amount of food, which is not a good thing for the Ming Dynasty, which is short of food. Therefore, using the monopoly and wine tax to reduce wine production and obtain a large amount of tax revenue is also a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.
Sixth, laws restricting the free movement of people were gradually lifted and people were allowed to move freely within the Ming Dynasty. This can promote commercial circulation and at the same time prevent hungry people from gathering in large numbers and causing large numbers of refugees.
Seventh, strengthen the management of urban government-owned real estate and land, and establish specialized agencies to operate real estate and land for profit.
The eighth is to send inspection envoys from the Ministry of Household Affairs to local areas to check the progress of abolition of slavery and household registration reform - these two things have been started for a long time. However, the progress in various places varies. Some places are doing well, but some places are making slow progress and need to send personnel from the court to supervise.
Others are the third firepower when new officials take office, but he, Lao Zheng, is the eighth firepower, and he is doing well... It seems that it is absolutely correct to choose him as the Minister of Household Affairs!
Seeing him about to leave, Zhu Cixi smiled and begged him to stay, saying, "Old Taishan will leave later. Let's hear what King Yunnan and He Tengjiao have to say."
Zhu Cizhong has a certain amount of information about what Zhu Cizhao told him, and it is probably related to things in Yunnan!
Ma Shiying, the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, and Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Guizhou, had already impeached the Yunnan king Zhu Cizhao for fleeing without a fight.
Due to Zhu Cizhao's escape, the current war situation in Yunnan is very passive. Mu Tianbo retreated to Dali in February, and the current situation is unknown. Ma Shiying mobilized his troops to attack Qujing, but was repelled by Li Dingguo.
In order to prevent the fall of Guizhou, Ma Shiying had to transfer part of the Western Sichuan Army and the Eastern Sichuan Army into Guizhou and set up defenses in Chishui, Bijie, and Shuixi.
The Southern Route Army, which planned to enter Sichuan in three routes, was completely defeated by the Dashun Army!
.......
"Your Majesty, this is...the memorial written by the King of Yunnan to plead guilty."
When Li Yan handed the Yunnan King's memorial to Zhu Cihong, he looked dumbfounded.
"What's wrong?" Zhu Cizhao asked with a straight face, "Is Zhu Cizhao shirking the responsibility for losing Yunnan?"
"Your Majesty, he is not asking for forgiveness for the Yunnan matter." Wu Ruzheng said, "He is asking for forgiveness for the Annan matter."
"Annan?" Zhu Cixiang was stunned, "Did he let the Annan people beat him again?"
"No," Li Yan said, "It was because he accidentally...accidentally scared Li Weiqi, the commander-in-chief of Annan, away from Shenglong. Then he saw that Shenglong was a good city, and it would be a waste to leave it empty, so he He led his troops and moved in."
"Ah?" Emperor Zhu was stunned again and again, "He, he captured the capital of Annan Kingdom? How is this possible? He is not talking nonsense, is he?"
Wu Ruzheng took out He Tengjiao's memorial, "Your Majesty, this matter was also reported in the memorial of He Zongzhi of Guangdong and Guangxi... Now both the Gaoping Mo family and the Xuanguang Wu family have sent people to Guangdong to inquire! And Lord Zheng and the Li family have retreated to Thanh Hoa. There are also rumors that the Zheng family wants to negotiate peace with the Nguyen family and start a war with us."
Zhu Cizhong felt that he had also taken over He Tengjiao's memorial, and read He Tengjiao's first, and then Zhu Cizhao's. After reading the two memorials, he was a little dumbfounded.
I originally thought that Lord Annan Zheng was very powerful, but I didn't expect that he had just been beaten to pieces by the Ruan family, and before he could recover, he was attacked by Zhu Cizhao...even the old nest of Shenglong Mansion was gone.
This Zhu Cizhao turned out to be very secretive!
"What do you think?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
"Your Majesty," Li Yan said, "The King of Yunnan has contributed a lot... He has opened up a new territory!"
Wu Ruzheng also said: "Your Majesty, Annan's affairs will not be so easy to understand, right?"
Zhu Cixiang looked at Zheng Zhilong again, and Zheng Zhilong said: "Your Majesty, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?" Zhu Cixiang thought for a moment, "Old Taishan doesn't think we can capture Annan Kingdom now, does he?"
"It is impossible to capture Annan Kingdom," Zheng Zhilong said, "but there is still hope that we can capture Champa Kingdom!"
"You mean..."
"It is easy to capture the city with Shenglong," Zheng Zhilong said. "Shenglong Mansion is the best place in Annan. It is difficult for the Yunnan King to occupy it for a long time... Unless the imperial court sends out a large army, the Yunnan King's defeat will only be It's a matter of time. But Ming can decide who will hand over Shenglong Mansion! If Shenglong Mansion is handed over to Nan Ruan, then the situation of Zheng Qiang and Ruan Weak will be completely reversed.
After Lord Ruan entered the north of Annam, he could not continue to expand in the direction of Champa. We can just allow the King of Yunnan to go south and seize the Champa Kingdom. In this way, Champa and our territory in Kowloon River and Ca Mau Kok can be connected together. "
The Champa Kingdom was eroded by the Annan Kingdom and the Nguyen clan of Quangnan for hundreds of years, and now only a small piece of territory is left, roughly from Nha Trang to Binh Thuan. Relying on the support of several excellent ports and Tianfang believers, if they are attacked by tens of thousands of Yunnan kings, they will probably have to surrender.
"Let the King of Yunnan take the waterway to capture the city?" Zhu Cixiang thought for a while, "Is it possible? He has more than 30,000 people!"
"It shouldn't be a problem," Zheng Zhilong said, "Just make a few more trips back and forth...and Nanruan also has many ships, which are enough to allow the Yunnan King's army to go south to the Champa Kingdom."
Zhu Cixiang thought for a while, "Then after Nan Ruan takes over Sheng Long Mansion, is it possible to unify Annan?"
"It's not easy," Zheng Zhilong said. "Master Zheng's hometown is Thanh Hoa Prefecture and Nie An Prefecture. The Zheng family has been operating there for a long time and has a deep foundation. And these two prefectures have a large population, several times more than the entire Guangnan. It can Support the Zheng family to continue to maintain the situation. In addition, King Li has a high reputation in Annan Kingdom and is considered orthodox. Now that King Li is still in the hands of the Zheng family, even if the Nguyen family takes possession of Thang Long, it will be difficult for them to make big achievements, at least in the short term. Unify Annan."
