A very special imperial military meeting was held on the river boat heading to Yilingzhou - in addition to an emperor, a prince and several ministers, there was also a crown prince and a princess who were listening and recording. This is something that has never happened before...
"Your Majesty," Deputy Military Advisor Wu Guoyong spoke first, "The Palace and Military Affairs Department received a report from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan this morning. Yong'an City, Qutang Pass, Daxikou, Xiamadu, and Wushan City in Kuizhou Prefecture have all been recovered. The Qutang Gorge has been opened. The army can march along the river at any time and settle in Yong'an.
However, the cities and buildings in Yong'an City, Qutangguan, Daxikou, Xiamadu, Wushan City and other places were burned, and the surrounding countryside was also looted by rogue bandits. The Palace and Military Affairs Department believed that it was necessary to raise food and grass from various sources and recruit civilians to repair the city and buildings before they could welcome the emperor. "
Zhu Cihong smiled, noncommittal, and then turned his attention to Zheng Sen, Minister of Industry.
The major work of repairing cities, roads, ports, canals, embankments, aqueducts, etc. is now the responsibility of the Ministry of Works. However, projects such as building palaces and royal tombs are not the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry, but are left to the royal family to find solutions. As for weapons, weaving and dyeing, miscellaneous manufacturing, etc., they are no longer under the Ministry of Industry.
Weapons are mainly contracted and purchased by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Navy respectively. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Navy also have their own arsenals and shipyards, so there is no need for the Ministry of Industry to intervene.
In addition, the Ministry of Industry, which is responsible for so many large-scale projects, does not maintain a large engineering team. Instead, it uses market-based bidding to award projects.
The Ministry of Industry’s own personnel are officials and master craftsmen responsible for the design, supervision, and acceptance of projects, as well as officials responsible for managing “Ministry of Industry assets” (projects invested by the Ministry of Industry or responsible for operation and maintenance) in various places.
This time Zheng Sen led a team composed of master craftsmen and officials as well as some suppliers from the Ministry of Industry to follow Emperor Zhu in his western expedition.
Seeing Emperor Zhu's consulting gaze, Zheng Sen frowned in embarrassment and said: "Your Majesty, there are not many soldiers and civilians accompanying you from Huguang. If there are many soldiers and civilians from Yong'an City, Qutangguan, Daxikou, Xiamadu, Wushan City, etc. The damage to the city and the museum is too great, and it may be difficult to repair it for a while..."
Zhu Cihong said: "Can we recruit people from Sichuan?"
Zheng Sen shook his head: "I wonder if I can recruit people who are unfamiliar with the place? Moreover, before the bandits retreated, they looted the eastern part of Kuizhou Prefecture. I'm afraid there is a severe shortage of materials there and the prices are high. Even if you have money, it will be difficult to hire people!" "
Zhu Cihong glanced at Shi Kefa again.
Shi Kefa said: "Your Majesty, the cabinet has long ordered Shizhouwei to prepare 200,000 kilograms of rice grain for Jiannan Division, which can be transported to Kuizhou Prefecture at any time. Moreover, Shizhouwei is rich in rice, and each fort within the territory has a lot of grain that can be sold. If you give it to the imperial court, at least the army stationed in Kuizhou will not go hungry."
Shizhouwei is a good place. Not only does it have many fertile valleys, but the conflict between man and land is relatively relaxed, so the local wealthy military families can accumulate a lot of food. The transportation in Shizhouwei is not very convenient, and it is not close to the Qingjiang waterway. It is difficult to transport things out of the country, so the local powerful are accustomed to storing grain instead of transporting it to Jingzhou Prefecture for sale. Now they can sell it to Emperor Zhu at a high price.
Shi Kefa added: "As for the people... The people of Sichuan have been suffering from thieves for a long time, and they have long been looking forward to Master Wang. If the court can comfort them, they can use them for their own purposes. But... .”
Just how to appease it?
The Dashun Dynasty's governance of Sichuan was actually relatively successful. The current failure is not a failure of governance, but a "swelling to death" - because Sichuan did not experience a long and bloody war before being occupied by Dashun (Sichuan was in Tianqi during the The chieftains rebelled until the Chongzhen year, but the casualties were not large). Dashun and Daxi brought a large number of Shaanxi people (and some Huguang people) into Sichuan, causing Sichuan's population density to be as high as that of the Ming Dynasty in the early Hongxing years. The population densities of the eight southeastern provinces in China's core territory are similar.
Moreover, Dashun's "equalization" reform is more supportive of people - in the early days of Dashun's entry into Sichuan, because there were only more than 200,000 military households, it did not swallow up all the land in Sichuan, so many Sichuan farmers were also involved in the land equalization movement. Deli, the direction of the entire reform is actually to distribute the land equally.
The equal distribution of land is undoubtedly the best means to promote population growth - some people think that equal distribution of land can cultivate the rural market, but in actual practice it has failed. Because after the equal distribution of land, farmers' fertility needs were greatly released (this happened in later generations as well. In the early 1950s, China's population grew at an alarming rate), the increased food was first used to feed the new population. Then it is used to exchange with the city.
Sichuan under the rule of Dashun also experienced rapid population growth, and the rapid population growth further intensified the already severe contradiction between man and land. The expansion of military households in Dashun Prefecture has forced the numerous Sichuan people to oppose them...
Now it's Zhu Cihong's turn to deal with Sichuan's excessive population!
Because Sichuan now has too many people, even if all the land in Sichuan is divided equally, the average per capita will only be a fraction of an acre, which is enough for them to have enough food and clothing.
But the problem is that there is also a group of landlords on Zhu Cihong's side who want to counterattack!
Most of the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan army came from the original Sichuan landlord class. Although these people were not very good at fighting, they had hard work without merit, and Zhu Cihong had to take care of their interests. At least one-third of Sichuan's land must be allocated to them, and the rest can be divided equally...
Of course, it is better to get some land than none... But after a large number of Ming troops entered Sichuan, they had to ask the Sichuan people to provide food, grass and civil servants, which would intensify the suffering of the Sichuan people!
In addition, Sichuan people have suffered the hardships of Fubinghu in the past 20 years, and have not suffered the hardships of the capitalist market! The capitalist market is a scourge, and these people who have lived a stable life under the strict rule of the Dashun Dynasty will soon know what is the cruelty of capital and what is evil without businessmen...
"It's just that the Sichuan people need a chance to climb up!" Zhu Cixiang took over Shi Kefa's words with a smile, "The rogue bandits are based on the Shaanxi people, and the Sichuan people are firmly suppressed at the bottom and cannot move. People's hearts will always overestimate themselves and underestimate the difficulties. , Sichuan people are no exception. Therefore, among the Sichuan people who are oppressed by the Shaanxi people, there must be many people who think that their talents are not appreciated...and we should let them see the opportunity to climb up, so that they It will be used by us. With Sichuan people available, it will not be difficult to pacify Sichuan."
"Father," local tycoon Wang Zhu Hehao interjected, "What kind of talents are available from Sichuan?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "I don't know, but do I know how to find them?"
"How do you want to find it, Father?"
Zhu Cixiang uttered two words: "Exam!"
Another exam! ?
Ding Yuying, who was lowering her head to record, heard these two words, and her heart trembled - it was because of the exam that she was selected from among the people by Emperor Zhu, and she had a seemingly brilliant future, but in order to get this future, she now had to fight for The Zhu family works like cows and horses, working day and night, and has to learn a lot of things, but they don't dare to learn poorly...
Emperor Zhu touched his beard and said proudly: "This time entering Sichuan is three points military and seven points exam... We must use the exam to find all the people in Sichuan who are willing to do things and can do things for us." Find them out, and with them helping us to raise funds and appease the people, our affairs will be easier to handle. When the time comes, the people will have enough, and so will the food!"
It turns out that exams have such a role!
Ding Yuying said in her heart: It has been almost 1,000 years since the imperial examination began in the Sui Dynasty. Only you, the emperor, have been successful in the examination.
"Father," Zhu Hehao still couldn't figure it out, "how can we use an exam to make the talented people in Sichuan willing to work for us in a down-to-earth manner?"
Zhu Cixiang suddenly looked back at his precious daughter-in-law Ding Yuying and said with a smile: "One exam is not enough. They have to let them take the exams one after another... You can't give all the benefits at once, you have to give them a little bit." Here, take the test again and again!”
