This is the seventh year since Zhu Youjian was reborn, and it is also a year where he can relax a little.
The original sixth year of Chongzhen can be said to be the year when the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty took a turn for the worse.
In February, Kong Youde, who had caused great turmoil in Shandong, asked to surrender to the slaves and sent the slave thieves truly effective artillery and Hongyi cannon. From then on, the slave thieves had artillery that could destroy the Ming Dynasty's solid city defenses! You can even use Hongyi artillery to bombard the Ming Dynasty's infantry array in the field - because Houjin has the advantage of cavalry, they can restrict the movements of the Ming army's infantry array. As for the infantry array that was difficult to move, of course there was no way to avoid the Hongyi cannon. Therefore, the Hongyi cannons of the Hou Jin Dynasty can play a greater role in field battles, but the Hongyi cannons of the Ming army are of little use to the Hou Jin army which has the advantage of cavalry...
In June of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Hou Jin attacked Lushun under the leadership of Kong Youde. With the Hongyi cannon and more than a hundred warships brought by Kong Youde to Hou Jin, the Ming Dynasty's defense in the Lushunkou area completely collapsed. Huanglong, the commander-in-chief, and the brave generals Li Weiluan, Xiang Zuolin, Fan Hualong, Zhang Dalu, Shang Keyi and others were all killed in battle.
Unlike the situation when the Jin army briefly occupied Lushun twice in the first year of Tianqi and the fifth year of Tianqi, the fall of Lushunkou this time brought an end to the 12-year Ming and Jin Dynasty Battle of Lushun.
After losing Lushunkou, a stronghold that seriously threatened the southern coastline of Liaoning, the Pidao Ming Army was on its last legs, and its final collapse was only a matter of time!
However, the impact of Kong Youde's gold drop and the fall of Lushunkou on the Ming Dynasty was far less than the plague that broke out at the junction of Taiyuan and Datong in Shanxi in the first half of the sixth year of Chongzhen. Although the plague did not cause much damage during the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, this was just the beginning. In the next eleven years, more Ming armies were defeated by the plague than were wiped out by Hou Jin and rogue bandits combined...
In the autumn of the sixth year of Chongzhen, migratory locusts began to appear again in northern Shaanxi!
As a result, the four major natural disasters of flood, drought, locust and epidemic came together.
But even so, the sixth year of Chongzhen was actually a good year compared to the tenth year of Chongzhen and beyond!
And in this life, Zhu Youjian finally had a fate-defying change - truly defiant, relying on the efforts of Tmall Division, he suppressed the natural disaster and plague in Shanxi!
The four major natural disasters of floods, droughts, locusts, and epidemics may be missing one or the other!
In the upcoming seventh year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian's memory mainly includes droughts in Shanxi and Shaanxi, locust plagues raging everywhere, and floods caused by the Yellow River burst in Peixian County.
There is nothing you can do about drought - you can't call the wind and rain!
The locust plague can be dealt with, but the effect is limited. But the Yellow River burst cannot happen again... As early as the spring of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian ordered Prime Minister Zhang Guowei, the censor of the river, Luo Sigong, the governor of Huaibei, and Luo Yangxing, the commander-in-chief of Huaidong, to excavate the second The channel for the Yellow River to enter the sea, which is more than a hundred miles long, should have been completed before June of the seventh year of Chongzhen, right? Zhu Youjian urged this project urgently, but the amount of money and authority given were not small. It can be said that he wanted money to give money, people to give people, and power to be delegated.
They all assigned Luo Sigong the task of regulating Huaibei - his son was the commander-in-chief, and he was the governor. The father and son controlled the military and administration of Huaibei! Moreover, they were all fierce men who had served as commanders of the Imperial Guards! If this job fails, their heads will be chopped off!
With this channel into the sea, the Yellow River can discharge floodwater into the sea when it floods. In this way, Huaibei should be able to get a rare bumper harvest.
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian smiled and closed the imperial edict he had just approved for the censor of Hedao, the commander-in-chief of Huaibei and Huaidong, exhaled, and then looked at several pavilions in Yuxi Palace. The old man finally set his sights on Xiong Wencan, who had just joined the cabinet.
Xiong Wencan came to replace Xu Guangqi - Xu Guangqi became seriously ill in the summer of the sixth year of Chongzhen and went home to take care of himself. Therefore, Zhu Youjian transferred Xiong Wencan, then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to the court to replace Xu Guangqi from the engineering department.
This Xiong Wencan did not take office alone, but came to Beijing with his supervisor and hundreds of Chinese and Western craftsmen hired from Foshan, Macau and other places.
Of course, Chinese and Western craftsmen were hired for the Xuanfu Gun Factory and Gun Factory. Zhu Youjian hoped to expand the output of these two arsenals and produce turtledove guns in Xuanfu.
After Xiong Wencan's supervisors came to Beijing, they were all transferred into the Royal Navy - not as sailors, but as marines to attack Luzon.
The reason why Guangdong troops were used to attack Luzon was because the people in Guangdong and Guangxi were somewhat resistant to malaria and were accustomed to hot weather.
In addition, many of Xiong Wencan's supervisors have fire gun soldiers, so it is easier to practice "Taizu's Phalanx".
The person who replaced Xiong Wencan as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was Zhang Yiming, the former Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue. This high-ranking official who had been influenced by Zhu Youjianguang when he was governor of Datong was now used as a confidant of the emperor.
This time I went to Guangdong and Guangxi with the task of recruiting and training new armies in Guangdong and Guangxi. Zhu Youjian remembered that in his previous life, he used the Northern Army and the Japanese Army in the plague-ridden land in the south. However, he suffered a lot of losses due to the epidemic. , and later switched to Guangdong and Guangxi soldiers, and the situation improved.
In this generation, Chongzhen had experience, so he used Guangdong and Guangxi troops from the beginning. Moreover, the cat eunuchs from the Tmall Division were mobilized to go south with Zhang Yiming, specifically to find ways to curb the southern epidemic... Fighting in the hot and humid land of Nanyang, epidemic prevention is combat effectiveness!
"Xiong Ministry of Industry," Zhu Youjian said to Xiong Wencan in a serious tone, "I order you to inspect the Yellow River construction sites in eastern Henan and Huaibei after spring... This year is a critical year for the Yellow River to change its course into the sea. Before the summer rainy season comes, all projects must be completed, and the water of the Yellow River must be diverted into the sea. This is a project related to the movement of the country. If there are any mistakes, I will deprive you of your status and chop off the heads of Zhang Guowei, Luo Sigong, and Luo Yangxing. I say We’ll do it!”
How could Xiong Wencan dare to be negligent? He quickly replied: "I will work hard to live up to His Majesty's expectations!"
Zhu Youjian's face was gloomy and he nodded slightly. In a blink of an eye, it has been seven years since Chongzhen... The disaster of the Ming Dynasty is getting closer and closer.
If the water from the Yellow River can be introduced into the East China Sea this year, then Huaibei will definitely be ripe in eight or nine years, and it will be able to collect and store 10 to 20 million stones. Huaibei is a large area, and it is all plains, suitable for farming. If it is developed properly, Not to mention 40 million acres of fertile farmland. Even if the weather is dry and cold, you can still grow wheat.
And from ten to seventeen years, although there was a severe drought, Huaibei was still relatively humid, and there was always some harvest... Compared to the previous life, this was an "extra wheat"!
"Mr. Bi Ge," Zhu Youjian called Bi Ziyan's name again, "The Nanyang and Xiangyang warehouses will be completed this year. Please pay a visit when the time comes!"
Bi Ziyan immediately went out and said: "I must go and take a good look at my younger brother, and never let him miss your majesty's important event."
The brother-in-law he was talking about was Bi Zisu, who was now appointed as the imperial envoy and governor of the granary. Among other things, he was in charge of the two "life-saving warehouses" in Nanyang and Xiangyang.
Zhu Youjian knew that Bi Zisu was an upright official with an empty pocket and a cruel temperament. In his previous life, he did not comfort the Liao soldiers who could not get their due pay. Later, after the mutiny subsided, he was so ashamed that he went on a hunger strike and died. Of course, it was perfect for such an official to manage the "life-saving warehouse", so Zhu Youjian did not ask him to supervise the army or govern the local area, but gave him the life-saving food of the Ming Dynasty.
"My soldier," Zhu Youjian called Zhang Fengyi, Secretary of the Ministry of War, "last year there were floods in Shaanxi, and this year there is drought and locust plague in Shaanxi. There will definitely be a spring famine this spring. I can't go to Shaanxi in person, so I'll trouble you to make a trip. Go When I am the governor of Shaanxi and the governor of the three sides... I don’t want to provide disaster relief. Shaanxi has been plagued by disasters since Tianqi. It has never had a good year. It is better to bring out the victims as much as possible to eat!
In addition, I have asked Li Zicheng to serve as the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi and specialize in handling Shaanxi thieves! You have to cooperate with him and try to defeat the intruders in Liupan Mountain! "
