The three of them recalled the hard days of that year, when they were driven out of Guangzhou by the Qing Tatars and then fled for their lives in Nanyang.
That's really precarious.
Zhu Daohua sighed: "In fact, the Qing Dynasty has not yet perished. It's just that I have mastered more advanced science and technology and social organization, so I defeated the Qing Dynasty. We must learn from the consequences of the Qing Dynasty's demise. That’s the lesson.”
Having said this, Zhu Daohua finally started to care about Sichuan affairs.
"Wanqing, how is the situation over there in Sichuan?"
Gu Song smiled and said: "Your Majesty, all the prefectures and counties in Sichuan are local people serving as officials. They have no reason to be loyal to the Qing Tartars. As soon as our army came, they surrendered."
"Looking at the wind and surrendering," Zhu Daohua nodded. Although Sichuan was relieved, it also meant that Sichuan's original social structure had not been broken, which was equivalent to not being "revolutionized."
However, the Ming Dynasty was originally a semi-feudal and semi-capitalist empire with an incomplete revolution.
In Nanyang, Guangdong, Fujian, and Liangjiang, they are already entering capitalism.
But in Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, the original economic and social structures are still there.
The reason is not complicated, because the process of obtaining these places is too easy, and the old social order has not been cleansed by iron and fire.
Therefore, while these sites were easily obtained, the price was to retain the social structure and contradictions in these areas.
Landlords are still landowners.
Farmers are still farmers.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The establishment of the Ming Dynasty actually only achieved "capitalistization" in a few areas, but in most places, the local structure of the Qing Dynasty still remained.
The braids have been reduced and the clothes have been changed.
But it's just a change of soup but not medicine.
But fortunately, Zhu Daohua, the guide of the Ming Empire and the restored emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was still very young.
With him as the founding emperor, the direction of the Ming Empire, a giant ship, would not swing left and right.
Moreover, his prestige can suppress all forces and enable this gradual reform to continue to advance.
At the worst possible outcome, we can do more south-to-north tours and so on.
But now the Ming Empire has also entered the "deep water zone of reform."
So now Emperor Zhu's steps have become cautious.
For Emperor Zhu, any social conflict arises from two aspects: the first is too few resources per capita, and the second is unfair distribution.
Emperor Zhu felt that if the distribution was carried out at his own level, the matter would get worse.
Wealth first leads to wealth later. At least Emperor Zhu felt that those who got rich first might not be willing to lead those who got rich later.
How to divide the cake is a problem all over the world.
But how to expand the pie.
At least at this point in time, there is a lot to do!
Why can those dozen European and American developed countries in later generations live so well?
Could it be that the cake was divided well?
The cake plate is big enough!
Now Emperor Zhu's approach is to expand the cake as much as possible, turning the contradiction of "dividing the cake" into a motivation for "expanding the cake."
But how does a super-large country like the Ming Empire carry out colonization, how to expand, and how to obtain enough benefits from colonial expansion to start a virtuous cycle of external expansion.
It’s really still a new topic in human history.
The expansion of the Europeans is actually a race to enclose territory, because they actually don't have much population to colonize.
The colonization of the Ming Empire really wanted to colonize the "people".
The two sides have different national conditions, so it is naturally impossible to copy the other side's methods. Otherwise, they will commit the error of dogmatism.
Emperor Zhu felt that we should follow the teachings of great men, adapt measures to local conditions, seek truth from facts, and have a colonial method with Ming characteristics.
Only in this way can the fundamental contradiction between the Han people and the lack of land be alleviated, so that his Ming Dynasty can maintain long-term peace and stability.
Emperor Zhu temporarily suppressed his thoughts and began to consider the matter at hand.
The ministers are about to enter the palace, waiting for the end of a symbolic court meeting.
Emperor Zhu is about to summon his ministers to discuss several major events in the next stage.
The first thing is to urge King Pingxi to march westward. Lebao, the governor of the Western Regions Province of the Qing Dynasty, refused to surrender. He also dispersed the banners and Han people under his command, rebuilt the Eight Banners, occupied the Western Regions Province, and put on a show of "rejecting unification by force." attitude.
Now there is no American emperor causing trouble in the Northeast, and no Seventh Fleet has entered the strait.
Therefore, Emperor Zhu certainly would not tolerate Lebao's blatant attempt to cause division.
Therefore, he will urge King Pingxi to advance westward as soon as possible, drive out Lebao first, occupy the Western Region Province, and then use it as a springboard to enter the Fergana Basin, making it his home and supporting Ming Dynasty's future conquests in Central Asia and Tsarist Russia. .
Secondly, there are signs that Tsarist Russia is increasing its troops in Irkutsk.
And it's not the Cossacks, but the regular army of the Russian Empire!
There were probably 20,000 to 30,000 people, and they also hired and summoned some indigenous tribes from West Liya as servants.
This is a plan to threaten Ming Dynasty with force.
So it also needs some beating.
The person responsible for defeating Tsarist Russia was, of course, the Ming Dynasty’s Expedition to the West camp commander.
In fact, even if Tsarist Russia did not increase its troops in Irkutsk, Ming Dynasty would retaliate against Tsarist Russia - if it dares to send troops deep into the Liao region, Ming Dynasty must retaliate!
Therefore, in these days, the Dusi side of the Expedition to the West mobilized a large number of elite Ming army staff officers to form the Dusi General Staff Department. In addition, some Ming army officers were deployed with the theme of Manchu and Mongolian warriors, and the former Manchu and Mongolian leading soldiers were also deployed. After the officers were sent to the Officers Academy for further training.
Build on this.
Ten brigades affiliated with the Expedition to the West camp were formed.
And the Ten Guards of Zhengxi were also formed.
The basic structure of the military division, the brigade, and the guard was formed. The brigade was responsible for fighting, and the guard was responsible for managing the people and providing logistics.
Through the nomadic method, the Ming Dynasty's logistical supply difficulties for the campaign against Tsarist Russia can be greatly reduced.
Ten brigades number 50,000, and 30,000 can be mobilized for battle at any time.
It can be regarded as the pillar of Ming Dynasty's military force in the direction of the grassland.
In addition to the docile king and General Jin Sanxin of the Expedition to the West camp, the capital division of the Expedition to the West was in charge of military affairs and the staff department of the capital, and those in charge of civil affairs were Yan Shenggong Kong Qingrong, Dong Gao, Wang Jie, Liu Yong, Wang Dingjia, Fang Ke and others. A famous Han chief envoy.
It can be said that this Yingdu Division has basically just become the Liaodong Reclamation Division with greater autonomy.
Basically, it is a force that the Ming Dynasty can firmly control.
Moreover, the civil and military officials of the Xingyingdusi could be promoted within the bureaucratic and military systems of the Ming Dynasty.
After a few years, the system of the Ming Dynasty will be able to completely absorb and digest this seemingly independent system of the expedition to the west.
"Qi Lin, the king of Pingxi, is still cowering in Guanzhong and refusing to leave. He ordered Luo Dingshan to lead two brigades to enter Guanzhong and station them. If Qi Lin is not put under any pressure, it seems that he does not want to live in Guanzhong immediately."
In the newly renovated imperial study room.
It was decorated according to Emperor Zhu's favorite style.
Zhu Daohua was sitting on a chair in front of a huge desk made of oak cut into one piece, with more than a dozen civil and military ministers lined up on the left and right.
The court meeting was basically just a formality, and it was impossible for Emperor Zhu to discuss matters that had not yet been decided upon at the court meeting.
Basically, as said in the court meeting, the ministers are responsible for applauding and raising their hands.
The decision-making was decided in private by Emperor Zhu and a group of important ministers.
"Your Majesty, Qi Lin has been asking for food and weapons, but he refuses to move. He has to beat him."
Luo Fangbo said.
"However, the situation in the northern provinces is also very serious now. Although wheat and sweet potatoes are being planted in various places, it will still take four or five months to wait for the autumn harvest. If the court does not carry out disaster relief in these few months, I am afraid it will Many people starve to death."
Because the war lasted from August last year to the end of March this year.
Last year's autumn harvest was greatly affected, and there was also a war. Most people did not have any food in storage. How to survive these long months was a great test for the people in the northern provinces.
If the Ming court had ignored it, millions of people would have starved to death this summer, and the tragedy of cannibalism would have occurred in the Central Plains.
"The imperial court has allocated more than three million Ming yuan and hired a large number of merchant ships to transport rice from Nanyang to the north. However, it is not easy to deliver the rice to the people and eliminate corruption as much as possible." Minister of Finance Pan Youdu said.
"Additional budgets can be made, and we must enable the people in the north to survive this summer's crisis." Zhu Daohua said as he flipped through the land and demographic information of the northern provinces that had been sent to him for more than a month.
The five provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong have a total population of close to 100 million, but their per capita land occupation is higher than that of Jiangnan, Lianghu and other places.
However, due to severe Yellow River flooding, land fertility loss and severe salinization in various parts of the Central Plains have resulted in a serious reduction in land production in the North China Plain, and water and heat conditions are not as good as in the south, resulting in very low yields per mu.
So much so that the contradiction between man and land is actually more acute than in the south!
If we talk about the southern provinces, the Ming Dynasty could survive for a hundred years if they maintained the status quo.
And if the situation in the northern provinces is ignored, large-scale civil unrest may occur at any time.
"But this summer's crisis has passed. What about next year, and the year after that? The five provinces of the Central Plains, plus Shaanxi and Gansu in Guanzhong, have such barren land and such a large population. The current disaster relief is only a temporary solution, not the root cause. This If the problems in the Central Plains are not resolved, it will definitely be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty!"
Zhu Daohua closed the summary report on the land and population situation in the Central Plains.
He said worriedly.
"Your Majesty, the Central Plains has been cultivated for thousands of years, and its fertility has almost been lost. The higher the Yellow River bed, the higher the embankments, the more sediment, and the more frequent floods. This is destiny, and it is difficult to resist."
The speaker was Lin Shizhong, a water conservancy expert who served as Minister of Yellow River Control in the former Qing Dynasty.
"Destiny?" Zhu Daohua shook his head and said: "There are many problems, but there are too many people and too little land. If we can move the people of the Central Plains to northern Liaoning as much as possible, then the problems in the Central Plains and the Yellow River can be fundamentally eliminated. solved."
(End of chapter)
