Chapter 29: Letter of Voting
King Jingjiang gritted his teeth secretly. My heart was filled with rage. He thought to himself: "What a Zhu Yuanzhang, what a vicious Zhu Yuanzhang. He doesn't care about the relationship between relatives at all, nor does he care that this country is the result of my father's victory."
King Jingjiang looked at Taiwan completely differently from He Xi.
He doesn’t know what Taiwan’s future generations will be like. He just knows what Taiwan is like now.
Former Song officials were always exiled to Qiongzhou. In his opinion, Taiwan is more vicious than Qiongzhou.
After all, Qiongzhou was the territory of the imperial court during the Han Dynasty. People have been living there for hundreds of years. It's already cooked. Although not good in every aspect. But you don’t have to start from scratch. But what Taiwan looks like is that it is completely barren. Nothing at all.
What a fertile wilderness, no less than Fujian. They are all empty words and lies.
What King Jingjiang was even more worried about was what He Xi didn't mention, which was the plague.
The blue strands on the road open up the mountains and forests, which sounds nice to say. But how difficult it is to do it, King Jingjiang knows better than He Xi. After all, during the Hongwu period, the government and the public carried out large-scale land reclamation activities. Although King Jingjiang has not done it himself, he has heard of it.
On the contrary, He Xi was relatively unfamiliar with this.
Although He Xi’s ancestors were farmers. But He Xi has never been on the ground since she was a child and has no idea about farming. Even if there are some concepts, the agriculture of later generations is fundamentally different from the agriculture of this era. There are not so many pesticides and fertilizers at all, and it is a completely different production model.
I don’t even know how hard it is to open up wasteland. How troublesome it is to open up wasteland.
Even King Jingjiang now completely believed that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted him to die. In King Jingjiang's view, Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement was so great. Just want to force him to death.
In He Xi's view, Taiwan was the best fiefdom of Ming Dynasty to the outside world. In the eyes of King Jingjiang, it was a place of death.
However, the more this happened, the more King Jingjiang did not dare to act rashly.
But what He Xi said next made King Jingjiang completely unable to sit still. He Xi said, "By the way. In the first three years, the imperial court will bear the expenses of the Jingjiang Fan. But after three years, you will have to bear the expenses yourself. You will have to worry about all the affairs of the Jingjiang Fan. As long as the tribute of the Jingjiang Fan is intact every year .The court will not care about you anymore."
King Jingjiang was shocked, surprised and happy. He didn't even know whether he was surprised or happy.
Shockingly, with only three years of financial support, it would literally cost him his life. Jingjiang Fan did not have much savings to begin with. Before King Jingjiang, he was lavish and had no money at all. It is simply impossible for him to be responsible for feeding hundreds of thousands of people.
Moreover, after three years of land reclamation, there may not be any output. Because Taiwan is a place of birth. Not cooked. Turn raw land into mature land for growing crops. Depending on the situation, it may take several years.
What's even better is that he has absolute autonomy.
Many of the things he wanted to do were not possible in Ming Dynasty. He could only fight Zhu Yuanzhang by acting recklessly. But now, it's different. The court doesn't care about anything he does in Taiwan. Then recruit troops and buy horses. Gather grain to prepare for emergencies. Isn’t that okay?
For a moment, King Jingjiang had only one thought: "Father, I will definitely take back what you threw."
It's just this thought, just for a moment.
Because King Jingjiang has to face real difficulties.
Three years of financial support from the imperial court was simply not enough. King Jingjiang said: "Uncle, three years is not enough."
He Xi said: "I know that after three years, Jingjiang Fan will be in difficulty, but this rule will probably not change. Because the court has no money, it will actually cost a lot to relocate more than 100,000 people for you. If it continues, . Why should I ask you to become a vassal? Give you such great power. And His Majesty has many sons. If we continue to provide funds, the court will not be able to maintain it. "
"This is very difficult to change."
He Xi told the truth. More than 100,000 people immigrated, which is not considered a big immigration in Ming Dynasty. After all, the immigrants in the north during the Ming Dynasty were large-scale immigrants. But it also requires costs. It won't cost nothing. To maintain the lives of more than 100,000 people, it is estimated that more than 300,000 dan of food and other expenses are needed every year.
Almost all the money and food of a government was invested in it.
As mentioned before, the Hongwu period was the era when the Ming Dynasty had the most money and food. But at the same time, the number of things done during the Hongwu period was almost the most in the entire Ming Dynasty. Not to mention sweeping the world and building cities everywhere. Just maintaining so many troops in the north and encroaching on the grassland step by step. The cost is very high.
In the past, the management of the feudal lord and the construction of local areas overlapped. Even the lord himself complicated the construction of the place. For example, King Qin. To put it bluntly, a considerable part of the construction of the northwest of the Ming Dynasty was carried out by the King of Qin.
But things are different now. If such a large expenditure is maintained and all the sons become vassal queens, five to six million dan of food will be consumed, or even more. It is simply more expensive than the war on the grassland. How could Zhu Yuanzhang agree?
King Jingjiang said: "Uncle, my nephew really has no choice. Please give me some advice."
He Xi said; "What can happen? It's just a matter of relying on the mountains and the water. Keep thinking about it. The first batch of immigrants to Ryukyu still have some time to think about it slowly. I will also give you some information. After all, Jingjiang Fan still wants you to preside over it yourself."
After saying that, He Xi left.
Then some information on sea trade will be provided. The information from the Shipping Department of the former Song Dynasty was sent to King Jingjiang. Let him think about it for himself.
What comes to your door is not business. It is also necessary for King Jingjiang to take the initiative himself.
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Fang Guan's efficiency still surprised He Xi. He didn't expect that Fang Guan would bring such an important person with him when he went out.
As Fang Guan estimated, the things Dai Mingshi had committed before were nothing at all. Not to mention, Dai Mingshi only used this name when he was around him. It's not that name at sea. Not many people know his real name.
He Xi asked directly about the situation at sea.
Dai is famous for telling everything he knows. The words were endless, and the details of the remaining dozen or so pirates were told one by one. Who is active where. Whose backstage is who? The backstage is different. Some of the backstage is on the shore and is supported by many hidden maritime merchants. After all, money and silk touch people's hearts.
Others are leaders who cooperate with Japanese pirates and other maritime merchants.
Dai Mingshi even revealed his several suppliers on the shore and the merchants who sold the stolen goods without reservation.
In short, relying solely on Dai Mingshi's confession. It was enough for the Ming court to launch a precise attack on the pirates. Of course, the network is so responsible. It’s impossible to catch them all in one go. But at least it would allow the pirates who were already at a low ebb to harvest another batch.
"What a certificate of submission." He Xi thought to himself.
Dai Mingshi also has some pirate ruthlessness in his heart. If he doesn't do something, he will do it absolutely. I can only feel sorry for my fellow brothers. Well, actually there is nothing to be sorry for. Even though there may be some cooperation between them. But many times, pirates are more cruel to their colleagues than officers and soldiers are to pirates.
However, Dai Mingshi's certificate of submission was enough to win He Xi's trust.
After all, Dai Mingshi did this as soon as he did it. From now on, there will be no room for the Dai family in the pirate circle. It is even impossible to do business at sea. After all, these pirate networks in Linhai are connected to the maritime merchant networks in other places.
He Xi asked Yao Guangxiao to record everything Dai Mingshi said.
He Xi looked at the stack of lists. Suddenly asked Dai Mingshi, "What do you think I should do with this?"
Dai Mingshi said: "Common people dare not speak nonsense."
He Xi said, "You don't need to call yourself a commoner anymore. You can call yourself a lower official. As for what tasks you will have, it depends on whether you answer well or not."
After hearing this, Dai Mingshi took a deep breath and said, "I think these people have been sinking into thieves for a long time and cannot be cultivated. Your Excellency should hand over this list to the imperial court as soon as possible and order the imperial soldiers to encircle and suppress them as soon as possible." Kill their leaders. Appease their tribesmen. These people may be useful. Especially on ocean voyages."
Dai Mingshi is trying to kill his colleagues.
He Xi was a little surprised. He Xi said, "Isn't it too heartless for you to do this?"
Dai Mingshi said seriously: "As an official of the imperial court, I dare not show favoritism."
