Chapter 24: Site Selection for New Beijing City
The city of Beijing is in sight.
He Xi reined in his horse, sat down and his mount neighed. I thought to myself: "Beijing city, long time no see."
It's not that He Xi has never been to Beijing, but before that, He Xi came to Peiping. And now it's Beijing.
He Xi has a sense of destiny to witness history.
After He Xi came to Beijing, he met Shen Guogong Deng Zhen.
Naturally, Deng Zhen could not be compared with the older generation of princes, but he was at least a prince. He was also ordered to investigate the death of King Qin. After the prince left Beijing, he temporarily took over the military and political affairs of Beijing.
He Xi also understood that Zhu Yuanzhang could not leave all the importance of Beijing to one person. He Xi should not get involved in military power. Deng Zhen must be responsible. Fortunately, there are almost no such large-scale wars, military operations involving hundreds of thousands of troops.
He Xi also knew his position very well, even though he had the title of Minister of the Ministry of War. But the problem is that even a real Minister of the Ministry of War cannot have any status in front of a prince, let alone a person with the title of Minister of the Ministry of War.
This official position was used to command the army's logistics and even supervise the construction of the city of Beijing.
After all, in such a large construction project in Beijing, many guardsmen will definitely be used. Even as many as hundreds of thousands. It is natural to have an identity.
After Deng Zhen met He Xi cautiously, the two quickly reached a division of labor. Deng Zhen has the final say in daily military affairs. Including personnel rights in the military and so on. As for major decisions, He Xi must be informed. For example, use troops against Mongolia. Determined not to act alone. same. Deng Zhen did not care about all civil affairs. Deng Zhen must also be notified of matters that require Deng Zhen's cooperation.
For example, building the city of Beijing required the use of a large number of troops, and Deng Zhen's approval was required before the troops could be used.
The two still have a tacit understanding.
The qualifications of Deng Zhen and He Xi are both very shallow.
Deng Zhen was cautious and did not dare to make mistakes. And He Xi has her own things to do and is not willing to make enemies. So the two people talked and delineated their own scope of power. He Xi immediately started his work.
Summoned civil servants in Beijing and asked how the new Beijing city was progressing?
It was also because He Xi didn't want to stay in Beijing for a long time. He needs to go back to Liaodong, which is where his foundation lies. He has not gone back for such a long time. There's a lot to deal with. But things here in Beijing always have to be dealt with.
He Xi originally wanted to get some news from the prince. But the prince's situation was not very good.
"So? The biggest problem now is the location of Beijing City." He Xi asked.
The officials below nodded one after another, and one of the old men said: "Exactly. Your Highness has visited sorcerers, traveled around Beijing Mansion, and identified several places. However, the place is not sure, and the next step cannot be taken."
He Xi said: "Okay. Let's do this first thing."
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The place He Xi finally chose was not another place. But it is east of Tongzhou and north of Xianghe County. A place between the North Canal and the Tidal River.
This place inherits the remnants of Yanshan Mountain and has a higher terrain. There will be no flooding. It is between two rivers, and they are not far apart. The water from the two rivers can be diverted for use. The canal is in the west, and supplies can go directly to the capital through the canal.
Not far to the north is Zunhua. There is the iron factory in Zunhua, and to the southeast is Tianjin. Moved more than a hundred miles eastward.
In terms of terrain, it is much more open than Beijing.
There is one thing, that is, although it is relatively high here. But the terrain is not as good as that of Beijing. However, if nothing else, it is only the waterway that leads directly to Beijing. It is far inferior to Beijing.
But after making the choice, it’s just the beginning.
Moreover, after He Xi was selected, he had to report it to the court for the court to make a decision.
However, it is estimated that He Xi will be almost impossible to be rejected. After all, it was unlikely that Zhu Yuanzhang would go from Nanjing to Beijing to choose the location himself.
Beyond that, there are other places to see.
The first thing He Xi wanted to see was the Zunhua Iron Works.
Zunhua Iron Works has been shut down.
Speaking of which, it is also the butterfly effect of He Xi's arrival.
The first major thing He Xi did in Ming Dynasty was to reform the iron smelting industry. As a result, the output of Taiping Iron Industry increased significantly, and the government stopped the iron industry all over the world. Zunhua Iron Works is also one of them. But even so, Zunhua Iron Works still has a foundation. It can become the largest steel complex near Beijing.
It is also the key to suppressing various places on behalf of the central government.
He Xi naturally wanted to take a look.
Next is the canal.
Building Beijing City is a huge project. Countless supplies from all over the country are needed to be gathered in Beijing. Now that the canal can be connected directly to the city of Beijing, the canal needs to be repaired.
This river was built by Guo Shoujing. During Xu Da's Northern Expedition, it was repaired. But it's just repairs. Now there is such a huge amount of transportation. In particular, direct access to the canal from Tianjin Port is required. The Haihe River in the Tianjin section has always been very narrow and shallow.
Narrow because nine rivers converge into one place, so the Haihe River in the Tianjin section is naturally not very wide. Moreover, many rivers in the upper reaches of the Haihe River are turbid currents, that is, like the Yellow River, there is a lot of sediment. As the river water rushed into the Tianjin river channel.
If it is not silted up, it will take a long time. It will get clogged.
The previous section of the river in Tianjin was actually not important. The important thing is the canal itself, so it has not been cleaned for more than 20 years. This all requires preparatory work before building a capital.
After doing all this. Only then did He Xi have time to return to Liaodong.
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He Xi set sail from Tianjin and arrived at Yingkou in just a few days.
Yingkou is more prosperous than before.
Liu Jing, Yang Shiqi, Wu Gao and others have already arrived. There is no need to say how to greet him.
After the group sat down, He Xi said, "How is Liaodong going lately?"
Liu Jing said: "Please rest assured, sir, more than a thousand miles of canals will be built this year. Thousands of hectares of paddy fields will be opened, and the land inside and outside the Liaohe River will be a land of fragrant rice." Then he continued to talk about the progress in agriculture.
One sentence.
In Liaodong, there is already a sense that industry is feeding back agriculture.
Many new tools are used in agriculture. A lot of land was cultivated and a lot of rivers and canals were opened. It can be said that during the heyday of Liaodong in the Yuan Dynasty, most of the acres of land had been cultivated. There is no problem in being self-sufficient in food.
However, because Liaodong has a large number of troops.
We still need supplies, military supplies and food in the two places are already in a very tight state. If the military burden was removed, Liaodong would already be a major grain-producing province.
He Xi is very satisfied with this situation.
Wu Gao then began to report on his work.
During this period of time for Wu Gao, the most important thing was military training. Support the construction and war effort of the Changchun Capital Division because of Yang Zhen's construction in the Haixi area. Wu Gao also noticed this place, so he set up two post roads, and Wu Gao prepared to build several castles in the Haixi area. Recruiting Jurchens as soldiers extended the Ming Dynasty's rule to the coast of the Whale Sea.
The Sea of Whales is the Sea of Japan on modern maps.
There is no problem militarily. We have enough troops and food, so there is no need to fight. What else could be wrong?
But when it comes to Yang Shiqi, there is a little problem.
Yang Shiqi looked a little unhappy and said, "I don't know what to say?"
He Xi said, "What's wrong? Did you encounter some problem?"
Yang Shiqi said: "The problem is that there is no problem? Everything goes smoothly, but the problem is that it goes too smoothly."
He Xi couldn't understand, so Yang Shiqi immediately explained in detail.
It turns out that it’s not that we produce too little, but that we produce too much.
There are too many hoards of steel, salt, wood, and several other things. As for cloth and other light industrial products, the sales are pretty good. But there have also been slow sales.
However, the problems faced by the two are different.
The former is really producing more.
After all, He Xi has been expanding production in Liaodong. However, the production tasks of steel and important machinery have not been too many. The farmer's iron farm tools have been replaced. The machinery in the factory has also been replaced, and sufficient quantities of heavy iron tools, chains and anchors used in shipbuilding have also been reserved.
It seems that it is almost used in all aspects of iron material industry. It is still not enough to consume all the output of Liaodong Iron Works.
So does salt.
People eat a certain amount of salt. There is also a lot of salt eaten all over the world. The southern part of Liaoning Province is actually very suitable for drying salt. The production of salt has increased significantly, but there has also been a problem of sluggish sales.
Some people died, but not completely...
