Of course, the experience of each war still needs to be summarized.
This time, it can be said that the most profound feeling is that the Ming Dynasty still has too few elite soldiers. Just like the three major battalions, there are too few who can become the main force in combat.
On the Guan Ning Army side, the Zu Family Army was indeed the most elite. Therefore, after the Zu Family Army was wiped out by Jianlu, the remaining troops could still defend the city and fight together, but they could not participate in the battle as the main force.
Therefore, the first thing Emperor Chongzhen did after he came back was to summon Liu Kongzhao, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, and said bluntly: "The reform of the Beijing camp is imperative. I will give you one month to review the current situation of the Beijing camp. The people and horses eliminate the weak and keep the strong."
This matter had been foreshadowed before, so Liu Kongzhao had already expected it. However, when I heard Emperor Chongzhen mention it at this time, I wanted to talk and talk about a few things he was considering. If these things are not resolved, it is still unlikely that the reform of the Beijing camp will be complete.
However, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to know what he wanted to say, and continued to him directly: "There is only one principle, eliminate the weak and retain the strong. You can be divided into three classes. The first class, the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, who cannot even do basic physical work. Those who cannot persist; the second class, those who are strong but not suitable for going to the battlefield; the third class, those who are suitable for the battlefield; I will not give you a quota limit for these three classes. For each class, the number is How much? You will be given half a month to complete all the classifications, and I will personally verify it."
At this point, he looked at Liu Kongzhao's eyes and saw that he was hesitant to speak, so he smiled and said: "I can tell you first that the first class of old, weak, sick and disabled people will be given food fields to live on. However, they are not in the capital, but in Shanhaiguan. They can be demobilized and engaged in farming; the second-class soldiers, I will reorganize them into engineering soldiers, which are used for daily life such as building roads and bridges, disaster relief and prevention, etc. The third-class soldiers, Naturally, I don’t need to say anything.”
Liu Kongzhao did not expect that the emperor had arranged everything properly, so he had nothing to say and immediately accepted the order.
Emperor Chongzhen was ready to personally watch the reforms in the Beijing camp. Once this is completed, it will be used as a template to be gradually implemented in health centers across the country.
It’s time for the Ming Dynasty’s army to change.
After giving this order, Emperor Chongzhen immediately began to check the financial situation.
The salt policy reform is still being implemented, and it is not yet clear whether the people will benefit from it.
What has achieved phased results is the establishment of branches of the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty, which have been set up and operational in thirteen provinces in the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty. As far as the current situation at the capital is concerned, the situation of deposits and loans in various places is not extensive enough. Relatively speaking, there are more on the Jiangnan side, but only a few more. In this regard, the court still needs to continue to provide guidance.
After Emperor Chongzhen read the memorial, he went out in person and was received by Song Yingxing himself from the Kaiwu Department.
Song Yingxing naturally knew what the emperor's intention was for running over so quickly, so he immediately reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, there have been some results so far, and it can indeed be burned as your Majesty said. But now there is a difficulty, which is the aspect of refractory bricks. It’s still a bit weak, Wechen is still experimenting in many ways, and I believe that in another year or so, the current difficulties should be solved.”
Emperor Chongzhen did not place any hope that Song Yingxing could get it done right away, but he still needed to be reminded. He said to Song Yingxing: "Don't be stingy with the rewards you should have, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of the craftsmen, as well as the funds." If it's not enough, just apply to me. This thing has a very wide range of applications and will greatly change the current people's livelihood. Of course, it can also improve the government's finances, so we must hurry up!"
With the emperor's words at the bottom, Song Yingxing immediately laughed and immediately replied: "Your Majesty has already told me about the importance of this matter. How dare you be careless and procrastinate!"
Emperor Chongzhen was still very satisfied with Song Yingxing's ability to do things, nodded and prepared to leave. But before leaving, he suddenly turned around and said to Song Yingxing: "It's really not easy for Song Qing to insist on refusing to give gifts under various excuses!"
Song Yingxing was stunned for a moment, and then came to his senses. He knew that after he became the prince's lecturer, he became very popular. He did find various relationships and gave gifts under various excuses, but he rejected them all. The emperor has factory guards in the capital, so it is normal for him to know about this situation.
Thinking of this, after coming back to his senses, he immediately turned serious, bowed and echoed: "This is my duty as an official, and I dare not break this bottom line. The salary of the humble minister and the reward from your majesty are already meager enough. I’ve used it for my daily life!”
"Haha, you have a good sense!" Emperor Chongzhen heard this and said with a smile, "When you complete this matter, I will give you 1% of the shares and receive dividends every year. The time will be set to sixty Happy New Year."
When he heard this, Song Yingxing couldn't help but be overjoyed. After Emperor Chongzhen's explanation, he knew that if that thing could be made, it would have an unprecedented wide range of applications. In other words, this thing is very valuable. Even if you get 1% of the shares, as the scale expands, it will definitely be much higher than the salary.
"I thank you for your kindness!" Song Yingxing immediately saluted solemnly. With this great gift, the Song family will have no worries about food and clothing from now on!
Emperor Chongzhen accepted it calmly and returned to the palace immediately.
What he just mentioned was indeed reported to him by Wang Chengen, the admiral of Dongchang. Almost all the important officials in the capital and the factory guards have already set up eye spies to monitor them. As soon as Emperor Chongzhen returned to Beijing, a summary of the relevant memorials was already placed on his imperial record.
Compared to Song Yingxing, Chen Zilong received more. However, Emperor Chongzhen can still understand it, because Chen Zilong's social relations are far more complicated than Song Yingxing's, and he naturally has more human relationships. As long as it was not something excessive, Emperor Chongzhen would turn a blind eye. After all, if the water is clear, there will be no fish. It is simply impossible for all officials to be like Hai Rui!
After returning to the palace, Emperor Chongzhen began to read memorials about disasters in various places.
Since April, there has been a severe drought in the Wujiang area, and locusts have taken the opportunity to make things worse. However, thanks to the disaster relief mechanism established by Emperor Chongzhen and the timely transportation of food, there was no widespread starvation to death.
However, Emperor Chongzhen saw a stack of memorials, all of which were related to early warnings of disasters. At the top there is a summary of the cabinet's disaster situation. Emperor Chongzhen's expression turned a bit grim just after looking at it.
There are also signs of severe drought in the capital region and near Nanjing, as well as in Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Huguang. The scope is so broad. It's a bit scary. If it doesn't rain in the future and all of them suffer from drought, the problem will be serious.
According to what the cabinet wrote in the memorial, such a large-scale drought had rarely happened before. It rains more or less everywhere. Qin Tian Jian also gave a reply, thinking that the disaster situation in some provinces should be alleviated.
Although they all thought so, Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to be careless. The late Ming Dynasty was a famous period of constant natural and man-made disasters. He said it shouldn't happen, but maybe God will.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen would rather assume that these provinces will suffer from drought in the future. Therefore, regarding this matter, he immediately convened a meeting of six ministries and nine ministers in Wenhua Hall.
Nowadays, Emperor Chongzhen's prestige is so high, and he can deduce the truth from clues. Therefore, none of these senior officials of the Ming Dynasty dare to ignore the emperor's opinions.
Under Emperor Chongzhen's repeated emphasis, these senior officials of the Ming Dynasty talked about the disaster issue that he was worried about.
"Your Majesty, I think we can let the local Metropolitan Procuratorate send censors to inspect the disaster areas. In this way, the scope of the censors' inspections will be limited, and they can concentrate on rectifying local disaster resistance!"
"Your Majesty, I think we should build water conservancy projects and prepare water for drought relief."
"Your Majesty, sweet potatoes have been promoted as a supplement to the staple food for three consecutive years. Especially in southern regions, such as Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangxi and other places, the harvest is huge. Some grains can be transferred from them."
"Your Majesty, the imperial court has given repeated orders to local governments to pay attention to sweet potatoes, corn and other crops and plant them outside farmland to supplement food needs."
"..."
Each suggestion basically made sense, and Emperor Chongzhen nodded.
In fact, behind these suggestions are the hard work of Emperor Chongzhen. After several years of planning, we have achieved some results now.
After the meeting, there were a total of twelve relevant suggestions. After sorting them out, an imperial edict was immediately issued to the capital, ordering all localities to implement them.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't know that he had done nothing wrong in what he took so seriously.
In the original history, from April to August in the 14th year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought and no rain in the Wujiang area, and locusts covered the sky. Official orders to arrest them became increasingly common. The price of rice is four taels of silver per stone, and the street is full of beggars, many of whom die sleeping on their heads. Folks eat rotten food residues as a delicacy, or eat tree shavings and elm bark. Factories were set up everywhere to provide porridge, and tens of millions of people ate it every day.
With such a tragic situation, it can be said that the Ming court was completely powerless to do anything to the local area. The people of the Ming Dynasty, in that plane, really lived in dire straits, it was completely like the scene at the end of the dynasty.
Also, in the original history, starting from June of the 14th year of Chongzhen, severe drought and locust outbreaks occurred in Liangji, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Huguang. At that time, Shandong and other provinces reported disasters year after year, and urged the canal transportation to the supervisors such as Zuo Mao. Dao Zhongchi said: "I arrived in Linqing from Jinghai and saw three people died of hunger, three died of epidemics, and four were thieves." Li Qingshan then said. He led the people to revolt, blocked water transportation, and caused a great earthquake in the Ming Dynasty.
But now, the disaster that occurred in the 14th year of Chongzhen, because Emperor Chongzhen took proper precautions, the adverse effects are being postponed. At least in the Wujiang area, no tragic events in history have occurred. Emperor Chongzhen now also attaches great importance to disaster-stricken provinces in various places and compiled twelve disaster prevention and relief measures.
In the original history, the bandits were not wiped out, but at this time, wars were already everywhere. The war has added to the disasters everywhere. If there were no man-made disasters, such a large-scale disaster would never have occurred.
No matter how severe the disaster is, as long as the government and the people work together to fight the disaster and provide disaster relief, the so-called man can conquer nature can be realized.
And Emperor Chongzhen was like this because he wanted to do things that would conquer heaven.
However, in his heart, he still knew that the various measures he had deployed in the country would still take time to accumulate results. Take the promotion of sweet potatoes, for example. Although they can be grown, the selection of varieties, storage, how to be more productive, and how to achieve a bumper harvest cannot all be solved based on the experience left by Xu Guangqi. It takes time to accumulate, and it will explode after reaching a certain level.
As for potatoes and corn, which have higher environmental requirements, Xu Guangqi did not specifically conduct experiments and write out experience summaries when he was still alive, so it is even more difficult to promote them. Although this task was left to Chen Yulong. However, the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and it still took a few years for various regions to accumulate experience.
From this, Emperor Chongzhen knew that, at least in the past few years, the most critical issue in Ming's disaster relief was the food issue. And this still depends on the Zheng family's fleet to continuously transport food back from Nanyang.
It should be last year that the Zheng family began to transport grain to Daming on a large scale. Whether it was the Ming Dynasty's domestic food disaster relief, the Dongjiang Army's food, or even the Guan Ning Army's food, a large part of it relied on blood transfusions from the Zheng family.
Emperor Chongzhen was a little worried. Such a thing did not happen in the original history. Now that food is being transported from Southeast Asia on a large scale, this matter will inevitably produce a butterfly effect. I don’t know what will happen to this butterfly effect. Is it good or bad for Ming Dynasty? How big is the impact?
If there is a food problem in Nanyang and no more food can be imported, it will have a great impact on the Ming Dynasty. For example, disaster relief is one problem, and war with Jianlu is another problem.
Thinking of these, thinking about food restricting the Ming Dynasty and ZTE. It can even be said that whether the Ming Dynasty is revived or not depends on whether there is enough food. And this currently has to be solved by Nanyang. This made Emperor Chongzhen feel that his neck was stuck. He didn't know when he would be strangled. Or, can't do it?
My destiny is up to me and not to others! Emperor Chongzhen secretly felt cruel and must pay attention to the grain output of the Ming Dynasty. The manpower and material resources invested in this aspect were still too little. Didn’t Yuan Daxia’s hybrid rice solve the problem of food and clothing for 1.3 billion people in later generations? It’s nothing more than artificial breeding of various rice species, right?
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen immediately sent Zhang Zilong from the Agriculture Department to tell him the idea and asked him to send key personnel from the Agriculture Department to the south to select experimental fields. Once the location was determined, the local government would fully cooperate and conduct more experiments. Even if it can’t be done in ten years, what about twenty years?
While Emperor Chongzhen was busy with disaster relief, a large army was gathering on the grasslands outside the Great Wall of Shaanxi. In the central military tent, the one sitting in the main seat, the money rat tail, is very obvious. Needless to say, he is a prisoner.
This person is Jierhalang sent by Huang Taiji to the Hetao area. At this time, he was listening to the man kneeling in front of him reporting the news.
The person who reported the news was dressed as a Han Chinese and spoke Ming Dynasty Mandarin with a Shaanxi accent.
