Emperor Ming Dynasty

Kangguo was established for a short period of time. If you include King Wencheng Li Zijing, it only lasted for about ten years. The products were poor and the people were not many. Therefore, the huge palace city only covered an area of ​​[-] acres, which was less than one-tenth of the Forbidden City.

Even so, the palace consumed Li Zicheng's years of accumulation and plunder, costing nearly one million.

But now, a fire broke out from the southwest corner and destroyed 50% of the palace. For Kang State, it was impossible to repair it without [-] million.

Li Si was quite angry, but even so, he suppressed his anger and summoned his officials.

The civil servants, led by Song Qijiao, and the military ministers, led by Li Laiheng, can be said to have gathered together.

The topic was naturally the war against Wei Zangguo.

The arrow is on the string and has to be sent.

Although Li Laiheng was unruly, he was quite respectful at this time: "Your Highness, as far as I know, those Tatars are already gathering money and food, training their troops, and are ready to send troops at any time."

"In this huge plateau, besides our Kang country, are there other countries?"

"If you strike first to gain strength, then strike later and you will suffer disaster. I ask Your Highness to send out troops on the grounds that Wei Zangguo intends to assassinate the king."

"I'm waiting for a hundred thousand soldiers, ready to be ready!"

"I am willing to share your worries with the King!"

Dozens of generals came out one by one, which can be said to be very serious.

Song Qijiao and other civil servants frowned, disgusted with this group of people's attempts to force the emperor into the palace.

Li Si sat on the throne, glanced at the military generals of Wencheng, and according to the previous discussion, he said:

"Wei Zangguo's betrayal of trust and his intention to assassinate my king is unbearable. How can I frustrate the loyalty of my ministers?"

"Preach the decree!"

"Yes!" The eunuch on the side came out and took out the yellow silk: "Edict——"

"Wei Zangguo has always been unruly and disobedient to the king. It considers itself a beast and has repeatedly invaded our territory..."

"Therefore, Li Laiheng, the Duke of Li County, is ordered to be the general of the Western Conquest and lead the troops and horses of our Dakang Kingdom, and the generals will follow him..."

Li Laiheng was overjoyed and hurriedly knelt down to thank him: "My minister Li Laiheng will live up to the king. He will definitely capture his master alive and offer him as a prisoner for the king."

After saying this, all the military officials immediately smiled.

Half a month later, after the supplies were complete, Kang Guo ordered [-] soldiers and horses, known as the [-] army, and headed west.

Wei Zangguo was not slow to respond. While they sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to ask for help, they also mobilized their troops to fight.

Obviously, both sides have been preparing for this war for a long time.

Zhu Cunqu, who was far away in Sichuan, also received the news and became emotional.

However, Zhu Jing, who was in charge of the Central Army, was much calmer.

"Your Highness, please don't get excited."

Zhu Jingxiao looked at the pacing prince and said softly: "This war has not yet reached a critical point!"

"Now that all the elites of Kang State have come out, only tens of thousands of troops are left to garrison the capital. This is the best opportunity for us!"

Zhu Cunqu said excitedly.

"Your Highness, Wei Zang and Kang Guo are so different, who do you think will win?"

"It should be Kang State." Zhu Cunqu thought for a moment and said slowly: "Weizang State is just like Mongolia, with incomplete institutions and powerful lamas, making it difficult to gather the power of the whole country."

"The system of Kang State is just like that of the Ming Dynasty, with civil servants appointed and military men guarding the borders. It is obvious that they can win."

"Yes." Zhu Jing nodded and analyzed: "In the war here, even if it wins, no matter which side is defeated, it will be a tragic victory, which will be detrimental to the army and the country's situation."

"But I, like you, hope that Kang Guo will win. Although our soldiers and horses can go to the plateau, it is even more disadvantageous to defend Zang Kingdom. It would be better to let Kang Guo be the king's pioneer."

"When it enters Lhasa, it will be when our army arrives in Shunting."

Zhu Cunqu nodded, then looked out the window and sighed: "In the past, I discussed the affairs of Kang State with my father. My father said that the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are all on the plateau, and I dare not let other countries get involved."

"However, I glimpsed in Sichuan that once the Kang state and Weizang merged, and from a high position, they could spy on Sichuan to the east, Gansu and Anxi to the north, and Yunnan to the south. It would be like Tubo in the past."

"Although the situation is different now, the country will never allow another Tibet to emerge after the death of Mongolia."

"Your Highness is right." Zhu Jing praised, "You have already mastered three of them."

Zhu Cunqu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "For this war, Sichuan and Chongqing have already started working hard. There are no less than [-] civilians transporting food. Obviously, most of the savings over the years will be consumed. If a major disaster occurs at this time, the consequences will be disastrous. "

"In ancient times, nothing destroyed a country faster than war."

Zhu Jing disagreed: "Your Highness, the people of Sichuan and Chongqing have enjoyed happiness for decades, and it's time to contribute to the court. The inclusion of Kangzang area into the country is a good thing for the people."

"It's okay to suffer a lot."

……

After arriving in Hangzhou, Zhu Yixi visited the West Lake, Leifeng Temple and other places of interest, and then went on a private tour.

Hangzhou gathers products from various prefectures, including silk from the lake, silk from Jia, tea and wine from Shao, sea from Ning, porcelain from Chu, lacquer from Yan, orange from Qu, lacquerware from Wen, and wine from gold. It can be said that it is a comprehensive department store. .

Compared with the provinces in the Central Plains that are vying to grow food, southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang prefer silkworms, cotton, tea gardens, orchards, medicinal gardens, etc., so agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production, and fishery are developed simultaneously, and agriculture and cottage industry are closely related. Combine and implement intensive production.

Commercial crops such as rapeseed, indigo, tallow tree, yellow grass, and rush grass are abundant and are difficult to see in the north.

For example, the popularity of milkvetch last year was less than [-]% in the north, while in Suzhou, Songjiang Prefecture and other places, the price was no less than [-]%.

A large number of households do not have enough land, so they plant milkvetch in fragments of land in front of and behind their houses to fertilize their fields.

Even in the saline-alkali lands in coastal areas, large families are reclaiming fertilized fields at all costs in an attempt to create fertile land again.

In the north, it takes more than ten years to recover one acre of wasteland, while in the south, even on saline-alkali land, seven or eight years is enough to recover the cost, and ordinary cultivated land only takes five years.

There are many cash crops and high income, so the south is keen on opening up wasteland.

A small family makes a living by growing cotton, raising silkworms and reeling silk. The income from half an acre of land is equal to that of an ordinary small landowner.

At the same time, for large landowners, tedious tasks such as picking tea, picking cotton, and washing linen require a large number of hired labor, thus consuming a lot of labor.

The same is true, the commodity economy is active, the average daily income of part-time workers is about [-] cash, and the labor on the dock can even reach [-] to [-] cash.

The city of Beijing only costs thirty or forty cents.

Even from rice cultivation, the benefits in the south are much greater than in the north.

In Suzhou Prefecture, the average yield per mu reaches two shi, which is about three hundred catties. In good years, it reaches three shi, and even if you work in the fields, you can still get one and a half shi.

If you plant double-cropping rice, you can produce 6.6 shi per mu.

The development of the silk industry in Zhejiang cannot be underestimated.

Generally speaking, the output value of an acre of mulberry field is three times higher than that of an acre of rice field. From the perspective of labor productivity, growing mulberry fields is 50% higher than growing rice.

Therefore, the nine counties under Hangzhou Prefecture all raise silkworms and reel silk. Nine out of ten households in the eastern suburbs of Hangzhou are engaged in thread correction.

Songjiang Mansion, which is known as "the world's best clothing manufacturer", extends to Jiangxi and Huguang in the west, to Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, to Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Zhili in the north, and is even exported to three places in the Northeast.

Thousands of merchants come here to buy goods.

Among them, 2000 million pieces of cotton cloth are sold all over the world every year, and more than one million pieces are exported overseas.

There are 20 female weavers in Songjiang Prefecture, and nearly a quarter of them are involved in the production of cotton cloth.

Due to the shortage of cotton, all the cotton from Jiangxi, Anhui and other places was transported here. The Dutch even took advantage of Songjiang Customs to transport cotton from India.

From this, we can imagine how wealthy the Xu Jie family was when they occupied half of the Songjiang mansion.However, Zhu Yixi still glimpsed Jiangnan's fatal problem: too much dependence on the weather.

Once there is a severe drought or disaster, the economic crops in Jiangnan will suffer a fatal blow.

Without food production itself, it will inevitably lead to high food prices, thus causing turmoil.

This was the case during the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty. From Wujiang to Jiaxing, the Grand Canal was directly moved by ice for three feet, and many families were destroyed.

However, now that customs is open, the import of grain from overseas can effectively alleviate the problem of expensive grain.

In Jiading, Baoshan, Taicang and Kunshan areas in southern Jiangsu, there is a market every five or six miles, in which a large number of teahouses are popular, with five steps on the first floor and ten steps on the pavilion.

"Spring Garden!"

Zhu Yixi took a closer look and saw that there were three floors of the high pavilion with open windows on all sides. From morning to evening, there were many tea guests.

Entering it, Zhu Yixi was quite emotional.

Compared with teahouses in the north, teahouses in the south are more refined and elegant. They pay attention to the decoration of the environment and hang many calligraphy and paintings, which is quite beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

The kind of chatter and noise in the north cannot be seen at this time.

Even Lifu in short clothes was sipping tea at this time, showing an aftertaste, and the waiter was serving him carefully, without any intention of driving away boredom.

In fact, several girls Pingting walked forward and accompanied them into the building with laughter, but the tea guests turned a blind eye, obviously they were used to it.

In the teahouse, some are holding teapots, some are sitting in half-beds, and some are drinking from large bowls, while there are also children holding small cups and sipping them as if drinking milk.

Tea has become a drink suitable for all ages in the south.

As the saying goes, if you look at society from the bottom, the teahouses are full of guests and there are many civilians, which means that the people are living well and the society is prosperous.

"In the guest officer, please."

The waiter looked at it for a moment, then immediately switched from dialect to Mandarin.

Zhu Yixi was slightly surprised: "You actually know Mandarin."

"Look what you said, now that the pinyin is out, a three-year-old child can speak Mandarin."

The waiter smiled and led the way: "Although I have a humble status and have studied for several years, Qie Yun has swallowed it hard."

“There are so many merchants traveling from north to south, so it’s not enough to speak Mandarin.”

"The little ones are stupid. If they were smarter, they could take the imperial examination. Now we can only count on the next generation..."

Oh, the literacy rate in Hangzhou is quite high.

After saying that, Deng Deng Deng was taken to the second floor and found a private room. Zhu Yixi stopped him and said, "Just in the hall."

"okay!"

Immediately, he was taken to a corner by the window.

"Sir, would you like to drink black tea or green tea?"

"What about black tea? What about green tea?"

"There are three red ones: Oolong, Shoumei, and Hongmei; there are three green ones: Yuqian, Ming and Qing, and Benshan."

"Have some oolong tea." Zhu Yixi said casually.

"Okay!" The waiter immediately said, "Would you like some snacks to go with it?"

"What do you have?"

"Melon seeds, broad beans, crispy sesame cakes, spring rolls, crystal cakes, pork siomai, etc."

The waiter smiled and said: "They are all common foods, but they are beautifully made and have a good reputation."

"Also, I have a storyteller here. If you want to hear something, you can also spend some money to start one."

Zhu Yixi said casually: "How much?"

"Five silver cents is all it takes."

"Forget it." Zhu Yixi smiled and said, "I'd better go with the crowd and listen to it with everyone, so that everyone doesn't have to scold me."

"You ordered a new lecture, and everyone is happy with it!"

The waiter flattered.

Jiangnan Wu dialect came to his ears, and Zhu Yixi was quite disappointed as if he was listening to a book from heaven.

In this way, the effective information is close to nothing.

After drinking half a pot of tea and eating several plates of snacks, Zhu Yixi left.

This market is not big, but it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, forming a market. Boats come and go carrying goods for sale, selling cheap goods from all over the world.

Sitting on the awning boat, the boatman paddles across the bridge, and the feeling of the Jiangnan water town comes to your face.

Their movements are brisk and their moorings are leisurely and elegant. They may be alone or in a group, which is the scene of a water town.

After wandering around for a while, Zhu Yixi was not idle. He ordered Jin Yiwei to find out which household had evaded taxes or even failed to pay taxes.

Although the emperor did not exempt the gentry from corvee service, he did cancel their tax-free privileges.

The gentry and gentry could not work together as errands, but they could not avoid paying the rations together.

"How does your Majesty know that someone is not paying taxes?"

After Chu Yu agreed, Yan Yingyuan, who was accompanying him southward, was puzzled.

Zhu Yixi smiled slightly: "Songjiang Prefecture's customs is increasing every year, but Songjiang Prefecture's taxes are hovering. As the saying goes, if you eat more, you will get more."

"Customs have already increased, so how can local governments not increase it?"

"Songjiang Mansion must have concealed a lot about this estimate."

Yan Yingyuan suddenly realized.

Regarding Yan Yingyuan, Zhu Yixi couldn't help but teach: "Things in this world have always complemented each other."

"For example, if the population grows, there must be too much food, otherwise it will not be able to survive. At the same time, there will inevitably be more salt and wine, and there will naturally be more cotton to keep warm..."

“When one of these things goes wrong, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed immediately.”

"I am very optimistic about Songjiang Prefecture. It will soon surpass Suzhou Prefecture."

Zhu Yixi sighed: "The Yangtze River is a waterway that connects up to Sichuan and passes through two lakes. It can be said to be a golden waterway. As the outlet to the sea, Songjiang Prefecture will benefit from it and become the most important town in the Ming Dynasty."

"The cabinet must be cautious about the appointment and dismissal of local officials."

By mid-August, after celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hangzhou, the emperor was tired of Jiangnan and began to sail back.

Among them, the prefect of Songjiang was dismissed, and Wang He, the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was transferred from inside to outside and took up the post of prefect of Songjiang, which was a great benefit.

The canal went north from Hangzhou and returned to the capital in less than a month.

During this trip south, trackers were used more than 800 times and [-] million yuan of money, food and materials were consumed.

However, the salt merchants directly contributed 500 million, and the actual cost was only 300 million, with internal funds going out directly.

This left the court speechless, and all the title books of Shangshu were taken away.

(End of this chapter)