Domineering Daming

Chapter 780 The Farm

When Zhu Xu finished dealing with Huguang, Cao Wenzhao had already taken over the islands around the South China Sea. The three most important places, Batavia (Jakarta), Singapore, and Manila, had all fallen into the hands of the Ming Dynasty!

In other words, the whole of East Asia belongs to the Ming Dynasty!

Cao Wenzhao and others did not return to the army immediately, and are building a military base. For defense, we must thoroughly and firmly control this triangle. As long as this triangle is stable, no one can take away Luzon and the old port. The trade and politics of East Asia are all Ming Dynasty. The final say!

Yu Anxing took over Lu Song, and Yang Sichang had already handed Annan over to Zuo Liangyu and others, and rushed to Jakarta to take over the old port.

Yu Anxing is a dual-handed player in the military and government, and Lu Song will be safe in his hands.Yang Sichang's military strategy is also one of the few in Ming Dynasty. With him watching the old port, whether it is defense or offense, Zhu Xu is at ease.

For these two places, Zhu Xu decided not to set up a governor for the time being, and to integrate the military and the government, and asked them to forcefully complete the control, reform, and embark on the track he preset.

The Dutch and the Spaniards paid the price for their arrogance and ignorance. Although they don’t know it yet, even if they knew it, they could only grit their teeth and accept those treaties, ceding all the interests of East Asia to Ming Dynasty, nothing else Law.

Against the eastern powers, they will pay even more!

Now that Britain wants to do business with the Ming Dynasty, the main content of the treaty will be the same. It can even be said that the fundamental purpose of the British and the Ming Dynasty is the same, that is, when they are unable to challenge Spain and the Dutch maritime hegemony, choose It's all about keeping a low profile.The difference is that the Ming Dynasty was the overlord in East Asia, unchallengeable, and even overwhelmed Europe in general.The United Kingdom is in Europe, but it is splinted. On the one hand, Spain is still standing tall, and on the other hand, the Netherlands has suddenly emerged from the sea, making the United Kingdom at a loss.

This kind of Britain may be extremely complementary to the Ming Dynasty, and there will be more and more cooperation in the sea in the future!

The army led by Zhu Xu still stayed in Xiangyang, and only a small number of people quietly crossed the river and entered the border of Shaanxi.

Zhu Xu entered Hanzhong Prefecture, Nanyang County.

Zhu Xu sat in a carriage, walked on the official road, opened the curtains, and looked outside.

Hanzhong has been a strategic location and a granary since ancient times. However, since the 42nd year of Wanli, there has been a severe drought, and the harvest has been decreasing year by year. Now it needs blood transfusion from the court.

Zhu Xu coughed from time to time, his face was still a little pale, holding a telescope in one hand, watching from far and near.

Although it had just rained not long ago, the field still looked a bit "miserable", sparse, dry, and sick and dead seedlings were everywhere. It was not a good year at first glance.

Cao Huachun sat next to Zhu Xu, and he said for a while, "Your Majesty, I have sent someone to inform Zhao Liaojiao, and he should be able to come to see you soon." , More than 2 cavalry have been stationed in Xi'an Mansion.

Zhu Xu coughed, waved his hands and said, "Don't make a big fuss, we brought dozens of people, enough to deal with a small group of bandits, let him follow from a distance, don't make any noise."

Cao Huachun understood, and said: "Is that going to send Governor Li over?"

Li Banghua is the governor of Shaanxi, he is vigorous and firm, and he is quite rigid. His attitude towards the bandits is mainly to suppress them, which is completely different from the attitude of the former governor Yang He.

Zhu Xu thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "Not for now, let's take a look first."

Fields, economy, culture, officials, military deployment, "New Deal" and so on, all have to be carefully looked at.Southwest is the most important place that Zhu Xu pays attention to. If it is stable here, the world is stable, but if it is chaotic, the world is uneasy!

Cao Huachun nodded, and accompanied Zhu Xu to look around slowly.

Just after the heavy rain, there is still no place to set foot in the fields, so they can only walk around along the official road.

After watching for a while, Zhu Xu took back the binoculars, wrapped himself in a thick quilt, and said, "Let me find out where the largest farm in Hanzhong is. Let's go and have a look."

"Yes." Cao Huachun responded, opened the curtain first, and gave some instructions to Wang Yizhou.

Wang Yizhou agreed and sent someone out.

Cao Huachun looked at Zhu Xu's still pale face, and said, "Your Majesty, let's find a place to rest for a while?"

Zhu Xu planned to visit Hanzhong more, but nodded and said: "Well, yes, it's better to be near that farm."

"Yes." Cao Huachun said.

Zhu Xu's carriage moved forward slowly, looking for the largest farm in Hanzhong Mansion. He wanted to see how Li Banghua's farm worked.

Not long after Zhu Xu walked by, in a field in the distance, three people stood up and looked at Zhu Xu's carriage from afar.

Two men and one woman, all dressed in coarse clothes, looked like ordinary farmers.

Although the woman was wearing ordinary clothes and had a bit of dust on her face, she still had the look of a watery lotus. Her skin was fair and her eyes were clear, but the occasional flashes of hatred added a touch of coldness.

Beside her were two men, one was a thick man in his 30s with a rough face, and the other was a young man in his 26s with a face full of resentment.

The stout man watched the carriage drift away, turned his head to look at the woman, and said, "Miss, the dog emperor is about to run away again, what should I do?"

The young man snorted and said, "What else can I do? Find where they live, pour some medicine into the well at night, then rush in, and solve them all with one knife! Then cut off the dog emperor's head and put it in the city. on the door for everyone to see!"

The woman was wearing a rough cloth and couldn't hide her good figure. She held a short knife in her hand, her face was calm, and said: "Don't mess around, let's follow the dog emperor to see what he is going to do, and look for opportunities to play by ear, dog The emperor is too insidious, we must ensure that the plan is foolproof, otherwise there will be no second chance."

The two men were convinced by the woman's words, and said without objection: "Okay."

After finishing speaking, the three quietly set out on the road, following the carriage from a distance.

It didn't take long for Zhu Xu and the others to come to a small town. The whole town had been classified as a farm, called "Qingshanzhuang", which was under the joint management of the local security chiefs and the county magistrate.

Zhu Xu and the others lived in a restaurant. What's interesting is that no matter whether it's drinks or meals, they are "limited" in supply. Even if Wang Yizhou expressed his willingness to pay double the price, the shopkeeper only wanted to give more.

"I only see that you have patients, otherwise I wouldn't entertain you." The shopkeeper said with a glance at Zhu Xu and his group.

Zhu Xu could tell from his eyes that he seemed to be concerned about food and not concerned about earning money.

Zhu Xu spoke with a capital accent, and asked curiously: "Is the disaster here really so serious? Even restaurants are not allowed to open?"

The shopkeeper made a few calculations, looked up at Zhu Xu, then lowered his head and continued to think: "It's not serious, hundreds of people have starved to death in our town, and people in the whole of Shaanxi starve to death every day. Tens of millions of relief money and food have been put away, but they can't afford such consumption, and I have to go out as a last resort, my restaurant is the only one in the town..."

Zhu Xu smiled and said, "Might as well, can't we still provide disaster relief? Didn't you get corrupted by officials?"

The shopkeeper raised his head immediately, and looked at Zhu Xu with a somewhat unfriendly gaze, as if considering that he was a patient, he frowned and said: "Guest officer, let me talk about this, don't go out Said. I don’t know about other places. In our Nanyang County alone, hundreds of thousands of shi of grain have been distributed in the past three years. They are collected from house to house. We all watched it too, it can’t be faked..."

Zhu Xu listened and heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. Although corruption and the like would never happen, they were finally contained, and it wasn't too absurd.

Seeing that Zhu Xu hadn't spoken, the shopkeeper lowered his head again, and said calmly: "Over the past few years, more than half of the imperial court's money and food has been used for disaster relief. Now the national treasury is empty. Disasters cannot be entirely dependent on the court, otherwise one day the court will run out of money and food, and we will starve to death? The whole country is suffering from disasters, and the court will not be easy..."

Zhu Xu was secretly curious. Is it because Li Banghua did a good job in his ideological work, or is the shopkeeper more enlightened?

After talking so much, the shopkeeper glanced at Zhu Xu and the others again, and said, "Okay, you guys rest, except for food and the like, if you want to buy anything, go to the town and ask."

"Okay, thank you shopkeeper." Zhu Xu laughed and walked inside.

As soon as he turned the corner on the second floor, Zhu Xu tilted his head and said in a low voice, "Send someone out for a walk, read what the shopkeeper said, and then observe how the farm works."

"Yes." Cao Huachun whispered.

Zhu Xu walked a few steps, and asked again: "Is Qin Liangyu in Sichuan now?"

Cao Huachun followed up, and said in a low voice: "Some time ago, the chieftain rebelled again, and Qin Zongbing personally led the troops to attack, and he probably hasn't returned yet."

Zhu Xu frowned slightly, nodded, and walked towards the room.

The borders of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, and Guizhou are the most complex, with mixed ethnic groups and problems accumulated over the years. There are many conflicts that can be resolved with a few words and few policies.