Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"I have almost fulfilled the agreement between you and me."

Zhu Gaosui frowned. Under his brows were deep eyes, which were almost narrowed into a slit, exactly like the moment when a tiger and leopard pounced forward.

Just now, Zhu Gaosui told Jiang Xinghuo the cause and effect of the monk's incident.

But now, it is obvious that Zhu Gaosui's attitude has been made clear.

"Zheng He's fleet is sailing to Malacca (Malacca). The first fleet of Manila's local merchants has now arrived in the Ming Dynasty for official trade. I believe it won't be long before the Ming Dynasty's control over Manila will follow. It will gradually deepen as the trade progresses. By then, by next summer at the latest, you will definitely be able to get what you want."

Zhu Gaosui nodded and said: "I hope that the third secret will not be used by the Imperial Master."

"I also hope that."

Jiang Xinghuo sent Zhu Gaosui out and reluctantly dismissed him.

Zhu Gaosui is a person who can see the long term, or have a relatively clear vision of his future.

But in fact, if Zhu Gaosui successfully withdraws, then Jiang Xinghuo's intelligence sources will undoubtedly be further reduced. With the reduction and axing of other intelligence agencies, there is no doubt that Jinyiwei will be like the Yongle Dynasty in his previous life. , began to expand rapidly, and the expansion of Jinyiwei's power would eventually threaten the imperial power.

I wonder if Ji Gang, who is already showing some signs of expansion, can detect this.

From the beginning of the Shandong scholar's career as a Long Jingnan, to later becoming a member of the Loyalty Guard and fighting in battle, and then to becoming the commander of the Jinyi Guard, last year, Ji Gang may have had some scruples and caution when faced with the tripartite situation of the intelligence agency. But now, he has indeed begun to act more liberally.

But Jigang is Zhu Di's knife. Even if he sees it, he and Zhu Di are not related by blood. If he wants to escape like Zhu Gaosui, it will be as difficult as climbing to the sky? If you don’t see, the commanders of the Jinyi Guards of the Hongwu Dynasty will end up with what they will end up with.

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and threw these thoughts away.

Sitting in the room, looking at the simple furnishings in his office, Jiang Xinghuo fell into deep thought.

Why worry about what others are doing? If you have this time, it’s better to worry about yourself first.

Now he is pushed to the forefront by Zhu Di, just like an actor hiding behind the curtain. Suddenly the curtain suddenly opens, the dazzling spotlight, and the staring eyes of the audience will double the pressure.

And most importantly, it's a one-man show.

No partners, no prompts, all on your own.

This was Jiang Xinghuo's first time facing such a scene. If he said he wasn't nervous at all, it would be a lie.

But fortunately, everything has not gone too bad, and the trajectory of things is basically under control.

"I am not a phaser, but a photographer."

Jiang Xinghuo chewed on these words, blew out the candle in one breath, and walked out of the Yamen, which was almost deserted.

Under the guard of vigilant soldiers, Jiang Xinghuo returned home.

For more than a year, Jiang Xinghuo has been able to use these servants who used to be personal guards and fought with Zhu Gaoxu in the north and south. Even if they are in a peaceful environment, as long as they are on escort missions, these soldiers will almost always be used. It is a state of constant vigilance.

Jiang Xinghuo got off the carriage. The three five-frame doors in front of him were tightly closed. There were ice particles hanging on the tin rings with golden painted animal faces. When he looked up, he saw that the mansion was covered with black tiles, snow fell on the roof, and the doors and windows were decorated with gold and black. The pillars are even more luxurious in a low-key manner, and the four characters "Rongguo Gongfu" on the door plaque are polished brightly.

Well, it is more appropriate to say it is his home, but actually it is the old monk's home.

Although this kind of top-level mansion cannot overstep the exclusive palace styles of double-eaves roofs or verandah roofs or mountain tops, even the hanging tops and hard tops are enough to make ordinary people feel the huge class gap.

A group of soldiers walked through the front hall with Jiang Xinghuo, and they just saw the figure.

There is actually a saying here, that is, just like the local government office, the front, middle and back halls or three halls of the Gonghoubo's mansion are all for office use in principle, and those after the third hall are private residences. It's like the county magistrate works in the county government office in Qiantou and lives in Houtou.

But in real life, it is basically not used in this way according to the rules. At most, the front hall is responsible for receiving guests, the middle hall is used for formal gatherings and ceremonies, and the back hall is just like a private house.

The Rongguo Duke's Mansion was even more simple, no, a little simpler, so the soldiers dispersed when they reached the central hall. There were places for them to live around, and those who took turns in the back house had their own shifts.

"Where is the old monk?"

"Rong Guo Gong is burning incense in the temple."

Hearing this, Jiang Xinghuo was slightly startled.

The old monk has not burned incense for a long time since he returned to secular life.

According to the residence system prescribed by Lao Zhu, the duke's mansion has seven rooms, two buildings, and nine shelves in the front hall; seven rooms and nine shelves in the middle hall; seven rooms and seven shelves in the back hall; three rooms and five shelves in the family temple. The so-called burning incense in the temple, Of course it is in the family temple, where Yao Guangxiao's ancestors are enshrined.

When Jiang Xinghuo came to the family temple, it was indeed filled with smoke. When the smoke was inhaled into his nose, it was different from second-hand smoke. It didn't feel choking at all. Instead, it had a feeling of tranquility.

He opened the door and found that the furnishings inside were extremely simple. Apart from the necessary things for a family temple, there were only a small wooden table and a few futons.

Yao Guangxiao has no direct relatives except for a sister who has cut off contact with him. He is not a person who values ​​​​clan. As for his father and ancestors, the memories left to him are even more distant.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo was not surprised at all when he saw the Buddhist niche in his family temple.

Returning to secular life is only something that old monks must do in order to participate in the government, because monks cannot hold administrative positions in the court other than monks and Taoists. But even if the old monk now has a new belief, the habits he has developed in the past few decades will still remain. It's hard to change.

The old monk is thin and dressed in black robes. He has his hands clasped together and is chanting the Buddha's name with his eyes closed.

Hearing the sound, Yao Guangxiao slowly opened his eyes and looked at him: "Jiang Sheng."

"Have you heard everything about today?" Jiang Xinghuo asked.

"heard."

Yao Guangxiao stood up, stretched out his hand and said, "Sit down first and then talk."

The family temple has three rooms. The two of them went to a side room outside, and Jiang Xinghuo found a seat at random and sat down.

"What's wrong?"

Facing the old monk, Jiang Xinghuo said frankly: "I feel uneasy."

Jiang Xinghuo picked up the teapot. The hot water that the old monk poured into it was now cold.

He filled himself with water, poured another cup for the old monk, and said, "I can only tell you."

The shadow of the moon was hazy, reflecting on the snow outside the house, glowing with a faint white light, and for an instant it looked like the clouds in the sky.

"Tell me about it, it's not good to keep it in your heart."

Yao Guangxiao smiled lightly, picked up the cup and took a sip of cold water, then gently placed the cup on the table and looked at him: "Afraid?"

Jiang Xinghuo was silent for a moment and then said, "No."

Yao Guangxiao raised his eyebrows and motioned for him to continue.

After Jiang Xinghuo hesitated for a long time, he finally couldn't help it and said, "Old monk, tell me, am I really a pawn crossing the river this time?"

"What do you think?" Yao Guangxiao asked.

Jiang Xinghuo was speechless. If he had a choice, he would definitely not want to come to the stage so quickly, because his power was too weak compared to the entire temple. But he knew better that this was not realistic. If he even He couldn't even do this, so who else could he expect to do it? Moreover, this is the emperor's decree after all. If he refuses to push forward, he will not only harm the people who follow him, but may even destroy the entire reform.

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Xinghuo took a deep breath, stared at Yao Guangxiao seriously, and said: "There is no turning back after crossing the river, but how do we go forward?"

In fact, the emperor could live in seclusion in the palace, and the prince could shut himself up and think about his mistakes, but no matter what, he could not complain of illness and hide at home.

Yao Guangxiao shook his head and said: "I don't know either."

"You are just not mentally prepared, but fate is like this. When the opportunity comes, you must seize it no matter what." Yao Guangxiao said calmly, his eyes revealed wisdom and calmness, even if his face was full of fatigue at the moment .

"Let's take it step by step. Zhu Gaochi is also my disciple. We worked together for four years during the Jingnan period, but now we are drifting apart, so what? The future that you can't see through, I can't see through either. , or in other words, Jiang Sheng, you can see the future very far away, but right now, it is a fog for you and me. I can only stretch out my hand and walk alone. The intertwined threads have long become a tangle. There is no way out of this messy dead end, so why should you be obsessed with it?"

Jiang Xinghuo frowned and said in a deep voice, "You also think this is a dead end?"

Yao Guangxiao nodded.

Jiang Xinghuo sighed and said, "I understand. But you also know my character. Once I make a decision, I will follow through. Besides, I don't want to back down from this matter."

"No matter what, it is unavoidable. It will be difficult to pass, but it will be passed, right?"

The two talked secretly for a long time, and when the moon reached the zenith, they went back to their houses to rest.

The next day, the Cabinet.

Because he was afraid of people gossiping and saying that he was building an independent kingdom, Jiang Xinghuo directly chose the meeting place in the cabinet room instead of the president's reform affairs office.

The narrow duty room was crowded with senior officials attending the meeting.

Even among the six ministers who could not come, they sent their ministers to represent their headquarters.

"Everyone is here?"

Chai Che looked at the ticks drawn on the roster and responded: "Everything is here."

Looking at the senior officials, Jiang Xinghuo cleared his throat and said: "To be honest, I have asked you to come here today. In addition to announcing the final results of the imperial examination, I also want to summarize the results of the reform in the first year of Yongle. This is what His Majesty meant."

In fact, as the reform has reached this point, it is indeed necessary to read out and characterize what they have done in the past year, just like the year-end summary. It can also be regarded as the results of the president's reform affairs yamen's own examination.

Theoretically speaking, Jiang Xinghuo certainly has no obligation to report to these officials, but from a practical point of view, this kind of work report-style report is not only a year-end summary of the reform work, but also an invisible demonstration at the temple level, which is a bit Similar to a military parade.

When reading the report, Jiang Xinghuo skipped a lot of nonsense at the beginning.

"The main reform achievements achieved this year."

"1. Agriculture."

"After designing and constructing water conservancy infrastructure, dredging rivers, and applying chemical fertilizers, despite the generally poor harvest this year, the main grain-producing areas in Jiangnan still achieved an increase in production and income by about 30%, and successfully completed the tax payment task. Other regions except Jiangnan , based on the crop rotation and intercropping methods corresponding to the agricultural production conditions of different prefectures and counties, gradual pilots are being carried out. The pilot results are gratifying, effectively proving that crop rotation and intercropping can effectively improve land use efficiency without causing observable damage to land fertility, and improve land crops. The overall output; in addition, while the "Yongle Dadian" was being compiled, the work of collecting agricultural books from past dynasties and compiling standardized agricultural books for the country was also in progress. It is expected to be completed in the third year of Yongle, and will be printed and promoted nationwide. To guide agricultural production."

The faces of the conservative senior officials were very calm. It wasn't that they didn't want to say anything, but that they had nothing to say. Food production and taxation were all listed here. What was there to say? Although the tax payment for farmers has objectively increased the farmers' taxes, the value created by the liberated agricultural labor time far exceeds this amount of tax. In an agricultural society, most of the time, money is not as useful as food. Warehouse after warehouse of grain appears on the books, what can they say?

People depended on food. The stability of an agricultural country in the feudal era all depended on sufficient food production. This is why Jiang Xinghuo was the first to mention agriculture, although he did not put a lot of energy into agriculture, okay? , this thing is not based on people's willpower, and it will be useless if he invests it. He can't follow Su Suizong and forcefully promote a certain crop, right? This is impossible for Jiang Xinghuo. Even if Zheng He's fleet sailed through the Manlaga Strait, arrived in Tianzhu, or even sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to the New World and brought back corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, Jiang Xinghuo would not have lost these. Things were spread all over the country at once. It is true that the three-piece set is a magical tool for time travellers, but these things cannot be eaten as staple food, nor can they take away the agricultural status of wheat and rice.

So what Jiang Xinghuo can do now is to experiment with crop rotation and intercropping, and order the editing team of "Yongle Dadian" to devote more energy to the collection, arrangement and compilation of agricultural books.

Other than that, there's really not much else.

However, to be honest, the Yongle Dynasty is still in good weather and is now in a small recovery period of the Little Ice Age. As long as we don't mess around, agriculture will definitely develop in a good direction and not in a bad direction. In short, the main thing is to depend on the weather. This cannot be changed under today's productivity level. After all, if we take a negative example, such as the climate and weather conditions in the late Ming Dynasty, it will be useless for any agricultural experts to come.

"2. Industry."

The people in the cabinet who were responsible for the minutes of the meeting were stunned. This sequence was something they had not expected.

Yang Shiqi, who was sitting in the corner, looked at Jiang Xinghuo across the high-ranking officials. He didn't understand what he was thinking. With so many important events in the country, which one was unimportant? If you want to be pragmatic, then agriculture is indeed the most important, but what do you mean by industry?

Jiang Xinghuo didn't care what they thought. As long as no one interrupted him without understanding the current situation, he would continue reading according to the script.

"Light industry, especially the new industry represented by the cotton textile industry, is booming in the Jiangnan handicraft factory area at an extremely rapid rate. In the 35th year of Hongwu and the first year of Yongle, a total of 15 million pieces of cotton textiles of various types were produced. , as of November, 9.8 million horses had been sold, with the profit of each horse equivalent to about 0.05 taels of silver, and the total profit of about 490,000 taels of silver. The remaining amount is after repaying the expenses of building a factory, purchasing equipment, and workers' wages in the warehouse. 370,000 taels of silver, of which 150,000 taels will be distributed as dividends, 60,000 taels will be invested in reproduction and next year’s salary reserve, and the remaining 160,000 taels will be turned over to internal funds.”

Several ministers from the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion who came to the meeting as representatives were beaming with joy when they heard this.

There was no other reason. It was true that there was money advanced by the Ministry of Household Affairs in the handicraft workshop area, but nearly one-third of it was money raised by the ministers and clan members at the Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet in the 35th year of Hongwu.

This money was used as start-up capital for the royal trade in the Western Sea. Part of it was used to build a fleet, part of it was used for the shipbuilding plan, and the last part was used to fill holes in the handicraft factory area.

At the beginning, many ministers and clan members did not understand why they did this. After all, even if the Ming Dynasty only sold its flagship products such as silk, tea, and porcelain, it was enough to make a lot of money.

But this year when Dingguo Duke Xu Jingchang was responsible for distributing dividends to them at the end of the year, they understood.

marvelous!

Not only did the money of the clan and nobles return to their original cost, but it also continued to increase. Every time Zheng He's fleet pried open a country's gate, it meant that the Ming Dynasty's goods would flow in, and the most common and most popular The products are undoubtedly cotton textiles. This is what the common people in various countries can really afford. Moreover, the demand for clothing will always exist, and new subsequent demands will be born as time goes by.

There is no way, you can not drink tea, wear silk clothes, or use porcelain, but who can refuse high-quality and cheap cotton textiles? Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all basic necessities.

Because of this, in recent times, the Xungui Wuchen Group's support for the reform has begun to rise visibly, and its attitude towards Jiang Xinghuo has changed from politeness to respect.

There is no eternal friendship in this world, but there are eternal interests.

As long as the reforms presided over by Jiang Xinghuo can bring them a steady stream of wealth, then the noble military ministers will obviously always stand by him without hesitation.

And it’s worth mentioning that Luzon’s military exploits also made many military ministers realize that there are also opportunities to make achievements overseas. Those who have been granted a title have to let their sons without titles compete; He is a qualified military minister, and he is eager to achieve the goal of destroying the country and join the ranks of nobles.

Once this positive cycle among the noble and military ministers is established, it will actually be difficult for them to be separated from the reform. After all, the dual political and economic interests are tied together. Supporting overseas expansion and trade means supporting the reform.

“With the improvement of production efficiency and the increase in output, new production methods are also emerging. Among cotton textile workers, some people spontaneously improved and invented new water-powered spinning machines and various types of water-powered spinning machines for the existing water-powered spinning machines. With various production equipment, mechanized production gradually began to break through the natural geographical conditions. At the same time, new production organization forms and lifestyles also had a greater impact on the people in Jiangnan."

At this time, Shi Kui, the right minister of the Ministry of War, said: "National Master, I heard that the workers all live and eat together. They can eat meat several times a month, and they also take baths together?"

"yes."

Shi Kui was an upright and upright official. When Jiang Xinghuo saw him, he felt a little headache.

As expected, Shi Kui frowned slightly and said, "In this case, wouldn't the Three Cardinal Guidelines and the Five Constant Rules be completely messed up?"

In fact, workers in the Jiangnan handicraft factory area have earned higher incomes than farmers. When they return to their hometowns to visit relatives, they arouse the envy, jealousy, and yearning of the villagers, and various new lifestyles have also brought in the people. This has caused a great ideological impact, which is unavoidable, and because Jiangnan is the main territory of the gentry class in the traditional sense, this kind of debate has never been cut off, but it has not caused a big or too typical incident. This case did not cause nationwide discussion in the Ming Dynasty.

But Jiang Xinghuo believes that this kind of thing caused by changes in the overall economic structure is inevitable, so even in the report that spares every word, he still specifically mentions "get well early, early", pretending not to see the meaning. Big, if it really causes confrontation and conflict of public opinion in the future, it would be good to take a precaution first.

At this time, Xia Yuanji, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped forward to help Jiang Xinghuo and said: "The Three Cardinal Guidelines and the Five Permanent Constitutions are important, but the factory is like an army, except that most of them are female soldiers, and they still live with civilian couples, so they cannot be treated the same."

Seeing that it was the God of Wealth who was speaking, everyone tacitly stopped talking.

Who should say what? It is actually very interesting. Why did Zhuo Jing, the Minister of Rites, who was nominally the head of the six ministers, not speak, but Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Hubu, did? The reason is naturally that the cotton textile industry has brought new financial resources to Ming Dynasty, and its profitability is extremely strong. It is one of the important components of Ming Dynasty's financial future.

The leaders of the Ming Dynasty all know that firewood and rice are more expensive than others. Of course, they can argue with Jiang Xinghuo over Gang Chang's ethics, but is it meaningful? no point.

It's not a court debate or a quarrel at the court. Senior officials from various ministries and monasteries are attending high-level meetings to solve problems, which is different from academic debates.

Great Confucians can regard the impact of new production and lifestyles on the traditional moral order as the first priority, but they cannot.

Moreover, in the face of money, many things have to be compromised.

Without money, all monasteries and monasteries cannot survive without relying solely on benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Everyone knows this.

Seeing Shi Kui, he stopped lingering. Jiang Xinghuo nodded slightly, and then continued: "Heavy industry is represented by coal and iron."

"In terms of coal, the Tangshan Coal Mine near Nanjing has begun mining, and the coal mines in the Huanghuai Governor's Office have also completed restarting. In the north, the Shanxi Governor's Office has surveyed a large number of open-pit coal mines, and the Liaodong Governor's Office, High-quality large-scale coal mines have also been surveyed.”

The reason why it is mentioned here that other regions are all chief envoys, while Liaodong became the capital commanders and envoys, because the Ming Dynasty established three departments: the chief envoys, the capital commanders, and the inspectors to manage local civil affairs and military affairs respectively. and judiciary, but it is quite special in the Liaodong area. In the early Ming Dynasty, the population of Liaodong was too small, so there was only the Military Command Department. This was because the geographical location of Liaodong was too important, and there were remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and those who were not very obedient. All Jurchen ministries must be given sufficient attention, and the establishment of command and envoy departments is necessary.

However, there are no Chief Envoys and Inspectors in Liaodong. In principle, the civil affairs and justice in Liaodong are under the jurisdiction of Shandong across the Bohai Sea. However, in fact, Liaodong is now basically filled with soldiers and military dependents. Shandong Chief Envoys and Shandong Inspectors The envoys basically did not exercise any power in Liaodong.

Of course, everyone knows that this situation will not last long. With the passage of time and the development of Liaodong, the population in Liaodong will increase, and various civil affairs affairs will also increase. It will be somewhat difficult for Shandong to manage Liaodong. No more inconvenience.

In the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, when the Mingbaozong succeeded to the throne, the Ming Dynasty established the governor of Liaodong to manage the affairs of the Liaodong region, and gradually transferred the power of the relevant Shandong yamen in Liaodong, so that various administrative matters in Liaodong Power and resources can be used centrally instead of acting independently. However, at the beginning, the governor of Liaodong did not have military power and was still in the hands of the Liaodong General Soldier (the first Liaodong General Soldier was the Baoding Marquis Mengshan who is now in charge of Liaodong). Later, the military power was gradually centralized and civil affairs in one.

The area currently managed by Meng Shan is mainly the Liaohe Plain, which is later Shenyang, Tieling, Fushun, Anshan, and Benxi, and these places are precisely the rich areas of coal and iron resources in Northeast China.

After Jiang Xinghuo asked Liaodong to explore for coal and iron resources, the health station in Liaodong was idle when not farming. They were also very active in going out for walks, and they really discovered a lot of resources.

It is possible for the Ming Dynasty to develop a steam engine within the next ten years, but it is definitely out of the question to develop a railway. Therefore, it is difficult to utilize the coal resources in Shanxi. After all, there are not many coal mines in Shanxi close to the Yellow River. Most of them are near mountains such as the Taihang Mountains. , so it is basically impossible to rely on water transportation. Taking Jingxing Road to Zhendingfu (Shijiazhuang) is not only difficult to transport, but also very costly, and some of the gains outweigh the losses.

Since the amount of coal and iron resources required in the initial stage of the first industrial revolution was not that exaggerated, after some research, Jiang Xinghuo decided that in terms of coal, the north would mainly focus on Liaodong, while the south would mainly focus on Lianghuai. Lord.

It's enough for now, and we'll have to wait until the technology develops for the future.

"In terms of steel, the Ministry of Industry has developed a new steel-making method that effectively increases the furnace temperature through coking coal. The past steel-filling and steel-frying methods have been replaced by simpler, more efficient, and more direct methods. North Korea has obtained a way to obtain low-cost steel in large quantities, which means that weapons, armor, and firearms will make all-round progress. The army's armor coverage rate and firearms penetration rate will see a leap forward as steel production increases. Progress will also further widen the gap in military power between Ming Dynasty and neighboring countries."