Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 99: Prepare for the back-up plan first, then recruit the general star (first order required)
Under Wang Xun's confused gaze, Zhu Changluo pointed at the strategies they presented.

"How can you move the grain transport without any other plan? This is too bold. It is too timid to just ask me to strictly control the grain transport and salt administration."

"Common people..." Wang Xun was confused.

"I'll give you Zhayangzong, I'll give you Liaodong Kaizhong, I'll give you Tianjin No. 3 Shipyard, I'll give you the tribute trade with Korea, can you first do a good job of shipping?"

Wang Xun opened his mouth wide: "Zha...Zha Yang Zong? Shipping by sea?"

The Ming Dynasty had been fighting over river and sea transportation for more than two hundred years.

The Mongols and Yuan Dynasty mainly relied on sea transportation. During the Hongwu period of the early Ming Dynasty, they also used sea transportation to supply the north. In the fifth year of Yongle, there was even the idea of ​​setting up a sea route office.

In the 13th year of Yongle, sea transportation was finally stopped, and only one general, Zhayangzong, was left in charge of the grain transport army, who was in charge of 13 guards and supplied Ji and Liao from the sea route.

During the Jiajing period, the Zhayangzong was reformed several times and was abolished in the 45th year of Jiajing.

The one who petitioned to abolish the Zhayang General was Hu Yingjia, a native of Nanzhili. Wang Zongmu, the chief censor of the grain transport in the first year of the Wanli reign, commented on this: Yingjia was reluctant to change the law for the sake of his hometown, and those who are knowledgeable cannot help but sigh with regret.

Because in the first year of the Wanli reign, the Zhayang General was re-established, although its scale was greatly reduced and it only governed eight garrisons.

However, after it was withdrawn and then re-established, "it was used for several years, but was eventually discontinued due to numerous drownings."

General Zhayang was not laid off, but was marginalized and even his treatment was worse than that of other generals in the Cao Army.

For example, the four generals of Zhejiang East, Zhejiang West, Huguang, and Jiangxi were given four taels of silver for each ship.

What about Zhayangzong? "I will give you one ounce of silver as usual," and "we can discuss it again if we need to ship by sea in the future."

This became the reason for Zhu Changluo to discuss the matter again.

"During the Eastern Expedition to Korea, Zhayangzong was put to use again, transporting more than 200,000 dan of grain by sea. Now, Korea has petitioned the court to change the land transportation of relief grain to sea transportation, which is faster." Zhu Changluo looked at him and said, "Although Zhayangzong is only familiar with the route from Zhigu to Liaodong and Korea, he has soldiers who can operate ships. The court still has the idea of ​​abolishing Zhayangzong, so it is better to change the system and let Changminghao take over."

Zhu Changluo asked him to sit down: "Now that the prince who holds real power in Korea is in Beijing to pay his respects, I will tell you about my plan..."

Of course the Caohe River must be moved. If it doesn’t move, how can it go straight to the south of the Yangtze River?

Of course, the salt administration must be changed. If not, how can we connect those big domestic merchants to the Huizhou and Zhejiang business groups?

However, if Jiangnan were to become a riot, it would also be quite powerful. Zhu Changluo had to wait for the Beijing Camp and the Four Guard Camps to be trained, as well as the Xiaoling Guard in Nanjing to be trained. He also had to prepare maritime transport capacity to offset future fluctuations in canal transport capacity.

As for reopening the country only in Liaodong, Xing Jie was there, Li Chengliang was under his nose, the newly-appointed Earl Ma Gui had gone there, and the governor had already decided on Li Ruhua and Yuan Keli.

There is hope that the material market in Liaodong can be stabilized and trade can be prospered through post-war reconstruction in Korea.

Wang Xun stayed here for a long time, and gradually he understood why he was both too bold and not bold enough.

Although the emperor did not say it explicitly, what he was secretly planning made Wang Xun even more excited: To be honest, only in that way could a "royal merchant" like him be able to prosper with the country.

"The old business remains the same. If I choose a concubine, I will let her mother's family come forward. I want to show favor, and I also accept the proposal to abolish the Zhayang General, so that the Zhayang General can be reformed. As for the shipyard, I will let the eunuchs act flexibly. In addition, there are two groups of people to be used. One is the Westerner Matteo Ricci who came from the West, and the other is the Crown Prince of Korea..."

After planning the next year's plans for Changming in the Yangxin Palace, Zhu Changluo took a break.

Only at this time did I have time to go to the Cining Palace.

When they arrived at the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Li was actually in the courtyard where Zhu Yijun lived.

"It's really dangerous!" Queen Mother Li was very scared, "What if the ministers don't agree?"

Zhu Changluo first glanced at Zhu Yijun, then walked over with a smile, and said to Empress Dowager Li: "Don't worry, Grandmother. This is the first time that my grandson is in charge of government, and the ministers still have to pay attention to the majesty of the new emperor. According to the ancestral system, the emperor may not be able to do something he insists on doing, but he will never fail to issue his will."

Otherwise, why should we appease those old ministers after the court is adjourned?

Everything that should be done has been done. If any of the old ministers are instigated to do something next, Zhu Changluo doesn't mind killing the chicken to scare the monkey.

Duke Dingguo himself had his salary taken away for causing trouble in the past. I believe he knows the seriousness of the matter and will help Zhu Changluo to appease them to some extent.

As a reward for daring to speak out and refute Shen Shixing at the court meeting today, Zhu Changluo was rewarded with 200 taels of silver.

"But that censor died admonishing..." Zhu Changluo shook his head. "Hou Xianchun didn't dare to speak out what he thought, but still wanted to sell his honesty to gain fame. My grandson acted as if he wanted to point out the key point, so the old ministers didn't dare to let him continue. The officials and gentry hoped that the emperor would not use military generals and hold the military power as if it were his own arm. How could this be justified? If so, it would be really disloyal. My grandson told the old ministers yesterday that I can pretend to be ignorant of some things. Today, it seems that they really didn't leak it out, otherwise how could Hou Xianchun dare to be so arrogant and rebellious?"

"Isn't this considered a weighing? I'm afraid they are plotting something secretly..." When Empress Dowager Li heard him say that he might not be able to do it later, she became worried again.

"If we do nothing or try to do as little as possible, they will naturally be unable to guess. But if we want to do something, how can we really hide it from all the smart people in the world?" Zhu Changluo looked at Zhu Yijun and said meaningfully, "Father understands these best."

Zhu Yijun ignored him and didn't even move his eyes.

"My grandson will start with military power. In the minds of the subjects, this is naturally the most likely thing for an ambitious monarch to do after ascending the throne. But they still have to guess what to do next, the steps and methods. However, they will probably think of ways to deal with it from the perspective of personnel and finance, which are all predictable." Zhu Changluo was very calm. "Today, there is an unexpected surprise. Ningyuan Hou is insightful after all. Father, you have helped my son a lot by making him an earl and summoning him back to the capital."

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but look at him: Are you saying that the meritorious officials I appointed are really useful?
The outcome of the first court meeting of the new dynasty was still in the making, and the ceremony of presenting captives was to follow.

In this show of force, the victorious soldiers would escort the captured rebels from outside the city of Beijing along the Central Axis Avenue straight to the Meridian Gate.

For the people of Beijing, it was just an opportunity to watch the fun.

There was quite a lot of excitement this time because the general escorting the prisoners was very special.

The man dressed in military uniform and riding on his horse with a proud look in his eyes is naturally Liu Jing, who will be famous throughout the world as the Marquis of Zhangyong from now on.

Some well-informed onlookers had already heard about this, and the discussions reached Liu Jing's ears.

But after listening carefully, he found that he was not the focus of the discussion.

"...This young general...why doesn't he look like a man?"

"Maybe he's a Confucian general!"

Liu Jing couldn't help but turn his head to look at another meritorious general who had captured the prisoners, and felt strange: Why was she also chosen to attend the ceremony of surrendering the prisoners?
However, after coming from that remote countryside to the capital city, she still maintained her composure.

Under the watchful eyes of the people of the capital, after repeated observation by many people, they increasingly felt that: this is a female general!
However, it cannot be really confirmed.

After the captive offering team entered Tianjie, those watching the ceremony were high-ranking officials and imperial guards.

The Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo was waiting outside the Meridian Gate. When he saw the captive offering team coming from afar, he couldn't help but look back at the emperor on top of the Meridian Gate.

I heard that among the generals who offered captives, Qin Liangyu, the wife of Ma Qiancheng, the envoy of Shizhu, was actually chosen by the emperor.

It is said that this demonstrates the unity of the royal army and the loyal chieftain's army in suppressing the rebellion.

In addition, the Holy Mother Empress Dowager heard that there was a female general who was the most meritorious in the army and wanted to meet her.

In terms of overall military achievements, Liu Jing ranks first.

When the white-flag soldiers of Nanchuan Road broke through Sangmu Pass, it was not her husband Ma Qiancheng who was brave and skilled in fighting, but Qin Liangyu who deserved the credit.

What puzzled Zhu Guozuo was that in such a solemn ceremony, women were chosen to be offered as captives.

Although he was dressed in military uniform, the common people could only talk about it but could not be sure, but the officials knew it clearly.

This was naturally against the rules, but the emperor had already made an excuse and brought Empress Dowager Li along.

In Bozhou's Xinping, Shizhu's envoy Ma Qiancheng could not come in person, and Shizhu had the greatest contribution among the loyal and shun chieftains, so he pretended to be confused.

There is a small platform protruding to the south above the Meridian Gate, which was used to place the imperial throne during various grand ceremonies.

Zhu Changluo sat on it, looking down at the group of prisoners surrendering slowly approaching.

Zhu Changluo asked Qin Liangyu to present the captives out of curiosity and some other ideas.

It's not Cao's idea, but his idea about the southwestern chieftain soldiers.

For this extremely important Beijing camp, he tried every possible means to find elite soldiers.

In order to bring glory to my clan, I have even used all my strength in the corners!

(End of this chapter)