Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 386 Now Turn East
"Grand Situ, how much money is left in the Ministry of Revenue's account now?"
"Reporting to the emperor, the Ministry of Revenue currently has 3 million gold coins, 55 million silver dollars, plus silver corners and copper coins, with a total value of 82.15 million silver dollars."
"President Cao, how was the bank's income and expenditure last year?"
"Your Majesty, excluding the remaining 13.5 million yuan from the war fund, the bank earned a surplus of 3.3 million yuan last year through the difference between deposits and loans and fire consumption."
"Yeah." He nodded with satisfaction: At this time, the Ming Dynasty was still an agricultural society. There were some large-scale handicrafts, but the overall scale was still small. He also suppressed various advanced production technologies. Under such circumstances, the bank was able to make a profit under the premise that the bank had basically laid out its outlets at the prefecture level. It must be said that Cao Sanxi was amazing.
In short, the Ming Dynasty was large in size, and although it seemed to be financially losing money this year, its foundation was still strong.
After figuring this out, Zhu Youdong felt much better.
"Okay, let's leave it at that for now. Next, each of you should report on your work."
The Ministry of Works mainly built various water conservancy projects. Thanks to the improvement of household registration and the reconstruction of the Yellow Book, the money obtained by the Ministry of Works' Jieshen Treasury was enough to build some small water conservancy projects in the plan. And according to Xu Guangqi, this year the Ministry of Works also added 300,000 yuan of project funds for the future mausoleum of the Emperor Taishang.
The main task of the Ministry of Justice is to continue to promote the new law and try it out in prefectures and counties.
The main task of the Ministry of Personnel is to prepare for the next year's Beijing inspection. Beijing inspection is still necessary. After all, there are only more than 23,000 official civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, and nearly 10,000 officials in the two capitals. For this group of officials, a large-scale inspection should be carried out every six years. Moreover, although the four parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and Xuan as well as Zhu Youdong's own Fangshan Party are mixed in the court of the Ming Dynasty, there is no party struggle. Therefore, after Zhao Huan, the Minister of Personnel, submitted a detailed Beijing inspection plan, Zhu Youdong also nodded in approval.
"Your Majesty, the main task of the Ministry of Rites is to prepare for the imperial examination next year, which is the first year of the Tianqi reign. At present, candidates from provinces closer to Beijing have begun to enter the capital. The Ministry of Rites will work with the Jinyiwei to make arrangements for restaurants and inns in the capital in advance."
Ah, the imperial examination in 1619. Thinking carefully, he remembered two people on this list in the historical perspective: Chen Zizhuang and Yuan Chonghuan (Sun Chuanting had been dug out by him in advance. But in fact, there are many celebrities on this list, such as Ma Shiying, Ni Wenhuan, etc.).
Of these two people, the latter needs no further explanation, as the debate about him almost rose to the national level. As for the former, he was one of the Three Loyal Men of Lingnan!
However, Yuan Chonghuan seems to be ranked in the top three, and it seems impossible to directly exclude him from the list, and Chen Zizhuang is the third place, so he can be on the list even without any help. So, let them be, I am too lazy to get involved in the imperial examination shady business - if that thing is exposed, it will cause great damage to the country's credibility.
"Well, we have prepared the residence in advance to house the candidates who are going to Beijing. The Grand Master has made all the arrangements, so let's do that. The next one... um? What else does the Grand Master have to say?"
"Uh, Your Majesty, please let Eunuch Wei and Commander Tian take care of this matter."
"Um?"
"Your Majesty, my East Factory has recently reported some news. It is said that the King of Tang, the King of Zhou and the King of Fu have hosted banquets for students who participated in the provincial and provincial examinations in Nanyang, Kaifeng and Luoyang respectively this year. In addition, the three feudal lords also sent important officials such as the Chief Secretary of the Palace to the capital to hold various literary gatherings and invite candidates who came to the capital to participate. And His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui, who has not yet been enfeoffed, personally organized such a literary gathering. Well, this matter was first discovered by the Jinyiwei, and then the East Factory also followed up the investigation, and the Ministry of Rites also intervened later..."
"Hahaha, I was wondering what it was, so it's this. It doesn't matter, these four princes will all go abroad in the future. They really need the help of the scholars of our Ming Dynasty. Let them do this privately and don't make it public. The Jinyiwei, the East Factory and even the Ministry of Rites adhere to two principles. First, there is no public recruitment of talents. Second, there is no hand reaching out to the military. As long as these two are not violated, you can ignore it."
"Yes, I obey your order."
"Okay, let's handle this matter this way. Next, the Ministry of War."
"Yes, Your Majesty, everyone." The Minister of War Wang Xiangqian stood up and said, "Your colleagues have already told me about what happened in the Ministry of War last year. I would like to thank you for your strong support, which has enabled our Ming soldiers to fight outside without worrying about money and food. Next year, according to Your Majesty's wishes, we will turn our troops to fight against the Japanese pirates. I ask Your Majesty to move to the war room next door to continue the meeting. However, according to the confidentiality regulations, except for the three elders, the ministers of various ministries, the governor of the East Factory, and the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, other participants are not allowed to attend the next meeting."
Therefore, after Zhu Youdong's consent, the meeting place was immediately moved to another room next door. Here, veterans such as Ma Gui, Yu Zigao, and Li Dan were already waiting. Corresponding military models and maps were also readily available.
"Your Majesty." Tian Ergeng spoke first: "According to the intelligence of the Jinyiwei, since the East China Sea War in February this year, in the past ten months, it is clear that the Japanese pirates have built three lines of defense from the south bank of the Yalu River to the north bank of the Taedong River relying on the local terrain. The defense line on the south bank of the Yalu River has been completed. With the help of the Koreans, we sneaked in to watch it on the spot. After reporting these situations to Marshal Ma, Marshal Ma believed that the Japanese pirates did not build it very solid. It was more of a warning and lookout. The next two lines of defense are under construction. Only the line around Pyongyang uses a lot of cement."
"Your Majesty, I think that after the East China Sea War," Tian Ergeng said, Ma Gui stepped out and said, "The Japanese pirates have realized that since we control the sea and have the ability to land a large number of soldiers at once, the land defense line is basically useless. Therefore, the Japanese pirates now pay little attention to the long defense line except for fortifying major strongholds such as Pyongyang."
"Ma Shuai has a point."
"Your Majesty, all superiors." Tian Ergeng raised his baton: "According to our inquiries, it is clear that the more than 100,000 Japanese pirates in Korea have been divided into three groups, gathering in Pyongyang, Kaesong and Seoul. Moreover, in the past ten months, the Japanese pirates have mainly forced the Korean people to widen the original official roads in these three places and harden them with cement."
Zhu Youdong didn't know much about Korea before he traveled through time, but he also knew that before the peninsula was divided, Pyeong, Kaifeng, and Han were important cities on the peninsula, known as the "Three Capitals". These three places were originally connected by official roads of good quality, and the purpose of the Japanese's current practice is very clear: I know you have control of the sea, if you want to attack Korea, you must choose a place to land in the middle of the peninsula. Then I will simply concentrate the troops here at three points, and then rely on relatively convenient roads to achieve rapid maneuvers.
"Okay." Zhu Youdong nodded and said, "This is the situation on the Korean Peninsula. What about the Japanese pirates' homeland?"
"It's a little harder to get intelligence in this area. The main reason is that the Japanese pirates haven't built any large ships recently, nor have they built any fire ships like Siam. Instead, they have built a lot of sailing ships that are over 300 tons, carry only a dozen guns, but have narrow hulls and are extremely fast. These ships repeatedly patrol the coast of the Japanese pirates' homeland, and it is extremely difficult for our Jinyiwei personnel to sneak in."
This must be the clipper ship, right? This ship is really fast when used as a cargo ship! But as a warship? Its ability to withstand attacks is a bit poor. No, as a time traveler, how could Pojun not know that a clipper ship cannot fight against a pure sailing warship?
Zhu Youdong was thinking, while Tian Ergeng continued to report: "At present, we can be clear about the Japanese pirates' homeland. The Japanese pirates have issued a national mobilization order, requiring all the daimyo to make full preparations. Once our army lands on their homeland, the whole country will mobilize soldiers to drive the invaders into the sea!"
