Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 475: Gansu, Qinghai, Liaoning and Hunan Provinces Established
"Your Majesty, General Cao has returned to the capital. The Ministry of War has already made a plan for rewarding the soldiers. It has been reviewed and approved by Lord Yuan and has been sent to the Imperial Household Department. General Cao will be given the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Left Military Governor's Office, and the Ministry of Personnel will be asked to give him the title of Prince's Guardian. The rest of the generals will be given rewards. In short, the total amount of various rewards is 1.45 million yuan. Since there were very few casualties in this northern expedition, the pensions are very low, only 180,000 yuan."
"Oh, about this matter, I have already asked Cao Huachun to approve it . Grand Marshal, is there anything else the Ministry of War can do?"
"Your Majesty, according to the court's earlier plan, after the northern expedition to Mongolia is over, we will prepare to check the military yellow books, but Marshal Man is currently advancing rapidly in the Western Regions. I would like to ask for your advice. Should we wait until Marshal Man returns to do it together, or should we do part of it first?"
"Let's do part of it first. With Mongolia surrendering, the pressure on our border defense from east to west will be gradually reduced. As for the review of the military yellow books, let's start from Liaodong this year."
"I have received your order. After the meeting, the Ministry of War will work with the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate to come up with a plan, which will be reviewed at the next meeting."
"Okay. Da Sima, is there anything else?"
"Your Majesty, Li Rubai, the general of Datong, has written a letter to resign. The reason is that he is stupid by nature. In this northern expedition, facing the tactical changes brought about by new guns and cannons, he is completely at a loss. In addition, he is old and has no energy to study. So..."
"Let him hold his last shift. After checking the military register, there is no general in Datong anymore. I can't appoint a last general who will only serve for a few months at this time, can I?"
"Yes, I obey your order. I have nothing else to discuss with you."
"Well, then, what's next, Tobu?"
On May 15, 1621, another meeting of the Council of State was held.
In fact, through the State Council meeting, the emperor directly connected with the court officials. He achieved the goal of being both the head of state and the actual prime minister of the government. As a result, under Emperor Zhu Youdong, the power of the cabinet and the Silijian was greatly weakened. But overall, although Zhu Youdong was tired, he was not as exaggerated as the old Zhu who founded the country. As a time traveler, Zhu Youdong was well aware of the principle of focusing on the big and letting go of the small. As an emperor, his main focus was only on people, money, materials, and the military. At most, he would give some instructions with a forward-looking vision on some major strategies. Other matters were still decided by the cabinet and the Silijian. Therefore, the elders and eunuchs could still accept it.
"Your Majesty, the registration for the coal and iron ore auctions has begun earlier this month, and wealthy merchants from all over the country have signed up very enthusiastically. The Ministry of Revenue plans to hold the auction in Beijing in mid-June this year."
"Okay, I'll come and support you when the time comes. Ah, speaking of which, Mr. Xu, I asked you to be in charge of the construction of the new National Exhibition and Convention Center last year. How is the progress now?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This convention center is a brand new building, with a lot of steel structures and glass exterior walls. We also need to install floor heating and pre-install air conditioning pipes. We also need to reserve space for wires and elevators, which I have no idea what they are... All these things have to be relearned and adapted to by the craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry, so the progress is slow. In the past six months, we have only completed the foundation and the lower floors. We still need to explore how to build upwards."
"...Okay, there's no rush. After all, the Forbidden City has been converted into a number of meeting rooms of varying sizes. We can hold the auction in the Forbidden City when the time comes."
"...... Uh." As a traditional scholar, Xu Guangqi instinctively wanted to say something wrong after hearing what Zhu Youdong said. But after a little hesitation, he thought it was better to forget it. It was no secret that the emperor was very keen on business affairs, and the ministers were used to it. Besides, because of the emperor's vigorous rectification in recent years, the court's fiscal revenue has increased nearly tenfold, and everyone no longer has to worry about national expenditures. So, let's hold an auction in the palace - after the repeated publicity of the six major newspapers in recent years, it is estimated that the people don't think there is anything wrong with setting up an auction in the palace. Why bother yourself?
He stopped talking, and Xu Honggang stood up again: "Your Majesty, starting from this month, the first batch of local people who will migrate to Taiwan and Southeast Asia will board the ship and set off. According to the current changes in the situation, the Ministry of Revenue estimates that 500,000 people may migrate overseas this year."
"Hmm? Any questions?"
"Of course there are problems. Your Majesty, contrary to my expectations, the military households in the nine border areas have actively responded to the call of officials from all over the country and have registered to go to sea. For example, the more than 20,000 military households in Zhenwu Guard, Daizhou, where the Taiwan prefect Sun Chuanting was born, have almost all left. This caused a fight between the thousand households of Zhenwu Guard and Sun Chuanting, and the key is that they haven't won yet!"
"Hahahaha~" When the ministers attending the meeting heard this joke, except for the Minister of War Wang Xianggan and the Jinyiwei and military representatives who were embarrassed, everyone else thought: Oh, our civil officials are still very powerful.
Zhu Youdong also laughed for a while: "This is good. Anyway, the migration of at least 80% of the military households in the nine border areas is the established goal of the court. What does the Grand Tutor have to worry about?"
"Your Majesty, this is the problem. The Nine Borders are very active, but the canal workers on both sides of the canal are very resistant. The governor of Singapore, Li Jia, went to the canal area to agitate, but not only did he gain little, he was also targeted by the local gangs, who not only sank his boat in the canal, but also attacked him. Fortunately, this guy has some martial arts skills and his guards are also capable, otherwise..."
"Hmph, it seems that if we don't put some pressure on them, these people will be reluctant to give up the small profits in their hands. So..." Zhu Youdong tapped the table with his fingers for a while: "Three elders, coordinate and collect all autumn taxes in the south this year by sea. In addition, relax the restrictions on sea transportation and fully open sea transportation to ordinary merchants in the southeastern provinces."
"Your Highness, I accept your order."
"Also, Luo Sigong, the Royal Guards must arrest the murderer. Humph, to murder an official of the imperial court, he is so bold."
"Yes, after the meeting I will assign someone to be responsible for this matter."
"Okay, have you finished talking about your matters? I also have two things to arrange."
"Your Majesty, please give us your instructions."
"First, I plan to establish four new provinces. One of them is the Liaodong Army Yellow Book, which will be established after the investigation is completed. The Ministry of Personnel will equip the province with a provincial government, an inspection department and other institutions. From now on, this province will be managed in accordance with the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the interior. As for the name of the new province, how about calling it Liaoning?"
"Liaoning, the Liaohe River Basin is finally at peace. Very well, Your Majesty, I have no objection."
"Okay, I have no objection."
As the largest military town in the Ming Dynasty, Liaozhen had a population and land area that was not inferior to that of a province in the interior. However, due to the pressure of border defense, it only had the Liaodong Dusi but no civil and judicial institutions such as the Provincial Administration and the Provincial Procuratorate. It was just a large military town.
The ministers had long been dissatisfied with this situation, but they had no choice in the early years. And now? The Jurchens had surrendered, and the Mongols had also surrendered, so why keep such a large military town?
Therefore, everyone agreed to establish Liaoning as a province.
"Secondly, I plan to establish two new provinces, Gansu and Qinghai, in the northwest. The provincial capitals will be in Lanzhou and Xining respectively.
Third, I intend to split Huguang, dividing it into Hubei and Hunan provinces, with the latitude of Dongting Lake as the boundary. "
"this……"
After the emperor stated the last two points, the ministers present at the meeting did not agree unanimously as they did when he first proposed the establishment of Liaoning Province.
There is a reason for Gansu and Qinghai to be established as provinces: these places were previously governed by Shaanxi Province. However, the provincial capital of Shaanxi is in Xi'an, which is far away from these places and separated by the Longshan Mountains and the Qinling Mountains. Transportation is extremely inconvenient and government orders are extremely difficult to implement. In fact, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the court's control over the present-day Gansu and Qinghai regions has become increasingly weak - the cost of ruling is too high and the efficiency of ruling is too low. As a result, they were simply completely lost.
Now that Man Gui led his army to fight it back, there is absolutely no reason to throw it away again. The ministers originally thought that these places might be granted to powerful princes, but they didn't expect that the emperor actually wanted to establish provinces? It seems that the emperor is determined to grant overseas territories to powerful princes, and the land on the mainland must be directly governed.
There are no saints in this world. Even the important officials in Zhu Youdong's cabinet have their own little tricks. After Tang, Zhou, Fu, and Gui were established, many princes in the Ming Dynasty were jealous: If possible, who would be willing to be a pig in a pen? How nice it would be to go out and be a king with real power?
Therefore, in recent years, almost all the important officials in the conference room have received requests from various domestic princes: " Sir, when the emperor is distributing fiefs in the future, can you please move up the order of our princes' succession to the throne?" Of course, if a good place can be allocated, it would be even better.
In short, it is definitely not appropriate to let Shaanxi govern such a large area. Since the emperor is not going to divide these places among the princes and wants to build provinces, then build them. Luzon, Timor and the like will be taken down sooner or later. Look at the map, Luzon Island is so big, and there is Mindanao in the south, which is not smaller than Luzon Island. It is enough to accommodate four or five princes.
As for the splitting of Huguang, it is estimated that except for the ministers from Huguang, all other ministers support it: Huguang is too big and too strong. The economy of one province accounts for one seventh of the Ming Dynasty! The strong economy will inevitably make the Chu Party stronger. This is something that ministers who are not from Huguang are not happy to see.
Among the ministers attending the meeting, many were thinking about how to weaken the Chu Party. But what Zhu Youdong saw was that although Huguang was strong, its development also had problems. The north was too strong and the south was too weak. The resources of the south were drained too much by the north, so that the south had more arable land than the north, but it just couldn't develop .
Therefore, in order to fully develop the entire Huguang region, Hubei and Hunan must be split.
"If you all have no objection to my ideas, then Hunan should also be established as a province? How about setting the provincial capital in Changsha?"
"Your Majesty has thought it through, and we have no objection."
"Well, then, Grand Chancellor, let the Ministry of Personnel take charge of this matter?"
"I will obey your order. After the meeting, the Ministry of Personnel will immediately start arranging the staffing of officials and the selection of new provincial governors, and strive to come up with a plan at the next State Council meeting."
"Okay. Now that we have discussed the issue of establishing new provinces, let me talk about one last thing."
"Your Majesty, please give us your instructions."
"My Lords, although coal and iron mines are being auctioned, the country must have a large-scale coal and iron base that it fully controls. After all, in the foreseeable ten or twenty years, coal and iron production is the gold standard for measuring whether a country is strong. In view of this, I plan to establish the Dahetao Special Development Zone. This place has inexhaustible coal and iron mines and various resources needed for industrial development. I want to build this place into a benchmark. In the future, in Anshan, Liaoning, Xuanhua in northern Zhili, Daye in Hubei, Wuhu in southern Zhili and other places, we must build heavy industrial centers with different focuses based on coal and iron one by one!"
