Of course, all Zhu Hongyu wants is a good grown-up son.

The good saint-grandson will be spared!

Zhu Hongyu felt that if he had a thief like Zhu Zhanji who betrayed his father and did not feel sorry for him, he would be angry even if he died.

If Xuande's actions were known, Zhu Laosi's coffin might not be able to hold him down at all.

Xuande retreated and gave up all the territory that his grandfather had worked hard to conquer for most of his life. Zhu Zhanji was really willing to do so!

Even if the court is facing financial pressure, it is understandable that you abandon the grassland and Annan.

After all, rebellions continue in these places, the cost of governance is too high, and there is little benefit.

It is normal to cut losses and stop losses. It is not incomprehensible.

But if you abandon the territory in Nanyang and interrupt the voyage to the West, aren't you mentally ill?

The cost of ruling the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang was not high, and he was not unaware of the income from the Western Sea.

Emperor Xuande's operations are really confusing...

Is it possible that the Ming Dynasty during the Xuande period was still afraid of Japanese pirates?

…

Zhu Hongyu sent troops in the first month of the eighth year since the liberation, and by the time he returned to Beijing, it was already the end of October.

After almost a year of fighting, there is a lot of backlogged government affairs.

Zhu Hongyu rubbed his eyebrows, ordered someone to serve him a cup of strong tea, and read the memorial.

Looking at the memorial and what he had previously ordered, a smile gradually appeared on Zhu Hongyu's face.

The first one on the list is the promotion of compulsory education that Zhu Hongyu ordered.

With the financial support of the imperial court and the joint efforts of local officials and gentry, the Ming Dynasty began to roll out compulsory education in various provincial capitals, as well as in important cities such as Yangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huai'an, Luoyang, etc.

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Although it was stressful for the court to expand the scale of compulsory education so much at once, the pressure was not as great as imagined.

The population of the Ming Dynasty is now limited. Even after these years of recuperation, the total population of the Ming Dynasty this year is still some way away from exceeding 100 million.

The population of school age for compulsory education is not as large as imagined.

And what you need to know is that before this, the place where compulsory education was implemented by the imperial court was Nanjing.

Nanjing has a population of less than 3 million, and a population of at least 300,000 people of schooling age.

The current urbanization rate of Ming Dynasty is not as high as expected, and a large number of people still live scattered in the countryside.

The total population of the second batch of cities that implemented compulsory education is less than five million.

There is definitely pressure on the court.

Whether it’s books, teachers, or finance, they all face certain vacancies.

But the court can bear it with gritted teeth...

At present, the promotion of compulsory education is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The feedback results from all over the place are very good.

Many people were grateful to the imperial court for this move, and some even spontaneously wanted to build a shrine for the emperor and offer longevity tablets at home.

Then came the imperial court’s major infrastructure projects.

After receiving Zhu Hongyu's instructions, the imperial court's Construction Department planned a very complete infrastructure project schedule.

This includes promoting the overall cementation transformation of official roads in affluent areas such as Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi, and directly carrying out cement road projects to counties.

Increase investment in building railways connecting various provincial capitals.

And preparations are underway to build a double-north railway line connecting Beidu - Datong - Guihua City - Hara Helin - and then Beihai.

As well as the two main railway lines connecting Xi'an to Suiye City in Central Asia.

If the imperial court wanted to really digest the grasslands and the Western Regions, or even march into Siberia or Central Asia, the railway must be built.

Although it may take ten to twenty years to build these two railways, it will take a long time.

But if we don't do it, the time required to build the railway will not be shortened in vain.

To do something, you have to do it.

You can’t just put it off and put it off just because it’s difficult or the amount of work is huge.

Anyway, now the imperial court captured a large number of prisoners of war in the Battle of Daihai, and also received a large number of laborers sent by Wu Zhou, who just happened to be used to build the railway between the grassland and the Western Regions.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty was preparing to build a railway to the Western Regions was because at the beginning of this year, when Zhu Hongyu had just led his troops to conquer the country, Wu Zhou wrote to the court and chose to give up the Western Regions.

And they are the main force that has entered the subcontinent, preparing to completely establish a foothold in the subcontinent.

The reason why they did this was also very clear. Wu Zhou did not want to bear the attack from both sides by the Mughal Empire and the Persian Empire, and was prepared to drag Ming Dynasty down to help them share the pressure.

Naturally, Daming would not refuse this.

It is logical to accept that after Wu Zhou cleaned up the Western Regions, it was equivalent to a blank sheet of paper.

The Ming Dynasty's Zhengxi Protectorate was established at the location of Dihua City, and Li Bai's hometown, Suiye City, was re-incorporated under the rule of the Han family.

Daming and Wu Zhou will use Congling as their boundary!

Now that the Western Region is in hand, Zhu Hongyu naturally wants to build the railway.

Otherwise, the subsequent cost of maintaining rule in the Western Regions will be too high.

In addition, there are a series of major projects such as repairing the Yellow River embankment and dredging canals.

The current Yellow River embankment is relatively dilapidated. It was dug up once by Li Zicheng in the late Ming Dynasty, and then again during the Manchu and Qing dynasties in order to quell the Yuyuan Army uprising in Shandong...

Since then, it has not been properly repaired.

The current Yellow River embankment still breaks from time to time, which has a great impact on the imperial court.

Today's mother river, the Yellow River, can really be said to be a loving mother with swords in her hands. She can slash at wandering people, and she can also deliver critical blows with her swords.

No one can bear it after a long time!

The imperial court has to allocate money to provide relief to the victims every year.

Originally, the imperial court's disaster relief policy for the Yellow River was immigration.

Now that the Yellow River Basin has burst, let's immigrate to places where it has not burst. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty now lacks nothing but land.

But now that the imperial court is rich, it is natural to vigorously repair the Yellow River embankment.

At the very least, we must stop the Yellow River from bursting out like this.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition, there is also the imperial court's promotion of the construction of libraries in various places, etc...

Zhu Hongyu was feeling dizzy as he kept flipping through the memorials.

However, he still couldn't help but look at these things.

At night, Zhu Hongyu was lying on the bed. He couldn't sleep for a while and began to think about the governance of the Western Regions.

He always understood that if the imperial court wanted to effectively rule a place, it must have a financial surplus in that place.

Otherwise, just relying on the imperial court to provide blood transfusions to the local area, no matter how large the territory he conquers, he will not be able to maintain it in the future.

Sooner or later, there will be an unworthy descendant like Xuande.

To govern the Western Regions, Zhu Hongyu's first thought was to grow cotton.

The place in the Western Region has high sunlight and a large temperature difference between day and night, so it is very suitable for growing fruits.

However, due to the current transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty, before the railway is built, even if fruits are grown locally, they cannot be transported to the inland.

It's going to be ruined on the road!

Unless you simply make wine locally or make preserved fruit, and then transport the finished product to the mainland.

But the transportation conditions for these things are also very harsh.

Other than that, it’s just about growing cotton.

Cotton is not afraid of rotting even if it is transported for a long time.

And more importantly, growing cotton in the Western Regions can complement the booming textile industry in the Han region.

In this way, it will make the Western Regions inseparable from the Ming Dynasty and ensure that future generations of the Ming Dynasty will not lose the Western Regions.

But in the final analysis, the key is to build railways!

Zhu Hongyu is really paying more and more attention to railways now.

He now discovered that many places really needed to build railways.

…

June of the eighth year after the Ming Dynasty was restored.

New World, San Francisco Camp!
To be continued...