Chapter 382 In the battlefield without gunpowder smoke
Another important reason why Wan Lei does not sell railways to Luzon for the time being is that he wants to build more railways. Since the Pingxi Railway is opened, the Pingyang Railway will start construction. At the same time, Kaifeng to Hankou, Kaifeng to
Xuzhou branch lines will also be constructed one after another, and rails are still in short supply.
While the railways were being overhauled, agricultural production was not left behind. Hundreds of millions of acres of paddy fields were planted with rice in the southern Huaihe River and Hanjiang plains. The winter wheat harvest in Henan and Shandong was about to be harvested. Some dry lands were planted with cotton. There was prosperity everywhere.
scene.
Compared with the booming Republic of China, the Ming Dynasty fell into chaos. According to the armistice agreement signed, the Ming Dynasty not only lost most of Jiangbei, but also lost coastal islands, including dozens of kilometers along the coast.
Neidu became a trading area of the Republic of China.
With the loss of control over the ocean, the Ming Dynasty was like a naked beauty falling into the darkness, alone and helpless. The commodity dumping frenzy of the Republic of China was like a tsunami, crazily destroying the handicraft production in Jiangnan. Many
Handicraft producers engaged in cotton spinning, paper making, ink making, wine making, and vinegar making went bankrupt one after another.
Even the salt industry of the Ming Dynasty was severely affected. Private salt from the north flooded the coastal and riverside states and counties. The salt tax of the Ming Dynasty was never paid.
This is not the worst thing. The worst thing is that many bankrupt farmers have become refugees, rushing to the coastal and river areas, scrambling to enter the territory of the Republic of China. Even some wealthy people have moved north with their families, and at the same time brought them with them.
A large amount of private capital was taken away, which made the Jiangnan economy, which was already in collapse, even worse.
The people fled, and capital also fled. The provinces south of the Yangtze River were in ruins, and the land tax revenue dropped sharply by 40%. The Ming court, which had already lost half of the northern half of the Yangtze River, was even more tight. Last year, the autumn tax revenue only received about 10 million shi, and 200
Ten thousand shi were used as war reparations, and the remaining eight million shi would not last long. Before the summer harvest came, the Ming Dynasty's finances ran into a serious deficit.
The imperial court had no money to spend, so it naturally had to send more money and taxes to the people. It would be better not to send more money, but with more money, more people would flee. Even the most talented people who were least likely to flee north also fled, so that
As this year is the year of the Grand Competition, there are less than 200 candidates participating in the examination.
It is true that the Ming court issued edicts to restrict people from fleeing, but these edicts could not be implemented at all, because local governments at all levels were in turmoil, and officials were wavering and waiting, and many of them were even in Cao's camp.
They are Han, how can these people still listen to the imperial court?
When people's minds are in chaos, the country will be in chaos. In early March, Duzhang barbarians in Sichuan launched a rebellion, and the war spread to several states and counties. Immediately afterwards, Shengmiao in Guizhou launched a rebellion, directly threatening the Huguang area; in mid-March, the chieftain of Siming Prefecture in Guangxi
Huang Guangcheng launched a rebellion, followed by another rebellion in Guangdong, and soon after another rebellion in Yunnan.
It is said that good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. When a wall is knocked down, many people push it, and when a drum is broken, thousands of people beat it. This is not without reason. The southwestern provinces are originally the places where ethnic minorities live, and there is not much centripetal force towards the Ming Dynasty. They were forced to submit due to the military power of the Ming Dynasty.
, now that the Ming Dynasty is failing, they will naturally rebel one after another.
Revolts broke out in most of the southwest, the Ming army succumbed to conquests, and military expenditures surged, which made the already messy finances even tighter. It can be said that the Ming Dynasty was almost at the end of its rope. In order to remedy the corrupt situation, Emperor Jianwen repeatedly issued edicts
Please speak frankly, but in the end very few people will respond.
This is not surprising. Compared with the polite and virtuous corporal in the north and the benevolent and decisive president of the Republic of China, the gentry class in the south has long lost confidence in the aloof and mediocre emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Many gentry who are reluctant to leave their homeland even do good things. Be mentally prepared to meet the "Master King".
Faced with the silence of thousands of people, no one said a word, Emperor Jianwen was worried and angry, and his temper became more and more irritable. If the ministers were not careful, they would be reprimanded. From last year to this year, those who were demoted to serve the people There are five ministers of second rank and above, and no one in the court dares to speak out.
In the difficult situation, Emperor Jianwen finally had to raise Fang Xiaoru. Although Fang Xiaoru seriously "damaged" the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty when negotiating peace with the Peking Army, Emperor Jianwen was already alone. Except for Fang Xiaoru, they I can no longer find a minister who I can trust.
During the period when Fang Xiaoru was dismissed from office, he did not become passive or degenerate. He continued to study knowledge without any regrets and seek strategies to save the country. No, as soon as he returned to the court, he dedicated his carefully compiled contributions to Emperor Jianwen. , the most important one is: learn from the enemy and use their skills to defeat the enemy.
If you want to learn skills from the enemy, you must first learn from the Yue King Gou Jian, endure the humiliation and bear the burden, and endure the hardships. Fang Xiaoru suggested that Emperor Jianwen submit a petition to the Republic of China in order to paralyze the opponent and buy time to strengthen himself. At the same time, he used money and beauty to To corrupt officials at all levels of the Republic of China and make them corrupt.
In addition, Fang Xiaoru's strategy for strengthening the country also included sending prodigies north to secretly learn their skills; or using money to sell their craftsmen for my own use, etc., because in his view, the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Republic of China was The gap lies in technology. As long as you steal technology, you can regain your disadvantage.
Fang Xiaoru thought quite naively. In fact, the main difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Republic of China was not technology, but the state system. In an era of rapid technological advancement, the imperial system no longer meets the development requirements of the times, and only the republic is history. mainstream.
The so-called historical trend is vast. If you go with it, you will prosper and if you go against it, you will perish. If the Ming Dynasty did not change the imperial system in which the king is the country, no matter how hard it struggled, it would only die in the end. Fang Xiaoru would not understand this. He would just naively take it for granted.
Emperor Jianwen didn't understand this either, and even if he understood it, he wouldn't take the initiative to let go of the supreme monarchy in his hands. Therefore, after reading what Emperor Fang's master said, he couldn't see any problem, and he just kept saying it was good. In the spirit of treating a dead horse as a living horse, he issued an edict to appoint Fang Xiaoru as the Minister of Rites, with full authority to take charge of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
As soon as Fang Xiaoru resumed his duties, he took active actions. First, he sent a mission with letters of credence and gifts to declare vassalage to the Republic of China. In the letter of credence, he even proposed to cede Sichuan Province to the Republic of China as a token of his support. To offset the unpaid war compensation of more than 7 million yuan.
The Ming Dynasty used land to pay compensation, which was indeed a clever move. There had been a rebellion in Sichuan. The Ming Dynasty ceded Sichuan, firstly, it could get rid of the burden, secondly, it could use the Peking Army to suppress the rebellion, and at the same time, it could also use the rebels to weaken the Peking Army. strength.
Fang Xiaoru's plan was aroused, but Wan Lei was not a fool. His response strategy was to delay. On the one hand, after receiving the credentials, he closed the door to the envoys from the Ming Dynasty and kept silent about the cession of Sichuan; on the other hand, he sent people to He went to the Ming Dynasty to demand war reparations; finally, he sent people to distribute leaflets widely in Sichuan, revealing that the Ming Dynasty refused to save people.
Wan Lei used the dragging move to prevent the Ming Dynasty from succeeding in its evil plot. At the same time, it also put the Ming army in a dilemma of retreating or suppressing it. Because once the Ming army retreated, Sichuan would become even more chaotic and the rebels would become stronger. Finally, it seriously threatened the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
Once the Ming court was determined to suppress the rebels in Sichuan, and Wan Lei only signed and sealed the credential after the Ming army and the rebels were both defeated, the Ming court would have shot itself in the foot. .In short, if Wan Lei doesn't say anything for a day, the Ming court will fall into passivity regardless of whether they suppress it or not.
"I want Sichuan, but you don't need to cut it!" This is Wan Lei's inner voice. Fang Xiaoru is still too young to play tricks with Wan Lei, who is known for his evil heart and ruthlessness!