From the time Xu Jingchang returned to Yingtian, the Ming Dynasty court became chaotic.
Everyone in the Ministry of Punishment has had their allowances suspended, and their income has been cut in half... Although the higher the rank, the greater the allowances. However, since senior officials have high salaries, they can barely maintain their salaries even if their allowances are stopped.
But the people below pointed to this subsidy. Without the subsidy, although they would not starve to death, they would have to switch from eating dry food to drinking water, and the occasional meat and vegetables would also have to stop.
The days suddenly became miserable.
If it were just like this, that would be fine. What would be even more unacceptable is the idea of publishing six volumes to inform the world.
Good things don't go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles.
Almost overnight, the Ministry of Punishment became the laughing stock of the whole world and could not even raise its head.
While everyone was laughing, they suddenly stopped laughing when they thought that one day they would have such a day.
Generally speaking, there is no escape from the sadness of the rabbit dying and the fox dying.
However, it is undeniable that Xu Jingchang's return has indeed made the courtiers a lot more honest, working conscientiously and resolutely, and not daring to be careless in any way.
All official documents can basically be issued on the same day and will never be delayed until the next day.
In the lobby of the General Affairs Department, various progress bars are refreshing crazily.
Especially for the Ministry of Punishments, they still have subsidies, so they can't do anything without risking their lives.
Therefore, Liu Guan, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who had just taken office, came up with a detailed strategy... Zhu Gaochi read it patiently. The more he read, the more frightened he became, and the more he read, the more angry he became.
In fact, it's not that there are no good methods. It's just that the people below are unwilling to move unless they are whipped.
For example, regarding the issue of rural land disputes, the Ministry of Punishment's strategy is very simple, which is to recognize family land ownership.
This family refers to the father-son couple and does not include outsiders.
In other words, it is illegal for those elders of the tribe to use their status to seize farmland and force them to plant mulberry and cotton.
To put it more bluntly, it means recognizing the nuclear family and denying the clan.
This matter has actually been decided for a long time, but the implementation of the law has been delayed.
Now that the pressure has come down, the Ministry of Punishments has no choice but to accelerate this matter.
Next comes the dispute in the city. In this regard, the Ministry of Punishment requires all yamen to arrange full-time officials to accept the matter and deal with it within a time limit. If it cannot be properly resolved, the responsible official will be held accountable.
After seeing these contents, Zhu Gaochi had to sigh, he really shouldn't underestimate these people.
They are all full of good ideas, but I just don’t want to offend anyone.
This is the civil servant of Ming Dynasty!
"I really want to issue an order to strictly investigate all the officials and remove all those who are sitting on the corpse table. Now I understand more and more why Emperor Taizu hates them so much." Zhu Gaochi gritted his teeth, as if he was possessed by Zhu Chongba.
Xu Jingchang laughed happily. He hoped that Zhu Gaochi could be a hero instead of always trying to be a good gentleman.
"Your Highness thinks so, and that's the best thing. It's just the right time to use the Ministry of Personnel to mobilize the capital inspection and rectify the official administration. I just want to wave the flag and cheer for His Highness, stand up and support him."
Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, then said: "You are in charge of Jin Yiwei, why are you unwilling to take action?"
Xu Jingchang smiled and shook his head, "Your Highness, although the things in Jinyiwei's secret files are true and reliable, they may not be able to be used as evidence. If they are all exposed, it will shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty... You have to eat one bite at a time, and everything must be done one by one.
Do it one by one, His Highness said, right?"
Zhu Gaochi snorted, "In the final analysis, you just don't want to bear the infamy, so let me ask you, what else is so important now?"
Xu Jingchang said: "Of course you are the general who conquers the north, your majesty."
General of the Conquest of the North?
Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a while, then suddenly couldn't help but laugh, "What else do you want from your father?"
"Your Majesty let me come back. In addition to these things, there is one most important thing. He wants to use troops on the grassland and is in urgent need of food and grass supplies. I got him money in Peiping, but he still needs to turn the money into food and weapons, and also
I want to send it to the army for him to squander. If I can't accomplish this, he won't let me be the general envoy!"
Zhu Gaochi blinked his eyes and sighed: "Brother, my father really has a problem with great achievements. He is bent on war and wants to expand the territory. He also completely ignores expenses and easily mobilizes hundreds of thousands of troops, allocates food and grass from the south of the Yangtze River, and mobilizes
We have at least two million civilians, and countless losses along the way. To be honest, I really don’t want my father to lead the expedition himself.”
Xu Jingchang had a smile on his face, "The battle that needs to be fought cannot be run away, and the money that needs to be spent cannot be spared. I hope that your majesty will take bold measures and fight well."
Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but chuckle and said: "Then you can raise money for the father. Anyway, if you succeed in doing this, the father will promise to treat you as his own son."
Xu Jingchang naturally didn't care about the treatment of Zhu Di's own son, but he had indeed made arrangements.
At present, there are a full 750,000 shi of grain, and they are cutting through the waves and heading north.
Standing on the deck, the Sanbao eunuch Zheng He never thought that such a day would come. He escorted the food obtained from Annan and Champa and sailed all the way north. The fleet did not enter the Bohai Sea, but sailed across the Korean Peninsula.
, continue going north to a river mouth, then send the food into the inland river, and then head to the destination.
Just as Zheng He was heading north, Cao Guogong Li Jinglong was also heading north, and his destination was also the mouth of the river!
In the Hongwu Dynasty, this place was called Nuerganwei. It was recently upgraded to Nuergandusi and became the seat of the Liaodong Protectorate.
Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, who was credited with conquering the Jurchen tribes, was the first commander-in-chief of the Liaodong capital and concurrently served as the governor of Liaodong.
These things had already been planned before Xu Jingchang responded to the sky, and it was nothing special.
Especially in the Jurchen wilderness, besides those desperadoes and gold diggers, who would want to come?
Everyone doesn't think this place has any military value at all.
But Xu Jingchang has a different view.
During his stay in Peiping, Xu Jingchang repeatedly studied and found out that the biggest problem in using troops on the grassland was food and grass.
If we can't solve it, we'll talk about war.
Moreover, as the distance increases, the difficulty of transporting grain and grass increases exponentially.
Once you don't have enough food and clothing, even those who can fight will become a vulnerable mob. There is no way around this, unless you can go against the will of heaven!
Although Xu Jingchang did not have extraordinary abilities, he did have a route to transport grain and grass that no one could have imagined!
That is to take the sea route and go all the way north to find Nuerganwei, which is the mouth of the Heilongjiang River...and then go upstream from here, and then take the Songhua River to get grain and grass directly to the hinterland of Liaodong.
It has long been established that the loss of food transportation by sea will not exceed 10% at most. Even if the conditions of the inland waterways are complex, the loss may double, but it is only 20%.
But if you travel by land and rely on people to carry the horses, the loss will be at least 70%.
That is, when transporting grain from Peiping to Daning, out of ten shi, six shi will be consumed on the way... If Daning is used as the base camp, for every hundred miles the distance is increased, the grain loss will increase by 10%.
Taking into account the problem of going deep into enemy territory and facing harassment, it is really impossible to save one thing out of ten.
It is already a miracle that 3% or 5% can be transported to the front line.
The Qin and Han expeditions against the Xiongnu would not exceed this number.
With the Grand Canal in the Ming Dynasty, the situation might have been better, but it was still very limited.
But this new route planned by Xu Jingchang takes the waterway, goes straight into the hinterland of Liaodong, and can even be transported to the hometowns of Duoyanwei and Fuyuwei.
Li Jinglong never imagined that one day he would play such a big role.
In Heilongjiang in June, with the water coming from upstream, the river channel is wide and the waves are rough, which is very suitable for large ships to sail.
Li Jinglong was looking at the shore when he suddenly noticed a white sail appearing in the distance. At that moment, he almost cried.
When the fleet approached, I saw the flag of the Ming Dynasty.
After waiting for the people on the boat to transfer to a small boat and approaching the mouth of the river, they jumped off the boat and came ashore with the water flowing. Li Jinglong also ran over, ignoring the sea water, and hugged the person tightly!
"Eunuch Zheng, you are really here!"
Zheng He looked helpless and said, "Mr. Cao Guo, my servant is dirty, let's go ashore and talk about it."
Li Jinglong shook his head vigorously, "I'm talking about Sanbao Eunuch, do you know that these days, just walking through the vast wilderness, all I see are raw people. I finally saw an acquaintance, you know how happy I am!"
Zheng He also sighed with great emotion, "Although this route has been traveled by some people, I did not expect that there would be such a big river in the north, which can be used to navigate thousands of ships. It is really unexpected."
Li Jinglong also lamented, "Jinyiwei's people are really good at it. I didn't believe it at first, but after actual inspection, I realized that there is a lot of water here in summer and it is indeed navigable. It is only after the freeze in autumn and winter that it becomes difficult to navigate."
Zheng He asked curiously: "Then where can my fleet send food?"
"It can be sent to Fuyu Guard. When we get here, we are only a few hundred miles away from the Mongolian headquarters. Although it is not too close, it is much more convenient. The most important thing is that I have conquered the Jurchen tribes along the way.
Yes, as long as we spend a little money, they can help us transport food."
The more the two of them talked, the happier they became, and the more they talked, the more excited they became.
As long as the Ming army can have enough food and pay, there will be no enemy that cannot be defeated!
That’s right, that’s how confident you are!
Almost at the same time, Jian Yi hurriedly found Xu Jingchang in the direction of Yingtian.
"Dong Guo, you are causing trouble now. It is best to stop and stop sending several governors."
Xu Jingchang said: "Why? You want me to slap myself in the mouth for what I just promoted?"
Jian Yi said sternly: "Dong Guo, I have no intention of harming you. Just take a look!"
Xu Jingchang took the urgent report from Jian Yi, browsed it for a while, and understood what was going on.
It turned out that Zhu Di invited Guilichi Khan to attend the conference, but his subordinates spread the idea that Guilichi was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Immediately, someone provoked civil strife in the Tatars and wanted to re-establish the Khan.
Guilichi was shocked and asked to return immediately to clean up the mess.
As for the Taibao Arutai, he was at both ends of the spectrum. Gui Lichi simply invited Daming to send troops to help him quell the chaos.
"Mr. Dingguo, now that things have come to pass, Your Majesty will definitely use troops against the Tatars. We need to raise at least three million shi of military rations and send them to Peking. If you still insist on sending a governor and affect the military affairs, you will be in trouble."
Xu Jingchang smiled lightly, "So that's what happened! Don't worry, we are just waiting for the good news."
