First Prince of Ming Dynasty - Chapter 765

  Chapter 765 Crops

Zhu Biao accompanies the princess to feed the fish among the waterside pavilions, watching them roam freely in the water. Half of the waterside pavilion is near the water, and the other half is leaning against the bank. The spacious platforms fall down layer by layer. The breeze, the shadow of the sun, and the fragrance of lotus are all here. , Looking around, there is a lot of pink and willow green.

   “A letter came from the palace, saying that preparations for the wedding ceremony of the second child have already begun. The empress father and mother want you and me to rush back before then.”

  Zhu Biao sprinkled a handful of fish food, and many koi competed eagerly: “But there is no need to rush, the prince’s wedding will take several months to prepare.”

  Chang Luohua leaned back on the Feilai chair with a bow-shaped back and responded, “I remember that it wasn’t scheduled for next year, why is it suddenly brought forward?”

  The corner of Zhu Biao’s mouth twitched slightly: “There is no war in the western borders, Yunnan, Guizhou and Liaodong have been conquered one after another, and the father is preparing to divide the vassal kings.”

  Chang Luohua frowned instinctively. Her husband is the crown prince and her son is the grandson of the emperor. Dividing up the vassal state is hurting her interests, but her brows eased after a while.

   She can’t interfere with this matter, and she also believes that with her husband’s ability, there is nothing in this world that he can’t solve. Since he didn’t take action, there must be a reason.

Zhu Biao’s attitude towards this is naturally consistent with his father’s emperor. The replacement of military power is very necessary. In the past years since the founding of the country, the common people have continued to rebel, spreading all over Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shandong and Zhejiang. It is extremely rare for a dozen provinces to be like this in the early days of a dynasty under the rule of a law-abiding and corrupt emperor.

  It is so frequent and the area is so wide, which is also rare in the past dynasties. It is not just corrupt officials and the like, but the big head is actually in the town of the local guard.

  In fact, it is not difficult to understand that civil servants sometimes have to make a name, and military generals are really unscrupulous when they harm the place. However, because of the prosperity of martial arts and the decline of culture at the beginning of the founding of the country, even Zhu Yuanzhang could not stab himself in the thigh.

   These people are no better than civil servants. As long as the military power is in hand, it doesn’t matter how many they kill. The so-called scholar rebellion fails for three years, but the anger of a military general is enough to bring disaster to the country.

  One decree can let a farmer go to the Tianzitang in the evening. There may be a shortage of officials in the officialdom, but there will always be someone to replace them.

   But in the army, it is different. Without the ability to serve the people, without the brilliant meritorious service on the battlefield, even if En Yu is amnesty as a general, it is impossible to command and move the generals below, which will only provoke a mutiny.

   Moreover, the alternation of military power is far from being such a simple matter, especially now, it is not the Song Dynasty where the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers.

  Successors followed suit, making the Song Dynasty a situation where those who could mobilize troops could not directly lead troops, and those who could directly lead troops could not mobilize troops.

From the point of view of the purpose, it is naturally extremely successful, but this also prevents the generals on the battlefield from fully understanding their subordinates, and they cannot be able to know them well; similarly, soldiers cannot fully trust their generals, and they cannot You will not try your best to be the first.

  The Song Dynasty was rich in money and food and subjugated the country to become rich. This is also a rare situation in history. Lao Zhu was also born in the army, from a **** to a general and marshal.

   This is naturally the advantage of the Ming army in maintaining its combat power to compete in the world in troubled times, but now, the generals never leave the army, the soldiers never leave the general, and the generals form cliques based on regions…

   It is absolutely impossible to come by force, only half-hard but not soft, with many princes as a bridge, the identity of the emperor’s relatives as a promise, the conclusion of marriage and the gradual transfer of military power are the methods that everyone can accept.

  …

   A few days later, Zhu Biaozheng and Jiang Yinhou were discussing the issue of Japanese pirates. Although Jinghaihou had wiped out several waves at sea, scattered Japanese pirates still invaded coastal prefectures and counties, disturbing the smooth flow of sea routes.

The prefect of Hangzhou came to visit and submitted the real situation of land reclamation in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River. Due to the lack of officials in the court and the turmoil of the Jiangnan case, most of the officials in the prefectures today are born under Zhu Biao’s command. Several great families.

  So when the crown prince really wanted to know, he quickly counted the numbers and was more than a hundred times more serious than dealing with the household department.

The politics of southerners officialing the north and northerners officialing the south was temporarily shelved after the imperial examinations were suspended. This is also a matter of no choice. There are too few talents in the north who can become officials, which is not enough to manage the south, and there are too many officials in the south. , the north is sparsely populated and will not be used for the time being.

  Zhu Biao looked at the amount they falsely reported to the court, because he had already been reprimanded, and this was not the problem of the prefect of Hangzhou alone, so he did not reprimand him after reading it.

  However, after looking at it, I found that it should be that as the situation improved, the land after land reclamation in many places was not planted with food crops, but with cash crops, such as cotton and mulberry trees.

   You must know that in the past two years, cotton was still a crop that was forced to be planted by the imperial court. Now there is no need to force it, and the people have begun to expand the scale independently. It can be seen that the people’s livelihood is safe and peaceful, and they have already considered benefits.

  In the past few decades, the common people would never waste a single bit of land to grow inedible things. For every ration of food grown, one more child and grandchild might have the opportunity to survive in troubled times.

   “Are the common people willing to grow cotton for sale nowadays?”

The prefect of Hangzhou bowed his head and replied: “Reporting to Your Highness, the cotton planted by the people in the first two years was only recycled by the imperial court, but now there are merchants who come to buy it, and the price is much higher than that of the government. It is increasing every year. I am willing.”

   “Then is there any common people who do not grow food but only cotton?”

  “Yes, but it is still a very small number. The older generation still thinks that they have food in their hands and don’t panic. They would rather earn less than take risks.” “

   “The land in the hands of the people is still small, how about yours?”

Zhu Biaowen’s frankness made the prefect of Hangzhou feel a little embarrassed, but he didn’t dare to face it and hide it: “The profit of grain is low, and the profit of cotton is heavy. In addition to setting aside necessary acres for the maintenance of grain shops in various places, the clan is used to grow crops. There are more and more acres of fields for cotton, mulberry, sericulture or oil extraction for wine.”

  Economic recovery is naturally a good thing, but Zhu Biao also has to think about it. The small-scale peasant economy is fragile, especially in the event of natural and man-made disasters. Once food is in short supply, what can cotton and mulberry trees be hungry for?

Moreover, cotton and other crops are valuable nowadays, but that is also because this product has just been popularized and planted for a few years, and it is still in short supply for the whole country. The price is naturally a bit inflated, but this is not a necessity of life. It is bound to fall.

  Now you can count on this to support your family, maybe you are a little rich, but not necessarily in the future. Naturally, it doesn’t matter to a high-ranking family. The capital is rich and the background is deep, and it will not delay the sale of the goods for two years.

At that time, cotton was worthless, and the price of grain would inevitably rise. It would not be effective to turn around to grow grain for a while, and the common people could only borrow money from rich and powerful households to survive, and the interest rate was too high. It is not allowed to offset the account with houses and acres.

  Without a house or farmland, one becomes a landless and jobless hooligan. He can only sell himself to work and become a tenant. He borrows land from the master’s family to grow grain for a lifetime, and there is no room for recovery.

   “There is a big hidden danger here, and I am very worried.”

  The prefect of Hangzhou is not surprised. Xiaomin is short-sighted, seeing profits but not crises. This is normal, but how can His Highness the Crown Prince be so far-sighted?

  Not only the prince, but they also know very well that they just disdain to control, not to mention preventing people from making money, such as killing their parents.

   “I will report to the imperial court immediately, please issue a government order to force the people to change the scale of planting varieties.”

  The prefect of Hangzhou paused and said in a deep voice: “And if His Royal Highness orders, the ministers and other families can also adjust immediately, at all costs.”

The former sentence is to respond normally as a local official of the imperial court, while the latter sentence is to reply as a party member of the Eastern Palace. The former is based on the imperial court’s policy, while the latter is to satisfy the prince’s wishes and would rather destroy the plant at a loss. The crops that have been planted are replanted with food, just to please the king’s heart.

  The so-called cultivation of confidantes, the benefits are here.

  …………

  (end of this chapter)