"Zhu Qing can know that before Jianyu was destroyed, he planted a lot of grain in northeast Liao, and the harvest was good." Emperor Chongzhen explained to them, "Liaodong has a vast land and a large area of cultivated land, so it is no problem to plant one season a year. In particular, the improved crops in the Hetao, including potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes and other crops, are believed to have large yields. This is one of them! ”

There are many rivers in eastern Liaodong, and the land on both sides of the rivers is relatively fertile and convenient for irrigation. In the previous Jianyu era, the Han people who were good at farming were almost killed, otherwise, they would not have almost starved to death. Of course, this is also related to the Ming Dynasty's use of sabotage warfare.

All the courtiers below did not speak, and they could understand this. But now there is grain provided on the Hetao Plain, and there is also a ship of grain transported to Beijing by sea in Nanyang, and the grain in the north of the Ming Dynasty has actually been able to be delivered. If it's just food, it's not enough to build a railway, right?

Obviously, Emperor Chongzhen didn't finish his words, and continued to explain to them: "Also, there are huge amounts of iron and coal and other mines in Liaodong, as well as oil, and these resources are indispensable if we want to be more powerful. ”

Hearing this, the courtiers below were really surprised, and Bi Ziyan, the head of the household department, was the first to come out and say, "Your Majesty, there is still a large amount of iron ore in Liaodong?" Wechen had never heard of it. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, is this news true?" Shen Yongmao, the secretary of the military department, also followed and said, "I haven't heard of Jianyu being able to produce iron armor by himself before!" ”

Although the other courtiers didn't say it, they really hadn't heard of it, and they all looked at Emperor Chongzhen's eyes one by one, and they all doubted the accuracy of the emperor's news.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled when he heard this: "My source is naturally true, the iron mine is near Anshan Post Fort. As for the oil fields, they are further afield. ”

In the southwest of Daming, there are oil wells discovered. In this era, well salt technology has been perfected, and the technology of extracting well salt is used to extract natural gas or oil wells. In the Zhengde years, there are records.

Hearing that the emperor swore and was extremely confident, most of the courtiers believed it, because Emperor Chongzhen had never deceived them.

However, after all, building a railway is a very laborious thing, even if Liaodong has these things, whether it is worth it or not, in fact, it is not easy to say.

As far as the current situation of the Ming Dynasty is concerned, the iron ore in Gyeonggi cannot be mined, and even if there is a large amount of iron ore in Liaodong, the attraction is not enough. Suddenly, the courtiers were divided into two factions, some felt that they could build a railway to Liaodong, and some felt that there was no need for that for the time being, so they could build others first.

Emperor Chongzhen listened to these courtiers arguing for a while, and finally said to them: "Zhuqing should know that my Ming Dynasty must be going to send troops to the Japanese country, and now the army is heading to Korea, and the road is too much consumed, if there is a train to transport troops, food, and materials around the clock, then it will be much easier for the army to assemble." In the future, it will be easy for the Ming Dynasty to control the Wa Kingdom! ”

These courtiers in the Wenhua Hall are all the highest-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen naturally did not hide it from them, and it was a sure thing to occupy the Wa Kingdom and divide the vassal kings.

Hearing that the emperor was building a railway to Liaodong and had such a purpose, most of the courtiers agreed. However, a very small number of courtiers did not speak, but when they saw that the other colleagues agreed, they remained silent.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at them, and suddenly asked the chamberlain to hang up the world map, go down in person, and then said to these courtiers: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have also taken a fancy to this place, the whole world is not the king's land, here, I want it too!" ”

When they heard this, all the courtiers were astonished, and they looked at the map and were a little unable to come back to their senses.

After a long while, Wen Tiren said, "Your Majesty, this is ...... This place is far away from thousands of rivers and mountains, and it is too far away from our Ming Dynasty, how can we get there? “

"That's right, Your Majesty, even if you divide the vassal kings, there are not so many vassal kings who have sealed them!" The second assistant Sun Chengzong also followed.

The other courtiers also wanted to follow suit, but Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand to stop them, and then patted North and South America with his hand and said, "Do you know?" This place is bigger than our entire Daming, rich in products and fertile land. However, in this land, only wild people live. Those Xiyi have discovered this place, and sent people to slaughter the wild people, enslave the wild people, and take it for themselves. Nowadays, however, there are not many of them. They're concentrated here, here, and here! ”

"Do you know that their fleet plundered supplies from here, and boatloads of gold, silver and jewels were shipped back! The fleet is endless. Emperor Chongzhen began to blow up, bullying him These courtiers have no knowledge, "because there are mountains of gold, silver, and all kinds of precious products and so on." ”

Hearing this, Wen Tiren hesitated for a moment, and then said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has only occupied Nanyang, as well as the Mongolian steppe in the north, Liaodong, Korea, and even the future Wa Kingdom in the future. There are so many places, which is enough for us to be busy, and these places are all familiar land. The minister thought that it would be better to run these places first. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister seconded the proposal!" Auxiliary minister Zhang Zhifa followed, "Your Majesty has a saying, those places are still full of savages, even if I occupy it, I will spend twelve points of energy to operate, so the minister thinks that what Shoufu said is reasonable!" ”

After he finished speaking, there were also other courtiers who spoke, and most of them, as they thought, it was not worth it for Daming to go there with all the effort.

There are two main problems, one is that it is too far away from Daming, separated by such a large ocean, which is a big problem. The second is that although there are gold and silver mountains over there, they are all uncivilized land, if the Ming Dynasty goes to occupy it, I don't know how much manpower and material resources to invest, it is really not worth it.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he didn't care. He is like that, before making a decision, he can let his courtiers speak, and it doesn't matter if he raises objections. However, once a decision has been made, these courtiers must carry it out conscientiously.

After listening to the speeches of these courtiers below, he found that even if these courtiers were already the smartest and most knowledgeable people in the Ming Dynasty, they could not look at the problem from the height of the world due to the limitations of the times.

When Emperor Chongzhen thought of this, he said to his courtiers: "Ladies and gentlemen, think about it, if the good things in this land have been taken away by Xiyi, and they have huge wealth to rely on, will Xiyi become stronger?" Their strong ships and cannons should have seen it. If I don't care to improve the Ming Dynasty's cannons and the like in the past few years......"

Speaking of this, he pondered for a while and continued: "Take the meeting when I first ascended the throne, if I have always been like that in the Ming Dynasty, even if I finally destroy Jianyu, if it continues to develop like this, and Xiyi has been transporting wealth and various materials back to China from overseas, and they are getting stronger and stronger, will there be a day in the future when their strength will surpass that of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Hearing this, all the courtiers couldn't help but sigh, they had never thought about this angle proposed by Emperor Chongzhen.

"Your Majesty, I think this is possible!" Even in the Wenhua Palace, Sun Chuanting, the new secretary of the Ministry of Officials, said with an expressionless face, "When the minister first went to the south to take up the post of governor of Fujian, he had a headache for Hongyi's fleet. Their artillery is more powerful than our Ming Dynasty, and their warships are faster than our Ming warships. If it weren't for the fact that they were far away from their home country and had few warships, they really didn't know how to deal with it! If it continues to be deduced according to that time, Weichen thinks that Xiyi is likely to defeat my Daming Sailor, thereby invading my Daming coast, which is more harmful than the Wa Kingdom back then! ”

Sun Chuanting said this with authority. As soon as he said this, everyone else couldn't help but think about it seriously: If it weren't for His Majesty's sudden hard work and miraculous performance as if he had changed a person, what would happen to Da Ming today? What will happen to the future of Daming?

They were still thinking about this question, but Emperor Chongzhen was already saying: "Today's Europe, that is, where Xiyi is located, is like the Warring States in ancient times, where all countries are fighting and vigorously developing armaments. You must know that in the past, Xiyi was far inferior to our Central Plains, and the Mongols conquered them. However, now, they are constantly fighting, but they can plunder enough supplies from foreign countries for their use. It is conceivable that their army will be the division of a hundred battles, and their armaments will grow stronger in constant competition. You say, if it continues to develop like this in the future, will the gap between my Daming and Xiyi get bigger and bigger? ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly patted the North and South America on the map with his hand, and said seriously: "Therefore, if I want to send troops to fight for this territory with Xiyi, first, I want to cut off the source of Xiyi's materials, so that the wealth here can be used by my Ming Dynasty." One decrease and one increase, so that my national strength of the Ming Dynasty still remains the first in the world; That's one of them! ”

"Second, there are no enemies around the Ming Dynasty, although the peaceful and prosperous times are good, they can wear down their will, especially the army, the army that has not fought for a long time, even if it is a division of tigers and wolves, it will become a group of sheep! The army is used to fight wars. This is the place I intend to use to hone the Ming army! ”

These high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty in the Wenhua Hall couldn't help but nod their heads when they thought about it along Emperor Chongzhen's train of thought. Be prepared for danger in times of peace, nothing more!

"Your Majesty's foresight, the slave and maid admire the five bodies to the ground!" Cao Huachun was the first to come out and play, "I have His Majesty in the Ming Dynasty, which is the blessing of the people of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"What Your Majesty said is very true!" The second assistant Sun Chengzong also followed, "If the army has no battle to fight, it will not only wear down its combat strength, but even have various other problems. The army must be constantly tempered by war! ”

Sun Chengzong is one of the officials who has led troops for the longest time in the Wenhua Palace, and he said this, just like Sun Chuanting said Xiyi, which is authoritative.

Shen Yongmao, the secretary of the military department, also immediately echoed him, and only when there was a battle to fight, did he echo his interests. Otherwise, who would pay attention to the military department?

The Ministry of Industry is also similar, only by fighting a war, the military industry will have a large demand, which is also beneficial to the Ministry of Industry.

……

Only Bi Ziyan, the head of the household department, hesitated a little, and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, if it is a war, I am afraid that the military expenditure will be very large, and the Ming Dynasty ......."

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's face returned to a smile and said, "Don't worry, the land laid down by the army is a lot of land, and it can be rewarded; In addition, the wealth taken from Xiyi can also pay for some military expenses. and fight far away from the homeland, the war will not burn to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty will not suffer from military disasters. The expedition to the Americas will not cause much of a burden to my Ming, and I will control this degree well. Of course, I have another thing to announce! ”

Hearing this, these courtiers in the Wenhua Hall quieted down again, looking at the emperor, not knowing what to announce again.

I heard Emperor Chongzhen say to them: "The reform of the avant-garde system has been promoted throughout the country. But I thought about it for a long time, and based on what I just said, I decided to further innovate the military system! ”

The reform of the military system is a major event. Therefore, when these courtiers heard this, they could not help but concentrate their attention.

"In the past, there were millions of border troops on the nine sides, but now there is no war in the north. Innovation has already begun, but it's not enough. When Emperor Chongzhen said this, his voice raised a part, "Tsarist Russia killed the people of my Ming Weilat Department, and the war in this extreme west, when our Ming Dynasty is ready, it must be fought." Therefore, among the millions of border troops in the Nine Border Towns, I decided to select the elite army to use on the battlefield. The old and weak were eliminated as the people, and the rest of the army was turned into an engineering army, that is, an army that built railways, and built three railways in Liaodong and the Tianshan Mountains in naturalization. In this way, the impact of railway construction on people's livelihood will be reduced. Of course, the merit of building roads is counted as one and a half of military merits. When these troops are disabled or old, they can be transferred to the Ministry of Communications. “

In the south, there were also captives that could be used to build roads, but there were not many captives. In addition, the Ming Dynasty can also use labor to recruit the people of the Ming Dynasty to build roads. But the people of the Ming Dynasty want to produce, or do business, and create wealth for the Ming Dynasty. As a result, manpower is limited.

If the idle army is used to build roads, it is like fighting a war, and you can get half of the military merits, so that you will not be idle, and this is also a way out. These courtiers in the Wenhua Hall listened to it and did not have any objections.

Even Wen Tiren thought of a layer, Emperor Chongzhen first named Zheng Zhilong as Nanyang Bo before, to stimulate those generals, I am afraid it is also for the sake of a series of layouts.

In this way, those in the army who are eager for military merit can go to distant places to fight, and those who are inferior can go to build roads, which is also half of the military merit. There is the temptation of knighthood and the stimulation of military exploits, and I am not afraid that those martial artists will not work hard!

He was thinking about it, but Emperor Chongzhen on the throne was looking at them, and decided in his heart that further military system innovations would be announced at the same time.