Hong Chengchou, who was summoned to the palace again, was not taken to the Wenhua Palace, but directly to the study of the Qianqing Palace. Coming to this room for the first time, Hong Chengchou was still a little excited in his heart. After all, according to rumors, only the cabinet, the six important ministers, officials and the emperor's cronies can enter the room to summon the right people.

Therefore, the originally little-known upper study room has completely overwhelmed the legendary platform calling pair, and has become a symbol of the success of the officials in the capital.

Hong Chengchou finally calmed down the excitement in his heart by saluting Chongzhen. Under Chongzhen's nod, he began to formally report to the emperor on his research results in Yunnan and Guizhou in the past three days.

Although it is about the governance of Yunnan and Guizhou, the dilapidated Guizhou is mainly about solving the problems left over from the war and the problems of recuperation, and these problems have already been talked about three days ago, so Hong Chengchou only said a few words today and brought them over.

Hong Chengchou focused his report on the complicated Yunnan issue, and he said to Chongzhen: "... The minister believes that the governance of Yunnan focuses on the difference between the two inside and outside.

The first difference between the inside and the outside is between the Han people living in Yunnan and the local ethnic minorities, the Han people and ethnic minorities who are oriented to the imperial court are inside, and the Tusi who are interested in foreign countries or want to secede is the outside;

The second difference between inside and outside is that Yunnan is surrounded by Vietnam, Laos, and Burma, and in addition to Laos, which has always been submissive to the imperial court, Vietnam and Burma are obedient to the imperial court on the surface, but sinister on the inside. Therefore, the people of Yunnan who are devoted to the imperial court are united in the foreign vassal country with different hearts, which is the second difference between inside and outside.

… Therefore, the minister thought that in order to govern Yunnan, it was necessary to rely on the Han people and officials and troops in Yunnan, rely on Yunnan to support the ethnic minorities of the imperial court, and rely on obedient foreign vassals such as Laos. Be wary of foreign vassals with different intentions such as Vietnam and Burma, suppress the Tusi in Yunnan who collude with foreign vassals, and reformulate the regulations for the management of the Tusi in Yunnan, so that the people of Yunnan can know the majesty of the imperial court..."

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, then nodded at Hong Chengchou and said, "You said yes, but can you be more specific?" ”

Hong Chengchou lowered his head and thought for a moment before he continued to speak: "Since the forty-first year of Wanli, the tributary relationship between Laos and my Ming Dynasty has been interrupted, and it has been 17 years now.

According to the minister's report, Laos has been in a state of chaos eight or nine years ago because of the succession to the throne and the control of Burma. However, the local officials in Yunnan and the incumbent Qianguo Gong were worried about the troubles on the border, so they adopted an attitude of turning a blind eye to this, which was really a wasted act.

Of the three foreign vassals adjacent to Yunnan, only Laos is the most obedient to our DPRK, so supporting Laos to contain Vietnam and Burma is a guarantee for the long-term peace and stability of Yunnan's borders. If Laos were to fall into Burmese hands, or if Burma had fostered a pro-Burmese king, the imperial court would have to invest a lot of resources in Yunnan to prevent Burma from rebelling again.

Therefore, the minister thought that if he wanted to govern Yunnan, the first thing was to restore the connection with Laos and support a person close to the Ming Dynasty to ascend to the throne. If Laos can have the strength to counter Burma and Vietnam, then we will have more forces to use on the Yunnan border. The Tusi and ethnic minorities in Yunnan will eliminate some undesirable ambitions.

As for the local governance of Yunnan, the minister thought that it was necessary to vigorously promote the exchanges between the Han and ethnic minorities, expand the economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides, and build local transportation facilities... Of course, the minister thought that the most important thing was that the system of Yongzhen Yunnan, the capital of the Qianguo State, should be adjusted.

Now the best fertile land in Yunnan is in the hands of the Qianguo Mansion or the cronies and generals of the Qianguo Prince, so the people of Yunnan are detached from the imperial court, and the local Tusi is also resentful of the imperial court because of the exploitation of the Qianguo Mansion.

In today's Yunnan, nothing is calm and calm, but once something happens, the ministers are worried about another extravagant chaos. The Qianguo Mansion has guarded Yunnan for more than 200 years, and it is naturally a meritorious service.

But if the Qianguo Mansion continues to govern like this, Yunnan will either become a country within a country, or it will become a foreign state again. The minister thought that today's Yunnan was no longer the Yunnan of the beginning of the country, and the conditions were ripe for Yunnan to be brought under the direct administration of the imperial court. ”

Hong Chengchou's undisguised criticism of the Qianguo Mansion was not entirely out of the psychology of showing in front of Chongzhen. For the Tusi and the independent kingdom that guarded the frontiers, it was natural for the civil officials to resent it. After all, under the influence of the education of great unification, these civil officials subconsciously believed that the existence of these large and small independent kingdoms in the territory of the Ming Dynasty was, in essence, a manifestation of resistance to kingization and opposition to unification.

Therefore, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty always have an inexplicable fanaticism and persistence in changing the land and returning to the stream and cutting the domain. After the death of the previous generation of Qianguo Gong, Chongzhen uncharacteristically ordered the prince of Qianguo to enter Beijing and planned to set up a new governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, which undoubtedly made the civil officials understand the emperor's thoughts. Hong Chengchou naturally dared to ask for the removal of the Duke of Qianguo from his post of guarding Yunnan in front of Chongzhen.

Zhu Youzhen just smiled at Hong Chengchou's suggestion, and he quickly changed the topic and said: "It seems that your hard work in the past three days has indeed not been in vain, so now I will tell you the truth." The purpose of recalling you back to the capital, you should have a hunch, that is, the imperial court wants you to go to Kunming to take up the post of governor of Yunnan, are you willing? ”

Hong Chengchou stood up and saluted respectfully and said: "The court has an order, and the minister is naturally obedient, but the minister is worried that he is only low in virtue and cannot meet the expectations of the court and His Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his hand and said: "After you arrive in Yunnan, if you can still maintain today's attitude and make a governance plan after investigation and research, I think you will definitely be able to be qualified for the post of governor of Yunnan."

However, before you go to Yunnan, I have one more sentence that I hope you will remember. In addition to the internal and external differences you have said, you should also use the power of those merchants, especially those who go to Yunnan to mine mines.

Mining requires manpower, transporting minerals requires roads, preventing mine accidents requires garrisons, and building roads and feeding armies requires money. Where the money comes from, of course, is taxes. Therefore, whether or not you can implement your internal and external strategies depends on whether you can master the power of those merchants..."

When Hong Chengchou left the Qianqing Palace, he was still thinking about the power of merchants that the emperor said. Although he had seen how difficult it was for the Jin merchants who colluded with the gentry when he was appointed governor of Shanxi, he did not feel that these merchants had any power, but he understood how greedy and black-hearted they were.

Just as Hong Chengchou was walking outside the palace with his head down, Fan Jingwen was walking to the Qianqing Palace from another road, and he was about to report to Chongzhen on the affairs of road construction planning. However, when he walked to the gate of the Qianqing Palace, he couldn't help frowning, because he saw that Sun Zhiqi, the chief writer of the Daming Times, was also standing there waiting to see the emperor.

When the Daming Times was just born, Shilin and the gentlemen were all joked for a while, thinking that these Dongchang minions put down the torture tools and changed them to dance and write ink.

Out of disgust with the East Factory, and the opening of the Daming Times in the East Factory also has the flavor of offending the right to speak in Shilin, so when the Daming Times was just born, almost no scholars would buy and read, even if there were so many scholars who bought it, it was just to be able to criticize and ridicule it at the party.

However, from the very beginning, the Daming Times did not intend to take the high-end route and promote any ideas to those gentlemen. Instead, start with the small people in the market, and start with the market news and legendary serials that the citizens care about, so as to attract these ordinary people to pay attention to the Ming Times; On the other hand, the national policies and current affairs are explained to these people in plain vernacular, thus cutting off the channels for the people to get knowledge of national affairs from gentlemen in the past.

This method of drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle has greatly weakened the ability of gentlemen to influence local public opinion. Especially today, if a gentleman does not subscribe to a copy of the Ming Times, he cannot understand what has happened in the country recently and what new policies are discussed, most of the gentlemen have to let go of their ignorance of the Ming Times.

However, even if most gentlemen have to subscribe to the Daming Times in order to keep abreast of the changes in the situation in the country, it does not prevent them from despising the shallowness and straightforwardness of the articles published in the Times. Of course, many people are aware of the huge ability of the Daming Times to influence public opinion. Therefore, they also felt quite uneasy about such a newspaper being in the hands of the former Dongchang and eunuchs.

And Sun Zhiqi, the chief writer of the Daming Times, Su Changqing, a columnist, and others, from time to time, they have to pull out the gentry who oppose the reform policy to criticize it, and they also want to expose the black history of others, which makes them feel even more resentful. As a former intelligence agency, Dongchang is much more capable of digging up information about officials than they are at running a newspaper.

And for some gentry, even if these black histories are violent to the emperor, they are at most just a few reprimands, and the great thing is to resign and go home to become the emperor of the soil. But published in the Daming Times, so that the people of the world can see their ugly things, there is some facelessness, even if you resign and return to your hometown, it is difficult to seek recovery.

It is natural that Sun Zhiqi, who hosts the Daming Times, is resented. Although Fan Jingwen has no black history, he is also respectful of a villain like Sun Zhiqi who exposes people's old truths all day long. Seeing Sun Zhiqi greeting him with a smile on his face, Fan Jingwen only nodded vaguely, and quickly turned his head to the imperial secretary who was on duty at the gate of the Qianqing Palace, indicating his intention.

Chongzhen, who had just sent Hong Chengchou away, sat down and drank a cup of tea, and after hearing Lu Qi's communication, he said without hesitation: "Let Sun Zhiqi wait first, let Fan Jingwen come first, and it is better to determine the transportation planning and layout as soon as possible." ”

With the advent of horse-drawn railways and new road construction standards, large-scale road construction began to occur in various parts of the north. The disaster in Shaanxi and the northern provinces also provided a large amount of cheap labor for these road construction projects.

As a result, road construction has become an extremely large industry. In order to manage these huge flows of resources, manpower, and funds, the Transportation Construction Committee came into being.