Since the end or starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is in Tongzhou, merchants from all walks of life gather here, and a large number of merchants gather here, making Tongzhou's commerce extremely prosperous.

After a turn at the Tongzhou wharf, Yang He couldn't help but sigh, at this time, the river ice is beginning to melt, and there are not many ships coming and going, so prosperous here, if the canal is completely unblocked, what will it be like here?

The officials of the Ming Dynasty cry all day long, they are simply holding a golden bowl to eat, just this one commercial port, how much commercial value can be created for the Ming Dynasty in a year? How much tax can you pay for the imperial court?

Yang He remembered that Zhang Fengqi once told him that the taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty every year were only two or three million taels of silver a year, not counting the field tax, of which more than one million taels were salt taxes, hundreds of thousands of taels of tea taxes, and hundreds of thousands of taels of mining taxes, that is, there were very few commercial taxes.

In this case, those people in the Donglin Party also proposed tax reductions and exemptions, where are these people thinking about the people and the court? It's almost the same to say that these people are harming the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to let these people take power to manage the country.

Shaking his head, Yang He sighed softly.

Judging from some of the people and things that Zhang Fengqi told him, some people in the Donglin Party are very stylish, and some officials are not afraid of power, but why can't these people see that taxation is the lifeblood of a country?

Are they really not aware, or are they blinded by interests?

And the imperial court appointed such people to govern the country, obviously because there was a problem with the system of employing people.

Standing beside the dock, Yang He thought silently.

After pondering for a long time, Yang He suddenly shook his head with a wry smile, he has no roots and no foundation now, what's the use of thinking about this?

The most important thing for me now is to do my own thing and stand firm.

With a wry smile, Yang He turned around and looked for someone, inquired about where the Tongzhou military camp was, and then went straight to the military camp.

There were letters from Liu Qi and Zhang Fengqi, and Yang He was soon received by Xu Guangqi.

When he saw Xu Guangqi for the first time, Yang He couldn't believe that the thin old man in front of him was the world-famous scientist in the future.

And Xu Guangqi didn't expect that the person Liu Qi and Zhang Fengqi highly admired in their letters would be so young.

An old man and a young man looked at each other for a while, and Xu Guangqi smiled and said, "Come, sit down." ”

Yang He hurriedly said: "In front of my lord, how can there be a seat for a humble position." ”

Xu Guangqi waved his hand: "This official is not so particular here, not to mention that you are a guest from afar, sit down, there is no need to be restrained." ”

"Thank you, sir." Yang He said busily.

gave Xu Guangqi a salute, and Yang He sat down on the chair.

Ordered someone to serve tea to Yang He, Xu Guangqi picked up the letter on the table and looked at it a few times, and then asked with a smile: "Liu Yushi's letter said that you are the commander of the personal guard battalion under General Luo, but Zhang Zhixian's letter said that you are the chief soldier of the Funing County regiment, what is your position?" Why is Liu Yushi and Zhang Zhixian different? ”

Yang He hurriedly said: "Back to the adult's words, the humble post was originally a subordinate of the general army of Luo, and the general soldier of Meng Luo appreciated it and let the lowly post serve as the general officer of the pro-guard battalion, but the people in the military department did not approve it, so the humble position is always inaccurate."

As for serving as the chief soldier of the regimental training in Funing County, after returning from the customs outside the customs, he purchased some land in Funing County, and when he purchased the land, he got to know Zhang Zhixian, and Zhang Zhixian could afford it, so he let him serve as the chief soldier of the regimental training in Funing County. ”

Xu Guangqi nodded and smiled when he heard this: "I see, this official still wonders, how can you be both the commander of the border army and the commander of the regimental training." ”

As he spoke, a servant came in with tea.

After the next person put the teacup away, Xu Guangqi waved his hand and motioned for Yang He to drink tea, and then picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.

Yang He often dealt with Zhang Fengqi and others during this time, and already knew that at this time, people would meet guests, only the host would drink tea first, and the guests could drink tea.

This kind of etiquette of serving tea to send guests can be described as both elegant and will not make guests unable to get off the stage, which is much stronger than later generations looking at the watch and looking at the time to find an excuse to send off guests.

After Yang He took a sip of tea, Xu Guangqi looked at Yang He and said with a smile: "Where did you know that this official has grown sweet potatoes?" ”

Yang He hurriedly put down the teacup and said, "I learned about it from Zhang Zhixian's younger brother Zhang Fengwu. ”

Xu Guangqi asked with a smile: "I don't know what Zhang Zhixian's younger brother does?" ”

"It is a lifting person, because of repeated failures, he gave up the idea of career, traveled around these years, happened to see sweet potatoes, learned that the yield of sweet potatoes is extremely high, and later heard that adults have planted sweet potatoes." Yang He said.

Xu Guangqi nodded and smiled: "Let's just say, this official is not familiar with Liu Yushi and Zhang Zhixian, how can they know that this official has grown sweet potatoes?" ”

Smiling, Xu Guangqi asked: "The yield of sweet potatoes is indeed very high, but the people don't believe in it and don't recognize this thing, so the official has promoted it for a period of time, and the effect is not ideal." How do you convince people that this thing is highly productive and willing to grow it? ”

Yang He said with a smile: "It's very simple, the humble job found an old farmer, this old farmer has dozens of acres of land, and the humble position let him just plant sweet potatoes with confidence, if there is no yield, how much land he has, and the humble post will give him how much grain." ”

"He believes you'll give him food compensation?" Xu Guangqi was surprised.

"Hehe, his land was given by his humble position, and even his family's life was saved by his humble position, and he still believed what the humble position said." Yang He said with a smile.

"I see, no wonder you're so sure." Xu Guangqi said suddenly.

Then Xu Guangqi smiled and said: "As long as this old farmer succeeds in trying to plant sweet potatoes, others will follow to plant sweet potatoes when they see it, and your method can be described as simple and practical." Young man, bold! ”

Yang He said with a smile: "My lord praised it, in fact, there is no way to plant sweet potatoes in a humble position, those people in Liaodong have entered the customs, and all they have reclaimed are wasteland, and the harvest in the first few years will definitely be worse, and there may not even be much harvest." With so many people, if there is not enough food, the imperial court will have to carry a big burden.

The current situation of the imperial court must be clearer than the humble position, if the imperial court cannot receive help, and the common people have no food to eat, it will be a mess.

So I thought, is there a high-yielding crop?

If there are high-yielding crops, even if the harvest of newly opened wasteland is low, how can it be more harvested than those grains? Even if you collect a few buckets of grain per mu, you can help the imperial court solve a big problem. ”

Xu Guangqi nodded silently, sighed and said: "You can care about the court and the people, although you are a martial artist, you are much stronger than some officials in the court." ”

"I don't dare to do it, I just do my best, I hope to do something practical for the court and the people." Yang He said busily.

Xu Guangqi shook his head and sighed: "How difficult it is to do something practical now!" ”

Picking up the teacup, Xu Guangqi took a sip of tea slowly, and then said: "You have fought with Jianyu many times with General Luo's army in Liaodong, and you must know Jianyu very well, tell the old man, is Jianyu really so difficult to deal with?" ”

Yang He pondered for a while, considered the wording, and said: "How to say it, if it is a field battle, Jianyu is mainly cavalry, coming and going like the wind, our army is mainly infantry, infantry and cavalry are fighting, itself is at a disadvantage, even if we rely on the advantage of more people to occupy the initiative, it is very difficult to annihilate Jianyu, so, with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is almost impossible to completely defeat Jianyu by relying on field battles."

But Jianyu is not invincible, Jianyu's weaknesses are actually many, if we lay out the weaknesses of Jianyu, Jianyu will definitely not be able to compete with the Ming Dynasty. ”

"What weaknesses does Jianyu have, let's hear about it." Xu Guangqi said busily when he heard this.

Yang He smiled and said: "The biggest weakness of Jianyu is the lack of materials, just because of the lack of materials in Jianyu, so every winter when the days are sad, they will use troops externally. Moreover, the soldiers were built and used, and the grain and grass were provided by the soldiers themselves.

Soldiers are required to prepare their own grain and grass in war, and it is obviously impossible to fight for a long time, which requires that when building and using troops, they must fight quickly and make a quick decision, and once the grain and grass are exhausted, they must retreat, otherwise, they can only plunder everywhere to supplement military supplies. ”

Xu Guangqi nodded: "That's right, the lack of materials is indeed the biggest weakness of Jianyu, so how do you think we should lay out the weakness of Jianyu." ”

"Guard the gate, clear the wilderness, and then send a ranger to harass the rear of Jianyu from time to time, so that it cannot use troops or even produce at ease." Yang He said.

"How to guard the gate and clear the wilderness? Talk to the old man and listen to it. Xu Guangqi hurriedly asked.

"It's very simple, it is to choke the passage of the captives into the Ming Dynasty, so that they are not allowed to enter and plunder, and outside the portal, all the people are evacuated, so that the captives cannot get any supplies." Yang He said.

Xu Guangqi frowned when he heard this: "You mean to hold Shanhaiguan and give up all the territory outside the customs?" ”

Yang He shook his head: "You can't resist the enemy in Shanhaiguan, Shanhaiguan is the gateway of the Ming Dynasty, and we must not fight with Jianyu at the door of our home, because once there is anything wrong in Shanhaiguan, I will have to face Jianguo's soldiers."

The place we have to defend is Ningyuan, Ningyuan is the throat of Liaoxi, and if we hold Ningyuan, Jianyu will not be able to face Shanhaiguan. ”

Xu Guangqi waved his hand: "Wait a minute." ”

After saying that, he turned around and took out a scroll from the bookcase, and unfolded it on the table.

Yang He looked at it, but it was a map of Liaodong.

Yang He stretched out his hand and nodded at Ning Yuan's position: "This is here, here is surrounded by mountains on three sides, one side faces the sea, there is only one road in the middle that can be passed, as long as a strong city is built here, unless it is built and climbs over the mountain, if you want to enter the pass, you must conquer Ning Yuan City." ”

"This is a lonely city, what if the captives are besieged?" Xu Guangqi said.

Yang He smiled: "Siege? It's good to besiege the city, see who can outsmart whom? Ningyuan is by the sea, we can supply supplies by sea, where will Jianyu supply from? Unless the Jianyu can blockade us by sea. If Jianyu can block the sea route, then there is nothing to say about the lowly position. ”

Xu Guangqi laughed when he heard this: "If Jianyu has the ability to block the sea route, what else do you need to fight Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan?" Just attack Tianjin Wei directly from the sea. ”

Yang He smiled and continued: "Ningyuan's terrain is conducive to defense, but it is limited to defense, if we want to make a difference, we must occupy this place." ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and clicked on the location of Jinzhou on the map.