Chapter 62: Wood and Rice

Whoever walks closer to His Majesty will be whose person you are. The Ming power structure is not so much a pyramid as a concentric circle. The middle point is the emperor, and the first small circle outside this point is the court bigwigs and ministers. And the circle of radiation outside is the bureaucracy at all levels. They can only come to His Majesty through these people, and His Majesty is the power itself.

Whoever wants to leapfrog and get closer to His Majesty has only two ends, the first is to become a new important minister, and the second is to be shattered.

This truth could not be more obvious.

According to He Xi, Ye Wang's move can not be favored by the emperor, not to mention, he will offend a few bigwigs first.

But He Xi didn't know. He Xi said these words. It is also an exam question for Ye Wang.

He Xi thought about it, he actually wanted to have a certain influence in the army. It's hard to grasp this degree. Thinking about it, the best way is to appease Ye Wang for Zhu Yuanzhang, instead of letting Ye Wang enter his own door.

In fact, these two realities are the same. But it's not the same to say it.

The former represents He Xi's assistance to Zhu Yuanzhang in managing some affairs that he can't take care of, and the latter represents He Xi's political ambitions, in which it is very important to be proportionate. And He Xi even felt that his own small actions might not be able to hide from Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, what a character Zhu Yuanzhang is. It's just showing your attitude. However, this statement is first of all Ye Wang's statement, the statement of being a lonely minister.

It's just that He Xi doesn't know if Ye Wang can comprehend this.

If you can, this thing can go on, if you can't. Then He Xi can only observe again. After all, although Ye Wang is a fierce general, the most important thing in this year is the fierce general.

At the end of the point, no more words. He Xi said: "I think General Ye has a misunderstanding. I want to know about the local products of Liaodong, not that I want this. But Liaodong needs these, the imperial court's strategy is transferred to the northeast, and when to make a move on the north does not depend on when the imperial court wants to do it, but on how much grain Liaodong has, and Liaodong cannot be self-sufficient in grain. The imperial court only shipped 750,000 stones by sea every year, half of which had to be transferred to Beiping. How much can Liaodong stay? 300,000 stones? Or 200,000 stones. Make up for the gap in Liaodong, by the way, if I'm not mistaken, Liaodong still has to transfer grain to Daning? How many 10,000 stones can be the balance of Liaodong every year? ”

Ye Wang sighed in a low voice and said, "It's good to have a balance of fifty or sixty thousand stones." ”

He Xi said: "When it comes to war, I won't get an axe." Starting from Liaodong, attack the north. In a big battle, we must anticipate the enemy's leniency. How much food is needed. Does General Ye Lao have a bottom? ”

Ye Wang said: "One million stones are the base, and there is no cap. ”

Although what Ye Wang said was a bit exaggerated, it was not excessive, and now that the Ming Dynasty is mobilizing troops, it is definitely not 35,000. There must be more than 100,000 of them, of which cavalry occupies the majority, and hundreds of thousands of people eat horses and chew them, not to mention too many. Reserve at least half a year and one year. After all, it is too normal for a war to last a year and a half, not to mention that Naha is out of the grassland, some distance from Liaodong, which means that people will be recruited to transport grain and grass.

There is even more to be desired.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought the Huns, how did he fight the world's household registration halved. That's it.

After all, Ye Wang and Naha have played against him several times, and he knows Naha's strength. He had hundreds of thousands of people under his command, and millions of cattle, sheep, and horses. So much so that the Yuan court could not control it. One side of the princes. It's not that easy to deal with.

Of course, in history, when the Ming army came to the city, Nahachu surrendered, with his hundreds of thousands of troops, and with his millions of cattle and sheep. His cattle and sheep have made the price of Daming cattle and sheep a diving price.

No more than three months before and after. Not so much food was used at all. However, it is said that these millions of cattle and sheep were short of forage, so they had to kill a lot of them to make jerky.

However, even if He Xi knew this history, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew. But they also did not regard the so-called history as an inevitable occurrence. A lot of things, almost in a person's mind. Zhu Yuanzhang did not give up trying to find a way to recruit Naha and strive for a better situation than in history. But at the same time, preparations are being made for a worse situation than in history.

Fight a protracted war in the Northeast.

Of course, there is another reason why He Xi worked hard to prepare food for Liaodong. Naha out may be easy to fight. But don't forget, Zhu Yuanzhang wants to fight not only Nahachu, but also the Jurchens, and plough the court and sweep the holes, leaving not an inch of grass.

This also requires food.

In short, there is always nothing wrong with tuning grain in Liaodong.

He Xi said; "The main purpose of my visit this time is to strengthen shipping and transport more grain for Liaodong, at least one million stone of grain in Liaodong, or even more, the more the better. And there is a limit to the official grain transportation. It was impossible for the imperial court to add too many sea vessels. I had to find another way. ”

He Xi said this and looked at Ye Wang.

Ye Wang frowned tightly, and didn't seem to react. Or is it speculating, what is He Xi's other way?

He Xi could only continue to say by himself, he said: "That is to open up private grain transportation." ”

Ye Wang said: "Private grain transportation? Why do they ship? Open the law? ”

The opening of the Chinese law is the policy of the imperial court to encourage the people to transport grain to the frontier, that is, to transport grain to the frontier, and the frontier generals give salt introduction, and then the merchants use salt to sell salt and sell it at home. In fact, it is to buy grain with salt.

This is the reason why the salt tax in the Ming Dynasty was not high. Because the opening of the law has actually advanced the salt tax. Of course, there are also Ming Dynasty emperors who are not as ruthless as the Song Dynasty emperors. Except for special circumstances, the price of salt in the Song Dynasty was more than ten times that of the Ming Dynasty or even more.

Regardless of the problems of one kind or another in the future opening of the law. However, the current operation of the Kaizhong method is still good. But He Xi still has ideas about opening China and France.

The Kaizhong Law essentially means that the imperial court pays for grain with salt profits. And the formalities are cumbersome. With the temper of the government, one more formality will have more drawbacks. The best thing to do is to solve it by commercial means.

He Xi said: "In the south of the Yangtze River, the big wood that can be used as a beam is about ten taels, and the bigger it is, the more valuable it is. I wonder, how much does it cost to cut a big tree? ”

Ye Wang pondered for a moment and said, "The horse may not know, but in fact, it is very hard work to go into the mountains to cut wood. Starting from the selection of wood, cutting down the wood, and then dragging it out of the mountain, even if you don't mention the beasts in the deep mountains, just say that the big wood is dumped, and if you are not careful, it will kill you. ”

"Even in the southwest, there are ten people who go into the mountains and five people who go back."

"Even in Liaodong, it is very difficult for such a big tree to come out of the mountain."

He Xi said: "Since you know about logging in the southwest, do you know how to release the row?" Simply cut down giant trees at the edge of the river and put them in the water, and then go down the river and collect them in a flat place downstream. When I survey the water flow in Liaodong, there are several rivers that can be used in this way. ”

"Does General Ye think it's impossible?"

Ye Wang said: "Yes, yes. It's just that just a big wood can allow the people to transport grain to Liaodong? ”

He Xi said: "I want to set a price, a huge wood that hugs only costs one or two silver, or four stone meters." ”

Ye Wang was stunned for a moment and said, "My lord, this is not good. ”

In this way, a big log from Liaodong to Jiangnan is ten times the price. And Ye Wang said before that logging in the deep mountains is very laborious. One or two big trees, Ye Wang has to calculate it carefully, will he lose money.

He Xi said: "Don't worry, it won't be like this forever." ”

To do things, you always have to open a big reward.

Only crazy profits can stimulate the private trade in wood grain. But after the scale of this trade was formed, the pricing power was in the hands of the official, without him, the entire Liaodong was under military control, and there was no so-called civil power at all.

What to use without official power.

Don't forget that He Xi set off a sailing tide, and it is estimated that many nobles are looking for ships at this time. The shipbuilding industry is making big wood, which is doomed, and the price of big wood will rise for a long time. Before, it was ten taels of big wood, and it will not be this price in the future.

Until alternative materials are found, the large timber capable of building ships is not the most expensive, only more expensive.