The military official finished describing the situation, and then bowed to the court, waiting for the emperor to speak with some trepidation. He was still a little afraid that Lao Zhu would be angry, but Lao Zhu thought about it carefully and understood the difficulties of the military department. Originally, the most suitable for the rescue was the northern soldiers, but it happened that the north suffered another natural disaster, and the food and grass were not continued.

In Zhu Di's letter, he also wanted to ask for support from the northern soldiers, but Zhu Di was far away in Central Asia and really couldn't expect it.

At this time, even if you force yourself to embarrass the military department, it is meaningless.

"We have a million-strong army in the Ming Dynasty, and there is no reason why there are no soldiers to send." Lao Zhu groaned for a while, and made a decision with a wave of his big hand. "The household department immediately issued a document, and the nine-border provinces do not need to be escorted to the capital for this year's tax and grain, and they will be left to the provinces to pay for the disaster year."

"And allocate taxes and grain from the three provinces south of the Yangtze River to the north as food for the army to rush to the north. This year, four provinces in the north have begun to plant corn on a trial basis, and the corn is drought-tolerant, so it is expected that there will be more grain than in previous years during the autumn harvest, which will be enough to tide over this difficulty. ”

"As for the loss of grain from the south to the north...... There's no way, let's focus on the army of the fourth first. ”

"Yes." The officials bowed down, although the emperor's decision had lost a lot of taxes and grain, but it was the safest way now.

It is better for the court to strangle the belt of the trousers than to suffer the people and the soldiers of the expedition.

After the resolution, the officials retired one after another, and Zhu Biao also said goodbye to Zhu Su, and then hurriedly returned to the cabinet to be busy with state affairs. Zhu Su was still muttering in place, and Lao Zhu, who wanted to approve a few more books, couldn't help but be a little strange when he saw it: "Old Five, what's wrong?" Why do you look preoccupied? ”

"Don't you think our method is not appropriate enough?"

"Oh, no." Zhu Su shook his head. "Your decision is sound. In such a short period of time, you can come up with the most appropriate decision, and Erchen really admires it. ”

"Flim Flam." Lao Zhu smiled to show his disdain for Zhu Su's clumsy sycophancy. "Since there's nothing wrong with that, why are you still staying here?"

"Our imperial dining room didn't leave you any food."

"Look at what you're saying." Zhu Su not only ignored Lao Zhu's eviction order, but asked the little eunuch to fetch a chair by himself, and sat down on the edge of the imperial case by himself. "The taste of the dishes made by Xu Xingzu in the imperial dining room, Erchen can't stand it!"

"Erchen Fang thinks that although the south-to-north grain transfer is also a method, it has to recruit people and bear losses...... It's a big loss. You haven't seen those adults in the household, and after listening to what you said, even the old face turned green......"

"If this battle is finished like this, even if I can take the land of Persia in Central Asia, I am afraid that my Ming will hurt some vitality...... Is there a way to help the fourth brother and take down East Asia without having to bear too much loss? ”

"Tell me, what do you do?" Speaking of state affairs, Lao Zhu also sat up straight.

"Erchen just has a vague outline, and he hasn't figured it out yet." Zhu Su said. As he spoke, he motioned to the little eunuchs serving on the left and right to present the Kunyu Wanguo map on the side. "Since the fourth brother wants to attack Persia from the north to the south, can we ...... Not a long way to show that grain is supported from the Hexi Corridor. ”

"Instead, take the sea route, land directly from here and head north...... What about meeting with the fourth brother in the land of Central Asia? ”

"Oh?" Lao Zhu's eyes lit up, take the sea route? He hadn't thought of that route. He carefully looked at the line drawn by Zhu Su's finger on the Kunyu Wanguo map. "You mean...... Walk the South Seas? ”

"Yes." Zhu Su nodded. "Fang just said that there is almost no war in the southeast sea frontier, and it is the most suitable for requisition to rescue. It's just that the southeast and northwest are the farthest apart, and if you take the land route, the loss is too huge, and the gains outweigh the losses. ”

"But if you take the sea route...... From ancient times to the present, there is a maritime Silk Road through Persia, take this route to go, but the moon is coming, and the sea boating, the loss is far less than the land route, and there is no need to transfer grain to the north, directly from the south of the Yangtze River to supply grain and grass on the ship. ”

"Even ...... In the name of opening up the silk trade to the west, we can also recruit private merchants to go west with the fleet. Nowadays, the South Seas and the western seas are occupied by foreign races, although there are many Westerners who come to trade from this trade route, but few of our Ming merchants dare to follow the sea route to the west. ”

"This route has always had a lot of benefits. If there is a sailor of our court to protect the westward journey, the merchants will definitely flock to it, and even if they are asked to bear the cost of our army all the way, they should be willing......"

The more Zhu Su said, the more he felt that this method was feasible, and he only had a general idea in his mind, but now the more he said it, the smoother it became. "Moreover, there are many spice treasures in the South Seas. Going to the South and Western Oceans is also the general trend in the future. ”

In this case, it is better to do these things together, open up the Maritime Silk Road, and take advantage of the situation to also take the Nanyang Islands as a transit in the future shipping lane. In the future, taxes alone will be a very considerable amount of revenue for the national treasury......"

Zhu Suyue said, Lao Zhu's eyes became brighter and brighter. He has now tasted the sweetness of maritime trade and commercial taxes, just talking about the land of Yingzhou, even if no matter the many gold and silver sent every year, only Hangzhou, Sakai Port and other ports, the annual collection of port tax to and from merchant ships can be worth a year of grain tax in the northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention the Silk Road, in which the interests have existed since ancient times. In the Song Dynasty, relying on the sea trade tax, it once earned a lot of money, with only half of the country, and became one of the few wealthy dynasties in China since ancient times...... If it can open up a trade route to the west for the Ming Dynasty, how much benefit can it bring to the Ming Dynasty?

The trade route is not a trade route, it is a galaxy flowing with real money!

"This recipe makes!" Old Zhu Dao. The sea route is fast, expensive and inexpensive. You can also land from the south, and when the time comes, you will be able to coordinate with the north and the south of the old four, just to teach the north and south of Persia not to care about each other.

"According to what you think, this trip is not a light burden, and we have to sweep the South Seas, and we have to coordinate businessmen and understand commercial affairs...... You have to be able to do everything on the sea and land, and you have to be able to suppress a bunch of six chief officers. ”

"Tie Xuan and Zhang He are suitable, but the two of them have now gone to Fengmingzhou...... Most of our old brothers are rough men who only know how to fight and kill, do you have the right person to recommend? ”

Zhu Su thought about it for a while, but he really didn't think of any suitable candidates. Liu Bowen is suitable, but the old man is already so old, and he has been driving to the west for many years in his original history, so he really can't work the old man anymore. Moreover, there are very few generals in the Ming Dynasty who are good at maritime affairs, and one of the generals in Huaixi, Jinghai Hou Wu Zhen, is also good at maritime affairs, but because he was seriously ill a few years ago, he has died of illness......

"Since you can't think of a suitable candidate, why don't you go for a trip."

Lao Zhu saw that Zhu Su was thinking about it, but he couldn't think of a candidate, so he simply clapped the board directly.

(End of chapter)