Road?

Not to mention the envoys present, even the civil and military officials in the hall were immediately stunned, and they all looked up at the wise and heroic emperor in the hall suspiciously.

It is said that Shu Road is difficult, but the Central Plains and Shu Road have been connected after all.

On the other hand, the southwest is full of mountains, swamps and primeval forests, and the Central Plains wants to open a road with the southwest, which is like mining Luzon gold and throwing silver, so as to reopen a place that connects the two places.

With the current financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, this can naturally be done.

It's just that what is in the Myanmar region? The cost is far greater than the cost of mining Luzon gold, let alone a gold mine of Luzon scale, not even decent products.

It is precisely because of this that when they heard about Zhu Youji's attempt, many officials immediately doubted themselves, and they did not believe that the emperor would develop the southwest at any cost.

"I don't know what way?" The envoy of the Ava Kingdom was stunned for a moment, and then inquired curiously.

Zhu Youji's eyes suddenly became sharp, and he threw out his latest big plan: "A road connecting the entire Burma region from Yunnan, I want the Ming Dynasty to be closely connected with your kingdom!" ”

This......

When he heard Zhu Youji's big plan, the civil and military officials present couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

The worst-case scenario is that it is understandable to go east and south, but it is completely incomprehensible why it chose to move southwest.

Even if it is not good, can you re-take the Silk Road and go to Tianzhu towards the desert yellow sand?

Now the emperor suddenly set his sights on Burma, which is full of poisonous insects in the mountains and forests, and it is still a group of wild people who are difficult to educate, but it makes the second monk of the Zhangji puzzled.

Zhu Youzhu ignored the shock of his courtiers, and threw a bait at the envoys present: "As long as you take the initiative to help Daming build this road, then I can be canonized as a king, and Daming will be protected forever!" ”

Since they want to use the other party to help them build this Ming-Burma highway, they naturally have to give them enough sweetness.

Myanmar is now in turmoil, and the most powerful Bai Gu Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty has only given Burma and has not recognized their status as foreign vassals.

It's just that now, as long as they cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to build a Ming-Burma road, then he doesn't mind granting the status of vassal king, and will also give them military protection.

Although the unified Myanmar once made it difficult for the powerful Yuan Dynasty, it does not need to be too difficult to clean up in the face of a scattered Myanmar now.

Faced with the bait thrown by Zhu Youji, some small kingdoms were suddenly moved.

Their situation is not optimistic, even if they are independent individuals, but in the face of the surrounding powers, they have to worry about whether they will be destroyed the next day.

The Donghu envoy noticed the reaction of the surrounding envoys, and then stood up very decisively and said: "Emperor Ming, the dispute in Myanmar has been going on for a long time, and this matter is not for the Heavenly Dynasty to intervene!" ”

"You dare to be so rude in such a small country!" Zhao Chengqing, the Duke of Yasukuni, saw that this little envoy obviously wanted to exclude the intervention of the Ming Dynasty, so he said angrily.

Now the Wuxun Group is full of bloody men, and now they are all looking at each other angrily, and they are relying on their height advantage to look down on this little messenger.

In their consistent understanding, there are only two large countries in Myanmar today, Ava and Baigu, and a small kingdom like Donghu is simply not in the flow.

The envoy of Donghu felt the pressure around him, but the corners of his mouth rose slightly: "The little envoy is a matter of facts!" This kind of road construction and connection, the little envoy does not feel the need for this at all! ”

Although he is an envoy, he is also the current number one adviser of the Tungoo Kingdom.

Emperor Ming suddenly wanted to build a road to Burma, which can be described as "Sima Zhao's heart - everyone knows", once this road is completed, then it is likely to point the troops to Burma.

Although Myanmar does not need to be afraid of a small Ming, you must know that the powerful Yuan Dynasty was also worthy of victory, but in the end it was actually beaten out.

It's just that if the Ming Dynasty really came in, it would affect the progress of their Donghu Kingdom.

After so many years of development, Ava and Baigu have both degenerated, especially the king of Baigu, although he is a high monk, but he does not know how to govern the country and strengthen the army.

They stabilized the two countries of Awa and Baigu through alliances and marriages, and then they could only annex the surrounding small states, and then Taungoo would become the third great power in Burma.

It is precisely so, whether it is to prevent the invasion of the Ming Dynasty, or to prevent the Ming Dynasty from providing shelter to those small countries, he has a reason to stand up and stop it as an envoy of Donghu.

"If this official remembers correctly, now Myanmar is in its own way! If you think that this plan is not appropriate, wait for you to unify Burma, and now you can only represent yourself! Zhang Sheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, also stood up, but pointed the finger directly at the Donghu envoy.

After hearing the remarks of Zhang Sheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, the other envoys nodded one after another.

Although they feel that Da Ming has built such a road, I am afraid that it is uneasy and kind. It's just that Taungoo is only one of the small countries in Burma, and if you really want to stop it, you have to have their consent, not Taungoo's attitude on their behalf.

Some envoys thought so, and also echoed and said: "If you don't know, you really think that we are already a vassal state of Donghu!" ”

The envoy of Donghu clenched his back molars and found that there were a bunch of fools around, could he not even teach the truth that there is no free lunch in the world?

Zhu Youzhu didn't have much hope, but set his eyes on the envoy of the Ava country and said, "Ava envoy, what do you Ava country say? ”

Now directly bordering Yunnan is the Ava State, once the Ava State agrees to the plan he throws out, then the pressure on the Ming Dynasty will be greatly reduced.

Once the road between Yunnan and Awa is completed, the Ming-Burma Highway will already run through a small half of Myanmar, which will be an excellent start.

"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, this matter is very important, please ask the little envoy to go back and report, and then decide!" The envoy of the country of Ava was a little old man, and he seemed very secure.

In fact, he was very impressed by Daming's conditions, but he was just a messenger, and such a big matter naturally needed his own king to decide.

Zhu Youzhu knew that he couldn't eat hot tofu, so he waved his hand: "Okay, I will give all of you three months to reply!" It's just that the ugly words are ahead, not my Ming clan, but my Ming enemy. ”

The Ming Dynasty has its own will, and now these people want to be good with the Ming Dynasty forever, so naturally they need to show enough sincerity.

As for the Ming-Burma Highway that he just mentioned, even if all the kingdoms in Burma were united, it would not stop his determination to build the road.

The civil and military officials in the hall had not seen Zhu Youzhu show such a strong will for a long time, and they suddenly cheered up and looked at these envoys with fierce eyes.

"Remember, Ministers!" In the face of such a powerful emperor, the envoy of Donghu and the others also saluted in a proper manner.

The rest of the ritual was a simple reward process, and after receiving the obviously earned bounty of the Great Ming, the Burmese envoys also left happily.

As for whether to agree to Emperor Daming's conditions, since there is still enough time to think, then they don't need to dwell on this matter. What's more, the real decision is not in their hands.

After the ceremony of summoning foreign envoys from the Heavenly Temple, the dissolution of the dynasty was announced.

In fact, it was the middle and lower-level officials outside who left, or the unimportant officials in the temple, and the officials who were qualified to participate in the Supreme Council had already fallen.

Now the Ming Dynasty is not limited to economic reforms, but has begun to carry out political reforms.

After Liu Ji's incident, the status of the cabinet has actually declined, at least it no longer has the prestige to lead the six ministries. Today's cabinet is more like a secretariat.

On the contrary, the newly established military intelligence cabinet showed a bit of prestige, and Wang Yue was in charge, and now all the military intelligence of the country is gathered here.

The functions of the six ministries have lasted for thousands of years, but they cannot meet the complexity of the current national conditions, so the Ministry of Propaganda and the Ministry of Agriculture have been newly added.

It is worth mentioning that the status of Wu Xun has also been improved, and Zhao Chengqing, who has now been promoted to the rank of Yasukuni Gong, has also been included in the list of personnel to attend the Supreme Council.

It's just that at this moment, no matter how powerful they are, they are all looking up at the emperor on the dragon chair with respect.

Zhu Youzhi also took the initiative to provoke the topic in the face of the confidants present: "I have decided to develop the southwest and build a highway that can connect Yunnan and Myanmar. ”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this highway consumes a lot, right?" Liu Zhong, the new secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, hesitated for a moment and asked very seriously.

In order to exploit Luzon gold mines, the Ming Dynasty had to issue treasury bonds to raise funds. Now the road must be more difficult and the cost will be higher, so this cost has to be worrying.

In fact, with Hongzhi's current prestige, even if millions of taels are wasted, everyone can turn a blind eye. But with the scale of the Ming-Burma Highway, this is obviously not a matter of one million taels.

Jia Jun, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, had already known about this, and took out the engineering drawings very seriously: "After repeated calculations by our Ministry of Industry!" If the Ming-Burma Highway is repaired by our Daming, it is estimated that at least five million taels will be invested! ”

When I heard this number, I couldn't help but gasp.

Although they had already guessed that it could not be cheap, when they heard this astronomical figure, they couldn't help but swallow and spit hard.

You must know that the tax contribution of Yunnan Province is at most hundreds of thousands of taels a year, and it also has to support 200,000 garrisons.

Now it has been smashing down five million taels, and the land in Myanmar is even more barren than Yunnan, but it will not be until the Year of the Monkey to recover this investment cost?

Liu Xuan, the secretary of the military department, reached out and touched his nose, but he tentatively looked at He Cong, the secretary of the household department, next to him: "He Shangshu, this money ......."

"If we really want to take it now, our household department can actually take it!" He Cong, the head of the household, knew that Liu Xuan wanted to stop him on the grounds that he had no money, but he had his own principles.

After these years of economic reform, Daming's finances have not only been surplus, but also the situation has become better and better.

In addition, in order to make the Hongzhi new currency completely smooth in Jiangnan, the Ming Dynasty also issued two treasury bonds to Jiangnan on the grounds of road construction.

Although it is indeed nerve-wracking to invest five million taels at once, with the current finances of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, it is still necessary to grit your teeth and do this.

If the funds cannot be solved by then, the balance can also be solved by issuing treasury bonds.

Liu Zhong, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, moved slightly in his heart, and said very seriously: "Dare to ask Your Majesty, the development of the southwest is so invested, but Taizu dreams that there are gold mines or silver mines in the southwest!" ”

Hey?

As soon as these words came out, many important ministers present looked at Zhu Youzhu with anticipation.

Although there is no news about the treasure seed so far, the gold mines in Luzon have been confirmed, as have many silver mines in Japan, and even the iron mines in the south of the South Seas have also been heard.

Now the emperor insists on building the Ming-Burma Highway, and once there are glittering gold mines in the Ming-Burma region, it will be a cost-effective investment.

"There are no gold mines in Burma, and there are no silver mines!" Zhu Youzhu saw the joy of the important ministers present, but he poured a basin of cold water mercilessly.

In fact, anyone who knows the real situation in Myanmar understands that if Myanmar really wants to talk about minerals, jadeite ore still contains a certain economic value.

It's just that the current social atmosphere is that nephrite is precious, not to mention whether the value of jadeite can be publicized, this cannot be Zhu Youji's goal.

Spending five million taels not to study aircraft cannons, but to find the kind of jade that cannot promote social development, this kind of thinking is not their style, nor is it the thinking of mature emperors.

This......

After the important ministers present were denied, they couldn't help but look at each other.

The emperor, who has always been wise and martial, why did he want to spend a full five million taels to build a road in the face of a place full of poisonous insects.

Wang Yue saw the reactions of the others, but suddenly stood up and said loudly: "Please forgive the old minister for being stupid!" I don't know what Your Majesty's intention is to do this, please give Your Majesty advice! ”

Hey?

As soon as these words came out, Liu Xuan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and other important ministers reacted, and they also looked at Emperor Hongzhi one after another.

Instead of guessing and tempting here, it is better to admit that you are stupid, so as to listen to the real thoughts of this brilliant emperor to build roads.

It is true that Jianzhou was a place outside the fortress, but after so many years of development, it has now become the northern granary of the Ming Dynasty. It not only solves the grain demand in the north, but also relieves the transportation pressure of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, thereby greatly reducing financial expenditure.

Liu Jin had already prepared, and after receiving Zhu Youji's eyes, he also took the two little eunuchs to show the map to the important ministers in the palace: "Ministers, please look at this map!" ”

At first glance, this is a map of the South China Seas, but in the center is the Indochina Peninsula.

"From the east of the South Seas, through the Strait of Malacca, the west of Malacca is the Western Ocean. Entering the Western Ocean and going up along the eastern coastline is Siam, and further up, do you know where it is? Liu Jin turned into a narrator and pointed to the chart to explain.

(End of chapter)