Chapter 314

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Cheng Shijie and said: "I can't see whether you are loyal to the imperial court, but everyone knows that you are bold!" ”

Cheng Shijie said with an aggrieved face: "Your Majesty, the loyalty of the minister can be seen by the sun and the moon, if Your Majesty does not believe in the minister's pure heart, the minister will cut himself before the emperor!" ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Shi's masterpiece slammed into the big pillar in front of the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said, "Cheng Qing, you'd better plan with Song Xian to clear the line...... You are a rare talent, and I really don't want you to make a mistake and become a sinner for the ages! ”

Hearing Emperor Chongzhen's words, Cheng Shijie breathed a sigh of relief, and he passed this level.

As the deputy director of the office of Hangang Group, Cheng Shijie has a wide range of work, and needs to assist the leadership and coordination of the work of the organ, as well as the foreign affairs activities and related reception work of the organ.

Cheng Shijie has a lot of mothers-in-law, so he has rich experience in dealing with leaders, as a cadre of the office of the agency, he must not be too upright, an honest person will definitely not be able to do the work of the office of the agency.

In fact, Cheng Shijie behaved more skillfully than the cabinet ministers in front of Emperor Chongzhen, not only to show his work achievements, but also to leave some deficiencies that the leaders could see at a glance, and only under the wise leadership of the leaders, under the guidance of the excellent completion of the work.

In this way, the leader has face and a sufficient sense of achievement.

Just like Emperor Chongzhen is very satisfied now, in his intelligence, Cheng Shijie and Song Xiance actually have a certain connection, at least Cheng Shijie gave Song Xiance some help at the beginning of Song Xiance's uprising.

As for saying that he didn't want to exterminate the Dashun army too early, in the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie was actually preparing to raise his own respect, Cheng Shijie cleaned up Jiannu in three or two times, Jiannu was very honest in the past two years, and the powerful rogue, among which the famous Zhang Xianzhong, who commanded tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, was wiped out by Cheng Shijie in less than two years.

This time, Emperor Chongzhen asked Cheng Shijie, who was attacking in Xiaori, to lead the army back to the division, and Cheng Shijie dropped the fat to his mouth, which shows that Cheng Shijie still attaches great importance to Chongzhen, the emperor.

In the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, he has been on the throne for more than eight years, and the various policies he put forward cannot be implemented at all, and he is not satisfied with the gentry officials, in fact, as Cheng Shijie said, if the imperial court postpones the counterinsurgency plan, then it will be beneficial to the country and society.

It's just that Emperor Chongzhen can't do this, because that's the face of the imperial court.

What's more, there is an urgent problem now, because the rebellion of the Dashun army cut off the transportation, and it was originally estimated that there would be 3.6 million stone of grain in stock, and there was still a gap of more than 1 million stone, and the key was that if there was no such grain, there would be a big chaos in the Gyeonggi area.

Emperor Chongzhen said: "There is a serious shortage of grain in Gyeonggi, and it is urgent!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen explained the matter of Cao Yun to Cheng Shijie.

Cheng Shijie frowned slightly when he heard this: "Your Majesty means ......"

"It's impossible for the grain to arrive in Gyeonggi before early April!"

Emperor Chongzhen continued: "Last year, the Yellow River was drained, muddy water went down, the Cao Canal in the floodplain was destroyed, silted up, originally planned, this spring to repair and dredge the canal, however, Zhang Xianzhong ravaged Fengyang, Jianghuai area for three or four months, delayed the dredging of the river, the key is now Jinan Mansion, Yanzhou Mansion to be destroyed to a mess, hundreds of officials or catch or kill, almost to a nest of end, how to organize manpower? ”

Cheng Shijie could only smile bitterly.

Now the Ming Dynasty is divided into the party, the party is divided, and the faction is divided, which is the norm in the officialdom, however, these people only have selfish interests in their eyes, and there is no national society.

"Your Majesty means that the minister wants to quell the rebellion of the Dashun army before the year?"

"Now it's not a matter of counterinsurgency or non-counterinsurgency, it's a big deal that the Cao Canal is impassable, the canal is silting up, the weather is getting warmer, and the disaster situation is extremely difficult to control. The discharge of the Yellow River and the flow of the Huai River from the Huai River to the sea are not smooth, and the land is full of water, and the road is bound to be impassable. ”

Emperor Chongzhen's headache was that the financial situation of the treasury, which had finally improved, immediately turned down because of this canal, and dredged the canal, which was not a small project, but a big project.

Cheng Shijie had a flash of inspiration in his head, it is not difficult to solve this problem, it can be completely solved by opening the sea, the canal is 1,794 kilometers long, that is, 3,588 miles, such a long canal, it requires a large number of workers, but also a large number of boats, and now this canal has formed a huge interest group.

Just like Liaoyu, it has become a disadvantage, because there are many people who benefit from the canal, and the governor of Caoyun, who guards the Caoyun Canal, is even more full of oil. This is like the medical reform in later generations, the more the medical treatment is more expensive, the more medicine is reimbursed, and the more the people look down on the disease.

Everyone knows how much grain was lost in one stone, in fact, the Ming Dynasty's Cao Yun has reached the point of blatantness, during the Longqing period (1567-1572), the scholar Qiu Jun pointed out: "From 1283 to 1329, the Yuan Dynasty lost less than the amount of grain lost by sea transportation in the Ming Dynasty for 46 years. ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the cost of building a ship in the Qingjiangpu dock was about 105 taels of silver, and if it was calculated according to the need to replace 2,000 ships per year, the annual shipbuilding cost was about 210,000 taels of silver. Every year, 4 million stones of grain are transported, and the direct freight of river transportation is 8 million stones.

This is no less than the expenditure of the imperial court on Liao, not to mention, it will lose 800 to 1,500 ships every year, with an average of more than 1,700 Cao Ding dying per year, and between 300,000 and 800,000 stone of grain.

Using Cheng Shijie's own example, transporting a shipload of 5,000 stone of grain from Luzon is calculated as 45 people per ship, 12 days in the tailwind and 21 days in the headwind, and each person eats three liters of grain every day, which is equivalent to 23 percent.

However, the abolition of Caoyun and the change to sea transportation is equivalent to letting Caoyun have millions of Caoyun workers, 120,000 Caoding, and millions of Caoyunyan personnel, and whoever dares to lift this lid is the enemy of this interest group.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Cheng Shijie, he naturally hoped that Cheng Shijie would lift the lid, and once it was lifted, this problem could be solved perfectly.

Cheng Shijie looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty wants to be in this fold?" ”

Cheng Shijie actually doesn't want to wade into this troubled water, whoever wants to poke this lid will be poked off, and whoever wants to cover it up will be covered up by them, he only does what he thinks is right.

"How do you get on it?"

Cheng Shijie said: "The minister thinks that in the above book, the central government bluntly said that it would do things, and the three policies of asking the central center to transfer grain from the south of the Yangtze River, temporarily open the sea and move the garrison to a coastal place with a port to eat, and the DPRK and China should adopt these three strategies, and it will not be harmful if they are not adopted...... There is no better way to solve the food shortage in Gyeonggi. Time is really short, and it is very likely that the Gyeonggi grain stock will only last until mid-April, and we must strive for it every hour, and we must not wait for the resolution of Gyeongjung to take action. If it drags on for a day, I don't know how many people will starve to death in Gyeonggi. ”

The Gyeonggi grain shortage is not just a shortage of 10,000 or 20,000 stones, but a shortage of millions of stones.

Gyeonggi was responsible for solving the problem of feeding 100,000 border troops in Xuanhua, Jizhen, and the two towns, 180,000 garrisons in the forbidden middle school, and 30,000 or 40,000 military horses.

The North China Plain was originally an important grain-producing area, and in the past, Gyeonggi needed grain, and Baoding Prefecture (later Hebei Wufu, now Beizhili Wufu) could solve part of it; This year, not only can we not expect the six provinces in Shandong to transfer grain, but they will also have to transfer a large amount of grain to help two or three million refugees.

One addition and one subtraction has made the grain shortage in Gyeonggi even worse and added fuel to the fire.

If there is no water transportation, even if there are so many cattle and horses in Liaodong, it is impossible to bear such a volume of transportation, taking Liaodong four-wheeled heavy carriage as an example, a carriage can transport 15 stone grain, but in such a bad road condition in Zhili, it can only barely transport 10 stone, 3 million grain needs 300,000 carts, 600,000 mules and horses, and 300,000 coachmen to transport, such a huge carriage is lined up in a long column, walking on the post road, and a long queue of about five or six thousand miles will be formed before and after.

If it is a sea ship, it will be much simpler, the transport ship of the Ning Navy can transport 5,000 stones, and 600 ships are about the same, although the Ning Navy does not have 600 large ships of more than 5,000 stones, but the problem is that only 100 5,000 stone ships can be solved by running once a month, and a round trip a month, plus 30,000 shipwrights and sailors.

Everything is said to be easy, but it is too difficult to do.

Emperor Chongzhen understood what Cheng Shijie meant, his main meaning was to let the 180,000 people in the capital be transferred to Tianjin for food, but the question is, how could there be no army stationed in the capital?

If there is no 180,000 forbidden army, Emperor Chongzhen will not sleep steadily, and the soldiers and horses of Xuanfu and Jizhen will not be able to move.

Who can guarantee that Jiannu will not be Koubian again?

Who can guarantee that Jiannu will no longer send troops?

No one can guarantee this, even Cheng Shijie does not dare to guarantee that in a rational situation, it is best not to provoke Ning Haijun, but if a snow disaster breaks out in Liaodong in winter, Jiannu will not be able to survive in Liaodong, so they can only go south.

After all, freezing to death and starving to death in Liaodong, it is better to fight.

After Chongzhen finished chatting with Cheng Shijie, this time he was not angry, but his expression became bitter. Of course he knows what the problem is, Daming is rotten to the bone, he is fighting with the corrupt officials of the entire Daming alone, even if he knows where the problem is, what can he do?

"Cheng Qing, if you are, what should you do now?"

"First of all, in response to the problem of the Dashun Army, put it on hold for the time being, let them fight ......"

"You are a big rebel, I don't want to hear this anymore!"

Cheng Shijie ignored Emperor Chongzhen's angry gaze, stared at him, and asked word by word: "Your Majesty, for the sake of the vassal royal clan everywhere, have they ever thought about Your Majesty?" Your Majesty thinks about the gentlemen everywhere, have they ever thought about Your Majesty? ”

Chongzhen slapped his palm on the table, shaking the cup and jumping: "You shut up for me!" Just these nonsense words at you, ten heads are not enough to cut off! ”

Cheng Shijie stopped talking, but his expression was very stubborn, and he didn't mean to bow his head and admit his mistake.

Emperor Chongzhen glared at him, his face was gloomy, his eyes flickered, probably thinking about whether he should let Jinyiwei come over and arrest people.

The air seemed to freeze, and even the palace maids standing in the distance shuddered, even though they couldn't hear what the two were arguing about.

Silence, unsettling silence.

After a while, Chongzhen finally broke the silence: "If you say these rebellious words to me, aren't you afraid that I will cut off your head and punish your nine clans?" ”

Cheng Shijie said: "The king is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the king is humiliated and the ministers die." His Majesty works for state affairs all day long, wandering day and night, asking the minister, and the minister naturally has to make suggestions, which is the duty of the minister. As for whether His Majesty adopts the advice of the minister, and to what extent, it is a matter for His Majesty. ”

Emperor Chongzhen's expression was a little complicated: "You are really bold!" ”

Cheng Shijie saw that Emperor Chongzhen was very inward-looking, and said very calmly: "If a person doesn't even have the courage to say what is in his heart, what is the taste of living?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen took a deep breath and changed the topic: "Is it true that the rebels only kill local tyrants and inferior gentry and do not hurt the people?" ”

"There are still bad deeds of slaughtering the people, and they can't avoid it, but they don't dare to go too far, and there have been no atrocities in the massacre of the city until now, because they are closest to Ning Haijun, and they know that what Ning Haijun hates most is to slaughter people and humiliate women!"

Chongzhen nodded slightly and said: "If the rebels really clean up those official gentry and vassal kings in Shandong, can the grain payment in Shandong and Henan really increase tenfold?" ”

"It depends on who governs. If you change someone else, there may be less than now, but if you change the minister to govern, it will definitely be no problem to multiply it tenfold. ”

Cheng Shijie said in his heart: "Just kidding, in the future generations, Shangqiu's annual grain output alone will reach more than 20 million tons!" Now, of course, it is not as good as hundreds of years later, but phosphate fertilizers, pesticides and other industries are also getting better, and it is not even one-tenth of the output of modern agriculture, right? ”

In the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the country paid 4 million stone of grain a year, and basically 6 provinces could pay more grain to the country! Among them, Nanzhili pays 1.8 million stone every year, Zhejiang 630,000 stone, Jiangxi 570,000 stone, Henan and Shandong each 380,000 stone, Huguang 250,000 stone.

If Henan and Shandong are really handed over to Cheng Shijie, it will be ten times more than 7.6 million stones, about 1.19 billion catties, converted into tons, less than 600,000 tons.

In Shandong and Henan, with an abundant supply of fertilizers and pesticides, he could not hand over 600,000 tons of grain, so he simply hanged himself with noodles.

"You, no!"

Emperor Chongzhen can't move Cheng Shijie now, it doesn't mean that he has to give Cheng Shijie more power and territory, now Liaodong is run by Cheng Shijie as an iron plate, and then hand over Shandong and Henan to Cheng Shijie, even if Cheng Shijie has no dissent in his heart, it does not mean that the civil and military officials under Cheng Shijie have no other ideas.

"Then, the minister is helpless!"

"You recommend a minister to govern Shandong and Henan!"

"There really is a candidate!"

"Who is it?"

"Sun Chengzong, Sun Ge Lao!"

"No, Sun Ge is getting older......"

Cheng Shijie said: "Sun Ge's prestige is enough, I'm afraid there is not much criticism in the court!" ”

In Cheng Shijie's mind, Wen Tiren opposed Sun Chengzong, because he was afraid that Sun Chengzong would rob him of his position, but the governor of Henan and Shandong, or the governor, was only a local official and could not threaten Wen Tiren's position.

"Although Sun Ge Lao is a great talent, it is enough to be the governor of Henan and Shandong, but at present, the northwest Liukou is getting more and more fierce, and Jiannu is ready to move in Hetao, Cheng Qing, according to Sun Chuanting, the governor of the three sides, sent a note, saying that Jiannu is frequently mobilized in Hetao and may attack Ningxia Mansion at any time, what do you think?"

……

The ancient city of Fengzhou in the Hetao area, in 618 AD, the Tang Dynasty was established, and the county of the Sui Dynasty was changed to a state, and Fengzhou was established. Fengzhou City is located in the Kubuqi Desert (then known as Kujiesha) in the territory of Gegenzhao Sumu, which was the key point of transportation in the north at that time.

During the Ming Dynasty, Batu Mengkedayan Khan unified the Mongolian tribes, and in order to facilitate the rule, the organization of ten thousand households was restored. At this time, the 10,000 households in Ordos were the backbone of the 30,000 households on the right wing, stationed in the Muhetao. After the death of Lin Dan Khan, his son Ezhe surrendered to Huang Taiji, and it became the territory of the Jin State.

At the beginning of the year, Fan Wencheng came to the ancient city of Fengzhou with more than 10,000 Jiannu, more than 20,000 Han military banners, more than 8,000 Mongolians, and a total of more than 40,000 people.

After Fan Wencheng arrived in Fengzhou, he did his best to recruit bankrupt peasants from Shanxi and Shaanxi, build water conservancy, dig wells and canals, and reclaim barren fields, but he reclaimed 400,000 mu of land in this desolate and barren ghost place, and resettled more than 30,000 displaced people. Looking back at the experience of most of the past six months, he feels a little incredible, and he can't believe that he has such a powerful energy!

Speaking of which, Fan Wencheng's luck is too good, he got a kind of millet from the displaced people in southern Shaanxi, this kind of grain is called Wolf Tail Valley, which is also known as the king of millet in later generations, and he is not afraid of finches to eat; Not afraid of insects (left insects and right all); Not afraid of wind grinding; early resistance; Firm seeds; Appropriate ripening period; The yield is high, with 2 stones and 2 liters of grain and 1,329 catties of grass per harvest. The corn seeds secretly bought from Liaodong actually obtained a bumper harvest, with a yield of 1 stone and 5 buckets per mu.

To say that this place in Fengzhou, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the climate was still good, but the Ming Dynasty was already very arid, cold and dry, often windy sand, and lack of water, which made people crazy. But Fan Wencheng likes this kind of life, and he thinks that he is participating in a great cause that will go down in history, and if he is lucky, he can go down in history!

Ten years of hard work, isn't the picture just a show of ambition? As an official, you should go to such a poor place and make achievements, as long as you succeed, you will be the Optimus Prime of the Golden Kingdom.

Thanks to these two drought-tolerant seeds, Fan Wencheng got off to a good start.

"Let's eat!"

At this time, the leader of the gang came over with a bucket and a big bamboo basket, put down the things, and the Jiannu soldiers couldn't wait to open it, and the tempting smell of food came to their nostrils, and everyone couldn't help but let out a cheer.

Although the rice is made from the wolf's tail valley, the tea soup is boiled with water and then boiled with cheese, salt and tea leaves, which is sweet and delicious and very nutritious.

A Niu Lu looked at Fan Wencheng happily and said, "Master Fan, let's eat together." ”

Fan Wencheng was really a little hungry, and said with a smile: "Then the official is welcome!" ”

Fan Wencheng rolled up his sleeves and sat on the ground, picked up a nest head, and a Jiannu served him a bowl of broth, and everyone threw off their cheeks and munched on it.

Eating was enjoyable, the sound of the horse's hooves came, Niu Lu was really stunned for a moment, jumped up, and ran to the tower to see, good guys, two Jiannu cavalry rode fast horses and galloped towards this side, and every step of the run spewed out a cloud of white foam from the mouth and nose, obviously the physical strength has been squeezed to the limit.

Fan Wencheng's heart sank, and an ominous premonition hit his heart. He knows these cavalry too well, for these super narcissistic cavalrymen, horses are their second life, unless they are in a hurry, they are absolutely reluctant to treat their partners like this!

The Jiannu held up a scroll wrapped in a long strip of cloth and shouted, "King Khan's Golden Arrow Order!" ”

Hearing this, Fan Wencheng let out a long sigh: "The peaceful days are over!" ”

(End of chapter)