"All command Ji Gang to torture privately, frame and slander, and ask His Highness to investigate!!"

At the beginning of July, the palace road outside the Chunhe Hall was full of a group of officials who were in the imperial history and gave things to the seventh grade.

They were hoarse and shouted in unison, as if this was the only way to vent the injustice they had suffered.

In the Chunhe Palace, which was more than a hundred steps away from them, Zhu Gaoxu was so troubled by these voices that he couldn't help but rub his eyebrows.

"Neither side is a good thing."

He sighed, and Yishaha next to him also nodded, thinking deeply.

Since the news of Li Zhen's drowning spread, public opinion has not been biased towards Ji Gang, and the government and opposition ministers all believe that Li Zhen's death was not suicide, but drowned by Jinyiwei.

After such news spread, Ji Gang, who had not caught anyone, was also furious, and immediately dug out the documents in the inventory of the Fusi in Nanzhen and began to arrest officials related to Li Zhen one by one.

In just five days, more than 30 officials were arrested and imprisoned by Ji Gang.

What is the fate of these people, Zhu Gaoxu can know without even thinking about it.

"Your Highness, do you want to reprimand Ji Gang?"

Yisha asked Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaochu leaned back in his chair and said lazily: "He arrests people with the documents in his hand, and the people he arrests also have a handle in his hands, why should I reprimand him?" ”

"Those people have unclean hands and feet, and if they are caught, they will be caught."

When Zhu Gaoxu said this, his eyes glanced at the outside of the hall intentionally or unintentionally, which seemed to imply that there were few clean people outside the hall.

"Xichang also has their handles, do you want Hu Lun to take them away?"

Yizha asked Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "Someone does this, let's not join in the fun." ”

"I only want the outcome of the case, as for who I offended halfway, it has nothing to do with us."

Zhu Gaoxu's meaning is obvious, Ji Gang investigates the case by himself and takes the blame by himself, it is impossible for him to stand up and get involved.

As long as the ministers have a good brain, they should know who they should target.

"What about the group of people outside?"

Yisha looked out of the hall and asked with a look in his eyes.

"Let them be noisy for a few more days, Ji Gang is not a big-eyed person."

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the cut watermelon on the side of the fruit plate, smiled and took a bite, but his expression was painful after the watermelon was bite.

For him, who enjoyed the improved fruits of later generations, any fruit and any variety of this era seemed so unpalatable.

"Get me some pears in the future."

After barely taking a bite, Zhu Gaoxu explained to Yishaha, but he didn't want Yishaha to say after hearing it: "Won't it be too cheap to eat pears, and it's not easy to entertain the ministers......"

"Then you can give them watermelon and get me some pears."

Zhu Gaochu pouted, but the person next to him was sorry, he only felt that his Royal Highness was too harsh on him and too good to his ministers, but he didn't know that Zhu Gaochu was just not used to eating watermelons in the Ming Dynasty......

"Gross!!"

In the dim darkness of the prison, when a man restrained on a bench retched, the stomach acid filled his nasal passages in an instant.

"Ahem...... Ahem......"

The uncontrollable cough made him splash his face with stomach acid, and he struggled to open his swollen eyes under the stimulation of stomach acid.

In a cell, there are two brocade guards who are in charge of torture on the left and right, and in the entire prison, the two torches on the left and right are the only source of light.

Before he could get used to it, the partition was pulled open from the iron door of the prison, and Ji Gang's indifferent eyebrows were revealed outside a window less than the size of a palm.

"Give the king back in the matter, the evidence of Li Zhen, the head of the military department, who conspired to burn King Ouning, is conclusive, if you confess his accomplices now, I can also help you intercede with His Royal Highness the Prince."

After the faint adjusted to the light, the tortured Wang Hui spat out a mouthful of blood: "Just a cool official, do you think that this can make this official submit?" ”

"You can deal with the weak, but you can't deal with me!!"

He howled, but Ji Gang outside the small window had an indifferent expression, and lightly spit out two words: "Continue to ......"

In an instant, the light of the fire dimmed, and before the king could react, he felt that his eyes were dark.

The two brocade guards on the left and right put a black cloth hood on him, which made him nervous.

He didn't know what kind of torture he would be subjected to, but he had gritted his teeth.

However, to his disappointment, the two brocade guards did not immediately torture him, but straightened his stool, and even added a new bench under him to make him more comfortable, so that he could lie on both benches in peace.

Perhaps too tired, he slowly fell asleep while waiting.

After a while, the sound of snoring echoed through the small cell.

"Uhh

As he slept soundly, he was awakened by a sharp pain, and he could feel his hands being grabbed and fingertips being pierced into slender things.

Ten fingers connected to the heart, and the thing that slowly pierced into the fingertips made Wang Hui almost faint, but he was woken up by pain after fainting.

From his thumb, index finger to middle finger, sharp objects pierced into it, and his wails became weaker and weaker......

After not knowing how long he was tortured repeatedly, his consciousness began to drift, and countless memories flooded back to his mind.

He felt like someone was fiddling with his body, but it was like a hazy layer, and it didn't feel real, like he was in a dream.

He heard the sound of the iron door being opened, and then listened to the sound of footsteps walking out of the cell and closing the iron door.

"It's a tough nut."

"It's okay, we still have a lot of things to play with him."

Jin Yiwei's conversation made Wang Hui's muscles twitch all over his body, and even his soul trembled with fear.

His body began to regain consciousness, and he couldn't stop wailing at the pain that came from all over his body.

Due to the hood, he did not know whether it was day or night in the outside world at the moment, and could only endure the pain while waiting to be rescued.

The small wail from outside the cell reached his ears, as if to indicate that there were many more people like him......

"Ji Gang is cool, he deserves to die!!"

In a mansion in Nanjing, when the scolding sounded, Li Zhigang in the water pavilion also picked up a cup of tea with an ugly face, but he didn't drink it for a long time.

"What now?"

There were many officials sitting in the water pavilion, but when someone said this, everyone turned their eyes to Li Zhigang.

"The Criminal Department issued a sticker to Jinyiwei, so he can arrest the DPRK and Chinese officials unscrupulously."

"The most important thing to do now is to let the East Palace take back the sticker, and don't let this Ji Gang continue to do evil."

Li Zhigang judged the situation, but the official on the side said: "The fire in the Ouning Palace is related to the reputation of the East Palace, and the East Palace will definitely not end the case like this." ”

"Yes, the group of people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been kneeling and begging the East Palace for several days without any result, how can we influence the thoughts of the East Palace?"

In the face of Li Zhigang's suggestion, everyone put forward their own opinions, and they were not very optimistic.

Zhu Gaoxu inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's toughness, as well as Zhu Di's boldness, and Queen Xu and Queen Ma treated people leniently.

It can be said that it is very difficult to deal with such a person, and few people feel that they can shake what Zhu Gaoxu wants to do.

However, in this regard, Li Zhigang put down the teacup in his hand and said: "His Royal Highness is just worried about his reputation, so he sent Prince Yiwen to the Ouning Palace, and asked officials and soldiers from Bohai to take care of them." ”

"If you want Your Highness to ignore this matter, the first thing to do is to follow the trend."

"Ji Gang also understands this truth, but the matter is in the hands of his Jinyiwei, so he must prove his innocence."

"As for how to solve this matter, I think it is enough to explain this matter clearly among the people, so that the people and Confucian scholars can believe that His Royal Highness has nothing to do with this matter, and that he also intends to protect Prince Yiwen."

Speaking of this, Li Zhigang didn't continue, after all, the people here are all smart people, and they know how to do it without him.

"In that case, things will be much easier."

Many officials breathed a sigh of relief, and then said goodbye to Li Zhigang.

The next day, there was no connection between the East Palace and the Ouning Palace, and even the East Palace was angry about the Ouning Palace, and even the Jianshu people, Wu Shu people, and Hengshu people after Prince Yiwen were escorted to live in the Ouning Palace.

For a while, the news about the East Palace's attempt to burn Zhu Yunxi, the king of Ouning, and the Lu family began to converge.

The matter fermented for about a month, and it was not until there was no news from the people in this regard that Zhu Gaoxu ordered the withdrawal of Jinyiwei's arrest.

A large number of officers were released, but they all had more or less scars on their bodies, and everyone remembered the experience.

They didn't dare to hate Zhu Gaoxu, so they could only put their hatred on Ji Gang.

For all this, Ji Gang is also very clear in his heart, but now he is in a dilemma, because the suspicion of the East Palace is cleared, and the suspicion will come to the emperor.

However, the East Palace took the sticker back, and Jinyiwei had no power to take people.

Now he can only wait for Zhu Di in the north to go south, and then he can figure out how to solve this matter.

Ji Gang was worried about his future, but Zhu Gaoxu, who was above 10,000 people in Nanjing, had already shifted his attention from this matter to the whole country.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, this sentence is not false at all.

He was distracted and dealt with the affairs of the Ouning Palace, and found that there were many unreasonable things in the place.

First of all, the progress of the resettlement work from Shanxi to Hetao, Jiangnan to Henan, and Annam is slow.

For these things, he can only ask the officials of the tax department and the officials of the metropolitan procuratorate to inspect the local area in order to supervise the local officials.

In addition, there are some situations in the Southwest.

After the news was learned by Li Jinglong, Li Jinglong used some words in the letters to make a big fuss about the local Tusi and returned to the local Tusi.

Although the Tusi of the southwest were inferior to the Ming army, the goods, craftsmen, population, and iron that could be plundered in Annam also greatly enriched them.

Therefore, when Li Jinglong sent officials to change the land of the Tusi and return to the stream, this group of Tusi undoubtedly resisted.

For a time, more than ten wolf smoke rose in the southwest, and Li Jinglong's Qiangui Corps, Mu Chun's Yunnan Corps, and Qu Neng's Sichuan Corps began to encircle and suppress Tusi in various places.

The war is about logistics, so Mu Chun and others have gone up to the sparse and asked for the allocation of money and grain from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to quell the rebellion.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu didn't have much opinion, but Yu Xin couldn't get by.

"In the previous conquest of Annan, the gold, silver, jewelry, money and grain obtained were only one million, and the imperial court spent more than two million, and the southwest treasury was empty."

"Now that we have finally recovered some vitality, the war has resumed again, and the southwest has passed the days of eating food."

"If His Highness wants to fight, the old minister will definitely cooperate, but the old minister also hopes that His Highness can pause after this time and wait for the southwest to digest the previous results and go further."

In the Chunhe Hall at the beginning of September, in the face of the upcoming autumn tax collection, Yu Xin took time out of his busy schedule to give half of his attention to the southwest, and came to the Chunhe Hall to admonish Zhu Gaoxu.

"I didn't want to have a big fight, but this time ......"

Sitting in the main seat, Zhu Gaoxu also had a slight headache, he didn't expect that the Southwest Tusi had seen the strength of the Ming army on the battlefield of Annan, but after returning to the southwest, he was still dishonest.

He can't blame Li Jinglong for this matter, after all, he himself issued an edict, so that the generals in the southwest can seize the opportunity to change the land and return to the stream.

Facts have proved that the land reform and resettlement in the southwest has indeed been carried out well.

In just over two months, Mu Chun and Li Jinglong have swept away 27 small and medium-sized Tusi families, adding more than 70,000 people and more than 300,000 mu of cultivated land to the "Yellow Book" in the southwest.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu could only say to Yu Xin: "You can't stop changing the land and returning to the stream, but the imperial court will not start a big war next year." ”

"If there is, it is the transformation of the southwest to return to the stream, but the specifics will be controllable."

"Gu has already issued a fatwa to the Duke of Qianguo and the Duke of Cao, asking them to temporarily collect evidence of Tusi's crimes, and wait for the will of the imperial court before reforming the land and returning to the river."

After getting older and more experienced, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that he had to work steadily and steadily, so making corrections in time was a must.

Seeing him say this, Yu Xin also breathed a sigh of relief, while Zhu Gaoxu asked: "How is the immigration situation in various provinces recently?" ”

"Back to His Highness......" seemed to have thought that Zhu Gaoxu would ask about this, so Yu Xin wrote down these data that might need to be reported when he came.

"More than 6,000 people have migrated from Shanxi to Dongsheng and Wuyuan, and there are about 20,000 people in the future."

"More than 36,000 people from Jiangnan to Henan have been resettled."

"The number of migrants to Annam has also increased by more than 26,000 people, most of whom are from Fujian."

"As for Daning, only more than 3,000 Shandong people have migrated for the time being."

When Yu Xin said this, his words paused, and he continued: "Judging from the current situation, the population of the imperial court this year may be able to exceed 70 million, 500 million acres. ”

"Of course, the main reason for this increase is that Annan has been taken."

Yu Xin explained, and Zhu Gaoxu also bowed his head to express his understanding.

"I read the history books, among which the "Tang Tongdian" once said that the population of Wude was more than 2 million households during the Wude period, and reached 3 million households in the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, and it was said in the "Yuangui of the Book of Mansions" that Yonghui reached 3.5 million households in three years."

"If you count it as a household of five, the number of households in the early Tang Dynasty has increased by nearly one million in 34 years, nearly 50%."

"Now, in the thirty-six years of our imperial court, the number of mouths has only increased by 2 million compared with the founding of the country, and it is only less than 20 percent."

"In your opinion, how many hermits are there among the people?"

Zhu Gaoxu was about to ask Yu Xin this key question before leaving, but Yu Xinyan did not answer rashly, but explained first:

"The ministers have read these ancient books mentioned by His Royal Highness, but the early Tang Dynasty and the imperial court are not the same situation."

"At the peak of the Sui Dynasty, there were 8.9 million households, and in the early Tang Dynasty, there were only more than 2 million, which is right."

"But the minister thinks that although Emperor Yang of Sui is deeply guilty, there should not be so many people who disappeared due to the war, probably there are many people who did not report when they counted their household registration in the early Tang Dynasty and became hidden households."

"In comparison, my Emperor Taizu Gao is good at governing the people's livelihood and knows how to check tenants and hidden households, so he has checked the hidden households of the people clearly."

"Although since then, because of the protection of officials and officials, local people have concealed reports in order to avoid paying taxes, but there will not be too many."

"Taking Sichuan as an example, after Jianyi went to Sichuan, although the number of mouths in Ba County increased by 30% compared with 18 years ago, he did not say that it increased by 30% compared with 36 years ago."

"When the imperial court's registration of the number of local mouths was distorted, no one knows."

"If the number of mouths 18 years ago was correct, then an increase of 30% compared with 18 years ago, the number of mouths in the country should be about 80 million now."

"In His Royal Highness's new policy, children's schooling is tied to household registration, so many people who have children have to get the Yellow Book."

"Although there are still a small number of hermits who will continue to hide, there should not be many."

"As far as the situation in Shandong is concerned, an increase of about 30% is reasonable."

Yu Xin expressed his opinion, he felt that although the Ming Dynasty had thirty-six years of peace, the increase in the number of mouths could not be as much as fifty percent of the early Tang Dynasty, and the increase in Shandong and Sichuan research should be thirty percent.

"The number of 80 million is quite a lot, but whether it can be found out remains to be discussed."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, and Yu Xin was relieved when he saw this: "The money and grain of the national dynasty come from the land, in fact, as long as the amount of land is checked, there will be no problems with the money and grain." ”

"In terms of population, the only thing the minister is worried about is that if the imperial court really moves the capital to Beijing in the future, then in terms of the current situation of splitting Nanzhili into the state capital of Zhili, although there will be no problem with Nanzhili, but it is necessary for capable and outstanding courtiers to serve as the head of the household, so that the money and grain from the south can be received in their hands and transported to Beijing in a unified manner."

Yu Xin expected what might happen in the future, and this was also a dilemma that Zhu Gaoxu was struggling with.

In the three places south of the Yangtze River, Nanzhili was not worried by him, because he used the means used by the Ming Dynasty to split and fragment Nanzhili into Zhili prefectures and prefectures.

Relying on this hand, Nanzhili was a powerful money bag from the founding of the country to the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

The real difficult problem is Jiangxi and Zhejiang, but these two provinces cannot be split into Zhili Prefecture and placed under the jurisdiction of Zhili like Nanzhili.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the two provinces of Shanxi and Shandong transported 2.75 million taels to the imperial court every year, and the population of the two provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang was three times that of the two provinces of Shanxi and Shandong, but the shipment was only 1.5 million taels.

This problem is difficult to solve, after all, once a son of heaven and a courtier, Zhu Gaoxu does not know whether his policy will be overturned by his descendants in the future.

"This matter can only be done slowly, the burden in Shanxi, Susong and other places is very heavy, but it is easy to reduce the quota, and it will be difficult to collect it in the future."

Zhu Gaoxu put forward a new idea, and at the same time said: "In the Yellow Book, Shanxi has 4 million people, almost 500,000 households, and 40 million mu of cultivated land. ”

"My idea is to use some of the ploughing cattle seized from Uliangha this time to forcibly relocate 200,000 people into the Hetao area for reclamation, and at the same time distribute ploughing cattle and horses to them, and exempt them from taxes for two years."

"Lin Su will arrive in Nanjing in a few days, and I will talk to him about how to reclaim the Hetao, and it will only take about five years to reclaim a lot of dry land in the Hetao."

Zhu Gaoxu and Yu Xin talked, Yu Xin thought about it and calculated the account, and then continued the conversation:

"200,000 people entered the Hetao, plus the people who originally migrated into the Hetao, the Hetao will spend at least 1.2 million stone rations every year."

"More than that." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "There are also two guards and twelve stations stationed in the local area, which add up to almost 1.5 million stones. ”

"So many ......" Yu Xin hesitated, and then said to Zhu Gaoxu:

"After the Daning Dusi added the three guards of Modong, now the total of military salaries and rations has reached one million stones, and there is one more Hetao, so what is the difference between them and Daning and Liaodong during the Hongwu period?"

"The difference is that this time we are going all out to open up the wasteland, and we are not responsible for preparing for war." Zhu Gaoxu replied:

"Lin Su has been with me for many years, and Wang Yi of the Daning Dusi has also followed me for many years."

"The two of them don't know anything else, but they know better than anyone else."

"I don't have a grasp of the situation in Hetao for the time being, but judging from the content of the ancient books and the report of the West Factory, as long as the imperial court is willing to spend the capital, it will not be a problem to reclaim two or three million mu in five years."

"As for Modong, I understand the situation over there, there is not much gravel, mainly because the meadow is thicker, and the reclamation speed will be relatively slow."

"My idea is to migrate at least 200,000 people to settle down in Modong and become self-sufficient within five years, when the grain from Bohai and Beizhili enters Daning, and the people of Modong in Daning will be able to cultivate grain and send it to Hechengwei in the north."

"It is about seven or eight hundred miles from Hechengwei to Qi Wangcheng (Hulunbuir), if the imperial court can send troops from here to destroy the nest in the future, then the battle line will change from Monan and remain in the eastern part of Mobei."

"The imperial court can rely on the Nan River to fight all the way to the area of Sali Ti'er and Hulan Huxuan, and the Hu people often need to guard against the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, so they are unable to go south."

Put the battle line at the door of Mobei's house, and there is Hanhai (Great Gobi) between Mobei and Monan, then the Hetao will change from the first line to the second line.

Once a place is stabilized, production will continue to increase, which can also be seen from Liaodong.

Before the rise of the Bohai Sea, even if there were 400,000 soldiers and civilians in Liaodong, which was the front line, there were many deserters and refugees every year, and it was impossible to maintain its rule at all, so it could only rely on blood transfusion from the south.

After the battle line becomes the Bohai Sea, the people who migrate to Liaodong will find that the local area is not so terrifying, and they will not see a single Tartar for several years, so they will be relieved to give birth locally.

A stable front line that can save millions.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, as long as the battlefield can be controlled in the eastern part of Mobei, it will not lose anything even if millions of stones are invested in the local area.

Yu Xin is very smart, and after Zhu Gaoxu explained to him a little, he understood how beneficial it was for the northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty to gain a firm foothold in Modong and then plot the strategy of eastern Mobei.

Thinking of this, he didn't refute it, but said: "Your Highness's new policy, the minister has no objection, but I just hope that Your Highness will not start a war between the north and the south at the same time, because the court can't support it." ”

"Don't worry." After appeasing Yu Xin, Zhu Gaoxu got up and prepared to send him off.

Seeing this, Yu Xin slowly got up and returned the salute, and walked out of the Chunhe Hall under the escort of Zhu Gaoxu......

(End of chapter)