"Kill!!"

In the winter of October, when the Ming Dynasty was still experiencing the aftermath of the Guimao case, the Beizhou Xuanwei Division on the other side of the ocean was suppressing this rebellion.

Tens of thousands of natives armed with iron farming tools burned down Han Chinese houses, and they were counterattacked by the Han Chinese.

Thousands of Han men wore cotton armor and fought back in formation with spears and bows and arrows, although they could not defeat the natives for a while, but they only needed to fight for a while.

"Beep-"

"Bang Bang!!"

In the midst of the battle, the sound of horses' hooves and whistles could be heard in the distance, followed by a steady stream of gunfire.

Hundreds of cavalry rushed into the battlefield, they divided the battlefield, and countless natives who tried to rebel died under their guns.

After they joined the fray, the battle was overwhelmingly tilted in favor of the Han Chinese.

In just half an hour, tens of thousands of natives were killed and thousands were killed, and most of the natives honestly squatted down and surrendered.

This rebellion seems to have been experienced by the people countless times, so they quickly pulled out those who had instigated the rebellion and beheaded them, and put most of the natives back within the walls where they lived.

"This is the third rebellion this month, if you don't care about it, let it go, don't look for us to find trouble!"

On horseback, Zhang Chun scolded Shi Heng, Huang Jing and others in front of him with a dark face, Shi Heng's face was gloomy, but Huang Jing had a flattering face.

After the reprimand, Zhang Chun shook the reins of his horse and returned to Beizhou City in the distance with hundreds of cavalry and thousands of Ming troops.

After they left, Shi Heng immediately grabbed Huang Jing's collar:

"Huang Jing, are you going to kill Lao Tzu to be satisfied!"

"I, I, I...... I didn't...... I didn't expect them to rebel......"

Huang Jing replied in a panic, but Shi Heng grabbed him by the collar with one hand and lifted him up: "Let your mother's fart, since you became the mayor of the town, the rebellion in our town has not stopped." ”

"Lao Tzu is telling you now, you can't do this mayor, I'll do it!"

"What do you want to do?" Huang Jing was nervous and cold sweat broke out, Shi Heng threw him on the ground, and said with a cold face: "I'll do it myself!" ”

As the words fell, he left with thousands of his brothers, leaving only Huang Jing with an ugly face.

"Shi Heng, wait for me!"

He got up in embarrassment and looked at Shi Heng's distant back fiercely.

People say that where there are people, there is fighting, even in this North Continent Propaganda Division.

Zhang Chun returned to Beizhou City with a large army, Tang Min, who was waiting for him early, stepped forward to make a move, Zhang Chun also turned over and dismounted, and took Tang Min into the Yamen of the Beizhou Xuanwei Division, and said angrily as he walked:

"This group of rogue guys is not honest all day long, in my opinion, we still have to let the imperial court send to the county government and the government office!"

Zhang Chun's words made Tang Min's heart chuckle, and he hurriedly said: "If the government and county government come here, then we will be a little more restricted in the future." ”

"It's always much better to have a big restriction than to suppress a rebellion every few days, and now there are more than ten towns outside Beizhou City, hundreds of thousands of natives and nearly 150,000 people, and it is not easy to manage at all."

Zhang Chun walked into the main hall and sat on the main seat as he spoke, Tang Min was a little uncomfortable when he heard this, but in the Ming Dynasty, the chief official was the heaven of a yamen, not to mention that his chief official was also one of the emperor's brothers.

"Half a month ago, the holy decree has come down, and Jiang Gui and I have to stay for three more years."

"Your term of office has also arrived, Layue, you go south by boat, and return to Daming with the gold and silver of the Dongzhou Xuanwei Division in the south."

Zhang Chun's words made Tang Min speechless, so he could only raise his hand.

"Now that the Beizhou Xuanwei Division is developing rapidly, it is beneficial for the imperial court to set up the government and county government as soon as possible."

"Have you sorted out all the books I asked you to organize?"

He asked Tang Min, and Tang Min nodded when he heard this: "It's ready, I'll go get it now." ”

After the words fell, he went to the side hall on the side of the main hall, and after a short time, he walked out of the side hall with a book of documents and put it next to Zhang Chun.

Seeing Zhang Chun take out one of the books and look through it, Tang Min also spoke:

"At present, there are more than 364,000 natives in the Beizhou Xuanwei Division, and more than 158,000 people in Hankou, of which more than 80,000 are female natives they marry locally."

"There are 16 towns under the rule of the Xuanwei Division, with 163,600 mu of paddy fields and more than 560,000 mu of irrigated fields, with an annual output of nearly 300,000 stone of rice, 200,000 stone of wheat, and more than 1.3 million stone of corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes."

"Now rice and wheat are basically eaten by us and the Hankou that flow to the local people, and occasionally some are distributed to the natives, while corn and sweet potatoes are basically eaten by the natives."

"There are 37 gold and silver mines, producing more than 30,000 taels of gold and more than 150,000 taels of silver every year, which is still more than gold."

As soon as Tang Min said this, the situation of the entire Beizhou Xuanwei Division was also clear at a glance.

In the past ten years, the development of the Beizhou Propaganda Division has been very rapid.

At present, they can not only solve their own food ration problems, but also send food to the Dongzhou Propaganda Division in the south, and this amount of delivery is increasing every year.

"When you go south this time, remember to bring 100,000 stone of rice south and hand it over to Jiang Gui, and according to the current situation, we should be able to transport 150,000 stone south next year, and you have to make this clear to him."

"Your Majesty said before that controlling food is equivalent to controlling the entire world, and what we have to do is to use the Beizhou Plain (Central Valley), where the Beizhou Xuanwei Division is located, to plant food and crops in a large area here, so as to control the three countries of Dongzhou."

Zhang Chun's thinking was very clear, and when he learned that the three countries of Dongzhou were mainly concentrated in the southern rainforest, he immediately thought of the idea of using food to control these countries.

He personally led a team to inspect the Beizhou Plain, which is thousands of miles long from north to south and 100 miles wide from east to west.

The entire plain has been developed, and at least tens of millions of acres of arable land are available.

Relying on this plain, it was easy for the Ming Dynasty to control the three kingdoms of Dongzhou in the south.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chun spoke: "Let Shi Heng and the others continue to arrest those natives who attacked us, and at least 200,000 mu of cultivated land will be reclaimed next year." ”

"Yes!" Hearing this, Tang Min could only respond, and at the same time withdrew from the main hall.

After sending someone to explain to Shi Heng and them, he returned to his house.

His house covers an area of nearly ten acres, with warehouses and dark rooms inside.

Knowing that he was going to be transferred back to Daming, the first thing he did when he got home was to go to the dark room of his study.

When he lit the torches in the darkroom, there were three chests of coarse gold bars.

"I'm leaving......

Picking up a thumb-sized gold bar, Tang Min was a little reluctant.

There are thousands of thumb-sized gold bars here, with a total value of nearly 10,000 taels.

This is still because Zhang Chun came too quickly, and Tang Min couldn't get more gold bars.

If Zhang Chun hadn't come to Beizhou Xuanwei Division, Tang Min would have been able to accumulate at least tens of thousands of taels of gold in those two years.

It's a pity that now he has no time to accumulate money, and I just hope that this nearly 10,000 taels of gold can help him dredge up the relationship.

Even if you can't get back your own duke, you have to at least get an earl and a marquis.

Thinking so, Tang Min also closed the box, extinguished all the torches and walked out of the dark room.

Time passed, and two months passed quickly.

The dock of Beizhou City ushered in a guard and horse that changed the guard, and the soldiers and horses who were changed were happily taking their wife and daughter in Beizhou on the road home.

They returned to Daming in batches in a fleet, but before that they had to go to Dongzhou to Xuanwei Division.

Another guard horse transferred from China began to take them south, and in just over half a month, they arrived at the scope of the Dongzhou Propaganda Division.

They changed a group of soldiers in Dongzhou City, and then went south to Ximen Port to change their guards.

When he came to Ximen Port, it was already the middle of the month, this was the first time Tang Min came to Ximen Port, and the prosperity of Ximen Port was no worse than that of Beizhou City and Dongzhou City.

From afar, they saw the Ximen Port, which was built entirely of concrete.

The harbor, which was large enough to accommodate dozens of large ships, easily accommodated them, and the concrete road on the pier and the brick and timber houses in the distance were eye-catching.

Of course, comparing these, what is more eye-catching is the car of boxes on the dock.

"Beizhou Xuanwei Division Tongzhi Tang Min, see Jiang Xuanxuan's consolation envoy."

Tang Min got off the boat and saluted Jiang Gui, Jiang Gui saw this, and saluted neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Here is the gold, silver and copper ingots produced by the Dongzhou Xuanwei Division this year, this is the account ......"

Tang Min took the booklet and couldn't help but be stunned after simply flipping through it.

[264,237 taels of gold, 4,225,172,25 cents of silver, 6 cents of silver, 2,465,372 catties of copper ingots]

Tang Min calculated a little, the price of these gold and silver was basically close to seven million guan, and counting the gold and silver on his ship, it was almost more than seven and a half million guan.

"In that case, let's change the guard, as for the inspection, there is no need."

Tang Min didn't want to delay for too long, and Jiang Gui did the same, so after hearing Tang Min say this, Jiang Gui immediately waved his hand and motioned to the people below to carry the gold and silver.

After about two hours of busyness, all the gold, silver and copper ingots had already been shipped, but because it was getting late, Tang Min decided to leave the next day.

Early the next morning, under Jiang Gui's gaze, Tang Min sailed to Daming with dozens of large ships loaded with gold, silver and copper ingots.

"Hoo ......"

Seeing them disappear, Jiang Gui breathed a sigh of relief.

He went home, and in a short time he returned to his house.

But instead of resting, he went to a warehouse.

In the seven-foot-thick warehouse, which is made of concrete, several boxes of gold are lying unharmed on the ground.

Looking at them, Jiang Gui's mood was very worried.

He had also been firm in his thoughts, but ......

Jiang Gui's hand put on a box, and after opening the box, he took out several golden gold bars.

The gold bars he minted were heavier than Tang Min's, and the boxes were several times larger.

So a box of gold is no less than 10,000 taels, and here there is no less than 50,000 taels of gold.

Although compared to Wang Ren, his accumulation in the past three years is nothing at all, for him who has never embezzled, this money is very tormenting in his hands.

With some emotion, he closed and locked the door to the warehouse.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty, which is far away on the other side of the ocean, has also completed the construction of the Sichuan Railway and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in the construction of a large infrastructure in full swing.

The 800-mile Sichuan Railway was opened to traffic after more than three years, which represents the connection between the entire Chengdu Plain and the Yangtze River.

This section of the road used to take at least a month for traders to complete, but now it only takes a day and a half.

The grain from the 800-mile plain of Chengdu will be continuously sent to the Yangtze River through this railway, and the grain that was lost on the road will be transported to the dining tables of the people in the south of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, grain from the south of the Yangtze River will also be sent to Beijing via the Liangjing Railway, and finally to Shanxi, Shaanxi and the Hetao Plain via the Northwest Railway.

In comparison, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which is only more than 500 miles to the south, is a bit inadequate.

Due to technical problems, this section of the railway was only built to the Lihua Horse Station in Yunnan, and even the nearest county in Lin'an Prefecture, Jianshui County, is hundreds of miles away.

However, this 100-mile journey is simply an insurmountable barrier for the current Ming Dynasty.

Regardless, the completion of the two sections of the railway was a relief to Tobe.

"The northern section of the Northwest Railway has been repaired to Ningxia, and it is expected that it will take another six years to open to Hami."

"The Zhangfeng Railway in the southern section of the Northwest Railway has now arrived in Wenxi County, Pingyang Prefecture, and the Shanxi section will be completed in eight months, and the Shaanxi section will take about two years."

"The Northeast Railway has been delayed for a while, and it is estimated that it will take three months to reach Songyuan."

"The Mobei Railway in the north will probably take more than half a year to be completed, a few months faster than expected."

"The Central Plains Railway in the Central Plains has now been repaired to Kaifeng, and it will be repaired to Jining in about a year."

"The Kaihan Railway and the Huguang Railway, respectively, from Kaifeng to Xiangyang, Wuchang to Yueyang, are expected to take two and six years to complete, respectively."

In the Wuying Palace, Huang Fu, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, reported everything about the current construction of the railway, and without waiting for Zhu Gaoxu to take a breath, he continued:

"Construction is just the beginning, in fact, maintenance is the main thing, counting the two Beijing, Yunnan-Vietnam, Beijing-Tianjin, Sichuan and other railways, eleven railways are maintained every year no less than three million."

After Huang Fu finished speaking, he took a step back.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Gaoxu could only speak: "In other words, the Northeast Railway will be opened to traffic in three months, and the Mobei Railway will be opened to traffic in half a year, right?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, that's right!" Huang Fuzuo responded, and at the same time added:

"Next year, the Northeast, Mobei, and Central Plains railways will be completed, and there will be four more railways under construction."

"In the thirteenth year of Hongxi, all the existing railways can be opened to traffic, but the annual maintenance cost will be as high as 3 million yuan, which is not counting the military salary of the railway soldiers and horses."

"If you count it, the maintenance cost is about 5 million yuan per year."

"As for the situation of these railways, except for the two Beijing railways, which are profitable, the other railways are in a state of breaking even."

Because fares are set at a higher rate, these railways are unlikely to lose money, and at worst break even.

It can be seen that in the case of restricting the circulation of people, the railway still mainly relies on freight to make money.

It is impossible for Zhu Gaoxu to let go of the population circulation, and if he dares to let go of the population circulation, then the people in the southwest who have been forcibly relocated will definitely rush back to Jiangnan.

Even if they will eventually be solidified by the classes in Jiangnan and driven back to the southwest, it will take too long.

The signs of capital in Jiangnan are already obvious, they have tens of thousands of armed forces in Kunlun, and more than 200,000 mining slaves.

Of course, this bit of their strength is just an existence that can be destroyed by Zhu Gaoxu with a raise of his hand, and what he is really worried about is the collusion between officials and businessmen.

Therefore, he has been letting Liu Mian and Hu Lun monitor the officials in the direction of Jiangnan, but if there is any sign of something wrong, he will immediately uproot this group of people.

"I know the matter, you can step down."

Zhu Gaoxu motioned for Huang Fu to leave, but Huang Fu did not linger, and left here after saluting.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu instructed Yisha beside him: "Call Guo Zi and Xia Yuanji over." ”

"Yes......" Yisha got down and walked out of the hall, and soon took Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi into the hall.

The two sat down behind Zhu Gaoxu's seat, and were immediately informed of the purpose of summoning them.

"The railway in Mobei and the railway in the northeast will be completed around July next year, and Alitai in Mobei has colluded with Polo, Taiping, and Mahamu to prepare to attack the imperial court."

"I mean strike first, gather all the cavalry of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Daning, Bohai, Liaodong and Yanran, and fight a decisive battle!"

Zhu Gaoxu told Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi what he meant, and the two were also very shocked when they heard this.

After Zhu Di's four northern expeditions, they thought that Mobei had stopped, but now it seems that this group of wolf cubs is still not ripe.

"Your Highness, if this is the case, then the number of cavalry dispatched this time is probably ......"

Xia Yuanji was still groaning, but Zhu Gaoxu gave a direct answer: "100,000 cavalry." ”

That's right, after a total of 24 years of accumulation and horse political reform in Yongle and Hongxi, the number of cavalry in the Ming Dynasty is now very terrifying, and the number of cavalry in the country has reached 160,000, and there are 100,000 cavalry in these places mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu.

Didn't Alitai and Mahamu just think that they had 100,000 cavalry, so they fought with Daming?

In this case, the Ming Dynasty also pulled out 100,000 cavalry from Hailaer and let them know what it means to chisel through Mobei.

"With so many cavalry, there are many men and horses needed."

"The minister thinks that Mobei is vast, and if the war situation is scorched, then with the financial situation of the imperial court, I am afraid that it will not be able to afford the follow-up supply ...... of this expedition."

Xia Yuanji frowned and suggested, Zhu Gaoxu frowned and looked at Guo Zi when he heard this, Guo Zi also dodged his eyes, obviously he didn't want to fight this battle.

Although with the Northeast Railway and the Mobei Railway, the materials from the south of the Yangtze River could be transported to the Mobei area, but the transportation to Hailaer was only the beginning, and the Ming army wanted to attack, so it was natural to go west from Hailaer.

Mobei is more than 3,000 miles from east to west, and when 100,000 cavalry and one person and three horses, at least two stone beans and two buckets of military food are consumed every month.

If it is a July expedition, it will be fine to fight until the end of October, but once it exceeds October, the difficulty of replenishment will immediately increase.

To transport six stone beans and six buckets of military rations to three thousand miles away, it would take at least two auxiliary soldiers, four horses to pull ten stone beans, and two stones of military rations would be enough.

That is to say, for three months, 200,000 stone of military rations and 1 million stone of bean feed.

200,000 stone of military rations is 2 million stone of rice, in addition to vinegar cloth, salt crystals, dried vegetables and other materials.

After these three months, at least 200,000 people, 400,000 horses, and 1.8 million yuan of logistical supplies will be dispatched.

For every month it drags on, it's 600,000 guan.

Now the Ming Dynasty has just repaid the people's 20 million construction bonds and interest, and excluding next year's expenses, the treasury has accumulated less than 7 million.

The key is that the imperial court still needs to pay more than 7 million yuan of national debt plus interest after two years, plus the expenses after two years, Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi are now almost gray hair.

Under such circumstances, the imperial court still has to go to war, and at least 1.8 million yuan starts.

If you count the deaths, injuries and pensions of horses and soldiers, then 3 million guan is not a joke.

Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi both saw that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to complete his work, but the finances of the Ming Dynasty obviously did not allow it......

"Isn't it enough to count the gold and silver of the East Continent and the North Continent?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi, and Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi shook their heads when they heard this.

"Your Majesty, please take back your holy will."

Xia Yuanji saluted, with a solemn expression on his face, and almost knelt down for Zhu Gaoxu.

"If this battle is not fought, it will always be fought in the future."

"It is worth taking this opportunity to fight and give the Ming Dynasty a generation's peace."

"But Your Majesty, the treasury ......" Xia Yuanji knelt on the ground, this scene was the same as in history when he knelt on Zhu Di and did not let Zhu Di go on his fifth northern expedition.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu is not Zhu Di, and Hong Xi is not Yongle.

"If the end of the war does not solve the problem, or if there is a problem with the finances of the court after the war, then I am allowed to use the treasury!"

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Xia Yuanji had nothing to say.

The vault is the warehouse where Zhu Gaoxu has been accumulating gold since the 33rd year of Hongwu.

This warehouse had not been touched for twenty-five years, and this warehouse could also store two or three hundred thousand taels of gold every year.

At present, not to mention taking out all the gold in this warehouse, even taking out one-third of it can solve the current problems of the Ming Dynasty.

With Zhu Gaoxu's promise, Xia Yuanji no longer stubbornly resisted the Northern Expedition, but began to calculate with Guo Zi.

If the expedition to the north is to be made in July next year, it will be necessary to accumulate supplies in various warehouses from now on, and wait for the snow on the Northeast Railway and the Mobei Railway to melt in April next year.

As for the construction of the Mobei Railway and the Northeast Railway, it will not be delayed because of this, because the construction process of these railways is to dig roads and lay roadbeds in summer and autumn, and what needs to be done in winter is to lay sleepers and rails.

The main difficulty in starting construction in the Northeast in winter is the water and hard land, but these problems are solved by the Ministry of Industry in the summer, and as long as the rails are laid in the winter, it is enough to check and strengthen them in the summer.

In the final analysis, it is because the full load speed of the train in the Ming Dynasty is not fast, so the requirements for the railway are not as high as in later generations.

If the current is measured by the standards of later generations, many of the current railways are undoubtedly substandard projects.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, which general led the troops on this expedition?"

Xia Yuanji suddenly asked, and Zhu Gaoxu was slightly embarrassed when he heard this: "You six don't have to worry about this matter." ”

"Is it the Emperor?" Xia Yuanji rarely questioned Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to cover it up, but Xia Yuanji suddenly knelt down and said:

"Your Majesty, the Emperor Taishang is very old, please don't toss him anymore......"

(End of chapter)