Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 240: Thousands of Miles of Straight Road, Ryukyu is annexed!
There are two types of roads.

Straight road, fast road.

The straight road is for military use, and the fast road is for civilian use.

During the Qin Dynasty, Qin General Meng Tian and Prince Fusu were responsible for building the Straight Road, starting from Linguang Palace in Xianyang, Shaanxi, and ending in Jiuyuan in the north, passing through fourteen counties. The total length was 1,600 miles, with the widest part reaching 20 zhang and the narrowest being 7 zhang.

To this day, after two thousand years, the Qin Straight Road still exists and can be used for marching.

But the Great Wall of Qin had collapsed long ago.

In the view of many scholars, the most successful infrastructure of the Qin Dynasty was not the Great Wall of Qin, but the Qin Straight Road.

We have been walking together for two thousand years, who can be our rival?

The reason why no straight roads have been built since the Qin Dynasty, the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty is that the construction of straight roads is too expensive.

For two thousand years, there has never been any weeds growing on the Qin Straight Road, and the secret lies in the soil used.

The Qin Straight Road is 1,600 miles long and was entirely made of "cultivated soil", the same kind of land that is found in Qingyang, Gansu.

However, the amount of soil needed to build a road of more than a thousand miles is too large to be transported from Gansu, so it can only be "burned".

All soil used on straight roads must be fried or burned with a strong fire before use. This will cause the soil to lose its "raw nature" and naturally no grass will grow.

The cultivated soil is then compacted together so that no grass or trees can grow on the entire road, and no insects or ants can drill holes in it. Just like lime, it is not disturbed by any "living things". In this way, it has remained solid and durable after two thousand years.

To pave a straight road of one mile, tens of thousands of cubic meters of cultivated soil are needed.

According to the calculation given by the Ministry of Works, the manpower and material resources required for mining and frying the soil alone amounted to about 6,000 taels of silver.

The cost of building a straight road of one mile is about 10,000 taels of silver.

Which imperial court could afford to build this?
When the country was founded, the founding emperor had enough prestige to mobilize so much manpower to invest in infrastructure, but which dynasty was not poor when it was founded?
Entering the middle period of the dynasty, some wise rulers and those who maintained the status quo may have some ideas, but they would be rejected by important officials of the court on the grounds that they had no money, or that "money should be spent where it counts" and that it was enough to just keep the road going.

At the end of the dynasty, why did the emperor build roads? Was it because the rebels were not advancing fast enough into the capital?

In short, during the Han Dynasty and subsequent dynasties, emperors did not practice the straight path in three aspects: they did not practice it when founding a country, they did not practice it when defending a country, and they did not practice it when the country was destroyed.

Everyone uses the corvee labor at the Great Wall of Qin to describe the Qin court as tyrannical and spendthrift, but few know that the building that truly drained the Qin court's treasury was the 1,600-li straight road.

If the Qin people had not used their wisdom two thousand years ago to choose the location of the straight road, either along the river valley or on the mountain ridge, taking advantage of the natural terrain and effectively reducing the cost, the Qin Straight Road would not have been even a thousand miles long.

During the 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, with 11 emperors and countless ministers, no one ever mentioned the matter of building a straight road.

The Ministry of Industry saw that there was money in the national treasury and started to have some "evil ideas".

When they were going to repair it, they wanted to make it big, ten thousand miles long, and the financial budget directly came to 100 million taels of silver.

Meng Tian and Fusu mobilized 300,000 troops and spent two years to repair the canal, but only managed to build 1,600 miles.

How many laborers does the Ministry of Works want to mobilize and how many years will it take to complete the construction?
The first reaction of the five cabinet elders, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin, was that the Minister of Works Zhu Heng was too bold.

Only those who manage a household do not know how expensive firewood and rice are. In the past, one hundred million taels of silver was more than the national tax revenue for two years.

Gao Gong, who was also in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ming Dynasty's treasury, vetoed the proposal at the first opportunity.

The other four ministers were not surprised. In recent days, the "miser" nature of the second prime minister was becoming more and more obvious.

The more silver there is in the national treasury, the more detailed the deductions will be made from the court's expenditures, even to the point of being penny wise.

Last year, because of a mistake of 20 taels of silver, the deputy prime minister did not hesitate to let the officials of the Ministry of Revenue stay up for several nights to re-check the mountain of account books. Some elderly officials of the Ministry of Revenue almost lost their lives in the 40th year of Jiajing.

The final result was that when the Ministry of Revenue was smelting some gold and silver, a large amount of fire consumption occurred, which exceeded the normal range, so they gave up.

After the Deputy Prime Minister stepped down from his post, he would often visit the national treasury. Every time he did so, his face was flushed, and his state looked scary. The officials in charge of the treasury were afraid that the prime minister would suddenly die in the national treasury, so they specially invited imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau to follow him.

In the past few months, any court affairs involving more than one million taels of silver that were reported to the Ministry of Revenue were not approved by the Prime Minister.

The matter had to be brought to the emperor's attention and the emperor had to approve it before the Ministry of Revenue would reluctantly pay the money.

The old problem of the second phase has come back again.

After careful consideration, Hu Zongxian approved the Ministry of Industry's proposal.

Having commanded the military in the southeast for many years, some of Hu Zongxian's thoughts were based on military perspectives.

He believed that the tranquility and peace of a country depended largely on the speed at which the army could resist foreign aggression and quell rebellion.

If a local rebellion occurs and cannot be quelled within three days, a county may be lost. If it exceeds ten days, a prefecture may fall into the hands of the rebels. If it exceeds half a month, the court may lose a province. If it exceeds a month, the country may be destroyed.

In order to avoid the above possibilities, the Ming Dynasty deployed troops in important cities, especially in areas close to the border, which were almost entirely occupied by troops.

This prevents the emergence of anti-people forces, but the uneven quality of the large and small armies also increases the possibility of the emergence of anti-people forces.

It is difficult for military camps to contact each other, but a road can solve many problems.

I think this is why Qin Shi Huang ordered Meng Tian and Prince Fusu to build a straight road to resist the Huns.

Chen Yiqun also agreed with the Ministry of Works' proposal. In the past few months, he had measured the areas of the four prefectures in the capital on foot. One of his feelings was that the roads in the Ming Dynasty were really difficult to walk on. When it rained or snowed, he always had to step lightly and heavily when walking on them, just like pulling a carrot.

One cabinet minister agreed, two cabinet ministers agreed, and the decision-making power was in the hands of Zhang Juzheng and Li Chunfang.

Li Chunfang was hesitant to make a decision and just looked at Zhang Juzheng. The meaning was very clear: the vote would go to whichever side the prime minister stood on.

Gao Gong's face didn't look good.

Zhang Juzheng said, "Ten thousand miles is too long, it will cost too much, and the construction period will be too long. Why not send it back to the Ministry of Works to change it to five thousand miles? What do you think, Mr. Su?"

Political affairs worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

For the time being, it is enough to have a Ministry of Rites to build community schools. If another Wanli Straight Road is added, the court may not be able to handle it.

Although Gao Gong's face still didn't look good, it was much better than before. Five thousand miles, it seemed he could accept it.

The Prime Minister proposed it, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed, Li Chunfang subscribed to it, and although Hu Zongxian and Chen Yiqin were not very satisfied with this ambiguous plan, they also nodded.

The New Year's plan was sent back to the Ministry of Works. The Minister of Works Zhu Heng did not expect the cabinet to pass the Wanli Straight Road plan. It would be great if it could pass 5,000 miles. It would be enough for the Ministry of Works to work hard for several years and accumulate a lot of political achievements.

The Ministry of Industry resubmitted its New Year's plan, which was approved by the Cabinet and sent to Okhee Palace along with the New Year's plans of the six ministries.

soon.

Yuxi Palace gave the imperial approval.

All matters concerning the five ministries of Personnel, Revenue, Rites, Military Affairs, and Punishments were approved, except for the Ministry of Works, which was given a red-ink stamp and rejected.

"Imperial edict: five thousand miles is too short, twenty thousand miles is appropriate." Zhu Heng obeyed the order readily. After revising the New Year's plan again, he personally brought the document to the cabinet and put the memorial on Gao Gong's desk.

I, the Ministry of Industry, will transfer money!
You think ten million taels of silver is too much, so I want two hundred million taels of silver.

Gao Gong's face turned pale and he immediately set off for Yuxi Palace.

Zhang Juzheng and his four companions had no choice but to follow, not for the 20,000-mile straight road, but for something else.

The Ryukyu Kingdom requests submission!

Ryukyu Kingdom.

It is located between the Penghu Island of the Ming Dynasty and the Kyushu Island of Japan, and stretches for two thousand miles.

Since Emperor Taizu Gao established the Ming Dynasty and announced a maritime ban, the Ryukyu Kingdom, due to its unique geographical location, became a transit point for trade between Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. It had developed trade and was known as the "Bridge of All Nations."

In the fifth year of Hongwu, the Ryukyu countries formally submitted their letters of credence and became vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Xuande, the two forces of Shannan and Shanbei within the Ryukyu Kingdom were destroyed by Zhongshan, the Three Mountains era ended, and the Ryukyu Kingdom was unified, but it still maintained a vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty.

In the fifth year of Xuande, Emperor Xuanzong officially bestowed the surname "Shang" on the ruler of Ryukyu. Before that, Ryukyu people only had names, and from then on they had surnames.

The King of the Ryukyu Kingdom, whose full name was King Zhongshan of the Ryukyu Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty, was a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

After that, the first Sho Dynasty of Ryukyu entered the second Sho Dynasty. In the seventh year of Chenghua, Shang Yuan, as the crown prince, reported his father's death to the Ming Dynasty and was certified to the throne.

Over the past hundred years, the Ryukyu Kingdom has relied on the Ming Dynasty and entered its golden age. Its commerce was highly developed and it traded frequently with Fujian, Penghu, Goryeo, Southeast Asia and Japan.

But in the past 100 years or so, a large number of Japanese pirates have harassed the Ryukyu Islands.

The Ryukyu Kingdom suffered huge losses and maritime trade was hindered.

From the 30th year of the Jiajing reign to the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, the Japanese pirates invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom, occupied many islands, and cut off the connection between the Ming Dynasty and the Ryukyu Kingdom.

In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, Hu Zongxian led the southeastern army and wiped out all the Japanese pirates at sea in one battle. After putting an end to the Japanese invasion, he only allowed people to occupy the flattened Tokara Islands and keep an eye on the Japanese islands in the north to prevent the Japanese pirates from regenerating and invading the southeastern coast.

Although the Southeast Army did not harm the Ryukyu Kingdom, the sadness of a small country had already been revealed in the Ryukyu Kingdom in the previous ten years.

During those ten years, the Ryukyu Kingdom was cut off from food and water, and countless people died of starvation and thirst. If the Japanese pirates had continued to wreak havoc in the archipelago for a few more years, the Ryukyu Kingdom might not have been able to hold on.

Therefore, after resuming contact with the Ming Dynasty, the contemporary King of Zhongshan of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Shang Yuan, expressed his request to the Ming Dynasty to resume trade.

But at that time, the emperor and the imperial court were busy setting traps for the smuggling ships of the princes, nobles, and Chaozhou merchants, and had no time to pay attention to his former little brother.

When the smuggling ships of the royal families and Chaozhou merchants appeared rampant on the sea, the Ryukyu Kingdom suddenly realized the gap.

As long as the Ming Dynasty cargo ships set sail, the Ryukyu Kingdom’s reputation as the “bridge of all nations” would disappear in an instant.

Gradually recognizing the reality and feeling deeply that the country was small and weak and unwilling to suffer from the Japanese invasion again, the Ryukyu Kingdom, after several rounds of consultations between the king, the prime minister and the village society, formally submitted a letter and a map to the Ming Dynasty, requesting its annexation.

It no longer wanted to be a vassal state, but wanted to become a country and incorporate all of its territory into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

In the letter from the Ryukyu Kingdom, the metaphor of a son admiring his father is used, and the son's behavior is portrayed in the most filial manner. However, based on the Jinyiwei's understanding of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the details of the conversation between the Ryukyu Kingdom's King Zhongshan Shang Yuan and Prime Minister Cai Jin, which were sent to the cabinet by the Jinyiwei.

It was Cai Jin who believed that the Ming Dynasty was richer than ever before, and persuaded King Shang Yuan of Zhongshan to stop being a crappy king in that remote place, and to become a member of the Ming Dynasty and enjoy a good life.

Being on the island, the biggest feeling of the Ryukyu people is that they can never be full even by drinking the wind.

In short, the people of Ryukyu no longer want to work hard and just want to move from the sea to the land and live a life with enough food and clothing.

When the six ministries' New Year's plans were submitted to Okheegung Palace, the cabinet had some disputes over the Ryukyu Kingdom's request for annexation.

Gao Gong, the second prime minister, believed that those islands had no output and would be a burden to the Ming Dynasty if they were included in its territory, so it would be better to maintain the previous vassal relationship.

Cabinet Minister Chen Yiqun believed that no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still a piece of meat. The entry of the Ryukyu Kingdom into the territory would increase a lot of territory. However, that place was poor and it would be difficult to carry out construction, so they decided not to build and just move the Ryukyu people to the country.

In the future, those islands can be used as places of exile, just like the Lingnan area in the past.

There is always value in using it.

This time, Cabinet Minister Hu Zongxian had a different opinion from Chen Yiqin. There were enough people in the Ming Dynasty. When people were well-fed and well-clothed in the future, there would inevitably be a lot of new population. No other population was needed. Although the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, it could not give any of it to others.

If you want to maintain a vassal relationship, you can just send troops to garrison in the Ryukyu Kingdom to achieve the effect of actual control of the islands.

Minister Li Chunfang thinks both are good.

The name "Licorice Elder" is well-deserved.

Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Chen Yiqin could not convince each other, and after arguing for a long time, they still could not reach a consensus.

The Ming Dynasty had no experience in dealing with such "small" regions far away from the mainland that requested to annex the country, and Zhang Juzheng could not judge the ideas of the three cabinet ministers.

Then there is only the Holy Judgment.

……

Ok Hee Palace.

Gao Gong did not have a chance to speak up because Huang Jin, the eunuch on duty in the main hall, brought the imperial edict.

The content of the imperial edict was to ask the Ministry of Works to select a site, recruit laborers, and build a 20,000-mile straight road.

The will comes.

There is no opportunity for negotiation.

No matter how dissatisfied Gao Gong was, he had no choice but to accept the imperial order and allocate money and supplies on time and as needed.

There was no need to discuss the matter further. Zhang Juzheng stood up from the embroidered cushion and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, King Shang Yuan of Zhongshan in Ryukyu requested that his kingdom be annexed to China. Here is the geographical map. Please make your decision."

Huang Jin took the map, turned around and walked in front of Zhu Houcong and unfolded the map.

The distribution of Ryukyu's three prefectures, five states and thirty-five counties was immediately presented in front of Zhu Houcong.

It starts from Amami Oshima in the north, extends to Kikai Island in the east, ends at Hateruma Island in the south, and borders Yonaguni Island in the west.

There are sixty-four named islands and more than four hundred unnamed islands, which are tasteless to eat and a pity to abandon.

"Incorporate it into our territory."

"May I ask your Majesty, how should we govern in the future?"

"Relocate the people!"

(End of this chapter)