My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 480 Managing the Western Regions

"Have all the decrees from the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers been sent over?"

Su Ze asked Luo Wanhua, the head of the Kongmu House.

Su Ze is now the head of the fifth branch of the Secretariat and the Chancellery, while Luo Wanhua is the head of the Kongmu branch, one of the five branches. They are now in a strict superior-subordinate relationship.

Although the two still had a good personal relationship, Luo Wanhua strictly adhered to the hierarchical rules of officialdom when he was in the Fifth Branch of the Secretariat.

Although Su Ze felt a little regretful that the carefree days when everyone chatted and joked around in the newspaper office were gone forever, this was also a sign of Luo Wanhua's political maturity.

There's no way around it; everyone's in this position now. If we're too casual, we'll be seen as frivolous and undisciplined, which would be detrimental to Su Ze's prestige and Luo Wanhua's future development.

Luo Wanhua said:
"The decrees from various government departments have all been sent over. Does the Inspector wish to see them?"

Su Ze nodded, and Luo Wanhua immediately sent over these departmental proposals.

The expansion of power of the five departments under the Secretariat was multifaceted.

Administrative reforms are often like this.

The power of administrative departments is also dynamic and ever-changing. The strength of a department is often related to the power of the person in charge of that department.

Because administrative power is inherently ambiguous, the amount of power a department can acquire depends on the abilities of its head.

For example, the matter of the departmental meeting.

Firstly, after the cabinet's power was expanded, decision-making became more standardized, so the number of individual memorials from the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers began to decrease.

As mentioned before, personal appeals can bring fame, but they also carry political risks.

Moreover, the imperial court places greater emphasis on collective wisdom and effort, and the deliberation process for major imperial affairs has begun to favor departmental consensus before being discussed by the cabinet.

Originally, the deliberations of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers were sent to the Office of Transmission, just like personal memorials.

The documents were then sent by the Office of Transmission to the Fifth Office of the Secretariat-Chancellery, and then to the Grand Secretariat.

This transmission process is too long.

In the last discussion on border and coastal defense, Grand Secretary Gao Gong found the process too long and ordered the five departments of the Secretariat and Chancellery to go directly to the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers' offices to urge them to hold discussions.

In this way, the ministerial documents bypassed the Office of Transmission and were sent directly to the five offices of the Secretariat and Chancellery.

At first, this was a temporary measure, but the cabinet soon discovered that having the five offices of the Secretariat and the Chancellery directly urge the ministries to discuss and submit memorials was really effective!
There were only a few government offices in the capital, so having the five departments of the Secretariat and Chancellery directly urge them was much more efficient than passively waiting for the Office of Transmission to process the documents.

After all, the five offices of the Secretariat and the Chancellery were auxiliary agencies of the Grand Secretariat, but the Office of Transmission was one of the Nine Ministers' offices, so it was naturally more convenient to use the five offices of the Secretariat and the Chancellery.

Of course, the Ministry of Justice made a token protest, but quickly gave up. Li Yiyuan, the Commissioner of the Ministry of Justice, was the kind of person who preferred to avoid trouble.

But all of this has undergone subtle changes.

Because the number of government offices in the capital was limited, the number of memorials submitted by the ministries was also limited.

An official from the five departments of the Secretariat-Chancellery could collect them all by making a single trip around the capital.

The Office of Transmission had to handle all the official documents and petitions, so its efficiency was naturally no match for the five offices of the Secretariat and Chancellery.

These ministerial memorials would be sent to the cabinet earlier than individual memorials.

As a result, sometimes the cabinet had already discussed the matter to a near certain extent and reached a consensus with the six ministries and nine ministerial offices before an individual's memorial was sent to the cabinet through the Office of Transmission.

As a result, the memorials submitted by the ministries became increasingly important.

Unbeknownst to them, the five departments of the Secretariat-Chancellery had seized power from the Office of Transmission.

As we all know, this is not just a right to run errands.

The five offices under the Secretariat and the Chancellery were responsible for collecting ministerial discussions, which allowed them to know the results of discussions among most officials in the capital on a matter earlier than the cabinet.

The memorials submitted by ministries represent the consensus of the ministries. So, if most of the memorials from ministries agree or disagree, wouldn't that reflect the opinions of the majority of officials in the capital?

This is the most important intelligence power, which also made the five offices of the Secretariat and Chancellery the most well-informed departments in the capital.

The more Su Ze looked, the more his brows furrowed.

Most of the six ministries and nine ministerial offices opposed leaving Jiayuguan and taking control of Dunhuang again.

There was no other way; the Ming Dynasty had already learned two lessons from its failed westward expansion.

In fact, after the Tang Dynasty, Yumen Pass and Yang Pass were almost abandoned.

Yumen Pass is located on the Gobi Desert 80 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City, while Yangguan Pass is located on the Antique Beach 70 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang City. One is in the north and the other in the south, about 30 kilometers apart, like "sister passes".

Both Yumen Pass and Yangguan Pass were built during the period when Emperor Wu of Han established the four commanderies of Hexi. They are the westernmost defensive passes of the Hexi Corridor.

The Hexi Corridor is called a corridor because it is surrounded by high mountains to the north and south, making it like a corridor passage and an essential route from the Central Plains to the Western Regions.

Yangguan and Yumenguan are located at the exit of this corridor, making them the most suitable places to build passes.

By controlling the two passes, we can completely control the Hexi Corridor.

However, the reason why the Ming Dynasty abandoned Dunhuang and the two passes twice was still due to geographical and climatic issues.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, the Shule River and Lop Nur were still flowing through Yumen Pass, making it the route into the Western Regions with the best natural environment.

During the Han Dynasty, the route from Yumen Pass along the Shule River to Lop Nur led to Loulan, and then westward along the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains. The southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains are covered with glacial meltwater and many oases. This route was the earliest Silk Road, also known as the Northern Silk Road.

However, the northern route has a drawback: it is easily controlled by nomadic tribes.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Shule River dwindled and Lop Nur shrank. It was discovered that by heading south from the east of Yumen Pass to Dunhuang, passing through Yangguan, and then following the northern foothills of the Altun Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, one could also enter the Western Regions. This route had a harsh natural environment but was less susceptible to control by northern nomads, so people began to pass through Yangguan, which became the southern route of the Silk Road.

However, by the time the Ming Dynasty arrived, Lop Nur had dried up, the lower reaches of the Shule River had run dry, and Dunhuang had no water to replenish it, so Yangguan Pass could no longer be accessed.

The Ming Dynasty had no choice but to retreat to the west of Jiayuguan and find another route to the Western Regions, which was to go north from Guazhou to Xingxingxia, then to Hami, and then through Turpan, which is the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, the original route into Xinjiang.

The natural environment along this road is also very harsh, but fortunately there are five small springs in Xingxing Gorge. After replenishing the water at the last spring, merchants can pass through.

The nearest pass along this route is Jiayuguan, so in order to prevent northern nomads from invading the Central Plains from the Hexi Corridor, Jiayuguan was the main focus of defense.

However, abandoning Dunhuang would put significant military pressure on Jiayuguan.

For example, the Fire Warriors could enter Dunhuang and constantly harass Jiayuguan, while also launching a pincer attack on Jiayuguan from the west.

This is how the Fire Warriors besieged Jiayuguan.

However, this natural problem is not unsolvable.

Every year, a large amount of snow melts from the Qilian Mountains along the Hexi Corridor and flows into the corridor.

Therefore, areas including Dunhuang are not actually experiencing complete drought, but rather soil desertification combined with severe evaporation, making it impossible to retain water.

The solution adopted by later generations was to address the problem of desertification while simultaneously utilizing pipelines for water supply.

This project is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to complete today, but the ancients also had their own wisdom.

Karez well.

A karez is an underground water diversion system consisting of shafts, underground channels, surface channels, and reservoirs. Groundwater is transported through these underground channels, preventing water loss caused by intense sunlight in arid regions.

By drawing water from snowmelt, irrigation and drinking water can be guaranteed throughout the year.

Underground structures are less likely to be buried by sand and dust, and their maintenance costs are lower than those of surface water channels.

Karez wells existed in the Western Regions long ago, but due to the small population, weak organizational and mobilization capabilities of the regime, and lack of water conservancy and engineering talent, the karez wells were mostly scattered and could not be built on a large scale.

The reason Dunhuang was abandoned was that "without water, there is no land reclamation; without land reclamation, there is no garrison."

In this way, the karez system could form permanent oases at strategic nodes such as Yumenguan and Yangguan, supporting the self-sufficiency of food and supplies for the garrison.

In addition, agricultural technology in the Ming Dynasty was also developing.

With the development of agricultural technology, drought-resistant crops, such as potatoes, can be planted to meet the needs of food.

Seeing Su Ze frown, Luo Wanhua closed the door and asked:

"Brother Zilin, why do you value the Western Regions so much?"

The change in address indicates that this is a private conversation between Luo Wanhua and Su Ze.

Su Ze said:

"Brother Yifu, do all the ministers feel that the Western Regions are now a useless asset?"

Luo Wanhua nodded. This was a private conversation, so everyone could speak freely.

In fact, not only Luo Wanhua, but also the five branches of the Zhongshu Menxia thought the same way.

The Han and Tang dynasties developed the Western Regions because the Western Regions were a key passage of the Silk Road and an export route for foreign trade.

In the present Ming Dynasty, maritime trade is highly developed. The cost and efficiency of sea transport are far higher than those of land transport, resulting in a significant decrease in economic benefits.

The trade with the Western Regions had a political significance that outweighed its economic significance.

In this case, what practical significance did the Western Regions have for the Ming Dynasty, apart from the nominal "revival of the Han and Tang dynasties"?
Su Ze said:

"Brother Yifu, have you seen the accounting records reported by the counties in the Gyeonggi region? Isn't cotton production in the Gyeonggi region declining year by year?"

Luo Wanhua nodded and said:
"That's natural, isn't it? Land in the Gyeonggi region is valuable, and cotton farming isn't very profitable."

Su Ze said:

“It’s not just the capital region; I’ve checked the Ministry of Revenue’s data, and the number of cotton fields throughout the entire Ming Dynasty is decreasing rapidly.”

The Ming Dynasty had two main cotton-growing areas.

One is the northern capital region, which includes the Hebei area.

The other is the Southern Zhili region, which also includes Jiangxi, Huguang, and Fujian.

The Yuan Dynasty was a special dynasty. The reason why the Yuan Dynasty attached so much importance to cotton was that it had already recognized that cotton was a very important economic crop.

This understanding is certainly correct; cotton is so important that it even led to the establishment of a global empire.

To promote cotton cultivation, the Yuan Dynasty established the Cotton Commissioner's Office to promote the planting and purchasing of cotton.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the cotton-growing areas left by the Yuan Dynasty, but due to the policy of isolation, the number of cotton fields continued to shrink.

Silk, cotton, hemp.

This is a traditional textile raw material.

People were willing to weave silk because raising silkworms and planting mulberry trees was enough. Mulberry trees were an important economic crop, but they occupied a lot of forest land, and silk could be sold at a high price.

Not just anyone can weave silk. In ancient times, women who could manage the silk industry were highly sought after in the marriage market. Only daughters of small landowners or self-cultivating farmers could master such skills.

People also preferred to use hemp cloth, for a simple reason: hemp is a wild grass that grows in fields and doesn't require special land to grow. Hemp clothes are uncomfortable, but they are sufficient in the warm southern regions.

Cotton is the only thing that farmers are resisting.

Cotton needs to be grown on regular farmland, which encroaches on land used for growing food.

The fact that cotton grown cannot be eaten creates a great sense of insecurity among the people.

Food is edible; growing food will not lead to starvation.

However, cotton cannot be eaten, and the purchase price depends on the merchants' whims. If the purchase price of cotton is too low, the people will not be able to exchange it for enough food, and they will starve to death.

This is even more evident in the north.

Su Ze's original idea was to establish a cotton textile center with steam engine factories in the north, using the advantage of machinery to compete with the south in cotton cloth and squeeze the influence of Songjiang's cotton cloth industry.

In reality, the Ministry of Works reported that a steam-powered cotton mill had been established, but due to a lack of sufficient cotton raw materials, it was never able to go into full production.

After much thought, Su Ze saw the Western Regions.

Cotton is a crop that needs sunlight and water.

The Western Regions have ample sunshine, so this isn't a major problem.

Water supply isn't a major issue. Cotton needs water, but there are also many oases in the Western Regions, and cotton cultivation requires water at specific times. As long as the water conservancy infrastructure is properly managed, it will be fine.

Before Su Ze traveled through time, 80% of the cotton in the original timeline came from the Western Regions.

The Central Asian countries, including the Stans, are also important cotton-producing regions.

This area is vast and has abundant land, making it a perfect raw material base for cotton production in the north.

Once this industry is established, the imperial court will never again discuss abandoning the Western Regions.

In Su Ze's view, the Western Regions were first and foremost a political issue, then an economic issue, and only then a military issue.

However, to solve the problem of the Western Regions, we must first solve the military problem, then the economic problem, and finally the political problem.

After Su Ze shared all his thoughts with Luo Wanhua, Luo Wanhua was filled with emotion.

What Su Ze was describing was not just a military victory, but an entire industrial blueprint.

This entire blueprint also corresponds to Su Ze's strategy of defending the south from the north. In other words, by upgrading technology, the north will gain an advantage in manufacturing industries, thereby shaking the economic pillar status of the southeast and completing the fiscal and other institutional reforms in the southeast.

Only in this way can reforms avoid being hijacked by forces in the southeast.

Su Ze took out "A Treatise on Managing the Western Regions" and said to Luo Wanhua:
"This memorial should be discussed by the five departments. If everyone agrees, it should be submitted in the name of the five departments of the Secretariat and the Chancellery."

Luo Wanhua was stunned for a moment.

Although the five offices under the Secretariat were officially designated as advisory bodies to the cabinet, they had always been positioned as secretaries.

This was also the first time that the five branches of the Secretariat-Chancellery had put forward their own national policies.

Luo Wanhua carried Su Ze's memorial away, while Su Ze stuffed the memorial into the "Handheld Ming Dynasty Court" device.

(End of this chapter)