Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 38 The Nine Palaces Formation: A Mighty City Through the Ages
The cabinet actually submitted a memorial requesting that imperial censors be dispatched to inspect the salt fields!
Hou Xun, the newly appointed Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also submitted a memorial requesting that a principal officer of the Ministry of Revenue be transferred to Southern Zhili and Zhejiang and Fujian to expedite the collection of commercial taxes!

Are the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party planning to give him money?
Salt taxes and commercial taxes were notoriously difficult to collect.

This is because it involves the interests of many court officials.

For example, the two major salt fields in the north, Hedong Salt Field and Changlu Salt Field, have had their profits swallowed up by the three powerful clans of Puzhou since they came to power. It would be really difficult to get them to pay salt taxes.

For example, Southern Zhili and Zhejiang and Fujian were full of workshops and had a very prosperous trade. Not to mention the internal income of the Ming Dynasty, the income from overseas trade alone was at least tens of millions of taels a year, but the commercial taxes collected each year were pitifully small, at most only tens of thousands of taels!

The Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party are sending people to inspect the salt fields and urge the payment of commercial taxes; they're trying to bribe him.

Otherwise, are they crazy to have someone investigate their own business?

He readily agreed to the request for money without hesitation.

Why not take this money? He's planning a major construction project, which will require a lot of money.

While he was reviewing memorials at Yuxi Palace, the sound of hooves thundered from the direction of Tongzhou.

The cavalry of the capital garrison finally returned, and the official road was lined with cavalry that stretched for more than ten miles.

Lu Xiang-sheng took the lead, galloping into the city through Chaoyang Gate and heading straight for the imperial city.

Sun Yingyuan, Zhou Yuji, and Huang Degong led tens of thousands of cavalry south along the moat, crossed the Datong Bridge, entered through the East Gate, and headed towards the outer city's drill ground.

Before long, Lu Xiang-sheng arrived at Yu Xi Palace.

The Jade Palace is not very big; you can see the main entrance from anywhere in the main hall.

When Zhu Jue saw Lu Xiang Sheng arrive, he immediately got up and went to greet him.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xiang-sheng hurriedly ran into the main hall, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue patted him on the shoulder and said, "No need for formalities, Jian Dou, you must be tired from your journey."

Lu Xiang-sheng was moved and said, "Your Majesty, I arrived in Tongzhou West last night and only traveled about thirty li this morning. It was not tiring at all."

You're not working hard, are you?

That's just right.

Zhu Jue pulled him directly to the large, assembled desk and pointed to the map already laid out on it, asking, "Jian Dou, you rushed back from the Yongping-Zunhua line. What's the defense like there? Have you taken a close look?"

Uh, how do I put this?

Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment, then carefully said, "I dare not hide anything from Your Majesty, the defenses along this line are very poor."

"Nowadays, there are hardly any fortresses or beacon towers there besides cities. When I escorted the grain carts to Liaodong, I specifically visited cities like Jizhou, Zunhua, and Qian'an. They had almost no defensive equipment, and the soldiers guarding them were listless and demoralized. It would be easy for the Jurchens to storm into the cities."

That's the absolute truth.

During the Jisi Incident in history, the city of Jizhou was as fragile as paper, and countless cities were breached by the Jurchens.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "Jian Dou, do you think there's a problem with rebuilding on the original site of the Zunhua Ironworks?" Huh?
You want to rebuild the Zunhua Ironworks on its original site!

Lu Xiang-sheng shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that the Zunhua Ironworks is not located within Zunhua City, but rather outside our grain transport canal defense line. It's one thing if the Jurchens don't know that we have rebuilt the Zunhua Ironworks, but if they do, they will definitely go and destroy it. I'm afraid even if I send tens of thousands of troops, we won't be able to defend it."

There are many traitors in the Ming court. If they rebuild the Zunhua Ironworks on the original site, the Jurchens will definitely know. If the Jurchens attack the Zunhua Ironworks, the entire defense line around the capital may collapse as a result.

It seems that the Zunhua Ironworks must be built in the capital, but there is no longer enough space in the capital, so they must expand the capital.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then pointed to the map and said solemnly, "Then we must expand the capital. We should first expand the capital to the Chaobai River and Tongzhou line. In this way, we can build the ironworks inside the outer city wall of the capital. Moreover, the Chaobai River connects to the North Canal, so water transportation will be very convenient."

How big would the outer city have to be?

Lu Xiang-sheng stared at the map and examined it carefully. He was shocked and said, "Your Majesty, the capital is more than forty li away from Tongzhou. Does that mean we have to build a city wall that is hundreds of li long?"
"Your Majesty, I recall that the outer city wall of Jinling stretched for over a hundred li, and it took more than ten years to build. Is it too late for us to expand the capital now?"

I have naturally considered this.

Zhu Jue explained in detail: "The reason why the outer city wall of Jinling took more than ten years to build is because it was built too high. Building a city wall that is three or four zhang or even four or five zhang high is really time-consuming and laborious."

We don't need to build the city wall too high, because our main purpose is to prevent the Jurchens from building pontoon bridges to cross the river. Even if we build a city wall ten feet high and stand on the riverbank, it will make the Jurchens on the other side despair.

Just think about it, how easy it is to build a city wall that's ten feet high. We don't even need to dig such a wide and deep foundation, and we don't even need to set up scaffolding. We can easily build the city wall using ordinary horse-drawn carriages and chariots.

I have already estimated that the construction work of a one-zhang-high city wall is less than 20% of that of a three- or four-zhang-high city wall. Moreover, when the outer city wall of Jinling was built, less than 200,000 able-bodied men were recruited. Therefore, only about ten li can be built each year.

The outer city wall of Jinling City is over 120 li long, while the outer city wall we are building this time is only about 100 li long. We can recruit more able-bodied men, and since the work is less than 20% complete, it shouldn't be a problem to finish building this outer city wall within a year.”

Uh, the city wall was only one zhang high?

However, if the goal is simply to prevent the enemy from building a pontoon bridge to cross the river, a ten-foot-high city wall is indeed sufficient.

Hey, that's not right.

Lu Xiang-sheng pointed to the map and carefully reminded, "Your Majesty, although the Tonghui River and the North Canal are to the east and south of this outer city, it is still more than ten or twenty li away from the Wenyu River to the north. I dare to ask, what if the Jurchens come around from the north?"

I never said that I would only build one outer city.

Zhu Jue pointed to the map and explained in detail: "In the north, we will build three outer cities side by side along the Wenyu River. In the west, we will also build three outer cities side by side. In the south of the Tonghui River, we will build an outer city. We will expand the capital into a huge nine-square grid."

"Then we'll dig a moat on the west side, connecting the Wenyu River and the Yongding River, and another moat on the south side, connecting the Yongding River and the North Canal. This way, the capital will be truly impregnable, and even if the Jurchens attack, they'll have to retreat."

Ah!
Are you going to build so many outer cities?
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng was shocked and said, "Your Majesty, the capital city alone, including the inner city and the outer city to the south, has a population of nearly one million. If we build seven more outer cities, wouldn't that mean a population of at least four or five million? I dare to ask, do we really need to build such a large capital city?"

You probably don't know this, but there are many cities with tens of millions of people in later generations. As more factories are built, the required population naturally increases.

This is the foundation of the entire Ming Dynasty and the core of the Ming industrial empire. A few million people is not my goal.

Zhu Jue said ambitiously, "Jian Dou, we don't just need to build an ironworks. We also need to build a tank factory, a musket factory, an artillery factory, a glass factory, a shipyard, and even a spinning mill, a weaving mill, a porcelain factory, an armor factory, an arms factory, and so on and so forth."

Four or five million people? We're determined to build the greatest city in history!

(End of this chapter)