Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 246: I have tested the consort’s skills for the princess in advance

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't pay much attention to what these businessmen saw.

Now listen to them talking about the important markets in Jiangnan. Food is the first commodity in Jiangnan.

Cotton and mulberry leaves are seasonal short-term markets.

There was actually a kind of mulberry leaves in Jiahu that did not go through the market, but used contracts to reserve the next year's mulberry leaves for trading. This was something Zhu Yuanzhang had never seen or heard.

Cotton and silk are the specialties of Jiangnan, and they are the best in the country. They are divided into many categories, which is something that Lao Zhu has never paid attention to.

Lao Zhu paid attention to several points: the grain market was the largest, the silk market was the most extensive, and the cotton market was the most complex. They were all over the south of the Yangtze River. These merchants really had all kinds of merchants.

Zhu Yuanzhang arranged school inspections in the early stage and Jin Yiwei in the later stage. He never paid much attention to the surveillance of businessmen.

So now looking at the close conversation between Wang Buli and the businessman, I have some new insights.

Having said that, it is really normal for an emperor who has the inherent impression of an old peasant to be not very interested in business.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xue Xiang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to be summoned. Water transportation matters naturally fell under his jurisdiction.

Nowadays, Nanjing is regarded as the capital, and water transport from the south of the Yangtze River is the mainstay.

"Dad, is it possible that Wang Buli can really solve the century-old problem at the entrance to the canal?"

There is a shipyard outside Nanjing for building warships, but this matter is under the management of the Ministry of War, and he is only responsible for producing craftsmen.

"It's true without even thinking about it."

Moreover, the dredging of the Canal Canal also started with Zhu Di. At that time, Lao Zhu did not pay much attention to the water transportation in the northern section.

"Probably because I don't want to attract attention."

If Wang Buli didn't have this ability, why could he travel alone in the fairyland?

Zhu Yuanzhang had no doubt that Wang Buli could solve these problems easily.

Some things can be made clearer by asking him.

One goes from the river to the sea, leaves Zhigukou, and is transported from Baihe to Tongzhou. This is called sea transportation. Because it often encounters storms, its usage is not large.

All the sea-going ships originally used were changed to Lihe canal ships to supply the guards with transportation.

Of course, the service life of these ships is about another five to ten years. Xue Xiang has also recently been sorting out the ships that need to be replaced. Otherwise, if the ships transporting tributes sink, it will be a waste.

Nowadays, shipping is too dangerous, and Zhu Yuanzhang has not made any progress in sending people to Japan to search for silver mines.

"Your Majesty, the canals are now used by the continuation of the Yuan Dynasty. It is extremely dangerous for our Ming Dynasty to transport grain and grass to the north, and transporting it to the Yellow River.

In-laws are the easiest way to build a relationship between two strangers. At least they are a family on the surface, so there is enough channel for both parties to trust each other.

This kid is too cautious and doesn't know what he is guarding against!

"Then let me find an opportunity to ask."

Only the imperial court could use shipping. If ordinary people wanted to go to sea, they would all be arrested and charged.

In the thirteenth year of Yongle's reign, the government announced a ban on shipping.

In the first year of Hongwu, Lao Zhu established a water transport envoy. In three years, two granaries were built to transport grain and grass.

Zhu Biao was indeed surprised that Wang Buli put down his pen and joked after he asked Wang Buli why it was so difficult.

That's why even if he encounters a problem and has a solution, he won't tell it immediately.

This guy is just hiding his clumsiness.

Zhu Yuanzhang still believes that some proverbs passed down from his elders are reasonable.

Zhu Yuanzhang also agreed. In front of a group of businessmen, what is there to show off?

It would only insult his status as the Ming Dynasty's consort. Are those businessmen worthy of boasting about their good son-in-law?

Zhu Biao also agreed with his father's statement, but it was a little strange:

"But why did he stop again?"

"Maybe he has this in mind."

Except for maritime transport, which is military transport, the rest are civilian transport.

"Understood." Zhu Biao continued to look down and then raised his head:

"Dad, does Wang Buli want to rely on water transportation to collect taxes?"

Grains from various places were transported to the capital by the people in the Jianghuai River. The grain and wages in the north were recommended by the Minister of Household Affairs to be transported by sea, river and land.

Regarding the emperor's inquiry about the canal, Xue Xiang knew that the Ministry of Industry maintained thirty horse boats and fast boats, mainly used to transport tributes.

What's more, through his communication with Wang Buli, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think that Wang Buli was an unreasonable person.

In addition, after becoming the emperor, he paid more attention to the country's foundation (fields) and suppressed business activities, which was also a normal choice.

Even though the in-law relationship is sometimes fragile.

First, it flows from the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River and the Yellow River, to Yangwu County, then to Weihui Prefecture, and then from the Wei River to Jizhou, which is called river transportation.

In addition, domestically, if you want to save time by transporting to the north, you can only rely on water transportation.

At this point in time, Zheng He had already made four voyages to the West, and two years later he held his fifth voyage.

As soon as he heard about tax collection, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes immediately lit up.

"Well, don't be too obvious. He will get married in two days. We can wait until some things are settled before we talk. Maybe our mood will be different in the future."

Nanjing, Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Fujian all have no navies.

Horse boats were mainly used to transport chieftains and tribute envoys from vassal countries to the southwest region, while fast boats were used to support the navy. They were all in charge of soldiers from the garrison near Nanjing and were subordinate to the Ministry of War.

Zhu Yuanzhang wondered if someone had taught Wang Buli that young people who are too ambitious can easily fall into trouble.

Therefore, when the imperial court transported grain to the north, it mostly had to be transported by land in calm areas. The ships passed through the Yellow River safely, and then were loaded onto ships and transported to the border. "

What Xue Xiang said is very consistent with the actual situation. This dangerous factor did not exist until the Qing Dynasty when the Central Canal section was excavated, which completely ended the era of water transportation using the Yellow River, and built the intersection of the Yellow River, Huaihe River and the Yellow River to alleviate the river surface drop and reduce turbidity. Flow, irrigation and transportation.

"Especially in winter, the rivers are frozen, which has a great impact on water transportation. In winter, it is freezing between the Yellow and Huaihe Rivers, and the rivers are frozen for more than three months. Correspondingly, the boatmen also return to camp, and they gather again in spring, which is called Fang. freeze.

In order to ensure the supply of most cities, the Yuan Dynasty opened the Huitong River in addition to routine sea transportation, changing the inland waterway shipping route from southeast to northwest to north to south.

The substantial northward shift of supply destinations not only lengthens the transportation distance, but also extends the duration of winter freezes. "

Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that he was still willing to believe in water transportation compared to the more risky sea transportation.

It's just that the political focus of the Ming Dynasty was in the south of the Yangtze River, and the pressure of transporting grain to the north was not as great as the pressure after Yongle moved the capital.

The same goes for water transportation. Before the river freezes, the grain and wages can be transported to the north.

Coupled with Xu Da's several migrations of people from Shanxi to North China, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that in a few years, the pressure on the imperial court to supply food and wages to the north would be much lessened.

Now after several years of recuperation, what Lao Zhu lacks is not food, but coins, but he doesn't have any and can't find any copper mines.

In order to issue banknotes instead of copper coins, an order was issued not to allow gold and silver to circulate in the market.

Lao Zhu was still very satisfied with the food reserves, but when it came to the silver reserves, he was extremely disappointed, just like Zhang Juzheng later who was worried.

“If we want water transportation to be more convenient, do we still need to repair the Yellow River?”

"Correct."

Listening to Xue Xiang's affirmative answer, Zhu Yuanzhang was not in a hurry.

The Yuan Dynasty followed the Mo Dao Stone Man's eye and stirred up rebellion in the Yellow River world.

He really has no intention of repairing the Yellow River at the moment.

According to the usual practice, which year does the Yellow River not cause disasters?

The most important thing is that Zhu Yuanzhang did not find any ministers who could control the river.

If people are randomly sent to build rivers, it will be a waste of people and money, and the ultimate direction will be no different from that of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, repairing the Yellow River is never a small matter. This matter needs long-term consideration!"

Xue Xiang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, hurriedly advised:

"Instead of repairing the Yellow River, we might as well build a canal. At least we can accumulate experience and solve some difficulties. Don't move lightly if you are not sure about the Yellow River.

Otherwise, once there is a heavy rain, the Yellow River will easily break through and flood everywhere. "

Therefore, the Chinese like moderation. Compared with lifting the roof, they are more likely to accept opening a window, and they will in turn persuade you to accept it.

"I currently have no idea about repairing the Yellow River. The Yellow River has just been diverted a few years ago and is not yet stable. Once it is disturbed, bigger mistakes will easily occur."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to repair the Yellow River, but his words misunderstood Xue Xiang.

Repairing the Yellow River is never a trivial matter. How can the final result be good without any preparation?

Xue Xiang breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, according to the Emperor's temperament, once His Majesty mentions this matter, he will have a plan in mind, and it will be difficult for ordinary people to bring him back.

It seems that His Majesty really wants to build the canal, which can be regarded as doing good logistics work such as food and fodder for the destruction of Beiyuan.

"Xue Xiang, please send someone to mark all the boats on the canal with numbers, and register them with the government, especially the official boats. In the future, civilian boats will also be marked with serial numbers to avoid problems in finding the owner of the boat. "

Zhu Yuanzhang gave an order and asked Xue Xiang to go down and do it.

This trick was learned from Wang Buli’s painting of stall numbers at the market, so that statistics could be better collected.

Because in the early Ming Dynasty, there was no statistics and registration of these ships, and Zhu Yuanzhang was only a small-scale experiment on the yellow registration and did not start it.

Without millions of canal workers relying on the canal, naturally there wouldn't be so many people working in the canal.

Nowadays, ordinary people have also been exposed to the phenomenon of kicking and fighting. However, after relying on the river to make a living, there is a lot of room for fraud just in shipbuilding and lumber.

As the system fell into disuse, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the shortage of silver for shipbuilding and transportation became extremely acute and prominent, directly leading to a shortage of food supply in Beijing and the north, which was a fatal threat to the Ming Dynasty's rule.

What's more, the grain from the southeast was specifically supplied to the capital's nobles, bureaucrats and border guards. In order to allocate this grain to the capital area free of charge, the Ming government stipulated that grain households must also undertake the task of transporting grain when paying the grain.

In other words, grain farmers had to pay heavy freight charges and were subject to plunder and plunder by governments at all levels.

In the long run, once difficulties arise in the operation of the imperial court, water transportation will naturally reach the point of collapse.

"Biao'er, you said once this water transportation is implemented, how will we collect taxes?"

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that collecting taxes was a very normal thing, because except for agricultural tools, educational materials and books, which were not taxed, everything else was taxed.

"I don't know. It depends on how they make money on the canal and how much money they make."

Zhu Biao has no idea about collecting taxes.

"Yes, we shouldn't ask you." Zhu Yuanzhang answered the question to himself: "I think our good son-in-law can collect more taxes than you. Let's ask him when he reports."

Zhu Biao:? ? ?

"Dad, you are biased. Why am I not as good as Wang Buli?"

"Get it."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands impatiently, unwilling to argue with his son on this matter.