allonlinenovel Chapter 546 What do you think about moving the capital to Beiping?
Chapter 546 What do you think about moving the capital to Beiping?
Since this pit was unavoidable, Emperor Zhu didn't mind jumping in openly and generously.
At the very least, you need to be fast and have a cool pose.
Emperor Zhu stood before the map, pondering as he said, "The original prefectures, states, and counties are easier to deal with."
"But with the addition of three provincial administration commissions in Hebei, Liaoxi, and Liaodong, there will be three additional provincial judicial commissions and three additional military commissions."
"That means there are six more vacancies all at once."
"This doesn't even include what that bastard said about adding small government offices between the prefectures and counties and villages."
"If we include all of them, from the second rank to the ninth rank, wouldn't there be several thousand more vacancies?"
"If we include clerks and servants, there would probably be more than ten or twenty thousand vacancies."
The Emperor Zhu grew angrier as he spoke, and pointed to a location near Jizhou: "This place is even more crucial."
“If the Tartars advance from this area and send another force to attack Shanhaiguan, Funingwei will be caught in a dilemma, Kaipingwei will be unable to hold on, and Yongpingfu will immediately be in danger.”
"Therefore, the Great Wall area must be heavily fortified."
"The passes along the route also need to be repaired."
"In this way, the shortage of money, grain, artisans, and laborers will become even greater."
"If we want to quickly transport grain from Jiangnan, we have to take the sea route."
Emperor Zhu pointed to the location of Tianjin Port in later generations: "A port should be built here."
"In addition to sea routes, land routes and canals also need to be repaired."
The further the conversation went, the uglier Emperor Zhu's expression became.
"Even emptying the national treasury for the next ten years wouldn't be enough, let alone emptying it completely."
"Damn it, that bastard really dug a huge pit for us!"
The more Emperor Zhu spoke, the more displeased he became.
The feeling of knowing there's a pit ahead but having no choice but to jump in despite it made Emperor Zhu want to curse.
What were those two old scoundrels, Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, even doing?
Why didn't they think of these things when the provinces were changed to provincial administration commissioners?
Then there's Wang Guangyang, who, despite being the dignified Provincial Governor of Shandong, couldn't even figure out the mineral resources in the various prefectures, states, and counties under his jurisdiction. In the end, he had to rely on his children to help him explore and mine. It's simply not worth the salary we paid him!
Empress Ma ignored Emperor Zhu's sour face and instead stared blankly at the map, lost in thought.
Is this where the fourth prince's fiefdom will be?
Could we possibly clash with Hu Yuan anytime, anywhere?
Empress Ma suppressed her worries and asked, "You intend to assign Yongping Prefecture and Beiping Prefecture to the Hebei Provincial Administration Commission? And who do you plan to appoint as the Military Commander of Hebei?"
Emperor Zhu gave a faint "hmm," but did not directly answer Empress Ma's question.
After a long while, Emperor Zhu tentatively asked, "Sister, what do you think about moving the capital to Beiping?"
Empress Ma was slightly taken aback and asked, "Move the capital to Beiping?"
Emperor Zhu hummed in agreement.
"Moving the capital to Beiping serves two purposes: firstly, to demonstrate our respect for the people of the north and to win their hearts and minds."
"Secondly, we can take advantage of the relocation of the capital to legitimately strengthen the defenses of the north."
"This is the third one..."
Emperor Zhu chuckled, his expression gradually turning somewhat ferocious: "It's also to give certain people a warning."
Empress Ma frowned slightly and asked, "What about Fengyang?"
In the second year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Zhu issued an edict designating Fengyang as the central capital, and then mobilized the entire nation's resources to undertake massive construction projects.
If the final decision is made to move the capital to Beiping, what will happen to Fengyang?
How should we calculate the human and material resources invested in the past two years?
However, to Empress Ma's surprise, Emperor Zhu said without hesitation, "Stop the work."
"Dengzhou University is short of craftsmen and teachers."
"Compared to Dengzhou University, the construction of Zhongdu is not so urgent. We should stop construction where necessary and wait until Dengzhou University is completed before making any further plans."
Empress Ma nodded again, reached out and took Emperor Zhu's hand, and said with a smile, "We're not in a hurry to move the capital. You should think about it carefully first, and then you can talk to our son-in-law about it later."
Emperor Zhu nodded slightly, his mind still preoccupied with the matter of moving the capital.
Moving the capital was never something that could be done simply by issuing an imperial edict.
Especially in a situation like that of the Ming Dynasty, moving the capital would be an extremely troublesome and major undertaking.
The first issue is the problem of taxes and grain.
If Nanjing is designated as the capital, then the taxes and grain from Jiangnan only need to be escorted to Nanjing.
Once the capital is moved to Beiping, the first thing to consider is the increased cost of transporting taxes and grain.
In addition, changes in the defensive line must be taken into account.
According to Emperor Zhu's original plan for enfeoffment, the Ming Dynasty would form a first line of defense consisting of Liao, Ning, Yan, Gu, Dai, Jin, Qing, and Su, and a second line of defense consisting of Qin, Zhou, Lu, Qi, and Chu. The two lines of defense would be able to check and balance each other, and unless more than half of the princes rebelled at the same time, no one would be able to threaten the court.
Moving the capital to Beiping meant that the fiefdoms of the various princes would have to be changed accordingly.
The first to be affected was Zhu Laosi.
Everything was fine before the capital was moved, but the fiefdoms were gone after the capital was moved?
As for the third point, it was also the most troublesome issue for Emperor Zhu and Empress Ma.
The people of Beiping were naturally willing to move the capital there.
Even the people in the north will be happy.
But what about the people of Jinling and Jiangnan?
After all, it is the capital city, the most important place under the emperor's nose. No matter what, those officials would not dare to go too far. Even in the face of floods and droughts, they can receive timely relief and resettlement.
Once the capital is moved, all these hidden benefits will be gone.
Therefore, the people of Nanjing and Jiangnan were definitely unwilling.
As for the last and most important point, once the capital was established in Beiping, it would mean that the entire capital would have no natural defenses to hold.
If our descendants are capable, that's fine. But if one of them is not, we might end up being driven to the gates of the capital.
Emperor Zhu pondered for a long time with an uncertain expression, and finally could only sigh helplessly: "Let's talk about moving the capital later. Right now, we still need to resolve the selection of the three officials and assistant officials for the three provincial administrations."
……
There's an old saying in Zhongyuan Hall: "When it rains, it pours; when the boat is late, it gets a headwind."
Just as Emperor Zhu was pondering whether to move the capital and how to arrange the three new provincial administration offices, Erhu came to him with a secret report from the inspector.
Throughout the entire Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, there were at least a hundred illegal coal mines of all sizes, and two to three hundred unscrupulous workshops that ruthlessly exploited the people.
In short, there are countless cases similar to those in Laizhou Prefecture, and the people suffer greatly as a result.
Emperor Zhu held the secret report in his hand, his face ashen as if he had swallowed three pounds of greenbottle flies.
What exactly is Wang Guangyang good for?!
Yes, we appointed you as the Provincial Governor of Shandong because you are obedient and won't rashly interfere in the affairs of Dengzhou Prefecture.
But did we ever say we'd make you the clay puppet governor?
Having served as the Shandong Provincial Governor for over three years, you witnessed the emergence of hundreds of illegal coal mines of varying sizes in your jurisdiction. How do you, Wang Guangyang, explain this to the people under your rule?