Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 386 Jiangnan
In the Guangzhou Palace, Qu Shisi, Jiao Lian and other military officials gathered in the palace

Zhu Lang was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and sitting on the throne. Although Zhu Lang was crowned emperor, the court was actually quite peaceful.
After Zhu Lang led his army to a series of great victories over the Qing invaders, he had long been regarded as the legitimate ruler of the Ming court by the people of the world. All that was missing was a formality.
If we must say what was different after Zhu Lang ascended the throne, it was probably that the number of dragons on Zhu Lang's robe had increased to nine.
Zhu Lang glanced at the ministers below and said directly

"Everything is established with preparation, and failure to prepare leads to failure. Now that I have ascended the throne, the court should prepare for the Northern Expedition."

Qu Shisi and others below were quite calm when they heard this. The Guangdong court inherited the Ming Dynasty's legal system. As long as they took over this banner, no matter whether the court could or could not, was willing or unwilling, they had to use the name of the Northern Expedition to restore the country.
This is a matter of righteousness. Anyone who dares to abandon this title will be immediately labeled a traitor.

When Hongguang succeeded to the throne, even though he had long been planning to negotiate peace by sending money and living in peace in the south, he also had to tell the people of the world that the court was temporarily negotiating peace in order to first pacify the bandits and then plan a northern expedition to restore the country.
The Qing court came to negotiate a ceasefire this time because Dorgon wanted to withdraw troops to regain control of the court and deal with the rebellion of Hauge.

Zhu Lang agreed to a ceasefire because the Ming Dynasty also needed a period of peace and stability to accumulate strength.
Whether it was Dorgon or Zhu Lang, both sides knew very well that the two dynasties could never coexist peacefully, and that a war would sooner or later break out.

The reason why both sides agreed to negotiate peace was that they both believed that they could complete their preparations faster than the other side.

Zhu Lang negotiated peace at this time in order to obtain a stable external environment and implement the seven-bull grain system. Another reason was to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

The Ming court now controls most of the areas south of the Yangtze River. Sichuan, Shu, Jingxiang and other places in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have been completely occupied by the Ming court. In the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Qing court only has Wuchang and Gan Province left. The only places where the Qing court has an advantage now are Nanzhili and other places in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

If the two dynasties go to war again, the Ming court will definitely fight to the Yangtze River, and Nanzhili will directly become a battlefield.

If the Ming court wanted to push the battle line to the Yangtze River, no matter which direction it attacked from, it had to strengthen the navy and build warships.

The Ming navy currently has only ten large Fuchuan warships available, and each warship can only carry 200 people at most.
If the war horses, armor and weapons are included, the Ming Dynasty navy's current deployment capacity is probably less than 2,000 people, so it is necessary to start building warships at this time.

Chen Zizhuang was in charge of the military department. When he heard what Zhu Lang said, he frowned and said

"According to the report from the Ministry of War, the main force of the navy, the Fuzhou ship, costs at least 10,000 taels of silver per ship, and a slightly smaller offshore warship costs 4,000 to 5,000 taels of silver per ship. The court is currently short of funds, and I am afraid it will be difficult to expand the navy for the time being."

"The Qing army has ships in the south and horses in the north. The Qing army is strong in cavalry, while the Ming army is strong in navy and large ships. If the imperial court wants to attack Jiangnan, it must rely on the navy. Warships must be built no matter how expensive they are."

The Ming court wanted to capture Nanzhili, and there were only two directions. One was to start from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, go down the river through Wuchang, Ganzhou, Anqing and other places, and go all the way south to Nanjing.

The other option was to start from Zhejiang Province and advance by land and sea. The infantry and cavalry divisions would attack Suzhou and Songjiang in Zhejiang Province, while the navy would transport troops from the sea, go upstream along the Yangtze River estuary, and reach the city of Nanjing.

No matter which direction the Ming court attacks from, the navy is indispensable

Zhu Lang's current plan is to build inland river ships in Dongting Lake, Hubei Province, and then build seagoing ships in Fuzhou.

When the war really breaks out, the Ming court can use its troops on both the east and west fronts to make the Qing court be attacked from both ends.

But what Chen Zizhuang said was indeed true. The cost of building warships was indeed too high, and the Ming court could not afford to spend too much money on shipbuilding.
Zhu Lang had previously implemented a policy of replacing silver with grain in the land tax in order to reduce the exploitation of officials.
The Ming court had a two-year truce, and now rice and grain were plentiful in various places, but taxes and silver were still not enough to cover expenses.

Silver is required to build warships, and the wood, lacquer and other materials needed for shipbuilding can only be purchased from the public with silver.

The large-scale transactions between the court and the people of the Ming Dynasty had already been monetized, so it was difficult for the court to directly use rice to buy the materials needed for shipbuilding.

However, Zhu Lang did not intend to give up the shipbuilding plan. It would be difficult for the imperial court to obtain a large amount of tax silver from the people in a short period of time, so the silver for shipbuilding could only be used to mint coins for maritime trade.
Zhu Lang thought of this and asked Li Guoyong to call Zheng Tai, the ambassador of the Maritime Trade Department. Soon after Li Guoyong left, Zheng Tai was led into the palace.
Zhu Lang looked at Zheng Tai who was standing in the hall with his head down, and asked directly

“How was the imperial court’s copper purchase last year?”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Tai immediately replied respectfully:

"After the court opened up the Ryukyu Islands, not only did the cost of purchasing copper drop significantly, but the amount of copper purchased also increased significantly. Last year, the amount of copper shipped back from Japan increased significantly compared to the year before."

In order to ensure the stability of Japan, the Edo Shogunate finally decided to abandon Ryukyu, thousands of miles away, and ordered the Satsuma Domain to withdraw its troops and return home.

After the Japanese troops withdrew, Zhu Zhiyu and other overseas Ming troops officially took control of Ryukyu.

Thanks to the efforts of Zhu Zhiyu and others, Zhu Zhiyu has now established a secret smuggling channel with the Satsuma and Hirado clans.
Zhu Zhiyu and his colleagues bought copper from the two feudal states day and night, and then stored it in the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ming official ships only needed to sail to the Ryukyu Kingdom to load the copper and transport it away, which reduced the distance by half compared to before.

When Zhu Zhiyu and his team first arrived in Ryukyu the year before, the Ming court only shipped back 2 million catties of copper. After Zhu Zhiyu and his team formally took control of Ryukyu, the amount of copper shipped back to the court soared to 3 million catties last year.
After establishing the copper smuggling channel, the cost of purchasing copper in the Ming Dynasty was greatly reduced.
Previously, the Ming court purchased copper from Nagasaki, and the cost of minting coins was 12 taels per 100 jin. However, after the Ming court used smuggled copper to mint copper coins, the total cost was only 9 taels.
The Ming Dynasty minted 100 kilograms of copper coins to mint 20 strings of coins. After the Ming court tied the new coins to rice, the value of the new coins stabilized at a ratio of one string to one tael.

The Ming court could earn 11 taels of silver for every 100 jin of copper it used to cast coins. Last year, the Ming court made a profit of 330,000 taels of silver just from casting coins.
Now, coinage has become a major pillar of the Ming court's income, almost surpassing the commercial taxes collected by the court last year. Zhu Lang heard this and asked again.

"The imperial court wants to expand the scale of coin minting, and the Maritime Trade Department may increase the amount of copper purchased this year"

Zheng Tai did not respond immediately after hearing this. He thought for a moment before replying:

"The number of official ships of the imperial court is limited, and 3 million catties of copper is basically the limit of its transportation capacity. However, in addition to official ships, the imperial court can mobilize private merchant ships to stop at Ryukyu on their return journey to assist the imperial court in transporting copper."

"If we add the private transport capacity, it shouldn't be a problem for the imperial court to transport 6 million kilograms of copper every year."

"But copper is good, but silk is not. Japanese silk is in short supply. Satsuma and Hirado only want silk and satin when they sell copper. They don't want other things like porcelain and lacquer."

"If silk goods are used to buy copper, the profits of the Maritime Trade Department this year may drop significantly."

After the Ming court obtained the smuggling channel, it had greatly reduced the amount of copper purchased in Nagasaki, and only purchased a symbolic amount to cover up its tracks.
However, the trade between the Maritime Trade Bureau and Nagasaki did not stop. Every year, the Ming court still shipped a large amount of goods from the Central Plains to Nagasaki for dumping and earning huge profits.

Among the territories controlled by the Ming court, only Fujian and Guangdong provinces produced silk products. The amount of silk products that the Maritime Trade Department could purchase each year was roughly fixed.

Silk was the core commodity of transoceanic trade at that time. Both Japan and Southeast Asia had a strong demand for silk. The Maritime Trade Bureau could not buy all the silk, so it had to leave some for private sea merchants to be shipped to Southeast Asia for sale.
If the Ming court took away all the silk goods from the two provinces, the private maritime trade industry would be greatly affected.

The real silk production center of the Ming Dynasty was actually the Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and other places along the Taihu Lake, but now these places are occupied by the Qing Dynasty. Although the Zheng family has some channels in Jiangnan, the amount that can be smuggled is still extremely limited.

If the Maritime Trade Department used the silk goods originally intended for the Nagasaki trade to purchase copper, it would be equivalent to transferring the profits of the silk goods trade in Japan to the two domains of Satsuma. I am afraid that the profits of the Maritime Trade Department this year will not be very good.

The profits of the Maritime Trade Department went directly into the inner treasury. This was Zhu Lang's money. Although Zhu Lang could still make a profit by having people mint coins after converting them into copper, wouldn't it be the same as a loss if he made less money? How could he tolerate this?

Zhu Lang thought for a moment and then said

"We need to increase the amount of copper we purchase this year, but we also need to take advantage of the benefits of maritime trade. Since there is a shortage of silk from Fujian and Guangdong, we can get it from Jiangnan."

Raw silk is made into silk and satin, but the Tartars in the Qing court were born outside the Great Wall and liked to wear fox fur and sable fur. What did they need so much silk for?

Since they can't use these silk goods, they might as well hand them over to the Ming Dynasty. These silk goods circulate in the Central Plains, and in the end they still make money for themselves. Being able to make money from foreigners is called ability.
And since the Ming court has already begun preparations for the Northern Expedition, it is time to start making some arrangements for the Jiangnan area of ​​Jiangxi Province.
Let's not talk about Gan Province for now. Money is attractive to people, and the silk trade is very profitable. The Ming court is using the silk trade to pry open the gap in Jiangnan.

Zhu Lang thought for a while, sorted out his plan for Jiangnan, then looked at Li Yongmao below and said

"Since the imperial court intends to march north, all aspects must be prepared early. Li Qing was the governor of Jiangxi Province in the past and knows the situation in Jiangxi Province best. Would you be willing to go to northern Guangdong and manage Jiangxi Province in advance for the imperial court?"

"I wish to go to Gan Province and govern it for His Majesty's court."

Li Yongmao's face flashed with excitement, but he immediately stood up and responded respectfully.

Li Yongmao made a great contribution by delivering the letters of the Huizhou gentry to the Qing Dynasty two years ago.

After the Huizhou gentry were dealt with, Li Yongmao officially returned to the court and took charge of the Taichang Temple and served as the Minister of Taichang Temple.
The Minister of the Imperial Household was a third-rank official in charge of the imperial ancestral temple sacrifices, and was known as the Little Nine Ministers.
To others, the position of Minister of the Ministry of Rites was a rare and noble position, but this was obviously not the case for Li Yongmao.
Li Yongmao was once a cabinet minister, so a mere position as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites would not satisfy him.

However, Li Yongmao returned to the court too late. The higher positions in the court had already been divided up by the cabinet ministers and their trusted subordinates, so Li Yongmao could no longer force his way forward.
Li Yongmao had already submitted petitions many times, requesting to be sent to Jiangxi Province. However, Zhu Lang had previously focused on promoting the new system and did not intend to cause too much trouble in Jiangxi Province. That was why he had not sent Li Yongmao to Jiangxi Province.
Li Yongmao was ordered to govern Gan Province this time. As long as Li Yongmao could help the court recover Gan Province during the Northern Expedition, Li Yongmao would be able to return to the cabinet based on this achievement.

During his tenure as Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Li Yongmao did not relax his contacts with Gan Province. Given Li Yongmao's understanding of Gan Province at that time, it would not be difficult for the Ming court to take back Gan Province immediately.
Seeing Li Yongmao stand up and respond, Zhu Lang nodded slightly and began to adjust the appointments in the court.
Li Yongmao was appointed as the Governor-General of Jiangxi Province and the Governor of Northern Guangdong, responsible for liaison and management of Jiangxi Province, and also responsible for defending the Jiangxi-Guangdong defense line in Nanxiong and Meiguan.
Zhang Jiayu resigned as the governor of northern Guangdong and was appointed as the governor of southern Zhili. Xu Fuyuan was appointed as the governor of Suzhou and Songjiang. Shi Lang was appointed as the general of Suzhou and Songjiang.
These three people will be transferred to Zhejiang Province to open up the silk trade route in Jiangnan and to explore the Jiangnan area in advance.

The military officials in the palace heard the arrangement, but no one objected.
Nanzhili was the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the governor of Nanzhili was a powerful official. But that was in the past.

The entire territory of Nanzhili is now in the hands of the Qing invaders, and the Ming Dynasty has no control over this place

Zhang Jiayu's position as the governor of Nanzhili was just a nice-sounding title.
After Zhang Jiayu and others received the order, whether they could really turn the virtual into the real depends on their own ability.

Zhu Lang's appointment is both a challenge and an opportunity for Zhang Jiayu. If Zhang Jiayu can really help the court recover Nanzhili, then Zhang Jiayu will be able to rise directly and become an important official of the court.

(End of this chapter)