The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 541 Military News, Planning

Just as it got dark, the street lamps in the palaces and on both sides of the palace gates were lit up one after another, illuminating the entire palace brightly and brilliantly. The sky above the imperial city was filled with stars, which reflected each other, creating an auspicious sign.

There were street lights in the Forbidden City during the Ming Dynasty. After Wei Zhongxian came to power, he abolished the street lights under the pretext of "being cautious with fire and candles." In fact, this was to make it easier for people to enter and exit the palace late at night and do shameful things.

Later, when the Manchus moved into the Forbidden City and the Dashun Rebellion recovered the Forbidden City, they continued this rule. Street lights were not turned on at night, which caused many palace maids and eunuchs to fall into the moat and lose their lives.

Going to court is also called "Dianmao", which means that the morning court session is scheduled at Mao time. When the roll call is called at Mao time, people have to rush to the palace at Yin time. It is pitch dark and you can't see your hand in front of you.

According to the Dashun custom, the princes were led to the Longzong and Jingyun gates by lanterns, and the cabinet ministers were led to the inner right gate by corner lanterns. As a result, a particularly interesting phenomenon occurred: the ministers who were going to court arrived early and waited at the palace gate. When they saw a prince or cabinet minister, they would follow him or her to "take advantage of the opportunity" and enter the palace.

Li Hu entered the palace with the help of others, so he had long been dissatisfied with this broken rule. On the second day after entering the palace, he ordered people to restore the street lights from the Yongle period.

Street lamps were installed on both sides of the palace and the palace gates, with white marble as the base, copper lamp towers and copper wire door walls. Every day, the supervisor of the Imperial Household Department was responsible for adding oil and lighting the lamps for night lighting and patrols.

As soon as this decree was issued, all the palace maids and eunuchs in the Forbidden City expressed their gratitude enthusiastically. After all, no one wanted to fall into the moat and drown.

Ministers of the previous dynasty submitted memorials one after another, and even the upright officials submitted flattering memorials to the emperor.

The lights in the cabinet duty room were also on.

Li Hu walked in hurriedly.

Jia She and the two grand secretaries Shi and Meng stood up immediately.

As soon as he entered the room, Li Hu asked, "Where is the battle report from Korea? What kind of victory did they win? Read it to me." Then he walked straight to the couch on the south side and sat down.

Jia She: "Yes. After the cabinet received Xue Ke's urgent message of six hundred miles, it adjusted the garrison in Korea to prevent the Japanese from invading Korea. Three thousand Japanese, led by more than a dozen Korean traitors, bypassed our defense line and attacked our camp, but were repelled by our army! More than 800 Japanese died, and our army lost more than 200. However."

Li Hu: "But what?"

Jia She: "The Japanese burned our army's food and grass. Therefore, our army had to abandon Gyeongsang Province and retreat to Chungcheong Province. In addition, we captured several Japanese and got some information from them. They were the Dutch."

Li Hu nodded. Although the Japanese were closed to the outside world, merchant ships from Dashun and the Netherlands were allowed to go to Japan for trade.

Jia She: "The Dutch not only provided the Japanese with intelligence, but also provided them with a large amount of weapons and ammunition. It is said that the Japanese began to prepare at the beginning of the year. Their domestic forces reached a unity under the mediation of the Dutch, and a total of 300,000 troops were assembled."

Three hundred thousand? This is selling everything they have and gambling on the fate of the country again! With three hundred thousand people, they are not afraid of being dragged to death by the huge logistics!
Li Hu also figured it out. It was the red-haired devils from Southeast Asia who were causing trouble again. The Netherlands had long passed its golden age and they did not have this ability.

Shi Daxueshi spoke up: "Your Majesty, the Japanese are coming fiercely, and Liaodong and Korea are short of troops. Should we issue an order to urge the main force of the imperial army to return to the capital as soon as possible?"

Meng Daxueshi said: "Just in case, we should draw troops from Hetao, Saibei and the Mongolian tribes in the south of the desert. At least 150,000 troops should be gathered!"

Jia She and Shi Daxueshi nodded in unison.

The South had just been pacified, but it still surrendered at the first sign of war. In addition, war was about to break out in southern Xinjiang, so Li Hu left Chen Qiang, Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding, General Shenwu Feng Tang and the main force of the Beijing Camp to Lin Ruhai, and let him control the military and political power of the provinces south of the Yangtze River. Now Lin Ruhai is a veritable local emperor!
Li Hu returned to Beijing first under the escort of the Hetao cavalry. The main force of the imperial guards protected the gentry from the south of the Yangtze River and their clansmen as they entered Beijing. They cried all the way and had just entered the territory of Shandong. They might not be able to enter Beijing until the end of October.

There are only tens of thousands of imperial guards and more than ten thousand Hetao cavalry in the capital, the difference in military strength is huge!

Li Hu suddenly remembered the national population figures he saw at the imperial meeting the day before. In the year when Emperor Yongxing ascended the throne, the population of Dashun had reached 360 million.

Emperor Yongchang implemented the policy of equalizing the land tax and reducing the burden on the common people, stimulating the desire to have children, and the population grew explosively. Although China experienced two major rebellions, no vicious massacres occurred and the population loss was not very large. The current population is definitely still over 350 million.

As society and economy stabilize and the population continues to grow, land resources will become insufficient. Add to that the fact that much land is controlled by aristocratic families, conflicts will break out and eventually lead to unrest.

Li Hu will take back the land from the aristocratic families sooner or later, but now is not the time. Domestic land resources are tight, so he can only find a way from other places. Although North Korea is a mountainous region, the plains of North Korea, especially the rivers and coastal areas in the south and west of the country in the previous life, are flat, fertile, and have sufficient water resources. In addition, the climate is warm and humid, and there is no frost period, which is very beneficial to the growth of crops. It produces a lot of crops such as rice, wheat, corn, and various vegetables and fruits.

How does the saying go? Even a mosquito leg is meat. As long as it is rationally developed and utilized, it should be no problem to feed 10 or 20 million people. If we include the Northeast and Japan, we won't have to worry about land for at least the next 30 years.

Instead of thirty years, Li Hu is confident that the reform can be completed within ten years, by nationalizing the land, prohibiting the buying and selling of land, and ensuring that those who till the land own the land.

Since we want to immigrate to Korea and Japan, we must ask them to give up their land. War is the best way to solve the problem.

Seeing Li Hu sitting there in a daze, the two Grand Secretaries Shi and Meng turned their eyes to Jia She.

Jia She asked tentatively: "Your Majesty."

Li Hu came back to his senses: "Hmm." Then, he thought about it for a moment and spoke out what was in his mind.

As for Li Hu's idea of ​​using the Japanese to cleanse the Koreans, not only Jia She, but even the two grand secretaries Shi and Meng did not think that Li Hu's idea was cruel.

Jia She and the two grand secretaries Shi and Meng looked at each other and nodded in unison.

Li Hu: "That's it. We will show the enemy weakness first, lure them out of their hole, lure them to Korea, or even Liaodong, and then strike them with a thunderbolt to wipe them out!"

Jia She stroked his beard and smiled, "Without these 300,000 young men, Japan will be seriously injured."

Li Hu stood up and said with a smile: "Next Spring Festival, let the Japanese royal family dance in Fengtian Hall."

The two grand secretaries, Shi and Meng, also laughed.

At this moment, the clock in the corner rang.

Li Hu glanced at them and said, "It's getting late. Go to bed early. You have to get up early tomorrow."

Jia She had already stood up and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, please go back and rest. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heaven is extremely complicated. It will probably take an hour in total and it will be very exhausting."

Shi Daxueshi continued, "The officials of the six ministries and nine ministers are waiting for me in the lobby of the Ministry of Rites. Finally, we will review the procedures of the enthronement ceremony to see if there are any problems."

Li Hu smiled and nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. I have already asked the imperial kitchen to prepare a midnight snack and send it over at the second watch."

The three of them said in unison: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Li Hu smiled and walked out. Wang Daniu and the little fat man who were waiting at the door followed him quickly.

Tomorrow is the first day of October, the day when Li Hu ascends the throne.

After walking two steps, Li Hu said to Wang Daniu, "You should go back and have a rest too." Then he took the fat man and several eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department and walked towards the Kunning Palace.

Li Hu did not live in the Palace of Tranquil Longevity or the Palace of Heavenly Purity, but chose to live with Lin Daiyu.

It is so boring to sleep alone. The night is long. Hugging the sweet and soft Lin Daiyu can warm the bed and relieve boredom.

When I am happy, I will go to Xiangling and Amber. Well, after tomorrow Xue Baochai and Jia Yingchun will join us.

Thinking of this, Li Hu subconsciously touched his waist. Being an emperor is tiring.
(End of this chapter)