The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 300 Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan
Wanli really wanted to set up the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Regional Commandery.

Chongqing Prefecture, Bozhou Prefecture, Sinan Prefecture, Sizhou Prefecture, Zhenyuan Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture, Luzhou, Yongning Prefecture and other prefectures were successively incorporated into the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Xingdusi by him.

He also merged the original Shuixi Xuanwei Office, Shuidong Xuanwei Office, Chishui Wei, Bijie Wei, etc., and then split them into Qianxi Prefecture, Qiandong Prefecture, Chishui Prefecture, Bijie Prefecture, and then incorporated them into the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Xingdu Office.

This is just nonsense again.

The so-called Xingdusi is generally a provincial administration commissioner's office whose territory is too large, so it is divided into a Dusi and a Xingdusi.

Although the Chengxuan Administration Commission had no subordinate relationship with the Dusi and Xingdusi, it was unprecedented for an Xingdusi to span three Chengxuan Administration Commissions.

It's against the rules for him to do this.

However, he did not even discuss it with the civil officials and issued the decree directly.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Yu Youcai, is his confidant. He will carry out any decree, and those civil servants with ulterior motives have no way to stop him.

This is not a big deal.

Originally, the addition of so many prefectures would be a huge profit. Three years as a clean magistrate would earn him 100,000 silver coins.

The court in the capital did not have so much money to embezzle. Many high-ranking officials in the court sent their confidants to the local areas to embezzle money. For example, Yan Song sent Zhao Wenhua, Yan Maoqing, Yang Shun and others to make money everywhere.

Of course, most of the corrupt officials in the court were not at the level of Yan Song, so they could not send governors or provincial governors, so they could only send county magistrates, prefects, and prefects.

This time, Wanli was extremely decisive. He did not use any of the Jinshi candidates from other categories. He only used those who had passed the Jinshi examinations in the 11th, 14th and 17th years of the Wanli reign.

Moreover, all the people he used were disciples of Yu Youcai, Shen Li and Li Tingji.

That guy, the newly-minted Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli's reign was appointed as a seventh-rank county magistrate, but the Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli's reign was directly appointed as a fourth-rank prefect, and the Jinshi in the 14th year of Wanli's reign was directly appointed as a fifth-rank prefect.

Is it possible to improve the rank of officials in this way?
Those he transferred to had all served in the imperial court in the capital. What would happen if they were transferred back?

A fourth-rank prefect can be directly promoted to a vice-minister of the six ministries, and a fifth-rank prefect can be promoted to a doctor of the six ministries without any problem. He can definitely do such a thing.

He's capable of even more outrageous things.

Li Hualong was only a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli, but he was directly promoted to the Minister of War and Governor-General of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan!
Many civil servants in the court were dissatisfied with his autocratic approach.

Wanli didn't care whether the civil officials were satisfied or not. He was busy setting up the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Regional Command.

Li Hualong never thought that he would be promoted to governor so quickly. He had not been the governor for a few years. Moreover, the Emperor had asked him to pretend to be sick and rest at home for several months.

Even an official like this couldn't rise to the top so quickly.

Only at this moment did he realize how important his mentor's teachings were.

In fact, the teachings of my mentor can be summed up in one sentence: loyalty to the emperor. He should do whatever the emperor tells him to do.

The Emperor asked him to pretend to be sick and rest at home for a few months before rushing over.

He was promoted to governor without doing anything!
He was still in a dream at this moment.

The navy warship carried him upstream from Chongqing Prefecture to Hejiang, and then from Hejiang to Chishui and arrived in Bozhou.

They even changed boats once along the way.

Because there are several rocky beaches in the middle reaches of the Chishui River, many huge rocks have rolled into the water, so large ships of 800 tons cannot pass, and only small boats of 400 tons can be taken.

If the river channel can be cleared, there will be no problem in rowing a large 800-ton ship in.

He was thinking about how to clear the river when a huge village suddenly appeared in front of him.

This is Maotai Village, the famous wine town in Bozhou. It is only about a hundred miles from here to Hailongtun.

It's not even noon yet. If we had a horse, we should be able to reach Hailongtun around 3 p.m.

Question, are there any horses near this pier?
He subconsciously looked towards the dock in the distance.

When he saw this, his eyes almost popped out.

There were a lot of horses and people near the dock, and it seemed that tens of thousands of imperial guards had arrived.

Is His Majesty coming too?
The fleet gradually approached the dock. He took a closer look and saw that the Emperor was really standing on the dock wearing the uniform of the Imperial Guards and smiling.

He was truly flattered. His Majesty actually ran hundreds of miles to come and pick him up in person!
Before the boat even stopped, he quickly jumped onto the dock, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, Your Majesty, and to Her Majesty the Imperial Consort." Wanli smiled slightly and said, "Yu Ye, why are you here? I was just about to get on the boat and go with you to see those rocky beaches."

Oh, it turns out that His Majesty didn’t come here specifically to pick him up.

Upon hearing this, Li Hualong quickly turned around and raised his hand, saying, "Your Majesty, please."

Upon hearing this, Wanli took Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan and others on board.

More than ten ships of elite imperial guards boarded the fleet, and the fleet set off.

The place they were going to was only about ten miles away, and it was downstream. The 400-ton speedboat didn't even need to be rowed hard, and they arrived in less than a quarter of an hour.

Wanli looked at the towering rocks in the water and the obviously turbulent river surface, and his brows couldn't help but frown.

The Chishui River is actually quite wide. The middle reaches are about thirty or forty feet wide. Moreover, the water volume is quite sufficient. The water depth is over a thousand tons, so large ships should have no problem crossing it.

The problem is that there are many such rocky beaches in the middle reaches of the river.

Wanli looked at the calm river behind him and said solemnly, "Yuye, most of the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Xingdusi is mountainous and has abundant timber, which is suitable for growing tea.

If we want the soldiers and civilians here to have a life of plenty, we have to cut down trees, plant tea leaves, and then ship them out.

The mountain paths here are winding and ups and downs, so it is definitely not possible to transport them by land. We have no choice but to take the water route.

Therefore, we must make the mountain rivers as navigable as possible for ships, and the larger the ships, the better.

Have you ever thought about how to dredge these rivers to make them as accommodating as possible to large ships?"

Li Hualong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I have thought about it.

The Chishui River is relatively good, with plenty of water and enough depth for large ships to pass through. The only problem is that there are a lot of rocky beaches. Although it is quite troublesome to clean up these rocky beaches, it is not difficult.

We only need to arrange more soldiers on the river bank to prepare for dragging with ropes and nets, and then arrange soldiers who are good at swimming to go into the water to tie the boulders to the ropes and shovel the gravel into the nets. For the boulders that cannot be dragged, we can chisel or even blow them up.

This kind of cleaning is just time-consuming and laborious. After the rubble beach is cleaned, the river channel will be just like the river channels before and after it, and large ships of 800 or even 1,000 tons can pass through it without any problems.

The key point is that there are still many rivers in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Xingdusi that are not deep enough, making it difficult for small boats to pass, let alone large ships.

For example, Qijiang River is located just north of Bozhou Prefecture. If ships can pass through it, it would only take more than 200 miles to travel from Bozhou Prefecture to Chongqing Prefecture, which would shorten the journey by about half.

However, the water depth of Qijiang River is not deep enough, and a 400-ton express boat cannot carry too much cargo even when it reaches Qijiang County, about 100 miles north of Bozhou, otherwise it may run aground.

This kind of river is difficult for large ships to pass through. We can only dig canals and build sluices during the dry season. When the water is abundant, we can sail large ships into the canals. Then we close the sluices one by one to let the water level rise, so that large ships can sail to Bozhou Prefecture.

Well, that’s good. You know a lot about water conservancy.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What do you think about cutting down trees and planting tea trees?"

Li Hualong looked at the green hillsides on both sides and pondered, “There is indeed a lot of wood here, but it will only take a few years to cut down trees along the river.

If they cut wood too far from the river bank, it would be too labor-intensive, so they could only cut rare and valuable woods, or the big trees needed to build giant ships.

It would be a good idea to plant tea after cutting down the trees on both sides of the river. As long as we find more high-quality tea tree varieties suitable for planting here, the tea yield should be able to reach more than 600 kilograms per mu.

We first clear the hillsides suitable for growing tea trees, and then plant tea seedlings. After two or three years, the tea leaves can be picked, which can offset the income from cutting down trees. After four or five years, the tea production will increase, and the income will be enough to stop cutting down trees.

The key is how to sell the tea. There are many tea-producing areas in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. If the tea production here is too large, it will not only be difficult to sell, but it will also lower the price of tea. This is something that I really cannot control."

Well, you have thought it through very carefully.

As for selling tea, just leave it to me.

In two or three years, I will also start to seize the benefits of overseas trade. In four or five years, I should be able to seize them all. By then, I will need a large amount of tea.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Just plant the tea leaves. Plant as much as you can. Don't worry about not being able to sell them. I will find a way.

The Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Provincial Commandery is now handed over to you. I will give you six years. I hope that by then the soldiers and civilians here will be able to live and work in peace and contentment, with ample food and clothing."

Six years?
Upon hearing this, Li Hualong bowed solemnly and said, "Your humble servant understands."

(End of this chapter)