Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 186 Pirates Strike Again, Chaos Reigns Across the Land (Part 2)

Yazhou is located at the southernmost part of Qiongzhou Prefecture, which is truly the ends of the earth.

That place is not just remote; even by the straight-line distance, Yazhou is nearly 6,000 li away from the capital!
Yazhou is more than 2,000 li away from Dongfan, which is more than twice as far as Dongfan is from Luzon.

Zhu Jue examined the map closely, then frowned.

The fact that the Zhejiang merchants and wealthy families sent pirates to harass Yazhou was not simply a matter of wanting to annoy him.

This is because Qiongzhou Prefecture is simply too large, with an east-west width and a north-south length of about a thousand miles.

Pirates could raid Yazhou, as well as other coastal prefectures and counties such as Danzhou, Wanzhou, Changhua, and Huitong.

How many people would he need to send to guard such a large area?

If we don't send someone to guard the area, then we must quickly eliminate the pirate Liu Xiang.

The problem is, the pirate Liu Xiang is clearly just harassing them, not trying to fight them to the death. He'll probably run away as soon as he gets the news. The navy's fleet will probably be searching for him for months and still not find a trace of him.

The wealthy merchants and businessmen of Zhejiang probably want him to transfer his naval fleet to the waters off Qiongzhou Prefecture to suppress the pirate Liu Xiang. This would leave the coastal defenses of Zhejiang, Zhili, and Fujian with loopholes everywhere, allowing these guys to sell their goods overseas again.

Are we just going to leave such a large area to be harassed by pirates?

He frowned and pondered for a while, then ordered Wang Chengen to find the records in the "Tax and Labor Register" of Qiongzhou Prefecture.

There are only four records of Qiongzhou Prefecture compiling the "Yellow Register of Taxes and Labor Services" on a large scale.

In the twenty-fourth year of the Hongwu reign, Qiongzhou Prefecture compiled the first "Yellow Register of Taxes and Labor Services," which included more than 68,000 households, more than 291,000 people, and more than 3 million mu of farmland.

After that, the population of Qiongzhou Prefecture actually decreased instead of increasing. In the seventh year of Zhengde, there were only 54,000 households and 250,000 people left. In the eleventh year of Jiajing, it seemed to have increased a little, but it was still only 55,000 households and 269,000 people. In the forty-fifth year of Wanli, the population decreased again, to only 58,000 households and 250,000 people.

The farmland seems to be decreasing, and now there are only more than 2.6 million mu left.

Qiongzhou Prefecture is even larger than Dongfan Prefecture, with at least tens of millions of acres of arable land and at least tens of millions of acres of mountainous land.

The key is that the climate there is quite hot, which is particularly suitable for growing rubber trees and sugarcane.

If Qiongzhou Prefecture could be developed, the output of rubber and sugar would be immense.

The rubber tree seeds are almost stolen back, and sugarcane planting has already been promoted in Dongfan.

Perhaps we should consider vigorously developing Qiongzhou Prefecture.

The biggest problem in developing Qiongzhou Prefecture now is its population. Qiongzhou Prefecture has only 50,000 households and more than 250,000 people. It is already very difficult for them to cultivate more than 2.6 million mu of land. These people certainly do not have the spare capacity to plant rubber trees and sugarcane.

The Ming Dynasty did not actually lack population. Shanxi and Shaanxi alone had an estimated two million households with over ten million people, and the population of the Central Plains was probably even greater.

Previously, the Ming Dynasty did not have enough ships to transport people, food, and supplies for development. Now, the Ming Dynasty needs enough ships, so developing Qiongzhou Prefecture should not be a problem.

He only needs to relocate some of the disaster victims from the Northwest. When he provides them with money, land, food, and seeds, wouldn't they go?
Although it's hot in Qiongzhou Prefecture, it's still better than starving and freezing to death in the Northwest, right?
However, we can't rush this. The first batch of over 600 large cargo ships has only recently started production, and it will take more than a month to complete them.

Furthermore, preparing food and seeds takes time, and even housing, farm tools, and oxen must be prepared for the disaster victims.

And the weather there is so hot it's unbearable. People who aren't used to living in such hot conditions would really struggle to cope. He also has to figure out how to help the disaster victims cool off.

Otherwise, if a large-scale relocation of disaster victims results in the victims suffering greatly there, then it would be a case of good intentions gone wrong.

There's also a crucial problem: the pirate Liu Xiang is watching that side. If he doesn't send enough naval ships over there, he definitely won't be able to scare that guy away.

This issue needs to be addressed step by step.

He could gradually replace the Zhejiang and Fujian naval ships with steamships, since they were only there to check for smuggled goods and didn't need cannons; equipping them with musketeers would suffice. The replaced naval ships and even the sailors could be used to intimidate Liu Xiang, preventing him from harassing Qiongzhou Prefecture again.

There's also the issue of cooling off; he could consider providing water-cooled fans for the disaster victims there.

However, he still needed to check on the progress of the steam engine and boiler manufacturing plant in the northeast city.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then decisively said, "Ruoyu, draft an edict to order Yang He to continue to investigate the situation of the disaster victims in Shaanxi. Those who did not join the rebels and are willing to migrate should be counted again. This time, I plan to relocate at least 200,000 disaster victims from Shaanxi."

The three powerful clans, the eight imperial merchants, and the Jurchens of Puzhou all wanted to use the rebels to deplete his military strength. He directly cut off their resources by first relocating the disaster victims in Shaanxi, then Shanxi, and finally even relocating all the disaster victims in the Central Plains. Let's see how they can still use the rebels!

Of course, this will take time.

Migration isn't something you can just decide to do.

He also had to consider the livelihoods of the disaster victims who had been relocated.

This time, he had to consider how to help these disaster victims cool off in the summer.

He thought about it carefully, then stood up and said, "Cheng'en, go and fetch some carts and boats. Let's go to the northeast outer city to take a look."

At this time, the northeastern outer city was no longer empty. Two hundred thousand Beijing garrison infantrymen and tens of thousands of craftsmen were frantically building boiler and steam engine factories. Some factories had even been completed, and the chimneys had already started to emit smoke.

Zhu Jue walked into a steam engine factory that was emitting smoke and was surprised to find that the factory was already in operation.

The rows of furnaces had already begun smelting steel ingots, and steam was rising from the sandy fields. A row of small cubicles had been built along the inner walls, and some cubicles were even fanning cool air outwards.

Upon seeing them enter, Song Yingxing quickly stepped forward, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then looked at the layout of the factory and said with satisfaction, "Chang Geng, did you put all the boilers in the cubicles?"

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, now that we have rubber to seal, we can build large boilers. Your humble servant ordered the construction of a batch of large boilers and connected them to large steam pipes. This way, we only need to lead the steam pipes to the steam engine. Both machine tools and fan steam engines can be used."

Hmm, not bad, it looks a bit like a factory from later generations.

After the boilers were all installed in the compartments, the factory was not only less hot, but also the lingering coal smoke was gone. There were no more coal piles or coal slag, and the factory was very clean and tidy.

Zhu Jue followed Song Yingxing into the cubicle and nodded with a look of satisfaction.

Song Yingxing really put his heart into it.

These partitions don't just simply separate the boiler room from the factory space; each boiler room has a large door facing outwards.

This not only allows most of the heat in the boiler room to dissipate, but also makes transporting coal and slag more convenient, eliminating the need to use the main gate of the factory; they can simply use the main gates of each boiler room.

The boiler room isn't too hot for the boiler makers, because there are small doors on both sides of the boiler room. Opening these doors allows them to go into a cubicle equipped with a water-cooled fan to enjoy the cool breeze.

Their job was simply to add coal and water, which could be done on a fixed schedule and in fixed quantities. They could also spend most of their time in the cubicles equipped with water-cooled fans to cool off.

Zhu Jue followed Song Yingxing around the cubicle, then went into the factory to take a look. Suddenly, it dawned on him that large houses could be built like this in Qiongzhou Prefecture!
It's the hottest time of the year in the capital. The temperature may not be as high as in Qiongzhou Prefecture, but it's comparable.

Moreover, the Qiongzhou government built such large houses purely to provide relief from the summer heat for the relocated disaster victims. There was no need to install machine tools, connect steam pipes inside, or install so many large boilers. The heat emitted by the steam was negligible.

In other words, building such a large house to cool off is not a problem at all; all that's needed is to build partitioned rooms for disaster victims in areas where water-cooled fans can reach.

This large house has been divided into several small rooms, enough to house ten families of disaster victims. It's a bit cramped, but it's cool. Even on a hot day, you won't sweat inside.

(End of this chapter)