Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 293 The Feudal King's Plea for Help: A Shift of Fortune (Part 2)
When Zhu Jue returned to Yuxi Palace with Yang Sichang and his party, it was already noon.

He simply ordered a royal banquet to be prepared and ate with everyone before ordering someone to place the map of Southeast Asia on the table for a closer look.

Outside, it was already a world of ice and snow, but inside the main hall of Yuxi Palace, it was warm as spring. As everyone looked at the map of Southeast Asia, they even felt a little warm.

Southeast Asia is notoriously hot; it's hot all year round, even in the dead of winter.

Such a hot place is not suitable for large-scale reproduction and life.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had little interest in Southeast Asia for more than two hundred years.

After Zheng He returned and described the intense heat of Southeast Asia, the Ming emperor lost interest. He was joking; relocating people there would be like exiling them thousands of miles away to suffer the torment of the scorching heat. Who would want to go?
However, things are different now. The Ming Dynasty already has water-cooled fans and even ice-cooled fans, so even on the hottest days, it won't be unbearably hot.

Therefore, Zhu Jue thought of developing Southeast Asia in a comprehensive way.

Seeing that everyone had seen enough, he solemnly asked, "Wenruo, have you ever read 'Complete Treatise on Agriculture' and 'Exploitation of the Works of Nature'?"

These two books can be said to be the foundation for the development of agriculture and industry, so he gave a set to all the officials in the inner court.

However, not many people actually finish reading it, and even fewer can truly understand and apply it.

This is because these two books are not just two books. The Complete Treatise on Agriculture has sixty volumes and more than 500,000 words, while the Exploitation of the Works of Nature has eighteen volumes and nearly 100,000 words.

Just reading these two books would take a considerable amount of time, and to fully understand them would probably take several years, let alone to truly grasp their essence.

Most officials in the inner court were very busy, so few of them could read and understand both books, let alone master them.

Yang Sichang and his son can be considered special cases, because they had nothing to do and were mostly idle.

Yang Sichang, in particular, was highly regarded by his father, Yang He, who hoped that he would be given important responsibilities by the current emperor and bring honor to the family.

Therefore, he has not been busy at all in recent years, and has plenty of time to read and study.

In this day and age, if you want to be valued by the current emperor, you naturally have to read the books issued by the current emperor.

He has read "Complete Treatise on Agriculture" and "Exploitation of the Works of Nature" countless times. He may not have fully mastered them, but he understood them long ago.

He said rather modestly, "Your Majesty, I have read the Complete Treatise on Agriculture and the Exploitation of the Works of Nature several times."

How many more times have you read it?
well.

Zhu Jue nodded with satisfaction, and then explained in detail: "I summoned you back this time so that you could develop Southeast Asia."

You've read "Tiangong Kaiwu" several times, so you should know about making ice with saltpeter. You've also probably seen water-cooled fans and ice-cooled fans. With these two things, the scorching heat of Southeast Asia wouldn't be a problem.

Therefore, the first step in developing Southeast Asia is to build more houses equipped with water-cooled fans and ice-cooled fans so that the young and strong people in Southeast Asia can get enough rest and have the strength to work.

Then the food problem over there needs to be solved.

At this time, Southeast Asia was still a typical example of vast land and sparse population. The land in Luzon alone was enough to feed the entire population of Southeast Asia. It was just because it was too hot that not enough land was cultivated there, and the amount of food produced was not much.

You've read "Complete Treatise on Agriculture" several times, so you should know that the weather in Southeast Asia is particularly suitable for growing rice. Also, we can produce fertilizer while making ice from saltpeter. You should also know that as long as fertilizer is applied properly, it is not difficult to achieve a rice yield of two or three shi per mu.

Therefore, you must first organize the able-bodied men there to cultivate all the land in Luzon, and have them plant at least two crops a year to produce enough food so that the Southeast Asian countries don't waste their labor on growing food.

Next, we need to develop the mineral deposits there. We need to have people thoroughly explore all the places that can be explored. Wherever there are rich mineral resources, we need to recruit local young men to mine them. We also need to use fans to blow cool air into the mines so that it won't be too hot for people to work.

Furthermore, for the smelting of various mineral deposits, we need to transfer experienced craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty to build factories and furnaces, and try our best to improve the smelting level there.

Oh, so you want to clear land and farm it before developing mineral resources?
This one is simple.

Yang Sichang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

You are quite capable, but you are also a bit impatient, and there are still many things you don't understand.

Zhu Jue then carefully instructed, "You must remember that we are different from colonial bandits. Colonial bandits just rob and plunder, regardless of the life or death of civilians in the colonies."

We're not developing those mineral deposits to rob them. We have to pay them the wages they're owed, and even for territories we didn't take over, we still have to share the profits from mining with them.

In this way, the countries of Southeast Asia will gradually become wealthy, and their common people will be able to afford our products. When they have money to buy our goods, they will have hope for the future and will work harder, allowing us to earn even greater profits.

Uh, we also need to make all the Southeast Asian countries rich?

This is a bit difficult. Upon hearing this, Yang Sichang slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I will remember this."

Oh, and timber too.

Zhu Jue solemnly said, "The development of Southeast Asia is not something that can be accomplished overnight, so you don't need to be too hasty."

The most important thing right now is timber. I have already ordered Xiong Tingbi to recruit 100,000 able-bodied men from the southeast to go and cut timber. And this is only in Luzon.

Next, there's Borneo and Java. You'll need to recruit local able-bodied men to cut down trees. We can buy the forests in Borneo directly, and we'll calculate the cost of the timber harvested by the able-bodied men there based on the quantity.

You need to carefully estimate how much wage per timber would make the able-bodied men there feel hopeful and motivate them to cut timber relentlessly.

"You don't need to worry about money. Money is no longer an issue for us. What we lack is timber. Once we have enough timber to build enough ships, we can dominate the seas and earn even more money."

Oh, so you want the able-bodied men over there to work themselves to the bone logging timber?

Yang Sichang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

As they were discussing, Yang Sichang suddenly strode in carrying a stack of memorials, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Shaanxi."

Did Zhang Xianzhong win the battle?

Zhu Jue took the memorial and saw that, sure enough, Zhang Xianzhong had already captured Fugu, Mizhi, Fushi and other places, and that guy was launching a crazy offensive all the way south.

The cabinet also attached a draft proposal, but it was not an offer of advice or suggestions.

These guys were being rather sarcastic, basically telling Yang He to quickly gather troops to encircle and suppress them.

He naturally wouldn't allow Yang He to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress them.

The reason these guys were being sarcastic was probably because they guessed that he wouldn't let Yang He mobilize troops to encircle and annihilate him.

If Yang He doesn't mobilize troops to encircle and suppress them, Zhang Xianzhong will soon be able to reach Xi'an.

Xi'an is the stronghold of the Qin vassal state, a powerful vassal state that has existed since the Hongwu era. If Zhang Xianzhong takes Xi'an, not only will the Qin imperial family be finished, but these guys will also use it to force him to kill Yang He.

If he wants to keep Yang He, he has to transfer Yang He to another place as soon as possible.

The problem is, it seems like these guys in the outer court have figured him out completely; they seem to have guessed everything he's thinking.

This is not a good thing.

He couldn't let those guys from the outer court figure him out.

These guys aren't in a hurry at all; they're just waiting to see what happens.

Can he let these guys watch the show?
You want to see a good show, right?

Okay, you wait.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Zhenghua, quickly send someone to convey my secret decree, ordering Yang He to mobilize troops to guard all the important border towns and Tongguan, especially Tongguan, which must not be lost."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhenghua quickly bowed and hurried away.

Upon hearing this, Yang Sichang couldn't help but ask with concern, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, have the rebels already reached Guanzhong?"

You care about your elderly father, right?
Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue simply shoved all the urgent reports, delivered over 800 li, into his hands.

When Yang Sichang took the report and read it, his expression changed slightly.

He thought about it carefully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, Zhang Xianzhong's target is most likely Qin Fan. Shouldn't we just ignore it?"

Why do you care so much?
Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely not let anything happen to your father."

really?
Upon hearing this, Yang Sichang was still a little worried, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions.

His father had repeatedly warned him that His Majesty was intolerant of any dissent, and if he were to speak out of turn, His Majesty would likely become angry!

(End of this chapter)