Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 825 Good words can’t persuade a damn ghost

Li Shanchang stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Your Majesty, the matter of moving the capital concerns the fate of the Ming Dynasty, and we must be cautious."

Liu Bowen also bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Why not postpone your ascension for a few more years? At least wait until a few large cities have been built on the grasslands before making any decisions."

The two men tacitly suggested postponing the relocation of the capital, but did not persuade Emperor Zhu to continue using Yingtianfu as the capital.

From the first year of the Hongwu reign to the fifth year, a full five years, the garrisons stationed in the capital had been burned down several times, and it was not until the sixth year of the Hongwu reign that things finally calmed down.

Pay attention.

Even the military arsenals stationed in local areas had their subordinate weapon bureaus under their protection. They not only had to have sufficient fire prevention measures, but also had soldiers constantly patrolling. This was even more true for the weapon bureaus of the military arsenals stationed in the capital.

The results of it?

The garrison's ordnance bureau stationed in the capital would burn things whenever it wanted. Although it didn't burn things every day or every month, it burned things every year, and several were burned every year. It even burned down people's houses. Is this normal?

This is fucking abnormal!

As for why things gradually calmed down after the sixth year of the Hongwu reign?

Because after the sixth year of the Hongwu reign, the registration of household registers had been completed in more than a thousand prefectures and counties throughout the Ming Dynasty, and the redistribution of land was carried out in accordance with the household registers.

This plan, which began to be promoted in the first year of Hongwu's reign and was officially implemented in the second year, was not fully completed until the sixth year of Hongwu's reign, taking a total of five years!

It was precisely because the garrisons were constantly burned down during these five years, and the local barbarians, mountain people, and even ordinary people in various provincial administrations rebelled, that the army that was leading the Northern Expedition against Hu Yuan never returned to the capital. This is why Emperor Zhu stayed in Ningyang County instead of returning to the capital, or why he left Crown Prince Zhu Biao in Ningyang County.

One in the south, one in the north; one inside, one outside.

This is practically the only option if one doesn't want to go on a killing spree.

Now, with an indemnity of 70 million taels of silver, Emperor Zhu plans to fully expand community and county schools. This approach, which is almost obviously intended to sever the foundation of all gentry and even scholars, makes it hard to say whether those gentry and scholars who have vested interests will completely lose their minds.

Thinking of this, Li Shanchang simply shook his head, banishing all these messy thoughts from his mind.

Forget it, good words can’t persuade a damned ghost.

Since those gentry and scholars insist on courting disaster, I, Old Li, am not going to stop them.

Anyway, my interests are not aligned with theirs.

Instead of worrying about their lives, it would be better to think about the location of the new capital for Emperor Zhu.

In fact, apart from Yingtianfu, there are not many places suitable as a capital city, only four at most.

Chang'an, Luoyang, Bianliang, Beiping.

The Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties all had their capitals in either Chang'an or Luoyang.

The reason for choosing Chang'an and Luoyang as capitals is that both places are surrounded by mountains on all sides, which can easily defend against foreign enemies, making them the best choices for capital cities.

Unfortunately, after nearly two thousand years of cultivation, the land in both Chang'an and Luoyang has become barren and unable to support the population of an entire capital city, so they have to rely on external grain supplies.

As for Bianliang, it was the tallest among the short, because Bianliang was located on a plain. Once the natural barrier of the Yellow River was lost, it would become easy to attack but difficult to defend, and a large army would have to be stationed there. The consequence of stationing a large army was that "within a hundred years, the strength of the people of the world would be exhausted."

Even if it's just because of this, the other advantages, such as "the land is not barren" and "the water transport is relatively developed", become irrelevant.

As for Beiping, which Hu Yuan chose, it was not a good choice for the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Because Liu Bilie knew very well where his old brothers were hiding, and they could go to Yangzhou and Linzhi at any time.

And what about the Ming Dynasty?

Although the Ming Dynasty could also go to Karakorum at any time, it did not know as well as Liu Bilie where the grassland tribes usually hid.

Before the plan to build a city on the grasslands was completed, Beiping could only rely on the Great Wall as a natural barrier, so it was necessary to set up a military stronghold on the border of the Great Wall and station a large number of troops there.

Then the problem is coming.

By stationing a large number of troops in Bianjing, only one place needs to be defended. However, by setting up military strongholds along the Great Wall, many strongholds need to be established, requiring a far greater number of troops to be stationed there. This would also lead to a greater demand for food and other necessities, and thus a heavier burden on the people.

Give the simplest example.

Where did all the military towns along the Great Wall get their food?

Whether it was Jiangnan or Dengzhou, the grain transported to the military towns along the Great Wall had to first be transported by sea or canal to the vicinity of Beiping, and then distributed from Beiping to various military towns.

If the journey were by sea, from Tianjin Port in later years to Beiping, and then from Beiping to the military garrison, before steam locomotives began operating and before railways were laid, the consumption along the way would have been an astonishing figure.

To transport grain via the canal, it was necessary to dredge the canal and employ a large number of canal workers, which would require the establishment of new waterway management offices. Moreover, the costs and expenses on the route from Beiping to the military town were unavoidable.

Even more critically, Beiping only had the Great Wall to rely on in the north. Not only were there no reliable barriers in the east, west, and south, but the threat from the sea in the southeast also had to be considered.

In short, choosing Beiping as the new capital was not a good idea either, and it would have been more reliable to choose Chang'an.

The more Li Shanchang thought about it, the more his head ached, and he couldn't help but reach up and scratch the back of his head.

However, a decadent writer named White Tongue once said that in this world, what you fear most is what will happen to you, and worrying is generally useless.

Just as Li Shanchang was secretly worried, Emperor Zhu curled his fingers and gently tapped the table in front of him: "Mr. Shanchang, Mr. Qingtian, what do you think of Beiping?"

Li Shanchang bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I will not comment on Beiping, but I have only one question for you—if Your Majesty favors Beiping, how many years do you intend to spend building a new capital?"

Emperor Zhu gave a soft "hmm," and after considering it for a moment, said, "Twenty years."

The construction of the capital city can be done quickly or slowly.

The Ministry of Works planned a construction period of thirty years for Yingtianfu, which would require 300,000 able-bodied laborers. The construction would be carried out year after year, month after month, at a leisurely pace. Those who were to be fed would be fed, those who were to be paid would be paid, and those who were injured would be treated, and those who were sick would be given medical care. The construction would not be delayed, and there would also be a rotation period for people to go home.

For example, the construction of Daxing City (Chang'an, built by Emperor Yang of Sui) took only ten months, with two million laborers employed each month. As a result, "every month, the road was filled with carriages carrying dead laborers from east to Chenggao and north to Heyang."

In short, the question is: Are you planning to repair Beiping slowly or quickly?

If we want to repair it slowly, we can't rush to move the capital.