jdhmnovel Chapter 545 Offering an Idea and Digging a Hole
Chapter 545 Offering an Idea and Digging a Hole
The Ming Dynasty had inspectors, and the Yuan Dynasty also had police patrols and envoys.
Moreover, the Police Patrol Bureau and the Envoy and Pacification Commissioner's Office are only the visible intelligence agencies; there may be even more powerful ones operating behind the scenes.
Keeping the news of the iron and coal mines in Beiping and Yongping a secret was no easy task.
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Emperor Zhu discreetly and began to annoy him.
"Iron ore and coal mines, when combined, are not just simple weapons like swords and spears."
"If Hu Yuan were to set his sights on us, wouldn't he be tempted, given that we already lack iron and coal?"
“My father-in-law always says that the Hu Yuan tribe has a population of no less than a million, and the tribes that have submitted to him are spread over thousands of miles. They still have enough supplies, armor, and weapons, and their camels, horses, cattle, and sheep are still plentiful. They are not truly dead.”
"What if the Hu Yuan army launches a major southward invasion..."
Emperor Zhu's face grew increasingly gloomy, and he coldly snorted, "So what if we launch a large-scale southward invasion?"
At this point, Emperor Zhu turned to Li Wenzhong and said, "Bao'er, this matter has come rather urgently. You should take the troops to Yongping Prefecture first to guard against the Hu Yuan's southward advance."
Li Wenzhong agreed without hesitation. Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Wang Guangyang: "Notify all prefectures, states, and counties in Shandong to mobilize all officials and have all villages and communities pay attention to any unfamiliar faces gathering information, or to identify anyone deliberately gathering information about coal and iron mines. As long as you catch one of Hu Yuan's spies, you will be rewarded with ten strings of cash."
"We refuse to believe that no matter how many spies Hu Yuan has, they can outnumber the people of our Great Ming!"
"No matter how strong Hu Yuan's cavalry is, can he be stronger than our Ming army?"
"..."
Listening to Lao Deng's arrangements one by one, Yang Shaofeng felt both admiration and some displeasure.
Don't talk about martial ethics.
Purely devoid of martial ethics.
Mobilize the common people to keep an eye on Hu Yuan's spies, and have the prototype of Zhao Zilong lead troops to garrison the area.
Even if Hu Yuan knew this, he would probably say, "What virtue or ability does my Great Yuan have to make the Great Ming so wary of us?"
But when he thought of those twenty-odd unruly students still serving as county magistrates in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, Yang Shaofeng finally grumbled and said, "Let my cousin take the hundred men that I brought from Dengzhou with me."
"Although these people are not fully trained yet, they are still somewhat useful."
"If used properly, as a surprise weapon, it may have unexpected effects."
Upon hearing Yang Shaofeng mention the hundred men he had brought from Dengzhou, Li Wenzhong immediately became interested.
Although my cousin's husband is a bit crazy, I have to admit that the hundred people he trained are really amazing.
In terms of individual combat strength, these 100 men were in no way inferior to his most elite centurions.
Because they were well-fed and well-trained, these hundred men could even be used directly as heavy cavalry.
In terms of command ability, these hundred men were in no way inferior to the commanders or even the chief commanders under his command.
Just as my cousin's husband said, if these 100 men are used well, they can be a hundred-household-level elite force, or a hundred officers. At any time, they can be used as a base to raise another fifty hundred-household units, which is the strength of a garrison.
If one had to nitpick, it would be that only fifty of the hundred guards from the Prince Consort's residence had actually been on the battlefield; the rest were greenhorns who had never seen combat.
Li Wenzhong smiled and cupped his hands in thanks to Yang Shaofeng, saying, "Then thank you very much, brother-in-law."
Yang Shaofeng grunted twice, but still couldn't help saying, "And those few bastards, cousin, please have someone keep a close eye on them too."
Li Wenzhong nodded and said solemnly, "Brother-in-law, rest assured, as long as I have a breath left, I will never let anything happen to them."
……
Large coal and iron mines were discovered in Beiping and Yongping, but Wang Guangyang, the Shandong Provincial Governor, was completely unaware of it. This incident served as a wake-up call for Emperor Zhu.
It's not that Wang Guangyang was incompetent; it's just that the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission's territory was too large.
At the same time, we can't blame the prefects of Beiping and Yongping for being incompetent; we can only blame the fact that there were few good people in the academies of Ningyang County.
Emperor Zhu stood in front of a simple map, stroked his beard, and studied it for a long time before speaking: "We want to split up the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission."
"Just like that bastard said, we'll split up the Hebei Provincial Administration Commission, then split up the Liaoxi Provincial Administration Commission, the Liaodong Provincial Administration Commission, the Jilin Regional Military Commission, the Heilongjiang Regional Military Commission, and the Nurgan Regional Military Commission."
"In this way, the territory of each provincial administration will be relatively limited, and each prefecture will not be too far from the provincial capital, making it easier to transmit information."
Empress Ma, who was embroidering, smiled upon hearing this and said, "This is a matter of the previous dynasty. You should discuss it with Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen."
Emperor Zhu sidled up to Empress Ma, rubbing his hands together like flies and saying with a forced smile, "We're not in Jinan, so there's no way to discuss this with Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen right now."
Empress Ma snorted and said, "Oh, isn't this the time to say that the inner palace shouldn't interfere in politics?"
Before Emperor Zhu could speak, Empress Ma said with a smile, "Haven't you noticed? Every time your good son-in-law gives you some advice, he has to dig a pit for you afterwards, and you just jump in happily."
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "Dig a pit?"
Empress Ma nodded and said, "Yes, and this time the pit is quite large."
Empress Ma got up and walked to the hanging map. Pointing to the vicinity of Beiping and Yongping, she said, "He won't dig pits for you in coal mines and iron mines. But he never digs pits randomly when it comes to matters that involve the Ming Dynasty or the people's livelihood."
"But the pitfalls of these provincial administration offices are huge."
"The first question is, where are you going to find so many provincial governors?"
"Your good son-in-law has to worry about the border markets, and he's only been the prefect for less than two years. You can't possibly transfer him to be the provincial governor, can you?"
Emperor Zhu nodded. "Sister, please continue. We're listening."
Empress Ma smiled and said, "I remember he mentioned before that he wanted to set performance evaluation criteria for officials to get promoted and make money."
"These provincial administrations are mostly newly established, and the people's hearts are not very stable. Which official would be willing to serve as provincial administration commissioner in these places?"
"There is also the issue of setting up post stations."
“It’s easier to say about places like Hebei and western Liaoning, but the three places of eastern Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang can only be designated as military commanderies, so the post stations cannot be ordinary post stations.”
"One post station, two management systems, there are quite a few troubles involved."
"Road repair, tree planting, post stations, division of prefectures and counties, dispatch of officials and assistants, land division, and defense against the Hu Yuan—all these problems combined will probably give you a headache."
Emperor Zhu's face darkened, but Empress Ma shook her head and said, "Forget it, you have to jump into this pit whether you want to or not."
"Just like you said, if these places aren't separated, Wang Guangyang will inevitably have trouble managing them sometimes."
"To prevent a recurrence of this problem, a split is imperative."