"The transportation in the Ming Dynasty is very developed. They have built a cement road network connecting major provinces and cities, and they are still being refined at a terrifying speed."
"Concrete roads have many advantages. They are very convenient for the transportation of four-wheeled carriages. Four-wheeled carriages can transport a large amount of goods at one time. Moreover, cement roads are very strong and durable. Compared with traditional dirt roads, the advantages are too obvious.
.”
"From the time I entered the Hezhong area of the Ming Dynasty, all the way eastward, I could sit leisurely in a four-wheeled carriage, watching the scenery along the way, reading a book, and writing in my diary."
"All this is because of the existence of cement roads, which are very flat and comfortable."
"But it's obvious that the people of Ming Dynasty were not satisfied with this. They were vigorously building railways. Trains, such huge behemoths that rely on steam power, are said to be able to carry two thousand people at a time and travel thousands of miles a day."
"Once the Ming Dynasty completed the railway construction of major provinces, regions and cities, you can imagine how developed the Ming Dynasty's transportation will become. According to the time, the time from the Ming Dynasty's capital to the westernmost Nanyun Province attack port can be three months.
The time was shortened to only a few days.”
"And they can also very easily deliver large amounts of troops, food, weapons and equipment to any part of the empire. This is the power of the railway."
"The rulers of the Ming Empire were obviously aware of the importance of railways and spent huge sums of money to build railways across the country. It is said that the railway plan from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Nanyun Province alone required more than 500 million taels of silver.
.”
"But what a terrifying figure it is. It is several times the war compensation that our Ottoman Empire paid to the Ming Empire. However, the Ming Empire easily raised enough funds by raising funds publicly through the Tianjin Stock Exchange."
"It is said that this railway has been repaired to our next stop, Taiyuan."
Ali Pasha put down the pen in his hand and looked at the scenery outside the window.
In Ali Pasha's original imagination, the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty should be very beautiful, with beautiful mountains and rivers, abundant resources and abundant people, not to mention a paradise, but at least it should be very beautiful.
However, at this time, the place he passed through was the Loess Plateau. The land was riddled with ravines and ravines, and there was no human habitation in sight. This place did not look like the core of a powerful empire, but more like some borderland.
It is still very different from the attached Ming Empire that I imagined.
"Rustu~"
After thinking about it, Ali Pasha quickly shouted.
Rustu is the accompanying translator. He is proficient in Ming dialect and has a good understanding of all aspects of Ming Dynasty. He often reads Ming Dynasty newspapers.
"Sir~"
Rustu rode his horse and hurriedly came to Ali Pasha's carriage.
"This is the Central Plains region of the Ming Dynasty?"
Rustu asked, pointing outside.
"Yes, sir~"
"This place is called the Loess Plateau, which is where the Ming people originated. Many powerful dynasties in history originated here, such as the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, which relied on this fertile land to eventually become strong."
"However, because of the long history of development here, excessive reclamation and felling have gradually transformed this fertile land into what it is now. The erosion of water and soil has been extremely serious, creating a scene of thousands of ravines."
"Compared to other places in the Ming Dynasty, this place has become very barren."
"But originally, the population here was also very dense. In recent years, with the expansion of the Ming Empire, they have acquired a large amount of land."
"The Ming court began to move a large number of people from this area out. Many Ming people from the Western Regions, Hezhong, and South Caucasus moved out from here."
"Sir, look at those villages, they are all deserted now."
Rustu introduced the situation on the Loess Plateau to Ali Pasha in detail.
"Basically everyone moved out?"
When Ali Pasha heard this, he was slightly surprised and took a closer look.
The land that the highway passes through has relatively convenient transportation and is not too bad. Although there are thousands of ravines, you can still see a lot of vegetation covering it.
Ruined villages are dotted on this land, but there are no human settlements. Sometimes you can even see some wild yellow sheep freely foraging on the hillsides.
"Looking at the villages here and these barren fields, it seems that there used to be a lot of people here."
Ali Pasha looked very carefully. There were many villages along the highway. They could be seen everywhere, and the scale seemed to be quite large. Looking at the surrounding fields in Huangtu, it could be seen that they were all very flat, and they had obviously been reclaimed.
.
"Yes, sir~"
"The population here is very large. Since the Ming Empire began to immigrate, millions of people have migrated from the three provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, and the focus is on the Loess Plateau area."
"The current Minister of Civil Service of the Ming Empire is an extremely important position. It holds a high position of power, almost second only to the Grand Vizier."
"Liu Jin, the official minister of the Ming Dynasty, believed that the Loess Plateau has a harsh environment and too many people, which has put tremendous pressure on the environment and is no longer suitable for human survival."
"All the people on the Loess Plateau should be moved out to allow the area to recuperate, and the forests, vegetation, and natural environment on the Loess Plateau should be gradually restored to reduce the amount of sediment washed from the Loess Plateau into the Yellow River."
Rustu is a qualified translator and translator. He actually knew such things in detail in advance and was able to explain them clearly.
"Immigrating millions of people to Hezhong, the Western Region, and Nanyun Province has completely idled a large area that was originally bustling. How much courage, financial and material resources are needed to achieve this."
After listening to this, Ali Pasha was also deeply shocked by this huge immigration plan.
Immigrating millions of people to places thousands of miles away is not just as simple as moving millions of people to another place.
There are too many things to consider, such as the food needed along the way, life support after arriving at the destination, etc., and even relying on mandatory orders would probably be a huge expense.
"Yes, sir~"
"It is said that the Ming Dynasty court spent tens of millions of taels of silver on this immigrant."
"But the effect is very obvious and the effect is great."
"One is the immigration to the border areas. A large number of people immigrated to the newly acquired territory, changing the local population structure. The arrival of a large number of Han people consolidated the Ming Dynasty's rule and control over the border areas."
"At the same time, it also strengthened the development of these immigrant areas, such as the Western Region and the Hezhong area. With the arrival of a large number of immigrants, these areas have been developed rapidly, especially the Hezhong area, which has become a huge granary and meat warehouse.
As a result, the Ming Empire did not need to dispatch a single grain of grain from the Central Plains, and it was enough to supply the entire western territory from the Hezhong area alone."
"The most important thing is actually that it greatly eased the conflict between man and land in the Ming Dynasty."
Rustu nodded and began to talk about the benefits of immigration.
"Conflict between man and land?"
When Ali Pasha heard this, he thought about it carefully. Naturally, Ali Pasha understood the previous advantages at once and saw them clearly.
But what is this contradiction between man and earth?
"Sir, the Ming Dynasty is very different from our west and even Europe. They experienced many dynasties in history. The demise of each dynasty was basically due to the contradiction between man and land."
"With the beginning and development of a dynasty, land will gradually be concentrated in the hands of a few people. These few people own a large amount of land but do not cultivate it. The people at the bottom have a large population but no land and can only
Give people farming.”
"Once a natural or man-made disaster occurs, the people at the bottom will be unable to survive, leading to peasant uprisings, which will eventually cause huge social unrest and even directly lead to the collapse of a dynasty."
"It has been more than a hundred years since the founding of the Ming Empire. The original land annexation was actually quite severe. Various disasters often occurred in the Ming Dynasty, and various riots often occurred."
"Fully aware of this, the Ming Empire adjusted its strategy. On the one hand, it actively expanded externally and acquired a large amount of land. At the same time, it moved a large number of people to the newly acquired land and distributed a large amount of land to poor farmers for free. In this way,
This can greatly alleviate the contradiction between man and land and consolidate the rule of the dynasty."
"Taking the Loess Plateau as an example, in the past, the population here was densely populated, but the natural environment was very harsh and the land was barren. One person did not even have an acre of land, so this was the poorest area in the Ming Dynasty."
"Often when there is a disaster, there will be wars and robbers here, because people have to eat and survive. When they can't survive, they can do anything."
"The Ming Dynasty moved a large number of people here. When they went to the Western Regions and the Hezhong area, the land was reclaimed, cultivated, and used machines. A person could have hundreds of acres of fields, and the food he could get were all.
If you can't finish eating, you will naturally become rich, and all kinds of bandits, peasant uprisings and the like will disappear, and they will become the staunchest supporters of the Ming Dynasty."
Rustu explained the relationship in detail, and Ali Pasha suddenly said as if he was enlightened: "I see, that's it~"
"Rustu, you are a real talent. I will definitely recommend you to the great Sultan after I return."
"Your Excellency, you have praised me. I also read about it from the Ming Dynasty's newspapers."