With the arrival of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the streets and alleys of the capital began to become noisy.
The firecrackers were going off in unison, one after another, like waves, one after another. They just stopped for a moment, and then started to make noise again on the other side.
The servants in Liu Jin's house got up early and started to prepare for the first day of the new year.
Liu Jin also got up early, sat in his study, looked at the world map, and was in a daze.
"It's been fourteen years since Hongzhi~"
"I traveled back in time in the ninth year of Hongzhi, and I have already completed a five-year plan."
Liu Jin silently counted the time, and before he knew it, five years had passed.
In five years, because I traveled through time, the time traveler butterfly flashed its wings and brought about earth-shaking changes to the entire Ming Dynasty.
The current Ming Dynasty is far from comparable to the Ming Dynasty in history.
The military power was regained by the emperor, and the emperor himself still controlled huge wealth. The military household system was changed to a compulsory military service system. Coupled with artillery and muskets, the Ming army would definitely have no problem sweeping the world.
In several successive battles, the Ming army has achieved complete victory, which is enough to illustrate this point.
"Jiangnan Shilin suffered heavy losses. Historically, the situation in which the Donglin Party was dominated by the Donglin Party should be very difficult to appear again."
"Attach equal importance to civil and military affairs, and relax one's posture. Only then can the carriage of the Ming Dynasty be able to travel more."
Soon Liu Jin thought of the Donglin Party. Historically, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were endless party struggles. Even the life and death of the country was not as important as the party struggles of people like them. Among them, the most criticized one was the Donglin Party.
It is different now. After several major cases, Emperor Hongzhi continued to suppress Jiangnan Shilin. The power of Jiangnan Shilin in the court was severely damaged, and now he is very obedient.
The military generals group has also risen rapidly and has a certain say in the court, although it is still the civilian group that has more say.
However, because the military power was returned to the emperor's hands, from now on, the emperor would inevitably rely on the generals and nobles group, and there would no longer be a situation where the civilian group was dominated as before.
"The fourteenth year of Hongzhi, 1501~"
"There is still a lot to do this year."
"The sprouts of capitalism are currently mainly concentrated in the north. This year we must push them as far as possible to the south."
"The economic and population center of the entire Ming Dynasty was actually in the south. If the south of the Ming Dynasty did not develop, the development of the Ming Dynasty would be unbalanced."
"Well, we can't make the mistake of later generations and only focus on coastal areas. The areas along the river must also be developed."
"In later generations, too many bridges were built on the Yangtze River, but the bridges were all too short. Large cargo ships of 10,000 tons simply could not move freely on the Yangtze River, which greatly restricted the development of areas along the Yangtze River.
"
"Coastal areas have become more developed, but the natural conditions of the areas along the Yangtze River are actually not bad. If the Yangtze River's water transportation advantages can be fully utilized, it will not be worse than the coastal areas at all."
Liu Jin looked towards the Yangtze River and the Huguang, Jiangxi, and South Zhili regions along the Yangtze River.
Such an important water transport hub was almost abandoned in later generations. The emphasis was always on the coast, but the importance of the riverside was not known.
The Yangtze River runs from east to west, giving full play to the advantages of Yangtze River water transportation. The area it can radiate can be wider and deeper, making the development of the entire Ming Dynasty more even, instead of like in later generations, coastal areas have surpassed developed countries.
The standard is good, but as you go west, many places are still as backward as Africa.
"If Wuhan, Nanchang, Nanjing, and Songhu develop, Ming Dynasty's capitalism will sprout even faster. In addition, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and the entire Ming Dynasty will develop. Relying on convenient shipping and water transportation, the entire Ming Dynasty will
The whole world will become a vassal of Ming Dynasty."
Liu Jin looked at the map of Ming Dynasty and carefully planned the development plan for the new year.
The south must be developed, especially the Jiangnan region.
This is the richest place in the Ming Dynasty and the place with the most concentrated population. If capitalism develops here, its speed will definitely exceed that of Tianjin and quickly surpass the Tianjin area.
Because it has an extremely huge market and a huge raw material base, coupled with a huge population and convenient water transportation, it is considered the best place in the entire Ming Dynasty.
"In the new year, capital will move southward, driving the development of areas along the Yangtze River, Fujian, and Guangxi. Guangxi is also very important, and its geographical location is actually quite good."
"This time, the Annan Kingdom did not sign a treaty and became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. I just found a reason and excuse to repair it severely. When the time comes, the north of Annan will also be annexed. Relying on the advantage of being close to Nanyang, Guangxi will also
It can develop rapidly.”
Liu Jin has his sights set on Guangxi.
Compared with Guangxi and Guangdong in later generations, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions are really far apart. There are many factors involved, but a very important reason is the policy tilt.
But the location of Guangxi is actually not bad, and the conditions in all aspects are not bad. In this era, it is closer to Nanyang.
"The Ming Dynasty lacks a professional navy. It will definitely not be a problem to deal with these countries in the Eastern Sea now, but it will not be possible if we encounter European bandits in the future."
"Well, a naval school will be established this year to specialize in training the navy. Only with a strong navy can we ensure Ming Dynasty's interests on the ocean."
"When the time comes, we will look for trouble here in Nanyang. In the entire Nanyang, only Luzon became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty because it was afraid of being beaten. The other countries are actually unwilling to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."
"That's good. You don't have to worry about anything when you start."
"Annam, Siam, Champa, Java, and Malacca must be repaired severely. Only when they are beaten will they know how terrible and powerful my Ming Dynasty is."
"This entire island must be included in my Ming Dynasty's territory."
Liu Jin drew a line on the map of Nanyang and circled all the islands.
This is a good place, perfect for building a plantation. Rubber is a very important thing and must be grown in tropical areas. How can it not take up more space?
"Nanyang will continue to expand, build more colonies, and then send fleets to Australia."
Soon, my eyes shifted to the continent of Australia.
Although most of the Australian continent is a desert area, Australia is extremely rich in resources, and the natural conditions in the southeastern coastal areas of Australia are also very superior. I don't know why such a good place is so cheap for the British.
Thinking of this, Liu Jin became angry.
It must be occupied, and in Australia, the number of indigenous people is very small, and their combat effectiveness is very low.
Although some TV programs in later generations have praised those Maori people to the sky, fighting against the five scum is fighting against the five scum. If they are really powerful, they will not be conquered by others, and they will almost become extinct.
"After occupying Australia, we can immigrate some herders from the grasslands here, and we won't have to worry about the wool in the future."
"Well, not only grassland herdsmen, we Ming people must also be developed into herdsmen."
Soon, Xie Tian couldn't help but add it, silently remembering this.
"Golden Continent, from north to south, continues to build colonies along the way, slowly occupying the entire Golden Continent from west to east."
"At this time, the Europeans had just arrived in the Golden Continent, and there were no fixed colonial strongholds here. The Spanish first built colonial settlements in the Caribbean."
"In a few decades, Europeans will bloom everywhere in Golden Continent."
"Hey, it will be too late when you guys come over later."
Thinking of this, Liu Jin couldn't help laughing.
After traveling to this era, this is the happiest thing for Liu Jin.
The Ming Dynasty intercepted the European Golden Continent and Australia. It was still the early 16th century. Although the Europeans arrived in Golden Continent, they did not expand on a large scale in Golden Continent, or even established a fixed colonial stronghold.
nothing.
The main reason is that these European countries are relatively small and have weak national power. They can only send a few ships to the Golden Continent at a time, with only a few hundred or thousands of people.
But it was different here in the Ming Dynasty. This second time they went to the Golden Continent, there were thousands of large ships, and as many as 100,000 people arrived at the Golden Continent, which was not of the same magnitude at all.
The Ming Dynasty's national strength and population were far from being comparable to those of small European countries. Once it embarked on the road of capitalism and colonization, its expansion speed would be very terrifying.
Liu Jin couldn't help but smile at the thought of annexing the entire Golden Continent and Australia and turning the Pacific Ocean into the inland sea of the Ming Dynasty.
In time past, if he had only pursued personal wealth, power, enjoyment, etc., Liu Jin would not have had to work so hard at all. Liu Jin's vision was to lead the entire Ming Dynasty to the Age of Discovery and the Age of Capitalism, without having to experience the backwardness of future generations.
The difficult years of being beaten.
This is a great era, an era of global expansion. If we miss this opportunity, the descendants of Yan and Huang will forever be confined to the small land of East Asia in the future.
"This year we will open sea routes to Europe and contact Europeans~"
"On land, we must conquer all the way from east to west, bring the Western Region, Central Asia and the entire vast northern region into our Ming Dynasty's territory, and open up a land route to Europe."
Liu Jin's eyes returned to the land, looking at the grasslands in the north, the Western Regions in the west, and Central Asia. This is also an extremely fertile area. The expansion of the Ming Dynasty cannot just be the expansion of the sea. This land also requires constant expansion.