Today, the Qin and Qi states have been established and are gradually being improved, while the Liao Kingdom is in the process of being established and is expected to be established by the end of this year.
The King of Yue and the King of Wei, one in Hokkaido and the other in Khmer, especially the latter, must go on another expedition.
For the sake of the Qin State, the imperial court was busy from the 16th year of Shaowu to the 18th year of Shaowu. Not only did it sacrifice 5,000 capital camps, but also a large amount of supplies, estimated at 2 million yuan.
Although Khmer is small, it still needs 1.8 million.
To support a campaign, money, food, supplies, soldiers, local support, etc. all need to be coordinated.
In this case, it is necessary to set up an organization.
How could it be possible for the emperor to arrange it himself? It would be very tiring.
Zhu Yixi's heart moved and she immediately gave the order.
Soon, under the cabinet, there was an agency called the Domain Division, which was responsible for the development of the domain, immigration and other matters.
As for manpower, cabinet members serve as leaders and cabinet secretaries assist. On the surface, an organization has been established, but the number of personnel has not increased.
Faced with the increase in power, the cabinet has no objections.
The cabinet elders are in charge of eight departments, but they only have decision-making power, while the specific management power is in the hands of the minister and minister, while the vassal affairs department is different and belongs to direct management.
After all, whether it is dispatching troops, supplies, or immigrants, there is nothing faster and quicker than asking the old minister.
It is precisely because of the establishment of the vassal affairs department that it has been included in the budget and allocated separately since the 18th year of Shaowu.
Of course, since the previous allocation was from internal funds, the emperor still wanted to have some face, so he shared half of the budget and did not let the court pay all.
The ruling and opposition parties had no objections.
After all, it was too much to allow all internal funds to be released before. The emperor's family affairs were also state affairs, so how could the court ignore them?
As soon as the feudal lord was established, there was an immediate uproar.
Someone took care of this matter, and the vassal kings were overjoyed.
Yan Shoufu's threshold is high, and people waiting to see him form a long queue, but for the vassals, no matter how high it is, can it be compared to the palace?
The King of Qi and the King of Liao went hand in hand and immediately asked to see Yan Chongxin.
In response, Yan Chongxin smiled bitterly.
He said to the guest on his right: "The two kings are here, I'm really busy."
Zhu Yiquan cupped his hands and said: "The two kings are still important, so I will leave first."
"Go slowly -" Yan Chongxin said with a smile: "Chengsan, you can send it off in person."
After instructing the housekeeper to send Shuntian Fu Yin away, Yan Chongxin could only pat his sleeves, then bend forward and greet him directly at the door.
The door is open to welcome distinguished guests.
"The chief assistant is busy."
King Qi cupped his hands, ignored the crowd asking for an audience, and walked straight into the mansion.
The King of Liao was not willing to lag behind and followed him three steps at a time.
Yan Chongxin waved his sleeves, glanced at the expectant crowd, and said casually: "Thank you for today, please come back!"
After saying that, both the front door and the side door were closed.
Everyone was sighing.
But I was surprised when the two kings appeared today.
Some of the more sensitive people immediately turned around and went back to investigate, looking for opportunities.
But the ignorant person still stayed where he was, chatting gibberish.
In the mansion, contrary to the situation when I met Zhu Yiquan just now, the host and the guest were reversed.
The King of Qi and the King of Liao sat on either side of the main seat, while the dignified chief minister could only occupy the guest seat at the bottom left.
"Chief Assistant, you also know the situation of our two brothers. We arrived just after the feudal government was established. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Of course the old minister understands what the king means." Yan Chongxin chuckled and said, "The vassal state is newly established and directly managed by the cabinet. If there is anything you need to say, it will be done naturally if it can be done."
"I am short of people." King Qi pressed his hand on King Liao and was the first to speak, staring at Yan Chongxin:
"The King of Qin now has more than one million people, while my Qi State has only one hundred thousand, and the real Han people are less than five thousand. This is in addition to the more than a thousand civil servants, generals, soldiers and horses I have recruited."
"In the past few years, the imperial court has only given me a thousand people."
At the end of the sentence, the words were full of resentment.
Hearing this, Yan Chongxin didn't panic at all. He was calm and composed, with all the excuses in his mind: "Your Majesty, the court doesn't have that many exiled criminals!"
He actually complained directly: "If you go among the people, you will find that there are only three kinds of punishments in the world: beating, exile, and beheading. Tens of thousands of people are exiled across the country every year. In the past few years, the three major cities in Northeast China, these two
Nian is an important person in Anxi, and he really can't spare his hands."
"You said, being exiled to Qi State is a great crime!"
King Qi was also unfazed. He said coldly: "Although it is a peaceful and prosperous time, I don't believe that every household has enough to eat."
"There are so many poor people, and they all wear a pair of trousers, so what's the point of the imperial court organizing them to go to Qi?"
"Your Majesty, a broken family is worth a thousand pieces of gold!"
Yan Chongxin sighed.
The King of Liao on the side saw the two people going back and forth, and couldn't help but interjected: "Is there any way to recruit people?"
"If the imperial court alone distributes the prisoners, it will probably take a hundred years for the Qi State of my second brother to reach one million people."
Yan Chongxin rubbed his temples and sighed: "Actually, the most important thing is money."
"The cost of being exiled is naturally very low, but the effect is too slow. If the king wants to recruit immigrants as soon as possible, then spend money and pay resettlement allowances."
"You mean to recruit soldiers?" King Qi frowned.
"That's right." Yan Chongxin nodded and said: "It would be even more difficult for those people to move their whole families, but if like in the Northeast, soldiers are allowed to cultivate land first, and after they have the land and houses, they will naturally convince their families to move.
"
"For this reason, what costs the most is money."
After these words, King Qi fell silent.
Good guy, this is equivalent to raising an army.
How much money does the military spend?
Take a patrol camp as an example. With a population of 10,000 people, the salary alone costs 20,000 yuan per month, plus 30,000 yuan for food, clothing, etc.
That's four hundred thousand a year.
Recruiting land and recruiting people will not be effective within two or three years, so at least one million yuan will be needed.
King Qi raised his head and looked at Yan Chongxin. Can the imperial court provide one million yuan?
"Although the vassal affairs department was newly established, the Ministry of Revenue and internal funds immediately allocated two million."
"Among them, 500,000 belong to the Qin State, and as for the Qi State, there are one million."
King Qi's face was full of disbelief.
"This is because in Qi State, the imperial court did not allocate funds." Yan Chongxin said with a smile.
The King of Liao on the side hesitated to speak.
Yan Chongxin smiled and understood.
It gave him reassurance: "Although the feudal lord does not have much money at present, your majesty has said that when the vassal king comes to the country in the future, no matter whether he is a legitimate concubine, each person will receive one million yuan."
In response, the two brothers returned home with a full load.
The King of Qi is even more ambitious and wants to recruit 10,000 people to cultivate Qi this year.
His Linzi city is big enough, but now it is short of manpower.
After all, no matter how many indigenous people there are, they will not be as useful as the Han people.
The King of Liao returned to the palace and discussed the matter with the chief minister of the palace.
Regarding this, Zuo Changshi said: "Now the Liao Kingdom is being developed in the hands of Duke Jin. We are not busy at the moment, but we will be busy in the future."
"The army is the first priority. I think we should recruit tens of thousands of people and prepare them with enough armor and weapons. Suppressing the Bukhara Khanate is the most important thing."
"Immigration cannot be neglected." King Liao raised his eyes and said in a clear voice:
"We are like the princes in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The common people below us are not of the same mind. The princes rely on their nobles and people to establish vassal states."
"The same goes for us. The more people we have, the better."
"Otherwise, it will be like the Mongols, Yuan and Manchus, who used a small clan to compete with a big clan. I don't want to be driven back."
King Yue and King Wei also hurried away and got a satisfactory answer.
Although one million yuan is not much, it can solve an urgent need.
Otherwise, just relying on the annual salary, the vassal country can develop in the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.
After the kings of Yue and Wei were able to seal their kingdoms, they could naturally open the central gate and recruit good ministers and generals.
As the center of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing naturally attracted talents from all over the country, and it was hard for a down-and-out scholar to figure it out.
Not all talents are suitable for the imperial examination, and not all talents can take the exam.
There are so many talents in Liu Bang's Peixian County, let alone the city of Beijing.
For a time, the two mansions were full of talented people, each recruiting no fewer than a hundred people.
King Wei's kingdom is in Khmer, so there is no need to rush. As long as Annan is completely captured by the end of the year, the court will naturally send troops to him.
The King of Yue was granted the title of Hokkaido, which was part of the development of a vassal state, so the earlier the better.
He couldn't bear the loneliness and asked the emperor to go to Hokkaido for inspection and then come back.
Zhu Yixi hesitated for a moment and then agreed.
The main reason is that the route from Heilongjiang Jiangjunfu to Tianjin has been developed for several years and is already a mature route, so the risk is greatly reduced.
However, he still warned his son: "Before going to Ezo, you must first go to Japan."
"Japan?" The King of Yue was confused.
"As far as I know, although Ezo Land is not affiliated with Japan, Japanese fishermen often cultivate it, and there seems to be a daimyo who has built a city. If you go to Japan to declare sovereignty, you can save a lot of trouble in future development."
"At the same time, establishing a relationship with the King of Japan can also quickly save time in establishing the country. After all, whether it is manpower or material resources, Japan is close at hand, which is the most convenient."
Finally, the emperor whispered: "You'd better marry a Japanese king's daughter or sister."
In this regard, the King of Yue naturally accepted the teachings of his father.
In early April, he came to Tianjin, took dozens of civil servants, and 500 guards, took ten large ships, and headed north along the route.
The Bohai Sea is extremely calm. Seagulls are soaring everywhere. They are so accustomed to white-sailed ships that they even dare to fly within a few feet of them.
The King of Yue stretched out his hand and seemed to be able to catch seagulls.
He felt novel.
Soon, the fleet arrived at Changdao County, which is a series of small islands with the largest Changdao as the core.
This string of islands is crucial in blocking the entire Bohai Sea. This is also the main reason why the Bohai Sea later became China's internal sea.
Of course, for the fleet, the island chain where Changdao County is located is an important supply place for maritime navigation.
The excitement on the island was very different from that on the land. The King of Yue felt novel, but he suppressed his impulse and just watched from the boat.
The captain was the captain of the Bohai Navy. He respectfully explained to King Wei:
"Changdao County was newly established in the sixth year of Shaowu's reign. It contains hundreds of islands, large and small. The navy stationed fifty ships and three thousand people here."
"Because most of the sailors are recruited in this county, the people here are simple and kind."
"Yeah!" The King of Yue said casually, "It seems there are a lot of people here!"
"Every county in Shandong can form a navy. Judging from this, Shandong is almost overcrowded!"
A glance at the place reveals the whole picture. Shandong is indeed a province with a large population and is close to the sea. It is most convenient to recruit people.
"Your Majesty, Changdao County is special." The team leader said truthfully: "There are many Korean fishermen who have also settled here. Over time, they have mixed together and become our Ming people."
"Our Ming Dynasty is rich, with low taxes, and we can also take the imperial examination. Many people have come here one after another over the years, and the Yamen have accepted them and registered them directly in the Yellow Book."
"Oh? Can you tell the difference?"
"In the past, it was possible, because the common people in North Korea had no surnames, but now that we have come to the Ming Dynasty, they all adopted surnames, and some even became scholars..."
The King of Yue shook his head.
For the bottom, the country, or even another county, is not the same kind.
But for the rulers, as long as they are obedient and used for their own purposes, Korean is just another dialect.
The language of Fujian and Guangdong is probably more difficult to understand than Korean.
To the Ming Dynasty, if you write Chinese characters, speak Chinese, pay taxes and perform corvee labor, you are much better than the unruly people in the mountains.
Han Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese can all become his citizens.
After docking for half a day, the fleet continued sailing northeast and arrived at Yongzong Island.
This island is located at the mouth of the Han River and is a treaty port of North Korea.
There are thousands of people living in a place that is only half the size of Long Island, which can be said to be extremely dense.
Daming Street is full of Mingfeng atmosphere, showing that a large number of people and businessmen have settled here.
Sure enough, as soon as he landed, he felt that his ears were filled with Mandarin. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was the Ming Dynasty!
"North Korea lacks everything, so it relies on Ming Dynasty."
Zuo Changshi witnessed the prosperity of Yongzong Island from the side and said seriously: "After signing the treaty, only merchants are allowed to trade on Yongzong Island, thereby monopolizing trade and obtaining a large amount of taxes."
“I heard that Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was destroyed during the Japanese Rebellion, has been renovated in the past two years.”
"But for us in Vietnam, North Korea is cheap and it is more cost-effective to buy grain, cloth, iron, etc. from North Korea."
"You mean, one million can be used for two million?" the King of Yue said in surprise.
"That's about it." Zuo Changshi stroked his beard and said: "The king of Korea can only control the vicinity of Seoul, and the rest of the places are controlled by the Yangban nobles. We trade directly with the Yangban nobles along the coast. Not only is it cheaper, but we don't have to pay taxes.
.”
“Does North Korea have enough manpower?”
The King of Yue suddenly asked.
"Half a century has passed since the Japanese Rebellion, but it seems that North Korea has not yet recovered."
Zuo Changshi said doubtfully: "Both taxation and population seem to have stagnated."
"Then there will be a large number of fleeing households tomorrow." The King of Yue's eyes lit up: "Go find a wealthy businessman from North Korea. I have important business to contact him."
"Remember, you must be someone with great connections."
"Your Majesty, there are only two groups of people in North Korea: Song merchants and Gulf merchants. Among them, Gulf merchants are more powerful, and North Korea relies on them for most of its import and export."