Chapter 323 Some American crops are harmful to health
In the golden autumn of September, the sky is high and the air is crisp. The joy of the harvest has also made everyone in the Nanjing court feel in high spirits, and they are full of confidence in the success of the Ming Dynasty's national destiny.
The bad days are finally over, and things should get better in the future.
In the Forbidden City, after a year of repairs and repairs, the palace left behind by Zhu Yuanzhang has also restored several more palaces, giving it a high-spirited atmosphere.
For example, during the enthronement ceremony last year, only a few palaces in the harem, such as Qianqing Palace, could be used. When the Yuan Dynasty changed at the beginning of this year, Kunning Palace was also repaired. Now in September, even Chunhe Palace has been repaired.
Princess Zhu Yuchan, who has been pregnant for six months, accompanied by her husband Zhu Shuren, who occasionally returns to Nanjing, took a tour with great interest from the Princess Mansion where she lives daily to the newly built Spring Harmony Palace Garden.
After a princess of the Ming Dynasty got married, she would not live in the palace as a rule, so Zhu Yuchan's original residence in Nanjing was a mansion located outside the east wall of the palace city, not far from the originally abandoned Chunhe Palace.
Chunhe Palace was abandoned more than two hundred years ago, because only Zhu Biao and Zhu Yunwen lived here. Zhu Yunwen set a fire when he died, and died together with his wife and eldest son.
After Zhu Di usurped the throne, he would move the capital to the north. How could he rebuild the place where Zhu Yunwen lived and burned it? During the years when Zhu Gaochi temporarily lived in Nanjing, he also felt that this place was unlucky and would rather live in another location. So until the time of Chongzhen, Chunhe The palace still retains its charred and ashes appearance, nothing has changed.
But now, Chunhe Palace was renovated under special circumstances. Zhu Yuchan knew that it might be used when she was about to give birth, so that it could be convenient for the imperial physician in the palace to see her.
If it turns out to be a son, after the adoption procedures are completed, she may have to live in the palace to take care of the baby. In ancient times, there were no chemical paints, formaldehyde or the like, and the walls were painted with natural fragrances. It would be no problem for people to live in the palace just six months after it was built.
Early that morning, Zhu Shuren accompanied his wife to visit the Chunhe Palace. Zhu Yuchan was also sweating a little. Under the service of the palace maid, he sat down in the imperial garden. The palace maid brought lunch for the prince and princess to enjoy. .
While Zhu Shuren was eating, he mentioned that he had to be busy with some important national affairs in the past two days and had to go to Jiangning Town outside the city to convene a meeting with his close generals.
Zhu Yuchan had become accustomed to her husband running around in the past few months, so she did not stop her. She just said a little bit angrily: "Since we are not going to inspect the factories, mines and armaments, we are just convening the generals to discuss matters. Why bother?" Go out."
Zhu Shuren patiently explained: "The content to be discussed this time is relatively complicated, and may include how to return Yunnan and Guizhou to their native land in the next few years, as well as recovering the high officials occupied by the red-haired barbarians.
These are hot and smoky places in the extreme south, and only the relatively cool winter months can be used to deploy troops. Moreover, it is necessary to first check whether the generals' bodies have adapted to the heat of the south and whether they will suffer from fever.
It just so happened that in the past few months, Gu had established several research institutes in Jiangning Town. At first, they only studied magnetism. Later, as the world's most talented people were attracted by the prestigious MG awards, talents gathered, and gradually, mechanical and material resources, agriculture, animal husbandry, medicine, etc. They all dabbled in it, and I spent money to set up several research institutes in succession.
In order to facilitate research, a garden was built in Jiangning town. There are rare animals, flowers and plants collected from the north, south, east, west and four seas. A greenhouse was built with mica crystals to store them for research. It is also convenient to have a meeting there. Is there any general among you who can adapt to the hot environment of the South Seas and is not afraid of the insects, flowers and plants of the South Seas?"
Zhu Shuren spent a lot of effort to explain to his wife clearly what he had done with the resources he had spent on the new research institute in Jiangning Town in the past few months.
But if there are future generations to watch, they will definitely understand instantly: isn’t it just for scientific research, natural history has been opened up, so it is necessary to build the first systematic zoo and botanical garden on the earth.
Today's knowledgeable people in the Ming Dynasty have long understood the benefits of species calling in the Age of Discovery. After all, Zhu Shu people have been promoting corn and potatoes for five or six years, and they have also strongly promoted the introduction of tomatoes and peppers.
In terms of animal resources, tilapia, which is less spiny and more fleshy and easy to grow, is now commonly raised in southern water towns, as well as white-feathered chickens bred from India and large white pigs imported from India.
After completing the Magnetism Research Institute in Jiangning Town in the summer, Zhu Shuren worked hard to complete the natural history and breeding bases needed for agriculture, animal husbandry and medicine, and spent hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to finally build it.
Team.
It's just that many people don't understand that he collects exotic flowers, plants, and rare birds and animals from the East, West, and South Asia, especially since many ferocious beasts consume a considerable amount of meat every day. In this year of famine, meat is extremely precious.
Therefore, there was a letter from the imperial censor admonishing the emperor, saying that in the autumn of national crisis, we should still be frugal and not engage in licentious and extravagant behavior similar to the "leopard room" of Emperor Zhengde.
How could these rotten scholars know that these specimens were raised in small quantities for scientific research and breeding of improved species, and not for fun and enjoyment?
Finally, someone came forward to clarify: This matter did not cost the treasury a single penny. The Shen family donated private property out of their own pockets for the construction. It was only open to scientific researchers, so those censors had to shut up.
After all, how do people spend their own money? Does it have anything to do with the censor?
Historically, it was not until 1826 and 1828 that the West was established in the UK by Stanford. Before his death, Raffles donated his private collection to establish the "London Natural Society" and the "London Zoo". After that, Darwin's scientific research,
It also once benefited from donations from Stanford and Raffles City.
In China, it was historically not until two years before Cixi's death in the late Qing Dynasty that the "Agricultural Experimental Field" was established in 1906 and the "Ten Thousand Animals Garden" was established in 1907, which were the earliest animal and plant breeding scientific research institutions and zoological and botanical gardens in China.
It happens to be exactly eighty years later than the West.
Of course, hundreds of years before this, gardens of rare birds, exotic animals, and exotic flowers and plants must have existed as private breeding grounds for nobles. However, they were not used for scientific research purposes and were not open to the public. They were purely for private enjoyment, just like a leopard room.
Zhu Shuren is now running various research institutes in Jiangning, hunting rabbits, and it can be said that the East has refreshed this record by 260 years, surpassing the West by 180 years——
If the development in this area is not affected by the butterfly effect, in fact it is more likely that in another 70 or 80 years, major European countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands will imitate this "civilized act of kindness" back to Europe.
…
Zhu Yuchan heard that her husband had to go outside the city to convene a meeting with the generals because there were rare birds, animals, flowers and plants to see. She, who had been depressed at home for the past few months, was naturally eager to try it out, so she asked to be taken with him.
go.
When Zhu Shuren heard this, his subconscious reaction was that his wife was fooling around: "How can this be done? My wife is six months pregnant and should rest."
Zhu Yuchan was so angry that she said, "I'm still resting! I've gained almost 20 pounds in the past six months! It was so hot in the past that I couldn't bear to go out, but now it's finally cool in late autumn. Of course I have to take the opportunity to walk more, soon."
It's winter and it's so cold that I can't go out again.
Besides, the imperial doctor has long said that you need to rest for the first three or four months of pregnancy, and you need to rest for the next eight months. In the middle six or seven months, you can move around slowly, which is beneficial!"
Zhu Shuren was speechless, thinking to himself, can this be considered? He weighed more than ten kilograms, at least half of which was the weight in his belly plus the amniotic fluid and placenta. In fact, he only gained seven or eight kilograms at most. He did not dislike his wife.
But then he thought, after six months he could take a breather and go out to change his mood, which might help his growth. So he made a three-part agreement with his wife:
"You can go out with us, but the wheels of the cart have to be wrapped with gum tree sap obtained by the Hongyi people. It's more than seventy miles to Jiangning Town, so we can't bump around.
Also, when you go to a place where there are exotic flowers and plants from South and West Asia, you are not allowed to get close and look at them. You can only look through the crystal mica window, and you are not allowed to get close to the rare birds and animals. You can just use a telescope to look at them."
What Zhu Shuren is worried about is that species he has never been exposed to may cause allergies or spread bacteria.
Zhu Yuchan readily agreed to these two requests. As for Zhu Shuren's suggestion of using rubber juice to transform the wheels, she simply ignored them and said that a large sedan carried by sixteen people would be enough.
Zhu Shuren had no choice but to endure his wife's "arrogance and licentiousness". After all, no matter how good the shock absorption of early rubber-wrapped wheels was, it was not as good as the shock absorption of human legs.
The more people carrying the sedan chair, the better the shock absorption effect. Any step of a single bearer will not cause the sedan chair to rise or fall. This kind of thing may still exist for several decades before it is gradually eliminated.
After the couple agreed, Zhu Shuren also gave orders to the subordinates who were to be summoned. Two days later, the Zhu family left the city and went straight to Jiangning Town.
Zhu Shuren himself was wearing light armor and riding a horse. He looked very friendly to the people. Only the pregnant princess sat in a sedan with sixteen people. Considering that there was no one in the world but this one woman, naturally no one would say anything.
The bearers were afraid that the princess would be hit by the bumps, so there were two groups of people taking turns to carry the sedan chair. They only carried it for forty miles every day, and then they stayed and rested. It took two days to go to Jiangning Town.
…
On September 24, a sunny autumn day, Zhu Shuren and his party arrived in Jiangning Town.
Several generals he summoned, as well as one or two governors, had arrived early and were preparing to participate in the meeting involving the internal purge planning of the Ming Dynasty this winter and the next one or two years.
Among those attending the meeting was Zhang Huangyan, who came from the front lines of Nanyang and Xinyang. He is considered to be the most important governor in the Ming Dynasty, other than Zhu Shuren, who is best at guarding and controlling battlefields at the provincial level.
The reason why Zhang Huangyan was found was not because he was overqualified to preside over the future reform of the Southwest, but because he had rich experience in leading Li Dingguo and other former Western bandit generals in actual combat.
Having a better understanding of his recent performance can help Zhu Shuren know people well and do their job well.
In addition, Fang Yizhi, the governor of Huguang, also made a rare trip to Jinling. On the one hand, after taking over, he needed to report on his work and listen to new tasks. Secondly, it was also because Fang Yizhi was one of the few liberal arts and sciences students in this era who had a relatively good theoretical foundation in science and engineering.
Since the establishment of a series of factories, mines and research institutes in Ma'anshan and Jiangning Town, some problems have also accumulated.
Fang Yizhi came over personally to provide some guidance and supervision, which also facilitated the subsequent work. By the way, Fang Yizhi in another time and space was originally going to write "Physics" after Ming died and retired to seclusion, but now he has also started to take time to write it in advance.
For this series of research institutes run by Zhu Shuren, Fang Yizhi's writings were also very helpful.
Wuchang is still conveniently located by waterway from Nanjing. From now on, I can go to Beijing every year to report on my duties and stay for a short while. I can also set aside one or two months every year for the daily work of the governor of Huguang and let his staff and subordinates help me, so that I can't miss important events.
In addition to the governor, the participating generals mainly included Zhang Mingzhen, Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, Jin Shenghuan, Zhu Wenzhen, Jiang Shoude and others.
Everyone gathered together, and the generals first paid full courtesy to Zhu Shuren, and then paid homage to Her Royal Highness the Princess.
Then Zhu Yuchan took the palace ladies to visit the Zoological and Botanical Garden first. Zhu Shuren and the generals also found a newly built conference hall in the newly built botanical garden and began to hold a meeting.
This can be regarded as not wasting resources. The botanical garden has always been a place with beautiful scenery, which is very suitable for setting up rest areas in the garden to build a sanatorium or a "conference hotel". Zhu Shuren just took the advanced experience of later generations at his fingertips.
A group of people were waiting in a courtyard surrounded by several greenhouses with glass or crystal skylights and mica skylights. They spread out a conference table, placed fragrant tea and fruit snacks, and discussed national plans.
In the skylight greenhouse next to it, there are coconut trees from Southeast Asia, oil palm trees that produce palm oil, grain palm trees that produce sago, and camphor trees that are native to Taiyuan Island.
There are also a very small number of South American cinchona trees (the bark of which is quinine) and rubber trees that Zheng Chenggong just followed Zhu Shuren's instructions and went through great pains to obtain from Hongyi merchants and Spanish merchants in the past one or two years.
Except for Zhu Shuren and Zheng Chenggong, this was the first time for everyone present to see these trees.
Seeing how tall these trees are, some of which are three to five feet tall, they are still planted in greenhouses with a large number of skylights, and are kept warm and protected by expensive glass or mica sheets. These former Western bandit generals who were born in the northwest and have never seen the world
I was particularly surprised, how much food would this cost?
They don't know that every tree selected and bred by Zhu Shuren either has important industrial raw material value, or will provide richer sources of oil and food for the people of the Central Plains in the future.
Or it can be used to produce precious medicines and dressings that can be used to fight tropical diseases and help Chinese people conquer Nanyang and conquer great powers. In order to cultivate better varieties, the money spent is definitely worth it.
…
After the meeting began, Zhu Shuren took the lead in setting a tone for his subordinates:
"I predict that in the next one or two years, the self-inflicted conflicts within the Tatars will not stop. Just because Dorgon is passing on the internal conflicts in this way, it will take at least two years to rebuild enough confidence for him to invade the south again.
Therefore, during this period of time, I, the Ming Dynasty, can get a full respite. Even if the war breaks out again in the future, we can still wait until Dorgon fires the first shot of the attack. At that time, the imperial army can withstand another round of dog Tatars.
After attacking and once again consuming the Tatars until they are completely damaged and with a huge loss of manpower, we will have a good opportunity to complete the all-out Northern Expedition.
Because as long as we delay, the Tatars will definitely be the ones unable to hold on in the end. We sit in the south, and now we have more than a fiscal surplus every year, but the Qing dogs continue to lose blood every year. The longer we delay, the weaker their national strength will be.
Dorgon is not fighting now because his two white flags have not yet been rebuilt into combat effectiveness, and the Green Battalion is not yet able to fight. When he feels a little bit able to fight, he will definitely be unable to hold back."
Before mentioning how to use the winter offensive in the past two years, Zhu Shuren first analyzed the situation clearly. He could first look at the distance and the general direction, and then focus back on the small actions in front of him.
He predicted that another war against the Qing Kingdom in the future would definitely start with the Ming Dynasty blocking another round of Qing army's active attacks and then pushing back.
This kind of model is what Zhu Shuren is willing to see, because it is definitely easier to fight a defensive war than an offensive war, and it can consume the enemy's vitality more.
The next time Dorgon is forced to take a desperate risk and feels that he may be able to make it again, it will be a good opportunity to give him a blow in the head and then take advantage of the situation to counterattack and destroy the group!
Some of the governors present at the meeting actually understood this truth, while more ordinary generals did not have such political wisdom. However, after such an inventory, everyone has unified their thoughts.
Zhu Shuren laid the groundwork and started to get to the point: "However, since ancient times, we have been adhering to counterattacks and accumulating money, food, and national strength, and we cannot neglect military equipment. Otherwise, Taizu of the Song Dynasty set up a stake sealing fund as a reward to regain the sixteen states of Yanyun, but what happened?
?
Over the hundreds of years, money and food were accumulated more and more, but the army and the people lost their will to fight! They lost the blood and motivation of the Northern Expedition to Yanyun! They even didn't even bother to think about recapturing Bianzhou!
Therefore, our Ming Dynasty must also learn a lesson. Since ancient times, if you are willing to fight, you will perish, and if you forget to fight, you will be in danger. When our Ming Dynasty has a truce with the Tatars in the past two years, the soldiers must not forget to fight, and let the newly reorganized old armies take turns to be baptized by actual combat.
.
The general idea is that you cannot spend too much money and food, and the annual military expenditure cannot exceed millions of taels. When the late emperor was there, the three rates totaled about 20 million taels. Now, half of the country has been lost, and the three rates have been abolished and replaced with heavy taxes.
Lijin is levied, and the southern commercial tax for the whole year is only more than 10,000 taels.
We also need to leave enough money and food to provide relief to the people in the north after we regain the ruined north and prevent the bandits from reappearing. We must strive to have a surplus of millions of taels of silver and millions of grains of food every year. Therefore, we strive to control the annual military operation expenditure to 5 million.
Within two, preferably within three million taels.
The troops and horses used must accordingly be controlled within the total number of 50,000 civilians and logistics personnel, and the period of use should be within half a year each year. Only in this way can expenditures be controlled."
The generals first looked at each other and made a mental calculation. If the total number of logistics troops dispatched was to be suppressed to less than 50,000, then the number of front-line combat troops would only be 20,000 to 30,000 at most. In fact, depending on the shape of the war, there will be another number.
Error within times.
For example, if Yunnan-Guizhou reformed its territory and returned to its homeland, it would be difficult to raise military supplies due to the rugged terrain, so there would be fewer combat troops and more logistics troops.
And if you want to deal with big officials, because there is sea transportation, the cost is cheap, and the proportion of soldiers can be higher. The logistics depends on the help of Zheng Chenggong's family. They don't have a lot of money, but the Zheng family navy is more familiar with the sewers in the Taiyuan Strait than their own.
.
Apart from Zhu Shuren, Zhang Huangyan had the highest status among the participants, so he did his part to help everyone ask questions:
"With this amount of military expenditure and force size, it is impossible to use troops on two fronts at the same time. Could it be that we are planning to take action slowly and spread out over several years? For example, this winter, we will first attack the big officials controlled by the Red Yi people, and then go there next winter.
Is Yunnan-Guizhou going back to its native land?
However, each place only has a few months of fighting opportunities. Is it too short? If the Hongyi people are beaten away, they may not come back. Returning to their native land is a job that will delay the sun and the moon. After all, the resisters are all
He is a powerful person among the local people, and his time will not be short."
Zhu Shuren smiled and nodded with satisfaction, and pointed at his cousin: "That's right! It's really not that fast. If we fight against the Hongyi people, we may be able to win a quick victory within half a year. We must fight for a long time.
Therefore, I plan to focus on reforming the land and returning it to the locals this winter, asking the court to send more exiled officials to Yunnan and Guizhou, and use the army to protect the exiled officials when they take office. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed by force.
The first wave of resistance was the most intense and the most unforgiving. It had to be shocked with thunder. After the weather got hotter in the spring, in order to prevent the garrison in the south from getting more diseases, it was necessary to reduce the garrison and reduce expenses. From then on, we strived to use only a few thousand troops.
Or at most 10,000 people to eliminate the resistance that reoccurs from time to time.
Next year's military expenditures for continuing to promote land-returning in Yunnan and Guizhou will definitely be much less than this year. At that time, most of the year's combat budget will be allocated to recapture the big officials in one go. To deal with the red-haired barbarians in the big officials,
We have to rely purely on force to expel them. We can plow the streets and clear out the holes, and eliminate them completely without worrying about long-term recurring problems."
After Zhang Huangyan heard this, he stroked his beard and thought for a while: "The estimation of the problem of senior officials should be no problem, and it is not an underestimate of the difficulty. The estimation of the first wave of resistance from Yunnan and Guizhou to return to their native land is not an underestimation of the enemy.
, the army will definitely be able to suppress it once the officers take office.
However, with the continued revolt against the reformers, are you underestimating the enemy? Only a few thousand elite garrison troops are left to maintain suppression locally, and I am afraid that the gourd will float away if the gourd is pressed."
He is more direct in his speech and does not deal with the person at all. The main reason is that he is very familiar with Zhu Shuren. They have played together with cousins since childhood, so he is not too constrained by the etiquette towards the prince. He is also familiar with Zhu Shuren's temper and knows Zhu Shuren well.
I like to hear him speak efficiently and directly.
As expected, Zhu Shuren was not angry, but still showed a satisfied smile: "Cousin, you are so cautious, but you are thinking of the same thing as Gu Gu. Indeed, if you rely solely on force to suppress the resistance of the Yungui natives to the reformed native land, this will
The troops are a bit short. But what if after the first wave of thunder subdues us, we immediately change to a combination of kindness and power, kindness and gentleness?"
Zhang Huangyan was puzzled and thought for a moment: "What do you mean?"
Zhu Shuren waved and then stood up first. Zhang Huangyan and the generals quickly followed, and everyone started walking among the sunrooms of the botanical garden surrounded by mica skylights.
The environment for the conference was indeed very beautiful.
But Zhu Shuren was obviously not interested in viewing the scenery. He walked purposefully to a few clusters of South American crops that Zheng Chenggong had brought back, played with the broad green leaves, and asked Zhang Huangyan:
"Do you recognize this thing? This is Tanbagu. The fresh leaves look like this. In the 30s of Wanli, the snuff bottles were first introduced to the Central Plains by the Red Mao Yi people. These leaves were dried and kneaded.
Made from puree.
They sent exiled officials to Yunnan and Guizhou, and after killing the first wave of resisters, they let the wind go. Which chieftain tribes cooperated with the court and recognized the exiled officials, and the court distributed seeds to them and allowed them to grow tobacco.
If it is purchased at the official price, then processed, and sold exclusively by the imperial court, it can be considered as benefiting the people."
Of course, Zhu Shuren would never touch anything that would harm the country and the people, but the special purchase and sale of tobacco, controlled by the state, has been a serious and legal business in all dynasties.
Around the 30th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, high-level officials began to import Spanish snuff bottles. By the Tianqi period, they were directly making bagu leaf rolls, which were similar to cigars, and they were also available in China.
Now that the Ming Dynasty is short of military spending to restore the Central Plains, it can temporarily ignore the harmful effects on health. Fortunately, in ancient times, this stuff was very expensive, and even the poor could not afford to smoke. It did not harm the poor, but only the rich and those who liked luxury goods.
Moreover, Yunyan was so famous in later generations, and the local climate and geographical conditions were suitable for large-scale tobacco cultivation. This kind of tobacco is light and has high value density. When transported from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which is difficult to travel in rugged areas, the freight is much cheaper than other types of tobacco.
This thing also contributed to the integration of Yunnan and Guizhou into the ruling order of the Central Plains, and can be relied on for a short time in special periods and special circumstances.
When the Ming Dynasty raises enough military spending to complete the restoration of the Central Plains and rebuild China, Zhu Shuren will definitely vigorously publicize that smoking is harmful to health.