Emperor Yonglong was silent.

The poor situation in the northwest has always been a hidden danger, Gansu Ningxia plus Liu Dongyang and their expansion of Hami and Shazhou, look very glamorous, but in fact the disadvantages have begun to appear, that is, the difficulty of logistics and supply, the cost is huge, has become a hidden pain that he faintly regrets.

Zhang Jingqiu and Chai Ke had reported to him the pros and cons of recovering Hami and Shazhou when they talked about recovering Hami and Shazhou, but at that time in that situation, they had to win the support of the people and the people of Beidishi, and made this decision.

Chen Jingxuan's compromise to the cabinet and himself is a serious shortage of grain and money, the biggest problem is that the supply consumption of Gansu Town, Hami and Shazhou is too large, Chen Jingxuan even vaguely revealed whether he can give up Hami, fortunately this guy has not said that he wants to give up Shazhou, but even so, it has caused a lot of controversy in the cabinet.

But fortunately, everyone understands the sensitivity of this matter, and it has not yet spread, and it is only known to a few cabinet elders and themselves, but the household department has also been shouting that the expenses of Liaodong and the three sides are too large, and it has reached the point where it is difficult to support.

But once there is a bandit rebellion in northern Shaanxi, the supply will definitely not be able to be maintained as much as before, but I am afraid that the two towns of Ningxia in Gansu will not be able to support it, especially Hami and Shazhou, can it still be kept?

Thinking of this, Emperor Yonglong felt that his head ached faintly, how could this father have ruled for forty years, but he was able to go to the south of the Yangtze River six times to be extremely chic, but it was his turn to become such a mess? This question has been bothering him and making him unhappy.

"Brother Huang, since the harvest in Huguang is in sight, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the situation in the north has not deteriorated, and now the grain in Huguang is transported to Xi'an first, as long as the people of Ganxi and Shaanxi can be given a news that Xi'an Tun has a large amount of grain, it can stabilize the grain price in northern Shaanxi, and in addition, it is better to let Henan transfer grain from Jiangnan to stabilize Henan, and there is not much room for grain prices in Shaanxi to rise again." King Zhongshun couldn't help but interject.

Emperor Yonglong smiled bitterly, "Lao Jiu, although there is still some silver in the household department, but it is all used for emergencies, the cost of what you said is huge, and the remaining silver left by Tian Fu and the strategy of opening the sea will go in November and December?" Where is the money to do such things in advance? ”

Loyal to the king of silence? After a while, he said, "Why don't you borrow money from Haitong Yinzhuang?" ”

Emperor Yonglong also hesitated, "There are also people in the cabinet who propose to borrow money from Haitong Yinzhuang?" But there is also a lot of opposition? Mainly in terms of interest, do you know that this loan is not hundreds of thousands of taels? At least one or two million taels, not to mention whether Haitong Yinzhuang can get it? That's a lot of interest a year? ……”

In business, if the king of Zhongshun wants to help the royal brother again, it is absolutely impossible to say that he can borrow money without interest, that is, if he wants to have a low interest, he will be opposed by other shareholders? It is no wonder that there is a lot of opposition in the cabinet.

"Why don't you speak?" Emperor Yonglong laughed? "When it comes to your own interests, do you think it's easy to do?"

"The royal brother laughed, but the imperial brother also knew that this Haitong Silver Village was made up of hundreds of shareholders, among which there were dozens of relatives of our Zhang clan, the gentry and merchants of the Northland? Jiangnan gentry and merchants, plus Shanghai merchants and salt merchants and grain merchants in Huguang Nanzhi? The composition is complex, although the younger brother is also the largest shareholder? But it's not a big deal,......"

King Zhongshun looked embarrassed? Explain with a bitter face.

The specific list of shareholders of Haitong Yinzhuang is only in the hands of Feng Ziying? But as the largest shareholder? The king of Zhongshun roughly knew, even the dragon forbidden lieutenant only knew a rough idea, and if it was specific to each person, only Feng Ziying knew.

"Lao Jiu, do you mean that you can't be the master either?" Emperor Yonglong was a little curious.

He knows roughly about the situation of Haitong Yinzhuang, but he doesn't know much about how it works and what model it uses to make money, only that he reached an agreement with the imperial court at the beginning, and the naval fleet and related shipyards and wharves on Denglai's side will provide loans, and nothing else will be left.

"Brother Huang, when this Haitong Yinzhuang was established, there was a charter, which was also signed and agreed by all shareholders, and the operation mode was clarified, no matter who could go beyond this kind of business operation rules, whether it was a brother or Feng Ziying, the initiator, it was not good, this point was also recognized by everyone at the beginning, otherwise, the gentry and merchants, salt merchants and grain merchants in Jiangnan would not join in, aren't they worried that our royal family and the court will take advantage of them? But in fact, we royal relatives are only afraid that they are more opposed to the court getting involved. ”

For this group of clansmen, King Zhongshun is very disdainful, if it wasn't for the original need to raise silver taels to open up the situation, he really didn't want to deal with these near or distant relatives, but he also had to admit that with the participation of these people, it did make many gentry and businessmen in the north feel a lot more down-to-earth, and also drove the gentry and businessmen in the north to take shares.

"At the beginning, these people have always disagreed with the loan from Denglai, feeling that the interest rate is too low, and the court has not provided much help to Yinzhuang, or Feng Keng went to make a few explanations, so he could barely convince these people, to say that these people's loyalty to the king is really not as good as that of ordinary gentry and businessmen."

King Zhongshun's emotion touched Emperor Yonglong greatly, under the interests, who would back down? These royal relatives are all relatives of their own courtiers in terms of etiquette and law, but when it comes to interests, they no longer have that warm affection, and it is even more unthinkable to share the soup from their mouths.

"In that case, then Lao Jiu, you still mentioned that you want to borrow silver from Haitong Yinzhuang?" Emperor Yonglong was silent for a long time before he said.

"Brother Huang, the younger brother doesn't have this ability, but Feng Keng may be able to." King Zhongshun hesitated for a moment and said: "The same is true for the previous Denglai loan, but Feng Keng found a few leading figures to persuade them one by one, although there were some twists and turns in the middle, and finally passed, although it was also difficult this time, but the younger brother felt that with Feng Keng's eloquence, he could still persuade these mercenary guys." ”

"Feng Keng really has such a ability?" Emperor Yonglong was a little surprised, although the strategy of opening the sea was proposed by Feng Keng, it was enough to prove his foresight in the macro strategy, but this is completely different from the lending of specific money, Emperor Yonglong is very aware of the appetite and virtue of those clansmen, and it is not easy to convince them.

"Although the younger brother doesn't know how Feng Keng persuaded these people, the younger brother admires Feng Keng's ability very much, and he can always find some truth to make people involuntarily follow his ideas and reason,......" King Zhongshun laughed, obviously still very confident in this.

Emperor Yonglong bowed slightly, as if he was thinking about something, and seemed to be a little touched.

"Brother Huang is still bothering about Liaodong affairs?" King Zhongshun said cautiously.

"This Lu Song is also mouthy, you know it? Compared to the matter of Shaanxi, Liaodong is nothing, at least not so urgent, but I feel that I am a person with a big appetite, but this Feng Tang seems to be even more serious than me. A smile appeared on the corner of Emperor Yonglong's mouth, but this smile was a little complicated, "Old Jiu, do you know what he wants?" ”

King Zhongshun was nervous for a while, "My brother also wants to know." ”

"Hmph, he proposed to assign the six forts of Kuandian to Shulhaqi's right guard of Jianzhou, and at the same time allow Shulhaqi to recruit Korean refugees to reclaim the land in the area of the six forts of Kuandian." Emperor Yonglong said word by word.

Although the six forts of Kuandian were abandoned by Li Chengliang, they only withdrew the army in actual action, but theoretically this is still the area controlled by the Great Zhou Dynasty, but in order to avoid being raided by Nurhachi, coupled with the difficulty of supply, it was withdrawn, and now it is handed over to the jurisdiction of the right guard of Jianzhou, which seems to be reasonable, the only thing that is somewhat unreasonable is that the six forts of Kuandian are close to the custody of the left guard of Jianzhou, not the area of the right guard of Jianzhou.

King Zhongshun naturally understood the truth here, and frowned and said, "I'm afraid that Nurhachi won't agree, and there will be a reaction from the North Korean side, right?" ”

"I'm also worried about this, although now North Korea and Nurhachi are eyebrow-eyebrowing, but that's also because Nurhachi is powerful outside the Guan, and it's also because of the lack of strength on our side of Liaodong, but if Shulhachi is allowed to take root in the area of Kuandian Liubao and absorb Korean refugees, first, Nurhachi will not agree, it will intensify the conflict, and the war will continue, and second, will the North Korean side hate because of this, and even get together with Nurhachi?"

King Zhongshun is also not sure, he can roughly know about such important military matters, but if he wants to make an idea, he does not dare to say anything, "What about the opinions of your cabinet elders and the military department?" ”

"I don't agree with it, Qi Yongtai and Li San are supportive, Fang Congzhe is resolutely opposed, Ye Xianggao and Li Tingji are not very clear, there is no opposition, but they raised a few worries, mainly because they are worried that once the war is delayed, the household department will not be able to support it." Emperor Yonglong was also hesitant, the matter was too big, and he really didn't dare to make a decision easily, "And once Korea is at odds with us, the situation of the Great Zhou in Liaodong will be even more sinister." ”

"Didn't Feng Tang realize this?" King Zhongshun always felt that it was not so simple, "He should have a statement." ”

"Of course, he also has his reasons, and he can't say that he is wrong, but I and the cabinet are worried about whether what he says will achieve its purpose." Emperor Yonglong sighed, "Feng Tang proposed in the recital that the Korean king Li Hui was forced by Nurhachi's power and became increasingly sycophant to the Jianzhou Jurchens, but he was afraid of the pressure of the Great Zhou, so he intended to adopt the strategy of riding the wall left and right, and the Great Zhou was not yet able to force the North Korean to change the general trend of its policy, so it should seek practical benefits, such as supporting Shulhaqi's Jianzhou Right Guard to recruit Korean refugees to compete with Nurhachi is a strategy,......"

"Brother Huang, that's it?" King Zhongshun frowned.

"Of course, Feng Tang proposed to move people from Shandong, Beizhi, and Henan to Liaodong and Liaoxi to enrich the border areas, relocate 300,000 people, exempt from taxes for 20 years, and provide support such as grain seeds and cattle in the first three years,......"

King Zhongshun gasped, no wonder even the imperial brother and the cabinet were so hesitant, this opening was too big.

Moving to Shibian is not a new way, but moving to Liaodong, especially now, cannot be cautious.

The reason why Nurhachi's development momentum was so rapid was that in addition to his unification of the Jurchens and the annexation of the Huifa and Hada tribes of the Haixi Jurchens, there was also a more important factor that he recruited, absorbed, and plundered many Han people in the Han region of Liaodong, and even attracted many Han people who were displaced outside the Saiwai Pass from the Chahar side.

This part of the Han people brought to the Jurchen iron smelting, armor and tanning, farming and other technologies that the Jurchen had never mastered before, so that for the first time, the Jianzhou Jurchen had the ability to build their own weapons and make armor, and their strength increased greatly, so that he had the strength to further annex the Haixi Jurchen.

You must know that Nurhachi started with more than a dozen pairs of tattered armor, and attaches great importance to the ability to make weapons and armor, as long as the capable Han people can get better treatment than in the Guannei under their command, and their lives are better.

Because of this, the imperial court is now half-hearted and hesitant about the situation in Liaodong.

Knowing that Liaodong is now unable to support Liaodong's needs by relying solely on military tuns, a large number of supplies and material needs have to be transported from the Guannei, and the freight alone is an astronomical amount, and in addition to grain, all other materials need to be transported from the Guannei, this huge supply difficulty has seriously restricted the Liaodong's self-supply ability, so that any operation and even many training have to consider whether their own supplies can be satisfied.

There are only two ways to solve this serious shortage of supplies, either to have a strong endogenous production capacity, or to have a strong, efficient and low-cost transportation and delivery capacity.

The former needs abundant manpower, and now the population of Liaodong is less than 500,000, of which 100,000 are soldiers and soldiers in Liaodong Town, plus their families, almost accounting for more than 70 percent, and the remaining part is mostly all kinds of personnel who serve around Liaodong Town Army, and the number of people who can really survive independently is probably less than 50,000.

That is to say, the entire Liaodong is a huge military group, and there is almost no basis for the survival of other civilian populations, and this huge military group is completely dependent on foreign imports except for a part of the population that belongs to the military tun and can barely maintain its own survival needs.

In the case of the cut off from shipping, all materials need to be imported from the direction of Jingshi through the West Liaoning Corridor, and Jingshi itself is a city that is difficult to be self-sufficient and needs to import a large amount of money from Jiangnan, which means that all materials must be imported from the more distant Jiangnan or Huguang, and its consumption and cost are high as you can imagine.

It can be said that Feng Tang is also thinking about the long-term plan for Liaodong, but it is difficult to implement this strategy.

First of all, the relocation itself is a difficult problem, even if it is not easy to go to Liaodong because of the famine, the people of the country are relocated, and they have to leave their hometowns as a last resort, which is one of them; The cost of relocation is huge, even if it is from the nearest Beizhili and Shandong, the cost is huge by land, and it is easy to be contaminated with epidemics. From preparation to planning to implementation, relocation is extremely cumbersome and complicated, and the slightest carelessness will cause civil unrest. Will the relocation of the people stimulate the ambitions of the Jianzhou Jurchens or Chahars, and then lead to the invasion and plundering of the two sides, and can Liaodong Town withstand it? This is the fourth and most crucial point, otherwise it will become a wedding dress for the enemy.

Seeing that King Zhongshun was also shocked and didn't dare to speak, Emperor Yonglong smiled self-deprecatingly, "This matter is still limited to the cabinet princes and me, and you know, it is also a difficult problem to choose, if you don't do this, in the long run, it is indeed difficult to curb the threat of the Jurchens and even the Chahar people in Jianzhou, without sufficient population, Liaodong is like a big hole, constantly devouring the already stretched financial resources of the imperial court, but to move the people, this problem is too big, too difficult, Even if it is gradually realized in three to five years, as Feng Tang said, with the promotion of the imperial court and the assistance of private merchants, it will be extremely costly and difficult,......"

King Zhongshun pondered for a long time before he said, "Then Feng Tang proposed this strategy, but did he say how to implement it?" ”

Emperor Yonglong hesitated for a moment, and then said slowly: "This has not been said, only that it is arranged by the imperial court to be implemented, and it can be carried out in combination with the construction of the Denglai Naval Division, and this matter can be promoted through the Jiangnan maritime merchants in the early stage. We also have to ask our Han people to grow and gain a firm foothold in the land of Liaodong, and he also said that it is not a problem for this land in Liaodong to accommodate two or three million Han people, especially when he mentioned that some new edible things have been introduced from overseas, which may be able to help the people of Liaodong migrate. ”

"New edible things?" King Chungshun asked with some confusion.

"Well, he probably refers to Xu Guangqi planting some crops from Xiyi when he was living in seclusion in Tianjinwei, which are called potatoes and sweet potatoes, similar to taro and peanuts,......" Emperor Yonglong was quite puzzled, "I don't know where Feng Tang learned about this situation, so he swore that such crops could also be planted in Liaodong, which could reduce the pressure of transporting grain from Guannei to Liaodong,......"

King Zhongshun was a little disapproving, "Liaodong is cold, Huainan is orange, and Huaibei is orange, is there less of a situation?" Feng Tang was a little whimsical, how could such a matter related to the imperial court's plans be believed to be true because of some hearsay? This is not a good policy, but what Feng Tang said about moving the people is a solid move, and the younger brother thinks it is true, if there are not enough people, it is indeed difficult to support the situation in the entire Liaodong. ”

"Then Lao Jiu, do you think it is feasible at this time?" Emperor Yonglong looked at the loyal and obedient royal road.

"This non-subordinate brother can say in vain, the subordinate brother just thinks that Liaodong must be defended, so no matter what strategy is adopted, it should be ensured that Liaodong is stable, maybe Feng Tangzhi's suggestion is a bit too hasty, but it may not be possible to have some compromises." King Zhongshun hesitated for a moment before speaking.