After six years of co-governance, the co-ruling court, which had been fighting every year, was finally liberated from large-scale wars.

This allowed the Ming Dynasty to begin to have the energy to plan the domestic industry and economy, develop internal affairs, and let the war gradually become a secondary position.

Although recently, the Ming army and the Jin army fought a battle at Pujin Pass and Tongguan, the Ming army was preparing to attack Mongolia, and the war in Nanyang was not over, but these battles were only local battles, and the Ming Dynasty did not need to deal with it with all its might.

On the South Seas side, the Dutch were besieged in the fort of Malacca for four or five months, and they were still dying.

Not long ago, the Dutch warships in the port were basically sunk by the Ming army, and the Dutch who fell into despair began to seek negotiations, and he released nearly a thousand Ming people, but he was not willing to give up the fortress of Malacca, and it may take a few more months to besiege this group of Dutch before they would surrender unconditionally.

In addition, when the Ming army sailors arrived in Batavia, they also encountered this kind of fortress, because the land division did not come, and the sailors had no choice for a while, so they took the nearby Surabaya, established a simple port here, and built a fortress to fight against the Dutch.

Catching a place, many Ming people who hid in the mountains and forests, got the news, and gathered to Surabaya, nearly 10,000 people, and helped the Ming army gain a firm foothold at once.

The war in Nanyang may be a long time coming, but the Ming army has taken the initiative, and after the Ming army trapped the Dutch in Malacca, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty have already sailed back to Tianzhu.

Of course, there is a danger in this, after all, there is a Dutch stronghold at the southern end of Tianzhu, and the armed merchant ships of the Dutch will haunt here, but the maritime trade is because of the huge risk, so the benefits are eye-catching, driving people to trade one after another, and the maritime merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty are also equipped with artillery, not to be slaughtered.

The affairs of Nanyang were unresolved for a while, but they did not affect the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty, and the same was true of the affairs of Northern Xinjiang.

Jin Guo suddenly sent troops, probably to pull Wu Keshan to help, but Jin Guo did not have the intention of provoking a big war, but in Tongguan and Pujin Pass, there were several battles with the Ming army of less than 10,000 people.

Wang Yan estimated that the Jin army's intentions were to contain the Ming army and reduce the pressure on his new ally Wu Keshan, and at the same time, he also had the intention of finding out the tactics, weapons and equipment and combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

The Jin army had no intention of fighting, for fear of really setting itself on fire, so it was in place, and the Ming Dynasty only defined this conflict as a border friction, which only needed the garrisons of Henan and Shanxi to deal with it, and did not need the imperial court to send additional troops and horses, nor did it affect the Ming army's plan to sweep Mongolia and open up outside the pass.

Beginning at the end of February, the snow outside the pass gradually melted, the Shanhaiguan opened, the first batch of more than 300,000 people into Liao, from then on, marched to the Liaohe Plain, at the same time the Ming army also began to move out of the pass, one assembled in Datong, one assembled in Liaoning.

On the western Liaoning corridor, the procession is dozens of miles long, and there are also a large number of sea ships shuttling on the Bohai Sea, sending a large number of agricultural tools and grain to the mouth of the Liaohe River.

This time, the Ming army attacked Mongolia in two directions, one was from Datong, where 10,000 Yicong and more than 5,000 cavalry from Shanxi were gathered, responsible for sweeping the southern parts of the desert, and the other was from Shenyang to attack Horqin Mongolia, and the main force was 30,000 rampant horse troops.

The generals were responsible for the actions of the army, and Zhang Jiayu was mainly responsible for relocating the people who moved into Liaoning.

By mid-March, the plains on both sides of the Liao River will be filled with tents as far as the eye can see, and the first batch of 300,000 people will be housed here.

On this day, he first greeted Wang Fuzhi, who had arrived here by boat from Tianjin Wei, at the wharf at the mouth of the Liao River, and then led him all the way to inspect the resettlement of the people in Liao.

The Liaohe Plain is very fertile, and before Nurhachi's rebellion, at least two million people lived here, and it was once very prosperous, but now it is a barren wilderness.

At this time, the ice surface of the Liao River had melted, and the ice and snow on both sides of the river had also melted, and billowing smoke could be seen rising from time to time in the distance, which was the government organizing the people to burn down the forests in preparation for building houses and reclaiming land.

"Lord Zhongtang, the 300,000 people who entered Liao this time, the lower officials are going to settle along the Liao River and set up three counties, each with 100,000 people. Once it is located at the mouth of the Liaohe River, it is called Yingkou, and then the two cities of Liaozhong and Liaoyang are restored. Zhang Jiayu and Wang Fuzhi rode together, he said while walking: "Now that I am developing by sea, these people are placed on the plains on both sides of the Liao River, and the materials produced can be conveniently transported to Yingkou through the river, and then transported to the south of the Yangtze River by sea, and the materials in the south of the Yangtze River can also be transported to various places through the river." This is much more time-saving and labor-saving than land transportation! ”

"The planning of Zhiyuan is very good, Liaoning has fertile land and rich products, as long as this group of people is settled, the people in the pass will come spontaneously, your responsibility is very heavy!" Wang Fuzhi smiled.

For a place to be good, in addition to having abundant products, transportation must also be convenient. According to Zhang Jiayu's plan, the Liaohe Plain will be able to develop in as little as twenty or thirty years.

At this time, the group, escorted by dozens of cavalrymen, entered a camp where the people were housed.

They walked through the tents, the children did not understand the troubles of the elders, and played between the tents, and the adults watched from a distance when they saw a group of officers and soldiers entering the barracks.

"The problem of the Liaoning government now is that there is a lack of officials, especially officials at the bottom, to manage the people." Zhang Jiayu continued Wang Fuzhi's introduction: "Xiaguan, now you can only let the people manage themselves. Fortunately, most of these people came with their families, all of them were villagers, and there were elders in the clan to mediate the conflict, so there were no public security problems. ”

"As for the problem of officials, I have already sent a letter to the prison state, and I will send you a hundred prison students to serve in Liaoning, as for the officials, you can recruit some from the people, and the head catcher will select some people from the retired soldiers, they will soon be transferred to Liaoning, Zhiyuan does not need to be anxious!" Wang Fuzhi said casually, and it can be seen that he is very attentive to the relocation of the people and the filling of Liao.

After walking for a while, this time Wang Fuzhi asked, "Are the food and tents in place?" You can't afford to eat and live. ”

Zhang Jiayu said with a smile: "Lord Zhongtang, don't worry, the imperial court has transported a lot of sweet potatoes from Fujian, the food is enough for the time being, and there is no need to worry about the tents, this group of people is enough." ”

Sweet potatoes were planted in the Ming Dynasty for several years and have been gradually popularized, and the Ming Dynasty also found high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes that can be grown in dry land in Luzon, so that rice can not be planted in dry land and mountainous land, and there is no problem with food for the time being.

These crops created a prosperous era of sweet potatoes in the Qing Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty now has a grain production base in Nanyang, with the current population, there is no need to worry about the problem of food.

As for tents, these military supplies, the Ming Dynasty's reserves are also very sufficient, and the workshops in Huguang have produced a lot of military supplies, which can be used to camp the people without war.

Wang Fuzhi bowed slightly, "Although there is no problem with food and housing, it will not work for a long time, and the progress of resettlement must be faster." In addition, when the weather is hot, it is necessary to prevent the spread of epidemics. ”

"Zhongtang rest assured, the lower officials are already organizing them to build houses and reclaim wasteland, and by May, this group of people should be able to be resettled."

At this time, everyone walked to the core area of the camp, a young official, who was gathering the chiefs and leading figures of various tribes, holding a meeting, preaching the imperial policy, and about forty or fifty people gathered in the tent.

Seeing this, Wang Fuzhi immediately turned over and dismounted with Zhang Jiayu and got into the big tent.

In ancient Chinese society, these patriarchs and clan elders can be said to be the cornerstone of the stability of the imperial court, and their influence in the countryside will not even be lost to the imperial court.

As the middle stratum of the whole society, the squires are the intermediaries between the government and the people, on the one hand, they help the government to rule the locality, on the other hand, they fight for the rights and interests of the people to the government, speak for their hometown, and play a vital role in the rule of the dynasty.

Of course, there are also many "inferior gentry" who take advantage of this status to profit from it and fish the villagers, and if a dynasty has problems, most of them are also his squires who have problems, in order to help the government and the people communicate, so that the dynasty gradually loses popularity.

At this time, the people in the tent were not shocked and a little panicked when they saw the two senior officials coming in, but the official who was talking was busy saying: "Don't panic, everyone, this is Wang Zhongtang, the governor of Beizhi, and this is Zhang Futai of Liaoning, come and see everyone's situation." ”

When everyone heard that it was the governor and governor, they were so shocked that they hurriedly saluted, Wang Fuzhi waved his hand and smiled: "Don't be nervous, fellow villagers, this official came here today to hear what problems and worries you have, and the government will do its best to help you solve them!" ”

Zhang Jiayu also raised his hand and pressed it, motioned for everyone to sit down, and then said, "Everyone, let's sit down and talk!" ”

The more than 40 old men in the tent saluted in unison, thanked them, and then sat down one after another.

At this time, under the auspices of the young official, if everyone has any worries, they can directly respond to the two adults, and an old man stood up under the recommendation of everyone, saluted: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have two worries, one is that if we settle here, will the Mongols come to rob us, and the other is, the weather here is cold, and we can't grow wheat, what do we plant and eat?" ”

These two issues can be said to be of concern to all the people, one is related to their safety, and the other is related to farming.

Wang Fuzhi smiled and motioned to Zhang Jiayu, who replied: "These two points, you can rest assured, the imperial court has sent troops to prepare to attack Mongolia in the north, to ensure that they do not dare to invade Liaoning." As for what to plant, the imperial court also has a plan, Liaoning is very suitable for soybean planting, we plant soybeans first, and then gradually increase the planting of new crops after discovering new crops suitable for planting. ”

The old man asked, "My lord, can the soybean be worth the wheat?" Can we plant it to be full? ”

These people will farm the land, and they have only grown wheat, so they still have anxiety in their hearts.

Wang Fuzhi immediately smiled and said: "Rest assured, the villagers can rest assured, this soybean can be eaten, oil can also be extracted, and the bean dregs can also raise livestock, if you are not used to eating, the government will contact you with merchants in Jiangnan, so that they can exchange good rice for your soybeans, to ensure that you can eat enough and live a good life." ”

After listening to Wang Zhongtang's words, everyone felt a little relieved, and began to be full of hope for their future lives.

(End of chapter)