amaotonovel Chapter 1234 Ascending to Power... Is ascending to power really that powerful?
Chapter 1234 Ascending to Power... Is ascending to power really that powerful?
Li Shanchang glanced at Yang Shaofeng discreetly.
Your Highness has grown up—at least the map of Yan Kingdom has become longer. You actually managed to go through such a long detour to scheme against Yang Dianfeng!
Li Shanchang stroked his beard with a smile and said, "Your Highness is right. Beiping is located between the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, backed by the Great Wall, surrounded by mountains and the sea. The emperor can reside there and control the world. It is indeed the best choice for the new capital."
"but……"
"Regardless of Minister Chen's true intentions, the fact remains that Beiping is indefensible."
"Whether it is necessary to set up a pass between Beiping and Liaodong, whether it is necessary to build a city and garrison at Haijin, the sea transport from south to north, and the defense of the Datong area are all issues that the Grand General's Office needs to carefully consider."
Li Shanchang shifted most of the questions to the Grand General's Office, but before Li Wenzhong could get impatient, he said, "As for how to repair and rebuild the old capital, when the court should move, and whether Nanjing should serve as a secondary capital or something else, these are the responsibilities of the Grand Secretariat and various ministries, directorates, temples, and academies. We are duty-bound to do so and are willing to provide a feasible plan within three months."
After seemingly fairly assigning tasks to each person, Li Shanchang finally unfolded his map of Yan: "I have heard that Dengzhou University has an engineering college and an architecture college. Why doesn't Your Highness summon the students of Dengzhou University and have them make plans for the new capital?"
"Moreover, the Prince Consort established a market in Dengzhou on his own, which made the people of Dengzhou rich and subsequently led to the prosperity of the people in the Dengzhou-Laizhou area."
Yang Shaofeng became wary, while Li Shanchang made the final decision: "The matter of moving the capital to Beiping still requires the Prince Consort's full support."
So?
You two have gone through all this trouble just to snatch someone from my hands, and by the way, you want to put a leash on me and make me your slave?
Yang Shaofeng really wanted to flip the table and curse, but then he thought of the vast territory in the south and north of the desert, and the fact that he was going to get himself a diploma from Peking University...
"Since Prime Minister Li has said so, then I will also share my own opinion."
With a dark and sour face, Yang Shaofeng walked up to the Kunyu Map and pointed to the location of Beiping Prefecture, saying, "The greatest significance of moving the capital to Beiping lies not in the resources of Liaodong, Shandong, or even overseas, but in the integration of the North and the South that the higher-ups have been working hard to promote."
"Whether we are willing to admit it or not, it is an indisputable fact that the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun were lost for hundreds of years. It is also an indisputable fact that the Han hereditary lords in the north were the main force of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in attacking the rebel army. In the Hehuang region, the Western Regions, and even the entire north, it is also an indisputable fact that "Han people speak the language of the barbarians, yet curse the Han people from the city walls."
"In other words, the people of the North no longer consider the people of the South to be their compatriots, and the people of the South do not consider the people of the North to be their compatriots either."
"The further north and west you go, the more obvious this phenomenon becomes."
"The reasons for this include the wars at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty's policy of appeasement, but whatever the reason, this problem remains."
"This problem is like a pile of gunpowder that has not yet been lit. No one knows when it will be lit, but no one can bear the consequences after it is lit."
Yang Shaofeng took a deep breath and continued, "From the first year of Hongwu to the eighth year of Hongwu, the emperor has been promoting the migration of people. On the one hand, the north was frequently ravaged by war and sparsely populated with barren land, while the south was densely populated and many people became landless tenant farmers. Migrating people to the north would be a win-win situation."
"On the other hand, it involves the relationship between population density and land – as more and more people from the south migrate to the north, and the population density in the north increases, the hope of unifying the north and south becomes greater, and the process is faster."
Black Sesame Dumplings and Li Shanchang surrounded Yang Shaofeng, watching his finger point towards Beiping Prefecture, but no one spoke. The Fengtian Hall was also quiet, with only Yang Shaofeng's voice still echoing.
After a long while, Heizhi Tangyuan chuckled and said, "So, brother-in-law, your efforts to push forward with road and railway construction are partly due to this reason?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "Based on the premise of promoting the integration of the North and the South that I just mentioned—in my opinion, other governance arrangements, resource planning, and even the overall planning of the court, such as Liaodong, Mobei, the Western Regions, and even overseas, should all be centered around the integration of the North and the South."
"Including the Hongwu Zhengyun".
"In fact, there is a saying among the people that 'customs differ every three miles, and accents differ every five miles.'"
“In Ningyang County, funerals involve four bows, while in neighboring Wenshang County, it involves nine bows.”
“Ningyang County is not far from Handan, but there are many things that the merchants from Handan say that I cannot understand.”
“Funerals that are dozens of miles apart are different, and those that are hundreds of miles apart cannot understand what the other person is saying.”
"The distance between the north and south of the Ming Dynasty is more than a thousand miles."
"..."
The black sesame dumpling's eyes gradually became clear.
Seriously, is my dad that amazing?
Wasn't he a monk who started out as a cowherd and beggar?
How come my brother-in-law says my dad is even more powerful than Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Song?
The point is, that's not right either—if my dad were really that powerful, would you have let him get away with all this? If you really thought my dad was powerful, would you have dared to treat him like that?
In fact, not only did the black sesame dumpling's eyes gradually become clearer, but the eyes of other officials in the court were also turning towards those of the college student.
To rise to power... is rising to power that powerful?
Yang Shaofeng then pointed to the location of Tianjin in later generations: "It is very close to Beiping. Building a port, a straight road, and a railway can solve the problem of transporting grain from the south to the north. In fact, the northern lands such as Guanzhong, Shandong, and Hebei have become increasingly barren after thousands of years of cultivation. It is indeed impossible to feed too many people with the grain from these places alone."
"But to promote integration between the North and the South, it is necessary to relocate a large number of people to the North."
"The transport of grain from the south to the north is also a fact."
“In addition to that,” Yang Shaofeng said, gesturing from Beiping to Yangzhou, “the role of the Grand Canal should not be ignored either. The Grand Canal must be dredged where necessary, and the management of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River should not be neglected either.”
He gestured with his finger to the locations of Xuanda and Qinhuangdao: "Although one should not have the heart to harm others, one should not be without the heart to guard against others."
"As Your Highness said, forgetting war is dangerous."
"In order to ensure the safety of Beiping, it is also very necessary to set up important passes and towns in these places."
"Of course, these are matters that the Grand General's Office should consider, so I will not say more for now."
"What I want to say now is..."
Yang Shaofeng traced a circle around the Ming Dynasty on the Kunyu Map with his finger.