Chapter 3 Chapter 3 The Emperor's Choice

Another far-reaching thing Zhu Di did was to move the capital, and moving the capital is a big event no matter which dynasty it is in.Zhu Di's move of the capital is undoubtedly the one that had the greatest impact on later generations.Today's Beijing has a population of tens of millions and countless high-rise buildings. It is the capital of our country and one of the most prosperous cities in the world. The starting point of all this comes from Zhu Di's decision. In March of the first year of Yongle (AD 1403), the Mongolian army attacked Liaodong and plundered it wantonly. The local commander Shen Yong was an incompetent person who could not resist and did not report to the leaders in time. In order to be annoyed, Shen Yong was killed immediately, and the ministers were summoned to ask the reason for the deterioration of the military situation in the north.

Zhu Di asked his ministers that the defense in the north was so weak that the Mongolian army seemed to be in an uninhabited territory. How could it go on like this, and who should be responsible for it? However, to Zhu Di's surprise, although none of the ministers spoke, they were not timid, and instead looked at him blankly.Zhu Di felt an unexplainable fire in his heart, and was about to attack, when suddenly his thoughts changed, and he retracted his words again. why? Because he finally understood why these ministers have been staring at him, the person who should be responsible for this is himself!

In the defense system of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, and Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, were mainly responsible for the defense of the north. However, during the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Quan was kidnapped by him, and he also ran to Nanjing to become emperor. The northern border lost both of them. Individuals basically belong to the undefended area, so how can you blame others? Nanjing is a very good place, and it is also very suitable for establishing the capital, because the terrain here is dangerous, the feng shui is good, and it is the main food production area. Since the economic center of China has moved south at that time, establishing the capital here is very conducive to maintaining the rule of the Ming Dynasty. of.

But the problem is that the accommodation in the Ming Empire is not a single house. There are several unfriendly neighbors in the north of the empire. These neighbors often enter the house without the permission of the owner to take away the things they like, and they never write IOUs. .Once or twice is enough, how can it go on in the long run? Sending troops to crusade has no effect, because these neighbors are basically organized by guerrillas, and they use the policy of "you advance and retreat, and you retreat and I come back again". They are nomads themselves, and they don't farm land. Running around, being idle is also idle, if you don’t rob you, who will you rob?

Crusades are not enough, let alone no matter what, this is really a problem. Although the military and political situation was the main reason for moving the capital later, there are also some reasons that cannot be ignored. These are the characteristics of Zhu Di himself. Does Zhu Di personally have something to do with moving the capital? The answer is yes. If you remember, we mentioned that although Zhu Di was born in Nanjing and has a Nanjing hukou, he went to Peiping at the age of 21 and lived there for 20 years. Although he did not change his hukou ( It was not difficult to enter Peiping back then), but his living habits have been completely northernized.

According to historical records, Zhu Di preferred northern food, and he liked Korean kimchi very much. At that time, the king of North Korea, Li Fangyuan, once sent a Korean chef (fireman) to serve Zhu Di, and he accepted it readily. interest.Although the north is windy and sandy, it is far inferior to the beautiful mountains and rivers in the south, but Zhu Di has always lived in such an environment. For him, the familiar is the best. Of course, the main reason for Zhu Di's moving the capital was political needs. Now that he has made up his mind, let's move. wait!This is not to say that relocation can be done. Relocation is not about moving. It is definitely not about packing a package and calling a moving company.The biggest problem is that Zhu Di did not move to Peiping alone. If so, it would save trouble.

To move the capital not only needs to move away Zhu Di, but also how many of his wives, princes and ministers, soldiers and common people need to be moved away. These people also need to find places to live and build houses.Beiping has been fighting for many years, the streets and palaces have to be rebuilt, and the urban layout has to be rearranged.Moreover, the people who went to Peiping with him were not ordinary people, and a large sum of money was needed to settle these people.Its difficulty is absolutely no less than rebuilding the capital. Although these problems are difficult, they can still be solved after all. There is a bigger problem before Zhu Di. If this problem is not solved, moving the capital will be tantamount to moving the capital.

We know that the main reason why Zhu Di moved the capital was to control the northern border and ensure national security.It is said that moving the capital can solve this problem, but have you ever thought about it, there is one more thing that is necessary. That is food. The vicinity of Beiping is not a grain-producing area, and there will inevitably be a large influx of people when the capital is moved (Chinese people have always had the habit of running to big cities). These people will consume a lot of food, and to control the border, they must support a large number of soldiers. The Ming Dynasty realized military settlements (soldiers farmed the land in peacetime and fought in wartime), which could solve the food problem of some troops, but the elite troops in the capital (such as the three major battalions) did not farm the land, so what to eat for so many people could not be solved. Drink the northwest wind.

The more serious problem is that it is not enough to just guarantee the food for soldiers and common people in Beiping, because the Ming government may often go out in the future to condolences to those neighbors who are not very friendly, and teach them a little lesson. If you send 100,000 people to fight, you have to prepare food for 100,000 people, and the grain production near Beiping is definitely not enough to guarantee these operations. Some people may say, what kind of problem is this? Isn’t it enough to transport grain from the southern grain-producing areas to the north? If you think so, then congratulations, you finally found the difficulty of this problem.

The reason why the food problem became the biggest obstacle to moving the capital lies in the transportation. At that time, there were neither trains nor airplanes, so the transportation of food could only be done by manpower. Today, we need to travel from Nanjing to Beijing by modern means of transportation. It took a lot of time, and it took more than a month for people to go all the way back then, and everyone should not ignore one problem, that is, people who transport food also need to eat.No matter how dedicated they are, you should also have a clear understanding: they will never starve to death before they eat up the food they transported.

So if you are looking for someone to transport grain by land, you have to prepare additional rations for the transporter, and ask him to push two grain trucks on the road, transport one, eat one, and hand over the unfinished food when you arrive at the destination. That part, even if it's a business trip.And the extra rations you prepared may be more than the rations he shipped. If any government is willing to use this method to transport materials for a long time, there is only one fate waiting for this government-bankruptcy. Therefore, the only option left for the Ming Dynasty government is - river transport (also known as water transport). Yes, the problem seems to have been solved. The answer is very simple. Can’t using ships to transport grain can complete the transportation task quickly and more?Then why do you have to go around in such a big circle? I can assure you that I have absolutely no intention of teasing you. Regarding this question, I can answer it in two words: No way. At that time, the river channel from the main grain-producing area in the south to the north was not smooth, the canal was blocked, and the river diversion brought great inconvenience to the river transport at that time. Absolutely impossible.Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang suffered a great loss on this. He thought that when his old man was fighting, he needed to mobilize military rations from the south to Liaodong and Beiping, but the river transportation was impassable. In desperation, he had to take the sea route and transport it via the Bohai Sea. Said, also because the wind and waves are too big, it is very unsafe, it is thankful that half of the ten catties of military rations can be delivered. However, repairing the river course is by no means a matter that can be raised casually. Everyone should remember that the fuse of the Yuan Dynasty's demise was the treatment of the river course.Water conservancy engineering is definitely a national key investment project no matter what era it is.A lot of money and a lot of labor are required.And if too much money is spent and the foundation of the country is shaken, the problem will be serious (Emperor Sui Yang's Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is an example), so this matter is the same as writing books, you don't even think about it if it is not a prosperous country. Zhu Di's era was a prosperous age. After the long-term recovery during the Hongwu period, coupled with Zhu Di's correct strategy for governing the country, the Ming Dynasty at that time had enough economic strength to accomplish things that were unimaginable before.The Yongle Grand Ceremony has also been repaired, so it is no problem to do some water conservancy. In the ninth year of Yongle (AD 1411), Zhu Di ordered Song Li, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to manage the river to ensure the smooth flow of the river. Song Li was a very capable water conservancy expert. He completed the task. After that, Chen Xuan, the governor of water transport, further dredged Since then, the north-south water transportation has been unimpeded. The so-called "the mouth of the Antarctic River, the Datong Bridge in the north, and more than 3,000 miles of transportation", the food problem has finally been resolved. The other work of moving the capital has also been going on intensively. The office units of various central departments have been repaired as early as the seventh year of Yongle (1409), and the construction of the capital began in the fifteenth year of Yongle and has been going on for more than 30 years. year is over. Seeing that the opportunity was ripe, Zhu Di formally ordered in the nineteenth year of Yongle (AD 1421): move the capital! The original capital was renamed Nanjing, and Beijing was established as the new capital of the Ming Empire. Since then, Beijing has officially become the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it has lasted for more than two hundred years, but its history has not followed the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, it has been living and developing vigorously, and eventually became one of the most influential cities in the world. When we wander in Beijing, a modern city today, and look at the bustling scene of high-rise buildings and busy traffic, we should not forget that it was a man named Zhu Di more than 500 years ago who laid the foundation for all this. It should be noted that when Zhu Di built Beijing, he had a fairly modern awareness. He paid great attention to the overall planning of the city, built several main lines and branch lines, planned the urban area of ​​Beijing into a square shape, and formulated Strict regulations prohibit random building and covering, and a complete sewer system is also laid. The famous buildings in Beijing such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven that we see now are all the foundations laid by Zhu Di's era (the Qing Dynasty has been renovated since then).What is particularly worth mentioning is the Forbidden City. It covers an area of ​​170,000 square meters and took countless labors. It took 20 years to complete. It was originally only a place for the emperor to live. Said, but this does not affect its place in history.Now the Forbidden City has become the pride of every Chinese as a historical treasure of the Chinese nation. It is undeniable that this is Zhu Di's achievement, which cannot and cannot be denied. It is worth mentioning that the relocation of the capital was by no means smooth sailing, and everyone responded. In fact, few people agreed with Zhu Di's decision at all. The reason is very simple. Except for those whom Zhu Dijing could hardly bring over, most of the court ministers have lived in the south for a long time. Their wives and children are all in Nanjing, and their friends and social connections are also here. Who wants to go to the north with Zhu Di? ? Just shortly after the capital was moved, a fire broke out in the imperial palace, and natural disasters occurred in many parts of the country. At that time, people called it "natural disasters". Although Zhu Di was ruthless and ruthless, he was a little flustered because of his lack of theoretical knowledge of natural science, so he asked his officials for advice in order to make up for his mistakes. But what he didn't expect was that the ministers took this opportunity to launch a fierce attack on him. Many ministers wrote letters, stating the harm of moving the capital, and saying that the reason for the natural disasters was caused by the moving of the capital.Among them, Xiao Yi, the chief executive, spoke the most violent words. According to historical records, "Yi's words are extremely serious". As for what he said, he didn't list it, but he probably scolded Zhu Di. Everyone knows that Zhu Di has never been a person who swallows his anger. His response was also very straightforward, killing Xiao Yi directly. This can poke a hornet's nest, you must know that scholars are not easy to provoke, listen to the words of sages since childhood, and regard themselves as disciples of sages, what about the emperor?Afraid you won't make it? As a result, many ministers wrote letters one after another, talking like a wave, and held a public debate outside the Meridian Gate. They said it was a debate meeting, but the opinions at the meeting were completely one-sided. In fact, it was a criticism meeting against Zhu Di. His subordinates opposed him and were likely to be shaken, but Zhu Di was not an ordinary emperor. He insisted on his own views and strengthened his determination to move the capital. "Stop talking about it, all of you. It's my decision to move. You must move. I have the final say, so let's do it!" It takes courage for Zhu Di to do this. He dared to stick to his point of view even when his opponents were in the majority. In fact, the opinions put forward by many ministers were also very pertinent. is an objective fact.But history will prove that Zhu Di's choice is correct. In history, there are often some very capable people who can foresee the future development of things before the situation is unclear. This kind of thinking is free of cost, even if he thinks wrong, no one will trouble him. What is prone to trouble is the choice, that is to say, some immediate interests must be sacrificed in exchange for longer-term interests in the future.This kind of choice is often extremely painful, because everyone can see the immediate benefits, but the long-term benefits are invisible, just like you let everyone drop the banknotes they have in their hands and follow you to dig gold mines. Gold mines are certainly attractive, but whether they really exist is a big question mark. Do you think there are?Why? More than a hundred years later, the great reformer Zhang Juzheng fell down on this kind of choice, because those ministers would rather wait to die with the little possessions in their hands than follow him on that unknown road. Zhu Di is such a very capable leader and a leader who dares to make choices. He knows that relocation is a big project, time-consuming and labor-intensive, but he accurately judged that the biggest factor affecting the long-term stability of the Ming Empire is Mongolia in the north. If you want to live a peaceful life in the future, you must abandon the immediate interests and move the capital to Beijing.Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty will not escape the bad luck of the Southern Song Dynasty. Compared with Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Di has an advantage - he is the emperor, and he is also an emperor with an iron fist, an emperor who dares to betray his name and go his own way, so he can always stick to his beliefs, so he finally completed the difficult work of moving the capital. Zhu Di's behavior of moving the capital aroused opposition from everyone at the time, and many people also asserted that this move must not be feasible, but Yu Qian, who stood on the top of Beijing and looked into the distance nineteen years later, probably didn't think so. History is the ultimate judge of the development of things, and in the near future, it will undoubtedly tell everyone that Zhu Di's choice is correct.