Seeing that no one spoke, Zhu Yujian pondered for a long while before saying, "Your Majesty, the border market can be opened or not; currently, there is no foundation for it. Even if it is opened, it will exist in name only and will instead become a haven for smugglers."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ci said, "The border market can be opened; it will be useful in the future."
Hmm?
Useful?
What use is it?
All the officials looked toward Zhu Ci, only to find that after His Majesty finished this sentence, he said nothing more.
Based on their understanding of the Emperor, it meant he had no intention of telling them for the time being, even if they asked, it would be useless.
It could only be said that after more than three years of serving as ruler and subject, everyone understood each other very well.
So everyone instinctively looked toward Fu, only to find that the Grand Secretary was also looking at His Majesty.
Huh? Even the Grand Secretary doesn't know?
For some reason, the moment it was discovered that even Grand Secretary Fu did not know, many people actually experienced a strange sense of equilibrium.
Since His Majesty has agreed to the border market, there is nothing else left to discuss.
This matter was not a big deal, so there was no need to argue with the Emperor about it.
And so, a minor court session of little significance dispersed just like that.
No, it was they who dispersed, while the Grand Secretary remained.
Of course, everyone had already grown accustomed to such scenes.
After everyone had left, Fu Qingsheng asked, "Why is Your Majesty so insistent on opening the border market?"
Zhu Ci had originally intended to continue leading him to Dashan Hall, but upon hearing Fu Qingsheng's question, he stood up and walked toward the exit, leaning close to Fu Qingsheng's ear to whisper, "Because I have a rather unscrupulous idea."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Generally, I think if an idea is wicked, then.. hehe. Evil kitty jumps onto a yurt. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 200
Fu felt it was quite peculiar; this was the first time he had heard the words "unethical" come from Zhu Ci's mouth, even more so when he was referring to himself.
He was actually quite interested in this wicked idea.
However, he did not ask directly, but instead thought for a moment before asking, "Is it to deal with the Mongolians?"
Zhu Ci gave an affirmative response: "Correct."
After he finished speaking, he glanced back. The eunuchs and female officials following behind him immediately stopped in an understanding manner, waiting until the distance between them and the two in front had grown before slowly catching up.
After confirming that no one else was listening, Zhu Ci lowered his voice and said, "Currently, there are no conditions for conflict between Great Ming and the Mongols, but this is only temporary. In the future, we will eventually have to take that land back."
Fu keenly sensed that Zhu Ci was talking about taking it back.
He asked softly, "The Mongols will also be.."
Exactly, it is a multi-ethnic nation. Since we were children, we have been taught that all ethnicities are one family," Zhu Ci said slowly. "In any case, I find that area being isolated from us uncomfortable.
It's not just the Mongolians, but Tibet as well, though all of this must be taken one step at a time.
Fu did not think he was being overly ambitious; although Great Ming still only held half of its territory, a ruler's vision must be far-reaching.
Even if he cannot do it himself, it would be good to lay the foundation for those who follow.
Moreover, as long as Great Ming and the Mongols share a border, conflict is inevitable; it is only a matter of time.
So he only asked, "Then what is His Majesty's idea?"
Zhu Ci said softly, "Buy their cattle and sheep in large quantities at high prices."
Hmm?
Zhu Ci explained slowly, "The political structure of the Oirats is different from ours. Even if he unifies the Mongols, he will only have the various tribes submit to Heduoheqin and pay him tribute, follow his orders when going on expeditions. In their daily lives, Heduoheqin will not interfere with the various tribes. In reality, the Mongols have many tribes, the Oirats are just one of them."
The Dashan Hall was right before them, but Zhu Ci instead slowed his pace, Fu slowed down to match him, quietly listening to the Little Emperor speak.
The ecological environment in that part of Mongolia is extremely fragile." Zhu Ci paused before continuing, "The ecological environment is a collective term for the water resources, land resources, biological resources, climate resources required for life and development. You only need to have a general concept of it; in any case, if the grasslands there are destroyed, they are very difficult to restore, if you raise too many cattle and sheep, they will require more grass.
When they graze, they also like to dig up the grass by its roots. If there are too many of them, the pasture's grass cannot keep up, the excessive trampling by cattle and sheep makes the soil hard and compacted. Such soil cannot retain water and can easily turn into sandy land and Gobi desert.
In fact, halfway through Zhu Ci's explanation, Fu had already understood his meaning.
Simply put, it means using high prices to encourage those small tribes to raise more cattle and sheep. Larger tribes might have a more long-term vision and would naturally cherish their pastures more.
However, they already occupied better pastures, so they naturally considered the development of their clans, whereas it was not even easy for the small tribes to survive, let alone think about so many things.
Moreover, even the large tribes do not all possess foresight.
Fu said thoughtfully, "This method just takes a bit more time."
Zhu Ci responded, "Right, but compared to large-scale warfare, this is more cost-effective."
It saves both money and manpower. When they eventually begin to have friction with the Mongolians, it will inevitably be in a state where their territories border each other. It is highly likely that by then the world will have just settled, making it a time when rest and recuperation are most needed.
No matter how bellicose Zhu Ci was, he would still try his best to avoid direct conflict with the Mongols.
There might be friction between the Mongol and Russia, but the intensity of their warfare is far from reaching the level seen between Great Ming and the Qing Court.
Fu understood his meaning and said with a smile, "His Majesty is merciful."
Zhu Ci couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. "That isn't merciful at all. Besides, if we actually did that, it would be very troublesome to manage in the future, not to mention the possibility that Heduoheqin might discover our intentions ahead of time and take action directly."
However, this is simply how the game between nations works; even when there is a vast difference in strength, there is still the possibility of a sudden catastrophe.
Not to mention that even if the goal is achieved and the opponent is forced to surrender and submit to Great Ming, Great Ming will still have to clean up the mess left behind.
Unless one seeks to exterminate them entirely, but such a thing is impossible to do unless one is driven to the absolute limit.
That was why Zhu Ci said this method was truly a bit unscrupulous.
The two arrived at Dashan Hall while they were talking. Zhu Ci set the matter aside for the moment and said with delight, "That Jiahe crop grew very well before and left behind plenty of seeds. Now that those seeds have been planted, if you count the time, they should be heading into the flowering stage."
Fu was somewhat surprised. "So fast?"
Zhu Ci pointed at the already unrecognizable Dashan Hall and said, "This place has always maintained the most suitable environment for rice cultivation, so naturally, it grows a bit faster."
Fu glanced at the Dashan Hall and felt that this place was becoming increasingly out of place compared to the Imperial City.
As soon as he entered the Dashan Hall, Fu felt a wave of moisture carrying an indescribable scent rush toward him.
It couldn't be called foul, but it certainly wasn't pleasant either.
Zhu Ci acted as if he felt nothing at all, immediately walking toward the innermost plot of land.
The Jinyi Guard who had been in charge stepped forward, looking much more composed than before.
Zhu Ci asked him a few questions, he answered them fluently.
Fu listened quietly by the side; from the conversation between the Emperor and the Jinyi Guard, he could judge that Zhu Ci must come here often.
He was clearly very attentive to this rice field and knew quite a lot of the various data.
This rice field clearly did not disappoint him, giving him quite a pleasant surprise; four of the rice plants had all tillered into multiple stalks.
Although it didn't have as many panicles as the mother plant, it still gave Zhu Ci a great surprise.
Next is stabilizing the multi-spike traits.
Zhu Ci closed the notebook he used for recording and handed it to the Jinyi Guard beside him, saying, "When it comes time for pollination, please work a bit harder and perform some manual pollination."
Multiple panicles and multiple panicles, multiple panicles and single panicles—they can all be tried. You never know.
As long as the stability is maintained, even if it can only consistently produce two or three tillers at the end, it will still yield more than before.
When Zhu Ci came out of Dashan Hall, he was in a very good mood. He turned his head to glance at the plaque and said, "Only today has this hall's name truly lived up to its reputation."
Great benevolence, great benevolence—if a Buddha is not sitting inside enjoying offerings, then it is truly benevolence.
Anyway, when Zhu Yousong arranged for people to offer tributes constantly, it wasn't as if they had blessed anyone.
But if, in this day and age, one could truly cultivate rice with higher yields, that would be a true blessing for all living beings.
Fu did not try to persuade Zhu Ci; he had never believed in any of these sects before, not even in divine will.
Now that he had seen so many strange things by Zhu Ci's side, he had gradually begun to believe in metaphysics.
However, he still did not believe in things like Buddha.
Therefore, he only offered a reminder: "Your Majesty, the situation inside Dashan Hall is different from the outside; one must still be careful with seed cultivation."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Just.. believe as needed. If things continue to go this smoothly, I might even prepare more offerings for the heavens. Kitty burning incense. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 201
Zhu Ci turned and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I have a plan. I have already sent people to find Hanzhancheng and Aijiaocheng. Currently, the cultivation results of Hanzhancheng and Aijiaocheng are quite good. Once we have cultivated rice that can resist cold and lodging, we can crossbreed it with multi-grain rice. It might just result in a rice variety that is cold-resistant, lodging-resistant, high-yielding."
The reason for saying "maybe" was, of course, because inheritance is extremely unstable.
Not to mention anything else, when hybridizing Hanzhancheng and Aijiaocheng, rice varieties appeared that were neither cold-resistant nor lodging-resistant.
Therefore, in the future, rice that is neither cold-resistant, nor lodging-resistant, nor high-yielding might also appear; this would all be normal.
On the contrary, finding a panicle-bearing plant was one thing, but for the seed lineage to immediately produce panicles was truly rare; one could say it was an explosion of good luck.
Zhu Ci had never thought his luck was particularly good; it was just that as things happened more frequently, he slowly felt that his luck was improving.
Therefore, even though the research and development center had been completed, Zhu Ci did not move the rice cultivation there, but instead kept it at Dashan Hall.
What if things don't go that well over there?
Anyway, the progress of the wheat seedling cultivation has not been very optimistic since it was moved out.
After finishing with the rice, Zhu Ci and Fu separated to attend to their respective official duties.