Chapter 173: Speculation

The comprehensive renovation plan for the capital was proceeding in full swing—the project to replace roads with brick and stone had been fully rolled out in the Eastern and Western Districts, while the Southern and Northern Districts were now building public latrines according to the plan.

This was also a targeted decision made after officials from the Ministry of Works had conducted inspections.

"The east is rich, the west is noble, the south is poor, and the north is lowly"—that was the current state of the capital.

Most of the main roads in the Eastern and Western Districts were already paved with brick and stone; what remained was to harden the dirt paths in the out-of-the-way corners and narrow alleys, so the workload was relatively small and was expected to be completed before the new year.

Since the residents of the Eastern and Western Districts were all wealthy officials and merchants—neither poor nor common—the floating population was relatively small and sanitary conditions were already quite good, so the Ministry of Works built fewer public latrines and sanitation facilities in these two districts; enough to serve was sufficient.

The bulk of the renovation was in the Southern and Northern Districts.

The vast majority of the capital's million residents lived in these two areas, and the various large commodity markets were also concentrated here; the plan to renovate the capital directly benefited the common people of these two districts.

After the joint crackdown by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Shuntian Prefecture, the phenomena of indiscriminate garbage dumping and public urination and defecation had basically disappeared; when it did occasionally happen, it was the doing of out-of-towners who had come into the city, which could be ignored. As time passed, even if an outsider came to the capital and saw such a fresh and tidy environment, he would subconsciously restrain his unseemly behavior.

This costly project required a great deal of manpower, and all expenses were paid by Chongzhen from the privy purse. Whether for purchases or hiring workers, everything was settled in silver, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent men to supervise the entire process, basically eliminating any embezzlement or extortion.

For hiring workers, local capital residents were naturally the first choice; the timely payment of silver would improve and raise the quality of life for many families.

Money that circulates is money; if it were piled up in storehouses and cellars, it would be nothing but useless metal, having lost the attributes it ought to possess.

Once the large number of public latrines were built, the Shuntian Prefecture would hire people to clean and maintain them. According to Zhu Youjian's decree, poor families were given priority for employment; this kind of meager but long-term income would also bring real benefits to impoverished people without steady earnings.

The public latrines in the Eastern and Western Districts were built spacious and comfortable, with flowers and potted plants arranged inside, calligraphy and paintings hung as decoration, and incense burning year-round during the day to ensure no odor could be detected inside. The hired cleaners all wore uniform blue short robes. All these measures would give those using the latrines a sense of ritual—this was also specially arranged to satisfy the face-consciousness of the great households, guaranteeing that after using the facilities they would exclaim involuntarily: "How refined!"

A millionaire out and about suddenly feels a pressing need to relieve himself—he can't very well run all the way home for an emergency, can he? Besides, there wouldn't be time.

The luxurious public latrine by the roadside is both convenient and elegant—you're guaranteed satisfaction.

Of course, after taking care of your urgent business, you must pay a fee—not much, just five copper coins; if your whole family wants a monthly pass, it's only two taels of silver. Whether it's the young master or young lady, or your servants and maids, coming alone is fine, coming in a group is fine too—even ten times a day is acceptable.

The great households would naturally choose the monthly pass; even if they didn't go in once a year, they'd still get the monthly pass—who among them would begrudge a few dozen taels a year? Otherwise, if word got out, they couldn't bear the loss of face.

This income was enough to cover the cost of the hired workers and still turn a profit; as for the surplus silver, it was naturally used for routine maintenance.

The public latrines in the Southern and Northern Districts charged no fees and had no additional facilities, but cleanliness and hygiene were mandatory.

In fact, before the capital's cleanup, the phenomenon of indiscriminate garbage dumping had not been all that common; the city as a whole was still relatively clean. The filth was relative, not absolute.

In this era, in Paris and London, filth lay everywhere in the streets and alleys, and public urination and defecation was something everyone took for granted. Walking down the street, you might suddenly have a pile of filth fall from above and land right on your head.

High-heeled shoes were invented in precisely this kind of special environment.

A noble lady in a long gown, wearing flat shoes on an outing, would return home with the hem of her skirt covered in excrement—disgusting, no?

What to do?

Raise the heel.

And so, the high-heeled shoes that would sweep the world in later generations were born; from then on, parents no longer had to worry about their children getting shit on them when they went out shopping.

After reading Hong Chengchou's personal memorial and the detailed battle report, Zhu Youjian felt somewhat disappointed.

That cockroach that just wouldn't die had escaped again.

But at least this time he hadn't run into the Central Plains to continue ravaging the Great Ming—instead he'd fled north of the Great Wall.

This outcome was still acceptable. Given Li Zicheng's innate combat nature, going beyond the frontier and mutually slaughtering the Mongols was inevitable.

There was no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides.

Though Li Zicheng and his kind were rebels, they always regarded themselves as men of the Great Ming; they likewise viewed the Tartars and the Jianzhou barbarians beyond the frontier as savages whose beastly nature had never changed, and they looked down on these uncivilized outsiders from the bottom of their hearts.

With both sides having developed the fine habit of plundering, what sparks would fly when they met?

It'd be great if they beat each other's dog brains out.

Zhu Youjian wasn't worried that Li Zicheng would grow strong beyond the frontier. The Mongol tribes beyond the frontier were all desperately poor—where would they get the various strategic materials needed for war? If they had them, they would have already smashed through the passes and launched large-scale raids.

Without supplies, how the hell could you develop?

Don't blades get notched from chopping people? When arrows are all shot away, where do you go to forge more?

If you can't even eat your fill, what strength do you have to fight?

Many Mongol tribes still used arrowheads made from animal bone—where would they get iron to forge weapons and arrows?

Should he spend money to have the Yansui garrison buy the heads of the roving bandits from the Mongols beyond the frontier? Especially the heads of chieftains like Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin.

Hmm, it was worth a try.

It didn't matter that the Mongols didn't recognize the chieftains—their dress, armor, and equipment could distinguish them, and captured bandits could also be made to identify them.

Ten thousand taels per chieftain's head, plus a hundred dan of grain.

Heavy rewards always produce brave men.

Even if there might be no dates on the tree, give it a whack anyway.

Failing to kill Li Zicheng this time was a regret.

After pondering for a long while, Zhu Youjian felt that the official army's contempt was the primary reason.

After all, Hong Chengchou and the others were men of their time, unable to recognize Li Zicheng's enormous destructiveness and danger; they merely regarded him as just another roving bandit chieftain.

In everyone's eyes, the obscure Li Zicheng was far inferior to the likes of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong—he couldn't even compare to Tuo Yangkun.

This led to subjective neglect: kill him if you could, and if he escaped, so be it.

Only he, the time-traveler, knew the truth of the matter, but he couldn't speak it aloud.

Well, he'd run—so be it. The situation within the Great Ming's borders had now been completely reversed; even if Li Zicheng hadn't run, he ultimately couldn't have escaped the fate of annihilation. He no longer had to worry about being forced to hang himself.

Speaking of which, should he have that crooked-neck tree chopped down?

With the country basically stable, vigorously developing people's livelihoods and the economy, and improving the living conditions of the Great Ming's common people could now be put on the agenda.

The Jiangnan region had begun to show the sprouts of capitalism as early as the mid-to-late Wanli era; various workshops began to appear one after another, with a few wealthy households investing to open workshops and hiring workers to produce various goods.

But it was only sprouts—the current social system severely constrained the development of this new thing.

Because agriculture-emphasizing and commerce-suppressing was still the mainstream of society, and merchants held very low status, merchants who made money had to spend heavily to seek protection from officialdom.

The ideology of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce had penetrated to the very marrow of everyone's bones.

After making money, merchants didn't invest to expand production; instead, they purchased farmland and rented it out to tenants to obtain stable returns.

Also, the Great Ming's farming households were too poor—even maintaining mere subsistence was a problem, so where would they have spare money to buy various goods?

It was out of sheer necessity that maritime trade had flourished.

When domestic demand was insufficient, the only way to resolve the market for one's products was through export.

There was also another situation: many shrewd small merchants and small proprietors in Jiangnan wished to expand their production capacity, but lacked sufficient silver in hand.

In fact, the salt merchants of the Jianghuai region, besides the stable income from the salt monopoly, had another important source of revenue — usury.

The salt profits guaranteed them long-term, sustained, and stable earnings, but usury allowed them to reap enormous profits in a very short time.

The usury of today was not the one or two percent interest of later ages, but doubling or even several-fold returns — commonly called "rolling like a donkey" among the people.

If the lender lent you five hundred taels, upon maturity you had to repay one thousand taels, or even more.

In the Jiangnan region, no small number of families had been ruined by debt.

This method was no different from the roving bandits — both were outright robbery, merely differing in means.

Say what one will, developing agriculture first was the most important thing.

Only when agricultural productivity was greatly improved and the food and clothing needs of the majority were met would economic development gain a stable foundation and sustained momentum.

What needed to be considered now was the question of where Wu Sangui and Zu Dale should go. With Shaanxi essentially pacified, there was no longer any reason for the Liaodong cavalry to remain in Shaanxi.

Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin were still following Lu Xiangsheng in the campaign against Zhang Xianzhong's forces in the Huguang region, so there was no need for the moment to consider the possibility of their returning to Liaodong. Moreover, judging by the performance of the two men thus far, there was still a chance of winning them over from the Liaodong faction.

Li Chongjin in particular had always been a marginal figure within the Guanning army, far inferior in standing to Zu Kuan, who was of impeccable pedigree — Li had only been elevated through reliance on military merit.

After all, your Guanning army had a reputation to uphold — you couldn't simply stretch out your hand for money while having no capable generals at your disposal, could you?

But it was impossible to say that Li Chongjin, long overlooked within the Liaodong faction, harbored no resentment in his heart.

Though he had been transferred by the Ministry of War to the Central Plains to suppress bandits for just over a year, he had already accumulated merit and risen to the position of Vice Regional Commander — far faster than the many years he had spent in Liaodong merely to attain the rank of Mobile Corps Commander. So long as he rendered further service, the post of Regional Commander would soon be his — something Zu Dashou and his ilk would never grant him. Those positions of importance commanding great armies had always been reserved for their own sons, nephews, and relatives.

With Sun Chuanting's coordination and support, Hong Chengchou had finally managed to pacify Shaanxi — years of rushing about had indeed been arduous. Had it not been for his desperate juggling of resources, the situation of the Great Ming would have deteriorated long ago, and this victory would also temporarily ease the various grievances the court officials held against him.

Once Lu Xiangsheng pacified Huguang, given the seniority and merits of the two men, the post of Grand Secretary should suffice to reward their achievements, and Sun Chuanting could also legitimately be granted the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, becoming a first-rank senior official.

Wu Sangui and Zu Dale were both representative figures of the Liaodong faction, whose loyalty to the Guanning army far exceeded their loyalty to the court — it was simply impossible to separate them completely from Liaodong.

Since they could not be controlled for the time being, it was best to simply send them back.

Zhu Youjian had already ordered Luo Yangxing to dispatch members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard deep into Liaodong under various identities to probe for intelligence as thoroughly as possible.

Their reaching out to the court for money on various pretexts could be tolerated for the time being, but if there were any signs of colluding with outside enemies, that was something Zhu Youjian could never accept.

Should such a situation truly arise, there would be no need to preserve this army.

What use was a domestic thief who fed on the inside while aiding the outside?

Zhu Youjian had a certain intuition that there must be some kind of shady dealings between the Guanning army and the Later Jin, but as yet there was no evidence to confirm it.

He could only hope his intuition was wrong, for otherwise it would be truly terrifying.