Xiao Ruxun did not dislike this group of misers, but the expenditure had to be done and could not be stopped.
Therefore, from the eighth year of Longwu, the financial expenditure increased by a large amount. Fortunately, there was a large number of free labor available, otherwise it would not have been easy to build the roads.
The construction of roads had not stopped since the first year of Longwu. By the 20th year of Longwu, the Ministry of Finance of Daqin had spent tens of millions of taels of silver, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs had sacrificed countless lives to finally complete the eight main roads in Daqin. The smaller roads still needed to be built.
Then the roads to Hetao, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Ü-Tsang in the North Sea were built with money and lives.
The Japanese and Northern Barbarians were not willing to build roads until they died. When they were oppressed too much and could not see the light of day, they would also riot.
Starting from the 6th year of Longwu, there had been many Wokou riots. Even though Xiao Ruxun had used the Wokou to control the Wokou to divert the hatred, it was not always effective. There would always be Wokou who wanted to rally their own people to fight against the Qin and escape.
In order to kill these rioters, the Qin Army also paid the price of thousands of lives.
However, with the upgrading of the weapons of the Qin Army and the regularization of the management, the possibility of Japanese riots was getting lower and lower.
But it was not to say that there were none. In the twentieth year of Longwu, there were a total of seven riots by the Wokou people and the northern invaders. Over ten thousand Wokou people and three thousand northern invaders died, and the Qin army lost over two hundred men.
When the Ministry of Finance calculated the losses, it was full of blood and tears.
Naturally, there were voices of opposition.
For this reason, Xiao Ruxun held a court meeting and explained the military significance of the Gobi desert in the western plateau.
He used the old example of Tubo and Tuyuhun in the Tang Dynasty to explain that these places were not under the control of the central government and would be controlled by others. Once controlled by others, it would threaten the western border of Daqin.
Even Chang 'an, the capital of Tang, had been attacked by the Tubo. What a shame!
Not to mention that after the Former Ming Dynasty abandoned the Northern Frontier Guards, they were suppressed by the Northern Barbarians for more than a hundred years.
Why did Emperor Qin build the Great Wall? Was it tyranny?
After a comprehensive calculation of the economic accounts, economic expenditure was always better than military expenditure. Spending more now meant less in the future and more income. If they didn't spend now, there would be riots everywhere in the future, and the people of Daqin would be the ones suffering.
Therefore, this area must be under the control of Daqin. It was impossible to give it up.
Out of military considerations, for the sake of future generations, no matter what hardships we have to pay, no matter how many years it takes, we must firmly control these places. We absolutely cannot give them up!
'Every inch of land, every inch of blood. If the future emperors give up the land they have gained through military conquest, they are not my descendants.'
Xiao Ruxun engraved these words on a stone tablet and erected it beside the main entrance of the Huangji Palace. This rule was to be the standard for future emperors, and it would never be removed.
He didn't know if it was meaningful to do so, and if it was a deterrent to the future generations.
But the barrier that he had painstakingly gained through the expansion of land to protect China from attack must not be easily abandoned.
Therefore, he stepped up the construction of roads, stepped up the implementation of the policy of sheep herding and knitting sweaters, so that everyone could see the economic value of the grassland plateau to Daqin. Only when people saw the economic value and the benefits, would they want to protect it. Otherwise, it was just a stone tablet. Really, how many people would care?
Zhu Yuanzhang also didn't allow eunuchs to interfere in politics.
Of course, with the upgrading of the Qin Army's weapons and the daily advancement of technology, such losses and costs became less and less.
For example, the flintlock mass production plan led by Zhao Shizhen was a great success. In the 18th year of Longwu, a certain scale of mass production was successfully achieved, ensuring that the Qin Army could produce 50,000 flintlocks every year.
After that, further improvements could be made and higher production could be achieved. Because of this, Xiao Ruxun was very happy and rewarded Zhao Shizhen.
The musketeers of the Qin army began to gradually equip themselves with flintlock muskets that were more powerful, had a longer range, and were more accurate. With the flintlock muskets, it would be easier for them to deal with the Wokou and Northern Invaders.
In addition, the Ministry of Military Works also proposed many improvements to steel smelting, so that the production of steel was effectively increased. Under the current circumstances, it was already very good.
After obtaining the woolen loom in the 6th year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun vigorously promoted the use of woolen loom. In the 10th year of Longwu, woolen sweaters were put into the market, and wool winter clothing was also distributed to the army.
The emergence of woolen sweaters was very popular because of their low price and good thermal insulation, which led to a large demand for woolen sweaters in Daqin. Therefore, wool weaving workshops appeared in several provinces north and south of the Yangtze River, and the sweaters were very popular.
At the beginning of the 13th year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun instructed the Imperial Plantation to withdraw from the civilian market and change to foreign trade and military supplies. He gave the civilian market to the civilian merchants to show that the royal family did not compete with the people for profits.
Due to the weak strength of the civilian market, it was difficult to form a large scale overseas trade. Therefore, the Imperial Plantation took the lead and the Imperial Plantation's workshops took the overflow orders to the civilian merchants to unify the foreign trade and maintain the quantity and profits.
Because of the appearance of woolen clothes, woolen pants, woolen socks, woolen gloves, and even woolen scarves and woolen hats, the people who had not had good thermal insulation for many years were very welcome.
In this Little Ice Age, where the temperature was dropping year by year and would continue to drop, the emergence of woolen sweaters was undoubtedly very beneficial.
Because of this, the demand for woolen products in the large market of the Central Plains had reached a very frightening level. The accumulation of wealth over the years had given the ordinary people extra money, so it was not difficult to buy some woolen clothes and pants.
In addition, the price of these products had been suppressed to a relatively low level by the Imperial Plantation. Before the Imperial Plantation withdrew from the market, they had also made various arrangements to limit the price of woolen products. Therefore, the ordinary people could also afford them, and they became the main consumer force.
A large market of more than 100 million people was a huge market that was unique in this era. Once this market was formed, the demand for woolen products could be imagined. Therefore, the trend of going north to graze sheep was formed in the Central Plains, Jiangnan, and even Lingnan.
At the end of the 11th year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun instructed the cabinet to issue a new policy that allowed the people of Daqin to apply to the government to graze sheep in the north. The government could contract pastures to the people of Daqin and allow them to rent pastures to graze sheep at a lower rent.
This policy quickly spread to the north and south of the Yangtze River. Because of the rise of the woolen craze, a large number of people with foresight suddenly realized that the cold and dangerous grasslands were a paradise for gold diggers. If they were brave enough to graze sheep in the north, they would be able to obtain shining white silver.
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