Summoned by Zhu Jinsong, a host of important officials, led by Zeng Cheng, hurried to an open space outside the temporary imperial palace without daring to delay.
Liu Huaiwen, who had been summoned back again shortly after leaving for the Ministry of Revenue, couldn't help but grumble inwardly: You're not in a hurry to send betrothal gifts, but you're very active in causing trouble!
Zhu Jinsong pointed directly at the small bottles in front of him and got straight to the point, saying, "These contain several oils distilled from petroleum by the Royal Academy. Each oil has different properties; some are flammable, some are explosive, and some are very difficult to ignite but burn exceptionally long."
After having someone demonstrate them briefly, Zhu Jinsong pointed at a large piece of asphalt sent by Liang Xiuxiude and said, "This is what I had fetched from the Royal Academy. It's the residue left after distilling petroleum, and it's best for paving roads."
Song Yucheng, the Minister of Works, exclaimed "Oh?" He walked up to the asphalt, first touching it with his hand, then stepping on it. "I can't say much about other aspects, but it does feel more comfortable to step on than stone slabs or cement."
Speaking of which, Song Yucheng then turned his gaze to Liu Huaiwen, "If this is the residue from petroleum refining, then there's no question of cost. Your national treasury can save a considerable sum of money."
Liu Huaiwen, who hadn't paid much attention to asphalt initially, walked up to it after hearing Song Yucheng's words, examining it closely while asking Song Yucheng, "Can this really be used for paving roads?"
Song Yucheng replied, "I'm not sure, but we can have someone try it. And since His Majesty has said so, it should be fine."
Liu Huaiwen nodded, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head, saying, "If it can be used for road construction, then this is indeed a good thing. Unfortunately, there is too little petroleum in our Great Ming, making it impossible to use this for paving roads."
Zhu Jinsong also nodded, saying, "I've heard that this substance is buried deep underground, and once extracted, it's gone. It's a non-renewable resource."
Whether petroleum is a renewable resource or not is difficult to say. There are arguments that petroleum is renewable, and there are also arguments that it is non-renewable. There is a lot of contradictory information, and Zhu Jinsong doesn't know who to believe.
The key is that Zhu Jinsong doesn't need to know if this thing is renewable or not. He only needs to know that the Great Ming lacks this commodity, while certain regions have plenty of it.
Moreover, even if the Great Ming were not short of petroleum now, Zhu Jinsong would not have intended to let go of petroleum.
What are the derivatives of petroleum?
Various grades of gasoline, kerosene, diesel, heavy oil, stockings, lubricants – all these miscellaneous items are produced by refining petroleum.
In other words, the advent of the steam engine marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, while the progress of the petroleum industry, especially in refining technology, dominated, and even drove, the entire process and development of the Industrial Revolution.
Another very important point is that the current refining technology in the Great Ming is somewhat crude, resulting in more wasted petroleum.
Although Zhu Jinsong did not care about the waste, nor did the Great Ming, since the word "waste" is used, it is natural to prioritize others' resources first. The Great Ming's own petroleum reserves should be saved for when the technology develops to a certain extent.
Upon hearing that the Great Ming had insufficient petroleum reserves and that petroleum was non-renewable, Zeng Cheng couldn't help but touch his increasingly sparse hair and sighed, "Alas, although my Great Ming has vast lands, its resources are scarce. How thin heaven's treatment of our Central Plains has been!"
Zhu Jinsong looked at Zeng Cheng, thinking to himself: Your hair is thinning, what does that have to do with how thinly heaven treats the Central Plains?
Have you no shame?!
While Zhu Jinsong was inwardly complaining, Zeng Cheng continued, "I have heard that this commodity is abundant in the Western Regions—I believe our Great Ming should recover the former lands of the Tang and Yuan!"
Geng Rui, the leader of the Right Army Command, also stated, "I second that!"
Song Yucheng, the Minister of Works, said, "I second that!"
As one minister and official after another stood up to express their agreement, Zhu Jinsong finally confirmed that Zeng Cheng was indeed shameless, and he had corrupted all the civil and military officials in the Great Ming court!
Fortunately, Meng Fanzhi, the Minister of Rites, was not as shameless as Zeng Cheng.
After casting a disdainful glance at Zeng Cheng and the others, Meng Fanzhi bowed and said, "I report to Your Majesty that the Jurchen barbarians have rampaged through the Central Plains for over one hundred and fifty years, committing all sorts of wolf-hearted and dog-like acts, and their perverse actions have incurred the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people.
"Although the slave chieftain, that old dog Qianlong, has surrendered, his fifteenth son, Aixinjueluo Yongyan, has occupied places like Gurkha and plunged the Gurkha people into misery. This is truly a time of crisis for Gurkha.
"Gurkha, situated in the Western Regions, has been a tributary state of our Central Plains from the Han to the Tang dynasties, and even through the Mongol Yuan. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains and the ruler of all people. I request that Your Majesty, in accordance with the will of heaven and the desires of the people, mobilize the entire army to conquer the remnants of the Jurchen barbarians and rescue the people of Gurkha from their suffering."
Zhu Jinsong was finally in despair—from the name of their Minister of Rites, one could tell that this person was a descendant of Mencius, the sage. He also had thick eyebrows and big eyes, yet he turned out to be the same kind of person as Zeng Cheng!
How shameless! Bah!
After spitting in his heart, Zhu Jinsong nodded and agreed, "Our Great Ming inherits from the Song and Yuan dynasties, and naturally, we must reclaim our former territories. We will not allow even an inch of land to fall into the hands of the barbarians."
Well, admitting that the Yuan Dynasty court was the legitimate successor to the Central Plains was a traditional skill for the emperors and officials of the Great Ming.
For example, the founding emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, after overthrowing the Mongol Yuan, publicly acknowledged the Mongol Yuan as the legitimate successor to the Central Plains in his enthronement edict, and in the court, he openly referred to the Mongol Yuan as the "false Yuan." Most subsequent emperors were the same; they all acknowledged the Mongol Yuan as the legitimate successor to the Central Plains on the surface, but in reality, they called it the "false Yuan" one after another.
It would be foolish to believe that Zhu Yuanzhang and the emperors of the Zhu family did not do so because of the legitimacy of the Mongol Yuan's territory!
For example, because Zhu Yuanzhang acknowledged the Mongol Yuan as the legitimate successor to the Central Plains, the Timurid Empire, which dominated the Western Regions and the lands to its west, became a vassal state of the Great Ming. Its envoys came to China under the guise of tribute no less than 78 times, and the Ming dynasty sent envoys to visit the Timurid dynasty at least 20 times.
From the first year of Hongxi to the tenth year of Xuande, during these ten years, the Timurid Empire sent missions to the Great Ming to pay tribute 21 times. The tribute items were mainly local specialties, including camels, horses, and jade.
According to the "Veritable Records of Emperor Taizu of Ming," the number of tribute horses was no less than 2,821—over two thousand Arabian horses, possibly including the Ferghana horse and other superior warhorses, were sent as tribute by the Timurid Empire to Zhu Laosi (Emperor Yongle), who then used them to attack Alutai.
So, whether to admit the Mongol Yuan as the legitimate successor to the Central Plains mainly depends on whether there are benefits to be gained.
If there were no benefits, would the ruthless figures like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Laosi have admitted the Mongol Yuan?
Now, Zeng Cheng and Meng Fanzhi both claim that Gurkha and the lands further west are former territories of the Han and Tang dynasties, or at least former territories of the Mongol Yuan. For the Great Ming to reclaim these lands is entirely legal, and no one can fault it.
Even Liu Huaiwen, who always complained about the empty treasury and starving mice in the treasury, nodded in agreement: "Exactly, exactly, relieving the people from their suffering, hahahaha."
In short, they want the benefits while also upholding their reputation.
Seeing everyone clamoring to reclaim all the former territories of the Han and Tang dynasties, Zhu Jinsong grunted and instructed Geng Rui, the leader of the Right Army Command, "This matter will be handled by your Right Army Command. First, drive out the little wild boar skin (referring to Nurhaci's son, Hong Taiji) from Gurkha and have him run towards the oil barrels."
After Geng Rui bowed in acknowledgment, Zhu Jinsong looked at Zeng Cheng and the other important officials and said, "Defeating the little wild boar skin is not difficult, but how to guard our Great Ming's oil barrels requires everyone's collective wisdom and effort."
Zeng Cheng and the other important officials looked at Zhu Jinsong with blank expressions.
Guarding the oil barrels requires so many departments of the Great Ming to work together?
Is Your Majesty overestimating the barbarians at the oil barrels, or underestimating the Five Army Commandery of our Great Ming?
Geng Rui's face turned red, and he shouted, "As long as there is one last breath left in the Right Army Command, we can guard the oil barrels!"
Zhu Jinsong glared at Geng Rui and said, "What are you shouting about? Just showing off your loud voice? No brains!"
After reprimanding Geng Rui, Zhu Jinsong turned his gaze to Zeng Cheng and asked, "I ask you, how many registered male adults does our Great Ming have now?"
Zeng Cheng immediately reacted.
How many registered male adults does the Great Ming have now?
The answer is 300,970,000 and odd.
300 million people may seem like a lot, but when distributed across the entire Great Ming, this number is actually quite small—to talk about the number of registered male adults without considering the size of the territory is to be a rogue!
The entire territory of the former Qing Dynasty, plus Jiaozhi, Burma, Siam, Laos, Korea, Nurgan Regional Military Commission, and more than half of the grassland, let alone 300 million people, even if there were another 300 million people, it would be impossible to fill such a vast territory!
Seeing that Zeng Cheng and the other officials looked thoughtful, Zhu Jinsong continued, "Besides the issue of insufficient registered male adults, are the people of the Great Ming willing to migrate outwards? If they migrate, they will never be able to return to their native hometown. If it were you, would you be willing?"
Yes, the reason why people are unwilling to migrate, apart from the fact that the Great Ming's development speed is getting faster and faster, and the lives of the people are getting better day by day, the most important reason is the backwardness of transportation conditions, which means that once they leave their hometown, they may never have the chance to see their hometown again.
This is almost unbearable for the people of the Great Ming, who have strong local sentiments.
Therefore, without resorting to coercive measures to relocate the people, it is necessary to first solve the transportation problem, so that the people know that they will still have the opportunity to visit their hometown after migrating.
Song Yucheng couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, the Department of Transportation has already planned to build railways and straight roads from the seventh year of Saint Emperor's reign to the twelfth year of Saint Emperor's reign. The current focus is on the Yunnan-Guizhou and Jiaozhi directions, and even the Liaodong direction is secondary. If the Western Regions are added, I'm afraid the original plan will have to be changed."
Zhu Jinsong hummed and said, "This matter is not urgent for now. Since we know that there is a large amount of petroleum in the oil barrels, we can first buy some from those European barbarians. We will deal with it when we have time."
With Zhu Jinsong saying this, Song Yucheng felt at ease, but Liu Huaiwen became anxious again: "..."