For Zhu Yunying, a feudal emperor, territorial expansion was a way to demonstrate his military prowess, and it was also a standard for evaluating an emperor. However, Zhu Yunying was also well aware that simply expanding territory was not enough, because one could easily be accused of being a "militarist."

For feudal emperors, ensuring their people were well-fed and clothed was of paramount importance. In fact, this could make an emperor the subject of praise and admiration, as it was believed that a benevolent emperor should be like this.

Zhu Yunying has always been working hard on food security and has always hoped to do better in this matter.

Even though the Ming Dynasty doesn't seem to have many worries right now, it's not some mini ice age anymore, and there's still a lot of land but a small population. Compared to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the lives of the vast majority of people living in the Ming Dynasty are definitely better.

However, a lack of foresight will inevitably lead to immediate troubles. In order to prevent land annexation and ensure food safety in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunying was actually willing to do some things that seemed somewhat thankless and difficult.

From initially reducing the privileges of the imperial clan to continuously encouraging military settlements and land reclamation, as well as carrying out tax system reforms, continuously developing Jingxiang, and even having some development plans in Liaodong and other places, etc.

In reality, the land reclamation policy seems to have no major problems, but other plans more or less infringe on the interests of some people, and some are even incomprehensible.

But there was nothing that could be done; these were all arrangements made by Zhu Yunying, an emperor with immense power who could act arbitrarily. The advice of many people didn't really have much effect on him, and once he made up his mind, it was very difficult for ordinary people to change it.

Reclaiming more land seems to be the best approach. Given the lack of high-yield crops and the absence of significant changes in fertilizers and farming techniques, increasing land reclamation is the best way to boost grain production and address the continued population growth in the Ming Dynasty.

However, having more grain doesn't necessarily mean solving all problems. More grain can be used to brew wine and enrich the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty, but that's not enough.

For example, regarding the issue of grains and oils, the Ming Dynasty currently mainly uses rapeseed oil, and soybean oil is actually very rare.

The news brought by Zhu Yunying made Zhu Yunying think more about things. However, his thoughts were limited to the population and land of Nanyang, as well as its mineral resources.

In this era, there was no need to pay much attention to Southeast Asian rubber, as it was of little use. However, if a large amount of palm oil from Southeast Asia were imported into the Ming Dynasty, it would definitely provide the people of the Ming Dynasty with more food and oil. Even if not everyone could eat palm oil, many people could live a better life.

If we think about it further, since people in coastal and Jiangnan regions have access to palm oil, and Yingtian Prefecture and Beiping Prefecture also have large quantities of palm oil, then these two capitals can reduce their need for rapeseed oil, which can benefit people in other prefectures as well.

Ultimately, whether it was the prosperous Yingtian Prefecture or the Beiping Prefecture that had become the capital, both had a large population and needed to rely on supplies such as food from other prefectures.

Palm oil is indeed a good product; it's said to be rich in oil and has a very high yield. At least compared to rapeseed oil, palm oil is produced in much larger quantities.

This gave Zhu Yunying some ideas. He had always had his eye on the Southeast Asia, and now, looking at the situation again, he realized that it was essential to control the Indochina Peninsula, as that place was indeed very useful to the Ming Dynasty.

It's not fair to blame Zhu Yunying for being greedy. All emperors, to some extent, have ambitions to expand their territories. Governing the country well and making their empire more prosperous and powerful is something an emperor should do.

Many people might think that Southeast Asia and other places are wild and untamed lands filled with miasma, but Zhu Yunying knew that there were many advantages there. The weather there was very good, and three harvests a year was nothing special for Southeast Asian countries, but it was almost a fantasy for the Ming Dynasty.

Old Zhu felt that he didn't need to worry about these things. In fact, even though he had discovered silver mountains in Japan and brought back a lot of jewelry and grain from Southeast Asia over the years, Old Zhu still looked down on Southeast Asia and other places.

It wasn't just Zhu Yuanzhang who held this view; most Chinese scholars and even ordinary people actually looked down on other places, believing that the vast lands were rich in resources and that those wild and uncivilized regions were not on the same level as the Nine Provinces of China.

After having a satisfying meal at the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yunying didn't rest there but leisurely returned to the East Palace. This place, nominally Zhu's territory, had actually been occupied by Zhu Yunying for many years.

There was nothing that could be done about it. The Qianqing Palace, where the emperor should have lived, was occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang (the Yongle Emperor), and Zhu Yunying (the Yongle Emperor) couldn't very well ask him to leave. In the past, the Ming Dynasty's finances were tight, and neither the Yongle Emperor nor the Yongle Emperor were willing to build any more palaces, so they just made do with what they had.

In fact, Zhu Yunying also understood that even though he was now well-off, Old Zhu was reluctant to move out.

It wasn't that they were reluctant to leave the Qianqing Palace; they were simply reluctant to leave their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This had nothing to do with how much money was spent.

Therefore, Zhu Yunying continued to occupy the Eastern Palace, only upgrading its specifications to resemble those of an emperor, and that was sufficient.

As soon as they returned to Chunhe Palace, Zhu Yunying chuckled, "Your elder brother was still nagging you today, but look at you now. Is it because no one's playing with you or you have nothing else to do, so you've just been hanging out with your little sparrow?"

Zhu Wenkun couldn't understand. The chubby boy just sat on the couch, bent over, head down, and poking at the little sparrow with his small hands. Perhaps the boy was also curious about what that little worm was all about, and it was quite interesting to tug at it.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!