Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 133 Planning the Three Towns of Shanxi
"There are three thousand beauties in the harem, and three thousand dotes on one body"

In Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", it is really written how Concubine Yang Gui was favored by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

Not only Zhu Youjian, but most men in later generations will be passionate about the phrase "three thousand beauties in the harem", but they are a bit useless.

It's just that Zhu Youjian's imagination about this sentence was shattered when he saw the photos of the harem in the late Qing Dynasty.

Except for a few people who could see through, the other concubines of the Qing Dynasty almost made Zhu Youjian want to run away after seeing them.

At that time, he thought that the harem of the Qing Dynasty was like this, and the quality of beauties in the harem of other dynasties was probably not much higher.

But on Cheyu, Zhu Youjian's thoughts were changed by Zhu Youxiao's explanation.

"At that time, Emperor Taizu Gao set up the ancestral precepts, "All emperors, princes, concubines, concubines, carefully select daughters from good families, and those who enter will be accepted!" "

Che Yushang and Zhu Youxiao talked eloquently, fearing that their younger brother would not understand the process of choosing a concubine, so they explained to him:
"My concubines in the harem of the Ming Dynasty are all drafted from the private sector, and then go through multiple layers of screening, so you can rest assured, my brother, if there is someone you like, feel free to tell me."

"Although the ancestral system cannot find a concubine who is older than the prince, if the younger brother likes it, he can first choose the beautiful girl who catches his eye to be an errand in the East Palace, and then marry when he is older."

"I'm not in a hurry." Zhu Youjian was a little ashamed to hear his royal brother's thoughtless words.

He was only eleven years old, and he didn't want to make himself infertile for a woman.

However, after hearing what his imperial brother said, he recalled that his imperial brother said that today is the sixth level, so he asked:
"What is the process of choosing a concubine?"

"Return to Your Highness..." Wei Zhongxian explained to Zhu Youjian on the car with a smile:
"First of all, the imperial court sent many people to various parts of the country. The main purpose is to find ladies aged [-] to [-] across the country. As long as they are fancy, they will leave a part of the property as a dowry to the parents, and then Order them to send the girls to the capital on a certain day of the month."

"When the agreed date arrives, about [-] carefully selected girls will gather in the capital, so the audition will begin like this."

"These people have to go through at least eight levels before they can finally determine who will be eliminated and who will be left behind as court ladies or concubines, or even queens."

"The first level is to let the girls line up every hundred people and line up for inspection. The eunuch personally appointed by Wanzai carefully observes their body shapes one by one, and then picks out a thousand tall, short, fat and thin ones who do not meet the requirements and eliminate them."

"The second level starts on the second day. The girls are also lined up. This time, the eunuchs will carefully observe their facial features one by one, and then pick out a thousand unsatisfactory ones to eliminate."

"The third level is for the ladies to explain and demonstrate their talents, and then the examiners and eunuchs of the draft will ask questions, and then select those who can't speak clearly or who are too nervous to eliminate."

"The fourth test is to measure the length of the hands and feet of the ladies, and then let them walk a few steps to observe their bearing and expression, and then weed out a thousand of them."

"The fifth pass is for the remaining [-] people to undergo another physical examination by the woman Wen in the palace. After a lot of "exploring their breasts, sniffing their armpits, and feeling their texture", there are only [-] people left. The girls on the left and right have reached the standard of a "court lady."

"As for today's sixth level, special personnel will conduct closed training for these [-] new "court ladies" to observe their personalities, styles, diet, daily life, etc., and then select more than [-] of them to become the emperor's concubines. candidates, those who are not selected can officially remain in the palace as maids-in-waiting."

"Ten days later, the seventh stage is for the empress dowager or the concubines to select the three most satisfied candidates from the remaining fifty."

"And the final eighth stage is for Wansui to personally select one of these three to become the empress of the world. At this point, the draft is officially over."

Wei Zhongxian flattered him a lot, but Zhu Youjian was speechless after listening.

He co-authored that he missed the selection of five thousand beautiful girls, and now there are only three hundred beautiful girls?

Although these three hundred beautiful girls were selected from all the ladies aged [-] to [-], Zhu Youjian still didn't believe it.

The main reason is that the photos of the harem in the late Qing Dynasty made him look silent, and he almost saw the psychological shadow.

"Here, Long Live, we have to keep our voices down. If the concubine's people know that we are peeping, the servants will inevitably be punished twice, and Long Live and His Highness will also be impeached by foreign ministers."

Wei Zhongxian acted as if he took great risks to do this, which made Zhu Youxiao disgusted and said: "Understood, brother go!"

After all, he told Zhu Youjian to get off the car, and at this time two young eunuchs also brought two long bamboo ladders to be placed on the red wall and yellow tiles. Zhu Youxiao took the lead in climbing up, and then waved his hands Signal Zhu Youjian to follow.

"I still have to look at women in such a sneaky way in my own territory..."

With a mutter in his heart, Zhu Youjian climbed up the ladder in a hurry, and lay on the top of the wall to watch the scene in the palace.

At this moment, not far from them, there were hundreds of people standing in front of the palace. They stood very straight, but lowered their eyes, very ladylike.

In this life, Zhu Youjian's eyesight was very good, he glanced over, and immediately swallowed his saliva.

It's not that he hasn't seen women before. After all, the maids in the palace are all very beautiful, but compared with the [-] beautiful ladies selected from all over the country, they are slightly inferior.

Before climbing up the wall, Zhu Youjian was still thinking, how beautiful can it be?As a result, when he saw the three hundred beautiful girls, he immediately understood why his cheap father and his great-grandfather died on the belly of a woman.

Hibiscus comes out of clear water, natural carvings...

Three hundred beautiful girls were selected from tens of millions of ladies all over the country. They didn't have any makeup on their faces, but it highlighted their beauty and preciousness even more.

Zhu Youjian swore that it was the first time in his life that he saw a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl blushing.

"I'm only eleven years old..."

At this time, Zhu Youjian remembered that he was only eleven years old, and he looked at his imperial brother next to him, only to find that his imperial brother's face was as white as jade, and he seemed to be tired of seeing these "vulgar fans".

"Hey! It's good to be the emperor!"

Seeing that his royal brother looked like all these women were him, Zhu Youjian was inexplicably angry with a kind of jealousy among men.

"Sing!"

"Long live Saint Gongan..."

Suddenly, following the opening of a female official, the three hundred beautiful women shouted "Long live Sheng Gong'an", which almost made the two brothers Zhu Youjian think that they had been discovered.

After recovering, I realized that they were practicing etiquette in the palace, and Zhu Youxiao also breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to Zhu Youjian and said:
"How? Did my younger brother take a fancy to it? If so, send a few to my younger brother's Xuqin Palace."

"Eh..." Zhu Youjian thought in his heart that how many would be enough, I want them all... But he still said fearfully, "These are all my brother's, I'm still young..."

"Which brother do you think looks better among the three hundred people?" Zhu Youxiao asked Zhu Youjian annoyed, as if Zhu Youjian's opinion was very important to him.

"This..." Zhu Youjian turned his attention back to the three hundred beautiful girls, looking at their faces and figures one by one, and found a few very conspicuous ones in the crowd after a while.

Among them, the first person was tall and plump, with a face like Guanyin, eyes like autumn waves, mouth like vermilion cherry blossoms, nose like hanging gallbladder, white teeth and fine cleansing.

"That, that, and that... are all good." Zhu Youjian pointed to seven beautiful women and asked, while Wei Zhongxian also climbed a ladder and leaned against the wall.

When Zhu Youxiao saw the women his brother pointed out, he glanced at them and frowned:
"Except for the first one and the second one, it's okay. The faces of the other show girls are too thin, and their buttocks are also small. I heard from the woman in the palace that women with small buttocks are not allowed to have children."

After all, he said to Wei Zhongxian, "What's the name of the first person?"

"It seems..." Wei Zhongxian said uncertainly: "It seems that the surname is Zhang, and I'm not sure what it's called..."

"Really? That's her!" Zhu Youxiao clapped his hands and immediately made a decision.

When Zhu Youjian heard Wei Zhongxian say that the girl's surname was Zhang, he immediately knew that this person might be his future sister-in-law Zhang Yan.

"No wonder it's called the Five Great Queens..." Zhu Youjian glanced at his sister-in-law twice, and then prepared to look at the others.

As a result, when he was looking east and west, several female officials came from the corner of the long road talking and laughing, and saw three people lying on the top of the wall.

"Someone is peeping!"

A few screams triggered Zhu Youjian's nerves in an instant. He just wanted to ask his royal brother to reveal his identity, but he heard the sound of the ladder falling to the ground. Looking sideways, his royal brother had already run away with Wei Zhongxian. .

You two are really old six...

"Why do you want to run away when you see your own woman in your own territory!"

Zhu Youjian yelled in his heart, and then when he heard the sound of Jingjun's armor, he also jumped off the ladder and ran away.

He didn't know why he ran away, anyway, seeing that his imperial brother and Wei Zhongxian had both run away, he followed suit.

Because of the proper training in Yanshan Daying, he quickly surpassed Wei Zhongxian, and then surpassed his own imperial brother.

But at this time, his royal brother seemed to have seen a life-saving straw, and quickly grabbed Zhu Youjian's belt.

Although he is energetic and in good health because of being a carpenter, how can he compare with Zhu Youjian who runs at least seven or eight miles every day in Yanshan Daying?
Zhu Youjian was grabbed by his belt, and hurriedly prepared to grab his royal brother and run together, but he didn't want his royal brother to speak directly:

"My brother stayed here to stop them. You are young and the concubine will not blame you if she finds out."

For a moment, the words "superficial brother" appeared in the back of Zhu Youjian's mind, and he didn't bother to refute his royal brother, so he just dragged his royal brother and ran away.

Seeing that he was about to reach the inner garden, but the gate of the inner garden was locked, Zhu Youjian could only pull his royal brother to stop, and then said: "Brother over the wall!"

"Okay!" Zhu Youxiao was unambiguous, and with Zhu Youjian's support, he climbed over the wall and entered the inner garden.

After getting on the fence, Zhu Youxiao had no strength to pull Zhu Youjian, so Zhu Youjian took three steps and two steps, backed up and ran, jumped up and grabbed Zhu Youxiao's hand, and jumped over the wall into the inner garden.

It's just that poor Wei Zhongxian was left behind, and the two brothers rested for a few seconds, and immediately took a detour and walked out of the inner garden swaggeringly through the Kunning Gate.

At this time, Jing Jun just arrived at Kunning Palace, while Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao were sitting on the lord of Kunning Palace, and asked without any waves on their faces:

"what happened?"

"Long live, thousand years old, just now someone peeked at the talent show, was bumped by female officials and fled. Wei Zhangyin said that he saw a thief coming to Kunning Palace."

The captain of the Jing army bowed and knelt down to answer, and Zhu Youxiao played the actor-level performance at this moment. He frowned and reprimanded:
"You can peek at the show girls' draft? What do you guys do?!"

"Long live, pardon me, my slaves will die forever..." The captain immediately kowtowed to the ground, hastily admitting his mistake.

"Okay, let's find out the peeking people as soon as possible. In addition, the Kunning Palace should be cleaned well. After the draft is over in a few days, the queen will be able to move in."

After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he got up and walked towards Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Youjian quickly followed after seeing this.

It was after the commander of the Jing army got up that the eunuch of the Jing army said: "Long live them and Wei Zhangyin..."

"Shut up, don't talk nonsense!" Captain Jing gave him a glare.

Obviously, when Wei Zhongxian was caught, they knew who the peeking person was, but how could such a thing be revealed?
If the concubines knew about this, they would be praised at most, but when Wan Sui and Qian Sui wanted to take revenge, ten of their heads would not be enough.

While they were thinking this way, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian had already returned to Qianqing Palace.

And after arriving here, what caught Zhu Youjian's eyes was a small boat placed in the main hall of Qianqing Palace.

No, it's not so much a small boat as it is a scaled-down version of the warship he drew.

This ship is three feet long, four feet high, and about five feet wide. It can be said to be a large model.

"Brother did it?"

Seeing this three-masted sailboat, Zhu Youjian stepped forward to look at it in surprise, and his surprised expression can be said to have greatly satisfied Zhu Youxiao's vanity.

"Although there are still some late-stage paint oiling and waterproofing that have not been done, it is just so-so..."

With hands behind his back, Zhu Youxiao looked as if this kind of thing was not difficult. Perhaps only the eunuchs and maids of Qianqing Palace knew that it took nearly half a year for his Long Live family to make this model.

"When can I go into the water?" Zhu Youjian turned to look at Zhu Youxiao happily.

"Eh... about two or three months later..." Zhu Youxiao scratched his hair at the temples, and roughly estimated the time.

At this time, Zhu Youjian also saw Wei Zhongxian who walked into the Qianqing Palace with his head down, so he said to Wei Zhongxian, "Where did Wei Zhongxian and the Siamese teak wood go? How much?"

"Yes!" Wei Zhongxian was taken aback, and without further ado, he answered yes first, then he came to his senses, bowed back and said:

"The old king of Siam died of illness last year. After hearing that Wansui needed teak, the new King Songtao ordered to cut down [-] teak trees and sent [-] people to transport them. There are about [-] materials."

"Currently the teak has been sent to Songjiang Prefecture, which is faster than expected, and it will arrive in Tianjin Wei in about two months."

Wei Zhongxian explained everything, and after Zhu Youjian heard that there were only two months left, he set his sights on his own royal brother.

"It's only been two months. It's up to my brother whether the three guards of the navy can take shape."

"Uh...hehe...Don't worry, brother, this matter is nothing more than a trivial matter..." Zhu Youxiao was a little ashamed, thinking that he probably had to make up lessons in the past two months.

It's just that people's sorrows and joys are not connected. Zhu Youxiao is feeling uncomfortable, but Zhu Youjian walks around the appearance in front of him happily.

Ming materials are about 325 catties of later generations, and 48750 materials are almost [-] tons. Even if some waste materials are removed, twenty warships with a total tonnage of [-] tons can be produced, with a total tonnage of [-] tons.

What is this concept?You must know that the Spanish Armada is only more than [-] tons in tonnage, and the flagship San Philip is only [-] tons.

If his royal brother could manufacture two thousand tons of warships, then only twenty ships would be enough for Ming Dynasty to dominate all the oceans east of the Cape of Good Hope.

However, according to the current tonnage of the ship, a tonnage of [-] tons can completely accommodate hundreds of artillery pieces of different weights.

Twenty such wooden battleships with sails, according to the standards of Britain more than [-] years later, all of them are second-class battleships.

If Zhu Youjian equips them with other [-]-ton Tier [-] battleships, then it is absolutely possible to make Ming Dynasty a dynasty on which the sun never sets in this era.

It's just that such a huge fleet is not needed for Zhu Youjian right now. He only needs one fleet to deal with the possible battle of Penghu.

What he needs most now is a civilian cargo ship of more than [-] tons.

So he turned his attention to his royal brother and said, "Brother Huang, I just don't know, can we develop a cargo ship with nine thousand materials?"

"..."

For a while, Zhu Youxiao was a little speechless, or he had already tasted the price of bragging, and he was afraid to brag for the time being.

"You can try..." After he said something guilty, Zhu Youxiao coughed:

"Ahem! By the way, there is one more thing I need to tell my brother."

"Brother, it's okay to say." Zhu Youjian nodded.

"I want to transfer the [-] Han generals of Jinyiwei to train with the Sixth and Second Battalions inside and outside the city. What do you think, brother?"

Zhu Youxiao expressed his thoughts, obviously he wanted a soldier who could defend the inner court.

Although the Xiaoqiwei, Tiancewei, Habayashiwei, Longxiangwei, Daxingying, and Wanpingying were all deployed by Zhu Youjian to defend Shuntian, and would change defenses every day to take over the imperial city of the outer court, but Zhu Youxiao still Want a team of your own.

The three guards of the imperial city are good, but they are still too few, and they cannot be transferred to fight civil servants. In comparison, Jin Yiwei's big Han general is good.

Naturally, there is no reason to refuse his royal brother and Zhu Youjian. The more people in the outer court, the better for him.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian nodded and said: "Okay, wait for the imperial brother's decree, and then send General Dahan to Wanping Camp in Dongcheng to participate in the drill."

"Okay!" Seeing that Zhu Youjian was not unhappy, Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Zhu Youjian:
"The situation in Liaodong is not good now. Do you want to follow what my brother said, and first transfer [-] soldiers from Xuanda and Dazhou to aid Liao, and then rectify Xuanda and Xuanda after repelling the old slaves?"

"Your brother also thinks the same way!" Zhu Youjian bowed back and said:
"The reason why I want to rectify Xuan Mansion and Datong is that I have taken a fancy to the army in their hands, and I think that after rectifying them, I will further rectify Taiyuan Town."

"Xuanfu and Datong add up to a total of twenty-nine guards, thirty-three schools, and twenty-one battalions."

"If you add the seven guards, five camps and four battalions in Taiyuan Town, you get thirty-six guards, thirty-eight camps, and twenty-five battalions."

"Judging from the investigation of the south court of the Yumajian, and the Shuntian and Yongping mansions in the north of the Yumajian, there are thirty-six guards and thirty-eight houses, which are [-] military households, nearly [-] Two million acres of military farmland."

"The three towns in Shanxi spend more than [-] million taels of military pay every year, so my brother's idea is very simple, that is, to directly recover Hetao, abolish Taiyuan and Datong towns, and establish Fengzhou town!"

Zhu Youjian's words are very bold. The abolition of Taiyuan and Datong towns will undoubtedly cause turmoil in the Nine Frontiers.

But if it can be suppressed, it will be easy to deal with Liaodong Town later.

Moreover, if Hetao is recovered, Fengzhou Beach is reclaimed, and Fengzhou Town is established, then the four towns of Datong, Taiyuan, Yulin, and Guyuan can all be abolished.

Because Hetao was already owned by Ming Dynasty, the front line was pushed more than [-] miles north, and the military pressure was reduced, which could also reduce the number of soldiers and horses in Yulin and Guyuan towns, and reduce the cost of military pay in disguise.

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao got up and walked.

To be honest, he was very moved by what his brother said, but this speed was too fast.

The three towns were abolished at once, and finally they would send troops to attack Hetao and crusade against the northern captives in Tumochuan. Such a plan and scale were almost comparable to the Battle of Ningxia in the three major expeditions of Wanli.

The military pay that needs to be used is definitely more than one million taels, and the subsequent investment will also require millions of taels.

but!

Zhu Youxiao stopped in his tracks. If he could recover the Hetao and develop Fengzhou Beach, which had already been developed by Beilu, then this would be an expansion of territory, and it would also reduce the military pay of tens of millions of taels of Ming Dynasty to Seven or eight million taels.

Zhu Youxiao was hesitating. He was young and energetic, so he naturally hoped to expand his territory and add a strong contribution to the history books, but he couldn't make up his mind.

Not only is he thinking, even Zhu Youjian who proposed this idea is also thinking.

Fengzhoutan, that is, the later Hohhot, can even spread westward to Bayannaoer from the Baotou area.

Although the precipitation here was greatly reduced during the Little Ice Age, it is still possible to feed millions of people if the cultivation is done properly.

The reason why Zhu Youjian wanted to lay down here was not only to reduce the military pay on the nine sides, but also for the people in northern Shaanxi.

The Great Drought on the Little Ice River is coming. If Zhu Youjian remembers correctly, Fengzhou Beach will not be affected. Northern Shaanxi was first affected, and then spread to the whole of Shaanxi. Although Shanxi has also been affected, it is still affected. within the controllable range.

For the people in Shanxi, Zhu Youjian is planning to go to the northeast with the people in Beizhili in the future.

Therefore, to solve the problems of the people in northern Shaanxi, it is very simple to give the people land and relocate them. There are three targets for the relocation, and the first one is Fengzhou Beach.

After the development of the Mongolians themselves, there are already more than [-] mu of cultivated land, and the foundation will be established after the migration.

The only problem is how to solve the Ordos Mongolia on the south bank of the Yellow River and the Tumed Mongolia on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Ordos Mongols are not difficult to deal with. There are only [-] to [-] men in their tribe, and there are no more than [-] men who can mount a horse to fight. There are not even more than [-] men. They only need a battalion of soldiers and horses to defeat them.

This is not Zhu Youjian's arrogance, but the Mongols in Monan and Mobei who have been weakened by Ming Dynasty and are not as good as some big chieftains in the southwest.

Their only threat is liquidity, but as long as Zhu Youjian builds cities in Hetao South and Fengzhoutan, and then defeats and incorporates them, this problem can be easily solved.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to solve the problem because there were too few people in the north who could not meet the conditions for immigration, and the people had too many fields in their hands, and they were unwilling to leave.

But right now, the number of people in Shaanxi may have exceeded [-] million, or even reached [-] million, or even tens of millions.

The imperial court occupied a lot of land in Shaanxi, and there were only more than [-] million mu of private land in Shaanxi for the people, and they could barely support them.

In the event of a severe drought, the people in Shaanxi are even less able to resist drought than those in Gansu.

So Zhu Youjian wants to solve this problem by developing Fengzhou Beach!

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian raised his head and looked at his royal brother, who also frowned and glanced at him, then hesitated and said again and again:

"Let me think about it..."

"Okay, then I'll take my leave first." Seeing that his royal brother couldn't make up his mind for a while, Zhu Youjian bowed and wanted to quit Qianqing Palace and give his royal brother some personal space.

But he didn't think he hadn't quit yet, but his royal brother suddenly said:

"This can be done, but we have to wait until Taicang is abundant, and the food in Taicang is enough for the people to cultivate for more than three years!"

"Hehe..." Hearing that his royal brother had made an idea, Zhu Youjian smiled and saluted and said:
"For this matter, my brother will just watch how I can earn enough food for my brother from private salt..."

"You slippery..."

Seeing that Zhu Youjian slipped out after saying this, Zhu Youxiao also laughed and joked, then shook his head and walked back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation...

　Two updates today, one more at a bit

　　
　
(End of this chapter)