Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 280 Greedy Wei Zhongxian
"Crackling-"

"Bang bang bang-"

On the first day of the first lunar month, with the sound of firecrackers, fireworks and cannons at the top of the city, Ming Dynasty officially entered the sixth year of the apocalypse.

In the six years of the Apocalypse in the past year, the Ming Dynasty carried out the Battle of Hetao, the signing of the East-West Treaty in the Old Port, the suppression of the rebellion by the chieftains of the Southwest, and the defense of the northern captives in the Liaobei Zhili.

Many military operations consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, which also gave Daming a rare boost of spirit when the state affairs were in decline.

It's just that the subsequent white disasters in Shaanxi and the locust plague in Shandong caught the civil servants and generals of Ming Dynasty a little off guard.

But fortunately, the treasury still has a surplus. Using the surplus of the treasury, the two catastrophes were quickly settled down.

It's just the follow-up to Pingding, whether it's millions of people from Shaanxi moving to Hetao, or millions of disaster victims from Shandong going to Liaodong, all of these follow-ups have exhausted the last sliver of money and food in Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Households, the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and internal funds...

The three financial systems are on the verge of exhaustion, and can only maintain the current situation, but can no longer cope with catastrophe.

In other words, Daming, which was six years after the apocalypse, could only appease the victims and at the same time, carry out the second sweep of the north, and relocate the people who volunteered to sign up to Jiugang, Hetao, Liaodong, and Hexi.

As far as the situation is concerned, it is actually not optimistic, because it means that once another disaster breaks out in Daming, the balance of payments maintained by Zhu Youjian for several years may be completely broken.

However, the news of the sixth year of Tianqi is not all bad, for example...

[Ammonium bicarbonate fertilizer: [-] catties of fresh livestock manure, [-] catty of soybean flour, and [-] catties of paris plaster powder. 】

[Mix the above raw materials evenly, put them in a container and seal them for 3 days, add 3 times the water when used, and make ditches to make base fertilizer or top dressing]

[Ammonium sulfate fertilizer: [-] catties of human feces, [-] catties of paris plaster powder, [-] catties of water, stir and mix evenly, and seal it for [-] to [-] days. This fertilizer is mainly used for topdressing. Festival ditching topdressing]

[Compound fertilizer: [-] catties of human excrement, [-] catties of superphosphate, mixed and piled up, sealed with soil and mud, usually ready to use in ten days, the fertilizer made by this method can be used as base fertilizer and topdressing fertilizer, because Fertilizer is strong, so it cannot be used for seed mixing, so as not to affect the germination rate]

[Potassium dihydrogen phosphate: one catty...]

[These five methods have been changed by the method taught by His Highness, and experiments are still needed. Please approve the test field of [-] mu...]

[Sun Yuanhua, Dean of the Agricultural Branch of the Armament Research Institute... Branch]

In Prince Qi's mansion and study, when Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in his seat, saw the application report from Sun Yuanhua, he immediately looked up at Sun Yuanhua in front of him.

At this moment, Sun Yuanhua was sitting in front of him, his expression was a little sluggish, and he didn't look like he had rested well.

But it’s no wonder that he, since he came to the capital or the Military Armament Academy, he immediately held several positions, including the director of steam engine research, the director of the Artillery Research Branch, the director of the Fire Gun Research Branch, and the researcher of hydraulic kinetic energy on his head. Branch Dean, Agricultural Research Branch Dean and many other titles.

Not only him, Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing, and Song Yingchang brothers have also given some titles in fields they are slightly involved in.

With more than [-] students with knowledge in related fields, facing hundreds of issues and topics that need to be studied, several people expressed great pressure.

Suffering from lack of people, Bi Maokang started research on nine subjects with a group of twenty people, among which agricultural research related to whether the people of Ming Dynasty can have enough to eat can be said to be the most important.

Sun Yuanhua put three issues on the agenda, such as grain cultivation, hybridization, and chemical fertilizers.

Among them, the simplest one is chemical fertilizers, because Zhu Youjian, a poverty alleviation cadre, is very clear about the composition of soil chemical fertilizers.

In his previous life, he needed to meet the poverty alleviation targets deep in the mountains with an annual income of less than [-] or even [-] yuan. Naturally, with such an income, they couldn't afford industrial fertilizers.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian specially asked his classmates who are studying agriculture about making simple soil fertilizers.

However, in the face of different times and different types of raw materials, Zhu Youjian still needs Sun Yuanhua to study whether these chemical fertilizers can play the same role as in the previous life.

"I have approved this experimental field, you can ask Hua Chun and Cheng En to assign it to you, and besides..."

Zhu Youjian looked up at Sun Yuanhua, and then said:
"Don't let the research on the hybridization and grafting yield of corn, sweet potato, potato, pepper, tomato and other crops be left behind."

"Yes..." Sun Yuanhua bowed in response, and Zhu Youjian waved his hand to signal him to back down.

Zhu Youjian is not too worried about chemical fertilizers, and the plaster powder as calcium sulfate is a bit expensive, but it is not difficult for Zhu Youjian.

The output of gypsum deposits under the current territory of Ming Dynasty can be said to be the highest among all countries in this era.

There are countless gypsum deposits in Shandong, Monan, Duogan, Huguang, Shaanxi, Nanzhili and Sichuan.

It just so happens that there is a disaster in Shandong right now, and it is enough to directly expand the amount of gypsum mining.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Youjian immediately took out the financial report of Yumajian from October to December [-]th.

In two and a half months, the Tianxia Huangdian earned [-] million taels, and the reason was because it specialized in salt tea.

Other commodities only earned more than [-] taels in two and a half months, while salt tea earned a full [-] million taels.

This is because some people have not consumed all the salt and tea in their homes.

As long as the inspection department continues to increase its strength, the two items of light salt tea can contribute [-] to [-] taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty every month.

[-] million taels. Excluding the cost, Zhu Youjian can mobilize around [-] million taels.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at Jin Yiwei Qianhu who was serving in the study:
"Tell Huachun to transfer [-] taels of silver to Shandong, and order the officials of the Yumajian to mine gypsum mines there, and mine as much as they can."

"Yes—" Qianhu responded, and Zhu Youjian also picked up other military newspapers and read them one by one.

However, he didn't concentrate on dealing with the military newspaper, but at the same time, he focused on inferring the effects of chemical fertilizers.

He thought about it comprehensively. The agricultural techniques he implemented in the mountainous area, after removing the intangible existence of mulch film, the factor of chemical fertilizers accounted for about 20% to 30% of the yield per mu of land.

After all, soil chemical fertilizers are not as precise as industrial chemical fertilizers, but after they are produced, they can at least increase the yield of Daming’s 10 million mu of land by 30%~[-]%
Counting the [-] million mu of land in Jiugang and Daming, the average yield per mu is about [-] shi. If the yield can be increased by [-] to [-]%, the increased grain production will be enough to feed thousands or even tens of millions of people.

Even if the severe drought and cold in the Little Ice River lead to local food harvests and reduced production, the imperial court can still rely on the allocation of grassroots forces to calm the famine.

The most urgent task now is to dredge the Yellow River, so that some small grain ships can transport grain from the Huaihe River to Luoyang, and then transport it to Shaanxi by land.

Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi are the three places where the drought lasts the longest. As long as the grain from the south can be transported to the Yellow River Basin in Luoyang, [-]% of the fire consumption on the road can be reduced.

This [-]% fire consumption can save millions of people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the production of gypsum is solved, the problem of organic fertilizer in chemical fertilizer plants can be solved well by relying on the manure of official farms and livestock from Yumajian in various provinces.

With the development of officialdom, the tens of millions of poultry and livestock that eat sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes can produce billions of catties of organic fertilizer every year.

If adding the organic fertilizers produced by hundreds of millions of people in Ming Dynasty, what the fertilizer factory can achieve every year is the output of billions of catties of soil and chemical fertilizers.

Although these soil fertilizers are not enough to meet the needs of Daming's arable land, they can also increase Daming's grain production by tens of millions of stones.

"Governing a big country is like a farmer farming..."

Thinking about the soil fertilizer, Zhu Youjian couldn't help laughing at himself.

Also when he was still thinking about the matter of fertilizing the soil, in the palace more than ten miles away from him, Zhu Youxiao was making wood by himself.

The expensive gold bricks are covered with cheap wood, and the court ladies and eunuchs all around are watching the emperor who is making the wood.

As a carpenter, Zhu Youxiao did not blindly pursue materials, but only needed suitable ones.

He felt that he did not need expensive materials to complement his craftsmanship.

The sound of planing wood echoed in Qianqing Palace, and every time it struck, Wei Zhongxian, Liu Ruoyu, and Wang Tiqian, who were guarding by the side, were in suspense.

Gradually, and I don't know how long it took, Zhu Youxiao easily processed a whole piece of wood into parts of the shaker.

Wei Zhongxian took the initiative to help and watched Zhu Youxiao assemble the parts into two shakers.

However, these two cradles were not prepared for Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e, but for the three concubines who were pregnant.

The expectant period of the three of them, after seeing a doctor by Wang Kentang in the Imperial Hospital, it is probably confirmed that they will give birth in March, May, and July of this year.

For his new three children, Zhu Youxiao prepared a lot.

The tables, chairs, benches and bed toys in the palace were all made by him.

Not only that, he also asked Zhang Yan to take the lead in sewing clothes for the three children.

Zhang Yan has the attitude of the mother of a country. She is not jealous of the concubines, but is very serious about sewing clothes.

However, it turned out that Zhu Youxiao's preparations were a bit early, because when Zhang Yan and the others sewed the clothes, there were still three months before the birth of the first child.

But in this regard, he was a little bit fond of it.

The knocking sound of "thump thump" echoed in the hall, and everyone dared not move even though their backs were sore from standing.

Even Wei Zhongxian, who has power over the government and the public, is enduring the hunger in his stomach at this moment, and accompanied Zhu Youxiao to make a shaker.

At this time, the sound of footsteps outside the palace became a way to break the deadlock.

Holding the three-year-old Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e by the hand, Zhang Yan entered the Qianqing Palace with several maids carrying meals.

However, when he saw Zhu Youjiao was concocting wood, a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and then restrained his disappointment, he stepped forward and saluted:

"Long live, Ran'er and Shu'e are arguing to have dinner with you, but the concubine can't stop..."

"Huh?" Hearing Zhang Yan's voice, Zhu Youxiao, who was immersed in "work", put down the hammer and wedge in his hand, turned around and saw Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e.

"father……"

Seeing Zhu Youxiao turn around, the two children ran towards Zhu Youxiao immediately.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao squatted down, and the two children plunged into his arms.

"Hey!" Zhu Youxiao showed a smile on his face, picked up his children with his left and right hands, and began to tease them.

The noses and eyes of Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e are very similar to Zhu Youxiao, but their faces are the same as Zhang Yan and Fan's.

Zhu Youxiao teased them happily, and Wei Zhongxian also tactfully asked someone to open the door of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. After Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan went in one after another, they sat in the dining place.

Several palace maids served dishes one by one, and the most eye-catching thing was nothing more than the seafood hodgepodge that Zhu Youxiao had eaten for many years.

Although he had listened to Zhu Youjian's words and controlled it for a while, in the end he couldn't get over his hunger and continued to eat again.

Not only the seafood hodgepodge, but also the hairy crabs from the south of the Yangtze River, and the deep-sea fish are all made by the imperial chef and served on the table.

The diet of Zhang Yan and the two children is a bit light. Even for dinner, Zhang Yan herself is nothing more than a plate of fire, a bowl of garlic vinegar and white blood soup, a plate of tomatoes and eggs, a bowl of fragrant rice and a cup of tribute. It's just tea.

One meat, one vegetable, one soup and one rice, in this luxurious palace, Zhang Yan's diet is indeed simple and light.

As for the two children, Zhang Yan followed Wang Kentang's instructions and prepared coarse grains such as fried shredded pork, roasted sweet potatoes, and shredded potatoes for them.

After taking their seats, the two children began to eat honestly, without the fuss of other children. It seems that Zhang Yan taught them well.

"Baozhu has lost some weight these days, eat more of this."

Zhu Youxiao also cared about his family, and he picked several dishes for Zhang Yan in a row, but Zhang Yan answered absent-mindedly, bowing his head to eat.

As time passed, when the family of four was full and Zhang Yan rinsed his mouth with tribute tea, he also said to Zhu Youxiao:
"Long live, Uncle Fifth is now seventeen. According to the usual practice, it seems that he can look for a relative."

"Well...it's true..." Zhu Youxiao nodded belatedly, but smiled again:
"It's just because of his younger brother's appearance, I'm afraid there are not many women who can match him."

"That's true..." There was a trace of worry on Zhang Yan's brows, and she obviously felt that with Zhu Youjian's appearance, capital, and other achievements, Daming really couldn't find a few women to match him.

Although after Zhu Di, the imperial clan of the Ming Dynasty mostly drafted from among the commoners and subordinates, but in the later stage of development, some children of small officials would also be included in the draft.

Zhu Youjian's capital and personality are destined to not have too many conversations with him no matter what woman he finds.

Among other things, many clan children, when they were as old as Zhu Youjian, had already started hooking up with some accompanying maids.

Fortunately for him, every day he either deals with military newspapers, or goes to the Military Armament Academy, or to Yanshan.

Right now, when the winter snow melts, he will lead his troops out to carry out the second North Sweeping Campaign.

No matter how you look at it, Zhu Youjian is not like that kind of safe person.

As the emperor's wife and queen, Zhang Yan often had a headache for Zhu Youjian's marriage.

Of course, what worries him even more is the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian.

Zhang Yan didn't come from a small family. She was familiar with history books when she was young, so she naturally knew how embarrassing the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian was now.

The two of them are very similar to the two brothers Yu Wenyong and Yu Wenxian of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Although the relationship has always been very good, no one knows whether the two will continue to be harmonious as they grow older.

In other words, even if they live in harmony, what about the next generation...

Thinking of this, Zhang Yan glanced at Zhu Ciran.

Looking at Zhu Ciran who was sitting on the chair swinging his legs, Zhang Yan felt uneasy in his heart.

She was restless, and so were the others.

Wei Zhongxian stood there apprehensively, and at this moment the eunuch at the door also sang:

"I ask Mrs. Sheng to see you..."

"Broadcast!" Zhu Youxiao heard that it was the Hakka family, and immediately sent someone to pass it on.

After being passed on, the Hakka family soon also walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and bowed to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live……"

"Kebaba is late, and Baozhu and I have already had dinner." Zhu Youxiao responded to Keshi with a smile, but Keshi bowed his head and wept immediately after hearing the words:

"Long live, this servant is not here to eat, but to cry to Long live..."

"Huh?" Zhu Youxiao frowned when he heard this, while Keshi sobbed:

"The Yanyin reward from Long Live is now invalidated. The servant knows that His Highness is for the court and for Long Live, but after the Yanyin is revoked, the salary of the slave is only three hundred shi."

"This cost is not enough in the palace, so I want to ask Long Live to approve the servants to return to their hometowns."

"..." Keshi's words quieted the entire Hall of Mental Cultivation, and Zhu Youxiao also frowned and said:
"The annual salary is not enough, just add it."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Wei Zhongxian: "Jack Baba's annual salary is two thousand shi."

"Long live..." Wei Zhongxian looked embarrassed, bowed his body and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"After Wansui and Yanyin were abolished, all the money went to the household department, and His Royal Highness Qi Wang allocated a lot of money to go out. Now the internal funds are less than [-] taels."

"Counting the expenses of the twenty-four yamen, this little money will last until next month at most..."

One hundred and seventy thousand taels a month, Wei Zhongxian's words sound a little scary, but Zhu Youxiao also knows that this is actually the truth.

The three guards of the imperial city, the generals of the Han Dynasty, the Jingjun, and tens of thousands of court ladies and eunuchs in the palace all need internal money to distribute their salaries.

In terms of salary alone, these people have to spend nearly [-] taels, while the concubines and harem of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty have to spend more than [-] taels.

If including their food and drink, the annual cost of the palace is at least two million taels of silver.

Originally, after the Yumajian was separated from the internal funds, the annual income of the internal funds was around [-] million.

This year, Zhu Youxiao transferred a lot of money to support the outer court, which caused the inner money to last until next month at most.

"This..." Hearing what Wei Zhongxian said, Zhu Youxiao frowned, and after thinking about it, he said:

"You go to Prince Qi's mansion yourself, and ask your brother to transfer some money over here."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Hearing these words, Wei Zhongxian responded immediately, and then walked out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation pretending to be sad.

It's just that after he walked out, he immediately put away his sad look, and then Wang Tiqian followed.

"How?" Wang Tiqian stepped forward to ask, while Wei Zhongxian nodded slightly, and led Wang Tiqian towards the gate of Qianqing Palace.

It was not until he walked out of the Qianqing Palace that Wei Zhongxian spoke:

"The salt merchants in these two Huaihe Rivers want our family to help them offend King Qi with some money. It's really whimsical."

"It's just that we have something in their hands. If King Qi and Long Live find out, I'm afraid my life will be lost." Wang Tiqian replied immediately, and Wei Zhongxian said coldly when he heard it:
"Some merchants are trying to threaten our family. Our family will kill them!"

"It's a few honored ministers from Nanjing standing in the middle, which is a bit difficult."

"However, if you take advantage of His Highness's position, it's not that difficult to solve them..."

Wei Zhongxian squinted his eyes, and then said to Wang Tiqian: "I have done everything you asked me to do. If you don't have a good idea, then you..."

"Don't worry, this method is simple." Wang Tiqian said quickly:

"Take advantage of the lack of money in the country, and take the opportunity to forge a batch of deficits in the south."

"When we went to Prince Qi's mansion, you and I told the story of the deficit in front of King Qi, and then asked your nephew Wei Liangqing to investigate the case and take the opportunity to settle the Lianghuai salt merchants and Xunchen. Naturally, there will be no worries."

"I'm just worried that His Highness will be alert and see your intentions."

Wang Tiqian was a little worried at the end, and so was Wei Zhongxian.

The two of them have embezzled a lot of internal money, plus the contribution of the salt merchants every year, if these things are exposed, the two of them will not be able to move their nine heads.

It happened that the Lianghuai salt merchants were putting pressure on Cui Chengxiu again, so this kind of pressure finally ignited Wei Zhongxian's thoughts.

Now that the salt government has been taken over by Zhu Youjian, these salt merchants are useless.

Merchants who have no value for use are leeks, just cut a wave...

The problem is that Zhu Youjian is basically making everything in the outer court now, so Wei Zhongxian has to find an opportunity to go to see Zhu Youjian and get the power of disposal of local officials from him.

It is also because of this that he arranged for Ke to cry, and told about the lack of internal funds.

Without the money, the palace would not be able to operate, and except for the internal funds, everything else was in Zhu Youjian's hands.

Therefore, the emperor had to ask someone to see Zhu Youjian, and this candidate naturally fell on Wei Zhongxian.

As long as the candidate falls on him, he can go to see Zhu Youjian openly.

As for why not secretly go to see?Wei Zhongxian is not a fool.

He is the emperor's dog. His own dog visits other families and wants to be a dog for other families. No dog owner can bear it.

Therefore, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian prepared for this opportunity to find Zhu Youjian in an open and honest manner, and to flatter Zhu Youjian.

The two walked to Donghua Gate, Wei Zhongxian got into the car aboveboard, and asked people to drive to Qi Wangfu, while Wang Tiqian looked at Wei Zhongxian's leaving back, turned around and left as well.

Less than an hour later, the news of Wei Zhongxian's arrival reached Zhu Youjian's ears through layers of communication.

Zhu Youjian, who had just finished processing a lot of things and was about to rest, didn't think too much, so Xuan Wei Zhongxian came to the study.

"Your Highness..."

When Wei Zhongxian came to the study, Zhu Youjian was taking a sip of a cup of tribute tea, and he rarely relaxed.

"Does brother have any plans?"

Zhu Youjian asked with his eyes closed, just because Zhu Youxiao often went to Nanyuan with Zhu Youjian to shoot arrows on horseback during this time.

"This, in fact, is a lack of domestic funds. Long live would like to ask His Highness to allocate some money to help the internal funds."

"Hmm...how much?" Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard the sound, he thought Wei Zhongxian was here to inform something, but he didn't expect it to be for money.

"After allocating internal funds, only one month is insufficient at the moment. If we want to last until September, we need at least [-] million taels of silver..."

As soon as Wei Zhongxian spoke, Zhu Youjian couldn't sit still.

Not to mention the Yumajian, even if he pulls in the household department right now, he can't make up so much money.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian took a look at Wei Zhongxian, only to think that this guy must have eaten a lot of money, otherwise the internal money would not be short of money so quickly.

Wei Zhongxian was frightened by Zhu Youjian's flip, so his legs went weak, so he said quickly:

"His Royal Highness only needs to pay [-] taels of silver. For the rest, you can invite Yang Huan and Wei Liangqing to go to the south of the Yangtze River to find out why the amount of gold flowers and silver in the country has been decreasing in recent years, and to recover the gold flowers and silver... ..."

"..." Zhu Youjian instinctively felt that Wei Zhongxian's pictures were not golden flowers and silver, but he thought they were arranged by Zhu Youxiao, so it was hard to dismiss them.

He could only nod his head slightly, and then said:
"Since it was arranged by my brother, you just do it. Cui Yingyuan and the others are all at your disposal."

"As for the [-] taels of silver from the inner money, I will ask Hua Chun to send it to the inner money on the first day of February."

"Thank you, Your Highness..." Wei Zhongxian quickly knelt down to thank him, and Zhu Youjian also waved his hand and said, "Go out if you have nothing to do."

"I'm bothering Your Highness..." Wei Zhongxian didn't expect things to go so smoothly, so he was afraid that Zhu Youjian would regret it, so he quickly walked out of Qi Palace after saluting.

But at the moment he exited the study, Zhu Youjian said to Jin Yiwei Qianhu at the door:

"Let Lu Wenzhao, Li Ruolian and Cui Yingyuan come."

"Yes!" Qianhu agreed, and then sent someone to inform Lu Wenzhao and the other three.

But after he also left, Zhu Youjian lowered his head and pondered, always feeling that Wei Zhongxian was not simply chasing down some shortfalls of gold flowers and silver.

With his money-greedy appearance, I'm afraid the shortfall in internal funds has nothing to do with the so-called gold flowers and silver, but has something to do with him, an old eunuch.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of Zhu Youjian's mouth:
"It's better to be greedy, if you are not greedy, how can you blame yourself..."

　There is another update at four o'clock today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)