Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 302

"At the end of the day, Fuyutsuki ([-]th) [-]th completely defeated the Hachisuka family, wiped out more than [-] enemies, and captured the entire territory of Shikoku. The shogunate army retreated from Tokushima Castle to Kyoto..."

"However, more than a thousand people have been lost by the tribe, and I would like to ask His Highness to support the third battalion of soldiers and horses. Next year, Shi Jian will definitely be recovered..."

On the [-]th day of the winter month, with Yan Siqi's visit to Zhu Youjian, the news of his success in capturing the Four Kingdoms also followed.

On Zhu Youjian's desk, there are not only military information, but also the fields and population yellow books of the four countries.

The original population of the four kingdoms was more than [-], but after more than half a year of war, the population dropped sharply to more than [-], and the amount of arable land was abandoned from the original [-] mu to more than [-] mu.

With Yan Siqi and his team's force of less than [-], it is indeed difficult to control the four countries and march into Kyushu Island and Honshu Island at the same time.

Withdrawing his eyes, Zhu Youjian turned his attention to Beizhen Fusi's writing on the war newspaper.

In this battle, what made Zhu Youjian most satisfied was the power of the Underwater Dragon King Cannon.

The underwater dragon king cannon is also a mine, and the underwater weapon of the mine was researched by Daming in the eighteenth year of Wanli.

This is the earliest drifting mine in the world, mainly a timed mine with burning incense as the timing fuze.

In the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, the general Wang Minghe invented the "underwater thunder" with a rope as the touch line based on the underwater dragon king cannon. In the first year of Tianqi, it was improved to touch the line and drift thunder. .

It's a pity that Wang Minghe died at the age of seventy-six in the second year of Tianqi, before Zhu Youjian established the Military Armament Academy.

However, the improved version of the Underwater Dragon King Cannon he left behind made a significant contribution to Ming's navy.

"If the Academy of Armaments researches mercury fulminate, the power of many firearms in Daming will increase dramatically..."

With a sigh, Zhu Youjian set his sights on Yan Siqi's memorial.

In the memorial, Yan Siqi hoped to transfer the third battalion of soldiers and horses to him, but this seemed a bit petty to Zhu Youjian.

Yan Siqi was originally a test stone for him to test the force of the Tokugawa shogunate. Now that he has tested the situation where the shogunate is strong outside the shogunate, it should be a plan to send troops to take down the shogunate.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian wrote a handwriting, then dried the ink, and handed the handwriting to Wang Chengen next to him, saying:
"Cheng En, ordered Sun Yingyuan to send troops from the Fourth Battalion of the Governor's Mansion of the Northern Army to North Korea to take Tsushima Island and land in Kyushu. After Yan Siqi took Kyushu, he waited for an opportunity to go north to Shijian."

"Your servant takes orders..." Wang Chengen responded first, and then asked:

"Isn't Your Highness still thinking about whether to conquer Jianlu next year? Now that the Fourth Battalion of the Eastern Army's Governor's Mansion has been transferred, will it be..."

"No problem, the conquest of Jianlu must be dominated by the [-]th Guards of the Shangzhi. Besides, whether it can be conscripted or not depends on the money and food." Zhu Youjian said, turning his attention to the memorial handed in by the Ministry of Household Affairs .

He picked up the memorial and opened it, and it was filled with the summary of this year in a strong and powerful style.

[At the age of the year, the number of household registration and land tax for officials and civilians is [-] hectares, [-] mu and [-] per cent, and the number of households is [-] households. Population: [-]]

[Half wheat [-] stones, six buckets and nine liters, millet [-] stones, one bucket and one liter]

[The two departments of salt and tea paid a total of [-] taels of silver, three cents and two cents]

[Pinch of silk and folded silk two hundred and six thousand two hundred and eighty-two three...]

The dense taxation situation gave Zhu Youjian a headache, and what he was most concerned about was the population and land tax situation.

Needless to say about the population issue, immigration is actually a disguised population statistics, and the population of Ming Dynasty has reached more than [-] million. It seems that the population will exceed [-] million next year.

In addition, the number of acres of fields is also quite extraordinary, reaching more than [-] million hectares, which is more than [-] million mu.

In terms of the per capita cultivated land, Daming's per capita cultivated land is about eight acres and seven percent.

It may not be particularly obvious to say this, but if the data of the Qing Dynasty are moved out, it will become obvious.

Although the grain yield per mu in Daming was very low, according to Zhu Youjian's calculations by Jin Yiwei, the average per mu was two stones, and after removing the grain husks, it was only about two hundred and fifty catties when converted into a unit for later generations.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were fewer people in the field than in the Ming Dynasty, and the per capita grain was more than [-] catties. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were [-] million people, and the arable land was only [-] billion mu, with an average per capita of [-] mu. One hundred and thirty catties.

This also easily explains why the Qing Dynasty was a period in which the height of people in the Central Plains declined sharply.

Too many people lead to insufficient land, and the per capita staple food must be kept at [-] catties in order to keep livestock in captivity to supplement protein.

The per capita grain consumption in the Qing Dynasty meant that eating meat was a luxury. This is why European scholars wrote about two completely different worlds after traveling in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Not only in the Ming Dynasty, but also in the Han and Tang dynasties, although the grain output was low due to different planting varieties, the lack of more people in the fields led to the fact that as long as the government did not collect too much tax, the people could live well.

Champa rice was introduced in the Song Dynasty. Although it did not have the obvious field advantages of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the yield per mu increased.

As for the Ming Dynasty, it was a master. Whether it was the grain yield per mu or the number of fields, it is not surprising that the people lived well.

On the contrary, in the Qing Dynasty, when the grain yield per mu in the past dynasties was rising steadily, the temperature in the Qing Dynasty was slightly higher than that in the Ming Dynasty, and the grain yield per mu was not as good as that in the Ming Dynasty.

Coupled with the rapid increase in population, it indirectly left a mess for future generations...

However, this does not mean that the current situation of Daming has already beaten future generations. On the contrary, although Daming has a large amount of food per capita, the methods are very primitive.

There will be natural disasters and droughts in later generations, which can be suppressed by various means, but not in Ming Dynasty.

This can be seen from the fact that the household department has fewer rice and wheat fields than last year.

The occurrence of floods in the four northern provinces and the south directly changed the income from the land tax, which was close to [-] million shi, to less than [-] million shi.

Not to mention the household department, even the Yumajian was also affected.

"How is the collection of grain collected by the Imperial Horse Supervisor this year..." Zhu Youjian seemed to know that the result would not be very good.

Sure enough, Wang Chengen hesitated to speak, and finally said: "A total of [-] stones of rice and wheat have been harvested this year..."

The two teams, which were supposed to collect nearly [-] million shi, only collected less than [-] million shi this year, which shows the impact of the disaster on the agricultural dynasty.

"The annual income of Huangzhuang, Shibosi saltworks, tea farms, shipyards and other places is more than [-] million taels." Wang Chengen added, but it did not relieve Zhu Youjian's headache.

He tried to calculate, that is to say, in the situation where the land tax was less than [-] million taels, Daming's cash income this year was only less than [-] million taels.

Adding silk and satin and other folding colors, it is about [-] million taels.

If the [-] million shi grains were discounted according to the price of rice in Beizhili, it would be [-] million taels of silver at most, a total of [-] million taels of silver.

"..." For a moment Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say, nor where to start.

In the fifth year of the apocalypse, Daming still received [-] million taels of silver and [-] million Shitian Fu even though the two provinces suffered a catastrophe.

As a result, only one year has passed, and although the current silver has increased by two million taels, the land tax has dropped by ten million taels...

Theoretically, this year’s military ration collection by the Yumajian can receive [-] million shi in land tax without encountering a catastrophe or reducing the land tax, but in fact...

Zhu Youjian hadn't seen the Tian Fu of the Yumajian break through [-] million until now, and it even fell below [-] million this year.

Not only that, but the reduction in grain production brought about by the Little Glacier has also begun to slowly appear.

Zhu Youjian has carefully studied that before the thirty-eighth year of Wanli, the yield per mu at the foot of Yanshan Mountain in Beizhili was about two stones and one bucket, but this year, it is only one stone and nine buckets.

Grain production per mu has dropped by 10%, which is not a big deal on an acre of land, but if it is placed in the Ming Dynasty...

"How about the research on fertilizer?"

Zhu Youjian opened his eyes, removed his hands from his face, frowned and asked Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen also bowed and said:

"The chemical fertilizers made by His Highness are indeed useful. The grain yield per mu is [-]% higher than that of useful fields where several kinds of chemical fertilizers are applied."

16% or 20%, which is 30%. Although this is not up to [-]%~[-]% of the peak of indigenous chemical fertilizers, it is enough.

"The Imperial Horse Supervisor allocates the money, the Imperial Store handles it, and the Ministry of Industry coordinates."

"Under the order of Prince Qi's Mansion, the Ministry of Industry has newly established the Department of Agriculture. Ye Xiangfu from the countryside in the prefectures and counties of the world will be included in the Department of Agriculture, and the Ye Xiang from all the people and livestock will be collected outside the local county."

"Order Sun Yuanhua to be the Minister of Agriculture, and start the construction of the chemical fertilizer factory in the world. The Imperial Horse Supervisor allocated three million taels of silver, and Ye Xiangfu received thirty cash per day."

"Tell Sun Yuanhua that within a year, Gu needs to see that there are chemical fertilizer factories in [-] counties of Daming."

"All the fertilizers produced by the fertilizer factory will be handed over to the Yuma Supervisor, who will use all the sweet potato fields in the fields of the Yuma Supervisor as disaster relief fields."

"The surplus is allocated to other crops, or sold to the people around Beizhili."

"I remember that the cost of chemical fertilizer for one mu of land is [-] renminbi, and it is [-] renminbi including the shipping cost, so let's sell it to the common people at [-] renminbi."

"It can be regarded as a little subsidy and benefit from the imperial court to the people..."

Zhu Youjian hastily established the Department of Agriculture, which caught Wang Chengen off guard.

What caught him off guard even more was that His Royal Highness did not invest such precious fertilizers in rice and wheat, but instead invested in sweet potatoes with extremely high yields per mu.

From this point of view, it seems that there is an extreme behavior frightened by successive years of drought.

However, Wang Chengen didn't say anything about it, but bowed in response, stepped back and began to make arrangements.

But after he retreated, Zhu Youjian held his forehead again, looked at the desk full of paperwork, frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, his ears moved suddenly, and he heard some familiar footsteps, so he said helplessly:

"Since brother is here, don't hide at the door and wait and see..."

"Why do I hear this wrong?"

Zhu Youxiao was exposed, and he didn't hide it. He walked into the study of Prince Qi's mansion with his hands behind his back, followed by Liu Ruoyu.

He walked into the study, looked here and touched there, as if he was looking at the furniture he had completed.

After looking at it for a long time, he still nodded with some satisfaction, as if to say, "As expected of my work, it is durable".

"How's my tone?" Zhu Youjian raised his foot to step on the chair, put his hand on his forehead, and sat still.

In this regard, Zhu Youxiao saw it but just smiled:
"With three points of complaint, four points of grievance, two points of anger, and one point of helplessness..."

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Zhu Youjian was suddenly at a loss for words, thinking for a while, "You are too embarrassed to say that."

He raised his hand and put it on the table, and frowned at Zhu Youxiao and said:

"If my brother is not lazy, these should be handled by my brother."

"Cough cough... It's been snowing a lot lately, and it's not good if you catch the wind and cold." Zhu Youxiao pretended to cough, and at this moment, a figure with one tall and two low came in from the door.

"See Long Live..."

The people who walked in were Yang Yuanai and Yang Ai who were preparing lunch for Zhu Youjian, and behind them was Li Dingguo who had finished his morning class.

Six-year-old Li Dingguo was a little ignorant, seeing Yang Yuanai and Yang Ai kneeling down, he was still standing stupidly.

Li Dingguo knelt on the ground until he was pulled by Yang Yuanai, but he still raised his head and looked at Zhu Youxiao, not afraid of life at all.

"This kid is interesting, did my brother bring it from Yan'an?"

Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Dingguo who was looking straight at him, and turned to ask Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian also sighed:

"Country boy, let him be willful..."

The simple eight words are enough to describe Zhu Youjian's favoritism and tolerance for Li Dingguo.

"Let's get up." Zhu Youxiao also motioned for the three to get up, and asked Li Dingguo after the three got up:

"What did you learn today?"

"I learned some textbooks from Yanshan, but I can't understand them!" Li Dingguo said confidently.

"Hahahaha..." Hearing Li Dingguo's words, Zhu Youxiao was amused all of a sudden, and Zhu Youjian also looked at Li Dingguo and said:

"Where are the military textbooks?"

"Those are understandable, but Your Highness, these things are the same as what I used when I was playing around with my fellow villagers in my hometown. It's not difficult."

When Li Dingguo heard Zhu Youjian calling him, he ignored Zhu Youxiao, trotted all the way to the table, put his feet on the table, and put his hands on the table.

Seeing this, Yang Yuanai and Yang Ai could only look at each other, then put the dishes on the table in the study hall, then pulled up chairs for Zhu Youxiao and Liu Ruoyu, and poured tribute tea.

But during this period, Zhu Youjian looked at Yang Ai and asked:
"If so, what about you?"

If so, this is the name Zhu Youjian changed for Yang Ai after returning from the Northern Expedition. Because her name was too similar to Yang Yuanai, Zhu Youjian changed her name to Yang Rushi.

Although not as elegant as Liu Rushi, as long as you know you are alone.

Zhu Youjian paid attention to Jiangnan's affairs, but in Jiangnan where famous prostitutes rose, Liu Rushi seemed to have disappeared.

Adding that Yang Rushi's real name is the same as Liu Rushi's, Zhu Youjian didn't want to think about it anymore, and assumed that she was Liu Rushi.

"Recently I have learned some poetry, calligraphy and painting, but the servant girl doesn't like learning Southern Song poetry very much, so I was taught a lesson."

Yang Rushi is nine years old, and her eloquent personality and attitude make her suffer. She tells Zhu Youjian everything, and wants Zhu Youjian to make decisions for her.

But before Zhu Youjian heard the words, Zhu Youxiao asked curiously, "Why don't you learn Southern Song poetry?"

"Except for a few parts, most of the poems lack a little spirit, and I don't want to learn..."

To Zhu Youjian, Yang Rushi was still eloquent, but to Zhu Youxiao, the emperor, Yang Rushi could only answer honestly with his head down.

"Spirit? It's interesting." Hearing that Yang Rushi used the body of a woman to say that the style of Southern Song poetry was not good, Zhu Youxiao showed a very interested look.

He looked at Zhu Youjian, but said to Yang Rushi: "Then you have to learn from your highness, he wrote a poem for Mrs. Qin back then, and what Mrs. Qin said was full of vigor..."

Zhu Youxiao's words refer to the poems that Zhu Youjian gave Qin Liangyu when he painted.

It looked like he was praising Zhu Youjian, but it was actually a bit like complaining.

It seemed that he was complaining that his younger brother wrote good poems, but he didn't give him one.

Zhu Youjian can understand the words in the words, but he is really a half-assed poet.

In history, Chongzhen was capable of writing and martial arts. He could not only open three stone bows, but also paint and recite poems.

When it comes to Zhu Youjian, he can try the three-stone bow, and painting is not a problem, but reciting poems is a bit difficult for him.

But unable to hold back Zhu Youxiao's sad eyes, Zhu Youjian could only sigh:
"I'm not good at writing poems, but this time I went to the north, I heard a poem, which is very suitable for my brother."

"Let's talk about it..." Zhu Youxiao was a little interested, and Zhu Youjian could only bite the bullet and say:
"The scenery of the northern country is frozen for thousands of miles, and snow drifts for thousands of miles."

"Mountain Dance Silver..."

Zhu Youjian bit the bullet and read out the song Qin Yuanchun, which he thought had an imperial spirit. Although the style of the word did not match that of the Ming Dynasty, the artistic conception was still there.

"I feel sorry for Emperor Qin and Han Wu, but he lost his literary talent; Tang Zong and Song Zu were a little less coquettish."

"A generation of arrogance, Genghis Khan, only knows how to bend the bow and shoot the eagle."

"It's all in the past, count the romantic figures, and look at the present..."

"Okay!" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but straighten his back when he heard his younger brother comparing himself with Qin Huang, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu.

He dare not say anything else, but if it is only in terms of territory, culture and martial arts, the current Daming will definitely not lose to the above-mentioned figures.

Before his death, Genghis Khan only conquered the Mongolian grasslands and Xixia, as well as the Western Regions and Central Asia, as well as the northern part of the Yellow River, and he had not yet destroyed the Kingdom of Jin.

Although the territory of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty was large, the Ming Dynasty did not think highly of the Tang Dynasty.

In terms of territory, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty believed that they were "too much for the Song Dynasty, enemy for the Tang Dynasty, and inferior to the Han Dynasty."

The reason for this may be because the Ming Dynasty ruled the Tubo Plateau and directly ruled Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as the reason for the three propagandas and six comforts of the Ming Dynasty.

Although in Zhu Youjian's view, in terms of confinement, the largest territory of the Han people was the Tang Dynasty.

But this is his opinion. From the perspective of a typical Ming Dynasty person like Zhu Youxiao, what he is most happy about in this poem is that he can compare himself with Qin Huang, Han Wu.

"Ruoyu, copy this word by hand and put it in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. From now on, I will copy it every night."

"Slaves take orders."

Zhu Youxiao ordered Liu Ruoyu, but he didn't know that he had stepped into his brother's trap.

"Ahem..." Zhu Youjian coughed, and then said:

"Although this word is suitable for my brother, but my brother still needs to work hard if he wants to achieve the level of words. If nothing else, just talk about this memorial..."

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Suddenly, Zhu Youxiao began to cough violently, Liu Ruoyu quickly went to help him, but Zhu Youxiao coughed:

"It's too windy and snowy, it's better to keep the Hall of Mental Cultivation warmer."

"My brother has been tired recently, I will go back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation first, and ask Wang An to send you some bear's paw and shark's fin to nourish your body, cough, cough..."

After all, Zhu Youxiao walked out of the study while coughing, and Liu Ruoyu and the Jin Yiwei at the door also quickly put on the big fur for him and escorted him with an umbrella.

Before Zhu Youjian could react in his seat, Zhu Youxiao led people away.

After a long time, Li Dingguo said: "Your Highness, if you don't eat, the food will be cold..."

"Huh?" Zhu Youjian looked down, and Li Dingguo looked weak, as if he had been starved.

"Okay, let's eat... After the meal, I have to deal with these memorials..." Zhu Youjian got up with a three-pointed tone of helplessness.

It's just that he had just sat down and ate a mouthful of mutton in a water basin with his chopsticks. As a result, Wang Chengen quickly walked into the study with a memorial.

"Your Highness, the news of going to Nanyang is back, you can take a look."

Wang Chengen sent the memorial, but he didn't want Zhu Youxiao to leave, so Yang Rushi said eloquently:
"When can't I watch the memorial? Your Highness hasn't eaten for two hours, and I can't even eat enough. What else is there to do with the memorial..."

"You little girl..." Wang Chengen showed a helpless expression when Yang Rushi said it, while Zhu Youjian shook his head with a smile, and wanted to read it after receiving the memorial.

"Your Highness, let's eat while watching."

Yang Yuanai couldn't help but speak, apparently because she couldn't understand Zhu Youjian's handling of memorials all day long, and wanted him to have a good rest.

"It doesn't matter, how can the country's important affairs stop because of me alone?"

Zhu Youjian appeased Yang Yuanai, then opened the memorial and read it.

This memorial was sent north by Li Dan in September, which included information about Ceylon Island, as well as news and information about the return of the Western Fleet.

Zhu Youjian glanced at it, and was very satisfied with Huang Fei's arrangement to guard Ceylon Island, and also had thoughts about the news and intelligence about his return from sailing to the west.

Daming is currently short of money and food, but the vassal king has money and food.

If they can make a big knock on the bamboo poles of the feudal lords before the return of the Western Fleet next year, the money knocked out will be enough for Daming to spend more than half a year.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian thought of the group of clan children in Yanshan Military Academy, and turned to Wang Chengen and said:
"Have someone prepare the car, and take me to the Military Academy after dinner."

"I want to go too!"

Hearing that he was going to the Military Academy, Li Dingguo stopped eating and stood up abruptly.

"Go, go, go! Just go! You can't stop your mouth even if you eat. I don't know if you can go far without something in your stomach?"

Yang Rushi opened his mouth to reprimand Li Dingguo, acting like a sister, but the meaning behind the words was obviously urging Zhu Youjian to put down the memorandum and eat quickly.

"Hehe..." With a helpless smile, Zhu Youjian handed the memorial to Wang Chengen:
"Go, if I don't eat this meal again, someone will almost overturn the table."

"Yes..." Wang Chengen also glanced at the eloquent Yang Rushi, shook his head helplessly and walked out of the study.

But after he left, Yang Rushi finally shut up and stopped mocking others...

(End of this chapter)