Brother Zhu Youxiao

[Jiyou Ministry of Industry played the third hall and started construction from February [-]rd of the fifth year of Tianqi to the second day of August in the seventh year. The total amount of money and grain given after the completion of the report is [-] Two or eight cents, three cents and eight cents, all completed]

[Tianjin connects to South Zhili and dispatches [-] ships carrying [-] stones and seven buckets of grain, all of which are put into warehouse]

On June [-]th, when Zhu Youxiao from the Hall of Mental Cultivation looked at the memorial in his hand, he nodded in satisfaction and looked up at Gu Bingqian in front of him.

"King Qi's arrangement is good. In this way, the price of grain in Beizhili can be stabilized, right?"

Zhu Youxiao put down the memorial, and Gu Bingqian also bowed and said, "Probably it will last until the autumn harvest."

"What about Shanxi and Shaanxi?" Zhu Youxiao asked, and Gu Bingqian responded in a very orderly manner:
"The two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi have already taken land and water routes to transfer grain from Sichuan, Huguang, and Jiangxi respectively."

"By July [-]th at the latest, about [-] million shi of rice and wheat into Shaanxi, and about [-] million shi of rice and wheat into Shanxi."

"It has been [-] days since the construction team arrived in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. Initially, [-] villages have been surveyed for new wells. Another [-] villages are not suitable for digging wells. There are more than [-] people in the contract. All will go there on foot. Luoyang, and then sail south by boat."

"The disaster victims will rest in Beigang, Ryukyu Prefecture for two months, then turn to Annan, and arrive in Annan around the twelfth lunar month."

"Dongyue sends troops, can the twelfth lunar month take down Lord Zheng in the north of Jiaozhi?" Zhu Youxiao asked with a frown.

Although in his opinion, Lord Zheng, Lord Mo, and the Wu family in the north of Annan are not strong enough, at least they can pull out tens of thousands of people.

Zhu Youxiao carefully read the report of Jinyiwei Beizhen Fusi to Annan, and the population controlled by Lord Zheng in the north was three times that of Lord Ruan in the south.

In the north of Lord Zheng, there are the Mo family who ruled Gaoping, and the protectors Wu Degong and Wu Gongli who ruled Xuanguang Town.

Lord Zheng ruled a population of about [-] million, and Lord Ruan ruled a population of about [-].

Mo and Wu each control a population of about [-], while the population of Champa, which is further south of Ruan Zhu, is about [-].

There are about [-] ethnic minorities in the plateau who are not under the rule of these forces, about [-] in the coastal areas of the Mekong River, and about [-] chieftains in Laojie Laizhou and other border areas in the northern mountains.

That is to say, the little Annan and Champa have a population of about [-] million. If you look at it by the absolute militarism standard, they can directly pull out at least [-] troops.

However, according to Jin Yiwei's investigation, in the war between these forces, the number of Yulin Army and Minzhuang mobilized by Zheng is less than [-], and the remaining troops are about [-]. There are also [-] elephants and [-] ships with a tonnage of less than [-]. .

Lord Ruan in the south dispatched about [-] troops, [-] elephants, and more than [-] warships.

As for the Mo family and the Wu family, each has less than [-] troops, and the Champa Shaomin and chieftains also range from [-] to [-].

In other words, the entire Annan can pull out [-] to [-] soldiers similar to those of the Weisuo soldiers in the Wanli period.

Although Hong Chengchou showed his prominence in the encirclement and suppression of Shechongming, the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, and the Pingsha Dingzhou Rebellion, but Zhu Youjian did not lead the troops himself, and Zhu Youxiao still had some distrust.

Perhaps it was a kind of paranoia caused by relying on Zhu Youjian for many years on the border. If Zhu Youjian was not leading the army, he was always a little worried. …

Regarding his worry, Gu Bingqian also smiled lightly and bowed:
"His Royal Highness Qi said that he has great faith in Hong Jinglue, and there should be no major problems..."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youxiao heard that his younger brother said so, and also approved the red on the memorial, and then said:

"You back off"

"Resignation..." Gu Bingqian stepped back, but when he reached the gate of Qianqing Palace, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian walked towards him and met his eyes.

The two sides bowed to each other and saluted, but Wei Zhongxian's face was very ugly.

On the surface, Wei Zhongxian and Wang An seemed to have fallen into a strangely peaceful state after Zhu Youjian returned.

It's just that this is not the case in fact. The intrigue between the two began to surround Zhu Youxiao, which is why Zhu Youxiao didn't pay attention to handling the memorial and handed over the memorial to Zhu Youjian for handling.

The current court seems to be chaotic, but in fact it is still the Three Kingdoms vying for hegemony.

The powerful Cao Wei is the rising Qi royal party. They control the finances and the army in the court, and basically only take action on the transfer of officials once a year.

The eunuch party is next, a bit like Ji Han, they control the transfer, promotion, and local governance of officials in the court.

The last Donglin Party is Sun Wu, who is trying to seek stability, and can only rely on Zhu Youxiao's trust in Wang An, hiding in a corner and lingering.

The reason why there was no disturbance in the court was that both Wei Zhongxian and Wang An knew that it would probably cause Zhu Youjian's dissatisfaction if the incident happened in the court.

Zhu Youjian's strength is getting stronger and stronger, and Qi Wang's party is getting bigger and bigger.

This can be seen from the fact that both the Yumajian and Yanshan students have corruption problems.

Only when there is enough power, will someone seek help from those in it, which will breed corruption.

Zhu Youjian didn't have the heart to clean up the Eunuch Party and Donglin Party because he was busy with the drought relief in the three provinces and didn't want to cause extra problems.

The severe drought in the three provinces made him even postpone the matter of cleaning up the Jianlu. This shows how much Zhu Youjian cares about the severe drought.

The peace above the temple is based on the peace under Zhu Youjian's brow that no one wants to touch, but it is not so peaceful in the inner court.

Just like right now, after Wang Tiqian and Wei Zhongxian walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, although the two did not speak, they walked to the corner and stood, facing Liu Ruoyu and Wang An who were standing opposite the corner.

The four of them were full of gunpowder, and Zhu Youxiao, who had gone through the memorabilia of Prince Qi's Mansion, could also feel this weird atmosphere.

It's just that facing such an atmosphere, he didn't care, but continued to read the memorials as if no one else was there. He didn't open his mouth until he had read all the memorials:

"Wang An, please send the memorials to the cabinet. I have read all these memorials, and there is no problem."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Wang An was overjoyed, and started to clean up Long An.

Zhu Youxiao's first call was particularly important, which showed a problem of intimacy, and when he called Wang An, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan felt a thump in their hearts.

The two of them were neither happy nor surprised on the surface, but their hearts were so gloomy that they could drip water.

After watching Wang An walk out with the memorial, before Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian thought of anything else, Zhu Youxiao said, "...

"Zhongxian, the construction of the three halls has been completed, how much money is left in the money?"

Zhu Youxiao called Wei Zhongxian's name, which made Wei Zhongxian ecstatic, and quickly replied:

"There are still more than [-] taels of silver in cash..."

"Hmm..." Hearing the amount of money, Zhu Youxiao pondered for a moment, and then said:
"Now the land of Monan has been cleared. My brother once said that the Yanshan Mountain in the north is cool and refreshing. I plan to build a palace in the Yanshan Mountain to escape the heat. What do you think?"

"Long live wants to build a palace, of course it is possible, but I don't know the scale?" Wei Zhongxian responded with a smile on his face.

"The scale doesn't need to be too large. It's mainly used for hunting, and it's also safe." Zhu Youxiao subconsciously said, and Wei Zhongxian also said:

"Long live, don't worry, this matter will be handed over to the slave."

"Well... you can let the people below do this. I will draw the blueprints of the palace for them. You should stay in the inner court. Without you, I am not used to it."

Zhu Youxiao's words made Wei Zhongxian feel a little flustered, and on the surface he was flattered and bowed back.

Only after returning the gift, he opened his mouth and said:

"Long live, there has been a severe drought in the northwest recently. According to the usual practice in previous years, Zhang Tianshi from Longhu Mountain will be invited to the capital to do it. This year..."

Before Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao raised his hand and interrupted:

"My brother told me about this. What he meant was not to create a sense of strange power and chaos for the people, lest the White Lotus Sect make a comeback."

"Yes..." Seeing that there was no chance, Wei Zhongxian closed his mouth.

"Okay, you go down." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, signaling that he was going to take a lunch break, and Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan also retreated.

Afterwards, several court ladies came in and began to massage Zhu Youxiao's shoulders and legs, making him slowly fall asleep.

It's just that he slept soundly, but he didn't want some of his actions to make Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian start to worry.

Walking in the inner court, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian walked towards the Ke family's palace, and put down their airs after arriving at the palace.

Ke Shi, who was sitting in the main seat, looked at the two of them, frowned and said, "Why do you have a grudge?"

"Long live the old man Wang Anna recently, can I not look angry?" Wei Zhongxian vented his anger, and Ke Shi also frowned when he heard the sound:
"I also persuaded Wansui about this matter, but Wansui said that Wang An did a good job in the South Field, and it is normal to be transferred back. Besides, he misses Wang An a little."

"In my opinion, Wang An will soon return to South Field after the longing for Long Live has passed."

"It would be great if that's the case." Wang Ti, who was sitting at the side, said with a dark face:

"Do you really think Long Live is missing Wang An? Instead of dealing with us?"

"Treat us?!" Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi shrieked, apparently taken aback.

Wang Tiqian glanced at them, and then slowly said:
"There are too many officials under Cui Chengxiu. Long live is not a mediocre man. How could he not be vigilant?"

"With Jin Yiwei, even if Cui Yingyuan is on our side, as long as Li Ruolian thinks about it, can Long live not know that we are standing behind Cui Chengxiu?"

"In my opinion, Long Live is promoting Wang An, to disperse our power, and beat us in disguise."…

"If Wansui is really like this, what can we do?" Wei Zhongxian frowned, and Ke Shi also looked away.

Only Wang Tiqian heard the words and said directly:
"There is no chance to drive Wang An away right now, but as long as King Qi goes out again, this opportunity will come."

"King Qi is going to fight..." Hearing these words, Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi looked at each other...

------

"middle!"

Snapped--

In the school grounds behind Prince Qi’s Mansion, when there was a cry of milk, the sound of an arrow missing and hitting the target sounded in the next second. On the school grounds, Zhu Youjian, who was wearing a white round collar robe, handed the bow and arrow in his hand to Lu Wenzhao. .

Yang Yuanai, who was standing behind him, immediately stepped forward to wipe his sweat, while Yang Rushi slapped him with a fan.

In the capital city in June, it was so hot that people could not wait to lie in the ice room and not want to come out.

"This summer is hotter than in previous years. I am afraid that under the heat, the drought in many places will be severe."

Zhu Youjian turned and walked to the shade, and Lu Wenzhao and others followed him to the canopy.

Zhu Youjian sat on the recliner, and Lu Wenzhao also sat on the horse stool beside him, and said to Zhu Youjian:

"The news from Nanzhen Fusi said that since the beginning of summer, the eastern part of Hexi and the eastern part of Sichuan have experienced severe drought. In summer, there is no rain, the vegetation is scorched, and the fields are dry and cracked. Roughly speaking, the production has been reduced by at least [-] million mu..."

Lu Wenzhao's words made the surrounding atmosphere even more heavy, and as Yang Yuanai and Yang Rushi who had suffered from hunger, both of them were a little unnatural.

The Huaibei Great Famine was a memory engraved in their bones. Yang Rushi may not remember the tragedy at that time very clearly, but Yang Yuanai, who was already sensible at the time, remembered it clearly.

"Is there any sign of the locust plague? How is the disaster relief from the household department?"

Zhu Youjian opened the exquisite copper stove on the side, and what appeared in it was Sushan, which had just been taken out of the ice room of the palace.

Take a sip, the cold taste relieves the heat in Zhu Youjian's body.

"There is no sign of the locust plague for the time being. The work-for-work relief from the household department has just arrived at the county government offices. Counting from Lintao Mansion, nine prefectures along the south and north of the Yellow River have issued recruitments to sort out the Yellow River."

"Xu Guangqi is responsible for the task of combing the Yellow River by the people of the nine prefectures. The Ministry of Household Affairs estimates that about [-] people will participate."

There are nearly three million people in Jiufu, and [-] civilian husbands participated, which is roughly [-] males.

However, Zhu Youjian was not particularly satisfied with such a scale, so he said:

"From the Old Port to the beginning of June, how much is ironmaking?"

"This...you need someone to send the documents to know." Lu Wenzhao didn't answer for a while, and Zhu Youjian waved his hand to signal him to ask someone to get it.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao turned and asked someone to take it, and Zhu Youjian continued after eating a mouthful of crispy crisps:
"We need to be vigilant about the side affairs. Although this summer is extremely hot, it is not certain that the winter will become severely cold."

"If the temperature drops sharply, grain production inside and outside the customs will inevitably decrease."

"There is a severe drought inside the pass, and severe cold outside the pass. The three prefectures of Liaodong and Taining need to prepare enough briquettes. Regarding the price of briquettes in this province and the three prefectures, the Huangdian can discount the price."

"Your maidservant knows." Wang Chengen responded, and Zhu Youjian also looked at Lu Wenzhao and said:  …

"Send people to send military orders to Man Gui, Sun Shoufa, Sun Yingyuan, and Xiong Tingbi, telling them to be vigilant against Jianlu's old tricks and harass our frontier villages with heavy troops."

"If the great cold comes, many people on the Jianlu side may starve to death. It is best to order the villages to strengthen their walls, at least to block Jianlu's inferior artillery."

"Yes..." Lu Wenzhao responded, and Zhu Youjian was also eating Sushan while wondering if there was anything he missed.

After a cup of tea, Zhu Youjian remembered Sun Chuanting, and then said:
"Jianlu cannot be swept away, but once it is swept away, my pressure on the north will drop sharply, and if we want to clear Mobei, we need to take the Western Regions further."

"After taking the Western Regions, this place will become a place where all three sides will be attacked."

"I can't wait to be flanked by others, so I told Sun Chuanting to train the soldiers and horses of Duogan's Ninth Battalion well, and when the severe drought subsides, I will start sending troops to Wusizang."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian said calmly:
"With the strength and combat power of our dynasty, only nine battalions are enough to wipe out Uzang."

Zhu Youjian's words are not bragging. After all, Gushi Khan only had more than [-] cavalry in history, and he managed half of Uzang.

Right now, if Ming wants to destroy all the forces in U-Tsang and dismantle feudalism, it needs to declare war on the entire U-Tsang.

But even so, the nine battalions of Duogan, plus the seven battalions of plateau soldiers and horses from the Lijiang Mu clan that were included in the Western Army's Governor's Mansion, made a total of sixteen battalions of soldiers and horses, which was enough to hide Usi's plow once.

What Zhu Youjian wanted was to actually control the entire Qinghai-Tibet, and with Daming's finances, if he actually controlled Qinghai-Tibet and the Western Regions, it would definitely be a money-losing business.

The Qing Dynasty ruled Xinjiang, transfusing millions of taels of silver every year, and the Ming Dynasty also developed the Hezhong region of Central Asia, and the cost would directly double.

In addition to Qinghai-Tibet, in the end, it is likely that the Ming Dynasty will invest one-tenth of the imperial court's finances in the six places of Hezhong, Western Regions, Mobei, Monan, Wusizang, and Duogan.

If you want to reduce your finances, you have to find a place that is close and can support people.

Combined with the landing of the feudal vassals on the coast of Tianzhu, the Ming army captured Toungoo, and then included the north of the Ganges River into the territory directly under the Ming Dynasty, which would complete the two sides of the vassals.

At that time, not only will the population on the plateau be relocated to Shibian on the north bank of the Ganges River, but the garrison on the plateau will also be reduced.

The only problem is that if you want to do this, you need to build a post road from northern Tianzhu across the Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Sichuan.

Or, it is also possible to build a road from the north bank of the Ganges River all the way to the east, through Myanmar, and reach Yunnan.

If you really want to count it, it seems that the second difficulty is easier.

In short, the background of the times is here, the plateau or something, leaving a small population in the valley, and then maintaining a small army is enough.

Establishing rule in the plains where the cost is extremely low is what Ming has to do.

As long as the plains in the north of the Ganges River are taken down, Daming can add hundreds of millions of acres of arable land, and raising the Western Regions, Qinghai-Tibet, and Hezhong areas will not be a problem.

However, if you want to completely take these places and realize actual control, you still have to rely on steam locomotives and steam ships.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian thought of the Academy of Armaments. The Academy of Armaments has been researching steam engines for nearly two years, but the power and function of steam engines still meet the purpose of pumping water. …

If you can only pump water, then it is decided that this thing can only be used in mining areas.

Zhu Youjian didn't feel sorry for this. After all, before Watt improved the steam engine, the steam engine could only be used to pump water in mining areas.

It was Watt who made a series of inventions that increased the efficiency of the steam engine to more than three times that of the original steam engine, and finally allowed the steam engine to be used in industry.

However, the steam engine at this time can only appear in industries such as textiles, mining, and military industry. It was not until someone improved it into a high-pressure model that it was used on ships and locomotives.

From the invention of the steam engine to its application on locomotives, it took the West a total of [-] years, but Ming wanted to get it out in just two years, which is a bit of an exaggeration.

Don't say that Zhu Youjian is just a liberal arts student and a leader. Even if Zhu Youjian is a national treasure-level industrial talent, he needs to train a lot of talents to solve it.

For example, a simple grenade contains not only gunpowder, but also iron smelting technology and metallurgy technology.

If any technology fails to meet the standard, an invention will be ruined.

Zhu Youjian can make some suggestions, but let him do it himself, it would be better for him to provide his own ideas, and then drag his brother to the Armament Academy.

Thinking of the Armament Academy, Zhu Youjian had a headache, and finally said:
"Apart from gunpowder in the Armament Academy, if you want to know about other things, you can have someone back them up and send them to the inner court."

"Yes..." Lu Wenzhao responded, and Jin Yiwei, who was arranged to pick up things, also trotted back to Prince Qi's mansion.

He presented the thick document with both hands, and Lu Wenzhao handed it over to Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian flipped through the documents at a glance, and he remembered the things clearly, and when it came to the mass production of the ironworks, he showed a satisfied smile.

As of May [-]th when this document was sent, the output of the iron smelting plant in Jiugang had already stood at [-], with an annual output of more than [-] million catties. Two-thirds of the iron yard.

He was very satisfied with the output of the ironworks, and he didn't care to turn the page for the number of deaths and injuries of the bunch of natives recorded later.

Before May [-]th, the population of Jiugang had reached more than [-] million people, and the number of newly cultivated land was [-] million mu.

The output of cement is as high as [-] million shi, which is enough to build the old port area, and the mining of gold and silver mines has reached an annual output of [-] taels of gold and more than [-] taels of silver.

In addition, the development of some gemstone mines and coral picking has been recorded in the document.

Zhu Youjian turned back, skipped some unimportant data, and finally turned to the end.

Here, between Palembang and Old Port, the amount of customs duties in the Straits has been more than [-] taels in the past four months, and it can reach about [-] million taels in a year.

That is to say, as long as Daming guards this place, he can get the tax revenue from the merchants of Ming Dynasty going to Xiaoxiyang to trade.

Below the tariff revenue, Shen Tingyang, who is the Chief Envoy of the Old Port, also wrote a comment:

"In the land of the Old Port, the yearly income is two taels of silver. After all the food is sold, it has reached more than four million taels, which is enough to be self-sufficient. After this year, you can pay taxes to the court. However, the number of natives..."

Zhu Youjian didn't read the latter, he only cared about the previous paragraph.

The potential of the old port is really great. The discount income of more than [-] million taels, although the current silver is only a quarter, but for Daming, pig iron and cement do not need to be discounted at all.

These things will be turned into real objects, enhancing Daming's strength.

"Shen Tingyang has done a good job. It seems that he was not wrong in choosing him to go to the Old Port."

After closing the document, Zhu Youjian gave a rare compliment, and after the compliment, his mind changed.

He turned his head to look at Lu Wenzhao, and said without concealment: "Tell Hong Chengchou, the people of Annan are also the people of our Ming Dynasty."

"The land of Annan is short of land. After regaining Annan, the imperial court needs to move them to the old port and hand them over to Shen Tingyang for restraint."

"A lowly post takes orders..." Lu Wenzhao bowed in response, but at this moment Li Ruolian from Beizhen Fusi was holding a document and trotting hurriedly into the school grounds of Prince Qi's Mansion with a smiling face.

After seeing Zhu Youjian, he immediately stepped forward to bow and said happily:

"Your Highness, Jiebei Town Fusi Jiaozhi Thousand Households Military Report, Annan Mo's Mo Jingkuan, the guarantor Wu Degong, and the thirty-two chieftains of the old street begged me to surrender!"