Brother Zhu Youxiao

"This year's severe drought has indeed subsided greatly, and the water sources that have been cut off in many places are..."

In the Zhongxia Palace, Zhu Youxiao sat behind the dragon case to deal with the memorial, while sitting in front of them were Gu Bingqian, Bi Ziyan, and Wen Tiren who came from the capital to report the affairs.

At the moment, it is Wen Tiren who is talking eloquently, and after Xu Guangqi became an official, he was recommended by Zhu Youjian to become the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, which almost made Zhou Yanru of the Ministry of Punishment grit his teeth.

On the contrary, Shi Fenglai was very happy, thinking that the Zhejiang Party had picked up a minister of the Ministry of Industry without doing anything.

Although Yuan Keli and the others were uncomfortable, Xu Guangqi was indeed too old, so he had to be made official.

As for Gu Bingqian, the old fox didn't say anything, didn't do anything, just watched the show quietly.

He was very clear in his heart, why did the king of Qi recommend Wen Tiren to be the minister of the Ministry of Industry?To put it bluntly, it is because Wen Tiren follows the principle of "not doing well".

Because of the large-scale infrastructure construction in Ming Dynasty, the current Ministry of Industry is the place where the most money and food flow in and out.

It's not bad for Wen Tiren to do anything, just follow Qi Wang's instructions if you have something to do, this is the most in line with Qi Wang's idea, because Wen Tiren will copy it completely, and will not let the people below change it.

As long as he copied the policy issued by Zhu Youjian and the people below did not change it, King Qi would not be able to blame him for anything that happened.

This kind of principle may make many things rigid, but what King Qi wants right now is rigidity.

"Since the beginning of autumn, the drought in Huguang, Nanzhili, Guangdong, and Sichuan has all subsided. The rainy season is even more torrential. Many rivers have continued to flow. Even the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi have also experienced a few rains..."

"The Ministry of Industry has built a large number of dams and reservoirs in the past few years, reinforced the banks of the Yellow River, and sorted out the Yellow River..."

"Currently, the water in the reservoirs in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces is enough to support the people to grow vegetables for several months, so that a large number of people will not be looking for wild vegetables."

"Combined with the fact that the Yuma Supervisor adjusted the grain decently, the Changping warehouse opened the warehouse to release the grain, and the local chief secretary made contributions to resettling the people, the price of grain in Shaanxi and Shanxi has dropped to [-] Wen a stone and [-] Wen a stone respectively."

Wen Tiren's words are really powerful. With his few words, the credits of Zhu Youjian, Xu Guangqi, and Wang Shunding in the past few years have almost become his credits.

It's just that the people sitting here are all smart people of this era, so although everyone listened, they didn't take it seriously.

Zhu Youxiao dealt with the memorial and kept listening to it. Although he was a little dissatisfied with Wen Tiren's report, he was generally satisfied.

After processing a memorial, he slowly raised his head to look at the three ministers:
"Why is the price of grain in Shanxi higher than that of Shaanxi, where the drought is more severe? Hasn't Northern Zhili been adjusting grain to help?"

"Long live..." Bi Ziyan bowed, and then replied:
"After several relocations in Shaanxi, so far, there are only more than 380 million people in the province, and there have been no large-scale water shortages in Qinchuan, which is [-] miles away in Guanzhong, and [-] miles away, in Hetao."

"Therefore, nearly [-] million mu of arable land along the Weihe, Jinghe, and Yellow Rivers has been cultivated."

"Last year there were 500 million people in Shaanxi, so there was naturally not enough food to eat. Now that the population has dropped sharply, although there is little shortage of food, it is actually almost the same when you include the grain adjustments in Henan and Sichuan."

Having said that, Bi Ziyan bowed again:

"In contrast to Shanxi, according to the report of the local yellow book at the beginning of the year, Shanxi has 690 million people. Although the province has more than [-] million mu of arable land, [-]% of it is dry land, and only [-]% is irrigated land."

"If you want to feed nearly 500 million people in Shanxi with less than 700 million mu of irrigated land, it is indeed..."

Three points full of words, Bi Ziyan did not continue to speak.

"How much grain does Beizhili plan to transfer to Shanxi this year?" Zhu Youxiao leaned back naturally, with his hands resting on the handrails, his brows furrowed.

"According to the estimates of the Yumajian and the Ministry of Household Affairs, it should be possible to transfer 700 million shi without spending money, and about 30 shi will be lost in the process."

Bi Ziyan answered politely, but Zhu Youxiao frowned and asked, "Is this food enough for the people of Shanxi?"

"Of course it's not enough..." Bi Ziyan replied calmly, without any panic.

Compared with Zhu Youjian's aura, Zhu Youxiao's aura is much weaker.

For those old sticklers who have been oppressed by Zhu Youjian's aura, responding to Zhu Youxiao's question is easy...

"You have a plan in mind, and I want to hear that you've got things sorted out."

Zhu Youxiao squinted his eyes, and Bi Ziyan continued to answer respectfully:
"I took a look at the general situation of the provinces this year. Among them, Sichuan and Henan are enough to supply Shanxi and Shaanxi."

"Enough supply?" Zhu Youxiao didn't believe it, but Bi Ziyan was confident: "Enough supply."

"Why?" Zhu Youxiao asked, and Bi Ziyan answered calmly:
"It's all due to Sun Chuanting's payment of illegal gentry, and Li Banghua's meritorious service in checking the land."

"Say..." Zhu Youxiao had a bad feeling in his heart.

Faced with his premonition, Bi Ziyan talked eloquently:
"In June of this year, Li Banghua worked with more than 7000 officials in Sichuan for half a year, and asked the Western Army Governor's Mansion to help with the investigation. Finally, the Sichuan farmland was investigated."

"After paying off the gentry, the arable land in Sichuan totaled more than 27 hectares, while the people in Sichuan were only 420 million people..."

Bi Ziyan's words made Zhu Youxiao subconsciously tighten the armrest, but he let it go quickly.

This move was seen by Gu Bingqian and the other three, and they couldn't help but feel a little happy.

"Sure enough, compared to the young and mature King Qi, Long Live is easier to deal with..."

This may be a rare time for the three of them to reach a tacit understanding in their hearts, and such a rare occasion is also based on the fact that they were suppressed by Zhu Youjian's neither happy nor angry aura.

Today's Zhu Youxiao is only 26 years old. Compared with Gu Bingqian and other old fritters who have been screened out in party struggles, he is still too young.

It's not that he's not good at skills, but that compared with Zhu Youjian, his growth rate is too slow.

Of course, in normal times, he can also do what Zhu Youjian said "without showing his anger and anger on his face", but the things in Sichuan cannot allow him to be stable.

Calculated on the basis of one hectare and one hundred mu, Sichuan has a total of more than 760 million mu of farmland. Only 50 years ago, in Zhang Juzheng's New Deal investigation, Sichuan had only more than 300 million mu of cultivated land, and now it has more than doubled. .

Are the people in Sichuan hardworking?And then cultivated so many fields in 50 years?
Of course not...

To be clear, these fields have been cultivated a long time ago. Maybe there were not so many of them 50 years ago, but they are not far behind.

The reason why the imperial court didn't know it was because of the Sichuan gentry who was killed by Sun Chuanting.

This hidden amount is not a small amount, it is a total of more than 400 million mu of cultivated land, even according to the [-]-one tax, it can still hand over nearly one million shimimai.

According to Zhu Youjian's new policy of "ten fu and one", starting next year, Sichuan can contribute 700 million stones of rice and wheat every year, and at least 300 million taels of color.

During the Wanli period, Sichuan turned over only a million stones of rice and wheat, about 100 million taels of miscellaneous silver, and at least 140 million taels of color.

It can be said that the promulgation of Zhu Youjian's new policy, coupled with Sun Chuanting's "killing", more than doubled Sichuan's taxes.

Zhu Youxiao is not sure whether other southern provinces will have such a serious concealment situation, but considering his character as an emperor, he would rather believe that there is...

So after he calmed down, he wondered if he could use Sun Chuanting to deal with the gentry in other southern provinces?

It's just that as soon as he thought of this, the figure of his own brother appeared in his mind.

"With my younger brother's character, I'm afraid I won't use Sun Chuanting for this kind of thing..."

Zhu Youxiao squinted his eyes, and finally gave up, and at the same time he gave up, he said to Bi Ziyan: "Continue..."

"Yes..." Bi Ziyan bowed back and continued to explain:

"The Ministry of Households has calculated that there is a surplus of grain to feed the people of Sichuan with the fields of Sichuan. Therefore, it is possible to buy 1000 million shi of grain from Sichuan and transport it northward, and about [-]% of the grain will be lost."

"In addition, the Yumajian and Chief Secretary in Henan this year can confiscate 600 million shi of rice and wheat, and can purchase an additional 500 million shi. Among them, 800 million shi can be allocated to support Shaanxi and the rest to support Shanxi."

"Counting the grain in Beizhili, after the loss on the road, 800 million shi can be transported to Shanxi."

"These, together with the sweet potatoes and potatoes irrigated in Shanxi, should stabilize food prices."

"If the drought in Shanxi ends in the coming year, then the people of Shanxi will be at peace..."

"In addition, the imperial court should be able to collect 900 million stone fields this year."

"More?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, obviously this made him a lot happy.

"Long live back, yes..." Bi Ziyan responded first, and then explained:
"Thanks to the autumn rain, Henan, Shandong, Hexi, and Jiugang have bumper harvests this year, so more land taxes will be paid."

"Among them, the old port is the most popular, but the rice wheat in the old port is a bit hard, not as good as the rice in the Central Plains."

Bi Ziyan took the habit of reporting to Zhu Youjian, that is, bringing some feelings of ordinary people, because Zhu Youjian likes to listen to this kind of thing the most.

However, the two brothers have very different personalities. Zhu Youjian likes to listen to it, but Zhu Youxiao doesn't like it and doesn't care, so he waved his hands impatiently and said:
"It doesn't matter whether it's hard or not. It's put into storage. If there is still a severe drought in Shanxi and Shaanxi next year, we will transfer this batch of rice to two places and sell it at a reduced price to stabilize the price of rice."

"The minister takes orders..." Bi Ziyan responded, and Zhu Youxiao also looked at Wen Tiren in a relaxed manner:
"How about the railroad?"

Zhu Youxiao is very concerned about this, because it is related to whether he can travel thousands of miles away and get out of the territory that restricts him in Beizhili.

"The construction schedules of all the railways are rushing, and I often go to supervise them. The roadbeds of all the railways have already left the territory of Beizhili."

"It has been confirmed that the railways that can be opened this year are the Beijing-Men Railway and the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. One is expected to open to traffic on September 25, and the other is expected to open to traffic on December [-]."

"As for the other seven railways, roadbeds are being built while rail tracks are being laid. Although it will take 15 years to fully open to traffic, these 15 years have been opened to traffic in sections."

"For example, the Jingjia Railway, Beijing West Railway and Jinglong Railway are expected to be completed in eight years, 13 years and 15 years, but in fact, they will be able to go directly from Beijing to Taiyuan in three years, and to Xi'an in five years."

"The other railways are similar. The construction period of the Beijing-Liaoning Railway is seven years, but it will be completed in Yanshan County in one year. By then, Wansui will only need six hours to reach Dading Palace."

"There is still a 12-year construction period for the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, but..."

Wen Tiren is very good at picking up good words, he knows Zhu Youxiao's character in his heart, knows that the emperor is free by nature, and always hopes to climb high and look far.

Therefore, he did not specifically say that the construction period would take several years to make the emperor dissatisfied or indifferent, but stated the specific completion time of a certain section of the route.

As he said, "six hours to Yanshan County", and eighteen hours to Taiyuan three years later...

These are all particularly attractive to Zhu Youxiao, so even taking Zhu Youxiao to see him is quite pleasing to the eye, and it is rare to praise him: "My brother did not choose you wrong..."

"I'm terrified..." Wen Tiren stood up, shook his head, and returned the salute.

Compared with Bi Ziyan and Gu Bingqian who "pretend to be deaf and dumb" next to him, his humble appearance is simply in the heart of the emperor.

It's just his "excellence" that made Zhu Youxiao focus on Gu Bingqian.

Gu Bingqian sensed the emperor's gaze, and returned the salute respectfully:
"For the cabinet, the Department of Mines, Department of Tea, and Department of Law have all done well this year."

"The Enke in October is already preparing. This year's Enke is divided into north and south, respectively in Beijing and Nanjing. It is estimated that the number of people in the scientific examination will be around 30..."

"After the scientific examination, the Department of Public Affairs will select 16 officials to teach in official schools, of which 15 will stay in Beizhili, and the remaining [-] will be sent to Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan to work in local government schools."

"These 15 teachers are expected to go to government schools at the end of the twelfth lunar month. Students from the three provinces will sign up on the first day of the first month, and the school will start on the first day of February. It is expected that children aged 15 to [-] will be enrolled."

"The cabinet estimates that next year's expenditure will be 300 million taels higher, but the fifth division of the "Mine Liquor, Tea and Salt Market" will increase revenue by about 100 million taels..."

Gu Bingqian stopped talking after finishing speaking, while Zhu Youxiao was meditating thoughtfully.

For universal basic education, he does not have much support in his heart, because he understands that with education, the people will also develop their wisdom, and once the wisdom of the people is developed, many things cannot be hidden.

It's just that although he knows it well, he can't stop it.

In his heart, he still agrees with Zhu Youjian's policy of "opening up the wisdom of the people and suppressing Confucianism", and also agrees with Zhu Youjian's emperor's art of "king and domineering parallel".

From this point of view, Zhu Youjian believes that enlightening the people's wisdom is something that Daming must do, which Zhu Youxiao cannot stop.

Although Zhu Youxiao knew that his younger brother had left a lot of retreats for the Ming royal family, so that unless a fool came on stage, he would not harm the royal family, but he was still uneasy.

"How about the various expenses this year? How much can you have left?" Zhu Youxiao asked the question he was most concerned about. To this, Gu Bingqian also answered respectfully:

"This year's annual income is about 200 million taels. In addition, the military salary of the five armies is 700 million taels, the salary of officials is 780 million, the soldiers and horses are 100 million taels, and the officials are 120 million taels. A total of 700 million taels."

"Tian Fu should be able to collect 900 million shi. The expenditure for the official office and the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies, the Bingma Division, the Yamen Division, the Official Education Division, and the Yumajian is 900 million shi. The relocation department currently needs 1000 million shi."

"According to the calculation, this year's debt should be 500 million taels, and the annual income is 3000 million shi."

Having said that, Gu Bingqian made up his mind:

"According to the grain prices in Northern Zhili, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, after the imperial government's rice and wheat output is stabilized, the annual income of rice and wheat should be 800 million taels, so the annual balance is 300 million taels."

The impact of the severe drought on agricultural countries can be compared. Last year, Daming still owed more than 1000 million shi of rice and wheat, and this year it has an annual income of 3000 million shi.

Zhu Youxiao is not worried about the flow of rice and wheat, because Beizhili, especially the capital city, is a big household that eats rice and wheat. Every year, the rice and wheat transported from all over the country are sold in the capital in addition to being transported to Jiubian, so as to stabilize the price of food.

According to this year's situation, including the gold and silver inflows from Jiugang, India Sidang, and Yingzhou, Daming actually had a balance of nearly 5000 million taels of silver.

This kind of balance is very useful to Zhu Youxiao, because his internal funds also have a balance of more than 200 million taels this year.

After the renovation of the three halls was completed, Zhu Youxiao never asked the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Yumajian for money, because his internal funds were sufficient.

No matter whether it is the Dading Palace in Yanshan or the Zhongxia Palace in Fangshan, he uses his own money, so no one talks about him.

Of course, this is because Zhu Youjian assigned all the talkative officials.

In Zhu Youjian's view, unless the country is in difficulty, as long as the emperor does not use the treasury, how to use the internal money is the emperor's own business.

As for the officials who came to power later, they were basically Yanshan officials, and Yanshan officials didn’t care much about how the emperor used the internal funds, unless they would ask the emperor to send the internal funds when the country was in crisis, and they were busy picking up the internal funds at other times. official.

In short, the current political environment in Ming Dynasty made Zhu Youxiao feel very comfortable, so he wanted to express his feelings.

"I……"

"Long live, Changchun Palace ordered people to send memorandum..."

Before Zhu Youxiao could finish speaking a word, Liu Ruoyu walked in with several memorials.

During the process, Zhu Youxiao was slightly dissatisfied, but he soon felt relieved, because he knew that Liu Ruoyu was so nervous that the content of the memorial must be of great importance.

He took the memorial and just opened the first book, and his good mood immediately sank.

Qi Jin, Qin Bangping, and Qin Banghan requested to retire and return to their hometowns, but their younger brother approved and awarded the three Marquis.

Zhu Youxiao didn't think it was a big deal to award the Marquis, because the three of them did have merit.

If it weren't for Qi Jin back then, Jiangnan's tax arrears would not have been collected at all. Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou could use the arrears of taxes to keep threatening themselves, the emperor.

As for Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan, if it weren't for them, Shenyang City would have been breached in the first year of the apocalypse. The loss of Shenyang meant that half of the Liaodong Peninsula was lost.

So much credit goes to these three, and…

Zhu Youxiao pondered the memorandum with his fingers for a long time, but he didn't speak for a long time, obviously he didn't want to be popular about this memorabilia.

"What do you think?" Zhu Youxiao asked Liu Ruoyu, and Liu Ruoyu was silent for a moment after hearing the words:
"My servant thinks that the country is in trouble, and these three veteran generals are still needed to preside over the overall situation."

Gu Bingqian and the three of them saw the answer of the monarch and his ministers. The three of them were a little curious about the content of the memorial, but Zhu Youxiao opened the next memorial in the next second, and his mood became more depressed.

Before Gu Bingqian and others asked, Zhu Youxiao looked at the three of them and said:

"Qi Jin, the governor of the southern army's governor's mansion, Qin Bangping, the governor of the western army's governor's mansion, and Qin Banghan, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, requested to retire and return to their hometowns."

"The three people listed by the King of Qi are the Marquis of Dingyuan, the Marquis of Zhongzhou, and the Marquis of Youyang."

"What do you think?"

"..." Listening to the emperor's words, the three of Gu Bingqian finally understood why the emperor's face was so ugly.

These three are veterans who came from the years of Longqing and Wanli. It can be said that in the current Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, they are one of the few veterans who have received more favor from the imperial court than King Qi.

In many matters, they are on the side of King Qi, but if King Qi rebels, they will not hesitate to conquer King Qi.

In other words, in the eyes of these veterans, the emperor is greater than the king of Qi, and the king of Qi is greater than all officials.

Although Gu Bingqian and the others felt that King Qi would not rebel, and Zhu Youxiao also thought so, they were not sure whether the people under King Qi would coerce King Qi to rebel.

Lu Wenzhao, Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, and... Huang Long!
Qi Yuanfu's words to Huang Long were not nonsense, but a solid advice.

Today Huanglong is 38 years old, but what about his achievements?

Fight against the Netherlands and Spain, destroy Johor, Aceh, Banten, Java, Pahang, Dingaloo, Sulog, and Palingpan, recover Nanyang, and reset the old port.

They also destroyed Ceylon, Jaffna, Tanjore, Julan, Pandya, Madurai, Mysore, Krakdi, Jinji, Vijayanagar, Bijapur, Bidar, and Golkonda , Ahmed Negal, established the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner.

In addition, he also participated in the extermination of Cochin, fighting against the Mughals, and commanding the war of the Fan...

To put it simply, the 38-year-old Huanglong has destroyed the country 22 alone, assisted in the country 200, and laid down about [-] million square kilometers for the Ming Dynasty.

The territory conquered by the other generals combined was less than a fraction of that.

Although the countries he destroyed were not strong, the territory was still there.

This is why Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan are more capable than Huang Long, but Huang Long can always take the lead in letters.

To put it bluntly, there are only four words, "unworldly merit".

In addition, he is also the only one in Daming who is capable of separatist regime, and after the separatist regime, he has a stalemate with Daming.

Huanglong's unruly, but that depends on who he compares with.

If someone like Sapphire was put in his position, even the emperor would have no choice but to coax him, instead of treating Zhu Youxiao more politely as he is now.

Why did Huanglong not rebel and have no separatism?Everyone is very clear that there is a King Qi pressing down on it.

What is Huanglong's appeal?Everyone understood, but no one dared to speak out.

The situation of the Dudufu of the Five Armies is that Qi is strong and the imperial power is weak.

Right now Qi Jin and Qin Bangping are retreating, even if the people in the top positions are still from Qin and Qi's family, they are a head shorter than Huang Long, saying that things are not as hard-lined as the previous generation.

Zhu Youxiao believes that his younger brother is not fake, but it is not uncommon to add a yellow robe.

Lu Wenzhao, Sun Yingyuan, and Huang Long tested the imperial power more than once, but they were only appeased by Zhu Youxiao.

If the three of Qi and Jin retreat, will the newcomers Qi Yuangong and Qin Minping be able to hold on...

Suddenly, Gu Bingqian and others remembered one thing, that is, the king of Qi sent Qi Yuanfu and Qi Yuanbi to India to serve as soldiers, and the old port had troops stationed in the governor's mansion of the Southern Army.

For a moment, everyone's breathing was unavoidable, and thinking about Huang Long's going to Beijing to report on his duties, they felt confident.

"I think it's okay..."

Gu Bingqian made a decisive statement, and Bi Ziyan and Wen Tiren also expressed their views successively, and they all believed that there was no problem with King Qi's memorial.

Only after they expressed their views, Zhu Youxiao said again:

"In the second dispatch report, the King of Qi asked Qi Yuangong to serve as the governor of the Western Army's governor's mansion, lead the Guangdong army from afar, and let Qin Minping serve as the governor of the Southern Army's governor's mansion, and lead the Uzang army from afar. What do you think?"

"..." The three of Gu Bingqian frowned slightly, not knowing why King Qi made such an arrangement this time.

According to common sense, it should be Qi Yuangong's son who inherited his father's business and inherited the southern army's governor's mansion, but now he is sent to the western army's governor's mansion, and he is also in charge of the Guangdong commander-in-chief.

In the same way, Qin Minping should also be a brother and a brother, so why was he assigned to the Southern Army?

"Could it be possible..." Wen Tiren and Gu Bingqian's breaths were a little short, and a bad thought rose in their hearts for a moment.

"Among the Qin and Qi families, I'm afraid someone has already been wooed..."

Chapter 2 at [-]:[-] p.m.