Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Ow—"

"Hold on and hold on to your legs!"

"This guy is quite strong, give me the knife!"

At dusk, as the afterglow of the setting sun gradually slanted westward, the village that had been quiet for a day became lively.

In the drying yard at the entrance of the village, the crowing of domestic pigs kept coming and going, and the whole village had prepared pots and pans for eating meat.

Several men butchered the pig and pressed the pig on the pig stool. The strongest man among them held the pig's head, picked up a sharp knife and stabbed it through the neck of the pig, and then stuck it into the head.

Just this time, the pig stopped thumping, and the men in charge of the slaughter started to slaughter the next pig, and the slaughtered pig was thrown into the pig pot by the other men, and depilated with boiling water.

After repeating this, two pigs weighing nearly two hundred catties were slaughtered, and the person in charge of cooking also started to cook.

At this time, the pots and stoves in the kitchen are the busiest, because the pigs are slaughtered, and the raw materials are sufficient, such as pork liver, pig blood, pig lungs, braised pork, steamed pork, pig heart and internal organs, so the men also hide themselves on weekdays I used all my unique cooking skills.

Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun hadn't recovered from the pig killing scene just now, and they were arranged to sit on the chairs in the drying yard.

At this moment, they believed it. Nanxi Village really slaughtered pigs every day, and they could eat meat every day.

Living in Nanxi Village, eating pig-killing rice every day is the happiest thing for all the villagers, especially for children, who are always full of expectations.

Just half an hour later, some peasant women carried plates of dishes and put them on the table.

Stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts has a tangy aroma that makes your mouth water, and a bowl of pork ribs with boiled radish also makes your index finger move.

Followed by fried pork liver, fried cabbage and tofu with boiled vegetables, and a bowl full of chili dipping water.

Three dishes of meat, one dish of soup, one dish of soup...

This seemingly simple dish is considered extravagant in the homes of ordinary people in this era.

Thick rice was filled and placed in front of Zhu Ciran and the two of them. Old man Zhang and another old man Liu who were sitting beside them advised them to eat quickly. The three children at the same table had already started to move their chopsticks.

Seven people, five dishes, the luxury of Nanxi Village can be seen...

However, this kind of luxury is not only in Nanxi Village, but in most Sichuan villages.

In Sichuan right now, most of the people are former immigrants from Shaanxi. They work and eat together in production teams.

Before they moved here, more than 4000 people lived in Nanxi Village, which has more than 1000 mu of arable land, but the villagers of Nanxi Village were all relocated to Jiaozhi, Sichuan.

After Old Man Zhang and his group of Shaanxi immigrants moved here, there were less than 400 people in Nanxi Village. The rich products allowed them to build a new house and buy livestock in just two years, realizing their daily desire to eat meat.

More fields, lower taxes, the chemical effect of these policies is the current life in Nanxi Village.

For this meal, Zhu Ciran was busy eating at first, but after eating, he gradually felt that his bowl was getting heavy.

It's not because there are too many meals, but because he thought of the "Three Western" provinces in the north of Daba Mountain.

Just separated by a big mountain, the north of the mountain eats wild vegetables and roots, and the south of the mountain eats meat every day. This kind of life gap made Zhu Ciran understand why his uncle promoted the train vigorously.

Just imagine, if every province in Ming Dynasty had trains, and goods from each province would only take a few days to reach the next province, would life in the three provinces still be like this?

It is obvious that the food in India is piled up like a mountain, but it is because of the long distance that these food can only be made into feed.

If Daming could transport the food from Indian servants to the Northwest, the people in the Northwest might also be able to eat meat, even if they couldn't eat it every day, at least they wouldn't live in such poverty.

"Why didn't Zheng Village official come?!"

"It seems to be discussing with the adults outside the village, let's eat first."

"Then leave some cooking broth for Village Officer Zheng."

"Got it!"

On the lively drying ground, someone called Zheng Village Officer, and the others followed suit.

When Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun heard the words, they immediately looked at old man Zhang: "Is the village official Zheng very kind to the villagers?"

"It's good. He doesn't collect taxes like other village officials, and he basically doesn't care about things on weekdays." Old man Zhang said hesitantly, and Liu Shun was puzzled when he heard this:

"Is it all right anyway?"

"Ah..." Old man Zhang sighed, "You don't know how much trouble the village officials used to have."

Old man Zhang didn't say much, but Zhu Ciran could hear the sigh in it.

"Govern by doing nothing. It's not that the people can't live without the court, and the court doesn't have to toss the people to maintain it. Not tossing is the best way to recuperate."

Zhu Ciran remembered what Jin Xuan said when he was teaching him back then. He didn't understand before, but he understood after going through this journey.

The people above will not know how difficult it is for the common people to be an official who doesn't bother...

"The Zheng village official has figured it out, don't make a fuss, and the government will tell the villagers when it recruits migrant workers."

Old man Liu opened his mouth while eating the meat, and old man Zhang nodded in agreement.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Ciran did not speak until the village feast was over, he and Liu Shun bid farewell to Old Man Zhang and others, and left Nanxi Village with a full water bag on their backs.

When they came to the side of the road, they saw Zheng Sanyuan sitting on the concrete floor, and Zheng Sanyuan also hurriedly got up and bowed: "Your Highness."

"Okay, go back and continue to be your village official, okay, don't torment the villagers."

Zhu Ciran didn't tell Zheng Sanyuan what he had seen and what needs to be improved, because the villagers of Nanxi Village were indeed doing well under Zheng Sanyuan's inaction.

"Your Highness, go slowly..."

Zheng Sanyuan bowed and took two steps back, then turned and left.

After he left, Zhu Ciran also embarked on the road to continue going south.

There was still thirty miles to go from Nanxi Village to Qinglinkou Town, and they were able to camp outside Qinglinkou almost when it was completely dark.

Zhu Ciran seldom enters towns, because in his opinion, towns are the easiest to manage, but the countryside is very difficult.

The imperial court can only know what is going on in the countryside through local village officials, but market towns are different from cities, and passing merchants can bring a lot of news.

With this thought in mind, Zhu Ciran, Liu Shun, and two slightly fat Jin Yiwei got on the bicycle, and pedaled hard with their heads buried in it.

As for Zhu Ciran's latest travel notes, he sorted them out and ordered someone to send them to the capital.

A few days later, Zhu Youjian who was far away in the capital got Zhu Ciran's travel notes, and when he saw the life of the villagers in Nanxi, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"If there is no more Nanxi Village, I will suspect that the Ming Dynasty is already in dire straits."

Leaning on the chair, Zhu Youjian smiled. Lu Wenzhao, Cao Huachun, and Wang Chengen, who were sitting in the hall dealing with government affairs together, had read the content of the travel notes a long time ago, so they all responded to Zhu Youjian with smiles. .

"There's still plenty of good news."

Zhu Youjian placed the travel notes beside him, and with a smile, picked up a book of memorials.

This is the Memorial of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and what is recorded above is the results of the annual income after the autumn harvest in various places.

As of September 15th of the 230th year of Tianqi, the annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was more than 870 million taels, the land tax was more than 750 million shi, and the people in the world were 930 people.

According to the situation of each province, counting the regions that are exempt from paying taxes, the total grain production of Daming this year is about 11 billion shi.

Calculated on average, each commoner should have a ration of seven stones, which is less than one thousand and one hundred catties. In terms of conversion, each commoner should be able to have three catties of rations per day.

Of course, this is only in theory. In fact, due to the south-to-north grain transfer, Daming needs to pay 7000 million taels of silver to buy grain and transport it to the north.

7000 million taels of grain are purchased from the Central South and Southwest markets at a low price, and sold and stored in the North and Southwest at a low price.

"According to the price of grain since the beginning of autumn, how much money does Huangdian have now, and how much grain can it buy to transport to the south of the Yangtze River and the north? Can it complete the task of transporting 3000 million shi of grain?"

Zhu Youjian put down the memorial and asked Cao Huachun, and Cao Huachun bowed when he heard the words:

"The scribes in the Huangdian have calculated that there are about 6000 million taels of mobile silver. The imperial court only needs to pay 1000 million taels, and if they make up 7000 million taels, they can buy [-] million shimimai."

"Including the more than 800 million shi of the land tax, after deducting the fire consumption on the road, it can be about 300 million shi."

"The Huangdian below has already started harvesting grain, and will deliver 5000 million shi to the six provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hexi, Henan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang before the spring begins."

"The follow-up 8000 million shi will be shipped to the six provinces in batches before the fall of next year. There should be no problem, but the current tax money is not enough to pay the salaries and military salaries of officials and soldiers, and 1000 million taels of shi if there is no shortage Mai Yin."

"This year, the total salary of the army and hundreds of officials, soldiers and horses, yamen servants, and teachers is more than 830 million taels."

"Currently, the Finance Department has newly arrived overseas gold, silver and copper ingots of about 460 million taels, and the Finance Department has deposited more than 300 million taels of silver. With the addition of tax and silver, there are only less than 530 million taels, and there are still [-] million taels. The debt of two."

Cao Huachun said with a look of embarrassment on his face, but Zhu Youjian pondered for a moment, and then said after a long time:

"After transporting 3000 million shimi wheat to the north, how much do we need to sell to make ends meet?"

This question made Cao Huachun think about it. He first calculated the cost and said: "The cost of 2000 million stone rice and wheat in the south is 7000 million taels. If Tian Fu grain is sold locally, it can make a profit of more than 460 million taels."

"Including shipping costs, the expenditure is about 700 million taels. After the fire consumption, the 3000 million shi rice and wheat that arrived in the local area will be sold at a minimum price of 510 ren per shi."

"It's just Your Highness, this price will definitely make private grain merchants unwilling to buy grain and sell it to the disaster-stricken area, and the imperial court also needs money."

"Therefore, the servant girl proposed to sell the grain at [-]% of the current rice price in the disaster area."

"In this way, Guochao can make a profit of more than [-] million taels of silver, and after making up the debts of the various yamen, there will be more than [-] million taels of silver left."

Cao Huachun settled an account for Zhu Youjian, especially reminding that grain should not be sold cheaply.

After all, the imperial court's rice price is "stable", not "cheap".

In terms of balance of payments, they can sell rice at a price of 510 ren per stone, but in this way, many grain merchants in the private sector will face bankruptcy.

They don't have such powerful grain collection channels as Huangdian, and their cost price is higher than Huangdian's. Therefore, by selling grain at [-]% of the market price in the disaster area, the merchants can make a small profit, and the common people can also eat food.

Once the subsequent imperial court is unable to transport grain and private merchants do not lose money, they will spontaneously transport grain to the disaster area for sale.

Therefore, regardless of the cost of grain in the Ming Dynasty, it can only be sold at [-]% of the local grain price.

For example, the price of rice in Shanxi is now 640 Wen per shi, but Huangdian can only drop to [-] Wen per shi.

If it continues to drop, many grain merchants will go bankrupt.

Zhu Youjian also knows this truth, and even he knows that the best way to stop losses in time is actually to relocate the people of Shanxi to less than 400 million, or even as low as one-tenth of the population of Shanxi's arable land.

It's just that he can think so, but he can't do it.

Forced immigration and voluntary immigration are two concepts. People who voluntarily immigrate rarely run away, but most people who immigrate by force will run away unless the court can provide substantial benefits.

For example, like Luchuan and Jiugang, the common people used to distribute [-] acres of farmland.

If you can't do this, even if Zhu Youjian increases the number of raw land to one hundred mu per person, not many people will dare to go, only those who are so hungry that their eyes are red-eyed and take the initiative to migrate will go.

What is the result of forced immigration? Just look at Hongwu, Jianwen, and Yongle immigrants in the early Ming Dynasty.

After nearly half a century of immigration, the number of people left behind is less than half of the number of immigrants, which consumed huge manpower and material resources.

What's more, now Zhu Youjian can't produce much food to force immigration.

"According to what you want, all the salaries of other officials and generals will be sent to the passbook."

Zhu Youjian plans to use a passbook to delay the time. Although he can use the deposits in the bank, he will not do so unless it is absolutely necessary.

"How many passbooks have been issued by the bank at present, and how much is the deposit?"

Zhu Youjian asked Cao Huachun, but Cao Huachun looked at Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen flipped through the document, bowed after a while and said:

"Guochao issued more than 770 million passbooks, more than 210 million household registration books, and more than 930 million taels of silver in the bank."

There is not much silver in the bank, and Zhu Youjian is not surprised. Even though the bank has been in operation for several years, most of the people who need to use money in other places are merchants.

As for the gentry and officials, they will not deposit all their money in the bank, otherwise they will be really finished if their homes are ransacked one day.

The last common people, since there is no need to travel far, and Daming Bank does not have deposit interest, so they are even less likely to deposit, or in the current situation, the common people do not have much money in their hands.

But no matter how you manage the office, according to the size of the bank's silver, as long as there is no massive run, Daming can mobilize one-tenth of the silver for use, and make up for it in the next year.

If the train passes through various places, then this standard can be increased, but that is already a matter of later.

"What's the current situation of the feudal lords?" Zhu Youjian turned to ask Lu Wenzhao, after all, he was in charge of intelligence.

Regarding Zhu Youjian's inquiry, Lu Wenzhao quickly went through the information he had read these days in his mind, and then sorted it out and said:

"Right now, the powerful feudal vassals currently exist in India, and although the feudal vassals in Levia have already begun to become feudal vassals, most of the vassal kings only sent an advance team, the size of which does not exceed a battalion of troops."

"As far as the feudal vassals of Levia are worried, according to the time, the advance team they sent has already arrived at the feudal lands of various countries in Levia."

Lu Wenzhao first gave a general explanation of the current situation of the feudal clans, and then said in detail:

"At present, the policies implemented by the vassals in India are similar to the new policies of the Guochao, and the Guochao also opened official schools and appointed officials locally."

"Officials sent by the imperial court accounted for 9% of the total number of officials from the vassal states in India, about [-] people."

"In the temple, the vassal kings still need to rely on the officials of the country to govern the country. At present, the Indian vassal states are divided into classes such as vassal kings, princes, civil servants, military officials, citizens, and natives."

"As of Guimao, June 15th, the 37th year of the Apocalypse, there were a total of 430 citizens under the various vassals, and more than [-] million natives."

"The arable land controlled by the feudal lords is about [-] million mu, and the grain production is about [-] million shi. However, the local tax is three out of ten for the local people, so the feudal lords pay about [-] million for the land every year. Yu Wanshi."

"These grains are sold to Huangdian every year for about 5000 million shi, and the price is [-] Wen per shi."

"Since Luchuan was pacified in the 12th year of the Apocalypse, a feed factory was established in Luchuan. The grain purchased by Huangdian from Sidang in India was made into feed in Luchuan and sold to various places. The feed was 250 yuan per stone."

"In addition, the feudal clans also sold grain to Persia, Rumi (Ottoman) and other countries, the amount was about 800 million shi, and the scale was not large. The feudal clans did not have the ocean-going trade capabilities of Huangdian."

Speaking of this, Lu Wenzhao breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at Zhu Youjian whose face remained unchanged, before continuing:

"Right now, the feudal lords have a total of 24 battalions of troops, with a total of 26 soldiers and horses. Among them, [-] battalions of soldiers and horses are under the jurisdiction of the Xiaoxiyang Supervisor, responsible for defending against the southern captives in the north of the vassals."

"The military pay and expenditure of these soldiers and horses accounted for more than 24% of the taxes of the feudal clans. Of the 17 soldiers and horses, [-] were soldiers from the imperial court, and only less than [-] belonged to them."

"In recent years, with the continuous immigration of the country and dynasty, and most of the immigrants are lonely men within the country, so apart from 17 naturalized Japanese soldiers in the 15 army, the remaining [-] are national soldiers. "

"Among the 17 soldiers and horses, they are equipped with more than 920 rifles and [-] seven Yanshan five-jin guns that were retired from the imperial court."

"According to the current taxation and mining speed of the feudal lords, around the 18th year of the Apocalypse, the 17 troops can all be equipped with rifles, plus about [-] Yanshan five-jin guns."

"The only shortcoming is that the feudal vassals are not capable of coordinating. There are hundreds of vassal states, and there are only a handful of generals who can command more than [-] troops."

Lu Wenzhao told Zhu Youjian and the others about a general Indian boy, but Zhu Youjian didn't take it seriously when he heard the words.

Although there are many troops of 24, only 17 of them belong to the vassals.

Even if they can continue to recruit 24 troops after the Ming army has withdrawn, it is not a threat to Ming Dynasty. They only need to choose a partial general and lead [-] troops to sweep India, including the Mughals in the north. .

This is only military. From a political point of view, officials from Ming Dynasty are destined to occupy a place in the countries, especially after the students of government schools start to participate in Enke.

Just imagine, every year millions of students who have received primary and secondary education compete for official positions with only [-] to [-] places. It can be said that everyone is one in a hundred.

For the vassal kings of the "small clan and big clan" in India at that time, they were capable, and the students of the same clan could be said to be the objects they tried their best to win over.

This group of people who received the education of the Ming Dynasty went to various countries, and naturally the suzerainty and vassal system of the Ming Dynasty would be consolidated.

This is true of both military and political affairs, not to mention economics.

At present, more than one-third of the fiscal revenue of various countries comes from grain exports, and in grain exports, Ming Dynasty accounts for nine-tenths of the trade volume.

If the countries turn against the water, Ming only needs to suspend trade for one year, and the vassal state can make the country pay internally for one year.

Among all the vassals, the only one with the strength to be independent from Ming Dynasty is Zhu Youjian's Qi vassal.

But the problem is that compared with the territory of the Qi Fan, the population growth rate on the territory will be very slow, and the Qi Fan has no need for foreign wars at all.

As far as land is concerned, the theoretical domain of Qi Fan is the entire America, and the area of ​​America is more than 200 million square kilometers, which is almost equal to that of Asia.

Taking the current productivity as an example, the population on the land of Asia is about 5000 million to [-] million people under the current productivity.

If the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, desert, and Gobi Desert, which are not suitable for human survival, are removed, then the usable area of ​​Asia will not be much larger than that of Qi.

There are currently [-] million people living in Asia. As long as Qi continues to develop, at least [-] million people can live in its territory with the current productivity.

After entering the industrial age, Qi State can reclaim a maximum of five billion mu of arable land.

With more than 21 billion mu of arable land, for the Qi State, even if Zhu Youjian was given the agricultural technology and technology of the [-]st century, it would take ten years to develop all of them.

This is only arable land, and important resources such as minerals and oil are not counted.

Even if after Zhu Youjian took over, the population of Qi State could reach 2000 million before his death. If these 2000 million people want to reproduce and occupy the entire territory of Qi State, they will need to work hard for hundreds of years without changing the fertility rate. Hundreds of years.

At that time, it will be a problem whether Ming Dynasty is still there. Besides, across two oceans, Qi State can at most remotely intervene in the wars in Europe and Leviathan.

Zhu Youjian's position for Qi is that it is not locked in the neck, but a country on the edge of geopolitics.

Thinking of the terrain in America, Zhu Youjian raised his head and looked at Lu Wenzhao: "Tell me about Levia, what happened to the advance team of the feudal lords?"

"This..." Lu Wenzhao looked distressed, and could only bow his head and said, "The last news was sent half a year ago. According to the time, it will take at least one month before we know the situation of the advance team of the feudal clans in Levia."

"Not only the advance team, but also the situation of the South Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner will not be known until a month later."

Lu Wenzhao mentioned the inconvenience caused by the large territory of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, but he didn't complain. He just explained:
"Inform me immediately if there is any news, and also pay close attention to the affairs of the Western Regions. In the past few years, the country has encountered natural and man-made disasters, and the Jingjia Railway has not yet been repaired. Let Huduntu sing in the Western Regions first, and then deal with him in a few years. "

PM update 05:30