Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Crackling-"

"Boom bang bang-"

On the fifth day of September in the 16th year of Apocalypse, when the sound of firecrackers and fireworks sounded in the land of northern Liaoning, the first railway of more than one thousand miles in Ming Dynasty was officially completed.

It took six years and three months to complete the Beijing-Liaoning Railway from Beijing North Railway Station, via Duoyan Mansion in Modong Province, to Shenyang Mansion in Liaodong Province.

The route chosen by Daming was not good. If he had chosen the route from the capital to Shenyang via Shanhaiguan, then the Beijing-Liaoning Railway would not have taken so long.

However, for Daming in this era, taking this route outside the customs can help Ming realize the connection between the inside and the outside of the customs.

The opening of the Beijing-Liaoning Railway means that it only takes [-] hours from Shenyang to the capital at the shortest time, and in less than two days, the Ming army can mobilize resources from the North Zhili to support the southeast of the northeast.

Not only that, with the continuous advancement of various railways, the provinces that can directly reach the capital now include Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Nanzhili, Huguang, Sichuan, Hexi, and Donghai.

This means that the capital has become the material transfer center of the provinces, which strengthens the capital's control over various places.

Once the Shangzhi [-]th Guards stationed in Shuntian Prefecture need to go, they can prepare in just ten days and arrive in any of the above-mentioned provinces within five days.

This is just the beginning. With the continuous repair of other railways, the actual control range of the center will continue to expand, and the strength of the center will continue to be strengthened.

Every place where the railway is built, the number of household registration statistics will increase a lot that year.

Especially in South Zhili, half a month after the opening of the Beijing-Liaoning Railway, the first Yangtze River Bridge in Daming was built, and Beijing trains can go directly to the outskirts of Nanjing.

The distance of 26 miles only takes [-] and a half hours to reach, which makes Nanjing City and the Jiangnan area, which was originally far away from the emperor, become an area "under the feet" of Beijing.

As long as the emperor wanted to, he could arrive in Jiangnan within three days, and then return within three days.

If this is just the emperor's personal behavior, then if the emperor is replaced by the officials of the Chengdu Procuratorate, the gentry officials in the entire Jiangnan area should tremble.

The "Jingcha" operation of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which used to only come once a year, can now be done once a month, every ten days.

For Jiangnan officials who are used to only being busy for a few days a year, it is like a knife hanging above their heads. They don't know when the knife will fall.

I used to be able to dodge with experience, but now I can only stare at it.

To the surprise of Jiangnan officials, King Qi issued a new administration the day after the Yangtze River Bridge was completed.

The fixed Jingcha was cancelled, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate of Shuntianfu inspected all over the world from time to time.

This kind of arrangement means that Zhu Youjian has fixed and normalized the Jingchao.

With his actions, officials all over the world feel more uncomfortable than the death of their own mother...

It's just that only officials are uncomfortable, and ordinary people are comfortable.

"There are really dishes!"

"Still fresh!"

On Kuimao Day, the ninth day of October, when there was noise from the Huangdian in Andingfang, Dongcheng District, Jilin County, Jilin Prefecture, the people living here saw fresh vegetables in winter for the first time in the sub-zero Northeast Plain.

The Chinese cabbages pulled from the fields in North Zhili were successfully delivered to Huangdian in Jilin County after two days of transportation.

Although it is only Chinese cabbage, and the price is more expensive than that of the other three seasons, for the people in Jilin County who hardly eat many vegetables in winter, these cabbages can be said to be the only vegetables they can eat in winter.

Twenty tons of cabbage transported from the capital to Jilin County were sold out within an hour.

Not only cabbage, but also many products that do not belong to this season have appeared on the shelves of Huangdian.

People in Jilin County, wearing cotton-padded clothes, smiled and returned home with the groceries they bought. This place, which was once designated as Xingjing by Nurhaci, now has more than 6 Han immigrants living there.

Those fields that were once reclaimed by Nurhachi are now being distributed by the government.

Relying on the coal in the Northeast and the well-planned city layout, the immigrants who moved here can basically enjoy the comfort of central heating in winter.

Of course, this kind of central heating is essentially the heating method of the nineteenth century, and the indoor temperature cannot meet modern standards, but even so, it is much more comfortable than many immigrants were in their old home.

This can be done in Jilin County, not to mention Liaodong in the south.

For example, now, Huang Long, who has been at home for several years, is lying on the rocking chair in the study, holding a bowl of "Sushan" to eat.

Compared with a few years ago, he looks a lot younger and fairer, but he has experienced a lot from a general to a nobleman, for example, his once flat stomach is now full of fat.

In the slightly hot and dry study room, eating crispy mountain made people feel happy, even Huang Long couldn't help moaning a few times.

"These days are so comfortable that no one wants to move away."

After eating a bowl of Su Shan, Huang Long put the empty bowl on the wooden tray held by the maidservant next to him, and sitting opposite him, Li Dan, who had just returned from Lushun Port, nodded slightly, but then said:
"His Highness seems to be busy strengthening the imperial court's control in the area. Judging from this posture, I'm afraid it's not far away from the Fan."

"Jiu Fan..." Hearing the word Jiu Fan, Huang Long instinctively turned ugly.

Seeing Huang Long's ugly face, Li Dan couldn't help comforting him:

"The officer asked the navy brothers in Yingzhou, and the current situation in Qi is better than we imagined."

"In just five years, Qi State has become self-sufficient, and everyone can eat meat every day. The speed of cultivated land is also reclaimed at a rate of hundreds of thousands of acres per year."

When Li Dan said these words, some maidservants and officials in charge of the Hou's mansion couldn't help looking at him.

Eating meat every day, everyone eating meat... Not to mention the Liaodong Marquis, even the imperial palace can't do it.

When such words came out of his mouth, one couldn't help but feel that he was lying.

Not only the maidservants, but even Huang Long himself was skeptical: "Eating meat every day? How can there be such a good place."

"The lower official didn't believe it at first, but looking at it now, it's true..." Li Dan sighed, and then briefly introduced why Qi State can eat meat every day.

To put it bluntly, there are too many bison in the area.

In Daming, even including the entire grassland, there are not a million bison, but in Qi, the number of bison is tens of millions.

Not only are they more numerous, but they are also heavier than Daming's bison and farm cattle.

It only takes a hundred people to harvest enough beef for 10,000+ people.

"There really is such a place?" Huang Long touched the beard of his chin, still a little unbelievable.

He has been to Sidang in India, Nanzhou, Nanyang, and even Levia. He has heard about it. In his opinion, Levia is already a place rich in resources, but malaria is rampant in the area, and there is not much land that can be cultivated. Moreover, there are only hundreds of thousands of cows that look like horses above.

Now it’s okay to suddenly pop up a place, with tens of millions of bison on it?
For a moment, while Huang Long didn't believe it, he also became curious about Qi Guo.

"According to the news from Yingzhou, I am afraid that by the time the apocalypse is about 20 years old, Qi will be able to support 300 million people."

"This year Yingzhou will first relocate 10,000+ reeducation workers to Qi State, and will continue to relocate in the next four years until the reeducation workers are completed."

"From this point of view, it should not be a lie that Qi can support millions of people."

Li Dan said he deduced, and he also said: "Although Daming is big, Qi is not small. The only difference is the population."

"I heard that there are gold, silver and iron mines everywhere in the country of Qi. His Royal Highness Qi Wang chose this place as his feudal domain. He should have made all the preparations."

"According to the steam ships I saw in Lushun Port these days, if they are used to transport immigrants, 10,000 ships can transport [-]+ people in one trip."

"Maybe, after more than ten years, Qi will really be able to compete with Jiangnan."

At the end, Li Dan glanced at Huang Long and found that Huang Long was deep in thought, so he stopped talking.

But Huang Long, after thinking about it, he still said: "Qi is going, but I have to watch and watch before going."

"It's not that the Marquis is reluctant to leave Daming, it's that His Highness didn't come before the feudal clan, so I don't feel relieved to leave."

"Worried?" Li Dan was stunned for a moment. He wanted to ask, but after thinking about it, he was still not abrupt.

"Those boys in Yanshan are so mean-spirited, can you guess what they will do?"

Huanglong guessed what Li Dan was thinking, and asked Li Dan back. Li Dan also opened his mouth when he heard the words, but he couldn't say anything in the end.

Not only Huang Long, but even he felt that Yanshan officials would not let Zhu Youjian go so easily.

"Not only are they unwilling, but Long Live is probably not willing either."

Huang Long scratched his short beard, but Li Dan frowned and said, "Shouldn't Long Live be the one who most wishes His Highness to become a vassal?"

"That's because you don't know His Highness and Long Live." Huang Long shook his head.

Although he has bad political vision, his eyes are not blind. Zhu Youxiao's reluctance to his own King Qi can be seen by a rough man, let alone other people?

Thinking of these bad things, Huang Long sat up, he couldn't help but blame Lin Danhan and the group of people who betrayed the news.

Why couldn't they cooperate better at the beginning, and Lin Danhan couldn't be faster.

If they got rid of Zhu Youxiao, there wouldn't be so much trouble now.

"Master Hou!"

When Huanglong was complaining about Lin Danhan, a general in the house ran all the way into the house.

He pushed open the door, and the bitter cold wind blew into the room, making Li Dan, Huang Long and even a group of people shiver.

"You!" Huang Long saw that the person who came was a hundred households of the Hou Mansion under his command, and almost got angry and threw something at him.

It's just that his idea has not been implemented yet, and a word from the hundreds of households in the Hou Mansion made his mind go blank.

"Master Hou! The Marquis of Zhongzhou...is dead!"

"What did you say?!"

When the word "喨殂" appeared, everyone's heart tightened.

"The Marquis of Zhongzhou... is dead!" All the households in the Hou Mansion bowed and bowed, Huang Long's mind went blank with one sentence, and he fell back and sat on the rocking chair...

------

【On the ninth day of October in the 16th year of Apocalypse, Qin Bangping, the Marquis of Zhongzhou, died in Zhongzhou at the age of 68. His Majesty named him King of Zhongzhou in the Zhongxia Palace. He was buried with the ceremony of a prince. 】

[Apocalypse 16, October 66th, Youyang Hou Qin Banghan passed away due to excessive grief. He was [-] years old. His Majesty posthumously named him Youyang King in Zhongxia Palace, posthumously titled Wushun, and buried him with the ceremony of a prince. 】

"This……"

On October [-]th, when Zhu Ciran from Guangzhou received the weekly Da Ming Pao and saw an extra section on the front page, he felt dizzy, but he could no longer read other pages. .

When he passed through Sichuan, he was going to visit Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan in Chengdu, but he learned that the two had gone back to Zhongzhou to recuperate, so he had no choice but to miss it.

I never thought that if I miss it at this moment, I will miss it for a lifetime.

The most important point is that he should have tried his best to win over the Qin and Qi families for his father during this trip, but the result was not satisfactory.

The Qin family killed the two Marquis at once, and only Wulong Bo Qin Minping and Shi Zhubo Qin Liangyu were left to support the scene.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ciran just wanted to call Liu Shun and the others to discuss matters, but the sound of armor suddenly sounded outside the courtyard where they lived.

"Your Highness!"

The sound of neat armor made Liu Shun and others feel nervous, and hurried to the meeting hall, but Zhu Ciran calmly raised his hand to signal them not to panic.

"Open the door!"

He walked out of the meeting hall and came to the courtyard to signal the Jinyiwei to open the door. Seeing this, Liu Shun immediately arranged for some Jinyiwei to be on guard.

They loaded their rifles one after another, and the two Jinyi guards at the door saw that everyone was getting ready, looked at each other and opened the door.

The moment they opened the door, a general in his twenties was about to knock on the door, so the opening made him knock in vain.

The door was opened, and what appeared in front of the Guangzhou Ming army was a group of people in civilian clothes holding rifles. They didn't know that they were Jinyiwei, so they raised their guns to guard.

The Jin Yiwei inside saw the Ming army raising their guns, and nervously put their fingers in front of the trigger.

"Don't move! Put down your guns!"

When the young general caught sight of the dark-skinned Zhu Ciran, he immediately turned around and cursed, signaling all the Ming troops to put down their guns.

Seeing this, Zhu Ciran also turned around and ordered: "Put down the gun."

"Obey!" Liu Shun's scalp was numb, and he hurriedly asked someone to put down the gun, for fear of brushing the gun and passing by.

No wonder Liu Shun was vigilant, after all, Zhu Youxiao put Zhu Ciran by his side to protect Zhu Ciran. As Zhu Youxiao's confidant, he certainly experienced Lin Danhan's invasion.

He admired the Ming army very much, but he did not dare to trust it easily because of politics.

Now that Nan Jun took the initiative to put down his gun, it was naturally impossible for him to let people aim at Nan Jun.

"Stand outside and wait for me to come out!"

The young general cursed, then took off the weapons around his waist, and walked into the courtyard wearing only his armor.

Liu Shun signaled the Jinyiwei to close the door, and the Jinyiwei at the door immediately closed the courtyard door.

"Qi Wulong, General of the Guangzhou Battalion of the Confederate Governor's Mansion, sees His Highness, Your Highness is a thousand years old!"

Qi Wulong bowed to salute, Zhu Ciran nodded slightly when he saw this, he knew everyone, this person was Qi Yuangong's eldest son, Qi Yuangong's right and left hand:

"I was going to see Duke Feng, but I never thought that Duke Feng would send someone here."

Feng Guogong was canonized by Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian before Qi Jin died, and Qi Yuangong, as the eldest son, and with military merits, he should inherit the title as a matter of course.

The reason why Zhu Ciran mentioned Qi Yuangong was that he actually wanted to know whether Qi Wulong's arrival was sent by Qi Yuangong or by himself.

"My father didn't know that His Highness was coming. It was His Highness King Qi who issued an order to send his last general to guard His Highness." Qi Wulong explained why he appeared here.

"Sent by Uncle Wang?" Zhu Ciran was slightly taken aback, and Qi Wulong also bowed and replied:
"Long live there is a decree, Your Highness, please take the imperial decree to Zhongzhou to express condolences, and proclaim the decree to confer the titles of Wu Longbo and Shi Zhubo."

Zhu Ciran's plan has changed. Due to the death of Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan, the situation in the Southwest will be reshuffled.

The two have deep feelings for Daming, so they naturally stand on Zhu Youxiao's side, but their heirs are not necessarily the same.

Zhu Ciran was sent there to confirm the attitude of the two marquis heirs.

Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan's death was so sudden that even Zhu Youjian couldn't react in time, so they missed a step. The eldest son of the two could only rely on military merits to inherit the marquis without losing his title.

In this case, Zhu Youjian can naturally confer the title of Duke of the State after the two of them seize the title, but no matter what he does, he has to confirm the attitudes of Qin Gongming and Qin Zhongming.

Sending Zhu Ciran as the prince is the best way to see the Qin family's attitude.

Zhu Ciran knew it in his heart, so he looked at Qi Wulong: "Is there an imperial decree?"

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Ciran's inquiry about the imperial decree, Qi Wulong untied the knot on his chest, and it was only at this moment that Zhu Ciran noticed that Qi Wulong was carrying a long box on his back.

The box was untied, Qi Wulong supported it with both hands, Zhu Ciran bowed first when he saw this, and then carefully opened the box.

Not surprisingly, the imperial decree made of jade scrolls was placed in the box.

After confirming the authenticity of the imperial decree, Zhu Ciran closed the box, then took the box and handed it to Zhang Xiu who was next to him, and then he asked Qi Wulong, "When are you leaving?"

"If it is convenient, Your Highness, how is it now?"

Qi Wulong looked at Zhu Ciran's complexion, and felt that with such a complexion, he dared not say anything else. It should be okay to endure hardship, so he proposed to start now.

"Okay!" Hearing Qi Wulong's words, Zhu Ciran turned to Liu Shun and said, "Clean up, we're leaving now."

"Yes!" Liu Shun bowed in response, glanced at Qi Wulong, didn't say anything, but arranged for Jin Yiwei to pack his things and prepare to leave.

When Jin Yiwei was tidying up, Zhu Ciran smiled kindly and said, "Young Duke is younger than I thought."

"My father got married a little late, so he will be a little younger in the end." Qi Wulong was neither humble nor overbearing, but in Zhu Ciran's impression, his uncle said Qi Jin's temper was somewhat similar.

"It is a pity that I was unable to meet Duke Feng when I came to Guangzhou this time. When the condolences are over, I must return to Guangzhou to visit Duke Feng."

Zhu Ciran intentionally said some friendly words, but Qi Wulong just nodded after hearing this, and echoed: "Please trouble Your Highness."

His attitude was a little cold, which made Zhu Ciran feel bad.

He suddenly felt that his family line seemed to have no influence on the third generation of the Qi family.

If the Qi family is like this, what about the Qin family?

For a moment, Zhu Ciran felt how difficult his family's situation was.

Military generals don't like it, civil servants don't like it... It's really all thanks to my uncle to be able to secure the throne.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ciran became more and more troubled about his uncle's vassal affairs.

"Your Highness, pack it up."

While he was having a headache, Liu Shun and the others quickly packed up their things. After hearing the words, Zhu Ciran could only return to reality: "If this is the case, then let's go."

Saying that, Zhu Ciran glanced at Qi Wulong, Qi Wulong nodded slightly, and led Zhu Ciran and the others out of the small courtyard.

When he came outside the courtyard, Zhu Ciran discovered that the originally empty alley was already crowded with Southern Army soldiers in armor.

They looked at Zhu Ciran curiously, but they didn't know Zhu Ciran's identity.

After Qi Wulong let the soldiers and horses back out of the alley, he brought Zhu Ciran and the others to a side road in Guangzhou City.

A carriage has been prepared here, but when Zhu Ciran saw it, he quickly waved his hand and said:
"I have a car, so I won't take a carriage."

"Have a car?" Qi Wulong asked suspiciously, but he soon saw the four-wheeled rickshaw pushed out of the alley by Jin Yiwei.

"This car is somewhat similar to a bicycle."

Qi Wulong didn't know about Zhu Ciran's ride in Daming, he only knew about the private visit of the prince in micro-clothes, but he didn't expect that the prince came here by bicycle.

"How many miles can this car travel in a day? Can it keep up with the horse infantry?"

Qi Wulong was afraid that riding this bike would be too slow, which would slow down the marching speed, but Zhu Ciran laughed and said, "It's not a problem to walk a hundred miles a day."

"One hundred miles?" Qi Wulong was a little surprised, this speed was faster than their usual rush, and any faster would be comparable to their forced march.

"In that case, please Your Highness and the last general should be in the middle position."

Qi Wulong bowed to make arrangements, and Zhu Ciran, who had studied military art, also nodded with a smile when he heard the words, and then got into the four-wheeled cart with Liu Shun and the two skinny Jinyi guards.

They rode to the position of the central army of the army, and the soldiers of the southern army in the central army kept looking at them curiously.

Facing their gazes, Zhu Ciran smiled brightly, while Liu Shun and the two guards shook their heads.

"Curiosity...you won't be curious after a while."

"But with so many people, it may take a long time..."

When Liu Shun and the others were thinking this way, Qi Wulong also took a look at the four-wheeled vehicle, and then got on the horse.

With a sound of departure, three thousand horse infantry cleared the way and escorted Zhu Ciran to Zhongzhou...