Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 562
"Repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace?"

On February 26, when the news of Nanjing reached the capital, Zhu Youxiao, who was in the Hall of Mental Cultivation because of the government affairs, became interested.

He motioned Wei Zhongxian to read on, and Wei Zhongxian also knew that the emperor was irritable recently, so he recited Zhu Ciran's melody in a pleasant manner.

When Zhu Youxiao learned that most of the palaces in the Nanjing Imperial Palace had collapsed, and the Nanjing Taimiao had already been burned down, he couldn't help frowning a little.

At the end of the memorial, Zhu Ciran stated the estimated repair costs of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.

If there is suitable wood, the cost of repairing the Nanjing Imperial Palace should be around 900 million taels, if not, it is estimated to be around 400 million taels.

This amount of money is much more valuable than the three halls of the Beijing Imperial Palace, but Zhu Ciran has some doubts about it.

He said that he would return to the capital in two months and submit drawings of the damaged temples in various parts of the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

After reading this, Wei Zhongxian also finished Zhu Ciran's first memorial to Zhu Youxiao.

After reading the memorial, Wei Zhongxian looked at Zhu Youxiao flatteringly.

From Zhu Youxiao's face, he saw that Zhu Youxiao was very interested in this matter, so he also said:
"Long live, the Nanjing Imperial Palace must be repaired. The train has already passed. Long live may return to Nanjing from time to time in the future. If the palace is not repaired, where will we live?"

"Well..." Wei Zhongxian's words were very useful, and Zhu Youxiao nodded in agreement.

Agreeing is agreeing, though, but finances are a big problem.

"I remember that the annual income of domestic money is only 3706 million taels, right?"

Zhu Youxiao turned his head to look at Wang An who was standing aside, and Wang An also truthfully explained after hearing the words: "This year there should be 380 million taels."

"380 million taels..." Zhu Youxiao pondered for a few seconds, feeling that the money was not enough.

Since Zhu Youjian started his business as a royal horse supervisor, and miscellaneous taxes such as gold, flower and silver were abolished in the New Deal, the income of domestic funds was directly cut in half.

In the past, Huangzhuang, Huangdian, Jinhuayin and other incomes were the bulk of domestic income, but now Huangzhuang farmland is distributed to farmers. Although Huangdian is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs, it is also an independent financial department.

Therefore, in the ten years or so of the apocalypse, what Zhu Youjian needs to face is to set some royal income.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian's approach is to transfer 1% of the annual profits of the Huangdian, the Ministry of Households, and Overseas Gold and Silver to transfer internal funds in the tenth year of the apocalypse.

In addition, there are 1000 taels a year for the vassal kings and 100 taels a year for the county kings to maintain the Taimiao and Wangfu from the vassals.

At that time, because Jianlu was still there and miscellaneous items had not been abolished, the total internal money income could still be maintained at about 400 million taels.

In the 13th year of the Apocalypse, Jianlu was destroyed and miscellaneous items were completely abolished, and the income of internal funds was cut in half again. Zhu Youjian could only incorporate the income from overseas gold and silver and imperial stores into the income of internal funds, and increased it to 10%.

Based on these two items of income alone, the internal money income has reached 300 million taels of income, and with the issuance of Tianqi Tongbao, the internal money has also obtained 50% of the currency issuance profit.

The minting profit of Da Ming Qi Tong Bao is 1%, and the number of old coins recycled and reissued each year is about 3000 to [-] million taels.

Judging from the current annual issuance situation of the imperial court, the internal money has obtained an income of 10,000+ taels from here.

In addition, 10% of the stall silver in various cities and towns also needs to be handed over to internal funds, and this income can be accounted for 10,000+ taels.

Adding all these together, the domestic revenue can barely reach 380 million taels.

It seems that the royal family accounts for a large proportion of the imperial court's finances, but if you analyze it carefully, after there is no Jinhuayin and Huangzhuang, and the royal family does not intervene in the management of the imperial store, the royal family basically has no interest in the lowest-level farmers in Ming Dynasty.

The bad guys were done by the imperial store and the Ministry of Households, and the royal family just collected money.

However, this income method is actually relatively backward, and has certain disadvantages.

For example, in terms of the profit from currency issuance, if the Ming Dynasty changed the currency to paper currency, then when the cost of currency became lower and the profit increased, the royal family would take the majority of the finances.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian must cultivate the trust of the people of Ming Dynasty in paper money before he took over the domain, and after the paper money is issued, reduce the royal family's proportion of currency issuance profits.

The practice of printing portraits on banknotes to collect portrait rights is also a practice that is not easily criticized by the people.

However, there is no eternal dynasty, and how many years Zhu Youjian's set of rules can run depends entirely on whether the later kings can persist.

As long as one person changes the New Deal and no longer distributes farmland to the people, or if there is too much food and the land is too cheap, and the peasants revolt, then the Ming Dynasty will not escape the fate of destruction.

But after all, there is the suzerainty system, or the same sentence, after the new system appears, no matter who is in power, as long as he is not a political idiot, he will not trample on the Ming royal family, because the overseas suzerainty system represents a lot of profits.

Even if the royal family has no real power, or even the title of emperor, they will still have some idle positions. Only when the suzerain-vassal system is ended and the kings of Ming Dynasty are revolutionized one after another, the royal family may be abandoned, but basically it is unlikely to be abandoned. kill.

Zhu Youxiao knew all of this, so he let his brother come here.

Since the national treasury and internal funds are completely separated, Zhu Youxiao is quite supportive.

It's just that when it comes to the current big project that needs to repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace, the little money in the internal funds is not enough, not to mention that Zhu Youjian has collected 200 million taels of internal funds, and it is fixed every year.

"The three guards of the imperial city, the general of the Han Dynasty, the palaces of the princes, the inner court, and the palace of the prince of Qi. After all these expenditures are gone, how much annual income can the internal money have?"

Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian replied without hesitation: "The annual fixed expenditure is about 300 million taels, and there is still a surplus of 160 million taels in the internal funds."

"One hundred and sixteen... That's a little short, and there's only a balance of 80 million taels per year." Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youxiao frowned.

However, at this time Wei Zhongxian flattered:

"Long live, this palace is not only your residence, but also the place where civil and military officials work."

"The servant girl thinks that the outer court can be handed over to the six ministries for repairs, while the inner court can be handed over to the inner court for repairs. As for how the palace is repaired and who supervises the work, it is naturally supervised by Long Live and the Supervisor of Ceremonies."

Wei Zhongxian was very happy to express his thoughts, and of course he didn't just want to make Zhu Youxiao happy, he was even more happy that he could steal it.

Although it would be very difficult to steal in front of carpenters like Zhu Youxiao who are familiar with prices, but with the help of the court, the prices of many things can be reduced to the cost.

In this way, Wei Zhongxian can eat the profits that the merchants would have eaten.

For a project of 900 million taels, he can eat at least 60 million taels alone.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian's old face was smiling as brightly as a chrysanthemum.

"It's a way..."

Zhu Youxiao felt that what Wei Zhongxian said was very reasonable, and wanted to take this opportunity to give himself a holiday.

He turned his head sideways, and when he saw the more than 400 memorials waiting to be processed, he couldn't help but get a headache.

Regarding the matter of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, Zhang Yandeng had neglected Colonel Zhu Youxiao in the fourth year of Tianqi.

At that time, there were three reasons why Zhu Youxiao rejected this good opportunity to practice his skills.

First, at that time the Ming Dynasty was preparing for the battle of the Liao Dynasty, and the war in the north was really urgent.

Second, at that time, Zhu Youjiao was studying how to repair the three main halls of the Beijing Imperial Palace, and he was too busy with his hands.

Thirdly, under the condition that both the above two items need to use silver, Daming is unable to build the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and Zhu Youxiao does not think that he can live in the Nanjing Imperial Palace in his life.

However, how could Zhu Youxiao have imagined that the Armament Academy would actually come up with a train that could be used after spending six years.

With the advent of the train, not to mention the Nanjing Imperial Palace, even distant places such as Jiaozhi and the Old Port are almost within easy reach for Zhu Youxiao.

Zhu Youxiao originally wanted to use the train to travel around Daming, especially after hearing the anecdote that his son and younger brother traveled around the road successively, his thoughts became more active.

As Nanjing is the hub of Jiangnan, since Daming wants to control Jiangnan, he must go to Jiangnan from time to time to frighten the local gentry officials.

Repairing the imperial palace is regarded as an eye salve. When the repair of the Taoist imperial palace is completed and Zhu Youxiao moves into the Nanjing imperial palace, he will put a sharp knife on the heads of the local gentry officials that may fall at any time.

Because of the situation after the palace was repaired, Zhu Youxiao had no doubt that someone would make small moves in Nanjing.

Since someone is making small moves, someone must sit in charge.

Anyway, you have to choose one person to sit in the town, so it's better to experience the style of Jiangnan by yourself.

Thinking of the prosperity of Nanjing City and the beautiful scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Youxiao felt a little itchy in his heart.

But after thinking about it, he still didn't make an order hastily, but sent someone to send the news to Hexi to see what Zhu Youjian's attitude was.

In just five days, when the time came to the first day of March, the news was successfully delivered to Zhu Youjian, and at this time he was on his way to Jiayuguan.

Jiayuguan in April is still cool...

The carriage was walking on the wide and straight county road in the Hexi Corridor, and the sound of the wheels rolling broke the silence around.

The windows of the four-wheeled carriage were opened from the inside to the outside, and Zhu Cihong, whose face was as white as jade, poked his head out, and when he raised his head slightly, he saw the blue sky.

With the blue sky, floating white clouds, and the towering Qilian Snow Mountain in the south, Zhu Cihong seems to be able to hear the camel bells of the Tang caravan nearly a thousand years ago.

In the distance, Jiayuguan lying on the ground appeared in front of their eyes.

This "Guancheng" was not very attractive to Zhu Cihong at first, but as the mother in the carriage recited the story of Huo Qubing's battle against Qilian, Zhu Cihong gradually became interested.

Zhu Cihong was looking at the natural scenery, because he had never seen the rough and majestic scenery of the Hexi Corridor.

It's just that for Man Gui, who has been patrolling Hexi all year round, he is complaining constantly in the carriage in front of him at this moment.

"The repair of this train is too slow. After getting out of Lanzhou City, you have to take a carriage all the time. If there is a train for this journey of more than 200 miles, it will only take two days."

Getting used to taking the train, Man Gui complained about Hexi's "backwardness".

While he was complaining in the carriage, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile.

On the one hand, he was laughing at Man Gui's fickleness, and on the other hand, he was laughing at his imperial brother's little thoughts.

Taking the 17-year bond between the two brothers as an example, once Zhu Youxiao pouted his butt, Zhu Youjian knew what shit he was going to do.

As it is now...

After Zhu Youxiao sent the news and solutions to the Nanjing Palace, Zhu Youjian knew that his brother didn't really care much about the Nanjing Palace.

He just wanted to go to Jiangnan, give himself a vacation in the name of building the palace, and call himself or his eldest nephew back to supervise the country.

For Zhu Youxiao, who has loved carpentry all his life, it is impossible to sit on the dragon chair all year round.

But for Zhu Youjian, who has been tired for more than ten years, it is impossible for him to go back to the prison country.

"Where is Brother Ran?" Zhu Youjian closed the handwriting sent by Jin Yiwei, and raised his head to ask Lu Yuangao.

Lu Yuangao didn't understand what he meant, and said bluntly: "According to the time, we should have arrived in Yangzhou."

"Yangzhou..." Hearing that Zhu Ciran had arrived in Yangzhou, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but smile.

He raised his hand and shook Zhu Youxiao's handwriting, then said with a calculating look in his eyes:

"Tell Long Live that the Western Regions are not stable, please allow me to rest for another month."

"In addition, the Nanjing Imperial Palace is the foundation of the country after all, so it should be repaired, so let's do it according to Long Live's wishes."

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Lu Yuangao didn't think too much, after all, the Western Regions were really unstable at this time.

As they gradually penetrated into Hexi, information from Jin Yiwei from the Western Regions continued to be sent back.

In mid-February, war broke out between Lindan Khan, Kazakhs, Yarkand and other countries in Luntai County of the Tang Dynasty, and later in Urumqi.

The Kazakh Sanyuzi and Yarkand Khanate gathered [-] troops and fought against Lindan Khan's [-] cavalry in a field battle. The two sides fought for ten days, with arrows like locusts, and finally ended with the defeat of the Allied Forces in the Western Regions.

Even Zhu Youjian didn't expect such a situation.

It's not that he didn't expect Lin Danhan to win, but he didn't expect that many forces in the Western Regions were so weak. It's no wonder that the Junggar tribe unified most of the Western Regions in less than 40 years after Gushhan went to Qinghai-Tibet.

Judging from the current posture, if there is no third-party force to intervene, Lin Danhan can completely unify the Western Regions within five years, and even the Junggar tribe who ran to the northern foot of Jinshan Mountain will be expelled.

It's just that Zhu Youjian is in power now, not Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Youtang.

He will not sit back and watch Mongolia grow, so the necessary blows must follow.

Thinking of this, he also said to Man Gui:
"At most in the middle of 19, the Jingjia Railway will be open to traffic, and the Jinglong Railway will also be able to connect to the Yunlu Railway and the Kunzhan Railway."

"Materials from the four northeastern provinces and Northern Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Luchuan, and Jiaozhi will be continuously transported to Jiayuguan."

"Now that Wu Sangui is about to send troops, the Raksha people entrenched east of the glacier can be wiped out before September."

"In the future, as long as Guochao vigorously develops the Shanyu province, it can attack the northern captives from three directions: the northern foot of Jinshan Mountain, the southern foothill of Jinshan Mountain, and Hami."

It will take two and a half years for Zhu Youjian to send troops to the Western Regions and restore them.

As long as the Western Regions are conquered, even if the train is not repaired, coal mines can be mined locally and tractors can be transported to the local area.

At that time, it only needs to invest in a sufficient number of tractors and operate it well for a year or two, then Daming can rely on the Western Regions to raise [-] troops.

Thirty thousand Ming army cavalry equipped with rifles, they can gallop in the river (Central Asia) and the east and west sides of the Ural Mountains.

At this level, Zhu Youjian can take many people to Qi State with peace of mind.

"Your Highness, if you send troops like this, won't you let the tiger and the rabbit run away?"

Man Gui carefully studied Zhu Youjian's fighting style, and found that Zhu Youjian was basically fighting from west to east, and from north to south.

There is nothing wrong with doing this, but the problem is that in doing so, it seems to leave out the West that can escape.

Lin Danhan's strength is not bad, and today's Tsarist Russia has not yet experienced the reforms of Peter I.

When Lin Dan Khan entered Central Asia with [-] to [-] cavalry, or fled to the northwest to occupy the Siberian Plain, Tsarist Russia had no power to stop it.

It can even be said that if Lin Dan Khan insisted on fleeing westward, the power of Tsarist Russia would at most block Lin Dan Khan to the east of the Volga River.

From the perspective of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian actually hoped that Lin Dan Khan would lead his troops to the middle of the river, annex Kazakhstan, Bukhara and Khiva, and cross the Volga River to annex the Crimean Khanate and occupy Caspian lowlands in the northern Caucasus.

Because in this way, Tsarist Russia will face a huge nomadic empire, and he must send troops to defend in the south and southeast, thereby relaxing the defense to the east.

In this way, the Ming army can directly drink horses from the Ural Mountains, and at the same time establish a state capital directly under the central government in the west of the Ural Mountains, or make it a vassal there.

Therefore, letting Lin Danhan go is of great benefit to Zhu Youjian.

From a certain point of view, Zhu Youjian even wanted to send this shit-stirring stick in Mongolia in history to Europe, acting as a shit-stirring stick for Ming Dynasty in Europe.

"Letting Lin Danhan go is good for the country."

Zhu Youjian replied, and at this time the carriage arrived at the gate of Jiayuguan.

Due to the experience in Qinghai County, Zhu Youjian did not dare to let others know that he was coming, but simply notified the guard at Jiayuguan.

Therefore, when the carriage stopped and he got off, all he saw was the majestic and vast Jiayuguan, and the rest were the tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in the east of Jiayuguan, and the Jiayuguan general who was guarding the city gate to welcome him. .

"See you at the end..."

"All right."

Seeing Zhu Youjian and Man Gui getting off the car, Jiayuguan ginseng immediately stepped forward to salute, but Zhu Youjian stopped him:
"Don't be polite, just do your own thing."

After all, Zhu Youjian walked into Jiayuguan City, and saw the people's livelihood environment that was similar to what Zhu Ciran had seen back then.

He was very satisfied, so he didn't stay too long, but walked to the Guancheng of Jiayuguan.

Zhu Youjian knew more about Jiayuguan than Zhu Ciran.

Jiayuguan Guan City is surrounded by Qilian Mountains on one side and Heishan Mountain on the other, just sandwiched between the two mountains, so it can become the northwest gateway in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

I don't know how many soldiers defending the country and borders have stood on that majestic city tower, and it just stands in this northwest border.

Zhu Youjian walked up slowly, stood upstairs and looked into the distance.

At this time, the sun happened to pour down from the clouds, and fell on the endless snow-capped mountains, shining with silver light.

East of Guancheng, full of vitality...

To the west of Guancheng, there is a barren...

Man Gui, who followed up, looked at all this, and he couldn't help sighing:

"Your Highness, although the last general is a general, but in the matter of recovering the Western Regions, even if the people in the five armies' governor's mansion are all involved, the civil servants in the capital may feel that it is a waste of time and money."

"After all, the Western Regions are no longer the Silk Road they used to be..."

Man Gui's words express the attitude of the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty towards the Western Regions.

His words also caused waves in Zhu Youjian's heart.

He looked to the west, unlike the scholar-officials who only saw benefits and trade-offs.

Standing here, Zhu Youjian saw more of the battle of countless soldiers and generals on the battlefield and the screaming of war horses outside this pass thousands of years ago...

He seems to have seen the rapid march of the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty many years ago, Zhang Qian's mission to the west, and the convoy of Princess Xieyou's faraway marriage.

He also saw Huo Qubing lined up here, Su Dingfang led the Tang army to march west, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing led the Tang army back...

He also saw the Tang army heading for the Western Regions with [-] young soldiers under the banner of "Guo".

With smiles on their faces, they discussed how many daughter-in-laws they would return home after being stationed in Anxi for several years, but Zhu Youjian did not see them come back after many years...

He was waiting, but what he waited for was that the Han people in this land were reduced to slaves by the Tubo people, who hunted and killed the Han people in Hexi for fun.

When he got here, he thought the matter was over, but soon he saw a group of soldiers and horses holding high the "Zhang" banner many years later, coming from west to east, singing "Qin Wang Breaking the Battle" from Shazhou.

In the future...the number of Han people left behind is less and less, and finally only the faces of Hu people in Anxi Tangjia are left. people.

He seemed to have no expectations, and just as he was about to leave, a familiar voice sounded in his ear.

"Expel the barbarians and restore China!"

"Set up the outline and Chen Ji, and save the people!"

The wind and sand in the northwest brought the familiar Jianghuai official language to Zhu Youjian's ears. When he looked back, he seemed to see the Ming army in mandarin ducks and jackets chanting from east to west, holding high the "Da Zong" banner.

Counting from the third year of Song Jingyou to the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, for a total of 330 years, the faces of the Han people appeared here again.

The Ming army under the banner of "Feng" crossed here, and they went west, went to Guazhou, and also went to Dunhuang.

Obviously they won seven battles and seven victories, and once entered the Western Regions, but for some unknown reason, they withdrew back and built a pass in this place.

After that, although Zhu Youjian could still see the Ming army coming out of here to conquer the west, it was only a flash in the pan after all.

This closed city, opened, it is the corridor of civilization exchange.Closed, it is the barrier that guards the territory of the country.

Zhu Youjian returned to reality from history, and his eyes came out from the blurred history.

He saw Jiayuguan clearly today. Although it has busy streets and noisy markets, it also has buildings and faces full of Han culture...

But he also knows that the footsteps of the Han people seem to have stopped at the Guancheng under his feet, and this time has been 140 years.

Jiayuguan, which stands quietly between the snow-capped Qilian and the barren Montenegro, is like a general who has been stationed in the endless Gobi desert for thousands of years.

It has gone through a long river of time and witnessed too many historical changes and dynasties.

It does not have so many dazzling cultural treasures like Dunhuang, but it has its own eternal mission.

It is more like a lonely soul that exists on the border between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, and it has been like this for thousands of years.

Standing here, the sense of mission on Zhu Youjian's shoulders seems to have become heavier.

Whether the Han people want to step out of this pass, the choice is in his hands.

Whether Jiayuguan should be a barrier to guard the soil or become a corridor between the Central Plains and the Western Regions is also in his hands.

If he doesn't do some things, it will be difficult for future generations to do them.

Looking at the Gobi desert in the west, with a heavy heart, Zhu Youjian knew very well whether it was the Western Regions, Beiting, or the more distant Mengchi.

Only when he is defeated and immigrated to the real side can it benefit future generations.

"If we don't fight some battles, we have to leave them to future generations to fight."

Zhu Youjian turned and left, but his back was very tall.

His voice sounded and echoed in Man Gui's ears, full of vigor.

"The old land of the Han and Tang Dynasties will be restored, and those who dare to stop fighting will be killed!"

　I am on a business trip, and I have to go out to work this afternoon, and I don't know when I will be back.

　　If you come back, you will update Chapter 2, but the time is uncertain.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)