Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 567
"Dang...dang...dang..."

"put!"

"Bang bang bang!"

At the end of June, accompanied by the ringing of the port bell and the salute of the representative's welcome, Guangping County, the South Kunlun Supervisor Sidong Kunlun Prefecture, also ushered in the huge fleet for the third voyage to the West.

At the port, Yan Yinshao, the magistrate of East Kunlun, led a thousand Ming troops stationed in Guangping County to welcome the Western Fleet.

"Such a huge fleet, it's almost like a fleet to destroy the country, but His Highness actually said it was used to promote the country's prestige, this is really..."

A Ming army guard next to Yan Yinshao couldn't help but speak, and Yan Yinshao himself stroked his short beard:
"It is rumored that Tianjin Shipyard is developing a steam warship that can walk without wind."

"If this kind of warship can be launched, then the time to return to Beijing from here will be shortened to three months."

"Going without wind? Is this possible?" The guard was a little surprised, and Yan Yinshao nodded slightly:

"It shouldn't be a problem. After all, the country already operates trains, and trains can be used without animal power. The same should be true for steam warships."

Yan Yinshao and the others were talking, at this time the huge fleet also stopped in the waters outside the port of Guangping County.

Since the port of Guangping County can only accommodate ships with a capacity of less than [-] tons, the Western Fleet sent [-] supply ships of [-] materials into the port for replenishment.

Huang Fei and Xu Xiake, as well as more than 2000 artisans who migrated, and more than 5000 immigrants came with the boat.

When the ship sailed into the port, the ship's ladder was lowered, and immigrants, craftsmen, and some Ming soldiers disembarked one after another.

Xu Xiake and Huang Fei disembarked under the escort of the Ming army, and Yan Yinshao stepped forward to greet them.

"Yan Yinshao, the magistrate of East Kunlun Prefecture, has met Governor Huang and Xu Shilang."

"Prefect Yan..."

Facing Yan Yinshao's bow, Huang Fei and Xu Xiake bowed one after another, not daring to neglect.

Although Yan Yinshao was only a magistrate, he was a descendant of Yan Hui and Yan Zhenqing after all, and he was also the early leader of the Yanshan School.

Although he is only the prefect at the moment, everyone knows that once he is transferred back to the capital to serve as a capital official, his future will not be worse than the two of them.

The two of them wanted Yan Yinshao right now, so naturally they would not speak rudely to him.

"Prefect Yan, this is the supply needed by the fleet. I wonder if Guangping County can make up for it?"

Xu Xiake was in charge of the fleet's diplomacy and logistics, so he handed over the supply documents needed by the fleet to Yan Yinshao.

Yan Yinshao took a look after taking it, and also realized how big the scale of the voyage to the West was during this period.

"20 shimi, [-] tons of vegetables, [-] tons of fruits, [-] tons of fresh water..."

He read out the supply requirements in the document one by one, and the price of the supplies in the entire document reached 12 taels of silver.

As far as such materials are concerned, if it is an ordinary county, it will naturally be unsatisfactory, but it is not difficult for Guangping County.

At present, there are only 22 soldiers and civilians in Guangping County, but there are as many as 62 labor camps, and the land cultivated by labor camps has reached [-] mu.

Among these fields, except for 30 mu of land used to plant sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and other crops to match the rice from India for labor reformers, the remaining 32 mu of arable land were planted with Daming rice.

As for fruits and vegetables, thanks to the climate of East Kunlun Prefecture, although it is necessary to improve the land to grow rice and wheat here, it is not necessary to grow fruits and vegetables. Not only is it not necessary, but the growth is gratifying.

It is very easy for the strength of Guangping County to provide 20 shi rice wheat and other materials to meet the food needs of the army and civilians in Guangping County.

"These are not a problem. I will order the labor camp workers to pick them and transport them to the port within ten days."

Yan Yinshao first agreed, and then asked curiously to his old acquaintance Xu Xiake:

"Has Minister Xu visited Persia and Lu Mi this time?"

"No..." Xu Xiake showed a regretful expression:

"It didn't catch up with the good season. There were storms in the Mesending Sea (Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman), the Karabi Sea, and the West Red Sea. The visit had to be interrupted."

"Not only did I fail to visit these two small countries, but I also failed to go to the capital of the Rui Kingdom in the West Red Sea. I will pay my respects to His Royal Highness King Rui."

"The supply of the fleet is insufficient. Fortunately, the country of Gui is developing well. After a hasty supply in Gui, we immediately headed south. Along the way, we paid homage to His Royal Highnesses King Yi, King Zheng, and King Min. Only with a hasty supply did we barely reach Guangping County."

"The old man plans to divide the fleet into twelve after heading to the Little Western Ocean, and successively visit nine countries including Anelia, Franza, Franji...Rhodori."

Compared with the current pattern of hundreds of countries on the European continent, Xu Xiake only read the names of nine countries.

Obviously, in his opinion, some other countries are not worth visiting at all.

If these nine countries are translated according to the names of later generations, they are Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.

Since Tsarist Russia does not yet have access to the Baltic Sea, it is not on the visit list, and its national strength is not strong.

"Such a fleet will go to Europe, I am afraid that the war that is breaking out in European countries will stop for a while."

After listening to Xu Xiake's words, Yan Yinshao looked into the distance, at the huge fleet parked at sea.

Xu Xiake smiled slightly, without denying it.

"By the way, I haven't asked Yan Zhifu yet, how is the situation in the three countries of Huai, Tang, and Ji? Can you supply some supplies for the fleet?"

Xu Xiake thought of the business. After all, the main function of the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner is to inspect the feudal clans of Levia and grasp their details.

Normally speaking, Yan Yinshao, one of the two acquaintances of the Supervision Department, should have a better understanding of the situation in various countries.

"Supplies..." Hearing Xu Xiake's question, Yan Yinshao nodded first, then shook his head and said:

"A small amount of supply is not a problem, but it is estimated that too much will not work."

"On the first day of June, people from all over the world sent people to Kunlun County to send the "Fish Scale Atlas" and "Yellow Book". The officials also wrote to understand."

"Currently Tang, Ji, and Huai have the most arable land in Tang, with more than 15 soldiers and civilians, more than [-] labor reformers, and less than [-] mu of arable land."

"The military and civilian populations of the Kyrgyz and Huai states do not exceed 12, the labor camps do not exceed 13, and the arable land is [-] and [-] mu respectively."

"Since the local yield per mu is less than nine buckets, I am afraid that the supplies that can be brought to the fleet are limited. At most, they will be supplied with supplies for more than ten days."

"In addition, in the northwest of Kyrgyzstan, Yatsanawo (Gambia), which was originally ruled by the Franji Kingdom, was attacked by the fleets of the Red Maoyi and Anelia, and suffered heavy losses. It is estimated that the fleet could not be replenished."

"If the fleet wants to replenish, it can only sail five thousand miles at a stretch, and head to Agadir in Marocco (Morocco) for replenishment."

Yan Yinshao brought a piece of bad news to Xu Xiake and Huang Fei, that is, the news that Yachanawo Kingdom was attacked.

Yatsanawa, ruled by the Portuguese for nearly 100 years, can be said to be an important supply point for South Africa to go to Europe.

Now that he is being attacked, he is naturally unable to resupply the fleet sailing to the west due to heavy losses. This means that Xu Xiake and the others will have to travel more than 3000 miles to reach the next resupply point.

This kind of news made Huang Fei and Xu Xiake look very unhappy. The two simply said goodbye to Yan Yinshao, and then began to discuss the issue of supplies.

While they were discussing, Yan Yinshao was unhurriedly looking at the fleet for the third voyage to the West.

After a long time, Huang Fei and Huang Fei discussed the matter.

They are going to make the final supply in Changning County of Nankunlun Prefecture, and reserve enough supplies to sail to Europe.

Knowing his choice, Yan Yinshao didn't think there was anything wrong, he just turned around and took Huang Fei, Xu Xiake, and many generals in the Western Fleet to Guangping County for a visit.

Because Yan Yinshao was deeply influenced by the Confucian culture of his family, the design of the three counties of Dongping, Xiangwu and Guangping presided over by him took the South Street in the city as the main axis and the Bell and Drum Tower in the center of the street as the highest point.

He built the three counties in strict accordance with many etiquette systems in the "Da Ming Hui Dian" and "Zhou Li". Even though the imperial court does not allow the establishment of Confucian temples, Yan Yinshao still found a temple that could be erected.

The Town God's Temple and the Earth Temple are standard configurations in the three counties of East Kunlun Prefecture. The two temples are at the height of the West Street, while the county government chooses the height of the East Street.

The temple and the Yamen are symmetrically distributed, one east and the other west, expressing Yan Yinshao's wish of "co-government by man and god".

The entire city of Guangping County covers an area of ​​72 mu. There are four main streets, eight small streets, and [-] small alleys.

According to Zhu Youjian's concept of square city, Guangping County, which was built by Yan Yinshao, is also a city with many shops connected to each other.

Row upon row of ancient dwellings in the city, many courtyards, courtyards, shops, buildings and other buildings have a strong central axis and strict symmetry.

Yan Yinshao and his party walked in the city. The buildings in the city were basically stone and wood structures connected by cement, and the style was based on the architectural style of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces according to the climate.

It has to be said that, compared with the houses in the small Western vassal states, where the local styles of Ming and India collided, Yan Yinshao’s Confucian philosophy allowed the style of Ming to be presented in East Kunlun Mansion without contamination.

Coming here made Xu Xiake feel like he was back in his hometown, and even Huang Fei, who likes to criticize, always appreciated it.

However, after traveling too much, the two also discovered the shortcomings of Guangping County.

"There are still too few people on this street."

"yes……"

Xu Xiake's sigh attracted Huang Fei's approval.

In this regard, Yan Yinshao also explained: "At the beginning of the design of Guangping County, it was designed to accommodate 9 people, but now there are only more than 3000 soldiers and civilians here, and [-] of them do not live in the city all year round. , so it seems a bit empty."

"In addition to Guangping County, Xiangwu County and Dongping County are also county towns that can accommodate 6 people at the beginning of the design, but the population is less than [-]."

"In addition, there are 1 towns scattered among the three counties, but the population is less than [-], which can be said to be sparsely populated."

"This is not only the case in the East Kunlun Mansion, but also in the South Kunlun Mansion. Therefore, the Supervisor Wu sent a memorial to the imperial court a few days ago, hoping that the imperial court can relocate no less than 20 people to the two areas under the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Envoy of South Kunlun. government life."

Yan Yinshao said so, but he also knew that this request would be difficult to fulfill.

The Southern Kunlun Supervising Envoy, located in the south of Levia, not only has to compete with the feudal clans in Xiaoxiyang, but also has to compete with the feudal clans in Leviathan.

According to the aesthetics of the Ming people, the local natives have no other use except for being used as labor camps.

According to the power of Ming Dynasty, unless the immigration to other places is stopped, there is no power to move 20 people to South Kunlun in one fell swoop.

But even if there are not 20 people, it is not bad to be able to migrate 10 people.

Since they are far away overseas, they are not afraid that this group of immigrants will escape after migrating here.

The current situation is different from that in the early Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunqi, and Zhu Di kept migrating and the people kept fleeing because the world was full of waste and there was a lot of arable land everywhere, and there were more land than people.

Even if they go to other prefectures and counties, local officials will cover them for political achievements, and report the escaped immigrants and the fields restored by the immigrants as the achievements of increasing the population and cultivated land under their own rule.

But it's different now. In the early Ming Dynasty, ten mu of land was used to support one person, but now the territory of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty is seven mu of land to support one person.

And due to severe drought, more than 2 million mu of dry land cannot be cultivated. The actual situation is that five mu can support one person.

Immigrants from all over the world basically come to land as soon as they come, eliminating the step of reclamation, so there is no need to worry about immigrants fleeing because their lives are not as good as before.

The people who came to the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner, as long as they endured the loneliness for the first year, they will get used to living there.

Yan Yinshao explained the benefits of the South Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner all over the place, and Xu Xiake and Huang Fei couldn't help them.

After all, what they said about the immigration didn't count, what King Qi said counted.

Seeing this, Yan Yinshao could only sigh helplessly, and then took Xu Xiake and the others to continue to visit Guangping County.

While they were wandering around Guangping County, a densely populated castle appeared on the vast plain more than 5000 miles away.

On this plain with rich grass and beautiful water, this city with a population of more than [-] people looks unusually abrupt.

In this city full of Eastern European style, a complex of buildings filled with different styles such as Byzantium, Baroque, Greece, and Rome is extremely eye-catching.

The castle wall formed by this group of buildings is more than six hundred feet long, two feet thick, and nearly five feet high. There are eighteen towers on the wall, which are scattered on the triangular palace wall.

Among them, the most eye-catching is a tower that is constantly ringing at this moment.

"Clang... clang... clang..."

The melodious sound of the bell made the entire busy city residents stop their movements. Obviously, this kind of bell should not appear at noon, because it represents the word "emergency".

While the residents were watching, a bearded officer with sunken eye sockets, a big nose, and a stature of only about five feet stepped into the palace gate.

He walked through the corridor of the city wall, and what he saw was a square paved with red stones.

On the square stands three cathedrals with golden domes, and next to them is a palace full of vicissitudes.

The Kremlin, here is the political highland of the Eastern European Plain, and it is also the place where the Romanov dynasty tsars handle state affairs.

Among other exotic buildings, it stands out the most, because it is a palace built entirely according to the Slavic tradition.

The Romanov dynasty was the most powerful dynasty in the history of the Slavs.

In the past, it was just one of the many principalities of Northeast Rus, but in nearly a hundred years, it became a powerful unified state, Tsarist Russia.

After the country was unified, the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow also changed. It used to be the most powerful of several princes, and became the only monarch in Russia.

Other princes came to serve him and became his subjects, and his title changed from Grand Duke to Tsar.

As of the 17th year of the apocalypse, it has survived under the name of Tsarist Russia for 90 years, and its territory has reached a new height in the first month of the 17th year of the apocalypse.

Its territory extends to the North Sea in the north, the Caucasus Mountains in the south, the upper reaches of the Dnieper River in the west, and the west of the Lena River in the east.

Such a kingdom, if you don't know its population and army, as well as the country's financial situation, many people will be bluffed because of its huge territory.

If you understand this, the true face of this kingdom will be completely revealed.

The Romanov dynasty, which has a huge territory, has a population of less than 1000 million, but the land system of the dynasty is a feudal land ownership system.

The land of the entire dynasty is owned by the royal family, nobles, church and state, while serfs account for more than 90.00% of the country's population, and serfs are also divided into three categories according to their attachment objects:
Serfs on the lands of noble landowners, monasteries, and churches were called private serfs, serfs on state land were called state serfs, and serfs attached to the land of the Tsar’s court were called court serfs.

Serfs were forcibly fixed in the landlord's manor and attached to the landlord for generations, and the landlord could buy, sell or donate them.

The serfs received a small piece of land from the landlord and had to perform labor services or pay service rent for the landlord. In addition, they had to pay various kinds of things to the landlord.

It is precisely because of this system that it successfully allowed Tsarist Russia's army to reach 10,000+ people.

In Europe, a kingdom with a standing army of 10,000 to [-] is already a military power, but Tsarist Russia with an army of [-]+ is not strong enough.

There is only less than 2000 million rubles in finance, and it is impossible to support the 10,000+ army.

Of the 3 noble cavalry called the sons of Devaux and Boyer, 2 were actually combat servants, and only those [-] could wear chain mail.

Excluding them, there are less than 3 shooting guards who can be equipped with armor.

As for the Cossack cavalry and various noble vassals, their equipment is so simple that it is comparable to the guards of the Ming army.

That is to say, there are actually only 5 people who can participate in the battle in the entire kingdom, and can be called elites. The rest are hired and forced soldiers.

Even if only such a small number of elites are cultivated, they still exhaust the entire kingdom's finances.

During years of war and defeat, the entire kingdom was ravaged by wars, taxes, famine, plague, Tartar raids and tsarist policies, trade plummeted, population dwindled and towns fell into ruin.

The sharp decline in population was mainly related to the fleeing of citizens, and most of the fleeing citizens spontaneously formed expeditions to the east of the Ural Mountains.

When the economic environment of the entire kingdom was not very good, Tsar Mikhail I succeeded to the throne.

He has a weak personality, no independent personality, and he obeys the words of his mother and close ministers. He simply doesn't have the willpower that a ruler should have.

In this way, although Mikhail is the tsar in name, in fact the power is in the hands of the great nobles in the court.

The aristocrats exploited serfs and citizens, and they coveted the mouth of the Baltic Sea in the west, and the financial pressure brought about by the war caused them to never let go of the citizens who fled to the east of the Ural Mountains.

Because of the internal turmoil, more and more people fled, and more and more people went to the east.

After the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Siberia were successively conquered, the stumbling block to the eastward expansion of Tsarist Russia disappeared.

Afterwards, the opponents that Tsarist Russia encountered in North Asia were basically primitive tribes, who were basically conquered by countless expeditions without resistance.

The Siberian land might not have much to mine cheaply, but it had furs that were scarce in Europe at the time.

A lot of furs were handed over as taxes, and by the 17th year of the apocalypse, the Siberian management area had become the largest fur origin in Tsarist Russia.

Although the profits it provides are not large, for Tsarist Russia, which is in financial distress, these profits are enough to solve many problems.

In the eyes of the great aristocrats who are in charge of the real power of the country, the Siberia Management District will provide a steady source of financial resources until Tsarist Russia does not need it.

However, such illusions were crushed with the entry of a fast horse into the city.

When Ilya, the head of the Miloslavsky family who was in charge of the Shooting Corps, walked into the ancient Andreevsky Hall, many nobles were already waiting for him in the middle of the magnificently decorated palace.

How ironic that an extremely important meeting was not attended by the Tsar...

It's a pity that the nobles are used to this situation, because the power has always been in their hands, not the tsar as a puppet.

"Have you investigated the situation in Siberia? Did we attack the Ming country first, or did they attack us?"

A great nobleman fidgeted and asked, compared to the group of guys in the Siberia administrative area, they in Eastern Europe knew the strength of Ming Dynasty better.

Countries such as Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands were all expelled from the Far East by Ming, which is enough to show the strength of Ming.

Right now, they actually had a conflict with Ming Dynasty, and lost the vast area east of the Yenisei River in a very short period of time, which made them heartbroken and worried at the same time.

They were worried that Ming Dynasty would continue to send troops to attack westward from the east, and they were also worried about the financial problems of the kingdom after losing the Siberia administration area.

These problems mixed together made everyone restless. After all, they still needed to guard against the Crimean Khanate in the south, and they really couldn't spare a hand to resist Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, with the strength shown by Ming in this battle, if the two sides fight, the Ming army may capture Ob City without waiting for the kingdom to mobilize cavalry and shooting corps to Ob City.

Now they need Ilya in front of them to give them an answer, but for the answer they want, Ilya's answer is:
"Golovin has led troops to block the attack of the Ming army in Mangazea. I think the situation has been brought under control. Maybe Golovin can counterattack, and we can also discuss trade with Ming after the counterattack is successful... "

　The update is a bit late, there is only one update today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)