Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 573 Yanshan Dissatisfied
"Clang clang clang..."

"Bang bang bang-"

Almost at the same time when Zhu Youxiao arrived in Nanjing, the Western Fleet also arrived in Daxing, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, from Guangping County four months later.

Daxing City is located in Lagos of the later generations. The reason why it was chosen here is mainly because it has been initially developed by European caravans.

Since the 30-year war was not over, European countries had no time to build fortresses here, so Zhu Yukai took over a thousand soldiers and horses to take over the villages and towns here, and then bought varying numbers of Kunlun slaves to build Daxing City.

The construction of Daxing City began in the 14th year of Tianqi, and it has been more than three years.

The city is located on a lakeside plain, with rivers and lakes in the east and the Atlantic Ocean in the south. There are also rivers in the territory that connect with the waterways of Benin. The transportation by sea and land is very convenient.

Because the place is very humid, after taking it, Zhu Yukai sent five hundred arch guard battalions to direct the Kunlun slaves to cut down forests, reclaim wasteland, build canals, and build cities.

Tang State currently has three counties, namely Hailing County in Bioko Island, Daxing County in Lagos, and Longxi County in Accra.

After three years of development, only 6000 craftsmen and their [-] dependents migrated from the Tang Kingdom.

They live in Hailing City, which has been developed for the most part. There is a battalion of [-] Gongwei guards. The county magistrate of Hailing County is Zhu Yujian's fifth younger brother Zhu Yuxi.

There are 26 Kunlun slaves transported in the county to reclaim the fields, and now there are 10,000 mu of arable land, which can support [-]+ people.

Hailing County can also be regarded as the rear area of ​​the Tang Dynasty. It supplies Daxing and Longxi counties all the time. In Daxing, a battalion of soldiers and horses and [-] craftsmen are led by Zhu Yukai, and [-] Kunlun slaves are stationed. Longxi County is led by Zhu Yue. A battalion of soldiers and horses, [-] craftsmen, and [-] Kunlun slaves were stationed.

There are no Ming people in Daxing and Longxi, but only Gongweiying and craftsmen.

After three years of development, Daxing City cut down 10,000+ mu of forest.

These felled forests were turned into wood and plant fertilizers for the construction of Daxing City and the fattening of Daxing City's cultivated land.

Around Daxing City, [-] mu of arable land has been reclaimed, and the wharf has also been built to be extremely large, enough to accommodate twenty ships of [-] tons to berth at the port at the same time.

In Daxing City in the distance, the royal city wall has been repaired with gravel and stones mixed with cement from reclaimed fields. The royal city wall is six miles in circumference, two feet high, and one foot and eight feet wide. The interior is enough to accommodate 3 people.

The royal palace in the royal city has built the palace wall, Chengyun Hall, Cunxin Hall, and the outer court buildings such as the Sheji Altar, Shanchuan Altar, and Shizi Mansion, while the inner court has leveled the foundation and has not yet been built.

Many houses were also built in the royal city outside the palace, but not many people lived there.

It's not that the Tang State doesn't want to recruit people, but that it doesn't have that strength, and it doesn't have that capacity.

Therefore, when Xu Xiake and Huang Fei arrived with twenty ships, they were also warmly welcomed by Zhu Yukai.

The gun salute at the port was fired, and Zhu Yukai personally led the five hundred arch guard battalion to the port to show welcome.

Of course, they welcome not only Huang Fei and Xu Xiake, but also the people of Tang who migrated from the future.

Xu Xiake and Huang Fei got off the boat, and after some formalities, Xu Xiake handed over an order.

"In March of this year, the old Tang king passed away, and his son succeeded him as the new Tang king. At the same time, Zhu Yujian was canonized as the Tang king's son, and everyone was canonized as county kings."

"Before the sailing fleet departed, His Royal Highness had already recruited five hundred craftsmen and their families, totaling more than [-] people."

"These people will be the citizens of the Tang Kingdom in the future. Please don't be harsh on His Royal Highness the County King."

Xu Xiake told Zhu Yukai some good news as soon as he got off the boat.

First of all, his grandfather who always wanted to kill their lineage finally died, and secondly, his father became the king of Tang, his brother became the son of the prince, and he was named the king of the county.

Secondly, my elder brother recruited more than 800 citizens to come to Tang, and handed them over to him in Daxing City for arrangement.

These news made Zhu Yukai look at Xu Xiake a lot softer, and when he was him, he didn't dare to be harsh on the people of the Tang Kingdom.

"Of course I don't dare. I live overseas with them and we live together together. How dare I be mean?"

Zhu Yukai said this from the bottom of his heart. After all, he was in Levia, which was full of Kunlun slaves. Any vassal king in Levia knew that he wanted to benefit the people and despise the slaves.

For example, right now, Zhu Yukai said directly in front of Xu Xiake and Huang Fei:
"Daxing has reclaimed more than [-] acres of arable land, which happened to be handed over to them."

As he said that, Zhu Yukai asked Tang Guo Chang Shi next to him to arrange for the citizens who arrived in Tang State, and then personally took Xu Xiake and the others to visit Daxing City, which is the capital of Tang State.

For Xu Xiake and the others, the development of the Tang Kingdom is actually similar to that of the feudal vassals in Leviathan. After all, West Leviathan is four months longer than East Leviia.

Therefore, the feudal vassals in Eastern Levia developed faster than the Tang, Ji, and Huai kingdoms, and the three kingdoms had a strong foundation, so they rushed to catch up.

Generally speaking, the development of the countries is similar, but the Tang Kingdom is more prosperous than the Huai Kingdom, which is also the Western Fan of Levia, due to its outstanding talents.

"I don't know how the Huai country in the south is developing?"

Walking at the top of the city, Zhu Yukai asked about the Huai country in the south, Xu Xiake also stroked his beard and said, "It's not as fast as the Tang country, but it's about the same."

The Three Kingdoms of Tang, Huai and Ji were specially approved by Zhu Youjian to use cement, and their cement was mainly supplied by the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner.

This is also the reason why Wu Aheng and Yan Yingyuan wantonly built cement plants.

Since the Suez Canal has not yet opened, these three countries are the three countries that will face Europe in the future, so there is a reason why they are the first to use cement.

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, the geographical locations of the three countries were very important.

They faced Europe and were backed by the South Kunlun Supervisory Envoy. Once there was a conflict between the East and the West, they would be Ming's bridgehead to Western Europe. Therefore, the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Envoy existed as a power bank to supply energy for the three countries.

Zhu Changqing of the Huai country is very capable, and it is close to the South Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner, so the development of the Huai country is also very fast.

On July [-], when Xu Xiake and the others arrived in Jiujiang, the capital of Huaiguo, Huaiguo already had one county and six towns, two battalions of [-] troops, [-] citizens, and [-] reform-through-labor workers.

The palace city and royal city of Jiujiang City have been built, and the inner city and outer city are being built now. At the same time, there are more than 22 mu of cultivated land in the area.

Of course, compared to the concerted efforts of the five brothers of the Tang Dynasty, the Huai Kingdom is still a bit weak with Zhu Changqing alone.

So after hearing Xu Xiake's words, Zhu Yukai also touched his short beard with a smile, and then continued to take Xu Xiake and the others to inspect King Tang City.

Zhu Yukai did not refuse Xu Xiake's and the others' request for supplies, but only said that Tang Guo could not provide so much food, but vegetables and fresh water were available.

Although the tropical rainforest climate is not suitable for farming, fruits, vegetables and fresh water are inexhaustible.

The reclaimed land is also often used to grow vegetables in the first year, and then fattened to grow food.

The land situation in the Tang State is similar to what Zhu Youjian said. At the beginning of farming, no matter how it is planted, it can produce high yields, and occasionally there will be a phenomenon of three stones per mu.

But in the next three or four years, the nutrient degradation of the land will exceed the imagination of the people. At this time, only by stopping farming and starting to fatten can the nutrient degradation of the land be prevented.

This stoppage can range from one year to two or three years. Therefore, if the Tang State wants to feed 100 million people, it must prepare at least 2000 million mu of arable land and have enough fertilizer input.

The land must be planted one batch at a time, fattened in batches, and a large number of water conservancy projects must be built. Otherwise, when the rainy season comes, a huge amount of rain will pour down, and all the nutrients in the soil will be washed deep into the ground.

However, this is not difficult for the Tang Dynasty. Anyway, the labor is free, as long as they eat and drink. Therefore, although Daxing City has only been built for three years, the local water conservancy projects are no worse than some counties in the south of the Ming Dynasty.

What Tang needs to solve is the problem of fattening, and the problem of fattening is mainly on the issue of chemical fertilizers.

Regarding this issue, Zhu Youjian had promised that the Three Kingdoms of Tang, Huai and Ji would be responsible for the supply of fertilizers in the future, but this matter has not been mentioned yet, so Zhu Qiqi and Zhu Yujian did not leave Daming.

Who knows, after they leave Daming, will Zhu Youjian turn his back on him?

Therefore, after a simple communication, both Xu Xiake and Huang Fei learned about the situation in Tang.

The two did not choose to rest in Daxing City, but chose to return to the fleet at sea to rest.

After returning to the fleet, Xu Xiake pondered for a long time before writing down his evaluation of Tang Guo.

"If there were no worries about chemical fertilizers and immigration, the Tang Kingdom would have dominated the western frontier for a hundred years."

After writing down his evaluation, Xu Xiake closed his travel journal, then blew out the oil lamp, turned around, took a shower and took a rest.

While he was washing up, Mangazeya on the other side of the glacier in the northern province of Damingling also ushered in a well-equipped reinforcement army.

The 25 Firing Corps arrived in Mangazea on October [-]th. When they saw that the snow outside Mangazea was covered with burned forests and the bastion had been blown out with many gaps. , everyone became nervous.

Fortunately, Mangazeya has not yet fallen, and Golovin, the governor of the Siberian administrative area, also greeted them and said that they were late, and the Ming army had already retreated to the east of the Yenisei River due to supply problems.

"That's great..."

Hearing this, Petrov, the military and political chief who commanded the firing corps, breathed a sigh of relief.

He was sitting in the Mangazeya military and political chief’s hall in the narrow lake, while Golovin sat opposite him and comforted him:
"Don't worry, after the Ming army retreats this time, they won't launch an attack in a short time, and their supplies have bottomed out."

"As for Mangazeya's resistance, I will commend you in the Moscow military newspaper, and then say that because of your arrival, the Ming army retreated back to the east of the Yenisei River."

Golovin was full of nonsense, but the words were very pleasant to Petrov's ears.

"I should thank you. When the war is over, I will definitely show my credit to the count." Petrov smiled and expressed his gratitude. Golovin also pretended to be righteous and said after hearing the words:
"No, I can't leave Siberia, because no one knows whether the Ming army will attack us the next day."

"Ulrich...you really are..." Petrov didn't know how to describe Golovin.

From his point of view at the moment, Golovin seemed like a hero who fought bloody battles for the stability of the kingdom's frontiers.

"Hehe, you must be very tired after walking such a long distance. Let's have a good rest tonight. I need you to join us in strengthening Mangazea tomorrow."

Golovin was afraid of revealing too much, so he could only pretend to be calm and comfort Petrov.

Petrov nodded when he heard this. He was indeed very tired, so after a short chat, he also picked up the military cap he had put aside and walked out of the military and political chief hall.

"call……"

After he left, Golovin breathed a sigh of relief and slumped in his seat.

"God, please let the Ming army stop for a while, I will end my term in two years..."

Golovin closed his eyes and began to pray, but it was not his god who saved him, but Zhu Youjian, who had no intention of expanding the results of the battle.

Golovin washed and rested after praying, but the news that Mangazeya was welcoming reinforcements was also learned by Tang Qi of the Ming army, and sent the news to Lingbei City in the south.

It has already snowed in Lingbei City in October, and the snow is as thick as one foot.

Just before October, Cao Wenzhao dispatched 3000 cavalry to Anbei Mansion in Shanyu Province, leaving only [-] troops to garrison Lingbei City.

The Lingbei City made of concrete resisted most of the cold, but even so, the coolness could not be dispelled.

"Damn! Fifteen degrees below zero!"

Taking a look at the thermometer outside, Cao Wenzhao, who was patrolling the city wall, couldn't help cursing.

Standing next to him, Hu Dawei, the chief soldier, couldn't help laughing and said: "Uncle, Lingbei is not bad, Beihe County in the north is twenty degrees below zero."

"In such a damn cold weather, the Raksha Kingdom sent reinforcements to help." Cao Wenzhao let out a sigh of relief, but then laughed again:
"Tell me Luo Rucai, guard Beihe County for me, and once a Raksha ghost dares to cross the glacier, don't hold back, I will kill you!"

"Yes!" Hu Dawei smiled and bowed in response, Cao Wenzhao also turned and returned to the room in the barracks.

Compared with the cold outside, the house is much warmer.

Anbei City transported more than [-] tons of coal to Lingbei City and Beihe County respectively, plus the firewood Cao Wenzhao and the others chopped before winter, it would not be a problem to use it in the beginning of spring.

Enjoying the heating in the house, Cao Wenzhao also took Hu Dawei for a drink. After all, facing the environment of more than ten degrees below zero and the snow as thick as one foot, he had to weigh whether he was qualified for a sneak attack.

Before the city is laid down, people may be frozen into ice sculptures.

"drive!"

While Cao Wenzhao and Hu Dawei were having a drink, the envoys and deer department in Lingbei City also took a sled and started southward as a pond ride.

After a journey of more than 4000 miles, Tangqi changed horses in Shanyu Province and headed south. Finally, in the middle of winter, the news of the increase of troops from Tsarist Russia in the north reached the capital.

It was noon when Zhu Youjian got the military situation in Lingbei, and he was a little tired not long after eating, so he just glanced at it and comforted him:
"Reply to Cao Wenzhao, so that he doesn't have to worry. In short, take down the Western Regions first, and then recover the entire Lingbei."

"Your servant takes orders..." Cao Huachun bowed in response, and Zhu Youjian also washed up, preparing to take a nap in this cold winter.

After all, the current Daming has long been invincible in the world. Unless civil strife breaks out, no external force can defeat it.

Therefore, not only him, but most of the officials of Ming Dynasty are relatively lax.

After sleeping hastily for an hour, it was time for Zhu Youjian to get up again.

Seeing movement in Ba Bu's bed, there was also a voice from outside the bed: "Your Highness, Mr. Bi Ge and Cheng Zuo are the censors asking for an audience. They have been waiting for a quarter of an hour."

Wang Chengen's voice sounded, and Zhu Youjian also frowned when he heard the words: "Next time, if Bi Ziyan is looking for you, you will wake me up."

"Your servant takes orders..." Wang Chengen responded, and Zhu Youjian also got up and walked out of the Babu bed, and put on a scarlet round collar robe under the service of the maids.

After he finished everything, Bi Ziyan and Cheng De were also called.

The two waited for almost two quarters of an hour, but they were not in a hurry. They bowed to Zhu Youjian after entering the hall and said, "Your Highness, I respectfully greet you."

"Gu'an... Tell me, what's the matter." Zhu Youjian picked up the freshly brewed tea and moistened his throat. Bi Ziyan and Cheng De were also arranged to sit down, and then Bi Ziyan said:

"Your Highness, Long Live is in Nanjing. I ordered Zhang Yandeng, Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, to go to Kanyu to prepare for the expansion of the outer city. The Nanjing Ministry of Industry reported 600 million taels of silver."

"Long live has already been approved, and it is said that it will be completed in three years."

"However, the lower officials think that the outer city walls are enough. It is better to let the people live in the market towns outside the city and expand the market towns outside the city."

In Bi Ziyan's view, there is no need to expand the outer city walls. After all, firearms are improving, and no one knows whether the artillery will advance to the point where it can knock down the city walls.

Instead of investing 600 million taels into the city wall, Bi Ziyan thought it would be better to build a new market town outside Nanjing, and then invest the money in the Armament Academy.

Zhu Youjian also supports his idea, because he knows that the city wall will not last long.

It can be said that as long as gunpowder and artillery go one step further, the city wall is a joke to artillery.

Numerous battles in later modern wars have shown that walls are no defense against artillery.

The Ming City Wall in Nanjing was the first in the country at the beginning of the [-]th century, but in the later period of the Nanjing Defense War, the Nanjing City Wall could only withstand artillery with a caliber of less than [-] mm.

Although Daming is now going to use concrete to build the city wall, which is equivalent to a fortress in disguise, Zhu Youjian still thinks it is unnecessary.

To put it bluntly, the current territory of Ming Dynasty is doomed to be a sea power dynasty.

If they were all beaten to Nanjing, it could only mean that there was internal turmoil.

If internal turmoil broke out and they could still reach Nanjing, it means that the opponent used the same firearms as the Ming army.

Zhu Youjian can guarantee that Ming Dynasty will not be chaotic within 50 years, because even if he is dead by then, Zhu Ciran and Zhu Cihong are still alive.

As for 50 years later, I am afraid that the artillery and gunpowder of the Ming army have already crossed that step, and the city wall is only qualified to be a target.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian did not intend to support the construction of the outer city wall, but he did not intend to directly dismiss it to slap his brother in the face.

He put down his teacup, and said calmly: "I will discuss this matter with Brother Huang, is there anything else?"

Zhu Youjian said, but looked at Chengde.

Ever since Zhu Ciran supervised the country, the Yanshan faction had been making noises, but Cheng De, the leader, never found fault.

Obviously, Zhu Youxiao made the right move when he asked Chengde to be Zhu Ciran's teacher. At least Chengde was still a little reluctant to do it when facing the former students.

"Back to Your Highness..."

The moment Bi Ziyan shook his head, Cheng De spoke:

"The Metropolitan Procuratorate has recently released many memorials to impeach His Highness the Crown Prince, some from all over the country, and some from within the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

"Although His Highness the Crown Prince is young, he is lacking in etiquette and law, the review and memorials are too straightforward, and many national policies are not conducive to immigration. Please advise His Highness to dissuade His Highness the Crown Prince."

There was a problem with the memorial reviewed by Zhu Ciran, which Zhu Youjian did not expect.

He glanced at the many memorials placed next to Chengde, and motioned for Wang Chengen to take them.

Seeing this, Wang Chengen also took more than a dozen memorials, and put them next to Zhu Youjian's table.

Zhu Youjian picked up the memorabilia and flipped through it. At first glance, he was really helpless. After all, Zhu Ciran always referred to himself and Zhu Youxiao as "I", "My Father", and "My Uncle". They all feel very helpless.

But excluding these things, these memorials were reviewed and reviewed at a very high level, but Zhu Ciran seemed a little too kind when it came to dealing with the common people.

For example, the Huai'an Mansion in southern Zhili suffered from a drought, and the prefect of Huai'an asked the imperial court to issue food coupons to immigrate, but Zhu Ciran replied: "There are not many people in Huai'an Mansion, and they can provide disaster relief without emigrating."

From one point of view, it can be said that Zhu Ciran did not see the long-term perspective enough.

What he thought was very simple, there are not many local people, so don't bother the people.

But in Zhu Youjian's view, if the people in Huai'an Prefecture can move out, then after the drought is over, people from all over South Zhili will naturally move over to fill the vacancy.

It cannot be said that Zhu Ciran did something wrong, at least from the perspective of the people, Zhu Ciran can be said to love the people very much, and he is also determined to move to densely populated places.

But from Zhu Youjian's point of view, as long as the people can be moved out, other people will naturally move over to fill the vacancy after encountering a drought.

Logically speaking, Zhu Youjian should frown at Zhu Ciran's overly benevolent attitude towards the common people, but in fact he is very happy.

He closed the memorial, raised his head and smiled at Chengde:

"The crown prince is only fifteen, but there is a little lack of handling. I will write a handwritten letter to point the crown prince, and there is no need to go to school."

Shangshu, that's minister to king, handwriting, that's uncle to nephew.

The attitudes of the two are different, and their identities are also different.

The Yanshan faction wanted to serve as a courtier, and to put it bluntly, they wanted to attack Zhu Ciran's prestige.

However, their means are too young in Zhu Youjian's opinion. Zhu Youjian is determined to go to Qi, so he will not do such a thing.

Besides, Zhu Ciran did a good job, but the methods are still relatively immature, and as an uncle, a little mention is enough.

If he is suppressed as a courtier plus uncle, maybe the "Second Wanli" will be created again.

"The minister takes orders..."

Cheng De also didn't want to suppress Zhu Ciran, so he didn't say anything, he just mechanically completed the task assigned to him by Yanshan.

"Let's go back if nothing happens."

"The next official will retire..."

Zhu Youjian picked up the tea and motioned to serve the tea to see off the guests. Seeing this, Bi Ziyan and Chengde also bowed to each other, and then exited the Chengyun Hall.

After they left, Zhu Youjian put down the teacup, thinking of Cheng De's thin appearance, he couldn't help shaking his head: "It's hard for him."

"It's really uncomfortable to be caught in the middle..."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Wang Chengen also asked cautiously: "Do you want to write a letter to Long Live?"

"Well, I'll write it myself later, let someone prepare dinner, and eat at Wangfei's today."

Zhu Youjian nodded, and Wang Chengen also left the Chengyun Hall when he saw this, and ordered someone to arrange a meal.

(End of this chapter)