Brother Zhu Youxiao

In the Chengyun Hall, the "Imperial Ming Qi State Xijing Fan Drawing" attracted everyone's attention.

Starting from the rural scenery full of spring, the shady green trees and wild flowers on the roadside will show the outskirts of Xijing City.

Passing through a tree-lined forest, you can see the vast cultivated land that can't see the edge.

On this vast plain, some people are manipulating tractors to reclaim the land, some are following behind to spread chemical fertilizers, and some are using tractors to pump water from canals to irrigate the fields. In short, the farmers in the fields are working hard.

Continue to look to the left, on the wide concrete avenue leading to the city, the soldiers of Qi State who are in charge of patrolling outside the city are riding on horses and talking and laughing with their colleagues.

Some are women who deliver food to men in the fields, some are children who go to herd cattle, and some are horses and chariots of the royal shop traveling between the north and south of Qi.

Continue to look to the left. After approaching Xijing City, the flow of people and houses outside the city gradually increased, and finally came to a wide river.

The three big characters "Xijing Water" are written on the river, and Xijing Water occupies one-tenth of the area of ​​the painting, which is enough to see how wide it is.

There is a ferry market on both sides of the river, and boats and boats come and go on the river, transporting goods and people to the other side of the river.

After crossing the Xijing River and coming to the left, more and more farmers are farming, and more and more businessmen are appearing.

Until the end, when Xijing City appeared, the large-scale Xijing City made the two of them a little unbelievable.

The "street market" of Xijing City is the center and focus of the depiction in "Huangming Qi Kingdom Xijingfan Drawing", in which the city can be divided into east and west parts by the central axis.

The West Market in the picture is a bustling downtown, with criss-crossing streets and alleys, row upon row of buildings on both sides, shops, restaurants, teahouses, pawnshops, banks, photo studios, painting apartments, theaters, bathhouses, government offices, temples, private houses, etc. scattered among them.

Xishi Street is bustling with people and traffic, and all kinds of sky-high signboards are eye-catching, presenting a lively scene.

Dongshi is the official county government office, as well as the main official residence of the military and horse department and the marking granary, as well as the market for selling cattle, horses and livestock.

Of course, there are also many folk houses in Xishi, and there are many people talking and laughing in the streets and alleys.

On the main street on the central axis of the city, a memorial archway stands in the picture. The two characters of "Zhuque Street" are inscribed on both sides of the archway.

To the right of the entrance to the archway is the bustling area of ​​the market. The most eye-catching performances on the street are the performances of walking on stilts, fireworks and water, dragon and lion dances, and playing with sticks and weapons.

In addition, there are drama performances gathered by spectators, as well as colorful "Aoshan" lights.

The water network in Xicheng is dense, and the wide river is full of dragon boats and boats, and fishing boats and rafts shuttle back and forth under the helm of fishermen.

Tourists on both sides of the strait enjoy the scenery by the water, or enjoy tea leisurely. On both sides of the river in Xicheng, there are often restaurants and teahouses, or handicraft workshops such as "wooden shops" and "boat shops".

There are not a few people who come and go to engage in these activities, which shows that the west city is prosperous.

Compared with the prosperity of the west city, the east city does not take it seriously.

Although there are still some shops in Dongcheng, the flow of people has been greatly reduced.

The largest area in Dongcheng is the Changping warehouse for storing grain, followed by the government offices.

Flagpoles are hung high on both sides of the government office, and majestic stone lions are placed at the entrance. The people on the main road of the entire East City are polite and polite, and they dare not make mistakes here. This makes the East City and the noisy market in the West City form a sharp contrast.

After watching the lives of the common people, Man Gui and the others turned their attention to the palace city on the central axis.

I saw a tall stone tablet standing under the city gate in front of the palace city, engraved with "Civil and military officials, big and small, get off their horses".

After bypassing the stele, the tall and majestic double palace wall appeared afterward.

The palaces and pavilions inside the walls are resplendent and magnificent, with ups and downs, hidden or revealed in the mist and mist.

In the huge and majestic palace, there is only one magnificent hall, with a few soldiers holding guns standing in front of it, one can imagine its coldness and austerity.

After reading a long volume of pictures, everyone understood the prosperity of Xijing City.

Although this is already the most prosperous place in Qi, the actual level of prosperity in Daming is no more than that of Hanyang, Changsha, and Kunming. It cannot even be compared with the five cities of Su, Yang, Hangzhou, Guang, and Yi, let alone Two capitals.

But even so, this environment has already made Man Gui and the others let go of enough worries.

At least as far as the picture is concerned, Xijing City is still a normal city, and it is relatively prosperous.

"Huh..." Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan let go of their worries, and Lu Wenzhao beside him also enthusiastically introduced:

"Currently, Qi State has 79 immigrants, 31 nationals, 120 million labor reformers, and [-] soldiers."

"Nearly half of these immigrants live in Jingzhao Mansion, which is comparable to a province, and the rest live in Pingling Mansion in the south, Anling Mansion in the north, and Chengshan Mansion and Chengshan Mansion in the east of Chengshan. county."

"Right now, there are still 12 immigrants waiting to immigrate to Qi within the country, and judging by the situation, there may be another 60 to [-] immigrants by the end of the year."

Speaking of this, Lu Wenzhao couldn't help touching his short beard: "In my opinion, at the end of the 23rd year of Tianqi, there may be no less than 300 million immigrants in Qi State, and nearly a million citizens."

The nationals are the local Indians, Mangui and the others know this.

What surprised them was not the population of Qi, but the prosperity of Qi.

You must know that Zhou, Shu, Zhao, Qin, Fu, Jin and other vassal states also have a large population, but in fact the local area is not considered prosperous.

But looking at Qi State now, Xijing City, with a population of only 30, is no less prosperous than Luoyang, Xi'an and other cities. If it takes another two or three years, it may be able to keep pace with the five cities of "Suyanghangguangyi". It won't take many years It can be close to the two capitals.

If this speed is known by the vassals, they will probably be so angry that they will grind their teeth. After all, for them, the steam engine is only for viewing, not for use.

Not to mention steam engines, but even cement, their share is restricted by Daming, after all, cement is Daming's strategic material right now.

"Your mansion has been repaired by Jin Xuan, here..."

Zhu Youjian raised his finger to a place, and then appeared in front of everyone were the "Xuanhua" and "Dingxing" two marquis mansions, which occupied a large area from the picture, and there were Liaodong marquis mansions and several under construction Zhongbofu.

From here, Man Gui and the others can see that Zhu Youjian wants to take away a lot of people, not just some of them as they worried about.

"Although Qi is on the right track now, the Frangji in the central part have not been expelled yet."

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth to speak, and Lu Wenzhao who was next to him also quickly pulled out the whole map of the entire South and North America.

On the map, Spain, which occupies the central part of North and South America, is particularly obtrusive, and Zhu Youjian also said:
"Franji makes a profit of sixty-seven million taels of silver every year here, so naturally he is reluctant to give up here."

"When I was in Daming, I couldn't take action to recover this lost land, but when I become the queen, it is only a matter of time before I recover this lost land."

Zhu Youjian drew a line in the northern part of the New Spain Governor-General: "I told Jin Xuan half a year ago to quickly open up the central area east of Chengshan and west of Hejian."

"There are not many natives living here, only 500 million people."

"In the case of sending troops from the provinces of North America, [-] soldiers and horses can subdue most of the natives."

There is a reason why Zhu Youjian chose to land in North America. The native population of the Americas in this era was between 3000 million and 5000 million, most likely around [-] million.

However, most of them live in Central and South America, while in North America, because of the draft, there are not many natives living there, only 500 million people.

The population of 500 million was further reduced due to the smallpox glaciers spread by Europeans and the continuous westward movement.

If Zhu Youjian remembers well, it is said in history books that the number of Indians in North America probably dropped to less than 200 million before 72, and even only [-] by [-].

With such a population, it is not difficult for Qi to annex and assimilate them, which has the population backing of Daming.

In particular, the skin color and ethnicity of the two are similar, and there will be no discomfort after assimilation, and there will be no Leviian phenomenon.

With the strength of Qi, it only takes one generation to assimilate North America, while South America and Central America can only be judged by the specific population of the local area.

Due to the long-term isolation of the American continent from the Eurasian continent, the American Indians had no resistance to smallpox, measles, mumps, pertussis, influenza, malaria and other viruses brought by Europeans.

These infectious diseases, which once killed countless people in Eurasia, raged in North and South America from the end of the fifteenth century to the first half of the seventeenth century, killing about 50% to 90% of the lives of the aborigines.

Zhu Youjian estimates that the number of aborigines in Central and South America is close to 5000 million. If [-]% of their population is wiped out by the virus, Zhu Youjian can spend decades assimilating them.

But if they still have 2000 million, it will take several generations of continuous efforts.

After all, although the infectious diseases brought by the Europeans killed most of the aborigines, the surviving Indians have successfully acquired immunity against infectious diseases, and basically will not die on a large scale due to the sudden emergence of viruses.

The Qi State can only assimilate the other side slowly. Fortunately, with the support of policies and weapons, and the Ming Dynasty with more than 6000 million Han people behind it, if Zhu Youxiao and his son can stay in power for a little longer, then Qi State may be able to advance Decades to complete the assimilation of the population of North and South America.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian also looked at Qi's three prefectures in South America, Ninghai, Wendeng, and Jinghai.

There are only [-] soldiers and horses stationed there, and the firearms used are still flintlocks, so there can only be more than enough to defend and not enough to attack.

Qi State had to eat every inch of land bit by bit before it could go south and establish prefectures and counties along the coast of South America.

"It depends on Jin Xuan's speed now..." Zhu Youjian murmured, and at the same time as he murmured, the sound of gunfire also sounded in the central plain of North America.

"Clap clap-"

In February, when the sound of rifle rifles and horseshoes sounded, an invitation to assimilate and assimilate the natives in central China had already been launched.

For the accepted tribes, Qi State does not need them to do anything, but will send personnel to learn their language, and set up a local imperial store to send them food.

Of course, food is not given for free. Qi State needs them to help build roads or straighten rivers.

Due to the fact that there are too many tribes in the central plain, the soldiers and horses sent by Jin Xuan can only negotiate with each tribe by means of translators with translators and translators with translators.

For the peace-loving tribes, the Qi army negotiated normally, telling the conditions that Jin Xuan gave to the locals, and promised that they would be protected by the Qi state in the future, and their children would also be able to learn the Qi state's culture.

For the brutal tribes, once the Qi army finds out that the other party is ready to attack, they will immediately raze the tribes to the ground with thunder, assign their hunting grounds to obedient tribes, and throw them to Jinshan Mansion (Alaska) to engage in a ten-year reform-through-labor work.

Compared with the Europeans, the native Americans mainly regard Qi as a rising tribe in the west.

They think that Qi and them are tribes fighting each other, which is different from Europeans.

Moreover, Qi State does not want their hunting grounds, and will hire them to do some "very easy" work, and then give them food and teach them how to eat these things.

Compared with the Europeans who are domineering in America, Qi's behavior is not offensive.

Where Qi State soldiers and horses have passed, it is often just a simple household compilation of villages, and the establishment of townships is enough.

The villages and towns are all places where the Han people will immigrate in the future, and the places chosen are also near the river, but the places are relatively muddy.

In the eyes of Indians, this kind of place is bad land, but for the people of Qi who like to grow rice, as long as water conservancy projects are built, canals are built, and tractors are used, the place will soon prosper.

The land in this place is all black soil with extremely high nutrient content, and it is located on the central great plain of later generations.

The Central Great Plains are flat, fertile and sparsely populated, making them ideal for agricultural planting. However, due to North American drafts, it is difficult for Indians to cultivate the land here.

It's just that for the people of Qi who have entered the first industrial revolution, this place is simply the place of choice.

"This place is good, a city can be built here in the future,"

On the horseback in the plain, when a 20-year-old boy looked around and sighed, a guard not far away also shouted to him:

"Zhang Huangyan! Take your people to the north to have a look, and ask the brothers of the Third Banner if they have finished dealing with the escaped natives?"

"Impressive order!"

Zhang Huangyan, who was in his early twenties, responded loudly with a smile, then turned around and shook the reins, and rushed towards the forest to the north with nearly a hundred cavalrymen around him.

It was a quarter of an hour. When Zhang Huangyan and the others arrived, only the tied up natives and the soldiers of the Qi army who were resting vigilantly were left in the forest.

"Huang Chuangzi! Li Shoubei asked how things are going with you here."

Leading the cavalry into the forest, seeing the end of the battle, Zhang Huangyan shouted vigorously to a bearded man sitting on the cart.

The other party also looked over when he heard the words, and then pointed to the severed head next to him: "All those who attacked us have been dealt with, and the remaining group of people will ask you to send a team of brothers to Chengshan Mansion."

"Okay!" Hearing that the battle was over, Zhang Huangyan ordered to the left and right, and sent a team of more than ten cavalry to escort the more than 300 natives to Chengshan Mansion.

Not surprisingly, this group of people will soon become reform-through-labour workers, learn Mandarin Mandarin during ten years of reform-through-labor study, and then become citizens of Qi.

Of course, reform through labor is very difficult, and it is hard to say how many of these 300 people survived.

But since they took the initiative to attack the Qi army, Zhang Huangyan had nothing to say.

After arranging the matter, he took people back to the plain and told Li Shoubei about the matter.

Li Shoubei couldn't help but nodded when he heard the words: "Okay, it seems that there is only one tribe in the vicinity, and there will be no results if you continue to search, let's continue eastward."

"Yes!" Zhang Huangyan bowed in return, and then proceeded eastward according to Li Shoubei's words.

Their troops set out from Chengshan Mansion and headed east all the way, planning to completely solve the problem of the natives in the central plain after meeting the westward team from Hejian Mansion soon after.

Today is the No.15 day since they set off, and they also walked southeast along Chengshui (Missouri River) for a thousand miles.

Along the way, they could only communicate with various tribes through their translation team of more than a dozen people, but fortunately, they also recruited six tribes, large and small, and wiped out three tribes that resisted and tried to rob them of their wealth.

They have a team of more than [-] people, and if they want to eat them, unless they bring in tens of thousands of natives, it will be difficult for them to be wiped out with rifles and artillery.

The plains of North America are very flat, but also very dry. Fortunately, the Qi army is looking for native tribes along the river, so there is basically not much trouble in supply along the way.

Relying on rifles, they could find a herd of bison and kill a few to satisfy the food problem of the whole army.

The military rations they carried there were enough for them to eat all the way to the east coast, so no one was worried.

"Zhang Huangyan, I heard that the gentry of the country have all moved out. How about your family?"

On the night of camping by the Chengshui River, eating roast beef sprinkled with seasonings and white porridge made from a small amount of military rations, Huang Quan, known as Huang Chuangzi during the day, was asking Zhang Huangyan who was sitting beside him.

Hearing this, Zhang Huangyan also shook his head and said, "I don't know either."

"I got the news before and asked them to move to Qi State, but they said that Qi State is dangerous, and they would rather go to Nanzhou."

"After that, there was no response to the letter I sent."

Speaking of his family, Zhang Huangyan felt a little depressed.

He graduated from government school three years ago, and he chose to come to Qi State at that time, because he felt that King Qi was a virtuous king in the world, and Qi State had great potential.

After coming here, as he expected, the state of Qi gradually developed into a situation that Zhang Huangyan dared not describe in a little bit of development.

Especially after hundreds of thousands of immigrants flooded into Qi country last year, Qi country ushered in an explosion in an instant.

The previously empty city instantly became prosperous, and Qi's state affairs also made many people rejoice.

Qi State is a country where a large number of industries are state-run. Zhang Huangyan had heard of this before coming here.

However, after he arrived, he was still a little surprised by the strength of Qi State's monopoly on state-owned enterprises.

In addition to handicrafts, the only remaining common people are farming, waiter work, port labor, and street hawker work.

Zhang Huangyan didn't dare to say whether this kind of thing was good or bad, but in his opinion, the people of Qi State were living well.

What's more, Qi State's state-run business has allowed the court to have more income, and these income will also be used by Qi State officials on the people of Qi State, which is truly taken from the people and used for the people.

The government offices of the Qi State hired the people to work, bought the food in the hands of the people of the Qi State, and then built water conservancy projects and roads for the local area.

In building these projects that benefit the people, officials of Qi State never raise taxes, so the people of Qi State live a very prosperous life.

For Zhang Huangyan, who was born in Jiangnan, no one understands the importance of water conservancy projects better than him.

If the water conservancy projects in the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were properly rectified during the Wanli period, the number of floods and floods in the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River would be reduced to single digits every year.

Before the king of Qi ordered the construction of water conservancy in the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River in the tenth year of the apocalypse, Zhang Huangyan’s childhood impressions were full of floods in the rainy season, floods, rivers overflowing embankments, and flooded cities.

These scenes completely disappeared 15 years after Tianqi, which is one of the reasons why he chose to come to Qi after graduating from Yingtianfu School.

He believed in Qi State very much, or he believed in King Qi.

It's just that although he believed it, his family members didn't believe it.

Zhang Huangyan's family is a bureaucratic family. His father has been officials for several generations, and his father Zhang Guizhang has been an official until he is a member of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Zhang Guizhang is a typical conservative. Although he does not object to Zhang Huangyan's study in a government school, he is extremely opposed to Zhang Huangyan's service for Qi.

After Zhang Huangyan learned of the "Abolition of Slavery" movement in Jiangnan last year, he immediately wrote a letter to his family.

The reply letter from home was delivered to him in the twelfth lunar month by steam engine ship.

Zhang Guizhang has some contacts in the officialdom, so he was not affected by the "Abolition of Slavery Movement".

But the "Abolition of Slavery" brought Zhang Guizhang's dislike of Zhu Youjian to a new level.

The servants of the Zhang family were redeemed, and the land was exchanged by King Qi for banknotes. Only he, a few brothers and nephews were left in the entire Zhang family.

Under such an encounter, Zhang Guizhang wrote very clearly in his reply to Zhang Huangyan that it was absolutely impossible for him to relocate to Qi State, and he wanted to relocate his family to Nanzhou.

He still has a lot of old acquaintances in Nanzhou, and it is not difficult to make a comeback, but after going to Qi State, he is worried that the mad King Qi will attack the gentry who moved to Qi State in the future.

This is not only the opinion of Zhang Guizhang alone, but also the opinion of most gentry.

Therefore, Qi State can be said to be the only vassal state without the migration of gentry.

Even in Ji, Tang, and Huai countries as far away as West Livia, several gentry families had to relocate, but there was none in Qi.

At the end of the letter, Zhang Guizhang also persuaded Zhang Huangyan not to stay in Qi State. Given his background as a bureaucratic gentry, he probably would not be reused.

However, Zhang Huangyan replied after reading the letter from home.

He feels that Qi State is very fair, the people's life is very rich, and it is gradually prosperous, besides, the King of Qi is very enlightened, and the officials of Qi State are also straightforward in character. He would rather stay here.

In the letter, Zhang Huangyan also wrote many interesting events and developments of Qi, but according to the time, his letter is still floating in the sea and has not yet been delivered to Zhang Guizhang who has moved to Nanzhou.

Zhang Huangyan told Huang Quan what happened to his family and the contents of the letters between him and his father, because he and Huang Quan were from the same township, and they both joined the army together.

However, Huang Quan was just the son of an ordinary farmer, and he was not as lucky as him. He did not come out until he had studied in a government school, but he came to Qi State after finishing his junior school.

"Uncle has his own considerations, but after hearing what you said about the "abolition of slavery", I'm a little glad that three generations of my family have lost their lives."

Huang Quan in front of the bonfire couldn't help but sigh, and Zhang Huangyan also sighed and shook his head when he heard the words:

"Forget it, don't think about it anymore, let's think about whether we can find a few more native tribes tomorrow."

He didn't want to chat any more, but Huang Quan came over meanly:
"Let's talk again, you have a lot of knowledge, tell me, when do you think His Royal Highness King Qi will come back to Qi Kingdom?"

"do not know……"

"Don't act like a little woman, it's okay to talk about it, the brothers are all curious..."

"If I could know, I would still be just a chief banner officer?"

"That's also..."

The conversation between the two slowly ended as the bonfire burned out. Tomorrow, they will embark on a journey again to contribute to the construction of Qi.

more late, sorry sorry