Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Qi Wang's handwriting, Qi Guochang Shi Jinxuan was promoted to the imperial censor of the left capital of the capital, and Xia Yunyi, the former servant of the Qi State's household department, also served as Qi Guo's long history."

"Let Jin Xuan set off for Beijing today, there must be no mistakes..."

On the last day of August, in the bustling city of Xijing, when Jin Xuan and Xia Yunyi saw this handwritten note written with mouse hair, their first reaction was...

"problem occurs."

Jin Xuan put away the note with a stern expression on his face.

He knew very well that His Royal Highness King Qi would not ask him to return to Beijing for no reason, since he called now, it must be a major event, and it was also a major event of the Yanshan Sect.

Combined with the news that King Qi said that the apocalypse will be 23 years away, Jin Xuan probably guessed that he was appointed to divide the Yanshan faction when he returned this time.

"Yan Yinshao of the Southern Kunlun Supervision Department is probably going to be transferred as well."

Jin Xuan spoke to Xia Yunyi, what he said, Xia Yunyi immediately understood what it meant.

In this regard, he has mixed feelings.

The good news is that they have built the Qi State very well, and the King of Qi is finally going to take over the feudal clan to affirm their achievements.

What is worrying is that King Qi wants to become a vassal, so he has to make a certain compromise with the Yanshan faction. If this is not careful, the Ming Dynasty may encounter civil strife, and the people will suffer.

It's just that, although he's worried, he can't show it because it would distract Jin-hyun.

Therefore, facing Jin Xuan's words, he bowed decisively and nodded:
"Leave the affairs of Qi State to me. Although I am not good at military strategy, Qi State has Yang Bingwen's general army. If it is only about governance, I can protect Qi State without any worries."

Xia Yunyi is not joking, although he is not from the Yanshan school, but he is also a self-taught student through Enke, and he is the ten best county magistrates in Ming Dynasty in the ten years, 11 years, and 12 years of Tianqi.

He may not be good at fighting, but it is more than enough for him to coordinate resources and govern Qi.

For him, Jin Xuan is also very relieved, and he also knows that the situation in Daming is urgent, and he must go back immediately.

So he told the officer at the door to go to his house to help pack his luggage.

Seeing this, Xia Yunyi sighed, "Why don't you go home and spend more time with your wife and son?"

"I just went to Daming to be an official, and it's not like I'm gone forever. I have plenty of time in the evening. Right now, I mainly want to talk to you about the affairs of Qi."

Jin Xuan had fun in the bitterness, forced a smile and said: "Come on, let's go out and talk."

Seeing his request, Xia Yunyi did not refuse, and walked out of the Changshi Yamen of the Qi Palace with him.

After the two walked out of the Changshi Yamen with the Jiangnan style of the Ming Dynasty, they came to the streets of Qi State.

Although this place is the east city, which basically belongs to the office area of ​​each yamen, there are still many people coming and going on the street.

Their lives can be seen in their bodies.

Right now, even in Ming Dynasty, apart from the Qinling Mountains and the provinces south of the Yangtze River, it is difficult to see rich and healthy farmers in other provinces, and the people in the Northwest have been tortured by the severe drought to the point of emaciation.

But here, even the farmers who have just returned from working in the fields after driving the ox carts can be said to be big and round, just like a concrete pier more than five feet away.

There are not a few people with his size, and all this is not only because of enough food, but also because of the sufficient meat.

In the current state of Qi, because mutton and pork are still luxury goods, the common people can only eat fish, pigeon meat, and bison meat.

With the influx of a large number of immigrants, Qi has restored the economic order of a normal country, no longer relying on food coupons, meat coupons and other tickets for exchange, but has entered the currency era.

As a vassal state that can open a government and has the right to mint coins, Qi can print its own currency.

Daming Tongbao’s banknotes have been issued in April, and the people’s acceptance is relatively high. The National Bank of Qi State also accepts banknotes in exchange for gold and silver, so the people of Qi State have no resistance.

Ten Wen, Twenty Wen, Thirty Wen, and One Hundred Wen are the main banknote denominations of Qi State, and one penny is still used for circulation and use by Tianqi Tongbao.

Jin Xuan and Xia Yunyi asked about today's vegetable prices at the entrance of the vegetable market near the government office, and it was basically the same as in the past.

Bison beef costs three cents a catty, passenger pigeon costs one cent, sea fish costs four cents a catty, and vegetables are even cheaper, basically two to three catties per penny.

The price of staple food in Qi is relatively high, so the people are forced to eat meat.

Beef that has risen to nearly 25 yuan in Daming is three yuan here, and sea fish that is three yuan per catty is one penny here.

With such prices, it is no wonder that the people of Qi State will support various policies of Qi State.

It’s another land, the price is low, and the income is high. If you don’t support it, it will be troublesome if you are driven away.

"Basic food, housing and transportation, except for food, are still a little stretched, and all other necessities of life have been met."

The two climbed up to the Qiwang Pavilion, the tallest building in the city. Standing on the [-]-foot-high attic, they looked around the city of Xijing, and Jin Xuan couldn't help but lament his achievements in the past nine years.

"When you return to Daming this time, you can also take a good look at the industrial zone and see if there is anything we need to improve."

Xia Yunyi explained to Jin Xuan, and Jin Xuan naturally nodded without thinking.

Obviously, their minds have been put on Qi Guo, and the once verbal "Guo Chao" has become "Da Ming".

It's no wonder that they see different things and want to change. In fact, the current state of Qi is still not as prosperous as Ming's two capitals, Suzhou and Hangzhou, but for them, prosperity is not what they want.

What they want is a clean and honest officialdom, an officialdom that only does things and doesn't show affection.

The state of Qi gave them this officialdom, because most of the officials who came here were officials with passion and trying to make a difference.

Although their salaries in Qi State have not changed, due to the cheap prices, a salary of 15 taels is more effective than Daming's 50 taels in terms of purchasing power.

What's more, there is no sophistication in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty here, everyone only needs to be on duty at Maoshi, and leave shifts at Xushi, and it is enough to do their own things well in the middle.

There are regulations in the "Huangming Qiguo Law". After the deadline, the chief officer will arrange the work. As long as the work at hand is done, other things will have nothing to do with you.

Others can't help you, and you can't help others. As for temporary extra work, it is something that is strictly prohibited.

In terms of official work, Qi State learned from the experience of the Qin Dynasty.

The work schedule is as much as it is, and everyone's weight is about the same, and they will get off work when the time comes.

If you can't finish the work on duty, you need to take it home and deal with it yourself. In short, you must finish all the work before the next day.

As for the number of jobs, it is also distributed on an average basis. There is no such thing as overpayment, deliberately embarrassing people, and making people go home and work overtime.

In addition, the biggest change in Qi's officialdom is that only the two rituals of bowing and Jishou have been retained.

Zuoyi is used on weekdays, and Jishou is only used during the Zhengdan court meeting and February [-] to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. Kneeling is strictly prohibited on weekdays.

It can be said that Qi's officialdom has lost a lot of red tape, and it is mainly about doing things.

If things are not done well, it is useless to flirt with them, because the merits of officials have to be spot-checked from the content of the daily handling of documents, and the completion status, and the chief official has no power to promote anyone.

Such an officialdom is very suitable for school officials who have received a new type of education.

The atmosphere in the officialdom is so open, not to mention the atmosphere among the people.

Kneeling is strictly not allowed, bowing is a daily etiquette, and there is no such thing as a guide, and you only need to bring your household registration book when you go out.

The various rules of dressing were also abolished, and the common people could wear whatever they wanted, except that armor and official uniforms were still banned and could not be worn, the common people could wear almost all the clothes they wanted to wear.

The open atmosphere has made Qi's business develop very rapidly.

With the arrival of immigrants, there are many family-style handicraft workshops, as well as handicraft workshops established by individuals.

It's only been two years since Xu Xiake and the others returned to Daming, but Qi's economy has already become as prosperous as Chengdu, the "Yizhou" in "Suhang Yangguangyi".

"The population in the city is now 30. Looking back now, the scene of the empty alleys in Xijing seems to be still vivid in my memory, but now..."

Xia Yunyi couldn't help but marvel at Qi's development, and at the same time, she felt a sense of pride in her heart.

"There are more than [-] people in Qi State who need to be relocated this year. At the current speed, I am afraid it will take another year or a half." Jin Xuan also said after hearing the words:
"If we go back this time, if the matter can be settled, then we can relocate some more people. In the 23rd year of Tianqi, it shouldn't be a problem to bring the population of Qi to more than 200 million."

"The main thing is to worry about His Highness's future affairs." Xia Yunyi also nodded and added:

"At present, there are more than 82 natives in the country and 120 nationals."

"What I'm worried about now is that after you leave, if the natives fight among themselves again, it will be difficult to deal with."

"In the past year, 8 or [-] natives died in internal fighting. They took the iron tools issued by the government and started fighting wantonly. Although this will lead to a sharp decline in their population, our railway from east to west will also require labor on the road. will lack."

"The labor camp workers in Yingzhou have now repaired the railway to Chengshan Prefecture, but it is still two thousand miles away from Chengshan County."

"It's just that this distance is basically hills and hills, and many people died."

Xia Yunyi showed concern, fearing that there would not be enough labor camps to repair the railway.

The speed of the railway in Qi State is very fast. As long as there are enough rails, it is not a problem for 70 reformed laborers and some machines that will be transformed in the construction of the railway to lay a thousand miles a year.

It’s just that the cost of doing so is a bit high, and the death and injury rate of labor camp workers has greatly increased.

"Don't worry about the labor camp workers, His Highness won't blame you, you just need to hurry up and build the railway to Chengshan County within two years."

Jin Xuan comforted Xia Yunyi and explained the benefits of building the railway to Chengshan County.

"As long as the railway is repaired to Chengshan County, then the materials from Xijing City can go all the way south through Chengshui (Missouri River) in Chengshan County, reach Qishui (Mississippi River) and enter the Atlantic Ocean."

"At that time, we can also immigrate to the three provinces on the east coast and the three provinces in South Asia and America."

"But..." Xia Yunyi frowned: "But right now the Francines are still entrenched in the central area. Even if they can immigrate, they will still notice when tractors and steam engines are used. This is contrary to His Highness's intention."

"Well... that's true." Jin Xuan nodded:
"At present, the war in Europe is constantly burning. I heard that a civil uprising broke out in London, the capital of Anelia (UK). An earl was beheaded. King Anelia ordered to suppress the rioting people."

"Although the riots are suppressed now, I always feel that this is just the beginning of civil unrest in the country."

"In addition to the fact that Francais in Europe was besieged by Francia (France) and other countries and retreated steadily, I estimate that part of their [-] troops in the colony will be withdrawn."

"If their troops are withdrawn, then you must inform me in time, and I will report to His Highness, requesting to regain the lost ground."

Jin Xuan seriously explained the matter about the Spanish colonies, and Xia Yunyi naturally responded to this, and he had no reason to refuse.

Seeing his answer, Jin Xuan also looked at the Xijing City at dusk.

With the appearance of dusk, faint smoke from houses appeared on the houses of Xijing City. This scene greatly satisfied Jin Xuan's spirit.

After a while, he and Xia Yunyi got off the King Qi Pavilion, and it seemed that they had already explained everything that should be explained.

That night, Jin Xuan also went home and told his wife that he was going back to Daming. In addition, he also wanted to bring his mother to live in Qi.

As for his younger brother, Jin Qi, who is now the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, if Jin Qi is not willing, he has no way to force Jin Qi to come to Qi.

His wife comforted Jin Xuan with a lenient voice, and with the support of his family, he also boarded the steamer back to Daming the next day.

It's just that on the third day after his departure, the South Kunlun Supervising Envoy, who was farther away, also received a handwritten letter from King Qi from Daming.

"In the handwriting of the king of Qi, Yan Yingyuan, the magistrate of South Kunlun, was promoted to the supervisor of South Kunlun, Wang Yi, the magistrate of Guangping County, was promoted to the magistrate of East Kunlun, and Chen Zizhuang, the magistrate of Kunlun County, was promoted to the magistrate of South Kunlun."

"The former South Kunlun inspector Wu Aheng was promoted to be the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the former East Kunlun prefect Yan Yinshao was promoted to the Youqin capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. We will start today, there must be no mistakes..."

When Wu Aheng got the handwritten letter and read its contents in the South Kunlun Supervisory Office of Kunlun County, he immediately knew that something happened in the country.

So he couldn't help subconsciously looking at Yan Yingyuan next to him, and Yan Yingyuan frowned at the moment, aware of the seriousness of the matter.

Seeing Wu Aheng turning his head to look at him, Yan Yingyuan bowed immediately:
"Inspector, please rest assured, although the lower officials are not talented, it is not a problem to protect the interests of the imperial court in Levia."

"I'm not worried about this..." Hearing Yan Yingyuan's words, Wu Aheng smiled helplessly:
"Currently, there are more than 32 Han people, [-] minorities, more than [-] million acres of arable land, more than [-] million labor reform workers, and more than [-] troops in the supervisory department."

"With such strength, I don't need to worry. The only ones who can threaten the Yamen are the feudal clans of Levia. But with rifles in hand, even the alliance of the feudal clans cannot defeat the Yamen."

"What I'm worried about is, if the king of Qi becomes a vassal, will the land of South Kunlun be preserved? Will the imperial court be like Jiaozhi in the past, and once disaster happens here, it will be abandoned."

Wu Aheng's worry was not without reason. After all, the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner was far away from the mainland of Ming Dynasty, and the most important thing was that there were not many Han people.

Right now, within the Nankunlun Supervision Department, excluding reformed laborers, there are 48 minorities among the 32 people, and most of them are from Yingzhou.

Although those Yingzhou men were short and behaved politely, Wu Aheng always felt that this group of "Japanese people" were not kind.

If they go down in the future, and it happens that the rulers of Ming Dynasty do not have a high thirst for land, then South Kunlun will be a little embarrassed.

Although the situation in Jiaozhi during the Xuande period was different from the current situation in South Kunlun, the monarch was in a coma after the failure.

It's just that Wu Aheng can only think about this kind of thing in his heart, but he absolutely dare not say it.

His identity was already embarrassing, he was the uncle of Concubine Tian of the Qi Palace, and it happened that Tian Xiuying gave birth to three more county kings, so his interests with the Qi Palace were naturally more bound.

If he utters some outrageous words at this time, it is very likely that someone with a heart will catch him.

Thinking of this, Wu Aheng could only make a final confession to Yan Yingyuan:

"According to His Highness, even if the Qi State and Franji go to war, we will not interrupt the trade, and we will still do the same for the trade of livestock."

"In addition, after I return to Beijing this time, I will try to see if I can let His Highness let go of the right to use the ships west of the old port."

"If ships can be used in South Kunlun, then the millions of grains produced in South Kunlun every year can also be transported to Luchuan and sold to China by railway."

Wu Aheng said a few things about the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner, and Yan Yingyuan also has something to say about it:
"Inspector, I believe that the most critical thing right now is the situation in Europa."

"Franji can't hold on any longer. Guochao can use this as a threat to return Qi's land, and then provide funding to allow Europa to continue fighting."

In addition to being busy with government affairs, Yan Yingyuan often likes to read various military books written by King Qi in South Kunlun. Therefore, he can probably understand King Qi's attitude towards Europe after knowing the situation in Europe.

This place must maintain a state of small countries. Once Spain and the Holy Roman Empire fall separately, the countries that cannibalize their corpses will rise rapidly.

Although it is only a skin moss problem for Daming, if this skin moss problem can be eliminated in advance, it would be great.

Therefore, what Ming should do right now is to negotiate with Spain, and then support him to keep the war deadlocked while recovering the lost land in America from him.

As long as Spain and the Holy Roman Empire do not lose this religious war, a second religious war will break out in the future until one side wins completely.

"I will tell His Highness about this matter, but whether His Highness still has the heart to pay attention to the situation in Europa right now is debatable."

Wu Aheng chose to agree to Yan Yingyuan's words, but he didn't think Zhu Youjian still cared about the situation in Europa.

Compared with the situation in Europa right now, the situation in Daming is even more troublesome.

"How much gold and silver are there in the treasury?"

Since Wu Aheng wanted to leave, he would naturally take away the gold and silver from the South Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner and go back to exchange business. After all, the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner had not paid taxes to Daming since its existence.

Now that he, the first inspector, is going back to Beijing, he will naturally bring enough gold and silver as a meritorious service.

"The treasury has 72 taels of gold, 630 million taels of silver, and 30 jin of copper ingots."

Yan Yingyuan truthfully explained the amount of gold and silver in the supervisory department's treasury, and Wu Aheng who heard the words also said:
"I have to take away all the gold and copper ingots. I only take 500 million taels of silver, and leave the rest to you."

"Although Nankunlun is on the right track now, there are still many problems that have not been resolved, especially the problem of immigration."

"When I go back this time, I can just recruit some immigrants. If South Kunlun can have a million immigrants, then this place will be stable."

As he said that, Wu Aheng sighed, but then thought about the affairs of the feudal clans in Levia.

"I just came back from the front line this time, and I haven't got a good understanding of the affairs of the feudal clans. Just tell me, what's changed in them."

"Yes..." Yan Yingyuan tidied up his thoughts, and then bowed and said:
"Right now, Levia's strong domains are still in the order of the eight kingdoms of Tang, Huai, Ji, Zheng, Rui, Gui, Yi, and Min."

"At present, more than [-] people have immigrated from the Tang State. At the end of last year, Tang King Zhu Qiqi arrived in the Tang State and brought many craftsmen. There are also hundreds of thousands of labor reform workers in the Tang State. The exact number is not clear."

"In addition, their annual income should not be less than 30 taels, because they bought more than [-] taels of grain last year."

"In terms of cultivated land, what they reported was 74 acres of fields, and the number of soldiers and horses is still more than [-] in the fifth battalion."

"Tang Shizi Zhu Yujian is still in the capital right now, but with the current situation in the country, I'm afraid he will find a way to escape."

"As for the other seven countries except Tang, those with the most land are no more than [-] mu, and those who are widowed have more than [-] mu."

"Those with more soldiers and horses are no more than four battalions, and those who are widowed are no more than two battalions."

"The annual income is only more than two hundred thousand taels, and the widow is one hundred and twenty thousand taels."

"The eight countries joined forces, and the annual income is probably around 130 million taels, and the total number of soldiers and horses is 26 battalions, nearly 8."

"Its fields total more than 370 million mu, and its output is more than 34 million stones. It has more than 400 immigrants. The number of labor reformers is unknown, and it may not be less than [-] million."

The strength of the Eight Domains of Levia was revealed by Yan Yingyuan's few words. It has to be said that with such a national strength, it can directly become a regional power if it is thrown into the European battlefield.

However, for the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner, the best news is that they have branches all over the coast of Levia, and it is very difficult to integrate their forces.

"The development of the Eight Domains is a bit rapid, mainly due to the cheap gold and silver mines."

Wu Aheng knew very well why the eight feudal clans were developing so rapidly. To put it bluntly, they produced enough gold and silver to immigrate. Compared with the small Western feudal clans who could only trade grain and collect taxes from the imperial store, they had the natural advantage of minerals.

However, the disadvantages of the Eight Domains are also obvious, that is, they all lack food by coincidence.

The shortage of food means that they can only rely on the food from the South Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner and Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner to maintain the domestic situation, otherwise they will not be able to support so many reformed-through-labor workers.

"You compile these into a book, and I will bring them back to Your Highness in three days."

"Yes!"

After Wu Aheng finally confessed, he also saw Yan Yingyuan off.

As he explained, after sending pigeons to Yan Yinshao of East Kunlun Mansion, Wu Aheng left the place where he had lived for nearly ten years by boat three days later.

The replacement of many inspectors naturally made the feudal lords from all over the place aware that something was wrong.

They don't have an organization like Jinyiwei, but they also have their own sources of information, so during this period, countless pigeons kept traveling between Daming and various places.

Not only the inside of the Ming Dynasty paid attention to this disturbance, but also other vassals outside the Ming Dynasty.

They want to know what kind of compromise Zhu Youjian, who has always been tough, will make in the face of this turmoil...

Update at [-] p.m.