Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 629
"Long live! Long live! Long live the emperor!"

"King Qi is a thousand years old!"

On May [-], amidst the cheers of the common people, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao came to Taiyuan Prefecture to a small village in Pingyang Prefecture.

If Zhu Ciran could see this scene, then maybe he could recognize this as a poor village he passed by back then.

Five or six hundred people were separated by more than a hundred Jinyiwei, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao walked through the crowd.

However, the attitudes and demeanor of the two brothers walking this distance are markedly different.

Zhu Youjian was very happy from the bottom of his heart, because he had seen the situation of this village from Zhu Ciran's travel notes, and now the life of the people in this village was obviously much better.

The adobe house, scantily clad, skinny...

Of these three words, only the adobe house has not changed, and the other two states have disappeared.

Although the people coming and going to greet them are not wearing new clothes, at least they have something to wear, and they are only old clothes for one or two years.

Under the clothes, Zhu Youjian can also see from their cheeks whether they are full.

Therefore, he concluded that the lives of the local people have indeed been changed, so he is really happy.

He shook hands with the people who stretched out their hands. Compared with him, although Zhu Youxiao, who was walking in front, also greeted the people with a smile, but such behaviors as shaking hands were very dangerous to him, so he raised his hand before Hand smiling and saying hello.

Under the guard of Lu Wenzhao and others, the two brothers first came to the river that dried up to the bottom in Zhu Ciran's travel notes.

Although Taiyuan Mansion is still in drought right now, when they came to the river, the river in the travel notes only had a stream at the bottom of the river, but it had already swollen a lot.

Although the flood flow of the past has not been restored, at least it has recovered to a small river eight or nine feet wide and one or two feet high.

Such a small river has already satisfied the basic cultivation of the people in the village, so when Zhu Youjian looked up at the river, what he saw was basically a green crop.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Youjian, who got along well with the people, also smiled and asked the people:
"After the river swells, the food will be guaranteed, right?"

"Have!!!"

The people responded loudly, and at the same time, some people replied in a hurry:

"The food in the field is growing well this year!"

"Long live Juan exempted from the field tax, life will be better!"

"It doesn't matter if there is no food in the field, the county sent people to send a lot of food!"

"Your Highness, come back when the harvest is over, the scenery will be amazing!"

The people talked in a hurry, trying to say what they thought in their hearts.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao also listened patiently, but Zhu Youxiao just listened, but Zhu Youjian went to the people to discuss the issues of food, clothing, housing and transportation with them.

"The clothes haven't been changed for several years. Sell more food to the imperial store, and change the doll into better clothes."

Zhu Youjian picked up a four or five-year-old ignorant baby and spoke to the people around him.

The people around laughed happily when they heard the words. They never thought that His Royal Highness King Qi would be so approachable.

As for the emperor next to him, although they also smiled at him, they never dared to ask any questions.

Perhaps in their view, the emperor is the son of heaven, and it is not easy to talk to him. If they can't answer, they may suffer.

It is precisely because of their thinking that Zhu Youxiao looks out of place here.

But... the world is difficult for adults to understand, but not for children.

When the adults were afraid of saying the wrong thing and talked to King Qi, a dozen children came around Zhu Youxiao because they couldn't squeeze in, and looked at him eagerly.

For children, Zhu Youxiao didn't have that much defense, so he smiled at the children.

Seeing him smile, the children around him boldly surrounded him:

"Long live, are you the emperor?"

"I am the emperor."

"Long live, is your name long live?"

"My surname is Zhu. Long live is a title, just like you are called uncle and aunt."

"Long live……"

The children talked in a hurry, which made Zhu Youxiao tired of coping, but enjoyed it.

The children are always so naive and romantic about his questions, but compared to him, Zhu Youjian is in a lot of trouble.

The villagers' questions are basically about their lives, and these questions are difficult to explain in this noisy environment.

Therefore, in the face of these problems, he chose to call the villagers to the drying yard in the center of the village, and asked each citizen to bring their own stools.

When he said this, the people went home to get stools one after another, and Zhou Yuan, the village official of Baishui Village, also stepped forward and bowed cautiously:
"Do Long Live and Your Highness need a meal?"

"Meals are available, but not us, but the whole village."

Zhu Youjian was the first to rush to answer, and then said to Lu Wenzhao:
"Let the chef slaughter the dozen or so pigs he brought, and then discuss some food with the villagers. We will have a long table feast today."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao responded with a bow. Although he didn't know what a long table banquet was, it didn't stop him from answering first and then asking.

"Brother, what is a long table banquet?"

Before Lu Wenzhao asked, Zhu Youxiao, who came out of the children's pile, asked Zhu Youjian.

In this regard, he also explained the long table banquet with a smile.

The long table banquet is a holiday feast for the Miao people, and it is normal for the Han people not to know it.

Under his explanation, Zhu Youxiao seemed very interested in the long table banquet, and Lu Wenzhao also ordered Zhou Yuan, the village official of Baishui Village, to organize it.

Amid Zhou Yuan's yelling, the villagers from every household got busy.

The men set the table, the women went to the front field to beg for food, and the dolls were carefully washing the pottery bowls at home.

In this era, dolls also need to find some work by themselves to share housework for the family.

Because of the rain, the mountains and fields have turned green. Bird eggs and wild vegetables on the mountains... are all things that the dolls can find.

Everyone was busy, only Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian sat under the yellow tent set up in the drying yard, watching the villagers busy without causing trouble.

"It would be great if this excitement could last..."

Zhu Youxiao didn't know why, seeing the scenes full of fireworks in front of him, his heart couldn't help but stir up waves.

Regarding his words, Zhu Youjian also smiled and nodded slightly, and then explained to Zhu Youxiao:
"Brother, you have always understood what the people want, it's just that your education doesn't allow you to do so."

"In my opinion, my brother is right, and so am I."

"It's just that the current era is about to change. If my brother doesn't change, then the Ming Dynasty..."

After three minutes, Zhu Youjian closed his mouth, and Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly after hearing the words, with a thoughtful look on his face.

While he was meditating, the villagers of Baishui Village laid out the long-table banquet along the drying yard, and the local village elders and villagers over 60 years old were sitting beside them, as well as the soldiers and horses of Jinyiwei and Yiluanwei, and the accompanying people. Eunuchs, chefs... There are a total of [-] people, big and small.

Two thousand people crowded both sides of the drying yard, and more than 600 villagers from Baishui Village gathered on the left side of the drying yard, watching the dazzling knife skills and craftsmanship of the royal chefs.

Under their watchful eyes, fifteen large white pigs weighing three hundred catties were quickly tidied up by the imperial cook and help cooks.

They can also easily identify the vegetables grown by the villagers themselves and the wild vegetables found by the dolls, and make them the most suitable way to eat.

Not long after, the amazing and intoxicating smell of meat spread throughout Baishui Village.

Stir-fried kidneys, stewed sausages, raw fried pork ribs, stewed trotters, shaved soup, dried curd, fried leg meat, tofu flower, leek root, wild vegetable soup...

The tabletops of hundreds of tables in the long table banquet were filled with delicacies, and the fragrant and delicious food made Baishui villagers who had not known meat for several months intoxicated.

At this moment, everyone turned their attention to the emperor and King Qi under the yellow tent. This move brought Zhu Youxiao back from contemplation to reality. He temporarily put his troubles behind him and raised his hands and smiled at the villagers of Baishui Village. road:
"Feast!"

"Woo ho ho ho—"

After receiving the order, more than 2000 people began to take their seats.

Due to the lack of tables in Baishui Village, many people can only stand to eat and pick up vegetables...

But even so, they are happy at the moment.

The last time the villagers of Baishui Village ate meat was when the county ordered people to transport [-] catties of pork earlier this year.

It's just that without the conditions, they can't make any delicious food at all.

A little salt and hundreds of catties of radishes are added together, and a pot of radish and pork is cooked.

Although rough, it was the first time they had eaten meat since Apocalypse 14 years ago.

On that day, the air was filled with the smell of meat.

Although for the [-] villagers of Baishui Village, the [-] catties of pork was very little, so little that they could only eat a piece of meat, but that was also a very happy moment for them in recent years.

Compared to that day, today's meat feast is slightly different.

Nearly [-] catties of pork plus various seasonings and side dishes not only gave the villagers of Baishui Village a taste of meat, but also a sense of fullness.

Eating all you can eat meat is a happiness that many of them have never enjoyed, but now they are finally experiencing this kind of happiness.

Some people who have never enjoyed it so much couldn't help crying.

The cry seemed to be contagious, reminding many people of the suffering they had suffered over the years, and they all lowered their heads and hugged the bowl full of meat, and began to sob uncontrollably.

"younger brother……"

This scene made Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting and eating with Zhu Youjian at the moment, aware of it.

He couldn't help looking, and couldn't bear to speak to Zhu Youjian in a questioning tone.

Regarding his doubts, Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say.

Perhaps for Zhu Youxiao, who was pampered since he was a child, the ordinary matter of eating meat could not resonate with him at all.

"Brother, needless to say, I probably know..."

Seeing Zhu Youjian's expression of not knowing how to explain, Zhu Youxiao didn't want him to be embarrassed, so he spoke to comfort him.

When he spoke to comfort him, Lu Wenzhao brought a memorial, and this memorial was naturally written by Zhu Ciran.

"Long live, Your Highness... This is a memorial sent by the East Palace."

Lu Wenzhao presented it with both hands, but Zhu Youxiao seemed not interested, so naturally Zhu Youjian took over the memorial.

He opened it and flipped through it for a while, then took the moistened ink pen from Lu Wenzhao, wrote down his thoughts on the memorial, and at the same time raised his head to explain to Zhu Youxiao:

"It's Brother Ran's memorial, mainly to say..."

Zhu Youjian explained, and Zhu Youxiao nodded absent-mindedly when he heard the words.

The smell of fireworks just now washed away Zhu Youjian's previous words to him in his mind, but now he was affected by the atmosphere of the people crying, and at this moment he also remembered his own shortcomings again.

He knows that he is not as close and approachable as his younger brother, and he also knows that he has a cold nature and can't "love" the people.

In his opinion, as long as he can feed the people of the world, he will be a prosperous king.

He didn't understand why his younger brother wanted the people to be idle, because he felt that if the people were idle, it would only cause chaos.

He still doesn't understand what his younger brother means by "times have changed".

Zhu Youjian saw his contemplation, but he didn't know how to explain it.

After a long time, Zhu Youxiao moved his chopsticks again, put a piece of meat into his mouth, and whispered as if talking to himself: "The times have changed, what do you mean?"

"The times have changed..." Zhu Youjian took a deep breath, and then said to Zhu Youxiao:
"Throughout the ages, the evolution of systems in many countries can be roughly divided into four types: tribalism, slavery, enfeoffment, and centralized power."

"Among them, tribalism, as the first form of government to step into civilization, mainly regards tribes or tribal alliances as the ruling object, and is a system centered on the "common world"."

"The tribal system aims to protect the interests of the tribesmen, and connects multiple tribes into one."

"The leader of the tribal alliance is jointly elected by everyone, and the succession of the leader adopts the system of abdication, and it mainly achieves the purpose of maintaining the rule through blood relationship and alliance."

"In the "Yu" period, the previous abdication system changed. The ancient abdication system became a hereditary system, and the tribal system representing the "common world" transformed into a slave system representing the "family world."

"In addition, slavery also changed the way tribalism used to maintain the rule of the system mainly through blood and alliances, and turned to the military to achieve the purpose of maintaining rule."

"During the Shang Dynasty, people germinated the germination of enfeoffment system on the basis of slavery, and enfeoffment princes such as Hou and Bo began to appear."

"After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, in order to consolidate the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor of Zhou divided the royal family and heroes to various places to establish their own states and countries, trying to maintain the long-term rule of the Zhou Dynasty by using the blood relationship as the link and the patriarchal system as the core. the goal of."

"In the Warring States Period, due to the development of the feudal economy and the growth of the power of the emerging landlord class, after Qin Shihuang swept the six countries, Qin Shihuang established a set of relative laws in order to consolidate his rule over the country and avoid the recurrence of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. A perfect centralization system with power vested in the center and weakened by local governments, and this system has been continuously improved with successive dynasties, and it has been used until now..."

Zhu Youjian mentioned the political systems of the past and present, but these Zhu Youxiaos all know it. He doesn't understand what it has to do with the changes of the times. Could it be that the centralized system is no longer working?
With a face full of doubts, Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhu Youjian straight, and about this, Zhu Youjian also said:
"These four systems actually correspond to ancient communism, slavery, feudal enfeoffment, and feudal centralization."

"Although the latter two are divided into enfeoffment and centralization, they are actually feudal systems and are a kind of system."

"These three ages correspond to the three ages of stone tools, bronze tools, and iron tools."

"To put it more clearly, it is the progress of the times promoted by the change of production mode caused by demand."

Zhu Youjian was afraid that his brother would not be able to understand because he said too much, so he paused on purpose.

However, he underestimated his brother's understanding ability. When he paused, Zhu Youxiao took the initiative to ask:

"What does my brother mean, now that Ming Dynasty has entered a new era, so a series of systems should be changed accordingly?"

"However, it is not easy to change a system..." Zhu Youxiao frowned tightly. He thought he was not the kind of emperor who could create a new political system.

"I already have an idea for the system, but whether it is applicable or not depends on the actual implementation results."

As soon as Zhu Youjian explained, Zhu Youxiao frowned and looked at him with a trace of worry:

"My brother is going to implement a new system in Qi?"

"I have this idea, after all, I always want to surrender."

Zhu Youjian picked up a chopstick of wild vegetables and chewed them in his mouth, then looked at the people who had come out of the sobbing atmosphere and gradually enjoyed eating meat, and said to Zhu Youxiao without looking back:
"From being alive to being full is one stage, and from being full to being well-fed is another stage."

"As the times progress, the needs of the people will also change. If we don't make adjustments, the people will eventually overthrow us."

After that, he turned his head to look at Zhu Youxiao: "If brother doesn't believe me, just accompany me through the whole journey and you will understand."

"Is there any reason for me not to believe what my brother said? I just couldn't turn it around for a while."

Zhu Youxiao took a sip of a cup of weak tea, and couldn't help frowning in the next second, swallowing the tea with difficulty.

He has been pampered since he was a child, even though his father is not favored, but after all he is deeply loved by Emperor Wanli, and he is never short of food and clothing.

Such rough tea and light meals were really difficult for his spoiled mouth.

Because of this, he deliberately looked at the villagers of Baishui Village who were happy to eat meat, thoughtfully.

"Aren't you going to bring Brother Lang with you?"

Zhu Youxiao suddenly opened his mouth, but what he asked was about Zhu Cihong.

"Brother Lang is only ten years old and has a calm personality. I'm not particularly worried about him."

Zhu Youjian explained: "Besides, I still have a lot of time to teach him after I became a fan, so I'm not in a hurry."

Today, Zhu Youjian has been talking about Jiufan, which makes Zhu Youxiao unhappy.

Although he knew that his younger brother was doomed to become a feudal lord, he still felt a little uncomfortable to tell him so repeatedly.

Seemingly aware of his emotional changes, Zhu Youjian no longer mentioned the matter of joining the feudal clan, and the two brothers just ate sullenly.

Compared with the lively long table banquet, the two brothers fell into a dead silence around them...

Coincidentally, at this time, a Jinyiwei rushed over with the military information, and Lu Wenzhao took it on his behalf before forwarding it to Zhu Youjian:

"Your Highness, the message is from Ying Zhou."

"Hmm?" Zhu Youjian frowned subconsciously when he heard the news from Yingzhou.

He took it over and saw that the content was an unexpected incident recorded by Qianhu in Yingzhou, Fusi, Beizhen.

On the seventh day of May, something that Zhu Youjian didn't want to see happened in Yingzhou Honzhou.

"This Li Benjiro is a naturalized person, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness..."

Seeing the content of the military situation, the protagonist was called "Li Benjiro", and Zhu Youjian immediately thought that this person was from Yingzhou with a high degree of Sinicization.

However, even after accepting the sinicization, the fundamental inferiority and restraint have not been removed.

According to the intelligence, Li Benjiro gathered more than a hundred people from Yingzhou in the army and horse department, and more than [-] strong men from Edo Castle to launch a rebellion.

Since the soldiers and horses of the Ming army are usually stationed outside the city, and the city is dominated by soldiers and horses and government servants, Edo County was caught off guard at the beginning.

Fortunately, there were 1000 soldiers and horses in Edo City, and more than 800 of them were Han Chinese, so they quickly suppressed Li Benjiro.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Bencilang opened the city and fled towards the western mountains and forests.

Cao Dingjiao, who was stationed in Beizhou Prefecture, heard the news, and immediately led a battalion of soldiers and horses to go south by ship, preparing to encircle and suppress Li Benjiro and other rebels.

The scale of the rebellion this time is not large, but it is enough to show that there are still some problems with Ming's rule or policies in Yingzhou.

However, Zhu Youjian was very clear about Daming's problem, and to put it bluntly, it was created by himself and Yang Wenyue.

The reason for creating these problems is also very simple, it is to dilute the local population of Yingzhou.

After 13 years of hard work by the two of them, the population of Yingzhou has increased from 400 million in the ninth year of Tianqi to 600 million now.

However, 400 million people used to be from Yingzhou, but now 600 million of the 400 million people are Han Chinese.

Han people accounted for 25% of the local population, and most of the Han people who migrated to Yingzhou were single men.

In other words, this group of Han people basically married the local Yingzhou women, so if we really want to talk about the degree of Sinicization, the degree of Sinicization of Yingzhou may have reached about 50%.

Of the remaining 800 million Yingzhou people, [-]% are old and weak, [-]% are children, and [-]% are young and middle-aged.

Excluding the unmarried girls of Yingzhou, there are still about four million young and strong men on Yingzhou.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the young and strong of the Han people and the young and strong of Yingzhou are basically on the same level. As long as the local policy of Yingzhou continues for a few more decades, the local young and strong may soon disappear in the long river of history without competitiveness. middle.

Some men in Yingzhou can see this situation themselves.

According to Jin Yiwei's information, the men in Yingzhou now hate the Han people, despise the women in Yingzhou who marry them, and are very dissatisfied with the government.

These various factors may have predestined the continued outbreak of rebellion in Yingzhou in the future.

"Let the Governor's Mansion of the Eastern Army deploy another three battalions of soldiers and horses to garrison various parts of Yingzhou. Once a rebellion is discovered, it will be suppressed on the spot."

After reading the military situation, Zhu Youjian gave his own solution, which was to further increase the garrison in Yingzhou.

Previously, the garrison in Yingzhou had reached more than 3 people in the seventh battalion, but after this time, the local garrison will reach [-] people in the tenth battalion.

You must know that after the reduction of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion a few days ago, there are only [-] battalions of troops.

In other words, in the future, the main force of the Eastern Army's Governor's Mansion will be concentrated on Yingzhou, which is enough to show that Zhu Youjian attaches great importance to Yingzhou.

Facing the arrangement, Lu Wenzhao bowed and responded, and Zhu Youjian himself pushed the general's affection to his brother:
"Brother, the local people in Yingzhou are the most repetitive. Unless my Han family accounts for more than half of the local population, the local garrison can only increase, not decrease, and the policy cannot be changed."

Zhu Youjian was explaining his arrangements for Yingzhou, and Zhu Youxiao nodded solemnly when he saw his serious appearance.

"Okay, brother, don't deal with things, let's eat first, otherwise the food will be really cold."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and advised Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian also smiled back when he heard the words, and the two brothers continued to enjoy the table of food.

(End of this chapter)