Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Three applications and five orders are not allowed to collect miscellaneous items, why is the local government still accepting them?!"

"If Uncle Qi hadn't found out, wouldn't Jin Yiwei never be able to find out?!"

"Whether it can't be found out, or is it colluding, you know better than me!"

In the East Palace in mid-August, Zhu Ciran took the memorabilia sent from Sichuan, and questioned the new commander Lu Yuangao step by step.

The temperature in the Eastern Palace, which was being tortured by the autumn tiger, dropped sharply at this moment. It seemed that even the palace could feel the anger in the heart of its master, not to mention the maids and eunuchs around.

Everyone was speechless, for fear that making a sound would offend the third ruler of the Ming Dynasty.

But compared with them, Lu Yuangao who was being questioned was not afraid at all, and directly bowed and said:
"Your Highness, the relationship among Jinyiwei is very complicated. Although Nanzhen Fusi has [-] Jinyiwei, many Jinyiwei have already been corrupted."

"From the view of the subordinates, it's not that Nanzhen Fusi has no news, but that the people below didn't report it at all."

"If you want to put an end to their behavior of deceiving your superiors and subordinates, the officials think that the most direct and joyful thing is self-examination!"

"Self-examination? You mean the Supervision Department?" Zhu Ciran, who was sitting on the chair, had a calm face, but his demeanor gave off a feeling of calmness and prestige.

"It's not the Supervision Department, but it also includes the Supervision Department!" Lu Yuangao bowed frankly:

"The officials of the Supervision Department among Jinyiwei, who are a little bit more honest, were transferred to Qi State early."

"Although there are currently 2 people in the Supervision Department, there are quite a few petty profits among them. Therefore, the lower officials believe that the most necessary thing to do is to reorganize the Supervision Department, and then successively reorganize the Southern Township and North Township Governors respectively. "

"Now that Cui Yingyuan and Li Ruolian are retiring, and Lu Jianxing, Lu Wenzhao, Lu Xian, Lu Xiu and others are going to Qi State, now is a good time to reorganize Jinyiwei!"

Lu Yuangao spoke his mind without hesitation, and even said that he would reorganize Jinyiwei and kick out many old officials who his father had brought up all the way.

Such words made Zhu Ciran squint his eyes, but he quickly made his own decision:

"I'll leave this matter to you, but what I want you to do now is to arrest the officials of the Syrian state capital first."

"As long as you violate the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", you don't need to discuss whether to exile, just behead! Three clans will be exiled!"

"Yes!" Lu Yuangao bowed in response, and after seeing that Zhu Ciran didn't order, he bowed respectfully and slowly exited the Chunhe Palace.

It's just that when he was leaving the Spring Harmony Palace, Sun Kewang from outside the palace just happened to walk in.

The two looked at each other, looked at each other and bowed to each other, then turned their bodies and left separately.

Lu Yuangao went to do his own thing, while Sun Kewang walked into the Palace of Spring Harmony with a booklet.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

After Sun Kewang entered the palace, he saluted first, and then presented the booklet with both hands:

"Your Highness, this is the number of newly added fields from July last year to July this year."

Hearing the words, the eunuch in the palace stepped forward to take it, turned around and presented it to Zhu Ciran.

When Zhu Ciran watched, Sun Kewang explained:

"In July last year, the country's land area was more than 230 mu, and it has reached more than 270 mu in July this year, an increase of 34 mu."

"Among them, more than [-] million mu have been reclaimed by machinery, more than [-] million mu have been reclaimed by livestock, and more than [-] million mu have been reclaimed by human power."

"According to the forecast of the Department of Agriculture, the country's arable land will exceed 11 billion mu in July next year."

After Sun Kewang finished speaking, he continued to say:

"In addition, although the Household Registration Department has not yet compiled the latest population statistics, the population of Guochao should have exceeded 500 million in July this year."

"The Household Registration Department predicts that if the immigration policy is not stopped, it will take another two years for Guochao to surpass the population of [-] million."

"If the immigration policy is stopped, it will only take about a year..."

"Immigration must not stop!" Before Sun Kewang could finish speaking, Zhu Ciran, who was sitting in the main seat, interrupted mercilessly.

"Although the drought has receded, the arable land of the Kingdom is still less than [-] million mu. The grain, fruits and vegetables cultivated are still not enough for the people of the Kingdom, and the price remains high."

"The population is growing too fast, which is not a good thing for the current state."

"Furthermore, if the immigration policy is cut off, won't it force the feudal clans to become alienated?"

"There are 230 seven countries overseas, with only 680 million citizens, but more than [-] million natives."

"Once the country cuts off immigration, the overseas vassals will inevitably hate the country in the future, and the loss outweighs the gains for the country system."

"In the future, there will be dare to speak..." Zhu Ciran said, suddenly narrowed his eyes, looked at Sun Kewang and asked:

"What do you mean?"

Zhu Ciran knew very well that Sun Kewang knew his own character, so to be smart, even if the household registration department mentioned the relocation, Sun Kewang should not convey it.

Since he conveyed it, he must have his own ideas.

Although Zhu Ciran acted arbitrarily and independently, he still cared about Sun Kewang, the mainstay of the East Palace team.

He had to figure out what Sun Kewang meant.

"Your Highness..."

Sun Kewang didn't answer directly, but bowed first before speaking:
"In the short term, the lower officials agree with His Highness."

"But in the long run, immigration policy must be tightly controlled, especially in the United States."

"..." Zhu Ciran remained silent, but Sun Kewang continued:
"There can be more immigrants in Qi, but not all the time."

"The lower officials inquired about the situation of the local people and the territory of Qi State."

"Qi State is tens of thousands of miles from north to south, and thousands of miles from east to west. There are only 2000 million natives in its territory, but it has an area no less than that of Guochao, and there are gold, silver and coal mines comparable to Guochao."

"The Guochao migrated no less than 50 people from Qi State every year. If things go on like this, it only takes more than ten years for Qi State to assimilate the local people and become a monolithic one."

"Besides, Qi's industrial strength has always been one-third or more of that of Guochao."

"Right now the King of Qi is still alive, so it doesn't affect anything, but if the Qi Fan doesn't respect the king in the future, then it will be the Chu of Zong Zhou."

Sun Kewang spoke boldly, but what he waited for was Zhu Ciran's nod of approval and frowning:

"Throughout the ages, the Han family has continued to fight among themselves. Many reasons are due to looking too far and thinking too much."

"As you said, the Qi State will become stronger in the future, and it may threaten the country."

"But let me ask you, how long is this so-called future?"

After Zhu Ciran finished speaking, he said without waiting for Sun Kewang's answer:

"Uncle told me that if you save people and lose land, all people and land will survive, and if you save land and lose people, all people and land will be lost."

"Compared to the feudal vassals, what is the background of my Ming Dynasty's strength?"

"It's not the territory, nor the amount of arable land, but the population of nearly [-] million, and the literate population of nearly [-] million."

"Although there are nearly 8000 million people in the various feudal clans, how many are literate? Less than one-tenth of them."

"How can they threaten the country with such a weak foundation?"

"So what if Qi has Uncle Qi? If the immigration policy doesn't change, will Qi catch up to Daming?"

"Will not!"

Zhu Ciran is very confident, he leans forward, full of pressure:

"Even if Guochao moves 200 million people out of the country every year, it can add more than [-] million people every year."

"A hundred years later, even if the population of Qi State exceeds [-] million, the population of Daming has already exceeded [-] million."

"Whether it's politics or war, you need to have enough confidence to support it, and the population is the confidence of the dynasty against the vassals."

"What's more, the closest place between Qi State and Guochao is the extreme north, and there are hundreds of miles of ice ocean."

"I really have to worry, and I should also worry about India, which has a population of nearly [-] million. Worry about whether there will be a unified country that can threaten the country!"

Zhu Ciran leaned back on the chair, which relieved Sun Kewang's pressure.

"I recently learned a new word, that is the trade war that Uncle Qi said."

"Trade wars have existed since the Spring and Autumn Period, but in my opinion, there is only a possibility of a trade war between Qi and Guochao, and a large-scale war is impossible."

"Even if 20 years later, the number of ships in Guochao exceeds [-], the number of troops that can be mobilized to conquer Qi will not exceed [-], let alone Qi itself."

"Twenty years later, the 20 troops of the Kingdom may not be able to destroy Qi, and it is even more impossible for Qi to send [-] troops to fight in the Kingdom."

"As long as the war does not break out, then the country and the state of Qi will complement each other."

"Hopefully, I don't want you to suffer from the rotten problems of those rotten scholars..."

Zhu Ciran took a deep look at Sun Kewang, and Sun Kewang bowed his head pretending to be ashamed when he heard the words.

In his mind, he still felt that Qi State should be sanctioned after Zhu Youjian became the vassal, so as to prevent Qi State from becoming a confidant of Ming Dynasty.

However, since Zhu Ciran said so, it is impossible for him not to save face, he can only be ashamed on the face and proud in his heart.

"You go back."

Zhu Ciran waved his hand, and Sun Kewang also bowed when he saw this:

"The next official will retire..."

After all, he respectfully withdrew from the Chunhe Palace.

After he backed out, Li Yongzhen, who was standing in the corner, stepped forward and said in a low voice:

"Your Highness, this Sun Kewang is disrespectful to His Royal Highness Qi Wang, and he is rebellious, so it may be difficult to control him, why not..."

"No problem!" Zhu Ciran raised his hand to tell Li Yongzhen to shut up, while looking at the gate of Chunhe Palace, he said to himself:
"Most of them have entered their thirties, and I'm just a weak crown, so why should I be afraid of their rebelliousness?"

"The more unruly you are, the easier it is to control..."

Zhu Ciran looked at Sun Kewang who had just walked out of the Spring Harmony Palace through the window, with confidence in his eyes.

When Zhu Ciran watched Sun Kewang leave, an eunuch walked into the Chunhe Palace, bowed to Zhu Ciran and said:

"Your Highness, Mr. Sun Ge is asking to see you."

"Xuan!" Zhu Ciran lowered his head to deal with the memorial, and responded to the eunuch at the same time.

Seeing this, the eunuch returned the salute, then returned to the door, and summoned Sun Chengzong who was waiting at the door.

Sun Chengzong is now 79 years old, and he will be 80 years old in a year, so he naturally wobbles when he walks.

Seeing this, Li Yongzhen asked someone to lift up the chair, and Zhu Ciran also raised his hand and said:
"Mr. Sun Ge doesn't have to bow and salute, it's just what you say."

"The next official receives the decree..." Sun Chengzong responded in a low voice, then sat down and said:

"The lower official came here this time to submit his resignation to His Highness, begging to return to his hometown."

"In addition, the establishment of a province in Hezhong should also be discussed."

As Sun Chengzong said, he also took out the two memorials hidden in his sleeve.

Of these two memorials, one is Cishu and the other is Memorials.

After Li Yongzhen took over, Sun Chengzong bowed and explained:

"His Royal Highness King Qi said that the war can only be ended by taking Kandahar, so it is better to set Hezhong as the land of five prefectures."

While Sun Chengzong was speaking, Zhu Ciran also took over his dictionaries and memorials.

He took a brief look, then nodded:
"Elder Ge knows that I'm not good at etiquette, besides, Elder Ge is really old, so I will criticize the resignation first."

"However, I don't know if my father will agree to it."

"As for the matter in the river, I need to discuss it with Uncle Qi Wang. This matter is not so easy to decide..."

"Beep--"

When Zhu Ciran murmured in response to Sun Chengzong, the battlefield in Hezhong, thousands of miles away, also came to the last link before the end.

The piercing whistle was blown, and the boundless Gobi Desert was like a yellow sea, the sun shone on it, and thousands of points of light shone.

In this environment, any bit of green would be infinitely magnified, and what is being magnified right now is a city facing the yellow sand of the Gobi and backed by a wide oasis.

Khiva City, as the royal court of the Khiva Khanate, is currently besieged by less than 1 people.

Looking down from the sky, there are crowds of people outside the city of Khiva, but they are not Khivas from the Ming army, and they are poorly equipped.

They rode on horseback, relying on the city of Khiva, which is large enough to accommodate 10 people.

On the top of the city, a Khiva defender lined up and prepared all kinds of defense equipment.

The Khivas are, without a doubt, the second most barbaric people in Transoxiana after the Turkmens.

They plundered Bukhara, Kazakhstan, and harassed Safi Persia. In the war between Mughal and Safi Persia, they often appeared on the battlefield as mercenaries.

It's just that time has passed, and the Khiva people, who were once brave and good at fighting, have now become timid people relying on the city wall, and what they are facing is the Ming cavalry with a scale of less than [-].

Under the scorching sun, the cavalry of the Ming army stood on the Gobi grassland east of Khiva City.

As the wind and sand blew, a rising heat wave slapped on people's faces, making it difficult for people to even breathe.

However, such hardships could not dispel the Ming army's fighting spirit.

The eyes hidden under the visor revealed bloodthirsty. Everyone wanted to do it immediately. While destroying the city of Khiva, they would build the heads of the Khiva people into a capital, and take more reward silver to go home, so that the family can live happily ever after. a good year.

Yes, Chinese New Year...

Although there are still four months before the Chinese New Year, for the soldiers of the Ming army on the western expedition, it takes two to four months to return home from the river.

Therefore, they desperately hope to clear the area in the middle of the river, and right now, the city in front of them is the first clarion call for the Western Expeditionary Army to return home.

"The artillery is in place!"

"Fixed shot reloading, 5 minutes in the direction of Chenshiqiqiqi."

"Fixed shot loaded!"

Listening to the gunner's voice echoing in his ears, Li Dingguo put down the binoculars in his hand and said casually:
"Pre-shot, twelve rounds!"

"Twelve rounds are preset, ready to... let it go!"

"Bump--"

The violent sound of two hundred Yanshan five-pound cannons resounded on the semi-Gobi and semi-grassland in front of Khiva City.

With the sound of the artillery, the iron shells fired by the iron artillery began to bombard the top and bottom of the city of Khiva.

For a while, the Khiva army inside and outside Khiva City was in chaos. Faced with this situation, the Khiva people had no way to organize a counterattack, all because they were now a country without a great Khan.

Since the second year of Apocalypse, Prince Khiva Irbars launched a rebellion, Khiva Khan was abolished, and his eyes were dug out, Khiva Khanate has no Khan, and since then began a long period of royal infighting, and Caught in a fierce struggle between Uzbeks and Turkmens.

It is also because of this that Lin Dan Khan has no chance to fight Khiva and Turkmen. Otherwise, with the great Khan, the Uzbeks of the Khiva Khanate will definitely go to Lin Dan Khan to plunder.

The Ming army just seized the time when the Khiva Khanate was leaderless, so it was able to defeat them continuously until they were forced to retreat to the city of Khiva.

Their alliance is too fragile, and once they encounter a tough battle, they will lose their positions and cannot organize an effective counterattack, and it is the same now.

Although a small number of them realized that it was necessary to break through the outer encirclement line of the Ming cavalry and tried to charge.

However, there were only one or two people side by side, and the seemingly fragile encirclement line became an impenetrable steel wall on the way of their charge.

"Bang bang bang-"

The gunshots that rang out all the time made people terrified. With the gunshots, many Khivans who tried to break out fell down one after another.

For a distance of two hundred steps, even the cavalry would need tens of seconds, and during these ten seconds, they would be shot by nearly a thousand people on the encirclement line, three times in a row...

"Sorry!"

"Bang bang bang-"

"Breakthrough!"

"God bless!"

"I can't rush through!"

"Allah!"

"Allah is mighty!"

"Forehead……"

In an instant, the neighing of war horses, the sound of guns and cannons, the sound of shouting to break through, and the sound of falling to the ground were continuous and continuous.

The [-] cavalrymen belonging to more than a dozen tribes broke through from all directions according to the wisdom of the leaders of each tribe, but none of them succeeded, and they all fell on the Gobi and grasslands under the city of Khiva.

Half an hour later, when the gunfire of the Ming army stopped, the [-] Khiva cavalry who had been majestic and energetic just now had died. Apart from the corpses, there were only mourning wounded soldiers and some missed soldiers on the battlefield. Horses walking around.

The reversal of the war happened so quickly that the [-] Khiva defenders inside the city had no time to respond, and the army outside the city was completely wiped out.

Irbars looked at the scene outside the city, he was in a trance, and he couldn't believe that the Ming army's firearms were so sharp and their combat power was so sturdy.

He could only watch helplessly as the Ming army cleaned up the battlefield, killing Khiva's wounded soldiers one by one, and at the same time recovered the iron shells under the city.

Half an hour later, the Ming army regained its strength and launched another shelling attack on Khiva City.

"Bump--"

The artillery sounded again, and the 10,000+ soldiers and civilians in Khiva had fallen into despair.

At the same time, Zhu Cixuan from outside the city also rode his horse to Li Dingguo from the outside, presenting a military situation in his hand:
"General Soldier, General Li in the south has already recovered the southern city in the middle of the river, and will set off to recover Kandahar controlled by the southern captives in five days."

"General Cao sent a military report, ordering our troops to capture Khiva within ten days, and after encircling and suppressing the Khiva and Turkmen bandits in the central and southern part of the river, support General Li as appropriate."

"Due to the adjustment of the military region, after taking Kandahar, the soldiers and horses of the Shanyu Fourth Battalion and the Shaanxi Fourth Battalion will switch to Hezhong and Lingbei.

"Okay!" Hearing that he could take a vacation, many generals and guards entrenched around Li Dingguo clapped their hands and applauded, the joy on their faces could not be concealed.

But compared to their happiness, Li Dingguo was frowning at this moment, fiddling with a rifle.

When the generals were happy, he held his rifle and said:

"Although Guochao's rifles are sharp, they are prone to jamming in places with strong wind and sand."

"This kind of situation happened during the Northern Expedition, but it was not as serious and frequent as when we were in the river."

"This problem needs to be paid attention to by the people in the Armament Academy, so we can improve it."

Li Dingguo said, and Zhu Ciyun also said:

"Stuck is not bad. I heard that when October arrives in Lingbei, the rifle will be frozen, and it will not be able to load the bullets at all, and it will not be able to shoot out."

"The only ones that are more suitable for the battlefield are the Western Army and the Southern Army. However, there is a lot of humidity in the south, and the rifle must be maintained frequently, otherwise it will rust."

Zhu Cixuan said what he knew, but in the end he smiled heartily:

"Even with these many shortcomings, with the rate of fire and power of the rifle, it can still lay down and defend the territory of the country."

"Don't take it lightly..." Li Dingguo shook his head, then looked up at the city of Khiva, which was being devastated by artillery.

"If I win here, I will be able to return to Beijing..."

Li Dingguo's expression was a little moved, and he didn't know what he thought of.

Seeing this, Zhu Cixuan next to him immediately knew that he was thinking of Zhu Youjian who was far away in the Central Plains.

Having been with Li Dingguo for so long, Zhu Cixuan also felt very reluctant to leave Li Dingguo.

He knew that if Li Dingguo stayed in Daming, he would be the pillar of Daming for the next 30 to [-] years.

However, Li Dingguo's heart is not in Daming, which he cannot change.

Moreover, this phenomenon does not only appear in Li Dingguo, but in fact, it generally occurs in all armies of the five armies.

Anyone who has been in the army for more than ten years basically favors King Qi more than Guochao.

This phenomenon became more and more serious especially after Huang Long and other three former governors moved to Qi.

The three of them are willing to relocate, which shows that Qi State is not as bad as everyone thinks.

In addition, "Da Ming Pao" once used a page to introduce the situation of the feudal clans, and focused on the situation of Qi State, which made many generals even more shaken.

The only thing that can make them hesitate is that Qi is too peaceful, which makes the generals lose the opportunity to make contributions.

However, Zhu Cixuan also knew that Daming had fought for more than [-] years, and it was time for him to rest.

If the two countries do not fight, then apart from the new generation of generals who will not favor Qi, I am afraid that many old generals will choose to go to Qi.

"Ugh……"

Heaving a long sigh, Zhu Cixuan didn't speak any more, just watched the iron cannonballs hitting the head of Khiva together with the generals.