Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Da Ming Wansheng!"

"Da Ming Wansheng!"

On August 22, Apocalypse 27, with the cheers outside Khiva City, Khiva City was finally captured.

At this point, the 130-year-old Khiva Khanate was declared annihilated, and Li Dingguo immediately ordered the expulsion of the Turkmens in the southwest of Khiva City, and at the same time encircled and suppressed the Khivas who did not surrender.

On the first day of September, the Hezhong area was established as the Hezhong Province, and five prefectures were established in it.

To the east of the Ural River, to the west of the Aral Sea, to the south of the Ural Mountains, and to the north of Persia is Xihaifu.

The unrecovered Kandahar area is Xiqi Prefecture, the Fergana Valley is Hezhong Prefecture, Bukhara and other places are Xisha Prefecture, and the remaining areas are Mengchi Prefecture.

Although the five prefectures in the river have a vast area, due to the unrestrained grazing of nomads such as Turkmen, Khiva, Bukhara, and Kazakhs, coupled with the decrease in precipitation during the Little Ice Age and the serious desertification of the Gobi, there are not many places where they can live.

There are only a few dozen cities suitable for living, and the current population of the five prefectures in Hezhong is even less than 50.

Among them, the 50 people also include 10,000+ Mughals living in the Kandahar area, and 10,000+ Turkmen and Khivans who fled.

These populations are fleeing south to Persia or the Mughal region, and the land in the river is becoming empty of population visible to the naked eye.

In the case that the railway has not been repaired here, I am afraid that the five prefectures exist in name only, and the five prefectures in Hezhong can only be reduced to the military town of Hezhong.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian, who only got the news on September [-]th, also carefully studied the situation in the river.

"Woooo-"

The sound of the train whistle means that Zhu Youjian and the others are still on the journey, and they are indeed just out of Kunming Mansion right now.

Sitting on the train, Zhu Youjian was reading the military newspaper in the river, while Zhu Youxiao was talking vividly about the lives of the people in Kunming.

"There are only [-] million people in Yunnan, but there are more than [-] million mu of arable land. No wonder life is so easy."

Looking at the fruit fields and sea of ​​flowers outside the train, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing and said:

"If the train speed is faster, I'm afraid Yunnan will be the "garden" of Guochao, don't you think so? Brother."

Zhu Youxiao looked back at Zhu Youjian happily, and seeing that he was still holding the Hezhong Military News in his hand, he couldn't help complaining:

"My younger brother didn't even accompany me to go shopping in Kunming this time, but only sent Wen Zhao to accompany me. It's really boring."

"Huh?" Hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Zhu Youjian raised his head in doubt, looking at Zhu Youxiao who was full of complaints, he couldn't help asking:
"But I heard that my brother is very happy to go shopping, and I don't want to miss you..."

"That's just to cover up the sadness of my brother's absence." Zhu Youxiao said hard, which made Zhu Youjian dumbfounded:

"So it's really my fault."

"Although I can't say that, but my younger brother himself said so, so that's the only way to go."

Zhu Youxiao also laughed and joked, and the two brothers looked at each other, seeing their respective expressions, they burst out laughing.

However, after laughing, Zhu Youxiao still got down to business:

"Right now, we have also visited the five provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan..."

"After traveling through these five provinces, I know that the people are not easy."

"These five provinces plus the two capitals I visited, Henan, the farmers in the rich places only have an annual income of 25 taels per household."

"The farmers in the poor areas of Shanshan and Shanxi only have an annual income of twelve or thirty taels of silver."

"Jiangnan, Northwest, and Southwest. In these places, there are seven or eight people per household on average. 25 taels is not sufficient for each of the seven or eight people. Let alone twelve or three taels?"

"I heard from farmers in Shanxi and Shanxi that when the drought was at its worst, each household's annual income was no more than five or six taels."

"Hey... this natural disaster really hurts people a lot."

Zhu Youxiao sighed, but he didn't think about his own problems, he just felt that the natural disaster was too ruthless.

But even so, the situation along the way can make Zhu Youxiao, an emperor who emphasizes the art of controlling the people, lament the suffering of the people, and it is not in vain for Zhu Youjian to go away.

"Brother, are you saying that the art of controlling the people is really no longer applicable?"

Zhu Youxiao asked a question suddenly, but facing this question, Zhu Youjian shook his head decisively:
"The art of controlling the people is not useless, but it needs to be changed."

"In the past, the art of controlling the people was to fool and tire the people, so that the people were ignorant and exhausted."

"The art of controlling the people in the future should be to make the people obey the normal rules, to give the people the dignity of ordinary people, instead of stubbornly treating them as fools."

"Throughout the ages, emperors have regarded the common people as slaves, and some even regarded the common people as livestock."

"Treatment like this, when the people are rich and have enough to eat, nothing will happen, but if the people encounter difficulties, the court still doesn't show consideration, so it's no wonder that the people revolt, and the dynasty will naturally be overthrown by the people."

"It was the same in the country and dynasty. This has not changed through the ages."

"However, since the advent of the steam engine, Guochao will face unprecedented changes. If there is no change, Guochao will only face revenge."

"Civil and military officials can still bear this revenge, but the person sitting in the seat is not necessarily."

"My younger brother entrusted the feudal vassals overseas in order to protect the future descendants of my elder brother's line."

"With all the vassals, no matter how the dynasty changes, the successors will never be able to do too much. Therefore, the descendants of my brother's lineage and the various lines of overseas vassals can save their lives."

"If your life is saved, then we have to talk about how to maintain the rule of the country."

"Your brother said earlier that times have changed, and the state's attitude towards the people has to change, and the needs of the people have to be recognized."

Zhu Youjian made a pot of tea for Zhu Youxiao himself, and said slowly:

"In the prosperous times in the past, as long as the people could eat enough to eat, it would be a prosperous age, even if they only ate sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines, as long as they could eat enough and survive, it would be a prosperous age."

"However, the times have changed now, and the ages are different."

"During the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, they were still slash-and-burn farming, but now they have used machines."

"The Kingdom has suffered from natural and man-made disasters for 15 years. Among the more than [-] million acres of land that can be cultivated, [-] million acres are peanuts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, etc..."

Zhu Youjian picked up the tea and took a sip of tea:

"Are these things delicious? Not necessarily...Eating them is just to survive."

"When the drought is over, the common people will want to eat rice, wheat and refined grains. This is what people yearn for, and naturally it cannot be stopped."

"But..." Zhu Youjian just paused to sip tea, Zhu Youxiao frowned and said:

"If chemical fertilizers are used, sweet potatoes can produce seven or eight stones per mu, potatoes can produce three or four stones per mu, and jade wheat can also produce two stones per mu."

"One mu of sweet potatoes is worth four or five mu of rice and five or six mu of wheat."

"The people stopped planting these things and turned to eating rice and wheat. The land in that dynasty was only enough for them to eat rice and wheat. The prices of some meat and miscellaneous things would rise..."

"It can't be summed up in one sentence..." Zhu Youjian shook his head and interrupted:

"As my brother said, in the Kingdom Dynasty, there were more than [-] billion [-] million mu of arable land, and most of them yielded one stone per mu. Only Jiangnan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places can produce two or three stones per mu."

"Calculated in this way, the one billion and seventy million mu of arable land, excluding the fields for growing melons, fruits and vegetables, has an annual output of only [-] billion shimi and wheat."

"[-] billion shi of rice and wheat, milled and shelled, can only eat [-] billion shi, and the people of the country directly eat [-] million grains."

"The remaining grain, no matter how much it is manipulated, will always be sufficient and rich."

"In the early years of the Wanli Dynasty, most people lived comfortably because of this, and it will be the same in the future."

"Besides, as long as there are machines and fertilizers, and as long as industry continues to develop, the problem of food and clothing will not be a problem."

"What needs to be solved is to add some things on the basis of "not starving to death", such as meat, silk and other things, and these are also things that the people of the country are pursuing before the natural disaster."

"The best goodness is like water, and the people are water."

"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it."

"The Ming Dynasty is not the world of my Zhu family. Although it used to be, it cannot be in the future."

"Da Ming is the Ming of the people in the world, and I, the Zhu family, are just the ship repairers of the ship of Daming."

"People's criticisms are like boats with holes and water leaks. To solve the problem, just repair the gap."

Zhu Youjian said his own thoughts, Zhu Youxiao frowned at this:

"But what if the water becomes turbulent, I don't know what it means, and I ask for it, so what should I do?"

"Know it with emotion, move it with reason." Zhu Youjian took a sip of tea, and said indifferently:

"If you really can't be persuaded, then you can tighten it depending on the situation, but you can't regress on matters of principle."

"As long as we do a good job in education, temper the unified thinking, and follow the improvement of the education received by the people of the country, and the successors can still listen to the needs of the people, then the Ming Dynasty can last for a hundred years."

"The most important thing is nothing more than eight words...adapt to local conditions and keep pace with the times."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian showed a bit of bitterness on his face:
"You and my brothers are not gods, how can we predict a hundred years?"

"One generation does what one generation does, you and I have already done what several generations can do, enough..."

Zhu Youjian's words made Zhu Youxiao couldn't help nodding his head, but he asked again:

"My brother thinks that if the people of the country want to have meat every meal and new clothes every year, what should I do?"

"Xiao Gui Cao Sui, my brother just needs to follow the steps and stick to it for ten years." Zhu Youxiao replied resolutely.

"It only takes ten years?" Zhu Youxiao couldn't believe it, but Zhu Youjian said:

"Ten years from now, there may be no less than 18 billion arable land in the country, and the population will be no more than [-] million."

"At that time, the common people will have six acres of arable land per capita, and the output per mu will be four or five buckets of stone due to chemical fertilizers, and the annual income will be eighty-nine stones of rice and wheat."

"If such a grand occasion can be achieved, the people of the country will be able to live comfortably and eat meat for every meal."

Zhu Youjian did not underestimate the potential of Daming. In his opinion, although Daming has a large population, there are also many places suitable for reclamation.

Although the current tractors are primitive, as long as the output is large and the quantity is large, it can also bring about a qualitative change in Daming's agriculture.

What's more, there are too many people in Ming Dynasty who have received basic education. Once someone improves the tractor slightly in the future so that it can reach the efficiency of the early [-]th century, Daming can use its huge industrial production capacity to reclaim billions of acres of arable land.

With the current territory of Ming Dynasty, even if it has not entered the second industrial revolution, after the popularization of chemical fertilizers, it is no problem to feed a billion people.

It is precisely because the problem of common people's food has been solved and basic education has kept up that Zhu Youjian is worried about the conflict between imperial power and civil rights after the liberation of the mind.

Imperial power and civil rights can definitely coexist, but it is very difficult to operate, and it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to do it himself, because civil rights and folk ideology have not yet been completely liberated.

He couldn't bet on when this time would come, so he couldn't spend all his time in Daming, aggravating the political problems he left behind.

There was nothing wrong with getting out as soon as possible. Even if he went to Qi, he could still write to his brother to help him solve the problem.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu Youxiao, smiled and said:
"Brother, don't worry too much. If there is something that needs to be changed urgently, I will also write to you."

"Don't forget, there are steamships right now, and it only takes a month to send a person from Qi to Daming, let alone a letter?"

"It's true..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Zhu Youxiao also felt relieved.

"That's right. I still have a younger brother. I may not be able to figure out a way, but my younger brother can definitely."

"Woooo-"

While Zhu Youxiao was thinking, the train whistle sounded, which meant that they were not far from the station ahead.

This made Zhu Youjian step up his explanation of other business matters, and among them was the Memorial in the River that he just put down.

After listening to the sound of the whistle, he picked up the memorial and explained to Zhu Youxiao:

"Brother, although the land in the river has been recovered, it is not so easy to govern."

"Not to mention the great influence of local religion, the local environment and situation alone are enough to make you pay attention."

"It is only a matter of time before Li Dingguo and Li Zicheng win Kandahar. The space for the southern captives will be further compressed, and Guochao and Persia will also directly border on it."

"This is not a good thing, because we can't compromise on the religious beliefs of the Persians, and the country has no spare power to continue to take Persia, so the river is already the limit."

"In the future, the frontier conflict between the Kingdom and Persia will always exist. My brother must have enough concentration and not start the war easily."

"The land in the middle of the river is larger than the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Central Plains, but when it is pacified, its population may not even have 20."

"Therefore, Guochao must prepare to build a railway leading to the north and south of the river to run through the east and west ends of Guochao."

Zhu Youjian's words made Zhu Youxiao nod his head, and he asked:
"It's going west along the current Beijing-West Railway, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Zhu Youjian nodded, and Lu Wenzhao also handed over a map when he saw this.

Zhu Youjian opened it, spread it out on the table, and what appeared was the basic railway map of Ming Dynasty.

He put his hand on the railway that had been built to Luntai County (Urumqi), and slid all the way to Talas City, then slid to the southern plain of the Ural Mountains, then slid back to Talas, and then slid to Kandahar in the south north.

"Guochao needs to build two railways in the Hezhong area. The railway goes west from Luntai all the way to Talas, and then goes northwest to Xihai Mansion in Hezhong Province, the future Xihai City."

"One line goes south from Talas, and arrives at Kandahar now, which will be the city of Qixi in the future."

Zhu Youjian told the route, and after Zhu Youxiao watched it, he got out of the way and continued:

"The construction period of these two railways is 13 years and 15 years respectively."

"According to the current situation, it is expected to be completed in the 35th and 37th year of Tianqi."

"At that time, Guochao will be able to relocate people without any pressure."

"However, before that, Hezhong can still be operated in a military-controlled manner. Although the chief envoy and the procuratorate exist, they should try not to interfere with the operation of the Dudu Mansion."

What Zhu Youjian said is also his confidence that it is difficult for the Hezhong area to separate from Daming.

The lifeblood of a rifle lies in its bullets, and now in the entire world, the only two arsenals that can produce rifle bullets are Shuncheon and Yingtian.

More importantly, one of the two major arsenals is responsible for the production of mercury fulminate, and the other is responsible for the production of primer.

In other words, even if Hezhong wanted to break away from Ming Dynasty and wish to be independent, they would die in the Ming army's offensive.

Now is the age of hot weapons, and a rifle without bullets is a short spear.

It is impossible for any army of the Ming Dynasty to separate themselves unless they have a complete production line of bullets.

"Although I said that, if the drought is about to end according to what my brother said before, then the people inside the dynasty may not be willing to go to the land in the river."

"Even if the three clans exile corrupt officials, the number is only tens of thousands every year, and they will not be of much use."

Zhu Youxiao expressed his worries about the relocation, but Zhu Youjian was not worried about it at all.

"Tens of thousands a year, hundreds of thousands in ten years."

"The land in the middle of the river doesn't need too many people, and too many people can't support them. This is similar to Lingbei, Anxi, Beiting, Mobei, and Uzang."

"Now that the land of Lingbei has distributed three tribes with 10,000+ corrupt officials, it's almost time for Hezhong."

"In the next ten years or so, the country will not launch too many wars, so that's all."

As Zhu Youjian said, the train also arrived at the station of Xiangyun Town in Dali Mansion.

When he saw the words "Xiangyun Site" outside the window, Zhu Youxiao knew why his younger brother was in such a hurry to explain things.

There are people here who he wants to see, and there are people he doesn't want to see.

"In addition to these two railways, Guochao also needs to add a new railway from Anbei City in Shanyu Province to Luntai County. The construction period is expected to be ten years."

"In addition, there are the coastal railway on Yingzhou Main Island, the Nanhai Railway between the Old Port House and Nanhai Prefecture, and the Zhejiang Jiaotong Railway from Zhejiang to Jiaozhi."

"Finally, my brother can also study carefully, from Kunming to Siam City, from Shenyang to Pyongyang" and the railway in Busan. "

"Siam and North Korea are both vassal states close to the country's mainland. Building a railway to connect them will help the country control them."

"These eight railways are the follow-up railways that Guochao needs to build in the next 20 years."

"Although the current investment has reached more than 2000 million taels, with the subsequent reduction in material costs, the actual investment should be less than [-] million taels."

"I've calculated the taxation of the country. Starting next year, even if so many additional railways are built every year, the net income will be about 1000 million taels."

Zhu Youjian almost explained everything about the follow-up Ministry of Industry for more than ten years.

As long as there are no engineering accidents in the future, the Ministry of Industry will be busy maintaining the water conservancy projects, road projects and railway projects left over from Zhu Youjian's administration in the next ten years, and building new roads and railways.

Zhu Youxiao looked at his younger brother who was talking about it, and felt very relieved, but at the same time, he felt reluctant again.

He is always a human being, and as a human being, he has feelings, and this is why he cannot become the master of ZTE alone.

He couldn't just watch his younger brother become a fan, even though it would make his position more stable, he still didn't want to.

"Does my brother really not consider staying?"

"You can teach me brother Yin again..." Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but blush when he heard what he said.

Zhu Heyin is only one and a half years old, and he is still the eldest grandson of the emperor. At his age, he may have to wait for nine years to start training. Even if he only trains for six years, it will be a full 15 years later.

Fifteen years later, at that time, Zhu Youjian was in his forties, close to half a hundred.

"Big brother, I don't feel ashamed..."

Even Zhu Youjian couldn't help laughing.

"Woooo-"

Fortunately, the sound of the train whistle broke the embarrassing scene for Zhu Youxiao. He waved his hands in embarrassment and said:

"It's just that I can't bear my brother."

"No problem, maybe I will come back and walk around often in the future." Zhu Youjian comforted Zhu Youxiao, and at the same time folded up the railway map and pushed it in front of Zhu Youxiao:
"My brother is going to inspect Luchuan. This blueprint can just relieve my boredom. In my spare time, I can think about how to repair these eight railways."

Zhu Youjian was very clear about Zhu Youxiao's secret construction of small trains and ships, so he specifically explained the railway to Zhu Youxiao in such detail.

What he wanted was to ask Zhu Youxiao to supervise the construction of the railway by the Ministry of Industry so that there would be no quality problems.

Although Apocalypse has not had any major accidents in water conservancy, roads, and railways in the past 22 years, Zhu Youjian is still worried.

Since my brother knows how to do it, let him follow it. I think he will have a better time playing.

"Hehe, then I'll be disrespectful."

Hearing what his younger brother said, Zhu Youxiao also regarded the railway blueprint as a treasure and put it in his arms.

That action was three points more precious than when he received the emperor's seal, and Lu Wenzhao watched secretly tsk-tsk.

"Since that's the case, then the younger brother will wait here for my brother to come back in a month."

Zhu Youjian stood up, and Zhu Youxiao did the same when he saw this.

"I'll send my brother off."

Without saying a word, he took Zhu Youjian's wrist and walked with him out of the train carriage that had stopped for a long time.

The two came to the platform, but they didn't see any merchants and pedestrians, only the rows of Yiluan guards and horses.

"My younger brother went south with me recently, and lost a lot of weight along the way. I hope that when I come back next time, I can see that my younger brother is fatter."

Zhu Youxiao's eyes were concerned, and he could feel his younger brother's much slender wrist and the very thin figure under his clothes.

"Brother, let's send it here. The fuel for the train has been prepared. It's not a problem to occupy a railway. Brother, let's go first. The younger brother can't run."

Facing the concern, Zhu Youjian smiled, but then comforted Zhu Youxiao in the opposite direction, and used "busy line" inside and outside the words to force his brother to get on the bus early.

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao didn't complain that he was in a hurry to drive him away, but nodded with a smile, and responded very obediently:

"In that case, then I will go first, and my brother must be here to complete the rest of the journey with me in a month's time."

"I dare not resign at the invitation of the emperor..." Zhu Youjian cupped his hands and saluted, indicating that he could leave.

Seeing his actions, although Zhu Youxiao said he was reluctant, he let go of his hand, and he didn't intend to move his eyes away.

It was only after seeing Zhu Youjian getting up for a long time that he turned around reluctantly and got on the train slowly.

Seeing him getting into the car, Zhu Youjian also straightened his back, and at the same time Yiluanwei also got into the car one after another.

While everyone was getting into the car, Zhu Youjian also saw Zhu Youxiao sitting back in his seat and looking at him from behind the window.

He smiled, and at the same time the train whistled "woo-hoo".

Amidst the sound of the whistle, the train started slowly, and then with Zhu Youxiao's reluctance in his eyes, he forcibly led him from here to Luchuan.

Looking at the train fading away, Zhu Youjian withdrew his gaze, and walked to the gate of the train station with Lu Wenzhao and a dozen Jinyiwei.

Outside the door, tens of miles away, there was an old friend Zhu Youjian wanted to talk to all night.

At this moment, he just wanted to see him, because after this, the two of them might never have the chance to meet again...