Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 653 Extra Story ([-]) Celebrating with the crown
"The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies is Shangshu. This year, Hezhong and Taixi provinces will only increase immigration by more than [-] people. Please find a way to increase immigration so as to ensure the supplies of the [-] troops stationed in the two provinces..."

In the Wenhua Hall, when Sun Kewang read out the memorabilia of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion here as the fourth-rank Shao Zhan Shi of Zhan Shifu, the important officials sitting in the hall were absent-minded.

Although Zhu Ciran took away some important ministers, the equipment left behind was still luxurious.

Zhu Cixuan, king of Yong, and Zhu Cijiong, king of Ding, sat in the main seat, followed by Hong Chengchou, the first assistant of the cabinet, Sun Chuanting, the second assistant of the cabinet, Jin Xuan and Li Changgeng, the cabinet ministers.

Since the cabinet has been separated from the six ministries and the five military governors, only the four members of the cabinet, Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong can participate in the highest discussion.

Sun Kewang, as an official of the East Palace, explained various memorials that needed to be discussed and dealt with.

However, even though he was explaining the memorial, the six people sitting in the seats had their own concerns, and none of them put their minds on it.

They were all waiting, waiting for news from the south to come back.

It's just that the news hasn't arrived yet, so they have to deal with the current matter first.

"The disaster situation in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Central Plains has receded, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Naturally, they are unwilling to relocate. Therefore, it is inevitable that the number of relocated populations will decrease."

"In addition to the fact that the railway has only just arrived in Anxi City, 5 to [-] people are relocated to Hezhong and Taixi every year.

"This year, the amount of relocation of the two capitals and 31 provinces within the country is only 97."

Li Changgeng spoke in his capacity as a cabinet minister of the Household Supervision Department to explain why immigration this year is so difficult.

The relocation was indeed as he said, because the disaster situation subsided and the number of people on the land was small, it became slow.

It is as difficult as going to heaven to relocate in peacetime.

Even during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, the retention rate was less than [-]%, not to mention that the immigration policy of the Tianqi Dynasty was still voluntary immigration.

"Right now, although there are still more than 2000 million people in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Central Plains, the amount of cultivated land is [-] million mu."

"After the disaster receded, the common people were allocated fields from the imperial court. Each person could get more than seven acres, but only nearly three of the common people became young and could not cultivate."

"Therefore, there are more than 8000 million acres of land, but only [-] million people are actually farming. One person has ten acres, and a family can range from [-] to [-] or [-]."

"With such a large number, why do the people leave their homes and move to other places?"

Although Li Changgeng's thinking is relatively traditional, he is quite clear about the specific difficulties of the people.

The current situation of Daming is very similar to that of Hongwu years.

During the Hongwu period, 6000 million people evenly divided more than 5 million mu of arable land and were rich. Many people could not grow the land in their hometown, so how could they covet the so-called foreign land.

Right now, although Hezhong and Taixi have put forward the slogan of sharing [-] acres of land for each person, they have to leave their hometowns for the extra ten acres of land, which is not in line with the rural concept of the people in this era.

Before, they were willing to relocate because it didn't rain, and it was useless to have fields in their hometown. Without rain, they couldn't grow food.

But now that the disaster has passed, it is hard to say that the weather is going well, but after all, we can live.

The average number of 1000 million mu of arable land divided equally by 2000 million people is already a lot, not to mention that there are more than 3000 million children among them.

It can be said that these lands need to be cultivated by their parents, so almost every adult has to cultivate ten acres of land.

In the intensive cultivation of Ming Dynasty, with manpower alone, a maximum of five mu of land can be planted in a spring planting season. If there are cattle, it can be increased to ten mu.

However, even Daming, which had an officialdom early on and the entire East Asian grassland, could not afford 2000 million cattle, let alone the 8 million cattle that needed to cultivate more than 8000 million farmland.

The restoration of farming in Shanshan and Shaanxi basically relied on the distribution of tractors by the imperial court to realize the rapid restoration of farming.

The real situation in Ming Dynasty is that most of the provinces south of the Great Wall are purely cultivated by human power.

The man pulls the plow and the woman holds the plow. The husband and wife only plow two or three points of the land after a hard day.

Not to mention the [-] or [-] mu that Li Changgeng talked about, but the husband and wife's ten mu of land also requires their concerted efforts from winter solstice to spring planting.

In this way, the couple still cannot cultivate intensively, but can only use extensive sowing methods.

This is the reason for the difficulty of immigrating in the early Ming Dynasty, and it is also the difficulty that the Ming Dynasty is currently facing.

"If you want to immigrate as much as possible, you must first liberate the productive forces so that the people can plant more land, otherwise the people will not be willing to migrate."

As an official who has received new education and practiced in Qi State, Jin Xuan is very clear about the reasons why the people are willing to migrate.

To put it bluntly, people nowadays are exhausted just taking care of the ten acres of land in their own homes. At this time, it is useless to give him hundreds of acres, let alone dozens of acres.

The people can't grow it, and they can't take care of it. What's more, most of these lands are still wasteland, and they need to be cultivated by the people themselves to become cultivated land to produce something.

Therefore, liberating productivity is what Daming needs to do most now.

Coincidentally, King Qi had already laid the foundation for the Ming Dynasty. There were no so-called big landlords in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining small and medium landlords could not resist the central court that controlled most of the means of production.

In other words, the two Beijings and the thirteen provinces in the Central Plains can fully promote tractors.

"Now is a good time to promote tractors in the two capitals and thirteen provinces. The imperial court can promote the production team method in the provinces outside the Great Wall to the pass."

"Using ten households as a production team, each team distributes a tractor to gradually promote tractors from north to south, liberate productivity, and save people from spending too much time on the land."

Jin Xuan put forward his own views, and this is also Qi Guo's approach.

In this regard, Yongwang Zhu Cixuan looked at Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, and both of them nodded absently.

Seeing this, Zhu Cixuan set his sights on Li Changgeng:
"If calculated according to the method of the Golden Pavilion minister, how long will it take for the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Central Plains to implement the matter?"

When his question was raised, Li Changgeng bowed unhurriedly:
"If it goes from north to south, then based on the output of imperial tractors and the number of households in the north, next year is the first year..."

Li Changgeng thought for a while, and then said:

"Only in the first year, the villages in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shaanxi can be formed to meet the needs of more than 300 million households in the three places."

The output of tractors in Daming has exceeded 30 units, and there are eight 10,000+ households in Qicun formations in the three provinces, and they have used tractors early.

Therefore, while meeting the needs of Qi, Daming can also use this to complete the promotion of mechanization in one capital and two provinces.

"However, the imperial court still lacks 75 tractors for immigrants from provinces outside the customs. Therefore, the mechanization of the two capitals and the thirteen provinces may need to be postponed for four years."

Li Changgeng revealed the "debt" owed by the immigrants of Ming Dynasty over the years.

Immigrants in Ming Dynasty either distributed cattle or tractors.

However, the output of tractors has only increased in the past two years, and in the past ten years, the distribution of tractors in Daming has been very slow compared to the speed of immigration.

There are still 75 production teams waiting for the distribution of tractors, representing more than 650 million households and more than [-] million people.

Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cijiong had already learned about this when they accompanied their elder brother to deal with government affairs this year. At the same time, Zhu Cijiong also said to Li Changgeng at the same time:
"The output of tractors has been improving. Although 75 units is a lot, three years is enough."

"However, although there are more than 800 million households in Guochao who have not directly benefited from tractors, according to the production team model, at most 15 years can meet the needs of all production teams in Guochao."

"If the industrial zone continues to expand in an orderly manner, and there will be no demand at that time, what will the tractor factory need to do?"

"Of course, I am not denying Uncle Qi's achievements and policies, but that we must make preparations and arrangements in advance. It is impossible to wait until the demand is gone before thinking about the livelihood of the workers."

Zhu Cijiong's idea made the cabinet ministers frown, even Zhu Cixuan also frowned, and then said:

"The population of Guochao has been growing, the land has been reclaimed, and the demand will inevitably continue to increase..."

"What my brother said needs to be worried, but this will not affect the investment and construction of the next two batches of industrial zones."

"Specifically, let's wait until the father and elder brother return to Beijing to make plans."

"My brother's words reminded me, if tractors are promoted, will it cause cheap grain and hurt farmers?"

Zhu Cixuan put his peripheral vision on Jin Xuan, because only he can give this answer.

In this regard, Jin Xuan pondered for a moment, and finally said:
"It's an issue that needs to be discussed, but it's not something to worry about."

"King Qi once said that the current world is already integrated, and domestic food prices may be lowered, but that is because there are tractors in the country."

"Judging from the current situation, as long as there is no major disaster, in fact, the country's food is barely enough."

"The total grain production of the country is about 15 billion shi, and the basic rations of the people alone have reached [-] million shi."

"Most of the extra [-] million stones have to be used for raising livestock, adding meat, and increasing the needs of the people."

"It looks like a lot, but the effect is far from enough, not to mention that Daming, as the co-lord of the world, still needs to make up for the food shortage of the vassal state."

"If I remember correctly, in the 19th year of Apocalypse, when King Qi supervised the country, it has been calculated that the country's food must reach 20 billion stones to meet the food gap of the country and the feudal vassals."

"This does not include the issue of grain trade with Europe and West Asia. Using grain trade to economically control Europe is also a strategic means established during the period when King Qi supervised the country."

"The amount of grain exported under the suzerainty system now only accounts for about 2% of Europe's."

"If you want to achieve this goal, you have to increase it to at least 30%."

"So at the current speed, there is no need to worry about the problem of cheap grain hurting farmers in the next ten years."

"For the specifics, we should wait until Long Live and Jian Guo return to discuss."

Jin-hyun cuts off the ensuing questions, because in his opinion, these issues obviously can’t be discussed without the emperor and crown prince around.

Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong also understood, so instead of asking, they said to Li Changgeng:

"Since this is the case, the construction of the seventh and eighth phases of the industrial zone will continue until the emperor orders it to stop."

"The minister takes orders..." Li Changgeng bowed in response.

"As for the immigration issue in Hezhong and Taixi, this is a long-term issue. Besides, the financial situation of the country is very good. For the time being, the emigration of the people should be guided. The cabinet should tell the five armies and the six departments."

After Zhu Ciyun finished speaking, he glanced at the time on the pendulum clock in Wenhua Hall, and when he was about to get up, there were hurried footsteps outside the hall.

At this moment, everyone's hearts were suspended, and when the footsteps reached the door, the appearance of a scarlet round collar robe made everyone hold their breath...

"The pigeons of the Qianhu Office in Southern Zhili passed on the letter, His Royal Highness Qi Wang has boarded the ship to Qi State at about four o'clock, and I am afraid that he has already left the waters of Songjiang Prefecture!"

"..."

For a moment, the entire Wenhua Palace fell silent. The seven people in the palace finally waited for the news, but they didn't know how to behave for a while.

"Go back..."

Zhu Cixuan waved his hands with a complicated expression, Jin Yiwei also got up and slowly exited the Wenhua Hall upon hearing this.

After he left, Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong glanced at the four cabinet ministers, and seeing that they were silent, they stood up and said, "Let's adjourn the meeting..."

After all, Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong got up and left Wenhua Hall one after another, followed by Sun Kewang.

The remaining four cabinet ministers with "complicated" expressions got up and left after a while.

Since it was time for the shift to end, except for Li Changgeng who was on duty today, the other three left the outer court one after another.

Jin Xuan went straight to the prison, while Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting returned to their homes.

Since the prison is very close to the Forbidden City, Kim Hyun arrived at the target first.

After a brief inspection, Jin Xuan came to the familiar iron door as he wished.

"Tuk Tuk..."

He knocked lightly on the iron gate, and then signaled Jin Yiwei to open the prison gate.

With the opening of the iron gate, Jin Xuan walked into the dark prison, where he saw Chengde facing a wall.

Light entered the prison through brick-sized windows and shone on the scratched walls.

"Today...is the day when His Highness will become a feudal clan...right?"

Cheng De turned his back to Jin Xuan and asked, just hearing the footsteps, he knew it was Jin Xuan.

"His Highness has already left, and it is estimated that he has left the waters of Songjiang Mansion..."

Jin Xuan's tone seemed to be relieved, but Cheng De's back was bent when he heard his words:
"Go away..."

He seemed to be a little older, Jin Xuan wanted to comfort him, but he waved his hand: "You go, I will be alone..."

"Okay..." Jin Xuan knew that he could not enlighten Cheng De, this matter could only be enlightened by himself.

He turned around and left the prison, and only Cheng De was left in the cell facing the wall.

When Chengde was facing the wall and thinking about his mistakes, Sun Chuanting arrived at his home first.

He went back to the study and sat down, leaning on the chair, looking at the clean and tidy desk in front of him, he who was always calm had the thought of throwing things in anger.

He resisted this thought, but unconsciously squeezed the armrest of the chair tightly, as if he wanted to crush the armrest.

Compared with him, Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong also walked into the study room of Yongwangfu in Baiwangfang.

Zhu Cijiong couldn't wait to sit down, so he clenched his fist and squeezed out between his teeth: "Uncle Qi is gone, I don't know what they will do now..."

"The three most noteworthy are Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Yang Wenyue. They all have their own cronies in the army."

"On the contrary, it's Jin Xuan. Don't mention that he is the teacher of the eldest brother. It's just that Uncle Qi took away a large number of key generals who graduated from Yanshan, so Jin Xuan became the safest person."

"Big brother and dad must come back as soon as possible!"

Zhu Cijiong could feel that the officials were not in peace, but they were just in fear of King Qi.

Now that King Qi is gone, who knows if they will be as unscrupulous as runaway wild horses?
"Don't worry about them..."

Compared with Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Cixuan is more open:

"Uncle Qi Wang has already arranged everything. As long as the current situation of the cabinet and the six and five army governors' mansions is maintained, the people below will not be able to mess up."

"As for Sun Chuanting and Yang Wenyue, don't worry, they were originally used to check and balance Hong Chengchou."

"The development of the imperial power is so developed that it is no longer possible for one family to control it. At most, they will make some small moves, but if they dare to cross the line, father and elder brother will naturally clean them up."

Zhu Cixuan narrowed his eyes: "I want to see how many heads of this group of people can be chopped off!"

"Gack..."

While Zhu Cixuan was getting ready, Hong Chengchou's carriage stopped at the gate of the mansion.

Compared with Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou did not hide his financial resources, after all, the source of his money could be traced.

Therefore, he specially purchased a house covering an area of ​​25 mu in the capital.

He may be the richest of the many cabinet ministers.

For so many years, his salary as the governor of the local government is no less than 5 taels, and this is just the salary, and the bulk of his income is from the commanding army.

He destroyed Jiaozhi, Luchuan, and Mughal...

The rewards involved in these battles were nearly ten million taels, and as the coach, he personally took half of it.

Only half of this achievement has an income of 50 taels, plus various counter-rebellions, his wealth is no less than that of some vassal kings.

It's just that money is something outside of him, and power and fame are what he pursues.

It can be said that his power has reached the level of an extremely human minister, but even so, he still cannot control his own life.

His life and death are only in the hands of that person, and that person is finally gone now!

Hong Chengchou was walking in the courtyard, he could feel many eyes staring at him.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was not uncommon for Jin Yiwei to hide in the mansion.

Hong Chengchou knew very well what he should do now.

He stopped in his tracks, looked up at the snowy cloudy sky, sighed and let out a long breath:
"A troubled autumn..."

After all, he covered his face with tears and shook his shoulders as he was over fifty years old. This behavior also attracted the attention of the head of the Hong residence.

"Master Ge, you..."

It is not clear what is going on in Hong's residence, but Hong Chengchou wailed, "Your Highness is leaving, I don't know if there is anyone in the court who dares to trust me."

"You write a handwritten letter for me, and submit your resignation to Wansui."

"This...doesn't have to be like this?" The head of the Hong family was taken aback by his elder, but Hong Chengchou shook his head and said:
"Only in this way can I save my life..."

He walked into the study with tears in his eyes, and sighed the moment he closed the door: "You can do it..."

"Yes..." Hearing this, the head of the Hong Mansion felt that he had aged a few years. After bowing, he staggered and left the courtyard.

Hong Chengchou also took advantage of the mechanism to close the door of the study, and felt the disappearance of some eyes.

He turned around and leaned against the door, with a complicated expression on his face.

His eyes were still tearing, but the corners of his mouth were already smiling to the maximum.

Because he was afraid of laughing out loud, he covered his face with his hands, and even couldn't laugh out loud because he was too happy, he couldn't help but stamped his feet to keep himself from laughing.

After enduring this for more than ten seconds, he put away his smile, went to sit down at the desk that he could see from the window, and continued to process the memorial with tears in his eyes.

Just looking at the memorial, he still couldn't help but write:
"King Qi, King Qi...you are finally gone!"

(End of this chapter)