Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 661 Extra Story (38) Apocalypse [-] Years
In the 35th year of the Apocalypse, when Zhu Cihong was the magistrate and the abbot, a war was also ignited.

As Zhu Youjian estimated, when the "35 Years' War" ends, it is naturally impossible to eliminate the standing armies that have been established in European countries.

Since the standing army exists, it must have the meaning of existence. Otherwise, with the finances of all countries, it will be difficult to maintain the standing army all the time.

Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands can still transfer part of their domestic standing troops to North Leviathan to compete with Morocco and Ottomans for North Leviathan, but it is very difficult for other countries.

As the remaining major powers after the war, France fell into the internal struggle between Mazarin and Prince Condé.

The Holy Roman Empire, under the rule of Ferdinand III, tried to restore the pre-war situation and recuperate.

The United Kingdom has experienced a lot of shocks in the past few months. Cromwell, who is entrenched in Wales, attacked Scotland when the Scottish rebels fought against the royal army.

In June, Scotland was pacified by Cromwell, and the United Kingdom formed a situation in which Cromwell, the parliamentary army in the north, and Charles I, the king's army in the south.

Both sides are gearing up for the unification of the British Isles.

The major powers are all busy with their own affairs, but in Sweden, which is highly centralized, no one dares to challenge the authority of Gustav II, and there is no infighting among political parties.

Under such circumstances, Gustav II did not lead his troops across the Baltic Sea to return to Sweden, but took the army to rest in Pomerania.

Just when everyone thought that Gustav II was tired of war and would soon return home, on June [-]th, Sweden declared war on Poland.

As king, the 61-year-old Gustav II still went into battle, leading an army of [-] armed with big Ming fusiliers to attack Poland.

On July [-], Sweden captured the port of Danzig. The Polish cavalry, still using arquebus, was attacked by a Swedish army equipped with [-] flintlock guns and [-] six-pound guns.

They retreated steadily, and soon lost the port of Danzig, and also lost Poznan, Torun and other places in the following three months.

On the fifth day of the first winter month, Gustav II occupied Dinaburg in Polish Livonia.

In response to the blitz of the Swedish army, the Polish army deployed along the Notec River.

On the 25th of the winter month, Kalisz raised the white flag at noon, took refuge in Sweden, and was protected by the Swedish king ever since.

Thereafter, under the leadership of Gustav II, the Swedish army entered Warsaw without resistance and occupied the entire Greater Poland.Kazimierz, king of Poland, fled to Silesia.

Gustav II got the news, and immediately prepared to advance to Krakow, surrounded and captured the city for two months.

At the beginning of Apocalypse 36, King Kazimierz of Poland went to southern Poland to reorganize the army there.

It seems that God does not want to destroy Poland. On the fifth day of February, known as the Northern Lion, the Swedish emperor Gustav II suffered a high fever during the march, and the Swedish army stopped the war going south.

Since Gustav II did not die in Lutzen and lived 24 years longer, he did not survive only one daughter as in history.

He gave birth to seven children in these 24 years, but six of them died young.

The only surviving child is Alvin, who is now 14 years old.

After hearing the news that his father was seriously ill, he hurried across the sea to the south by boat, and Gustav II was sent back to Danzig Port on February [-]th.

When the father and son met, Gustav II told Alvin that he would trust the generals, learn the military and politics of Ming Dynasty, and always be vigilant against Poland, Denmark and Tsarist Russia.

On the fifth day of March, Gustav II died of illness on his way back to Stockholm at the age of 61, and Alvin succeeded him.

After Alvin, who was only fourteen years old, succeeded to the throne, because of his young age, his sister Christina traveled among the nobles for him.

At this time, due to the death of Gustav II, Sweden stopped penetrating into southern Poland.

However, in the next few weeks, the Swedish army stationed in Poland was constantly pursued by guerrillas, so the voices of the people and nobles who wanted to negotiate peace continued to grow louder.

At the same time, Tsarist Russia did not dare to go south or east to attack Mongolia and Ming Dynasty, so it could only target Sweden.

On April [-]th, Tsarist Russia provoked a war in Livonia, and [-] shooting regiments surrounded Riga, Sweden's second largest city.

However, at this time, Western Europe and Northern Europe had already formed an iteration of weapons against Eastern Europe. Therefore, after the [-] Swedish troops arrived in Riga, the [-] Tsarist Russian Shooting Corps was defeated and the siege of Riga was broken.

It is worth mentioning that Denmark did not join the war due to the Vienna Trade Treaty.

At this moment, everyone knows one thing, only countries close to the Ming Dynasty's suzerain-vassal system can maximize their interests in the next long-term game.

When the King of Denmark went to war with Sweden, Poland, and Russia, he focused on establishing diplomacy with Qi.

On the second day of July, Denmark and Qi signed the "Tokyo Trade Agreement" in Tokyo City, Gyeonggi Province.

Among them, the main trade items are livestock from Denmark and grain from Qi.

At this time, Europe's food self-sufficiency rate is not high, and Denmark has not gained as many benefits as it has in history during the 30-year war, so stabilizing domestic prices is something they urgently need to do.

However, when the domestic food and prices are close to stable, Denmark will not be surprised to join the war.

Alvin was not as crazy as Karl X in history. After he succeeded to the throne, he mainly focused on consolidating the achievements of Gustav II, so the Northern War did not break out.

However, compared with the Great Northern War, the war between the Ottoman Empire and Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and other three Western European countries can be said to be unstoppable.

Under the assignment of Mohammed IV, [-] Ottoman troops arrived in Egypt. At this time, the coastal territory east of Egypt had been divided up by the three countries.

Spain annexed the land of the city-state closest to Egypt, and stationed an army of [-] flintlocks there, with fifty six-pound cannons made in Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ottoman Empire had already introduced and produced flintlock guns during this period, and the template was still Daming's "rifle", their iron-smelting technology and output were far too low and poor compared to Ming's.

Therefore, even ten years later, the Ottoman Empire's flintlock guns were only [-].

After the end of the "35 Years' War" in Europe, the power of the Ottoman Empire appeared very weak in the face of countries that needed to vent.

In September, Felipe IV of Spain assembled [-] Spanish troops and launched an attack on Egypt in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Portugal joined the war, known as the "Southern War" in history.

Europe is undergoing changes, and so is Ming Dynasty.

Taking Fangzhang County under the governance of Zhu Cihong as an example, Zhu Cihong prescribes the right medicine according to the climate and soil conditions of Abbot County.

Considering the problem of transportation, Zhu Cihong increased the number of sheep in captivity while focusing on the local economy and animal husbandry.

Not only that, he summoned craftsmen to set up a cashmere processing factory locally.

The emergence of the cashmere factory directly increased the annual revenue of Fangzhang County from more than 7000 taels to more than 500 taels.

It's just that Zhu Cihong was still not satisfied. He began to conduct research based on the troubles of Fangzhang County's vast land and sparse population, and too much food that could not be sold.

During this period, the soft-hearted Zhu Youjian wrote about vacuum cans in his home letter.

Inspired, Zhu Cihong did it himself and put into action what his father said about the canned food.

From the first month of the 36th year of the Apocalypse to the February of the 37th year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Cihong spent a lot of energy on continuous research and practice, and finally found a good way.

He put the food into a tin can made of thin tin, plugged the mouth of the bottle with a wooden cork, put it in a steamer to heat, then tightly corked the cork, sealed it with wax, and finally put it in a boiling water pot to heat for half an hour.

This method can ensure that the food will not deteriorate for three months, which is a breakthrough research for both the people's livelihood and the army.

After Zhu Cihong developed vacuum cans under the guidance of Zhu Youjian, he immediately replied to Zhu Youjian's letter, and at the same time opened a corresponding factory in Fangzhang County.

Dairy products, vegetables, and fruits that could not be sold due to the long shipping time have now become the main source of income for Fangzhang County.

The abbot’s canning factory covers an area of ​​[-] acres and has [-] jobs, and behind these jobs are [-] families.

As of September 37 of Tianqi, the "abbot canned food" operated and constructed by Zhu Cihong was put into production, with an annual output of 900 million canned food.

After it was put into production, "Abbot Canned Food" was successfully purchased by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies as military supplies for the troops stationed in Hezhong, Lingbei and other places.

On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of the Governor-General of the Fifth Army, proposed to clarify the wartime military supplies of the soldiers.

On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, after deliberations by the governors' offices of the five armies, Zhu Ciran, the prince of the supervisory state, took the case, and the Ming Dynasty formulated the wartime military supplies standards for the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

For the soldiers who participated in the battle and set off, the daily military supply standard during the war was canned meat weighing one catty, canned vegetables or fruits weighing half a catty, and square biscuits weighing half a catty with sugar content not less than one yuan. ration rice.

Two and a half catties of supplies is a soldier's food for a day in battle, and canned biscuits are often the first thing that needs to be eaten up.

Only when it is eaten up can the bagged military rice be poured into tin cans, and then boiled with water, while canned meat and vegetables can be heated in different ways.

This process takes about a quarter of an hour, and the cooked food does not taste good, but if it is a battle, no one will complain about this kind of food.

As for the price of such materials, it is about thirty yuan.

In other words, to maintain a soldier's rations for the day, at least thirty cash is needed.

For Daming, who only maintains [-] to [-] foreign combat troops all year round, this expenditure is nothing.

But for Fangzhang County, the establishment of the canning factory not only benefited the local people, but also increased the tax revenue of the county government from more than 8000 taels per year to more than [-] taels.

The reason why it is so low is mainly because the people of Ming Dynasty still don't know about canned food, and the canned food has not been popularized yet.

Therefore, although Zhu Cilang has built a canning factory with an annual output of 900 million cans, the market demand has not yet emerged.

However, what can be seen in the future is that as long as canned food such as fruit spreads, it will become the favorite of rural people in the north.

Therefore, after Zhu Cilang's success in Abbot County, he took the initiative to go to Zhu Ciran, and proposed to build a canning factory in a county with the same conditions as Abbot County.

After reading the memorial, Zhu Ciran felt that there was no problem, and immediately built 67 counties with large land and sparse population.

After Zhu Cihong's three years of trial and error, coupled with the enthusiastic emergence of other talents, the number of counties with negative expenditures in Daming has been reduced from more than 140 to [-] two.

When the three-year term of office ended, Zhu Cihong was appraised by the Ministry of Officials as the first-class for three consecutive years, and was promoted to the prefect of Pingxi Prefecture in Nanzhou.

However, in the face of this transfer order, Zhu Cihong just smiled lightly, and then resigned from office, preparing to go to Qi State to become a vassal.

Regarding this, before Zhu Ciran made any arrangements, Zhu Youxiao, the Emperor of Apocalypse who was hiding in the deep palace, was alarmed.

The 54-year-old emperor Zhu Youxiao ordered Zhu Cihong to return to the capital to resign. At the same time, he returned to Qi State together with Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong who had graduated.

Zhu Cihong did not refuse, but went north by boat on the fifth day of April in the 38th year of Tianqi.

On this day, many people in Fangzhang County came to Donggang crying to send him to the north. It was not until many years later that they knew that their Zhuzhi County was Zhu Cihong, the eldest son of King Qi, Zibo County King.

On the ninth day of May, Zhu Cihong arrived at Tianjin Port.

He has been away from the capital for three years, and the capital has undergone many changes.

"Woooo-"

Sitting on the train to the capital, Zhu Cihong looked out the window alone, not knowing what he was thinking.

Xia Wanchun returned to Qi State ahead of schedule and did not go north with him.

The 25-year-old Zhu Cihong looked at the constantly receding scenery outside the window, and he could clearly see many people using tractors working in the fields.

Among thousands of acres of fertile land, only a few hundred people are working.

Not because there are not enough people, but because the current labor no longer needs so many people.

If it is a place where the development is not yet mature, then the production team will basically go door to door every day, because the forest land needs to be reclaimed.

But for Beizhili, which has been developed for thousands of years, the current Beizhili has been developed to the limit.

From 3000 million mu in Tianqi ten years to 6000 million mu at present, Hebei, with only 700 million people, appears to be sparsely populated.

"Hey! Our Daming has 15 billion mu of arable land!"

"real or fake?!"

In the carriage, a person held a newspaper and exclaimed, and the people around him joined in the fun and surrounded him.

"Sun Kewang, Minister of the Household Department of the "Daming Daily" will play on the second day of May. The arable land of the country has exceeded 14 billion mu, and the people have more than [-] million people..."

"The population is [-] million!"

A group of people gathered around to discuss, at this time the sound of ringing the bell also rang:

"Go back to your seats, the train will arrive at Beijing East Railway Station soon!"

The flight attendant rang the bell to let the people return to their seats, and this performance also showed that the train was no longer a luxury means of transportation in Daming.

More than ten years ago, the passengers on the trains were often businessmen, the number of them was small, and the trains were mainly freight trains.

However, 38 years after the development of Tianqi, the train has become the first choice for many people to travel far.

It takes 120 Wen to take the train from Tianjin to Beijing East Railway Station, and it is already overcrowded, which shows the increase in the income of the people.

Zhu Cihong just sat in his seat, listening to the discussions of the people around him.

Some people were talking about their income, and some were talking about household chores. Zhu Cihong listened carefully to these words.

"I heard that the basic salary will increase again, this time it will increase to [-] Wen."

"Impossible, didn't it just go up?"

"I don't know, I heard it from others."

"probably not……"

"Not necessarily. After all, prices have risen this year, and wages should follow suit."

"Beef has risen to 22 Wen."

"But isn't pork reduced?"

"It's down, it seems that there are only fifteen coins now."

"Drop that much?"

What the common people discuss is nothing more than things that are closely related to life.

Among them, wages and commodity prices are the most discussed.

The increase in prices in Ming Dynasty is actually not that big. Compared with the 23 years of the Apocalypse when Zhu Youjian took over the domain, in the past 15 years, prices in Daming have only increased by less than 20%, while wages have increased by 50%...

A catty of beef used to cost 22 renminbi, but now it is only [-] renminbi, but the wages have risen from [-] renminbi to [-] renminbi.

From this point of view, it seems that the people of Ming Dynasty still cannot eat meat at will.

However, the price of beef has risen, but the price of pork has fallen.

In the 23rd year of Apocalypse, a catty of pork cost 21 Wen, but now it only costs [-] Wen.

Behind this price reduction is the result of the continuous breeding of large white pigs and the continuous increase of food.

When Zhu Cihong was in Fangzhang County, the local people basically had three to five pigs in each household, and some wealthy families could raise seven or eight pigs.

Pork was no longer so expensive in the Ming Dynasty, and some once expensive spices began to enter the homes of ordinary people.

"Woooo-"

The whistle of the train sounded again, and as its speed slowed down, as it entered the platform, the people on the train got off one after another when it stopped.

Everyone carried their own luggage, but Zhu Cihong had very little luggage, only a pullable rattan suitcase.

Rubber rollers, boxes made of rattan wood strips, these are the most common luggage for Ming people.

Dragging the suitcase, Zhu Cihong got off the train with a hint of curiosity.

Standing on the platform, he could pull hundreds of people on and off the fifteen-carriage train, and they went straight to the exit, and so did Zhu Cihong.

After following the crowd out of the hundreds of meters long underground exit, what appeared in front of Zhu Cihong was a huge square where thousands of people gathered.

There are performances on the square, there are stalls selling goods, and there are horse-drawn carriages waiting in line for guests.

Zhu Cihong had never been to Qi State, but he had heard from Xia Wanchun that the square in front of Qi State Railway Station was usually clean and tidy, while Daming was chaotic.

But Xia Wanchun also said that this is a very helpless thing.

Since the founding of Qi State, the per capita conditions are much better than that of Ming Dynasty. Daming has a huge population and few resources per capita, so it is difficult to beat Qi State on a per capita basis.

Take the simplest education as an example. At the beginning of the founding of Qi State, there were 20 literate officials, accounting for nearly 20% of the total population.

Although the Ming Dynasty had popularized education for five years when Qi was founded, the literate population was only 2000 million, accounting for only 10% of the total population.

Now 15 years have passed, Qi State has completed compulsory middle school education for all in the 30th year of Tianqi, while Daming did not start compulsory middle school education for all until the 36th year of Tianqi.

According to the regulations of the Department of Justice, Daming estimates that it will take 45 years of Tianqi to complete compulsory middle school education for all, and the premise is that the investment in education increases year by year.

In 15 years, one generation cannot be replaced. Qi State already knows the law because of the popularization of elementary school compulsory education, but Ming Dynasty is still struggling because of the huge illiterate population of more than 1 million.

Zhu Cihong grew up in Daming, and he also hopes that Daming and the people of Daming will live better and better.

It's just that he knows that Daming has too many problems, especially the ones he has been in contact with in the past three years...

"Brother Lang!"

Suddenly, a voice brought Zhu Cihong back to reality. When he heard the sound and looked, what he saw was a woman who still had charm.

"Sister Rushi..." Zhu Cihong bowed with a smile, and Yang Rushi who came to greet him also walked up to him with a smile and looked at him.

"You have grown a lot taller, almost as tall as His Highness."

Yang Rushi sighed, while Zhu Cihong smiled, and instead of answering, asked:
"Where's Brother Li?"

"He is taking care of the child in the mansion, are you planning to go back to Prince Qi's mansion first, or go to our mansion?"

Yang Rushi motioned to the two men behind him to take Zhu Cihong's suitcase, and at the same time asked his opinion.

"I'm going to go to the palace first, and Uncle Huang asked me to enter the palace immediately when I arrive in the capital."

Zhu Cihong handed over the things and explained his whereabouts.

"Okay..." Yang Rushi, who didn't like Zhu Youxiao since he was a child, frowned when he heard that Zhu Youxiao wanted to see Zhu Cihong.

"Then I'll go first, the people from the palace are here."

Zhu Cihong wanted to say something else, but he saw a luxurious carriage parked in the parking lot, so he could only bid farewell to Yang Rushi briefly.

"Go!" Yang Rushi nodded helplessly, but reminded:

"Your uncle Huang has a lot of bad ideas, so don't be fooled by him like His Highness."

"Okay..." Hearing these words, Zhu Cihong waved goodbye dumbfounded, then turned and walked towards the luxurious carriage in the parking lot.

The driver of the carriage seemed to know Zhu Cihong, and he didn't stop him, so Zhu Cihong got into the carriage.

But when Zhu Cihong opened the car door, he saw someone unexpected...

(End of this chapter)