Brother Zhu Youxiao

On the tenth day of October in the 40th year of Tianqi, Qin Minping, the governor of the Western Army of the Ming Dynasty and Marquis of Wulong, died at the age of 82.

The death of Qin Minping announced the fall of all the first generation of the Qin family.

Of the generals who participated in aiding Liao Dynasty, only Qi Yuanbi, the governor of the Southern Army, is still alive.

In this regard, Emperor Zhu Youxiao corrected Qin Minping's posthumous title of Wu Yi, and named Qin Banghan of the Qin family as the Duke of Zhongguo.

Not long after the news spread, the feudal lords began to wait and see Daming.

Everyone knows that the three families of Qin Qi and Ma are the cornerstone for Zhu Youxiao to secure the throne.

Now all the generation has fallen except Qi Yuanbi, and Qi Yuanbi is already in his sixties, maybe he will leave at any time.

In this situation, how Zhu Ciran arranges the Qin and Ma families is very important.

However, although Zhu Ciran is rather arrogant, he still respects the Qin, Ma and Qi families.

Therefore, shortly after the news spread, he issued an order to confer Ma Xianglin as the new governor of the Western Army.

It's just that Ma Xianglin is now in his sixties, and the second generation of the Qin family and the third generation of the Ma family don't have any great talents, so once Ma Xianglin leaves, the position of governor of the Western Army may have to be replaced by someone else.

Compared with the Qin and Ma families, the only thing the Qi family can be thankful for is that they have cultivated a Qi Wulong.

Qi Wulong and Li Dingguo were hailed as Northern Li and Southern Qi by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, but this does not mean that Qi Wulong is comparable to Li Dingguo, but that Qi Wulong and Li Dingguo are Zhu Ciran's two major supporters in the Northern and Southern Army.

The Northern Army, the Southern Army, and Shangzhi, these three armies are the three armies that Zhu Ciran controls best.

In comparison, the Western Army, the Eastern Army, and the Navy are relatively lacking.

In order to avoid internal uneasiness in the Western Army after Ma Xianglin's death, Zhu Ciran issued an order on the twelfth day of the winter month, ordering Annan to be the commander-in-chief, and Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian, to concurrently serve as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army's governor's office.

Mu Tianbo's ability is average, but Zhu Ciran can only be short and tall right now.

Not only that, in order to avoid the situation of the 76-year-old Eastern Army Governor He Shixian, Zhu Ciran transferred Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Nanzhou, back to the Central Plains, and served as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion.

At this point, the 52-year-old Wu Sangui finally returned to the Central Plains.

Knowing the news, Zhu Youjian who was on the other side of the ocean didn't say anything, just smiled.

However, when time entered the twelfth lunar month, bad news came from Daming again.

On the thirtieth day of the winter month, Yang Lian, the head of Taihe County College in Dali Prefecture, died at the age of 88.

When the news came, Zhu Youjian was on his way to Jinshan Prefecture (Alaska) in the north.

Therefore, the official commentary on daily life records that "Wang was silent, tossed and turned in the night, and he was appointed as the son of the prince of Zibo County, and he sent a thousand taels of money to the son."

Time passed by little by little, and soon it was the 41st year of Apocalypse.

During this year, the population of Daming successfully reached 8000 million, and the arable land exceeded 15 billion mu.

During the Lantern Festival on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Emperor Zhu Youxiao rarely came out of the palace, and together with Prince Zhu Ciran and the cabinet ministers saw the internal combustion engine tricycle and steam engine tricycle sent by the Military Armament Academy in Nanyuan.

This internal combustion engine, which took nearly 30 years and cost more than 100 million taels of research expenses, finally appeared in the world.

According to the principle left by Qi Wang Zhu Youjian, Song Yingxing, the minister of the Ministry of Military Armament, successfully created the first reciprocating piston, single cylinder, horizontal, five-horsepower four-stroke internal combustion engine.

He put the internal combustion engine and the most advanced steam engine of Ming Dynasty on a tricycle to compete. The steam engine still uses coal as fuel, while the internal combustion engine uses ethanol as fuel.

After the race started, the steam engine tricycle moved forward at a speed of fourteen miles per hour, while the internal combustion engine moved forward at a speed of ten miles per hour.

It seems that the steam machine will win easily, but the bad thing is that the steam engine needs to stop every 15 minutes to add coal to the boiler, while the internal combustion engine three-wheeled car travels very slowly, but it only needs to be filled with fuel once.

Therefore, the game finally ended with the victory of the internal combustion engine three-wheeled vehicle.

Although the speed of the three-wheeled vehicle is very slow, not even as fast as a person walking alone, it has won the love of bicycle enthusiasts and Prince Zhu Ciran.

Although the internal combustion engine cannot be used in the military and people's livelihood, after the competition, the emperor Zhu Youxiao still invested 50 taels of research expenses in the internal combustion engine research institute, just because Zhu Youjian confessed that he should maintain the existence of research every year .

Not long after this incident, Yongwang Zhu Cixuan led [-] soldiers and horses to guard him, and [-] immigrants set off from Tianjin Port to conquer Yongguo.

In the same month, Qi Wang Zhu You inspected the "Qi Zonglu", and the county kings and princesses of the Qi Fan formulated strict hereditary regulations.

Among them, the king and princess of the county receives 3000 taels of domestic salary every year, and if the king and princess of the county dies, his heirs will be demoted to the head of the county.

The county lord receives a salary of 1000 taels per year. When the county lord dies, his heirs will be demoted to lieutenants. The lieutenant receives a salary of 500 taels a year.

As soon as the news of "Qi Zonglu" came out, all the vassals of the Ming Dynasty were in an uproar.

Before the appearance of "Qi Zonglu", although all the vassals had already established themselves overseas, they still abided by the hereditary system of "Huang Ming Zu Xun" and "Ming Hui Dian".

Although it is also a hereditary demotion, at least it is carried out according to the five levels established by Zhu Yuanzhang, namely the county king, the general of the town, the general of the auxiliary, the general of the Feng, the lieutenant of the town, the lieutenant of the fu, and the lieutenant of the Fengguo...etc.

As a result, when it came to Zhu Youjian's place, it was directly carried out at the three levels of county king, county master, and lieutenant.

For this era of early birth and early childbearing, it is not difficult to experience five generations living under one roof.

Counting the prince himself, even the lieutenant is only the fourth generation.

That is to say, when many princes were still alive, their great-great-grandsons had already been demoted to citizens.

As a result, many vassal kings who liked to imitate Qi did not follow suit for the first time. Among the more than 200 vassal states in Ming Dynasty, only a dozen or so vassal states headed by Tang State chose to follow suit...

"Uncle Qi did this, Brother Xuan and the others didn't respond?"

In March, when Zhu Ciran got the information, his first reaction was to ask Du Yinxi.

In this regard, Du Yinxi, who has become the official secretary of the Ming Dynasty, shook his head:
"I haven't heard any reaction from the county kings. It seems that His Royal Highness Qi Wang has already told the county kings about this matter in advance."

"..." Hearing what Du Yinxi said, Zhu Ciran couldn't help frowning.

He was thinking, but then footsteps came from outside the hall.

Before he could look up, a young figure walked into the hall and bowed to him at the same time:
"Father, the Ministry of Household Affairs has reported that Jiangnanhuai, Yang, Feng, Xu, and their counties have suffered floods. I beg for an exemption from this summer's agricultural tax."

The word father, coupled with his age in his early twenties, revealed the identity of this person.

The emperor's grandson Zhu Heyin, as the eldest grandson of the emperor Zhu Youxiao, is very popular with Zhu Youxiao.

However, Zhu Ciran is not satisfied with Zhu Heyin, because he thinks Zhu Heyin is too "weak" at times.

A father always likes children who look like him, but he can't like children who are not like him.

Although Zhu Heyin looks somewhat similar to Zhu Ciran, his character is very different from Zhu Ciran.

Perhaps because of seeing the cruelty of war on the Ganges battlefield, Zhu Heyin did not agree with Zhu Ciran's idea of ​​fighting abroad.

In his opinion, what Daming needs is to recuperate, so that the resources of the provinces can be utilized, and all the resources should be absorbed.

Naturally, such a proposition would not please Zhu Ciran.

What Zhu Ciran wants more is to reform on the basis of Zhu Youjian, so that his name can also be praised by the people for hundreds of years.

However, Zhu Youjian used the Ming Dynasty's national power to the limit. Even though Zhu Ciran had allowed the Ming Dynasty to recuperate for 18 years, the foundation laid by Zhu Youjian was too solid, and it was not a generational effort to consolidate the existing territory.

As he grew older, Zhu Ciran didn't want to follow the arrangements of his uncle Qi Wang.

He can listen to advice, and he can do it, but he doesn't want others to think that he has no other merits other than being obedient.

"I will let the Ministry of Households excuse me. You can step down. By the way, let someone go to the Wenhua Palace to inform Li Gechen and Hong Ge, and let them come to the East Palace to discuss matters after their lunch break."

The Li Gechen and Hong Ge elders that Zhu Ciran was talking about were naturally Li Dingguo and Hong Chengchou.

What is the role of these two people in the Ming Dynasty?Zhu Heyin, who has studied government affairs for several years, is very clear, so he can't help but feel nervous.

Apparently, my father was about to start fighting abroad again.

"My son takes orders..." Zhu Heyin bowed in response, and exited the East Palace worriedly.

At the same time as he withdrew, Zhu Ciran also turned his head to look at Du Yinxi:
"What do you think, grandson?"

"..." As soon as Zhu Ciran opened his mouth, Du Yinxi fell silent.

Throughout the ages, many people have stumbled on the matter of establishing a reserve, and Du Yinxi understands this truth.

If someone else would answer such a question with a speculative mentality, but Du Yinxi did not, because he never forgot Zhu Ciran's "promotion" towards him, so after thinking twice, he answered from the bottom of his heart :

"Good grandson..."

"That's all?" Zhu Ciran asked, apparently he had heard these three words too much.

Because of Zhu Zhanji's reputation as a great grandson, and Zhu Zhanji's affairs are not very public, Zhu Ciran is not satisfied with this title.

It's hard for Du Yinxi to say Zhu Zhanji's fault, so he can only cover it up:

"Although the grandson is benevolent, he is not cowardly or pedantic. In addition, he has a good relationship with Qi Shizi, Chengshan, and Langya County King. I think he will be able to be close to Qi for another generation."

"Jian Guo should know better than Chen, what does this represent..."

Du Yinxi mentioned cowardice and pedantry. These two words seem to have nothing to do with Zhu Zhanji, the emperor of the horse, but they are actually the biggest mistakes of Zhu Zhanji's administration.

On the eve of Zhu Di's death, the forces on the Mongolian plateau were divided into five parts, except for the Eight Guards of Kansai who were more clearly restrained in the Ming Dynasty, Ye Xiantugan and other ministries.

The Wuliangha people, the Tatar headquarters, and the Tuboluo tribe, the Taiping tribe, and the Tuhuan tribe in Oara.

Among them, the leader of the Tumubao Change, Ye Xiantaishi's father is Tuohuan.

When Zhu Di died, the Tuohuan Department was still stationed in the area from the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain to the west foot of Hangai Mountain. Faced with the situation after Zhu Di's death, the first thing Tuohuan had to solve was to get rid of Tuboluo and Taiping on the Mongolian plateau. The two tribes that were imprisoned by the Ming Dynasty were resolved.

Therefore, in the two years after Zhu Di's death, Tuo Huan successively assassinated King Anle, Tu Poluo, and Xianyi King Taiping in banquets, hunting and other links.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi also died less than a year after succeeding to the throne. After Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji took the throne, he first dealt with his uncle Zhu Gaoxu and carried out a large-scale purge in the army.

For the eldest son of Xianyi Wang Taiping, who came all the way to ask for help, Zhu Zhanji just perfunctory, sent envoys to the grassland to grant a feast, and then turned around to clean up his uncle's remnants.

Because Zhu Zhanji refused to fulfill the suzerain's obligation, less than a year later, Taiping's eldest son was also killed by Tuo Huan, and Tuo Huan finally unified the three tribes of Oala.

At this time, the unified three tribes of Oala did not have enough strength to challenge Ming Dynasty immediately, so they chose to continue attacking the Tatar headquarters.

At the same time, Zhu Zhanji also continued to attack the Tatar headquarters economically, insisting on strangling the Golden Family, and did not pay any attention to combating the unification of Oala.

So under such a pincer situation, strongmen such as Alutai and Adai Khan in the Tatar headquarters were frustrated by the joint attack of the Ming Dynasty and Oala.

The Arutai tribe bred many animals and died, and the tribes were scattered. The Yongxiebu Tenth Battalion, which once ruled the roost in Mobei, had begun to collapse.

At this time, the time had come for Ming Dynasty to conquer Alutai, and Zhang Fu and others joined forces in Shangshu Zhu Zhanji's Northern Expedition.

However, in the face of this opportunity, Zhu Zhanji gave up the Northern Expedition with the words "you can't take advantage of people's danger", and sat back and watched to annex and integrate Arutai.

You know, this is an opportunity for two generations of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di to conquer the Mongolian plateau for half a century.

As a result, this opportunity was given up by Zhu Zhanji, and he also gave himself a name of benevolence and righteousness.

If Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di knew about it, they would probably come alive with anger.

It is precisely because people like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di will receive the treatment of "death and government rest" after death, so Zhu Ciran is naturally disturbed by this.

However, Zhu Heyin contradicted himself in some political opinions, and it happened that Zhu Zhanji was called a "good grandson" by the officials back then, but now Zhu Heyin is also called a "good grandson".

Faced with such "historical similarities", Zhu Ciran said that it is not an exaggeration to say that he has trouble sleeping and eating.

Therefore, even though Du Yinxi had explained it, he still did not stretch his brows...

"Sorry..."

When Zhu Ciran frowned, Zhu Heyin had sent someone to pass on to Hong Chengchou and others, and got into a carriage going out of the palace by himself.

Hearing the sound of wheels and horses whistling in his ears, Zhu Heyin raised his hand to close the curtains, quietly staring at the scene outside the window in a daze.

Compared with more than ten years ago, the inner city of Beijing in the 41 years of Apocalypse appears more prosperous.

This kind of prosperity is not only limited to the surrounding buildings, but also reflected in the people.

Silk, once worn only by dignitaries and dignitaries, is now worn by every commoner walking in the inner city.

There are sanitation workers responsible for cleaning the streets, most of them are in their forties.

Compared with 41 years ago, they could sit and rest while cleaning, but in the [-]st year of Apocalypse, they can only walk around with brooms and dustpans.

With the ever-increasing requirements of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau, even a piece of fruit peel or a piece of paper is not allowed to exist on the ground in the inner city of Beijing.

Such strict requirements have exhausted many sanitation workers. After all, people who throw garbage can be seen everywhere.

Although Zhu Ciran, the supervisor of the state, ordered the government servants to fine people who litter, the government servants at this time are no longer what they used to be.

Sitting in the carriage, Zhu Heyin could see some escorts sitting on the patrol carriage talking and laughing, not caring about things around them at all.

Sanitation workers are all relatively disadvantaged people who come to take up their jobs. Naturally, they dare not challenge the government servants, so they can only keep their heads down and clean up the garbage back and forth.

Amidst the laughter of the yamen servants, passers-by casually threw some rubbish on the ground, and the sign "Do not throw rubbish at random" standing on the sidewalk behind them was particularly dazzling.

"Ugh……"

Before Zhu Heyin finished sighing, the carriage drove out of the inner city.

Its goal was Dongcheng, so after driving out of the long corridor, what Zhu Heyin saw was the clean and tidy Dongwai City.

On the streets here, the common people don't have the praising scene of people all over the city like the inner city.

Appearing in front of Zhu Heyin's eyes were many ordinary people wearing clothes made of ordinary white cloth.

They act in a hurry, most riding bicycles on the carriageway, rushing to find work around the city.

Indeed, it is now the 41st year of the Apocalypse, the economy of Ming Dynasty is good, and farmers have obtained many fields.

However, the people living in the city inevitably face a "labor shortage".

The reason for all this can be traced back to the beginning. When Zhu Youjian left, Huangdian had already occupied more than [-]% of the economic market share of Daming.

This is the market share that emerged as a result of Zhu Youjian's suppression in those years.

Since Zhu Youjian left, the imperial court needs to pay taxes, so the containment of the imperial store is very limited.

As of the 40th year of Tianqi, the economic share of Huangdian in the market has reached about [-]%.

Clothes, toys, flowers, etc., which were not found in imperial stores in the past, began to be chained.

Huangdian is seizing the existing market, which makes the situation of individual private businessmen very difficult.

In addition, Zhu Ciran paid more attention to the research of military industry, agriculture and other science and technology, so the research progress of the Armament Academy on people's livelihood technology was very slow.

Without the influx of new products into the market, the cake will naturally have no way to expand, and if the cake cannot expand, the number of workers it can maintain will naturally not increase.

Merchants went bankrupt, shops were acquired by Huangdian, and workers were incorporated into the Huangdian system.

If it was just like this, the life of the people in the city would not be so good.

But the problem is that since the production team and tractor system were established in the countryside, some people who don't like farming have rented their land to the production team and moved to live in the city.

The expenditure in the city is very high, and the ground rent alone cannot support a whole family.

Under such circumstances, some farmers returned to the countryside, but more farmers sold their physical strength in exchange for remuneration.

The labor market that was already saturated began to become crowded, and many workers viciously involved in order to work, and reported low wages.

Such a situation has led to the fact that in the context of the entire market, if individuals do not report low wages, it will be difficult to find a long-term job in the city.

Even though the capital has a large population and a huge market, the people living in this city are still facing a very bad involution.

There used to be a lot of work in Beijing. Even in the Wanli period, wages ranged from fifteen to 120 yuan.

However, with the increasing population, the supply of labor in the capital has been in short supply.

In the entire capital, except for a small number of skilled jobs, the wages can still be maintained, and the wages of many jobs that sell physical strength have begun to fall.

Almost all places that employ workers recruit workers at the lowest wages quoted by the imperial court. In the period of Zhu Youjian, the laborers who had a daily wage of [-] renminbi can only get [-] renminbi now. .

This phenomenon has been going on for four or five years, and Zhu Cilang also reminded Zhu Ciran when he left the capital.

However, it seemed that because the government affairs were too busy, Zhu Ciran focused on other things after handing over the matter to the officials.

So in Zhu Heyin's eyes, the living conditions of ordinary workers in Beijing are getting worse.

"Recently... have prices gone up..."

Zhu Heyin spoke softly, and the coachman who drove the car heard the question and replied without thinking: "It has increased a little."

"Tell me, can a hired worker support a family?"

Zhu Heyin asked the coachman, but this time the coachman dared not answer.

His actions told Zhu Heyin the answer, and at this time the carriage also drove out of the east city, and drove towards the outside of the city, gradually drifting away...