Emperor Ming Dynasty

In the spring of the tenth year of Shaowu, the dragon raised its head on February [-], and the city of Beijing became more and more lively, and temple fairs followed one after another, which contributed to the prosperity of Beijing.

The dust and yellow sand in previous years has been reduced by more than half this year, which can save some effort when sweeping the floor.

A low-key and luxurious carriage, under the guard of a dozen people, is driving slowly along the right side of the road, which is not far from walking.

At this time, a corner of the curtain was lifted, revealing a young and immature face, but the eyes were full of maturity.

The noisy voices on the street also found a gap and slipped into the carriage.

"How about pruning trees? I didn't take dust at all throughout the winter—"

"Hey, isn't it! The Beijing camp has mobilized 100,000 people and has been busy for a whole year. Look, this has an effect..."

"Good guy, that's a sapling worth 1 million yuan. I heard that people who transported saplings from Shandong made a fortune—"

"This deep well water is delicious and cheap..."

"It's stronger than the previous amphoteric water, but the price is the same, how good do you think—"

After listening for a long time, looking at the streets full of cars and horses, the boy put down the curtain of the car.

"Your Highness?"

The spacious carriage has an area of ​​five or six square meters, and a middle-aged man is sitting beside the young man.

His name is Shangguan Yong, a Jinshi in Chongzhen for 13 years, and now he is King Fu of Qin.

From the second rank, the future is unpredictable.

In fact, after the Shaowu Dynasty, Wang Fu became a number of new ministers, but Shangguan Yong was the only one who actually performed his duties.

The emperor chose it himself, and made the choice after careful consideration.

In fact, Shangguan Yong was also very confused.

He was comfortable as an inspector, and he was suddenly promoted to King Fu of Qin. Good guy, isn't this adding to his future?

Once the new king succeeds to the throne, can he be well off?
However, looking at the immature and mature face of the 12 years old boy in front of him, he was quite satisfied.

King Qin entered school at the age of six, and he was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics when he was about ten years old. Now that he has reached the age of Spring and Autumn, he is also familiar with a lot of miscellaneous studies. If he is among the people, he can even directly participate in the children's examination.

With King Qin's talent and learning, it should be very simple to be a scholar in the north.

"Wang Fu, this protective forest is really good."

Zhu Cunhao looked at Shangguanyong and showed a smile: "Beijing this spring is also very good. It is suitable for outings and outings, free from the harassment of those dust."

"It's just that the money is really too much." Shangguan Yong sighed: "I heard that nearly 500,000 officers, soldiers and civilians participated in the tree planting, just a hundred miles north of the Great Wall."

"The forest is six hundred miles long and more than ten miles wide."

"As a result, the Ministry of Households spent 3 million silver dollars and 5 million stones for grain. The huge consumption is rare in the world."

There was another sentence that he kept silent in his heart.

The money for planting trees alone is enough to rebuild the city wall of Beijing, which sounds like a waste.

But there is no way, the emperor and officials and nobles must enjoy it, a green belt, I don’t know how many people can breathe fresh air.

Zhu Cunhao shook his head and said, "It's worth it."

"The population of Beijing is nearly a million, and there are millions of people in Gyeonggi and Xuanfu. For them, what is this money and food?"...

"Your Highness is benevolent." Shangguan Yong praised: "For the benefit of the common people, so it is mixed with other things, but in the end it is good."

"Wang Fu, what about the well water?"

It was rare for Zhu Cunhao to get out of the house, and he was very curious about many things.

"This well water really speaks volumes." Shangguan Yong sighed and said eloquently.

As the capital of the country, Beijing City has a huge daily consumption of food and drink for millions of people.

Food is supplied by the South, firewood is supplied by coal mines, and salt is supplied by Changlu Salt Fields, but in terms of the most important and inseparable water, it is extremely embarrassing
The largest river in the surrounding area is nothing more than the Haihe River. How can this satisfy the needs of the two major cities of Beijing and Tianjin at the same time?
Naturally, the nobles only ate the mountain springs brought from the western mountains, while ordinary people could only eat the convenient and fast well water.

As a result, there are wells all over the streets and alleys in Beijing, and many hutongs in Beijing are named after wells. The famous Wangfujing is named after an ancient well. It is said that the water from this well is "sweet and usable".

Someone counted them, and there were more than a thousand wells in and around Beijing.

Due to the different excavation depths and different directions, the taste of well water is naturally very different.

It is divided into three types, namely sweet water, bitter water, and two-character water in between.

Ordinary people use amphoteric water for eating and drinking, bitter water for washing and watering flowers, and expensive sweet water, which is only used to make tea and soup when entertaining guests.

Sweet wells are rare in Beijing, and people naturally love them like treasures, and even cast the mouth of the well with copper.

"In the capital, the best sweet well is in the Temple of Heaven. It is said that the water tastes clear and the water is so refreshing that a spoonful of it can sell for hundreds of dollars."

Shangguan Yong said with emotion.

"Oh?" Zhu Cunluo opened his eyes.

Even if he stays in the palace for a long time, he still understands the prices of the people.

In the past two years, the sea transportation in the capital has been smooth, and a large amount of grain has poured in from the south. The price of grain has dropped to about [-] cents per stone, and it is no longer a burden.

Therefore, the value of one silver dollar has remained at one thousand copper coins for a long time, and ordinary men spend only thirty or fifty Wen to support their families every day.

A spoonful of well water is so high.

"How much is the ordinary two-character water worth?" Zhu Cunhao asked curiously.

"A bucket costs about five cents."

"I don't worry about eating, but I worry about drinking." Zhu Cunhao sighed, with worries that didn't belong to teenagers on his small face.

"Last year, His Majesty made a private visit in disguise, and observed the sufferings of the people, and found that the depth of all bitter wells is no more than two or two feet."

Shangguan Yong arched his hands in the direction of the imperial palace, his face full of admiration: "From this, let the Ministry of Industry dig further down, until about four feet, the water suddenly changed from bitter to normal."

"Since then, the sex water has dropped to one penny per barrel, and the people no longer worry about it, and no one in Beijing will drink bitter water anymore."

Hearing that he was praising his father, Zhu Cunhao became interested, and hurriedly continued to ask: "Then why not save money? Wouldn't it be better for the common people to save some money."

Shangguan Yong felt very relieved when he saw King Qin's studious look.

As expected of the eldest prince, although he is a little immature, but he has the kindness of the people in his heart, which is hard to buy.

He stroked his beard and realized that this was a good lecture, so he couldn't help but seriously said: "Your Highness, think twice before acting."…

"After the incident that year, many people in the Inspectorate went to the siege and asked for the water money to be exempted, but the emperor kept the money and let it go."

"Your Highness, in the huge city of Beijing, do you know how many people live by selling water?"

Zhu Cunhao frowned, and asked tentatively, "3000 people?"

"No, it's 5000 people." Shangguan Yong looked into his unbelievable eyes and taught, "There are six thousand alleys and alleys in Beijing, and there are [-] wells."

"Behind these 5000 people, there are [-] families. Once their livelihoods are cut off, I don't know how many people will lose their food."

"Besides, if the water doesn't cost money, no one will cherish it, and there will be a lot of waste, so why not spend some money, which can not only maintain their livelihood, but also allow them to take care of the well—"

"Father still has the foresight." Zhu Cunhao couldn't help clapping his hands.

Seeing him like this, Shangguan couldn't help but feel happy, he really is a virtuous king.

As the carriage entered the inner city, the speed suddenly increased and became more stable.

After chatting, the two arrived at Prince Qin's mansion.

Since King Qin Zhu Cunmu passed away three years ago, the Eldest Prince inherited his nobility and enshrined his vassal, and the entire palace has undergone drastic renovations.

The expenditure in the past few years has reached 100,000 yuan silver dollars, which fully highlights the boldness of the emperor.

Because of this, many people in the imperial court kept arguing, but there was no way, the emperor used money from internal funds, and the Ministry of Households only paid 10,000 yuan.

The already extravagant Prince Qin's Mansion became more and more splendid. Although it did not exceed the norm, it was still dizzying.

However, although Qin Wang Zhu Cunhao has been out of the palace for two months, he still adheres to the diet and daily life in the palace and has not changed.

"Your Highness, there is news from the palace that at the end of the month, we will drive to Yuquan Mountain—"

As soon as he entered the mansion, the chief manager of the mansion couldn't wait to come up and report the urgent news.

"Then follow the old rules!"

Zhu Cunhao nodded slightly: "Don't be too extravagant, just like an ordinary palace."

"Yes!"

Speaking of which, inheriting the title of King Qin is not only a very prominent title, but the legacy is even more amazing.

Leaving aside some gold, silver and jewellery, on the land, not only the [-] hectares of land granted by the emperor, but also [-] hectares granted by the emperor now that he is out of the palace.

With 10,000 mu of land, the annual rent can be [-] yuan.

In addition, the money and food accumulated in the three years since the year he was entrusted belonged to him.

The emperor bestowed a hundred eunuchs, twenty court ladies, and a hundred palace guards.

Of course, what Zhu Cunhao attaches the most importance to is the connections in Prince Qin's residence.

To be precise, it was Xi'an Youwei, which had been affiliated for hundreds of years, with more than [-] families.

Although the Weisuo has now been changed to a county, the affiliation relationship that has existed for hundreds of years cannot be easily changed.

After many children from military households become promising, they basically have to give King Qin three points of face.

You must know that during the 300 years of the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi from military households accounted for about [-]% of the total, and many talents from the right guard were the most important contacts.

On the surface, all officials who go to Xi'an to take office will come to visit him, the King of Qin.

Without him, King Qin's vassal land is in Xi'an Mansion. Although it has no jurisdiction and can't say anything, it is nominally King Qin's vassal state, and it is impossible to justify not visiting. …

After a while, Shi, the head of Prince Qin's residence, also came over to greet him, and talked about the situation in the palace.

Chang Shi is the steward of the palace and the person trusted by the emperor. He is responsible for supervising the daily study of King Qin and managing the land, property, and personnel of the palace.

In the palace, the conversation about King Qin today has been presented to the emperor.

Obviously, Zhu Yixi is not at ease about this young son.

Although he intends to stay for a few years, there are many discussions between the government and the public. For the sake of King Qin and the crown prince, he had to let him go.

With no worries about food and clothing, children of 12 years old have begun to develop enough to carry on the family line, and are not suitable to stay in the palace anymore.

Leaving the concubine and the emperor and going to a strange place is also a kind of exercise in a sense.

Zhu Yixi felt that although there were many sons, he couldn't take care of them by himself, but he still needed the necessary care. He didn't want to raise a group of animals.

If he is really not a talent, he has no objection to eating and waiting to die, but it is better not to become a beast, otherwise, only Fengyang's high wall will serve.

"Hmm!" The emperor nodded in satisfaction after glancing at these remarks briefly.

Compared with their peers, the princes are more politically sensitive and more mature. This is inevitable, but it is also a good thing.

"Your Majesty—" At this time, Liu Afu placed a stack of title books on the table in front of him again.

Apparently, there was no rest for the cabinet either.

"Let's put it down!" Zhu Yixi turned his head while looking at a stack of test books, there was still a basket of secret boxes over there.

It's really hard to be human.

After thinking for a while, he turned his gaze to the secret box.

Soon, a wooden box was opened.

The secret fold here comes from the capital of Tiannanxing.

Since the conquest of Southern Xinjiang three years ago, the entire Western Regions have changed immediately.

First of all, the three tribes of Oirat Mongolia began to split.

From north to south, the three divisions are Duerbert Division, Heshuote Division and Junggar Division.

Due to the vacancy of power in the Yinli Basin, the Heshuote Department, together with Junggar, annexed the fertile Yinli River Valley, greatly increasing its strength.

In this way, in the face of foreign enemies, the Junggar tribe tends to negotiate peace with Russia, preparing to deal with the ambitious Ming army, because it is the closest to his territory; the northernmost Durbert tribe is the closest to the Russians and feels threatened , demanding unanimity against Russia.

As for the Heshuo Special Department, which is in the middle, it is vacillating.

In this case, diplomacy is crucial.

Li Ding's military ability is good, but his diplomacy is not good. The imperial court will send another person to serve as the chief envoy to govern civil affairs and involve Russia.

In this way, the imperial court naturally chose to lean towards Duerbert's department instead of flirting with each other.

However, they did not give up on the Heshuo Special Department and the Junggar Department, and continued to shoot muskets secretly to instigate the confrontation between the two parties.

The power of muskets has long been witnessed in the Western Regions, and the number of them represents strength, and it also increases the ambitions of the two parties.

The emperor even felt that this was too slow, and even pushed the boat forward, proposing the rumor that the only way to unite Oirat Mongolia could resist Russia and the Ming people.

Now, the cold water is poured into the hot pot, and it boils.

"Oh, Junggar actually united with the Russians to eliminate Heshuote—"

The emperor looked at the news and felt a little surprised, but it was easy to accept.

After all, there is no blood feud between the two parties, so it is quite appropriate to unite.

"Looks like it's going to be another proxy battle."

Zhu Yixi approved a word of approval, put down the secret letter, and came to the map.

There is no doubt about supporting Heshuo.

But at the same time, no matter who wins the two parties, they will inevitably unify the entire Oirat Mongolia, that is, Moxi Mongolia.

This is unacceptable to him.

So at this time, it is necessary to strengthen the strength of southern Xinjiang, so as to take the opportunity to eat the three tribes of Oirat Mongolia.

And they are not blind, once you increase your troops, how can they fight?