Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 443 The Calm Before the Storm
"Your Highness doesn't like flowers that smell too strong, so change them to fresh ones."

"I want to put rock sugar in the bayberry, Your Highness likes something sweeter."

"The rice wine and rice wine are softer. The military officers in the outer court like to drink some when they are talking about things. If they are too strong, they will easily get drunk."

"Green plum wine..."

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, in the Jiuquan Palace of Prince Qi's Mansion, Yang Yuanai was instructing the maids in the palace to make wine for the palace.

This batch of wine will be taken out for drinking on the Lantern Festival one month later, this is the old rule of the Qi Palace.

As the head of the female officials in the inner court, Yang Yuanai knew the affairs of the inner court like the palm of his hand, even Yuan Xipin, who was the princess, needed to ask her for advice when facing some problems.

For example, Yuan Xipin, Zhou Sujie and others are watching Yang Yuanai instructing hundreds of maids to brew wine in the Jiuquan Palace. The rhythm is orderly and orderly.

After finishing everything, a female officer walked up to her with a booklet. Yang Yuanai looked down, nodded slightly and signaled the female officer to leave, and she herself came to Yuan Xipin and the others with the booklet:

"Your Majesty, this is the list of maids who will leave the palace this year, please have a look at it."

Such a positive financial situation has not been seen for many years.

Standing behind her, the five concubines didn't feel aggrieved. Instead, they all expressed that they could reduce it further. After all, Yuan Xibin's price has dropped to 500 taels, and they are twice as much as Yuan Xibin.

"Why is the expenditure so large?" The sixth concubine was a little surprised to hear that the annual expenditure of Prince Qi's mansion required 5 taels.

Zhu Youjian just looked at the memorial for a while, and he knew that this impeachment memorial was arranged by Hong Chengchou, and its purpose was just to test his attitude.

Seeing this, Yuan Xibing smiled knowingly, and then handed the document to Yang Yuanai:

However, by the beginning of spring, one-third of the follow-up money should be collected, but it is estimated that it will be used for work-for-work relief in the four provinces.

Cao Huachun talked about Bi Ziyan's estimate, but he was actually talking about the estimates of Bi Ziyan and Zhu Youjian.

The six concubines' meal silver is basically 2000 taels per year, but Zhu Youjian's meal silver has dropped to about 200 taels because he often goes to "crack" meals.

"The servants lead the order..."

In this regard, Zhu Youjian thought about this year's court revenue, and was a little anxious:
"Is the imperial court's silver deposit enough for distribution?"

He has to prepare for these 12 years, and he has to prepare for 22 years.

Therefore, the salary of 19 taels of silver is already the result of Zhu Youxiao adding various official titles such as Wen San rank, Wu San rank, Wen Xun, Wu Xun, and official positions.

After all, she is well aware of the annual income of the inner court. Compared with the annual income of three or four million taels of internal money, the Qi Palace is indeed a bit poor.

Counting Yingzhou, Jiaozhi, Jiugang, Nanzhou, Liuqiufu and other places, the profit was 200 million taels.

"The imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital have all said this, but long live him...Your Highness, you know..."

"For next year's immigration, except for the relocation of Indian servants and the immigration of the feudal vassals of Qi, the immigration of other imperial courts will be suspended for a while."

"Rope with water?" Cao Huachun was also stunned, but he quickly figured out the joints, and pushed Wang Chengen's hand away:
"You can do things with confidence, you don't need to know the meaning."

"It's increased a bit this year, almost 19 taels of silver." Yang Yuanai replied, and she didn't think it was too much.

In this world, except for what he said and his brother would listen to him, what other people said, to his brother, was like breathing, not even a fart.

In the palace of mind, Zhu Youjian looked at the inner court expenditure that had been reduced from 5 taels to 5000 taels, and still couldn't help asking Yang Yuanai suspiciously.

If Hong Chengchou couldn't even bribe the officials of Jiaozhi and Yunnan, then he is not as good as an ordinary chief envoy.

Zhu Youjian lowered his head and continued to deal with the memorabilia, while Wang Chengen was stunned: "A rope with water?"

"..." Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, and Wang Chengen probably guessed which memorial it was from seeing his expression.

In a stable year, the cost of immigration is high, and in a year of famine, the cost of immigration is low.

If he remembered correctly, in the seventh year of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao only had eight concubines, but now that he is getting older, there are more concubines.

In this year's annual revenue, more than 3000 million taels of cash are still in deposit, waiting for the salary to be paid after the Zhengdan Festival, but the gap is still there.

He looked at Wang Chengen, who was handling official memorials by the side of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and shouted:
"Cheng En, let Wang Kentang and the others remind Brother Huang not to be too indulgent."

"Your Highness, Hong Jinglue also wanted to support the imperial court regarding the Champo matter..."

"After removing the storage and consumption, this batch of grain should still have 900 million shi by the beginning of spring. Counting the transportation consumption, it will be about 800 million shi, which is more than expected."

"Well... If it is not wet enough after delivery, let someone pour water on the rope in front of Hong Chengchou."

Zhu Youjian likes that Hong Chengchou doesn't let himself worry about things, but he doesn't like Hong Chengchou's cleverness and repeated temptations.

"Fifteen cash per day, 30 workers per province, six months of construction, and 500 million taels of wage silver and material silver are expected to be distributed."

In terms of handling affairs, Zhu Youjian still likes balanced people like Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng.

Zhu Youjian set too high for them. Even if Yuan Xibing lowered the standard by half, the six of them were still enjoying themselves.

Zhu Youjian asked about the steamship, and Cao Huachun nodded quickly after hearing this:
"The Denglai and Tianjin branches have already launched steamers with [-] materials, and they can basically operate normally. Now they are conducting research on steam ships with [-] materials."

"They all agree?"

"How much is the wage? How much is the labor?"

As a princess, Yuan Xipin didn't want to break the rules established by Zhu You, so she comforted Li Shaoxi:
"You and I are both daughters' families. It is very difficult for daughters' families to find husbands' families after they reach their twenties. If they don't leave the palace before their twenties, many of them will not be able to find a good family."

"His Royal Highness said that he now has more than 70 mothers..." Yang Rushi shook his head, and Zhu Youjian frowned at her words.

Now the severe drought has only subsided a little bit, and even if it is not counted overseas, the mainland of Daming has reached a situation where income is even.

The wages of the hired workers are regarded as a job for the farmers and the people at the bottom, so that they will not be hungry after the spring planting and before the autumn harvest.

Zhu Youjian is not surprised by the rapid progress of the Armament Academy, because this research is on merchant ships and cargo ships, not warships.

Yuan Xibing responded one by one with a smile, allowing them to enjoy themselves, knowing how to balance the relationship in the harem, and living up to Zhang Yan's painstaking efforts in choosing her.

Compared with Zhu Youjian's blueprint, Daming's industrial speed is too slow, especially the steam engine.

Zhu Youjian responded without raising his head. After hearing this, Wang Chengen got up and walked out with half understanding, ready to arrange this matter.

Of course, even so, Prince Qi's Mansion is still very "poor".

Hiring workers in advance and constructing ahead of schedule, to put it bluntly, is "relief with work" in disguise. It's just that if you don't do it in Shanshan and Shaanxi, the people will starve to death, and if you don't do it in these four provinces, the people will starve, but not will die.

But after she surrendered, when Yang Yuanai sent the inner court account book to Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youjian was a little surprised at the frugality of the sixth concubine.

"What did Bi Ziyan say?" Zhu Youjian looked flat, Cao Huachun quickly responded:

"Is the horse material ready?" Zhu Youjian raised his hand to take the memorial, and looked at it at a glance.

A concubine's disobedience to the concubine would usually be dealt with badly without the support of the male master, so she did not dare to contradict Yuan Xipin.

Because the year after 12 years in history is the 17th year of Chongzhen, because Chongzhen hanged himself, Li Zicheng was defeated, and the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, so the world was in turmoil. Many literati did not record the various droughts and disasters from this year to the Kangxi period.

"62? The emperor added a new concubine?" Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, doubting the number of concubines in Yang Rushi's words.

Zhu Youjian sighed a little, feeling that his concubine was a little "thrifty", but Yang Ru, who didn't want to practice piano beside him, heard it, and said helplessly:
"There are 62 empresses in the inner court, and there are about [-] concubines and concubines. Your Highness only has six empresses. Naturally, there are more than enough."

Seeing this, Yang Yuanai withdrew, but when she had just retreated, Zhu Youjian happened to deal with the memorandum of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

"This... how much is your Highness's annual salary?" Zhou Sujie asked curiously because she couldn't accept such a large expense.

"It's a pity that although the draft horse (Shire horse) has been bred to thousands of horses, those horses are only a few months old foals."

"I came here according to one-tenth of the inner court's standard. Who would have thought that they wouldn't even be able to spend one-tenth of the inner court's standard?"

This is the beginning of the second round of severe drought. This time the drought lasted for 12 years and spread to the north and the south. In addition, Zhu Youjian is not sure whether there will be another severe drought in the future.

"After selling the grain to relieve the disaster in Shanshan, it should be enough. From this year..."

Half of the more than 6000 million shimimai have been sold, and more than 600 million taels of silver have been collected, and 500 million taels should be collected in the future.

"Han Zhaodi is only 19 years old, will she also be released from the house?"

When Cao Huachun saw that he had opened the memorial to the Ministry of Accounts, he also hastily continued:

It's just that compared to his optimism, Zhu Youjian is optimistic with some anxiety.

He has six years, whether it is sea or land transportation, whether it is moving to the northeast or moving to the old port and Qi, in short, he needs trains and steam ships.

This is impossible, although the identity of the inspector censor is good, things like the impeachment of one party's chief envoy, one party's general soldier, and one party's manager are usually done by their superiors, the inspector censor.

For the Northern Expedition and disaster relief, Zhu Youjian and Bi Ziyan estimated that the price of grain in the north would rise by [-]%, but the facts gave them a resounding slap in the face. The price of grain in the north rose by [-]% to [-]%.

The first batch of grain silver that has been sold is currently 1000 million taels allocated to the Ministry of Industry for roadbed construction, and deposited in Taicang to prepare part of the salary. There are still about 200 million taels that can be mobilized.

"I know that my sister can use this maid easily, but I still need to think about her."

Therefore, after the autumn harvest, the rice and wheat from the imperial court and the military stationed rice and wheat were transported to Shanshan and Jiangnan respectively to stabilize food prices.

Whether the severe drought disappeared in ten years, or whether the population no longer cared about the drought due to war turmoil and abundant arable land caused the people to no longer care about the drought. These are all factors that Zhu Youjian needs to consider.

"However, His Highness said that there is no need to save on the expenditure of the inner court, and the six empresses don't need to worry."

"73 people left the mansion. After they left, there were still 230 and 3000 people in the mansion. Each person's monthly salary was 600 Wen. In the mansion, the annual salary plus the food expenditure of slaves and servants was [-] taels. If the inner court cook was included, it would be [-] taels .”

Since the relationship is good, why would Mu Qiyuan be impeached?Just because of the identity of the inspector censor?

Even if there is only six months' wages, it is better than waiting at home starving.

"If they can be used in this battle, it will be much easier to pull the artillery."

Daming's financial situation next year will be very good, and it will even reach 3000 million taels of silver deposits by the end of the year, and more than 9000 million taels of silver deposits at the mint.

After Zhu Youjian restructured the Metropolitan Procuratorate and canceled the rumors, the censor had to have certain evidence if he wanted to impeach someone.

This is where Zhu Youjian's optimism lies, and it is also one of the reasons why he chose Liting to sweep the acupoints.

"Zou Shuliuzhong, let the people from Fusi in Nanzhen buy a rope soaked in water in Kunming and give it to Hong Chengchou."

In addition, the current naval fleet of the Ming Dynasty is sufficient to deal with various wars east of the Cape of Good Hope. At this time, there is no need to create battleships to inspire the Europeans.

The severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River, if Zhu Youjian remembers correctly, basically started to break out in succession in the 16th year of Tianqi.

As Cao Huachun said, he also gave Zhu Youjian a general introduction to the financial situation of the imperial court.

Wang Chengen agreed, and Zhu Youjian also bowed his head to deal with the memorial.

Zhu Youxiao also wanted to add some salary to his younger brother, but it was only for him, not for officials of other ranks, which was not appropriate.

Yuan Xibing has seen the meals of the Five Palaces, and they are basically too wasteful. One person eats more than ten or twenty dishes, including her Longevity Palace.

These 400 million people count as 100 million families, and Daming only needs to provide relief to 100 million people with work.

However, most of the maids in Prince Qi's mansion are only in their teens, so she was curious how many of them would leave the palace.

"How about the study of steamships at the Armament Academy?"

Once a drought broke out in the three densely populated Jiangnan provinces and resulted in a failure of harvests, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to provide food to feed 8000 to [-] million people.

She is learning how to manage the palace, and Yang Yuanai is happy to hand over the power, so she replied:

It was hard for her to say it before because she was not familiar with the palace. Now that she has been in the palace for two months, she has adapted to being the hostess, so she can give orders naturally.

"This expenditure is too high. I think each meal of each palace is wasted. In order to save money for the palace, the fifth palace will reduce the meal silver by 1000 taels, and the longevity palace will reduce it by 500 taels."

Just relying on a patrol censor, he couldn't bear the pressure of impeaching the second and third rank officials of the imperial court.

Only when the war is in full swing, can Da Ming release technology beyond an era to end the war.

"Do you think... if Zhan Po really starved to death, would Wen Tingxuan's memorial still appear?"

"The six empresses are all willing, and the cost is not too low. Your Highness gave too much before."

The population of this place must be relocated, even if the relocation will cause the local business to wither, Zhu Youjian must do so.

Wang Chengen's words gradually lost his confidence later on, and Zhu Youjian was also at a loss for words.

Not to mention, according to some information from Nanzhen Fusi, this Wen Tingxue has a good relationship with Mu Qiyuan.

"No wonder the maids in the mansion are so young..." Zhou Sujie nodded thoughtfully when she heard Yang Yuanai's words.

The train cannot stop, because it will be related to the migration of people after the second round of severe drought.

In other words, counting the follow-up silver, after the Lantern Festival next year, the treasury's silver deposits will be around 200 million taels.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian frowned at Wang Chengen and confessed: "Don't let the imperial hospital use tonic."

"The big horse has great strength and a big body, but it also has a big appetite. They are all about the same." Zhu Youjian put down the memorial of the five armies' governor's mansion and opened the memorial of the household department.

Therefore, next year, the people in Shaanxi will finally get rid of the predicament of the six-year drought. As for the people in Shanxi, although there are many people and they are also within the scope of the disaster, it is unlikely that the number will exceed 400 million.

The relocation cannot stop. It is imperative to develop the Northeast, Jiugang, and Nanzhou after Liting sweeps the holes.

A severe drought caused Daming's annual income, which should have reached 5000 million taels, to plummet to 900 million.

Not only meals, but expenses related to clothing and travel have also been cut.

Even though he knew that the other party was scared because of the late Ming party struggle, he still didn't like the feeling that someone questioned him.

After finishing speaking, he turned around and continued to walk into the hall, leaving only Wang Chengen with a puzzled expression on his face, he turned and left after staying for a while.

"Since the beginning of winter, the price of food in the north has risen a lot, basically by about [-]%, which is higher than Bi Shangshu estimated."

While he was leaving, Cao Huachun also entered the hall, presented several memorials, and respectfully said:
"The news came from the Governor's Mansion and the Household Department of the Five Armies that the military rations for the Northern Expedition have all arrived in Liaoyang, Jingcheng, and Zhenjiang, and will only be shipped to Yidonghe City and Taining City outside the pass after spring."

Zhu Youjian told Hong Chengchou a long time ago that he would not be punished for the death of immigrants and ordinary people, but he was still worried that he would be held accountable afterwards.

Instead, after he walked out of the hall, he met Cao Huachun who was coming towards him, so he couldn't help but hold Cao Huachun back: "Your Highness read the memorial and asked someone to send a rope with water to Hong Chengchou. What's the meaning of this?"

Yang Yuanai covered her face with her hands and smiled, while Zhu Youjian smiled and shook her head when she heard the words:

Li Shaoxi couldn't help asking, because she used this maid well.

"How many people will leave the mansion this year? How many people are in the mansion? How much will they spend?"

"That happened last month. This month, I heard that Long Live canonized a few more nobles and beauties."

Zhu Youjian asked, Cao Huachun replied, and in order to let His Royal Highness know better, he also said the approximate amount of money to be allocated.

Fortunately, he is still young, so as long as he doesn't use any big tonic, there will be basically no problems.

But his anxiety also stems from the victims.

But this does not mean that Daming can spend money recklessly. On the contrary, Daming has to tighten his finances, and all immigration tasks except work-for-relief have to be stopped.

In short, the sixth concubine talked and made trouble, and the matter was finally settled.

Wang Chengen wanted to say that Hong Chengchou had starved to death the natives in the southern part of Champa because of the 600 million shimi from the household department, but Zhu Youjian threw the memorial on the table before he finished speaking, and leaned back in his chair superior:

"Bi Shangshu wants to hire workers in the four provinces of Shandong, Hexi, Duogan, and Henan, and carry out roadbed construction in the four provinces in advance, so as to alleviate the burden on the people."

Facing their surprise, Yang Yuanai responded calmly:

In the 11th year of the apocalypse, the lives of the people will improve, but since the 12th year of the apocalypse, the severe drought in the north will continue to decline, but the severe drought will break out again in the south.

Even Wei Pingyang, who was born in the Xun Mansion, was taken aback, because the annual expenditure of the Xuancheng Bo Mansion was only 3000 taels of silver.

"Hong Chengchou is dishonest..."

She glanced at the file, only to realize that there was a maid from her palace in it.

Before the sixth concubine entered the mansion, Zhu Youjian's annual meal silver was only 600 taels of silver, but after the sixth concubine moved in, the meal silver of the seven of them soared to 600 taels.

"The outer court kitchen is 2000 taels, and the inner court has four bureaus. The expenditure of the four bureaus is about 1000 taels. The annual expenditure of the mansion is basically about 5000 taels to 5 taels."

When Cao Huachun thought of the subsiding of the drought, he couldn't help feeling rejoicing.

As soon as she opened her mouth, Zhou Sujie, Yuan Xibin and others also looked at Yang Yuanai, but she nodded and said:
"This is the rule set by His Highness. From now on, as long as the maids in the mansion ask to leave the mansion every twelfth lunar month, the mansion will release them."

Compared with the more than 400 million families in the north and south this year, and the 800 million families that need to be supported in the previous two years, next year will be the best year that Ming has ever had since the seven years since the apocalypse.

"Last year, it was basically about 3 taels, but this year six empresses entered the inner court, silk and satin, jewelry, gold and silver, plus monthly money and other expenses, the expenditure of [-] to [-] taels of silver was increased. .”

It's just about sex, Zhu Youjian actually often reminded Zhu Youxiao, but Zhu Youxiao always agreed verbally and was honest.

"200 million stone beans and 2000 million bundles of hay are all ready, enough for military horses, draft horses, and poor horses to eat." Cao Huachun responded, but said with a little regret:

This is not to say that the palace is poor, but that Zhu Youjian's is relatively "poor".

The above-mentioned places, especially within the territory of Shaanxi, in fact, the entire northern Shaanxi has become a no-man's land, and the population of Shaanxi is concentrated in the Guanzhong Plain, Hanzhong Plain, and Hetao Plain, the three plains that do not lack water. .

[Chen Wen Tingxuan, the censor of Jiaozhi, impeached Mu Qiyuan, the governor of Jiaozhi, Wu Bikui, the commander-in-chief of Jiaozhi, and Hong Chengchou, the Southwest Economic Bureau, maliciously purchased grain, which caused the price of food to soar in the Champa government in the south of Jiaozhi province. Most of Champa starved to death, no fewer than a hundred people...]

They will not act arbitrarily like Sun Chuanting sometimes, nor will they try many times like Hong Chengchou. They basically adhere to the idea of ​​the mean and follow Zhu Youjian's orders.

"Leaving the mansion?" Hearing this, Li Shaoxi of North Korea frowned slightly, because the general maids entering the mansion basically need to work in the mansion for about 20 years, and they will be released when they are about 30 years old.

"What did my sister say?" Li Shaoxi hurriedly replied, "My sister is just curious."

If he remembers correctly, next year's drought will be worse than this year's, and it will not even be able to affect the entire Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. It can only be affected in the south of Hetao, north of Guanzhong, west of Ningxia, and east of Taihang. There are no major droughts or floods in any province.

"This..." Wang Chengen raised his head in embarrassment, and said hesitantly:

He and Cao Huachun had to look at all the memorials of Prince Qi's mansion before sending them to Zhu Youjian, so he naturally knew which memorials would easily make His Highness look bad.

"This..." Wang Chengen was dull, but not stupid. He was well aware of Hong Chengchou's influence in the southwest, and he also knew that Jiaozhi and Yunnan were the places where he had the deepest influence.

Although Li Shaoxi's family background is harder than Yuan Xibin's, in the final analysis Yuan Xibin is the main concubine, and she is Zhu Youjian's main wife, and the others are just concubines.

"The research on steamships is intensified. If you don't have enough funds, don't ask me."

After learning about the recent situation of the Military Armament Academy, Zhu Youjian gave Cao Huachun one last order, and then waved his hand to signal him to go out.

"Slaves leave..."

As Cao Huachun withdrew, the hall fell into peace again...

　The second is about ten o'clock in the evening
　　
　
(End of this chapter)