Brother Zhu Youxiao

In May, it was only a month, and Daming's progress in the New Deal has improved a lot.

Not only because of the tractor, but because of Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou.

The gentry knew better than anyone else what these two men did in Xichui and Nanbian, especially Sun Chuanting.

With Zhu Youjian's attitude of "do what you can, if you can't do it, you will become an official", many officials have no doubt that Zhu Youjian will reorganize the cabinet.

Once the cabinet is reorganized, and the middle-level officials are busy fighting with Yanshan again, and Da Ming has Enke as a replacement official every year, the political power of the gentry will be instantly weakened.

From North Zhili to the north, and then overseas, southwest...

Zhu Youjian gradually weakened the scope of activities of the powerful gentry. In terms of means of production, the imperial court controlled a much larger proportion of arable land and handicrafts than the gentry.

In this situation, they have no way to threaten the ruler with taxes as before.

Once they stop paying taxes, it's not for Zhu Youjian's face, but for Zhu Youjian's opportunity to wield a knife.

The proportion of taxes in the three provinces of Jiangnan and Huguang has been decreasing year by year. Everyone knows that this is due to the underpayment of taxes by the gentry and tax evasion, but Zhu Youjian does not care about it. .

The gentry knew that if things went on like this, the means of production they owned and the proportion of taxes they paid would get lower and lower, but none of them were willing to bleed first.

If things go on like this, when the time came to the 12th year of the apocalypse, Daming had reached the point where it could still function even without the taxes of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

In this case, it meant that the threat of the gentry was no longer important to Daming, and even their existence was dispensable.

Once they lose the right to speak in the court, they will be slaughtered fat pigs.

Zhu Youjian has been using Yangmou for a long time, and everyone can see it, but no one can stop it.

After all, the greed and stinginess of the gentry helped Zhu Youjian. They felt that Zhu Youjian would beg them sooner or later. As a result, Zhu Youjian used the war to obtain a huge tax source.

The taxes paid by the three Jiangnan provinces plus Huguang with a population of 7000 million are not comparable to the three provinces of Jiugang, Yingzhou and Jiaozhi with a population of less than 2000 million.

If they don't make any changes, when public grievances arise, even if Zhu Youjian doesn't take action, someone will take care of them.

The frogs have been boiled in warm water for long enough, Zhu Youjian began to threaten, and the gentry knew that it was time to make some gains.

In their profit sharing, more than 80 officials and more than 70 soldiers, horses, and yamen servants also started to compile households, censuses, and censuses, and register the fields.

In July, when the new policy was implemented and the actual population was continuously recorded and compiled, Hong Chengchou ordered Chen Bing to clear the border of Siam, and King Basaitong, who had a ghost in his heart, also sent troops to the north to confront the Ming army.

Just when King Basaiton was thinking about how to fool Hong Chengchou, Huang Fei led his troops to Ayutthaya, the capital of the king of Siam, and King Basaiton was caught off guard. Song Mutica came to power, and Siam called him King Chongming .

After Song Mutica came to power, Huang Fei simply exiled all the courtiers who had been loyal to King Basaitong before and ransacked their homes, and at the same time exiled King Basaitong to Dongshan Mansion on the charge of "following the superiors".

The Ming army kept [-]% of the property obtained from the ransacking, and the remaining [-]% was sold to Song Mutica.

At the same time, Daming sent some Enke students who failed last year's rankings to serve as officials in Siam, and the Governor's Mansion of the Southern Army sent a battalion of soldiers and horses to station in Ayutthaya Port to guard Song Mutica at any time.

Song Mutica also knew how to reciprocate. After taking office, he immediately issued an order to praise the kindness and help of Emperor Qi and King Qi of Ming Dynasty to Siam.

In addition, Song Mutica abolished the domestic army, reducing the 12 troops in the Basetong period to [-], and at the same time carried out a land division campaign in the country.

Siam, with a population of 500 million, has only a little less cultivated land than Toungoo, but it still has more than 2000 million mu.

Since the king of Ayutthaya had a battalion of Ming troops stationed there, Song Mutica naturally had the idea of ​​integrating domestic chieftains, and began to send troops to destroy some generals and chieftains loyal to King Basaitong, and distributed land to farmers to win people's hearts.

It can be said that his methods are basically learned from Daming.

On paper, it seems that Siam's military strength has weakened, but because Song Mutica studied at Shuncheon Official Academy for three years, he equipped the army according to the standards of the Ming army.

Siam, with an annual income of nearly one million taels, wanted to equip [-] troops. Although it was somewhat difficult, thanks to the low price of pig iron from the Huangdian, Song Mutica basically bought a large amount of pig iron from the Huangdian to make armor.

According to this posture, it is estimated that under his rule, Siam will soon recover.

"This Song Mutica is pretty good at pretending to be a tiger..."

In August, when Zhu Youxiao's voice sounded in the Yanshan Midsummer Palace, Liu Ruoyu, who was kneeling in front of Zhu Youxiao, nodded his head slightly: "It is true, but the imperial store has made a lot of profits. There are certain benefits."

"I'm not worried about Siam..." Zhu Youxiao leaned on the dragon chair, holding the armrests with both hands, and he was fatter than before the winter last year.

"What happened to Prince Qi's Mansion?" Zhu Youxiao said suddenly, Liu Ruoyu was taken aback for a moment, then immediately came back to his senses, and said with a complicated expression:

"Concubine Qi gave birth to a daughter on the second day of the lunar new year, Concubine Zhou Sujie gave birth to a son on the ninth day of the ninth day. In addition, imperial concubine Wei Pingyang and Li Shaoxi were pregnant successively in July. It is estimated that the imperial hospital will give birth in March next year."

Prince Qi's mansion was happy, but Zhu Youjian didn't make the trouble known to everyone, but covered up the news as much as possible. This behavior is enough to show that Zhu Youjian has a good relationship with the two children, or the only male heir of the palace at present. Worried.

However, there is no impenetrable wall in the world, and many forces with their own intelligence networks naturally got the news, and as the emperor with Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Xichang, Zhu Youxiao naturally got the news too.

"The second and ninth day of junior high..." Zhu Youxiao's face was calm, but Liu Ruoyu could feel the unrest in his heart.

As the emperor's most trusted people, Liu Ruoyu knew very well that the emperor had undergone a period of obvious changes after he ascended the throne.

This change is the birth of Zhu Ciran...

There is no doubt that Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian's brotherhood is very strong, but human emotions are limited, while the people around them are "unlimited".

Heirs and brothers, brothers and wives and concubines, these will take away Zhu Youxiao's affection.

As an emperor, if he is particularly affectionate, he is actually unqualified.

Zhu Youxiao's affection for Zhu Youjian is very deep, but when he has Zhang Yan, Zhu Ciran, Zhu Cixuan, Zhu Cijiong and others, that affection will gradually be diluted.

Liu Ruoyu could clearly feel this change, and he even felt that many people could feel it too.

"How long is my brother going to keep Sun Chuanting in the northwest..."

Zhu Youxiao didn't continue the topic of Qi Wangfu's heirs just now, but said that he returned to Sun Chuanting.

Facing the question, Liu Ruoyu lowered his head and replied: "It seems that we plan to stay for another three or four years. At least the slaves and common monks from Uzang must be moved to Hexi, and then the number of Han children in Uzang will be sufficient."

"Three or four years..." Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, with a hint of worry: "How are Zhongxian and Tigan doing?"

"Very good..." Liu Ruoyu didn't explain what was good, but Zhu Youxiao knew better than anyone else that what he said was referring to the solicitation of neutral officials.

In the current temple, the Yanshan faction is powerful, while the conservative parties are small. The Governor's Office of the Five Armies does not interfere with the temple. Except for these three forces, there are still some neutral officials who became officials through Enke.

People speak lightly, most of them stay in some empty positions, no one has no power, the Yanshan faction looks down on them, the old-fashioned faction despises them, and the five army commanders have no feeling for them.

This group of people is very scattered, but because of the dispersion, it is also easier to draw them together.

In fact, the three factions are wooing them, but they are all qualified people. Some mediocre officials are not liked by them, but Zhu Youxiao's goal is this group of people.

He didn't form a clique before because the time was not ripe, and the Yanshan faction had not yet become the target of public criticism.

But now the Yanshan School has become the target of public criticism, and the Qi Palace has another heir, which makes Zhu Youxiao have to guard against it.

Winning over officials is the first step, the second step...

"father!"

Before Zhu Youxiao's idea was implemented, he heard a voice that he hadn't heard for a long time.

He looked up at the gate of Zhongxia Palace, and sure enough, he saw a little black fat man walking towards him.

In this regard, he frowned slightly: "Although being good at farming is helpful to understand the sufferings of people's livelihood, you can't lose your mind by playing with things."

"My boy knows, so this summer, my boy is not only busy with farming, but has learned horseback riding and archery from Li Dingguo, and how to use a gun." Zhu Ciran trotted into the hall in a red crew-neck robe.

For the first few months of this year, Zhu Ciran has been on the sidelines of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but to him, there is nothing new in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the whole article can be summed up as the affairs of the officials.

Zhu Youxiao knew very well how to train a qualified prince. To put it bluntly, the prince did not need to study too much content of the Four Books and Five Classics. What he had to learn was how to rule people, and he had to understand each class and the tricks of each class.

A little understanding of the affairs of the common people and peasants is enough, they are not the most important force in the Ming Dynasty.

Although some of them are powerful, as long as they have a bite to eat, they will not compete with the emperor for power, but the scholar-bureaucrats are different.

The scholar-bureaucrats wanted to rule the world with the emperor. Although none of them said anything, everyone knew what they were thinking.

Even though they say that the emperor shares the world with the common people and cares about the livelihood of the people, in reality they know what they want better than anyone else.
Zhu Youxiao was once overwhelmed by Fang Congzhe's group of civil officials, but now he managed to use his younger brother's hand to suppress the civil officials and let the civil officials fight with the generals.

It's a pity that Zhu Ciran didn't listen to his words. When Zhu Ciran learned horseback riding and archery from Li Dingguo for his summer vacation, and was complacent about using a rifle, Zhu Youxiao frowned more and more.

"Prince, Your Majesty was looking for you just now."

Liu Ruoyu saw that the situation was not good, so he had to dismiss Zhu Ciran in a hurry.

Although Zhu Ciran sensed that the atmosphere was not right, after all he was only a ten-year-old child and couldn't understand so much, so he left the Zhongxia Palace after saying yes.

After he left, Zhu Youxiao also set his sights on Liu Ruoyu: "What is my brother's arrangement for Li Dingguo?"

"This..." Liu Ruoyu hesitated for a few seconds, then bowed: "Both Hua Chun and Cheng En said that His Highness has a very high opinion of Li Dingguo, and I am afraid that he wants him to be the minister of Long Live and the Crown Prince in the future."

"..." Hearing Liu Ruoyu's words, Zhu Youxiao frowned, not knowing what he was thinking. After a while, he asked, "How is Qi?"

"The distance is too far, Dongchang can only obtain some information from Jin Yiwei." Liu Ruoyu said truthfully:

"According to the information disclosed by the Supervision Department, since Jin Changshi arrived in Qi State in October last year, to July this year, there have been five batches of outbound fleets from Tianjin Port, with [-] ships."

"My servant asked Cheng En about the number of tractors. As of July, a total of [-] tractors have been sent. The cultivated land in Qi State is probably no less than [-] mu."

"Right now, there are five battalions of soldiers and horses in Qi State, 5000 reform-through-labor workers, and [-] craftsmen, totaling about [-] people."

"Cheng'en estimates that Qi should be able to be self-sufficient next year without relocating, and people may be able to relocate from the next year."

Liu Ruoyu told so much about the situation in Qi State that Zhu Youxiao didn't open his brows when he heard it.

"As for the tractor, when will my brother plan to use it in the court?"

This is the first time that Zhu Youxiao mentioned the issue of tractors in China. Liu Ruoyu responded to his inquiry: "All the [-] tractors in the second half of this year will be sent to Beishan."

"From next year, one third will be used in Qi State, one third will be used in the three provinces outside the customs, and one third will be used in Luchuan and Jiugang."

"In addition, within five years, there will be an industrial zone in Qi State. After five years, the annual output of the industrial zone can reach [-] tractors and..."

"Okay..." Zhu Youxiao interrupted Liu Ruoyu, Liu Ruoyu stopped talking when he saw this, but Zhu Youxiao got up and walked to the window of Zhongxia Palace.

He looked at the Midsummer Palace in autumn, with an uncertain expression on his face, and a lot of entanglement in his heart.

"What about the New Deal..."

Almost at the same time, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian initiated an inquiry, and the object of Zhu Youjian's inquiry was Bi Ziyan, the Minister of the Household Department who was sitting on the horse post on the field path.

"As of June 19, Guochao has added more than 97 new households, with a total of more than [-] people..."

Bi Ziyan, dressed in Taoist robes, sat on the Mazha and bowed his hands in response to Zhu Youjian, while Zhu Youjian sitting next to him was looking at the distant fields.

In the field, the pale yellow rice is not far from maturity, and the paddy field is like a golden ocean blown by the wind, and countless ears of rice nod frequently in the field.

A gust of autumn wind blows, and the smell of rice smells so good that the hungry people immediately think of the rice and wheat piled up in the hills, and the whole person is extremely happy.

"After this year, I don't know if we can see such a scene in the north..."

Looking at the harvested rice fields in the field, Zhu Youjian sighed in his heart, and at the same time responded to Bi Ziyan's answer:

"That is to say, in just half a year, Guochao found a million missing households?"

"Returning to Your Highness, that's true..." Bi Ziyan replied quietly, and after the answer, he didn't speak again, so that there was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing the rice fields around.

"At the beginning of the country, there were 200 million people in South Zhili, over 70 in Zhejiang, over 580 million in Jiangxi, and [-] million in Huguang..."

"As of right now, the population of the four provinces on the Yellow Book is only 970 to [-]."

Zhu Youjian stretched out his hand to pick up a cup of tea from the table next to him, took a sip and put it down, and Jin Yiwei, who was standing behind him with an umbrella, quickly refilled it.

"Bi Shangshu, how many people do you think there should be in these four provinces?"

Zhu Youjian asked Bi Ziyan, Bi Ziyan who heard the words was silent for a long time, and after a while he raised his hand and bowed to respond: "Your Highness...should be more clear than the next official."

"Bi Shangshu..." Zhu Youjian looked at the rice field in front of him, and asked without turning his head: "How many people should there be in the four provinces?"

He wanted Bi Ziyan to give the answer, even if it was an estimate.

Although Bi Ziyan tried his best to avoid it, but facing the pressure from Zhu Youjian's body, after finally speaking again and again, he couldn't help but lowered his eyes under the pressure:
"About... 8000 million..."

Bi Ziyan said an approximate number, and Zhu Youjian smiled when he heard this.

"That is to say, according to the current progress, Guochao can track down at most 200 million people every year, and it will take 20 years to clear up the hidden more than [-] million people."

"Bi Shangshu..." Zhu Youjian turned around naturally, picked up the teacup, and glanced at Bi Ziyan before drinking: "Do you think they want to drag me away?"

"..." Bi Ziyan didn't speak, but the meaning was already obvious.

"The Zhang Taiyue back then was also dragged away by them, right?" Zhu Youjian said to himself, "It's a pity..."

"I'm afraid I won't leave so easily, so I would like to invite Bi Shangshu and the cabinet to talk about it. Long live is determined to confer on Sun Chuanting Zhenwu Bo, and lead the Nanjing Ministry of Officials from afar.

Zhu Youjian was very dissatisfied with Gu Bingqian and others, or the so-called concessions made by the gentry behind them.

Since the population of Jiangnan cannot be checked, the cabinet ministers of Jiangnan are no longer needed.

Shi Fenglai is No.1 who was forced to retire.

"On the side of the Ministry of Officials, restart the examination method, and join the New Deal with the examination once a year. Guochao has 10,000+ students participating in Enke every year. We must not let some people who sit in their positions and do nothing continue to sit down and use their ability to do things. drive away?"

"In addition, after the end of this year, send a group of official schools to Korea, Nanzhang, Ganbozhi, Siam, Sulu, Boni, and other vassal states, and build an official school in each country."

"In the future, all feudal states can participate in Enke, and those who are selected can serve as officials in Daming and other feudal states."

Zhu Youjian restarted the system of vassal states entering Daming as officials, but it did not apply to the imperial examinations, but to Enke.

To put it bluntly, he wanted students from various countries to compete for the officials of Ming Dynasty, so that those who had already become officials would have a sense of urgency.

This move can not only consolidate the suzerainty and vassal system of the Ming Dynasty, but also further increase the cost of official corruption with the cooperation of the examination law.

In the past, even if corruption was punished, it would take a while for someone to replace this person.

But since the rise of Yanshan and the official school, this situation has changed. Hundreds of thousands of people have come to compete for the tens of thousands of Enke quotas. Whoever can't do it, Zhu Youjian can directly replace him.

Passive implementation of the New Deal is also a manifestation of poor performance.

Zhu Youjian's words were undoubtedly very harsh to Bi Ziyan, a traditional scholar-bureaucrat, but Bi Ziyan did not refute his words, but just bowed his hands in an understatement, expressing his agreement.

"Beginning in July, tractors will take the lead in Beishan. The 10,000+ people in Beishan only need tens of thousands of tractors."

"Give it to them, and they will be self-sufficient, and they can also pay taxes to the court."

"As for Modong Province and Donghai Province, we will invest later."

"It's the same in the south, first to the old port, then to Luchuan, Jiaozhi, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, and go north one by one..."

Zhu Youjian kept drinking tea and talking with Bi Ziyan about the people's survival, Bi Ziyan seldom opened his mouth when he heard the words:
"This year, Jiangxi, Nanzhili, Huguang, and Zhejiang suffered severe drought. The government failed to stabilize food prices, so more than [-] people moved south to Jiugang, Jiaozhi, Huguang and other places."

"The same is true in northern Shanxi. In just half a year, more than [-] people moved to Donghai Province."

"Your Highness, the country still has power, why?"

In a word, from the mouths of Gu Bingqian and others, it is to prevent the people from leaving and the local economy is weak.

From the mouths of Bi Ziyan, Sun Chuanting and others, it is that the people cannot bear to leave their homes.

Regarding Bi Ziyan's words, Zhu Youjian couldn't deny it. He admitted that he was indeed cruel to the people in these places, at least for now.

"Immigration is a real frontier. If there is no one in the frontier, then it is meaningless to fight." He took a sip of tea and continued:
"Shanxi and Jiangnan are densely populated. If we don't take advantage of this time to move, how will the country support them in the future?"

"What the appearance of the tractor represents, you should know better than Gu."

"If the local gentry and powerful gentry use this thing in a few decades, what should the tens of millions of tenants in the south of the Yangtze River do? Relying on the few acres of military land allocated by the imperial court?"

"If you don't have enough to eat, the people will still rebel. They will kill and kill, and the people will die. The long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain. Immigration is a national policy and cannot be changed."

Zhu Youjian knew very well that based on the situation in Ming Dynasty this year, grain from Sichuan, Jiaozhi, Jiugang, and Yingzhou could be used to stabilize grain prices in the disaster-stricken areas.

But the problem is, if you stabilize this time, what about the next time?

Bi Ziyan knows better than Zhu Youjian that it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach a man to fish.

"Several years of suffering have been exchanged for dozens of acres of arable land. With these lands, even if they can't get rich, they won't have enough to eat and rebel."

"The people affected by the disaster will be compensated by the court in the future, but it is absolutely impossible to adjust the food balance."

Zhu Youjian stood up, turned and walked towards the carriage of Prince Qi's mansion, and left with his back to Bi Ziyan.

"This year's autumn harvest is rare in the provinces of the country. The local official warehouses can store as much food as they can..."

After saying a word, Zhu Youjian got into the carriage, and Wang Chengen asked someone to drive away, leaving only Bi Ziyan sitting on a chair looking at the rice fields, and refused to leave for a long time...