Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 654 Extra Story ([-]) The Hamster

The world does not stop spinning because of the lack of anyone, even the most influential people.

The news of King Qi's resignation was like a lingering north wind, and was announced by the capital to the whole world.

For most of the people in the Ming Dynasty, they did not feel the impact of King Qi's departure.

All the influences will not appear until many years later, and the same is true of Qi Wang's feudal lord.

Except for a group of common people who had experienced Zhang Juzheng's period, the others just regarded Qi Wang's vassal as a leisurely meal, and even in less than two months after he left, there were many voices of attacking him from the people.

"King Qi is mean and ungrateful, just because he is the younger brother of Long Live, he took away the achievements of Long Live."

"That is, when he was here, there were natural disasters and man-made disasters every year. Now that he left, the drought subsided immediately. I think he is... a disaster star!"

"There were so many people in my family before, because he was reluctant to distribute food, and they all moved to the old port where no shit. I don't know how many people died along the way."

"I still have to watch Long Live and His Royal Highness, just watch, the days will get better and better in the future..."

There is never a shortage of fools in the world. A group of hindsight always attack him with the relocation of Zhu Youjian during the post-event review, and completely deny his achievements.

Although such voices will always attract the abuse of most of the people, they can always spread around at an alarming speed.

The officials hadn't gotten used to King Qi's departure, but these fools were the first to get used to it.

But even if you can't adapt anymore, time is enough to wash everything away.

Time flies, and the Zhengdan Festival of the 24th year of Apocalypse is coming as scheduled.

This is the first time in 24 years that the courtiers have faced a grand court meeting without King Qi.

In the previous great court meetings, even though the King of Qi was away to fight or could not come because of something, the courtiers were always on pins and needles.

But today, the news of King Qi's arrival in the western capital of the Qi State has come. The distance between the two sides is tens of thousands of miles. A sense of relaxation begins to permeate from the moment the officials wake up. When they arrive outside the Huangji Gate, the officials can't hide it. smile.

This kind of phenomenon didn't come to an end until the Huangji Gate was opened and Jin Yiwei's clean whip was announced.

The minister of Honglu Temple struck the bell and sang loudly into the class. Hundreds of civil and military ministers entered the hall one by one, step by step.

Dressed in court clothes, they are headed by a cabinet, which in turn is headed by the three kings.

Zhu Ciran, Zhu Cixuan, and Zhu Cijiong are dressed in crown clothes, holding jade kui, looking at their noses and hearts with their eyes.

"Sing--"

"Long live Your Majesty... Long live... Long live..."

When the voice of Honglu Siqing sounded again, all the officials bowed and saluted one after another.

They didn't kneel down to Jishou, because Zhu Youxiao announced the abolition of this etiquette yesterday, which also announced that there was no longer the rule of kneeling in the Ming Dynasty.

While the officials were waiting, Zhu Youxiao in a royal uniform walked out of the screen and sat on the chair symbolizing power.

"Be flat!"

Accompanied by his voice, all the officials straightened up and saw his situation at the same time.

Compared with two months ago, Zhu Youxiao lost a lot of weight.

"Start playing if there is something to do, retreat to court if there is nothing to do..."

He didn't have much mood at the Great Court Meeting, because the real matter could be decided by him, the cabinet and the Three Kings in the Qianqing Palace.

All the officials were well aware of this, and Hong Chengchou, the elder of the pavilion, stepped forward to bow when he saw this:
"Hong Chengchou, chief assistant of the cabinet, said to His Majesty that the drought has subsided this year, and the people are safe. The six ministries have discussed with the cabinet. The summer tax and autumn tax can be collected this year."

"Well... Aiqing draws up a charter and hand it over to the Supervisor of Rituals."

Zhu Youxiao readily agreed to the tax collection. After all, if the agricultural tax is not collected, the Ming Dynasty's finances will go bankrupt.

"The minister leads the decree..."

Hong Chengchou knew that Zhu Youxiao would agree, so he retreated to his seat after speaking.

Afterwards, all the officials remained silent for a long time, and the minister of Honglu Temple also struck the bell and sang a salute when he saw this: "Retire..."

"Long live……"

In the sound of long live, Zhu Youxiao got up and left first, and all the officials also left the stage one by one.

Without King Qi, the Dachaohui resumed the celebration-based charter during the Wanli period, and all decisions were made between the cabinet, the emperor, and the three kings.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the news of resuming the collection of agricultural taxes spread all over the world, and the common people had already prepared for it. After all, during the period of King Qi, the drought was exempted, and the land tax was collected when the drought receded.

The Ming Dynasty in this year was generally politically stable, and the officials had not yet emerged from the shadow of King Qi.

Although the people have come out of the 17 years of natural and man-made disasters, but because of the past 17 years of natural and man-made disasters, every household has lived a particularly frugal life.

As for the emperor Zhu Youxiao, he often summoned the three county kings of Qi Wangfu to reward the local gold, silver, precious stones and jade.

The overall affairs of the Ming Dynasty are still in the hands of the East Palace, but every time Zhu Ciran finishes handling government affairs, he needs to hand over the memorials to the Supervisor of Rituals and the Emperor Zhu Youxiao for review.

The order of the Ming Dynasty did not change this year, but the whole country celebrated in Qi State because of King Qi's sitting in charge.

On the sixth day of April, the State of Qi signed a trade treaty with the States of Tang, Ji, and Huai, the contents of which are as follows:
"Qi State, within its capacity, provides economic support to the three countries with a certain amount of grain every year, and with the approval of the imperial court, supports the handicraft industries of the three countries."

This treaty came into effect on the first day of the first month of the 25th year of Tianqi, and it was also backed up on the day it was signed, and sent to the capital at the same time to be supervised by Zhu Ciran, Zhu Cixuan, and Zhu Cijiong of the Clan Mansion.

On June [-]th, the treaty was approved by the Mingzong Mansion.

On July [-], Qi Wang Zhu Youjian ordered Sun Yingyuan to lead [-] troops to encircle and suppress the cannibal tribes entrenched in Zhulin Mansion.

On July 26, the Battle of Marston Moor broke out.

On the second day of August, General Cromwell led his troops to defeat the left flank of Prince Rupert's army and stormed the center of the royal army.

Because the king's army was equipped with enough flintlock guns, Cromwell was repelled by the Chinese army. Both sides retreated with more than two thousand casualties.

During the same period, the Spanish army supported the Holy Roman Empire and repelled the Swedish army led by Gustav II.

Due to the frequent battles, the Protestant Alliance Army and the Catholic Alliance Army tacitly stopped the fighting, rested and prepared for the next stage of the competition.

On the ninth day of August, King Felipe IV of Spain wrote a handwritten letter to King Zhu Youjian of Qi, hoping that Qi would increase the volume of trade in the treaty, allowing Spain to continue to stabilize domestic prices and increase national confidence in the war.

On September [-]th, Zhu Qi Wang Youjian's trade volume with Spain increased by [-]% on the original basis.

On October [-]th, the Daming Household Department submitted a memo announcing the financial situation for this year.

In the new year, without the impact of the disaster, Daming collected more than 620 million taels of agricultural tax, and more than [-] million taels of state-owned monopoly taxes such as commercial tax, salt tax, and mining tax.

In the 24th year of the Apocalypse, Daming's tax revenue was 62 million taels, expenditure was more than 4000 million taels, and the net income of Taicang was 5905 million taels, which was the first net income of Daming Finance in the past ten years.

In the same year, the top five financial countries in the world were:
The Mughal Empire had finances of about 600 million taels.

The Spanish Empire has finances of about 500 million taels.

The state of Qi has about 300 million taels of finance.

The Ottoman Empire's finances are about 300 million taels.

France, finances about 200 million taels...

"Counting the Department of Mining, the Department of Finance has 600 million in deposits."

On the sixth day of the first month of winter, on a day when the capital was snowing heavily, Zhu Ciran, who seemed more mature than at the beginning of the year, was holding a memorial, and sitting in front of him was Li Changgeng, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"Returning to Your Highness, it is true."

Li Changgeng bowed in response, and Zhu Ciran also took the opportunity to say:

"In time, part of the national debt should be repaid."

"Allocate 2000 million taels to repay part of the national debt, and allocate another 600 million taels to purchase grain from Luchuan, Jiugang, and Northeast provinces. This year, the grain in these places is too low. Little by little, they were sold to the countries of Eastern Leviia and the feudal vassals of the Lesser Western Ocean."

Zhu Ciran talked about his own arrangements. This year, due to the good weather, the four northeastern provinces and the old port of Luchuan all ushered in a bumper harvest. Therefore, the imperial court had to make arrangements so that the grain of the farmers in the six provinces would not rot at home.

"I also plan to do the same, but the Five Armies Commander's Mansion is on the sidelines. Recently, the Southern Captives and the Lu Mi Kingdom have their own plans to send troops to Hezhong and Mongolia. Please transfer 200 million taels of military expenditure."

Li Changgeng described the situation he was facing, which made Zhu Ciran frown:
"It costs 200 million taels to beat the Mughals?"

"The Memorial of the Commander's Mansion of the Five Armies is indeed written in this way, and the specific officials are not known." Li Changgeng replied with a bow.

"Let Li Dingguo enter the palace." Zhu Ciran turned to greet Li Yongzhen.

Seeing this, Li Yongzhen returned the gift, and immediately went down to send someone to summon her.

Before Li Dingguo came, Zhu Ciran also said to Li Changgeng:

"Recently, I looked through many memorials during the period when King Uncle Qi supervised the country, and found that some memorials could not be found. I asked Mr. Hong Ge, Mr. Hong Ge said that he was burned by Mr. Sun Ge, is there such a thing?"

The old Sun Ge that Zhu Ciran was talking about was naturally the former emperor Sun Chengzong, but Li Changgeng was not surprised by his question, but answered with a bow:

"When King Qi supervised the country, he once said that some memorials that were not conducive to the rule of the court would be destroyed after execution. This was not only done by Sun Ge, but also by Bi Ge and Gu Ge."

"Hmm..." Zhu Ciran didn't say much, but he knew it with a calm expression.

Li Changgeng didn't say much when he saw this, but quietly waited for Li Dingguo, who was the governor of the Shangzhi, to arrive.

A quarter of an hour passed in such silence, and not long after, they heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside Chunhe Palace.

Li Yongzhen brought Li Dingguo, who was handling government affairs in the Wuying Hall, into the hall. As a salute, Li Dingguo bowed and said that he did not say thousand years old, because Zhu Ciran asked him to do so.

"Have you read the memorabilia of Shulu Miguo and Mughal at the Mansion of the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies?"

Zhu Ciran's tone towards Li Dingguo was friendly, Li Dingguo nodded upon hearing the words:

"I have seen that the price of 200 million taels is a bit high, so Shangzhi has sent people to the Northern Army and the Western Army to check."

"The answer given by the two armies is to replace part of the armor."

"Since the 14th year of the Apocalypse, due to the financial difficulties of the imperial court, the armor of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies has not been replaced, and it has been mended for another three years."

"However, the current war is different from before. I think it is better to use hydraulic paper cotton breastplate as the main armor."

Li Dingguo's words made Zhu Ciran nod his head in approval. To put it bluntly, the paper cotton breastplate is a armor made of five catties of paper tendons sandwiched with three catties of cotton and then hydraulically formed by a steam hydraulic machine, and then covered with hard cloth and painted.

Such a breastplate weighs only eight catties. If the group armor and gauntlets are added, the overall weight can be controlled within eighteen catties.

This kind of armor was first used by Zhu Youjian for the southern infantry. Because of its light body, it can keep people floating on the water for a quarter of an hour after falling into the water, so it is also used by the navy.

Later, it was introduced into the army. The upper body and lower body (over the knee) of the army soldiers' paper armor were the main protective parts.

Because the armor is one inch thick and light, arrows and blunderbusses cannot penetrate beyond fifty paces, and spears and short knives cannot easily penetrate defenses, so they are loved by the vast army.

The cost of paper armor was not expensive in the Ming Dynasty, which had already entered industrialization, but due to insects, it took a lot of effort to maintain.

Normally speaking, the ancient and modern dynasties mainly changed their nails, but the Ming army relied on the rifle with a range of [-] steps and didn't care. Coupled with financial difficulties, most of the armor of the Ming army did not change.

This time, the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies wants to replace the armor of the Northern Army and the Western Army, at least 50 taels of silver.

With the addition of gunpowder, supplies, and the recruitment of civilian husbands, 200 million taels is not too much.

However, playing a defensive battle is not what Li Dingguo wants, so he bowed to Zhu Ciran:
"The king of Qi once said that if you defend for a long time, you will lose, and the best defense is to attack. Therefore, I think that we should send a large army to attack first, not to capture the city, but to destroy its production, so that the enemy has no stable supply point at the front. Just do it!"

What Li Dingguo said is one of the methods commonly used by the Central Plains Dynasty against nomads.

Every autumn, the cavalry of the Ming Dynasty had to go out of the city and burn the pastures a hundred miles north of the city, and if necessary, burn three hundred miles. The purpose was to increase the cost of the nomads' southward invasion.

Mughals are different from ordinary nomads, but after all, even if he becomes an agricultural country, Ming has ways to deal with him.

Burn food, destroy roads and bridges, and increase the cost of Mughals going out of the Khyber Pass.

For the Ming army, it only needed more than ten thousand cavalry and horse infantry to destroy the supply villages hundreds of miles northwest of the Mughals.

With the power of the rifle, it was very difficult for the Mughals to resist and stop this army.

In addition, due to the dense population inside the Mughals, large tracts of cultivated land were recovered by the Ming army and there was a shortage of food, so every war started was like a gamble.

The Ming and Mughals now have a bit of the feeling of the early Qing Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty.

Every time Huang Taiji sent troops, he was weakening Da Ming, and every time Da Ming attacked, he was gambling.

As long as he loses a few times in a row, Mughal himself will die in the struggle of internal forces without Da Ming taking action.

"According to what you said, how many troops will be dispatched and how much military spending will be increased..."

Zhu Ciran still relies heavily on Li Dingguo in the military, after all, this is what Zhu Youjian has always told him.

"The 1 cavalry in the fourth battalion will be supported by war, and the military expenditure will be increased by up to 20 taels."

Li Dingguo spoke firmly, Zhu Ciran asked again: "Are you in charge of the army yourself?"

"This is a matter between the northern army and the western army, and I'm going to claim some merit." Li Dingguo shook his head and recommended:

"I recommend Zhu Fuju of the Northern Army and Ma Xianglin of the Western Army. They will each lead two battalions of cavalry from the Khyber Pass to Zhouguo Sishui Pass, which is enough to severely injure the southern captives and allow them to recuperate for a while."

"Okay..." Zhu Ciran didn't refute or raise opinions, but directly agreed, and looked at Li Changgeng:
"Allow 230 million taels to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and the East Palace ordered to enter the Nanlu Kingdom to suppress the rebellion."

"Yes..." Zhu Ciran still had the title of supervisor of the country, Li Changgeng couldn't refute, so he naturally agreed.

However, the specifics of this matter still have to be decided by the cabinet meeting, and finally it can be finalized by Emperor Zhu Youxiao.

"The minister will leave..."

Seeing that Zhu Ciran had nothing to explain, Li Changgeng tactfully withdrew from the Palace of Harmony.

Li Dingguo also wanted to leave, but was stopped by Zhu Ciran's eyes.

After Li Changgeng left, Zhu Ciran frowned and said to Li Dingguo in front of Li Yongzhen:

"Do you know that the cabinet burned Uncle Qi's memorials?"

"I know!" Li Dingguo said without hesitation, "This is what His Highness himself explained back then, and some memorial policies that were not conducive to the rule of the country were implemented and then destroyed in batches."

"Is there a standard?" Zhu Ciran still frowned and asked, which made Li Dingguo feel something was wrong, but he continued:
"Specifically, such as the arrest of reformed-through-labor workers, the use of reformed-through-labor workers for local construction, as well as memorials to provoke countries, and..."

Li Dingguo uttered a long list of standards, but none of them mentioned what Zhu Ciran wanted to hear.

Seeing that Li Dingguo had finished speaking, Zhu Ciran asked himself: "That is to say, this does not include the memorials for the disposal of the four major cases?"

"Naturally not!" Li Dingguo explained with a frown before Zhu Ciran finished speaking:

"His Royal Highness has personally said that the officials involved in the four major cases must be included in the file, and the content of the memorandum and approval must be preserved, and the officials involved must not be officials for three generations."

"Does uncle have an accurate order?" Zhu Ciran grasped the key point.

"It should have been. I was guarding Yanran at the time. I should ask Wang Daban and Cao Daban for details." Li Dingguo explained, but this explanation gave Zhu Ciran a headache.

Without him, Wang Chengen went to Qi State with Zhu Youjian, and Cao Huachun also sailed eastward in April this year.

They left, and as for the decree Li Dingguo said, Zhu Ciran did not see it, which means it has been destroyed.

"You mean, someone burned the memorials and approvals of the four major cases?" Li Dingguo sensed something was wrong, and Zhu Ciran's nod made him frown even more.

"I only found out by looking through it occasionally. Hong Chengchou said that Sun Chengzong or the previous cabinet burned it, but I don't think it should be Sun Chengzong and Bi Ziyan."

Zhu Ciran explained, and Li Dingguo frowned after hearing this: "There is no need for Hong Chengchou to burn His Royal Highness's Memorial for the sake of those involved in the four major cases."

"It's even more impossible for Gu Bingqian. During his tenure, only two of the four major crimes occurred. Moreover, he died of illness three years ago..."

Li Dingguo fell silent while talking, Zhu Ciran also frowned and wondered who did this.

But at this time, footsteps sounded outside Chunhe Palace, and Sun Kewang walked into the palace in front of everyone:
"Your Highness..." Sun Kewang shook his head, which made Zhu Ciran tighten his fists:
"It seems that I can't even find out..."

"What do you mean?" Li Dingguo was a little confused, but Zhu Ciran gritted his teeth and said:

"Sun Chengzong is dead..."

(End of this chapter)