Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 392 New Year’s Weather
"Dingling...Dingling..."

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, as the cow bells rang, a town along the river suddenly appeared in the mountains and rivers covered with snow in the north.

This place is located between Bohai Andong City and Heishui City, with Xiaoxinan Mountains to the north and Songhua River to the south.

Ten years ago, this was just a small water station. However, with the continuous development of the Bohai Sea and the continuous immigration of immigrants from the south, this once small water station has also developed into a place on the Songhua River water transport road. important towns.

On the pier, an archway with "Tonghe Town" hanging on it represents the name of the market town, and this small Tonghe Town is home to more than a thousand people.

Although the town is small and has a small population, it still has a lot of things.

A government school that can accommodate a hundred people to study, a dock market, and nearly 10,000 acres of cultivated farmland around the market town are all that the market town owns.

In this cold winter, many farm children are already on vacation. The first thing they do after getting up is often to go to their stone cattle pens to clean up the manure, cut hay and pour it into the cattle trough.

In Bohai, almost every household has two cattle, one male and one female.

However, these cattle do not belong to them, but to the imperial court.

"Time flies like an arrow, and years fly by. It has been more than half a year since the last letter. I miss my mother and Erlang very much. In the past, my father..."

His death was not heroic, because he died during the maritime grain transportation mission in the second year of Yongle, but even so, Zhang Bohai and his family still received the pension land and pension money they deserved.

He walked back to the yard, cleared the snow, and saw an excited woman wearing a large cotton-padded jacket walking from the pier.

However, Mrs. Zhang Wang suddenly heard the things about her deceased husband and couldn't help but lower her head and shed tears.

After helping his mother into the main house, the young man came out and opened the fire tunnel, threw out seven or eight pieces of firewood, then closed it and walked back into the house.

"I kind of want to join the army." Faced with Zhang Wang's words, Zhang Bohai spoke reluctantly, but when Zhang Wang heard this, his face immediately changed: "I can't join the army!"

Today's Bohai Sea can be said to be one of the most developed areas for handicraft industry outside the customs, and coal and ore are mined everywhere.

Like all mothers, Zhang Wang is the gift they most long to see in this era when communication can only be through letters.

Judging from the quality and wood of these tables, chairs and benches, the conditions of Young Lang's family are obviously better than those of ordinary families, and this is also true.

Now seven years have passed and they have settled down in Tonghai Town. His eldest brother also graduated in the sixth year of Yongle and became a county official in Xindu County, Chengdu Prefecture, Sichuan. He writes letters and sends money to his family every year.

After the Jingnan incident, although he did not perform any meritorious service, he was promoted to a small flag official.

Anyway, the Zhang family still has a lot of savings, and Zhang Chengshan is also planning to take the imperial examination as a subordinate next year. Even if he fails to succeed, he can still get the status of a child student.

The young man asked in surprise. When the woman saw that her child had already gotten up, she quickly quickened her pace.

The young man helped the woman into the yard, closed the door, and then entered the main house.

In the house, his mother was sitting at the main seat in the main hall. There was a memorial tablet placed at the main table. There were tables, chairs and benches made by craftsmen in front of the memorial tablet.

Even so, the people of Bohai are very satisfied. After all, the current life is beyond their reach.

Anyway, the family's fields have been rented out to others for farming. Now they only need to return the two cows from the Yamen before heading to Anton Mansion.

In the letter, Zhang Chengshan also said that attending middle school was a good opportunity. Nowadays, the imperial court has higher and higher requirements for official school students, and even if they graduate, they cannot be assigned good jobs.

However, the names of the two brothers were changed after Zhang Jiulang joined the Bohai Navy in Chengshanwei, Dengzhou Prefecture, and studied culture for two years.

"Mom, when did you go out?"

"Quick, quick, open it and see what your brother said."

"We went inside to take a look and it was almost freezing outside."

"Slow down, there's ice on the road!"

Zhang Chengshan has been to Sichuan for two years, and now he has married a wife there, so he wrote a letter back to tell Zhang Wang.

Therefore, Zhang Bohai should not feel too much pressure. He can go to Anton Prefecture to attend middle school for five years. He will definitely have a better future than Zhang Chengshan when he comes out.

They were assigned to Andong City, but Anton City was short of land at the time and could not allocate so much pension land to them, so they were relocated to Tonghai Town, which had only a few hundred people at the time.

The young man's name is Zhang Bohai, and the spiritual figure behind the main throne is his father Zhang Jiulang.

Zhang Jiulang was from Shandong. After the Bohai Navy captured Dengzhou City, he enlisted in the army and became an ordinary soldier.

Zhang Bohai's eldest brother is called Zhang Chengshan. The two brothers' original names were very simple, one was called Zhang Dalang and the other was called Zhang Erlang.

Since it was the time when the people of Shandong were migrating collectively to the north to Liaodong and the Bohai Sea, and his mother Zhang Wang was considered a martyr, he was moved to the Bohai Sea.

In addition, Zhang Chengshan also talked to Zhang Wang and Zhang Bohai about what happened after Zhang Bohai graduated.

Only after the plow cows gave birth to four calves did the two cows belong to them.

Zhang Bohai opened the letter according to Zhang Wang's request and read the contents of the letter:

In the letter, Zhang Chengshan asked Zhang Bohai whether he had received the enrollment notice from the town's middle school. If so, don't hesitate to sign up immediately and take his mother to Andong Prefecture to attend middle school after the spring.

"Middle school..."

In addition, there are abundant firewood resources. Therefore, after the government helped to build market towns, all market towns and rural areas basically have separate fire channels and fire walls for the main house and the two wing rooms, whether they are yards built with rammed earth or concrete.

Zhang Bohai was a little reluctant, but Zhang Wang nodded repeatedly: "Your elder brother has told you well that you can pick a time to farm the cattle and return them to the Yamen in a few days, and then we will take a sleigh to rent a house in Anton Mansion after the New Year."

As for Zhang Bohai, he is also studying in a government school, but he will graduate next year, so he guessed that his elder brother's letter should be talking about what he will do after graduation.

The thirteen-year-old boy fed the horse feed, casually wiped the sweat on his face, and then walked out of the warm and smelly cattle pen.

The young man shouted anxiously. Fortunately, the woman did not fall down, but handed a letter to the young man's hand: "Erlang, please help me see what your elder brother wrote."

Zhang Bohai's memory of his father was very vague, so although he was a little sad when his eldest brother mentioned his father's affairs, he would not cry.

"Why not?" Zhang Bohai asked Zhang Wang and said to Zhang Wang:

"Dad, he is a martyr, and we are martyrs' relatives. According to the conditions given by the imperial court, our generation can nominate one person to go to Nanjing to study at the National Defense University."

"Mom, this opportunity is of no use to me, so leave it to me."

Zhang Bohai argued hard, and in order to appease Zhang Wang, he also moved out of the official school's teaching: "The teachers said that they will go to the National Defense University, and once they graduate, they can serve as officials of hundreds of households."

"Think about it, that's a Baihuguan, a sixth-grade Baihuguan."

"If I can become an official of hundreds of households, then both my eldest brother and my children will enjoy happiness."

In the eyes of Zhang Bohai and others, the sixth-rank official of Baihu is a very important person.

However, facing Zhang Bohai's words, Zhang Wang still slammed the table angrily: "I said it's not allowed, you just go to middle school honestly, that's it!"

After that, Mrs. Zhang Wang did not give Zhang Bohai a chance to react, got up and walked into her bedroom.

Zhang Bohai wanted to say something when he saw this, but he could only look at the closed door of the bedroom and sigh alone.

In this era where parents' destiny is more important than heaven, even if he wants to join the army, as long as his mother does not agree, even the army will not dare to accept him, let alone the National Defense University thousands of miles away.

With his head hanging down, Zhang Bohai looked at the letter in his hand, looked at the two words on it, and murmured: "Middle school..."

He shook his head, finally put the letter away, and returned to his bedroom to rest.

Parents' orders, no matter what era they are placed in, are difficult to avoid.

If Zhang Wang's attitude didn't change before school started, then Zhang Bohai would have no choice but to go to middle school.

However, compared to the thousands of New Deal students, people like Zhang Bohai who still have choices are undoubtedly in the minority.

Since the beginning of the year, when graduates of government schools no longer receive full scholarships, the value of government schools has begun to decline, and secondary schools have also been affected.

Among the more than 200,000 students graduating this year, most of their parents are not enlightened. Many parents think that completing the official school is enough. After all, who knows whether the court will assign job opportunities after five years of middle school.

If they don't give it, they will undoubtedly waste another five years of resources.

In the view of most parents of government school students, if the government school is not compulsory, if they do not graduate from the government school, they can get job opportunities...

Then they will not let all children go to government schools, but will only select the children they like to go to school.

There is no way to make it compulsory to attend official schools, but there is no such restriction in middle schools.

Since there is no such thing, there is no need to let the children continue to study. After all, while paying for three or four children to attend a government school, and another child to attend a middle school, no one knows how much more expenses will be incurred.

But everyone will weigh the pros and cons, after all, their lives are still very tight.

Therefore, in this atmosphere, the promotion of middle schools was not successful, and not many people signed up in advance.

Until the firecrackers went off and the ninth year of Yongle came as scheduled, the number of registrations in Zhu Gaoxu's hands was still small.

"Five thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven people..."

In the Chunhe Hall, listening to the sound of firecrackers in his ears, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but feel that the numbers in the memorial in his hand were a bit ironic.

"The progress is still too big. People's living standards cannot keep up with the level of supporting a child without working for ten years."

Zhu Gaoxu was relieved. After all, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, future generations could not guarantee that all children who graduated from primary school would go to middle school, let alone himself in this era.

"Looking at the current situation, I'm afraid that by the end of registration, there will not be more than 30,000 middle school students."

Standing in front of the Chunhe Hall, a minister in his fifties in court uniform bowed and reported, and he was Song Li, the newly appointed Minister of Rites.

In contrast, Li Zhigang often used power for personal gain and only focused on the south of the Yangtze River but not the north.

Song Li, who had just taken office, obviously had no regional bias. He was very concerned about the registration of Guanwai Middle School and found Zhu Gaoxu to report it as soon as the Great Court Meeting was over.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the number of applicants in each prefecture, and comforted Song Li with a slight chin: "This number is already good, after all, this is just outside the customs." "If the provinces within the customs also follow the implementation of the New Deal, then five or six years later The number of middle school students is probably not less than 500,000, and the number of graduates over the years is no less than 100,000."

"For the imperial court, it was a last resort to use government students as subordinate officials in the early years."

"Now that the number of students in government schools has reached saturation, we have to find ways to improve from quantity to quality."

"Your Highness is wise." Song Li did not flatter him. He really thought that Zhu Gaoxu's method of satisfying quantity first and then improving quality was very good.

At least for now, in all areas where the New Deal has been implemented, both administrative efficiency and tax revenue have been improved, and people's lives are much better than before.

"This year's quota is 40 million dan. Although it seems very difficult, as long as the new policies in the three regions of Beizhili in the north are successfully implemented, the 40 million dan quota will be easily met."

Zhu Gaoxu brought up the matter of increasing the quota, which in his view was inevitable, and the ministers were already used to the fact that the imperial quota would increase every two years.

At this morning's meeting, Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, announced the population, cultivated land, and financial situation of the Ming Dynasty last year.

With a population of more than 76 million and an area of ​​more than 580 million acres, the imperial government's fiscal revenue included 52 million dan from land tax and military settlements, and more than 8 million guan from various taxes.

After all, the imperial court's fiscal revenue was close to 30 million guan, and each citizen contributed an average of 400 guan in taxes.

However, if based on the normal grain yield per mu and the tax rate of one in ten, then based on the grain tax revenue on the land alone, Ming Dynasty should have received 70 to 80 million shi, which is nearly 30 million guan.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu did not intend to collect taxes in this way, but thought that part of it should be left to the people.

Because he knew very well that the subordinate officials of the Ming Dynasty were not free from corruption, but the corruption was not reported to him.

In his opinion, one stone of grain per ten acres is already very good.

"This year is probably going to be a tough year, but things will get better after this year."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the memorial sent by the Ministry of Revenue, and couldn't help but think of Lao Zhu lying in Xiaoling.

"Grandpa, look, your grandson hasn't used up all the money and food you have saved yet..."

Zhu Gaoxu felt a little proud, but at the same time he couldn't help but think of the lavish Zhu Yunwen.

You have to act quickly, otherwise Zhu Yunwen will quickly continue to give Jiangnan a two-year tax exemption, and you will really have to scratch your head to make money.

"How many students have signed up from the three places in North Zhili, and have they been affected?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Song Li, who nodded and said, "Of course it has been affected. In the past year, the number of students who signed up was only 460,000, which is less than half of the total population of the three places."

"Well..." Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, and then said: "For people who do not arrange for their children to go to school, unless they are particularly poor, their father and brothers will be punished."

"If they are particularly poor, they will be moved outside the customs or to Annan or Guizhou, and farmland will be distributed to them."

Zhu Gaoxu knows very well that there will be no very poor families in the implementation of the current New Deal, because he transferred 140,000 cattle from outside the customs to the customs in the autumn of last year.

Based on time, these farm cattle should have been in the hands of the people.

Now the imperial court has transferred another three million shi to the three places as food for land reclamation. For every acre of wasteland cleared, one dan can be obtained.

In other words, as long as they are willing to work hard to open up wasteland, they will not only have enough to eat, but also get their own farmland.

This policy will last for three years, and after three years these people will have their own farmland. Even if the court does not distribute food, they will open up wasteland on their own.

If Henan and Northern Zhili can return to the amount of cultivated land they had during the Song Dynasty, then the agricultural economy in the north will naturally improve. As long as we continue to increase the development of coal mines, cement, minerals and other resources, the northern economy will not be able to compete with that of the south of the Yangtze River. Comparable, but not much worse than Southwest.

In this way, his plan can be considered half successful.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also waved his hand to signal Song Li to step back.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the chair and rested for a while, and then ordered Yishiha to prepare his troops.

Half an hour later, he appeared outside Qianqing Palace, and heard Zhu Zhanhe's harsh laughter from a distance.

After getting off Bu Yu, he walked into the palace gate wearing a fox fur coat and saw Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Zhanhe, Zhu Zhanqi and others having a snow fight on the palace road.

Zhu Zhanji was only five or six years old when he went to Yunnan, and he is now eleven years old.

This was the first time he saw half a foot of snow, so he took Zhu Zhanhe and they started a snow fight.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu suddenly appearing, Zhu Zhanji was so frightened that he froze in place for some unknown reason.

Zhu Zhanhe kept throwing snowballs at him, but he didn't feel it at all.

"Be careful not to catch a cold, nephew..."

When passing by Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Gaoxu reached out and patted Zhu Zhanji on the shoulder, then passed him and walked into the Qianqing Palace.

After Zhu Gaoxu walked away, Zhu Zhanji realized what he was doing, picked up the snowball on the ground, and chased Zhu Zhanhe and the two of them to hit him.

Because his mother is Zhang Fengyi, Zhu Zhanqi rarely sees Zhu Gaoxu. When he sees Zhu Gaoxu, he comes up to him: "Dad..."

Five-year-old Zhu Zhanqi hugged Zhu Gaoxu's calf. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and squatted down: "Have fun here with your brothers. Dad still has something to do."

Zhu Gaoxu was very busy. Not to mention Zhu Zhanqi, even Zhu Zhanhe rarely saw him.

Worried that the children would make Zhu Gaoxu noisy, Guo Yan banned children from going to Chunhe Hall to disturb Zhu Gaoxu since last year.

However, as Zhu Di became the hands-off boss, Zhu Gaoxu basically spent most of his time in Chunhe Palace, and took a rest after finishing the processing. Therefore, he went to the harem no more than twenty times last year, and the number of times people could see him was also very rare.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was trying to coax him away, Zhu Zhanqi started to groan and shouted that he was unwilling to let go.

Compared to him, Zhu Zhanhe didn't look here at all. After all, he was Zhu Gaoxu's first child, so he received more education.

Zhu Gaojiu told him that men should not act recklessly and learn to hide their emotions at all times, especially when facing enemies.

For Zhu Zhanhe, who loves military affairs, this sentence speaks to the bottom of his heart.

In his opinion, his grandfather and father are heroes who don't cry, and he must learn from them.

Therefore, although Zhu Zhanhe is only nine years old, he is already very independent.

"Okay, I'll allow you to follow me to Chunhe Hall."

Seeing Zhu Zhanqi crying, Zhu Gaoxu sighed helplessly, and after giving his promise, he told him to let go.

After Zhu Zhanqi got what he wanted, he let go, but still followed Zhu Gaoxu to the Qianqing Palace.

"Second brother, you are daddy's follower!"

Zhu Zhanhe laughed at his younger brother, and Zhu Zhanji on the side also laughed at him.

Zhu Zhanqi glared at the two of them "viciously" and followed Zhu Gaoxu into the Qianqing Palace.

Not long after, the two children started playing again in the square in front of Qianqing Palace, and there were already dance performances in the warm palace.

Sitting in his seat, Zhu Gaochi was watching the dance music and devouring the meat and vegetables in front of him. He was so unhappy.

Ever since he returned to Nanjing from Yunnan, Zhu Di had been forcing him to eat vegetarian food for more than half a year. Taking advantage of the good opportunity of the New Year, he had to indulge.

"Boss, eat less, don't get fat again."

"leave me alone……"

Seeing someone reminding him, Zhu Gaochi replied without even looking at it. When he reacted, he saw Zhu Gaoxu with a smiling face.

"Boss, are you here? Come on, come on, sit down and eat together."

Zhu Gaochi motioned to Zhu Gaoxu to sit next to him. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head, glanced around the Qianqing Palace, and then asked doubtfully: "Where are the parents?"

"I moved to Kunning Palace a few days ago." Zhu Gaochi replied while stuffing meat into his mouth:
"Dad originally wanted to live a normal life, not as lively as in previous years, so as not to disturb mother."

"But Mom said that it's not just the two of them who have to live through it, but also their children, so it has to be more lively."

"When my father saw what my mother said, he took my mother to move back to Kunning Palace. He will wait a few days after the New Year before moving back."

"Anyway, he missed the meeting at the beginning, and when he left, he asked me to tell you to host the family dinner well."

"What's the point of hosting this?" Zhu Gaoxu glanced around after hearing this and found that Zhu Gaochi was busy eating, Zhu Gaosui was busy looking at the dancers, and Zhang and Guo Yan probably went to Kunning Palace to take care of Queen Xu.

As for Princess Zhao, she is overjoyed. She is expected to give birth in March and is currently recuperating in Prince Zhao's palace.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu was about to sit down and have a meal with Zhu Gaochi, but he didn't expect Yishiha from outside the hall to walk in quickly.

He was holding a memorial in his hand, and when he saw Zhu Gaoxu, he handed it over, obviously in a hurry.

When Zhu Gaoxu opened it and took a look, his originally happy mood immediately turned uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Gaochi noticed his change and asked while eating meat.

"Last month, King Qi killed three people in a street battle in Guangzhou..."

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were gloomy, and Zhu Gaochi was startled when he heard this: "This... what are you going to do with this?"

"Otherwise... let dad handle it." Zhu Gaochi was worried that Zhu Gaoxu would do it too hard and endanger everyone in the vassals.

"No need." Zhu Gaoxu handed the memorial back to Yishiha and told Yishiha:

"Pass on my order to seize the guards of Prince Qi's palace and leave only five hundred people. In addition, I order Prince Qi to be banned from the palace for three years and not to come out."

"If you violate the rules, you will be deposed as a commoner!"

(End of this chapter)