Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 455 People are on the wrong road

"Make way in front! Give way!"

In early February, while the weather has started to warm up in some areas in the south, it is still chilly in the north, so pedestrians are wearing thick clothing.

But they are more workers than pedestrians.

As Zhu Gaoxu and the others entered Shandong, the population on the streets gradually increased.

By the 16th year of Yongle, after several migrations and more than ten years of stability, Shandong's population had once again stabilized at the level of more than six million people.

At the same time, the area of ​​cultivated land in Shandong has also increased slightly, from more than 54 million acres in the past to more than 59 million acres today.

I believe that in two or three years, Shandong’s cultivated land area will definitely exceed 60 million acres.

It's just that the per capita cultivated land in Shandong seems to be a lot, but in fact it is not balanced. The Kong family and their in-laws in Shandong still control more than three million acres of cultivated land.

Zhu Gaoxu has been waiting to clean up the Kong family in Shandong for these years. Now that the implementation of the New Deal is over, I believe it won't be long before he can completely clean up the Kong family and end their two thousand years of privileged life.

Without this group of people, officials alone would definitely not dare to commit serious corruption. After all, they are street officials and do not have as strong a background as the wealthy squires behind them, but it is still unavoidable for Xiao Na and Xiao Yao.

Although they already know that technology is productivity during their studies, they are more concerned about whether they can have enough food, food and shelter, and whether they can be officials and hold power than technology.

Since Zhu Gaoxu put Guo Yan and most of his children's entourage on the boat heading north through the canal, there were only a hundred cavalry in regular uniforms around him at this time.

But before that, Zhu Gaoxu had to see how the people of Shandong had been doing over the years.

You know, the Voyager locomotive did not receive much funding at all, and there were only a few dozen people working on it.

Sitting on the horse, before Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, Yi Shiha beside him started to explain.

Zhu Gaoxu would understand if he was studying explosives, rifled guns, and other topics that required high basic materials and were difficult to figure out, so much money and food had been spent, and so many years of work had been spent.

"How many people from your school have signed up for Imperial College this year?" Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and looked at Zhu Zhanhe. Zhu Zhanhe said without thinking, "Seventy-two people."

Zhu Gao went to the Taixue University and saw that some people were only responsible for serving tea and water, and had no interest in researching the subject at all.

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head. Although he was not disappointed, he was indeed a little unhappy.

"Yes..." Yi Shiha agreed, and at this time the carriages transporting supplies also walked away.

"How many Taixue scholars have come to guide us?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, who nodded and said, "More than six hundred people."

"Your Highness Mingjian, it does take a year." Yi Shiha bowed in response, and then continued: "As for the wages, they are basically fifteen cents per person per day."

But the direction of the steam engine has been pointed out by him a long time ago. Nearly a thousand people have dozens of times more resources than Newcomen, Watt, and Stephenson, but they haven't figured it out yet. This is enough to show the power of these nearly a thousand people. There are many people in the team who are just trying to make up the numbers.

"How did those classmates of the emperor and grandson do after entering the Imperial College?"

The steam engine, which cost millions of money and nearly a thousand bachelors to jointly research, was actually inferior to the "Voyager" locomotive operated by the British in 1825 in terms of thermal efficiency.

“Dad, there are people growing sweet potatoes here too!”

"Tell Wang Fu that for some people who have no role in the experiment, give them a deserted position."

"Make way in front, this carriage carries a lot of stuff, there's no way to avoid it!"

What Taixue needs must be the kind of people who are interested in research and can devote themselves to research.

Taixue was the most important place in the Ming Dynasty. Students who graduated from middle school and joined Taixue would go to various research institutes to study and participate in research according to their interests and hobbies.

Zhu Gaoxu led the team to continue northward by land to inspect different scenery and people's sentiments.

If it goes too far, they will be no different from the former subordinates. When there are more students graduating from middle schools, these guys will have to answer.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, but Yi Shiha understood what Zhu Gaoxu meant and nodded immediately:

The word power has been deeply ingrained in people's bones, and it is not something that can be changed easily.

"Seventy-two people signed up for the Imperial Academy out of more than a thousand people. It seems they still want to become officials."

When those people passed by, they bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and his party to express their gratitude.

"This should be a worker transporting supplies to the railway warehouse."

After receiving the explanation, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and said: "It will take about a year to prepare this material. How are the workers' wages?"

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief:

Even if they were doing such a simple job, they could still receive hundreds of dollars of annual salary from the imperial court every day, which made Zhu Gaoxu suppress the idea of ​​forcing everyone to enter Taixue.

"He will actively participate in project research and practice, better than many academicians."

Judging from the current situation, even students who have received primary and secondary education do not really like the profession of being a bachelor in name but actually doing "craftsman" work.

Regarding this kind of thing, as long as they don't go too far, Zhu Gaoxu can choose to turn a blind eye. After all, the quality of current officials is not good enough, and more than 99% of them are elementary school graduates.

On the official road, six-wheeled and eight-wheeled carriages filled with goods rely on multiple horses to pull the goods, reminding the teams ahead from time to time.

Zhu Gaoxu did not force everyone to study in Taipei University. After all, he had done this before. As a result, after having a clear direction and meeting the basic materials, he actually lingered for seventeen years without arranging a steam engine. market.

At that time, Zhu Gaoxu will let them know what money can and cannot be taken.

As the one who was reminded, Zhu Gaoxu led his people down the official road and waited by the roadside.

Zhu Gaoxu invested dozens of times the resources, but it took seventeen years before it appeared on the railway tracks.

Along the way from Nanjing to the north, many of the buildings we saw were basically built in the past ten years. This is true for both canals and sluice gates, because cement buildings are still relatively conspicuous.

As for the lives of the people, it can only be said to be much better than during the Hongwu period. After all, during the Hongwu period, subordinate officials were required to collude with the wealthy squires to help the court collect taxes, and at the same time, they would also spread the taxes of the wealthy squires to the common people. At the same time, he will be corrupt again.

On the way forward, Zhu Zhanqi suddenly spoke. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu reined in his horse immediately, and then glanced at the direction Zhu Zhanqi was pointing.

Not far away, dozens of acres of sloping land were almost entirely planted with sweet potatoes. Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu got off his horse and walked over with a whip.

There were many people chatting and resting together in the field. Zhu Gaoxu came closer and asked: "Old man, you got these sweet potatoes from the government field, right?"

"Well, is something wrong?"

Facing Zhu Gaoxu, the group of old farmers sitting on the field ridge looked very indifferent. Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said:

"We are investigation officials from Jiangnan. We just want to ask how much these sweet potatoes can yield per acre, whether to eat them ourselves or sell them. Don't worry, you are not asking in vain..."

Zhu Gaoxu said, and Yi Shiha also followed and threw nearly a hundred copper coins with a denomination of one penny in a small drop towards them.

The eyes of the group of old farmers lit up. The one who answered the question grabbed it and put it in his arms. Then with an eager expression, he patted his buttocks and stood up and said, "It turns out you are an official. The common people are blind and cannot recognize the mountains. Please forgive me..."

The old farmer bowed in return, and Zhu Gaoxu also chuckled and said: "There is nothing wrong with him, just answer my question."

"Okay, okay..." The old farmer nodded with a smile and quickly put on his clothes.

In this era, work would wear out clothes, so it was normal to work shirtless. Even though it was still a bit cold in Shandong in February, they had obviously just finished their work and sat down to rest, and their bodies were still hot.

Zhu Gaoxu was not in a hurry and watched him put on his clothes. Then he saw him and said:

"These sweet potatoes are a good thing. We didn't want them originally, but the officials at the yamen said they were good for feeding pigs and eating, so we took some for farming last year."

"Last year, the crop wasn't good, but the yield was still more than four shi per mu, and the vines are edible, so I tried them myself first. After finding them tasty, I stopped thinking about feeding them to pigs and cooked them the way the village official taught me."

The old farmer told him about the yield of sweet potatoes per acre. Zhu Gaoxu nodded slightly, then asked him how he cultivated it, and taught him how to detoxify. Finally, he continued to ask: "Do you understand the tax collection now? Will there still be the same as before?" That one?"

"It doesn't exist anymore, and I haven't heard of it in other villages. It's just that when you hand over grain, you have to get a few kilograms of grain to the officials. It's not easy to just say it twice."

The old farmer told the truth and was not afraid of offending anyone. After all, this was something everyone knew from all over the country.

As for the distance beyond ten miles and eight villages, it was too far. He had never been to such a far place in his life.

"There's work to do in the west, didn't you go?"

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and continued to ask. The old farmer nodded when he heard this: "Go, I will go after the busy work."

"Do you know how much the wages are?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, and the old farmer continued to nod: "Fifteen liters, but it's just an introduction. Generally, the first day's wages must be paid to the supervisors on the construction site."

"..." Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised at all. He frowned slightly but continued to ask calmly:

"Does this mean that as long as you respect your supervisor, you can continue to work at the construction site?"

"That's not okay..." The old farmer reacted a little bit and shook his head: "For one day's wages, you will work there for a month. This was always the case at construction sites in the past."

"Well, I understand. Now, old man, you can continue to rest. We are on our way."

After roughly understanding the trick, Zhu Gaoxu bowed and said goodbye to the group of old farmers, leaving them still arguing over the few dozen cents.

Zhu Gaoxu took Yishiha and Zhu Zhanhe back to the official road. When Zhu Zhanhe saw that he was far away from the group of old farmers, he said dissatisfied:

"Dad, these people are stealing here, don't you care?"

After all, Zhu Zhanhe was only sixteen years old, and a young man could not tolerate sand in his eyes. After learning about the situation here, he immediately exploded.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him after hearing this, and then continued: "Can you guarantee that if you change a few people, this kind of thing won't happen?"

"I don't dare, but I think it should be changed. If no punishment is given, this phenomenon will only increase!"

Zhu Zhanhe's tone was neither humble nor arrogant, and he insisted on his own ideas, which made Zhu Gaoxu a little stunned.

He was stunned for a moment, and then continued: "It's easy to change, but are you sure that the people you change will not be corrupted by the environment and become more corrupt people in the future than these people now?"

"This group of people now at least know their bottom line and can still do things."

Zhu Gaoxu felt that as long as he could do things, petty greed was not a big deal. After all, no one knew better than him how difficult it was to rectify the administration of officials.

The official administration during the Hongwu period was even more corrupt than it is now, and it took him sixteen years to rectify it to the current level.

It's not impossible to go further, but it's too difficult...

"Why can you be greedy if you can do something?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked Zhu Gaoxu: "As long as we can do things, can corruption be tolerated?"

"You said that you should retreat step by step and cut five cities today and ten cities tomorrow. You should understand this truth better than me."

Zhu Zhanhe didn't understand. Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a moment after hearing this, and finally sighed: "When you finish five years of military school and three years after you are transferred to another place, you will know why I tolerate it."

"This time when you go north, you can follow me to Dongchang and then take the boat back to Nanjing to prepare for the start of school."

Shaking the reins, Zhu Gaoxu continued to move forward. Upon seeing this, Yi Shiha also passed by Zhu Zhanhe and comforted him: "Your Majesty, grandson, you will understand His Highness's intentions in the future."

"Brother, let's go..." Zhu Zhanqi didn't expect that his brother would be so brave and dare to confront his father.

"Let's go..."

Zhu Zhanhe still maintained his spirit and did not think he was wrong.

At his age, black is black, white is white, and evil can never defeat good.

Shaking the reins, he followed Zhu Zhanhe's footsteps, and compared to him, Jiang Huai had a lot of worldly connections.

When Zhu Zhanhe followed Zhu Gaoxu to Dongchang Mansion and returned to Nanjing after arriving, Jiang Huai had already arrived in Xuzhou, Sichuan by boat and was riding back home.

Since the Wumeng Mountain where the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan meet is not peaceful, he specially prepared long swords, riding bows and arrows.

As a first-class member of the Nine Divisions, Jiang Huai is fully capable of shooting left and right in equestrian skills, so he is not worried about encountering robbers.

In order to transport materials into Yunnan to repatriate the land, the people of Sichuan and Yunnan, recruited by the government, built an official road from Xuzhou to Kunming Prefecture.

This official road is not wide, only about ten feet long. It is surrounded by high mountains and cliffs on one side and a rushing river on the other.

When riding on this kind of road, you can often see gravel falling from the mountain cliffs on the road.

Jianghuai did not ignore these gravels. Instead, after confirming their safety, Jianghuai threw all the stones into the river.

When encountering rocks weighing hundreds of kilograms, he waited for pedestrians behind him to persuade them to clear the rocks together.

Because of this move, when he came to Wumeng Mansion, many people already knew that a young man in scarlet robes in his early twenties, with fair face, delicate face and tall figure was riding towards Wumeng Mansion.

I met a caravan on the road, and some people chatted with Jianghuai on the roadside.

However, Jiang Huai, who was anxious to go home, would often chat with the other party for a while and then rush to Kunming Mansion.

There are three thousand miles of waterway and two thousand miles of land road from Nanjing City to Xijiang Town, which is far farther than the journey from Nanjing to Beijing.

However, since Jianghuai set off before New Year's Eve, when Zhu Zhanhe returned south to the capital, Jianghuai had already arrived in Kunming.

For Jiang Huai, who grew up in western Yunnan, Yunnan is not hot in this season, but it cannot withstand the harsh sun.

After studying in middle school for five years, he knew that Yunnan is located on a plateau and has strong ultraviolet rays, so he prepared a bamboo hat early. Wearing the bamboo hat and carrying a sword, bow and arrow on his back, he simply signed up for the August provincial examination in Kunming Prefecture, and then headed towards Xijiang Town in a hurry Go.

Unfortunately, Yunnan's reform movement was more intense than Jiang Huai imagined. Jiang Huai, who rushed to Xijiang after signing up, was blocked before he could get out of the Kunming Prefecture.

"No traffic ahead!"

"Xu..."

On his way home, Jiang Huai was stopped by Lu Ka from the Ming army. He reined in his horse and bowed to the soldiers who were blocking him:

"Sergeant, I am Jiang Huai, a member of the Xijiang Town Health Department under the rule of Longchuan. I came home specially to ask for help, Sergeant."

After bowing, Jiang Huai took out half of the money from the leather bag beside the saddle and handed it over. Upon hearing this, the officials from the hundred households also accepted Jiang Huai's Lu Yin and half of the money.

After a glance, he turned around and waved: "Let it go!"

With his words, the horse was moved away. Jiang Huai bowed and thanked him again, then got on his horse and continued towards Xijiang Town.

Zhu Zhanhe has a strong background and is sophisticated but not worldly, while Jiang Huai restrains himself with standards and abides by the rules of the world.

Unfortunately, wars in Yunnan are indeed very frequent. Jiang Huai, who walked out of Kunming and traveled for three days, heard the deafening sound of artillery before entering Taihe County, Dali Prefecture.

Such a change made him feel nervous, and he quickly climbed up a low hill with the telescope that Zhu Zhanhe had given him before, and used the telescope to look at Taihe County in the distance.

As expected, Taihe County was being besieged by the chieftain, and the chieftain still had the consciousness to release Tangqi to the south.

"drive!"

Seeing Tang Qi running this way, Jiang Huai could only give up the route from Taihe County to Yongchang Mansion, and instead took the trail south to Menghua Mansion.

He went all the way south, alerting many uninformed merchants on the way, and led them to retreat south.

"The baby is still young, who has room for him in the car?"

"Don't crowd! Don't crowd!"

"mother……"

The three-foot-wide official road became crowded in an instant, and everyone fled southward in embarrassment.

Jiang Huai and more than ten caravan escorts organized the people to evacuate southward. Unfortunately, after walking less than ten miles south, they saw billowing dust coming from the south.

"It's over. They said before that Luoluo rebelled in Menghua Prefecture in the south. Could it be that they broke through Menghua Prefecture and came to Dali to kill them?"

Among the more than 200 teams, a caravan manager with a good identity looked pale. Jiang Huai next to him frowned and looked at the situation ahead with a telescope, and then said firmly:

"Don't scare yourself. This billowing smoke and dust must be traces of a large group of cavalry on their way. Not many chieftains in Yunnan have so many cavalry, and the Luoluo in Menghua Prefecture is even less likely!"

"You protect the people and stop the folks who want to go to Dali. I'll go take a look in front!"

Before Jiang Huai finished speaking, the boss pulled the reins of the horse and said, "Don't trick us into running away here."

"My name is Jiang Huai, a member of the health department of Xijiang Town. If I run away, just send someone to break out and sue me!"

Jiang Huai understood the manager's worries. After all, if he hadn't stopped them, they would have abandoned their goods and ran away on horseback.

"Okay, Jiang Huai, I will remember you..."

The commander let go of the reins with a pale face, and Jiang Huai galloped towards the southern official road.

After running for several miles, he saw more than ten cavalrymen running towards him in front of him.

They were wearing Luoluo armor and looked like they were fleeing in defeat, which made Jiang Huai quickly rein in his horse.

"What happened..."

Jianghuai reined up his horse and sighed secretly, and at the same time he saw the group of people also reining in their horses.

They were looking at Jianghuai, and Jianghuai was also looking at them.

Although Luoluo's armor was not as good as the Ming army's armor, it was not something that an unarmored man like Jiang Huai could deal with.

Although he is good at riding and shooting, he is not a fierce general like Ping'an and Qu Neng, and he cannot defeat more than ten armored soldiers without armor.

Not to mention one to a dozen, even one to one he didn't dare to say that he could kill a soldier.

Because of this, beads of sweat inevitably flowed from his forehead.

At the same time, Luo Luo on the opposite side also saw Jiang Huai's unarmored condition, and immediately rushed towards him on horseback.

At this moment, apart from cursing secretly in his heart, waving his riding crop and trying to escape for his life, there seemed to be nothing Jiang Huai could do.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the hundreds of people, Jiang Huai had no choice but to shout: "They are being chased by officers and soldiers, please cooperate with me to stop them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Huai dropped his riding whip, stretched his bow and arrows on horseback, and kept shooting arrows behind him.

Facing his arrows, more than ten people did not evade. Instead, they opened their bows and nocked arrows and shot towards Jianghuai.

The distance between the two sides was only fifty or sixty steps. When he saw them raising their bows, Jiang Huai immediately lay on his horse and kept urging the horse to escape.

Fortunately, he was not riding an ordinary horse, and those Luoluo were riding Yunnan horses that were not good at running, so the arrow failed to hit Jianghuai.

But even so, Jiang Huai was still scared to the point of sweating profusely.

He almost confessed here just now...

"Beep--"

Suddenly, a harsh whistle sounded, and before Jiang Huai could react, the sound of frying beans suddenly came from behind.

"Crack, crackle, crackle!!"

"Xilulu!"

Bracing his scalp and turning around, Jiang Huai immediately pulled the reins.

In an instant, the dozen or so Luoluos who were chasing him all fell to the ground, some with their horses, and some lying motionless on their horses.

Behind them, a huge crowd of cavalry came on horseback, but this time the cavalry that appeared was no longer Luo Luo, but a Ming army cavalry wearing armor and holding a banner with the character "朙" in their hands.

"Woo..."

After exhaling, Jiang Huai felt exhausted. He quickly dismounted and sat down on the ground, not caring whether he was dirty or not.

"The officers and soldiers are coming!"

"Great!"

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!!"

Seeing the hundreds of Ming Army cavalry appearing, hundreds of people and caravans cheered, and at this time the cavalry team also arrived in front of Jiang Huai.

Dozens of cavalry surrounded him, and a general wearing mountain armor walked out.

He took off his visor, revealing a face that shocked Jiang Huai.

"Are you that kid from Xijiang Town?"

"Sheng Yuan Jiang Huai, see Longchuan Bo!"

When the two sides recognized each other, Wang Xuan had forgotten Jiang Huai's name and only remembered that he was a student in Xijiang Town. Jiang Huai immediately stood up and bowed to Wang Xuan on horseback.

Neither of them expected that they would meet again under such circumstances.

(End of this chapter)