With the ringing of the palace bell, Daming ushered in the seventh year of Zhongxing in the endless joy.

In the past five years of Zhongxing and six years of Zhongxing, the Ming Dynasty did not launch any military affairs, and mainly focused on restoring the people's livelihood economy and promulgating various reforms in the north.

In terms of population in the north, after two years of relocation and restoration, the provinces have basically recovered about 70 percent of the population during the Wanli period, and the people live and work in peace and contentment, and there have been major progress in people's livelihood and economy.

It has been a year since the development of national education, the imperial court not only exempted the tuition fees, but also regularly distributed blank paper to the students for practice, the people almost did not have a burden, extremely supportive, most of the children of the right age were sent to the school to read and practice words, the number of students from all over the country added up to more than 20 million, Zhu Ci estimated that about 20 years or so, the Ming Dynasty will usher in a cultural explosion period, and the national quality will also be because of the number of people who read and learn words, and continue to rise.

In terms of the law, Daming Daily used a certain page every day to publicize it to the people, and in addition to the vigorous campaign to sue officials that lasted for more than three months last year, the awareness of the law has deepened day by day, and the crime rate has been greatly reduced compared with that of Zhongxing six years ago.

In terms of the economy of the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the establishment of the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty and the issuance of silver dollar banknotes, commercial trade is more convenient, and because of the loan business opened by the Central Bank, it is more affordable than the previous money bank and usury, and the number of businessmen who come to the Central Bank to take loans to do business is increasing, and all kinds of shops have opened.

In the whole six years of Zhongxing, the treasury income of the Ming Dynasty exceeded the 100 million taels mark for the first time.

Of the 100 million taels of national treasury revenue, the salt industry accounts for 10 percent, the agricultural tax accounts for nearly 40 percent, the commercial tax and customs account for 5 percent, and the others account for less than half of the revenue. For the first time, commercial and customs duties surpassed agricultural taxes and became the largest source of taxes.

In terms of the army, the 20 regular armies of the Ming Dynasty were all equipped with firing rifles and 90 mm caliber field artillery, and were also equipped with a small number of newly developed machine guns, as well as the configuration of all war horses, which could be quickly maneuvered.

In other words, the twenty regular armies of the Ming Dynasty are not only an army with all firearms, but also a mobile army that can rely on war horses to quickly maneuver around the country.

Daming is too vast, once something happens, if the armies don't have war horses, they will react too slowly just on foot.

For the sake of the war horses of the 20 regular armies, Zhu Ciji forced the Mongolian departments to contribute 100,000 war horses every year, which made the Mongolian departments extremely dissatisfied and began to be a little ready to move.

"After the Chinese New Year, it's time to run the Mongolian grassland, since the Mongolians are not willing to contribute so many war horses to Daming every year, then let Daming raise it himself!" A hint of sharpness flashed in Zhu Ci's eyes.

When Zhu Ci said this, it also meant that after the Ming Dynasty stopped for two years, he was ready to use the military again.

In the final analysis, although the Mongolian tribes were subdued by the Northern Expeditionary Army two years ago, they did not recognize themselves as members of the Ming Dynasty, still regarded themselves as Mongols, still regarded the Mongolian steppe as their private property, regarded the Ming court as their oppression, and were thinking about how to resist all the time.

What Zhu Ci has to do is to completely solve the hidden dangers of the Mongolian steppe, firmly control it in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and become a veritable horse farm for the Ming Dynasty, providing a large number of war horses for the Ming Dynasty every year.

Today is the first day of the first lunar month, according to the practice of previous years, Zhu Ci will go to the queen's Kunning Palace, and then go to the queen mother's Cining Palace with the queen and other five daughters and several princes and princesses waiting there to have a reunion dinner.

In the past two years, the queen gave birth to another child for Zhu Cijiao, a princess, Concubine Wan Dong Xiaowan also had another child for Zhu Cijiao last year, she is a prince, Concubine Xian still has only one prince, the two daughters of Lanxiang and Begonia each gave birth to a son and a daughter for Zhu Cijiao, Zhu Cijiao currently has four princes and three princesses.

"Father!" As soon as the eldest princess Zhu Huimin saw Zhu Ci stumbling, she staggered towards Zhu Ci.

"Alas, my little princess Minmin!" Zhu Cihe, as usual, hugged the eldest princess with a smile.

The eldest princess is already five years old Zhu Huimin, she looks fleshy, but she is not fat, and her red little face is extremely cute, it can be seen that this little princess is a little beauty embryo, inheriting the beauty of her mother Dong Xiaowan, and she will definitely be able to grow into a great beauty who will captivate the country and the city in the future.

Putting her head on the eldest princess's little face, the eldest princess immediately giggled.

The eldest prince Zhu Xuanhua and the second prince Zhu Xuanyu are also six years old and five years old, and the two boys are as envious as ever that the eldest princess Zhu Huimin can be so close to her father, and they are more and more convinced that the father likes his daughter more than his son.

In addition to the two boys and the eldest princess, the other four princes and princesses were still held by the nurse.

Zhu Ci staggered and walked towards the queen and the others with the eldest princess in his arms.

When passing by the eldest prince and the second prince, Zhu Ci looked at the two boys and asked, "Have you done all the homework assigned by the master?" ”

"Back to my father, I've done it all!" Both boys replied at the same time.

Both boys are five or six years old, and the future prince may choose from the two boys, in order to make them able to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of the country in the future, and in order to prevent them from going down the wrong path, Zhu Ciji has already started to drive the two boys to the school to study. The school was built in the palace, which was built by Zhu Cijiao specifically for his princes and princesses, and during the period, he would also recruit some children of civil and military officials, the reason why he wanted to do this was not to let the princes and princesses go directly to the ordinary school outside the palace to study, that was because the identity of the prince and princess was too noble after all, and the ordinary masters of the school were easy to tie their hands after knowing their identities, and it would also affect other children in the school, and once the identity of the prince and princess was concealed, it was a little unrealistic, and there was no need for that, Rather than having more troubles, Zhu Ciji felt that direct teaching in the palace could make the princess and princess learn more, and, in his free time, Zhu Ciji would often observe the learning of the princes and princesses, just in the palace It is just nearby, and when the princesses and princes really grow up to ten years old, Zhu Ciji will take the opportunity to take them to the market to see the various states of life and slowly experience them.

Zhu Ci nodded and said with satisfaction: "I will allow each of you to make a request to your father, as long as your father can do it, my father will agree to you." ”

Although Zhu Ciji is more strict with the prince, there is still some encouragement that should be given.

Hearing Zhu Ci's promise, the eyes of the two boys instantly lit up, and they asked what kind of request they should ask their father for later.

"Father, father, Min Min too!" The eldest princess also heard Zhu Cihe's promise to the two boys, and immediately pulled Zhu Cihe's clothes in Zhu Cihe's arms and shouted that she wanted to make a request.

"Okay, my father also promised Min Min a request, if you are not allergic to Min, you must remember not to fall behind in your homework." Zhu Ci said with a smile.

The eldest princess immediately nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

"Your Majesty!" The queen and the other five daughters looked at Zhu Ci affectionately, with a soft smile on their faces.

I have to say that although Zhu Cijiao's harem also has five women, it is unprecedentedly harmonious, without the competition for favor and darkness like the harems of previous dynasties, Zhu Cijiao is extremely satisfied, so he is never ready to accept others into the harem, not only because of his commitment to the five women, but also because he doesn't want his harem to lose its current purity one day.

"The hour is almost up, let's go." Zhu Ci took the queen's soft and boneless hand and walked with the other four daughters to the Queen Mother's Cining Palace.

The queen was originally a disaster-level peerless beauty comparable to Chen Yuanyuan, although she has given birth to two children one after another over the years, she is only twenty-four years old, and her beautiful face has not left the slightest trace of time.

The other four daughters are the same, the eldest concubine Huang Ying is only twenty-six years old, the youngest two daughters are even in their early twenties, and the five daughters are all in their prime.

It didn't take long for the Queen Mother's Cining Palace to arrive.

The eldest princess and the eldest prince and the second prince surrounded the Queen Mother Chenghuan, making the Queen Mother's face smile and full of joy.

At the dinner table, the Queen Mother suddenly put away her smile and sighed.

"Queen Mother, what's wrong?" Zhu Ci asked.

"It would be nice if Changping and Ciyi were also there, it has been two years since Daming was reunified, and there is no trace of the two children, why are they reluctant to come back to see me, the queen mother." The Queen Mother said, her eyes wet with tears.

Changping is the princess of Changping, and Ci Yi is the king of Ding, Zhu Ci Yan, the two of them are the same as Zhu Ci Yan, both of them are from the Queen Mother, one is Zhu Ci Yan's imperial sister, and the other is Zhu Ci Yan's imperial brother, after all, it is human nature that the Queen Mother misses them.

"Imperial grandmother, don't cry" The eldest princess didn't know why the Queen Mother was crying, but she couldn't help but comfort her, seeing that the Queen Mother was crying, she also shed tears.

The Queen Mother patted the eldest princess on the back with emotion.

For Princess Changping and King Ding, Zhu Ci didn't really have much feeling, after all, not long after he came to this world, Beijing City was broken by Li Zicheng, although he and Princess Changping and King Ding were compatriots in name, in fact, they could even count the number of times they met.

Of course, although Zhu Ciji didn't feel much, he didn't want to see the Queen Mother sad.

"Queen Mother, please rest assured, Erchen has already sent Jinyi Wei to look around, Ci Yan has already had news, when the Manchu people moved west, they also took Ci Yan away, I have already sent someone to contact the Manchu people, and the Changping Imperial Sister also has some eyebrows, I believe it will not take long to find it, Erchen promised the Queen Mother here, at most, in one year, I will be able to bring Ci Yin and Changping Imperial Sister to you." Zhu Ci promised.

When the Manchurians didn't know for what reason, they actually took Zhu Ciyan away when they moved west, and they took it away secretly, so Zhu Ciyan only got the news in the near future.

As for Princess Changping's side, Zhu Ciji only knew from the historical records of later generations that Princess Changping might be in a certain temple nunnery, and he didn't know if it was true, but Zhu Ciji could only be regarded as true, most of those temples and nunnery were in the mountains, although it was not easy to find, but Princess Changping was cut off by Chongzhen's arm all the time, and the characteristics were extremely obvious, Zhu Ciji always believed that he would always find it if he kept looking for it. In fact, after looking for so long, Zhu Ciji is indeed already a little eyebrows, maybe it won't take a month to send news back.

With Zhu Ci's promise, the Queen Mother finally put away her tears, thinking about her son and thinking about her daughter, she couldn't see Princess Changping and Zhu Ciyan for a day, and the Queen Mother couldn't really be happy.