The snow was falling.

At the end of the seventh year of Xingqian, people seem to have forgotten the war a few months ago, and after dinner, people talk about the discovery of the "Endeavour" in the New World, and the legend of Zhao Dengke's transformation into a "hero".

"If you don't have military merits, you won't be knighted, and those who violate it will be invalid!"

No one dares to violate the rules set by Emperor Xingqian, and Zhu Mingzhong will naturally lead by example, and not being knighted does not mean that there is no other way. "Honors" is one of them, although the "non-military meritorious soldiers" do not have tax-free privileges, although it is only a generation's "rank", but for most people, it is still a good thing to honor their ancestors, which is enviable.

At the end of the seventh year of Xingqian, Zhao Dengke was awarded the title of first-class honorary, and rewarded Nanzhili with 1,000 acres of feudal land, and in the new world, "New Xia", he got as much as one million acres of fiefdom. The accompanying crew also received different rewards, and it can be said that overnight, from the captain to the crew, they all changed and realized a great change in their lives. This news spread all over the Ming Dynasty.

Honors, feudal fields, overseas fiefdoms and overseas exotic beasts have become people's after-dinner discussions, and the most talked about topic in people's mouths is always how fertile the "new summer" is, and the desire for land and wealth will always tempt everyone.

In particular, when a copy of "The Discovery of New Summer" was printed by the bookstore and published in various publications, it immediately sold well all over the world. This is the first time, up and down the Ming Dynasty, almost everyone is there to talk about a self-topic - "New Summer", from the small people in the market to the sergeants and doctors, from the farmers in the fields to the market vendors, from the scholars to those who agitate for the "combination of civil and military", it seems that they cannot escape the temptation of "New Summer".

"New Summer" is the name of Australia, and unlike North America, which has begun a small number of immigrants, the new continent of "New Summer" is a new continent discovered by the Ming Dynasty, and every time that land is mentioned, people's hearts will always rise with a pride that they have never felt before.

The Land of Summer!

This is the origin of the name "New Xia", although on that day in the court, the central ministers of the court had a dispute over how to name the New World Quotation Base, but in the end, after His Majesty spit out three words, there was no more dispute.

The Land of Summer!

That is the land of summer discovered by my Chinese people, just like the land under our feet, "the capital of Yao, the soil of Shun, and the seal of Yu." There will be another "summer land", where Chinese civilization will be inherited. There is no doubt anymore.

New Summer!

This name, simple and straightforward, is to tell the world that there will be a new summer, a new land of China!

Of course, when the "new summer" broke into people's sight, people discussed how fertile the fertile fields were at that time, and how beautiful the four seasons were, and the debate about whose fiefdom the "new summer" would be, was widely spread in the city and the countryside.

The Ming Dynasty has no domain to seal!

In fact, everyone knows that it is not that there is no feudal domain, but that His Majesty is extremely disappointed in the clan and the lords, so he will formulate strict inheritance methods, but those who surrender to the enemy and abandon the lord should be abolished, and the only care is that they can apply to the court for a piece of self-reliance. Only those Ming clans and lords who have been fighting can inherit the title. A few years ago, those clans had been divided into Nanyang, such as Jiaozhi was divided into more than 30 Zhenguo generals, and in Pingnan there were also many county kings, Zhenguo generals, auxiliary generals, and Qin, Gui, Zhou and other countries, these countries are just princely states, small and narrow.

Is there really no seal?

Of course not, in the palace, there are ten princes who have not yet reached adulthood, except for the eldest son, the other sons have been overseas after they have reached adulthood.

The prince, at the age of sixteen, opened the palace, prepared the domain at the age of eighteen, and became the country at the age of twenty.

This is Zhu Mingzhong's rule for the prince to enter the country.

It's just that even the eldest crown prince is only eight years old now. Whether it is the opening of the government or the preparation of the domain, it is always a very distant thing.

But people have no long-term worries, and there must be near-term worries.

The emperor is not in a hurry, the eunuchs are in a hurry, at least the relatives always seem a little anxious!

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is too hasty to spend four years to immigrate and build the royal city in the prince's preparation, in the opinion of the minister, since the new summer has been discovered, your majesty should draw some differences on the map, and then build a city in each district, as the place where the princes will be in the future......."

Zheng Cong had a smile on his face, and there was a hint of temptation in his tone, he was King Zheng, and he was also one of the few kings with different surnames in the Ming Dynasty, and kings with different surnames did not have fiefs.

This is true of King Jin, and so is King Zheng.

However, the Zheng family and the King of Jin are still different after all, if there was no Northern Expedition with the surname of the country, it is unknown whether the Ming Dynasty can prosper, and the current mother of the country is also from the Zheng family, the Li family is a minister, and the Zheng family is a relative, and now Zheng Cong is from the position of a relative to say this.

He was also thinking about his little cousins, after all, although Xinxia was said to be the land of summer, there were no other creatures there except for some savages, and he only brought three guards to the domain, which was definitely not comparable to the Nanyang countries.

"King Min, you should know that when the Nanyang countries were inaugurated, except for the national soldiers, the imperial court did not give them any help."

Putting down the pen in his hand, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Zheng Cong and said. Zheng Cong is the son of Zheng Chenggong, and among the sons of the Zheng family, he was the only one who ran to the northeast, which is also the reason why he was chosen to inherit the throne of Fujian.

"Your Majesty, the location is different, in Gui, Qin, Zhou and other Nanyang Zhuxia, where they go, there are millions of natives living there, they lead troops to the past, you can crusade against the natives, and educate them as Xia, and on the other hand, the number of local natives is very small, and the skin color and appearance are all different from my Han people, after the princes will come to the country in the future, the place where they will go must be sparsely populated, in the eyes of the ministers, the new Xia is bound to be like North America, there are only a few natives, and they should try to immigrate, so the imperial court should make plans as soon as possible......"

Looking at Zheng Cong, who was standing there and talking about the Tao, Zhu Mingzhong suddenly asked rhetorically.

"Zheng Cong, I remember that since you took the throne, it seems that you have been soaking in the Qinhuai River all day long, why did you remember to ask about this today?"

Zhu Mingzhong had a smile on his face, Zheng Cong was his smart man, he knew the influence of Min Zheng in the Ming Dynasty, so after inheriting the throne, he had fun all day long, lingering in the Qinglou, of course, the Zheng family's family business was enough for him to squander, according to the family business declared a few years ago, the Zheng family's real estate in Nanjing alone was worth no less than 60 million taels of silver, and the annual rent alone earned millions of taels. Those places were confiscated after the Northern Expedition, and now they have all become the Zheng family's industry, and Zhu Mingzhong did not pursue this.

Just as he never investigated the whereabouts of the Eight Great Emperor Merchants after they were wiped out, there were many times when there were some things that did not need to be investigated.

They're doing enough grain now, and it's not bad.

Moreover, most of them now invest their excess funds in industrial and commercial industries, which is beneficial to Daming.

"The minister's capital crime, since His Majesty climbed to the extreme, my Ming Dynasty is peaceful, and the minister has been able to indulge in wine, and the minister always thinks that His Majesty is busy with state affairs all day long, and the minister is content to enjoy, it is really ashamed to ......be extremely ashamed."

first bowed and pleaded guilty, Zheng Cong then said.

"The sin ministers eat the king's lu, and they should be worried about the king, and the king's ascension to the country is really a major matter related to the stability of the dynasty for a hundred years, so the minister can't help but say ......"

Although he knew that Ling'er must have instructed him to ask, Zhu Mingzhong did not break it, every mother is heartbroken, hundreds of thousands of people have emigrated overseas every year over the years, and naturally know that overseas is not as wild as people imagine, but it is not necessarily a paradise, although the extraction of artemisinin has allowed malaria to be treated, but Nanyang is still not a good place.

Just when these mothers were there looking at the map and thinking that their sons were going to go to those places to go to the country. "New Summer" suddenly broke into their sight, how could this not make them excited.

In fact, at the earliest, I am afraid that they all considered it in North America, Zhu Mingzhong had seen "Chronicles of the Americas" on Concubine Zhao's bed, if it weren't for their son's relationship, they would not have been interested in such a distant place, but it was too far away, and it was too risky to cross the ocean, not to mention, it would take a year to go back and forth.

But Xinxia is different, it is very close to Nanyang, now, everyone has been accustomed to Nanyang as the "garden" of the Ming Dynasty, from Qin to Guangzhou is only a dozen days, and even, in the future, the railway of the Ming Dynasty may be built from Zhongdu, all the way to Nantianmen. At that time, how will Nanyang differ from the mainland?

Of course, the climate in Nanyang is not very good, there are many mosquitoes and miasma, if there is no choice, they prefer to choose Nanyang, maybe when the railway is built, in ten days, those children can arrive in Zhongdu by train from Nanyang.

But now the "new summer" suddenly appeared in their sight, where the four seasons are like spring, neither hot nor cold, fertile for thousands of miles, and there are no mosquitoes, miasma and other evil diseases, it is simply a land of fish and rice!

Therefore, from the queen to the concubine, they all started to think, but it was a little farther away than Nanyang, if they wanted to see their son in the future, at most, it would be a month at most, and they could see their son or grandson, wouldn't it be better than North America?

Zhu Mingzhong can certainly understand the thoughts of his mother, and recently, in the newspapers, some people advocated that the imperial court should immigrate to Xinxia as soon as possible, and had ensured that it was not occupied by "Westerners", and even worried that Nanyang Zhuxia would compete with the imperial court for land. Then the ministers of the DPRK and the central government have made a decision, hoping to implement the immigration plan, and have even come up with a plan - 50% of the Shaanxi immigrants who were originally scheduled to immigrate to the northeast will be immigrated to Xinxia. According to their plan, the number of immigrants in the "new summer" will exceed 1.5 million within 10 years. There will be dozens of full counties.

However, they didn't mention the matter of the king's accession to the country, after all, there was no such good thing as the Nanyang Zhuxia country, the court just robbed them of a place, and as for the people or something, they all figured it out by themselves. Although everyone doesn't say it, everyone knows that it must be the place where the princes are in the country.

If the ministers don't say it, it doesn't mean that others can't say it, just like Zheng Cong is mentioning this matter as a family member now, since his identity is a minister and a family member.

"Hmmm......"

Nodding, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Zheng Cong and smiled.

"Do you know that you came out to worry about me?"

Staring at Zheng Cong, Zhu Mingzhong thought for a moment, and then said.

"Over the years, you have lingered on the Qinhuai River, but just to defile yourself, in fact, you don't have to be so careful, I have never been a narrow-minded person......"

"Death penalty!"

As soon as His Majesty said this, Zheng Cong hurriedly pleaded guilty.

"Don't say anything about capital crimes, your mind is clear."

Looking at the panicked Zheng Cong, Zhu Mingzhong smiled.

"This "New Summer" immigration should indeed be launched, but as for the closure of the country, there is no need to worry for the time being, after all, they are still young, as for the future closure of the country, I have my own considerations! However, since you have decided to come out to help me share my worries, how can I make your heart cold, how about you become the governor in the new summer? ”

"Ahh

Zheng Cong's eyes widened, and his eyes were full of surprise.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the minister, the minister is incompetent, it's really not, it's overwhelmed......"

Go to the new summer, go to the place where the birds don't!

Be a Governor!

Just when Zheng Cong refused in panic, Zhu Mingzhong waved his hand and said.

"Since I let you go, I will definitely trust you, don't say anything overwhelmed, Xinxia will be the fief of the kings in the future, you went to give your cousins a front stop, this is also what you should do as a brother, this matter is so decided!"

Zheng Cong, who didn't expect to be pitted like this, his face had become abnormal, and he smiled bitterly knowing that he could no longer change the facts.

"Obey."

Looking at Zheng Cong with a wry smile on his face, Zhu Mingzhong just laughed, he was worried about letting people take charge of Xinxia's affairs, after all, the ministers of the court and the central government would definitely not concentrate on business when they knew that there would be a division there, so the selection of this person was really a headache. I didn't expect Zheng Cong to stand up by himself, sometimes, the family is always better.

"Zheng Cong, come here!"

Let Zheng Cong stand at the desk, Zhu Mingzhong pointed to the drawings on the table and said.

"What do you think this is?"

"What is this?"

Looking at the drawings suspiciously, Zheng Cong was puzzled, he couldn't understand the drawings at all.

"And what?"

Picking up another drawing, Zhu Mingzhong asked again.

"This ...... It's kind of like a steam engine, but it seems to be different. ”

"This is a water-tube boiler and a three-expansion steam engine!"

Pointing to the drawings on the table, Zhu Mingzhong said to Zheng Cong.

"With these two things, the efficiency of the steam engine will be higher, and the coal consumption will be further reduced, and when the time comes, the steam engine will be able to be applied to the ship, and when they are loaded on the ship, it will only take about twenty days at most from Xinxia to Haizhou, in fact, there is no difference between it and the mainland of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Can a steam engine fit on a ship?"

Zheng Cong looked at His Majesty in surprise and asked rhetorically.

"Why not? If the steam engine can be used on a train, why can't it be used on a ship? ”

。 m.