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From the riverside wharf of Wuchang to the city, where it was originally a ruin, but now it is paved with a smooth 24-meter-wide horse tooth stone road that can accommodate eight horse-drawn carriages in parallel, this horse tooth stone road is built according to the Western-style repair method, and now the roads inside and outside Wuchang City are this kind of horse tooth stone road. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the ruins on both sides of this avenue, there have long been buildings connected to each other, one after another two-story Chinese-style buildings, like stalls connected by rows and rows, and there are all kinds of signboards hanging at the door beams of buildings for several miles, as well as neat Buman, and now Wuchang has completely restored its former prosperity.

"Looks like this street is a little too wide......"

Looking at the deserted main street, looking at the relatively lively auxiliary roads and sidewalks, Zhu Yifeng secretly thought in his heart, but then he smiled again, this road should be forward-looking, now it seems that this road is too spacious, but after a hundred years, maybe this road will feel narrow.

Looking at the bustling pedestrians on the six-meter-wide auxiliary road on the side of the road, and looking at the clothes and hairstyles that have changed on people's bodies, the corners of Zhu Yifeng's lips are slightly raised, with a little pride. Now there are almost no braids in the three provinces, and many of the people's clothes in this city have also been replaced by Han-style clothing, compared to the stiff Western-style clothing, they are more accustomed to loose Hanfu, and in order to promote Hanfu, Zhu Yifeng even drew his own Hanfu patterns for people to choose.

"Cutting braids and changing Hanfu" or "growing hair and making clothes" is a kind of compromise for more conservative people, and there will inevitably be compromises in any political behavior, especially at this time, the radical policies of the past are very likely to attract strong opposition, and the people can understand "cutting braids and growing hair", but if it is completely Western, now their rule may be turbulent.

After all, whether it is hair growth or Hanfu, it is all Chinese.

But on the other hand, the Western military uniforms of the rebel army imitating the Zhongshan suit of the Republic of China and the uniforms worn by the young officials of the Governor's Mansion are also imperceptibly influencing the people around them. Because of this popularity, the rebels had to put up notices strictly prohibiting people from wearing military uniforms, that is, black uniforms with leaders and chest marks.

But this is only a visible change, what about another invisible change?

"Runzhi, are there any new foot-bound people this year?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Yifeng retracted his eyes from the car and asked Hu Linyi beside him.

After the establishment of the Governor's Office, Zhu Yifeng formulated the so-called "three bad habits", that is, uncleanness, foot binding and braided hair, these three must be abolished and improved, unclean refers to the street open defecation, no personal hygiene, as for the "pig's tail" like braids Needless to say, it is natural to cut off, but the woman's "foot binding" must be banned as a thousand years of bad habits.

"Foot binding is difficult, anti-foot binding is even more difficult", foot binding can be said to be one of the oldest and deepest customs in China. Of course, Zhu Yifeng would not use anything to "advocate the removal of women's bad habits of foot binding", but it is even more difficult to bind feet than to cut braids, after all, to some extent, foot binding is almost a sign of the Han people. In order to get rid of this bad habit, after Wuchang customized, he summoned the officials in the palace and asked him to give his wife a women's football team, and those who were unwilling to give their families enough to be dismissed from their official positions.

Then, following the example of Peter the Great's reforms, he issued an order to introduce a "full tax". The woman who wraps her feet needs to pay 30 taels of "foot tax" every year, this unbelievable tax was opposed by the officials in the government at that time, they can understand cutting braids, but they can't understand it, but in the face of Zhu Yifeng's toughness, they finally had to give in and accept this reality.

The annual "foot tax" of 30 taels, even for the country gentry, is enough for their flesh pain, and it is thanks to this, except for a very small number of people, most women are forced to put their feet on this "foot tax", and only a very few people are still bound to their feet.

"Back to Handu, there are less than 20 new people in Wuchang this year, and those who pay the "full tax" to receive licenses are more than 60% less than last year......

Referring to this "foot tax", Hu Linyi's heart only felt a mixed array of five flavors, Zuo Zongtang was demoted and retained because it was unfavorable to put enough feet in Hunan, and the collection of "foot tax" was unfavorable, and even Hu Linyi himself was relegated because he asked his wife to pay the "foot tax", although Han Du did not say anything in person, but the dinner party held by Mrs. in the mansion did not invite his wife to participate for a month, and finally Hu Linyi figured out the taste himself, and went to return the "foot binding card", so that the insiders let go of their feet, and then they were invited again.

"Well, it's very good, now the vacuum of the foot is still in the countryside, this countryside must be done well, you can't put it in the city, this countryside is half put and half is not released, don't worry about stirring up a civil uprising, in order to let women "wrap their little feet" There are not a few people who dare to rebel, there are not enough gendarmes, the government can send troops to do it, all of them should be trained, as long as anyone dares to wrap their feet, they will raid the house, and they will also collect the fines and taxes, and if they can't copy the house, they will be ......subject to military service."

Han Du's instructions made Hu Linyi's heart tighten, and he didn't need to test Han Du's patience in this regard, he didn't have any patience at all.

However, he knew that Han Du, this instruction was more just about him, and hurriedly changed the topic, for fear that he would really continue to talk about this issue, and then really sent tens of thousands of recruits to the local area to supervise the release, just like cutting braids, putting feet and cutting braids, as long as the atmosphere is formed, the upward and downward effects, and slowly and naturally let go.

"Han Du, in the horse farm before, you asked Na Sassoon to buy horses from Baghdad, 60,000 horses, although the Arabian horse is indeed a rare horse, and the price is not expensive, but so many horses, how to settle, after all, the three provinces are densely populated, even if the land for the military horse farm is now very dissatisfied, how will these 60,000 horses be resettled at that time?"

Looking at Han Du, Hu Linyi asked tentatively.

"Han Du, is the palace ready to use soldiers again?"

Could it be that Shaanxi and Gansu are using troops? And then raise horses in Qinghai and other places?

"Use soldiers!"

Nodding, Zhu Yifeng said bluntly.

"The Governor is indeed ready to use troops abroad!"

When talking about the word "external", Zhu Yifeng deliberately accentuated the tone of those two words.

"Externally?"

Han Du's answer made Hu Linyi's brows jump, he had been in the mansion for a long time, he was already familiar with what Han Du said, the "external" in Han Du's mouth could never be Shaanxi and Gansu, only the real "external".

"Han Du, you want to use side ...... outside"

Hu Linyi's temptation made Zhu Yifeng's lips slightly raised, and then said in a seemingly calm tone.

"The south is not suitable for raising horses, so the governor is going to get a place for horses in the house!"

Where to keep horses!

His eyes widened in surprise and looked at Han Du in surprise, Hu Linyi only heard him say lightly.

"60,000 Arabian horses, seems to be a lot, but compared to China's huge horse herd base is not worth mentioning, we have at least 30 or 40 million horses in China, so a little horse thrown in, even a little wave can not be set off, so to establish a breeding base, on the one hand to breed horses, on the other hand to educate people, and so on the future to implement the improvement plan of horse breeds in the country......

This is a lesson from history, from the late Qing Dynasty to the fifties, although the introduction of breeding horses again and again, but in the end the bloodlines of those good breeds of horses were diluted in the huge local horse base, and finally disappeared and exhausted, just like the Han blood horses, and finally diluted by local horses, in this case, Zhu Yifeng thought of establishing a base first.

And this base obviously cannot be in the south, the south is not suitable for raising horses, and as for the north, it is even more unrealistic at the moment. However, because of his desire for colonies, he set his sights on another place, which could be described as natural pastures compared to the south, a land of extremely good conditions for horse grazing.

"I don't know where this land of horse grazing is in Handu's heart?"

Hu Linyi's question made Zhu Yifeng smile and spit out two words at him.

"Ezo!"

If it weren't for his interest in overseas colonies, how would Zhu Yifeng know that Hokkaido is not really Japanese territory now, Hokkaido was first included in the jurisdiction of the Japanese central government during the Tokugawa government, and the actual effective rule was during the Meiji government, that is, more than ten years later. As for today, Japan has a simple port in Hakodate, which later became Hakodate, and hundreds of people live there, which is nominally Japan.

Since they belong to Japan only in name, then remove this name from them now!

"Ezo?"

Where is Ezo?

In Hu Linyi's surprise, Zhu Yifeng continued.

"It is located in the north of Japan, almost half the size of Hubei, the island is sparsely populated, only a few thousand natives, the water and grass are fertile, the governor is going to send troops to take this island, and then use it as a horse breeding ground for the rebels......"

Hokkaido was chosen because in later generations, Hokkaido had the best farms in Asia, and Hokkaido was Japan's milk base, and more than 50% of Japan's milk came from Hokkaido farms. Since you can raise cattle, you can also raise horses, and more importantly, with Ezo as a springboard, the future rebels can enter Sakhalin, which is already controlled by the Russians, as well as Vladivostok and other Far Eastern regions, and even cooperate with the British and French fleets to launch an attack on Russian territory, such as Alaska!

Taking advantage of his illness to kill him, since Russia is now fighting with Britain and France, it is precisely at the time when it is with the support of Britain and France to cut off its claws that stretch out to the East, in history, it is Russia that fooled the Manchus with one mouth and cut off millions of square kilometers of China's Far East.

Mastering Ezo at least allowed the rebels to gain a foundation in the north, and with Ezo as a base, it was possible to secure the ownership of the Far East, or to attack north in the future and seize Kamchatka and Alaska, otherwise everything would be just empty talk!

"Ah......h

The borderless land north of Japan, looking at Han Du in surprise, and now Hu Linyi found that he really couldn't understand some of Han Du's thoughts, this, now that the internal affairs have not been calmed, is it too far to stretch out his hand?

"Han Du, now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not been eliminated, will it be too early to use troops in the far north?"

Hu Linyi is a smart person, he did not directly object, but tactfully expressed his attitude, while Zhu Yifeng smiled.

"It's not early, if you want me to say, it's a little late for us to start now, after all, it's the end of September, and when the fleet arrives, it is estimated that it will be winter!"

In the winter, it is not easy to use soldiers, and besides, if this opportunity is missed, who knows if there will be such an opportunity in the future? After all, now Japan only nominally "possesses" Ezo, and every day it drags on, their rule over Ezo will ...... Of course, there will not be much change, at least in the next ten years, but the situation in Japan will definitely change, and this is exactly what you need to be wary of.

Japan...... It's an unavoidable opponent!

muttering so much in his heart, Zhu Yifeng did not say his true thoughts, but changed the topic.

"If nothing else, next year, I will most likely rent a piece of land in Southeast Asia in the name of a private company, and when the time comes, I am going to build some plantations there, Runzhi, how about it, are you interested?"

Overseas colonization, must let the upper class get the benefits of colonization from it, they will support overseas colonization, maybe that land is not big, but at least let people, to be precise, the upper echelons of the Governorate experience the benefits of colonization from it, enjoy the benefits of overseas colonization, so that they can understand their own ideas, and then based on personal interests, support overseas colonization, otherwise, the biggest obstacle to overseas colonization is most likely not foreigners, but these traditional education within the Governorate, An official who doesn't know what colonization is.

"Uh......"

Hu Linyi, who was caught off guard by Han Du's jumping question, was stunned for a while, and then said for a while.

"Rent land? Plantation? Why is that, Handu? ”

Hu Linyi obviously didn't understand Han Du's thoughts, and his doubts were heard in Zhu Yifeng's ears, making him laugh.

"It is to rent a large piece of land in Southeast Asia, set up a plantation, and grow tropical crops such as spices and rubber when the time comes.

In the face of Han Du's naked words that were obviously inconsistent with his identity, Hu Linyi originally wanted to speak, or the words still changed their flavor when they came to his mouth.

"Then, how much silver do you need, Handu......"

Yes, take my words as borrowing money, and sighed secretly in his heart, Zhu Yifeng even regretted it, is it wrong to restrict officials from doing business, if they are allowed to participate in enterprises, maybe they will not be so ignorant, but this idea is a reversal, colonies are different from domestic, in China, officials must stay away from business...... (To be continued.) )