On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month of the second year of the Longhan Dynasty, Li Zhen, the daughter of Li Shuchu, the governor of the Central Plains, entered the palace and was named the Zhaoyi of the Nine Concubines. This wedding is very grand, for Emperor Liu Jun, accepting Li Zhen is not only the expectation of the Emperor and the Queen Mother, but also the ardent expectation of Li Shuchu.

Li Zhen still has the blood of the Daming Zhu family, and her mother is the daughter of the king of Daming County. Now that the emperor welcomes Li Zhen into the palace, it is not only a reward and appreciation for a father like Li Shuchu, but also a signal that the Han dynasty has been stabilized, and the former Ming clan is no longer so guarded.

As for Li Zhen, since she was rescued by Liu Jun in the bandit cottage, she took the initiative to promise but was ruthlessly rejected, and now she can be regarded as guarding the clouds and seeing the bright moon.

In the past few years, she has even had the idea of becoming a monk.

Her wish came true, and she didn't forget her good sister Mei Qing, who had been in contact with her for the past two years.

"Sister Mei has always been interested in you, you can't forget her. Sister Mei's filial piety is about to expire, when will you take her into the palace? ”

When Li Zhen said this bluntly, Liu Jun was a little surprised. Mei Qing was not only his teacher's beloved daughter, but also a comrade who fought side by side with him. For that maverick woman, Liu Jun has always felt admiration, in such an era, only a free and easy character like the teacher Mei Zhihuan can raise such a daughter.

Mei Zhihuan has feelings for him, he can't confirm it, but since Li Zhen said so, it is estimated that there is. Liu Jun has a high opinion of Mei Qing, and thinks that she is a heroine and heroine like Qin Liangyu. In the past few years, Mei Qing has been filial piety to her father in the township, otherwise. She will definitely stay in the army, and she may have become a general by now.

If Mei Qing has no intention of herself, of course Liu Jun can't force her into the palace. That is not only disrespectful to the teacher, but also disrespectful to Mei Qing. But if she is interested, Liu Jun is actually very happy to take her into the palace.

Seeing Liu Jun say this, Li Zhen was happy for her sister, and she further said, "Sister Mei's mourning period is about to expire, and now we have to start making preparations." ”

"This thing. I think you should go to Macheng first, and you have to have a clear attitude. If she is indeed willing to enter the palace, I will naturally be very happy. If she doesn't mean it, we can't force it. If she really wants to, then start preparing now, and wait for her filial piety to expire next year. I immediately sent someone to take her to Beijing. Liu Jun expressed his opinion.

As an emperor. In fact, emotional things are difficult to be simple, more or less there will always be a lot of other things, and there are too many interest exchanges and considerations.

It is even more rare to have someone who already has some good feelings for each other. Liu Jun cherished this kind of feeling very much, and he rejected Li Zhen back then, because he was just a little martial artist at that time, and when he had a fiancée, it was impossible to have any entanglements with Gaomen's daughter. After all, Li Zhen's identity will never be small for him. If things continue to develop, it will only be difficult for everyone.

But now that he is the Son of Heaven, and he marries Li Zhen, not only will there be no opposition from the Li family, but they will also be very happy to see this result.

Li Zhen entered the palace, and everyone was happy, and the only one who was unhappy was the queen Lu. Since the last time the prince was established, Queen Lu annoyed Liu Jun, Liu Jun has become more and more deliberately cold to her during this time, this coldness is also a stern warning, the prince's matter is not an ordinary trivial family matter, a private matter, but a military matter. Liu Jun doesn't want the queen to get involved in this kind of big thing, and his tough attitude is to set up a rule for this kind of thing, and the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, and there is no discount to fight.

In Kunning Palace, Empress Lu hugged the three-year-old Japanese prince Liu Hekun and couldn't help crying.

"I've had enough, that Li Zhen once called the door back then, but I didn't expect that now, I really let her enter the palace. Why, just because she was born noble, was she once a golden branch and jade leaf? Then in the future, will I have to give her the position of queen, and when she gives birth to a son, will I still make her son the crown prince? ”

There are other things that the Lu family can endure, such as the Shen family, the Chen family, the Liu family, etc., who have entered the Liu family in the early years, but this Li family, she can't bear it.

This Li made her feel a strong threat. In the past, although the women in the emperor's harem entered the palace one after another, there was nothing that really made the Lu family feel threatened.

Shen Chenliu and several people were married in their early years, and it was impossible for them to threaten themselves. Joseon's Lee was once made a wife, but after all, she was a Korean princess, and she was unlikely to be the queen.

Only this Li family had some unclear relationship with the emperor in the past. And he was born high, his mother was the daughter of the king of Daming County, and his father was also a Jinshi, and now he is the governor of the Central Plains, a marquis, and one of the first important ministers to support the emperor. As for her background, she is the daughter of a businessman, and although her father is now the secretary of finance, his qualifications in the DPRK are far inferior to Li Shuchu.

What's more, both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager like this Li family more.

The disgruntled Lu simply asked the emperor to leave the palace to save his relatives and go to his father's mansion to live for a while.

Liu Jun didn't want the Lu family to go out of the palace at this time, so he politely refused.

"I'm not asking you, I'm informing you."

Lu, who has always been very tame to Liu Jun, has never been tougher, she ignored Liu Jun's objections at all, and directly packed up her things on the same day, and took her two children to leave the palace.

The guards came to report, Liu Jun shook his head helplessly after hearing this, and finally said, "That's it, immediately notify the Secretary of Finance from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, saying that the queen will go home to save her relatives, and let the Lu Mansion be ready to meet her." In addition, let the Ministry of Internal Affairs Duo'an send the guards to return to the Lu Mansion with the queen. ”

Soon after the daughter of the governor of the Central Plains entered the palace, the queen left the palace and returned to her father, the secretary of finance, Lu Fu, and the provincial relatives.

Finance Secretary Lu Weizhang suddenly received a notice from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to welcome the queen back to his hometown, and his heart was not happy at all, but his face turned pale.

He returned to the house according to the order, and after leading his family to welcome the queen back to the house, he turned around and rushed to the palace to face the saint.

As soon as Lu Weizhang saw the emperor, he immediately pleaded guilty.

"The prince of the country, please get up, this matter is actually nothing, the queen has not returned to the Lu family for a long time, and she went out of the palace to live at home. It is also common sense of human beings. ”

Lu Weizhang carefully looked at the face of the emperor's son-in-law, and found that the emperor was not unhappy, so he cautiously breathed a sigh of relief.

For the recent establishment of the crown prince. He knows something. But he didn't dare to say a word, the matter of establishing a prince has always been a major matter of heaven, and the foreign ministers cannot interfere at all, especially since he is still the queen's father, if he dares to interfere, he is afraid that the young emperor's son-in-law will masturbate him as soon as possible. If he was dismissed from office and taken away from his ministry, if his daughter and grandson were affected because of this, it would be the real gain that outweighed the loss.

He didn't expect that. The daughter is getting more and more troublesome, and she is actually going back to her parents' house.

Fortunately, the Emperor didn't seem to be annoyed now.

"During this time, the queen will live in the Lu Mansion, and she may have to make noise about the Guozhang Mansion for a while, please bear with me."

"Wechen is very honored."

Lu Weizhang replied dryly. I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing.

Liu Jun also felt that such an atmosphere was a little embarrassing. Simply putting aside the queen's homecoming, he asked about the finances.

"Lu Qing." Liu Jun no longer calls Lu Weizhang the national abbot and calls Lu Qing, this is the attitude of talking about business.

"The minister is here."

"Now it's the end of the lunar month, and at this time of the year, financial work is always a top priority. I have seen the report from the finance and taxation and audit departments before, and this year's financial situation is very good. ”

The second year of the Longhan Dynasty has come to an end, and the empire has reached a new level in this year, from the eastward expedition to the Liaodong Jurchens after the year. Then to the small-scale war in the northwest and Moxi Mongolia, and then to the dispatch of troops to the east. And later, the Eastern Expedition to the Japanese, the merger of Korea, the imperial court has done too many things in this year, looking back, Liu Jun himself was very surprised.

After conquering the Mongolian steppe, Liaodong outside the Guanwai, opening up the northwest and pacifying the southwest, and then recovering the three Xuanliu comforts in the central and southern regions, and annexing Japan and annexing Korea, the population of the Han Empire has exceeded 30,000 according to the latest census presented by the Department of Civil Affairs.

This is a rather astonishing breakthrough, and no dynasty in the Chinese dynasties has ever broken through the 300 million population mark. Although in all dynasties and generations, only registered to pay taxes, there will always be a large number of women and children, monks, eunuchs, palace people, untouchables, and even military soldiers who are not included in the population register, but even if all the populations are added up, it is estimated that none of the dynasties has ever exceeded 300 million people.

Before the Sacred Han Dynasty, the largest population of all generations of dynasties should still be the Ming Dynasty, and by the end of Wanli, the population should have reached more than 200 million, but 300 million is still a barrier that has never been broken.

Today, Dahan has a population of 300 million.

Its territory area is even more distant than the Han and Tang dynasties, surpassing the Song and Ming dynasties.

It reaches the Great Ice Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Himalayas in the south, and the Tianshan Mountains in the east.

In the second year of the Dragon Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty finally destroyed the Manchu Qing Dynasty, destroyed Japan, and merged Korea. At the same time, Qinghai and Tibet also expressed their submission to the Han Dynasty, and with such outstanding martial arts alone, Liu Jun is enough to proudly say that he is still counting the heroes of the present dynasty.

"Back to Your Majesty, this year's imperial treasury surplus has reached 800 million silver dollars, and the provincial finances have more or less surpluses. For those who are well-off, such as Shuntianfu, their fiscal surpluses this year have reached more than 8 million silver dollars, and Nanjing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Yangzhou, Hankou, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou have also had financial surpluses of more than 1 million silver dollars. This year, the whole court can have a fat year. ”

"Nanjing's silk satin, Shanghai's cotton, Hankou's iron, Tianjin's ships, Guangzhou's sugar, Yangzhou's salt, Hangzhou's tea," Liu Jun said with a smile. In the Chongzhen period in Nanjing, there were still very few weavers, but now there are more than 50,000 looms in Nanjing, and the number of looms accounts for nearly half of the country, far exceeding that of Suzhou and Hangzhou. Shanghai's cotton textile has also developed very fast, and now Shanghai's cotton cloth output is the first in the country. ”

In the past two years, the imperial court has supplied a lot of fresh blood to the officialdom in various places, especially under the new assessment system, the efficiency of the officials has been much higher, and under the call of the imperial court to vigorously develop the economy, all localities are focusing on the economy.

These cities mentioned by Lu Weizhang are some of the cities with the fastest economic development in the imperial court today, and they are all big cities, and these cities are also the places where the imperial court has changed blood the most.

Giving full play to the concept of urban management, taking advantage of the huge population of major cities and transportation, developing major industries, and striving for the support of the imperial court, each has now developed a fist industry.

Relying on these pillar industries. Driving local economic development and forming unique regional advantages, these cities have achieved good harvests this year. At the same time as the completion of the payment of national taxes, they also had a fiscal surplus of four to five million to 10 million yuan.

At a time when many local officials were still counting on the imperial court's withdrawal of funds and the imperial court's payment of salaries to their officials and teachers, Nanjing, Tianjin and other cities had left them far behind and had their own rich coffers.

It is foreseeable that in the future these first-tier cities. It will only be with those places that will only wait and see, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger.

At present, Tianjin, Nanjing, these big cities with rapid economic development, have greatly appreciated the value of urban real estate. Tianjin and other cities have begun to follow the example of Shuntianfu and have begun to sell land to make a lot of money for development.

"This is the huge advantage brought by the country's economic integration, Susong is relieved to engage in mulberry hemp silkworm spinning and weaving, and Taiwan is vigorously developing sugarcane planting and sugar production. At the same time, Fujian and Zhejiang are vigorously developing tea planting. Tobacco is also being vigorously cultivated. Guangxi is also vigorously planting sugarcane, and Yunnan is planting tea, spices, coffee, chocolate beans, and cocoa trees. Jiangxi focuses on porcelain production, Huguang grain planting, and gold and coal mine development in Shandong, Shanxi.

Different regions of the Han Empire put aside traditional grain cultivation and developed economies with local characteristics.

The traditional Susong granary is now the most important cash crop area, as well as the southeast seaport. It is also an important trading port and has a well-developed shipbuilding industry.

Huguang and the Central Plains have become important grain producing areas. Shanxi and Shaanxi have vigorously developed the development of coal and other mineral resources.

The steppes became the empire's largest supplier of livestock and dairy products.

Different goods from all over the place quickly circulated to all over the place. Ordinary people can buy all kinds of goods, from grain to livestock, from seafood to coal, to steel production tools, to oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, sugar and wine.

This is also a kind of division of labor, and a farmer, if he farms on a piece of land that is not fertile, may make little profit. But if there is a piece of coal in the ground, then they can mine the coal and sell it, and the profit can be ten times that of farming. And if a farmer switches to mulberry and silkworm cultivation in the original rice field, the harvest may also be several times that of rice.

For the imperial court, it is the hand that controls the overall situation, and it is impossible for the country's 300 million people to be peasants to farm the land, and all of them to be peasants to grow grain, and the grain produced will be surplus. As long as some of the people are guaranteed to grow enough food, it is enough for the rest of the people to do other things, such as mulberry and silkworm breeding, hemp weaving, cotton and sugar cane, spices and tea trees, soybeans and potatoes and corn, and even more surplus labor, and they can also go to mining, shipbuilding, ironmaking, and making more goods.

A finer division of labor, more convenience, a better life.

"The imperial court has a financial surplus of 800 million, and next year will be better!"

Lu Weizhang nodded, "The Finance Department expects that the revenue of the central government will reach 200 million next year. ”

The 2 billion yuan central fiscal revenue, plus this year's fiscal surplus of 800 million yuan, not counting this year's national and local fiscal surpluses, and next year's local fiscal revenue, if added together, this will be a huge number.

Liu Jun couldn't help but think of a piece of music on the table, which was reported by Dongchang, and the title was very interesting, the Han Folk Rich List.

Among them, the first person on the list topped the list with a net worth of more than 53 million silver dollars. The top 10 on this 100 list are all more than 30 million silver dollars in assets, and the 100th has assets of more than 5 million silver dollars.

If it weren't for the fact that this list was reported by Dongchang, Liu Jun would have thought that it was a wild list from a teahouse restaurant.

More than 50 million silver dollars, if this is put in the future generations, at least it will be a billionaire, maybe a billionaire. In the Qing Dynasty, there were also some super-rich people with a net worth of tens of millions of taels of silver, but those were either big salt merchants or officials.

Thanks to the tolerant and encouraging attitude of the Holy Han towards industry and commerce and merchants, some bold, enterprising and lucky businessmen have indeed made a fortune in recent years.

Of course, if you really talk about the richest man in the Han Dynasty, no one will be able to surpass Liu Jun.

The industries under Liu Jun's name are all the most profitable industries, and they are all huge, and it is quite scary to take one out at random.

In addition, the list is not entirely correct, for example, some of them are not on the list. Such as Lu Weizhang, the financial secretary in front of Liu Jun. This father-in-law took care of the industry for Liu Jun a few years ago, Liu Jun gave him shares, and he himself also had the property of running the Lu family, and he was also a big deal.

If nothing else, his stake in a few banks and the East India Company alone will never be less than 30 million, and if he is on the list, he will definitely be in the top ten.

In fact, the Shen family at the top of the list is a partner of Liu Jun, the richest man in the Han East India Company, a huge maritime trade group, occupies a lot of shares, and the Shen family is also a large weaver with more than 20,000 looms, and he also has a large shipyard and a large shipping company.

As early as the Ming Dynasty, the Shen family was a wealthy man in the south of the Yangtze River, and after getting on Liu Jun's tailwind boat, it has been smooth sailing in recent years, and its development has soared, and now it is the richest man with assets of more than 53 million silver dollars.

Even on the list of 100 riches provided by Dongchang, many of the richest people are actually Liu Jun's partners and shareholders of his huge monopoly groups.

The total economic volume of the Holy Han is really increasing rapidly, and millionaires are being produced in batches.

A large number of capitalists are being produced, and Liu Jun is even a little worried, if these capitalists are full-fledged, will there be a bourgeois revolution in the Han Empire!

Will the bourgeoisie get out of control?

This is also a question worthy of Liu Jun's deep thought. (To be continued.) )