At present, there is no official governor of Dengzhou, leaving aside Zhao Guangluan, who was selected by Wang Chengen, Zhu Ping'an is the actual controller of Dengzhou today. It is undeniable that although the general trend of the world is chaotic today, it is far from the point of swords and smoke everywhere, so it is undoubtedly unrealistic to want to get rid of the restrictions of the Ming Dynasty to develop their imagination. Therefore, Zhu Ping'an's construction of Dengzhou can only be carried out from three aspects.

The first is land. The land annexation of the Ming Dynasty has now reached an unbelievable level. Seven-eight out of ten of the land in the world is in the hands of powerful people and merchants, and the people who occupy two-thirds of the world's acres of land have to bear all the land taxes and all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the Ming Dynasty. Yang Sichang suppressed the thieves, and then came up with another "salary", and added it to the fields and acres, which was equivalent to forcing countless people into the ranks of the thieves.

Li Zicheng is about to raise troops again, and this time, it is different from the past. Zhu Ping'an knew that this time, Li Zicheng would put forward the slogan of "Juntian is exempt". Don't look at just four simple words, but it is enough to make millions of people and displaced people in the world devote themselves to him without hesitation, which is equivalent to sounding the death knell for the Ming Empire.

If Dengzhou is to avoid this situation, it will have to make changes to the land annexation that is currently intensifying. In the first step, Zhu Ping'an wanted to return the land in the hands of the officers to the military households for cultivation, so as to ensure the basic combat strength of Dengzhou and firmly attract tens of thousands of military households under his command. The second step is to gather the displaced people. There has been a severe drought in Shandong for several years, and there are hundreds of thousands of displaced people, and there are at least tens of thousands of people in Dengzhou. Recruit the people into the army. The rest of the wasteland was reclaimed under the unified distribution of the government, and the reclaimed wasteland did not have to bear any land endowment or forced labor within two years.

For this policy, it was supported by Zhao Guangluan and Yang Tinglin, and it was also because of this that Zhu Ping'an won the support of some scholars with a sense of reform and distress represented by these two people.

The other is a large amount of land in the hands of magnates and merchants. At present, it is very difficult to snatch the land from the hands of the powerful, because the world is not in chaos. And the land in the hands of the merchants is not a small number, so Zhu Ping'an naturally hit them with his brains.

The Trade Zone is a great opportunity. Attract the attraction of merchants from the land to the commercial development. Gradually, they will find out. The profits generated by business will far exceed the benefits of agriculture. Zhu Ping'an even acquired a large amount of powerful land in the name of the government, and the thing that attracted these rich landlords was the shops in the trade area, and at present, there are still very few landlords who dare to invest in business. But Zhu Ping'an believed. Once the value of the trade zone is revealed in a short period of time. They can't wait to jump in, but one thing to be clear is, it's time. They are going to pay more.

The second is military affairs. Both the naval division and the new army are in full swing of construction. At present, the new army has recruited 5,000 people, and Zhu Ping'an plans to keep these 5,000 people as an establishment. Of these 5,000 people, Zhu Ping'an did not arrange any of his old subordinates to serve in them, except for leaving 100 veterans to lead the training of recruits.

Because Zhu Ping'an knew that this army would be an epoch-making army, and it would be the strongest combat force combining hot and cold weapons, and gradually, it would also slowly transition to a completely firearms combat unit. And his old subordinates, Yue Jinfeng, Zhang Dagou, Qiu Ze and others obviously can't meet the current standards, only Li Dingguo, after the Battle of Julu, is quite interested in the use of firearms, and also volunteered to join the first study class of the martial arts hall.

As for the future commanders of the new army at all levels, Zhu Ping'an had already made up his mind, that is, to select from the students of the martial arts hall. At present, the teachers of Jiangwutang can be described as full of talents. Zhang Tao, recommended by Sun Heding, and his two students, Kang Minqian and Tan Yu, recommended by Wang Zheng, have all come to Dengzhou, plus Goethe, the chief instructor of the New Army, and Meinhull, the commander of the artillery unit, can all teach in the lecture hall.

What surprised Zhu Ping'an the most was that an old acquaintance came from Fengyang during the period, and it turned out to be Zhang Jizu, the eldest young master of the Zhang family of the Fengyang clan. This original nerd heard about the battle of Julu, and he had to abandon literature and martial arts, and was scolded by Zhang Shan, the old man at home, and locked up at home. Who would have thought that this eldest young master would escape from his home and travel all the way, and he actually rushed from Fengyang to Dengzhou on foot.

Zhu Ping'an said at the opening ceremony that the students who graduated from the martial arts hall in the future would become commanders at all levels of the new army. In this way, it also greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the army to enter the lecture hall, and for a time, many non-commissioned officers and soldiers had begun to spontaneously go to the school to learn literacy and basic cultural knowledge. This was something Zhu Ping'an did not expect.

At his invitation, a group of Confucian students in Fengyang who were hopeless in the imperial examination also came to Dengzhou, and Zhu Ping'an simply incorporated Zhang Jizu and these people into Weixue to form a so-called "literacy class".

It's just that Zhang Jizu was unwilling, pestering Zhu Ping'an and promising him that after the first literacy class was over, he would go to the lecture hall to learn military affairs.

So there was a strange scene in Penglai City, during the day, the soldiers of the brigade sweated like rain, and carried out recruit training under the leadership of the old soldiers; In the evening, the health school, lecture halls, and literacy classes in all parts of Penglai City are brightly lit, and a large number of young soldiers are enthusiastically studying at night under the leadership of teachers.

Even Zhao Guangluan and Yang Tinglin were surprised by this situation, and in the evening, the two of them drove lightly and walked all over the large and small concentrated study places inside and outside Penglai City, facing the high learning feelings of the soldiers, both of them were both relieved and surprised.

Within two months, the restoration work of the sailor was nearing completion. After the refurbishment of the recruited craftsmen, there are currently more than 150 ships in use, of which there are 15 three-masted gunboats as the main force, and 30 centipede ships imitating Portuguese multi-oared boats. The rest are medium-sized sea boats, wheel boats, small Cangshan boats, red dragon boats, etc., and there are countless small sampans. However, the guns and guns on the ship are really old and need to be replaced on a large scale. Coupled with the recruitment tax, the daily maintenance and maintenance of the ship, as well as the supply of food and grass for the sailors, and ammunition, Zhu Ping'an's 500,000 taels invested in the early stage may not be able to support it for two years.

The formation of the new army, the reorganization of the troops of the various garrisons, the rations and grass, the weapons and armour, the firearms and ammunition, and so on, all added up to a great expense. At present, 500,000 taels have been removed for the exclusive use of water divisions. Zhu Ping'an still has about two million taels of silver in his hands. But once the above-mentioned expenses are removed, it will be a good result for Zhu Ping'an to have 500,000 taels left in his hands.

Therefore, the commissioning of the trade zone is imminent.

In October of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Wang Pin, the new eunuch of Dengzhou City, arrived in Dengzhou. It's on the pier of the newly built Penglai port. Facing the officials at all levels in Dengzhou who came to greet him. Wang Pin read out the holy decree of Emperor Chongzhen on the spot. It was announced that Dengzhou City Boshi was officially established on the same day. For a while, the officials, businessmen, and people who came to greet him were all happy.

At the end of September, the Dengzhou Trade Zone was officially completed. Covering an astonishing area of more than 600 acres, close to the new port of Penglai, this port integrates civil and military use, and the investment of silver money alone has reached 300,000 taels. Of course, this is not Zhu Ping'an's investment alone, but by the Francophone business group and Fengxiantang, this port has nothing to do with the government, and the future income will not be the government's turn to dictate.

The Dengzhou Trade Zone is designed according to the structure of Jingshifang City, and is divided into different areas for different trades. Among them, there are five main roads, supplemented by large and small streets, and the trade routes are also clearly marked according to the different regions. There are also a large number of warehouses, inns, carriage and horse shops, restaurants, restaurants, tea shops, and coolies, all of which are in the hands of Zhu Ping'an and Zhou Mian. López wanted to get a piece of the pie, but Zhu Ping'an thought about it and politely rejected him, after all, this will be the core area of Dengzhou and even Shandong, and it may become a place of attention in the world in the future, and it is still a little inappropriate to integrate foreign capital.

Just before Wang Pin arrived in Dengzhou, the shops in the entire trade area had already sold three-fifths, which happened in just one month when Zhu Ping'an nodded and agreed to start selling. Of course, this also includes the strong commercial and propaganda capabilities of Fengxiantang and the Military Intelligence Department. It was also at this time that Zhu Ping'an learned that the so-called Fengxian Hall was not just a business name in Shandong, this Fengxian Hall had a branch in all provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and Shandong Shen Mingxian was just one of them. Thinking about these resources in Wang Chengen's hands, Zhu Ping'an's eyes were hot.

But Wang Pin's words interrupted Zhu Ping'an's train of thought. Looking at the jubilant soldiers and civilians under the high platform, Wang Pin couldn't help but sigh a little, the year before last, Zhu Ping'an was just a hundred households, and now he is already a feudal official in the actual sense, controlling one side. Now Dengzhou is completely free of the lifeless atmosphere of other places in Shandong, but it is more and more vigorous and vigorous, and the young man in front of him is indeed outstanding. But it's a pity that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a deep prejudice against Zhu Ping'an because of a woman, but he has never said anything about wooing him since then, which makes Wang Pin feel very regretful.

"I heard that Shanxi businessmen are a little restless?" The smile on Wang Pin's face did not decrease.

Wang Pinnai is Wang Chengen's righteous son, and Zhu Ping'an has already learned about this matter, but Wang Chengen did not mention it in his letter. This detail Zhu Ping'an kept in mind, Wang Pin and the East Palace are very close, this is an obvious fact, what thoughts he has Zhu Ping'an is also clear, now the plan, this person can make friends, but you must pay attention to proportion, this is Zhu Ping'an's own experience.

"Father-in-law, rest assured, they can't set off any strong winds and waves, the city has been established, they want to suppress the momentum of the trade zone, and now it seems that it is just a mantis arm as a car."

Zhu Ping'an smiled relaxedly, and the corners of his mouth were filled with the taste of conspiracy that Wang Pin was very familiar with, "In less than a month, they can only leave Shandong in a gloomy manner, and the road to Dengzhou can only be ours." ”

Zhu Ping'an leaned a little closer, and said in a low voice: "The shops in the trade area have not been completely sold to the outside world, which is also what I mean, and I have kept a few of them in prime locations." In the past few days, the father-in-law can send his confidants to the Yamen of the capital to hand over, and in the future, this will be the property of the father-in-law! ”

Wang Pin smiled knowingly, "Our family has long known that dealing with your safe and virtuous brother is one is worry-free, and the other is that making a fortune is indispensable!" (To be continued......)