The two eras of Chongzhen and Longjing may be the most desirable era for the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty.

As far as civilian officials are concerned, the Ming Dynasty has expanded its territory year after year, annexing vassals almost like crazy, cracking down on Mengtar and Warat, and creating an extra county or even a prefecture every month. These places need to be governed by officials, and even as long as they are literate, they can eat imperial food.

As far as military attachés are concerned, the national policy of the Northern Expedition persisted until the third year, and the military department gave more establishments, and 80 percent of the officers' positions were vacant, so they did not have to worry about their own promotion. In particular, the tactics and weapons of the Ming Dynasty were not at all something that the Mongols could resist, and there was no suspense about the victory in the battle.

For the people, life may not be very comfortable.

According to the "Huangming Bulletin", the people of the Ming Dynasty got rid of the abject poverty line in Longjing for three years, and all of them entered the food and clothing line, which was so beautiful that people could hardly believe it. The "Shilin Daily", which has always sung the drama in the south, also deliberately went deep into the Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu frontiers for this reason, but did not find the destitute people.

If everyone can eat enough, why not be comfortable?

For under this dazzling aura, all the destitute families were forcibly relocated to Hetao, Liaoning, Haixi, Taiwan, Australia, and Annam—and now the establishment of the Jiaozhi Envoy has been restored.

Scholars who supported this approach argued that since there were places where they were too poor to feed their people—and in some places there was no rain for years, and the people could only drink a sip of water a day, let alone wash themselves—the state paid for their relocation.

This kind of view is mostly spread among the herdsmen, because after they go down, they find that if they don't leave, they can only survive in the local area, and there is no other way to solve the problem—can they still make it rain? Everyone knows that praying for rain is just a psychological comfort, and it can't be taken seriously.

However, there are also many who oppose it. believes that life is born and death is studied, and this homeland plot should be understood. Even if they die of thirst and starvation, they are still seeking benevolence, and the court sends them to the frontier and savage land by coercive means and almost exile, which is not a moral policy at all. Rather, it is tyranny!

Zhu Cihong doesn't mind this kind of voice, but most of the people who say this kind of thing are idlers who don't have resources. In this country, only those who have mastered military and people's livelihood resources have the qualifications and abilities to influence the national policy. As for the noise, it is just an outlet for them to consume excess energy.

And once these people enter the officialdom and shepherd one side, they will immediately change their thinking, for the livelihood of the people, or for their own political achievements. Escort the destitute people under his rule to the repatriation point designated by the imperial court.

Under today's technological conditions, large-scale resettlement will certainly not be as happy and beautiful as advocated in the "Imperial Bulletin", especially the people who go to Taiwan, Australia and Cochin, although most of them are southerners, but they will still die under endemic infectious diseases and miasma, and this "pain" may not be alleviated until the third generation of immigrants.

However, large-scale population migration, as well as strict immigration and exile standards, have brought social stability. It's almost the end of the road – of course, it has a lot to do with the fishing law enforcement that the police department uses to meet the targets.

Dilution of the Ming population. As a result, land prices have fallen further, and farmers have become more than they gain by continuing to cultivate the middle and lower fields, often sprinkling handfuls of the most viable alfalfa seeds in the fields and leaving them to fend for themselves. If there is a good harvest, in addition to feeding the livestock at home, it can also be sold. It's also an extra income.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, which were once only planted in the corner wasteland, are now beginning to occupy patches of land.

Although their usefulness is no longer the life-saving food they once were.

Time flies, and Zhu Cihong finally waited for the winter solstice under a series of good news. The winter solstice is still seen as the beginning of the new year in many places, and for Zhu, the winter solstice is a sign of the end of a year's hard work.

Three years in Longjing. The amount of money issued was finally able to meet the needs of the vast country, and of course, this was also due to the efforts of Korea and Japan. Daming imported a large amount of banknote paper from these two countries, and the quality was no worse than that produced by Daming itself, but the quantity was much more.

As long as the banknotes can be stabilized, Zhu Cihong will not have to worry about the domestic silver reserves. In later generations, the people only cared about the money in their hands, who would care about the gold and silver in the treasury? As long as everyone forgets about gold and silver, then the Ming Dynasty will have weapons that can be used in foreign financial warfare.

Because Europe is still on the gold and silver standard, and there is no sense of financial defense at all. It is not realistic for the Ming Dynasty to send troops to fight them, but it is not difficult to carry out a round of bloodless plundering of them through finance and commerce.

After this major event was over, Zhu Cihong's mind was half gone.

The remaining half is the matter of Emperor Taishang's tour.

Chongzhen and Zhou Hou waited for another year, fortunately, there was an imperial grandson in the palace to tease, and they didn't feel bored, but they still had a lot of grievances about not being able to make the trip for a long time.

"It's been another year, and you haven't got that weather forecast yet?" Zhou Hou urged Zhu Cihong to say.

Zhu Cihong's excuse for Chongzhen and Zhou Hou's delay is mainly "weather forecast". At first, it was just a matter of collecting meteorological information and finding out the meteorological patterns of various places, such as temperature changes, dry and rainy seasons, and rainfall. In Zhu Cihong's statement, only by mastering this information can Nan Xing be safer and more comfortable, which is a piece of filial piety of the emperor's son, and he hopes to be fulfilled.

In fact, the establishment of the Meteorological Bureau was to guide agricultural cultivation, and it could also prevent local officials from indiscriminately reporting disasters and famines, and using the Tiangao Emperor to deceive the imperial court and defraud relief grain.

As for the forecast itself, it is purely based on the prediction of experienced farmers, and the reliability is extremely low, and it is also a work of "building a shelf".

"The climate problem has been solved, but my son thinks it would be better if he was lucky next year." Zhu Cihong said.

Zhou Hou was not a strong-willed person, so he was instantly diverted by Zhu Cihong and asked, "Why is it better?" ”

"Queen Mother, next year the imperial court will implement a big machine in Beijing, which is worth seeing." Zhu Cihong said with a smile.

Zhou Hou was not interested in this, pursed his lips, and blinked for a long time, but his gaze had already flown out diagonally. Chongzhen was very curious about what his son had come up with, and asked repeatedly.

"It was a plough driven by a steam engine, with an iron hook under the belly. After piercing into the soil, the plough is activated, and the iron hook naturally plows out the ridges of the field, which can do twice as much work as an ox ploughs in a day. Zhu Cihong said.

In the field, two oxen and one strong laborer can plough two or three acres of land in a day. If the workload is increased, the cattle will not be able to bear it. Now that the steam engine has been replaced, although it is slow, it plows deeper, and does not need to stop to rest, as long as it keeps adding coal, it can continue to work.

The reason why it is only twice the output is that the fields are not large enough, and the steam plough is draught, and there are often breakdowns.

"As long as there are two people, even a woman can handle it." Zhu Cihong said.

Chongzhen was very excited when he heard this, and said continuously: "So very good, so very good." After seeing this plow, let's discuss Nan Xing's matter. ”

Wang Chengen, who was on the side, cried secretly in his heart when he heard this: the slaves and maids were pestered by those merchants all day long to ask when Nan Xing was, as if they had cheated them of their money. I beg the emperor to spare the slave and maid, and finish this experience as soon as possible!

Of course, Zhu Cihong agreed.

In fact, the place where the steam plow really has to show its skills is still in the black soil of Haixi.

The land there is vast and sparsely populated, the frozen soil accumulates for many years, and it is all wasteland, and the cost of manual reclamation is too high. What's more, the advantages of the current steam plough machine are not obvious, and in a familiar place like the North China Plain, maybe it will be compared to the ox - although the ox has to rest, it will not suddenly drop the chain.

Waiting for the spring ploughing next year is just to use the plough machine to make a solid field near the Jingshi and see the effect.

Although the steam locomotive can walk now, the speed is too slow, and if it carries a little more, it will be completely lying on its stomach. After all, Ming scientists are no strangers to agriculture, so they think of using its own weight to plough land and roll roads, which can be regarded as making the best use of things.

After the popularization of mathematics education, the improvement of the steam engine was gratifying, and there were great improvements in the failure rate and power.

As for whether Emperor Taishang will be disappointed after seeing it, that is his own business. Anyway, Zhu Cihong himself did not expect this kind of steam plow machine to instantly solve the problem of shortage of labor in the Ming Dynasty, this must be a long process that will last for several years, or even more than ten years.

The labor force on the land will not be completely liberated because the Ming Dynasty has not yet invented the harvester. They still have to work in the fields during the harvest season, competing with the weather. The only improvement is that Xiang Yong has an extra month of training time every year, and for the militia, the combat effectiveness has gone up a step - this kind of training intensity has exceeded the three major battalions of the Beijing Division after Wanli.

As they all moved forward slowly and orderly, more and more peasant children put down their hoes and stepped into class. The vast majority of them went on to technical schools to learn wood, iron and other trades, and became future industrial workers. The children of wealthy families, who have more advantages than them, chose the School of Law and Political Science to move towards a broader career.

The size of Xinglin University has also expanded year by year, producing more doctors for the entire empire. It's just that because the requirements of traditional Chinese medicine for practicing physicians are too high, the medical halls in various provinces can only train doctors at the level to solve common diseases, and incurable diseases can only count on the doctors of Xinglin University to help.

If you only look at the Jingshi and Jiangnan regions, the Ming Dynasty has indeed taken on a new look, completely walked out of the haze of national changes, and showed a thriving attitude.

"Their newborns don't need to worry about smallpox, their elders are supported by the imperial court, and their young people can enjoy education and knowledge just because they are citizens of the country. Even ordinary people are as rich and cultured as nobles. If the European aristocracy were to come and see it, they would definitely be ashamed of themselves. ”

Blythe? Pascal recorded in his diary. (To be continued......)

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