"Crackling—"

"Bang bang bang-"

On the first day of the first lunar month, with the sound of firecrackers and firecrackers and artillery at the head of the city, the Ming Dynasty officially entered the sixth year of the apocalypse.

In the past year and six years of the Apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty carried out the Battle of Hetao, the signing of the East-West Treaty in the Old Port, and the suppression of the rebellion by Tusi in the southwest, and the defense of the Beiyu in the northeast of Liao.

Many military operations have consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, and they have also given the Ming Dynasty a rare boost in spirit when the state is in decline.

It's just that the follow-up Shaanxi White Plague and the Shandong Locust Plague caught the Ming Dynasty's Wenchen generals off guard.

Fortunately, however, there was still a surplus in the treasury, and with the surplus in the treasury, the two catastrophes were quickly calmed down.

It's just a follow-up to the pacification, whether it is the migration of millions of people from Shaanxi to Hetao, or the millions of victims from Shandong to Liaodong, the follow-up of all this has exhausted the last trace of money and grain of the Ming Dynasty.

Household Department, Imperial Horse Supervisor, Inner Guard......

The three fiscal systems are on the verge of depletion, and they can only maintain the current situation, and can no longer cope with the catastrophe.

That is to say, the Ming Dynasty in the sixth year of the Apocalypse could only carry out the second battle to sweep the north while appeasing the victims, and by the way, relocate the people who took the initiative to sign up to go to the old port, Hetao, Liaodong, and Hexi.

As far as the situation is concerned, it is actually not optimistic, because this means that once the disaster breaks out again in the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that the balance of payments maintained by Zhu Youzhen for several years will be completely broken.

However, the news of the sixth year of the apocalypse is not all bad, such as ......

[Ammonium carbonate fertilizer: 100 catties of fresh livestock manure, 1 catty of soybean flour, 8 catties of cooked gypsum powder. 】

[The above raw materials are mixed evenly, packed into a container and sealed for 3 days, mixed with 3 times water, and ditched to make bottom fertilizer or top dressing]

[Ammonium sulfate fertilizer: 50 catties of human feces and urine, 5 catties of plaster powder, add 20 catties of water, stir and mix evenly, and seal it for 10 to 15 days.

[Compound fertilizer: 150 catties of human feces, 100 catties of superphosphate, mixed stacking, sealed with soil mud, generally 10 days can be used, the fertilizer made by this method can be used as base fertilizer and top dressing, due to the strong fertilizer efficiency, can not be used to mix seeds, in case of affecting the germination rate]

[Potassium dihydrogen phosphate: one catty ......]

[These five methods are the changes of the law passed on by His Royal Highness, and they still need to be experimented, so please approve the test field of 30,000 acres......]

[Agricultural Branch of the General Institute of Armaments Research...... Branch Dean Sun Yuanhua】

In the Qi Palace, in the study, when Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting in the position, saw this application report from Sun Yuanhua, he immediately looked up at Sun Yuanhua in front of him.

At this moment, Sun Yuanhua sat in front of him, his expression was a little depressed, and he didn't look like he was resting well.

However, it is no wonder that since he came to the capital or the Armaments Institute, he immediately wore many hats, and hung many titles on his head, such as the director of the steam engine research of the Armaments Institute, the director of the artillery research branch, the director of the fire gun research branch, the director of the hydrokinetic energy research branch, and the director of the agricultural research branch.

Not only him, but Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing, and Song Yingchang brothers have also hung up some titles in the fields they are slightly involved in.

With more than 180 students with knowledge in related fields, several people expressed great pressure in the face of hundreds of topics and topics that need to be studied.

Suffering from the fact that there was no one else, Bi Maokang started a group of 20 people to start a study of nine topics, among which agricultural research on whether the people of the Ming Dynasty could have enough to eat can be said to be the most important.

Three topics such as grain cultivation, hybridization, and chemical fertilizer were put on the agenda by Sun Yuanhua.

Among them, the simplest is chemical fertilizer, because Zhu Youzhen, who is engaged in poverty alleviation cadres, is very clear about the composition of soil fertilizer.

In his previous life, he needed to face poverty alleviation targets deep in the mountains with an annual income of less than 1,000 or even 500 yuan, and with such an income, they naturally could not afford to use industrial fertilizers.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen specially consulted with his classmates who studied agriculture about the problem of making simple soil fertilizers.

However, in the face of the different times and the different categories of raw materials, whether these fertilizers can play such a big role as in the previous life, Zhu Youzhen still needs Sun Yuanhua to study well.

"I have given instructions for this test field, you can find Hua Chun and Cheng En to allocate it to you, and ...... another"

Zhu Youzhen looked up at Sun Yuanhua, and then said:

"The research on the hybridization and grafting yield of jade wheat, sweet potato, potato, pepper, tomato and other crops should not be left behind."

"Yes......" Sun Yuan turned into a gesture, and Zhu Youzhen also waved his hand to signal him to retreat.

For chemical fertilizers, Zhu Youjian is not too worried, and the cooked gypsum powder, which is used as calcium sulfate, although the price is a little expensive, this is not difficult for Zhu Youjian.

The output of gypsum deposits under the current territory of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be the highest among the countries in today's era.

There are countless gypsum deposits in Shandong, Monan, Duogan, Huguang, Shaanxi, Nanzhili and Sichuan.

It just so happens that Shandong is currently in trouble, and it is enough to directly expand the mining volume of gypsum.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Youzhen immediately took out the financial report of the Imperial Horse Supervisor from October to December 15.

In two and a half months, the Tianxia Huangdian earned 1.96 million taels, and the reason was because of the monopoly on salt tea.

Other commercial goods earned more than 820,000 taels in two and a half months, while salt tea earned more than 1,130,000 taels.

This is also because some people's homes have not consumed salt tea.

As long as the intensity of the inspection department continues to increase, then the two items of salt tea alone can contribute 8.9 million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty every month.

1.96 million taels, excluding costs, Zhu Youzhen can mobilize about 1.3 million taels.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen looked at the Jinyi Wei Qianhu who was serving in the study:

"Tell Huachun to transfer 600,000 taels of silver to Shandong, and order the officials of the Imperial Horse Prison to mine gypsum ore in the local area, and how much to mine."

"Yes-" Qianhu responded, and Zhu Youzhen also picked up other military newspapers and flipped through them one by one.

However, he did not concentrate on dealing with the military newspapers, but at the same time, he deduced the effects of chemical fertilizers while processing them.

He comprehensively considered that the agricultural technology he implemented in the mountainous area, after removing the unobstructible existence of plastic film, the factor of chemical fertilizer accounted for about 20%~30% of the yield per mu of the land.

After all, soil fertilizer is not as accurate as industrial fertilizer, but after it is made, it can at least increase the yield per mu of more than 800 million acres of land in Daming by 10%~30%

Counting the average yield per mu of 800 million mu of land in Jiugang and Daming, it is about two stones, and if the output can be increased by one to three percent, the increased grain output will be enough to feed thousands or even tens of millions of people.

Even if the drought and cold of the Xiaoice River lead to the failure of local grain harvests and reductions, the imperial court can rely on the mobilization of grassroots forces to quell the famine.

The top priority now is to dredge the Yellow River so that some small grain ships can transport grain from the Huai River to Luoyang and then to Shaanxi by land.

Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi, the three places where the drought lasts the longest, as long as the grain from the south can be transported to the Yellow River valley around Luoyang, it can reduce the fire consumption generated on the road by 30%.

These three percent of the fire consumption can save millions of people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the gypsum output is solved, relying on the officialdom livestock manure of the provincial imperial horse supervisors, the organic fertilizer problem of the fertilizer plant can be well solved.

At present, tens of millions of poultry and livestock who eat sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes can produce billions of catties of organic fertilizer every year.

If you add the organic fertilizer of hundreds of millions of people in Daming, what the fertilizer factory can achieve every year is billions of catties of soil and fertilizer output.

Although these soil and chemical fertilizers are not enough to meet the needs of Daming's cultivated land, they can also increase Daming's grain output by tens of millions of stones.

"Governing a big country is like a farmer cultivating it......"

Thinking about the matter of soil fertilizer, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but laugh at himself.

Also when he was still thinking about the matter of soil and fertilizer, in the palace more than ten miles away from him, Zhu Youxiao was personally concocting wood.

The expensive gold bricks were covered with cheap wood, and the palace ladies and eunuchs all around were watching the emperor concocting the wood.

As a carpenter, Zhu You did not blindly pursue materials, but only needed the right ones.

He felt he didn't need expensive materials to complement his craft.

The sound of planing wood echoed in the Qianqing Palace, and every stroke made Wei Zhongxian, Liu Ruoyu, and Wang Tiqian, who were guarding the side, hang in their hearts.

Gradually, I don't know how long it has been, Zhu Youxiao easily concocted a whole piece of wood into a part of the shaker.

Wei Zhongxian took the initiative to come forward to help, and watched Zhu Youxiao assemble the parts into two shakers.

It's just that these two shakers are not for Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e, but for the three concubines who are pregnant.

The waiting period for the three of them, after Wang Kentang's visit in the Tai Hospital, is probably determined to be born in March, May, and July this year.

For his new three children, Zhu Youxiao prepared a lot.

The tables, chairs, benches, beds, and toys in the palace were all concocted by him.

Not only that, but he also asked Zhang Yan to take the lead in sewing clothes for the three children.

Zhang Yan has the posture of the mother of a country, she is not jealous of the concubines, but sews clothes very seriously.

However, it turned out that Zhu Youxiao prepared a little early, because when Zhang Yan and the others sewed the clothes, there were still three months before the birth of the first child.

But he was a little happy about it.

The sound of "bang" echoed in the hall, and everyone still didn't dare to move even though they were already standing with a sore back.

Even Wei Zhongxian, who leaned towards the government and the opposition, endured the hunger in his belly at the moment and accompanied Zhu Youxiao to concoct a shaker.

At this time, the sound of footsteps outside the palace became a break in the deadlock.

Holding the three-year-old Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e, Zhang Yan took several palace maids into the Qianqing Palace with food.

However, when he saw Zhu Youxiao concocting wood, a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and then he restrained his disappointment and stepped forward and saluted:

"Long live, Ran'er and Shu'e are clamoring to have dinner with you, and the concubines can't stop ......"

"Huh?" Hearing Zhang Yan's voice, Zhu Youxiao, who was immersed in "work", put down the hammer and wedge in his hand, turned around and saw Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e.

"Daddy......"

When the two children saw Zhu Youxiao turn around, they immediately trotted towards Zhu Youxiao.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao squatted down, and the two children also plunged into his arms.

"Huh!" Zhu Youxiao smiled on his face, picked up his children with his left and right hands, and then began to tease them.

Zhu Ciran and Zhu Shu'e's noses and eyes are very similar to Zhu Youxiao, but their faces are the same as Zhang Yan and Fan's.

Zhu Youxiao happily teased them, and Wei Zhongxian was also very interested in letting people open the door of the Heart Cultivation Palace, and after Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan went in successively, they sat in the dining place.

Several palace maids served the meals on plates, and the most eye-catching of them was nothing more than the seafood hodgepodge that Zhu Youxiao had eaten for many years.

Although he had listened to Zhu Youzhen's words and controlled it for a while, he couldn't survive his hunger in the end and continued to eat again.

Not only the hodgepodge of seafood, but also the hairy crabs of Jiangnan, the fish of the deep sea are all made by the imperial chef and served to the table.

Zhang Yan and the two children's diet is a little clear, even if it is dinner, Zhang Yan herself is just a plate of fire lamb head and hooves, a bowl of garlic and vinegar white blood soup, a plate of tomatoes and eggs, plus a bowl of fragrant rice and a cup of tribute tea.

One meat, one vegetable, one soup and one rice, in this luxurious court, Zhang Yan's diet can indeed be regarded as simple and clear.

As for the two children, Zhang Yan prepared stir-fried shredded pork for them according to Wang Kentang's words, as well as coarse grains such as roasted sweet potatoes and shredded potatoes.

Sitting in the position, the two children began to eat honestly, without the noise of other children, it seems that Zhang Yan taught well.

"Baozhu has lost some weight these days, eat more of this."

Zhu Youxiao will also care about his family, and he gave a few dishes to Zhang Yan in a row, but Zhang Yan responded absentmindedly and lowered his head to eat.

Time passed little by little, when the family of four was full, Zhang Yan rinsed her mouth with tribute tea, and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live, now that the fifth uncle is seventeen, according to the usual practice, it seems that he can find relatives."

"Hmm...... It's also ......" Zhu Youxiao nodded knowingly, but said with a smile:

"It's just that with my brother's appearance and merits, I'm afraid that there are few women who can be worthy of him."

"That's indeed the case......" Zhang Yan had a trace of sorrow between her eyebrows, obviously thinking that with Zhu Youzhen's appearance and capital, and what other merits, Da Ming really couldn't find a few women to match him.

Although after Zhu Di, most of the Ming clan members were drafted from among the commoners, but after the development of the later stage, the children of some minor officials will also be added to the draft.

Zhu Youzhen's capital and personality are destined to not have much to talk about with him no matter what woman he is looking for.

Not to mention anything else, many children of the clan, when they were as old as Zhu Youzhen, had already begun to hook up with some maids who accompanied them.

It's good for him to either deal with military reports every day, or go to the armament yard, or go to Yanshan.

At present, when the winter snow melts, he will lead his troops to the expedition for the second battle to sweep the north.

No matter how you look at it, Zhu Youzhen doesn't look like that kind of person.

As the imperial sister-in-law and queen, Zhang Yan has a lot of headaches for Zhu Youzhen's marriage.

Of course, what he has more headache is the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen.

Zhang Yan didn't come out of a small family, she was familiar with history books when she was a child, so she naturally knew how awkward the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen was at the moment.

The two of them are very similar to the two brothers Yuwenyong and Yuwenxian of the Northern Zhou, although the relationship has always been very good, no one knows if the two will continue to be harmonious as they get older.

In other words, even if they continue to be harmonious, what about the next generation......

Thinking of this, Zhang Yan glanced at Zhu Ciran.

Looking at Zhu Ciran, who was sitting on the chair and shaking her legs, Zhang Yan's heart was full of uneasiness.

She's uneasy, and so are the others.

Wei Zhongxian stood in place worriedly, and at this time, the eunuch at the door also sang:

"Mrs. Bongsan'...... begging to see her"

"Biography!" Zhu Youxiao heard that it was the Hakka family who came, and immediately let people spread the word.

Under the rumor, soon the Hakka family also entered the Heart Cultivation Palace, and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Hooray......

"Kebaba is late, Baozhu and I have already eaten." Zhu Youxiao responded to the Hakka with a smile, but the Hakka immediately lowered his head and wept after hearing the words:

"Banzai, the slave and maid came this time, not to eat, but to cry to Banzai......"

"Huh?" Zhu Youxiao, who heard this, frowned, while the Hakka sobbed:

"The salt guide rewarded by Long Live is now invalidated, and the slave maid knows that His Royal Highness is for the court, for the sake of Long Live, but after this salt lead is abolished, the slave and maid's annual salary will only be three hundred stones."

"This is not enough in the palace, so I want to ask Banzai to approve the slave and maid to return to their hometown."

"......" Hakka's words quieted down the entire Heart Cultivation Palace, and Zhu Youxiao also frowned and said:

"If the age is not enough, it will be added."

After saying that, he turned his head to look at Wei Zhongxian: "Jiake Baba is two thousand stones." ”

"Long live...... Wei Zhongxian looked embarrassed, bowed down and leaned over to Zhu Youxiao and said:

"Long live, after the salt introduction was abolished, all the silver went to the household department, and His Royal Highness the King of Qi allocated a lot of silver to go out, and now there are less than 170,000 taels of money."

"Counting the expenses of the twenty-four yamen, this bit of silver will last until next month at most......"

With 170,000 taels a month, Wei Zhongxian's words were a little scary, but Zhu Youxiao also knew that this was actually the truth.

The three guards of the imperial city, the generals of the Han Dynasty, the Jing army, and tens of thousands of female eunuchs in the palace, all of these people need to be paid by the internal treasury.

Just these people will spend nearly 700,000 taels, and the concubines and harems of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty will spend more than 300,000 taels.

If you add their food and drink, the palace spends at least two million taels of silver every year.

Originally, after the Imperial Horse Supervisor broke away from the inner guard, the annual income of the inner horse was around four million.

This year, Zhu Youxiao transferred a lot of money to support the outer court, which led to the internal money to last until next month at most.

"This ......" Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youxiao frowned, and then thought about it before saying:

"You go to the Qi Palace, and ask your brother to allocate some silver."

"Slave maid takes the order ......" Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian immediately responded, and then pretended to be sad and walked out of the Heart Cultivation Palace.

It's just that after he walked out, he immediately put away his sad appearance, and then Wang Tiqian also followed.

"How?" Wang Tiqian stepped forward to ask, while Wei Zhongxian nodded slightly, and walked towards the gate of Qianqing Palace with Wang Tiqian.

It wasn't until he walked out of the gate of the Qianqing Palace that Wei Zhongxian spoke:

"These two salt merchants of Huai want our family to help them offend the King of Qi with some silver, which is really whimsical."

"It's just that we also have a handle in their hands, if King Qi and Banzai know, I'm afraid you and I won't be able to save our lives." Wang Tiqian followed up and replied, and when Wei Zhongxian heard it, he immediately said coldly:

"Some businessmen are still trying to threaten our family, and our family will kill them!"

"However, several lords in Nanjing are in the middle, which is a little difficult."

"But if you borrow the power of Your Highness, it won't be so difficult to solve them......"

Wei Zhongxian narrowed his eyes, and then said to Wang Tiqian: "I have done everything you asked me to do, if you don't have a good idea, then you ......"

"Don't worry, it's easy." Wang Tiqian hurriedly said:

"Take advantage of the lack of money in the treasury and take the opportunity to forge a batch of shortfalls in the south."

"Go to the Qi Palace, you and I will tell the deficit in front of the King of Qi, and then ask your nephew Wei Liangqing to check on the two Huai salt merchants and lords, and naturally there will be no worries."

"I'm just worried that Your Highness will be clever and see your intentions."

Wang Tiqian was a little worried in the end, and so was Wei Zhongxian.

The two of them embezzled a lot of money, plus the filial piety of the salt merchant every year, if these things are poked out, the two of them are not enough to move nine heads.

It just so happened that the two Huai salt merchants were putting pressure on Cui Chengxiu again, so this pressure finally ignited Wei Zhongxian's thoughts.

Since the salt administration was taken over by Zhu Youzhen, this group of salt merchants is useless.

A businessman who has no use value is a leek, and it would be good to cut a wave......

The problem is that everything in the outer court is basically done by Zhu Youzhen, so Wei Zhongxian has to find an opportunity to meet Zhu Youzhen and get the right to dispose of local officials from him.

It is precisely because of this that he arranged for the Hakka family to cry and told the matter of the lack of money in the house.

Without the silver, the palace would not be able to operate, and except for the inner money, everything else was held by Zhu Youzhen.

Therefore, the emperor had no choice but to ask people to see Zhu Youzhen, and this candidate naturally fell to Wei Zhongxian.

As long as the election falls on him, he can also go to see Zhu Youzhen openly.

As for why don't you go there secretly? Wei Zhongxian is not a fool.

He is the emperor's dog, and his own dog goes to other houses, and he wants to be a dog for other families, and no dog owner can bear it.

Therefore, this opportunity to find Zhu Youzhen openly and honestly, and to flatter Zhu Youzhen, came out under the precautions of Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian.

The two walked to the Donghua Gate, Wei Zhongxian got into the car openly, and asked people to drive to the Qi Palace, while Wang Tiqian looked at Wei Zhongxian's departing back, turned around and left.

Less than an hour later, the news of Wei Zhongxian's arrival reached Zhu Youzhen's ears under the layers of communication.

Zhu Youzhen, who had just finished dealing with a large number of preparations and was ready to rest, didn't think too much, so he announced that Wei Zhongxian came to the study.

"Your Highness......"

When Wei Zhongxian came to the study, Zhu Youzhen took a sip of a cup of tribute tea, and it was rare to relax.

"Does my brother have any arrangements?"

Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes and asked, just because during this time, Zhu Youxiao often went to Nanyuan with Zhu Youzhen to shoot arrows.

"This, in fact, is insufficient internal funds, long live I want to ask His Royal Highness to allocate some silver to help the internal funds."

"Hmm...... How much? Zhu Youzhen frowned when he heard this, he thought that Wei Zhongxian was here to inform something, but he didn't expect it to be for silver.

"The internal silver has been transferred, and only one month is insufficient at present, and if it is to last until September, at least one and a half million taels of silver will be needed......

As soon as Wei Zhongxian spoke, Zhu Youzhen couldn't sit still.

Not to mention the Imperial Horse Supervisor, even if he pulls up the household right now, he can't make up so much silver.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen glanced at Wei Zhongxian, and only felt that this guy had probably eaten a lot of silver, otherwise the internal money would not have been lost so quickly.

Wei Zhongxian was skimmed by Zhu Youzhen, and his legs were also weak, so he hurriedly said:

"His Royal Highness only needs to give 600,000 taels of silver, and the rest can ask Yang Huan and Wei Liangqing to go to Jiangnan to inquire about the reasons why there is less and less gold and silver in recent years, and recover the gold and silver ......."

"......" Zhu Youzhen instinctively felt that Wei Zhongxian's picture was not gold and silver, but he thought that these were arranged by Zhu Youxiao, so it was not easy to dismiss it.

He could only bow slightly, and then said:

"Since it was arranged by my brother, you just do it, Cui Yingyuan and they are all at your disposal."

"As for the 600,000 taels of silver in the inner pocket, I will let Hua Chun send it to the inner treasury on the first day of the second lunar month."

"Your Highness Xie......" Wei Zhongxian hurriedly knelt down to thank him, and Zhu Youzhen also waved his hand and said, "Let's go out if it's okay." ”

"Disturb Your Highness......" Wei Zhongxian didn't expect things to go so smoothly, so he was afraid that Zhu Youzhen would regret it, so he hurriedly walked out of the Qi Palace's mansion after saluting.

It's just that the moment he exited the study, Zhu Youzhen said to the Jinyi Wei Qianhu at the door:

"Spread Lu Wenzhao, Li Ruolian, and Cui Yingyuan."

"Yes!" Thousands of households responded, and then sent someone to spread the word to Lu Wenzhao and the three of them.

However, after he also left, Zhu Youzhen lowered his head and pondered, always feeling that Wei Zhongxian's guy was not simply tracking down any missing gold and silver.

As far as his greed for money is concerned, I am afraid that the deficit in the treasury has nothing to do with the so-called gold and silver, but with him, an old eunuch.

Thinking of this, the corners of Zhu Youzhen's mouth hooked a smile:

"It's good to be greedy, if you're not greedy, how can you carry the black pot on you......"