"Let's take a look when you pass by! Fresh fruit! ”

"Vegetables and fruits, dried vegetables and salted fish, everything you need, cheaper than the royal store......"

"Flower lanterns, don't miss it, don't miss it!"

On the Yuan Festival, the place of celebration is not only the Ming Dynasty, but also the overseas provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Kuching County, Zhongshan Province, is located in the western part of Borneo, where Zhongshan Province is located, with rivers and canals, green water, and small boats loaded with coconuts and fruits shuttling among them.

Today is the sixteenth day of the first month of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, and unlike normal times, Kuching County has become much more lively due to the return of the Xu Xia passenger fleet in the Western Ocean.

The harbor was full of vendors, and the people of the royal shop did not drive them away, because most of them were farmers, and they only came to sell coconuts and fruits in their spare time.

These goods do not affect the trading status of Royal Shop in Kuching.

"How much does this coconut cost?"

"Sanwen, Adult......"

"Let's six."

On the concrete-built port, when Xu Xiake's voice sounded, he was buying coconuts with an official and four guards.

After taking eighteen cents happily, when the coconut was being disposed of by the vendor, Xu Xiake looked around.

In his eyes, Kuching is a city built with cement.

The official standing next to him was the magistrate of Kuching County, named Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi was the second batch of graduates of the sixth year of the Apocalypse at Yanshan Academy, so when he was sent to Kuching, he immediately used his knowledge of civil engineering to replan Kuching County.

In general, he played to the advantages of Kuching as a seaport city, and because Kuching was in ruins, there were only a pitiful 1,000 Han Chinese immigrants, more than 6,000 people, and less than 150,000 acres of arable land in the city, except for the rammed-earth walls.

After sorting out the idea of how to lay out Kuching, Zhou Qi applied to the Zhongshan Mansion for 30,000 prisoners, and used the 100,000 stone cement and 30,000 catties of pig iron allocated by the Zhongshan Mansion every year to build the current Kuching City.

At present, Kuching City, after two and a half years, the layout of the city is similar to that of some county towns in Daming.

The two-zhang high cement city wall is composed of pig iron, sand, and cement, with a width of two zhang at the bottom, and a width of eight feet at the top, with a circumference of six miles.

The city is divided into five squares: the official square, the county government office, the terracotta square, and the east market square and the west market square.

Dongshifang and Xishifang occupy two-thirds of the area of the city and are the living quarters of the common people, while the Terracotta Fang is the military stronghold of the Terracotta Division and the army stationed in the Gongwei Battalion.

The county yafang is mainly the residence of the county yafang and the local departments of the imperial court, while the official's fang is the accommodation area of the officials.

The only places where cement buildings are used in the county town are roads, ports, city walls, and city walls, and the construction area is basically unchanged.

The construction of the entire county was not completed until March of the eighth year of the Apocalypse, and in the following nine months, Zhou Qi unified the shape of the house and the store, which was built by the government.

The house is basically two in and two out, enough to accommodate more than ten people, covering an area of half an acre of yard, and the shops are on both sides of the street in the city.

In a county like Kuching, the width of the two main roads is 10 zhang, the auxiliary roads in Fang City are 6 zhang wide, and the alleys in residential areas must also be 4 zhang wide.

Therefore, Kuching District is also planned.

"Zhou Zhi County, this Kuching looks like it is full of people."

After getting the coconut, Xu Xiake sucked with a bamboo tube and asked Zhou Qi next to him, and Zhou Qi also smiled:

"When I went down to this place, there were no more than 1,000 households, no more than 6,000 households, and more than 100,000 acres of cultivated land."

"After two and a half years, fortunately the imperial court has been able to relocate the people, and now Kuching has 3,000 households, more than 17,000 mouths, and 350,000 acres of cultivated land."

"By the way, why don't you see prisoners in labor camp?" Xu Xiake was very curious, he did not see prisoners who cultivated fields after coming to Kuching.

Regarding his incomprehension, Zhou Qi explained with a smile:

"The government ordered the construction of a road around Zhongshan Mansion, including Sulu and Boni Kingdom, which is nearly 2,300 miles long and planned for ten years."

"Two thousand three hundred miles? Does Zhongshan have so much cement and pig iron? Xu Xiake was a little surprised.

However, in the face of his surprise, Zhou Qi said as he walked:

"Don't underestimate Zhongshan Mansion, although Zhongshan Mansion only has more than 400,000 Han people and lacks mineral deposits, it produces a lot of pepper."

"The pepper that the people produce and sell to the emperor every year is nearly 100,000 catties."

"The old port collects a tax, and the government can collect 10,000 catties of pepper, and although the price of this pepper has fallen after the imperial court has taken down the old port, there is still a price of 500 wen a catty."

"This 10,000 catties of pepper is 5,000 taels of silver, plus other field taxes, after the taxes of Zhongshan Mansion are discounted, there will still be more than 20,000 taels of silver."

"The imperial court's interception policy for various places is different, and the two capitals and seventeen provinces of the Central Plains are basically ninety percent sent to the capital, and one percent is intercepted."

"But since the old port began to pay taxes last year, such as the old port and Yingzhou, basically the county, government, and province levels have each withheld one percent and sent seventy percent to the imperial court."

"That is, the county can leave more than 2,000 taels of public money, and it actually doesn't cost any silver here."

Zhou Qi explained: "The cement, pig iron, gold, silver and copper mines in the old port are comparable to the 17 provinces of the Central Plains, especially the cement production, which is as high as more than 18 million stones. ”

"This more than 18,000 stones is enough to build 3,000 miles of provincial roads, more than 4,700 miles of government roads, or 8,000 miles of county roads, and 15,000 miles of township roads."

"In the land of the seven prefectures of the old port, various resources are divided into ten parts, one each for Nanhai, Zhongshan, Sanshan, and Dongshan, and two for Luzon, Laogang, and Palembang."

"It's just that most of these minerals and cement are produced in these three prefectures, so there are more shares."

"But even so, Zhongshan Mansion can get more than 1.8 million stone cement and nearly one million catties of pig iron every year."

"Zhongshan Prefecture has 18 counties, and each county only has a quota of 100,000 stones."

"Not surprisingly, if this quota does not rise, it is estimated that all the allocated cement and pig iron will be used to build government roads in the next ten years."

Zhou Qi was very optimistic about this, and Xu Xiake was also curious: "Isn't it impossible to use cement to develop people's livelihood?" Why is Zhouzhi County still so calm? ”

"Huh?" Zhou Qiyan looked at Xu Xiake when he heard this, and then smiled:

"I forgot that the main person is not from Yanshan Academy."

"The reason why I am calm is because I believe that the output of cement and pig iron will continue to increase."

"Two years ago, when I went down to the old port, the total cement output of the old port was only more than 7 million stones, and the output of pig iron was only more than 5 million catties."

"Right now, the production of these things has more than tripled."

"Tell me, Chief, if in a few years, how much more can the output of these things be?"

Zhou Qi smiled heartily, and Xu Xiake felt the cement road under his feet, looked up at the scenery of the cement road, and couldn't help laughing:

"If the dynasty can produce tens of thousands of stones of cement and pig iron every year, I am afraid that everyone in the world will be able to step on this cement road."

"Yes! That's what I want. Zhou Qi was fascinated, and his eyes seemed to see the scene of the heyday of the Ming Dynasty more than ten years later.

Perhaps they didn't dare to think that the tens of thousands of stones they hoped for were only one percent of the output of the later generations, and they couldn't even imagine that tens of thousands of catties of pig iron could not even reach one thousandth of the steel output of the later generations.

But even so, even if it can reach one percent of the output of later generations, the Ming Dynasty can build tens of thousands of miles of provincial roads and government roads every year.

"I don't know how many of my Ming people are in the old port right now?"

After looking forward to it for a long time, Xu Xiake returned to reality and asked Zhou Qi, but Zhou Qi didn't think it was a secret, and said with a smile:

"It's about 3.7 million people, but it is said that from this year onwards, the number of people who will move to the old port will not exceed 500,000, and the rest will be relocated to Nanzhou and Xiaoxiyang Supervision Mission."

From October of the fourth year of the Apocalypse to the first month of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, in four years and three months, the Ming Dynasty moved 3.7 million people south to the old port.

Naturally, this does not include the immigrants from the Xiaoxi Supervision Department and Nanzhou, and if you add these places, it is about 3.9 million people who have migrated.

Although there are reasons for the imperial court to relocate so many people, the real reason is that many people in Fujian and Guangdong provinces can no longer live.

It is precisely because of the contribution of the imperial court and the sufficient ships of Huangdian that the people of Fujian and Guangdong are miserable, so the Ming Dynasty can maintain the frequency of nearly one million immigrants going south every year.

As long as the emperor is not afraid of infamy, as long as the people are willing to move, and the court has money and food, in fact, it is not difficult to emigrate.

For example, during the Hongwu period, millions of people were moved into Yunnan in one go, and they were still by land, and the time before and after was only eight years.

At present, the immigrants from the old port are basically migrated from Fujian and Guangdong, and more than 2 million people have been relocated in Fujian Province alone, more than 1 million people in Guangdong, and less than 1 million people in other provinces.

But even so, after the severe drought in Fujian and Guangdong in the seven years since the Apocalypse, some people have continued to flee the famine.

It is not difficult to imagine the horrific levels of land annexation and environmental degradation in the region.

Even after several relocations, the current Fujian and Guangdong provinces still have no way to implement the policy of one person and three acres of land, and it is even very difficult for one person to one acre of land.

This is not to say that there are many gentry in Fujian and Guangdong, but the local population is really too large.

In the ninth year of the Apocalypse, the two provinces had a total of more than 6.9 million people in Fujian and 4.27 million people in Guangdong, and the fields were more than 15.59 million mu and 9.24 million mu respectively.

It seems that it can achieve two acres per person, but in fact, even if Zhu Youzhen removed the Haoqiang of the guard, the local gentry, who only had five percent of the population, still occupied nearly forty percent of the cultivated land.

Without the relocation policy, there would be at least nearly 10 million people in Fujian and 6 million people in Guangdong.

This is just on paper, and it is not clear how many hidden people there really are.

Not surprisingly, they will remain the main force of immigrants for the next decade.

If they could each move another third of their population, the local people would be able to live a good life.

"By the way, although I heard that Nanzhou is vast, I don't know what the specific situation in Nanzhou is now, can Zhou Zhixian talk about it?"

Xu Xiake was very interested in Nanzhou, and Zhou Qi, who saw his curiosity, was also happy to explain:

"Nanzhou is indeed vast, and to get here, you must first go to Dongshan Province, and then take a boat from Funan County in the south of Dongshan Province for five days to reach Beihai County in the north of Nanzhou."

"However, although the southern state is vast, the only places to live are the southeast and southwest, and the eastern coastal areas."

"Aren't there natives on the island?" Xu Xiake asked curiously, but Zhou Qi nodded and said:

"Naturally, there is, but compared to its vastness, the number of natives on it is too scarce."

"Since the Huangdu Governor landed in Nanzhou and explored the major islands, in the past two years, more than 24,400 people have been relocated to this Nanzhou, most of them are prisoners, and the number of local captives is only more than 200,000."

"The population is sparse, and the development of Nanzhou is naturally slow, and at present it only occupies the northern and southeastern coastal areas, with seven counties and hundreds of market towns."

"It is rumored that the island is still not self-sufficient in rice and wheat after the migration, and although millions of acres of new land have been reclaimed, it will take at least three years to see results."

Zhou Qi's words basically explained the situation in Nanzhou thoroughly, and Xu Xiake couldn't help nodding when he heard this, but then he thought of the matter on the side of the Xiaoxiyang Supervision Envoy, and said again:

"On the side of the Little Western Supervision Envoy, it is estimated that there has been a fight, and I am afraid that the imperial court will increase the intensity of immigration to the Ceylon Prefecture, and then prepare to divide the feudal domains."

"So fast? Did Your Highness order it? Zhou Qi didn't know that Xiao Xiyang had already started fighting, and Xu Xiake also explained for Huang Long and the others:

"His Royal Highness's orders have not yet arrived, but more than 100,000 soldiers and horses are not a way to eat and chew horses, and the governor of Huangdu always has to share the worries of the imperial court, so he is ready to attack several princely states in the south."

"This ...... Without the orders of the imperial court and His Royal Highness, it is easy to send troops, I am afraid that it will lead to the impeachment of the courtiers, and long live the dissatisfaction...... "Zhou Qi can be the county governor, so he naturally has his own political vision.

His analysis was actually not wrong, and Xu Xiake could only sigh when he heard this:

"Thousands of miles apart, if you wait for a letter from the imperial court, I'm afraid most of the time will be wasted."

"This is ......" Zhou Qi was in the old port, and he felt a lot of emotion.

Even if it is Zhongshan Mansion, it takes a month and a half to go to the capital, and it is three months to go back and forth, not to mention the small Western Ocean thousands of miles away from Zhongshan Mansion.

"The imperial court probably also knows that it is difficult to govern Tianzhu personally, so it will be divided."

"It's just that there are some doubts about whether these feudal clans can gain a firm foothold in the local area."

Zhou Qi shook his head and sighed, Xu Xiake didn't know much about the military, so he didn't interject, but changed his words:

"With the taxes of the old port this year, I am afraid that the national treasury will be safe and stable for a year."

"I'm afraid it's hard to ......say," Zhou Qi shook his head:

"A few days ago, I heard that the imperial court sent troops to support Yan Jingluo in Yingzhou since last year, although Yingzhou minerals are excellent, but this fight, I'm afraid it will be difficult to end in two or three years."

"Besides, the current enemy of the imperial court is still the northern captives of Mobei and the Jianju of Nu'ergan."

"I just want me to say that the northern land is barren, and in fact it is better to develop Jiaozhi, Jiugang and Nanzhou, or use troops against Donghu."

"Your Highness and Banzai should have their own considerations." Xu Xiake responded, and the two of them also walked to the place where Xu Xiake's fleet docked.

The two stopped and said to each other:

"Farewell tomorrow, I don't know when the next meeting will be, but unfortunately the matter is urgent, His Royal Highness sent a message to summon me to enter Beijing quickly, otherwise I should drink three hundred cups with Zhou Zhixian."

"I think so." Zhou Qi returned the salute with a hint of a smile.

"Let go of me!"

"What do you kid want? Is this a boat you can get on? ”

"I'm here to work, I'm going to be a boatman!"

"What kind of boatman can you be with this little physique, if it weren't for the fact that you are Siamese, I would have thrown you into the sea to feed the fish."

When Zhou Qi and Xu Xiake saluted, a group of people walked out of the deck of the warship, and three Ming soldiers walked down the ladder with a thin young man and threw him on the concrete floor.

Although the boy was thrown to the ground, he did not feel any pain, but immediately got up and said that he was going to be a boatman.

However, only the Ming people could work as shipwrights on the warships of the Ming Dynasty, and Siamese people like him naturally could not be shipwrights.

Xu Xiake and Zhou Qi were attracted by the noise, but because there was still something going on in the county government, and this kind of thing didn't happen less, Zhou Qi left the dock after confessing.

Xu Xiake walked over with a frown, and said to the young man:

"You're going to be a shipwright in the Ming Dynasty?"

"The chief ......" The three Ming soldiers saw that the person who came was Xu Xiake, and immediately saluted, and the young man also knew that a big man was coming, so he said:

"I have relatives in the capital, and I want to go to the capital but I am not entangled, so I want to be a shipwright and go to the capital to join relatives."

"That's a good thing you said." Xu Xiake couldn't help but nod his head when he listened to the young man's relatively standard Daming Jianghuai official words.

After all, in the land of Nanyang in this era, there are very few people who know official language, and there are even fewer people who can speak such standard official language.

"Where does your relative live in the capital?" Xu Xiake opened his mouth to ask, obviously wanting to help the young man.

"Staying in ...... Live next to Hokke-ji Temple! The young man naturally heard Xu Xia's words, so he hurriedly said an address.

Xu Xiake nodded slightly when he heard this, but said:

"Although the old man also wants to help you, your identity is really not up to the Ming warship, but you can still get on the supply ship."

"Thank you, sir!" The young man who heard the words immediately knelt down and kowtowed, and Xu Xiake also nodded slightly, and said to the few soldiers next to him:

"Arrange for him to be a shipwright on a supply ship."

"Yes......" The three of them had no choice but to get down, and Xu Xiake also walked to the ladder of the main ship, leaving the young man alone to look at his back and be silently grateful.

Xu Xiake returned to his ship's room, his ship's room was not small, covering an area of more than 30 square meters, enough to accommodate a team of soldiers.

However, although the cabin is not small, there are too many things piled up inside.

Ores, stones, earth, and plant seeds all over the place, as well as a wall full of manuscripts and a table full of unfinished papers.

He walked back to his desk and sat down, straightened the paper on the table, put what he had already written, and put it into an oil-paper bag with "Travels to the West" written on it.

Then he continued to study ink and write, writing about his own experiences along the way.

He has written this book since he started, and so far he has written 12 volumes and more than 123,000 words.

Not surprisingly, this travelogue should be finished in 130,000 words, and Xu Xiake needs to sort it out during his return to the capital to report on his work, and ask Zhu Youzhen if he can publish it.

Of course, in this travelogue, he hides the location of all the gold and silver mines, and excludes many records of resources that can be easily used by interested people to find them.

"I don't know if I can go to the second ...... in my lifetime"

Looking at the sorted out travelogue, Xu Xiake felt a lot of emotion.

At present, he is forty-two, and for people in this era, it is normal for people to be born, old, sick and die between the ages of forty and sixty, but he is not reconciled, because he still has a lot of places to go.

For example, Nanzhou on the sea, as well as Europe, as well as North Asia and South Asia Melica to the east of the Ming Dynasty, and even the Western Regions, Yunnan and Guizhou, he wanted to explore them one by one.

"The main thing is sorted out?"

When he sighed, a person knocked on the door and walked into the cabin with a smile, looking at Xu Xiake's arranged travelogue, he asked with a smile, and Xu Xiake said worriedly:

"Makiyuki, you're here......"

"I don't know if this travelogue will be published."

"His Royal Highness is open-minded and supports immigrants, so he will naturally support it." The officer found a place to sit down and congratulated:

"After returning to Beijing this time, the director should be able to be promoted."

"I don't want to be promoted, I just hope that the imperial court can send me to the West next time, preferably to Europa."

Xu Xiake looked out the window, looking at the magnificent sea outside the window with some emotion, and the official also nodded:

"This is natural, after all, we have gained a lot this time, although we have also spent a lot of silver in the imperial court, but in general, we must have earned."

What this official said was quite restrained, in fact, just the few gold mines that Xu Xiake and they found were enough for Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao to support them to go to the West again.

Not only to go to the Western Ocean, but also to the East Ocean, to the South Sea, and even to let them go to the Western Regions, Hezhong (Central Asia) and other places.

In the wave of colonization around the world, the Ming Dynasty will not drink to quench their thirst as the Europeans in the consumption colonies, but will directly occupy the place, spread the king, and grant civilization.

"When will the fleet return to the capital?"

Xu Xiake asked, and the official responded:

"If you leave tomorrow, you will arrive in Luzon in 12 days, Ryukyu in 30 days, Zhejiang in late February, and Tianjin in late March."

"According to the meaning of His Royal Highness's handwriting, after arriving in Tianjin, all officials above the ninth rank will go to Beijing to report on their work, and then they will give me a vacation."

"My guess is that the vacation won't last more than two years."

"How so?" Xu Xiake was puzzled and asked, because he didn't have so much officialdom and military vision, and the official also smiled:

"In two years, I am afraid that the small Western Supervision Envoy has already divided the southern princely states of Tianzhu, and the Ceylon Mansion should also relocate hundreds of thousands of people."

"At such times, the imperial court will certainly not give up the mining of Levian gold, and if nothing else, the imperial court will send us as guides to lead the army to the south of Levia."

"There are many miasma and plagues on the eastern coast of Leviia, if His Highness asks the chief, where does the chief think he will set up an official factory?"

This inquiry made Xu Xiake think about it, and he thought about it carefully before saying:

"If you want to dig gold mines in the south, the safest way is naturally to take the coastal waterway, but if it is the fastest waterway, and you can replenish it for a short time, it is naturally to go to Wandao County (Maldives) in Ceylon Province, go south to Ping Island (Chagos Archipelago), and then go south and southeast, you can directly reach Seraulengzu Island (Madagascar)."

"The large island of Xianlao Lengzu can be cultivated and cultivated, but if you take this place, control the southern part of Leviya, and mine the gold mines, it will be much easier."

"But the best thing is to set up market towns and supply points on the eastern coast of Levia, and move south."

"Establishment is naturally to be established, but it is not the establishment of the imperial court......" The official shook his head with a smile, and Xu Xiake also bowed slightly.

Obviously, they all saw the clues from Zhu Youzhen's reply.

Their Qi kings seem to have decided to abandon the land after learning about the difficulty of Leviya's agriculture.

Once the king of Qi is not here, then this is undoubtedly the domain of the undivided vassal king of the imperial court.

"The cost of reclaiming Levia is too great, and I am afraid that it will take millions of people and decades to reclaim tens of millions of acres of fertile land......"

Xu Xiake was a little unbearable, but the official said: "This is the matter of the vassal king, but it has nothing to do with us and the imperial court." ”

"It's better to suffer these barbarians than to suffer the people."

"This is also ......" Xu Xiake was relieved, and then said to the official:

"I don't know anything about entering Beijing, so I'll ask you to Mu Zhi."

"Please rest assured, principal......" The official smiled and responded, and Xu Xiake also had a smile on his face after saying something on his mind.

The two looked at each other, then took out the chessboard and Go, and prepared to play a few games, and the Siamese boy who was sent to the supply ship also touched his arms at this moment, looking at the sea, and did not know what he was thinking......