"Five million people, so many recruits, just to build a few railways?"

"The government-run ironworks have to refine wrought iron rails, so much iron is placed on the road, in case the people are greedy for money and steals, then ......"

"That's it, the order of the Qi Palace, just obey it."

Compared with Zhu Youzhen's joy because of the opening of the industrial revolution, the officials of the Ministry of Industry in Beijing had a headache after Zhu Youzhen returned to the capital.

Horse-drawn carriages have been used in major mines for a long time, so the officials of the Ministry of Industry are no strangers to the rails, and what makes them feel unfamiliar is the scale of the railway.

Jingxi Railway, Beijing-Long Railway, Beijing-Tianjin Railway, Beijing-Liaoning Railway, Kunzhan Railway, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Gate Railway, Beijing-Jiajia Railway, Beijing-Hangzhou Railway......

Nine railways, corresponding to the capital around the Hetao to Xining, as well as the capital to Longchuan, Beijing to Shenyang, Kunming to Cham, Beijing to Guangzhou, Beijing to Jiayuguan, Beijing to Hangzhou and other long-distance railways.

In addition to these seven ultra-long railways, there are also two short-distance railways from Beijing to Mentougou and from Beijing to Tianjin.

All in all, the nine railways are 18,700 miles long, basically including the Ming Dynasty, except for Guizhou, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi four provinces did not pass, other provinces have passed.

Of course, these four provinces will also be built in the future, and the reason why they are not mentioned at this time is because they do not have many victims in need of relief at the moment.

The construction period of this long railway is expected to take 15 years, and it will cost 570 million catties of wrought iron, more than 20 million sleepers, and hundreds of millions of gravel.

The total cost of this project is estimated to be 160 million taels of silver, more than 8,500 taels per mile, and a total of 60 million people will be started.

The cost of these nine railways is estimated to be the tax of the Ming Dynasty for five years, and a fixed expenditure of 10.7 million taels is required every year.

When this general quotation was sent to the cabinet, Gu Bingqian, as the first assistant of the cabinet, his hands and heart trembled.

"This ...... Can't the construction period be pushed back a little further? Half of the hired worker? ”

Gu Bingqian held the note of this quotation in his hand, and asked Xue Fengxiang of the Ministry of Industry like a consultation, and Xue Fengxiang was helpless:

"The Qi Palace's side has long been clear, how can the Ministry of Industry change His Highness's thoughts......"

"This is already the price approved by His Highness to use 600,000 prisoners in Jiaozhi to build, and if there are no 600,000 prisoners, it is estimated that it can rise to 200 million taels of silver."

Xue Fengxiang's words blocked Gu Bingqian's mouth, and also blocked the mouths of many ministers in the Wenhua Palace.

As the head of the household, Bi Ziyan is bitter and can't speak.

The annual expenditure of 10.7 million taels of silver, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hexi, Huguang, Nanzhili, and Guangdong is fine, and it is necessary to provide relief for more than 4 million people in lieu of work, but it is not possible in other places.

"It's not that millions of people need to work for relief every year, Your Highness...... Alas......"

Bi Ziyan let out a long sigh, and when he looked at the notebook on his desk, the pain in his heart was even worse.

It was the quotation of the Ministry of Industry for the construction of the steam engine factory, three million taels, and Zhu Youzhen transferred without blinking his eyes.

When it comes to disaster relief, rice and wheat are used instead, and Bi Ziyan doesn't understand why.

He could only tap on the abacus and calculate the needs of disaster relief little by little.

More than 40 million stone rice and wheat stockpiles in various localities have already been transported, and Bi Ziyan only hopes that this year's drought will not expand, otherwise the localities may suffer hardship.

"It's only been three months this year, and the state funds have already been used up, so don't block the six ministries and localities to the imperial court."

When Xue Fengxiang retreated, Gu Bingqian put the heavy infrastructure book on the table, sighed, and slowly took off the black gauze hat on his head and put it on the table.

Sitting very close to him, Yuan Keli, Shi Fenglai could see the fine sweat on his forehead.

Obviously, this book has caused him a lot of pressure.

It's just that even so, there are still things that have to be said.

Gu Bingqian took the music next to him, put it on the table and said:

"The registration for the official school in Beizhili is over, and tomorrow will be the first day of the first day of March, with a total of nearly 980,000 students enrolled."

"It is easy for the people to go to school, but the court is not easy, and these more than 60,000 teachings still need to be solved."

Today is the last day of February, and the registration of Beizhili is completely over.

Because it was a compulsory basic education in the imperial court, basically all the people sent the boys in their families to the official school.

Although Zhu Youzhen had already said that the cabinet did not have to worry about the matter of silver, Gu Bingqian deliberately brought this matter out to make Zhu Youzhen satisfied.

"The three overseas provinces have to keep up with the progress, especially the gold and silver mines in Yingzhou, and the amount of silver sent back to China must reach 3 million taels every year."

Gu Bingqian opened his mouth without any pressure, because he knew from the Qi Palace's side that Yang Wenyue had now recovered most of Yingzhou's area except for Beizhou Mansion (Hokkaido).

These areas were rich in gold and silver mines, including Iwami and Sado, and the output was as high as 3 million taels during the shogunate period.

Therefore, it is not difficult for Yingzhou to transport more than 3 million taels back to the imperial court every year, and it is even easy to do so.

Even if Gu Bingqian didn't open his mouth, Yang Wenyue estimated that he would transport three or four million two times a year.

If Gu Bingqian didn't say this, Yang Wenyue would be a meritorious service, but if he said it, Yang Wenyue would have completed the task.

It is estimated that Yang Wenyue knew Gu Bingqian's operation, and his face was blackened by anger.

Everyone also knew that this old fox was trying to show his attitude to King Qi, so he nodded on the surface and disdainful in his heart.

After talking for a long time, I didn't have any constructive opinions, but I had outstanding ability in taking credit.

"After a few years of drought, can the scope of the drought be stopped?"

Zhu Xieyuan opened his mouth to ask, and the matter of exemption was Zhu Youzhen's original policy, that is, all places encountered a major drought, and local taxes should be exempted.

At present, the major drought in the three provinces of Nanzhili, Guangxi, and Sichuan has subsided, and the natural reduction of the shellfish has been exempted.

If these three provinces resume paying taxes, the Ming Dynasty's taxes can increase by several million taels.

"This ......" Gu Bingqian glanced at Shi Fenglai, and found that Shi Fenglai didn't speak, so he nodded and said:

"Naturally, it is going to stop, but it is a little abrupt to stop now, it is better to exempt the summer tax, how about collecting the autumn tax?"

Gu Bingqian didn't want to offend the people below, nor did he want to offend the Zhejiang Party, but he had to explain to Zhu Youzhen, so he chose this compromise method.

The summer tax is mainly wheat, and the summer tax of Nanzhili accounts for one-fifth of the Ming Dynasty, but it is not much, and it is only 1.2 million stones per year, and 700,000 taels after folding.

It was a good deal to use 700,000 taels to block the mouths of the people below, and then collect more than 5 million stone of autumn tax rice.

It is estimated that after Zhu Youzhen knows about it, he will not criticize him.

"In that case, then I will send someone to inform the Imperial Horse Supervisor and let the village officials of the Imperial Horse Supervisor collect it."

Bi Ziyan saw that there was extra income, so he naturally stood up happily.

The summer tax of the three provinces is only more than 1.5 million stones, but the autumn tax is more than 7 million stones.

With the autumn tax revenue of these three provinces coming up, Daming's field endowment this year can return to the level of 56 million stones.

In addition, Yingzhou does not have the qualification of tax exemption, so this year's income from the household can basically reach 62 million stones.

With these 62 million stones, rice, and wheat, plus more than 29 million taels of tax silver that there are no problems with the five divisions and one prison, the income of this year's Ming Dynasty can reach 54 million taels.

According to last year's Daming's expenditure, plus the new expenditure of the Ministry of Justice, and the expenditure of five million employees of the Ministry of Industry, Daming can finally make a surplus this year.

"If there is no accident this year, the state treasury should be able to balance seven million taels."

Daming's national expenditure has been negative for three years, and it is rare to hear the word "balance", not only Bi Ziyan is happy, but the other six cabinet ministers are also relieved.

If you can balance this year, then next year will be more comfortable.

Everyone has become accustomed to not counting the coinage gold and silver retained by Zhu Youzhen as state treasury income, because as long as Zhu Youzhen does not open his mouth, no matter who is in charge, he cannot use it.

"Although there will be a surplus after the autumn, the state funds have already spent all the money and grain, and there are only tens of millions of local Shichang to close the grain."

"Therefore, the imperial court still has to tighten the jade belt and survive for seven months."

Gu Bingqian said some comforting words, then got up and motioned for everyone to leave.

The crowd didn't want to smirk at the table, so they left the table one after another.

While they were leaving, Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao were taking a walk in Nanyuan in the capital.

By the end of February, the grass had grown, and the two brothers were able to relax for a day without being haunted by the sparseness.

"Ran'er's matter, I thought about it, it's better to be in the palace, the official school can go to observe, but you can't go often."

The two brothers walked on the grass, and Zhu Youxiao, who was walking in front, said his thoughts, and Zhu Youzhen, who was following behind, also understood that this was a compromise made by his brother in consideration of his own feelings.

In the palace, Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan talked several times, and they all thought that Zhu Ciran and the three should not be sent to the official school.

It was only in consideration of Zhu Youzhen's proposal that Zhu Youxiao made this decision after several hesitations.

Wang An had already told Zhu Youzhen about these things, so he was not surprised after hearing this, but nodded.

"North Korea sent three hundred show girls, and Gan Xiaozhi and Sulu, Bo Ni, Nanzhang, and Yeerqin also sent more or less show girls."

Zhu Youxiao suddenly talked about the show girl, Zhu Youzhen frowned, and probably knew what the other party was going to say.

"Counting, there are more than 600 of these show girls."

Looking at the large lake swamp in Nanyuan, and looking at the elk herd drinking water in the lake, he turned around and said:

"I think it's about the same, but your sister-in-law said that it is better to choose my Ming woman, and choose one concubine and two concubines."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youxiao smiled: "But I think that younger brother, you can have more side concubines, so how about four side concubines?" ”

Zhu Youxiao's words made Zhu Youzhen helpless, he could only say:

"As for the selection of concubines, let's go according to the rules, and let Concubine Xuanyi and the imperial sister-in-law check it."

Concubine Xuanyi is one of the earliest concubines around Emperor Wanli, although she is not favored, but she has no children in her life, has a good temperament, and is still good to Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen, so Zhu Youxiao let her hold the seal of the Queen Mother.

With her and Zhang Yan checking together, Zhu Youzhen is still more relieved.

However, in order to avoid people with intentions, Zhu Youzhen still deliberately said:

"Concubine Zheng, it's better not to get involved with the noble Wenchen, and the ordinary people don't hurt."

Zhu Youzhen knows very well that at this moment, all the nobles and ministers in the world are waiting for his wedding.

Naturally, they didn't dare to urge Zhu Youzhen to become a vassal like Sun Ruyou and Zhu Guozuo in the past, and the reason why they were staring at his big wedding and choosing a concubine was just the position of the main concubine.

Although the concubines of the feudal lords of the Ming Dynasty are generally selected from the people, it does not mean that they absolutely require ordinary people, but also some show girls with the background of the guard, the noble background, and the background of low-level officials.

Zhu Youzhen did not object to the selection of concubines, nor did he care who he chosen, but it was impossible for him to let some intertwined nobles and the daughters of gentry be his concubines.

Zhu Youxiao also understood his younger brother's difficulties, so he showed an apology on his face and comforted:

"I'll tell the concubine and Baozhu about this, my brother is relieved."

Perhaps in order to enliven the atmosphere, Zhu Youxiao smiled:

"Marry a few more concubines and have more heirs, so that when they become adults, they will be sent to the Qi State to prepare for your younger brother and your vassal."

"Adult?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't hold back, and said helplessly: "When they become adults, I'm afraid my brother will be over forty years old." ”

"Haha! It's ...... too" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing, then patted Zhu Youzhen on the back, and continued to walk forward.

Looking at his back, Zhu Youzhen also sighed helplessly, and then followed.

The two did not talk about state affairs, but chatted about some interesting things in the past, such as practicing equestrianism in the palace, and going to Yanshan for a safari and so on.

Time passed little by little, and when the sun was setting in the west, the two walked to a small river, and walked along the river to the Nanyuan Palace.

"I remember that when my younger brother was young, he said that he wanted to be a virtuous king, and he read in the palace every day, painting Danqing......"

Zhu Youxiao suddenly mentioned the previous matter, and Zhu Youxiao also nodded after listening.

"Is my brother still thinking this way now?"

Zhu Youxiao turned his head to look at Zhu Youzhen, but this time Zhu Youzhen did not answer immediately, but was silent for a few seconds before saying:

"If you can, the younger brother wants to do an ordinary teaching, go to the countryside, open an official school, raise those twenty or thirty children, teach in the morning, and cultivate in the afternoon......"

"......" Zhu Youxiao stopped, and Zhu Youzhen also stopped when he saw this.

After a while, Zhu Youxiao continued to walk, and Zhu Youzhen also followed.

"Wait...... That's it......" Zhu Youxiao wanted to speak and stopped, and although Zhu Youzhen glanced at him suspiciously, he didn't say anything.

The two went back to the palace in this way, and after eating dinner without saying a word, they each returned to their bedrooms.

It's just that before the break, Zhu Youxiao asked people to send the matter of King Qi's selection of concubines back to the palace in the capital.

His original intention was to let Concubine Liu and Zhang Yan prepare, but after the news arrived in the palace, it didn't take a few hours for it to spread in the major mansions in the capital.

The first to get the news was Zhang Weixian of the British Mansion, and when he got the news, he was reading at night in his study.

After learning that Zhu Youzhen was finally going to choose a concubine, he immediately put down the Zhu pen in his hand.

He walked left and right, and Zhang Zhiji, who was standing in front of his table, said:

"Father, I'm afraid that King Qi will not choose a woman with a noble and civil background as a concubine."

"Of course I know this, but don't forget the location of the two "concubines"! Zhang Weixian stood in place and replied with a frown.

The "noble concubine" he said in his mouth was not the kind of concubine in the inner court, but a concubine from a noble background among the side concubines of the vassal king.

Generally speaking, there is no "concubine" among the side concubines, because there are only two general side concubines.

However, according to the news from the inner court, five concubines will be selected this time, one of which is the main concubine and four side concubines.

If there are four side concubines, then there are generally two "concubines", which means that the major nobles and ministers can compete.

"Concubine" is not available to any vassal king, because normally speaking, only the powerful and extremely favored vassal king is eligible to have a "concubine".

Because "concubines" got nicknames for the sake of sounding good after all, but in fact, their identities are still side concubines, and side concubines are concubines if they say something ugly.

The major nobles still have to be faced, so it is naturally impossible to send their own pearls to the vassal king as concubines.

Even if it was Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, when he was still the king of Yan, no noble minister sent his daughter to him as a side concubine, and Zhu Di also cared about Princess Xu's opinion, so he never accepted a side concubine.

It's just that Xungui's face only existed in the early Ming Dynasty and the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and it began to stand in the later period.

What else is there for the nobles at the moment? Except for the acres of land and mansions in their hands, as well as the thousands of taels of money for the title, and dozens of family members, they have nothing.

Since Zhu Youzhen reformed Xungui, Xungui has completely lost the right to speak in the court and has become a mascot for the two brothers of Zhu Youxiao to worship their ancestors.

Even in the British government, only the younger Zhang Shize held a military position, and he was just a general in the Eastern Military Governor's Office.

After the reform of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, the staff generals were only the official positions of the fourth grade, and there were more than 280 staff generals in the Ming Dynasty.

That's it, it is also the existence of many nobles, dozens of lords and nobles in the South Beijing Division, tens of thousands of nobles' children, only a few people can become generals, and most of them are just serving as garrisons and general flags.

From this, it can be seen what the current noble has become.

With the system determined by Zhu You, I am afraid that it will not take a hundred years, and these dozens of nobles will wither to only single digits.

Therefore, if you want to keep your title, you must either urge your children to study, and then join the army to make meritorious contributions, or you are looking for relationships.

It's very simple to find a relationship, either to marry a strong feudal clan who has already settled overseas, or to marry a prince.

However, although the prince's status is lofty, everyone knows that the current status of the three princes is not stable, and it can even be said that Zhu Youxiao's dragon chair is not stable.

Compared to the one sitting on the dragon chair, the one sitting in the palace of the King of Qi is more like the emperor.

Therefore, the "concubine body", which was despised by the major nobles in the past, has become a sought-after sweetheart at the moment.

If Zhu Youzhen really becomes the emperor, then even a concubine can be called a vassal king.

If Zhu Youzhen went to Qi to become a vassal, then the concubine could also be called the king of the county.

Although the hundred officials couldn't see the "General Map of the Great Ming Kunyu", they also heard that Zhu Youzhen's Qi domain was very vast, and even the county king could divide the land of several provinces.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao issued an edict back then, saying that he would relocate millions of people to the Qi Domain.

These various reasons add up, no matter what, Qi Fan is the strongest strong domain, and it is not ashamed to bet on Qi Fan.

"The women in the house, select the best three, and send them all to the draft, even if they can't become "concubines", they can become side concubines or concubines! ”

Zhang Weixian urged Zhang Zhiji, and Zhang Zhiji also understood his father's thoughts.

To put it bluntly, as long as you can enter the Qi Palace, the show girl of the British Mansion will have the opportunity to sleep.

But if the servant is successful and gives birth to a concubine, it can also ensure the prosperity of the British government for three generations.

Zhang Zhiji got the order, so he hurriedly turned around and went to do business.

is not only the British Mansion, but also Zhu Chunchen of the Chengguo Mansion, Xu Xigao of the Dingguo Mansion, as well as the major marquis mansions and uncles......

In short, as long as the Xunfu receives the news, they are preparing for the draft.

It is not only them who have to prepare, but also Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu who are in the palace.

When many Xun mansions were already preparing, the two met in Cining Palace.

Fifty-two-year-old Concubine Liu sat on the throne of Cining Palace, and Zhang Yan sat next to her.

The two wore dragon and phoenix beads and emerald crowns, wore large-sleeved shirts, and added a xia veil on the clothes, and a red Luo skirt and red gowns were hidden inside.

On the special bun of the first suit, it is added with dragon and phoenix decorations, and the embroidery is made of woven gold dragon and phoenix patterns, and some emerald embroidery is added.

With these luxurious clothes, you can see Zhu You's intentions for the two, it can be said that he respects Concubine Liu as his mother and regards Zhang Yan as his beloved.

It's just that the two people that Zhu Youxiao cares about so much also have a headache in the face of Zhu Youzhen's choice of concubines.

The two were originally women, although they were both from official families, but they were basically from the lower three grades.

In addition, Zhu Youzhen's temperament is different from the two of them, and he has great authority, so the rules of "Huangming Zuxun" and "Daming Huidian" do not apply to him at all.

Normally, the selection of seventy-seven show girls is the highest regulation, but Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu face far more show girls than that.

There were only 627 show girls sent by the vassal states under the vassal system, and these show girls were all outstanding women selected by each vassal state from among the thousands or tens of thousands of show girls in their own countries.

Among them, the DPRK is the most prepared.

Since the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the king of Joseon, Li Liang, began to select show girls, and more than 3,000 people were selected for the first time, and after leaving 100 people in the follow-up, Zhu Youxiao dissuaded Li Liang from wanting to send show girls according to Zhu Youzhen's words.

But he couldn't stand Li Liang's unwillingness, and the next year he drafted 3,000 women, leaving 100 people, who applied again and were rejected again.

In the third year, Li Liang drafted another 9,000 show girls, leaving only 100 people, and combined with the show girls selected in the previous two years, a total of 300 were sent to Tianjin.

There are only three words and deeds, Zhu Youxiao is helpless, and Zhu Youzhen's age is indeed "old".

Among the vassal kings, there had never been twenty who had not yet been married, so they agreed.

Korea is not an exception, all countries are actually preparing, even the Western Regions Yarkand, a nominal tributary khanate, has sent a show girl from the Western Regions.

There are 627 beautiful women in the foreign domain, and the dynasty naturally can't be too bad.

Besides, Zhu Youzhen's concubine can only be a Ming woman, so even if the rules are in front, Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu have no choice but to make an exception.

"How about nine hundred? Selected from all over the world, all of them will be able to enter Beijing in July at most. ”

Concubine Liu, who was sitting on the main seat, communicated with Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan had no reason to refuse when she heard this, but she still remembered Zhu Youxiao's explanation, so she said:

"Out of the nine hundred, only three hundred are allowed to be given to the nobles and ministers, and the remaining six hundred are selected from the provinces."

"Not bad......" Concubine Liu has a gentle temperament, knowing that Zhang Yan's words are actually what the emperor meant, so she did not refuse.

The two discussed for a while, and then wrote the decree with the seal of the queen mother and sent it to the cabinet.

When this edict arrived at the cabinet, hundreds of officials such as the cabinet, the six ministries, the six sections, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the five divisions on duty at the Wenhua Palace that night all subconsciously clenched their hands.

What the parties have been waiting for for ten years has finally come......

Chapter 2 is a little later, updated around half-past nine

(End of chapter)