"Don't miss it when you pass by! Today's grain price has dropped to three cents a catty, don't miss it, don't miss it! ”

"Huh! I want a stone, send it to ......"

"I want it too!"

In mid-April, the capital was lively, and the price reduction of grain in Huangdian made many passers-by stop and shout loudly about the rice and noodle business at the entrance of Huangdian.

"Okay, okay, say slow, I can't stop taking notes on this paper......"

"A few people from the store to help!"

The clerk standing at the door of the imperial store reluctantly spoke, and then he shouted towards the store.

As the Xijiang Rice Lane store in Dayongshifang in the inner city, although its scale is not ranked among the top ten of the imperial stores in Beijing, it also has two floors, 30 shops along the street, covering an area of nearly two acres, and it is a department store and supermarket of the Ming Dynasty.

The clerk at the door was busy, they had to write down the amount of rice and wheat that each customer wanted to buy, and then write a shopping slip to the other party, and ask the other party to go to the store to write down the address and pay the money.

At the end of the day, the customer left with the receipt from the royal store, and a few guys sitting at the cash register began to line up to receive their delivery orders.

The reason why Huangdian can occupy the vast market, to put it bluntly, is because of the low price and service.

The guy in charge of delivery took the single ticket to the inner courtyard, and then picked up the goods with the single ticket and put the goods on the donkey cart.

After confirming that the goods are complete, the delivery person takes the delivery address and starts the personal delivery journey.

For this kind of "express delivery" or "delivery" method, it was actually not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty.

As early as the Bianliang City in the Song Dynasty, there was already a door-to-door delivery and takeaway business, but generally important people had to add money to deliver the goods.

Naturally, you have to add money in the imperial store, but it is not as much as the price increase in the normal store.

The royal store walks the volume, so it is distinguished by distance.

Each royal store has its own area, and normally it can be delivered within five miles around an imperial store, and the delivery price is uniformly charged five wen.

If among these rules, Zhu Youzhen added the rules of food delivery and express delivery in later generations, then in terms of salary, the imperial store can be said to have a lot more conscience.

The daily wage of the delivery guy is 20 Wen, and he gets a delivery fee of 2 Wen for each delivery, which is equal to 3 Wen earned by the imperial store.

However, this price is not exaggerated, because the emperor has to ensure the forage and care of the livestock, not to mention the work intensity of the delivery guys, which is much lower than that of the wharf Lifu.

The wharf Lifu's daily salary is only 30 yuan, while the guys in the imperial store have at least 30 yuan a day, and it is not surprising that they sometimes have more than 50 yuan.

The people enjoyed the service, the imperial store expanded its business, the workers earned wages, and the imperial court solved the employment problem, killing four birds with one stone.

Of course, this era does not have as much delivery demand as later generations, even if it is Beijing with a population of more than 1.3 million, the monthly delivery volume of 300 imperial stores is about 200,000.

The delivery fee plus the basic salary, the monthly salary of the delivery Lifu is basically about one or two to one or three dollars.

This delivery position alone has solved the employment problem of more than 2,000 people in the capital, and behind these 2,000 people are more than 2,000 families and nearly 10,000 people.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the Huangdian post, and there are 300 Huangdian stores in the capital, accommodating more than 15,000 people in total.

The current model of Huangdian was founded by Zhu Youzhen in order to make money, but until now, Huangdian has basically guaranteed the minimum wage in local towns.

Under the method of basic salary plus sharing, such as Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou and other big cities, the clerk of the Huangdian store basically has a minimum daily wage of 30 Wen.

Unless there is a drought like the previous few years, the hungry people in various places cannot survive, and the Huangdian takes the initiative to reduce wages to accommodate some hungry people, otherwise the private shops will not dare to cut their wages privately.

However, this system only works in the city, and when they go out of the city gate, the market town outside the city gate doesn't care about this, because the imperial store can't affect them.

In the face of hungry people, they generally choose to lower their wages, and at the lowest time, 100 wen is hired for a hungry person a month, which is the price of more than 20 catties of rice.

In this case, Zhu Youzhen has no way, or the court has no way.

However, this situation will be reduced by the success of the fourth version of the steam engine.

"Your Highness! Huang Long asked Jinyi Wei Feige to send a letter to send a creed, requesting the imperial court to increase troops, and the specific situation would not be known until Xiao Xiyang's letter arrived in the capital a month and a half later. ”

In the palace of King Qi, Li Ruolian hurriedly walked into the carrier hall with a note, and while offering the creed with both hands, he also opened his mouth to relay the content.

When he bowed down and handed over the note, Zhu Youzhen, who was dressed in an azure round-necked robe, was meditating on the "General Map of Da Ming Kunyu" in the hall, and Wang Chengen saw this and hurriedly went up to take the creed and handed it to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen listened to Li Ruolian's words with a frown, because he had more tricky things to deal with at the moment.

The price reduction of rice in the capital is not something that can be decided by patting his head, but the result of Zhu Youzhen's careful consideration.

The people were happy because of the drop in rice prices, but Zhu Youzhen still had to wipe his ass for some things after the drop in rice prices.

When he got Huanglong's creed, he glanced at it hastily, and there was not much written on it, just a short line of words.

[The southern captives invaded the south, the natives rebelled, more than 300,000 enemy troops inside and outside, the dragon tried his best to defend the land, please add 50,000 troops to the center]

It's just a short line of words, and people who don't understand the southern subculture and the strength of the Mughal may think that Huanglong can't do it, but Zhu Youzhen knows that Huanglong should have encountered a problem, otherwise he won't let the imperial court increase his troops.

It takes seven days for the carrier pigeon to travel from the West to the capital, but it takes nearly two months for the messenger to reach the capital.

After calculating, what the battle situation in the South Asian Continent was, Zhu Youzhen could only learn from Huang Long's handwriting and the handwriting of the local Jinyi Wei after a month and a half.

However, he still knows the strength of the Mughals.

Nearly 400,000 troops, with a financial income of more than 70 million taels, more than 100,000 cavalry, thousands of artillery pieces, and a population of 40 or 50 million......

Such an existence, excluding science and technology, is enough to be counted as a first-class power in terms of economy and population alone.

You must know that as the drought subsides, the household department estimates that the amount of taxes paid this year will be higher every month, but even so, with their estimates, this year's annual income after the Ming Dynasty will not exceed 65 million taels.

In terms of finance, the Mughal are much richer than the Ming Dynasty, and they also occupy a geographical advantage, so they are not an easy opponent to fight.

This, of course, refers to the evaluation under the existing military equipment and logistical capabilities.

If Da Ming really wants to increase his troops, he can naturally increase his troops by tens of thousands, but it is not necessary for Zhu Youzhen and Da Ming.

The first is that the Ming Dynasty cannot eat the South Asian Continent, and the second is that it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to carry out a bloody policy on the South Asian Continent and let itself fall into the quagmire of war.

Historically, the British did not send a large number of troops to forcibly conquer the area, but let the British East India Company operate because the area was too difficult to manage.

Even after Britain used its army to obtain its first colony in India, Britain did not want it, but gave it to the East India Company to take care of.

After the East India Company took care of it, it found that the benefits from taxes and other items were huge, and it was faster than doing trade to make money, so it took the road of colonial expansion.

However, in the process of conquering India, the East India Company did not manage the seized lands themselves, but handed them over to the local old princes and nobles, and only the main military and financial power was in charge of it.

Under such a system, the rulers of the Indian people are still the original princes and nobles, and the Indian people do not feel too different and invaded, which alleviates the resistance and resistance of the Indian people.

At the same time, the land was given to the old Indian maharajahs and nobles, who were also grateful to the East India Company.

The old Indian princes and nobles, who had no financial power and no army, could only rely on the East India Company.

In the struggle between the various forces in India, the British East India Company pulled one side and fought the other, and on the surface, the East India Company played a role similar to that of a "mercenary", as if it was just a "guest".

In the process of borrowing strength, Britain often resorted to methods such as bribing the opposing generals, so that they would turn their sides and wait and see.

Due to the relative independence of the Indian tribes and the weak sense of statehood, this trick is very effective in India.

With the help of force, each one was broken, and the East India Company achieved the greatest effect in the process of conquering India with the minimum cost.

Not only that, but in the process of conquering India, the British East Indies hired many Indian natives as soldiers, called native soldiers.

This method was adopted in the colonization process of Western countries, but the British East India Company was superior to other countries in the form of military organization.

For example, the French method is to organize the native soldiers and the French soldiers separately, which in the war, it is easy to have a situation where the dispatch of the native soldiers fails.

The British East India Company, on the other hand, had only Indian native soldiers as soldiers and officers as trained British, so that in the war the British had a more efficient way of deploying troops than the French.

The rational use of native soldiers reduced the casualties of the British, and the Indian native soldiers played a very important role in the conquest of India.

In other colonial wars conducted by the British, Indian soldiers were also often seen.

In this whole system, Daming can learn some of it, but it is impossible to learn all of it.

First of all, the background of the times is different, and secondly, the Ming Dynasty's overseas policy has always been to eliminate the local aristocracy, and then acquire land and carry out a large-scale relocation of hungry people, so it is naturally impossible to cooperate with the local nobility.

As for the native soldier system, even if Zhu Youzhen is willing to do this, the five major governors of the five military governors are not willing.

Moreover, the flaw of this system is that the development of the earthen soldier system is uncontrollable, and many countries and dynasties that have used the earthen soldier system have been counterattacked.

Either the number of native soldiers increased, and the native soldiers began to support themselves.

Either the native soldiers infiltrated into the top by virtue of their military exploits.

In addition to these, the system of native soldiers has various drawbacks.

Take 10,000 steps back and say that the native army system generally appears when the country's military strength is insufficient, and the current Ming Dynasty ......

Not to mention the fifteen battalions of soldiers and horses that Yingzhou has not yet withdrawn, the twenty battalions of soldiers and horses that are being trained in China alone occupy a lot of resources in the Ming Dynasty.

In this case, instead of sending them to Tianzhu to open up sources and reduce expenditure, they will stay in the country and increase their expenses to recruit native soldiers, unless Zhu Youzhen shows off his brains, otherwise he can't do this.

The Ming Dynasty did not want to completely rule the South Asian Continent and rule directly, the Ming only needed to lay down the lands that had been promised to the vassals, and then divide them out, and finally help them gain a firm foothold.

If the feudal domains want to play the native soldier system, Zhu Youzhen will definitely support it, because once the native army rises, it will inevitably give the local feudal king a potential threat politically.

At this time, the vassals backed the Ming Dynasty, and it was necessary to use the deterrent power of the Ming Dynasty to deter the native generals in the country.

Moreover, for the natives, even the natives of the three overseas provinces, Zhu Youzhen's attitude has always been to let them do the hardest, most tiring and dangerous work, rather than joining the army and politics.

Unless the Ming assimilated them to a certain extent, it would be easy for the huge alien population that had not yet possessed cultural identity to be squeezed into politics and military affairs, and then it would easily develop into ethnic conflicts, and then separatist forces would emerge.

Besides, Daming is currently in need to solve the employment problem of the people because of natural disasters, and the military salary of an ordinary soldier is enough to feed a family, and the military salary of overseas soldiers can support more than a dozen people per person.

Giving the local soldiers a salary lower than that of the Ming army, which will create a conflict of national and interest interests, and Zhu Youzhen has no need to shoot himself in the foot.

For Huang Long's request for additional troops, what he has to do is very simple, that is, to promote the policy he had discussed with Zhu Youxiao before.

Twenty battalions were recruited for the feudal domains, and the dynasty trained twenty battalions by itself, with a total of forty battalions and more than 120,000 soldiers and horses.

After the subsequent withdrawal of the Ming army, it was completely possible to train soldiers for the feudal domains in the country, and the soldiers moved with their families.

This not only solved the problem of migration, but also solved the problem of employment of immigrants and solved the security problem of the vassal state.

After that, the Ming army only needed to maintain a certain number of garrisons in the South Asian continent, and they could control and support the vassals well.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said without replying:

"The twenty battalions of soldiers and horses trained by the national dynasty, as well as the twenty battalions of soldiers and horses of the feudal domains, how is the current progress?"

Zhu Youzhen asked, and Wang Chengen said when he heard this:

"The recruitment has been handed over to the Shangzhi Governor's Mansion, and it is currently recruiting the victims of the South Zhili for training, twenty battalions have been recruited, and the soldiers have been training normally for a month."

"As for the twenty battalions of soldiers and horses of the feudal domains, according to your highness's request, the number of soldiers will gradually decrease from north to south......"

"Qin, Zhou, Shu, Fu, Chu, Zhao, Jin and other northern feudal domains each received one battalion of troops, and the remaining thirteen battalions were distributed to the major southern feudal states and counties."

"Since the number of soldiers was only set on the twentieth of last month, the soldiers of the feudal domains have not yet begun to recruit, but the total number of people who have to move overseas in the past three months is more than 124,000, and there are only more than 40,000 men from 18 to 45, which is not enough for 20 battalions."

"Besides, many of the men did not want to be soldiers, and they said that if they were to be soldiers, they would not move......"

Wang Chengen told about the recruitment, especially the immigrant men joining the army.

Zhu You was not surprised after listening to this, because in recent years, people who have migrated overseas have basically chosen to relocate after listening to the policy of relocation and land separation.

This time told them to let them go to the army, then they naturally did not want to.

"How many of the immigrants are willing to join the army?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen was ashamed when he heard it: "There are less than 10,000 immigrant males who have not yet migrated, and as for Xiaoxiyang, the news sent before is 20,000 ......."

"It's not a lot...... Zhu Youzhen looked sideways at the general map of Da Ming Kun in front of him, and then said:

"It's not good if immigrants don't want to be soldiers, it's not bad that Xiao Xiyang can get together 20,000 men from 150,000 men, counting the 10,000 men who are willing to be soldiers in this group of immigrants, then there are 30,000 people, enough to form ten battalions."

"As for the remaining ten battalions, let's temporarily select from the hungry people in Guangdong, this group of people does not need to be moved, and when the people who are willing to join the army in the follow-up migration become more and more, they will withdraw to Daming with the army."

It was impossible for Zhu Youzhen to force strong men to serve as soldiers, and this was a great blow to the morale of the army.

He wanted people who volunteered to be soldiers, because they were prepared in their hearts, and it was easier to accept the system of the Ming army, and when facing a difficult battle situation, they could burst out with stronger courage and combat effectiveness.

"Slave and maid receive ......"

Wang Chengen responded to Zhu Youzhen's orders, and Zhu Youzhen continued to scan the map and asked:

"How is Lu Wenzhao in the southwest?"

"Back to Your Highness......" Li Ruolian organized the language, and then said:

"The commander led people to inspect the six provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiaozhi, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong, and nearly 3,000 people were laid off in the Fusi Division of the North and South Towns, held accountable, and held accountable for ...... crimes."

"According to the "Da Ming Law" and the "Jinyi Guard's Conduct", they and their families, totaling about 40,000 people, will be exiled to Nanzhou......"

"How many people are there in Jinyiwei right now?" Hearing Lu Wenzhao's performance, although Zhu Youzhen did not show any water on his face, he was still satisfied in his heart.

"There are more than 114,300 people in the North and South Towns, of which more than 57,000 are in the North Town, and the rest are in the South Town."

Li Ruolian responded honestly, while Zhu Youzhen frowned when he heard this:

"Go back and ask Cui Yingyuan, there are nearly 70,000 people in Nanzhen, so many people, can't even some corrupt officials find out?"

"Humble command!" Li Ruolian swallowed her saliva and sweated.

It's time for him to be glad that he only has to be in charge of side affairs, after all, compared with spying on the ministers and gentry, as well as all kinds of intertwined domestic intelligence, the border generals and enemy intelligence are not so twisted and turned.

"Stand down."

"Retirement ......"

Zhu Youzhen did not return the order to evict the guest, and Li Ruolian also returned the salute when he saw this, and then withdrew from the palace.

After he left, Wang Chengen also took the opportunity to say:

"Your Highness, Admiral Cao also asked for the guilt and held accountable nearly 30,000 people of the Imperial Horse Prison......"

Wang Chengen wanted to say something good for Cao Huachun, but Zhu Youzhen glanced at him after hearing it:

"Cheng'en, Huachun doesn't need you to help him say good things, he needs good words, so he will come back to find Gu by himself."

"Yes...... It was the slave who overstepped ......"

Zhu Youzhen used "lonely" as a self-title, and Wang Chengen also realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he hurriedly apologized.

"How's going on with the fourth version of the steam engine?" Glancing at him, Zhu Youzhen continued to look at the "General Map of Da Ming Kun Yu" in front of him.

"It has basically entered the final stage, and we are currently waiting for the steam engine factory to manufacture the steam engine, and then the failure rate of the steam engine can be experimented."

Wang Chengen saw Zhu Youzhen open the topic, and hurriedly followed the explanation, and in order to make Zhu Youzhen's mood a little happier, he deliberately jumped out of some happy events in today's recital and said:

"The armament institute also reported the good news, saying that the weight of the tractor has been reduced from 2,000 catties to 1,600 catties, and the cost has also been reduced from more than 150 taels to 140 taels."

"Yongping's agricultural base has also reported good news, and the standard proportion of soil and chemical fertilizer can basically stably increase crop yield by two and a half."

"In addition, the Department of Agriculture has calculated that if the ships use steam engines to collect island guano, the current fertilizer production can be tripled, so that more than 30 million acres of arable land can be used with soil fertilizer."

"As for the factories in various places, it is estimated that 620 workshops of various sizes will be built this year, and 400,000 workers will be recruited."

Wang Chengen knew very well that his Royal Highness was concerned about nothing more than the people's food, so he deliberately singled out some things about people's livelihood and industry.

Not to his expectations, Zhu Youzhen slowly exhaled a turbid breath after hearing these news, and praised it rarely:

"Well done, and all the other Dr. Hanlin, who is in charge of the study of steam engines, blast guns, agricultural machinery, and other subjects, make a list, and invite them to be appointed as the first doctors of the three products."

"Bi Maokang, Wang Zheng, Sun Yuanhua, Song Yingxing, and Song Yingchang were awarded the first grade of Guanglu doctor."

Zhu Youzhen did not canonize Wang Zheng as knights, this was not because he was stingy, but because he knew that Wang Zheng and others would not accept it.

Judging from the last time he wanted to knight Bi Maokang and others, and the five refused, even these scientific research talents who invented and created various technologies thought that they did not deserve such treatment.

Zhu Youzhen has the heart to change, but he can't ascend to the sky in one step, he can only do it slowly.

After Wang Chengen heard Zhu Youzhen's words, he hurriedly said that he knew, and he also took the opportunity to say after getting up:

"By the way, Your Highness, Yan Siqi arrived in Tianjin early this morning, take a look at ......"

"According to the previous decision, he was canonized as a knight, but this knighthood is still named Haicheng Bo." Zhu Youzhen didn't know why, and suddenly changed his title.

Wang Chengen was a little curious, but didn't ask, but asked, "Does Your Highness want to meet him?" ”

"See him?" Zhu Youzhen shook his head: "No need......

"A person like him is not from a good background, so it is enough to give him a knighthood, give him a mansion, and pay him a fortune every year, and if he meets him, I am afraid that he will also be afraid in his heart."

Zhu Youzhen knows that his reputation is not good among the gentry class and the aristocratic class, and it can be said that his reputation at the moment is completely comparable to Zhu Yuanzhang's reputation in his later years.

Yan Siqi just wanted to bless the three generations and squeeze into the circle of the power center of the capital, but he didn't want to be in power, and he was even more afraid of seeing Zhu Youzhen.

It's just that his identity as a former pirate is really sensitive, and if he really makes a mistake, Zhu Youzhen can directly punish him if he revisits the story.

Zhu Youzhen knew Yan Siqi's careful thoughts, so he understood that instead of meeting Yan Siqi, it was better to arrange a clear water errand for him.

"After the end of the uncle, canonize him as the commander of the Shuntianfu Soldiers and Horses."

After explaining, Zhu Youzhen sat back in his seat, and after Wang Chengen responded, he suddenly remembered one thing, and stepped forward cautiously:

"Your Highness, there is one more thing ......"

"Say it." Zhu Youzhen picked up a book and prepared to deal with it, and Wang Chengen also said when he saw this:

"Sun Chuanting returned to Zhenwu County in about three days......"

"......" Zhu Youzhen stopped what he was doing, and after a few seconds, he said in a low voice:

"Tell Wang An, use the identity of long live to allocate 500 taels of gold from the inside, ten pairs of shark fins, and ten bear paws to Sun Chuanting, and send someone from Tai Hospital to Zhenwu County to organize a free clinic."

Zhu Youzhen wanted to say something more, but after opening his mouth, he still didn't continue:

"That's it......"

"Slave and maid take orders......" Wang Chengen saw that Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, and after saluting, he slowly retreated, and handed over a series of instructions from Zhu Youzhen just now to the person to arrange.

He retreated, and in the huge carrier hall, except for Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting to deal with the music, there were only a few eunuchs left who sorted out the huge bookshelves behind Zhu Youzhen.

The sunlight slanted into the hall and surrounded Zhu Youzhen's whole person.

It's just that the warm sunlight sprinkled on him made the surroundings even more gray......