"Boom—"

At the beginning of July, the war in the Little Western Ocean was rekindled, but the land of Yunnan and Yunnan, which was more than 2,000 miles away from them, was full of vitality.

With the sound of explosions sounding in the mountains, the section of mountain wall blocking the road from Baoshan County, Yongchang Prefecture, Yunnan Province to Longchuan County was blown down and trampled.

From the sky, two-thirds of the 400-mile-long post road has been widened, and only one-third has not yet been completed.

The post road, which was originally less than one zhang wide, with a mountain on one side and an abyss on the other, was now widened to the extent of four zhang, and a cement wall four feet high was built on the side of the cliff.

The road that has been widened has reached 280 li, less than 80 li from Longchuan, and less than 130 li from Tianma Pass in Longchuan.

Of the 280 miles of the road, 200 miles are paved with cement roads, and the remaining 80 miles are only a matter of time.

Nearly 400,000 Jiaozhi labor reformers are responsible for the construction of this section of the road, and as long as there is enough cement, it is only a matter of a month to lay it.

Not far from the collapsed mountain wall, 5,000 Jiaozhi prisoners in charge of blasting and digging roads waited.

At the site of the blasting, more than 100 Jiaozhi labor reformers explored some blasting sites and found that there were no landslides before they blew the wooden whistle.

"Beep-"

The piercing wooden whistle sounded between the Hengduan Mountains in western Yunnan, and more than 5,000 laborers began to take iron picks, shovels and other tools in batches to clear the collapsed gravel and soil.

In this era when there is no need to consider the ecological environment, it is not difficult for them to clean up.

Some of the gravel smaller than a fist was thrown into a basket and carried to the side of the road behind to lay a reserve material for the subsequent cement.

As for the larger stones and dirt, they pushed them directly to the nearby cliffs.

Some thousands of pounds of boulders were pulled by them with ropes, crowbars, and after they reached the side of the mountain road, they rolled down the mountain road with a bang, rolling down the cliff hundreds of meters deep, and smashing and breaking the trees.

At such times, many laborers will stick their heads out to watch the stone roll down, betting on whether it will fall into the river at the bottom of the cliff.

Perhaps this was one of their few pastimes, and when the stones got stuck in the trees, they turned around and began to clear the trail.

When they were working, on the road a few miles away from them, Mu Yi looked at it with clairvoyance, put it down, turned his head and said to the people behind him:

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"At this rate, we should be able to advance three hundred steps today."

His voice fell, and behind him, Hong Chengchou, who was sitting in the tent, closed the book in his hand, got up and walked out.

He stepped out of the tent and glanced at the cochin laborers who were constantly carrying gunpowder in their carts, some of the new arrivals were afraid to look at him, and those who had been there long enough smiled and nodded.

In the face of these laborers, Hong Chengchou nodded in response with a smile.

This scene puzzled some of the new workers, and only after they had gone far away did they ask the old man:

"Why aren't you afraid of that officer?"

"What are you afraid of him for? That's Hong Jinglue, that is, the labor money he gave us. Some of the old men said in a tone of lesson:

"Work hard, and when the ten-year labor period expires, we can still save a dozen taels of silver."

"Then he's really a good official...... "The newcomer listened and nodded thoughtfully.

Then, they continued to push the gunpowder forward, and at the same time, Hong Chengchou also walked to the side of the mountain road, leaning on the cement fence and said:

"If you can walk 300 steps a day, then it will only take four months to build the Fu Road."

He was sighing, while Mu Yi glanced at the group of laborers, and walked over and wondered:

"I don't understand why you pay this group of prisoners."

Mu Yi's words revealed one thing, that is, Hong Chengchou concealed from the imperial court and started to pay more than one million laborers in Jiaozhi.

"Isn't it bad to get paid?" Hong Chengchou asked rhetorically:

"It's only a hundred taels a month, it's only one tael or two dollars a year, and it's only twelve taels of silver in ten years."

"Twelve taels of silver, don't you think it's worth it for this group of laborers not to riot?"

"Before February, there were three or four riots every month among the more than 1.6 million laborers in Yunnan and Jiaozhi."

"Although the riots are easy to quell, they will kill 20,000 or 30,000 people each time, and these 20,000 or 30,000 people can build dozens of miles of roads every month."

"At present, although the Jingluo Mansion wants to send nearly two million taels a year to appease them, what is sent is just a blank piece of paper."

"The number of laborers who have been sent to Yunnan for two years has plummeted from 1.89 million to 1.67 million."

"There are still seven and a half years to go through the labor camp, how many people will they survive by then?"

"Even if a third of the people live, from this year onwards, we will only need to pay eight years' wages, but more than five million taels of silver."

"For the imperial court, in eight years, this group of laborers can build tens of thousands of miles of government roads, saving tens of millions of taels for the imperial court."

"More than five million taels of silver, in exchange for tens of thousands of miles of government roads, is what His Royal Highness will also recognize......"

Hong Chengchou said calmly, and Mu Yi didn't think so when he heard this, but he didn't dare to refute it.

So, he changed the subject and said:

"Jinglue Mansion sent a booklet, this year, a total of 1,300 miles of government roads have been built in the province, counting the last year and the year before that, more than 4,700 miles of government roads have been built."

"It is expected that the 23 prefectures will be able to connect the provincial roads by the end of the year, and the cement yards of local laborers are still in production, with an annual output of more than 9 million stones."

"Therefore, please give a brief indication to the Jingluo Mansion, the Political Division, and the Governor's Mansion, should the government roads in Yunnan continue to be built?"

Mu Yi's words are jaw-dropping, just because the total mileage of the Ming Dynasty's current government roads is only more than 19,000 miles, of which more than 6,000 miles are still owned by the old port that developed earlier.

In other words, there are only more than 13,000 miles of government roads in the two capitals and 17 provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and Yunnan occupies one-third of them.

Of course, the reason why Yunnan can occupy so many miles is naturally that the 1.89 million laborers who entered Yunnan cannot be avoided, but this is enough to make people jaw-dropping.

After all, the construction of roads in Yunnan has been a headache since the Hongwu period, and Hong Chengchou can advance at a speed of more than 1,500 miles a year in less than three years, which is enough to make people amazing.

Among them, especially this year, which is the third year, only six months have passed, and the whole province of Yunnan has built 1,300 miles of roads, and if it is calculated according to the whole year, the road construction in Yunnan this year may reach 2,600 miles.

Yunnan was reformed by Zhu Youzhen, and all military and civilian governments and prefectures were promoted to prefectures.

The government roads of the twenty-three prefectures are about to be fully opened, which naturally arouses the jealousy of the three provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guizhou.

Previously, the political envoys of the three provinces knew that Hong Chengchou had only penetrated the government road in order to fight Donghu, so he naturally did not dare to give him a face, nor did he dare to ask for cement and wrought iron.

But at present, the provincial roads of Yunnan Province are about to be opened, and the political envoys of the three provinces will naturally begin to share the pie.

They built the government road not for the people, but for merit to be promoted, which Hong Chengchou knew very well in his heart.

He didn't mind giving a piece of the pie to this group of people, after all, he would need food from the three provinces when he attacked Donghu later.

"Although the 23 prefectures in Yunnan are connected by roads, only 75 of the 117 counties have cement roads."

Hong Chengchou did not directly convey to Mu Yi the idea of sharing a piece of the pie, but opened the topic virtually:

"At present, there are still 42 counties that have not built county roads, and although the cement in this labor cement yard has 9 million stones, after being distributed to the county roads, it will only be 3 million stones."

"You can tell the Economic Strategy Mansion, the Political Secretary, and the Governor's Mansion, and say that the labor cement yard can import 1 million stone of cement to each of the three provinces."

Hong Chengchou wants a piece of the pie, but he will not give it to the officials of the three provinces, but will stay in Yunnan.

He saw very clearly that the current officials of Jiaozhi and Yunnan provinces are all officials from Yunnan, and in the future of Burma, if nothing else, the officials of the political department there will also be officials from Yunnan.

There is the Qin family in Sichuan, and there is the Qi family in Liangguang, and he can't get into these two places, and Guizhou doesn't have much need to intervene, after all, Guizhou has a population of less than one million after several migrations.

Therefore, what Hong Chengchou has to do is to win over officials from Yunnan, and then let the future three provinces of Myanmar, Jiaozhi, and Yunnan support him to become the first assistant.

The so-called forty-two county government roads in his mouth actually do not use six million stone cement every year, and he insists on staying, to put it bluntly, he wants to complete the county roads and repair the township roads, and completely buy the hearts of the people in Yunnan.

As long as these three provinces are well controlled, he Hong Chengchou will have a very heavy voice when he enters the cabinet.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou stroked his short beard, and Mu Yi responded for some reason, and then got up and said:

"By the way, there is news from Mu Qiyuan over there in Jiaozhi that all the rebels in the mountains have been arrested, the cement in Jiaozhi has reached 7 million stones, and all the 15 prefectures and roads in the province have been connected."

"At present, more than 2 million stone cement has been accumulated in Jiaozhi, and the newly cultivated fields have reached more than 3.27 million mu, with a total of more than 29 million mu."

"He wants to ask for advice, whether the accumulated cement will support the two Guangzhou, or ......"

Mu Yi asked tentatively, while Hong Chengchou said without thinking:

"Let him accumulate it temporarily, and I will give it to the court and give it to the court to adjudicate."

With labor prisoners of war as their roots, Jiaozhi and Yunnan can be said to have entered a stage of comprehensive and rapid development.

The two provinces have a total of nearly three million laborers, which is enough to create a powerful country in Europe, and in Hong Chengchou's hands, these three million laborers are simply played by him.

In three years, nearly 7,000 miles of Fudao rose, and the annual cement output of the two provinces was 16 million stones, doubling the cement in less than a year.

I have to say that in the area of controlling the people and the world, Hong Chengchou is admirable.

"The county road needs to be built, but the new land reclamation cannot be relaxed, so Mu Qiyuan will send the laborers who build the road to reclaim the fields."

Hong Chengchou added another order after giving the order, which puzzled Mu Yi.

"After a while, the drought in the country has subsided, and His Highness has not ordered us to increase our reclamation efforts, so why not use these laborers to open mines?"

Mu Yi dared to ask, while Hong Chengchou was leaning on the concrete fence, looking at the laborers in the distance who had cleared the mountain road and were ready to blast it again.

After a while, he slowly spoke:

"His Royal Highness did not urge us because His Highness thinks that Yunnan and Jiaozhi are difficult to govern, and now that many laborers are building roads, the strength of the two provinces has been exhausted."

"It's just that there is still spare strength in the two provinces right now, so what does it matter if you and I use the spare strength to reclaim new land?"

"In case of a severe drought in the north, Jiaozhi can contribute tens of millions of stone rice and wheat, so I don't need to talk about the credit, right?"

Hong Chengchou said the conjecture in his heart, and the reason why he felt that Zhu Youzhen needed food was because his ears and eyes in the capital heard about Zhu Youzhen's policy of restarting the people of Liaodong to reclaim wasteland.

Hong Chengchou did not have the documents of the household department in his hands, but he could infer what the imperial court lacked from the policies of the imperial court.

Since the Qi Wangfu hoped that the people of Liaodong would farm outside the Guan, in essence, the imperial court was still short of grain.

Since the imperial court is short of food, then he Hong Chengchou will make an extra amount of food for the imperial court, so that the above two people are satisfied.

"The strategy is really far-sighted, and it is ...... to be inferior to the post"

Mu Yi patted Hong Chengchou's ass, and said with a smile by the way:

"According to the design of the scripture, I'm afraid that you will be in the cabinet before Sun Chuanting recovers......"

"Hmm......" Hong Chengchou replied casually, looking unconcerned, but the smile on the corner of his mouth was difficult to hide.

Looking at the mountain road that was about to explode again, Hong Chengchou had already thought of the scene after he ascended the pavilion......

"Raise your head, look at the eaves in front of you, don't dodge, don't cower, if it affects your demeanor and doesn't choose, then it's no wonder that our family ......"

While Hong Chengchou was thinking about the power scheme, thousands of miles away in the Imperial City of Jingshi, a square in a remote location and guarded by a net army was full of women aged fourteen to nineteen.

In the square, Wei Zhongxian, Wang An, and Wang Chengen sat under the red tent, leaning on chairs, and their eyes swept over the women in the square.

These 1,527 women were the show girls sent by various provinces and provinces as of the first day of the seventh month, in order to select the princesses and side concubines from among them.

On the square, a hundred eunuchs and a hundred old women in the palace walked back and forth, scanning the show girls in front of them.

After a quarter of an hour, after the people below confirmed that there was no problem, a eunuch quickly walked to the stage where the three eunuchs were and said:

"The three ancestors, the children have finished reading it, and there is no ...... to fill the number indiscriminately"

"Well, let's get started......" Wang An waved his hand, ignoring Wei Zhongxian, while Wang Chengen nodded in a wooden voice.

Wei Zhongxian was reluctant to choose the future princess of Qi, and if the emperor hadn't asked him to come, he might have been a quail in the celebrant eunuch.

Therefore, in the face of Wang An's provocation, he closed his mouth and said nothing.

"Yes......" replied to the eunuch, and then turned around to inform the show girls to prepare to step forward.

Since Princess Qi's draft far exceeded the specifications, the inner court had to follow the emperor's specifications.

However, in order to avoid trespassing, Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu still lowered the specifications by half a level and set up six levels.

This first level is that at present, the show girls are divided into ten teams in a group of 100 people, sorted according to age, and the three eunuchs selected by the inner court, the palace of Qi, and the outer court are visually pacified.

In this level, the show girls who are tall, short, fat and thin will all be defeated, and with the return of the messenger eunuchs, the show girls began to step forward in turn according to the signs issued by the eunuchs and the old palace maids before.

Among this batch of show girls, there are more than 500 people at the age of 14, more than 300 people at the age of 15, more than 200 people at the age of 16, only 100 people at the age of 17 and 18, and more than 200 people at the age of 19.

Obviously, the rumors of King Qi's good spread among the people, and many nineteen-year-old women joined the draft.

In this draft team, the order of the youngest is the first, the rest are in descending according to age, and the oldest nineteen years old is ranked last.

Because the time of this draft is too long, many nineteen-year-old show girls are actually twenty years old when they arrive in the imperial city.

As a twenty-year-old show girl, Zhou Sujie and others are in the last row, and the first row is the youngest batch.

According to the words of the eunuchs, according to the month of birth, they went to the high platform from the youngest to the oldest.

Wang An and the others on the stage were still sitting, looking at the show girls who came on stage in turn, and asked people to note their height and weight.

Although the show girls are selected by various governments and countries according to the standards, this does not rule out that the countries and governments will conceal the report, or the show girls have eaten too much in the past few months.

According to the standards given by Zhang Yan and Concubine Liu in the inner court, a fourteen-year-old show girl must be more than four feet eight inches (153 cm) and weigh no more than sixty-five catties (39 kg).

In addition to these, there are also standards for bust and crotch circumference, as well as for the length of hands and feet.

After every ten people have finished measuring these, the three eunuchs next to them will copy them down and put them on the heads of the three eunuchs.

Team after team of show girls kept coming to the stage, and in the process, even Wei Zhongxian, who was used to seeing palace maids, could see eye-catching show girls from time to time.

After all, it is more than 1,500 show girls selected from more than 13 million school-age women at home and abroad in the Ming Dynasty.

Throughout the ages, except for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the way of selecting concubines was different from that of other dynasties, and it was easy to choose ugly concubines, and other dynasties generally ranked beauty first.

Among them, especially the Ming Dynasty's concubine selection system is the easiest to choose beauties, because other dynasties still need to pay attention to the family and compromise with the nobles, while the Ming Dynasty's concubine selection is not restricted, simply spelling beauty and talent.

Therefore, the three eunuchs are pleasing to the eye, and during this period, they will also focus on noting some show girls who are particularly outstanding.

In the selection of the first level, unless the height, weight and appearance are particularly deviated from the standard, people will basically not be eliminated.

The second level of choosing a concubine will only be eliminated, so Wang An and the three of them are relatively relaxed.

"That Zhang Shaohua just now is good, it seems that he is the daughter of the British government."

"The talented woman Xu of the Dingguo Mansion is also good, not only has five clothes, but her figure and appearance are also extraordinary."

Wang An and Wang Chengen chatted without a word, and Wei Zhongxian was isolated, although he had been washing his eyes by the beautiful show girl, but his spirit had been tormented by Wang An next to him.

"Old pickle, don't give our family a chance, otherwise our family must make you look good!"

Wei Zhongxian's teeth itched, and he kept cursing Wang An in his heart, but before he could curse properly, the new row of show girls came to the stage, and one of them had a show girl's appearance and figure that stood out among the other nine beautiful show girls.

As soon as Wei Zhongxian saw this show girl, his brain seemed to be hit hard by an invisible hammer, and he was stunned for a second, and after coming back to his senses, he subconsciously felt that this show girl would definitely be able to go to the end and be selected among the five concubines.

Not only him, but also Wang An and Wang Chengen feel this way.

The nine show girls who took the stage with the girl all felt pressure, and Wang An and the three of them glanced at it and saw the nervousness of the rest.

This kind of nervousness is like a good-looking man going to interview for a job, and when he is about to interview, a Pan An and Song Yu-style character suddenly comes next to him to interview with you.

I haven't had an interview yet, just sitting next to you, and you feel full of pressure, and you should have played well, but you instantly cringe and can't even show your usual state.

Facts have also proved that the whole process of the nine beautiful show girls did not let Wang An and the three of them remember, and after the ten show girls finished measuring their bodies and weights and left, Wang An and the three of them picked up the freshly written booklet and set their eyes on the position of the girl.

"Agarwood Jun, March 25, 44th year of Wanli, 5 feet long, weighing 60 pounds......"

Wei Zhongxian read it out, and Wang An also said to Wang Chengen after reading it:

"This woman has an average family background, but fourteen is five feet long, and she is a very good match with His Royal Highness, although her weight is a little heavy, but at this age, such a length, it is not too heavy."

Wang Chengen also bowed his head slightly when he heard this, pondered for a moment, and thought about how His Royal Highness was more kind to that type of palace maid in the mansion, and then said: "Your Highness should like it, you can relax it." ”

As soon as he said this, Wang An circled Agarwood Jun's name in red with a red pen, which means that Agarwood Jun can go to the fifth level without accident.

After doing this, the three of them began to continue to choose concubines.

It's just that it seems that with the pearl of Agarwood Jun in front, the girls of the same age who came to power in the back inevitably became the "Wadang" that was used as a contrast.

It's not that they're not good-looking, after all, with their appearance, no matter what era they are in, they can make people shine.

It's just that compared with Agarwood Jun, their appearance is a little out of the table.

Therefore, in the follow-up selection of concubines, among the fourteen-year-old show girls, except for five or six who can be remembered by Wang An, the remaining more than 500 people have all become accompaniments.

After that, the three began to continue the selection, but it was difficult to have a show girl who could match Agarwood Jun, and it was not until the seventeen-year-old show girl came to the stage that Wang An and the three saw a show girl who made their eyes shine again.

She doesn't have the slim figure of Agarwood Jun, but her facial features are very delicate and small, with the style of a bearded girl from the Western Regions, her eyes are very attractive, and her figure is very fleshy.

Such a woman, that is, Wang An and Wang Chengen couldn't help but nod, as for Wei Zhongxian......

When he saw this show girl, he felt at first glance that this show girl looked like a backache, and after reacting, he couldn't help but worry about Zhu Youzhen's waist.

"Concubine Yuan Xi, this name is like a side concubine......"

After the show girl left, Wang An glanced at the other party's name and body length and weight, and couldn't help but nodded, and Wang Chengen also seemed to think that the woman just now should be the type that His Royal Highness likes.

"You can circle red."

Wang Chengen rarely spoke, and Wang An was stunned, because in his opinion, Yuan Xifei and Agarwood Jun are completely two styles, and Wang Chengen's opening represents King Qi's liking.

"Could it be that His Highness has a changeable preference?"

With a little doubt, Wang An circled Yuan Xi's name in red, and then leaned back in the chair and said softly:

"Continue ......"